LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Markers of Antioxidant Defense in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

AIMS
Diabetes is considered a state of increased oxidative stress. This study evaluates blood concentrations of selected markers of antioxidant defense in patients with type 2 diabetes.


METHODS
The study included 80 type 2 diabetes patients and 79 apparently healthy controls. Measured markers included ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and uric acid serum, and plasma and/or hemolysate levels.


RESULTS
FRAP, uric acid, CRP, and GGT levels were significantly higher in patients with diabetes. Plasma and hemolysate GR was significantly higher whereas GPx activity was significantly lower in patients with diabetes. There were no significant differences in antioxidant defense markers between patients with and without chronic diabetes complications. Fasting serum glucose correlated with plasma GPx, plasma and hemolysate GR, FRAP, and serum GGT, and HbA1c correlated with serum GGT. Only FRAP and serum uric acid were significantly higher in obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)) patients with diabetes than in nonobese patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Some components of antioxidant defense such as GR, uric acid, and GGT are increased in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, the whole system cannot compensate for an enhanced production of ROS as reflected by the trend toward decreased erythrocytes GSH.
Innovative moments and poor outcome in narrative therapy

Aims: To analyse a poor outcome case of narrative therapy with a woman victim of intimate violence. Method: The Innovative Moments Coding System: version 1 was applied to all sessions to track the innovative moments (i-moments) in the therapeutic process. I moments are the narrative details that occur in psychotherapeutic conversations that are outside the influence of the problematic narrative. This research aims to describe the processes involved in the stability of meanings in psychotherapy through a dialogical approach to meaning making. Findings: Contrarily to what usually occurs in good outcome cases, re-conceptualization i-moments are absent. Moreover, two specific types of i-moments emerged with higher duration: reflection and protest. Qualitative analysis showed that the potential meanings of these i-moments were surpassed by a return to the problematic narrative. Conclusion: The therapeutic stability seems to be maintained by a systematic return to the problematic narrative after the emergence of novelties. This process was referred from a dialogical perspective as a mutual in-feeding of voices, one that emerges in the i-moment and another one that supports the problematic narrative, which is maintained by an oscillation between these two types of voices during therapy.
Factors influencing the beliefs of patients with rheumatoid arthritis regarding disease-modifying medication.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate factors influencing the beliefs of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) regarding disease-modifying medication.


METHOD
Twenty-nine patients with RA either starting a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) for the first time or changing DMARD were recruited. Semi-structured interviews, activity diaries and focus groups were conducted over 9 months. A coding framework was developed and data analysed using the constant comparative method to identify key themes.


RESULTS
DMARDs were perceived as central to the management of RA but strong concerns were expressed about potential long-term effects. Beliefs about DMARDs were informed by material from a wide range of sources. Judgements of efficacy were influenced by symptom relief, occurrence of side-effects and perception of alternative treatment options. Perception, reporting and tolerance of side-effects differed widely between individuals. The emotional impact of starting and being withdrawn from medication appeared stronger in people with more experience of DMARD use.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients have complex and evolving belief systems relating to DMARDs. Understanding these systems will facilitate the provision of appropriate information and effective support not only in decision-making about treatment but also in relation to discontinuing treatment.
Comparative Study of Conventional Colonoscopy, Chromoendoscopy, and Narrow-Band Imaging Systems in Differential Diagnosis of Neoplastic and Nonneoplastic Colonic Polyps

AIM:To identify the feasibility of the narrow-band imaging (NBI) method compared with that of conventional colonoscopy and chromoendoscopy for distinguishing neoplastic and nonneoplastic colonic polyps.METHOD:This study enrolled consecutive patients who underwent colonoscopy using a conventional colonoscope between January and February 2006 at Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Medical Center, Taiwan. These 78 patients had 110 colorectal polyps. During the procedure, conventional colonoscopy first detected lesions, and then the NBI system was used to examine the capillary networks. Thereafter indigo carmine (0.2%) was sprayed directly on the mucosa surface prior to evaluating the crypts using a conventional colonoscope. The pit patterns were characterized using the classification system proposed by Kudo. Finally, a polypectomy or biopsy was performed for histological diagnosis.RESULTS:Of the 110 colorectal polyps, 65 were adenomas, 40 were hyperplastic polyps, and five were adenocarcinomas. The NBI system and pit patterns for all lesions were analyzed. For differential diagnosis of neoplastic (adenoma and adenocarcinoma) and nonneoplastic (hyperplastic) polyps, the sensitivity of the conventional colonoscope for detecting neoplastic polyps was 82.9%, specificity was 80.0% and diagnostic accuracy was 81.8%, significantly lower than those achieved with the NBI system (sensitivity 95.7%, specificity 87.5%, accuracy 92.7%) and chromoendoscopy (sensitivity 95.7%, specificity 87.5%, accuracy 92.7%). Therefore, no significant difference existed between the NBI system and chromoendoscopy during differential diagnosis of neoplastic and nonneoplastic polyps.CONCLUSION:The NBI system identified morphological details that correlate well with polyp histology by chromoendoscopy.
SemEval-2016 Task 8: Meaning Representation Parsing

In this report we summarize the results of the SemEval 2016 Task 8: Meaning Representation Parsing. Participants were asked to generate Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) (Banarescu et al., 2013) graphs for a set of English sentences in the news and discussion forum domains. Eleven sites submitted valid systems. The availability of state-of-the-art baseline systems was a key factor in lowering the bar to entry; many submissions relied on CAMR (Wang et al., 2015b; Wang et al., 2015a) as a baseline system and added extensions to it to improve scores. The evaluation set was quite difficult to parse, particularly due to creative approaches to word representation in the web forum portion. The top scoring systems scored 0.62 F1 according to the Smatch (Cai and Knight, 2013) evaluation heuristic. We show some sample sentences along with a comparison of system parses and perform quantitative ablative studies.
Reduction of persulfate ion by carbon monoxide in alkaline medium: the effect of stoichiometric and astoichiometric components on the reaction Kinetics

The effect of the concentration of oxidant, cadalyst, and various ligands on the kinetics of the oxidation of CO have been studied kinetically, potentiometrically, and spectrometrically, and a general mechanism for the process is proposed.
Prognostic value of histopathological regression in 850 neoadjuvantly treated oesophagogastric adenocarcinomas

Background:Recently, histopathological tumour regression, prevalence of signet ring cells, and localisation were reported as prognostic factors in neoadjuvantly treated oesophagogastric (junctional and gastric) cancer. This exploratory retrospective study analyses independent prognostic factors within a large patient cohort after preoperative chemotherapy including clinical and histopathological factors.Methods:In all, 850 patients presenting with oesophagogastric cancer staged cT3/4 Nany cM0/x were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by resection in two academic centres. Patient data were documented in a prospective database and retrospectively analysed.Results:Of all factors prognostic on univariate analysis, only clinical response, complications, ypTNM stage, and R category were independently prognostic (P<0.01) on multivariate analysis. Tumour localisation and signet ring cells were independently prognostic only when investigator-dependent clinical response evaluation was excluded from the multivariate model. Histopathological tumour regression correlates with tumour grading, Laurén classification, clinical response, ypT, ypN, and R categories but was not identified as an independent prognostic factor. Within R0-resected patients only surgical complications and ypTNM stage were independent prognostic factors.Conclusions:Only established prognostic factors like ypTNM stage, R category, and complications were identified as independent prognostic factors in resected patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In contrast, histopathological tumour regression was not found as an independent prognostic marker.
Height, surface firmness, and visual reference effects on balance control.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the effects of height, surface firmness, and visual reference on standing balance in construction workers.


DESIGN
Controlled laboratory study with balanced repeated measures.


PARTICIPANTS
Twenty four construction workers.


SETTING
Test subjects performed standing tasks at ground level as well as at 3 m and 9 m high balconies on firm or deformable surfaces with close visual references included or excluded from their visual field.


METHODS
Standing balance was determined from center of pressure as measured by a force platform. Dependent variables were root mean square of sway in medial-lateral and anterior-posterior directions, area of sway, and velocity of sway.


RESULTS
Heights without close visual references significantly increased all sway parameters. The effect of height in conditions without close visual references increased dramatically on deformable surfaces.


CONCLUSIONS
Elevated work environments and deformable work surfaces negatively affect balance and may be associated with increased risk of fall incidents. Appropriate close visual references increase the ability to maintain balance.
Pattern and Determinants of Antenatal Booking at Abakaliki Southeast Nigeria

BACKGROUND
Antenatal care is one of the pillars of SAFE Motherhood Initiative aimed at preventing adverse pregnancy outcome. Early antenatal booking is recommended for this benefit.


AIM
The objective of this study was to determine the antenatal booking pattern of pregnant women and its determinants.


SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional survey of pregnant women attending the antenatal booking clinic at Federal Medical Centre Abakaliki Ebonyi State between April 6, 2011 to August 5, 2011 was undertaken. Epi info 2008 version was used for analysis.


RESULTS
The mean age of the respondents was 27.46 (5.81) years and the mean gestational age at booking was 24.33 (5.52) weeks. A total of 83.1% (286/344) of the pregnant women booked after the first trimester while the remaining 16.9% (56/344) booked early. Socio-biological variables and past obstetrics history did not contribute significantly to the gestational age at booking while sickness in index pregnancy, personal wishes, and financial constraint were statistically significant reasons given for seeking antenatal care. Majority of the pregnant women 37.2% (128/344) suggested that the second trimester was the ideal gestational age for booking while 18.3% (63/344) did not know the ideal gestational age for booking. Most pregnant women 81.1% (279/344) knew the benefits of early antenatal care even though they booked late 83.1% (286/344).


CONCLUSION
Most pregnant women access antenatal care late at Abakaliki because of misconception and poverty. Health education and subsidization of cost of medical services will help in reversing the trend of late antenatal booking.
The Impact of Homework on Student Achievement

Utilizing parametric and nonparametric techniques, we assess the role of a heretofore relatively unexplored ‘input’ in the educational process, homework, on academic achievement. Our results indicate that homework is an important determinant of student test scores. Relative to more standard spending related measures, extra homework has a larger and more significant impact on test scores. However, the effects are not uniform across different subpopulations. Specifically, we find additional homework to be most effective for high and low achievers, which is further confirmed by stochastic dominance analysis. Moreover, the parametric estimates of the educational production function overstate the impact of schooling related inputs. In all estimates, the homework coefficient from the parametric model maps to the upper deciles of the nonparametric coefficient distribution and as a by-product the parametric model understates the percentage of students with negative responses to additional homework. JEL: C14, I21, I28
Explaining the decline in coronary heart disease mortality in England and Wales between 1981 and 2000.

BACKGROUND
Coronary heart disease mortality rates have been decreasing in the United Kingdom since the 1970s. Our study aimed to examine how much of the decrease in England and Wales between 1981 and 2000 could be attributed to medical and surgical treatments and how much to changes in cardiovascular risk factors.


METHODS AND RESULTS
The IMPACT mortality model was used to combine and analyze data on uptake and effectiveness of cardiological treatments and risk factor trends in England and Wales. The main data sources were published trials and meta-analyses, official statistics, clinical audits, and national surveys. Between 1981 and 2000, coronary heart disease mortality rates in England and Wales decreased by 62% in men and 45% in women 25 to 84 years old. This resulted in 68 230 fewer deaths in 2000. Some 42% of this decrease was attributed to treatments in individuals (including 11% to secondary prevention, 13% to heart failure treatments, 8% to initial treatments of acute myocardial infarction, and 3% to hypertension treatments) and 58% to population risk factor reductions (principally smoking, 48%; blood pressure, 9.5%; and cholesterol, 9.5%). Adverse trends were seen for physical activity, obesity and diabetes.


CONCLUSIONS
More than half the coronary heart disease mortality decrease in Britain between 1981 and 2000 was attributable to reductions in major risk factors, principally smoking. This emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive strategy that promotes primary prevention, particularly for tobacco and diet, and that maximizes population coverage of effective treatments, especially for secondary prevention and heart failure. These findings may be cautiously generalizable to the United States and other developed countries.
Comorbid anxiety and neurocognitive dysfunctions in children with ADHD

Previous research established that children with ADHD and comorbid anxiety have a later age of ADHD onset, show less off-task and hyperactive behavior, and have more school problems than children with ADHD alone. Comorbid anxiety appears to ameliorate behavioral inhibition deficits, worsen working memory problems, and lengthen reaction times in ADHD. This study investigated the effect of comorbid anxiety on a broad range of neurocognitive functions and includes child-, parent- and teacher reports of anxiety. The sample consisted of 509 children in the age range 5–19 years, including 238 children with a diagnosis of ADHD combined subtype and 271 normal control children. Children were tested on a broad battery of neurocognitive tasks that proved highly sensitive to ADHD in previous work. Linear Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to estimate the effect of comorbid anxiety on the neurocognitive functions. Child reported anxiety was associated with slower motor speed and response speed and better behavioral inhibition. Teacher reported anxiety was related to worse time production. Parent reported anxiety was not significantly associated with any of the neurocognitive functions. Compared to parent and teacher reports of anxiety, child reported comorbid anxiety shows foremost the largest associations with the neurocognitive dysfunctions observed in children with ADHD. This stresses the importance of including child self-reported anxiety assessments in clinical and research practice.
Language barriers and qualitative nursing research: methodological considerations.

AIM
This review of the literature synthesizes methodological recommendations for the use of translators and interpreters in cross-language qualitative research.


BACKGROUND
Cross-language qualitative research involves the use of interpreters and translators to mediate a language barrier between researchers and participants. Qualitative nurse researchers successfully address language barriers between themselves and their participants when they systematically plan for how they will use interpreters and translators throughout the research process. Experienced qualitative researchers recognize that translators can generate qualitative data through translation processes and by participating in data analysis. Failure to address language barriers and the methodological challenges they present threatens the credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability of cross-language qualitative nursing research. Through a synthesis of the cross-language qualitative methods literature, this article reviews the basics of language competence, translator and interpreter qualifications, and roles for each kind of qualitative research approach. Methodological and ethical considerations are also provided.


CONCLUSION
By systematically addressing the methodological challenges cross-language research presents, nurse researchers can produce better evidence for nursing practice and policy making when working across different language groups. Findings from qualitative studies will also accurately represent the experiences of the participants without concern that the meaning was lost in translation.
Influence of macrolide maintenance therapy and bacterial colonisation on exacerbation frequency and progression of COPD (COLUMBUS): Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by progressive development of airflow limitation that is poorly reversible. Because of a poor understanding of COPD pathogenesis, treatment is mostly symptomatic and new therapeutic strategies are limited. There is a direct relationship between the severity of the disease and the intensity of the inflammatory response. Besides smoking, one of the hypotheses for the persistent airway inflammation is the presence of recurrent infections. Macrolide antibiotics have bacteriostatic as well as anti-inflammatory properties in patients with cystic fibrosis and other inflammatory pulmonary diseases. There is consistent evidence that macrolide therapy reduces infectious exacerbations, decreases the requirement for additional antibiotics and improves nutritional measures. Because of these positive effects we hypothesised that maintenance macrolide therapy may also have beneficial effects in patients with COPD who have recurrent exacerbations. The effects on development of bacterial resistance to macrolides due to this long-term treatment are unknown. Until now, studies investigating macrolide therapy in COPD are limited. The objective of this study is to assess whether maintenance treatment with macrolide antibiotics in COPD patients with three or more exacerbations in the previous year decreases the exacerbation rate in the year of treatment and to establish microbial resistance due to the long-term treatment.


METHODS/DESIGN
The study is set up as a prospective randomised double-blind placebo-controlled single-centre trial. A total of 92 patients with COPD who have had at least three exacerbations of COPD in the previous year will be included. Subjects will be randomised to receive either azithromycin 500 mg three times a week or placebo. Our primary endpoint is the reduction in the number of exacerbations of COPD in the year of treatment.


DISCUSSION
We investigate whether long-term therapy with macrolide antibiotics can prevent exacerbations in patients with COPD. Additionally, our study aims to assess the effect of long-term use of macrolide on the development of antimicrobial resistance and on inflammatory parameters related to COPD. We believe this study will provide more data on the effects of macrolide treatment in patients in COPD and will add more knowledge on its working mechanisms.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00985244.
Rationale, study design, baseline characteristics and blood pressure at 16 weeks in the HONEST Study

On the basis of the studies that investigated the relationship between baseline clinic blood pressure (CBP) or home blood pressure (HBP) values and cardiovascular (CV) events, HBP has been reported to have a stronger prognostic ability. However, few studies have compared the prognostic ability of on-treatment CBP and HBP. The relationship between on-treatment HBP, measured twice in the morning and twice at bedtime, and CV events was investigated in over 20 000 patients in the HONEST (Home blood pressure measurement with Olmesartan Naive patients to Establish Standard Target blood pressure) Study, a prospective, 2-year observational study of treatment with an angiotensin receptor blocker, olmesartan (OLM), in OLM-naive hypertensive patients. This report summarizes the study protocol, the baseline characteristics of the patients and CBP and HBP at 16 weeks. A total of 22 373 patients were registered across Japan; baseline data from 22 162 patients were collected. Baseline HBP (mean±s.d.) in the morning (the first measurement) was 151.6±16.4/87.1±11.8 mm Hg and at bedtime was 144.3±16.8/82.8±11.9 mm Hg, whereas CBP was 153.6±19.0/87.1±13.4 mm Hg. At 16 weeks, morning HBP was 135.0±13.7/78.8±9.9 mm Hg and bedtime HBP was 129.7±13.8/74.7±10.1 mm Hg, whereas CBP was 135.6±15.4/77.6±10.9 mm Hg. The follow-up period for each patient ends on 30 September 2012. The HONEST Study is expected to provide evidence showing the relationship between baseline and on-treatment CBP and HBP levels (both first and second measurements) and CV events.