bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ultrasensitive Detection of Clostridium difficile Toxins Reveals Suboptimal Accuracy of Toxin Gene Cycle Thresholds for Toxin Predictions
Authors: Sandlund Johanna , Wilcox Mark H.
Published: April 2019

The use of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for the diagnosis of
Clostridium
(
Clostridioides
)
difficile
infection (CDI) leads to overdiagnosis. To improve the clinical specificity of NAATs, there has been a recent interest in using toxin gene cycle thresholds (

C
T

s) to predict the presence and absence of toxins.
C19ORF66 Broadly Escapes Virus-Induced Endonuclease Cleavage and Restricts Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus
Authors: Rodriguez William , Srivastav Kumaraman , Muller Mandy
Published: April 2019

Viruses are master regulators of the host gene expression machinery. This is crucial to promote viral infection and to dampen host immune responses. Many viruses, including herpesviruses, express RNases that reduce host gene expression through widespread mRNA decay. However, it emerged that some mRNAs escape this fate, although it has been difficult to determine whether these escaping transcripts benefit viral infection or instead participate in an antiviral mechanism. To tackle this question, we compared the effect of the herpesviral RNases on the human transcriptome and identified a cluster of transcripts consistently escaping degradation from all tested endonucleases. Among the protected mRNAs, we identified the transcript C19ORF66 and showed that it restricts Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection. Collectively, these results provide a framework to explore how the control of RNA fate in the context of viral-induced widespread mRNA degradation may influence the outcome of viral infection.
Whole-Genome Sequences of Two Salmonella enterica Serovar Dublin Strains That Harbor the
viaA
,
viaB
, and
ompB
Loci of the Vi Antigen
Authors: Mohammed Manal , Vignaud Marie-Leone , Cadel-Six Sabrina
Published: April 2019

Here, we report the genome sequences of two
Salmonella enterica
serovar Dublin strains, 03EB8736SAL and 03EB8994SAL, isolated from raw-milk cheese and milk filtrate, respectively. Analysis of the draft genomes of the two isolates reveals the presence of the
viaA
,
viaB,
and
ompB
loci of the Vi capsular polysaccharide antigen (Vi antigen).
High-Quality Draft Genome Sequence of the Microcolonial Black Fungus Aeminium ludgeri DSM 106916
Authors: Trovão João , Tiago Igor , Soares Fabiana , Paiva Diana Sofia , Mesquita Nuno , Coelho Catarina , Catarino Lídia , Gil Francisco , Portugal António
Published: April 2019

Aeminium ludgeri
is an extremotolerant microcolonial black fungus isolated from a biodeteriorated limestone art piece in the Old Cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The high-quality draft genome sequence of
Aeminium ludgeri
presented here represents the first sequenced genome for both the recently described fungal family
Aeminiaceae
and the genus
Aeminium
.
Impacts of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on infant mortality: a quasi-experimental study in the USA, 2003–2014
Authors: Lee Jaeseok , Park Taehwan
Published: April 2019

Objectives

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first mandatory market-based regulatory programme to limit regional carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the USA. Empirical evidence has shown that high concentrations of ambient air pollutants such as CO2have been positively associated with an increased risk of morbidity (eg, respiratory conditions including asthma and lung cancer) and premature mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of RGGI on death rates in infancy.

Design

A quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design.

Setting and participants

We estimated the impacts of RGGI on infant mortality from 2003 through 2014 in the USA (6 years before and after RGGI implementation). Our analytic models included state- and year-fixed effects in addition to a number of covariates.

Outcome measures

Death rates in infancy: neonatal mortality rates (NMRs), deaths under 28 days as well as infant mortality rates (IMRs), deaths under 1 year.

Results

Implementation of RGGI was associated with significant decreases in overall NMRs (a reduction of 0.41/1000 live births) and male NMRs (a reduction of 0.43/1000 live births). However, RGGI did not have a significant effect on female NMRs. Similarly, overall IMRs and male IMRs decreased significantly by 0.37/1000 live births and 0.61/1000 live births, respectively, after implementation of RGGI while female IMRs were not significantly affected by RGGI.

Conclusions

RGGI was associated with decreases in overall infant mortality and boy mortality through reducing air pollutant concentrations. Of note, the impact of this environmental policy on infant girls was much smaller.
Implementation of patient-centred care: which organisational determinants matter from decision maker’s perspective? Results from a qualitative interview study across various health and social care organisations
Authors: Hower Kira Isabel , Vennedey Vera , Hillen Hendrik Ansgar , Kuntz Ludwig , Stock Stephanie , Pfaff Holger , Ansmann Lena
Published: April 2019

Objectives

Health and social care systems, organisations and providers are under pressure to organise care around patients’ needs with constrained resources. To implement patient-centred care (PCC) successfully, barriers must be addressed. Up to now, there has been a lack of comprehensive investigations on possible determinants of PCC across various health and social care organisations (HSCOs). Our qualitative study examines determinants of PCC implementation from decision makers’ perspectives across diverse HSCOs.

Design

Qualitative study of n=24 participants in n=20 semistructured face-to-face interviews conducted from August 2017 to May 2018.

Setting and participants

Decision makers were recruited from multiple HSCOs in the region of the city of Cologne, Germany, based on a maximum variation sampling strategy varying by HSCOs types.

Outcomes

The qualitative interviews were analysed using an inductive and deductive approach according to qualitative content analysis. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research was used to conceptualise determinants of PCC.

Results

Decision makers identified similar determinants facilitating or obstructing the implementation of PCC in their organisational contexts. Several determinants at the HSCO’s inner setting and the individual level (eg, communication among staff and well-being of employees) were identified as crucial to overcome constrained financial, human and material resources in order to deliver PCC.

Conclusions

The results can help to foster the implementation of PCC in various HSCOs contexts. We identified possible starting points for initiating the tailoring of interventions and implementation strategies and the redesign of HSCOs towards more patient-centredness.

Trial registration number

DRKS00011925.
Disagreements in risk of bias assessment for randomised controlled trials included in more than one Cochrane systematic reviews: a research on research study using cross-sectional design
Authors: Bertizzolo Lorenzo , Bossuyt Patrick , Atal Ignacio , Ravaud Philippe , Dechartres Agnes
Published: April 2019

Objectives

Assess the frequency and reasons for disagreements in risk of bias assessments for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) included in more than one Cochrane review.

Design

Research on research study, using cross-sectional design.

Data sources

2796 Cochrane reviews published between March 2011 and September 2014.

Data selection

RCTs included in more than one review.

Data extraction

Risk of bias assessment and support for judgement for five key risk of bias items.

Data synthesis

For each item, we compared risk of bias assessment made in each review and calculated proportion of agreement. Two reviewers independently analysed 50% of all disagreements by comparing support for each judgement with information from study report to evaluate whether disagreements were related to a difference in information (eg, contact the study author) or a difference in interpretation (same support for judgement but different interpretation). They also identified main reasons for different interpretation.

Results

1604 RCTs were included in more than one review. Proportion of agreement ranged from 57% (770/1348 trials) for incomplete outcome data to 81% for random sequence generation (1193/1466). Most common source of disagreement was difference in interpretation of the same information, ranging from 65% (88/136) for random sequence generation to 90% (56/62) for blinding of participants and personnel. Access to different information explained 32/136 (24%) disagreements for random sequence generation and 38/205 (19%) for allocation concealment. Disagreements related to difference in interpretation were frequently related to incomplete or unclear reporting in the study report (83% of disagreements related to different interpretation for random sequence generation).

Conclusions

Risk of bias judgements of RCTs included in more than one Cochrane review differed substantially. Most disagreements were related to a difference in interpretation of an incomplete or unclear description in the study report. A clearer guidance on common causes of incomplete information may improve agreement.
Effects of intraocular lens glistenings on visual function: a prospective study and presentation of a new glistenings grading methodology
Authors: Stanojcic Nick , O’Brart David P S , Maycock Nick , Hull Chistopher C
Published: April 2019

Objective

To investigate the effect of intraocular lens (IOL) glistenings on visual performance and evaluate a new glistenings grading methodology.

Methods and Analysis

Thirty-four patients (34 eyes) were recruited. Corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), mesopic gap acuity (MGA), functional contrast sensitivity (FCS) and forward light scatter were measured (Advanced Vision and Optometric Tests, City Occupational, London, UK). The IOL centre was imaged and glistenings density graded by three observers using the Miyata scale and a new system. Inter-rater reliability, association between the two grading scales, and correlations between glistenings grades and visual performance parameters were evaluated.

Results

The intraclass correlation coefficient between graders for the new grading system was 0.769 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.636 to 0.868). There was a significant association between the Miyata scale and the new grading system for all graders (rs=0.533–0.895, p≤0.001). There was no association between CDVA or MGA and glistenings grade (rs=− 0.098, p=0.583 and rs=0.171, p=0.359, respectively). There was no association between FCS at mesopic light levels and glistenings grade (rs=−0.032, p=0.864), or the straylight parameter and glistenings grade (rs=0.021, p=0.916). No association was found between the integrated straylight parameter and glistenings grade (rs=0.078, p=0.701).

Conclusion

The new glistenings grading scale was highly reproducible. In this cohort, glistenings in the same hydrophobic acrylic IOL after cataract surgery were not associated with changes in visual function, as assessed by a series of tests not previously used in glistenings research.
Intravitreal methotrexate for the treatment of proliferative vitreoretinopathy
Authors: Benner Jeffrey David , Dao David , Butler John W , Hamill Kelli I
Published: April 2019

Background/aims

Preventing and treating proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) remain a serious challenge for vitreoretinal surgeons. PVR is a devastating complication of retinal detachment that results in recurrent detachment and limits visual recovery. At present, there is no effective treatment for PVR.

Materials and methods

A retrospective review was performed on a cohort of five consecutive eyes with severe PVR and recurrent retinal detachment that were treated with relaxing retinectomy, extended perfluorocarbon liquid tamponade (4–5 weeks) and a series of intravitreal methotrexate (MTX) injections (100–200 µg/0.05 mL for 10 weeks).

Results

All five patients remained reattached (100%) with 11–27 months of follow-up (mean = 17.4). 4 eyes recovered ambulatory vision (>20/200) with normal intraocular pressure and non-fibrotic laser scars along with the relaxing retinectomy. The initial patient remained reattached, but only had hand motions vision. The only adverse effect noted was mild superficial punctate keratopathy in one patient.

Conclusion

This small, retrospective study suggests that a series of MTX injections may be beneficial for treating complex retinal detachment caused by PVR. Further study is indicated.
Assessing the quality of health care in the management of bronchiolitis in Australian children: a population-based sample survey
Authors: Homaira Nusrat , Wiles Louise K , Gardner Claire , Molloy Charlotte J , Arnolda Gaston , Ting Hsuen P , Hibbert Peter Damian , Braithwaite Jeffrey , Jaffe Adam
Published: April 2019

Background

Bronchiolitis is the most common cause of respiratory hospitalisation in children aged <2 years. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) suggest only supportive management of bronchiolitis. However, the availability of CPGs do not guarantee that they are used appropriately and marked variation in the clinical management exists. We conducted an assessment of guideline adherence in the management of bronchiolitis in children at a subnationally representative level including inpatient and ambulatory services in Australia.

Methods

We searched for national and international CPGs relating to management of bronchiolitis in children and identified 16 recommendations which were formatted into 40 medical record audit indicator questions. A retrospective medical record review assessing compliance with the CPGs was conducted across three types of healthcare setting: hospital inpatient admissions, emergency department (ED) presentations and general practice (GP) consultations in three Australian states for children aged <2 years receiving care in 2012 and 2013.

Results

Purpose-trained surveyors conducted 13 979 eligible indicator assessments across 796 visits for bronchiolitis at 119 sites. Guideline adherence for management of bronchiolitis was 77.3% (95% CI 72.6 to 81.5) for children attending EDs, 81.6% (95% CI 78.0 to 84.9) for inpatients and 52.3% (95% CI 44.8 to 59.7) for children attending GP consultations. While adherence to some individual indicators was high, overall adherence to documentation of 10 indicators relating to history taking and examination was poorest and estimated at 2.7% (95% CI 1.5 to 4.4).

Conclusions

The study is the first to assess guideline-adherence in both hospital (ED and inpatient) and GP settings. Our study demonstrated that while the quality of care for bronchiolitis was generally adherent to CPG indicators, specific aspects of management were deficient, especially documentation of history taking.
Impact of Emergency Medicine Consultants and Clinical Advisors on a NHS 111 Clinical Assessment Service
Authors: Sen Basav , Clay Henry , Wright John , Findlay Stewart , Cratchley Andrew
Published: April 2019

Objective

To compare outcome of clinical advice given by emergency physicians (EPs) versus non-physician clinical advisors (NPCAs) on a UK National Health Service 111 centre.

Method

This was a prospective study conducted between July 2016 and February 2017. We targeted calls in which call handlers using standard NHS 111 clinical decision support software would have advised the caller to attend a hospital ED. These calls were passed to a clinical assessment service (CAS) and reviewed by either an EP (July to November 2016) or an NPCA (December 2016 to February 2017).

Results

During the preintervention year, 80.2% of callers were advised to attend the ED within 1 or 4 hours, 1.2% were referred to out of hours (OOH) primary care and 0.3% to self-care. During the study, call handlers designated 2606 calls as needing to attend the ED in 1 or 4 hours and passed these on to the clinical advisors. There was a reduction of 75%–81% in cases advised to attend the ED in both intervention groups; EPs advised 396 of 1558 callers (25.4%) to attend ED; NPCAs advised 194 of 1048 callers (18.5%) to attend ED. For calls not requiring the ED, EPs recommended self/home care management in 38.1% of these calls, NPCAs recommended self-care for 15.7% (difference=22.4%; 95% CI 19.0% to 25.7%). EPs recommended 4.5% to attend OOH primary care, while NPCAs recommended OOH primary care for 42.1% (difference=37.6%, 95% CI 34.3% to 40.8%).

Conclusions

A CAS within NHS 111 using clinicians decreases referrals to the ED. EPs use fewer services and resources. Further work needs to be undertaken to determine the workforce skill mix for an NHS 111 CAS.
Anatomy of resuscitative care unit: expanding the borders of traditional intensive care units
Authors: Leibner Evan , Spiegel Rory , Hsu Cindy H , Wright Brian , Bassin Benjamin S , Gunnerson Kyle , O’Connor James , Stein Deborah , Weingart Scott , Greenwood John C , Rubinson Lewis , Menaker Jay , Scalea Thomas M
Published: April 2019

Resuscitation lacks a place in the hospital to call its own. Specialised intensive care units, though excellent at providing longitudinal critical care, often lack the flexibility to adapt to fluctuating critical care needs. We offer the resuscitative care unit as a potential solution to ensure that patients receive appropriate care during the most critical hours of their illnesses. These units offer an infrastructure for resuscitation and can meet the changing needs of their institutions.
Abstracts from international Emergency Medicine Journals
Authors: Weber Ellen J
Published: April 2019

Editor’s note: EMJ has partnered with the journals of multiple international emergency medicine societies to share from each a highlighted research study, as selected by their editors. This edition will feature an abstract from each publication.
Treatment of complex airway stenoses using patient-specific 3D-engineered stents: a proof-of-concept study
Authors: Guibert Nicolas , Didier Alain , Moreno Benjamin , Lepage Benoit , Leyx Pierre , Plat Gavin , Mhanna Laurent , Murris Marlene , Mazières Julien , Hermant Christophe
Published: April 2019

Anatomically complex airway stenosis (ACAS) represents a challenging situation in which commercially available stents often result in migration or granulation tissue reaction due to poor congruence. This proof-of-concept clinical trial investigated the feasibility and safety of computer-assisted designed (CAD) and manufactured personalised three-dimensional (3D) stents in patients with ACAS from various origins. After CAD of a virtual stent from a CT scan, a mould is manufactured using a 3D computer numerical control machine, from which a medical-grade silicone stent is made. Complication rate, dyspnoea, quality of life and respiratory function were followed after implantation. The congruence of the stent was assessed peroperatively and at 1 week postimplantation (CT scan). The stent could be implanted in all 10 patients. The 3-month complication rate was 40%, including one benign mucus plugging, one stent removal due to intense cough and two stent migrations. 9 of 10 stents showed great congruence within the airways, and 8 of 10 induced significant improvement in dyspnoea, quality of life and respiratory function. These promising outcomes in highly complex situations support further investigation on the subject, including technological improvements.​

Trial registration number

NCT02889029.
Depth of powers of generalized Hibi ideals
Authors: Bayati Shamila , Rahmati Farhad
Published: April 2019

In this paper, we present a formula for the depth of powers of generalized Hibi ideals and study the asymptotic behavior of depth. We also see that the associated primes of powers of this class of ideals are stable.
Atomistic Simulations of Phase Change Materials for Electronic Memories
Authors: Bernasconi M.
Published: April 2019

We review our results on large-scale atomistic simulations of the phase change compound GeTe of interest for applications in nonvolatile electronic memories. The simulations are based on an interatomic potential with an accuracy close to that of the density functional theory (DFT). The potential was generated by fitting a DFT database by means of an artificial neural network method. This methodological advance allowed us to perform molecular dynamics simulations with several thousand atoms for several ns that provided useful insights on several properties of interest for the operation of phase change memories, including the crystallization kinetics, the dynamics of the supercooled liquid, the structural relaxation in the glass and the properties of nanowires.
Analytic Modeling of the of J–V Characteristics of Quantum Dot-Based Photovoltaic Cells
Authors: Saunina A. Yu. , Nikitenko V. R. , Chistyakov A. A. , Zvaizgne M. A. , Tameev A. R. , Aleksandrov A. E.
Published: April 2019

An analytic model of [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] characteristics of photovoltaic devices based on quantum dot (QD) solids is developed. The model yields the upper estimation of the power conversion efficiency and predicts its extremal dependence on the diffusion length of excitons. The predictive power of our model is approved by the comparison with the experimental data for PbS QD-based solar cells.
CFD Simulation of Chemical Gas Dispersion Under Atmospheric Boundary Conditions
Authors: Xu George , Lim Arthur , Gopalan Harish , Lou Jing , Poh Hee Joo
Published: April 2019

Pollutant control is one of the key concerns in the design of buildings, for the sake of occupational health, safety and environment sustainability. In particular, risk analyses related to emergency leakage of chemicals from storage tanks or chemical processes have aroused increasing attentions in recent days, as well as the effectiveness of mitigation measures in order to eliminate, reduce and control the risks. In this paper, a CFD methodology with nonreactive chemical gases treated as passive scalars has been developed to simulate the gas dispersion across urban environments, subject to atmospheric boundary layer wind conditions. Special treatments to maintain the consistency in atmospheric boundary layer flow profiles, turbulence modeling and boundary conditions have also been accounted for. The proposed CFD methodology for gas dispersion has been implemented in the open source CFD code — OpenFOAM. It has been validated by modeling the gas dispersions for two urban-related test cases: the CODASC street canyon test case measured in a laboratory wind tunnel and the Mock Urban Setting Test (MUST) field experiment conducted in the desert area of Utah State. Effects of turbulent Schmidt number (Sct have been primarily addressed in this study. Statistical analyses about the discrepancies between predicted and experimental data have been carried out and statistical performance measures are used to quantify the accuracy of the proposed methodology. Simulations results from passive scalar transport equation demonstrate good agreement with experimental data, though tracer gases heavier than the atmospheric air were used in both the measurements. Furthermore, sensitivity tests also indicate that the accuracy of the simulation results is sensitive to the value of turbulent Schmidt number.
The Application of Godunov SPH in the Simulation of Energetic Materials
Authors: Hu Man , Wang Guangyu , Liu Guirong , Peng Qing
Published: April 2019

The numerical study of detonation of high explosives has been the interest of researchers over decades. Due to its special advantages in tracking free surface and dealing with large deformation, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) has been a powerful tool to investigate detonation phenomenon. SPH is a Lagrangian mesh-free method with extensive applications in fluid mechanics and solid mechanics. In the early development of SPH method, artificial viscosity is introduced to suppress unphysical fluctuation. However, the parameters of artificial viscosity often need to be tuned for some simulation, which can be quite time-consuming. Herein, a Riemann solver is integrated in traditional SPH algorithm to eliminate artificial viscosity, which is known as Godunov SPH. First, shock tube problem is studied using the Godunov SPH. The simulation result is compared with that obtained by traditional SPH with artificial viscosity, finite volume method (FVM) and experiment. Then, the Godunov SPH is implemented to investigate the detonation of 1D and 2D polymer-bonded explosive PBX 9501. Various factors that may influence simulation are studied, such as particle density and smoothing length. It is demonstrated that the proposed method is accurate and reliable for the study of detonation of high explosives.
Knowledge Extraction of Adaptive Structural Learning of Deep Belief Network for Medical Examination Data
Authors: Kamada Shin , Ichimura Takumi , Harada Toshihide
Published: April 2019

Deep learning has a hierarchical network structure to represent multiple features of input data. The adaptive structural learning method of Deep Belief Network (DBN) can reach the high classification capability while searching the optimal network structure during the training. The method can find the optimal number of hidden neurons for given input data in a Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM) by neuron generation–annihilation algorithm, and generate a new hidden layer in DBN by the extension of the algorithm. In this paper, the proposed adaptive structural learning of DBN (Adaptive DBN) was applied to the comprehensive medical examination data for cancer prediction. The developed prediction system showed higher classification accuracy for test data (99.5% for the lung cancer and 94.3% for the stomach cancer) than the several learning methods such as traditional RBM, DBN, Non-Linear Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). Moreover, the explicit knowledge that makes the inference process of the trained DBN is required in deep learning. The binary patterns of activated neurons for given input in RBM and the hierarchical structure of DBN can represent the relation between input and output signals. These binary patterns were classified by C4.5 for knowledge extraction. Although the extracted knowledge showed slightly lower classification accuracy than the trained DBN network, it was able to improve inference speed by about 1/40. We report that the extracted IF-THEN rules from the trained DBN for medical examination data showed some interesting features related to initial condition of cancer.
Invertible binary algebras principally isotopic to a group
Authors: Davidov Sergey , Alvrtsyan Senik , Shahnazaryan Davit
Published: April 2019

In this paper, using the second-order formulas, we obtained characterizations of invertible algebras principally isotopic to a group or an abelian group.
Visualizing Light Rays Using Fluorescence
Authors: Chan Wai Suen , Tong Shiu Sing
Published: April 2019

We present a simple and effective experimental setup to help students visualize light rays in optics experiments. When illuminated by a blue-violet laser pointer (typical wavelength [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]nm), tonic water and phosphorescent paper show fluorescence which allows the laser beam to be clearly seen by a large audience under normal ambient lighting. The setup is particularly useful for conducting classroom demonstrations on the reflection, refraction and diffraction of light. Quantitative measurement is also possible, e.g. students can attach a transparent scale to the phosphorescent paper or container holding the tonic water, and perform a quick verification of Snell’s law and the diffraction formula [Formula: see text]. The appeal of the visualization of light beams in multiple total internal reflections and retroreflection could help teachers introduce technological applications such as optical fibers and retroreflectors in road signs. A simple but interesting experiment of scattering laser light to form a light cone in a medium is shown using the fluorescence method. Redoing or modifying other innovative optics experiments using the fluorescence method is also discussed.
Reversible Harmonic Maps between Discrete Surfaces
Authors: Ezuz Danielle , Solomon Justin , Ben-Chen Mirela
Published: April 2019

Information transfer between triangle meshes is of great importance in computer graphics and geometry processing. To facilitate this process, a
smooth and accurate map
is typically required between the two meshes. While such maps can sometimes be computed between nearly isometric meshes, the more general case of meshes with diverse geometries remains challenging. We propose a novel approach for
direct
map computation between triangle meshes without mapping to an intermediate domain, which optimizes for the
harmonicity
and
reversibility
of the forward and backward maps. Our method is general both in the information it can receive as input, e.g., point landmarks, a dense map, or a functional map, and in the diversity of the geometries to which it can be applied. We demonstrate that our maps exhibit lower conformal distortion than the state of the art, while succeeding in correctly mapping key features of the input shapes.
What Do We Mean When We Talk about Artificial Intelligence?
Authors: Schaefer Robert
Published: April 2019

This is a good time as any to address the more philosophical questions of what software is and how we use it, in particular software used as a replacement for human intelligence-AI. My intent in this and in the next few columns is to address some of the fundamentals, that is, the science of AI or what should be nailed-down before software engineering begins. You get more traction when you design on a solid science base of knowledge. A simple analogy, for example-one might not choose to labor over a not-quite-working perpetual-motion machine if one were aware of the second law of thermodynamics. Then again, there is no equivalent "law of human intelligence," so people keep trying.
Risks to the Public
Authors: Neumann Peter G.
Published: April 2019

Edited by PGN (Risks Forum Moderator, with contribu- tions by others as indicated. Opinions are individual rather than organizational, with usual disclaimers implied. We ad- dress problems relating to software, hardware, people, and other circumstances relevant to computer systems. Ref- erences (R i j) to the online Risks Forum denote RISKS vol i number j. Cited RISKS items generally identify contributors and sources, together with URLs. Official RISKS archives are available at www.risks.org, with nice html formatting and search engine courtesy of Lindsay Mar- shall at Newcastle:; http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/i.j.html (also ftp://www.sri.com/risks). CACM Inside Risks: http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann/insiderisks.html
Understanding Parents' Perspectives on Mealtime Technology
Authors: Chen Ying-Yu , Li Ziyue , Rosner Daniela , Hiniker Alexis
Published: April 2019

For young children, family meals are an enjoyable and developmentally useful part of daily life. Although prior work has shown that ubiquitous computing solutions can enhance children's eating habits and mealtime experiences in valuable ways, other work demonstrates that many families are hesitant to use technology in this context. This paper examines adoption barriers for technology for family meals to understand with more nuance what parents value and resist in this space. Using mixed methods, we first observed family dinnertime experiences and then surveyed 122 parents with children from two to six years old. We found that parents prefer screen-based technology over voice interfaces and smart objects, because parents perceive the latter two systems to intrude on their relationship with children. The pervasiveness of smart objects embedded at meals led parents to worry about distraction and technology dependence, while the anthropomorphization of voice interfaces led parents to worry that this technology could displace parenting relationships or disrupt interpersonal interactions among family members. Parents mindlessly applied social scripts to voice interfaces, suggesting families may be more likely to apply concerns from interpersonal interactions to voice interfaces than to other technologies. We discuss the ways different form factors appeal to and worry parents, providing designers with insights about the likelihood of adoption and acceptance.
Privacy-preserving Cross-domain Location Recommendation
Authors: Gao Chen , Huang Chao , Yu Yue , Wang Huandong , Li Yong , Jin Depeng
Published: April 2019

Cross-domain recommendation is a typical solution for data sparsity and cold start issue in the field of location recommendation. Specifically, data of an auxiliary domain is leveraged to improve the recommendation of the target domain. There is a typical scenario that two interaction domains (location based check-in service, for example) combine data to perform the cross-domain location recommendation task. Existing approaches are based on the assumption that the interaction data from the auxiliary domain can be directly shared across domains. However, such an assumption is not reasonable, since in the real world those domains may be operated by different companies. Therefore, directly sharing raw data may violate business privacy policy and increase the risk of privacy leakage since the user-location interaction records are very sensitive.

In this paper, we propose a framework named privacy-preserving cross-domain location recommendation which works in two stages. First, for the interaction data from the auxiliary domain, we adopt a differential privacy based protection mechanism to hide the real locations of each user to meet the criterion of differential privacy. Then we share the protected user-location interaction to the target domain. Second, we develop a new method of Confidence-aware Collective Matrix Factorization (CCMF) to effectively exploit the transferred interaction data. To verify its efficacy, we collect two real-world datasets suitable for the task. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed framework achieves the best performance compared with the state-of-the-art baseline methods. We further demonstrate that our method can alleviate the data sparsity issue significantly while protecting users' location privacy.
From Fingerprint to Footprint
Authors: Tu Zhen , Fan Yali , Li Yong , Chen Xiang , Su Li , Jin Depeng
Published: April 2019

With increasing diversity of user interest and preference, personalized location recommendation is essential and beneficial to our daily life. To achieve this, the most critical challenge is the cold-start recommendation problem, for we cannot learn preference from cold-start users without any historical records. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is feasible to make personalized location recommendation by learning user interest and location features from app usage data. By proposing a novel generative model to transfer user interests from app usage behavior to location preference, we achieve personalized location recommendation via learning the interest's correlation between locations and apps. Based on two real-world datasets, we evaluate our method's performance with a variety of scenarios and parameters. The results demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions in solving cold-start problem, i.e., when there are 60% cold-start users, we can still achieve a 77.0% hitrate in recommending the top five locations, which is at least 9.6% higher than the baselines. Our study is the first step forward for transferring user interests learning from online fingerprints to offline footprints, which paves the way for better personalized location recommendation services.
Ambient Air Pollution, Noise, and Late-Life Cognitive Decline and Dementia Risk
Authors: Paul Kimberly C. , Haan Mary , Mayeda Elizabeth Rose , Ritz Beate R.
Published: April 2019

Exposure to ambient air pollution and noise is ubiquitous globally. A strong body of evidence links air pollution, and recently noise, to cardiovascular conditions that eventually may also affect cognition in the elderly. Data that support a broader influence of these exposures on cognitive function during aging is just starting to emerge. This review summarizes current findings and discusses methodological challenges and opportunities for research. Although current evidence is still limited, especially for chronic noise exposure, high exposure has been associated with faster cognitive decline either mediated through cerebrovascular events or resulting in Alzheimer's disease. Ambient environmental exposures are chronic and affect large populations. While they may yield relatively modest-sized risks, they nevertheless result in large numbers of cases. Reducing environmental pollution is clearly feasible, though lowering levels requires collective action and long-term policies such as standard setting, often at the national level as well as at the local level.
Race, Place, and Effective Policing
Authors: Braga Anthony A. , Brunson Rod K. , Drakulich Kevin M.
Published: April 2019

The police need public support and cooperation to be effective in controlling crime and holding offenders accountable. In many disadvantaged communities of color, poor relationships between the police and residents undermine effective policing. Weak police–minority community relationships are rooted in a long history of discriminatory practices and contemporary proactive policing strategies that are overly aggressive and associated with racial disparities. There are no simple solutions to address the complex rift between the police and the minority communities that they serve. The available evidence suggests that there are policies and practices that could improve police–minority community relations and enhance police effectiveness. Police departments should conduct more sophisticated analysis of crime problems to ensure that crime-control programs are not indiscriminate and unfocused, engage residents in their crime reduction efforts by revitalizing community policing, ensure procedurally just police contacts with citizens, and implement problem-solving strategies to prevent crimes beyond surveillance and enforcement actions.
Danshen Formulae for Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Wang Tianqi , Fu Xianjun , Wang Zhenguo
Published: April 2019

Objective. Cancer is one of the most dangerous diseases to human life and there is no radical cure for it. In this paper, we compiled quantities of case history to evaluate the current available evidence of herbal Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, RSM) formulae for the treatment of cancer by means of the high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods. English and Chinese electronic databases were searched from PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database, Wanfang database until September 2018. The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated by using the method of Cocharne evidence-based medicine system evaluation, the quality was evaluated by screening the literature that met the requirements, and the Review Manager 5.3 was used for statistical analysis. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% CIs was used to estimate the correlation between Danshen formulae and therapeutic effects. Results. Thirteen RCTs with 1045 participants were identified. The studies investigated the lung cancer (n = 5), leukemia (n = 3), liver cancer (n = 3), breast or colon cancer (n = 1), and gastric cancer (n = 1). A total of 83 traditional Chinese medicines were used in all prescriptions and there were 3 different dosage forms. Meta-analysis suggested that Danshen formulae had a significant effect on RR (response rate) (OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.66-3.42), 1-year survival (OR 1.70 95% CI 1.22-2.36), 3-year survival (OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.62-4.78), and 5-year survival (OR 8.45, 95% CI 2.53-28.27). Conclusion. The current research results showed that Danshen formulae combined with chemotherapy for cancer treatment was better than conventional drug treatment plan alone.
Human Papillomavirus Detection in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas at a Tertiary Hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Aboagye Evans , Agyemang-Yeboah Francis , Duduyemi Babatunde Moses , Obirikorang Christian
Published: April 2019

Fewer studies have been done over the years to establish the association of human papillomavirus (HPV) with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSSC) within the subregions of sub-Saharan Africa, and thus this study was designed to investigate the presence of HPV in HNSCC at a tertiary hospital in Ghana, providing additional evidence on the need to explore similar studies in other subregions. A retrospective cross-sectional study was employed to investigate the presence of the DNA of HPV genotypes in HNSCC archived tissue. A total of 100 HNSCC cases were classified as suitable for HPV genotyping. HPV-DNA was detected in 18% of the HNSCC cases, with 17 being HPV-16 and 1 dual infection with HPV-16 and HPV-18. HPV was prevalent in 50% of oropharyngeal cancers, 27% of laryngeal cancers, and 23% of oral cavity cancers. HPV E6/E7 oncogenic DNA was found in 18% of the HNSCC cases, with HPV-16 being the predominant genotype present. The pattern of HPV association was similar to earlier reported studies, recording a higher prevalence in oropharyngeal cancers, followed by laryngeal cancers and oral cavity cancers.
Circulating Galectin-3 and Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence after Catheter Ablation: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Zhang Guangping , Wu Yongquan
Published: April 2019

Background. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is involved in fibrosis and heart failure. However, epidemiological studies evaluating the association between Gal-3 and atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after catheter ablation showed inconsistent results. We conducted a meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the relationship between baseline circulating Gal-3 levels and AF recurrence in patients undergoing catheter ablation. Methods. Relevant studies were identified by systematically searching the PubMed and Embase databases. A random-effect model was used to synthesize the results. Sensitivity analyses, performed by omitting one study at a time, were used to evaluate the robustness of the results. Results. Seven prospective cohort studies including 645 AF patients were included. Within a follow-up duration of up to 18 months, 244 patients developed AF recurrence. Pooled results showed that baseline circulating Gal-3 levels were significantly higher in patients with AF recurrence compared to those without (standardized mean difference: 0.74; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.21 - 1.27; p = 0.007; I2 = 89%). Moreover, higher baseline Gal-3 levels were independently associated with a significantly higher risk of AF recurrence after catheter ablation (risk ratio: 1.17 per unit of Gal-3; 95% CI: 1.01 - 1.35; p = 0.03; I2 = 40%), which was independent of age, gender, and left atrial dimension. Sensitivity analyses did not significantly affect the results. However, there was a significant publication bias for predicting efficacy of associating preprocedural Gal-3 levels with AF recurrence. Conclusions. Higher preprocedural Gal-3 levels may be associated with increased risk of AF recurrence in patients undergoing catheter ablation.
Preoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Plus Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts the Outcomes after Curative Resection for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Kabir T. , Ye M. , Mohd Noor N. A. , Woon W. , Junnarkar S. P. , Shelat V. G.
Published: April 2019

Background. In recent years, inflammation-based scoring systems have been reported to predict survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). The aim of our study was to validate combined preoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratio (NLR)-Platelet-to-Lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in predicting overall survival (OS) and recurrence free survival (RFS) in patients who underwent curative resection for HCC. Methods. We conducted a retrospective study of HCC patients underwent liver resection with curative intent from January 2010 to December 2013. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cut-off values for NLR and PLR. Patients with both NLR and PLR elevated were allocated a score of 2; patients showing one or neither of these indices elevated were accorded a score of 1 or 0, respectively. Results. 132 patients with a median age of 66 years (range 18-87) underwent curative resection for HCC. Overall morbidity was 30.3%, 30-day mortality was 2.3%, and 90-day mortality was 6.8%. At a median follow-up of 24 months (range 1-88), 25% patients died, and 40.9% had recurrence. On multivariate analysis, elevated preoperative NLR-PLR was predictive of both OS (HR 2.496; CI 1.156-5.389; p=0.020) and RFS (HR 1.917; CI 1.161-3.166; p=0.011). The 5-year OS was 76% for NLR-PLR=0 group, 21.7% for the NLR-PLR=1 group, and 61.1% for the NLR-PLR=2 group, respectively. The 5-year RFS was 39.3% for the NLR-PLR=0 group, 18.4% for the NLR-PLR=1 group, and 21.1% for the NLR-PLR=2 group, respectively. Conclusion. The preoperative NLR-PLR is predictive of both OS and RFS in patients with HCC undergoing curative liver resection.
Management of Chronic Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation Associated with Aortic Aneurysm/Dissection
Authors: Koba Shigeru , Yamaguchi Tomoya , Miki Kenji , Makihara Hiroshi , Imashuku Shinsaku
Published: April 2019

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a systemic life-threatening process that can cause thrombosis and hemorrhage. Chronic DIC has been associated with aortic aneurysm/dissection. Aortic aneurysm/dissection should be included in the differential diagnosis of elderly patients with hemorrhagic diathesis due to DIC of uncertain etiology. Treatment depends on various factors, including the severity of underlying disease, extent of DIC, and patient comorbidities, as well as the ability of the patient to maintain activities of daily living once discharged from the hospital. This report describes the clinical characteristics of four elderly patients with chronic DIC associated with aortic aneurysm/dissection who were treated in our institution. We also offer the recommendations around most appropriate nonsurgical treatment of these patients.