LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Reanalysis of a tailored web-based exercise programme for office workers with sub-acute low back pain: assessing the stage of change in behaviour.

OBJECTIVE
To reanalyse a web-based intervention for physically untrained office workers with sub-acute non-specific low back pain in low back pain-related exercise behaviour terms.


DESIGN
Reanalysis of a randomized controlled trial.


SETTING
Occupational Preventive Medicine of University.


METHODS
Participants were randomized to an intervention group (proposed intervention plus standard care) or a control group (usual care only). The intervention exercise and education materials were developed as an online resource, and included video demonstrations recorded in a laboratory. Resources were loaded onto a dedicated section of the University Preventive Medicine Service website. All sessions included stretching, and exercises to improve postural stability (abdominal, lumbar, hip and thigh muscles) strength, flexibility and mobility. Outcome measures were self-reported health status (visual analogue scale (VAS) of the Euroquol-5D questionnaire); functional health status (Oswestry disability questionnaire); and the stage of change questionnaire. At nine months, outcomes in the intervention group were analysed and compared with baseline and outcomes in controls.


RESULTS
In the intervention group, significant positive effects were observed at nine-month follow up for stage of change in the behavioural domain as related with low back pain for all phases except for the contemplation phase. The positive change in the stage of change questionnaire correlated with the improvement observed in Oswestry (r = .388) and VAS (r = -.612).


CONCLUSIONS
The reanalysis of the trial suggests that exercise behaviour related to low back pain improve after the intervention period. This improvement correlates with changes in clinical low back pain-related outcomes.
A phase II window study of irinotecan (CPT-11) in high risk Ewing sarcoma: a Euro-E.W.I.N.G. study.

BACKGROUND
The prognosis for patients with nonpulmonary metastatic Ewing sarcoma remains poor with survival in the order of 15-20%. The need to introduce effective new agents into clinical practice is clear. Based on a preclinical rationale of responses in xenografts and backed by a phase I study in children, the Euro-E.W.I.N.G consortium planned a phase II window study of irinotecan in newly diagnosed high risk metastatic patients with Ewing sarcoma.


PROCEDURES
Patients were recruited between April 2004 and December 2007. Two courses of irinotecan were administered at a dose of 600 mg/m(2) as a 1 hour infusion at 21 day intervals. Response evaluation was determined after the second course of treatment by radiological assessment of primary and metastatic sites and, where appropriate bone marrow sampling.


RESULTS
Twenty-three patients were recruited. Two patients were deemed inevaluable for response. Five patients (24%) demonstrated a partial response. Grade 3 or 4 diarrhoea was seen in 4/43 course of treatment and was managed with loperamide.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report of single agent irinotecan activity in an untreated population of patients with Ewing sarcoma. In common with other paediatric tumours and other camptothecin analogues such as topotecan, single agent activity is only modest. The exact role for the use of irinotecan in patients with ES, dose schedule and combinations with other agents still requires further investigation.
Market innovation as framing, productive friction and bricolage: an exploration of the personal data market

This paper explores the possibilities offered by recent Science and Technology Studies (STS) research on markets for engaging with market innovation. Although there exist few reflections on how innovation happens in markets, market innovation has not been singularly theorized in STS-inspired market studies. In this paper, we explore the potential analytic utility of different sets of ideas in the field of market studies, such as ‘framing’ [Callon, M. (1998) ‘Introduction: the embeddedness of economic markets in economics’, in The Laws of Markets , ed. M. Callon, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 1--57; Callon, M. (2007) ‘An essay on the growing contribution of economic markets to the proliferation of the social’, Theory, Culture & Society , vol. 24, no. 7--8, pp. 136--163], ‘productive friction’ [Stark, D. (2009) The Sense of Dissonance: Accounts of Worth in Economic Life , Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ] and ‘bricolage’ [MacKenzie, D. & Pardo-Guerra, J. P. (2014) ‘Insurgent capitalism: Island, bricolage and the re-making of finance’, Economy and Society , vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 153--182]. Drawing on our research into the online personal data industry and start-ups developing personal data control products, we put together five sensibilities that we think are of use for broader considerations of market innovation.
Fueling the debate: Are outcomes better after posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) or after posterolateral fusion (PLF) in adult patients with low-grade adult isthmic spondylolisthesis?

STUDY DESIGN
 Retrospective cohort study.


CLINICAL QUESTION
 Do more adult patients affected by low grade isthmic spondylolisthesis have significant clinical and radiological improvement following posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) than those who receive posterolateral fusion (PLF)?


METHODS
 One hundred and fourteen patients affected by adult low grade isthmic spondylolisthesis, treated with posterior lumbar interbody fusion or posterolateral fusion, were reviewed. Clinical outcome was assessed by means of the questionnaires ODI, RMDQ and VAS. Radiographic evaluation included CT, MRI, and x-rays. The results were analyzed using the Student t-test.


RESULTS
 The two groups were similar with respect to demographic and surgical characteristics. At an average follow-up of 62.1 months, 71 patients were completely reviewed. Mean ODI, RMDQ and VAS scores didn't show statistically significant differences. Fusion rate was similar between the two groups (97% in PLIF group, 95% in PLF group). Major complications occurred in 5 of 71 patients reviewed (7%): one in the PLIF group (3.6%), four in the PLF group (9.3%). Pseudarthrosis occurred in one case in the PLIF group (3,6%) and in two cases in PLF group (4.6%).


CONCLUSIONS
 In our series, there does not appear to be a clear advantage of posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) over posterolateral fusion (PLF) in terms of clinical and radiological outcome for treatment of adult low grade isthmic spondylolisthesis.
Clinical experience in end-to-side venous anastomoses with a microvascular anastomotic coupling device in head and neck reconstruction.

BACKGROUND
Microvascular anastomosis remains one of the most technically sensitive aspects of free-tissue transfer reconstructions. Despite the availability of various mechanical anastomotic coupling systems for human clinical use during the last 8 years, reported clinical series remain rare.


OBJECTIVE
To describe a clinical experience in applying a mechanical microvascular anastomotic coupling device (MACD) to end-to-side anastomotic configurations in head and neck free-flap reconstruction.


METHODS
The MACD is a readily available high-density polyethylene ring-stainless steel pin system that has been found to be highly effective in clinical studies of end-to-end arterial and venous anastomosis and in laboratory studies of end-to-side anastomosis of rabbit arteries.


RESULTS
Thirty-seven end-to-side venous anastomoses were attempted, of which 33 (89%) were completed. Of these, 9 patients had critical anastomoses (only 1 venous anastomosis per patient). In patients undergoing parallel venous anastomoses, 6 had both anastomoses performed using the MACD; in the remaining 12 patients, 1 of the anastomoses was performed using the MACD. A variety of donor flaps and clinical contexts were encountered. Flap survival in the MACD series was 100%. Four anastomoses were converted to conventional suture technique intraoperatively.


CONCLUSIONS
The MACD is well suited to end-to-side venous anastomosis when carefully and selectively used by experienced microvascular surgeons. The most common clinical situation requiring this configuration and technique was the lack of ipsilateral recipient veins for end-to-end anastomosis or a ligated internal jugular vein stump that required this approach for device application. Previous radiation therapy does not appear to be a contraindication to its use.
essy Genetic Algorithms : Motivation , Analysis , and First Results

This paper defines and explores a somewhat different type of genetic algorithm (GA) a messy genetic algorithm (mGA). Messy GAs process variable-length strings that may be either underor overspecified with respect to the problem being solved . As nature has formed its genotypes by progressing from simple to more complex life forms, messy GAs solve problems by combining relatively short, well-tested building blocks to form longer, more complex strings that increasingly cover all features of a problem. This approach stands in contrast to the usual fixed-length, fixed-coding genetic algorithm, where the existence of the requisite tight linkage is taken for granted or ignored altogether. To compare the two approaches, a 3D-bit, orderthree-deceptive problem is searched using a simple GA and a messy GA. Using a random but fixed ordering of the bits, the simple GA makes errors at roughly three-quarters of its positions; under a worstcase ordering, the simple GA errs at all positions. In contrast to the simple GA results, the messy GA repeatedly solves the same problem to optimality. Prior to this time, no GA had ever solved a provably difficult problem to optimality without prior knowledge of good string arrangements. The mGA presented herein repeatedly achieves globally optimal results without such knowledge, and it does so at the very first generation in which strings are long enough to cover the problem. The solution of a difficult nonlinear problem to optimality suggests that messy GAs can solve more difficult problems than has been possible to date with other genetic algorithms. The ramifications of these techniques in search and machine learning are explored, including the possibility of messy floating-point codes, messy permutations, and messy classifiers. © 1989 Complex Systems Publications , Inc. 494 David E. Goldberg, Bradley Kotb, an d Kalyanmoy Deb
Relationships between Hepatic Iron Content and Virologic Response in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients Treated with Interferon and Ribavirin

OBJECTIVES:The aims of this study were to determine the effect of pretreatment hepatic iron concentration (HIC) on response to combination therapy with interferon and ribavirin, and to examine the change in HIC associated with this treatment.METHODS:Patients with hepatitis C who underwent liver biopsy before and after combination therapy were studied retrospectively. HIC was measured from paired pre- and posttreatment liver biopsy specimens, and histologic grade and stage were recorded.RESULTS:Sixty of 112 (54%) patients achieved sustained virologic response (SVR); response varied by genotype (genotype 1 (44%), genotype 2 or 3 (85%)). There was no difference in pretreatment median HIC between responders and nonresponders (404 μg/g and 394 μg/g, respectively; p = 0.31); patients with HIC ≥ 500 μg/g were not less likely to achieve SVR (OR = 1.1; 95% CI 0.5–2.3). In a multivariate analysis, factors associated with SVR included genotype 2 or 3 (OR = 12.2; 95% CI 3.1–47.8) and viral load <2 million copies/ml (OR = 3.6; 95% CI 1.3–10.0). HIC ≥ 500 μg/g did not decrease the likelihood of SVR (OR = 0.8; 95% CI 0.3–2.1). There was no significant change in HIC after combination therapy (median increase in HIC = 29.5 μg/g), and the change in HIC did not differ between responders and nonresponders (p = 0.73).CONCLUSIONS:Pretreatment HIC is not an independent predictor of response to therapy with interferon and ribavirin. Combination therapy does not significantly change HIC regardless of baseline histology or virologic response.
CXCL9 is a prognostic marker in patients with liver cirrhosis receiving transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt.

BACKGROUND & AIMS
Inflammation, collagen deposition and tissue remodelling are involved in the pathogenesis and complications of cirrhosis with portal hypertension. CXCL9 and other chemokines play an important role in these processes and have been associated with liver injury and complications of liver disease in humans. However, their predictive value in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension remains to be established.


METHODS
103 patients with liver cirrhosis who had received TIPS (transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt) were included into this study. The TIPS indication was either refractory ascites or recurrent bleeding. Before and after the TIPS procedure portal and hepatic venous blood samples were obtained in 78 patients. In 25 patients blood samples were obtained from the portal vein, hepatic vein, right atrium and cubital vein at TIPS insertion. Serum levels of CXCL9 were measured by cytometric bead array and correlated with clinical parameters and overall outcome.


RESULTS
Portal venous levels of CXCL9 decreased after TIPS. Child-Pugh score, refractory ascites, renal dysfunction and alcoholic aetiology of cirrhosis were associated with increased CXCL9 levels. Importantly, low levels of CXCL9 in portal and hepatic vein samples were prognostic factors for the survival of patients receiving TIPS during long-time follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
The CXCR3 ligand CXCL9 affects the liver and/or is released by the liver and thereby might contribute to hepatic and extrahepatic organ dysfunction. Elevated levels of CXCL9 are associated with shorter survival in cirrhotic patients with severe portal hypertension receiving TIPS. This chemokine should be further evaluated as a novel biomarker for the outcome in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension and its modulation as a new therapeutic strategy.
A Spectral Learning Approach to Knowledge Tracing

Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) is a common way of determining student knowledge of skills in adaptive educational systems and cognitive tutors. The basic BKT is a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) that models student knowledge based on five parameters: prior, learn rate, forget, guess, and slip. Expectation Maximization (EM) is often used to learn these parameters from training data. However, EM is a time-consuming process, and is prone to converging to erroneous, implausible local optima depending on the initial values of the BKT parameters. In this paper we address these two problems by using spectral learning to learn a Predictive State Representation (PSR) that represents the BKT HMM. We then use a heuristic to extract the BKT parameters from the learned PSR using basic matrix operations. The spectral learning method is based on an approximate factorization of the estimated covariance of windows from students’ sequences of correct and incorrect responses; it is fast, local-optimum-free, and statistically consistent. In the past few years, spectral techniques have been used on real-world problems involving latent variables in dynamical systems, computer vision, and natural language processing. Our results suggest that the parameters learned by the spectral algorithm can replace the parameters learned by EM; the results of our study show that the spectral algorithm can improve knowledge tracing parameterfitting time significantly while maintaining the same prediction accuracy, or help to improve accuracy while still keeping parameter-fitting time equivalent to EM.
A Review on Tissue Segmentation and Feature Extraction of MRI Brain images

Abstract—Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important diagnostic imaging technique for the early detection of brain cancer. Brain cancer is one of the most dangerous diseases occurring commonly among human beings. The chances of survival can be increased if the cancer is detected at its early stage. MRI brain image plays a vital role in assisting radiologists to access patients for diagnosis and treatment. Studying of medical image by the Radiologist is not only a tedious and time consuming process but also accuracy depends upon their experience. So, the use of computer aided systems becomes very necessary to overcome these limitations. Even though several automated methods are available, still segmentation of MRI brain image remains as a challenging problem due to its complexity and there is no standard algorithm that can produce satisfactory results. In this review paper, various current methodologies of brain image segmentation using automated algorithms that are accurate and requires little user interaction are reviewed and their advantages, disadvantages are discussed. This review paper guides in combining two or more methods together to produce accurate results.
Forensic analysis of Kik messenger on iOS devices

Instant messaging applications continue to grow in popularity as a means of communicating and sharing multimedia files. The information contained within these applications can prove invaluable to law enforcement in the investigation of crimes. Kik messenger is a recently introduced instant messaging application that has become very popular in a short period of time, especially among young users. The novelty of Kik means that there has been little forensic examination conducted on this application. This study addresses this issue by investigating Kik messenger on Apple iOS devices. The goal was to locate and document artefacts created or modified by Kik messenger on devices installed with the latest version of iOS, as well as in iTunes backup files. Once achieved, the secondary goal was to analyse the artefacts to decode and interpret their meaning and by doing so, be able to answer the typical questions faced by forensic investigators. A detailed description of artefacts created or modified by Kik messenger is provided. Results from experiments showed that deleted images are not only recoverable from the device, but can also be located and downloaded from Kik servers. A process to link data from multiple database tables producing accurate chat histories is explained. These outcomes can be used by law enforcement to investigate crimes and by software developers to create tools to recover evidence. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
MLN3897 plus methotrexate in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of an oral CCR1 antagonist in a phase IIa, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, proof-of-concept study.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of the CC chemokine receptor CCR1 antagonist MLN3897 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving methotrexate (MTX).


METHODS
In this phase IIa, proof-of-concept study, patients meeting the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for RA who had been taking MTX for >or=6 months with evidence of active disease were randomly assigned to receive either 10 mg oral MLN3897 or matching placebo once daily for 12 weeks (days 1-83) while continuing to receive MTX once a week. Clinical assessments, safety monitoring, and sampling for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses were performed throughout the study. The primary efficacy end point was the difference in the percentage of patients meeting the ACR 20% improvement criteria (achieving an ACR20 response) on day 84 in the MLN3897-treated group compared with that in the placebo-treated group.


RESULTS
MLN3897 was well tolerated, with no evidence of systemic immunosuppression. In the intent-to-treat population, there was no significant difference in day 84 ACR20 response rates between MLN3897-treated patients and placebo-treated patients (35% versus 33%, respectively; P=0.72). Results were similar for the per-protocol population. Pharmacokinetic analyses demonstrated no interactions between MLN3897 and MTX. MLN3897 was associated with a high degree of CCR1 occupancy (>or=90% on days 28, 56, and 84 in 82% of patients, by macrophage inflammatory protein 1alpha internalization assay).


CONCLUSION
MLN3897 at a concentration of 10 mg once daily had no discernible activity in patients with RA who were also receiving MTX. The results suggest that CCR1 antagonism is unlikely to be a viable strategy for the treatment of RA when used in isolation at the receptor occupancy levels reached in this study.
Effects of botulinum toxin A and/or bimanual task-oriented therapy on upper extremity activities in unilateral Cerebral Palsy: a clinical trial

BACKGROUND
This study reports on the effects of botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) injections in the upper extremity (UE) in children with unilateral Cerebral Palsy (uCP) combined with bimanual task-oriented therapy (BITT) or either treatment modality performed separately. Bimanual activities were measured with the Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA), the ABILHand-Kids questionnaire (AK), the Observational Skills Assessment Score (OSAS). Goal achievement was measured with Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), using blind video assessment, and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).


METHODS
Thirty-five children, mean age 7.14 years (SD 2.63), 11 Manual Ability Classification Score (MACS) I, 15 MACS II and 9 MACS III, participated. The trial started with four study groups: BoNT-A-only (n = 5), BITT-only (n = 11), BoNT-A + BITT (n = 13), and control (n = 6). Twenty-two children were randomised, 13 children received their parents' preferred treatment: BoNT-A + BITT or BITT-only. Three comparisons were analysed: BITT (BoNT-A + BITT and BITT-only; n = 24) versus no BITT (BoNT-A-only and control; n = 11), BoNT-A (BoNT-A-only and BoNT-A + BITT; n = 18) versus no BoNT-A (BITT-only and control; n = 17), and the additional effect of BoNT-A (BoNT-A + BITT versus BITT-only). Follow-up time: 24 weeks.


RESULTS
No significant differences between the groups were found on the AHA. The amount of use of both hands on the OSAS was significantly better in the BoNT-A group in the beading and sandwich-making task. The BoNT-A group also showed significant improvement in the quality scores of the OSAS: the wrist position during grasping and holding, especially in the younger children. The BITT group improved significantly on the AK and significantly more on the performance and satisfaction scores of the COPM at 12 and 24 weeks regarding several goals. BoNT-A showed a significant negative effect at 12 and 24 weeks in the most important goal. BITT, more than BoNT-A + BITT, showed positive effects on the GAS score at 12 (significant), 18 and 24 weeks.


CONCLUSIONS
BoNT-A has a positive effect on quality of movement and amount of use of the affected UE during the 3 months' working time. BoNT-A has no additional effect on bimanual performance and goal achievement. BITT has a positive effect on goal achievement and bimanual performance, even up to 6 weeks after therapy had stopped.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN69541857.