LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics, Risk Factors, and Treatment Practices of  Known Adult Hypertensive Patients in Saudi Arabia

Objective. To determine the prevalence, risk factors, characteristics, and treatment practices of known adult hypertensives in Saudi Arabia. Methods. Cross-sectional community-based study using the WHO stepwise approach. Saudi adults were randomly chosen from Primary Health Care Centers catchment areas. Data was collected using a questionnaire which included sociodemographic data, history of hypertension, risk factors, treatment practices, biochemical and anthropometric measurements. Collected data was cheeked, computer fed, and analysed using SPSS V17. Results. Out of 4719 subjects (99.2% response), 542 (11.5%) subjects were known hypertensives or detected by health workers in the past 12 months. Hypertension was significantly associated with age, gender, geographical location, education, employment, diabetes, physical inactivity, excess body weight, and ever smoking. Multiple logistic analysis controlling for age showed that significant predictors of hypertension were diabetes mellitus, ever smoking, obesity, and hypercholesteremia. Several treatment modalities and practices were significantly associated with gender, age, education, and occupation. About 74% were under prescribed treatment by physicians, 62% on dietary modification, 37% attempted weight reduction, 27% performed physical exercise, and less than 7% used herbs, consulted traditional healers or quitted smoking. Income was not significantly associated with any treatment modality or patient practices. Conclusion. Hypertension (known and undetected) is a major chronic health problem among adults in Saudi Arabia. Many patients' practices need changes. A comprehensive approach is needed to prevent, early detect, and control the disease targeting, the risk factors, and predictors identified.
Video-gaming among high school students: health correlates, gender differences, and problematic gaming.

OBJECTIVE
Video game playing may negatively impact youth. However, the existing literature on gaming is inconsistent and often has focused on aggression rather than the health correlates of gaming and the prevalence and correlates of problematic gaming.


METHODS
We anonymously surveyed 4028 adolescents about gaming and reported problems with gaming and other health behaviors. A total of 51.2% of the sample reported gaming (76.3% of boys and 29.2% of girls).


RESULTS
There were no negative health correlates of gaming in boys and lower odds of smoking regularly; however, girls who reported gaming were less likely to report depression and more likely to report getting into serious fights and carrying a weapon to school. Among gamers, 4.9% reported problematic gaming, defined as reporting trying to cut back, experiencing an irresistible urge to play, and experiencing a growing tension that could only be relieved by playing. Boys were more likely to report these problems (5.8%) than girls (3.0%). Correlates of problematic gaming included regular cigarette smoking, drug use, depression, and serious fights. Results suggest that gaming is largely normative in boys and not associated with many health factors. In girls, however, gaming seems to be associated with more externalizing behaviors and fewer internalizing symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of problematic gaming is low but not insignificant, and problematic gaming may be contained within a larger spectrum of externalizing behaviors. More research is needed to define safe levels of gaming, refine the definition of problematic gaming, and evaluate effective prevention and intervention strategies.
Congenital symmastia revisited.

BACKGROUND
Symmastia is defined as medial confluence of the breast. The term 'symmastia' is modified from Greek (syn meaning 'together', and mastos meaning 'breast') and was first presented by Spence et al. in 1983. Two forms of symmastia exist: an iatrogenic and a congenital version. Congenital symmastia is a rare condition in which web-like soft tissue traverses the sternum to connect the breasts medially. The literature on congenital symmastia is limited, few cases have been published, and knowledge about ideal treatment is still insufficient.


MATERIAL AND METHODS
Congenital symmastia was identified as a distinct deformation using a review of the literature and a theoretical model. We analysed the malady using a three-step principle, formulated by Blondeel, which describes the breast as a 'footprint', 'conus' and 'skin-envelope'. To date, few papers on congenital symmastia have been published, most of which focus on the application of various surgical approaches. We examined the literature and evaluated the procedures used, and are presenting two recent cases of congenital symmastia as examples. By combining review and analysis we offer a rational treatment practice.


RESULTS
The analysis showed that the optimal treatment begins by correcting the 'footprint', removing the excess 'conus' over the sternum, and finally reattaching the 'skin-envelope' to the sternum to recreate the normal medial border of the 'footprint'. Thus far, the two most common approaches used to treat congenital symmastia are: reduction mammaplasty and liposuction.


CONCLUSION
By combining the Blondeel analysis with a procedural review, we developed a flow chart to offer a possible treatment practice.
Evaluation of a birth preparation program on lumbopelvic pain, urinary incontinence, anxiety and exercise: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Antenatal preparation programmes are recommended worldwide to promote a healthy pregnancy and greater autonomy during labor and delivery, prevent physical discomfort and high levels of anxiety. The objective of this study was to evaluate effectiveness and safety of a birth preparation programme to minimize lumbopelvic pain, urinary incontinence, anxiety, and increase physical activity during pregnancy as well as to compare its effects on perinatal outcomes comparing two groups of nulliparous women.


METHODS
A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 197 low risk nulliparous women aged 16 to 40 years, with gestational age ≥ 18 weeks. Participants were randomly allocated to participate in a birth preparation programme (BPP; n=97) or a control group (CG; n=100). The intervention was performed on the days of prenatal visits, and consisted of physical exercises, educational activities and instructions on exercises to be performed at home. The control group followed a routine of prenatal care. Primary outcomes were urinary incontinence, lumbopelvic pain, physical activity, and anxiety. Secondary outcomes were perinatal variables.


RESULTS
The risk of urinary incontinence in BPP participants was significantly lower at 30 weeks of pregnancy (BPP 42.7%, CG 62.2%; relative risk [RR] 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.51-0.93) and at 36 weeks of pregnancy (BPP 41.2%, CG 68.4%; RR 0.60; 95%CI 0.45-0.81). Participation in the BPP encouraged women to exercise during pregnancy (p=0.009). No difference was found between the groups regarding to anxiety level, lumbopelvic pain, type or duration of delivery and weight or vitality of the newborn infant.


CONCLUSIONS
The BPP was effective in controlling urinary incontinence and to encourage the women to exercise during pregnancy with no adverse effects to pregnant women or the fetuses.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinicaltrials.gov, (NCT01155804).
Selecting the right objective measure for association analysis

Objective measures such as support, confidence, interest factor, correlation, and entropy are often used to evaluate the interestingness of association patterns. However, in many situations, these measures may provide conflicting information about the interestingness of a pattern. Data mining practitioners also tend to apply an objective measure without realizing that there may be better alternatives available for their application. In this paper, we describe several key properties one should examine in order to select the right measure for a given application. A comparative study of these properties is made using twenty-one measures that were originally developed in diverse fields such as statistics, social science, machine learning, and data mining. We show that depending on its properties, each measure is useful for some application, but not for others. We also demonstrate two scenarios in which many existing measures become consistent with each other, namely, when support-based pruning and a technique known as table standardization are applied. Finally, we present an algorithm for selecting a small set of patterns such that domain experts can find a measure that best fits their requirements by ranking this small set of patterns.
Standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy : an integrative assessment of the empirical research

Despite 40 years of debate on international marketing strategy standardization vs adaptation, extant empirical research is too fragmented to yield clear insights. Based on an integrative analysis of 36 studies centering around strategy standardization/adaptation, its antecedents, and performance outcomes, this stream of research was found to be characterized by non-significant, contradictory, and, to some extent, confusing findings attributable to inappropriate conceptualizations, inadequate research designs, and weak analytical techniques. The central conclusion that stems from this analysis is that the decision whether to standardize or adapt the marketing strategy to achieve superior business performance will largely depend on the set of circumstances that a firm is confronted by within a particular foreign market at a specific period of time.  2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Analytical models for low-power rectenna design

The design of a low-cost rectenna for low-power applications is presented. The rectenna is designed with the use of analytical models and closed-form analytical expressions. This allows for a fast design of the rectenna system. To acquire a small-area rectenna, a layered design is proposed. Measurements indicate the validity range of the analytical models.
Pisa syndrome in Parkinson's disease: a mobile or fixed deformity?

BACKGROUND
Although Pisa syndrome and scoliosis are sometimes used interchangeably to describe a laterally flexed postural deviation in Parkinson's disease (PD), the imaging findings of Pisa syndrome in PD have not been previously studied in detail.


METHODS
Patients with PD and Pisa syndrome (lateral flexion >10° in the standing position) were examined clinically and underwent radiological assessment using standing radiograph and supine CT scan of the whole spine.


RESULTS
Fifteen patients were included in this observational study. All patients had scoliosis on standing radiographs, and 12 had scoliosis persisting in the supine position. Scoliotic curves improved by a mean of 44% when patients moved from standing to supine. Only a quarter of patients with structural scoliosis had evidence of bony fusion on the side of their lateral deviation rendering their deformity fixed.


CONCLUSIONS
Pisa syndrome describes a patient who lists to the side whereas scoliosis is defined by spinal curvature and rotation and may not be associated with lateral flexion. The finding of 'structural scoliosis' in Pisa syndrome should not preclude intervening to improve posture as most patients had little or no evidence of structural bony changes even when the deformity had been present for a number of years.
Biology of the prokaryotes

Bacteriology paved the way to cell biology - a historical account the procaryotic cell basic prerequisites for cellular life diversity of metabolic pathways the genetics of the prokaryotes and their viruses gene expression and regulatory mechanism cell growth and differentiation diversity and systematics prokaryotes in the biosphere applied microbiology.
Integration of Smart Phone and IOT for development of smart public transportation system

As population is burgeoning, there is an increase in the number of vehicles on the road and hence an upsurge in the problems associated with traffic management, especially the Public Transport. There is also an increase in the number of accidents and various other traffic related issues. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) provides the solution to most of these problems by integrating existing technologies with the underlying infrastructure. With the advent of mobile technology and the ubiquitous cellular network, real time vehicle tracking for efficient transport management has become viable. The futile long wait for a bus to arrive can be avoided by Intelligent Public Transportation System. The omnipresence of Smart Phones and their ever increasing power at a very economical price makes them one of the most attractive options for developing IOT applications. Here, an approach based on the combination of technologies like GPS and Android is discussed which can assuage passengers who commute by the means of public transport. The user is furnished with explicit information about the current location of nearest buses approaching the bus-stop on a mobile application. Using readily available Android API's, technologies like 3G network and SMS based services in the existing mobile phones can reduce the cost and size of hardware required, as well as lead to a better output.
Implementation lessons for school food policies and marketing restrictions in the Philippines: a qualitative policy analysis

BACKGROUND
The school environment can enhance children's skills, knowledge and behaviours in relation to healthy eating. However, in many countries, unhealthy foods are commonly available in schools, and children can be exposed to aggressive marketing by the food industry. Taking the perspective of policymakers, this study aimed to identify barriers and enablers to effective school food policy development and implementation in the Philippines.


METHODS
In May 2016, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 policymakers and stakeholders involved in school food policymaking and implementation in the Philippines. The Health Policy Analysis Triangle was used to identify interview questions and to guide the thematic analysis. These included the political and socio-environmental context, strengths and limitations of existing policy content, roles and behaviours of actors, implementation processes, policy outcomes, and opportunities to improve policy coherence.


RESULTS
The Department of Education's policy 'Orders' represented a relatively strong policy framework for the education sector of the Philippines. However, a lack of human and financial resources for implementation, planning, and policy enforcement limited the impact of the policy on the healthiness of school food provision. Ambiguity in policy wording allowed a wide interpretation of the foods eligible to be provided in schools, and led to difficulties in effective monitoring and enforcement. Food companies used existing relationships with schools to promote their brands and compromise the establishment of a stronger food policy agenda. We found a motivated group of actors engaging in policy-oriented learning and advocating for a stronger policy alternative so as to improve the school food environment.


CONCLUSIONS
The adoption of policy mechanisms being used to promote healthy dietary practices in the school setting will be strengthened by more robust implementation planning processes, and resources to support implementation and enforcement. Policymakers should ensure policy language clearly and unequivocally promotes healthier food and beverage options. Steps should be taken to achieve policy coherence by ensuring the objectives of one agency or institution are not undermining that of any others. Where there is reliance on the private sector for school resources, safeguards should be established to protect against conflicts of interest.
On Rendering Synthetic Images for Training an Object Detector

We propose a novel approach to synthesizing images that are effective for training object detectors. Starting from a small set of real images, our algorithm estimates the rendering parameters required to synthesize similar images given a coarse 3D model of the target object. These parameters can then be reused to generate an unlimited number of training images of the object of interest in arbitrary 3D poses, which can then be used to increase classification performances. A key insight of our approach is that the synthetically generated images should be similar to real images, not in terms of image quality, but rather in terms of features used during the detector training. We show in the context of drone, plane, and car detection that using such synthetically generated images yields significantly better performances than simply perturbing real images or even synthesizing images in such way that they look very realistic, as is often done when only limited amounts of training data are available. 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Static and dynamic properties of the pneumatic actuator with artificial muscles

The paper contains information about the function and basic properties of the actuator based on pneumatic artificial muscles. It describes the design method of control structure of such actuator and shows the nonlinear static and dynamic characteristics of this actuator. The step responses and the non-linear static and dynamic characteristics were measured by authors on the real pneumatic actuator with artificial muscles Festo MAS 20-250.
Access to and clinical use of cardiac implantable electronic devices and interventional electrophysiological procedures in the European Society of Cardiology Countries: 2016 Report from the European Heart Rhythm Association.

AIMS
The aim of this analysis was to provide comprehensive information on the access to and use of cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) and catheter ablation therapy in the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) area.


METHODS AND RESULTS
The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) has been collecting descriptive and quantitative data on invasive arrhythmia therapies since 2008. This year 50 of the 56 ESC member countries provided data for the EHRA White Book. Up-to-date information on procedure rates for the last 5 years together with information on demographics, economy, vital statistics, local healthcare systems, and training activities is presented for each country and the 5 geographical ESC regions. Our analysis indicated that considerable heterogeneity in the access to arrhythmia therapies still exists across the ESC area. In 2015, the CIED implantation rates per million population were highest in the Western followed by the Southern and Northern European countries. The catheter ablation activity was largest in the Western followed by the Northern and Southern areas. Overall, the procedure rates were 3-10 times higher in the European than in the non-European ESC countries. Economic resources were not the only driver for utilization of arrhythmia therapies as in some Eastern European countries with relative low gross domestic product the procedure rates exceeded the average values.


CONCLUSION
These data will help the healthcare professionals and stakeholders to identify and to understand in more depth the trends, disparities, and gaps in cardiac arrhythmia care and thereby promote harmonization of cardiac arrhythmias therapies in the ESC area.
Body proportions before and during growth hormone therapy in children with chronic renal failure

 Growth retardation is a common problem in children with chronic renal failure (CRF). Few published data are available on whether the normalization of height in these children during growth hormone (GH) treatment is accompanied by proportional growth of the other parts of the body. In this study, body proportions before and during GH therapy were assessed in children with severe growth retardation due to CRF. Various body segments, such as sitting height, arm span, tibia, hand and foot length, biacromial and biiliacal diameter were measured in 15 children participating in a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over trial and in 22 children participating in a double-blind dose-response trial. Twelve children continued GH therapy after having participated in one of the two former trials and received GH therapy for 4 years. All results were adjusted for age and sex, and expressed as SD scores using reference values for healthy Dutch children. To assess body proportions, the various body segments were related to height and expressed as shape values (SV). At baseline all body segments SD scores were significantly lower than zero, indicating that the stunted growth of children with CRF included all body segments. Since height was not significantly more or less affected than the other body segments, all children had normal SV, indicating normal body proportions. The placebo-controlled study showed a significant increase of the SD scores of height and several body segments during 6 months of GH [28 IU/m2 per week (or 1.3 mg/m2 per day)] versus placebo. The dose-response study demonstrated that height SDS as well as all other body segments SD scores increased significantly during 2 years of GH therapy with 28 IU/m2 per week, compared with treatment with 14 IU/m2 per week. Also during 4 years of GH therapy with 28 IU/m2 per week, body segment SD scores increased to the same extent as height SDS, showing that GH did not significantly change SV i.e., body proportions. Both before and during GH therapy, children on dialysis had normal body proportions, comparable with children on conservative renal treatment. In conclusion, children with severe growth retardation due to CRF maintain normal body proportions in spite of their chronic disease. GH therapy with 28 IU/m2 per week induces and maintains catch-up growth of height and all body segments without signs of disproportionate growth. Thus GH therapy does not negatively influence body proportions in children with severe growth retardation secondary to CRF.
Clustering with Normalized Cuts is Clustering with a Hyperplane

We present a set of clustering algorithms that identify cluster boundaries by searching for a hyperplanar gap in unlabeled data sets. It turns out that the Normalized Cuts algorithm of Shi and Malik [1], originally presented as a graph-theoretic algorithm, can be interpreted as such an algorithm. Viewing Normalized Cuts under this light reveals that it pays more attention to points away from the center of the data set than those near the center of the data set. As a result, it can sometimes split long clusters and display sensitivity to outliers. We derive a variant of Normalized Cuts that assigns uniform weight to all points, eliminating the sensitivity to outliers.
An arousal-based neural model of infant attachment

We develop an arousal-based neural model of infant attachment using a deep learning architecture. We show how our model can differentiate between attachment classifications during strange situation-like separation and reunion episodes, in terms of both signalling behaviour and patterns of autonomic arousal, according to the sensitivity of previous interaction.