LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Phase I clinical and pharmacokinetic study of S9788, a new multidrug-resistance reversal agent given alone and in combination with doxorubicin to patients with advanced solid tumors

Purpose: The objectives of this phase I study were to evaluate the toxic effects and the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of S9788, a new modifier of multidrug resistance (MDR), when given alone and in combination with doxorubicin to patients with advanced solid tumors; to achieve a potentially active plasma concentration of S9788; and to study the pharmacokinetics of both drugs. Methods: A total of 26 patients (median age 58 years) entered the study. S9788 was given alone as a 30-min infusion at day 1 and in combination with a 50-mg/m2 bolus of doxorubicin at days 8 and 29. Dose levels of S9788 were escalated from 8 to 96 mg/m2 according to the modified Fibonacci scheme. Plasma samples were taken predose as well as during and up to 48 h after the beginning of infusion for S9788 and doxorubicin quantitation. Fractionated urine samples were also collected for up to 24 h for S9788 determination. Results: The dose-limiting side effects of S9788 consisted of bradycardia, sometimes associated with faintness or dizziness. The MTD of S9788 was 96 mg/m2. No enhancement of doxorubicin toxicity was observed. One partial response (duration 140 days) was observed at 96 mg/m2 in a patient with multiple lung metastases from a refractory urothelial carcinoma. Pharmacokinetic studies were performed in 24 patients. Since the mean apparent elimination half-life of S9788 was 46 ± 23 h and the last plasma sampling time was 48 h, only model-independent parameters were considered. Plasma levels of S9788 were below the limit of quantitation (4 × 10–3μM ) before each drug administration. S9788 plasma levels of up to 3.7 μM could be obtained with this administration schedule. The urinary elimination of the unchanged drug was negligible, whatever the collection period. In spite of the large inter- and intraindividual variability, plasma pharmacokinetics of S9788 given as a 30-min i.v. infusion were linear up to 96 mg/m2 and were not modified by doxorubicin administration. Doxorubicin pharmacokinetic parameters did not seem to be influenced by S9788 coadministration. Conclusion: The dose-limiting toxicity of S9788 consisted of bradycardia or clinical symptoms suggesting a vasovagal impact such as faintness or dizziness. The MTD of S9788 was 96 mg/m2. The pharmacokinetic parameters of doxorubicin in this study were close to those usually described and were not influenced by escalation of the S9788 dose. No pharmacokinetic interaction was observed between S9788 and doxorubicin. The clinical tolerability of the combined treatment is in good agreement with the pharmacokinetic findings, since no enhancement of doxorubicin toxicity was observed.
Sustainable production of barley and wheat by intercropping common vetch

Intercropping legumes with cereals for forage production is a sustainable technique showing several environmental benefits. We studied yields, quality and the growth rate of a 2-year experiment including (1) sole crops of common vetch, barley and winter wheat, and (2) intercrops of common vetch with barley and winter wheat using seeding ratios of 55:45 and 65:35. Our results show that the greatest dry matter yields were obtained with wheat and barley sole crops. The lowest yield was obtained with common vetch sole crop. The intercrops produced about 13–30% more dry matter than the common vetch sole crop, but 12–23% less than cereal sole crops. Further, the growth rate of common vetch and cereals was greater when species were grown as sole crops than in intercrops. Quality components indicated an advantage for the sole crop of common vetch followed by its intercrop with barley at the 65:35 seeding ratio, which exhibited higher crude protein yield than the sole crop of cereals and the other intercrops. The results of this study indicate that common vetch intercrops with barley or winter wheat produced higher dry matter than common vetch sole crop. In addition, the intercrop of common vetch with barley (65:35) provided higher forage quality than the other intercrops. Our study highlights that vetch-cereal intercropping can be used as an alternative cropping system which combines sustainability due to N fixation from common vetch, and high yield and forage quality.
Incentivizing education: Seeing schoolwork as an investment, not a chore.

Most American children expect to attend college but because they do not necessarily spend much time on schoolwork, they may fail to reach their imagined "college-bound" future self. The proposed identity-based motivation model helps explain why this gap occurs: Imagined "college-bound" identities cue school-focused behavior if they are salient and feel relevant to current choice options, not otherwise. Two studies with predominantly low-income and African American middle school students support this prediction. Almost all of the students expect to attend college, but only half describe education-dependent (e.g., law, medicine) adult identities. Having education-dependent rather than education-independent adult identities (e.g., sports, entertainment) predicts better grades over time, controlling for prior grade point average (Study 1). To demonstrate causality, salience of education-dependent versus education-independent adult identities was experimentally manipulated. Children who considered education-dependent adult identities (vs. education-independent ones) were eight times more likely to complete a take-home extra credit assignment (Study 2).
Examining playfulness in adults : Testing its correlates with personality , positive psychological functioning , goal aspirations , and multi-methodically assessed ingenuity

The prime aim of this set of studies was to test the disposition to play (playfulness) in adults in its relation with various measures of personality but also ability (self-estimated but also psychometrically measured ingenuity). Study 1 (n = 180) shows that adults playfulness relates primarily to extraversion, lower conscientiousness, and higher endorsements of culture; joy of being laughed at (gelotophilia) and agreeableness were also predictive in a regression analysis; Study 2 (n = 264) shows that playfulness relates primarily to a high expectation of intrinsic and a low expectation of extrinsic goals as well as greater intrinsic and lower extrinsic importance of goals (for expressive and fun-variants of playfulness); Study 3 (n = 212) shows that playfulness relates to greater selfperception of one’s degree of ingenuity and psychometric ingenuity correlated primarily with greater spontaneous and creative variants of playfulness (in about the same range for origence and fluidity of the productions). Overall, the findings were in line with the expectations and could stimulate further studies of playfulness in adults. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-63532 Published Version Originally published at: Proyer, Rene T (2012). Examining playfulness in adults: Testing its correlates with personality, positive psychological functioning, goal aspirations, and multi-methodically assessed ingenuity. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, 54(2):103-127. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, Volume 54, 2012 (2), 103-127 Examining playfulness in adults: Testing its correlates with personality, positive psychological functioning, goal aspirations, and multi-methodically assessed ingenuity
Biodiesel production from Jatropha oil by catalytic and non-catalytic approaches: an overview.

Biodiesel (fatty acids alkyl esters) is a promising alternative fuel to replace petroleum-based diesel that is obtained from renewable sources such as vegetable oil, animal fat and waste cooking oil. Vegetable oils are more suitable source for biodiesel production compared to animal fats and waste cooking since they are renewable in nature. However, there is a concern that biodiesel production from vegetable oil would disturb the food market. Oil from Jatropha curcas is an acceptable choice for biodiesel production because it is non-edible and can be easily grown in a harsh environment. Moreover, alkyl esters of jatropha oil meet the standard of biodiesel in many countries. Thus, the present paper provides a review on the transesterification methods for biodiesel production using jatropha oil as feedstock.
Current management of patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia across Europe: outcomes from REACH

BACKGROUND
Data describing real-life management and treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Europe are limited. REACH (http://NCT01293435) was a retrospective, observational study collecting data on the management of EU patients hospitalized with CAP.


METHODS
Patients were aged ≥18 years, hospitalized with CAP between March 2010 and February 2011, and requiring in-hospital treatment with intravenous antibiotics. An electronic Case Report Form was used to collect patient, disease and treatment variables, including type of CAP, medical history, treatment setting, antibiotics administered and clinical outcomes.


RESULTS
Patients (N = 2,039) were recruited from 128 centres in ten EU countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, UK). The majority of patients were aged ≥65 years (56.4%) and had CAP only (78.8%). Initial antibiotic treatment modification occurred in 28.9% of patients and was more likely in certain groups (patients with comorbidities; more severely ill patients; patients with healthcare-associated pneumonia, immunosuppression or recurrent episodes of CAP). Streamlining (de-escalation) of therapy occurred in 5.1% of patients. Mean length of hospital stay was 12.6 days and overall mortality was 7.2%.


CONCLUSION
These data provide a current overview of clinical practice in patients with CAP in EU hospitals, revealing high rates of initial antibiotic treatment modification. The findings may precipitate reassessment of optimal management regimens for hospitalized CAP patients.
Difficulties in Academic Writing: From the Perspective of King Saud University Postgraduate Students

The purpose of this study was to determine what difficulties King Saud University students encounter when learning to write academic English and to differentiate between students’ learning needs and objectives. The sample consisted of 50 postgraduate students enrolled in King Saud University during the academic year 2009-2010. Analysis of the data showed that English as a second language (ESL) students face many difficulties and stresses in their academic writing, such as difficulty distinguishing between spoken and written English, making an outline before writing a draft, identifying the skills needed for successful writing, and avoiding plague words and phrases.
Constant-deposit multiparty lotteries on Bitcoin

An active research trend is to exploit the consensus mechanism of cryptocurrencies to secure the execution of distributed applications. In particular, some recent works have proposed fair lotteries which work on Bitcoin. These protocols, however, require a deposit from each player which grows quadratically with the number of players. We propose a fair lottery on Bitcoin which only requires a constant deposit.
Prevalence and characteristics of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder in a cohort of young patients in day treatment for eating disorders

BACKGROUND
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a "new" diagnosis in the recently published DSM-5, but there is very little literature on patients with ARFID. Our objectives were to determine the prevalence of ARFID in children and adolescents undergoing day treatment for an eating disorder, and to compare ARFID patients to other eating disorder patients in the same cohort.


METHODS
A retrospective chart review of 7-17 year olds admitted to a day program for younger patients with eating disorders between 2008 and 2012 was performed. Patients with ARFID were compared to those with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and other specified feeding or eating disorder/unspecified feeding or eating disorder with respect to demographics, anthropometrics, clinical symptoms, and psychometric testing, using Chi-square, ANOVA, and post-hoc analysis.


RESULTS
39/173 (22.5%) patients met ARFID criteria. The ARFID group was younger than the non-ARFID group and had a greater proportion of males. Similar degrees of weight loss and malnutrition were found between groups. Patients with ARFID reported greater fears of vomiting and/or choking and food texture issues than those with other eating disorders, as well as greater dependency on nutritional supplements at intake. Children's Eating Attitudes Test scores were lower for children with than without ARFID. A higher comorbidity of anxiety disorders, pervasive developmental disorder, and learning disorders, and a lower comorbidity of depression, were found in those with ARFID.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that there are significant demographic and clinical characteristics that differentiate children with ARFID from those with other eating disorders in a day treatment program, and helps substantiate the recognition of ARFID as a distinct eating disorder diagnosis in the DSM-5.
Does a Self-Etching Ceramic Primer Improve Bonding to Lithium Disilicate Ceramics? Bond Strengths and FESEM Analyses.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the effect of hydrofluoric acid (HF) vs self-etching ceramic primer on resin cement microshear bond strength (μSBS) and ultramorphology of lithium disilicate (LD) ceramic.


METHODS AND MATERIALS
LD (IPS e.max CAD, Ivoclar Vivadent) blocks (14×4×2 mm3) were polished to 1200 grit and assigned to nine groups (n=5): CON: control, no LD surface treatment; IVO: 5.0% HF (IPS Ceramic Etching Gel, Ivoclar Vivadent); VIT: 5.0% HF (Vita Ceramics Etch, VITA Zahnfabrik); FGM: 5.0% HF (Condac Porcelana, FGM); ULT: 9.0% HF (Porcelain Etch, Ultradent); PRM: 9.6% HF (Premier Porcelain Etch Gel, Premier); BIS: 9.5% HF (Porcelain Etchant, Bisco Inc); DEN: 10.0% HF (Condicionador de Porcelanas, Dentsply Brazil); and MEP: self-etching ceramic primer (Monobond Etch & Prime, Ivoclar Vivadent). For all HF groups and control, an MDP-containing silane solution (MB+, Monobond Plus, Ivoclar Vivadent) was applied on rinsing the HF gel and air drying. Three transparent matrices for each specimen were filled with light-cured resin cement (Variolink Veneer, Ivoclar Vivadent). After storage in water for 48 hours at 37°C, specimens were tested in shear mode to measure μSBS. Mode of failure was analyzed at 50×. Statistical analysis included one-way analysis of variance and the Duncan post hoc test (α=0.05). Thirty-six additional LD specimens were assigned to the same experimental groups (n=4) and observed under a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) at magnifications ranging from 10,000× to 100,000×.


RESULTS
IVO resulted in statistically higher mean μSBS than all the other groups. MEP resulted in statistically lower μSBS than all HF groups. The failure mode for MEP was predominantly adhesive. The most frequent failure mode for the HF groups was mixed. CON resulted in 100% pretesting failures. For FESEM, no retentive pattern was observed for CON specimens. MEP resulted in the least pronounced etching pattern, few areas around crystals exhibited a slight increase in retention pattern compared to the control group. All HF gels created microporosities on the LD surface with distinct etching patterns. VIT and DEN resulted in an LD ultramorphology that suggested overetching.


CONCLUSIONS
HF etching followed by a silane solution resulted in higher bond strengths than a self-etching ceramic primer. Some HF gels may cause overetching of the LD intaglio surface.
Model driven mechatronic design optimization of a linear axis press tending robot

One of ABB's solutions for interpress automation is a linear 7th axis robot (ABB IRB 7600FX). The key performance measure of an interpress robot is given in strokes per minute (SPM). Press lines are moving towards increased efficiency in throughput and therefore higher performance of the interpress robots is often demanded by the customer. The target for the design optimization described in this paper is to increase the performance of the IRB 7600FX by 10%. The optimizations and investigations have shown that the IRB7600FX can be optimized to achieve and even exceed the targeted performance. Significant improvement of the cycle time performance can be achieved by software changes and no or small design / hardware changes while sacrificing no or only little of expected lifetime. Ultra-fast performance (>25% increase) can also be achieved with the Linear 7th Axis Robot concept, but would require re-design efforts of the current system.
Quantum Improvements In Software System Quality

Improvem I n 1989, U S WEST Technologies began implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). In the years that followed, TQM spread throughout the company. In retrospect, we did almost everything wrong. Ultimately we learned how to adapt and focus TQM to deliver not just incremental improvements, but quantum improvements in speed, quality, and cost. Quantum improvement delivers 50% or greater reductions in cycle time, defects, or cost. This is our story. The Technologies group began with goals in terms of number of people trained and number of teams started. These goals drove our behavior. More than 4,000 people were trained. More than 100 teams were started. Each team brainstormed problems—quality ini-
Nurses' perception of evidence-based practice at the National University Hospital of Singapore.

BACKGROUND
A study was conducted at Singapore's National University Hospital to elicit registered nurses' attitudes, knowledge, barriers, facilitating factors, education, and training regarding evidence-based practice.


METHODS
A 13-question survey that was administered to all registered nurses yielded 1,114 (75.4%) usable returns for analysis.


RESULTS
Findings showed that Singapore nurses had a positive and supportive attitude toward evidence-based practice but lacked the competence and knowledge to conduct it. Time constraints were identified as the main barrier to implementing evidence-based practice. There is a need for proper training, mentoring by senior nurses, and adequate time for evidence-based practice. Nurses with a higher level of nursing education who indicated the greatest perceived barriers tended to have less difficulty applying evidence-based practice but identified a need for more training in information skills.


CONCLUSION
Evidence-based practice is still in its infancy in Singapore compared with hospitals in other developed countries.
A New Angle on L2 Regularization

Imagine two high-dimensional clusters and a hyperplane separating them. Consider in particular the angle between: the direction joining the two clusters' centroids and the normal to the hyperplane. In linear classification, this angle depends on the level of L2 regularization used. Can you explain why?
A coarse-to-fine approach for fast deformable object detection

We present a method that can dramatically accelerate object detection with part based models. The method is based on the observation that the cost of detection is likely to be dominated by the cost of matching each part to the image, and not by the cost of computing the optimal configuration of the parts as commonly assumed. Therefore accelerating detection requires minimizing the number of part-to-image comparisons. To this end we propose a multiple-resolutions hierarchical part based model and a corresponding coarse-to-fine inference procedure that recursively eliminates from the search space unpromising part placements. The method yields a ten-fold speedup over the standard dynamic programming approach and is complementary to the cascade-of-parts approach of [9]. Compared to the latter, our method does not have parameters to be determined empirically, which simplifies its use during the training of the model. Most importantly, the two techniques can be combined to obtain a very significant speedup, of two orders of magnitude in some cases. We evaluate our method extensively on the PASCAL VOC and INRIA datasets, demonstrating a very high increase in the detection speed with little degradation of the accuracy.
Toward an Ethics of Algorithms : Convening , Observation , Probability , and Timeliness

Part of understanding the meaning and power of algorithms means asking what new demands they might make of ethical frameworks, and how they might be held accountable to ethical standards. I develop a definition of networked information algorithms (NIAs) as assemblages of institutionally situated code, practices, and norms with the power to create, sustain, and signify relationships among people and data through minimally observable, semiautonomous action. Starting from Merrill’s prompt to see ethics as the study of ‘‘what we ought to do,’’ I examine ethical dimensions of contemporary NIAs. Specifically, in an effort to sketch an empirically grounded, pragmatic ethics of algorithms, I trace an algorithmic assemblage’s power to convene constituents, suggest actions based on perceived similarity and probability, and govern the timing and timeframes of ethical action. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA Corresponding Author: Mike Ananny, University of Southern California, 3502 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. Email: ananny@usc.edu Science, Technology, & Human Values 1-25 a The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0162243915606523 sthv.sagepub.com
Bridging the implementation gaps in the knowledge management system for enhancing corporate performance

This study explores the gaps of knowledge management (KM) activities for the enterprise to build a framework that would analyze the corporate knowledge needs, and identifies any inhibitors to success of the implementation activities of the KM system. Based on the literature review, expert interviews and questionnaire, we categorize the five management gaps in implementation of KM activities and illustrate the links between KM activities and corporate performance. The results also reveal that corporate performance is significantly influenced by these management gaps. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Symptomatic primary intracranial neoplasms in Nigeria, West Africa

Objective: Intracranial tumours hitherto said to be rare in Africans is one of the most devastating forms of human cancers. There are many differences reported according to the geographic distribution, histological type, gender predisposition and anatomic location of these tumours. Our aim was to determine the frequency of histopathological variants of primary intracranial neoplasms, gender and age distribution, and intracranial location of symptomatic brain tumours in our environment. Method: The histological request forms and slides of 113 consecutive patients with symptomatic primary intracranial tumours necessitating surgical intervention (January 1999 to December 2004) were reviewed. Tumours were reclassified histologically according to the revised World Health Organisation (WHO) classification of tumours of the nervous system. Result: The tumours were more common in males with a gender ratio of 1.2: 1. Though these ratio was significantly reversed in the meningioma group (1:3.3). The common tumours are gliomas (23%), meningiomas (23%), pituitary adenoma (16.8%), craniopharyngiomas (15.9%), and medulloblastoma (12.4%). Medulloblastomas, gliomas and craniopharyngiomas accounted for over 85% of paediatric tumours. In paediatric age group, most of the tumours were malignant (69%) compared to adults (25.4%). In the adult population, over 80% of these tumours were meningiomas (35%), pituitary adenomas (27%) or gliomas (21.1%). Germ cell tumours were found to be uncommon. Conclusion: In adults and children the most common tumour is meningiomas and medulloblastoma respectively. Gliomas occur much less frequently compared to Caucasians. The low proportion of glioma could be related to facilities and manpower which delays or prevent diagnosis