LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Effect of imagery perspective on occupational performance after stroke: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE
This preliminary study sought to determine whether the imagery perspective used during mental practice (MP) differentially influenced performance outcomes after stroke.


METHOD
Nineteen participants with unilateral subacute stroke (9 men and 10 women, ages 28-77) were randomly allocated to one of three groups. All groups received 30-min occupational therapy sessions 2×/wk for 6 wk. Experimental groups received MP training in functional tasks using either an internal or an external perspective; the control group received relaxation imagery training. Participants were pre- and posttested using the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment (FMA), the Jebsen-Taylor Test of Hand Function (JTTHF), and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM).


RESULTS
At posttest, the internal and external experimental groups showed statistically similar improvements on the FMA and JTTHF (p < .05). All groups improved on the COPM (p < .05).


CONCLUSION
MP combined with occupational therapy improves upper-extremity recovery after stroke. MP does not appear to enhance self-perception of performance. This preliminary study suggests that imagery perspective may not be an important variable in MP interventions.
Influence of leader and follower behavior on employee voice , team task responsibility , and team effectiveness

This study investigates the effect of leader and follower behavior on employee voice, team task responsibility and team effectiveness. This study distinguishes itself by including both leader and follower behavior as predictors of team effectiveness. In addition, employee voice and team task responsibility are tested as potential mediators of the relationship between task-oriented behaviors (informing, directing, verifying) and team effectiveness as well as the relationship between relation-oriented behaviors (positive feedback, intellectual stimulation, individual consideration) and team effectiveness. This cross-sectional exploratory study includes four methods: 1) inter-reliable coding of leader and follower behavior during staff meetings; 2) surveys of 57 leaders; 3) surveys of643 followers; 4) survey of 56 lean coaches. Regression analyses showed that both leaders and followers display more task-oriented behaviors opposed to relation-oriented behaviors during staff meetings. Contrary to the hypotheses, none of the observed leader behaviors positively influences employee voice, team task responsibility or team effectiveness. However, all three task-oriented follower behaviors indirectly influence team effectiveness. The findings from this research illustrate that follower behaviors has more influence on team effectiveness compared to leader behavior. Practical implications, strengths and limitations of the research are discussed. Moreover, future research directions including the mediating role of culture and psychological safety are proposed as well.
Prevention of gut leakiness by a probiotic treatment leads to attenuated HPA response to an acute psychological stress in rats

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Intestinal barrier impairment is incriminated in the pathophysiology of intestinal gut disorders associated with psychiatric comorbidity. Increased intestinal permeability associated with upload of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) translocation induces depressive symptoms. Gut microbiota and probiotics alter behavior and brain neurochemistry. Since Lactobacillus farciminis suppresses stress-induced hyperpermeability, we examined whether (i) L. farciminis affects the HPA axis stress response, (ii) stress induces changes in LPS translocation and central cytokine expression which may be reversed by L. farciminis, (iii) the prevention of "leaky" gut and LPS upload are involved in these effects.


METHODS
At the end of the following treatments female rats were submitted to a partial restraint stress (PRS) or sham-PRS: (i) oral administration of L. farciminis during 2 weeks, (ii) intraperitoneal administration of ML-7 (a specific myosin light chain kinase inhibitor), (iii) antibiotic administration in drinking water during 12 days. After PRS or sham-PRS session, we evaluated LPS levels in portal blood, plasma corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels, hypothalamic corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA expression, and colonic paracellular permeability (CPP).


RESULTS
PRS increased plasma ACTH and corticosterone; hypothalamic CRF and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression; CPP and portal blood concentration of LPS. L. farciminis and ML-7 suppressed stress-induced hyperpermeability, endotoxemia and prevented HPA axis stress response and neuroinflammation. Antibiotic reduction of luminal LPS concentration prevented HPA axis stress response and increased hypothalamic expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines.


CONCLUSION
The attenuation of the HPA axis response to stress by L. farciminis depends upon the prevention of intestinal barrier impairment and decrease of circulating LPS levels.
Spirometry-Adjusted Fraction of Exhaled Nitric Oxide Allows Asthma Diagnosis in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults.

BACKGROUND
Recently, it has been proved that fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) results are in disagreement with other measurements of asthma control. The objective of this work is to present and validate new lung function/lung inflammation ratios.


METHODS
This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study in which we evaluated data from medical documentation of 1,529 pediatric and adolescent subjects and a small number (2% of the studied population) of young adults, who presented symptoms suggestive of asthma (age range 4-24 y). We are the first to analyze results obtained in this manner (before the introduction of controlled medication): FENO, spirometry, specific resistance of the airways, diagnosis of allergic diseases, and allergen sensitization (specific immunoglobulin E results).


RESULTS
Cut-off points for the new indicators allowed us to diagnose asthma in the study participants: for FVC/FENO ratio, 0.17 L/ppb; for FEV1/FENO ratio, 0.15 L/ppb; for forced expiratory flow during the middle half of the FVC maneuver (FEF25-75%)/FENO ratio, 0.16 L/s/ppb; for FENO/FVC ratio, 11.00 ppb/L; for FENO/FEV1 ratio, 12.53 ppb/L; and for FENO/FEF25-75% ratio, 11.81 ppb/L/s. Only the ratios described above were closely correlated with the diagnosis of asthma and with one another. They significantly differed between subjects with asthma and healthy subjects as well as between females and males. Only FEF25-75%/FENO and FENO/FEF25-75% values were significant predictors of any sensitization in the studied subjects. We found higher sensitivity than specificity and higher positive predictive value than negative predictive value for FVC/FENO, FEV1/FENO, and FEF25-75%/FENO and found a mirror image for reverse parameters. However, the positive predictive values and negative predictive values were not clearly convincing with respect to diagnostic accuracy in the case of the new parameters proposed.


CONCLUSIONS
We propose new lung function/lung inflammation ratios by which it may become possible to diagnose asthma in children and adolescents on the basis of a subject's spirometry and FENO measurements. We believe that our ratios are only supportive of the universally used parameters in the process of diagnosing asthma. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT01805635.).
Multi-input Fuzzy Logic Controller for Brushless dc Motor Drives

The brushless dc motors are used in various applications such as defence, industries, robotics, etc. In these applications, the motor should be precisely controlled to give the desired performance. The proposed controller systems consist of multi-input fuzzy (two-and three-input) logic controller (FLC) and multi-input integrated fuzzy logic controller (IFLC) for the speed control of brushless dc servomotor drive. The input for the controllers are error e(k), change in error [first derivative of error ce(k)] and change of change in error [second derivative of error cce(k)] with a single-output. The error cce(k) is substantial at the overshoots/undershoots and is therefore essential for accurate speed control of brushless dc motor. The error cce(k) has been introduced for the first time in the literature as one of the input in the FLC and IFLC design. The IFLC is designed using FLC and proportional derivation integral (PID) controllers. The controller systems have been studied systematically for the transient and steady-state conditions. The three-input IFLC is found to be superior, more robust, faster, flexible, and is insensitive to the parameter variations as compared with the FLC (with two-and three-input) and conventional two-input IFLC.
Primary High-Grade Osteosarcoma of the Clivus: A Case Report and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND
Osteosarcoma is the second most common primary tumor of the skeletal system and the most common primary bone tumor. Usually occurring at the metaphysis of long bones, osteosarcomas are highly aggressive lesions that comprise osteoid-producing spindle cells. Craniofacial osteosarcomas comprise <8% and are believed to be less aggressive and lower grade. Primary osteosarcomas of the skull and skull base comprise <2% of all skull tumors. Osteosarcomas originating from the clivus are rare. We present a case of a primar, high-grade clival osteosarcoma.


CASE DESCRIPTION
A 29-year-old man presented to our institution with a progressively worsening right frontal headache for 3 weeks. There were no sensory or cranial nerve deficits. Computed tomography revealed a destructive mass involving the clivus with extension into the left sphenoid sinus. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a homogenously enhancing lesion measuring 2.7 × 2.5 × 3.2 cm. The patient underwent endonasal transphenoidal surgery for gross total resection. The histopathologic analysis revealed proliferation of malignant-appearing spindled and epithelioid cells with associated osteoclast-like giant cells and a small area of osteoid production. The analysis was consistent with high-grade osteosarcoma. The patient did well and was discharged on postoperative day 2. He was referred for adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Two-year follow-up showed postoperative changes and clival expansion caused by packing material.


CONCLUSIONS
Osteosarcoma is a highly malignant neoplasm. These lesions are usually found in the extremities; however, they may rarely present in the craniofacial region. Clival osteosarcomas are relatively infrequent. We present a case of a primary clival osteosarcoma with high-grade pathology.
The Revised Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-R): reliability and validity.

BACKGROUND
To assess outcomes of health services, providers need brief, responsive, reliable, and valid measures that can be implemented in clinical settings with minimal cost and burden. The Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-32) is a self-report measure developed in 1984 to assess mental health treatment outcomes. During the past 3 years, multiple methods were used to revise the instrument to improve reliability, validity, and applicability to diverse groups of mental health service recipients.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to field test the revised instrument, make further changes based on analysis of the field test data, and assess reliability and validity of the final version (BASIS-24).


METHODS
A field test was implemented at 27 treatment sites across the United States. A total of 2656 inpatients and 3222 outpatients participated. Factor analytic methods, classic test theory, and item response theory modeling were used to select the most discriminating, nonredundant items for inclusion in the final version of the instrument and to assess its reliability and validity. Item response theory modeling was used to score the instrument.


RESULTS
The final instrument includes 24 items assessing 6 domains: depression/ functioning, interpersonal relationships, self-harm, emotional lability, psychosis, and substance abuse. Test-retest and internal consistency reliability were acceptable. Tests of construct and discriminant validity supported the instrument's ability to discriminate groups expected to differ in mental health status, and its correlation with other measures of mental health.


CONCLUSIONS
Analyses of the BASIS-24 supported its reliability and validity for assessing mental health status from the patient's perspective.
Deep Belief Networks and deep learning

Deep Belief Network is an algorithm among deep learning. It is an effective method of solving the problems from neural network with deep layers, such as low velocity and the overfitting phenomenon in learning. In this paper, we will introduce how to process a Deep Belief Network by using Restricted Boltzmann Machines. What is more, we will combine the Deep Belief Network together with softmax classifier, and use it in the recognition of handwritten numbers.
The use of antioxidants with first-line chemotherapy in two cases of ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE
Because of poor overall survival in advanced ovarian malignancies, patients often turn to alternative therapies despite controversy surrounding their use. Currently, the majority of cancer patients combine some form of complementary and alternative medicine with conventional therapies. Of these therapies, antioxidants, added to chemotherapy, are a frequent choice.


METHODS
For this preliminary report, two patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer were studied. One patient had Stage IIIC papillary serous adenocarcinoma, and the other had Stage IIIC mixed papillary serous and seromucinous adenocarcinoma. Both patients were optimally cytoreduced prior to first-line carboplatinum/paclitaxel chemotherapy. Patient 2 had a delay in initiation of chemotherapy secondary to co-morbid conditions and had evidence for progression of disease prior to institution of therapy. Patient 1 began oral high-dose antioxidant therapy during her first month of therapy. This consisted of oral vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, coenzyme Q-10 and a multivitamin/mineral complex. In addition to the oral antioxidant therapy, patient 1 added parenteral ascorbic acid at a total dose of 60 grams given twice weekly at the end of her chemotherapy and prior to consolidation paclitaxel chemotherapy. Patient 2 added oral antioxidants just prior to beginning chemotherapy, including vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E, coenzyme Q-10 and a multivitamin/mineral complex. Patient 2 received six cycles of paclitaxel/carboplatinum chemotherapy and refused consolidation chemotherapy despite radiographic evidence of persistent disease. Instead, she elected to add intravenous ascorbic acid at 60 grams twice weekly. Both patients gave written consent for the use of their records in this report.


RESULTS
Patient 1 had normalization of her CA-125 after the first cycle of chemotherapy and has remained normal, almost 3(1/2) years after diagnosis. CT scans of the abdomen and pelvis remain without evidence of recurrence. Patient 2 had normalization of her CA-125 after the first cycle of chemotherapy. After her first round of chemotherapy, the patient was noted to have residual disease in the pelvis. She declined further chemotherapy and added intravenous ascorbic acid. There is no evidence for recurrent disease by physical examination, and her CA-125 has remained normal three years after diagnosis.


CONCLUSION
Antioxidants, when added adjunctively, to first-line chemotherapy, may improve the efficacy of chemotherapy and may prove to be safe. A review of four common antioxidants follows. Because of the positive results found in these two patients, a randomized controlled trial is now underway at the University of Kansas Medical Center evaluating safety and efficacy of antioxidants when added to chemotherapy in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer.
Lessons from the Amazon Picking Challenge

This paper summarizes lessons learned from the first Amazon Picking Challenge in which 26 international teams designed robotic systems that competed to retrieve items from warehouse shelves. This task is currently performed by human workers, and there is hope that robots can someday help increase efficiency and throughput while lowering cost. We report on a 28-question survey posed to the teams to learn about each team’s background, mechanism design, perception apparatus, planning and control approach. We identify trends in this data, correlate it with each team’s success in the competition, and discuss observations and lessons learned. Note to Practitioners: Abstract—Perception, motion planning, grasping, and robotic system engineering has reached a level of maturity that makes it possible to explore automating simple warehouse tasks in semi-structured environments that involve high-mix, low-volume picking applications. This survey summarizes lessons learned from the first Amazon Picking Challenge, highlighting mechanism design, perception, and motion planning algorithms, as well as software engineering practices that were most successful in solving a simplified order fulfillment task. While the choice of mechanism mostly affects execution speed, the competition demonstrated the systems challenges of robotics and illustrated the importance of combining reactive control with deliberative planning.
Beam Scanning Using Flat Transformation Electromagnetic Focusing Lenses

A beam scanning/switching method utilizing a transformation electromagnetics device is presented. A flat focusing lens based on the coordinate transformation approach is designed such that the field radiated by an antenna at the lens focus is transformed into a directive beam emitted normal to the lens surface. The main beam can be scanned by moving the antenna in the focal plane. Physical movement of the source or the lens can be avoided by placing an array of radiators in the focal plane. Selective excitations of individual antennas in a linear array configuration result in switched beams. Full-wave numerical simulations are performed, and the results for 2D lens configurations with line sources are provided.
Inspiratory muscle training for cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND
Cystic fibrosis is the most common life-limiting genetic condition in Caucasians and the life-expectancy of those newly diagnosed is increasing. Inspiratory muscle training may be a way of improving the lung function and quality of life of people with cystic fibrosis. Hence there is a need to establish whether this intervention is beneficial.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the effect of inspiratory muscle training on health-related quality of life, pulmonary function and exercise tolerance.


SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials register comprising of references identified from comprehensive electronic database searches and handsearches of relevant journals and abstract books of conference proceedings.Date of most recent search: April 2008.


SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised or quasi-randomised clinical controlled trials comparing different inspiratory muscle training regimens with each other or a control in people with cystic fibrosis.


DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Three review authors independently applied the inclusion and exclusion criteria to publications and assessed the quality of the included studies.


MAIN RESULTS
Seven studies were identified. Of these six studies with 140 participants met the review inclusion criteria. There was wide variation in the quality of the included studies. Data were not published in sufficient detail or with sufficiently similar outcome measures in these studies to perform meta-analyses.


AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
We have not found any evidence to suggest that this treatment is either beneficial or not. We would advise that practitioners evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether or not to employ this therapy. We recommend that future studies make more use of health-related quality of life and exercise tolerance measures; and that there is an agreement upon a single standard measure of classifying the clinical status of the participants.
A comparison of North American and European railway systems – a critique and riposte

PurposeThe objective of current paper is to offer constructive criticism and expose some serious shortcomings in the paper published Clausen and Voll (Transp Res Rev 5:129–133, 2013) in the ETRR.MethodA literature review method is applied for the current research paper. A technical and scientific discussion, including organizational and policy issues in relation to rail freight transport systems in Europe and U.S., is performed.ResultClausen and Voll [4] ostensibly set out to draw comparisons between North American and European railway systems. It claims to be focused on the management and operation of carload freight and how this is organized, planned and moved but does not develop this in adequate detail. The paper fails to address many generic contextual differences and influences that govern the management and operation of carload freight in both domains. It does not present a balanced or complete set of arguments as to why one scenario is to be preferred to the other.The analysis in the paper is largely generic, limited and yet arrives at robust and trenchant conclusions preferring the North American production model without any real substantiation or justification for this position being presented. The European position is inadequately described in terms of governance, ownership and operational models and is criticised for its constraints and limitations without any real explanation as to how these could be overcome. The relatively slow evolution of the response of the US railroads to the legislation that endowed them with greater commercial and operational freedoms is not adequately covered. The position in Europe in relation to a rapid sequence of interventions and directives is also not adequately reviewed.The paper does not demonstrate the impact of recent technologies in terms of intermodal activities despite these being significant components of rail freight volume and revenue in both domains. The paper also has very limited details on the commercial and competitive realities faced by railways in both domains including rail-on-rail, waterway and road based competition and how this is managed by the train operators. The paper makes superficial reference to the “Blocking Problem” but fail to develop what this implies and how the rail freight operators develop strategies to mitigate this.
Breakthrough pain in patients with controlled or uncontrolled pain: An observational study

BACKGROUND
Breakthrough pain (BTP) is traditionally defined as a pain exacerbation in patients with chronic controlled pain. However, this definition has recently been challenged.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the prevalence of unsatisfactory control in patients with chronic cancer pain, and investigate the frequency and intensity of BTP episodes.


METHODS
A total of 665 patients with chronic cancer pain attending 21 pain therapy units in Italy were evaluated for baseline pain intensity and number of BTP episodes over a 30-day period. All patients started, continued or modified treatment for BTP at enrollment, according to medical judgment.


RESULTS
The number of BTP events was higher in patients with uncontrolled baseline pain, although the intensity and duration of episodes were similar. In patients with uncontrolled baseline pain, the number of events decreased with time and reached values comparable with those reported in patients with controlled pain. Both the intensity of the pain and the duration of the BTP events exhibited similar values in the two groups at all time points, following increased monitoring and the prescription of analgesic medication.


CONCLUSION
Patients with uncontrolled baseline pain experienced BTP flares with higher frequency, but similar intensity and duration with respect to patients with controlled pain at baseline. Notably, a close follow-up and adequate management of the BTP episodes led to an improvement of BTP in the observed patients.