LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Caudal regression sequence: vascular origin?

Caudal regression sequence (CRS) is a rare congenital defect of the lower spinal segments and the neural tube. Motor symptoms as well as neurological deficits and loss of bladder and bowel function are usually present. CRS is also associated with anomalies in other systems such as the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract. Etiology and pathogenesis are poorly understood.A newborn presented with anomalies of the spinal column (lumbosacral) with absence/hypoplasia of the 12th thoracic and first lumbar vertebral anomaly body. Bladder and bowel initially were functional. MR-angiography exhibited an anomaly of the unpaired vessels originating from the aorta, a likely relict of a persisting vitelline artery.These findings indicate a potential vascular genesis of CRS, much as in sirenomelia.
A GA-based feature selection and parameters optimizationfor support vector machines

Support Vector Machines, one of the new techniques for pattern classification, have been widely used in many application areas. The kernel parameters setting for SVM in a training process impacts on the classification accuracy. Feature selection is another factor that impacts classification accuracy. The objective of this research is to simultaneously optimize the parameters and feature subset without degrading the SVM classification accuracy. We present a genetic algorithm approach for feature selection and parameters optimization to solve this kind of problem. We tried several real-world datasets using the proposed GA-based approach and the Grid algorithm, a traditional method of performing parameters searching. Compared with the Grid algorithm, our proposed GA-based approach significantly improves the classification accuracy and has fewer input features for support vector machines. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Correlates of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among High School Students in Colorado: Analysis and Implications for School-based HIV/AIDS Programs

Objectives of this study are to examine correlates of antecedent sexual risk exposures associated with HIV/AIDS infection among adolescents participating in the 2005 Colorado Youth Behavioral Risk Survey (CYBRS), and to determine gender differences associated with these exposures since previous studies have produced mixed findings. Variables assessing these relationships were drawn from CYBRS, 2005. We used χ2 to assess bivariate relationships and multinomial logistic regression to evaluate associations among dependent variables (sexual risk behaviors, age at first sex, and number of sexual partners in the past 3 months) and independent variables (in-school HIV/AIDS education, use of illegal substances, physically forced sex, and alcohol use). We found no significant effect of having received in-school HIV/AIDS education on all outcome measures. Compared with females, males were more likely to initiate sex at a relatively younger age, report unprotected sex with multiple partners, and drink alcohol before sexual intercourse. Among females, using 2 illegal substances increased the odds of early sexual debut by 12 times, while using ≥3 substances increased the same odds to 44-fold. Likewise, binge drinking was also associated with higher odds of having multiple partners. Hispanic ethnicity and physically forced sex variables were consistently associated with high risk sexual behaviors, early sexual initiation, and increased number of sexual partners. Efforts to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic among adolescents may need to focus on targeted interventions aimed at addressing gender- and racial/ethnic-specific risk exposures among this population group, including risk behaviors linked with lifetime physically forced sex. The need to re-examine the role of in-school HIV prevention programs to build adequate competencies among students, parents and community leaders to reduce risk exposures associated with HIV/AIDS infection among youth is emphasized.
Improving Knowledge Work Processes

1 This working paper addresses the methods and approaches by which firms can successfully improve knowledge work processes. It is derived from a broader research project on " Managing and Improving Knowledge Work Processes, " itself a component project of the " Mastering Information & Technology " sponsored research program at Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation. Other working papers address issues of viewing knowledge work as a process 1 and the content of changes in knowledge work processes.
Development of Aluminium Based Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites for Heavy Duty Applications

The present study deals with the investigation of dry sliding wear behavior of aluminium alloy based composites, reinforced with silicon carbide particles and solid lubricants such as graphite/antimony tri sulphide (Sb2S3). The first one of the composites (binary) consists of Al. with 20% Silicon Carbide particles (SiCp) only. The other composite has SiCp and solid lubricants: Graphite + Sb2S3 (hybrid composite) at solid state. Both composites are fabricated through P/M route using “Hot powder perform forging technology”. The density and hardness are measured by usual methods. The pin-on-disc dry wear tests to measure the tribological properties are conducted for one hour at different parameters namely load: 30, 50 and 80N and speed: 5, 7 and 9m/s. The tested samples are examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the characterization of microstructure and tribolayer on worn surface of composites. The results reveal that wear rate of hybrid composite is lower than that of binary composite. The wear rate decreased with the increasing load and increased with increasing speed. The results of the proposed composites are compared with iron based metal matrix composites (FM01N, FM02) at corresponding values of test parameters. These iron based metal matrix composites are also fabricated by P/M route using ‘Hot powder perform forging technology’. The comparative study reveals that the proposed composites have lower friction coefficient, less temperature rise and low noise level; however they have little higher wear rate. It is concluded that the hybrid composite has acceptable level of tribological characteristics with blacky and smooth worn surface.
Predicting Student Performance by Using Data Mining Methods for Classification

Data mining methods are often implemented at advanced universities today for analyzing available data and extracting information and knowledge to support decision-making. This paper presents the initial results from a data mining research project implemented at a Bulgarian university, aimed at revealing the high potential of data mining applications for university management.
Multiple roads lead to Rome: combined high-intensity aerobic and strength training vs. gross motor activities leads to equivalent improvement in executive functions in a cohort of healthy older adults

The effects of physical activity on cognition in older adults have been extensively investigated in the last decade. Different interventions such as aerobic, strength, and gross motor training programs have resulted in improvements in cognitive functions. However, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between physical activity and cognition are still poorly understood. Recently, it was shown that acute bouts of exercise resulted in reduced executive control at higher relative exercise intensities. Considering that aging is characterized by a reduction in potential energy ( V · O 2 $$ \overset{\cdotp }{V}{\mathrm{O}}_2 $$ max − energy cost of walking), which leads to higher relative walking intensity for the same absolute speed, it could be argued that any intervention aimed at reducing the relative intensity of the locomotive task would improve executive control while walking. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of a short-term (8 weeks) high-intensity strength and aerobic training program on executive functions (single and dual task) in a cohort of healthy older adults. Fifty-one participants were included and 47 (age, 70.7 ± 5.6) completed the study which compared the effects of three interventions: lower body strength + aerobic training (LBS-A), upper body strength + aerobic training (UBS-A), and gross motor activities (GMA). Training sessions were held 3 times every week. Both physical fitness (aerobic, neuromuscular, and body composition) and cognitive functions (RNG) during a dual task were assessed before and after the intervention. Even though the LBS-A and UBS-A interventions increased potential energy to a higher level (Effect size: LBS-A—moderate, UBS-A—small, GMA—trivial), all groups showed equivalent improvement in cognitive function, with inhibition being more sensitive to the intervention. These findings suggest that different exercise programs targeting physical fitness and/or gross motor skills may lead to equivalent improvement in cognition in healthy older adults. Such results call for further investigation of the multiple physiological pathways by which physical exercise can impact cognition in older adults.
Hunger in children in the United States: potential behavioral and emotional correlates.

OBJECTIVE
Results from a recent series of surveys from 9 states and the District of Columbia by the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) provide an estimate that 4 million American children experience prolonged periodic food insufficiency and hunger each year, 8% of the children under the age of 12 in this country. The same studies show that an additional 10 million children are at risk for hunger. The current study examined the relationship between hunger as defined by the CCHIP measure (food insufficiency attributable to constrained resources) and variables reflecting the psychosocial functioning of low-income, school-aged children.


METHODS
The study group included 328 parents and children from a CCHIP study of families with at least 1 child under the age of 12 years living in the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding Allegheny County. A two-stage area probability sampling design with standard cluster techniques was used. All parents whose child was between the ages of 6 and 12 years at the time of interview were asked to complete a Pediatric Symptom Checklist, a brief parent-report questionnaire that assesses children's emotional and behavioral symptoms. Hunger status was defined by parent responses to the standard 8 food-insufficiency questions from the CCHIP survey that are used to classify households and children as "hungry," "at-risk for hunger," or "not hungry."


RESULTS
In an area probability sample of low-income families, those defined as hungry on the CCHIP measure were significantly more likely to have clinical levels of psychosocial dysfunction on the Pediatric Symptom Checklist than children defined as at-risk for hunger or not hungry. Analysis of individual items and factor scores on the Pediatric Symptom Checklist showed that virtually all behavioral, emotional, and academic problems were more prevalent in hungry children, but that aggression and anxiety had the strongest degree of association with experiences of hunger.


CONCLUSION
Children from families that report multiple experiences of food insufficiency and hunger are more likely to show behavioral, emotional, and academic problems on a standardized measure of psychosocial dysfunction than children from the same low-income communities whose families do not report experiences of hunger. Although causality cannot be determined from a cross-sectional design, the strength of these findings suggests the importance of greater awareness on the part of health care providers and public health officials of the role of food insufficiency and hunger in the lives of poor children.
Dropout Sampling for Robust Object Detection in Open-Set Conditions

Dropout Variational Inference, or Dropout Sampling, has been recently proposed as an approximation technique for Bayesian Deep Learning and evaluated for image classification and regression tasks. This paper investigates the utility of Dropout Sampling for object detection for the first time. We demonstrate how label uncertainty can be extracted from a state-of-the-art object detection system via Dropout Sampling. We evaluate this approach on a large synthetic dataset of 30,000 images, and a real-world dataset captured by a mobile robot in a versatile campus environment. We show that this uncertainty can be utilized to increase object detection performance under the open-set conditions that are typically encountered in robotic vision. A Dropout Sampling network is shown to achieve a 12.3 % increase in recall (for the same precision score as a standard network) and a 15.1 % increase in precision (for the same recall score as the standard network).
Leveraging Fog Computing for Scalable IoT Datacenter Using Spine-Leaf Network Topology

With the Internet of Everything (IoE) paradigm that gathers almost every object online, huge traffic workload, bandwidth, security, and latency issues remain a concern for IoT users in today’s world. Besides, the scalability requirements found in the current IoT data processing (in the cloud) can hardly be used for applications such as assisted living systems, Big Data analytic solutions, and smart embedded applications. This paper proposes an extended cloud IoT model that optimizes bandwidth while allowing edge devices (Internet-connected objects/devices) to smartly process data without relying on a cloud network. Its integration with a massively scaled spine-leaf (SL) network topology is highlighted. This is contrasted with a legacy multitier layered architecture housing network services and routing policies. The perspective offered in this paper explains how low-latency and bandwidth intensive applications can transfer data to the cloud (and then back to the edge application) without impacting QoS performance. Consequently, a spine-leaf Fog computing network (SL-FCN) is presented for reducing latency and network congestion issues in a highly distributed andmultilayer virtualized IoT datacenter environment.This approach is cost-effective as itmaximizes bandwidth while maintaining redundancy and resiliency against failures in mission critical applications.
Teaching an Integrated Science Curriculum: Linking Teacher Knowledge and Teaching Assignments.

Anumberof factorsaffectsuccessful implementationofan integrated science curriculum, including various outputs and inputs related to teacher quality such as professional development experiences, adequate planning periods, and adequate content preparation of teachers with regard to content knowledge associated with the curriculum taught (Huntley, 1998; Knudson, 1937; Leung, 2006; Palmer, 1991; Southern Region Education Board, 1998). Other researchers have examined the relationship between teacher quality and teacher retention (Ingersoll, 2000; National Center for Education Statistics, 1996), and national organizations have defined minimum content preparation standards to improve teachingand learning (InterstateNewTeacherAssessmentand SupportConsortium[ITASC],2008;NationalCouncil forAccreditationof Teacher Educators [NCATE], 2007; National Middle School Association [NMSA], 2008). This study examines factors related to teacher quality inputs (i.e., coursework, grade point average, and teacher test scores). Specifically, the focus is on teacher knowledge related to eighth grade science in Texas, which uses an interdisciplinary science curriculum consisting of topics in life science, chemistry, physics, and Earth science (Texas Education Agency, 2005). To provide a context for viewing the
Food safety management in developing countries

Prominent food scares and changes in the international trading environment have brought food safety to the forefront of international agri-food policy concerns. Recent trends include an increased emphasis on food safety regulations in international trade, a tightening of standards in the North, a reorientation of private sector quality assurance techniques towards preventive management, and a corresponding shift by regulatory agencies toward process-based standards including “mandatory HACCP.” There is also a new focus on consumers’ role in the food safety equation, both as actors in the supply chain and as advocates, and an increased spotlight on scientific methods for assessing food-borne risk. Drawing on the 24 papers presented at an international workshop held in December 2000 and on workshop discussions, this article looks at the consequences of these trends for developing countries, and raises questions for future directions by the range of actors: governments, industry, consumers, scientists, and developing country partners.
Lack of Association Between Elevated Urinary Levels of Interleukin-10 and Interferon Gamma With the Presence of Inflammation in Kidney Transplant Recipients.

INTRODUCTION
A lot of evidence has demonstrated the importance of different cytokines in acute renal rejection. Previous studies have examined the presence or absence of interleukin (IL)-10 in related immunopathologic rejection grafts as well as other interleukins. Studies in human transplantation show elevated levels of IL-10 and gamma interferon (INF-γ) in inflammation and rejection.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to demonstrate the lack of association of elevated urinary levels of IL-10 and IFN in the presence of active inflammation.


METHODS
An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in transplant recipients at 12 months of follow-up after renal transplantation. In those who were held biopsy after renal transplantation at one year follow-up, or allograft dysfunction, we also measured IL-10 and INF-γ in the urine. The following were considered as variables: age, body mass index (BMI), gender, transplant type, creatinine, chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration equation, (CKD-EPI), modification of diet in renal disease study equation (MDRD), Banff classification, and levels of IL-10 and INF-γ. Statistical analysis was performed calculating a sample size of 25 patients, with an alpha bias of 0.05%, yielding measures of central tendency and determining no association between levels of IL-10 and INF-γ with the presence of rejection using SPSS 21.0 program.


RESULTS
A total of 50 patients, 34 (68%) males, 16 (32%) females, with an average 31.7 ± 9.9 years, weight of 64.91 ± 13.84 kg, size 1.60 ± 0.10 m and 24.97 ± 4.07 BMI were included,39 (78%) living donor and 11 (22%) cadaveric. Twenty-six (52%) showed inflammation in the biopsy and 24 (48%) showed none. Mean creatinine was 1.81 ± 1.5, and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 55.27 ± 22.46, 65.76 ± 26.7. (MDRD and CKD-EPI, respectively). No statistical difference was found in the levels of IL-10 and IFN-γ using analysis of variance. (ANOVA; P = .467 and P = .063, respectively) Based on Banff, the inflammation on biopsy score was 2.78 ± 2.84. There was statistical significance (P < .05) with respect to the Cr and eGFR by different equations. There were no significant interactions between cytokine levels and more than 1 factor. (as indicated by P < .2).


DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
No significant differences were observed in the level of interleukins in patients with and without inflammation, denoting an adequate immunosuppression in most of these patients. Determination of inflammatory cytokines in urine could be used as a determinant of a good immunosuppression status, rather than as an early marker of rejection.
Oral Insulin: A Comparison With Subcutaneous Regular Human Insulin in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE
To determine the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of an oral insulin (OI) formulation compared with subcutaneously injected regular human insulin (RHI).


RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Ten male patients with type 2 diabetes (means +/- SD; A1C 7.0 +/- 1.1%; BMI 28.3 +/- 2.7 kg/m(2)) received either 300 units of insulin combined with 400 mg of delivery agent orally or 15 units RHI subcutaneously under isoglycemic clamp conditions.


RESULTS
Maximum insulin concentration was greater and onset of action was faster with OI (C(max) 93 +/- 71 vs. 33 +/- 11 microU/ml; AUC(GIR)((0-1h)) 173 +/- 86 vs. 27 +/- 32 mg/kg; P < 0.05). Mean insulin concentration and glucose infusion rate returned to baseline within 3 h after OI administration. Relative bioavailability of OI was 7 +/- 4% (1st 2 h).


CONCLUSIONS
This proof-of-concept study demonstrated that absorption of OI is feasible under fasting conditions. OI has a fast onset and a short duration of action but also shows a rather high between-subject variability in absorption.
Catalase ( antioxidant enzyme ) activity in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Background: High concentration and/or inadequate removal of reactive oxygen species may result in oxidative stress that may cause severe metabolic malfunction. An imbalance in antioxidant enzymes has been related to specific pathologies such as diabetic complications. Catalase catalyzes the reduction of hydroperoxides, thereby protecting mammalian cells against oxidative damage. In addition, catalase is active in neutralizing reactive oxygen species and so removes cellular superoxide and peroxides before they react with metal catalysts to form more reactive species. We investigated the status of catalase activity in erythrocytes of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Method: Catalase activity was measured by using spectrophtometric techniques. Result: Catalase activity increased in diabetic rats compared to control group [25.7 ± 2.8 vs. 16.3 ± 2.1 mmol H2O2 per min/ mg of protein, mean ± SD, p < 0.05]. Our results show that catalase activity increased significantly in the erythrocytes of STZ-induced diabetic rats. (Int J Diabetes Metab 15: 22-24, 2007)
An international survey on advanced practice nursing education, practice, and regulation.

PURPOSE
To describe international trends on the developing role of the nurse practitioner-advanced practice nurse (NP-APN), including nomenclature, levels and types of NP-APN education, practice settings, scope of practice, regulatory policies, and political environment.


DESIGN
A cross-sectional, descriptive Web-based survey sent in February and March 2008 to a total of 174 key informants and active members of the International Nurse Practitioner-Advanced Practice Nursing Network of the International Council of Nurses.


METHODS
An international Web-based survey preceded by a pilot survey.


FINDINGS
Ninety-one nurses from 32 countries responded. Thirteen titles were identified on nomenclature for the NP-APN in different countries. NP-APN education was available in 71% of the 31 countries responding to this item, with 50% identifying the master's degree as the most prevalent credential. Twenty-three countries had formal recognition of the NP-APN role. Of these, 48% had licensure maintenance or renewal requirements for the NP-APN, with most requiring continuing education or clinical practice. The greatest support for the NP-APN role came from domestic nursing organizations (92%), individual nurses (70%), and the government (68%), while opposition came primarily from domestic physician organizations (83%) and individual physicians (67%).


CONCLUSIONS
Interest in the NP-APN role has been gaining ground worldwide. This study presents a snapshot of education, practice, and regulation for NP-APNs as they develop their unique role in delivering health care in various countries. Areas that may require more support are highlighted.


CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The NP-APN role in healthcare systems is expanding and will benefit from international networking and support.