LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Proteomic Enrichment Analysis of Psychotic and Affective Disorders Reveals Common Signatures in Presynaptic Glutamatergic Signaling and Energy Metabolism

BACKGROUND
Although genetic studies suggest an overlap in risk alleles across the major psychiatric disorders, disease signatures reflecting overlapping symptoms have not been found. Profiling studies have identified candidate protein markers associated with specific disorders of the psychoaffective spectrum, but this has always been done in a selective fashion without accounting for the entire proteome composition of the system under investigation.


METHODS
Employing an orthogonal system-based proteomic enrichment approach based on label-free liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, we analyzed anterior prefrontal human post-mortem brain tissue of patients affected by schizophrenia (n = 23), bipolar disorder (n = 23), major depressive disorder with (n = 12) and without psychotic features (n = 11), and healthy controls (n = 23). Labeled selected reaction monitoring (SRM) was used to validate these findings on a pathway level. Independent in silico analyses of biological annotations revealed common pathways across the diseases, associated with presynaptic glutamatergic neurotransmission and energy metabolism. We validated the proteomic findings using SRM and confirmed that there were no effects of post-mortem confounders.


RESULTS
Schizophrenia and affective psychosis were linked to a hypoglutamatergic state and hypofunction of energy metabolism, while bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder were linked to a hyperglutamatergic state and hyperfunction of energy metabolism.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings support recent investigations, which have focused on the therapeutic potential of glutamatergic modulation in psychotic and affective disorders. We suggest a disease model in which disturbances of the glutamatergic system and ensuing adaptations of neuronal energy metabolism are linked to distinct psychiatric symptom dimensions, delivering novel evidence for targeted treatment approaches.
Is stickiness profitable for electronic retailers?

Introduction
 Is stickiness the Holy Grail for e-tailing? In general, stickiness refers to the amount of time a person spends on a Web site during a visiting session (such as, session stickiness) or over a specified time period (such as, site stickiness). Zauberman equates stickiness and "within-site lock-in" and uses it to approximate visitors' loyalty to a Web site. The conventional wisdom suggests that stickiness is crucial and can contribute to e-tailers' bottom lines considerably. However, the direct economic impacts of stickiness have not been duly examined empirically, particularly from the perspective of consumers' within-session visiting behaviors.
 E-tailing offers an exciting global virtual channel for marketing and exchanges. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the e-retailing industry has grown at a 29% compounded annual rate between 2000 and 2004, amounting to $81 billion in sales in 2005 and projected to reach $144 billion by 2010. Accompanied by this impressive growth is the increasingly fierce market competition that results from greatly reduced search costs, diminished product/service differentiation, and rapidly eroding customer loyalty. To survive and excel in this highly competitive market, e-tailers must be effective in converting their Web site visitors into paying customers. Such conversions are challenging, as manifested by the dismal conversion rate (for example, estimated at 2.3% by e-tailing.com) that is likely to continue to decline.
 Stickiness serves as a common indicator of customer loyalty to e-tailers. Accordingly, firms have focused on effective Web site design and business strategies to "lock in" visitors by making their Web sites increasingly sticky. Despite the salient beliefs about the business value of stickiness in e-tailing, empirical evidence of its direct economic impacts is surprisingly limited. Moe and Fader discuss the importance of stickiness for business profits and advocate the use of visiting behaviors to investigate the relationship. Straub et al. also highlight the importance of analyzing prominent visitors' behaviors and particularly suggest the use of click-stream data to examine the effects of essential visiting behaviors on business outcomes, such as online purchases. However, few (if any) studies have examined these effects empirically.
 In this study, we use within-session visiting behaviors, recorded by a designated client-side monitoring program, to examine the relationship between stickiness and conversion, an outcome metric directly affecting e-tailers' bottom lines. We respond to the call by Moe and Fader by examining session stickiness through analyses of visitors' within-session behaviors. We measure session stickiness using both visiting session duration and total number of pages accessed during a visiting session. We empirically test whether stickiness significantly affects conversion, and further investigate whether product category moderates the focal stickiness--conversion relationship.
Predicting HDD failures from compound SMART attributes

Hard Disk Drives (HDD s) sometimes fail with no apparent reason; some SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) attributes present strong correlations with drive failures[3], yet a drive may also fail without (supposedly) any previous indication. Most of the host systems today utilize alert-methods which are reactive by nature-a drive is indicated to fail when some SMART attribute exceeds its vendor defined threshold for valid operation[4]. This approach does not take the cross correlation between different attributes into account and the fact that thresholds vary across different vendors.
 Unlike more conventional studies that focused on reliability statistics such as the annualized failure rate (AFR) at the population level[5], [6], we use machine learning (ML) algorithms that attempt to predict the failure of individual drives. Former ML approaches applied to the drive prediction failure domain include methods for dealing with sequential data, such as sliding windows and hidden Markov models [1], or anomaly detection algorithms, adhering to the often-low proportion of failed drives in the population [4] and [2].
 We present a mechanism that performs a sophisticated samples aggregation inside a distributed database, allowing for the efficient extraction of compound features representing the behavior of the drive during a continuous time window prior its failure.
 We use here an open source dataset from BACKBLAZE, comprising extensive SMART information collected daily from a large drive population at its data center Thus we can use not only the last cumulative SMART counts but also include new features extracted over different time windows of drives last operational days. These capture the dynamics of the drives attributes, for example their growth rate which is highly indicative of the drive s failure probability [7]. Our results suggest that the use of compound features reduce the amount of false positives, which is primary performance measure for algorithms in the drive reliability domain[3], by as much as 60%.
 In a consecutive evaluation scenario a final decision is made based on a collection of the most recent data samples. This way we are able to capture more soon-to-fail drives at low cost to the false-positive rate. On average, a drive is predicted to fail long enough in advance (30 days) to allow for the modification of business strategy in fields such as drive replacement logistics. This approach, when implemented in a production environment may have a direct effect on business savings related to drive logistics.
Psyllium is superior to docusate sodium for treatment of chronic constipation.

BACKGROUND
Stool softening is a physician's first step in the management of chronic constipation.


AIM
To compare stool softening (stool water content) and laxative efficacy of psyllium hydrophilic mucilloid vs. docusate sodium.


METHODS
The multi-site, randomized, double-blind, parallel-design study of 170 subjects with chronic idiopathic constipation involved a 2-week baseline (placebo) phase followed by 2 weeks of treatment. The treatment phase compared psyllium (5.1 g b.d.) plus docusate placebo to docusate sodium (100 mg b.d.) plus psyllium placebo. Stools were collected and assessed.


RESULTS
Compared to baseline, psyllium increased stool water content vs. docusate (psyllium 2.33% vs. docusate 0.01%, P = 0.007). Psyllium also increased stool water weight (psyllium 84.0 g/BM; docusate 71.4 g/BM; P = 0.04), total stool output (psyllium 359.9 g/week: docusate 271.9 g/week; P = 0.005), and O'Brien rank-type score combining objective measures of constipation (psyllium 475.1; docusate 403.9; P = 0.002). Bowel movement (BM) frequency was significantly greater for psyllium (3.5 BM/week) vs. docusate (2.9 BM/week) in treatment week 2 (P = 0.02), with no significant difference (P > 0.05) between treatment groups in treatment week 1 (3.3 vs. 3.1 BM/week).


CONCLUSION
Psyllium is superior to docusate sodium for softening stools by increasing stool water content, and has greater overall laxative efficacy in subjects with chronic idiopathic constipation.
Effect of planting technique and amendment type on pearl millet yield, nutrient uptake, and water use on degraded land in Niger

Due to increased population pressure and limited availability of fertile land, farmers on desert fringes increasingly rely on marginal land for agricultural production, which they have learned to rehabilitate with different technologies for soils and water conservation. One such method is the indigenous zai technique used in the Sahel. It combines water harvesting and targeted application of organic amendments by the use of small pits dug into the hardened soil. To study the resource use efficiency of this technique, experiments were conducted 1999–2000, on-station at ICRISAT in Niger, and on-farm at two locations on degraded lands. On-station, the effect of application rate of millet straw and cattle manure on millet dry matter production was studied. On-farm, the effects of organic amendment type (millet straw and cattle manure, at the rate of 300 g per plant) and water harvesting (with and without water harvesting) on millet grain yield, dry matter production, and water use were studied. First, the comparison of zai vs. flat planting, both unamended, resulted in a 3- to 4-fold (in one case, even 19-fold) increase in grain yield on-farm in both years, which points to the yield effects of improved water harvesting in the zai alone. Zai improved the water use efficiency by a factor of about 2. The yields increased further with the application of organic amendments. Manure resulted in 2–68 times better grain yields than no amendment and 2–7 times better grain yields than millet straw (higher on the more degraded soils). Millet dry matter produced per unit of manure N or K was higher than that of millet straw, a tendency that was similar for all rates of application. Zai improved nutrient uptake in the range of 43–64% for N, 50–87% for P and 58–66% for K. Zai increased grain yield produced per unit N (8 vs. 5 kg kg−1) and K (10 vs. 6 kg kg−1) compared to flat; so is the effect of cattle manure compared to millet straw (9 vs. 4 kg kg−1, and 14 vs. 3 kg kg−1), respectively, Therefore zai shows a good potential for increasing agronomic efficiency and nutrient use efficiency. Increasing the rate of cattle manure application from 1 to 3 t ha−1 increased the yield by 115% TDM, but increasing the manure application rate further from 3 to 5 t ha−1 only gave an additional 12% yield increase, which shows that optimum application rates are around 3t ha−1.
Performing Vaginal Lavage, Crystal Violet Staining, and Vaginal Cytological Evaluation for Mouse Estrous Cycle Staging Identification

A rapid means of assessing reproductive status in rodents is useful not only in the study of reproductive dysfunction but is also required for the production of new mouse models of disease and investigations into the hormonal regulation of tissue degeneration (or regeneration) following pathological challenge. The murine reproductive (or estrous) cycle is divided into 4 stages: proestrus, estrus, metestrus, and diestrus. Defined fluctuations in circulating levels of the ovarian steroids 17-β-estradiol and progesterone, the gonadotropins luteinizing and follicle stimulating hormones, and the luteotropic hormone prolactin signal transition through these reproductive stages. Changes in cell typology within the murine vaginal canal reflect these underlying endocrine events. Daily assessment of the relative ratio of nucleated epithelial cells, cornified squamous epithelial cells, and leukocytes present in vaginal smears can be used to identify murine estrous stages. The degree of invasiveness, however, employed in collecting these samples can alter reproductive status and elicit an inflammatory response that can confound cytological assessment of smears. Here, we describe a simple, non-invasive protocol that can be used to determine the stage of the estrous cycle of a female mouse without altering her reproductive cycle. We detail how to differentiate between the four stages of the estrous cycle by collection and analysis of predominant cell typology in vaginal smears and we show how these changes can be interpreted with respect to endocrine status.
Soil failure can be used for seismic protection of structures

A new seismic design philosophy is illuminated, taking advantage of soil “failure” to protect the superstructure. Instead of over-designing the foundation to ensure that the loading stemming from the structural inertia can be “safely” transmitted onto the soil (as with conventional capacity design), and then reinforce the superstructure to avoid collapse, why not do exactly the opposite by intentionally under-designing the foundation to act as a “safety valve” ? The need for this “reversal” stems from the uncertainty in predicting the actual earthquake motion, and the necessity of developing new more rational and economically efficient earthquake protection solutions. A simple but realistic bridge structure is used as an example to illustrate the effectiveness of the new approach. Two alternatives are compared : one complying with conventional capacity design, with over-designed foundation so that plastic “hinging” develops in the superstructure; the other following the new design philosophy, with under-designed foundation, “inviting” the plastic “hinge” into the soil. Static “pushover” analyses reveal that the ductility capacity of the new design concept is an order of magnitude larger than of the conventional design: the advantage of “utilising” progressive soil failure. The seismic performance of the two alternatives is investigated through nonlinear dynamic time history analyses, using an ensemble of 29 real accelerograms. It is shown that the performance of both alternatives is totally acceptable for moderate intensity earthquakes, not exceeding the design limits. For large intensity earthquakes, exceeding the design limits, the performance of the new design scheme is proven advantageous, not only avoiding collapse but hardly suffering any inelastic structural deformation. It may however experience increased residual settlement and rotation: a price to pay that must be properly assessed in design.
Multiport DC–DC Autotransformer for Interconnecting Multiple High-Voltage DC Systems at Low Cost

This paper proposes a multiport dc-dc autotransformer (multiport dc auto) that is used to interconnect multiple HVDC systems with different voltage levels. The multiport dc auto is able to reduce 50-80% the converter cost compared with conventional dc-ac-dc technology. Different from the conventional dc-ac-dc technology using magnetic coupling at the ac sides of the converters, there is direct electrical connection between the interconnected dc systems in the multiport dc auto. Such direct electrical interconnection significantly reduces the used power converters in the multiport dc auto. Taking interconnecting a ±250, ±320, and ±400 kV dc system with the rated exporting/importing dc power at each of the dc system being 500, 1000, and 1500 MW as an example, the conventional multiport dc-ac-dc technology requires a total of 3000 MW power converters while only 775 MW power converter is required in the multiport dc-dc autotransformer. The required power converter in the multiport dc-dc autotransformer is only 26% of the converter used in the conventional multiport dc-ac-dc technology. Cost and operating power loss is therefore significantly reduced.
Proactive Motor Control Reduces Monetary Risk Taking in
Gambling

Less supervision by the executive system after disruption of the right prefrontal cortex leads to increased risk taking in gambling because superficially attractive-but risky-choices are not suppressed. Similarly, people might gamble more in multitask situations than in single-task situations because concurrent executive processes usually interfere with each other. In the study reported here, we used a novel monetary decision-making paradigm to investigate whether multitasking could reduce rather than increase risk taking in gambling. We found that performing a task that induced cautious motor responding reduced gambling in a multitask situation (Experiment 1). We then found that a short period of inhibitory training lessened risk taking in gambling at least 2 hr later (Experiments 2 and 3). Our findings indicate that proactive motor control strongly affects monetary risk taking in gambling. The link between control systems at different cognitive levels might be exploited to develop new methods for rehabilitation of addiction and impulse-control disorders.
Identifying Aboriginal-specific AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3 cutoff scores for at-risk, high-risk, and likely dependent drinkers using measures of agreement with the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test

BACKGROUND
The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is a 10-item alcohol screener that has been recommended for use in Aboriginal primary health care settings. The time it takes respondents to complete AUDIT, however, has proven to be a barrier to its routine delivery. Two shorter versions, AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3, have been used as screening instruments in primary health care. This paper aims to identify the AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3 cutoff scores that most closely identify individuals classified as being at-risk drinkers, high-risk drinkers, or likely alcohol dependent by the 10-item AUDIT.


METHODS
Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted from June 2009 to May 2010 and from July 2010 to June 2011. Aboriginal Australian participants (N = 156) were recruited through an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service, and a community-based drug and alcohol treatment agency in rural New South Wales (NSW), and through community-based Aboriginal groups in Sydney NSW. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of each score on the AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3 were calculated, relative to cutoff scores on the 10-item AUDIT for at-risk, high-risk, and likely dependent drinkers. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted to measure the detection characteristics of AUDIT-C and AUDIT-3 for the three categories of risk.


RESULTS
The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves were high for drinkers classified as being at-risk, high-risk, and likely dependent.


CONCLUSIONS
Recommended cutoff scores for Aboriginal Australians are as follows: at-risk drinkers AUDIT-C ≥ 5, AUDIT-3 ≥ 1; high-risk drinkers AUDIT-C ≥ 6, AUDIT-3 ≥ 2; and likely dependent drinkers AUDIT-C ≥ 9, AUDIT-3 ≥ 3. Adequate sensitivity and specificity were achieved for recommended cutoff scores. AUROC curves were above 0.90.
Monster soup: the microscope and Victorian fantasy

AbstractThe Victorian predilection for the grotesque owed more than is commonly recognised to nature's microdimension. During the heyday of natural history in Britain (c. 1820–70), the microscope revealed myriads of shapes and creatures so utterly unfamiliar that writers on the subject resorted to flamboyant prose in order to render them intelligible. This had reverberations not least for the visual arts. The metaphors chosen by authors attempting to describe the microscopic world soon developed a visual presence, with supernatural features being projected even onto illustrations in supposedly scientific contexts. At the same time, such illustrations share certain motifs and/or stylistic characteristics with fairy paintings and illustrations by artists such as Daniel Maclise (1806–70), Richard Dadd (1817–86), Sir Joseph Noel Paton (1821–1901), and Arthur Hughes (1832–1915). In view of this, the fact that the golden age of British fairy painting coincided chronologically with the Victorian craze for micros...
The effectiveness of a self-efficacy-enhancing intervention for Chinese patients with colorectal cancer: a randomized controlled trial with 6-month follow up.

BACKGROUND
Colorectal cancer is a major public health problem. There is growing support for colorectal cancer survivors who are experiencing problems after cancer treatment to engage in self-management programs to reduce symptom distress. However, there is inconclusive evidence as to the effectiveness of such program especially in Asian region.


OBJECTIVES
This study tested the effects of a six-month nurse-led self-efficacy-enhancing intervention for patients with colorectal cancer, compared with routine care over a six-month follow up.


DESIGN
A randomized controlled trial with repeated measures, two-group design.


SETTING
Three teaching hospitals in Guangzhou, China.


PARTICIPANTS
One hundred and fifty-two Chinese adult patients with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer were recruited. The intervention group (n=76) received self-efficacy-enhancing intervention and the control group (n=76) received standard care.


METHOD
The participants were randomized into either intervention or control group after baseline measures. The outcomes of the study (self-efficacy, symptom distress, anxiety, depression and quality of life) were compared at baseline, three and six months after the intervention.


RESULTS
Sixty-eight participants in the intervention group and 53 in the control group completed the study. Their mean age was 53 (SD=11.3). Repeated measure MANOVA found that the patients in the intervention group had significant improvement in their self-efficacy (F=7.26, p=0.003) and a reduction of symptom severity (F=5.30, p=0.01), symptom interference (F=4.06, p=0.025), anxiety (F=6.04, p=0.006) and depression (F=6.96, p=0.003) at three and six months, compared with the control group. However, no statistically significant main effect was observed in quality of life perception between the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
The nurse-led self-efficacy enhancing intervention was effective in promoting self-efficacy and psychological well-being in patients with colorectal cancer, compared with standard care. The intervention can be incorporated into routine care. Future empirical work is required to determine the longer term effects of the intervention.