LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of a long-term use of a minimalist footwear versus habitual shoe on pain, function and mechanical loads in knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Recent studies have shown an important reduction of joint overload during locomotion in elderly women with knee osteoarthritis (OA) after short-term use of minimalist shoes. Our aim is to investigate the chronic effect of inexpensive and minimalist footwear on the clinical and functional aspects of OA and gait biomechanics of elderly women with knee OA.


METHODS/DESIGN
Fifty-six elderly women with knee OA grade 2 or 3 (Kellgren and Lawrence) are randomized into blocks and allocated to either the intervention group, which will use flexible, non-heeled shoes- Moleca®-for six months for at least six hours daily, or the control group, which could not use these shoes. Neither group is undergoing physical therapy treatment throughout the intervention period. Moleca® is a women's double canvas, flexible, flat walking shoe without heels, with a 5-mm anti-slip rubber sole and a 3-mm internal wedge of ethylene vinyl acetate. Both groups will be followed for six months and will be assessed at baseline condition, after three months, and after six months (end of intervention). All the assessments will be performed by a physiotherapist that is blind to the group allocation. The primary outcome is the pain Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) score. The secondary outcomes are global WOMAC score; joint stiffness and disability WOMAC scores; knee pain with a visual analogue scale; walking distance in the six-minute walk test; Lequesne score; amount and frequency (number of days) of paracetamol (500 mg) intake over six months; knee adduction moment during gait; global medical assessment score; and global patient auto-assessment score. At baseline, all patients receive a diary to record the hours of daily use of the footwear intervention; every two weeks, the same physiotherapist makes phone calls to all patients in order to verify adherence to treatment. The statistical analysis will be based on intention-to-treat analysis, as well as general linear models of analysis of variance for repeated measure to detect treatment-time interactions (α = 5%).


DISCUSSION
This is the first randomized, clinical trial protocol to assess the chronic effect of minimalist footwear on the clinical and functional aspects and gait biomechanics of elderly women with knee osteoarthritis. We expect that the use of Moleca® shoes for six months will provide pain relief, reduction of the knee adduction moment when walking, and improve joint function in elderly women with knee OA, and that the treatment, thus, can be considered another inexpensive and easy-to-use option for conservative OA treatment.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
NCT01342458.
An education program for risk factor management after an acute coronary syndrome: a randomized clinical trial.

IMPORTANCE
Lifestyle improvements after an acute coronary syndrome reduce cardiovascular risk but are difficult to achieve.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a nurse-led or dietician-led cardiovascular risk factor education program would improve risk factor reduction over the long term after an acute coronary syndrome.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
The Réseau Insuffisance Cardiaque (RESICARD) PREVENTION: study was a 2-arm, parallel-group, multicenter, randomized clinical trial at 6 tertiary care hospitals in France. Patients hospitalized in a cardiac intensive care unit for an acute coronary syndrome with at least 1 lifestyle risk factor (current smoking, sedentary lifestyle, or overweight or obesity) were randomized according to a computer-generated list with sequentially numbered, sealed envelopes.


INTERVENTION
Patients underwent an education program in a unique non-hospital setting (a House of Education) or were treated according to physicians' usual standard of care.


MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
The primary outcome was a composite that included at least 1 of the following: smoking cessation, at least 3 hours per week of physical activity, at least 5% reduction in weight, and at least 4% reduction in waist circumference. Patients were followed up for 1 year. An intent-to-treat analysis was performed. RESULTS From June 21, 2006, to July 30, 2008, a total of 251 patients were randomized to the House of Education and 251 to conventional care. The 2 groups did not differ significantly at 12 months in the primary composite outcome (51.8% vs 49.8% success rate; adjusted relative risk [aRR], 1.11; 95% CI, 0.90-1.37) or with correction of all risk factors (aRR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.89-1.66). Similarly, the 2 groups did not differ by physical activity (aRR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.92-1.21), smoking cessation (aRR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.87-1.13), and weight or waist reduction (aRR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.84-1.36).


CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Compared with conventional care, the House of Education did not result in superior improvement in lifestyle-related cardiovascular risk factors after an acute coronary syndrome.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00337480.
Cellulose nanocrystals: chemistry, self-assembly, and applications.

Cellulose constitutes the most abundant renewable polymer resource available today. As a chemical raw material, it is generally well-known that it has been used in the form of fibers or derivatives for nearly 150 years for a wide spectrum of products and materials in daily life. What has not been known until relatively recently is that when cellulose fibers are subjected to acid hydrolysis, the fibers yield defect-free, rod-like crystalline residues. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNs) have garnered in the materials community a tremendous level of attention that does not appear to be relenting. These biopolymeric assemblies warrant such attention not only because of their unsurpassed quintessential physical and chemical properties (as will become evident in the review) but also because of their inherent renewability and sustainability in addition to their abundance. They have been the subject of a wide array of research efforts as reinforcing agents in nanocomposites due to their low cost, availability, renewability, light weight, nanoscale dimension, and unique morphology. Indeed, CNs are the fundamental constitutive polymeric motifs of macroscopic cellulosic-based fibers whose sheer volume dwarfs any known natural or synthetic biomaterial. Biopolymers such as cellulose and lignin and † North Carolina State University. ‡ Helsinki University of Technology. Dr. Youssef Habibi is a research assistant professor at the Department of Forest Biomaterials at North Carolina State University. He received his Ph.D. in 2004 in organic chemistry from Joseph Fourier University (Grenoble, France) jointly with CERMAV (Centre de Recherche sur les Macromolécules Végétales) and Cadi Ayyad University (Marrakesh, Morocco). During his Ph.D., he worked on the structural characterization of cell wall polysaccharides and also performed surface chemical modification, mainly TEMPO-mediated oxidation, of crystalline polysaccharides, as well as their nanocrystals. Prior to joining NCSU, he worked as assistant professor at the French Engineering School of Paper, Printing and Biomaterials (PAGORA, Grenoble Institute of Technology, France) on the development of biodegradable nanocomposites based on nanocrystalline polysaccharides. He also spent two years as postdoctoral fellow at the French Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA, where he developed new nanostructured thin films based on cellulose nanowiskers. Dr. Habibi’s research interests include the sustainable production of materials from biomass, development of high performance nanocomposites from lignocellulosic materials, biomass conversion technologies, and the application of novel analytical tools in biomass research. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 3479–3500 3479
The heritability of metabolite concentrations in stored human red blood cells.

BACKGROUND
The degeneration of red blood cells (RBCs) during storage is a major issue in transfusion medicine. Family studies in the 1960s established the heritability of the RBC storage lesion based on poststorage adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations. However, this critical discovery has not been further explored. In a classic twin study we confirmed the heritability of poststorage ATP concentrations and established the heritability of many other RBC metabolites.


STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS
ATP concentrations and metabolomic profiles were analyzed in RBC samples from 18 twin pairs. On samples stored for 28 days, the heritability of poststorage ATP concentrations were 64 and 53% in CP2D- and AS-3-stored RBCs, respectively.


RESULTS
Metabolomic analyses identified 87 metabolites with an estimated heritability of 20% or greater. Thirty-six metabolites were significantly correlated with ATP concentrations (p ≤ 0.05) and 16 correlated with borderline significance (0.05 ≤ p ≤ 0.10). Of the 52 metabolites that correlated significantly with ATP, 24 demonstrated 20% or more heritability. Pathways represented by heritable metabolites included glycolysis, membrane remodeling, redox homeostasis, and synthetic and degradation pathways.


CONCLUSION
We conclude that many RBC metabolite concentrations are genetically influenced during storage. Future studies of key metabolic pathways and genetic modifiers of RBC storage could lead to major advances in RBC storage and transfusion therapy.
Face Recognition: The Problem of Compensating for Changes in Illumination Direction

A face recognition system must recognize a face from a novel image despite the variations between images of the same face. A common approach to overcoming image variations because of changes in the illumination conditions is to use image representations that are relatively insensitive to these variations. Examples of such representations are edge maps, image intensity derivatives, and images convolved with 2D Gabor-like lters. Here we present an empirical study that evaluates the sensitivity of these representations to changes in illumination, as well as viewpoint and facial expression. Our ndings indicated that none of the representations considered is suucient by itself to overcome image variations because of a change in the direction of illumination. Similar results were obtained for changes due to viewpoint and expression. Image representations that emphasized the horizontal features were found to be less sensitive to changes in the direction of illumination. However, systems based only on such representations failed to recognize up to 20% of the faces in our database. Humans performed considerably better under the same conditions. We discuss possible reasons for this superior and alternative methods for overcoming illumination eeects in recognition.
Treatment of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy with high-dose intermittent intravenous methylprednisolone.

BACKGROUND
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) causes progressive disability due to weakness but responds to immunomodulating medication, including oral prednisone and intravenous (IV) immunoglobulin (IVIg). However, there is no consensus on initial therapy, and both of these treatments have drawbacks with long-term treatment.


OBJECTIVE
To review the efficacy and safety of high-dose, intermittent IV methylprednisolone (IVMP) as initial and long-term maintenance therapy for patients with CIDP.


DESIGN
A retrospective medical record review between 1992 and 2003 of outcomes in CIDP, comparing patients in 3 cohorts depending on whether their primary treatment was IVMP, IVIg, or oral immunosuppression with prednisone or cyclosporine.


SETTING
Washington University Neuromuscular Disease Center (St Louis, Mo), outpatient and inpatient records.


PATIENTS
Patients with clinical and electrophysiologic evidence of CIDP were identified. Of 57 patients, 39 had sufficient data for full analysis.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Quantitative muscle testing with a handheld dynamometer. Medication profiles and adverse effects were also recorded.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the mean improvement in quantitative muscle testing at 6 months or at the last clinic visit (an average of 4.5 years later) among the 3 groups. Fewer patients treated with oral immunosuppression improved at 6 months, but at the last visit, 81% to 88% improved in all 3 groups. Less weight gain and fewer cushingoid features affected patients treated with IVMP (19%) compared with patients treated with oral prednisone (58%).


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment of patients with CIDP using high-dose intermittent IVMP results in improved strength equal to that with IVIg and oral prednisone. The frequency of occurrences of weight gain and cushingoid features with IVMP is less than that with oral prednisone. Intravenous methylprednisolone should be considered for initial and long-term therapy in CIDP when patients have disability due to weakness.
Algorithm 583: LSQR: Sparse Linear Equations and Least Squares Problems

Received 4 June 1980; revised 23 September 1981, accepted 28 February 1982 This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Grant A8652, by the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research; and by U S. National Science Foundation Grants MCS-7926009 and ECS-8012974, the Department of Energy under Contract AM03-76SF00326, PA No. DE-AT03-76ER72018, the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-75-C-0267, and the Army Research Office under Contract DAA29-79-C-0U0, Authors' addresses: C. C. Paige, School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2K6; M. A Saundem, Department of Operations Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. Permmsion to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notme is given that copying is by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. © 1982 ACM 0098-3500/82/0600-0[95 $00 75
Study of Reliable Control Via an Integral-Type Sliding Mode Control Scheme

This paper studies the active reliable control issues for a class of second-order nonlinear uncertain systems using an integral-type sliding mode control (ISMC) strategy. The proposed ISMC reliable scheme is shown to be able to tolerate some of the actuators' faults whenever the fault detection and diagnosis information is available. The presented scheme also maintains the main advantages of the ISMC designs, including robustness, rapid response, and ease of implementation. When the uncertainties and the output of the faulty actuators are matched regarding the nominal healthy subsystem, the state trajectories of the nominal healthy subsystem and the uncertain faulty system are identical. As a result, the engineers may adopt an optimal strategy for the nominal system, creating a desired trajectory for that of the uncertain faulty system to follow. Simulation results demonstrate the benefits of the proposed scheme.
Attentional control of task and response in lateral and medial frontal cortex: Brain activity and reaction time distributions

It is unclear whether task conflict is reflected in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) or in more dorsal regions of the medial frontal cortex (MFC). When participants switch between tasks involving incongruent, congruent, and neutral stimuli, it is possible to examine both response conflict (incongruent vs. congruent) and task conflict (congruent vs. neutral). Here, we report an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that examined which areas in frontal cortex, including MFC, are implicated in response conflict, task conflict, or both. Stimuli were incongruent and congruent arrow-word combinations, or arrows and words only in a neutral condition. Participants responded manually to the arrow or word. The task varied every second trial. The behavioral data revealed response conflict (incongruent>congruent) and task conflict (congruent>neutral) in mean reaction times and ex-Gaussian latency distribution components. The imaging data revealed activity in both the ACC and a more dorsal region in the MFC (the medial superior frontal gyrus) related to response conflict as well as task conflict. These conflict effects were observed independent of the task performed (arrow or word) or the trial type (repeat or switch). In lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), response conflict was associated with activity in ventral LPFC, whereas task conflict activated both ventral and dorsal regions. Thus, whereas the type of conflict (response vs. task) was differentiated in LPFC, no such differentiation was found in MFC, including the ACC. Models of ACC functioning may require modification to take account of these findings.
Simple and efficient network-aware user association rules for heterogeneous networks

Abstract User association (UA), the process that maps a user to a base station, is known to be an important problem in heterogeneous cellular networks. We study an online UA framework where association decisions are made for users individually to optimize an α -fair network utility function. We derive simple rules in the form of closed-form formulas that maximize the network utility for different choices of the fairness parameter α and are, in that sense, “network-aware”. These rules exhibit a “natural” notion of load that we identify. They require little information from the network while providing significant performance gains compared to conventional rules. We compare our rules to an upper-bound on the system performance which is obtained by recomputing UAs for all users in the system upon every change in the system state. We evaluate the performance of our rules using an in-house simulator and quantify their performance gap from the upper-bound. We, then, propose a way to reduce this gap by allowing periodic individual re-associations. We further evaluate the performance of our rules using NS-3 where none of the processes other than UA are under our control. The results confirm the superior performance of our rules compared to the conventional ones.
Nuclear export dynamics of RNA–protein complexes

The central dogma of molecular biology — DNA makes RNA makes proteins — is a flow of information that in eukaryotes encounters a physical barrier: the nuclear envelope, which encapsulates, organizes and protects the genome. Nuclear-pore complexes, embedded in the nuclear envelope, regulate the passage of molecules to and from the nucleus, including the poorly understood process of the export of RNAs from the nucleus. Recent imaging approaches focusing on single molecules have provided unexpected insight into this crucial step in the information flow. This review addresses the latest studies of RNA export and presents some models for how this complex process may work.
[The management of prostate cancer: a retrospective chart review in 808 French men undergoing biopsy].

OBJECTIVE
We explored the characteristics of a sample of men who had undergone a biopsy in clinical practice in France and evaluated initial treatment choice in men with a positive biopsy.


METHODS
This was a multi-centre, retrospective chart review including men who had undergone a biopsy in France. Clinical variables were collected using an electronic data capture system.


RESULTS
Eight hundred and eight men were included; 632 men (78%) had an initial biopsy and 176 men (22%) had one or more repeat biopsy. The mean age was 64 years and 9% of men were 75 years or more. The mean (median) PSA was 11.6 (7.0) ng/mL; 25% of men had a PSA greater than 10 ng/mL. Twenty-eight percent of men had a suspicious DRE. A total of 52% of men had a positive initial and 26% a positive repeat biopsy. One hundred and eleven patients (34%) had low-risk PCa (stage T1c-2a, PSA<10 ng/mL, Gleason sum<7) and 195 (59%) were at intermediate/high risk of disease progression. The most common treatment was radical therapy (54% of patients), even in men with low-risk PCa (40% of patients). A total of 38% of low-risk patients chose active surveillance.


CONCLUSIONS
The French biopsy sample appeared to be at a relatively high risk of having PCa at initial biopsy. Radical therapy was the most common treatment choice in men with a positive biopsy. In patients with low-risk PCa, radical therapy and active surveillance were used most often and to the same extent.
Review of constraints-based motion retargeting techniques in 3D animations

Constraints-based motion retargeting was one of the motion retargeting techniques. With it, a collection of constraints were set when the 3D motion data were reused to object models during animating. The existing main techniques of constraints-based motion retargeting are analyzed and compared first, and then the problems are proposed to provide reference for further researches.
Therapeutic approach to patients complaining of high blood pressure in a cardiological emergency room.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the management of patients complaining of high blood pressure (BP) in a cardiological emergency room.


METHODS
Patients referred to the cardiological emergency room with the main complaint of high blood pressure were consecutively selected. The prescriptions and the choice of antihypertensive drugs were assessed. The classification of these patients as hypertensive emergencies or pseudoemergencies, according to the physician who provided initial care, was recorded.


RESULTS
From a total of 858 patients presenting to the emergency room, 80 (9.3%) complained of high BP, and 61 (76.3%) received antihypertensive drugs. Sublingual nifedipine was the most commonly used drug (59%). One patient received intravenous medication, one patient was hospitalized and 6 patients (7.5%) were classified as hypertensive emergencies or pseudoemergencies.


CONCLUSION
High BP could seldom be classified as a hypertensive emergency or pseudoemergency, even though it was a frequent complaint (9.3% of visits). Currently, the therapeutic approach is not recommended, even in specialized clinics.