LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Sanitary Conditions of Food Vending Sites and Food Handling Practices of Street Food Vendors in Benin City, Nigeria: Implication for Food Hygiene and Safety

OBJECTIVE
To determine the sanitary conditions of vending sites as well as food handling practices of street food vendors in Benin City, Nigeria.


METHODOLOGY
A descriptive cross-sectional study was done using an observational checklist and researcher-administered questionnaire. 286 randomly selected vending units were surveyed, and their operators interviewed on their food handling practices.


RESULTS
A higher proportion, 259 (90.5%), of the observed vending sites appeared clean. The following sanitary facilities were observed in and around the respective food premises of the respondents: waste bin, 124 (43.4%), refuse dumpsite, 41 (14.3%), wash hand basin, 201 (71.2%), hand towel, 210 (73.4%), and soap, 220 (76.9%). There were also the presence of flies 118, (41.3%), and the presence of rats/cockroaches, 7 (2.4%). Respondents with tertiary education, 5 (38.5%), vended foods in environment with good hygiene status compared to those with secondary, 45 (31.7%), and primary education, 33 (27.3%). There was no statistically significant association between educational status and the hygiene status of food premise (P = 0.362).


CONCLUSION
This study showed that street food vending sites in Benin City were sanitary and that food vendors had good food handling practices.
Integrating structured biological data by Kernel Maximum Mean Discrepancy

MOTIVATION
Many problems in data integration in bioinformatics can be posed as one common question: Are two sets of observations generated by the same distribution? We propose a kernel-based statistical test for this problem, based on the fact that two distributions are different if and only if there exists at least one function having different expectation on the two distributions. Consequently we use the maximum discrepancy between function means as the basis of a test statistic. The Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD) can take advantage of the kernel trick, which allows us to apply it not only to vectors, but strings, sequences, graphs, and other common structured data types arising in molecular biology.


RESULTS
We study the practical feasibility of an MMD-based test on three central data integration tasks: Testing cross-platform comparability of microarray data, cancer diagnosis, and data-content based schema matching for two different protein function classification schemas. In all of these experiments, including high-dimensional ones, MMD is very accurate in finding samples that were generated from the same distribution, and outperforms its best competitors.


CONCLUSIONS
We have defined a novel statistical test of whether two samples are from the same distribution, compatible with both multivariate and structured data, that is fast, easy to implement, and works well, as confirmed by our experiments.


AVAILABILITY
http://www.dbs.ifi.lmu.de/~borgward/MMD.
Effectiveness of a hospital-wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene

BACKGROUND
Hand hygiene prevents cross infection in hospitals, but compliance with recommended instructions is commonly poor. We attempted to promote hand hygiene by implementing a hospital-wide programme, with special emphasis on bedside, alcohol-based hand disinfection. We measured nosocomial infections in parallel.


METHODS
We monitored the overall compliance with hand hygiene during routine patient care in a teaching hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, before and during implementation of a hand-hygiene campaign. Seven hospital-wide observational surveys were done twice yearly from December, 1994, to December, 1997. Secondary outcome measures were nosocomial infection rates, attack rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and consumption of handrub disinfectant.


FINDINGS
We observed more than 20,000 opportunities for hand hygiene. Compliance improved progressively from 48% in 1994, to 66% in 1997 (p<0.001). Although recourse to handwashing with soap and water remained stable, frequency of hand disinfection substantially increased during the study period (p<0.001). This result was unchanged after adjustment for known risk factors of poor adherence. Hand hygiene improved significantly among nurses and nursing assistants, but remained poor among doctors. During the same period, overall nosocomial infection decreased (prevalence of 16.9% in 1994 to 9.9% in 1998; p=0.04), MRSA transmission rates decreased (2.16 to 0.93 episodes per 10,000 patient-days; p<0.001), and the consumption of alcohol-based handrub solution increased from 3.5 to 15.4 L per 1000 patient-days between 1993 and 1998 (p<0.001).


INTERPRETATION
The campaign produced a sustained improvement in compliance with hand hygiene, coinciding with a reduction of nosocomial infections and MRSA transmission. The promotion of bedside, antiseptic handrubs largely contributed to the increase in compliance.
Reforming Project Management: The Role of Lean Construction

Project management as taught by professional societies and applied in current practice must be reformed because it is inadequate today and its performance will continue to decline as projects become more uncertain, complex and pressed for speed. Project management is failing because of flawed assumptions and idealized theory: it rests on a faulty understanding of the nature or work in projects, and a deficient definition of control. It is argued that a reform of project management will be driven by theories from production management that add the management of workflow and the creation and delivery of value to the current emphasis on activities. Of all the approaches to production management, the theory and principles drawn from Lean Production seem to be best suited for project management. Promising results in this regard have been reached already in one project management area, namely in Lean Construction.
Clinical analysis of surgical approaches for orbital floor fractures.

OBJECTIVE
To identify the optimal surgical method for managing blowout fractures of the inferior orbital wall by analyzing the location and type of fracture based on computed tomographic findings and medical records.


METHODS
Medical records of 102 patients with pure inferior blowout fractures who were treated between June 1996 and December 2005 were reviewed regarding fracture type and location and surgical approach.


RESULTS
Ocular symptoms persisted in 14 of the 102 cases after surgery, and revision procedures were performed in 11 of those cases. Cases with persistent symptoms were analyzed in terms of fracture location and type of surgery. For anterior orbital floor fractures, symptoms persisted in 2 of the 4 cases treated using a transantral approach, while no symptoms persisted in any of the 15 cases treated using a transorbital approach or in either of the 2 cases treated using a combined approach. For posterior orbital floor fractures, symptoms persisted in 2 of the 31 cases treated using a transantral approach, in 4 of the 6 cases treated using a transorbital approach, and in 1 of the 19 cases treated using a combined approach. For anteroposterior orbital floor fractures, symptoms persisted in 2 of the 5 cases treated using a transorbital approach and in 3 of the 20 cases treated using transantral and combined approaches.


CONCLUSION
Patients with large orbital floor fractures or posterior half fractures of the orbit should undergo surgery via a transantral or a combined approach, while patients with trapdoor fractures or anterior half fractures of the orbit should undergo surgery via a transorbital or a combined approach.
Examination of association with candidate genes for diabetic nephropathy in a Mexican American population.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a multifactorial complication characterized by persistent proteinuria in susceptible individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Disease burden in people of Mexican-American descent is particularly high, but there are only a few studies that characterize genes for DN in this ethnic group. Two genes, carnosine dipeptidase 1 (CNDP1) and engulfment and cell motility 1 (ELMO1) previously showed association with DN in other ethnic groups. CNDP1 and ELMO1 were examined along with eight other genes that are less well characterized for DN in a new study of Mexican-Americans.


DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
The target sample was patients of Mexican-American ancestry collected from three centers: 455 patients with DN and 437 controls with long-term diabetes but no incident nephropathy. Forty-two, 227, and 401 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CNDP1, ELMO1, and the other eight genes, respectively, were examined.


RESULTS
No region in CNDP1 or ELMO1 showed significant P values. Of the other eight candidate genes, an association of DN with a SNP pair, rs2146098 and rs6659783, was found in hemicentin 1 (HMCN1) (unadjusted P = 6.1 x 10(-5)). Association with a rare haplotype in this region was subsequently identified.


CONCLUSIONS
The associations in CNDP1 or ELMO1 were not replicable; however, an association of DN with HMCN1 was found. Additional work at this and other loci will enable refinement of the genetic hypotheses regarding DN in the Mexican-American population to find therapies for this debilitating disease.
The Effectiveness of Self-Management Mobile Phone and Tablet Apps in Long-term Condition Management: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND
Long-term conditions and their concomitant management place considerable pressure on patients, communities, and health care systems worldwide. International clinical guidelines on the majority of long-term conditions recommend the inclusion of self-management programs in routine management. Self-management programs have been associated with improved health outcomes; however, the successful and sustainable transfer of research programs into clinical practice has been inconsistent. Recent developments in mobile technology, such as mobile phone and tablet computer apps, could help in developing a platform for the delivery of self-management interventions that are adaptable, of low cost, and easily accessible.


OBJECTIVE
We conducted a systematic review to assess the effectiveness of mobile phone and tablet apps in self-management of key symptoms of long-term conditions.


METHODS
We searched PubMed, Embase, EBSCO databases, the Cochrane Library, and The Joanna Briggs Institute Library for randomized controlled trials that assessed the effectiveness of mobile phone and tablet apps in self-management of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung diseases from 2005-2016. We searched registers of current and ongoing trials, as well as the gray literature. We then checked the reference lists of all primary studies and review papers for additional references. The last search was run in February 2016.


RESULTS
Of the 9 papers we reviewed, 6 of the interventions demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in the primary measure of clinical outcome. Where the intervention comprised an app only, 3 studies demonstrated a statistically significant improvement. Interventions to address diabetes mellitus (5/9) were the most common, followed by chronic lung disease (3/9) and cardiovascular disease (1/9). A total of 3 studies included multiple intervention groups using permutations of an intervention involving an app. The duration of the intervention ranged from 6 weeks to 1 year, and final follow-up data ranged from 3 months to 1 year. Sample size ranged from 48 to 288 participants.


CONCLUSIONS
The evidence indicates the potential of apps in improving symptom management through self-management interventions. The use of apps in mHealth has the potential to improve health outcomes among those living with chronic diseases through enhanced symptom control. Further innovation, optimization, and rigorous research around the potential of apps in mHealth technology will move the field toward the reality of improved health care delivery and outcomes.
Determinants of patient and surgeon perspectives on maximum acceptable waiting times for hip and knee arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVES
Lengthy waiting times for hip and knee arthroplasty have raised concerns about equitable and timely access to care. The Western Canada Waiting List project has developed priority criteria scores linked to maximum acceptable waiting times (MAWT) for different levels of priority. Our study purpose was to assess the determinants of patient- and surgeon-rated MAWT, and to test whether the anticipated waiting time has an independent influence after adjusting for age, sex and patient urgency. A second aim was to compare MAWT, waiting time and anticipated waiting time for different levels of urgency assessed using the priority criteria score.


METHODS
Orthopaedic surgeons assessed 233 consecutive patients waiting for arthroplasty in terms of their urgency (assessed using the priority criteria score and a visual analogue scale), MAWT and anticipated waiting time. Patient data included urgency (assessed by a visual analogue scale), MAWT and the Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis index. We used hierarchical linear regression to test the models.


RESULTS
After adjusting for age and sex, urgency (assessed by priority criteria score and visual analogue scale) and anticipated waiting time accounted for 40% of the variance in surgeon MAWT. The patient model accounted for 30% of the variance in patient MAWT. Older patients preferred signficantly shorter MAWTs (P <0.05). Anticipated waiting time added significantly to both the surgeon and patient MAWT models (R(2) change 0.11 and 0.07, respectively). Actual waiting time was weakly correlated with urgency assessed using the priority criteria score (r = -0.25, P <0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients' and surgeons' views are critical to a fair process of establishing MAWT for elective procedures. Anticipated waiting time may influence the perspectives on MAWT and must be considered in their interpretation.
Multivariate Stochastic Volatility: A Review

The literature on multivariate stochastic volatility (MSV) models has developed significantly over the last few years. This paper reviews the substantial literature on specification, estimation, and evaluation of MSV models. A wide range of MSV models is presented according to various categories, namely, (i) asymmetric models, (ii) factor models, (iii) time-varying correlation models, and (iv) alternative MSV specifications, including models based on the matrix exponential transformation, the Cholesky decomposition, and the Wishart autoregressive process. Alternative methods of estimation, including quasi-maximum likelihood, simulated maximum likelihood, and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, are discussed and compared. Various methods of diagnostic checking and model comparison are also reviewed.
Formal Refinement and Proof of a Small Java Program

The main components of a formal technique for specifying, reening and proving properties of object-oriented programs are presented. The technique is based on a-notation whose semantics is given using standard categorical constructs. An example of the formal development of a small Java program is presented.
Exploiting packet-sampling measurements for traffic characterization and classification

The use of packet sampling for traffic measurement has become mandatory for network operators to cope with the huge amount of data transmitted in nowadays net works, powered by increasingly faster transmission technologies. Therefore, many networking ta sks must already deal with such reduced data, more available but less rich in information. In this work we a ssess the impact of packet sampling on various network monitoring activities, with a particular f ocus on traffic characterization and classification. We process an extremely heterogeneous dataset composed of f our packet level traces (representative of different access technologies and operational environmen ts) with a traffic monitor able to apply different sampling policies and rates to the traffic and extract severa l features both in aggregated and per-flow fashion, providing empirical evidences of the impact of packet sampl ing on both traffic measurement and traffic classification. First, we analyze feature distortion, quan tified by means of two statistical metrics: most features appear already deteriorated under low sampling st ep, no matter the sampling policy, while only a few remain consistent under harsh sampling conditions, which m ay even cause some artifacts undermining the correctness of measurements. Second, we evaluate the perfo rmance of traffic classification under sampling. The information content of features, even though deteriora ted, still allows a good classification accuracy, provided that the classifier is trained with data obtained at the same sampling rate of the target data. The accuracy is also due to a thoughtful choice of a smart samplin g olicy which biases the sampling towards packets carrying the most useful information. Copyright c © 0000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Review Paper: A Systematic Review of Patient Acceptance of Consumer Health Information Technology

A systematic literature review was performed to identify variables promoting consumer health information technology (CHIT) acceptance among patients. The electronic bibliographic databases Web of Science, Business Source Elite, CINAHL, Communication and Mass Media Complete, MEDLINE, PsycArticles, and PsycInfo were searched. A cited reference search of articles meeting the inclusion criteria was also conducted to reduce misses. Fifty-two articles met the selection criteria. Among them, 94 different variables were tested for associations with acceptance. Most of those tested (71%) were patient factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, health- and treatment-related variables, and prior experience or exposure to computer/health technology. Only ten variables were related to human-technology interaction; 16 were organizational factors; and one was related to the environment. In total, 62 (66%) were found to predict acceptance in at least one study. Existing literature focused largely on patient-related factors. No studies examined the impact of social and task factors on acceptance, and few tested the effects of organizational or environmental factors on acceptance. Future research guided by technology acceptance theories should fill those gaps to improve our understanding of patient CHIT acceptance, which in turn could lead to better CHIT design and implementation.
Anxiety disorders and comorbid medical illness.

OBJECTIVE
To provide an overview of the role of anxiety disorders in medical illness.


METHOD
The Anxiety Disorders Association of America held a multidisciplinary conference from which conference leaders and speakers reviewed presentations and discussions, considered literature on prevalence, comorbidity, etiology and treatment, and made recommendations for research. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), asthma, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and chronic pain were reviewed.


RESULTS
A substantial literature supports clinically important associations between psychiatric illness and chronic medical conditions. Most research focuses on depression, finding that depression can adversely affect self-care and increase the risk of incident medical illness, complications and mortality. Anxiety disorders are less well studied, but robust epidemiological and clinical evidence shows that anxiety disorders play an equally important role. Biological theories of the interactions between anxiety and IBS, CVD and chronic pain are presented. Available data suggest that anxiety disorders in medically ill patients should not be ignored and could be considered conjointly with depression when developing strategies for screening and intervention, particularly in primary care.


CONCLUSIONS
Emerging data offer a strong argument for the role of anxiety in medical illness and suggest that anxiety disorders rival depression in terms of risk, comorbidity and outcome. Research programs designed to advance our understanding of the impact of anxiety disorders on medical illness are needed to develop evidence-based approaches to improving patient care.
The effect of challenge method on methacholine-induced changes in sensitivity and air trapping.

BACKGROUND
The methacholine challenge test performed with the tidal breathing method induces a greater fall in FEV(1) than the dosimeter method; however, the effect of the challenge method on methacholine-induced fall in FVC has not been investigated.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the influence of the challenge method on methacholine-induced changes in FEV(1) and FVC.


METHODS
Airway responsiveness to methacholine was determined by dosimeter method and tidal breathing method in 37 subjects with suspected asthma. The dosimeter was modified to deliver an identical volume to that obtained with the tidal breathing method and the same nebulizer model was used for the two challenges. The response was expressed by the provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in FEV(1) (PC(20)) and by the percent fall in FVC at the PC(20) value relative to FVC after saline inhalation.


RESULTS
The PC(20) values obtained with the tidal breathing method and the dosimeter method were similar, with geometric mean values of 3.15 (95%CI, 1.85-5.34 mg/mL) and 2.51 (1.37-4.61 mg/mL, P = 0.092), respectively. The percent fall in FVC at the PC(20) value obtained with the dosimeter was significantly greater than that obtained with the tidal breathing method, with mean values of 11.8 (95%CI, 10.0-13.5%) and 9.4 (95%CI, 8.1-10.8, P = 0.002), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Differences in methacholine PC(20) values obtained with the two challenge methods recommended in guidelines may be overcome by introducing some technical modifications in the dosimeter method. However, the technical factors that affect methacholine sensitivity and air trapping are at least partially different.