nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Possible association of ACE gene I/D polymorphism with blood pressure--lowering response to hydrochlorothiazide.

To explore the association between polymorphism in the ACE I/D gene and blood pressure-lowering response to hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) in 829 patients.



HCTZ 12.5 mg was taken once a day for six weeks. The blood pressure reduction and ratio reaching target blood pressure were compared in different ACE genotype groups.



The reduction in SBP of patients carrying DD was greater than that in other groups carrying II or ID (12.2 mmHg versus 5.4 mmHg, 12.2 mmHg versus 4.4 mmHg, respectively, P<0.05). The reduction in MAP of patients carrying DD was also greater than that in other groups carrying II or ID (6.9 mmHg versus 3.9 mmHg, 6.9 mmHg versus 3.6 mmHg, respectively, P<0.05). The ratio reaching target blood pressure in DD groups was significantly higher than that in II or ID groups (P<0.05). The pre-treatment SBP, DD genotype, aldosterone levels entered the multi-linear regression model significantly and might affect the reduction of SBP. The pre-treatment DBP, aldosterone levels, DD genotype entered the multi-linear regression model significantly and might affect the reduction of DBP. The pre-treatment MAP, DD genotype, aldosterone levels entered the multi-linear regression model significantly and might affect the reduction of MAP.



ACE genotyping is associated with blood pressure-lowering response to HCTZ. Specific genotypes might be associated with the response to specific antihypertensive treatment.
Cardiovascular and metabolic profile during intervention with urapidil in humans.

Increased sympathetic activity or vascular reactivity to norepinephrine or both may play a complementary role in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. Therefore, blood pressure regulation and metabolic correlates of cardiovascular risk were evaluated in 19 normal subjects and in 13 subjects with essential hypertension receiving placebo and after 4 weeks of intervention with urapidil, an agent that was found experimentally to exert a combined central sympathetic and peripheral alpha-adrenergic receptor inhibition. In hypertensive patients, urapidil normalized the initially low norepinephrine pressor dose (+ 106%), mildly increased basal plasma norepinephrine levels (+36%), and markedly shifted the plasma norepinephrine concentration-blood pressure response curve (p less than 0.01). Blood pressure was decreased (p less than 0.001). In normal subjects, urapidil produced only mild increases in norepinephrine plasma levels (+22%) and norepinephrine pressor dose (+38%) and no change in blood pressure. Body weight, exchangeable sodium, and blood volume were unaltered or increased slightly. Heart rate; plasma epinephrine, renin, angiotensin II, basal aldosterone, and electrolyte levels; plasma clearances of norepinephrine and angiotensin II; pressor effects of angiotensin II; chronotropic responses to isoproterenol or a norepinephrine-induced rise in blood pressure; and urinary prostaglandin F2 alpha excretion, as well as serum lipoprotein fractions and glucose, insulin, and uric acid levels, were not significantly modified by urapidil. Prostaglandin E2 excretion tended to be increased. Aldosterone responsiveness to angiotensin II was increased by urapidil in normal (p less than 0.05) but not in hypertensive subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Health literacy and its influencing factors in Iranian diabetic patients

Health literacy is the ability to obtain, read, understand and use healthcare information to make appropriate health decisions and follow instructions for treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of various factors on health literacy in patients with diabetes.



407 patients with diabetes older than 15 years of age were identified from the Diabetes Clinic affiliated to the Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism (IEM) of Iran University of Medical Sciences. We assessed patients' health literacy using the Persian version of Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA) questionnaire.



Mean age of the patients was 55.8 ± 11.3 years, and 61.7% the participants were female.. Overall, 18.2% of the patients had adequate health literacy skills, 11.8% had marginal and 70.0% inadequate health literacy skills. Male participants performed better than females (p< 0.01) and older patients had lower health literacy score than younger patients (p< 0.001). Furthermore, patients with higher educational and occupational levels had higher functional health literacy score than those with lower levels (p< 0.001).



Health literacy score in Iranian patients with diabetes seems inadequate. Therefrom effective interventions should be designed and implemented for this group of patients to improve diabetes outcomes.
Probabilistic Pattern Matching and the Evolution of Stochastic Regular Expressions

The use of genetic programming for probabilistic pattern matching is investigated. A stochastic regular expression language is used. The language features a statistically sound semantics, as well as a syntax that promotes efficient manipulation by genetic programming operators. An algorithm for efficient string recognition based on approaches in conventional regular language recognition is used. When attempting to recognize a particular test string, the recognition algorithm computes the probabilities of generating that string and all its prefixes with the given stochastic regular expression. To promote efficiency, intermediate computed probabilities that exceed a given cut-off value will pre-empt particular interpretation paths, and hence prune unconstructive interpretation. A few experiments in recognizing stochastic regular languages are discussed. Application of the technology in bioinformatics is in progress.
Quality of life after self-management cancer rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial comparing physical and cognitive-behavioral training versus physical training.

To conduct a randomized controlled trial and compare the effects on cancer survivors' quality of life in a 12-week group-based multidisciplinary self-management rehabilitation program, combining physical training (twice weekly) and cognitive-behavioral training (once weekly) with those of a 12-week group-based physical training (twice weekly). In addition, both interventions were compared with no intervention.



Participants (all cancer types, medical treatment completed > or = 3 months ago) were randomly assigned to multidisciplinary rehabilitation (n = 76) or physical training (n = 71). The nonintervention comparison group consisted of 62 patients on a waiting list. Quality of life was measured using the RAND-36. The rehabilitation groups were measured at baseline, after rehabilitation, and 3-month follow-up, and the nonintervention group was measured at baseline and 12 weeks later.



The effects of multidisciplinary rehabilitation did not outperform those of physical training in role limitations due to emotional problem (primary outcome) or any other domains of quality of life (all p > .05). Compared with no intervention, participants in both rehabilitation groups showed significant and clinically relevant improvements in role limitations due to physical problem (primary outcome; effect size (ES) = 0.66), and in physical functioning (ES = 0.48), vitality (ES = 0.54), and health change (ES = 0.76) (all p < .01).



Adding a cognitive-behavioral training to group-based self-management physical training did not have additional beneficial effects on cancer survivors' quality of life. Compared with the nonintervention group, the group-based self-management rehabilitation improved cancer survivors' quality of life.
The vitamin E isoforms α-tocopherol and γ-tocopherol have opposite associations with spirometric parameters: the CARDIA study

Clinical studies of the associations of vitamin E with lung function have reported conflicting results. However, these reports primarily examine the α-tocopherol isoform of vitamin E and have not included the isoform γ-tocopherol which we recently demonstrated in vitro opposes the function of α-tocopherol. We previously demonstrated, in vitro and in animal studies, that the vitamin E isoform α-tocopherol protects, but the isoform γ-tocopherol promotes lung inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness.



To translate these findings to humans, we conducted analysis of 4526 adults in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) multi-center cohort with available spirometry and tocopherol data in blacks and whites. Spirometry was obtained at years 0, 5, 10, and 20 and serum tocopherol was from years 0, 7 and 15 of CARDIA.



In cross-sectional regression analysis at year 0, higher γ-tocopherol associated with lower FEV1 (p = 0.03 in blacks and p = 0.01 in all participants) and FVC (p = 0.01 in blacks, p = 0.05 in whites, and p = 0.005 in all participants), whereas higher α-tocopherol associated with higher FVC (p = 0.04 in blacks and whites and p = 0.01 in all participants). In the lowest quartile of α-tocopherol, higher γ-tocopherol associated with a lower FEV1 (p = 0.05 in blacks and p = 0.02 in all participants). In contrast, in the lowest quartile of γ-tocopherol, higher α-tocopherol associated with a higher FEV1 (p = 0.03) in blacks. Serum γ-tocopherol >10 μM was associated with a 175-545 ml lower FEV1 and FVC at ages 21-55 years.



Increasing serum concentrations of γ-tocopherol were associated with lower FEV1 or FVC, whereas increasing serum concentrations of α-tocopherol was associated with higher FEV1 or FVC. Based on the prevalence of serum γ-tocopherol >10 μM in adults in CARDIA and the adult U.S. population in the 2011 census, we expect that the lower FEV1 and FVC at these concentrations of serum γ-tocopherol occur in up to 4.5 million adults in the population.
The effect of comprehensive outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation on dyspnea.

To evaluate the effect of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (OPR) on dyspnea, we measured this symptom using a visual analogue scale during graded treadmill exercise testing and with baseline and transitional dyspnea indices (TDI). The latter measure overall dyspnea in three spheres: functional impairment, magnitude of task, and magnitude of effort. Twenty patients with COPD referred for OPR were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (T, n = 10), with dyspnea evaluated at baseline then shortly following a 6-week OPR program, or a control group (C, n = 10), with dyspnea evaluated at baseline then following a 6-week waiting period. No significant change in maximal exercise performance from baseline to repeated testing was observed in either group. Dyspnea at maximum treadmill workload (Dmax), which did not significantly change in C, decreased from 74.4 +/- 18.9 percent at baseline to 50.5 +/- 23.2 percent post-OPR in T (p = 0.006). The Dmax related to minute ventilation (Dmax/VEmax) and oxygen consumption (Dmax/VO2max) also significantly decreased following OPR. The reduction in exertional dyspnea was apparent by the second minute of exercise. Additionally, TDI focal scores were significantly higher in T than C (2.3 +/- 1.06 vs 0.2 +/- 1.75 units, p = 0.006), indicating decreased overall dyspnea following OPR. These results point to significant improvements in both exertional and clinically assessed dyspnea following OPR.
Febrile morbidity in severe and critical ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome: a multicentre study.

The objective of this study was to define the incidence of febrile morbidity and its causes in severe and critical ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). For this purpose, we reviewed the medical records of all OHSS patients hospitalized in 16 out of 19 tertiary medical centres in Israel between January 1987 and December 1996. Febrile morbidity was defined as at least one episode of temperature rise above 38 degrees C lasting > or =24 h. A total of 2902 patients (3305 hospitalizations) with OHSS was identified, of whom 196 had severe, and 13 critical, OHSS. Among the 209 patients investigated the incidence of febrile morbidity was 82.3%, of which 20.5% was attributed to urinary tract infection, 3.8% to pneumonia, 3.3% to upper respiratory tract infection, 2.0% to intravenous line phlebitis, 1.0% to cellulitis at an abdominal puncture site, 1.0% to postoperative wound infections and 0.5 % to gluteal abscess at the site of progesterone injection. Non-typical organisms were frequently isolated, such as Pseudomonas, Proteus, Klebsiella and Enterobacter species. No infectious aetiology was found in 105 patients (50.2%). Hypoglobulinaemia was recorded in most patients, while ascitic and pleural fluids aspirated from these patients contained high globulin concentrations. We conclude that infection-related febrile morbidity in severe and critical OHSS is high, and may be attributed to some degree of immunodeficiency associated with loss of plasma globulins to the third space. However, non-infection-related febrile morbidity is even higher and may be attributed to endogenous pyrogenic mechanisms.
A parallel-arm phase I trial of the humanised anti-IGF-1R antibody dalotuzumab in combination with the AKT inhibitor MK-2206, the mTOR inhibitor ridaforolimus, or the NOTCH inhibitor MK-0752, in patients with advanced solid tumours

Two strategies to interrogate the insulin growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) pathway were investigated: vertical inhibition with dalotuzumab and MK-2206 or ridaforolimus to potentiate PI3K pathway targeting and horizontal cross-talk inhibition with dalotuzumab and MK-0752 to exert effects against cellular proliferation, angiogenesis, and stem cell propagation.A phase I, multi-cohort dose escalation study was conducted in patients with advanced solid tumours. Patients received dalotuzumab (10 mg kg–1) and escalating doses of MK-2206 (90–200 mg) or escalating doses of dalotuzumab (7.5–10 mg kg–1) and MK-0752 (1800 mg) weekly. Upon maximum tolerated dose determination, patients with low-RAS signature, high-IGF1 expression ovarian cancer were randomised to dalotuzumab/MK-2206 versus dalotuzumab/ridaforolimus, whereas patients with high IGF1/low IGF2 expression colorectal cancer received dalotuzumab/MK-0752.Results:A total of 47 patients were enrolled: 29 in part A (18 in the dalotuzumab/MK-2206 arm and 11 in the dalotuzumab/MK-0752 arm) and 18 in part B (6 in each arm). Dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) for dalotuzumab/MK-2206 included grade 4 neutropenia and grade 3 serum sickness-like reaction, maculopapular rash, and gastrointestinal inflammation. For dalotuzumab/MK-0752, DLTs included grade 3 dehydration, rash, and diarrhoea. Seven patients remained on study for >4 cycles.Dalotuzumab/MK-2206 and dalotuzumab/MK-0752 combinations were tolerable. Further developments of prospectively validated predictive biomarkers to aid in patient selection for anti-IGF-1R therapies are needed.
Human Young Children as well as Adults Demonstrate ‘Superior’ Rapid Snake Detection When Typical Striking Posture Is Displayed by the Snake

Humans as well as some nonhuman primates have an evolved predisposition to associate snakes with fear by detecting their presence as fear-relevant stimuli more rapidly than fear-irrelevant ones. In the present experiment, a total of 74 of 3- to 4-year-old children and adults were asked to find a single target black-and-white photo of a snake among an array of eight black-and-white photos of flowers as distracters. As target stimuli, we prepared two groups of snake photos, one in which a typical striking posture was displayed by a snake and the other in which a resting snake was shown. When reaction time to find the snake photo was compared between these two types of the stimuli, its mean value was found to be significantly smaller for the photos of snakes displaying striking posture than for the photos of resting snakes in both the adults and children. These findings suggest the possibility that the human perceptual bias for snakes per se could be differentiated according to the difference of the degree to which their presence acts as a fear-relevant stimulus.
Excellent short-term results of hip resurfacing in a selected population of young patients.

Hip resurfacing (HR) is an alternative option to total hip arthroplasty (THA) in a population of selected patients (young and/or active).



The short-term survivorship rate is as least as good as that for THA with no abnormal increase in serum metal ion levels.



A continuous prospective series of 502 hip resurfacings in 481 patients mean age 48.7 years old (±10.3; 18-68) (Conserve Plus, Wright Medical Technology) was analyzed clinically, radiologically and biologically (total blood chrome, cobalt and titanium metal ion levels). Mean follow up was 4.1 years (1.9-4.9).



There were no dislocations. There were 5 cases of revision surgery with component replacement (including 2 infections). Implant survivorship using implant removal as the criteria (excluding infection) was 99.4% at 4 years (CI 95%: 98.1-99.8). The evaluation of metal ion levels showed a significant increase in cobalt from a preoperative level of 0.24 μg/L (0.01-3.6) to 0.86 μg/L (0.01-5.7) at the final follow-up (P<0.001). Chrome and titanium levels went from 0.68 μg/L (0.01-4.4) and 2.36 μg/L (0.39-7) to 1.28 μg/L (0.1-5.5) and 4.49 μg/L (1.29-8.21) respectively (P<0.001). All clinical scores had significantly improved at the final follow-up. Mean frontal plane cup inclination was 42.7° (35-62).



In a selected population of young and/or active patients, the short-term results of hip resurfacing are excellent. At the postoperative 4-year follow-up the rate of complications (in particular the absence of dislocations) was less than that for THA in young and/or active patients. Certain conditions must be respected to obtain these results; frontal plane cup inclination of between 40 and 45°, a femoral head diameter of at least 48 mm and good quality femoral bone.
Database of the special functions of mathematical physics

We describe a knowledge-based computer project on the special functions of mathematical physics, which uses a unified structural approach to their classification. A prototype program package SFTools is presented. Special functions addressed by the system include hypergeometric-type functions, Heun functions, Painlev&eacute; transcendents and orthogonal polynomials. For these functions, basic differential equations are given with emphasis on singularities, integral relations, series expansions, Riemann P-symbols (Riemann scheme) and other important characteristics. In order to structure the information, we use the processes of confluence and reduction of equations widely.
Fludarabine, amsacrine, high-dose cytarabine and 12 Gy total body irradiation followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is effective in patients with relapsed or high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia

In this prospective study, we examined the toxicity and efficacy of an intensified conditioning regimen for treatment of patients with relapsed or high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia who undergo allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Fifteen patients received fludarabine 30 mg/m2, cytarabine 2000 mg/m2, amsacrine 100 mg/m2 on days -10, -9, -8 and -7, anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG-Fresenius) 20 mg/kg body weight on days -6, -5 and -4 and fractionated total body irradiation 2 × 2 Gy on days -3, -2 and -1 (FLAMSA-ATG-TBI) before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. At the time of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, 10 patients were in complete remission (8 CR1; 2 CR2), 3 with primary refractory and 2 suffered from refractory relapse. All patients achieved a complete remission after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; and after a median follow-up time of 1091 days (range, 334–1554 days), nine patients (60%) are alive and free from disease, including three patients with prior refractory disease. Three patients died due to treatment-related mortality. The most frequent and severe conditioning-related toxicities observed in 9 out of 15 patients were grade III/IV infections according to common toxicity criteria. Thus, conditioning with the FLAMSA-ATG-TBI regimen is a feasible and effective alternative for patients with relapsed or high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Improved device driver reliability through hardware verification reuse

Faulty device drivers are a major source of operating system failures. We argue that the underlying cause of many driver faults is the separation of two highly-related tasks: device verification and driver development. These two tasks have a lot in common, and result in software that is conceptually and functionally similar, yet kept totally separate. The result is a particularly bad case of duplication of effort: the verification code is correct, but is discarded after the device has been manufactured; the driver code is inferior, but used in actual device operation. We claim that the two tasks, and the software they produce, can and should be unified, and this will result in drastic improvement of device-driver quality and reduction in the development cost and time to market.
 In this paper we propose a device driver design and verification workflow that achieves such unification. We apply this workflow to develop and test drivers for four different I/O devices and demonstrate that it improves the driver test coverage and allows detecting driver defects that are extremely hard to find using conventional testing techniques.
The efficacy of combined zidovudine and lamivudine compared with that of combined zidovudine, lamivudine and nelfinavir in asymptomatic and early symptomatic HIV-infected children.

In this 6-month prospective study, we compared the efficacy of two treatment regimens: double-drug therapy with zidovudine (ZDV) and lamivudine (3TC) and triple-drug therapy with ZDV plus 3TC plus nelfinavir (NFV), in the treatment of asymptomatic and early symptomatic HIV-infected children. Twenty-five children were enrolled in this study and were divided into 2 groups: group A, consisting of 13 children who were given ZDV+3TC; group B, consisting of 12 children who were given ZDV+3TC+NFV. Serial determinations of weight, CD4-cell count, HIV RNA or plasma viral load (VL) and complete blood counts (CBC), liver function tests (LFT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) tests, creatinine and serum amylase tests were performed at study entry and at 1, 3 and 6 months. The side-effects of drugs were recorded. Over the 6-month period, the median weight increase in group B (24%) was higher than in group A (2%). The median CD4-cell count increase from baseline in group B (94.5%) was better than in group A (9.4%). The reduction of VL below baseline in group B (1.2 log10; 20.8%) was also better than in group A (0.72 log10; 13.8%). However, these differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Both combination regimens could not completely suppress HIV RNA below detectable limits (<400 copies/ml). Both groups tolerated the regimens well; no side-effects or toxicities occurred. The efficacy levels of triple-drug therapy (ZDV+3TC+NFV) and double-drug therapy (ZDV+3TC) were not different. There were no side-effects and no deaths during the 6-month study period.