LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Serum vascular endothelial growth factor as a predictive factor in metronomic (weekly) Paclitaxel treatment for advanced head and neck cancer.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as a prognostic factor in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with metronomic (weekly) paclitaxel.


DESIGN
Before-and-after trial.


PATIENTS
A total of 33 consecutive patients were enrolled. Patients with recurrent and/or metastatic cancer of the head and neck refractory to platinum-based chemotherapy met inclusion criteria.


SETTING
Tertiary referral center.


INTERVENTION
Patients were treated weekly with 80 mg/m(2) of paclitaxel for 6 weeks.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Blood samples were collected after each dose and analyzed for serum VEGF using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Nonparametric tests were used to analyze serum VEGF levels.


RESULTS
In 33 patients, complete response was achieved in 1 (3%) and partial response in 20 (61%). No differences were found between responders and nonresponders with different levels of serum VEGF at any of the measurement times (baseline, after the first dose, and after the sixth dose). In responders, the median level of serum VEGF decreased after the first dose compared with baseline, but by the sixth dose, the median serum VEGF level had returned to baseline levels in all groups. The intensity of the serum VEGF level decrease (simple decrease, a decrease of at least 30%, or a decrease of at least 70%) was not related to response. The progression-to-disease time increased in the patients with a serum VEGF level reduction of at least 30% (P = .01) after 6 doses and decreased in patients with initially high levels, which remained high after the sixth dose (P = .03).


CONCLUSIONS
Serum VEGF levels after the first dose of paclitaxel may predict response to weekly paclitaxel in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Initially high serum VEGF levels that persist after the sixth dose predict a shorter period until tumor progression.
Improvements in PET Image Quality in Time of Flight (TOF) Simultaneous PET/MRI

An integrated positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner with time of flight (TOF) technology is now available for clinical use. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential of TOF PET in PET/MRI to reduce artifacts in PET images when compared to non-TOF PET/MRI, TOF PET/X-ray computed tomography (CT), and non-TOF PET/CT. All patients underwent a single 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose ([18F]FDG) injection, followed first by PET/CT, and subsequently by PET/MRI. PET/CT exams were requested as standard-of-care for oncological indications. Using the PET acquisitions datasets, 4 series of images (TOF PET/CT, non-TOF PET/CT, TOF PET/MRI, and non-TOF PET/MRI) were reconstructed. These image series were visually evaluated for: (1) dental metal artifacts, (2) breathing artifacts, and (3) pelvic artifacts due to scatter correction errors from high bladder [18F]FDG concentration. PET image quality was assessed by a 3-point scale (1—clinically significant artifact, 2—non clinically significant artifact, and 3—no artifact). Twenty-five patients (mean ± SD age: 56 ± 13 years old; female: 10, male: 15) were enrolled. TOF PET/MRI, non-TOF PET/MRI, TOF PET/CT, and non-TOF PET/CT scores 2.8, 2.5, 2.4, and 2.3, respectively for the presence of dental artifacts, 2.8, 2.5, 2.2, and 1.9, respectively, for the presence of breathing artifacts, and 2.7, 1.7, 2.0, and 1.3, respectively, for the presence of pelvic artifacts TOF PET/MRI images showed the highest image quality scores among the 4 datasets of PET images. The superior timing resolution and resulting TOF capability of the new PET/MRI scanner improved PET image quality in this cohort by reducing artifacts compared to non-TOF PET/MRI, TOF PET/CT, and non-TOF PET/CT.
Well Conditioned Spherical Designs for Integration and Interpolation on the Two-Sphere

A set XN of N points on the unit sphere is a spherical t-design if the average value of any polynomial of degree at most t over XN is equal to the average value of the polynomial over the sphere. This paper considers the characterization and computation of spherical t-designs on the unit sphere S2 ⊂ R3 when N ≥ (t + 1)2, the dimension of the space Pt of spherical polynomials of degree at most t. We show how to construct well conditioned spherical designs with N ≥ (t + 1)2 points by maximizing the determinant of a matrix while satisfying a system of nonlinear constraints. Interval methods are then used to prove the existence of a true spherical t-design very close to the calculated points and to provide a guaranteed interval containing the determinant. The resulting spherical designs have good geometrical properties (separation and mesh norm). We discuss the usefulness of the points for both equal weight numerical integration and polynomial interpolation on the sphere and give an example.
Intracoronary versus intravenous abciximab bolus in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: 1-year results of the randomized AIDA STEMI trial.

To the Editor: In patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), direct intracoronary as compared with standard intravenous bolus administration of the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor antagonist abciximab acutely causes higher local drug concentrations, greater glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor occupancy, and enhanced inhibition of platelet aggregation at the site of thrombus and downstream within the coronary capillary bed (1). These effects might exert a protective effect on the myocardial microcirculation at the time of reperfusion. At short-term follow-up (90 days), the largest randomized trial to date (AIDA STEMI [Abciximab Intracoronary Versus Intravenously Drug Application in STEMI]) comparing intracoronary and intravenous abciximab bolus application in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) could not show a significant difference in a compositemajor adverse cardiac events endpoint, mortality, reinfarction, or bleeding between the 2 delivery routes (2). However, there were significantly fewer episodes of new congestive heart failure in patients randomized to intracoronary abciximab bolus administration. The present analysis reports 12 months of clinical results of the AIDA STEMI trial. In brief, AIDA STEMI randomized 2,065 patients with acute STEMI undergoing primary PCI to either intracoronary or intravenous abciximab bolus application with subsequent 12-h intravenous infusion. All patients received dual oral antiplatelet therapy (aspirin and either clopidogrel or prasugrel). The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause death, reinfarction, or new congestive heart failure at 90 days. For the predefined 12-month follow-up, the primary analysis was performed for all patients who underwent randomization and had follow-up information according to the intention-to-treat principle. Predefined subgroup analyses were performed for patient age, infarct location, Killip class, post-procedural Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow, time from symptom onset to randomization, and thrombectomy versus no thrombectomy. Exploratory post hoc
Verifying Web applications using bounded model checking

The authors describe the use of bounded model checking (BMC) for verifying Web application code. Vulnerable sections of code are patched automatically with runtime guards, allowing both verification and assurance to occur without user intervention. Model checking techniques are relatively complex compared to the typestate-based polynomial-time algorithm (TS) we adopted in an earlier paper, but they offer three benefits - they provide counterexamples, more precise models, and sound and complete verification. Compared to conventional model checking techniques, BMC offers a more practical approach to verifying programs containing large numbers of variables, but requires fixed program diameters to be complete. Formalizing Web application vulnerabilities as a secure information flow problem with fixed diameter allows for BMC application without drawback. Using BMC-produced counterexamples, errors that result from propagations of the same initial error can be reported as a single group rather than individually. This offers two distinct benefits. First, together with the counterexamples themselves, they allow for more descriptive and precise error reports. Second, it allows for automated patching at locations where errors are initially introduced rather than at locations where the propagated errors cause problems. Results from a TS-BMC comparison test using 230 open-source Web applications showed a 41.0% decrease in runtime instrumentations when BMC was used. In the 38 vulnerable projects identified by TS, BMC classified the TS-reported 980 individual errors into 578 groups, with each group requiring a minimal set of patches for repair.
Utilizing social media data for pharmacovigilance: A review

OBJECTIVE
Automatic monitoring of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs), defined as adverse patient outcomes caused by medications, is a challenging research problem that is currently receiving significant attention from the medical informatics community. In recent years, user-posted data on social media, primarily due to its sheer volume, has become a useful resource for ADR monitoring. Research using social media data has progressed using various data sources and techniques, making it difficult to compare distinct systems and their performances. In this paper, we perform a methodical review to characterize the different approaches to ADR detection/extraction from social media, and their applicability to pharmacovigilance. In addition, we present a potential systematic pathway to ADR monitoring from social media.


METHODS
We identified studies describing approaches for ADR detection from social media from the Medline, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science databases, and the Google Scholar search engine. Studies that met our inclusion criteria were those that attempted to extract ADR information posted by users on any publicly available social media platform. We categorized the studies according to different characteristics such as primary ADR detection approach, size of corpus, data source(s), availability, and evaluation criteria.


RESULTS
Twenty-two studies met our inclusion criteria, with fifteen (68%) published within the last two years. However, publicly available annotated data is still scarce, and we found only six studies that made the annotations used publicly available, making system performance comparisons difficult. In terms of algorithms, supervised classification techniques to detect posts containing ADR mentions, and lexicon-based approaches for extraction of ADR mentions from texts have been the most popular.


CONCLUSION
Our review suggests that interest in the utilization of the vast amounts of available social media data for ADR monitoring is increasing. In terms of sources, both health-related and general social media data have been used for ADR detection-while health-related sources tend to contain higher proportions of relevant data, the volume of data from general social media websites is significantly higher. There is still very limited amount of annotated data publicly available , and, as indicated by the promising results obtained by recent supervised learning approaches, there is a strong need to make such data available to the research community.
Troponin T and I assays show decreased concentrations in heparin plasma compared with serum: lower recoveries in early than in late phases of myocardial injury.

BACKGROUND
Heparinized plasma samples allow more rapid analysis than serum samples, but preliminary studies showed lower cardiac troponin T (cTnT) results in plasma. We undertook a multicenter study to characterize this effect for cTnT and cardiac troponin I (cTnI).


METHODS
Blood samples were collected with and without heparin at five hospitals. cTnT was measured by a "third generation" assay (Elecsys((R))), and cTnI was measured by a commercial immunoassay (IMMULITE((R))).


RESULTS
Mean cTnT was 15% lower in heparin sampling tubes than in serum. Measured concentrations of cardiac troponins also decreased with increasing heparin concentrations added to sera. Heparin-induced losses were greater in early than in late phases after onset of chest pain. Addition of heparin ( approximately 100 IU/mL) to serial samples from nine acute myocardial infarction patients produced mean cTnT losses of 33% at 1-12 h after onset of chest pain, 17% at 13-48 h, and 7% after 48 h. The changing heparin effects were seen for both cTnT and cTnI during time courses of individual patients with myocardial infarction.


CONCLUSION
We suggest that binding of heparin to troponins decreases immunoreactivity, especially in early phases of myocardial injury. The resulting losses may depend on the antibodies used in each troponin assay.
Some physical investigations of AgInS2−xSex thin film compounds obtained from AgInS2 annealed in seleneide atmosphere

Abstract This work deals with the preparation of AgInS 2− x Se x from AgInS 2 (AIS) sprayed thin films which treated under seleneide atmosphere during 1 h at various temperatures (400, 450 and 500 °C). Previously elaborated AgInS 2 compound, which has been conceived as an absorber layer in the SnO 2 :F/AgInS 2 (p)/Al Schottky diode, has presented some generation–recombination deficiencies and tunneling effects. XRD analysis shows the incorporation of Se element in the AgInS 2 matrix especially for use of 450 °C as heat temperature. The optical band gap calculated from transmittance and reflectance spectra of the above samples show the effect of annealed temperature on the band gap energy. The refractive index and extinction coefficient of the differently sample of AgInS 2− x Se x thin films have been reached through their transmission and reflectance spectra on a wide range of wavelengths. The surface topography and the roughness parameters of AgInS 2− x Se x thin films had been studied by AFM. Finally, thermal conductivity was determinate by the mirage effect. This thermal property was decreased by the annealed temperatures.
Cataract surgical coverage and barriers to uptake of cataract surgery in leprosy villages of north eastern Nigeria.

AIMS
To determine the coverage, outcome, and barriers to uptake of cataract surgery in leprosy villages of north eastern Nigeria.


METHODS
People 30 years and above resident in eight leprosy villages were examined. Cataract blind people were questioned about the reasons they had not been treated. Subjects who had received an operation for cataract were examined to determine the outcome and, where applicable, the causes of poor outcome.


RESULTS
480 people were examined. Cataract was the commonest cause of blindness. The cataract surgical coverage (people) was 39.2% for orthodox surgery and 29.7% for couching. After surgery, visual acuity > or =3/60 had been restored to 82.1% of eyes that had had orthodox surgery, but only 58.6% of eyes that had been couched. Cost was the commonest reason given for not seeking treatment for cataract.


CONCLUSIONS
Cataract is the major cause of blindness in this population but cataract surgical needs are currently not being met. There is a need for better collaboration between leprosy control and ophthalmic services, improved education of people affected by leprosy, a commitment to improving orthodox cataract surgery outcomes, and consideration of a possible role for traditional healers as sources of referral for orthodox surgical services.
Optimizing the use of anti-interleukin-6 monoclonal antibody with dexamethasone and 140 mg/m2 of melphalan in multiple myeloma: results of a pilot study including biological aspects

Summary:Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a major survival factor for multiple myeloma (MM) cells preventing apoptosis induced by dexamethasone (DEX) or chemotherapy. In all, 24 consecutive patients with MM in first-line therapy received DEX for 4 days, followed by melphalan (HDM: 140 mg/m2) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). The anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody (mAb) (B-E8) was given till haematological recovery, starting 1 day before DEX. Results were historically compared to MM patients treated with HDM 140 and 200 mg/m2. Our results show (1) that B-E8 was able to fully neutralize IL-6 activity in vivo before and after HDM as shown by inhibition of C reactive protein (CRP) production; (2) no haematological toxicity; (3) a significant reduction of mucositis and fever; (4) a median event-free survival of 35 months and an overall survival of 68.2% at 5 years with a median follow-up of 72 months; and (5) the overall daily IL-6 production progressively increased on and after 7 days post-HDM, with the increased serum CRP levels. In the 5/24 patients with uncontrolled CRP production, a large IL-6 production was detected (320 μg/day) that could not possibly be neutralized by B-E8. These data show the feasibility to neutralize IL-6 in vivo with anti-IL-6 mAb in the context of HDM.
CoMa: Development of Gamification-based E-learning

There has been evidence that many of e-learning implementations fail to achieve their learning objectives due to incompatibility and lack of knowledge in developing an online information system. This failure could lead to frustration, confusion, and a decrease in the student engagement in learning. Moreover, transferring physical materials to the digital ones could result in boredom because there is no interactivity in the learning process. As a consequence, student engagement in learning decreases. Gamification concept may be used to increase student engagement in learning. This study develops an e-learning system by adding gamification concept. Gamification elements used in this study are leaderboard, activity point, experience point, badge, challenges, leveling, and add friends. The e-learning system is implemented in the Java Programming course. This e-learning is called Code Mania (CoMa). The e-learning is a web-based system that allows the user to interact easily. The e-learning also has an automatic evaluation feature to evaluate student work. The developed learning system is evaluated using whitebox testing that is path testing and blackbox testing. The result from the testing shows that the e-learning system could run well as specified in the system requirement.
A Survey of Text Mining Techniques and Applications

Text Mining has become an important research area. Text Mining is the discovery by computer of new, previously unknown information, by automatically extracting information from different written resources. In this paper, a Survey of Text Mining techniques and applications have been s presented.
Intra-vehicle wireless harness with mesh-networking

Recently there has been tremendous growth for intra-vehicle electronics technology with the advent of intelligent transport systems (ITS) society. Along with it, the weight of vehicle tends to increase with the increment of ECU and distribution cable. It causes to degrade the fuel efficiency and makes the repair and test difficult. It is therefore required to decrease the cable weigh and to ease the maintenance/repair. To solve these problems, wireless data transmission, so called wireless harness, has been suggested instead of the wire cable. However, there is significant propagation degradation within vehicle because of its hollow metallic body. In this paper, measurements using UWB-IR have been conducted for various antenna locations and the results are discussed.
Observed and modelled stability of overflow across the Greenland–Scotland ridge

Across the Greenland–Scotland ridge there is a continuous flow of cold dense water, termed ‘overflow’, from the Nordic seas to the Atlantic Ocean. This is a main contributor to the production of North Atlantic Deep Water that feeds the lower limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, which has been predicted to weaken as a consequence of climate change. The two main overflow branches pass the Denmark Strait and the Faroe Bank channel. Here we combine results from direct current measurements in the Faroe Bank channel for 1995–2005 with an ensemble hindcast experiment for 1948–2005 using an ocean general circulation model. For the overlapping period we find a convincing agreement between model simulations and observations on monthly to interannual timescales. Both observations and model data show no significant trend in volume transport. In addition, for the whole 1948–2005 period, the model indicates no persistent trend in the Faroe Bank channel overflow or in the total overflow transport, in agreement with the few available historical observations. Deepening isopycnals in the Norwegian Sea have tended to decrease the pressure difference across the Greenland–Scotland ridge, but this has been compensated for by the effect of changes in sea level. In contrast with earlier studies, we therefore conclude that the Faroe Bank channel overflow, and also the total overflow, did not decrease consistently from 1950 to 2005, although the model does show a weakening total Atlantic meridional overturning circulation as a result of changes south of the Greenland–Scotland ridge.
Heavy metal accumulation in vegetables grown in urban gardens

Urban agriculture is increasingly popular for social and economical benefits. However, edible crops grown in cities can be contaminated by airborne pollutants, thus leading to serious health risks. Therefore, we need a better understanding of contamination risks of urban cultivation to define safe practices. Here we study heavy metal risk in horticultural crops grown in urban gardens of Bologna, Italy. We investigated the effect of proximity to different pollution sources such as roads and railways, and the effect of the growing system used, that is soil versus soilless cultivation. We compared heavy metal concentration in urban and rural crops. We focused on surface deposition and tissue accumulation of pollutants during 3 years. Results show that in the city, crops near the road were polluted by heavy metals, with up to 160 mg per kilogram of dry weight for lettuce and 210 mg/kg for basil. The highest Cd accumulation of up to 1.2 mg/kg was found in rural tomato. Soilless planting systems enabled a reduction of heavy metal accumulation in plant tissue, of up to −71 % for rosemary leaves.