LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effect of immunisation against angiotensin II with CYT006-AngQb on ambulatory blood pressure: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase IIa study

BACKGROUND
Hypertension can be controlled adequately with existing drugs such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers. Nevertheless, treatment success is often restricted by patients not adhering to treatment. Immunisation against angiotensin II could solve this problem. We investigated the safety and efficacy of CYT006-AngQb-a vaccine based on a virus-like particle-that targets angiotensin II to reduce ambulatory blood pressure.


METHODS
In this multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled phase IIa trial, 72 patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension were randomly assigned with a computer-generated randomisation list to receive subcutaneous injections of either 100 mug CYT006-AngQb (n=24), 300 mug CYT006-AngQb (24), or placebo (24), at weeks 0, 4, and 12. 24-h ambulatory blood pressure was measured before treatment and at week 14. The primary outcomes were safety and tolerability. Analyses were done by intention to treat. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00500786.


FINDINGS
Two patients in the 100 mug group, three in the 300 mug group, and none in the placebo group discontinued study treatment. All patients were included in safety analyses; efficacy analyses did not include the five dropouts, for whom no data were available at week 14. Five serious adverse events were reported (two in the 100 mug group, two in the 300 mug group, and one in the placebo group); none were deemed to be treatment related. Most side-effects were mild, transient reactions at the injection site. Mild, transient influenza-like symptoms were seen in three patients in the 100 mug group, seven in the 300 mug group, and none in the placebo group. In the 300 mug group, there was a reduction from baseline in mean ambulatory daytime blood pressure at week 14 by -9.0/-4.0 mm Hg compared with placebo (p=0.015 for systolic and 0.064 for diastolic). The 300 mug dose reduced the early morning blood-pressure surge compared with placebo (change at 0800 h -25/-13 mm Hg; p<0.0001 for systolic, p=0.0035 for diastolic).


INTERPRETATION
Immunisation with CYT006-AngQb was associated with no serious adverse events; most observed adverse events were consistent with local or systemic responses similar to those seen with other vaccines. The 300 mug dose reduced blood pressure in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension during the daytime, especially in the early morning.


FUNDING
Cytos Biotechnology AG.
Peniscopically controlled CO2 laser excision for conservative treatment of in situ and T1 penile carcinoma: report on 224 patients.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the outcome of peniscopically controlled laser excision of early-stage penile carcinoma.


METHODS
Patients treated from 1982 to 2006 were investigated. The primary treatment was excisional surgery alone for in situ or initially invasive flat tumors, and reductive chemotherapy followed by surgery for the exophytic lesions. All excisional procedures were conducted by CO(2) laser under peniscopic control.


RESULTS
Of a total of 224 patients, 111 underwent partial excision of the glans and/or coronal sulcus surface, and 113 total surface excision. Forty patients underwent reductive chemotherapy. Complete excision was obtained in 221 cases (98.7%) at lateral margins and in 217 cases (96.9%) at deep margin. Postoperative complications were negligible. Overall, the 10-yr recurrence rate was 17.5% (95% confidence interval, 16.4-18.6%), and apparently was not affected by the in situ or invasive nature of the lesion. Amputation was required in nine patients, for a 10-yr amputation rate of 5.5% (range, 5.2-5.7%). In the remaining cases, organ form and curvature were preserved, with satisfactory cosmetic and functional results.


CONCLUSIONS
Early-stage penile carcinomas can be effectively treated with the organ-sparing strategy described here. Because local recurrences occur in a minority of patients and can be safely treated, organ preservation is compatible with local disease control. Reductive systemic chemotherapy in selected exophytic cases broadens the indication for our conservative approach.
Design of greenhouse monitoring system based on ZigBee

In order to solve environmental parameters monitoring problem of the individual small-scale greenhouse in Hanzhong area. The article provides a design of wireless greenhouse environment monitoring system based on ZigBee technology. The system uses SPCE3200 microcontroller as the core composition of data processing and monitoring terminals, it can control the CC2420 wireless data transceiver modules, also can receives commands from the host computer through the UART interface module; A variety of sensors in the wireless transmission module acquire Greenhouse multi-parameters which are sent to the data processing and monitoring terminals composed of SPCE3200 through the ZigBee. Processed data can carry on real-time display by LCD, but also can choose to send to the host computer or store in an external SD card. The results show that the system has a simple structure, low power consumption and lower cost; it is also able to meet the individual farmers on the effective monitoring of environmental parameters greenhouse management according to the tests.
Quality of life and sexual health in patients with genital psoriasis.

BACKGROUND
Knowledge about quality of life and sexual health in patients with genital psoriasis is limited.


OBJECTIVES
We studied quality of life and sexual function in a large group of patients with genital psoriasis by means of validated questionnaires. In addition, we evaluated whether sufficient attention is given by healthcare professionals to sexual problems in patients with psoriasis, as perceived by the patients.


METHODS
A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 1579 members of the Dutch Psoriasis Association. Sociodemographic patient characteristics, medical data and scores of several validated questionnaires regarding quality of life (Dermatology Life Quality Index) and sexual health (Sexual Quality of Life Questionnaire for use in Men, International Index of Erectile Function, Female Sexual Distress Scale and Female Sexual Function Index) were collected and analysed.


RESULTS
This study (n = 487) shows that psoriasis has a detrimental effect on quality of life and sexual health. Patients with genital lesions reported even significantly worse quality of life than patients without genital lesions (mean ± SD quality of life scores 8·5 ± 6·5 vs. 5·5 ± 4·6, respectively, P < 0·0001). Sexual distress and dysfunction are particularly prominent in women (reported by 37·7% and 48·7% of the female patients, respectively). Sexual distress is especially high when genital skin is affected (mean ± SD sexual distress score in patients with genital lesions 16·1 ± 12·1 vs. 10·1 ± 9·7 in patients without genital lesions, P = 0·001). The attention given to possible sexual problems in the psoriasis population by healthcare professionals is perceived as insufficient by patients.


CONCLUSIONS
In addition to quality of life, sexual health is diminished in a considerable number of patients with psoriasis and particularly women with genital lesions have on average high levels of sexual distress. We underscore the need for physicians to pay attention to the impact of psoriasis on psychosocial and sexual health when treating patients for this skin disease.
Glasgow supported self-management trial (GSuST) for patients with moderate to severe COPD: randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether supported self management in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can reduce hospital readmissions in the United Kingdom.


DESIGN
Randomised controlled trial.


SETTING
Community based intervention in the west of Scotland.


PARTICIPANTS
Patients admitted to hospital with acute exacerbation of COPD.


INTERVENTION
Participants in the intervention group were trained to detect and treat exacerbations promptly, with ongoing support for 12 months.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome was hospital readmissions and deaths due to COPD assessed by record linkage of Scottish Morbidity Records; health related quality of life measures were secondary outcomes.


RESULTS
464 patients were randomised, stratified by age, sex, per cent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second, recent pulmonary rehabilitation attendance, smoking status, deprivation category of area of residence, and previous COPD admissions. No difference was found in COPD admissions or death (111/232 (48%) v 108/232 (47%); hazard ratio 1.05, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 1.38). Return of health related quality of life questionnaires was poor (n=265; 57%), so that no useful conclusions could be made from these data. Pre-planned subgroup analysis showed no differential benefit in the primary outcome relating to disease severity or demographic variables. In an exploratory analysis, 42% (75/150) of patients in the intervention group were classified as successful self managers at study exit, from review of appropriateness of use of self management therapy. Predictors of successful self management on stepwise regression were younger age (P=0.012) and living with others (P=0.010). COPD readmissions/deaths were reduced in successful self managers compared with unsuccessful self managers (20/75 (27%) v 51/105 (49%); hazard ratio 0.44, 0.25 to 0.76; P=0.003).


CONCLUSION
Supported self management had no effect on time to first readmission or death with COPD. Exploratory subgroup analysis identified a minority of participants who learnt to self manage; this group had a significantly reduced risk of COPD readmission, were younger, and were more likely to be living with others.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical trials NCT 00706303.
Wnt2 complements Wnt/β-catenin signaling in colorectal cancer

Wnt2 is implicated in various human cancers. However, it remains unknown how Wnt2 is upregulated in human cancer and contributes to tumorigenesis. Here we found that Wnt2 is highly expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. In addition to co-expression of Wnt2 with Wnt/β-catenin target genes in CRC, knockdown or knockout of Wnt2 significantly downregulates Wnt/β-catenin target gene expression in CRC cells. Importantly, depletion or ablation of endogenous Wnt2 inhibits CRC cell proliferation. Similarly, neutralizing secreted Wnt2 reduces Wnt target gene expression and suppresses CRC cell proliferation. Conversely, Wnt2 increases cell proliferation of intestinal epithelial cells. Intriguingly, WNT2 expression is transcriptionally silenced by EZH2-mediated H3K27me3 histone modification in non-CRC cells, However, WNT2 expression is de-repressed by the loss of PRC2's promoter occupancy in CRC cells. Our results reveal the unexpected roles of Wnt2 in complementing Wnt/β-catenin signaling for CRC cell proliferation.
Organic reactions in aqueous media with a focus on carbon-carbon bond formations: a decade update.

4.2.8. Reductive Coupling 3109 5. Reaction of Aromatic Compounds 3110 5.1. Electrophilic Substitutions 3110 5.2. Radical Substitution 3111 5.3. Oxidative Coupling 3111 5.4. Photochemical Reactions 3111 6. Reaction of Carbonyl Compounds 3111 6.1. Nucleophilic Additions 3111 6.1.1. Allylation 3111 6.1.2. Propargylation 3120 6.1.3. Benzylation 3121 6.1.4. Arylation/Vinylation 3121 6.1.5. Alkynylation 3121 6.1.6. Alkylation 3121 6.1.7. Reformatsky-Type Reaction 3122 6.1.8. Direct Aldol Reaction 3122 6.1.9. Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction 3124 6.1.10. Hydrogen Cyanide Addition 3125 6.2. Pinacol Coupling 3126 6.3. Wittig Reactions 3126 7. Reaction of R,â-Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds 3127
Induction with levomethadyl acetate: safety and efficacy.

BACKGROUND
Levomethadyl acetate hydrochloride (known as LAAM) is a mu-opioid agonist approved for the treatment of opioid dependence. Clinical trials comparing LAAM and methadone have reported lower patient retention rates during LAAM induction; however, this may reflect dose and schedule differences. Few studies have systematically examined LAAM dose induction. This study compared induction with 3 different LAAM dosage levels.


METHODS
In a randomized, double-blind trial, male and female opioid-dependent patients (N = 180) were assigned to 1 of 3 LAAM doses. The low-dose (25 mg) induction was constant from the onset of treatment, the medium-dose (50 mg) induction lasted 7 days, and the high-dose (100 mg) induction lasted 17 days. Safety and efficacy were assessed on retention, urinalysis and self-reported drug use, symptoms, and patient ratings of medication adequacy.


RESULTS
The high-dose group had significantly fewer illicit opioid-positive urine samples in weeks 3 and 4 as compared with the low-dose group. The high-dose group had significantly lower self-reported heroin craving in weeks 2 and 3. All groups demonstrated significant decreases in illicit drug use, withdrawal symptoms, and depression. There were no between-group differences in retention; however, there was a trend (P = .08) for lower retention and a greater number of agonist adverse effects were observed in the high-dose group. Overall, LAAM doses were well tolerated by most patients.


CONCLUSION
Induction with low and medium LAAM doses can be safely and effectively achieved within 7 days. Induction with higher LAAM doses can be safely achieved within 17 days, but may result in greater rates of patient dropout and opioid agonist adverse effects. Therefore, higher doses should be approached more slowly.
Fibromyalgia: a randomised, controlled trial of a treatment programme based on self management.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of a treatment programme for patients with fibromyalgia (FM) based on self management, using pool exercises and education.


METHODS
Randomised controlled trial with a 6 month follow up to evaluate an outpatient multidisciplinary programme; 164 patients with FM were allocated to an immediate 6 week programme (n = 84) or to a waiting list control group (n = 80). The main outcomes were changes in quality of life, functional consequences, patient satisfaction and pain, using a combination of patient questionnaires and clinical examinations. The questionnaires included the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), Psychological General Well-Being (PGWB) index, regional pain score diagrams, and patient satisfaction measures.


RESULTS
61 participants in the treatment group and 68 controls completed the programme and 6 month follow up examinations. Six months after programme completion, significant improvements in quality of life and functional consequences of FM were seen in the treatment group as compared with the controls and as measured by scores on both the FIQ (total score p = 0.025; fatigue p = 0.003; depression p = 0.031) and PGWB (total score p = 0.032; anxiety p = 0.011; vitality p = 0.013,). All four major areas of patient satisfaction showed greater improvement in the treatment than the control groups; between-group differences were statistically significant for "control of symptoms", "psychosocial factors", and "physical therapy" No change in pain was seen.


CONCLUSION
A 6 week self management based programme of pool exercises and education can improve the quality of life of patients with FM and their satisfaction with treatment. These improvements are sustained for at least 6 months after programme completion.
A microdialysis study of oral vigabatrin administration in head injury patients: preliminary evaluation of multimodality monitoring.

BACKGROUND
We assessed the feasibility of administering a neuroprotective drug, vigabatrin (VGB; gamma-vinyl-gamma-aminobutyric acid) with multimodality monitoring, including cerebral microdialysis, in severe head injury patients, to measure surrogate endpoints and blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration.


METHODS
Patients (n = 20) were randomised to VGB (0.5 g twice-daily, enteric) or control. ICP, ABP, CPP and cerebrovascular pressure reactivity index (PRx) were monitored. Microdialysate glucose, lactate, pyruvate, glutamate, glycerol, amino acids, VGB and GABA were analysed.


RESULTS
Preliminary evaluation of results (five VGB-treated patients) showed that VGB levels rose in brain microdialysates, followed by a modest increase in GABA. VGB and GABA increased more in abnormal brain than in sites further from lesions, and were higher after multiple VGB doses. Highest VGB and GABA microdialysate levels were 75 and 4 μmol/L respectively. Microdialysate glucose and glycerol sometimes decreased, and glutamate and tyrosine sometimes increased, following VBG administration; causation unproven. VGB did not overtly affect ICP, ABP, CPP, PRx, or microdialysate lactate, pyruvate and lactate/pyruvate ratio.


CONCLUSION
Multimodality monitoring, including cerebral microdialysis, is feasible for studying surrogate endpoints following drug administration. VGB crosses the BBB, leading to modest increases in extracellular GABA. Further analyses are ongoing. Microdialysis may assist the development of neuroprotective agents by determining penetration into extracellular fluid of the brain.
Comparison of Web Service Testing Tools

Web Services are considered an essential services-oriented technology today on networked application architectures due to their language and platform-independence. Their language and platform independence also brings difficulties in testing them especially in an automated manner. In this paper, a comparative evaluation of testing techniques based on, TTCN-3 and SoapUI, in order of contributing towards resolving these difficulties is performed. Aspects of TTCN-3 and SoapUI are highlighted, including test abstraction, performance efficiency and powerful matching mechanisms in TTCN-3 that allow a separation between behaviour and the conditions governing behaviour. Keywords— Web Services Testing, Automated Testing, Web Testing, SoapUI, TTCN-3, Titan TTCN-3, Testing
Transnasal endoscopic surgery for selected orbital cavernous hemangiomas: our preliminary experience.

BACKGROUND
Endoscopic transnasal approaches to the orbit have been recently described and they have been proposed as an option in the surgical management of medial and inferior orbital lesions.


METHODS
Retrospective evaluation of 3 patients operated on in our department during 2011 to remove a cavernous hemangioma of the inferior-medial orbit. Two patients were operated on via an endoscopic transnasal approach and 1 patient was operated on via an external anterior approach.


RESULTS
A complete surgical resection was obtained in all patients. A transient postoperative diplopia was recorded in the patient operated on via the external approach. No other significant complications were recorded.


CONCLUSION
Extraconal lesions adjacent to the paranasal sinuses can be safely removed through an endoscopic transnasal route. Intraconal lesions located inferiorly and medially to the optic nerve are amenable of transnasal endoscopic resection in selected cases.
Effects of administration of hormone therapy or raloxifene on the immune system and on biochemical markers of bone remodeling.

OBJECTIVE
Over the last few years, conclusive evidence of the involvement of the immune system in the regulation of bone metabolism has been identified. Consequently, one question that should be formulated concerns the possible effects of antiresorptive therapies on the immune system. Therefore, the purpose of the present work was to evaluate both the functionality of the immune system and bone turnover in women receiving antiresorptive therapies, such as hormone therapy (HT; n = 33) and raloxifene (RLX; n = 66), acting through estrogen receptors.


METHODS
To that end, this study analyzed bone turnover markers in a population of postmenopausal women before and after beginning therapy and compared these with data of women not treated (NT; n = 102). In a subgroup of participants (NT = 33, RLX = 24, and HT = 26), we analyzed the effects of treatments on immune system parameters such as serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor α, and IL-1β; lymphocyte subpopulations; cell proliferation by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs); in vitro production of IL-1β by PBMCs; and the expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand, transforming growth factor β, and IL-4 genes by PBMCs.


RESULTS
The results showed that bone resorption was inhibited strongly in women in the RLX and HT groups when compared with women in the NT group. Interestingly, the administration of RLX inhibited the production of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibitor Dickkopf Homolog-1 (P < 0.05) and tended to increase the levels of the osteoclastogenesis inhibitor osteoprotegerin at month 6 (P = 0.059). With regard to the immune system, the different treatments did not markedly perturb the parameters analyzed, with the exception of the increase in serum IL-1β detected in the HT group at month 6 (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions of the present work were that HT or RLX do not disturb the immune system and that both treatments have a similar antiresorptive power.
Comparison of Lavenberg-Marquardt, Scaled Conjugate Gradient and Bayesian Regularization Backpropagation Algorithms for Multistep Ahead Wind Speed Forecasting Using Multilayer Perceptron Feedforward Neural Network

Wind speed forecasting is critical for wind energy conversion systems since it greatly influences the issues such as scheduling of the power systems, and dynamic control of the wind turbines. Also, it plays an essential role for siting, sizing and improving the efficiency of wind power generation systems. Due to volatile and nonstationary nature of wind speed time series, wind speed forecasting has been proven to be a challenging task that requires adamant care and caution. There are several state-ofthe-art methods, i.e., numerical weather prediction (NWP), statistical, and hybrid models, developed for this purpose. Recent studies show that artificial neural networks (ANNs) are also capable of wind speed forecasting to a great extent. In this paper, 3-layer perceptron feedforward neural network is employed for comparison of three different training algorithms, i.e., Lavenberg-Marquardt (LM), Scaled Conjugate Gradient (SCG) and Bayesian Regularization (BR) backpropagation algorithms, in the view of their ability to perform 12 multistep ahead monthly wind speed forecasting. Horizontal wind speed, absolute air temperature, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity data collected between November 1995 June 2003 and July 2007 – April 2015 for city of Roskilde, Denmark is used for training, validation and testing of the network model. The performed experiment shows that for 12 multistep ahead wind speed forecasting, SCG algorithm has obvious preference in terms of prediction accuracy with mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 3.717%, followed by LM and BR algorithms with MAPE of 4.311% and 4.587% accordingly. As a result, within the scope of this study, SCG algorithm is found to be more suitable to build a multistep ahead wind speed forecasting model.
Legacy System Migration : A Legacy Data Migration Engine

The widespread use of computer technology over several d cades has resulted in some large, complex systems which have evolved to a state where they significantly resist further modification and evolution. These Legacy Information Systems are normally mission-critical : if one of these systems stops working the business may grind to a halt. Thus for many organisations, decommissioning is not an option. An alternative solution is Legacy System Migration which has recently become an important research and practical issue. This paper presents an approach to mission-critical legacy systems migration: Butterfly methodology. Data migration is the primary focus of Butterfly methodology, however, it is placed in the overall context of a complete legacy system migration.