LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
What is the best way to schedule patient follow-up appointments?

BACKGROUND
What is the best way to schedule follow-up appointments? The most popular model requires the patient to negotiate a follow-up appointment time on leaving the office. This process accounts for the majority of follow-up patient scheduling. There are circumstances when this immediate appointment arrangement is not possible, however. The two common processes used to contact patients for follow-up appointments after they have left the office are the postcard reminder method and the prescheduled appointment method.


METHODS
In 2001 the two methods used to contact patients for follow-up appointments after they had left the clinic were used for all 2,116 reappointment patients at an ophthalmology practice at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The number of completed successful appointments, the no-show rate, and patient satisfaction for each method were calculated.


RESULTS
A larger number of patient reappointments were completed using the prescheduled appointment procedure than the postcard reminder system (74% vs 54%). The difference between completed and pending appointments (minus no-shows) of the two methods equaled 163 patients per quarter, or 652 patients per year. Additional revenues associated with use of the prescheduled appointment letter method were estimated at $594,600 for 3 years.


SUMMARY
Using the prescheduled appointment method with a patient notification letter is advised when patients do not schedule their appointments on the way out of the office.
Relationship among family environment, self-control, friendship quality, and adolescents’ smartphone addiction in South Korea: Findings from nationwide data

BACKGROUND
Many studies have examined the negative impact on smartphone addiction in adolescents. Recent concerns have focused on predictors of smartphone addiction. This study aimed to investigate the association of adolescents' smartphone addiction with family environment (specifically, domestic violence and parental addiction). We further investigated whether self-control and friendship quality, as predictors of smartphone addiction, may reduce the observed risk.


METHODS
We used the 2013 national survey on internet usage and utilization data from the National Information Agency of Korea. Information on exposure and covariates included self-reported experience of domestic violence and parental addiction, sociodemographic variables, and other variables potentially related to smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction was estimated using a smartphone addiction proneness scale, a standardized measure developed by national institutions in Korea.


RESULTS
Adolescents who had experienced domestic violence (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.23-2.45) and parental addiction (OR = 2.01; 95% CI: 1.24-3.27) were found to be at an increased risk for smartphone addiction after controlling for all potential variables. Furthermore, on classifying adolescents according to their level of self-control and friendship quality the association between domestic violence and parental addiction, and smartphone addiction was found to be significant in the group with adolescents with lower levels of self-control (OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.68-4.90 and OR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.34-2.83) and friendship quality (OR = 2.33; 95% CI: 1.41-3.85 and OR = 1.83; 95% CI: 1.26-2.64).


CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that family dysfunction was significantly associated with smartphone addiction. We also observed that self-control and friendship quality act as protective factors against adolescents' smartphone addiction.
Total Quality Management and Organizational Performance

Total quality management (TQM) is considered a very important factor for the long-term success of an organization. TQM implementation has been an important aspect for improving organisational efficiency. The links between TQM and performance have been investigated by numerous scholars. While examining the relationship between TQM and performance scholars have used different performance types such as financial, innovative, operational and quality performance. Recent research on total quality management has examined the relationships between the Total quality management and organizational performance. TQM focuses on continuous process improvement within organizations to provide superior customer value and meet customer needs. TQM a popular guideline for organizational management is adopted for developing strategic infomaps and infocharts for an information organization.
Interpreting Deep Learning: The Machine Learning Rorschach Test?

Theoretical understanding of deep learning is one of the most important tasks facing the statistics and machine learning communities. While multilayer, or deep, neural networks (DNNs) originated as models of biological networks in neuroscience [1, 2, 3, 4] and psychology [5, 6], and as engineering methods [7, 8], they have become a centerpiece of the machine learning (ML) toolbox. In ML, DNNs are simultaneously one of the simplest and most complex methods. They consist of many interconnected nodes that are grouped into layers (see Figure 1a), whose operations are stunningly simple; the nth node of the network at a given layer i, xi(n) is simply a nonlinear function f(·) (e.g. saturating nonlinearity) applied to an affine function of the previous layer
Adsorption Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies of Effect of ortho-Substitution to Benzoic Acid in Aqueous Phase Using Granular Activated Carbon

The phenomenon of adsorption is most widely employed for separation, treatment of waste effluent, refrigeration, environmental pollution control, etc. [1-3]. Organic compounds such as aniline, benzoic acid, aldehydes, etc. are common organic pollutants, need to be removed from wastewater as these compounds posses carcinogenic characteristics [4-6]. Use of activated carbon by means of adsorption for the purpose of removal of organic pollutants are widely used [7-9]. Adsorption is a time dependent process and the knowledge of adsorbate uptake rate and equilibrium is imperative for evolution and design of batch, fixed bed fluidized bed reactor [10-17]. The knowledge of relevant reaction mechanism, interparticle micro-transport processes and reaction dynamics will afford opportunity for evolution of rational process design and optimization procedures of sufficiently wide applicability. Chemical factors associated with the adsorbates are branching and functional group. The physical factors associated with the experimental systems are temperature, initial adsorbate concentration, contact time, linear velocity and presence of suspended solids [18]. Limited literature is available regarding the adsorption of benzoic acid and its ortho-derivatives. Many a time ecological balance is not disturbed directly through the discharge of Adsorption Equilibrium and Kinetic Studies of Effect of ortho-Substitution to Benzoic Acid in Aqueous Phase Using Granular Activated Carbon
Central venous catheters and catheter locks in children with cancer: a prospective randomized trial of taurolidine versus heparin.

BACKGROUND
To determine if the catheter lock taurolidine can reduce the number of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) in pediatric cancer patients with tunneled central venous catheters (CVC).


PROCEDURE
During a study period of 34 months, 129 newly placed tunneled CVCs in 112 patients were randomly assigned to standard lock with heparin solution or experimental lock with a taurolidine solution (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00735813).


RESULTS
Sixty-five CVCs were included in the standard group and 64 CVCs in the experimental group. The groups were comparable regarding patients' characteristics. A total number of 72 bloodstream infections of which 33 were CRBSIs were observed during 39,127 CVC-days. A lower rate of CRBSI (0.4 per 1,000 CVC-days) was observed in the experimental arm compared with the standard arm (1.4 per 1,000 CVC-days, incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.26; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09-0.61; P = 0.001). A lower rate of total bloodstream infections (1.2 per 1,000 CVC-days) was also observed in the experimental arm compared with the standard arm (2.5 per 1,000 CVC-days, IRR = 0.49; 95% CI 0.29-0.82; P = 0.004). Median interval from catheter insertion until first CRBSI was significantly lower in the standard group (156 days, range 12-602) compared with the experimental group (300 days, range 12-1,176; P = 0.02). Premature removal of the CVC due to infection and overall CVC survival were similar in the two study groups.


CONCLUSION
Locking of long-term tunneled CVC with taurolidine significantly reduces catheter-related bloodstream infections in children with cancer.
Acceptability of Diagnostic Tests for Breast Cancer

Purpose. To assess the acceptability of new non-invasive breast cancer diagnostic tests intended to triage women in need of biopsy. Methods. Women who had abnormal screening tests and had been recommended to have a biopsy were invited to receive digital mammography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear medicine evaluation (Tc-99m-sestamibi scanning) before biopsy. Participants completed a questionnaire about satisfaction and acceptability of the procedures. Satisfaction measured women's overall and test-specific satisfaction. Acceptability was measured by self-reported discomfort, embarrassment and women's preference in terms of willingness to pay to avoid a biopsy. Results. Women were satisfied with all of the potential diagnostic triage procedures. Most found the tests more comfortable than a routine mammogram (47, 50, and 66% undergoing MRI, digital mammography, and sestamibi scanning, respectively). Women who provided a response to willingness to pay questions (N=43) were willing to pay an average of $611 to have a test instead of a biopsy, if the test was as accurate as biopsy. The willingness to pay significantly decreased to $308 if the test only had 95% accuracy. Those who had prior benign breast disease were less willing to pay for a test with 95% accuracy than those without this history. Conclusion. Instead of immediate biopsy after an abnormal screening, these results suggest that women would find non-invasive triage tests acceptable, or preferable to biopsy if they were equally accurate or nearly equally accurate as a biopsy. New technologies to diagnose breast cancer should focus on decreasing discomfort as well as increasing test accuracy.
Two-year impacts on employment and income among adults receiving antiretroviral therapy in Tamil Nadu, India: a cohort study.

OBJECTIVES
to estimate the economic impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on employment and income of treated patients as well as a comparison group of pre-ART patients who receive care and support in Tamil Nadu, India.


METHODS
a cohort of 1238 HIV-infected patients was followed between 2005 and 2007. Socioeconomic data were collected at 6-month intervals. A total of 515 patients initiated ART during the study period, whereas a comparison group of 723 patients were pre-ART. The impact of ART on four employment outcomes was analyzed: participation in economic activities in the past week, number of hours worked in the past week, individual income earned in the past 30 days and 6 months. Regression models including patient fixed effects were estimated. Data from the comparison group of patients were used to adjust for time trends in employment outcomes.


RESULTS
At 6 months after initiation of ART, patients were 10 percentage points more likely to be economically active (P < 0.01) and worked 5.5 additional hours per week (P < 0.01). These increases were over and above those experienced by the comparison group. The estimated 24-month impacts represent a doubling of patients' employment levels at baseline. At 24 months after ART initiation, employment increases remained large and significant. Effects were almost twice as large for men compared with women. Income earned in the past 30 days and 6 months also rose significantly.


CONCLUSION
ART resulted in a rapid and sustained increase in employment and income for patients. The results demonstrate that ART can improve the economic outcomes of HIV-infected patients.
Paradigms, pragmatism and possibilities: mixed-methods research in speech and language therapy.

BACKGROUND
After the decades of the so-called 'paradigm wars' in social science research methodology and the controversy about the relative place and value of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, 'paradigm peace' appears to have now been declared. This has come about as many researchers have begun to take a 'pragmatic' approach in the selection of research methodology, choosing the methodology best suited to answering the research question rather than conforming to a methodological orthodoxy. With the differences in the philosophical underpinnings of the two traditions set to one side, an increasing awareness, and valuing, of the 'mixed-methods' approach to research is now present in the fields of social, educational and health research.


AIMS
To explore what is meant by mixed-methods research and the ways in which quantitative and qualitative methodologies and methods can be combined and integrated, particularly in the broad field of health services research and the narrower one of speech and language therapy.


MAIN CONTRIBUTION
The paper discusses the ways in which methodological approaches have already been combined and integrated in health services research and speech and language therapy, highlighting the suitability of mixed-methods research for answering the typically multifaceted questions arising from the provision of complex interventions. The challenges of combining and integrating quantitative and qualitative methods and the barriers to the adoption of mixed-methods approaches are also considered.


CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS
The questions about healthcare, as it is being provided in the 21st century, calls for a range of methodological approaches. This is particularly the case for human communication and its disorders, where mixed-methods research offers a wealth of possibilities. In turn, speech and language therapy research should be able to contribute substantively to the future development of mixed-methods research.
Approximate String Matching with Gaps

In this paper we consider several new versions of approximate string matching with gaps. The main characteristic of these new versions is the existence of gaps in the matching of a given pattern in a text. Algorithms are devised for each version and their time and space complexities are stated. These specific versions of approximate string matching have various applications in computerized music analysis. CR Classification: F.2.2
Capsule Network Performance on Complex Data

In recent years, convolutional neural networks (CNN) have played an important role in the field of deep learning. Variants of CNN’s have proven to be very successful in classification tasks across different domains. However, there are two big drawbacks to CNN’s: their failure to take into account of important spatial hierarchies between features, and their lack of rotational invariance [1]. As long as certain key features of an object are present in the test data, CNN’s classify the test data as the object, disregarding features’ relative spatial orientation to each other. This causes false positives. The lack of rotational invariance in CNN’s would cause the network to incorrectly assign the object another label, causing false negatives. To address this concern, Hinton et al. propose a novel type of neural network using the concept of capsules in a recent paper. With the use of dynamic routing and reconstruction regularization, the capsule network model would be both rotation invariant and spatially aware. [1]
Effects of low-frequency cranial electrostimulation on the rest-activity rhythm and salivary cortisol in Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVE
In previous studies, cranial electrostimulation (CES) had positive effects on sleep in depressed patients and in patients with vascular dementia. The present study examined the effects of low-frequency CES on the rest-activity rhythm and cortisol levels of patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHOD
It was hypothesised that a decreased level of cortisol would parallel a positive effect of low-frequency CES on nocturnal restlessness. Sixteen AD patients were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 8) or a control group (n = 8). The experimental group was treated with CES, whereas the control group received sham stimulation, for 30 minutes a day, during 6 weeks. The rest-activity rhythm was assessed by actigraphy. Cortisol was measured repeatedly in the saliva throughout the day by means of salivette tubes.


RESULTS
Low-frequency CES did not improve the rest-activity rhythm in AD patients. Moreover, both groups showed an increase instead of a decrease in the level of cortisol.


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary results suggest that low-frequency CES has no positive effect on the rest-activity rhythm in AD patients. An alternative research design with high-frequency CES in AD is discussed.
A slick control plane for network middleboxes

Recent advances in software-defined networking (SDN), particularly OpenFlow [5], have made it possible to implement and deploy sophisticated network policies with relatively simple programs. The simplicity arises in large part due to a simple “match/action” interface that OpenFlow provides, by which a programmer can specify actions to take on packets that match particular characteristics (e.g., “forward all port-53 traffic on a faster path”). To date, however, the space of such policies that can be easily implemented in an SDN centers on the control plane—while OpenFlow provides a rich control plane API, it permits very narrow control on the data plane. Expanding the match/action interface could make it possible for network operators to implement more sophisticated policies, e.g., that perform deep packet inspection and operate at the application layer. Yet, expanding OpenFlow’s specification is an arduous process, requiring standardization and hardware support—going down that path would, we believe, ultimately result in vertically integrated hardware, the very fate that OpenFlow was arguably designed to avoid. On the other end of the spectrum we have middleboxes: computing devices that sit on traffic flows’ paths, and that have no inherent restrictions on what they can process or store. Middleboxes have historically been vertically integrated, thus, although middlebox manufacturers can create a wide range of data processing devices, network operators remain faced with several key challenges:
Potential new diagnostic tool for Alzheimer's disease using a linear discriminant function for Fourier domain optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE
We calculated and validated a linear discriminant function (LDF) for Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) to improve the diagnostic ability of retinal and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness parameters in the detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHODS
We enrolled AD patients (n = 151) and age-matched, healthy subjects (n = 61). The Cirrus and Spectralis OCT systems were used to obtain retinal measurements and circumpapillary RNFL thickness for each participant. An LDF was calculated using all retinal and RNFL OCT measurements. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted and compared among the LDF and the standard parameters provided by OCT devices. Sensitivity and specificity were used to evaluate diagnostic performance. A validating set was used in an independent population to test the performance of the LDF.


RESULTS
The optimal function was calculated using the RNFL thickness provided by Spectralis OCT, using the 768 points registered during peripapillary scan acquisition (grouped to obtain 24 uniformly divided locations): 18.325 + 0.056 × (315°-330°) - 0.122 × (300°-315°) - 0.041 × (285°-300°) + 0.091 × (255°-270°) + 0.041 × (225°-240°) + 0.183 × (195°-210°) - 0.108 × (150°-165°) - 0.092 × (75°-90°) + 0.051 × (30°-45°). The largest area under the ROC curve was 0.967 for the LDF. At 95% fixed specificity, the LDF yielded the highest sensitivity values.


CONCLUSIONS
Measurements of RNFL thickness obtained with the Spectralis OCT device differentiated between healthy and AD individuals. Based on the area under the ROC curve, the LDF was a better predictor than any single parameter.
Microclimate influence in a physiological model of cattle-fever tick (Boophilus spp.) population dynamics

Since their official eradication from the US in 1943, the cattle-tick species Boophilus microplusandBoophilus annulatus , vectors of bovine babesiosis, frequently have penetrated a quarantine zone established along the Texas–Mexico border designed to exclude them. Inspection and quarantine procedures have eradicated reinfestations successfully within the US, but increasing acaricide resistance in Mexican B. micropluspopulations poses a threat to future eradication efforts. Better understanding of interrelationships amongBoophiluspopulations, their hosts, and vegetation communities in south Texas could improve prediction of the behavior of reintroduced Boophiluspopulations and increase management options. To this end, we constructed a simulation model to evaluate how microclimate, habitat (i.e. vegetation) heterogeneity, and within-pasture cattle movement may influence dynamics of Boophilusticks in south Texas. Unlike previous Boophilustick models, this model simulates dynamics at an hourly time-step, calculates all off-host dynamics as functions of temperature and relative humidity, and runs with ground-level microclimate data collected bi-hourly in three different habitat types. Sensitivity analysis of the model showed that temperatures and relative humidities created by habitat type, as well as engorged female mass, influenced tick population dynamics most strongly. Host habitat selection, initial number of larvae per cow, and the number of cells into which the simulated pasture was divided also had a strong influence. Population dynamics appeared moderately sensitive to the proportion of B s indicusin cattle genotypes and the larval attachment rate, while appearing relatively insensitive to factors such as mortality rate of engorged females. When used to simulate laboratory experiments from the literature, the model predicted most observed life-history characteristics fairly well; however, it tended to underestimate oviposition duration, incubation duration, and egg mortality and overestimate larval longevity, especially at low temperatures and high humidities. Use of the model to predict Boophiluspopulation dynamics in hypothetical south Texas pastures showed that it reasonably generated qualitative patterns of stage-wise abundances but tended to overestimate on-host tick burdens. Collection and incorporation of data that appear not to exist for Boophilusticks, such as larval lipid content and lipid-use rates, may improve model accuracy. Though this model needs refinements such as a smaller spatial resolution, it provides insight into responses of B. microplusorB. annulatuspopulations to specific weather patterns, habitat heterogeneity, and host movement. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.