LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Initiating insulin therapy in type 2 Diabetes: a comparison of biphasic and basal insulin analogs.

OBJECTIVE
Safety and efficacy of biphasic insulin aspart 70/30 (BIAsp 70/30, prebreakfast and presupper) were compared with once-daily insulin glargine in type 2 diabetic subjects inadequately controlled on oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs).


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
This 28-week parallel-group study randomized 233 insulin-naive patients with HbA(1c) values >/=8.0% on >1,000 mg/day metformin alone or in combination with other OADs. Metformin was adjusted up to 2,550 mg/day before insulin therapy was initiated with 5-6 units BIAsp 70/30 twice daily or 10-12 units glargine at bedtime and titrated to target blood glucose (80-110 mg/dl) by algorithm-directed titration.


RESULTS
A total of 209 subjects completed the study. At study end, the mean HbA(1c) value was lower in the BIAsp 70/30 group than in the glargine group (6.91 +/- 1.17 vs. 7.41 +/- 1.24%, P < 0.01). The HbA(1c) reduction was greater in the BIAsp 70/30 group than in the glargine group (-2.79 +/- 0.11 vs. -2.36 +/- 0.11%, respectively; P < 0.01), especially for subjects with baseline HbA(1c) >8.5% (-3.13 +/- 1.63 vs. -2.60 +/- 1.50%, respectively; P < 0.05). More BIAsp 70/30-treated subjects reached target HbA(1c) values than glargine-treated subjects (HbA(1c) </=6.5%: 42 vs. 28%, P < 0.05; HbA(1c) <7.0%: 66 vs. 40%, P < 0.001). Minor hypoglycemia (episodes/year) was greater in the BIAsp 70/30 group than in the glargine group (3.4 +/- 6.6 and 0.7 +/- 2.0, respectively; P < 0.05). Weight gain and daily insulin dose at study end were greater for BIAsp 70/30-treated subjects than for glargine-treated subjects (weight gain: 5.4 +/- 4.8 vs. 3.5 +/- 4.5 kg, P < 0.01; insulin dose: 78.5 +/- 39.5 and 51.3 +/- 26.7 units/day, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
In subjects with type 2 diabetes poorly controlled on OADs, initiating insulin therapy with twice-daily BIAsp 70/30 was more effective in achieving HbA(1c) targets than once-daily glargine, especially in subjects with HbA(1c) >8.5%.
Deep Learning based Radiomics (DLR) and its usage in noninvasive IDH1 prediction for low grade glioma

Deep learning-based radiomics (DLR) was developed to extract deep information from multiple modalities of magnetic resonance (MR) images. The performance of DLR for predicting the mutation status of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) was validated in a dataset of 151 patients with low-grade glioma. A modified convolutional neural network (CNN) structure with 6 convolutional layers and a fully connected layer with 4096 neurons was used to segment tumors. Instead of calculating image features from segmented images, as typically performed for normal radiomics approaches, image features were obtained by normalizing the information of the last convolutional layers of the CNN. Fisher vector was used to encode the CNN features from image slices of different sizes. High-throughput features with dimensionality greater than 1.6*104 were obtained from the CNN. Paired t-tests and F-scores were used to select CNN features that were able to discriminate IDH1. With the same dataset, the area under the operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the normal radiomics method was 86% for IDH1 estimation, whereas for DLR the AUC was 92%. The AUC of IDH1 estimation was further improved to 95% using DLR based on multiple-modality MR images. DLR could be a powerful way to extract deep information from medical images.
Encoding Natural Movement as an Agent-Based System: An Investigation into Human Pedestrian Behaviour in the Built Environment

Gibson's ecological theory of perception has received considerable attention within psychology literature, as well as in computer vision and robotics. However, few have applied Gibson's approach to agent-based models of human movement, because the ecological theory requires that individuals have a vision-based mental model of the world, and for large numbers of agents this becomes extremely expensive computationally. Thus, within current pedestrian models, path evaluation is based on calibration from observed data or on sophisticated but deterministic route-choice mechanisms; there is little open-ended behavioural modelling of human-movement patterns. One solution which allows individuals rapid concurrent access to the visual information within an environment is an `exosomatic visual architecture', where the connections between mutually visible locations within a configuration are prestored in a lookup table. Here we demonstrate that, with the aid of an exosomatic visual architecture, it is possible to develop behavioural models in which movement rules originating from Gibson's principle of affordance are utilised. We apply large numbers of agents programmed with these rules to a built-environment example and show that, by varying parameters such as destination selection, field of view, and steps taken between decision points, it is possible to generate aggregate movement levels very similar to those found in an actual building context. DOI:10.1068/b12850
A neural network with a case based dynamic window for stock trading prediction

Stock forecasting involves complex interactions between market-influencing factors and unknown random processes. In this study, an integrated system, CBDWNN by combining dynamic time windows, case based reasoning (CBR), and neural network for stock trading prediction is developed and it includes three different stages: (1) screening out potential stocks and the important influential factors; (2) using back propagation network (BPN) to predict the buy/sell points (wave peak and wave trough) of stock price and (3) adopting case based dynamic window (CBDW) to further improve the forecasting results from BPN. The system developed in this research is a first attempt in the literature to predict the sell/buy decision points instead of stock price itself. The empirical results show that the CBDW can assist the BPN to reduce the false alarm of buying or selling decisions. Nine different stocks with different trends, i.e., upward, downward and steady, are studied and one individual stock (AUO) will be studied as case example. The rates of return for upward, steady, and downward trend stocks are higher than 93.57%, 37.75%, and 46.62%, respectively. These results are all very promising and better than using CBR or BPN alone. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Teaching Constraints through Logic Puzzles

The paper describes the experiences of seven years of teaching a constraint logic programming course at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. We describe the structure of the course, the material covered, some examples, assignments, and examination tasks. Throughout the paper we show how logic puzzles can be used to illustrate constraint programming techniques.
Tying in Two-Sided Markets and the Honor All Cards Rule

Payment card associations offer both debit and credit cards and, until recently, engaged in a tie-in on the merchant side through the so-called honor-all-cards (HAC) rule. The HAC rule came under attack on the grounds that the credit and debit card markets are separate markets and that the associations lever their market power in the “credit card market” to exclude on-line debit cards and thereby monopolize the “debit card market”. This article analyzes the impact of the HAC rule, using a simple model with two types of transactions (debit and credit) and two platforms. In the benchmark model, in the absence of HAC rule, the interchange fee (IF, the transfer from the merchant’s bank to the cardholder’s bank) on debit is socially too low, and that on credit is either optimal or too high (depending on downstream members’ market power). In either case, the HAC rule not only benefits the multicard platform but also raises social welfare, due to a rebalancing effect: The HAC rule allows the multi-card platform to better perform the balancing act by raising the IF on debit and lowering it on credit, ultimately raising volume. The paper then investigates a number of extensions of the benchmark model, including varying degrees of substitutability between debit and credit; merchant heterogeneity; and platform differentiation. While the HAC rule may no longer raise social welfare under all values of the parameters, the basic and socially beneficial rebalancing effect unveiled in the benchmark model is robust.
SMS: Tool for L2 Vocabulary Retention and Reading Comprehension Ability

Mobile phones are the new addition to the information and communication technologies (ITC) for learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SMS on vocabulary retention and reading comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. Forty university students were assigned into experimental and control groups. The participants in experimental group received English words as well as definitions and example sentences through SMS in a spaced and scheduled pattern of delivery three times a week throughout 16 sessions while those in control group were taught new words though conventional board and paper technique for the same period. The participants were assessed biweekly. Results of t-test analysis indicated that participants in SMS group could significantly outperform those in control group. The results of this study can also provide pedagogical implications for utilizing SMS as an effective and flexible learning tool.
Physical activity recognition from sub-bandage sensors using both feature selection and extraction

In this paper, we present a neural network-based approach to classify the activities performed by 40 subjects by analyzing sub-bandage pressure signals. The approach includes an input dimensionality reduction obtained employing both feature extraction and feature selection techniques. The results show that our model is able to classify the activities performed with 98.12% accuracy.
Green tea extract as a treatment for patients with wild-type transthyretin amyloidosis: an observational study

BACKGROUND
Causative treatment of patients with wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (wtATTR-CM) is lacking. Recent reports indicate the potential use of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechin in green tea, to inhibit amyloid fibril formation. We sought to investigate changes of cardiac function and morphology in patients with wtATTR-CM after consumption of green tea extract (GTE).


METHODS
Twenty-five male patients (71 [64; 80] years) with wtATTR-CM were submitted to clinical examination, echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) (n=14), and laboratory testing before and after daily consumption of GTE capsules containing 600 mg epigallocatechin-3-gallate for at least 12 months.


RESULTS
A significant decrease of left ventricular (LV) myocardial mass by 6% (196 [100; 247] vs 180 [85; 237] g; P=0.03) by cMRI and total cholesterol by 8.4% (191 [118; 267] vs 173 [106; 287] mg/dL; P=0.006) was observed after a 1-year period of GTE consumption. LV ejection fraction by cMRI (53% [33%; 69%] vs 54% [28%; 71%]; P=0.75), LV wall thickness (17 [13; 21] vs 18 [14; 25] mm; P=0.1), and mitral annular plane systolic excursion (10 [5; 23] vs 8 [4; 13] mm; P=0.3) by echocardiography remained unchanged.


CONCLUSION
This study supports LV mass stabilization in patients with wtATTR-CM consuming GTE potentially indicating amyloid fibril reduction.
Gastric emptying and orocecal transit time in pregnancy

To evaluate the effects of pregnancy on gastrointestinal function, we determined gastric emptying time, orocecal transit time, and fasting gastrointestinal hormone levels (cholecystokinin, gastrin, pancreatic polypeptide, neurotensin) in 11 women with mild dyspeptic symptoms during the first and third trimesters of their pregnancies, and again 4–6 months after delivery. Methods. After the women ingested a disaccharide solution, orocecal transit time was determined by monitoring breath hydrogen concentrations at 10-min intervals, and values were compared with the postpartum value. Ultrasound examinations of gastric emptying were performed during the same intervals. Results. The half-emptying time and the final gastric emptying time did not differ in the first and third trimesters and postpartum, but gastrointestinal transit time was significantly longer in the third trimester of pregnancy than postpartum ([100.0 min (range, 50.5–240.0 min] vs 70.0 min [range, 40.5–240.0 min; P < 0.05]), respectively. Mean plasma pancreatic polypeptide values were lower in the third trimester of pregnancy than postpartum, and a negative correlation was observed between pancreatic polypeptide levels and transit time in the third trimester (r = −0.65; P = 0.0261). The plasma levels of other gastrointestinal hormones did not differ in the various periods studied. Conclusions. Our study shows that, despite evident dyspeptic symptoms, there were no significant alterations in gastric emptying or orocecal transit time during the first trimester of pregnancy. Conversely, in the third trimester, orocecal transit time was significantly longer.
Generalized quaternion formulation of relativistic quantum theory in curved space

A survey is presented of the essential principles for formulating relativistic wave equations in curved spacetime. The approach is relatively simple and avoids much of the philosophical debate about covariance principles, which is also indicated. Hypercomplex numbers provide a natural language for covariance symmetry and the two important kinds of covariant derivative.
Contractors Perception of the Factors Affecting Building Information Modelling (BIM) Adoption in the Nigerian Construction Industry

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most visible aspects of a deep and fundamental change that is rapidly transforming the global construction industry. It is the platform that brings about collaboration between project stakeholders and improvement of project outcomes. The growing worldwide adoption and implementation of BIM for its powerful data-based modeling, visualization, analysis and simulation capabilities represents a paradigm shift to an integrated digital information infrastructure that will ultimately revolutionize almost all aspects of the construction industry. Many developed economies of the world have recorded impressive outcomes by implementing BIM in their construction practices, and this necessitates the need for an investigation into the level of its awareness and factors affecting its adoption in the Nigerian Construction Industry. The study was undertaken through a survey of Nigerian Building construction firms. The central issues addressed were the awareness of the respondents on BIM, and their perception on the drivers and barriers to its adoption in the Nigerian construction industry. Structured questionnaires and semi-formal interviews were used for data collection. The study highlighted areas requiring attention by researchers, government and other stakeholders towards a country wide implementation of BIM technologies and has set a scene for developing a framework for BIM adoption in the Nigerian construction industry. This will make the industry equipped to operate in line with the global best practices and deliver projects successfully and more efficiently and also be a good market for foreign firms to benefit.
Injection rhinoplasty: non-surgical nasal augmentation and correction of post-rhinoplasty contour asymmetries with hyaluronic acid: how we do it.

Dear Editor, Rhinoplasty is technically demanding surgery, and even in the best of hands, postoperative healing and ultimate aesthetic outcome can be unpredictable. In addition to the risks of general anaesthesia, and a protracted postoperative convalescence, rhinoplasty may lead to adverse cosmetic sequelae of pollybeak deformity, over reduction of the bony or cartilaginous dorsum, inverted V deformity, alar retraction, supratip depression and bossae. Patients may also have functional complaints secondary to iatrogenic nasal valve disruption. Even in patients with an initial satisfactory outcome, slight asymmetries, depressions and contour irregularities may present several years after surgery. Despite these risks, cosmetic rhinoplasty is increasingly popular. A recent survey of UK cosmetic practice by members by the British association of aesthetic plastic surgeons, found that rhinoplasty accounted for 9% of all cosmetic surgery in 2008, and 23% of all male cosmetic surgery. The refinement of techniques to restore facial volume with dermal fillers, and widely available botulinum injections to treat dynamic facial rhytids, has led to a surge in demand for non-surgical rejuvenation procedures. An increasingly well informed and discerning patient population now seek better value procedures that require minimal downtime and have instant results. Discreet volumetric changes in the fronto-nasal angle, nasal dorsum and nasolabial angle lead to significant differences in our perception of the nasal aesthetic. These areas can be injected with dermal fillers to rejuvenate the nasal profile and correct asymmetries.
Classifying smoking urges via machine learning

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and diseases in the developed world, and advances in modern electronics and machine learning can help us deliver real-time intervention to smokers in novel ways. In this paper, we examine different machine learning approaches to use situational features associated with having or not having urges to smoke during a quit attempt in order to accurately classify high-urge states.


METHODS
To test our machine learning approaches, specifically, Bayes, discriminant analysis and decision tree learning methods, we used a dataset collected from over 300 participants who had initiated a quit attempt. The three classification approaches are evaluated observing sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and precision.


RESULTS
The outcome of the analysis showed that algorithms based on feature selection make it possible to obtain high classification rates with only a few features selected from the entire dataset. The classification tree method outperformed the naive Bayes and discriminant analysis methods, with an accuracy of the classifications up to 86%. These numbers suggest that machine learning may be a suitable approach to deal with smoking cessation matters, and to predict smoking urges, outlining a potential use for mobile health applications.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, machine learning classifiers can help identify smoking situations, and the search for the best features and classifier parameters significantly improves the algorithms' performance. In addition, this study also supports the usefulness of new technologies in improving the effect of smoking cessation interventions, the management of time and patients by therapists, and thus the optimization of available health care resources. Future studies should focus on providing more adaptive and personalized support to people who really need it, in a minimum amount of time by developing novel expert systems capable of delivering real-time interventions.
Fingerprint image enhancement using a fast Gabor filter

Automatic fingerprint identification is one of the most important biometric technologies. Automatic fingerprint identification depends mainly on the comparison of ridge characteristics. The ridge characteristics include ridge ending, ridge bifurcation. How to extract those minutiae effectively is the key of automatic fingerprint identification. This paper uses a square Gabor filter using local average frequency. The method can overcome the blocky effect of Lin Hong's Gabor filter [1]. This paper proposes a new evaluation GI(Goodness Index) method of the fingerprint image enhancement algorithm. This evaluation GI method has a wide prospect.
Impact of Polypropylene Amount on Functional Outcome and Quality of Life after Inguinal Hernia Repair by the TAPP Procedure Using Pure, Mixed, and Titanium-coated Meshes

Laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair requires the use of prosthetic material. This prospective, single-center study was intended to investigate the impact of the amount of polypropylene (PP) mesh used in hernia repair on functional results and quality of life. For this series, 672 consecutive patients with primary inguinal hernia undergoing transabdominal preperitoneal hernia repair (TAPP) using a heavyweight PP mesh (Prolene 10 × 15 cm, 1.5 g, group I, n = 232), a mixed PP- and Polyglactin mesh (Vypro II, 10 × 15 cm, 0.53 g, group II, n = 217), or a light-weight titanized PP mesh (Ti-Mesh, 10 × 15 cm, 0.24 g, group III, n = 223) were compared in terms of postoperative complications (seroma, wound healing disorders), quality of life score (pain development, physical condition, urologic disorders), and hernia recurrence. During a 12-month follow-up there were no significant differences in the recurrence rate (1.3%-1.7%). Patients with a pure PP mesh (group I) showed significantly more postoperative seromas (12.1% versus 4.1%/1.8%), foreign body sensations (9.1% versus 5.5%/3.5%), and sensitivity to weather changes (5.6% versus 3.2%/2.2%) compared to groups II and III. In all groups, the quality of life score was improved postoperatively. However, among those patients in our series with few preoperative complaints, the postoperative quality of life was worsened when heavy-weight PP meshes (group I+II) were used but significantly improved when light-weight titanized PP meshes were used. Comparable functional results, fewer postoperative complications, and improved quality of life can be achieved by reducing the amount of PP in meshes used for laparoscopic hernia repair by TAPP procedure.
Long-term open-label safety study of rizatriptan acute treatment in pediatric migraineurs.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the safety/tolerability of rizatriptan in the long-term acute treatment of migraine in pediatric patients.


BACKGROUND
Acute migraine treatment options for children are limited. A recent single-attack trial demonstrated that rizatriptan is effective in eliminating migraine headache pain in this population. We evaluated the long-term safety and efficacy of rizatriptan when used for intermittent acute treatment.


METHODS
Open-label study in pediatric migraineurs ages 12-17 years. Patients weighing <40 kg received rizatriptan (orally disintegrating tablet) 5 mg, and those weighing ≥40 kg received 10 mg. Patients could treat up to 8 mild/moderate/severe migraine attacks per month for up to 12 months. One dose of study medication was allowed in a 24-hour period.


RESULTS
A total of 674 patients were enrolled, and 606 patients were treated with study medication (N = 583 for 10 mg, N = 23 for 5 mg). The mean duration in the study was 292 days, and the mean number of doses of study medication taken was 20. Over the course of the study within 14 days post-any-dose, 66.0% (400) of the 606 treated patients had any adverse event, 2.3% (14) discontinued due to an adverse event, 2.6% (16) had a serious adverse event, and 23.4% (142) had a triptan-related adverse event. Of the 16 patients with serious adverse events within 14 days post-any-dose, the adverse events in 3 were considered drug-related; all 3 patient's adverse events were classified as serious only because they were associated with an overdose (use of >1 dose of study medication in a 24-hour period). The mean percentage of patient's attacks with pain freedom at 2-hours post-dose was 46.3%; this was relatively consistent over time (Months 1-3 = 43.7%, Months 4-6 = 51.9%, Months 7-9 = 49.9%, Months 10-12 = 49.5%).


CONCLUSION
Rizatriptan was generally safe and well tolerated in the long-term acute treatment of migraine in pediatric patients aged 12-17 years and demonstrated a consistent treatment effect over time.