bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cohort profile: design and methods in the eye and vision consortium of UK Biobank
Authors: Chua Sharon Yu Lin , Thomas Dhanes , Allen Naomi , Lotery Andrew , Desai Parul , Patel Praveen , Muthy Zaynah , Sudlow Cathie , Peto Tunde , Khaw Peng Tee , Foster Paul J 
Published: February 2019

PurposeTo describe the rationale, methods and research potential of eye and vision measures available in UK Biobank.ParticipantsUK Biobank is a large, multisite, prospective cohort study. Extensive lifestyle and health questionnaires, a range of physical measures and collection of biological specimens are collected. The scope of UK Biobank was extended midway through data collection to include assessments of other measures of health, including eyes and vision. The eye assessment at baseline included questionnaires detailing past ophthalmic and family history, measurement of visual acuity, refractive error and keratometry, intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal biomechanics, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the macula and a disc–macula fundus photograph. Since recruitment, UK Biobank has collected accelerometer data and begun multimodal imaging data (including brain, heart and abdominal MRI) in 100 000 participants. Dense genotypic data and a panel of 20 biochemistry measures are available, and linkage to medical health records for the full cohort has begun.Findings to dateA total of 502 665 people aged between 40 and 69 were recruited to participate in UK Biobank. Of these, 117 175 took part in baseline assessment of vision, IOP, refraction and keratometry. A subgroup of 67 321 underwent OCT and retinal photography. The introduction of eye and vision measures in UK Biobank was accompanied by intensive training, support and a data monitoring quality control process.Future plansUK Biobank is one of the largest prospective cohorts worldwide with extensive data on ophthalmic diseases and conditions. Data collection is an ongoing process and a repeat of the baseline assessment including the questionnaires, measurements and sample collection will be performed in subsets of 25 000 participants every 2–3 years. The depth and breadth of this dataset, coupled with its open-access policy, will create a powerful resource for all researchers to investigate the eye diseases in later life.
Protocol for a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the diabetes community exercise and education programme (DCEP) for long-term management of diabetes
Authors: Hale Leigh , Stokes Tim , Scarth Bonnie , Mani Ramakrishnan , Sullivan Trudy , Doolan-Noble Fiona , Jayakaran Prasath , Gray Andrew R , Mann Jim , Higgs Christopher 
Published: February 2019

IntroductionType 2 diabetes is common in Māori and Pacific peoples and in those living in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation in New Zealand (NZ). People with type 2 diabetes often have multimorbidity, which makes their diabetes management more complex. The Diabetes Community Exercise and Education Programme (DCEP) is an interprofessional, patient-centred, whānau (family)-supported package of care specifically developed to engage with Māori and Pacific people and those living in deprived areas. We have previously demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of the DCEP. This study aims to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the DCEP through a pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT).Methods and analysis220 adults (age ≥35 years) with type 2 diabetes will be recruited from general practices in the lower South Island of NZ (Dunedin and Invercargill) to participate in an RCT. Participants will be randomised to intervention (DCEP) and control (usual care) groups. The DCEP participants will have their exercise goals agreed on with a physiotherapist and nurse and will attend two 90 min exercise and education sessions per week for 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure is blood glucose control (glycated haemoglobin). Secondary outcome measures include quality of life assessed using the Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life questionnaire. Data will be collected at four time points: baseline, end of the 12-week intervention (3 months), 6 months postintervention (9 months) and 12 months after the intervention ends (15 months). We will also conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis and a qualitative process evaluation.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been approved by the Health and Disability Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health (HDEC17/CEN/241/AM01). A key output will be the development of an evidence-based training package to facilitate implementation of the DCEP in other NZ regions.Trial registration numberACTRN 12617001624370 p; Pre-results.
Research in nutritional supplements and nutraceuticals for health, physical activity, and performance: moving forward
Authors: Ward Wendy E. , Chilibeck Philip D. , Comelli Elena M. , Duncan Alison M. , Phillips Stuart M. , Robinson Lindsay E. , Stellingwerff Trent 
Published: February 2019

This Horizons is part of a series that identifies key, forward-thinking research questions and challenges that need to be addressed. Specifically, this Horizons paper discusses research in nutritional supplements and nutraceuticals for health, physical activity, and performance, and is the product of a discussion by an expert panel that took place in January 2018 prior to the Canadian Nutrition Society Thematic Conference “Advances in Sport Nutrition from Daily Living to High Performance Sport”. The objective of this Horizons paper was to identify core considerations for future studies for this research area, and how scientists can be leaders in the field to ensure the best quality science is available for decision makers. It is strongly recommended that the various elements highlighted throughout this Horizons paper will increase the awareness of the significant before-, during-, and after-research due-diligence required to produce research of the highest quality. While it is recognized that many scientists will not be able to meet all of these aspects, it is nonetheless important to consider the points outlined and to recognize that those elements that are not met in studies may be significant limitations. Highlights Research questions that are hypothesis-driven are the strongest, and when combined with careful planning of the study, the result will often be of the best quality. Studies with a strong experimental design help discern between evidence-based findings and those that have not been substantiated.
Smoothing the path to computing
Authors: Hall Mary , Ladner Richard , Levitt Diane , Quiñones Manuel A. Pérez , Bagchi Saurabh 
Published: February 2019

The
Communications
Web site, http://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of
Communications
, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.

twitter

Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogCACM
http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm
Members of the Computing Research Association suggest ways to broaden participation in computer science, while Saurabh Bagchi looks at use cases for big data.
A deterministic parallel algorithm for bipartite perfect matching
Authors: Fenner Stephen , Gurjar Rohit , Thierauf Thomas 
Published: February 2019

A fundamental quest in the theory of computing is to understand the power of randomness. It is not known whether every problem with an efficient randomized algorithm also has one that does not use randomness. One of the extensively studied problems under this theme is that of perfect matching. The perfect matching problem has a randomized parallel (NC) algorithm based on the Isolation Lemma of Mulmuley, Vazirani, and Vazirani. It is a long-standing open question whether this algorithm can be derandomized. In this article, we give an almost complete derandomization of the Isolation Lemma for perfect matchings in bipartite graphs. This gives us a deterministic parallel (quasi-NC) algorithm for the bipartite perfect matching problem.
Derandomization of the Isolation Lemma means that we deterministically construct a weight assignment so that the minimum weight perfect matching is unique. We present three different ways of doing this construction with a common main idea.
Concurrent Hash Tables
Authors: Maier Tobias , Sanders Peter , Dementiev Roman 
Published: February 2019

Concurrent hash tables are one of the most important concurrent data structures, which are used in numerous applications. For some applications, it is common that hash table accesses dominate the execution time. To efficiently solve these problems in parallel, we need implementations that achieve speedups in highly concurrent scenarios. Unfortunately, currently available concurrent hashing libraries are far away from this requirement, in particular, when adaptively sized tables are necessary or contention on some elements occurs.
Our starting point for better performing data structures is a fast and simple lock-free concurrent hash table based on linear probing that is, however, limited to word-sized key-value types and does not support dynamic size adaptation. We explain how to lift these limitations in a provably scalable way and demonstrate that dynamic growing has a performance overhead comparable to the same generalization in sequential hash tables.
We perform extensive experiments comparing the performance of our implementations with six of the most widely used concurrent hash tables. Ours are considerably faster than the best algorithms with similar restrictions and an order of magnitude faster than the best more general tables. In some extreme cases, the difference even approaches four orders of magnitude.
All our implementations discussed in this publication can be found on github [17].
Evaluación inicial del paciente con mareos y vértigo
Authors: Musso Pizarro Jorge Andrés , Flores Flandes Gabriela , Cabezas Aramayo Guillermo 
Published: February 2019

El paciente que consulta por mareos o vértigo es sin duda un desafío para el médico que trabaja en un servicio de urgencia. Esto se da en parte por la dificultad de los pacientes de definir el síntoma, a la amplia gama de diagnósticos diferenciales y su potencial riesgo de desenlace negativo, como en el caso del accidente cerebrovascular de fosa posterior.En esta revisión narrativa, el objetivo: es explicar el enfrentamiento inicial del paciente con mareos y vértigo, describir las pruebas y métodos diagnósticos complementarios, distinguir los diagnósticos diferenciales más frecuentes y explicar el manejo inicial. Método: se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de literatura científica sobre esta patología, basado en la propuesta de Edlow (2016), donde se enfatiza en un enfoque basado en temporalidad, factores desencadenantes y contexto del síntoma.
Regulator of G‐Protein Signaling 16 Is a Negative Modulator of Platelet Function and Thrombosis
Authors: Hernandez Keziah R. , Karim Zubair A. , Qasim Hanan , Druey Kirk M. , Alshbool Fatima Z. , Khasawneh Fadi T. 
Published: February 2019

Background

Members of the regulator of G‐protein signaling (
RGS
) family inhibit G‐protein coupled receptor signaling by modulating G‐protein activity. In platelets, there are 3 different
RGS
isoforms that are expressed at the protein level, including
RGS
16. Recently, we have shown that
CXCL
12 regulates platelet function via
RGS
16. However, the role of
RGS
16 in platelet function and thrombus formation is poorly defined.

Methods and Results

We used a genetic knockout mouse model approach to examine the role(s) of
RGS
16 in platelet activation by using a host of in vitro and in vivo assays. We observed that agonist‐induced platelet aggregation, secretion, and integrin activation were much more pronounced in platelets from the
RGS
16 knockout (
Rgs16

−/−

) mice relative to their wild type (
Rgs16

+/+

) littermates. Furthermore, the
Rgs16

−/−

mice had a markedly shortened bleeding time and were more susceptible to vascular injury–associated thrombus formation than the controls.

Conclusions

These findings support a critical role for
RGS
16 in regulating hemostatic and thrombotic functions of platelets in mice. Hence,
RGS
16 represents a potential therapeutic target for modulating platelet function.
Between Business Interests and Ideological Marketing: The USSR and the Cold War in Fiat Corporate Strategy, 1957–1972
Authors: Fava Valentina 
Published: February 2019

Abstract
This article analyzes the landmark deal between the Italian automobile corporation Fiat and the Soviet government to build and operate the Volga Automobile Factory (VAZ). Drawing on formerly closed corporate records and declassified Soviet documents, the article traces how the Cold War helped shape the strategy of a West European multinational corporation in its attempts to manipulate the national and international political context in which it was acting. In Fiat's strategy toward the uncertain Soviet market, car production represented more of a bridgehead than an ultimate objective. Fiat's Ostpolitik was carefully planned and coordinated with the U.S. government and with other large Italian businesses. Italian-Soviet cooperation in building VAZ, the symbol of material well-being and peaceful industrial reconstruction, facilitated the requests of Soviet officials and Western corporations to lift East-West trade restrictions on non-strategic goods, thus conferring political legitimacy on trade with the Soviet Union.
Saving Ghana's Revolution: The Demise of Kwame Nkrumah and the Evolution of Soviet Policy in Africa, 1966–1972
Authors: Telepneva Natalia 
Published: February 2019

Abstract
On 24 February 1966, Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, was overthrown in a coup d’état. The coup rekindled a debate within the Soviet bloc about the prospects of socialism in Africa and about the appropriateness of certain policies. Soviet officials concluded that they would have to focus on establishing close relations with the armies and internal security forces of African countries. This article explores how Nkrumah's loyalists in exile and their sympathizers in Ghana attempted to launch a leftwing counter-coup in Accra in 1968 and the involvement of Warsaw Pact countries—notably the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia—in those events. The article sheds new light on “Operation ALEX,” a botched attempt by the Czechoslovak intelligence service to support Nkrumah loyalists in their plans for a countercoup. The article reexamines the late 1960s as an important period for the militarization of the Cold War in Africa and highlights the crucial role that African politicians themselves played in this process.
Evolving Relationships: Nicaragua, Israel, and the Palestinians
Authors: Yurow Marshall 
Published: February 2019

Nicaragua occupies a special place in the Israeli-Palestinian impact on Latin America. Israeli–Somoza Dynasty ties and Palestinian-Sandinista ties have been well documented over the past 35 years. Yet while the facts are available, the interpretations are still fiercely debated. Both relationships have been portrayed largely in polemical terms. The Israeli-Somoza relationship was viewed as a pariah-state alliance or a “debt of honor.” The Sandinista-Palestinian relationship was viewed as a terrorist connection or brotherhood against a common enemy. Both relationships were seen as static when in fact, having begun as realpolitik, they evolved over time. Nicaragua ocupa un lugar especial en cuanto al impacto israelí-palestino en América Latina. Los lazos israelí-dinastía Somoza y los vínculos palestino-Sandinistas han sido bien documentados en los últimos 35 años. Sin embargo, aunque los hechos están conocidos, las interpretaciones siguen intensamente debatidas. Ambas relaciones han sido presentadas en gran medida en términos polémicos. La relación israelí-Somoza fue vista como una alianza de estados parias o una “deuda de honor.” La relación Sandinista-palestina fue vista como una conexión terrorista o hermandad contra un enemigo común. Ambas relaciones se consideraron estáticas cuando, de hecho, comenzando como realpolitik, evolucionaron con el tiempo.
The influence of cognitions, emotions and behavioral factors on treatment outcomes in musculoskeletal shoulder pain: a systematic review
Authors: De Baets Liesbet , Matheve Thomas , Meeus Mira , Struyf Filip , Timmermans Annick 
Published: February 2019

Objective:To examine the predictive, moderating and mediating role of cognitive, emotional and behavioral factors on pain and disability following shoulder treatment.Data sources:Electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and PsycINFO) were searched until 14 January 2019.Study selection:Studies including persons with musculoskeletal shoulder pain that describe the predictive, moderating or mediating role of baseline cognitive, emotional or behavioral factors on pain or disability following treatment were selected.Results:A total of 23 articles, describing 21 studies and involving 3769 participants, were included. Three studies had a high risk of bias. There was no predictive role of baseline depression, anxiety, coping, somatization or distress on pain or disability across types of shoulder treatment. No predictive role of fear-avoidance beliefs was identified in patients receiving physiotherapy, which contrasted to the results found when surgical treatment was applied. Baseline catastrophizing was also not predictive for pain or disability in patients receiving physiotherapy. After conservative medical treatments, results on the predictive role of catastrophizing were inconclusive. Treatment expectations and baseline self-efficacy predicted pain and disability in patients receiving physiotherapy, which was not the case in patients receiving conservative medical treatment. Finally, there was a moderating role for optimism in the relationship between pain catastrophizing and disability in patients receiving physiotherapy.Conclusion:There is evidence that expectations of recovery and self-efficacy have a predictive role and optimism a moderating role on pain and/or disability following physiotherapy for musculoskeletal shoulder pain. After surgical treatment, fear-avoidance is a predictor of pain and disability.
Implementation of a Pilot Pharmacist Testosterone Therapy Management Service
Authors: Nagy Michael W. , Gruber Stephanie , McConnell Macy 
Published: February 2019

Background: Recent literature findings suggest that opportunities exist to optimize testosterone replacement therapy management. Objective: To evaluate the impact of a pilot clinical pharmacist testosterone therapy management service in a Veterans Affairs primary care setting. Methods: A 6-month, single-clinic, prospective cohort quality improvement project included male patients with an active prescription for testosterone. Patients were excluded if they switched primary care providers or were managed by a specialty clinic. After diagnosis, primary care providers had the option of referring patients for clinical pharmacist testosterone replacement therapy management. The project investigated the impact of pharmacist management on adherence to guideline-defined baseline and therapeutic monitoring, prior authorization workload, time saved by primary care providers, and clinical pharmacist interventions. Results: Sixty patients split between pharmacist management (N = 35) and nonpharmacist management (N = 25) cohorts. Monitoring of baseline parameters was significantly improved with clinical pharmacist management (54% vs 20%, P = 0.0006). Improved baseline monitoring decreased prior authorization team workload as requests were approved on the first submission at a higher rate (100% vs 75.4%, P = 0.06). Pharmacist management increased therapeutic monitoring for assessing symptom improvement (96% vs 26%, P < 0.001), monitoring of testosterone levels (96% vs 61%, P = 0.003), and safety monitoring with complete blood counts (100% vs 83%, P = 0.04). A total of 42 pharmacist–patient encounters saved over 600 minutes of primary care provider time. Conclusion: Clinical pharmacist involvement enhances therapeutic monitoring for male hypogonadism leaving room for expansion of clinical pharmacy services within testosterone replacement therapy management.
Bone Metastasis Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer
Authors: Yazdani Akram , Dorri Sara , Atashi Alireza , Shirafkan Hoda , Zabolinezhad Hedieh 
Published: February 2019

Objective: Bone is the most common site of metastasis in breast cancer. Prognostic factors for predicting bone metastases in breast cancer are controversial yet. In this study, we investigated clinical factors associated with secondary bone metastasis of breast cancer. Methods: In total, 1690 patients with breast cancer recorded between 2002 and 2012 in Motamed Cancer Institute, Tehran, Iran entered in the retrospective study. We studied age, menopausal status, histologic type, tumor size, number of cancerous axillary lymph nodes, serum concentrations of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), carcinogenicity antigen (CEA), cancer antigen (CA)-153, and hemoglobin (HB) in 2 groups with bone metastases (n = 123) and without it, respectively. We applied logistic regression to identify bone metastasis prognostic factors in breast cancer patients and calculated the cut-off value, sensitivity, and characteristics of independent prognostic factors using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Menopause, larger tumor size, and the greater number of cancerous axillary lymph nodes increased the chance of bone metastases significantly ( P < .05). There was no significant difference between mean groups with and without bone metastases regarding serum concentration of CEA, CA-153, HB, and histopathologic type ( P > .05). Logistic regression showed that age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.021), menopausal status (OR = 1.854), number of cancerous axillary lymph nodes (OR = 1.065), a tumor size between 2 and 5 cm diameter (OR = 2.002) and more than 5 cm diameter (OR = 4.009), and ALP (OR = 1.005) are independent prognostic factors associated with bone metastases. The ROC curve showed that the abovementioned factors have comparable predictive accuracy for bone metastases. Conclusions: Age, menopausal status, number of axillary lymph node metastases, tumor size, and ALP were identified as prognostic factors for bone metastasis in patients with breast cancer. So patients with these characteristics should be monitored more precisely with regular follow-ups.
Conservative Management of Gallstone Disease in the Elderly Population: Outcomes and Recurrence
Authors: Mora-Guzmán I , Di Martino M , Bonito AC , Jodra VV , Hernández SG , Martin-Perez E 
Published: February 2019

Background & Aims: The prevalence of gallstone disease increases with age, being early cholecystectomy the most accepted treatment in the vast majority of patients in order to prevent complications and recurrence. The aim of this study is to determine the recurrence rate and its possible predictors after initial non-operative management. Materials and Methods: We reviewed a consecutive series of patients, older than 65 years, admitted for a gallstone-related disease and treated with a non-operative management between January 2010 and December 2013. We analyzed comorbidities, clinical data, diagnosis, management, recurrence, and its treatment. Median follow-up after the discharge was 2 years. Recurrence was analyzed by a Kaplan–Meier survival curve. Possible recurrence’s predictors were analyzed. Results: The study included 226 patients. Mean age was 80.4 ± 7.2 years, 127 (56%) were female. The main causes of index hospitalization were acute cholecystitis (58%) and biliary pancreatitis (18.1%). After 2 years of follow-up, the recurrence rate was 39.8%; mean time to recurrence was 255.2 ± 42.1 days, 81% of patients recurred within 1 year. Bile duct disease implied a higher recurrence rate than the gallbladder disease group (52% vs 33%, p < 0.001). Subjects with two or more diagnoses during index admission presented higher recurrence rate (32% vs 49%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: More than a third of elderly patients could present a recurrence within 2 years after initial non-operative management. Early cholecystectomy should be considered at index admission in order to prevent recurrence.