LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Transcranial alternating current stimulation in the low kHz range increases motor cortex excitability.

PURPOSE
External transcranial electric and magnetic stimulation techniques allow for the fast induction of sustained and measurable changes in cortical excitability. Here we aim to develop a paradigm using transcranial alternating current (tACS) in a frequency range higher than 1 kHz, which potentially interferes with membrane excitation, to shape neuroplastic processes in the human primary motor cortex (M1).


METHODS
Transcranial alternating current stimulation was applied at 1, 2 and 5 kHz over the left primary motor cortex with a reference electrode over the contralateral orbit in 11 healthy volunteers for a duration of 10 min at an intensity of 1 mA. Monophasic single- pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to measure changes in corticospinal excitability, both during and after tACS in the low kHz range, in the right hand muscle. As a control inactive sham stimulation was performed.


RESULTS
All frequencies of tACS increased the amplitudes of motor- evoked potentials (MEPs) up to 30-60 min post stimulation, compared to the baseline. Two and 5 kHz stimulations were more efficacious in inducing sustained changes in cortical excitability than 1 kHz stimulation, compared to sham stimulation.


CONCLUSIONS
Since tACS in the low kHz range appears too fast to interfere with network oscillations, this technique opens a new possibility to directly interfere with cortical excitability, probably via neuronal membrane activation. It may also potentially replace more conventional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) techniques for some applications in a clinical setting.
Technology and Calculus

Of all the areas in mathematics, Calculus has received the most interest and investment in the use of Technology. Initiatives around the world have introduced a range of innovative approaches from programming numerical algorithms in various languages, use of graphic software to explore calculus concepts, and on to fully featured computer algebra systems such as Mathematica, Maple, Derive, Theorist, and Mathcad. The innovations arose for a wide range of reasons—some because a traditional approach to calculus was considered fundamentally unsatisfactory for many students, others because ‘technology is available, so we should use it.’ Most had a pragmatic approach, trying out new ideas to see if they worked. Some began with a theory that formulated how the enterprise should work, others formulated their theories in the light of successive years of experience. Technology brought with it new market-driven factors in which large companies cooperated with educators to develop new tools. The first round of materials were in a competitive situation, often with the main objective to get the materials adopted. The first years were high on hype and low on facts about the true success of the new ideas. The system was complex, and the wider effects of the changes would take several years to become apparent. Opinions were many, informed observations few. Over recent years, evaluations of reforms and research into learning of calculus have begun to provide some answers. Our main aim is to focus on the research on the use of technology in teaching calculus and to report what it has to say to the community of mathematicians, educators, curriculum builders, and administrators. We include an analysis of the conceptual learning of calculus to put the research results in perspective. Our report addresses the wide range of students with different needs and aspirations who take calculus, the views of mathematicians, and the needs of society in this changing technological age. In an article addressed to the mathematical community, Schoenfeld (2000) formulated some broad principles about the mathematics education research enterprise. He emphasized that there are no ‘theorems’ in mathematics education that can be used to build up a theory in the way that is familiar to mathematicians, but there are issues of replicability, explanative power, and predictive power that can be of value in reflecting on teaching and learning mathematics. One must keep these issues in mind when considering the results from research.
Pathology of thyroglossal duct: an institutional experience.

Thyroglossal duct (TGD) is a developmental anomaly in which a remnant of the thyroid anlage is left in the neck during its descent from the foramen cecum of tongue to final pretracheal position. A persistent duct can lead to thyroglossal duct cyst (TGDC). Histologically, TGDC contains an epithelial lining of squamous or pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium and ectopic thyroid gland tissue in the duct wall. TGD-associated malignancy is rare, and the majority is papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). A total of 242 patients with a diagnosis of TGD-associated lesions were identified in our institute. Two hundred and seventeen cases were diagnosed as TGDC. Sixty-eight of 217 (31.3 %) cases of TGDC had ectopic thyroid tissue in the cystic wall. Thirty-nine cases had preoperative fine needle aspiration (FNA). Of these cases, 37 of 39 (94.9 %) demonstrated macrophages and 19 (48.7 %) also showed cells of squamous and/or columnar epithelial lining. Only two cases showed rare thyroid follicular cells. Thyroid carcinoma was identified in 18 of 242 (7.4 %) cases. All cases were diagnosed as PTC including 12 cases of classic PTC (66.7 %), 3 cases of follicular variant (16.7 %), 2 cases of tall cell variant (11.1 %), and 1 case of classic PTC with focal tall cell features (5.6 %). Nine cases had TGD component (either epithelial lining cysts or ectopic thyroid tissue). Ten patients also underwent total thyroidectomy (67 %). Of these patients, four had no tumor and one had an incidental medullary carcinoma. Five of 10 (50 %) cases had incidental PTC with a size range of 0.1-0.3 cm. Five patients had follow-up by imaging studies; no suspicious or nodular lesions were found in the thyroid. In conclusion, we report an institutional case cohort of 242 patients with TGD-associated lesions, including 217 TGDC and 18 cases of PTC. Only seven cases fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of TGD-associated PTC, i.e., the presence of components of TGD and a normal thyroid. In the remaining 11 cases, we could not differentiate with certainty between pyramidal primary thyroid PTC/Delphian node metastasis or TGD-associated PTC.
Word Sequence Models for Single Text Summarization

The main problem for generating an extractive automatic text summary is to detect the most relevant information in the source document. For such purpose, recently some approaches have successfully employed the word sequence information from the self-text for detecting the candidate text fragments for composing the summary. In this paper, we employ the so-called n-grams and maximal frequent word sequences as features in a vector space model in order to determine the advantages and disadvantages for extractive text summarization.
Pain assessment for people with dementia: a systematic review of systematic reviews of pain assessment tools

BACKGROUND
There is evidence of under-detection and poor management of pain in patients with dementia, in both long-term and acute care. Accurate assessment of pain in people with dementia is challenging and pain assessment tools have received considerable attention over the years, with an increasing number of tools made available. Systematic reviews on the evidence of their validity and utility mostly compare different sets of tools. This review of systematic reviews analyses and summarises evidence concerning the psychometric properties and clinical utility of pain assessment tools in adults with dementia or cognitive impairment.


METHODS
We searched for systematic reviews of pain assessment tools providing evidence of reliability, validity and clinical utility. Two reviewers independently assessed each review and extracted data from them, with a third reviewer mediating when consensus was not reached. Analysis of the data was carried out collaboratively. The reviews were synthesised using a narrative synthesis approach.


RESULTS
We retrieved 441 potentially eligible reviews, 23 met the criteria for inclusion and 8 provided data for extraction. Each review evaluated between 8 and 13 tools, in aggregate providing evidence on a total of 28 tools. The quality of the reviews varied and the reporting often lacked sufficient methodological detail for quality assessment. The 28 tools appear to have been studied in a variety of settings and with varied types of patients. The reviews identified several methodological limitations across the original studies. The lack of a 'gold standard' significantly hinders the evaluation of tools' validity. Most importantly, the samples were small providing limited evidence for use of any of the tools across settings or populations.


CONCLUSIONS
There are a considerable number of pain assessment tools available for use with the elderly cognitive impaired population. However there is limited evidence about their reliability, validity and clinical utility. On the basis of this review no one tool can be recommended given the existing evidence.
Improving lactic acid productivity from wheat straw hydrolysates by membrane integrated repeated batch fermentation under non-sterilized conditions.

Bacillus coagulans IPE22 was used to produce lactic acid (LA) from mixed sugar and wheat straw hydrolysates, respectively. All fermentations were conducted under non-sterilized conditions and sodium hydroxide was used as neutralizing agent to avoid the production of insoluble CaSO4. In order to eliminate the sequential utilization of mixed sugar and feedback inhibition during batch fermentation, membrane integrated repeated batch fermentation (MIRB) was used to improve LA productivity. With MIRB, a high cell density was obtained and the simultaneous fermentation of glucose, xylose and arabinose was successfully realized. The separation of LA from broth by membrane in batch fermentation also decreased feedback inhibition. MIRB was carried out using wheat straw hydrolysates (29.72 g/L glucose, 24.69 g/L xylose and 5.14 g/L arabinose) as carbon source, LA productivity was increased significantly from 1.01 g/L/h (batch 1) to 2.35 g/L/h (batch 6) by the repeated batch fermentation.
Distinct Abnormalities of Small Bowel and Regional Colonic Volumes in Subtypes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Revealed by MRI

OBJECTIVES:Non-invasive biomarkers which identify different mechanisms of disease in subgroups of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) could be valuable. Our aim was to seek useful magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters that could distinguish each IBS subtypes.METHODS:34 healthy volunteers (HV), 30 IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), 16 IBS with constipation (IBS-C), and 11 IBS with mixed bowel habit (IBS-M) underwent whole-gut transit and small and large bowel volumes assessment with MRI scans from t=0 to t=360 min. Since the bowel frequency for IBS-M were similar to IBS-D, IBS-M and IBS-D were grouped together and labeled as IBS non-constipation group (IBS-nonC).RESULTS:Median (interquartile range): fasting small bowel water content in IBS-nonC was 21 (10–42), significantly less than HV at 44 ml (15–70), P<0.01 as was the postprandial area under the curve (AUC) P<0.01. The fasting transverse colon volumes in IBS-C were significantly larger at 253 (200–329) compared with HV, IBS-nonC whose values were 165 (117–255) and 198 (106–270) ml, respectively, P=0.02. Whole-gut transit time for IBS-C was prolonged at 69 (51–111), compared with HV at 34 (4–63) and IBS-D at 34 (17–78) h, P=0.03. Bloating score (VAS 0–10 cm) correlated with transverse colon volume at t=405 min, Spearman r=0.21, P=0.04.CONCLUSIONS:The constricted small bowel in IBS-nonC and the dilated transverse colon in IBS-C point to significant differences in underlying mechanisms of disease.
Effects of repeated ejaculations on semen characteristics following spinal cord injury

Study design:Prospective randomised controlled study.Objective:To evaluate the effects of repeated ejaculation on semen characteristics following spinal cord injury (SCI) in a prospective randomised controlled study.Setting:Spinal Research Centre, Stanmore, UK and Institute of Urology and Nephrology, London, UK.Methods:A total of 74 patients with SCI above T10 were tested by vibro-ejaculation using a Ferticare penile vibrator (Multicept A/S Horsholm, Denmark) using a standardised technique. The ejaculate was examined according to WHO protocol. The successfully vibro-ejaculated subjects (n=32) were randomised into a study group (n=18) and a control group (n=14). The patients in the study group vibro-ejaculated weekly for 3 months with semen analysis performed at baseline and then monthly. The control group vibro-ejaculated at baseline and at the end of the 3-month period. Two experienced observers performed the semen analysis independently. All measures were compared for statistical significance across the two groups at the beginning and at the end of the 3-month period using a two-tailed student t-test. Significance was determined at the 95% confidence interval (P<0.05).Results:In total, 10 patients in the study group and nine in the control group have completed the study so far. Six patients have dropped out of the study group and three from the control group for varied reasons. Two patients are currently enrolled in the study and control groups. The morphology and forward progression of sperm shows a statistically significant increase in the study group. The motility improves but is not statistically significant in the study group. No significant adverse effects were reported.Conclusions:We have shown in this unique randomised controlled study that repeated ejaculation does improve the sperm characteristics in SCI patients. It is suggested that SCI men should undergo repeated ejaculation for at least 3 months before trying intravaginal or intrauterine insemination techniques. If this fails then in vitro fertilisation can be used. This method promotes natural conception, is intimate and cost effective.
HKUST/MTS: A Very Large Scale Mandarin Telephone Speech Corpus

The paper describes the design, collection, transcription and analysis of 200 hours of HKUST Mandarin Telephone Speech Corpus (HKUST/MTS) from over 2100 Mandarin speakers in mainland China under the DARPA EARS framework. The corpus includes speech data, transcriptions and speaker demographic information. The speech data include 1206 ten-minute natural Mandarin conversations between either strangers or friends. Each conversation focuses on a single topic. All calls are recorded over public telephone networks. All calls are manually annotated with standard Chinese characters (GBK) as well as specific mark-ups for spontaneous speech. A file with speaker demographic information is also provided. The corpus is the largest and first of its kind for Mandarin conversational telephone speech, providing abundant and diversified samples for Mandarin speech recognition and other applicationdependent tasks, such as topic detection, information retrieval, keyword spotting, speaker recognition, etc. In a 2004 evaluation test by NIST, the corpus is found to improve system performance quite significantly.
Dual ectopic thyroid

Ectopic thyroid is an uncommon embryological aberration characterized by the presence of thyroid tissue in a site other than in its usual pre-tracheal region. It occurs along the path of descent of the developing thyroid primodium from the foramen cecum. It most commonly presents itself as a lingual thyroid and is the only thyroid in 70% of all cases. It is extremely rare for two ectopic foci of thyroid tissue to be present simultaneously. The authors report a recent case of dual ectopic thyroid present in the lingual and infrahyoid areas with no thyroid tissue in the pre-tracheal area in a 15-year-old girl. The patient had originally been scheduled for surgery under the impression of thyroglossal duct cyst; however, a pre-operative computed tomography scan of neck and thyroid scans revealed the presence of dual ectopic thyroid, thus preventing unnecessary surgery. Therefore, thyroid scan, along with either neck CT or neck ultrasonogram, should be performed routinely to avoid unnecessary surgery if the clinical picture is at all compatible with thyroid ectopia.
The TGFbeta superfamily signaling pathway.

The transforming growth factor (TGF)beta superfamily of secreted factors is comprised of over 30 members including Activins, Nodals, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs), and Growth and Differentiation Factors (GDFs). Members of the family, which are found in both vertebrates and invertebrates, are ubiquitously expressed in diverse tissues and function during the earliest stages of development and throughout the lifetime of animals. Indeed, key roles in embryonic stem cell self-renewal, gastrulation, differentiation, organ morphogenesis, and adult tissue homeostasis have been delineated. Consistent with this ubiquitous activity, aberrant TGFbeta superfamily signaling is associated with a wide range of human pathologies including autoimmune, cardiovascular and fibrotic diseases, as well as cancer. TGFbeta superfamily ligands signal through cell-surface serine/threonine kinase receptors to the intracellular Smad proteins, which in turn accumulate in the nucleus to regulate gene expression. In addition to this universal cascade, Smad-independent pathways are also employed in a cell-specific manner to transduce TGFbeta signals. Ligand access to the signaling receptors is regulated by numerous secreted agonists and antagonists and by membrane-associated coreceptors that act in a context-dependent manner. Given the fundamental role of the TGFbeta superfamily in metazoans and the diversity of biological responses, it is not surprising that the signaling pathway is subject to tight and complex regulation at levels both outside and inside the cell. WIREs Dev Biol 2013, 2:47-63. doi: 10.1002/wdev.86 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Indivo: a personally controlled health record for health information exchange and communication

BACKGROUND
Personally controlled health records (PCHRs), a subset of personal health records (PHRs), enable a patient to assemble, maintain and manage a secure copy of his or her medical data. Indivo (formerly PING) is an open source, open standards PCHR with an open application programming interface (API).


RESULTS
We describe how the PCHR platform can provide standard building blocks for networked PHR applications. Indivo allows the ready integration of diverse sources of medical data under a patient's control through the use of standards-based communication protocols and APIs for connecting PCHRs to existing and future health information systems.


CONCLUSION
The strict and transparent personal control model is designed to encourage widespread participation by patients, healthcare providers and institutions, thus creating the ecosystem for development of innovative, consumer-focused healthcare applications.
Implant failure in young children with ectodermal dysplasia: a retrospective evaluation of use and outcome of dental implant treatment in children in Sweden.

PURPOSE
This study surveyed dental implant treatment in children up to age 16 years in Sweden between 1985 and 2005, with special reference to young children with ectodermal dysplasia (ED) and anodontia in the lower jaw.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
A questionnaire was sent to Swedish specialist clinics in oral and maxillofacial surgery and prosthetic dentistry. Also, the teams who had treated children with ED were asked to submit their records for these children for a discussion on reasons for implant failure.


RESULTS
Six out of 30 specialist centers (20%) in Sweden had treated 26 children with dental implants between 1985 and 2005. Twenty-one patients had received 33 implants to replace teeth missing from nonsyndromic agenesis or trauma at ages 14 or 15 years; 2 (6.1%) of these implants were lost. Five children with ED received 14 implants at 5 to 12 years of age; 9 (64.3%) of these implants were lost before loading.


CONCLUSIONS
Dental implant placement has been a rarely used treatment modality in Swedish children less than 16 years old in the last 20 years. The failure rate in children treated because of tooth agenesis was only slightly higher than that reported for adult individuals, whereas in young children with ED and anodontia in the mandible, implants seemed to present special challenges, and the failure rate was very high. The small jaw size and peroperative conditions, rather than ED per se, were thought to be the main risk factors. Centralizing implant operations in young children with ED and monitoring outcomes in implant registers are strongly advocated.
The Jump component of S&P 500 volatility and the VIX index

Much research has investigated the differences between option implied volatilities and econometric model-based forecasts in terms of forecast accuracy and relative informational content. Implied volatility is a market determined forecast, in contrast to model-based forecasts that employ some degree of smoothing to generate forecasts. Therefore, implied volatility has the potential to reflect information that a modelbased forecast could not. Specifically, this paper considers two issues relating to the informational content of the S&P 500 VIX implied volatility index. First, whether it subsumes information on how historical jump activity contributed to the price volatility, followed by whether the VIX reflects any incremental information relative to model based forecasts pertaining to future jumps. It is found that the VIX index both subsumes information relating to past jump contributions to volatility and reflects incremental information pertaining to future jump activity, relative to modelbased forecasts. This is an issue that has not been examined previously in the literature and expands our understanding of how option markets form their volatility forecasts.
Posterior pelvic exenteration and retrograde total hysterectomy in patients with locally advanced ovarian cancer: Clinical and functional outcome.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate clinical outcomes and postoperative quality of life in patients affected by locally advanced ovarian cancer who underwent pelvic posterior exenteration with Hudson-Delle Piane radical retrograde hysterectomy.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Our study was done on a retrospective cohort using data from 22 patients who underwent surgery between 2010 and 2014 at the Gynecological Oncologic Center of Parma, Parma, Italy.


RESULTS
Residual disease after surgery (Sugarbacker index) was absent (CC-0) in 68% of cases. Tumor size was < 2.5 mm (CC-1) in 14% of cases and between 2.5 mm and 2.5 cm (CC-2) in 18% of cases. Complications during surgical procedure occurred in 64% of patients (14/22), but without severe consequences. Immediate postoperative complications (≤ 30 days) occurred in 82% of patients (18/22), and delayed complications (> 30 days) occurred in 23% (5/22) of patients. No patient died because of a complication. Urinary and rectal incontinence occurred in 5% and 16% of patients, respectively. Disease recurrence occurred in 58% of patients, median disease-free survival was 14 months (range, 6-36 months), and median overall survival was 21 months (range, 6-42 months).


CONCLUSION
Our study confirmed that pelvic posterior exenteration associated with retrograde radical hysterectomy represents the safest radical surgical approach to advanced ovarian cancer, which permits preservation of the pelvic autonomic nerve plexus and, therefore, bladder and colorectal functions.