nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Dietary Potassium Intake and Mortality in a Prospective Hemodialysis Cohort.

Among hemodialysis patients, clinical practice guidelines recommend dietary potassium restriction given concerns about potential hyperkalemia leading to malignant arrhythmias and mortality. However, there are sparse data informing recommendations for dietary potassium intake in this population. We thus sought to examine the relationship between dietary potassium intake and death risk in a prospective cohort of hemodialysis patients.



Among 415 hemodialysis patients from the prospective "Malnutrition, Diet, and Racial Disparities in Chronic Kidney Disease" cohort recruited across 16 outpatient dialysis clinics, information regarding dietary potassium intake was obtained using Food Frequency Questionnaires administered over October 2011 to March 2015. We first examined associations of baseline dietary potassium intake categorized as tertiles with mortality risk using Cox regression. We then examined clinical characteristics associated with low dietary potassium intake (defined as the lowest tertile) using logistic regression.



In expanded case-mix Cox analyses, patients whose dietary potassium intake was in the lowest tertile had higher mortality (ref: highest tertile) (adjusted hazard ratio 1.74, 95% confidence interval 1.14-2.66). These associations had even greater magnitude of risk following adjustment for laboratory and nutritional covariates (adjusted hazard ratio 2.65, 95% confidence interval 1.40-5.04). In expanded case-mix restricted cubic spline analyses, there was a monotonic increase in mortality risk with incrementally lower dietary potassium intake. In expanded case-mix logistic regression models, female sex; higher serum bicarbonate; and lower dietary energy, protein, and fiber intake were associated with low dietary potassium intake.



In a prospective cohort of hemodialysis patients, lower dietary potassium intake was associated with higher mortality risk. These findings suggest that excessive dietary potassium restriction may be deleterious in hemodialysis patients, and further studies are needed to determine the optimal dietary potassium intake in this population.

Field of study: Medicine
The Stress-Strength Model and Its Generalizations: Theory and Applications

the algorithms under various conditions and settings. The total amount of code consists of about 25,000 lines and even includes a graphical routine based on the X Windows system. The code itself is reasonably well documented and thus is amenable to extension and further development by the interested reader. The datasets presented in the book are also included in the tar archive. So what is the use for 2D Object Detection and Recognition? The book seems to be intended primarily for those researchers in computer vision and related fields who would like to see the world though Amit’s eyes. The book requires some background knowledge of computer vision (not much, though) and is reasonably self-contained. It would also work very well in a more-advanced study group setting, where several students can work their way through the chapters, making extensive use of the available software. I congratulate Yali Amit on writing a very fine book based on his many years of research experience that led to excellent and novel contributions to the field. This book is an example of how to do things right: simply, efficiently, and correctly. I have no reservations at all in recommending the book highly to all readers interested in the field of computer vision and/or (really) applied statistics.

Field of study: Mathematics
Brane-induced-gravity shock waves.

We construct exact gravitational field solutions for a relativistic particle localized on a tensional brane in brane-induced gravity. They are a generalization of gravitational shock waves in 4D de Sitter space. We provide the metrics for both the normal branch and the self-inflating branch Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati brane worlds, and compare them to the 4D Einstein gravity solution and to the case when gravity resides only in the 5D bulk, without any brane-localized curvature terms. At short distances the wave profile looks the same as in four dimensions. The corrections appear only far from the source, where they differ from the long distance corrections in 4D de Sitter space. We also discover a new nonperturbative channel for energy emission into the bulk from the self-inflating [corrected] branch, when gravity is modified at the de Sitter radius.

Field of study: Physics
Removing the last billboard for the tobacco industry: Tobacco standardized packaging in Ireland.

The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) implementation guidelines recommend that governments adopt plain packaging (also known as standardized packaging (SP)) along with pictorial health warning labels covering 50% or more of the tobacco package. The 2014 revised European Union Tobacco Product Directive also supports EU member states to introduce SP. Following these developments and recommendations, in 2013 the Department of Health launched a "Tobacco Free Ireland" policy which aimed to reduce the smoking prevalence rate to less than 5% by 2025. Tobacco Free Ireland set out 60 recommendations and measures to reach the 2025 target, including introducing SP. Tobacco companies and trademark and intellectual property organizations opposed the SP proposal claiming it would; 1) not work to reduce smoking levels, 2) increase illicit tobacco trade, 3) create unnecessary problems for retailers, and 4) violate domestic and international laws governing trademarks. However leading health groups in Ireland presented evidence on how SP would communicate the harms of tobacco to smokers and discourage young people from beginning to smoke. These efforts combined with strong political will helped Ireland to become the second country in the world to enact standardized packaging for all tobacco products.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science
Core-shell Fe-SiO2-polyamine magnetic nanoparticles for metal recovery using a continuous flow pipeline reactor

A series of core-shell magnetic nanomaterials have been synthesized with the intent of applying them for metal ion capture in a newly designed pipeline reactor. The synthetic chemistry is an extension of a previously developed family of materials based on amorphous silica gel, which has been used in the mining and remediation industries. The nanoparticles were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and TEM and SEM techniques. The size of the starting magnetite core was critical to the behavior of the particles under metal sequestering conditions. The capture kinetics of the resulting nanoagregates is 10 times faster than related micro composites. All of the tests performed point to the future successful development of a technology that circumvents the disadvantages associated with the use of column based microparticles.

Field of study: Chemistry
Multiwavelength Study of the NGC 281 Region

We present a multiwavelength study of the NGC 281 complex which contains the young cluster IC 1590 at the center, using deep wide-field optical UBV Ic photometry, slitless spectroscopy along with archival data sets in the near-infrared (NIR) and X-ray. The extent of IC 1590 is estimated to be ∼6.5 pc. The cluster region shows a relatively small amount of differential reddening. The majority of the identified young stellar objects (YSOs) are low mass PMS stars having age < 1−2 Myr and mass 0.5-3.5 M⊙. The slope () of the mass function for IC 1590, in the mass range 2 < M/M⊙ ≤54, is found to be −1.11±0.15. The slope of the K-band luminosity function (0.37±0.07) is similar to the average value (∼0.4) reported for young clusters. The distribution of gas and dust obtained from the IRAS, CO and radio maps indicates clumpy structures around the central cluster. The radial distribution of the young stellar objects, their ages, �(H −K) NIR-excess, and the fraction of classical T Tauri stars suggest triggered star formation at the periphery of the cluster region. However, deeper optical, NIR and MIR observations are needed to have a conclusive view of star formation scenario in the region. The properties of the Class 0/I and Class II sources detected by using the Spitzer mid-infrared observations indicate that a majority of the Class II sources are X-ray emitting stars, whereas X-ray emission is absent from the Class 0/I sources. The spatial distribution of Class 0/I and Class II sources reveals the presence of three sub-clusters in the NGC 281 West region.

Field of study: Physics
Origin and history of upper Pleistocene marine terraces, San Diego, California

Geomorphic, structural, paleontologic, and stratigraphic analysis of features of emergent marine terraces have been used to reconstruct part of the late Pleistocene paleoenvironmental, paleogeographic, and tectonic history of the San Diego area. The Nestor terrace abrasion platform was cut 120,000 yr B.P. during a marine stillstand 6 ± 4 m above present sea level. Fossil marine invertebrates on this platform reflect slightly higher than present shallow-water marine temperatures, consistent with the slightly higher level of the sea and smaller volume of glacial ice. The 105,000-yr B.P. stillstand 12 ± 3 m lower than present sea level may be recorded in a single very small unfossiliferous terrace remnant. The Bird Rock terrace abrasion platform was cut 80,000 yr B.P. during a stillstand 14 ± 2 m lower than present sea level. Fossil marine invertebrates on this platform reflect slightly lower than present shallow-water marine temperatures, consistent with the slightly lower level of the sea and larger volume of glacial ice. General, rather uniform tectonic elevation of the entire San Diego coastal area has amounted to 19 to 24 m during the past 80,000 yr for a rate of uplift of 24 to 30 cm per thousand years. Just south of the Rose Canyon fault, the Nestor platform was elevated tectonically by approximately 23 m between 120,000 and 80,000 yr B.P. and another 31 m during the subsequent 80,000 yr to a total of 54 m in 120,000 yr, or 45 cm per thousand years.

Field of study: Geology
Relative effects of elevated background ozone concentrations and peak episodes on senescence and above-ground growth in four populations of Anthoxanthum odoratum L.

Four populations of Anthoxanthum odoratum from North Wales, UK, were exposed to the following combinations of mean background and peak concentrations of ozone for 12 weeks in solardomes: LL (14.3 ppb, 18.9 ppb, respectively), LH (14.8 ppb, 52.3 ppb), HL (28.9 ppb, 35.7 ppb) and HH (30.5 ppb, 72.1 ppb). Elevated ozone rapidly induced premature senescence, with effect increasing in the order: LL<LH<HL<HH. By week 11, the LH and HL treatments had induced similar amounts of whole plant senescence even though the AOT40(12) values (accumulated between 8 am and 8 pm) were very different at 10.6 ppmh and 4.1 ppmh, respectively. Overall, linear correlations between whole plant senescence were stronger for AOT0 than for AOT40. Intraspecific variation in the senescence response to the different profiles was observed after 11 weeks of exposure. Effects on growth and tillering were less pronounced than effects on senescence.

Field of study: Environmental science
Murine cytomegalovirus downregulates interleukin-17 in mice with retrovirus-induced immunosuppression that are susceptible to experimental cytomegalovirus retinitis.

Interleukin-17 (IL-17), a pro-inflammatory cytokine produced by CD4+ Th17 cells, has been associated with the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases including uveitis. The fate of IL-17 during HIV/AIDS, however, remains unclear, and a possible role for IL-17 in the pathogenesis of AIDS-related diseases has not been investigated. Toward these ends, we performed studies using a well-established animal model of experimental murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) retinitis that develops in C57/BL6 mice with retrovirus-induced immunosuppression (MAIDS). After establishing baseline levels for IL-17 production in whole splenic cells of healthy mice, we observed a significant increase in IL-17 mRNA levels in whole splenic cells of mice with MAIDS of 4-weeks (MAIDS-4), 8-weeks (MAIDS-8), and 10-weeks (MAIDS-10) duration. In contrast, enriched populations of splenic CD4+ T cells, splenic macrophages, and splenic neutrophils exhibited a reproducible decrease in levels of IL-17 mRNA during MAIDS progression. To explore a possible role for IL-17 during the pathogenesis of MAIDS-related MCMV retinitis, we first demonstrated constitutive IL-17 expression in retinal photoreceptor cells of uninfected eyes of healthy mice. Subsequent studies, however, revealed a significant decrease in intraocular levels of IL-17 mRNA and protein in MCMV-infected eyes of MAIDS-10 mice during retinitis development. That MCMV infection might cause a remarkable downregulation of IL-17 production was supported further by the finding that systemic MCMV infection of healthy, MAIDS-4, or MAIDS-10 mice also significantly decreased IL-17 mRNA production by splenic CD4+ T cells. Based on additional studies using IL-10 -/- mice infected systemically with MCMV and IL-10 -/- mice with MAIDS infected intraocularly with MCMV, we propose that MCMV infection downregulates IL-17 production via stimulation of suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3 and interleukin-10.

Field of study: Medicine
Dinosaurs and the island rule: The dwarfed dinosaurs from Haţeg Island

Islands are fascinating natural laboratories of evolution. One much debated theme among evolutionary ecologists is whether there is an ‘island rule’, the observation that large animals tend to become smaller and small animals larger. Franz Nopcsa was the first, in 1914, to suggest that the latest Cretaceous dinosaurs from Haţeg, Romania were an island fauna, based on its low diversity and apparently unbalanced composition, and the basal position (“primitiveness”) of many of the included taxa within their respective clades. In turn, the small size of the taxa compared to their relatives from other landmasses in conjunction with the proposed island setting were used to support the presence of the island rule and size reduction (dwarfing; nanism) among the Haţeg dinosaurs. In Nopcsa's day, palaeontologists had seen the same phenomenon many times in the Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene mammals of the Mediterranean islands. Although often quoted as a key Mesozoic example of the island rule, the supposedly dwarfed Haţeg dinosaurs have never been investigated thoroughly. Here we review a wealth of new data, from tectonics and regional geology to limb proportions and dinosaur bone histology, which support Nopcsa's original claim of insularity of the Haţeg fauna. Current evolutionary studies confirm that the island rule applies in many, if not all, modern cases, as well as to the Mediterranean island mammals. Geological evidence confirms that Haţeg was probably an island in the Late Cretaceous, and phylogenetic, ecological, and bone histological evidence shows that at least two of the Haţeg dinosaurs, the sauropod Magyarosaurus and the ornithopod Telmatosaurus , as well as possibly the ornithopod Zalmoxes , were dwarfs by progenesis, a form of paedomorphosis.

Field of study: Environmental science, Geography
Construction of population growth equations in the presence of viability constraints

AbstractA mathematical method based on the G-projection of differential inclusions is used to construct dynamical models of population biology. We suppose that the system under study, not being limited by resources, may be described by a control system 
$$\dot x\left( t \right) = f\left( {x\left( t \right),u\left( t \right)} \right)$$
\] where u is a control describing the choice of resources. Then considering the constraints that the system must satisfy we define a viability set K. Since there may not exist a control u(·) such that the corresponding solution satisfies x(t) ε K, we have to change the dynamics of the control system to get a viable solution. Using the G-projection we introduce so-called “projected” control system 
$$\dot x\left( t \right) = \Pi _{T_K }^G f\left( {x\left( t \right),u\left( t \right)} \right)$$
 that has a viable solution. The projected system has usually simpler dynamics than traditional models used in population biology.

Field of study: Biology, Mathematics
Performance amelioration for small animal SPECT using optimized pinhole collimator and image correction technique

The aim of this study was to improve the performance of pinhole single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) fabricated with a position sensitive photomultiplier tube using an optimized pinhole collimator and image correction technique. The center-of-rotation was aligned to prevent mechanical shift using a leveling-laser system. Based on the previous results of pinhole aperture simulation and optimization study, a pinhole collimator for the small animal SPECT was fabricated in the range of optimal pinhole diameter and channel height. Previously reported image correction technique of position mapping, energy calibration and flood correction procedures developed for array type scintillator was revised and applied to plate type crystal. Phantom and small animal studies were performed to investigate the system performance. Image corrections, center-of-rotation alignment, and collimator optimization were necessary to obtain high resolution and high quality SPECT images. The SPECT system ameliorated by this study could be utilized in small animal and molecular imaging studies required to provide high spatial resolution with moderate sensitivity.

Field of study: Physics
Logistics Vehicle Monitoring Intelligence System

In this paper the design and the manufacture of the logistics vehicle monitoring system based on ARM11 is proposed. Camera module, sensor module, barcode scanning module, GPS positioning module, wireless communication module, and GPRS module are employed on the terminal, which use LINUX and ARM11 to realize software system and hardware system separately, to make the system more practical and convenient. In data acquisition part, data including vehicle interior images, vehicle inclination angle and goods weight, goods information obtained by the camera module acquisition, the sensor module and bar code scanner module separately is sent to the monitoring terminal via a wireless communication module for display after data processing. Monitor terminal display real-time vehicle location information collected by GPS module, and at the same time, send location information to the server via GPRS module, displaying on the electronic map. Thus we realize the real-time monitoring of vehicles and logistics management.

Field of study: Engineering
Is extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy still the treatment of choice for renal and upper ureteric calculi: Our experience with 274 cases and its comparison with retrograde intrarenal surgery literature

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is used in the management of renal calculi <2cm in size using shock waves under ultrasound/X-ray guidance. Nowadays, with the advancement of endourology the use of ESWL has become less. Newer techniques such as retrograde intrarenal surgery and percutaneous nephrolithotomy have replaced ESWL for treatment of renal stones.  A total of 274 patients between age group of 15 months and 78 years from Department of Urology, MGM Medical College were enrolled in the study for 3 years from October 2015 to October 2018. All patients underwent intravenous pyelogram. The inclusion criteria of the study were patients with calculi between 6 and 20mm. The exclusion criteria of the study were patients having untreated urinary tract infection, pregnancy, musculoskeletal deformity, and deranged coagulation profile. Double J stenting was performed prior to the procedure for stones >1cm. A maximum of three sessions of ESWL were given. The procedure was performed under local anesthesia for adults and under general anesthesia for children.  There was no effect of age and sex on stone clearance. Overall success rate was 91.97%. Success rate for smaller calculi was more (6–10 mm: 97.7%; 10–15 mm: 90.1%; 15–20 mm: 87.5%) with P value <0.05. Success rate of calculi in lower calyx (83.63%) were less as compared to calculi in upper calyx (96.77%), middle calyx (96.15%), renal pelvis (90%), and upper ureter (88.23%) with P value <0.05. Complications of the procedure included pain (28 patients required no treatment and 3 patients required admission and treatment) and hematuria (15 patients required no treatment and 2 patients required admission and treatment), and 1 patient with perinephric hematoma who was treated conservatively.  ESWL is a safe and effective procedure in treatment of renal and upper ureteric calculi. It can still be regarded as treatment of choice for appropriate cases of renal and upper ureteric stones especially in developing countries where cost is still a major factor.

Field of study: Medicine
Ionic conductivity of and phase transition in lithium thiophosphate Li3PS4

A phase transition of Li 3 PS 4 has been revealed at 190°C both by DTA and by a discontinuity in the Arrhenius plots of conductivity. The conductivity is increased by a step of 0.5 (log σ), and the low and high temperature ranges are characterized by activation energies of respectively 0.49 (±0.01) eV and 0.46 (±0.01) eV. A small order-disorder of the Li + ion distribution might be the source of this phenomenon; Li 3 PS 4 may be considered as a good lithium crystalline electrolyte ( σ 25°C =3 × 10 −7 S cm −1 ).

Field of study: Materials science
Measuring financial protection in health in the United States.

One rationale for health insurance coverage is to provide financial protection against catastrophic health expenditures. This article defines a lack of financial protection as household spending on health care when: (1) out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditures exceed 10% of family income; (2) out-of-pocket expenditures exceed an absolute level of 2000 US dollars per family member on an annual basis; and (3) combined out-of-pocket and prepaid health expenditures exceed 40% of family income. The article explores how the likelihood of households in the United States surpassing these thresholds varies by income level, extent of insurance coverage, and the number of chronic conditions. The results show clearly that there is a lack of financial protection for health services for a wide segment of the US population-particularly so for poor families and those with multiple chronic conditions. The results are placed in an international context. Similar studies in other countries would allow for more in-depth comparisons of financial protection than are currently possible.

Field of study: Medicine, Political science