LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Genetic associations in age-related hearing thresholds.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the inheritance of age-related hearing loss.


DESIGN
Cohort study comparing aggregation of hearing levels in genetically unrelated people (spouse pairs) and in genetically related people (sibling pairs, parent-child pairs).


SETTING
Framingham Heart Study biennial Examination 15 (1973-1975) and Framingham Offspring Study Examination 6 (1995-1998).


SUBJECTS
Members of the Framingham cohorts with hearing tests and with a relative in the Framingham hearing study.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Audiometric pure-tone thresholds at 250 to 8000 Hz were obtained and pure-tone average (PTA) hearing thresholds were calculated for the middle (0.5-2 kHz), high (4-8 kHz), and low (0.25-1 kHz) frequencies for each ear. The shape of the audiogram was categorized as either normal, abrupt high-frequency loss (sensory phenotype) or flat loss (strial phenotype). Correlations were made using the Familial Correlations program of the Statistical Analysis for Genetic Epidemiology software system. The level of significance was P = .01.


RESULTS
Hearing threshold levels did not aggregate in spouses. Significant aggregation was noted in siblings and parent-child pairings for PTA at low, middle, and high frequencies. Sisters but not brothers had significant aggregation of each PTA measure. Mother-daughter and mother-son pairs but not father-son pairs had significant aggregation of hearing levels. For the sensory phenotype, there was significant aggregation in all related pairs except for father-child pairs. For the strial phenotype, there was significant aggregation of hearing levels in the related female pairs but not in the related male pairs.


CONCLUSIONS
A clear familial aggregation occurs for age-related hearing levels, sensory presbycusis phenotypes, and strial presbycusis phenotypes. The aggregations are stronger in women than in men. The heritability estimate was greater for the strial phenotypes than for the sensory phenotypes. The data support a genetic effect on the inheritance of presbycusis in women and a mixed, genetically acquired cause in men.
Fault prognosis of wind turbine generator using SCADA data

Accurate prognosis of wind turbine generator failures is essential for reducing operation and maintenance costs in wind farms. Existing methods rely on expensive, purpose-built condition monitoring systems to conduct diagnosis and prognosis of wind turbine generator failures. In this paper, we present a prognosis method to predict the remaining useful life (RUL) of generators, which requires no additional hardware support beyond widely adopted SCADA system. This work first introduces a notion, Anomaly Operation Index (AOI), to quantitatively measure wind turbine performance degradation in runtime. It then presents a data-driven wind turbine anomaly detection method and a time series analysis method to predict the wind turbine generator RUL. Experimental study on real-world wind farm data demonstrates that the proposed methods can achieve accurate prediction of wind turbine generator RUL and provide sufficient lead time for scheduling maintenance and repair.
Surgical treatment of Peyronie's disease by plaque incision and grafting with buccal mucosa.

BACKGROUND
Plaque incision and tunical grafting is widely used to correct penile curvatures secondary to Peyronie's disease (PD), but there is no consensus on the ideal graft to be used.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and reproducibility of plaque incision and buccal mucosa grafting (BMG) in the correction of severe penile curvatures secondary to PD.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Fifteen patients reporting normal erections and stable curvature (>12-mo duration) entered this prospective study carried out at two university hospitals.


INTERVENTION
All patients underwent plaque incision and BMG.


MEASUREMENTS
Preoperative evaluation included the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) and penile duplex ultrasounds with measurement of curvature and length of affected side. Follow-up visits were scheduled at 1, 3, 6, and 12 mo postoperatively, then yearly. Three-mo postoperative evaluation included IIEF-5, patient and partner satisfaction, and intracavernous injection test with evaluation of penile rigidity, straightness, and length; patient and partner satisfaction was recorded at all subsequent visits.


RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS
Mean patient age was 56.3 yr and mean penile curvature 72 degrees ; five patients had a two-sided curvature with mean second curvature of 37 degrees . There were no complications. All patients resumed unassisted intercourse 1 mo after surgery. Three-mo postoperative evaluation showed 100% penile straightening, 1.8-cm mean increase in length of affected side, no curvature recurrence or de novo erectile dysfunction, 1.6 mean increase in IIEF-5 score, and patient and partner satisfaction of 93.3% and 100%, respectively. Although results remained stable at subsequent follow-up (mean 13.1 mo), a greater number of patients and longer follow-up are needed before drawing any definite conclusions.


CONCLUSIONS
BMG provided excellent short-term results, probably because its prompt revascularisation, suggested by the fast return of spontaneous erections, prevented shrinkage, which is the main cause of graft failure. It also proved to be safe and reproducible, thus representing a valuable treatment option for PD.
Inkjet deposition of liquid-exfoliated graphene and MoS2 nanosheets for printed device applications

Here we demonstrate inkjet printing of nanosheets of both graphene and MoS2 prepared by liquid exfoliation. We describe a protocol for the preparation of inks of nanosheets with well-defined size distribution and concentration up to 6 mg/ml. Graphene traces were printed at low temperature (<70 °C) with no subsequent thermal or chemical treatment. Thin traces displayed percolation effects while traces with thickness above 160 nm displayed thickness-independent conductivity of 3000 S/m. We also demonstrate the printing of semiconducting traces using solvent exfoliated MoS2. Such traces can be combined with inkjet-printed graphene interdigitated array electrodes to produce all-printed photodetectors.
ICT-Pedagogy Integration in Teacher Training: Application Cases Worldwide

Teaching is becoming one of the most challenging professions in our society where knowledge is expanding rapidly and modern technologies are demanding teachers to learn how to use these technologies in their teaching. While new technologies increase teachers’ training needs, they also offer part of the solution. Information and communication technology (ICT) can provide more flexible and effective ways for professional development for teachers, improve preand in-service teacher training, and connect teachers to the global teacher community. This paper analyses and organizes a variety of approaches found in ICT uses in teacher training into a four-cell matrix. Based on the analysis of those approaches, it discusses new possibilities and challenges that ICT has brought to teacher training and professional development. It concludes with discussion of emerging research issues with respect to ICT integration into teacher training and networking.
Dinoflagellate cysts from surface sediments of Saldanha Bay, South Africa: an indication of the potential risk of harmful algal blooms

The distribution and abundance of dinoflagellate cysts from recent coastal sediments in Saldanha Bay, was investigated, and compared to the cyst assemblages of the adjacent coastal upwelling system as reflected in the sediments off Lambert’s Bay on the southern Namaqua shelf. Twenty-two cyst types were identified from three sample sites off Lambert’s Bay with recorded abundances between 1726 and 1863 cysts ml 1 wet sediment. At least 21 distinctive cyst types were identified from 32 sample sites within Saldanha Bay. Cyst abundance in Saldanha Bay was relatively low, averaging 116 cysts ml 1 wet sediment. The region off Lambert’s Bay is especially susceptible to the formation of harmful algal blooms attributed to high biomass dinoflagellate blooms. Owing to these blooms and the retentive circulation characteristics of this area, cyst formation and deposition is high. Blooms can be advected into Saldanha Bay, but their development and duration in the Bay is restricted by the system of exchange that operates between the Bay and the coastal upwelling system, in that there is a net export of surface waters from the Bay. Consequently, fewer cysts are formed and deposited within the Bay thereby reducing the likelihood of in situ bloom development initiated from the excystment of cysts. # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Racism and Redistribution in the United States: A Solution to the Problem of American Exceptionalism

The two main political parties in the United States put forth policies on redistribution and on issues pertaining directly to race. We argue that redistributive politics in America can be fully understood only by taking account of the interconnection between these issues, and the effects of political competition upon the multi-dimensional party platforms. We identify two mechanisms through which racism among American voters decreases the degree of redistribution that would otherwise obtain. Many authors have suggested that voter racism decreases the degree of redistribution due to an anti-solidarity effect: that (some) voters oppose government transfer payments to minorities whom they view as undeserving. We point to a second effect as well: that some voters who desire redistribution nevertheless vote for the anti-redistributive party (the Republicans) because that party’s position on the race issue is more consonant with their own, and this, too, decreases the degree of redistribution. We call this the policy bundle effect. The effect of voter racism on redistribution is the sum of these two effects. We propose a formal model of multidimensional political competition that enables us to estimate the magnitude of these two effects, and estimate the model for the period 1976-1992. We numerically compute that during this period voter racism reduced the income tax rate by 11-18 percentage points; the total effect decomposes about equally into the two sub-effects. We also find that the Democratic vote share is 5-38 percentage points lower than it would have been, absent racism. JEL Categories: D3, D7, H2
Risk factors of falls among elderly living in Urban Suez - Egypt

INTRODUCTION
Falling is one of the most common geriatric syndromes threatening the independence of older persons. Falls result from a complex and interactive mix of biological or medical, behavioral and environmental factors, many of which are preventable. Studying these diverse risk factors would aid early detection and management of them at the primary care level.


METHODS
This is a cross sectional study about risk factors of falls was conducted to 340 elders in Urban Suez. Those are all patients over 60 who attended two family practice centers in Urban Suez.


RESULTS
When asked about falling during the past 12 months, 205 elders recalled at least one incident of falling. Of them, 36% had their falls outdoors and 24% mentioned that stairs was the most prevalent site for indoor falls. Falls were also reported more among dependant than independent elderly. Using univariate regression analysis, almost all tested risk factors were significantly associated with falls in the studied population. These risk factors include: living alone, having chronic diseases, using medications, having a physical deficit, being in active, and having a high nutritional risk. However, the multivariate regression analysis proved that the strongest risk factors are low level of physical activity with OR 0.6 and P value 0.03, using a cane or walker (OR 1.69 and P value 0.001) and Impairment of daily living activities (OR 1.7 and P value 0.001).


CONCLUSION
Although falls is a serious problem among elderly with many consequences, it has many preventable risk factors. Health care providers should advice people to remain active and more research is needed in such an important area of Family Practice.
Evaluation of Speaker Verification Security and Detection of HMM-Based Synthetic Speech

In this paper, we evaluate the vulnerability of speaker verification (SV) systems to synthetic speech. The SV systems are based on either the Gaussian mixture model–universal background model (GMM-UBM) or support vector machine (SVM) using GMM supervectors. We use a hidden Markov model (HMM)-based text-to-speech (TTS) synthesizer, which can synthesize speech for a target speaker using small amounts of training data through model adaptation of an average voice or background model. Although the SV systems have a very low equal error rate (EER), when tested with synthetic speech generated from speaker models derived from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) speech corpus, over 81% of the matched claims are accepted. This result suggests vulnerability in SV systems and thus a need to accurately detect synthetic speech. We propose a new feature based on relative phase shift (RPS), demonstrate reliable detection of synthetic speech, and show how this classifier can be used to improve security of SV systems.
Social Interactions Across Media: Interpersonal Communication on the Internet, Telephone and Face-to-Face

Two studies compared college students’ interpersonal interaction online, face-to-face, and on the telephone. A communication diary assessed the relative amount of social interactions college students conducted online compared to face-to-face conversation and telephone calls. Results indicated that while the internet was integrated into college students’ social lives, face-to-face communication remained the dominant mode of interaction. Participants reported using the internet as often as the telephone. A survey compared reported use of the internet within local and long distance social circles to the use of other media within those circles, and examined participants’ most recent significant social interactions conducted across media in terms of purposes, contexts, and quality. Internet interaction was perceived as high in quality, but slightly lower than other media. Results were compared to previous conceptualizations of the roles of internet in one’s social life. new media & society Copyright © 2004 SAGE Publications London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi Vol6(3):299–318 DOI: 10.1177/1461444804041438 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
The stability of centrality measures when networks are sampled

The ability to measure centrality in social networks has been a particularly useful development in social network analysis. For researchers trying to decide which centrality measure is most meaningful and valid for their research purposes, various papers have explored the conceptual foundations of centrality measures. Less well documented is the empirical performance of centrality measures under different research scenarios or constraints. This study uses bootstrap sampling procedures to determine how sampling affects the stability of 11 different network centrality measures. Results indicate that some measures are more stable than others, and that stability is also a function of network and study properties. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Antidepressant-induced mania in bipolar patients: identification of risk factors.

BACKGROUND
Concerns about possible risks of switching to mania associated with antidepressants continue to interfere with the establishment of an optimal treatment paradigm for bipolar depression.


METHOD
The response of 44 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder to naturalistic treatment was assessed for at least 6 weeks using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale and the Bech-Rafaelson Mania Rating Scale. Patients who experienced a manic or hypomanic switch were compared with those who did not on several variables including age, sex, diagnosis (DSM-IV bipolar I vs. bipolar II), number of previous manic episodes, type of antidepressant therapy used (electroconvulsive therapy vs. antidepressant drugs and, more particularly, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs]), use and type of mood stabilizers (lithium vs. anticonvulsants), and temperament of the patient, assessed during a normothymic period using the hyperthymia component of the Semi-structured Affective Temperament Interview.


RESULTS
Switches to hypomania or mania occurred in 27% of all patients (N = 12) (and in 24% of the subgroup of patients treated with SSRIs [8/33]); 16% (N = 7) experienced manic episodes, and 11% (N = 5) experienced hypomanic episodes. Sex, age, diagnosis (bipolar I vs. bipolar II), and additional treatment did not affect the risk of switching. The incidence of mood switches seemed not to differ between patients receiving an anticonvulsant and those receiving no mood stabilizer. In contrast, mood switches were less frequent in patients receiving lithium (15%, 4/26) than in patients not treated with lithium (44%, 8/18; p = .04). The number of previous manic episodes did not affect the probability of switching, whereas a high score on the hyperthymia component of the Semistructured Affective Temperament Interview was associated with a greater risk of switching (p = .008).


CONCLUSION
The frequency of mood switching associated with acute antidepressant therapy may be reduced by lithium treatment. Particular attention should be paid to patients with a hyperthymic temperament, who have a greater risk of mood switches.
Voltammetric Studies of Aspirin in Pharmaceutical Sample Using Ctab-Pencil Graphite Electrode

Acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) is commonly known as aspirin. It is one of the most important anti-inflammatory drugs in the world [1-3]. Aspirin is a white powder stable in a dry environment but that is hydrolyzed to Salicylic acid and acetic acid under humid or moist conditions. Hydrolysis also can occur when aspirin is combined with alkaline salts or with salts containing water of hydration [4]. In 1960’s Felix Hofmann of the Bayer Company in Germany prepared aspirin [5]. This was found to good medicinal properties, low membrane irritation and a reasonable taste. He called the new medicine as aspirin (‘a’ for acetylthe systematic name for the compound at the time of was acetyl salicylic acid, ‘spir’ for spirea, the meadow sweat plant). The active ingredient of aspirin was first discovered from the bark of the willow tree in 1763 by Edward stone. Aspirin is parts of a group of medications called as non steroidal-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), but differ from most of other NSAIDs in the mechanism of action [3-5].
Changes in lung function and health status in patients with COPD treated with tiotropium or salmeterol plus fluticasone.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
The effects of tiotropium, a long-acting anticholinergic drug, were compared with those of the combination of salmeterol, a long-acting beta(2)-agonist, and fluticasone, an inhaled corticosteroid, in patients with COPD.


METHODS
A 4-month, randomized, open cross-over study of tiotropium, 18 microg once daily, versus salmeterol, 50 microg, plus fluticasone, 200 microg, twice daily, was conducted in patients with COPD. Efficacy was assessed by spirometry and responses to the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). After 4 months, patients were asked to select their subsequent therapy and indicate the reasons for their selection.


RESULTS
A total of 78 patients completed the study. There were no significant differences in the improvements in FEV(1) or SGRQ scores between the therapies. Similar numbers of patients selected tiotropium (42.3%) and salmeterol plus fluticasone (57.7%). However, those who preferred one of the therapies demonstrated greater improvements in SGRQ scores with that therapy. One subgroup of patients (30.8%) showed greater improvements in dyspnoea and FEV(1) in response to tiotropium, and the other subgroup of patients (35.9%) showed greater improvements in dyspnoea and FEV(1) in response to salmeterol plus fluticasone. Some patients (14.1%) selected salmeterol plus fluticasone because of positive effects on sputum expectoration.


CONCLUSIONS
The study was unblinded and the results need to be interpreted with caution. However, tiotropium and salmeterol plus fluticasone had similar overall effects on pulmonary function and SGRQ scores in patients with COPD. Responses to the two therapies were heterogeneous, and the patients who showed greater improvements in FEV(1) or SGRQ scores with one of the therapies preferred it for their subsequent treatment.
CCL21 is associated with fatal outcomes in chronic heart failure: data from CORONA and GISSI-HF trials.

AIMS
Chronic heart failure (HF) is in part characterized by immune activation and inflammation, and factors that regulate lymphocyte trafficking and inflammation may contribute to the progression of this disorder. The homeostatic chemokine CCL21 is a potent regulator of T-cell migration into non-lymphoid tissue and may exert inflammatory properties and influence tissue remodelling. We therefore investigated CCL21 levels and association with fatal outcomes in patients with chronic HF.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Plasma CCL21 was measured at randomization in 1456 patients enrolled in the Controlled Rosuvastatin Multinational Trial in HF (CORONA) and in 1145 from the GISSI-HF trial. Association between CCL21 levels [given below as hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for 1 SD increase] with all-cause (n = 741) or cardiovascular (CV) mortality (n = 576) was evaluated with multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, adjusting for clinical risk factors, C-reactive protein, and NT-proBNP. In multivariable Cox models, CCL21 was associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.16, 95% CI 1.02-1.32; P = 0.020) and CV mortality (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.08-1.33; P < 0.001). When the two trials were analysed separately, CCL21 had a similar influence on risk prediction. Finally, CCL21 had a modest but significant impact on the discriminatory properties of the model (all-cause mortality, change in Harrell's C-statistic 0.004, P = 0.001; CV mortality, change in C-statistic 0.002, P = 0.002).


CONCLUSION
Circulating CCL21 was associated with all-cause and CV mortality in two large populations of contemporary patients with chronic HF.
Revising Z: Part I – logic and semantics

This is the first of two related papers. We introduce a simple specification logic Z C comprising a logic and a semantics (in ZF set theory) within which the logic is sound. We then provide an interpretation for (a rational reconstruction of) the specification language Z within Z C . As a result we obtain a sound logic for Z, including a basic schema calculus.