LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Predictors of postconcussive symptoms 3 months after mild traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE
There is continuing controversy regarding predictors of poor outcome following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This study aimed to prospectively examine the influence of preinjury factors, injury-related factors, and postinjury factors on outcome following mTBI.


METHOD
Participants were 123 patients with mTBI and 100 trauma patient controls recruited and assessed in the emergency department and followed up 1 week and 3 months postinjury. Outcome was measured in terms of reported postconcussional symptoms. Measures included the ImPACT Post-Concussional Symptom Scale and cognitive concussion battery, including Attention, Verbal and Visual memory, Processing Speed and Reaction Time modules, pre- and postinjury SF-36 and MINI Psychiatric status ratings, VAS Pain Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, PTSD Checklist-Specific, and Revised Social Readjustment Scale.


RESULTS
Presence of mTBI predicted postconcussional symptoms 1 week postinjury, along with being female and premorbid psychiatric history, with elevated HADS anxiety a concurrent indicator. However, at 3 months, preinjury physical or psychiatric problems but not mTBI most strongly predicted continuing symptoms, with concurrent indicators including HADS anxiety, PTSD symptoms, other life stressors and pain. HADS anxiety and age predicted 3-month PCS in the mTBI group, whereas PTSD symptoms and other life stressors were most significant for the controls. Cognitive measures were not predictive of PCS at 1 week or 3 months.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the evident influence of both premorbid and concurrent psychiatric problems, especially anxiety, on postinjury symptoms, managing the anxiety response in vulnerable individuals with mTBI may be important to minimize ongoing sequelae.
Design of broadband patch antenna for WiMAX and WLAN

This paper presents a wideband dual layer rectangular U-Slot patch antenna for WiMAX and WLAN applications. The antenna exhibits wideband characteristics that depend on various parameters such as U-slot dimensions, circular probe-fed patch etc. The characteristics of the proposed antenna are calculated and compared with other designs. The antenna shows 36.2% impedance bandwidth with more than 90% antenna efficiency and is best suited for 2.3/2.5 GHz WiMAX and 2.4 GHz WLAN applications.
Low-thermal-conductivity plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings with engineered microstructures

The solution precursor plasma spray (SPPS) process has been used to deposit ZrO2–7 wt.% Y2O3 thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) that contain alternate layers of low and high porosities (layered-SPPS). The thermal conductivity of the layered-SPPS coating is found to be lower than those of both a SPPS coating with distributed porosity and an air-plasma-sprayed coating of the same composition, in the temperature range 100–1000 C. Analytical and object-oriented finite element (OOF) models have been used to analyze the experimental thermal conductivity data. The OOF model is better at describing the experimentally measured thermal conductivities than the analytical model, and the OOF model captures accurately the effect of real microstructures on the thermal conductivities of these plasma-sprayed TBCs. 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mastocytosis: current concepts in diagnosis and treatment

Mastocytosis consists of a group of disorders characterized by a pathologic increase in mast cells in tissues including skin, bone marrow, liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. Mastocytosis is a rare disease. Because of this, general practitioners have limited exposure to its clinical manifestations, diagnosis, classification, and management. Diagnosis of mastocytosis is suspected on clinical grounds and is established by histopathologic examination of involved tissues such as skin and bone marrow. The most common clinical sign of mastocytosis is the presence of typical skin lesions of urticaria pigmentosa. Most patients experience symptoms related to mast cell mediator release, and prevention of the effects of these mediators on tissues constitutes the major therapeutic goal in the management of mastocytosis. Despite recent advances in knowledge about the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and classification of mastocytosis, a curative treatment for mastocytosis does not now exist. Management of patients within all categories of mastocytosis includes: (1) a careful counseling of patients (parents in pediatric cases) and care providers, (2) avoidance of factors triggering acute mediator release, (3) treatment of acute mast cell mediator release, (4) treatment of chronic mast cell mediator release, and if indicated (5) an attempt to treat organ infiltration by mast cells. The goal of this manuscript is to provide an overview of the mediators produced and released by mast cells, the diagnostic criteria for the different variants of mastocytosis, and the treatment options currently available.
Boosting recombined weak classifiers

Boosting is a set of methods for the construction of classifier ensembles. The differential feature of these methods is that they allow to obtain a strong classifier from the combination of weak classifiers. Therefore, it is possible to use boosting methods with very simple base classifiers. One of the most simple classifiers are decision stumps, decision trees with only one decision node. This work proposes a variant of the most well-known boosting method, AdaBoost. It is based on considering, as the base classifiers for boosting, not only the last weak classifier, but a classifier formed by the last r selected weak classifiers (r is a parameter of the method). If the weak classifiers are decision stumps, the combination of r weak classifiers is a decision tree. The ensembles obtained with the variant are formed by the same number of decision stumps than the original AdaBoost. Hence, the original version and the variant produce classifiers with very similar sizes and computational complexities (for training and classification). The experimental study shows that the variant is clearly beneficial. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Accurate Classification of Protein Structural Families Using Coherent Subgraph Analysis

Protein structural annotation and classification is an important problem in bioinformatics. We report on the development of an efficient subgraph mining technique and its application to finding characteristic substructural patterns within protein structural families. In our method, protein structures are represented by graphs where the nodes are residues and the edges connect residues found within certain distance from each other. Application of subgraph mining to proteins is challenging for a number reasons: (1) protein graphs are large and complex, (2) current protein databases are large and continue to grow rapidly, and (3) only a small fraction of the frequent subgraphs among the huge pool of all possible subgraphs could be significant in the context of protein classification. To address these challenges, we have developed an information theoretic model called coherent subgraph mining. From information theory, the entropy of a random variable X measures the information content carried by X and the Mutual Information (MI) between two random variables X and Y measures the correlation between X and Y. We define a subgraph X as coherent if it is strongly correlated with every sufficiently large sub-subgraph Y embedded in it. Based on the MI metric, we have designed a search scheme that only reports coherent subgraphs. To determine the significance of coherent protein subgraphs, we have conducted an experimental study in which all coherent subgraphs were identified in several protein structural families annotated in the SCOP database (Murzin et al, 1995). The Support Vector Machine algorithm was used to classify proteins from different families under the binary classification scheme. We find that this approach identifies spatial motifs unique to individual SCOP families and affords excellent discrimination between families.
Interfacial reactions in Ti/SiC layered films with and without thin diffusion barriers

Abstract Four materials—Al 2 O 3 , TiB x , VB x , and TaB x ( x 2 O 3 and TiB x -show effectiveness in slowing the interdiffusion and reaction of titanium and SiC under normal vacuum annealing at 820°C. None of the four materials shows any significant effect on the reaction in rapid thermal annealings at 900 and 1000°C, most probably owing due to thermal shock influences on the thin film system. The first product of the reaction between titanium and SiC is Ti 5 Si 3 , regardless of barrier.
Dynorphin-Kappa Opioid Receptor Signaling Partly Mediates Estrogen Negative
Feedback Effect on LH Pulses in Female Rats

Accumulating evidence suggests that the arcuate nucleus (ARC) kisspeptin/neurokinin B (NKB)/dynorphin (KNDy) neurons play a role in estrogen negative feedback action on pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)/luteinizing hormone (LH) release. The present study aimed to determine if dynorphin (Dyn) is involved in estrogen negative feedback on pulsatile GnRH/LH release. The effect of the injection of nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI), a kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) antagonist, into the third cerebroventricle (3V) on LH pulses was determined in ovariectomized (OVX) adult female rats with/without replacement of negative feedback levels of estradiol (low E2). The mean LH concentrations and baseline levels of LH secretion in nor-BNI-injected, low E2-treated rats were significantly higher compared with vehicle-treated controls. On the other hand, the nor-BNI treatment failed to affect any LH pulse parameters in OVX rats without low E2 treatment. These results suggest that Dyn is involved in the estrogen negative feedback regulation of pulsatile GnRH/LH release. The low E2 treatment had no significant effect on the numbers of ARC Pdyn (Dyn gene)-,Kiss1- and Tac2 (NKB gene)-expressing cells. The treatment also did not affect mRNA levels of Pdyn and Oprk1 (KOR gene) in the ARC-median eminence region, but significantly increased the ARC kisspeptin immunoreactivity. These findings suggest that the negative feedback level of estrogen suppresses kisspeptin release from the ARC KNDy neurons through an unknown mechanism without affecting the Dyn and KOR expressions in the ARC. Taken together, the present result suggests that Dyn-KOR signaling is a part of estrogen negative feedback action on GnRH/LH pulses by reducing the kisspeptin release in female rats.
Intramuscular fosphenytoin (Cerebyx®) in patients requiring a loading dose of phenytoin

Fosphenytoin (Cerebyx), is a water soluble prodrug that is rapidly and completely converted to phenytoin. This study reports the injection-site tolerance and safety of intramuscular fosphenytoin (> 10 mg/kg doses) in 60 patients requiring a phenytoin loading dose. Patients received injections at single or multiple sites with volumes ranging from 4 to 30 ml per injection site. The majority of patients had no irritation (erythema, swelling, tenderness, bruising) or complaints of discomfort related to fosphenytoin injection either after injection (95%) or at follow-up (88%). Irritation, when reported, was mild in all cases. Forty of 60 patients (67%) reported transient side effects, primarily involving the central nervous system, such as nystagmus, dizziness or ataxia, which are commonly associated with phenytoin therapy. All patients received prescribed doses; no patient had an injection(s) stopped due to intolerance or side effects. No serious adverse events occurred with intramuscular fosphenytoin. In this study, intramuscular fosphenytoin was demonstrated to be a safe and well tolerated, and in many instances, a preferable alternative to other means of phenytoin loading.
Secure neighbor discovery and wormhole localization in mobile ad hoc networks

Neighbor discovery is an important part of many protocols for wireless adhoc networks, including localization and routing. When neighbor discovery fails, communications and protocols performance deteriorate. In networks affected by relay attacks, also known as wormholes, the failure may be more subtle. The wormhole may selectively deny or degrade communications. In this article we present Mobile Secure Neighbor Discovery (MSND), which offers a measure of protection against wormholes by allowing participating mobile nodes to securely determine if they are neighbors, and a wormhole localization protocol, which allows nodes that detected the presence of a wormhole to determine wormhole’s location. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to secure neighbor discovery in mobile adhoc networks and to localize a wormhole. MSND leverages concepts of graph rigidity for wormhole detection. We prove security properties of our protocols, and demonstrate their effectiveness through extensive simulations and a real system evaluation employing Epic motes and iRobot robots. 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Ecology of Infectious Diseases in Natural Populations: Contents

List of participants Introduction Part I. Broad Patterns and Processes: 1. Impact of infectious diseases on wild animal populations: a review F. M. D. Gulland 2. Microparasites: observed patterns A. P. Dobson and P. J. Hudson 3. Mathematical models for microparasites of wildlife J. A. P. Heesterbeek and M. G. Roberts 4. Microparasite group report C. Dye 5. Macroparasites: observed patterns P. J. Hudson and A. P. Dobson 6. Mathematical models for macroparasites of wildlife M. G. Roberts, G. Smith and B. T. Grenfell 7. Macroparasite group report G. Smith 8. Critical evaluation of wildlife disease models N. D. Barlow Part II. Insects and Plants: 9. Nonlinearities in the dynamics of indirectly-transmitted infections (or, does having a vector make a difference?) C. Dye and B. G. Williams 10. Model frameworks for plant-pathogen interactions J. Swinton and R. M. Anderson 11. The dynamics of insect-pathogen interactions C. J. Briggs, R. S. Hails, N. D. Barlow and H. C. J. Godfray Part III. Impact of Ecological and Genetic Heterogeneity: 12. Environmental influences on host immunity S. Lloyd 13. Modelling the immuno-epidemiology of macroparasites in wildlife host populations B. T. Grenfell, K. Dietz and M. G. Roberts 14. Spatial dynamics of parasitism D. Mollinson and S. A. Levin 15. Spatial dynamics group report B. M. Bolker 16. Genetic diversity in host-parasite interactions C. M. Lively and V. Apanius 17. Genetics and evolution of infectious diseases in natural populations group report A. P. Read 18. Beyond host-pathogen dynamics M. Begon and R. G. Bowers 19. Glossary C. Watt, A. P. Dobson and B. T. Grenfell.
The Oxygen Vacancies Correlated Ferromagnetism in Transition Metal-Doped ZnO Nanowires

The magnetic properties of 3d transition metal (TM = V, Cr, and Mn)-doped ZnO nanowires (NWs) with and without oxygen vacancy are investigated by ab initio calculations. The magnetic moments can be induced by TM impurities in ZnO NWs, localized on the 3d TM atoms and their neighboring O atoms. Furthermore, the ferromagnetism in V-, Cr-, and Mn-doped ZnO NWs is strongly correlated with oxygen vacancies.
Top-down, bottom-up, or both? Toward an integrative perspective on operations strategy formation

Operations strategy is formed via complex processes that transpire in multiple directions at multiple organizational levels. While most previous studies focus on the “macro-level” process of strategy formation from the dominant top-down perspective, this study investigates the “micro-level” process of strategy formation that governs interactions among competitive priorities, objectives, and action plans within operations. Using 111 (59 top-down and 52 bottom-up) action plans collected from six German manufacturing plants, we build on Kim and Arnold’s (1996) framework and propose an integrated process model of operations strategy formation that encompasses both top-down planning and bottom-up learning. We also identify a contingency factor that affects their balance: centralized versus decentralized organizational structure. Finally, based on analysis of their respective strategic content, we provide evidence concerning the complementary roles of top-down and bottom-up action plans in operations strategy.
Low-grade inflammation and ambulatory blood pressure response to antihypertensive treatment: the ALPHABET study.

BACKGROUND
We examined whether the level of highsensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker of low-grade inflammation, predicted the response of clinic and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) to antihypertensive treatment.


METHODS
A randomized, open-label, multicenter trial was performed in 88 hypertensive patients (mean age = 63.4 years) allocated to receive losartan 50 mg or amlodipine 5 mg for 4 weeks, and each treatment was changed to losartan 50 mg/hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 12.5 mg in combination or amlodipine 10 mg for a further 4 weeks. Clinic and ambulatory BP were measured before and after 8 weeks of treatment, and hsCRP was measured at baseline.


RESULTS
The patients were divided into groups with hsCRP levels above and below the median (0.47 mg/L) for the study population. In the total population, 24-hour systolic BP (SBP) (P = 0.03) and daytime SBP (P = 0.01) were significantly higher in the above-median hsCRP group after 8 weeks of treatment. In multivariable regression analysis, baseline hsCRP was a significant determinant of the percentage change in daytime SBP (β = 0.29; P = 0.02) in the total population. In the losartan/HCTZ treatment group, changes in 24-hour SBP, daytime SBP, and diastolic BP were significantly smaller in the above-median hsCRP group than the below-median hsCRP group, whereas the amlodipine group did not show these differences.


CONCLUSIONS
Baseline low-grade inflammation in patients with hypertension was associated with a poor ambulatory BP response, especially with losartan/HCTZ treatment. Initial measurement of hsCRP could be useful for selection of an appropriate antihypertensive drug.
Telecommunication power systems: Energy saving, renewable sources and environmental monitoring

Aim of the paper is to study the energetic consumptions for a radio-telecommunication apparatus starting from on-site measurements provided by the Italian companies of mobile communications systems (Vodafone, H3G, Telecom and Wind), which take into account different technologies (GSM, UMTS, DCS+GSM+UMTS), different typologies of apparatuses (outdoor, room, shelter), different locations (North, Center, South of Italy) and different working loads. The results presented are from the research project "Telecommunication power systems: energy saving, renewable sources and environmental monitoring", between the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Second University of Naples (DSA-SUN) and the National Agency for the Environment Protection (APAT) with the participation of providers of mobile communications and technological partners. According to the APAT database (year 2007), in Italy there are more than 60.000 radio base stations. We show that they have a huge energetic consumptions: more than 2 TWh per year, that represents 0,7% of the Italian electricity consumption. Furthermore, we have shown that the energetic consumption connected to the transmission functions to one related to air-conditioning functions represents 2/3 are 1/3 of total energy consumption, respectively. Finally, we show on site-application of renewable energy system to produce a part of the energy used by radio- telecommunication apparatus, realized in collaboration with Vodafone provider: for the first time in Italy a photovoltaic system has been planned and installed in two different Italian sites. For both sites the procedures to obtain economic incentives from Italian government ("Conto Energia") has been completed.
Scalable network-on-chip architecture for configurable neural networks

Providing highly flexible connectivity is a major architectural challenge for hardware implementation of reconfigurable neural networks. We perform an analytical evaluation and comparison of different configurable interconnect architectures (mesh NoC, tree, shared bus and point-to-point) emulating variants of two neural network topologies (having full and random configurable connectivity). We derive analytical expressions and asymptotic limits for performance (in terms of bandwidth) and cost (in terms of area and power) of the interconnect architectures considering three communication methods (unicast, multicast and broadcast). It is shown that multicast mesh NoC provides the highest performance/cost ratio and consequently it is the most suitable interconnect architecture for configurable neural network implementation. Routing table size requirements and their impact on scalability were analyzed. Modular hierarchical architecture based on multicast mesh NoC is proposed to allow large scale neural networks emulation. Simulation results successfully validate the analytical models and the asymptotic behavior of the network as a function of its size. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Implications for Training on Smartphone Medication Reminder App Use by Adults With Chronic Conditions: Pilot Study Applying the Technology Acceptance Model

BACKGROUND
The majority of middle-aged to older patients with chronic conditions report forgetting to take medications as prescribed. The promotion of patients' smartphone medication reminder app (SMRA) use shows promise as a feasible and cost-effective way to support their medication adherence. Providing training on SMRA use, guided by the technology acceptance model (TAM), could be a promising intervention to promote patients' app use.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this pilot study was to (1) assess the feasibility of an SMRA training session designed to increase patients' intention to use the app through targeting perceived usefulness of app, perceived ease of app use, and positive subjective norm regarding app use and (2) understand the ways to improve the design and implementation of the training session in a hospital setting.


METHODS
A two-group design was employed. A total of 11 patients older than 40 years (median=58, SD=9.55) and taking 3 or more prescribed medications took part in the study on one of two different dates as participants in either the training group (n=5) or nontraining group (n=6). The training group received an approximately 2-hour intervention training session designed to target TAM variables regarding one popular SMRA, the Medisafe app. The nontraining group received an approximately 2-hour control training session where the participants individually explored Medisafe app features. Each training session was concluded with a one-time survey and a one-time focus group.


RESULTS
Mann-Whitney U tests revealed that the level of perceived ease of use (P=.13) and the level of intention to use an SMRA (P=.33) were higher in the training group (median=7.00, median=6.67, respectively) than in the nontraining group (median=6.25, median=5.83). However, the level of perceived usefulness (U=4.50, Z=-1.99, P=.05) and the level of positive subjective norm (P=.25) were lower in the training group (median=6.50, median=4.29) than in the nontraining group (median=6.92, median=4.50). Focus groups revealed the following participants' perceptions of SMRA use in the real-world setting that the intervention training session would need to emphasize in targeting perceived usefulness and positive subjective norm: (1) the participants would find an SMRA to be useful if they thought the app could help address specific struggles in medication adherence in their lives and (2) the participants think that their family members (or health care providers) might view positively the participants' SMRA use in primary care settings (or during routine medical checkups).


CONCLUSIONS
Intervention training session, guided by TAM, appeared feasible in targeting patients' perceived ease of use and, thereby, increasing intention to use an SMRA. Emphasizing the real-world utility of SMRA, the training session could better target patients' perceived usefulness and positive subjective norm that are also important in increasing their intention to use the app.