LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
An evaluation of a Diabetes Specialist Nurse prescriber on the system of delivering medicines to patients with diabetes.

AIM
To evaluate the impact of a Diabetes Specialist Nurse prescriber on insulin and oral hypoglycaemic agent medication errors and length of stay.


BACKGROUND
The National Health Service has committed to a 40% reduction in the number of drug errors in the use of prescribed medicines. Drug errors in diabetes care are a common cause of significant morbidity and complications. Nurse prescribing creates an opportunity for nurses to improve care for these patients.


DESIGN
A quasi-experiment using six wards in a single hospital trust.


METHODS
Inpatient care of a convenience sample of patients with diabetes was evaluated before (n = 27) and after (n = 29) the intervention of a Diabetes Specialist Nurse prescriber. Prospective data were collected to measure insulin and oral hypoglycaemic medication errors and length of stay.


RESULTS
There was a significant reduction in the total number of errors between the pre-intervention and intervention group (mean reduction 21 errors) (p = 0.016). The median length of stay was reduced by three days. The total number of errors and length of stay were affected by admission category (p = 0.0004).


CONCLUSIONS
A medicines management intervention, provided by a Diabetes Specialist Nurse prescriber, had a positive effect on the system of delivering medicines to patients with diabetes and significantly reduced the number of errors. This reduction had some effect on length of stay. The cost saving was sufficient to finance a Diabetes Specialist Nurse prescriber post.


RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
(i) Errors frequently occur in the prescription and administration of medicines to patients with diabetes. (ii) The education of healthcare professionals is a factor contributing to these errors. (iii) Nurse prescribing provides a new system by which to educate patients and staff about their medicines. (iv) A Diabetes Specialist Nurse prescriber can reduce insulin and OHA MEs. This reduction had some effect on LOS.
Cone beam-computed topographic evaluation of a central incisor with an open apex and a failed root canal treatment using one-step apexification with Biodentine™: A case report

A symptomatic endodontically treated immature tooth with periapical pathology presents multiple challenges to the clinician. Owing to incomplete root formation, gutta percha removal has to be done carefully without further damaging the periapical tissue or pushing the obturating material beyond the apex. Nonsurgical approach toward treating such a tooth would necessitate the creation of an apical barrier followed by conventional root canal treatment. Current literature suggests one-step apexification with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), with an apical matrix as the treatment of choice. A new calcium silicate-based cement also called as dentine substitute by the manufacturers with good handling properties has been introduced recently by the trade name Biodentine™ (Septodont, St. Maurdes Fossés, France). This case report presents management of a secondary endodontic case with an open apex treated with the concept of 'lesion sterilization and tissue repair (LSTR)' using triantibiotic paste and Biodentine™ for apical barrier formation. A 12-month follow up with cone beam-computed topography (CBCT) exhibited progressive involution of periapical radiolucency with indications of good healing of the periapical tissues and absence of clinical symptoms.
An intraday market risk management approach based on textual analysis

Available online 19 August 2010
Complete nondestructive analysis of two-photon six-qubit hyperentangled Bell states assisted by cross-Kerr nonlinearity

Hyperentanglement, the entanglement in several degrees of freedom (DOFs) of a quantum system, has attracted much attention as it can be used to increase both the channel capacity of quantum communication and its security largely. Here, we present the first scheme to completely distinguish the hyperentangled Bell states of two-photon systems in three DOFs with the help of cross-Kerr nonlinearity without destruction, including two longitudinal momentum DOFs and the polarization DOF. We use cross-Kerr nonlinearity to construct quantum nondemolition detectors which can be used to make a parity-check measurement and analyze Bell states of two-photon systems in different DOFs. Our complete scheme for two-photon six-qubit hyperentangled Bell-state analysis may be useful for the practical applications in quantum information, especially in long-distance high-capacity quantum communication.
Polygonal approximation of digital planar curves through adaptive optimizations

In this paper, we present a novel non-parametric polygonal approximation algorithm for digital planar curves. The proposed algorithm first selects a set of points (called cut-points) on the contour which are of very ‘high’ curvature. An optimization procedure is then applied to find adaptively the best fitting polygonal approximations for the different segments of the contour as defined by the cut-points. The optimization procedure uses one of the efficiency measures for polygonal approximation algorithms as the objective function. Our algorithm adaptively locates segments of the contour with different levels of details. The proposed algorithm follows the contour more closely where the level of details on the curve is high, while addressing noise by using suppression techniques. This makes the algorithm very robust for noisy, real-life contours having different levels of details. The proposed algorithm performs favorably when compared with other polygonal approximation algorithms using the popular shapes. In addition, the effectiveness of the algorithm is shown by measuring its performance over a large set of handwritten Arabic characters and MPEG7 CE Shape-1 Part B database. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is very stable and robust compared with other algorithms. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Interference mitigation for improved DTV reception

Broadcasting has always been limited by interference between signals. With the introduction of digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DTTB) in the existing analog TV channels, interference remains a limiting factor in the post-transition era after analog signals are turned off and the spectrum is repacked. The use of first adjacent channels and the "UHF taboo channels" in the same community without transmitter spacing limits is unprecedented, and is a challenge to digital television (DTV) receiver designers. This paper discusses the nature of interference between DTV signals on adjacent and UHF taboo channels, and propose some solutions to receiver designers to mitigate the problem.
Back to the Future: The Story of Squeak - A Usable Smalltalk Written in Itself

Squeak is an open, highly-portable Smalltalk implementation whose virtual machine is written entirely in Smalltalk, making it easy to. debug, analyze, and change. To achieve practical performance, a translator produces an equivalent C program whose performance is comparable to commercial Smalltalks.Other noteworthy aspects of Squeak include: a compact object format that typically requires only a single word of overhead per object; a simple yet efficient incremental garbage collector for 32-bit direct pointers; efficient bulk-mutation of objects; extensions of BitBlt to handle color of any depth and anti-aliased image rotation and scaling; and real-time sound and music synthesis written entirely in Smalltalk.
A school-based intervention to teach 3-4 grades children about healthy heart; the Persian Gulf healthy heart project.

BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular health promotion in children has the potential to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis in both the individual child and the population at large. It thus seems eminently reasonable to initiate healthful lifestyle training in childhood to promote improved cardiovascular health in adult life.


AIMS
To test the hypothesis that a year long, classroom-based education for the third and fourth graders could change their knowledge scores about healthy heart.


SETTINGS AND DESIGN
A randomized, controlled trial in elementary schools of Bushehr/Iran.


METHODS AND MATERIALS
A total of 14 elementary schools, categorized by socioeconomic types and male and female setting were selected and randomized into control or intervention groups. Subjects were 1128 third and fourth graders, aged 9 to 10 years (49.1% boys and 50.9% girls). Over a course of 8 weeks, health educators and sport teachers of the elementary schools presented two hours sessions per week on heart function, nutrition, and exercise for healthy heart and living tobacco free for the intervention group. The education program was based on HeartPower! Program, an American Heart Association program.


STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test and Bonferroni correction for the two pair wise comparisons were used.


RESULTS
Total heart knowledge at posttest was 25% correct higher in the intervention than in the control group (p< 0.001). Difference in means of total healthy heart knowledge scores between control and intervention group increased from 1.43 points in baseline to 4.02 points in posttest (p< 0.001).


CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that the classroom-based cardiovascular health promotion had a significant effect on the heart healthy knowledge. Therefore, schools provide an excellent setting for introducing comprehensive healthy heart education and promotion of cardiovascular health to the general population.
Development of cross-linguistic variation in speech and gesture: motion events in English and Turkish.

The way adults express manner and path components of a motion event varies across typologically different languages both in speech and cospeech gestures, showing that language specificity in event encoding influences gesture. The authors tracked when and how this multimodal cross-linguistic variation develops in children learning Turkish and English, 2 typologically distinct languages. They found that children learn to speak in language-specific ways from age 3 onward (i.e., English speakers used 1 clause and Turkish speakers used 2 clauses to express manner and path). In contrast, English- and Turkish-speaking children's gestures looked similar at ages 3 and 5 (i.e., separate gestures for manner and path), differing from each other only at age 9 and in adulthood (i.e., English speakers used 1 gesture, but Turkish speakers used separate gestures for manner and path). The authors argue that this pattern of the development of cospeech gestures reflects a gradual shift to language-specific representations during speaking and shows that looking at speech alone may not be sufficient to understand the full process of language acquisition.
Indexed left atrial volume is superior to left atrial diameter in predicting nonvalvular atrial fibrillation recurrence after successful cardioversion: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND
Although indexed left atrial volume (iLAV) is the most accurate measure of left atrial size, it has not been evaluated prospectively as predictor of recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AFib) after successful cardioversion (CV).


METHODS
We prospectively selected 76 patients (mean age 66.1 ± 13.6 years, 65.8% men) with AFib who underwent successful CV. Baseline clinical and echocardiographic characteristics were obtained before CV. LAV was measured using Simpson's method and indexed to body surface area. All patients were scheduled for follow-up visit at 1, 6, 12 months, and then annually. A 24-hour Holter ECG was performed within 6 months and each time the patients reported symptoms suggestive of arrhythmia.


RESULTS
The 52 patients (68.4%) with AFib recurrence had larger iLAV (35.5 ± 8.9 mL/m(2) vs 27.0 ± 6.7 mL/m(2) , P < 0.001). Anteroposterior LA diameter was not associated with AFib relapse (OR 1.08, 95% CI: 0.96-1.21, P = 0.09). Each unit increase in iLAV was associated with a 1.15-fold increased risk of recurrence (OR 1.15, 95% CI: 1.06-1.25, P < 0.001). In a multivariable model, iLAV remained the only independent predictor of relapse (adjusted OR 1.14, 95% CI: 1.02-1.28, P = 0.02). The area under ROC curves, generated to compare LA diameter, and iLAV as predictors of AFib recurrence were 0.56 (SE 0.07) versus 0.78 (SE 0.05), respectively (P = 0.003).


CONCLUSION
This is the first prospective study to show that larger iLAV, as a more accurate measure of LA remodeling than anteroposterior diameter, is strongly and independently associated with a higher risk of AFib recurrence after CV.
GEOMETRIC MODELLING AND CALIBRATION OF FISHEYE LENS CAMERA SYSTEMS

The paper describes a geometric projection model for fisheye lenses and presents results of the calibration of fisheye lens camera systems based on it. For fisheye images the real projection model does not comply with the central perspective. In addition, the lenses are subject to considerable distortions. The fisheye lens projection follows an approximately linear relation between the incidence angle of an object point’s beam and the distance from the corresponding image point to the principle point. The developed projection model is extended by several distortion parameters. For the calibration of fisheye lens camera systems, a calibration room was created and equipped with number targets. They were arranged to have a good distribution all over the image. The reference object coordinates of the targets were determined with high precision. The calibration itself is done by spatial resection from a single image of the calibration room. The calibration parameters include interior orientation, exterior orientation and lens distortion. Besides the geometric model for fisheye lenses, the paper shows practical results from the calibration of a high quality fisheye lens on a 14 mega pixel camera as well as a consumer camera equipped with a fisheye lens.
Patient and physician factors associated with participation in cervical and uterine cancer trials: an NRG/GOG247 study.

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to identify patient and physician factors related to enrollment onto Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) trials.


METHODS
Prospective study of women with primary or recurrent cancer of the uterus or cervix treated at a GOG institution from July 2010 to January 2012. Logistic regression examined probability of availability, eligibility and enrollment in a GOG trial. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for significant (p<0.05) results reported.


RESULTS
Sixty institutions, 781 patients, and 150 physicians participated, 300/780 (38%) had a trial available, 290/300 had known participation status. Of these, 150 women enrolled (59.5%), 102 eligible did not enroll (35%), 38 (13%) were ineligible. Ethnicity and specialty of physician, practice type, data management availability, and patient age were significantly associated with trial availability. Patients with >4 comorbidities (OR 4.5; CI 1.7-11.8) had higher odds of trial ineligibility. Non-White patients (OR 7.9; CI 1.3-46.2) and patients of Black physicians had greater odds of enrolling (OR 56.5; CI 1.1-999.9) in a therapeutic trial. Significant patient therapeutic trial enrollment factors: belief trial may help (OR 76.9; CI 4.9->1000), concern about care if not on trial (OR12.1; CI 2.1-71.4), pressure to enroll (OR .27; CI 0.12-.64), caregiving without pay (OR 0.13; CI .02-.84). Significant physician beliefs were: patients would not do well on standard therapy (OR 3.6; CI 1.6-8.4), and trial would not be time consuming (OR 3.3; CI 1.3-8.1).


CONCLUSIONS
Trial availability, patient and physician beliefs were factors identified that if modified could improve enrollment in cancer cooperative group clinical trials.
A Rare Case of Gestational Gigantomastia with Hypercalcemia: The Challenges of Management and Follow up

BACKGROUND
Gigantomastia is a breast disorder marked by exaggerated rapid growth of the breasts, generally bilaterally. Since this disorder is very rare and has been reported only in sparse case reports its etiology has yet to be fully established. Treatment is aimed at improving the clinical and psychological symptoms and reducing the treatment side effects; however, the best therapeutic option varies from case to case.


CASE PRESENTATION
The present report described a case of gestational gigantomastia in a 30-year-old woman, gravida 2, parity 1, 17 week pregnant admitted to Pars Hospital, Tehran, Iran, on May 2014. The patient was admitted to hospital at week 17 of pregnancy, although her breasts initially had begun to enlarge from the first trimester. The patient developed hypercalcemia in her 32nd week of pregnancy. The present report followed this patient from diagnosis until the completion of treatment.


CONCLUSION
Although gestational gigantomastia is a rare condition, its timely prognosis and careful examination of some conditions like hyperprolactinemia and hypercalcemia is essential in successful management of this condition.
Cytokeratin 19-fragments (CYFRA 21-1) as a novel serum biomarker for response and survival in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer

Background:CYFRA 21-1 serves as biomarker in several epithelial malignancies. However, its role in pancreatic cancer (PC) has not yet been investigated.Methods:Within a prospective single-centre study serial blood samples were collected from patients with confirmed advanced PC. Pre-treatment values and weekly measurements of CYFRA 21-1, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (assessed by Elecsys 2010, Roche Diagnostics) during palliative first-line chemotherapy were obtained. Biomarker data were correlated with objective response (determined by RECIST) as well as time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) using uni- and multivariate analyses.Results:Seventy-eight patients were included, 45% of these received treatment in prospective clinical trials. Median TTP was 3.9 months, median OS 7.7 months. Pre-treatment CYFRA 21-1 levels were significantly associated with performance status (P=0.0399) and stage of disease (P=0.0001). Marker values before chemotherapy and at the 2-month staging of all three markers were considered significant predictors for objective treatment response. Pre-treatment CYFRA 21-1 levels, as well as CA 19-9 values, could be applied to define subgroups (categorised by tertiles) with a different OS outcome (CYFRA: 14.8 vs 7.1 vs 4.8 months, CA 19-9: 14.2 vs 7.1 vs 5.2 months; P<0.0001). CYFRA 21-1 and CA 19-9 (both as categorised and as continuous variables) showed a highly significant correlation with TTP and OS at nearly all-time points assessed in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, only CYFRA 21-1 and performance status were independent predictors for OS.Conclusions:CYFRA 21-1 may serve as a valuable tool for monitoring treatment response and assessing prognosis in advanced PC.
Sharing decisions during diagnostic consultations; an observational study in pediatric oncology.

OBJECTIVE
Children and parents need to make important decisions in the period of being informed about the diagnosis of childhood cancer. Although parents' and children's involvement is legally required, it is unclear whether oncologists involve them. This study explored which decisions families face, how oncologists involve them in shared decision-making (SDM) and which factors are associated with this process.


METHODS
Forty-three families with children, starting treatment for childhood cancer, were recruited from three Dutch academic pediatric oncology clinics. Diagnostic consultations were audio-taped and coded with the OPTION.


RESULTS
On average, 3.5 decisions were discussed per consultation. Most frequently discussed decisions concerned registration in a patient database (42%) and how to deal with hair loss (33%). Oncologists' assistance in SDM focused on giving information and ensuring the parents' and the child's understanding. The hospital in which children were treated (F(2,2)=5.39, p=.01) and discussing trial participation (F(1,1)=8.11, p=.01) were associated with oncologists' assistance.


CONCLUSION
Decision-making during diagnostic consultations appears to focus on non-treatment related decisions. Oncologists' assistance mostly concerned sharing information, instead of SDM.


PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
Additional research is needed to provide insight in how to increase oncologists' assistance, while taking into account children's and parents' preferences concerning SDM.
Selective electron beam melting of an aluminum bronze: Microstructure and mechanical properties

Abstract In this work, periodic macro-cellular structures with dense struts are successfully fabricated from an aluminum brass by selective electron beam melting (SEBM). The process window for the SEBM of the Cu–Al alloy is developed. The microstructure and the mechanical properties of the Cu–Al samples are studied.
Upper limb children action-observation training (UP-CAT): a randomised controlled trial in Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

BACKGROUND
Rehabilitation for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP) aimed to improve function of the impaired upper limb (UL) uses a wide range of intervention programs. A new rehabilitative approach, called Action-Observation Therapy, based on the recent discovery of mirror neurons, has been used in adult stroke but not in children. The purpose of the present study is to design a randomised controlled trial (RCT) for evaluating the efficacy of Action-Observation Therapy in improving UL activity in children with HCP.


METHODS/DESIGN
The trial is designed according to CONSORT Statement. It is a randomised, evaluator-blinded, match-pair group trial. Children with HCP will be randomised within pairs to either experimental or control group. The experimental group will perform an Action-Observation Therapy, called UP-CAT (Upper Limb-Children Action-Observation Training) in which they will watch video sequences showing goal-directed actions, chosen according to children UL functional level, combined with motor training with their hemiplegic UL. The control group will perform the same tailored actions after watching computer games. A careful revision of psychometric properties of UL outcome measures for children with hemiplegia was performed. Assisting Hand Assessment was chosen as primary measure and, based on its calculation power, a sample size of 12 matched pairs was established. Moreover, Melbourne and ABILHAND-Kids were included as secondary measures. The time line of assessments will be T0 (in the week preceding the onset of the treatment), T1 and T2 (in the week after the end of the treatment and 8 weeks later, respectively). A further assessment will be performed at T3 (24 weeks after T1), to evaluate the retention of effects. In a subgroup of children enrolled in both groups functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, exploring the mirror system and sensory-motor function, will be performed at T0, T1 and T2.


DISCUSSION
The paper aims to describe the methodology of a RCT for evaluating the efficacy of Action-Observation Therapy in improving UL activity in children with hemiplegia. This study will be the first to test this new type of treatment in childhood. The paper presents the theoretical background, study hypotheses, outcome measures and trial methodology.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
NCT01016496.
A Faceted Approach to Building Ontologies

Rubén Prieto-Díaz Commonwealth Information Security Center James Madison University prietodiaz@cisat.jmu.edu