LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Bilateral or unilateral stimulation for baroreflex activation therapy.

UNLABELLED
Previous trials have shown that in patients with resistant hypertension device-based baroreflex activation therapy (BAT) can substantially reduce blood pressure. However, the fact that electrodes had to be implanted bilaterally may be a drawback for further development of the technique. In this study, we explored whether unilateral stimulation would produce comparable results as bilateral stimulation. In the Pivotal trial, treatment-resistant hypertensive patients were randomized to receive either immediate BAT or deferred BAT, that is, 6 months after implantation. We adjusted stimulation parameters individually so as to provide optimal baroreflex activation. Unilateral stimulation was applied unless bilateral stimulation resulted in a greater blood pressure reduction. When we pooled the 6-month data for the group with immediate BAT and the 12-month data for the group with deferred BAT, a total of 215 patients had been stimulated on one side only (127 at the right side and 88 at the left side), whereas 80 patients had been stimulated bilaterally. Although blood pressure and heart rate did not differ between the 2 groups at baseline, all these variables were significantly lower in the unilateral than in the bilateral group after the 6-month period. When we compared the effect of right-sided stimulation with those of either left-sided or bilateral stimulation, we found right-sided stimulation to be the most effective. We conclude that unilateral and in particular right-sided BAT has a more profound effect on blood pressure than bilateral or left-sided BAT.


CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00442286.
Relationship between resistant hypertension and arterial stiffness assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity in the older patient

BACKGROUND
Resistant hypertension (RH) is a common clinical condition associated with increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in older patients. Several factors and conditions interfering with blood pressure (BP) control, such as excess sodium intake, obesity, diabetes, older age, kidney disease, and certain identifiable causes of hypertension are common in patients resistant to antihypertensive treatment. Arterial stiffness, measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), is increasingly recognized as an important prognostic index and potential therapeutic target in hypertensive patients. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an association between RH and arterial stiffness.


METHODS
This study included 1,620 patients aged ≥ 65 years who were referred or self-referred to the outpatient hypertension unit located at a single cardiovascular center. They were separated into normotensive, controlled BP, and resistant hypertension groups. Home BP, blood laboratory parameters, echocardiographic studies and baPWV all were measured.


RESULTS
The likelihood of diabetes mellitus was significantly greater in the RH group than in the group with controlled BP (odds ratio 2.114, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.194-3.744, P=0.010). Systolic BP was correlated in the RH group significantly more than in the group with controlled BP (odds ratio 1.032, 95% CI 1.012-1.053, P=0.001). baPWV (odds ratio 1.084, 95% CI 1.016-1.156, P=0.015) was significantly correlated with the presence of RH. The other factors were negatively correlated with the existence of RH.


CONCLUSION
In patients aged ≥ 65 years, the patients with RH have elevated vascular stiffness more than the well controlled hypertension group. baPWV increased with arterial stiffness and was correlated with BP levels. Strict BP control is necessary to prevent severe functional and structural vascular changes in the course of hypertensive disease.
Total Generalized Variation

The novel concept of total generalized variation of a function u is introduced and some of its essential properties are proved. Differently from the bounded variation semi-norm, the new concept involves higher order derivatives of u. Numerical examples illustrate the high quality of this functional as a regularization term for mathematical imaging problems. In particular this functional selectively regularizes on different regularity levels and does not lead to a staircasing effect.
An inhibitory interaction between viral and cellular proteins underlies the resistance of tomato to nonadapted tobamoviruses.

Any individual virus can infect only a limited range of hosts, and most plant species are "nonhosts" to a given virus; i.e., all members of the species are insusceptible to the virus. In nonhost plants, the factors that control virus resistance are not genetically tractable, and how the host range of a virus is determined remains poorly understood. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a nonhost species for Tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) and Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), members of the genus Tobamovirus. Previously, we identified Tm-1, a resistance gene of tomato to another tobamovirus, Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), and found that Tm-1 binds to ToMV replication proteins to inhibit RNA replication. Tm-1 is derived from a wild tomato species, S. habrochaites, and ToMV-susceptible tomato cultivars have the allelic gene tm-1. The tm-1 protein can neither bind to ToMV replication proteins nor inhibit ToMV multiplication. Here, we show that transgenic tobacco plants expressing tm-1 exhibit resistance to TMGMV and PMMoV. The tm-1 protein bound to the replication proteins of TMGMV and PMMoV and inhibited their RNA replication in vitro. In one of the tm-1-expressing tobacco plants, a tm-1-insensitive TMGMV mutant emerged. In tomato protoplasts, this mutant TMGMV multiplied as efficiently as ToMV. However, in tomato plants, the mutant TMGMV multiplied with lower efficiency compared to ToMV and caused systemic necrosis. These results suggest that an inhibitory interaction between the replication proteins and tm-1 underlies a multilayered resistance mechanism to TMGMV in tomato.
The new world order and the tempo of militant Islam

Abstract This paper assesses the social and political conditions that have led to the emergence of militant Islamic groups in the Arab world, especially since the 1967 Six Day War. However, the paper goes beyond the genesis of militant Islam to contest the hypothesis of state‐sponsored terrorism by investigating two aspects of support that help keep the phenomenon alive; namely, their sources of funding and weapons. In turn, these aspects of support are broken down into international, regional, and local sources. The discussion shows that while the international and regional sources are significant, the local sources of support are decisive for the operations of the militant Islamic groups.
Perceptual harmonic cepstral coefficients for speech recognition in noisy environment

Perceptual harmonic cepstral coefficients (PHCC) are proposed as features to extract from speech for recognition in noisy environments. A weighting function, which depends on the prominence of the harmonic structure, is applied to the power spectrum to ensure accurate representation of the voiced speech spectral envelope. The harmonics weighted power spectrum undergoes mel-scaled band-pass filtering, and the log-energy of the filters’ output is discrete cosine transformed to produce cepstral coefficients. Lower spectral clipping is applied to the power spectrum, followed by within-filter root-power amplitude compression to reduce amplitude variation without compromise of the gain invariance properties. Experiments show significant recognition gains of PHCC over MFCC, with 23% and 36% error rate reduction for the Mandarin digit database in white and babble noise environments.
Implementation of threads as an operating systems project

In this paper the author describes a two-part programming assignment that has been used in an undergraduate operating systems course. The assignment is to write a user-level thread library, similar to the POSIX pthreads library, for a Unix or linux system.
Hyperresponsiveness of airway muscle to acetylcholine in asthmatic and non-asthmatic subjects.

BACKGROUND
Despite a long-standing recognition, the bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) of airway smooth muscle, in asthmatic and non-asthmatic subjects is still under investigation.


OBJECTIVE
In order to better understand the mechanism regulating the airway function, some results obtained with cellular physiology techniques are compared, for some non-asthmatic without BHR subjects and other subjects suffering from real bronchial asthma.


SUBJECTS
Eighteen subjects without chronic or acute bronchopathy and seven patients with a typical history of bronchial asthma were considered. All of them were non-smokers, with a wide range of in vivo hyperresponsiveness to Acetylcholine (ACh). Owing to neoplastic lesions, all patients underwent a thoracic surgery.


MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
In vitro hyperresponsiveness of airway-smooth-muscle chains was assessed with isotonic contractions to incremental doses of ACh, in accordance with a non-cumulative dose-response technique. Regression between muscle contractions and ACh doses was studied for both groups, and it turned out to be linear in both cases. The slopes and elevations of the regression lines of the two groups were statically identical. There was no correlation between in vivo hyperresponsiveness (as PD20-ACh-FEV1) and in vitro responses (as EC50), for both asthmatic and non-asthmatic group.


CONCLUSIONS
(i) in vitro, the same BHR of smooth-muscle resulted, for both asthmatic and non-asthmatic subjects, (ii) in vivo, a different BHR of the former group resulted. This can be explained with the peculiarity of the micro-environmental surrounding the bronchial tissue, not with an intrinsic defect of the isolated bronchial tissue.
When Credit Bites Back

This paper studies the role of credit in the business cycle, with a focus on private credit overhang. Based on a study of the universe of over 200 recession episodes in 14 advanced countries between 1870 and 2008, we document two key facts of the modern business cycle: financial-crisis recessions are more costly than normal recessions in terms of lost output; and for both types of recession, more credit-intensive expansions tend to be followed by deeper recessions and slower recoveries. In addition to unconditional analysis, we use local projection methods to condition on a broad set of macroeconomic controls and their lags. Then we study how past credit accumulation impacts the behavior of not only output, but also other key macroeconomic variables such as investment, lending, interest rates, and inflation. The facts that we uncover lend support to the idea that financial factors play an important role in the modern business cycle.
Comparative evaluation of dynamic and kinematic vehicle models

In this paper, we deal with comparative evaluation of dynamic and kinematic vehicle models for autonomous driving control systems. Comparative lane coefficients estimation performance of each model is evaluated according to the tire slip angle. Each estimation makes use of clothoidal road constraints, respectively. We observe that the kinematic model is robust against unknown vehicle parameters tire-road condition or cornering stiffness for autonomous driving systems under lane keeping situation. The reliability of each model was validated via not only computational simulation results but also experimental results with a test vehicle.
Protein expression of p53, p21 (WAF1/CIP1), bcl-2, Bax, cyclin D1 and pRb in human colon carcinomas

Tumour growth is regulated by a balance between proliferation, growth arrest and programmed cell death (apoptosis). Until recently, the majority of the studies dealing with oncogenesis has been focused on the regulation of cell proliferation. There is now growing understanding that control of growth arrest and apoptosis play key roles in the development of human cancer and in cancer treatment. Some of the more heavily studied proteins of importance for the control of growth arrest and apoptosis are p53, p21, bcl-2 and bax. Alterations in the p53 protein may lead to malignant transformation and defect therapy response, most likely as a result of defective p53-dependent apoptosis. In addition, p21 (WAF1/CIP1) is involved in cell-cycle arrest and probably in induction of p53-dependent apoptosis. Proteins belonging to the bcl-2 family are also important for normal apoptosis. Overexpression of bcl-2 protein is thought to reduce the apoptotic capacity, while bax protein seems to be necessary for induction of apoptosis. In this study, we have immunostained tissues from 93 primary colon carcinomas and have examined the expression of p53, p21 (WAF1/CIP1), bcl-2 bax, pRb and cyclin D1 for evaluation of their roles in colon-cancer progression. A highly significant association between p53 accumulation and downregulation of p21 (WAF1/CIP1) was seen. We also found a strong association between reduced/absent p21 and the development of metastases and death due to cancer disease. Cyclin D1, bcl-2 and bax protein failed to have independent prognostic impacts. Bcl-2 and bax protein levels showed an inverse relationship. The results of the present study indicate that reduced p21 protein levels play an important role in progression of colon cancer. We concluded that evaluation of p21 expression in primary colon carcinomas at the time of surgery might be a valuable tool in defining patients with a high risk of developing metastases.
On selection of spatial linear models for lattice data

Spatial linear models are popular for the analysis of data on a spatial lattice, but statistical techniques for selection of covariates and a neighbourhood structure are limited. Here we develop new methodology for simultaneous model selection and parameter estimation via penalized maximum likelihood under a spatial adaptive lasso. A computationally efficient algorithm is devised for obtaining approximate penalized maximum likelihood estimates. Asymptotic properties of penalized maximum likelihood estimates and their approximations are established. A simulation study shows that the method proposed has sound finite sample properties and, for illustration, we analyse an ecological data set in western Canada.
Comparison of the effects of acarbose and metformin use on ovulation rates in clomiphene citrate-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of metformin and acarbose on insulin resistance, hormone profiles and ovulation rates in patients with clomiphene citrate-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).


METHODS
Thirty clomiphene citrate-resistant patients were selected randomly and divided into two groups. Group I was treated with 100 mg/day clomiphene citrate and 300 mg/day acarbose 100 mg/day orally, for 3 months. Group II was treated with clomiphene citrate 100 mg/day and metformin 1700 mg/day orally, for 3 months. Serum fasting insulin and glucose, FSH, LH, estradiol, progesterone, prolactin and total testosterone levels plus body mass index (BMI) were measured before and after treatment. Follicle growth was followed by transvaginal ultrasonography.


RESULTS
LH:FSH ratio and total testosterone concentrations decreased (P<0.05) and ovulation rates increased in both groups. Reduction in weight and BMI was only significant in the acarbose group.


CONCLUSIONS
Both treatment modalities were effective in the treatment of insulin resistance and improving ovulation rates. Increase in the number of eumenorrhoeic and normoinsulinaemic cases and decrease in the number of insulin-resistant cases were significant in both groups (P<0.05). Ovulation rate was greater in the metformin group in the second month of therapy (P<0.05). Acarbose was found to be a safe and effective agent that could be used in cases with clomiphene-resistant PCOS.
B-field and squeezed states in vacuum string field theory

Abstract We show that squeezed state solutions for solitonic lumps in Vacuum String Field Theory still exist in the presence of a constant B -field. We show in particular that, just as in the B =0 case, we can write down a compact explicit form for such solutions.
Pressurized Entrained Flow Gasifiers for Biomass

A new concept for the gasification of dry lignocellulosic biomass has been developed. Special attention was paid to the process compatibility with biomass feedstocks from agriculture, mainly straw, which have a higher ash, potassium and chlorine content and a lower ash softening point than wood. The first process step is a fast pyrolysis at atmospheric pressure, which produces much condensate and only little char and gas. Pyrolysis condensate and pulverised pyrolysis char are then mixed to a slurry, containing up to 90% of the initial biomass energy. In contrast to the loose-packed original biomass the dense slurries are easily pumped and stored in tanks. From a number of regional pyrolysis plants, the slurries can be transported by rail to a large central gasification facility. Thus, the economy of scale can make possible an efficient but more complex gasification and syngas utilisation technology, to produce the most valuable products. The slurries are pumped into a slagging entrained flow gasifier and are atomised and converted to syngas at high operating temperatures and pressures, above the operating pressure of a downstream synthesis plant. At very high pressures, alternative operation of pressure locks with a low-bulk-density biomass will become too expensive. High gasification temperatures and pressures help to produce a tar-free syngas, simplify downstream gas cleaning steps and obviate intermediate compression before synthesis. To achieve a high process efficiency, the utilisation of chemical energy in synthesis products like methanol must be complemented and combined with a use of the sensible heat for electric power generation. Various chemical and engineering aspects of the new process concept are being investigated in the laboratory. A test campaign at a pressurised entrained flow gasifier with ca. 5 MW(th) slurry throughput is under preparation. A fast pyrolysis facility designed for continuous operation with several kg/h biomass throughput is under construction. Fast pyrolysis of biomass will be achieved by mixing with an excess of hot sand in a special twin screw reactor.
RASCAL: Calculation of Graph Similarity using Maximum Common Edge Subgraphs

A new graph similarity calculation procedure is introduced for comparing labeled graphs. Given a minimum similarity threshold, the procedure consists of an initial screening process to determine whether it is possible for the measure of similarity between the two graphs to exceed the minimum threshold, followed by a rigorous maximum common edge subgraph (MCES) detection algorithm to compute the exact degree and composition of similarity. The proposed MCES algorithm is based on a maximum clique formulation of the problem and is a significant improvement over other published algorithms. It presents new approaches to both lower and upper bounding as well as vertex selection. 1.0 INTRODUCTION It is often desired in many applications to compare objects represented as graphs and to determine the degree of similarity between the objects. This is sometimes referred to as inexact graph matching. Inexact graph matching is of importance in many applications such as protein ligand docking [1], video indexing [2], and computer vision [3, 4]. One algorithmic approach to this problem is to use the maximum common subgraph (MCS) between the graphs being compared. In this paper, a novel and efficient algorithm based on the edge induced formulation of the MCS problem is presented. The algorithm has been developed for use in chemical similarity searching applications where molecular structures are represented as graphs such that
Gender differences in psychiatric morbidity and violent behaviour among a household population in Great Britain

Men are more violent than women. It is unclear whether psychiatric morbidity contributes to this gender difference in the general population. This study examined gender differences in psychiatric diagnosis and violent behaviour to test whether risk from psychiatric morbidity accounted for gender differences in violent behaviour; whether violent males were more vulnerable to risk from psychiatric morbidity; and, whether violent women surmounted a higher threshold of risk from psychiatric morbidity. Cross-sectional random sample of 8,397 household residents in Great Britain was assessed using structured questionnaires to measure violent behaviour and psychiatric morbidity. Weighted multilevel regression models were used to test hypotheses, adjusting for demographic factors, psychiatric comorbidity and area effects of violence. Men were more likely to report violence than women and were exposed to greater risks from substance dependence, Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and hazardous drinking. Women were exposed to greater risks from affective/anxiety disorders. Psychiatric morbidity explained 22% of the gender difference in violence. Violent men were less vulnerable to risk from any Personality Disorder (PD), in particular ASPD, than violent women. Violent women reported a higher etiological threshold for affective/anxiety disorders and any PD; violent men higher threshold for alcohol dependence and hazardous drinking. Psychiatric morbidity has moderate impact on higher levels of violence among men. Antisocial Personality Disorder poses a greater risk for violence among women than men. Affective/anxiety disorders and any PD are more severe conditions among violent women; alcohol dependence and hazardous drinking are more severe among violent men, confirming the “Threshold of Risk” hypothesis.
A procedural generation framework for a robot construction game

This paper explores a framework to permit the creation of modules as part of a robot creation and combat game. We explore preliminary work that offers a design solution to generate and test robots comprised of modular components. This current implementation, which is reliant on a constraint-driven process is then assessed to indicate the expressive range of content it can create and the total number of unique combinations it can establish.
Bead-based ELISA for validation of ovarian cancer early detection markers.

PURPOSE
Efforts to validate ovarian cancer early detection biomarkers with immunoassays are challenged by the limited specimen volumes available. We sought to develop a specimen-efficient assay to measure CA125 in serum, assess its reproducibility, validity, and performance, and test its potential for multiplexing and combining with human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), a promising novel ovarian cancer marker.


EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Four pairs of commercially available anti-CA125 antibodies and one pair of anti-HE4 antibodies were evaluated for accuracy in measuring known concentrations of antigen on a bead-based platform. The two best pairs were further assessed for reproducibility, validity, and the ability to discriminate between blinded serum samples obtained from ovarian cancer cases (n = 66) and women without ovarian cancer (n = 125).


RESULTS
Suitability for use in a bead-based assay varied across CA125 antibody pairs. Two CA125 bead-based assays were highly reproducible (overall correlations between replicates >/= 0.95; coefficients of variation < 0.2) and strongly correlated with the research standard CA125II RIA (correlations >/= 0.9). Their ability to distinguish ovarian cancer cases from non-cases based on receiver operating characteristic analyses (area under the curve, AUC, of 0.85 and 0.84) was close to that of the CA125II RIA (AUC, 0.87). The HE4 bead-based assay showed lower reproducibility but yielded an AUC of 0.89 in receiver operating characteristics analysis. Multiplexing was not possible but a composite marker including CA125 and HE4 achieved an AUC of 0.91.


CONCLUSION
Optimization procedures yielded two bead-based assays for CA125 that perform comparably to the standard CA125II RIA, which could be combined with an HE4 bead-based assay to improve diagnostic performance, and requires only 15 muL of sample each.