LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Postoperative improvement in health-related quality of life: a national comparison of surgical treatment for focal (one- to two-level) lumbar spinal stenosis compared with total joint arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT
The results of single-center studies have shown that surgical intervention for lumbar spinal stenosis yielded comparable health-related quality of life (HRQoL) improvement to total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Whether these results are generalizable to routine clinical practice in Canada is unknown.


PURPOSE
The primary purpose of this equivalence study was to compare the relative improvement in physical HRQoL after surgery for focal lumbar spinal stenosis (FLSS) compared with TJA for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) across six Canadian centers.


STUDY DESIGN/SETTING
A Canadian multicenter ambispective cohort study.


PATIENT SAMPLE
A cohort of 371 primary one- to two-level spinal decompression (n=214 with instrumented fusion) for FLSS (n=179 with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis [DLS]) was compared with a cohort of primary total hip (n=156) and knee (n=208) arthroplasty for OA.


OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome was the change in preoperative to 2-year postoperative 36-Item Short Form Health Survey Physical Component Summary (PCS) score as reflected by the number of patients reaching minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and substantial clinical benefit (SCB).


METHODS
Univariate analyses were conducted to identify baseline differences and factors that were significantly related to outcomes at 2 years. Multivariable regression modeling was used as our primary analysis to compare outcomes between groups.


RESULTS
The mean age (years) and percent females for the spine, hip, and knee groups were 63.3/58.5, 66.0/46.9, and 65.8/64.3, respectively. All three groups experienced significant improvement of baseline PCS (p<.001). Multivariate analyses, adjusting for baseline differences (age, gender, baseline Mental Component Summary score, baseline PCS), demonstrated no significant differences in PCS outcome between spinal surgery and arthroplasty (combined hip and knee cohorts) patients with an odds ratio of 0.80 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57-1.11; p=.17) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.58-1.09; p=.15) for achieving MCID or SCB, respectively. In subgroup analysis, spine and knee outcomes were not significantly different, with hip arthroplasty superior to both (p<.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Significant improvement in physical HRQoL after surgical treatment of FLSS (including DLS) is consistently achieved nationally. Our overall results demonstrate that a comparable number of patients can expect to achieve MCID and SCB 2 years after surgical intervention for FLSS and total knee arthroplasty.
On Reasonable and Forced Goal Orderings and their Use in an Agenda-Driven Planning Algorithm

The paper addresses the problem of computing goal orderings, which is one of the longstanding issues in AI planning. It makes two new contributions. First, it formally de nes and discusses two di erent goal orderings, which are called the reasonable and the forced ordering. Both orderings are de ned for simple STRIPS operators as well as for more complex ADL operators supporting negation and conditional e ects. The complexity of these orderings is investigated and their practical relevance is discussed. Secondly, two di erent methods to compute reasonable goal orderings are developed. One of them is based on planning graphs, while the other investigates the set of actions directly. Finally, it is shown how the ordering relations, which have been derived for a given set of goals G, can be used to compute a so-called goal agenda that divides G into an ordered set of subgoals. Any planner can then, in principle, use the goal agenda to plan for increasing sets of subgoals. This can lead to an exponential complexity reduction, as the solution to a complex planning problem is found by solving easier subproblems. Since only a polynomial overhead is caused by the goal agenda computation, a potential exists to dramatically speed up planning algorithms as we demonstrate in the empirical evaluation, where we use this method in the IPP planner.
Fast Cell Discovery in mm-Wave 5G Networks with Context Information

The exploitation of mm-wave bands is one of the key-enabler for 5G mobile radio networks. However, the introduction of mm-wave technologies in cellular networks is not straightforward due to harsh propagation conditions that limit the mm-wave access availability. Mm-wave technologies require high-gain antenna systems to compensate for high path loss and limited power. As a consequence, directional transmissions must be used for cell discovery and synchronization processes: this can lead to a non-negligible access delay caused by the exploration of the cell area with multiple transmissions along different directions. The integration of mm-wave technologies and conventional wireless access networks with the objective of speeding up the cell search process requires new 5G network architectural solutions. Such architectures introduce a functional split between C-plane and U-plane, thereby guaranteeing the availability of a reliable signaling channel through conventional wireless technologies that provides the opportunity to collect useful context information from the network edge. In this article, we leverage the context information related to user positions to improve the directional cell discovery process. We investigate fundamental trade-offs of this process and the effects of the context information accuracy on the overall system performance. We also cope with obstacle obstructions in the cell area and propose an approach based on a geo-located context database where information gathered over time is stored to guide future searches. Analytic models and numerical results are provided to validate proposed strategies.
The US7 score is sensitive to change in a large cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis over 12 months of therapy

PURPOSE
To determine the sensitivity to change of the US7 score among RA patients under various therapies and to analyze the effect of each therapeutic option over 1 year. To estimate predictors for development of destructive bone changes.


METHODS
Musculoskeletal ultrasound (US7 score), DAS28, CRP and ESR were performed in 432 RA patients at baseline and after 3, 6 and 12 months. The cohort was divided into four sub-groups: first-line DMARDs (Group 1; 27.3%), therapy switch: DMARDs to second DMARDs (Group 2; 25.0%), first-line biologic after DMARDs therapy (Group 3; 35.4%) and therapy change from biologic to second biologic (Group 4; 12.3%).


RESULTS
The US7 synovitis and tenosynovitis sum scores in grey-scale (GSUS) and power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS) as well as ESR, CRP decreased significantly (p<0.05) after 12 months in group 1 to 3. Group 1+2 also illustrated a significant change of DAS28 after 1 year (p<0.001). Only in Group 4, the US7 erosion sum score decreased significantly from 4.3 to 3.6 (p=0.008) after 1 year. Predictors capable of forecasting US erosions after one year were: higher score of US7 synovitis (p<0.001), of US7 erosions in GSUS (p<0.001), as well as of DAS28 (p<0.001) at baseline.


CONCLUSIONS
The comparable developments of the US7 score with clinical and laboratory data illustrates its potential to reflect therapeutic response. Therefore, the novel US7 score is sensitive to change. Patients who switched from one biologic to another exhibited a significant decline in erosions after 12 months, while the erosions scores in the other groups were stable.
WikiQA — A question answering system on Wikipedia using freebase, DBpedia and Infobox

Question Answering (QA) system is the task where arbitrary question IS posed in the form of natural language statements and a brief and concise text returned as an answer. Contrary to search engines where a long list of relevant documents returned as a result of a query, QA system aims at providing the direct answer or passage containing the answer. We propose a general purpose question answering system which can answer wh-interrogated questions. This system is using Wikipedia data as its knowledge source. We have implemented major components of a QA system which include challenging tasks of Named Entity Tagging, Question Classification, Information Retrieval and Answer Extraction. Implementation of state-of-the-art Entity Tagging mechanism has helped identify entities where systems like OpenEphyra or DBpedia spotlight have failed. The information retrieval task includes development of a framework to extract tabular information known as Infobox from Wikipedia pages which has ensured availability of latest updated information. Answer Extraction module has implemented an attributes mapping mechanism which is helpful to extract answer from data. The system is comparable in results with other available general purpose QA systems.
Adverse swelling associated with use of rh-BMP-2 in anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: a case study.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT
The use of recombinant bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rh-BMP-2) is effective in augmenting lumbar spinal fusions. A safe, effective dosage of rh-BMP-2 in the cervical spine has yet to be determined. Use of rh-BMP-2 is currently being evaluated and is only indicated for use in the cervical spine on Investigational Device Exempt cases.


PURPOSE
To present a potentially serious adverse event that may occur when using rh-BMP-2 in cervical spine surgery.


STUDY DESIGN
An emergent sequence of events including physical examination, radiographic studies, intubation, and surgical exploration were performed upon arrival to the emergency department.


METHODS
We report a case of a 54-year-old male patient presenting with neck swelling and difficulty swallowing 5 days after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) using rh-BMP-2.


RESULTS
The patient was found to have massive neck swelling including the pharyngeal tissue. The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit where parenteral steroids were administered for 24 hours during monitored intubation. The patient was extubated on the second hospital day and discharged home on the fourth hospital day after swelling subsided.


CONCLUSIONS
Caution should be exercised with rh-BMP-2 use in ACDF surgery as the correct dose and technique for application is not yet determined. Respiratory distress and dysphagia may result secondary to rh-BMP-2 induced anterior neck swelling.
It's LiFe! Mobile and Web-Based Monitoring and Feedback Tool Embedded in Primary Care Increases Physical Activity: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND
Physical inactivity is a major public health problem. The It's LiFe! monitoring and feedback tool embedded in the Self-Management Support Program (SSP) is an attempt to stimulate physical activity in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or type 2 diabetes treated in primary care.


OBJECTIVE
Our aim was to evaluate whether the SSP combined with the use of the monitoring and feedback tool leads to more physical activity compared to usual care and to evaluate the additional effect of using this tool on top of the SSP.


METHODS
This was a three-armed cluster randomised controlled trial. Twenty four family practices were randomly assigned to one of three groups in which participants received the tool + SSP (group 1), the SSP (group 2), or care as usual (group 3). The primary outcome measure was minutes of physical activity per day. The secondary outcomes were general and exercise self-efficacy and quality of life. Outcomes were measured at baseline after the intervention (4-6 months), and 3 months thereafter.


RESULTS
The group that received the entire intervention (tool + SSP) showed more physical activity directly after the intervention than Group 3 (mean difference 11.73, 95% CI 6.21-17.25; P<.001), and Group 2 (mean difference 7.86, 95% CI 2.18-13.54; P=.003). Three months after the intervention, this effect was still present and significant (compared to Group 3: mean difference 10.59, 95% CI 4.94-16.25; P<.001; compared to Group 2: mean difference 9.41, 95% CI 3.70-15.11; P<.001). There was no significant difference in effect between Groups 2 and 3 on both time points. There was no interaction effect for disease type.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of counseling with the tool proved an effective way to stimulate physical activity. Counseling without the tool was not effective. Future research about the cost-effectiveness and application under more tailored conditions and in other target groups is recommended.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01867970, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01867970 (archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6a2qR5BSr).
STONE: a stream-based DDoS defense framework

An effective Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) defense mechanism must guarantee legitimate users access to an Internet service masking the effects of possible attacks. That is, it must be able to detect threats and discard malicious packets in a online fashion. Given that emerging data streaming technology can enable such mitigation in an effective manner, in this paper we present STONE, a stream-based DDoS defense framework, which integrates anomaly-based DDoS detection and mitigation with scalable data streaming technology.
 With STONE, the traffic of potential targets is analyzed via continuous data streaming queries maintaining information used for both attack detection and mitigation. STONE provides minimal degradation of legitimate users traffic during DDoS attacks and it also faces effectively flash crowds. Our preliminary evaluation based on an implemented prototype and conducted with real legitimate and malicious traffic traces shows that STONE is able to provide fast detection and precise mitigation of DDoS attacks leveraging scalable data streaming technology.
Design of an Ultra-Thin Magnetic-Type Radar Absorber Embedded With FSS

In this letter, the design of an ultra-thin magnetic-type radar absorber (RA) having good absorbing performance at low frequency is demonstrated. A 2-mm-thick RA with an operating bandwidth of 1.5-2.2 GHz is obtained on the basis of polymer composites filled with carbonyl iron and Co2Z ferrite. The use of frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) results in a significant increase of operating bandwidth of the RA. By selecting the unit dimensions of FSS and its location in RA, a maximal operating bandwidth can be obtained. Experimental results are presented and compared to numerical simulations, and they demonstrated that the RA embedded with FSS has a significantly increased bandwidth of 1.19-2.89 and 1.08-3.02 GHz for the single-layer or double-layer case.
Comment on `Intrinsic and dynamically generated scalar meson states'

The scalar-meson assignments of Shakin and Wang in a generalized Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model are contradicted by recent experimental information. Also the strict distinction made by these authors between “intrinsic” and “dynamically generated” states is contested, as well as a number of other statements.
Erratum: Basic statistical tools in research and data analysis

[This corrects the article on p. 662 in vol. 60, PMID: 27729694.].
Overweight/obesity among school aged children in Bahir Dar City: cross sectional study

BACKGROUND
Developing countries, including Ethiopia are experiencing a double burden of malnutrition. There is limited information about prevalence of overweight/obesity among school aged children in Ethiopia particularly in Bahir Dar city. Hence this study aimed to assess the prevalence of overweight/obesity and associated factors among school children aged 6-12 years at Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia.


METHODS
A school based cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 634 children were included in the study. Multi stage systematic random sampling technique was used. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with overweight/obesity. The association between dependent and independent variables were assessed using odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and p-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of overweight and/or obesity was 11.9% (95% CI, 9.3, 14.4) (out of which 8.8% were overweight and 3.1% were obese). Higher wealth status[adjusted OR = 3.14, 95% CI:1.17, 8.46], being a private school student [AOR = 2.21, 95% CI:1.09, 4.49], use of transportation to and from school [AOR = 2.53, 95% CI: 1.26,5.06], fast food intake [AOR = 3.88, 95% CI: 1.42,10.55], lack of moderate physical activity [AOR = 2.87, 95% CI: 1.21,6.82], low intake of fruit and vegetable [AOR = 6.45, 95% CI:3.19,13.06] were significant factors associated with overweight and obesity.


CONCLUSION
This study revealed that prevalence of overweight/obesity among school aged children in Bahir Dar city is high. Thus, promoting healthy dietary habit, particularly improving fruit and vegetable intake is essential to reduce the burden of overweight and obesity. Furthermore, it is important to strengthen nutrition education about avoiding junk food consumption and encouraging regular physical activity.
Colocalizations Between Several QTLs for Cell Wall Degradability and Composition in the F288 × F271 Early Maize RIL Progeny Raise the Question of the Nature of the Possible Underlying Determinants and Breeding Targets for Biofuel Capacity

Understanding the genetic basis of the different traits which contribute to a given value of cell wall degradability is a key issue towards the breeding of grasses with higher feeding value or higher capability for bioenergy production. A quantitative trait loci (QTL) investigation for cell wall degradability and several cell wall component traits including lignin content, p-hydroxycinnamic acid content, and lignin monomeric structure was thus done with a simultaneous search for underlying candidate genes in the F288 × F271 recombinant inbred line progeny. Genotype effects were highly significant for all cell wall investigated traits (P < 0.001) and much higher than genotype × environment interaction effects. Out of 42 QTLs mapped, 11 and 23 QTLs explained more than 20 and 15 % of the observed trait phenotypic variation, respectively. Twenty-three QTLs were gathered into four large clusters shown in bins 3.06, 4.09, 6.05, and 6.07. Colocalizations of cell wall degradability QTLs occurred with lignin content QTLs and lignin structure QTLs. Moreover, for two positions, there were also colocalizations with etherified ferulic acid QTLs. Such simultaneous colocalizations between QTLs for cell wall degradability and both lignin- and ferulate-related traits led to questioning the possible underlying genetic determinant(s). A cluster of (linked) genes involved in the different mechanisms of cell wall biosynthesis and/or assembly is likely the simplest situation to consider. However, a single “master” regulation factor located upstream in the pathway of cell wall biosynthesis and assembly cannot be definitely ruled out. Candidate genes putatively involved in cell wall degradability variations highlighted especially the presence of ZmMYB Hv5/EgMYB1-like and COV-like genes in any of the clusters. Moreover, besides potential regulatory candidates, there are a number of candidates of still unknown functions. The question of the nature of the possible QTL underlying determinants is still partly unanswered, even if the results obtained strongly suggested that, in this progeny, genes involved in monolignol biosynthesis and important Arabidopsis NAC are not likely candidates. In addition, the positions of candidate genes suggested that ghost QTL positions should also be considered.
Schools' mental health services and young children's emotions, behavior, and learning.

Recent empirical research has found that children's noncognitive skills play a critical role in their own success, young children's behavioral and psychological disorders can severely harm their future outcomes, and disruptive students harm the behavior and learning of their classmates. Yet relatively little is known about wide-scale interventions designed to improve children's behavior and mental health. This is the first nationally representative study of the provision, financing, and impact of school-site mental health services for young children. Elementary school counselors are school employees who provide mental health services to all types of students, typically meeting with students one-on-one or in small groups. Given counselors' nonrandom assignment to schools, it is particularly challenging to estimate the impact of these counselors on student outcomes. First, cross-state differences in policies provide descriptive evidence that students in states with more aggressive elementary counseling policies make greater test score gains and are less likely to report internalizing or externalizing problem behaviors compared to students with similar observed characteristics in similar schools in other states. Next, difference-in-differences estimates exploiting both the timing and the targeted grade levels of states' counseling policy changes provide evidence that elementary counselors substantially influence teachers' perceptions of school climate. The adoption of state-funded counselor subsidies or minimum counselor–student ratios reduces the fraction of teachers reporting that their instruction suffers due to student misbehavior and reduces the fractions reporting problems with students physically fighting each other, cutting class, stealing, or using drugs. These findings imply that there may be substantial public and private benefits derived from providing additional elementary school counselors.
Telemonitoring based service redesign for the management of uncontrolled hypertension: multicentre randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVE
To determine if an intervention consisting of telemonitoring and supervision by usual primary care clinicians of home self measured blood pressure and optional patient decision support leads to clinically important reductions in daytime systolic and diastolic ambulatory blood pressure in patients with uncontrolled blood pressure.


DESIGN
Multicentre randomised controlled trial.


SETTING
20 primary care practices in south east Scotland.


PARTICIPANTS
401 people aged 29-95 years with uncontrolled blood pressure (mean daytime ambulatory measurement ≥ 135/85 mm Hg but ≤ 210/135 mm Hg).


INTERVENTION
Self measurement and transmission of blood pressure readings to a secure website for review by the attending nurse or doctor and participant, with optional automated patient decision support by text or email for six months.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Blinded assessment of mean daytime systolic ambulatory blood pressure six months after randomisation.


RESULTS
200 participants were randomised to the intervention and 201 to usual care; primary outcome data were available for 90% of participants (182 and 177, respectively). The mean difference in daytime systolic ambulatory blood pressure adjusted for baseline and minimisation factors between intervention and usual care was 4.3 mm Hg (95% confidence interval 2.0 to 6.5; P=0.0002) and for daytime diastolic ambulatory blood pressure was 2.3 mm Hg (0.9 to 3.6; P=0.001), with higher values in the usual care group. The intervention was associated with a mean increase of one general practitioner (95% confidence interval 0.5 to 1.6; P=0.0002) and 0.6 (0.1 to 1.0; P=0.01) practice nurse consultations during the course of the study.


CONCLUSIONS
Supported self monitoring by telemonitoring is an effective method for achieving clinically important reductions in blood pressure in patients with uncontrolled hypertension in primary care settings. However, it was associated with increase in use of National Health Service resources. Further research is required to determine if the reduction in blood pressure is maintained in the longer term and if the intervention is cost effective.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN72614272.