LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Adolescents' and Young Adults' Perceptions of Electronic Cigarettes for Smoking Cessation: A Focus Group Study.

INTRODUCTION
Research has shown that adults perceive that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are effective for smoking cessation, yet little is known about adolescents and young adults' perceptions of e-cigarettes for quitting cigarette smoking. This study describes middle, high school, and college students' beliefs about, and experiences with, e-cigarettes for cigarette smoking cessation.


METHODS
We conducted 18 focus groups (n = 127) with male and female cigarette smokers and nonsmokers in 2 public colleges, 2 high schools, and 1 middle school in Connecticut between November 2012 and April 2013. Participants discussed cigarette smoking cessation in relation to e-cigarettes. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.


RESULTS
All participants, regardless of age and smoking status, were aware that e-cigarettes could be used for smoking cessation. College and high school participants described different methods of how e-cigarettes could be used for smoking cessation: (a) nicotine reduction followed by cessation; (b) cigarette reduction/dual use; and (c) long-term exclusive e-cigarette use. However, overall, participants did not perceive that e-cigarette use led to successful quitting experiences. Participants described positive attributes (maintenance of smoking actions, "healthier" alternative to cigarettes, and parental approval) and negative attributes (persistence of craving, maintenance of addiction) of e-cigarettes for cessation. Some college students expressed distrust of marketing of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation.


CONCLUSIONS
Adolescent and young adult smokers and nonsmokers perceive that there are several methods of using e-cigarettes for quitting and are aware of both positive and negative aspects of the product. Future research is needed to determine the role of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation in this population.
The prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations by salmeterol/fluticasone propionate or tiotropium bromide.

RATIONALE
Exacerbations are key drivers of morbidity and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).


OBJECTIVES
We compared the relative efficacy of the long-acting inhaled bronchodilator/antiinflammatory combination (salmeterol/fluticasone propionate) 50/500 microg twice daily and the long-acting bronchodilator (tiotropium) 18 microg once daily in preventing exacerbations and related outcomes in severe and very severe COPD.


METHODS
A total of 1,323 patients (mean age, 64 yr, post-bronchodilator FEV1, 39% predicted) were randomized in this 2-year, double-blind, double-dummy parallel study.


MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Primary endpoint was health care utilization exacerbation rate. Other endpoints included health status measured by St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), mortality, adverse events, and study withdrawal. Probability of withdrawing from the study was 29% greater with tiotropium than salmeterol/fluticasone propionate (P = 0.005). The modeled annual exacerbation rate was 1.28 in the salmeterol/fluticasone propionate group and 1.32 in the tiotropium group (rate ratio, 0.967; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.836-1.119]; P = 0.656). The SGRQ total score was statistically significantly lower at 2 years on salmeterol/fluticasone propionate versus tiotropium (difference 2.1 units; 95% CI, 0.1-4.0; P = 0.038). Mortality was significantly lower in the salmeterol/fluticasone propionate group; 21 (3%) of patients in this group died compared with 38 (6%) in the tiotropium group (P = 0.032). More pneumonias were reported in the salmeterol/fluticasone propionate group relative to tiotropium (P = 0.008).


CONCLUSIONS
We found no difference in exacerbation rate between salmeterol/fluticasone propionate and tiotropium. More patients failed to complete the study while receiving tiotropium. A small statistically significant beneficial effect was found on health status, with an unexpected finding of lower deaths in salmeterol/fluticasone propionate-treated patients. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 00361959).
Comparison of community-onset Staphylococcus argenteus and Staphylococcus aureus sepsis in Thailand: a prospective multicentre observational study

Staphylococcus argenteus is a globally distributed cause of human infection, but diagnostic laboratories misidentify this as Staphylococcus aureus. We determined whether there is clinical utility in distinguishing between the two. A prospective cohort study of community-onset invasive staphylococcal sepsis was conducted in adults at four hospitals in northeast Thailand between 2010 and 2013. Of 311 patients analysed, 58 (19%) were infected with S. argenteus and 253 (81%) with S. aureus. Most S. argenteus (54/58) were multilocus sequence type 2250. Infection with S. argenteus was more common in males, but rates of bacteraemia and drainage procedures were similar in the two groups. S. argenteus precipitated significantly less respiratory failure than S. aureus (5.2% versus 20.2%, adjusted OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.06-0.74, p 0.015), with a similar but non-significant trend for shock (6.9% versus 12.3%, adjusted OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.15-1.44, p 0.18). This did not translate into a difference in death at 28 days (6.9% versus 8.7%, adjusted OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.24-2.65, p 0.72). S. argenteus was more susceptible to antimicrobial drugs compared with S. aureus, and contained fewer toxin genes although pvl was detected in 16% (9/58). We conclude that clinical differences exist in association with sepsis due to S. argenteus versus S. aureus.
Clitorectomy for the Management of Os Clitoris in a Dog

Introduction Disorders of genital development occur in all species of mammals (Cribiu and Chaffaux, 1990; Passello-Legrand and Mowat, 2004; Weng et al., 2005). In female dogs, the clitoris develops from the genital tubercle, as the penis in the male. The enlargement or ossification of clitoris may be caused by an abnormality of chromosome differentiation, by exposure to androgens or progestins during gestation, or by exogenous androgens administration (Johnson, 2003). Dogs with disorders of sexual development are usually infertile. Several conditions in which the abnormality is noticed such as a clitoral enlargement resembling a penis with a bone, an abnormally shaped vulva, a caudally displaced prepuce, a penis with hypospadias, or bilaterally cryptorchid have been recorded during physical examination of the affected dogs (Meyers-Wallen, 1986; Meyers-Wallen, 2001). The present communication deals with the successful surgical management of os clitoris in a female Labrador dog.
Self expanding wall stents in malignant colorectal cancer: is complete obstruction a contraindication to stent placement?

OBJECTIVE
Technical failures have previously been associated with complete clinical obstruction and complete block to the retrograde flow of gastrograffin is considered by some to be a contraindication to the procedure. We report on the technical and clinical success rates of self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS) in both complete and incomplete obstruction in a prospective series of malignant colorectal obstructions.


METHOD
A prospective study of all patients undergoing attempted palliative and bridge to surgery SEMS placement for malignant colorectal obstruction over a 7-year period (April 1999-October 2006) was undertaken.


RESULTS
Seventy-two patients (49 males) with a mean age of 71 years (range 49-98) were included. Technical success was achieved in 27 of 32 patients (84%) with complete obstruction and 33 of 36 patients (92%) with incomplete obstruction, P < 0.46, Fishers exact test. Clinical success was achieved in 17 of 26 patients (65%) with complete obstruction and 24 of 33 patients (73%) with incomplete obstruction, P < 0.58, Fishers exact test. Although placed correctly in 89% cases, relief of symptoms occurred in only 71%, P = 0.002, matched pairs test. There were two colonic perforations in the series with one procedure related death.


CONCLUSION
Placement of SEMS for obstructing colorectal cancer is technically successful in a high proportion of cases. Complete radiological obstruction is not a contraindication to stent placement. The relief of obstructive symptoms following successful placement of a wall stent is less predictable.
The entanglement of leader character and leader competence and its impact on performance

Article history: Received 22 May 2015 Received in revised form 28 November 2016 Accepted 29 November 2016 Available online xxxx Whereas the microand macro-oriented leadership literatures have often studied leader competencies necessary for effective performance, the role of leader character in relation to competencies and performance has been to a large extent neglected. Our work seeks to shift the scholarly dialogue by introducing the concept of character-competence entanglement, which reflects the binding between character and competence over time. The highest degree of entanglement represents the deep and more persistent interconnection and mutually-reinforcing effect between highly-developed leader character and highly-developed leader competence, whereas in cases of low entanglement, character can be activated temporarily in a particular context to help strengthen the relationship between competence and performance. Our core proposition is that high character-competence entanglement will lead to extraordinary performance over time. In addition, we emphasize that relying on naturally-occurring learning opportunities and the processes of “learning-by-living” both outside and inside the organization will positively impact the development of character-competence entanglement. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Chemical Adulterants in Herbal Medicinal Products: A Review.

Many herbal medicinal products have been found to contain synthetic prescription drugs as chemical adulterants. This has become evident by the number of toxicity cases and adverse reactions reported in which casualties were reported via analytical techniques that detected the presence of chemical adulterants in them, which could be responsible for their toxicity. The adulteration of herbal medicinal products with synthetic drugs continues to be a serious problem for regulatory agencies. This review provides up to date information on cases of toxicity, major chemical adulterants in herbal medicinal products, and current analytical techniques used for their detection.
Julius – a template based supplementary electronic health record system

BACKGROUND
EHR systems are widely used in hospitals and primary care centres but it is usually difficult to share information and to collect patient data for clinical research. This is partly due to the different proprietary information models and inconsistent data quality. Our objective was to provide a more flexible solution enabling the clinicians to define which data to be recorded and shared for both routine documentation and clinical studies. The data should be possible to reuse through a common set of variable definitions providing a consistent nomenclature and validation of data. Another objective was that the templates used for the data entry and presentation should be possible to use in combination with the existing EHR systems.


METHODS
We have designed and developed a template based system (called Julius) that was integrated with existing EHR systems. The system is driven by the medical domain knowledge defined by clinicians in the form of templates and variable definitions stored in a common data repository. The system architecture consists of three layers. The presentation layer is purely web-based, which facilitates integration with existing EHR products. The domain layer consists of the template design system, a variable/clinical concept definition system, the transformation and validation logic all implemented in Java. The data source layer utilizes an object relational mapping tool and a relational database.


RESULTS
The Julius system has been implemented, tested and deployed to three health care units in Stockholm, Sweden. The initial responses from the pilot users were positive. The template system facilitates patient data collection in many ways. The experience of using the template system suggests that enabling the clinicians to be in control of the system, is a good way to add supplementary functionality to the present EHR systems.


CONCLUSION
The approach of the template system in combination with various local EHR systems can facilitate the sharing and reuse of validated clinical information from different health care units. However, future system developments for these purposes should consider using the openEHR/CEN models with shareable archetypes.
A strategy-based ontology of knowledge management technologies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to distinguish and describe knowledge management (KM) technologies according to their support for strategy. Design/methodology/approach – This study employed an ontology development method to describe the relations between technology, KM and strategy, and to categorize available KM technologies according to those relations. Ontologies are formal specifications of concepts in a domain and their inter-relationships, and can be used to facilitate common understanding and knowledge sharing. The study focused particularly on two sub-domains of the KM field: KM strategies and KM technologies. Findings – ’’KM strategy’’ has three meanings in the literature: approach to KM, knowledge strategy, and KM implementation strategy. Also, KM technologies support strategy via KM initiatives based on particular knowledge strategies and approaches to KM. The study distinguishes three types of KM technologies: component technologies, KM applications, and business applications. They all can be described in terms of ’’creation’’ and ’’transfer’’ knowledge strategies, and ’’personalization’’ and ’’codification’’ approaches to KM. Research limitations/implications – The resulting framework suggests that KM technologies can be analyzed better in the context of KM initiatives, instead of the usual approach associating them with knowledge processes. KM initiatives provide the background and contextual elements necessary to explain technology adoption and use. Practical implications – The framework indicates three alternative modes for organizational adoption of KM technologies: custom development of KM systems from available component technologies; purchase of KM-specific applications; or purchase of business-driven applications that embed KM functionality. It also lists adequate technologies and provides criteria for selection in any of the cases. Originality/value – Among the many studies analyzing the role of technology in KM, an association with strategy has been missing. This paper contributes to filling this gap, integrating diverse contributions via a clearer definition of concepts and a visual representation of their relationships. This use of ontologies as a method, instead of an artifact, is also uncommon in the literature.
The Hawthorne effect, sponsored trials, and the overestimation of treatment effectiveness.

OBJECTIVE
To determine if the results of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) clinical trials are upwardly biased by the Hawthorne effect.


METHODS
We studied 264 patients with RA who completed a commercially sponsored 3-month, open-label, phase 4 trial of a US Food and Drug Administration approved RA treatment. We evaluated changes in the Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index (HAQ) and visual analog scales for pain, patient global, and fatigue during 3 periods: pretreatment in the trial, on treatment at the close of the trial, and by a trial-unrelated survey 8 months after the close of the trial, but while the patients were receiving the same treatment.


RESULTS
The HAQ score (0-3) improved by 41.3% during the trial, but only by 16.5% when the endpoint was the post-trial result. Similar results for the other variables were patient global (0-10) 51.9% and 34.6%, pain (0-10) 51.7% and 39.7%, fatigue (0-10) 45.6% and 24.6%. Worsening between the trial end and the first survey assessment was HAQ 0.29 units, pain 0.8 units, patient global 0.8 units, and fatigue 1.1 units.


CONCLUSION
Almost half the improvement noted in the clinical trial HAQ score disappeared on entry to a non-sponsored followup study, and from 23% to 44% of improvements in pain, patient global, and fatigue also disappeared. These changes can be attributed to the Hawthorne effect. Based on these data, we hypothesize that the absolute values of RA outcome variables in clinical trials are upwardly biased, and that the treatment effect is less than observed.
Shaping light beams in the nanometer scale : A Yagi-Uda nanoantenna in the optical domain

AYagi-Uda-like optical nanoantenna concept using resonant core-shell plasmonic particles as its “reflectors” and “directors” is studied numerically. Such particles when placed near an optical dipole source in a certain arrangement may exhibit large induced dipole moments, resulting in shaping the far-field radiation pattern, analogous to the far field of classical Yagi-Uda antennas in the microwave regime. The variation of the ratio of radii in concentric core-shell nanostructure is used to tailor the phase of the polarizabilities of the particles and, consequently, the antenna’s far-field pattern. The idea of a nanospectrum analyzer is also briefly proposed for molecular spectroscopy. Disciplines Electrical and Computer Engineering | Engineering Comments Suggested Citation: J. Li, A. Salandrino, and N. Engheta. (2007). "Shaping light beams in the nanometer scale: A Yagi-Uda nanoantenna in the optical domain." Physical Review B. 76, 245403. © 2007 The American Physical Society http://dx.doi.org/10.1003/PhysRevB.76.245403 This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/ese_papers/593 Shaping light beams in the nanometer scale: A Yagi-Uda nanoantenna in the optical domain Jingjing Li, Alessandro Salandrino, and Nader Engheta* Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA Received 26 January 2007; revised manuscript received 7 June 2007; published 6 December 2007 A Yagi-Uda-like optical nanoantenna concept using resonant core-shell plasmonic particles as its “reflectors” and “directors” is studied numerically. Such particles when placed near an optical dipole source in a certain arrangement may exhibit large induced dipole moments, resulting in shaping the far-field radiation pattern, analogous to the far field of classical Yagi-Uda antennas in the microwave regime. The variation of the ratio of radii in concentric core-shell nanostructure is used to tailor the phase of the polarizabilities of the particles and, consequently, the antenna’s far-field pattern. The idea of a nanospectrum analyzer is also briefly proposed for molecular spectroscopy. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.76.245403 PACS number s : 73.20.Mf, 07.60.Rd, 78.67.Bf, 84.40.Ba
Common Sense: participatory urban sensing using a network of handheld air quality monitors

Poor air quality is a global health issue, causing serious problems like asthma, cancer, and heart disease around the world. Earlier this decade, the World Health Organization estimated that three million people die each year from the effects of air pollution [6]. Unfortunately, while variations in air quality are significant, today's air quality monitors are very sparsely deployed. To address this visibility gap, the Common Sense project is developing participatory sensing systems that allow individuals to measure their personal exposure, groups to aggregate their members' exposure, and activists to mobilize grassroots community action.
Data Integration using Web Services

In this paper we examine the opportunities for data integration in the context of the emerging Web Services systems development paradigm. The paper introduces the programming standards associated with Web Services and provides an example of how Web Services can be used to unlock heterogeneous business systems to extract and integrate business data. We provide an introduction to the problems and research issues encountered when applying Web Services to data integration. We provide a formal definition of aggregation (as a type of data integration) and discuss the impact of Web Services on aggregation. We show that Web Services will make the development of systems for aggregation both faster and less expensive to develop. A system architecture for Web Services based aggregation is presented that is representative of products available from software vendors today. Finally, we highlight some of the challenges facing Web Services that are not currently being addressed by standards bodies or software vendors. These include context mediation, trusted intermediaries, quality and source selection, licensing and payment mechanisms, and systems development tools. We suggest some research directions for each of these challenges.
Cardiac troponin I associated with the development of unrecognized myocardial infarctions detected with MRI.

BACKGROUND
Late enhancement MRI (LE-MRI) and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) are sensitive methods to detect subclinical myocardial injury. We sought to investigate the relation between plasma concentrations of cTnI measured with a high-sensitivity assay (hs-cTnI) and the development of unrecognized myocardial infarctions (UMIs) detected with LE-MRI.


METHODS
After approval from the ethics committee and written informed consent were obtained, LE-MRI was performed on 248 randomly selected community-living 70-year-old volunteers and hs-cTnI was determined with a highly sensitive premarket assay. Five years later these individuals were invited to a second LE-MRI, and 176 of them (82 women, 94 men), who did not have a hospital diagnosis of MI, constitute the present study population. LE-MR images were analyzed by 2 radiologists independently and in a consensus reading, blinded to any information on previous disease or assessments.


RESULTS
New or larger UMIs were detected in 37 participants during follow-up. Plasma concentrations of hs-cTnI at 70 years of age, which were mainly within what is considered to be the reference interval, were related to new or larger UMIs at 75 years of age with an odds ratio of 1.98 per 1 unit increase in ln-transformed cTnI (95% CI, 1.17-3.35; P = 0.010). Plasma concentrations of hs-cTnI at 70 years of age were associated with the volumes of the UMIs detected at 75 years of age (P = 0.028).


CONCLUSIONS
hs-cTnI in 70-year-old community-living women and men was associated with the development of MRI-detected UMIs within 5 years.