13 research outputs found
Conformative Filtering for Implicit Feedback Data
Implicit feedback is the simplest form of user feedback that can be used for
item recommendation. It is easy to collect and is domain independent. However,
there is a lack of negative examples. Previous work tackles this problem by
assuming that users are not interested or not as much interested in the
unconsumed items. Those assumptions are often severely violated since
non-consumption can be due to factors like unawareness or lack of resources.
Therefore, non-consumption by a user does not always mean disinterest or
irrelevance. In this paper, we propose a novel method called Conformative
Filtering (CoF) to address the issue. The motivating observation is that if
there is a large group of users who share the same taste and none of them have
consumed an item before, then it is likely that the item is not of interest to
the group. We perform multidimensional clustering on implicit feedback data
using hierarchical latent tree analysis (HLTA) to identify user `tastes' groups
and make recommendations for a user based on her memberships in the groups and
on the past behavior of the groups. Experiments on two real-world datasets from
different domains show that CoF has superior performance compared to several
common baselines
The prognostic significance of CA 125 in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Objective: To assess the association of serum CA 125 in patients with
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) with prognostic parameters of the disease,
response to treatment, and survival. Patients and methods: Sixty-eight
patients [38 males, median age 56 (range 17-82) yr] with NHL were
evaluated. CA 125 was measured by an enzyme immunoradiometric assay at
diagnosis and at the end of firstline treatment. Results: Median overall
CA 125 was 49 (1-963) U mL(-1), whereas 49 patients had initially
abnormal (> 35 U mL) CA 125 levels. High CA 125 was found to correlate
with failure of treatment (P = 0.001) and relapse (P = 0.01), and to be
independently associated with bulky disease, effusions, LDH, and the
International Prognostic Index (IPI) score (P < 0.01 for each of these
four variables). An initially abnormal CA 125 value was associated with
poorer 5-yr survival [median survival of patients with CA 125> 35 U
mL(-1) 33 (18-72) months compared to 58 (20-77) months for those with CA
125 = 35 U mL(-1), P = 0.012]. Moreover, CA 125> 35 U mL(-1) (among
stage III/IV and LDH> 460 mU mL(-1)) emerged as an independent predictor
of death within 5 yr from diagnosis (Relative Risk (RR) 3.1, 95% CI
1.5-12.8, P = 0.02). Conclusion: Measurement of serum CA 125 is useful
for staging, monitoring, and estimating prognosis in patients with NHL
Developing a Measure of Community Well-Being Based on Perceptions of Impact in Various Life Domains
Measure of community well-being, Measure of community quality of life, Measure of perceived quality of community life, Subjective indicators of community well-being, Subjective indicators of quality of community life,