LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacokinetics of cyclosporin - a microemulsion in children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome

OBJECTIVE
We present a prospective study of a microemulsion of cyclosporin to treat idiopathic nephrotic syndrome in ten children with normal renal function who presented cyclosporin trough levels between 50 and 150 ng/ml and achieved complete remission with cyclosporin. To compare the pharmacokinetic parameters of cyclosporin in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome during remission and relapse of the nephrotic state.


METHOD
The pharmacokinetic profile of cyclosporin was evaluated with the 12-hour area under the time-concentration curve (auc0-12) using seven time-point samples. This procedure was performed on each patient during remission and relapse with the same cyclosporin dose in mg/kg/day. The 12-hour area under the time-concentration curve was calculated using the trapezoidal rule. All of the pharmacokinetic parameters and the resumed 4-hour area under the time-concentration curve were correlated with the 12-hour area under the time-concentration curve. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01616446.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences in any parameters of the pharmacokinetic of cyclosporin during remission and relapse, even when the data were normalized by dose. The best correlation with the 12-hour area under the time-concentration curve was the 4-hour area under the time-concentration curve on remission and relapse of the disease, followed by the 2-hour level after cyclosporin (c2) dosing in both disease states.


CONCLUSIONS
These data indicate that the same parameters used for cyclosporin therapeutic monitoring estimated during the nephrotic state can also be used during remission. Larger controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings.
OpenIGTLink: an open network protocol for image-guided therapy environment.

BACKGROUND
With increasing research on system integration for image-guided therapy (IGT), there has been a strong demand for standardized communication among devices and software to share data such as target positions, images and device status.


METHOD
We propose a new, open, simple and extensible network communication protocol for IGT, named OpenIGTLink, to transfer transform, image and status messages. We conducted performance tests and use-case evaluations in five clinical and engineering scenarios.


RESULTS
The protocol was able to transfer position data with submillisecond latency up to 1024 fps and images with latency of <10 ms at 32 fps. The use-case tests demonstrated that the protocol is feasible for integrating devices and software.


CONCLUSION
The protocol proved capable of handling data required in the IGT setting with sufficient time resolution and latency. The protocol not only improves the interoperability of devices and software but also promotes transitions of research prototypes to clinical applications.
Tumor-directed gene therapy in mice using a composite nonviral gene delivery system consisting of the piggyBac transposon and polyethylenimine

Compared with viral vectors, nonviral vectors are less immunogenic, more stable, safer and easier to replication for application in cancer gene therapy. However, nonviral gene delivery system has not been extensively used because of the low transfection efficiency and the short transgene expression, especially in vivo. It is desirable to develop a nonviral gene delivery system that can support stable genomic integration and persistent gene expression in vivo. Here, we used a composite nonviral gene delivery system consisting of the piggyBac (PB) transposon and polyethylenimine (PEI) for long-term transgene expression in mouse ovarian tumors. A recombinant plasmid PB [Act-RFP, HSV-tk] encoding both the herpes simplex thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) and the monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP1) under PB transposon elements was constructed. This plasmid and the PBase plasmid were injected into ovarian cancer tumor xenografts in mice by in vivo PEI system. The antitumor effects of HSV-tk/ganciclovir (GCV) system were observed after intraperitoneal injection of GCV. Histological analysis and TUNEL assay were performed on the cryostat sections of the tumor tissue. Plasmid construction was confirmed by PCR analysis combined with restrictive enzyme digestion. mRFP1 expression could be visualized three weeks after the last transfection of pPB/TK under fluorescence microscopy. After GCV admission, the tumor volume of PB/TK group was significantly reduced and the tumor inhibitory rate was 81.96% contrasted against the 43.07% in the TK group. Histological analysis showed that there were extensive necrosis and lymphocytes infiltration in the tumor tissue of the PB/TK group but limited in the tissue of control group. TUNEL assays suggested that the transfected cells were undergoing apoptosis after GCV admission in vivo. Our results show that the nonviral gene delivery system coupling PB transposon with PEI can be used as an efficient tool for gene therapy in ovarian cancer.
New ICD-10 version of the Charlson comorbidity index predicted in-hospital mortality.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
The ICD-9-CM adaptation of the Charlson comorbidity score has been a valuable resource for health services researchers. With the transition into ICD-10 coding worldwide, an ICD-10 version of the Deyo adaptation was developed and validated using population-based hospital data from Victoria, Australia.


METHODS
The algorithm was translated from ICD-9-CM into ICD-10-AM (Australian modification) in a multistep process. After a mapping algorithm was used to develop an initial translation, these codes were manually examined by the coding experts and a general physician for face validity. Because the ICD-10 system is country specific, our goal was to keep many of the translated code at the three-digit level for generalizability of the new index.


RESULTS
There appears to be little difference in the distribution of the Charlson Index score between the two versions. A strong association between increasing index scores and mortality exists: the area under the ROC curve is 0.865 for the last year using the ICD-9-CM version and remains high, at 0.855, for the ICD-10 version.


CONCLUSION
This work represents the first rigorous adaptation of the Charlson comorbidity index for use with ICD-10 data. In comparison with a well-established ICD-9-CM coding algorithm, it yields closely similar prevalence and prognosis information by comorbidity category.
Inequity of access to investigation and effect on clinical outcomes: prognostic study of coronary angiography for suspected stable angina pectoris.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether coronary angiography for suspected stable angina pectoris is underused in older patients, women, south Asian patients, and those from socioeconomically deprived areas, and, if it is, whether this is associated with higher coronary event rates.


DESIGN
Multicentre cohort with five year follow-up.


SETTING
Six ambulatory care clinics in England.


PARTICIPANTS
1375 consecutive patients in whom coronary angiography was individually rated as appropriate with the Rand consensus method.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Receipt of angiography (420 procedures); coronary mortality and acute coronary syndrome events.


RESULTS
In a multivariable analysis, angiography was less likely to be performed in patients aged over 64 compared with those aged under 50 (hazard ratio 0.60, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to 0.96), women compared with men (0.42, 0.35 to 0.50), south Asians compared with white people (0.48, 0.34 to 0.67), and patients in the most deprived fifth compared with the other four fifths (0.66, 0.40 to 1.08). Not undergoing angiography when it was deemed appropriate was associated with higher rates of coronary event.


CONCLUSIONS
At an early stage after presentation with suspected angina, coronary angiography is underused in older people, women, south Asians, and people from deprived areas. Not receiving appropriate angiography was associated with a higher risk of coronary events in all groups. Interventions based on clinical guidance that supports individualised management decisions might improve access and outcomes.
Diversity and bioprospection of fungal community present in oligotrophic soil of continental Antarctica

We surveyed the diversity and capability of producing bioactive compounds from a cultivable fungal community isolated from oligotrophic soil of continental Antarctica. A total of 115 fungal isolates were obtained and identified in 11 taxa of Aspergillus, Debaryomyces, Cladosporium, Pseudogymnoascus, Penicillium and Hypocreales. The fungal community showed low diversity and richness, and high dominance indices. The extracts of Aspergillus sydowii, Penicillium allii-sativi, Penicillium brevicompactum, Penicillium chrysogenum and Penicillium rubens possess antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antitumoral, herbicidal and antiprotozoal activities. Bioactive extracts were examined using 1H NMR spectroscopy and detected the presence of secondary metabolites with chemical shifts. Our results show that the fungi present in cold-oligotrophic soil from Antarctica included few dominant species, which may have important implications for understanding eukaryotic survival in cold-arid oligotrophic soils. We hypothesize that detailed further investigations may provide a greater understanding of the evolution of Antarctic fungi and their relationships with other organisms described in that region. Additionally, different wild pristine bioactive fungal isolates found in continental Antarctic soil may represent a unique source to discover prototype molecules for use in drug and biopesticide discovery studies.
Why Have Divorce Rates Fallen ? The Role of Women ’ s Age at Marriage

American divorce rates rose from the 1950s to the 1970s, peaked around 1980, and have fallen ever since. The mean age at marriage also substantially increased after 1970. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and National Survey of Family Growth, I explore the extent to which the rise in age at marriage can explain the rapid decrease in divorce rates for cohorts marrying after 1980. Three different empirical approaches all suggest that the increase in women’s age at marriage was the main proximate cause of the fall in divorce. ∗Email: drotz@mathematica-mpr.com. I would like to thank Roland Fryer, Claudia Goldin, and Larry Katz for continued guidance and support on this project, as well as Timothy Bond, Richard Freeman, Stephanie Hurder, Jeff Liebman, Claudia Olivetti, Amanda Pallais, Laszlo Sandor, Emily Glassberg Sands, Alessandra Voena, Justin Wolfers, and seminar participants at Case Western Reserve University, Harvard University, Mathematica Policy Research, UCLA, University of Arizona, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Iowa, University of Texas-Austin, and the US Census Bureau for helpful comments and discussions. I am also grateful to Larry Katz and Phillip Levine for providing data on oral contraceptive pill access and abortion rates respectively. All remaining errors are my own. This research has been supported by the NSF-IGERT program, "Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy" at Harvard University (Grant No. 0333403). The views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of Mathematica Policy Research.
An Examination of Porter's Competitive Strategies in Electronic Virtual Markets: A Comparison of Two On-line Business Models

Porter’s framework of four competitive strategies (cost leadership, market differentiation, innovation differentiation, market focus) is used to compare the market strategies of firms operating solely in an electronic virtual market (“on-line firms”) and firms operating concurrently in the traditional and electronic markets. It also examines the connection between the competitive strategies and business performance in electronic markets. A survey of 123 firms in South Korea found that Porter’s competitive strategies are relevant to electronic markets. Depending on their operating model, firms tend to choose different competitive strategies. On-line firms incline to differentiation strategies, whereas click-and-mortar firms prefer strategies based on market focus. Because the strategies firms choose for competitive strength are not necessarily the best ones to improve business performance, firms competing in an electronic market need to reassess their competitive strategies and reallocate their resources to maximize the return on their investment.
Erectile dysfunction, physical activity and metabolic syndrome: differences in markers of atherosclerosis

BACKGROUND
Erectile dysfunction (ED), impaired arterial elasticity, elevated resting heart rate as well as increased levels of oxidized LDL and fibrinogen associate with future cardiovascular events. Physical activity is crucial in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), while metabolic syndrome (MetS) comprises an increased risk for CVD events. The aim of this study was to assess whether markers of subclinical atherosclerosis are associated with the presence of ED and MetS, and whether physical activity is protective of ED.


METHODS
57 MetS (51.3 ± 8.0 years) and 48 physically active (PhA) (51.1 ± 8.1 years) subjects participated in the study. ED was assessed by the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire, arterial elasticity by a radial artery tonometer (HDI/PulseWave™ CR-2000) and circulating oxLDL by a capture ELISA immunoassay. Fibrinogen and lipids were assessed by validated methods. The calculation of mean daily energy expenditure of physical exercise was based on a structured questionnaire.


RESULTS
ED was more often present among MetS compared to PhA subjects, 63.2% and 27.1%, respectively (p < 0.001). Regular physical exercise at the level of > 400 kcal/day was protective of ED (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.017-0.778, p = 0.027), whereas increased fibrinogen (OR 4.67, 95% CI 1.171-18.627, p = 0.029) and elevated resting heart rate (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.003-1.138, p = 0.04) were independently associated with the presence of ED. In addition, large arterial elasticity (ml/mmHgx10) was lower among MetS compared to PhA subjects (16.6 ± 4.0 vs. 19.6 ± 4.2, p < 0.001), as well as among ED compared to non-ED subjects (16.7 ± 4.6 vs. 19.0 ± 3.9, p = 0.008). Fibrinogen and resting heart rate were highest and large arterial elasticity lowest among subjects with both MetS and ED.


CONCLUSIONS
Markers of subclinical atherosclerosis associated with the presence of ED and were most evident among subjects with both MetS and ED. Thus, especially MetS patients presenting with ED should be considered at high risk for CVD events. Physical activity, on its part, seems to be protective of ED.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01119404.
A Hierarchical End-to-End Model for Jointly Improving Text Summarization and Sentiment Classification

Text summarization and sentiment classification both aim to capture the main ideas of the text but at different levels. Text summarization is to describe the text within a few sentences, while sentiment classification can be regarded as a special type of summarization which “summarizes” the text into a even more abstract fashion, i.e., a sentiment class. Based on this idea, we propose a hierarchical endto-end model for joint learning of text summarization and sentiment classification, where the sentiment classification label is treated as the further “summarization” of the text summarization output. Hence, the sentiment classification layer is put upon the text summarization layer, and a hierarchical structure is derived. Experimental results on Amazon online reviews datasets show that our model achieves better performance than the strong baseline systems on both abstractive summarization and sentiment classification.1
A prospective multiple case study of the impact of emerging scientific evidence on established colorectal cancer screening programs: a study protocol

BACKGROUND
Health-policy decision making is a complex and dynamic process, for which strong evidentiary support is required. This includes scientifically produced research, as well as information that relates to the context in which the decision takes place. Unlike scientific evidence, this "contextual evidence" is highly variable and often includes information that is not scientifically produced, drawn from sources such as political judgement, program management experience and knowledge, or public values. As the policy decision-making process is variable and difficult to evaluate, it is often unclear how this heterogeneous evidence is identified and incorporated into "evidence-based policy" decisions. Population-based colorectal cancer screening poses an ideal context in which to examine these issues. In Canada, colorectal cancer screening programs have been established in several provinces over the past five years, based on the fecal occult blood test (FOBT) or the fecal immunochemical test. However, as these programs develop, new scientific evidence for screening continues to emerge. Recently published randomized controlled trials suggest that the use of flexible sigmoidoscopy for population-based screening may pose a greater reduction in mortality than the FOBT. This raises the important question of how policy makers will address this evidence, given that screening programs are being established or are already in place. This study will examine these issues prospectively and will focus on how policy makers monitor emerging scientific evidence and how both scientific and contextual evidence are identified and applied for decisions about health system improvement.


METHODS
This study will employ a prospective multiple case study design, involving participants from Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. In each province, data will be collected via document analysis and key informant interviews. Documents will include policy briefs, reports, meeting minutes, media releases, and correspondence. Interviews will be conducted in person with senior administrative leaders, government officials, screening experts, and high-level cancer system stakeholders.


DISCUSSION
The proposed study comprises the third and final phase of an Emerging Team grant to address the challenges of health-policy decision making and colorectal cancer screening decisions in Canada. This study will contribute a unique prospective look at how policy makers address new, emerging scientific evidence in several different policy environments and at different stages of program planning and implementation. Findings will provide important insight into the various approaches that are or should be used to monitor emerging evidence, the relative importance of scientific versus contextual evidence for decision making, and the tools and processes that may be important to support challenging health-policy decisions.
Question Answering System, Approaches and Techniques: A Review

As technology developed the use of internet has tremendously increased because of the availability of huge amount of data. Question answering is a specialized area in the field of information retrieval Text Processing. Question Answering system has many application based on source of answering like extracting information from document, language learning, online examination etc. General Terms Natural Language Processing, Question Answering System, Information Retrieval
Deep Semantic Analysis of Text

We describe a graphical logical form as a semantic representation for text understanding. This representation was designed to bridge the gap between highly expressive “deep” representations of logical forms and more shallow semantic encodings such as word senses and semantic relations. We also present an evaluation metric for the representation and report on the current performance on the TRIPS parser on the common task paragraphs.
Snap-together visualization: can users construct and operate coordinated visualizations?

Multiple coordinated visualizations enable users to rapidly explore complex information. However, users often need unforeseen combinations of coordinated visualizations. Snaptogether visualization (Snap) enables users to rapidly and dynamically construct coordinated}visualization interfaces, customized for their data, without programming. Users load data into desired visualizations, then construct coordinations between them for brushing and linking, overview and detail view, drill down, etc. Snap formalizes a conceptual model of visualization coordination based on the relational data model. Visualization developers can easily Snap-enable their independent visualizations using a simple API. Empirical evaluation reveals bene"ts, cognitive issues and usability concerns with coordination concepts and Snap. Two user studies explore coordination construction and operation. Data-savvy users successfully, enthusiastically and rapidly constructed powerful coordinated}visualization interfaces of their own. Operating an overview-anddetail coordination reliably improved user performance by 30}80% over detail-only and uncoordinated interfaces for most tasks. ( 2000 Academic Press
Capacity, capability and cross-border challenges associated with marine eradication programmes in Europe: The attempted eradication of an invasive non-native ascidian, Didemnum vexillum in Wales, United Kingdom

Increasing recognition of the threat which invasive non-native species present to ecological and economic assets has led to a recent surge in international, regional and national policies. Within the European Union, a draft EU Regulation on the prevention and management of invasive alien species has been developed. The draft Regulation, published in 2013, recommends the creation of a list of invasive alien species of Union concern, wherein any Member State identifying newly establishing populations of these species must implement rapid eradication measures. The first recording of the invasive non-native ascidian Didemnum vexillum in Britain in 2008 in Wales, and subsequent eradication efforts, presents a timely opportunity to evaluate the United Kingdom's existing capability and capacity to undertake a rapid eradication in the marine environment in light of the draft EU Regulation, as well as highlighting some of the cross-border challenges facing the EU. Although the UK is often cited within Europe as having made significant progress in the field of invasion management, the lessons learned from the eradication process in Wales highlight that the UK is inadequately prepared to undertake rapid eradication measures in the marine environment and that the lack of a coordinated approach between nations has significant potential to devalue localised eradication efforts. A number of measures are discussed to enhance future capability both in the UK and the wider European Union including enhanced alerting mechanisms, science-based monitoring programmes to enable early detection, increased commitment of resources and the need for cross-border collaboration. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.