LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Degeneration in the cochlea after noise damage: primary versus secondary events.

PURPOSE
To determine if noise damage in the organ of Corti is different in the low- and high-frequency regions of the cochlea.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Chinchillas were exposed for 2 to 432 days to a 0.5 (low-frequency) or 4 kHz (high-frequency) octave band of noise at 47 to 95 dB sound pressure level. Auditory thresholds were determined before, during, and after the noise exposure. The cochleas were examined microscopically as plastic-embedded flat preparations. Missing cells were counted, and the sequence of degeneration was determined as a function of recovery time (0-30 days).


RESULTS
With high-frequency noise, primary damage began as small focal losses of outer hair cells in the 4-8 kHz region. With continued exposure, damage progressed to involve loss of an entire segment of the organ of Corti, along with adjacent myelinated nerve fibers. Much of the latter loss is secondary to the intermixing of cochlear fluids through the damaged reticular lamina. With low-frequency noise, primary damage appeared as outer hair cell loss scattered over a broad area in the apex. With continued exposure, additional apical outer hair cells degenerated, while supporting cells, inner hair cells, and nerve fibers remained intact. Continued exposure to low-frequency noise also resulted in focal lesions in the basal cochlea that were indistinguishable from those resulting from exposure to high-frequency noise.


CONCLUSIONS
The patterns of cochlear damage and their relation to functional measures of hearing in noise-exposed chinchillas are similar to those seen in noise-exposed humans. Thus, the chinchilla is an excellent model for studying noise effects, with the long-term goal of identifying ways to limit noise-induced hearing loss in humans.
Operation of a multiagent system for microgrid control

This paper presents the operation of a multiagent system (MAS) for the control of a Microgrid. The approach presented utilizes the advantages of using the MAS technology for controlling a Microgrid and a classical distributed algorithm based on the symmetrical assignment problem for the optimal energy exchange between the production units of the Microgrid and the local loads, as well the main grid.
Age‐dependence of cultured pearl grade and colour in the black‐lipped pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera

Pinctada margaritifera is an economically important marine bivalve species for cultured pearl production in French Polynesian aquaculture. In order to evaluate the influence of donor oyster age on pearl quality traits, experiments were conducted over 6 years using both grafts and surgreffe operations. At harvest, 6 pearl quality traits were recorded and compared: surface defects, luster, grade, darkness level, and visual color. Analyzing the quality traits of pearls harvested in the initial graft process and those of pearls obtained from surgreffe experiments allowed a comparison of the influence of pearl sac cells originating from the initial mantle graft, which aged together with their recipient oysters. The results demonstrated a significant decrease between these successive grafts in luster, grade (A-B-C,) darkness level, and green color – traits that are of major importance in the pearl market. The duplicated graft experiment allowed the comparison of donor oyster families at 2 and 5 years old, where a mantle graft was inserted into recipient oysters aged 2.5 years old. The results showed the same tendencies to a lesser extent, with 1) an improved pearl grade, predominantly through a most important rate of 0 surface defect category, and 2) a green / grey ratio in favor of the younger donor. A comparison between the graft-surgreffe and the duplicated graft experiments also highlighted: 1) the indirect role played by the younger recipient oysters, which must be optimized for optimal pearl quality realization, and 2) the complex interplay between donor and recipient oysters.
Combination of an ACE inhibitor and indapamide improves blood pressure control, but attenuates the beneficial effects of ACE inhibition on plasma adiponectin in patients with essential hypertension.

BACKGROUND
Antihypertensive agents differentially influence the plasma adiponectin concentration and the effects of fixed-dose combination regimens remain unclear. The influence of a combination of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and a thiazide-type diuretic or an ACEI alone on plasma adiponectin concentrations in patients with essential hypertension was evaluated in the present study.


METHODS AND RESULTS
After a 2-week placebo run-in phase, 30 patients with essential hypertension were randomized to receive preterax (2 mg perindopril/0.625 mg indapamide) or cilazapril (2.5 mg) once daily for 12 weeks. Plasma adiponectin and insulin concentrations were measured before and after treatment. Insulin resistance was measured by homeostasis assessment index (HOMA-IR). Treatment with preterax (P=0.003) and cilazapril (P=0.031) significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (BP), but only preterax reduced diastolic BP (P=0.024). Cilazapril treatment significantly increased the plasma adiponectin concentration (P=0.025) and reduced plasma triglycerides (P=0.041), whereas preterax treatment increased the plasma insulin concentration (P=0.041) and tended to increase HOMA-IR.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of an ACEI and indapamide improved BP control, but attenuated the beneficial effects of ACE inhibition on plasma adiponectin in patients with essential hypertension. Such a combination may be best reserved for improved BP control rather than for metabolic protection in clinical hypertension.
Rapid three-dimensional echocardiography : clinically feasible alternative for precise and accurate measurement of left ventricular volumes.

BACKGROUND
Clinical applicability of conventional ultrasonographic systems using mechanical adapters for 3D echocardiographic imaging has been limited by long acquisition and processing times. We developed a rapid (6-s) acquisition technique that collects apical tomograms using a continuously internally rotating transthoracic transducer. This study was performed to examine the clinical feasibility of rapid-acquisition 3D echocardiography to estimate left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes using electron-beam computed tomography as the reference standard. Methods and Results-We collected a series of 6 to 11 apical echocardiographic tomograms, depending on heart rate, in 11 patients. There was good correlation, low variability, and low bias between rapid 3D echocardiography and electron-beam computed tomography for measuring left ventricular end-diastolic volume (r=0.96; standard error of the estimate, 21.34 mL; bias, -4.93 mL) and left ventricular end-systolic volume (r=0.96; standard error of the estimate, 14.78 mL; bias, -6.97 mL).


CONCLUSIONS
The rapid-acquisition 3D echocardiography extends the use of a multiplane, internally rotating handheld transducer so that it becomes a precise and clinically feasible tool for assessing left ventricular volumes and function. A rapid-image acquisition time of 6 s would allow repeated image collection during the course of a clinical echocardiographic examination. Additional work must address rapid and automated data processing.
Individual variation in coping with stress: a multidimensional approach of ultimate and proximate mechanisms.

Ecological studies on feral populations of mice, fish and birds elucidate the functional significance of phenotypes that differ individually in their behavioral and neuroendocrine response to environmental challenge. Within a species, the capacity to cope with environmental challenges largely determines individual survival in the natural habitat. Recent studies indicate that individual variation within a species may buffer the species for strong fluctuations in the natural habitat. A conceptual framework will be presented that is based on the view that individual variation in aggressive behavior can be considered more generally as a variation in actively coping with environmental challenges. Highly aggressive individuals adopt a proactive coping style whereas low levels of aggression indicate a more passive or reactive style of coping. Coping styles have now been identified in a range of species and can be considered as trait characteristics that are stable over time and across situations. The dimension of coping style seems to be independent of an emotionality dimension. Hence, in the analysis of the proximate mechanisms of stress and adaptation, one has to consider the possibility that the mechanisms which determine the type of stress response might be independent from those underlying the magnitude of the response. The two coping styles differ in a number of important neurobiological and neuroendocrine systems. For example, proactive males differ significantly from reactive males in the homeostatic control of serotonergic activity resulting in completely opposite dose response relationships of various serotonergic drugs. The results so far show that proactive coping is characterized by a strong inhibitory control of the 5-HT neuron via its somatodendritic 5-HT(1A) autoreceptor. It is hypothesized that the regulation of serotonin release is causally related to coping style rather than emotionality. Understanding the functional individual variation as it occurs in nature and the underlying neurobiology and neuroendocrinology is fundamental in understanding individual vulnerability to stress related disease.
Mechanisms of head injuries in elite football.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to describe, using video analysis, the mechanisms of head injuries and of incidents with a high risk of head injury in elite football.


METHODS
Videotapes and injury information were collected prospectively for 313 of the 409 matches played in the Norwegian (2000 season) and Icelandic (1999 and 2000 season) professional leagues. Video recordings of incidents where a player appeared to be hit in the head and the match was consequently interrupted by the referee were analysed and cross referenced with reports of acute time loss injuries from the team medical staff.


RESULTS
The video analysis revealed 192 incidents (18.8 per 1000 player hours). Of the 297 acute injuries reported, 17 (6%) were head injuries, which corresponds to an incidence of 1.7 per 1000 player hours (concussion incidence 0.5 per 1000 player hours). The most common playing action was a heading duel with 112 cases (58%). The body part that hit the injured player's head was the elbow/arm/hand in 79 cases (41%), the head in 62 cases (32%), and the foot in 25 cases (13%). In 67 of the elbow/arm/hand impacts, the upper arm of the player causing the incident was at or above shoulder level, and the arm use was considered to be active in 61 incidents (77%) and intentional in 16 incidents (20%).


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that video analysis provides detailed information about the mechanisms for head injuries in football. The most frequent injury mechanism was elbow to head contact, followed by head to head contact in heading duels. In the majority of the elbow to head incidents, the elbow was used actively at or above shoulder level, and stricter rule enforcement or even changes in the laws of the game concerning elbow use should perhaps be considered, in order to reduce the risk of head injury.
A phase II study of sunitinib as a second-line treatment in advanced biliary tract carcinoma: a multicentre, multinational study.

BACKGROUND
Biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) is rare in the West, but not uncommon in Asia and is a highly fatal malignancy. VEGF expression is related with poor outcome in patients with BTC. Therefore, we conducted a phase II study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sunitinib as second-line treatment.


METHODS
This was a prospective, single-arm, multicentre, multinational study. Patients with unresectable, metastatic BTC who progressed after first-line chemotherapy were eligible. Sunitinib was administered at 37.5mg once daily continuously with 4-week cycle. The primary end point was the time to progression (TTP).


RESULTS
Between May 2009 and October 2010, a total of 56 patients were enrolled from three countries. The median age was 55 years (range 38-75) and male to female ratio was 37:19. Median TTP was 1.7 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-2.4). The objective response rate was 8.9% (5 partial response) and disease control rate was 50.0%. (23 stable disease) Grade 3-4 toxicities were observed in 46.4% of the patients with neutropenia and thrombocytopenia being the most frequent (21.4%).


CONCLUSIONS
This phase II study suggests that sunitinib monotherapy demonstrated marginal efficacy in metastatic BTC patients although toxicity should be concerned in Asian population.
Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in close relatives of intensive care unit patients: Prevalence data resemble that of earthquake survivors in Chile.

INTRODUCTION
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in relatives of intensive care unit (ICU) patients has not been fully described. We studied potential relationships between PTSD and specific patients' conditions and relatives' psychologic characteristics.


METHODS
This is a prospective study of family caregivers of ICU patients. Patients' clinical and physiologic variables were recorded. At admission (time I), family caregivers' sociodemographic and psychologic variables were assessed, using specific questionnaires. Reassessment occurred at 2 to 4 days (time II) and 60 days (time III).


RESULTS
Of 105 enrolled caregivers, 83 completed follow-up. They were mainly female adults and first-degree relatives. Caregiver's baseline anxiety and depression symptoms were observed in 30.4% and 17.4%, respectively. Higher levels associated positively with PTSD symptoms (PS). At time III, 22.89% of caregivers met criteria for PTSD, similar to Chilean general population after the 2010's massive earthquake. Patient's mean age was 59.90 ± 17.4 years; Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, 17.84 ± 7.13; 50% were on mechanical ventilation (MV); and average ICU stay, 9.40 ± 9.82 days. Patient's age correlated directly with PS (P = .017 when patient was on MV and length of stay >3 days). Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II greater than 7 correlated with PS (P = .043).


CONCLUSIONS
Close relatives of patients admitted to the ICU experience a high prevalence of PTSD during and after hospitalization. Individual patient factors such as severity, age, and being on MV increase the occurrence of PTSD, as well as sex and baseline anxiety levels of caregivers. Preventative measures could be devised for this particular high-risk population.
Multitemporal Satellite Data for Monitoring Urbanization in Nanjing from 2001 to 2016

.................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. iii List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ vii List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... viii
Overweight/obesity among adults in North-Western Ethiopia: a community-based cross sectional study

Background
Nowadays adulthood overweight/obesity is an emerging public health problem in developing countries. There is no information on magnitude and contributing factors of adulthood overweight/obesity in Ethiopia, particularly in North West region of the country. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess magnitude and contributing factors of adulthood overweight/obesity in North West region of Ethiopia.


Methods
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from September1, 2015 to November 30, 2015 in northwest region of Ethiopia particularly Bahir-Dar city and its rural districts. A total of 1484 adult participants were recruited in the study. Stratified multistage followed by systematic random sampling technique was employed to select participants. Overweight/obesity was determined using center for diseases control cutoff points. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with overweight/obesity. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with the corresponding 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was calculated to show the strength of association.


Results
A total of 1405 adults were participated in the study with a response rate of 94.7%. This study indicated that 11.3 (95% CI: 9.6, 13.1) adults were overweight and obese of which about 9.3% and 2% of adults were overweight and obese, respectively. The higher odds of being Overweight/Obese were noted among urban residents, females and older age. However performing mild to moderate physical activity [AOR = 0.608, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.99] and consumption of fruit and vegetable [AOR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.77] were found to be protective against overweight/obesity.


Conclusion
Though, it was a problem of developed countries adulthood overweight /obesity is emerged as a public health problem among adults in Ethiopia particularly in the study area, northwest region. Hence, preventive interventions focusing on urban residents, females through encouraging Physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption is essential to prevent emergence of adulthood overweight/obesity.
Demand forecast sharing in a dual-channel supply chain

We assess the benefits of sharing demand forecast information in a manufacturer–retailer supply chain, consisting of a traditional retail channel and a direct channel. The demand is a linear function of price with a Gaussian primary demand (i.e., zero-price market potential). Both the manufacturer and the retailer set their price based on their forecast of the primary demand. In this setting, we investigate the value of sharing demand forecasts. We analyze the make-toorder scenario, in which prices are set before and production takes place after the primary demand is known, and the make-to-stock scenario, in which production takes place and prices are set before the primary demand is known. We also compare the supply chain performance with and without the direct channel under some assumptions (production cost is zero, and each demand function has the same slope of price). We find that the direct channel has a negative impact on the retailer s performance, and, under some conditions, the manufacturer and the whole supply chain are better off. Our research extends and complements prior research that has investigated only the inventory and replenishment-related benefits of information sharing. 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Energy Efficient Telemonitoring of Physiological Signals via Compressed Sensing: A Fast Algorithm and Power Consumption Evaluation

Wireless telemonitoring of physiological signals is an important topic in eHealth. In order to reduce on-chip energy consumption and extend sensor life, recorded signals are usually compressed before transmission. In this paper, we adopt compressed sensing (CS) as a low-power compression framework, and propose a fast block sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL) algorithm to reconstruct original signals. Experiments on real-world fetal ECG signals and epilepsy EEG signals showed that the proposed algorithm eywords: ow-power data compression ompressed sensing (CS) lock sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL) lectrocardiography (ECG) lectroencephalography (EEG) has good balance between speed and data reconstruction fidelity when compared to state-of-the-art CS algorithms. Further, we implemented the CS-based compression procedure and a low-power compression procedure based on a wavelet transform in field programmable gate array (FPGA), showing that the CS-based compression can largely save energy and other on-chip computing resources. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ield programmable gate array (FPGA)
Comparison of two self-rating instruments for medication adherence assessment in hypertension revealed insufficient psychometric properties.

OBJECTIVE
In cases of insufficiently controlled blood pressure, it is important for practitioners to distinguish between "nonadherence" and "nonresponse" to antihypertensive drug treatment. A reliable and valid adherence measurement based on the patient's self-report may be helpful in daily practice.


STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING
In a primary care sample with 353 hypertensive patients, we applied two self-rating instruments to assess medication adherence (the "Hill-Bone Compliance to High Blood Pressure Therapy Scale" and Morisky's "Self-Reported Measure of Medication Adherence") and compared their psychometric properties.


RESULTS
Both scales showed low acceptability and insufficiency to moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.25 and 0.73, respectively). Their convergent validity as indexed by kappa=0.39 could be judged as "fair" at best. Testing the power to predict blood pressure >140/90mmHg, both scales showed an accuracy of 57% and 62%, respectively. The positive likelihood, that is, the increase in likelihood of high blood pressure in cases of nonadherence was 1.00 and 1.32, respectively.


CONCLUSION
The use of both scales cannot be recommended. They showed considerable floor effects, and their ability to identify medication adherence was inconsistent for nearly every third patient. The power of both scales to predict uncontrolled blood pressure was essentially a chance. The underlying conceptual framework of medication adherence therefore needs to be rethought.
Purchasing’s Strategic Relevance

Recently Ramsay (2001) applied the resource based view of the firm (RBV) to argue that purchasing is a largely irrelevant activity from a strategic management point of view. In this paper it will be argued to the contrary on several grounds. First, it will be shown there is a much wider theoretical base underlying the field of strategic management, from which arguments can be drawn to substantiate that purchasing can indeed have strategic impact. Second, recent developments in the RBV will be discussed to illustrate that also within the RBV purchasing is a strategic activity. Furthermore there is much empirical evidence to demonstrate that purchasing and supply management activities contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. The paper then puts forward a systematic set of criteria, which may be of value to purchasing management researchers to assess whether studied phenomena have strategic impact. Finally some hints are given for future research directions.
Characteristics of falls producing hip fracture in patients on oral anticoagulants.

OBJECTIVE
To analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients on chronic anticoagulant therapy (CAT) admitted because of a hip fracture secondary to a fall, and to compare with patients not receiving CAT.


METHODS
A prospective, observational study realized in six hospitals in the Barcelona area. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were collected. The index fall characteristics - cause, height, location, and time of occurrence - were evaluated.


RESULTS
Of the 1225 patients included, 99 (8%) patients were on CAT. When we compare with the rest logistic regression analysis showed that patients receiving CAT were more likely to be male (odds ratio 3.7), not institutionalized (odds ratio 3.5), to take more number of drugs (odds ratio 1.3), to have dementia (odds ratio 2.1) and stroke (odds ratio 1.7). Results revealed a higher prevalence of combined factors as the cause of the index fall in the group of patients on anticoagulants.


CONCLUSIONS
Characteristics of falls were very similar when comparing the group of patients receiving CAT with those who did not. A prior history of falls should lead physicians to take actions for preventing falls causing hip fracture, in all patients and particularly in these on CAT.