LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effect of vancomycin minimal inhibitory concentration on the outcome of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis.

BACKGROUND
Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis has a high mortality rate. Vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) has been shown to affect the outcome of methicillin-resistant S. aureus bacteremia, and recent data point to a similar effect on methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremia. We aimed to evaluate the effect of vancomycin MIC on left-sided S. aureus infective endocarditis (IE) treated with cloxacillin.


METHODS
We analyzed a prospectively collected cohort of patients with IE in a single tertiary-care hospital. Vancomycin, daptomycin, and cloxacillin MIC was determined by E-test. S. aureus strains were categorized as low vancomycin MIC (<1.5 µg/mL) and high vancomycin MIC (≥1.5 µg/mL). The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality.


RESULTS
We analyzed 93 patients with left-sided IE treated with cloxacillin, of whom 53 (57%) had a vancomycin MIC < 1.5 µg/mL and 40 (43%) a vancomycin MIC ≥ 1.5 µg/mL. In-hospital mortality was 30% (n = 16/53) in patients with a low vancomycin MIC and 53% (n = 21/40) in those with a high vancomycin MIC (P = .03). No correlation was found between oxacillin MIC and vancomycin or daptomycin MIC. Logistic regression analysis showed that higher vancomycin MIC increased in-hospital mortality 3-fold (odds ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-8.2) after adjustment for age, year of diagnosis, septic complications, and nonseptic complicated endocarditis.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that vancomycin MIC could be used to identify a subgroup of patients with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus IE at risk of higher mortality. The worse outcome of staphylococcal infections with a higher vancomycin MIC cannot be explained solely by suboptimal pharmacokinetics of antibiotics.
8 A 236 nW-56 . 5 dBm-Sensitivity Bluetooth Low-Energy Wakeup Receiver with Energy Harvesting in 65 nm CMOS

Batteryless operation and ultra-low-power (ULP) wireless communication will be two key enabling technologies as the IC industry races to keep pace with the IoE projections of 1T-connected sensors by 2025. Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE) is used in many consumer IoE devices now because it offers the lowest average power for a radio that can communicate directly to a mobile device [1]. The BLE standard requires that the IoE device continuously advertises, which initiates the connection to a mobile device. Sub-1s advertisement intervals are common to minimize latency. However, this continuous advertising results in a typical minimum average power of 10’s of μW at low duty-cycles. This leads to the quoted 1-year lifetimes of event-driven IoE devices (e.g. tracking tags, ibeacons) that operate from coin-cell batteries. This minimum power is too high for robust, batteryless operation in a small form-factor.
A meta-analysis of the evidence on the impact of prenatal and early infancy exposures to mercury on autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the childhood.

Although a measurable number of epidemiological studies have been conducted to clarify the associations between mercury exposure during embryo or early infancy and later incidences of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the conclusion still remains unclear. Meta-analysis was conducted for two major exposure sources; i.e., thimerosal vaccines that contain ethylmercury (clinical exposure), and environmental sources, using relevant literature published before April 2014. While thimerosal exposures did not show any material associations with an increased risk of ASD or ADHD (the summary odds ratio (OR) 0.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80-1.24 for ASD; OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.70-1.13 for ADHD/ADD), significant associations were observed for environmental exposures in both ASD (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.14-2.17) and ADHD (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.10-2.33). The summary ORs were similar after excluding studies not adjusted for confounders. Moderate adverse effects were observed only between environmental inorganic or organic mercury exposures and ASD/ADHD. However, these results should be interpreted with caution since the number of epidemiological studies on this issue was limited and still at an early stage. Further studies focused on subjects with genetic vulnerabilities of developmental disorders are warranted for better understanding of the effects of such environmental exposures.
An Online Health Prevention Intervention for Youth with Addicted or Mentally Ill Parents: Experiences and Perspectives of Participants and Providers from a Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND
Mental illnesses affect many people around the world, either directly or indirectly. Families of persons suffering from mental illness or addiction suffer too, especially their children. In the Netherlands, 864,000 parents meet the diagnostic criteria for a mental illness or addiction. Evidence shows that offspring of mentally ill or addicted parents are at risk for developing mental disorders or illnesses themselves. The Kopstoring course is an online 8-week group course with supervision by 2 trained psychologists or social workers, aimed to prevent behavioral and psychological problems for children (aged 16 to 25 years) of parents with mental health problems or addictions. The course addresses themes such as roles in the family and mastery skills. An online randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Kopstoring course.


OBJECTIVE
The aim was to gain knowledge about expectations, experiences, and perspectives of participants and providers of the online Kopstoring course.


METHODS
A process evaluation was performed to evaluate the online delivery of Kopstoring and the experiences and perspectives of participants and providers of Kopstoring. Interviews were performed with members from both groups. Participants were drawn from a sample from the Kopstoring RCT.


RESULTS
Thirteen participants and 4 providers were interviewed. Five main themes emerged from these interviews: background, the requirements for the intervention, experience with the intervention, technical aspects, and research aspects. Overall, participants and providers found the intervention to be valuable because it was online; therefore, protecting their anonymity was considered a key component. Most barriers existed in the technical sphere. Additional barriers existed with conducting the RCT, namely gathering informed consent and gathering parental consent in the case of minors.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides valuable insight into participants' and providers' experiences and expectations with the online preventive intervention Kopstoring. It also sheds light on the process of the online provision of Kopstoring and the accompanying RCT. The findings of this study may partly explain dropout rates when delivering online interventions. The change in the (financial) structure of the youth mental health care system in the Netherlands has financial implications for the delivery of prevention programs for youth. Lastly, there are few RCTs that assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of online prevention programs in the field of (youth) mental health care and not many process evaluations of these programs exist. This hampers a good comparison between online interventions and the expectations and experiences of the participants and providers.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Nederlands Trial Register: NTR1982; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=1982 (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/6d8xYDQbB).
Knowledge-sharing and influence in online social networks via viral marketing

Online social networks are increasingly being recognized as an important source of information influencing the adoption and use of products and services. Viral marketing—the tactic of creating a process where interested people can market to each other—is therefore emerging as an important means to spread-the-word and stimulate the trial, adoption, and use of products and services. Consider the case of Hotmail, one of the earliest firms to tap the potential of viral marketing. Based predominantly on publicity from word-of-mouse [4], the Web-based email service provider garnered one million registered subscribers in its first six months, hit two million subscribers two months later, and passed the eleven million mark in eighteen months [7]. Wired magazine put this growth in perspective in its December 1998 issue: “The Hotmail user base grew faster than [that of ] any media company in history—faster than CNN, faster than AOL, even faster than Seinfeld’s audience. By mid-2000, Hotmail had over 66 million users with 270,000 new accounts being established each day.” While the potential of viral marketing to efficiently reach out to a broad set of potential users is attracting considerable attention, the value of this approach is also being questioned [5]. There needs to be a greater understanding of the contexts in which this strategy works and the characteristics of products and services for which it is most effective. This is particularly important because the inappropriate use of viral marketing can be counterproductive by creating unfavorable attitudes towards products. Work examining this phenomenon currently provides either descriptive accounts of particular initiatives [8] or advice based on anecdotal evidence [2]. What is missing is an analysis of viral marketing that highlights systematic patterns in the nature of knowledge-sharing and persuasion by influencers and responses by recipients in online social networks. To this end, we propose an organizing framework for viral marketing that draws on prior theory and highlights different behavioral mechanisms underlying knowledge-sharing, influence, and compliance in online social networks. Though the framework is descrip-
Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups.

BACKGROUND
Qualitative research explores complex phenomena encountered by clinicians, health care providers, policy makers and consumers. Although partial checklists are available, no consolidated reporting framework exists for any type of qualitative design.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a checklist for explicit and comprehensive reporting of qualitative studies (in depth interviews and focus groups).


METHODS
We performed a comprehensive search in Cochrane and Campbell Protocols, Medline, CINAHL, systematic reviews of qualitative studies, author or reviewer guidelines of major medical journals and reference lists of relevant publications for existing checklists used to assess qualitative studies. Seventy-six items from 22 checklists were compiled into a comprehensive list. All items were grouped into three domains: (i) research team and reflexivity, (ii) study design and (iii) data analysis and reporting. Duplicate items and those that were ambiguous, too broadly defined and impractical to assess were removed.


RESULTS
Items most frequently included in the checklists related to sampling method, setting for data collection, method of data collection, respondent validation of findings, method of recording data, description of the derivation of themes and inclusion of supporting quotations. We grouped all items into three domains: (i) research team and reflexivity, (ii) study design and (iii) data analysis and reporting.


CONCLUSIONS
The criteria included in COREQ, a 32-item checklist, can help researchers to report important aspects of the research team, study methods, context of the study, findings, analysis and interpretations.
Netazepide, a Gastrin Receptor Antagonist, Normalises Tumour Biomarkers and Causes Regression of Type 1 Gastric Neuroendocrine Tumours in a Nonrandomised Trial of Patients with Chronic Atrophic Gastritis

INTRODUCTION
Autoimmune chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) causes hypochlorhydria and hypergastrinaemia, which can lead to enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cell hyperplasia and gastric neuroendocrine tumours (type 1 gastric NETs). Most behave indolently, but some larger tumours metastasise. Antrectomy, which removes the source of the hypergastrinaemia, usually causes tumour regression. Non-clinical and healthy-subject studies have shown that netazepide (YF476) is a potent, highly selective and orally-active gastrin/CCK-2 receptor antagonist. Also, it is effective in animal models of ECL-cell tumours induced by hypergastrinaemia.


AIM
To assess the effect of netazepide on tumour biomarkers, number and size in patients with type I gastric NETs.


METHODS
We studied 8 patients with multiple tumours and raised circulating gastrin and chromogranin A (CgA) concentrations in an open trial of oral netazepide for 12 weeks, with follow-up 12 weeks later. At 0, 6, 12 and 24 weeks, we carried out gastroscopy, counted and measured tumours, and took biopsies to assess abundances of several ECL-cell constituents. At 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 weeks, we measured circulating gastrin and CgA and assessed safety and tolerability.


RESULTS
Netazepide was safe and well tolerated. Abundances of CgA (p<0.05), histidine decarboxylase (p<0.05) and matrix metalloproteinase-7(p<0.10) were reduced at 6 and 12 weeks, but were raised again at follow-up. Likewise, plasma CgA was reduced at 3 weeks (p<0.01), remained so until 12 weeks, but was raised again at follow-up. Tumours were fewer and the size of the largest one was smaller (p<0.05) at 12 weeks, and remained so at follow-up. Serum gastrin was unaffected.


CONCLUSION
The reduction in abundances, plasma CgA, and tumour number and size by netazepide show that type 1 NETs are gastrin-dependent tumours. Failure of netazepide to increase serum gastrin further is consistent with achlorhydria. Netazepide is a potential new treatment for type 1 NETs. Longer, controlled trials are justified.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
European Union EudraCT database 2007-002916-24 https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/search?query=2007-002916-24ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01339169 http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01339169?term=yf476&rank=5.
Automated prediction of early blood transfusion and mortality in trauma patients.

BACKGROUND
Prediction of blood transfusion needs and mortality for trauma patients in near real time is an unrealized goal. We hypothesized that analysis of pulse oximeter signals could predict blood transfusion and mortality as accurately as conventional vital signs (VSs).


METHODS
Continuous VS data were recorded for direct admission trauma patients with abnormal prehospital shock index (SI = heart rate [HR] / systolic blood pressure) greater than 0.62. Predictions of transfusion during the first 24 hours and in-hospital mortality using logistical regression models were compared with DeLong's method for areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) to determine the optimal combinations of prehospital SI and HR, continuous photoplethysmographic (PPG), oxygen saturation (SpO2), and HR-related features.


RESULTS
We enrolled 556 patients; 37 received blood within 24 hours; 7 received more than 4 U of red blood cells in less than 4 hours or "massive transfusion" (MT); and 9 died. The first 15 minutes of VS signals, including prehospital HR plus continuous PPG, and SpO2 HR signal analysis best predicted transfusion at 1 hour to 3 hours, MT, and mortality (AUROC, 0.83; p < 0.03) and no differently (p = 0.32) from a model including blood pressure. Predictions of transfusion based on the first 15 minutes of data were no different using 30 minutes to 60 minutes of data collection. SI plus PPG and SpO2 signal analysis (AUROC, 0.82) predicted 1-hour to 3-hour transfusion, MT, and mortality no differently from pulse oximeter signals alone.


CONCLUSION
Pulse oximeter features collected in the first 15 minutes of our trauma patient resuscitation cohort, without user input, predicted early MT and mortality in the critical first hours of care better than the currently used VS such as combinations of HR and systolic blood pressure or prehospital SI alone.


LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Therapeutic/prognostic study, level II.
Nail Psoriasis, the unknown burden of disease.

BACKGROUND
Psoriasis can be found at several different localizations which may be of various impact on patients' quality of life (QoL). One of the easy visible, and difficult to conceal localizations are the nails.


OBJECTIVE
To achieve more insight into the QoL of psoriatic patients with nail psoriasis, and to characterize the patients with nail involvement which are more prone to the impact of the nail alterations caused by psoriasis.


METHOD
A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all members (n = 5400) of the Dutch Psoriasis Association. The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and the Nail Psoriasis Quality of life 10 (NPQ10) score were included as QoL measures. Severity of cutaneous lesions was determined using the self-administered psoriasis area and severity index (SAPASI).


RESULTS
Patients with nail psoriasis scored significantly higher mean scores on the DLQI (4.9 vs. 3.7, P = <0.001) and showed more severe psoriasis (SAPASI, 6.6 vs. 5.3, P = <0.001). Patients with coexistence of nail bed and nail matrix features showed higher DLQI scores compared with patients with involvement of one of the two localizations exclusively (5.3 vs. 4.2 vs. 4.3, P = 0.003). Patients with only nail bed alterations scored significant higher NPQ10 scores when compared with patients with only nail matrix features. Patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and nail psoriasis experiences more impairments compared with nail psoriasis patients without PsA (DLQI 5.5 vs. 4.3, NPQ10 13.3 vs. 7.0). Females scored higher mean scores on all QoL scores.


CONCLUSION
Greater attention should be paid to the possible impact nail abnormalities have on patients with nail psoriasis, which can be identified by nail psoriasis specific questionnaires such as the NPQ10. As improving the severity of disease may have a positive influence on QoL, the outcome of QoL measurements should be taken into account when deciding on treatment strategies.
Securing RFID Applications: Issues, Methods, and Controls

adio frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification (autoID) technology developed by the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags and readers (Auto-ID Center, 2002; Doyle, 2004; EPC, 2004b; Finkenzeller, 2000; Shepard, 2005). With RFID technology, physical assets will have embedded intelligence that allows them to communicate with each other and with the tracking points (Auto-ID Center, 2002; IBM, 2003; VeriSign, 2004). An RFID tag is a small object that can be attached to or incorporated into a physical asset, such as a book, animal, or person. When an RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader’s activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag’s integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host computer for further processing. As shown in Table 1, there are six classes of RFID tags designed for different applications, including active tags, which require a battery to operate, and passive tags, which have no battery (Auto-ID Center, 2002). RFID tag technology generally dictates the operating parameters of an RFID system. As set forth in ABI, Inc. (2002), other than tag power source, operating frequencies is another main factor influencing the type of RFID applications, where the applications can be generally categorized as: (1) low frequency (LF), for access control or point-of-sales (POS) applications, (2) high frequency (HF), for handling baggage or library items in asset management application, (3) ultra high frequency (UHF) for SCM application, and (4) microwave frequency for electronic toll collection application.
Design of HyQ – a Hydraulically and Electrically Actuated Quadruped Robot

— A new versatile Hydraulically-powered Quadruped robot (HyQ) has been developed to serve as a platform to study not only highly dynamic motions such as running and jumping, but also careful navigation over very rough terrain. HyQ stands 1 meter tall, weighs roughly 90kg and features 12 torque-controlled joints powered by a combination of hydraulic and electric actuators. The hydraulic actuation permits the robot to perform powerful and dynamic motions that are hard to achieve with more traditional electrically actuated robots. This paper describes design and specifications of the robot and presents details on the hardware of the quadruped platform, such as the mechanical design of the four articulated legs and of the torso frame, and the configuration of the hydraulic power system. Results from the first walking experiments are presented along with test studies using a previously built prototype leg. 1 INTRODUCTION The development of mobile robotic platforms is an important and active area of research. Within this domain, the major focus has been to develop wheeled or tracked systems that cope very effectively with flat and well-structured solid surfaces (e.g. laboratories and roads). In recent years, there has been considerable success with robotic vehicles even for off-road conditions [1]. However, wheeled robots still have major limitations and difficulties in navigating uneven and rough terrain. These limitations and the capabilities of legged animals encouraged researchers for the past decades to focus on the construction of biologically inspired legged machines. These robots have the potential to outperform the more traditional designs with wheels and tracks in terms of mobility and versatility. The vast majority of the existing legged robots have been, and continue to be, actuated by electric motors with high gear-ratio reduction drives, which are popular because of their size, price, ease of use and accuracy of control. However, electric motors produce small torques relative to their size and weight, thereby making reduction drives with high ratios essential to convert velocity into torque. Unfortunately, this approach results in systems with reduced speed capability and limited passive back-driveability and therefore not very suitable for highly dynamic motions and interactions with unforeseen terrain variance. Significant examples of such legged robots are: the biped series of HRP robots [2], Toyota humanoid robot [3], and Honda's Asimo [4]; and the quadruped robot series of Hirose et al. [5], Sony's AIBO [6] and Little Dog [7]. In combination with high position gain control and …
Conformal Field Theory

Errata on second printing These errata (and eventual additional ones) are listed on the following Web page: The sign before the last term should be +, not −. The third term within braces on the first line should read −η λν σ µρ + (µ and ν should be interchanged). In addition, the term on the last line of the equation should change sign.
Behavioral Effects of Probation Periods : An Analysis of Worker Absenteeism

The theoretical probation literature shows that individuals have incentives to mimick "good workers" during periods of employment probation. This study empirically tests at the example of absence behavior, whether such behavioral responses to the incentives of probation periods exist. We find significant responses of white collar employees and public sector workers to probation periods: Once employment probation is completed and individuals enter into regular employment contracts, the probability of work absences takes discrete jumps and is significantly above previous levels.