LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effects of antiretroviral therapy on immune function of HIV-infected adults with pulmonary tuberculosis and CD4+ >350 cells/mm3.

BACKGROUND
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-tuberculosis coinfection is associated with heightened immune activation, viral replication, and T cell dysfunction. We compared changes in T cell activation and function between patients receiving concurrent treatment for HIV-tuberculosis coinfection and those receiving treatment for tuberculosis alone.


METHODS
HIV-infected adults with tuberculosis and CD4(+) T cell counts >350 cells/mm(3) were randomized to receive tuberculosis treatment alone (control arm; n = 36) or 6 months of antiretroviral therapy (ART) concurrent with tuberculosis treatment (intervention arm; n = 38). HIV viral load, T cell subsets, T cell activation, and cytokine production were measured at enrollment and every 3 months for 12 months.


RESULTS
Differences in absolute CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell counts were not observed between arms. Viral load was reduced while participants received ART; control patients maintained viral load at baseline levels. Both arms had significant reductions in T cell expression of CD38 and HLA-DR. Interferon-γ production in response to mitogen increased significantly in the intervention arm.


CONCLUSIONS
In HIV-infected adults with tuberculosis and CD4(+) T cell counts >350 cells/mm(3), both tuberculosis treatment and concurrent HIV-tuberculosis treatment reduce T cell activation and stabilize T cell counts. Concurrent ART with tuberculosis treatment does not provide additional, sustained reductions in T cell activation among individuals with preserved immunologic function.
Eileen Power's Asian journey, 1920-21: history, narrative, and subjectivity

Abstract This article analyses the travel writings of the British medieval historian, Eileen Power (1889-1940), during her year-long journey around the world in 1920-21 as the first and only female awarded a travel fellowship administered by the Trustees of the University of London in the years following the First World War. Drawing upon a comparative reading of her official Report to the Trustees and her private diary record of her ‘Tour du Monde’, we examine the various dimensions of subjectivity and identity evident in her narrative of the journey, interrogating the difference which gender makes in the relationship of European travellers to empire. In addition, we examine how the narrative of her journey and subsequent historical narratives were part of those Orientalist forces/discourses which produced and were produced by the West's relationship to the East in the first half of the twentieth century.
Centile charts of cervical length between 18 and 32 weeks of gestation.

OBJECTIVE
To establish a centile chart of cervical length between 18 and 32 weeks of gestation in a low-risk population of women.


METHODS
A prospective longitudinal cohort study of women with a low risk, singleton pregnancy using public healthcare facilities in Cape Town, South Africa. Transvaginal measurement of cervical length was performed between 16 and 32 weeks of gestation and used to construct centile charts. The distribution of cervical length was determined for gestational ages and was used to establish estimates of longitudinal percentiles. Centile charts were constructed for nulliparous and multiparous women together and separately.


RESULTS
Centile estimation was based on data from 344 women. Percentiles showed progressive cervical shortening with increasing gestational age. Averaged over the entire follow-up period, mean cervical length was 1.5 mm shorter in nulliparous women compared with multiparous women (95% CI, 0.4-2.6).


CONCLUSIONS
Establishment of longitudinal reference values of cervical length in a low-risk population will contribute toward a better understanding of cervical length in women at risk for preterm labor.
TIaaS: Secure Cloud-assisted Traffic Information Dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

In the recent past, a new concept termed as VANET-based clouds evolved from traditional VANET incorporating both VANET and cloud computing technologies in order to provide vehicle drivers, passengers, and consumers with safe, reliable, and infotainment-rich services while driving on the roads. In this paper, we use a framework of VANET-based clouds proposed by Hussain et al. namely VuC (VANET using Clouds) and define another layer TIaaS (Traffic Information as a Service) atop the cloud computing stack. TIaaS layer provides vehicular nodes (more precisely subscribers) with fine-grained traffic information in a secure way. Additionally our proposed scheme provides security, privacy, and conditional anonymity which are of prime concern in VANET clouds.
Recurrent Neural Networks with Attention for Genre Classification

Using the GTZAN Genre Collection [1], we start with a set of 1000 30 second song excerpts subdivided into 10 pre-classified genres: Blues, Classical, Country, Disco, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Metal, Pop, Reggae, and Rock. We downsampled to 4000 Hz, and further split each excerpt into 5-second clips For each clip, we compute a spectrogram using Fast Fourier Transforms, giving us 22 timestep vectors of dimensionality 513 for each clip. Spectrograms separate out component audio signals at different frequencies from a raw audio signal, and provide us with a tractable, loosely structured feature set for any given audio clip that is well-suited for deep learning techniques. (See, for example, the spectrogram produced by a jazz excerpt below) Models
Simultaneous determination of atorvastatin, amlodipine, ramipril and benazepril in human plasma by LC-MS/MS and its application to a human pharmacokinetic study.

A rapid, simple, sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous estimation of atorvastatin (ATO), amlodipine (AML), ramipril (RAM) and benazepril (BEN) using nevirapine as an internal standard (IS). The API-4000 LC-MS/MS was operated under the multiple-reaction monitoring mode using electrospray ionization. Analytes and IS were extracted from plasma by simple liquid-liquid extraction technique using ethyl acetate. The reconstituted samples were chromatographed on C(18) column by pumping 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile (15:85, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. A detailed validation of the method was performed as per the FDA guidelines and the standard curves were found to be linear in the range of 0.26-210 ng/mL for ATO; 0.05-20.5 ng/mL for AML; 0.25-208 ng/mL for RAM and 0.74-607 ng/mL for BEN with mean correlation coefficient of ≥0.99 for each analyte. The intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy results were well with in the acceptable limits. A run time of 2.5 min for each sample made it possible to analyze more than 400 human plasma samples per day. The developed assay method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in human male volunteers.
Multisensory integration of speech signals: the relationship between space and time

Integrating audiovisual cues for simple events is affected when sources are separated in space and time. By contrast, audiovisual perception of speech appears resilient when either spatial or temporal disparities exist. We investigated whether speech perception is sensitive to the combination of spatial and temporal inconsistencies. Participants heard the bisyllable /aba/ while seeing a face produce the incongruent bisyllable /ava/. We tested the level of visual influence over auditory perception when the sound was asynchronous with respect to facial motion (from −360 to +360 ms) and emanated from five locations equidistant to the participant. Although an interaction was observed, it was not related to participants’ perception of synchrony, nor did it indicate a linear relationship between the effect of spatial and temporal discrepancies. We conclude that either the complexity of the signal or the nature of the task reduces reliance on spatial and temporal contiguity for audiovisual speech perception.
Temporal trends in physical activity in England: the Health Survey for England 1991 to 2004.

OBJECTIVES
Physical activity is an established risk factor for chronic disease but very little is known about its temporal trends in England. Such information is crucial for planning public health interventions.


METHODS
We explored temporal trends in occupational activity, walking, domestic activity, and sports using Health Survey for England data in 95,342 adults aged 16 and over. Data were collected annually in 1991-4, 1997-9, and 2003-04. Multivariate logistic regression and multiple linear regression models assessed trends in physical activity for dichotomous and continuous outcomes, respectively. Analyses were adjusted for age and social class.


RESULTS
Physical activity levels at work declined over time but there was a consistent and significant upward trend in regular sports participation among all age groups. Changes in questions in 1997 and 1999 confounded trends in walking and heavy domestic activity and total physical activity. Between 1999 and 2004 (when physical activity questions remained unchanged), there were significant increases in average time spent in all activity types and the percentage of adults meeting the current physical activity recommendations. These short-term increases were more marked among adults aged 35 to 64.


CONCLUSION
The common perception that overall physical activity levels are declining may be over-simplistic as despite the decreases in occupational physical activity, there is a clear upward trend in sports participation. Changes in the measuring methodology over time preclude the presentation of a clear picture of the total temporal trends in physical activity in England.
Lifestyle intervention in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving androgen suppression therapy: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND
Healthy lifestyle behaviors could have a role in ameliorating some of the adverse effects of androgen suppression therapy (AST) in men with prostate cancer. The primary aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a tapered supervised exercise program in combination with dietary advice in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST.


METHODS
Advanced prostate cancer patients receiving AST for a minimum of 6 months were randomized to a 12-week lifestyle program comprising aerobic and resistance exercise, plus dietary advice (n = 25), or standard care (n = 25). Exercise behavior, dietary macronutrient intake, quality of life, fatigue, functional fitness, and biomarkers associated with disease progression were assessed at baseline, after the intervention, and at 6 months.


RESULTS
The lifestyle group showed improvements in exercise behavior (P < 0.001), dietary fat intake (P = 0.001), total energy intake (P = 0.005), fatigue (P = 0.002), aerobic exercise tolerance (P < 0.001), and muscle strength (P = 0.033) compared with standard care controls. Although a high rate of attrition (44%) was observed at 6 months, the improvements in key health outcomes were sustained. No effects on clinical prostate cancer disease markers were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
This preliminary evidence suggests that pragmatic lifestyle interventions have potential to evoke improvements in exercise and dietary behavior, in addition to other important health outcomes in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST.


IMPACT
This study shows for the first time that pragmatic lifestyle interventions are feasible and could have a positive impact on health behaviors and other key outcomes in men with advanced prostate cancer receiving AST.
miRBase: tools for microRNA genomics

miRBase is the central online repository for microRNA (miRNA) nomenclature, sequence data, annotation and target prediction. The current release (10.0) contains 5071 miRNA loci from 58 species, expressing 5922 distinct mature miRNA sequences: a growth of over 2000 sequences in the past 2 years. miRBase provides a range of data to facilitate studies of miRNA genomics: all miRNAs are mapped to their genomic coordinates. Clusters of miRNA sequences in the genome are highlighted, and can be defined and retrieved with any inter-miRNA distance. The overlap of miRNA sequences with annotated transcripts, both protein- and non-coding, are described. Finally, graphical views of the locations of a wide range of genomic features in model organisms allow for the first time the prediction of the likely boundaries of many miRNA primary transcripts. miRBase is available at http://microrna.sanger.ac.uk/.
Atorvastatin does not affect ischaemia-induced phosphatidylserine exposition in humans in-vivo.

AIM
Statins can induce pharmacologic preconditioning and thereby reduce infarct size. Cellular phosphatidylserine (PS) exposition occurs in the course of ischaemia and reperfusion and has been associated with injury. In this experiment we studied the effect of atorvastatin on PS exposition after a standardised ischaemia and reperfusion challenge.


METHODS
In a double-blind randomised cross-over trial 30 healthy volunteers were allocated to 3 day treatment with atorvastatin (80 mg/day) and placebo (n = 24), or placebo treatment twice (n = 6). At the end of each treatment period, volunteers underwent 10 minutes of forearm ischaemic exercise. At reperfusion radiolabeled annexin A5 was administered intravenously and Gamma camera imaging of both hands was performed 1 and 4 hours after reperfusion.


RESULTS
Annexin A5 targeting was not different between atorvastatin treatment (26.1 ± 9.8% and 24.0 ± 9.5% respectively at 1 and 4 hours after reperfusion) and placebo treatment (25.6 ± 11.0% and 24.5 ± 10.7%) (p = 0.99). Our time control experiment did not reveal a carry-over effect.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that treatment with atorvastatin 80 mg does not reduce forearm PS exposition after ischaemic exercise. This suggests that the role of PS exposure in the prevention of ischemia and reperfusion injury by short term treatment with atorvastatin is limited.
Security and Privacy Consideration for Internet of Things in Smart Home Environments

-Internet Of Things(IOT) has emerged as a trustworthy technology to improve the quality of life in smart homes through offering various automated, interactive and comfortable services. Sensors integrated at different places in homes, offices, and even in clothes, equipment, and utilities are used to sense and monitor owners’ positions, movements, required signs, valuable usage, temperature and humidity levels of rooms, etc. Along with sensing and monitoring capabilities, sensors cooperate and communicate with themselves to deliver; share and process sensed information and help real-time decision making procedures through activate suitable alerts and actions. However, ensuring privacy and providing enough security in these required services provided by IOTs is a major issue in smart home environments. In this paper, we examine the privacy and security challenges of IOTs and survey its possibilities for smart home environments. We discuss the unique characteristics that differentiate a smart environment from the rest, elaborate on security and privacy issues and their respective solution measures. A number of challenges and interesting research issues appearing from this study have been reported for further analysis.
Age-related changes in cutaneous sensation in the healthy human hand

Cutaneous sensation deteriorates with age. It is not known if this change is consistent over the entire hand or if sensation is affected by changes in skin mechanics. Cutaneous perceptual thresholds were tested at eight sites in the glabrous skin and two in the hairy skin of both hands in 70 subjects (20–88 years), five male and five female per decade, using calibrated von Frey filaments, two-point discrimination, and texture discrimination. Venous occlusion at the wrist (40 ± 10 mmHg) and moisturizer were used to alter skin mechanics. Cutaneous thresholds increased significantly with age (p < 0.001); von Frey thresholds were 0.04 g [0.02–0.07] (median and interquartile range) in the 20s and 0.16 g [0.04–0.4] in the 80s, with differences between hands for older females (p = 0.044) but not males. The pattern of changes in cutaneous sensation varied according to the site tested with smaller changes on the fingers compared to the palm. Two-point discrimination deteriorated with age (p = 0.046), but with no interaction between sex, handedness, or changes in skin mechanics. There were no significant differences for texture discrimination. Changes in skin mechanics improved cutaneous thresholds in the oldest males after moisturizing (p = 0.001) but not otherwise. These results emphasize the complex pattern of age-related deterioration in cutaneous sensation with differences between sexes, the hands, sites on the hand, and the mode of testing. As the index fingertip is not a sensitive indicator of sensory decline, the minimum assessment of age-related changes in cutaneous sensation should include both hands, and sites on the palm.
Parental Mediators of Associations Between Perceived Authoritative Parenting and Early Adolescent Substance Use

Assessed in this study was whether a variety of specific parental behaviors mediated associations between perceived authoritative parenting and early adolescent substance use. Eighth-grade students (N= 182) completed questionnaires about their perceptions of parental warmth, behavioral control, and psychological autonomy granting, which were used to compute a measure of perceived parental authoritativeness. Adolescents indicated their perceptions of parents’ acceptance of, and likely responses to, substance use. During telephone interviews, one parent of each of 113 adolescents indicated the extent to which he or she used specific strategies aimed at preventing offspring from engaging in substance use. Perceived authoritative parenting was associated with lower levels of substance use among boys and among girls. Perceived parental disciplinary consequences of engaging in substance use mediated associations between perceived authoritative parenting and girls’ substance use. Associations between perceived parental authoritativeness and boys’ substance use were not linked by any specific parental behaviors. Article: Developmental researchers consistently have found that a particular aspect of parenting, referred to as parenting style, is associated with, and predictive of, a wide range of indicators of adolescent competence. Earlier parenting-style research (Baumrind, 1967, 1971) conceptualized parents of young children as falling into three groups. Authoritative parents were described as high in warmth (authoritative parents are involved in children’s lives and responsive to their needs) and behavioral control (authoritative parents set clear and age-appropriate limits on children’s behavior). In contrast, authoritarian parents were described as high in behavioral control but low in warmth, and permissive parents were described as low in behavioral control. Working further to refine the concept of parenting style, Maccoby and Martin (1983) proposed that parents varied according to two dimensions: the responsiveness (similar to warmth) and demandingness (similar to behavioral control) they exhibited in relationships with children. By grouping parents according to their levels of responsiveness and demandingness, the Baumrind permissive parents were further divided into two groups: indulgent parents were high in responsiveness and low in demandingness, whereas rejecting parents were low in responsiveness and
3D Face Recognition with Geometrically Localized Surface Shape Indexes

This paper describes a pose invariant three-dimensional (3D) face recognition method using distinctive facial features. A face has its structural components like the eyes, nose and mouth. The positions and the shapes of the facial components are very important characteristics of a face. We extract invariant facial feature points on those components using the facial geometry from a normalized face data and calculate relative features using these feature points. We also calculate a shape index on each area of facial feature point to represent curvature characteristics of facial components. We perform recognition by using weighted distance matching, support vector machine (SVM) and independent component analysis (ICA)
The relationship between trait emotional intelligence and creativity across subject domains

This study investigated the association between two creativity indicators: Divergent Thinking (DT) and Creative Personality (CP), and key aspects of cognitive ability, personality (Big Five), and trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self-efficacy). The sample consisted of 175 Spanish undergraduates and recent graduates from three university subject domains: Technical & Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Arts. Cognitive ability was found to bear little relationship to either index of creativity. In contrast, strong relationships were demonstrated between personality traits, including trait EI, and creativity, some of which varied significantly across subject domains. Results suggest that future research will have to pay particular attention to individual differences in the affective parts of the personality realm that are comprehensively captured by the construct of trait EI.
Accuracy of Genomic Selection in a Rice Synthetic Population Developed for Recurrent Selection Breeding

Genomic selection (GS) is a promising strategy for enhancing genetic gain. We investigated the accuracy of genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) in four inter-related synthetic populations that underwent several cycles of recurrent selection in an upland rice-breeding program. A total of 343 S2:4 lines extracted from those populations were phenotyped for flowering time, plant height, grain yield and panicle weight, and genotyped with an average density of one marker per 44.8 kb. The relative effect of the linkage disequilibrium (LD) and minor allele frequency (MAF) thresholds for selecting markers, the relative size of the training population (TP) and of the validation population (VP), the selected trait and the genomic prediction models (frequentist and Bayesian) on the accuracy of GEBVs was investigated in 540 cross validation experiments with 100 replicates. The effect of kinship between the training and validation populations was tested in an additional set of 840 cross validation experiments with a single genomic prediction model. LD was high (average r2 = 0.59 at 25 kb) and decreased slowly, distribution of allele frequencies at individual loci was markedly skewed toward unbalanced frequencies (MAF average value 15.2% and median 9.6%), and differentiation between the four synthetic populations was low (FST ≤0.06). The accuracy of GEBV across all cross validation experiments ranged from 0.12 to 0.54 with an average of 0.30. Significant differences in accuracy were observed among the different levels of each factor investigated. Phenotypic traits had the biggest effect, and the size of the incidence matrix had the smallest. Significant first degree interaction was observed for GEBV accuracy between traits and all the other factors studied, and between prediction models and LD, MAF and composition of the TP. The potential of GS to accelerate genetic gain and breeding options to increase the accuracy of predictions are discussed.