LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Comprehensive Review of Medicinal Marijuana, Cannabinoids, and Therapeutic Implications in Medicine and Headache: What a Long Strange Trip It's Been ….

BACKGROUND
The use of cannabis, or marijuana, for medicinal purposes is deeply rooted though history, dating back to ancient times. It once held a prominent position in the history of medicine, recommended by many eminent physicians for numerous diseases, particularly headache and migraine. Through the decades, this plant has taken a fascinating journey from a legal and frequently prescribed status to illegal, driven by political and social factors rather than by science. However, with an abundance of growing support for its multitude of medicinal uses, the misguided stigma of cannabis is fading, and there has been a dramatic push for legalizing medicinal cannabis and research. Almost half of the United States has now legalized medicinal cannabis, several states have legalized recreational use, and others have legalized cannabidiol-only use, which is one of many therapeutic cannabinoids extracted from cannabis. Physicians need to be educated on the history, pharmacology, clinical indications, and proper clinical use of cannabis, as patients will inevitably inquire about it for many diseases, including chronic pain and headache disorders for which there is some intriguing supportive evidence.


OBJECTIVE
To review the history of medicinal cannabis use, discuss the pharmacology and physiology of the endocannabinoid system and cannabis-derived cannabinoids, perform a comprehensive literature review of the clinical uses of medicinal cannabis and cannabinoids with a focus on migraine and other headache disorders, and outline general clinical practice guidelines.


CONCLUSION
The literature suggests that the medicinal use of cannabis may have a therapeutic role for a multitude of diseases, particularly chronic pain disorders including headache. Supporting literature suggests a role for medicinal cannabis and cannabinoids in several types of headache disorders including migraine and cluster headache, although it is primarily limited to case based, anecdotal, or laboratory-based scientific research. Cannabis contains an extensive number of pharmacological and biochemical compounds, of which only a minority are understood, so many potential therapeutic uses likely remain undiscovered. Cannabinoids appear to modulate and interact at many pathways inherent to migraine, triptan mechanisms ofaction, and opiate pathways, suggesting potential synergistic or similar benefits. Modulation of the endocannabinoid system through agonism or antagonism of its receptors, targeting its metabolic pathways, or combining cannabinoids with other analgesics for synergistic effects, may provide the foundation for many new classes of medications. Despite the limited evidence and research suggesting a role for cannabis and cannabinoids in some headache disorders, randomized clinical trials are lacking and necessary for confirmation and further evaluation.
Nymphs of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) produce anti-aphrodisiac defence against conspecific males

Abdominal wounding by traumatic insemination and the lack of a long distance attraction pheromone set the scene for unusual sexual signalling systems. Male bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) mount any large, newly fed individual in an attempt to mate. Last instar nymphs overlap in size with mature females, which make them a potential target for interested males. However, nymphs lack the female's specific mating adaptations and may be severely injured by the abdominal wounding. We, therefore, hypothesized that nymphs emit chemical deterrents that act as an honest status signal, which prevents nymph sexual harassment and indirectly reduces energy costs for males. Behavioural mating assays showed that males mount nymphs significantly shorter time compared to females, although initial mounting preference was the same. In support of our hypothesis, nymphs experienced the same percentage of mating with sperm transfer as females if they were unable to emit (E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-octenal 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal and 4-oxo-(E)-2-octenal, from their dorsal abdominal glands. We report that the aldehydes and 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal are detected by olfactory receptor neurons housed in smooth and grooved peg sensilla, respectively, on the adult antennae, at biologically relevant concentrations. Behavioural experiments showed that application of 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal or the two aldehydes at a nymph-emitted ratio, to a male/female pair during mounting initiation, decreased mating frequency to a rate comparable to that of a male/nymph pair. By combining behavioural and sensory studies, we show that the nymph-specific alarm pheromone plays an important role in intra-specific communication in the common bed bug. Alarm pheromones are commonly looked upon as a system in predator/prey communication, but here we show that alarm pheromones may be used as multipurpose signals such as decreasing the risk of nymphal mating by males. See commentary: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/117
Predictive risk factors of serious infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with abatacept in common practice: results from the Orencia and Rheumatoid Arthritis (ORA) registry.

OBJECTIVES
Little data are available regarding the rate and predicting factors of serious infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with abatacept (ABA) in daily practice. We therefore addressed this issue using real-life data from the Orencia and Rheumatoid Arthritis (ORA) registry.


METHODS
ORA is an independent 5-year prospective registry promoted by the French Society of Rheumatology that includes patients with RA treated with ABA. At baseline, 3 months, 6 months and every 6 months or at disease relapse, during 5 years, standardised information is prospectively collected by trained clinical nurses. A serious infection was defined as an infection occurring during treatment with ABA or during the 3 months following withdrawal of ABA without any initiation of a new biologic and requiring hospitalisation and/or intravenous antibiotics and/or resulting in death.


RESULTS
Baseline characteristics and comorbidities: among the 976 patients included with a follow-up of at least 3 months (total follow-up of 1903 patient-years), 78 serious infections occurred in 69 patients (4.1/100 patient-years). Predicting factors of serious infections: on univariate analysis, an older age, history of previous serious or recurrent infections, diabetes and a lower number of previous anti-tumour necrosis factor were associated with a higher risk of serious infections. On multivariate analysis, only age (HR per 10-year increase 1.44, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.76, p=0.001) and history of previous serious or recurrent infections (HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.18 to 3.20, p=0.009) were significantly associated with a higher risk of serious infections.


CONCLUSIONS
In common practice, patients treated with ABA had more comorbidities than in clinical trials and serious infections were slightly more frequently observed. In the ORA registry, predictive risk factors of serious infections include age and history of serious infections.
Usefulness of D-Dimer Testing in Predicting Recurrence in Elderly Patients with Unprovoked Venous Thromboembolism.

BACKGROUND
Whether post-anticoagulation D-dimer levels are useful in predicting recurrence in elderly patients with unprovoked venous thromboembolism is unknown.


METHODS
We followed up 157 patients aged ≥65 years with acute symptomatic, unprovoked venous thromboembolism in a prospective, multicenter cohort study. All patients completed 3-12 months of anticoagulation and then underwent quantitative D-dimer testing (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) 12 months after the index venous thromboembolism. The outcome was recurrent symptomatic venous thromboembolism after D-dimer measurement. We examined associations between log-transformed and dichotomized D-dimer values and the time to venous thromboembolism recurrence using competing risk regression, adjusting for age, sex, and overt pulmonary embolism.


RESULTS
There was no statistically significant association between quantitative or dichotomized D-dimer levels and venous thromboembolism recurrence. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting recurrent venous thromboembolism was moderate (0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51-0.82). The negative likelihood ratios were 0.34 (95% CI, 0.05-2.38) at the usual and 0.34 (95% CI, 0.09-1.29) at the age-adjusted cutoff values. Among patients with normal D-dimer results, venous thromboembolism recurrence rates were 6.8 (95% CI, 2.2-21.2) per 100 patient-years using the usual and 7.1 (95% CI, 3.2-15.8) per 100 patient-years using the age-adjusted cutoff values.


CONCLUSION
D-dimer testing alone may not be useful in identifying elderly patients with unprovoked venous thromboembolism who are at low risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism and in whom anticoagulants may be safely stopped.
Currency recognition system for visually impaired: Egyptian banknote as a study case

One of the most important problems facing visual impaired people is money recognition especially for paper currency. In this paper we present a simple system currency recognition system applied on Egyptian banknote. Our proposed system is based on simple image processing utilities that insure performing the process as fast and robust as possible. The basic techniques utilized in our proposed system include image foreground segmentation, histogram enhancement, region of interest (ROI) extraction and finally template matching based on the cross-correlation between the captured image and our data set. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can recognize Egyptian paper money with high quality reaches 89% and short time.
Indicator function and its application in two-level factorial designs

State University of New York at Stony Brook 2A two-level factorial design can be uniquely represented by a polynomial indicator function. Therefore, properties of factorial designs can be studied through their indicator functions. This paper shows that indicator function is an effective tool in studying two-level factorial designs. Indicator function is used to generalize aberration criterion of a regular 2−level fractional factorial design to all 2−level factorial designs. An important identity of generalized aberration is proved. The connection between a uniformity measure and aberration is also extended to all two-level factorial designs.
Promoting self-efficacy and outcome expectations to enable adherence to resistance training after cardiac rehabilitation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Resistance training offers clinical and functional benefits to cardiac patients, yet exercise adherence after cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is problematic. This study examined effects of an intervention targeting self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and adherence to upper-body resistance exercise after CR.


PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS
Cardiac patients (N = 40) were randomly allocated to receive either standard exercise recommendations (wait-list control) or an intervention involving a theory-based instructional manual and Thera-Band resistive bands for upper-body resistance exercise. Self-efficacy and outcome expectations were assessed at baseline and 4 weeks later. Participation in resistance exercise was measured at 4 weeks postbaseline and at 3-month follow-up.


RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The intervention group reported higher levels of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and resistance exercise volume compared with the control group at the 4-week follow-up. Adherence differences were sustained at 3-month follow-up, with some support that self-efficacy for adhering to resistance training mediated the effects of the intervention on follow-up exercise training frequency. Findings support the use of a theory-based motivational manual and Thera-Band resistive bands to increase self-efficacy and outcome expectations for, and adherence to, resistance training after CR.
Validation and reproducibility of aortic pulse wave velocity as assessed with velocity-encoded MRI.

PURPOSE
To validate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment of aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV(MRI)) with PWV determined from invasive intra-aortic pressure measurements (PWV(INV)) and to test the reproducibility of the measurement by MRI.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
PWV(MRI) was compared with PWV(INV) in 18 nonconsecutive patients scheduled for catheterization for suspected coronary artery disease. Reproducibility of PWV(MRI) was tested in 10 healthy volunteers who underwent repeated measurement of PWV(MRI) at a single occasion. Velocity-encoded MRI was performed on all participants to assess PWV(MRI) in the total aorta (Ao(total)), the proximal aorta (Ao(prox)), and the distal aorta (Ao(dist)).


RESULTS
The results are expressed as mean +/- SD, Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), and intraclass correlation (ICC). Good agreement between PWV(MRI) and PWV(INV) was found for Ao(total) (6.5 +/- 1.1 m/s vs. 6.1 +/- 0.8 m/s; PCC = 0.53), Ao(prox) (6.5 +/- 1.3 m/s vs. 6.2 +/- 1.1 m/s; PCC = 0.69), and for Ao(dist) (6.9 +/- 1.1 m/s vs. 6.1 +/- 1.0 m/s; PCC = 0.71). Reproducibility of PWV(MRI) was high for Ao(total) (4.3 +/- 0.5 m/s vs. 4.6 +/- 0.7 m/s; ICC = 0.90, P < 0.01), Ao(prox) (4.3 +/- 0.9 m/s vs. 4.7 +/- 1.0 m/s; ICC = 0.87, P < 0.01), and Ao(dist) (4.3 +/- 0.6 m/s vs. 4.4 +/- 0.8 m/s; ICC = 0.92, P < 0.01).


CONCLUSION
MRI assessment of aortic pulse wave velocity shows good agreement with invasive pressure measurements and can be determined with high reproducibility.
Electromobility in Norway-experiences and opportunities with Electric vehicles

Electrification of vehicles is an important measure to reduce environmental impacts and climate gas emissions from transport. Electric propulsion is energy efficient, does not cause local emissions and reduces noise. The main challenges with electric propulsion is related to range, price and the production of batteries. A long lasting broad interaction between private enterprises, public authorities and non government organizations, have resulted in Norway being home to the largest per capita Electric vehicle market in the world. The Electric vehicle share of the total vehicle market was around 3% in the first half of 2013 and the share of the fleet reached 0,5%. From the 1990s Electric vehicles have been high on the political agenda resulting in the introduction of incentives necessary to meet market challenges, and encourage the early adopters to test the new technology. Economic incentives such as exemption from vehicles taxes (registration tax, VAT) have secured the potential to sell Electric vehicles competitively. Reductions in the annual circulation tax on vehicle ownership and exemptions from toll road charges, reduce the owner costs compared to conventional vehicles. The public investment support for charging infrastructure reduces the range issue in daily transport activities. The access to bus lanes has only been available for the Electric vehicle owners. The combined effect of these and other incentives, has made Electric vehicles popular with increasingly larger shares of car buyers in Norway. The Electric vehicle market in Norway is expected to continue to grow as more models are coming on the market, and given the government decision to extend the economic incentives through 2017. Further into the future the market will depend on future incentives, marketand technology developments, and the competitiveness of Electric vehicles compared to other technologies.
Analysis of direct action fuzzy PID controller structures

The majority of the research work on fuzzy PID controllers focuses on the conventional two-input PI or PD type controller proposed by Mamdani (1974). However, fuzzy PID controller design is still a complex task due to the involvement of a large number of parameters in defining the fuzzy rule base. This paper investigates different fuzzy PID controller structures, including the Mamdani-type controller. By expressing the fuzzy rules in different forms, each PLD structure is distinctly identified. For purpose of analysis, a linear-like fuzzy controller is defined. A simple analytical procedure is developed to deduce the closed form solution for a three-input fuzzy inference. This solution is used to identify the fuzzy PID action of each structure type in the dissociated form. The solution for single-input-single-output nonlinear fuzzy inferences illustrates the effect of nonlinearity tuning. The design of a fuzzy PID controller is then treated as a two-level tuning problem. The first level tunes the nonlinear PID gains and the second level tunes the linear gains, including scale factors of fuzzy variables. By assigning a minimum number of rules to each type, the linear and nonlinear gains are deduced and explicitly presented. The tuning characteristics of different fuzzy PID structures are evaluated with respect to their functional behaviors. The rule decoupled and one-input rule structures proposed in this paper provide greater flexibility and better functional properties than the conventional fuzzy PHD structures.
Construction of secure and fast hash functions using nonbinary error-correcting codes

This paper considers iterated hash functions. It proposes new constructions of fast and secure compression functions with -bit outputs for integers 1 based on error-correcting codes and secure compression functions with-bit outputs. This leads to simple and practical hash function constructions based on block ciphers such as Data Encryption Standard (DES), where the key size is slightly smaller than the block size; IDEA, where the key size is twice the block size; Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), with a variable key size; and to MD4-like hash functions. Under reasonable assumptions about the underlying compression function and/or block cipher, it is proved that the new hash functions are collision resistant. More precisely, a lower bound is shown on the number of operations to find a collision as a function of the strength of the underlying compression function. Moreover, some new attacks are presented that essentially match the presented lower bounds. The constructions allow for a large degree of internal parallelism. The limits of this approach are studied in relation to bounds derived in coding theory.
Safety case patterns-reusing successful arguments

The purpose of a safety case is to argue that a system is acceptably safe to operate in a specified context This argument demonstrates how the available evidence can be interpreted as compliance with the applicable safety objectives. As such, one might expect each safety case to be a unique synthesis of the particular pieces of evidence, safety objectives etc. However, we have observed common, re-used, approaches to arguing safety (especially within well-defined domains) – repeated structures of ‘successful’ (i.e. correct, comprehensive and convincing) arguments.
RASP: Using OpenFlow to push overlay streams into the Underlay

Internet video streaming causes the second largest transfer volume and is the second fastest growing application class in Internet traffic analysis [3]. In this context, also the streaming of live content becomes increasingly relevant as more traditional broadcasters start delivering content over the Internet. Today, live video streaming services rely on IP-unicast delivery or closed IP-multicast systems inside single administrative domains. Approaches such as Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are used to improve the unicast delivery of content. They usually end at the edge of the residential broadband access Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks that connect end users to the Internet. For live content delivery, network layer multicast would be desirable for ISPs as well as content providers to reduce the load due to parallel unicast connections for the same content. Because of the well-known drawbacks and limitations of IP-multicast [2], however, network layer multicast support is usually not available.
Wavelets for Computer Graphics : A Primer Part 1 y

Wavelets are a mathematical tool for hierarchically decomposing functions. They allow a function to be described in terms of a coarse overall shape, plus details that range from broad to narrow. Regardless of whether the function of interest is an image, a curve, or a surface, wavelets offer an elegant technique for representing the levels of detail present. This primer is intended to provide people working in computer graphics with some intuition for what wavelets are, as well as to present the mathematical foundations necessary for studying and using them. In Part 1, we discuss the simple case of Haar wavelets in one and two dimensions, and show how they can be used for image compression. In Part 2, we will present the mathematical theory of multiresolution analysis, then develop spline wavelets and describe their use in multiresolution curve and surface editing.
Using interpolation to improve path planning: The Field D* algorithm

We present an interpolation-based planning and replanning algorithm for generating low-cost paths through uniform and nonuniform resolution grids. Most grid-based path planners use discrete state transitions that artificially constrain an agent’s motion to a small set of possible headings e.g., 0, /4, /2, etc. . As a result, even “optimal” gridbased planners produce unnatural, suboptimal paths. Our approach uses linear interpolation during planning to calculate accurate path cost estimates for arbitrary positions within each grid cell and produce paths with a range of continuous headings. Consequently, it is particularly well suited to planning low-cost trajectories for mobile robots. In this paper, we introduce a version of the algorithm for uniform resolution grids and a version for nonuniform resolution grids. Together, these approaches address two of the most significant shortcomings of grid-based path planning: the quality of the paths produced and the memory and computational requirements of planning over grids. We demonstrate our approaches on a number of example planning problems, compare them to related algorithms, and present several implementations on real robotic systems. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Computer simulations of 3-d Lorentzian quantum gravity

Abstract We investigate the phase diagram of non-perturbative three-dimensional Lorentzian quantum gravity with the help of Monte Carlo simulations. The system has a first-order phase transition at a critical value k c 0 of the bare inverse gravitational coupling constant k 0 . For k 0 > k c 0 the system reduces to a product of uncorrelated Euclidean 2d gravity models and has no intrinsic interest as a model of 3d gravity. For k 0 k c 0 , extended three-dimensional geometries dominate the functional integral despite the fact that we perform a sum over geometries and no particular background is distinguished at the outset. Furthermore, all systems with k 0 k c 0 have the same continuum limit. A different choice of k 0 corresponds merely to a redefinition of the overall length scale.
Geometry-Driven Diffusion in Computer Vision

Inevitably, reading is one of the requirements to be undergone. To improve the performance and quality, someone needs to have something new every day. It will suggest you to have more inspirations, then. However, the needs of inspirations will make you searching for some sources. Even from the other people experience, internet, and many books. Books and internet are the recommended media to help you improving your quality and performance.