LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Mitral valve replacement with chordae tendineae preservation, traction and fixation in end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy.

OBJECTIVE
This study aimed at evaluating results of mitral valve replacement using a new technique of complete chordae tendineae adjustment for left ventricular remodeling.


METHODS
Twenty end-stage idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy patients with severe functional mitral valve regurgitation underwent mitral valve replacement. Seventeen (85%) were in functional class IV. Both anterior and posterior leaflets of the mitral valve were divided to obtain 4 pillars of chordae tendineae. These were displaced with traction toward the left atrium and anchored between the mitral annulus and a valvular prosthesis. To evaluate the left ventricular remodeling, Doppler echocardiography was performed. For statistical analysis, variance analysis and the Friedman's test were employed.


RESULTS
Two (10%) early deaths occurred. Kaplan-Meyer showed survival at one year post-operative was 85%, 2 years it was 44%, at 3 years 44%, at 4 years 44% and at 5 years it was 44%. In the 48- and 54-month follow-ups, the McNemar test showed improvement in the functional class (p<0.001). In the third month of follow-up, variance analysis showed improvement in the ejection fraction (p=0.008) and reductions of the end diastolic diameter (p=0.038), end systolic diameter (p=0.008), end systolic volume (p=0.029) and end diastolic volume (p=0.009). No statistical differences were noted in the systolic volume. Comparing pre-operative and third- and six-month follow-ups, the Friedman test showed no statistical differences for all studied variables. Variance analyses between pre, three-month and final evaluations showed no significant differences.


CONCLUSION
This technique of mitral valve replacement improved the left ventricle ejection fraction and decreased the end diastolic and systolic diameters and the end systolic diastolic volumes up to the third month of follow-up. From then on the variables stabilized.
Deep belief network based semantic taggers for spoken language understanding

This paper investigates the use of deep belief networks (DBN) for semantic tagging, a sequence classification task, in spoken language understanding (SLU). We evaluate the performance of the DBN based sequence tagger on the well-studied ATIS task and compare our technique to conditional random fields (CRF), a state-of-the-art classifier for sequence classification. In conjunction with lexical and named entity features, we also use dependency parser based syntactic features and part of speech (POS) tags [1]. Under both noisy conditions (output of automatic speech recognition system) and clean conditions (manual transcriptions), our deep belief network based sequence tagger outperforms the best CRF based system described in [1] by an absolute 2% and 1% F-measure, respectively.Upon carrying out an analysis of cases where CRF and DBN models made different predictions, we observed that when discrete features are projected onto a continuous space during neural network training, the model learns to cluster these features leading to its improved generalization capability, relative to a CRF model, especially in cases where some features are either missing or noisy.
An ER-associated miRNA signature predicts prognosis in ER-positive breast cancer

BACKGROUND
Breast cancer patients with positive estrogen receptor (ER) have a better prognosis. However, no prognostic miRNA signature was reported in the ER-positive breast cancer. The aim of the study was to identify and assess the prognostic significance of a miRNA signature in ER-positive breast cancer.


METHODS
Two cohorts from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset were used as training (n =596) and testing set (n =319). Differential expression profiling was identified in the training set. And the prognostic value of the miRNA signature was then assessed in the two cohorts.


RESULTS
A total of 14 miRNAs were observed to be associated with the status of ER by significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) in the training set. Patients were characterized as high score or low score group according to the calculated risk scores from each miRNA. And patients in high score group had worse overall survival compared with those in low score group both in the training and testing set.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study revealed a miRNA signature including 14 miRNAs associated with ER status which could act as a prognostic marker in ER-positive breast cancer.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Added Value Scores: evaluating effectiveness in child mental health interventions.

BACKGROUND
Routine outcome monitoring may improve clinical services but remains controversial, partly because the absence of a control group makes interpretation difficult.


AIMS
To test a computer algorithm designed to allow practitioners to compare their outcomes with epidemiological data from a population sample against data from a randomised controlled trial, to see if it accurately predicted the trial's outcome.


METHOD
We developed an ;added value' score using epidemiological data on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We tested whether it correctly predicted the effect size for the control and intervention groups in a randomised controlled trial.


RESULTS
As compared with the a priori expectation of zero, the Added Value Score applied to the control group predicted an effect size of -0.03 (95% CI -0.30 to 0.24, t = 0.2, P = 0.8). As compared with the trial estimate of 0.37, the Added Value Score applied to the intervention group predicted an effect size of 0.36 (95% CI 0.12 to 0.60, t = 0.1, P = 0.9).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provide preliminary support for the validity of this approach as one tool in the evaluation of interventions with groups of children who have, or are at high risk of developing, significant psychopathology.
Posterolateral and anterolateral approaches to unicondylar posterolateral tibial plateau fractures: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND
Lateral tibial plateau fractures that are located posterolaterally are difficult to reduce through an anterolateral surgical approach because of the lack of direct visualisation of the fracture. This study compared the results of unicondylar posterolateral tibial plateau fractures in two patient cohorts: one treated through a posterolateral direct approach and the other through an anterolateral indirect approach.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
All nine patients admitted to our hospital, a tertiary care, urban, public hospital in Australia, from 2007 to 2010 with unicondylar posterolateral tibial plateau fractures were treated through a direct posterolateral transfibular approach and prospectively studied. All eight patients admitted from 2004 to 2007 with unicondylar posterolateral tibial plateau fractures were treated through an indirect anterolateral approach and retrospectively reviewed. Fracture reduction and maintenance of reduction were assessed radiographically over 2 years. Knee function was assessed clinically and using the Lysholm score.


RESULTS
Fractures managed through a direct posterolateral transfibular approach were reduced with no measurable articular step on standard radiography and had no loss of reduction over time. By contrast, fractures treated through an indirect anterolateral approach had a median postoperative articular step of 5.5mm (interquartile range=4.5). These displacements worsened over time in six of the eight patients. At 2 years, patients treated through a direct approach had significantly better Lysholm scores than those treated through an indirect approach.


CONCLUSION
This study suggests that a direct posterolateral transfibular approach to unicondylar posterolateral tibial plateau fractures results in improved reduction, stabilisation and functional outcomes at early follow-up compared to an indirect anterolateral approach.
Presynaptic [Ca2+] and GCAPs: aspects on the structure and function of photoreceptor ribbon synapses

Changes in intracellular calcium ions [Ca(2+)] play important roles in photoreceptor signaling. Consequently, intracellular [Ca(2+)] levels need to be tightly controlled. In the light-sensitive outer segments (OS) of photoreceptors, Ca(2+) regulates the activity of retinal guanylate cyclases thus playing a central role in phototransduction and light-adaptation by restoring light-induced decreases in cGMP. In the synaptic terminals, changes of intracellular Ca(2+) trigger various aspects of neurotransmission. Photoreceptors employ tonically active ribbon synapses that encode light-induced, graded changes of membrane potential into modulation of continuous synaptic vesicle exocytosis. The active zones of ribbon synapses contain large electron-dense structures, synaptic ribbons, that are associated with large numbers of synaptic vesicles. Synaptic coding at ribbon synapses differs from synaptic coding at conventional (phasic) synapses. Recent studies revealed new insights how synaptic ribbons are involved in this process. This review focuses on the regulation of [Ca(2+)] in presynaptic photoreceptor terminals and on the function of a particular Ca(2+)-regulated protein, the neuronal calcium sensor protein GCAP2 (guanylate cyclase-activating protein-2) in the photoreceptor ribbon synapse. GCAP2, an EF-hand-containing protein plays multiple roles in the OS and in the photoreceptor synapse. In the OS, GCAP2 works as a Ca(2+)-sensor within a Ca(2+)-regulated feedback loop that adjusts cGMP levels. In the photoreceptor synapse, GCAP2 binds to RIBEYE, a component of synaptic ribbons, and mediates Ca(2+)-dependent plasticity at that site. Possible mechanisms are discussed.
Closing the Gender Gap : Act Now

Many countries worldwide have made significant progress towards gender equality in education in recent decades. Girls today outperform boys in some areas of education and are less likely to drop out of school. But the glass is still only half full: women continue to earn less than men, are less likely to make it to the top of the career ladder, and are more likely to spend their final years in poverty.
Cross-polar aircraft trajectory optimization and the potential climate impact

Cross-Polar routes offer new opportunities for air travel markets. Transpolar flights reduce travel times, fuel burns, and associated environmental emissions by flying direct paths between many North American and Asian cities. This study evaluates the potential benefits of flying wind-optimal polar routes and assessed their potential impact on climate change. An optimization algorithm is developed for transpolar flights to generate wind-optimal trajectories that minimize climate impact of aircraft, in terms of global warming potentials (relative to warming by one kg of CO2) of several types of emissions, while avoiding regions of airspace that facilitate persistent contrail formation. Estimations of global warming potential are incorporated into the objective function of the optimization algorithm to assess the climate impact of aircraft emissions discharged at a given location and altitude. The regions of airspace with very low ambient temperature and areas favorable to persistent contrail formation are modeled as undesirable regions that aircraft should avoid and are formulated as soft state constraints. The fuel burn and climate impact of cross-polar air traffic flying various types of trajectory including flight plan, great circle, wind-optimal, and contrail-avoidance are computed for 15 origin-destination pairs between major international airports in the U.S. and Asia. Wind-optimal routes reduce average fuel burn of flight plan routes by 4.4% on December 4, 2010 and 8.0% on August 7, 2010, respectively. The tradeoff between persistent contrail formation and additional global warming potential of aircraft emissions is investigated with and without altitude optimization. Without altitude optimization, the reduction in contrail travel times is gradual with increase in total fuel consumption. When altitude is optimized, a one percent increase in additional global warming potential, a climate impact equivalent to that of 4070kg and 4220kg CO2 emission, reduces 135 and 105 minutes persistent contrail formation per flight during a day with medium and high contrail formation, respectively.
Pro-atrial natriuretic peptide and pro-vasopressin for predicting short-term and long-term survival in community-acquired pneumonia: results from the German Competence Network CAPNETZ.

BACKGROUND
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the most important clinical infection with a high long-term mortality rate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of biomarkers for the prediction of short-term and long-term mortality in CAP.


METHODS
A total of 1740 patients of mean + or - SD age 60 + or - 18 years (45% female) with proven CAP were enrolled in the study. Mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), C-terminal pro-atrial vasopressin (CT-proAVP), procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, leucocyte count (WBC) and CRB-65 score were determined on admission. Patients were followed up for 180 days.


RESULTS
MR-proANP and CT-proAVP levels increased with increasing severity of CAP, classified according to CRB-65 score. In patients who died within 28 and 180 days, median MR-proANP (313.9 vs 80.0 and 277.8 vs 76.0 pmol/l, each p<0.0001) and CT-proAVP (42.6 vs 11.2 and 33.2 vs 10.7 pmol/l, each p<0.0001) levels were significantly higher than the levels in survivors. In receiver operating characteristics analysis for survival at 28 and 180 days, the areas under the curves (AUCs) for CT-proAVP (0.84, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.86 and 0.78, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.80) and MR-proANP (0.81, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.83 and 0.81, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.83) were superior to the AUC of CRB-65 (0.74, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.76 and 0.71, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.74, p<0.05), procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and WBC. In multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analyses adjusted for comorbidity and pneumonia severity, MR-proANP and CT-proAVP were independent and the strongest predictors of short-term and long-term mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
MR-proANP and CT-proAVP are powerful tools for the prediction of short-term and long-term risk stratification of patients with CAP.
Comparison of a rule-based algorithm with a phenotype-based algorithm for the interpretation of HIV genotypes in guiding salvage regimens in HIV-infected patients by a randomized clinical trial: the mutations and salvage study.

BACKGROUND
There is still considerable uncertainty as to the best algorithm for interpreting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genotyping results.


METHODS
A total of 318 subjects with HIV RNA levels of >1000 copies/mL were enrolled in 41 centers throughout Italy from 2001 through 2003, stratified on the basis of their drug history, randomized (1:1) to 2 arms to have their treatments modified on the basis of the results of HIV genotyping (as interpreted by virtual phenotype analysis or with use of a rule-based interpretation system), and followed up for 48 weeks. At least 1 nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor and 1 protease inhibitor had to be included in any new regimen; nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor-naive patients were also prescribed a nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor. Only drugs licensed in Italy were allowed. The primary end point was a decrease in HIV RNA level to <400 copies/mL by week 12 according to on-treatment analysis.


RESULTS
The mean (+/- standard deviation) values at baseline were as follows: HIV RNA level, 4.1+/-0.74 log(10) copies/mL; CD4(+) T lymphocyte count, 410+/-262 cells/microL; reverse-transcriptase mutations, 4.8+/-2.9; and protease mutations, 2.8+/-2.5. There were 133 patients (41.8%) who were nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor naive and protease inhibitor experienced, 63 patients (19.8%) who were nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor experienced and protease inhibitor naive, and 122 patients (38.4%) who were 3-class experienced. A total of 192 patients completed 12 weeks of the treatment regimen assigned at baseline; at 12 weeks, 66.3% of patients in the virtual phenotype arm and 71.3% of patients in the rule-based interpretation arm had HIV RNA levels of <400 copies/mL (P = .46). No statistically significant difference between arms was observed by intention-to-treat analysis.


CONCLUSION
Both the virtual phenotype and rule-based interpretation methods of HIV genotyping can guide the selection of effective antiretroviral drugs for a salvage regimen.
A Survey on PageRank Computing

This survey reviews the research related to PageRank computing. Components of a PageRank vector serve as authority weights for Web pages independent of their textual content, solely based on the hyperlink structure of the Web. PageRank is typically used as a Web Search ranking component. This defines the importance of the model and the data structures that underly PageRank processing. Computing even a single PageRank is a difficult computational task. Computing many PageRanks is a much more complex challenge. Recently, significant effort has been invested in building sets of personalized PageRank vectors. PageRank is also used in many diverse applications other than ranking. Below we are interested in the theoretical foundations of the PageRank formulation, in accelerating of PageRank computing, in the effects of particular aspects of Web graph structure on optimal organization of computations, and in PageRank stability. We also review alternative models that lead to authority indices similar to PageRank and the role of such indices in applications other than Web Search. We also discuss link-based search personalization and outline some aspects of PageRank infrastructure from associated measures of convergence to link preprocessing. Content
Tribology of tungsten disulfide films in humid environments

Abstract As a result of tribo-induced oxidation, tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) loses its lubricating behavior in humid environments. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of a tailored metal-matrix composite (MMC) substrate in imparting oxidation resistance to WS 2 films in sliding contact. The substrate is an aluminum MMC disk reinforced with 20 vol.% silicon carbide (SiC) particles. The MMC disk was metallographically polished and etched to create SiC particle protrusions. The films were grown on the MMC substrates using a pulsed laser. Friction and wear tests were performed in dry nitrogen and in humid air with 90% relative humidity. The counterface was a 440C steel ball. The wear scars and third-body transfer films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. In dry nitrogen, the friction coefficient of WS 2 films on MMC substrates was low (0.035–0.050), indicating that the carbide protrusions did not adversely affect the lubricating behavior. In humid air, the friction coefficient of WS 2 films on polished steel substrates increased to 0.4 during the first 1000 cycles of sliding, whereas the ones on MMC substrates lasted for the entire duration of 50,000-cycle tests, with friction coefficients ranging from 0.15 to 0.22. The counterface wear, or scratching of the steel ball by SiC, was practically absent. The role of carbide protrusions in controlling chemically assisted crack propagation is discussed. The implications of this work as a model study for the design of thin film composite coatings is highlighted.
Correction of clubfoot relapse using Ilizarov's apparatus in children 8–15 years old

Treatment of relapsed or neglected clubfeet between the age of 8–15 years is at present unsatisfactory. Correction by triple arthrodesis with wedge osteotomies is not possible before the end of skeletal maturation. This caused us to use Ilizarov's external fixator, which made it possible to correct all components of clubfoot simultaneously by continuous guided distraction. Thirteen feet in 12 children were treated. A plantigrade foot was achieved in all cases. All patients were able to wear ready-made shoes. Complications were some slight and two severe pin track infections, temporary edema, and two relapses successfully treated by means of second procedures.
A Survey on Big Data Analytics: Challenges, Open Research Issues and Tools

A huge repository of terabytes of data is generated each day from modern information systems and digital technologies such as Internet of Things and cloud computing. Analysis of these massive data requires a lot of efforts at multiple levels to extract knowledge for decision making. Therefore, big data analysis is a current area of research and development. The basic objective of this paper is to explore the potential impact of big data challenges, open research issues, and various tools associated with it. As a result, this article provides a platform to explore big data at numerous stages. Additionally, it opens a new horizon for researchers to develop the solution, based on the challenges and open research issues. Keywords—Big data analytics; Hadoop; Massive data; Structured data; Unstructured Data
Effects of Altered Offshore Food Webs on Coastal Ecosystems Emphasize the Need for Cross-Ecosystem Management

By mainly targeting larger predatory fish, commercial fisheries have indirectly promoted rapid increases in densities of their prey; smaller predatory fish like sprat, stickleback and gobies. This process, known as mesopredator release, has effectively transformed many marine offshore basins into mesopredator-dominated ecosystems. In this article, we discuss recent indications of trophic cascades on the Atlantic and Baltic coasts of Sweden, where increased abundances of mesopredatory fish are linked to increased nearshore production and biomass of ephemeral algae. Based on synthesis of monitoring data, we suggest that offshore exploitation of larger predatory fish has contributed to the increase in mesopredator fish also along the coasts, with indirect negative effects on important benthic habitats and coastal water quality. The results emphasize the need to rebuild offshore and coastal populations of larger predatory fish to levels where they regain their control over lower trophic levels and important links between offshore and coastal systems are restored.
Using Publications Counts To Measure an Institution's Research Productivity.

Studies that address institutional-level productivity and publications that rank institutions often base their analysis solely on teaching activities, and overlook the research activities of an institution. The lack of attention given to research accomplishments is troubling because the resulting assessments and rankings of institutions will overlook an important facet of their mission. This study shows how readily available data from the Institute of Scientific Inquiry (ISI) may be used to estimate the number of scholarly articles written by an institution's faculty for virtually any year from 1990 forward. Data from the ISI databases were used to estimate the total number of publications attributed to individuals at each of approximately 1,300 4-year colleges and universities in the United States for 1996. The study also constructed a standardized measure of research output by dividing total publications by the number of full-time faculty at the institution. The study shows how institutions are ranked according to these two publication measures, how the measures vary by type of institution, and how they are correlated with other selected measures of research resources and institutional quality. (Contains 3 figures, 5 tables, and 68 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.