LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Ensemble boosted trees with synthetic features generation in application to bankruptcy prediction

Bankruptcy prediction has been a subject of interests for almost a century and it still ranks high among hottest topics in economics. The aim of predicting financial distress is to develop a predictive model that combines various econometric measures and allows to foresee a financial condition of a firm. In this domain various methods were proposed that were based on statistical hypothesis testing, statistical modelling (e.g., generalized linear models), and recently artificial intelligence (e.g., neural networks, Support Vector Machines, decision tress). In this paper, we propose a novel approach for bankruptcy prediction that utilizes Extreme Gradient Boosting for learning an ensemble of decision trees. Additionally, in order to reflect higher-order statistics in data and impose a prior knowledge about data representation, we introduce a new concept that we refer as to synthetic features. A synthetic feature is a combination of the econometric measures using arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). Each synthetic feature can be seen as a single regression model that is developed in an evolutionary manner. We evaluate our solution using the collected data about Polish companies in five tasks corresponding to the bankruptcy prediction in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year. We compare our approach with the reference methods. ∗Corresponding author, Tel.: (+48) 71 320 44 53. Email addresses: maciej.zieba@pwr.edu.pl (Maciej Zięba ), sebastian.tomczak@pwr.edu.pl (Sebastian K. Tomczak), jakub.tomczak@pwr.edu.pl (Jakub M. Tomczak) Preprint submitted to Expert Systems with Applications April 4, 2016
Physical activity in adolescents and adults with congenital heart defects: individualized exercise prescription.

CardiovascularDiseases,University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven,Belgium; Department ofCardiovascular Sciences,KU Leuven,Herestraat49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium; SwedishSchoolof Sports and Health Science, and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Centre, IRCCS—Policlinico San Donato San Donato Milanese, Milan, Italy; Heartcenter of Northrhine Westphalia University of Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany; Groupe Médical du Petit-Lancy, Petit-Lancy, Switzerland; Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padua Medical School, Padova, Italy; Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Heart Institute, Cincinnati, OH, USA; GUCH Unit, Skåne University Hospital Heart failure and Valvular heart disease, Lund, Sweden; and Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre, St George’s University of London, London, UK
Randomized clinical trial assessing impact of a lightweight or heavyweight mesh on chronic pain after inguinal hernia repair.

BACKGROUND
Severe chronic pain is a long-term problem that may occur after inguinal hernia repair. The aim of this randomized study was to compare pain of any severity at 12 months after inguinal hernia repair with a partially absorbable lightweight mesh (LW group) or with a non-absorbable heavyweight mesh (HW group).


METHODS
Patients were assessed for pain at 1, 3 and 12 months by questionnaire, and were examined clinically at 12 months.


RESULTS
Some 321 patients were included in an intention-to-treat analysis, 162 in the LW group and 159 in the HW group. At 12 months, significantly fewer patients in the LW group than in the HW group had pain of any severity: 39.5 versus 51.6 per cent (difference-12.1 (95 per cent confidence interval-23.1 to-1.0) per cent; P = 0.033). The recurrence rate was higher in the LW group (5.6 versus 0.4 per cent; P = 0.037). Five of eight recurrences in LW group were associated with a single participating centre.


CONCLUSION
Use of lightweight mesh was associated with less chronic pain but an increase in hernia recurrence after inguinal hernia repair. The latter may be related to technical factors associated with fixation of such meshes rather than any inherent defect in the mesh.
Performance of spectrum sensing using Welch's periodogram in rayleigh fading channel

In this paper we present theoretical performance evaluation of spectrum sensing with energy detection using Welch's periodogram for cognitive radio systems. We generalize the theoretical expressions for the probability of detection and the probability of false alarm of energy detection in Rayleigh fading channel to the case of Welch's periodogram. We verify the theoretical results by simulations both in single node and cooperative sensing scenarios. In particular, cooperation is crucial in fading environment. Protection of primary systems from harmful interference is the key requisite for the introduction of cognitive radio systems into the future spectrum regulatory framework if the systems are deployed on the same spectrum bands. The primary user's concern is how often it could be susceptible to potential interference from the cognitive radio system, which, as we show, is dependent on the probability of detection. Therefore, performance evaluation and in particular the probability of detection is critical in assessing the potential capabilities of the future cognitive radio systems.
Assessment of Groundwater quality using Water Quality Index

Fifty sampling stations have been identified and water samples were collected from June to May 2008, to know the groundwater quality of Greater Visakhapatnam city using Water Quality Index. The samples were analyzed for the physico-chemical parameters like Temperature, pH, Conductivity, Total dissolved solids, Dissolved Oxygen, Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Chloride and Nitrate. The range of Water Quality Index is 28 to 267. Sample stations 33, 42, 43, and 45-47 come under excellent water quality and 4, 11-14, 18, 21, 26-28, 31, 36, 37, 38, 40, and 44 belong good water quality. The sample stations 5-8, 15, 22, 23, 34, and 41 are poor water quality. Sample station 3 has very poor water quality. Salt water intrusion has also been assessed using various parameters. According to Cl /(CO3 2+ HCO3 ) and TA/TH ratios, the sample stations 2 and 3 are not useful for human consumption.
Hypericum perforatum and neem oil for the management of acute skin toxicity in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation or chemo-radiation: a single-arm prospective observational study

BACKGROUND
Radiation dermatitis is common in patients treated with combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy for head and neck malignancies. Its timely and adequate management is of uttermost importance for both oncological outcomes and global quality of life. We prospectively evaluated the role of hypericum perforatum and neem oil (Holoil®; RIMOS srl, Mirandola, Italy) in the treatment of acute skin toxicity for patients undergoing radiotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.


METHODS
A consecutive series of 28 head and neck cancer patients submitted to radiotherapy (RT) was enrolled onto this mono-institutional single-arm prospective observational study. Patients undergoing both definitive or post-operative radiotherapy were allowed, either as exclusive modality or combined with (concomitant or induction) chemotherapy. We started Holoil treatment whenever bright erythema, moderate oedema or patchy moist desquamation were observed. Holoil® was used during all RT course and during follow up time, until acute skin toxicity recovery.


RESULTS
The maximum detected acute skin toxicity was Grade 1 in 7% of patients, Grade 2 in 68%, Grade 3 in 25%, while at the end of RT was Grade 0 in 3.5%, Grade 1 in 32%, Grade 2 in 61%, Grade 3 in 3.5%. For patients having G2 acute skin toxicity, it mainly started at weeks 4-5; for those having G3, it began during weeks 5-6. Median times spent with G2 or G3 toxicity were 17.5 and 11 days. Patients having G2 acute skin toxicity had a dermatitis worsening in 27% of case (median occurrence time: 7 days). G3 events were reconverted to a G2 profile in all patients (median time: 7 days). Those experiencing a G2 skin event were converted to a G1 score in 23% of cases (median time: 14 days). Time between maximum acute skin toxicity and complete skin recovery after RT was 27 days.


CONCLUSIONS
Holoil® proved to be a safe and active option in the management of acute skin toxicity in head and neck cancer patients submitted to RT or chemo-radiotherapy. A prophylactic effect in the prevention of moist desquamation may be hypothesized for hypericum and neem oil and need to be tested within a prospective controlled study.
Low-dose sodium nitrite attenuates myocardial ischemia and vascular ischemia-reperfusion injury in human models.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to assess the potential benefits of inorganic nitrite in 2 clinical models: stress-induced myocardial ischemia and whole-arm ischemia-reperfusion.


BACKGROUND
Inorganic nitrite, traditionally considered a relatively inert metabolite of nitric oxide, may exert vasomodulatory and vasoprotective effects. Despite promising results from animal models, few have shown effectiveness in human model systems, and none have fully translated to the clinical setting.


METHODS
In 10 patients with inducible myocardial ischemia, saline and low-dose sodium nitrite (NaNO₂) (1.5 μmol/min for 20 min) were administered in a double-blind fashion during dobutamine stress echocardiography, at separate visits and in a random order; long-axis myocardial function was quantified by peak systolic velocity (Vs) and strain rate (SR) responses. In 19 healthy subjects, flow-mediated dilation was assessed before and after whole-arm ischemia-reperfusion; nitrite was given before ischemia or during reperfusion.


RESULTS
Comparing saline and nitrite infusions, Vs and SR at peak dobutamine increased in regions exhibiting ischemia (Vs from 9.5 ± 0.5 cm/s to 12.4 ± 0.6 cm/s, SR from -2.0 ± 0.2 s(-1) to -2.8 ± 0.3 s(-1)), whereas they did not change in normally functioning regions (Vs from 12.6 ± 0.4 cm/s to 12.6 ± 0.6 cm/s, SR from -2.6 ± 0.3 s(-1) to -2.3 ± 0.1 s(-1)) (p < 0.001, analysis of variance). With NaNO2, the increment of Vs (normalized for increase in heart rate) increased only in poorly functioning myocardial regions (+122%, p < 0.001). Peak flow-mediated dilation decreased by 43% after ischemia-reperfusion when subjects received only saline (6.8 ± 0.7% vs. 3.9 ± 0.7%, p < 0.01); administration of NaNO2 before ischemia prevented this decrease in flow-mediated dilation (5.9 ± 0.7% vs. 5.2 ± 0.5%, p = NS), whereas administration during reperfusion did not.


CONCLUSIONS
Low-dose NaNO₂ improves functional responses in ischemic myocardium but has no effect on normal regions. Low-dose NaNO₂ protects against vascular ischemia-reperfusion injury only when it is given before the onset of ischemia.
Voluntary Site Accreditation - Improving the Execution of Multicenter Clinical Trials.

n engl j med 377;15 nejm.org October 12, 2017 4. Aysola J, Tahirovic E, Troxel AB, et al. A randomized controlled trial of opt-in versus opt-out enrollment into a diabetes behavioral intervention. Am J Health Promot 2016 October 21 (Epub ahead of print). 5. Mehta SJ, Troxel AB, Marcus N, et al. Participation rates with opt-out enrollment in a remote monitoring intervention for patients with myocardial infarction. JAMA Cardiol 2016; 1: 847-8. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1707991
Parenchyma cell respiration and survival in secondary xylem: does metabolic activity decline with cell age?

Sapwood respiration often declines towards the sapwood/heartwood boundary, but it is not known if parenchyma metabolic activity declines with cell age. We measured sapwood respiration in five temperate species (sapwood age range of 5-64 years) and expressed respiration on a live cell basis by quantifying living parenchyma. We found no effect of parenchyma age on respiration in two conifers (Pinus strobus, Tsuga canadensis), both of which had significant amounts of dead parenchyma in the sapwood. In angiosperms (Acer rubrum, Fraxinus americana, Quercus rubra), both bulk tissue and live cell respiration were reduced by about one-half in the oldest relative to the youngest sapwood, and all sapwood parenchyma remained alive. Conifers and angiosperms had similar bulk tissue respiration despite a smaller proportion of parenchyma in conifers (5% versus 15-25% in angiosperms), such that conifer parenchyma respired at rates about three times those of angiosperms. The fact that 5-year-old parenchyma cells respired at the same rate as 25-year-old cells in conifers suggests that there is no inherent or intrinsic decline in respiration as a result of cellular ageing. In contrast, it is not known whether differences observed in cellular respiration rates of angiosperms are a function of age per se, or whether active regulation of metabolic rate or positional effects (e.g. proximity to resources and/or hormones) could be the cause of reduced respiration in older sapwood.
Communication and Low Mood (CALM): a randomized controlled trial of behavioural therapy for stroke patients with aphasia

OBJECTIVE
The aim was to evaluate behavioural therapy as a treatment for low mood in people with aphasia.


DESIGN
A randomized controlled trial comparing behavioural therapy plus usual care with a usual care control. Potential participants with aphasia after stroke were screened for the presence of low mood. Those who met the criteria and gave consent were randomly allocated.


SETTING
Participants were recruited from hospital wards, community rehabilitation, speech and language therapy services and stroke groups.


SUBJECTS
Of 511 people with aphasia identified, 105 had low mood and were recruited.


INTERVENTIONS
Behavioural therapy was offered for up to three months. Outcomes were assessed three and six months after random allocation.


MAIN MEASURES
Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire, Visual Analog Mood Scales 'sad' item, and Visual Analogue Self-Esteem Scale.


RESULTS
Participants were aged 29 to 94 years (mean 67.0, SD 13.5) and 66 (63%) were men. Regression analysis showed that at three months, when baseline values and communication impairment were controlled for, group allocation was a significant predictor of the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (P < 0.05), visual analogue 'sad' (P = 0.03), and Visual Analogue Self-Esteem Scale (P < 0.01). At six months, group alone was a significant predictor of the Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (P < 0.05), and remained significant when baseline values were controlled for (P = 0.02). Mean Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire 10-item hospital version scores decreased from baseline to six months by six points in the intervention group as compared with an increase of 1.9 points in the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
Behavioural therapy seemed to improve the mood of people with aphasia.
A robust segmentation method for counting bovine milk somatic cells in microscope slide images

Mastitis is an infectious disease associated with the increased number of somatic cells in cow’s milk, and it is one of the most relevant cause of economic losses in dairy farming industries. In this paper, we propose a method capable of determine, with 99.7% accuracy, the number of these cells in microscope slide images. This level of accuracy is achieved by changing the image original RGB format to Lab color space and applying k-means clustering algorithm to remove debris and other background features. A new gray level thresholding is proposed, and the remaining bound cells are separated in the final segmentation step applying Watershed transform. Many microscope slide images with debris, contrast, and hue variation were used to validate the experimental results. Comparison between the proposed method and manual counting indicates that this new approach is a robust and promising solution to be incorporated in a future automated somatic cell counting system using optical microscopy. 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Radiation exposure, the ATM Gene, and contralateral breast cancer in the women's environmental cancer and radiation epidemiology study.

BACKGROUND
Ionizing radiation is a known mutagen and an established breast carcinogen. The ATM gene is a key regulator of cellular responses to the DNA damage induced by ionizing radiation. We investigated whether genetic variants in ATM play a clinically significant role in radiation-induced contralateral breast cancer in women.


METHODS
The Women's Environmental, Cancer, and Radiation Epidemiology Study is an international population-based case-control study nested within a cohort of 52,536 survivors of unilateral breast cancer diagnosed between 1985 and 2000. The 708 case subjects were women with contralateral breast cancer, and the 1397 control subjects were women with unilateral breast cancer matched to the case subjects on age, follow-up time, registry reporting region, and race and/or ethnicity. All women were interviewed and underwent full mutation screening of the entire ATM gene. Complete medical treatment history information was collected, and for all women who received radiotherapy, the radiation dose to the contralateral breast was reconstructed using radiotherapy records and radiation measurements. Rate ratios (RRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by using multivariable conditional logistic regression. All P values are two-sided.


RESULTS
Among women who carried a rare ATM missense variant (ie, one carried by <1% of the study participants) that was predicted to be deleterious, those who were exposed to radiation (mean radiation exposure = 1.2 Gy, SD = 0.7) had a statistically significantly higher risk of contralateral breast cancer compared with unexposed women who carried the wild-type genotype (0.01-0.99 Gy: RR = 2.8, 95% CI = 1.2 to 6.5; > or =1.0 Gy: RR = 3.3, 95% CI = 1.4 to 8.0) or compared with unexposed women who carried the same predicted deleterious missense variant (0.01-0.99 Gy: RR = 5.3, 95% CI = 1.6 to 17.3; > or =1.0 Gy: RR = 5.8, 95% CI = 1.8 to 19.0; P(trend) = .044).


CONCLUSIONS
Women who carry rare deleterious ATM missense variants and who are treated with radiation may have an elevated risk of developing contralateral breast cancer. However, the rarity of these deleterious missense variants in human populations implies that ATM mutations could account for only a small portion of second primary breast cancers.
Does the speed of the treadmill influence the training effect in people learning to walk after stroke? A double-blind randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the effectiveness of high-speed treadmill training and progressive treadmill training for stroke patients.


DESIGN
A double-blind, randomized controlled trial.


SETTING
Inpatient rehabilitation hospital.


PARTICIPANTS
A total of 61 ambulatory stroke patients.


INTERVENTIONS
Patients in both groups underwent treadmill training for 30 minutes with conventional intervention. The progressive training group (n = 31) was trained to walk on a treadmill with a stepwise increase of speed over the treatment period. The high-speed training group (n = 30) trained to begin at 1.2-1.3 m/s, which is faster than the mean speed of stroke patients. All participants underwent 20 training sessions for five weeks.


MAIN MEASURES
Timed up-and-go test, 10-m walk test, 6-minute walk test, and both step lengths and cadence.


RESULTS
There were significant improvements in the results of the timed up-and-go test (-1.96 vs. -5.02 seconds), 10-m walk test (0.30 vs. 0.47 m/s), 6-minute walk test (38.35 vs. 64.40 m), and in the step length of the affected side (0.14 vs. 0.19 m) and the unaffected side (0.10 vs. 0.12 m) in the high-speed training group compared with those in the progressive training group (p < 0.05). Step width was not changed in either group (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSION
These results suggest that high-speed training is an effective method for improving the walking ability of stroke patients.
Early symptoms of bone and soft tissue sarcomas: could they be diagnosed earlier?

INTRODUCTION
Delays in diagnosis are common for patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma (STS) despite guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. This study set out to identify early symptoms experienced by patients and reasons for delays in making a definitive diagnosis.


METHODS
Retrospective interviews were carried out with 107 patients (66 with an STS and 41 with a bone sarcoma) presenting to a specialist centre. Symptoms were determined prior to definitive diagnosis and the occurrence of patient and doctor delays in reaching specialist care.


RESULTS
The median patient delay was 1 month while the median doctor delay was 3.2 months from first symptoms to diagnosis for all sarcomas. Forty-nine patients with STS (74%) presented initially to their general practitioner with at least one guideline feature to prompt urgent referral. Only 2 patients (4%), however, were referred directly to a sarcoma unit, with 21 (43%) referred to secondary care for investigation. Patients with a lump increasing in size exhibited longer patient delays while doctor delay was shorter for deep lumps. Thirty-six patients with a bone sarcoma (88%) presented initially with symptoms to prompt further investigation. Nevertheless, significant delays (3.9 months) were seen in reaching specialist care. Only 4 patients (10%) were referred directly to a sarcoma unit at first presentation, with 21 (54%) referred for further investigation elsewhere.


CONCLUSIONS
It is evident that awareness and referral of sarcomas remain poor. We suggest specific amendments to current guidelines and clearer referral pathways for patients. Furthermore, the need for robust education strategies is indicated, predominantly among healthcare professionals.
Research Guides: City, Culture & Community Program: Keeping Current

Research guide for students in the graduate program City, Culture, & Community, sponsored by the department of Sociology and the School of Social Work. Highly cited journals and other resources for keeping up with the latest news and research in sociology.
Bone marrow–on–a–chip replicates hematopoietic niche physiology in vitro

Current in vitro hematopoiesis models fail to demonstrate the cellular diversity and complex functions of living bone marrow; hence, most translational studies relevant to the hematologic system are conducted in live animals. Here we describe a method for fabricating 'bone marrow–on–a–chip' that permits culture of living marrow with a functional hematopoietic niche in vitro by first engineering new bone in vivo, removing it whole and perfusing it with culture medium in a microfluidic device. The engineered bone marrow (eBM) retains hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in normal in vivo–like proportions for at least 1 week in culture. eBM models organ-level marrow toxicity responses and protective effects of radiation countermeasure drugs, whereas conventional bone marrow culture methods do not. This biomimetic microdevice offers a new approach for analysis of drug responses and toxicities in bone marrow as well as for study of hematopoiesis and hematologic diseases in vitro.