LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Randomized comparison of adjunctive cilostazol versus high maintenance dose clopidogrel in patients with high post-treatment platelet reactivity: results of the ACCEL-RESISTANCE (Adjunctive Cilostazol Versus High Maintenance Dose Clopidogrel in Patients With Clopidogrel Resistance) randomized study.

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of adjunctive cilostazol in patients with high post-treatment platelet reactivity (HPPR) undergoing coronary stenting.


BACKGROUND
Although addition of cilostazol to dual antiplatelet therapy enhances adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet inhibition, it is unknown whether adjunctive cilostazol can reduce HPPR.


METHODS
Sixty patients with HPPR after a 300-mg loading dose of clopidogrel were enrolled. HPPR was defined as maximal platelet aggregation (Agg(max)) >50% with 5 micromol/l ADP. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either adjunctive cilostazol (triple group; n = 30) or high maintenance dose (MD) clopidogrel (high-MD group; n = 30). Platelet function was assessed at baseline and after 30 days with conventional aggregometry and the VerifyNow assay.


RESULTS
Baseline platelet function measurements were similar in both groups. After 30 days, significantly fewer patients in the triple versus high-MD group had HPPR (3.3% vs. 26.7%, p = 0.012). Percent inhibitions of 5 micromol/l ADP-induced Agg(max) and late platelet aggregation (Agg(late)) were significantly greater in the triple versus high-MD group (51.1 +/- 22.5% vs. 28.0 +/- 18.5%, p < 0.001, and 70.9 +/- 27.3% vs. 45.3 +/- 23.4%, p < 0.001, respectively). Percent inhibitions of 20 micromol/l ADP-induced Agg(max) and Agg(late) were consistently greater in the triple versus high-MD group. Percent change of P2Y12 reaction units demonstrated a higher antiplatelet effect in the triple versus high-MD group (39.6 +/- 24.1% vs. 23.1 +/- 29.9%, p = 0.022).


CONCLUSIONS
Adjunctive cilostazol reduces the rate of HPPR and intensifies platelet inhibition as compared with a high-MD clopidogrel of 150 mg/day.
OECEP: enriching complex event processing with domain knowledge from ontologies

With the increasing adoption of an event-based perspective in many organizations, the demands for automatic processing of events are becoming more sophisticated. Although complex event processing systems can process events in near real-time, these systems rely heavily upon human domain experts. This becomes an issue in application areas that are rich in specialized domain knowledge and background information, such as clinical environments. We utilize a framework of four techniques to enhance complex event processing with domain knowledge from ontologies to address this issue. We realize this framework in our novel approach of ontology-supported complex event processing, which stands in contrast to related approaches and emphasizes the strengths of current advances in the individual fields of complex event processing and ontologies. Experimental results from the implementation of our approach based on a state-of-the-art system show its feasibility and indicate the direction for future research.
Effects of three oral analgesics on postoperative pain following root canal preparation: a controlled clinical trial.

AIM
  To compare the effects of single doses of three oral medications on postoperative pain following instrumentation of root canals in teeth with irreversible pulpitis.


METHODOLOGY
  In this double-blind clinical trial, 100 patients who had anterior or premolar teeth with irreversible pulpitis without any signs and symptoms of acute or chronic apical periodontitis and moderate to severe pain were divided by balanced block random allocation into four groups of 25 each, a control group receiving a placebo medication, and three experimental groups receiving a single dose of either Tramadol (100 mg), Novafen (325 mg of paracetamol, 200 mg ibuprofen and 40 mg caffeine anhydrous) or Naproxen (500 mg) immediately after the first appointment where the pulp was removed, and the canals were fully prepared. The intensity of pain was scored based on 10-point VAS before and after treatment for up to 24 h postoperatively. Data were submitted to repeated analysis of variance.


RESULTS
  At the 6, 12 and 24 h postoperative intervals after drug administration, the intensity of pain was significantly lower in the experimental groups than in the placebo group (P < 0.01). Tramadol was significantly less effective (P < 0.05) than Naproxen, and Novafen that were similar to each other (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSION
  A single oral dose of Naproxen, Novafen and Tramadol taken immediately after treatment reduced postoperative pain following pulpectomy and root canal preparation of teeth with irreversible pulpitis.
Influences of spinal anesthesia on exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

RATIONALE
Lower limb muscle dysfunction contributes to exercise intolerance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We hypothesized that signaling from lower limb muscle group III/IV sensory afferents to the central motor command could be involved in premature cycling exercise termination in COPD.


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the effects of spinal anesthesia, which presumably inhibited central feedback from the lower limb muscle group III/IV sensory afferents on exercise tolerance and cardiorespiratory response during constant work-rate cycling exercise in patients with COPD.


METHODS
In a crossover and double-blind randomized design, eight patients with COPD (FEV(1), 67 ± 8% predicted) completed a constant work-rate cycling exercise after sham (NaCl, interspinous L(3)-L(4)) or active (fentanyl 25 μg, intrathecal L(3)-L(4)) spinal anesthesia.


MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
When compared with placebo, endurance time was significantly prolonged after spinal anesthesia with fentanyl (639 ± 87 s vs. 423 ± 38 s [mean ± SEM]; P = 0.01). Ventilation and respiratory rate were reduced at isotime points under the fentanyl condition, whereas ventilatory efficiency and dead space ventilation were improved. Patients exhibited less dynamic hyperinflation at isotime points with spinal anesthesia. Consequently, the rise in dyspnea was significantly flatter during the fentanyl condition than with placebo.


CONCLUSIONS
Spinal anesthesia enhanced cycling exercise tolerance in patients with COPD, mostly by reducing ventilatory response and dyspnea during exercise; these effects were possibly mediated through the inhibition of group III/IV lower limb sensory muscle afferents.
Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and established risk factors among populations of sub-Saharan African descent in Europe: a literature review

BACKGROUND
Most European countries are ethnically and culturally diverse. Globally, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death. The major risk factors for CVD have been well established. This picture holds true for all regions of the world and in different ethnic groups. However, the prevalence of CVD and related risk factors vary among ethnic groups.


METHODS
This article provides a review of current understanding of the epidemiology of vascular disease, principally coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and related risk factors among populations of Sub-Sahara African descent (henceforth, African descent) in comparison with the European populations in Europe.


RESULTS
Compared with European populations, populations of African descent have an increased risk of stroke, whereas CHD is less common. They also have higher rates of hypertension and diabetes than European populations. Obesity is highly prevalent, but smoking rate is lower among African descent women. Older people of African descent have more favourable lipid profile and dietary habits than their European counterparts. Alcohol consumption is less common among populations of African descent. The rate of physical activity differs between European countries. Dutch African-Suriname men and women are less physically active than the White-Dutch whereas British African women are more physically active than women in the general population. Literature on psychosocial stress shows inconsistent results.


CONCLUSION
Hypertension and diabetes are highly prevalent among African populations, which may explain their high rate of stroke in Europe. The relatively low rate of CHD may be explained by the low rates of other risk factors including a more favourable lipid profile and the low prevalence of smoking. The risk factors are changing, and on the whole, getting worse especially among African women. Cohort studies and clinical trials are therefore needed among these groups to determine the relative contribution of vascular risk factors, and to help guide the prevention efforts. There is a clear need for intervention studies among these populations in Europe.
Early secondary somatosensory area ( SII ) SEPs . Data from intracerebral recordings in humans

Objective: To record somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation by chronically implanted electrodes in the parieto-rolandic opercular area of 9 epileptic patients, in order to evaluate whether somatosensory evoked responses could be generated in the second somatosensory area (SII) earlier than 40 ms after stimulus. Methods: Nine patients (4 males, 5 females) with drug-resistant partial epileptic seizures were investigated using stereotactically implanted electrodes in the parietal cortex, posterior to vertical anterior commissure plane and in the frontal opercular region rostral to vertical anterior commissure (VAC). Results: The main finding of this study is the recording of an early somatosensory evoked potential, (N30op), by chronically implanted electrodes in the SII area of 8 epileptic patients. In 3 patients where SEPs were performed after ipsilateral median nerve (MN) stimulation, a N30op was recorded 5.8 ^ 2 ms later than contralateral one. Conclusions: This is the first report of early SEPs recorded by electrodes implanted in SII area. The N30op potential, even if less consistent than later potentials, confirmed the important role of the SII area in the early processing of somatosensory inputs. q 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Novel hybrid hierarchical-K-means clustering method (H-K-means) for microarray analysis

Hierarchical and k-means clustering are two major analytical tools for unsupervised microarray datasets. However, both have their innate disadvantages. Hierarchical clustering cannot represent distinct clusters with similar expression patterns. Also, as clusters grow in size, the actual expression patterns become less relevant. K-means clustering requires a specified number of clusters in advance and chooses initial centroids randomly: in addition, it is sensitive to outliers. We present a novel hybrid approach to combined merits of the two and discard disadvantages we mentioned above. It is different from existed method: carry out hierarchical clustering first to decide location and number of clusters in the first round and run the K-means clustering in another round. The brief idea is we cluster around half data through hierarchical clustering and succeed by K-means for the rest half in one single round. Also, our approach provides a mechanism to handle outliers. Comparing with existed hybrid clustering approach and K-means clustering in 2 different distance measure on Eisen's yeast microarray data, our method always generate much higher quality clusters.
Randomised phase III study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with methotrexate, doxorubicin, vinblastine and cisplatin followed by radical cystectomy compared with radical cystectomy alone for muscle-invasive bladder cancer: Japan Clinical Oncology Group Study JCOG0209.

BACKGROUND
This study aimed to determine the clinical benefit of neoadjuvant methotrexate, doxorubicin, vinblastine, and cisplatin (MVAC) in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) treated with radical cystectomy.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with MIBC (T2-4aN0M0) were randomised to receive two cycles of neoadjuvant MVAC followed by radical cystectomy (NAC arm) or radical cystectomy alone (RC arm). The primary end point was overall survival (OS). Secondary end points were progression-free survival, surgery-related complications, adverse events during chemotherapy, proportion with no residual tumour in the cystectomy specimens, and quality of life. To detect an improvement in 5-year OS from 45% in the RC arm to 57% in the NAC arm with 80% power, 176 events were required per arm.


RESULTS
Patients (N = 130) were randomly assigned to the RC arm (N = 66) and the NAC arm (N = 64). The patient registration was terminated before reaching the initially planned number of patients because of slow accrual. At the second interim analysis just after the early stoppage of patient accrual, the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee recommended early publication of the results because the trial did not have enough power to draw a confirmatory conclusion. OS of the NAC arm was better than that of the RC arm, although the difference was not statistically significant [hazard ratio 0.65, multiplicity adjusted 99.99% confidence interval 0.19-2.18, one-sided P = 0.07]. In the NAC arm and the RC arm, 34% and 9% of the patients had pT0, respectively (P < 0.01). In subgroup analyses, OS in almost all subgroups was in favour of NAC.


CONCLUSIONS
This trial showed a significantly increased pT0 proportion and favourable OS of patients who received neoadjuvant MVAC. NAC with MVAC can still be considered promising as a standard treatment.


UMIN CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRY IDENTIFIER
C000000093.
Energy Efficient Adaptive Protocol for Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a network of an inexpensive low coverage, sensing, and computation nodes. The foremost difference between the WSN and the traditional wireless networks is that sensors are extremely sensitive to energy consumption. Energy saving is the crucial issue in designing the wireless sensor networks. Many researchers have focused only on developing energy efficient protocols for continuous-driven clustered sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a modified algorithm for Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocol. Our modified protocol called “Energy-Efficient Adaptive Protocol for Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks (EEAP)” is aimed at prolonging the lifetime of the sensor networks by balancing the energy consumption of the nodes. EEAP makes the high residual energy node to become a cluster-head. The elector nodes are used to collect the energy information of the nearest sensor nodes and select the cluster-heads. We compare the performance of our E E A P algorithm with the LEACH protocol using simulations.
Effect of HSV-2 serostatus on acquisition of HIV by young men: results of a longitudinal study in Orange Farm, South Africa.

BACKGROUND
The objectives of this study were to assess the impact among young men of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) status on the acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and on the protective effect of male circumcision against HIV acquisition.


METHODS
We used data collected during a male circumcision trial conducted in Orange Farm, South Africa. We estimated adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for HIV acquisition, using survival analysis and background characteristics, HSV-2 status, male circumcision status, and sexual behavior as covariates.


RESULTS
Compared with subjects who remained HSV-2 negative throughout the study, subjects who were HSV-2 positive at enrollment had an adjusted IRR of 3.3 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-7.4; P=.004), and those who became HSV-2 positive during follow-up had an adjusted IRR of 7.0 (95% CI, 3.9-12.4; P<.001). The population fraction of incident HIV infection attributable to HSV-2 was 27.8% (95% CI, 17.7%-37.2%). Intention-to-treat analysis of the protective effect of male circumcision on HIV acquisition was the same among men with and men without HSV-2 (0.38 vs. 0.37; P=.93).


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that HSV-2 has a substantial impact on HIV acquisition among young South African men. It suggests that HSV-2 infection enhances HIV acquisition and is responsible for approximately 25% of incident cases of HIV infection. However, the protective effect of male circumcision against HIV acquisition appears independent of HSV-2 serostatus.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00122525.
Reliability Modelling of Automated Guided Vehicles by the Use of Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis, and Fault Tree Analysis

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are being increasingly used for intelligent transportation and distribution of materials in warehouses and auto-production lines. In this paper, a preliminary hazard analysis of an AGV’s critical components is conducted by the approach of Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). To implement this research, a particular AGV transport system is modelled as a phased mission. Then, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is adopted to model the causes of phase failure, enabling the probability of success in each phase and hence mission success to be determined. Through this research, a promising technical approach is established, which allows the identification of the critical AGV components and crucial mission phases of AGVs at the design stage. 1998 ACM Subject Classification B.8 Performance and Reliability
Patch testing with hair cosmetic series in Europe: a critical review and recommendation.

Many key ingredients of hair cosmetics (in particular, dyes, bleaches, and hair-styling agents) are potent (strong to extreme) contact allergens. Some heterogeneity is apparent from published results concerning the range of allergens for which patch testing is important. The objective of the present review was to collect information on the current practice of using 'hair cosmetic series', and discuss this against the background of evidence concerning consumer/professional exposure and regulatory aspects to finally derive a recommendation for a 'European hair cosmetic series'. The methods involved (i) a survey targeting all members of the COST action 'StanDerm' (TD1206) consortium, (ii) analysis of data in the database of the European Surveillance System on Contact Allergies (ESSCA), and (iii) literature review. Information from 19 European countries was available, partly from national networks, and partly from one or several departments of dermatology or, occasionally, occupational medicine. Apart from some substances being tested only in single departments, a broad overlap regarding 'important' allergens was evident. Some of the substances are no longer permitted for use in cosmetics (Annex II of the Cosmetics Regulation). An up-to-date 'European hair cosmetics series', as recommended in the present article, should (i) include broadly used and/or potent contact allergens, (ii) eliminate substances of only historical concern, and (iii) be continually updated as new evidence emerges.
Learning at a Distance: Engaged or Not?.

Distance learning is the fastest growing segment of postsecondary education. Almost 3 million students took at least one online course in fall 2005, an increase of more than 800,000 over the previous year (Allen and Seaman 2006). At the same time, questions persist about the quality of online learning. In one recent study, about two-fifths of senior academic officers at U.S. degree-granting higher education institutions expressed a belief that distance learning is inferior to face-to-face learning (Allen and Seaman 2006). Although some studies show that distance education learners benefit from their experiences to the same degree as campus-based learners (Dutton, Dutton, and Perry 2002; Neuhauser 2002), most of the work demonstrating positive outcomes in distance learning has focused on older students, who are often more motivated and have the self-discipline to manage effectively the unstructured nature of the distance learning environment (Dibiase 2000; Hardy and Boaz 1997).
Cryptocurrencies, smart contracts, and artificial intelligence

Recent developments in "cryptocurrencies" and "smart contracts" are creating new opportunities for applying AI techniques. These economic technologies would benefit from greater real world knowledge and reasoning as they become integrated with everyday commerce. Cryptocurrencies and smart contracts may also provide an infrastructure for ensuring that AI systems follow specified legal and safety regulations as they become more integrated into human society.
A multiple kernel support vector machine scheme for feature selection and rule extraction from gene expression data of cancer tissue

OBJECTIVE
Recently, gene expression profiling using microarray techniques has been shown as a promising tool to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Gene expression data contain high level of noise and the overwhelming number of genes relative to the number of available samples. It brings out a great challenge for machine learning and statistic techniques. Support vector machine (SVM) has been successfully used to classify gene expression data of cancer tissue. In the medical field, it is crucial to deliver the user a transparent decision process. How to explain the computed solutions and present the extracted knowledge becomes a main obstacle for SVM.


MATERIAL AND METHODS
A multiple kernel support vector machine (MK-SVM) scheme, consisting of feature selection, rule extraction and prediction modeling is proposed to improve the explanation capacity of SVM. In this scheme, we show that the feature selection problem can be translated into an ordinary multiple parameters learning problem. And a shrinkage approach: 1-norm based linear programming is proposed to obtain the sparse parameters and the corresponding selected features. We propose a novel rule extraction approach using the information provided by the separating hyperplane and support vectors to improve the generalization capacity and comprehensibility of rules and reduce the computational complexity.


RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
Two public gene expression datasets: leukemia dataset and colon tumor dataset are used to demonstrate the performance of this approach. Using the small number of selected genes, MK-SVM achieves encouraging classification accuracy: more than 90% for both two datasets. Moreover, very simple rules with linguist labels are extracted. The rule sets have high diagnostic power because of their good classification performance.