LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of violet-excited fluorochromes by flow cytometry using a violet laser diode.

BACKGROUND
Low power violet laser diodes (VLDs) have been evaluated as potential replacements for water-cooled argon-ion and krypton-ion ultraviolet and violet lasers for DNA content analysis using the Hoechst dyes and 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (Shapiro HMN, Perlmutter NG: Cytometry 44:133-136, 2001). In this study, we used a VLD to excite a variety of violet-excited fluorescent molecules important in biomedical analysis, including the fluorochromes Cascade Blue and Pacific Blue, the expressible fluorescent protein cyan fluorescent protein (CFP), and the fluorogenic alkaline phosphatase (AP) substrate 2-(5'-chloro-2'-phosphoryloxyphenyl)-6-chloro-4-(3H)-quinazoline (ELF-97; for endogenous AP detection and cell surface labeling with AP-conjugated antibodies).


METHODS
Comparisons were made between VLD excitation and a krypton-ion laser emitting at 407 nm (both at higher power levels and with the beam attenuated at levels approximating the VLD) on the same FACSVantage SE stream-in-air flow cytometer. We evaluated a Power Technology 408-nm VLD (30 mW) equipped with circularization optics (18 mW maximum output, set to 15 mW) and a Coherent I-302C krypton-ion laser emitting at power levels ranging from 15 to 75 mW.


RESULTS
Cascade Blue, Pacific Blue, and CFP showed comparable signal-to-noise ratios and levels of sensitivity with VLD excitation versus the krypton-ion laser at high and VLD-matched power outputs. Multicolor fluorescent protein analysis with 488-nm excitation of green fluorescent protein and DsRed and VLD excitation of CFP was therefore feasible and was demonstrated. Similar levels of excitation efficiency between krypton-ion and VLD sources also were observed for ELF-97 detection.


CONCLUSIONS
These evaluations confirmed that VLDs may be cost- and maintenance-effective replacements for water-cooled gas lasers for applications requiring violet excitation in addition to DNA binding dyes.
Dicing advanced materials for microelectronics

In recent years, the volume of thinned silicon and bumped silicon wafers have increased dramatically. The push to thinner silicon is driven by smart cards and stacked dice for low profile products which are highly popular in the marketplace. The dicing of advanced materials including thin wafers, ultra-thin silicon wafers, wafer with low k dielectric, bonded wafers and cavitated wafers is critically important for high volume IC production. Today, mechanical dicing with diamond saw blades remains the most cost effective manufacturing process. Advances in dicing processes and blade design allow for dicing of these wafers with minimum mechanical damage to the dice. Achieving end cut with no damage requires a fine balance between the design of the saw street dimension, the contents in the street and the wafer level processing that introduces internal stresses into the wafer. With the push to maximize die count per wafer, the saw street is often filled with wafer test features that not only degrade the cutting action of the blade but introduce internal stress in the silicon wafer. Data shows that chipping on redistributed and bumped wafers is higher than non-bumped wafers. This paper shows results from improved dicing parameters that will overcome yield loss during mechanical dicing without having to resort to laser dicing.
Defect Theorems for Trees

We generalize different notions of a rank of a set of words to sets of trees. We prove that almost all of those ranks can be used to formulate a defect theorem. However, as we show, the prefix rank forms an exception.
Hard Negative Mining for Metric Learning Based Zero-Shot Classification

Zero-Shot learning has been shown to be an efficient strategy for domain adaptation. In this context, this paper builds on the recent work of Bucher et al. [1], which proposed an approach to solve ZeroShot classification problems (ZSC) by introducing a novel metric learning based objective function. This objective function allows to learn an optimal embedding of the attributes jointly with a measure of similarity between images and attributes. This paper extends their approach by proposing several schemes to control the generation of the negative pairs, resulting in a significant improvement of the performance and giving above state-of-the-art results on three challenging ZSC datasets.
Clinical Evaluation and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Intradiscal Methylene Blue Injection for the Treatment of Discogenic Low Back Pain.

BACKGROUND
Low back pain is a common worldwide health problem and has a significant socioeconomic impact on public health. Internal disc disruption has been considered as the most common cause of low back pain. Various therapies, including interbody fusion, disc replacement, injection therapies, and thermal annular procedures have been utilized for the treatment of discogenic low back pain. Recently, a new method of intradiscal methylene blue injection has been introduced to treat discogenic low back pain, but the clinical outcomes are controversial.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the clinical outcomes and magnetic resonance imaging changes of intradiscal methylene blue injection for the treatment of discogenic low back pain.


STUDY DESIGN
Observational study.


SETTING
An interventional low back pain management practice in a university hospital.


METHODS
A total of 33 patients were selected to be treated with intradiscal methylene blue injection. The clinical outcomes were evaluated by numeric rating scale and Oswestry Disability Index at pretreatment, one month, 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment. The magnetic resonance imaging changes of involved intervertebral discs were assessed by apparent diffusion coefficient and T2 values at pretreatment, 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment.


RESULTS
All of the patients got a follow-up period up to 12 months. The mean numeric rating scale scores at pretreatment, one month, 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment were 6.54, 2.98, 3.23, 3.66, and 4.72, respectively. There was a minimum of 2 points reduction at one month, 3, and 6 months after treatment, but less than 2 points reduction at 12 months. There was at least 50% improvement on the Oswestry Disability Index at one month, 3, and 6 months after treatment, but not at 12 months. The mean apparent diffusion coefficient and T2 value were significantly higher at 6 and12 months after treatment compared to pretreatment, but there was no significant difference between pretreatment and 3 months after treatment.


LIMITATIONS
This is an observational study with a relatively small sample size and short-term follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
The intradiscal methylene blue injection might be an effective therapy for discogenic low back pain for the short-term and could improve disc degeneration condition to some extent.Key words: Low back pain, discogenic pain, internal disc disruption, provocation discography, methylene blue, intradiscal injection, disc degeneration, magnetic resonance, imaging.
Neutrino 2004: Concluding talk

We review the highlights of Neutrino 2004 and recall the main lessons from neutrinos in recent years that had a great impact on particle physics and cosmology.
Very Early Nimodipine Use in Stroke (VENUS): a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Very Early Nimodipine Use in Stroke (VENUS) trial was designed to test the hypothesis that early treatment with nimodipine has a positive effect on survival and functional outcome after stroke. This was suggested in a previous meta-analysis on the use of nimodipine in stroke. However, in a recent Cochrane review we were unable to reproduce these positive results. This led to the early termination of VENUS after an interim analysis.


METHODS
In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, treatment was started by general practitioners or neurologists within 6 hours after stroke onset (oral nimodipine 30 mg QID or identical placebo, for 10 days). Main analyses included comparisons of the primary end point (poor outcome, defined as death or dependency after 3 months) and secondary end points (neurological status and blood pressure 24 hours after inclusion, mortality after 10 days, and adverse events) between treatment groups. Subgroup analyses (on final diagnosis and based on the per-protocol data set) were performed.


RESULTS
At trial termination, after inclusion of 454 patients (225 nimodipine, 229 placebo), no effect of nimodipine was found. After 3 months of follow-up, 32% (n=71) of patients in the nimodipine group had a poor outcome compared with 27% (n=62) in the placebo group (relative risk, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.6). A treatment effect was not found for secondary outcomes and in the subgroup analyses.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of VENUS do not support the hypothesis of a beneficial effect of early nimodipine in stroke patients.
A new equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate.

BACKGROUND
Equations to estimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) are routinely used to assess kidney function. Current equations have limited precision and systematically underestimate measured GFR at higher values.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a new estimating equation for GFR: the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation.


DESIGN
Cross-sectional analysis with separate pooled data sets for equation development and validation and a representative sample of the U.S. population for prevalence estimates.


SETTING
Research studies and clinical populations ("studies") with measured GFR and NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), 1999 to 2006.


PARTICIPANTS
8254 participants in 10 studies (equation development data set) and 3896 participants in 16 studies (validation data set). Prevalence estimates were based on 16,032 participants in NHANES.


MEASUREMENTS
GFR, measured as the clearance of exogenous filtration markers (iothalamate in the development data set; iothalamate and other markers in the validation data set), and linear regression to estimate the logarithm of measured GFR from standardized creatinine levels, sex, race, and age.


RESULTS
In the validation data set, the CKD-EPI equation performed better than the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study equation, especially at higher GFR (P < 0.001 for all subsequent comparisons), with less bias (median difference between measured and estimated GFR, 2.5 vs. 5.5 mL/min per 1.73 m(2)), improved precision (interquartile range [IQR] of the differences, 16.6 vs. 18.3 mL/min per 1.73 m(2)), and greater accuracy (percentage of estimated GFR within 30% of measured GFR, 84.1% vs. 80.6%). In NHANES, the median estimated GFR was 94.5 mL/min per 1.73 m(2) (IQR, 79.7 to 108.1) vs. 85.0 (IQR, 72.9 to 98.5) mL/min per 1.73 m(2), and the prevalence of chronic kidney disease was 11.5% (95% CI, 10.6% to 12.4%) versus 13.1% (CI, 12.1% to 14.0%).


LIMITATION
The sample contained a limited number of elderly people and racial and ethnic minorities with measured GFR.


CONCLUSION
The CKD-EPI creatinine equation is more accurate than the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study equation and could replace it for routine clinical use.


PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Deep Intrinsically Motivated Continuous Actor-Critic for Efficient Robotic Visuomotor Skill Learning

© 2019 Muhammad Burhan Hafez et al., published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs4.0License. Paladyn, J. Behav. Robot. 2019; 10:14–29 Research Article Open Access Muhammad Burhan Hafez*, Cornelius Weber, Matthias Kerzel, and Stefan Wermter Deep intrinsically motivated continuous actor-critic for eflcient robotic visuomotor skill learning https://doi.org/10.1515/pjbr-2019-0005 Received June 6, 2018; accepted October 29, 2018 Abstract: In this paper, we present a new intrinsically motivated actor-critic algorithm for learning continuous motor skills directly from raw visual input. Our neural architecture is composed of a critic and an actor network. Both networks receive the hidden representation of a deep convolutional autoencoder which is trained to reconstruct the visual input, while the centre-most hidden representation is also optimized to estimate the state value. Separately, an ensemble of predictive world models generates, based on its learning progress, an intrinsic reward signal which is combined with the extrinsic reward to guide the exploration of the actor-critic learner. Our approach is more data-efficient and inherently more stable than the existing actor-critic methods for continuous control from pixel data. We evaluate our algorithm for the task of learning robotic reaching and grasping skills on a realistic physics simulator and on a humanoid robot. The results show that the control policies learnedwith our approach can achieve better performance than the compared state-of-the-art and baseline algorithms in both dense-reward and challenging sparse-reward settings.
Allegories of Temporal Experience: The Late Work of Frederic Leighton

The late paintings of Victorian artist Frederic Leighton generally embody an abstract idea or concept instead of a specific story or moral. Many of these images express humanity’s experience of the passage of time as it relates to life, death, and rebirth. Leighton’s paintings The Garden of the Hesperides (c. 1892), Lachrymae (c. 1894-95), and Flaming June (1895) represent allegories of timelessness, death, and regeneration, respectively. INDEX WORDS: Frederic Leighton, Victorian painting, Allegory, Garden of the Hesperides, Lachrymae, Flaming June ALLEGORIES OF TEMPORAL EXPERIENCE: THE LATE WORK OF FREDERIC LEIGHTON
From brew town to cool town: Neoliberalism and the creative city development strategy in Milwaukee

This research critically examines a new chapter in the evolution of the entrepreneurial city; one distinguished by its reliance on Richard Florida’s thesis about the relationship between the creative class and economic growth. Since the 2002 publication of his wildly-popular book, The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida’s ideas were broadly assimilated into the infrastructure of urban entrepreneurialism across the United States. This was especially the case in slow-growth metropolitan areas, where it was hoped that a ‘‘creative city’’ development strategy might reverse decades of relative decline. Using Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a representative case study, this paper scrutinizes the actions of that city’s image-makers, planners, and municipal actors, who together orchestrated a new round of urban promotional activities and planning strategies. What made this new round of growth coalition activities unique was that it highlighted a distinct set of urban motifs presumably commensurate with creative class lifestyles, cultural practices, and consumption habits. Following MacLeod [MacLeod, G (2002) From urban entrepreneurialism to a ‘‘revanchist city’’?: on the spatial injustices of Glasgow’s renaissance. Antipode 34(3), 602– 614], Maliszewski [Maliszewski, P (2004) Flexibility and its discontents. The Baffler 16, 69–79] and Peck [Peck, J (2005) Struggling with the creative class. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 29(4), 740–770], this work argues that this creative city growth strategy worked primarily to repackage and strengthen the extant downtown-based property-led development paradigm. The marriage of Florida’s ideas with municipal action therefore brought into even sharper relief what was already one of the most economically and racially polarized large cities in the United States. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cognitive therapy vs medications in the treatment of moderate to severe depression.

BACKGROUND
There is substantial evidence that antidepressant medications treat moderate to severe depression effectively, but there is less data on cognitive therapy's effects in this population.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy in moderate to severe depression of antidepressant medications with cognitive therapy in a placebo-controlled trial.


DESIGN
Random assignment to one of the following: 16 weeks of medications (n = 120), 16 weeks of cognitive therapy (n = 60), or 8 weeks of pill placebo (n = 60).


SETTING
Research clinics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.


PATIENTS
Two hundred forty outpatients, aged 18 to 70 years, with moderate to severe major depressive disorder.


INTERVENTIONS
Some study subjects received paroxetine, up to 50 mg daily, augmented by lithium carbonate or desipramine hydrochloride if necessary; others received individual cognitive therapy.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale provided continuous severity scores and allowed for designations of response and remission.


RESULTS
At 8 weeks, response rates in medications (50%) and cognitive therapy (43%) groups were both superior to the placebo (25%) group. Analyses based on continuous scores at 8 weeks indicated an advantage for each of the active treatments over placebo, each with a medium effect size. The advantage was significant for medication relative to placebo, and at the level of a nonsignificant trend for cognitive therapy relative to placebo. At 16 weeks, response rates were 58% in each of the active conditions; remission rates were 46% for medication, 40% for cognitive therapy. Follow-up tests of a site x treatment interaction indicated a significant difference only at Vanderbilt University, where medications were superior to cognitive therapy. Site differences in patient characteristics and in the relative experience levels of the cognitive therapists each appear to have contributed to this interaction.


CONCLUSION
Cognitive therapy can be as effective as medications for the initial treatment of moderate to severe major depression, but this degree of effectiveness may depend on a high level of therapist experience or expertise.
On surveillance for safety critical events: In-vehicle video networks for predictive driver assistance systems

We study techniques for monitoring and understanding real-world human activities, in particular of drivers, from distributed vision sensors. Real-time and early prediction of maneuvers is emphasized, specifically overtake and brake events. Study this particular domain is motivated by the fact that early knowledge of driver behavior, in concert with the dynamics of the vehicle and surrounding agents, can help to recognize dangerous situations. Furthermore, it can assist in developing effective warning and driver assistance systems. Multiple perspectives and modalities are captured and fused in order to achieve a comprehensive representation of the scene. Temporal activities are learned from a multi-camera head pose estimation module, hand and foot tracking, ego-vehicle parameters, lane and road geometry analysis, and surround vehicle trajectories. The system is evaluated on a challenging dataset of naturalistic driving in real-world settings. 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Wayfinding choremes: conceptualizing wayfinding and route direction elements

v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
Proton therapy for breast cancer after mastectomy: early outcomes of a prospective clinical trial.

PURPOSE
Dosimetric planning studies have described potential benefits for the use of proton radiation therapy (RT) for locally advanced breast cancer. We report acute toxicities and feasibility of proton delivery for 12 women treated with postmastectomy proton radiation with or without reconstruction.


METHODS AND MATERIALS
Twelve patients were enrolled in an institutional review board-approved prospective clinical trial. The patients were assessed for skin toxicity, fatigue, and radiation pneumonitis during treatment and at 4 and 8 weeks after the completion of therapy. All patients consented to have photographs taken for documentation of skin toxicity.


RESULTS
Eleven of 12 patients had left-sided breast cancer. One patient was treated for right-sided breast cancer with bilateral implants. Five women had permanent implants at the time of RT, and 7 did not have immediate reconstruction. All patients completed proton RT to a dose of 50.4 Gy (relative biological effectiveness [RBE]) to the chest wall and 45 to 50.4 Gy (RBE) to the regional lymphatics. No photon or electron component was used. The maximum skin toxicity during radiation was grade 2, according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE). The maximum CTCAE fatigue was grade 3. There have been no cases of RT pneumonitis to date.


CONCLUSIONS
Proton RT for postmastectomy RT is feasible and well tolerated. This treatment may be warranted for selected patients with unfavorable cardiac anatomy, immediate reconstruction, or both that otherwise limits optimal RT delivery using standard methods.
Arteriovenous shunts and capillary blush as an early sign of basal ganglia infarction after successful mechanical intra-arterial thrombectomy in ischaemic stroke

Recent studies indicate an interest in early infarct assessment, mainly using post-interventional perfusion imaging. This work evaluated two specific angiographic signs for infarct prediction in the basal ganglia immediately after successful mechanical intra-arterial thrombectomy. In this retrospective study, 57 consecutive patients (mean ± SD age 67 ± 15 years) with acute occlusion of the proximal anterior circulation who underwent mechanical thrombectomy of the M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery were included. Two separate angiographic signs, early venous drainage and capillary blush, were identified and analysed regarding their statistical significance for infarct prediction within the basal ganglia. Four patients were excluded due to parenchymal haemorrhage. Forty-four of 53 patients developed infarction of the basal ganglia. Sensitivity/specificity were 93 %/27 %, respectively, for the capillary blush sign and 88 %/63 %, respectively, for the early venous drainage sign. Combining both signs increased the sensitivity and specificity to 88 % and 81 %, respectively, and increased the positive predictive value to 95 %. Both angiographic signs seem to predict the irreversible damage of tissue in the basal ganglia reliably despite successful recanalization of the middle cerebral artery in patients with ischaemic stroke. • Evaluation of success in neurointerventional procedures is mainly based on recanalization rates. • Two separate angiographic signs can predict infarction immediately after proximal MCA recanalization. • Combining both signs increases their specificity.
A multicentre study on the clinical utility of post-traumatic amnesia duration in predicting global outcome after moderate-severe traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND
Past research shows that post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) duration is a particularly robust traumatic brain injury (TBI) outcome predictor, but low specificity limits its clinical utility.


OBJECTIVES
The current study assessed the relationship between PTA duration and probability thresholds for Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) levels.


METHODS
Data were prospectively collected in this multicentre observational study. The cohort was a consecutive sample of rehabilitation patients enrolled in the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research funded TBI Model Systems (n = 1332) that had documented finite PTA duration greater than 24 h, and 1-year and 2-year GOS.


RESULTS
The cohort had proportionally more Good Recovery (44% vs 39%) and less Severe Disability (19% vs 23%) at year 2 than at year 1. Longer PTA resulted in an incremental decline in probability of Good Recovery and a corresponding increase in probability of Severe Disability. When PTA ended within 4 weeks, Severe Disability was unlikely (<15% chance) at year 1, and Good Recovery was the most likely GOS at year 2. When PTA lasted beyond 8 weeks, Good Recovery was highly unlikely (<10% chance) at year 1, and Severe Disability was equal to or more likely than Moderate Disability at year 2.


CONCLUSIONS
Two PTA durations, 4 weeks and 8 weeks, emerged as particularly salient GOS probability thresholds that may aid prognostication after TBI.