LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effect of low-dose valsartan on proteinuria in normotensive immunoglobulin A nephropathy with minimal proteinuria: a randomized trial

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is a generally progressive disease, even in patients with favorable prognostic features. In this study, we aimed to investigate the antiproteinuric effect and tolerability of low-dose valsartan (an angiotensin II receptor blocker) therapy in normotensive IgAN patients with minimal proteinuria of less than 0.5 to 1.0 g/day.


METHODS
Normotensive IgAN patients, who had persistent proteinuria with a spot urine protein-to-creatinine ratio of 0.3 to 1.0 mg/mg creatinine, were recruited from five hospitals and randomly assigned to either 40 mg of valsartan as the low-dose group or 80 mg of valsartan as the regular-dose group. Clinical and laboratory data were collected at baseline, and at 4, 8, 12, and 24 weeks after valsartan therapy.


RESULTS
Forty-three patients (low-dose group, n = 23; regular-dose group, n = 20) were enrolled in the study. Proteinuria decreased significantly not only in the regular-dose group but also in the low-dose group. The change in urine protein-to-creatinine ratio at week 24 was -41.3% ± 26.1% (p < 0.001) in the regular-dose group and -21.1% ± 45.1% (p = 0.005) in the low-dose group. In the low-dose group, blood pressure was constant throughout the study period, and there was no symptomatic hypotension. In the regular-dose group, blood pressure decreased at weeks 8 and 12. No significant change in glomerular filtration rate, serum creatinine level, or serum potassium level was observed during the study period.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that low-dose valsartan can significantly reduce proteinuria without causing any intolerability in normotensive IgAN patients with minimal proteinuria.
Users' motivation to participate in online crowdsourcing platforms

Online crowdsourcing platforms are increasingly used to capture ideas from crowd. Global companies are adopting crowdsourcing idea to connect with and get feedback from the users. The objective of this study was to understand what would motivate people to participate to innovate in online crowdsourcing platform, and to classify different motivational factors and incentives in online crowdsourcing platform. After an extensive literature review on motivation and incentive, different motivational factors and incentives were classified. This study has identified various motivational factors and classified them so that researchers can have more empirical studies to understand better. Moreover, the findings will also be worthwhile for the companies who are planning to launch similar crowdsourcing platforms to tap users' talents.
6-minute walk work for assessment of functional capacity in patients with COPD.

UNLABELLED
The 6-min walk (6MW) test is commonly used to assess exercise capacity in patients with COPD and to track functional change resulting from disease progression or therapeutic intervention. Not surprisingly, distance covered has been the preferred outcome for this test. However, distance walked does not account for differences in body weight that are known to influence exercise capacity.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the 6-min distance x body weight product (6MWORK) as an improved outcome measure with a solid physiologic foundation.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
One hundred twenty-four men and women with moderate-to-severe COPD volunteered and completed the testing sequence, which included pulmonary function, a peak effort ramp cardiopulmonary exercise study with gas exchange, and the 6MW. Means and SD were generated for the variables of interest. Differences were analyzed using analysis of variance techniques. Correlation coefficients and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated for the 6-min walk distance (6MWD) and 6MWORK with indexes of pulmonary function, work performance, and Borg scores for dyspnea and effort.


RESULTS
Men and women presented with a significant smoking history that also differed by gender (48 vs 66 pack-years, respectively; p < 0.01). The mean (+/- SD) FEV(1) values were 45 +/- 12.6% and 48 +/- 12.1%, respectively (not significant), while the diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) was 14.7 +/- 6.1 vs 10.3 +/- 3.9 mL/min/mm Hg, respectively (p < 0.001), for men and women. The 6MWD averaged 416.8 +/- 79.0 m for men and 367.8 +/- 78.6 m for women, and these differences were significant (p < 0.002). When 6MWD was compared as the percent predicted of normal values, each gender presented with a similar reduction of 78.6 +/- 14.5% vs 79.9 +/- 17.5% (p > 0.05), respectively. 6MWORK averaged 35,370 +/- 9,482 kg/m and 25,643 +/- 9,080 kg/m (p < 0.0001) for men and women, respectively. 6MWORK yielded higher correlation coefficients than did 6MWD when correlated with DLCO, lung diffusion for alveolar ventilation, FEV(1), FEV(1)/FVC ratio, watts, peak oxygen uptake, peak minute ventilation, and peak tidal volume. The ROC curve demonstrated that 6MWORK had a significantly larger calculated area under the curve (p < 0.05) [plot of 100-sensitivity to specificity for each variable of interest for all subjects] than 6MWD when differentiating an objectively selected definition of low work capacity vs high work capacity (bike ergometry work, < 55 vs > 55 W, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that work calculated as the product of distance x body weight is an improved outcome measure for the 6MW. 6MWORK can be used whenever the 6MW is required to estimate a patient's functional capacity. This measure is also a common measure, which can be converted to indexes of caloric expenditure for direct cross-modality comparisons.
A multicenter study of the effect of dietary supplementation with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs with osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the effects of feeding a diet supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on carprofen dosage in dogs with osteoarthritis.


DESIGN
Randomized, controlled, multisite clinical trial.


ANIMALS
131 client-owned dogs with stable chronic osteoarthritis examined at 33 privately owned veterinary hospitals in the United States.


PROCEDURES
In all dogs, the dosage of carprofen was standardized over a 3-week period to approximately 4.4 mg/kg/d (2 mg/lb/d), PO. Dogs were then randomly assigned to receive a food supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids or a control food with low omega-3 fatty acid content, and 3, 6, 9, and 12 weeks later, investigators made decisions regarding increasing or decreasing the carprofen dosage on the basis of investigator assessments of 5 clinical signs and owner assessments of 15 signs.


RESULTS
Linear regression analysis indicated that over the 12-week study period, carprofen dosage decreased significantly faster among dogs fed the supplemented diet than among dogs fed the control diet. The distribution of changes in carprofen dosage for dogs in the control group was significantly different from the distribution of changes in carprofen dosage for dogs in the test group.


CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results suggested that in dogs with chronic osteoarthritis receiving carprofen because of signs of pain, feeding a diet supplemented with fish oil omega-3 fatty acids may allow for a reduction in carprofen dosage.
Predicting earnings management : The case of earnings

This paper examines the usefulness of accounting information in predicting earnings management. We investigate a comprehensive sample of firms from 1971-2000 that restated annual earnings. We find that firms restating earnings have high market expectations for future earnings growth and have higher levels of outstanding debt. We also find that a primary motivation for the earnings manipulation is the desire to attract external financing at a lower cost. Together, this suggests that capital market pressures are motivating companies to adopt aggressive accounting policies. Finally, we document that information in accruals, specifically, operating and investing accruals, are key indicators of the earnings manipulation that lead to the restatement. Collectively, the evidence suggests that market participants can gain substantial value from a careful consideration of information in financial statements.
Hierarchical data organization, clustering and denoising via localized diffusion folders

Data clustering is a common technique for data analysis. It is used in many fields including machine learning, data mining, customer segmentation, trend analysis, pattern recognition and image analysis. The proposed Localized Diffusion Folders (LDF) methodology, whose localized folders are called diffusion folders (DF), introduces consistency criteria for hierarchical folder organization, clustering and classification of high-dimensional datasets. The DF are multi-level data partitioning into local neighborhoods that are generated by several random selections of data points and DF in a diffusion graph and by redefining local diffusion distances between them. This multi-level partitioning defines an improved localized geometry for the data and a localized Markov transition matrix that is used for the next time step in the advancement of the hierarchical diffusion process. The result of this clustering method is a bottom-up hierarchical data organization where each level in the hierarchy contains LDF of DF from the lower levels. This methodology preserves the local neighborhood of each point while eliminating noisy spurious connections between points and areas in the data affinities graph. One of our goals in this paper is to illustrate the impact of the initial affinities selection on data graphs definition and on the robustness of the hierarchical data organization. This process is similar to filter banks selection for signals denoising. The performance of the algorithms is demonstrated on real data and it is compared to existing methods. The proposed solution is generic since it fits a large number of related problems where the source datasets contain high dimensional data.
The Price of a Smile : Hedging and Spanning in Option Markets

¤Andrea Buraschi is from London Business School, Sussex Place, Regent's Park, London NW1 4SA, United Kingdom. Tel: +44-20-7262-5050, fax: +44-20-7724-3317, aburaschi@lbs.ac.uk. Jens Jackwerth is from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Finance Department, School of Business, 975 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, Tel: 608-262-6032, Fax: 608-265-4195, jjackwerth@bus.wisc.edu. For helpful comments on this paper we wish to thank Sudipto Bhattacharya, Mark Britten-Jones, Ian Cooper, the editor Bernard Dumas, Julian Franks, Erzo Luttmer, Davide Menini, Anthony Neuberger, Stephen Schaefer, an anonymous referee, and seminar participants at EFMA Lisbon, WFA Conference, 1998 Computational Finance Conference New York, The University of Chicago, HEC Business School, London Business School, London School of Economics, City University of London, Oxford Business School, Konstanz University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Georgetown University.
Randomized Controlled Phase Ib Study of Ghrelin Agonist, RM-131, in Type 2 Diabetic Women With Delayed Gastric Emptying

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics, and safety of single-dose RM-131 in type 2 diabetic patients with gastrointestinal cardinal symptoms (GCSI) and previously documented delayed gastric emptying (DGE).


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
In a randomized crossover study, 10 female patients received RM-131 (100 μg s.c.) or placebo and underwent scintigraphic gastric emptying (GE) and colonic filling at 6 h (CF6) of a solid-liquid meal administered 30 min postdosing. Adverse events, plasma glucose, and hormonal levels were assessed. GCSI daily diary (GCSI-DD) was completed during treatments. PK was assessed in this cohort and healthy volunteers (HVs).


RESULTS
At screening, HbA(1c) was 7.2 ± 0.4% (SEM) and total GCSI-DD score was 1.32 ± 0.21. RM-131 accelerated GE t(1/2) of solids (P = 0.011); mean difference (Δ) in solid GE t(1/2) was 68.3 min (95% CI 20-117) or 66.1%. There were numerical differences in GE lag time, CF6 solids, and GE t(1/2) liquids (all P < 0.14). With a significant (P < 0.014) order effect, further analysis of the first treatment period (n = 5 per group) confirmed significant RM-131 effects on GE t(1/2) (solids, P = 0.016; liquids, P = 0.024; CF6, P = 0.013). PK was similar in DGE patients and HVs. There were increases in 120-min blood glucose (P = 0.07) as well as 30-90-min area under the curve (AUC) levels of growth hormone, cortisol, and prolactin (all P < 0.02) with single-dose RM-131. Only light-headedness was reported more on RM-131.


CONCLUSIONS
RM-131 greatly accelerates the GE of solids in patients with type 2 diabetes and documented DGE. PK is similar in diabetic patients and HVs.
Deniable Password Snatching: On the Possibility of Evasive Electronic Espionage

Trojans, viruses and other malware can be categorized as either active or passive in nature. Active viruses (for example) are viruses that perform some outwardly noticeable function. They are typically ooensive in nature and cause denial of service attacks or other disturbances. In the electronic warfare context they can translate into \direct military attacks". Passive viruses are, on the other hand, inconspicuous and may for example , simply steal CPU time for a particular computation. They may also secretly leak information and are capable of leaking \intelligence informa-tion" to the author (i.e., espionage). Recently, Cryptovirology has been introduced as a means of mounting active viral attacks using public key cryptography. It has been shown to be a tool for extortion attacks and \electronic warfare", where attacks are mounted against information resources. The natural question to ask is whether Cryptovirology is also useful (i.e., provides enhanced functionality) in the area of spying via malware. In this paper we demonstrate that, indeed, Cryptovirology helps in \electronic espi-onage" and allows the spy to conceal his or her identity (as well as past collected information). Speciically, we present an attack that can be mounted by a cryptotrojan that allows the attacker to gather information (passwords) from a system in such a way that the attacker cannot be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. That is, even if the attacker is under surveillance on the local machine from when he rst attacks the target machine, to when he obtains the passwords, and even if the leaked information is made available to the attacker exclusively, he still cannot be caught. The threat is made possible by the combination of public key cryptography, probabilistic encryption, and the use of public information (I/O or communication) channels which together form a \secure receiver-anonymous channel". The machine can be a standalone one (where channels are I/O ones), or a networked one (where channels are communication ones). What we learn from the attack is extracted as general tools and basic principles for \espionage attacks". The generic existence of such evasive attacks implies that auditing and logging tools are not suucient in apprehending electronic spies and identifying their operators, and may not be suucient to collect evidence. The concrete attack we present clearly sharpens the known inherent weakness of expository authentication mechanisms (like passwords).
Real-parameter optimization with differential evolution

This study reports how the differential evolution (DE) algorithm performed on the test bed developed for the CEC05 contest for real parameter optimization. The test bed includes 25 scalable functions, many of which are both non-separable and highly multi-modal. Results include DE's performance on the 10 and 30-dimensional versions of each function
Grape marc reduces methane emissions when fed to dairy cows.

Grape marc (the skins, seeds, stalk, and stems remaining after grapes have been pressed to make wine) is currently a by-product used as a feed supplement by the dairy and beef industries. Grape marc contains condensed tannins and has high concentrations of crude fat; both these substances can reduce enteric methane (CH4) production when fed to ruminants. This experiment examined the effects of dietary supplementation with either dried, pelleted grape marc or ensiled grape marc on yield and composition of milk, enteric CH4 emissions, and ruminal microbiota in dairy cows. Thirty-two Holstein dairy cows in late lactation were offered 1 of 3 diets: a control (CON) diet; a diet containing dried, pelleted grape marc (DGM); and a diet containing ensiled grape marc (EGM). The diet offered to cows in the CON group contained 14.0kg of alfalfa hay dry matter (DM)/d and 4.3kg of concentrate mix DM/d. Diets offered to cows in the DGM and EGM groups contained 9.0kg of alfalfa hay DM/d, 4.3kg of concentrate mix DM/d, and 5.0kg of dried or ensiled grape marc DM/d, respectively. These diets were offered individually to cows for 18d. Individual cow feed intake and milk yield were measured daily and milk composition measured on 4d/wk. Individual cow CH4 emissions were measured by the SF6 tracer technique on 2d at the end of the experiment. Ruminal bacterial, archaeal, fungal, and protozoan communities were quantified on the last day of the experiment. Cows offered the CON, DGM, and EGM diets, ate 95, 98, and 96%, respectively, of the DM offered. The mean milk yield of cows fed the EGM diet was 12.8kg/cow per day and was less than that of cows fed either the CON diet (14.6kg/cow per day) or the DGM diet (15.4kg/cow per day). Feeding DGM and EGM diets was associated with decreased milk fat yields, lower concentrations of saturated fatty acids, and enhanced concentrations of mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids, in particular cis-9,trans-11 linoleic acid. The mean CH4 emissions were 470, 375, and 389g of CH4/cow per day for cows fed the CON, DGM, and EGM diets, respectively. Methane yields were 26.1, 20.2, and 21.5g of CH4/kg of DMI for cows fed the CON, DGM, and EGM diets, respectively. The ruminal bacterial and archaeal communities were altered by dietary supplementation with grape marc, but ruminal fungal and protozoan communities were not. Decreases of approximately 20% in CH4 emissions and CH4 yield indicate that feeding DGM and EGM could play a role in CH4 abatement.
Multiple-symbol parallel decoding for variable length codes

In this paper, a multiple-symbol parallel variable length decoding (VLD) scheme is introduced. The scheme is capable of decoding all the codewords in an N-bit block of encoded input data stream. The proposed method partially breaks the recursive dependency related to the VLD. First, all possible codewords in the block are detected in parallel and lengths are returned. The procedure results redundant number of codeword lengths from which incorrect values are removed by recursive selection. Next, the index for each symbol corresponding the detected codeword is generated from the length determining the page and the partial codeword defining the offset in symbol table. The symbol lookup can be performed independently from symbol table. Finally, the sum of the valid codeword lengths is provided to an external shifter aligning the encoded input stream for a new decoding cycle. In order to prove feasibility and determine the limiting factors of our proposal, the variable length decoder has been implemented on an field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) technology. When applied to MPEG-2 standard benchmark scenes, on average 4.8 codewords are decoded per cycle resulting in the throughput of 106 million symbols per second.
Digenome-seq: genome-wide profiling of CRISPR-Cas9 off-target effects in human cells

Although RNA-guided genome editing via the CRISPR-Cas9 system is now widely used in biomedical research, genome-wide target specificities of Cas9 nucleases remain controversial. Here we present Digenome-seq, in vitro Cas9-digested whole-genome sequencing, to profile genome-wide Cas9 off-target effects in human cells. This in vitro digest yields sequence reads with the same 5′ ends at cleavage sites that can be computationally identified. We validated off-target sites at which insertions or deletions were induced with frequencies below 0.1%, near the detection limit of targeted deep sequencing. We also showed that Cas9 nucleases can be highly specific, inducing off-target mutations at merely several, rather than thousands of, sites in the entire genome and that Cas9 off-target effects can be avoided by replacing 'promiscuous' single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) with modified sgRNAs. Digenome-seq is a robust, sensitive, unbiased and cost-effective method for profiling genome-wide off-target effects of programmable nucleases including Cas9.
Doubleclick Ad Exchange Auction

Display advertisements on the web are sold via ad exchanges that use real time auction. We describe the challenges of designing a suitable auction, and present a simple auction called the Optional Second Price (OSP) auction that is currently used in Doubleclick Ad Exchange.
Lacustrine Sedimentary Organic Matter Records of Late Quaternary Paleoclimates

Identification of the sources of organic matter in sedimentary records provides important paleolimnologic information. As the types and abundances of plant life in and around lakes change, the composition and amount of organic matter delivered to lake sediments changes. Despite the extensive early diagenetic losses of organic matter in general and of some of its important biomarker compounds in particular, bulk identifiers of organic matter sources appear to undergo minimal alteration after sedimentation. Age-related changes in the elemental, isotopic, and petrographic compos itions of bulk sedimentary organic matter therefore preserve evidence of past environmental changes. We review different bulk organic matter proxies of climate change in tropical and temperate sedimentary records ranging in age from 10–500 ka. Times of wetter climate result in enhanced algal productivity in lakes as a consequence of greater wash-in of soil nutrients, and these periods are recorded as elevated Rock-Eval hydrogen indices, lowered organic C/N ratios, less negative organic δC values, and increased organic carbon mass accumulation rates. Lowering of lake water levels, which typically depresses algal productivity, can also cause an apparent increase in organic carbon mass accumulation rates through suspension of sediments from lake margins and redeposition in deeper basins. Alternations between C 3 a d C 4 watershed plants accompany climate changes such as glacial/interglacial transitions and wet/dry cycles, and these changes in land-plant types are evident in δC values of organic matter in lake sediments. Changes in climate-driven hydrologic balances of lakes are recorded in δD values of sedimentary organic matter. Visual microscopic examination of organic matter detritus is particularly useful in identifying changes in bulk organic matter delivery to lake sediments and therefore is important as an indicator of climate changes.
Cannabis and anxiety: a critical review of the evidence.

BACKGROUND
Anxiety reactions and panic attacks are the acute symptoms most frequently associated with cannabis use. Understanding the relationship between cannabis and anxiety may clarify the mechanism of action of cannabis and the pathophysiology of anxiety. Aims of the present study were to review the nature of the relationship between cannabis use and anxiety, as well as the possible clinical, diagnostic and causal implications.


METHOD
Systematic review of the Medline, PsycLIT and EMBASE literature.


RESULTS
Frequent cannabis users consistently have a high prevalence of anxiety disorders and patients with anxiety disorders have relatively high rates of cannabis use. However, it is unclear if cannabis use increases the risk of developing long-lasting anxiety disorders. Many hypotheses have been proposed in an attempt to explain these relationships, including neurobiological, environmental and social influences.


CONCLUSIONS
The precise relationship between cannabis use and anxiety has yet to be established. Research is needed to fully clarify the mechanisms of such the association.