LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms for an effect of acetylcysteine on renal function after exposure to radio-graphic contrast material: study protocol

BACKGROUND
Contrast-induced nephropathy is a common complication of contrast administration in patients with chronic kidney disease and diabetes. Its pathophysiology is not well understood; similarly the role of intravenous or oral acetylcysteine is unclear. Randomized controlled trials to date have been conducted without detailed knowledge of the effect of acetylcysteine on renal function. We are conducting a detailed mechanistic study of acetylcysteine on normal and impaired kidneys, both with and without contrast. This information would guide the choice of dose, route, and appropriate outcome measure for future clinical trials in patients with chronic kidney disease.


METHODS/DESIGN
We designed a 4-part study. We have set up randomised controlled cross-over studies to assess the effect of intravenous (50 mg/kg/hr for 2 hrs before contrast exposure, then 20 mg/kg/hr for 5 hrs) or oral acetylcysteine (1200 mg twice daily for 2 days, starting the day before contrast exposure) on renal function in normal and diseased kidneys, and normal kidneys exposed to contrast. We have also set up a parallel-group randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of intravenous or oral acetylcysteine on patients with chronic kidney disease stage III undergoing elective coronary angiography. The primary outcome is change in renal blood flow; secondary outcomes include change in glomerular filtration rate, tubular function, urinary proteins, and oxidative balance.


DISCUSSION
Contrast-induced nephropathy represents a significant source of hospital morbidity and mortality. Over the last ten years, acetylcysteine has been administered prior to contrast to reduce the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy. Randomized controlled trials, however, have not reliably demonstrated renoprotection; a recent large randomized controlled trial assessing a dose of oral acetylcysteine selected without mechanistic insight did not reduce the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy. Our study should reveal the mechanism of effect of acetylcysteine on renal function and identify an appropriate route for future dose response studies and in time randomized controlled trials.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Clinical Trials.gov: NCT00558142; EudraCT: 2006-003509-18.
What you see is what I think you see

"What you see is what I think you see" is a property that can help technology support realtime interaction between physically separated users. The WYSIWITYS property is a natural consequence of adhering to a physical world metaphor. However, WYSIWITYS can be applied to systems that are not perfect adherents to the virtual world model. SharedARK, a distributed, animated, multi-user application used primarily for testing collaborative microworlds, serves as an example of such a system. SharedARK is a networked computer-based system, but it has been supplemented with audio and video links, and the objects in the world have been given the ability to make sounds. All of these elements are used in such a way as to provide WYSIWITYS properties for SharedARK users.
Backarc volcanism along the en echelon seamounts: The Enpo seamount chain in the northern Izu-Ogasawara arc: BACKARC VOLCANISM

[1] We report results of detailed petrological analyses of volcanic rocks from the Enpo seamount chain that reveal the characteristics of volcanism in a backarc en echelon seamount chain in an oceanic island arc setting. We identified two types volcanic rock suites in the Enpo seamount chain based on bulk rock trace element chemistry and compositions of chrome spinels included in olivine phenocrysts of primitive basalts. “More Enriched Suites” (MES) have enriched HFSE compositions (such as Nb, Ta), higher Nb/Zr values, and low Cr# in spinel. “Less Enriched Suites” (LES) have depleted HFSE compositions, lower Nb/Zr values, and high Cr# in spinel. These results require distinct mantle sources with different for the volcanic rocks constituting the Enpo seamount chain. Mineralogical and geochemical analyses show that petrological variations within LES lavas are explained by fractionation with open system magma mixing. In contrast, variations between MES lavas require different mechanisms of magma genesis because petrological variation within this suite cannot be explained by fractionation. MES basalts also exhibit mineralogical evidence for magma mixing. Volcanism on the Enpo seamount chain is characterized by complex spatial and temporal relationships between MES lavas consisting of subalkaline basalt, alkaline andesite, and hornblende (water rich) andesite, and LES lavas consisting of subalkaline basalt and fractionated andesite. We suggest that these features are characteristic of variability within magma systems that feed backarc seamount chains in oceanic island arcs.
Karl Popper's philosophy of science : rationality without foundations

Introduction: Critical Rationalism Chapter 1: Young Popper's Intellectual Revolution Chapter 2: Science and Philosophy Chapter 3: Metaphysics Chapter 4: Popper and Kuhn: Clashing Metaphysics Chapter 5: The Ethical Nature of Popper's Understanding of Rationality
State estimation for legged robots on unstable and slippery terrain

This paper presents a state estimation approach for legged robots based on stochastic filtering. The key idea is to extract information from the kinematic constraints given through the intermittent contacts with the ground and to fuse this information with inertial measurements. To this end, we design an unscented Kalman filter based on a consistent formulation of the underlying stochastic model. To increase the robustness of the filter, an outliers rejection methodology is included into the update step. Furthermore, we present the nonlinear observability analysis of the system, where, by considering the special nature of 3D rotations, we obtain a relatively simple form of the corresponding observability matrix. This yields, that, except for the global position and the yaw angle, all states are in general observable. This also holds if only one foot is in contact with the ground. The presented filter is evaluated on a real quadruped robot trotting over an uneven and slippery terrain.
Twenty weeks of home-based interactive training of children with cerebral palsy improves functional abilities

BACKGROUND
Home-based training is becoming ever more important with increasing demands on the public health systems. We investigated whether individualized and supervised interactive home-based training delivered through the internet improves functional abilities in children with cerebral palsy (CP).


METHODS
Thirty four children with CP (aged 9-16; mean age 10.9 ± 2.4 years) (GMFCS I-II; MACS I-II) were included in this non-randomized controlled clinical training study. 12 children (aged 7-16; mean age: 11.3+/-0.9 years) were allocated to a control group in which measurements were performed with 20 weeks interval without any intervening training. Daily activities, functional abilities of upper- and lower limbs, and balance were evaluated before, immediately after training and 12 weeks after training. The training consisted of 30 min daily home-based training for 20 weeks delivered through the internet.


RESULTS
The training group on average completed 17 min daily training for the 20 week period (total of 40 h of training). The training group showed significant improvements of daily activities (AMPS), upper limb function (AHA) and functional tests of lower limbs (sit to stand, lateral step up, half knee to standing) after 20 weeks of training. No difference was found between the test after 20 weeks of training and the test 12 weeks after training. No significance was reached for balance after training. No difference was found for any parameter for the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
Interactive home training of children with CP is an efficient way to deliver training, which can enable functional motor improvements and increased activity to perform daily activities.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ISRCTN13188513 . Date of registration: 04/12/2014.
Prolonged exposure to ketamine increases neurodegeneration in the developing monkey brain

Ketamine, a widely used pediatric anesthetic, has been associated with enhanced neuronal toxicity in the developing brain, but mechanisms and neuronal susceptibility to neurotoxic insult leading to neuronal cell death remain poorly defined. One of the main goals of this study was to determine whether there is a duration of ketamine-induced anesthesia below which no significant ketamine-induced neurodegeneration can be detected. Newborn rhesus monkeys (postnatal day 5 or 6) were administered ketamine intravenously for 3, 9 or 24h to maintain a steady anesthetic plane, followed by a 6-h withdrawal period. The 9- and 24-h durations were selected as relatively long and extremely long exposures, respectively, while the 3-h treatment more closely approximates a typical duration of pediatric general anesthesia. Animals were subsequently perfused under anesthesia and brain tissue was processed for analyses using silver and Fluoro-Jade C stains and caspase-3 immunostain. The results indicated that no significant neurotoxic effects occurred if the anesthesia duration was 3h. However, ketamine infusions for either 9 or 24h significantly increased neuronal cell death in layers II and III of the frontal cortex. Although a few caspase-3- and Fluoro-Jade C-positive neuronal profiles were observed in some additional brain areas including the hippocampus, thalamus, striatum and amygdala, no significant differences were detected between ketamine-treated and control monkeys in these areas after 3, 9 or 24h of exposure. These data show that treatment with ketamine up to 3h is without adverse effects as determined by nerve cell death. However, anesthetic durations of 9h or greater are associated with significant brain cell death in the frontal cortex. Thus, the threshold duration below which no neurotoxicity would be expected is somewhere between 3 and 9h.
3 D Virtual Prototyping Traces New Avenues for Fashion Design and Product Development : A Qualitative Study

The fashion industry faces the increasing complexity of its activities such as the globalization of the market, the proliferation of information, the reduced time to market, the increasing distance between industrial partners and pressures related to costs. Digital prototype in the textile and clothing industry enables technologies in the process of product development where various operators are involved in the different stages, with various skills and competencies, and different necessity of formalizing and defining in a deterministic way the result of their activities. Taking into account the recent trends in the industry, the product development cycle and the use of new digital technologies cannot be restricted in the “typical cycle” but additional tools and skills are required to be integrated taking into account these developments [1].
Software engineering: the current practice by Vaclav Rajlich

This book was a hard book for me to review – not because it is a hard book to read – on the contrary – it was a great read – it is just I had a hard time finding the time to review the book because it was a good book to read and I couldn't find the time to read it. Software Engineering: The Current Practice is a title that may cause some reviewers to ask " What is the current practice anyway and how can anyone claim that this is definitively the most 'current' practice they are describing? " (I did at least). As I read it, I was very critical at first, but then I understood that this was an entirely different approach to teaching Software Engineering and that it could really help students (and practitioners) better understand recent advances in software engineering – and become better software engineers Why? Because metaphorically speaking, the cart is in place behind the horse, where more software engineering takes place. What I am saying is that this book explains software engineering not from a constructionist point of view, but from a change/maintenance perspective – meaning most of the time you need to read/analyze programs rather than write them (though there is plenty of material in the book to support green field development). The book is organized into 4 sections. The first section, INTRODUCTION, consists of 4 chapters. It provides a short " History of Software Engineering " (what fits into 12 pages), next it sets the stage for motivating the rationale for focusing on software change in " Software Life Span Models " , then spends 12 pages on " Software Technologies " (i.e., Programming Languages and Compilers, Object-Oriented Technology, and Version Control System) before ending with a chapter on " Software Models " that reviews some of the basics of UML. Each chapter nicely ends with " Further Readings and Topics " , a set of Exercises and References. Section II (7 chapters) is titled SOFTWARE CHANGE and includes such topics as: Impact Analysis (preparing for change), Actualization (performing the change), Refactoring (improving on the change while making the change), and Verification (testing the change). This section concludes with a discussion on the build process and preparing for future changes by creating a new baseline. The third section, SOFTWARE PROCESSES, consists of 4 chapters with a good treatment …
Receiver Interpretations of Emoji Functions : A Gender Perspective

Previous studies have reported gender differences in emoji use and attitudes toward emoji. Here we ask whether, and if so, to what extent, females and males also interpret emoji use differently. We conducted an online survey to assess how different genders interpret the pragmatic functions of emoji in their local discourse contexts, based on [HD17’s] taxonomy of functions. Responses (N=523; 352 females, 121 males, 50 ‘other’) showed few overall differences in how females and males interpreted emoji functions, but the ‘other’ gender differed from the females and males. Based on responses to demographic and social media use questions, these differences appear related to platform norms (e.g., Facebook vs. Tumblr). We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for automating emoji interpretation.
Clinical characteristics, myocardial perfusion deficits, and clinical outcomes of patients with non-specific chest pain hospitalized for suspected acute coronary syndrome: a 4-year prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND
Although the prognostic role of stress SPECT MPI is generally well established, its value in predicting non-fatal cardiac events in patients with acute, non-specific chest pain (NSCP) remains unclear. The aims of this study are 1) to describe the baseline clinical characteristics and prevalence of myocardial perfusion (MP) deficits, by use of an adenosine stress SPECT MPI, in NSCP patients without known CAD discharged after hospitalization for suspected ACS; and 2) to prospectively describe the 4-year clinical outcome in terms of all-cause and cardiac mortality; hospitalization and coronary revascularization procedures; and cardio-vascular events in patients with and without MP deficits.


METHODS AND RESULTS
We evaluated a series of 272 consecutive patients with acute NSCP and aged 18-75years. ICD10-based registries were used to determine the primary outcome (a composite measure of incident CAD death, ACS, or revascularization) and two secondary outcomes (1. all-cause death; 2. a composite measure of cardiovascular death, ACS, revascularization, or stroke). Forty two (15%) participants had a MP deficit. During follow-up (median 1361days), 7 participants had a primary event, 4 died, and 20 had a secondary composite event. Annual event rates were 0.70, 0.39 and 2.07, respectively. MP deficits predicted both subsequent primary and composite secondary events (HR: 7.54; 95% CI=[1.69; 33.69] and 2.93 (95% CI=[1.10; 7.81], respectively). Usual clinical cardiac risk classification could not meaningfully differentiate between patients with and without MP deficits.


CONCLUSION
SPECT MPI substantially improved prediction of incident CAD beyond usual clinical procedures and risk classification systems among NSCP patients.
Image Restoration from Patch-based Compressed Sensing Measurement

A series of methods have been proposed to reconstruct an image from compressively sensed random measurement, Patch Vectorization CS Measurement
Features of 847 Childhood-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients in Three Age Groups at Diagnosis: A Brazilian Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate demographic data and clinical and laboratory features at disease diagnosis in 3 different age groups of childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE): group A, early-onset (<6 years); group B, school age (≥6 to <12 years); and group C, adolescent (≥12 to <18 years).


METHODS
This was a Brazilian multicenter cohort retrospective study in 10 pediatric rheumatology centers, including 847 childhood-onset SLE patients.


RESULTS
Patients were divided into 3 groups: group A with 39 patients (4%), group B with 395 patients (47%), and group C with 413 patients (49%). Of 39 childhood-onset SLE patients in group A, 3 (8%) were ages <2 years, 4 (10%) were ≥2 to <3 years, and 32 (82%) were ≥3 and <6 years. A total of 74 childhood-onset SLE patients were analyzed for C1q levels, and complete C1q deficiency was observed in 3 of 74 patients (4%), all in group A. Groups were similar regarding high frequencies of female sex, nephritis, neuropsychiatric involvement, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 score ≥8, autoantibody profile, elevated acute phase proteins, and low complement levels (P > 0.05). However, the frequency of fever (78% versus 61% versus 47%; P < 0.0001), hepatomegaly (42% versus 29% versus 14%; P < 0.0001), splenomegaly (28% versus 12% versus 4%; P < 0.0001), and discoid lupus (13% versus 4% versus 4%; P = 0.020) was significantly higher in group A compared to groups B and C. The frequency of weight loss >2 kg (19% versus 28% versus 36%; P = 0.017), photosensitivity (34% versus 41% versus 51%; P = 0.006), leukopenia <4,000/mm3 (14% versus 25% versus 30%; P = 0.048), and lymphopenia <1,500/mm3 (22% versus 41% versus 47%; P = 0.011) was significantly lower in group A.


CONCLUSION
Our large multicenter study identified the finding that the initial appearance of childhood-onset SLE is characterized by comparable high frequency of internal organ involvement and some distinct clinical and laboratory features in early-onset and adolescent groups.
Geography and the classical world : unearthing historical geography's forgotten past

Introduction: the Search for a Source Chapter 1 - The Society of Dilettanti and Ancient Geography Chapter 2 - Classical Geography in the Colonial and Post-Revolutionary American College Chapter 3 - Classical Geography in Thomas Jefferson's University Chapter 4 - From the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Professionalization Chapter 5 - William E. Gladstone and the Reconstruction of Bronze Age Geography Chapter 6 - British Historians, Classicists, and Classical Geography Chapter 7 - Classics, History and Geography in Nineteenth-Century Harvard Chapter 8 - Classical Geography in the Oxford School of Geography Chapter 9 - Classical Geography in the Nineteenth-Century Classroom Chapter 10 - Classical Geography in the New American Universities Epilogue - Anglo-American Classical Geography since the 1930s Index
A survey of graph layout problems

Graph layout problems are a particular class of combinatorial optimization problems whose goal is to find a linear layout of an input graph in such way that a certain objective cost is optimized. This survey considers their motivation, complexity, approximation properties, upper and lower bounds, heuristics and probabilistic analysis on random graphs. The result is a complete view of the current state of the art with respect to layout problems from an algorithmic point of view.
Effect of synthesis parameters and ion exchange on crystallinity and morphology of EU-1 zeolite

Abstract The effect of aging time, synthesis temperature and synthesis time on crystallinity and morphology of Na–EU-1 has been studied. Hexamethonium bromide was used as a template to synthesize Na–EU-1 zeolite with Si/Al of 25. In addition, the effect of modification using ion exchange with (NH 4 + , Ca 2 + , Li + and Ni + ) nitrates to replace Na + was also studied. X-ray diffraction was used to study the phases and the crystallinity of zeolite crystals. Morphology of EU-1 crystals was observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Prolonged aging time up to 12 h favored pure phase and crystalline EU-1. It has been found that the optimum synthesis temperature to obtain highly crystalline EU-1 is 190 °C. The shortest synthesis time to obtain crystalline EU-1 at 190 °C is 72 h. Ion exchange reduced the crystallinity of EU-1 crystals. We anticipate that the metal-modified EU-1 is a potential catalyst in numerous reactions such as isomerization and methanol-to-hydrocarbon.
On Wiedemann's Method of Solving Sparse Linear Systems

Douglas Wiedemann’s (1986) landmark approach to solving sparse linear systems over finite fields provides the symbolic counterpart to non-combinatorial numerical methods for solving sparse linear systems, such as the Lanczos or conjugate gradient method (see Golub and van Loan (1983)). The problem is to solve a sparse linear system, when the individual entries lie in a generic field, and the only operations possible are field arithmetic; the solution is to be exact. Such is the situation, for instance, if one works in a finite field. Wiedemann bases his approach on Krylov subspaces, but projects further to a sequence of individual field elements. By making a link to the Berlekamp/Massey problem from coding theory — the coordinate recurrences — and by using randomization an algorithm is obtained with the following property. On input of an n×n coefficient matrix A given by a so-called black box, which is a program that can multiply the matrix by a vector (see Figure 1), and of a vector b, the algorithm finds, with high probability in case the system is solvable, a random solution vector x with Ax = b. It is assumed that the field has sufficiently many elements, say no less than 50n log(n), otherwise one goes to a finite algebraic extension. The complexity of the method is in the general singular case O(n log(n)) calls to the black box for A and an additional O(n log(n)) field arithmetic operations. Note that the black box model for matrix sparsity is a significant abstraction. For a matrix that has an abundance of zero entries, multiplying the matrix by a vector may cost no more than O(n) field operations, in which case the algorithm becomes almost quadratic. However, the model also applies to structured matrices with few or no zero entries, such as Toeplitzand Vandermonde-like matrices, or matrices that correspond to resultants (Canny
Writing manhood in black and yellow : Ralph Ellison, Frank Chin, and the literary politics of identity

@fmct:Table of Contents @toc4:Preface iii @toc2:Introduction 1 Chapter One Invisible Desires: Homoerotic Racism and its Homophobic Critique in Invisible Man xxx Chapter Two Blueprints for Negro Manhood: Ellison and the Vernacular xxx Chapter Three The Legacy of Fu Manchu: Orientalist Desire and the Figure of the Asian "Homosexual xxx Chapter Four "Shells of the Dead": The Melancholy of Masculine Desire xxx Chapter Five The Fantasy of A Yellow Vernacular: Mimetic Hunger and The "Chameleon Chinaman" xxx Coda xxx @toc4:Notes Index