bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early network dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Selkoe Dennis J.
Published: August 2019

Small aggregates of β-amyloid peptide can hyperactivate neurons, which compromises neural networks
Evaluation of a Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel Immunoassay in Stool Testing of Patients with Suspected
Clostridioides
(
Clostridium
)
difficile
Infection
Authors: Krutova Marcela , Briksi Ales , Tkadlec Jan , Zajac Miroslav , Matejkova Jana , Nyc Otakar , Drevinek Pavel
Published: August 2019

Clostridioides
(
Clostridium
)
difficile
infection (CDI) is the most common causative pathogen of health care-associated gastrointestinal infections; however, due to the overlap of clinical symptoms with those of other causes of acute gastroenteritis, the selection of the most appropriate laboratory test is difficult.
Strain-Dependent Activation and Inhibition of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Entry by a Specific PF-68742 Stereoisomer
Authors: Zhao Connie , Princiotto Amy M. , Nguyen Hanh T. , Zou Shitao , Zhao Meiqing Lily , Zhang Shijian , Herschhorn Alon , Farrell Mark , Pahil Karanbir , Melillo Bruno , Sambasivarao Somisetti V. , Abrams Cameron , Smith Amos B. , Madani Navid , Sodroski Joseph
Published: August 2019

Envelope glycoprotein (Env) spikes on the surface of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) bind target cell receptors, triggering changes in the shape of Env. We studied a small molecule, MF275, that also induced shape changes in Env. The consequences of MF275 interaction with Env depended on the HIV-1 strain, with infection by some viruses inhibited and infection by other viruses enhanced. These studies reveal the strain-dependent diversity of HIV-1 Envs as they undergo shape changes in proceeding down the entry pathway. Appreciation of this diversity will assist attempts to develop broadly active inhibitors of HIV-1 entry.
Association of ideal cardiovascular health at age 50 with incidence of dementia: 25 year follow-up of Whitehall II cohort study
Authors: Sabia Séverine , Fayosse Aurore , Dumurgier Julien , Schnitzler Alexis , Empana Jean-Philippe , Ebmeier Klaus P , Dugravot Aline , Kivimäki Mika , Singh-Manoux Archana
Published: August 2019

Objectives

To examine the association between the Life Simple 7 cardiovascular health score at age 50 and incidence of dementia.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

Civil service departments in London (Whitehall II study; study inception 1985-88).

Participants

7899 participants with data on the cardiovascular health score at age 50.

Exposures

The cardiovascular health score included four behavioural (smoking, diet, physical activity, body mass index) and three biological (fasting glucose, blood cholesterol, blood pressure) metrics, coded on a three point scale (0, 1, 2). The cardiovascular health score was the sum of seven metrics (score range 0-14) and was categorised into poor (scores 0-6), intermediate (7-11), and optimal (12-14) cardiovascular health.

Main outcome measure

Incident dementia, identified through linkage to hospital, mental health services, and mortality registers until 2017.

Results

347 incident cases of dementia were recorded over a median follow-up of 24.7 years. Compared with an incidence rate of dementia of 3.2 (95% confidence interval 2.5 to 4.0) per 1000 person years among the group with poor cardiovascular health, the absolute rate differences per 1000 person years were −1.5 (95% confidence interval −2.3 to −0.7) for the group with intermediate cardiovascular health and −1.9 (−2.8 to −1.1) for the group with optimal cardiovascular health. Higher cardiovascular health score was associated with a lower risk of dementia (hazard ratio 0.89 (0.85 to 0.95) per 1 point increment in the cardiovascular health score). Similar associations with dementia were observed for the behavioural and biological subscales (hazard ratios per 1 point increment in the subscores 0.87 (0.81 to 0.93) and 0.91 (0.83 to 1.00), respectively). The association between cardiovascular health at age 50 and dementia was also seen in people who remained free of cardiovascular disease over the follow-up (hazard ratio 0.89 (0.84 to 0.95) per 1 point increment in the cardiovascular health score).

Conclusion

Adherence to the Life Simple 7 ideal cardiovascular health recommendations in midlife was associated with a lower risk of dementia later in life.
Association between major surgical admissions and the cognitive trajectory: 19 year follow-up of Whitehall II cohort study
Authors: Krause Bryan M , Sabia Séverine , Manning Helen J , Singh-Manoux Archana , Sanders Robert D
Published: August 2019

Objective

To quantify the association between major surgery and the age related cognitive trajectory.

Design

Prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Setting

United Kingdom.

Participants

7532 adults with as many as five cognitive assessments between 1997 and 2016 in the Whitehall II study, with linkage to hospital episode statistics. Exposures of interest included any major hospital admission, defined as requiring more than one overnight stay during follow-up.

Main outcomes measures

The primary outcome was the global cognitive score established from a battery of cognitive tests encompassing reasoning, memory, and phonemic and semantic fluency. Bayesian linear mixed effects models were used to calculate the change in the age related cognitive trajectory after hospital admission. The odds of substantial cognitive decline induced by surgery defined as more than 1.96 standard deviations from a predicted trajectory (based on the first three cognitive waves of data) was also calculated.

Results

After accounting for the age related cognitive trajectory, major surgery was associated with a small additional cognitive decline, equivalent on average to less than five months of aging (95% credible interval 0.01 to 0.73 years). In comparison, admissions for medical conditions and stroke were associated with 1.4 (1.0 to 1.8) and 13 (9.6 to 16) years of aging, respectively. Substantial cognitive decline occurred in 2.5% of participants with no admissions, 5.5% of surgical admissions, and 12.7% of medical admissions. Compared with participants with no major hospital admissions, those with surgical or medical events were more likely to have substantial decline from their predicted trajectory (surgical admissions odds ratio 2.3, 95% credible interval 1.4 to 3.9; medical admissions 6.2, 3.4 to 11.0).

Conclusions

Major surgery is associated with a small, long term change in the average cognitive trajectory that is less profound than for major medical admissions. The odds of substantial cognitive decline after surgery was about doubled, though lower than for medical admissions. During informed consent, this information should be weighed against the potential health benefits of surgery.
Has there been a change in the end-of-life decision-making over the past 16 years?
Authors: Piili Reetta P , Lehto Juho T , Metsänoja Riina , Hinkka Heikki , Kellokumpu-Lehtinen Pirkko-Liisa I
Published: August 2019

Objectives

Physicians’ decision-making in end-of-life (EOL) care includes many medical, ethical and juridical aspects. We studied the changes of these decisions over time and factors influencing them.

Methods

A postal survey including two hypothetical patient scenarios was sent to 1258 Finnish physicians in 2015 and to 1182 in 1999. The attitudes, values and background factors of the physicians were also enquired.

Results

The response rate was 56%. The physicians’ decisions to choose palliative approaches over active or intensive care increased from 1999 to 2015 when a terminally ill prostate cancer patient had probable iatrogenic gastrointestinal bleeding (53% vs 59%, p=0.014) and waited to meet his son (46% vs 60%, p<0.001) or a minister (53% vs 71%, p<0.001). Training in EOL care independently increased palliative approaches. Patient’s benefit (96% vs 99%, p=0.001), ethical values (83% vs 93%, p<0.001) and patient’s (68% vs 86%, p<0.001) or physician’s (44% vs 63%, p<0.001) legal protection were considered more influential to the decisions in 2015, while the family’s benefit was regarded as less influential to the decisions than it was in 1999 (37% vs 25%, p<0.001). Physicians were more willing to give a hospice voucher for an advanced breast cancer patient in 2015 (34% vs 58%, p<0.001).

Conclusions

Our findings may reflect the transition to a stronger emphasis on patient-centred care and a stronger tendency to avoid futile therapies that have only short-term goals. The results highlight that education in all aspects of EOL care should be incorporated into the post-graduate training of medical specialties that take care of dying patients.
How to manage adult coeliac disease: perspective from the NHS England Rare Diseases Collaborative Network for Non-Responsive and Refractory Coeliac Disease
Authors: Baggus Elisabeth Megan Rose , Hadjivassiliou Marios , Cross Simon , Penny Hugo , Urwin Heidi , Watson Sarah , Woodward Jeremy Mark , Sanders David S
Published: August 2019

Adult coeliac disease (CD) affects approximately 1% of the population. Most patients diagnosed will respond to a gluten-free diet; however, up to 30% may have persisting symptoms. Such patients may have ongoing issues associated with adherence, non-responsive CD or refractory CD. This article provides a clinical overview of how to manage this group of patients with persisting symptoms, including an investigational algorithm and details of how to contact the National Health Service England Rare Diseases Collaborative Network for Non-Responsive and Refractory Coeliac Disease. We hope this will be a valuable source of contemporary information for all UK gastroenterologists and internationally.
Ethical end-of-life palliative care: response to Riisfeldt
Authors: Giebel Heidi
Published: August 2019

In a recent article,1Riisfeldt attempts to show that the principle of double effect (PDE) is unsound as an ethical principle and problematic in its application to palliative opioid and sedative use in end-of-life care. Specifically, he claims that (1) routine, non-lethal opioid and sedative administration may be “intrinsically bad” by PDE’s standards, (2) continuous deep palliative sedation (or “terminal sedation”) should be treated as a bad effect akin to death for purposes of PDE, (3) PDE cannot coherently be applied in cases where death “indirectly” furthers an agent’s intended end of pain relief via medically appropriate palliative care, and (4) application of PDE requires sacrificing common beliefs about the sanctity of human life. I respond by showing that Riisfeldt’s understanding of PDE is seriously mistaken: he misattributes Kantian and Millian reasoning to the principle and conflates acts’ intrinsic properties with their effects. Further, a corrected understanding of PDE can address Riisfeldt’s case-specific objections.
‘S’-shaped curve: modelling trends in smoking prevalence, uptake and cessation in Great Britain from 1973 to 2016
Authors: Beard Emma Victoria , West Robert , Jarvis Martin , Michie Susan , Brown Jamie
Published: August 2019

Background

It is believed that declines in smoking prevalence naturally slow over time as the smoking population ‘hardens’ and that progress has come primarily from reducing uptake rather than increasing cessation. To address these issues, we undertook the first formal attempt to model the trajectory of smoking prevalence and indices of uptake and cessation in Great Britain from 1973 to 2016.

Methods

Using data from the General Lifestyle Survey between 1973 and 2008, the Integrated Household Survey between 2009 and 2014 and the Annual Population Survey between 2015 and 2016, this study modelled year-on-year changes in smoking prevalence, ever-smoking in 18–24-year-olds as an index of uptake, and quit ratios as an index of cessation.

Results

For all three outcomes, changes over time were best fitted by what may be broadly characterised as ‘S’-shaped curves: segmented functions characterised by initial rapid progress, a slowing or reversal, then renewed progress. Smoking prevalence in Great Britain showed a decelerating decline over time between 1973 and 2000, but then, after the introduction of the National ‘Smoking Kills’ tobacco control plan, the decline accelerated again and has remained nearly linear at −0.67 percentage points per year. Ever-smoking showed a decelerating decline which eventually ceased and began increasing around 1994 but then declined again after 2000. Quit ratios rose rapidly then slowed and then accelerated around 2000 and again more recently in 2013.

Conclusion

Long-term trends in smoking prevalence, uptake and cessation have followed a broadly ‘S’-shaped trend suggesting that they are responsive to major tobacco control initiatives. The decline in prevalence has resulted both from reductions in uptake and increases in cessation.
Continuing the happiness safari
Authors: Escalona Ebony
Published: August 2019

A trip to Kenya offered Ebony Escalona a whole host of lessons on living in the moment, escaping from the hustle and recognising happiness. And, as she explains, she's determined to keep applying them as she returns to her regular routine
Diurnal rhythms of group-housed layer pullets with free choices between light and dim environments
Authors: Li Guoming , Li Baoming , Shi Zhengxiang , Zhao Yang , Tong Qin , Liu Yu
Published: August 2019

Chickens under appropriate light–dark programs can develop diurnal rhythms. However, actual needs of layer pullets for the light and dark environments are not fully understood. This study was to investigate the diurnal rhythms of pullets in the light (30 lx) and dim (<1 lx) environments. The preferences of pullets on the light and dim environments were examined. The testing system contained four identical compartments (0.96 m length × 1.20 m width × 2.00 m height for each). A light-emitting diode tube, a camera, and weighing sensors were installed in each compartment. Four groups of eight Chinese domestic layer pullets, Jingfen, were used at the weeks 15–18. Choices of environments and feeding behaviors were monitored by weighing sensors, and activity was measured by digital image processing. The results show that pullets spent on average 35.5 ± 2.2 min under the light and 24.5 ± 2.1 min under the dim in each hour. Human inspection can stimulate bird feeding and activity. Overall, pullets behaved more actively under the light than under the dim environment. Pullets stayed in the light and dim environments throughout each hour of a day, which may suggest that lighting environments with free choices in a pullet house might better serve for pullet preference.
Investigation of physics teachers’ opinions about the physics curriculum
Authors: Kan Sabri , Saka Ahmet Zeki , Batman Demet
Published: August 2019

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of physics teachers about the physics curriculum that was updated in 2017. The study was carried out by using quantitative and qualitative data collection tools within the context of case study methodology. The research sample was formed from 64 physics teachers from different provinces of Turkey who participated in the training organized for introducing a physics curriculum at the Yalova Esenkoy In-service Training Institute. A questionnaire consisting of 30 questions with four-point Likert-type and interviews including eight questions were conducted. Findings show that physics teachers generally indicate a positive approach to the physics curriculum. However, almost all physics teachers who participated in the research stated that the physics course hours were insufficient to implement the physics curriculum and that some subjects should be removed from the physics curriculum.
Refuge facilitates the preservation and accumulation of herbicide resistance traits in Conyza canadensis
Authors: Page Eric R. , Meloche Sydney , McMurray Brandon , Laforest Martin
Published: August 2019

Herbicide resistance is selected for within a weed population through the recurrent use of an herbicide. Once the use of the herbicide is reduced or discontinued, the trait may persist in the population unless resistance endows a fitness penalty. Few studies have examined the long-term persistence of an herbicide resistance trait in a weed population once the selection pressure that led to its prevalence has been removed. The objective of this research was to re-survey the locations described by A.J.J. Smisek in her 1995 study of a paraquat resistant biotype of C. canadensis on the grounds of the Harrow Research and Development Centre. Results indicate that, ∼20 yr after paraquat use was significantly reduced, a glyphosate resistant biotype had replaced the paraquat resistant biotype at all but one of the original locations surveyed by Smisek. The sole location where the paraquat resistant biotype was observed was an old, un-treed orchard row currently managed by mowing. This location not only served as a refuge for the paraquat resistant biotype, ensuring its persistence in the face of strong selection for glyphosate resistance at all other locations, but it facilitated the co-occurrence of glyphosate and paraquat resistant biotypes. The observation of a multiple resistant biotype at this location alone, with resistance to both paraquat and glyphosate, suggests a role for refugia in the stacking of herbicide resistance traits. Given that this stacking occurred in the absence of either herbicide, we hypothesize that the multiple resistant biotype arose through pollen mediated gene flow among biotypes.
Dynamics of quantum correlation for circularly accelerated atoms immersed in a massless scalar field near a boundary
Authors: Huang Zhiming , Ye Yiyong , Wang Xiaobin , Sheng Xiaokui , Xia Xiaoyun , Ling Dequan
Published: August 2019

In this paper, we explore the dynamics of quantum correlation for two circularly accelerated atoms interacting with a bath of fluctuating massless scalar field with a reflecting plane boundary. First, we derive the master equation that governs the system evolution. Then we analyze the behaviors of quantum correlation for various conditions and compare the behaviors of quantum correlation with that of the static atoms immersed in a thermal bath with a boundary. It is found that the dynamics of quantum correlation for circularly accelerated atoms present some features distinct from those of static atoms immersed in a thermal bath.
Knots connected by wide ribbons
Authors: Brooks Susan C. , Durumeric Oguz , Simon Jonathan
Published: August 2019

A ribbon is a smooth mapping (possibly self-intersecting) of an annulus [Formula: see text] in 3-space having constant width [Formula: see text]. Given a regular parametrization [Formula: see text], and a smooth unit vector field [Formula: see text] based along [Formula: see text], for a knot [Formula: see text], we may define a ribbon of width [Formula: see text] associated to [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] as the set of all points [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]. For large [Formula: see text], ribbons, and their outer edge curves, may have self-intersections. In this paper, we analyze how the knot type of the outer ribbon edge [Formula: see text] relates to that of the original knot [Formula: see text]. Generically, as [Formula: see text], there is an eventual constant knot type. This eventual knot type is one of only finitely many possibilities which depend just on the vector field [Formula: see text]. The particular knot type within the finite set depends on the parametrized curves [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and their interactions. We demonstrate a way to control the curves and their parametrizations so that given two knot types [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], we can find a smooth ribbon of constant width connecting curves of these two knot types.
Remarks on the local-global principle for a subcategory consisting of extension modules
Authors: Yoshizawa Takeshi
Published: August 2019

Faltings presented the local-global principle for the finiteness dimension of local cohomology modules. This paper deals with the local-global principle for an extension subcategory over a commutative Noetherian ring. We prove that finitely generated modules satisfy the local-global principles for certain extension subcategories. Additionally, we provide a generalization of Faltings’ local-global principle, which also includes the local-global principles for the Artinianness and Minimaxness of local cohomology modules.
Algorithm 997
Authors: Speck Robert
Published: August 2019

In this article, we present the Python framework pySDC for solving collocation problems with spectral deferred correction (SDC) methods and their time-parallel variant PFASST, the parallel full approximation scheme in space and time. pySDC features many implementations of SDC and PFASST, from simple implicit timestepping to high-order implicit-explicit or multi-implicit splitting and multilevel SDCs. The software package comes with many different, preimplemented examples and has seven tutorials to help new users with their first steps. Time parallelism is implemented either in an emulated way for debugging and prototyping or using MPI for benchmarking. The code is fully documented and tested using continuous integration, including most results of previous publications. Here, we describe the structure of the code by taking two different perspectives: those of the user and those of the developer. The first sheds light on the front-end, the examples, and the tutorials, and the second is used to describe the underlying implementation and the data structures. We show three different examples to highlight various aspects of the implementation, the capabilities, and the usage of pySDC. In addition, couplings to the FEniCS framework and PETSc, the latter including spatial parallelism with MPI, are described.
Harvesting Visual Objects from Internet Images via Deep-Learning-Based Objectness Assessment
Authors: Wu Kan , Li Guanbin , Li Haofeng , Zhang Jianjun , Yu Yizhou
Published: August 2019

The collection of internet images has been growing in an astonishing speed. It is undoubted that these images contain rich visual information that can be useful in many applications, such as visual media creation and data-driven image synthesis. In this article, we focus on the methodologies for building a visual object database from a collection of internet images. Such database is built to contain a large number of high-quality visual objects that can help with various data-driven image applications. Our method is based on dense proposal generation and objectness-based re-ranking. A novel deep convolutional neural network is designed for the inference of proposal
objectness
, the probability of a proposal containing optimally located foreground object. In our work, the
objectness
is quantitatively measured in regard of
completeness
and
fullness
, reflecting two complementary features of an optimal proposal: a complete foreground and relatively small background. Our experiments indicate that object proposals re-ranked according to the output of our network generally achieve higher performance than those produced by other state-of-the-art methods. As a concrete example, a database of over 1.2 million visual objects has been built using the proposed method, and has been successfully used in various data-driven image applications.
Moving Foreground-Aware Visual Attention and Key Volume Mining for Human Action Recognition
Authors: Zhang Junxuan , Hu Haifeng , Lu Xinlong
Published: August 2019

Recently, many deep learning approaches have shown remarkable progress on human action recognition. However, it remains unclear how to extract the useful information in videos since only video-level labels are available in the training phase. To address this limitation, many efforts have been made to improve the performance of action recognition by applying the visual attention mechanism in the deep learning model. In this article, we propose a novel deep model called Moving Foreground Attention (MFA) that enhances the performance of action recognition by guiding the model to focus on the discriminative foreground targets. In our work, MFA detects the moving foreground through a proposed variance-based algorithm. Meanwhile, an unsupervised proposal is utilized to mine the action-related key volumes and generate corresponding correlation scores. Based on these scores, a newly proposed stochastic-out scheme is exploited to train the MFA. Experiment results show that action recognition performance can be significantly improved by using our proposed techniques, and our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on UCF101 and HMDB51.
Tree Partitioning Reduction
Authors: Diéguez Adrián P. , Amor Margarita , Doallo Ramón
Published: August 2019

Solving tridiagonal linear-equation systems is a fundamental computing kernel in a wide range of scientific and engineering applications, and its computation can be modeled with parallel algorithms. These parallel solvers are typically designed to compute problems whose data fit in a common shared-memory space where all the cores taking part in the computation have access. However, when the problem size is large, data cannot be entirely stored in the common shared-memory space, and a high number of high-latency communications are performed. One alternative is to partition the problem among different memory spaces. At this point, conventional parallel algorithms do not facilitate the partition of computation in independent tiles, since each reduction depends on equations that may be in different tiles. This article proposes an algorithm based on a tree reduction, called
the Tree Partitioning Reduction
(TPR) method, which partitions the problem into independent slices that can be partially computed in parallel within different common shared-memory spaces. The TPR method can be implemented for any parallel and distributed programming paradigm. Furthermore, in this work, TPR is efficiently implemented for CUDA GPUs to solve large size problems, providing highly competitive performance results with respect to existing packages, being, on average, 22.03× faster than CUSPARSE.
A Distance Measure for the Analysis of Polar Opinion Dynamics in Social Networks
Authors: Amelkin Victor , Bogdanov Petko , Singh Ambuj K.
Published: August 2019

Analysis of opinion dynamics in social networks plays an important role in today’s life. For predicting users’ political preference, it is particularly important to be able to analyze the dynamics of competing polar opinions, such as pro-Democrat vs. pro-Republican.
While observing the evolution of polar opinions in a social network over time, can we tell when the network evolved abnormally? Furthermore, can we predict how the opinions of the users will change in the future?
To answer such questions, it is insufficient to study individual user behavior, since opinions can spread beyond users’ ego-networks. Instead, we need to consider the opinion dynamics of all users simultaneously and capture the connection between the individuals’ behavior and the global evolution pattern of the social network.

In this work, we introduce the Social Network Distance (SND)—a distance measure that quantifies the likelihood of evolution of one snapshot of a social network into another snapshot under a chosen model of polar opinion dynamics. SND has a rich semantics of a transportation problem, yet, is computable in time linear in the number of users and, as such, is applicable to large-scale online social networks. In our experiments with synthetic and Twitter data, we demonstrate the utility of our distance measure for anomalous event detection. It achieves a true positive rate of 0.83, twice as high as that of alternatives. The same predictions presented in precision-recall space show that SND retains perfect precision for recall up to 0.2. Its precision then decreases while maintaining more than 2-fold improvement over alternatives for recall up to 0.95. When used for opinion prediction in Twitter data, SND’s accuracy is 75.6%, which is 7.5% higher than that of the next best method.
Bursty Event Detection in Twitter Streams
Authors: Comito Carmela , Forestiero Agostino , Pizzuti Clara
Published: August 2019

Social media, in recent years, have become an invaluable source of information for both public and private organizations to enhance the comprehension of people interests and the onset of new events. Twitter, especially, allows a fast spread of news and events happening real time that can contribute to situation awareness during emergency situations, but also to understand trending topics of a period. The article proposes an online algorithm that incrementally groups tweet streams into clusters. The approach summarizes the examined tweets into the cluster centroid by maintaining a number of textual and temporal features that allow the method to effectively discover groups of interest on particular themes. Experiments on messages posted by users addressing different issues, and a comparison with state-of-the-art approaches show that the method is capable to detect discussions regarding topics of interest, but also to distinguish bursty events revealed by a sudden spreading of attention on messages published by users.
Heterogeneous-Length Text Topic Modeling for Reader-Aware Multi-Document Summarization
Authors: Qiang Jipeng , Chen Ping , Ding Wei , Wang Tong , Xie Fei , Wu Xindong
Published: August 2019

More and more user comments like Tweets are available, which often contain user concerns. In order to meet the demands of users, a good summary generating from multiple documents should consider reader interests as reflected in reader comments. In this article, we focus on how to generate a summary from multi-document documents by considering reader comments, named as reader-aware multi-document summarization (RA-MDS). We present an innovative topic-based method for RA-MDA, which exploits latent topics to obtain the most salient and lessen redundancy summary from multiple documents. Since finding latent topics for RA-MDS is a crucial step, we also present a Heterogeneous-length Text Topic Modeling (HTTM) to extract topics from the corpus that includes both news reports and user comments, denoted as heterogeneous-length texts. In this case, the latent topics extract by HTTM cover not only important aspects of the event, but also aspects that attract reader interests. Comparisons on summary benchmark datasets also confirm that the proposed RA-MDS method is effective in improving the quality of extracted summaries. In addition, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed topic modeling method outperforms existing topic modeling algorithms.
Hydrodynamic Design Study on Ship Bow and Stern Hull Form Synchronous Optimization Covering Whole Speeds Range
Authors: Lu Yu , Chang Xin , Yin Xunbin , Li Ziying
Published: August 2019

The main objective of this article is to describe an innovative methodology of synchronous local optimization which considers the whole ship speed range being presented for a KRISO Container Ship (KCS). Parametric form approaches are adopted by employing a fairing B‐spline curve in order to generate variants of the bow and stern of forms using form design parameters modified, resulting in an optimization system based on NSGA‐II. The total resistance is calculated by the Rankine source panel method and the empirical formula which agrees well with the corresponding experimental data and further acquires validation with the overall error of 2.0%. Accordingly, the ship forepart and stern form have been optimized under conditions of the single design speed and whole speeds range based on the considerations of generally distributed and variable operational speeds for the operating characteristics of modern container ships synchronously. The optimized result presents well‐balanced drag reduction benefits which averagely remain above 4.0% of ship resistance decrease. Compared to the traditional optimization process which is based on a specific design speed, the newly developed method is more practical and effective in both automation and integration.
Dielectric Properties of Epoxy-Matrix Composites with Tungsten Disulfide Nanotubes
Authors: Bertasius Povilas , Shneider Mark , Macutkevic Jan , Samulionis Vytautas , Banys Juras , Zak Alla
Published: August 2019

Addition of conductive nanotubes to an insulating polymer matrix has been proven as an efficient strategy that can improve the electromagnetic shielding performance, due to the high aspect ratio of nanotubes. Herein, a set of epoxy-matrix composites filled with 0.15-1.6 vol% of tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanotubes being of 30-120 nm in diameter and 5-20 μm in length has been produced. Electromagnetic properties of the prepared composites were probed in the frequency range from 20 Hz to 1 MHz in a temperature range from 250 K to 500 K. Broadband properties of these materials are controlled by the dynamics of epoxy resin molecules, and no electrical percolation was observed up to the highest concentration (1.6 vol%) of WS2 nanotubes. The value of dielectric permittivity for all composites is not bigger than 6 at room temperature and 1 kHz frequency, and the electrical conductivity of composites is about 10-6 S/m at 500 K, which demonstrate that the composites are suitable for antistatic applications at higher temperatures. The relaxation time follows the Vogel-Fulcher law, and the Vogel temperature T0 has the minimum for the WS2 nanotube concentration 0.15 vol%. Above 410 K, the electrical conductivity determines the properties of the investigated composites due to nonzero electrical conductivity of epoxy resin. The value of DC electrical conductivity for pure epoxy at T=450 K is 0.3 μS/m, while the DC conductivity of the composites slightly increases with the WS2 concentration. Therefore, the electrical contacts between WS2 nanotubes and polymer matrix are rather ohmic. Additionally, the activation energy is almost independent on the concentration of WS2. However, it is higher in composites than in pure epoxy resin.
Palpable Abdominal Mass is a Renal Oncocytoma: Not All Large Renal Masses are Malignant
Authors: Dey Sumi , Noyes Sabrina L. , Uddin Ghayas , Lane Brian R.
Published: August 2019

A 59-year-old woman presented with abdominal pain and a palpable abdominal mass. Initial imaging revealed a 14cm solid, enhancing renal mass and suspicion for liver and bone metastases. Family history included a brother with clear cell renal cell carcinoma and mother with glioblastoma multiforme. After liver biopsy was inconclusive, she underwent radical nephrectomy with final pathologic diagnosis of oncocytoma. Renal oncocytoma is the most common benign renal tumor but remains difficult to distinguish clinically and radiographically from renal cell carcinoma. Should urologists use renal mass biopsy even more frequently prior to surgical intervention?
Strongly Singular Convolution Operators on Herz-Type Hardy Spaces with Variable Exponent
Authors: Wang Hongbin , Yan Dunyan
Published: August 2019

We investigate the boundedness of the strongly singular convolution operators on Herz-type Hardy spaces with variable exponent.
Chronic Pain Prevalence and Exposures during Pregnancy
Authors: Ray-Griffith Shona L. , Morrison Bethany , Stowe Zachary N.
Published: August 2019

Pregnant women with chronic pain present a unique clinical challenge for both chronic pain and obstetrical providers, and clinical guidelines do not exist. The present study describes the prevalence and management of chronic pain during pregnancy in a perinatal mood disorder clinic. A retrospective chart review of pregnant women who presented to the Women’s Mental Health Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) for an initial evaluation from July 2013 to June 2016 was conducted to obtain demographic and medical information, including pharmacological exposures. Data are described using the mean and standard deviation for continuous data and frequency for categorical data. Pain complaints and medications are presented as counts and percentages. Differences between women with and without chronic pain were assessed by t-tests for continuous variables and chi-square analysis for categorical variables. Of the 156 pregnant women, chronic pain conditions were reported by 44 (28.2%). The most common chronic pain complaints included neck and/or back pain (34.1%) and headaches (31.8%). Of subjects with chronic pain, 95.5% were taking at least one prescription medication (mean = 2.6 ± 2.1, range of 0–10). Acetaminophen (43.2%) and opioids (43.2%) were the most common. The complexity of managing maternal benefits of treatment with the risks of fetal exposures presents a uniquely challenging clinical scenario for healthcare providers.
Experimental Study on Pore Characteristics and Fractal Dimension Calculation of Pore Structure of Aerated Concrete Block
Authors: Fu Jun , Yu Yue
Published: August 2019

It is important to control and predict the macroscopic properties through pore structure parameters of cement‐based materials. Microscopic pore structure of concrete has many characteristics, such as sizes and disordered distribution. It is necessary to use fractal theory to describe the pore structure of concrete. In order to establish the relationship between the pore structure characteristics of aerated concrete and porosity, shape factor, pore superficial area, average pore diameter, and average diameter, the fractal dimension of the pore structure was used to evaluate the pore structure characteristics of aerated concrete. The X‐ray computed tomography (CT) images of the aerated concrete block pore structure were obtained by using the XTH320 series X‐ray three‐dimensional microscope. The pore characteristics of aerated concrete block were studied according to Image‐Pro Plus (IPP). Based on the research of the fractal dimension measurement methods, the proposed MATLAB program automatically determined the fractal dimension of the aerated concrete block pore structure images. The research results indicated that the small pores (20 μm∼60 μm) of aerated concrete block account for a large percentage compared with the large pores (60 μm∼400 μm or more) from pore diameter distribution and the pore structure of aerated concrete block has obvious fractal features and the fractal dimension of aerated concrete block pore structure images were calculated to be in the range of 1.775–1.805. The pore fractal dimension has a strong correlation with the pore fractal characteristics of aerated concrete blocks. The fractal dimension of the pore structure linearly increases with porosity, shape factor, and pore surface area. The fractal dimension of the pore structure decreases with the average pore size and average diameter. Thus, the fractal dimension of the pore structure that is calculated by the MATLAB program based on fractal theory can be assumed as the integrative evaluation index for evaluating the pore structure characteristic of aerated concrete block.
Modeling and Analysis of Ticketing Channel Choice for Intercity Bus Passengers: A Case Study in Beijing, China
Authors: Li Jun , Jia Shunping , Zhang Sijia , Wang Yuqiong
Published: August 2019

Buses represent the main mode for intercity passenger transportation in China. In recent years, a multichannel ticketing strategy has been widely employed in the bus passenger transportation industry. However, the mechanisms and key drivers of the channels through which bus passengers purchase tickets are underexplored. Thus, the aim of this study is to empirically apply an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) approach to analyze ticketing channel choice behavior and the heterogeneous preferences of bus passengers. The variables incorporated in the model include the socioeconomic characteristics of passengers, trip attributes, and latent attitudes with 12 ordinal indicators. Based on the data of 1800 participants collected from the city of Beijing, China, this study develops a ticketing channel choice ICLV model merging a discrete choice model with a structural equation model. The key factors that affect the channel preference are further discussed through a comparison with a conventional multinomial logit (MNL) model. The results reveal that the three attitudinal variables have a significant influence on ticketing channel choice. Furthermore, this study indicates that perceptual differences exist due to various socioeconomic and trip characteristics. Personal privacy is a major obstacle that prevents passengers from choosing online channels, especially for older passengers and those with lower education.
Identification of Cell-Free Circulating MicroRNAs for the Detection of Early Breast Cancer and Molecular Subtyping
Authors: Souza Karen C. B. , Evangelista Adriane F. , Leal Letícia F. , Souza Cristiano P. , Vieira René A. , Causin Rhafaela L. , Neuber A. C. , Pessoa Daniele P. , Passos Geraldo A. S. , Reis Rui M. V. , Marques Marcia M. C.
Published: August 2019

Early detection is crucial for achieving a reduction in breast cancer mortality. Analysis of circulating cell-free microRNAs present in the serum of cancer patients has emerged as a promising new noninvasive biomarker for early detection of tumors and for predicting their molecular classifications. The rationale for this study was to identify subtype-specific molecular profiles of cell-free microRNAs for early detection of breast cancer in serum. Fifty-four early-stage breast cancers with 27 age-matched controls were selected for circulating microRNAs evaluation in the serum. The 54 cases were molecularly classified (luminal A, luminal B, luminal B Her2 positive, Her-2, triple negative). NanoString platform was used for digital detection and quantitation of 800 tagged microRNA probes and comparing the overall differences in serum microRNA expression from breast cancer cases with controls. We identified the 42 most significant (P ≤ 0.05, 1.5-fold) differentially expressed circulating microRNAs in each molecular subtype for further study. Of these microRNAs, 19 were significantly differentially expressed in patients presenting with luminal A, eight in the luminal B, ten in luminal B HER 2 positive, and four in the HER2 enriched subtype. AUC is high with suitable sensitivity and specificity. For the triple negative subtype miR-25-3p had the best accuracy. Predictive analysis of the mRNA targets suggests they encode proteins involved in molecular pathways such as cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation. This study identified subtype-specific molecular profiles of cell-free microRNAs suitable for early detection of breast cancer selected by comparison to the microRNA profile in serum for female controls without apparent risk of breast cancer. This molecular profile should be validated using larger cohort studies to confirm the potential of these miRNA for future use as early detection biomarkers that could avoid unnecessary biopsy in patients with a suspicion of breast cancer.
Prolactin Promotes Fibrosis and Pancreatic Cancer Progression
Authors: Tandon Manuj , Coudriet Gina M. , Criscimanna Angela , Socorro Mairobys , Eliliwi Mouhanned , Singhi Aatur D. , Cruz-Monserrate Zobeida , Bailey Peter , Lotze Michael T. , Zeh Herbert , Hu Jing , Goffin Vincent , Gittes George K. , Biankin Andrew V. , Esni Farzad
Published: August 2019

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with significant fibrosis. Recent findings have highlighted the profibrotic activity of tissue-resident macrophages in the pancreatic cancer microenvironment. Here, we show that neoplastic pancreatic epithelium, as well as a subset of tissue-resident macrophages, expresses the prolactin-receptor (PRLR). High mobility group box 1–induced prolactin expression in the pancreas maintained FAK1 and STAT3 phosphorylation within the epithelium and stroma. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated the essential role of prolactin in promoting collagen deposition and fibrosis. Finally, the signaling cascade downstream of prolactin/PRLR activated STAT3 rather than STAT5 in PDAC. These findings suggest that targeting prolactin together with IL6, a known major activator of STAT3, could represent a novel therapeutic strategy for treating pancreatic cancer.

Significance:

Prolactin is a key factor in the cross-talk between the stroma and neoplastic epithelium, functioning to promote fibrosis and PDAC progression.
Use of Natural Language Processing to Extract Clinical Cancer Phenotypes from Electronic Medical Records
Authors: Savova Guergana K. , Danciu Ioana , Alamudun Folami , Miller Timothy , Lin Chen , Bitterman Danielle S. , Tourassi Georgia , Warner Jeremy L.
Published: August 2019

Current models for correlating electronic medical records with -omics data largely ignore clinical text, which is an important source of phenotype information for patients with cancer. This data convergence has the potential to reveal new insights about cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, and response to treatment. Insights from this real-world data will catalyze clinical care, research, and regulatory activities. Natural language processing (NLP) methods are needed to extract these rich cancer phenotypes from clinical text. Here, we review the advances of NLP and information extraction methods relevant to oncology based on publications from PubMed as well as NLP and machine learning conference proceedings in the last 3 years. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the fields of oncology and information extraction, this analysis serves as a critical trail marker on the path to higher fidelity oncology phenotypes from real-world data.
Target Deconvolution of a Multikinase Inhibitor with Antimetastatic Properties Identifies TAOK3 as a Key Contributor to a Cancer Stem Cell–Like Phenotype
Authors: Bian Yansong , Teper Yaroslav , Mathews Griner Lesley A. , Aiken Taylor J. , Shukla Vivek , Guha Rajarshi , Shinn Paul , Xin Hong-Wu , Pflicke Holger , Powers Astin S. , Li Dandan , Jiang Jian-kang , Patel Paresma , Rogers Steven A. , Aubé Jeffrey , Ferrer Marc , Thomas Craig J. , Rudloff Udo
Published: August 2019

Pancreatic cancer remains an incurable condition. Its progression is driven, in part, by subsets of cancer cells that evade the cytotoxic effects of conventional chemotherapies. These cells are often low-cycling, multidrug resistant, and adopt a stem cell–like phenotype consistent with the concept of cancer stem cells (CSC). To identify drugs impacting on tumor-promoting CSCs, we performed a differential high-throughput drug screen in pancreatic cancer cells cultured in traditional (2D) monolayers versus three-dimensional (3D) spheroids which replicate key elements of the CSC model. Among the agents capable of killing cells cultured in both formats was a 1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-amine–based inhibitor of IL2-inducible T-cell kinase (ITK; NCGC00188382, inhibitor #1) that effectively mediated growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in vitro, and suppressed cancer progression and metastasis formation in vivo. An examination of this agent's polypharmacology via in vitro and in situ phosphoproteomic profiling demonstrated an activity profile enriched for mediators involved in DNA damage repair. Included was a strong inhibitory potential versus the thousand-and-one amino acid kinase 3 (TAOK3), CDK7, and aurora B kinases. We found that cells grown under CSC-enriching spheroid conditions are selectively dependent on TAOK3 signaling. Loss of TAOK3 decreases colony formation, expression of stem cell markers, and sensitizes spheroids to the genotoxic effect of gemcitabine, whereas overexpression of TAOK3 increases stem cell traits including tumor initiation and metastasis formation. By inactivating multiple components of the cell-cycle machinery in concert with the downregulation of key CSC signatures, inhibitor #1 defines a distinctive strategy for targeting pancreatic cancer cell populations.