LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
A Multicomponent Behavioral Intervention to Reduce Stroke Risk Factor Behaviors: The Stroke Health and Risk Education Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Stroke Health and Risk Education Project was a cluster-randomized, faith-based, culturally sensitive, theory-based multicomponent behavioral intervention trial to reduce key stroke risk factor behaviors in Hispanics/Latinos and European Americans.


METHODS
Ten Catholic churches were randomized to intervention or control group. The intervention group received a 1-year multicomponent intervention (with poor adherence) that included self-help materials, tailored newsletters, and motivational interviewing counseling calls. Multilevel modeling, accounting for clustering within subject pairs and parishes, was used to test treatment differences in the average change since baseline (ascertained at 6 and 12 months) in dietary sodium, fruit and vegetable intake, and physical activity, measured using standardized questionnaires. A priori, the trial was considered successful if any one of the 3 outcomes was significant at the 0.05/3 level.


RESULTS
Of 801 subjects who consented, 760 completed baseline data assessments, and of these, 86% completed at least one outcome assessment. The median age was 53 years; 84% subjects were Hispanic/Latino; and 64% subjects were women. The intervention group had a greater increase in fruit and vegetable intake than the control group (0.25 cups per day [95% confidence interval: 0.08, 0.42], P=0.002), a greater decrease in sodium intake (-123.17 mg/d [-194.76, -51.59], P=0.04), but no difference in change in moderate- or greater-intensity physical activity (-27 metabolic equivalent-minutes per week [-526, 471], P=0.56).


CONCLUSIONS
This multicomponent behavioral intervention targeting stroke risk factors in predominantly Hispanics/Latinos was effective in increasing fruit and vegetable intake, reaching its primary end point. The intervention also seemed to lower sodium intake. Church-based health promotions can be successful in primary stroke prevention efforts.


CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01378780.
Differences between participants and non-participants in an RCT on physical activity and psychological interventions for older persons.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Volunteer bias in intervention studies on successful aging has been poorly explored. This paper investigated differences between participants and non-participants of the Groningen Intervention Study on Successful Aging (GISSA) over a wide range of demographic, physical, psychological and social subject characteristics.


METHODS
Subjects were recruited among a longitudinal cohort study (Groningen Longitudinal Aging Study) and included 558 men and 711 women, aged 65-96 years, who were invited to participate in the GISSA. Measures were obtained by questionnaires at the moment of invitation and eight years before invitation. Participants were compared with three groups of non-participants: persons who refused to participate, those who did not respond after a reminder, and those who intended to participate but withdrew before pre-test.


RESULTS
At the moment of invitation, participants were younger, better educated, and functionally and physically more active than the three groups of non-participants. They also had better scores on the physical functioning subscale of the medical outcome scale, better ADL, iADL and vigorous ADL functions and fewer depressive symptoms, and perceived less social support in everyday and problem situations. Participants reported a less strong rate of decline in physical and psychological functioning in the eight years prior to the invitation than did the other groups.


CONCLUSION
Due to volunteer bias, results of intervention studies on successful aging may have limited generalizability.
Fuzzy Logic Based Maximum Power Point Tracking Designed for 10 kW Solar Photovoltaic System with Different Membership Functions

Abstract—The electric power supplied by a photovoltaic power generation systems depends on the solar irradiation and temperature. The PV system can supply the maximum power to the load at a particular operating point which is generally called as maximum power point (MPP), at which the entire PV system operates with maximum efficiency and produces its maximum power. Hence, a Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods are used to maximize the PV array output power by tracking continuously the maximum power point. The proposed MPPT controller is designed for 10kW solar PV system installed at Cape Institute of Technology. This paper presents the fuzzy logic based MPPT algorithm. However, instead of one type of membership function, different structures of fuzzy membership functions are used in the FLC design. The proposed controller is combined with the system and the results are obtained for each membership functions in Matlab/Simulink environment. Simulation results are decided that which membership function is more suitable for this system.
Process Oriented Information Systems Architectures in Healthcare

An important insight in business management during recent years is the awareness that organisations need to focus on the processes that create value for their customers. This is in order to see to that value is created as efficiently as possible and that unnecessary or redundant activity is avoided. As a consequence, the organisations’ IT support need to interact with business processes in a better way than is currently the case. Healthcare is by no means an exception, but also here there is a great need to concentrate on the processes for transparent communication between various actors and organisations, and between IT systems. Therefore, a new type of process oriented integration architectures has been developed by means of what may be referred to as process managers, which closely reflect the business processes. These are software devices that visualise the integration by means of graphical and easy to understand process models that also facilitate management and monitoring of the processes and their integration requirements. This paper discusses benefits and difficulties for healthcare of introducing an IS architecture based on process manager technology. The discussion is based on experiences from a project, in which a process manager is introduced to integrate IT systems over the patient process and involving several healthcare organisations. Results indicate that healthcare processes are indeed quite complex and involve much communication with various individuals and organisation. Particular problems are caused by communication across organisational borders due to e.g. security issues. However, process manager technology offers help in that it is able both to manage and monitor processes and to make communication with and between IT systems simpler and safer.
Tone mapping using color correction function and image decomposition in high dynamic range imaging

In this paper, we propose a tone mapping (TM) method using color correction function (CCF) and image decomposition in high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. The CCF in the proposed TM is derived from the luminance compression function with the color constraint under which the color ratios, between the three color channels of the radiance map and dynamic range compression term, are preserved and color saturation is controlled. The proposed CCF is developed to locally perform the luminance compression and color saturation control in local TM. For image decomposition, we use a bilateral filter and apply the adaptive weight to the base layer of the luminance. Computer simulations with various sets of real, low dynamic range images show the effectiveness of the proposed TM algorithm in terms of the visual quality as well the local contrast. It can be used for contrast and color enhancement in various display and acquisition devices.
Fetal head-to-trunk volume ratio in chromosomally abnormal fetuses at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks of gestation.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the pattern of early growth disturbance in chromosomally abnormal fetuses by comparing the volume of the fetal head to that of the trunk.


METHODS
The fetal trunk and head volume was measured using three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound in 145 chromosomally abnormal fetuses at a median gestational age of 12 (range, 11 + 0 to 13 + 6) weeks. The head volume was measured separately and then subtracted from the total head and trunk volume to obtain the volume of the fetal trunk. The head-to-trunk ratios were then calculated and the Mann-Whitney U-test was used to determine the significance of differences from 500 chromosomally normal fetuses.


RESULTS
The fetal head volume for crown-rump length (CRL) was significantly smaller than normal in trisomy 21, trisomy 13 and Turner syndrome (P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively), whereas no significant differences were found in trisomy 18 and triploidy (P = 0.139 and P = 0.070, respectively). The fetal trunk volume for CRL was significantly smaller in all chromosomal abnormalities (P < 0.001) except Turner syndrome (P = 0.134). The head-to-trunk ratio for CRL was significantly larger in trisomy 18, trisomy 13 and triploidy (P < 0.001), but normal in trisomy 21 (P = 0.221) and Turner syndrome (P = 0.768).


CONCLUSIONS
In trisomy 21 and Turner syndrome, the growth deficit was symmetrical with the head and trunk being equally affected, whereas in triploidy and trisomies 18 and 13 there was asymmetrical growth restriction with the trunk being more severely compromised than the head.
The residual cognitive effects of heavy marijuana use in college students.

OBJECTIVE
To assess whether frequent marijuana use is associated with residual neuropsychological effects.


DESIGN
Single-blind comparison of regular users vs infrequent users of marijuana.


PARTICIPANTS
Two samples of college undergraduates: 65 heavy users, who had smoked marijuana a median of 29 days in the last 30 days (range, 22 to 30 days) and who also displayed cannabinoids in their urine, and 64 light users, who had smoked a median of 1 day in the last 30 days (range, 0 to 9 days) and who displayed no urinary cannabinoids.


INTERVENTION
Subjects arrived at 2 PM on day 1 of their study visit, then remained at our center overnight under supervision. Neuropsychological tests were administered to all subjects starting at 9 AM on day 2. Thus, all subjects were abstinent from marijuana and other drugs for a minimum of 19 hours before testing.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Subjects received a battery of standard neuropsychological tests to assess general intellectual functioning, abstraction ability, sustained attention, verbal fluency, and ability to learn and recall new verbal and visuospatial information.


RESULTS
Heavy users displayed significantly greater impairment than light users on attention/executive functions, as evidenced particularly by greater perseverations on card sorting and reduced learning of word lists. These differences remained after controlling for potential confounding variables, such as estimated levels of premorbid cognitive functioning, and for use of alcohol and other substances in the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Heavy marijuana use is associated with residual neuropsychological effects even after a day of supervised abstinence from the drug. However, the question remains open as to whether this impairment is due to a residue of drug in the brain, a withdrawal effect from the drug, or a frank neurotoxic effect of the drug. from marijuana
Photonic Neuromorphic Signal Processing and Computing

There has been a recent explosion of interest in spiking neural networks (SNNs), which code information as spikes or events in time. Spike encoding iswidely accepted as the information medium underlying the brain, but it has also inspired a new generation of neuromorphic hardware. Although electronics can match biological time scales and exceed them, they eventually reach a bandwidth fan-in trade-off. An alternative platform is photonics, which could process highly interactive information at speeds that electronics could never reach. Correspondingly, processing techniques inspired by biology could compensate for many of the shortcomings that bar digital photonic computing from feasibility, including high defect rates and signal control problems. We summarize properties of photonic spike processing and initial experiments with discrete components. A technique for mapping this paradigm to scalable, integrated laser devices is explored and simulated in small networks. This approach promises to wed the advantageous aspects of both photonic physics and unconventional computing systems. Further development could allow for fully scalable photonic networks that would open up a new domain of ultrafast, robust, and adaptive processing. Applications of this technology ranging from nanosecond response control systems to fast cognitive radio could potentially revitalize specialized photonic computing.
Adjusting dysarthric speech signals to be more intelligible

This paper presents a system that transforms the speech signals of speakers with physical speech disabilities into a more intelligible orm that can be more easily understood by listeners. These transformations are based on the correction of pronunciation errors y the removal of repeated sounds, the insertion of deleted sounds, the devoicing of unvoiced phonemes, the adjustment of the empo of speech by phase vocoding, and the adjustment of the frequency characteristics of speech by anchor-based morphing of he spectrum. These transformations are based on observations of disabled articulation including improper glottal voicing, lessened ongue movement, and lessened energy produced by the lungs. This system is a substantial step towards full automation in speech ransformation without the need for expert or clinical intervention. Among human listeners, recognition rates increased up to 191% (from 21.6% to 41.2%) relative to the original speech by using he module that corrects pronunciation errors. Several types of modified dysarthric speech signals are also supplied to a standard utomatic speech recognition system. In that study, the proportion of words correctly recognized increased up to 121% (from 72.7% o 87.9%) relative to the original speech, across various parameterizations of the recognizer. This represents a significant advance owards human-to-human assistive communication software and human–computer interaction. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Making the Right Decision: Supporting Architects with Design Decision Data

Software architects are often forced to make design decisions based on limited information. In this paper, we present an approach that allows software architects to study information about design decisions made by hundreds or more software architects by automatically analyzing the version management data of large open-source repositories. The contribution is, first, that it develops a conceptual model to reason about the automatic derivation of specifically medium level architectural design decisions. Second, we show that it is indeed possible to derive these design decisions automatically from open source projects. This provides a basis for statistical and quantitative reasoning about software architecture design decisions that allows software architects to make better-informed decisions.
WIOD WP Trade in Value Added and the Value Added in Trade

This paper discussed two measures of value added flows between countries: ”Trade in value added” accounts for value added of one country directly and indirectly embodied in final consumption of another country. ”Value added in trade” measures the value added embodied in gross trade flows. The paper shows that both measures result in the same overall net trade of a country which equals its trade balance in gross terms which however does not hold for bilateral relations. These value added flows can further be broken down by various production factors including capital and labor income by educational attainment categories. Using the recently compiled World Input-Output Database (WIOD) selected results comparing EU-27, US, Japan and China based on both concepts regarding value added flows across countries are presented. For example, the US trade deficit with China is reduced by about 25% but would increase with respect to EU-27 by about 20%. These imbalances are further broken down by factor incomes.
Fundamental and Higher Mode Inversion of Dispersed GPR Waves Propagating in an Ice Layer

Dispersion of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) waves can occur when they are trapped in a layer. In this paper, we analyze the modal propagation of GPR pulses through a layer of ice that is overlying water. Dispersed transverse electric (TE) waves that are trapped in the waveguide have larger amplitudes than the critically refracted waves that travel through air, whereas the transverse magnetic (TM) critically refracted waves traveling through air are more dominant than the trapped dispersed TM waves. This can be explained by the leaky waveguide behavior of the ice layer. The reflection coefficients for the waves incident on the ice-water interface show that the TM modes are more leaky than the TE modes. Still, clear dispersion is observed in both cases, which depends on the permittivity and thickness of the ice. Similar to inversion of dispersed Rayleigh waves, these parameters can be estimated by calculating phase-velocity spectra, picking dispersion curves, and inverting the dispersion curves using a combined local and global minimization procedure. Synthetic data show several higher order modes of which separate and combined inversions return the input modeling parameters accurately. Experimental data acquired on a frozen lake show strong dispersion for the TE and TM modes. The phase-velocity spectra of the field data show three TE and four TM modes of which separate and combined inversion of different modes return similar values for the ice thickness and known permittivity of ice. Due to the more leaky behavior of the TM modes, the TE inversion is better constrained and more suitable for inversion.
Randomised double blind crossover study comparing ondansetron, granisetron and tropisetron. A cost–benefit analysis

 The goals of this work were to compare the relative efficacy of ondansetron, granisetron and tropisetron in a randomised double blind crossover trial, evaluating objective, subjective and pharmacoeconomic parameters. To this end, 136 patients were enrolled, 120 of whom were eligible and evaluable. Each patient received three identical chemotherapy cycles with an antiemetic protocol which consisted in dexamethasone 20 mg i.v. and a tapering dose schedule for 4 days, and a single i.v. dose of an antiserotoninergic drug in each cycle. Arm A patients received tropisetron 5 mg; arm B patients, granisetron 3 mg; and arm C patients, ondansetron 24 mg. Numbers of patients and days with emetic episodes, grade of nausea, patient preference, headaches, need for metoclopramide, nursing or medical consultation, or admission to emergency room or ward were evaluated. There was no difference in the percentage incidence of acute or delayed nausea and vomiting. Twenty-five per cent of patients preferred tropisetron, 30% preferred granisetron, and 45% preferred ondansetron (P<0.01). Toxicity was mild in less than 10% of patients. Direct and indirect costs of treatment varied from 19.74 to 28.53 euros for tropisetron, 31.07–46.51 euros for granisetron and 22.76–62.61 euros for ondansetron. There was no difference in objective activity. In the schedules studied, patients preferred ondansetron. Indirect costs amount to less than 10% of the total antiemetic cost. Direct costs varied widely and should be considered whenever an antiemetic drug is selected.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition reduces monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and tissue factor levels in patients with myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVES
We investigated the effects of enalapril therapy on plasma tissue factor (TF), tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction.


BACKGROUND
Macrophages express TF in human coronary atherosclerotic plaques. Both TF and TFPI are major regulators of coagulation and thrombosis. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is a monocyte and macrophage chemotactic and activating factor.


METHODS
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study beginning about two weeks after myocardial infarction, 16 patients received four weeks of placebo (placebo group) and another 16 patients received four weeks of enalapril 5 mg daily therapy (enalapril group). We performed blood sampling after administration of the doses.


RESULTS
There were no significant differences in the serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity, plasma TF, free TFPI or MCP-1 levels before administration between the enalapril and placebo groups. In the enalapril group, ACE activity (IU/liter) (14.0 before, 5.2 on day 3, 5.8 on day 7, 6.3 on day 28), TF levels (pg/ml) (223, 203, 182, 178) and MCP-1 levels (pg/ml) (919, 789, 790, 803) significantly decreased by day 28. However, the free TFPI levels (ng/ml) (28.2, 26.5, 26.8, 28.4) did not change. These four variables were unchanged during the study period in the placebo group.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that administration of enalapril reduces the increased procoagulant activity in patients with myocardial infarction associated with inhibition of the activation and accumulation of macrophages and monocytes.
Validity of a Novel Method for Estimation of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Diabetic Patients

AIM
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is routinely estimated using the Friedewald equation [LDL-C(F)]. A novel method for LDL-C [LDL-C(M)] estimation recently proposed by Martin et al. was reported to be more accurate than the Friedewald formula in subjects in the United States. The validity of LDL-C(M) in different races and patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) has not been elucidated. The purpose of this study was to validate the LDL-C(M) estimates in Japanese population with type 2 DM by comparing with LDL-C(F) and directly measured LDL-C [LDL-C(D)].


METHODS
Both LDL-C(M) and LDL-C(F) levels were compared against LDL-C(D) measured by selective solubilization method in 1,828 Japanese patients with type 2 DM.


RESULTS
On linear regression analysis, LDL-C(M) showed a stronger correlation than that shown by LDL-C(F) (R=0.979 vs. R=0.953, respectively) with LDL-C(D). We further analyzed the effect of serum triglyceride (TG) concentrations on the accuracy of LDL-C(F) and LDL-C(M). Although LDL-C levels showed a positive correlation with TG levels, the LDL-C(F) levels tended to show a greater divergence from LDL-C(D) levels than that shown by LDL-C(M) with changes in TG levels.


CONCLUSION
We for the first time demonstrated a more useful measurement of LDL-C levels estimated by Martin's method than that estimated by the Friedewald equation in Japanese patients with DM.