LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Autoantibodies and autoimmune disease during treatment of children with chronic hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVES
Autoantibodies were studied in a well-characterized cohort of children with chronic hepatitis C during treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin to assess the relation with treatment and development of autoimmune disease.


METHODS
: A total of 114 children (5-17 years), screened for the presence of high-titer autoantibodies, were randomized to pegylated interferon with or without ribavirin. Anti-nuclear, anti-liver-kidney-microsomal, anti-thyroglobulin, anti-thyroid peroxidase, insulin, anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies were measured after trial completion using frozen sera.


RESULTS
At baseline, 19% had autoantibodies: anti-nuclear antibodies (8%), anti-liver-kidney-microsomal antibodies (4%), and glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (4%). At 24 and 72 weeks (24 weeks after treatment completion), 23% and 26% had autoantibodies (P=0.50, 0.48 compared with baseline). One child developed diabetes and 2 hypothyroidism during treatment; none developed autoimmune hepatitis. At 24 weeks, the incidence of flu-like symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, and headaches was 42%, 8% and 19% in those with autoantibodies versus 52%, 17%, and 26% in those without (P=0.18, 0.36, and 0.20, respectively). In children with negative hepatitis C virus polymerase chain reaction at 24 weeks, there was no difference in the rate of early virologic response/sustained virologic response, respectively, in those with autoantibodies 76%/69% vs 58%/65% in those without (P=0.48).


CONCLUSIONS
Despite screening, we found autoantibodies commonly at baseline, during treatment for chronic hepatitis C and after. The presence of antibodies did not correlate with viral response, adverse effects, or autoimmune hepatitis. Neither screening nor archived samples assayed for thyroid and diabetes-related antibodies identified the 3 subjects who developed overt autoimmune disease, diabetes (1), and hypothyroidism (2).
De fi nitions of progression in chronic kidney disease — predictors and relationship to renal replacement therapy in a population cohort with a 6 year follow-up

Background. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, important and associated with increased healthcare needs due to CKD progression. Definitions of renal disease progression are multiple, and not always comparable. A measure of ‘progression’ directly comparable with renal replacement therapy (RRT) initiation would identify ‘progressors’ in research and for healthcare planning. Methods. The Grampian Laboratory Outcomes Morbidity and Mortality Study (GLOMMS-I) is a community cohort with CKD from 2003, followed up to June 2009 for (i) RRT initiation and (ii) ‘progression’: sustained reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by 15 mL/min/1.73 m (equivalent to CKD stage change), or to <10 mL/min/1.73 m, whichever occurs first. Predictors were baseline demographics and comorbidity. The use of the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes-2012 progression definition was also explored. Results. Two thousand two hundred and eighty-nine and 1044 had Stage 3 and 4 CKD, 44% were males. Overall, RRT initiation and progression rates were 0.97 and 3.50 per 100 patient-years (py). Females had significantly lower progression and RRT initiation rates. The progression rate was not dependent on CKD stage [incidence rate ratio (IRR) for Stage 4 (versus Stage 3) 0.9 (95% CI 0.8–1.2)], whereas the RRT initiation rate was [IRR 5.6 (95% CI 3.8–8.2)]. Increased proteinuria was associated with both greater RRT initiation and progression rates. Conclusions. Progression and RRT initiation rate ratios allow comparison of predictors of these outcomes. Higher rates of both in males suggest that greater RRT initiation rate is biological rather than due to preferential treatment. Similar progression but very different RRT initiation rates in Stage 3 and 4 CKD suggests that CKD stage effect on RRT initiation is a function of endpoint proximity rather than faster renal function deterioration.
Influence of dopant anions on the electrochemical properties of polypyrrole films

s of meetings and conferences 1. T. Tamm, T. Raudsepp, M. Marandi, J. Tamm, Some interesting aspects of aromatic dopant anions in polypyrrole, 57th ISE Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, UK, 27 aug – 1 sept 2006. Book of Abstract, S7, P-77 2. J. Tamm, T. Raudsepp, M. Marandi, T. Tamm; Properties of the polypyrrole films doped with aromatic anions, WEEM, Repino, Russia, 2006. Book of Abstract, 80, O. 3. T. Raudsepp, M. Marandi, T. Tamm, V. Sammelselg, J. Tamm; Redoxactivity of the Polypyrrole Films Doped with Aromatic Anions. BEC-5, Tartu, Estonia, 2008. Book of Abstract, 28, P. 4. U. Visk, T. Raudsepp, T. Tamm, Electrochemical and IR Study of Overoxidation of Polypyrrole. BEC-5, Tartu, Estonia, 2008. Book of Abstract, 43, P. 5. J. Tamm, T. Raudsepp, M. Marandi, T. Tamm, V. Sammelselg, Comparsion of the Electrochemical Properties of Polypyrrole Films Doped with Various Anions. BEC-5, Tartu, Estonia, 2008. Book of Abstract, 22, O. 6. T. Tamm, T. Raudsepp, J. Tamm, Ion mobility – a limiting factor in the application of polypyrrole actuators, IV World Congress on Biomimetics, Artificial Muscles & Nano-Bio, Torre Pacheco, 2007. Book of Abstract, 47, O. 7. Tamm, T.; Visk, U.; Raudsepp, T. (2008). Electrochemical, Theoretical and IR Study of the Overoxidation of Polypyrrole. In: 59th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Seville, Spain, 07–12 Sept. 2008: 59th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Seville, Spain, 07–12 Sept. 2008., 2008. 8. T. Raudsepp, M. Marandi, T. Tamm, V. Sammelselg, J. Tamm, Redoxacrivity of redoped polypyrrole films. WEEM, Szczyrk, Poland, 2009. Book of Abstract, 73, P.
Customs in Common

Introduction - custom and culture the patricians and the plebs custom, law and common right the moral economy of the English crowd in the eighteenth century the moral economy reviewed time, work-discipline and industrial capitalism the sales of wives rough music.
TQM practices , service quality , and market orientation Some empirical evidence from a developing country

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and service quality as well as the relationship between TQM practices and market orientation. Design/methodology/approach – Structured questionnaires were distributed to managers of 175 service organisations in the northern region of Malaysia; 101 were returned. Findings – The results show that employee empowerment, information and communication, customer focus, and continuous improvement had a significant effect on service quality whereas only employee empowerment and customer focus had a significant effect on market orientation. Research limitations/implications – Awider sample can be used for any future study, which can be generalized to the service industry with multiple responses from different individuals and management levels. The same study can also be completed by including more TQM practices as well as other mediating variables like environment, culture, and control within the organization. Practical implications – This study contributes significant knowledge to the service industry since there is still a lack of studies that have been done in relation to TQM in service organizations due to its origin, which is more related to manufacturing organizations. It helps towards understanding the improvement in quality efforts in service organizations in the context of Malaysian practitioners. Originality/value – This study adds to the literature by bridging the gap and showing the importance of TQM practices in service organizations. It also provides some theoretical contributions to the TQM development, in relation to market orientation.
Occupy Wall Street in perspective.

LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website.
A Case of Diprosopus: Perinatal Counseling and Management

Diprosopus is a rare congenital malformation associated with high mortality. Here, we describe a patient with diprosopus, multiple life-threatening anomalies, and genetic mutations. Prenatal diagnosis and counseling made a beneficial impact on the family and medical providers in the care of this case.
Fast Scene Understanding for Autonomous Driving

Most approaches for instance-aware semantic labeling traditionally focus on accuracy. Other aspects like runtime and memory footprint are arguably as important for realtime applications such as autonomous driving. Motivated by this observation and inspired by recent works that tackle multiple tasks with a single integrated architecture [13], [20], [22], in this paper we present a real-time efficient implementation based on ENet [18] that solves three autonomous driving related tasks at once: semantic scene segmentation, instance segmentation and monocular depth estimation. Our approach builds upon a branched ENet architecture with a shared encoder but different decoder branches for each of the three tasks. The presented method can run at 21 fps at a resolution of 1024x512 on the Cityscapes dataset without sacrificing accuracy compared to running each task separately.
Evaluate the Sensitivity and Specificity Echocardiography in Trans-Doppler and Tissue Doppler Method in the Estimation of Left Ventricular End-Diastolic Pressure

BACKGROUND
Non-invasive survey of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) by transmitral Doppler echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging carries important information about left ventricular diastolic function in chosen subsets of patients. This study is planned to assess whether mitral annular velocities (lateral annulus) as assessed by tissue Doppler imaging and transmitral Doppler echocardiography are associated with invasive measures of left ventricular end diastolic pressure and also the estimation of sensitivity and specificity of these methods.


METHODS
One hundred ten consecutive patients admitted to cardiac catheterization underwent simultaneous Doppler interrogation measurements of left ventricular pressure were obtained with fluid-filled pressure. The E/Ea ratio associated well with LVEDP (P<0.005 r=0.4) and the correlation more marked in the patients with reduced contractile function. This correlation was independent of gender.


RESULTS
The E/Ea ration of <8 best discriminated elevated (LVEDP>12) from normal LVEDP with a sensitivity of 73.5% and specificity 57.8%, PPV and NPV were 75.75% and 55% respectively. Our study results also showed that quantitative estimation of LVEDP could be suggested by the equation of LVEDP=1.2 E/Ea+6.67 ± 8 mmHg P<0.005 B=0.4. Male-LVEDP=0.9 E/Ea + 7.78 ± 7.67 mmHg (r=0.4 Pa<0.005) EF ≥ 50 % -+LVEDP=1.48 E/Ea + 9.05 ± 5.23 (r=0.4 P<0.05) EF<50% -+LVEDP=0.76 E/Ea + 8.4 ± 2.3 (r=0.5 P<0.005)
Response factors surrounding progression of pressure ulcers in community-residing adults with spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE
This study examined how community-dwelling adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) respond in real-life circumstances after detecting a low-grade (Stage 1 or Stage 2) pressure ulcer.


METHOD
We performed a secondary analysis of personal information profiles obtained in a previous qualitative research study. Profiles were examined to explore how individualized lifestyle considerations affected pressure ulcer risk in 19 adults with SCI who responded to an early ulcer that later progressed to a medically serious level.


RESULTS
On the basis of a total of 46 pressure ulcer events, we identified a typological framework that described eight primary response categories and seven subcategories.


CONCLUSION
The findings have significant practice implications for occupational therapists who provide services for adults with SCI living in the community. The importance of combining an initial individualized preventive intervention with structured follow-up within a person's unique everyday life setting is further explored.
Electronic warfare systems

Electronic warfare (EW) is an important capability that can advance desired military, diplomatic, and economic objectives or, conversely, impede undesired ones. In a military application, EW provides the means to counter, in all battle phases, hostile actions that involve the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum—from the beginning when enemy forces are mobilized for an attack, through to the final engagement. EW exploits the EM environment by sensing and analyzing an adversary’s application of the spectrum and imposing appropriate countermeasures (CMs) to hostile spectrum use. EW sensors are one means by which the military gathers tactical intelligence from noncooperative forces. EW sensors, together with EW CMs, mitigate the effectiveness of an adversary’s electrooptic/infrared, and radio frequency-controlled weapons. EW enhances the survivability of the host force through control and manipulation of the EM environment and denies or limits its use by an adversary. EM spectrum CMs to threat systems can be selectively applied on a timeand/or frequency-multiplexed basis so that host force use of the EM spectrum is uninhibited.
Irreversible investment problems

Abstract. This paper mathematically treats the following economic problem: A company wants to expand its capacity in investments that are irreversible. The problem is to find the best investment strategy taking the fluctuating market into account. We give some implicit conditions for a solution in the case where the market process is n-dimensional and an explicit solution in the one dimensional case.
A Note on Marginal Linear Regression with Correlated Response Data

Correlated response data often arise in longitudinal and familial studies The marginal regression model and its associated generalized estimating equation GEE method are becoming more and more popular in handling such data Pepe and Anderson pointed out that there is an important yet implicit assumption behind the marginal model and GEE If the assumption is violated and a non diagonal working correlation matrix is used in GEE biased estimates of regression coe cients may result On the other hand if a diagonal correlation matrix is used irrespective of whether the assumption is violated the resulting estimates are nearly unbiased A straightforward interpretation of this phenomenon is lacking in part due to the unavailability of a closed form for the resulting GEE estimates In this note we show how the bias may arise in the context of linear regression where the GEE estimates of regression coe cients are the ordinary or generalized least squares LS estimates Also we explain why the generalized LS estimator may be biased in contrast to the well known result that it is usually unbiased In addition we discuss the bias properties of the sandwich variance estimator of the ordinary LS estimate
Dielectric properties of epoxy nanocomposites containing TiO/sub 2/, Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and ZnO fillers

This work presents results of dielectric spectroscopy and space charge (PEA) measurements on epoxy resin filled with 10% w/w micro- and nano- sized particles of TiO/sub 2/, Al/sub 3/O/sub 2/ and ZnO. The results appear to show that the material from which the nano-particle is made is not highly significant in influencing these results. The results support the proposition that the dielectric properties of such nano-filled composites are controlled by Stern-Gouy-Chapman layers ("interaction zones") around the particles.
A Dynamic Convolutional Layer for short rangeweather prediction

We present a new deep network layer called “Dynamic Convolutional Layer” which is a generalization of the convolutional layer. The conventional convolutional layer uses filters that are learned during training and are held constant during testing. In contrast, the dynamic convolutional layer uses filters that will vary from input to input during testing. This is achieved by learning a function that maps the input to the filters. We apply the dynamic convolutional layer to the application of short range weather prediction and show performance improvements compared to other baselines.
A COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION OF WHITE MATTER TRACTS AND CONNECTOMETRY IN MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

BACKGROUND
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating disorder characterized by widespread brain abnormalities. The literature is mixed as to whether or not white matter abnormalities are associated with MDD. This study sought to examine fractional anisotropy (FA) in white matter tracts in individuals with MDD using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).


METHODS
139 participants with MDD and 39 healthy controls (HC) in a multisite study were included. DTI scans were acquired in 64 directions and FA was determined in the brain using four methods: region of interest (ROI), tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS), and diffusion tractography. Diffusion connectometry was used to identify white matter pathways associated with MDD.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences when comparing FA in MDD and HC groups using any method. In the MDD group, there was a significant relationship between depression severity and FA in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, and between age of onset of MDD and FA in the right caudal anterior cingulate cortex using the ROI method. There was a significant relationship between age of onset and connectivity in the thalamocortical radiation, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and cerebellar tracts using diffusion connectometry.


CONCLUSIONS
The lack of group differences in FA and connectometry analysis may result from the clinically heterogenous nature of MDD. However, the relationship between FA and depression severity may suggest a state biomarker of depression that should be investigated as a potential indicator of response. Age of onset may also be a significant clinical feature to pursue when studying white matter tracts.
Twisted fallopian tube in pregnancy: a case report

BACKGROUND: Isolated twisted fallopian tube is an uncommon event, isolated twisted fallopian tube in pregnancy is also very rare. The diagnosis is often difficult and established during the operation. The right fallopian tube is most common affected. CASE PRESENTATION: We report an uncommon twisted left fallopian tube in pregnancy. A 34-year-old G3P2 28 weeks pregnant woman presented with acute left lower abdominal pain. The clinical and ultrasonographic findings led to diagnosis of twisted left ovarian cyst. Emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed. A twisted left fallopian tube and paratubal cyst was noted and left salpingectomy was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful and the pregnancy continued until term without complication. CONCLUSIONS: Although isolated twisted fallopian tube during pregnancy is very rare, it should be included in the differential diagnosis of acute abdomen in pregnancy. Early surgical intervention will decrease obstetric morbidity and may allow preservation of the fallopian tube.
Managing mangroves with benthic biodiversity in mind: Moving beyond roving banditry

This review addresses mangrove management activities in the broader context of the diversity of the mangrove benthos. Goals for mangrove ecosystem management include silviculture, aquaculture, or ‘ecosystem services’ such as coastal protection. Silvicultural management of mangroves generally neglects the benthos, although benthic invertebrates may affect tree establishment and growth, and community composition of benthic invertebrates may be a reliable indicator of the state of managed mangrove forests. Similarly, mangrove aquaculture focuses on particular species with little attention paid either to impacts on other trophic levels or to feedbacks with the trees. Exploitation of mangrove-associated prawns, crabs, and molluscs has a total economic value NUS $4 billion per year. These aquaculture operations still rely on wild-collected stock; world-wide patterns of exploitation fit the well-known process of ‘roving banditry’, where mobile agents move from location to location, rapidly exploiting and depleting local resources before moving on to other, as-yet unprotected grounds. Collection of brood stock and fishing for other external inputs required by aquaculture (e.g., ‘trash fish’) removes intermediate trophic levels from marine food webs, may destabilize them, and lead to secondary extinctions of higher-order predators. Increased attention being paid to the role of mangroves in coastal protection following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami provides an opportunity to reassess the relative merits of management focused on short-term economic gains. Managing for ecosystem services may ultimately preserve benthic biodiversity in mangrove ecosystems. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Knowledge Management : A Threefold Framework

It is widely claimed by a number of business and academic gurus that in order for organizations to have a lasting competitive advantage they will have to be knowledge driven. If knowledge is viewed as a resource that is critical to an organization’s survival and success in the global market, then like any other resource it demands good management. However, the bulk of organizations still have not approached knowledge management (KM) activity formally or deliberately. The cause for this inattention could be that most organizations are still struggling to comprehend the KM concept. To ease the struggle, the fundamental issue of identifying salient characteristics of KM phenomena needs to be addressed. This article helps address this need by introducing a threefold descriptive framework that identi es and characterizes the main elements of KM phenomena and their relationships. The  rst component provides a generic description of an organization’s knowledge resources. A second component introduces elemental knowledge manipulation activities an organization performs in dealing with those resources. The third component identi es major in uences that impact an organization’s conduct of KM. Results of a survey to assess the framework are reported. They indicate general satisfaction with the framework.