LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
The effect of melatonin treatment on postural stability, muscle strength, and quality of life and sleep in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Melatonin is often used as a sleeping aid in elderly adults. As previous studies suggest a protective role of melatonin against osteoporosis, it is important to document its safety. Treatment should not cause any hangover effect that could potentially lead to falls and fractures. We therefore aimed to evaluate the effect of melatonin on balance- and muscle function.


METHODS AND PATIENTS
In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, we randomized 81 postmenopausal women with osteopenia to receive 1 or 3 mg melatonin, or placebo nightly for 12 months. Postural balance as well as muscle function was measured. In addition, we assessed quality of life and sleep at baseline and after 12 months treatment.


RESULTS
Compared to placebo, one-year treatment with melatonin did not affect postural balance or risk of falls. Furthermore, no significant changes between groups were observed in muscle strength in neither upper- nor lower extremities. Treatment did not affect quality of life or sleep. However, in the subgroup of women with sleep disturbances at baseline, a trend towards an improved sleep quality was seen (p = 0.08).


CONCLUSION
Treatment with melatonin is safe in postmenopausal women with osteopenia. There is no hangover effect affecting balance- and muscle function following the intake of melatonin. In women with a good quality of sleep, melatonin has no effect, however in poor quality of sleep, small doses of melatonin trended towards improving the quality.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
(# NCT01690000).
Exposure to tremolite asbestos and respiratory health in Swedish dolomite workers.

OBJECTIVES
Deposits of carbonate rock like limestone and dolomite may contain tremolite asbestos. This study assessed the exposure to tremolite asbestos and the respiratory health of Swedish dolomite workers.


METHODS
95% of 137 eligible workers at two dolomite producing companies completed a self administered questionnaire that included questions on respiratory symptoms and were examined with spirometry as well as chest radiography. Total exposure to dust was gravimetrically measured and the tremolite asbestos content of the dust was assessed with polarisation and phase contrast microscopy.


RESULTS
Dolomite dust concentrations were moderate (median 2.8 mg/m3) and tremolite asbestos concentrations were generally below the limit of detection (<0.03 fibres/ml). Somewhat higher values, around 0.1 fibres/ml, were obtained in manual stone sorting and bagging. Respiratory symptoms suggestive of chronic bronchitis were more related to smoking than to estimates of individual exposure to dust. The mean vital capacity was 0.2 l lower than expected after adjustment for sex, age, height, and smoking but the decline in lung function was not associated with current or cumulative exposure to dust in a clear cut way. Two definite cases of pleural plaques and one possible case of simple pneumoconiosis were noted, but the plaques could not be attributed exclusively to exposure to tremolite asbestos.


CONCLUSIONS
Dolomite mining and milling may indeed entail low levels of exposure to tremolite asbestos, but this exposure was not a strong determinant of respiratory symptoms, lung function, or pneumoconiosis in exposed Swedish workers. This was true also for dolomite dust. The hazards of exposure to tremolite asbestos may vary across deposits, however, and additional studies at other sites of carbonate rock exploitation are warranted.
The role of meaning in inflection: Why the past tense does not require a rule

How do we produce the past tenses of verbs? For the last 20 years this question has been the focal domain for conflicting theories of language, knowledge representation, and cognitive processing. On one side of the debate have been similarity-based or single-route approaches that propose that all past tenses are formed simply through phonological analogies to existing past tenses stored in memory. On the other side of the debate are rule-based or dual-route approaches which agree that phonological analogy is important for producing irregular past tenses (e.g., think-->thought), but argue that regular past tenses (e.g., walk-->walked) are generated via a +ed rule and that a principled account of regular inflection can only be given by recourse to explicit rules. This debate has become a crucial battleground for arguments concerning the necessity and importance of abstract mental rules, embracing not only language processing, but also the of nature cognition itself. However, in centering on the roles of phonological similarity and rules, the past tense debate has largely ignored the possible role of semantics in determining inflection. This paper presents five studies that demonstrate a striking and decisive role of semantic similarity in inflection. In fact, semantic factors appear to be more important in inflection than the grammatical considerations put forward by the dual-route account. Further, these new findings provide a new way of discriminating between the claims of single-route (similarity-based) and dual-route (rule-based) approaches. It appears that inflection is carried out through analogical reminding based on semantic and phonological similarity and that a rule-based route is not necessary to account for past tense inflection.
Software's future: managing evolution

and leaves unresolved two well-founded questions:What is the future of software? What does the future hold for the software professional? His prognosis is evasive, incomplete, and unsatisfying:the future will be good for some,not so for others. Given Yourdon's extensive experience in the real world of computer usage, as proven by the problems he has observed, it is easy to see why he feels that soft-ware's future is uncertain. But he does not point to a solution to this uncertainty, nor does he indicate what can be done to achieve the best possible outcome for software professionals.More importantly,Yourdon's analysis does not indicate what should be done to ensure the security,well being,and survival of society,which depends increasingly on software. For more than a decade now,there have been those in the software engineering community who have accepted that the need to continually change and evolve software is a fact—a fact addressed through activity that is planned,executed,and controlled by humans.Thus,the software development and maintenance processes, which I prefer to unify and call software evolution, 1 are key to managing computerization. In my view it is key to our survival in this computer age. Only by acknowledging change as a constant in our industry can we successfully negotiate the challenges we face and ensure our continued survival in this computer age.
Quality of life and healthcare resource use associated with angiographic vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
In this analysis of data from a large clinical trial in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, the impact of angiographic vasospasm (aVSP) on specific patient outcomes and inpatient healthcare resource use was assessed.


METHODS
This was a post hoc analysis of exploratory end points collected for 409 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in the Clazosentan to Overcome Neurological Ischemia and Infarction Occurring After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (CONSCIOUS-1) trial. Central reviewers graded severity of aVSP as none, mild, moderate, or severe based on comparison of catheter angiograms obtained at baseline and 7 to 11 days after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Assessments of cognitive status (Mini-Mental State Examination) and patient-relevant outcomes (EuroQol total score and visual analog scale and Functional Status Examination) were administered at Week 12. The relationship between severity of aVSP and these end points as well as inpatient healthcare resource use (intensive care, general ward, and total hospital lengths of stay) was assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses.


RESULTS
Cognitive status and all patient-relevant outcome measures varied significantly (P<0.0001) with severity of aVSP (mean for severe aVSP versus no aVSP, respectively: Mini-Mental State Examination, 18.0 versus 27.6; EuroQol total, 0.38 versus 0.74; EuroQol visual analog scale, 50.9 versus 75.5; Functional Status Examination, 20.5 versus 11.7). A significant inverse relationship with severity of aVSP was observed for total hospital days (P=0.008) and days in the intensive care unit (P<0.0001). On average, patients with severe aVSP stayed in the hospital 5 days longer than those with no aVSP.


CONCLUSIONS
Severe aVSP is associated with poor cognition, worse patient-relevant outcomes, and greater inpatient healthcare resource use. Future studies assessing new aVSP treatments should include outcome measures that evaluate quality of recovery among survivors.
The sensitivity of event logs, self-administered questionnaires and photoplethysmography to detect treatment-induced changes in female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) diagnosis.

INTRODUCTION
The literature provides little evidence on what type of endpoints should be used to assess treatment-induced improvement in female sexual function.


AIM
The main goal of this study was to provide empiric evidence on the sensitivity of different types of measures for detecting treatment-induced changes in female sexual dysfunction diagnosis.


METHODS
The measures investigated in this study included event logs, self-administered questionnaires (Female Sexual Functioning Index; FSFI), vaginal photoplethysmography, and continuous subjective sexual arousal measured during exposure to erotic videos. Participants were 24 women with female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD) who received sex therapy, placebo, or gingko biloba in a four-arm double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. FSAD was diagnosed utilizing a semistructured interview administered at pre- and post-treatment. Those women who did not meet FSAD criteria at post-treatment (N = 10) were labeled as "improved," while women who still met FSAD criteria (N = 14) were categorized as "not improved" even if they showed signs of improvements.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Change scores from pre- to post-treatment on the FSFI, event logs, vaginal photoplethysmography, and continuous subjective levels of sexual arousal were used to predict whether women improved at post-treatment. Results were checked with exact logistic regression to control for the small sample size.


RESULTS
The FSFI was the only measure to significantly predict whether women improved at post-treatment. The findings from this study lend support for the use of validated questionnaires as endpoint criteria in detecting treatment-induced changes in women's sexual dysfunction.
Architectures for distributed and hierarchical Model Predictive Control - A review

0959-1524/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.jprocont.2009.02.003 * Tel.: +39 02 2399 3539. E-mail address: riccardo.scattolini@elet.polimi.it The aim of this paper is to review and to propose a classification of a number of decentralized, distributed and hierarchical control architectures for large scale systems. Attention is focused on the design approaches based on Model Predictive Control. For the considered architectures, the underlying rationale, the fields of application, the merits and limitations are discussed, the main references to the literature are reported and some future developments are suggested. Finally, a number of open problems is listed. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
3Book: a scalable 3D virtual book

This paper describes the 3Book, a 3D interactive visualization of a codex book as a component for digital library and information-intensive applications. The 3Book is able to represent books of almost unlimited length, allows users to read large format books, and has features to enhance reading and sensemaking.
Adrenaline and nocturnal asthma.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the nocturnal fall in plasma adrenaline is a cause of nocturnal asthma.


DESIGN
Double blind placebo controlled cross-over study. In the first experiment the nocturnal fall in plasma adrenaline at 4 am was corrected in 10 asthmatic subjects with an infusion of adrenaline after parasympathetic blockade with 30 micrograms/kg intravenous atropine. In the second experiment 11 asthmatic subjects showing similar variations in peak expiratory flow rate had the nocturnal fall in plasma adrenaline corrected by infusion before atropine was given.


PATIENTS
Asthmatic subjects with a diurnal variation in home peak expiratory flow rate of greater than 20% for at least 75% of the time in the two weeks before the study.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Peak expiratory flow rate and plasma adrenaline.


RESULTS
Correction of the nocturnal fall in plasma adrenaline at 4 am to resting 4 pm levels did not alter peak expiratory flow rate either before or after parasympathetic blockade with atropine.


CONCLUSION
A nighttime fall in plasma adrenaline is not a cause of nocturnal asthma.
Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of intradiscal methylene blue injection for chronic discogenic low back pain: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Low back pain (LBP) is a common health problem and a substantial part of LBP is presumed to be attributable to degeneration of the intervertebral disc. For patients suffering from intractable discogenic LBP, there are few evidence-based effective interventional treatment options available. In 2010, the results of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) were published concerning "intradiscal methylene blue injection" (IMBI), in which this intervention appeared to be very successful in relieving discogenic pain. Therefore, we decided to repeat this study to investigate whether we could replicate the published results. The results of our preliminary feasibility study gave reason to set up an RCT. The aim of this RCT is to evaluate if IMBI is a more effective treatment of discogenic low back pain as an intradiscal placebo intervention, and furthermore, to assess the cost-effectiveness of this intervention.


METHODS/DESIGN
Consecutive discogenic low back pain patients referred to four specialized pain treatment facilities are being screened for eligibility. After a positive standardized provocation discography and informed consent, patients are randomized into two groups. The treatment group receives an intradiscal injection with methylene blue, lidocaine, and contrast, and the control group receives intradiscal isotonic saline with lidocaine and contrast. Main outcome measures are pain at the 6-month follow-up, patient's global impression of change, cost-effectiveness, quality of life, disability, and analgesic intake.


DISCUSSION
The importance of this study is emphasized by the fact that for intractable discogenic low back pain patients, evidence-based effective pain treatments are rare. If this study establishes clinical success and cost-effectiveness, IMBI could become the "pain treatment of choice" for a selected group of patients with chronic discogenic low back pain for whom noninvasive treatment options have failed.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
National Trial register NTR2547 Registered at 29 September 2010 and 31 March 2014.
Occupational Therapy Wellness Program: Youth and Parent Perspectives.

OBJECTIVE
In this study, we explored the impact of an occupational therapy wellness program on daily habits and routines through the perspectives of youth and their parents.


METHOD
Data were collected through semistructured interviews with children and their parents, the Pizzi Healthy Weight Management Assessment(©), and program activities.


RESULTS
Three themes emerged from the interviews: Program Impact, Lessons Learned, and Time as a Barrier to Health. The most common areas that both youth and parents wanted to change were time spent watching television and play, fun, and leisure time. Analysis of activity pie charts indicated that the youth considerably increased active time in their daily routines from Week 1 to Week 6 of the program.


CONCLUSION
An occupational therapy program focused on health and wellness may help youth and their parents be more mindful of their daily activities and make health behavior changes.
A FRAMEWORK FOR LINKING CULTURE AND IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES IN ORGANIZATIONS

We present a synthesis of the general dimensions of organizational culture used most commonly in extant research and outline how these general dimensions correspond to the specific values and beliefs underlying total quality management (TQM) practice (a comprehensive change initiative). We argue that the relationship between culture and implementation of new behaviors and practices has not been adequately explored because of the lack of a comprehensive framework for defining and measuring organizational cultures. Our framework presents a necessary step in moving toward culture as a useful explanatory concept in organizational research.
Time to brain imaging in acute stroke is improving: secondary analysis of the INSTINCT trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Patients with acute ischemic stroke benefit from rapid evaluation and treatment, and timely brain imaging is a necessary component. We determined the effect of a targeted behavioral intervention on door-to-imaging time (DIT) among patients with ischemic stroke treated with tissue-type plasminogen activator. Second, we examined the variation in DIT accounted for by patient-level and hospital-level factors.


METHODS
The Increasing Stroke Treatment through Interventional behavioral Change Tactics (INSTINCT) trial was a cluster-randomized, controlled trial involving 24 Michigan hospitals. The intervention aimed to increase tissue-type plasminogen activator utilization. Detailed chart abstractions collected data for 557 patients with ischemic stroke. We used a series of hierarchical linear mixed-effects models to evaluate the effect of the intervention on DIT (difference-in-differences analysis) and used patient-level and hospital-level explanatory variables to decompose variation in DIT.


RESULTS
DIT improved over time, without a difference between intervention and control hospitals (intervention: 23.7-19.3 minutes, control: 28.9-19.2 minutes; P=0.56). Adjusted DIT was faster in patients who arrived by ambulance (7.2 minutes; 95% confidence interval, 4.1-10.2), had severe strokes (1.0 minute per +5-point National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; 95% confidence interval, 0.1-2.0), and presented in the postintervention period (4.9 minutes; 95% confidence interval, 2.3-7.4). After accounting for these factors, 13.8% of variation in DIT was attributable to hospital. Neither hospital stroke volume nor stroke center status was associated with DIT.


CONCLUSIONS
Performance on DIT improved similarly in intervention and control hospitals, suggesting that nonintervention factors explain the improvement. Hospital-level factors explain a modest proportion of variation in DIT, but further research is needed to identify the hospital-level factors responsible.
Thyroid function tests and mortality in aged hospitalized patients: a 7-year prospective observational study.

CONTEXT
Several alterations in thyroid function test (TFT) results have been associated with mortality in elderly patients.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to investigate the relationship between TFT results and all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality in aged hospitalized patients.


DESIGN
A 7-year prospective observational study was conducted. TFTs were performed at hospital admission, and mortality was registered in the follow-up period.


PATIENTS
Participants were 404 patients aged >65 years admitted to the Department of Geriatrics, Hospital General, Segovia, Spain, for any reason during 2005.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The study evaluated the association between TFT results and mortality from all causes and CV diseases.


METHODS
TSH, free T₄, and free T₃ (FT₃) were measured on the first day of admission. In-hospital and total survival times, number of deaths, and all-cause and CV mortality were registered until the census date on January 1, 2012.


RESULTS
During the study, 323 patients (80%) died. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that median survival time for all-cause mortality was significantly lower in patients in the first tertile of serum FT₃, in the first tertile of TSH, and in the first tertile of serum free T₄ concentrations. Multivariate adjusted Cox regression analysis showed that the history of cancer (hazard ratio, 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-2.28; P = .009), age (1.03; 1.01-1.06; P = .003), and FT₃ levels (0.72; 0.63-0.84; P < .001) were significant factors related to all-cause mortality. The cause of death was known in 202 patients. Of this group, 61 patients (30.2%) died of CV disease. Patients in the first tertile of TSH and FT₃ exhibited a significant higher mortality due to CV disease. In the adjusted Cox regression analysis, FT₃ was a significant predictor of CV mortality (0.76; 0.63-0.91; P = .004).


CONCLUSIONS
Alterations in TFT results during hospitalization are associated with long-term mortality in elderly patients. In particular, low FT₃ levels are significantly related to all-cause and CV mortality.
Data Hiding using Advanced LSB with RSA Algorithm

In this paper, RSA algorithm is used to encrypt the secret message and advanced LSB technique is used to hide the encrypted message. Firstly, the message is encrypted and then encrypted message is being divided in two parts. First part of the encrypted message is xored with odd position and second part with even position of LSB+1. After that the xored encrypted message is being hidden on LSB position.
Virtual gastroduodenoscopy: a new look at the bypassed stomach and duodenum after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for morbid obesity.

BACKGROUND
After open or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) for morbid obesity, the bypassed stomach and duodenum are not readily available for radiological and endoscopic evaluation. Furthermore, little is known about the long-term physiologic and histologic changes that occur in the bypassed GI segments following these procedures. Many alternative radiological and endoscopic techniques have been described to access the distal gastric pouch and the duodenum after RYGBP. Apart from percutaneous gastrografin studies, all these techniques require the insertion of a gastrostomy tube in the distal stomach.


METHODS
A new diagnostic method to access the bypassed segments by virtual CT gastroscopy (VG) was used in 5 morbidly obese patients who underwent laparoscopic RYGBP (LRYGBP).


RESULTS
All patients tolerated the procedure well, which appears safe and suitable for an outpatient setting. The virtual images offered an excellent intraluminal view of the stomach and duodenum.


CONCLUSIONS
VG holds promise as the method of choice in the follow-up of LRYGB patients, having the potential to detect inflammatory changes and cancer in the excluded segments early.
Metrics for Microprogrammed Instruction Sets

Having selected a Microprogrammed Instruction Set (MIS), the need to have a method of evaluation immediately arises. There are seven methods generally used to measure the performance of the proposed architecture. These methods are: Timing, Mixes, Kernel Programs, Benchmark Programs, Synthetic Programs, Mathematical Models, and Simulation.
Ex post information rents in sequential screening

We study ex post information rents in sequential screening models where the agent receives private ex ante and ex post information. The principal has to pay ex post information rents for preventing the agent to coordinate lies about his ex ante and ex post information. When the agent’s ex ante information is discrete, these rents are positive, whereas they are zero in continuous models. Consequently, full disclosure of ex post information is generally suboptimal. Optimal disclosure rules trade off the benefits from adapting the allocation to better information against the effect that more information aggravates truth-telling.