LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Necrotic pulp tissue dissolution by passive ultrasonic irrigation in simulated accessory canals: impact of canal location and angulation.

AIM
To evaluate whether passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI) of 2.5% NaOCl would dissolve necrotic pulp tissue from simulated accessory root canals (SACs) better than passive placement of the irrigant, when temperature was equilibrated between the two treatments.


METHODOLOGY
Transparent root canal models (n = 6) were made from epoxy resin. SACs of 0.2 mm diameter were placed at defined angles and positions in the mid-canal and apical area. SACs were filled with necrotic bovine pulp tissue. PUI was performed five times for 1 min each with irrigant replenishment after every minute. Main canal temperature was measured after each minute, and a digital photograph was taken. In control experiments, mock treatments were performed with the same set-up without activation of the file using heated NaOCl to mimic the temperature created by PUI. Experiments were repeated five times. Digital photographs were analysed for the distance of dissolved tissue into the SACs in mm. Overall comparison (sum of dissolved tissue from all five accessory canals) between treatments was performed using paired t-test. Differences between SAC angulation and position after PUI were investigated using anova/Bonferroni (alpha < 0.05).


RESULTS
Passive ultrasonic irrigation caused a rise in irrigant temperature in the main canal to 53.5 +/- 2.7 degrees C after the fifth minute. PUI dissolved a total of 6.4 +/- 2.1 mm, mock treatment controlled for heat: 1.4 +/- 0.6 mm (P < 0.05). No significant influence of SAC position or angulation was found.


CONCLUSIONS
Passive ultrasonic irrigation promotes positive tissue-dissolving effects beyond a rise in irrigant temperature.
Electronic medical records for clinical research: application to the identification of heart failure.

OBJECTIVE
To identify patients with heart failure (HF) by using language contained in the electronic medical record (EMR).


METHODS
We validated 2 methods of identifying HF through the EMR, which offers transcription of clinical notes within 24 hours or less of the encounter. The first method was natural language processing (NLP) of the EMR text. The second method was predictive modeling based on machine learning, using the text of clinical reports. Natural language processing was compared with both manual record review and billing records. Predictive modeling was compared with manual record review.


RESULTS
Natural language processing identified 2904 HF cases; billing records independently identified 1684 HF cases, 252 (15%) of them not identified by NLP. Review of a random sample of these 252 cases did not identify HF, yielding 100% sensitivity (95% confidence interval [CI] = 86, 100) and 97.8% specificity (95% CI = 97.7, 97.9) for NLP. Manual review confirmed 1107 of the 2904 cases identified by NLP, yielding a positive predictive value (PPV) of 38% (95% CI = 36, 40). Predictive modeling yielded a PPV of 82% (95% CI = 73,93), 56% sensitivity (95% CI = 46, 67), and 96% specificity (95% CI = 94, 99).


CONCLUSIONS
The EMR can be used to identify HF via 2 complementary approaches. Natural language processing may be more suitable for studies requiring highest sensitivity, whereas predictive modeling may be more suitable for studies requiring higher PPV.
Combined effects of ezetimibe and phytosterols on cholesterol metabolism: a randomized, controlled feeding study in humans.

BACKGROUND
Both ezetimibe and phytosterols inhibit cholesterol absorption. We tested the hypothesis that the combination of ezetimibe and phytosterols is more effective than ezetimibe alone in altering cholesterol metabolism.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Twenty-one mildly hypercholesterolemic subjects completed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, triple-crossover study. Each subject received a phytosterol-controlled diet plus (1) ezetimibe placebo+phytosterol placebo, (2) 10 mg/d ezetimibe+phytosterol placebo, and (3) 10 mg/d ezetimibe+2.5 g phytosterols for 3 weeks each. All meals were prepared in a metabolic kitchen. Primary outcomes were intestinal cholesterol absorption, fecal cholesterol excretion, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The combined treatment resulted in significantly lower intestinal cholesterol absorption (598 mg/d; 95% confidence interval [CI], 368 to 828) relative to control (2161 mg/d; 95% CI, 1112 to 3209) and ezetimibe alone (1054 mg/d; 95% CI, 546 to 1561; both P<0.0001). Fecal cholesterol excretion was significantly greater (P<0.0001) with combined treatment (962 mg/d; 95% CI, 757 to 1168) relative to control (505 mg/d; 95% CI, 386 to 625) and ezetimibe alone (794 mg/d; 95% CI, 615 to 973). Plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol values during treatment with control, ezetimibe alone, and ezetimibe+phytosterols averaged 129 mg/dL (95% CI, 116 to 142), 108 mg/dL (95% CI, 97 to 119), and 101 mg/dL (95% CI, 90 to 112; (P<0.0001 relative to control).


CONCLUSION
The addition of phytosterols to ezetimibe significantly enhanced the effects of ezetimibe on whole-body cholesterol metabolism and plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The large cumulative action of combined dietary and pharmacological treatment on cholesterol metabolism emphasizes the potential importance of dietary phytosterols as adjunctive therapy for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.


CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00863265.
Properties of co-operations: diagrammatic proofs

We propose an alternative approach, based on diagram rewriting, for computations in bialgebras. We illustrate this graphical syntax by proving some properties of co-operations, including coassociativity and cocommutativity. This amounts to checking the confluence of some rewriting systems.
Solving a Truck Dispatching Scheduling Problem Using Branch-and-Cut

A branch-and-cut IP solver is developed for a class of structured 0/1 integer programs arising from a truck dispatching scheduling problem. This problem involves a special class of knapsack equality constraints. Families of facets for the polytopes associated with individual knapsack constraints are identified. In addition, a notion of “conflict graph” is utilized to obtain an approximating node-packing polytope for the convex hull of all 0/1 solutions. The branch-and-cut solver generates cuts based on both the knapsack equality constraints and the approximating node-packing polytope, and incorporates these cuts into a tree-search algorithm that uses problem reformulation and linear programming-based heuristics at each node in the search tree to assist in the solution process. Numerical experiments are performed on large-scale real instances supplied by Texaco Trading & Transportation, Inc. The optimal schedules correspond to cost savings for the company and greater job satisfaction for drivers due to more balanced work schedules and income distribution.
Actions in the Eye: Dynamic Gaze Datasets and Learnt Saliency Models for Visual Recognition

Systems based on bag-of-words models from image features collected at maxima of sparse interest point operators have been used successfully for both computer visual object and action recognition tasks. While the sparse, interest-point based approach to recognition is not inconsistent with visual processing in biological systems that operate in `saccade and fixate' regimes, the methodology and emphasis in the human and the computer vision communities remains sharply distinct. Here, we make three contributions aiming to bridge this gap. First, we complement existing state-of-the art large scale dynamic computer vision annotated datasets like Hollywood-2 [1] and UCF Sports [2] with human eye movements collected under the ecological constraints of visual action and scene context recognition tasks. To our knowledge these are the first large human eye tracking datasets to be collected and made publicly available for video, vision.imar.ro/eyetracking (497,107 frames, each viewed by 19 subjects), unique in terms of their (a) large scale and computer vision relevance, (b) dynamic, video stimuli, (c) task control, as well as free-viewing. Second, we introduce novel dynamic consistency and alignment measures, which underline the remarkable stability of patterns of visual search among subjects. Third, we leverage the significant amount of collected data in order to pursue studies and build automatic, end-to-end trainable computer vision systems based on human eye movements. Our studies not only shed light on the differences between computer vision spatio-temporal interest point image sampling strategies and the human fixations, as well as their impact for visual recognition performance, but also demonstrate that human fixations can be accurately predicted, and when used in an end-to-end automatic system, leveraging some of the advanced computer vision practice, can lead to state of the art results.
Simple tangible language elements for young children

We propose simple tangible language elements for very young children to use when constructing programmes. The equivalent Turtle Talk instructions are given for comparison. Two examples of the tangible language code are shown to illustrate alternative methods of solving a given challenge.
Optimal online deterministic algorithms and adaptive heuristics for energy and performance efficient dynamic consolidation of virtual machines in Cloud data centers

The rapid growth in demand for computational power driven by modern service applications combined with the shift to the Cloud computing model have led to the establishment of large-scale virtualized data centers. Such data centers consume enormous amounts of electrical energy resulting in high operating costs and carbon dioxide emissions. Dynamic consolidation of virtual machines (VMs) using live migration and switching idle nodes to the sleep mode allow Cloud providers to optimize resource usage and reduce energy consumption. However, the obligation of providing high quality of service to customers leads to the necessity in dealing with the energy-performance trade-off, as aggressive consolidation may lead to performance degradation. Due to the variability of workloads experienced by modern applications, the VM placement should be optimized continuously in an online manner. To understand the implications of the online nature of the problem, we conduct competitive analysis and prove competitive ratios of optimal online deterministic algorithms for the single VM migration and dynamic VM consolidation problems. Furthermore, we propose novel adaptive heuristics for dynamic consolidation of VMs based on an analysis of historical data from the resource usage by VMs. The proposed algorithms significantly reduce energy consumption, while ensuring a high level of adherence to the Service Level Agreements (SLA). We validate the high efficiency of the proposed algorithms by extensive simulations using real-world workload traces from more than a thousand PlanetLab VMs. Copyright c © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An unusual case of transient neonatal pustular melanosis: a diagnostic puzzle

A newborn's skin may exhibit a variety of changes during the first weeks of life, and rashes are extremely common in the neonatal period, representing a significant source of parental concern. In particular, a variety of skin eruptions can present as pustules. Most of them are innocuous and self-limiting, while others can be the manifestation of an infectious disease or even indicative of serious underlying disorders. Transient neonatal pustular melanosis is an uncommon vesiculopustular rash characterized by small pustules on a non-erythematous base, noted at birth or during the first day of life, without systemic symptoms. The lesions rupture spontaneously, leaving hyperpigmented macules that usually fade within few weeks. Clinical recognition of this disease can help physicians avoid unnecessary diagnostic testing and treatment for infectious etiologies because no specific therapy is recommended. The clinical aspect and time of onset are generally sufficient to make the correct diagnosis. Nevertheless, peculiar clinical presentations may require additional work-up to rule out life-threatening conditions, and dermatological consultation and histological examination are required for the final diagnosis. Conclusion: We report an exceedingly unusual presentation of transient neonatal pustular melanosis, suggesting the importance of a systematic diagnostic approach to allow a confident recognition of this benign condition.
Real-time lip-tracking for lipreading

This paper presents a new approach to lip tracking for lipreading. Instead of only tracking features on lips, we propose to track lips along with other facial features such as pupils and nostril. In the new approach, the face is rst located in an image using a stochastic skin-color model, the eyes, lip-corners and nostrils are then located and tracked inside the facial region. The new approach can e ectively improve the robustness of lip-tracking and simplify automatic detection and recovery of tracking failure. The feasibility of the proposed approach has been demonstrated by implementation of a lip tracking system. The system has been tested by a database that contains 900 image sequences of di erent speakers spelling words. The system has successfully extract lip regions from the image sequences to obtain training data for the audio-visual speech recognition system. The system has been also applied to extract the lip region in real-time from live video images to obtain the visual input for an audio-visual speech recognition system. On test sequences we have achieved a reduction of the number of frames with tracking failures by a factor of two using detection and prediction of outliers in the set of found features.
Electrical connections between pulmonary veins: implication for ostial ablation of pulmonary veins in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND
Electrical disconnection of the myocardial extensions into arrhythmogenic pulmonary veins (PVs) is recognized as a curative technique for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the presence of electrical connections between the PVs, which may make achievement of PV disconnection difficult, has not been systematically evaluated.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Forty-nine consecutive patients with drug-resistant AF underwent ostial radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation of arrhythmogenic PVs with foci triggering AF. Pacing from inside the targeted PV was performed after each RF delivery to identify the left atrial exit site of the residual venoatrial conduction. Successful PV disconnection was defined as achieving elimination of the PV potentials during sinus rhythm or left atrial pacing, and the loss of left atrial conduction during intra-PV pacing. A total of 112 arrhythmogenic PVs were identified. PV disconnection was achieved with 10+/-6.1 minutes of RF delivery to the ostia of 101 targeted PVs. In 7 left superior (LS) PVs from 7 patients (14%), the earliest atrial activity was recorded from the left inferior (LI) PV ostium during intra-LSPV pacing after 11+/-4.7 minutes of RF delivery to the LSPV ostium. Disconnection of these LSPVs was achieved by LIPV disconnection. In the remaining 4 PVs from 4 patients, PV disconnection could not be achieved.


CONCLUSIONS
Fourteen percent of the patients had electrical connections between contiguous PVs. In these patients, ostial ablation of an untargeted PV was required for successful targeted PV disconnection.
Marketing and production capacity strategy for non-differentiated products : Winning and losing at the capacity cycle game

Abstract Customer satisfaction and supplier loyalty in markets where products are mainly undifferentiated are heavily affected by assurance of supply. Marketers manage production capacity in such markets to assure supply, but the resulting capacity competition leads to cycles of over-capacity followed by capacity deletions, which lead to under-capacity. We investigate some of the possible causes of this form of industry behavior in two ways. First, we report on an exploratory empirical investigation, motivated by in-depth interviews with industry executives, and develop a set of structural principles. We formalize those principles in a set of statistical models. Next, we review some related theory and identify a number of possible reasons that may combine to cause this phenomenon. We develop some simple, game theoretic models that focus on the issues of strategic interaction with demand uncertainty and different values of capacity change. We use the theory results to illustrate how over- and under-capacity situations arise. We compare our theoretical and empirical results and find an encouraging degree of convergence. We discuss the implications of these findings for individual firm strategies.
Surgical Management of Spontaneous Intrabiliary Rupture of Hydatid Liver Cysts

 The most common complication of hydatid liver cysts is spontaneous rupture into the biliary tract. This study was conducted to evaluate the surgical management of spontaneous intrabiliary rupture of a hydatid liver cyst in 41 patients. The preoperative diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound in all 41 patients, 37 of whom were jaundiced. According to Gharbi's classification, 39% of the cysts were type III and they ranged from 3 to 18 cm in diameter, with a mean diameter of 9 cm. The mean total bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase values were 6.3 mg/dl and 450 IU, respectively. Partial cystectomy, cholecystectomy, and common bile duct exploration were performed in all patients. In seven patients, the visible biliary duct within the cyst cavity was sutured with 2/0 silk. Intraoperative cholangiography was performed in all patients, and choledochoscopy was performed in 11 patients. A T-tube was inserted after the biliary tract content was thought to have been totally cleaned out in 38 patients (93%), and a choledochoduodenostomy was performed in 3 patients (7%). An external biliary fistula developed in five patients, persisting for 11–25 days. The fistulae healed within a mean period of 5 days after endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST). For patients without a fistula the mean hospitalization time was 8 days and there was no mortality. These results suggest that when a hydatid liver cyst ruptures into the biliary tract, common bile duct exploration should be conducted using intraoperative cholangiography and choledochoscopy. If the biliary tract is cleaned of all cystic content, T-tube drainage should be sufficient, but EST is an effective technique for treating persistent extended external biliary fistulae.
Uptake and effectiveness of the Children's Fitness Tax Credit in Canada: the rich get richer

BACKGROUND
The Government of Canada implemented a Children's Fitness Tax Credit (CFTC) in 2007 which allows a non-refundable tax credit of up to $500 to register a child in an eligible physical activity (PA) program. The purposes of this study were to assess whether the awareness, uptake, and perceived effectiveness of this tax credit varied by household income among Canadian parents.


METHODS
An internet-based panel survey was conducted in March 2009 with a representative sample of 2135 Canadians. Of those, parents with children aged 2 to 18 years of age (n = 1004) were asked if their child was involved in organized PA programs (including dance and sports), the associated costs to register their child in these programs, awareness of the CFTC, if they had claimed the CFTC for the tax year 2007, and whether they planned to claim it in the upcoming year. Parents were also asked if they believed the CFTC has lead to their child being more involved in PA programs.


RESULTS
Among parents, 54.4% stated their child was in organized PA and 55.5% were aware of the CFTC. Parents in the lowest income quartile were significantly less aware and less likely to claim the CFTC than other income groups. Among parents who had claimed the CFTC, few (15.6%) believed it had increased their child's participation in PA programs.


CONCLUSIONS
More than half of Canadian parents with children have claimed the CFTC. However, the tax credit appears to benefit the wealthier families in Canada.
Hourly Wages of full-time and part-time employees in Australia

This study investigates some aspects of part-time and full-time employment in Australia. The main objective is to analyze whether part-time workers receive lower hourly wages than full-time workers who have similar levels of human capital and perform similar jobs. The study is based on unit-record data from Wave I of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The results indicate that unadjusted part-time wage penalties of 21 per cent for men and seven per cent for women can be explained by selection into full-time or parttime employment and controls for human capital and type of job. There are no statistically significant adjusted wage differentials after controlling for selection into type of employment and workerand job-specific characteristics.
Factors Contributing to the Preference of Korean Patients with Crohn's Disease When Selecting an Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Agent (CHOICE Study).

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Two comparable anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents with different routes of administration (intravenous [iv] infliximab [IFX] vs subcutaneous [sc] adalimumab [ADA]) are available for patients with Crohn's disease (CD) in Korea. This study aimed to identify the preferences of Korean CD patients for a specific anti-TNF agent and the factors contributing to the decision.


METHODS
A prospective survey was performed among anti-TNF-naive CD patients in 10 tertiary referral hospitals. A 16-item questionnaire addressed patient preferences and the factors contributing to the decision in favor of a particular anti-TNF agent. A logistic regression was conducted to assess predictive factors for ADA preference.


RESULTS
Overall, 189 patients (139 males; mean age, 32.47±11.71 years) completed the questionnaire. IFX and ADA were preferred by 63.5% (120/189) and 36.5% (69/189) of patients, respectively. The most influential reason for choosing IFX was 'doctor's presence' (68.3%, 82/120), and ADA was "easy to use" (34.8%, 24/69). Amid various clinicodemographic data, having a >60-minute travel time to the hospital was a significant independent predictive factor for ADA preference.


CONCLUSIONS
A large number of anti-TNF-naive Korean patients with CD preferred anti-TNFs with an iv route of administration. The reassuring effect of a doctor's presence might be the main contributing factor for this decision.
A multilevel voltage-source inverter with separate DC sources for static VAr generation

A new multilevel voltage-source inverter with separate dc sources is proposed for high-voltage, high-power applications, such as flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) including static var generation (SVG), power line conditioning, series compensation, phase shifting, voltage balancing, fuel cell and photovoltaic utility systems interfacing, etc. The new M-level inverter consists of (M-1)/2 single phase full bridges in which each bridge has its own separate dc source. This inverter can generate almost sinusoidal waveform voltage with only one time switching per cycle as the number of levels increases. It can solve the problems of conventional transformer-based multipulse inverters and the problems of the multilevel diode-clamped inverter and the multilevel flying capacitor inverter. To demonstrate the superiority of the new inverter, a SVG system using the new inverter topology is discussed through analysis, simulation and experiment.
Significant natural heritage resources of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology site and their conservation : Phase II, the buffer zone : final report, final rev.

Includes: Natural heritage resources of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology site and their conservation : Phase I, Rock Creek : final report / prepared by: S. M. Kettler ... [et al.]