A comparative dataset: Bridging COVID-19 and other diseases through epistemonikos and CORD-19 evidence

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for reliable information for clinical decision-making and public health policies. As such, evidence-based medicine (EBM) is essential in identifying and evaluating scientific documents pertinent to novel diseases, and the accurate classification of biomedical text is integral to this process. Given this context, we introduce a comprehensive, curated dataset composed of COVID-19-related documents. This dataset includes 20,047 labeled documents that were meticulously classified into five distinct categories: systematic reviews (SR), primary study randomized controlled trials (PS-RCT), primary study non-randomized controlled trials (PS-NRCT), broad synthesis (BS), and excluded (EXC). The documents, labeled by collaborators from the Epistemonikos Foundation, incorporate information such as document type, title, abstract, and metadata, including PubMed id, authors, journal, and publication date. Uniquely, this dataset has been curated by the Epistemonikos Foundation and is not readily accessible through conventional web-scraping methods, thereby attesting to its distinctive value in this field of research. In addition to this, the dataset also includes a vast evidence repository comprising 427,870 non-COVID-19 documents, also categorized into SR, PS-RCT, PS-NRCT, BS, and EXC. This additional collection can serve as a valuable benchmark for subsequent research. The comprehensive nature of this open-access dataset and its accompanying resources is poised to significantly advance evidence-based medicine and facilitate further research in the domain.

Learning shared, discriminative, and compact representations for visual recognition

Dictionary-based and part-based methods are among the most popular approaches to visual recognition. In both methods, a mid-level representation is built on top of low-level image descriptors and high-level classifiers are trained on top of the mid-level representation. While earlier methods built the mid-level representation without supervision, there is currently great interest in learning both representations jointly to make the mid-level representation more discriminative. In this work we propose a new approach to visual recognition that jointly learns a shared, discriminative, and compact mid-level representation and a compact high-level representation. By using a structured output learning framework, our approach directly handles the multiclass case at both levels of abstraction. Moreover, by using a group-sparse prior in the structured output learning framework, our approach encourages sharing of visual words and thus reduces the number of words used to represent each class. We test our proposed method on several popular benchmarks. Our results show that, by jointly learning mid- and high-level representations, and fostering the sharing of discriminative visual words among target classes, we are able to achieve state-of-the-art recognition performance using far less visual words than previous approaches.

Tolerance of mefloquine by SwissAir trainee pilots

Due to presumed adverse performance impact, a World Health Organization clause currently restricts the use of mefloquine malaria chemoprophylaxis in individuals requiring fine coordination and spatial discrimination. We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study to quantitatively assess the effects of mefloquine at steady state on performance in 23 trainee airline pilots. Flying performance was assessed using a flight simulator, psychomotor function was evaluated, sleep and wake cycles were monitored, and symptoms and moods were assessed using standardized questionnaires. A simplified postural sway meter recorded sway in three test positions. In the mefloquine loading dose phase, there was one withdrawal due to dizziness, diarrhea, and flu-like symptoms, and three volunteers reported nonserious, sleep-related adverse events. There was no significant difference in flying performance, psychomotor functions, or mean sway for any test position. Nonsignificant reductions in mean total nocturnal sleep (mefloquine = 450 min versus placebo = 484 min) and poorer sleep quality were detected in the mefloquine phases. The mood findings indicated a predominance of positive states, with vigor the predominant mood in all phases. No significant performance deficit was documented under laboratory conditions during use of mefloquine at steady state.

Mefloquine tolerability during chemoprophylaxis: focus on adverse event assessments, stereochemistry and compliance

This longitudinal study of travellers to Africa taking mefloquine (MQ) chemoprophylaxis aimed to quantify and assess non-serious adverse events (AE) occurring during short-term prophylaxis and relate these to concentrations of racemic MQ, its enantiomers and metabolite. A total of 420 volunteers (52% F) participated. AEs with some impact on activities were reported by 11.2% of participants including 7.9% of neurological/psychiatric symptoms. Women were more likely to report AEs (P = 0.02). The standardized questionnaires used showed more pathological indicators in travellers who reported subjective AE with significantly more dizziness, distress, sleep disturbances and a high total mood disturbance (TMD) in the AE group. There was, however, no significant performance deficit in computerized psychomotor tests in those experiencing AE. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in enantiomer ratios, metabolite concentrations, or racemic MQ levels in participants with or without AEs suggesting that these factors are not the main predictors of mefloquine intolerability.

Cost and Appropriateness of Treating Plasmodium falciparum Infections in the United States

Background: Although approximately 1000 U.S. citizens per year are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having acquired malaria infection during foreign travel, little information exists with regard to the cost and appropriateness of malaria therapy received in the United States. Methods: Data on treatment of U.S. citizens reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as having acquired Plasmodium falciparum malaria in 1988-1989 while traveling in subSaharan Africa were collected by phone interview. These data were used to derive a relative index of illness severity, to estimate the costs of malaria-specific therapy, and to assess adherence to existing therapy recommendations. All monetary values throughout this study will be expressed in U.S. dollars. Results: Of 142 patients, 110 (77%) were classified as having mild, 21 (15%) as having moderate, and 11 (8%) as having severe infections. Two (1.4%) deaths were reported. Overall, the mean (6 standard deviation) cost of treatment per case was $2743.51 (6 8416.82; range $191.75 to $79,801.73). Estimated with relation to severity, the median cost for treatment per case was $467.54 for mild, $2701.16 for moderate, and $12,515.52 for severe infections. Forty-two (30%) of these patients had at least one element of therapy that was inconsistent with recommendations current at the time of the study; 27(19%) received chloroquine; 12 (9%) received primaquine unnecessarily; eight (6%) received inappropriate dosages of pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine (Fansidar)*; and three (2%) received potentially inappropriate dosing regimens of quinine. Conclusions: The relatively low fatality rate, and the fact that 70% of patients received appropriate therapy suggests that the overall standard of care for what is a relatively infrequent disease in the United States is good. However, because of rapidly changing drug resistance patterns, both physicians and travelers need to remain informed to avoid the costs and risks of this potentially severe, but easily preventable infectious disease. (J Travel Med 2:16-21, 1995)

Application of the indirect fluorescent antibody method in a study of malaria endemicity in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Four surveys of malaria endemicity were conducted in the Cuiabá Sector of Mato Grosso State, Brazil, at 6-month intervals during the period April 1970 to September 1971; during April 1970 a survey was also conducted in the Campo Grande Sector. Over 4,000 dual specimens--blood films for parasite diagnosis and filter paper blood spots for determination of fluorescent antibody (IFA) response--were collected from the general population, including school populations whenever possible. Parasitologic examinations yielded positivity rates ranging from 0.8 to 2.3%. In the Cuiabá Sector, sero-positives (larger than or equal to 1:20) ranged from 9.3 to 13.6%; in the survey in the Campo Grande Sector only 4.3% of the specimens were positive. There was an expected increase in IFA response with age in both the proportion of positives and mean maximum titers. In the Cuiabá surveys 75 to 91% of the maximum positive responses were to the Plasmodium falciparum antigen, while in Campo Grande only 46% of the maximum titers were for P. falciparum. The wide differences in malaria endemicity observed within the Cuiabá Secctor were attributed to differences in climate, geography, and degree of development of the several regions. A study of surveillance reports from 1966 through the survey dates revealed that the high rates of infection seen often resulted from detection activities in the larger cities and probably represented cases imported from endemic areas to the north and west. In order to interpret accurately the endemicity of malaria in an area and, thus, determine the necessity for introduction or continuation of control measures, thorough epidemiologic studies are necessary. The addition of a serologic method to normal surveillance can increase the accuracy of interpretation.