nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Probrain natriuretic peptide for assessment of efficacy in heart failure treatment.

N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is elevated in patients with heart failure. Numerous clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of spironolactone in heart failure; however, no studies have directly examined the effects of spironolactone treatment on NT-proBNP level. This study investigated whether NT-proBNP levels decrease with daily spironolactone treatment. The study consisted of 117 adult patients with heart failure. All participants were divided into 3 groups, class I, class II, and class III, according to the New York Heart Association classification system. Patients were randomly assigned to receive spironolactone or were treated with another drug, other than spironolactone, as placebo. NT-proBNP plasma samples were taken at baseline and after 6 mo of treatment. A total of 62 patients were treated with daily spironolactone; 55 patients were followed with available treatment without spironolactone. The baseline demographic and laboratory parameters were similar for patients in all groups. At the end of 6 mo, spironolactone-treated patients had significantly lower NT-proBNP levels and significantly better ejection fractions than did patients in all New York Heart Association classes who were not treated with spironolactone. Results suggest that spironolactone decreases plasma NT-proBNP concentrations, and that the measurement of plasma NT-proBNP levels may be helpful in assessing therapeutic efficacy in patients who are treated for heart failure.
Local prostaglandin blockade attenuates muscle mechanoreflex-mediated renal vasoconstriction during muscle stretch in humans.

During exercise, muscle mechanoreflex-mediated sympathoexcitation evokes renal vasoconstriction. Animal studies suggest that prostaglandins generated within the contracting muscle sensitize muscle mechanoreflexes. Thus we hypothesized that local prostaglandin blockade would attenuate renal vasoconstriction during ischemic muscle stretch. Eleven healthy subjects performed static handgrip before and after local prostaglandin blockade (6 mg ketorolac tromethamine infused into the exercising forearm) via Bier block. Renal blood flow velocity (RBV; Duplex Ultrasound), mean arterial pressure (MAP; Finapres), and heart rate (HR; ECG) were obtained during handgrip, post-handgrip muscle ischemia (PHGMI) followed by PHGMI with passive forearm muscle stretch (PHGMI + stretch). Renal vascular resistance (RVR, calculated as MAP/RBV) was increased from baseline during all paradigms except during PHGMI + stretch after the ketorolac Bier block trial where RVR did not change from baseline. Before Bier block, RVR rose more during PHGMI + stretch than during PHGMI alone (P < .01). Similar results were found after a saline Bier block trial (Delta53 +/- 13% vs. Delta35 +/- 10%; P < 0.01). However, after ketorolac Bier block, RVR was not greater during PHGMI + stretch than during PHGMI alone [Delta39 +/- 8% vs. Delta40 +/- 12%; P = not significant (NS)]. HR and MAP responses were similar during PHGMI and PHGMI + stretch (P = NS). Passive muscle stretch during ischemia augments renal vasoconstriction, suggesting that ischemia sensitizes mechanically sensitive afferents. Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis eliminates this mechanoreceptor sensitization-mediated constrictor responses. Thus mechanoreceptor sensitization in humans is linked to the production of prostaglandins.
Serum LP(A) levels in randomized healthy men from different European countries

Serum lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a) ], blood lipids, serum insulin and anthropometric parameters were determined in randomized samples of 38-year-old men living in six European cities: Ede (The Netherlands), Deinze (Belgium), Warsaw (Poland), Lumiar (Portugal), Verona and Naples (respectively in northern and in southern Italy). In total, 406 healthy men were studied. Serum Lp(a), blood lipids and serum insulin were measured in one laboratory. All the anthropometric and metabolic variables considered were statistically different among the participating sites, with the exception of Lp(a) serum levels. In spite of the lack of overall significant inter-center differences (Kruskal-Wallis test), the subjects from the two Italian cities had significantly lower Lp(a) serum levels than the subjects from Belgium and Portugal (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.01). In all cities the distribution of serum Lp(a) levels were highly skewed; the percentage of subjects with serum Lp(a) levels higher than 30 mg/dl (i.e., the commonly accepted risk level of cardiovascular disease) was 6% in both Verona and Naples (Italy), 12% in The Netherlands, 16% in Poland, 18% in Belgium and 19% in Portugal (for the last two cities, respectively, p < 0.02 and p < 0.01 vs Italian cities, chi-square test). Neither anthropometric (body mass index, waist/hip circumference ratio) nor metabolic (serum lipids and insulin) parameters showed any significant relationship with serum Lp(a) levels in any of the sites (Spearman's rank correlation). These data support the possibility of a difference in serum Lp(a) levels among different European countries.
The Nordic Back Pain Subpopulation Program: validation and improvement of a predictive model for treatment outcome in patients with low back pain receiving chiropractic treatment.

The aim of this study was to develop a predictive model for treatment outcome in patients with low back pain (LBP) receiving chiropractic treatment.



This multicenter practice-based predictive validity study was conducted in private chiropractic practices in Sweden. Of 64 previously compliant chiropractors, 58 recruited a maximum of 30 consecutive patients with LBP each. Information was provided on 1061 patients, of which 1057 questionnaires were valid. Chiropractic treatment was decided by the treating chiropractor. The outcome variable was the self-reported "definite improvement" at the fourth visit. The predictor variables included model 1, 3 hypothesized prognostic groups (best, intermediate, and least favorable) based on clinical information collected at baseline and at the second visit; and 4 additional models based on the following variables: age, sex, pain intensity during past 24 hours, description of disability, duration and pattern of pain during present attack, total duration of pain, and pain pattern during the past 12 months.



Three of our factors were best at predicting the absence of improvement by the fourth visit and were able to correctly classify 79% of patients and to cover 74% of the receiver operated characteristics curve. These were (1) no definite overall improvement by the second treatment, (2) presence of leg pain, and (3) the minimum total duration of pain over the last 12 months being 30 days.



In this study, patients with LBP who also had leg pain and LBP occurring sufficiently frequently or having lasted sufficiently long to add up to at least 30 days in the past year, and who did not report definite general improvement by the second treatment were not good candidates for short-term recovery. It is suggested that patients who fit the criteria of potential nonresponders should be carefully monitored to allow a selective approach of care.
Lung biopsy using harmonic scalpel: a randomised single institute study.

Applicability of harmonic scalpel in lung biopsy was investigated in a randomised single institute study.



Safety of the method, morbidity, drainage duration and in-hospital stays were compared in two randomised groups of patients in which either ultrasonic harmonic scalpel (n:20) or endostapler (n:20) were used for pulmonary biopsies during VATS.



An advantage of 16min in average operation time was found in favour of the harmonic scalpel (30.75 vs 46.9min) which was significant. There were no differences in average drainage duration (40.2 vs 30.6h) and pleural fluid volume (258 vs 232ml). Minor complication rates (3 vs 3) were identical and in-hospital stays (7.6 vs 7.2 days) were also similar.



Overall, the vibration transmission method was shown not to be inferior to the standard endostapling technique. A safe new method offers an alternative technique for peripherial lung biopsy.
Gene Expression Profiling to Study Racial Differences after Heart Transplantation

The basis for increased mortality after heart transplantation in African Americans and other non-Caucasian racial groups is poorly defined. We hypothesized that increased risk of adverse events is driven by biologic factors. To test this hypothesis in the Invasive Monitoring Attenuation through Gene Expression (IMAGE) study, we determined whether the event rate of the primary outcome of acute rejection, graft dysfunction, death, or retransplantation varied by race as a function of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) levels and gene expression profile (GEP) scores.



We determined the event rate of the primary outcome, comparing racial groups, stratified by time after transplant. Logistic regression was used to compute the relative risk across racial groups, and linear modeling was used to measure the dependence of CNI levels and GEP score on race.



In 580 patients monitored for a median of 19 months, the incidence of the primary end point was 18.3% in African Americans, 22.2% in other non-Caucasians, and 8.5% in Caucasians (p < 0.001). There were small but significant correlations of race and tacrolimus trough levels to the GEP score. Tacrolimus levels were similar among the races. Of patients receiving tacrolimus, other non-Caucasians had higher GEP scores than the other racial groups. African American recipients demonstrated a unique decrease in expression of the FLT3 gene in response to higher tacrolimus levels.



African Americans and other non-Caucasian heart transplant recipients were 2.5-times to 3-times more likely than Caucasians to experience outcome events in the Invasive Monitoring Attenuation through Gene Expression study. The increased risk of adverse outcomes may be partly due to the biology of the alloimmune response, which is less effectively inhibited at similar tacrolimus levels in minority racial groups.
3D vs. 2D Device Simulation of FinFET Logic Gates under PVT Variations

Recently, multigate transistors have been gaining attention as an alternative to conventional MOSFETs. Superior gate control over the channel, smaller subthreshold leakage, and reduced susceptibility to process variations are some of the key features that give multigate structures a competitive edge over MOSFETs. Among various multigate structures, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) FinFETs are promising, owing to their ease of fabrication. However, characterization of SOI FinFET devices/gates needs immediate attention in order for them to gain greater popularity in this decade. Ideally, 3D device simulation should be done for accurate circuit analysis. However, this is impractical due to the huge CPU time required. As a possible alternative, simulating a 2D crosssection of the device yields 10× to 100× reduction in CPU time. However, this introduces significant error in the range of 7% to 20% when evaluating the on/off current (ION/IOFF) for a single device and leakage current or propagation delay (ILEAK/tD) for logic gates.
 In this work, we first present a methodology to obtain optimized 3D device simulation models for SOI FinFETs. Based on these 3D models, we develop adjusted 2D models to capture 3D simulation accuracy with 2D simulation efficiency. We report results for the 22nm SOI FinFET technology node. We adjust gate underlap (LUN) in the 2D cross section of the n/pFinFET devices in order to mimic 3D device behavior. When the adjusted 2D models are employed in mixed-mode simulation of FinFET logic gates, the error in the evaluation of ILEAK/tD is very small. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such attempt. We show that 2D device models remain valid even under process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations. We target process variations in gate length (LG), fin thickness (TSI), gate oxide thickness (TOX), and gate workfunction (ΦG), which are the parameters that have been shown to have the most impact on leakage and delay.
Do countries or hospitals with longer hospital stays for acute heart failure have lower readmission rates?: Findings from ASCEND-HF.

Hospital readmission is an important clinical outcome of patients with heart failure. Its relation to length of stay for the initial hospitalization is not clear.



We used hierarchical modeling of data from a clinical trial to examine variations in length of stay across countries and across hospitals in the United States and its association with readmission within 30 days of randomization. Main outcomes included associations between country-level length of stay and readmission rates, after adjustment for patient-level case mix; and associations between length of stay and readmission rates across sites in the United States. Across 27 countries with 389 sites and 6848 patients, mean length of stay ranged from 4.9 to 14.6 days (6.1 days in the United States). Rates of all-cause readmission ranged from 2.5% to 25.0% (17.8% in the United States). There was an inverse correlation between country-level mean length of stay and readmission (r=-0.52; P<0.01). After multivariable adjustment, each additional inpatient day across countries was associated with significantly lower risk of all-cause readmission (odds ratio, 0.86; 95% confidence interval, 0.75-0.98; P=0.02) and heart failure readmission (odds ratio, 0.79; 95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.99; P=0.03). Similar trends were observed across US study sites concerning readmission for any cause (odds ratio, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.85-1.00; P=0.06) and readmission for heart failure (odds ratio, 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.01; P=0.07). Across countries and across US sites, longer median length of stay was independently associated with lower risk of readmission.



Countries with longer length of stay for heart failure hospitalizations had significantly lower rates of readmission within 30 days of randomization. These findings may have implications for developing strategies to prevent readmission, defining quality measures, and designing clinical trials in acute heart failure.
Web-scale user modeling for targeting

We present the experiences from building a web-scale user modeling platform for optimizing display advertising targeting at Yahoo!. The platform described in this paper allows for per-campaign maximization of conversions representing purchase activities or transactions. Conversions directly translate to advertiser's revenue, and thus provide the most relevant metrics of return on advertising investment. We focus on two major challenges: how to efficiently process histories of billions of users on a daily basis, and how to build per-campaign conversion models given the extremely low conversion rates (compared to click rates in a traditional setting). We first present mechanisms for building web-scale user profiles in a daily incremental fashion. Second, we show how to reduce the latency through in-memory processing of billions of user records. Finally, we discuss a technique for scaling the number of handled campaigns/models by introducing an efficient labeling technique that allows for sharing negative training examples across multiple campaigns.
The efficacy and side effects of gelatin-resorcinol formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde (GRFG) glue for preventing and sealing pulmonary air leakage

This study was conducted to examine the efficacy and side effects of gelatin-resorcinol formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde (GRFG) glue, when used for preventing or sealing pulmonary air leakage during lung surgery. Formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde (FG) jelly was prepared by mixing FG fluid with 2.5% carboxymethyl cellulose to increase its viscosity. A GRFG glue-spreading stapler was employed to prevent air leakage from the staple line when cutting emphysematous lung tissue in 26 patients, 25 of whom underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and 1, open thoracotomy. A glue-sealing procedure was employed to stop existing pulmonary air leakage in a further 36 patients, 28 of whom underwent VATS and 8, open thoracotomy. The glue-spreading stapler technique prevented air leakage in all 26 patients (100%), while the glue-sealing procedure for pulmonary air leakage stopped air leakage in 31 of the 36 patients (86%). Two patients who underwent glue sealing for air leakage from a deeply cut lung surface suffered massive pulmonary air leakage on postoperative day (POD) 1 and 6, respectively, and required repeat surgery to suture the lung fistula. A transient fever of 38°–39° developed on POD 7 in 6 of the 62 patients (9.7%), but no other complications were observed. These results demonstrated that GRFG is safe and effective in preventing or stopping pulmonary air leakage in the peripheral lung, but not for stopping air leakage from a deeply cut lung.
Effect of lamivudine treatment on survival of 309 North American patients awaiting liver transplantation for chronic hepatitis B.

The primary aim of this study is to determine whether treatment with lamivudine improved pre-liver transplantation (pre-LT) and LT-free survival of patients awaiting LT for hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis. Data from 162 lamivudine-treated and 147 untreated transplant candidates managed at 20 North American transplant centers between 1996 and 1998 were collected and compared. Lamivudine-treated patients were more likely to be men, hepatitis B e antigen positive, HBV DNA positive, and have lower serum albumin levels at listing (P <.05). Actuarial pre-LT and LT-free survival were similar in lamivudine-treated and untreated patients. Using Cox regression analysis, the only significant predictor of pre-LT patient survival was the modified Child-Turcotte-Pugh (mCTP) score, whereas significant predictors of LT-free survival included ethnic background, lamivudine treatment, indication for LT, baseline serum alanine aminotransferase level, and baseline mCTP score. Lamivudine had no apparent effect on liver disease severity in patients undergoing LT, but appeared to improve disease severity in patients still awaiting LT. Breakthrough infection was noted in 11% of lamivudine-treated patients. We conclude that lamivudine therapy is not associated with improved pre-LT or LT-free survival in LT candidates with chronic hepatitis B. However, a subset of patients with less advanced liver failure may derive clinical benefit from lamivudine therapy, thus delaying the need for LT. In the absence of prospective, randomized, controlled trials of lamivudine in patients with decompensated cirrhosis, careful selection of patients and optimal timing of treatment are needed to balance the risk versus benefit of lamivudine therapy in LT candidates.
Effects of chronic oral l-arginine administration on the l-arginine/NO pathway in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease or coronary artery disease: l-Arginine prevents renal loss of nitrite, the major NO reservoir

Despite saturation of nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NOS) by its substrate l-arginine (Arg), oral and intravenous supplementation of Arg may enhance NO synthesis, a phenomenon known as “The l-arginine paradox”. Yet, Arg is not only a source of NO, but is also a source for guanidine-methylated (N G) arginine derivatives which are all inhibitors of NOS activity. Therefore, Arg supplementation may not always result in enhanced NO synthesis. Concomitant synthesis of N G-monomethyl arginine (MMA), N G,N G-dimethylarginine (asymmetric dimethylarginine, ADMA) and N G,N G´-dimethylarginine (symmetric dimethylarginine, SDMA) from supplemented Arg may outweigh and even outbalance the positive effects of Arg on NO. Another possible, yet little investigated effect of Arg supplementation may be alteration of renal function, notably the influence on the excretion of nitrite in the urine. Nitrite is the autoxidation product of NO and the major reservoir of NO in the circulation. Nitrite and Arg are reabsorbed in the proximal tubule of the nephron and this reabsorption is coupled, at least in part, to the renal carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity. In the present placebo-controlled studies, we investigated the effect of chronic oral Arg supplementation of 10 g/day for 3 or 6 months in patients suffering from peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) or coronary artery disease (CAD) on the urinary excretion of nitrite relative to nitrate. We determined the urinary nitrate-to-nitrite molar ratio (UNOxR), which is a measure of nitrite-dependent renal CA activity before and after oral intake of Arg or placebo by the patients. The UNOxR was also determined in 6 children who underwent the Arg test, i.e., intravenous infusion of Arg (0.5 g Arg/kg bodyweight) for 30 min. Arg was well tolerated by the patients of the three studies. Oral Arg supplementation increased Arg (plasma and urine) and ADMA (urine) concentrations. No appreciable changes were seen in NO (in PAOD and CAD) and prostacyclin and thromboxane synthesis (in PAOD). In the PAOD study, UNOxR did not change in the Arginine group (480 ± 51 vs 486 ± 50), but fell in the Placebo group (422 ± 67 vs 332 ± 42, P = 0.025). In the CAD study, UNOxR did not change significantly in the Arginine group (518 ± 77 at start vs 422 ± 40 after 3 months vs 399 ± 66 after 6 months), but fell in the Placebo group (524 ± 69 vs 302 ± 36 vs 285 ± 31; P = 0.025 for 0 vs 3 months). Infusion of Arg tended to decrease the UNOxR in the children (317 ± 41 vs 208 ± 16, P = 0.06). We propose that oral long-term Arg supplementation prevents loss of NO bioactivity by saving nitrite. The optimum Arg dose needs to be elaborated and is likely to be less than 10 g per day in adults. Orally and intravenously administered arginine was well tolerated by the elderly patients and young children, respectively.
Pairwise cross-domain factor model for heterogeneous transfer ranking

Learning to rank arises in many information retrieval applications, ranging from Web search engine, online advertising to recommendation systems. Traditional ranking mainly focuses on one type of data source, and effective modeling relies on a sufficiently large number of labeled examples, which require expensive and time-consuming labeling process. However, in many real-world applications, ranking over multiple related heterogeneous domains becomes a common situation, where in some domains we may have a relatively large amount of training data while in some other domains we can only collect very little. Theretofore, how to leverage labeled information from related heterogeneous domain to improve ranking in a target domain has become a problem of great interests. In this paper, we propose a novel probabilistic model, pairwise cross-domain factor model, to address this problem. The proposed model learns latent factors(features) for multi-domain data in partially-overlapped heterogeneous feature spaces. It is capable of learning homogeneous feature correlation, heterogeneous feature correlation, and pairwise preference correlation for cross-domain knowledge transfer. We also derive two PCDF variations to address two important special cases. Under the PCDF model, we derive a stochastic gradient based algorithm, which facilitates distributed optimization and is flexible to adopt different loss functions and regularization functions to accommodate different data distributions. The extensive experiments on real world data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.