LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Microdebrider versus CO2 laser removal of recurrent respiratory papillomas: a prospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE
To compare postoperative patient discomfort, voice quality, and procedure time and cost for removal of recurrent respiratory papillomas using the microdebrider versus the CO2 laser.


STUDY DESIGN
A randomized prospective study comparing children undergoing excision of recurrent respiratory papillomas by CO2 laser versus excision by microdebrider.


METHODS
For the 6-month study, patients for whom removal of recurrent respiratory papillomas was indicated were randomly assigned by birth year to microdebrider or CO2 laser therapy. Disease severity was scored as the sum of ratings of 1+ (minimal), 2+ (moderate), or 3+ (severe) for involvement of 27 areas of the aerodigestive tract by direct microlaryngoscopy immediately before treatment. Parents scored patient discomfort and improvement in voice quality 24 hours after surgery, using a 5-point (0 = no pain; 4 = worst pain) and a 10-point (1 = minimal change; 10 = significant improvement) scale, respectively.


RESULTS
Nineteen patients ranging in age from 2.5 to 20 years underwent 32 procedures in all. Groups did not differ significantly in age, sex, or severity of disease. For disease of equivalent severity, microdebrider treatment was associated with equivalent 24-hour-postoperative pain scores, greater improvement in voice quality, shorter procedure times, and lower overall procedure cost.


CONCLUSIONS
Immediate postoperative results indicate that the microdebrider may be as safe as and, at some institutions, might be more cost-effective than the CO2 laser for removal of recurrent respiratory papillomas.
Exercise as stroke prophylaxis.

BACKGROUND
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in industrialized countries, accounting for more than 10% of deaths over age 65. Most strokes are due to arteriosclerosis. Regular physical activity lowers arterial blood pressure and body weight and improves glucose and lipid metabolism, thereby slowing the development of arteriosclerosis and its cardiovascular complications, particularly myocardial infarction. This review focuses on the question whether physical activity might also have a preventive effect on cerebral infarction and hemorrhage.


METHODS
This analysis is based on 33 prospective cohort studies and 10 case-control studies that addressed the potential effect of physical activity on stroke-related morbidity and mortality.


RESULTS
Our meta-analysis shows that physical activity reduces the risk of all types of stroke (infarction, hemorrhage, and stroke of unspecified type). The relative risk (RR) of fatal or non-fatal cerebral infarction is 0.75, while the corresponding figures for cerebral hemorrhage and stroke of unspecified type are 0.67 and 0.71, respectively. The reduction of risk is only statistically significant for men. The case-control studies show an RR of 0.32 for men and women combined.


CONCLUSIONS
When a multivariate analysis is performed that takes other vascular risk factors into account, physical activity is found to have an independent protective effect against cerebrovascular events. The effect is statistically significant only for men, not for women.
Discovering Mappings between Ontologies in Semantic Integration Process

The use of ontologies in semantic translation is a viable approach to overcome the problem of semantic heterogeneity. In our framework (called GeoNis) for GIS interoperability, based on Semantic Mediator, semantic heterogeneity is resolved by using a hybrid ontology approach. This paper presents our approach to mappings between community terminologies (local ontologies) and mappings between local ontology and top-level ontology. As a main contribution, paper defines offline discovering of mappings between concepts from two local ontologies.
Improving physical layer multicast by cooperative communications in heterogeneous networks

Recently, heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have drawn significant attention from academia and industry as an efficient way to improve the capacity and coverage of cellular systems. In addition to unicast communication, many important applications in HetNets, such as video/audio conferencing and mobile TV, require the support of multicast. In this article, we study the deployment of HetNets from the perspective of cooperative communications to improve the performance of physical layer multicast. Specifically, we coordinate the eNBs of different levels by fountain codes for the data transmission of a multicast session. The fountain codes in cooperative multicast are targeted to the physical layer and have to adopt short code length. Correspondingly, we propose a Reed-Solomon-based approach, which is different from the previous work on application layer forward error correction. Simulation results show that our proposed cooperative scheme can considerably increase the capacity of physical layer multicast in heterogeneous networks.
Web Application Model Generation through Reverse Engineering and UI Pattern Inferring

A great deal of effort in model-based testing is related to the creation of the model. In addition, the model itself, while a powerful tool of abstraction, can have conceptual errors, introduced by the tester. These problems can be reduced by generating those models automatically. This paper presents a dynamic reverse engineering approach that aims to extract part of the model of an existing web application through the identification of User Interface (UI) patterns. This reverse engineering approach explores automatically any web application, records information related to the interaction, analyses the gathered information, tokenizes it, and infers the existing UI patterns via syntactical analysing. After being complemented with additional information and validated, the model extracted is the input for the Pattern-Based Graphical User Interface Testing (PBGT) approach for testing existing web application under analysis.
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, Depression, and Health Status in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Study

BACKGROUND
Depression and diminished health status are common in adults with diabetes, but few studies have investigated associations with socio-economic environment. The objective of this manuscript was to evaluate the relationship between neighborhood-level SES and health status and depression.


METHODS
Individual-level data on 1010 participants at baseline in Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes), a trial of long-term weight loss among adults with type 2 diabetes, were linked to neighborhood-level SES (% living below poverty) from the 2000 US Census (tracts). Dependent variables included depression (Beck Inventory), and health status (Medical Outcomes Study (SF-36) scale). Multi-level regression models were used to account simultaneously for individual-level age, sex, race, education, personal yearly income and neighborhood-level SES.


RESULTS
Overall, the % living in poverty in the participants' neighborhoods varied, mean =11% (range 0-67%). Compared to their counterparts in the lowest tertile of neighborhood poverty (least poverty), those in the highest tertile (most poverty) had significantly lower scores on the role-limitations(physical), role limitations(emotional), physical functioning, social functioning, mental health, and vitality sub-scales of the SF-36 scale. When evaluating SF-36 composite scores, those living in neighborhoods with more poverty had significantly lower scores on the physical health (beta-coefficient [beta]= -1.90 units, 95% CI: -3.40,-0.039), mental health (beta= -2.92 units, -4.31,-1.53) and global health (beta= -2.77 units, -4.21,-1.33) composite scores.


CONCLUSION
In this selected group of weight loss trial participants, lower neighborhood SES was significantly associated with poorer health status. Whether these associations might influence response to the Look AHEAD weight loss intervention requires further investigation.
QROCK: A quick version of the ROCK algorithm for clustering of categorical data

The ROCK algorithm is an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm for clustering categorical data [9]. In this paper we prove that under certain conditions, the final clusters obtained by the algorithm are nothing but the connected components of a certain graph with the input data-points as vertices. We propose a new algorithm QROCK which computes the clusters by determining the connected components of the graph. This leads to a very efficient method of obtaining the clusters giving a drastic reduction of the computing time of the ROCK algorithm. We also justify that it is more practical for specifying the similarity threshold rather than specifying the desired number of clusters a priori. The QROCK algorithm also detects the outliers in this process. We also discuss a new similarity measure for categorical attributes.
Effects of periodontal treatment on lung function and exacerbation frequency in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic periodontitis: a 2-year pilot randomized controlled trial.

AIM
To evaluate the direct effects of periodontal therapy in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients with chronic periodontitis (CP).


MATERIALS AND METHODS
In a pilot randomized controlled trial, 60 COPD patients with CP were randomly assigned to receive scaling and root planing (SRP) treatment, supragingival scaling treatment, or oral hygiene instructions only with no periodontal treatment. We evaluated their periodontal indexes, respiratory function, and COPD exacerbations at baseline, 6 months, 1, and 2 years.


RESULTS
Compared with the control group, measurements of periodontal indexes were significantly improved in patients in two treatment groups at 6-month, 1-year, and 2-year follow-up (all p < 0.05). Overall, the means of forced expiratory volume in the first second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) and FEV1 were significantly higher in the two therapy groups compared with the control group during the follow-up (p < 0.05). In addition, the frequencies of COPD exacerbation were significantly lower in the two therapy groups than in the control group at 2-year follow-up (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our preliminary results from this pilot trial suggest that periodontal therapy in COPD patients with CP may improve lung function and decrease the frequency of COPD exacerbation.
Enhancing efficiency and robustness of a photovoltaic power system under partial shading

Photovoltaic (PV) power systems have been widely applied in commercial and domestic facilities. Electrical energy storage (EES) systems are mandatory in standalone PV systems for continuous power supply. In this paper the efficiency and robustness enhancement methods for PV systems under partial shading have been investigated. Partial shading due to moving clouds and shadows of nearby obstacles on a PV module array causes significant efficiency degradation, since shaded and non-shaded PV modules have large discrepancy in their maximum power points (MPPs). Use of Individual charger for each PV module may mitigate the negative effect from partial shading. However, this method alone may still face severe energy efficiency degradation caused by i) the energy loss due to parasitic effects in the EES elements under variable incoming power from the PV modules and ii) the energy loss in each charger incurred by potentially high imbalance between its input and output voltages. This paper proposes three methods to enhance the PV system efficiency and robustness under partial shading: i) incorporation of a HEES (hybrid electrical energy storage) system into the PV system, ii) extension of the MPTT (maximum power transfer tracking) approach, and iii) dynamic PV module reconfiguration. The three proposed methods can be effectively combined together, yielding a significant efficiency gain ranging from 17.1% to 53.3% compared with the baseline systems.
Surgical treatment of Lenke 1 main thoracic idiopathic scoliosis: results of a prospective, multicenter study.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective, consecutive, nonrandomized, multicenter study.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of idiopathic scoliosis treatment for Lenke 1 curves with 3 treatment approaches.


SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA
Surgical treatment options for Lenke 1 or primary main thoracic curve pattern in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis include thoracoscopic anterior spinal fusion, open anterior spinal fusion, and posterior spinal fusion (PSF) and instrumentation procedures.


METHODS
This was a prospective, consecutive, nonrandomized, multicenter study of surgical correction in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Patients with Lenke type 1 curve patterns from 7 sites were enrolled in this minimum 2-year follow-up study. Changes in pre- to postoperative radiographs, pulmonary function tests, Scoliosis Research Society questionnaire scores, and trunk rotation measures were compared.


RESULTS
A total of 149 patients (age: 14.5 ± 2 yr) were included (91% follow-up at 2 yr). The 3 groups were similar preoperatively in thoracic and lumbar curve size. There were 55 patients with thoracoscopic anterior spinal fusion, 17 patients with open anterior spinal fusion, and 64 patients with PSF. The fusion included on average 3 to 4 more levels in PSF than the 2 anterior approaches (P ≤ 0.001). Surgical time tended to be greater in the anterior groups by approximately 2 to 3 hours; however, blood loss was greatest with PSF. At 2 years, all 3 approaches showed similar improvements in the thoracic Cobb angle, coronal balance, the lumbar Cobb angle, Scoliosis Research Society questionnaire scores, and trunk rotation measures. The PSF approach resulted in overall reduction in kyphosis compared with the anterior approaches. Postoperative hyperkyphosis was an issue only in the 2 anterior groups. Major complication rates were similar.


CONCLUSION
All 3 approaches resulted in similarly satisfactory outcomes for the majority of patients with specific advantages to each technique. The patients with PSF had more levels fused, yet with the shortest operative time. The thoracoscopic anterior spinal fusion group had the smallest incisions and the lowest requirement for transfusion. The open anterior spinal fusion group had a modest loss of pulmonary function without any clear advantages compared with the other 2 groups.


LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
2.
Corporate philanthropy: The redefinition of enlightened self-interest

Abstract Three events in the 1980's have caused the legitimacy of corporate philanthropy to be reexamined. The first two events—the election of Ronald Reagan and the subsequent election of George Bush—have resulted in a call for increased corporate giving to replace government cuts in certain social programs. The third event, the Tax Reform Act of 1986, provided reduced tax incentives for corporate giving. The result has been a renewed debate over the appropriateness of corporate philanthropy. The debate over corporate philanthropy is not new; it has existed for decades. What is new is how American corporations are now dealing with philanthropic activity. They are no longer content to justify their giving on the basis that they will receive some general, unspecified benefit from a grateful society at some time in the future. Many firms view their corporate giving as a form of investment, and they require a concrete, measurable return from their philanthropic activity. This article examines the reasons for the shift from philanthropic giving to social investing.
Electromagnetic radiation from superconducting string cusps

Abstract Cusps in superconducting cosmic strings produce strongly beamed electromagnetic radiation. To calculate the energy emitted requires taking into account the effect of the charge carriers on the string motion, which has previously been done only heuristically. Here we use the known exact solution to the equations of motion for the case where the current is chiral to update previous calculations for the total energy, spectrum and angular distribution in that case. We analyze the dependence of the radiated energy on the cusp parameters, and discuss which types of cusp dominate the total radiation emitted from an ensemble.
Restoring the self : Positive a V ect helps improve self-regulation following ego depletion

Previous work has shown that acts of self-regulation appear to deplete a psychological resource, resulting in poorer self-regulation subsequently. Four experiments using assorted manipulations and measures found that positive mood or emotion can counteract ego depletion. After an initial act of self-regulation, participants who watched a comedy video or received a surprise gift self-regulated on various tasks as well as non-depleted participants and signiWcantly better than participants who experienced a sad mood induction, a neutral mood stimulus, or a brief rest period. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gender recognition from speech. Part I: Coarse analysis.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the potential effectiveness of digital speech processing and pattern recognition techniques for the automatic recognition of gender from speech segments. In this paper "coarse" acoustic coefficients (autocorrelation, linear prediction, cepstrum, and reflection) were used to form test and reference templates for vowels, voiced fricatives, and unvoiced fricatives. The effects of different distance measures, filter orders, recognition schemes, and vowels and fricatives were comparatively assessed to determine their effectiveness for the task of gender recognition from speech segments. The results showed that most of the acoustic parameters worked well for gender recognition. A within-gender and within-subject averaging technique was important for generating appropriate test and reference templates. The Euclidean distance measure appeared to be the most robust as well as the simplest of the distance measures. The results from this study implied that the gender information is time invariant, phoneme independent, and speaker independent for a given gender. One recognition scheme achieved 100% correct speaker gender classification for a database of 52 talkers (27 male and 25 female). In part II of this paper [D.G. Childers and K. Wu, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90, 1841-1856 (1991); hereafter referred to as paper II] the detailed features of ten vowels that appeared responsible for distinguishing a speaker's gender were examined statistically. Included in paper II is a replication of part of the classical study of Peterson and Barney [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 24, 175-184 (1952)] of vowel characteristics.
Review of Image Processing Technique for Glaucoma Detection

The review paper describes the application of various image processing techniques for automatic detection of glaucoma. Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disorder of the optic nerve, which causes partial loss of vision. Large number of people suffers from eye diseases in rural and semi urban areas all over the world. Current diagnosis of retinal disease relies upon examining retinal fundus image using image processing. The key image processing techniques to detect eye diseases include image registration, image fusion, image segmentation, feature extraction, image enhancement, morphology, pattern matching, image classification, analysis and statistical measurements. KeywordsImage Registration; Fusion; Segmentation; Statistical measures; Morphological operation; Classification Full Text: http://www.ijcsmc.com/docs/papers/November2013/V2I11201336.pdf
HLA DR-DQ haplotypes and genotypes and type 1 diabetes risk: analysis of the type 1 diabetes genetics consortium families.

OBJECTIVE
The Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium has collected type 1 diabetic families worldwide for genetic analysis. The major genetic determinants of type 1 diabetes are alleles at the HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 loci, with both susceptible and protective DR-DQ haplotypes present in all human populations. The aim of this study is to estimate the risk conferred by specific DR-DQ haplotypes and genotypes.


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Six hundred and seven Caucasian families and 38 Asian families were typed at high resolution for the DRB1, DQA1, and DQB1 loci. The association analysis was performed by comparing the frequency of DR-DQ haplotypes among the chromosomes transmitted to an affected child with the frequency of chromosomes not transmitted to any affected child.


RESULTS
A number of susceptible, neutral, and protective DR-DQ haplotypes have been identified, and a statistically significant hierarchy of type 1 diabetes risk has been established. The most susceptible haplotypes are the DRB1*0301-DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201 (odds ratio [OR] 3.64) and the DRB1*0405-DQA1*0301-DQB1*0302, DRB1*0401-DQA1*0301-DQB*0302, and DRB1*0402-DQA1*0301-DQB1*0302 haplotypes (ORs 11.37, 8.39, and 3.63), followed by the DRB1*0404-DQA1*0301-DQB1*0302 (OR 1.59) and the DRB1*0801-DQB1*0401-DQB1*0402 (OR 1.25) haplotypes. The most protective haplotypes are DRB1*1501-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602 (OR 0.03), DRB1*1401-DQA1*0101-DQB1*0503 (OR 0.02), and DRB1*0701-DQA1*0201-DQB1*0303 (OR 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
Specific combinations of alleles at the DRB1, DQA1, and DQB1 loci determine the extent of haplotypic risk. The comparison of closely related DR-DQ haplotype pairs with different type 1 diabetes risks allowed identification of specific amino acid positions critical in determining disease susceptibility. These data also indicate that the risk associated with specific HLA haplotypes can be influenced by the genotype context and that the trans-complementing heterodimer encoded by DQA1*0501 and DQB1*0302 confers very high risk.
Quality of osteoporosis care of older Medicare recipients with fragility fractures: 2006 to 2010.

OBJECTIVES
To assess uptake of postfracture care guidelines in community-dwelling Medicare recipients with fractures.


DESIGN
Retrospective observational cohort study.


SETTING
Claims-based study using U.S. Medicare administrative inpatient, outpatient (2003-2010), and prescription (2006-2010) data.


PARTICIPANTS
Individuals aged 68 and older who survived at least 12 months after a fracture of the hip, radius, or humerus.


MEASUREMENTS
Poisson regression modeled factors, including participant characteristics, comorbidities and hospital referral region (HRR), associated with bone density testing or osteoporosis pharmacotherapy in the 6 months after fracture. Models were repeated for participants with no osteoporosis care observed before fracture (attention naïve).


RESULTS
In 61,832 individuals with fractures, mean age was 80.6, 87.0% were female, 88.5% were white, 2.6% were black, and 62.1% were attention naïve at the time of fracture; 21.8% received testing, pharmacotherapy, or both in the 6 months after fracture. In adjusted models, factors associated with significantly lower likelihood of receiving this care were black race, male sex, and an upper extremity fracture (vs hip). In models restricted to attention-naïve participants, the same factors were associated with lower relative risk of receiving care. Adjusted HRR-level care rates ranged from 14.7% to 22.9% (10th to 90th percentile). The proportion receiving care increased from 2006 to 2009.


CONCLUSION
Postfracture osteoporosis care was uncommon, particularly in black and male participants. Care increased over time, but for most, a fracture was insufficient to trigger effective secondary prevention, especially for participants who were not receiving prefracture osteoporosis attention. Clinicians and policy-makers must consider effective remedies to this persistent care gap.