LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Review: Antecedents of the People and Organizational Aspects of Medical Informatics: Review of the Literature

People and organizational issues are critical in both implementing medical informatics systems and in dealing with the altered organizations that new systems often create. The people and organizational issues area--like medical informatics itself--is a blend of many disciplines. The academic disciplines of psychology, sociology, social psychology, social anthropology, organizational behavior and organizational development, management, and cognitive sciences are rich with research with significant potential to ease the introduction and on-going use of information technology in today's complex health systems. These academic areas contribute research data and core information for better understanding of such issues as the importance of and processes for creating future direction; managing a complex change process; effective strategies for involving individuals and groups in the informatics effort; and effectively managing the altered organization. This article reviews the behavioral and business referent disciplines that can potentially contribute to improved implementations and on-going management of change in the medical informatics arena.
Pilates-based therapeutic exercise: effect on subjects with nonspecific chronic low back pain and functional disability: a randomized controlled trial.

STUDY DESIGN
A randomized controlled trial, prestest-posttest design, with a 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the efficacy of a therapeutic exercise approach in a population with chronic low back pain (LBP).


BACKGROUND
Therapeutic approaches developed from the Pilates method are becoming increasingly popular; however, there have been no reports on their efficacy.


METHODS AND MEASURES
Thirty-nine physically active subjects between 20 and 55 years old with chronic LBP were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups. The specific-exercise-training group participated in a 4-week program consisting of training on specialized (Pilates) exercise equipment, while the control group received the usual care, defined as consultation with a physician and other specialists and healthcare professionals, as necessary. Treatment sessions were designed to train the activation of specific muscles thought to stabilize the lumbar-pelvic region. Functional disability outcomes were measured with The Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMQ/RMDQ-HK) and average pain intensity using a 101-point numerical rating scale.


RESULTS
There was a significantly lower level of functional disability (P = .023) and average pain intensity (P = .002) in the specific-exercise-training group than in the control group following the treatment intervention period. The posttest adjusted mean in functional disability level in the specific-exercise-training group was 2.0 (95% CI, 1.3 to 2.7) RMQ/RMDQ-HK points compared to a posttest adjusted mean in the control group of 3.2 (95% CI, 2.5 to 4.0) RMQ/RMDQ-HK points. The posttest adjusted mean in pain intensity in the specific-exercise-training group was 18.3 (95% CI, 11.8 to 24.8), as compared to 33.9 (95% CI, 26.9 to 41.0) in the control group. Improved disability scores in the specific-exercise-training group were maintained for up to 12 months following treatment intervention.


CONCLUSIONS
The individuals in the specific-exercise-training group reported a significant decrease in LBP and disability, which was maintained over a 12-month follow-up period. Treatment with a modified Pilates-based approach was more efficacious than usual care in a population with chronic, unresolved LBP.
C reactive protein levels are increased in non-allergic but not allergic asthma: a multicentre epidemiological study.

BACKGROUND
High sensitivity C reactive protein (HsCRP) is an inflammatory marker known to be related to smoking, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. A study was undertaken to determine whether HsCRP is related to respiratory symptoms, asthma, atopy, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in population samples from three countries.


METHODS
HsCRP was measured in 1289 subjects from three centres in ECRHS II: Reykjavik, Uppsala and Tartu. The HsCRP values ranged from <0.01 mg/l to 70.0 mg/l and were divided into four equal groups (< or = 0.45, 0.46-0.96, 0.97-2.21, and >2.21 mg/l).


RESULTS
HsCRP increased with increasing body mass index (r = 0.41; p<0.0001) and was higher in smokers than in never smokers (p = 0.02). A significant relationship was found between increased HsCRP levels and respiratory symptoms such as wheeze, attacks of breathlessness after effort, and nocturnal cough (p<0.0001). The crude odds ratio (95% CI) for the probability of non-allergic asthma was 3.57 (1.83 to 6.96) for subjects in the 4th quartile compared with the 1st quartile of HsCRP. This association remained significant after adjusting for study centre, age, sex, body weight, and smoking history (OR 2.19 (95% CI 1.04 to 4.63)). No significant relationship was observed between HsCRP and allergic asthma or bronchial responsiveness.


CONCLUSIONS
Raised levels of HsCRP are significantly associated with respiratory symptoms and non-allergic asthma but not with allergic asthma.
Slow bolus injection of ribose in the identification of thallium-201 redistribution following combined adenosine/dynamic exercise stress.

AIM
A simple stress/redistribution thallium-201 myocardial perfusion imaging protocol may underestimate the degree of thallium redistribution in a defect identified on the stress images. We sought to investigate whether a slow-bolus injection of D-ribose improves the identification of thallium redistribution following combined adenosine/dynamic exercise stress.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Fifteen patients (10 males, five female, median age 63 years, range 50-75) were enrolled in the study. All underwent two successive adenosine plus exercise myocardial perfusion scintigraphy protocols 7-14 days apart. Adenosine was infused at 140 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 coupled with 25 W ergometer pedalling for 6 min with 74 Mbq of thallium-201 being injected at 4 min. Immediately following the stress image acquisition, patients received the one of either 60 mg.kg-1 of D-ribose or normal saline, injected over 5 min. Redistribution images were acquired after 4 h. The identical stress procedure was conducted in the crossover arm of the study, and patients received the alternative test article. SPECT images were visually analysed and scored in a nine segment model by two blinded observers. In addition, circumferential profile analysis was conducted.


RESULTS
By visual interpretation 25 segments displayed redistribution of the ribose, but not in the saline study, 14 reversible segments were seen on the saline study alone and 18 were seen on both studies (P = ns). In six patients ribose identified a greater number of redistributing segments and in a further six patients saline identified more reversible segments. Comparison of mean values of defect extent severity and percentage reversibility scores generated from the circumferential profile analysis showed no significant difference between the two arms of the study.


CONCLUSION
A 5 min bolus injection of D-ribose following combined adenosine/dynamic exercise stress confers little benefit on the identification of redistribution of thallium-201. These results differ from those of previous studies which showed that a 30 min infusion of D-ribose following treadmill exercise significantly enhanced thallium redistribution. The duration of the ribose infusion is likely to be an important factor influencing the effect brought to bear on the redistribution of the tracer, and should be run over 30 min, or longer.
Psychoneuroimmunology and psychosomatic medicine: back to the future.

OBJECTIVE
Although psychological modulation of immune function is now a well-established phenomenon, much of the relevant literature has been published within the last decade. This article speculates on future directions for psychoneuroimmunology research, after reviewing the history of the field.


METHODS
This review focuses on human psychoneuroimmunology studies published since 1939, particularly those that have appeared in Psychosomatic Medicine. Studies were clustered according to key themes, including stressor duration and characteristics (laboratory stressors, time-limited naturalistic stressors, or chronic stress), as well as the influences of psychopathology, personality, and interpersonal relationships; the responsiveness of the immune system to behavioral interventions is also addressed. Additionally, we describe trends in populations studied and the changing nature of immunological assessments. The final section focuses on health outcomes and future directions for the field.


RESULTS
There are now sufficient data to conclude that immune modulation by psychosocial stressors or interventions can lead to actual health changes, with the strongest direct evidence to date in infectious disease and wound healing. Furthermore, recent medical literature has highlighted a spectrum of diseases whose onset and course may be influenced by proinflammatory cytokines, from cardiovascular disease to frailty and functional decline; proinflammatory cytokine production can be directly stimulated by negative emotions and stressful experiences and indirectly stimulated by chronic or recurring infections. Accordingly, distress-related immune dysregulation may be one core mechanism behind a diverse set of health risks associated with negative emotions.


CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that psychoneuroimmunology may have broad implications for the basic biological sciences and medicine.
Financial decisions and growth opportunities: a Spanish firm's panel data analysis

This paper analyses the influence of financial leverage decisions, dividend payout policies and the ownership structure on the firm market value when companies either face, or do not face, profitable growth opportunities. A sample of 101 large non-financial publicly-traded Spanish companies is used. The results confirm the relevance of debt and dividends in terms of firm value creation by showing a negative relationship between firm value and both leverage and dividend payments in the presence of growth opportunities. On the contrary, this relationship turns out to be positive when firms have no profitable investment projects. The results also demonstrate the relevance of ownership structure in the allocation of firm resources.
A Riemannian approach to graph embedding

In this paper, we make use of the relationship between the Laplace–Beltrami operator and the graph Laplacian, for the purposes of embedding a graph onto a Riemannian manifold. To embark on this study, we review some of the basics of Riemannian geometry and explain the relationship between the Laplace–Beltrami operator and the graph Laplacian. Using the properties of Jacobi fields, we show how to compute an edge-weight matrix in which the elements reflect the sectional curvatures associated with the geodesic paths on the manifold between nodes. For the particular case of a constant sectional curvature surface, we use the Kruskal coordinates to compute edge weights that are proportional to the geodesic distance between points. We use the resulting edge-weight matrix to embed the nodes of the graph onto a Riemannian manifold. To do this, we develop a method that can be used to perform double centring on the Laplacian matrix computed from the edge-weights. The embedding coordinates are given by the eigenvectors of the centred Laplacian. With the set of embedding coordinates at hand, a number of graph manipulation tasks can be performed. In this paper, we are primarily interested in graph-matching. We recast the graph-matching problem as that of aligning pairs of manifolds subject to a geometric transformation. We show that this transformation is Pro-crustean in nature. We illustrate the utility of the method on image matching using the COIL database. 2006 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Drinking patterns and their predictive factors in CONTROL: a 12-month prospective study in a sample of alcohol-dependent patients initiating treatment.

AIMS
To describe the drinking patterns and their baseline predictive factors during a 12-month period after an initial evaluation for alcohol treatment.


METHODS
CONTROL is a single-center, prospective, observational study evaluating consecutive alcohol-dependent patients. Using a curve clustering methodology based on a polynomial regression mixture model, we identified three clusters of patients with dominant alcohol use patterns described as mostly abstainers, mostly moderate drinkers and mostly heavy drinkers. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify baseline factors (socio-demographic, alcohol dependence consequences and related factors) predictive of belonging to each drinking cluster.


RESULTS
The sample included 143 alcohol-dependent adults (63.6% males), mean age 44.6 ± 11.8 years. The clustering method identified 47 (32.9%) mostly abstainers, 56 (39.2%) mostly moderate drinkers and 40 (28.0%) mostly heavy drinkers. Multivariate analyses indicated that mild or severe depression at baseline predicted belonging to the mostly moderate drinkers cluster during follow-up (relative risk ratio (RRR) 2.42, CI [1.02-5.73, P = 0.045] P = 0.045), while living alone (RRR 2.78, CI [1.03-7.50], P = 0.044) and reporting more alcohol-related consequences (RRR 1.03, CI [1.01-1.05], P = 0.004) predicted belonging to the mostly heavy drinkers cluster during follow-up.


CONCLUSION
In this sample, the drinking patterns of alcohol-dependent patients were predicted by baseline factors, i.e. depression, living alone or alcohol-related consequences and findings that may inform clinicians about the likely drinking patterns of their alcohol-dependent patient over the year following the initial evaluation for alcohol treatment.
A model for rational abandonments from invisible queues

We propose a model for abandonments from a queue, due to excessive wait, assuming that waiting customers act rationally but without being able to observe the queue length. Customers are allowed to be heterogeneous in their preferences and consequent behavior. Our goal is to characterize customers’ patience via more basic primitives, specifically waiting costs and service benefits: these two are optimally balanced by waiting customers, based on their individual cost parameters and anticipated waiting time. The waiting time distribution and patience profile then emerge as an equilibrium point of the system. The problem formulation is motivated by teleservices, prevalently telephoneand Internet-based. In such services, customers and servers are remote and queues are typically associated with the servers, hence queues are invisible to waiting customers. Our base model is the M/M/m queue, where it is shown that a unique equilibrium exists, in which rational abandonments can occur only upon arrival (zero or infinite patience for each customer). As such a behavior fails to capture the essence of abandonments, the base model is modified to account for unusual congestion or failure conditions. This indeed facilitates abandonments in finite time, leading to a nontrivial, customer dependent patience profile. Our analysis shows, quite surprisingly, that the equilibrium is unique in this case as well, and amenable to explicit calculation.
Patterns for Plug-Ins

This pattern collection helps to define, implement and package Plug-Ins specific to an extensible application. Central patterns are the Plug-In and the Plug-In Contract between the Plug-In and the application; afterwards patterns for packaging and registration of Plug-Ins are explored. Process and organisation patterns complement the general technical patterns, and support the technical flexibility introduced with Plug-Ins. The patterns in the last chapter focus on implementation techniques and shows how other design patterns can be used for Plug-Ins.
Antiviral effects and safety of telaprevir, peginterferon alfa-2a, and ribavirin for 28 days in hepatitis C patients.

BACKGROUND/AIMS
This study assessed the safety and antiviral effects of telaprevir (VX-950) in combination with peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin.


METHODS
Twelve treatment-naïve patients with chronic genotype 1 hepatitis C virus infection received telaprevir (750 mg q8h), peginterferon alfa-2a (180 microg/week), and ribavirin (1000 or 1200 mg/day) for 28 days. Patients could then start off-study treatment with peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin for up to 44 weeks, at the discretion of the investigator and patient.


RESULTS
The combination of telaprevir, peginterferon alfa-2a, and ribavirin was well tolerated, with no serious adverse events or treatment discontinuations. Rash or pruritus occurred in 5 of the 12 patients; all cases resolved either during or after the end of telaprevir treatment. All 12 patients had undetectable HCV RNA levels by day 28 (rapid viral response, RVR). Eight patients completed 44 weeks of off-study peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin treatment. Eight patients achieved a sustained viral response (SVR), including one patient who received only 22 weeks of treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of telaprevir, peginterferon alfa-2a, and ribavirin was generally well tolerated. Events of pruritus and rash resolved during or after end of telaprevir dosing. All 12 patients achieved an RVR.
Genetic analysis of the response to eleven Colletotrichum lindemuthianum races in a RIL population of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Bean anthracnose is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum (Sacc. & Magnus) Lams.- Scrib. Resistance to C. lindemuthianum in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) generally follows a qualitative mode of inheritance. The pathogen shows extensive pathogenic variation and up to 20 anthracnose resistance loci (named Co-), conferring resistance to specific races, have been described. Anthracnose resistance has generally been investigated by analyzing a limited number of isolates or races in segregating populations. In this work, we analyzed the response against eleven C. lindemuthianum races in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) common bean population derived from the cross Xana × Cornell 49242 in which a saturated linkage map was previously developed. A systematic genetic analysis was carried out to dissect the complex resistance segregations observed, which included contingency analyses, subpopulations and genetic mapping. Twenty two resistance genes were identified, some with a complementary mode of action. The Cornell 49242 genotype carries a complex cluster of resistance genes at the end of linkage group (LG) Pv11 corresponding to the previously described anthracnose resistance cluster Co-2. In this position, specific resistance genes to races 3, 6, 7, 19, 38, 39, 65, 357, 449 and 453 were identified, with one of them showing a complementary mode of action. In addition, Cornell 49242 had an independent gene on LG Pv09 showing a complementary mode of action for resistance to race 453. Resistance genes in genotype Xana were located on three regions involving LGs Pv01, Pv02 and Pv04. All resistance genes identified in Xana showed a complementary mode of action, except for two controlling resistance to races 65 and 73 located on LG Pv01, in the position of the previously described anthracnose resistance cluster Co-1. Results shown herein reveal a complex and specific interaction between bean and fungus genotypes leading to anthracnose resistance. Organization of specific resistance genes in clusters including resistance genes with different modes of action (dominant and complementary genes) was also confirmed. Finally, new locations for anthracnose resistance genes were identified in LG Pv09.
In the red.

In the dark cold streets of the metropolis, a mysterious serial killer strikes down red dressed women. A crime scene photographer whose wife has been killed, is about to encounter the next victim, followed by a strange man...
Small-Size Wideband Monopole With Distributed Inductive Strip for Seven-Band WWAN/LTE Mobile Phone

An on-board coupled-fed printed monopole with a distributed inductive shorted strip for seven-band operation covering the GSM850/900/1800/1900/UMTS2100/LTE2300/2500 bands in the mobile phone is presented. The presented antenna consists of a feeding strip and a distributed inductive shorted strip (formed by a printed distributed inductor and a simple shorted strip). By the coupled-fed excitation, the proposed antenna can generate multiple resonant modes at lower and upper bands for seven-band WWAN/LTE operation covering 824–960/1710–2690-MHz bands. The proposed antenna only occupies a size of 15<formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$\,\times\,$</tex></formula>29 mm<formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$^{2}$</tex></formula> and is easily printed on the top of an FR4 substrate, which makes it suitable for practical mobile applications. The proposed antenna was fabricated and tested. Measured and simulated results are presented.
Cardiac-resynchronization therapy for the prevention of heart-failure events.

BACKGROUND
This trial was designed to determine whether cardiac-resynchronization therapy (CRT) with biventricular pacing would reduce the risk of death or heart-failure events in patients with mild cardiac symptoms, a reduced ejection fraction, and a wide QRS complex.


METHODS
During a 4.5-year period, we enrolled and followed 1820 patients with ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy, an ejection fraction of 30% or less, a QRS duration of 130 msec or more, and New York Heart Association class I or II symptoms. Patients were randomly assigned in a 3:2 ratio to receive CRT plus an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) (1089 patients) or an ICD alone (731 patients). The primary end point was death from any cause or a nonfatal heart-failure event (whichever came first). Heart-failure events were diagnosed by physicians who were aware of the treatment assignments, but they were adjudicated by a committee that was unaware of assignments.


RESULTS
During an average follow-up of 2.4 years, the primary end point occurred in 187 of 1089 patients in the CRT-ICD group (17.2%) and 185 of 731 patients in the ICD-only group (25.3%) (hazard ratio in the CRT-ICD group, 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52 to 0.84; P=0.001). The benefit did not differ significantly between patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and those with nonischemic cardiomyopathy. The superiority of CRT was driven by a 41% reduction in the risk of heart-failure events, a finding that was evident primarily in a prespecified subgroup of patients with a QRS duration of 150 msec or more. CRT was associated with a significant reduction in left ventricular volumes and improvement in the ejection fraction. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the overall risk of death, with a 3% annual mortality rate in each treatment group. Serious adverse events were infrequent in the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
CRT combined with ICD decreased the risk of heart-failure events in relatively asymptomatic patients with a low ejection fraction and wide QRS complex. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00180271.)
An implementation substrate for languages composing modularized crosscutting concerns

We present the implementation of several programming languages with support for multi-dimensional separation of concerns (MDSOC) on top of a common delegation-based substrate, which is a prototype for a dedicated MDSOC virtual machine. The supported MDSOC language constructs range from aspects, pointcuts and advice to dynamically scoped and activated layers. The presented language implementations show that the abstractions offered by the substrate are a viable target for high-level language compilers.