LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Combined butyric acid/mesalazine treatment in ulcerative colitis with mild-moderate activity. Results of a multicentre pilot study.

AIM
The short-chain fatty acid, acetate, propionate and butyrate are end products of fermentation by intestinal microflora of the indigestible material, mainly carbohydrates, reaching the colon and are essential for the vital function of the colonic cells. Butyric acid furnishes energy to the cells of the colon and may play an anti-inflammatory role in pathologies of large bowel. Low concentrations of butyrate and of short-chain fatty acids have been found in the colon of patients with ulcerative colitis and this may justify therapy with butyrate and mesalazine in this disease. The aim of the paper was to evaluate the efficacy of treatment with butyric acid and mesalazine in reducing relapse of mild to moderate ulcerative colitis in affected patients.


METHODS
An open study was conducted by 19 Italian Gastrointestinal Units, forming part of the GISDI study Group, in 216 patients with ulcerative colitis who showed an incomplete response to standard mesalazine treatment. The treatment proposed is mesalazine (800 mg x3) + 3 butyrate 0.3 g + 0.250 inulin tablets, in a formulation resistant to intestinal absorption (ZACOL NMX, Bioactival).


RESULTS
The results obtained indicate that the addition of 3 tablets/die of ZACOL-MNX is effective in reducing disease activity, with a marked improvement of symptoms and in the endoscopic appearance of mucosa.


CONCLUSION
These findings prompt a further double-blind investigation to better define the efficacy of the proposed treatment.
Contamination of groundwaters

International experts have contributed key chapters to this major work in groundwater contamination. Section 1: Methodology and Modeling deals with both organic and inorganic contaminants, including those from agricultural operations. Section 2: Case Studies presents contamination scenarios with both inorganic and organic chemicals, including nitrates and PCBs. This book is a welcome addition to the literature and will enhance recent information on methodology, modeling and real-world situations. It is of interest to scientists and planners in local and national government; environmental chemists, geochemists, geologists, and health and safety officers; river authorities; hydrologists; and the mining and land reclamation industries.
Multi-dimensional knowledge translation: Enabling health informatics capacity audits using patient journey models

This paper presents a multi-dimensional approach to knowledge translation, enabling results obtained from a survey evaluating the uptake of Information Technology within Neonatal Intensive Care Units to be translated into knowledge, in the form of health informatics capacity audits. Survey data, having multiple roles, patient care scenarios, levels, and hospitals, is translated using a structured data modeling approach, into patient journey models. The data model is defined such that users can develop queries to generate patient journey models based on a pre-defined Patient Journey Model architecture (PaJMa). PaJMa models are then analyzed to build capacity audits. Capacity audits offer a sophisticated view of health informatics usage, providing not only details of what IT solutions a hospital utilizes, but also answering the questions: when, how and why, by determining when the IT solutions are integrated into the patient journey, how they support the patient information flow, and why they improve the patient journey.
On the Sample Complexity of the Linear Quadratic Regulator

education Ph.D. candidate, EECS, University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2019 (Expected). Advised by Prof. Benjamin Recht. S.M., EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Spring 2014. Advised by Prof. Samuel Madden. Thesis: Fast Transactions for Multicore In-Memory Databases. B.A., Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2010. B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2010.
SOME IDENTITIES INVOLVING THE FIBONACCI POLYNOMIALS *

for » = (>, 1,2,.... If x = 1, then the sequence F(l) is called the Fibonacci sequence, and we shall denote it by F = {F„). The various properties of {Fn) were investigated by many authors. For example, Duncan [1] and Kuipers [3] proved that QogFJ is uniformly distributed mod 1. Robbins [4] studied the Fibonacci numbers of the forms px ±1 and px ± 1, where p is a prime. The second author [5] obtained some identities involving the Fibonacci numbers. The main purpose of this paper is to study how to calculate the summation involving the Fibonacci polynomials:
Orientation Passport: using gamification to engage university students

Adding game elements to an application to motivate use and enhance the user experience is a growing trend known as gamification. This study explores the use of game achievements when applied to a mobile application designed to help new students at university. This paper describes the foundations of a design framework used to integrate game elements to Orientation Passport, a personalised orientation event application for smart phones. Orientation Passport utilises game achievements to present orientation information in an engaging way and to encourage use of the application. The system is explained in terms of the design framework, and the findings of a pilot study involving 26 new students are presented. This study contributes the foundations of a design framework for general gamified achievement design. It also suggests that added game elements can be enjoyable but can potentially encourage undesirable use by some, and aren't as enjoyable if not enforced properly by the technology. Consideration is also needed when enforcing stricter game rules as usability can be affected.
Mass spectrometry of π-complexes of transition metals : X. Methylferrocene☆

Abstract The study of deuterium labelled methylferrocenes has shown the ions C 11 H 11 Fe + , C 6 H 6 Fe + , C 5 H 6 Fe + to originate from the isomerised form of the molecular ion in which all the hydrogen atoms are redistributed among the ligands.
3.5 years of insulin therapy with insulin glargine improves in vivo endothelial function in type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE
To determine long-term effects of insulin glargine on vascular function in patients with type 2 diabetes.


METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 49 in vivo endothelial function tests, intrabrachial artery infusions of endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine [ACh]) and endothelium-independent (sodium nitroprusside [SNP]) vasoactive agents, were performed in 11 patients with type 2 diabetes (age: 59+/-2 years; BMI: 29.7+/-0.9 kg/m2; fasting plasma glucose: 226+/-14 mg/dL) and 16 matched normal subjects. The tests in the type 2 diabetic patients were performed before and after 6 months and 3.5 years of combination therapy with insulin glargine and metformin. A control group of type 2 diabetic patients not treated with insulin was studied twice at 6-month intervals. Before treatment, blood flow during infusions of low and high doses of ACh were significantly lower in the type 2 diabetic patients than in the normal subjects (P=0.021 for ANOVA). In the patients with type 2 diabetes, blood flow during infusion of the low dose of ACh averaged 7.1+/-0.8 mL/dL per minute at baseline, 8.8+/-1.0 mL/dL per minute at 6 months (NS), and then increased compared with baseline by 87+/-29% to 11.6+/-1.4 mL/dL per minute at 3.5 years (P<0.02 versus baseline). Blood flow during infusion of the high dose of ACh increased from 8.8+/-0.9 at baseline to 13.0+/-1.9 mL/dL per minute at 6 months (P<0.05) and by 86+/-25% to 14.7+/-1.6 mL/dL per minute at 3.5 years (P<0.01 versus baseline), which was not different from normal subjects. Blood flow during infusion of low (blood flow at 0 months: 7.7+/-0.5; at 6 months: 9.9+/-0.6; P<0.01 for 6 versus 0 months; and 3.5 years: 11.6+/-1.1 mL/dL per minute; P<0.02 for 3.5 years versus 0 months) and high (blood flow at 0 months: 10.7+/-0.9; 6 months: 13.4+/-1.0; P<0.05 for 6 versus 0 months; and 3.5 years: 16.6+/-1.5 mL/dL per minute; P<0.05 for 3.5 years versus 0 months) doses of SNP also increased significantly during insulin therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that insulin glargine therapy improves endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilatation. These data support the idea that long-term insulin therapy has beneficial rather than harmful effects on vascular function in type 2 diabetes.
Determinants of the Changes in Glycemic Control with Exercise Training in Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Trial

AIMS
To assess the determinants of exercise training-induced improvements in glucose control (HbA1C) including changes in serum total adiponectin and FFA concentrations, and skeletal muscle peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) protein content.


METHODS
A sub-cohort (n = 35; 48% men; 74% Caucasian) from the HART-D study undertaking muscle biopsies before and after 9 months of aerobic (AT), resistance (RT), or combination training (ATRT).


RESULTS
Changes in HbA1C were associated with changes in adiponectin (r = -0.45, P = 0.007). Participants diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for a longer duration had the largest increase in PGC-1α (r = 0.44, P = 0.008). Statistical modeling examining changes in HbA1C suggested that male sex (P = 0.05), non-Caucasian ethnicity (P = 0.02), duration of type 2 diabetes (r = 0.40; P<0.002) and changes in FFA (r = 0.36; P<0.004), adiponectin (r = -0.26; P<0.03), and PGC-1α (r = -0.28; P = 0.02) explain ∼65% of the variability in the changes in HbA1C.


CONCLUSIONS
Decreases in HbA1C after 9 months of exercise were associated with shorter duration of diabetes, lowering of serum FFA concentrations, increasing serum adiponectin concentrations and increasing skeletal muscle PGC-1α protein expression.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00458133.
Prior knowledge of HPV status improves detection of CIN2+ by cytology screening.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to investigate whether knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) deoxyribonucleic acid test results increases sensitivity of guided cytology screening for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-2 or higher-grade cervical lesions.


STUDY DESIGN
This was a prospective colposcopy-controlled study of 2905 BD SurePath samples to identify cases with CIN2+ within a 24 month follow-up period. Sensitivity and specificity to detect CIN2+ was evaluated, comparing guided cytology screening with and without prior knowledge of HPV status.


RESULTS
Prior knowledge of HPV status resulted in significantly higher detection rate of CIN2+ compared with screening blinded to HPV status (P = .005) with limited loss of specificity (P = .026). Gain in sensitivity is higher in older women (43.8%, P = .008) vs in younger women (10.2%, P = .317), whereas loss of specificity is more pronounced in younger women (P < .001) vs older women (P = .729).


CONCLUSION
Guided cytological screening performed with prior knowledge of HPV status results in an improved detection of CIN2 or higher-grade lesions.
Bootstrap Universe from Self-Referential Noise

We further deconstruct Heraclitean Quantum Systems giving a model for a universe using pregeometric notions in which the end-game problem is overcome by means of self-referential noise. The model displays self-organisation with the emergence of 3-space and time. The time phenomenon is richer than the present geometric modelling.
Elevated plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels predict left atrial appendage dysfunction in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND
It is well known that left atrial appendage (LAA) dysfunction plays an important role in the occurrence of cardioembolic stroke. The atrium is the main source of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We hypothesized that the plasma BNP level would be a sensitive predictor of LAA dysfunction in patients with acute ischemic stroke.


METHODS AND RESULTS
Transesophageal echocardiography was performed and plasma BNP levels were measured in 223 patients (145 males, age 69 ± 14 years), within 7 days after the onset of acute ischemic stroke. None of the patients had a history of congestive heart failure. LAA thrombus was detected in 23 of 77 (30%) patients with AF. Plasma BNP levels were markedly higher in patients with cardioembolic stroke compared to those without (144 pg/ml vs. 35 pg/ml, p<0.05). Plasma BNP levels were significantly correlated with LAA emptying flow velocity regardless of sinus rhythm (R=-0.352) or AF (R=-0.436). Furthermore, among patients with cardioembolic stroke, plasma BNP levels were markedly higher in patients with cardiogenic stroke, as diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography, than in those with cryptogenic stroke (193 pg/ml vs. 14 pg/ml, p<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a BNP concentration >90 pg/ml was an independent predictor of cardiogenic stroke (odds ratio 41.39, 95% confidence interval 1.28-138; p=0.0358).


CONCLUSION
Elevated plasma BNP concentrations may be a reliable surrogate marker for the prediction of LAA dysfunction and cardiogenic stroke in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
Do No Harm: Challenges in Organizing Psychosocial Support to Displaced People in Emergency Settings

Psychosocial assistance in emergencies plays an important role in alleviating suffering and promoting well-being, but it is often a source of unintended harm. A prerequisite for ethically appropriate support is awareness of how psychosocial programs may cause harm. This paper underscores the importance of attending to issues of coordination, dependency, politicization of aid, assessment, short-term assistance, imposition of outsider approaches, protection, and impact evaluation. With regard to each of these issues, it suggests practical steps that may be taken to reduce harm and maximize the humanitarian value of psychosocial assistance.
Multi-model Ontology-Based Hybrid Recommender System in E-learning Domain

This paper introduces a multi-model ontology-based framework for semantic search of educational content in E-learning repository of courses, lectures, multimedia resources, etc. This hybrid recommender system is driven by two types of recommendations: content-based (domain ontology model) and rule-based (learner’s interest-based and cluster-based). The domain ontology is used to represent the learning materials. In this context, the ontology is composed by a hierarchy of concepts and sub-concepts. Whereas, the learner’s ontology model represents a subset of the domain ontology, and the cluster-based recommendations are added as additional semantic recommendations to the model. Combining the content-based with the rule-based provides the user with hybrid recommendations. All of them influenced the re-ranking of the retrieved documents with different weights. Our proposed approach has been implemented on the HyperManyMedia1 platform.
A Home-Based Walking Program Improves Respiratory Endurance in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to evaluate respiratory muscle strength and endurance in the inpatient period in patients who recently experienced myocardial infarction (MI) and investigate the effects of a home-based walking program on respiratory strength and endurance in low-risk patients after MI.


METHODS
Patients were randomized into a usual-care group (UCG) entailing regular care (n = 23) and an intervention group (IG) entailing an outpatient home-based walking program (n = 31). Healthy sex- and age-matched participants served as a control group for respiratory endurance variables. Respiratory muscle strength was evaluated through maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) and endurance during the inpatient period, at 15 days, and at 60 days after MI. Submaximal functional capacity was determined by a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) at hospital discharge and 60 days after MI.


RESULTS
Both groups showed impaired inspiratory muscle strength at hospital discharge. When compared with healthy individuals, after MI, patients had worse respiratory muscle endurance pressure (PTHmax = 73.02 ± 8.40 vs 44.47 ± 16.32; P < 0.05) and time (Tlim = 324.1 ± 12.2 vs 58.7 ± 93.3; P < 0.05). Only the IG showed a significant improvement in MIP and PTHmax at 15 days and 60 days after MI (P < 0.05). When comparing groups, the IG achieved higher values for MIP, PTHmax, and Tlim 15 and 60 days after MI (P < 0.01). The 60-day assessment revealed that the 6MWT distance and level of physical activity was significantly higher in the IG compared with the UCG.


CONCLUSIONS
Low-risk patients recently experiencing MI demonstrate impaired MIP and respiratory endurance compared with healthy participants. A home-based walking program improved respiratory endurance and functional capacity.
Cellular Responses to Cisplatin-Induced DNA Damage

Cisplatin is one of the most effective anticancer agents widely used in the treatment of solid tumors. It is generally considered as a cytotoxic drug which kills cancer cells by damaging DNA and inhibiting DNA synthesis. How cells respond to cisplatin-induced DNA damage plays a critical role in deciding cisplatin sensitivity. Cisplatin-induced DNA damage activates various signaling pathways to prevent or promote cell death. This paper summarizes our current understandings regarding the mechanisms by which cisplatin induces cell death and the bases of cisplatin resistance. We have discussed various steps, including the entry of cisplatin inside cells, DNA repair, drug detoxification, DNA damage response, and regulation of cisplatin-induced apoptosis by protein kinases. An understanding of how various signaling pathways regulate cisplatin-induced cell death should aid in the development of more effective therapeutic strategies for the treatment of cancer.
DP-GAN: Diversity-Promoting Generative Adversarial Network for Generating Informative and Diversified Text

Existing text generation methods tend to produce repeated and “boring” expressions. To tackle this problem, we propose a new text generation model, called Diversity-Promoting Generative Adversarial Network (DP-GAN). The proposed model assigns low reward for repeatedly generated text and high reward for “novel” and fluent text, encouraging the generator to produce diverse and informative text. Moreover, we propose a novel languagemodel based discriminator, which can better distinguish novel text from repeated text without the saturation problem compared with existing classifier-based discriminators. The experimental results on review generation and dialogue generation tasks demonstrate that our model can generate substantially more diverse and informative text than existing baselines.1
Absent event-related potential (ERP) word repetition effects in mild Alzheimer's disease

OBJECTIVE
We hypothesized that an ERP word repetition paradigm, which reliably elicits and modulates the P600 and N400 components, would be particularly sensitive to the memory deficits and altered synaptic plasticity in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). The P600 (a late positive component, or 'LPC'), and the N400, are sensitive indices of memory encoding and semantic processing, respectively.


METHODS
We studied 11 patients with mild AD (mean MMSE=22.9) and 11 elderly (mean age=77.1) normal controls (NC) on a paradigm in which semantically 'congruous' category statement/exemplar pairs (50%) and 'incongruous' category statement/non-exemplar pairs (50%) repeat at 10-140 s intervals. A minimum of 19 channels ERP data were recorded and submitted to split-plot ANOVAs.


RESULTS
Normal ERP data showed: (1) a significant word repetition effect for congruous words, with a wide-spread late positivity between approximately 300 and 800 ms post-stimulus (P600) that is larger for New than Old words; (2) a significant N400 repetition effect for incongruous words, with a right posterior negativity that is reduced for Old relative to New words. By contrast, neither of these word repetition effects was reliably present in the mild AD group. Good group discrimination was achieved by requiring that both these repetition effects were > or = the 10th percentile, with 100% sensitivity and 82% specificity.


CONCLUSIONS
We found significant abnormalities of the N400 and P600 in mild AD, with both potentials showing markedly reduced sensitivity to word repetition.


SIGNIFICANCE
The absence of normal N400 and LPC/P600 word repetition effects suggests impaired functioning of their neural generators, several of which are located in medial temporal lobe predilection sites (e.g. anterior fusiform, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus) for AD/tau pathology.
Measuring Systems Interoperability : Challenges and Opportunities

..............................................................................................................ix 1 Interoperability .............................................................................................1 1.
Phenolic Acids Exert Anticholinesterase and Cognition-Improving Effects.

Numerous authors have provided evidence regarding the beneficial effects of phenolic acids and their derivatives against Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this review, the role of phenolic acids as inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) is discussed, including the structure-activity relationship. In addition, the inhibitory effect of phenolic acids on the formation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) fibrils is presented. We also cover the in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies concerning the prevention and treatment of the cognitive enhancement.
Critically ill patients with cancer: chances and limitations of intensive care medicine—a narrative review

This narrative review deals with the challenge of defining adequate therapy goals and intensive care unit (ICU) admission criteria for critically ill patients with cancer. Several specific complications of critically ill patients with cancer require close collaborations of intensive care and cancer specialists. Intensivists require a basic understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis and therapy of common cancer-specific problems. Cancer specialists must be knowledgeable in preventing, detecting and treating imminent or manifest organ failures. In case of one or more organ dysfunctions, ICU admissions must be evaluated early. In order to properly define the therapy goals for critically ill patients with cancer, decision-makers must be aware of the short-term intensive care prognosis as well as the long-term oncological options and perspectives. Multidisciplinary teamwork is key when it comes down to decisions on ICU admission, planning of therapeutic aims, patient management in the ICU and tailored therapy limiting with smooth transition into a palliative care (PC) setting, whenever appropriate.
Interleukin 1 beta polymorphism (-511) and risk of stroke due to small vessel disease.

BACKGROUND
Interleukin 1 (IL-1) is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in atherogenesis and thrombosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the IL-1beta gene polymorphism (-511) and the risk of large vessel disease (LVD) stroke, small vessel disease (SVD) stroke and cardioembolic (CE) stroke.


METHODS
We genotyped 115 patients with LVD stroke and 194 matched controls, 122 patients with SVD stroke and 227 controls and 221 patients with CE stroke and 219 controls. The IL-1beta polymorphism was analyzed by a polymerase chain reaction followed by a restriction enzyme digestion.


RESULTS
The allele T distribution did not change significantly between patients with LVD stroke and their controls nor between patients with CE stroke and their controls. The frequency of the T allele was higher in patients with SVD stroke than in the control group (37.7 vs. 30.4%, p = 0.05). After adjustment for vascular risk factor, the TT genotype was an independent risk factor for SVD stroke (OR: 2.40, 95% CI: 1.17-4.94).


CONCLUSIONS
The TT genotype of the IL-1beta gene may be associated with an increased risk of SVD stroke.