LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Extracranial Venous Narrowing on Magnetic Resonance Venography Is Similar in People With Multiple Sclerosis, Their Siblings, and Unrelated Healthy Controls: A Blinded, Case-Control Study.

PURPOSE
The study sought to assess and compare the prevalence of narrowing of the major extracranial veins in subjects with multiple sclerosis and controls, and to assess the sensitivity and specificity of magnetic resonance venography (MRV) for describing extracranial venous narrowing as it applies to the chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency theory, using catheter venography (CV) as the gold standard.


METHODS
The jugular and azygos veins were assessed with time-of-flight MRV in this assessor-blinded, case-control study of subjects with multiple sclerosis, their unaffected siblings, and unrelated controls. The veins were evaluated by diameter and area, and compared with CV. Collateral vessels were also analyzed for maximal diameter, as a potential indicator of compensatory flow.


RESULTS
A high prevalence of extracranial venous narrowing was demonstrated in all study groups, collectively up to 84% by diameter criteria and 90% by area, with no significant difference between the groups when assessed independently (P = .34 and .63, respectively). There was high interobserver variability in the reporting of vessel narrowing (kappa = 0.32), and poor vessel per vessel correlation between narrowing on MRV and CV (kappa = 0.064). Collateral neck veins demonstrated no convincing difference in maximum size or correlation with jugular narrowing.


CONCLUSION
There is a high prevalence of narrowing of the major extracranial veins on MRV in all 3 study groups, with no significant difference between them. These findings do not support the chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency theory. Although MRV has shown a high sensitivity for identifying venous narrowing, time-of-flight imaging demonstrates poor interobserver agreement and poor specificity when compared with the gold standard CV.
Data in support on the shape of Schwann cells and sympathetic neurons onto microconically structured silicon surfaces

This article contains data related to the research article entitled "Laser fabricated discontinuous anisotropic microconical substrates as a new model scaffold to control the directionality of neuronal network outgrowth" in the Biomaterials journal [1]. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis is performed to investigate whether Schwann cells and sympathetic neurons alter their morphology according to the underlying topography, comprising arrays of silicon microcones with anisotropic geometrical characteristics [1]. It is observed that although soma of sympathetic neurons always preserves its round shape, this is not the case for Schwann cells that become highly polarized in high roughness microconical substrates.
Using mobile technology to support lower-salt food choices for people with cardiovascular disease: protocol for the SaltSwitch randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of early death worldwide, responsible for an estimated 29% of all global deaths. Reducing salt intake lowers blood pressure and risk of secondary cardiac events. However, identifying low salt foods can be challenging. SaltSwitch is a simple smartphone application (app) that enables shoppers to scan the barcode of packaged foods and receive an immediate, interpretive, traffic light nutrition label on the screen, along with suggestions for healthier lower-salt alternatives. A growing body of evidence suggests mobile technologies can support healthy behaviour change. However, robust evidence for the impact of smartphone interventions is lacking. This manuscript outlines the rationale and methods for a randomized controlled trial designed to determine the effectiveness of SaltSwitch in supporting people with CVD to make lower-salt food choices.


DESIGN/METHODS
A 6-week, two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled trial is being undertaken in New Zealand (2 weeks baseline and 4 weeks intervention). Three hundred adults aged 40 years and older with CVD and their main household shoppers are recruited from research lists, cardiac rehabilitation clinics, and communities in Auckland. Participants are randomized to receive either the SaltSwitch smartphone app or no intervention (control). Randomisation is stratified by ethnicity and age. The primary outcome is the salt content of household food purchases. Secondary outcomes are the saturated fat and energy content of household food purchases, household food expenditure, use and acceptability of the SaltSwitch app by shoppers, and urinary sodium and blood pressure of participants with CVD. Ambulatory blood pressure and potential longer-term impact (12 weeks) of SaltSwitch will be assessed in sub-studies (n ~ 40 and n ~ 20, respectively). Household purchases of salt and other nutrients will be assessed using till receipt data electronically linked with branded food composition data.


DISCUSSION
The results of the SaltSwitch trial will determine the effectiveness, use and acceptability of a smartphone application to support lower salt food choices and secondary prevention of CVD.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ACTRN12614000206628. Registered 30 March 2014.
Novel automatic PCB inspection technique based on connectivity

This paper presents a novel technique for PCB inspection based on the comparison of the Connected Table of a Reference and a Test Image. The method is based on connected component analysis, which is a natural way to extract the connectivity information of the conductors of a PCB. The registration of the PCB holes, which is a common problem related to referential model techniques, is solved by the concept of zone of influence of each hole. This paper describes the method and its implementation using standard Morphology Image Processing techniques. A result of applying the technique to real images is shown.
Preharvest exposure to the sun influences postharvest responses of ‘Hass’ avocado fruit

‘Hass’ avocados (Persea americana Mill.) exposed to direct sunlight (sun fruit) had diurnal temperature cycles with flesh tissue reaching as high as 43°C under ambient temperatures of 15–25°C. The response of sun and shaded fruit to postharvest treatments differed significantly. External damage from hot water treatments of 50°C for up to 10 min, was lower in sun fruit, particularly on the exposed side of the fruit. Similarly, while shaded fruit had high levels of external chilling injury when stored at 0.5°C for up to 28 days, the exposed side of the fruit was undamaged. Leakage of electrolytes from skin tissue from the exposed side of sun fruit did not increase during storage, while that from shaded fruit increased by about 60%. In addition, for fruit ripened without storage, sun fruit took longer to ripen than shade fruit. Changes in heat shock protein (hsp) gene expression and specific protein bands reflected the diurnal temperature cycle, with up-regulation of hsp mRNA and synthesis of specific proteins at flesh temperatures \30°C. Thus, exposure of fruit to the sun results in high skin and flesh temperatures, and consequently reduced incidence of postharvest heat and chilling injuries. These beneficial effects are similar to those found following postharvest heat treatments. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Association between commercial television exposure and fast-food consumption among adults.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between television advertising exposure and adults' consumption of fast foods.


DESIGN
Cross-sectional telephone survey. Questions included measures of frequency of fast-food consumption at different meal times and average daily hours spent watching commercial television.


SUBJECTS/SETTING
Subjects comprised 1495 adults (41 % response rate) aged >or=18 years from Victoria, Australia.


RESULTS
Twenty-three per cent of respondents usually ate fast food for dinner at least once weekly, while 17 % consumed fast food for lunch on a weekly basis. The majority of respondents reported never eating fast food for breakfast (73 %) or snacks (65 %). Forty-one per cent of respondents estimated watching commercial television for <or=1 h/d (low viewers); 29 % watched for 2 h/d (moderate viewers); 30 % watched for >or=3 h/d (high viewers). After adjusting for demographic variables, high viewers were more likely to eat fast food for dinner at least once weekly compared with low viewers (OR = 1.45; 95 % CI 1.04, 2.03). Both moderate viewers (OR = 1.53; 95 % CI 1.01, 2.31) and high viewers (OR = 1.81; 95 % CI 1.20, 2.72) were more likely to eat fast food for snacks at least once weekly compared with low viewers. Commercial television viewing was not significantly related (P > 0.05) to fast-food consumption at breakfast or lunch.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of the present study provide evidence to suggest that cumulative exposure to television food advertising is linked to adults' fast-food consumption. Additional research that systematically assesses adults' behavioural responses to fast-food advertisements is needed to gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms driving this association.
Digital culture clash : “ massive ” education in the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC

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Chemical wizardry ? The generation of diversity in terpenoid biosynthesis *

Terpene synthases catalyze the conversion of linear prenyl-diphosphates to a multitude of hydrocarbon skeletons with often high regioand stereoselectivity. These remarkable enzymes all rely on a shared fold for activity, namely, the class I terpene cyclase fold. Recent work has illuminated the catalytic strategy used by these enzymes to catalyze the arguably most complex chemical reactions found in Nature. Terpene synthases catalyze the formation of a reactive carbocation and provide a template for the cyclization reactions while at the same time providing the necessary stability of the carbocationic reaction intermediates as well as strictly controlling water access.
The Identity Status of Nigerian University Students

Summary The concept of identity, developed by Erikson over the last 30 years, has as one of its main features the idea that a sense of identity is acquired by people in all cultures. In the present study the identity status of 106 Nigerian male and female university students was evaluated by means of Simmons' Identity Achievement Scale (I.A.S.). Findings include a mean I.A.S. score of 13.43 which is close to what Simmons obtained with a sample of American college students. The results also resemble Simmons' both in the lack of significant sex differences in mean I.A.S. scores and in the distribution of I.A.S. scores. The existence of this similarity, in spite of considerable sociocultural differences between Nigeria and United States, supports Erikson's notion of the universality of a sense of identity.
The Institutional Environment For Agricultural Trade In The Ftaa

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a free trade agreement that is under negotiation among 34 countries of the Western Hemisphere. The agreement, to be implemented in 2005, is expected to remove tariff and non tariff barriers to trade and investment among member countries, and to build more open, transparent and integrated markets. Negotiations are being conducted in nine separate groups, including agriculture, market access, investment, services, government procurement, dispute settlement, and intellectual property rights. An important role of the FTAA will be to reconcile the current proliferation of subregional trade pacts (Figure 1). Over 40 pacts are now in force, with at least a dozen more under negotiation (Stout and Ugaz, 1998).
Does fasting during Ramadan alter body composition, blood constituents and physical performance?

OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of Ramadan fast (RF) on body composition, plasma constituents, hematology, and cardiorespiratory responses to constant submaximal exercise.


SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Sixteen sedentary healthy Kuwaiti adult males were included in the study. The subjects were tested under thermo-neutral conditions during a spring-like month of Ramadan and 2 months thereafter. They were tested during the week before RF (Pre1); the last 3 days of RF (End1); the week before a non-Ramadan month (Pre2), and the last 3 days of the non-Ramadan month (End2). The following measurements were made: body composition, cellular and biochemical constituents of blood, heart rate, ventilatory responses and blood pressure.


RESULTS
No significant changes were observed in body composition, cellular and biochemical constituents of blood. The heart rate and ventilatory responses to the moderately intense bouts of submaximal aerobic exercise ( approximately 70% of VO(2max)) were significantly reduced (p < 0.04) while systolic blood pressure increased (p < 0.05) by the end of RF.


CONCLUSIONS
Ramadan fasting had no adverse effect on the subjects when performing aerobic exercise at submaximal level. The mild changes in cardiorespiratory responses could be due to dehydration, abstention from consumption of substances with negative inotropy and circadian rhythms.
Survey on anonymous communications in computer networks

0140-3664/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. A doi:10.1016/j.comcom.2009.11.009 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 353 4379. E-mail addresses: renjian@egr.msu.edu (J. Ren), jie Anonymous communications aim to preserve communications privacy within the shared public network environment. It can provide security well beyond content privacy and integrity. The scientific studies of anonymous communications are largely originated from Chaum’s two seminal approaches: mixnet and DC-net. In this paper, we present an overview of the research in this field. We start with the basic definitions of anonymous communications. We then describe the cryptographic primitives, the network protocols, and some of the representative anonymous communication systems. We also describe verifiable mixnets and their applications to electronic voting. Finally, we briefly cite some other anonymous systems. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) Volume Visualization

In this paper, we propose a volume visualization system that accepts direct manipulation through a sketch-based What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) approach. Similar to the operations in painting applications for 2D images, in our system, a full set of tools have been developed to enable direct volume rendering manipulation of color, transparency, contrast, brightness, and other optical properties by brushing a few strokes on top of the rendered volume image. To be able to smartly identify the targeted features of the volume, our system matches the sparse sketching input with the clustered features both in image space and volume space. To achieve interactivity, both special algorithms to accelerate the input identification and feature matching have been developed and implemented in our system. Without resorting to tuning transfer function parameters, our proposed system accepts sparse stroke inputs and provides users with intuitive, flexible and effective interaction during volume data exploration and visualization.
Clinical efficacy of polyspecific intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in patients with streptococcal toxic shock syndrome: a comparative observational study.

BACKGROUND
Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) and necrotizing fasciitis are the 2 most severe invasive manifestations caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS). Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy has been suggested as adjunctive treatment with a beneficial effect on mortality. However the clinical evidence is limited. Here we aim to further document the clinical efficacy of administered IVIG therapy in a comparative observational study of well-defined patients with STSS.


METHODS
The effect of IVIG was evaluated in patients with STSS prospectively identified in a nationwide Swedish surveillance study conducted between April 2002 and December 2004. Detailed data on symptoms, severity of disease, treatment, and outcome were obtained from 67 patients. Crude and adjusted analyses with logistic regression were performed.


RESULTS
Twenty-three patients received IVIG therapy compared with 44 who did not. No significant difference in comorbidities, severity of disease, organ failures, or sex was seen, but the IVIG group was slightly younger and had a higher degree of necrotizing fasciitis (56% vs 14%). The primary endpoint was 28-day survival. Adjusted analysis revealed that factors influencing survival in STSS were Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (odds ratio [OR], 1.1; P = .007), clindamycin (OR, 8.6; P = .007), and IVIG (OR, 5.6; P = .030).


CONCLUSIONS
This comparative observational study of prospectively identified STSS patients demonstrates that both IVIG and clindamycin therapy contribute to a significantly improved survival in STSS.
Neutron spectroscopic factors of 55Ni hole-states from (p,d) transfer reactions

Abstract Spectroscopic information has been extracted on the hole-states of 55 Ni, the least known of the quartet of nuclei ( 55 Ni, 57 Ni, 55 Co and 57 Cu), one nucleon away from 56 Ni, the N = Z = 28 double magic nucleus. Using the H 1 ( Ni 56 , d ) Ni 55 transfer reaction in inverse kinematics, neutron spectroscopic factors, spins and parities have been extracted for the f 7 / 2 , p 3 / 2 and the s 1 / 2 hole-states of 55 Ni. These new data provide a benchmark for large basis calculations that include nucleonic orbits in both the sd and pf shells. State of the art calculations have been performed to describe the excitation energies and spectroscopic factors of the s 1 / 2 hole-state below Fermi energy.
Statistical notes for clinical researchers: assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis

52 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Statistical notes for clinical researchers: assessing normal distribution (2) using skewness and kurtosis
Research Guides: Mathematics and Engineering: Home

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Beyond Transaction Cost Economics: Towards an endogenous theory of Information Technology Outsourcing

In our review, we coded 73 empirical findings from 31 journal articles that applied Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) to study Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO). As Karimi-Alaghehband et al. (2011) note correctly, the empirical results of TCE tests in the context of ITO are mixed. We found that only 49% of the empirical ITO findings supported TCE logic. We found only slightly better support for TCE when it is used as a normative theory (54%) than when it is used as a predictive theory (47%). The main difference between Karimi-Alaghehband et al.’s (2011) contribution and our contribution to the debate focuses upon what to do next. Karimi-Alaghehband et al. (2011) argue that ITO researchers need to apply TCE more faithfully. We argue that we are asking too much of TCE—the ITO phenomenon is more complex than can be accommodated by TCE. We argue that ITO research has matured to the point that we should be building our own endogenous ITO theory. We offer observations and insights on what such a theory might entail. In moving ITO research forward, we first critique TCE assumptions and provide alternative assumptions that seem to fit ITO observations well. We draw on our review of 741 ITO empirical findings (Lacity et al., 2010) to provide a detailed theoretical framework to advance further study that suggests the most promising constructs to use in an endogenous ITO theory. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Peripherally inserted central catheter tip position and risk of associated complications in neonates

Objective:To characterize the relationship between peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) tip positions and associated complications in neonates.Study Design:Catheter tip position for 319 infants was classified into superior vena cava (SVC, n=131), inferior vena cava (IVC, n=72), brachiocephalic (BC, n=59), midclavicular (MC, n=49) or iliac. Duration of catheter stay and complication profile was compared between central (SVC/IVC) vs non-central PICC, and between SVC vs IVC, SVC vs BC and SVC vs MC. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and regression models were used.Result:Overall length of catheter stay was similar between central and non-central group. Non-central catheters (n=116) had higher complication rates (47 vs 29%; P=0.001), non-elective removals (45 vs 27%; P=0.002) and shorter time to complication (6.2 vs 11.4 days; P=0.043). This difference was primarily due to the complications encountered in MC group, which had the highest rate of infiltration (P<0.001) and mechanical complications while outcomes were similar among other subgroups. Interestingly, catheter survival probability was similar in all groups for first 4 days. Rate and types of blood stream infections were not related to catheter tip position.Conclusion:Non-central PICCs are associated with higher rates of infiltration and mechanical complications when the tip is in MC region. BC catheters may have comparable outcomes to SVC in neonates. A careful risk-benefit analysis is warranted when MC catheters are used in neonates.
Design of an Assistive Walking Device with Special Rehabilitation Capabilities

This paper presents a new novel design of a smart walker for rehabilitation purpose by patients in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. The design features a full frame walker that provides secured and stable support while being foldable and compact. It also has smart features such as telecommunication and patient activity monitoring.