LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Treatment of HCV with ABT-450/r-ombitasvir and dasabuvir with ribavirin.

BACKGROUND
The interferon-free combination of the protease inhibitor ABT-450 with ritonavir (ABT-450/r) and the NS5A inhibitor ombitasvir (also known as ABT-267) plus the nonnucleoside polymerase inhibitor dasabuvir (also known as ABT-333) and ribavirin has shown efficacy against the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients with HCV genotype 1 infection. In this phase 3 trial, we evaluated this regimen in previously untreated patients with HCV genotype 1 infection and no cirrhosis.


METHODS
In this multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we assigned previously untreated patients with HCV genotype 1 infection, in a 3:1 ratio, to an active regimen consisting of a single-tablet coformulation of ABT-450/r-ombitasvir (at a once-daily dose of 150 mg of ABT-450, 100 mg of ritonavir, and 25 mg of ombitasvir), and dasabuvir (250 mg twice daily) with ribavirin (in doses determined according to body weight) (group A) or matching placebos (group B). The patients received the study treatment during a 12-week double-blind period. The primary end point was sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after the end of treatment. The primary analysis compared the response rate in group A with the response rate (78%) in a historical control group of previously untreated patients without cirrhosis who received telaprevir with peginterferon and ribavirin. Adverse events occurring during the double-blind period were compared between group A and group B.


RESULTS
A total of 631 patients received at least one dose of the study drugs. The rate of sustained virologic response in group A was 96.2% (95% confidence interval, 94.5 to 97.9), which was superior to the historical control rate. Virologic failure during treatment and relapse after treatment occurred in 0.2% and 1.5%, respectively, of the patients in group A. The response rates in group A were 95.3% among patients with HCV genotype 1a infection and 98.0% among those with HCV genotype 1b infection. The rate of discontinuation due to adverse events was 0.6% in each study group. Nausea, pruritus, insomnia, diarrhea, and asthenia occurred in significantly more patients in group A than in group B (P<0.05 for all comparisons). Reductions in the hemoglobin level were all of grade 1 or 2; reductions of grade 1 and 2 occurred in 47.5% and 5.8%, respectively, of the patients in group A, whereas grade 1 reductions occurred in 2.5% of the patients in group B.


CONCLUSIONS
In previously untreated patients with HCV genotype 1 infection and no cirrhosis, a 12-week multitargeted regimen of ABT-450/r-ombitasvir and dasabuvir with ribavirin was highly effective and was associated with a low rate of treatment discontinuation. (Funded by AbbVie; SAPPHIRE-I ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01716585.).
Hair cell synaptic ribbons are essential for synchronous auditory signalling

Hearing relies on faithful synaptic transmission at the ribbon synapse of cochlear inner hair cells (IHCs). At present, the function of presynaptic ribbons at these synapses is still largely unknown. Here we show that anchoring of IHC ribbons is impaired in mouse mutants for the presynaptic scaffolding protein Bassoon. The lack of active-zone-anchored synaptic ribbons reduced the presynaptic readily releasable vesicle pool, and impaired synchronous auditory signalling as revealed by recordings of exocytic IHC capacitance changes and sound-evoked activation of spiral ganglion neurons. Both exocytosis of the hair cell releasable vesicle pool and the number of synchronously activated spiral ganglion neurons co-varied with the number of anchored ribbons during development. Interestingly, ribbon-deficient IHCs were still capable of sustained exocytosis with normal Ca2+-dependence. Endocytic membrane retrieval was intact, but an accumulation of tubular and cisternal membrane profiles was observed in ribbon-deficient IHCs. We conclude that ribbon-dependent synchronous release of multiple vesicles at the hair cell afferent synapse is essential for normal hearing.
Sad but true ?-How induced emotional states differentially bias self-rated Big Five personality traits

Background: The Big Five are seen as stable personality traits. This study hypothesized that their measurement via self-ratings is differentially biased by participants’ emotions. The relationship between habitual emotions and personality should be mirrored in a patterned influence of emotional states upon personality scores. Methods: We experimentally induced emotional states and compared baseline Big Five scores of ninety-eight German participants (67 female; mean age 22.2) to their scores after the induction of happiness or sadness. Manipulation checks included the induced emotion’s intensity and durability. Results: The expected differential effect could be detected for neuroticism and extraversion and as a trend for agreeableness. Post-hoc analyses showed that only sadness led to increased neuroticism and decreased extraversion scores. Oppositely, happiness did not decrease neuroticism, but there was a trend for an elevation on extraversion scores. Conclusion: Results suggest a specific effect of sadness on self-reported personality traits, particularly on neuroticism. Sadness may trigger different self-concepts in susceptible people, biasing perceived personality. This bias could be minimised by tracking participants’ emotional states prior to personality measurement.
Activation of EGFR and ERBB2 by Helicobacter pylori results in survival of gastric epithelial cells with DNA damage.

BACKGROUND & AIMS
The gastric cancer-causing pathogen Helicobacter pylori up-regulates spermine oxidase (SMOX) in gastric epithelial cells, causing oxidative stress-induced apoptosis and DNA damage. A subpopulation of SMOX(high) cells are resistant to apoptosis, despite their high levels of DNA damage. Because epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation can regulate apoptosis, we determined its role in SMOX-mediated effects.


METHODS
SMOX, apoptosis, and DNA damage were measured in gastric epithelial cells from H. pylori-infected Egfr(wa5) mice (which have attenuated EGFR activity), Egfr wild-type mice, or in infected cells incubated with EGFR inhibitors or deficient in EGFR. A phosphoproteomic analysis was performed. Two independent tissue microarrays containing each stage of disease, from gastritis to carcinoma, and gastric biopsy specimens from Colombian and Honduran cohorts were analyzed by immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
SMOX expression and DNA damage were decreased, and apoptosis increased in H. pylori-infected Egfr(wa5) mice. H. pylori-infected cells with deletion or inhibition of EGFR had reduced levels of SMOX, DNA damage, and DNA damage(high) apoptosis(low) cells. Phosphoproteomic analysis showed increased EGFR and erythroblastic leukemia-associated viral oncogene B (ERBB)2 signaling. Immunoblot analysis showed the presence of a phosphorylated (p)EGFR-ERBB2 heterodimer and pERBB2; knockdown of ErbB2 facilitated apoptosis of DNA damage(high) apoptosis(low) cells. SMOX was increased in all stages of gastric disease, peaking in tissues with intestinal metaplasia, whereas pEGFR, pEGFR-ERBB2, and pERBB2 were increased predominantly in tissues showing gastritis or atrophic gastritis. Principal component analysis separated gastritis tissues from patients with cancer vs those without cancer. pEGFR, pEGFR-ERBB2, pERBB2, and SMOX were increased in gastric samples from patients whose disease progressed to intestinal metaplasia or dysplasia, compared with patients whose disease did not progress.


CONCLUSIONS
In an analysis of gastric tissues from mice and patients, we identified a molecular signature (based on levels of pEGFR, pERBB2, and SMOX) for the initiation of gastric carcinogenesis.
ALGOL-E: An Experimental Approach to The Study of Programming Languages

A common approach to the teaching of Programming Languages (course 12, Curriculum 68) has been to teach several languages, each demonstrating a feature deemed significant, such as ALGOL, LISP, SNOBOL, and COBOL [3,7]. The problem that exists with this method is that far too much time is spent learning the details necessary to use the languages, leaving time for only a few trivial programs in each language. A popular alternative to this approach is to teach the course using a single general-purpose language which has a broad repertoire of language features, such as PL/I. While this method successfully avoids much of the detail which characterizes the former, it too seems to have a serious drawback. The student can become quite talented at programming in the language and still have very little feel for the implications of the higher level language structures at the machine level. Moreover, these languages typically provide no means by which the student can readily investigate these implications. Hence, ALGOL-E is proposed as a programming language system which provides such a capability.
An active learning-enabled annotation system for clinical named entity recognition

BACKGROUND
Active learning (AL) has shown the promising potential to minimize the annotation cost while maximizing the performance in building statistical natural language processing (NLP) models. However, very few studies have investigated AL in a real-life setting in medical domain.


METHODS
In this study, we developed the first AL-enabled annotation system for clinical named entity recognition (NER) with a novel AL algorithm. Besides the simulation study to evaluate the novel AL algorithm, we further conducted user studies with two nurses using this system to assess the performance of AL in real world annotation processes for building clinical NER models.


RESULTS
The simulation results show that the novel AL algorithm outperformed traditional AL algorithm and random sampling. However, the user study tells a different story that AL methods did not always perform better than random sampling for different users.


CONCLUSIONS
We found that the increased information content of actively selected sentences is strongly offset by the increased time required to annotate them. Moreover, the annotation time was not considered in the querying algorithms. Our future work includes developing better AL algorithms with the estimation of annotation time and evaluating the system with larger number of users.
John Dee as a Cultural Hero

John Dee, ‘Queen Elizabeth's conjuror’, as a recent biography has called him, has attracted considerable attention during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries among intellectual historians of the English Renaissance, including historians of science. During the last two decades especially, there has been a steady flow of publications.1 Dee has also featured in a growing body of literary and popular fiction, films, plays, multimedia performances, graphic novels, and operas. The present article reviews a range of this material and demonstrates that, particularly since the 1960s, the figure of Dee has performed a number of different cultural functions, sometimes appearing more as vulnerable human being than magus, but appealing particularly to those artists who, like Derek Jarman, see him as epitomising a dream of transformative and visionary power with close analogies to the way the creative imagination itself works.
Fabrication and electrical characterization of the InSbS3/n-Si heterojunction

Abstract In this article, polycrystalline InSbS 3 thin films were fabricated successfully at first time on the n-Si wafer by spray pyrolysis system to produce InSbS 3 /n-Si heterojunction. The structural characterization of the InSbS 3 thin films was measured by FE-SEM and XRD techniques. The InSbS 3 thin films are polycrystalline with orthorhombic structure. The diode parameters of the InSbS 3 /n-Si heterojunction like the barrier height ( ϕ b ), series resistance ( R s ) and the ideality factor ( n ) were evaluated by measuring the I–V characteristic curve in the dark situations. The C–V analysis of the InSbS 3 /n-Si heterojunction illustrates the junction was abrupt. The efficiency of the InSbS 3 /n-Si device were evaluated from the J-V characteristics curve under illuminations and equal 3.82%
A pilot study of the effect of inhaled buffered reduced glutathione on the clinical status of patients with cystic fibrosis.

STUDY OBJECTIVES
To assess the impact of inhaled, buffered reduced glutathione (GSH) on clinical indicators of cystic fibrosis (CF) pathophysiology.


DESIGN AND PATIENTS
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study was conducted over an 8-week period. Nineteen subjects, age 6 to 19 years, with CF status documented by positive sweat chloride test results (> 60 mEq/L) were recruited for the trial. After matching on age and sex, 10 patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 9 patients to the placebo group. Primary outcomes were FEV1, FVC, forced expiratory flow at 25 to 75% of vital capacity, and peak flow; secondary outcomes were body mass index, 6-min walk distance, and self-reported cough frequency, mucus production/viscosity/color, wellness, improvement, and stamina. INTERVENTIONS AND ANALYSIS: Treatment was buffered GSH, and placebo was sodium chloride with a hint of quinine. The total daily dose of buffered GSH was approximately 66 mg/kg of body weight, and the total daily dose of placebo was approximately 15 mg/kg of body weight (quinine, 25 to 30 microg/kg). Doses were distributed across four inhalation sessions per day and spaced 3- to 4-h apart. General linear mixed models were used to analyze the data. The final sample size was nine subjects in the treatment group and seven subjects in the placebo group.


RESULTS
Mean change for peak flow was -6.5 L/min for the placebo group and +33.7 L/min for the GSH group (p = 0.04), and self-reported average improvement on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being much worse and 5 being much better) was 2.8 for placebo and 4.7 for GSH (p = 0.004). Of the 13 primary and secondary outcomes examined, 11 outcomes favored the treatment group over the placebo group (p = 0.002), indicating a general tendency of improvement in the GSH group. No adverse events in the treatment group were noted.


CONCLUSION
This pilot study indicates the promise of nebulized buffered GSH to ameliorate CF disease, and longer, larger, and improved studies of inhaled GSH are warranted.
Interdisciplinary palliative care for patients with lung cancer.

130 Background: Palliative care, including symptom management and attention to quality of life (QOL) concerns, should be addressed throughout the trajectory of a serious illness such as lung cancer. This study tested the effectiveness on an interdisciplinary palliative care intervention for patients with stage I-IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).


METHODS
Patients undergoing treatments for NSCLC were enrolled in a prospective, quasi-experimental study whereby the usual care group was accrued first followed by the intervention group. Patients in the intervention group were presented at interdisciplinary care meetings and appropriate supportive care referrals were made. They also received four educational sessions. In both groups, QOL, symptoms, and psychological distress were assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using surveys which included the FACT-L, FACIT-Sp-12, LCS, and the Distress Thermometer.


RESULTS
A total of 491 patients were included in the primary analysis. Patients who received the intervention had significantly better scores for QOL (109.1 vs. 101.4; p < .001), symptoms (25.8 vs. 23.9; p < .001), spiritual well-being (38.1 vs. 36.2; p < .001), and lower psychological distress (2.2 vs. 3.3; p < .001) at 12 weeks, after controlling for baseline scores, compared to patients in the usual care group. Patients in the intervention group also had significantly higher numbers of completed advance care directives (44% vs. 9%; p < .001), and overall supportive care referrals (61% vs. 28%; p < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Interdisciplinary palliative care in the ambulatory care setting resulted in significant improvements in QOL, symptoms, and distress for NSCLC patients.
Feasibility and acceptability of a Tai Chi Chih randomized controlled trial in senior female cancer survivors.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a Tai Chi Chih (TCC) intervention in senior female cancer survivors with physical functioning limitations, and its effects on health-related quality of life (QOL).


DESIGN
This was a two-armed, parallel group, RCT with 12-weeks of Tai Chi Chih or Health Education Control.


METHODS
Sixty-three senior (M age = 67 years, SD = 7.15) female cancer survivors (83% breast cancer, stages I-III) with physical functioning limitations (SF-12 Health Survey role-physical & physical functioning subscales) were randomized to 12-weeks of TCC or Health Education control (HEC). Primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability. Secondary outcomes included health-related QOL (SF-36 Health Survey), and participants' qualitative feedback on the intervention.


RESULTS
Retention (TCC = 91%; HEC = 81%) and class attendance (TCC = 79%; HEC = 83%) rates, and satisfaction levels for both study arms were high, but did not significantly differ from one another. At one-week post-intervention, none of the SF-36 scores differed between the TCC and HEC groups. Within-group analyses revealed significant improvements in the mental component summary score in TCC (p = 0.01), but not in HEC. Qualitative analyses indicated that the TCC group felt they received mental and physical benefits, whereas HEC group reported on social support benefits and information received.


CONCLUSION
The TCC intervention was found to be a feasible and acceptable modality for senior female cancer survivors. Future, larger definitive trials are needed to clarify TCC dosage effects on QOL in this vulnerable population.
Velocity model building by 3D frequency-domain, full-waveform inversion of wide-aperture seismic data

We assessed 3D frequency-domain FD acoustic fullwaveform inversion FWI data as a tool to develop high-resolution velocity models from low-frequency global-offset data. The inverse problem was posed as a classic leastsquares optimization problem solved with a steepest-descent method. Inversion was applied to a few discrete frequencies, allowing management of a limited subset of the 3D data volume. The forward problem was solved with a finite-difference frequency-domain method based on a massively parallel direct solver, allowing efficient multiple-shot simulations. The inversion code was fully parallelized for distributedmemory platforms, taking advantage of a domain decomposition of the modeled wavefields performed by the direct solver. After validation on simple synthetic tests, FWI was applied to two targets channel and thrust system of the 3D SEG/EAGE overthrust model, corresponding to 3D domains of 7 8.75 2.25 km and 13.5 13.5 4.65 km, respectively. The maximum inverted frequencies are 15 and 7 Hz for the two applications. A maximum of 30 dual-core biprocessor nodes with 8 GB of shared memory per node were used for the second target. The main structures were imaged successfully at a resolution scale consistent with the inverted frequencies. Our study confirms the feasibility of 3D frequency-domain FWI of global-offset data on large distributed-memory platforms to develop high-resolution velocity models. These high-velocity models may provide accurate macromodels for wave-equation prestack depth migration.
Health information technology (IT) to improve the care of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD)

Several reports show that patients with chronic disease who are empowered with information technology (IT) tools for monitoring, training and self-management have improved outcomes, however there are few such applications employed in kidney disease. This review explores the current and potential uses of health IT platforms to advance kidney disease care by offering innovative solutions to inform, engage and communicate with individuals with CKD.
Numerical Investigation of the Integration of Heat Transfer Devices Into Wind Towers

Increasing focus on reducing energy consumption has raised public awareness of renewable energy resources, particularly the integration of natural ventilation devices in buildings such as wind tower systems. Wind towers have traditionally been used in Middle Eastern architecture for many centuries to provide natural ventilation and thermal comfort. The purpose of this study is to integrate heat transfer devices in a wind tower to meet the internal comfort criteria in extreme external condtions. Heat transfer devices were installed inside the passive terminal of the wind tower unit, highlighting the potential to achieve minimal restriction in the external air flow stream while ensuring maximum contact time, thus optimzing the cooling duty of the device. A geometrical representation of a full scale wind tower configuration, micro-climate and macro-climate was modeled. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to develop a numerical model of a new wind tower system and simulate the air flow pattern and pressure coefficients around and through the wind tower to the test room. Results have indicated that the average internal airflow rate was reduced following the integration of the vertical and horizontal heat transfer device configuration, reductions of 4.11 % and 8.21 % was obtained from the achieved numerical models. The work compared the effect of evaporative cooling and heat transfer devices on the thermal performance of the passive ventilation device. The proposed cooling system was capable of reducing the air temperatures by 12-15 K, depending on the configuration and operating conditions.
Energy intake and sources of nutritional support in patients with head and neck cancer—a randomised longitudinal study

Background/objectives:Malnutrition decreases the cancer patient’s ability to manage treatment, affects quality of life and survival, and is common among head and neck (HN) cancer patients due to the tumour location and the treatment received. In this study, advanced HN cancer patients were included and followed during 2 years in order to measure their energy intake, choice of energy sources and to assess problems with dysphagia. The main purpose was to explore when and for how long the patients had dysphagia and lost weight due to insufficient intake and if having a PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) in place for enteral nutrition made a difference.Subjects/methods:One hundred thirty-four patients were included and randomised to either a prophylactic PEG for early enteral feeding or nutritional care according to clinical praxis. At seven time points weight, dysphagia and energy intake (assessed as oral, nutritional supplements, enteral and parenteral) were measured.Results:Both groups lost weight the first six months due to insufficient energy intake and used enteral nutrition as their main intake source; no significant differences between groups were found. Problems with dysphagia were vast during the 6 months. At the 6-, 12- and 24-month follow-ups both groups reached estimated energy requirements and weight loss ceased. Oral intake was the major energy source after 1 year.Conclusions:HN cancer patients need nutritional support and enteral feeding for a long time period during and after treatment due to insufficient energy intake. A prophylactic PEG did not significantly improve the enteral intake probably due to treatment side effects.