nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Misdiagnosis of Graves' Disease with Apparent Severe Hyperthyroidism in a Patient Taking Biotin Megadoses.
Venue: Thyroid official journal of the American Thyroid Association

Accurate immunoassays measuring minute quantities of hormones are the cornerstone of the practice of endocrinology. Despite tremendous advances in this field, novel pitfalls in these tests emerge from time to time. Oral biotin can interfere with immunoassays of several hormones. The purpose of this report is to relate an extreme case of such interference.  A patient with progressive multiple sclerosis was found to have extremely elevated free thyroxine, triiodothyronine, and suppressed thyrotropin (TSH) levels. His TSH receptor binding inhibiting antibody level was also elevated. This constellation of laboratory findings suggested a diagnosis of severe Graves' disease. All of the assays yielding abnormal results employed the biotin streptavidin affinity in their design. The patient had no symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and detailed review of his medications revealed intake of megadoses of biotin. Temporary discontinuation of biotin treatment resulted in complete resolution of the biochemical abnormalities.  Non physiologic biotin supplementation may interfere with several immunoassays, including thyroid hormones, TSH, thyroglobulin, and TSH receptor binding inhibiting antibody, leading to erroneous diagnoses. Questioning for biotin intake should be part of the evaluation for patients undergoing endocrine tests. Interruption of biotin supplementation for at least two days prior to biotin sensitive tests should be sufficient to avoid major misdiagnoses.
Transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA) for Graves' disease: a comparison of surgical results with open thyroidectomy.
Venue: Gland surgery

Transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA) provides excellent cosmetic results from its potential for scar free operation. The procedure has been applied successfully for Graves' disease by the authors of this work and compared with the standard open cervical approach to evaluate its safety and outcomes.  From January 2014 to November 2016, a total of 97 patients with Graves' disease were reviewed retrospectively. Open thyroidectomy (OT) and TOETVA were performed in 49 patients and 46 patients, respectively. For TOETVA, a three port technique through the oral vestibule was utilized. The thyroidectomy was done endoscopically using conventional laparoscopic instruments and an ultrasonic device. Patient demographics and surgical variables, including operative time, blood loss, and complications, were investigated and compared.  TOETVA was performed successfully in all 45 patients, although conversion to open surgery was deemed necessary in one patient. All patient characteristics for both groups were similar. Operative time was shorter for the OT group compared to the TOETVA group, which totaled 101.97+ 24.618 and 134.11+ 31.48 minutes, respectively (P<<0.5) Blood loss was comparable for both groups. The visual analog scale (VAS) pain score for the TOETVA group was significantly lower than for the OT group on day 1 (2.08+ 1.53 vs. 4.57+ 1.35) day 2 (0.84+ 1.12 vs. 2.57+ 1.08) and day 3 (0.33+ 0.71 vs. 1.08+ 1.01) (P<<0.05) Transient recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy was found in four and two cases of TOETVA and OT group, respectively. Transient hypocalcemia was found in ten and seven cases of TOETVA and OT group, respectively. No other complications were observed.  TOETVA is a feasible and safe treatment for Graves' disease in comparison to the standard open cervical approach. It is considered a viable alternative for patients who have been indicated for surgery with excellent cosmetic results.
Management of hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease: frequently asked questions and answers (if any)
Venue: Journal of Endocrinological Investigation

Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in iodine replete areas. Although progress has been made in our understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease, no treatment targeting pathogenic mechanisms of the disease is presently available. Therapies for Graves' hyperthyroidism are largely imperfect because they are bound to either a high rate of relapsing hyperthyroidism (antithyroid drugs) or lifelong hypothyroidism (radioiodine treatment or thyroidectomy) Aim of the present article is to offer a practical guidance to the reader by providing evidence based answers to frequently asked questions in clinical practice.
Management of Neonates Born to Mothers With Graves' Disease
Venue: Pediatrics

Neonates born to mothers with Graves' disease are at risk for significant morbidity and mortality and need to be appropriately identified and managed. Because no consensus guidelines regarding the treatment of these newborns exist, we sought to generate a literature based management algorithm. The suggestions include the following: (1) Base initial risk assessment on maternal thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor antibodies. If levels are negative, no specific neonatal follow up is necessary; if unavailable or positive, regard the newborn as "at risk" for the development of hyperthyroidism. (2) Determine levels of TSH receptor antibodies in cord blood, or as soon as possible thereafter, so that newborns with negative antibodies can be discharged from follow up. (3) Measurement of cord TSH and fT4 levels is not indicated. (4) Perform fT4 and TSH levels at day 3 to 5 of life, repeat at day 10 to 14 of life and follow clinically until 2 to 3 months of life. (5) Use the same testing schedule in neonates born to mothers with treated or untreated Graves' disease. (6) When warranted, use methimazole (MMI) as the treatment of choice; b blockers can be added for sympathetic hyperactivity. In refractory cases, potassium iodide may be used in conjunction with MMI. The need for treatment of asymptomatic infants with biochemical hyperthyroidism is uncertain. (7) Assess the MMI treated newborn on a weekly basis until stable, then every 1 to 2 weeks, with a decrease of MMI (and other medications) as tolerated. MMI treatment duration is most commonly 1 to 2 months.
Mobile English Learning: An Empirical Study on an APP, English Fun Dubbing
Venue: iJET

The availability of smart phones connected to mobile network and the occurrence of APPs developed for the educational purposes provide us with the possibility and feasibility of mobile teaching and learning. English Fun Dubbing, an APP designed for its users to practice oral English, was employed in this one academic year empirical study to evaluate the benefits of mobile APPs in the field of pedagogy. When the study ended, an anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to the 123 participants to survey the effects of English Fun Dubbing on their English language learning. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were satisfied with it in many aspects including its conveniences, flexibility, user friendliness, rich materials, authentic language context, etc. and also its functions to inspire learning interests, foster learner autonomy, help realize personalized learning, and so on. We concluded that a reasonable and wise choice of APPs would not only be useful for students' English learning, but also help lead them to use mobile phones in a positive way.
Selective Harmonics Elimination technique in single phase unipolar H bridge inverter
Venue: 2016 IEEE Student Conference on Research and Development (SCOReD)

Specific odd harmonics can be mitigated by operating the semiconductor switches in H bridge inverters at optimized switching angles of the PWM signals. These switching angles can be achieved by deriving a number of nonlinear equations using Selective Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation (SHE PWM) method. Modulation index (m) is a significant parameter used to control the amplitude of the fundamental output voltage of DC AC inverter. By changing the value of modulation index the Total Harmonics Distortion (THD) also will change. In this paper, the performance of single phase full bridge inverter using SHE PWM scheme with varying the modulation index is evaluated. In order to achieve a minimum THD, a different number of nonlinear equations are used to calculate the switching angles. The performance of a single phase unipolar inverter is simulated in Matlab.
Monitoring and reporting of preanalytical errors in laboratory medicine: the UK situation
Venue: Annals of clinical biochemistry

Most errors in the clinical laboratory occur in the preanalytical phase. This study aimed to comprehensively describe the prevalence and nature of preanalytical quality monitoring practices in UK clinical laboratories.  A survey was sent on behalf of the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine Preanalytical Working Group (ACB WG PA) to all heads of department of clinical laboratories in the UK. The survey captured data on the analytical platform and Laboratory Information Management System in use; which preanalytical errors were recorded and how they were classified and gauged interest in an external quality assurance scheme for preanalytical errors.  Of the 157 laboratories asked to participate, responses were received from 104 (66.2% Laboratory error rates were recorded per number of specimens, rather than per number of requests in 51% of respondents. Aside from serum indices for haemolysis, icterus and lipaemia, which were measured in 80% of laboratories, the most common errors recorded were booking in errors (70.1% and sample mislabelling (56.9% in laboratories who record preanalytical errors. Of the laboratories surveyed, 95.9% expressed an interest in guidance on recording preanalytical error and 91.8% expressed interest in an external quality assurance scheme.  This survey observes a wide variation in the definition, repertoire and collection methods for preanalytical errors in the UK. Data indicate there is a lot of interest in improving preanalytical data collection. The ACB WG PA aims to produce guidance and support for laboratories to standardize preanalytical data collection and to help establish and validate an external quality assurance scheme for interlaboratory comparison.
Preanalytical Errors in Hematology Laboratory an Avoidable Incompetence.
Venue: Iranian journal of pathology

Quality assurance in the hematology laboratory is a must to ensure laboratory users of reliable test results with high degree of precision and accuracy. Even after so many advances in hematology laboratory practice, pre analytical errors remain a challenge for practicing pathologists. This study was undertaken with an objective to evaluate the types and frequency of preanalytical errors in hematology laboratory of our center.  All the samples received in the Hematology Laboratory of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, India over a period of one year (July 2013 July 2014) were included in the study and preanalytical variables like clotted samples, quantity not sufficient, wrong sample, without label, wrong label were studied.  Of 471,006 samples received in the laboratory, preanalytical errors, as per the above mentioned categories was found in 1802 samples. The most common error was clotted samples (1332 samples, 0.28% of the total samples) followed by quantity not sufficient (328 sample, 0.06% wrong sample (96 samples, 0.02% without label (24 samples, 0.005% and wrong label (22 samples, 0.005% CONCLUSION Preanalytical errors are frequent in laboratories and can be corrected by regular analysis of the variables involved. Rectification can be done by regular education of the staff.
Fear generalization gradients in visuospatial attention.
Venue: Emotion

Fear learning can be adaptively advantageous, but only if the learning is integrated with higher order cognitive processes that impact goal directed behaviors. Recent work has demonstrated generalization (i.e. transfer) of conditioned fear across perceptual dimensions and conceptual categories, but it is not clear how fear generalization influences other cognitive processes. The current study investigated how associative fear learning impacts higher order visuospatial attention, specifically in terms of attentional bias toward generalized threats (i.e. the heightened assessment of potentially dangerous stimuli) We combined discriminative fear conditioning of color stimuli with a subsequent visual search task, in which targets and distractors were presented inside colored circles that varied in perceptual similarity to the fear conditioned color. Skin conductance responses validated the fear conditioning manipulation. Search response times indicated that attention was preferentially deployed not just to the specific fear conditioned color, but also to similar colors that were never paired with the aversive shock. Furthermore, this attentional bias decreased continuously and symmetrically from the fear conditioned value along the color spectrum, indicating a generalization gradient based on perceptual similarity. These results support functional accounts of fear learning that promote broad, defensive generalization of attentional bias toward threat.
Publics for Public Schools: Legitimacy, Democracy, and Leadership

In this thought provoking book, Kathleen Knight Abowitz aims to offer a renewed conception of the public in public schooling, hoping to breathe new life and commitment into our schools and  The book's structure is arranged around three elements that support her endeavor to reinvigorate publics and their support for public schools: legitimacy, public life, and public leadership. As she connects each element to defining "public" and public schools, she reconstructs each notion, providing an enhanced version of each that is grounded in today's educational context and ready to be applied there. Knight Abowitz urges us to refocus on the local, not as a romanticized ideal of the past, but rather as a site where we experience messy education related problems that intimately impact us, and where we can work collaboratively to construct solutions, ultimately coming together to form a public will for our schools. This call is timely in light of increasing pressures toward centralized control of schooling and privatization, both of which work against local participatory political engagement in our public schools. She persuasively goads us to envision creative alternatives to these pressures and offers us helpful guidance in how to do so.
s repository of research publications and other research outputs Radio galaxies in the 2 SLAQ Luminous Red Galaxy Survey I The evolution of low power radio galaxies to z 0

We have combined optical data from the 2dF SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) LRG (Luminous Red Galaxy) and QSO (quasi stellar object) (2SLAQ) redshift survey with radio measurements from the 1.4 GHz VLA (Very Large Array) FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twentycm) and NVSS (NRAO VLA Sky Survey) surveys to identify a volume limited sample of 391 radio galaxies at redshift 0.4 z 0.7. By determining an accurate radio luminosity function for luminous early type galaxies in this redshift range, we can investigate the cosmic evolution of the radio galaxy population over a wide range in radio luminosity. The low power radio galaxies in our LRG sample (those with 1.4 GHz radio luminosities in the range 1024 to 1025 W Hz 1, corresponding to Fanaroff Riley I (FR I) radio galaxies in the local Universe) undergo significant cosmic evolution over the redshift range 0 z 0.7, consistent with pure luminosity evolution of the form (1 z)k where k 2.0 0.3. Our results appear to rule out (at the 6 7s level) models in which low power radio galaxies undergo no cosmic evolution. The most powerful radio galaxies in our sample (with radio luminosities above 1026 W Hz 1) may undergo more rapid evolution over the same redshift range. The evolution seen in the low power radio galaxy population implies that the total energy input into massive early type galaxies from active galactic nucleus (AGN) heating increases with redshift, and was at least 50 per cent higher at z 0.55 (the median redshift of the 2SLAQ LRG sample) than in the local universe.
"The Color of My Writing" Reflections on Studying the Interconnection among Race, Sport, and American Culture

In this essay, I reflect on my many years of researching and analyzing the interconnections among race, sport, and American culture. To some extent, it is a look back at my experiences as a white academic studying African American athletes and how they have navigated the racial lines in their efforts to become full participants in sport. The essay is also my assessment of the role of sport in African American communities and what part it has played in the larger civil rights struggle and quest for equal rights. Lastly, I share insights about my personal background and the trials and tribulations I have faced as a historian attempting to understand the complexities of race and how it has impacted sport and American society.
Analyte stability during the total testing process: studies of vitamins A, D and E by LC MS/MS
Venue: Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine

There are limited evidence based studies demonstrating the stability of fat soluble vitamins (FSV) measured in blood. This study aimed to examine the effects of light, temperature and time on vitamins A, D and E throughout the total testing process.  Four experiments were conducted. Three investigated the sample matrix, of whole blood, serum and the extracted sample, against the variables of temperature and light; and the fourth experiment investigated the sample during the extraction process against the variable of light. All samples were analysed via our simultaneous FSV method using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry technology. The allowable clinical percentage change was calculated based on biological variation and desirable method imprecision for each analyte. The total change limit was 7.3% for 25 OH vitamin D3, 11.8% for retinol and 10.8% for a tocopherol.  Vitamins D and E were stable in the investigated conditions (concentration changes <4% in the pre analytical and analytical stages. Vitamin A showed photosensitivity in times >48 h with concentration changes of 6.8% (blood) and 6.5% (serum) both are within the allowable clinical percentage change. By contrast, the extracted retinol sample demonstrated a concentration change of 18.4% after 48 h of light exposure. However, vitamin A in the serum and extracted solution was stable for one month when stored at 20degC.  Blood samples for vitamins D and E analyses can be processed in normal laboratory conditions of lighting and temperature. The required conditions for vitamin A analysis are similar when performed within 48 h. For longer term storage, serum and vitamin A extracts should be stored at 20degC.
Robust open loop Nash equilibria in the noncooperative LQ game revisited+

This paper reconsiders existence of worst case Nash equilibria in noncooperative multi player differential games, this, within an open loop information structure. We show that these equilibria can be obtained by determining the open loop Nash equilibria of an associated differential game with an additional initial state constraint. For the special case of linear quadratic differential games, we derive both necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the finite planning horizon problem. In particular, we demonstrate that, unlike in the standard linear quadratic differential game setting, uniqueness of equilibria may fail to hold. A both necessary and sufficient condition under which there is a unique equilibrium is provided. A sufficient existence condition for a unique equilibrium is derived in terms of a Riccati differential equation. Consequences for control policies are demonstrated in a simple debt stabilization game.
Organizational culture and green management: innovative way ahead in hotel industry

The purpose of this paper is to identify perspective and feasible combinations of the existing revenue driven methods with still more pervasive features of knowledge based management and green management in hotel industry. The authors believe that the key path to success is in even closer, that is, daily personal orientation on customers, specifically on their satisfaction in both functional and emotional dimensions.  A research prototype of competitiveness modelling framework can be fully implemented in accordance with the methodology, proposed by Mitroff and Kilmann (1978) The key output of our conceptual modelling stage was causal loop diagram, showing relations among internal variables and determining overall dynamics of analyzed problem. In the implementation phase, the authors adopted system dynamics (SD) paradigm, which composes system behaviour from parametrically adjustable temporal accumulation of levels of internal resources. These resources (stocks) can be both quantitative (money, employees, services) and qualitative (trust, motivation, quality) After parameterization and validation, SD models are used for the analysis of real world situations.  With the resultant interactive SD model, the authors designed and tested several scenarios, comparing the purely revenue oriented hotel management with its customers oriented and organizational knowledge supported enhancement. The authors' experiments showed that the proposed extension can contribute to the overall performance up to 15 per cent. According to the experimental findings, the primary reasons for the improvement are higher ratio of regularly returning customers and improved efficiency of internal processes as a result of continuous organizational learning.  So far, hotel managers use mainly simple analytic and planning tools, which cannot cover the practical complexity of surrounding market and internal processes. In comparison with purely revenue based principles, advanced managerial practices, considering also qualitative and human related matters, require additional viewpoints. The authors enhanced the hospitality domain with the introduction of dynamic hypotheses feasible explanations of temporal behaviour of complex structures.