LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effects of needs-based patient education on self-efficacy and health outcomes in people with rheumatoid arthritis: a multicentre, single blind, randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVES
The Educational Needs Assessment Tool (ENAT) is a self-completed questionnaire, which allows patients with arthritis to prioritise their educational needs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of needs-based patient education on self-efficacy, health outcomes and patient knowledge in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).


METHODS
Patients with RA were enrolled into this multicentre, single-blind, parallel-group, pragmatic randomised controlled trial. Patients were randomised to either the intervention group (IG) where patients completed ENAT, responses of which were used by the clinical nurse specialist to guide patient education; or control group (CG) in which they received patient education without the use of ENAT. Patients were seen at weeks 0, 16 and 32. The primary outcome was self-efficacy (Arthritis Self Efficacy Scale (ASES)-Pain and ASES-Other symptoms). Secondary outcomes were health status (short form of Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale 2, AIMS2-SF) and patient knowledge questionnaire-RA. We investigated between-group differences using analysis of covariance, adjusting for baseline variables.


RESULTS
A total of 132 patients were recruited (IG=70 and CG=62). Their mean (SD) age was 54 (12.3) years, 56 (13.3)  years and disease duration 5.2 (4.9) years, 6.7 (8.9) years for IG and CG, respectively. There were significant between-group differences, in favour of IG at week 32 in the primary outcomes, ASES-Pain, mean difference (95% CI) -4.36 (1.17 to 7.55), t=-2.72, p=0.008 and ASES-Other symptoms, mean difference (95% CI) -5.84 (2.07 to 9.62), t=-3.07, p=0.003. In secondary outcomes, the between-group differences favoured IG in AIMS2-SF Symptoms and AIMS2-SF Affect. There were no between-group differences in other secondary outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that needs-based education helps improve patients' self-efficacy and some aspects of health status.


TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
ISRCTN51523281.
Speaker independent audio-visual continuous speech recognition

The increase in the number of multimedia applications that require robust speech recognition systems determined a large interest in the study of audio-visual speech recognition (AVSR) systems. The use of visual features in AVSR is justified by both the audio and visual modality of the speech generation and the need for features that are invariant to acoustic noise perturbation. The speaker independent audio-visual continuous speech recognition system presented in this paper relies on a robust set of visual features obtained from the accurate detection and tracking of the mouth region. Further, the visual and acoustic observation sequences are integrated using a coupled hidden Markov (CHMM) model. The statistical properties of the CHMM can model the audio and visual state asynchrony while preserving their natural correlation over time. The experimental results show that the current system tested on the XM2VTS database reduces by over 55% the error rate of the audio only speech recognition system at SNR of 0db.
Hybrid Metaheuristics for the Clustered Vehicle Routing Problem

Abstract. The Clustered Vehicle Routing Problem (CluVRP) is a variant of the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem in which customers are grouped into clusters. Each cluster has to be visited once, and a vehicle entering a cluster cannot leave it until all customers have been visited. This article presents two alternative hybrid metaheuristic algorithms for the CluVRP. The first algorithm is based on an Iterated Local Search algorithm, in which only feasible solutions are explored and problem-specific local search moves are utilized. The second algorithm is a Hybrid Genetic Search, for which the shortest Hamiltonian path between each pair of vertices within each cluster should be precomputed. Using this information, a sequence of clusters can be used as a solution representation and large neighborhoods can be efficiently explored by means of bi-directional dynamic programming, sequence concatenations, by using appropriate data structures. Extensive computational experiments are performed on benchmark instances from the literature, as well as new large scale ones. Recommendations on promising algorithm choices are provided relatively to average cluster size.
A2 alelle of GpIIIa gene is a risk factor for stroke caused by large-vessel disease in males.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Glycoprotein IIIa (GpIIIa) is a platelet membrane receptor for fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor. It plays a key role in platelet aggregation. Previous studies in stroke patients, without analysis based on specific subtypes of stroke cause, have not shown any link between GpIIIa A1/A2 polymorphism and stroke risk. We studied the significance of the GpIIIa gene A1/A2 polymorphism in stroke patients with different stroke causes.


METHODS
We genotyped 92 patients with stroke caused by large-vessel disease (LVD stroke) and 184 matched controls; 103 patients with stroke caused by small-vessel disease (SVD stroke) and 206 controls; and 182 patients with cardioembolic stroke (CE stroke) and 182 controls (TOAST criteria). The GpIIIa A1/A2 polymorphism was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction enzyme digestion and electrophoresis.


RESULTS
The genotype distribution of the GpIIIa gene in patients with LVD stroke (A1/A1, 63%; A1/A2, 34.8%; A2/A2, 2.2%) differed significantly from their controls (A1A1, 79.3%; A1/A2, 20.1%; A2/A2, 0.6%). The distribution of the GpIIIa A1/A2 polymorphism in patients with SVD stroke and CE stroke was similar to that of their controls. In contrast to females with LVD stroke, we found that males with LVD stroke presented with an overrepresentation of at least 1 A2 allele of the GpIIIa gene when compared with their controls (39.7% versus 23.0%; P=0.003). Conditional logistic regression analysis showed that possession of at least 1 A2 allele of the GpIIIa gene was an independent risk factor for LVD stroke in males (OR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.21 to 5.20).


CONCLUSIONS
A2 allele of the GpIIIa gene is an independent risk factor for LVD stroke in males.
Research Note: a Study of Direct Selling Perceptions In

(Document Summary) Direct selling as a type of non-store retailing continues to increase internationally and in Australia in its use and popularity. One non-store retailing method, multilevel marketing or network marketing, has recently incurred a degree of consumer suspicion and negative perceptions. A study was developed to investigate consumer perceptions and concerns in New South Wales and Victoria. Consumers were surveyed to determine their perception of direct selling and its relationship to consumer purchasing decisions. Responses indicate consumers had a negative perceptions towards network marketing, while holding a low positive view of direct selling. There appears to be no influence of network marketing on consumer purchase decisions. Direct selling, as a method of non-store retailing, has continued to increase in popularity in Australia and internationally. This study investigated network marketing as a type of direct selling in Australia, by examining consumers' perceptions. The results indicate that Australian consumers were generally negative and suspicious towards network marketing in Australia.
COD removal characteristics in air-cathode microbial fuel cells.

Exoelectrogenic microorganisms in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) compete with other microorganisms for substrate. In order to understand how this affects removal rates, current generation, and coulombic efficiencies (CEs), substrate removal rates were compared in MFCs fed a single, readily biodegradable compound (acetate) or domestic wastewater (WW). Removal rates based on initial test conditions fit first-order kinetics, but rate constants varied with circuit resistance. With filtered WW (100Ω), the rate constant was 0.18h(-)(1), which was higher than acetate or filtered WW with an open circuit (0.10h(-)(1)), but CEs were much lower (15-24%) than acetate. With raw WW (100Ω), COD removal proceeded in two stages: a fast removal stage with high current production, followed by a slower removal with little current. While using MFCs increased COD removal rate due to current generation, secondary processes will be needed to reduce COD to levels suitable for discharge.
Subsidies and regulatory reform in West African cotton: What are the development stakes?

• Available evidence strongly suggests that cotton producers in West Africa are relatively unresponsive to changes in world prices. This means they are poorly placed to take advantage of improved market conditions that might result from the reduction or abolition of cotton subsidies in rich countries. • To increase price responsiveness and ensure that the results of multilateral reform match producers’ expectations it is now more urgent than ever to undertake comprehensive regulatory reform of cotton marketing structures. • While most West African countries have already taken important steps in that direction, much work still remains to be done, in particular in Mali. The necessary path of reform is highly complex and country-specific, but we can suggest some overarching goals: Assuring closer alignment between world and domestic (producer) prices; Improving cotton sector productivity by reinforcing market infrastructure at crucial points in the supply chain, and ensuring openness to technological advances including biotechnology; Investing in physical and informational infrastructure so as to bring farmers closer to markets.
The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games

A large-scale content analysis of characters in video games was employed to answer questions about their representations of gender, race and age in comparison to the US population. The sample included 150 games from a year across nine platforms, with the results weighted according to game sales. This innovation enabled the results to be analyzed in proportion to the games that were actually played by the public, and thus allowed the first statements able to be generalized about the content of popular video games. The results show a systematic over-representation of males, white and adults and a systematic under-representation of females, Hispanics, Native Americans, children and the elderly. Overall, the results are similar to those found in television research. The implications for identity, cognitive models, cultivation and game research are discussed. new media & society Copyright © 2009 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC Vol 11(5): 815–834 [DOI: 10.1177/1461444809105354]
A new insight into Sanger's development of sequencing: from proteins to DNA, 1943-1977.

Fred Sanger, the inventor of the first protein, RNA and DNA sequencing methods, has traditionally been seen as a technical scientist, engaged in laboratory bench work and not interested at all in intellectual debates in biology. In his autobiography and commentaries by fellow researchers, he is portrayed as having a trajectory exclusively dependent on technological progress. The scarce historical scholarship on Sanger partially challenges these accounts by highlighting the importance of professional contacts, institutional and disciplinary moves in his career, spanning from 1940 to 1983. This paper will complement such literature by focusing, for the first time, on the transition of Sanger's sequencing strategies from degrading to copying the target molecule, which occurred in the late 1960s as he was shifting from protein and RNA to DNA sequencing, shortly after his move from the Department of Biochemistry to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, both based in Cambridge (U.K.). Through a reinterpretation of Sanger's papers and retrospective accounts and a pioneering investigation of his laboratory notebooks, I will claim that sequencing shifted from the working procedures of organic chemistry to those of the emergent molecular biology. I will also argue that sequencing deserves a history in its own right as a practice and not as a technique subordinated to the development of molecular biology or genomics. My proposed history of sequencing leads to a reappraisal of current STS debates on bioinformatics, biotechnology and biomedicine.
Coherent Oscillations inside a Quantum Manifold Stabilized by Dissipation

S. Touzard, A. Grimm, Z. Leghtas, S. O. Mundhada, P. Reinhold, C. Axline, M. Reagor, K. Chou, J. Blumoff, K. M. Sliwa, S. Shankar, L. Frunzio, R. J. Schoelkopf, M. Mirrahimi, and M. H. Devoret Department of Applied Physics and Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA Yale Quantum Institute, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA and QUANTIC team, INRIA de Paris, 2 Rue Simone Iff, 75012 Paris, France
Relationship between ST-segment recovery and clinical outcomes after primary percutaneous coronary intervention: the HORIZONS-AMI ECG substudy report.

BACKGROUND
In patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing thrombolytic therapy, the degree of ST-segment resolution (STR) correlates with long-term cardiovascular mortality. The long-term predictive value of STR after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is less well understood. We sought to determine the long-term prognostic value of STR after primary PCI in ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction.


METHODS AND RESULTS
In a formal substudy from the Harmonizing Outcomes with Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction (HORIZONS-AMI) trial, 2484 patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary PCI with interpretable baseline and 60-minute post-PCI electrocardiograms had at least 1 mm of baseline ST-segment elevation in ≥2 contiguous leads. Patients were categorized by the degree of STR at 60 minutes: (1) complete (>70%); (2) partial (30%-70%); and (3) absent (<30%). Absent, incomplete, and complete STR were achieved in 514 (20.7%), 712 (28.7%), and 1258 (50.5%) patients, respectively. STR <30% was associated with a greater likelihood of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, longer symptom onset to balloon time, lower left ventricular ejection fraction, and final thrombolysis in myocardial infarction flow <3. At 3 years, patients with STR<30% experienced a higher rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (death, reinfarction, ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization or stroke; 29.9% versus 20.1% versus 19.6%; P<0.0001), ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization (20.4% versus 14.0% versus 11.7%; P<0.001), and mortality (8.4% versus 5.0% versus 5.6%; P=0.03) than those with partial and complete STR, respectively. By multivariable analysis, STR<30% was an independent predictor of 3-year major adverse cardiovascular events (hazard ratio, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.24-2.00; P=0.0002) and 3-year ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization (hazard ratio, 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.41-2.48; P<0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
In this large international study, absent STR 60 minutes after primary PCI was present in ≈1 in 5 patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction and was a significant independent predictor of major adverse cardiovascular events and target vessel revascularization at 3 years.
Chiropractic management of fibromyalgia syndrome: a systematic review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is one of the most commonly diagnosed nonarticular soft tissue conditions in all fields of musculoskeletal medicine, including chiropractic. The purpose of this study was to perform a comprehensive review of the literature for the most commonly used treatment procedures in chiropractic for FMS and to provide evidence ratings for these procedures. The emphasis of this literature review was on conservative and nonpharmaceutical therapies.


METHODS
The Scientific Commission of the Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP) was charged with developing literature syntheses, organized by anatomical region, to evaluate and report on the evidence base for chiropractic care. This article is the outcome of this charge. As part of the CCGPP process, preliminary drafts of these articles were posted on the CCGPP Web site www.ccgpp.org (2006-8) to allow for an open process and the broadest possible mechanism for stakeholder input. Online comprehensive literature searches were performed of the following databases: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; National Guidelines Clearinghouse; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; Manual, Alternative, and Natural Therapy Index System; Index to Chiropractic Literature, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature; Allied and Complementary Medicine; and PubMed up to June 2006.


RESULTS
Our search yielded the following results: 8 systematic reviews, 3 meta-analyses, 5 published guidelines, and 1 consensus document. Our direct search of the databases for additional randomized trials did not find any chiropractic randomized clinical trials that were not already included in one or more of the systematic reviews/guidelines. The review of the Manual, Alternative, and Natural Therapy Index System and Index to Chiropractic Literature databases yielded an additional 38 articles regarding various nonpharmacologic therapies such as chiropractic, acupuncture, nutritional/herbal supplements, massage, etc. Review of these articles resulted in the following recommendations regarding nonpharmaceutical treatments of FMS. Strong evidence supports aerobic exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy. Moderate evidence supports massage, muscle strength training, acupuncture, and spa therapy (balneotherapy). Limited evidence supports spinal manipulation, movement/body awareness, vitamins, herbs, and dietary modification.


CONCLUSIONS
Several nonpharmacologic treatments and manual-type therapies have acceptable evidentiary support in the treatment of FMS.
In situ zircon U-Pb dating and whole-rock geochemistry of metasedimentary rocks from South Liaohe Group, Jiao-Liao-Ji orogenic belt: Constraints on the depositional and metamorphic ages, and implications for tectonic setting

Abstract The Liaohe Group is an important Paleoproterozoic lithostratigraphic unit of the Jiao-Liao-Ji orogenic belt and traditionally subdivided into the North and South Liaohe Groups. However, their tectonic setting and evolution are still a matter of debate. The precise depositional and metamorphic data of the studied metasedimentary rocks from the South Liaohe Group provide important information on the controversial discussion of the tectonic setting and evolution. Based on cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and connecting LA-ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology, zircon grains separated from metasedimentary rocks of different formations of the South Liaohe Group were subdivided into detrital and metamorphic zircons or zircon domains. Igneous zircon cores of detrital zircons of the Li’eryu, Gaojiayu, Dashiqiao and Gaixian Formations yield U-Pb age peaks at ∼2130 Ma, ∼2520 Ma, ∼2160 Ma/∼2500 Ma, and ∼2040 Ma, indicating that their sediments were transported from the Liaoji Granitoids, the Archean basement rocks of the adjacent Complex. In addition, deposition age of the sedimentary precursors was investigated which must have taken place at some time after ∼2.05 Ga, ∼2.07 Ga, ∼2.04 Ga and ∼1.92 Ga, respectively. These new geochronological data can be well explained by (1) a continent-arc collision model which suggests that the South Liaohe Group formed an intervening island arc and foreland basin sandwiched between the Longgang and Nangrim Complexes, and (2) a northward subduction of the Nangrim Complex source rocks of the South Liaohe Group; these source rocks were successively deposited along the margin of the two Complexes.
Parallelism for quantitative image analysis of photoreceptor-retinal pigment epithelium complex alterations in diabetic macular edema.

PURPOSE
To propose a new method to quantitatively and comprehensively evaluate photoreceptor-RPE complex alterations on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) imaging in eyes with diabetic macular edema (DME).


METHODS
Spectral-domain OCT images from a consecutive series of 90 eyes in 79 patients with DME and 30 healthy eyes in 30 volunteers were analyzed retrospectively. The subfoveal area covering the photoreceptor layers was skeletonized and the orientation of the segmented lines was termed "parallelism," which reflects image complexity. Photoreceptor layer status at the fovea was categorized by graders, including continuity of the external limiting membrane (ELM) line, inner segment ellipsoid line, and the presence of hyperreflective foci in the outer retinal layers. The relationships among parallelism, visual acuity, and photoreceptor layer status were evaluated.


RESULTS
Parallelism was significantly lower in eyes with DME than in normal eyes (P < 0.0001), and correlated strongly with visual acuity in eyes with DME (R = -0.592; P < 0.0001). Eyes with an intact inner segment ellipsoid line or ELM line had significantly better visual acuity (VA) and higher parallelism than eyes with a discontinuous or absent inner segment ellipsoid line or ELM line. Parallelism was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) and logMAR VA significantly better (P < 0.0001) in the group without hyperreflective foci in the outer retinal layers than in the group with hyperreflective foci in the outer retinal layers.


CONCLUSIONS
Parallelism has the potential to reflect structural changes of the photoreceptor layers in DME.
Increased prefrontal cortex activity during negative emotion regulation as a predictor of depression symptom severity trajectory over 6 months.

IMPORTANCE
Emotion regulation is critically disrupted in depression, and the use of paradigms that tap into these processes may uncover essential changes in neurobiology during treatment. In addition, because neuroimaging outcome studies of depression commonly use only baseline and end-point data-which are more prone to week-to-week noise in symptomatology-we sought to use all data points over the course of a 6-month trial.


OBJECTIVE
To examine changes in neurobiology resulting from successful treatment.


DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Double-blind trial examining changes in the neural circuits involved in emotion regulation resulting from 1 of 2 antidepressant treatments during a 6-month trial. Twenty-one patients with major depressive disorder and without other Axis I or Axis II diagnoses were scanned before treatment and 2 and 6 months into treatment at the university's functional magnetic resonance imaging facility.


INTERVENTIONS
Venlafaxine hydrochloride extended release (with doses of up to 300 mg) or fluoxetine hydrochloride (with doses of up to 80 mg).


MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Neural activity, as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging during performance of an emotion regulation paradigm, as well as regular assessments of symptom severity using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. For use of all data points, slope trajectories were calculated for rate of change in depression severity and for rate of change in neural engagement.


RESULTS
The depressed individuals who showed the steepest decrease in depression severity over the 6-month period were the same individuals who showed the most rapid increases in activity in Brodmann area 10 and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity when regulating negative affect over the same time frame. This relationship was more robust when using only the baseline and end-point data.


CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Changes in prefrontal cortex engagement when regulating negative affect correlate with changes in depression severity over 6 months. These results are buttressed by calculating these statistics, which are more reliable and robust to week-to-week variation than are difference scores.