LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Real-world effectiveness of abatacept for rheumatoid arthritis treatment in European and Canadian populations: a 6-month interim analysis of the 2-year, observational, prospective ACTION study

BACKGROUND
Discontinuation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment for lack or loss of initial response, tolerability issues, or development of antibodies against the therapeutic agent remains a challenge in clinical practice. Here we present a 6-month interim analysis of a 2-year prospective observational trial in Europe and Canada aiming to assess the real-world effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of intravenous abatacept for the treatment of moderate-to-severe RA.


METHODS
ACTION (AbataCepT In rOutiNe clinical practice) is a prospective, observational study assessing effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of abatacept in patients with RA enrolled in Europe and Canada between May 2008 and January 2011. The patient population was divided into two groups: biologic naïve ('first-line') patients and patients who had previously failed treatment with at least one biologic agent ('second-line'). Retention rates were calculated using Kaplan-Meier curve estimates. Effectiveness was measured using European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response criteria, the 28-item Disease Activity Score, the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), and physical function, as assessed by the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI). Serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported for all enrolled patients.


RESULTS
Of 1138 consecutively enrolled patients, 1114 and 1079 patients were evaluable for retention and effectiveness, respectively. Overall, retention rates were 88.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 86.4, 90.4); 67.4% of patients achieved good/moderate EULAR response; 32.8% had a CDAI Low Disease Activity State (LDAS); and 44.7% a HAQ-DI response. Retention rates among first- and second-line patients were 93.0% (95% CI: 85.9, 96.6) and 88.1% (95% CI: 85.7, 90.0), respectively. The percentage of patients achieving CDAI LDAS was 40.0% (95% CI: 26.4, 53.6) for first- and 32.2% (95% CI: 28.4, 36.0) for second-line patients and the proportion achieving a HAQ-DI response was 60.3% (95% CI: 47.8, 72.9) versus 43.1% (95% CI: 39.0, 47.2), respectively. The incidence of SAEs was 4.7%.


CONCLUSIONS
Evidence from this 6-month interim analysis suggests that abatacept offers an effective and well-tolerated treatment option for patients with RA, including those who have previously failed anti-tumor necrosis factor treatment. In addition, higher retention rates and effectiveness outcomes were observed when abatacept treatment was initiated earlier in the course of the disease.
Improved synthesis of aligned arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes and their implementation in thin film type transistors

Department of Physics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Beckman Institute for Ad Vanced Science and Technology, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the UniVersity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and Di Vision of AdVanced Technology, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, 305-340 South Korea
Long-term outcome and its predictors among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction complicated by shock: insights from the GUSTO-I trial.

OBJECTIVES
This study sought to assess long-term outcome and determine its predictors among 30-day survivors of cardiogenic shock.


BACKGROUND
Patients with cardiogenic shock have high in-hospital and 30-day mortality, but there are little data about those who survive beyond 30 days.


METHODS
We analyzed baseline, in-hospital, and survival data from patients in the U.S. with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and cardiogenic shock enrolled in the GUSTO (Global Utilization of Streptokinase and Tissue-Type Plasminogen Activator for Occluded Coronary Arteries)-I trial and compared them with patients in the same trial who did not have shock.


RESULTS
Of 22,883 patients enrolled in the U.S., shock occurred in 1,891 (8.3%); 953 (50.4%) survived 30 days and 527 (27.8%) survived 11 years. Of 20,992 U.S. patients without shock, 20,360 (96.9%) survived 30 days and 14,131 (67.3%) survived 11 years. After the first year, 2% to 4% of patients died each year regardless of whether they had cardiogenic shock. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we were able to predict long-term mortality in all U.S. GUSTO-I 30-day survivors from their baseline demographics and in-hospital complications. The strongest predictors were diabetes mellitus, cardiogenic shock, hypertension, previous myocardial infarction, current smoking, anterior infarct, higher Killip class, higher heart rate, and older age; patients >75 years were at highest risk. Percutaneous revascularization during the index hospitalization was associated with a reduced risk of death.


CONCLUSIONS
Among patients with cardiogenic shock who survive 30 days after STEMI, annual mortality rates of 2% to 4% approximate those of patients without shock.
Meta-Analyst: software for meta-analysis of binary, continuous and diagnostic data

BACKGROUND
Meta-analysis is increasingly used as a key source of evidence synthesis to inform clinical practice. The theory and statistical foundations of meta-analysis continually evolve, providing solutions to many new and challenging problems. In practice, most meta-analyses are performed in general statistical packages or dedicated meta-analysis programs.


RESULTS
Herein, we introduce Meta-Analyst, a novel, powerful, intuitive, and free meta-analysis program for the meta-analysis of a variety of problems. Meta-Analyst is implemented in C# atop of the Microsoft .NET framework, and features a graphical user interface. The software performs several meta-analysis and meta-regression models for binary and continuous outcomes, as well as analyses for diagnostic and prognostic test studies in the frequentist and Bayesian frameworks. Moreover, Meta-Analyst includes a flexible tool to edit and customize generated meta-analysis graphs (e.g., forest plots) and provides output in many formats (images, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word-ready RTF). The software architecture employed allows for rapid changes to be made to either the Graphical User Interface (GUI) or to the analytic modules.We verified the numerical precision of Meta-Analyst by comparing its output with that from standard meta-analysis routines in Stata over a large database of 11,803 meta-analyses of binary outcome data, and 6,881 meta-analyses of continuous outcome data from the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews. Results from analyses of diagnostic and prognostic test studies have been verified in a limited number of meta-analyses versus MetaDisc and MetaTest. Bayesian statistical analyses use the OpenBUGS calculation engine (and are thus as accurate as the standalone OpenBUGS software).


CONCLUSION
We have developed and validated a new program for conducting meta-analyses that combines the advantages of existing software for this task.
Application of functionally graded material for reducing electric field on electrode and spacer interface

For the size reduction and the enhancing reliability of electric power equipment, the electric field stress around solid insulators should be considered enough. For the relaxation of the field stress, the application of FGM (Functionally Graded Materials) with spatial distribution of dielectric permittivity (¿-FGM) can be an effective solution. In this paper, we investigated the applicability of ¿-FGM for reducing the electric field stress on the electrode surface with contact to the solid dielectrics, which was one of the important factors dominating a long-term reliability of the insulating spacer. Firstly, we carried out numerical simulation of electric field to confirm the reduction of the electric stress by U-shape permittivity distribution. Secondly, we investigated the fabrication feasibility of ¿-FGM with the U-shape distribution. Thirdly, we estimated the longterm electrical insulation performance of the ¿-FGM. Finally, we verified the applicability and the fabrication technique of the ¿-FGM to solid dielectrics for improvement of the electric stress and the long-term insulation performance in electric power equipment.
The Role of Design Drawing among Children Engaged in a Parachute Building Activity.

Introduction In recent years, many elementary (ages 5-12) science programs in North America have incorporated what is called design technology, design and technology, technology, technological problem-solving, and/or problem-solving through technology (ITEA, 2000; Alberta Education 1996; Kimbell, Stables & Green, 1996; Layton, 1993). Design technology involves designing and making products to meet some need, and is “directly concerned with the individual’s capacity to design and make, to solve problems with the use of materials, and to understand the significance of technology” (Eggleston, 1996, p. 23). In elementary classrooms, lessons often focus around designing and building models of structures and mechanisms such as bridges and vehicles. Design technology involves children in problem-solving processes perceived as central to the development of their capability to do quality work. These processes have been referred to as procedures, procedural skills, facets of performance, facets of capability, problem solving skills, and thinking processes (Bottrill, 1995; Custer, 1995; Johnsey, 1997; Kimbell, Stables, & Green, 1996). Examples include investigating, planning, modeling, making, and evaluating. One activity that plays an important role in many of these problem-solving processes is drawing. Drawing can be a method of recording information, a component of planning, and/or a technique of two-dimensional modeling. The two main approaches to studying design drawing have been to investigate the practice of design professionals such as architects and engineers, and to explore children’s classroom design technology drawing. These approaches raise at least three important issues from which the focus questions for the present study are derived: • What are the characteristics of children’s design technology drawings? • Could an analytic scheme, derived from professional drawing practice, be used to analyze children’s design technology drawing? • How might teachers intervene in order to enhance and broaden children’s authentic use of drawing in design technology? ____________________
Enabling Knowledge-Based Complex Event Processing

Event-driven systems are highly depending on the quality of detection and processing of events. Many of complex real-world events cannot be processed by the existing event processing systems because they are too complex to be understood and processed by the systems. Complex events can be inferred from raw primitive events based on their incoming sequence, their syntax and semantics. Usage of ontological knowledge about events and their relationship to other non-event concepts in the application domain, can improve the quality of event processing. In this Ph.D. thesis, I am aiming to address the challenges of adding formalized vocabularies/ontologies and declarative rules to the area of event processing for enabling more intelligent event processors which can understand the senses and semantics of events.
Pregnancy Outcomes Based on Pre-Pregnancy Body Mass Index in Japanese Women

OBJECTIVE
To verify whether body mass index (BMI) classification proposed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) is valid in Japanese women.


METHOD
A study was conducted in 97,157 women with singleton pregnancies registered in the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) Successive Pregnancy Birth Registry System between January 2013 and December 2013, to examine pregnancy outcomes in four groups stratified by pre-pregnancy BMI category according to the 2009 criteria recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The groups comprised 17,724 underweight women with BMI <18.5, 69,126 normal weight women with BMI 18.5-24.9, 7,502 overweight women with BMI 25-29.9, and 2,805 obese women with BMI ≥30. The pregnancy outcomes were also compared among subgroups stratified by a gestational weight gain below, within, and above the optimal weight gain.


RESULTS
The higher the pre-pregnancy BMI, the higher the incidences of pregnancy-induced hypertension, gestational diabetes mellitus, macrosomia, cesarean delivery, postpartum hemorrhage, and post-term birth, but the lower the incidence of small for gestational age (SGA). In all pre-pregnancy BMI category groups, excess gestational weight gain was associated with a higher frequency of large for gestational age and macrosomia; poor weight gain correlated with a higher frequency of SGA, preterm birth, preterm premature rupture of membranes, and spontaneous preterm birth; and optimal weight gain within the recommended range was associated with a better outcome.


CONCLUSION
The BMI classification by the IOM was demonstrated to be valid in Japanese women.
A new indoor position estimation method of RFID tags for continuous moving navigation systems

The RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is considered as one of the most preferable ways for the position estimation in indoor environments, since GPS does not work in such situations. In RFID system, an RFID reader enables to estimate the position of RFID tags easily and inexpensively. In applications with the position estimation of RFID tags, indoor robot navigations are very important for human society. The problem is how to obtain the position estimations of RFID tags as accurately as possible. Previously S-CRR (Swift Communication Range Recognition) has been proposed for the appropriate estimation method of this kind of applications. This method is capable of the accurate position estimation of an RFID tag in very short time. The disadvantage of S-CRR is that the mobile robot must stop to search RFID tags accurately at each position. In indoor robot navigations, mobile entities like robots have to move continuously because they need to navigate smoothly and safely. In this paper, we propose a new position estimation method of RFID tags with continuous moving only using RFID technology. We call this Continuous Moving CRR (CM-CRR). CM-CRR uses two communication ranges, long and short ranges and switches them appropriately. The system estimates the position of RFID tags using their approaches and continuous moving. To show the effectiveness of CM-CRR, we evaluate the estimation error of an RFID tag by computer simulations. From the results, CM-CRR can accurately estimate the position of RFID tags with continuously moving of the mobile robot and be applied to indoor robot navigations.
Channel Estimation Algorithms for OFDM Systems

In this work we have compared different type of channel estimation algorithm for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The result of the Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) algorithm was compared with other algorithms such Least Square (LS), Best Linear Unbiased Estimator (BLUE) and Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE).
Sensor fusion for semantic segmentation of urban scenes

Semantic understanding of environments is an important problem in robotics in general and intelligent autonomous systems in particular. In this paper, we propose a semantic segmentation algorithm which effectively fuses information from images and 3D point clouds. The proposed method incorporates information from multiple scales in an intuitive and effective manner. A late-fusion architecture is proposed to maximally leverage the training data in each modality. Finally, a pairwise Conditional Random Field (CRF) is used as a post-processing step to enforce spatial consistency in the structured prediction. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on the publicly available KITTI dataset [1] [2], augmented with additional pixel and point-wise semantic labels for building, sky, road, vegetation, sidewalk, car, pedestrian, cyclist, sign/pole, and fence regions. A per-pixel accuracy of 89.3% and average class accuracy of 65.4% is achieved, well above current state-of-the-art [3].
The distribution of wealth and redistributive policies

We study the dynamics of the distribution of wealth in an Overlapping Generation economy with bequest and various forms of redistributive taxation. We characterize the transitional dynamics of the wealth distribution as well as the stationary distribution. We show that the stationary wealth distribution is a Pareto distribution whose statistical properties depend on fiscal policies. It can therefore be characterized by a single parameter (if population is constant), which is univocally related to the Gini coefficient of the distribution of wealth. We study analytically the dependence of the distribution of wealth, of wealth inequality in particular, on various redistributive fiscal policy instruments like capital income taxes, estate taxes, and the form and extent of welfare subsidies. Wealth is less concentrated (the Gini coefficient is lower) for both higher capital income taxes and estate taxes, but the marginal effect of capital income taxes is much stronger than the effect of estate taxes. Finally, we characterize optimal redistributive taxes with respect to a utilitarian social welfare measure. Social welfare is maximized short of minimal wealth inequality and with zero estate taxes. ∗We gratefully acknowledge conversations with Alberto Bressan, Gianluca Clementi, Mariacristina De Nardi, Raquel Fernandez, Xavier Gabaix, Leslie Greengard, Frank Hoppensteadt, Boyan Jovanovic, John Leahy, Omar Licandro, Tom Sargent, Gianluca Violante, and Ed Wolff. Thanks to Nicola Scalzo and Eleonora Patacchini for help with ”impossible” Italian references. This paper is part of the Polarization and Conflict Project CIT-2-CT-2004-506084 funded by the European Commission-DG Research Sixth Framework Programme.
Direct position determination in the presence of model errors - known waveforms

The performance of the direct position determination (DPD) approach in the presence of errors is examined. DPD was recently introduced as a promising technique for localization o tiple radio frequency emitters with superior accuracy under low signal-to-noise ratio condition analyze the performance of DPD in the presence of model errors caused by multipath, cal errors, mutual coupling, etc. The analysis is general enough to encapsulate various sources o Monte Carlo simulations are used to validate the analysis. We show that in many cases of DPD should be selected as the preferred method of localization.  2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Accuracy of Doppler ultrasound in diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the accuracy of Doppler ultrasound in the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma in patients presenting with post-menopausal bleeding while taking histopathological findings as the gold standard.


METHODS
The cross-sectional study was done at the Department of Radiology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, from April 1 to September 30, 2009, and comprised 128 patients above 50 years of age having history of post-menopausal bleeding and who were referred to the department. Name, age and hospital registration number were recorded on a proforma. Doppler ultrasound was performed and endometrial thickness and uterine artery resistive index were recorded on transabdominal ultrasonography. Patients with endometrial thickness of more than 5 mm and uterine artery resistive index of less than 0.7 were considered to be having endometrial carcinoma. Histopathology findings were also recorded using the hospital registration number of the patient. The findings of Doppler ultrasound scan were validated with the findings of histopathology.


RESULTS
Of the 128 patients, 48 (37.5%) were between the ages of 51 and 55 years; 46 (35.93%) were in the 56-60 age group; and 34 (26.57%) were over 65 years. On the basis of Doppler ultrasound findings, 106 (82.8%) patients were diagnosed as having endometrial carcinoma, while 22 (17.19%) were declared negative. Ultrasonography results were compared with histopathology findings. The percentages of true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative were calculated. There were 103 (80.47%) true positive; 12 (9.37%) false positive; 10 (7.81%) true negative; and 3 (2.35%) false negative. Specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were found to be 97.16%, 76%, 89.56% and 76.92% respectively.


CONCLUSION
The use of Doppler ultrasonography in non-invasive diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma in patients presenting with post-menopausal bleeding was quite useful with good sensitivity, specificity, as well as positive and negative predictive values. There were no procedural complications.
Preoperative sonography in presumed thyroglossal duct cysts.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the utility of ultrasonography as a sole diagnostic study in the preoperative preparation of patients with presumed thyroglossal duct cysts.


DESIGN
Retrospective chart review.


SETTINGS
Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Ill.


PATIENTS
Forty-five pediatric patients with midline masses.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Accuracy in the determination of a normally positioned thyroid gland excluding the presence of a solitary ectopic thyroid gland.


RESULTS
A retrospective chart review was performed at our institution for the period February 1990 to January 1996. A total of 45 patients with midline masses were identified, 39 of whom had undergone preoperative ultrasonography as their sole diagnostic imaging study. In all 39 patients, both a cyst and a normal thyroid gland were identified. All 39 patients underwent the standard Sistrunk procedure. Thirty-seven patients had pathologically confirmed thyroglossal duct cysts. The remaining 2 had dermoid cysts. There were no cases of postoperative hypothyroidism.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of ectopic thyroid in the diagnosis of thyroglossal duct cysts has been reported to be as high as 1% to 2%. In our surgical and clinical experience, the actual incidence of solitary ectopic thyroid tissue is substantially lower. Nevertheless, to prevent the inadvertent removal of the only functioning thyroid tissue, with resultant postoperative hypothyroidism and possible medicolegal consequences, we advocate the routine preoperative identification of normal thyroid gland. We recommend ultrasound as an accurate, cost-effective, noninvasive imaging modality in the preoperative evaluation of all patients with neck masses suspicious for thyroglossal duct cyst. Also, it does not require sedation.
Encoding in the Visual Word Form Area: An fMRI Adaptation Study of Words versus Handwriting

Written texts are not just words but complex multidimensional stimuli, including aspects such as case, font, and handwriting style, for example. Neuropsychological reports suggest that left fusiform lesions can impair the reading of text for word (lexical) content, being associated with alexia, whereas right-sided lesions may impair handwriting recognition. We used fMRI adaptation in 13 healthy participants to determine if repetition–suppression occurred for words but not handwriting in the left visual word form area (VWFA) and the reverse in the right fusiform gyrus. Contrary to these expectations, we found adaptation for handwriting but not for words in both the left VWFA and the right VWFA homologue. A trend to adaptation for words but not handwriting was seen only in the left middle temporal gyrus. An analysis of anterior and posterior subdivisions of the left VWFA also failed to show any adaptation for words. We conclude that the right and the left fusiform gyri show similar patterns of adaptation for handwriting, consistent with a predominantly perceptual contribution to text processing.