LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Fish consumption and markers of colorectal cancer risk : a multicenter randomized controlled trial 1 – 3

Background: Diet is a major factor in the etiology of colorectal cancer, with high fish consumption possibly decreasing colorectal cancer risk, as was shown in several observational studies. To date, no intervention trials have examined the possible beneficial effects of fish intake on colorectal cancer risk. Objective: The objective was to investigate the effects of a 6-mo intervention with oil-rich or lean fish on apoptosis and mitosis within the colonic crypt. Design: In a multicenter, randomized, controlled intervention trial, patients with colorectal polyps, inactive ulcerative colitis, or no macroscopic signs of disease were recruited (n = 242) and randomly allocated to receive dietary advice plus either 300 g oil-rich fish (salmon) per week (n = 82), 300 g lean fish (cod) per week (n = 78), or only dietary advice (DA) (n = 82). Apoptosis and mitosis were measured in colonic biopsy samples collected before and after intervention (n = 213). Results: The total number of apoptotic cells per crypt did not increase in the salmon or cod group: 20.10 (95% CI: 20.36, 0.16) and 20.06 (95% CI: 20.32, 0.20), respectively, compared with the DA group. The total number of mitotic cells per crypt decreased nonsignificantly in the salmon group (20.87; 95% CI: 22.41, 0.68) and in the cod group (21.04; 95% CI: 22.62, 0.53) compared with the DA group. Furthermore, the distribution of mitosis within the crypt did not significantly change in either group. Conclusion: An increase in the consumption of either oil-rich or lean fish to 2 portions weekly over 6 mo does not markedly change apoptotic and mitotic rates in the colonic mucosa. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00145015. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;90:354–61.
Web Security: Detection of Cross Site Scripting in PHP Web Application using Genetic Algorithm

Cross site scripting (XSS) is one of the major threats to the web application security, where the research is still underway for an effective and useful way to analyse the source code of web application and removes this threat. XSS occurs by injecting the malicious scripts into web application and it can lead to significant violations at the site or for the user. Several solutions have been recommended for their detection. However, their results do not appear to be effective enough to resolve the issue. This paper recommended a methodology for the detection of XSS from the PHP web application using genetic algorithm (GA) and static analysis. The methodology enhances the earlier approaches of determining XSS vulnerability in the web application by eliminating the infeasible paths from the control flow graph (CFG). This aids in reducing the false positive rate in the outcomes. The results of the experiments indicated that our methodology is more effectual in detecting XSS vulnerability from the PHP web application compared to the earlier studies, in terms of the false positive rates and the concrete susceptible paths determined by GA Generator. Keywords—Web Application Security; Security Vulnerability; Web Testing; Cross Site Scripting; Genetic Algorithm
Elemental analogues of graphene: silicene, germanene, stanene, and phosphorene.

The fascinating electronic and optoelectronic properties of free-standing graphene has led to the exploration of alternative two-dimensional materials that can be easily integrated with current generation of electronic technologies. In contrast to 2D oxide and dichalcogenides, elemental 2D analogues of graphene, which include monolayer silicon (silicene), are fast emerging as promising alternatives, with predictions of high degree of integration with existing technologies. This article reviews this emerging class of 2D elemental materials - silicene, germanene, stanene, and phosphorene--with emphasis on fundamental properties and synthesis techniques. The need for further investigations to establish controlled synthesis techniques and the viability of such elemental 2D materials is highlighted. Future prospects harnessing the ability to manipulate the electronic structure of these materials for nano- and opto-electronic applications are identified.
Vancomycin concentration in the vitreous after intravenous and intravitreal administration for postoperative endophthalmitis.

OBJECTIVES
To measure the concentrations of vancomycin in the vitreous of patients with postoperative endophthalmitis after administration of 1 g of vancomycin hydrochloride intravenously and injection of 1 mg of vancomycin hydrochloride into the vitreous, and to determine whether these concentrations are adequate for treatment of gram-positive infections.


METHODS
Patients with acute postoperative endophthalmitis were treated with intravenous administration of 1 g of vancomycin hydrochloride followed by vitrectomy and collection of vitreous samples 1 to 5 hours later. Intravitreal vancomycin and ceftazidime were given. Vitreous samples were cultured and their vancomycin concentrations assayed. Minimal inhibitory concentrations of vancomycin for the isolated vitreal pathogens, and serum and vitreous cidal activity were determined.


RESULTS
Eighteen patients with acute postoperative endophthalmitis were studied. Fourteen vitreous samples were available after intravenous vancomycin administration, and 4 vitreous samples were available after intravitreal vancomycin administration. After intravenous injection, vitreous vancomycin concentrations ranged from 0.4 to 4.5 microg/mL. Minimal inhibitory concentrations in these samples, obtained from 10 bacterial isolates, were below the therapeutic levels for most causative organisms, including staphylococci. Vitreous cidal activity values were negative at a dilution of 1:2 in 9 of 10 patients examined. After a 1-mg intravitreal injection, vancomycin concentrations in vitreous samples obtained by a second tap from 4 patients 44 to 72 hours later were 182, 138, 58, and 25 microg/mL. In 2 patients in whom measurements were obtained, vitreous cidal activity values were 1:512 and 1:32.


CONCLUSION
Vitreous vancomycin concentrations for the treatment of gram-positive endophthalmitis were nontherapeutic after intravenous administration but therapeutic after intravitreal administration.
In the mood for sharing contents: Emotions, personality and interaction styles in the diffusion of news

In this paper, we analyze the influence of Twitter users in sharing news articles that may affect the readers’ mood. We collected data of more than 2000 Twitter users who shared news articles from Corriere.it, a daily newspaper that provides mood metadata annotated by readers on a voluntary basis. We automatically annotated personality types and communication styles of Twitter users and analyzed the correlations between personality, communication style, Twitter metadata (such as followig and folllowers) and the type of mood associated to the articles they shared. We also run a feature selection task, to find the best predictors of positive and negative mood sharing, and a classification task. We automatically predicted positive and negative mood sharers with 61.7% F1-measure. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
XtratuM: a Hypervisor for Safety Critical Embedded Systems

XtratuM is an hypervisor designed to meet safety critical requirements. Initially designed for x86 architectures (version 2.0), it has been strongly redesigned for SPARC v8 arquitecture and specially for the to the LEON2 processor. Current version 2.2, includes all the functionalities required to build safety critical systems based on ARINC 653, AUTOSTAR and other standards. Although XtratuMdoes not provides a compliant API with these standards, partitions can offer easily the appropriated API to the applications. XtratuM is being used by the aerospace sector to build software building blocks of future generic on board software dedicated to payloads management units in aerospace. XtratuM provides ARINC 653 scheduling policy, partition management, inter-partition communications, health monitoring, logbooks, traces, and other services to easily been adapted to the ARINC standard. The configuration of the system is specified in a configuration file (XML format) and it is compiled to achieve a static configuration of the final container (XtratuM and the partition’s code) to be deployed to the hardware board. As far as we know, XtratuM is the first hypervisor for the SPARC v8 arquitecture. In this paper, the main design aspects are discussed and the internal architecture described. An evaluation of the most significant metrics is also provided. This evaluation permits to affirm that the overhead of a hypervisor is lower than 3% if the slot duration is higher than 1 millisecond.
Endoscopic laser-assisted excision of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas.

BACKGROUND
Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibromas (JNAs) are highly vascular tumors that originate in the nasopharynx of young males. The primary treatment is surgical excision. Traditional surgical approaches are associated with significant morbidity and facial deformity. We introduce and outline the clinical advantages of an endoscopic surgical approach to JNAs using the Nd:YAG laser with image-guided surgery.


DESIGN
Case series.


SETTING
Tertiary care medical center.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Our study included 5 male patients (age range, 8-21 years) with extensive JNAs. Their tumors were large and ranged from Fisch stage IIA to IIIA. Embolization of tumor-feeding vessels was performed before surgery. The tumors were photocoagulated via a transnasal endoscopic approach using a Nd:YAG laser. Devascularized, lased tumor was removed with a microdebrider. Image-guided navigation systems were used to assist skull base tumor removal, and sublabial and buccolabial incisions were used as needed to gain lateral endoscopic tumor access. Endoscopic tumor margins were obtained for frozen section.


RESULTS
All patients achieved symptomatic remission, with no complications. No blood transfusions were necessary. The patients were ready for discharge 1 to 2 days after surgery. Postoperative and magnetic resonance imaging scans showed 2 skull base recurrences, which were removed endoscopically. Follow-up ranged between 2 and 3 years.


CONCLUSIONS
Traditional external surgical approaches to large JNAs may result in significant morbidity. Laser-assisted image-guided endoscopic excision of JNAs is a safe and effective minimally invasive surgical treatment. Its distinct advantages include (1) diminished blood loss, (2) superior cosmesis without observed altered facial growth, (3) direct access of skull base with minimal morbidity, and (4) ease of endoscopic follow-up.
Performance of Islamic Banking and Conventional Banking in Pakistan: A Comparative Study

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all I would like to thank my ALLAH Almighty Who gave me the courage, health, and energy to accomplish my thesis in due time and without Whose help this study which required untiring efforts would have not been possible to complete within the time limits. key elements required from the supervisor(s) to write and complete a thesis of a good standard and a quality within deadlines. It is a matter of utmost pleasure for me to extend my gratitude and give due credit to my supervisor Yinghong Chen whose support has always been there in need of time and who provided me with all these key elements to complete my dissertation within the time frame. Acknowledgement would be incomplete without extending my gratitude to one of my friends in Pakistan Mr. mammoth help in data collection made this study possible. Moreover, he has been supporting me enthusiastically throughout my work to make my thesis ready in due time. My thanks is also due to my examiner Max Zamanian whose valuable comments and suggestions made colossal contribution in improving my dissertation. Last but not least, I extend my thanks to my entire family for moral support and prays for my health and successful completion of my dissertation within time limits. ABSTRACT Islamic banking and finance in Pakistan started in 1977-78 with the elimination of interest in compliance with the Principles of Islamic Shari'ah in Islamic banking practices. Since then, amendments in financial system to allow the issuance of new interest-free instrument of corporate financing, promulgation of ordinance to permit the establishment of Mudaraba companies and floatation of Mudaraba Certificates, constitution of Commission for Transformation of Financial System (CTFS), and the establishments of Islamic Banking Department by the State Bank of Pakistan are some of the key steps taken place by the governments. The aim of this study is to examine and to evaluate the performance of the first Islamic bank in Pakistan, i.e. Meezan Bank Limited (MBL) in comparison with that of a group of 5 Pakistani conventional banks. The study evaluates performance of the Islamic bank (MBL) in profitability, liquidity, risk, and efficiency for the period of 2003-2007. Asset Utilization (AU), and Income to Expense ratio (IER) are used to assess banking performances. T-test and F-test are used in determining the significance of the differential performance of the two groups of banks. The study found that MBL …
Model-Based Design and Evaluation of Interactive Applications

model based design and evaluation of interactive applications What to say and what to do when mostly your friends love reading? Are you the one that don't have such hobby? So, it's important for you to start having that hobby. You know, reading is not the force. We're sure that reading will lead you to join in better concept of life. Reading will be a positive activity to do every time. And do you know our friends become fans of model based design and evaluation of interactive applications as the best book to read? Yeah, it's neither an obligation nor order. It is the referred book that will not make you feel disappointed.
Oxidative stress and plasma lipoproteins in cancer patients

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the relation between oxidative stress and lipid profile in patients with different types of cancer.


METHODS
This was an observational cross-sectional. A total of 58 subjects were evaluated, 33 males, divided into two groups of 29 patients each: Group 1, patients with cancer of the digestive tract and accessory organs; Group 2 patients with other types of cancers, all admitted to a public hospital. The plasma levels (lipoproteins and total cholesterol, HDL, and triglycerides, for example) were analyzed by enzymatic kits, and oxidative stress based on thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, by assessing the formation of malondialdehyde.


RESULTS
In general the levels of malondialdehyde of patients were high (5.00μM) as compared to 3.31μM for healthy individuals. The median values of lipids exhibited normal triacylglycerol (138.78±89.88mg/dL), desirable total cholesterol values (163.04±172.38mg/dL), borderline high LDL (151.30±178.25mg/dL) and low HDL (31.70±22.74mg/dL). Median HDL levels in Group 1 were lower (31.32mg/dL) than the cancer patients in Group 2 (43.67mg/dL) (p=0.038). Group 1 also showed higher levels of oxidative stress (p=0.027).


CONCLUSION
The lipid profile of patients with cancer was not favorable, which seems to have contributed to higher lipid peroxidation rate, generating a significant oxidative stress.
Interactive Rendering with Bidirectional Texture Functions

We propose a new technique for efficiently rendering bidirectional texture functions (BTFs). A 6D BTF describes the appearance of a material as a texture that depends on the lighting and v iewing directions. As such, a BTF accommodates self-shadowing, interreflection, and masking effects of a complex material without needing an explicit representation of the small scale geometry. Our method represe nts the BTF as a set of spatially varying apparent BRDFs, that each encode the reflectance field of a single pixe l in the BTF. Each apparent BRDF is decomposed into a product of three or more two-dimensional positive fac tors using a novel factorization technique, which we call chained matrix factorization (CMF). The proposed factorizatio n technique is fully automatic and suitable for both BRDFs and apparent BRDFs (which typically exhibit off-sp ecular peaks and non-reciprocity). The main benefit of CMF is that it delivers factors well suited for the limited dyna mic range of conventional texture maps. After factorization, an efficient representation of the BTF is o btained by clustering the factors into a compact set of 2D textures. With this compact representation, BTFs ca n be rendered on recent consumer level hardware with arbitrary viewing and lighting directions at interactive rates.
On the multiple label placement problem

We consider the problem of positioning text or symbol labels associated with graphical features of two dimensional maps (geographical or technical) or drawings. In many practical applications, it is often the case, that each graphical feature has more than one label. This variation of the labeling problem has not been addressed in depth. In this paper we introduce techniques that solve this problem. We have applied these techniques to drawings of graphs, and we present very encouraging experimental results.
Robot motion by simultaneously wheel and leg propulsion

Legged locomotion is effective in extreme ground conditions, but less effective with high speed on flat hard ground where wheeled locomotion is effective. We introduce a way to combine legged and wheeled locomotion (rolking) to gain effective mobility for mobile robot which has to operate in variable conditions including both natural terrain and structured environment. In addition to effective mobility, rolking mode enables possibility to measure the shapes and unevenness of the ground by probing it with the wheel-leg.
Risk factors for homelessness among US veterans.

Homelessness among US veterans has been a focus of research for over 3 decades. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this is the first systematic review to summarize research on risk factors for homelessness among US veterans and to evaluate the evidence for these risk factors. Thirty-one studies published from 1987 to 2014 were divided into 3 categories: more rigorous studies, less rigorous studies, and studies comparing homeless veterans with homeless nonveterans. The strongest and most consistent risk factors were substance use disorders and mental illness, followed by low income and other income-related factors. There was some evidence that social isolation, adverse childhood experiences, and past incarceration were also important risk factors. Veterans, especially those who served since the advent of the all-volunteer force, were at greater risk for homelessness than other adults. Homeless veterans were generally older, better educated, and more likely to be male, married/have been married, and to have health insurance coverage than other homeless adults. More studies simultaneously addressing premilitary, military, and postmilitary risk factors for veteran homelessness are needed. This review identifies substance use disorders, mental illness, and low income as targets for policies and programs in efforts to end homelessness among veterans.
Efficient Scene text localization and recognition with local character refinement

An unconstrained end-to-end text localization and recognition method is presented. The method detects initial text hypothesis in a single pass by an efficient region-based method and subsequently refines the text hypothesis using a more robust local text model, which deviates from the common assumption of region-based methods that all characters are detected as connected components.
Effects of a mushroom mycelium extract on the treatment of prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether supplemental amounts of a polysaccharide/oligosaccharide complex obtained from a shiitake mushroom extract (SME) would lower the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level in patients with prostate cancer.


METHODS
A total of 62 men (mean age 73.2 years, range 53.6 to 85.5) with histologically proven prostate cancer who had two consecutive elevated PSA readings were accrued to the study during a 3-month period. This was an open-label study in which the patients received oral administration of capsules containing SME given three times daily for 6 months. The endpoint for the trial was the lowering of the PSA levels.


RESULTS
Of the 62 men enrolled in the study, 61 were assessable. At 4 months, 1 patient withdrew because of unrelated surgery and 7 withdrew because of disease progression; none had responded with a decrease of greater than 50% in the PSA level. By 6 months, a total of 23 patients had progression and none had responded. Thirty-eight patients had stable PSA levels after 6 months. Although not the primary endpoint of the study, in other studies these patients could have been included as responders. When the patients' rates of PSA rise before study entry were analyzed, 4 (7%) had stabilized disease while taking SME. Thus, the final results for our study patients were 0 with a complete response, 0 with a partial response, 4 (7%) with stable disease, and 23 of 61 with progression while taking SME.


CONCLUSIONS
SME alone is ineffective in the treatment of clinical prostate cancer.
Intracellular and plasma pharmacokinetics of 400 mg of etravirine once daily versus 200 mg of etravirine twice daily in HIV-infected patients.

OBJECTIVES
To compare intracellular and plasma etravirine concentrations when etravirine was given at 200 mg/12 h versus 400 mg/24 h and to evaluate whether the results would support once-daily dosing.


METHODS
This was an open-label sequential study in which eight patients on protease inhibitor (PI)-sparing regimens containing etravirine were included. Full pharmacokinetic profiles were performed while on 200 mg of etravirine/12 h and after switching to 400 mg of etravirine/24 h. Intracellular and plasma levels were determined by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by non-compartmental analysis and compared by geometric mean ratios (GMRs) using 200 mg of etravirine/12 h as the reference group.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01121809.


RESULTS
The geometric mean (GM) for etravirine AUC(0-τ) (5602 versus 5076 ng · h/mL, GMR 0.91), C(max) (403 versus 495 ng/mL, GMR 1.23) and C(min) (139 versus 102 ng/mL, GMR 0.74) were similar with both dosing schedules at the intracellular level. In plasma, the GMRs for AUC(0-τ), C(max) and C(min) were 1.31, 1.76 and 0.99, respectively. The mean intracellular penetration, evaluated as intracellular and plasma AUC(0-τ) ratios, was 81% when etravirine was dosed twice daily and 56% with once-daily dosing.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that intracellular etravirine levels were similar with both dosing regimens in patients with PI-sparing regimens, while etravirine plasma AUC(0-τ) and C(max) were 30% and 76% higher with the once-daily regimen, respectively. Thus, a once-daily dosing regimen is supported not only by plasma etravirine pharmacokinetic profiles but also by intracellular levels.
Multivariate image segmentation with cluster size insensitive Fuzzy C-means

This paper describes a technique to overcome the sensitivity of fuzzy C-means clustering for unequal cluster sizes in multivariate images. As FCM tends to balance the number of points in each cluster, cluster centres of smaller clusters are drawn to larger adjacent clusters. In order to overcome this, a modified version of FCM, called Conditional FCM, is used to balance the different sized clusters. During the clustering process, the ratios between the cluster sizes are determined and a corresponding condition is calculated. This condition value balances the influence of objects from larger clusters to smaller clusters. Experiments with the cluster size insensitive FCM (csiFCM) on different numerical datasets, synthetic and real multivariate images for different number of clusters and cluster sizes show the improvement compared to FCM and FMLE. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.