LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Mortality and cancer in patients with new musculoskeletal episodes: a cohort study.

BACKGROUND
The risk of serious outcome in persons presenting to primary care with common regional musculoskeletal problems is unknown.


AIM
To determine the risk of mortality and cancer in older patients presenting with new musculoskeletal problems.


DESIGN OF STUDY
Cohort study.


SETTING
One hundred and seventy-nine general practices contributing to the General Practice Research Database.


METHOD
Cases were 48,206 people aged > or =50 years, with a recorded musculoskeletal problem in 1996 but none during the previous 2 years. Cases were allocated to groups based on problem location (for example, the back). A total of 40,254 controls had no musculoskeletal consultation during 1996 or during the previous 2 years. Outcome measures were mortality and recorded malignant and pre-malignant neoplasms 1 and 10 years after baseline consultation.


RESULTS
Mortality rates in the first year of follow-up were higher for cases (373 per 10,000 person-years) than controls (244). The hip (standardised mortality ratio 2.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.99 to 2.77 compared to controls) and back (2.07; 95% CI = 1.87 to 2.28) groups had the highest 1-year rates. Ten-year mortality rates were closer between groups. Higher cancer rates were found for the back, hip, and neck groups. The first-year excess mortality in cases was only partly explained by cancer and other comorbidity (hip hazard ratio 1.72; 95% CI = 1.43 to 2.07; back 1.68; 95% CI = 1.49 to 1.90).


CONCLUSION
New consulting episodes of musculoskeletal problems in the back or hip are associated with higher subsequent cancer rates and increased mortality risk in older people. Unexpected cancer and death in these patients remains rare but the ability of clinical signs and symptoms to identify persons at risk needs to be confirmed.
Longitudinal investigation of adenovirus 36 seropositivity and human obesity: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Background/Objectives:Adenovirus-36 (Adv-36) infection is associated with exaggerated adipogenesis in cell culture and the development of obesity in animal models and humans, but a causal relationship remains unproven. Our objective was to determine whether serological evidence of Adv-36 infection in childhood and/or adulthood is associated with adult obesity.Subjects/Methods:Paired plasma concentrations of Adv-36 antibodies were measured by a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in a subgroup (n=449) of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study in childhood (mean age 11.9 years) and adulthood (mean age 41.3 years). The study group included (1) individuals who had maintained normal-weight status (2) those who became obese adults from a normal-weight status in childhood and (3) those that were overweight/obese as a child and obese as an adult.Results:Mean (s.d.) time between baseline and follow-up was 29.4 (3.2) years (range 21–31 years). A total of 24.4% of individuals who were normal weight throughout life were seropositive for Adv-36 during child and/or adulthood as compared with 32.3% of those who became obese adults (P=0.11). Those who became obese in adulthood were more likely to be Adv-36 seropositive as adults compared with those who maintained normal weight (21.3% vs 11.6%, P=0.02). This difference was mediated by a decline in Adv-36 seropositivity between child and adulthood in those maintaining normal weight. No differences were observed in body mass index across the life course, nor in waist circumference in adult life, between those who were Adv-36 seronegative or seropositive at any age.Conclusions:Individuals who gained weight across the life course were more likely to be Adv-36 seropositive in adult life than those who did not gain weight. However, analysis of change in weight status in relation to Adv-36 positivity did not support a causal role for Adv-36 in the development of obesity.
Wireless Sensor Node for Surface Seawater Density Measurements

An electronic meter to measure surface seawater density is presented. It is based on the measurement of the difference in displacements of a surface level probe and a weighted float, which according to Archimedes' law depends on the density of the water. The displacements are simultaneously measured using a high-accuracy magnetostrictive sensor, to which a custom electronic board provides a wireless connection and power supply so that it can become part of a wireless sensor network. The electronics are designed so that different kinds of wireless networks can be used, by simply changing the wireless module and the relevant firmware of the microcontroller. Lastly, laboratory and at-sea tests are presented and discussed in order to highlight the functionality and the performance of a prototype of the wireless density meter node in a Bluetooth radio network. The experimental results show a good agreement of the values of the calculated density compared to reference hydrometer readings.
Towards universal Kangaroo Mother Care: recommendations and report from the First European conference and Seventh International Workshop on Kangaroo Mother Care.

UNLABELLED
The hallmark of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is the kangaroo position: the infant is cared for skin-to-skin vertically between the mother's breasts and below her clothes, 24 h/day, with father/substitute(s) participating as KMC providers. Intermittent KMC (for short periods once or a few times per day, for a variable number of days) is commonly employed in high-tech neonatal intensive care units. These two modalities should be regarded as a progressive adaptation of the mother-infant dyad, ideally towards continuous KMC, starting gradually and progressively with intermittent KMC. The other components in KMC are exclusive breastfeeding (ideally) and early discharge in kangaroo position with strict follow-up. Current evidence allows the following general statements about KMC in affluent and low-income settings: KMC enhances bonding and attachment; reduces maternal postpartum depression symptoms; enhances infant physiologic stability and reduces pain, increases parental sensitivity to infant cues; contributes to the establishment and longer duration of breastfeeding and has positive effects on infant development and infant/parent interaction. Therefore, intrapartum and postnatal care in all types of settings should adhere to a paradigm of nonseparation of infants and their mothers/families. Preterm/low-birth-weight infants should be regarded as extero-gestational foetuses needing skin-to-skin contact to promote maturation.


CONCLUSION
Kangaroo Mother Care should begin as soon as possible after birth, be applied as continuous skin-to-skin contact to the extent that this is possible and appropriate and continue for as long as appropriate.
Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening Coverage: A Randomised, Community-Based Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND
Opportunistic cervical cancer screening can lead to suboptimal screening coverage. Coverage could be increased after a personalised invitation to the target population. We present a community randomized intervention study with three strategies aiming to increase screening coverage.


METHODS
The CRICERVA study is a community-based clinical trial to improve coverage of population-based screening in the Cerdanyola SAP area in Barcelona.A total of 32,858 women residing in the study area, aged 30 to 70 years were evaluated. A total of 15,965 women were identified as having no registration of a cervical cytology in the last 3.5 years within the Public Health data base system. Eligible women were assigned to one of four community randomized intervention groups (IGs): (1) (IG1 N = 4197) personalised invitation letter, (2) (IG2 N = 3601) personalised invitation letter + informative leaflet, (3) (IG3 N = 6088) personalised invitation letter + informative leaflet + personalised phone call and (4) (Control N = 2079) based on spontaneous demand of cervical cancer screening as officially recommended. To evaluate screening coverage, we used heterogeneity tests to compare impact of the interventions and mixed logistic regression models to assess the age effect. We refer a "rescue" visit as the screening visit resulting from the study invitation.


RESULTS
Among the 13,886 women in the IGs, 2,862 were evaluated as having an adequate screening history after the initial contact; 4,263 were lost to follow-up and 5,341 were identified as having insufficient screening and thus being eligible for a rescue visit. All intervention strategies significantly increased participation to screening compared to the control group. Coverage after the intervention reached 84.1% while the control group reached 64.8%. The final impact of our study was an increase of 20% in the three IGs and of 9% in the control group (p<0.001). Within the intervention arms, age was an important determinant of rescue visits showing a statistical interaction with the coverage attained in the IGs. Within the intervention groups, final screening coverage was significantly higher in IG3 (84.4%) (p<0.001). However, the differences were more substantial in the age groups 50-59 and those 60+. The highest impact of the IG3 intervention was observed among women 60+ y.o with 32.0% of them being rescued for screening. The lowest impact of the interventions was in younger women.


CONCLUSIONS
The study confirms that using individual contact methods and assigning a fixed screening date notably increases participation in screening. The response to the invitation is strongly dependent on age.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01373723.
Predictive Voltage Control of Transformerless Dynamic Voltage Restorer

This paper presents a predictive voltage control scheme for the effective control of a transformerless dynamic voltage restorer (TDVR). This control scheme utilizes the discrete model of a voltage source inverter and an interfacing filter for the generation of the switching strategy of inverter switches. Predictive voltage control algorithm-based TDVR tracks the reference voltage effectively and maintains load voltages sinusoidal during various voltage disturbances as well as load conditions. Moreover, this scheme does not require any linear controller or modulation technique. Simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed scheme.
Smooth trajectory planning for fully automated passengers vehicles - spline and clothoid based methods and its simulation

Abstract: A new approach for mobility, providing an alternative to the private passenger car, by offering the same flexibility but with much less nuisances, is emerging, based on fully automated electric vehicles. A fleet of such vehicles might be an important element in a novel individual, door-to-door, transportation system to the city of tomorrow. For fully automated operation, trajectory planning methods that produce smooth trajectories, with low associated accelerations and jerk, for providing passenger ́s comfort, are required. This paper addresses this problem proposing an approach that consists of introducing a velocity planning stage to generate adequate time sequences for usage in the interpolating curve planners. Moreover, the generated speed profile can be merged into the trajectory for usage in trajectory-tracking tasks like it is described in this paper, or it can be used separately (from the generated 2D curve) for usage in pathfollowing tasks. Three trajectory planning methods, aided by the speed profile planning, are analysed from the point of view of passengers' comfort, implementation easiness, and trajectory tracking.
2003 European Society of Hypertension-European Society of Cardiology guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension.

Introduction and purpose In preparing these guidelines the Committee established by the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has aimed at offering the best available and most balanced information to all those involved in the management of arterial hypertension. The Committee is aware that it is easier to prepare guidelines on a medical condition in general than to deal with the individual patients with that condition requiring medical advice and intervention. Because of this awareness, the Committee has tried to avoid giving rigid rules that would constrain judgement on the management of individual patients differing in their personal, medical and cultural characteristics.
Speciation of heavy metals in bottom sediments of lakes

The work reported in this paper deals with the content of trace metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in bottom sediments of Goreckie Lake, situated in Wielkopolski National Park, western Poland. Apart from total concentration, the distribution of the above metals into five fractions: exchangeable, bound to carbonates, bound to Fe-Mn oxides, bound to organic matter, and residual, was studied by means of an analytical procedure involving sequential chemical extraction. Results were discussed on the basis of concentrations found and the resulting trace metal speciation.
Pelvic organ prolapse in older women: prevalence and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE
We sought to estimate the prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse in older women using the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification examination and to identify factors associated with prolapse.


METHODS
Women with a uterus enrolled at one site of the Women's Health Initiative Hormone Replacement Therapy randomized clinical trial were eligible for this ancillary cross-sectional study. Subjects underwent a Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification examination during a maximal Valsalva maneuver and in addition completed a questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to identify independent risk factors for each of 2 definitions of prolapse: 1) Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification stage II or greater and 2) the leading edge of prolapse measured at the hymen or below.


RESULTS
In 270 participants, age (mean +/- SD) was 68.3 +/- 5.6 years, body mass index was 30.4 +/- 6.2 kg/m(2), and vaginal parity (median [range]) was 3 (0-12). The proportions of Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification stages (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) were stage 0, 2.3% (95% CI 0.8-4.8%); stage I, 33.0% (95% CI 27.4-39.0%); stage II, 62.9% (95% CI 56.8-68.7%); and stage III, 1.9% (95% CI 0.6-4.3%). In 25.2% (95% CI 20.1-30.8%), the leading edge of prolapse was at the hymen or below. Hormone therapy was not associated with prolapse (P =.9). On multivariable analysis, less education (odds ratio [OR] 2.16, 95% CI 1.10-4.24) and higher vaginal parity (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.03-2.50) were associated with prolapse when defined as stage II or greater. For prolapse defined by the leading edge at or below the hymen, older age had a decreased risk (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.27-0.92) and less education, and larger babies had an increased risk (OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.31-4.32 and OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.07-3.64, respectively).


CONCLUSION
Some degree of prolapse is nearly ubiquitous in older women, which should be considered in the development of clinically relevant definitions of prolapse. Risk factors for prolapse differed depending on the definition of prolapse used.
Predictors of Early Reading Skill in 5-Year-Old Children With Hearing Loss Who Use Spoken Language.

This research investigated the concurrent association between early reading skills and phonological awareness (PA), print knowledge, language, cognitive, and demographic variables in 101 5-year-old children with prelingual hearing losses ranging from mild to profound who communicated primarily using spoken language. All participants were fitted with hearing aids (n = 71) or cochlear implants (n = 30). They completed standardized assessments of PA, receptive vocabulary, letter knowledge, word and non-word reading, passage comprehension, math reasoning, and nonverbal cognitive ability. Multiple regressions revealed that PA (assessed using judgments of similarity based on words' initial or final sounds) made a significant, independent contribution to children's early reading ability (for both letters and words/non-words) after controlling for variation in receptive vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, and a range of demographic variables (including gender, degree of hearing loss, communication mode, type of sensory device, age at fitting of sensory devices, and level of maternal education). Importantly, the relationship between PA and reading was specific to reading and did not generalize to another academic ability, math reasoning. Additional multiple regressions showed that letter knowledge (names or sounds) was superior in children whose mothers had undertaken post-secondary education, and that better receptive vocabulary was associated with less severe hearing loss, use of a cochlear implant, and earlier age at implant switch-on. Earlier fitting of hearing aids or cochlear implants was not, however, significantly associated with better PA or reading outcomes in this cohort of children, most of whom were fitted with sensory devices before 3 years of age.
Determinants of satisfaction and continuance intention towards self-service technologies

Purpose – Self-service technologies (SSTs) allow customers to offer their own service encounters via the interaction of electronic service interfaces or machines rather than by interacting with a firm’s service personnel. This paper aims to develop an integrated model designed to predict and explain an individual’s continuous use of SSTs based on the concepts of technology readiness (TR), technology acceptance model (TAM), and theory of planned behavior (TPB). Design/methodology/approach – The participants are from 481 SST users as the sample finally. Structural equation modeling is applied to demonstrate the stability of the proposed model and the results of hypotheses testing. Findings – This paper finds that consumers’ satisfaction significantly influences continuance intention, while the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) simultaneously influence satisfaction. Optimism and innovativeness are also the significant motivators of satisfaction. However, TR’s inhibitors (discomfort and insecurity) have no significantly negative influence on continuance intention towards adopting SST services. Research limitations/implications – Different from previous SSTs studies, this paper suggests that SN and PBC play critical factors in users’ adoption at SSTs encounters. However, additionally empirical evidences should be discussed why the inhibitors (discomfort and insecurity) of TR have no effect. Originality/value – This paper proposes a comprehensive model to synthesize the essence of TR, TAM, and TPB for explaining customers’ continuous intention of SSTs.
Eigenvalues of graphs

2 Eigenvalues of graphs 5 2.1 Matrices associated with graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2 The largest eigenvalue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2.1 Adjacency matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2.2 Laplacian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.2.3 Transition matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.3 The smallest eigenvalue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.4 The eigenvalue gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4.1 Expanders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.4.2 Edge expansion (conductance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.4.3 Random walks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.5 The number of different eigenvalues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.6 Spectra of graphs and optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Acute rupture of chordae tendineae of the mitral valve in infants: a nationwide survey in Japan exploring a new syndrome.

BACKGROUND
Recently, infant cases of acute heart failure attributable to rupture of the mitral chordae tendineae have been reported. However, little is known about the pathogenesis and clinical course of this condition.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Ninety-five children with rupture of mitral chordae tendineae were identified in nationwide surveys of Japan diagnosed from 1995 to 2013. The clinical manifestations, management strategies, and prognosis were investigated. Eighty-one (85%) patients were between 4 and 6 months (median, 5 months) of age. In 63 (66%) patients, rupture occurred during the spring or summer. The underlying conditions before rupture included Kawasaki disease (10 cases), maternally derived anti-SSA antibodies (2 cases), and infective endocarditis (1 case). Surgery was performed in 80 patients (94 operations), and the final operations included plasty of mitral chordae in 52 cases and mechanical valve replacement in 26 cases. The histopathologic examinations of the mitral valves and chordae (n=28) revealed inflammatory reactions with predominant mononuclear cell infiltration in 18 cases (64%) and increased fibrous and myxoid tissue in 11 cases (39%), suggesting that nonbacterial infectious or autoimmune endocarditis and myxoid changes are involved in the pathogenesis. Eight patients (8.4%) died before (n=6) and shortly after (n=2) the operation, and significant neurological complications persisted in 10 cases (11%).


CONCLUSIONS
Acute heart failure attributable to rupture of the mitral chordae tendineae in infants is a unique disease resulting from diverse causes. This condition should be recognized as a significant cardiovascular disorder that may cause sudden onset of cardiogenic shock and death in infants.
Trajectory Synthesis for Fisher Information Maximization

Estimation of model parameters in a dynamic system can be significantly improved with the choice of experimental trajectory. For general nonlinear dynamic systems, finding globally “best” trajectories is typically not feasible; however, given an initial estimate of the model parameters and an initial trajectory, we present a continuous-time optimization method that produces a locally optimal trajectory for parameter estimation in the presence of measurement noise. The optimization algorithm is formulated to find system trajectories that improve a norm on the Fisher information matrix (FIM). A double-pendulum cart apparatus is used to numerically and experimentally validate this technique. In simulation, the optimized trajectory increases the minimum eigenvalue of the FIM by three orders of magnitude, compared with the initial trajectory. Experimental results show that this optimized trajectory translates to an order-of-magnitude improvement in the parameter estimate error in practice.
Frequency domain simulation of high-Q oscillators with homotopy methods

An algorithm for the robust and efficient simulation of high-Q oscillators using the harmonic balance method is presented. Globally convergent homotopy methods are combined with the harmonic balance method for high-Q oscillator simulation. Various homotopy options are evaluated leading to an algorithm that is applicable to a wide variety of oscillator circuits.
High-$Q$ Tunable Waveguide Filters Using Ohmic RF MEMS Switches

To reduce the complexity and cost of future telecommunication systems, electrically tunable or reconfigurable filters based on radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS) and waveguide technology constitute a very promising solution, since they allow for very high Q and good tunability. Three concepts for tunable waveguide filters using ohmic RF MEMS switches are described in this paper, and compared in terms of performance and manufacturing complexity. Quality factors of the order of 1000 and frequency tunability of the order of 5% are shown both by High-Frequency Structure Simulator simulations and experimental results in K-band.
Multirotor Aerial Vehicles: Modeling, Estimation, and Control of Quadrotor

This article provides a tutorial introduction to modeling, estimation, and control for multirotor aerial vehicles that includes the common four-rotor or quadrotor case.