LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
A decade of HIV care in rural Tanzania: Trends in clinical outcomes and impact of clinic optimisation in an open, prospective cohort

OBJECTIVES
Our objectives were to describe trends in enrolment and clinical outcomes in the open, prospective Kilombero and Ulanga Antiretroviral Cohort (KIULARCO) in the Morogoro region of southern Tanzania, and identify strengths and areas for improvement in the care of HIV-positive individuals in rural Tanzania.


METHODS
We included adults (≥15 years) and children (<15 years) enrolled in the cohort in 2005-2014. The cohort underwent significant changes from autumn 2012 to optimise care. We evaluated mortality and loss to follow-up (LTFU) using competing risks methods, ART usage, opportunistic infections (OI), co-infections and laboratory abnormalities.


RESULTS
Overall, 7010 adults and 680 children were enrolled; enrolment peaked in 2008 but has increased steadily since 2011. Among adults (65% female; median age 37 [interquartile range 31-45] years), the proportion referred from hospital wards quadrupled in 2013-14 versus earlier years. 653 (9%) adults died and 2648 (38%) were LTFU; the five-year cumulative probabilities of death and LTFU were 10.3% and 44.0%, respectively. Among children, 69 (10%) died and 225 (33%) were LTFU. The corresponding five-year probabilities were 12.1% and 39.6%. Adult ART use (regardless of eligibility) increased from 5% in 2005 to 89% in 2014 (similarly among children), with 9% on second-line therapy in 2014 (17% of children). OI diagnoses increased over time; tuberculosis prevalence at enrolment quadrupled from 6% in 2011 to 26% in 2014. The proportion of newly-enrolled participants assessed for laboratory abnormalities peaked at nearly 100% in 2014 (from a minimum of 24%), yet abnormality prevalences remained fairly constant.


CONCLUSIONS
In this cohort, ART usage improved dramatically and is approaching targets of 90%. Improved screening led to increases in detection of OIs and laboratory abnormalities, suggesting that a large number of these co-morbidities previously went undetected and untreated. Further work will address the high LTFU rates and implications for mortality estimates, and the management and outcomes of co-morbidities.
Incidence of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension after pulmonary embolism.

BACKGROUND
Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTPH) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Its incidence after pulmonary embolism and associated risk factors are not well documented.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective, long-term, follow-up study to assess the incidence of symptomatic CTPH in consecutive patients with an acute episode of pulmonary embolism but without prior venous thromboembolism. Patients with unexplained persistent dyspnea during follow-up underwent transthoracic echocardiography and, if supportive findings were present, ventilation-perfusion lung scanning and pulmonary angiography. CTPH was considered to be present if systolic and mean pulmonary-artery pressures exceeded 40 mm Hg and 25 mm Hg, respectively; pulmonary-capillary wedge pressure was normal; and there was angiographic evidence of disease.


RESULTS
The cumulative incidence of symptomatic CTPH was 1.0 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 0.0 to 2.4) at six months, 3.1 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 0.7 to 5.5) at one year, and 3.8 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 6.5) at two years. No cases occurred after two years among the patients with more than two years of follow-up data. The following increased the risk of CTPH: a previous pulmonary embolism (odds ratio, 19.0), younger age (odds ratio, 1.79 per decade), a larger perfusion defect (odds ratio, 2.22 per decile decrement in perfusion), and idiopathic pulmonary embolism at presentation (odds ratio, 5.70).


CONCLUSIONS
CTPH is a relatively common, serious complication of pulmonary embolism. Diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for the early identification and prevention of CTPH are needed.
Agitating Images: Photography against History in Indigenous Siberia

Agitating images: photography against history in indigenous Siberia, by Craig Campbell, Minneapolis and London, University of Minnesota Press, 2014, xx + 267 pp., US$27.00 (pbk), ISBN 978-0-816-68106-8Craig Campbell's book Agitating Images takes as its starting point the photographs that document the encounter between the indigenous peoples of Siberia and Soviet cultural engineers intent on portraying them as uncivilized and on chronicling their own attempts at civilizing Siberia. Rather than provide a linear account of this process, Campbell engages with archival theory to show the ways in which these photographs complicate our attempts to create a holistic narrative.The book is split into two main sections as well as a brief prologue and introduction. In the prologue, Campbell lays out his understanding of the role of the photograph in writing history: "photographs are agents provocateurs. They pose (or are posed) as media amenable to interpretation and the inscription of meaning, whereas in actuality they undermine meaning and interpretation and the ascription of meaning, by indexing the irreducible meaninglessness of the everyday" (xiv). Photographs, in Campbell's view, are not self-evident snapshots of an indexical truth, but deconstructive mysteries. Archives, too, are not mere repositories for collections of these celluloid truths, but capricious and labyrinthine problems.The book's first section, "The Years Are Like Centuries", deals with the setting up of the Soviet culture bases (complex Soviet entities, of which more later) and their various attempts at modernizing the ways of the indigenous Siberian people. Photographs documented native Siberians in their original state (as the Soviets saw it: impoverished, uncultured, merely subsisting) as well as Siberians receiving the benefits of Soviet ideology and welfare. The first section will likely be of use to researchers focusing on indigenous Siberia and Soviet attempts at social engineering, whether said researchers are interested in photography or not.If the first section establishes the facts and background of this situation, the second returns to the more ruminative, theoretical mode established in the prologue. It orchestrates an encounter between the photograph and the photographic archive that will be of interest to those concerned with philosophical figures such as Walter Benjamin and Jacques Derrida. As Campbell progresses to this second section, personal commentary begins to creep in: he describes aspects of his own work with archives; serial numbers on a stack of papers, files full of dog-eared photographs, illegible handwritten notes on their reverse. …
Notes on Two Conjectures in Extension Theory

It is noted that conjectures about the non-existence of universal compacta and compactifications of the given extension dimension for non finitely dominated complexes are not valid for all CW complexes of the form L ? S2, where L is of finite type and has a finite fundamental group, but is not finitely dominated.
A first approach to web services for the National Water Information System

A wealth of freely available hydrologic data are provided by governmental organizations including in situ observations, geospatial data sets, remote sensing products, and simulation model output. Despite having access to this information, much of the data remain underutilized in the hydrologic sciences due in part to the time required to access, obtain, and integrate data from different sources. Web services offer a means for sharing hydrologic data more openly by providing a standard protocol for machine-to-machine communication. We have used this new technology to create a machine accessible interface for the National Water Information System (NWIS), an online repository of historical and real-time streamflow, water-quality, and ground water level observations maintained by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). These services provide a middle-layer of abstraction between the NWIS database and hydrologic analysis systems, allowing such analysis systems to proxy the NWIS server for on-demand data access. We intentionally designed the services to be generic and applicable to other hydrologic databases, in order to provide interoperability between disparate data sources. Performance tests showed that, for time series with less than 1000 observations, the web services layer added minimal overhead in terms of data response time, and development of an example client application for time series visualization highlighted some of the benefits and costs of using web services for data access. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Endocrine disruptors in bottled mineral water: total estrogenic burden and migration from plastic bottles.

BACKGROUND, AIM, AND SCOPE
Food consumption is an important route of human exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. So far, this has been demonstrated by exposure modeling or analytical identification of single substances in foodstuff (e.g., phthalates) and human body fluids (e.g., urine and blood). Since the research in this field is focused on few chemicals (and thus missing mixture effects), the overall contamination of edibles with xenohormones is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the integrated estrogenic burden of bottled mineral water as model foodstuff and to characterize the potential sources of the estrogenic contamination.


MATERIALS, METHODS, AND RESULTS
In the present study, we analyzed commercially available mineral water in an in vitro system with the human estrogen receptor alpha and detected estrogenic contamination in 60% of all samples with a maximum activity equivalent to 75.2 ng/l of the natural sex hormone 17beta-estradiol. Furthermore, breeding of the molluskan model Potamopyrgus antipodarum in water bottles made of glass and plastic [polyethylene terephthalate (PET)] resulted in an increased reproductive output of snails cultured in PET bottles. This provides first evidence that substances leaching from plastic food packaging materials act as functional estrogens in vivo.


DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Our results demonstrate a widespread contamination of mineral water with xenoestrogens that partly originates from compounds leaching from the plastic packaging material. These substances possess potent estrogenic activity in vivo in a molluskan sentinel. Overall, the results indicate that a broader range of foodstuff may be contaminated with endocrine disruptors when packed in plastics.
TOWARD EMPIRICALLY-BASED MODELS OF PEOPLE ' S PRESENCE AND ACTIONS IN BUILDINGS

This paper presents the results of a recent study of people's presence and their interactions with the buildings' environmental systems in a number of buildings in Austria. The intention was to observe user control actions pertaining to building systems while considering the indoor and outdoor environmental conditions under which those actions occurred. The results of this study suggest that such interactions are difficult to predict at the level of an individual person. However, general control-related behavioral trends and patterns for groups of building occupants can be extracted from long-term observational data. Moreover, such trends and patterns show in many instances significant relationships to measureable indoor and outdoor environmental parameters. They can thus provide a reliable basis for occupancy and control action models in performance simulation applications.
Fuzzy gain scheduling of PID controllers

This paper describes the development of a fuzzy gain scheduling scheme of PID controllers for process control. Fuzzy rules and reasoning are utilized on-line to determine the controller parameters based on the error signal and its first difference. Simulation results demonstrate that better control performance can be achieved in comparison with ZieglerNichols controllers and Kitamori’s PID controllers.
A time-delay neural network architecture for isolated word recognition

-A translation-invariant back-propagation network is described that performs better than a soph&ticated continuous acoustic parameter hidden Markov model on a noisy, lO0-speaker confusable vocabulary isolated word recognition task. The network's replicated architecture permits it to extract precise information from unaligned training patterns selected by a naive segmentation rule. Keywords--Isolated word recognition, Network architecture, Constrained links, Time delays, Multiresolution learning, Multispeaker speech recognition, Neural networks.
Definition and prevalence of peri-implant diseases.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of the current review was to describe the prevalence of peri-implant diseases including peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis.


MATERIAL AND METHODS
A MEDLINE search (PubMed) until December 2007 was conducted and different keywords related to the prevalence of peri-implant diseases were used. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies including > or =50 implant-treated subjects exhibiting a function time of > or =5 years were considered.


RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
The current review revealed that only a few studies provided data on the prevalence of peri-implant diseases. Cross-sectional studies on implant-treated subjects are rare and data from only two study samples were available. Peri-implant mucositis occurred in approximately 80% of the subjects and in 50% of the implants. Peri-implantitis was found in 28% and > or =56% of subjects and in 12% and 43% of implant sites.
Phase I and pharmacological study of oral 9-aminocamptothecin colloidal dispersion (NSC 603071) in patients with advanced solid tumors.

PURPOSE
9-Aminocamptothecin colloidal dispersion (9-ACCD; NSC 603071) is a specific inhibitor of topoisomerase I that can be given p.o. This Phase I trial was conducted to determine the toxicity profile, maximal tolerated dose, and pharmacokinetics profile, including bioavailability, of p.o. 9-ACCD in patients with advanced solid tumors.


EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
After receiving one i.v. dose of 9-ACCD, patients were treated with 9-ACCD p.o., starting with a 2-week schedule, to establish the safety. Once safety was established, patients were treated continuously for 4 weeks followed by a rest period of 2 weeks at dosages of 0.2, 0.3, 0.45, 0.56, 0.7, and 0.63 mg/m(2)/day. Serial blood samples were collected for the pharmacokinetics study on day 1 after the i.v. dose and day 2 after p.o. administration. Lactone and total 9-aminocamptothecin were analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatographic assay.


RESULTS
Thirty-two patients were treated on the study. The dose-limiting toxicity was myelosuppression at the dosage of 0.7 mg/m(2)/day. Other toxic effects included nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and transient elevation of the total bilirubin level. The maximal tolerated dose was 0.63 mg/m(2)/day. There was no objective response. The mean terminal half-life of p.o. total 9-ACCD was 1.2 +/- 1.2 h, and the volume of distribution was 17.7 +/- 20.6 l/m(2). The mean bioavailability of total 9-ACCD was 68.1 +/- 36.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite good tolerance of p.o. administration, the lack of clinical activity and variable absorption of 9-ACCD suggested that further development might not be warranted.
Male infertility: a public health issue caused by sexually transmitted pathogens

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are caused by several pathogens, including bacteria, viruses and protozoa, and can induce male infertility through multiple pathophysiological mechanisms. Additionally, horizontal transmission of STD pathogens to sexual partners or vertical transmission to fetuses and neonates is possible. Chlamydia trachomatis, Ureaplasma spp., human papillomavirus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, HIV-1 and human cytomegalovirus have all been detected in semen from symptomatic and asymptomatic men with testicular, accessory gland and urethral infections. These pathogens are associated with poor sperm quality and decreased sperm concentration and motility. However, the effects of these STD agents on semen quality are unclear, as are the effects of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycoplasma spp., Treponema pallidum and Trichomonas vaginalis, because few studies have evaluated the influence of these pathogens on male infertility. Chronic or inadequately treated infections seem to be more relevant to infertility than acute infections are, although in many cases the exact aetiological agents remain unknown.
Effects of nitrogen deficiency on leaf photosynthesis, carbohydrate status and biomass production in two olive cultivars 'Meski' and 'Koroneiki'

The effects of nitrogen deficiency on CO2 assimilation, carbohydrate content and biomass were studied in two olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars (‘Meski’ and ‘Koroneiki’). One-year-old plants were grown in pots and subjected to four nitrogen levels for 58 days. Nitrogen-deficient plants had significant lower leaf nitrogen and chlorophyll a contents. They also showed a significant reduction in their photosynthetic capacity. A tolerance difference between cultivars was observed: ‘Meski’ proved to be more efficient in maintaining CO2 assimilation rates than ‘Koroneiki’ under nitrogen deficiency, which was reflected by increased photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency. Accumulation of carbohydrates, especially starch, mannitol, sucrose and glucose, was observed in nitrogen-deficient leaves. This indicates that both the high carbohydrate and the low nitrogen content inhibit photosynthesis in nitrogen-deprived olive plants. Total biomass was strongly reduced (mainly caused by a decrease in leaf dry weight) under nitrogen deficiency for both cultivars, but root:shoot ratio was hardly affected. Elongation of fine roots was enhanced in ‘Koroneiki’ under severe nitrogendeprivation. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Ineffective secondary prevention in survivors of cardiovascular events in the US population: report from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

BACKGROUND
Survivors of myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke are at high risk for subsequent cardiovascular events. There is limited assessment of the effectiveness of risk factor modification through current secondary preventive strategies in the US population. We determined the adequacy of risk factor modification in 1252 survivors of MI, stroke, or both in a nationally representative sample of US adults and identified factors related to inadequate control of risk factors.


METHODS
The adequacy of control for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and hypercholesterolemia was assessed by personal interview, blood pressure measurements, and serum glycosylated hemoglobin and cholesterol levels in 17 752 US adults who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994. We also evaluated the role of potentially related factors, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, socioeconomic status, and medical insurance status using multivariate logistic regression analysis.


RESULTS
Of 738 known hypertensive persons, hypertension was uncontrolled in 388 (53%). Previously undiagnosed hypertension was detected in 138 others (11%). Of 289 diabetic persons, serum glucose control was inadequate in 141. Of 1252 survivors, 225 (18%) were currently smoking, and heavy alcohol use was observed in 56 persons. Hypercholesterolemia was poorly controlled in 185 (46%) of 405 persons with known hypercholesterolemia. Undetected hypercholesterolemia was observed in 160 persons (13%). In the multivariate analysis, high-risk profiles were more likely to be observed in persons aged 46 to 65 years, women, and African Americans.


CONCLUSIONS
High prevalence of inadequate secondary prevention was found in a subset of the US population at highest risk for stroke and MI. Considerable efforts are required to effectively implement risk factor modification strategies after MI or stroke, particularly in middle-aged persons, African Americans, and women.
Human-Like Approach to Footstep Planning Among Obstacles for Humanoid Robots

Unlike wheeled robots, humanoid robots are able to overcome obstacles in the environment by stepping over or upon them. Conventional 2D methods for robot navigation fail to exploit this unique ability of humanoids and thus design trajectories only by circumventing obstacles. Recently, globalized algorithms have been presented that take into account this feature of humanoids. However, due to high computational complexity, most of them are very time consuming. In this paper we present a new approach to footstep planning in obstacle cluttered environments that employs a human-like strategy to terrain traversal. Simulation results of its implementation on a model of Saika-3 humanoid robot are also presented. The algorithm, being one of reactive nature, refutes previous claims that reactive algorithms fail to find successful paths in complex obstacle cluttered environments
Assessment of Activity Limitations with the Health Assessment Questionnaire Predicts the Need for Support Measures in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Multicenter Observational Study

OBJECTIVE
This study investigated whether the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) can be used as an instrument to assess the need for social support measures that address activity limitations and participation issues in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).


METHODS
This multicenter observational study included patients with RA and disease duration of at least one year, consulting their rheumatologist for routine evaluation of disease activity. In the single study visit data on demographics, disease history and current treatment were collected. DAS28 values were collected to evaluate current RA disease activity. Patients were asked to fill out the HAQ and SF-36 questionnaires. Receiver Operator Characteristics (ROC) curves were constructed to evaluate the performance of the HAQ, SF-36 and DAS28 in predicting the need for nine supporting measures available for chronically ill patients in the Belgian social security system. The expert opinion of the treating rheumatologist was used as a reference.


RESULTS
The study included 316 patients with a mean age of 59.8 ± 12.6 years, disease duration of 11.4 ± 9.3 years, mean DAS28 values of 2.83 ± 1.17. Mean HAQ score was 0.95 ± 0.73, mean SF-36 score 56.5 ± 21.3. HAQ scores >1 were observed in 39.4% of patients. The area under the HAQ ROC curve was consistently >0.7 and higher for the HAQ than for SF-36 or DAS28 for all support measures. Rheumatologists on average recommended 3.67 support measures.


CONCLUSION
The HAQ score was found to be a good predictor of the need for social support measures in patients with RA.
Критическая и релятивистская мысль в современной онтологии

The two kinds of non-classic thought critical and relativistic are the specific features of the modern ontology. In the European philosophy the former ascends to I. Kant. The latter is the final ontological thesis of the former in the context of development of non-classic rationality. The the actual questions of the critical methodology of the scientific and philosophical knowledge are touched.