LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Self heating efficiency of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles: A comparative investigation on the conventional and microwave combustion method

Abstract In the present study, we have focused on opuntia dilenii haw mediated green synthesis of cobalt ferrite (CoFe 2 O 4 ) nanoparticles through microwave combustion method (MCM) and it is further compared with the conventional combustion method (CCM). The effect on structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties of the synthesized nanoparticles was investigated systematically. In addition, the efficiency of self heating measurements was investigated for hyperthermia applications. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the formation of single phase crystalline nature of CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles. The crystallite size of 58 nm and 49 nm is obtained for CCM and MCM respectively. The functional groups occurred at 597 cm −1 , 599 cm −1 , 427 cm −1 and 437 cm −1 that corresponds to Fe-O and Co-O bands at tetrahedral and octahedral sites are analyzed by FT-IR studies. Scanning electron microscopy images of the samples revealed the morphology as spherical with the average particle size range of 40–200 nm. The existence of Co, Fe, O present in the sample is confirmed by EDX analysis which shows the purity of the samples. UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is used to analyze the optical band gap energy of the samples estimated from Kubelka-Munk function as 2.01 eV, 1.93 eV for CCM and MCM respectively. The structural defects present in the samples are investigated by photoluminescence studies and the samples emit the light at two different wavelengths of 494 nm, and 621 nm. Vibrating sample magnetometer is carried out to analyze the magnetic properties of the samples at room temperature. The saturation magnetization of the CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles is found to be 77.29 emu/g and 68.76 emu/g for MCM and CCM respectively. The results obtained in this work suggested that the value of crystallite size, particle size, band gap value, luminescence intensities, and coercivity values increases with an increase in calcination temperature in conventional combustion method. Specific absorption rate (SAR) increases with a decrease in the crystallite size and particle size in microwave combustion method. The gradual increase in SAR is due to the hysteresis loss that occurs because of the ferromagnetic nature obtained by the microwave combustion method. An overview of the present work gives a summary on the green synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles, which provides comprehensive evaluation of hyperthermia through self heating process. Finally, from our results, the SAR obtained by microwave combustion method has higher efficiency compared to the conventional combustion method.
Capecitabine/cisplatin versus 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin as first-line therapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer: a randomised phase III noninferiority trial.

BACKGROUND
To compare capecitabine/cisplatin with 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin as first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer (AGC).


PATIENTS AND METHODS
In this randomised, open-label, phase III study, patients received cisplatin (80 mg/m(2) i.v. day 1) plus oral capecitabine (1000 mg/m(2) b.i.d., days 1-14) (XP) or 5-FU (800 mg/m(2)/day by continuous infusion, days 1-5) (FP) every 3 weeks. The primary end point was to confirm noninferiority of XP versus FP for progression-free survival (PFS).


RESULTS
A total of 316 patients were randomised to XP (n = 160) or FP (n = 156). In the per-protocol population, median PFS for XP (n = 139) versus FP (n = 137) was 5.6 versus 5.0 months. The primary end point was met with an unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.81 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-1.04, P < 0.001 versus noninferiority margin of 1.25]. Median overall survival was 10.5 versus 9.3 months for XP versus FP (unadjusted HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.64-1.13, P = 0.008 versus noninferiority margin of 1.25). The most common treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events in XP versus FP patients were as follows: neutropenia (16% versus 19%), vomiting (7% versus 8%), and stomatitis (2% versus 6%).


CONCLUSIONS
XP showed significant noninferiority for PFS versus FP in the first-line treatment of AGC. XP can be considered an effective alternative to FP.
Using facial images for the diagnosis of genetic syndromes: A survey

The analysis of facial appearance is significant to an early diagnosis of medical genetic diseases. The fast development of image processing and machine learning techniques facilitates the detection of facial dysmorphic features. This paper is a survey of the recent studies developed for the screening of genetic abnormalities across the facial features obtained from two dimensional and three dimensional images.
Adaptive page segmentation for color technical journals' cover images

Page segmentation to locate text blocks is a prior and primary step in document processing, in particular for understanding a journal’s cover page. However, texts, graphics and images are usually isolated in most documents, unlike cover pages in which texts may be overlaid onto graphics or images. In this paper a new adaptive page segmentation method is proposed to extract text blocks from various types of color technical journals’ cover images. Although color involves useful information to overcome the overlapping problem, color processing requires tremendous computation loads. Thus, a complexity analysis is included to adaptively adjust processing steps in our approach. In other words, simple cover images, with few colors and no text–graphics/image overlapping, can be treated as monochrome images to speed up processing time, while for complex cover images, with many colors and text–graphics/image overlapping, correct segmentation results can still be obtained but more processing time is required. To accomplish the design concept mentioned above, our method includes several components. First, in order to degrade the processing complexity on true color images, a new simple quantization method is employed to reduce the color numbers from 24-bit true colors to 42 colors or less. In the block segmentation stage, smearing, labeling and complexity analysis techniques are used together with edge and color information to find out coherent blocks adaptively. After that, in the block classification stage, some conventional and some new features are computed from each block to decide whether it is a text block or not. Finally, in the post-processing stage, some spatial relations are adopted to rectify the classification results. Experimental results prove the feasibility and practicality of the proposed approach. q 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Epidemiology of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes in the Italian cardiology network: the BLITZ-2 study.

AIMS
Acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation (NSTEACS) represent an increasingly frequent cause of hospital admission. The BLITZ-2 study was planned to survey the epidemiology and management strategies of NSTEACS in the Italian cardiological network.


METHODS AND RESULTS
The study included 1888 patients with NSTEACS in 275 hospitals in 3 weeks. At admission, almost 20% of patients showed clinical signs of heart failure, half showed ST-segment depression, and half showed any positive biochemical myocardial necrosis marker. Patients admitted to hospitals without CathLab (n=973) were older (P=0.0005) and with higher Killip class on admission (P<0.0001) when compared with those admitted to hospitals with CathLab (n=915). During index hospitalization, 76% of the patients initially admitted to hospitals with invasive capability underwent coronary angiography and 39% percutaneous coronary intervention when compared with 39 and 17.2% of those admitted to hospitals without CathLab (P<0.001). Overall, 30-day mortality was 2.4% (2.0% in patients with invasive capability vs. 2.9% in hospitals without CathLab, P=0.2). Cardiac ischaemic events at 30 days (recurrent MI, recurrent angina, and re-hospitalization for ACS) were significantly higher in the group of patients admitted to hospitals without CathLab (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.24-2.35). However, after multivariable adjustment, only advanced age (OR 1.043, 95% CI 1.021-1.065, P<0.0001) and Killip class >1 (OR 1.633, 95% CI 1.020-2.614, P=0.04) resulted in independent predictors of death, in-hospital MI, and re-admission for ACS, whereas the absence of an on-site CathLab did not predict an adverse outcome (OR 1.104, 95% CI 0.734-1.660).


CONCLUSION
According to this, the nationwide registry outcome is only marginally influenced by invasive procedures. Contemporary management of patients with NSTEACS in Italy is primarily driven by resource availability.
Integrated Class-D Audio Amplifier With 95% Efficiency and 105 dB SNR

An integrated ultralow EMI Class-D amplifier with a feed-forward ADC and feedback filters is demonstrated in a 180 nm CMOS and wire-bonded package. Circuit and architecture techniques, which enable 1.75 W into an 8 Ohm speaker, 105 dB SNR, 95% efficiency, 0.004% THD+N, and 15.4 dB margin beyond the EN55022 Class-B standard, are discussed.
Slap Fingerprint Segmentation for Live-Scan Devices and Ten-Print Cards

Presented here is a highly accurate and computationally efficient algorithm suitable for slap fingerprint segmentation. The main advantages of this algorithm are as follows: 1)three-order cumulant is used to roughly segment the foreground; 2)frequency domain analysis is carried out in local areas to do binarization and fine segmentation; 3)cumulative sum analysis is applied to extract the knuckle lines; 4)two shape features of the ellipse are adapted to calculate the confidence of each fingertip candidate. Experimental results show that the algorithm has the characteristic of more robustness against noise and superior precision, not only for live-scan four finger slaps but also for ten-print-card five finger slaps.
Acupuncture for acute stroke.

BACKGROUND
Acupuncture-like sensory stimulation activates multiple efferent (nerve) pathways leading to altered activity in numerous neural systems. Acupuncture is widely accepted by Chinese people and it is increasingly requested by patients and their relatives in Western countries.


OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in patients with acute stroke.


SEARCH STRATEGY
We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group trials register (last searched August 2003), the Chinese Stroke Trials Register (August 2003) and the Chinese Acupuncture Trials Register (August 2003). Electronic searches were performed in the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2003), MEDLINE (1966 to 2003), EMBASE (1980 to 2003), Alternative Medicine Database (1985 to 2003), CINAHL (1982 to 2003) and the Chinese Biological Medicine Database (1981 to 2003). Reference lists of systematic reviews and identified trials were handsearched.


SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised and quasi-randomised trials of acupuncture started within 30 days of stroke onset, compared with placebo/sham acupuncture or open control in patients with acute ischaemic and/or haemorrhagic stroke. Needling into skin was required for acupuncture.


DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two reviewers selected trials for inclusion, assessed trial quality, and extracted the data independently. Authors of trials were contacted for missing data.


MAIN RESULTS
Fourteen trials involving 1208 patients were included. Ten trials included patients with only ischaemic stroke. When acupuncture was compared with sham acupuncture or open control, there was a borderline significant trend towards fewer patients being dead or dependent (Odds ratio (OR) 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.43 to 0.99), and significantly fewer being dead or needing institutional care (OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.96) in the acupuncture group after three months or more. There was also a significant difference favouring acupuncture in the mean change of global neurological deficit score during the treatment period (standardized mean difference (SMD) 1.17, 95% CI 0.30 to 2.04). Comparison of acupuncture with sham acupuncture only showed a statistically significant difference on death or requiring institutional care (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.96), but not on death or dependency (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.40 to 1.12), or change of global neurological deficit score (SMD 0.01, 95% CI -0.55 to 0.57). Severe adverse events with acupuncture (dizziness, intolerable pain and infection of acupoints) were rare (6/386, 1.55%).


AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Acupuncture appeared to be safe but without clear evidence of benefit. The number of patients is too small to be certain whether acupuncture is effective for treatment of acute ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke. Larger, methodologically-sound trials are required.
Citywide traffic congestion estimation with social media

Conventional traffic congestion estimation approaches require the deployment of traffic sensors or large-scale probe vehicles. The high cost of deploying and maintaining these equipments largely limits their spatial-temporal coverage. This paper proposes an alternative solution with lower cost and wider spatial coverage by exploring traffic related information from Twitter. By regarding each Twitter user as a traffic monitoring sensor, various real-time traffic information can be collected freely from each corner of the city. However, there are two major challenges for this problem. Firstly, the congestion related information extracted directly from real-time tweets are very sparse due both to the low resolution of geographic location mentioned in the tweets and the inherent sparsity nature of Twitter data. Secondly, the traffic event information coming from Twitter can be multi-typed including congestion, accident, road construction, etc. It is non-trivial to model the potential impacts of diverse traffic events on traffic congestion. We propose to enrich the sparse real-time tweets from two directions: 1) mining the spatial and temporal correlations of the road segments in congestion from historical data, and 2) applying auxiliary information including social events and road features for help. We finally propose a coupled matrix and tensor factorization model to effectively integrate rich information for Citywide Traffic Congestion Eestimation (CTCE). Extensive evaluations on Twitter data and 500 million public passenger buses GPS data on nearly 700 mile roads of Chicago demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Self-report and clinician-rated measures of depression severity: can one replace the other?

BACKGROUND
It has been suggested that clinician-rated scales and self-report questionnaires may be interchangeable in the measurement of depression severity, but it has not been tested whether clinically significant information is lost when assessment is restricted to either clinician-rated or self-report instruments. The aim of this study is to test whether self-report provides information relevant to short-term treatment outcomes that is not captured by clinician-rating and vice versa.


METHODS
In genome-based drugs for depression (GENDEP), 811 patients with major depressive disorder treated with escitalopram or nortriptyline were assessed with the clinician-rated Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), and the self-report Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In sequenced treatment alternatives to relieve depression (STAR*D), 4,041 patients treated with citalopram were assessed with the clinician-rated and self-report versions of the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-C and QIDS-SR) in addition to HRSD.


RESULTS
In GENDEP, baseline BDI significantly predicted outcome on MADRS/HRSD after adjusting for baseline MADRS/HRSD, explaining additional 3 to 4% of variation in the clinician-rated outcomes (both P < .001). Likewise, each clinician-rated scale significantly predicted outcome on BDI after adjusting for baseline BDI and explained additional 1% of variance in the self-reported outcome (both P < .001). The results were confirmed in STAR*D, where self-report and clinician-rated versions of the same instrument each uniquely contributed to the prediction of treatment outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Complete assessment of depression should include both clinician-rated scales and self-reported measures.
OpenVIDIA: parallel GPU computer vision

Graphics and vision are approximate inverses of each other: ordinarily Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are used to convert "numbers into pictures" (i.e. computer graphics). In this paper, we propose using GPUs in approximately the reverse way: to assist in "converting pictures into numbers" (i.e. computer vision). The OpenVIDIA project uses single or multiple graphics cards to accelerate image analysis and computer vision. It is a library and API aimed at providing a graphics hardware accelerated processing framework for image processing and computer vision. OpenVIDIA explores the creation of a parallel computer architecture consisting of multiple Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) built entirely from commodity hardware. OpenVIDIA uses multiple Graphic.Processing Units in parallel to operate as a general-purpose parallel computer architecture. It provides a simple API which implements some common computer vision algorithms. Many components can be used immediately and because the project is Open Source, the code is intended to serve as templates and examples for how similar algorithms are mapped onto graphics hardware. Implemented are image processing techniques (Canny edge detection, filtering), image feature handling (identifying and matching features) and image registration, to name a few.
Lifestyle choices and mental health: a longitudinal survey with German and Chinese students

BACKGROUND
A healthy lifestyle can be beneficial for one's mental health. Thus, identifying healthy lifestyle choices that promote psychological well-being and reduce mental problems is useful to prevent mental disorders. The aim of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the predictive values of a broad range of lifestyle choices for positive mental health (PMH) and mental health problems (MHP) in German and Chinese students.


METHOD
Data were assessed at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Samples included 2991 German (Mage = 21.69, SD = 4.07) and 12,405 Chinese (Mage = 20.59, SD = 1.58) university students. Lifestyle choices were body mass index, frequency of physical and mental activities, frequency of alcohol consumption, smoking, vegetarian diet, and social rhythm irregularity. PMH and MHP were measured with the Positive Mental Health Scale and a 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. The predictive values of lifestyle choices for PMH and MHP at baseline and follow-up were assessed with single-group and multi-group path analyses.


RESULTS
Better mental health (higher PMH and fewer MHP) at baseline was predicted by a lower body mass index, a higher frequency of physical and mental activities, non-smoking, a non-vegetarian diet, and a more regular social rhythm. When controlling for baseline mental health, age, and gender, physical activity was a positive predictor of PMH, smoking was a positive predictor of MHP, and a more irregular social rhythm was a positive predictor of PMH and a negative predictor of MHP at follow-up. The good fit of a multi-group model indicated that most lifestyle choices predict mental health comparably across samples. Some country-specific effects emerged: frequency of alcohol consumption, for example, predicted better mental health in German and poorer mental health in Chinese students.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings underline the importance of healthy lifestyle choices for improved psychological well-being and fewer mental health difficulties. Effects of lifestyle on mental health are comparable in German and Chinese students. Some healthy lifestyle choices (i.e., more frequent physical activity, non-smoking, regular social rhythm) are related to improvements in mental health over a 1-year period.
Learning the optimal operating point for many-core systems with extended range voltage/frequency scaling

Near-Threshold Computing (NTC) has emerged as a solution that promises to significantly increase the energy efficiency of next-generation multi-core systems. This paper evaluates and analyzes the behavior of dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) control algorithms for multi-core systems operating under near-threshold, nominal, or turbo-mode conditions. We adapt the model selection technique from machine learning to learn the relationship between performance and power. The theoretical results show that the resulting models satisfy convexity properties essential to efficiently determining optimal voltage/frequency operating points for minimizing energy consumption under throughput constraints or maximizing throughput under a given power budget. Our experimental results show that, compared with DVFS in the conventional operating range, extended range DVFS control including turbo-mode and near-threshold operation achieves an additional (1) 13.28% average energy reduction under iso-performance conditions, and (2) 7.54% average throughput increase under iso-power conditions.
Management of neutropenia in cancer patients.

ML The majority of cancer patients develop neutropenia, most often due to chemotherapy. Neutropenia can also be caused by solid tumor malignancies, if they infiltrate the bone marrow, or by certain lymphoproliferative malignancies, such as natural killer cell lymphomas (large granular lymphocytic leukemia), hairy cell leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Radiation, if it is administered to multiple sites of active bone marrow proliferation, can cause neutropenia. There are also less common autoimmune etiologies and rare genetic, congenital, or monoclonal pathologic etiologies for neutropenia that can occur in patients with and without cancer, for example, aplastic anemia, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, May-Hegglin anomaly, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and systemic lupus erythematosus. The soluble Fas ligand mediates the apoptosis of neutrophils in large granular lymphocytic leukemia, whereas the autoimmune etiologies are associated with increased levels of circulating antineutrophil antibodies with accelerated neutrophil apoptosis. Felty’s syndrome is an RA-associated neutrophilia, perhaps exaggerated by hypersplenism. Viral (CMV, EBV, HIV, etc), parasitic (malaria), and malignant etiologies for hemophagocytosis should also be considered in the differential diagnosis when neutropenia is associated with other cytopenias. Finally, cancer and non-cancer patients alike may develop antibiotic-induced isolated neutropenia with the bone marrow aspiration revealing maturation arrest of the myeloid lineage. This is immediately reversible upon discontinuation of the antibiotic (eg, penicillin agents, beta-lactam antibiotics). One should also be aware of the genetic predisposition for isolated neutropenia present in some African Americans and the occurrence of fluctuating cyclical neutropenia in cyclic neutropenia. H&O How is the diagnosis of neutropenia made in cancer patients?