nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Obstructive jaundice in autoimmune pancreatitis can be safely treated with corticosteroids alone without biliary stenting.
Venue: Pancreatology official journal of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) [et al.

Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) responds dramatically to corticosteroids treatment. We reviewed our experience to determine the safety and effectiveness of treating obstructive jaundice in definitive AIP with corticosteroids alone without biliary stenting.  From our AIP database, we retrospectively identified type 1 AIP subjects whose jaundice was treated with corticosteroids alone without biliary stenting. Their medical records were reviewed and clinical data were evaluated to determine the outcomes.  Fifteen AIP subjects (87% male, mean age 68.4 years) were treated with corticosteroids at initial presentation (n 8) first (n 5) or subsequent (n 2) relapse. Mean values (upper limit of normal, ULN) of liver tests prior to corticosteroids were aspartate aminotransferase (AST) 203.5u/l (4 x ULN) alanine aminotransferase (ALT) 325.8u/l (6 x ULN) alkaline phosphatase (ALP) 567.4u/l (5 x ULN) and total bilirubin (TB) 5.9 mg/dl (5.9 x ULN) At first follow up (mean 4 days) the decrease was 54.9% for AST, 51.6% for ALT, 33% for ALP and 47.2% for TB (all p 0.05) After 15 45 days, all patients had normal AST, 3/15 had ALT 1.5 x ULN, 1/15 had ALP 1.5 x ULN, 1/15 had TB 1.5 x ULN. No patient required biliary stent placement, or developed cholangitis or other infectious complications during steroid treatment.  Under the supervision of an experienced pancreatologist and with close monitoring of patients, obstructive jaundice secondary to definitive AIP can be safely and effectively managed with corticosteroids alone, without the need for biliary stenting.
Murine model of long term obstructive jaundice.
Venue: The Journal of surgical research

With the recent emergence of conjugated bile acids as signaling molecules in cancer, a murine model of obstructive jaundice by cholestasis with long term survival is in need. Here, we investigated the characteristics of three murine models of obstructive jaundice.  C57BL/6J mice were used for total ligation of the common bile duct (tCL) partial common bile duct ligation (pCL) and ligation of left and median hepatic bile duct with gallbladder removal (LMHL) models. Survival was assessed by Kaplan Meier method. Fibrotic change was determined by Masson Trichrome staining and Collagen expression.  Overall, 70% (7 of 10) of tCL mice died by day 7, whereas majority 67% (10 of 15) of pCL mice survived with loss of jaundice. A total of 19% (3 of 16) of LMHL mice died; however, jaundice continued beyond day 14, with survival of more than a month. Compensatory enlargement of the right lobe was observed in both pCL and LMHL models. The pCL model demonstrated acute inflammation due to obstructive jaundice 3 d after ligation but jaundice rapidly decreased by day 7. The LHML group developed portal hypertension and severe fibrosis by day 14 in addition to prolonged jaundice.  The standard tCL model is too unstable with high mortality for long term studies. pCL may be an appropriate model for acute inflammation with obstructive jaundice, but long term survivors are no longer jaundiced. The LHML model was identified to be the most feasible model to study the effect of long term obstructive jaundice.
Hepatectomy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Bile Duct Tumor Thrombus, Including Cases with Obstructive Jaundice
Venue: Annals of Surgical Oncology

This study aimed to evaluate the short and long term outcomes of hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with bile duct tumor thrombus (BDTT) including cases with obstructive jaundice. The study reviewed 42 HCC patients with BDTT, including six patients who needed preoperative biliary drainage due to obstructive jaundice, and 732 HCC patients without BDTT. The authors analyzed the impact of BDTT on the surgical outcomes and assessed the outcomes of hepatectomy for patients presenting with obstructive jaundice. The HCC patients with BDTT, almost all with stage 3 or 4 disease, had increased alpha fetoprotein expression, larger tumors, and more portal vein invasion status. The survival of the HCC patients with BDTT was significantly inferior to that of the patients without BDTT (p 0.0003) Survival did not differ significantly between the HCC patients with BDTT and those without BDTT when the two groups were matched by stage (p 0.3366) The HCC patients with BDTT who presented with obstructive jaundice demonstrated outcomes similar to those for the HCC patients with BDTT who did not present with obstructive jaundice in terms of the overall survival rate (p 0.5469) The perioperative outcomes for the HCC patients with BDTT did not depend on the presence or absence of preoperative jaundice. No patients in either BDTT group demonstrated 90 day mortality in this study. Hepatectomy should be considered for HCC patients with BDTT, even for patients with obstructive jaundice, because the surgical outcomes equivalent to those for HCC without BDTT can be achieved.
Aggressive Surgery for Locally Advanced Gallbladder Cancer with Obstructive Jaundice: Result of a Prospective Study
Venue: Digestive Surgery

The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical impact of our departmental policy for advanced gallbladder cancer (GBC) even with obstructive jaundice.  Obstructive jaundice was defined as serum T bil =2.0 mg/dl. Between 1998 and 2008, 112 patients with GBC were scheduled for surgical resection with curative intent. Thirty six patients were converted to palliative surgery or exploration alone because of advanced disease. After excluding pathological T1 (UICC) patients (n 11) the remaining 65 patients were divided into 2 groups; jaundiced group (n 37) and non jaundiced group (n 28) Surgical procedures were conducted based on our departmental guidelines concerning each type of infiltration of GBC.  Bile duct resection and major hepatectomy were performed more frequently in patients with jaundice. Although patients in jaundiced group had more advanced disease, 5 year overall survival rates of the patients with or without jaundice were 27 vs. 31% (p 0.742) which was not statistically significant.  Aggressive surgery might improve long term survival in patients with locally advanced GBC even in the condition of obstructive jaundice with no distant metastasis.
Incidence of malignant Obstructive Jaundice a study of hundred patients at Nishtar Hospital Multan

The objective of this study is to see the incidence of malignant obstructive jaundice. It is a descriptive study carried out at. Nishtar Hospital Multan from January 2000 to January 2002. Total 100 patients with obstructive jaundice were included in study. The patients with benign diseases were excluded. The patients having malignant obstructive jaundice were studied in detail and incidence of malignant obstructive jaundice was noted. The main presenting symptoms were progressive painless jaundice, pruritis, anorexia, weight loss, abdominal pain and mass right upper abdomen. 84 patients (84% were suffering from malignancy and 16 patients (16% were suffering from benign diseases. The incidence of various malignancies was CA gall bladder 44 patients (52% CA Pancreas 26 patients (31% Cholangiocarcinoma 8(10% and Hepatoma 6 patients (7% Incidence of malignancy in obstructive jaundice is 84% which gradually increases with the increasing age. The most common malignancy responsible for obstructive jaundice in female patients is CA gall bladder (52% and in male patients is CA head of pancreas (31%
Bank Liquidity Creation Following Regulatory Interventions and Capital Support

We study the effects of regulatory interventions and capital support (bailouts) on banks' liquidity creation. We rely on instrumental variables to deal with possible endogeneity concerns. Our key findings, which are based on a unique supervisory German dataset, are that regulatory interventions robustly trigger decreases in liquidity creation, while capital support does not affect liquidity creation. Additional results include the effects of these actions on different components of liquidity creation, lending, and risk taking. Our findings provide new and important insights into the debates about the design of regulatory interventions and bailouts.
Targeted therapeutic mild hypercapnia after cardiac arrest: A phase II multi centre randomised controlled trial (the CCC trial)
Venue: Resuscitation

In intensive care observational studies, hypercapnia after cardiac arrest (CA) is independently associated with improved neurological outcome. However, the safety and feasibility of delivering targeted therapeutic mild hypercapnia (TTMH) for such patients is untested.  In a phase II safety and feasibility multi centre, randomised controlled trial, we allocated ICU patients after CA to 24h of targeted normocapnia (TN) (PaCO2 35 45mmHg) or TTMH (PaCO2 50 55mmHg) The primary outcome was serum neuron specific enolase (NSE) and S100b protein concentrations over the first 72h assessed in the first 50 patients surviving to day three. Secondary end points included global measure of function assessment at six months and mortality for all patients.  We enrolled 86 patients. Their median age was 61 years (58, 64 years) and 66 (79% were male. Of these, 50 patients (58% survived to day three for full biomarker assessment. NSE concentrations increased in the TTMH group (p=0.02) and TN group (p=0.005) over time, with the increase being significantly more pronounced in the TN group (p(interaction)=0.04) S100b concentrations decreased over time in the TTMH group (p<0.001) but not in the TN group (p=0.68) However, the S100b change over time did not differ between the groups (p(interaction)=0.23) At six months, 23 (59% TTMH patients had good functional recovery compared with 18 (46% TN patients. Hospital mortality occurred in 11 (26% TTMH patients and 15 (37% TN patients (p=0.31) CONCLUSIONS In CA patients admitted to the ICU, TTMH was feasible, appeared safe and attenuated the release of NSE compared with TN. These findings justify further investigation of this novel treatment.
Fiscal decentralization and government size across Europe

The paper provides for an empirical study of the association between fiscal decentralization and government size on a panel of 28 European developed and former transition countries during 1991 2011, controlling for the effects of various demographic, institutional, and macroeconomic variables as well as for the effects of the Global Financial Crisis. The main findings from the empirical investigation are as follows: We provide evidence for non negligible effects of expenditure decentralization on government size, especially in the former transition economies. However, when we employ the revenue decentralization as an explanatory variable we cannot provide support to the Leviathan hypothesis. We include two measures of the vertical fiscal imbalance and provide empirical support to the common pool hypothesis only for the former transition countries. As for the effects of the control variables, our research results suggest that higher public debt leads to larger government, while trade openness is associated with smaller government size. Also, we find that the effects of population density and dependent population on government size differs between the developed and the former transition countries, while higher degree of urbanization reduces government size only in the developed countries sub sample. Finally, we confirm that the Global Financial Crisis has strong effects on the level of government expenditure across Europe.
Seabird diversity hotspot linked to ocean productivity in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem
Venue: Biology Letters

Upwelling regions are highly productive habitats targeted by wide ranging marine predators and industrial fisheries. In this study, we track the migratory movements of eight seabird species from across the Atlantic; quantify overlap with the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) and determine the habitat characteristics that drive this association. Our results indicate the CCLME is a biodiversity hotspot for migratory seabirds; all tracked species and more than 70% of individuals used this upwelling region. Relative species richness peaked in areas where sea surface temperature averaged between 15 and 20degC, and correlated positively with chlorophyll a, revealing the optimum conditions driving bottom up trophic effects for seabirds. Marine vertebrates are not confined by international boundaries, making conservation challenging. However, by linking diversity to ocean productivity, our research reveals the significance of the CCLME for seabird populations from across the Atlantic, making it a priority for conservation action.
Variations in productivity of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem and their effects on small pelagic fish stocks

The Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) is a Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Project, situated in the Atlantic Ocean on the North West coast of Africa. It has seven countries with a population estimate of 64.5 million and a coastline of more than 5400 km with a sea area of 2 million km2 within their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) This area is one of the richest productive marine ecosystems in the world and its coastal and oceanic waters are rich in biodiversity and hosts approximately 12,500 species dominated by crustaceans, mollusks and fish. The total annual value of the ecosystem services provided by the CCLME is estimated to be around U$11.7 billion. The interaction between the CCLME and seasonal change in the ocean atmospheric dynamics drives the productivity which has a mean annual value for chlorophyll of 1.31 mg chl a/m3 and 372 g C m2 yr 1 for primary productivity, based on SeaWiFS satellite data. This productivity supports abundant fish stocks with catches up to 3 million tonnes per annum being landed from the region. Fish population are dominated by the small pelagics especially sardine (Sardina pilchardus) sardinellas (Sardinella sp. and horse mackerels (Trachurus sp) Satellite derived measurements from 1997 to 2012 reveal a downward trend in primary production and this decline is accompanied by a net warming of the system and a decrease in the upwelling. The declining trends and variability in biomass of some main target commercial fish species observed during these last year was accompanied by significant fishing pressure together with fluctuations in environmental factors which may have been a key drivers of change. Future studies on the ocean dynamics of the CCLME system, its impact on resources, environmental interactions and climate change will have to be closely monitored to ensure effective transboundary management.
Fast ventral stream neural activity enables rapid visual categorization
Venue: NeuroImage

Primates can recognize objects embedded in complex natural scenes in a glimpse. Rapid categorization paradigms have been extensively used to study our core perceptual abilities when the visual system is forced to operate under strong time constraints. However, the neural underpinning of rapid categorization remains to be understood, and the incredible speed of sight has yet to be reconciled with modern ventral stream cortical theories of object recognition. Here we recorded multichannel subdural electrocorticogram (ECoG) signals from intermediate areas (V4/PIT) of the ventral stream of the visual cortex while monkeys were actively engaged in a rapid animal/non animal categorization task. A traditional event related potential (ERP) analysis revealed short visual latencies <50 70ms) followed by a rapidly developing visual selectivity (within ~20 30ms) for most electrodes. A multi variate pattern analysis (MVPA) technique further confirmed that reliable animal/non animal category information was possible from this initial ventral stream neural activity (within ~90 100ms) Furthermore, this early category selective neural activity was (a) unaffected by the presentation of a backward (pattern) mask, (b) generalized to novel (unfamiliar) stimuli and (c) co varied with behavioral responses (both accuracy and reaction times) Despite the strong prevalence of task related information on the neural signal, task irrelevant visual information could still be decoded independently of monkey behavior. Monkey behavioral responses were also found to correlate significantly with human behavioral responses for the same set of stimuli. Together, the present study establishes that rapid ventral stream neural activity induces a visually selective signal subsequently used to drive rapid visual categorization and that this visual strategy may be shared between human and non human primates.
Joint Model of Iron and Hepcidin During the Menstrual Cycle in Healthy Women
Venue: The AAPS Journal

Hepcidin regulates serum iron levels, and its dosage is used in differential diagnostic of iron related pathologies. We used the data collected in the HEPMEN (named after HEPcidin during MENses) study to investigate the joint dynamics of serum hepcidin and iron during the menstrual cycle in healthy women. Ninety menstruating women were recruited after a screening visit. Six fasting blood samples for determination of iron status variables were taken in the morning throughout the cycle, starting on the second day of the period. Non linear mixed effect models were used to describe the evolution of iron and hepcidin. Demographic and medical covariates were tested for their effect on model parameters. Parameter estimation was performed using the SAEM algorithm implemented in the Monolix software. A general pattern was observed for both hepcidin and iron, consisting of an initial decrease during menstruation, followed by a rebound and stabilising during the second half of the cycle. We developed a joint model including a menstruation induced decrease of both molecules at the beginning of the menses and a rebound effect after menses. Iron stimulated the release of hepcidin. Several covariates, including contraception, amount of blood loss and ferritin, were found to influence the parameters. The joint model of iron and hepcidin was able to describe the fluctuations induced by blood loss from menstruation in healthy non menopausal women and the subsequent regulation. The HEPMEN study showed fluctuations of iron status variables during the menstrual cycle, which should be considered when using hepcidin measurements for diagnostic purposes in women of child bearing potential.
Quality assurance of component based software systems
Venue: 2016 3rd International Conference on Computing for Sustainable Global Development (INDIACom)

Component based software development approach is built on the notion to develop software systems by choosing appropriate off the shelf components and the e to assemble them with a well defined software architecture. Quality assurance (QA) for component based software development is a newer concept in the software engineering community as new software development paradigm and traditional approach are much different from each other. In this paper, we survey current component based software technologies, define their advantages and disadvantages, and debate the features they inherit. We also address QA is sues for component based software. As a major involvement, we propose a QA model for component based software development, which covers component requirement analysis, component development, component certification, component customization, and system architecture design, integration, testing, and maintenance.
A Latent Variable Model Approach to PMI based Word Embeddings
Venue: TACL

Semantic word embeddings represent the meaning of a word via a vector, and are created by diverse methods. Many use nonlinear operations on co occurrence statistics, and have hand tuned hyperparameters and reweighting methods. This paper proposes a new generative model, a dynamic version of the log linear topic model of Mnih and Hinton (2007) The methodological novelty is to use the prior to compute closed form expressions for word statistics. This provides a theoretical justification for nonlinear models like PMI, word2vec, and GloVe, as well as some hyperparameter choices. It also helps explain why low dimensional semantic embeddings contain linear algebraic structure that allows solution of word analogies, as shown by Mikolov et al. (2013a) and many subsequent papers. Experimental support is provided for the generative model assumptions, the most important of which is that latent word vectors are fairly uniformly dispersed in space.
An Ensemble Method to Produce High Quality Word Embeddings
Venue: ArXiv

A currently successful approach to computational semantics is to represent words as embeddings in a machine learned vector space. We present an ensemble method that combines embeddings produced by GloVe (Pennington et al. 2014) and word2vec (Mikolov et al. 2013) with structured knowledge from the semantic networks ConceptNet (Speer and Havasi, 2012) and PPDB (Ganitkevitch et al. 2013) merging their information into a common representation with a large, multilingual vocabulary. The embeddings it produces achieve state of the art performance on many word similarity evaluations. Its score of \rho .596$ on an evaluation of rare words (Luong et al. 2013) is 16% higher than the previous best known system.