LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Clustering of Vehicle Trajectories

We present a method that is suitable for clustering of vehicle trajectories obtained by an automated vision system. We combine ideas from two spectral clustering methods and propose a trajectory-similarity measure based on the Hausdorff distance, with modifications to improve its robustness and account for the fact that trajectories are ordered collections of points. We compare the proposed method with two well-known trajectory-clustering methods on a few real-world data sets.
The leucotriene receptor antagonist montelukast and the risk of Churg-Strauss syndrome: a case-crossover study.

BACKGROUND
There has been some concern that leucotriene receptor antagonists might precipitate the onset of Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS). A study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the leucotriene receptor antagonist montelukast and the onset of CSS.


METHODS
Medication histories of 78 patients with CSS from France and Germany were retraced by questioning the patients, treating physicians and dispensing pharmacists, and from medical records. Using a case-crossover research design, exposures to montelukast and other asthma medications during the 3-month "index" period immediately preceding the onset of CSS were compared with those of four previous 3-month "control" periods. Odds ratios (ORs) were computed by conditional logistic regression.


RESULTS
The ORs for CSS onset were 4.5 (95% CI 1.5 to 13.9) for montelukast, 3.0 (95% CI 0.8 to 10.5) for inhaled long-acting beta(2) agonists, 1.7 (95% CI 0.5 to 5.4) for inhaled corticosteroids and 4.0 (95% CI 1.3 to 12.5) for oral corticosteroids. Montelukast exposure during control periods increased temporally over three consecutive calendar periods of CSS onset from 1999 to 2003 (p(trend) <0.0001).


CONCLUSION
Montelukast use was associated with a 4.5-fold higher risk of CSS onset within 3 months. However, the positive estimates obtained for other long-term asthma control medications suggest that this link might be confounded by a general escalation of asthma therapy before CSS onset. The association between montelukast and CSS observed in this study is probably also explained by the increasing use of this medication over time.
Lung infections in cardiac transplant recipients

Background Lung infections represent the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in heart transplant recipients. The most important factors which determine the prevalence and type of infection in this category of patients are those related to type, regimen and length of immunosuppressive treatment. The objectives of this study involve the assessment of the prevalence of pulmonary infections and the impact of the antibacterial, antiviral prophylactic treatment on the onset of different lung infections, following heart transplantation.
Impact of Genetic Polymorphism of Sulpha 3 Transferase Genes ( SULT 1 A ) Genes on the Risk of 4 Females with Breast Cancer in Jordan 5

5 Mona Bustami 1, Abdel-Ellah Al-Shudifat 2, Nagham Hussein 1, Mohannad Yacoub 3, 6 Eiad Atwa 4, Israr Sabri 5, Rania Abu-Hamdah 5, Walid Abu Rayyan 1, Tawfiq Arafat 1, 7 Adnan Badran 1 and Luay Abu-Qatouseh 1,* 8 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Petra, Amman, 11914 Jordan; Mbustami@uop.edu.jo (M.B.); 9 naghamhussein93@gmail.com (N.H.); waburayyan@uop.edu.jo (W.A.R.); tarafat@uop.edu.jo (T.A.), 10 abadran@uop.edu.jo (A.B.) 11 2 Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, 13115 Jordan; ashudaifat@hu.edu.jo 12 3 Medical and Diagnostic Laboratories, specialty Hospital, Amman, 11914 Jordan; m.yacoub@gmail.com 13 4 Al FAIHA/ Life Technologies Business Unit, Middle East Operation, Amman, 11914 Jordan; 14 Eiad_Atwa@yahoo.com 15 5 Faculty of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Professions), Birzeit University, Birzeit, 627 Palestine; 16 isabri@birzeit.edu (I.S.); dean.health@birzeit.edu (R.A.-H.) 17 * Correspondence: labuqatouseh@uop.edu.jo; Tel.: +962-79-701-2082
QT response after a test dose and during maintenance therapy with AZD1305 in patients with atrial fibrillation: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
AZD1305 is an investigational antiarrhythmic agent that prolongs refractoriness through combined potassium and sodium channel inhibition. This study aimed to explore the utility of a test dose in predicting QT interval corrected according to Fridericia's formula (QTcF) during subsequent maintenance treatment with AZD1305.


METHODS
This was a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial carried out at multiple hospital cardiac facilities in Denmark, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and Sweden. Patients with documented atrial fibrillation (AF) but currently in stable sinus rhythm for ≥2 hours and ≤90 days were eligible for inclusion. Patients were randomized in a 1 : 1 : 1 ratio to receive AZD1305 extended-release or matching placebo tablets as follows: group A - test dose 250 mg, evening dose 125 mg on day 1, maintenance dose 125 mg twice daily; group B - test dose 500 mg, placebo evening dose, maintenance dose 125 mg twice daily; placebo group - placebo test and maintenance dose. Maintenance dosing was for 9 days. QTcF >550 ms at any time during the in-patient phase or >500 ms after discharge (day 4) were predefined study drug discontinuation criteria. The main outcome measure was the relationship between QTcF following the test dose and during maintenance treatment.


RESULTS
Sixty-five patients were randomized (n = 21, 22, and 22 in group A, group B, and the placebo group, respectively). AZD1305 dose-dependently increased QTcF. There was a positive, linear correlation between the change in QTcF during the first 6 hours after the test dose and during the maintenance phase. Three patients, all from group B, discontinued treatment on day 1 due to QTcF >550 ms. All other patients completed the study without events related to QT prolongation. There was a trend for reduced AF recurrence with AZD1305 compared with placebo.


CONCLUSION
In this exploratory study a test dose predicted the QT response during maintenance treatment with AZD1305 and may thus be employed in further studies. [ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00643448].
Combinatorial differential geometry and ideal Bianchi-Ricci identities II - the torsion case

This paper is a continuation of arXiv:0809.1158, dealing with a general, not-necessarily torsion-free, connection. It characterizes all possible systems of generators for vector-field valued operators that depend naturally on a set of vector fields and a linear connection, describes the size of the space of such operators and proves the existence of an `ideal' basis consisting of operators with given leading terms which satisfy the (generalized) Bianchi-Ricci identities without corrections.
A novel method for personalized music recommendation

With the development of digital music technologies, it is an interesting and useful issue to recommend the ‘favored music’ from large amounts of digital music. Some Web-based music stores can recommend popular music which has been rated by many people. However, three problems that need to be resolved in the current methods are: (a) how to recommend the ‘favored music’ which has not been rated by anyone, (b) how to avoid repeatedly recommending the ‘disfavored music’ for users, and (c) how to recommend more interesting music for users besides the ones users have been used to listen. To achieve these goals, we proposed a novel method called personalized hybrid music recommendation, which combines the content-based, collaboration-based and emotion-based methods by computing the weights of the methods according to users’ interests. Furthermore, to evaluate the recommendation accuracy, we constructed a system that can recommend the music to users after mining users’ logs on music listening records. By the feedback of the user’s options, the proposed methods accommodate the variations of the users’ musical interests and then promptly recommend the favored and more interesting music via consecutive recommendations. Experimental results show that the recommendation accuracy achieved by our method is as good as 90%. Hence, it is helpful for recommending the ‘favored music’ to users, provided that each music object is annotated with the related music emotions. The framework in this paper could serve as a useful basis for studies on music recommendation. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide injection at the end of vitrectomy for diabetic vitreous hemorrhage: a randomized, clinical trial.

PURPOSE
To evaluate the clinical outcome and complications of intravitreal injections of triamcinolone acetonide in patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy for treatment of diabetic nonclearing vitreous hemorrhage.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
This prospective, randomized clinical trial study included 72 consecutive patients (72 eyes) who underwent pars plana vitrectomy for treatment of diabetic nonclearing vitreous hemorrhage. 38 patients received an intravitreal injection of 4 mg (0.1 cc) of triamcinolone acetonide at the end of surgery. Main outcome measures were rate of recurrent early vitreous hemorrhage, reoperation, intraocular pressure, visual acuity, and incidence of cataract formation. Mean follow-up time was 6 months.


RESULTS
Rate of early rebleeding and reoperation were lower in patients taking intravitreal triamcinolone (P = 0.003 and 0.03, respectively). Visual acuity 6 months after operation was better in study group (P < 0.001). Mean intraocular pressure was higher 1 day and 1 week after procedure in study group compared with control group (P < 0.001 and 0.002, respectively); however, in other times its differences were not significant. No significant difference in rate of nuclear sclerosis and cortical cataract formation and other complication was noted between the two groups. However, there was a significantly increased rate of posterior subcapsular progression in a dose dependent manner in the study group versus control (P = 0.011).


CONCLUSION
The present clinical study suggests that intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide is effective in the prevention of rebleeding in eyes undergoing pars plana vitrectomy for treatment of diabetic vitreous hemorrhage.
Validation of a Japanese version of the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire in 3,763 patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a self-administered instrument for measuring functional status in Japanese-speaking rheumatoid arthritis patients.


METHODS
We translated the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) into Japanese (original HAQ), and then made a tentative Japanese version of the HAQ (J-HAQ) with culturally appropriate modifications of the arising, eating, and reach category questions. The questionnaire was then administered to 3,763 RA patients (82.6% female; mean age 58.0 years; mean onset age 47.4 years; mean disease duration 10.5 years).


RESULTS
This instrument showed excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.927), with a mean interitem correlation of 0.60. For the arising category question, the J-HAQ asks about arising from a futon in addition to a bed because futons are still common in Japanese culture. Arising from a futon is generally more difficult for disabled individuals than is arising from a bed, so the arising score was higher in the J-HAQ (mean score 0.82) than in the original HAQ (0.48). The average scores for the eating and reach categories were virtually identical for the original HAQ and the J-HAQ, with correlation coefficients of 0.979 and 0.926, respectively. Thus, the overall disability index (average of the scores for all functional areas) was higher in the J-HAQ (0.81) than in the original HAQ (0.76), although the correlation coefficient was high (0.993). The test-retest reliability value (0.92), studied at a 1-week interval, revealed identical disability index scores measured on the 2 occasions.


CONCLUSION
The final version of the J-HAQ is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring functional status in Japanese-speaking RA patients.
Design of Micro - Hydro - Electric Power Station

Micro-hydro-electric power is both an efficient and reliable formof clean source of renewable energy. It can be an excellent method of harnessing renewable energy from small rivers and streams. The micro-hydro project designed to be a run -of-river type, because it requires very little or no reservoir in order to power the turbine. The water will run straight through the turbine and back into the river or stream to use it for the other purposes. This has a minimal environmental impact on the local ecosystem. The design procedure of micro-hydro power plant was implemented by a Matlab Simulink computer program to calculate all the design parameters. The choice of the turbine type depending mainly on the site head and flow rate. The turbine power and speed were directly proportional with the site head, but there were specific points for maximum turbine power and speed with the variation of the site water flow rate. The head losses in the penstock could range from 5 to 10 percent of the gross head, depending on the length of the penstock, quantity of water flow rate and its velocity. The turbine efficiency could range from 80 to 95 percent depending on the turbine type, and the generator efficiency about 90 percent. The design study showed that construction of micro-hydroelectric project was feasible in the project site and there were no major problems apparent at the design and implementation stages of the micro-hydro-electric power plant.
Cooperative vocal control in marmoset monkeys via vocal feedback.

Humans adjust speech amplitude as a function of distance from a listener; we do so in a manner that would compensate for such distance. This ability is presumed to be the product of high-level sociocognitive skills. Nonhuman primates are thought to lack such socially related flexibility in vocal production. Using predictions from a simple arousal-based model whereby vocal feedback from a conspecific modulates the drive to produce a vocalization, we tested whether another primate exhibits this type of cooperative vocal control. We conducted a playback experiment with marmoset monkeys and simulated "far-away" and "nearby" conspecifics using contact calls that differed in sound intensity. We found that marmoset monkeys increased the amplitude of their contact calls and produced such calls with shorter response latencies toward more distant conspecifics. The same was not true in response to changing levels of background noise. To account for how simulated conspecific distance can change both the amplitude and timing of vocal responses, we developed a model that incorporates dynamic interactions between the auditory system and limbic "drive" systems. Overall, our data show that, like humans, marmoset monkeys cooperatively control the acoustics of their vocalizations according to changes in listener distance, increasing the likelihood that a conspecific will hear their call. However, we propose that such cooperative vocal control is a system property that does not necessitate any particularly advanced sociocognitive skill. At least in marmosets, this vocal control can be parsimoniously explained by the regulation of arousal states across two interacting individuals via vocal feedback.
Educational Determinants of Stock Market Participation In College

The stock market participation rate is the fraction of people who invest in the stock market, as defined by Hong [6] and others. The stock market (or equity market) is a public entity for the trading of company stock. A share of stock is one type of negotiable financial instrument representing financial value, or security. Other types of securities include bonds and derivatives. Stocks and bonds are the two main types of securities for common investors. Generally, stocks are riskier than bonds (but usually come with a higher return to compensate for the added risk). Anyone can choose to invest in the stock market, but not everyone chooses to do so. In 2008, one third of U.S. households owned stock directly (excluding those who only participated through various retirement vehicles) [3]. The literature in this area concerns itself with why or why not people choose to invest in the stock market. There are some costs associated with stock investments that should be taken into consideration. First, there are monetary costs. In order to participate in the stock market, an investor must have money to initially set aside for the investment. Second, participating in the stock market takes some time and effort, particularly for gaining knowledge. Since there is little that can be done about the monetary costs, the literature in stock market participation is mostly concerned with figuring out why non-participating households which have the available funds do not participate in the stock market, and why participating households choose to particpate. Stock market participation is important for a number of reasons. First, personal investment decisions are important because they include accumulating funds for a home, car, education, and things pertaining to other personal goals and dreams. A household benefits greatly if their finances are managed well, especially when it comes to investment decisions. It can be argued that owning shares of stock can be an essential part of a persons investment portfolio. The more people that participate in the stock market, the more people that are better equipped when it comes to personal investment decisions.
Mobile Apps in Cardiology: Review

BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular diseases are the deadliest diseases worldwide, with 17.3 million deaths in 2008 alone. Among them, heart-related deaths are of the utmost relevance; a fact easily proven by the 7.25 million deaths caused by ischemic heart disease alone in that year. The latest advances in smartphones and mHealth have been used in the creation of thousands of medical apps related to cardiology, which can help to reduce these mortality rates.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper is to study the literature on mobile systems and applications currently available, as well as the existing apps related to cardiology from the leading app stores and to then classify the results to see what is available and what is missing, focusing particularly on commercial apps.


METHODS
Two reviews have been developed. One is a literature review of mobile systems and applications, retrieved from several databases and systems such as Scopus, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, and Web of Knowledge. The other is a review of mobile apps in the leading app stores, Google play for Android and Apple's App Store for iOS.


RESULTS
Search queries up to May 2013 located 406 papers and 710 apps related to cardiology and heart disease. The most researched section in the literature associated with cardiology is related to mobile heart (and vital signs) monitoring systems and the methods involved in the classification of heart signs in order to detect abnormal functions. Other systems with a significant number of papers are mobile cardiac rehabilitation systems, blood pressure measurement, and systems for the detection of heart failure. The majority of apps for cardiology are heart monitors and medical calculators. Other categories with a high number of apps are those for ECG education and interpretation, cardiology news and journals, blood pressure tracking, heart rate monitoring using an external device, and CPR instruction. There are very few guides on cardiac rehabilitation and apps for the management of the cardiac condition, and there were no apps that assist people who have undergone a heart transplant.


CONCLUSIONS
The distribution of work in the field of cardiology apps is considerably disproportionate. Whereas some systems have significant research and apps are available, other important systems lack such research and lack apps, even though the contribution they could provide is significant.
Hybrid genetic algorithm and simulated annealing for two-dimensional non-guillotine rectangular packing problems

In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) with improved bottom left (BL) algorithm were applied to twodimensional non-guillotine rectangular packing problems. The performance and efficiency of these algorithms on several test problems [Hopper, E., Turton, B.C.H., 2000. An empirical investigation of meta-heuristic and heuristic algorithms for two-dimensional packing problem. European Journal of Operational Research 128 (1), 34–57] were compared. These test problems consist of 17 and 29 individual rectangular pieces to place in main object limited with a size of 200 200 units. Both solution approaches were compared, based on the trim losses of the test problems. Also, the influences of the GA parameters (population sizes, mutation rates, crossover techniques) and of the SA parameters (cooling schedules, neighborhood moves, the number of inner loop, different temperature values) on the solution of these problems were examined. For considering all solutions of the test problems, the hybrid GA produces much better results than the hybrid SA. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The effect of short-term, high-dose oral N-acetylcysteine treatment on oxidative stress markers in cystic fibrosis patients with chronic P. aeruginosa infection -- a pilot study.

BACKGROUND
Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection have increased oxidative stress as a result of an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species caused by inflammation and their inactivation by the impaired antioxidant systems. Supplementation with anti-oxidants is potentially beneficial for CF patients.


METHODS
The effect of 4 weeks of oral N-acetylcysteine (NAC) treatment (2400 mg/day divided into two doses) on biochemical parameters of oxidative stress was investigated in an open-label, controlled, randomized trial on 21 patients; 11 patients in the NAC group and 10 in the control group. Biochemical parameters of oxidative burden and plasma levels of antioxidants were assessed at the end of the study and compared to the baseline values in the two groups.


RESULTS
A significant increase in the plasma levels of the antioxidant ascorbic acid (p=0.037) and a significant decrease in the levels of the oxidized form of ascorbic acid (dehydroascorbate) (p=0.004) compared to baseline were achieved after NAC treatment. No significant differences were observed in the control group. The parameters of oxidative burden did not change significantly compared to baseline in either of the groups. A better lung function was observed in the NAC treated group with a mean (SD) change compared to baseline of FEV1% predicted of 2.11 (4.6), while a decrease was observed in the control group (change -1.4 (4.6)), though not statistically significant.


CONCLUSION
Treatment with N-acetylcysteine 1200 mg×2/day for 30 days significantly decreased the level of oxidized vitamin C and increased the level of vitamin C (primary end-points) and a not statistically significant improvement of lung function was observed in this group of patients.