LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
A vertical VAS is a valid instrument for monitoring headache pain intensity.

Visual analogue scales (VAS) are well-validated instruments for assessing pain intensity, but have an impractical format. The aim of the study was to validate a vertical against a horizontal VAS for pain intensity registration. Out-patients with headache or non-headache pain were included. Participants completed a horizontal and a vertical VAS. Both were completed twice for test-retest. Headache was diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition. The results on vertical and horizontal VAS did not differ significantly in the different headache or chronic pain groups. For test-retest evaluation, effect sizes and Cohen's delta values were < 0.029 with < 1.5% change from test to retest (P < 0.01). Correlation coefficients were > 0.95. Bland-Altman analysis showed good agreement between vertical and horizontal scores with correlation coefficients > 0.84. A vertical VAS is equally valid as a horizontal VAS for registration of pain intensity in headache and non-headache patients.
Unified evaluation method of white uniformity for electronic displays

A unified method that evaluates uniformity grade for both luminance and color components has been developed. Conventional methods evaluate only luminance or color components. The S-CIELAB color system is introduced to realize the visual perceptual functions. The spatial filters are defined by contrast sensitivity functions, and the mura (non-uniform region) index E is defined to evaluate the unified white uniformity grade quantitatively. The 49 pseudo-test samples, which contain luminance variations and color variations, are tested. The experimental results showed strong relations between human sensory evaluation scores and the mura index E values.
Quantitative I-123 mIBG SPECT in differentiating abnormal and normal mIBG myocardial uptake.

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to evaluate global quantitation of cardiac uptake on I-123 mIBG SPECT.


METHODS
The study included a pilot group of 67 subjects and a validation group of 1,051 subjects. SPECT images were reconstructed by filtered backprojection, ordered subsets expectation maximization, and deconvolution of septal penetration, respectively. SPECT heart-to-mediastinum ratio (H/M) was calculated by comparing the mean counts between heart and mediastinum volumes of interest drawn on transaxial images. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the capability of each SPECT method to differentiate the heart disease subjects from controls in comparison with that of the planar H/M.


RESULTS
In the validation group, the areas under the ROC curves were not significantly different between the SPECT and planar H/M. Order subsets expectation maximization had significantly larger area under the ROC curve than the other two SPECT methods.


CONCLUSION
H/M obtained from I-123 mIBG SPECT was equivalent to the planar H/M for differentiating between subjects with normal and abnormal mIBG uptake. Global quantification of cardiac I-123 mIBG SPECT may represent a viable alternative to the planar H/M.
Thinking with external representations

Why do people create extra representations to help them make sense of situations, diagrams, illustrations, instructions and problems? The obvious explanation—external representations save internal memory and computation—is only part of the story. I discuss seven ways external representations enhance cognitive power: they change the cost structure of the inferential landscape; they provide a structure that can serve as a shareable object of thought; they create persistent referents; they facilitate re-representation; they are often a more natural representation of structure than mental representations; they facilitate the computation of more explicit encoding of information; they enable the construction of arbitrarily complex structure; and they lower the cost of controlling thought—they help coordinate thought. Jointly, these functions allow people to think more powerfully with external representations than without. They allow us to think the previously unthinkable.
Lack of association of acute phase response proteins with hormone levels and antidepressant medication in perimenopausal depression

BACKGROUND
Major depression is associated with higher plasma levels of positive acute-phase proteins, as well as with lower plasma levels of negative acute-phase proteins. The aim of this study is to examine the levels of acute-phase response proteins and whether these levels are influenced by reproductive hormones and antidepressant medication in the perimenopausal depression.


METHODS
Sixty-five women (age range: 40-58 years old) participated in this study. All women were in the perimenopausal phase. The diagnosis of depression was made through a psychiatric interview and with the aid of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 17 (HAM-D 17). The acute-phase response proteins, such as haptoglobin (HP), transferrine (TRf), α1-antitrypsin, complement protein 3 (C3), complement protein 4 (C4) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and the reproductive hormones, for example follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and estradiol (E2), were analyzed using standard laboratory methods. Pearson's correlations were applied to evaluate the relationship between acute-phase proteins and hormones.


RESULTS
Perimenopausal women were divided into three groups. The first group consisted of normal controls, the second one involved depressed perimenopausal women, who were taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and the third one included depressed women that were not treated with SSRIs. Depressed women in perimenopause, when being compared to non-depressed women, did not differ as to serum levels of acute-phase proteins. There was a positive correlation between HP and E2 in depressed perimenopausal women, who were not taking SSRIs.


CONCLUSIONS
The lack of association between acute-phase proteins and depressive mood mentioned in this study does not support previous findings in patients with major depression. This negative finding in perimenopausal depression indicates either the absence or a more complex nature of the interactions between acute-phase proteins, low-grade inflammation and depression. The hormonal profile of women is a part of this complexity, because it seems that in perimenopause the hormonal changes are accompanied by changes of acute-phase response proteins. Particularly, in perimenopausal depression, there is an interaction between HP and E2. Therefore, it seems that perimenopause is a period of a woman's life during which hormonal, immune and metabolic changes occur and interact with each other making women vulnerable to depression.
Association between infrastructure and observed quality of care in 4 healthcare services: A cross-sectional study of 4,300 facilities in 8 countries

BACKGROUND
It is increasingly apparent that access to healthcare without adequate quality of care is insufficient to improve population health outcomes. We assess whether the most commonly measured attribute of health facilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)-the structural inputs to care-predicts the clinical quality of care provided to patients.


METHODS AND FINDINGS
Service Provision Assessments are nationally representative health facility surveys conducted by the Demographic and Health Survey Program with support from the US Agency for International Development. These surveys assess health system capacity in LMICs. We drew data from assessments conducted in 8 countries between 2007 and 2015: Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. The surveys included an audit of facility infrastructure and direct observation of family planning, antenatal care (ANC), sick-child care, and (in 2 countries) labor and delivery. To measure structural inputs, we constructed indices that measured World Health Organization-recommended amenities, equipment, and medications in each service. For clinical quality, we used data from direct observations of care to calculate providers' adherence to evidence-based care guidelines. We assessed the correlation between these metrics and used spline models to test for the presence of a minimum input threshold associated with good clinical quality. Inclusion criteria were met by 32,531 observations of care in 4,354 facilities. Facilities demonstrated moderate levels of infrastructure, ranging from 0.63 of 1 in sick-child care to 0.75 of 1 for family planning on average. Adherence to evidence-based guidelines was low, with an average of 37% adherence in sick-child care, 46% in family planning, 60% in labor and delivery, and 61% in ANC. Correlation between infrastructure and evidence-based care was low (median 0.20, range from -0.03 for family planning in Senegal to 0.40 for ANC in Tanzania). Facilities with similar infrastructure scores delivered care of widely varying quality in each service. We did not detect a minimum level of infrastructure that was reliably associated with higher quality of care delivered in any service. These findings rely on cross-sectional data, preventing assessment of relationships between structural inputs and clinical quality over time; measurement error may attenuate the estimated associations.


CONCLUSION
Inputs to care are poorly correlated with provision of evidence-based care in these 4 clinical services. Healthcare workers in well-equipped facilities often provided poor care and vice versa. While it is important to have strong infrastructure, it should not be used as a measure of quality. Insight into health system quality requires measurement of processes and outcomes of care.
THERMAL MODELING OF ELECTRON BEAM ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING PROCESS – POWDER SINTERING EFFECTS

In recently developed Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies, high-energy sources have been used to fabricate metallic parts, in a layer by layer fashion, by sintering and/or melting metal powders. In particular, Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM) utilizes a high-energy electron beam to melt and fuse metal powders to build solid parts. EBAM is one of a few AM technologies capable of making full-density metallic parts and has dramatically extended their applications. Heat transport is the center of the process physics in EBAM, involving a high-intensity, localized moving heat source and rapid self-cooling, and is critically correlated to the part quality and process efficiency. In this study, a finite element model was developed to simulate the transient heat transfer in a part during EBAM subject to a moving heat source with a Gaussian volumetric distribution. The developed model was first examined against literature data. The model was then used to evaluate the powder porosity and the beam size effects on the high temperature penetration volume (melt pool size). The major findings include the following. (1) For the powder layer case, the melt pool size is larger with a higher maximum temperature compared to a solid layer, indicating the importance of considering powders for the model accuracy. (2) With the increase of the porosity, temperatures are higher in the melt pool and the molten pool sizes increase in the depth, but decrease along the beam moving direction. Furthermore, both the heating and cooling rates are higher for a lower porosity level. (3) A larger electron-beam diameter will reduce the maximum temperature in the melt pool and temperature gradients could be much smaller, giving a lower cooling rate. However, for the tested electron beampower level, the beam diameter around 0.4 mm could be an adequate choice. INTRODUCTION In recent years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) using commercially available atomized metallic or alloyed powders with a high-energy beam heat source has been developed to fabricate complex shapes and multifunctional, custom designed components. Various types of mechanical components can be built with such rapid fabrication technologies through computer controlled machines [1]. Titanium (Ti) and titanium alloys are materials with outstanding mechanical properties such as low density, high strengths, good chemical resistance and excellent biocompatibility. The combination of these properties in a special structure has many potential applications in the area of medical, aerospace, aeronautics and automotive systems. Generally, fabrications of these materials with conventional techniques are difficult due to their high melting point and extreme chemical affinity to atmospheric gas, especially at elevated temperatures [2].
Alisporivir plus ribavirin, interferon free or in combination with pegylated interferon, for hepatitis C virus genotype 2 or 3 infection.

UNLABELLED
Alisporivir is a cyclophilin inhibitor with pan-genotypic anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) activity and a high barrier to viral resistance. The VITAL-1 study assessed alisporivir as interferon (IFN)-free therapy in treatment-naïve patients infected with HCV genotype 2 or 3. Three hundred forty patients without cirrhosis were randomized to: arm 1, alisporivir (ALV) 1,000 mg once-daily (QD); arm 2, ALV 600 mg QD and ribavirin (RBV); arm 3, ALV 800 mg QD and RBV; arm 4, ALV 600 mg QD and pegylated IFN (Peg-IFN); or arm 5, Peg-IFN and RBV. Patients receiving IFN-free ALV regimens who achieved rapid virological response (RVR) continued the same treatment throughout, whereas those with detectable HCV RNA at week 4 received ALV, RBV, and Peg-IFN from weeks 6 to 24. Overall, 300 patients received ALV-based regimens. In arm 1 to arm 4, the intent-to-treat rates of sustained virological response (SVR) 24 weeks after treatment (SVR24) were from 80% to 85%, compared with 58% (n = 23 of 40) with Peg-IFN/RBV. Per-protocol analysis showed higher SVR24 rates in patients who received ALV/RBV, IFN-free after RVR (92%; n = 56 of 61) than with ALV alone after RVR (72%; n = 13 of 18) or with Peg-IFN/RBV (70%; n = 23 of 33). Both RVRs and SVRs to ALV IFN-free regimens were numerically higher in genotype 3- than in genotype 2-infected patients. Viral breakthrough was infrequent (3%; n = 7 of 258). IFN-free ALV treatment showed markedly better safety/tolerability than IFN-containing regimens.


CONCLUSIONS
ALV plus RBV represents an effective IFN-free option for a proportion of patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 infections, with high SVR rates for patients with early viral clearance. Further investigations of ALV in IFN-free combination regimens with direct-acting antiviral drugs deserve exploration in future trials.
Use of a Non-Fluoroscopic Catheter Navigation System for Pulmonary Vein Isolation

Introduction: Pulmonary vein (PV) isolation is commonly performed by using separate mapping and ablating catheters. Steering the ablation catheter to the target electrodes on the mapping catheter can be difficult and time consuming under fluoroscopic guidance. We investigated the use of a non-fluoroscopic catheter navigation system to facilitate radiofrequency pulmonary vein isolation. Methods: The LocaLisa non-fluoroscopic catheter navigation system was used during PV isolation in 21 patients. Eleven control patients underwent the procedure under fluoroscopic guidance alone. PV isolation was performed by mapping the veins with a 10 or 20 pole circular mapping catheter and ablating at targeted mapping bipoles with a separate ablation catheter. Results: The electrodes of both catheters were visualized in 3 dimensional virtual space by LocaLisa. There were no clinical differences between the LocaLisa and control patients. During mapping, electrical artifacts were produced on specific mapping electrodes by contact with the ablation catheter. A blinded observer using LocaLisa correctly identified the mapping electrodes being contacted by the ablation catheter in 368 of 398 (92%) of cases. Total fluoroscopic time was reduced in the LocaLisa group (72 ± 29 minutes) compared to the control group (102 ± 37 minutes, p = 0.02). There were no differences between the groups in total procedure times, number of lesions given, complications or long term procedural success (all p > 0.45). Conclusions: The LocaLisa catheter navigation system accurately identifies the position of an ablation catheter relative to the target electrodes on a circular mapping catheter. The system also significantly reduces total fluoroscopic time for PV isolation.
Manual therapy and exercise therapy in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled trial with 1-year follow-up.

A multicenter, randomized, controlled trial with 1-year follow-up. To compare the effect of manual therapy to exercise therapy in sick-listed patients with chronic low back pain (>8 wks). The effect of exercise therapy and manual therapy on chronic low back pain with respect to pain, function, and sick leave have been investigated in a number of studies. The results are, however, conflicting. Patients with chronic low back pain or radicular pain sick-listed for more than 8 weeks and less than 6 months were included. A total of 49 patients were randomized to either manual therapy (n = 27) or to exercise therapy (n = 22). Sixteen treatments were given over the course of 2 months. Pain intensity, functional disability (Oswestry disability index), general health (Dartmouth COOP function charts), and return to work were recorded before, immediately after, at 4 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after the treatment period. Spinal range of motion (Schober test) was measured before and immediately after the treatment period only. Although significant improvements were observed in both groups, the manual therapy group showed significantly larger improvements than the exercise therapy group on all outcome variables throughout the entire experimental period. Immediately after the 2-month treatment period, 67% in the manual therapy and 27% in the exercise therapy group had returned to work (P < 0.01), a relative difference that was maintained throughout the follow-up period. Improvements were found in both intervention groups, but manual therapy showed significantly greater improvement than exercise therapy in patients with chronic low back pain. The effects were reflected on all outcome measures, both on short and long-term follow-up. Comment in Manual therapy and exercise therapy in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled trial with 1-year follow-up. [Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2004] Abstract
Treatment of thoracolumbar burst fractures with polymethyl methacrylate vertebroplasty and short-segment pedicle screw fixation.

OBJECTIVES
We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of reinforcing short-segment pedicle screw fixation with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) vertebroplasty in patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures.


METHODS
We enrolled 70 patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures for treatment with short-segment pedicle screw fixation. Fractures in Group A (n = 20) were reinforced with PMMA vertebroplasty during surgery. Group B patients (n = 50) were not treated with PMMA vertebroplasty. Kyphotic deformity, anterior vertebral height, instrument failure rates, and neurological function outcomes were compared between the two groups.


RESULTS
Kyphosis correction was achieved in Group A (PMMA vertebroplasty) and Group B (Group A, 6.4 degrees; Group B, 5.4 degrees). At the end of the follow-up period, kyphosis correction was maintained in Group A but lost in Group B (Group A, 0.33-degree loss; Group B, 6.20-degree loss) (P = 0.0001). After surgery, greater anterior vertebral height was achieved in Group A than in Group B (Group A, 12.9%; Group B, 2.3%) (P < 0.001). During follow-up, anterior vertebral height was maintained only in Group A (Group A, 0.13 +/- 4.06%; Group B, -6.17 +/- 1.21%) (P < 0.001). Patients in both Groups A and B demonstrated good postoperative Denis Pain Scale grades (P1 and P2), but Group A had better results than Group B in terms of the control of severe and constant pain (P4 and P5) (P < 0.001). The Frankel Performance Scale scores increased by nearly 1 in both Groups A and B. Group B was subdivided into Group B1 and B2. Group B1 consisted of patients who experienced instrument failure, including screw pullout, breakage, disconnection, and dislodgement (n = 11). Group B2 comprised patients from Group B who did not experience instrument failure (n = 39). There were no instrument failures among patients in Group A. Preoperative kyphotic deformity was greater in Group B1 (23.5 +/- 7.9 degrees) than in Group B2 (16.8 +/- 8.40 degrees), P < 0.05. Severe and constant pain (P4 and P5) was noted in 36% of Group B1 patients (P < 0.001), and three of these patients required removal of their implants.


CONCLUSION
Reinforcement of short-segment pedicle fixation with PMMA vertebroplasty for the treatment of patients with thoracolumbar burst fracture may achieve and maintain kyphosis correction, and it may also increase and maintain anterior vertebral height. Good Denis Pain Scale grades and improvement in Frankel Performance Scale scores were found in patients without instrument failure (Groups A and B2). Patients with greater preoperative kyphotic deformity had a higher risk of instrument failure if they did not undergo reinforcement with vertebroplasty. PMMA vertebroplasty offers immediate spinal stability in patients with thoracolumbar burst fractures, decreases the instrument failure rate, and provides better postoperative pain control than without vertebroplasty.
Market Knowledge , Blue Ocean Strategy , and Competitive Advantage ( Direct and Indirect Relationships and Impact )

This study deals with an important and vital subject that focuses on determining the role of market knowledge and Blue Ocean Strategy in achieving competitive advantage, and that is because of the scarcity of management studies in general, and marketing studies in particular, which addressed the nature of the relationship and impact between these three concepts .The study problem was represented by the question: what is the state of the Blue Ocean Strategy in Saudi Arabian organizations, how is it affected by market knowledge and what is its impact on achieving competitive advantage. This study aims to reveal the extent of the realization of the organization under study of market knowledge and Blue Ocean Strategy. It also aims to determine the relationship and impact between market knowledge dimensions and the dimensions of the Blue Ocean Strategy, determining the relationship and impact between the Blue Ocean and the dimensions of the competitive advantage strategy, the relationship and impact between market knowledge dimensions and competitive advantage dimensions and determining the relationship and the indirect impact of market knowledge on achieving competitive advantage through the Blue Ocean Strategy. The study was conducted on employees who occupy supervisory positions in Marketing Department of Saudi Telecom Company. The number of valid questionnaires for analysis amounted to (64), which were analyzed using statistical software (SPSS). The study reached several conclusions, including: There is a high degree of acknowledgement among participants in the study about: market knowledge dimension, Blue Ocean Strategy and competitive advantage; there is a relationship and impact between market knowledge dimension and Blue Ocean Strategy dimension; there is a relationship and impact between Blue Ocean Strategy dimension and competitive advantage dimension; there is a relationship and impact between market knowledge dimension and competitive advantage dimension, there is a relationship and an indirect impact of market knowledge on achieving competitive advantage, and that is through the Blue Ocean Strategy.