LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Differential diagnosis of adnexal masses: sequential use of the risk of malignancy index and HistoScanning, a novel computer-aided diagnostic tool.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the value of ovarian Histo-Scanning(™) , a novel computerized technique for interpreting ultrasound data, in combination with the risk of malignancy index (RMI) in improving triage for women with adnexal masses.


METHODS
RMI indices were assessed in 199 women enrolled in a prospective study to investigate the use of HistoScanning. Ultrasound scores were obtained by blinded analysis of archived images. The following sequential test was developed: HistoScanning was modeled as a second-line test for RMI between a lower cut-off and an upper cut-off. The optimal combination of these cut-offs that together maximized the Youden index (Sensitivity + Specificity - 1) was determined.


RESULTS
Using RMI at the standard cut-off value of 250 resulted in a sensitivity of 74% and a specificity of 86%. When RMI was combined with HistoScanning, the highest accuracy was achieved by using HistoScanning as a sequential second-line test for patients with RMI values between 105 and 2100. At these cut-off values, sequential use of RMI and HistoScanning resulted in mean sensitivity and specificity estimates of 88% and 95%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that HistoScanning may have the potential to improve the diagnostic accuracy of RMI, which could result in better triage for women with adnexal masses. Further prospective validation is warranted.
Diagnosis and management of pediatric urethral injuries.

OBJECTIVE
The incidence of urethral injuries in children is rare due to the fact that the urethra is short, mobile and protected by the pubic bone. The management of urethral trauma in childhood remains controversial because of the limited expertise of most urologists.


MATERIAL AND METHODS
We performed a literature review by searching the Medline database for articles published between 1975 and 2010 based on clinical relevance. Electronic searches were limited to the keywords 'pediatric', 'urethral injury', 'trauma' and 'reconstruction'.


RESULTS
Retrograde urethrography is considered the gold standard for diagnosis of urethral injuries. The initial management should ensure drainage of the bladder either by suprapubic cystostomy or urethral realignment if possible: in complete anterior urethral disruption as well as in children with life-threatening pelvic and intra-abdominal injuries after posterior urethral injuries, a deferred repair after 3 months is necessary. Immediate primary suturing of disrupted and dislocated urethral ends should be avoided because of high complication rates. Primary repair, however, of the defect is possible in girls avoiding a 2-stage approach.


CONCLUSION
The aim of therapy is minimizing remote damages such as urethrocutaneous fistulae, periurethral diverticulae, strictures, incontinence and impotence with different therapeutic management depending on classification of the injury and the presence of life-threatening injuries.
Query2Vec: An Evaluation of NLP Techniques for Generalized Workload Analytics

We consider methods for learning vector representations of SQL queries to support generalized workload analytics tasks, including workload summarization for index selection and predicting queries that will trigger memory errors. We consider vector representations of both raw SQL text and optimized query plans, and evaluate these methods on synthetic and real SQL workloads. We find that general algorithms based on vector representations can outperform existing approaches that rely on specialized features. For index recommendation, we cluster the vector representations to compress large workloads with no loss in performance from the recommended index. For error prediction, we train a classifier over learned vectors that can automatically relate subtle syntactic patterns with specific errors raised during query execution. Surprisingly, we also find that these methods enable transfer learning, where a model trained on one SQL corpus can be applied to an unrelated corpus and still enable good performance. We find that these general approaches, when trained on a large corpus of SQL queries, provides a robust foundation for a variety of workload analysis tasks and database features, without requiring application-specific feature engineering. PVLDB Reference Format: Shrainik Jain, Bill Howe, Jiaqi Yan, and Thierry Cruanes. Query2Vec: An Evaluation of NLP Techniques for Generalized Workload Analytics. PVLDB, 11 (5): xxxx-yyyy, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/TBD
Early history of the state — West and east

Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, vol. 1, A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp.549. UK £12.95 (paper). John A. Hall, Powers and Liberties: The Causes and Consequences of the Rise of the West, London, Penguin Books, 1986, pp.272. $14.95 (paper).
Fully distributed state estimation of smart grids

A large number of sensors, meters and intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) with the capabilities of sensing, actuation, computation and communication will be deployed in future smart power grids for the purpose of measurement, monitoring, protection, diagnosis, control, optimization and other transactions. The conventional centralized and hierarchical multi-level state estimation is not scalable enough to process the huge amount of data generated all over the grid. In this paper we propose a fully distributed computational network architecture and the associated Message-Passing (MP) algorithms for electric power system state estimation. Unlike the conventional state estimation schemes that centered around algebraic operations on sparse matrices, our approach is based on MP and information fusing on graphs in a totally distributed fashion. The optimality, scalability and other advantages will be demonstrated.
Is QT interval a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis in nondiabetic subjects? The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
We studied the relationship of heart rate-corrected QT interval with subclinical atherosclerosis, as determined by ultrasonographic measurement of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in nondiabetic subjects in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS). Prolonged heart rate-corrected QT interval is an unfavorable prognostic factor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and QT interval prolongation may be the result of atherosclerosis.


METHODS
B-mode ultrasound imaging of the carotid artery IMT was performed in a large, triethnic, nondiabetic population free of clinical coronary artery disease (n=912). QT interval was measured on resting electrocardiograms with use of a computer program and corrected for heart rate with standard equations.


RESULTS
IMT of the common carotid artery correlated significantly with heart rate-corrected QT interval duration (r=0.15 for QT(60) and r=0.14 for QTc), whereas no relationship between IMT of the internal carotid artery and QT interval was found (r=-0.01). The association was somewhat stronger in women than in men. In a multiple regression analysis adjusting for demographic variables, the association of common carotid artery IMT to heart rate-corrected QT interval remained highly significant, but adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors weakened the relationship.


CONCLUSIONS
We found a significant relation of heart rate-corrected QT interval to carotid atherosclerosis in nondiabetic subjects that was stronger in women and partly mediated by cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension. QT interval may therefore serve as a marker for clinically undetected ("subclinical") atherosclerotic disease.
Using color in visualization: A survey

Color mapping is an important technique used in visualization to build visual representations of data and information. With output devices such as computer displays providing a large number of colors, developers sometimes tend to build their visualization to be visually appealing, while forgetting the main goal of clear depiction of the underlying data. Visualization researchers have profited from findings in adjoining areas such as human vision and psychophysics which, combined with their own experience, enabled them to establish guidelines that might help practitioners to select appropriate color scales and adjust the associated color maps, for particular applications. This survey presents an overview on the subject of color scales by focusing on important guidelines, experimental research work and tools proposed to help non-expert users. & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Comparative forward link traffic channel performance evaluation of HDR and 1XTREME systems

This paper presents a comparison of the forward link performance of the RDR and lXTREME systems. Both systems have been proposed as possible evolutionary paths for the 1.25-MHz cdma2000 system [I], and have been designed to enable high data rate packet transmission. Link-level performance is evaluated by chip-level time-domain simulation of the forward data traftlc channel in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise, and is then used in a system-level simulator modeling a network of 19 three-sector cells. The system-level simulator accounts for slow and fast fading and two types of multi-path channel profdes, as described by the pedestrian A and vehicular B ITU-R channel models. The packet scheduling is performed using a proportionally fair (PF) scheduler. The systems use bit rate adaptation and hybrid ARQ to achieve 1% packet error rate (PER). AU users in the system are assumed to always have data packets available for transmission. System performance is evaluated for an embedded sector in terms of average sector throughput as a function of the number of users, distributions of data rates, and individual throughputs over a set of users. Results show the benefits of multi-user diversity exploited by the PF scheduler, and present throughput and fairness comparisons for the two systems. Index Tem-cdma2000 packet data evolution, performance evaluation.
Chimpanzee gaze following in an object-choice task

Many primate species reliably track and follow the visual gaze of conspecifics and humans, even to locations above and behind the subject. However, it is not clear whether primates follow a human’s gaze to find hidden food under one of two containers in an object-choice task. In a series of experiments six adult female chimpanzees followed a human’s gaze (head and eye direction) to a distal location in space above and behind them, and checked back to the human’s face when they did not find anything interesting or unusual. This study also assessed whether these same subjects would also use the human’s gaze in an object-choice task with three types of occluders: barriers, tubes, and bowls. Barriers and tubes permitted the experimenter to see their contents (i.e., food) whereas bowls did not. Chimpanzees used the human’s gaze direction to choose the tube or barrier containing food but they did not use the human’s gaze to decide between bowls. Our findings allowed us to discard both simple orientation and understanding seeing-knowing in others as the explanations for gaze following in chimpanzees. However, they did not allow us to conclusively choose between orientation combined with foraging tendencies and understanding seeing in others. One interesting possibility raised by these results is that studies in which the human cannot see the reward at the time of subject choice may potentially be underestimating chimpanzees’ social knowledge.
Does Agile work ? — A quantitative analysis of agile project success

The Agile project management methodology has been widely used in recent years as a means to counter the dangers of traditional, front-end planning methods that often lead to downstream development pathologies. Although numerous authors have pointed to the advantages of Agile, with its emphasis on individuals and interactions over processes, customer collaboration over contracts and formal negotiations, and responsiveness over rigid planning, there are, to date, very few large-scale, empirical studies to support the contention that Agile methods can improve the likelihood of project success. Developed originally for software development, it is still predominantly an IT phenomenon. But due to its success it has now spread to non-IT projects. Using a data sample of 1002 projects across multiple industries and countries, we tested the effect of Agile use in organizations on two dimensions of project success: efficiency and overall stakeholder satisfaction against organizational goals. We further examined the moderating effects of variables such as perceived quality of the vision/goals of the project, project complexity, and project team experience. Our findings suggest that Agile methods do have a positive impact on both dimensions of project success. Further, the quality of the vision/goals is a marginally significant moderator of this effect. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.
An Experimental Test of the Effects of Fictional Framing on Attitudes

Objectives. Most studies of media effects in political communication focus on news media. A smaller body of work extends theories of news media effects to fictional entertainment media. Just as news media engage in priming and agenda setting, these studies suggest that fictional media do as well. In this study, we deal with fictional media’s framing of issues. No research has sought to test the effects of framing in explicitly fictional media on political opinions. We develop the outlines of a theory we call ‘‘fictional framing’’ and test it in an experiment. Methods. Participants in our treatment group watched the film Cider House Rules. The movie frames the issue of abortion in the case of incest in a pro-choice way, and frames morality in terms of following one’s own conscience. Results. The film influenced opinions in ways consistent with the framing of these issues. Conclusions. Since abortion opinions and moral values tend to be entrenched, we consider this a strong first test of the effects of fictional framing.
Effects of raloxifene on cognition in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Studies of estrogen therapy in postmenopausal women provide evidence of an effect of sex hormones on cognitive function. Estrogen has demonstrated some utility in the prevention of normal, age-related decline in cognitive functions, especially in memory. The potential therapeutic utility of estrogens in schizophrenia is increasingly being recognized. Raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), appears to act similarly to conjugated estrogens on dopamine and serotonin brain systems, and may be a better option since it lacks the possible negative effects of estrogen on breast and uterine tissue. We assessed the utility of raloxifene as an adjuvant treatment for cognitive symptoms in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia in a 12-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Patients were recruited from both the inpatient and outpatient departments. Thirty-three postmenopausal women with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) were randomized to receive either adjuvant raloxifene (16 women) or adjuvant placebo (17 women) for three months. The main outcome measures were: Memory, attention and executive functions. Assessment was conducted at baseline and week 12. The total sample is homogenous with respect to: age, years of schooling, illness duration, baseline symptomatology and pharmacological treatment. The addition of raloxifene (60 mg) to regular antipsychotic treatment showed: we found significant differences in some aspects of memory and executive function in patients treated with raloxifene. This improvement does not correlate with clinical improvement. The use of raloxifene as an adjuvant treatment in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia seems to be useful in improving cognitive symptoms.
Testosterone therapy during exercise rehabilitation in male patients with chronic heart failure who have low testosterone status: a double-blind randomized controlled feasibility study.

BACKGROUND
This study assessed the feasibility of a 12-week program of exercise, with and without intramuscular testosterone supplementation, in male patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and low testosterone status and collected preliminary data for key health outcomes.


METHODS
Male patients with CHF (n = 41, age 67.2 years, range 51-84 years) with mean ± SD testosterone levels of 10.7 ± 2.6 nmol/L (309 ± 76 ng/dL) were randomly allocated to exercise with testosterone or placebo groups. Feasibility was assessed in terms of recruitment, intervention compliance, and attrition. Outcomes included an incremental shuttle walk test, peak oxygen uptake, muscular strength, echocardiographic measures, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, inflammatory markers, depression (Beck Depression Inventory), and health-related quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire and Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form).


RESULTS
Attrition was 30% but with 100% compliance to exercise and injections in patients who completed the study. Similar improvements in shuttle walk test (18% vs 19%), body mass (-1.3 kg vs -1.0 kg), and hand grip strength (2.1 kg vs 2.5 kg) from baseline were observed in both groups. The exercise with testosterone group showed improvements from baseline in peak oxygen uptake (P < .01), Beck Depression Inventory (P < .05), leg strength (P < .05), and several Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form quality of life domains (P < .05), which were generally not apparent in the exercise with placebo group. Echocardiographic measures, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, and inflammatory markers were mostly unchanged.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows for the first time that testosterone supplementation during a program of exercise rehabilitation is feasible and can positively impact on a range of key health outcomes in elderly male patients with CHF who have a low testosterone status.
The misuse of the NASA metrics data program data sets for automated software defect prediction

Background: The NASA Metrics Data Program data sets have been heavily used in software defect prediction experiments. Aim: To demonstrate and explain why these data sets require significant pre-processing in order to be suitable for defect prediction. Method: A meticulously documented data cleansing process involving all 13 of the original NASA data sets. Results: Post our novel data cleansing process; each of the data sets had between 6 to 90 percent less of their original number of recorded values. Conclusions: One: Researchers need to analyse the data that forms the basis of their findings in the context of how it will be used. Two: Defect prediction data sets could benefit from lower level code metrics in addition to those more commonly used, as these will help to distinguish modules, reducing the likelihood of repeated data points. Three: The bulk of defect prediction experiments based on the NASA Metrics Data Program data sets may have led to erroneous findings. This is mainly due to repeated data points potentially causing substantial amounts of training and testing data to be identical.
Illness Beliefs in End Stage Renal Disease and Associations with Self-Care Modality Choice

BACKGROUND
Interest in self-care haemodialysis (HD) has increased because it improves patients'clinical and quality-of-life outcomes. Patients who undertake self-management for haemodialysis may hold illness beliefs differently to those choosing institutional care at the time of making the modality choice or moulded by their illness and dialysis treatment experience. Illness perceptions amongst predialysis patients and in those undertaking fully-assisted and self-care haemodialysis are being investigated in a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal study.


STUDY DESIGN
The study data are derived from the BASIC-HHD study, a multicentre observational study on factors influencing home haemodialysis uptake. 535 patients were enrolled into three groups: Predialysis CKD-5 group, prevalent 'in-centre' HD and self-care HD groups (93% at home). We explore illness perceptions in the cross-sectional analyses of the three study groups, using the revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Predialysis patients' illness beliefs were reassessed prospectively, typically between 4 and 12 months after dialysis commencement.


RESULTS
Illness belief subscales are significantly different between in-centre and self-care HD groups. In a step-wise hierarchical regression analysis, after adjustment for age, education, marital status, diabetes, dialysis vintage, depression, anxiety scores, and IPQ-R subscales, personal control (p = 0.01) and illness coherence (p = 0.04) are significantly higher in the self-care HD group. In the predialysis group, no significant associations were found between illness representations and modality choices. In prospectively observed predialysis group, scores for personal control, treatment control, timeline cyclical and emotional representations reduced significantly after commencing dialysis and increased significantly for illness coherence.


CONCLUSIONS
Illness beliefs differ between hospital and self-care haemodialysis patients. Patient's affect and neurocognitive ability may have an important role in determining illness beliefs. The impact of modality upon illness representations may also be significant and remains to be explored.
Is coding a relevant metaphor for the brain

“Neural coding” is a popular metaphor in neuroscience, where objective properties of the world are communicated to the brain in the form of spikes. Here I argue that this metaphor is often inappropriate and misleading. First, when neurons are said to encode experimental parameters, the implied communication channel consists of both the experimental and biological system. Thus, the terms “neural code” are used inappropriately when “neuroexperimental code” would be more accurate, although less insightful. Second, the brain cannot be presumed to decode neural messages into objective properties of the world, since it never gets to observe those properties. To avoid dualism, codes must relate not to external properties but to internal sensorimotor models. Because this requires structured representations, neural assemblies cannot be the basis of such codes. Third, a message is informative to the extent that the reader understands its language. But the neural code is private to the encoder since only the message is communicated: each neuron speaks its own language. It follows that in the neural coding metaphor, the brain is a Tower of Babel. Finally, the relation between input signals and actions is circular; that inputs do not preexist to outputs makes the coding paradigm problematic. I conclude that the view that spikes are messages is generally not tenable. An alternative proposition is that action potentials are actions on other neurons and the environment, and neurons interact with each other rather than exchange messages. . CC-BY 4.0 International license not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a The copyright holder for this preprint (which was . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/168237 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Jul. 27, 2017;