LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Hylan versus corticosteroid versus placebo for treatment of basal joint arthritis: a prospective, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial.

PURPOSE
Conservative, nonsurgical therapies for basal joint osteoarthritis, such as thumb spica splinting and intra-articular corticosteroid injections, remain the mainstays for symptomatic treatment. This study compares intra-articular hylan, corticosteroid, and placebo injections with regard to pain relief, strength, symptom improvement, and metrics of manual function in a randomized, controlled, double-blinded study.


METHODS
Sixty patients with basal joint arthritis were randomized to receive 2 intra-articular hylan injections 1 week apart, 1 placebo injection followed by 1 corticosteroid injection 1 week later, or 2 placebo injections 1 week apart. Patients were evaluated at 2, 4, 12, and 26 weeks and assessed with Visual Analog Scale pain scores, strength measures, difference scores, Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) scores, and range of motion measurements.


RESULTS
All groups reported pain relief at 2 weeks. The steroid and placebo groups had significantly less pain at week 4 compared with baseline, but this effect disappeared by week 12. Only hylan injections continued to provide pain relief at 12 and 26 weeks compared with baseline. There were no significant differences in pain between groups at any time. At 12 and 26 weeks, the hylan group had improved grip strength compared with baseline, whereas the steroid and placebo groups were weaker. At 4 weeks, the steroid group reported in the difference score a greater improvement in symptoms (68%) compared with the hylan (44%) and placebo (50%) groups. Whereas at 26 weeks the hylan group reported the largest improvement in symptoms (68%), this was not statistically different from the placebo (47%) and steroid (58%) groups. There were no significant differences in Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand scores or range of motion among the groups. There were no complications from any injection.


CONCLUSIONS
There were no statistically significant differences among hylan, steroid, and placebo injections for most of the outcome measures at any of the follow-up time points. However, based on the durable relief of pain, improved grip strength, and the long-term improvement in symptoms compared with preinjection values, hylan injections should be considered in the management of basal joint arthritis of the thumb.


TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Therapeutic I.
Zero-Voltage Transition Flyback Inverter for Small Scale Photovoltaic Power System

A zero-voltage transition (ZVT) flyback inverter is proposed. The current in the flyback transformer is controlled in the fixed frequency, and the pulse width is varied to make the inductor current sinusoid. In order to reduce switching losses and noises, a soft-switching technique is adopted. The soft-switching technique is called the switched snubber circuit or the primary current steering technique. It is suitable for the pulse-width modulation (PWM), because the time of the resonant transition is very short and the time is independent of the switching frequency. A laboratory prototype using a digital controller for the ZVT flyback inverter was built. From the simulation using the PSPICE and experimental results, the zero-voltage transition operation of the main switch is confirmed. The proposed inverter is suitable as a power conditioner for PV power systems
Pain in children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional multicentre European study.

AIM
To determine the prevalence and associations of self-reported and parent-reported pain in children with cerebral palsy (CP) of all severities.


METHOD
Cross-sectional design using a questionnaire; analysis using ordinal regression. Children aged 8-12 years were randomly selected from population-based registers of children with CP in eight European regions; a further region recruited 75 children from multiple sources. Outcome measures were pain in the previous week among children who could self-report and parents' perception of their child's pain in the previous 4 weeks.


RESULTS
Data on pain were available from 490 children who could self-report and parents of 806 children (those who could and could not self-report). The estimated population prevalence of self-reported pain in the previous week was 60% (95% CI: 54-65%) and that of parent-reported pain in the previous 4 weeks was 73% (95% CI: 69-76%). In self-reporting children, older children reported more pain but pain was not significantly associated with severity of impairment. In parent reports, severity of child impairment, seizures and parental unemployment were associated with more frequent and severe pain.


CONCLUSION
Pain in children with CP is common. Clinicians should enquire about pain and consider appropriate physical, therapeutic or psychological management.
Genotype-dependent consequences of traumatic stress in four inbred mouse strains.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that develops in predisposed individuals following a terrifying event. Studies on isogenic animal populations might explain susceptibility to PTSD by revealing associations between the molecular and behavioural consequences of traumatic stress. Our study employed four inbred mouse strains to search for differences in post-stress response to a 1.5-mA electric foot shock. One day to 6 weeks after the foot shock anxiety, depression and addiction-like phenotypes were assessed. In addition, expression levels of selected stress-related genes were analysed in hippocampus and amygdala. C57BL/6J mice exhibited up-regulation in the expression of Tsc22d3, Nfkbia, Plat and Crhr1 genes in both brain regions. These alterations were associated with an increase of sensitized fear and depressive-like behaviour over time. Traumatic stress induced expression of Tsc22d3, Nfkbia, Plat and Fkbp5 genes and developed social withdrawal in DBA/2J mice. In 129P3/J strain, exposure to stress produced the up-regulation of Tsc22d3 and Nfkbia genes and enhanced sensitivity to the rewarding properties of morphine. Whereas, SWR/J mice displayed increase only in Pdyn expression in the amygdala and had the lowest conditioned fear. Our results reveal a complex genetic background of phenotypic variation in response to stress and indicate the SWR/J strain as a valuable model of stress resistance. We found potential links between the alterations in expression of Tsc22d3, Nfkbia and Pdyn, and different aspects of susceptibility to stress.
Sensitivity check for UHF PD detection on power transformers

It is known that failure due to insulation defects are often preceded by partial discharge activity. Over the last years, online diagnostic methods for power transformers have been investigated. In this paper the sensitivity of one of these methods, the UHF PD detection technique, has been applied on five different high- and medium voltage transformers with power ratings in the range of 14 to 500 MVA. From these experiments, the sensitivity of the UHF technique to detect partial discharges in power transformers has been proven. Based on these results, a sensitivity check similar to GIS is proposed in this paper.
You ’ re so lovable : Anthropomorphism and brand love

Brand love has been found to predict brand loyalty measures better than conventional attitude models that rely on the brand’s perceived quality. Hence, marketers are interested in factors that lead to brand love. This study investigates the influence of anthropomorphism on brand love in the context of defensive marketing. We identified five possible theoretical mechanisms through which anthropomorphism may influence brand love: category-level evaluation, cognitive fluency, cognitive consistency, self-extension and self-congruence. The results reveal that the level of quality and anthropomorphism that a consumer perceives the brand has are important antecedents of brand love. Moreover, anthropomorphism’s predictive power differs between evaluative and relationship-specific dimensions of brand love. Journal of Brand Management (2014) 21, 372–395. doi:10.1057/bm.2014.14
Variations in Internet-Related Problems and Psychosocial Functioning in Online Sexual Activities: Implications for Social and Sexual Development of Young Adults

This survey of 760 university students examined differences in Internet-related problems and psychosocial functioning between four patterns of participation in online sexual information and entertainment activities. Students who did not participate in either online sexual activity were more satisfied with their offline life and more connected to friends and family. Those who engaged in both online sexual activities were more dependent on the Internet and reported lower offline functioning. Students who only sought sexual information maintained strong offline affiliations. Those who only sought entertainment did not report lower offline functioning. Respondents most deficient in offline social support did not report compensatory online support. Despite students' common participation in online sexual activities (OSA) as a venue for social and sexual development, those relying on the Internet and the affiliations it provides appear at risk of decreased social integration. The authors discussed the finding's implications for social and sexual development.
v.morish'09: A Morphing-Based Singing Design Interface for Vocal Melodies

This paper describes a singing design method based on morphing, the design and development of an intuitive interface to assist morphing-based singing design. The proposed interface has a function for real-time morphing, based on simple operation with a mouse, and an editor to control the singing features in detail. The user is able to enhance singing voices efficiently by using these two functions. In this paper, we discuss the requirement for an interface to assist in morphingbased singing design, and develope an interface to fulfill the requirement.
Tuning Methods of PID Controller for DC Motor Speed Control

The traditional PID controllers are used for a long time to control the DC motor for many industrial processes, that because of the simplicity, flexibility, and satisfactory performance of this type of controller. This paper discusses the basic PID tuning method (Ziegler-Nichols) and its modification (Chien-HronesReswick). Also, analysis the speed control DC motor response using the PID controller parameters that result from the tuning methods mentioned earlier. Moreover, explain the advantage and disadvantage of each formula of these methods. GUL/MATLAB windows used to implementing both methods to create more comfortable and friendly environment for better understanding of the PID controller tuning methods formula for engineering students and practicing engineers.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ascorbate on the preventive effect of nitrate tolerance in patients with congestive heart failure.

BACKGROUND
Reduced cGMP production caused by increased superoxide has been proposed as a mechanism of nitrate tolerance during continuous nitrate therapy. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of ascorbate, an antioxidant, on the development of nitrate tolerance during continuous nitrate therapy in patients with congestive heart failure.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Twenty patients with congestive heart failure were randomized to receive intravenous infusion of nitroglycerin concomitantly with placebo (placebo group, n=10) or intravenous ascorbate (vitamin C group, n=10). After baseline measurements were obtained, dose titration was started by the infusion of nitroglycerin at a rate of 0.5 microg/kg per minute (titration period). Measurements of hemodynamic parameters and blood sampling were performed serially at 0, 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours after the titration period. At baseline, mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP, mm Hg), mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP, mm Hg), plasma vitamin E level (micromol/L), and platelet cGMP level (pmol/10[9] platelets) were comparable in the two groups (placebo group: MPAP, 48+/-6; PCWP, 24+/-4; cGMP, 0.76+/-0.12; vitamin E, 18.2+/-1.2; vitamin C: MPAP, 49+/-7; PCWP, 24+/-4; cGMP, 0.71+/-0.16; vitamin E, 18.6+/-1.3). In both groups, at 6 hours after the titration period, MPAP and PCWP were significantly decreased (placebo group: MPAP, 26+/-5; PCWP, 15+/-4; vitamin C: MPAP, 26+/-4; PCWP, 16+/-4), and platelet cGMP was significantly increased (placebo group: 2.42+/-0.24; vitamin C: 2.26+/-0.26). However, at 18 hours after titration, in the placebo group, MPAP (44+/-5) and PCWP (23+/-4) were increased, and platelet cGMP (0.85+/-0.20) and plasma vitamin E levels (12.4+/-1.4) were significantly decreased. In contrast, in the vitamin C group, MPAP (31+/-6), PCWP (17+/-5), platelet cGMP (2.49+/-0.23), and plasma vitamin E levels (17.6+/-1.4) were maintained for 18 hours after the titration period.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that ascorbate, an antioxidant, may prevent the development of nitrate tolerance during continuous nitrate therapy in patients with congestive heart failure.
Virtual Reality and Education

Introduction Background One of the challenges in working with instructional media is that developers and educators are confronted with a rapidly moving target in terms of information technology's capabilities. The business and entertainment sectors are driving a fast-paced evolution of the devices people have in their workplaces and homes. Researchers and educators are scrambling to assess the potential, develop pedagogical strategies, create instructional materials, and implement a school-based infrastructure for today's technologies— only to find that computers and communications are " morphing " into new media of even greater power. Students of today experience a society and a workplace that is entirely different from those that their parents faced. To allow educational tools to fall behind the pace of technological advance is to sell out a generation of learners. People's understanding of what computers can do has shifted dramatically as the size and cost of these devices has decreased while their power has grown. First, computers were seen as number-crunching machines, then came data processing, now we live in the age of tools that manipulate symbols and information. Virtual Reality (VR) research is based on the growing certainty that the next evolutionary stage is computers and telecommunications fusing into virtual environments. " Cyberspace " is not simply a channel within which content flows, but a virtual place to live that competes directly with reality for the attention of many, especially new generation of students. For this reason, charting the strengths and limits of virtual reality is vital for educational technology. 2 Educating children now and in the future to live in an information society is critical. There is also a need to provide lifelong education for all citizens and to support a flexible workplace. VR technology has been widely proposed as a major technological advance that has potential to support for such education. There are several ways in which VR technology is expected to assist learning. Most importantly it allows students to visualize abstract concepts, to observe events at atomic or planetary scales, and to visit environments and interact with events that distance, time, or safety factor make unavailable. The types of activities supported by this technology promote current educational thinking that students are better able to master, retain, and generalize new knowledge when they are actively involved in constructing that knowledge in a hand on learning environment. There is evidence that, in suitable application areas, VR can offer an …
A New Systematical Approach to the Exact Solutions of the Relativistic Dirac Woods Saxon Problem

Using a recently applied systematical method for solving the Dirac equation with spherically symmetric local interaction, we analyzed the problem of a relativistic Dirac particle in the presence of the q-deformed Woods-Saxon potential. The relativistic energy spectrums and two-component spinor wavefunctions, established in terms of the Jacobi polynomials, are obtained analytically. It is shown that the utilizing nonrelativistic limit can be easily and directly reproduced the nonrelativistic Schrödinger Woods-Saxon problem. The method which is labelled by the Nikiforov-Uvarov (NU) is used in the calculations so as to attempt the formalism that is introduced for the first time by A. D. Alhaidari [Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 18, 4955 (2003)]. It is also observed that the energy eigenvalues of the ”new” type Woods-Saxon potential depend on the deformation parameter q. PACS number(s): 03.65.Pm, 03.65.Ge, 02.30.Gp
Variation in heavy metal concentrations of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars.

Heavy metals composition of foods is of immense interest because of its essential or toxic nature. This study examines concentrations of some heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Pb, Ni and Cd) from sixteen potato cultivars grown at Erzurum, Turkey. The present study revealed that the potato cultivars studied showed a considerable variation in heavy metal concentrations. The contents of heavy metals in the potato cultivars were found in the ranges: 48.87-72.64 mg kg for iron, 3.07-5.43 mg kg for copper, 13.80-18.89 mg kg for zinc, 6.93-13.06 mg kg for manganese, 0.51-0.77 mg kg for lead, 2.02-3.55 mg kg for nickel and 0.08-0.32 mg kg for cadmium. The accumulation pattern for the metals in the potato tubers was in the order; Fe>Zn>Mn>Cu>Ni>Pb>Cd.
Bow‐tie wide‐band monopole antenna with the novel impedance‐matching technique

A staircase bow-tie monopole-type antenna that features a novel broadband technique is investigated experimentally and numerically. A bandwidth of 77.1% (VSWR 2) can be achieved, and an omnidirectional radiation pattern is obtained. The electrical characteristics of the proposed antenna make it attractive for use in multiband mobile systems.© 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 33: 448 – 452, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10347
Activity-dependent switch of GABAergic inhibition into glutamatergic excitation in astrocyte-neuron networks

Interneurons are critical for proper neural network function and can activate Ca2+ signaling in astrocytes. However, the impact of the interneuron-astrocyte signaling into neuronal network operation remains unknown. Using the simplest hippocampal Astrocyte-Neuron network, i.e., GABAergic interneuron, pyramidal neuron, single CA3-CA1 glutamatergic synapse, and astrocytes, we found that interneuron-astrocyte signaling dynamically affected excitatory neurotransmission in an activity- and time-dependent manner, and determined the sign (inhibition vs potentiation) of the GABA-mediated effects. While synaptic inhibition was mediated by GABAA receptors, potentiation involved astrocyte GABAB receptors, astrocytic glutamate release, and presynaptic metabotropic glutamate receptors. Using conditional astrocyte-specific GABAB receptor (Gabbr1) knockout mice, we confirmed the glial source of the interneuron-induced potentiation, and demonstrated the involvement of astrocytes in hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations in vivo. Therefore, astrocytes decode interneuron activity and transform inhibitory into excitatory signals, contributing to the emergence of novel network properties resulting from the interneuron-astrocyte interplay.
Comparing recruitment strategies in a study of acupuncture for chronic back pain

BACKGROUND
Meeting recruitment goals is challenging for many clinical trials conducted in primary care populations. Little is known about how the use of different recruitment strategies affects the types of individuals choosing to participate or the conclusions of the study.


METHODS
A secondary analysis was performed using data from participants recruited to a clinical trial evaluating acupuncture for chronic back pain among primary care patients in a large integrated health care organization. We used two recruitment methods: mailed letters of invitation and an advertisement in the health plan's magazine. For these two recruitment methods, we compared recruitment success (% randomized, treatment completers, drop outs and losses to follow-up), participant characteristics, and primary clinical outcomes. A linear regression model was used to test for interaction between treatment group and recruitment method.


RESULTS
Participants recruited via mailed letters closely resembled those responding to the advertisement in terms of demographic characteristics, most aspects of their back pain history and current episode and beliefs and expectations about acupuncture. No interaction between method of recruitment and treatment group was seen, suggesting that study outcomes were not affected by recruitment strategy.


CONCLUSION
In this trial, the two recruitment strategies yielded similar estimates of treatment effectiveness. However, because this finding may not apply to other recruitment strategies or trial circumstances, trials employing multiple recruitment strategies should evaluate the effect of recruitment strategy on outcome.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical Trials.gov NCT00065585.
Inflammation, Immunity, and Infection in Atherothrombosis: JACC Review Topic of the Week.

Observations on human and experimental atherosclerosis, biomarker studies, and now a large-scale clinical trial support the operation of immune and inflammatory pathways in this disease. The factors that incite innate and adaptive immune responses implicated in atherogenesis and in lesion complication include traditional risk factors such as protein and lipid components of native and modified low-density lipoprotein, angiotensin II, smoking, visceral adipose tissue, and dysmetabolism. Infectious processes and products of the endogenous microbiome might also modulate atherosclerosis and its complications either directly, or indirectly by eliciting local and systemic responses that potentiate disease expression. Trials with antibiotics have not reduced recurrent cardiovascular events, nor have vaccination strategies yet achieved clinical translation. However, anti-inflammatory interventions such as anticytokine therapy and colchicine have begun to show efficacy in this regard. Thus, inflammatory and immune mechanisms can link traditional and emerging risk factors to atherosclerosis, and offer novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.