LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy in Patients with Coccydynia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

UNLABELLED
Coccydynia is pain in the coccygeal region, and usually treated conservatively. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) was incorporated as non-invasive treatment of many musculoskeletal conditions. However, the effects of ESWT on coccydynia are less discussed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of ESWT on the outcomes of coccydynia. Patients were allocated to ESWT (n = 20) or physical modality (SIT) group (n = 21) randomly, and received total treatment duration of 4 weeks. The visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), and self-reported satisfaction score were used to assess treatment effects. The VAS and ODI scores were significantly decreased after treatment in both groups, and the decrease in the VAS score was significantly greater in the ESWT group. The mean proportional changes in the ODI scores were greater in the ESWT group than in the SIT group, but the between-group difference was not statistically significant. The patients in the ESWT group had significantly higher subjective satisfaction scores than SIT group. We concluded that ESWT is more effective and satisfactory in reducing discomfort and disability caused by coccydynia than the use of physical modalities. Thus, ESWT is recommended as an alternative treatment option for patients with coccydynia.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02313324.
Attachment and alliance in the treatment of depressed, sexually abused women.

BACKGROUND
Depression among women with sexual abuse histories is less treatment responsive than in general adult samples. One contributor to poorer treatment outcomes may be abused women's difficulties in forming and maintaining secure relationships, as reflected in insecure attachment styles, which could also impede the development of a positive therapeutic alliance. The current study examines how attachment orientation (i.e. anxiety and avoidance) and development of the working alliance are associated with treatment outcomes among depressed women with histories of childhood sexual abuse.


METHOD
Seventy women seeking treatment in a community mental health center who had Major Depressive Disorder and a childhood sexual abuse history were randomized to Interpersonal Psychotherapy or treatment as usual.


RESULTS
Greater attachment avoidance and weaker working alliance were each related to worse depression symptom outcomes; these effects were independent of the presence of comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The effect of avoidant attachment on outcomes was not mediated by the working alliance. Further, working alliance had a stronger effect on depression outcomes in the Interpersonal Psychotherapy group.


CONCLUSION
Understanding the influence of attachment style and the working alliance on treatment outcomes can inform efforts to improve the treatments for depressed women with a history of childhood sexual abuse.
Improving neuropsychological function after chronic brain injury with hyperbaric oxygen.

PURPOSE
One suggested treatment for chronic brain injury (CBI) is the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). The present study was an evaluation of neuropsychological improvement after HBOT in CBI patients.


METHOD
Study 1 compared test - retest results of 21 CBI children treated with HBOT against test - retest results of 42 untreated brain injured and normal children. Study 2 compared 21 CBI adults treated with HBOT against 42 untreated normal and brain injured adults. In each study, subjects received pre and post assessments to evaluate neuropsychological function.


RESULTS
The HBOT-treated children showed significant improvement when compared with the two control groups on measures of daily living, socialization, communication, and motor skills. The treated adults made significant gains in all neuropsychological areas tested as compared to controls.


CONCLUSION
The studies were strongly supportive of HBOT as a treatment for lessening the neurological impact of CBI. These studies indicate that HBOT can be an effective aid in ameliorating the neuropsychological and physiological effects of CBI. The absence of a clear sham HBOT treatment group is an issue as it could be that there was a placebo effect, but it should be noted that the controls were receiving more traditional interventions during the study.
Gray code for permutations with a fixed number of cycles

We give the first Gray code for the set of n-length permutations with a given number of cycles. In this code, each permutation is transformed into its successor by a product with a cycle of length three, which is optimal. If we represent each permutation by its transposition array then the obtained list still remains a Gray code and this allows us to construct a constant amortized time (CAT) algorithm for generating these codes. Also, Gray code and generating algorithm for n-length permutations with fixed number of left-to-right minima are discussed. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
EULAR report on the use of ultrasonography in painful knee osteoarthritis. Part 2: exploring decision rules for clinical utility.

BACKGROUND
Synovial inflammation (as defined by hypertrophy and effusion) is common in osteoarthritis (OA) and may be important in both pain and structural progression.


OBJECTIVE
To determine if decision rules can be devised from clinical findings and ultrasonography (US) to allow recognition of synovial inflammation in patients with painful knee OA.


METHODS
A EULAR-ESCISIT cross sectional, multicentre study enrolled subjects with painful OA knee who had clinical, radiographic, and US evaluations. A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was performed to find combinations of predictor variables that would provide high sensitivity and specificity for clinically detecting synovitis and effusion in individual subjects. A range of definitions for the two key US variables, synovitis and effusion (using different combinations of synovial thickness, depth, and appearance), were also included in exploratory analyses.


RESULTS
600 patients with knee OA were included in the analysis. For both knee synovitis and joint effusion, the sensitivity and specificity were poor, yielding unsatisfactory likelihood ratios (75% sensitivity, 45% specificity, and positive LR of 1.36 for knee synovitis; 71.6% sensitivity, 43.2% specificity, and positive LR of 1.26 for joint effusion). The exploratory analyses did not improve the sensitivity and specificity (demonstrating positive LRs of between 1.26 and 1.57).


CONCLUSION
Although it is possible to determine clinical and radiological predictors of OA inflammation in populations, CART analysis could not be used to devise useful clinical decision rules for an individual subject. Thus sensitive imaging techniques such as US remain the most useful tool for demonstrating synovial inflammation of the knee at the individual level.
Housing instability and food insecurity as barriers to health care among low-income americans

BACKGROUND: Homelessness and hunger are associated with poor health outcomes. Housing instability and food insecurity describe less severe problems securing housing and food. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between housing instability and food insecurity and access to ambulatory health care and rates of acute health care utilization. DESIGN: Secondary data analysis of the National Survey of American Families. PARTICIPANTS: 16,651 low-income adults. MEASUREMENT: Self-reported measures of past-year access: (1) not having a usual source of care, (2) postponing needed medical care, or (3) postponing medication; and past-year utilization: (1) not having an ambulatory care visit, (2) having emergency department (ED) visits, or (3) inpatient hospitalization. RESULTS: 23.6% of subjects had housing instability and 42.7% had food insecurity. In multivariate logistic regression models, housing instability was independently associated with not having a usual source of care (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08 to 1.59), postponing needed medical care (AOR 1.84, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.31) and postponing medications (AOR 2.16, 95% CI 1.70 to 2.74), increased ED use (AOR: 1.43, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.70), and hospitalizations (AOR 1.30, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.67). Food insecurity was independently associated with postponing needed medical care (AOR 1.74, 95% CI 1.38 to 2.21) and postponing medications (AOR 2.15, 95% CI 1.62 to 2.85), increased ED use (AOR 1.39, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.66), and hospitalizations (AOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.85). CONCLUSIONS: Housing instability and food insecurity are associated with poor access to ambulatory care and high rates of acute care. These competing life demands may lead to delays in seeking care and predispose to acute care.
DC–DC Autotransformer With Bidirectional DC Fault Isolating Capability

This paper studies the control and dc fault isolation of a dc-dc autotransformer topology (DC AUTO). The operating principle and power flow analysis of a DC AUTO are studied. Internal dynamic study shows that dynamics of the common bus ac voltage is a purely algebraic equation. A control strategy of using VSC2 to control common ac bus voltage, and VSC1 (3) to control the transferred dc power is then proposed. System responses to dc fault are analyzed. Corresponding design methods that enable bidirectional dc fault isolating are then proposed and their impacts on component cost are analyzed. A family of possible DC AUTO topologies is also proposed. Extensive simulations on power step change, dc and ac faults confirmed the theoretical studies of a DC AUTO employing the modular multilevel converter topology. Taking a ±320-kV/±500-kV DC AUTO transferring 1000-MW dc power as an example, conventional dc-ac-dc technology requires 2000-MW total converter rating with power loss ratio of 1.8%, while the DC AUTO technology only requires 1020-MW total converter rating with power loss ratio of about 0.8%. The DC AUTO is able to achieve exactly the same functions as a dc-ac-dc with significantly reduced investment and operating cost under low- and medium-dc voltage stepping ratio.
Attitudes toward simulation-based learning in nursing students: an application of Q methodology.

SBL is a highly advanced educational method that promotes technical/non-technical skills, increases team competency, and increases health care team interaction in a safe health care environment with no potential for harm to the patient. Even though students may experience the same simulation, their reactions are not necessarily uniform. This study aims at identifying the diversely perceived attitudes of undergraduate nursing students toward simulation-based learning. This study design was utilized using a Q methodology, which analyzes the subjectivity of each type of attitude. Data were collected from 22 undergraduate nursing students who had an experience of simulation-based learning before going to the clinical setting. The 45 selected Q-statements from each of 22 participants were classified into the shape of a normal distribution using a 9-point scale. The collected data was analyzed using the pc-QUANL program. The results revealed two discrete groups of students toward simulation-based learning: 'adventurous immersion' and 'constructive criticism'. The findings revealed that teaching and learning strategies based on the two factors of attitudes could beneficially contribute to the customization of simulation-based learning. In nursing education and clinical practice, teaching and learning strategies based on types I and II can be used to refine an alternative learning approach that supports and complements clinical practice. Recommendations have been provided based on the findings.
Transfer learning of a convolutional neural network for HEp-2 cell image classification

The recognition of the staining patterns of Human Epithelial-2 (HEp-2) cells in indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) images is essential for the diagnosis of several autoimmune diseases. The main challenge is the extraction and selection of the optimal feature set that not only represents the cells' characteristics, but also distinguishes between the classes of cell images with similar appearances. In this paper, we propose a system to classify HEp-2 cell images by applying transfer learning from a pre-trained deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to extract the generic features and then using a feature selection method to get the most relevant features for classification. Although the CNN was trained with a dataset very different from cell images, our system is capable of extracting important semantic features that represent a HEp-2 cell image. When evaluated on the ICPR2012 cell dataset, our method outperforms all other methods on the dataset of the 2012 competition, and demonstrates stable performance under different test protocols.
Association of common genetic variants with breast cancer risk and clinicopathological characteristics in a Chinese population

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified various genetic susceptibility loci for breast cancer based mainly on European-ancestry populations. Differing linkage disequilibrium patterns exist between European and Asian populations, and thus GWAS-identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in one population may not be of significance in another population. In order to explore the role of breast cancer susceptibility variants in a Chinese population of Southern Chinese descent, we analyzed 22 SNPs for 1,191 breast cancer cases and 1,534 female controls. Associations between the SNPs and clinicopathological features were also investigated. In addition, we evaluated the combined effects of associated SNPs by constructing risk models. Eight SNPs were associated with an elevated breast cancer risk. Rs2046210/6q25.1 increased breast cancer risk via an additive model [per-allele odds ratio (OR) = 1.43, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.26–1.62], and was associated with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive (per-allele OR = 1.39, 95 % CI = 1.20–1.61) and ER-negative (per-allele OR = 1.55, 95 % CI = 1.28–1.89) disease. Rs2046210 was also associated with stage 1, stage 2, and stage 3 disease, with per-allele ORs of 1.38 (1.14–1.68), 1.48 (1.25–1.74), and 1.58 (1.28–1.94), respectively. Four SNPs mapped to 10q26.13/FGFR2 were associated with increased breast cancer risk via an additive model with per-allelic risks (95 % CI) of 1.26 (1.12–1.43) at rs1219648, 1.22 (1.07–1.38) at rs2981582, 1.21 (1.07–1.36) at rs2981579, and 1.18 (1.04–1.35) at rs11200014. Variants of rs7696175/TLR1, TLR6, rs13281615/8q24, and rs16886165/MAP3K1 were also associated with increased breast cancer risk, with per-allele ORs (95 % CI) of 1.16 (1.00–1.34), 1.15 (1.02–1.29), and 1.15 (1.01–1.29), respectively. Five SNPs associated with breast cancer risk predominantly among ER-positive tumors (rs2981582/FGFR2, rs4415084/MRPS30, rs1219648/FGFR2, rs2981579/FGFR2, and rs11200014/FGFR2). Among our Chinese population, the risk of developing breast cancer increased by 90 % for those with a combination of 6 or more risk alleles, compared to patients with ≤3 risk alleles.
Medical and psychological factors related to pain in adults with pediatric-onset spinal cord injury: a biopsychosocial model

Study design:A cross-sectional study.Objectives:The aim of this study is to determine medical and psychological correlates of pain in individuals with pediatric-onset spinal cord injury (SCI).Setting:Shriners Hospitals for Children—Chicago, Philadelphia and Northern California (USA).Methods:A total of 187 adults who had sustained an injury before 19 years of age completed interviews that included medical information, standardized measures of psychological functioning (Beck Anxiety Inventory and Patient Health Questionnaire) and a comprehensive pain questionnaire to assess the location, frequency, intensity and duration of pain and distress and disability related to pain.Results:The findings identified the medical and psychological correlates of pain. Greater symptoms of depression and anxiety were strong and consistent predictors of several aspects of pain, above and beyond the impact of gender, injury-related characteristics and secondary medical complications.Discussion:The findings support a biopsychosocial model of the development and persistence of pain in individuals with pediatric-onset SCI. Interdisciplinary rehabilitation may incorporate psychological treatment such as cognitive-behavioral therapy to reduce the pain and improve functioning. The assessment and treatment of pain in pediatric-onset SCI is a clinical and research priority.Sponsorship:This study is supported by funding from Shriners Hospitals for Children and the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, grant #324671.
Queer Activist Intersections in Southeast Asia: Human Rights and Cultural Studies

Abstract The practice of human rights elicits a range of theoretical positions and problems in relation to advocacy across Southeast Asia. This raises questions about the universal nature of human rights, the problem of cultural imperialism and the dynamic of the local and the global. These questions become heightened when connected to queer or LGBT issues. This paper focuses on the intersections of queer scholarship, activism and human rights in relation to LGBT asylum seekers from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia in order to explore the potentialities, possibilities and difficult challenges queer activists and scholars face in translating human rights principles, values and actions across and between modes of activist communication. A special purpose of the paper is to explore how the discipline of cultural studies and its attention to everyday lives, identity, self-reflexivity and socio-cultural context offers a scholarship that is specifically attuned to the problematics and complexity of human right...
Modeling of a single-switch quadratic buck converter

During the last two decades, a great number of applications for the dc-to-dc converters have been reported [1]. Many applications are found in computers, telecommunications, aeronautics, commercial, and industrial applications. The basic topologies buck, boost, and buck-boost, are widely used in the dc-to-dc conversion. These converters, as well as other converters, provide low voltages and currents for loads at a constant switching frequency. In recent years, there has been a need for wider conversion ratios with a corresponding reduction in size and weight. For example, advances in the field of semiconductors have motivated the development of new integrated circuits, which require 3.3 or 1.5 V power supplies. The automotive industry is moving from 12 V (14 V) to 36 V (42 V), the above is due to the electric-electronic load in automobiles has been growing rapidly and is starting to exceed the practical capacity of present-day electrical systems. Today, the average 12 V (14 V) load is between 750 W to 1 kW, while the peak load can be 2 kW, depending of the type of car and its accessories. By 2005, peak loads above 2 kW, even as high as 12 kW, will be common. To address this challenge, it is widely agreed that a
LOA: The LOGIDATA+ Object Algebra

In this paper we present the Logidata Object Algebra (LOA), an algebra for complex objects which has been developed within LOGIDATA+, a national project funded by the Italian National Research Council, as an internal language in a prototype system for the management of extended relational databases with complex object types. LOA is a set-oriented manipulation language which was conceived as an internal language for a prototype system.
Effect of intense angiotensin II suppression on the diuretic response to furosemide during chronic ACE inhibition.

BACKGROUND
Contrary to expectation, most studies have demonstrated that initiation of an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor in conventional doses in patients with heart failure reduces the diuretic efficacy of furosemide. Recently, it has been suggested that single low doses (1 mg) but not high doses (25 mg) of captopril enhance furosemide-induced diuresis. It is not known whether the interaction between diuretics and ACE inhibitors are altered during long-term dosing.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Eight patients with heart failure treated with diuretics and ACE inhibitors for at least 3 months were studied. All patients were established on captopril 12.5 mg three times daily for 2 weeks before the study. Sodium intake was fixed before the study, and usual medication was withheld on study days. Intravenous furosemide was given on each of 2 study days to maintain a moderate, constant diuresis. Renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were determined using clearance techniques, and urine was collected hourly over 4 hours. Captopril 12.5 mg or placebo was given in a randomized, single-blind fashion at the end of the first hour. Compared with placebo, captopril reduced plasma concentrations of angiotensin II (23 +/- 18 versus 4 +/- 3 pg/ml 1 hour after dosing, P < .02) and systolic (131 +/- 31 versus 122 +/- 29 mm Hg, P < .01) and diastolic (74 +/- 15 versus 67 +/- 13 mm Hg, P < .05) blood pressures. GFR fell (55 +/- 24 versus 51 +/- 22 mL/min, P < .02) and effective renal plasma flow rose during the first (198 +/- 76 versus 231 +/- 49 mL/min) and second hours after dosing (185 +/- 69 versus 247 +/- 74 mL/min, P < .02). Similarly, urine volumes, in response to furosemide, increased after captopril (238 +/- 90 versus 283 +/- 111 mL, P < .05, and 245 +/- 78 versus 311 +/- 92 mL, P < .01, 1 and 2 hours after dosing). Urinary electrolyte concentrations fell, but total urinary sodium (22 +/- 7 versus 28 +/- 12 mmol/hr, P < .01) and chloride (20 +/- 6 versus 25 +/- 11 mmol/hr, P < .05) excretion increased in the 2 hours after dosing, as did fractional excretion of sodium (urinary sodium/urinary creatinine) (61 +/- 27 versus 75 +/- 36 mmol/mumol, P < .01).


CONCLUSIONS
Intense although transient ACE inhibition with captopril enhances the diuretic effects of furosemide during long-term ACE inhibition.
Change Detection in Color Images

One approach to change detection that is insensitive to illumination brightness and spectral changes uses properties of color imagery. This approach does not appear to have been previously investigated, and this paper asks: “What is the most appropriate metric for detecting changes in color imagery?”. We define and compare six image difference functions, mainly based on RGB and HSV image representations. When the global illumination does not change radically, the normal Euclidean distance in the RGB or a modified HSV space works about equally well, when there is significant changes in image spectrum, then HSV works a bit better and if there is a large local change in the illumination, none of the investigated methods work
Cascaded hand pose regression

We extends the previous 2D cascaded object pose regression work [9] in two aspects so that it works better for 3D articulated objects. Our first contribution is 3D pose-indexed features that generalize the previous 2D parameterized features and achieve better invariance to 3D transformations. Our second contribution is a principled hierarchical regression that is adapted to the articulated object structure. It is therefore more accurate and faster. Comprehensive experiments verify the state-of-the-art accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach on the challenging 3D hand pose estimation problem, on a public dataset and our new dataset.