LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Incident venous thromboembolic events in the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER)

BACKGROUND
Venous thromboembolic events (VTE), including deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, are common in older age. It has been suggested that statins might reduce the risk of VTE however positive results from studies of middle aged subjects may not be generalisable to elderly people. We aimed to determine the effect of pravastatin on incident VTE in older people; we also studied the impact of clinical and plasma risk variables.


METHODS
This study was an analysis of incident VTE using data from the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER), a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of pravastatin in men and women aged 70-82. Mean follow-up was 3.2 years. Risk for VTE was examined in non-warfarin treated pravastatin (n = 2834) and placebo (n = 2865) patients using a Cox's proportional hazard model, and the impact of other risk factors assessed in a multivariate forward stepwise regression analysis. Baseline clinical characteristics, blood biochemistry and hematology variables, plasma levels of lipids and lipoproteins, and plasma markers of inflammation and adiposity were compared. Plasma markers of thrombosis and hemostasis were assessed in a nested case (n = 48) control (n = 93) study where the cohort was those participants, not on warfarin, for whom data were available.


RESULTS
There were 28 definite cases (1.0%) of incident VTE in the pravastatin group recipients and 20 cases (0.70%) in placebo recipients. Pravastatin did not reduce VTE in PROSPER compared to placebo [unadjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) 1.42 (0.80, 2.52) p = 0.23]. Higher body mass index (BMI) [1.09 (1.02, 1.15) p = 0.0075], country [Scotland vs Netherlands 4.26 (1.00, 18.21) p = 0.050 and Ireland vs Netherlands 6.16 (1.46, 26.00) p = 0.013], lower systolic blood pressure [1.35 (1.03, 1.75) p = 0.027] and lower baseline Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score [1.19 (1.01, 1.41) p = 0.034] were associated with an increased risk of VTE, however only BMI, country and systolic blood pressure remained significant on multivariate analysis. In a nested case control study of definite VTE, plasma Factor VIII levels were associated with VTE [1.52 (1.01, 2.28), p = 0.044]. However no other measure of thrombosis and haemostasis was associated with increased risk of VTE.


CONCLUSIONS
Pravastatin does not prevent VTE in elderly people at risk of vascular disease. Blood markers of haemostasis and inflammation are not strongly predictive of VTE in older age however BMI, country and lower systolic blood pressure are independently associated with VTE risk.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Not applicable when study undertaken.
Rapid synthesis of biocompatible silver nanoparticles using aqueous extract of Rosa damascena petals and evaluation of their anticancer activity.

OBJECTIVE
To optimize the process parameters involved in the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (G-SNPs) by aqueous extract of Rosa damascena petals and to evaluate the biocompatibility and anti cancer activity of the synthesized silver nanoparticles against human lung adenocarcinoma (A549).


METHODS
The process variables that include concentration of extract, mixing ratio of reactants, silver salt concentration and interaction time were analyzed. The compatibility of the G-SNPs was verified by incubating with erythrocytes and the anticancer property of the G-SNPs against A549 cells was performed by MTT assay.


RESULTS
Formation of G-SNPs was confirmed by the visual change in the colour of the reaction mixture from pale yellow to brown yellow. Surface plasmon resonance of synthesized G-SNPs was observed at 420 nm; the size of G-SNPs were analyzed by DLS and found to be in the range of (84.00±10.08) nm. Field emission scanning electron microscope and high resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis confirmed that the G-SNPs were fairly spherical. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction revealed the characteristic peaks of G-SNPs. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed a signal of silver around 3 keV. The synthesized G-SNPs exhibited anticancer activity as evidenced by the MTT assay. IC50 value of G-SNPs was found to be 80 μg/mL.


CONCLUSION
The results of the present study suggest that G-SNPs can be synthesized rapidly within first minute of the reaction; they are biocompatible and possess anticancer activity against human lung adenocarcinoma.
Endurance exercise training improves heart rate recovery in patients with COPD.

BACKGROUND
Abnormalities of autonomic function have been reported in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The effect of the exercise training in heart rate recovery (HRR) has not been established in patients with COPD.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the effects of 8-weeks' endurance training program on parasympathetic nervous system response measured as heart rate recovery in a sample of moderate-to-severe COPD patients.


METHODS
We recruited a consecutive sample of patients with COPD candidates to participate in a pulmonary rehabilitation program from respiratory outpatient clinics of a tertiary hospital. HRR was calculated, before and after training, as the difference in heart rate between end-exercise and one minute thereafter (HRR1) in a constant-work rate protocol.


RESULTS
A total of 73 COPD patients were included: mean (SD) age 66 (8) years, median (P25-P75) post-bronchodilator FEV1 39 (29-53)%. The prevalence of slow HRR1 (≤12 beats) at baseline was 63%, and was associated with spirometric severity (mean FEV1 35% in slow HRR1 vs 53 in normal HRR1, p < 0.001). After 8-weeks training, HRR1 improved from mean (SD) 10 (7) to 12 (7) beats (p = 0.0127). Multivariate linear regression models showed that the only variable related to post-training HRR1 was pre-training HRR1 (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that training enhances HRR in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD. HRR is an easy tool to evaluate ANS such that it may be a useful clinical marker of parasympathetic nervous system response in patients with COPD.
The Effect of Traditional Cupping on Pain and Mechanical Thresholds in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Randomised Controlled Pilot Study

Introduction. Cupping has been used since antiquity in the treatment of pain conditions. In this pilot study, we investigated the effect of traditional cupping therapy on chronic nonspecific neck pain (CNP) and mechanical sensory thresholds. Methods. Fifty CNP patients were randomly assigned to treatment (TG, n = 25) or waiting list control group (WL, n = 25). TG received a single cupping treatment. Pain at rest (PR), pain related to movement (PM), quality of life (SF-36), Neck Disability Index (NDI), mechanical detection (MDT), vibration detection (MDT), and pressure pain thresholds (PPT) were measured before and three days after a single cupping treatment. Patients also kept a pain and medication diary (PaDi, MeDi) during the study. Results. Baseline characteristics were similar in the two groups. After cupping TG reported significantly less pain (PR: -17.9 mm VAS, 95%CI -29.2 to -6.6; PM: -19.7, 95%CI -32.2 to -7.2; PaDi: -1.5 points on NRS, 95%CI -2.5 to -0.4; all P < 0.05) and higher quality of life than WL (SF-36, Physical Functioning: 7.5, 95%CI 1.4 to 13.5; Bodily Pain: 14.9, 95%CI 4.4 to 25.4; Physical Component Score: 5.0, 95%CI 1.4 to 8.5; all P < 0.05). No significant effect was found for NDI, MDT, or VDT, but TG showed significantly higher PPT at pain-areas than WL (in lg(kPa); pain-maximum: 0.088, 95%CI 0.029 to 0.148, pain-adjacent: 0.118, 95%CI 0.038 to 0.199; both P < 0.01). Conclusion. A single application of traditional cupping might be an effective treatment for improving pain, quality of life, and hyperalgesia in CNP.
Self-managing cloud-native applications: Design, implementation, and experience

Running applications in the cloud efficiently requires much more than deploying software in virtual machines. Cloud applications have to be continuously managed: (1) to adjust their resources to the incoming load and (2) to face transient failures replicating and restarting components to provide resiliency on unreliable infrastructure. Continuous managementmonitors application and infrastructural metrics to provide automated and responsive reactions to failures (healthmanagement) and changing environmental conditions (auto-scaling) minimizing human intervention. In the current practice, management functionalities are provided as infrastructural or third party services. In both cases they are external to the application deployment. We claim that this approach has intrinsic limits, namely that separating management functionalities from the application prevents them from naturally scaling with the application and requires additional management code and human intervention. Moreover, using infrastructure provider services for management functionalities results in vendor lock-in effectively preventing cloud applications to adapt and run on the most effective cloud for the job. In this paper we discuss the main characteristics of cloud native applications, propose a novel architecture that enables scalable and resilient self-managing applications in the cloud, and relate on our experience in porting a legacy application to the cloud applying cloud-native principles. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Surgical nurses' perceptions of ethical dilemmas, moral distress and quality of care.

AIM
To describe surgical nurses' perceived levels of ethical dilemmas, moral distress and perceived quality of care and the associations among them.


BACKGROUND
Nurses are committed to providing quality care. They can experience ethical dilemmas and moral distress while providing patient care. Little research has focused on the effect of moral distress or ethical dilemmas on perceived quality of care.


DESIGN
Descriptive, cross-sectional study.


METHOD
After administration and institutional Research Ethics Committee approval, a researcher requested 119 surgical nurses working in two Israeli hospitals to fill out three questionnaires (personal background characteristics; Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing and Quality of Nursing Care). Data collection took place from August 2007 to January 2008.


RESULTS
Participant mean age was 39·7 years. The sample consisted mostly of women, Jewish and married staff nurses. The majority of nurses reported low to moderate levels of ethical dilemma frequency but intermediate levels of ethical dilemma intensity. Frequency of ethical dilemmas was negatively correlated with level of nursing skill, meeting patient's needs and total quality of care. No important correlations were found between intensity of ethical dilemmas and quality of care.


CONCLUSIONS
Levels of ethical dilemma frequency were higher than intensity. Nurses tended to be satisfied with their level of quality of care. Increased frequency of ethical dilemmas was associated with some aspects of perceived quality of care.


RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Quality of care is related to ethical dilemmas and moral distress among surgical nurses. Therefore, efforts should be made to decrease the frequency of these feelings to improve the quality of patient care.
Concepts of Cognition and Consciousness: four voices

This paper considers theories of cognition and consciousness in four traditions: neuroscience, cognitive science, activity theory and the distributed cognition approach. It is most concerned with social theories of consciousness---activity theory and distributed cognition---but briefly considers biological and computational models as a foil or backdrop against which the social theories stand out more clearly.
The level of deliberacy in international market selection strategy: a look at a Finnish multi-sided platform start-up

Background Recently, there has been a growth in literature pertaining to international market expansion of companies described as ‘born globals’. Within this sphere, multi-sided platform businesses that connect two or more sides of a market, have gained significant traction. Much of the current research has focused on analysing the way the companies internationalize. There is, however, a gap in research relating to how the specific international market selection strategies are formed at early stage companies and with what level of deliberacy. Scholars such as Spence (2003) and Crick and Spence (2005) look into the level of deliberacy in startup international market selection but do not take an in-depth look into how it is formed and what factors influence it. The thesis sheds light on the strategy process within a highly dynamic environment and helps understand the intentions and patterns of the case company in view of international market selection. Objectives The main objective of the study was to understand the initial international market selection strategy formation and execution from the perspective of deliberacy. This was achieved through an in-depth case analysis of a Finnish multi-sided platform start-up that was at a nascent state of development. The second objective focused on understanding the underlying processes resulting in the selection of a given internationalization market over another one. This was done by analyzing the key motivators in market selection decisions. Conclusions The key finding of the research was that the level of deliberacy in initial international market selection was driven by resource constraints and the managerial perceptions of the founders. These factors introduced a situation under which there were clearly identified internationalization markets based on the founders’ vision. The international market selection thus followed an entrepreneurial strategy path, as described by Mintzberg and Waters (1985). In contrary to existing literature, a highly emergent network view did not seem to be the fundamental approach to the selection of international markets.
Adaptive devices in young people with upper limb reduction deficiencies: Use and satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate use of, satisfaction with, and social adjustment with adaptive devices compared with prostheses in young people with upper limb reduction deficiencies.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of 218 young people with upper limb reduction deficiencies (age range 2-20 years) and their parents. A questionnaire was used to evaluate participants' characteristics, difficulties encountered, and preferred solutions for activities, use satisfaction, and social adjustment with adaptive devices vs prostheses. The Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with assistive Technology and a subscale of Trinity Amputation and Prosthesis Experience Scales were used.


RESULTS
Of 218 participants, 58% were boys, 87% had transversal upper limb reduction deficiencies, 76% with past/present use of adaptive devices and 37% with past/present use of prostheses. Young people (> 50%) had difficulties in performing activities. Of 360 adaptive devices, 43% were used for self-care (using cutlery), 28% for mobility (riding a bicycle) and 5% for leisure activities. Prostheses were used for self-care (4%), mobility (9%), communication (3%), recreation and leisure (6%) and work/employment (4%). The preferred solution for difficult activities was using unaffected and affected arms/hands and other body parts (> 60%), adaptive devices (< 48%) and prostheses (< 9%). Satisfaction and social adjustment with adaptive devices were greater than with prostheses (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSION
Young people with upper limb reduction deficiencies are satisfied and socially well-adjusted with adaptive devices. Adaptive devices are good alternatives to prostheses.
Effects of Backfilling on Cable Ampacity Analyzed With the Finite Element Method

Expressions for computing the external thermal resistance (T4) of buried cables, in both the IEEE and the IEC standards, are applicable to a limited number of installation geometries. In this paper, a method for the computation of T4 using the finite element approach is presented. With this method, a parametric study on how cable ampacity is affected by different configurations of the backfills is performed. The obtained results are compared with those of the IEC and IEEE standards (Neher-McGrath) and published extensions by El-Kady and Horrocks. Important differences can be observed for nonstandardized situations.
IDEA: Identifying Design Principles in Educational Applets.

The Internet is increasingly being used as a medium for educational software in the form of miniature applications (e.g., applets) to explore concepts in a domain. One such effort in mathematics education, the Educational Software Components of Tomorrow (ESCOT) project, created 42 miniature applications each consisting of a context, a set of questions, and one or more interactive applets to help students explore a mathematical concept. They were designed by experts in interface design, educational technology, and classroom teaching. However, some applications were more successful for fostering student problem-solving than others. This article describes the method used to mine a subset (25) of these applets for design principles that describe successful learner-centered design by drawing on such data as videos of students using the software and summaries of written student work. Twenty-one design principles were identified, falling into the categories of motivation, presentation, and support for problem solving. The main purpose of this article is to operationalize a method for post hoc extraction of design principles from an existing library of educational software, although readers may also find the design principles themselves to be useful. The Internet is increasingly becoming a vehicle to design, develop, and publish educational software in the form of miniature applications (e.g., applets) that can be used to explore specific problem contexts or concepts in a domain. The design of technology tools has the potential to dramatically influence how students interact with tools, and these interactions in turn may influence students’ content area understanding and problem solving. However, the rapid development and dissemination of such tools in many cases occur without an explicit set of design principles in place. The purpose of this article is to describe the process that IDEA (Identifying Design principles in Educational Applets) participants used to cull design principles from a library of applets developed for mathematics education. We view the process of extracting these design principles as a first step in a broader methodology of proposing, refining, vetting, and using design principles. Design principles published for educational software range in their specificity depending on the tools being analyzed. For example, Sinclaire (2003) studied student interactions with javabased dynamic geometry sketches that are accompanied by a set of questions to guide student exploration of the objects in the sketches. From her analysis of student work with the sketches, she has extracted a set of guiding principles that should inform future development (e.g., questions should aim to focus student attention on aspects of the sketch, whereas the
The effects of plyometric versus dynamic stabilization and balance training on lower extremity biomechanics.

BACKGROUND
Neuromuscular training that includes both plyometric and dynamic stabilization/balance exercises alters movement biomechanics and reduces ACL injury risk in female athletes. The biomechanical effects of plyometric and balance training utilized separately are unknown.


HYPOTHESIS
A protocol that includes balance training without plyometric training will decrease coronal plane hip, knee, and ankle motions during landing, and plyometric training will not affect coronal plane measures. The corollary hypothesis was that plyometric and balance training effects on knee flexion are dependent on the movement task tested.


STUDY DESIGN
Controlled laboratory study.


METHODS
Eighteen high school female athletes participated in 18 training sessions during a 7-week period. The plyometric group (n = 8) performed maximum-effort jumping and cutting exercises, and the balance group (n = 10) used dynamic stabilization/ balance exercises during training. Lower extremity kinematics were measured during the drop vertical jump and the medial drop landing before and after training using 3D motion analysis techniques.


RESULTS
During the drop vertical jump, both plyometric and balance training reduced initial contact (P = .002), maximum hip adduction angle (P = .015), and maximum ankle eversion angle (P = .020). During the medial drop landing, both groups decreased initial contact (P = .002) and maximum knee abduction angle (P = .038). Plyometric training increased initial contact knee flexion (P = .047) and maximum knee flexion (P = .031) during the drop vertical jump, whereas the balance training increased maximum knee flexion (P = .005) during the medial drop landing.


CONCLUSION
Both plyometric and balance training can reduce lower extremity valgus measures. Plyometric training affects sagittal plane kinematics primarily during a drop vertical jump, whereas balance training affects sagittal plane kinematics during single-legged drop landing.


CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Both plyometric and dynamic stabilization/balance exercises should be included in injury-prevention protocols.
Defining and Evaluating a Core Genome Multilocus Sequence Typing Scheme for Whole-Genome Sequence-Based Typing of Listeria monocytogenes

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has emerged today as an ultimate typing tool to characterize Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks. However, data analysis and interlaboratory comparability of WGS data are still challenging for most public health laboratories. Therefore, we have developed and evaluated a new L. monocytogenes typing scheme based on genome-wide gene-by-gene comparisons (core genome multilocus the sequence typing [cgMLST]) to allow for a unique typing nomenclature. Initially, we determined the breadth of the L. monocytogenes population based on MLST data with a Bayesian approach. Based on the genome sequence data of representative isolates for the whole population, cgMLST target genes were defined and reappraised with 67 L. monocytogenes isolates from two outbreaks and serotype reference strains. The Bayesian population analysis generated five L. monocytogenes groups. Using all available NCBI RefSeq genomes (n = 36) and six additionally sequenced strains, all genetic groups were covered. Pairwise comparisons of these 42 genome sequences resulted in 1,701 cgMLST targets present in all 42 genomes with 100% overlap and ≥90% sequence similarity. Overall, ≥99.1% of the cgMLST targets were present in 67 outbreak and serotype reference strains, underlining the representativeness of the cgMLST scheme. Moreover, cgMLST enabled clustering of outbreak isolates with ≤10 alleles difference and unambiguous separation from unrelated outgroup isolates. In conclusion, the novel cgMLST scheme not only improves outbreak investigations but also enables, due to the availability of the automatically curated cgMLST nomenclature, interlaboratory exchange of data that are crucial, especially for rapid responses during transsectorial outbreaks.