LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Self-awareness of foot health status in patients with Type 2 diabetes: the Fremantle Diabetes Study Phase II.

AIMS
To determine self-awareness of diabetes-related foot problems and its associates in a community-based cohort of people with Type 2 diabetes.


METHODS
A survey concerning diabetic foot problems was administered to 358 consecutive patients with Type 2 diabetes [mean ± SD age 67.4 ± 10.8 years, 56.1% males, median (interquartile range) diabetes duration 9.0 (3.9-16.8) years] attending for detailed clinical, biochemical and questionnaire assessment as part of the longitudinal observational Fremantle Diabetes Study Phase II.


RESULTS
Compared with the 213 patients (59.5%) who considered their feet to be normal, the 145 (40.5%) who considered their feet to be abnormal were older, had longer diabetes duration and were more likely to have sensory neuropathic symptoms and self-reported poor circulation (P < 0.001). In those who considered their feet to be normal, 67.9% had peripheral sensory neuropathy (score >2/8 on the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument clinical portion), 9.9% had an ankle-brachial index < 0.9, 6.1% had both peripheral sensory neuropathy and an ankle-brachial index < 0.90, and 86.9% had one or more features on inspection, such as deformity, dry skin, callus and fissures that could facilitate more serious complications, despite the majority having had at least one foot examination by a healthcare professional in the previous year.


CONCLUSIONS
Self-assessment of diabetes-related foot problems by patients in the Fremantle Diabetes Study Phase II was unreliable. The present data suggest that self-perceived foot health should be assessed together with foot examination findings. Intensive education and monitoring may be necessary in those who consider their feet to be normal but who have neurovascular, structural and/or other precursors of serious foot pathology.
Pseudospectra and stability radii for analytic matrix functions with application to time-delay systems

Definitions for pseudospectra and stability radii of an analytic matrix function are given, where the structure of the function is exploited. Various perturbation measures are considered and computationally tractable formulae are derived. The results are applied to a class of retarded delay differential equations. Special properties of the pseudospectra of such equations are determined and illustrated.
Reflectance confocal microscopy in the diagnosis of partially and completely amelanotic melanoma: report on seven cases.

BACKGROUND
The clinical diagnosis of amelanotic melanoma is often challenging, because the classical clinical and dermoscopic features of pigmented melanoma are usually missing. The reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) offers an additional possibility of an in vivo diagnosis of both pigmented and amelanotic melanoma lesions.


OBJECTIVES
To test the value of RCM in vivo in the preoperative prediction of melanoma lesions lacking significant pigment and to compare the results with the evaluation by dermoscopy and histopathology.


METHODS
We examined seven patients with the clinically uncertain differential diagnosis of partially or completely amelanotic melanoma by RCM and dermoscopy prior to surgical excision of the lesions according to the previously suggested dermoscopy algorithm and RCM score for melanoma. The following RCM features were evaluated: major criteria scored +2 (non-edged papillae, cytological atypia at the dermo-epidermal junction) and minor criteria +1 (roundish pagetoid cells, widespread pagetoid infiltration, nucleated cells within dermal papillae, cerebriform cell clusters). The dermoscopic evaluation included the following criteria: polymorphous vessels, dotted and linear irregular vessels, hairpin vessels, pink-erythematous colour, milky red areas, irregularly shaped depigmentation, blue-grey dots and subtle pigmentation.


RESULTS
The preoperative in vivo RCM analysis revealed common features of melanoma also found in pigmented melanoma lesions. All lesions showed a score above three in the applied RCM algorithm which was proposed earlier as the threshold for malignancy. In dermoscopy, five of seven lesions showed characteristic vascular changes.


CONCLUSION
In vivo RCM is a valuable tool in the preoperative diagnosis of partially and completely amelanotic tumours suspicious for melanoma in addition to dermoscopic evaluation.
SLA-Aware Virtual Resource Management for Cloud Infrastructures

Cloud platforms host several independent applications on a shared resource pool with the ability to allocate computing power to applications on a per-demand basis. The use of server virtualization techniques for such platforms provide great flexibility with the ability to consolidate several virtual machines on the same physical server, to resize a virtual machine capacity and to migrate virtual machine across physical servers. A key challenge for cloud providers is to automate the management of virtual servers while taking into account both high-level QoS requirements of hosted applications and resource management costs. This paper proposes an autonomic resource manager to control the virtualized environment which decouples the provisioning of resources from the dynamic placement of virtual machines. This manager aims to optimize a global utility function which integrates both the degree of SLA fulfillment and the operating costs. We resort to a Constraint Programming approach to formulate and solve the optimization problem. Results obtained through simulations validate our approach.
The safe zone for placement of chin implants.

BACKGROUND
Alloplastic chin augmentation requires the surgeon to predict the location of the mental foramen and the origin of the mentalis muscle to avoid the postoperative sequelae lower lip parasthesia, lower lip incompetence, or chin ptosis. The authors define a safe zone of dissection along the inferior border of the mandible for placement of alloplastic chin implants.


METHODS
Fourteen fresh cadaveric hemifaces were dissected with the aid of loupe magnification. Previously described anatomic landmarks were used to identify the origin of the mentalis muscle and the location of the mental foramen along the alveolar ridge of the mandible. Vertical distances were then measured from the mandibular border to the inferior aspect of the mentalis muscle origin and the lower edge of the mental foramen to construct the zone of safe dissection.


RESULTS
The mentalis was identified as a fan-shaped muscle originating from the alveolar process below the incisors roots and inserting into the chin just below the labiomental sulcus. The mental foramen was located most commonly below the roots of the first and second premolars or in the space between the roots. The mentalis origin and the mental foramen were 1.8 ± 0.3 cm and 1.5 ± 0.2 cm cephalad to the inferior edge of the mandible, respectively. These distances define the borders of a safe zone above the mandibular border.


CONCLUSIONS
A safe zone of dissection for alloplastic chin augmentation is identified. This study is applicable to implant placement through a submental or an intraoral incision. This safe zone is also useful for reconstructive or orthognathic mandible procedures.
The Speedup-Test: a statistical methodology for programme speedup analysis and computation

In the area of high performance computing and embedded systems, numerous code optimisation methods exist to accelerate the speed of the computation (or optimise another performance criteria). They are usually experimented by doing multiple observations of the initial and the optimised execution times of a program in order to declare a speedup. Even with fixed input and execution environment, program execution times vary in general. Hence different kinds of speedups may be reported: the speedup of the average execution time, the speedup of the minimal execution time, the speedup of the median, etc. Many published speedups in the literature are observations of a set of experiments. In order to improve the reproducibility of the experimental results, this article presents a rigorous statistical methodology regarding program performance analysis. We rely on well known statistical tests (Shapiro-wilk’s test, Fisher’s Ftest, Student’s t-test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov’s test, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney’s test) to study if the observed speedups are statistically significant or not. By fixing 0 < ↵ < 1 a desired risk level, we are able to analyse the statistical significance of the average execution time as well as the median. We can also check if P [X > Y ] > 12 , the probability that an individual execution of the optimised code is faster than the individual execution of the initial code. In addition, we can compute the confidence interval of the probability to get a speedup on a randomly selected benchmark that does not belong to the initial set of tested benchmarks. Our methodology defines a consistent improvement compared to the usual performance analysis method in high performance computing. We explain in each situation what are the hypothesis that must be checked to declare a correct risk level for the statistics. The Speedup-Test protocol certifying the observed speedups with rigorous statistics is implemented and distributed as an open source tool based on R software. keywords: Program performance evaluation and analysis, code optimisation, statistics.
Velocity determination in scenes containing several moving objects

A method is described which quantifies the speed and direction of several moving objects in a sequence of digital images. A relationship between the time variation of intensity, the spatial gradient, and velocity has been developed which allows the determination of motion using clustering techniques. This paper describes these relationships, the clustering technique, and provides examples of the technique on real images containing several moving objects.
Combining Lexical and Semantic Methods of Inter-terminology Mapping Using the UMLS

The need for inter-terminology mapping is constantly increasing with the growth in the volume of electronically captured biomedical data and the demand to re-use the same data for secondary purposes. Using the UMLS as a knowledge base, semantically-based and lexically-based mappings were generated from SNOMED CT to ICD9CM terms and compared to a gold standard. Semantic mapping performed better than lexical mapping in terms of coverage, recall and precision. As the two mapping methods are orthogonal, the two sets of mappings can be used to validate and enhance each other. A method of combining the mappings based on the precision level of sub-categories in each method was derived. The combined method outperformed both methods, achieving coverage of 91%, recall of 43% and precision of 27%. It is also possible to customize the method of combination to optimize performance according to the task at hand.
Matching attack patterns to security vulnerabilities in software-intensive system designs

Fortifying software applications from attack is often an effort that occurs late in the software development process. Applying patches to fix vulnerable applications in the field is a common approach to securing applications. Abstract representations of attacks such as attack trees and attack nets can be used for identifying potential threats before a system is released. We have constructed attack patterns that can illuminate security vulnerabilities in a software-intensive system design. Matching our attack patterns to vulnerabilities in the design phase may stimulate security efforts to start early and to become integrated with the software process. The intent is that our attack patterns can be used to effectively encode software vulnerabilities in vulnerability databases. A case study of our approach with undergraduate students in a security course indicated that our attack patterns can provide general descriptions of vulnerabilities. The students were able to accurately map the patterns to vulnerabilities in a system design.
Early osseointegration driven by the surface chemistry and wettability of dental implants

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of two different commercially available dental implants on osseointegration. The surfaces were sandblasting and acid etching (Group 1) and sandblasting and acid etching, then maintained in an isotonic solution of 0.9% sodium chloride (Group 2).


MATERIAL AND METHODS
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed for surface chemistry analysis. Surface morphology and topography was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy (CM), respectively. Contact angle analysis (CAA) was employed for wetting evaluation. Bone-implant-contact (BIC) and bone area fraction occupied (BAFO) analysis were performed on thin sections (30 μm) 14 and 28 days after the installation of 10 implants from each group (n=20) in rabbits' tibias. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA at the 95% level of significance considering implantation time and implant surface as independent variables.


RESULTS
Group 2 showed 3-fold less carbon on the surface and a markedly enhanced hydrophilicity compared to Group 1 but a similar surface roughness (p>0.05). BIC and BAFO levels in Group 2 at 14 days were similar to those in Group 1 at 28 days. After 28 days of installation, BIC and BAFO measurements of Group 2 were approximately 1.5-fold greater than in Group 1 (p<0.05).


CONCLUSION
The surface chemistry and wettability implants of Group 2 accelerate osseointegration and increase the area of the bone-to-implant interface when compared to those of Group 1.
Impact of Catheter Ablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Sick Sinus Syndrome　- Important Role of Non-Pulmonary Vein Foci.

BACKGROUND
The clinical efficacy of catheter ablation (CA) for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) in patients with sick sinus syndrome (SSS) and the mechanism and predictors of recurrence are not yet completely elucidated.


METHODSANDRESULTS
Of 963 consecutive patients who underwent PAF ablation during the study period, a total of 108 patients with SSS (SSS group) and 108 matched controls without SSS (non-SSS group) were followed up. During the follow-up period (mean, 32.8±17.5 months), the SSS group had significantly higher AF recurrence rate since the last procedure than the non-SSS group (26.9% vs. 12.0%; P=0.02). The SSS group had significantly higher prevalence of non-pulmonary vein (non-PV) foci than the non-SSS group (25.9% vs. 13.9%; P=0.027). On multivariate analysis congestive heart failure (HR, 13.7; 95% CI: 1.57-119; P=0.02) and non-PV foci (HR, 5.75; 95% CI: 1.69-19.6; P=0.005) were independent predictors of recurrence following CA in the SSS group. In the SSS group, 88 patients had bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome without prior permanent pacemaker implantation. Of these, 6 required pacemaker implantation because of AF and sinus pause recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with SSS are at higher risk of AF recurrence after CA. Non-PV foci are associated with AF recurrence following PAF with SSS.
Randomized trial on the effectiveness of long- and short-term psychotherapy on psychiatric symptoms and working ability during a 5-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND
The information on whether long-term psychotherapy is superior in comparison with short-term therapies during a long time-perspective in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorder is incomplete.


AIMS
The present study addresses this question in a clinical trial with an exceptionally long follow-up.


METHODS
In the Helsinki Psychotherapy Study, 326 outpatients with mood or anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and two types of short-term psychotherapy (short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and solution-focused therapy) and were followed up for 5 years from the start of treatment. The outcome measures were psychiatric symptoms measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Symptom Check List, anxiety scale (SCL-90-Anx), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and Symptom Check List, Global Severity Index (SCL-90-GSI), and working ability measured by the Work Ability Index (WAI), the Work-subscale (SAS-Work) of the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-SR) and the Perceived Psychological Functioning Scale (PPF). Furthermore, remission variables based on changes in psychiatric symptoms and use of auxiliary treatment, were used.


RESULTS
After the 5-year follow-up, the rate of recovery from psychiatric symptoms and the work ability improvement rate remained higher in the long-term therapy group, whereas no differences in the effectiveness of the two short-term therapies of different modalities were found.


CONCLUSIONS
Long-term psychotherapy is more effective than short-term therapy during a long follow-up, suggesting the need for a careful evaluation of suitability to short-term therapy. More research on the long-term effects of psychotherapy in large-scale studies is still needed, however.
ELECTRONIC WORD-OF-MOUTH VIA CONSUMER-OPINION PLATFORMS: WHAT MOTIVATES CONSUMERS TO ARTICULATE THEMSELVES ON THE INTERNET?

Through Web-based consumer opinion platforms (e.g., epinions.com), the Internet enables customers to share their opinions on, and experiences with, goods and services with a multitude of other consumers; that is, to engage in electronic wordof-mouth (eWOM) communication. Drawing on findings from research on virtual communities and traditional word-of-mouth literature, a typology for motives of consumer online articulation is © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc.
Clinical trials: the challenge of recruitment and retention of participants.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This article, based on the available literature, attempts to discuss the importance of recruitment and retention of research participants, the associated barriers and challenges, and various strategies to overcome these barriers.


BACKGROUND
The inability to recruit and retain the required participants in a research project poses serious threats to both the internal and the external validity of a research study. Despite serious implications, the issues of recruitment and retention do not receive due attention in research and publications. Literature suggests a lack of coordinated efforts to collect information on the outcomes of recruitment experiences in clinical trials and population studies. Studies often mention the number of participants who refuse to participate; however, the majority of the studies often fail to mention the specific reasons insufficient recruitment or retention of the participants.


DESIGN
A methodological paper.


METHOD
Various participant-, context-, environment- and research-related factors are examined that affect the phenomenon of recruitment and retention of the participants in a study.


RESULTS
Delayed or inefficient recruitment also has financial and ethical implications. Although there are many pieces of information scattered throughout academic journals on recruitment and retention of participants in research, few authors have dealt with the issue holistically. It is imperative for researchers to understand the importance of recruitment and retention of research participants, the associated barriers and challenges, and various strategies to overcome these barriers.


CONCLUSION
Appropriate recording and reporting of the problems faced while recruiting and retaining the participants in research studies can help not only in understating the challenge, but will also help in devising the strategies to overcome this problem. This article was an attempt to synthesise and review the available literature on recruitment and retention issues, which demand extensive theoretical and conceptual thinking as part of the research design.


RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE
An understanding of the challenges and issues related to recruitment and retention can help researchers to think ahead about the strategies to overcome these issues and consequently save the time and energy of the participants, researchers and funding agencies.
Floating Textures

We present a novel multi-view, projective texture mapping technique. While previous multi-view texturing approaches lead to blurring and ghosting artefacts if 3D geometry and/or camera calibration are imprecise, we propose a texturing algorithm that warps (“floats”) projected textures during run-time to preserve crisp, detailed texture appearance. Our GPU implementation achieves interactive to real-time frame rates. The method is very generally applicable and can be used in combination with many image-based rendering methods or projective texturing applications. By using Floating Textures in conjunction with, e.g., visual hull rendering, light field rendering, or free-viewpoint video, improved rendering results are obtained from fewer input images, less accurately calibrated cameras, and coarser 3D geometry proxies.
OmniClimbers: Omni-directional magnetic wheeled climbing robots for inspection of ferromagnetic structures

This paper introduces Omniclimber, a new climbing robot with high maneuverability for inspection of ferromagnetic flat and convex human made structures. In addition to maneuverability, adaptability to various structures with different curvatures and materials are addressed. The conceptual and detailed design of Omniclimbers are presented and two prototypes of the robot are introduced. Several laboratory and field tests are reported, and the results are discussed.
Life cycle assessment of biofuels from Jatropha curcas in West Africa: a field study

In recent years, liquid biofuels for transport have benefited from significant political support due to their potential role in curbing climate change and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. They may also participate to rural development by providing new markets for agricultural production. However, the growth of energy crops has raised concerns due to their high consumption of conventional fuels, fertilizers and pesticides, their impacts on ecosystems and their competition for arable land with food crops. Lowinput species such as Jatropha curcas, a perennial, inedible crop well adapted to semiarid regions, has received much interest as a new alternative for biofuel production, minimizing adverse effects on the environment and food supply. Here, we used life-cycle assessment to quantify the benefits of J. curcas biofuel production in West Africa in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and fossil energy use, compared with fossil diesel fuel and other biofuels. Biodiesel from J. curcas has a much higher performance than current biofuels, relative to oil-derived diesel fuels. Under West Africa conditions, J. curcas biodiesel allows a 72% saving in greenhouse gas emissions compared with conventional diesel fuel, and its energy yield (the ratio of biodiesel energy output to fossil energy input) is 4.7. J. curcas production studied is eco-compatible for the impacts under consideration and fits into the context of sustainable development.
Robot navigation in corridor environments using a sketch floor map

This paper presents a new robot navigation system that can operate on a sketch floor map provided by a user. This sketch map is similar to floor plans as shown at the entrance of buildings, which does not contain accurate metric information and details such as obstacles. The system enables a user to give navigational instructions to a robot by interactively providing a floor map and pointing out goal positions on the map. Since metric information is unavailable, navigation is done using an augmented topological map which described the structure of the corridors extracted from a given floor map. Multiple hypotheses of the robot’s location are maintained and updated during navigation in order to cope with sensor aliasing and landmark-matching failures due to factors such as unknown obstacles inside the corridors.