LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Nonabelions in the fractional quantum Hall effect

Applications of conformal field theory to the theory of fractional quantum Hall systems are discussed. In particular, Laughlin's wave function and its cousins are interpreted as conformal blocks in certain rational conformal field theories. Using this point of view a hamiitonian is constructed for electrons for which the ground state is known exactly and whose quasihole excitations have nonabelian statistics; we term these objects "nonabelions". It is argued that universality classes of fractional quantum Hall systems can be characterized by the quantum numbers and statistics of their excitations. The relation between the order parameter in the fractional quantum Hall effect and the chiral algebra in rational conformal field theory is stressed, and new order parameters for several states are given.
Histamine, mast cells and tumour cell proliferation in breast cancer: does preoperative cimetidine administration have an effect?

Endogenous histamine has been shown to effect growth mechanisms in experimental mammary carcinomas via H2 membrane receptors (Cricco et al, 1994). Both H1 and H2 binding sites are present in human mammary glands but only 75% malignant carcinomas express H2 receptors (Lemos et al, 1995). The presence of mast cells around tumour tissue raises questions concerning the source of histamine in breast tumour tissue. While cimetidine, an H2 antagonist, has been shown to influence the presence of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in colorectal cancer (Adams and Morris, 1994, 1997) that was not found to be the case in breast cancer (Ng et al, 1995). In recent studies tumour cell proliferation, as measured by Ki-67 antibody labelling, has been seen as an additional prognostic indicator in breast cancer (Railo et al, 1993, 1997; Ferno, 1998; Schauer et al, 1998). We investigated the possibility that cimetidine may influence tumour proliferation by blocking the growth-promoting effects of histamine. No relationship between preoperative cimetidine administration and tumour cell proliferation was seen overall. A weak correlation was seen between tissue histamine content and mast cell count which was not influenced by cimetidine. Tumour cell proliferation correlated well with other prognostic indicators such as grade and differentiation. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign
The impact of metazooplankton on the structure of the microbial food web in a shallow, hypertrophic lake.

Shallow, hypertrophic Lake Søbygård is characterized by strong fluctuations in the plankton community structure over short time scales, and cascading predation effects from higher to lower trophic levels. We examined the coupling between the classical and microbial food web for a 1 month period, during which the typical zooplankton summer succession from rotifers (mainly Brachionus spp.) to cyclopoid copepods and daphnids occurred. In addition to the analysis of the plankton succession, we performed mesocosm experiments, comparing the microbial community structure in treatments with and without metazooplankton. We focused on the development of different functional groups within the microbial food web: total heterotrophic bacteria, filamentous bacteria (as grazingresistant forms), prokaryotic and eukaryotic, autotrophic picoplankton (pAPP and eAPP), heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) and ciliates. During the first experiment, the metazooplankton was dominated by rotifers which exerted only moderate top-down control on small ciliates, HNF and APP. Cascading predation effects were visible after the collapse of the rotifer population; enhanced protozoan grazing resulted in a decrease in single-celled bacteria and an increase in filamentous bacteria. During the second experiment, characterized by dominance of Cyclops vicinus, strong alterations in the microbial food web structure occurred. The most obvious effects were an efficient predation control of planktonic ciliates by copepods and a shift of the picoplankton towards filamentous bacteria and a very high biomass of pAPP, which we interpret as a result of enhanced protozoan grazing pressure on bacterioplankton. After the peak in cyclopoids, Daphnia spp. became the dominant zooplankton taxa which resulted in the well known strong predation effects on all microbial components. The two experiments confirm that metazooplankton species composition is an important structuring factor for the microbial food web. Two functional groups deserve special attention: filamentous bacteria and pAPP. Filamentous bacteria, which attained nearly 50% of total heterotrophic bacterial biomass during the second period, seem to be a sensitive indicator of the overall planktonic food web structure and showed significant responses in the enclosures. With a special staining procedure, we analysed the abundance of filamentous bacteria in Lugol-fixed samples collected since 1984 during periods when either daphnids, cyclopoids or rotifers dominated the metazooplankton community. On average, high abundance of filaments was always associated with Cyclops-dominated situations, low numbers with Daphnia dominance and high, but rather variable numbers with rotifer dominance. A general close correlation of pAPP with filamentous bacteria might indicate that pAPP also possess a reduced edibility for protozoans.
Design for Change

The report summarises the first year of the research project 'Design for Design in Use of Database Applications'. It focuses on end user tailoring and adaptable systems.
A novel approach to predict the likelihood of specific ovarian tumor pathology based on serum CA-125: a multicenter observational study.

BACKGROUND
The CA-125 tumor marker has limitations when used to distinguish between benign and malignant ovarian masses. We therefore establish likelihood curves of six subgroups of ovarian pathology based on CA-125 and menopausal status.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study conducted by the International Ovarian Tumor Analysis group involved 3,511 patients presenting with a persistent adnexal mass that underwent surgical intervention. CA-125 distributions for six tumor subgroups (endometriomas and abscesses, other benign tumors, borderline tumors, stage I invasive cancers, stage II-IV invasive cancers, and metastatic tumors) were estimated using kernel density estimation with stratification for menopausal status. Likelihood curves for the tumor subgroups were derived from the distributions.


RESULTS
Endometriomas and abscesses were the only benign pathologies with median CA-125 levels above 20 U/mL (43 and 45, respectively). Borderline and invasive stage I tumors had relatively low median CA-125 levels (29 and 81 U/mL, respectively). The CA-125 distributions of stage II-IV invasive cancers and benign tumors other than endometriomas or abscesses were well separated; the distributions of the other subgroups overlapped substantially. This held for premenopausal and postmenopausal patients. Likelihood curves and reference tables comprehensibly show how subgroup likelihoods change with CA-125 and menopausal status.


CONCLUSIONS AND IMPACT
Our results confirm the limited clinical value of CA-125 for preoperative discrimination between benign and malignant ovarian pathology. We have shown that CA-125 may be used in a different way. By using likelihood reference tables, we believe clinicians will be better able to interpret preoperative serum CA-125 results in patients with adnexal masses.
Efficacy and safety of saxagliptin in combination with metformin compared with sitagliptin in combination with metformin in adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors improve glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus when used as monotherapy or in combination with other anti-diabetic drugs (metformin, sulphonylurea, or thiazolidinedione). This 18-week, phase 3b, multicentre, double-blind, noninferiority trial compared the efficacy and safety of two dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, saxagliptin and sitagliptin, in patients whose glycaemia was inadequately controlled with metformin.


METHODS
Adult type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (N = 801) with glycated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) 6.5-10% on stable metformin doses (1500-3000 mg/day) were randomized 1 : 1 to add-on 5 mg saxagliptin or 100 mg sitagliptin once daily for 18 weeks. The primary efficacy analysis was a comparison of the change from baseline HbA(1c) at week 18 in per-protocol patients. Noninferiority was concluded if the upper limit of the two-sided 95% confidence interval of the HbA(1c) difference between treatments was < 0.3%.


RESULTS
The adjusted mean changes in HbA(1c) following the addition of saxagliptin or sitagliptin to stable metformin therapy were - 0.52 and - 0.62%, respectively. The between-group difference was 0.09% (95% confidence interval, - 0.01 to 0.20%), demonstrating noninferiority. Both treatments were generally well tolerated; incidence and types of adverse events were comparable between groups. Hypoglycaemic events, mostly mild, were reported in approximately 3% of patients in each treatment group. Body weight declined by a mean of 0.4 kg in both groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Saxagliptin added to metformin therapy was effective in improving glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus inadequately controlled by metformin alone; saxagliptin plus metformin was noninferior to sitagliptin plus metformin, and was generally well tolerated.
An experimental study on the photometrical impacts of several current waveforms on power white LEDs

Since light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are a rising lighting technology, a great amount of research is currently being focused on driving techniques for these current-fed semiconductor devices. For realizing efficient current drivers, power electronics is usually employed. This work focuses on studying the impacts that several high and low frequency current waveforms commonly found on power electronic drivers may have on the photometrical and colorimetrical performance of the LEDs themselves. Empirical evidence obtained under controlled experiments is provided to correlate important features of the LEDs to the current levels and waveforms.
Comparative efficacy of fingolimod vs natalizumab: A French multicenter observational study.

OBJECTIVE
To compare natalizumab and fingolimod on both clinical and MRI outcomes in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) from 27 multiple sclerosis centers participating in the French follow-up cohort Observatoire of Multiple Sclerosis.


METHODS
Patients with RRMS included in the study were aged from 18 to 65 years with an Expanded Disability Status Scale score of 0-5.5 and an available brain MRI performed within the year before treatment initiation. The data were collected for 326 patients treated with natalizumab and 303 with fingolimod. The statistical analysis was performed using 2 different methods: logistic regression and propensity scores (inverse probability treatment weighting).


RESULTS
The confounder-adjusted proportion of patients with at least one relapse within the first and second year of treatment was lower in natalizumab-treated patients compared to the fingolimod group (21.1% vs 30.4% at first year, p = 0.0092; and 30.9% vs 41.7% at second year, p = 0.0059) and supported the trend observed in nonadjusted analysis (21.2% vs 27.1% at 1 year, p = 0.0775). Such statistically significant associations were also observed for gadolinium (Gd)-enhancing lesions and new T2 lesions at both 1 year (Gd-enhancing lesions: 9.3% vs 29.8%, p < 0.0001; new T2 lesions: 10.6% vs 29.6%, p < 0.0001) and 2 years (Gd-enhancing lesions: 9.1% vs 22.1%, p = 0.0025; new T2 lesions: 16.9% vs 34.1%, p = 0.0010) post treatment initiation.


CONCLUSION
Taken together, these results suggest the superiority of natalizumab over fingolimod to prevent relapses and new T2 and Gd-enhancing lesions at 1 and 2 years.


CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE
This study provides Class IV evidence that for patients with RRMS, natalizumab decreases the proportion of patients with at least one relapse within the first year of treatment compared to fingolimod.
The interface between personality and cognition

The interface or lack thereof between personality and cognition is discussed. It is suggested that personality and cognition have tilled separate vineyards. This paper reviews both historical and contemporary perspectives on trait psychology, cognitive social learning personality models, field-dependence versus field-independence cognitive styles, and interactionism. In reviewing these areas of personality research, it becomes evident that, until recently, there has been very little overlap between the fields of personality and cognition. Methodological and substantive reasons for this are presented. Recently, research has been conducted to relate personality to cognition, but the results have been equivocal and the various theories unintegrated. Proposals on how to integrate these two distinct fields are presented. It is suggested that part of the problem of uncovering the relationship between personality and cognition is a result of methodological hurdles. Thus, future research methods and hypotheses are proposed, which will help overcome these difficulties. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Balance and stability-focused exercise program improves stability and balance in patients after acute stroke in a resource-poor setting.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the effect of a balance and stability-focused outpatient community-based rehabilitation and a regular physiotherapy program on balance, stability, and perceptions of improvement after acute stroke.


DESIGN
A randomized controlled trial in a community-based therapy center.


PARTICIPANTS
Fifty consecutive patients with a first stroke, who reported to a community-based therapy center over a 7-month period were allocated to the control group (regular physiotherapy) or the experimental group (balance and stability-focused rehabilitation).


INTERVENTION
A program of physiotherapy focused on balance and stability exercises. The control group received the regular physiotherapy program.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS
The Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke Patients (PASS) and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) monitored stability and balance. The normalized data (PASS and BBS) were analyzed by using analysis of covariance. Qualitative data were thematically described.


RESULTS
Internal consistency of baseline PASS and BBS scores was high (Cronbach α, .964 and .974, respectively). PASS overall pretest scores increased from 21.96 ± 21.41 (mean ± standard deviation) and 21.52 ± 8.43 to 67.67 ± 28.42 and 80.16 ± 22.60 posttest in the control and experimental groups, respectively. Posttest scores were significantly different (P = .004). The effect size was medium (.490). The overall BBS scores showed overall mean (standard deviation) increases from 44.71 ± 22.24 and 43.43 ± 17.11 pretest to 48.71 ± 23.18 and 59.71 ± 18.20 posttest for the control and experimental groups, respectively. The effect size was considered medium (.532).


CONCLUSION
The balance and stability-focused community-based rehabilitation program was more effective in improving stability and balance in patients with stroke compared with the regular physiotherapy program in resource-poor settings.
Instance-Level Segmentation for Autonomous Driving with Deep Densely Connected MRFs

Our aim is to provide a pixel-wise instance-level labeling of a monocular image in the context of autonomous driving. We build on recent work [32] that trained a convolutional neural net to predict instance labeling in local image patches, extracted exhaustively in a stride from an image. A simple Markov random field model using several heuristics was then proposed in [32] to derive a globally consistent instance labeling of the image. In this paper, we formulate the global labeling problem with a novel densely connected Markov random field and show how to encode various intuitive potentials in a way that is amenable to efficient mean field inference [15]. Our potentials encode the compatibility between the global labeling and the patch-level predictions, contrast-sensitive smoothness as well as the fact that separate regions form different instances. Our experiments on the challenging KITTI benchmark [8] demonstrate that our method achieves a significant performance boost over the baseline [32].
A randomized controlled trial of rituximab following failure of antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus-associated cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.

OBJECTIVE
To perform a randomized controlled trial of rituximab in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated mixed cryoglobulinemic vasculitis.


METHODS
We conducted a single-center, open-label, randomized controlled trial of rituximab (375 mg/ m(2) /week for 4 weeks) compared to the best available therapy (maintenance or increase in immunosuppressive therapy) for HCV-associated cryoglobulinemic vasculitis in patients in whom antiviral therapy had failed to induce remission. The primary end point was disease remission at 6 months from study entry.


RESULTS
A total of 24 patients were enrolled (12 in each treatment group). Baseline disease activity and organ involvement were similar in the two groups. Ten patients in the rituximab group (83%) were in remission at study month 6, as compared with 1 patient in the control group (8%), a result that met the criterion for stopping the study (P < 0.001). The median duration of remission for rituximab-treated patients who reached the primary end point was 7 months. No adverse effects of rituximab on HCV plasma viremia or on hepatic transaminase levels were observed.


CONCLUSION
Rituximab was a well-tolerated and effective treatment in patients with HCV-associated cryoglobulinemic vasculitis in whom antiviral therapy failed to induce remission.
Deictic Believability: Coordinated Gesture, Locomotion, and Speech in Lifelike Pedagogical Agents

Lifelike animated agents for knowledge based learning environments can provide timely cus tomized advice to support students problem solving Because of their strong visual presence they hold signi cant promise for substantially increasing students enjoyment of their learning experiences A key problem posed by lifelike agents that inhabit arti cial worlds is deictic believability In the same manner that humans refer to objects in their environment through judicious combinations of speech locomotion and gesture animated agents should be able to move through their environment and point to and refer to objects appropriately as they provide problem solving advice In this paper we describe a framework for achieving deictic believabil ity in animated agents A deictic behavior planner exploits a world model and the evolving explanation plan as it selects and coordinates locomotive gestural and speech behaviors The resulting behaviors and utterances are believable and the references exhibit a lack of ambiguity This approach to spatial deixis has been implemented in a lifelike animated agent Cosmo who inhabits a learning environment for the domain of Internet packet routing Cosmo provides realtime advice to students as they escort packets through a virtual world of interconnected routers Results of an informal focus group study with the Cosmo agent suggest that the spatial deixis framework produces clear explanatory animated behaviors
Sleep has no critical role in implicit motor sequence learning in young and old adults

The influence of sleep on motor skill consolidation has been a research topic of increasing interest. In this study, we distinguished general skill learning from sequence-specific learning in a probabilistic implicit sequence learning task (alternating serial reaction time) in young and old adults before and after a 12-h offline interval which did or did not contain sleep (p.m.–a.m. and a.m.–p.m. groups, respectively). The results showed that general skill learning, as assessed via overall reaction time, improved offline in both the young and older groups, with the young group improving more than the old. However, the improvement was not sleep-dependent, in that there was no difference between the a.m.–p.m. and p.m.–a.m. groups. We did not find sequence-specific offline improvement in either age group for the a.m.–either p.m. or p.m.–a.m. groups, suggesting that consolidation of this kind of implicit motor sequence learning may not be influenced by sleep.
Do Older Adults Aged 60–75 Years Benefit From Diabetes Behavioral Interventions?

OBJECTIVE
In this secondary analysis, we examined whether older adults with diabetes (aged 60-75 years) could benefit from self-management interventions compared with younger adults. Seventy-one community-dwelling older adults and 151 younger adults were randomized to attend a structured behavioral group, an attention control group, or one-to-one education.


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
We measured A1C, self-care (3-day pedometer readings, blood glucose checks, and frequency of self-care), and psychosocial factors (quality of life, diabetes distress, frustration with self-care, depression, self-efficacy, and coping styles) at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months postintervention.


RESULTS
Both older (age 67 ± 5 years, A1C 8.7 ± 0.8%, duration 20 ± 12 years, 30% type 1 diabetes, 83% white, 41% female) and younger (age 47 ± 9 years, A1C 9.2 ± 1.2%, 18 ± 12 years with diabetes, 59% type 1 diabetes, 82% white, 55% female) adults had improved A1C equally over time. Importantly, older and younger adults in the group conditions improved more and maintained improvements at 12 months (older structured behavioral group change in A1C -0.72 ± 1.4%, older control group -0.65 ± 0.9%, younger behavioral group -0.55 ± 1.2%, younger control group -0.43 ± 1.7%). Furthermore, frequency of self-care, glucose checks, depressive symptoms, quality of life, distress, frustration with self-care, self-efficacy, and emotional coping improved in older and younger participants at follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that, compared with younger adults, older adults receive equal glycemic benefit from participating in self-management interventions. Moreover, older adults showed the greatest glycemic improvement in the two group conditions. Clinicians can safely recommend group diabetes interventions to community-dwelling older adults with poor glycemic control.