bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Targeting Coping to Improve Surgical Outcomes in Pediatric Patients With Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome: Feasibility Study
Authors: Stiles-Shields Colleen , Osos Sylwia , Heilbrun Anna , Feldman Estée C. H. , Mak Grace Zee , Skelly Christopher L. , Drossos Tina
Published: October 2021

Background:Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS) is a vascular compression syndrome leading to postprandial epigastric pain, nausea, and weight loss; it can be treated surgically. While most patients report improved quality of life following surgical intervention, 30% continue to experience chronic abdominal pain. Pre-surgical diagnoses of depression and/or anxiety have been found to significantly predict post-surgical: quality of life, highest experience of pain, anxiety, and parent- and self-reported coping strategies. As such, increasing the coping strategies of pediatric patients with MALS may impact their post-surgical outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to: (1) implement a pre-operative cognitive behavioral therapy protocol with a focus on psychoeducation and coping strategies; and (2) determine feasibility of a pre-surgical intervention for this population.

Method:Children (<18 years of age) with a diagnosis of MALS who were eligible for surgical intervention were invited to participate in a 7-week in-person or video-based pre-surgical cognitive behavioral therapy intervention. Psychiatric comorbidities were assessed at baseline and post-surgery; patient-reported distress, pain interference and intensity, health-related quality of life, and health status were assessed at four time points (baseline, week 4, week 7, and post-surgery). Descriptive analyses were used to characterize the sample, assess feasibility outcomes (i.e., attrition rates), and explore symptom-based outcomes across time.

Results:Twelve pediatric patients (Mage = 15.2 ± 1.7; 91.7% female) and their parents (91.7% mothers) participated. Feasibility metrics based on protocol completion were exceeded for engagement at the stages of consent (68.4% vs. goal of ≥50%), treatment initiation (92.3% vs. 85%), and treatment completion (84.6% vs. 75%). Out of the 12 participants, nine (75%) met criteria for at least one comorbid psychiatric diagnosis at baseline and nine (75%) elected to undergo MALS surgery after completing the intervention.

Conclusion:The intervention implementation was feasible, despite chronic pain symptoms experienced by the sample, a high prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses, and an international pandemic, suggesting that it would be beneficial to further evaluate the efficacy of the intervention. Future research should include stakeholder input in the design, deployment, and evaluation of a pilot efficacy trial of pre-surgical cognitive behavioral therapy for pediatric patients with MALS.
When Cognitive Proximity Leads to Higher Evaluation Decision Quality: A Study of Public Funding Allocation
Authors: Zhang Chuqing , Zhang Zheng , Yang Daozhou , Ashourizadeh Shayegheh , Li Lun
Published: October 2021

Project expert evaluation is the backbone of public funding allocation. A slight change in score can push a proposal below or above a funding line. Academic researchers have discovered many factors that may affect evaluation decision quality, yet the subject of cognitive proximity towards decision quality has not been considered thoroughly. Using 923 observations of the 2017 Beijing Innofund data, the study finds that cognitive proximity has an inverted “U-shape” relation to decision-making quality. Moreover, two contextual factors, evaluation experience and evaluation efforts, exert moderation effects on the inverted U shape. These findings fill the gaps in the current research on cognition-based perspective by specifying the mechanism of cognitive proximity in the evaluation field and contributing to improving decision-making quality by selecting appropriate evaluators. Theoretical contributions and policy implications have been discussed.
Personality Traits and Emotion Regulation Styles of Elite Beach Volleyball Dyads: Examination of Intra-Team Differences, Performance and Satisfaction Levels
Authors: Klatt Stefanie , Rückel Lisa-Marie , Wagener Sebastian , Noël Benjamin
Published: October 2021

The current study was designed to assess the personality traits and emotion regulation styles of elite beach volleyball players. Intra-team differences were examined with three primary objectives: (i) to create a personality profile of elite beach volleyball players, (ii) to examine the relationship of this profile in relation to performance and satisfaction levels, and (iii) to highlight the similarities in personalities of members of successful teams. A total of 82 elite beach volleyball players were asked to fill out the Big Five Inventory, the Personality Adjective Scale, and the Affective Style Questionnaire. In addition to these, the overall satisfaction and performance level of these athletes were measured. Results indicated a higher manifestation of warmth, liveliness, emotional stability and reasoning, along with lower levels of neuroticism in successful athletes. The players used a variety of emotional regulation styles and reported being moderately to highly satisfied with their team. A repeated-measures MANCOVA revealed no significant differences in personality traits between the team members. This study generates valuable insights into the personality of elite beach volleyball players and can be useful for coaches, sport psychologists, and academics for practical application and further scientific research.
An Emerging Preventive Mental Health Care Strategy: The Neurobiological and Functional Basis of Positive Psychological Traits
Authors: Duncan Ashten R. , Daugherty Grant , Carmichael Gabrielle
Published: October 2021

Even with the expanding burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, our approach to mental health care remains largely reactive rather than preventive. This trend is problematic because the majority of outpatient visits to primary care providers across the country is related to unmet mental health needs. Positive psychology has the potential to address these issues within mental health care and provide primary care providers with strategies to serve their patients more effectively. Positive psychology has many frameworks like hope, which can be measured using simple questionnaires in the waiting room. Moreover, there is a growing body of neurobiological evidence that lends credence to positive psychology concepts in the context of differential neuronal activation patterns. Many positive psychological instruments not only have high construct validity but also have connections to observable neurobiological differences tied to differences in psychosocial functioning. Despite the current evidence, we still need robust research that explores if such psychometric measurements and related interventions lead to clinically significant and favorable health outcomes in patients outside of controlled environments.
Ethnic Socialization, Ethnic Identity, and Self-Esteem in Chinese Mulao Adolescents
Authors: Kuang Lu , Nishikawa Saori
Published: October 2021

We examined the associations and likely pathways between ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, and self-esteem among junior high school students of Chinese Mulao ethnic minority. A total of 469 Mulao students (220 boys and 249 girls) completed the Ethnic Socialization Measurement revised byYin et al. (2016), the Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM-R) byRoberts et al. (1999), and Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale (Chinese Version) byWang et al. (1999). The main results indicated that adolescents who perceived more promotion of harmony messages tended to report stronger ethnic identity and higher self-esteem. Adolescents who perceived cultural socialization displayed stronger ethnic identity and higher self-esteem, while the promotion of distrust messages was negatively associated with self-esteem. Multiple-group analysis revealed that the relationships were stable across gender, parental education, but varied significantly across students’ grade. These findings emphasize the important role of positive ethnic socialization messages in adolescents’ ethnic identity and self-esteem. In addition, it is also important that we pay attention to negative ethnic socialization messages and consider their grade when communicating ethnic information with adolescents. Finally, our results are analyzed and notable suggestions are presented for ethnic family education.
Chaos May Prevail Without Filial Piety: A Cross-Cultural Study on Filial Piety, the Dark Triad, and Moral Disengagement
Authors: Qiao Xiuqing , Lv Yiqing , Aldbyani Aamer , Guo Qingke , Zhang Tianyi , Cai Minghang
Published: October 2021

In traditional Chinese society, filial piety (FP) served as the philosophical foundation of social governance, without which chaos would prevail. It indicates that the function of FP is not limited to family. FP can predict attitudes and behaviors in other social contexts. This study examined the relationship between FP and moral disengagement, and the mediating roles of the dark triad personality, and cultural differences regarding these mechanisms. An online self-report survey was conducted in two different culture groups- university students from China (N = 400, 37% male, Mage = 20.41, SD age = 2.52) and Islamic countries who are studying in China (N = 378, 59.25% male, Mage = 24.29, SD age = 4.77). Correlation analysis showed that authoritarian FP was positively associated with moral disengagement among students from China and Islamic countries, while reciprocal FP only negatively correlated with moral disengagement among Chinese students. Moreover, reciprocal FP directly and negatively affected moral disengagement, and did so indirectly through the mediating role of Machiavellianism. However, authoritarian FP directly and positively influenced moral disengagement, and did so indirectly through the buffering role of narcissism. These two parallel mediating models are not affected by culture. Though FP varies from culture to culture, reciprocal FP and authoritarian FP play critical roles in influencing personality and moral development. Reciprocal FP reduces moral disengagement directly and indirectly by weakening Machiavellianism. The role of authoritarian FP is conflicting. It can strengthen moral disengagement, but may also weaken it by deterring the development of the narcissistic personality. The findings enlighten us to view authoritarian FP dialectically. These two parallel mediating models are not affected by culture, indicating the applicability of DFPM in other societies. Future studies are encouraged to involve participants from more divergent countries and cultural backgrounds.
The Ape That Lived to Tell the Tale. The Evolution of the Art of Storytelling and Its Relationship to Mental Time Travel and Theory of Mind
Authors: Garcia-Pelegrin Elias , Wilkins Clive , Clayton Nicola S.
Published: October 2021

Engaging in the art of creating and telling stories is a defining behaviour of humankind. Humans have been sharing stories with each other, with and without words, since the dawn of recorded history, but the cognitive foundations of the behaviour can be traced deeper into our past. The emergence of stories can be strongly linked to Mental Time Travel (the ability to recall the past and imagine the future) and plays a key role in our ability to communicate past, present and future scenarios with other individuals, within and beyond our lifetimes. Stories are products engraved within the concept of time, constructed to elucidate the past experiences of the self, but designed with the future in mind, thus imparting lessons of such experiences to the receiver. By being privy to the experiences of others, humans can imagine themselves in a similar position to the protagonist of the story, thus mentally learning from an experience they might have never encountered other than in the mind's eye. Evolutionary Psychology investigates how the engagement in artistic endeavours by our ancestors in the Pleistocene granted them an advantage when confronted with obstacles that challenged their survival or reproductive fitness and questions whether art is an adaptation of the human mind or a spandrel of other cognitive adaptations. However, little attention has been placed on the cognitive abilities that might have been imperative for the development of art. Here, we examine the relationship between art, storytelling, Mental Time Travel and Theory of Mind (i.e., the ability to attribute mental states to others). We suggest that Mental Time Travel played a key role in the development of storytelling because through stories, humans can fundamentally transcend their present condition, by being able to imagine different times, separate realities, and place themselves and others anywhere within the time space continuum. We argue that the development of a Theory of Mind also sparked storytelling practises in humans as a method of diffusing the past experiences of the self to others whilst enabling the receiver to dissociate between the past experiences of others and their own, and to understand them as lessons for a possible future. We propose that when artistic products rely on storytelling in form and function, they ought to be considered separate from other forms of art whose appreciation capitalise on our aesthetic preferences.
Impact of Eye and Breast Shielding on Organ Doses During Cervical Spine Radiography: Design and Validation of MIRD Computational Phantom
Authors: Elshami Wiam , Tekin Huseyin Ozan , Issa Shams A. M. , Abuzaid Mohamed M. , Zakaly Hesham M. H. , Issa Bashar , Ene Antoaneta
Published: October 2021

Purpose:The study aimed to design and validate computational phantoms (MIRD) using the MCNPX code to assess the impact of shielding on organ doses.

Method:To validate the optimized phantom, the obtained results were compared with experimental results. The validation of the optimized MIRD phantom was provided by using the results of a previous anthropomorphic phantom study. MIRD phantom was designed by considering the parameters used in the anthropomorphic phantom study. A test simulation was performed to compare the dose reduction percentages (%) between the experimental anthropomorphic phantom study and the MCNPX-MIRD phantom. The simulation was performed twice, with and without shielding materials, using the same number and locations of the detector.

Results:The absorbed dose amounts were directly extracted from the required organ and tissue cell parts of output files. Dose reduction percentages between the simulation with shielding and simulation without shielding were compared. The highest dose reduction was noted in the thymus (95%) and breasts (88%). The obtained dose reduction percentages between the anthropomorphic phantom study and the MCNPX-MIRD phantom were highly consistent and correlated values with experimental anthropomorphic data. Both methods showed Relative Difference (%) ranges between 0.88 and 2.22. Moreover, the MCNPX-MIRD optimized phantom provides detailed dose analysis for target and non-target organs and can be used to assess the efficiency of shielding in radiological examination.

Conclusion:Shielding breasts and eyes during cervical radiography reduced the radiation dose to many organs. The decision to not shield patients should be based on research evidence as this approach does not apply to all cases.
Smart Cardiac Framework for an Early Detection of Cardiac Arrest Condition and Risk
Authors: Shah Apeksha , Ahirrao Swati , Pandya Sharnil , Kotecha Ketan , Rathod Suresh
Published: October 2021

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is considered to be one of the most epidemic diseases in the world today. Predicting CVDs, such as cardiac arrest, is a difficult task in the area of healthcare. The healthcare industry has a vast collection of datasets for analysis and prediction purposes. Somehow, the predictions made on these publicly available datasets may be erroneous. To make the prediction accurate, real-time data need to be collected. This study collected real-time data using sensors and stored it on a cloud computing platform, such as Google Firebase. The acquired data is then classified using six machine-learning algorithms: Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Random Forest Classifier (RFC), Gradient Boost Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) classifier, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naïve Bayes (NB), and Decision Tree (DT). Furthermore, we have presented two novel gender-based risk classification and age-wise risk classification approach in the undertaken study. The presented approaches have used Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression survival analysis methodologies for risk detection and classification. The presented approaches also assist health experts in identifying the risk probability risk and the 10-year risk score prediction. The proposed system is an economical alternative to the existing system due to its low cost. The outcome obtained shows an enhanced level of performance with an overall accuracy of 98% using DT on our collected dataset for cardiac risk prediction. We also introduced two risk classification models for gender- and age-wise people to detect their survival probability. The outcome of the proposed model shows accurate probability in both classes.
Mechanical Performance of Concrete Made with the Addition of Recycled Macro Plastic Fibres
Authors: Vaccaro Pietro A. , Galvín Adela P. , Ayuso Jesús , Barbudo Auxi , López-Uceda Antonio
Published: October 2021

For many decades, researchers have been working on finding innovative and sustainable solutions to address the enormous quantities of plastic waste that are produced every year which, after being collected, are transformed into energy, recycled, or sent to landfills. Giving a second life to plastic waste as a material to be incorporated, in the form of macro-fibres, into concrete, could be one such solution. The purpose of this study was to analyse the mechanical and physical behaviour of the hardened concrete reinforced with macro plastic fibres (RPFs) obtained from food packaging waste (FPW) discarded during the packaging phase. By varying the quantity of macro-fibres used, physical and mechanical properties such as compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, flexural strength, and toughness were evaluated. It was observed that, although the presence of macro plastic fibres reduced the mechanical resistance capacity compared to that of traditional concrete, their contribution proved to be of some importance in terms of toughness, bringing an improvement in the post-crack resistance of the composite material. This innovative mixture provides a further impulse to the circular economy.
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis as Flavoring Agent for Alcoholic Beverages
Authors: Pieracci Ylenia , Pistelli Luisa , Lari Matteo , Iannone Matteo , Marianelli Andrea , Ascrizzi Roberta , Pistelli Laura , Flamini Guido
Published: October 2021

The present work is an evaluation of the chemical composition of the aroma and the sensorial characters of a beer flavored with Hibiscus rosa-sinensis flowers. Moreover, the total polyphenol, flavonoid and anthocyanin contents and the antioxidant activity of the plant materials and beers were assessed. A comparison with a liqueur flavored with the same hibiscus flowers was also performed. Non-terpene derivatives constituted the main class of components of the aroma of both samples, representing 96.4% of the whole volatilome in the control beer and 99.0% in the hibiscus one. Among this class, esters were the most abundant compounds, being significantly higher in the treated sample (77.6%) than in the control (68.4%), followed by the alcohols (20.9% in control beer and 18.8% in hibiscus beer). From a sensorial point of view, the control beer was characterized by malty and hoppy notes, attributable to the noticeable content in myrcene and α-humulene in its headspace, while in the hibiscus beer, floral and fruity notes, typical of esters and alcohols, prevailed. The polyphenol content was significantly higher in the treated beer (143.96 mg/g) than in the control, as well as the total flavonoids and the total anthocyanins, and, consequently, the antioxidant activity (DPPH-assay).
Secrecy Rate of Resource-Constrained Mobile Relay Model under Two-Way Wiretap Channel
Authors: Wang Hongmei , Wang Yinchun , Wu Meng
Published: October 2021

Relay communication is emerging as a promising solution to improving the reliability of long-distance communication systems. However, transmitting data in a secure way is challenging due to the possibility of eavesdroppers wiretapping such systems. To address the challenge, this paper proposes a joint secure transmission and graph mobility model. With the proposed model, the secrecy rate of the resource-constrained two-way wiretap channel mobile relay system is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. Furthermore, efficient algorithms that achieve a local optimal solution are derived. Numerical results are provided to validate the performance of the proposed algorithms.
Broadband Passively Mode-Locked Fiber Laser with DNA Aqueous Solution as Saturable Absorber
Authors: Kim Mijin , Kim Jeong Je , Lee Sang Bae , Kim Dal-Young , Lee Kwanil , Lee Wonsuk
Published: October 2021

We demonstrate a passively mode-locked fiber laser using aqueous DNA solution as a saturable absorber (SA), with broadband pulse laser emission from 1 to 1.5 µm. The mode-locked laser with erbium-doped fiber as the gain material has a center wavelength of 1563 nm, a 3 dB bandwidth of 3.9 nm, and a pulse width of 822 fs, whereas the laser with ytterbium-doped fiber as the gain material and an identical DNA aqueous SA has a center wavelength of 1037 nm, a 3 dB bandwidth of 5.04 nm, and a pulse width of 250 ps. The proposed laser, which is simple and cost effective to fabricate, exhibits excellent long-term stability as well as thermal stability during high-power operation. This mode-locked laser scheme with a liquid-phase DNA component has the potential to provide in-depth understanding of the optical nonlinearity and usefulness of DNA.
NASca and NASes: Two Monolingual Pre-Trained Models for Abstractive Summarization in Catalan and Spanish
Authors: Ahuir Vicent , Hurtado Lluís-F. , González José Ángel , Segarra Encarna
Published: October 2021

Most of the models proposed in the literature for abstractive summarization are generally suitable for the English language but not for other languages. Multilingual models were introduced to address that language constraint, but despite their applicability being broader than that of the monolingual models, their performance is typically lower, especially for minority languages like Catalan. In this paper, we present a monolingual model for abstractive summarization of textual content in the Catalan language. The model is a Transformer encoder-decoder which is pretrained and fine-tuned specifically for the Catalan language using a corpus of newspaper articles. In the pretraining phase, we introduced several self-supervised tasks to specialize the model on the summarization task and to increase the abstractivity of the generated summaries. To study the performance of our proposal in languages with higher resources than Catalan, we replicate the model and the experimentation for the Spanish language. The usual evaluation metrics, not only the most used ROUGE measure but also other more semantic ones such as BertScore, do not allow to correctly evaluate the abstractivity of the generated summaries. In this work, we also present a new metric, called content reordering, to evaluate one of the most common characteristics of abstractive summaries, the rearrangement of the original content. We carried out an exhaustive experimentation to compare the performance of the monolingual models proposed in this work with two of the most widely used multilingual models in text summarization, mBART and mT5. The experimentation results support the quality of our monolingual models, especially considering that the multilingual models were pretrained with many more resources than those used in our models. Likewise, it is shown that the pretraining tasks helped to increase the degree of abstractivity of the generated summaries. To our knowledge, this is the first work that explores a monolingual approach for abstractive summarization both in Catalan and Spanish.
Economic Sustainability in Wastewater Treatment Companies: A Regional Analysis for the Iberian Peninsula
Authors: Santos Eleonora , Lisboa Inês , Eugénio Teresa
Published: October 2021

An important part of environmental degradation is caused by the discharge of untreated or mistreated wastewater. The reuse of water is paramount to the National Strategic Plan for the Water Supply and Wastewater Sanitation Sector in Portugal and Spain. Since centralized treatment systems have proved to be inefficient, tackling environmental issues requires a regional approach. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) mitigate environmental impacts and contribute to the financial savings of other firms. However, the literature evaluating WWTPs’ financial performance and economic sustainability is scarce. The implementation of a resource recovery technology depends heavily on economic viability. Thus, this paper analyses the financial sustainability of 222 WWTPs in the Iberian Peninsula by NUTS II regions in 2016–2019 to assess the region with the best performance and financial stability and provide regional policy implications. Using the SABI database, this research encompasses a numerical and narrative analysis of key financial ratios. Results show that firms in Algarve and La Rioja exhibit higher financial sustainability when compared to other regions. Results can foster enhancements in the governance of regulated utilities.
An Overview of Blockchain Online Social Media from the Technical Point of View
Authors: Guidi Barbara
Published: October 2021

Social media is becoming one of the dominant ways to communicate. Before social media, people were extremely limited in their means to interact with others, and they were limited largely to the people that they knew in person. However, this impact on people in real life has damaged privacy. Alternative solutions have been proposed in order to overcome current social media issues. In this direction, blockchain is one of the most promising, and several blockchain-based social media have been proposed. In this paper, we analyze blockchain online social media from the technical point of view in order to understand the current trend of social DApps and to describe which characteristics are important in a blockchain-based social media scenario. We analyze real data by exploiting one of the most well-known DApps sites, and we compare current technologies in order to highlight which ones can be better applied to a real social scenario, such as Facebook.
Autoencoder-Based Semantic Novelty Detection: Towards Dependable AI-Based Systems
Authors: Rausch Andreas , Sedeh Azarmidokht Motamedi , Zhang Meng
Published: October 2021

Many autonomous systems, such as driverless taxis, perform safety-critical functions. Autonomous systems employ artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, specifically for environmental perception. Engineers cannot completely test or formally verify AI-based autonomous systems. The accuracy of AI-based systems depends on the quality of training data. Thus, novelty detection, that is, identifying data that differ in some respect from the data used for training, becomes a safety measure for system development and operation. In this study, we propose a new architecture for autoencoder-based semantic novelty detection with two innovations: architectural guidelines for a semantic autoencoder topology and a semantic error calculation as novelty criteria. We demonstrate that such a semantic novelty detection outperforms autoencoder-based novelty detection approaches known from the literature by minimizing false negatives.
Tree-Structured Regression Model Using a Projection Pursuit Approach
Authors: Cho Hyunsun , Lee Eun-Kyung
Published: October 2021

In this paper, a new tree-structured regression model—the projection pursuit regression tree—is proposed. It combines the projection pursuit classification tree with the projection pursuit regression. The main advantage of the projection pursuit regression tree is exploring the independent variable space in each range of the dependent variable. Additionally, it retains the main properties of the projection pursuit classification tree. The projection pursuit regression tree provides several methods of assigning values to the final node, which enhances predictability. It shows better performance than CART in most cases and sometimes beats random forest with a single tree. This development makes it possible to find a better explainable model with reasonable predictability.
What Children with Neuromotor Disabilities Need to Play with Technological Games
Authors: Nossa Roberta , Porro Matteo , Picciolini Odoardo , Malosio Matteo , Pittaccio Simone , Valoriani Matteo , Asperti Valentina , Clasadonte Francesco , Oliveto Luigi , Mondellini Marta , Pizzagalli Simone Luca , Lavit Nicora Matteo , Romanò Jacopo , Lazzari Fabio , Garavaglia Lorenzo , Scano Alessandro , Fedeli Francesca , Diella Eleonora , Meloni Sara , Biffi Emilia
Published: October 2021

Game activity is fundamental for children’s cognitive and social development. During recent years, technology development has led to changes in several areas, including the ludic one. However, while in the literature, there are plenty of studies that report the importance of technology-based games in rehabilitation program, little attention has been paid to their role as pure entertainment. In contrast, the market does not provide videogames that are engaging, accessible, and inclusive. In this context, a survey was distributed to families who have a child with neuromotor limitations to investigate how these children deal with play, in particular with videogames, and what the requirements are for accessible and inclusive videogames. FightTheStroke distributed the questionnaire to families with a child with neuromotor impairments in April 2020. Fifty-six families responded to the survey. The answers revealed that children generally manifest positive feelings when playing with videogames, especially with cooperative ones, even if they are not fully accessible. The survey also collected user needs and suggestions from families about the design of videogames for neuromotor-impaired children. Guidelines derived from the survey are reported for the development of entertaining, inclusive, and accessible videogames, playable by children with neuromotor disabilities.
Performance Prediction Equation for 2000 m Youth Indoor Rowing Using a 100 m Maximal Test
Authors: Silva Luiz Felipe da , de Almeida-Neto Paulo Francisco , de Matos Dihogo Gama , Riechman Steven E. , de Queiros Victor , de Jesus Joseane Barbosa , Reis Victor Machado , Clemente Filipe Manuel , Miarka Bianca , Aidar Felipe J. , Dantas Paulo Moreira Silva , Cabral Breno Guilherme de Araújo Tinoco
Published: October 2021

Background: The exhaustive series of tests undergone by young athletes of Olympic rowing prior to important competitions imply loads of physical stress that can ultimately impact on mood and motivation, with negative consequences for their training and performance. Thus, it is necessary to develop a tool that uses only the performance of short distances but is highly predictive, offering a time expectancy with high reliability. Such a test must use variables that are easy to collect with high practical applicability in the daily routine of coaches. Objective: The objective of the present study was to develop a mathematical model capable of predicting 2000 m rowing performance from a maximum effort 100 m indoor rowing ergometer (IRE) test in young rowers. Methods: The sample consisted of 12 male rowing athletes in the junior category (15.9 ± 1.0 years). A 100 m time trial was performed on the IRE, followed by a 2000 m time trial 24-h later. Results: The 2000 m mathematical model to predict performance in minutes based on the maximum 100 m test demonstrated a high correlation (r = 0.734; p = 0.006), strong reliability index (ICC: 0.978; IC95%: [0.960; 0.980]; p = 0.001) and was within usable agreement limits (Bland -Altman Agreement: −0.60 to 0.60; 95% CI [−0.65; 0.67]). Conclusion: The mathematical model developed to predict 2000 m performance is effective and has a statistically significant reliability index while being easy to implement with low cost.
A Survey of Computer-Aided Tumor Diagnosis Based on Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Yan Yan , Yao Xu-Jing , Wang Shui-Hua , Zhang Yu-Dong
Published: October 2021

Tumors are new tissues that are harmful to human health. The malignant tumor is one of the main diseases that seriously affect human health and threaten human life. For cancer treatment, early detection of pathological features is essential to reduce cancer mortality effectively. Traditional diagnostic methods include routine laboratory tests of the patient’s secretions, and serum, immune and genetic tests. At present, the commonly used clinical imaging examinations include X-ray, CT, MRI, SPECT scan, etc. With the emergence of new problems of radiation noise reduction, medical image noise reduction technology is more and more investigated by researchers. At the same time, doctors often need to rely on clinical experience and academic background knowledge in the follow-up diagnosis of lesions. However, it is challenging to promote clinical diagnosis technology. Therefore, due to the medical needs, research on medical imaging technology and computer-aided diagnosis appears. The advantages of a convolutional neural network in tumor diagnosis are increasingly obvious. The research on computer-aided diagnosis based on medical images of tumors has become a sharper focus in the industry. Neural networks have been commonly used to research intelligent methods to assist medical image diagnosis and have made significant progress. This paper introduces the traditional methods of computer-aided diagnosis of tumors. It introduces the segmentation and classification of tumor images as well as the diagnosis methods based on CNN to help doctors determine tumors. It provides a reference for developing a CNN computer-aided system based on tumor detection research in the future.
Stroke-Associated Cortical Deafness: A Systematic Review of Clinical and Radiological Characteristics
Authors: Silva Gracinda , Gonçalves Rita , Taveira Isabel , Mouzinho Maria , Osório Rui , Nzwalo Hipólito
Published: October 2021

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of cortical deafness (CD), the most severe form of central hearing impairment. CD remains poorly characterized and perhaps underdiagnosed. We perform a systematic review to describe the clinical and radiological features of stroke-associated CD. Methods: PubMed and the Web of Science databases were used to identify relevant publications up to 30 June 2021 using the MeSH terms: “deafness” and “stroke”, or “hearing loss” and “stroke” or “auditory agnosia” and “stroke”. Results: We found 46 cases, caused by bilateral lesions within the central auditory pathway, mostly located within or surrounding the superior temporal lobe gyri and/or the Heschl’s gyri (30/81%). In five (13.51%) patients, CD was caused by the subcortical hemispheric and in two (0.05%) in brainstem lesions. Sensorineural hearing loss was universal. Occasionally, a misdiagnosis by peripheral or psychiatric disorders occurred. A few (20%) had clinical improvement, with a regained oral conversation or evolution to pure word deafness (36.6%). A persistent inability of oral communication occurred in 43.3%. A full recovery of conversation was restricted to patients with subcortical lesions. Conclusions: Stroke-associated CD is rare, severe and results from combinations of cortical and subcortical lesions within the central auditory pathway. The recovery of functional hearing occurs, essentially, when caused by subcortical lesions.
Tumor Heterogeneity and Consequences for Bladder Cancer Treatment
Authors: Lavallee Etienne , Sfakianos John P. , Mulholland David J.
Published: October 2021

Acquired therapeutic resistance remains a major challenge in cancer management and associates with poor oncological outcomes in most solid tumor types. A major contributor is tumor heterogeneity (TH) which can be influenced by the stromal; immune and epithelial tumor compartments. We hypothesize that heterogeneity in tumor epithelial subpopulations—whether de novo or newly acquired—closely regulate the clinical course of bladder cancer. Changes in these subpopulations impact the tumor microenvironment including the extent of immune cell infiltration and response to immunotherapeutics. Mechanisms driving epithelial tumor heterogeneity (EpTH) can be broadly categorized as mutational and non-mutational. Mechanisms regulating lineage plasticity; acquired cellular mutations and changes in lineage-defined subpopulations regulate stress responses to clinical therapies. If tumor heterogeneity is a dynamic process; an increased understanding of how EpTH is regulated is critical in order for clinical therapies to be more sustained and durable. In this review and analysis, we assess the importance and regulatory mechanisms governing EpTH in bladder cancer and the impact on treatment response.
Plasma-Based Genotyping in Advanced Solid Tumors: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Makarem Maisam , García-Pardo Miguel , Leighl Natasha B.
Published: October 2021

Molecular genotyping for advanced solid malignancies has transformed the clinical management of patients with metastatic disease. Treatment decisions in a growing number of tumors require knowledge of molecularly driven alterations in order to select optimal targeted therapy. Although genomic testing of tumor tissue is the gold standard for identifying targetable genomic alterations, biopsy samples are often limited or difficult to access. This has paved the way for the development of plasma-based approaches for genomic profiling. Recent advances in the detection of plasma-circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) have enabled the integration of plasma-based molecular profiling into clinical practice as an alternative or complementary tool for genomic testing in the setting of advanced cancer, to facilitate the identification of driver mutations to guide initial treatment and diagnose resistance. Several guidelines now recommend the use of plasma where tumor tissue is limited to identify a targetable genomic alteration. Current plasma-based assays can evaluate multiple genes in comprehensive panels, and their application in advanced disease will be increasingly incorporated into standard practice. This review focuses on current and future applications of plasma ctDNA-based assays in advanced solid malignancies, while highlighting some limitations in implementing this technology into clinical practice.
The Incidence of Bacteremia and Risk Factors of Post-Radiofrequency Ablation Fever for Patients with Hepato-Cellular Carcinoma
Authors: Chen Po-Yueh , Tsai Tsung-Jung , Yang Hsin-Yi , Chou Chu-Kuang , Chang Li-Jen , Chen Tsung-Hsien , Hsu Ming-Tse , Fang Chien-Chung , Su Chang-Chao , Lin Yu-Ling , Feng Yu-Min , Chen Chi-Yi
Published: October 2021

Post-radiofrequency ablation (RFA) fever is a self-limited complication of RFA. The correlation between post-RFA fever and bacteremia and the risk factors associated with post-RFA fever have not been evaluated. Patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent ultrasonography-guided RFA between April 2014 and February 2019 were retrospectively enrolled. Post-RFA fever was defined as any episode of body temperature >38.0 °C after RFA during hospitalization. A total of 272 patients were enrolled, and there were 452 applications of RFA. The frequency of post-RFA fever was 18.4% (83/452), and 65.1% (54/83) of post-RFA fevers occurred on the first day after ablation. Patients with post-RFA fever had a longer hospital stay than those without (9.06 days vs. 5.50 days, p < 0.001). Only four (4.8%) patients with post-RFA fever had bacteremia. The independent factors associated with post-RFA fever were younger age (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.96, 95% CI, 0.94–0.99, p = 0.019), low serum albumin level (adjusted OR = 0.49, 95% CI, 0.25–0.95, p = 0.036), general anesthesia (adjusted OR = 2.06, 95% CI, 1.15–3.69, p = 0.015), tumor size (adjusted OR = 1.52, 95% CI, 1.04–2.02, p = 0.032), and tumor number (adjusted OR = 1.71, 95% CI, 1.20–2.45, p = 0.003).
Patient Eligibility and Results for Brain Metastasis in Phase 3 Trials of Advanced Breast Cancer: A Scoping Review
Authors: Duchnowska Renata , Saad Everardo D. , Banaszek Małgorzata , Pawłowska Ewa , Liberek Hanna , Cichowska-Cwalińska Natalia , Jassem Jacek
Published: October 2021

Background: Although brain metastases (BM) affect 5% of all breast cancer patients and 14% of those with metastatic disease, patients with BM are often excluded from participation in clinical trials. We conducted a structured assessment of the contemporary restrictions to enrolment of, and results for, patients with BM in phase 3 trials published over a period of 23 years in advanced breast cancer. Methods: We used PubMed to search for completed randomized trials published between 01/98 and 12/20. For all eligible trials, two authors independently abstracted data on general characteristics of the studies and detailed information on patient eligibility regarding the presence of BM. Results: We analyzed 210 trials, which enrolled 92,409 eligible patients. Of that total, 162 (77.1%) publications explicitly mentioned eligibility criteria related to the presence of BM and 75 (35.7%) trials reportedly allowed patients with BM, usually with restrictions related to prior brain treatment or stability of lesions. There was a significant increase over time in the percentages of trials allowing patients with BM (p < 0.001), and these trials were more frequently dedicated to HER2-positive or triple-negative disease (p = 0.001). Only 11 trials reported separate results for patients with BM at baseline. The direct treatment activity on BM was usually not reported, although in subgroup analyses the treatment effect in relative terms was usually better among patients with BM than in overall populations. Conclusion: Nearly 36% of phase 3 trials in advanced breast cancer over a 23-year period allowed patients with BM, and this practice is increasing over time. More research is needed to establish the activity of current and promising therapies in patients with BM.
Course of Disease and Clinical Management of Patients with Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma
Authors: Grawe Freba , Cahya Atika , Fabritius Matthias P. , Beyer Leonie , Wenter Vera , Ruebenthaler Johannes , Geyer Thomas , Burgard Caroline , Bartenstein Peter , Ilhan Harun , Spitzweg Christine , Todica Andrei
Published: October 2021

Background: In patients with poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma, the clinical course and prognostic value of response to initial radioiodine therapy is evaluated. Methods: In 47 patients, clinical and imaging features were analyzed. Patients were stratified in no (NED), biochemical (B-ED) and structural evidence of disease (S-ED) assessed at the first diagnostic control and its impact on survival was evaluated. Further, possible risk factors for a shorter disease-specific survival rate (DSS) were analyzed. Results: In total, 17/47 patients consisted of NED, 10/47 were B-ED and 20/47 S-ED patients. At the last follow-up, 18/47 patients were NED, 2/47 patients B-ED and 27/47 patients S-ED. The median survival time was only reached for the S-ED group (median 3.9 years, 95%CI 2.8–5.1 years) and was not reached in the B-ED and NED groups. Metastases were diagnosed by a 18F-FDG-PET/CT scan in all cases and a multivariate analysis showed that the PET-positivity of metastases was the only significant predictor of DSS (p = 0.036). Conclusion: The response to initial surgery and radioiodine therapy in PDTC patients can achieve an excellent outcome and a further follow-up should be refined based on findings at the first diagnostic control. However, patients with an incomplete response and metastatic patients who become mostly radioiodine refractory show a significantly shorter survival, which makes accurate staging by 18F-FDG-PET/CT imaging crucial.
Iron Metabolism in Pancreatic Beta-Cell Function and Dysfunction
Authors: Marku Algerta , Galli Alessandra , Marciani Paola , Dule Nevia , Perego Carla , Castagna Michela
Published: October 2021

Iron is an essential element involved in a variety of physiological functions. In the pancreatic beta-cells, being part of Fe-S cluster proteins, it is necessary for the correct insulin synthesis and processing. In the mitochondria, as a component of the respiratory chain, it allows the production of ATP and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that trigger beta-cell depolarization and potentiate the calcium-dependent insulin release. Iron cellular content must be finely tuned to ensure the normal supply but also to prevent overloading. Indeed, due to the high reactivity with oxygen and the formation of free radicals, iron excess may cause oxidative damage of cells that are extremely vulnerable to this condition because the normal elevated ROS production and the paucity in antioxidant enzyme activities. The aim of the present review is to provide insights into the mechanisms responsible for iron homeostasis in beta-cells, describing how alteration of these processes has been related to beta-cell damage and failure. Defects in iron-storing or -chaperoning proteins have been detected in diabetic conditions; therefore, the control of iron metabolism in these cells deserves further investigation as a promising target for the development of new disease treatments.
The Retinoblastoma Tumor Suppressor Is Required for the NUP98-HOXA9-Induced Aberrant Nuclear Envelope Phenotype
Authors: Vaz Marcela , Fahrenkrog Birthe
Published: October 2021

Chromosomal translocations involving the nucleoporin NUP98 gene are recurrently identified in leukemia; yet, the cellular defects accompanying NUP98 fusion proteins are poorly characterized. NUP98 fusions cause changes in nuclear and nuclear envelope (NE) organization, in particular, in the nuclear lamina and the lamina associated polypeptide 2α (LAP2α), a regulator of the tumor suppressor retinoblastoma protein (RB). We demonstrate that, for NUP98-HOXA9 (NHA9), the best-studied NUP98 fusion protein, its effect(s) on nuclear architecture largely depend(s) on RB. Morphological alterations caused by the expression of NHA9 are largely diminished in the absence of RB, both in human cells expressing the human papillomavirus 16 E7 protein and in mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking RB. We further show that NHA9 expression associates with distinct histone modification. Moreover, the pattern of trimethylation of histone H3 lysine-27 is affected by NHA9, again in an RB-dependent manner. Our results pinpoint to an unexpected interplay between NUP98 fusion proteins and RB, which may contribute to leukemogenesis.