LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Cerebrospinal Fluid Markers of Neurodegeneration and Rates of Brain Atrophy in Early Alzheimer Disease.

IMPORTANCE
Measures of neuronal loss are likely good surrogates for clinical and radiological disease progression in Alzheimer disease (AD). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers of neuronal injury or neurodegeneration may offer usefulness in predicting disease progression and guiding outcome assessments and prognostic decisions in clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies. Visinin-like protein 1 (VILIP-1) has demonstrated potential usefulness as a marker of neuronal injury in AD.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the usefulness of CSF VILIP-1, tau, p-tau181, and Aβ42 levels in predicting rates of whole-brain and regional atrophy in early AD and cognitively normal control subjects over time.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Longitudinal observational study of brain atrophy in participants with early AD and cognitively normal controls. Study participants had baseline CSF biomarker measurements and longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging assessments for a mean follow-up period of 2 to 3 years. Mixed linear models assessed the ability of standardized baseline CSF biomarker measures to predict rates of whole-brain and regional atrophy over the follow-up period. The setting was The Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. Participants (mean age, 72.6 years) were individuals with a clinical diagnosis of very mild AD (n = 23) and cognitively normal controls (n = 64) who were enrolled in longitudinal studies of healthy aging and dementia. The study dates were 2000 to 2010.


MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Correlations between baseline CSF biomarker measures and rates of whole-brain or regional atrophy in the AD and control cohorts over the follow-up period.


RESULTS
Baseline CSF VILIP-1, tau, and p-tau181 levels (but not Aβ42 levels) predicted rates of whole-brain and regional atrophy in AD over the follow-up period. Baseline CSF VILIP-1 levels predicted whole-brain (P = .006), hippocampal (P = .01), and entorhinal (P = .001) atrophy rates at least as well as tau and p-tau181 in early AD. Cognitively normal controls whose CSF VILIP-1, tau, or p-tau181 levels were in the upper tercile had higher rates of whole-brain (P = .02, P = .003, and P = .02, respectively), hippocampal (P = .001, P = .01, and P = .02, respectively), and entorhinal (P = .007, P = .01, and P = .01, respectively) atrophy compared with those whose levels were in the lower 2 terciles.


CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Cerebrospinal fluid VILIP-1 levels predict rates of whole-brain and regional atrophy similarly to tau and p-tau181 and may provide a useful CSF biomarker surrogate for neurodegeneration in early symptomatic and preclinical AD.
Validation of the Tensoval Duo Control II blood pressure monitor for clinic use and self-measurement according to the British Hypertension Society protocol and the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol Revision 2010.

OBJECTIVE
The Tensoval Duo Control II is an automated upper arm device that uses a combination of oscillometric and auscultatory technology to determine blood pressure noninvasively. The accuracy of this device was assessed according to the British Hypertension Society (BHS) protocol and the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol revision 2010 (ESH-IP2) in an adult population.


METHODS
Ethical approval was obtained. Eighty-five and 33 adult individuals, respectively, were recruited to fulfil the requirements of each protocol. Trained observers took nine sequential same-arm measurements alternating between a mercury sphygmomanometer and the device. The device had to achieve at least a B grade for both systolic and diastolic pressures to pass the BHS protocol and had to fulfil the criteria of all three phases of the ESH-IP2 protocol to receive recommendation.


RESULTS
The device achieved an A/A grading for the BHS protocol and passed all three phases of the ESH-IP2 protocol. The mean difference±SD for the BHS/ESH protocols, respectively, was -1.8±6.5/-0.7±5.7 mmHg for systolic pressure and 1.9±5.1/2.4±4.5 mmHg for diastolic pressure. The device maintained its A/A grading throughout the low-pressure, medium-pressure and high-pressure ranges.


CONCLUSION
The Tensoval Duo Control II device is recommended for clinical and home use according to both the BHS and the ESH-IP2 standard.
Explicit Loss-Error-Aware Quantization for Low-Bit Deep Neural Networks

Benefiting from tens of millions of hierarchically stacked learnable parameters, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have demonstrated overwhelming accuracy on a variety of artificial intelligence tasks. However reversely, the large size of DNN models lays a heavy burden on storage, computation and power consumption, which prohibits their deployments on the embedded and mobile systems. In this paper, we propose Explicit Loss-error-aware Quantization (ELQ), a new method that can train DNN models with very low-bit parameter values such as ternary and binary ones to approximate 32-bit floating-point counterparts without noticeable loss of predication accuracy. Unlike existing methods that usually pose the problem as a straightforward approximation of the layer-wise weights or outputs of the original full-precision model (specifically, minimizing the error of the layer-wise weights or inner products of the weights and the inputs between the original and respective quantized models), our ELQ elaborately bridges the loss perturbation from the weight quantization and an incremental quantization strategy to address DNN quantization. Through explicitly regularizing the loss perturbation and the weight approximation error in an incremental way, we show that such a new optimization method is theoretically reasonable and practically effective. As validated with two mainstream convolutional neural network families (i.e., fully convolutional and non-fully convolutional), our ELQ shows better results than state-of-the-art quantization methods on the large scale ImageNet classification dataset. Code will be made publicly available.
Safety impacts of bicycle infrastructure: A critical review.

PROBLEM AND METHOD
This paper takes a critical look at the present state of bicycle infrastructure treatment safety research, highlighting data needs. Safety literature relating to 22 bicycle treatments is examined, including findings, study methodologies, and data sources used in the studies. Some preliminary conclusions related to research efficacy are drawn from the available data and findings in the research.


RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
While the current body of bicycle safety literature points toward some defensible conclusions regarding the safety and effectiveness of certain bicycle treatments, such as bike lanes and removal of on-street parking, the vast majority treatments are still in need of rigorous research. Fundamental questions arise regarding appropriate exposure measures, crash measures, and crash data sources.


PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
This research will aid transportation departments with regard to decisions about bicycle infrastructure and guide future research efforts toward understanding safety impacts of bicycle infrastructure.
An Experimental Investigation of Flow Boiling Characteristics of Water in Parallel Microchannels

Microchannels are being considered in many advanced heat transfer applications in ing automotive and stationary fuel cells as well as electronics cooling. However, ther a number of fundamental issues from the heat transfer and fluid mechanics perspe that still remain unresolved. The present work focuses on obtaining the fundamenta transfer data and two-phase flow patterns present during flow boiling in microchan An experimental investigation is performed for flow boiling using water in six para horizontal microchannels with a hydraulic diameter of 207 mm. The ranges of parameter are: mass flux from 157 to 1782 kg/m s, heat flux from 5 to 930 kW/m , inlet temperature of 22°C, quality from sub-cooled to 1.0, and atmospheric pressure at the exit. The c sponding single-phase, all-liquid flow Reynolds number range at the saturation cond is from 116 to 1318. The measured single-phase, adiabatic pressure drop agreed w conventional theory within the experimental error. The experimental single-phase Nu number was found to be between the constant heat flux and the constant wall tempe boundary conditions, corresponding to NuH and NuT respectively. The flow visualizatio demonstrates that the flow reversal condition in parallel flow channels is due to bu nucleation followed by its rapid growth. In addition, the dry-out condition is observ showing a change in the contact angles of the liquid-vapor interface. The local boiling heat transfer coefficient exhibits a decreasing trend with increasing qualit comparison with the nucleate boiling dominant regime of a flow boiling correlation sh good agreement, except for the large peak in two-phase heat transfer coefficient obs at the onset of nucleate boiling. @DOI: 10.1115/1.1778187 #
FKBP51 inhibits GSK3β and augments the effects of distinct psychotropic medications

Psychotropic medications target glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), but the functional integration with other factors relevant for drug efficacy is poorly understood. We discovered that the suggested psychiatric risk factor FK506 binding protein 51 (FKBP51) increases phosphorylation of GSK3β at serine 9 (pGSK3βS9). FKBP51 associates with GSK3β mainly through its FK1 domain; furthermore, it also changes GSK3β's heterocomplex assembly by associating with the phosphatase PP2A and the kinase cyclin-dependent kinase 5. FKBP51 acts through GSK3β on the downstream targets Tau, β-catenin and T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancing factor (TCF/LEF). Lithium and the antidepressant (AD) paroxetine (PAR) functionally synergize with FKBP51, as revealed by reporter gene and protein association analyses. Deletion of FKBP51 blunted the PAR- or lithium-induced increase in pGSK3βS9 in cells and mice and attenuated the behavioral effects of lithium treatment. Clinical improvement in depressive patients was predicted by baseline GSK3β pathway activity and by pGSK3βS9 reactivity to ex vivo treatment of peripheral blood mononuclear lymphocytes with lithium or PAR. In sum, FKBP51-directed GSK3β activity contributes to the action of psychotropic medications. Components of the FKBP51–GSK3β pathway may be useful as biomarkers predicting AD response and as targets for the development of novel ADs.
Microbiota benefits after inulin and partially hydrolized guar gum supplementation: a randomized clinical trial in constipated women.

INTRODUCTION
Prebiotics positively affect gut microbiota composition, thus improving gut function. These properties may be useful for the treatment of constipation.


OBJECTIVES
This study assessed the tolerance and effectiveness of a prebiotic inulin/partially hydrolyzed guar gum mixture (I-PHGG) for the treatment of constipation in females, as well as its influence on the composition of intestinal microbiota and production of short chain fatty acids.


METHODS
Our study enrolled 60 constipated female health worker volunteers. Participants reported less than 3 bowel movements per week. Volunteers were randomized to treatment with prebiotic or placebo. Treatment consisted of 3 weeks supplementation with 15 g/d IPHGG (fiber group) or maltodextrin (placebo group). Abdominal discomfort, flatulence, stool consistency, and bowel movements were evaluated by a recorded daily questionnaire and a weekly interview. Changes in fecal bacterial population and short chain fatty acids were assessed by real-time PCR and gas chromatography, respectively.


RESULTS
There was an increased frequency of weekly bowel movements and patient satisfaction in both the fiber and placebo groups with no significant differences. Total Clostridium sp significantly decreased in the fiber group (p = 0.046) and increased in the placebo group (p = 0.047). There were no changes in fecal short chain fatty acid profile.


CONCLUSIONS
Consumption of I-PHGG produced clinical results comparable to placebo in constipated females, but had additional protective effects on gut microbiota by decreasing the amount of pathological bacteria of the Clostridium genera.
Entecavir treatment for chronic hepatitis B: adaptation is not needed for the majority of naïve patients with a partial virological response.

UNLABELLED
Entecavir (ETV) is a potent inhibitor of viral replication in nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA)-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the long term efficacy and safety of ETV in NA-naïve CHB patients, particularly in those with detectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA after 48 weeks, in whom treatment adaptation is suggested by current guidelines. In a multicenter cohort study, we investigated 333 CHB patients treated with entecavir monotherapy. The NA-naïve population consisted of 243 patients, whereas 90 were NA-experienced. Virological response (VR) (HBV DNA<80 IU/mL) was achieved in 48%, 76%, and 90% of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and in 89%, 98%, and 99% of HBeAg-negative NA-naïve patients at weeks 48, 96, and 144, respectively. Thirty-six of 175 (21%) NA-naïve patients with at least 48 weeks of follow-up had a detectable load at week 48 (partial virological response [PVR]). Twenty-nine (81%) patients with PVR reached VR during prolonged ETV monotherapy, and none of them developed ETV-resistance. Among 22 patients with HBV DNA<1,000 IU/mL at week 48, VR was achieved in 21 (95%) patients, compared with eight of 14 (57%) patients with HBV DNA≥1,000 IU/mL. Continuous HBV DNA decline was observed in most patients without VR during follow-up, and in three patients adherence was suboptimal according to the treating physician. ETV was safe and did not affect renal function or cause lactic acidosis.


CONCLUSION
ETV monotherapy can be continued in NA-naïve patients with detectable HBV DNA at week 48, particularly in those with a low viral load because long-term ETV leads to a virological response in the vast majority of patients.
Health Beliefs and Practices Related to Dengue Fever: A Focus Group Study

BACKGROUND
This qualitative study aimed to provide an in-depth understanding of the meaning of dengue fever (DF) amongst people living in a dengue endemic region, dengue prevention and treatment-seeking behaviours. The Health Belief Model was used as a framework to explore and understand dengue prevention behaviours.


METHODS
A total of 14 focus group discussions were conducted with 84 Malaysian citizens of different socio-demographic backgrounds between 16(th) December, 2011 and 12(th) May, 2012.


RESULTS
The study revealed that awareness about DF and prevention measures were high. The pathophysiology of dengue especially dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) were rarely known; as a result, it was seen as deadly by some but was also perceived as easily curable by others without a basis of understanding. Young adults and elderly participants had a low perception of susceptibility to DF. In general, the low perceived susceptibility emerged as two themes, namely a perceived natural ability to withstand infection and a low risk of being in contact with the dengue virus vector, Aedes spp. mosquitoes. The barriers to sustained self-prevention against dengue prevention that emerged in focus groups were: i) lack of self-efficacy, ii) lack of perceived benefit, iii) low perceived susceptibility, and iv) unsure perceived susceptibility. Low perceived benefit of continued dengue prevention practices was a result of lack of concerted action against dengue in their neighborhood. Traditional medical practices and home remedies were widely perceived and experienced as efficacious in treating DF.


CONCLUSION
Behavioural change towards attaining sustainability in dengue preventive practices may be enhanced by fostering comprehensive knowledge of dengue and a change in health beliefs. Wide use of unconventional therapy for DF warrants the need to enlighten the public to limit their reliance on unproven alternative treatments.
Nonlinear model predictive control for vehicle collision avoidance using C/GMRES algorithm

In this study, a collision avoidance method with model predictive control is proposed for a nonlinear model of a four-wheeled vehicle. The C/GMRES algorithm is used for solving the nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) problem within a short sampling period. A nonlinear tire model is employed to represent the realistic behavior of a vehicle. Here, to consider whether it is possible to avoid an obstacle physically, an unavoidable region (UR) is constructed as the region in which the vehicle cannot avoid the obstacle owing to physical limitations. Even if the distance between the vehicle and the obstacle is short, the vehicle is controlled by NMPC not only to avoid the UR but also to stay on the road. A performance index for satisfying the above constraints is proposed, and control responses are investigated through numerical simulations.
Mercury sources and fate in the Gulf of Maine.

Most human exposure to mercury (Hg) in the United States is from consuming marine fish and shellfish. The Gulf of Maine is a complex marine ecosystem comprising twelve physioregions, including the Bay of Fundy, coastal shelf areas and deeper basins that contain highly productive fishing grounds. Here we review available data on spatial and temporal Hg trends to better understand the drivers of human and biological exposures. Atmospheric Hg deposition from U.S. and Canadian sources has declined since the mid-1990s in concert with emissions reductions and deposition from global sources has increased. Oceanographic circulation is the dominant source of total Hg inputs to the entire Gulf of Maine region (59%), followed by atmospheric deposition (28%), wastewater/industrial sources (8%) and rivers (5%). Resuspension of sediments increases MeHg inputs to overlying waters, raising concerns about benthic trawling activities in shelf regions. In the near coastal areas, elevated sediment and mussel Hg levels are co-located in urban embayments and near large historical point sources. Temporal patterns in sentinel species (mussels and birds) have in some cases declined in response to localized point source mercury reductions but overall Hg trends do not show consistent declines. For example, levels of Hg have either declined or remained stable in eggs from four seabird species collected in the Bay of Fundy since 1972. Quantitatively linking Hg exposures from fish harvested from the Gulf of Maine to human health risks is challenging at this time because no data are available on the geographic origin of seafood consumed by coastal residents. In addition, there is virtually no information on Hg levels in commercial species for offshore regions of the Gulf of Maine where some of the most productive fisheries are located. Both of these data gaps should be priorities for future research.
Influence of laser irradiation during the deposition process on the properties of CdS films

Abstract The effect of laser irradiation during the deposition process on the structure and photoelectrical, optical and luminescence properties of CdS thin films prepared by the method of chemical spray pyrolysis, are investigated. Irradiation of the films during their deposition process leads to changes of preferential orientation of the grains from the [002]axis to [101]and to a considerable increase in photosensitivity, transparency and intensity of exciton luminescence of CdS films. These changes are explained in terms of the photodissociation and photoionization of the original components and the subsequent increase of cadmium and sulphur ion mobility on the substrate surface due to the influence of incident laser radiation.
CT quality assurance in the lung screening study component of the National Lung Screening Trial: implications for multicenter imaging trials.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to describe the effect of implementing an imaging quality assurance program on CT image quality in the Lung Screening Study component of the National Lung Screening Trial.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
The National Lung Screening Trial is a multicenter study in which 53,457 subjects at increased risk of lung cancer were randomized to undergo three annual chest CT or radiographic screenings for lung cancer to determine the relative effect of use of the two screening tests on lung cancer mortality. Of the 26,724 subjects randomized to the CT screening arm of the National Lung Screening Trial, the Lung Screening Study randomized 17,309 through 10 screening centers. The others were randomized through the American College of Radiology Imaging Network. Quality assurance procedures were implemented that included centralized review of a random sample of 1,504 Lung Screening Study CT examinations. Quality defect rates were tabulated.


RESULTS
Quality defect rates ranged from 0% (section reconstruction interval) to 7.1% (reconstructed field of view), and most errors were sporadic. However, a recurrently high effective tube current-time product setting at one center, excessive streak artifact at one center, and excessive section thickness at one center were detected and corrected through the quality assurance process. Field-of-view and scan length errors were less frequent over the second half of the screening period (p < 0.01 for both parameters, two-tailed, paired Student's t test). Error rates varied among the screening centers and reviewers for most parameters evaluated.


CONCLUSION
Our experience suggested that centralized monitoring of image quality is helpful for reducing quality defects in multicenter trials.
Effects of seed size and emergence time on tree seedling establishment: importance of developmental constraints

To evaluate the importance of developmental constraints in the determination of the relative importance of seed size and emergence time, early seedling performance of two woody species with contrasting growth phenology were observed under competitive conditions with tall herbs in an early successional habitat. The oak, Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata, with determinate shoot development (a single leaf flush), showed a marked influence of seed size on subsequent seedling height growth and survival. Because of determinate growth, emergence time had negligible effects. The walnut, Juglans ailanthifolia, which continued to produce new leaves throughout the growing season (indeterminate development), showed a marked influence of time of emergence on seedling performance, because it affected the amount of growth that could be achieved; seed size, however, had negligible effects as the seedlings grew. These results suggest that relative importance of seed size and emergence time for early seedling performance is closely associated with developmental constraints (growth phenology).
Obstacle detection using stereo vision for self-driving cars

Detected obstacles overlaid on the original image Polar map: The agent is at the center of the map, facing 00. The blue points correspond to polar positions of the obstacle points around the agent. 1. Talukder, A., et al. "Fast and reliable obstacle detection and segmentation for cross-country navigation." Intelligent Vehicle SympoTalukder, A., et al. "Fast and reliable obstacle detection and segmentation for cross-country navigation." Intelligent Vehicle Symposium, 2002. IEEE. Vol. 2. IEEE, 2002. 2. Sun, Deqing, Stefan Roth, and Michael J. Black. "Secrets of optical flow estimation and their principles." Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2010 IEEE Conference on. IEEE, 2010. 3. Bernini, Nicola, et al. "Real-time obstacle detection using stereo vision for autonomous ground vehicles: A survey." Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), 2014 IEEE 17th International Conference on. IEEE, 2014. 4. Broggi, Alberto, et al. "Stereo obstacle detection in challenging environments: the VIAC experience." Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on. IEEE, 2011.