LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Improved Assessment of Chest pain Trial (IMPACT): assessing patients with possible acute coronary syndromes.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the safety and efficacy of the Improved Assessment of Chest pain Trial (IMPACT) protocol, a strategy for accelerated assessment of patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with chest pain.


DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
IMPACT was an intervention trial at a single tertiary referral hospital (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital) during February 2011 - March 2014. 1366 prospectively recruited patients presenting to the ED with symptoms of suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were stratified into groups at low, intermediate or high risk of an ACS.


INTERVENTION
High risk patients were treated according to NHFA/CSANZ guidelines. Low and intermediate risk patients underwent troponin testing (sensitive assay) 0 and 2 hours after presentation. Intermediate risk patients underwent objective testing after the second troponin test; low risk patients were discharged without further objective testing.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome was an ACS within 30 days of presentation. Secondary outcomes were ED and hospital lengths of stay (LOS).


RESULTS
The IMPACT protocol stratified 244 (17.9%) patients to low risk, 789 (57.7%) to intermediate risk, and 333 (24.4%) to high risk categories. The overall 30-day ACS rate was 6.6%, but there were no ACS events in the low risk group, and 14 (1.8%) in the intermediate risk group. The median hospital LOS was 5.1 hours (IQR, 4.2-5.6 h) for low risk and 7.7 hours (IQR, 6.1-21 h) for intermediate risk patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The IMPACT protocol safely and efficiently allowed a large proportion of patients presenting to EDs with chest pain to undergo accelerated assessment for risk of an ACS.


CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12611000206921.
Development of an optical character recognition pipeline for handwritten form fields from an electronic health record

BACKGROUND
Although the penetration of electronic health records is increasing rapidly, much of the historical medical record is only available in handwritten notes and forms, which require labor-intensive, human chart abstraction for some clinical research. The few previous studies on automated extraction of data from these handwritten notes have focused on monolithic, custom-developed recognition systems or third-party systems that require proprietary forms.


METHODS
We present an optical character recognition processing pipeline, which leverages the capabilities of existing third-party optical character recognition engines, and provides the flexibility offered by a modular custom-developed system. The system was configured and run on a selected set of form fields extracted from a corpus of handwritten ophthalmology forms.


OBSERVATIONS
The processing pipeline allowed multiple configurations to be run, with the optimal configuration consisting of the Nuance and LEADTOOLS engines running in parallel with a positive predictive value of 94.6% and a sensitivity of 13.5%.


DISCUSSION
While limitations exist, preliminary experience from this project yielded insights on the generalizability and applicability of integrating multiple, inexpensive general-purpose third-party optical character recognition engines in a modular pipeline.
On political socialization and education : investigations into an argumentation for a good political belief system

On political socialization and education : investigations into an argumentation for a good political belief system
Estimation of thermal transitions in poly(ethylene naphthalate): Experiments and modeling using isoconversional methods

Abstract Thermal transitions of PEN, such as the glass transition temperature and those occurring during isothermal or nonisothermal crystallization were investigated based on careful experiments and modeling with isoconversional methods. The latter was applied to DSC data to determine the effective activation energy for the glass transition in PEN. Using the same data and different thermal methods the dynamic fragility of PEN was evaluated. The Lauritzen–Hoffman (LH) parameters K g and U ∗ were estimated using the secondary nucleation theory from both PLM and isothermal DSC after self-nucleation measurements. Regime II to I and III to II transition at about 253 °C and 243 °C were concluded. Elliptical-shaped hedrite-like morphology was observed above 253 °C. Finally, isoconversional analysis was applied to both melt and glass non-isothermal crystallization data and the combined set of activation energies was found to be described by the theoretical Vyazovkin–Sbirrazzuoli equation using a single set of LH parameters coming from PLM measurements.
The antioxidant status response to low-fat and walnut paste-enriched meat differs in volunteers at high cardiovascular Risk carrying different PON-1 polymorphisms.

BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular risk largely depends on diet, antioxidant status, and gene polymorphisms. Low-fat meat (CM) and walnut-enriched meat (WM) products may exert potential beneficial health effects with respect to conventional meat products.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the effects of consuming WM vs CM on reduced and oxidized glutathione, lipoperoxides, α- and γ-tocopherol levels, and paraoxonase (PON-1), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in 22 volunteers (mean age 54.8 years and body mass index 29.6 kg/m(2)) at high cardiovascular risk carrying different PON-1 192/55 polymorphisms.


DESIGN
The study was a 5-week nonblinded, randomized, crossover, controlled trial.


RESULTS
In general term, WM vs CM improved the volunteers' antioxidant status, with several result modifications occurring after the WM period. CM consumption increased oxidized glutathione and decreased PON-1 activity (at least p < 0.05). When WM vs CM effects were compared, SOD, CAT, and PON-1 enzyme activities increased (at least p < 0.05) in PON-1 192QQ carriers. γ-tocopherol levels and SOD and PON-1 activities increased in PON-1 192QR+RR carriers besides the significant decrease of lipoperoxide levels. In PON-1 55LM+MM carriers, the intervention increased significantly all the investigated enzyme activities and glutathione levels, whereas PON-1 55LL carriers increased their PON-1 activities.


CONCLUSIONS
WM consumption should be preferred to CM. The intake of WM vs CM increased PON-1 but the effect upon other antioxidant enzymes and substrates varied depending on the individual's PON-1 polymorphism. PON-1 192QR+RR carriers appear the targets for WM consumption as they increased enzyme activities and γ-tocopherol levels and decreased lipoperoxides.
Spontaneous Breaking of R-Parity

If supersymmetry is realized with spontaneous breaking of R-parity, there will be important consequences in several different areas which can be tested through different types of experiments. In this talk we review the phenomenological implications of these theories, with special emphasis on new signals at the present and future accelerators.
Assessment of laparoscopic stomach preserving surgery with sentinel basin dissection versus standard gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy in early gastric cancer–A multicenter randomized phase III clinical trial (SENORITA trial) protocol

Along with the marked increase in early gastric cancer (EGC) in the Eastern countries, there has been an effort to adopt the sentinel node concept in EGC to preserve gastric function and reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications. Based on promising results from a previous quality control study, this prospective multicenter randomized controlled phase III clinical trial aims to elucidate the oncologic safety of laparoscopic stomach-preserving surgery with sentinel basin dissection (SBD) compared to a standard laparoscopic gastrectomy. This trial is an investigator-initiated, open-label, multicenter randomized controlled phase III trial with a non-inferiority design. Patients diagnosed with a single lesion of clinical stage T1N0M0 gastric adenocarcinoma, with a diameter of 3 cm or less are eligible for the present study. A total of 580 patients (290 per group) will be randomized to either laparoscopic stomach-preserving surgery with SBD or standard surgery. The primary end-point is 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) and the secondary endpoints include postoperative morbidity and mortality, quality of life, 5-year DFS, and overall survival. Qualified investigators who completed the prior quality control study are exclusively allowed to participate in this phase III clinical trial. The proposed trial is expected to verify whether laparoscopic stomach-preserving surgery with SBD achieves similar oncologic outcomes and improved quality of life compared to a standard gastrectomy in EGC patients. This study was registered at the NIH ClinicalTrial.gov database ( NCT01804998 ) on March 4th, 2013.
Acute and chronic stress exposure predicts 1-year recurrence in adult outpatients with residual depression symptoms following response to treatment.

BACKGROUND
One of the strongest predictors of depression recurrence in those who respond to treatment is the presence of residual depressive symptoms. Our goal was to examine stressful life event exposure as a mechanism of recurrence in previously depressed patients with residual depression symptoms. That is, we predicted that higher levels of residual symptoms will significantly predict exposure to acute life events that will then heighten prospective recurrence risk.


METHODS
Participants included 68 adult outpatients with major depression (42 women; age 18-60) who completed a 12-month naturalistic follow-up after achieving remission in a 20-week randomized, open label trial of interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or antidepressant medication. Depression recurrence was defined as the reemergence of an episode of major depression as determined by structured interview. Acute life events and chronic stressors were assessed at the end of follow-up using a contextual interview.


RESULTS
Posttreatment depression scores significantly prospectively predicted an increased risk for recurrence, and acute life events in the follow-up period. Cox regression survival analyses modeling life events as time-dependent covariates showed that life event exposure mediated the relation of residual symptoms to recurrence even controlling for chronic stress.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings implicate residual symptoms in heightening depression recurrence risk through exposure to stressful life events. Depression recurrence adds significantly to the burden of the disorder. Therefore, rigorous follow-up of patients targeting the stressful context has the potential to prevent a lifelong pattern of illness.
Barrier properties of thin Au/Ni–P under bump metallization for Sn–3.5Ag solder

Electroless Ni–P with a thin layer of immersion gold has been considered as a promising under bump metallization (UBM) for low-cost flip–chip technology. However, the presence of P in electroless Ni–P causes complicated interfacial reactions, which affect the reliability of solder joint. In this work, barrier properties of thin Au/Ni–P UBM between Cu substrate and Sn–3.5Ag solder were investigated during annealing at 160, 180, and 200 °C in terms of IMC formation. Multilayer Sn–3.5Ag/Au/Ni–P/Cu sample was prepared by electroless chemical plating and solder reflow for the investigation. Annealing results showed that electroless Ni–P acts as a good barrier for Sn diffusion at 160 and 180 °C. However, it fails to protect the Cu substrate from reacting with Sn at 200 °C. The reason is that the electroless Ni–P layer starts converting into a ternary Ni– Sn–P layer at 200 °C. Complete conversion of the Ni–P layer into Ni–Sn–P, results in the formation of two Cu–Sn intermetallics, Cu6Sn5 and Cu3Sn, at the Ni–Sn–P/Cu interface and the formation of (NixCu1-x)6Sn5 intermetallic at the Ni3Sn4/Ni–Sn–P interface.
On-treatment analysis of the Improved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial (IMPROVE-IT).

BACKGROUND
We aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of adding ezetimibe (Ez) to simvastatin (S) in a post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) population in a prespecified on-treatment analysis.


METHODS
We evaluated 17,706 post-ACS patients from the IMPROVE-IT trial who had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol values between 50 and 125 mg/dL and who received Ez 10 mg/d with S 40 mg/d (Ez/S) or placebo with simvastatin 40 mg/d (P/S). The primary composite end point was cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, unstable angina, coronary revascularization ≥30 days postrandomization, or stroke. The on-treatment analysis included patients who received study drug for the duration of the trial or experienced a primary end point or noncardiovascular death within 30 days of drug discontinuation.


RESULTS
Mean low-density lipoprotein cholesterol values at 1 year were 71 mg/dL for P/S and 54 mg/dL for Ez/S (absolute difference -17 mg/dL = -24%; P < .001). The 7-year Kaplan-Meier estimate of the primary end point occurred in 32.4% in the P/S arm and 29.8% in the Ez/S arm (absolute difference 2.6%; HRadj 0.92 [95% CI 0.87-0.98]; P = .01). The absolute treatment effect favoring Ez/S was 30% greater than in the intention-to-treat analysis of IMPROVE-IT.


CONCLUSIONS
This analysis provides additional support for the efficacy and safety of adding Ez to S in this high-risk, post-ACS population.
The pattern of malocclusion in a sample of orthodontic patients from Turkey.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of individual traits of malocclusion in a sample of Turkish orthodontic patients.


STUDY DESIGN
The present study was based on the examination of dental casts, intraoral photographs and panoramic radiographs of 1507 orthodontic patients (884 females and 623 males). The relationship of the first upper and lower molars according to the Angle's classification, overjet, overbite, crowding, spacing, posterior crossbite, scissor bite, maxillary median diastema were examined. The Pearson chi-squared and Fisher's Exact tests were used to determine potential differences in the distribution of malocclusion when stratified by gender.


RESULTS
The study demonstrated that only 52 (3.5%) of the subjects had normal occlusion. Class I malocclusion was found in 626 (41.5%), Class II Division 1 in 435 (28.9%), Class II Division 2 in 142 (9.4%) and Class III malocclusion in 252 (16.7%) subjects of all examined. Normal overbite, normal overjet, crossbite on both sides and severe crowding in the upper dental arch were observed more frequently in females (P<0.05), however, increased overbite and moderate crowding in the upper dental arch were observed more frequently in males (P<0.05).


CONCLUSION
The results of this study showed that crowding in the upper and lower dental arches in a sample of Turkish population was the most frequent of all anomalies recorded with ranges of 70.0% and 47.3%, respectively.
A lexicon for Vietnamese language processing

Only very recently have Vietnamese researchers begun to be involved in the domain of Natural Language Processing (NLP). As there does not exist any published work in formal linguistics nor any recognizable standard for Vietnamese word definition and word categories, the fundamental tasks for automatic Vietnamese language processing, such as part-of-speech tagging, parsing, etc., are very difficult tasks for computer scientists. The fact that all necessary linguistic resources have to be built from scratch by each research team is a real obstacle to the development of Vietnamese language processing. The aim of our projects is thus to build a common linguistic database that is freely and easily exploitable for the automatic processing of Vietnamese. In this paper, we present our work on creating a Vietnamese lexicon for NLP applications. We emphasize the standardization aspect of the lexicon representation. We especially propose an extensible set of Vietnamese syntactic descriptions that can be used for tagset definition and morphosyntactic analysis. These descriptors are established in such a way as to be a reference set proposal for Vietnamese in the context of ISO subcommittee TC 37/SC 4 (Language Resource Management).
Clinical assessment of topiramate therapy in patients with migrainous vertigo.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the efficacy of topiramate in reducing both the frequency and the severity of vertigo and headache attacks in patients with migrainous vertigo and to compare 50 and 100 mg/day doses of the drug.


METHODS
Thirty patients diagnosed as definite migrainous vertigo were recruited in the study. Vertigo and headache frequency was determined as the monthly number of attacks whereas severity was determined by visual analog scales measured in millimeters from 0 to 100. Patients were randomized to either 50 or 100 mg/day topiramate for 6 months. Vertigo and headache frequency and severity were evaluated at the end of the study period.


RESULTS
Number of mothly vertigo attacks decreased significantly in the overall group after treatment (median from 5.5 to 1; P < .01). The same was true for monthly headache attacks (median from 4 to 1; P < .01). A statically significant improvement in vertigo severity was noted (median from 80 to 20 mm; P < .01). Headache severity showed significant improvement as well (median from 60 to 30 mm; P < .01). No statistically significant difference between high- and low-dose groups was present regarding efficacy (P > .05). Four patients in the high-dose group discontinued treatment at the end of the first month because of adverse effects.


CONCLUSIONS
In the overall group, topiramate was found to be effective in reducing the frequency and the severity of vertigo and headache attacks. Both doses of the drug were equally efficacious. The 50 mg/day dose seems to be appropriate as higher adverse effects were noted when 100 mg/day was used.
Inquiry into the Channel Hardening and Ecological Management of the Nanming River in Guiyang

In view of the Nanming river pollution,and the hardening phenomenon caused by the Nanming river comprehensive reclamation. From the perspective of ecology and ecological sustainable development of urban river,it' s necessary to explore ecological management of the Nanming river to really solve the environmental problems.
Optical properties of PbS-doped silica optical fiber materials based on atomic layer deposition

Abstract Optical properties of PbS-doped silica optical fiber materials and theoretical simulation are investigated. PbS is deposited on silica optical fiber materials by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technique with Pb(tmhd) 2 and H 2 S as Pb and S precursors, respectively. Its stoichiometry is confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The valence states of S and Pb element are −2 and +2, respectively. The Raman spectra further reveal that PbS has been doped into optical fiber materials almost without destroying irregular rings structure in silica material network. And there are distinct absorption bands at 248 and 352 nm. Fluorescence spectra are obtained with 330 and 350 nm pumping, two fluorescence peaks at 768 and 808 nm, respectively. In addition, the microstructure models for PbS-doped optical fiber materials are built on Gaussian09 platform, and its optical properties of the absorption and emission spectra are calculated using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) methods. There are obvious absorption and emission peaks at 325.7 and 769.8 nm, respectively, which are in good agreement with experiments.
Accuracy of diagnosing gastroesophageal reflux disease by GerdQ, esophageal impedance monitoring and histology.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the performance of self-assessment gastroesophageal reflux disease questionnaire (GerdQ), 24-h impedance monitoring, proton pump inhibitor (PPI) test and intercellular space of esophageal mucosal epithelial cells in the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).


METHODS
Patients with symptoms suspected of GERD were administered the GerdQ and underwent endoscopy (measurement of intercellular space in the biopsy specimen sampling at 2 cm above the Z-line) and 24-h impedance pH monitoring, together with a 2-week experimental treatment with esomeprazole.


RESULTS
A total of 636 patients were included for the final analysis, including 352 with GERD. The sensitivity and specificity of GerdQ and 24-h impedance monitoring for diagnosing GERD were 57.7% and 48.9%, and 66.4% and 43.3%, respectively. The sensitivity of 24-h impedance pH monitoring increased to 93.7%. The sensitivity and specificity of dilated intercellular spaces (DIS) (≥0.9 μm) for diagnosing GERD were 61.2% and 56.1%, respectively, whereas those for PPI test were 70.5% and 44.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
GerdQ score or PPI test alone cannot accurately diagnose GERD in a Chinese population suspected of GERD. A definitive diagnosis of GERD still depends on endoscopy or 24-h pH monitoring. 24-h impedance pH monitoring may increase the sensitivity for diagnosing GERD by 20%; however, when used alone, it results in poor specificity in patients without acid suppressive therapy.
Adoption of improved maize varieties in the hills of Nepal

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most important cereal crop in the hills of Nepal, where the grain is used for human consumption and the stover for animal fodder. Maize farms are small, and population pressure necessitates the intensification of existing farming systems. Maize research directed at developing technologies for maize production began in Nepal in 1965. In 2000, a survey was carried out in two districts to determine the current level of adoption of improved maize production practices. In each of these districts, remote and accessible village development committees (VDCs) were surveyed. Questionnaires were administered to 54 randomly selected households in each VDC. A Tobit analysis was used to determine socio-economic, physical and technology factors that influence the use of improved varieties by farmers. All households use composted farmyard manure, and in the more accessible areas, urea as part of their soil fertility management strategy. Use of improved varieties was less than 60% for all VDCs and only 15% in the most remote VDC. In three of the four VDCs, adoption of improved varieties primarily occurred during the past 5 years. Based on a Tobit analysis, Khet land area, ethnic group, years of fertiliser use, off-farm income, and contact with extension significantly and positively affected adoption of improved varieties. Farmers in VDCs in central Nepal reported lack of seed to be the major constraint to the adoption of improved varieties, while lack of knowledge of new varieties was the major constraint for farmers in the western VDCs. The results from this survey suggest that the strategy for improving the adoption of new varieties will differ depending on infrastructure and the socio-economic conditions of the farmers in a given area. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.