LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Responsiveness and validity of the Motor Activity Log in patients during the subacute phase after stroke.

PURPOSE
To investigate the responsiveness and cross-sectional and longitudinal validity of the Motor Activity Log (MAL) in the subacute phase after stroke.


METHOD
Data were collected pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 3-month follow-up evaluations from 30 patients with stroke participating in a randomized trial of forced use. Assessments included MAL, the Fugl-Meyer test, the 16-hole peg test, grip strength, the Action Research Arm Test, and the Motor Assessment Scale. Measurements of responsiveness were effect size, standardized response mean (SRM), and responsiveness ratio (RR). Relationships between the MAL and the other measures were determined with Spearman correlations.


RESULTS
The MAL is responsive to change, with effect size, SRM, and RR>1.0 at the 3-month follow-up, and SRM and RR>1.0 at post-intervention. Correlations at the separate test occasions between MAL and the other measures were mostly close to 0.50, which shows fair to moderate construct validity. Correlations between changes in MAL and in the other measures were weaker than cross-sectional relationships.


CONCLUSIONS
The MAL is a responsive measure of daily hand use in patients participating in rehabilitation in the subacute phase after stroke. Correlations of construct validity indicate that daily hand use may need to be measured separately from body function and activity capacity, in line with the underlying constructs of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. To strengthen our findings, they should be repeated in larger samples of patients.
Effect of maternal HIV status on infant mortality: evidence from a 9-month follow-up of mothers and their infants in Zimbabwe

Objective:To describe infant mortality trends and associated factors among infants born to mothers enrolled in a prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) program.Study Design:A nested case–control study of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and -negative pregnant women enrolled from the national PMTCT program at 36 weeks of gestation attending three peri-urban clinics in Zimbabwe offering maternal and child health care. Mother–infant pairs were followed up from delivery, and at 6 weeks, 4 months and 9 months.Results:A total of 1045 mother and singleton infant pairs, 474 HIV-positive and 571 HIV-negative mothers, delivered 469 and 569 live infants, respectively. Differences in mortality were at 6 weeks and 4 months, RR (95% CI) 9.71 (1.22 to 77.32) and 21.84 (2.93 to 162.98), respectively. Overall, 9-month mortality rates were 150 and 47 per 1000 person-years for infants born to HIV-positive and HIV-negative mothers, respectively. Proportional hazard ratio of mortality for children born to HIV-positive mothers was 3.21 (1.91 to 5.38) when compared with that for children born to HIV-negative mothers.Conclusion:Maternal HIV exposure was associated with higher mortality in the first 4 months of life. Infant's HIV status was the strongest predictor of infant mortality. There is a need to screen infants for HIV from delivery and throughout breastfeeding.
Machine Characterization of the Classes of the W-Hierarchy

We give machine characterizations of the complexity classes of the W-hierarchy. Moreover, for every class of this hierarchy, we present a parameterized halting problem complete for this class.
Making Sense of Statistics in Clinical Trial Reports: Part 1 of a 4-Part Series on Statistics for Clinical Trials.

This paper is a practical guide to the essentials of statistical analysis and reporting of randomized clinical trials (RCTs). It is the first in a series of 4 educational papers on statistical issues for RCTs, which will also include statistical controversies in RCT reporting and interpretation, the fundamentals of design for RCTs, and statistical challenges in the design and monitoring of RCTs. Here, we concentrate on displaying results in tables and figures, estimating treatment effects, expressing uncertainty using confidence intervals, and using p values wisely to assess the strength of evidence for a treatment difference. The various methods and their interpretation are illustrated by recent, topical cardiology trial results.
An evaluation of the management of asymptomatic catheter-associated bacteriuria and candiduria at The Ottawa Hospital.

BACKGROUND
Asymptomatic catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are common in hospitalized patients. They are associated with a low incidence of sequelae and morbidity, and in most patients resolve spontaneously on removal of the catheter. As a result, it is not recommended that asymptomatic catheter-associated bacteriuria or candiduria be treated with antimicrobial agents while the catheter remains in place because it may lead to the evolution of resistant flora.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the current management of patients with CAUTIs with respect to antimicrobial therapy at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ottawa, Ontario.


METHODS
A prospective observational study over a period of 26 consecutive days was conducted at The Ottawa Hospital (General and Civic campuses) and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Inpatients with an indwelling catheter, a positive urine culture and the absence of UTI signs or symptoms were assessed. Patients were followed for five days to determine whether antimicrobials were prescribed.


RESULTS
From March 3 to March 28, 2003, 29 of 119 patients screened met inclusion criteria. Of these 29 patients, 15 (52%) were prescribed antimicrobials and were therefore considered to be inappropriately managed. Differences were observed between the appropriate and inappropriate management groups in terms of duration of stay to positive urine culture and whether yeast or bacteria were isolated from the culture.


CONCLUSION
Antimicrobial agents were prescribed in over one-half of CAUTI cases, contrary to recommendations from the literature. Education is required to bring this strongly supported recommendation into clinical practice.
Mortality results from a randomized prostate-cancer screening trial.

BACKGROUND
The effect of screening with prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) testing and digital rectal examination on the rate of death from prostate cancer is unknown. This is the first report from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial on prostate-cancer mortality.


METHODS
From 1993 through 2001, we randomly assigned 76,693 men at 10 U.S. study centers to receive either annual screening (38,343 subjects) or usual care as the control (38,350 subjects). Men in the screening group were offered annual PSA testing for 6 years and digital rectal examination for 4 years. The subjects and health care providers received the results and decided on the type of follow-up evaluation. Usual care sometimes included screening, as some organizations have recommended. The numbers of all cancers and deaths and causes of death were ascertained.


RESULTS
In the screening group, rates of compliance were 85% for PSA testing and 86% for digital rectal examination. Rates of screening in the control group increased from 40% in the first year to 52% in the sixth year for PSA testing and ranged from 41 to 46% for digital rectal examination. After 7 years of follow-up, the incidence of prostate cancer per 10,000 person-years was 116 (2820 cancers) in the screening group and 95 (2322 cancers) in the control group (rate ratio, 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16 to 1.29). The incidence of death per 10,000 person-years was 2.0 (50 deaths) in the screening group and 1.7 (44 deaths) in the control group (rate ratio, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.70). The data at 10 years were 67% complete and consistent with these overall findings.


CONCLUSIONS
After 7 to 10 years of follow-up, the rate of death from prostate cancer was very low and did not differ significantly between the two study groups. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00002540.)
Remoteness and issues in mental health care: experience from rural Australia.

The island continent of Australia is the sixth largest country in the world (approximately 8 million square kilometres), larger in size than Western Europe, yet low in population density. 70% of the 20 million people are concentrated in capital cities and major metropolitan areas, mainly in urban coastal regions. This is in contrast to countries with vast rural populations such as India and China. The remaining six million (30%) people are scattered inland in areas referred as rural, the bush, the outback, and in remote areas often difficult to access and provide mental health care.
Abdominal Myosteatosis is Independently Associated to Hyperinsulinemia and Insulin Resistance among Older Men without Diabetes

OBJECTIVE
Skeletal muscle adipose tissue (AT) infiltration (myosteatosis) increases with aging and may contribute to the development of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It remains unclear if myosteatosis is associated to glucose and insulin homeostasis independent of total and central adiposity.


DESIGN AND METHODS
The association between intermuscular AT (IMAT) in the abdominal skeletal muscles (total, paraspinal, and psoas) and fasting serum glucose, insulin, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in 393 nondiabetic Caucasian men aged 65+ was evaluated. Abdominal IMAT, visceral AT (VAT), and subcutaneous AT (SAT) (cm(3) ) were measured by quantitative computed tomography at the L4-L5 intervertebral space.


RESULTS
In age, study site, height, and muscle volume adjusted regression analyses, total abdominal and psoas (but not paraspinal) IMAT were positively associated with glucose, insulin, and HOMA-IR (all P < 0.003). The associations between total abdominal and psoas IMAT and insulin and HOMA-IR remained significant after further adjusting for lifestyle factors, as well as duel-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measured total body fat, VAT, or SAT in separate models (all P < 0.009).


CONCLUSIONS
A previously unreported, independent association between abdominal myosteatosis and hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance among older Caucasian men was indicated. These associations may be specific for particular abdominal muscle depots, illustrating the potential importance of separately studying specific muscle groups.
An altered TH1/TH2 and pro-inflammatory cytokine profile in patients with end-stage renal disease detected by suspension array technology.

BACKGROUND
Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have an impaired immune response with a dysregulated Th1/Th2 cytokine network.


METHODS
Twelve ESRD patients on HD were enrolled, and their data of cytokines alterations were divided into pre- and post-HD groups, while data from 12 healthy volunteers served as control. Th1/Th2 and pro-inflammatory cytokines were all measured by suspension array (SA) technology with interleukin (IL)-8 detected simultaneously by ELISA. The correlation between SA technology and ELISA for IL-8 was calculated to compare these two methods.


RESULTS
In ESRD patients, as compared with controls, the level of IL-10 increased just prior to HD and IL-1beta level decreased only following HD, while the levels of TNF-beta and IL-8 decreased both before and after HD. After HD, the levels of IL-1beta, IL-4, IL-8, and IL-10 in ESRD patients decreased when compared with those before HD. Statistical analysis by Spearman's rho's test showed significant correlations between SA technology and ELISA on IL-8 (p < 0.001, correlation coefficient 0.946).


CONCLUSIONS
ESRD patients on HD show an altered cytokine profile with an increase in Th2 cytokine IL-10 and a decrease in Th1 cytokine TNF-beta as well as a reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8. HD did affect cytokine profile of ESRD patients, decreasing IL-1, IL-4, IL-8, and IL-10. SA technology is useful in the detection of cytokine changes within detection limits of this technology in ESRD patients.
Social Security and Two-Earner Households

In the past decades, elimination of the pay-as-you-go system in U.S. has been extensively discussed and studied. Such an elimination would also eliminate the intra-cohort redistribution done by the following policies of social security. Due to spousal and survivor’s benefit provisions, the system redistributes (mostly) to single-earner married households (not necessarily progressive). Retirement benefits are a concave function of past mean earnings. Hence, the system redistributes from high earners to low earners. Finally, the existence of a cap on social security taxable earnings makes the system regressive. This is the first paper that quantifies redistributive, labor supply, and welfare implications of these policies using a general equilibrium life-cycle model. Agents start out as permanently married or single and with education levels and wage profiles, where the latter depend both on education and gender. The household is the decision maker and decides on the labor supply of its member(s) and saving. The aggregate production function has as inputs capital and labor aggregated by efficiency. Elimination of these policies results in a 6.1% increase in married female labor force participation rate. The middle-income single-earner married households experience the largest welfare losses whereas the high-income two-earner households together with high-income single households experience the largest welfare gains. JEL Classifications: E62, H31, H55, J12
Surface Roughness Analysis in Machining of GFRP Composites by Carbide Tool ( K 20 )

Nowadays, glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) play a vital role in many engineering applications as an alternative to various heavy exotic materials. In GFRP composites, the matrix of polymer (resin) is reinforced with glass fibers. However, the users of FRP are facing difficulties to machine it, because if fiber delamination, fiber pullout, short tool life, matrix debonding, burning and formation of powder like chips. The surface quality and dimensional precision greatly affect the parts during their useful life, especially in cases where the components come in contact with other elements or materials. The present work deals with the study and development of a surface roughness prediction Experiments were conducted through the established Taguchi’s Design of Experiments (DOE) on an all geared lathe using carbide (K20) tool. The cutting parameters considered were cutting speed, feed, depth of cut, and work piece (fiber orientation). A second order mathematical model in terms of cutting parameters was developed using RSM. The results indicate that the developed model is suitable for prediction of surface roughness in machining of GFRP composites. The effect of different parameters on surface roughness are analyzed and presented in this study.
Super Normal Vector for Human Activity Recognition with Depth Cameras

The advent of cost-effectiveness and easy-operation depth cameras has facilitated a variety of visual recognition tasks including human activity recognition. This paper presents a novel framework for recognizing human activities from video sequences captured by depth cameras. We extend the surface normal to polynormal by assembling local neighboring hypersurface normals from a depth sequence to jointly characterize local motion and shape information. We then propose a general scheme of super normal vector (SNV) to aggregate the low-level polynormals into a discriminative representation, which can be viewed as a simplified version of the Fisher kernel representation. In order to globally capture the spatial layout and temporal order, an adaptive spatio-temporal pyramid is introduced to subdivide a depth video into a set of space-time cells. In the extensive experiments, the proposed approach achieves superior performance to the state-of-the-art methods on the four public benchmark datasets, i.e., MSRAction3D, MSRDailyActivity3D, MSRGesture3D, and MSRActionPairs3D.
The prepuce: preservation and reconstruction.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW
To analyze the role of prepuce preservation in various disorders and discuss options available to reconstruct the prepuce.


RECENT FINDINGS
The prepuce can be preserved in selected cases of penile degloving procedures, phimosis or hypospadias repair, and penile cancer resection. There is no clear evidence that debilitating and persistent preputial lymphedema develops after a prepuce-sparing penile degloving procedure. In fact, the prepuce can at times be preserved even if lymphedema develops. The prepuce can potentially be preserved in both phimosis and hypospadias repair. Penile cancer localized to the prepuce can be excised using Mohs' micrographic surgery without compromising survival. Reconstruction of the prepuce still remains a theoretical topic. There has been no study that has systematically evaluated efficacy of any reconstructive procedures.


SUMMARY
The standard practice for preputial disorders remains circumcision. However, prepuce preservation is often technically feasible without compromising treatment. Preservative surgery combined with reconstruction may lead to better patient satisfaction and quality of life.
Study of molecular interactions in binary liquid mixtures

The acoustical parameters for two binary liquid mixtures namely, acetone – carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and acetone – benzene have been determined at three different temperatures. The acoustical parameters such as the adiabatic compressibility κ, the free length of interaction Lf, interaction parameter χ, Lennard Jones Potential (LJP) and also excess parameters such as excess velocity u, excess compressibility κ, excess volume Vf and excess free length Lf are computed for the two systems at 303K, 308K and 313K from the measured ultrasonic velocity and density values. The extent of interactions existing between component molecules has been found out. In acetone – CCl4 system, the interaction parameter values have been out to be negative suggesting the presence of weak dipole –induced dipole interactions in this system. However, in acetone – benzene system, there are strong dipole induced dipole interactions. With increase in temperature, the extent of interaction becomes weak in both the systems due to thermal agitation of the component molecules.
Regional Variation in the Prevalence of E. coli O157 in Cattle: A Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression

BACKGROUND
Escherichia coli O157 (EcO157) infection has been recognized as an important global public health concern. But information on the prevalence of EcO157 in cattle at the global and at the wider geographical levels is limited, if not absent. This is the first meta-analysis to investigate the point prevalence of EcO157 in cattle at the global level and to explore the factors contributing to variation in prevalence estimates.


METHODS
Seven electronic databases- CAB Abstracts, PubMed, Biosis Citation Index, Medline, Web of Knowledge, Scirus and Scopus were searched for relevant publications from 1980 to 2012. A random effect meta-analysis model was used to produce the pooled estimates. The potential sources of between study heterogeneity were identified using meta-regression.


PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
A total of 140 studies consisting 220,427 cattle were included in the meta-analysis. The prevalence estimate of EcO157 in cattle at the global level was 5.68% (95% CI, 5.16-6.20). The random effects pooled prevalence estimates in Africa, Northern America, Oceania, Europe, Asia and Latin America-Caribbean were 31.20% (95% CI, 12.35-50.04), 7.35% (95% CI, 6.44-8.26), 6.85% (95% CI, 2.41-11.29), 5.15% (95% CI, 4.21-6.09), 4.69% (95% CI, 3.05-6.33) and 1.65% (95% CI, 0.77-2.53), respectively. Between studies heterogeneity was evidenced in most regions. World region (p<0.001), type of cattle (p<0.001) and to some extent, specimens (p = 0.074) as well as method of pre-enrichment (p = 0.110), were identified as factors for variation in the prevalence estimates of EcO157 in cattle.


CONCLUSION
The prevalence of the organism seems to be higher in the African and Northern American regions. The important factors that might have influence in the estimates of EcO157 are type of cattle and kind of screening specimen. Their roles need to be determined and they should be properly handled in any survey to estimate the true prevalence of EcO157.
An Inference Attack Model for Flow Table Capacity and Usage: Exploiting the Vulnerability of Flow Table Overflow in Software-Defined Network

As the most competitive solution for next-generation network, software-defined network (SDN) and its dominant implementation OpenFlow, are attracting more and more interests. But besides convenience and flexibility, SDN/OpenFlow also introduces new kinds of limitations and security issues. Of these limitations, the most obvious and maybe the most neglected one, is the flow table capacity of SDN/OpenFlow switches. In this paper, we proposed a novel inference attack targeting at SDN/OpenFlow network, which is motivated by the limited flow table capacities of SDN/OpenFlow switches and the following measurable network performance decrease resulting from frequent interactions between data plane and control plane when the flow table is full. To our best knowledge, this is the first proposed inference attack model of this kind for SDN/OpenFlow. We also implemented an inference attack framework according to our model and examined its efficiency and accuracy. The simulation results demonstrate that our framework can infer the network parameters(flow table capacity and flow table usage) with an accuracy of 80% or higher. These findings give us a deeper understanding of SDN/OpenFlow limitations and serve as guidelines to future improvements of SDN/OpenFlow.
Impact of saphenous vein graft radiographic markers on clinical events and angiographic parameters.

BACKGROUND
Use of saphenous vein graft (SVG) radiographic markers has been associated with shorter cardiac catheterization procedure times and reduced contrast agent volume for postoperative coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) catheterizations. Use of such markers is varied and often operator-dependent, as the effect of SVG markers has not been fully evaluated. The goal of the present analysis was to evaluate the association of SVG markers with clinical outcomes and graft patency.


METHODS
Data were drawn from the Project of Ex-vivo Vein Graft Engineering via Transfection (PREVENT) IV trial of patients undergoing CABG at 107 hospitals across the United States. Repeat angiography was performed within 12 to 18 months after CABG. The SVG markers were used at the discretion of the surgeon and were identified on the follow-up angiogram as any device used to mark the ostium, regardless of shape.


RESULTS
The SVG markers were present in 51.2% of evaluable patients (910 of 1,778) and 52.3% of SVGs (2,228 of 4,240). Among patients with totally occluded SVGs (n = 911), visual identification of the SVG was obtained more frequently in those with an SVG marker (90.7% vs 72.1%, p < 0.001). The SVG stenosis 70% or greater at follow-up did not differ by use of markers (25.8% with marker vs 24.4% without marker, p = not significant). These findings were also consistent in ostial lesions (n = 942). Long-term death or myocardial infarction (MI) was similar by use of marker. The perioperative CABG MI was higher in patients with SVG markers (10.1% vs 5.5%, odds ratio adjusted 1.86, p = 0.021).


CONCLUSIONS
Saphenous vein graft radiographic markers were associated with higher rates of direct visualization of totally occluded SVGs without an adverse effect on graft patency or long-term clinical outcomes, but the association of SVG markers with increased perioperative CABG MI warrants further examination.