bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Public health critical race praxis at the intersection of traffic stops and injury epidemiology
Authors: Fliss Michael Dolan , Baumgartner Frank R. , Delamater Paul , Marshall Steve W. , Poole Charles , Robinson Whitney
Published: March 2022

Background

Law enforcement traffic stops are one of the most common entryways to the US justice system. Conventional frameworks suggest traffic stops promote public safety by reducing dangerous driving practices and non-vehicular crime with little to no collateral damage to individuals and communities. Critical frameworks interrogate these assumptions, identifying significant individual and community harms that disparately impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities.

Methods

The Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) and multi-level frameworks from community anti-racist training were combined into a structured diagram to guide intervention and research teams in contrasting conventional and critical perspectives on traffic stops. The diagram divides law enforcement and drivers/residents as two separate agent types that interact during traffic stops. These two agent types have different conventional and critical histories, priorities, and perspectives at multiple levels, including individual, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels. Conventional solutions (identifying explicitly racist officers, “meet-a-cop” programs, police interaction training for drivers) are born from conventional frameworks (rewarding crime prevention regardless of cost, the war on drugs saves lives, driver behavior perfectionism). While conventional perspectives focus on individual and interpersonal levels, critical perspectives more deeply acknowledge dynamics at institutional and cultural levels. Critical solutions may be hard to discover without critical frameworks, including that law enforcement creates measurable collateral damage and disparate social control effects; neighborhood patrol priorities can be set without community self-determination or accountability and may trump individual and interpersonal dynamics; and the war on drugs is highly racialized and disproportionally enforced through traffic stop programs.

Conclusions

Traffic stop enforcement and crash prevention programs that do not deeply and critically consider these dynamics at multiple levels, not just law enforcement-driver interactions at the individual and interpersonal levels, may be at increased risk of propagating histories of BIPOC discrimination. In contrast, public health and transportation researchers and practitioners engaged in crash and injury prevention strategies that employ law enforcement should critically consider disparate history and impacts of law enforcement in BIPOC communities. PHCRP, anti-racism frameworks, and the included diagram may assist them in organizing critical thinking about research studies, interventions, and impacts.
The French Ankle Ligament Reconstruction - Return to Sport after Injury (ALR-RSI-Fr) is a valid scale for the French population
Authors: Ajaka Nahi , Bouché Pierre-Alban , Dagher Michel , Lopes Ronny , Bauer Thomas , Hardy Alexandre
Published: March 2022

Purpose

The aim of this study was to translate, adapt and validate in French the Ankle Ligament Reconstruction - Return to Sport after Injury (ALR-RSI), a 12-item English language scale assessing the psychological impact of returning to sports after ACL reconstruction. Our hypothesis was that the French version of the ALR-RSI scale would be valid and adaptable to the French population.

Methods

The procedure followed the guidelines for the intercultural adaptation of the self-administered questionnaires. A version of the ALR-RSI-Fr questionnaire was validated according to the international guidelines of COSMIN (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments). A prospective study was conducted between March 2020 and June 2021. The study included two population groups, the first one being that of adult athletes of all levels who underwent arthroscopic ankle ligament reconstruction and the second being that of adult athletes who did not suffer from any ankle problems. After consent, patients completed three questionnaires, the ALR-RSI-Fr, the AOFAS and the Karlsson score.

Results

The study included 30 patients and 30 controls who were all athletes. The mean age of the patients was 34.6 with 60% male and 40% female. The average time for patients to return to sport was 5.6 months. Twenty-nine patients (96.6%) underwent arthroscopic ankle reconstruction while only one was eligible for ligament reinsertion. The control group with demographic data matched to the patient group was included in this study.

Correlations between ALRSI, the total Karlsson score and its different sub items and the AOFAS were estimated using Spearman coefficients. Discriminant validity was tested between the “patient” and “control” groups and sub-groups using the Wilcoxon tests. Reliability was evaluated on the ρ intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCC). A strong correlation was noted between the ALR-RSI-Fr , Karlsson and AOFAS with a Spearman score of 0.90 [0.76-0.96].A highly significant difference was found between the "patient" and "control" groups. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was excellent with a Cronbach's alfa of 0.94. Reproducibility was "excellent" with an interclass correlation coefficient of q = 0.97 [0.94-0.99].

Conclusion

This study showed that the cross-cultural adaptation of the English version of the ALR-RSI was successful and validated for the French-speaking population. The discriminant capacity of the scale between patients who underwent reconstruction and healthy subjects was also confirmed. This questionnaire will allow surgeons to better evaluate the psychological impact of returning to sports after ankle ligament reconstruction in French speaking patients

Level of evidence

LEVEL II: Prospective cohort study (patients enrolled at different points in their disease) Control arm of randomized trial.
On the value and limitations of incorporating a “clean phase” into the surgical treatment of prosthetic joint infections – an illustrative cadaveric study using fluorescent powder
Authors: Vles Georges , Bossen Jeroen , Kloos Johannes , Debeer Philippe , Ghijselings Stijn
Published: March 2022

Purposes

A septic revision of an artificial joint is routinely split up in a so-called dirty phase and a clean phase. The measures taken to initiate the start of the clean phase vary significantly between musculoskeletal infection centers. We performed simulations of one-step exchanges of infected THAs and sought to 1) determine the effect of different clean phase protocols on the sterile field, and 2) determine whether or not it is possible to re-implant the new prosthesis completely clean.

Methods

Nine fresh frozen cadaveric hips were used and primary THA was undertaken via a direct anterior approach. Before implantation of the components varying amounts of fluorescent powder (GloGerm) were deposited, simulating bacterial infection. Second, a one-step exchange was performed via a posterolateral approach. After implant removal, debridement, and lavage, randomization determined which clean phase protocol was followed, i.e. no, some or full additional measures. Finally, the new prosthesis was re-implanted.

In order to determine the effect of different clean phase protocols on contamination of the sterile field standardized UV light-enhanced photographs were obtained of 1) the gloves, 2) the instrument table, 3) the drapes, and 4) the wound and these were ranked on cleanliness by a blinded panel of hip surgeons.

In order to determine whether or not it is possible to re-implant the prosthesis completely clean, the implant was taken out again at the end of the one-step exchange and inspected for contamination under UV light.

Results

The gloves, the instrument table, the drapes and the wound were significantly cleaner after a clean phase using full additional measures compared to partial or no additional measures (p < 0.000). Partial measures were able to reduce some of the contamination of the gloves and the wound, but had no effect on the drapes and the instrument table. All re-implanted implants were contaminated with some amount of fluorescent powder at the end of the one-step exchange.

Conclusions

We advise to incorporate a clean phase with full additional measures into the surgical treatment of prosthetic joint infections, as partial measures seem to be a poor compromise.

Level of evidence

Not applicable (cadaveric study).
Valorization of porcine by-products: a combined process for protein hydrolysates and hydroxyapatite production
Authors: Borges Sandra , Piccirillo Clara , Scalera Francesca , Martins Rui , Rosa Ana , Couto José António , Almeida André , Pintado Manuela
Published: March 2022

The meat industry generates large amounts of by-products that are costly to be treated and discarded ecologically; moreover, they could be used to extract high added-value compounds. In this work, we present an innovative combined process which allowed the parallel extraction of both organic and mineral compounds; more specifically protein hydrolysates and single-phase hydroxyapatite were obtained. The protein hydrolysates, extracted through an enzymatic hydrolysis with alcalase, showed a degree of hydrolysis of 53.3 ± 5.1%; moreover, they had a high protein content with peptides with molecular weight lower than 1.2 kDa. Their antioxidant activities, measured with ABTS and ORAC tests, were 21.1 ± 0.5 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g of dry extract and 87.7 ± 6.3 mg Trolox equivalent/g of dry extract, respectively. Single-phase hydroxyapatite, obtained with a simple calcination at 700 °C on the residues of the hydrolysis process, showed a Ca/P ratio close to the stoichiometric one (1.65 vs. 1.67) and presented a nanometric structure. This study reports a simple and feasible process for the valorization of porcine by-products in a large-scale up generating products with potential applications for environment remediation, biomedicine, nutrition and catalysis/bioenergy.

Graphic Abstract
Effects of Plyometric Training on Lower Body Muscle Architecture, Tendon Structure, Stiffness and Physical Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Ramírez-delaCruz María , Bravo-Sánchez Alfredo , Esteban-García Paula , Jiménez Fernando , Abián-Vicén Javier
Published: March 2022

Background

Plyometric training (PT) has been widely studied in sport science. However, there is no review that determines the impact of PT on the structural variables and mechanical properties of the lower limbs and physical performance.

Objective

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the effects of PT on lower body muscle architecture, tendon structure, stiffness and physical performance.

Methods

Five electronic databases were analysed. The inclusion criteria were: (1) Availability in English; (2) Experimental studies that included a PT of at least eight sessions; and (3) Healthy adults subjects. Four meta-analyses were performed using Review Manager software: (1) muscle architecture; (2) tendon structure; (3) muscle and tendon stiffness; (4) physical performance.

Results

From 1008 search records, 32 studies were eligible for meta-analysis. Muscle architecture meta-analysis found a moderate effect of PT on muscle thickness (Standard Mean Difference (SMD): 0.59; [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.47, 0.71]) and fascicle length (SMD: 0.51; [95% CI 0.26, 0.76]), and a small effect of PT on pennation angle (SMD: 0.29; [95% CI 0.02, 0.57]). The meta-analysis found a moderate effect of PT on tendon stiffness (SMD: 0.55; [95% CI 0.28, 0.82]). The lower body physical performance meta-analysis found a moderate effect of PT on jumping (SMD: 0.61; [95% CI 0.47, 0.74]) and strength (SMD: 0.57; [95% CI 0.42, 0.73]).

Conclusion

PT increased the thickness, pennation angle and fascicle length of the evaluated muscles. In addition, plyometrics is an effective tool for increasing tendon stiffness and improving jump and strength performance of the lower body.
Urinary metabolomics reveals the biological characteristics of early pregnancy in pigs
Authors: Zhou Chen , Cai Gengyuan , Meng Fanming , Hu Qun , Liang Guohao , Gu Ting , Zheng Enqin , Li Zicong , Wu Zhenfang , Hong Linjun
Published: March 2022

Background

Embryo implantation in sows is an important event during pregnancy. During this process, blastocysts undergo dramatic morphologic changes, and the endometrium becomes receptive. Studies have shown that developmental changes associated with the crosstalk between peri-implantation embryos and embryo-uterine are driven by various biomolecules secreted by the endometrium and embryos. In sows, changes in the uterus are also reflected in circulating body fluids and urine. Metabolomics reveals the metabolic state of cells, tissues, and organisms. In this study, we collected urine samples from large white sows during the peri-implantation period. The levels of urinary metabolites at different periods were analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) analysis techniques.

Results

A total of 32 samples were collected from 8 sows during the estrus period and at each phase of early pregnancy (9, 12, and 15 days of gestation). A total of 530 metabolites were identified with high confidence in all samples. Compared with samples collected during the estrus phase, 269 differential metabolites were found in samples obtained during early pregnancy.

Conclusions

The identified metabolites included lipids and lipid-like molecules, organic acids and their derivatives, organic oxygen compounds, organoheterocyclic compounds, benzenoids, among others. Metabolites, such as choline and pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, play important roles in pregnancy in sows and other animals. These results reveal the metabolic changes in urine of sows during early pregnancy phase. The differential urinary metabolites can be used for assessing peri-implantation status in sows. Understanding these metabolic changes may promote the management of pregnant sows through various interventions such as provision of proper nutrition.
A crisis mode in migration governance: comparative and analytical insights
Authors: Sahin-Mencutek Zeynep , Barthoma Soner , Gökalp-Aras N. Ela , Triandafyllidou Anna
Published: March 2022

This paper takes stock of the emerging literature on the governance and framing of both migration and asylum as ‘crises’. This study carries forward this line of thinking by showing how the crisis governance of migration is not just a representation or a discourse but emerges as a mode of governance with specific features. The study focuses on the refugee emergency of 2015–2016, covering however a longer time frame (2011–2018) and a wide set of 11 countries (those neighbouring Syria: Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey; countries that were mainly transit points: Greece, Italy, Poland and Hungary; and countries that were mainly destination points (Austria, Germany, Sweden and the UK). Through the meta-analysis of a broad set of materials arising out of the RESPOND research project, we identified three interacting governance features in times of crisis. These include (1) a multilevel but complex actor landscape (2) complicated and fragmented legal systems and policy provisions that may vary both at the temporal and territorial level; (3) a renationalisation narrative that seeks to bring this multifaceted and fragmented governance landscape together under the promise that the national state can re-establish control and solve the ‘crisis.’
A local QSAR model based on the stability of nitrenium ions to support the ICH M7 expert review on the mutagenicity of primary aromatic amines
Authors: Furukawa Ayaka , Ono Satoshi , Yamada Katsuya , Torimoto Nao , Asayama Mahoko , Muto Shigeharu
Published: March 2022

Background

Aromatic amines, often used as intermediates for pharmaceutical synthesis, may be mutagenic and therefore pose a challenge as metabolites or impurities in drug development. However, predicting the mutagenicity of aromatic amines using commercially available, quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) tools is difficult and often requires expert review. In this study, we developed a shareable QSAR tool based on nitrenium ion stability.

Results

The evaluation using in-house aromatic amine intermediates revealed that our model has prediction accuracy of aromatic amine mutagenicity comparable to that of commercial QSAR tools. The effect of changing the number and position of substituents on the mutagenicity of aromatic amines was successfully explained by the change in the nitrenium ion stability. Furthermore, case studies showed that our QSAR tool can support the expert review with quantitative indicators.

Conclusions

This local QSAR tool will be useful as a quantitative support tool to explain the substituent effects on the mutagenicity of primary aromatic amines. By further refinement through method sharing and standardization, our tool can support the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) M7 expert review with quantitative indicators.
E-book-based learning activity during COVID-19: engagement behaviors and perceptions of Japanese junior-high school students
Authors: Kuromiya Hiroyuki , Majumdar Rwitajit , Miyabe Gou , Ogata Hiroaki
Published: March 2022

Recent spread of the COVID-19 forces governments around the world to temporarily close educational institutions. In this paper, we evaluated learning engagement, level of satisfaction and anxiety of e-book based remote teaching strategy on an online learning platform. The research involves 358 students at an urban junior-high school in Japan. Learning logs were analyzed to measure student engagement, whereas survey responses indicated their perception regarding the remote learning experience. Log analysis revealed that the average completion rate over 267 learning materials was 67%. We also observed a significant decrease in engagement 3 weeks after remote learning and different subjects and grades. Survey analysis showed students felt both satisfaction and anxiety about remote learning. However, there were significant differences in the level of satisfaction between different grades. The results indicated that (1) maintaining students’ motivation is a challenge to remote learning in secondary schools, and (2) we need to relieve students’ anxiety about their own progress in the class and their classes after the break. This study is the first to report trends in actual teaching–learning engagement, which were recorded during sessions of emergency remote teaching in Japanese schools. The results can inform the future implementation of remote learning in junior-high schools.
Parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for children with neurodevelopmental disorders: a cross-sectional survey
Authors: Ali Mohammad , Proma Tasnuva Shamarukh , Tasnim Zarin , Islam Md. Ariful , Urmi Tania Akter , Ahmed Sohel , Sarkar Abu-sufian , Bonna Atia Sharmin , Khan Umme Salma
Published: March 2022

Background

Little is known about parental coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). This survey estimated the prevalence and predictive factors of vaccine hesitancy among parents of children with NDD.

Methods

A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was conducted from October 10 to 31, 2021. A structured vaccine hesitancy questionnaire was used to collect data from parents aged ≥ 18 years with children with NDD. In addition, individual face-to-face interviews were conducted at randomly selected places throughout Bangladesh. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictors of vaccine hesitancy.

Results

A total of 396 parents participated in the study. Of these, 169 (42.7%) parents were hesitant to vaccinate their children. Higher odds of vaccine hesitancy were found among parents who lived in the northern zone (AOR = 17.15, 95% CI = 5.86–50.09; p < 0.001), those who thought vaccines would not be safe and effective for Bangladeshi children (AOR = 3.22, 95% CI = 1.68–15.19; p < 0.001), those who were either not vaccinated or did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine themselves (AOR = 12.14, 95% CI = 8.48–17.36; p < 0.001), those who said that they or their family members had not tested positive for COVID-19 (AOR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.07–4.25), and those who did not lose a family member to COVID-19 (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.03–4.61; p = 0.040). Furthermore, parents who were not likely to believe that their children or a family member could be infected with COVID-19 the following year (AOR = 4.99, 95% CI = 1.81–13.77; p < 0.001) and who were not concerned at all about their children or a family member being infected the following year (AOR = 2.34, 95% CI = 1.65–8.37; p = 0.043) had significantly higher odds of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Conclusions

Given the high prevalence of vaccine hesitancy, policymakers, public health practitioners, and pediatricians can implement and support strategies to ensure that children with NDD and their caregivers and family members receive the COVID-19 vaccine to fight pandemic induced hazards.
Safety and efficacy of ketamine-dexmedetomidine combination versus dexmedetomidine alone in cirrhotic patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: a prospective controlled clinical trial
Authors: Mohamed H. S. , Salman O. H.
Published: March 2022

Background

Patients with liver cirrhosis commonly undergo diagnostic and/or therapeutic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGIE). These fragile patients are at increased risk to develop complications as most sedative drugs are metabolized by the liver.

This prospective, randomized controlled trial was performed to compare sedo-analgesia with ketamine-dexmedetomidine combination (KD1) (n = 35) versus dexmedetomidine alone (D2) (n = 35) in cirrhotic patients undergoing UGIE.

Results

UGIE could be performed effectively and safely with the KD1 (n = 35) group compared with the D2 group as no significant change in hemodynamics (HR and MBP) and O2 saturation (SPO2) from baseline values (P value > 0.05) while the D2 group revealed a statistically significant drop in hemodynamic parameters when compared with the KD1 group (P value < 0.001).

Also, the induction time was statistically significantly lower in the KD1 group (3.9 ± 0.9 min) compared to the D2 group (5.2 ± 1.1min) (P value < 0.05).

Recovery time was statistically significant faster in the KD1 group (4.5 ± 1 min) versus the D2 group (6.1 ± 1.6 min) with P value < 0.05.

Endoscopic procedure was highly effective in KD1 (100%) compared with D2 (71.4%) with P value < 0.001.

Supplementary fentanyl was given to 10 patients (28.6%) in the D2 group versus 0% in the KD1 group (P value < 0.001).

Regarding post-operative adverse effects, there was statistically significant discomfort in D2 (28.6%) compared with KD1 (5.7%) with P value = 0.02. Also, gagging was statistically significant in D2 (22.9%) compared with KD1 (2.9%) with P value = 0.03.

Conclusions

The ketamine-dexmedetomidine sedo-analgesia group is highly effective than the dexmedetomidine-alone group in UGIE procedures with rapid induction time, good hemodynamic stability good recovery profile with less post-operative adverse effects.

Trial registeration

1. IRB approval: 5 December 2016(Chairperson of Institutional Review Board of Ethics committee of Qena University Hospitals Prof. Ahmed Abuelyosr). The committee reference number is not applicable. 2. This study is registered in the Australian Newzeland Clinical Trial Registry (ANZCTR) at the number 12615000367549. Trial Id: ACTRN12615000367549, universal trial number(UTN): U1111-1165-6212.
Effect of preheating on polymerization shrinkage strain of BIS-GMA free and containing resin composite restorative materials (in vitro study)
Authors: Lotfy Mohamed , Mahmoud Nermin A. , Riad Mona I.
Published: March 2022

Background

This study investigated the effect of preheating of bulk-fill BIS-GMA free and containing resin composite on post-gel shrinkage strain. In a split Teflon mold, sixty resin composite specimens were prepared with dimensions 7 mm length × 4 mm width × 4 mm height. Thirty specimens of each tested restorative materials were prepared, ten specimens for each selected temperature used in the study (room temperature 23 °C, 50 °C and 65 °C). The resin composite was monitored for post-gel shrinkage strain for 3 min after light irradiation using strain gauges. For pairwise comparisons, Duncan’s multiple range test was used to analyze the data after two-way ANOVA. The p ≤ 0.05 significance level was chosen.

Results

Viscalor thermoviscous bulk-fill composite Bis-GMA containing had the lowest polymerization shrinkage strain values in the three different temperatures. There was a statistically significant difference between groups according to material used at different temperatures. Both tested materials showed the highest shrinkage strain when preheated at 65 °C.

Conclusions

While the technology of thermoviscous is introduced to deliver the viscosity of a flowable resin composite so reducing the polymerization strain, it actually had adverse effect on it. Preheating of bulk-fill BIS-GMA free resin composite either to 50 °C or 65 °C had no effect on decreasing the polymerization shrinkage strain. Polymerization shrinkage strain of bulk-fill BIS-GMA contains resin composite either without or with preheating far superior to that of BIS-GMA free resin composite.
Simulation of liver function enzymes as determinants of thyroidism: a novel ensemble machine learning approach
Authors: Usman Abdullahi Garba , Ghali Umar Muhammad , Degm Mohamed Alhosen Ali , Muhammad Salisu M. , Hincal Evren , Kurya Abdulaziz Umar , Işik Selin , Hoti Qendresa , Abba S. I.
Published: March 2022

Background

Hormone production by the thyroid gland is a prime aspect of maintaining body homeostasis. In this study, the ability of single artificial intelligence (AI)-based models, namely multi-layer perceptron (MLP), support vector machine (SVM), and Hammerstein–Weiner (HW) models, were used in the simulation of thyroidism status. The study's primary aim is to unveil the best performing model for the simulation of thyroidism status using hepatic enzymes and hormones as the independent variables. Three statistical metrics were used in evaluating the performance of the models, namely determination coefficient (R2), correlation coefficient (R), and mean squared error (MSE).

Results

Considering the quantitative and visual presentation of the results obtained, it has been observed that the MLP model showed higher performance skills than SVM and HW, which improved their performances up to 3.77% and 12.54%, respectively, in the testing stages. Furthermore, to boost the performance of the single AI-based models, three different ensemble approaches were employed, including neural network ensemble (NNE), weighted average ensemble (WAE), and simple average ensemble (SAE). The quantitative predictive performance of the NNE technique boosts the performance of SAE and WAE approaches up to 2.85% and 1.22%, respectively, in the testing stage.

Conclusions

Comparative performance of the ensemble techniques over the single models showed that NNE outperformed all the three AI-based models (MLP, SVM, and HW) and boosted their performance accuracy up to 7.44%, 11.212%, and 19.98%, respectively, in the testing stages.
The size of via holes influence the amplitude and selectivity of neural signals in Micro-ECoG arrays
Authors: Sethia Manan , Sahin Mesut
Published: March 2022

Background

Electrocorticography (ECoG) arrays are commonly used to record the brain activity both in animal and human subjects. There is a lack of guidelines in the literature as to how the array geometry, particularly the via holes in the substrate, affects the recorded signals. A finite element (FE) model was developed to simulate the electric field generated by neurons located at different depths in the rat brain cortex and a micro ECoG array (μECoG) was placed on the pia surface for recording the neural signal. The array design chosen was a typical array of 8 × 8 circular (100 μm in diam.) contacts with 500 μm pitch. The size of the via holes between the recording contacts was varied to see the effect.

Results

The results showed that recorded signal amplitudes were reduced if the substrate was smaller than about four times the depth of the neuron in the gray matter. The signal amplitude profiles had dips around the via holes and the amplitudes were also lower at the contact sites as compared to the design without the holes; an effect that increased with the hole size. Another noteworthy result is that the spatial selectivity of the multi-contact recordings could be improved or reduced by the selection of the via hole sizes, and the effect depended on the distance between the neuron pair targeted for selective recording and its depth.

Conclusions

The results suggest that the via-hole size clearly affects the recorded neural signal amplitudes and it can be leveraged as a parameter to reduce the inter-channel correlation and thus maximize the information content of neural signals with μECoG arrays.
Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) evaluation of synchronous renal cell carcinoma and other solid malignancies
Authors: El-Badrawy Adel
Published: March 2022

Background

Multiple primary malignant neoplasms (MPMNs) became more prevalent as the population aged and medical technology progressed. The purpose of this research was to review the findings of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in synchronous renal cell carcinoma and other solid tumors.

Results

31 individuals with synchronous renal cell carcinoma and additional solid cancers were included in this retrospective analysis. CT scanning was carried out using 64 MDCT scanners. All sixty-two malignancies were undergoing pathological assessment. Out of 685 patients with renal cell carcinoma, 31 individuals were identified with another primary solid cancer that occurred concurrently. All of our instances were pathologically verified. In all 31 individuals, clear renal cell carcinoma was found. The most frequent extra-renal malignancies were hepatocellular carcinoma (10/31), followed by breast carcinoma (4/31), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (4/31), bronchogenic carcinoma (3/31), colonic carcinoma (3/31), prostatic carcinoma (2/31), urinary bladder carcinoma (1/31), periampullary carcinoma (1/31), mucoepidermoid carcinoma (1/31) and skin squamous cell carcinoma (1/31) as well as malignant hemangioendothelioma (1/31).

Conclusion

MDCT scanning was an accurate imaging method for diagnosing synchronous renal cell carcinoma and other solid tumors. Even in the face of numerous cancers, the goal of therapy in cancer patients must always be curative. During the pretreatment examination, the potential of synchronous double malignancies with renal cell carcinoma should be explored.
Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Injury in Thermal Ablation of Thyroid Nodules—Risk Factors and Cause Analysis
Authors: Zhao Zhen-Long , Wei Ying , Peng Li-Li , Li Yan , Lu Nai-Cong , Yu Ming-An
Published: March 2022

Context

Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury is a complication of thermal thyroid nodule treatment.

Objective

We investigated the influencing factors of RLN injury in patients who underwent thermal ablation of thyroid nodules.

Methods

The data of 1004 patients (252 male, 752 female; median age 44 years) who underwent thermal thyroid nodule ablation were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into benign cystic, benign solid, and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) groups. The parameters related to RLN injury were analyzed, including the largest diameter, location of the nodules, and shortest distance of the nodule to thyroid capsule and tracheoesophageal groove (TEG). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to select risk factors for RLN injury.

Results

The RLN injury rate was higher in PTC (6.3%) than in benign cystic (1.2%, P = 0.019) and solid nodules (2.9%, P = 0.018). PTC subgroup analysis showed that the RLN injury rate was higher in T1b (10.7%) and T2 (28.6%) PTC than in T1a PTC (5.0%, P < 0.05). In the PTC group, TEG distance, anterior capsule distance, median capsule distance, posterior capsule distance, and maximum nodule diameter were risk factors for RLN injury. The logistic regression fitting of the nomogram showed high prediction efficiency (C-Index 0.876). The main cause of RLN injury was insufficient medial isolating fluid (MIF). The safety thicknesses of MIF for benign cystic, benign solid, and PTC nodules were 3.1 mm, 3.7 mm, and 3.9 mm, respectively.

Conclusion

Several risk factors for RLN injury should be considered before thermal ablation of thyroid nodules. The RLN injury rate could be predicted with the nomogram.
En Ascensione Domini: Jesus triomphant le jour de son ascension comparé a un capitaine victorieux (à patre pierson) [On Ascension Day: Jesus triumphant the day of his ascension compared to a victorious captain]
Authors: Steckley John
Published: March 2022

Context

This text was written in Wendat by Belgian Jesuit Father Philippe Pierson (1642–1688), who came to North America in 1666. From 1673 to 1683, he lived and worked with the Wyandot community in what is now the city of St. Ignace near the tip of the Upper Peninsula, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Huron. It is the first part (Potier 1920:539) of a four-page text incorporated into the voluminous collection of copying, editing, and writing of another Belgian Jesuit, Father Pierre Potier (1708–1781), who worked with the Wyandot in the Detroit area from 1744 until his death in 1781. His collection was eventually published as an Ontario Archive Report, which represents the culmination of the Jesuits more than century and a half work with the Wendat/Wyandot people and their language.

Although Pierson lived with the Wyandot, he had been trained in the Wendat dialect among those people in their community Wendake, then referred to as Lorette, a little outside of what is now the city of Quebec. The Wyandot are a closely related people, whose communities at the time of first contact with the French were west of the territory of the Wendat, and close to the southern shores of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. The French labelled them Petun because of their involvement in the tobacco trade. The Wendat called them Etionnontateronnon ‘people where there is a mountain or hill,’ owing to their proximity to Blue Mountain and other hills of the Niagara Escarpment. Both peoples were driven out of their homeland mid-17th century through European-allied struggles with the English-connected Haudenosaunee ‘they extend a house,’ known to English and French then as the Iroquois.

The translation into English and linguistic analysis are my own, based on what I have learned about the language for over 45 years of work. The inspiration to dedicate my research to the study of an Indigenous language came from Fred Wheatley, an Anishinaabe elder. He ‘lost his tongue’ through his experience in residential schools but regained it from his grandmother. He then dedicated his life to passing on that teaching to others, including me. When I learned that the Wendat people had ‘lost their tongue,’ but that the language was well-recorded and analysed in Jesuit writing, I knew what my life’s work would be.
Queer as in Abolition Now!
Authors: Bey Marquis , Goldberg Jesse A.
Published: March 2022

“Queer as in Abolition Now!” introduces the special issue “Queer Fire: Liberation and Abolition.” The issue brings together scholars, artists, and writers working at the intersections of queer theory, critical race studies, and radical activist movements to consider prison abolition as a project of queer liberation and queer liberation as an abolitionist project. Pushing beyond observations that prisons disproportionately harm queer people, the contributors demonstrate that gender itself is a carceral system and demand that gender and sexuality, too, be subject to abolition. Drawing on methodologies from the social sciences, humanities, and fine arts, contributors offer fresh vocabularies and analytical lenses to the ongoing work of constructing liberatory futures without prisons, police, or the tyranny of colonial gender systems.
Notes on the (Im)possibilities of an Anti-colonial Queer Abolition of the (Carceral) World
Authors: Martins Alexandre , Coelho Caia Maria
Published: March 2022

This article aims to reflect on the politics of contemporary carceral LGBT movements and to delineate the (im)possibilities of an anti-colonial queer abolitionism. From the southern Americas, the authors elaborate a brief genealogy of the punishment of queer bodies in Brazil, marking the impossible promises of safety made by the penal “cystem.” By elaborating a critique of carcerality in LGBT contemporary politics, the authors argue for a refusal of the colonial world's solutions to violence. Amid (im)possibilities, this article formulates some elements for anti-colonial, queer abolitionist practices that envision the end of prisons and police, as well as the abolition of gender, sexuality, class, and race as structures of this world. It presents the refusal, the imagination, an ethics of incommensurability, and an active daily building of other possibilities as imbricated elements of anti-colonial, queer abolitionist struggles. Those practices may well be a path to set on fire this world, this present prison house, in the name of queer abolitionist futures.
Representational Refusal and the Embodiment of Gender Abolition
Authors: Triburgo Lorenzo , Van Dyck Sarah
Published: March 2022

The crisis of mass incarceration has made its way into US mainstream politics in the last five years owing in large part to the transgender activists of color who have been at the forefront of prison abolitionist movements for the last five decades. While mainstream media displays a seemingly insatiable visual appetite for trans and queer bodies, transgender women and trans-queer people—particularly those of color—continue to experience violence and criminalization at increasingly high rates. If we are to understand the prison industrial complex as an infrastructure of oppression upheld in part by the dominant narrative that people of color, poor people, and queer people are “dangerous” (to the white-capitalist-heteropatriarchy), it is critical to examine the visual language of criminalizing queerness and to further consider the work of artists grappling with efforts to shift the narrative while remaining wary of the traps of visibility.
The efficacy of 18F-FDG-PET-based radiomic and deep-learning features using a machine-learning approach to predict the pathological risk subtypes of thymic epithelial tumors
Authors: Nakajo Masatoyo , Takeda Aya , Katsuki Akie , Jinguji Megumi , Ohmura Kazuyuki , Tani Atsushi , Sato Masami , Yoshiura Takashi
Published: March 2022

Objective:

To examine whether the machine-learning approach using 18-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET)-based radiomic and deep-learning features is useful for predicting the pathological risk subtypes of thymic epithelial tumors (TETs).

Methods:

This retrospective study included 79 TET [27 low-risk thymomas (types A, AB and B1), 31 high-risk thymomas (types B2 and B3) and 21 thymic carcinomas] patients who underwent pre-therapeutic 18F-FDG-PET/CT. High-risk TETs (high-risk thymomas and thymic carcinomas) were 52 patients. The 107 PET-based radiomic features, including SUV-related parameters [maximum SUV (SUVmax), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG)] and 1024 deep-learning features extracted from the convolutional neural network were used to predict the pathological risk subtypes of TETs using six different machine-learning algorithms. The area under the curves (AUCs) were calculated to compare the predictive performances.

Results:

SUV-related parameters yielded the following AUCs for predicting thymic carcinomas: SUVmax 0.713, MTV 0.442, and TLG 0.479 or high-risk TETs: SUVmax 0.673, MTV 0.533, and TLG 0.539. The best-performing algorithm was the logistic regression model for predicting thymic carcinomas (AUC 0.900, accuracy 81.0%), and the random forest (RF) model for high-risk TETs (AUC 0.744, accuracy 72.2%). The AUC was significantly higher in the logistic regression model than three SUV-related parameters for predicting thymic carcinomas, and in the RF model than MTV and TLG for predicting high-risk TETs (each; p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

18F-FDG-PET-based radiomic analysis using a machine-learning approach may be useful for predicting the pathological risk subtypes of TETs.

Advances in knowledge:

Machine-learning approach using 18F-FDG-PET-based radiomic features has the potential to predict the pathological risk subtypes of TETs.
The application and value of radiotherapy at the primary site in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma
Authors: Wei Zixuan , Li Jie , Jin Yan , Liu Yun , Wang Peiguo , Cao Yanna , Zhao Qiang
Published: March 2022

Objective

To retrospectively analyze radiotherapy (RT) regimens for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma (HRNB) at the primary site after surgery, and to further analyze the characteristics of patients who would benefit more from RT.

Methods

98 pediatric patients with HRNB were analyzed for local control (LC), RT dose, extent of excision and prognostic factors. Among them, 69 children received RT.

Results

The 3 year LC rates were 96.9 and 62.1% (p < 0.001) in the RT and non-RT groups, respectively. In the non-RT group, LC was better in patients with complete macroscopic resection (CME) than in those with incomplete macroscopic resection (IME) (p = 0.026), while in the RT group, no significant difference in LC was found (p = 0.985). Among patients with IME, the LC was 100% in patients with RT doses >= 36 Gy and 66.7% in patients with doses <36 Gy.

Conclusion

RT is valuable, provides patients with excellent LC, and is safe in the short term. RT had a complementary therapeutic effect on incompletely resected tumors, thus bringing their LC to the level of patients with CME. For patients with IME, RT at a dose of not less than 36 Gy may improve LC.

Advances in knowledge

This study analysed the role of radiotherapy in HRNB, investigated the dose of RT depending on the degree of resection, and explored the characteristics of patients who would benefit more from RT.
Ο ελληνικός, ο βουλγαρικός τύπος και η διελκυστίνδα του μεγαλοϊδεατισμού την περίοδο της Βαλκανικής Κρίσης (1875-1878)
Authors: Φωτιάδου Σταματία
Published: March 2022

Σκοπός της διδακτορικής διατριβής είναι να διερευνήσει τις αντικρουόμενες εθνικές ιδέες Ελλήνων και Βουλγάρων και να αναδείξει τις διαστάσεις της ελληνικής και βουλγαρικής εθνικιστικής ιδεολογίας την περίοδο της Βαλκανικής Κρίσης (1875-1878). Η μελέτη θα επιχειρήσει να προσφέρει μία νέα προσέγγιση παρουσιάζοντας τις προσλήψεις της ελληνικής και βουλγαρικής εθνικιστικής ιδεολογίας ως έννοιες που λειτουργούσαν ανεξάρτητα αλλά και συμπληρωματικά η μία με την άλλη, και αναδεικνύοντας την συλλογιστική πορεία που ακολούθησαν τα δύο έθνη στην διαδικασία νομιμοποίησης των εδαφικών αξιώσεων στο εθνικιστικό τους αφήγημα. Η περίοδος της Βαλκανικής Κρίσης επιλέχθηκε ως αντικείμενο έρευνας διότι προσφέρει, εξαιτίας των σύνθετων ευρωπαϊκών και βαλκανικών της διαστάσεων, τη δυνατότητα να παρακολουθήσουμε με τον καλύτερο δυνατό τρόπο τις διαστάσεις του ελληνοβουλγαρικού εθνικού ανταγωνισμού, καθώς εντοπίζεται σε αυτήν ένα κοινό πλαίσιο σύγκρουσης γύρω από την διεκδίκηση των οθωμανικών επαρχιών της Μακεδονίας και της Θράκης.Σε αυτό εδώ το σημείο έγκειται και η πρωτοτυπία της διδακτορικής διατριβής, καθώς για πρώτη φορά θα γίνει μία απόπειρα συγκριτικής μελέτης και ανάλυσης της ελληνικής και βουλγαρικής εθνικής ιδέας, χρησιμοποιώντας ως πηγή πληροφοριών τις πολυάριθμες ελληνικές και βουλγαρικές εφημερίδες που εκδίδονταν την περίοδο 1875-1878 στην Αθήνα, στην Κωνσταντινούπολη και, κατά κύριο λόγο, για τη βουλγαρική περίπτωση στη Ρουμανία. Οι εφημερίδες εξελίχθηκαν από τις αρχές του 19ου και έπειτα, σε αυτό που ο Habermas αποκαλεί «πολιτικά λειτουργούσα δημοσιότητα» , έγιναν δηλαδή όργανο μεσολάβησης μεταξύ της αστικής κοινωνίας και της κρατικής εξουσίας καθώς αποτέλεσαν την οργανωτική αρχή με την οποία τα αστικά κράτη με κοινοβουλευτική μορφή διακυβέρνησης έφεραν το πολιτικό σύστημα στην σφαίρα του δημόσιου λόγου. Παρόλο που δεν μπορεί να δοθεί μία ασφαλής απάντηση στο κατά πόσο και σε ποιο βαθμό ο τύπος επηρεάζει ή επηρεάζεται από τις υπάρχουσες ιδεολογικές και πολιτικές τάσεις, η αμφίδρομη σχέση του με την κοινή γνώμη δεν μπορεί να αμφισβητηθεί και δεν παύει να αποτελεί μία πιστή αντανάκλαση του εθνικού γίγνεσθαι, η οποία όχι μόνο δίνει την δυνατότητα να διακρίνουμε τα κυρίαρχα ιδεολογικοπολιτικά ρεύματα της περιόδου, αλλά μας επιτρέπει ταυτόχρονα να αφουγκραστούμε την «φαντασιακή πραγματικότητα» μέσα στην οποία Έλληνες και Βούλγαροι διαμόρφωναν στερεοτυπικές αντιλήψεις για τον Εθνικό Εαυτό και για τον εχθρικό Εθνικό Άλλο.
Web-based digital twin online laboratories: Methodologies and implementation
Authors: Lei Zhongcheng , Zhou Hong , Hu Wenshan , Liu Guo-Ping
Published: March 2022

Background: Online laboratories that provide online experimentation are crucial for education and research in all fields of engineering. As a transformative technology, the digital twin can be potentially applied into online laboratories to enable physical-digital twin interactions and enhance user experience.

Methods: In this article, web-based digital twin online laboratories are discussed, the methodologies and implementation of which are presented in detail. The digital twin architecture, three-dimensional twin model, web-based digital twin control algorithm design, and real-time physical-twin control are explored to provide a full picture for the design and implementation of digital twin online laboratory systems. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies, a use case with the Networked Control System Laboratory (a previously developed control and automation laboratory) is provided, which details the design and implementation.

Results: A four-tier web architecture has been implemented. With the provided web interface, control algorithms can be designed and employed for real-time digital twin experimentation. The experimental results demonstrated that the physical-digital twin fan speed control system can achieve good control and tracking performance with human-in-the-loop interactions.

Conclusions: This article presents the methodologies and implementation of digital twin web-based online laboratories. The use case verified the proposed web architecture, digital twin implementation, control architecture, and human-in-the-loop interactions for a digital twin experimentation system, which can potentially be used for the design and implementation of other digital-twin applications in different fields.