bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Predicting language dominance in Spanish/English bilingual adults based on relative speech-in-speech recognition scores
Authors: Cowan Tiana , Calandruccio Lauren , Buss Emily , Rodriguez Barbara , Leibold Lori J.
Published: September 2023

Purpose:

Multiple dimensions of language dominance, such as language proficiency and demand for language use, can be reflected in bilinguals’ speech-in-speech recognition scores. This paper explores the feasibility of using a novel measure to estimate language dominance for bilinguals: relative speech-in-speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) or the within-person difference in SRTs between their two languages.

Method:

Participants were 25 Spanish/English bilingual adults ( Mage = 30 years). SRTs for sentence recognition in a language-matched two-talker masker were measured in English and in Spanish using an adaptive, open-set task. Relative SRTs were calculated by subtracting the Spanish SRT from the English SRT. Language dominance and proficiency were assessed by established measures.

Analysis:

Spearman correlations were used to assess the association between measures.

Findings:

Relative SRTs were correlated with dominance scores derived from both a questionnaire ( rs = −.80) and standardized testing ( rs = −.80).

Originality:

We tested and validated a novel measure, relative SRTs, to predict language dominance in bilingual adults. This time-efficient method could be used by bilingual researchers interested in assessing language dominance for descriptive or experimental purposes.

Significance:

Relative SRTs show promise as a valid method to assess language dominance in Spanish/English bilingual adults.
It will take time and resources: Changing disability benefits on the way to social model in CEE countries
Authors: Morawski Leszek , Akarsu Mahmut Zeki
Published: September 2023

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, necessitating adjustments in tax and benefit policies. However, the eventual outcome of these modifications remains uncertain. To evaluate possible changes, we conducted a comparative analysis of current instruments in CEE countries vis-a-vis Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Our research discovered that tax and benefit systems in both CEE and Scandinavian countries are built on the same foundational principles, yet differ significantly in their specific solutions and approaches. Notably, benefits systems in CEE countries are considerably more intricate and inclined toward means-tested benefits and specialized instruments dedicated solely to individuals with disabilities. We posit that changes arising from the convention’s implementation will streamline the benefits system, incorporating more generalized instruments with disability added as supplementary eligibility conditions or income parameters. The velocity of this transformation will be influenced by the pace of economic growth, as evidenced by the strong positive correlation between disability expenditure’s proportion in gross domestic product and the European Union countries’ level of economic development.

JEL classification D61, H51, O52
Relationship of Chronic Systemic Inflammation to Both Chronic Lifestyle-Related Diseases and Osteoarthritis: The Case for Lifestyle Medicine for Osteoarthritis
Authors: Prather Heidi , Cheng Jennifer
Published: September 2023

Systemic inflammation is a root cause of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and may also play a role in the development and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). Lifestyle medicine seeks to treat, prevent, and reverse lifestyle-related chronic disease via 6 pillars: nutrition, sleep health, stress management, physical activity, social connections, and risky behavior avoidance/reduction. This article presents a review of the literature in which we assess the connections between the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine, chronic systemic inflammation, and OA. We also discuss the whole-person approach that lifestyle medicine interventions can provide to reduce chronic systemic inflammation and affect the development or progression of OA.
Minimally Invasive Versus Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: An Updated Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review
Authors: Ahmed Adham , Awad Ahmed K. , Varghese Kathryn S. , Mathew Joshua , Huda Shayan , George Jerrin , Mathew Serena , Abdelnasser Omar A. , Awad Ayman K. , Mathew Dave M.
Published: September 2023

Objective:

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has arisen as a viable alternative to surgery. Similarly, minimally invasive surgical aortic valve replacement (mini-SAVR), such as ministernotomy and minithoracotomy, have also gained interest. We conducted a pairwise meta-analysis to further investigate the efficacy of TAVR versus mini-SAVR.

Methods:

Medical databases were comprehensively searched for studies comparing TAVR with a mini-SAVR modality, defined as minimally invasive aortic surgery, ministernotomy, minithoracotomy, or rapid-deployment or sutureless SAVR. Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted using the generic inverse variance method. Primary outcomes included 30-day mortality, midterm mortality, 30-day stroke, acute kidney injury (AKI), paravalvular leak (PVL), new permanent pacemaker (PPM), new-onset atrial fibrillation, and postintervention mean and peak valve pressure gradients and were pooled as risk ratio (RR), mean difference (MD), or hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results:

A total of 5,071 patients (2,505 mini-SAVR vs 2,566 TAVR) from 12 studies were pooled. Compared with TAVR, mini-SAVR showed significantly lower rates of both 30-day (RR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.42 to 0.96, P = 0.03) and midterm mortality at 4 years of follow-up (HR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.67 to 0.87, P < 0.001). Furthermore, mini-SAVR was protective against 30-day PVL (RR = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.13, P < 0.001) and new PPM (RR = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.57, P < 0.001). Conversely, TAVR was protective against 30-day AKI (RR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.20 to 2.32, P = 0.002) and postinterventional mean gradients (MD = 1.65, 95% CI: 0.25 to 3.05, P = 0.02). No difference was observed for 30-day stroke (RR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.56 to 1.24, P = 0.38), new-onset atrial fibrillation (RR = 1.79, 95% CI: 0.93 to 3.44, P = 0.08), or postinterventional peak gradients (MD = 3.24, 95% CI: −1.10 to 7.59, P = 0.14).

Conclusions:

Compared with TAVR, mini-SAVR was protective against 30-day and midterm mortality, 30-day PVL, and new permanent pacemaker, while TAVR patients had lower 30-day AKI. Future randomized trials comparing the efficacy of mini-SAVR approaches with TAVR are needed.
Secondary prevention of stroke. A telehealth-delivered physical activity and diet pilot randomized trial (ENAbLE-pilot)
Authors: English Coralie , Ramage Emily R , Attia John , Bernhardt Julie , Bonevski Billie , Burke Meredith , Galloway Margaret , Hankey Graeme J , Janssen Heidi , Lindley Richard , Lynch Elizabeth , Oldmeadow Chris , Said Catherine M , Spratt Neil J , Zacharia Karly , MacDonald-Wicks Lesley , Patterson Amanda
Published: September 2023

Background:

Improving physical activity levels and diet quality are important for secondary stroke prevention.

Aim:

To test the feasibility and safety of 6-month, co-designed telehealth-delivered interventions to increase physical activity and improve diet quality.

Methods:

A 2 × 2 factorial trial (physical activity (PA); diet (DIET); PA + DIET; control) randomized, open-label, blinded endpoint trial. Primary outcomes were feasibility and safety. Secondary outcomes included stroke risk factors (blood pressure, self-report PA (International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)) and diet quality (Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS)), and quality of life. Between-group differences were analyzed using linear-mixed models.

Results:

Over 23 months, 99 people were screened for participation and 40 (40%) randomized (3 months to 10 years post-stroke, mean age 59 (16) years). Six participants withdrew, and an additional five were lost to follow-up. Fifteen serious adverse events were reported, but none were deemed definitely or probably related to the intervention. Median attendance was 32 (of 36) PA sessions and 9 (of 10) DIET sessions. The proportion of missing primary outcome data (blood pressure) was 3% at 3 months, 11% at 6 months, and 14% at 12 months. Between-group 95% confidence intervals showed promising, clinically relevant differences in support of the interventions across the range of PA, diet quality, and blood pressure outcomes.

Conclusion:

Our telehealth PA and diet interventions were safe and feasible and may have led to significant behavior change.

Trial Registration:

ACTRN12620000189921.
Component selection for optimal reliability of a repairable load-sharing system
Authors: Park Seongjun , Choi Jihye , Kim Kyungmee O.
Published: September 2023

This study determines the number of components in each subsystem that maximizes the reliability of a load-sharing [Formula: see text] out of [Formula: see text] system when repair is performed at the subsystem level. Previous studies have obtained the system availability given that repair is performed for each component failure. We explain how the statistical flowgraph model is used for computing system reliability under the assumption of an inverse Gaussian distribution for the repair of each subsystem and an exponential distribution for the lifetime of a component operating at a fixed load. A closed-form expression is derived for the transition probability between the system states and the moment generating function of the corresponding waiting time distribution conditional on the transition. By comparing the reliability of systems using different numbers of components in subsystems, we explain how the optimal solution is affected by the repair process and the component homogeneity among subsystems. We discover that, if repair is not considered, it is optimal to use a single subsystem that has the maximum reliability across different operating loads, whereas the use of multiple subsystems is beneficial if repair is performed for a subsystem with a small number of components.
Optimal post-warranty replacement policy based on number of product failures for the second-hand product
Authors: Lim Jae-Hak , Park Dong Ho , Kim Dae Kyung
Published: September 2023

This paper deals with a post-warranty maintenance model for the second-hand product as follows. The second-hand product of age [Formula: see text], which is assumed to be positive, is purchased with a fixed length of non-renewing warranty, during which the product is given a fixed number of preventive maintenances periodically by the dealer. At each preventive maintenance, the failure rate of the product is adjusted to some extent for the purpose of reducing the likelihood of product failure. At the expiration of warranty, the user starts to self-maintain the product until a pre-determined number of failures occur, at which time the product is replaced by another one. For each post-warranty failure, only a minimal repair is taken to restore the failed product to its previous functioning state. This paper aims to determine an optimal number of post-warranty product failures that minimizes the expected cost rate during the second-hand product’s life cycle. To this end, we derive a formula to evaluate the expected cost rate during the second-hand product’s life cycle by assuming a certain cost structure for maintaining the product during the life-span of the product and determine an optimal number of post-warranty product failures from the user’s perspective. And we provide a numerical example to illustrate our proposed optimal maintenance model by assuming a Weibull failure distribution. The main contribution of this work is to use the number of post-warranty failures to propose a maintenance model for the second-hand product, where the number of failures is in general easier to observe than the failure times.
A fire risk assessment system and application for process industry using fuzzy Petri net and HAZID method
Authors: Chen Xingbai , Wang Ziyun , Zhang Cheng , Xiang Yue , Dai Yiyang
Published: September 2023

The safety risk assessment of process industries can determine the degree of safety risk and remind or warn safety management personnel to take corresponding measures according to the probability of accidents. In this paper, hazard identification (HAZID) method is combined with fuzzy Petri net to construct a hybrid safety assessment system. Firstly, the fire risk factors of HAZID are determined according to the fire statistics data. By dividing the whole industrial process into four stages, the complex hazard sources in the factory are investigated item by item, thus the fuzzy Petri net of real-time risk assessment is constructed. Taking an acetic acid enterprise as a case, this paper introduces how to construct such a risk assessment system in detail, and the system can dynamically predict the risk with changes in process conditions. This also demonstrates the feasibility of this method, which can be used as a reference for related research.
The Appropriate Adult: Their perspective working in the criminal justice system
Authors: Farrugia Laura
Published: September 2023

Vulnerable individuals are increasingly coming into custody. One safeguard implemented by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and Codes of Practice is the Appropriate Adult measure. However, little is known about how the Appropriate Adult constructs and understands their role and the implications this may have for the enactment of their role. The current study aimed to explore how Appropriate Adults and others experience and understand their role when working with vulnerable individuals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Appropriate Adults and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Overall, two superordinate and six subordinate themes emerged from the data that highlighted the complex and confusing role of the Appropriate Adult. In addition, Appropriate Adults suggested that they may be less likely to perform their duties if faced with excessive conflict from others working in custody. The research raises implications regarding the understanding and utilisation of the Appropriate Adult role and for the treatment and outcome of the vulnerable adult in custody. That is, if the Appropriate Adult remains passive in their role, the vulnerable individual in custody is not being appropriately safeguarded and remains at risk of providing unreliable, self-incriminating information or even a false confession.
Non-exercise-based racing time prediction of cross-country skiers using machine learning methods combined with Relief-F feature selection
Authors: Abut F , Akay MF , Daneshvar S , Özcan A , Heil D
Published: September 2023

This study proposes new non-exercise models for estimating the racing time of cross-country skiers. Machine learning methods employed to build the prediction models include General Regression Neural Network (GRNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multilayer Feed-Forward Artificial Neural Network (MFANN), and Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN), whereas the Relief-F algorithm combined with a ranker search has been utilized as the feature selector. The self-created data set contains samples collected from 370 cross-country skiers with inhomogeneous capabilities. Each sample in the data set contains physiological variables such as sex, age, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) combined with an immersive set of survey data. The outcomes suggest that generally, the GRNN-based models exhibit the best prediction performance and can be used as a feasible tool for the prediction of the racing time of cross-country skiers with tolerable root mean square errors (RMSEs). It is seen that inclusion of age and assigned starting wave of cross-country skiers in models leads to much lower RMSEs, suggesting that the racing time of cross-country skiers is highly correlated to these two predictor variables. When compared with the exercise-based models, the proposed non-exercise-based models produce consistently comparable prediction performance for all evaluated machine learning methods. The non-exercise-based models have the relevant benefit of practical feasibility, as the models do not require the skiers to complete physical exercises and are also applicable to a wide range of cross-country skiers.
Music Teacher Identity: The Use of Videos in Teachers’ Self-Reflections of Their Past and Present Teaching Effectiveness
Authors: Reed Elizabeth A.
Published: September 2023

Professional teaching videos could be a powerful resource for shaping music teacher identity (MTI). This study examined preservice and inservice string instrument teachers’ (SITs) ( N = 3) preservice and inservice teaching videos to perceive similarities and differences in MTI to reveal professional growth over time. Results indicated that the SITs evolved with experience, knowledge of self, and self-assessment through reflection. MTI development results from teachers’ receptiveness to professional development over time and their ability to adapt to changing contextual environments.
Examining the Interaction Between Motor Development and Early Violin Learning
Authors: Hiemstra Anna , Sadakata Makiko
Published: September 2023

Playing the violin demands highly skilled motor performance, including advanced bimanual coordination and controlled, independent movement of fingers. Through existing literature, the current study aims to demonstrate how young children’s motor development relates to the motor demands of violin playing, specifically the demands on the left hand, the right hand, bimanual coordination, and posture. From literature on movement patterns in skilled violinists as well as literature pertaining to motor development between the ages of 4 and 7, connections were highlighted between developmental sequences in this age group and violin-specific skills. Generally observable motor issues relevant to violin playing were found to include intra- and inter-limb motor overflow, postural changes in growing children, and the proximodistal direction of gross and fine motor development. We suggest that further research on effective and age-appropriate movement teaching has the potential to inform violin pedagogues about finding more effective solutions for motor issues encountered in this age group.
Talking Back: An Analysis of the Scope and Impact of Critical Race Theory and Its Usage in Educational Research
Authors: Young Jemimah , Young Jamaal , Williams John , Neshyba Monica , Ogletree Quinita , James Marlon
Published: September 2023

This study employed bibliometric analysis to analyze the research on critical race theory (CRT) in education. We employed four approaches: citation analysis, document co-citation analysis, social network analysis, and keyword co-occurrence to examine the scientific structure of CRT research in education based on 1,464 documents and 55,493 cited references. Using VOSviewer, we identified four distinct clusters of CRT research that characterize the intellectual structure of CRT research in education. We examined how specific works influence the field using social network analysis (SNA). The SNA revealed various amounts of overall centrality (i.e., 15.42% degree centrality, 25.24% closeness centrality, and approximately 0% betweenness centrality). These results indicate that the documents’ direct influence on the co-citation network is stronger than the indirect and informal influence. Finally, the keyword co-occurrence analysis results indicate four distinct clusters of CRT research foci. The results provide important considerations for future research while refuting claims that CRT is a tool for indoctrinating America’s youth.
An Exploration of Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships Experienced by Emerging Adults During the Covid-19 Lockdowns in England
Authors: Setty Emily , Dobson Emma
Published: September 2023

Romantic and intimate relationships are crucial for the socio-emotional development of young adults. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting ‘lockdown’ restrictions imposed by the UK government limited opportunities for in-person relationships in England during 2020-21. This paper discusses young adults’ experiences of their relationships during lockdown, based on findings from 36 qualitative interviews conducted during 2021-22. The data suggests that relationships were shaped by socially and contextually contingent processes of meaning making and experience. Lockdown served as a defining condition, which constrained and reshaped these processes. The findings emphasise the importance of understanding relationships as entailing dynamic interactions between individual subjectivity, interpersonal experiences, and social norms. Identifying the evolving contextual conditions in which these processes occur is vital. While this study specifically examined the impact of lockdown, its implications extend beyond through shedding light on how young adults navigate social conditions and make choices for themselves and their relationships.
Human milk banking acceptability among pregnant and nursing mothers in Southwest Nigeria
Authors: Ogundare Ezra Olatunde , Dedeke Iyabode Olabisi Florence , Babatola Adefunke Olarinre , Adeniyi Adewuyi Temidayo , Ajite Adebukola Bidemi , Lawal Olubunmi Adeola , Taiwo Adekunle Bamidele , Fatunla Odunayo Adebukola , Ajibola Ayotunde Emmanuel , Bolaji Olufunke Bosede , Olatunya Oladele Simeon
Published: September 2023

Background:

Human milk bank is a sustainable source of donor human milk (DHM) which is an acceptable alternative to the mother’s milk and it is not routinely available in Nigeria, a multi-ethnically diverse country. The study aimed to assess the willingness to donate or accept human milk among pregnant women and mothers attending the antenatal, immunization, outpatient, under-five, and neonatal follow-up clinics in selected health facilities in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria.

Study Design and Methods:

A descriptive cross-sectional, mixed methods study design was used to collect data in selected health facilities in Ekiti State. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data respectively while data analysis was done using the IBM® Statistical Package for Social Science SPSS version 26® and thematic analysis respectively.

Results:

Of the 798 respondents, 529 (66.3%) and 626 (78.4%) did not know about wet nursing or human milk banking (HMB) respectively and 139 (17.4%) were willing to donate their breastmilk for a stipend. In the focus group discussion, 50% had heard about wet nursing but none heard about HMB. Maternal educational level had a significant impact on their willingness to donate or accept DHM ( p < 0.00). Wholesomeness, cultural, and religious biases were major reasons affecting HMB acceptability.

Conclusions:

Awareness and perception of HMB are poor. Appropriate information, education, and counselling on HMB are needed to drive the adoption and establishment of HMB in Nigeria.
Long-term risk of recurrent cerebrovascular events after patent foramen ovale closure: Results from a real-world stroke cohort
Authors: Kneihsl Markus , Horner Susanna , Hatab Isra , Schöngrundner Nora , Kramer Diether , Toth-Gayor Gabor , Grangl Gernot , Wünsch Gerit , Fandler-Höfler Simon , Haidegger Melanie , Berger Natalie , Veeranki Sai , Fischer Urs , Enzinger Christian , Gattringer Thomas
Published: September 2023

Introduction:

Patent foramen ovale (PFO)-closure is recommended for stroke prevention in selected patients with suspected PFO-associated stroke. However, studies on cerebrovascular event recurrence after PFO-closure are limited by relatively short follow-up periods and information on the underlying aetiology of recurrent events is scarce.

Patients and methods:

All consecutive patients with a cerebral ischaemic event and PFO-closure at the University Hospital Graz were prospectively identified from 2004 to 2021. Indication for PFO-closure was based on a neurological-cardiological PFO board decision. Patients underwent standardized clinical and echocardiographic follow-up 6 months after PFO-closure. Recurrent cerebrovascular events were assessed via electronical health records.

Results:

PFO-closure was performed in 515 patients (median age: 49 years; Amplatzer PFO occluder: 42%). Over a median follow-up of 11 years (range: 2–18 years, 5141 total patient-years), recurrent ischaemic cerebrovascular events were observed in 34 patients (ischaemic stroke: n = 22, TIA: n = 12) and associated with age, hyperlipidaemia and smoking in multivariable analysis ( p < 0.05 each). Large artery atherosclerosis and small vessel disease were the most frequent aetiologies of recurrent stroke/TIA (27% and 24% respectively), and only two events were related to atrial fibrillation (AF). Recurrent ischaemic cerebrovascular event rates and incident AF were comparable in patients treated with different PFO occluders ( p > 0.1).

Discussion and conclusion:

In this long-term follow-up-study of patients with a cerebral ischaemic event who had received PFO-closure with different devices, rates of recurrent stroke/TIA were low and largely related to large artery atherosclerosis and small vessel disease. Thorough vascular risk factor control seems crucial for secondary stroke prevention in patients treated for PFO-related stroke.
COVID-19 Impact Predicts Diabetes Distress Among Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes
Authors: Koonmen Leigh Anne , Lennie Terry A. , Hieronymus Laura B. , Rayens Mary Kay , Ickes Melinda , Miller Jennifer L. , Mudd-Martin Gia
Published: September 2023

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to determine whether COVID-19 impact and Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES) service attendance predicted diabetes distress among individuals with type 2 diabetes during the pandemic.

Methods:

Eighty-six adults with type 2 diabetes who either attended (n = 29) or did not previously attend (n = 57) DSMES services completed a cross-sectional survey. Participants’ mean age was 57 ± 12.3 years, 50% were female, and 71.3% were diagnosed with diabetes >5 years. The Coronavirus Impact Scale was used to measure impact of the pandemic on daily life. The Diabetes Distress Scale was used to measure distress overall and within 4 subscales (emotional burden, interpersonal distress, physician-related distress, regimen distress). Separate multiple linear regressions were conducted for each outcome, controlling for age, sex, marital status, financial status, and time since diabetes diagnosis.

Results:

Higher COVID-19 impact predicted higher diabetes-related distress for all subscales and overall. Only the subscale for interpersonal distress was predicted by DSMES attendance, which decreased with DSMES attendance.

Conclusion:

This study identifies a link between the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and diabetes distress. The findings highlight the negative impact of the pandemic on diabetes distress and the importance of DSMES services for diabetes-related distress. Interventions are needed to reduce psychological distress among this population during public health crises.
Impact of a Standardized, Pharmacist-Initiated “Test-Claim” Workflow for Anticipating Barriers to Accessing Discharge Antimicrobials
Authors: Mulugeta Surafel G. , MacDonald Nancy C. , El-Khoury Caren J. , Davis Susan L. , Kenney Rachel M.
Published: September 2023

Background: Inability to access and afford discharge oral antimicrobials may delay discharges or result in therapeutic failure. “Test-claims” have the potential to identify such barriers. Objective: This study evaluated discharge antimicrobial access and patient outcomes after implementation of a standardized, inpatient pharmacist-initiated antimicrobial discharge medication cost inquiry (aDMCI) process. Methods: This was an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved, pilot retrospective cohort study that included adults admitted for ≥72 hours from November 1, 2018, to February 28, 2019, and discharged on oral antimicrobials. Patients with a cost inquiry (aDMCI group) were compared with those without (standard-of-care, SOC, group). Primary endpoint was discharge delay. Secondary endpoints included percentage of patients discharged on suboptimal antimicrobials and medication errors from aDMCI. Results: 84 patients were included: 43 in SOC and 41 in aDMCI. Seventy-five antimicrobial cost inquiries were evaluated among 41 patients. There were no discharge delays or medication errors associated with the standardized “test-claim” (aDMCI) workflow. Patients in the SOC group had a greater Charlson Comorbidity Index (4 [2-6] vs 2 [1-4], P =0.004), were more likely to be immunosuppressed (24, 56% vs 12, 29%; P =0.014), and had longer hospitalization (8 [5-15] vs 6 [5-9] days, P =0.026). Primary access barriers were prior-authorization (8, 11%) and associated with linezolid and moxifloxacin cost inquiries. Most aDMCIs results were available in <24 hours (66, 88%). Conclusions: The aDMCI process is safe and offers an actionable transition of care tool that can identify barriers to accessing discharge medications while insulating patients from surprise out-of-pocket cost.
Protective role of boron on hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress induced by trichloroacetic acid
Authors: Wang Chong , Shi Ying , Gu Wen , Wang Chao , Xu Yongjun , Li Li , Zhang Lixia , Zhang Shaoping , Zhi Hong , Ruan Hongjie , Kong Jian , Duan Lian , Tang Song
Published: September 2023

We conducted a comprehensive investigation into the protective roles of boron (B) against trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-induced hepatotoxicity by assessing TCA exposure in vivo and exploring the potential mechanisms by which B protects against TCA-induced hepatotoxicity in vitro. For the in vivo study, we evaluated TCA-induced hepatotoxicity in adult male B6C3F1 mice exposed to 25, 50, 125, and 500 mg/kg/day of TCA, respectively, for 21 days. We found that the mice’s liver weight was significantly increased, and that there were changes in hepatic histopathology, particularly in mice treated with the highest dosage (500 mg/kg/day). TCA also increased the hepatic oxidoreductase activity of medium-chain and long-chain acyl-coenzyme A (CoA), which are biomarkers of peroxisome proliferation, in a dose-dependent manner. Subsequently, we established a TCA-induced HepG2 cell model of oxidative damage to estimate the cytotoxicity and determine the positive effects of B administration in vitro. We found that B administration significantly reduced oxidative stress by attenuating the production of TCA-induced reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde. B also significantly downregulated the concentrations of certain cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and transforming growth factor-beta, which are predominantly associated with the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. In addition, B significantly upregulated phospho-p38 levels and downregulated Bax and p21 levels in the cytoplasm and downregulated p38 and p21 levels in the nucleus. Taken together, our findings suggest that the protective role of B against TCA-induced hepatotoxicity primarily involves alleviation of oxidative damage and cell apoptosis caused by TCA and might be mediated via the p38 MAPK pathway.
Empirical evaluation of language modeling to ascertain cancer outcomes from clinical text reports
Authors: Elmarakeby Haitham A. , Trukhanov Pavel S. , Arroyo Vidal M. , Riaz Irbaz Bin , Schrag Deborah , Van Allen Eliezer M. , Kehl Kenneth L.
Published: September 2023

Background

Longitudinal data on key cancer outcomes for clinical research, such as response to treatment and disease progression, are not captured in standard cancer registry reporting. Manual extraction of such outcomes from unstructured electronic health records is a slow, resource-intensive process. Natural language processing (NLP) methods can accelerate outcome annotation, but they require substantial labeled data. Transfer learning based on language modeling, particularly using the Transformer architecture, has achieved improvements in NLP performance. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of NLP model training strategies on the extraction of cancer outcomes from unstructured text.

Results

We evaluated the performance of nine NLP models at the two tasks of identifying cancer response and cancer progression within imaging reports at a single academic center among patients with non-small cell lung cancer. We trained the classification models under different conditions, including training sample size, classification architecture, and language model pre-training. The training involved a labeled dataset of 14,218 imaging reports for 1112 patients with lung cancer. A subset of models was based on a pre-trained language model, DFCI-ImagingBERT, created by further pre-training a BERT-based model using an unlabeled dataset of 662,579 reports from 27,483 patients with cancer from our center. A classifier based on our DFCI-ImagingBERT, trained on more than 200 patients, achieved the best results in most experiments; however, these results were marginally better than simpler “bag of words” or convolutional neural network models.

Conclusion

When developing AI models to extract outcomes from imaging reports for clinical cancer research, if computational resources are plentiful but labeled training data are limited, large language models can be used for zero- or few-shot learning to achieve reasonable performance. When computational resources are more limited but labeled training data are readily available, even simple machine learning architectures can achieve good performance for such tasks.
AUD-DSS: a decision support system for early detection of patients with alcohol use disorder
Authors: Ebrahimi Ali , Wiil Uffe Kock , Baskaran Ruben , Peimankar Abdolrahman , Andersen Kjeld , Nielsen Anette Søgaard
Published: September 2023

Background

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) causes significant morbidity, mortality, and injuries. According to reports, approximately 5% of all registered deaths in Denmark could be due to AUD. The problem is compounded by the late identification of patients with AUD, a situation that can cause enormous problems, from psychological to physical to economic problems. Many individuals suffering from AUD never undergo specialist treatment during their addiction due to obstacles such as taboo and the poor performance of current screening tools. Therefore, there is a lack of rapid intervention. This can be mitigated by the early detection of patients with AUD. A clinical decision support system (DSS) powered by machine learning (ML) methods can be used to diagnose patients’ AUD status earlier.

Methods

This study proposes an effective AUD prediction model (AUDPM), which can be used in a DSS. The proposed model consists of four distinct components: (1) imputation to address missing values using the k-nearest neighbours approach, (2) recursive feature elimination with cross validation to select the most relevant subset of features, (3) a hybrid synthetic minority oversampling technique-edited nearest neighbour approach to remove noise and balance the distribution of the training data, and (4) an ML model for the early detection of patients with AUD.

Two data sources, including a questionnaire and electronic health records of 2571 patients, were collected from Odense University Hospital in the Region of Southern Denmark for the AUD-Dataset. Then, the AUD-Dataset was used to build ML models. The results of different ML models, such as support vector machine, K-nearest neighbour, decision tree, random forest, and extreme gradient boosting, were compared. Finally, a combination of all these models in an ensemble learning approach was selected for the AUDPM.

Results

The results revealed that the proposed ensemble AUDPM outperformed other single models and our previous study results, achieving 0.96, 0.94, 0.95, and 0.97 precision, recall, F1-score, and accuracy, respectively. In addition, we designed and developed an AUD-DSS prototype.

Conclusion

It was shown that our proposed AUDPM achieved high classification performance. In addition, we identified clinical factors related to the early detection of patients with AUD. The designed AUD-DSS is intended to be integrated into the existing Danish health care system to provide novel information to clinical staff if a patient shows signs of harmful alcohol use; in other words, it gives staff a good reason for having a conversation with patients for whom a conversation is relevant.
Acorn: an R package for de novo variant analysis
Authors: Turner Tychele N.
Published: September 2023

Background

The study of de novo variation is important for assessing biological characteristics of new variation and for studies related to human phenotypes. Software programs exist to call de novo variants and programs also exist to test the burden of these variants in genomic regions; however, I am unaware of a program that fits in between these two aspects of de novo variant assessment. This intermediate space is important for assessing the quality of de novo variants and to understand the characteristics of the callsets. For this reason, I developed an R package called acorn.

Results

Acorn is an R package that examines various features of de novo variants including subsetting the data by individual(s), variant type, or genomic region; calculating features including variant change counts, variant lengths, and presence/absence at CpG sites; and characteristics of parental age in relation to de novo variant counts.

Conclusions

Acorn is an R package that fills a critical gap in assessing de novo variants and will be of benefit to many investigators studying de novo variation.
Genetic variation for grain nutritional profile and yield potential in sorghum and the possibility of selection for drought tolerance under irrigated conditions
Authors: Kamal Nasrein Mohamed , Gorafi Yasir Serag Alnor , Tomemori Hisashi , Kim June-Sik , Elhadi Gamila Mohamed Idris , Tsujimoto Hisashi
Published: September 2023

Background

Increasing grain nutritional value in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a paramount breeding objective, as is increasing drought resistance (DR), because sorghum is grown mainly in drought-prone areas. The genetic basis of grain nutritional traits remains largely unknown. Marker-assisted selection using significant loci identified through genome-wide association study (GWAS) shows potential for selecting desirable traits in crops. This study assessed natural variation available in sorghum accessions from around the globe to identify novel genes or genomic regions with potential for improving grain nutritional value, and to study associations between DR traits and grain weight and nutritional composition.

Results

We dissected the genetic architecture of grain nutritional composition, protein content, thousand-kernel weight (TKW), and plant height (PH) in sorghum through GWAS of 163 unique African and Asian accessions under irrigated and post-flowering drought conditions. Several QTLs were detected. Some were significantly associated with DR, TKW, PH, protein, and Zn, Mn, and Ca contents. Genomic regions on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, and 10 were associated with TKW, nutritional, and DR traits; colocalization patterns of these markers indicate potential for simultaneous improvement of these traits. In African accessions, markers associated with TKW were mapped to six regions also associated with protein, Zn, Ca, Mn, Na, and DR, suggesting the potential for simultaneous selection for higher grain nutrition and TKW. Our results indicate that it may be possible to select for increased DR on the basis of grain nutrition and weight potential.

Conclusions

This study provides a valuable resource for selecting landraces for use in plant breeding programs and for identifying loci that may contribute to grain nutrition and weight with the hope of producing cultivars that combine improved yield traits, nutrition, and DR.
Exploring multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae antimicrobial resistance mechanisms through whole genome sequencing analysis
Authors: Yang Jing , Zhang Kai , Ding Chen , Wang Song , Wu Weiwei , Liu Xiangqun
Published: September 2023

Background

Antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged as a critical public health threat worldwide. Understanding the antimicrobial resistance mechanisms of multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae (MDR-Kp) and its prevalence in time and space would provide clinical significance for managing pathogen infection.

Methods

Eighteen clinical MDR-Kp strains were analyzed by whole genome sequencing (WGS), and the antimicrobial resistance genes and associated resistance mechanisms were compared with results obtained from the conventional microbiological test (CMT). The sequence homology across strains in our study and those previously collected over time from a wide geographical region was assessed by phylogenetic analysis.

Results

MDR-Kp strains were collected from eighteen patients who had received empirical treatment before strain collection, with sputum (83.3%, 15/18) being the primary source of clinical samples. The commonly received treatments include β-lactamase inhibitors (55.6%, 10/18) and carbapenems (50%, 9/18). Using CMT, we found that all 18 strains were resistant to aztreonam and ciprofloxacin, while 14 (77.8%) showed resistance to carbapenem. Polymyxin B and tigecycline were the only antibiotics to which MDR-Kp strains were sensitive. A total of 42 antimicrobial resistance mechanisms were identified by WGS, surpassing the 40 detected by the conventional method, with 25 mechanisms shared between the two techniques. Despite a 100% accuracy rate of WGS in detecting penicillin-resistant strains, the accuracy in detecting cephalosporin-resistant strains was only at 60%. Among all resistance genes identified by WGS, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-2 (KPC-2) was present in all 14 carbapenem-resistant strains. Phenotypic analysis indicated that sequence type (ST) 11 isolates were the primary cause of these MDR-Kp infections. Additionally, phylogenic clustering analysis, encompassing both the clinical and MDR-Kp strains previously reported in China, revealed four distinct subgroups. No significant difference was observed in the sequence homology between K. pneumoniae strains in our study and those previously collected in East China over time.

Conclusion

The application of WGS in identifying potential antimicrobial-resistant genes of MDR-Kp has demonstrated promising clinical significance. Comprehensive genomic information revealed by WGS holds the promise of guiding treatment decisions, enabling surveillance, and serving as a crucial asset in understanding antibiotic resistance.
Gut microbiota changes in horses with Chlamydia
Authors: Jin Youshun , Li Wei , Ba Xuli , Li Yunhui , Wang Yanyan , Zhang Huaiyu , Li Zhaocai , Zhou Jizhang
Published: September 2023

Background

Zoonotic diseases pose a significant threat to public health. Chlamydia, as an intracellular pathogen, can colonize the intestinal tract of humans and animals, changing the gut microbiota. However, only a few studies have evaluated alterations in the gut microbiota of horses infected with Chlamydia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate gut microbiota and serum biochemical indicators in horses with Chlamydial infection (IG) and healthy horses (HG). Fecal and blood samples were collected from 16 horses (IG: 10; HG: 6) before morning feeding for the determination of gut microbiota and serum biochemical parameters.

Results

The results showed that total globulin (GLB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and creatine kinase (CK) levels were significantly increased in IG compared with HG. Notably, the gut microbial diversity increased in IG compared with HG. Furthermore, Moraxellaceae and Akkermanisa abundance decreased in IG, while Streptococcus, Treponema, Prevotella, and Paraprevotella abundances (13 genera of bacterial species) increased. Compared with HG, carbohydrate metabolism increased in IG while amino acid metabolism decreased. In addition, the abundance of 18 genera of bacteria was associated with the level of five serum biochemical indicators.

Conclusions

In summary, this study elucidated the influence of Chlamydia infection in horses on the gut microbiota, unraveling consequential alterations in its composition and metabolic profile. Therefore, this study improves the understanding of Chlamydia-induced intestinal infections.
GhCKX14 responding to drought stress by modulating antioxi-dative enzyme activity in Gossypium hirsutum compared to CKX family genes
Authors: Li Tengyu , Luo Kun , Wang Chenlei , Wu Lanxin , Pan Jingwen , Wang Mingyang , Liu Jinwei , Li Yan , Yao Jinbo , Chen Wei , Zhu Shouhong , Zhang Yongshan
Published: September 2023

Background

Cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX) plays a vital role in response to abiotic stress through modulating the antioxidant enzyme activities. Nevertheless, the biological function of the CKX gene family has yet to be reported in cotton.

Result

In this study, a total of 27 GhCKXs were identified by the genome-wide investigation and distributed across 18 chromosomes. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that CKX genes were clustered into four clades, and most gene expansions originated from segmental duplications. The CKXs gene structure and motif analysis displayed remarkably well conserved among the four groups. Moreover, the cis-acting elements related to the abiotic stress, hormones, and light response were identified within the promoter regions of GhCKXs. Transcriptome data and RT-qPCR showed that GhCKX genes demonstrated higher expression levels in various tissues and were involved in cotton’s abiotic stress and phytohormone response. The protein-protein interaction network indicates that the CKX family probably participated in redox regulation, including oxidoreduction or ATP levels, to mediate plant growth and development. Functionally identified via virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) found that the GhCKX14 gene improved drought resistance by modulating the antioxidant-related activitie.

Conclusions

In this study, the CKX gene family members were analyzed by bioinformatics, and validates the response of GhCKX gene to various phytohormone treatment and abiotic stresses. Our findings established the foundation of GhCKXs in responding to abiotic stress and GhCKX14 in regulating drought resistance in cotton.