LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic accuracy of fibrinogen to differentiate appendicitis from nonspecific abdominal pain in children.

AIM
The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the biomarker fibrinogen (FB), along with the more traditional markers white blood cell count (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and C-reactive protein (CRP), to discriminate appendicitis from nonspecific abdominal pain (NSAP) in children.


METHODS
We prospectively evaluated all children aged 5 to 15 years admitted for suspected appendicitis at an academic pediatric emergency department during 2 years. Diagnostic accuracy of FB (prothrombin time-derived method), WBC, ANC, and CRP was assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve.


RESULTS
A total of 275 patients were enrolled in the study (143 NSAP, 100 uncomplicated appendicitis, and 32 complicated appendicitis). WBC and ANC had a moderate diagnostic accuracy for appendicitis vs NSAP (WBC: AUC 0.79, ANC: AUC 0.79). FB and CPR had a poor diagnostic accuracy for appendicitis vs NSAP (FB: AUC 0.63, CRP: AUC 0.64) and a good diagnostic accuracy for complicated vs uncomplicated appendicitis (FB: AUC 0.86, CRP: AUC 0.90). All inflammatory markers had a good diagnostic accuracy for complicated appendicitis vs NSAP.


CONCLUSIONS
WBC and ANC are useful inflammatory markers to discriminate appendicitis from NSAP. FB and CRP are not very useful to discriminate appendicitis from NSAP, but they discriminate properly complicated from uncomplicated appendicitis and NSAP, with a similar diagnostic accuracy. In a child with suspected appendicitis, a plasma FB level (prothrombin time-derived method) >520 mg/dL is associated to an increased likelihood of complicated appendicitis.
Redefining innovation — eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics

While innovation processes toward sustainable development (eco-innovations) have received increasing attention during the past years, theoretical and methodological approaches to analyze these processes are poorly developed. Against this background, the term eco-innovation is introduced in this paper addressing explicitly three kinds of changes towards sustainable development: technological, social and institutional innovation. Secondly, the potential contribution of neoclassical and (co-)evolutionary approaches from environmental and innovation economics to eco-innovation research is discussed. Three peculiarities of eco-innovation are identified: the double externality problem, the regulatory push/pull effect and the increasing importance of social and institutional innovation. While the first two are widely ignored in innovation economics, the third is at the least not elaborated appropriately. The consideration of these peculiarities may help to overcome market failure by establishing a specific eco-innovation policy and to avoid a ‘technology bias’ through a broader understanding of innovation. Finally, perspectives for a specific contribution of ecological economics to eco-innovation research are drawn. It is argued that methodological pluralism as established in ecological economics would be very beneficial for eco-innovation research. A theoretical framework integrating elements from both neoclassical and evolutionary approaches should be pursued in order to consider the complexity of factors influencing innovation decisions as well as the specific role of regulatory instruments. And the experience gathered in ecological economics integrating ecological, social and economic aspects of sustainable development is highly useful for opening up innovation research to social and institutional changes. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Pragmatic insights into a nurse-delivered motivational interviewing intervention in the outpatient cardiac rehabilitation setting.

PURPOSE
Despite an increasing interest in motivational interviewing as a strategy to facilitate behavior change in people with cardiovascular disease, its use in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) appears minimal. Therefore, it is unclear whether the clinical method of motivational interviewing requires modification for the CR population, in which it could be argued that people are motivated and engaged. The purposes of this report are to describe processes in incorporating motivational interviewing in the CR setting and to discuss insights gained regarding the use of this intervention.


METHODS
As part of a randomized controlled trial currently recruiting in the CR setting, patients allocated to the intervention group participate in 2 motivational interviewing sessions with a motivational interviewing-trained nurse. To ascertain treatment fidelity, this process review comprised 3 sources: (1) the extant literature on motivational interviewing, (2) reflections of the project team, and (3) data derived from audiotaped interviews.


RESULTS
Key observations reflect that the motivational interviewing technique is well received, with patients appreciating the opportunity to "tell their story". Preliminary qualitative data revealed that patients rate "health" and "family" as their most important values, with many commenting on their recovery phase as a "second chance".


CONCLUSIONS
This report demonstrates that motivational interviewing is potentially useful and has significant promise in the CR setting. Discussion of pragmatic considerations as well as outcome data should assist clinicians in implementing this model of intervention in the CR setting.
The Gavagai Living Lexicon

This paper presents the Gavagai Living Lexicon, which is an online distributional semantic model currently available in 20 different languages. We describe the underlying distributional semantic model, and how we have solved some of the challenges in applying such a model to large amounts of streaming data. We also describe the architecture of our implementation, and discuss how we deal with continuous quality assurance of the lexicon.
Reservoir Computing by Felix Grezes

Introduction: Even before Artificial Intelligence was its own field of computational science, men have tried to mimic the activity of the human brain. In the early 1940s the first artificial neuron models were created as purely mathematical concepts. Over the years, ideas from neuroscience and computer science were used to develop the modern Neural Network. The interest in these models rose quickly but fell when they failed to be successfully applied to practical applications, and rose again in the late 2000s with the drastic increase in computing power, notably in the field of natural language processing, for example with the state-of-the-art speech recognizer making heavy use of deep neural networks. Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), a class of neural networks with cycles in the network, exacerbates the difficulties of traditional neural nets. Slow convergence limiting the use to small networks, and difficulty to train through gradient-descent methods because of the recurrent dynamics have hindered research on RNNs, yet their biological plausibility and their capability to model dynamical systems over simple functions makes then interesting for computational researchers. Reservoir Computing emerges as a solution to these problems that RNNs traditionally face. Promising to be both theoretically sound and computationally fast, Reservoir Computing has already been applied successfully to numerous fields: natural language processing, computational biology and neuroscience, robotics, even physics. This survey will explore the history and appeal of both traditional feed-forward and recurrent neural networks, before describing the theory and models of this new reservoir computing paradigm. Finally recent papers using reservoir computing in a variety of scientific fields will be reviewed.
Exercise programs for LVAD supported patients: A snapshot from the ESC affiliated countries.

BACKGROUND
To contribute to the protocol development of exercise training in LVAD supported patients by reviewing the exercise programs for those patients in the ESC affiliated countries.


METHODS
A subset of data from 77 (26 countries) LVAD implanting centers that participated in the Extra-HF survey (170 centers) was analyzed.


RESULTS
Of the 77 LVAD implanting centers, 45 (58%) reported to have a functioning exercise training program (ETP) for LVAD patients. In 21 (47%) of the 45 ETP programs in LVAD implanting centers, patients begin their ETP during their in-hospital post-operative recovery period. Most centers (71%) have an early post-discharge program for their patients, and 24% of the centers offer a long-term maintenance program. The professionals involved in the ETPs are mainly physiotherapists (73%), psychologists, cardiac rehab nurses (22%), or cardiologists specialized in rehabilitation (22%). Not all programs include the treating cardiologist or surgeons. Most of the ETPs (84%) include aerobic endurance training, mostly cycling (73%), or walking (62%) at low intensity intervals. Some programs apply resistance training (47%), respiratory muscle training (55%), or balance training (44%). Reasons for the absence of ETPs are referral of patients to another center (14 centers) and lack of resources (11 centers).


CONCLUSION
There is a great variance in ETPs in LVAD implanting centers. Not all the implanting centers have an ETP, and those that do have adopted a local protocol. Clear guidance on ETP supplied by LVAD implanting centers to LVAD supported patients and more evidence for optimal modalities are needed.
Total hip arthroplasty using TRI-LOCK® DePuy bone preservation femoral stem: our experience.

PURPOSE
In this study we report our 3-years experience (from January 2010 to December 2013) of 101 total hip arthroplasties using Tri-Lock® DePuy bone preservation femoral stem, all performed in our clinic.


METHODS
101 patients (F54-M47; median age around 69 yrs, range 42-84 yrs). 51 arthroplasties were implanted on the right side whereas 50 on the left side. The average follow-up was 27,3 months. All the arthroplasties were coupled with Pinnacle® polyethylene acetabular cup system; 98 prostheses were implanted cementless whereas cement was used in 3 cases.


RESULTS
The Tri-Lock® femoral stem allows both soft tissues and bone stock preservation, leading to greater trochanter maintenance, less spongy bone removal and distal cavity bone tissue conservation. In our experience, we were able to implant the Tri-Lock® femoral stem even in osteoporotic and overweight patients using Gription® porous coating. This allowed for commencing an intensive rehabilitation program with stable load from the following day, without observing any early complications or loosening.


CONCLUSIONS
According to us, this device is solid and safe, providing remarkable sparing of both soft tissues and bone stock.
A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of Honey-Impregnated Dressing for Treating Diabetic Foot Ulcer.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effect of Beri-honey-impregnated dressing on diabetic foot ulcer and compare it with normal saline dressing.


STUDY DESIGN
A randomized, controlled trial.


PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
Sughra Shafi Medical Complex, Narowal, Pakistan and Bhatti International Trust (BIT) Hospital, Affiliated with Central Park Medical College, Lahore, from February 2006 to February 2010.


METHODOLOGY
Patients with Wagner's grade 1 and 2 ulcers were enrolled. Those patients were divided in two groups; group A (n=179) treated with honey dressing and group B (n=169) treated with normal saline dressing. Outcome measures were calculated in terms of proportion of wounds completely healed (primary outcome), wound healing time, and deterioration of wounds. Patients were followed-up for a maximum of 120 days.


RESULTS
One hundred and thirty six wounds (75.97%) out of 179 were completely healed with honey dressing and 97 (57.39%) out of 169 wtih saline dressing (p=0.001). The median wound healing time was 18.00 (6 - 120) days (Median with IQR) in group A and 29.00 (7 - 120) days (Median with IQR) in group B (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSION
The present results showed that honey is an effective dressing agent instead of conventional dressings, in treating patients of diabetic foot ulcer.
Coverage Strategies for Wireless Sensor Networks

Coverage is one of the main research interests in wireless sensor networks (WSN), it is used to determine the quality of service (QoS) of the networks. Therefore this paper aims to review the common strategies use in solving coverage problem in WSN. The strategies studied are used during deployment phase where the coverage is calculated based on the placement of the sensors on the region of interest (ROI). The strategies reviewed are categorized into three groups based on the approaches used, namely; force based, grid based or computational geometry based approach. Keywords—Computational geometry, coverage, Delaunay triangulation, force, grid, Voronoi diagram, wireless sensor networks.
Effect of seasonal variation on hospital admission due to cardiovascular disease - findings from an observational study in a divisional hospital in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND
Seasonal variation in the hospital admission due to cardiovascular disease (CVDs) has been widely reported. However, very limited data on Bangladesh is available regarding this matter. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of seasonal variation on hospital admission due to CVDs in a leading hospital of Bangladesh.


METHODS
Over a period of two years (from May 2010 to April 2012), the number of patients hospitalized due to various CVDs and number of death among these hospitalized patients were recorded on a day-to-day basis. The data were recorded according to the chief reason of hospital admission such as myocardial infarction or MI (acute, old and non-ST elevation), unstable angina (UA), exaggeration of stable angina, acute left ventricular failure (LVF), cardiomyopathy (ischemic and dilated) or heart failure, syncope and arrhythmia. The data were cumulated and analyzed on month-wise and season-wise manner.


RESULTS
A total of 8371 patients were admitted over the study period (5909 male and 2462 female; M/F ratio - 2.4:1). The highest number of patients were admitted during winter (n = 2839, 33.9%) and lowest during summer (n = 1648, 19.7%). The hospital admission was also significantly higher in winter compared to other seasons (p-value versus summer, autumn and spring was 0.018, 0.020 and 0.023 respectively). Acute MI (n = 2374), Acute LVF (n = 1582) and UA (n = 1277) were the top three reasons for hospitalization. Number of death also significantly higher in winter compared to other seasons (p-value versus summer, winter and spring was 0.044, 0.050 and 0.014 respectively).


CONCLUSION
A seasonal variation in the hospital admission due to CVDs with a peak in winter was clearly demonstrated in the study. These data could be useful to improve causative prevention measures, therapeutic management, and educational strategies.
Cooperative models in cloud and mobile cloud computing

Nowadays, smart phones are considered as an essential component of our daily life. These devices can be used in social communication, mobile commerce, as a mobile office, and in many other useful applications. But these devices have serious challenges such as a short battery lifetime and a limited storage and limited processing capacities. In this regard, the cooperative cloudlet-based Mobile Cloud Computing model provides possible solutions to overcome these limitations. In this cooperative model, the cloudlets cooperate with each other to fulfill user requests via WiFi connections. It also avoids the need to access the enterprise cloud through expensive technologies such as 3G and 4G, resulting in less overall consumed power in mobile devices. In a similar model, virtual data centers in cloud computing environment can cooperate to share all resources they have. In this paper, we will represent the cooperative models of a large-scale cloudlet deployment for mobile cloud computing and cooperative virtual data centers for cloud computing.
Longitudinal effects of an HIV testing and counseling programme for low-income Latina women.

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of an HIV antibody testing, counseling and education programme on the knowledge and practices of low-income Los Angeles Latina women.


METHODS
The study design was prospective and longitudinal involving pre-test, post-test and retest measures over a 2-year period. The study employed an experimental group and a comparison group which did not receive the intervention. The study group was comprised of a convenience sample of 508 low-income Latina women who were recruited from the Public Health Service nutrition programme for women, infants and children (WIC). The comparison group (n = 51) was recruited from the same setting. A battery of instruments was selected to measure HIV knowledge and practices, the social support received, self-esteem, the level of acculturation and sociodemographic characteristics. The instruments were administered at pre-test, 2 weeks post-test and 1 year retest. The HIV antibody serostatus was assessed at pre-test and retest. An intervention protocol based on cultural competence, women as traditional health care givers and the major transmission categories was provided after the pre-test and was reinforced post-test. Finally, qualitative data were collected from the focus group participants (n = 55) to evaluate the intervention protocol.


RESULTS
The participants in the study made significant improvements in HIV knowledge and reported condom use practices from pre-test to post-test that were retained on retest. The comparison group subjects did not make significant pre-test-post-test improvements on these measures.


CONCLUSIONS
It should be noted that the changes in practices made by the study group did not necessarily reduce their risk of HIV infection or transmission and were not related to the demonstrated knowledge and skills improvement. Of special significance to programme planners, educators and researchers, both the quantitative and qualitative data revealed problem areas with the intervention protocol related to cultural norms and the possible fragmentation of information based on the behavioral transmission categories.
PLL with fuzzy logic controller based shunt Active Power Filter for harmonic and reactive power compensation

This paper presents a novel fuzzy logic controller in conjunction with phase locked loop synchronization based shunt Active Power Filter (APF) for harmonics and reactive power compensation in the distribution grid due to the non-linear loads. The Mamdani-type fuzzy logic is adpted and this controller is linguistic description, so it does not require a mathematical calculations. The active power filter is implemented with current controlled voltage source inverter (VSI) and is connected at the point of common coupling for compensating current harmonics by injecting equal but opposite harmonic components. The desired reference current(s) are extracted using FLC with PLL-algorithm and this method maintains the dc-side capacitor voltage of the inverter nearly constant. The VSI gate switching signals are derived from adaptive-hysteresis current controller. The adaptive-hysteresis controller changes the bandwidth based on instantaneous compensation current variation; it is used to optimize the required switching frequency. The shunt APF system is investigated and the performances parameters are verified under different non-linear load conditions.
Knowledge and use of prevention measures related to dengue in northern Thailand.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency and determinants of knowledge of dengue infection in three sites in northern Thailand, and to compare prevention measures of people with and without knowledge of dengue.


METHODS
In May 2001 we conducted an epidemiological survey among 1650 persons living in three areas in northern Thailand. Knowledge of dengue and the use of prevention measures were measured by means of a structured questionnaire. Differences in knowledge of dengue and the use of prevention measures between risk groups were calculated by chi-square test. Logistic regression was used to identify determinants of knowledge.


RESULTS
Of the 1650 persons, 67% had knowledge of dengue. Fever (81%) and rash (77%) were the most frequently mentioned symptoms. Persons with knowledge of dengue reported a significantly higher use of prevention measures than persons without knowledge of dengue. In multivariate analyses, knowledge of dengue significantly differed by age, sex, occupation and site (P < 0.05). Younger people knew more about dengue than older persons: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 6.75 [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.32-10.6] for the 15-29 age group compared with people aged 60 and older. In comparison with farmers (reference group), knowledge of dengue was significantly higher among students (aOR: 10.6, 95% CI: 4.27-26.4), but lower among housewives or unemployed persons (aOR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.31-0.64).


CONCLUSION
The overall knowledge of dengue was high, but housewives, unemployed and old persons had relatively little knowledge of dengue. Therefore, these groups may need special attention in future dengue education programmes. Persons with knowledge of the disease more frequently reported the use of preventive measures, indicating the value of education programmes as a tool in dengue prevention.
Distraction lengthening of the ulna in children with radial longitudinal deficiency.

PURPOSE
Children with radial longitudinal deficiency have very short forearms. The Ilizarov method of distraction osteogenesis has been used to increase extremity length, but results differ with the underlying condition and the limb being lengthened. The purpose of this study is to examine retrospectively the outcomes of Ilizarov lengthening of the ulna in children with radial longitudinal deficiency.


METHODS
Nine children with radial longitudinal deficiency had 13 ulnar lengthenings using the Ilizarov method; 8 with unilateral deficiency had 9 lengthenings to improve appearance, and 1 child with bilateral radial longitudinal deficiency had 4 lengthenings to improve function. All had previous wrist centralization surgery, and all but 1 had a carpal osteotomy at the time of lengthening to reduce residual wrist angulation.


RESULTS
The average gain for each lengthening was 4.4 cm (range 1.8-8.0 cm) with an average lengthening index of 9 weeks per cm (range 4-24 weeks per cm). All patients at each lengthening experienced at least 1 pin site infection that required antibiotic treatment. Other complications included delayed union requiring internal fixation and bone grafting in 3 lengthenings and recurrence of radial deviation requiring shortening and wrist arthrodesis in 1 case.


CONCLUSIONS
The Ilizarov technique is an effective method for lengthening the ulna in children with radial longitudinal deficiency. The process of lengthening is prolonged and arduous with frequent complications. In successful cases, however, patients are pleased with the function and appearance of their lengthened forearms.