LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effect of supplementation with cholecalciferol and calcium on 2-y bone mass accrual in HIV-infected children and adolescents: a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND
Skeletal abnormalities have been reported in HIV-infected children and adolescents. Although the etiology is not well understood, vitamin D deficiency may be involved.


OBJECTIVE
The study objective was to evaluate the effect of vitamin D and calcium supplementation on bone mass accrual in HIV-infected youth.


DESIGN
Perinatally HIV-infected children were randomly assigned to receive vitamin D (100,000 IU cholecalciferol given every 2 mo) and calcium (1 g/d) (supplemented group) or double placebo (placebo group) for 2 y. The total-body bone mineral content (TBBMC), total-body bone mineral density (TBBMD), spine bone mineral content (SBMC), and spine bone mineral density (SBMD) were assessed by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and at 2 annual follow-up visits.


RESULTS
Fifty-nine participants, aged 6-16 y, were randomly assigned to either the supplemented (n = 30) or the placebo (n = 29) group. At enrollment, supplemented and placebo groups did not differ with respect to age, sex, dietary intakes of vitamin D and calcium, mean baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration, TBBMC, TBBMD, SBMC, or SBMD. Significant increases in serum 25(OH)D were observed in the supplemented group but not in the placebo group. TBBMC, TBBMD, SBMC, and SBMD increased significantly at 1 and 2 y in both groups. No between-group differences were observed at any time before or after adjustment for stage of sexual maturation by mixed linear model analysis.


CONCLUSION
One gram of calcium per day and oral cholecalciferol at a dosage of 100,000 IU every 2 mo administered to HIV-infected children and adolescents did not affect bone mass accrual despite significant increases in serum 25(OH)D concentrations. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00724178.
Context-aware intelligent recommendation system for tourism

Increasingly manufacturers of smartphone devices are utilising a diverse range of sensors. This innovation has enabled developers to accurately determine a user's current context. In recent years there has also been a renewed requirement to use more types of context and reduce the current over-reliance on location as a context. Location based systems have enjoyed great success and this context is very important for mobile devices. However, using additional context data such as weather, time, social media sentiment and user preferences can provide a more accurate model of the user's current context. One area that has been significantly improved by the increased use of context in mobile applications is tourism. Traditionally tour guide applications rely heavily on location and essentially ignore other types of context. This has led to problems of inappropriate suggestions, due to inadequate content filtering and tourists experiencing information overload. These problems can be mitigated if appropriate personalisation and content filtering is performed. The intelligent decision making that this paper proposes with regard to the development of the VISIT [17] system, is a hybrid based recommendation approach made up of collaborative filtering, content based recommendation and demographic profiling. Intelligent reasoning will then be performed as part of this hybrid system to determine the weight/importance of each different context type.
Double-blinded, placebo-controlled, prospective randomized trial evaluating the efficacy of paravertebral block with and without continuous paravertebral block analgesia in outpatient breast cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND
Paravertebral block (PVB) is an effective alternative to general anesthesia for breast cancer surgery. Continuous paravertebral block (CPVB) anesthesia may extend postoperative analgesia at home and improve quality of early postoperative recovery of breast cancer patients.


PURPOSE
This double-blinded randomized trial was conducted to compare degree of pain, nausea, mood, level of symptom distress, and time to return to normal daily activity between PVB and PVB + CPVB in patients undergoing outpatient breast cancer surgery.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between July 2003 and April 2008 we randomly assigned 94 (73 evaluable) patients in a 1:1:1 ratio with early breast cancer to single injection PVB followed by CPVB infusion of 0.1% or 0.2% ropivacaine vs placebo (saline) for 48 hours postoperatively for unilateral breast cancer surgery without reconstruction. The primary study endpoint was the degree of pain, nausea, mood state, level of symptom distress, and recovery time.


RESULTS
Of the 468 patients assessed for eligibility, 94 consented and 21 with incomplete data or follow-up were excluded, leaving 73 subjects for analysis. There was no clinically significant difference in degree of postoperative pain, nausea, mood state, level of symptom distress, or return to normal activity among the three study groups.


CONCLUSION
The current study does not support the routine use of continuous paravertebral catheter anesthesia in patients undergoing operative treatment for breast cancer.
Increased urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane concentrations in patients with non-ischaemic congestive heart failure: a marker of oxidative stress.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate a novel marker of oxidative stress in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).


PATIENTS
15 patients with mild CHF, 15 patients with severe CHF with acute exacerbation, and 15 control subjects.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Measurement of urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane, plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), serum interleukin 6 (IL-6), and serum thrombomodulin concentrations. In patients with severe CHF, samples were taken at admission and 4, 7, and 14 days after admission.


RESULTS
Urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane, plasma BNP, and serum IL-6 concentrations in patients with severe CHF were significantly higher than those in control subjects or in patients with mild CHF. However, concentrations of serum thrombomodulin, a marker of endothelial damage, were not different between patients with CHF and control subjects. In addition, urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane, plasma BNP, and serum IL-6 concentrations in patients with severe CHF gradually decreased in proportion to the severity of CHF during hospitalisation. Interestingly, urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane concentrations significantly correlated with plasma BNP concentrations and serum IL-6 concentrations, but not with serum thrombomodulin concentrations.


CONCLUSIONS
Urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane concentrations increased in proportion to the severity of CHF in patients. This may be caused by increased 15-F2t-isoprostane production. These findings suggest that urinary 15-F2t-isoprostane may be a marker of morbidity as well as oxidative stress in patients with CHF.
Mast cell leukemia.

Mast cell leukemia (MCL) is a very rare form of aggressive systemic mastocytosis accounting for < 1% of all mastocytosis. It may appear de novo or secondary to previous mastocytosis and shares more clinicopathologic aspects with systemic mastocytosis than with acute myeloid leukemia. Symptoms of mast cell activation-involvement of the liver, spleen, peritoneum, bones, and marrow-are frequent. Diagnosis is based on the presence of ≥ 20% atypical mast cells in the marrow or ≥ 10% in the blood; however, an aleukemic variant is frequently encountered in which the number of circulating mast cells is < 10%. The common phenotypic features of pathologic mast cells encountered in most forms of mastocytosis are unreliable in MCL. Unexpectedly, non-KIT D816V mutations are frequent and therefore, complete gene sequencing is necessary. Therapy usually fails and the median survival time is < 6 months. The role of combination therapies and bone marrow transplantation needs further investigation.
Performance evaluation of a vision based lane tracker designed for driver assistance systems

Driver assistance systems that monitor driver intent, warn drivers of lane departures, or assist in vehicle guidance are all being actively research and even put into commercial production. It is therefore important to take a critical look at key aspects of these systems, one of which being lane position tracking. In this paper we present an analysis of lane position tracking in the context of driver support systems and examine previous research in this area. Using this analysis we present a lane tracking system designed to work well under a variety of road and environmental conditions. We examine what types of metrics are important for evaluating lane position accuracy for specific overall system objectives. A detailed quantitative evaluation of the system is presented in this paper using a variety of metrics and test conditions.
Creating metaphors: The neural basis of figurative language production

Neuroscience research has thoroughly studied how nonliteral language is processed during metaphor comprehension. However, it is not clear how the brain actually creates nonliteral language. Therefore, the present study for the first time investigates the neural correlates of metaphor production. Participants completed sentences by generating novel metaphors or literal synonyms during functional imaging. Responses were spoken aloud in the scanner, recorded, and subsequently rated for their creative quality. We found that metaphor production was associated with focal activity in predominantly left-hemispheric brain regions, specifically the left angular gyrus, the left middle and superior frontal gyri-corresponding to the left dorsomedial prefrontal (DMPFC) cortex-and the posterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, brain activation in the left anterior DMPFC and the right middle temporal gyrus was found to linearly increase with the creative quality of metaphor responses. These findings are related to neuroscientific evidence on metaphor comprehension, creative idea generation and episodic future thought, suggesting that creating metaphors involves the flexible adaptation of semantic memory to imagine and construct novel figures of speech. Furthermore, the left DMPFC may exert executive control to maintain strategic search and selection, thus facilitating creativity of thought.
Distinguishing and contrasting two strategies for design science research

Received: 25 June 2013 Revised: 11 October 2013 Accepted: 25 November 2013 Abstract This paper distinguishes and contrasts two design science research strategies in information systems. In the first strategy, a researcher constructs or builds an IT meta-artefact as a general solution concept to address a class of problem. In the second strategy, a researcher attempts to solve a client’s specific problem by building a concrete IT artefact in that specific context and distils from that experience prescriptive knowledge to be packaged into a general solution concept to address a class of problem. The two strategies are contrasted along 16 dimensions representing the context, outcomes, process and resource requirements. European Journal of Information Systems (2015) 24(1), 107–115. doi:10.1057/ejis.2013.35; published online 7 January 2014
APPLICATION OF BIG DATA IN EDUCATION DATA MINING AND LEARNING ANALYTICS – A LITERATURE REVIEW

The usage of learning management systems in education has been increasing in the last few years. Students have started using mobile phones, primarily smart phones that have become a part of their daily life, to access online content. Student's online activities generate enormous amount of unused data that are wasted as traditional learning analytics are not capable of processing them. This has resulted in the penetration of Big Data technologies and tools into education, to process the large amount of data involved. This study looks into the recent applications of Big Data technologies in education and presents a review of literature available on Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics.
Body-mass index and incidence of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies

BACKGROUND
Excess bodyweight, expressed as increased body-mass index (BMI), is associated with the risk of some common adult cancers. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the strength of associations between BMI and different sites of cancer and to investigate differences in these associations between sex and ethnic groups.


METHODS
We did electronic searches on Medline and Embase (1966 to November 2007), and searched reports to identify prospective studies of incident cases of 20 cancer types. We did random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions of study-specific incremental estimates to determine the risk of cancer associated with a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI.


FINDINGS
We analysed 221 datasets (141 articles), including 282,137 incident cases. In men, a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI was strongly associated with oesophageal adenocarcinoma (RR 1.52, p<0.0001) and with thyroid (1.33, p=0.02), colon (1.24, p<0.0001), and renal (1.24, p <0.0001) cancers. In women, we recorded strong associations between a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI and endometrial (1.59, p<0.0001), gallbladder (1.59, p=0.04), oesophageal adenocarcinoma (1.51, p<0.0001), and renal (1.34, p<0.0001) cancers. We noted weaker positive associations (RR <1.20) between increased BMI and rectal cancer and malignant melanoma in men; postmenopausal breast, pancreatic, thyroid, and colon cancers in women; and leukaemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both sexes. Associations were stronger in men than in women for colon (p<0.0001) cancer. Associations were generally similar in studies from North America, Europe and Australia, and the Asia-Pacific region, but we recorded stronger associations in Asia-Pacific populations between increased BMI and premenopausal (p=0.009) and postmenopausal (p=0.06) breast cancers.


INTERPRETATION
Increased BMI is associated with increased risk of common and less common malignancies. For some cancer types, associations differ between sexes and populations of different ethnic origins. These epidemiological observations should inform the exploration of biological mechanisms that link obesity with cancer.
Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for People with Learning Disabilities (HoNOS-LD).

BACKGROUND
The Health of the Nation Outcomes Scales (HoNOS) have been developed to measure outcomes in people with mental health problems.


AIMS
Frequent impaired social functioning, problems with communication and associated physical conditions meant that a bespoke instrument was needed for people with learning disabilities. We describe the development of the Health of the Nation Outcomes Scales for People with Learning Disabilities (HoNOS-LD).


METHOD
HoNOS-LD was piloted at 26 sites. Two raters, at two points in time, rated 372 subjects. Analysis determined acceptability, ease of use, interrater reliability, sensitivity to change and reliability with the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC).


RESULTS
The resulting 18-item instrument demonstrated good reliability and validity characteristics and is generally acceptable to clinicians.


CONCLUSIONS
HoNOS-LD is an appropriate instrument for measuring outcome in people with learning disabilities with additional mental health needs.
Conservative Surgery for Treatment of Hydatid Cysts in Children

Human echinococcosis is endemic in Turkey and many other areas of the world. Fifteen years of surgical assessment related to involved structures, operative procedures, complications, and the recurrence rate is analyzed in pediatric patients with pulmonary and abdominal hydatid cysts. Between 1986 and 2001, the records of 42 pediatric patients (15 girls, 27 boys; ages 2–15 years) with pulmonary and abdominal hydatid cysts operated on in our clinic were analyzed retrospectively. The features of the disease, involved structures, operative procedures, complications, and recurrences were noted. A total of 26 patients presented with solitary cysts in the lung (9) and liver (17). Another 11 had multiple cysts in both lung and liver, and 5 had disseminated abdominal disease. Conservative surgical procedures were used for all lung and liver cysts: cystotomy (7) or cystotomy plus capitonnage (13) for lung cysts; partial pericystectomy with capitonnage (25), omentoplasty (28), tube drainage in the presence of bile leakage (5), or a combination of these procedures for liver cysts. Cyst excision was used for omental and peritoneal localizations when feasible. Radical procedures were never used (wedge or major liver and lung resections). Operative mortality was zero, and the morbidity rate was 14%. Three patients with disseminated disease (7%) showed recurrence. We suggest that no partial organ resections are necessary for hydatid disease, and highly successful results can be achieved using conservative surgical approaches, such as cystotomy plus capitonnage for lung cysts and partial pericystectomy with capitonnage, omentoplasty, or both for liver cysts.
Programmed health surveillance and detection of emerging diseases in occupational health: contribution of the French national occupational disease surveillance and prevention network (RNV3P).

OBJECTIVE
The French national occupational disease surveillance and prevention network (RNV3P) includes the 30 occupational disease consultation centres in university hospitals to which patients are referred for potentially work-related diseases, and an occupational health service. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the contribution of RNV3P to national health surveillance.


METHODS
Data from consultations are recorded in standardised occupational health reports and coded using international or national classifications. Programmed health surveillance is carried out through annual follow-up of annual referrals to experts for pre-selected disease-exposure associations, as well as incidence estimations for the well characterised working population followed by the occupational health service. Hypotheses on new emerging diseases are generated using statistical methods employed in pharmacosurveillance and by modelling as an exposome to analyse multiple exposures.


RESULTS
58,777 occupational health reports were collected and analysed from 2001 to 2007. Referrals to the 30 university hospital centres increased significantly for asbestos-related diseases, mood disorders and adjustment disorders related to psychological and organisational demands, and for elbow and shoulder disorders related to manual handling. Referrals significantly decreased for asthma and for rhinitis related to exposure to organic dusts (vegetable or animal) or chemicals, except for cosmetics and cleaning products. Estimation of incidences by the occupational health services showed different patterns in different sectors of activity. The methods for detecting emerging diseases are presented and illustrated using the example of systemic sclerosis, identifying new exposures and new sectors of activity to be investigated.


CONCLUSION
The RNV3P collects data from two complementary samples: 30 university hospital centres (workers or former workers) and an occupational health service (current workers). This dual approach is useful for surveillance and for hypothesis generation on new emerging disease-exposure associations.
GFA: Exploratory Analysis of Multiple Data Sources with Group Factor Analysis

The R package GFA provides a full pipeline for factor analysis of multiple data sources that are represented as matrices with co-occurring samples. It allows learning dependencies between subsets of the data sources, decomposed into latent factors. The package also implements sparse priors for the factorization, providing interpretable biclusters of the multi-source data.
Effect of Different Light Intensities on Total Phenolics and Flavonoids Synthesis and Anti-oxidant Activities in Young Ginger Varieties (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)

Nowadays, phytochemicals and antioxidants in plants are raising interest in consumers for their roles in the maintenance of human health. Phenolics and flavonoids are known for their health-promoting properties due to protective effects against cardiovascular disease, cancers and other disease. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the traditional folk medicinal plants and it is widely used in cooking in Malaysia. In this study, four levels of glasshouse light intensities (310, 460, 630 and 790 μmol m(-2)s(-1)) were used in order to consider the effect of light intensity on the production, accumulation and partitioning of total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF) and antioxidant activities in two varieties of Malaysian young ginger (Zingiber officinale). TF biosynthesis was highest in the Halia Bara variety under 310 μmol m(-2)s(-1) and TP was high in this variety under a light intensity of 790 μmol m(-2)s(-1). The highest amount of these components accumulated in the leaves and after that in the rhizomes. Also, antioxidant activities determined by the 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay in both of varieties, increased significantly (p ≤ 0.01) with increasing TF concentration, and high antioxidant activity was observed in the leaves of Halia Bara grown under 310 μmol m(-2)s(-1). The ferric reducing (FRAP) activity of the rhizomes was higher than that of the leaves in 310 μmol m(-2)s(-1) of sun light. This study indicates the ability of different light intensities to enhance the medicinal components and antioxidant activities of the leaves and young rhizomes of Zingiber officinale varieties. Additionally, this study also validated their medicinal potential based on TF and TP contents.
Historical background on performance assessment for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

In 1979, six years after selecting the Delaware Basin as a potential disposal area, Congress authorized the US Department of Energy to build the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, as a research and development facility for the safe management, storage, and disposal of waste contaminated with transuranic radioisotopes. In 1998, 19 years after authorization and 25 years after site selection, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified that the WIPP disposal system complied with its regulations. The EPA’s decision was primarily based on the results from a performance assessment conducted in 1996, which is summarized in this special issue of Reliability Engineering and System Safety . This performance assessment was the culmination of four preliminary performance assessments conducted between 1989 and 1992. This paper provides a historical setting and context for how the performance of the deep geologic repository at the WIPP was analyzed. Also included is background on political forces acting on the project. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.