bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Testosterone Levels Correlate With Grade Group 5 Prostate Cancer: Another Step Toward Personalized Medicine
Authors: Capogrosso Paolo , Ventimiglia Eugenio , Moschini Marco , Boeri Luca , Farina Elena , Finocchio Nadia , Gandaglia Giorgio , Fossati Nicola , Briganti Alberto , Montorsi Franscesco , Salonia Andrea 
Published: October 2016

BACKGROUNDControversial results have shown a significant association with either low or high total testosterone (tT) levels and high risk prostate cancer (PCa). We tested the relationship between circulating tT and grade group 5 (G5) PCa at radical prostatectomy (RP) in patients with preoperative low‐ to intermediate‐risk disease.METHODSSerum sex hormones were assessed the day before RP in a cohort of 846 patients with low‐ to intermediate‐risk PCa. Patients were segregated using the new 5‐tiered Gleason grade groups. Restricted cubic spline functions and logistic regression analyses tested the association between sex hormones and G5 PCa. Differences in potential predictive accuracy (PA) were assessed for tT and prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) levels.RESULTSOverall, 27 men (3.2%) had G5 PCa at RP, and this group had higher PSA values than patients with G1–G4 PCa (P = 0.02). The groups did not differ in terms of preoperative mean hormonal values. Both low and high circulating tT values depicted a nonlinear U‐shaped correlation with G5 PCa at RP. The lowest and highest (10th and 90th percentiles) tT values and biopsy PCa grade emerged as multivariable independent predictors of G5 PCa at RP (all P < 0.05). PA for G5 PCa did not differ between tT (area under the curve [AUC] 0.631) and PSA (AUC 0.636).CONCLUSIONSCirculating tT was a significant predictor of G5 PCa at RP in patients with preoperative low‐ to intermediate‐risk disease. Preoperative tT and PSA values showed similar PA for the most aggressive disease, confirming a potential role for circulating androgens in preoperative risk assessment of PCa patients. Prostate 77:234–241, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Predicting Prostate Cancer Recurrence After Radical Prostatectomy
Authors: Jeffers Abra , Sochat Vanessa , Kattan Michael W. , Yu Changhong , Melcon Erin , Yamoah Kosi , Rebbeck Timothy R. , Whittemore Alice S. 
Published: October 2016

BACKGROUNDProstate cancer prognosis is variable, and management decisions involve balancing patients’ risks of recurrence and recurrence‐free death. Moreover, the roles of body mass index (BMI) and race in risk of recurrence are controversial [1,2]. To address these issues, we developed and cross‐validated RAPS (Risks After Prostate Surgery), a personal prediction model for biochemical recurrence (BCR) within 10 years of radical prostatectomy (RP) that includes BMI and race as possible predictors, and recurrence‐free death as a competing risk.METHODSRAPS uses a patient's risk factors at surgery to assign him a recurrence probability based on statistical learning methods applied to a cohort of 1,276 patients undergoing RP at the University of Pennsylvania. We compared the performance of RAPS to that of an existing model with respect to calibration (by comparing observed and predicted outcomes), and discrimination (using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)).RESULTSRAPS’ cross‐validated BCR predictions provided better calibration than those of an existing model that underestimated patients’ risks. Discrimination was similar for the two models, with BCR AUCs of 0.793, 95% confidence interval (0.766–0.820) for RAPS, and 0.780 (0.745–0.815) for the existing model. RAPS’ most important BCR predictors were tumor grade, preoperative prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) level and BMI; race was less important [3]. RAPS’ predictions can be obtained online at https://predict.shinyapps.io/raps.CONCLUSIONRAPS’ cross‐validated BCR predictions were better calibrated than those of an existing model, and BMI information contributed substantially to these predictions. RAPS predictions for recurrence‐free death were limited by lack of co‐morbidity data; however the model provides a simple framework for extension to include such data. Its use and extension should facilitate decision strategies for post‐RP prostate cancer management. Prostate 77:291–298, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Methanol adducts leading to the identification of a reactive aldehyde metabolite of CPAQOP in human liver microsomes by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry
Authors: Martin Scott , Lenz Eva M. , Smith Robin , Temesi David G. , Orton Alexandra L. , Clench Malcolm R. 
Published: October 2016

RationaleThe incubation of CPAQOP (1‐[(2R)‐2‐[[4‐[3‐chloro‐4‐(2‐pyridyloxy)anilino]quinazolin‐5‐yl]oxymethyl]‐1‐piperidyl]‐2‐hydroxy) with human liver microsomes generated several metabolites that highlighted the hydroxyacetamide side chain was a major site of metabolism for the molecule. The metabolites were derived predominantly from oxidative biotransformations; however, two unexpected products were detected by liquid chromatography/ultraviolet/mass spectrometry (LC/UV/MS) and identified as methanol adducts. This observation prompted further LC/MS investigations into their formation.MethodsThree separate incubations of CPAQOP were conducted in human liver microsomes; Naïve, fortified with methoxyamine and fortified with glutathione. Separation was achieved via ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography with either methanol or acetonitrile gradients containing formic acid. MS analysis was conducted by electrospray ionisation LTQ Orbitrap mass spectrometry acquiring accurate mass full scan, data‐dependent MS2 and all ion fragmentation.ResultsNo methanol adducts were detected by MS when acetonitrile was used in the mobile phase instead of methanol, verifying that a metabolite was reacting with methanol on column. Although this reactive metabolite could not be isolated or structurally characterised by LC/MS directly, product ion spectra of the methanol adducts confirmed addition of methanol on the hydroxyacetamide side chain. Additional experiments using methoxyamine showed the disappearance of the two methanol adducts and appearance of a methoxyamine adduct, confirming the presence of an aldhyde. Product ion spectra of the methoxyamine adduct confirmed addition of methoxyamine to the hydroxyacetamide side chain.ConclusionsThe proposed bioactivation of CPAQOP occurred via the reactive aldehyde intermediate, which readily reacted with methanol in the mobile phase to form a pair of isomeric hemiacetal methanol adducts. In acidified methanol the equilibrium favoured the methanol adduct and in acidified acetonitrile it favoured the hydrate; therefore, the reactive aldehyde metabolite was not detected and could not be structurally characterised directly. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An Interactive System for Fine Motor Rehabilitation
Authors: Posada-Gómez Ruben , Montaño-Murillo Roberto A. , Martínez-Sibaja Albino , Alor-Hernández Giner , Aguilar-Lasserre Alberto A. , Reyes-Fernández Miriam C. 
Published: October 2016

Abstract

Purpose:
One of the most important aspects in neuromotor rehabilitation is the need of feedback for patients. The rehabilitation system’s efficiency relies on the therapist’s judgment; the therapist tells the patient whether he/she is performing the exercises correctly. This process may be quite subjective, because it depends on the therapist’s personal opinion. On the other hand, recent studies have shown that vibrotactile biofeedback can improve the effectiveness of interaction as it is a very helpful tool in the physiological process of neuromotor rehabilitation.

Design:
We designed an interactive system focused on rehabilitation of the upper limbs using active markers and image processing, which consists of drawing activities in both augment and virtual reality.

Methods:
The system gives the user a correction through multimodal stimuli feedback (vibrotactile, visual, and sound stimulus) and force measurement to let the patients know if they are not achieving the tasks’ goals.

Findings:
The developed system could be used by nursing assistants to better help patients. The purpose of this system was assisting patients with injuries in shoulders, elbows, or wrists, providing an audio-vibrotactile feedback as a factor of correction in the movements of the patient. To examine our system, 11 participants were asked to participate in an experiment where they performed activities focused to strengthen their fine motor movements.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance:
Results showed show that patients’ fine motor skills improved 10% on average by comparing their error rates throughout the sessions.
Dynamic reconfiguration of cloud application architectures
Authors: Zúñiga‐Prieto Miguel , González‐Huerta Javier , Insfran Emilio , Abrahão Silvia 
Published: October 2016

SummaryService‐based cloud applications are software systems that continuously evolve to satisfy new user requirements and technological changes. This kind of applications also require elasticity, scalability, and high availability, which means that deployment of new functionalities or architectural adaptations to fulfill service level agreements (SLAs) should be performed while the application is in execution. Dynamic architectural reconfiguration is essential to minimize system disruptions while new or modified services are being integrated into existing cloud applications. Thus, cloud applications should be developed following principles that support dynamic reconfiguration of services, and also tools to automate these reconfigurations at runtime are needed. This paper presents an extension of a model‐driven method for dynamic and incremental architecture reconfiguration of cloud services that allows developers to specify new services as software increments, and the tool to generate the implementation code for the services integration logic and the deployment and architectural reconfiguration scripts specific to the cloud environment in which the service will be deployed (e.g., Microsoft Azure). We also report the results of a quasi‐experiment that empirically validate our method. It was conducted to evaluate their perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived intention to use. The results show that the participants perceive the method to be useful, and they also expressed their intention to use the method in the future. Although further experiments must be carried out to corroborate these results, the method has proven to be a promising architectural reconfiguration process for cloud applications in the context of agile and incremental development processes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Network‐Based Analysis of Team Coordination and Shared Cognition in Systems Engineering
Authors: Avnet Mark S. 
Published: October 2016

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a network‐based approach for analyzing team coordination and shared cognition in engineering design teams. The research setting is an Integrated Concurrent Engineering (ICE) laboratory in which teams of approximately 20 engineers are collocated to conduct rapid conceptual design of scientific spacecraft. A design structure matrix (DSM) of expected interactions is constructed from technical information flow data, and DSM representations of reported interactions are created using survey data from 10 ICE design teams. A comparative analysis of expected and reported interactions is used to calculate a metric of team coordination called socio‐technical congruence (STC). To examine shared cognition, pairwise shared mental models (SMMs) are measured using pre‐ and post‐session surveys on system design drivers. Shared knowledge networks (SMMs as edges) are constructed, and team learning is measured as the change in network structure over time. Analysis reveals statistically significant correlations between team learning and each of three technical attributes (system development time, launch mass, and mission concept maturity) and between team learning and team coordination. These results indicate that team members learn most from each other when working on difficult or unfamiliar problems and when expected and reported interactions are aligned. The paper concludes that team coordination and the design product in ICE are not necessarily directly related to each other but that both are related to shared cognition. Although this study focuses on conceptual design, it lays the foundation for future work examining the role of team coordination and shared cognition in full‐scale system development programs.
Transforming Boolean equalities into constraints
Authors: Antoy Sergio , Hanus Michael 
Published: October 2016

Abstract
Although functional as well as logic languages use equality to discriminate between logically different cases, the operational meaning of equality is different in such languages. Functional languages reduce equational expressions to their Boolean
values, True or False, logic languages use unification to check the validity only and fail otherwise. Consequently, the language Curry, which amalgamates functional and logic programming features, offers two kinds of equational expressions so that the programmer has to distinguish between these uses. We show that this distinction can be avoided by providing an analysis and transformation method that automatically selects the appropriate operation. Without this distinction in source programs, the language design can be simplified and the execution of programs can be optimized. As a consequence, we show that one kind of equational expressions is sufficient and unification is nothing else than an optimization of Boolean equality.
Robotic Site Adjusted Levator Transection for Carcinoma of the Rectum: A Modification of the Existing Cylindrical Abdominoperineal Resection for Eccentrically Located Tumors
Authors: Pai Ajit , Eftaiha Saleh Mohamed , Melich George , Park John J. , Lin Pey‐yi Kevin , Prasad Leela M. , Marecik Slawomir J. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractBackground
Today, extralevator abdominoperineal resection is the standard of care for low rectal cancers with sphincter involvement or location precluding anastomosis. This procedure, while effective from an oncologic point of view, is morbid, with a high incidence of wound complications and genitourinary, and sexual dysfunction. We present a modification of this procedure via a robotic approach, which maintains the radicality while reducing the soft tissue loss and potentially the morbidity.MethodsOver a 2‐year period, five patients (four men and one woman) with eccentric low rectal cancers following neoadjuvant chemoradiation underwent a robot‐assisted modified abdominoperineal resection with wide levator transection on the tumor side and conservative levator division on the opposite side. These patients were prospectively followed. Perioperative outcomes, pathologic specimen measures, wound‐related problems, and local and systemic recurrences were documented and analyzed.ResultsAll procedures were successfully completed without conversion. Average body mass index was 32 kg/m2. The mean operative time and blood loss were 370 min and 130 ml, respectively. All specimens had an intact mesorectal envelope with no tumor perforations, and the mean lymph node yield was 16. There were no urinary complications or perineal wound infections. At a median follow‐up of 14 months, all patients remain disease‐free.ConclusionsModified robotic cylindrical abdominoperineal resection with site adjusted levator transection for rectal cancer is an oncologically sound operation in eccentrically located tumors. It maintains the radicality of conventional extralevator abdominoperineal resection, while also reducing the soft tissue loss and thereby potentially the morbidity.
Chylous Ascites Management After Pancreatic Surgery
Authors: Tabchouri Nicolas , Frampas Eric , Marques Frederic , Blanchard Claire , Jirka Adam , Regenet Nicolas 
Published: October 2016

AbstractBackgroundPostoperative chylous ascites (CA) following pancreatic surgery is uncommon. If left untreated, it leads to malnutrition, immunodeficiency and increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to seek out risk factors associated with CA onset and conservative treatment (CT) failure in order to determine better management of CA following pancreatic resection.Materials and methodsAll consecutive patients who underwent pancreatic surgery between 2004 and 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. Main demographic, clinical and pathological data were searched for CA risk factors. Patients with CA successfully treated with CT alone were compared to those requiring additional bipedal lymphangiography (BPLAG) in order to seek out risk factors associated with CT failure.ResultsFifteen patients (2.4 %) developed CA after pancreatic surgery. Para‐aortic lymph node sampling and early enteral feeding were found to be independent risk factors for postoperative CA (OR 6.36, p = 0.024 and OR 12.18, p = 0.02, respectively). CT was successful in ten patients, and five patients required additional BPLAG to achieve CA resolution. Statistical analysis revealed no significant risk factors for CT failure, including total lymph node count (p = 0.196), para‐aortic lymph node sampling (p = 0.661) or maximum chyle loss per day (p = 0.758).ConclusionsOwing to postoperative CA rarity, there is no consensus in treatment. Early on, CT should be attempted in all patients with CA. BPLAG is a safe and efficient procedure that should be discussed earlier in the step‐up therapeutic management.
A Retrospective One‐Year Estimation of the Volume and Nature of Surgical and Anaesthetic Services Delivered to the Populations of the Fako Division of the South‐West Region of Cameroon: An Urgent Call for Action
Authors: Chichom‐Mefire Alain , Mbome Njie Victor , Verla Vincent , Atashili Julius 
Published: October 2016

AbstractBackgroundSurgery‐related conditions account for the majority of admissions in primary referral hospitals in Sub‐Saharan Africa. The role of surgery in the reduction of global disease burden is well recognized, but there is a great qualitative and quantitative disparity in the delivery of surgical and anaesthetic services between countries. This study aims at estimating the nature and volume of surgery delivered in an entire administrative division of Cameroon.MethodsIn this retrospective survey conducted during the year 2013, we used a standard tool to analyse the infrastructure and human resources involved in the delivery of surgical and anaesthetic services in the Fako division in the south‐west region of Cameroon. We also estimated the nature and volume of surgical services as a rate per catchment population.ResultsPublic, private and mission hospital contributed equally to the delivery of surgical services in the Fako. For every 100,000 people, there were <5 operative rooms. A total of 2460 surgical interventions were performed by 2.2 surgeons, 1.1 gynaecologists and 0.3 anaesthetists. These surgical interventions consisted mostly of minor and emergency procedures. Neurosurgery, paediatric, thoracic and endocrine surgery were almost non‐existent.ConclusionsThe volume of surgery delivered in the Fako is far below the minimum rates required to meet up with the most basic requirements of the populations. It is likely that most of these surgical needs are left unattended. A community‐based assessment of unmet surgical needs is necessary to accurately estimate the magnitude of the problem and guide surgical capacity improvements.
Global Neighborhoods: Beyond the Multiethnic Metropolis
Authors: Zhang Wenquan , Logan John R. 
Published: October 2016

Abstract
Neighborhoods where blacks and whites live in integrated settings alongside Hispanics and Asians represent a new phenomenon in the United States. These “global neighborhoods” have previously been identified in the nation’s most diverse metropolitan centers. This study examines the full range of metropolitan areas to ask whether similar processes are occurring in other parts of the country. Is there evidence of stable racial integration in places that lack such diversity? What are the paths of neighborhood change in areas with few Hispanic or Asian residents, or areas where Hispanics are the principal minority group, or where there is no large minority presence at all? We distinguish four types of metropolitan regions: white, white/black, white/Hispanic/Asian, and multiethnic. These regions necessarily differ greatly in neighborhood composition, but some similar trajectories of neighborhood change are found in all of them. The results provide new evidence of the effect of Hispanic and Asian presence on black-white segregation in all parts of the country.
Medical Pathologies and Hut Guardians’ Ability to Provide First Aid in Mountain Huts: A Prospective Observational Study
Authors: Blancher Marc , Colonna d’Istria Jérôme , Coste Amandine , Saint Guilhem Philippine , Pierre Antoine , Clausier Flora , Debaty Guillaume , Bosson Jean Luc , Briot Raphaël , Bouzat Pierre 
Published: October 2016

Objective To describe the resources for medical condition management in mountain huts and the epidemiology of such events. Methods We conducted a 3-step study from April 2013 to August 2014 in French mountain huts. The first step consisted of collecting data regarding the first aid equipment available in mountain huts. The second step consisted of a qualitative evaluation of the mountain hut guardian’s role in medical situations through semistructured interviews. Finally, a prospective observational study was conducted in the summer season to collect all medical events (MEs) that occurred during that period. Results Out of 164 hut guardians, 141 (86%) had a basic life support diploma. An automatic external defibrillator was available in 41 (26%) huts, and 148 huts (98%) were equipped with a first aid kit. According to semistructured interviews, hut guardians played a valuable role in first aid assistance. Regarding the observational study, 306 people requested the hut guardian’s help for medical reasons in 87 of the 126 huts included. A total of 501 MEs for approximately 56,000 hikers (0.85%) were reported, with 280 MEs (56%) involving medical pathologies and 221 (44%) MEs involving trauma-related injuries. Conclusions MEs had low prevalence, but the hut guardian played a valuable role as a first aid responder.
Semiparametric cross entropy for rare-event simulation
Authors: Botev Z. I. , Ridder A. , Rojas-Nandayapa L. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe cross entropy is a well-known adaptive importance sampling method which requires estimating an optimal importance sampling distribution within a parametric class. In this paper we analyze an alternative version of the cross entropy, where the importance sampling distribution is selected instead within a general semiparametric class of distributions. We show that the semiparametric cross entropy method delivers efficient estimators in a wide variety of rare-event problems. We illustrate the favourable performance of the method with numerical experiments.
Bit flipping and time to recover
Authors: Muratov Anton , Zuyev Sergei 
Published: October 2016

AbstractWe call `bits' a sequence of devices indexed by positive integers, where every device can be in two states: 0 (idle) and 1 (active). Start from the `ground state' of the system when all bits are in 0-state. In our first binary flipping (BF) model the evolution of the system behaves as follows. At each time step choose one bit from a given distribution P on the positive integers independently of anything else, then flip the state of this bit to the opposite state. In our second damaged bits (DB) model a `damaged' state is added: each selected idling bit changes to active, but selecting an active bit changes its state to damaged in which it then stays forever. In both models we analyse the recurrence of the system's ground state when no bits are active. We present sufficient conditions for both the BF and DB models to show recurrent or transient behaviour, depending on the properties of the distribution P. We provide a bound for fractional moments of the return time to the ground state for the BF model, and prove a central limit theorem for the number of active bits for both models.