LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of therapeutic effects of omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid and fluoxetine, separately and in combination, in major depressive disorder.

OBJECTIVE
To compare therapeutic effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), fluoxetine and a combination of them in major depression.


METHOD
Sixty outpatients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder based on DSM-IV criteria and a score >or=15 in the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were randomly allocated to receive daily either 1000 mg EPA or 20 mg fluoxetine, or their combination for 8 weeks. Double dummy technique was used to double blind the study. Patients were assessed at 2 week intervals. Change in HDRS was the primary outcome measure.


RESULTS
Analysis of covariance for HDRS at week 8 across treatment groups was performed in 48 patients who completed at least 4 weeks of the study, with the last observation carried forward. Treatment, age of onset and baseline HDRS had a significant effect on HDRS at week 8. EPA + fluoxetine combination was significantly better than fluoxetine or EPA alone from the fourth week of treatment. Fluoxetine and EPA appear to be equally effective in controlling depressive symptoms. Response rates (>or=50% decrease in baseline HDRS) were 50%, 56% and 81% in the fluoxetine, EPA and combination groups, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
In the present 8 week trial EPA and fluoxetine had equal therapeutic effects in major depressive disorder. EPA + fluoxetine combination was superior to either of them alone.
Kettlebell training for musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this trial was to investigate the effectiveness of a worksite intervention using kettlebell training to improve musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health.


METHODS
This single-blind randomized controlled trial involved 40 adults from occupations with a high prevalence of reported musculoskeletal pain symptoms (mean age 44 years, body mass index 23 kg/m², 85% women, with pain intensity of the neck/shoulders 3.5 and of the low back 2.8 on a scale of 0-10). A blinded assessor took measures at baseline and follow-up. Participants were randomly assigned to training--consisting of ballistic full-body kettlebell exercise 3 times per week for 8 weeks--or a control group. The main outcome measures were pain intensity of the neck/shoulders and low back, isometric muscle strength, and aerobic fitness.


RESULTS
Compared with the control group, pain intensity of the neck/shoulders decreased 2.1 points [95% confidence interval (95% CI) -3.7- -0.4] and pain intensity of the low back decreased 1.4 points (95% CI -2.7- -0.02) in the training group. Compared with the control group, the training group increased muscle strength of the trunk extensors (P<0.001), but not of the trunk flexors and shoulders. Aerobic fitness remained unchanged.


CONCLUSIONS
Worksite intervention using kettlebell training reduces pain in the neck/shoulders and low back and improves muscle strength of the low back among adults from occupations with a high prevalence of reported musculoskeletal pain symptoms. This type of training does not appear to improve aerobic fitness.
Novel Fractional Treatments with VSP Erbium YAG Aesthetic Lasers

Indications for use of the Er:YAG laser are continuously expanding. In this paper, the latest Pixel Screen Technology (PST) fractional technique for minimally invasive Er:YAG skin rejuvenation is presented. The fractional technique is based on a concept of producing an array of microscopic wounds on the skin surface that are rapidly reepithelialized by the surrounding, undamaged tissue, thus sparing the epidermis. The advantage of PST compared to other fractional technologies is that it allows the quality and the parameters of the laser beam within the pixels to remain unchanged compared to the basic beam properties. This enables the practitioner to perform nine basic ablative and one non-ablative treatment at fully clinically tested laser parameters. PST provides another dimension in the treatment of various skin conditions, avoiding some of the adverse effects of ablative laser procedures while improving the limited efficacy of the non-ablative treatments. The combination of Fotona’s latest Er:YAG technologies, presented in this paper (SMOOTH mode, PST and TURBO mode), provide the practitioner with an unequaled 11 basic and 11 fractional treatment modalities.
Safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of a single dose of pasireotide long-acting release in healthy volunteers: a single-center Phase I study.

OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PKs) of different doses of a long-acting release (LAR) formulation of pasireotide in healthy subjects.


DESIGN
Single-center, open-label, randomized Phase I study.


METHODS
Twelve healthy male subjects received a single s.c. dose of pasireotide 300 μg followed by a washout period of 7 days (or at least 5 days), before receiving an i.m. injection of pasireotide -LAR 40 mg (n=5) or 60 mg (n=7). Assessments included adverse events (AEs), PKs, and glucose, insulin, glucagon, and HbA1c levels.


RESULTS
Pasireotide LAR showed an extended-release profile over 1 month with two concentration peaks observed 1 and around 20 days after injection. The area under curve exposure of pasireotide LAR was dose proportional when the dose levels were compared, and the bioavailability of the LAR relative to the s.c. formulation was complete. Administration of pasireotide LAR resulted in an increase in fasting and postprandial glucose levels; however, an attenuation of the hyperglycemic effect was observed after 15 days. The most frequently reported AEs were mild-to-moderate diarrhea, abdominal pain, and flatulence. Only gastrointestinal AEs and injection site reactions were suspected to be drug related.


CONCLUSIONS
Pasireotide LAR was generally well tolerated with mostly mild AEs at doses up to 60 mg and showed a dose-proportional, extended-release profile in healthy subjects. Based on the favorable results of this study, further clinical development of pasireotide LAR is under way, which will give insight into the PKs, efficacy, and safety of pasireotide LAR in patient populations.
Cost-effectiveness of lumbar supports for home care workers with recurrent low back pain: an economic evaluation alongside a randomized-controlled trial.

STUDY DESIGN
Economic evaluation from a societal perspective alongside a 12-months randomized-controlled trial.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the cost-effectiveness of wearing a lumbar support for home care workers with recurrent low back pain (LBP) (secondary prevention).


SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA
LBP is a large medical and economical burden. Evidence on the secondary preventive use of lumbar supports is sparse.


METHODS
A total of 360 home care workers with a self-reported history of LBP were randomly assigned to usual care or usual care plus wearing a lumbar support on working days with LBP, during a 1-year period. Primary clinical outcome measures were the average number of self-reported days with LBP, number of calendar days sick leave in general, and quality of life. Direct and indirect costs were measured by means of cost diaries. Differences in mean costs between groups, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility ratios were evaluated, and cost-effectiveness planes and acceptability curves presented by applying nonparametric bootstrapping techniques.


RESULTS
During the intervention period, the home care workers using a lumbar support in addition to usual care reported on average 54 fewer days with LBP (95% confidence interval [CI], -85 to -29). The estimated mean difference in sick leave was not statistically significant (-5.0 days per year in favor of the lumbar support group; 95% CI, -21.1 to 6.8). There was no statistically significant difference in quality of life. Direct costs were 235 euros (US$ 266) lower in the lumbar support group (95% CI, -386 to -79). Indirect costs were 255 euros (US$ 288) lower, but this was not statistically significant (95% CI, -879 to 299).


CONCLUSION
Lumbar support seems to be a cost-effective addition to usual care for home care workers with recurrent LBP. For estimating the LBP-related indirect costs, it would be more precise when an objective measure for LBP-related sick leave would have been available. There is a need for more evidence to confirm these findings, also in other working populations.
Modeling and simulation as a cloud service: A survey

Modelling and simulation as a service (MSaaS) is defined, and the differences between MSaaS and Software as a Service are clarified. MSaaS architectures and deployment strategies are surveyed. The top threats to cloud computing and MSaaS, the other security challenges and technical requirements are explained. Accountability, risk and trust modelling are related to each other and also to security and privacy. Those notions and their relations are presented. MSaaS composition in multi-datacenter and/or multi-cloud scenarios is also elaborated on.
The Lomax generator of distributions: Properties, minification process and regression model

We propose a new class of distributions called the Lomax generator with two extra positive parameters to generalize any continuous baseline distribution. Some special models such as the Lomax-normal, Lomax–Weibull, Lomax-log-logistic and Lomax–Pareto distributions are discussed. Some mathematical properties of the new generator including ordinary and incomplete moments, quantile and generating functions, mean and median deviations, distribution of the order statistics and some entropy measures are presented. We discuss the estimation of the model parameters by maximum likelihood. We propose a minification process based on the marginal Lomax-exponential distribution. We define a logLomax–Weibull regression model for censored data. The importance of the new generator is illustrated by means of three real data sets. 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Is 2D Information Enough For Viewpoint Estimation?

What does this paper demonstrate. We show that a very simple 2D architecture (in the sense that it does not make any assumption or reasoning about the 3D information of the object) generally used for object classification, if properly adapted to the specific task, can provide top performance also for pose estimation. More specifically, we demonstrate how a 1-vs-all classification framework based on a Fisher Vector (FV) [1] pyramid or convolutional neural network (CNN) based features [2] can be used for pose estimation. In addition, suppressing neighboring viewpoints during training seems key to get good results.
Rule caching in SDN-enabled mobile access networks

An SDN enabled mobile access network is a future network with great potential to support scalable and flexible network applications. To support various network applications, the SDN-enabled mobile access network usually uses forwarding rules in SDN devices. With a limited rule space in existing SDN devices, a rule caching mechanism is an efficient way to improve network performance. In this article we propose SRCMN, which is a new caching structure to improve network performance with a limited rule space in the SDN-enabled mobile access network. We design a two-layer rule space in each SDN device, which is managed by the SDN controller. We also design a cache prefetching mechanism with the consideration of user mobility. By conducting extensive simulations, we demonstrate that our proposed structure and mechanism significantly outperform original rule space management under various network settings.
Emotional Responses to Art : From Collation and Arousal to Cognition and Emotion

Article: Emotions and art are intimately related (Tan, 2000). From ancient to modern times, theories of aesthetics have emphasized the role of art in evoking, shaping, and modifying human feelings. The experimental study of preferences, evaluations, and feelings related to art has a long history in psychology. Aesthetics is one of the oldest areas of psychological research, dating to Fechner's (1876) landmark work. Psychology has had a steady interest in aesthetic problems since then, but art has never received as much attention as one would expect (see Berlyne, 1971a; Tan, 2000; Valentine, 1962). The study of art and the study of emotions, as areas of scientific inquiry, both languished during much of the last century. It is not surprising that the behavioral emphasis on observable action over inner experience would lead to a neglect of research on aesthetics. In an interesting coincidence, both art and emotion resurfaced in psychology at about the same time. As emotion psychologists began developing theories of basic emotions (Ekman & Friesen, 1971; Izard, 1971; Tomkins, 1962), experimental psychologists began tackling hedonic qualities of art (Berlyne, 1971a, 1972, 1974). Since then, the psychology of emotion and the psychology of art have had little contact (see Silvia, in press-b; Tan, 2000).
Predicting Customer Churn in Telecom Industry using Multilayer Preceptron Neural Networks : Modeling and Analysis

Churn represents the problem of losing a customer to another business competitor which leads to serious profit loss. Therefore, many companies investigate different techniques that can predict churn rates and help in designing effective plans for customer retention. In this study we investigate the application of Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural networks with back-propagation learning for churn prediction in a telecommunication company. Different MLP topologies with different settings are used to build churn classification models. Moreover, two MLP based approaches are used and compared in order to rank the most influencing factors on churn rates. For the purpose of this research, real data of customers in a major Jordanian telecom company were provided. [Omar Adwan, Hossam Faris, Khalid Jaradat, Osama Harfoushi and Nazeeh Ghatasheh. Predicting Customer Churn in Telecom Industry using MLP Neural Networks: Modeling and Analysis. Life Sci J 2014;11(3):75-81]. (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 11
CORRIDOR NAVIGATION OF A MOBILE ROBOT USING A CAMERA AND SENSORS — MULTI-AGENT APPROACH

SENSORS—MULTI-AGENT APPROACH by YUKI ONO (Under the Direction of Walter D. Potter) ABSTRACT This thesis addresses two issues in robotic application: an issue concerned with the verification of how well the existing heuristic methods compensate for uncertainty caused by sensing the unstructured environment, and an issue focusing on the design and implementation of a control system that is easily expandable and portable to another robotic platform aiming to future research and application. Using a robot equipped with a minimal set of sensors such as a camera and infrared sensors, our multi-agent based control system is built to tackle various problems encountered during corridor navigation. The control system consists of four agents: an agent responsible for handling sensors, an agent which identifies a corridor using machine vision techniques, an agent which avoids collisions applying fuzzy logic to proximity data, and an agent responsible for locomotion. In the experiments, the robot’s performance demonstrates the feasibility of a multi-agent approach.
Low Ambient Temperature and Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The INTERACT2 Study

BACKGROUND
Rates of acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) increase in winter months but the magnitude of risk is unknown. We aimed to quantify the association of ambient temperature with the risk of ICH in the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Haemorrhage Trial (INTERACT2) participants on an hourly timescale.


METHODS
INTERACT2 was an international, open, blinded endpoint, randomized controlled trial of patients with spontaneous ICH (<6h of onset) and elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP, 150-220 mmHg) assigned to intensive (target SBP <140 mmHg) or guideline-recommended (SBP <180 mmHg) BP treatment. We linked individual level hourly temperature to baseline data of 1997 participants, and performed case-crossover analyses using a distributed lag non-linear model with 24h lag period to assess the association of ambient temperature and risk of ICH. Results were presented as overall cumulative odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CI.


RESULTS
Low ambient temperature (≤10°C) was associated with increased risks of ICH: overall cumulative OR was 1.37 (0.99-1.91) for 10°C, 1.92 (1.31-2.81) for 0°C, 3.13 (1.89-5.19) for -10°C, and 5.76 (2.30-14.42) for -20°C, as compared with a reference temperature of 20°C.There was no clear relation of low temperature beyond three hours after exposure. Results were consistent in sensitivity analyses.


CONCLUSIONS
Exposure to low ambient temperature within several hours increases the risk of ICH.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00716079.
FIND-CKD: a randomized trial of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose versus oral iron in patients with chronic kidney disease and iron deficiency anaemia

BACKGROUND
The optimal iron therapy regimen in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown.


METHODS
Ferinject® assessment in patients with Iron deficiency anaemia and Non-Dialysis-dependent Chronic Kidney Disease (FIND-CKD) was a 56-week, open-label, multicentre, prospective and randomized study of 626 patients with non-dialysis-dependent CKD, anaemia and iron deficiency not receiving erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). Patients were randomized (1:1:2) to intravenous (IV) ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), targeting a higher (400-600 µg/L) or lower (100-200 µg/L) ferritin or oral iron therapy. The primary end point was time to initiation of other anaemia management (ESA, other iron therapy or blood transfusion) or haemoglobin (Hb) trigger of two consecutive values <10 g/dL during Weeks 8-52.


RESULTS
The primary end point occurred in 36 patients (23.5%), 49 patients (32.2%) and 98 patients (31.8%) in the high-ferritin FCM, low-ferritin FCM and oral iron groups, respectively [hazard ratio (HR): 0.65; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.44-0.95; P = 0.026 for high-ferritin FCM versus oral iron]. The increase in Hb was greater with high-ferritin FCM versus oral iron (P = 0.014) and a greater proportion of patients achieved an Hb increase ≥1 g/dL with high-ferritin FCM versus oral iron (HR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.52-2.72; P < 0.001). Rates of adverse events and serious adverse events were similar in all groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Compared with oral iron, IV FCM targeting a ferritin of 400-600 µg/L quickly reached and maintained Hb level, and delayed and/or reduced the need for other anaemia management including ESAs. Within the limitations of this trial, no renal toxicity was observed, with no difference in cardiovascular or infectious events.


CLINICALTRIALSGOV NUMBER
NCT00994318.
Tag-Splitting: Adaptive Collision Arbitration Protocols for RFID Tag Identification

Tag identification is an important tool in RFID systems with applications for monitoring and tracking. A RFID reader recognizes tags through communication over a shared wireless channel. When multiple tags transmit their IDs simultaneously, the tag-to-reader signals collide and this collision disturbs a reader's identification process. Therefore, tag collision arbitration for passive tags is a significant issue for fast identification. This paper presents two adaptive tag anticollision protocols: an Adaptive Query Splitting protocol (AQS), which is an improvement on the query tree protocol, and an Adaptive Binary Splitting protocol (ABS), which is based on the binary tree protocol and is a de facto standard for RFID anticollision protocols. To reduce collisions and identify tags efficiently, adaptive tag anticollision protocols use information obtained from the last process of tag identification. Our performance evaluation shows that AQS and ABS outperform other tree-based tag anticollision protocols.
Population-based study of long-term functional outcomes after prostate cancer treatment.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate long-term urinary, sexual and bowel functional outcomes after prostate cancer treatment at a median (interquartile range) follow-up of 12 (11-13) years.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
In this nationwide, population-based study, we identified 6 003 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer (clinical local stage T1-2, any Gleason score, prostate-specific antigen <20 ng/mL, NX or N0, MX or M0) between 1997 and 2002 from the National Prostate Cancer Register, Sweden. The men were aged ≤70 years at diagnosis. A control group of 1 000 men without prostate cancer were also selected, matched for age and county of residence. Functional outcomes were evaluated with a validated self-reported questionnaire.


RESULTS
Responses were obtained from 3 937/6 003 cases (66%) and 459/1 000 (46%) controls. At 12 years after diagnosis and at a median age of 75 years, the proportion of cases with adverse symptoms was 87% for erectile dysfunction/sexual inactivity, 20% for urinary incontinence and 14% for bowel disturbances. The corresponding proportions for controls were 62, 6 and 7%, respectively. Men with prostate cancer, except those on surveillance, had an increased risk of erectile dysfunction compared with the men in the control group. Radical prostatectomy was associated with an increased risk of urinary incontinence (odds ratio [OR] 1.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36-2.62) and radiotherapy increased the risk of bowel dysfunction (OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.73-3.49) compared with men in the control group. Multi-modal treatment, in particular treatment including androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), was associated with the highest risk of adverse effects; for instance, radical prostatectomy followed by radiotherapy and ADT was associated with an OR of 3.74 (95% CI 1.76-7.95) for erectile dysfunction and an OR of 3.22 (95% CI 1.93-5.37) for urinary incontinence.


CONCLUSION
The proportion of men who experienced a long-term impact on functional outcomes after prostate cancer treatment was substantial.
An RCT to evaluate the utility of a clinical protocol for staff in the management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in residential aged-care settings.

OBJECTIVES
Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) cause significant stress and distress to both aged-care residents and staff. This study evaluated a training program to assist staff to manage BPSD in residential care.


METHOD
A randomised controlled trial (RCT) was employed. The study was included in the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Register residential care facilities. Staff (n = 204) and residents (n = 187) were from 16 residential care facilities. Facilities were recruited and randomly assigned to four staff training conditions: (1) training in the use of a BPSD-structured clinical protocol, plus external clinical support, (2) a workshop on BPSD, plus external clinical support, (3) training in the use of the structured clinical protocol alone, and (4) care as usual. Staff and resident outcome measures were obtained pre-intervention, three months and six months post-intervention. The primary outcome was changes in BPSD, measured using the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) as well as frequency and duration of challenging behaviors. Secondary outcomes were changes in staff adjustment.


RESULTS
There were improvements in challenging behaviors for both intervention conditions that included training in the BPSD instrument, but these were not maintained in the condition without clinical support. The training/support condition resulted in sustained improvements in both staff and resident variables, whereas the other conditions only led to improvement in some of the measured variables.


CONCLUSION
These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the BPSD protocol in reducing BPSD and improving staff self-efficacy and stress.