LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Economic evaluation of inhaled nitric oxide in preterm infants undergoing mechanical ventilation.

OBJECTIVE
In the previously reported Nitric Oxide for Chronic Lung Disease (NO CLD) trial, ventilated preterm infants who received a course of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) between 7 and 21 days of life had a significant improvement in survival without bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), as well as a shorter duration of admission and ventilation. However, the price for the drug may be a barrier to widespread use. We sought to estimate the incremental cost-effectiveness of iNO therapy to prevent BPD in infants of <1250 g birth weight.


METHODS
We used patient-level data from the NO CLD randomized trial. The study took a third-party payer perspective and measured costs and effects through hospital discharge. We applied previously reported hospital per-diem costs stratified according to intensity of ventilatory support, nitric oxide costs from standard market prices, and professional (physician) fees from the Medicare fee schedule. We compared log transformed costs by using multivariable modeling and performed incremental cost-effectiveness analysis with estimation of uncertainty through nonparametric bootstrapping.


RESULTS
The mean cost per infant was $193125 in the placebo group and $194702 in the iNO group (adjusted P = .17). The point estimate for the incremental cost per additional survivor without BPD was $21297. For infants in whom iNO was initiated between 7 and 14 days of life, the mean cost per infant was $187407 in the placebo group and $181525 in the iNO group (adjusted P = .46). In this group of early treated infants, there was a 71% probability that iNO actually decreased costs while improving outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite its higher price relative to many other neonatal therapies, iNO in this trial was not associated with higher costs of care, an effect that is likely due to its impact on length of stay and ventilation. Indeed, for infants who receive nitric oxide between 7 and 14 days of life, the therapy seemed to lower costs while improving outcomes.
Curvelet feature extraction for face recognition and facial expression recognition

To overcome the weakness of the wavelet analysis which is unable to extract curve features of the face image, this paper applies a new multiscale geometric analysis tool — curvelet transform, for facial processing and feature extraction. A new approach based on curvelet transform and subband weighted fusion algorithm is proposed for face recognition. A novel method based on curvelet transform and support vector machine (SVM) is designed to recognize facial expression. Face recognition experiments with Yale database and facial expression recognition experiments with JAFFE database are carried out. The correct recognition rates are 93.33% and 94.73% respectively in “combined curvelet + SVM face recognition” and “curvelet + SVM facial expression recognition”. These results show the advantages of curvelet transform in facial processing and feature extraction.
Fast prediction of hydration free energies for SAMPL4 blind test from a classical density functional theory

We report the performance of a classical density functional theory (CDFT) in the competition for the solvation free-energy category of the SAMPL4 blind prediction event. The theoretical calculations were carried out with the TIP3P water model and different combinations of solute configurations and molecular force fields. In comparison with the experimental data, the blind test yields an average unsigned error of 2.38 kcal/mol and the root mean square deviation of 2.99 kcal/mol. Whereas these numbers are significantly larger than the best results from explicit-solvent MD simulations, we find that the theoretical performance is sensitive to both the molecular force fields and solute configurations and that a comparable level of accuracy can be achieved by a judicious selection of the solute configurations and the force-field parameters. Most importantly, CDFT reduces the computational cost of MD simulation by almost 3 orders of magnitude, making it very attractive for large-scale hydration free-energy calculations (e.g., screening the aqueous solubility of drug-like molecules).
A Summary Review of Wireless Sensors and Sensor Networks for Structural Health Monitoring

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the adoption of emerging sensing technologies for instrumentation within a variety of structural systems. Wireless sensors and sensor networks are emerging as sensing paradigms that the structural engineering field has begun to consider as substitutes for traditional tethered monitoring systems. A benefit of wireless structural monitoring systems is that they are inexpensive to install because extensive wiring is no longer required between sensors and the data acquisition system. Researchers are discovering that wireless sensors are an exciting technology that should not be viewed as simply a substitute for traditional tethered monitoring systems. Rather, wireless sensors can play greater roles in the processing of structural response data; this feature can be utilized to screen data for signs of structural damage. Also, wireless sensors have limitations that require novel system architectures and modes of operation. This paper is intended to serve as a summary review of the collective experience the structural engineering community has gained from the use of wireless sensors and sensor networks for monitoring structural performance and health.
Methylenetetrahydrofolate Dehydrogenase 1 Polymorphisms Modify the Associations of Plasma Glycine and Serine With Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Patients With Stable Angina Pectoris in WENBIT (Western Norway B Vitamin Intervention Trial).

BACKGROUND
Serine and glycine interconversion and methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase 1 (MTHFD1)-mediated 1-carbon transfer are the major sources of methyl groups for 1-carbon metabolism. Recently, plasma glycine and a common polymorphism in MTHFD1 have been associated with risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). It is, therefore, of interest to explore if these 2 pathways interact in relation to AMI.


METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 2571 participants in the WENBIT (Western Norway B Vitamin Intervention Trial) undergoing coronary angiography for stable angina pectoris were studied. Associations of plasma serine and glycine concentrations with risk of AMI across 2 common and functional MTHFD1 polymorphisms (rs2236225 and rs1076991) were explored in Cox regression models. During a median follow-up of 4.7 years, 212 patients (8.2%) experienced an AMI. In age- and sex-adjusted analyses, plasma glycine (P<0.01), but not serine (P=0.52), showed an overall association with AMI. However, interactions of MTHFD1 rs2236225 polymorphism with both plasma serine and glycine were observed (Pinteraction=0.03 for both). Low plasma serine and glycine were associated with an increased risk of AMI among patients carrying the rs2236225 minor A allele. Similarly, low plasma glycine showed stronger risk relationship with AMI in the rs1076991 CC genotype carriers but weaker associations in patients carrying the minor T allele (Pinteraction=0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed that 2 common and functional polymorphisms in the MTHFD1 gene modulate the risk associations of plasma serine and glycine with AMI. These findings emphasize the possible role of the MTHFD1 in regulating serine and glycine metabolism in relation to atherosclerotic complications.


CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique Identifier: NCT00354081.
An observational study on the outcome after surgery for lumbar disc herniation in adolescents compared with adults based on the Swedish Spine Register.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT
Disc-related sciatica has a prevalence of about 2% in adults, but is rare in adolescents. If conservative treatment is unsuccessful, surgery is an option.


PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of surgery for lumbar disc herniation in adolescents with adults in the Swedish Spine Register.


STUDY DESIGN/SETTING
This is a prospective observational study: National Quality Register.


PATIENT SAMPLE
This study included 151 patients, 18 years or younger, 4,386 patients, 19-39 years, and 6,078 patients, 40 years or older, followed for 1-2 years after surgery.


OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcomes were patient satisfaction and global assessment of leg and back pain. Secondary outcomes were Visual Analog Scale (VAS) leg pain, VAS back pain, Oswestry disability index (ODI), and EuroQol-5 dimensions (EQ-5D).


METHODS
Statistical analyses were performed with the Welch F test, the chi-square test, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.


RESULTS
At follow-up, 86% of the adolescents were satisfied compared with 78% in the younger adults and 76% in the older adults group (p<.001). According to the global assessment, significantly decreased leg pain was experienced by 87% of the adolescents, 78% of the younger adults, and 71% of the older adults (p<.001). Corresponding figures for back pain were 88%, 73%, and 70%, respectively (p<.001). All groups experienced significant postoperative improvement of VAS leg pain, VAS back pain, ODI, and EQ-5D (all p<.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The adolescent age group was more satisfied with the treatment than the adult groups. There was a significant improvement in all age groups after surgery.
Kalman filtering based on the maximum correntropy criterion in the presence of non-Gaussian noise

State estimation in the presence of non-Gaussian noise is discussed. Since the Kalman filter uses only second-order signal information, it is not optimal in non-Gaussian noise environments. The maximum correntropy criterion (MCC) is a new approach to measure the similarity of two random variables using information from higher-order signal statistics. The correntropy filter (C-Filter) uses the MCC for state estimation. In this paper we first improve the performance of the C-Filter by modifying its derivation to obtain the modified correntropy filter (MC-Filter). Next we use the MCC and weighted least squares (WLS) to propose an MCC filter in Kalman filter form, which we call the MCC-KF. Simulation results show the superiority of the MCC-KF compared with the C-Filter, the MC-Filter, the unscented Kalman filter, the ensemble Kalman filter, and the Gaussian sum filter, in the presence of two different types of non-Gaussian disturbances (shot noise and Gaussian mixture noise).
Design of online surface inspection system of hot rolled strips

An online surface inspection system of hot rolled strips is introduced. This system is designed to detect such main surface defects on hot rolled strips as scar, scratches, pits, cracks, cross hatchings, and so on. Multiple CCD area scan cameras are adopted to capture images of strip surface simultaneously, and all the images are processed by parallel computation system real-time, which is supported by fast image process techniques and parallel computation techniques, in order to snap main defect regions on the surface of strips. At last, the defects will be classified to several types. The application of the system to a practical production line shows that it can detect main defects of hot rolled strips more effectively than traditional method, and it is easily to be maintained.
Deep Action Conditional Neural Network for Frame Prediction in Atari Games

In many problems in computer vision and video frame prediction, such as in robotic control or self driving cars, future frames are not only dependent on past frames, but also on external actions. We study this problem by looking at video frame prediction in the context of Atari 2600 video games where future frames are dependent on past frames as well as actions performed by the players. Based off of previous work such as [12] and [6] we implement a convolutional feedforward model for predicting future frames and rewards as well as a baseline multi-layer perceptron (MLP). We test various training schemes including using an autoencoder to improve prediction clarity and using different loss functions such as the l2 loss, the l1 loss, and the Structural Dissimilarity (DSSIM). We generate data by collecting frames and rewards from a Deep Q Network (DQN) trained to play the game. We found that both quantitatively and qualitatively the convolutional feedforward model achieves better results than the MLP.
MULTIDIMENSIONAL GLOBAL MONOPOLE IN PRESENCE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD

We study the gravitational properties of a global monopole in (D=d+2)-dimensional space–time in the presence of electromagnetic field.
Macroeconomic impacts of oil price shocks in Asian economies

This paper analyzes the macroeconomic impact of structural oil shocks in four of the top oil-consuming Asian economies, using a VAR model. We identify three different structural oil shocks via sign restrictions: an oil supply shock, an oil demand shock driven by global economic activity and an oil-specific demand shock. The main results suggest that economic activity and prices respond very differently to oil price shocks depending on their types. In particular, an oil supply shock has a limited impact, while a demand shock driven by global economic activity has a significant positive effect in all four Asian countries examined. Our finding also includes that policy tools such as interest rates and exchange rates help mitigating the effects of supply shocks in Japan and Korea; however, they can be more actively used in response to demands shocks. Crown Copyright & 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Modeling Customer Value Perceptions in Cross-Cultural Business Markets

a r t i c l e i n f o Even as customer value research in business-to-business markets burgeons, scholars still circumscribe its progress to studies performed in domestic, Western markets and call attention to the ongoing lack of consensus for how to model customer value. To advance the validity and usefulness of this emerging core construct in marketing, this study investigates the measurement equivalence and modeling of customer value perceptions with business managers across five culturally-diverse countries. Analyses draw clarity to the divergent modeling of customer value in the literature by exploring alternative measures and model specifications within structural equations modeling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS). Comparisons of eight models reveal several valid and invalid conceptualizations reported previously in the literature and generate guidance for managers and scholars modeling customer value in various research contexts. Scholars propose that firms who gain deeper insights into the sources of value creation can craft superior value propositions in a competitive global marketplace (Anderson and Narus, 2008; Blocker and Flint, 2007a,b; La et al., 2008). Business marketers agree and cite the need to better understand the drivers of customers' value as a top priority (Oliva, 2005). Yet, as firms heed the call to conduct more customer value research (Anderson et al., 2006), they still face a key unanswered question. How applicable are existing measures and models of customer value—which have been developed primarily in the United States—for culturally-diverse markets such as India? The notion of customer value rests at the heart of marketing. Yet, as firms aggressively pursue global opportunities using market research, what constitutes " superior value " across the globe should not be assumed as universal. Rather, like other key marketing constructs, it requires rigorous cross-cultural testing (Steenkamp, 2005). Without reliable and invariant measures, firms who simply translate their market surveys into other languages may be drawing the wrong conclusions about customers' needs (Ueltschy et al., 2004) and cascading these misinterpretations down into poorly defined segmentation and customer relationship strategies. As it stands, customer value research is a nascent area (Smith and Colgate, 2007) and has yet to advance rigorous insights into these questions. In response, this study addresses two significant gaps in the measurement and modeling of customer value in global business markets. First, empirical research examining value perceptions for business customers is mainly bound to domestic, Western markets (Woodruff and Flint, 2006) and has " largely ignored …
Mucolytic Effectiveness of Tyloxapol in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - A Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE
Mucoactive drugs should increase the ability to expectorate sputum and, ideally, have anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of the study was to evaluate the mucolytic activity of Tyloxapol compared to saline (0.9%) in COPD.


DESIGN
A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded crossover, clinical trial was carried out. Patients were randomly assigned to either inhale 5 ml Tyloxapol 1% or saline 0.9% solution three times daily for 3 weeks and vice versa for another 3 weeks. 28 patients (18 male, 10 female, 47 to 73 years old, median age 63.50) were screened, 21 were treated and 19 patients completed the study per protocol.


RESULTS
A comparison of the two treatment phases showed that the primary endpoint sputum weight was statistically significant higher when patients inhaled Tyloxapol (mean 4.03 g, 95% CI: 2.34-5.73 g at week 3) compared to saline (mean 2.63 g, 95% CI: 1.73-3.53 g at week 3). The p-value at three weeks of treatment was 0.041 between treatment arms. Sputum cells decreased during the Tyloxapol treatment after 3 weeks, indicating that Tyloxapol might have some anti-neutrophilic properties. Lung function parameters (FVC, FEV1, RV, and RV/TLC) remained stable during the study, and no treatment effect was shown. Interestingly, there was a mean increase in all inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8) during the saline treatment from day 1 to week 3, whereas during the Tyloxapol treatment, all cytokines decreased. Due to the small sample size and the large individual variation in sputum cytokines, these differences were not significant. However, analyses confirmed that Tyloxapol has significant anti-inflammatory properties in vitro. Despite the high number of inhalations (more than 1000), only 27 adverse events (20 during the Tyloxapol and seven during saline) were recorded. Eleven patients experienced AEs under Tyloxapol and six under saline treatment, which indicates that inhalation of saline or Tyloxapol is a very safe procedure.


CONCLUSION
Our study demonstrated that inhalation of Tyloxapol by patients with COPD is safe and superior to saline and has some anti-inflammatory effects.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02515799.
GPR Without a Source: Cross-Correlation and Cross-Convolution Methods

Several formulations exist for retrieving the Green's function from cross correlation of (passive) recordings at two locations. For media without losses, these known formulations retrieve Green's functions from sources on a closed boundary. Until recent, these formulations were only developed for acoustic waves in fluids and elastodynamic waves in solids. Now, Green's function representations for electromagnetic (EM) waves in matter exist and can be exploited for passive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) applications using transient or ambient noise sources, either natural or man-made. We derive general exact EM Green's function retrieval formulations based on cross correlations and cross convolutions of recorded wave fields. For practical applications, simplified forms are derived that directly apply to field recordings due to unknown uncorrelated noise or transient sources. Only naturally present sources are needed, which allows for all kinds of applications of ldquoGPR without a source.rdquo We illustrate the consequences of using the simplified forms for Green's function retrieval with 2-D numerical examples. We show that in dissipative media, the Green's function is most accurately retrieved using the cross-convolution method when the sources are located on a sufficiently irregular boundary.
End-to-End Trainable Attentive Decoder for Hierarchical Entity Classification

We address fine-grained entity classification and propose a novel attention-based recurrent neural network (RNN) encoderdecoder that generates paths in the type hierarchy and can be trained end-to-end. We show that our model performs better on fine-grained entity classification than prior work that relies on flat or local classifiers that do not directly model hierarchical structure.
Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale among women in a high HIV prevalence area in urban Zimbabwe

Despite the significant burden of common mental disorders (CMD) among women in sub Saharan Africa, data on postnatal depression (PND) is very limited, especially in settings with a high HIV prevalence. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), a widely used screening test for PND has been validated in many countries, but not in Zimbabwe. We assessed the validity of the EPDS scale among postpartum women compared with Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria for major depression. Six trained community counselors administered the Shona version of the EPDS to a random sample of 210 postpartum HIV-infected and uninfected women attending two primary care clinics in Chitungwiza. All women were subsequently subjected to mental status examination using DSM IV criteria for major depression by 2 psychiatrists, who were blinded to the subject’s EPDS scores. Data were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Of the 210 postpartum mothers enrolled, 64 (33%) met DSM IV criteria for depression. Using a cut-off score of 11/12 on the Shona version of the EPDS for depression, the sensitivity was 88%, and specificity was 87%, with a positive predictive value of 74%, a negative predictive value of 94%, and an area under the curve of 0.82. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale was 0.87. Conclusion: The Shona version of the EPDS is a reliable and valid tool to screen for PND among HIV-infected and un-infected women in Zimbabwe. Screening for PND should be integrated into routine antenatal and postnatal care in areas with high HIV prevalence.
Growth of CVD diamond films over bio-medical materials

Abstract Diamond films were nucleated on surgically implantable stainless steel, titanium and molybdenum substrates in a microwave plasma CVD reactor designed and built within these laboratories. Three different nucleation processes were adopted. These included mechanical abrasion with micron scale diamond dust, a proprietary subsonic impregnation method and the application of a dc bias voltage to the substrate. A combination of these methods resulted in a dramatic enhancement in the nucleation density on stainless steel. Experiments were also performed on titanium and molybdenum substrates once the optimum nucleation conditions on stainless steel had been ascertained. The films were characterised using a variety of different techniques including SEM, LIMA and XRD. The deposited films were found to be highly faceted and of high elemental purity. XRD analysis demonstrated that carbide phases had formed on each substrate prior to film growth.