LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Low blood pressure and antihypertensive treatment are independently associated with physical and mental health status in patients with arterial disease: the SMART study.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the independent effects of antihypertensive treatment and blood pressure (BP) levels on physical and mental health status in patients with arterial disease.


DESIGN AND SETTING
Cross-sectional analyses were conducted within the single-centre Secondary Manifestations of ARTerial disease (SMART) study, in a hospital care setting.


SUBJECTS
A total of 5877 patients (mean age 57 years) with symptomatic and asymptomatic arterial disease underwent standardized vascular screening.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
The primary outcome was self-rated physical and mental health assessed using the 36-item short-form health survey.


RESULTS
In the total population, antihypertensive drug use and increased intensity of antihypertensive treatment were associated with poorer health status independent of important confounders including BP levels; adjusted mean differences [95% confidence interval (CI)] in physical and mental health between n = 0 and n ≥ 3 antihypertensives were -1.2 (-2.1; -0.3) and -3.5 (-4.4; -2.6), respectively. Furthermore, both lower systolic and lower diastolic BP levels were related to poorer physical and mental health status independent of antihypertensive treatment. Mean differences (95% CI) in physical and mental health status per SD decrease in systolic BP were -0.56 (-0.84; -0.27) and -0.32 (-0.61; -0.03) and per SD decrease in diastolic BP were -0.50 (-0.78; -0.23) and -0.08 (-0.36; 0.20), respectively. The association between low BP and poor health status was particularly present in patients with coronary artery disease.


CONCLUSIONS
In a population of patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic arterial disease, antihypertensive treatment and lower BP levels are independently associated with poorer self-rated physical and mental health. These findings suggest that different underlying mechanisms may explain these independent associations.
The impact of vagotonic, adrenergic, and random type of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation on left atrial ablation outcomes.

BACKGROUND
Accumulating data have shown that the autonomic nervous system is strongly implicated in the genesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a single ablation procedure in patients with vagotonic, adrenergic and random type of paroxysmal AF.


METHODS AND RESULTS
The clinical records of consecutive patients with symptomatic, drug-refractory paroxysmal AF who underwent pulmonary vein antral isolation were analysed. The study population consisted of 104 patients (64 males, mean age 57.9 ± 10.9 years) with paroxysmal AF. Based on AF triggers, patients were classified in those with vagotonic (31.7%), adrenergic (17.3%) and random AF (51%). Subjects with adrenergic and random AF tended to be older (p: 0.104) and displayed a higher incidence of hypertension (p: 0.088) compared with those with vagotonic AF. Following a mean follow-up period of 14.7 ± 7.4 months, 74 patients were free from arrhythmia recurrence (71.2%). Late arrhythmia recurrence (>3 months from the index procedure) occurred in 33.3%, 16.7% and 30.2% of patients with vagotonic, adrenergic and random AF, respectively (p: 0.434). Cox regression analysis showed that early AF recurrence [hazard ratio (HR) 15.76; 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.456-45.566, p: <0.001], left atrial volume (HR 0.969; 95% CI 0.942-0.996, p: 0.025) and statin use (HR 6.828; 95% CI 2.078-22.437 p: 0.002) were independent predictors of late arrhythmia recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study cohort, the type of paroxysmal AF was not associated with arrhythmia recurrence following left atrial ablation.
Translation and Ideology : A Critical Discourse Analysis of Chomsky ’ s “ Media Control ” and its Arabic Translation

There are many factors that influence the translators while translating a text. Amongst these factors is the notion of ideology transmission through the translated texts. This paper is located within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). It investigates the notion of ideology with particular use of critical discourse analysis. The purpose is to highlight the relationship between language and ideology in translated texts. It also aims at discovering whether the translator’s socio-cultural and ideology constraints influence the production of his/her translations. As a mixed research method study, the corpus consists of two different Arabic translated versions of the English book “Media Control” by Noam Chomsky. The micro-level contains the qualitative stage where detailed description and comparison -contrastive and comparativeanalysis will be provided. The micro-level analysis should include the lexical items along with the grammatical items (passive verses. active, nominalisation vs. de-nominalisation, moralisation and omission vs. addition). In order to have more reliable and objective data, computed frequencies of the ideological significance occurrences along with percentage and Chi-square formula were conducted through out the data analysis stage which then form the quantitative part of the current study. The main objective of the mentioned data analysis methodologies is to find out the dissimilarity between the proportions of the information obtained from the target texts (TTs) and their equivalent at the source text (ST). The findings indicts that there are significant differences amongst the two TTs in relation to International Journal of Linguistics ISSN 1948-5425 2014, Vol. 6, No. 3 www.macrothink.org/ijl 119 the word choices including the lexical items and the other syntactic structure compared by the ST. These significant differences indicate some ideological transmission through translation process of the two TTs. Therefore, and to some extent, it can be stated that the differences were also influenced by the translators’ socio-cultural and ideological constraints.
Interrupted nitinol U-Clips versus standard running suture for the central arterial T-graft anastomosis: a prospective randomized study.

OBJECTIVES
Studies carried out to date suggest that the interrupted suture technique using U-Clips for anastomoses in coronary surgery may be superior to the standard running polypropylene suture. The purpose of this study was to compare safety and effectiveness of a central T-graft anastomosis constructed with the left internal thoracic artery (LITA) in situ (to the left anterior descending (LAD)) in which the free right internal thoracic artery (to the circumflex branch of the right coronary artery (RCX)) was implanted (RITA-to-LITA) using either self-closing nitinol U-Clips or simple continuous suture. We hypothesized that internal thoracic arteries could adapt their diameter to the blood flow.


METHODS
Thirty patients underwent total arterial revascularization using a T-graft constructed with free LITA in situ to LAD in which the free RITA to the circumflex artery was implanted (central T-graft anastomosis). In all cases, free RITA was used as a sequential graft with two peripheral anastomoses. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups: in group A (n=15), central T-graft anastomosis was performed using a standard 8/0 polypropylene running suture. In group B (n=15), central T-graft anastomosis was performed using U-Clips. Intra-operative transit time flow measurements were recorded. Patency control was performed in 30 patients 2 weeks and 6 months postoperatively, using 64-slice computed tomography (CT) angiography. The diameter of the LITA was measured proximal and distal and the diameter of the RITA distal to the central T-graft anastomosis.


RESULTS
Perioperative results were similar in the two groups (P=ns). Intra-operative transit time flow measurement showed patent grafts in all patients. There were no hospital deaths. Two weeks postoperatively, all grafts were patent. At 6-month follow-up, one RITA and one LITA (both in group B) were closed distal to the central T-graft anastomosis. There was no death and no re-intervention during follow-up. Statistical analysis showed no significant changes in graft diameters after 2 weeks and 6 months in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The U-Clip anastomosis technique is in our experience safe but not superior to the standard running suture using polypropylene material. Remodeling of the ITA grafts close to the central T-graft anastomosis was neither observed for the standard running suture nor for the U-Clip anastomoses.
Development of the Parental Modelling of Eating Behaviours Scale (PARM): links with food intake among children and their mothers.

This study aimed to develop a self-report questionnaire to explore parental modelling of eating behaviours and then to use the newly developed measure to investigate associations between parental modelling with healthy and unhealthy food intake in both mothers and their children. Mothers (n = 484) with a child aged between 18 months and 8 years completed the Parental Modelling of Eating Behaviours Scale (PARM), a new, self-report measure of modelling, as well as a food frequency questionnaire. Principal components analysis of the PARM identified 15 items grouped into three subscales: verbal modelling (modelling through verbal communication); unintentional modelling (UM) (children adopting eating behaviours that parents had not actively modelled); and behavioural consequences (children's eating behaviours directly associated with parental modelling). The PARM subscales were found to be differentially related to food intake. Maternally perceived consequences of behavioural modelling were related to increased fruit and vegetable intake in both mothers and children. UM was related to higher levels of savoury snack intake in both mothers and their children. This study has highlighted three distinct aspects of parental modelling of eating behaviours. The findings suggest that mothers may intentionally model healthy food intake while unintentionally acting as role models for their children's less healthy, snack food intake.
Mechanistic Modeling to Predict the Transporter- and Enzyme-Mediated Drug-Drug Interactions of Repaglinide

Quantitative prediction of complex drug-drug interactions (DDIs) is challenging. Repaglinide is mainly metabolized by cytochrome-P-450 (CYP)2C8 and CYP3A4, and is also a substrate of organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP)1B1. The purpose is to develop a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to predict the pharmacokinetics and DDIs of repaglinide. In vitro hepatic transport of repaglinide, gemfibrozil and gemfibrozil 1-O-β-glucuronide was characterized using sandwich-culture human hepatocytes. A PBPK model, implemented in Simcyp (Sheffield, UK), was developed utilizing in vitro transport and metabolic clearance data. In vitro studies suggested significant active hepatic uptake of repaglinide. Mechanistic model adequately described repaglinide pharmacokinetics, and successfully predicted DDIs with several OATP1B1 and CYP3A4 inhibitors (<10% error). Furthermore, repaglinide-gemfibrozil interaction at therapeutic dose was closely predicted using in vitro fraction metabolism for CYP2C8 (0.71), when primarily considering reversible inhibition of OATP1B1 and mechanism-based inactivation of CYP2C8 by gemfibrozil and gemfibrozil 1-O-β-glucuronide. This study demonstrated that hepatic uptake is rate-determining in the systemic clearance of repaglinide. The model quantitatively predicted several repaglinide DDIs, including the complex interactions with gemfibrozil. Both OATP1B1 and CYP2C8 inhibition contribute significantly to repaglinide-gemfibrozil interaction, and need to be considered for quantitative rationalization of DDIs with either drug.
APL2 and SQL (tutorial session): a tutorial

Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or specific permission. @ 1989 ACM
What will it take for China to become a competitive force in offshore outsourcing? An analysis of the role of transaction costs in supplier selection

Using transaction costs theory this paper argues that transaction costs are almost as significant as production costs when it comes to offshore outsourcing and, moreover, that it is in the field of transaction costs where China has been unable to compete with India in the supply of information technology outsourcing. The paper outlines a framework for analysing transaction costs and uses the framework for pinpointing where China is unable to compete. The paper concludes with a review of the policy implications for the Chinese Government.
Annexin A5 prevents post-interventional accelerated atherosclerosis development in a dose-dependent fashion in mice.

BACKGROUND
Activated cells in atherosclerotic lesions expose phosphatidylserine (PS) on their surface. Annexin A5 (AnxA5) binds to PS and is used for imaging atherosclerotic lesions. Recently, AnxA5 was shown to inhibit vascular inflammatory processes after vein grafting. Here, we report a therapeutic role for AnxA5 in post-interventional vascular remodeling in a mouse model mimicking percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).


METHODS AND RESULTS
Associations between the rs4833229 (OR = 1.29 (CI 95%), p(allelic) = 0.011) and rs6830321 (OR = 1.35 (CI 95%), p(allelic) = 0.003) SNPs in the AnxA5 gene and increased restenosis-risk in patients undergoing PCI were found in the GENDER study. To evaluate AnxA5 effects on post-interventional vascular remodeling and accelerated atherosclerosis development in vivo, hypercholesterolemic ApoE(-/-) mice underwent femoral arterial cuff placement to induce intimal thickening. Dose-dependent effects were investigated after 3 days (effects on inflammation and leukocyte recruitment) or 14 days (effects on remodeling) after cuff placement. Systemically administered AnxA5 in doses of 0.1, 0.3 and 1.0mg/kg compared to vehicle reduced early leukocyte and macrophage adherence up to 48.3% (p = 0.001) and diminished atherosclerosis development by 71.2% (p = 0.012) with a reduction in macrophage/foam cell presence. Moreover, it reduced the expression of the endoplasmic reticulum stress marker GRP78/BiP, indicating lower inflammatory activity of the cells present.


CONCLUSIONS
AnxA5 SNPs could serve as markers for restenosis after PCI and AnxA5 therapeutically prevents vascular remodeling in a dose-dependent fashion, together indicating clinical potential for AnxA5 against post-interventional remodeling.
Treatment of childhood phimosis with a moderately potent topical steroid.

BACKGROUND
Recently, topical steroid application has been shown by a small number of studies to be an effective alternative to circumcision for the treatment of phimosis. However, only potent or very potent corticosteroids have been more thoroughly studied in this treatment option. A prospective study was conducted to determine whether comparable results could be achieved using a weaker steroid cream.


METHODS
Boys, 3-13 years of age, with non-retractable foreskin due to a tight ring at the tip were offered the regimen of twice-daily preputial retraction and topical application of 0.02% triamcinolone acetonide cream. The degree of preputial retractability was assessed at presentation and at 4 and 6 weeks of treatment. Success was defined as full retraction or free retraction up to agglutination of the foreskin to the glans.


RESULTS
Eighty-three boys completed the treatment. Successful retraction was achieved in 48/83 (58%) patients after 4 weeks and 70/83 (84%) patients after 6 weeks of application. The overall response rate aggregated from six published series using 0.05% betamethasone was 87% at 4 weeks and 90% on completion of treatment. Thus, the results appear inferior when analysed at 4 weeks but compare favourably with those reported for a more potent steroid on completion of the full course of treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Even though the triamcinolone cream used in the present study is less potent than the more commonly used 0.05% betamethasone valerate cream, it could effect comparable improvements in foreskin retractability after 6 weeks of treatment.
An Analysis of Rogue AV Campaigns

Abstract. Rogue antivirus software has recently received extensive attention, justified by the diffusion and efficacy of its propagation. We present a longitudinal analysis of the rogue antivirus threat ecosystem, focusing on the structure and dynamics of this threat and its economics. To that end, we compiled and mined a large dataset of characteristics of rogue antivirus domains and of the servers that host them. The contributions of this paper are threefold. Firstly, we offer the first, to our knowledge, broad analysis of the infrastructure underpinning the distribution of rogue security software by tracking 6,500 malicious domains. Secondly, we show how to apply attack attribution methodologies to correlate campaigns likely to be associated to the same individuals or groups. By using these techniques, we identify 127 rogue security software campaigns comprising 4,549 domains. Finally, we contextualize our findings by comparing them to a different threat ecosystem, that of browser exploits. We underline the profound difference in the structure of the two threats, and we investigate the root causes of this difference by analyzing the economic balance of the rogue antivirus ecosystem. We track 372,096 victims over a period of 2 months and we take advantage of this information to retrieve monetization insights. While applied to a specific threat type, the methodology and the lessons learned from this work are of general applicability to develop a better understanding of the threat economies.
Glucosinolates in Brassica: occurrence and significance as cancer-modulating agents.

Les legumes brassicas comprennent toutes sortes de choux, choux de Bruxelles, broccolis, choux-fleurs, choux-raves, navets et rutabagas. 11s appartiennent a famille des crucifkres et sont connus en botannique sous le nom de Brussica. Les brassicas sont frkquemment consommes par les hommes des cultures occidentales et orientales aussi bien que par les animaux. Aux Pays-Bas. on ne connaft pas prkcisement les quantitts consummkes par les hommes, mais plus de 36 g brassicas y sont disponibles par personne et par jour. La saveur typique des brassicas est en grande partie due i des molecules volatiles dCrivCes du glycosinolate. I1 semble que la presence de glycosinolates dans les plantes pour la consommation humaine est limitee aux cruciferes. La composition chimique et la presence de glycosinolates et de leurs produits de degradation ont CtC Ctudikes. I1 est possible que les niveaux de glycosinolates totaux dans les plantes dependent de la variCtC, des conditions de culture, du climat et des pratiques agronomiques, alors que les niveaux dans une plante particulikre varient selon les parties de la plante. Dans les plantes, les glycosinolates et leurs produits d’hydrolyse agissent comme des allilochimiques, qui sont des composes qui affectent les comportement, la santC et la croissance d’autres espkces. Du point de vue de la toxicologie, tous les produits volatiles d’hydrolyse des glucosinolates sont intkressants. Parmi les problkmes lies a la consommation de ces composes, ceux affectant la thyroi‘de ont etk CtudiCs de faSon plus approfondie. Dans la plupart des etudes sur les animaux rkalisees dans le passe, la goitrogknicite induite par les produits derives des glycosinolates s’est rCvClCe &re limitCe A des situations de dkficience en iode. Dans une etude sur la fonction thyroldienne aucun effet des glycosinolates n’a pu &tre retrouve (McMillan et al. 1986). On a suggere que les produits derives des glycosinolates deviennent mutagenes et candrigknes aprks nitrosation. Dans une etude approfondie, on a recherche dans plusieurs brassicas hollandais leur potentiel a former directement des composes mutagknes de nitrosyl en reponse ii un traitement de nitrite. Ce potentiel a etC compare avec les niveaux des glycosinolates. On a Ctudie la formation de produits nitroses d’indole-3-acetonitrile, indole-3-carbinol et indole, en portant une attention particulikre i la stabilitk de ces produits. Ces etudes ont rCvelC que les composes indoliques presents dans les brassicas peuvent Ctre nitroses et devenir mutagknes a la nitrosation. Cependant les produits nitroses ne sont stables qu’en presence de grandes quantites de nitrite libre. La nitrosation des glucosinolates et de leurs produits derives ne constitue pas un danger significatif pour la sant6.
Disclosure Interactions: Accounting Policy Choice and Voluntary Disclosure Effects on the Cost of Raising Outside Capital

In this research we consider how disclosure of accounting policy interacts with subsequent choice over voluntary disclosure of a non-financial performance metric. We compare and contrast regimes. In the first, firms are free to choose between a conservative or an aggressive accounting policy before they decide whether to make additional voluntary disclosures. In the other regime, all firms either voluntarily or via mandation use the same accounting policy. We then investigate the cost of raising capital for firms under the two regimes. We show that communication via voluntary disclosure need not be a simple substitute for communication via accounting policy
A step towards new irrigation scheduling strategies using plant-based measurements and mathematical modelling

Because of the increasing worldwide shortage of freshwater and costs of irrigation, a new plant-based irrigation scheduling method is proposed. In this method, two real-time plant-based measurements (sap flow and stem diameter variations) are used in combination with a mathematical water flow and storage model in order to predict the stem water potential. The amount of required irrigation water is derived from a time integration of the sap flow profile, while the timing of the irrigation is controlled based on a reference value for the predicted stem water potential. This reference value is derived from the relationship between midday values of maximum photosynthesis rates and stem water potential. Since modelling is an important part of the proposed methodology, a thorough mathematical analysis (identifiability analysis) of the model was performed. This analysis showed that an initial (offline) model calibration was needed based on measurements of sap flow, stem diameter variation and stem water potential. Regarding irrigation scheduling, however, only sap flow and stem diameter variation measurements are needed for online simulation and daily model calibration. Model calibration is performed using a moving window of 4 days of past data of stem diameter variations. The research tool STACI (Software Tool for Automatic Control of Irrigation) was used to optimally combine the continuous measurements, the mathematical modelling and the real-time irrigation scheduling. The new methodology was successfully tested in a pilot-scale setup with young potted apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh) and its performance was critically evaluated.