LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Does 'peer coaching' increase GP capacity to promote informed decision making about PSA screening? A cluster randomised trial.

BACKGROUND
Very little effort has been directed to enable GPs to better informed decisions about PSA screening among their male patients.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate an innovative programme designed to enhance GPs' capacity to promote informed decision making by male patients about PSA screening.


METHODS
The study design was a cluster randomised controlled trial set in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. 277 GPs were recruited through a major pathology laboratory. The interventions were three telephone-administered 'peer coaching' sessions integrated with educational resources for GPs and patients and the main outcome measures were: GP knowledge; perceptions of patient involvement in informed decision making; GPs' own decisional conflict; and perceptions of medicolegal risk.


RESULTS
Compared with GPs allocated to the control group, GPs allocated to our intervention gained significantly greater knowledge about PSA screening and related information [Mean 6.1 out of 7; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 5.9-6.3 versus 4.8; 95% CI = 4.6-5.0; P < 0.001]. They were less likely to agree that patients should remain passive when making decisions about PSA screening [Odds ratio (OR) = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.04-0.31; P < 0.001]. They perceived less medicolegal risk when not acceding to an 'uninformed' patient request for a PSA test (OR = 0.31; 95% CI 0.19-0.51). They also demonstrated lower levels of personal decisional conflict about the PSA screening (Mean 25.4; 95% CI 24.5-26.3 versus 27.8; 95% CI 26.6-29.0; P = 0.0002).


CONCLUSION
A 'peer coaching' programme, supplemented by education materials, holds promise as a strategy to equip GPs to facilitate informed decision making amongst their patients.
Ten Lectures on Genetic Fuzzy Systems

Genetic algorithms play a significant role, as search techniques for handling complex spaces, in many fields such as artificial intelligence, engineering, robotics, etc. Genetic algorithms are based on the underlying genetic process in biological organisms and on the natural evolution principles of populations. A short description is given in this lecture, introducing their use for machine learning.
Ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants used by traditional health practitioners in Thanchi, Bandarban Hill Tracts, Bangladesh.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE
There is very limited information regarding plants used by traditional healers in Bandarban Hill Tracts (BHT), Bangladesh for treating general as well as complex ailments. Current study provides significant ethnopharmacological information, both qualitative and quantitative on medical plants in BHT. Aim of the study This study aimed to collect, analyze and evaluate the rich ethnopharmacologic knowledge on medicinal plants in Thanchi, BHT and attempted to identify the important species used in traditional medicine. Further analysis was done by comparison of the traditional medicinal use of the plants with the available scientific literature data.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
The field survey was carried out in a period of several years in Thanchi upazilla of Bandarban districts, Bangladesh. A total of 53 Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) were interviewed through open-ended and semi structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. This ethnomedicinal knowledge was compared against the available scientific literature for reports of related uses and studies of phytochemical compounds responsible for respective ailments.


RESULTS
A total of 84 species of plants, mostly herbs, belonging to 42 families were identified for the treatment of 70 types of ailments. These ailments were categorized into 16 categories. Leaves were the most frequently used plant parts and juice is the mode of preparation of major portions of the plant species. The most common mode of administration was oral ingestion and topical application. Informant consensus factor (Fic) values of the present study reflected the high agreement in the use of plants in the treatment of digestive system and respiratory system disorders among the informants. Diseases of the digestive system had highest use-reports and 3 species of plants, namely Centella asiatica (L.) Urban. (dysentery), Justicia gendarussa L. (asthma) and Ocimum tenuiflorum L. (coughing) had the highest fidelity level (FL) of 100%. Clerodendrum viscosum Vent., Achyranthes aspera L and Justicia gendarussa L. showed the highest relative importance (RI) value of 1.86. According to use value (UV) the most important species were Ocimum tenuiflorum L. (2.24) and Achyranthes aspera L. (2.15).


CONCLUSION
Priority should be given for further phytochemical investigation to plants that scored highest FL, Fic, UV or RI values, as such values could be considered as good indicator of prospective plants for discovering new drugs. Since knowledge regarding traditional medicine being vulnerable day by day so traditional medicine in school curricula should be incorporated so that younger people could appreciate its usefulness. Also counseling of THPs and gardening of medicinal plants should be taken into consideration immediately in order to smooth continuance and extension of traditional medical knowledge and practice for ensuring safe and effective therapy.
Social, ethical and legal barriers to E-health

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Information technology such as electronic medical records (EMRs), electronic prescribing and decision support systems are recognized as essential tools in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But significant barriers impede wide-scale adoption of these tools, especially EMR systems.


OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this study were to investigate the present status of information technology in health care, the perceived benefits and barriers by primary care physicians.


METHODS
Literature analysis and survey data from primary care physicians on adoption of information technology are reviewed.


RESULTS
The U.S. trails European countries as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the use of information technology in primary care. The results of the study indicate that physicians in general perceive benefits to information technology, but also cite major barriers to its implementation in their practices. These barriers include lack of access to capital by health care providers, complex systems and lack of data standards that permit exchange of clinical data, privacy concerns and legal barriers.


CONCLUSIONS
Overcoming these barriers will require subsidies and performance incentives by payers and government; certification and standardization of vendor applications that permit clinical data exchange; removal of legal barriers; and greater security of medical data to convince practitioners and patients of the value of EMRs.
A nested Matrosov theorem and persistency of excitation for uniform convergence in stable nonautonomous systems

A new infinitesimal sufficient condition is given for uniform global asymptotic stability (UGAS) for time-varying nonlinear systems. It is used to show that a certain relaxed persistency of excitation condition, called uniform /spl delta/-persistency of excitation (U/spl delta/-PE), is sufficient for uniform global asymptotic stability in certain situations. U/spl delta/-PE of the right-hand side of a time-varying differential equation is also shown to be necessary under a uniform Lipschitz condition. The infinitesimal sufficient condition for UGAS involves the inner products of the flow field with the gradients of a finite number of possibly sign-indefinite, locally Lipschitz Lyapunov-like functions. These inner products are supposed to be bounded by functions that have a certain nested, or triangular, negative semidefinite structure. This idea is reminiscent of a previous idea of Matrosov who supplemented a Lyapunov function having a negative semidefinite derivative with an additional function having a derivative that is "definitely nonzero" where the derivative of the Lyapunov function is zero. For this reason, we call the main result a nested Matrosov theorem. The utility of our results on stability analysis is illustrated through the well-known case-study of the nonholonomic integrator.
Issues in requirements engineering technology transfer

Provides an understanding of the issues related to the transfer of requirements engineering technology from research (early state of the art) to practice (real people performing real projects). Applications include: industrial education; the university laboratory; and Rome laboratory.<<ETX>>
ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS: HISTORY, PRINCIPLE AND TECHNIQUES

In this review we present an overview of the different organic solar cells families. After recalling shortly the specificities of organic materials, the band structure, the electronic properties and the charge separation process in organic materials are shortly described. Then the new organic solar cell concepts are presented. Plastic organic solar cells consist either of two organic layers or a homogeneous mixture of two organic materials. One of them either an organic dye or a semiconducting polymer – donates the electrons. The other component serves as the electron acceptor. Principles of these multi-layers and bulk heterojunctions are presented and discussed. Then some typical examples are presented, showing the fast evolution of the cells performances. Finally, a specific attention is devoted to the interfaces electrodes/organics. Indeed recent results show that, at least in the case of multi-layers cells, the introduction of thin buffer layers at the interfaces cathode/organic acceptor and/or anode/organic donor, can strongly improve the efficiency of the organic solar cells. About the interface organic acceptor/cathode, we report the influence of an exciton-blocking layer and/or an Al2O3 thin layer on the efficiency of CuPc/C60 based photovoltaic cells. The presence, or not, of a thin Al2O3 layer depends on the encapsulating process of the devices. In the case of glass/ITO/CuPc/C60/Al cells, the presence of an Al2O3 thin layer at the interface “organic acceptor/aluminium” increases strongly the open circuit voltage of the cells but decreases slightly their short circuit current and fill factor. In the case of glass/ITO/CuPc/C60/Alq3/Al cells, the open circuit voltage is systematically higher than without Alq3. However, in that case, the presence of Al2O3 does not improve significantly the cell performances. All these results are discussed in terms of series and shunt resistance values related to possible oxygen contamination and organic covalent action with the Al films. The effectiveness of these different phenomena depends on the presence, or not, of Alq3 and/or Al2O3 layers. About the interface anode/organic donor, it is shown that an ultra thin metallic film improves significantly the short circuit current and the cell performances. The anode in plastic solar cells, which is a transparent conductive oxide (TCO), is usually an indium tin oxide film (ITO). Indeed, when a ZnO anode is used, cells performances are far from those achieved with ITO. However, strong improvement of the cells efficiency is encountered when an ultra thin buffer layer is introduced between the ZnO and the organic film. The presence of this ultra thin buffer layer at the surface of the TCO allows decreasing the performance difference between the cells using ITO and those using ZnO. More generally such ultra thin buffer layer improves the solar cells performances.
Pertussis immunization in infancy and adolescent asthma medication.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Childhood immunization may influence the development of asthma, possibly due to lack of infections or a shift in the T-helper cell type 1/T-helper cell type 2/regulatory T cells balance. We therefore investigated whether pertussis immunization in infancy is associated with asthma medication in adolescence.


METHODS
After 14 years of no general pertussis vaccination, almost 82,000 Swedish children were immunized for pertussis in a vaccination trial between June 1, 1993, and June 30, 1994. In a follow-up analysis of almost 80,000 children, their data were compared with those of ∼100,000 nonvaccinated children, born during a 5-month period before and a 7-month period after the vaccination trial. Data for the main outcome variable (ie, dispensed prescribed asthma medication for each individual in the cohort during 2008-2010) were obtained from the national prescription database. Multivariate regression models were used to calculate the effect size of vaccination on dispensed asthma medication (odds ratios [OR], 95% confidence intervals [CI]). Approaches similar to intention-to-treat and per-protocol methods were used.


RESULTS
The prevalence rates of various asthma medications for study patients at 15 years of age differed between 4.6% and 7.0%. The crude ORs for any asthma medication and antiinflammatory treatment in pertussis-vaccinated children after intention-to-treat analysis were 0.97 (95% CI: 0.93-1.00) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.90-0.98), respectively. Corresponding adjusted ORs were 0.99 (95% CI: 0.95-1.03) and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.92-1.01). Similar ORs were found after per-protocol analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Pertussis immunization in infancy does not increase the risk of asthma medication use in adolescents. Our study presents evidence that pertussis immunization in early childhood can be considered safe with respect to long-term development of asthma.
Tunnel boring machine positioning automation in tunnel construction

Purpose Tunnel construction using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) entails precise machine positioning and guidance in the underground space. In contrast to traditional laser-based machine guidance solutions, the proposed research aims to develop an automation alternative to facilitate TBMguidance and as-built tunnel alignment survey during tunnelling operations. Method A fully automated system is proposed, in which a robotic total station is employed to automate the continuous process of TBM -tracking and positioning in the 3D underground working space. ZigBeebased wireless sensor networks are applied for wireless data communication inside the tunnel. A camera is mounted on the telescope of the total station to capture online operational videos. Real-time survey data are thus acquired, processed and displayed on a tablet PC on the fly, resulting in: (i) TBM’s precise coordinates in the underground space; (ii) three-axis body rotations of the TBM; (iii) tunnelling chainage progress; and (iv) line and grade deviations of the tunnel alignment. Results & Discussion For proof-of-concept, a prototype TBM-positioning automation system has been developed in-house for laboratory testing. The accuracy testing was conducted by the automation system and a specialist surveyor independently. The differences between the two sets of surveying results were less than 2mm, which sufficiently validated the high accuracy of the automation solution. In April 2012, the prototype will be field tested on a 2.4 m diameter and 1,040 m long drainage tunnel project in Edmonton, Canada.
Failure of cricopharyngeal myotomy to improve dysphagia following head and neck cancer surgery.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether cricopharyngeal myotomy can improve dysphagia associated with head and neck cancer surgery.


DESIGN
Prospective, randomized, multicenter trial.


SETTING
Twelve clinical sites across the United States.


PATIENTS
Between 1989 and 1994, 125 patients undergoing combined modality therapy for head and neck cancer, including resection of the tongue base or supraglottic larynx, were prospectively entered into the trial.


INTERVENTION
Cricopharyngeal myotomy on a randomized basis.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Videofluoroscopic examination to determine oropharyngeal swallowing efficiency, which is defined as the ratio of percentage of the bolus swallowed to total swallowing time using 3 different bolus consistencies.


RESULTS
No significant difference in oropharyngeal swallowing efficiency between myotomy vs no myotomy was seen at 6 months of follow-up regardless of bolus consistency.


CONCLUSIONS
In this prospective test of cricopharyngeal myotomy, the procedure fails to significantly improve dysphagia associated with head and neck cancer surgery. The efficacy of this surgical procedure in other disease entities should also be rigorously explored.
Credit scoring models for the microfinance industry using neural networks: Evidence from Peru

Credit scoring systems are currently in common use by numerous financial institutions worldwide. However, credit scoring with the microfinance industry is a relatively recent application, and no model which employs a non-parametric statistical technique has yet, to the best of our knowledge, been published. This lack is surprising since the implementation of credit scoring should contribute towards the efficiency of microfinance institutions, thereby improving their competitiveness in an increasingly constrained environment. This paper builds several non-parametric credit scoring models based on the multilayer perceptron approach (MLP) and benchmarks their performance against other models which employ the traditional linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), and logistic regression (LR) techniques. Based on a sample of almost 5500 borrowers from a Peruvian microfinance institution, the results reveal that neural network models outperform the other three classic techniques both in terms of area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) and as misclassification costs. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Association of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis with Multiple Sclerosis in Sardinian Patients

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection is highly spread in the ruminant herds of Sardinia, in the Western Mediterranean. The objective of this study was to investigate prevalence of MAP infection in association with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) using clinical specimen from patients and controls. We analyzed samples for the presence of MAP specific DNA and to demonstrate humoral response to a MAP protein (MAP2694), a predicted homologue of the T-cell receptor gamma-chain/complement component 1 of the host. We found presence of MAP DNA in 42% of the MS patients and an extremely significant humoral immune response revealed by the MS patients against the MAP protein. In our opinion, this is the first report that significantly associates MAP infection with MS. Further studies will be required to confirm if MAP could be one of the triggers of MS, according to the molecular mimicry theory, in susceptible (and genetically at risk) individuals.
The periodic isoperimetric problem

Given a discrete group G of isometries of R3, we study the G-isoperimetric problem, which consists of minimizing area (modulo G) among surfaces in R3 which enclose a G-invariant region with prescribed volume fraction. If G is a line group, we prove that solutions are either families of round spheres or right cylinders. In the doubly periodic case we prove that for most rank two lattices, solutions must be spheres, cylinders or planes. For the remaining rank two lattices we show, among other results, an isoperimetric inequality in terms of the topology of the isoperimetric surfaces. Finally, we study the case where G = Pm3m (the group of symmetries of the integer rank three lattice Z3) and other crystallographic groups of cubic type. We prove that isoperimetric solutions must be spheres if the prescribed volume fraction is less than 1/6, and we give an isoperimetric inequality for G-invariant regions that, for instance, implies that the area (modulo Z3) of a surface dividing the three space in two G-invariant regions with equal volume fractions, is at least 2.19 (the conjectured solution is the classical P Schwarz triply periodic minimal surface whose area is ∼ 2.34). Another consequence of this isoperimetric inequality is that Pm3m-symmetric surfaces (other than families of spheres) cannot be isoperimetric for the lattice group Z3. Mathematics Subject Classification: 53A10, 53C42.
Evaluation of Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Detection and Prediction of Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND
Although European Society of Urogenital Radiology proposed the potential of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MP-MRI) as a tool in the diagnostic pathway for prostate cancer (PCa) and published a unified scoring system named Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS version 1), these still need to be validated by real-life studies.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the role of MP-MRI in detection and prediction of PCa.


METHODS
Patients with clinical suspicion of PCa who underwent prebiopsy MP-MRI from 2002 to 2009 were recruited. MP-MRI results were retrospectively assigned as overall scores using PI-RADS by two radiologists. Patients were followed and the end point was the diagnosis of PCa. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was performed to test diagnostic efficacy of MP-MRI, under results of biopsy within three months. The cox proportional hazards model was used to identify independent variables for the detection of PCa.


RESULTS
Finally, 1113 of the 1806 enrolled patients were included for analysis. The median follow-up was 56.0 months (1-137 mo). For 582 patients biopsied within three months, area under the curve for the detection of PCa with MP-MRI was 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75-1.00) in group of baseline prostate specific antigen (PSA) 0.01-4.00 ng/ml (n = 31), 0.90 (95% CI, 0.84-0.95) in PSA 4.01-10.00 ng/ml (n = 142), and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.87-0.94) in PSA >10.00 ng/ml (n = 409), respectively. In the cox model adjusted for age and baseline PSA level, for the detection rate of PCa, compared with PI-RADS 1-2 (reference), the hazard ratio was 6.43 (95% CI, 4.29-9.65) for PI-RADS 3, 18.58 (95% CI, 13.36-25.84) for PI-RADS 4-5 (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Prebiopsy MP-MRI with PI-RADS is demonstrated as a valuable diagnostic and predictive tool for PCa.
Question classification with log-linear models

Question classification has become a crucial step in modern question answering systems. Previous work has demonstrated the effectiveness of statistical machine learning approaches to this problem. This paper presents a new approach to building a question classifier using log-linear models. Evidence from a rich and diverse set of syntactic and semantic features is evaluated, as well as approaches which exploit the hierarchical structure of the question classes.
A Survey of Regularization Methods for Deep Neural Network

Mimicking the human psyche has been a core challenge in machine learning research. Deep Neural network inspired from the human Visual cortex system are powerful computational model represents the large features in a hierarchical way. Overfitting is a major problem in deep learning due to the presence of a large number of features. Dropout is a proficient and simple method to prevent co-adaptation of features and thus stymie to over fit. It simply drops hidden units with probability 0.5.Maxout a new activation unit built on dropout has improved accuracy on datasets. Other recent companions are DropConect, DropAll and stochastic pooling. Dropout achieved state-of-art results on many labelled benchmark datasets: MNIST, CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100 and SVHN. This paper reviews different techniques to reduce Overfitting in Neural Network. Keywords— Deep neural networks, Regularization, Overfitting, Supervised learning learning, Dropout