LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Dosage effects of diabetes self-management education for Mexican Americans: the Starr County Border Health Initiative.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to compare two diabetes self-management interventions designed for Mexican Americans: "extended" (24 h of education, 28 h of support groups) and "compressed" (16 h of education, 6 h of support groups). Both interventions were culturally competent regarding language, diet, social emphasis, family participation, and incorporating cultural beliefs.


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
We recruited 216 persons between 35 and 70 years of age diagnosed with type 2 diabetes >/=1 year. Intervention groups of eight participants and eight support persons were randomly assigned to the compressed or extended conditions. The interventions differed in total number of contact hours over the year-long intervention period, with the major difference being the number of support group sessions held. The same information provided in the educational sessions of the extended intervention was compressed into fewer sessions, thus providing more information during each group meeting.


RESULTS
The interventions were not statistically different in reducing HbA(1c); however, both were effective. A "dosage effect" of attendance was detected with the largest HbA(1c) reductions achieved by those who attended more of the extended intervention. For individuals who attended >/=50% of the intervention, baseline to 12-month HbA(1c) change was -0.6 percentage points for the compressed group and -1.7 percentage points for the extended group.


CONCLUSIONS
Both culturally competent diabetes self-management education interventions were effective in promoting improved metabolic control and diabetes knowledge. A dosage effect was evident; attending more sessions resulted in greater improvements in metabolic control.
Facial nerve preservation with preoperative identification and intraoperative monitoring in large vestibular schwannoma surgery

Microsurgery is an option of choice for large vestibular schwannomas (VSs). Anatomical and functional preservation of facial nerve (FN) is still a challenge in these surgeries. FNs are often displaced and morphologically changed by large VSs. Preoperative identification of FN with magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion tensor tracking (DTT) and intraoperative identification with facial electromyography (EMG) may be desirable for improving functional results of FN. In this retrospective study, eight consecutive cases with large VS (≥30 mm in maximal extrameatal diameter) were retrospectively studied. FN DTT was performed in each case preoperatively. All the cases underwent microsurgical resection of the tumor with intraoperative FN EMG monitoring. Correctness of prediction for FN location by DTT was verified by the surgeon’s inspection. Postoperative FN function of each patient was followed up. Preoperative identification of FN was possible in 7 of 8 (87.5 %) cases. FN location predicted by preoperative DTT agreed to surgical finding in all the 7 cases. FN EMG was helpful to locate and protect the FN. Total resection was achieved in 7 of 8 (87.5 %). All FNs were anatomically preserved. All cases had excellent facial nerve function (House–Brackmann Grade I–II). FN DTT is a powerful technique in preoperatively identification of FN in large VS cases. Continuous intraoperative FN EMG monitoring is contributive to locating and protecting FNs. Radical resection of large VSs as well as favorable postoperative FN outcome is available with application of these techniques.
Parameterization of Three-Phase Electric Machine Models for EMI Simulation

A systematic and practical method to parameterize three-phase electric machine models for electromagnetic interference (EMI) simulation is presented. The proposed behavioral model consists of multiple sections of linear RLC circuits and is intended for time-domain simulation with inverters and other power electronic circuits found in typical motor drive systems. The proposed parameterization method uses a differential-mode (DM) and a common-mode (CM) impedance measurement of the machine and takes advantage of the separation among different parallel and series resonant frequencies of each impedance to determine the parameters of each stage in a noniterative manner. The proposed method can also be applied to model three-phase cables and transformers.
A study on threat model for federated identities in federated identity management system

Federated Identity Management (FIM) based on standards allows and facilitates participating federated organizations to share users identity attributes, facilitate authentication and grant or deny service access requests. Using single sign-on facility users authenticates only once to home identity provider and logged into access successive service providing service providers within federation. User's identity theft, misused of user identity information via single sign-on facility in identity providers and service providers, and trustworthiness of subject, identity providers and service providers are active concerns in federated identity management systems. In addition, we had explored trusted computing technology, which covers Trusted Platform Module security features such as Trusted Platform Module Identity, Integrity Measurement and Key certification as well as Trusted Network Connect. In this paper, we presented conceptual threat model for inter-domain web single sign-on in federate identity management system. For this, we set identity theft, misused of identity information, and trust relationship scenarios and in the end, we discussed how trusted computing technology use can effectively resolve identity theft, misused of identity information, and trust relationship concerns in federated identity management system.
Molecular de-novo design through deep reinforcement learning

This work introduces a method to tune a sequence-based generative model for molecular de novo design that through augmented episodic likelihood can learn to generate structures with certain specified desirable properties. We demonstrate how this model can execute a range of tasks such as generating analogues to a query structure and generating compounds predicted to be active against a biological target. As a proof of principle, the model is first trained to generate molecules that do not contain sulphur. As a second example, the model is trained to generate analogues to the drug Celecoxib, a technique that could be used for scaffold hopping or library expansion starting from a single molecule. Finally, when tuning the model towards generating compounds predicted to be active against the dopamine receptor type 2, the model generates structures of which more than 95% are predicted to be active, including experimentally confirmed actives that have not been included in either the generative model nor the activity prediction model. Graphical abstract .
I/Q-channel regeneration in 5-port junction based direct receivers

This paper presents a new I/Q regeneration technique for direct receivers which employ quadrature modulation. The technique is based on the property that the I/Q components of the received signal are uncorrelated, and is applicable to any quadrature modulation. A K-band 5-port junction based direct receiver prototype has been developed which supports a data rate of 89.472 Mbps with QPSK modulation. The bit error rate performance has been simulated and measured, and the results are presented.
The application of mutual information-based feature selection and fuzzy LS-SVM-based classifier in motion classification

This paper presents an effective mutual information-based feature selection approach for EMG-based motion classification task. The wavelet packet transform (WPT) is exploited to decompose the four-class motion EMG signals to the successive and non-overlapped sub-bands. The energy characteristic of each sub-band is adopted to construct the initial full feature set. For reducing the computation complexity, mutual information (MI) theory is utilized to get the reduction feature set without compromising classification accuracy. Compared with the extensively used feature reduction methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), sequential forward selection (SFS) and backward elimination (BE) etc., the comparison experiments demonstrate its superiority in terms of time-consuming and classification accuracy. The proposed strategy of feature extraction and reduction is a kind of filter-based algorithms which is independent of the classifier design. Considering the classification performance will vary with the different classifiers, we make the comparison between the fuzzy least squares support vector machines (LS-SVMs) and the conventional widely used neural network classifier. In the further study, our experiments prove that the combination of MI-based feature selection and SVM techniques outperforms other commonly used combination, for example, the PCA and NN. The experiment results show that the diverse motions can be identified with high accuracy by the combination of MI-based feature selection and SVM techniques. Compared with the combination of PCA-based feature selection and the classical Neural Network classifier, superior performance of the proposed classification scheme illustrates the potential of the SVM techniques combined with WPT and MI in EMG motion classification.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) processing speed scores as measures of noncredible responding: The third generation of embedded performance validity indicators.

Research suggests that select processing speed measures can also serve as embedded validity indicators (EVIs). The present study examined the diagnostic utility of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) subtests as EVIs in a mixed clinical sample of 205 patients medically referred for neuropsychological assessment (53.3% female, mean age = 45.1). Classification accuracy was calculated against 3 composite measures of performance validity as criterion variables. A PSI ≤79 produced a good combination of sensitivity (.23-.56) and specificity (.92-.98). A Coding scaled score ≤5 resulted in good specificity (.94-1.00), but low and variable sensitivity (.04-.28). A Symbol Search scaled score ≤6 achieved a good balance between sensitivity (.38-.64) and specificity (.88-.93). A Coding-Symbol Search scaled score difference ≥5 produced adequate specificity (.89-.91) but consistently low sensitivity (.08-.12). A 2-tailed cutoff on the Coding/Symbol Search raw score ratio (≤1.41 or ≥3.57) produced acceptable specificity (.87-.93), but low sensitivity (.15-.24). Failing ≥2 of these EVIs produced variable specificity (.81-.93) and sensitivity (.31-.59). Failing ≥3 of these EVIs stabilized specificity (.89-.94) at a small cost to sensitivity (.23-.53). Results suggest that processing speed based EVIs have the potential to provide a cost-effective and expedient method for evaluating the validity of cognitive data. Given their generally low and variable sensitivity, however, they should not be used in isolation to determine the credibility of a given response set. They also produced unacceptably high rates of false positive errors in patients with moderate-to-severe head injury. Combining evidence from multiple EVIs has the potential to improve overall classification accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record
Testing the Impact of Unemployment on Self-Employment: Evidence from OECD Countries☆

Abstract The impact of unemployment on self-employment is rather an ambiguous issue in economics. According to refugee effect approach, there are two counter arguments: the theory of income choice argument suggests that increased unemployment may lead to increased self-employment activities whereas the counter argument defends the view that an increase in unemployment rates may decrease the endowments of human capital and entrepreneurial talent causing a rise in unemployment rates further. The empirical evidence on this issue seems to support both hypotheses. This research presents fresh and more comprehensive evidence on this issue from 28 OECD countries using the ARDL approach to co-integration technique over the period 1986-2013. The empirical results indicate that the first hypothesis holds in the case of Belgium, Canada, Sweden and the UK whereas the second hypothesis is valid in the case of Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal. The empirical results for the remaining OECD countries did not reveal any long-run relationship between the variables in question. The empirical results are also evaluated briefly for policy recommendations.
Consistent etiology of severe, frequent psychotic experiences and milder, less frequent manifestations: a twin study of specific psychotic experiences in adolescence.

IMPORTANCE
The onset of psychosis is usually preceded by psychotic experiences (PE). Little is known about the etiology of PE and whether the degree of genetic and environmental influences varies across different levels of severity. A recognized challenge is to identify individuals at high risk of developing psychotic disorders prior to disease onset.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the degree of genetic and environmental influences on specific PE, assessed dimensionally, in adolescents in the community and in those who have many, frequent experiences (defined using quantitative cutoffs). We also assessed the degree of overlap in etiological influences between specific PE.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Structural equation model-fitting, including univariate and bivariate twin models, liability threshold models, DeFries-Fulker extremes analysis, and the Cherny method, was used to analyze a representative community sample of 5059 adolescent twin pairs (mean [SD] age, 16.31 [0.68] years) from England and Wales.


MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Psychotic experiences assessed as quantitative traits (self-rated paranoia, hallucinations, cognitive disorganization, grandiosity, and anhedonia, as well as parent-rated negative symptoms).


RESULTS
Genetic influences were apparent for all PE (15%-59%), with modest shared environment for hallucinations and negative symptoms (17%-24%) and significant nonshared environment (49%-64%) for the self-rated scales and 17% for parent-rated negative symptoms. Three empirical approaches converged to suggest that the etiology in extreme-scoring groups (most extreme scoring: 5%, 10%, and 15%) did not differ significantly from that of the whole distribution. There was no linear change in heritability across the distribution of PE, with the exception of a modest increase in heritability for increasing severity of parent-rated negative symptoms. Of the PE that showed covariation, this appeared to be due to shared genetic influences (bivariate heritabilities, 0.54-0.71).


CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
These findings are consistent with the concept of a psychosis continuum, suggesting that the same genetic and environmental factors influence both extreme, frequent PE and milder, less frequent manifestations in adolescents. Individual PE in adolescence, assessed quantitatively, have lower heritability estimates and higher estimates of nonshared environment than those for the liability to schizophrenia. Heritability varies by type of PE, being highest for paranoia and parent-rated negative symptoms and lowest for hallucinations.
Effect of a collaborative interdisciplinary maternity care program on perinatal outcomes.

BACKGROUND
The number of physicians providing maternity care in Canada is decreasing, and the rate of cesarean delivery is increasing. We evaluated the effect on perinatal outcomes of an interdisciplinary program designed to promote physiologic birth and encourage active involvement of women and their families in maternity care.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 1238 women who attended the South Community Birth Program in Vancouver, Canada, from April 2004 to October 2010. The program offers comprehensive, collaborative, interdisciplinary care from family physicians, midwives, community health nurses and doulas to a multiethnic, low-income population. A comparison group, matched for neighbourhood of residence, maternal age, parity and gestational age at delivery, comprised 1238 women receiving standard care in community-based family physician, obstetrician and midwife practices. The primary outcome was the proportion of women who underwent cesarean delivery.


RESULTS
Compared with women receiving standard care, those in the birth program were more likely to be delivered by a midwife (41.9% v. 7.4%, p < 0.001) instead of an obstetrician (35.5% v. 69.6%, p < 0.001). The program participants were less likely than the matched controls to undergo cesarean delivery (relative risk [RR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-0.84) and, among those with a previous cesarean delivery, more likely to plan a vaginal birth (RR 3.22, 95% CI 2.25-4.62). Length of stay in hospital was shorter in the program group for both the mothers (mean ± standard deviation 50.6 ± 47.1 v. 72.7 ± 66.7 h, p < 0.001) and the newborns (47.5 ± 92.6 v. 70.6 ± 126.7 h, p < 0.001). Women in the birth program were more likely than the matched controls to be breastfeeding exclusively at discharge (RR 2.10, 95% CI 1.85-2.39).


INTERPRETATION
Women attending a collaborative program of interdisciplinary maternity care were less likely to have a cesarean delivery, had shorter hospital stays on average and were more likely to breastfeed exclusively than women receiving standard care.
Short Segment Screw Fixation without Fusion for Unstable Thoracolumbar and Lumbar Burst Fracture : A Prospective Study on Selective Consecutive Patients

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of screw fixation without bone fusion for unstable thoracolumbar and lumbar burst fracture.


METHODS
Nine patients younger than 40 years underwent screw fixation without bone fusion, following postural reduction using a soft roll at the involved vertebra, in cases of burst fracture. Their motor power was intact in spite of severe canal compromise. The surgical procedure included postural reduction for 3 days and screw fixations at one level above, one level below and at the fractured level itself. The patients underwent removal of implants 12 months after the initial operation, due to possibility of implant failure. Imaging and clinical findings, including canal encroachment, vertebral height, clinical outcome, and complications were analyzed.


RESULTS
Prior to surgery, the mean pain score (visual analogue scale) was 8.2, which decreased to 2.2 at 12 months after screw fixation. None of the patients complained of worsening of pain during 6 months after implant removal. All patients were graded as having excellent or good outcomes at 6 months after implant removal. The proportion of canal compromise at the fractured level improved from 55% to 35% at 12 months after surgery. The mean preoperative vertebral height loss was 45.3%, which improved to 20.6% at 6 months after implant removal. There were no neurological deficits related to neural injury. The improved vertebral height and canal compromise were maintained at 6 months after implant removal.


CONCLUSION
Short segment pedicle screw fixation, including fractured level itself, without bone fusion following postural reduction can be an effective and safe operative technique in the management of selected young patients suffering from unstable burst fracture.
Genetics of grain yield and other agronomic characters in t'ef (Eragrostis tef Zucc. Trotter). I. Generation means and variances analysis

Quantitative genetics of grain yield and other agronomic characters of t'ef (Eragrostis tef) were studied using the F1, F2, BC1, and BC2 of the cross Fesho × Kay Murri. The study was carried out to estimate gene effects controlling the inheritance of grain yield and related agronomic characters. Significant additive [d] and dominance × dominance [l] interaction effects were detected for grain yield. The variations of yield per panicle and panicle weight were explained in terms of [d], dominance [h], and additive × additive [i] interactions. Non-allelic gene interactions were also detected for kernel weight, harvest index, tiller number, plant height, days to heading and days to maturity. The simple additive-dominance model explained the variation for panicle length, culm diameter and plant weight, allowing unbiased estimates of additive (D) and dominance (H) variance components. Large dominance variances (H) were estimated for grain yield, yield per panicle, and panicle weight. The additive variances for plant height, panicle length, days to heading and days to maturity were higher than the respective dominance variances. High narrow-sense heritability (h2) values (> 0.50) were estimated for plant height, panicle length, days to heading and days to maturity. The lowest h2 (0.09) was obtained for kernel weight for which there was little variability. Since grain yield and several important agronomic characters of t'ef are influenced by non-allelic gene interaction, it is advisable to delay selection for yield to later generations with increased homozygosity.
Cancer occurrence in Semnan Province, Iran: results of a population-based cancer registry.

INTRODUCTION
suitable information of different cancers in special geographic areas can help define medical programs for treatment and screening of high-risk groups.


AIMS AND METHODS
The provincial health authority reported a high mortality rate from upper GI cancer in the center of Iran. A comprehensive search was undertaken to survey and register all cases of cancer during a 5-year (1998-2002) period among the indigenous population of Semnan Province. Diagnosis of cancer was based on histopathology, clinical or radiological findings, and death certificates.


RESULTS
A total of 1732 patients with cancers (mean age 59.41% +/-19.08% years) were found during the study. Of these, 936(54.86%) were in males. Crude rates were 124.8/100,000 and 112.1/100,000 for males and females, respectively. Age-standardized ratios (ASRs) for all cancers in males and females were 156/100,000 and 136/100,000 person-year, respectively. Gastric cancer was the most common tumor with an incidence rate of 19.7 per 100,000 people (ASR=27.5). In upper gastrointestinal cancers, gastric cancer was the most common (47.17%), followed by colon malignancies (8.1%, 9.5 per 100,000 populations), esophagus (6.8%, 7.9 per 100,000 populations), liver (2.4%, and 2.8 per 100,000 populations). In women, breast, uterine and ovary, stomach and skin were the most common cancers. In the child population the most common tumors were of the brain, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and bone.


CONCLUSION
Gastric cancer alone constitutes one-sixth of all cancers in Semnan, with the highest ASR incidence rate reported from Iran up to now.
A smart market for passenger road transport ( SMPRT ) congestion : an application of computational mechanism design

To control and price negative externalities in passenger road transport, we develop an innovative and integrated computational agent based economics (ACE) model to simulate a market oriented “cap” and trade system. (i) First, there is a computational assessment of a digitized road network model of the real world congestion hot spot to determine the “cap” of the system in terms of vehicle volumes at which traffic efficiency deteriorates and the environmental externalities take off exponentially. (ii) Road users submit bids with the market clearing price at the fixed “cap” supply of travel slots in a given time slice (peak hour) being determined by an electronic sealed bid uniform price Dutch auction. (iii) Cross-sectional demand data on car users who traverse the cordon area is used to model and calibrate the heterogeneous bid submission behaviour in order to construct the inverse demand function and demand elasticities. (iv) The willingness to pay approach with heterogeneous value of time is contrasted with the generalized cost approach to pricing congestion with homogenous value of travel time. JEL Classification: R41, R48, C99, D44, H41