bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Endovascular Treatment and Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke in Patients With Premorbid Disability or Dementia: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
Authors: Ganesh Aravind , Fraser Justin F. , Gordon Perue Gillian L. , Amin-Hanjani Sepideh , Leslie-Mazwi Thabele M. , Greenberg Steven M. , Couillard Philippe , Asdaghi Negar , Goyal Mayank ,   on behalf of the American Heart Association Stroke Council
Published: March 2022

Patients with premorbid disability or dementia have generally been excluded from randomized controlled trials of reperfusion therapies such as thrombolysis and endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Consequently, stroke physicians face treatment dilemmas in caring for such patients. In this scientific statement, we review the literature on acute ischemic stroke in patients with premorbid disability or dementia and propose principles to guide clinicians, clinician-scientists, and policymakers on the use of acute stroke therapies in these populations. Recent clinical-epidemiological studies have demonstrated challenges in our concept and measurement of premorbid disability or dementia while highlighting the significant proportion of the general stroke population that falls under this umbrella, risking exclusion from therapies. Such studies have also helped clarify the adverse long-term clinical and health economic consequences with each increment of additional poststroke disability in these patients, underscoring the importance of finding strategies to mitigate such additional disability. Several observational studies, both case series and registry-based studies, have helped demonstrate the comparable safety of endovascular therapy in patients with premorbid disability or dementia and in those without, complementing similar data on thrombolysis. These data also suggest that such patients have a substantial potential to retain their prestroke level of disability when treated, despite their generally worse prognosis overall, although this remains to be validated in higher-quality registries and clinical trials. By pairing pragmatic and transparent decision-making in clinical practice with an active pursuit of high-quality research, we can work toward a more inclusive paradigm of patient-centered care for this often-neglected patient population.
Circulating Extracellular Vesicles in Stroke Patients Treated With Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Biomarker Analysis of a Randomized Trial
Authors: Bang Oh Young , Kim Eun Hee , Cho Yeon Hee , Oh Mi Jeong , Chung Jong-Won , Chang Won Hyuk , Kim Yun-Hee , Yang Seong Wook , Chopp Michael
Published: March 2022

Background:

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) secrete trophic factors and extracellular vesicles (EVs). However, the level and role of EVs after MSC therapy in patients with stroke are unknown. We investigated whether circulating EVs and trophic factors are increased after MSCs and are related to the therapeutic benefits in the STARTING-2 trial (Stem Cell Application Researches and Trials in Neurology-2) participants.

Methods:

In this prospective randomized controlled trial, patients with chronic major stroke were assigned, in a 2:1 ratio, to receive autologous MSC intravenous injection (MSC group, n=39) or standard treatment (control group, n=15) and followed for 3 months. Detailed clinical assessment and neuroplasticity on diffusion tensor image and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging were evaluated. Serial samples were collected, before/after MSCs therapy. The primary outcome measure was circulating factors that are associated with the clinical improvement in the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (secondary end point of the trial) and neuroplasticity on diffusion tensor image and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Additional outcome measures were microRNAs and trophic factors enriched in the plasma EVs, obtained using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and ELISA, respectively.

Results:

Circulating EV levels were increased ≈5-fold (mean±SD, from 2.7×10
9
±2.2×10
9
to 1.3×10
10
±1.7×10
10
EVs/mL) within 24 hours after injection of MSCs (
P
=0.001). After adjustment of age, sex, baseline stroke severity, and the time interval from stroke onset to treatment, only the EV number was independently associated with improvement in motor function (odds ratio, 5.718 for EV number
Log
[95% CI, 1.144–28.589];
P
=0.034). Diffusion tensor image and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that integrity of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract and intrahemispheric motor network were significantly correlated with circulating EV levels, respectively (
P
<0.05). MicroRNAs related to neurogenesis/neuroplasticity (eg, microRNA-18a-5p) were significantly increased in circulating EVs after MSC therapy (
P
=0.0479). In contrast, trophic factor levels were not changed after MSC therapy.

Conclusions:

This trial is the first to show that treatment of ischemic stroke patients with MSCs significantly increases circulating EVs, which were significantly correlated with improvement in motor function and magnetic resonance imaging indices of plasticity.

Registration:

URL:
https://www.clinical trials.gov
; Unique identifier: NCT01716481.
Principal Component Analysis for Gaussian Process Posteriors
Authors: Ishibashi Hideaki , Akaho Shotaro
Published: March 2022

This letter proposes an extension of principal component analysis for gaussian process (GP) posteriors, denoted by GP-PCA. Since GP-PCA estimates a low-dimensional space of GP posteriors, it can be used for metalearning, a framework for improving the performance of target tasks by estimating a structure of a set of tasks. The issue is how to define a structure of a set of GPs with an infinite-dimensional parameter, such as coordinate system and a divergence. In this study, we reduce the infiniteness of GP to the finite-dimensional case under the information geometrical framework by considering a space of GP posteriors that have the same prior. In addition, we propose an approximation method of GP-PCA based on variational inference and demonstrate the effectiveness of GP-PCA as meta-learning through experiments.
On Neural Network Kernels and the Storage Capacity Problem
Authors: Zavatone-Veth Jacob A. , Pehlevan Cengiz
Published: March 2022

In this short note, we reify the connection between work on the storage capacity problem in wide two-layer treelike neural networks and the rapidly growing body of literature on kernel limits of wide neural networks. Concretely, we observe that the “effective order parameter” studied in the statistical mechanics literature is exactly equivalent to the infinite-width neural network gaussian process kernel. This correspondence connects the expressivity and trainability of wide two-layer neural networks.
A new species of Lycosa and three new species and a new record of Karakumosa from Iran (Araneae, Lycosidae)
Authors: SHAFAIE SEPIDEH , NADOLNY ANTON A. , MIRSHAMSI OMID
Published: March 2022

Four new species of lycosids from Iran are described: Lycosa soboutii sp. n. (♀, Zanjan Province), Karakumosa golestanica sp. n. (♂, Golestan Province), K. sarvari sp. n. (♂, Razavi Khorasan Province), and K. yahaghii sp. n. (♂, South Khorasan Province). Karakumosa shmatkoi Logunov & Ponomarev, 2020 (♂, Razavi Khorasan Province) is reported from Iran for the first time, and its male is redescribed.
Tropical Thermodynamic–Convection Coupling in Observations and Reanalyses
Authors: Wolding Brandon , Powell Scott W. , Ahmed Fiaz , Dias Juliana , Gehne Maria , Kiladis George , Neelin J. David
Published: March 2022

This study examines thermodynamic–convection coupling in observations and reanalyses, and attempts to establish process-level benchmarks needed to guide model development. Thermodynamic profiles obtained from the NOAA Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive, COSMIC-1 GPS radio occultations, and several reanalyses are examined alongside Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation estimates. Cyclical increases and decreases in a bulk measure of lower-tropospheric convective instability are shown to be coupled to the cyclical amplification and decay of convection. This cyclical flow emerges from conditional-mean analysis in a thermodynamic space composed of two components: a measure of “undiluted” instability, which neglects lower-free-tropospheric (LFT) entrainment, and a measure of the reduction of instability by LFT entrainment. The observational and reanalysis products examined share the following qualitatively robust characterization of these convective cycles: increases in undiluted instability tend to occur when the LFT is less saturated, are followed by increases in LFT saturation and precipitation rate, which are then followed by decreases in undiluted instability. Shallow, convective, and stratiform precipitation are coupled to these cycles in a manner consistent with meteorological expectations. In situ and satellite observations differ systematically from reanalyses in their depictions of lower-tropospheric temperature and moisture variations throughout these convective cycles. When using reanalysis thermodynamic fields, these systematic differences cause variations in lower-free-tropospheric saturation deficit to appear less influential in determining the strength of convection than is suggested by observations. Disagreements among reanalyses, as well as between reanalyses and observations, pose significant challenges to process-level assessments of thermodynamic–convection coupling.
The Development of the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecast System Version 12
Authors: Zhou Xiaqiong , Zhu Yuejian , Hou Dingchen , Fu Bing , Li Wei , Guan Hong , Sinsky Eric , Kolczynski Walter , Xue Xianwu , Luo Yan , Peng Jiayi , Yang Bo , Tallapragada Vijay , Pegion Philip
Published: March 2022

The Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) is upgraded to version 12, in which the legacy Global Spectral Model (GSM) is replaced by a model with a new dynamical core—the Finite Volume Cubed-Sphere Dynamical Core (FV3). Extensive tests were performed to determine the optimal model and ensemble configuration. The new GEFS has cubed-sphere grids with a horizontal resolution of about 25 km and an increased ensemble size from 20 to 30. It extends the forecast length from 16 to 35 days to support subseasonal forecasts. The stochastic total tendency perturbation (STTP) scheme is replaced by two model uncertainty schemes: the stochastically perturbed physics tendencies (SPPT) scheme and stochastic kinetic energy backscatter (SKEB) scheme. Forecast verification is performed on a period of more than two years of retrospective runs. The results show that the upgraded GEFS outperforms the operational-at-the-time version by all measures included in the GEFS verification package. The new system has a better ensemble error–spread relationship, significantly improved skills in large-scale environment forecasts, precipitation probability forecasts over CONUS, tropical cyclone track and intensity forecasts, and significantly reduced 2-m temperature biases over North America. GEFSv12 was implemented on 23 September 2020.
A Comprehensive Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Protocol Improves Outcomes and Decreases Complications
Authors: Sharon Melinda , Bardes James M. , Riley Holly , Wagner Afton , Davis Jennifer Knight , Schaefer Gregory , Wilson Alison , Khan Uzer
Published: March 2022

Background

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating event with a complicated recovery. Through the use of an interdisciplinary team a comprehensive care plan was developed, utilizing all available best practices, to prevent secondary complications. Previous work has shown the benefit of single system protocols or interventions. This study aimed to assess changes in outcomes after implementation of a comprehensive protocol.

Material and Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study performed at an ACS Level I trauma center. It was based on data abstract from the institutions trauma registry over a 10 year period. Patients with quadriplegia after a traumatic injury were included. Data on hospital outcomes and complications was collected and compared before and after the use of the Spinal cord injury protocol.

Results

58 patients were evaluated. Overall, there was a reduction in complications after the implementation, with significant reductions in pneumonia (47% vs 16%; P = .02) and decubitus ulcers (47% to 11%; P = .005). ICU length of stay decreased by 7 days and hospital length of stay decreased 13 days. There was no difference in mortality. Hospital costs also decreased a mean of $42,000.

Conclusions

A comprehensive SCI protocol can reduce secondary complications in quadriplegic patients. This study found significant decreases in pneumonia and decubitus ulcer rates after implementation of the protocol. Lengths of stay and cost were also significantly reduced. Future research using comprehensive SCI protocols is needed to further assess its effects on outcomes for this specific patient population. Similar centers should consider adoption of comprehensive SCI protocols.
Review of the Factors Affecting Acceptance of AI-Infused Systems
Authors: Ismatullaev Ulugbek Vahobjon Ugli , Kim Sang-Ho
Published: March 2022

Objective

The study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the factors impacting technology adoption, to predict the acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies.

Background

Although the acceptance of AI devices is usually defined by behavioural factors in theories of user acceptance, the effects of technical and human factors are often overlooked. However, research shows that user behaviour can vary depending on a system’s technical characteristics and differences in users.

Method

A systematic review was conducted. A total of 85 peer-reviewed journal articles that met the inclusion criteria and provided information on the factors influencing the adoption of AI devices were selected for the analysis.

Results

Research on the adoption of AI devices shows that users’ attitudes, trust and perceptions about the technology can be improved by increasing transparency, compatibility, and reliability, and simplifying tasks. Moreover, technological factors are also important for reducing issues related to human factors (e.g. distrust, scepticism, inexperience) and supporting users with lower intention to use and lower trust in AI-infused systems.

Conclusion

As prior research has confirmed the interrelationship among factors with and without behaviour theories, this review suggests extending the technology acceptance model that integrates the factors studied in this review to define the acceptance of AI devices across different application areas. However, further research is needed to collect more data and validate the study’s findings.

Application

A comprehensive overview of factors influencing the acceptance of AI devices could help researchers and practitioners evaluate user behaviour when adopting new technologies.
Building Caregiver Resiliency in Global Health: Embodying the Catholic Social Tradition in the Face of COVID-19
Authors: Lysaught M. Therese , Reece Beth , Grand Ortega Marcia A. , Guizado Ana V. , Bustamante-Pixa Cecilia
Published: March 2022

For international healthcare NGOs, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been significant. Healthcare workers in both LMICs and high-income countries have described the impact of the pandemic as traumatic. This article focuses on one initiative designed to address this impact: CMMB’s Building Resiliency program. This article provides an overview of the structure and content of program, situating it within the landscape of global mental healthcare disparities and caregiver trauma. Designed to address caregiver mental health in Peru, Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan, and Zambia, the program sought to offset global mental healthcare disparities by bringing needed psycho-social-spiritual support to CMMB staff. It was intentionally shaped by the commitments of Catholic social thought—particularly to the well-being, dignity, and integral human development of CMMB staff members, to envisaging new forms of solidarity, and to prioritizing subsidiarity and participation. Theories of post-traumatic growth provided the theoretical framework for three remotely delivered seminar series, which made space for staff members to share their stories with their colleagues, to build community, to foster creativity and hope, and to intentionally integrate faith and spirituality into both personal self-care as well as the common life of the organization. Thus, this was designed equally to build the organizational resiliency that is the fruit of Catholic social thought. For attending to caregivers’ mental health and well-being is crucial not only for the success of medical missions but for embodying and witnessing the Catholic commitment to the human dignity and the integral development of those who do the work of our organizations.
Texting: A simple path to building trust
Authors: Bachman Hadley F. , Allen Elise C. , Anderman Eric M. , Boone Barbara J. , Capretta Thomas J. , Cunningham Patrick D. , Masonheimer August T. , Zyromski Brett
Published: March 2022

Middle school brings rapid developmental changes for adolescents, and parent engagement is as essential as ever. However, what worked for parent-teacher partnerships in elementary school doesn’t fit so well in middle school. Adolescents are building their autonomy, and teachers must help empower parents’ efforts to bolster students as independent learners through academic socialization. The authors explore how a brief texting intervention might build trust between teachers and parents, empower parents to support their children, and contribute to students’ confidence and belonging in school. Results indicate that brief communications sent by text may bolster parent engagement efforts in middle school.
Educators as agents of hope
Authors: Barnett Bruce
Published: March 2022

One of the most devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the increasing hopelessness and despair experienced by many students, especially those living in poverty where the lack of resources prevents them from accessing high-quality learning, health care, and social programs. Bruce Barnett describes the enormity of the problems associated with the growing hopelessness of our school-age children, some of the factors affecting students’ levels of hope, the unique role principals play in fostering hope in schools, and the skills and mindsets educators need to instill hope. This article includes examples of classroom activities that can help students become more hopeful and discusses the need for educators to become more hopeful about what students can accomplish.
Reimagining American Education: Possible Futures
Authors: Ball Deborah Loewenberg
Published: March 2022

True reimaging of education requires us to first look back to understand why schools are the way they are, says Deborah Ball. She focuses specifically on the teaching profession and how it has become grounded in whiteness, leaving out the wisdom available among people of color. From this, she draws three lessons to take into the future: (1) The teaching profession must become more diverse. (2) Teachers must lift up Black and Brown children’s humanity. (3) Society must embrace the complexity of teaching and reject simplistic understandings of what the work entails.
Career Confidential: Principal wonders how to avoid burning out
Authors: Fagell Phyllis L.
Published: March 2022

Phyllis Fagell offers professional advice to educators. In this monthly column, she speaks with writer Chris Balme about how a principal can avoid burnout while also supporting teachers. A principal wants to know whether and how to speak to an embarrassed new teacher after he walked in on her crying.
Financing elite education: Economic capital and the maintenance of class power in English private schools
Authors: Gamsu Sol
Published: March 2022

The relationship of elite schools to economic capital is central to understanding the maintenance of their cultural power and institutional longevity. Since Glennerster and Wilson’s analysis in 1970, there has been little analysis of how private schools in England manage their wealth or how they are differentiated hierarchically by the composition and scale of the capital they hold. Research has explored the financing of elite universities, with less attention on schools. Using detailed Charities Commission financial data, I examine the finances of 216 English private schools in the Head Masters’ Conference association. The analysis entails a Principal Components Analysis followed by a Hierarchical Clustering on the Principal Components to reveal the economic hierarchy amongst elite schools in England. I then draw on the schools’ published accounts to examine this hierarchy further. These analyses show how the economic field of elite schools is dominated by just five schools with almost unassailable levels of wealth in property, investments and fees. Beneath them sit a wealthy group with smaller capital holdings and more diverse incomes including lucrative satellite campuses in Asia. These wealthier schools are largely boarding schools located in southern England. The provincial day schools of northern England and less prestigious boarding schools have much lower incomes and almost total reliance on tuition fees. Proximity to and control over capital allow schools to maintain their dominance, underlining how the material basis for elite cultural and class power in and over education is ultimately economic.
Governing progress: From cybernetic homeostasis to Simondon’s politics of metastability
Authors: Bardin Andrea , Ferrari Marco
Published: March 2022

In this article we analyse the idea of progress and show that, since its early-modern inception, it has relied on a twofold commitment. On the one hand, it rests on a project of mathematical modelisation of natural and social reality, deterministically conceived. On the other hand, it requires the production of a stable social order capable of implementing that model. This stance, we argue, is still dominant and defines the ‘(hyper-)modern condition’. Following Gilbert Simondon, we take the cybernetic notion of dynamic stability (‘homeostasis’) as paradigmatic of the hyper-modern condition. As we explain, this core notion has covered multiple epistemic domains, including the social sciences, and contributed to reformulate the modern idea of progress within the terms dictated by neoliberal governmentality. The connection we establish between cybernetics and neoliberalism will eventually allow us to use Simondon’s theory against both. In our view, Simondon’s concept of ‘metastability’ supports an alternative understanding of progress based on the ideas of social change and the government of normative invention, which includes the opening of social systems to a future beyond their own preservation.
Epidemiological plots and the national syndrome
Authors: Choksey Lara
Published: March 2022

When mass demonstrations against state-sanctioned violence ‘play dead’, they deliver collective judgements on the failure of justice. In this article, I discuss the epidemiological plot, a crisis genre motivated by the idea that the state can be cured through its own processes. This plot is preoccupied with defending the state against viral invasion, moral and medical, and by coercing consensus around what and whom can be included within it. I expand on this in a reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), where a medical-sociological consortium forms to annihilate a foreign threat to national health: vampirism. I suggest that Dracula’s exhaustion of its compliant reader through its proliferation of data offers an analogy for a normative and mainstream socio-scientific literacy that serves, increasingly, as a condition for full participation in public life. I move from this to consider entanglements with the time of judgement in Ashon Crawley’s The Lonely Letters (2020), arguing that these circumvent the progressive historicism of national timekeeping.
A Naturalistic Analysis of Mental Illness Stigma in Undergraduate Psychology Courses
Authors: Jamieson Jeremy D. , Reich Catherine M. , LaCaille Rick A. , LaCaille Lara J.
Published: March 2022

Background

Psychology coursework may include opportunities to reduce mental illness stigma attitudes among college students. However, some strategies are known to backfire, and little is known about how these attitudes evolve during psychology coursework.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to examine whether psychology students’ mental illness stigma attitudes change over the course of a semester.

Method

This research examined changes in mental illness stigma across four undergraduate psychology courses: Introductory Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Basic Helping Skills, and Internship. Students ( N = 400) completed two mental illness stigma measures at the beginning and end of the semester.

Results

Regardless of course, students showed slightly decreased anxiety-related stigma regarding individuals with mental illness and lower social distancing attitudes toward individuals with schizophrenia, as well as increased perceptions of the treatability of mental illness, over the course of the semester.

Conclusion

The findings suggest limited stigma reduction through the psychology curriculum.

Teaching Implications

Greater emphasis on systematic efforts for stigma reduction across the psychology curriculum is warranted and instructors may want to consider developing gender-related stigma reduction methods.
Subjective Nearness-To-Death and Retirement Anxiety Among Older Workers: A Three-Way Interaction With Work Group Identification
Authors: Froidevaux Ariane , Bergman Yoav S. , Segel-Karpas Dikla
Published: March 2022

Retirement anxiety represents a major challenge for older workers who hold negative expectations and concerns regarding the consequences of their future retirement. Although prior studies suggest that retirement is an age-related transition that may serve as a reminder that life is nearing its end, little is known about how subjective nearness-to-death is related to retirement anxiety, and the role of work group identification as a boundary condition. The current study draws on terror management and social identity theories to hypothesize and investigate these relationships. A three-way interaction model was tested on a sample of 327 Israeli older workers. We found a positive association between subjective nearness-to-death and retirement anxiety. Further, we demonstrated that the positive relationship between subjective nearness-to-death and retirement anxiety was more prominent for older workers whose work group self-definition and self-investment were both high or were both low. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
An updated overview of glucagon-like peptide-2 analog trophic therapy for short bowel syndrome in adults
Authors: Zhu Changzhen , Li Yuanxin
Published: March 2022

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a clinical condition characterized by a failure to achieve optimal intestinal adaptation, which is necessary to maintain oral/enteral autonomy. At present, the treatment options for SBS are primarily intestinal replacement and rehabilitation. Intestinal rehabilitation mainly includes non-transplantation surgery and intestinal rehabilitation measures. In recent years, intestinal rehabilitation in patients with SBS using nutritional intestinal hormones, especially glucagon-like peptide-2 analogs, has made great progress. Many high-quality studies have provided evidence-based medical findings to support the development of clinical guidelines. This article reviews the latest research advancements regarding the use of glucagon-like peptide-2 analogs (teduglutide, glepaglutide, and apraglutide) in the treatment of SBS.
Nonlinear aeroelastic stability analysis of a two-stage axially moving telescopic wing by using fully intrinsic equations
Authors: Moravej Barzani Sayed Hossein , Shahverdi Hossein , Amoozgar Mohammadreza
Published: March 2022

During the process of span extension for an aircraft wing equipped with a telescopic morphing mechanism, the wing aspect ratio increases, and hence, the geometrical nonlinearities might become more significant. In this regard, this paper aims to investigate the effect of structural nonlinearity on the aeroelasticity of span morphing wings using the exact fully intrinsic equations for the first time. Furthermore, the effects of various parameters such as thrust force, engine location, chord size, flight altitude, initial angle of attack, and overlapping mass on the aeroelasticity of the wing are studied. The applied aerodynamic loads in an incompressible flow regime are determined using Peters’ unsteady aerodynamic model. In order to check the stability of the system, first the resulting nonlinear partial differential equations are discretized by using the central finite difference method and then linearized about the static equilibrium. Finally, by obtaining the eigenvalues of the linearized system, the stability of the wing is evaluated. It is observed that by using the fully intrinsic equations, the instability of the axially moving telescopic wing can be determined more accurately. Moreover, the results show that the morphing length and overlapping mass have significant effects on the aeroelastic stability of the telescopic wing.
Comparative study on the properties of starch-based bioplastics incorporated with palm oil and epoxidized palm oil
Authors: Yang Jianlei , Ching Yern Chee , Julai J Sabariah , Chuah Cheng Hock , Nguyen Dai Hai , Lin Pai-Chen
Published: March 2022

This study aimed to modify the starch-based bioplastics with acceptable mechanical and water resistance properties using palm oil (PO) and epoxidized palm oil (EPO). The structural, thermal, mechanical and water resistance properties of the resulted bio-composites were evaluated. EPO had better compatibility within the starch matrix than PO. The bioplastics with PO and EPO exhibited different melting behaviors. Low concentrations of oils (<3 wt%) improved the tensile strength and elongation at break of the bioplastics remarkably, while higher concentrations of oils caused the decrease of tensile properties due to phase separation. Comparatively, EPO was more efficient at enhancing tensile properties than PO due to the presence of epoxy groups. Both oils reduced the water uptake and solubility of the bio-composites slightly. In conclusion, the addition of EPO was a more attractive way to enhance the properties of starch-based bioplastics.
A Conceptual Model of Trust, Perceived Risk, and Reliance on AI Decision Aids
Authors: Solberg Elizabeth , Kaarstad Magnhild , Eitrheim Maren H. Rø , Bisio Rossella , Reegård Kine , Bloch Marten
Published: March 2022

There is increasing interest in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve organizational decision-making. However, research indicates that people’s trust in and choice to rely on “AI decision aids” can be tenuous. In the present paper, we connect research on trust in AI with Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman’s (1995) model of organizational trust to elaborate a conceptual model of trust, perceived risk, and reliance on AI decision aids at work. Drawing from the trust in technology, trust in automation, and decision support systems literatures, we redefine central concepts in Mayer et al.’s (1995) model, expand the model to include new, relevant constructs (like perceived control over an AI decision aid), and refine propositions about the relationships expected in this context. The conceptual model put forward presents a framework that can help researchers studying trust in and reliance on AI decision aids develop their research models, build systematically on each other’s research, and contribute to a more cohesive understanding of the phenomenon. Our paper concludes with five next steps to take research on the topic forward.
“Men are not raised to share feelings” Exploring Male Patients’ Discourses on Participating in Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Authors: Bryde Christensen Anne , Krohn Sofie , Høj Michaela , Poulsen Stig , Reinholt Nina , Arnfred Sidse
Published: March 2022

Existing literature on the psychology of men and masculinity indicates that men face specific mental health difficulties. Overall, men seem more reluctant to seek out mental health services than women. This study explores the ways in which seven male patients talk about their experiences of participating in cognitive-behavioral group therapy in the context of outpatient Danish mental health services. Employing a discourse analytical approach, this study investigates how traditional masculinity ideals affect the men’s accounts of participating in cognitive behavioral group therapy. The analysis indicates that traditional masculinity informs the interpretative repertoires men apply to describe their preconceptions of therapy and engaging in therapy. In turn, these common-sense understandings make certain subject positions available, which may be gendered. The relevance of the findings for future gender sensitive psychotherapy practice with men is discussed.
Online survey of owners’ experiences of medicating their cats at home
Authors: Taylor Samantha , Caney Sarah , Bessant Claire , Gunn-Moore Danièlle
Published: March 2022

Objectives

The aim of this study was to use an online survey to obtain information from cat owners about their experiences of medicating their cats.

Methods

An online survey containing 35 questions on experiences of medicating cats was circulated to cat owners globally.

Results

In total, 2507 surveys from 57 countries were analysed; 1724 from ‘cat owners’ and 783 from ‘cat owners+’ (respondents with significant cat experience, including veterinary professionals). Around half (50.7%) of cat owners were ‘sometimes’ or ‘never’ provided with information or advice on how to administer medication; however, 91.8% of those given information found it ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ useful. Around half (53.6%) of owners sought information from the internet about how to administer medication. Total cat owners (cat owners and cat owners+) administered liquids (61.3%), pastes (45.3%) or tablets (39.5%) directly into their cat’s mouth; fewer (22.6–24.1%) hid these medications in food. Total cat owners rated tablets significantly harder to administer than liquids; 53.0% chose liquids as their first-choice formulation while 29.3% chose tablets. Insulin injections and ‘spot-ons’ were significantly easier to administer than any oral medications. Over half (51.6%) of owners reported that medicating their cat(s) had changed their relationship with them; 77.0% reported that their cat(s) had tried to bite or scratch them when medicating. Other challenges included the cat(s) spitting out tablets (78.7%), refusing medication in food (71.7%) and running away (52.7%). Of the owners who failed to complete a course of medication (35.4%), 27.8% stopped near the end of the course, while 19.3% stopped after a few doses, in both cases as medicating was too difficult.

Conclusions and relevance

Owners appreciate being provided with information about the administration of medication. Frequent challenges when medicating cats include potential human injury and damage to the owner–cat relationship. Pharmaceutical companies should provide a range of formulations to ease compliance. Veterinary clinics should provide information/demonstrations and internet links when prescribing medications.
Anesthetic effect of ultrasound-guided block of the musculocutaneous nerve during endovascular treatment of dysfunctional radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas
Authors: Matsuda Hiroaki , Oka Yoshinari , Takatsu Shigeko , Miyazaki Masashi
Published: March 2022

Background:

Delivering requisite and minimal anesthesia for endovascular treatment (EVT) of dysfunctional arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) under the target nerve block can achieve reasonable analgesia. We evaluated the anesthetic efficacy of ultrasound (US)-guided selective block of the musculocutaneous nerve (MCN) during the EVT of runoff venous strictures in the forearm through the radiocephalic (RC)-AVF at the wrist or the anatomical snuff box and analyzed the factors inhibiting the analgesia achieved under the MCN block.

Methods:

We enrolled 30 adult patients undergoing hemodialysis who had received 78 EVT sessions in an outpatient clinic mainly for long and/or multiple outflow-venous strictures in the forearm under US-guided blocks of the MCN, which provides sensory innervation to the anterolateral forearm where the cephalic vein courses. We assessed patients’ pain during balloon dilations using the Wong-Baker FACES® Pain Rating Scale (WBFRS) and evaluated the factors increasing the pain (WBFRS score ⩾4), including patient characteristics, dilated strictures, additional nerve blocks, and types of balloon catheters.

Results:

In 25 EVT sessions (32.1%) out of 78 sessions, patients complained of stronger pain (WBFRS score ⩾4), while in the other 53 sessions (67.9%), presented with no pain and slight pain (WBFRS score = 0 or 2). Univariate analysis clarified that dilation of the AVF anastomosis, presence of dilated stenosis >4 cm, and a single block of the MCN or its sensory terminal significantly triggered more pain ( p < 0.05). Consequently, multivariate analysis of all the factors with p < 0.1 in the univariate analysis, including multiple dilated stenosis sites, demonstrated that dilation of the AVF anastomosis significantly caused severe pain despite the anesthesia of the MCN block ( p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

US-guided selective block of the MCN could be a leading anesthetic option for EVT for multiple long stenoses of the cephalic vein draining through the RC-AVF in the wrist or anatomical snuff box.
On-demand use of peripheral arterial catheters outside the Intensive Care Unit: Development and retrospective evaluation of an internal protocol for insertion and management
Authors: Giustivi Davide , Baroni Monica , Di Capua Mirko , Paglia Stefano
Published: March 2022

Background:

COVID-19 patients require frequent arterial blood gas analysis for the assessment of oxygenation status.

Objective:

The main objective of this research is to describe a dedicated protocol developed to standardize the insertion and management of peripheral Arterial Catheters (AC) for on-demand use, in the Emergency Department of “Maggiore” Hospital (Lodi, Italy). This strategy represents a valid alternative to repeated arterial punctures outside the intensive care unit.

Methods:

The crucial points of the protocol were defined: vessel selection criteria, device used, technique of insertion, choice of securement and dressing device, and procedures had been created for correct management.

Results:

During April and December 2020, 50 AC were inserted, two dislocations and one malfunction were observed. No major complications (Catheter Related Bloodstream Infection, thrombosis, bleeding, pseudoaneurysms, hematoma, artery occlusion - even temporary - and skin irritation) were observed.

Conclusions:

To the authors knowledge, this is the first article describing the insertion and management of ACs for on-demand utilization outside the intensive care unit. The safe and effective use of this technique could be clinically relevant in patients requiring multiple ABG without need of invasive monitoring; it also allows the reduction of both artery sticks and workload of health care providers. However, clinical studies are needed to confirm the validity of the proposed treatment, especially the use of the most appropriate securement system and the most effective solution for locking catheters.
Recovery of Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy on Treatment With Ocrelizumab in a Patient With Co-Existing Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Auer Michael , Hegen Harald , Hotter Anna , Löscher Wolfgang , Berek Klaus , Zinganell Anne , Fava Elena , Rhomberg Paul , Deisenhammer Florian , Di Pauli Franziska
Published: March 2022

The chimeric anti-CD20 antibody rituximab has demonstrated good efficacy as an off-label treatment in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), while the humanized anti-CD20 antibody ocrelizumab has been approved for treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), whereas there is no evidence for its use in CIDP so far. We present a patient suffering from CIDP and MS, both refractory to standard treatment and both showing marked improvement on ocrelizumab. To the best of our knowledge, this is a unique report of CIDP with an almost full electrophysiological recovery on ocrelizumab which could be considered as a potential treatment option for refractory CIDP.
Digital witnessing and the erasure of the racialized subject
Authors: Awan Nishat
Published: March 2022

Humanitarian agencies are relying more frequently on remote sensing, satellite imagery and social media to produce accounts of violence. Their analysis aims at creating more compelling narratives for the court of law or of public opinion and has contributed towards a forensic turn, thus complicating the already fraught relationship between the practice of witnessing and political subjects. This article explores how digital witnessing allows us to ‘see’ further and deeper into places that are at a distance from us, whilst at the same time creating the conditions that make certain subjects recede from view. I will discuss these issues in relation to a country I am familiar with and one that has been central to the forensic imagination – Pakistan – although the particular geographies within Pakistan that this imagination works with are not mine. Thinking with non-linear temporalities of violence, I explore how the forensic turn may have actually contributed to the erasure of the racialized political subject.
The absence of absence: of ekphrasis and blind witnessing
Authors: de Silva Mangalika
Published: March 2022

The centrality of apparition and disapparition as political manifestation and existential threshold informs enforced disappearance as a political regime that interrupts the existing densities and securities of social visibility in private and public spheres. The author contends that executive power deploys enforced disappearance to amplify its ekphrastic power. However, the latter can be confronted by the ekphrastic testimony of survivors of disappearance as surrogates of those kin who lack embodied presence. Ekphrasis is the creation of an effect upon its auditors that they are actually beholding through sound and/or language what is visually and temporally withdrawn from their present. Enforced disappearance names the extrajudicial ‘abduction and deprivation of liberty’ of individuals and communities by a sovereign that conceals the act, location of the victims, circumstances of their death and their post-mortem disposition. In this article, the author navigates the complex and intertwining agonistic social rhetorics of visibility and invisibility associated with disappearance that collide as historicizing and dehistoricizing forces through competing ekphrastic rhetorics. She examines how ekphrastic witnessing as a form of blind witnessing becomes an affective media of postwar justice in a society that has erased and disavowed its war crimes.
Alternative Splicing: A New Therapeutic Target for Ovarian Cancer
Authors: Yao Shijie , Yuan Cheng , Shi Yuying , Qi Yuwen , Sridha Radhakrishnan , Dai Mengyuan , Cai Hongbing
Published: March 2022

Background: Increasing evidences have shown that abnormal alternative splicing (AS) events are closely related to the prognosis of various tumors. However, the role of AS in ovarian cancer (OV) is poorly understood. This study aims to explore the correlation between AS and the prognosis of OV and establish a prognostic model for OV. Methods: We downloaded the RNA-seq data of OV from The Cancer Genome Atlas databases and assessed cancer-specific AS through the SpliceSeq software. Then systemically investigated the overall survival (OS)-related AS and splicing factors (SFs) by bioinformatics analysis. The nomogram was established based on the clinical information, and the clinical practicability of the nomogram was verified through the calibration curve. Finally, a splicing correlation network was constructed to reveal the relationship between OS-related AS and SFs. Results: A total of 48,049 AS events were detected from 10,582 genes, of which 1523 were significantly associated with OS. The area under the curve of the final prediction model was 0.785, 0.681, and 0.781 in 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. Moreover, the nomogram showed high calibration and discrimination in OV patients. Spearman correlation analysis was used to determine 8 SFs significantly related to survival, including major facilitator superfamily domain containing 11, synaptotagmin binding cytoplasmic RNA interacting protein, DEAH-box helicase 35, CWC15, integrator complex subunit 1, LUC7 like 2, cell cycle and apoptosis regulator 1, and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1. Conclusion: This study provides a prognostic model related to AS in OV, and constructs an AS-clinicopathological nomogram, which provides the possibility to predict the long-term prognosis of OV patients. We have explored the wealth of RNA splicing networks and regulation patterns related to the prognosis of OV, which provides a large number of biomarkers and potential targets for the treatment of OV. Put forward the potential possibility of interfering with the AS of OV in the comprehensive treatment of OV.
The “Recreated Experiences” Approach: Exploring the Experiences of Persons Previously Excluded in Research
Authors: Noyek Samantha , Davies Theresa C. , Batorowicz Beata , Delarosa Elizabeth , Fayed Nora
Published: March 2022

Individuals with profound motor, communication, and/or cognitive impairments may face difficulties describing subjective or experiential information through (i) speech, (ii) writing using a pencil and paper, and (iii) typing using a standard computer keyboard. Although patient-reported outcome measures and patient-reported experience measures can capture information about this group through proxy-report, we cannot solely rely on the responses of a single proxy for experiential information. Research methods to understand the experiences of individuals with profound motor, communication and cognitive impairments are not well defined in the literature. Purpose: To provide guidance to disability researchers on how to explore the subjective and personal experiences, of individuals with profound, motor, communication, and/or cognitive impairments. Three axes are proposed as important to the structure of the “recreated experiences” method: (i) informants, (ii) data collection methods, and (iii) analyses and reflexivity. Different types of information can be gained by involving different informant groups in research about the central person’s experience. Primary guardians can provide information about interpreting central persons’ indicators of expression and broad assessments of their personal life. Other adults can provide insight relative to the central person’s capacities outside of the primary guardian-central person dyad. Peers can provide insight about personal characteristics (i.e., personality traits). Utilizing different data collection methods can foster manifest and latent content to emerge. Analyses and reflexivity which involve diverse perspectives are essential to ensure findings are grounded in lived experience and professional lenses. The method highlights the importance of furthering research to understand the experiences of individuals who cannot traditionally self-express, which may influence possibilities for enhancing care, participation opportunities, and overall well-being.