LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Echocardiographic correlates of acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock, and in-hospital mortality in tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to determine clinical and echocardiographic correlates of acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock and in-hospital mortality in a large cohort of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) patients.


BACKGROUND
Despite good long-term prognosis, life-threatening complications due to hemodynamic instability can occur early in TTC patients.


METHODS
The study population consisted of 227 patients (66.2 ± 12.2 years of age; females, 90.3%) enrolled in the Tako-tsubo Italian Network, undergoing transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography on admission and at short-term follow-up (4.3 [4 to 6] weeks). Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of major adverse events, a composite of acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock, and in-hospital mortality.


RESULTS
Major adverse events occurred in 59 patients (25.9%). The variables for elderly patients ≥ 75 years of age (42.4% vs. 23.8%; p = 0.011): left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (35.1 ± 5.9% vs. 38.4 ± 4.6%, p < 0.001), wall motion score index (1.9 ± 0.2 vs. 1.7 ± 0.2, p < 0.001), E/e' ratio (13.5 ± 4.3 vs. 9.9 ± 3.3 [where E/e' is ratio of mitral E peak velocity and averaged e' velocity], p < 0.001), LV outflow tract obstruction (23.7 vs. 8.9%, p = 0.006), pulmonary artery systolic pressure (47.4 ± 12.3 mm Hg vs. 38.0 ± 9.2 mm Hg; p < 0.001), right ventricular involvement (28.8 vs. 9.5%; p < 0.001), and reversible moderate-to-severe mitral regurgitation (49.1 vs. 11.9%; p < 0.001), were significantly different between groups and were associated with adverse events. At multivariate analysis, LV ejection fraction (HR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.89 to 0.95; p < 0.001), E/e' ratio (HR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.24; p = 0.011), reversible moderate to severe mitral regurgitation (HR: 3.25; 95% CI: 1.16 to 9.10; p = 0.025), and age ≥ 75 years (HR: 2.81; 95% CI: 1.05 to 7.52; p = 0.039) were independent correlates of major adverse events.


CONCLUSIONS
Echocardiographic parameters provide additional information compared to other variables routinely used in clinical practice to identify patients at higher risk of hemodynamic deterioration and poor in-hospital outcome, allowing prompt institution of appropriate pharmacological treatment and adequate mechanical support.
Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Anxiety Disorders

Cannabidiol (CBD), a Cannabis sativa constituent, is a pharmacologically broad-spectrum drug that in recent years has drawn increasing interest as a treatment for a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. The purpose of the current review is to determine CBD’s potential as a treatment for anxiety-related disorders, by assessing evidence from preclinical, human experimental, clinical, and epidemiological studies. We found that existing preclinical evidence strongly supports CBD as a treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder when administered acutely; however, few studies have investigated chronic CBD dosing. Likewise, evidence from human studies supports an anxiolytic role of CBD, but is currently limited to acute dosing, also with few studies in clinical populations. Overall, current evidence indicates CBD has considerable potential as a treatment for multiple anxiety disorders, with need for further study of chronic and therapeutic effects in relevant clinical populations.
Medical and psychosocial predictors of mechanical circulatory support device implantation and competing outcomes in the Waiting for a New Heart Study.

BACKGROUND
Medical and psychosocial factors are related to 1-year outcomes in the Waiting for a New Heart Study. With increased use of mechanical circulatory support devices (MCSD) over the course of the study, we can now evaluate these variables as predictors of MCSD in an extended follow-up.


METHODS
Analyses focused on 313 MCSD-free patients (82% men; aged 53 ± 11 years) newly listed for heart transplantation (HTx). Variables assessed at time of listing included psychosocial risk (depression, social isolation), quality of life, waiting list stress, and medical risk (Heart Failure Survival Score, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure). Cumulative incidence functions and cause-specific Cox models examined the association of medical and psychosocial risk (low: non-depressed and socially integrated; medium: depressed or socially isolated; high: depressed and socially isolated) with time until MCSD, considering covariates and competing outcomes (death, high-urgency transplantation [HU-HTx], elective HTx, and delisting due to clinical improvement or deterioration).


RESULTS
Psychosocial risk groups were comparable regarding demographics, medical parameters, and quality of life, but differed in waiting list-related stressors. During follow-up (median, 326; range, 5-1,849 days), 26 patients received MCSD, 53 died, 144 underwent HTx (103 in HU status), and 53 were delisted (15 deteriorated, 31 improved). Non-depressed and socially integrated patients did not require MCSD. Controlling for medical risk, psychosocial risk significantly contributed to MCSD, HU-HTx, and improvement; medical risk and female gender predicted death (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Psychosocial risk at time of listing affects the prognosis of HTx candidates beyond medical risk. Psychosocial interventions may help to stabilize patients' health.
Improving Accelerometer-Based Activity Recognition by Using Ensemble of Classifiers

In line with the increasing use of sensors and health application, there are huge efforts on processing of collected data to extract valuable information such as accelerometer data. This study will propose activity recognition model aim to detect the activities by employing ensemble of classifiers techniques using the Wireless Sensor Data Mining (WISDM). The model will recognize six activities namely walking, jogging, upstairs, downstairs, sitting, and standing. Many experiments are conducted to determine the best classifier combination for activity recognition. An improvement is observed in the performance when the classifiers are combined than when used individually. An ensemble model is built using AdaBoost in combination with decision tree algorithm C4.5. The model effectively enhances the performance with an accuracy level of 94.04 %. Keywords—Activity Recognition; Sensors; Smart phones; accelerometer data; Data mining; Ensemble
Urban ecotourism: a contradiction in terms?

This article examines recent developments in the New Zealand ecotourism sector that highlight the limitations of definitions of ecotourism. It considers the contemporary development of commercial ecotourism operations in urban contexts in New Zealand. The phenomenon of urban ecotourism demonstrates various inherent contradictions relating to definitions of ecotourism. Selected definitions are considered in an attempt to review an extensive and voluminous, but important, literature. Three case studies are then presentedto demonstrate the praiseworthy nature of ecotourism development initiatives in urban contexts. The authors conclude that notwithstanding the contradictions, urban ecotourism developments are more able than most to fulfil the lofty ambitions to which ecotourism operators are required to aspire.
Three-Receiver Broadcast Channels With Common and Confidential Messages

This paper establishes inner bounds on the secrecy capacity regions for the general three-receiver broadcast channel with one common and one confidential message sets. We consider two setups. The first is when the confidential message is to be sent to two receivers and kept secret from the third receiver. Achievability is established using indirect decoding, Wyner wiretap channel coding, and the new idea of generating secrecy from a publicly available superposition codebook. The inner bound is shown to be tight for a class of reversely degraded broadcast channels and when both legitimate receivers are less noisy than the third receiver. The second setup investigated in this paper is when the confidential message is to be sent to one receiver and kept secret from the other two receivers. Achievability in this case follows from Wyner wiretap channel coding and indirect decoding. This inner bound is also shown to be tight for several special cases.
Security Challenges and Opportunities of Software-Defined Networking

Is software-defined networking (SDN) friend or foe in terms of security? Drawing on a recent Dagstuhl seminar, the authors discuss SDN's security challenges, debate strategies to monitor and protect SDN-enabled networks, and propose methods and strategies to leverage SDN's flexibility for designing new security mechanisms.
Delayed first consultation after diagnosis of HIV infection in Cameroon.

OBJECTIVES
To study the impact of both decentralization of HIV care and individual factors on delayed first consultation (> or =6 months) after HIV diagnosis in Cameroon, in the context of the national antiretroviral treatment scale-up program.


DESIGN
The national cross-sectional multicenter survey EVAL (ANRS 12-116) was conducted from September 2006 to March 2007 in 27 HIV centers in Cameroon.


METHODS
: Logistic regression was used to characterize patients with delayed first consultation among 3151 HIV-infected adults.


RESULTS
Fifteen percent of patients reported a delay of at least 6 months before their first consultation after HIV diagnosis. In the multivariate analysis adjusted for the frequency of visits to the HIV center, independent correlates of reporting a delay of at least 6 months before consulting included the characteristics of the HIV centers (created before 2005 and located in small or medium-size hospitals) and the following individual patient characteristics: sex and matrimonial status (women living in a couple), the circumstances of the HIV diagnosis (test not performed in the hospital providing HIV care, test performed during a voluntary screening campaign) and patient's negative perception of antiretroviral treatment toxicity.


CONCLUSION
Delays before first consultation for HIV care in Cameroon have been reduced, thanks to the full implementation of the national program of decentralization. Results underline the importance of coordinating diagnosis with treatment activities and the need to develop counseling actions, focusing on the balance between antiretroviral treatment effectiveness and its potential side effects. Counseling should also be part of patients' follow-up after diagnosis during voluntary screening campaigns.
Does skeletal muscle have an ‘epi’‐memory? The role of epigenetics in nutritional programming, metabolic disease, aging and exercise

Skeletal muscle mass, quality and adaptability are fundamental in promoting muscle performance, maintaining metabolic function and supporting longevity and healthspan. Skeletal muscle is programmable and can 'remember' early-life metabolic stimuli affecting its function in adult life. In this review, the authors pose the question as to whether skeletal muscle has an 'epi'-memory? Following an initial encounter with an environmental stimulus, we discuss the underlying molecular and epigenetic mechanisms enabling skeletal muscle to adapt, should it re-encounter the stimulus in later life. We also define skeletal muscle memory and outline the scientific literature contributing to this field. Furthermore, we review the evidence for early-life nutrient stress and low birth weight in animals and human cohort studies, respectively, and discuss the underlying molecular mechanisms culminating in skeletal muscle dysfunction, metabolic disease and loss of skeletal muscle mass across the lifespan. We also summarize and discuss studies that isolate muscle stem cells from different environmental niches in vivo (physically active, diabetic, cachectic, aged) and how they reportedly remember this environment once isolated in vitro. Finally, we will outline the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle memory and review the epigenetic regulation of exercise-induced skeletal muscle adaptation, highlighting exercise interventions as suitable models to investigate skeletal muscle memory in humans. We believe that understanding the 'epi'-memory of skeletal muscle will enable the next generation of targeted therapies to promote muscle growth and reduce muscle loss to enable healthy aging.
Safety of a GM-CSF adjuvant-plasmid DNA malaria vaccine

MuStDO 5 is a multivalent plasmid DNA vaccine for malaria comprised of five plasmid DNAs encoding five proteins from Plasmodium falciparum and one plasmid DNA encoding human GM-CSF. To evaluate the safety of MuStDO 5, a series of pre-clinical studies were conducted in mice and rabbits. In pharmacology studies in mice, GM-CSF could not be detected in the serum following either intramuscular or a combined intramuscular/intradermal administration of the vaccine, but was readily detected in the muscle following intramuscular administration. In a tissue distribution study in mice, MuStDO 5 plasmid DNA was detected by PCR initially in highly vascularized tissues, while at later time-points the plasmid DNA was detected primarily at the site(s) of injection. In GLP safety studies in mice and rabbits, repeated intramuscular/intradermal administration of the MuStDO 5 vaccine was found to be safe and well tolerated without any evidence of autoimmune pathology.
A novel continuum-style robot with multilayer compliant modules

This paper introduces a novel continuum-style robot that integrates multiple layers of compliant modules. Its essential features lie in that its bending is not based on natural compliance of a continuous backbone element or soft skeletal elements but instead is based on the compliance of each structured planar module. This structure provides several important advantages. First, it demonstrates a large linear bending motion, whilst avoiding joint friction. Second, its contraction and bending motion are decoupled. Third, it possesses ideal back-drivability and a low hysteresis. We further provide an analytical method to study the compliance characteristics of the planar module and derive the statics and kinematics of the robot. The paper provides an overview of experiments validating the design and analysis.
The five-tier knowledge management hierarchy

Purpose – Many terms commonly used in the field of knowledge management (KM) have multiple uses and sometimes conflicting definitions because they are adapted from other research streams. Discussions of the various hierarchies of data, information, knowledge, and other related terms, although of value, are limited in providing support for KM. The purpose of this this paper is to define a new set of terminology and develop a five-tier knowledge management hierarchy (5TKMH) that can provide guidance to managers involved in KM efforts. Design/methodology/approach – The 5TKMH is developed by extending the knowledge hierarchy to include an individual and an innovation tier. Findings – The 5TKMH includes all of the types of KM identified in the literature, provides a tool for evaluating the KM effort in a firm, identifies the relationships between knowledge sources, and provides an evolutionary path for KM efforts within the firm. Research limitations/implications – The 5TKMH has not been formally tested. Practical implications – The 5TKMH supports a KM life-cycle that provides guidance to the chief knowledge officer and can be employed to inventory knowledge assets, evaluate KM strategy, and plan and manage the evolution of knowledge assets in the firm. Originality/value – In this paper, a new set of terminology is defined and a 5TKMH is developed that can provide guidance to managers involved in KM efforts and determining the future path of KM in the firm.
Staff attitudes and the associations with treatment organisation, clinical practices and outcomes in opioid maintenance treatment

BACKGROUND
In opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) there are documented treatment differences both between countries and between OMT programmes. Some of these differences have been associated with staff attitudes. The aim of this study was to 1) assess if there were differences in staff attitudes within a national OMT programme, and 2) investigate the associations of staff attitudes with treatment organisation, clinical practices and outcomes.


METHODS
This study was a cross-sectional multicentre study. Norwegian OMT staff (n = 140) were invited to participate in this study in 2007 using an instrument measuring attitudes towards OMT. The OMT programme comprised 14 regional centres. Data describing treatment organisation, clinical practices and patient outcomes in these centres were extracted from the annual OMT programme assessment 2007. Centres were divided into three groups based upon mean attitudinal scores and labelled; "rehabilitation-oriented", "harm reduction-oriented" and "intermediate" centres.


RESULTS
All invited staff (n = 140) participated. Staff attitudes differed between the centres. "Rehabilitation-oriented" centres had smaller caseloads, more frequent urine drug screening and increased case management (interdisciplinary meetings). In addition these centres had less drug use and more social rehabilitation among their patients in terms of long-term living arrangements, unemployment, and social security benefits as main income. "Intermediate" centres had the lowest treatment termination rate.


CONCLUSIONS
This study identified marked variations in staff attitudes between the regional centres within a national OMT programme. These variations were associated with measurable differences in caseload, intensity of case management and patient outcomes.
Hardware factorization based on elliptic curve method

The security of the most popular asymmetric cryptographic scheme RSA depends on the hardness of factoring large numbers. The best known method for factorization large integers is the general number field sieve (GNFS). Recently, architectures for special purpose hardware for the GNFS have been proposed. One important step within the GNFS is the factorization of mid-size numbers for smoothness testing, an efficient algorithm for which is the elliptic curve method (ECM). Since the smoothness testing is also suitable for parallelization, it is promising to improve ECM via special-purpose hardware. We show that massive parallel and cost efficient ECM hardware engines can improve the cost-time product of the RSA moduli factorization via the GNFS considerably. The computation of ECM is a classical example for an algorithm that can be significantly accelerated through special-purpose hardware. In this work, we present an efficient hardware implementation of ECM to factor numbers up to 200 bits, which is also scalable to other bit lengths. For proof-of-concept purposes, ECM is realized as a software-hardware co-design on an FPGA and an embedded microcontroller. This appears to be the first publication of a realized hardware implementation of ECM, and the first description of GNFS acceleration through hardware-based ECM.
From Engineer to Mompreneur: Brooks progresses through the ranks [WIE from Around the World]

Careers in engineering offer many opportunities and open a variety of doors. I know this fact to be true firsthand. When it was time to select a career path, I was torn. I enjoyed writing, teaching, helping others, reporting, and solving problems. Choosing a career in engineering has given me the opportunity to experience all of my interests and more.
Information Authentication: Hash Functions and Digital Signatures

The goal of this paper is to discuss techniques for the protection of the authenticity of information. The theoretical background is sketched, but most attention is paid to overview the large number of practical constructions for symmetric authentication and digital signatures.
Clinically available NMDA receptor antagonists memantine and dextromethorphan reverse existing tolerance to the antinociceptive effects of morphine in mice

The tail-flick test was used to investigate the effects of chronic administration of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, dextromethorphan, memantine and MRZ 2/579, on the development and reversal of morphine tolerance in mice in three separate experiments. Experiment 1 investigated the effects of NMDA receptor antagonists on the development of tolerance. Morphine (10 mg/kg for 6 days, twice daily) produced a 5.9-fold rightward shift of the cumulative dose-response curves. Co-administration of dextromethorphan, memantine or MRZ 2/579 between tests 1 and 2 dose-dependently (5–10 mg/kg) inhibited the development of morphine tolerance. In experiment 2, in which the effects on the reversal were investigated, morphine-tolerant mice were treated b.i.d. for an additional 6 days (between tests 2 and 3) with vehicle+vehicle, NMDA receptor antagonist+vehicle, vehicle+morphine or NMDA receptor antagonist+morphine. Morphine-tolerant mice treated with vehicle+vehicle remained morphine tolerant, whereas this residual morphine tolerance was inhibited by administration of all three NMDA antagonists (each 10 mg/kg). Morphine-tolerant mice receiving vehicle+morphine injections demonstrated an unchanged degree of antinociceptive tolerance. In these mice, the co-administration of memantine and MRZ 2/579, but not dextromethorphan, resulted in the reversal of morphine tolerance. In experiment 3, memantine and MRZ 2/579 (10 mg/kg) inhibited the acute antinociceptive effect of morphine, but dextromethorphan did not. These data indicate that low-affinity, clinically available and/or therapeutically promising NMDA receptor antagonists may be used to inhibit ongoing morphine tolerance.
Heterogeneous Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits

We review recent breakthroughs in the silicon photonic technology and components, and describe progress in silicon photonic integrated circuits. Heterogeneous silicon photonics has recently demonstrated performance that significantly outperforms native III/V components. The impact active silicon photonic integrated circuits could have on interconnects, telecommunications, sensors, and silicon electronics is reviewed.
Social Commerce : A Contingency Framework for Assessing Marketing Potential

A key issue for marketers resulting from the dramatic rise of social media is how it can be leveraged to generate value for firms. Whereas the importance of social media for brand management and customer relationship management is widely recognized, it is unclear whether social media can also help companies market and sell products. Extant discussions of social commerce present a variety of perspectives, but the core issue remains unresolved. This paper aims to make two contributions. First, to address the lack of clarity in the literature regarding the meaning and domain of social commerce, the paper offers a definition stemming from important research streams in marketing. This definition allows for both a broad (covering all steps of the consumer decision process) and a narrow (focusing on the purchase act itself) construal of social commerce. Second, we build on this definition and develop a contingency framework for assessing the marketing potential that social commerce has to offer to firms. Implications for researchers and managers, based on the proposed definition and framework, are also discussed. © 2013 Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.