LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Sodium bicarbonate vs sodium chloride for the prevention of contrast medium-induced nephropathy in patients undergoing coronary angiography: a randomized trial.

CONTEXT
Sodium bicarbonate has been suggested as a possible strategy for prevention of contrast medium-induced nephropathy, a common cause of renal failure associated with prolonged hospitalization, increased health care costs, and substantial morbidity and mortality.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if sodium bicarbonate is superior to sodium chloride for preventing contrast medium-induced nephropathy in patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney dysfunction who are undergoing coronary angiography.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS
Randomized, controlled, single-blind study conducted between January 2, 2006, and January 31, 2007, and enrolling 353 patients with stable renal disease who were undergoing coronary angiography at a single US center. Included patients were 18 years or older and had an estimated glomerular filtration rate of 60 mL/min per 1.73 m(2) or less and 1 or more of diabetes mellitus, history of congestive heart failure, hypertension, or age older than 75 years.


INTERVENTIONS
Patients were randomized to receive either sodium chloride (n = 178) or sodium bicarbonate (n = 175) administered at the same rate (3 mL/kg for 1 hour before coronary angiography, decreased to 1.5 mL/kg per hour during the procedure and for 4 hours after the completion of the procedure).


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
The primary end point was a 25% or greater decrease in the estimated glomerular filtration rate on days 1 through 4 after contrast exposure.


RESULTS
Median patient age was 71 (interquartile range, 65-76) years, and 45% had diabetes mellitus. The groups were well matched for baseline characteristics. The primary end point was met in 13.3% of the sodium bicarbonate group and 14.6% of the sodium chloride group (relative risk, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.55-1.60; P = .82). In patients randomized to receive sodium bicarbonate vs sodium chloride, the rates of death, dialysis, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular events did not differ significantly at 30 days (1.7% vs 1.7%, 0.6% vs 1.1%, 0.6% vs 0%, and 0% vs 2.2%, respectively) or at 30 days to 6 months (0.6% vs 2.3%, 0.6% vs 1.1%, 0.6% vs 2.3%, and 0.6% vs 1.7%, respectively) (P > .10 for all).


CONCLUSION
The results of this study do not suggest that hydration with sodium bicarbonate is superior to hydration with sodium chloride for the prevention of contrast medium-induced nephropathy in patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease who are undergoing coronary angiography.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00312117.
Thyroid papillary carcinoma arising in ectopic thyroid tissue within a neck branchial cyst

BACKGROUND
Thyroid gland derives from one median anlage at the base of the tongue, and from the two fourth branchial pouches. A number of anomalies may occur during their migration. These can be in form of ectopic tissues, which are frequently found along the course of thyroglossal duct and rarely in other sites, many of these may develop same diseases as the thyroid gland.


CASE PRESENTATION
A 36-years-old female presented with a 3 month history of left side neck mass. The mass disappeared following aspiration of brown colored fluid, which on cytological examination showed cells with nuclear irregularities that warranted the resection of the lesion. The histology demonstrated a thyroid papillary carcinoma arising within the branchial cyst. Thereafter, the patient underwent a total thyroidectomy with central lymph nodes dissection. Histology showed a multifocal papillary carcinoma with central lymph nodes metastases. Only four cases of primary thyroid carcinomas in neck branchial cyst have been described so far.


CONCLUSION
In a lateral cystic neck mass, although rare, occurrence of ectopic thyroid tissue and presence of a papillary thyroid carcinoma should be kept in mind.
Reaching Data Confidentiality and Model Accountability on the CalTrain

Abstract—Distributed collaborative learning (DCL) paradigms enable building joint machine learning models from distrusting multi-party participants. Data confidentiality is guaranteed by retaining private training data on each participant’s local infrastructure. However, this approach to achieving data confidentiality makes today’s DCL designs fundamentally vulnerable to data poisoning and backdoor attacks. It also limits DCL’s model accountability, which is key to backtracking the responsible “bad” training data instances/contributors. In this paper, we introduce CALTRAIN, a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) based centralized multi-party collaborative learning system that simultaneously achieves data confidentiality and model accountability. CALTRAIN enforces isolated computation on centrally aggregated training data to guarantee data confidentiality. To support building accountable learning models, we securely maintain the links between training instances and their corresponding contributors. Our evaluation shows that the models generated from CALTRAIN can achieve the same prediction accuracy when compared to the models trained in non-protected environments. We also demonstrate that when malicious training participants tend to implant backdoors during model training, CALTRAIN can accurately and precisely discover the poisoned and mislabeled training data that lead to the runtime mispredictions.
Digital Health Devices for Everyone!

Smart health devices monitor certain health parameters, are connected to an Internet service, and target primarily a lay consumer seeking a healthy lifestyle rather than the medical expert or the chronically ill person. These devices offer tremendous opportunities for wellbeing and self-management of health. This department reviews smart health devices from a pervasive computing perspective, discussing various devices and their functionality, limitations, and potential.
Green and Sustainable Cloud of Things: Enabling Collaborative Edge Computing

The proliferation of IoTs beside the emergence of various cloud services push the horizon of edge computing. By offering cloud capabilities at the network edge closer to mobile devices, edge computing is a promising paradigm to resolve several vital challenges in IoTs, such as bandwidth saturation, energy constraints, low latency transmission, and data security and privacy. To provide a comprehensive understanding of edge computing supported by the integration of IoTs and cloud computing, that is, CoTs, this article first discusses some distinct research directions in CoTs with respect to edge computing. Given the significance of energy efficiency and sustainability of edge deployment in CoTs, we put forward a green and sustainable virtual network embedding framework for cooperative edge computing in wireless-optical broadband access networks. Specifically, we leverage a reliability function to confirm the number of backup edge devices, and embed virtual networks onto the suitable edge devices in CoTs. Finally, several research challenges and open issues are discussed.
Synthesis of Carbon Nanostructures by CVD Method

The field of nanotechnology continues to develop. Carbon based materials with different structure and dimensions become increasingly important in the field. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are particularly promising due to their anisotropic extraordinary electrical, thermal and mechanical properties that have captured the imagination of researchers worldwide. However, the complexity involved in synthesis of nanotubes in a predictable manner has held back the development of real-world carbon nanotube based applications. In this chapter the structure and synthesis methods will be discussed of CNTs and other forms of nanostructures of carbons. Furthermore, their structuring into macroscopic assemblies, like mats and fibres will be presented as it has important role in future industrial applications of these materials.
Block Copolymer Electrolytes Polymers for Solid-State Lithium Batteries

Bergfelt, A. 2018. Block Copolymer Electrolytes. Polymers for Solid-State Lithium Batteries. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 1630. 68 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0233-1. The use of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) for lithium battery devices is a rapidly growing research area. The liquid electrolytes that are used today are inflammable and harmful towards the battery components. The adoption of SPEs could drastically improve this situation, but they still suffer from a too low performance at ambient temperatures for most practical applications. However, by increasing the operating temperature to between 60 °C and 90 °C, the electrolyte performance can be drastically increased. The drawback of this approach, partly, is that parasitic side reactions become noticeable at these elevated temperatures, thus affecting battery lifetime and performance. Furthermore, the ionically conductive polymer loses its mechanical integrity, thus triggering a need for an external separator in the battery device. One way of combining both mechanical properties and electrochemical performance is to design block copolymer (BCP) electrolytes, that is, polymers that are tailored to combine one ionic conductive block with a mechanical block, into one polymer. The hypothesis is that the BCP electrolytes should self-assemble into well-defined microphase separated regions in order to maximize the block properties. By varying monomer composition and structure of the BCP, it is possible to design electrolytes with different battery device performance. In Paper I and Paper II two types of methacrylate-based triblock copolymers with different mechanical blocks were synthesized, in order to evaluate morphology, electrochemical performance, and battery performance. In Paper III and Paper IV a different strategy was adopted, with a focus on diblock copolymers. In this strategy, the ethylene oxide was replaced by poly(e-caprolactone) and poly(trimethylene carbonate) as the lithium-ion dissolving group. The investigated mechanical blocks in these studies were poly(benzyl methacrylate) and polystyrene. The battery performance for these electrolytes was superior to the methacrylatebased battery devices, thus resulting in stable battery cycling at 40 °C and 30 °C. Andreas Bergfelt, Department of Chemistry Ångström, Polymer Chemistry, Box 538, Uppsala University, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden. © Andreas Bergfelt 2018 ISSN 1651-6214 ISBN 978-91-513-0233-1 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-340856 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-340856)
Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility

With the significant advances in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) over the last half century, there is an increasingly perceived vision that computing will one day be the 5th utility (after water, electricity, gas, and telephony). This computing utility, like all other four existing utilities, will provide the basic level of computing service that is considered essential to meet the everyday needs of the general community. To deliver this vision, a number of computing paradigms have been proposed, of which the latest one is known as Cloud computing. Hence, in this paper, we define Cloud computing and provide the architecture for creating Clouds with market-oriented resource allocation by leveraging technologies such as Virtual Machines (VMs). We also provide insights on market-based resource management strategies that encompass both customer-driven service management and computational risk management to sustain Service Level Agreement (SLA)-oriented resource allocation. In addition, we reveal our early thoughts on interconnecting Clouds for dynamically creating global Cloud exchanges and markets. Then, we present some representative Cloud platforms, especially those developed in industries, along with our current work towards realizing market-oriented resource allocation of Clouds as realized in Aneka enterprise Cloud technology. Furthermore, we highlight the difference between High Performance Computing (HPC) workload and Internet-based services workload.We also describe ametanegotiation infrastructure to establish global Cloud exchanges and markets, and illustrate a case study of harnessing ‘Storage Clouds’ for high performance content delivery. Finally, we conclude with the need for convergence of competing IT paradigms to deliver our 21st century vision. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Pharmacokinetics, prandial glucose control, and safety of insulin glulisine in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacokinetics, postprandial blood glucose excursions, and safety of insulin glulisine as compared with regular human insulin (RHI), both administered immediately before meals in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes.


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
A total of 10 children (aged 5-11 years) and 10 adolescents (aged 12-17 years) were enrolled in a randomized, single-center, single-dose, double-blind, cross-over study. The blood glucose of fasting patients was stabilized with intravenous insulin, following which patients received 0.15 IU/kg of subcutaneously injected insulin glulisine or RHI 2 min before a weight-adjusted standardized liquid meal.


RESULTS
For insulin glulisine versus RHI, maximum insulin concentrations (58 vs. 33 microIU/ml, P < 0.05) and initial insulin concentrations (insulin [area under the curve] AUC(0-2h) 5,232 vs. 2,994 microIU.min(-1).ml(-1), P < 0.05; data are geometric means) were higher after insulin glulisine than RHI. Both time to maximum insulin concentration (54 vs. 66 min) and mean residence time (88 vs. 137 min, P < 0.05) were shorter with insulin glulisine versus RHI. Postprandial glucose excursions after insulin glulisine were lower than after RHI (glucose AUC(0-6h) 641 vs. 801 mg.h(-1).dl(-1), P < 0.05). The pharmacokinetic profile for insulin glulisine was similar for children and adolescents, whereas the pharmacokinetic profile for RHI demonstrated a 64% higher concentration in adolescents. Insulin glulisine was safe and well tolerated.


CONCLUSIONS
The rapid-acting properties of insulin glulisine that have been previously demonstrated in adults are also observed in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Further, these initial data indicate that insulin glulisine is safe and well tolerated in this patient population.
A phase I first-in-human study with tefinostat - a monocyte/macrophage targeted histone deacetylase inhibitor - in patients with advanced haematological malignancies.

Tefinostat (CHR-2845) is a monocyte/macrophage targeted histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi). This first-in-human, standard 3 + 3 dose escalating trial of oral, once daily tefinostat was conducted to determine the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of tefinostat in relapsed/refractory haematological diseases. Eighteen patients were enrolled at doses of 20-640 mg. Plasma concentrations of tefinostat exceeded those demonstrated to give in vitro anti-proliferative activity. Flow cytometric pharmacodynamic assays demonstrated monocyte-targeted increases in protein acetylation, without corresponding changes in lymphocytes. Dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) were not observed and dose escalation was halted at 640 mg without identification of the maximum tolerated dose. Drug-related toxicities were largely Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events grade 1/2 and included nausea, anorexia, fatigue, constipation, rash and increased blood creatinine. A patient with chronic monomyelocytic leukaemia achieved a bone marrow response, with no change in peripheral monocytes. An acute myeloid leukaemia type M2 patient showed a >50% decrease in bone marrow blasts and clearance of peripheral blasts. In conclusion, tefinostat produces monocyte-targeted HDACi activity and is well tolerated, without the DLTs, e.g. fatigue, diarrhoea, thrombocytopenia, commonly seen with non-targeted HDACi. The early signs of efficacy and absence of significant toxicity warrant further evaluation of tefinostat in larger studies. (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00820508).
Combined inhibition of TGFβ and PDGF signaling attenuates radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis

Background : Radiotherapy (RT) is a mainstay for the treatment of lung cancer, but the effective dose is often limited by the development of radiation-induced pneumonitis and pulmonary fibrosis. Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) play crucial roles in the development of these diseases, but the effects of dual growth factor inhibition on pulmonary fibrosis development remain unclear. Methods : C57BL/6 mice were treated with 20 Gy to the thorax to induce pulmonary fibrosis. PDGF receptor inhibitors SU9518 and SU14816 (imatinib) and TGFβ receptor inhibitor galunisertib were applied individually or in combinations after RT. Lung density and septal fibrosis were measured by high-resolution CT and MRI. Lung histology and gene expression analyses were performed and Osteopontin levels were studied. Results : Treatment with SU9518, SU14816 or galunisertib individually attenuated radiation-induced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis and decreased radiological and histological signs of lung damage. Combining PDGF and TGFβ inhibitors showed to be feasible and safe in a mouse model, and dual inhibition significantly attenuated radiation-induced lung damage and extended mouse survival compared to blockage of either pathway alone. Gene expression analysis of irradiated lung tissue showed upregulation of PDGF and TGFβ-dependent signaling components by thoracic irradiation, and upregulation patterns show crosstalk between downstream mediators of the PDGF and TGFβ pathways. Conclusion : Combined small-molecule inhibition of PDGF and TGFβ signaling is a safe and effective treatment for radiation-induced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in mice and may offer a novel approach for treatment of fibrotic lung diseases in humans. Translational statement : RT is an effective treatment modality for cancer with limitations due to acute and chronic toxicities, where TGFβ and PDGF play a key role. Here, we show that a combined inhibition of TGFβ and PDGF signaling is more effective in attenuating radiation-induced lung damage compared to blocking either pathway alone. We used the TGFβ-receptor I inhibitor galunisertib, an effective anticancer compound in preclinical models and the PDGFR inhibitors imatinib and SU9518, a sunitinib analog. Our signaling data suggest that the reduction of TGFβ and PDGF signaling and the attenuation of SPP1 (Osteopontin) expression may be responsible for the observed benefits. With the clinical availability of similar compounds currently in phase-I/II trials as cancer therapeutics or already approved for certain cancers or idiopathic lung fibrosis (IPF), our study suggests that the combined application of small molecule inhibitors of TGFβ and PDGF signaling may offer a promising approach to treat radiation-associated toxicity in RT of lung cancer.
Biased graph walks for RDF graph embeddings

Knowledge Graphs have been recognized as a valuable source for background information in many data mining, information retrieval, natural language processing, and knowledge extraction tasks. However, obtaining a suitable feature vector representation from RDF graphs is a challenging task. In this paper, we extend the RDF2Vec approach, which leverages language modeling techniques for unsupervised feature extraction from sequences of entities. We generate sequences by exploiting local information from graph substructures, harvested by graph walks, and learn latent numerical representations of entities in RDF graphs. We extend the way we compute feature vector representations by comparing twelve different edge weighting functions for performing biased walks on the RDF graph, in order to generate higher quality graph embeddings. We evaluate our approach using different machine learning, as well as entity and document modeling benchmark data sets, and show that the naive RDF2Vec approach can be improved by exploiting Biased Graph Walks.
Cloud motion and stability estimation for intra-hour solar forecasting

Techniques for estimating cloud motion and stability for intra-hour forecasting using a ground-based sky imaging system are presented. A variational optical flow (VOF) technique was used to determine the sub-pixel accuracy of cloud motion for every pixel. Cloud locations up to 15 min ahead were forecasted by inverse mapping of the cloud map. A month of image data captured by a sky imager at UC San Diego was analyzed to compare the accuracy of VOF forecast with cross-correlation method (CCM) and image persistence method. The VOF forecast with a fixed smoothness parameter was found to be superior to image persistence forecast for all forecast horizons for almost all days and outperform CCM forecast with an average error reduction of 39%, 21%, 19%, and 19% for 0, 5, 10, and 15 min forecasts respectively. Optimum forecasts may be achieved with forecast-horizon-dependent smoothness parameters. In addition, cloud stability and forecast confidence was evaluated by correlating point trajectories with forecast error. Point trajectories were obtained by tracking sub-sampled pixels using optical flow field. Point trajectory length in mintues was shown to increase with decreasing forecast error and provide valuable information for cloud forecast confidence at forecast issue time. 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Forecasting with artificial neural networks : The state of the art *

Interest in using artificial neural networks (ANNs) for forecasting has led to a tremendous surge in research activities in the past decade. While ANNs provide a great deal of promise, they also embody much uncertainty. Researchers to date are still not certain about the effect of key factors on forecasting performance of ANNs. This paper presents a state-of-the-art survey of ANN applications in forecasting. Our purpose is to provide (1) a synthesis of published research in this area, (2) insights on ANN modeling issues, and (3) the future research directions.  1998 Elsevier Science B.V.