LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Sunscreen Products as Emerging Pollutants to Coastal Waters

A growing awareness of the risks associated with skin exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation over the past decades has led to increased use of sunscreen cosmetic products leading the introduction of new chemical compounds in the marine environment. Although coastal tourism and recreation are the largest and most rapidly growing activities in the world, the evaluation of sunscreen as source of chemicals to the coastal marine system has not been addressed. Concentrations of chemical UV filters included in the formulation of sunscreens, such as benzophehone 3 (BZ-3), 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC), TiO₂ and ZnO, are detected in nearshore waters with variable concentrations along the day and mainly concentrated in the surface microlayer (i.e. 53.6-577.5 ng L⁻¹ BZ-3; 51.4-113.4 ng L⁻¹ 4-MBC; 6.9-37.6 µg L⁻¹ Ti; 1.0-3.3 µg L⁻¹ Zn). The presence of these compounds in seawater suggests relevant effects on phytoplankton. Indeed, we provide evidences of the negative effect of sunblocks on the growth of the commonly found marine diatom Chaetoceros gracilis (mean EC₅₀ = 125±71 mg L⁻¹). Dissolution of sunscreens in seawater also releases inorganic nutrients (N, P and Si forms) that can fuel algal growth. In particular, PO₄³⁻ is released by these products in notable amounts (up to 17 µmol PO₄³⁻g⁻¹). We conservatively estimate an increase of up to 100% background PO₄³⁻ concentrations (0.12 µmol L⁻¹ over a background level of 0.06 µmol L⁻¹) in nearshore waters during low water renewal conditions in a populated beach in Majorca island. Our results show that sunscreen products are a significant source of organic and inorganic chemicals that reach the sea with potential ecological consequences on the coastal marine ecosystem.
A simulation-based software design framework for network-centric and parallel systems

In this paper we discuss a software design framework that is capable of realizing network-centricity and the rising multicore technology. Instead of producing static design documents in the form of UML diagrams, we propose automatic generation of a visual simulation model, which represents the target system design. We discuss a design environment that is responsible for the generation and execution of the simulation model.
What is Market News ?

We investigate the market for news under two assumptions: that readers hold beliefs which they like to see confirmed, and that newspapers can slant stories toward these beliefs. We show that, on the topics where readers share common beliefs, one should not expect accuracy even from competitive media: competition results in lower prices, but common slanting toward reader biases. On topics where reader beliefs diverge (such as politically divisive issues), however, newspapers segment the market and slant toward extreme positions. Yet in the aggregate, a reader with access to all news sources could get an unbiased perspective. Generally speaking, reader heterogeneity is more important for accuracy in media than competition per se. (JEL D23, L82)
Effect of nodal irradiation and fraction size on cardiac and cerebrovascular mortality in women with breast cancer treated with local and locoregional radiotherapy.

PURPOSE
To determine whether the adjuvant breast cancer radiation volume or fraction size (>2 Gy vs. ≤2 Gy) affected the risk of fatal cardiac or cerebrovascular (CCV) events and to determine whether the addition of regional radiotherapy (RT) increased the risk of fatal cerebrovascular events compared with breast/chest wall RT alone.


METHODS AND MATERIALS
Overall survival was compared for patients receiving breast/chest wall RT alone or breast/chest wall plus regional node RT (BRCW+NRT) in a population-based cohort of women with early-stage breast cancer who had undergone RT between 1990 and 1996. The effect of laterality, age, systemic therapy, radiation volume, and fraction size on the risk of fatal CCV events was analyzed using a competing risk method.


RESULTS
A total of 4,929 women underwent adjuvant RT. The median follow-up was 11.7 years. BRCW+NRT was associated with an increased risk of CCV death at 12 years (5% for BRCW+NRT vs. 3.5% for breast/chest wall RT alone; p = .004), but the fraction size was not (3.92% for a fraction size >2 Gy vs. 3.54% for a fraction size <2 Gy; p = .83). The 12-year absolute risk of death from stroke alone did not differ for either radiation volume (1.17% for BRCW+NRT vs. 0.8% for breast/chest wall RT alone; p = .22) or fraction size (p = .59).


CONCLUSION
Regional RT was associated with a small (1.5% at 12 years), but statistically significant, increased risk of death from a CCV event. The addition of regional RT did not significantly increase the risk of death from stroke, although the number of events was small. An increased fraction size was not significantly associated with a greater risk of fatal CCV events. These data support the continued use of hypofractionated adjuvant regional RT.
Clinical significance of cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenemia in the prediction and diagnosis of CMV gastrointestinal disease after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Summary:To evaluate the clinical significance of a cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenemia assay in the prediction and diagnosis of CMV gastrointestinal (CMV-GI) disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), 19 allogeneic HSCT recipients developing CMV-GI disease were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were monitored by a CMV antigenemia assay, at least once weekly after engraftment. The median onset of CMV-GI disease occurred 31 days post transplant (range: 19–62). Only four of 19 patients (21%) developed a positive CMV antigenemia test before developing CMV-GI diseases. Although all 19 patients subsequently developed positive CMV antigenemia tests during their clinical courses, the values remained at a low-level in nine (47%) patients. Among the 14 patients in whom results of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were available, seven (50%) yielded positive results of real-time PCR before developing CMV-GI disease. In contrast to the values of CMV antigenemia, all 14 patients exclusively yielded high viral loads (median: 2.8 × 104 copies/ml plasma). We conclude that CMV antigenemia testing has limited value in prediction or early diagnosis of CMV-GI disease, and that real-time PCR could have a more diagnostic significance.
Aqueous Extract of Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata) Leaves as Green Inhibitor for Mild Steel in Hydrochloric Acid Solution

The inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel in hydrochloric acid solution by the extract of Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata) leaves extract has been studied using weight loss, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear polarization, and potentiodynamic polarization techniques. Inhibition was found to increase with increasing concentration of the extract. The effect of temperature, immersion time, and acid concentration on the corrosion behavior of mild steel in 1 M HCl with addition of extract was also studied. The inhibition was assumed to occur via adsorption of the inhibitor molecules on the metal surface. The adsorption of the molecules of the extract on the mild steel surface obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The protective film formed on the metal surface was analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy. The results obtained showed that the extract of Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata) leaves extract could serve as an effective inhibitor of the corrosion of mild steel in hydrochloric acid media.
An effective quality evaluation protocol for speech enhancement algorithms

FOR SPEECH ENHANCEMENT ALGORITHMS John H.L. Hansen and Bryan L. Pellom Robust Speech Processing Laboratory Duke University, Box 90291, Durham, NC 27708-0291 http://www.ee.duke.edu/Research/Speech jhlh@ee.duke.edu bp@ee.duke.edu ABSTRACT Much progress has been made in speech enhancement algorithm formulation in recent years. However, while researchers in the speech coding and recognition communities have standard criteria for algorithm performance comparison, similar standards do not exist for researchers in speech enhancement. This paper discusses the necessary ingredients for an e ective speech enhancement evaluation. We propose that researchers use the evaluation core test set of TIMIT (192 sentences), with a set of noise les, and a combination of objective measures and subjective testing for broad and ne phone-level quality assessment. Evaluation results include overall objective speech quality measure scores, measure histograms, and phoneme class and individual phone scores. The reported results are meant to illustrate speci c ways of detailing quality assessment for an enhancement algorithm.
D'Alembertian Solutions of Inhomogeneous Linear Equations (differential, difference, and some other)

Let an Ore polynomial ring k[X; a, 6] and a nonzero pseudolinear map 19: K + K, where K is a O, &compatible extension of the field k, be given. Then we have the ring k[O] of operators K ~ K. It is assumed that if a first-order equation Fg = O, F ~ k[9], has a nonzero solution in a u, b-compatible extension of the field k, then the equation has a nonzero solution in K. These solutions form the set %,t C K of hyperexponential elements. An equation Py = O, P ~ k[O], is called completely factorable if P can be decomposed in the product of first-order operators over k. Solutions of all completely factorable equations form the linear space dk C K of d’Alembertian elements. The order of minimal operator over k which annihilates a G ~k is called the height of a. It is easy to see that %k C J& and the height of any a C %k is equal to 1. It is known ([12, 4]) that if L E ,k[@] and ~ G ‘?-l~ then all the hyperexponential solutions of the equation
An Evaluation of Prefiltered B-Spline Reconstruction for Quasi-Interpolation on the Body-Centered Cubic Lattice

In this paper, we demonstrate that quasi-interpolation of orders two and four can be efficiently implemented on the Body-Centered Cubic (BCC) lattice by using tensor-product B-splines combined with appropriate discrete prefilters. Unlike the nonseparable box-spline reconstruction previously proposed for the BCC lattice, the prefiltered B-spline reconstruction can utilize the fast trilinear texture-fetching capability of the recent graphics cards. Therefore, it can be applied for rendering BCC-sampled volumetric data interactively. Furthermore, we show that a separable B-spline filter can suppress the postaliasing effect much more isotropically than a nonseparable box-spline filter of the same approximation power. Although prefilters that make the B-splines interpolating on the BCC lattice do not exist, we demonstrate that quasi-interpolating prefiltered linear and cubic B-spline reconstructions can still provide similar or higher image quality than the interpolating linear box-spline and prefiltered quintic box-spline reconstructions, respectively.
Nurse-Led Medicines' Monitoring for Patients with Dementia in Care Homes: A Pragmatic Cohort Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomised Trial

BACKGROUND
People with dementia are susceptible to adverse drug reactions (ADRs). However, they are not always closely monitored for potential problems relating to their medicines: structured nurse-led ADR Profiles have the potential to address this care gap. We aimed to assess the number and nature of clinical problems identified and addressed and changes in prescribing following introduction of nurse-led medicines' monitoring.


DESIGN
Pragmatic cohort stepped-wedge cluster Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) of structured nurse-led medicines' monitoring versus usual care.


SETTING
Five UK private sector care homes.


PARTICIPANTS
41 service users, taking at least one antipsychotic, antidepressant or anti-epileptic medicine.


INTERVENTION
Nurses completed the West Wales ADR (WWADR) Profile for Mental Health Medicines with each participant according to trial step.


OUTCOMES
Problems addressed and changes in medicines prescribed.


DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Information was collected from participants' notes before randomisation and after each of five monthly trial steps. The impact of the Profile on problems found, actions taken and reduction in mental health medicines was explored in multivariate analyses, accounting for data collection step and site.


RESULTS
Five of 10 sites and 43 of 49 service users approached participated. Profile administration increased the number of problems addressed from a mean of 6.02 [SD 2.92] to 9.86 [4.48], effect size 3.84, 95% CI 2.57-4.11, P <0.001. For example, pain was more likely to be treated (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] 3.84, 1.78-8.30), and more patients attended dentists and opticians (aOR 52.76 [11.80-235.90] and 5.12 [1.45-18.03] respectively). Profile use was associated with reduction in mental health medicines (aOR 4.45, 1.15-17.22).


CONCLUSION
The WWADR Profile for Mental Health Medicines can improve the quality and safety of care, and warrants further investigation as a strategy to mitigate the known adverse effects of prescribed medicines.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ISRCTN 48133332.
Comparison of the efficacy of a demand oxygen delivery system with continuous low flow oxygen in subjects with stable COPD and severe oxygen desaturation on walking.

BACKGROUND
Provision of ambulatory oxygen using an intermittent pulsed flow regulated by a demand oxygen delivery system (DODS) greatly increases the limited supply time of standard portable gaseous cylinders. The efficacy of such a system has not previously been studied during submaximal exercise in subjects with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in whom desaturation is likely to be great and where usage is often most appropriate.


METHODS
Fifteen subjects with severe COPD and oxygen desaturation underwent six minute walk tests performed in random order to compare the efficacy of a demand oxygen delivery system (DODS) with continuous flow oxygen. Walk distance, breathlessness, oxygen saturation, resting time, and recovery time (objective and subjective) were recorded and compared for each walk.


RESULTS
Breathing continuous oxygen compared with baseline air breathing improved mean walk distance (295 m versus 271 m) and recovery time (47 seconds versus 112 seconds), whilst the lowest recorded saturation (81% versus 74%) and time desaturated below 90% (201 seconds versus 299 seconds) were reduced. When the DODS was compared with air breathing only the walk distance changed (283 m versus 271 m). A comparison of the DODS with continuous oxygen breathing showed the DODS to be less effective at oxygenating subjects with inferior lowest saturation (78% versus 81%), time spent below 90% (284 seconds versus 201 seconds), time to objective recovery (83 seconds versus 47 seconds), and walk distance (283 m versus 295 m).


CONCLUSIONS
Neither of the delivery systems was able to prevent desaturation in these subjects. The use of continuous flow oxygen, however, was accompanied by improvements in oxygenation, walk distance, and recovery time compared with air breathing. The DODS produced only a small increase in walk distance without elevation of oxygen saturation, but was inferior to continuous flow oxygen in most of the measured variables when compared directly.
Application of implicit-explicit high order Runge-Kutta methods to discontinuous-Galerkin schemes

Despite the popularity of high-order explicit Runge–Kutta (ERK) methods for integrating semi-discrete systems of equations, ERK methods suffer from severe stability-based time step restrictions for very stiff problems. We implement a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DGFEM) along with recently introduced high-order implicit–explicit Runge–Kutta (IMEX-RK) schemes to overcome geometry-induced stiffness in fluid-flow problems. The IMEX algorithms solve the non-stiff portions of the domain using explicit methods, and isolate and solve the more expensive stiff portions using an L-stable, stiffly-accurate explicit, singly diagonally implicit Runge–Kutta method (ESDIRK). Furthermore, we apply adaptive time-step controllers based on the embedded temporal error predictors. We demonstrate in a number of numerical test problems that IMEX methods in conjunction with efficient preconditioning become more efficient than explicit methods for systems exhibiting high levels of grid-induced stiffness. 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
[The prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia according to gender, age and Helicobacter pylori infection in a rural population].

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia according to gender, age and Helicobacter pylori infection in a rural population in Korea.


METHODS
Between April 2003 and January 2007, 713 subjects (298 men and 415 women, age range: 18-85) among the 2,161 adults who participated in a population-based survey received gastrointestinal endoscopy. All the subjects provided informed consent. Multiple biopsy specimens were evaluated for the presence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. The presence of Helicobacter pylori was determined using CLO and histology testing.


RESULTS
The age-adjusted prevalence of atrophic gastritis was 42.7% for men and 38.1% for women and the prevalence of intestinal metaplasia was 42.5% for men and 32.7% for women. The prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia increased significantly with age for both men and women (p for trend<0.001). The age-adjusted prevalence of Helicobacter pylori was similar for men (59.0%) and women (56.7%). The subjects with Helicobacter pylori infection showed a significantly higher prevalence of intestinal metaplasia (44.3%) compared with that (26.8%) of the noninfected subjects (p<0.001). However, the prevalence of atrophic gastritis was not statistically different between the Helicobacter pylori-infected subjects and the noninfected individuals.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia is higher for a Korean rural population than that for a Western population; this may be related to the high incidence of gastric cancer in Koreans. Especially, the prevalence of intestinal metaplasia was high for the subjects with Helicobacter pylori infection. The multistep process of gastric carcinogenesis and the various factors contributing to each step of this process need to be determined by conducting future follow-up studies.
Control performance in the horizontal plane of a fish robot with mechanical pectoral fins

The mechanism of locomotion of aquatic animals can provide us with new insight into the maneuverability and stabilization of underwater robots. This paper focuses on biomimesis in the maneuvering performance of aquatic animals to develop a new device for maneuvering underwater robots. In this paper, guidance and control in the horizontal plane of a fish robot equipped with a pair of two-motor-driven mechanical pectoral fins on both sides of the robot in water currents is presented. The fish robot demonstrates high performance in terms of maneuverability in such activities as lateral swimming. The use of fuzzy control enables the fish robot to perform rendezvous and docking with an underwater post in water currents.
Enriching Literature Reviews with Computer-Assisted Research Mining. Case: Profiling Group Support Systems Research

In this paper we discuss and demonstrate how traditional literature reviews may be enriched by computer-assisted research profiling. Research profiling makes use of sophisticated text mining tools designed for structured science and technology information resources, such as the ISI Web of science, INSPEC or ABI/INFORM ProQuest. Besides aiding in summarizing and visualizing knowledge domains, these research mining tools act as interactive decision support systems for researchers. We illustrate research profiling with 2.000 publications on group support systems between years 1982-2005
High-density lipoprotein restores endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic men.

BACKGROUND
Hypercholesterolemia is a risk factor for atherosclerosis-causing endothelial dysfunction, an early event in the disease process. In contrast, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol inversely correlates with morbidity and mortality representing a protective effect. Therefore, we investigated the effects of reconstituted HDL on endothelial function in hypercholesterolemic men.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation to intraarterial acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside (SNP), respectively, was measured by forearm venous occlusion plethysmography in healthy normo- and hypercholesterolemic men. In hypercholesterolemics, the effects of reconstituted HDL (rHDL; 80 mg/kg IV over 4 hours) on acetylcholine- and SNP-induced changes in forearm blood flow were assessed in the presence or absence of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor L-NMMA. Hypercholesterolemics showed reduced vasodilation to acetylcholine but not to SNP compared with normocholesterolemics (P<0.0001). rHDL infusion increased plasma HDL cholesterol from 1.3+/-0.1 to 2.2+/-0.1 mmol/L (P<0.0001, n=18) and significantly enhanced the acetylcholine-induced increase in forearm blood flow without affecting that induced by SNP. rHDL infusion also improved flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (to 4.5+/-0.9% from 2.7+/-0.6%, P=0.02). NO synthase inhibition prevented the improvement in acetylcholine-induced vasodilation while leaving the response to SNP unchanged. Albumin infusion in an equivalent protein dose had no effect on vasomotion or lipid levels.


CONCLUSIONS
In hypercholesterolemic patients, intravenous rHDL infusion rapidly normalizes endothelium-dependent vasodilation by increasing NO bioavailability. This may in part explain the protective effect of HDL from coronary heart disease and illustrates the potential therapeutic benefit of increasing HDL in patients at risk from atherosclerosis.
Respiratory rate, heart rate and continuous measurement of BP using PPG

Measurement of blood volumetric changes in human body by photoplethysmographic sensors is used in present study. Objective is to measured different parameters that are heart rate, respiratory rate, BP. PPG signal is acquired by PPG sensor, microcontroller and RS 232. The acquired PPG signal is displayed in MATLAB. Frequency domain analysis of PPG signal shows a two peaks first at around 0.25 to 0.35 Hz and second at around 1 to 1.5 Hz. FFT at 1Hz relates to 60 BPM and FFT at 0.25 Hz relates to 15 respiratory cycles per minute. For BP Measurement, the pulse height of PPG is proportional to the difference between the systolic and the diastolic pressure in the arteries. The standard blood pressure monitoring instrument is used to calculate correlation coefficient. The arterial blood pressure is calculated based on these coefficients. PPG signal is used to detect blood pressure pulsations in a finger and achieved an accuracy of (0.8 ± 7) mmHg and (0.9 ± 6) mmHg for systolic and diastolic pressure, respectively. The developed PPG based method can be used as a noninvasive alternative to the conventional occluding-cuff approaches for long-term and continuous monitoring of blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate.