LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effect of continuous combined therapy with vitamin K(2) and vitamin D(3) on bone mineral density and coagulofibrinolysis function in postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the therapeutic effect of combined use of vitamin K(2) and D(3) on vertebral bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis.


SUBJECTS AND METHODS
We enrolled 172 women with vertebral bone mineral density <0.98 g/cm(2) (osteopenia and osteoporosis) as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. In this study, we employed the criteria for diagnosis of osteopenia and osteoporosis using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry proposed by the Japan Society of Bone Metabolism in 1996. Subjects were randomized into four groups (each having 43 subjects in vitamin K(2) therapy group, vitamin D(3) therapy group, vitamin K(2) and D(3) combined therapy group, or a control group receiving dietary therapy alone) and treated with respective agents for 2 years, with bone mineral density was measured prior to therapy and after 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of treatment. The bone metabolism markers analyzed were serum type 1 collagen carboxyterminal propeptide (P1CP), serum intact osteocalcin, and urinary pyridinoline. Tests of blood coagulation function consisted of measurement of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and analysis of concentrations of antithrombin III (AT III), fibrinogen, and plasminogen.


RESULTS
Combined therapy with vitamin K(2) and D(3) for 24 months markedly increased bone mineral density (4.92 +/- 7.89%), while vitamin K(2) alone increased it only 0.135 +/- 5.44%. The bone markers measured, revealed stimulation of both bone formation and resorption activity. We observed an increase in coagulation and fibrinolytic activity that was within the normal range, suggesting that balance was maintained in the fibrinolysis-coagulation system.


CONCLUSIONS
Continuous combination therapy with vitamin K(2) and D(3) may be useful for increasing vertebral bone mass in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, the increase in coagulation function observed during this therapy was within the physiological range, and no adverse reactions were observed.
Baseline echocardiographic values for adult male rats.

BACKGROUND
Because of safety, repeatability, and portability, clinical echocardiography is well established as a standard for cardiac anatomy, cardiac function, and hemodynamics. Similarly, application of echocardiography in commonly used rat experimental models would be worthwhile. The use of noninvasive ultrasound imaging in the rat is a potential replacement for more invasive terminal techniques. Although echocardiography has become commonly used in the rat, normal parameters for cardiac anatomy and function, and comparison with established human values, have not been reported.


METHODS
A total of 44 Sprague-Dawley male rats had baseline echocardiography replicating a protocol for clinical echocardiography.


RESULTS
Complete 2-dimensional echocardiography for cardiac anatomy and function was obtained in 44 rats. Hemodynamic parameters could be recorded in 85% of rats. The ejection fraction and fractional shortening values of the left ventricle were similar to those reported for healthy human beings. Pulsed Doppler velocities of atrial systole for mitral valve inflow, pulmonary vein reversal, and Doppler tissue of the lateral mitral valve annulus also had similar means as healthy human beings. The calculated left ventricular mass was at the same order of magnitude as a proportion of body weight of rat to man. All other observations in the clinical protocol were different from those reported in healthy human beings.


CONCLUSION
The use of echocardiography for assessment of cardiac anatomy, function, and hemodynamics can be consistently applied to the rat and replicates much of the information used routinely in human echocardiography.
On the convergence of the Weiszfeld algorithm

Abstract.In this work we analyze the paper “Brimberg, J. (1995): The Fermat-Weber location problem revisited. Mathematical Programming 71, 71–76” which claims to close the question on the conjecture posed by Chandrasekaran and Tamir in 1989 on the convergence of the Weiszfeld algorithm. Some counterexamples are shown to the proofs showed in Brimberg’s paper.
Towards a semantic-based approach for software reusable component classification and retrieval

In this paper, we propose a semantic-based approach to improve software component reuse. The whole approach extends the software reusable library to the World Wide Web; overcomes the keyword-based barrier by allowing user queries in natural language; treats a software component as a service described by semantic service representation format; enhances the retrieval by semantically matching between a user query semantic representation and software component semantic descriptions against a domain ontology; and finally stores the relevant software components into a reusable repository based UDDI infrastructure. The technologies applied to achieve the goal include: Natural Language Processing, Web services, Semantic Web, Conceptual Graph, domain ontology. The research in the first phase will focus on the classification and retrieval for software reusable components. In the classification process, natural language processing and domain knowledge technologies are employed for program understanding down to code level, and Web services and Semantic Web technologies as well as Conceptual Graph are used to semantically describe/represent a component. In the retrieval process, a user query in natural language is translate into semantic representation formats in order to augment retrieval recall and precision by deploying the same semantic representation technologies on both the user query side and the component side.
The direct antiglobulin test: a critical step in the evaluation of hemolysis.

The direct antiglobulin test (DAT) is a laboratory test that detects immunoglobulin and/or complement on the surface of red blood cells. The utility of the DAT is to sort hemolysis into an immune or nonimmune etiology. As with all tests, DAT results must be viewed in light of clinical and other laboratory data. This review highlights the most common clinical situations where the DAT can help classify causes of hemolysis, including autoimmune hemolytic anemia, transfusion-related hemolysis, hemolytic disease of the fetus/newborn, drug-induced hemolytic anemia, passenger lymphocyte syndrome, and DAT-negative hemolytic anemia. In addition, the pitfalls and limitations of the test are addressed. False reactions may occur with improper technique, including improper washing, centrifugation, and specimen agitation at the time of result interpretation. Patient factors, such as spontaneous red blood cell agglutination, may also contribute to false results.
Passive YouTube QoE Monitoring for ISPs

Over the last decade, Quality of Experience (QoE) has become the guiding paradigm for enabling a more user-centric understanding of quality of communication networks and services. The intensifying competition among ISPs and the exponentially increasing traffic volumes caused by online video platforms like YouTube is forcing service providers to integrate QoE into their corporate DNA. This paper investigates the problem of YouTube QoE monitoring from an access provider's perspective. To this end, we present three novel methods for in-network measurement of the QoE impairment that dominates user perception in the context of HTTP video-streaming: stalling of playback. Our evaluation results show that it is possible to detect application-level stalling events at high accuracy by using network-level passive probing only. However, only the most complex and most accurate approach can be used for QoE prediction due to the non-linear ties inherent in human quality perception.
Hepatitis B virus nucleic acid testing in Chinese blood donors with normal and elevated alanine aminotransferase.

BACKGROUND
Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is currently not a routine donor test in China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current residual risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission and the value of ALT testing in preventing HBV infection.


STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS
From January 2008 to September 2009, a total of 5521 qualified donations by routine screening and 5034 deferred donations due to elevated ALT alone were collected from five blood centers. Samples were tested for HBV DNA by triplex individual-donation (ID)-NAT (ULTRIO assay, on the TIGRIS system, Novartis Diagnostics). HBV NAT-reactive samples were further analyzed by HBV serology, alternative NAT, and viral load and were diluted to simulate if they could be detected in a minipool-NAT.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the HBV NAT-yield rate between the qualified donations group (5/5521) and the deferred donations group (4/5034). Of these nine potential HBV-yield cases, one donor (11%) was a possible HBV window-period donor, one (11%) was a chronic HBV carrier, and seven (78%) had probable or confirmed occult HBV infections. Of seven potential HBV-yield cases quantified, the viral loads were less than or equal to 70.0 IU/mL. Minipool testing (minipools of 4, 8, and 16 donations) would miss 43% to 79% of the nine HBV-yield donations.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on our findings in qualified donations, we estimate that the nationwide implementation of ID-NAT testing for HBV DNA in China would detect an additional 9964 viremic donations per year. ALT testing seems to have no significant value in preventing transfusion-transmitted HBV infection. ID-NAT versus simulated minipool-NAT using the ULTRIO test demonstrates the benefit to implement a more sensitive NAT strategy in regions of high HBV endemicity.
Fasting serum taurine-conjugated bile acids are elevated in type 2 diabetes and do not change with intensification of insulin.

CONTEXT
Bile acids (BAs) are newly recognized signaling molecules in glucose and energy homeostasis. Differences in BA profiles with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) remain incompletely understood.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to assess serum BA composition in impaired glucose-tolerant, T2D, and normal glucose-tolerant persons and to monitor the effects of improving glycemia on serum BA composition in T2D patients.


DESIGN AND SETTING
This was a cross-sectional cohort study in a general population (cohort 1) and nonrandomized intervention (cohort 2).


PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS
Ninety-nine volunteers underwent oral glucose tolerance testing, and 12 persons with T2D and hyperglycemia underwent 8 weeks of intensification of treatment.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Serum free BA and respective taurine and glycine conjugates were measured by HPLC tandem mass spectrometry.


RESULTS
Oral glucose tolerance testing identified 62 normal-, 25 impaired glucose-tolerant, and 12 T2D persons. Concentrations of total taurine-conjugated BA were higher in T2D and intermediate in impaired- compared with normal glucose-tolerant persons (P = .009). Univariate regression revealed a positive association between total taurine-BA and fasting glucose (R = 0.37, P < .001), postload glucose (R = 0.31, P < .002), hemoglobin A1c (R = 0.26, P < .001), fasting insulin (R = 0.21, P = .03), and homeostatic model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (R = 0.26, P = .01) and an inverse association with oral disposition index (R = -0.36, P < .001). Insulin-mediated glycemic improvement in T2D patients did not change fasting serum total BA or BA composition.


CONCLUSION
Fasting taurine-conjugated BA concentrations are higher in T2D and intermediate in impaired compared with normal glucose-tolerant persons and are associated with fasting and postload glucose. Serum BAs are not altered in T2D in response to improved glycemia. Further study may elucidate whether this pattern of taurine-BA conjugation can be targeted to provide novel therapeutic approaches to treat T2D.
Induced nucleotide specificity in a GTPase.

In signal-recognition particle (SRP)-dependent protein targeting to the bacterial plasma membrane, two GTPases, Ffh (a subunit of the bacterial SRP) and FtsY (the bacterial SRP receptor), act as GTPase activating proteins for one another. The molecular mechanism of this reciprocal GTPase activation is poorly understood. In this work, we show that, unlike other GTPases, free FtsY exhibits only low preference for GTP over other nucleotides. On formation of the SRP.FtsY complex, however, the nucleotide specificity of FtsY is enhanced 10(3)-fold. Thus, interactions with SRP must induce conformational changes that directly affect the FtsY GTP-binding site: in response to SRP binding, FtsY switches from a nonspecific "open" state to a "closed" state that provides discrimination between cognate and noncognate nucleotides. We propose that this conformational change leads to more accurate positioning of the nucleotide and thus could contribute to activation of FtsY's GTPase activity by a novel mechanism.
Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2012

OBJECTIVE
This study updates previous estimates of the economic burden of diagnosed diabetes and quantifies the increased health resource use and lost productivity associated with diabetes in 2012.


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
The study uses a prevalence-based approach that combines the demographics of the U.S. population in 2012 with diabetes prevalence, epidemiological data, health care cost, and economic data into a Cost of Diabetes Model. Health resource use and associated medical costs are analyzed by age, sex, race/ethnicity, insurance coverage, medical condition, and health service category. Data sources include national surveys, Medicare standard analytical files, and one of the largest claims databases for the commercially insured population in the U.S.


RESULTS
The total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes in 2012 is $245 billion, including $176 billion in direct medical costs and $69 billion in reduced productivity. The largest components of medical expenditures are hospital inpatient care (43% of the total medical cost), prescription medications to treat the complications of diabetes (18%), antidiabetic agents and diabetes supplies (12%), physician office visits (9%), and nursing/residential facility stays (8%). People with diagnosed diabetes incur average medical expenditures of about $13,700 per year, of which about $7,900 is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes. For the cost categories analyzed, care for people with diagnosed diabetes accounts for more than 1 in 5 health care dollars in the U.S., and more than half of that expenditure is directly attributable to diabetes. Indirect costs include increased absenteeism ($5 billion) and reduced productivity while at work ($20.8 billion) for the employed population, reduced productivity for those not in the labor force ($2.7 billion), inability to work as a result of disease-related disability ($21.6 billion), and lost productive capacity due to early mortality ($18.5 billion).


CONCLUSIONS
The estimated total economic cost of diagnosed diabetes in 2012 is $245 billion, a 41% increase from our previous estimate of $174 billion (in 2007 dollars). This estimate highlights the substantial burden that diabetes imposes on society. Additional components of societal burden omitted from our study include intangibles from pain and suffering, resources from care provided by nonpaid caregivers, and the burden associated with undiagnosed diabetes.
Cultivate Self-Efficacy for Personal and Organizational Effectiveness

Bandura, A. (2000). Cultivate self-efficacy for personal and organizational effectiveness. In E.
Psychosexual outcome of gender-dysphoric children.

OBJECTIVE
To establish the psychosexual outcome of gender-dysphoric children at 16 years or older and to examine childhood characteristics related to psychosexual outcome.


METHOD
We studied 77 children who had been referred in childhood to our clinic because of gender dysphoria (59 boys, 18 girls; mean age 8.4 years, age range 5-12 years). In childhood, we measured the children's cross-gender identification and discomfort with their own sex and gender roles. At follow-up 10.4 +/- 3.4 years later, 54 children (mean age 18.9 years, age range 16-28 years) agreed to participate. In this group, we assessed gender dysphoria and sexual orientation.


RESULTS
At follow-up, 30% of the 77 participants (19 boys and 4 girls) did not respond to our recruiting letter or were not traceable; 27% (12 boys and 9 girls) were still gender dysphoric (persistence group), and 43% (desistance group: 28 boys and 5 girls) were no longer gender dysphoric. Both boys and girls in the persistence group were more extremely cross-gendered in behavior and feelings and were more likely to fulfill gender identity disorder (GID) criteria in childhood than the children in the other two groups. At follow-up, nearly all male and female participants in the persistence group reported having a homosexual or bisexual sexual orientation. In the desistance group, all of the girls and half of the boys reported having a heterosexual orientation. The other half of the boys in the desistance group had a homosexual or bisexual sexual orientation.


CONCLUSIONS
Most children with gender dysphoria will not remain gender dysphoric after puberty. Children with persistent GID are characterized by more extreme gender dysphoria in childhood than children with desisting gender dysphoria. With regard to sexual orientation, the most likely outcome of childhood GID is homosexuality or bisexuality.
Minimal suture blepharoplasty: Closure of incisions with autologous fibrin glue

Blepharoplasty incisions can be closed safely with autologous fibrin glue. The fibrinogen, prepared either from a whole-blood or plasmapheresis source, is mixed with commercially available thrombin to form a seal that is both hemostatic and adhesive. The complication rate is low and primarily due to technical factors in the initial cases. 'When compared with standard suture techniques, the incidence of minor problems such as milia formation was much lower. In select cases, the technique of using fibrin glue and a minimal number of sutures may be useful as an alternative method of would closure in blepharoplasty patients.
Alveolar bone thickness around maxillary central incisors of different inclination assessed with cone-beam computed tomography

OBJECTIVE
To assess the labial and lingual alveolar bone thickness in adults with maxillary central incisors of different inclination by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT).


METHODS
Ninety maxillary central incisors from 45 patients were divided into three groups based on the maxillary central incisors to palatal plane angle; lingual-inclined, normal, and labial-inclined. Reformatted CBCT images were used to measure the labial and lingual alveolar bone thickness (ABT) at intervals corresponding to every 1/10 of the root length. The sum of labial ABT and lingual ABT at the level of the root apex was used to calculate the total ABT (TABT). The number of teeth exhibiting alveolar fenestration and dehiscence in each group was also tallied. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey's honestly significant difference test were applied for statistical analysis.


RESULTS
The labial ABT and TABT values at the root apex in the lingual-inclined group were significantly lower than in the other groups (p < 0.05). Lingual and labial ABT values were very low at the cervical level in the lingual-inclined and normal groups. There was a higher prevalence of alveolar fenestration in the lingual-inclined group.


CONCLUSIONS
Lingual-inclined maxillary central incisors have less bone support at the level of the root apex and a greater frequency of alveolar bone defects than normal maxillary central incisors. The bone plate at the marginal level is also very thin.
Dynamic Programming Treatment of the Travelling Salesman Problem

The well-known travelling salesman problem is the following: " A salesman is required ~,o visit once and only once each of n different cities starting from a base city, and returning to this city. What path minimizes the to ta l distance travelled by the salesman?" The problem has been treated by a number of different people using a var ie ty of techniques; el. Dantzig, Fulkerson, Johnson [1], where a combination of ingemtity and linear programming is used, and Miller, Tucker and Zemlin [2], whose experiments using an all-integer program of Gomory did not produce results i~ cases with ten cities although some success was achieved in eases of simply four cities. The purpose of this note is to show tha t this problem can easily be formulated in dynamic programming terms [3], and resolved computationally for up to 17 cities. For larger numbers, the method presented below, combined with various simple manipulations, may be used to obtain quick approximate solutions. Results of this nature were independently obtained by M. Held and R. M. Karp, who are in the process of publishing some extensions and computat ional results.
Uncertainty, Ambiguity and Privacy

In this paper we discuss the importance of ambiguity, uncertainty and limited information on individuals’ decision making in situations that have an impact on their privacy. We present experimental evidence from a survey study that demonstrates the impact of framing a marketing offer on participants’ willingness to accept when the consequences of the offer are uncertain and highly ambiguous.
Endoscopic diagnosis of gastric intestinal metaplasia: a prospective multicenter study.

BACKGROUND
Intestinal metaplasia (IM) of the gastric mucosa has long attracted attention as a premalignant lesion involved in gastric carcinogenesis. However, endoscopic diagnosis of IM has remained unclear for a long time. In recent years, the methylene blue staining technique and narrow-band imaging (NBI) magnifying endoscopy have facilitated clinical diagnosis of IM, although these methods have some problems due to their complexity. Simple methods for diagnosis of IM using conventional endoscopy and the indigo carmine contrast (IC) method are necessary.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
This study was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, comparative study involving 10 facilities. The appearance of IM was examined using conventional and IC methods with an electronic endoscope.


RESULTS
Subjects included 163 patients, of whom 87 and 76 underwent conventional and IC methods, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, and receiver operating characteristic/area under thecurve (ROC/AUC) of conventional and IC methods for the detection of IM in the gastric antrum showed that diagnostic performance of the conventional method was higher, but not significantly, than that of the IC method. Sensitivity, specificity and ROC/AUC of conventional and IC methods for the detection of IM in the gastric body showed that the IC method yielded better (but not significantly better) results than the conventional method.


CONCLUSION
The diagnostic performance of the conventional method did not significantly differ from that of the IC method. A villous appearance, whitish mucosa, and rough mucosal surface, as observed by both methods, and areae gastricae pattern, as observed by the IC method, were useful indicators for endoscopic diagnosis of IM.
A design methodology of chip-to-chip wireless power transmission system

A design methodology to transmit power using a chip-to-chip wireless interface is proposed. The proposed power transmission system is based on magnetic coupling, and the power transmission of 5mW/mm2 was verified. The transmission efficiency trade-off with the transmitted power is also discussed.