bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
18F-NaF PET/CT in Presumed Aseptic Pseudarthrosis after Spinal Fusion: Correlation with Findings at Revision Surgery and Intraoperative Cultures
Authors: El Yaagoubi Yacine , Loret Jean-Edouard , Lioret Eric , Thomas Clément , Simonneau Adrien , Vinikoff Laurent , Prunier-Aesch Caroline , Chetanneau Alain , Philippe Laurent , Ogielska Maja , Bernard Louis
Published: September 2022

Background Conventional imaging is useful to assess interbody fusion by showing complete trabecular bony bridging, but has a low positive predictive value for pseudarthrosis. Because alterations of bone metabolism may precede structural anatomical changes on computed tomography (CT), we aimed to investigate the ability of fluorine 18 sodium fluoride positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-NaF PET/CT) to identify pseudarthrosis after spinal fusion using surgical revision as the reference standard.

Methods We retrospectively reviewed 18F-NaF PET/CT scans performed between February 2019 and September 2020 in patients experiencing pain after spinal fusion. We included the 18 patients who underwent revision surgery for suspicion of pseudarthrosis. Five consecutive patients who were clearly fused on CT served as the control group.

Results In the revision surgery group (n=18), visual assessment by 18F-NaF PET/CT revealed that all 22 cages with an increased 18F-NaF uptake around intercorporal fusion material had mobility at revision surgery, whereas none of the fused patients (n=5) showed uptake around cage/intervertebral disk space. Among the 18 patients with presumed aseptic pseudarthrosis, intraoperative cultures revealed surgical site infection (SSI) caused by Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) in seven patients (38.9%). There was a statistically significant difference in standardized uptake values and uptake ratios between the revision surgery and control groups (p=5.3× 10−6 and p=0.0002, respectively).

Conclusions 18F-NaF PET/CT imaging appeared as a useful tool to identify pseudarthrosis following spinal fusion. The unexpectedly high prevalence (38.9%) of SSI caused by C. acnes found in presumed aseptic patients supports the utility of intraoperative cultures in revision cases for pseudarthrosis, even without preoperative clinical suspicion of SSI.
Traumatic Brain Injury Cases' Mortality Predictors, Association, and Outcomes in the Emergency Department at a Tertiary Healthcare Center in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Al-Shareef Ali S. , Thaqafi Majid Al , Alzahrani Moajeb , Samman Afnan M. , AlShareef Abdullah , Alzahrani Ahmad , Alzahrani Ali , Rio Ali , Hariri Bassam , Ramadan Majed
Published: September 2022

Aim Incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Saudi Arabia has been estimated to be 116 per 1,00,000 population as incidence of TBI continues to rise in our region. We aim to study the demographics, mortality predictors, and factors influencing the outcome of TBI cases in a tertiary care center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Materials and Methods We retrospectively collected data from all consecutive patients treated at the Emergency Department of King Abdulaziz Medical City including all acute TBI adult cases (>18 years) from 2016 to 2019. Logistic regression models were used to identify significant predictors of mortality. A total of 423 individuals with TBI were enrolled in the study. Nearly, half of them were in age group of 18 to 29 (40.77). Most patients were males (76.83%).

Results Injuries were most commonly mild-to-moderate TBI (73.83%). Road traffic accident was the most common mechanism of injury (49.7%) followed by fall (39.5%). Most common mode of transportation was private cars (47.57%). Most patient required less than or equal to24hours of admission (61.23%). A total of 30 (7%) died in the hospital all of which were male with no death cases reported among females.

Conclusion In conclusion, this study reports a mortality rate related to TBI that is among the lowest in the region. Injuries were male predominant with more balanced male to female ratio. Patients who were delivered to the hospital via private cars had an improved survival. These finding should be interpreted in the context of retrospective noncontrolled study design, and further future studies are encouraged to consolidate these findings.
18F-FDG PET-CT Evaluation of Primary Adrenal Ewing Sarcoma with Venous Thrombosis: An Unusual Presentation
Authors: Roy Debdip , Pereira Melvika , Shivdasani Divya , Singh Natasha
Published: September 2022

Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is primarily an osseous malignancy of childhood and young adults. Extraskeletal occurrence is less frequent and primary adrenal involvement is an even rare presentation. We present such a case of a 7-year-old boy diagnosed with adrenal EWS with associated venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism detected on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography scan.
Tagging Efficiency of 99mTc-SC Radiolabeled Alternative Gastric Emptying Meals: A Quantitative Study
Authors: Pal Deepak Kumar , Singh Dhananjay Kumar , Deswal Satyawati , Pathak Anurag
Published: September 2022

Objective The aim of this study was to know the tagging efficiencies of technetium-99m labeled sulfur colloid (99mTc-SC) with different meals.

Materials and Methods Egg white sandwiches are the gold standard for gastric-emptying scan (GES); thus, an egg white omelet labeled with 99mTc-SC is taken as a standard meal. For evaluation, we included four meals, bread and butter, instant oatmeal, idli, and chapatti, and all meals were prepared by labeling them with 99mTc-SC. After preparation, food articles were chopped with the help of a metal fork and mixed in simulated gastric fluid. Four samples were taken simultaneously from each food article and analyzed for 1 to 4hours after agitation within the centrifuge. The samples were filtered and separated from the sediments and supernatants. We analyzed the activity in each sample before and after filtration.

Results The mean values of labeling efficiency in per cent of various meals were obtained. There was no significant difference in labeling stability for egg whites, chapatti, and idli meals labeled with 99mTc-SC from 1 to 4hours as their p-value (p>0.05) was insignificant.

Conclusion Radiolabeled chapatti and idli with 99mTc-SC show higher labeling stability, while oatmeal and bread and butter samples show relatively low stability. Thus, for GES, chapatti and idli labeled with 99mTc-SC can be used as alternatives to eggs for vegetarian people or for those allergic to eggs.
Animal welfare chauvinism in Brexit Britain: a genealogy of care and control
Authors: Message Reuben
Published: September 2022

This paper uses the deployment of animal welfare as an issue during the ‘Brexit’ referendum as a lens through which to explore the mutual shaping of discourses about care for animals in Britain and the British nation, or the nationalism of animal welfare. Adopting a genealogical outlook, it uses one political advertisement in particular—paid for by the official Vote Leave campaign—as a focalising image and means of opening up the issues, leading to an empirical emphasis on the issue of live animal export as it has mediated ideas about Europe and British identity. Introducing the idea of ‘animal welfare chauvinism’, the paper suggests that animal welfare messages in the context of this constitutional debate were products of chauvinistic and caring impulses which are mutually constitutive and crystallised through discourses formed in relation to contingent historical struggles. Analytically, stress is placed on the constructive role of situated and repeated discursive exchanges, occurring between animal advocates and other national political elites, within which ‘care for animals’ as a national ideal is forged. In this light, the article concludes with reflections on the stakes of entering into an already existing conversation on the ‘national culture of care’ for animals in Britain.
Asymmetries and similarities of yawed rotor wakes
Authors: Xiong Xue-Lu , Laima Shujin , Li Hui
Published: September 2022

This paper describes an experimental study of the asymmetries and self-similarity/self-preservation of yawed rotor wakes and the similarity between different yaw angle scenarios. The wake asymmetry is found to increase with increasing yaw angle and also increases in the streamwise direction before the wake reaches a state of self-similarity. Furthermore, if we divide the profiles into left and right parts, the normalized profiles are the same for different streamwise locations even in the region where the profiles have not reached a state of self-similarity. The relation between the asymmetry of the velocity deficit profiles and the yaw angle is derived theoretically and validated by the present experimental measurements. A critical yaw angle is determined for the similarity in the streamwise evolution of the wake between different yaw angle scenarios. Specifically, there is a similarity between different yaw angle scenarios when the yaw angle is below the critical value. The results of this study will be helpful in understanding yawed rotor wakes and establishing a yawed rotor wake model.
Influence of wave height on round jet in regular waves: Direct numerical simulations
Authors: Anghan Chetankumar , Bade Mukund H. , Banerjee Jyotirmay
Published: September 2022

The influence of wave height on the dynamics of a turbulent round jet is analyzed using direct numerical simulation. The vortex dynamics associated with the interaction of the jet with waves of different heights is compared using the swirling strength criterion and the contours of vorticity. An analysis of the vortex roll-up frequency reveals that it increases with increasing wave height. With an increase in the wave height, the deflection of the jet elevates, and therefore, the span of the vortex rings in the near-field reduces in the direction of wave propagation. Further, an analysis of the braid region reveals that the number of lateral jets reduces to three with increasing wave height despite the number of counter-rotating vortex pairs remaining as four. The longer time evolution suggests that as the jet moves from the crest to the zero down-crossing, the fluid in the far-field gets detached from the main jet flow for the stronger waves. The evaluation of the preferred mode reveals that it remains helical for all wave heights. The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) establishes that the highest energy is captured by the modes of the highest wave height. Also, as the wave height increases, a fewer number of modes capture 90% of the energy. Further, contours of POD modes represent the jet oscillations as well as the kinetic energy gain in the shear layer and the far-field. The time-averaged quantities quantitatively demonstrate an increase in mixing and entrainment in the jet as the wave height increases.
Direct numerical simulation of planar turbulent jets: Effect of a pintle orifice
Authors: Charles Prince , Narasimhamurthy Vagesh D.
Published: September 2022

The effects of a pintle-shaped orifice on a planar turbulent jet flow at Reynolds number 4000, based on the inlet bulk mean velocity and the jet width, are studied using direct numerical simulations. Flapping of the jet along with a low-frequency modulation of the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability, in the presence of a pintle-shaped orifice, is observed. To compare the pintle-jet behavior, a free-jet is simulated as a reference case. The effects of the near-field region on the far-field flow characteristics have been investigated. In both the cases, the KH instability in the near-field influences the far-field jet, whereas the pintle-jet also exhibits a low-frequency flapping. In addition, oblique vortex pattern has been observed in the case of pintle-jet. The far-field flow statistics of the pintle-jet with a top-hat inlet interestingly agree with those of the free-jet with a hyperbolic tangent inlet. Temporal variation of the jet characteristics has been analyzed using spatiotemporal plots. In addition, the large- and small-scale turbulent motion have been studied using three anisotropic invariant maps (turbulence triangles, eigenvalue, and barycentric maps). Moreover, that the barycentric map gives a better visualization of the anisotropic behavior has been observed in the current study.
Predictive model for the spreadability of cosmetic formulations based on large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) and machine learning
Authors: Lee Suhyun , Kim Sung Ryul , Lee Hyo-Jeong , Kim Byoung Soo , Oh Heemuk , Lee Jun Bae , Park Kyunghye , Yi Yoon Ju , Park Chun Ho , Park Jun Dong
Published: September 2022

Inspired by the analogy between the application process of cosmetics and large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS), we suggest a novel predictive model for the spreadability of cosmetic formulations via LAOS analysis and machine learning techniques. Rheological measurements of cosmetic formulations, including the transient elastic and viscous moduli from the sequence of physical process (SPP) analysis, were selected as features for the predictive models, and the spreadability of each formulation that is quantitatively rated by trained panels was set up as the target variable. First, multiple linear regression prediction models are derived, and it was shown that the LAOS-SPP parameters were more effective features than other rheological parameters that were conventionally related to spreadability of cosmetics. Additionally, a non-linear prediction model was developed based on the random forest regressor algorithm, considering the possibility of the nonlinear correlation between rheological measurements and spreadability. The random forest regressor model showed better performance than the linear regression model, and the LAOS-SPP parameters were found to be more effective features for the random forest regressor model as in the multiple linear regression model. The correlation between the LAOS-SPP parameters and the spreadability is interpreted in terms of the rheological transition during rubbing process of cosmetics. Our findings indicate the importance of the nonlinear rheological behavior in the texture perception mechanism of cosmetics, and how rheological measurements can be combined with machine learning techniques to solve complicated problems.
Structural characteristics of the strong interaction between oblique shock wave and streamwise vortex
Authors: Wei Feng , Liu Wei-Dong , Wang Qian-Cheng , Zhao Yu-Xin , Yang Rui
Published: September 2022

Structural characteristics of the strong interaction between an oblique shock wave and streamwise vortex are experimentally investigated based on the nanoparticle-based planar laser scattering technology. Fine structures of reorganized vortices and helical structures are first recorded in experimental visualization. For the case with the strongest shock wave, a catastrophe process occurs due to the change of breakdown type, which gives birth to abundant small-scale vortical structures. Fractal and feature analyses indicate that the turbulent mixing dramatically increases after the interaction, especially for the case with spiral breakdown.
Ibrexafungerp: A new triterpenoid antifungal
Authors: Sucher Allana J , Thai Annie , Tran Charlene , Mantena Netra , Noronha Allwyn , Chahine Elias B
Published: September 2022

Purpose

The pharmacology, microbiology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, efficacy, safety, and role of ibrexafungerp in the treatment of fungal infections are reviewed.

Ibrexafungerp is the first triterpenoid antifungal. Similarly to echinocandins, it inhibits the synthesis of 1,3-β-d-glucan. However, it binds to a different site on the enzyme than echinocandins, resulting in limited cross-resistance. Ibrexafungerp exerts concentration-dependent fungicidal activity against Candida species and retains in vitro activity against most fluconazole-resistant strains. It is also active against Aspergillus species. Ibrexafungerp has been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis caused by Candida albicans in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials. It is approved for vulvovaginal candidiasis in adult and postmenarchal pediatric females and is given as two 150-mg tablets orally, administered 12 hours apart. Ibrexafungerp is contraindicated in pregnancy. The most commonly reported adverse reactions were diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, dizziness, and vomiting. Ibrexafungerp should be avoided with strong or moderate CYP3A inducers, and the dose should be reduced with strong CYP3A inhibitors. Ibrexafungerp may be useful for patients who are not able to receive fluconazole or prefer oral therapy for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis. However, it is more expensive than the 150-mg tablet of generic fluconazole, which is the current standard of care for vulvovaginal candidiasis. Clinical trials are ongoing for recurrent and complicated vulvovaginal candidiasis as well as invasive candidiasis and pulmonary aspergillosis.

Conclusion

Ibrexafungerp is an alternative to fluconazole for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis in nonpregnant females. It has the potential to be useful for recurrent and complicated vulvovaginal candidiasis as well as certain invasive fungal infections.
Implementation of a high-impact medication therapy subcommittee within a large academic medical center
Authors: Mernick Francesca , Akrap Antonia , MacCormack-Gagnon Jacqueline
Published: September 2022

Purpose

Healthcare systems are challenged with implementing high-cost, high-impact medication therapies with increasing frequency. Pharmacy & therapeutics (P&T) committees may struggle to integrate requests for these medications into their existing formulary review process. This article describes one large academic medical center’s experience with creating a new P&T subcommittee that addresses the clinical, operational, and financial challenges these medications present.

The High-Impact Medication Therapy Subcommittee was established to optimize the institution’s process for reviewing formulary requests for medications that are defined as “high impact”—nononcology medications that are extremely expensive and/or have complex operational or clinical challenges. The multidisciplinary subcommittee has 3 chairs—a physician, a nurse, and a pharmacist—and includes representation from all areas of pharmacy practice (clinical pharmacy, operations, supply chain, finance, and informatics), as well as medical and nursing leadership, hospital finance, and patient access services. Additional relevant stakeholders are invited as needed. The first medication to be reviewed at this subcommittee was afamelanotide, a melanocortin receptor agonist indicated for treatment of erythropoietic protoporphyria. The subcommittee addressed cost-efficacy concerns and operational challenges, and the final recommendation was for formulary addition, with clearly defined restriction criteria and the creation of a new workflow to meet the unique operational considerations with this drug.

Conclusion

As medication costs continue to rise at unprecedented rates and reimbursement requirements continue to increase in complexity, the High-Impact Medication Therapy Subcommittee provides a necessary venue for reviewing high-cost medications with complex clinical or operational considerations and proactively addressing implementation challenges.
Efficacy and Safety of DaxibotulinumtoxinA for Injection in the Treatment of Glabellar Lines by Age and Race: Subgroup Analysis of the SAKURA Clinical Trials
Authors: Solish Nowell , Burgess Cheryl M , Weinkle Susan H , Ablon Glynis , Brown Jessica , Kooken Kristie , Rubio Roman G
Published: September 2022

Background

DaxibotulinumtoxinA for Injection (DAXI) is a novel botulinum toxin type A formulation approved for the treatment of glabellar lines. The efficacy, safety, and extended duration of response of DAXI 40 U for glabellar lines were demonstrated in 2 Phase 3, randomized, double-blind studies (SAKURA 1 and 2) and a Phase 3 open-label trial (SAKURA 3).

Objectives

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the first DAXI 40 U treatment received in SAKURA 1, 2, or 3 across age and race subgroups.

Methods

Adults with moderate-to-severe glabellar lines (Investigator Global Assessment–Frown Wrinkle Severity [IGA-FWS] and Patient FWS [PFWS] scales) were evaluated for glabellar line severity for ≤36 weeks after the first DAXI treatment. Efficacy and safety were analyzed by age (18-45, >45-55, and >55 years) and race (Asian, Black and African American, and White).

Results

Overall, 2785 patients were included in the efficacy analysis. The proportion of patients achieving none or mild glabellar line severity at maximum frown (IGA-FWS) after DAXI treatment was high in all age and race subgroups (>96% at Week 4). Glabellar line severity of none or mild by composite IGA-FWS and PFWS rating was maintained for a median of 24.0 weeks in all age subgroups, and for 27.0, 25.3, and 24.0 weeks in the Asian, Black and African American, and White subgroups, respectively. Treatment-emergent adverse events were similar across all subgroups.

Conclusions

Consistent with the overall study population, DAXI 40 U demonstrated a high response rate and duration of effect of ≥24 weeks across all age and race subgroups.
Characterization of human cystathionine γ-lyase enzyme activities toward d-amino acids
Authors: Miyamoto Tetsuya , Saitoh Yasuaki , Katane Masumi , Sekine Masae , Sakai-Kato Kumiko , Homma Hiroshi
Published: September 2022

Various d-amino acids play important physiological roles in mammals, but the pathways of their production remain unknown except for d-serine, which is generated by serine racemase. Previously, we found that Escherichia coli cystathionine β-lyase possesses amino acid racemase activity in addition to β-lyase activity. In the present work, we evaluated the enzymatic activities of human cystathionine γ-lyase, which shares a relatively high amino acid sequence identity with cystathionine β-lyase. The enzyme did not show racemase activity toward various amino acids including alanine and lyase and dehydratase activities were highest toward l-cystathionine and l-homoserine, respectively. The enzyme also showed weak activity toward l-cysteine and l-serine but no activity toward d-amino acids. Intriguingly, the pH and temperature profiles of lyase activity were distinct from those of dehydratase activity. Catalytic efficiency was higher for lyase activity than for dehydratase activity.
MGPLI: exploring multigranular representations for protein–ligand interaction prediction
Authors: Wang Junjie , Hu Jie , Sun Huiting , Xu MengDie , Yu Yun , Liu Yun , Cheng Liang
Published: September 2022

Motivation

The capability to predict the potential drug binding affinity against a protein target has always been a fundamental challenge in silico drug discovery. The traditional experiments in vitro and in vivo are costly and time-consuming which need to search over large compound space. Recent years have witnessed significant success on deep learning-based models for drug-target binding affinity prediction task.

Results

Following the recent success of the Transformer model, we propose a multigranularity protein–ligand interaction (MGPLI) model, which adopts the Transformer encoders to represent the character-level features and fragment-level features, modeling the possible interaction between residues and atoms or their segments. In addition, we use the convolutional neural network to extract higher-level features based on transformer encoder outputs and a highway layer to fuse the protein and drug features. We evaluate MGPLI on different protein–ligand interaction datasets and show the improvement of prediction performance compared to state-of-the-art baselines.

Availability and implementation

The model scripts are available at https://github.com/IILab-Resource/MGDTA.git
PHi-C2: interpreting Hi-C data as the dynamic 3D genome state
Authors: Shinkai Soya , Itoga Hiroya , Kyoda Koji , Onami Shuichi
Published: September 2022

High-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) is a widely used assay for studying the three-dimensional (3D) genome organization across the whole genome. Here, we present PHi-C2, a Python package supported by mathematical and biophysical polymer modeling that converts input Hi-C matrix data into the polymer model’s dynamics, structural conformations and rheological features. The updated optimization algorithm for regenerating a highly similar Hi-C matrix provides a fast and accurate optimal solution compared to the previous version by eliminating the factors underlying the inefficiency of the optimization algorithm in the iterative optimization process. In addition, we have enabled a Google Colab workflow to run the algorithm, wherein users can easily change the parameters and check the results in the notebook. Overall, PHi-C2 represents a valuable tool for mining the dynamic 3D genome state embedded in Hi-C data.

Availability and implementation

PHi-C2 as the phic Python package is freely available under the GPL license and can be installed from the Python package index. The source code is available from GitHub at https://github.com/soyashinkai/PHi-C2. Moreover, users do not have to prepare a Python environment because PHi-C2 can run on Google Colab (https://bit.ly/3rlptGI).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
CANTATA—prediction of missing links in Boolean networks using genetic programming
Authors: Müssel Christoph , Ikonomi Nensi , Werle Silke D , Weidner Felix M , Maucher Markus , Schwab Julian D , Kestler Hans A
Published: September 2022

Motivation

Biological processes are complex systems with distinct behaviour. Despite the growing amount of available data, knowledge is sparse and often insufficient to investigate the complex regulatory behaviour of these systems. Moreover, different cellular phenotypes are possible under varying conditions. Mathematical models attempt to unravel these mechanisms by investigating the dynamics of regulatory networks. Therefore, a major challenge is to combine regulations and phenotypical information as well as the underlying mechanisms. To predict regulatory links in these models, we established an approach called CANTATA to support the integration of information into regulatory networks and retrieve potential underlying regulations. This is achieved by optimizing both static and dynamic properties of these networks.

Results

Initial results show that the algorithm predicts missing interactions by recapitulating the known phenotypes while preserving the original topology and optimizing the robustness of the model. The resulting models allow for hypothesizing about the biological impact of certain regulatory dependencies.

Availability and implementation

Source code of the application, example files and results are available at https://github.com/sysbio-bioinf/Cantata.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Peptidylarginine deiminase enzymes and citrullinated proteins in female reproductive physiology and associated diseases
Authors: Christensen Amanda O , Li Guangyuan , Young Coleman H , Snow Bryce , Khan Shaihla A , DeVore Stanley B , Edwards Sydney , Bouma Gerrit J , Navratil Amy M , Cherrington Brian D , Rothfuss Heather M
Published: September 2022

Citrullination, the post-translational modification of arginine residues, is catalyzed by the four catalytically active peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD or PADI) isozymes and alters charge to affect target protein structure and function. PADs were initially characterized in rodent uteri and, since then, have been described in other female tissues including ovaries, breast, and the lactotrope and gonadotrope cells of the anterior pituitary gland. In these tissues and cells, estrogen robustly stimulates PAD expression resulting in changes in levels over the course of the female reproductive cycle. The best-characterized targets for PADs are arginine residues in histone tails, which, when citrullinated, alter chromatin structure and gene expression. Methodological advances have allowed for the identification of tissue-specific citrullinomes, which reveal that PADs citrullinate a wide range of enzymes and structural proteins to alter cell function. In contrast to their important physiological roles, PADs and citrullinated proteins are also involved in several female-specific diseases including autoimmune disorders and reproductive cancers. Herein, we review current knowledge regarding PAD expression and function and highlight the role of protein citrullination in both normal female reproductive tissues and associated diseases.
Job Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic amongst Social Workers: A Comparison between Chinese Mainland and Macao
Authors: Tang Ning , Sun Fei , Zhang Donghang , Leung Charles , Gao Xiang
Published: September 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in front line social workers experiencing job stress, burnout and other psychological distress. Little is known about the work-related stress experienced by Chinese social workers during the pandemic. This study focused on the job stress of social workers from Mainland and Macao. The research aims of this study included: (1) testing whether there is a difference in job stress between social workers from Mainland and Macao during the pandemic and (2) identifying mediating factors that helped explain such regional differences. An online survey collected data from 292 social workers in Mainland China and 108 from Macao in 2020. Mainland participants reported significantly higher job stress than Macao participants. Regional differences in job stress amongst Mainland and Macao social workers were partially attributed to their age and professional role identity. More attention needs to be paid to social workers in Mainland China as they experience higher job stress than their counterparts from Macao. Future research is needed to examine other factors (e.g. job demand and financial compensation) that may contribute to such regional differences.
Suicide Risk amongst University Students of Social Work in Spain
Authors: Reina-Aguilar Pastora , Díaz-Jiménez Rosa María , Caravaca-Sánchez Francisco
Published: September 2022

Suicide is a phenomenon existing amongst university students worldwide, generally associated with mental health problems. Although the evidence has revealed a greater psychosocial vulnerability amongst Social Work students, there are few studies that address this reality. This work, thus, has focused on detecting the risk of suicide amongst undergraduate Social Work students at Spanish universities. A total of 511 students (89 per cent female) at eighteen Spanish universities completed an online questionnaire assessing both support and risk factors for suicide. A total of 28.8 per cent reported suicidal ideation, 15.3 per cent planned suicide and 24.9 per cent presented suicide risk. Logistic regression analysis showed that this risk was, understandably, associated with higher depressive symptomatology, lower perceived social support and lower life satisfaction. The results obtained indicate the prevalence of the risk of suicide ideation, planning and the imminent risk of suicide amongst Social Work students at Spanish universities, and this study’s findings have specific implications for the university Social Work community, and for governmental, academic and university bodies in general.
Providers Have a Responsibility to Discuss Options for Infant Feeding With Pregnant People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus in High-Income Countries
Authors: McKinney Jennifer , Mirani Gayatri , Levison Judy
Published: September 2022

Guidelines in high-income countries generally recommend against breastfeeding for a pregnant person with HIV due to the historical risk of transmission to the infant and generally acceptable, safe, and sustainable access to formula. Maternal antiretroviral therapy and infant prophylaxis have been shown to significantly decrease the risk of transmission during breastfeeding. In addition, formula may not be acceptable to patients for a variety of cultural, social, or personal reasons, and its sustainability is called into question in the setting of the current nationwide formula shortage. Providers caring for pregnant people with HIV have a responsibility to discuss infant feeding with their patients, and help them weigh the risks and benefits within the limits of the current body of evidence. We outline a process, including a written agreement, that can be used to discuss infant feeding with all patients and help them make the best decision for their family.
Efficient link prediction model for real-world complex networks using matrix-forest metric with local similarity features
Authors: Gul Haji , Al-Obeidat Feras , Amin Adnan , Tahir Muhammad , Huang Kaizhu
Published: September 2022

Link prediction in a complex network is a difficult and challenging issue to address. Link prediction tries to better predict relationships, interactions and friendships based on historical knowledge of the complex network graph. Many link prediction techniques exist, including the common neighbour, Adamic-Adar, Katz and Jaccard coefficient, which use node information, local and global routes, and previous knowledge of a complex network to predict the links. These methods are extensively used in various applications because of their interpretability and convenience of use, irrespective of the fact that the majority of these methods were designed for a specific field. This study offers a unique link prediction approach based on the matrix-forest metric and vertex local structural information in a real-world complex network. We empirically examined the proposed link prediction method over 13 real-world network datasets obtained from various sources. Extensive experiments were performed that demonstrated the superior efficacy of the proposed link prediction method compared to other methods and outperformed the existing state-of-the-art in terms of prediction accuracy.
Estimating the number of communities in the stochastic block model with outliers
Authors: Xiao Jingsong , Ye Fei , Ma Weidong , Yang Ying
Published: September 2022

The stochastic block model (SBM) is a popular model for community detecting problems. Many community detecting approaches have been proposed, and most of them assume that the number of communities is given previously. However, in practice, the number of communities is often unknown. Plenty of approaches were proposed to estimate the number of communities, but most of them were computationally intensive. Moreover, when outliers exist, there are no approaches to consistently estimate the number of communities. In this article, we propose a fast method based on the eigenvalues of the regularized and normalized adjacency matrix to estimate the number of communities under the SBM with outliers. We show that our method can consistently estimate the number of communities when outliers exist. Moreover, we extend our method to the degree-corrected SBM. We show that our approach is comparable to the other existing approaches in simulations. We also illustrate our approach on four real-world networks.
Effects of high-absorption curcumin for the prevention of hypertensive heart disease: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical study
Authors: Funamoto Masafumi , Sunagawa Yoichi , Katanasaka Yasufumi , Kato Toru , Funada Junichi , Ajiro Yoichi , Komiyama Maki , Akao Masaharu , Yasoda Akihiro , Yamakage Hajime , Satoh-Asahara Noriko , Wada Hiromichi , Ikeda Yasumasa , Morimoto Tatsuya , Hasegawa Koji
Published: September 2022

Aims

Hypertension is a strong risk factor for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Curcumin has p300-specific histone acetyltransferase inhibitory activity, suppresses cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis, and significantly reduces myocardial brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) expression without altering blood pressure in a rat model of hypertensive heart disease. This double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study, for the first time, aimed to examine the efficacy of a high-absorption curcumin for the prevention of hypertensive heart disease in humans.

Methods and results

Patients exhibiting initial signs of hypertensive heart disease with left ventricular ejection fraction ≥60% and stable blood pressure <140/90 mmHg orally took a double-blinded capsule (either a 90 mg curcumin capsule or placebo) twice daily for 24 weeks. The primary endpoint was per cent changes in left ventricular diastolic function (E/E′) from baseline to 6 months after administration. The secondary endpoint was the per cent change in plasma BNP levels. The E/E′ ratio per cent change from baseline to 6 months after administration was similar between the placebo (n = 69) and the curcumin (n = 73) groups. The per cent change in plasma BNP levels was significantly lower in the curcumin group than in the placebo group. In patients <65 years, BNP per cent changes were significantly lower in the curcumin group than in the placebo group, but similar between groups in ≥65 years (<65 vs. ≥65 years: P for interaction = 0.011).

Conclusions

A high-absorption curcumin agent did not affect the E/E′ ratio, rather it significantly inhibited the increase in plasma BNP levels in patients with initial signs of hypertensive heart disease.
A Raise for Grandma: Pensions and Household Expenditure*
Authors: Párraga Rodríguez Susana
Published: September 2022

This paper analyses the causal effect of changes in public pensions on household spending. The identification exploits the introduction of a new welfare system in Spain during the 1980s and 1990s, and uses a novel narrative series of legislated pension changes as an instrument for pension income. Despite public pensions having a limited impact in the aggregate, I find a high, though less than unity, marginal propensity to consume for pensioners due to permanent income shocks at the household level. Moreover, large spending responses for pensioners with the highest income and wealth mean that liquidity considerations can be disregarded as a key source of marginal propensity to consume heterogeneity. Instead, a strong precautionary savings motive can explain the excess smoothness of consumption, and costly adjustments explain the skewed spending response for durables.
Investor Sentiment, Sovereign Debt Mispricing, and Economic Outcomes
Authors: Al-Amine Ramzy , Willems Tim
Published: September 2022

We find that countries able to borrow at spreads that seem low given fundamentals (e.g., because investors are bullish regarding the country’s future) are more likely to develop medium-term difficulties. We establish this by regressing spreads on fundamentals. Subsequently deploying first-stage residuals in a second-stage regression suggests that an optimistic sentiment reduces growth in the medium term while increasing odds of fiscal crises. Incorporating information from our mispricing estimate reduces the root-mean-square error of out-of-sample growth forecasts by 15%. This supports theories of sentiment affecting the business cycle and suggests that countries should not solely rely on spreads when setting fiscal policy.
What is known in pre-, peri-, and post-procedural anticoagulation in micro-axial flow pump protected percutaneous coronary intervention?
Authors: Leick Jürgen , Grottke Oliver , Oezkur Mehmet , Mangner Norman , Sanna Tommaso , Al Rashid Fadi , Vandenbriele Christophe
Published: September 2022

Interest in the use of percutaneous left ventricular assist devices (p-LVADs) for patients undergoing high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is growing rapidly. The Impella™ (Abiomed Inc.) is a catheter-based continuous micro-axial flow pump that preserves haemodynamic support during high-risk PCI. Anticoagulation is required to counteract the activation of the coagulation system by the patient’s procoagulant state and the foreign-body surface of the pump. Excessive anticoagulation and the effect of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) increase the risk of bleeding. Inadequate anticoagulation leads to thrombus formation and device dysfunction. The precarious balance between bleeding and thrombosis in patients with p-LVAD support is often the primary reason that patients’ outcomes are jeopardized. In this chapter, we will discuss anticoagulation strategies and anticoagulant management in the setting of protected PCI. This includes anticoagulant therapy with unfractionated heparin, direct thrombin inhibitors, DAPT, purge blockage prevention by bicarbonate-based purge solution, and monitoring by activated clotting time, partial thromboplastin time, as well as anti-factor Xa levels. Here, we provide a standardized approach to the management of peri-interventional anticoagulation in patients undergoing protected PCI.
Female political representation and the gender health gap: a cross-national analysis of 49 European countries
Authors: Reeves Aaron , Brown Chris , Hanefeld Johanna
Published: September 2022

Background

Does increased female participation in the social and political life of a country improve health? Social participation may improve health because it ensures that the concerns of all people are heard by key decision-makers. More specifically, when women’s social participation increases this may lead to health gains because women are more likely to vote for leaders and lobby for policies that will enhance the health of everyone. This article tries to examine whether female participation is correlated with measures of health inequality.

Methods

We draw on data from the World Health Organization Health Equity Status Report initiative and the Varieties of Democracy project to assess whether health is better and health inequalities are smaller in countries where female political representation is greater.

Results

We find consistent evidence that greater female political representation is associated with lower geographical inequalities in infant mortality, smaller inequalities in self-reported health (for both women and men) and fewer disability-adjusted life-years lost for women and men. Finally, we find that greater female political representation is not only correlated with better health for men and women but is also correlated with a smaller gap between men and women because men seem to experience better health in such contexts.

Conclusions

Greater female political representation is associated with better health for everyone and smaller inequalities.
Phyllosphere bacterial communities in urban green areas throughout Europe relate to urban intensity
Authors: Muyshondt Babette , Wuyts Karen , Van Mensel Anskje , Smets Wenke , Lebeer Sarah , Aleixo Cristiana , Alós Ortí Marta , Casanelles-Abella Joan , Chiron François , Giacomo Puglielli , Laanisto Lauri , Moretti Marco , Niinemets Ülo , Pinho Pedro , Tryjanowski Piotr , Woszczyło Patrycja , Samson Roeland
Published: September 2022

The phyllosphere harbours a diverse and specific bacterial community, which influences plant health and ecosystem functioning. In this study, we investigated the impact of urban green areas connectivity and size on the composition and diversity of phyllosphere bacterial communities. Hereto, we evaluated the diversity and composition of phyllosphere bacterial communities of 233 Platanus x acerifolia and Acer pseudoplatanus trees in 77 urban green areas throughout 6 European cities. The community composition and diversity significantly differed between cities but only to a limited extent between tree species. We could show that urban intensity correlated significantly with the community composition of phyllosphere bacteria. In particular, a significant correlation was found between the relative abundances for 29 out of the 50 most abundant families and the urban intensity: the abundances of classic phyllosphere families, such as Acetobacteraceae, Planctomycetes, and Beijerinkiaceae, decreased with urban intensity (i.e. more abundant in areas with more green, lower air pollution, and lower temperature), while those related to human activities, such as Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillaceae, increased with urban intensity. The results of this study suggest that phyllosphere bacterial communities in European cities are associated with urban intensity and that effect is mediated by several combined stress factors.
Marker-assisted mapping enables forward genetic analysis inAedes aegypti, an arboviral vector with vast recombination deserts
Authors: Chen Chujia , Compton Austin , Nikolouli Katerina , Wang Aihua , Aryan Azadeh , Sharma Atashi , Qi Yumin , Dellinger Camden , Hempel Melanie , Potters Mark , Augustinos Antonios , Severson David W , Bourtzis Kostas , Tu Zhijian
Published: September 2022

Aedes aegypti is a major vector of arboviruses that cause dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika. Although recent success in reverse genetics has facilitated rapid progress in basic and applied research, integration of forward genetics with modern technologies remains challenging in this important species, as up to 47% of its chromosome is refractory to genetic mapping due to extremely low rate of recombination. Here, we report the development of a marker-assisted mapping strategy to readily screen for and genotype only the rare but informative recombinants, drastically increasing both the resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Using marker-assisted mapping, we mapped a transgene that was inserted in a >100-Mb recombination desert and a sex-linked spontaneous red-eye (re) mutation just outside the region. We subsequently determined, by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout, that cardinal is the causal gene of re, which is the first forward genetic identification of a causal gene in Ae. aegypti. The identification of the causal gene of the sex-linked re mutation provides the molecular foundation for using gene editing to develop versatile and stable genetic sexing methods. To facilitate genome-wide forward genetics in Ae. aegypti, we generated and compiled a number of lines with markers throughout the genome. Thus, by overcoming the challenges presented by the vast recombination deserts and the scarcity of markers, we have shown that effective forward genetic analysis is increasingly feasible in this important arboviral vector species.
The Pioneer Advantage: Filling the blank spots on the map of genome diversity in Europe
Authors: Oleksyk Taras K , Wolfsberger Walter W , Schubelka Khrystyna , Mangul Serghei , O'Brien Stephen J
Published: September 2022

Documenting genome diversity is important for the local biomedical communities and instrumental in developing precision and personalized medicine. Currently, tens of thousands of whole-genome sequences from Europe are publicly available, but most of these represent populations of developed countries of Europe. The uneven distribution of the available data is further impaired by the lack of data sharing. Recent whole-genome studies in Eastern Europe, one in Ukraine and one in Russia, demonstrated that local genome diversity and population structure from Eastern Europe historically had not been fully represented. An unexpected wealth of genomic variation uncovered in these studies was not so much a consequence of high variation within their population, but rather due to the “pioneer advantage.” We discovered more variants because we were the first to prospect in the Eastern European genome pool. This simple comparison underscores the importance of removing the remaining geographic genome deserts from the rest of the world map of the human genome diversity.