LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Lumacaftor-Ivacaftor in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Homozygous for Phe508del CFTR.

BACKGROUND
Cystic fibrosis is a life-limiting disease that is caused by defective or deficient cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein activity. Phe508del is the most common CFTR mutation.


METHODS
We conducted two phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies that were designed to assess the effects of lumacaftor (VX-809), a CFTR corrector, in combination with ivacaftor (VX-770), a CFTR potentiator, in patients 12 years of age or older who had cystic fibrosis and were homozygous for the Phe508del CFTR mutation. In both studies, patients were randomly assigned to receive either lumacaftor (600 mg once daily or 400 mg every 12 hours) in combination with ivacaftor (250 mg every 12 hours) or matched placebo for 24 weeks. The primary end point was the absolute change from baseline in the percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) at week 24.


RESULTS
A total of 1108 patients underwent randomization and received study drug. The mean baseline FEV1 was 61% of the predicted value. In both studies, there were significant improvements in the primary end point in both lumacaftor-ivacaftor dose groups; the difference between active treatment and placebo with respect to the mean absolute improvement in the percentage of predicted FEV1 ranged from 2.6 to 4.0 percentage points (P<0.001), which corresponded to a mean relative treatment difference of 4.3 to 6.7% (P<0.001). Pooled analyses showed that the rate of pulmonary exacerbations was 30 to 39% lower in the lumacaftor-ivacaftor groups than in the placebo group; the rate of events leading to hospitalization or the use of intravenous antibiotics was lower in the lumacaftor-ivacaftor groups as well. The incidence of adverse events was generally similar in the lumacaftor-ivacaftor and placebo groups. The rate of discontinuation due to an adverse event was 4.2% among patients who received lumacaftor-ivacaftor versus 1.6% among those who received placebo.


CONCLUSIONS
These data show that lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor provided a benefit for patients with cystic fibrosis homozygous for the Phe508del CFTR mutation. (Funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and others; TRAFFIC and TRANSPORT ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01807923 and NCT01807949.).
Information-driven self-organization: the dynamical system approach to autonomous robot behavior

In recent years, information theory has come into the focus of researchers interested in the sensorimotor dynamics of both robots and living beings. One root for these approaches is the idea that living beings are information processing systems and that the optimization of these processes should be an evolutionary advantage. Apart from these more fundamental questions, there is much interest recently in the question how a robot can be equipped with an internal drive for innovation or curiosity that may serve as a drive for an open-ended, self-determined development of the robot. The success of these approaches depends essentially on the choice of a convenient measure for the information. This article studies in some detail the use of the predictive information (PI), also called excess entropy or effective measure complexity, of the sensorimotor process. The PI of a process quantifies the total information of past experience that can be used for predicting future events. However, the application of information theoretic measures in robotics mostly is restricted to the case of a finite, discrete state-action space. This article aims at applying the PI in the dynamical systems approach to robot control. We study linear systems as a first step and derive exact results for the PI together with explicit learning rules for the parameters of the controller. Interestingly, these learning rules are of Hebbian nature and local in the sense that the synaptic update is given by the product of activities available directly at the pertinent synaptic ports. The general findings are exemplified by a number of case studies. In particular, in a two-dimensional system, designed at mimicking embodied systems with latent oscillatory locomotion patterns, it is shown that maximizing the PI means to recognize and amplify the latent modes of the robotic system. This and many other examples show that the learning rules derived from the maximum PI principle are a versatile tool for the self-organization of behavior in complex robotic systems.
Protocol Implementation Using Integrated Layer Processing

Integrated Layer Processing (ILP) is an implementation concept which "permit[s] the implementor the option of performing all the [data] manipulation steps in one or two integrated processing loops" [1]. To estimate the achievable benefits of ILP a file transfer application with an encryption function on top of a user-level TCP has been implemented and the performance of the application in terms of throughput and packet processing times has been measured. The results show that it is possible to obtain performance benefits by integrating marshalling, encryption and TCP checksum calculation. They also show that the benefits are smaller than in simple experiments, where ILP effects have not been evaluated in a complete protocol environment. Simulations of memory access and cache hit rate show that the main benefit of ILP is reduced memory accesses rather than an improved cache hit rate. The results further show that data manipulation characteristics may significantly influence the cache behavior and the achievable performance gain of ILP.
Abdominal vascular and visceral parenchymal contrast enhancement in MDCT: effects of injection duration.

PURPOSE
To evaluate and compare the effect of short and long injection durations on aortic, pancreatic and hepatic enhancement in abdominal MDCT.


METHODS AND MATERIALS
Triphasic contrast-enhanced CT images (16-MDCT, 1.25-mm collimation, 5-mm thickness, 6.1-s acquisition time for each phase) were obtained with 2 mL/kg injection of 300 mgI/mL iodine contrast material in 116 patients. Patients were prospectively randomized into two groups: one receiving contrast medium for 25-s injection duration and the other for 35-s injection duration. In both groups, triphasic scans were initiated 5, 15, and 40s after the completion of contrast injection for the first, second and third phases, respectively. CT values (HU) in the abdominal aorta, liver, spleen, pancreas, splenic and superior mesenteric arteries, and veins (splenic, superior mesenteric, portal, and hepatic) were measured. Quantitative and qualitative analysis for the degree of contrast enhancement between the two groups in various organs was compared at each scan phase.


RESULTS
The aortic and arterial enhancements in the first-phase scan were higher for the 25-s group than those of the 35-s group (P<.001). Hepatic enhancement was higher for the 35-s group in the first (P<.001) and second (P<.01) phases, but no difference in the third-phase. No difference was found between the groups for the pancreatic enhancement at any phases. Qualitative results were in good agreement with quantitative results.


CONCLUSION
Contrast administration with shorter injection duration increased peak aortic and arterial enhancement and contributed to improvement in the quality of CT angiograms, but for the solid abdominal organs 35-s protocol is recommended.
Rich Feature Hierarchies for Accurate Object Detection and Semantic Segmentation

Object detection performance, as measured on the canonical PASCAL VOC dataset, has plateaued in the last few years. The best-performing methods are complex ensemble systems that typically combine multiple low-level image features with high-level context. In this paper, we propose a simple and scalable detection algorithm that improves mean average precision (mAP) by more than 30% relative to the previous best result on VOC 2012 -- achieving a mAP of 53.3%. Our approach combines two key insights: (1) one can apply high-capacity convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to bottom-up region proposals in order to localize and segment objects and (2) when labeled training data is scarce, supervised pre-training for an auxiliary task, followed by domain-specific fine-tuning, yields a significant performance boost. Since we combine region proposals with CNNs, we call our method R-CNN: Regions with CNN features. We also present experiments that provide insight into what the network learns, revealing a rich hierarchy of image features. Source code for the complete system is available at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~rbg/rcnn.
Optimizing Inventory Replenishment of Retail Fashion Products

W e consider the problem of determining (for a short lifecycle) retail product initial and replenishment order quantities that minimize the cost of lost sales, back orders, and obsolete inventory. We model this problem as a two-stage stochastic dynamic program, propose a heuristic, establish conditions under which the heuristic finds an optimal solution, and report results of the application of our procedure at a catalog retailer. Our procedure improves on the existing method by enough to double profits. In addition, our method can be used to choose the optimal reorder time, to quantify the benefit of leadtime reduction, and to choose the best replenishment contract. (Retailing; Inventory Replenishment; Stochastic Dynamic Programming; Heuristics)
Acceptance of Routine Testing for HIV among Adult Patients at the Medical Emergency Unit at a National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda

HIV testing is an entry point to comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and care. In Uganda, Routine Testing and Counseling for HIV (RTC) is not widely offered as part of standard medical care in acute care settings. This study determined the acceptance of RTC in a medical emergency setting at Mulago national referral hospital. We interviewed 233 adult patients who were offered HIV testing. Overall, 83% were unaware of their HIV serostatus and 88% of these had been to a health unit in the previous six months. Of the 208 eligible for HIV testing, 95% accepted to test. Half the patients were HIV infected and 77% of these were diagnosed during the study. HIV testing was highly acceptable and detected a significant number of undiagnosed HIV infections. We recommend adoption of RTC as standard of care in the medical emergency unit in order to scale HIV diagnosis and linkage to HIV/AIDS care.
A standardized diagnostic approach and ongoing feedback improves outcome in psychogenic nonepileptic seizures

INTRODUCTION
Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are episodic alterations in behavior presumed to reflect a physical manifestation of underlying psychological distress. Standardized treatment approaches for PNES care are lacking. We evaluated common approaches to PNES management that do not require significant commitment of time and resources.


METHODOLOGY
Patients with PNES established with video-EEG monitoring were randomized to one of the following three groups: 1) PNES diagnosis delivered per the discretion of the attending physician with advice to seek mental health assistance in the community (n=12), 2) scripted PNES diagnosis provided and inpatient psychiatry consult obtained (n=10), and 3) weekly follow-up phone calls made in addition to scripted diagnosis and inpatient psychiatry consultation (n=15). Reduction in event frequency measured at 8weeks following hospital discharge represented the primary outcome variable. Secondary variables analyzed included exploration of change in self-reported mood, quality of life, and healthcare utilization.


RESULTS
No significant improvements were noted in patients simply given a PNES diagnosis and advised to seek outside care on any measure. In contrast, patients receiving a scripted diagnosis and psychiatric consultation demonstrated decreased PNES frequency accompanied by improved quality of life (QOL). Patients also receiving weekly phone calls not only demonstrated decreased PNES frequency and improvements in QOL but also exhibited improved mood.


DISCUSSION
These findings demonstrate that providing diagnostic information regarding PNES is insufficient by itself to meaningfully affect patient outcome. Structured feedback and psychiatric consultation appeared adequate to significantly reduce PNES frequency and improve aspects of quality of life, while the addition of a weekly phone contact also led to improved mood.
Perinatal mental health: Fathers - the (mostly) forgotten parent.

INTRODUCTION
The importance of parental mental health as a determinant of infant and child outcomes is increasingly acknowledged. Yet, there is limited information regarding paternal mental health during the perinatal period. The aim of this review is to summarize existing clinical research regarding paternal mental health in the perinatal period in various contexts, and its possible impact on infant development.


METHOD
An electronic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and PubMed databases. Key texts were used to cross-check for any further articles of interest.


RESULTS
Men are at increased risk of mental health problems during the transition to fatherhood, as well as during the perinatal period. Paternal mental health during the perinatal period has been shown to impact on their child's emotional and behavioral development. However, research addressing the needs of fathers with mental illness and the impact of their illness on their infant and family has been limited.


CONCLUSIONS
A paradigm shift is required, from a focus on women following childbirth and women with pre-existing psychiatric disorders, to a broader family perspective with the focus firmly on parent-infant relationships. This paradigm shift needs to involve greater research into the fathering role and paternal mental illness during the perinatal period, including further studies into risk factors, impact on the family system, and the most appropriate form of intervention and service provision.
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL FORCES : EVIDENCE FROM THE BEHAVIOR OF FOOTBALL REFEREES

Analyzing the neutrality of referees during 12 German premier league (1. Bundesliga) soccer seasons, this paper documents evidence that social forces influence agents’ decisions. Referees, who are appointed to be impartial, tend to favor the home team by systematically awarding more stoppage time in close matches in which the home team is behind. They also favor the home team in decisions to award goals and penalty kicks. Crowd composition affects the size and the direction of the bias, and the crowd’s proximity to the field is related to the quality of refereeing. (JEL J00)
Understanding integer overflow in C/C++

Integer overflow bugs in C and C++ programs are difficult to track down and may lead to fatal errors or exploitable vulnerabilities. Although a number of tools for finding these bugs exist, the situation is complicated because not all overflows are bugs. Better tools need to be constructed, but a thorough understanding of the issues behind these errors does not yet exist. We developed IOC, a dynamic checking tool for integer overflows, and used it to conduct the first detailed empirical study of the prevalence and patterns of occurrence of integer overflows in C and C++ code. Our results show that intentional uses of wraparound behaviors are more common than is widely believed; for example, there are over 200 distinct locations in the SPEC CINT2000 benchmarks where overflow occurs. Although many overflows are intentional, a large number of accidental overflows also occur. Orthogonal to programmers' intent, overflows are found in both well-defined and undefined flavors. Applications executing undefined operations can be, and have been, broken by improvements in compiler optimizations. Looking beyond SPEC, we found and reported undefined integer overflows in SQLite, PostgreSQL, SafeInt, GNU MPC and GMP, Firefox, LLVM, Python, BIND, and OpenSSL; many of these have since been fixed.
The use of pelvic binders in the emergent management of potential pelvic trauma.

The prevalence of pelvic fracture in patients with blunt trauma is between 5% and 16%. A significant proportion of deaths from pelvic fracture are due to exsanguination and patients who are haemodynamically unstable on arrival to the Emergency Department have a much higher mortality rate than the stable patient. The sooner bleeding is controlled, the greater the chance of avoiding ‘‘the lethal triad’’ of hypothermia, coagulopathy and acidosis secondary to hypotension and hypoperfusion of tissues. In recent years, pelvic circumferential compression devices (PCCDs), or ‘‘pelvic binders’’, have become widely adopted as part of resuscitation protocols worldwide and are now in established use by many trauma care providers. The pelvic binder has been promoted to maintain or restore mechanical stability to the pelvis and haemodynamic stability to the patient with a suspected pelvic ring injury prior to operative intervention or angiography. The reduction and stabilisation of the pelvic ring is believed to decrease fracture site bleeding while protecting any initial blood clot from disruption. In theory, a decrease in the pelvic volume may create a tamponade thus reducing venous bleeding. What is the clinical evidence to support the use of a pelvic binder and what are the problems, if any, with it’s use? Are all pelvic fracture types suitable for treatment with a pelvic binder and how long can the binder safely be maintained? Pelvic compression has long been advocated as a means of controlling haemorrhage in patients after pelvic injury. Early improvisations for pelvic wrapping used bed sheets, belts or slings. In the mid-1970s Medical Anti Shock Trousers (MAST) and Gsuits were introduced but these proved cumbersome to use and restricted access to the abdomen and lower limbs. The alternative method of emergency treatment using pelvic external fixation devices 23,24 was advocated but required surgical intervention. However, modern commercial devices allow for improved exposure of the casualty and include the ‘‘Pelvic Binder’’ (Pelvic Binder Inc., Dallas, Texas, USA), ‘‘Trauma Pelvic Orthotic Device’’ (TPOD) (Cybertech Medical TM, California, USA), ‘‘SAM-sling’’ and ‘‘SAM Pelvic Sling II’’ (SAM Medical Products TM, Oregon, USA), the ‘‘Stuart Pelvic Harness’’ (Medistox Ltd., Blackburn, UK) and the Pelvigrip (Ysterplaat Medical Supplies, South Africa). The application of a pelvic binder has become part of the emergency care of all trauma patients who may have sustained a pelvic fracture, in both the pre-hospital environment, and in the emergency department. Modern binders are light, easily portable and simple to apply. Many Western paramedical services and military units now carry them for application at the scene of injury. Whilst their introduction has not been unduly contested, what is the evidence for their efficacy?
Self-Driving Cars: Ethical Responsibilities of Design Engineers

In the wake of the exposure of Volkswagen's diesel engine test-rigging, a Bloomberg Business journalist described the company as "driven by engineering-crazed executives" [2] and The New York Times ran a story noting how with today's complex computer systems in automobiles, there are numerous opportunities for misdeeds both by automakers and hackers [3]. With the advent of so-called autonomous or self-driving cars, such issues may become even more pervasive and problematic. From a legal perspective, a key focal point is who would be at fault if and when an accident occurs [4]. Much also has been written about the ethical complexities posed by self-driving cars [5]-[6]. In accordance with Moore's Law, "[a]s technological revolutions increase their social impact, ethical problems increase" [7]. Yet relatively little has been said about the ethical responsibilities of the designers of self-driving cars.
The pseudocapsule surrounding a pituitary adenoma and its clinical significance

The transsphenoidal approach is currently considered the preferred first-line treatment for pituitary adenoma. With the discovery and application of the pseudocapsule surrounding a pituitary adenoma, transsphenoidal surgery of pituitary adenoma further falls into two categories: “extracapsular” and traditional “intracapsular” resection methods, on the basis of where dissection is performed with respect to the pseudocapsule. Thus, the pseudocapsule can be used as a plane to guide the operation, helps in total resection of pituitary adenoma, and can guide subsequent treatment after surgery.
Cortical Reorganization Due to Impaired Cerebral Autoregulation in Individuals With Occlusive Processes of the Internal Carotid Artery

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
To study the impact of impaired cerebral autoregulation on cortical neurophysiology, long term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity, motor learning and brain structure.


METHODS
12 patients with unilateral occlusion or severe stenosis of the internal carotid artery were included. Impairment of cerebral autoregulation was determined by vasomotor reactivity in transcranial Doppler sonography. Corticomotor excitability, cortical silent period and LTP-like plasticity were assessed with transcranial magnetic stimulation, motor learning with a force production task, and brain structure with high-resolution MRI of the brain.


RESULTS
In the affected hemisphere, corticomotor excitability was significantly higher, cortical silent period and LTP-like plasticity significantly lower, compared to the contralateral side. No significant difference emerged for motor learning, cortical thickness and white matter integrity between the hemispheres.


CONCLUSION
Despite decreased LTP-like plasticity in the affected hemisphere, motor learning was comparable between hemispheres, possibly due to gamma-aminobutyric-acid (GABA)B-mediated corticomotor excitability changes within the affected hemisphere. Our results may help to develop interventions to beneficially modulate cortical physiology in the presence of cerebral hypoperfusion.
A Comparison of Particulate Matter from Biomass-Burning Rural and Non-Biomass-Burning Urban Households in Northeastern China

BACKGROUND
Biomass fuel is the primary source of domestic fuel in much of rural China. Previous studies have not characterized particle exposure through time-activity diaries or personal monitoring in mainland China.


OBJECTIVES
In this study we characterized indoor and personal particle exposure in six households in northeastern China (three urban, three rural) and explored differences by location, cooking status, activity, and fuel type. Rural homes used biomass. Urban homes used a combination of electricity and natural gas.


METHODS
Stationary monitors measured hourly indoor particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter < or = 10 microm (PM10) for rural and urban kitchens, urban sitting rooms, and outdoors. Personal monitors for PM with an aerodynamic diameter < or = 2.5 microm (PM2.5) were employed for 10 participants. Time-activity patterns in 30-min intervals were recorded by researchers for each participant.


RESULTS
Stationary monitoring results indicate that rural kitchen PM10 levels are three times higher than those in urban kitchens during cooking. PM10 was 6.1 times higher during cooking periods than during noncooking periods for rural kitchens. Personal PM2.5 levels for rural cooks were 2.8-3.6 times higher than for all other participant categories. The highest PM2.5 exposures occurred during cooking periods for urban and rural cooks. However, rural cooks had 5.4 times higher PM2.5 levels during cooking than did urban cooks. Rural cooks spent 2.5 times more hours per day cooking than did their urban counterparts.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that biomass burning for cooking contributes substantially to indoor particulate levels and that this exposure is particularly elevated for cooks. Second-by-second personal PM2.5 exposures revealed differences in exposures by population group and strong temporal heterogeneity that would be obscured by aggregate metrics.