LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Hospital-admitted COPD patients treated at home using telemedicine technology in The Virtual Hospital Trial: methods of a randomized effectiveness trial

BACKGROUND
Recent reviews suggest that telemedicine solutions for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may prevent hospital readmissions and emergency room visits and improve health-related quality of life. However, the studies are few and only involve COPD patients who are in a stable phase or in-patients who are ready for discharge. COPD patients hospitalized with an acute exacerbation may also benefit from telemedicine solutions. The overall aim is to investigate a telemedicine-based treatment solution for patients with acute exacerbation of COPD at home as compared to conventional hospital treatment measured according to first treatment failure, which is defined as readmission due to COPD within 30 days after discharge.


METHODS
COPD patients with acute exacerbation who fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were from two university hospitals in Denmark were randomized (1:1) by computer-generated tables that allocated treatments in blocks of four to receive either standard treatment at the hospital or the same standard treatment at home using telemedicine technology (that is, a video conference system with a touch screen and webcam and monitoring equipment (spirometer, thermometer, and pulse oximeter)). Patients treated in the telemedicine group were backed up by an organizational setting securing 24/7/365 online access to the hospital, as well as access to oxygen, nebulizer therapy, oral medical therapy and surveillance of vital parameters from home monitoring devices. Patients in both groups were discharged when clinically stable and when fulfilling five pre-specified discharge criteria. Follow-up was performed at 1, 3 and 6 months after discharge.


RESULTS
Enrollment of patients started in June 2010 and ended in December 2011. Follow-up ended in May 2012. Results were analyzed in 2013.


CONCLUSIONS
The results may have implications on future hospital treatment modalities for patients with severe exacerbations in COPD where telemedicine may be used as an alternative to conventional admission.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical Trials NCT01155856.
Low blood concentration of hydroxychloroquine is a marker for and predictor of disease exacerbations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE
To study the possible relationship between whole-blood hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) concentrations and clinical efficacy of HCQ in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).


METHODS
Whole-blood HCQ concentrations were measured, under blinded conditions, in 143 unselected patients with SLE who had been receiving HCQ 400 mg daily for at least 6 months. The relationship of these concentrations to current disease activity and to subsequent exacerbations during 6 months of followup was investigated.


RESULTS
At baseline, 23 patients had active disease (mean +/- SD SLE Disease Activity Index 12.4 +/- 7.5). The mean whole-blood HCQ concentration in this group was significantly lower than that in the 120 patients with inactive disease (694 +/- 448 ng/ml versus 1,079 +/- 526 ng/ml; P = 0.001). Among the 120 patients who had inactive disease at baseline, the mean HCQ concentration at baseline in the 14 (12%) who had disease exacerbations during followup was significantly lower than that in the patients whose disease remained inactive. Multivariate logistic regression showed that the HCQ concentration was the only predictor of exacerbation (odds ratio 0.4 [95% confidence interval 0.18-0.85], P = 0.01). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that a whole-blood HCQ concentration cutoff of 1,000 ng/ml had a negative predictive value of 96% for exacerbation during followup.


CONCLUSION
Low whole-blood HCQ concentrations are associated with SLE disease activity and are a strong predictor of disease exacerbation. Regular drug assaying and individual tailoring of treatment might help to improve the efficacy of HCQ treatment in patients with SLE.
Choosing the right business process maturity model

We have built and tested a decision tool which will help organisations properly select one business process maturity model (BPMM) over another. This prototype consists of a novel questionnaire with decision criteria for BPMM selection, linked to a unique data set of 69 BPMMs. Fourteen criteria (questions) were elicited from an international Delphi study, and weighed by the analytical hierarchy process. Case studies have shown (non-)profit and academic applications. Our purpose was to describe criteria that enable an informed BPMM choice (conform to decision-making theories, rather than ad hoc). Moreover, we propose a design process for building BPMM decision tools. 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of 5 versus 10 granulocyteaphaeresis sessions in steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis: a pilot, prospective, multicenter, randomized study.

AIM
To evaluate the efficacy of 5 compared to 10 granulocyteaphaeresis sessions in patients with active steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis.


METHODS
In this pilot, prospective, multicenter randomized trial, 20 patients with moderately active steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis were randomized to 5 or 10 granulocyteaphaeresis sessions. The primary objective was clinical remission at wk 17. Secondary measures included endoscopic remission and steroid consumption.


RESULTS
Nine patients were randomized to 5 granulocyteaphaeresis sessions (group 1) and 11 patients to 10 granulocyteaphaeresis sessions (group 2). At wk 17, 37.5% of patients in group 1 and 45.45% of patients in group 2 were in clinical remission. Clinical remission was accompanied by endoscopic remission in all cases. Eighty-six percent of patients achieving remission were steroid-free at wk 17. Daily steroid requirements were significantly lower in group 2. Eighty-nine per cent of patients remained in remission during a one year follow-up. One serious adverse event, not related to the study therapy, was reported.


CONCLUSION
Granulocyteaphaeresis is safe and effective for the treatment of steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis. In this population, increasing the number of aphaeresis sessions is not associated with higher remission rates, but affords a significant steroid-sparing effect.
FogLearn: Leveraging Fog-based Machine Learning for Smart System Big Data Analytics

Big﻿data﻿analytics﻿with﻿the﻿cloud﻿computing﻿are﻿one﻿of﻿the﻿emerging﻿area﻿for﻿processing﻿ and﻿analytics.﻿Fog﻿computing﻿is﻿the﻿paradigm﻿where﻿fog﻿devices﻿help﻿to﻿reduce﻿latency﻿ and﻿increase﻿throughput﻿for﻿assisting﻿at﻿the﻿edge﻿of﻿the﻿client.﻿This﻿article﻿discusses﻿ the﻿emergence﻿of﻿fog﻿computing﻿for﻿mining﻿analytics﻿in﻿big﻿data﻿from﻿geospatial﻿and﻿ medical﻿health﻿applications.﻿This﻿article﻿proposes﻿and﻿develops﻿a﻿fog﻿computing-based﻿ framework,﻿i.e.﻿FogLearn.﻿This﻿is﻿for﻿the﻿application﻿of﻿K-means﻿clustering﻿in﻿Ganga﻿ River﻿Basin﻿Management﻿and﻿real-world﻿feature﻿data﻿for﻿detecting﻿diabetes﻿patients﻿ suffering﻿from﻿diabetes﻿mellitus.﻿The﻿proposed﻿architecture﻿employs﻿machine﻿learning﻿ on﻿a﻿deep﻿learning﻿framework﻿for﻿the﻿analysis﻿of﻿pathological﻿feature﻿data﻿that﻿obtained﻿ from﻿smart﻿watches﻿worn﻿by﻿the﻿patients﻿with﻿diabetes﻿and﻿geographical﻿parameters﻿ of﻿River﻿Ganga﻿basin﻿geospatial﻿database.﻿The﻿results﻿show﻿that﻿fog﻿computing﻿holds﻿ an﻿immense﻿promise﻿for﻿the﻿analysis﻿of﻿medical﻿and﻿geospatial﻿big﻿data. KeywoRDS Cloud Computing, Clustering, Diabetes, Fog Computing, Geospatial Big Data, Geospatial Data, K-Means, Medical Big Data, River, Visualization International Journal of Fog Computing Volume 1 • Issue 1 • January-June 2018
Making frameworks work: a project retrospective

Various issues make framework development harder than regular development. Building product lines and frameworks requires increased coordination and communication between stakeholders and across the organization.
 The difficulty of building the right abstractions ranges from understanding the domain models, selecting and evaluating the framework architecture, to designing the right interfaces, and adds to the complexity of a framework project.
The 2009 Simulated Car Racing Championship

In this paper, we overview the 2009 Simulated Car Racing Championship-an event comprising three competitions held in association with the 2009 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), the 2009 ACM Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), and the 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG). First, we describe the competition regulations and the software framework. Then, the five best teams describe the methods of computational intelligence they used to develop their drivers and the lessons they learned from the participation in the championship. The organizers provide short summaries of the other competitors. Finally, we summarize the championship results, followed by a discussion about what the organizers learned about 1) the development of high-performing car racing controllers and 2) the organization of scientific competitions.
Designing games with a purpose

Data generated as a side effect of game play also solves computational problems and trains AI algorithms.
Embedded queries and Mining Techniques

Data mining aims at extracting knowledge from data. Information rich datasets, such as EBSCOhost Newspaper Source [3], carry a significant amount of multi-typed current and archived news data. This extracted information can easily be constructed into a heterogeneous information network. Through use of many mining techniques, deeper comprehension can then be unearthed from the underlying relationships between article, authors, tags, etc. This paper focuses on building on two such techniques, classification and embedding. GNetMine [1] is a common classification algorithm that is able to label entities of different types through a small set of training data. Node2Vec [5] is an embedding approach, using the many nodes and edges in a heterogeneous network, and converting them into a lowdimensional vector space, that can quickly and easily allow for comparison between nodes of any type. The goal of this paper is to combine these methods and compare and contrast the quality of output of Node2Vec with unlabeled data, directly from the heterogeneous network of EBSCOhost sports news data, as well as adding learned classification labels. Can nodes labeled using classification as an input to network embedding, improve the outcome of the embedding results?
Effect of Mixed-Tocotrienols in Hypercholesterolemic Subjects

Background: Studies on the cholesterol lowering activity of tocotrienols have yielded mixed results, with some showing cholesterol lowering effect while some showing no activity. Aim: A randomized, doubleblind, parallel group study was conducted to investigate the cholesterol lowering activity of tocotrienols. Methods: Thirtytwo hypercholesterolemic subjects were randomly assigned to orally receive either 300 mg of mixed tocotrienols capsules daily or placebo capsules containing 300 mg of soya bean oil for a period of 6 months. The subjects were monitored before supplementation and monthly thereafter for their serum cholesterol as well as tocotrienol and tocopherol concentrations. Results: The serum total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol of the subjects in the tocotrienol supplementation group were decreased significantly by 8.9 ± 0.9% and 12.8 ± 2.6% respectively after 4 months of supplementation and the reduction persisted till the end of the 6-month study, with a reduction of 10.8 ± 1.0% and 17.3 ± 1.8%, respectively from baseline. Moreover, there was a 22fold increase in the total tocotrienol concentrations from baseline during supplementation compared to the placebo group, while the concentration of tocopherol recorded only a modest increase. On the other hand, the serum cholesterol, total tocotrienol and tocopherol concentrations of subjects in the placebo group remained essentially unchanged. Functional Foods in Health and Disease: 2011, 1(3):106-117 Page 107 of 117 Conclusions: Supplementation with mixed tocotrienols at dose of 300 mg per day resulted in the lowering of the serum total and LDL cholesterol levels after 5 months of supplementation.
Utopia and Dystopia in Literature and Cinema

Science fiction in literature and cinematography has been usually perceived as a genre which either exposes the dangers of growing technology and its effects on mankind, usually in an apocalyptic setting, or which foresees an expansion of humankind into the Universe and possible encounters with other forms of life. The former usually carries a dystopian, while the latter both dystopian and, although rarely, utopian views of the future. In the article Deconstructing The Matrix, particular attention will be paid to one film of this genre, The Matrix, directed by Andy and Larry Wachlowski in 1999. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate that a perspective of the conventional perception of the genre as mostly entertaining is a limited one, and to provide arguments for multiple interpretations of the work. The work will be analyzed by applying a methodology of deconstructive analysis and will be focused in more detail into binary oppositions of the main themes presented in the film. Finally, by deconstructing the visual and linguistic material, it will be suggested how and where the inconsistencies, misstatements or contradictions open up the material for further questioning. The visual and linguistic elements which are present and also absent from the core text and the subtexts will be consequently examined and compared. Key Terms: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia, Literature, Cinema EDEBİYAT VE SİNEMADA ÜTOPYA VE DİSTOPYA
Psychiatric and legal features of 113 men convicted of sexual offenses.

BACKGROUND
To increase understanding of the relationships among sexual violence, paraphilias, and mental illness, the authors assessed the legal and psychiatric features of 113 men convicted of sexual offenses.


METHOD
113 consecutive male sex offenders referred from prison, jail, or probation to a residential treatment facility received structured clinical interviews for DSM-IV Axis I and II disorders, including sexual disorders. Participants' legal, sexual and physical abuse, and family psychiatric histories were also evaluated. We compared offenders with and without paraphilias.


RESULTS
Participants displayed high rates of lifetime Axis I and Axis II disorders: 96 (85%) had a substance use disorder; 84 (74%), a paraphilia; 66 (58%), a mood disorder (40 [35%], a bipolar disorder and 27 [24%], a depressive disorder); 43 (38%), an impulse control disorder; 26 (23%), an anxiety disorder; 10 (9%), an eating disorder; and 63 (56%), antisocial personality disorder. Presence of a paraphilia correlated positively with the presence of any mood disorder (p <.001), major depression (p =.007), bipolar I disorder (p =.034), any anxiety disorder (p=.034), any impulse control disorder (p =.006), and avoidant personality disorder (p =.013). Although offenders without paraphilias spent more time in prison than those with paraphilias (p =.019), paraphilic offenders reported more victims (p =.014), started offending at a younger age (p =.015), and were more likely to perpetrate incest (p =.005). Paraphilic offenders were also more likely to be convicted of (p =.001) or admit to (p <.001) gross sexual imposition of a minor. Nonparaphilic offenders were more likely to have adult victims exclusively (p =.002), a prior conviction for theft (p <.001), and a history of juvenile offenses (p =.058).


CONCLUSIONS
Sex offenders in the study population displayed high rates of mental illness, substance abuse, paraphilias, personality disorders, and comorbidity among these conditions. Sex offenders with paraphilias had significantly higher rates of certain types of mental illness and avoidant personality disorder. Moreover, paraphilic offenders spent less time in prison but started offending at a younger age and reported more victims and more non-rape sexual offenses against minors than offenders without paraphilias. On the basis of our findings, we assert that sex offenders should be carefully evaluated for the presence of mental illness and that sex offender management programs should have a capacity for psychiatric treatment.
Application of Support Vector Machines on Signal Strength Based Localization in Wireless Networks

Received Signal Strength (RSS) based positioning systems are potential candidates to enable location aware computing spaces due to their economic viability. Fundamental requirement of such localization systems is to estimate location from RSS at a particular location. In this paper we present a location system based on Support Vector Machines (SVM). Characterization of different kernel functions is presented with respect to location estimation problem and accuracy of SVM based positioning is compared with other approaches. Results show that support vector machines obtain competitive accuracy in shortest model training time.
Degeneracy study of the forward kinematics of planar 3-RPR parallel manipulators

Degeneracy study of the forward kinematics of planar 3-RPR parallel manipulators This paper investigates two situations in which the forward kinematics of planar 3-RPR parallel manipulators degenerates. These situations have not been addressed before. The first degeneracy arises when the three input joint variables ρ 1 , ρ 2 and ρ 3 satisfy a certain relationship. This degeneracy yields a double root of the characteristic polynomial in tan(/ 2) t ϕ = , which could be erroneously interpreted as two coalesce assembly modes. But, unlike what arises in non-degenerate cases, this double root yields two sets of solutions for the position coordinates (x, y) of the platform. In the second situation, we show that the forward kinematics degenerates over the whole joint space if the base and platform triangles are congruent and the platform triangle is rotated by 180 deg about one of its sides. For these " degenerate " manipulators, which are defined here for the first time, the forward kinematics is reduced to the solution of a 3 rd-degree polynomial and a quadratics in sequence. Such manipulators constitute, in turn, a new family of analytic planar manipulators that would be more suitable for industrial applications. 1 Introduction Solving the forward kinematic problem of a parallel manipulator often leads to complex equations and non analytic solutions, even when considering planar 3-DOF parallel manipulators [1]. For these planar manipulators, Hunt showed that the forward kinematics admits at most 6 solutions [2] and several authors [3, 4] have shown independently that their forward kinematics can be reduced as the solution of a characteristic polynomial of degree 6. In [3], a set of two linear equations in the position coordinates (x, y) of the moving platform is first established, which makes it possible to write x and y as function of the sine and cosine of the orientation angle ϕ of the moving platform. Substituting these expressions of x and y into one of the constraint equations of the manipulator and using the tan-half angle substitution leads to a 6 th-degree polynomial in tan(/ 2) t ϕ =. Conditions under which the degree of this characteristic polynomial decreases were investigated in [5, 6]. Four distinct cases were found, namely, (i) manipulators for which two of the joints coincide (ii) manipulators with similar aligned platforms (iii) manipulators with nonsimilar aligned platforms and, (iv) manipulators with similar triangular platforms. For cases (i), (ii) and …
Straight projection conflict detection and cooperative avoidance for autonomous unmanned aircraft systems

Flying multiple unmanned aircraft in the same airspace and instances or operating these aircraft in commercial airspace increases the likelihood of collisions. To facilitate the continuing growth of air traffic and the request for more operational flexibility a more advanced form of collision avoidance will be required. This paper, addresses the problem of solving conflicts raised between unmanned aircraft that are assumed to fly in same airspace and instances. In this framework, a new functional architecture for unmanned aircraft collision avoidance system is developed together with an algorithm utilized for deciding the collision criteria upon nominal state projection in the near future and sending the avoidance to the flight onboard computer based on heading and speed changes maneuvering. The collision avoidance system will allow each aircraft to negotiate with each another to determine a safe and acceptable solution when potential conflict is detected. The proposed approach uses cooperative, peer to peer negotiation technique in order to efficiently resolve air traffic conflicts.
Total Exposure Study Analysis consortium: a cross-sectional study of tobacco exposures

BACKGROUND
The Total Exposure Study was a stratified, multi-center, cross-sectional study designed to estimate levels of biomarkers of tobacco-specific and non-specific exposure and of potential harm in U.S. adult current cigarette smokers (≥one manufactured cigarette per day over the last year) and tobacco product non-users (no smoking or use of any nicotine containing products over the last 5 years). The study was designed and sponsored by a tobacco company and implemented by contract research organizations in 2002-2003. Multiple analyses of smoking behavior, demographics, and biomarkers were performed. Study data and banked biospecimens were transferred from the sponsor to the Virginia Tobacco and Health Research Repository in 2010, and then to SRI International in 2012, for independent analysis and dissemination.


METHODS
We analyzed biomarker distributions overall, and by biospecimen availability, for comparison with existing studies, and to evaluate generalizability to the entire sample. We calculated genome-wide statistical power for a priori hypotheses. We performed clinical chemistries, nucleic acid extractions and genotyping, and report correlation and quality control metrics.


RESULTS
Vital signs, clinical chemistries, and laboratory measures of tobacco specific and non-specific toxicants are available from 3585 current cigarette smokers, and 1077 non-users. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells, red blood cells, plasma and 24-h urine biospecimens are available from 3073 participants (2355 smokers and 719 non-users). In multivariate analysis, participants with banked biospecimens were significantly more likely to self-identify as White, to be older, to have increased total nicotine equivalents per cigarette, decreased serum cotinine, and increased forced vital capacity, compared to participants without. Effect sizes were small (Cohen's d-values ≤ 0.11). Power for a priori hypotheses was 57 % in non-Hispanic Black (N = 340), and 96 % in non-Hispanic White (N = 1840), smokers. All DNA samples had genotype completion rates ≥97.5 %; 68 % of RNA samples yielded RIN scores ≥6.0.


CONCLUSIONS
Total Exposure Study clinical and laboratory assessments and biospecimens comprise a unique resource for cigarette smoke health effects research. The Total Exposure Study Analysis Consortium seeks to perform molecular studies in multiple domains and will share data and analytic results in public repositories and the peer-reviewed literature. Data and banked biospecimens are available for independent or collaborative research.