LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Longitudinal Change of HBsAg in HBeAg-negative Patients with Genotype B or C Infection

BACKGROUND & AIMS
Quantitative HBsAg has been recognized to assist in the management of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, its role in disease monitoring of HBeAg-negative patients remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the longitudinal HBsAg change in HBeAg-negative carriers with HBV genotype B or C infection.


METHODS
This is a retrospective cohort study conducted in a university hospital. Treatment-naïve HBeAg-negative carriers followed for more than 3 years were recruited. Their hepatitis activities were categorized by longitudinal HBV-DNA levels into high viral-load (HVL: HBV-DNA >/ =2000 IU/mL persistently), low viral-load (LVL: HBV-DNA <2000 IU/mL persistently) and fluctuated viral-load (FVL: HBV-DNA between HVL and LVL). The baseline and end-of-follow-up (EOF) HBsAg levels were quantified for analyses.


RESULTS
We recruited 187 patients with a median follow-up of 8 years. LVL patients had a significantly lower HBsAg at baseline and EOF and a significantly greater annualized HBsAg decline compared with the FVL and HVL. The longitudinal HBsAg change was independent of genotype B or C. The lower baseline HBsAg level predicted the HBsAg decline and HBsAg loss, whereas the higher baseline HBV-DNA predicted the hepatitis flare. A baseline HBsAg <50 IU/mL predicted subsequent HBsAg loss with a sensitivity of 82% and specificity of 67%. The annualized HBsAg decline appeared non-linear, and accelerated as the HBsAg level lowered (0.054, 0.091, 0.126 log(10) IU/mL in patients with baseline HBsAg >1000, 100-999, <100 IU/mL, respectively, P for trend= .014).


CONCLUSIONS
In genotype B or C HBeAg-negative carriers, baseline HBsAg levels correlate with future disease activities and help to predict HBsAg decline or loss. Inactive carriers with lower baseline HBsAg levels have a greater and accelerating HBsAg decline over time, regardless of HBV genotypes.
Brand trust and brand extension acceptance : the relationship

Purpose – This UK-based research aims to build on the US-based work of Keller and Aaker, which found a significant association between “company credibility” (via a brand’s “expertise” and “trustworthiness”) and brand extension acceptance, hypothesising that brand trust, measured via two correlate dimensions, is significantly related to brand extension acceptance. Design/methodology/approach – Discusses brand extension and various prior, validated influences on its success. Focuses on the construct of trust and develops hypotheses about the relationship of brand trust with brand extension acceptance. The hypotheses are then tested on data collected from consumers in the UK. Findings – This paper, using 368 consumer responses to nine, real, low involvement UK product and service brands, finds support for a significant association between the variables, comparable in strength with that between media weight and brand share, and greater than that delivered by the perceived quality level of the parent brand. Originality/value – The research findings, which develop a sparse literature in this linkage area, are of significance to marketing practitioners, since brand trust, already associated with brand equity and brand loyalty, and now with brand extension, needs to be managed and monitored with care. The paper prompts further investigation of the relationship between brand trust and brand extension acceptance in other geographic markets and with other higher involvement categories.
The Technology Acceptance Model: Its past and its future in health care

Increasing interest in end users' reactions to health information technology (IT) has elevated the importance of theories that predict and explain health IT acceptance and use. This paper reviews the application of one such theory, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), to health care. We reviewed 16 data sets analyzed in over 20 studies of clinicians using health IT for patient care. Studies differed greatly in samples and settings, health ITs studied, research models, relationships tested, and construct operationalization. Certain TAM relationships were consistently found to be significant, whereas others were inconsistent. Several key relationships were infrequently assessed. Findings show that TAM predicts a substantial portion of the use or acceptance of health IT, but that the theory may benefit from several additions and modifications. Aside from improved study quality, standardization, and theoretically motivated additions to the model, an important future direction for TAM is to adapt the model specifically to the health care context, using beliefs elicitation methods.
Exploitation, Violence, and Suicide Risk Among Child and Adolescent Survivors of Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

IMPORTANCE
Human trafficking and exploitation of children have profound health consequences. To our knowledge, this study represents the largest survey on the health of child and adolescent survivors of human trafficking.


OBJECTIVE
To describe experiences of abuse and exploitation, mental health outcomes, and suicidal behavior among children and adolescents in posttrafficking services. We also examine how exposures to violence, exploitation, and abuse affect the mental health and suicidal behavior of trafficked children.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A survey was conducted with 387 children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 years in posttrafficking services in Cambodia, Thailand, or Vietnam, which along with Laos, Myanmar, and Yunnan Province, China, compose the Greater Mekong Subregion. Participants were interviewed within 2 weeks of entering services from October 2011 through May 2013.


MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, suicidal ideation, self-injury, and suicide attempts.


RESULTS
Among the 387 children and adolescent study participants, most (82%) were female. Twelve percent had tried to harm or kill themselves in the month before the interview. Fifty-six percent screened positive for depression, 33% for an anxiety disorder, and 26% for posttraumatic stress disorder. Abuse at home was reported by 20%. Physical violence while trafficked was reported by 41% of boys and 19% of girls. Twenty-three percent of girls and 1 boy reported sexual violence. Mental health symptoms were strongly associated with recent self-harm and suicide attempts. Severe physical violence was associated with depression (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 3.55; 95% CI, 1.64-7.71), anxiety (AOR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.12-4.05), and suicidal ideation (AOR, 3.68; 95% CI, 1.77-7.67). Sexual violence while trafficked was associated with depression (AOR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.22-4.23) and suicidal ideation (AOR, 3.43; 95% CI, 1.80-6.54).


CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Children and adolescents in posttrafficking care showed high symptom levels of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, which are strongly associated with self-harm or suicidal behaviors. Mental health screening and reintegration risk assessments are critical components of posttrafficking services, especially in planning for family reunification and other social integration options.
Human leukocyte antigen epitope antigenicity and immunogenicity.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies are now recognized as being specific for epitopes which can be defined structurally with amino acid differences between HLA alleles. This article addresses two general perspectives of HLA epitopes namely antigenicity, that is their reactivity with antibody and immunogenicity, that is their ability of eliciting an antibody response.


RECENT FINDINGS
Single-antigen bead assays have shown that HLA antibodies recognize epitopes that are equivalent to eplets or corresponding to eplets paired with other residue configurations. There is now a website-based Registry of Antibody-Defined HLA Epitopes (http://www.epregistry.com.br). Residue differences within eplet-defined structural epitopes may also explain technique-dependent variations in antibody reactivity determined in Ig-binding, C1q-binding and lymphocytotoxicity assays.HLA antibody responses correlate with the numbers of eplets on mismatched HLA antigens, and the recently proposed nonself-self paradigm of epitope immunogenicity may explain the production of epitope-specific antibodies.


SUMMARY
These findings support the usefulness of HLA matching at the epitope level, including the identification of acceptable mismatches for sensitized patients and permissible mismatching for nonsensitized patients aimed to reduce HLA antibody responses.
A multiple view approach to support common ground in distributed and synchronous geo-collaboration

In this paper we investigate strategies to support knowledge sharing in distributed, synchronous collaboration. Our goal is to propose, justify, and assess a multiple view approach to support common ground in geo-collaboration within multi-role teams. We argue that a collaborative workspace, which includes multiple role-specific views coordinated with a team view, affords a clear separation between role-specific and shared data, enables the team to filter out role-specific details and share strategic knowledge, and allows serendipitous learning about knowledge and expertise within the team. We discuss some key issues that need to be addressed when designing multiple views as a collaborative visualization. We illustrate the design features of a geo-collaborative prototype that address these issues in the context of two collaborative scenarios. We finally describe a laboratory method for investigating how multi-role teams establish common ground while the amount of prior shared knowledge and the type of visualization are experimentally manipulated.
Erythropoietin is reduced by combination of diuretic therapy and RAAS blockade in proteinuric renal patients with preserved renal function.

BACKGROUND
Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) blockade improves prognosis in renal patients, but usually requires diuretic co-treatment. RAAS blockade can decrease erythropoietin (EPO) and/or haemoglobin (Hb) levels. Diuretics decrease EPO in rodents, but their effect on EPO and Hb in humans is unknown.


METHODS
Proteinuric renal patients with preserved renal function were treated during 6-week periods with placebo, losartan 100 mg/day (LOS) and LOS plus hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg/day (LOS/HCT), in random order.


RESULTS
Hb was inversely related to proteinuria, and EPO levels were inappropriately low in relation to Hb. Hb was lowered by LOS with and without HCT. EPO was decreased by LOS/HCT, but not by LOS.


CONCLUSIONS
EPO and Hb are reduced by HCT added to LOS in proteinuric renal patients with preserved renal function. We hypothesize that EPO reduction by HCT is caused by a decrease in renal oxygen requirement, which is the main stimulus for EPO production, due to the inhibition of active tubular sodium reabsorption. Further studies should explore the exact mechanism of this phenomenon and its clinical impact.
Answer Set Programming: A Tour from the Basics to Advanced Development Tools and Industrial Applications

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a powerful rule-based language for knowledge representation and reasoning that has been developed in the field of logic programming and nonmonotonic reasoning. After more than twenty years from the introduction of ASP, the theoretical properties of the language are well understood and the solving technology has become mature for practical applications. In this paper, we first present the basics of the ASP language, and we then concentrate on its usage for knowledge representation and reasoning in realworld contexts. In particular, we report on the development of some industry-level applications with the ASP system DLV, and we illustrate two advanced development tools for ASP, namely ASPIDE and JDLV, which speed-up and simplify the implementation of applications.
The effects of the HEALTHY study intervention on middle school student dietary intakes

BACKGROUND
The HEALTHY study was designed to respond to the alarming trends in increasing rates of overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus in youth. The objective of this analysis was to examine the effects of the HEALTHY study on student self-reported dietary intakes (energy, macronutrients and grams consumed of selected food groups).


METHODS
HEALTHY was a cluster-randomized study in 42 public middle schools. Students, n=3908, self-reported dietary intake using the Block Kids Questionnaire. General linear mixed models were used to analyze differences in dietary intake at the end of the study between intervention and control schools.


RESULTS
The reported average daily fruit consumption was 10% higher at the end of the study in the intervention schools than in the control schools (138 g or approximately 2 servings versus 122 g, respectively, p=0.0016). The reported water intake was approximately 2 fluid ounces higher in the intervention schools than in the control (483 g versus 429 g respectively; p=0.008). There were no significant differences between intervention and control for mean intakes of energy, macronutrients, fiber, grains, vegetables, legumes, sweets, sweetened beverages, and higher- or lower-fat milk consumption.


CONCLUSION
The HEALTHY study, a five-semester middle school-based intervention program that integrated multiple components in nutrition, physical education, behavior change, and social marketing-based communications, resulted in significant changes to student's reported fruit and water intake. Subsequent interventions need to go beyond the school environment to change diet behaviors that may affect weight status of children.
Effect of rumen-protected niacin on lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and performance of transition dairy cows.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a rumen-protected niacin product (RPN; 65% nicotinic acid; NiaShure, Balchem Corp., New Hampton, NY) on lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and performance of transition dairy cows. Thirty nonlactating multiparous Holstein cows in late gestation were paired according to expected calving date and randomly assigned to 12 g/cow per day of RPN product or to an unsupplemented control (CON) diet. Treatment diets were fed from 21 d before expected calving through 21 d after parturition. Blood samples were taken on d -21, -14, -7, 1, 7, 14, and 21 relative to calving for plasma nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), glucose, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) analyses. Liver samples were taken by biopsy on d 1 and 21 relative to calving for triglyceride (TG) analysis. Data were analyzed for a randomized complete block design with repeated measures. Pre- and postpartum dry matter intake, milk yield, and protein were unaffected by treatment. Milk fat percentage (5.08 vs. 4.44%) and somatic cell score (3.93 vs. 2.48) were reduced for RPN. Treatment × time interactions were observed for energy-corrected milk (ECM) and fat-corrected milk (FCM) yields; RPN reduced ECM and FCM yields by 8.5 and 8.9 kg/cow per day, respectively, in the first week of lactation. Although body weight and condition score decreased during the experimental period, no differences due to treatment were observed. However, calculated postpartum energy balance tended to be improved for RPN because of the reduction in ECM yield. Time and treatment × time effects were observed for plasma NEFA. On d 1 postpartum, NEFA reached 1,138±80 μEq/L for CON compared with 698±80 μEq/L for RPN. Cows supplemented with RPN tended to have lower plasma NEFA concentrations than CON cows on d 7 and 14 postpartum. Plasma BHBA, glucose, and SOD and liver TG concentrations were unaffected by treatment. In conclusion, supplementation with 12 g/cow per day of the RPN product provided a bioavailable source of niacin that modified lipid metabolism but did not affect milk yield over the first 3 wk of lactation or oxidative stress of transition dairy cows.
The Efficacy of Infliximab Monotherapy versus Infliximab-Azathioprine Sequential Treatment in Crohn's Disease: Experience from a Tertiary Medical Center in China

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of infliximab (IFX) monotherapy versus infliximab-azathioprine sequential treatment in Crohn's disease (CD) patients. Methods. Patients newly diagnosed with CD using IFX as induction therapy were enrolled. After 6 times of IFX infusions, they were divided into IFX monotherapy group and IFX-AZA sequential therapy group. Clinical remission rates were assessed at weeks 57, 84, 111, and 138 while endoscopic remission rates were assessed at weeks 84 and 138 to evaluate the efficacy of these two groups. Results. A total of seventy-nine patients had accomplished 138-week follow-up. At weeks 84 and 138, the deep remission rate (18/22 and 17/22) of IFX monotherapy group was significantly higher compared to IFX-AZA sequential therapy group (26/57 and 21/57) (P = 0.004 and 0.001, resp.). Similar findings were found in complete endoscopic remission rate. The clinical remission rates of IFX monotherapy group were similar to that of IFX-AZA sequential therapy group (P > 0.05). At weeks 84 and 138, the endoscopic remission rate and the endoscopic improvement rate between these two groups displayed no significant difference (P > 0.05). Conclusion. IFX monotherapy provides higher deep remission rate compared with IFX-AZA sequential therapy in two-year maintenance therapy. For patients who could not receive prolonged IFX therapy, IFX-AZA sequential therapy is acceptable, though long-term efficacy remains to be seen.
Mechanical strength and its variability in Bi- modified Sn-Ag-Cu solder alloy

Purpose: Many previous work on Sn rich Pb-free soldering had focused on the evolution, morphology and the role of interfacial intermetallic compounds (IMC) layers of Cu3Sn and Cu6Sn5 on the mechanical integrity of soldered joints. However recent studies had shown that under static shearing stress, more fracture failures had been found to occur through the solder and thus indicate the significance of solder microstructures in the joint integrity. In this work, we investigated the effect of Bi substitution for Sn on the shear strength of solder joints of near eutectic SAC alloy Sn3.5Ag0.9Cu. Design/methodology/approach: Ingot alloy were prepared from pure elements and their melting characteristics were followed with thermal analyses. Copper plates were soldered together in lap joints that were subjected to shear testing in the as-soldered conditions. The microstructures were followed by SEM and EDS. Findings: Results show that failures occurred in quasi-brittle manner, with large variability. The ternary SAC alloy had average shear strength of 30 MPa better than binary eutectic Sn/Cu. Small Bi substitution of Sn up to 2 wt% lead to increased average shear strengths with maximum strengths of about 50 MPa recorded for compositions with Bi content of 0.5 to 1.5 wt%. Bi substitutions beyond 2wt% gave substantially lower strength values. The application of Weibull criteria suggest untypical high variability in strength with Webuill moduli less than 10. Higher variability in shear strengths were found in compositions containing more than 2 wt.% Bi. Research limitations/implications: Micro-structural evidence suggest that the role of Bi in increasing strength may be related to the high solubility of Bi in Sn and this would have provided some solution hardening effect. Higher Bi content however, lead to the formation Bi rich phases in the microstructure and this would have affected the mechanics of deformation thus leading to generally lower strength values and much higher variability in measurements. Originality/value: This paper clarifies the role of Bi substitution in improving the mechanical properties and reliability of soldered joints with unleaded solders.
IETF Standardization in the Field of the Internet of Things (IoT): A Survey

Smart embedded objects will become an important part of what is called the Internet of Things. However, the integration of embedded devices into the Internet introduces several challenges, since many of the existing Internet technologies and protocols were not designed for this class of devices. In the past few years, there have been many efforts to enable the extension of Internet technologies to constrained devices. Initially, this resulted in proprietary protocols and architectures. Later, the integration of constrained devices into the Internet was embraced by IETF, moving towards standardized IP-based protocols. In this paper, we will briefly review the history of integrating constrained devices into the Internet, followed by an extensive overview of IETF standardization work in the 6LoWPAN, ROLL and CoRE working groups. This is complemented with a broad overview of related research results that illustrate how this work can be extended or used to tackle other problems and with a discussion on open issues and challenges. As such the aim of this paper is twofold: apart from giving readers solid insights in IETF standardization work on the Internet of Things, it also aims to encourage readers to further explore the world of Internet-connected objects, pointing to future research opportunities. OPEN ACCESS J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2013, 2 236
The Impact of Neighbourhood Churches on House Prices

This study extends literature that empirically investigates the impact of neighborhood churches on residential property values with particular reference to selected areas in Lagos metropolis. The hypothesis that proximity to a church has no effect (positive or negative) on house prices is tested with a standard hedonic pricing model using a sample of 450 rented apartments (flats) across the study areas. The results followed the more common belief that neighborhood churches, particularly the large ones, impact negatively on the values of nearby residential properties. It further revealed that where more powerful positive externalities exist in close proximity, the negative effects of churches, even the large ones, on residential property values can be neutralized or even overshadowed. Among others, the results of the study is expected to bring to light the social and economic implications of churches located within residential neighborhoods in the study area and thereby assist urban planners, the courts and real estate valuers in resolving the debate on the nuisance versus amenity effects of neighborhood churches.