LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Applying simulation in a consulting environment - tips from airport planners

Airport design is, by far, the largest practice area fo TransSolutions. This is a unique area, with man differences from typical simulation in manufacturing o logistics. Passengers and bags arrive at the airport by the pla load. At the busiest airports the arrivals and departures a coordinated, so that several flights arrive within a sho time. Then, after a short time on the ground the aircraft a depart again. A large number of passengers move throu the facility during the peak period between the fligh arrivals and the departures. After that, the facility will b empty until the next bank of arriving flights. The termina facilities must be sized to handle these waves of passeng throughout the day. Space within the terminal building is at a premium Most travelers are aware of the ticket counters, ga lounges, corridors and shops in the public areas. Hidd behind the scenes are the various offices, control room and break areas for the airport and airline employees. T baggage system and various maintenance functions take most of the space on the ramp level below the passen areas. The usual question asked by the architects is: “will th facility, as designed, satisfy the needs of the tena airlines?” This involves comparing the “performance” o the facility to minimum acceptable standards. A typica example is that all passengers connecting from an arrivi flight to a departing flight must be able to reach the departure gate within 30 minutes of arrival. Anothe
The ankle-foot orthosis improves balance and reduces fall risk of chronic spastic hemiparetic patients.

BACKGROUND
Ankle foot orthoses (AFO) are commonly used orthotic device in order to restore the ankle foot function and to improve the balance and gait in post-stroke hemiparetic patients. However, there remain some discussions about their effectiveness on long term hemiparetic patients who had mild to moderate spasticity.


AIM
To investigate the relative effect of prefabricated thermoplastic posterior leaf spring AFO (PLS-AFO) on balance and fall risk.


DESIGN
A cross-over interventional study


SETTING
The Department of PMR of a tertiary hospital.


POPULATION
Twenty-five chronic post-stroke long duration hemiparetic patients who had Ashworth grade 1-2 spasticity at affected calf muscles and lower limb Brunnstrom stage 2-3 and also able to walk independently without an assistive device.


METHODS
Berg Balance Scale (BERG), and the postural stability test (PST) and the fall risk test (FRT) of Biodex balance systems were used for the assessments. All of the patients were assessed with AFO and without AFO. All assessments were made with footwear.


RESULTS
The mean post-stroke duration was 20,32±7,46 months. The BERG scores were 42,12±9,05 without AFO and 47,52±7,77 with AFO; the overall stability scores of FRT were 3,35±1,97 without AFO and 2,69±1,65 with AFO (P<0,001).


CONCLUSION
It was found that the prefabricated thermoplastic PLS-AFO improve balance and provide fall risk reduction in chronic post-stroke ambulatory hemiparetic patients who had mild to moderate spasticity on their affected lower limb.


CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT
These results encourage the usage of AFO on long duration hemiparetic patients in order to provide better balance and lesser fall risk.
Radius-mass scaling laws for celestial bodies

In this letter we establish a connection between two-exponent radius-mass power laws for cosmic objects and previously proposed two-exponent Regge-like spin-mass relations. A new, simplest method for establishing the coordinates of Chandrasekhar and Eddington points is proposed.
Benchmarking Java application using JNI and native C application on Android

Android is one of the most widely spread mobile platform. Many people are using Android mobile devices and many developers are creating Android applications at this moment. When developing applications, the differences in performance between Java and C/C++ are a well-known issue. Because this is also true in Android, many Android application developers prefer to use the Android NDK along with Java compared to using only Java language. However, there are certain performance gaps in not only using different programming languages but also in using glibc of a native cross-compiler and bionic libc of the Android NDK. In this paper, we show the difference in performance between Android applications compiled by using a native cross-compiler for ARM and a native shared library through the JNI of the Android NDK. We used Mibench, a representative embedded benchmark suite that can be used freely with no restrictions. As a result, it was found that using the native shared library through the JNI of the Android NDK is faster compared to using the native cross-compiler for ARM in five of six cases.
Adefovir dipivoxil is effective for the treatment of cirrhotic patients with lamivudine failure.

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Data on the efficacy of adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) in elderly and cirrhotic patients with lamivudine-resistant (LAM-R) chronic hepatitis B are scarce. This retrospective cohort study evaluated the safety and efficacy of ADV in this specific patient population.


METHODS
Sixty-eight cirrhotic LAM-R patients, of whom 19 (27.9%) were elderly (>or=65 years of age) and nine had severe disease (two post-orthotopic liver transplantation, four pre-orthotopic liver transplantation and three decompensated), with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection received ADV. Virological and biochemical responses to the addition of ADV were analysed.


RESULTS
At inclusion, all patients were receiving LAM; ADV was added. 75.4% of patients received a combination of LAM and ADV throughout this study for a median treatment duration of 12.6 months; the remainder received ADV with an overlap with LAM treatment for a median duration of 7.9 months. At the end of follow-up, 41.2% of patients had undetectable HBV DNA (<or=2000 copies/ml) with a median reduction of 3.4 log(10) copies/ml. Time to reach undetectable HBV DNA was dependent on baseline alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and HBeAg status. Normalization of serum ALT levels was observed in 55.2% (32/58) of patients. In patients who were HBeAg positive at baseline, HBeAg loss and seroconversion occurred in 23% (9/39) and 10% (4/39) respectively. No resistance mutations and no significant side effects were observed during the study period.


CONCLUSION
Adefovir dipivoxil provides effective and safe treatment in cirrhotic and elderly patients who failed LAM therapy.
Mining communities and their relationships in blogs: A study of online hate groups

Blogs, often treated as the equivalence of online personal diaries, have become one of the fastest growing types of Web-based media. Everyone is free to express their opinions and emotions very easily through blogs. In the blogosphere, many communities have emerged, which include hate groups and racists that are trying to share their ideology, express their views, or recruit new group members. It is important to analyze these virtual communities, defined based on membership and subscription linkages, in order to monitor for activities that are potentially harmful to society. While many Web mining and network analysis techniques have been used to analyze the content and structure of the Web sites of hate groups on the Internet, these techniques have not been applied to the study of hate groups in blogs. To address this issue, we have proposed a semi-automated approach in this research. The proposed approach consists of four modules, namely blog spider, information extraction, network analysis, and visualization. We applied this approach to identify and analyze a selected set of 28 anti-Blacks hate groups (820 bloggers) on Xanga, one of the most popular blog hosting sites. Our analysis results revealed some interesting demographical and topological characteristics in these groups, and identified at least two large communities on top of the smaller ones. The study also demonstrated the feasibility in applying the proposed approach in the study of hate groups and other related communities in blogs. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Combination vinorelbine and capecitabine for metastatic breast cancer using a non-body surface area dosing scheme

Purpose: This study sought to determine the maximum tolerated dose of flat-dosed vinorelbine in combination with capecitabine in patients with metastatic breast cancer. At the time of study initiation, it was anticipated that vinorelbine would be developed as an oral capsule. A flat dosing scheme of both drugs was used to facilitate development of the oral regimen, and because neither drug’s clearance is associated with body surface area (BSA), pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic endpoints were explored. Experimental Design: Capecitabine was administered orally at 3,000 mg/day on days 1–14. The starting dose of vinorelbine was 20 mg intravenously on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle. The vinorelbine dose was escalated until dose limiting toxicity (DLT). Vinorelbine pharmacokinetics were measured after the first dose. Patients underwent genotype analysis for polymorphisms in the CYP3A5 gene, and the erythromycin breath test (ERMBT), a phenotypic test of CYP3A enzyme activity. Results: Twenty five eligible patients were enrolled. Hematologic DLT was seen at the 50 and 45 mg vinorelbine doses; thus the recommended dose is 40 mg on days 1 and 8. Response rate was 30%, and disease stabilization rate was 64% (all dose levels included). Vinorelbine clearance was not associated with ERMBT, BSA, or age. CYP3A5 genotype in this small sample did not have an obvious relationship to clearance or toxicity. Conclusions: A non-BSA based dosing scheme of capecitabine and vinorelbine is safe and efficacious. BSA did not affect vinorelbine clearance. We recommend future studies with capecitabine and/or vinorelbine to compare the safety and efficacy of flat dosed versus BSA-dosed treatment.
Growth rates of ovarian follicles during natural menstrual cycles, oral contraception cycles, and ovarian stimulation cycles.

OBJECTIVE
To compare growth rates of ovarian follicles during natural menstrual cycles, oral contraception (OC) cycles, and ovarian stimulation cycles using standardized techniques.


DESIGN
Prospective, comparative, observational, longitudinal study.


SETTING
Healthy volunteers in research trials and infertility patients undergoing treatment at an academic institution.


PATIENT(S)
Women were evaluated during natural cycles (n = 50), OC cycles (n = 71), and ovarian stimulation cycles (n = 131).


INTERVENTION(S)
Serial transvaginal ultrasonography was performed to measure follicle diameter. Day-to-day growth and regression profiles of individual follicles were determined. Mean growth rates were calculated for ovulatory follicles. Mean growth and regression rates were calculated for anovulatory follicles.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S)
Follicle growth rate (in millimeters per day).


RESULT(S)
Mean follicular growth rate was greater during ovarian stimulation cycles (1.69 +/- 0.03 mm/day) compared to natural (1.42 +/- 0.05 mm/day) and OC cycles (1.36 +/- 0.08 mm/day). The interval from dominant follicle selection to ovulation was shorter during stimulation cycles (5.08 +/- 0.07 days) compared to natural cycles (7.16 +/- 0.23 days).


CONCLUSION(S)
Follicles grew faster during ovarian stimulation therapy compared to natural cycles or OC cycles. Greater follicular growth rates in stimulation cycles were associated with shorter intervals from selection to ovulation. The biologic effects of increased follicular growth rates and shorter intervals to ovulation on oocyte competence in women undergoing assisted reproduction remain to be determined.
Identification and Characterization of Receptor-Specific Peptides for siRNA Delivery

Tumor-targeted delivery of siRNA remains a major barrier in fully realizing the therapeutic potential of RNA interference. While cell-penetrating peptides (CPP) are promising siRNA carrier candidates, they are universal internalizers that lack cell-type specificity. Herein, we design and screen a library of tandem tumor-targeting and cell-penetrating peptides that condense siRNA into stable nanocomplexes for cell type-specific siRNA delivery. Through physiochemical and biological characterization, we identify a subset of the nanocomplex library of that are taken up by cells via endocytosis, trigger endosomal escape and unpacking of the carrier, and ultimately deliver siRNA to the cytosol in a receptor-specific fashion. To better understand the structure-activity relationships that govern receptor-specific siRNA delivery, we employ computational regression analysis and identify a set of key convergent structural properties, namely the valence of the targeting ligand and the charge of the peptide, that help transform ubiquitously internalizing cell-penetrating peptides into cell type-specific siRNA delivery systems.
Venlafaxine extended release vs placebo and paroxetine in social anxiety disorder.

BACKGROUND
Evidence indicates that venlafaxine hydrochloride extended release (ER) effectively ameliorates anxiety symptoms.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of flexible-dose venlafaxine ER compared with placebo in the short-term treatment of generalized social anxiety disorder and, secondarily, to compare paroxetine with venlafaxine ER and paroxetine with placebo.


DESIGN
Adult outpatients with DSM-IV generalized social anxiety disorder for 6 months or longer were randomly assigned to receive venlafaxine hydrochloride ER (75-225 mg/d), paroxetine (20-50 mg/d), or placebo for 12 weeks or less at 26 centers in the United States. The primary outcome measure was the total Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale score. Secondary measures included response (Clinical Global Impression-Improvement score, 1 or 2) rates and Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness and Social Phobia Inventory scores.


RESULTS
Of 440 patients treated, 413 (93.9%) were included in the last-observation-carried-forward efficacy analysis; of the 429 patients in the safety population, 318 (74.1%) completed the study. Mean daily doses were 201.7 mg (SD, 38.1 mg) of venlafaxine hydrochloride ER and 46.0 mg (SD, 7.9 mg) of paroxetine. Venlafaxine ER treatment was significantly superior to placebo at weeks 1 through 12 on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Inventory and at week 2 and weeks 6 through 12 for Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness and responder status, and was significantly superior to paroxetine treatment at weeks 1 and 2 for the Social Phobia Inventory (P < .05 for all). Paroxetine treatment was significantly superior to placebo at weeks 3 through 12 on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness scale, and the Social Phobia Inventory, and at weeks 4 through 12 for response (P < .05 for all). Week 12 response rates were significantly greater for the venlafaxine ER and paroxetine groups (58.6% and 62.5%, respectively) vs the placebo group (36.1%) (P < .001 for both).


CONCLUSION
Venlafaxine ER is effective in the short-term treatment of generalized social anxiety disorder, with efficacy and tolerability comparable to paroxetine.
Association of the HLA-DRB1 epitope LA(67, 74) with rheumatoid arthritis and citrullinated vimentin binding.

OBJECTIVE
Although rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has long been associated with an HLA-DRB1 shared epitope, a systematic search for other epitopes has never been conducted. In addition, the relationship between these epitopes and the binding of citrullinated autoantigens has not been investigated. We developed a program that can analyze HLA data for all possible epitopes of up to 5 amino acids and used this program to assess the shared epitope hypothesis in RA.


METHODS
We analyzed high-resolution data from the International Histocompatibility Working Group, which included a group of 488 patients with RA and a group of 448 racially and ethnically balanced control subjects, for all combinations of up to 5 amino acids among polymorphic HLA-DRB1 positions 8-93. Statistical significance was determined by chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, with a false discovery rate correction.


RESULTS
Three residues (V(11), H(13), and L(67)) were found to have the highest degree of association with RA susceptibility (P < 10(-11)), and D(70) was found to correlate best with RA resistance (P = 2 × 10(-11)). Of >2 million epitopes examined, LA(67, 74) exhibited the highest correlation with RA susceptibility (P = 2 × 10(-20); odds ratio 4.07 [95% confidence interval 3.07-5.39]). HLA alleles containing the LA(67, 74) epitope exhibited significantly greater binding to citrullinated vimentin(65-77) than did alleles containing D(70). Only 1 allele (DRB1*16:02) contained both LA(67, 74) and D(70); it bound citrullinated vimentin weakly and was not associated with RA.


CONCLUSION
The findings of these studies confirm the importance of HLA-DRB1 amino acids in pocket 4 for the binding of citrullinated autoantigens and susceptibility to RA.
Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Interaction with Non-expert Humans in Agent Domains

In application domains characterized by dynamic changes and non-deterministic action outcomes, it is frequently difficult for agents or robots to operate without any human supervision. Although human feedback can help an agent learn a rich representation of the task and domain, humans may not have the expertise or time to provide elaborate and accurate feedback in complex domains. Widespread deployment of intelligent agents hence requires that the agents operate autonomously using sensory inputs and limited high-level feedback from non-expert human participants. Towards this objective, this paper describes an augmented reinforcement learning framework that combines bootstrap learning and reinforcement learning principles. In the absence of human feedback, the agent learns by interacting with the environment. When high-level human feedback is available, the agent robustly merges it with environmental feedback by incrementally revising the relative contributions of the feedback mechanisms to the action choice policy. The framework is evaluated in two simulated domains: Tetris and Keep away soccer.
HIV lipodystrophy: prevalence, severity and correlates of risk in Australia.

OBJECTIVE
To establish the prevalence, severity and factors associated with the HIV lipodystrophy syndrome.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of lipodystrophy conducted in high HIV caseload primary care sites and HIV outpatient clinics. A subset of patients was examined using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and single cut abdominal computerized tomography (CT) at the L4 vertebral level to quantify regional and total body fat. Factors associated with lipodystrophy, lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy were assessed using multiple logistic regression based on assignment of cases and non-cases.


RESULTS
One thousand, three hundred and forty-eight patients (95% male) were surveyed, 20% had AIDS, the mean CD4 lymphocyte count was 486 cells/microL, and 55% had <500 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL. Most participants (87%) had previously received or were currently receiving combination antiretroviral therapy, 73% with at least one protease inhibitor (PI) and 14% a non-PI-containing regimen. Lipodystrophy prevalence was 53% and of these, 55% reported both peripheral lipoatrophy and central lipohypertrophy, 31% experienced peripheral lipoatrophy only and 14% had central lipohypertrophy only. The prevalence of any body habitus change was 62% in PI-experienced patients, 33% in PI-naive patients and 21% in antiretroviral-naive patients. Lipodystrophy severity was less in antiretroviral-naive patients and most severe in PI-experienced patients. Increasing severity of lipodystrophy was both positively and significantly correlated with elevated liver enzymes, decreased testosterone levels, decreased skin-fold thickness, lower levels of total and peripheral fat (DEXA) and higher levels of visceral fat (CT). Lipodystrophy was also significantly associated with increasing age, symptomatic HIV disease, effective viral suppression, and increasing duration of therapy with both nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and PIs.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence and severity of lipodystrophy reflects both length and type of treatment with antiretroviral therapy and is associated with decreased testosterone, increases in liver enzymes and greater suppression of HIV RNA. The reports of lipodystrophy in a small percentage of antiretroviral-naive patients suggests that factors other than antiretroviral therapy may be involved in the aetiology of this syndrome or that some conditions, such as wasting or age-associated obesity, may mimic lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy, respectively.
Mitophagy: a balance regulator of NLRP3 inflammasome activation

The NLRP3 inflammasome is activated by a variety of external or host-derived stimuli and its activation initiates an inflammatory response through caspase-1 activation, resulting in inflammatory cytokine IL-1β maturation and secretion. The NLRP3 inflammasome activation is a kind of innate immune response, most likely mediated by myeloid cells acting as a host defense mechanism. However, if this activation is not properly regulated, excessive inflammation induced by overactivated NLRP3 inflammasome can be detrimental to the host, causing tissue damage and organ dysfunction, eventually causing several diseases. Previous studies have suggested that mitochondrial damage may be a cause of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and autophagy, which is a conserved self-degradation process that negatively regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Recently, mitochondria-selective autophagy, termed mitophagy, has emerged as a central player for maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis through the elimination of damaged mitochondria, leading to the prevention of hyperinflammation triggered by NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In this review, we will first focus on the molecular mechanisms of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and NLRP3 inflammasome-related diseases. We will then discuss autophagy, especially mitophagy, as a negative regulator of NLPP3 inflammasome activation by examining recent advances in research. [BMB Reports 2016; 49(10): 529-535].
Randomised study of long term outcome after epidural versus non-epidural analgesia during labour.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether epidural analgesia during labour is associated with long term backache.


DESIGN
Follow up after randomised controlled trial. Analysis by intention to treat.


SETTING
Department of obstetrics and gynaecology at one NHS trust.


PARTICIPANTS
369 women: 184 randomised to epidural group (treatment as allocated received by 123) and 185 randomised to non-epidural group (treatment as allocated received by 133). In the follow up study 151 women were from the epidural group and 155 from the non-epidural group.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Self reported low back pain, disability, and limitation of movement assessed through one to one interviews with physiotherapist, questionnaire on back pain and disability, physical measurements of spinal mobility.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences between groups in demographic details or other key characteristics. The mean time interval from delivery to interview was 26 months. There were no significant differences in the onset or duration of low back pain, with nearly a third of women in each group reporting pain in the week before interview. There were no differences in self reported measures of disability in activities of daily living and no significant differences in measurements of spinal mobility.


CONCLUSIONS
After childbirth there are no differences in the incidence of long term low back pain, disability, or movement restriction between women who receive epidural pain relief and women who receive other forms of pain relief.