LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for association of SNPs in ABCB1 and CBR3, but not RAC2, NCF4, SLC28A3 or TOP2B, with chronic cardiotoxicity in a cohort of breast cancer patients treated with anthracyclines.

AIMS
Validation of associations for SNPs in RAC2, NCF4 and SLC28A3, identification of a novel association with a TOP2B SNP and screening 23 SNPs putatively relevant to anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity.


PATIENTS & METHODS
A total of 166 breast cancer patients treated with doxorubicin underwent echocardiogram, including 19 cases with systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction <55%) and 147 controls. Four high priority SNPs were tested in the primary analysis, with appropriate statistical correction, and 23 additional SNPs were screened in an uncorrected secondary analysis.


RESULTS
Previously reported associations for RAC2, NCF4 and SLC28A3 could not be validated and a novel association with TOP2B was not discovered in this cohort (all p > 0.05), likely due to inadequate power. Two SNPs were identified in the uncorrected secondary analysis including a protective SNP in ABCB1 (3435C>T, p = 0.049) and a risk allele in CBR3 (V244M, p = 0.012).


CONCLUSION
The associations reported in prior publications and those discovered in this secondary analysis require further replication in independent cohorts.
Development and validation of the paediatric cancer coping scale.

AIM
The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the paediatric cancer coping scale in children with cancer.


BACKGROUND
Coping is a mediator between stressful events and adaptation. However, existing tools cannot be used to assess and understand coping strategies in children with cancer in Taiwan.


METHODS
A total of 229 children with cancer were recruited from three medical centres in Taiwan in 2008-2009. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were estimated by Cronbach's alpha and intra-class correlation coefficient respectively. The factor structure was determined by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Pearson's correlation coefficient was employed to test the convergent and discriminate validity.


RESULTS
The paediatric cancer coping scale demonstrated internal consistency (α = 0·91) and a 2-week test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0·86). Its construct validity was confirmed by factor analysis, which extracted and defined three categories of coping strategies: cognitive coping, problem-oriented coping and defensive coping; these three factors explained 40% of the total variance with factor loadings ranging from 0·31 to 0·71. Convergent and discriminate validities were demonstrated by significant correlations among the coping, resilience and anxiety subscales.


CONCLUSIONS
The paediatric cancer coping scale is a reliable and valid scale to measure and examine coping strategies in children with cancer.
Classifier Ensembles for Changing Environments

We consider strategies for building classifier ensembles for non-stationary environments where the classification task changes during the operation of the ensemble. Individual classifier models capable of online learning are reviewed. The concept of “forgetting” is discussed. Online ensembles and strategies suitable for changing environments are summarized.
Long-term relation between breastfeeding and development of atopy and asthma in children and young adults: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND
Breastfeeding is widely advocated to reduce risk of atopy and asthma, but the evidence for such an effect is conflicting. We aimed to assess long-term outcomes of asthma and atopy related to breastfeeding in a New Zealand birth cohort.


METHODS
Our cohort consisted of 1037 of 1139 children born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April, 1972, and March, 1973, and residing in Otago province at age 3 years. Children were assessed every 2-5 years from ages 9 to 26 years with respiratory questionnaires, pulmonary function, bronchial challenge, and allergy skin tests. History of breastfeeding had been independently recorded in early childhood.


FINDINGS
504 (49%) of 1037 eligible children were breastfed (4 weeks or longer) and 533 (51%) were not. More children who were breastfed were atopic at all ages from 13 to 21 years to cats (p=0.0001), house dust mites (p=0.0010), and grass pollen (p<0.0001) than those who were not. More children who were breastfed reported current asthma at each assessment between age 9 (p=0.0008) and 26 years (p=0.0008) than those who were not. Breastfeeding effects were not affected by parental history of hayfever or asthma. Multifactor analysis controlling for socioeconomic status, parental smoking, birth order, and use of sheepskin bedding in infancy, showed odds ratios of 1.94 (95% CI 1.42-2.65, p<0.0001) for any allergen positive at age 13 years, 2.40 (1.36-4.26, p=0.0003) for current asthma at 9 years, and 1.83 (1.35-2.47, p<0.0001) for current asthma at 9-26 years by repeated-measures analysis.


INTERPRETATION
Breastfeeding does not protect children against atopy and asthma and may even increase the risk.
Interfaces That Heal: Coupling Real and Virtual Objects to Treat Spider Phobia

Tactile augmentation is a simple, safe, inexpensive interaction technique for adding physical texture and force feedback cues to virtual objects. This study explored whether virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy reduces fear of spiders and whether giving patients the illusion of physically touching the virtual spider increases treatment effectiveness. Eight clinically phobic students were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups—(a) no treatment, (b) VR with no tactile cues, or (c) VR with a physically “touchable” virtual spider—as were 28 nonclinically phobic students. Participants in the 2 VR treatment groups received three 1-hr exposure therapy sessions resulting in clinically significant drops in behavioral avoidance and subjective fear ratings. The tactile augmentation group showed the greatest progress on behavioral measures. On average, participants in this group, who only approached to 5.5 ft of a live spider on the pretreatment Behavioral Avoidance Test (Garcia-Palacios, 2002), were able to approach to 6 in. of the spider after VR exposure treatment and did so with much less anxiety (see www.vrpain.com for details). Practical implications are discussed. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN–COMPUTER INTERACTION, 16(2), 283–300 Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Determination of the Complex Residual Error Parameters of a Calibrated One-Port Vector Network Analyzer

A novel approach for the determination of the complex residual error parameters of a calibrated one-port vector network analyzer (VNA) is proposed. The method is based on a single-reflection measurement employing a high-precision airline terminated by a short. The complex-valued residual directivity and source match are extracted over the entire measured frequency range by applying a sophisticated data analysis scheme utilizing low-pass filtering and linear prediction. By including an additional reflection measurement of the utilized short, the method allows the residual reflection tracking to be evaluated. Based on numerical simulations, advisable settings of method parameters are determined. In addition to the verification of the VNA calibration, the complex residual error parameters can be used for a second-order correction of the measured data. The significant enhancement of accuracy, which can be achieved this way, is demonstrated for standard calibrations by comparing the second-order corrected reflection data with results obtained from the well-established cross-ratio (quarter-wave) method.
A photon–photon quantum gate based on a single atom in an optical resonator

That two photons pass each other undisturbed in free space is ideal for the faithful transmission of information, but prohibits an interaction between the photons. Such an interaction is, however, required for a plethora of applications in optical quantum information processing. The long-standing challenge here is to realize a deterministic photon–photon gate, that is, a mutually controlled logic operation on the quantum states of the photons. This requires an interaction so strong that each of the two photons can shift the other’s phase by π radians. For polarization qubits, this amounts to the conditional flipping of one photon’s polarization to an orthogonal state. So far, only probabilistic gates based on linear optics and photon detectors have been realized, because “no known or foreseen material has an optical nonlinearity strong enough to implement this conditional phase shift”. Meanwhile, tremendous progress in the development of quantum-nonlinear systems has opened up new possibilities for single-photon experiments. Platforms range from Rydberg blockade in atomic ensembles to single-atom cavity quantum electrodynamics. Applications such as single-photon switches and transistors, two-photon gateways, nondestructive photon detectors, photon routers and nonlinear phase shifters have been demonstrated, but none of them with the ideal information carriers: optical qubits in discriminable modes. Here we use the strong light–matter coupling provided by a single atom in a high-finesse optical resonator to realize the Duan–Kimble protocol of a universal controlled phase flip (π phase shift) photon–photon quantum gate. We achieve an average gate fidelity of (76.2 ± 3.6) per cent and specifically demonstrate the capability of conditional polarization flipping as well as entanglement generation between independent input photons. This photon–photon quantum gate is a universal quantum logic element, and therefore could perform most existing two-photon operations. The demonstrated feasibility of deterministic protocols for the optical processing of quantum information could lead to new applications in which photons are essential, especially long-distance quantum communication and scalable quantum computing.
A stochastic model for risk management in global supply chain networks

With the increasing emphasis on supply chain vulnerabilities, effective mathematical tools for analyzing and understanding appropriate supply chain risk management are now attracting much attention. This paper presents a stochastic model of the multi-stage global supply chain network problem, incorporating a set of related risks, namely, supply, demand, exchange, and disruption. We provide a new solution methodology using the Moreau–Yosida regularization, and design an algorithm for treating the multi-stage global supply chain network problem with profit maximization and risk minimization objectives. 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Comparison between heat treated sapwood and heartwood from Pinus pinaster

Sapwood and heartwood samples of Pinus pinaster were treated in an oven at 190 and 200 °C for 2–6 h. Dimensional stability, measured as Anti Shrinking Efficiency (ASE) between 0 and 65 % relative humidity, durability against fungi, mechanical resistance (MOE and MOR), hardness and chemical composition were determined for treated and untreated sapwood and heartwood. Radial ASE reached 52 % for sapwood and 50 % for heartwood, while tangential ASE reached 50 and 40 %, respectively. MOE increased slightly at the beginning of the treatment, decreasing afterwards. No significant differences were found between sapwood and heartwood. MOR decreased by 50 and 30 % for sapwood and heartwood, respectively. A significant increase in durability against Rhodonia placenta was found for both heartwood and sapwood at the higher temperature (200 °C), but at the lower temperature (190 °C) only heartwood showed good results. Pinus pinaster Splint- und Kernholzprüfkörper wurden in einem Ofen bei 190 und 200 °C für eine Dauer von 2–6 Stunden behandelt. Es wurde die Dimensionsstabilität als Schwindungsvergütung (ASE) zwischen 0 und 65 % rel. Luftfeuchte sowie die Dauerhaftigkeit gegen holzzerstörende Pilze, die mechanischen Eigenschaften (Elastizitätsmodul (MOE) und Biegefestigkeit (MOR)), die Härte und die chemische Zusammensetzung von behandeltem und unbehandeltem Splint- und Kernholz bestimmt. Die radiale Schwindungsvergütung von Splintholz betrug 52 % und von Kernholz 50 %; die tangentiale Schwindungsvergütung von Splintholz betrug 50 % und von Kernholz 40 %. Der Elastizitätsmodul nahm zu Behandlungsbeginn leicht zu und nahm anschließend ab. Bei Splint- und Kernholz zeigten sich keine signifikanten Unterschiede. Die Biegefestigkeit von Splintholz nahm um 50 % ab, die von Kernholz um 30 %. Sowohl Splint- als auch Kernholz wiesen bei der höheren Temperatur (200 °C) eine erhöhte Dauerhaftigkeit gegen den holzzerstörenden Pilz Rhodonia placenta auf, wogegen bei der niedrigeren Temperatur (190 °C) nur Kernholz gute Ergebnisse zeigte.
Empathizing and systemizing in adults with and without autism spectrum conditions: cross-cultural stability.

UNLABELLED
This study tests the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory of sex differences and the extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism. Three groups of participants took part: n = 48 people with autism spectrum, n = 137 general population controls, and n = 1,250 university student controls. Each participant completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and the Systemizing Quotient (SQ).


RESULTS
The autism spectrum condition (ASC) group scored significantly lower than controls on the EQ, and significantly higher on the SQ. Among both control groups, females scored significantly higher than males on the EQ, whilst males scored significantly higher than females on the SQ. The distribution of 'brain types', based on the difference between EQ and SQ scores, showed distinct profiles for people with ASC, control males and control females.
Opioid pain medication use after dermatologic surgery: a prospective observational study of 212 dermatologic surgery patients.

OBJECTIVE
To better understand postoperative opioid use after dermatologic surgery.


DESIGN
Prospective observational study.


SETTING
Academic dermatology department.


PATIENTS
The study included 212 adults (1) who were undergoing a single skin excision (including Mohs micrographic surgery), (2) who consented to participate,and (3) who were able to be reached by telephone on postoperative day 3 or 4. Patients who did not meet these criteria and those referred to another physician for further surgical treatment or repair were excluded.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The study examined(1) the incidence of opioid prescription after dermatologic surgery, (2) the percentage of prescribed opioid pain medications used in the postoperative period, and (3) patient and surgical characteristics associated with opioid pain medication prescription and use.


RESULTS
Opioids were prescribed to 72 of the 212 patients(34%). Twenty-five of the 72 patients (35%) who were prescribed opioids did not use them. Forty-nine of 57 patients (86%) who filled an opioid prescription had leftover pills, and 26 of the 49 patients (53%) planned to keep them. Only maximum pain score was significantly associated with opioid use.


CONCLUSIONS
Opioids were over prescribed after dermatologic surgery. Patients who had left over opioids did not dispose of them properly, which could lead to potential misuse and abuse.
ISO 9000 certification benefits, reality or myth?

Given the rapid recent growth in ISO 9000 applications and the business performance benefits being claimed for it by National Accreditation Registrars, it is timely to review the research in this area to see if any substantial proof exists for these claims. The paper explores the literature and finds that there is no proven link between quality certification (ISO 9000) and improved business performance. However, it is clear from the research reviewed on business performance factors, that better quality does have a consistent, positive relationship with business performance. Combining these findings leads to the inference that quality certification to ISO 9000 standards is not consistently associated with having a quality assurance system that delivers improved process control, or better quality. We conclude that the National Accreditation Registrars need to reflect on the standards of proof that they currently use to support claims for business performance improvement from the application of the ISO 9000 standards.
Impact of late calcineurin inhibitor withdrawal on ambulatory blood pressure and carotid intima media thickness in renal transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND
Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) have an unfavorable cardiovascular risk profile in renal transplant recipients. The aim of this substudy was to assess the effects of late CNI or mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) withdrawal on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and carotid intima media thickness.


METHODS
A total of 119 stable renal transplant recipients on triple regimen with steroids, a CNI and MMF were randomized into either the concentration-controlled CNI or MMF withdrawal groups. Patients were treated for traditional cardiovascular risk factors according to predefined targets. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and measurements of intima media thickness were performed at baseline and after 1, 2, and 3 years after randomization.


RESULTS
CNI withdrawal resulted in a significant decline in both ambulatory day- and nighttime blood pressures (daytime: systolic blood pressure, -1.6 mm Hg/y, P=0.018; diastolic blood pressure, -1.3 mm Hg/y, P=0.002; nighttime systolic blood pressure: -1.9 mm Hg/y, P=0.008; diastolic blood pressure: -1.3 mm Hg/y, P=0.014), which was not observed after MMF withdrawal. There was no difference in the proportion of nocturnal nondippers (both groups, 69%, P=0.95). Despite the reduction in ambulatory blood pressure, no effect of CNI withdrawal on carotid intima media thickness was found.


CONCLUSION
In stable renal transplant recipients, late CNI withdrawal from a triple drug regimen decreased blood pressure in comparison with MMF withdrawal but had no specific impact on carotid intima media thickness. Considering the high prevalence of hypertension in patients on CNI therapy, most stable renal transplant recipients may benefit from late CNI withdrawal by improved blood pressure control.
Image Quality Estimation : Software for Objective Evaluation

Liu, He M , Purdue University, August 2016. Image Quality Estimation: Soft-ware for Objective Evaluation . Major Professor: Amy R. Reibman. Digital images are widely used in our daily lives and the quality of images is important to the viewing experience. Low quality images may be blurry or contain noise or compression artifacts. Humans can easily estimate image quality, but it is not practical to use human subjects to measure image quality in real applications. Image Quality Estimators (QE) are algorithms that evaluate image qualities automatically. These QEs compute scores of any input images to represent their qualities. This thesis mainly focuses on evaluating the performance of QEs. Two approaches used in this work are objective software analysis and the subjective database design. For the first, we create a software consisting of functional modules to test QE performances. These modules can load images from subjective databases or generate distortion images from any input images. Their QE scores are computed and analyzed by the statistical method module so that they can be easily interpreted and reported. Some modules in this software are combined and formed into a published software package: Stress Testing Image Quality Estimators (STIQE). In addition to the QE analysis software, a new subjective database is designed and implemented using both online and in-lab subjective tests. The database is designed using the pairwise comparison method and the subjective quality scores are computed using the Bradley-Terry model and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE). While four testing phases are designed for this databases, only phase 1 is reported in this
Daytime Naps, Motor Memory Consolidation and Regionally Specific Sleep Spindles

BACKGROUND
Increasing evidence demonstrates that motor-skill memories improve across a night of sleep, and that non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep commonly plays a role in orchestrating these consolidation enhancements. Here we show the benefit of a daytime nap on motor memory consolidation and its relationship not simply with global sleep-stage measures, but unique characteristics of sleep spindles at regionally specific locations; mapping to the corresponding memory representation.


METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
Two groups of subjects trained on a motor-skill task using their left hand - a paradigm known to result in overnight plastic changes in the contralateral, right motor cortex. Both groups trained in the morning and were tested 8 hr later, with one group obtaining a 60-90 minute intervening midday nap, while the other group remained awake. At testing, subjects that did not nap showed no significant performance improvement, yet those that did nap expressed a highly significant consolidation enhancement. Within the nap group, the amount of offline improvement showed a significant correlation with the global measure of stage-2 NREM sleep. However, topographical sleep spindle analysis revealed more precise correlations. Specifically, when spindle activity at the central electrode of the non-learning hemisphere (left) was subtracted from that in the learning hemisphere (right), representing the homeostatic difference following learning, strong positive relationships with offline memory improvement emerged-correlations that were not evident for either hemisphere alone.


CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE
These results demonstrate that motor memories are dynamically facilitated across daytime naps, enhancements that are uniquely associated with electrophysiological events expressed at local, anatomically discrete locations of the brain.
An abstract Coifman-Rochberg-Weiss commutator theorem

We formulate and prove a version of the celebrated Coifman-Rochberg-Weiss commutator theorem for the real method of interpolation
An Organization Ontology for Enterprise Modelling

The paper presents our exploration into an organization ontology for the TOVE enterprise model. Its primary focus has been in linking structure and behavior through the concept of empowerment. Empowerment is the right of an organization agent to perform status changing actions. This linkage is critical to the unification of enterprise models and their executability.
Longitudinal evaluation of CA-125 velocity and prediction of ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether CA-125 velocity is a statistically significant predictor of ovarian cancer and develop a classification rule to screen for ovarian cancer.


METHODS
In the ovarian component of the PLCO cancer screening trial, 28,038 women aged 55-74 had at least two CA-125 screening tests. Ovarian cancer was diagnosed in 72 (0.26%) women. A multiple logistic regression model was developed to evaluate CA-125 velocity and other related covariates as predictors of ovarian cancer. Predictive accuracy was assessed by the concordance index and measures of discrimination and calibration while the fit of the model was assessed by the Hosmer and Lemeshow's goodness-of-fit χ(2)test.


RESULTS
CA-125 velocity decreased as the number of CA-125 measurements increased but was unaffected by age at baseline screen and family history of ovarian cancer. The average velocity (19.749U/ml per month) of the cancer group was more than 500 times the average velocity (0.035U/ml per month) of the non-cancer group.


CONCLUSION
Among six covariates used in the model, CA-125 velocity and time intervals between baseline and second to last screening test and between last two screening tests were statistically significant predictors of ovarian cancer. The chance of having ovarian cancer increased as velocity increased, and the chance decreased when the time intervals between baseline and the second to last screening test and between last two screening tests of an individual increased.