bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changes in pancreatic exocrine function, fat and fibrosis in diabetes mellitus: analysis using MR imaging
Authors: Yasokawa Kazuya , Kanki Akihiko , Nakamura Hiroki , Sotozono Hidemitsu , Ueda Yu , Maeba Kiyoka , Kido Ayumu , Higaki Atsushi , Hayashida Minoru , Yamamoto Akira , Tamada Tsutomu
Published: March 2023

Objective

To evaluate the relationships between hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels with exocrine pancreatic function using cine-dynamic magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and the pancreatic parenchyma using fat-suppressed T1 mapping and the proton density fat fraction (PDFF).

Methods

Patients who underwent 3T-MRI and HbA1c measurement were retrospectively recruited. MRI included cine-dynamic MRCP with a spatially selective inversion-recovery (SS-IR) pulse, fat-suppressed Look-Locker T1 mapping and multiecho 3D Dixon-based PDFF mapping. The pancreatic exocrine secretion grade on cine-dynamic MRCP, T1 values, and PDFF were analyzed in non-diabetic (n = 32), pre-diabetic (n = 44) and diabetic (n = 23) groups defined using HbA1c.

Results

PDFF was weakly correlation with HbA1c (ρ = 0.30, p = 0.002). No correlations were detected between HbA1c and secretion grade (ρ = - 0.16, p = 0.118) or pancreatic parenchymal T1 (ρ = 0.13, p = 0.19). The secretion grade was comparable between the three groups. The T1 value was higher in diabetic (T1 = 1006.2+/- 224.8 ms) than in non-diabetic (T1 = 896.2+/- 86.3 ms, p = 0.010) and pre-diabetic (T1 = 870.1+/- 91.7 ms, p < 0.010) patients. The PDFF was higher in diabetic (FF = 11.8+/- 8.7 %) than in non-diabetic (FF = 6.8+/- 4.2 %, p = 0.014) patients.

Conclusion

Pancreatic exocrine function, T1, and FF showed no correlation with HbA1c. Pancreatic T1 and fat fraction is increased in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Advances in knowledge

This study demonstrates unaffected exocrine function in pre-diabetes and diabetes and confirms that pancreatic parenchymal T1 and FF are increased in patients with diabetes.
A regulação e o controle de contas
Authors: Sundfeld Carlos Ari , Rosilho Andre
Published: March 2023

O presente estudo pretende identificar as principais tendências dos argumentos e atitudes do Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) até o ano de 2020 em relação às agências reguladoras federais e avaliar se suas eventuais incursões no mérito da regulação se concentram em assuntos regulatórios específicos. Para tanto, faz um panorama das características institucionais das agências, uma síntese sobre o regime constitucional e legal do controle de contas e uma radiografia dos discursos e decisões do TCU em matéria regulatória.
Margens de preferência nas contratações públicas e promoção do desenvolvimento econômico
Authors: Vieira Danilo Miranda
Published: March 2023

O artigo analisa, inicialmente, o uso da licitação com função regulatória e de fomento. Em seguida, passa-se ao tema mais específico acerca do estabelecimento de margens de preferência como critério válido de discriminação nas licitações públicas. O mecanismo das margens de preferência é analisado como um dos instrumentos de política industrial passível de utilização para o enfrentamento do processo de desindustrialização pelo qual passa o Brasil. São examinadas as normas específicas que tratam das margens na Lei nº 8.666/93 e no projeto da nova lei de licitações, fazendo-se sugestões de alteração. Ao final, conclui-se pela compatibilidade da política de margens de preferência com o princípio da isonomia, sem prejuízo da necessidade de aprimoramento da disciplina legal específica, a fim de que cumpra com maior eficácia a finalidade para a qual foi criada.
A avaliação do risco de judicialização na análise de impacto regulatório da Aneel
Authors: Varella Marcelo Dias , Silva Junior Francisco Moreira da
Published: March 2023

O artigo pretende demonstrar que a avaliação do risco de judicialização deve compor a Análise de Impacto Regulatório (AIR) da Aneel, o que não tem se verificado na prática. A partir de abordagem dogmática, realiza-se a seleção e exposição doutrinária e legislativa, resgatando o desenvolvimento da AIR e sua relação com a instituição das agências reguladoras. O estudo envolve, ainda, a utilização do método empírico, por meio da pesquisa das AIRs realizadas pela Aneel, a fim de verificar o tratamento dado ao risco de judicialização. Do exame dos processos administrativos e das AIRs será constatado que o tema do risco de judicialização não tem sido explorado; nas raras aparições, não se esclarece a influência desse risco na segurança da regulação, o que prejudica sua consideração pelo regulador na tomada de decisão e, por consequência, prejudica também a qualidade da regulação.
Therapeutic effects of creatine supplementation in patients with type II diabetes
Authors: Oskroba Aleksander , Pawlina Mateusz , Orzechowska Aleksandra , Ziętara Karolina , Pawełczak Natalia , Raksa Karolina , Zielonka Bartłomiej , Kowalczyk Ilona , Pawłowski Piotr , Stawikowski Cezary
Published: March 2023

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prevalence is disturbingly increasing all over the world. Clinicians and patients need new ways of improving T2DM therapy.
Aim of this study: The aim of this study is to present the current scientific literature on the potential hypoglycemic effects of creatine in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Material and methods: A systematic review of the scientific and medical literature from the PubMed and Google Scholar databases was carried out. This was achieved according to the keywords: type 2 diabetes and creatine supplementation. 25 items of literature were qualified for analysis.
Results and conclusions:
Creatine supplementation, when combined with physical activity, improves glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients. Increased glucose transfer into muscle cells by type 4 glucose transporter (GLUT-4) translocation to the sarcolemma is one of the potential mechanisms explaining these hypoglycemic effects. Creatine has a big potential to become a nutritional therapy adjuvant for type 2 diabetes. However, in order to draw firm conclusions about the efficacy and safety of creatine as a diabetic intervention, larger, longer-term, controlled trials involving type 2 diabetes with variable disease severity and different pharmacological treatments are required.
Paisajes rurales y comunidades locales en el entorno de Emporion: dinámicas de ocupación, uso y gestión del territorio (siglos X-II a.C.).
Authors: Delgado Hervás Ana , González Vázquez Mateo , Rivera-Hernández Aurora , Marín Muñoz Lorena , Ferrer Martín Meritxell , Calvo Cortés Jordi
Published: March 2023

Los grupos humanos que ocuparon el entorno del paleoestuario emporitano durante la Edad del Hierro han sido tradicionalmente marginalizados y convertidos en actores históricos pasivos. El énfasis en su papel como proveedores también ha llevado a que la investigación arqueológica se centre demasiado en sus cultivos y en la forma en que almacenaban los excedentes alimentarios. Combinando diferentes métodos de análisis arqueológico, una serie de actuaciones realizadas en extensas áreas de Muntanya Rodona, Vilanera y Les Corts han aportado nuevas evidencias que permiten dibujar una imagen más rica y compleja sobre las dinámicas que experimentaron los paisajes rurales situados en el entorno de Emporion a lo largo del I milenio a.C. Los datos obtenidos sugieren algunas hipótesis que, aunque son preliminares, permiten ir más allá de la visión excesivamente simplista centrada en los conceptos de chora y jerarquía territorial que, tradicionalmente, han configurado la percepción de los análisis de estos contextos. Este trabajo también analiza los procesos de transformación que tuvieron lugar en esta zona desde una perspectiva de larga duración, examinando así los cambios y pervivencias que influyeron en las estrategias de ocupación y explotación que implementaron diversos grupos humanos establecidos en esta zona.
Una aproximación a la ocupación del área oriental de los vascones durante el Hierro II (III-I a.C.) a través de las redes de intervisibilidad.
Authors: Jordán Ángel A.
Published: March 2023

Los análisis de redes han surgido en la última década como una interesante herramienta para explicar un amplio abanico de conexiones entre lugares proporcionando nuevas posibilidades de estudio al arqueólogo. En relación con ello es el objetivo de estas páginas ahondar en su potencialidad planteando su aplicación al análisis de la ocupación de la zona meridional de los antiguos Vascones puesto que se trata de un espacio complicado de estudiar dada la multiplicidad de orígenes de los datos conocidos, la ausencia de excavaciones arqueológicas y la falta de estudios de conjunto. Partiendo de la base de que es a través de los sentidos, y en especial de la visión, como el ser humano construye su esquema del mundo circundante, se ha optado por realizar un análisis de redes de intervisibilidad como una forma de acercamiento a la ocupación de la zona durante el Hierro II (ss. III-I a.C.). De esta forma se ponen a prueba las posibilidades de interpretación que aporta esta metodología para conjuntos de datos muy heterogéneos, obteniendo hipótesis de trabajo que permiten crear las bases de futuros estudios que incluyan otros factores, como análisis de áreas de captación o redes de comunicación entre otros, que maticen los resultados aquí obtenidos. En este sentido la principal hipótesis extraída ha sido la constatación de la integración de los yacimientos conocidos hasta el momento en una red descentralizada que permite su interpretación como un conjunto de mundos afines pero no iguales.
The Interdependence of Coordination and Cooperation in Information Technology Outsourcing
Authors: Im Ghiyoung P. , Ahuja Manju
Published: March 2023

One of the critical success factors in information technology outsourcing projects is how partners learn through interactions with each other. This learning facilitates the complex problem-solving processes and enables partners to take different perspectives, explore alternatives, and seek innovation in outsourcing projects. For this learning to occur, partners must strive to enhance collaboration, but generally, collaboration is viewed too narrowly as partners engage in coordination and cooperation independently of each other. Our framework suggests that learning is more effective when partners collaborate by cooperating to pursue jointly determined goals and coordinating to adjust their actions toward these goals. This study compares the independent model of collaboration with the interdependent model. The interdependent model suggests that coordination and cooperation mechanisms are interdependent and jointly influence learning outcomes. The findings show that the interdependent model provides a better explanation of the impact of coordination and cooperation mechanisms on relational learning than the independent model. This finding provides a more comprehensive understanding of relationship dynamics between partners. It also provides guidance for developing collaboration mechanisms that help synergize coordination and cooperation. Our study further shows that the perceptions of coordination and cooperation mechanisms are not symmetric between clients and vendors.
Being Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Role-Based Identity Foils in Organizational Life
Authors: Ashforth Blake E. , Schinoff Beth S. , Rogers Kristie M. , Lange Donald
Published: March 2023

Soldier-medic. Undercover police officer. Collaborative divorce attorney. Certain jobs require an individual to enact antithetical sets of role expectations (to do X and not-X), such as saving a life and taking a life, in the case of a soldier-medic. Despite their important consequences, we lack a unifying framework for such antithetical expectations and their implied identity foils—where one is expected to be both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a life-saver and a life-taker). To this end, we build theory on how and why antithetical expectations and their implied identity foils arise in organizations. We offer a model of the responses through which individuals tend to manage these seemingly impossible binds—avoidance, favoritism, gray compromise, black-and-white compromise, and holism—and discuss the conditions under which a given response is likely. We conclude that this respective order of responses predicts more positive outcomes (i.e., clarifying the identities, fostering resources, enabling complementary or synergistic solutions) and less negative outcomes (i.e., impaired jobholder performance and credibility, increased cynicism) for individuals and their organizations. We theorize that, given certain conditions, the extreme role-based conflict caused by identity foils is best addressed by the response of holism.
CSR Disclosure Quality: The Impact of Stand-alone Reports, Assurances, Reporting Guidelines, and Stakeholders
Authors: Arum Regita Nendya , Amalia Dewi
Published: March 2023

This study aims to investigate the effect of stand-alone reports, assurances, reporting guidelines, and stakeholders on corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) quality. Secondary data related to the investigated variables were documented from the sustainability reports of manufacturing companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Twenty-four companies were selected based on the purposive sampling method from 2018 to 2020, resulting in 72 firm-year data being investigated. The data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The analysis results show that reporting guidelines affect the quality of CSRD. Companies that follow the GRI reporting framework have high-quality CSRD. However, this study did not find the effect of stand-alone reports, assurances, and stakeholders on CSRD quality.
Does Profitability and Firm Size Matter in Explaining the Value of Insurance Companies During the Pandemic?
Authors: Ayu Kurata , Listiani Riris Ade , Agustina Rahma , Ariesanti Alia
Published: March 2023

This study aims to determine the effect of company profitability and company size on the value of insurance companies in Indonesia before and during the pandemic. It involves 14 insurance companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange as the research sample. Secondary data related to return on assets as a proxy for profitability, total assets for firm size, and price to book value as a proxy for firm value were documented from companies' annual reports from 2018 to 2021. Using multiple regression analysis as the primary data analysis, the results of this study indicate that profitability and firm size do not positively affect the value of insurance companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. This study also reports that the regression model proposed by this study has a stronger predictive value during the pandemic than before.
The Moderating Effect of Subjective Well-Being and Proactive Personality in the Relationship between Job Insecurity and Turnover Intention Among Auditors
Authors: Achmad Fairiz Ayesha , Yustina Andi Ina
Published: March 2023

This study examines whether job insecurity among auditors who work at a public accounting firm in Jakarta associates with their turnover intention and whether subjective well-being and proactive personality have a moderating effect. The data of the study were collected from a web-based questionnaire that amounted to 166 auditors in Jakarta, Indonesia, and used the SEM-PLS approach in testing the hypotheses. This study found that job insecurity has a positive relationship with turnover intention as well as a proactive personality relationship with turnover intention. This study found a negative relationship between subjective well-being and turnover intention. However, the moderating effect of subjective well-being and proactive personality was not proven in this study. Therefore, future studies are recommended to explore external turnover and test the construct in different fields or areas to get more significant results.
Efektifitas Penyuluhan tentang Adaptasi Kebiasaan Baru sebagai Upaya Pencegahan Covid-19
Authors: Pratiwi Mayditania Intan Bunga , Zahrotun Nisak , Syntia Veronica Rozana
Published: March 2023

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Efforts to increase public knowledge regarding the importance of a clean and healthy lifestyle to change people's attitudes and behavior. Community service was carried out at TPQ Al-Masyhud for two weeks in August 2020. This study aims to determine changes in knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of students at TPQ Al-Masyhud before and after being given the socialization and education of the New Normal.  The educational media used were posters, videos, and booklets. The method used is a quasi-experimental method, with a pre-test post-test one-group design without a control group which was carried out twice, pre-test and after education (post-test). Education was given to 25 children through blended learning, using the WhatsApp application, and limited face-to-face meetings with 5 children. Based on the evaluation results of educational activities, the new habit adaptation protocol significantly impacted aspects of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of TPQ Al-Masyhud students. This is evidenced by the statistical results on the post-test knowledge p = 0.001, behavior p = 0.001, and attitude p = 0.001. Participants are able to understand the causes, symptoms and be able to apply COVID-19 prevention methods in daily life, how to use a good and proper mask, how to wash hands, and ethical ways when coughing.
Scalable filterless coherent point-to-multipoint metro network architecture
Authors: Castro Carlos , Napoli Antonio , Porrega Mario , Bäck Johan , Rashidinejad Amir , Quagliotti Marco , Riccardi Emilio , Hillerkuss David , Yekani Amin , Masoud Fady , Mathur Atul , Pedro João , Spinnler Bernhard , Erkilinç Sezer , Chase Aaron , Eriksson Tobias A. , Welch Dave
Published: March 2023

Metro aggregation is one of the fastest growing segments in telecommunications in terms of data traffic. At the intersection of core and access, where coherent modules compete with direct detection technology, high capacity must be provided at low cost and low power, with enhanced scalability and flexibility. Real-life Telecom Italia Mobile metro aggregation networks are examined and their design and planning optimized. The analysis is supported by techno-economics, which compares two coherent solutions: traditional point-to-point (P2P) and digital subcarrier (DSC)-based coherent modules for P2P and point-to-multipoint transmission. We demonstrate that the greater flexibility of DSC-based coherent modules leads to significant cost savings over a three-phase network deployment.
Active quasi-BIC metasurfaces assisted by epsilon-near-zero materials
Authors: Ma Wenbin , Zhou Chaobiao , Chen Deliang , You Shaojun , Wang Xinfeng , Wang Liyang , Jin Li , Huang Lujun , Wang Daiqiang , Miroshnichenko Andrey E.
Published: March 2023

Active devices play a critical role in modern electromagnetic and photonics systems. To date, the epsilon (ε)-near-zero (ENZ) is usually integrated with the low Q-factor resonant metasurface to achieve active devices, and enhance the light-matter interaction significantly at the nanoscale. However, the low Q-factor resonance may limit the optical modulation. Less work has been focused on the optical modulation in the low-loss and high Q-factor metasurfaces. Recently, the emerging optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) provides an effective way for achieving high Q-factor resonators. In this work, we numerically demonstrate a tunable quasi-BICs (QBICs) by integrating a silicon metasurface with ENZ ITO thin film. Such a metasurface is composed of five square holes in a unit cell, and hosts multiple BICs by engineering the position of centre hole. We also reveal the nature of these QBICs by performing multipole decomposition and calculating near field distribution. Thanks to the large tunability of ITO’s permittivity by external bias and high-Q factor enabled by QBICs, we demonstrate an active control on the resonant peak position and intensity of transmission spectrum by integrating ENZ ITO thin films with QBICs supported by silicon metasurfaces. We find that all QBICs show excellent performance on modulating the optical response of such a hybrid structure. The modulation depth can be up to 14.8 dB. We also investigate how the carrier density of ITO film influence the near-field trapping and far-field scattering, which in turn influence the performance of optical modulation based on this structure. Our results may find promising applications in developing active high-performance optical devices.
DeepSCI: scalable speckle correlation imaging using physics-enhanced deep learning
Authors: Tang Zhiwei , Wang Fei , Fu ZhenFeng , Zheng Shanshan , Jin Ying , Situ Guohai
Published: March 2023

In this Letter we present a physics-enhanced deep learning approach for speckle correlation imaging (SCI), i.e., DeepSCI. DeepSCI incorporates the theoretical model of SCI into both the training and test stages of a neural network to achieve interpretable data preprocessing and model-driven fine-tuning, allowing the full use of data and physics priors. It can accurately reconstruct the image from the speckle pattern and is highly scalable to both medium perturbations and domain shifts. Our experimental results demonstrate the suitability and effectiveness of DeepSCI for solving the problem of limited generalization generally encountered in data-driven approaches.
A whole blood intracellular cytokine assay optimised for field site studies demonstrates polyfunctionality of CD4+ T cells in acute scrub typhus
Authors: Inthawong Manutsanun , Pinthong Nattapon , Thaiprakhong Areerat , Wangrangsimakul Tri , Sunyakumthorn Piyanate , Hill Jennifer , Sonthayanon Piengchan , Paris Daniel H. , Dunachie Susanna J. , Kronsteiner Barbara
Published: March 2023

Background

Assessment of cellular immune responses by combining intracellular cytokine staining and immunophenotyping using flow cytometry enables the simultaneous measurement of T cell phenotype and effector function in response to pathogens and vaccines. The use of whole blood samples rather than peripheral blood mononuclear cells avoids both the need for immediate processing and loss of functional antigen presenting cells due to processing and cryopreservation. Using whole blood provides the possibility to stimulate peripheral T cells in situ, and is more suitable for studies where sample volume is limited, such as those involving children, the elderly and critically ill patients. The aim of this study was to provide a robust tool for the assessment of antigen-specific T cell responses in a field site setting with limited resources.

Methodology/principle findings

We optimised a flow cytometry-based whole blood intracellular cytokine assay (WBA) with respect to duration of antigen stimulation and intracellular protein retention time. We demonstrate the ability of the WBA to capture polyfunctional T cell responses in the context of acute scrub typhus infection, by measuring IFN-γ, TNF and IL-2 in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in response to the causative agent O. tsutsugamushi (OT). Using an optimised OT antigen preparation, we demonstrate the presence of polyfunctional antigen-specific memory CD4+ T cells in the blood of scrub typhus patients.

Conclusions/significance

In conclusion, this flow cytometry-based WBA is well-suited for use at field study sites, and enables the assessment of polyfunctional T cell responses to infectious agents and vaccines through delineation of antigen-specific cytokine secretion at the single cell level.
Factors affecting repurchase intention of organic food among generation Z (Evidence from developing economy)
Authors: Bhutto Muhammad Yaseen , Khan Mussadiq Ali , Sun Chaojing , Hashim Sharizal , Khan Hassan Talal
Published: March 2023

Organic food has gained much importance due to consumers’ rising environmental and health concerns. Purchase intention of organic food has been explored widely, but the repurchase intention of organic food has gained little attention among researchers. So, it has become important to explore repurchase intention among generation Z; a generation considered more educated and aware of rising environmental concerns. Generation Z is more tech-savvy and brand conscious, so its impact on repurchase intention through consumer satisfaction has been explored. The data in this paper was collected from 400 respondents through a structured questionnaire in Islamabad, Pakistan. We used the PLS-SEM approach for data analysis and results; we found that social media influence and brand purchase impact brand awareness and positively impact brand awareness on consumer satisfaction. Moreover, it is also found that consumer satisfaction positively impacts the repurchase intention of organic food. Our study found that Generation Z has a strong social media influence, so marketers’ managers must consider and address the issues when consumers consider social media for their concerns and suggestion.
Compassion and decision fatigue among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic in a Colombian sample
Authors: Fernández-Miranda Gabriela , Urriago-Rayo Joan , Akle Verónica , Noguera Efraín , Mejía Natalia , Amaya Santiago , Jimenez-Leal William
Published: March 2023

Being compassionate and empathic while making rational decisions is expected from healthcare workers across different contexts. But the daily challenges that these workers face, aggravated by the recent COVID-19 crisis, can give rise to compassion and decision fatigue, which affects not only their ability to meet these expectations but has a significant negative impact on their wellbeing. Hence, it is vital to identify factors associated to their exhaustion. Here, we sought to describe levels of compassion and decision fatigue during the pandemic, and to identify factors related to these forms of exhaustion. We collected data using self-reported questionnaires to measure compassion fatigue, decision fatigue, and grit in five intervals from April to November, 2020 (N = 856). Our results showed a negative correlation between grit and compassion and decision fatigue. We also found that under the circumstances studied grit tends to be higher in technicians, nurses, other professionals (psychologists, social workers), and workers at the Emergency Room (ER), and lower in general practitioners. Compassion fatigue tend to be higher for technicians, whereas decision fatigue was lower for specialists, general practitioners, and technicians, and higher for those working at private hospitals.
Does (mis)communication mitigate the upshot of diversity?
Authors: Hankins Keith , Muldoon Ryan , Schaefer Alexander
Published: March 2023

This paper contributes to the literature on how diversity impacts groups by exploring how communication mediates the ability of diverse individuals to work together. To do so we incorporate a communication channel into a representative model of problem-solving by teams of diverse agents that provides the foundations for one of the most widely cited analytical results in the literature on diversity and team performance: the “Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem”. We extend the model to account for the fact that communication between agents is a necessary feature of team problem-solving, and we introduce the possibility that this communication occurs with error, and that this error might sometimes be correlated with how different agents are from one another. Accounting for communication does not give us reason to reject the claim associated with the theorem, that functionally diverse teams tend to outperform more homogeneous teams (even when the homogeneous teams are comprised of individuals with more task relevant expertise). However, incorporating communication into our model clarifies the role that four factors play in moderating the extent to which teams capture the benefits of functional diversity: i) the complexity of the problem, ii) the number of available approaches to solving the problem, iii) the ways of encoding or conceptualizing a problem, and iv) institutional characteristics, such as how teams work together. Specifically, we find that whether (and to what extent) teams capture the benefits of functional diversity depends on how these four factors interact with one another. Particularly important is the role institutional dynamics (like search methods) play in moderating or amplifying interpersonal frictions (like miscommunication), and notably we find that institutions that work in one setting can be counterproductive in other settings.
Bat4RCT: A suite of benchmark data and baseline methods for text classification of randomized controlled trials
Authors: Kim Jenna , Kim Jinmo , Lee Aejin , Kim Jinseok
Published: March 2023

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) play a major role in aiding biomedical research and practices. To inform this research, the demand for highly accurate retrieval of scientific articles on RCT research has grown in recent decades. However, correctly identifying all published RCTs in a given domain is a non-trivial task, which has motivated computer scientists to develop methods for identifying papers involving RCTs. Although existing studies have provided invaluable insights into how RCT tags can be predicted for biomedicine research articles, they used datasets from different sources in varying sizes and timeframes and their models and findings cannot be compared across studies. In addition, as datasets and code are rarely shared, researchers who conduct RCT classification have to write code from scratch, reinventing the wheel. In this paper, we present Bat4RCT, a suite of data and an integrated method to serve as a strong baseline for RCT classification, which includes the use of BERT-based models in comparison with conventional machine learning techniques. To validate our approach, all models are applied on 500,000 paper records in MEDLINE. The BERT-based models showed consistently higher recall scores than conventional machine learning and CNN models while producing slightly better or similar precision scores. The best performance was achieved by the BioBERT model when trained on both title and abstract texts, with the F1 score of 90.85%. This infrastructure of dataset and code will provide a competitive baseline for the evaluation and comparison of new methods and the convenience of future benchmarking. To our best knowledge, our study is the first work to apply BERT-based language modeling techniques to RCT classification tasks and to share dataset and code in order to promote reproducibility and improvement in text classification in biomedicine research.
Analysis of disease burden due to high body mass index in childhood asthma in China and the USA based on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Authors: Zhang Chengyue , Qu Qing , Pan Kaiyu
Published: March 2023

Background

Currently, there is a growing concern about the disease burden of child asthma particularly due to high body mass index (BMI). The prevalence and disease burden of asthma differ between developing and developed countries, with implications on disease intervention. Therefore, we provide a comparative analysis of childhood asthma between China and the United States of America (USA).

Methods

Using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 data, we estimated and compared the age-standardized prevalence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost (YLLs), years of lost due to disability (YLDs), DALYs due to high BMI of asthma in children aged 1–14 years in China and the USA. Joinpoint regression analysis was applied to assess changes in temporal trends.

Results

DALYs due to high BMI and the ratio of DALYs to DALYs due to high BMI in children with asthma showed a significant upward trend in both countries and were higher in males than in females. Almost all epidemiological indicators of asthma showed a hump of curve from 2014 to 2019, and peaked in 2017. There was a decreasing trend of YLLs for asthma in children both countries, while China has a saliently greater decreasing trend.

Conclusion

The disease burden caused by high BMI of childhood asthma was on the rise in children with asthma in both China and the USA. High BMI needs to be taken more into account in the development of future policies for the prevention, control, and treatment of childhood asthma. However, the increasing trend of this disease burden in American children was significantly lower than that in Chinese children. We recommend learning from the American government to impose a high-calorie tax, increase physical exercise facilities, and provide better health care policies.
The role of self-efficacy in specific fears
Authors: Lipp Annalisa , Zhang Xiao Chi , Dere Ekrem , Zlomuzica Armin
Published: March 2023

Low self-efficacy for threatening stimuli and situations has been proposed as an important etiological factor in the development and maintenance of specific phobias. The present study examined the relationships between general self-efficacy (GSE), specific self-efficacy (SSE) and specific fears in a representative sample (n = 717). While GSE was associated with higher self-reported fear and avoidance, SSE (e.g. SSE in the presence of animal-related fear) was more related to specific fears. SSE turned out to be a significant predictor of specific fear even after controlling for trait anxiety, age and gender. Interestingly, the association between SSE and specific fear differed across the different fear categories. Fear and avoidance of blood/injection/injuries showed the highest associations with SSE. In contrast, the association between natural environment-related fear and avoidance and GSE or SSE together was only modest. Exploratory analyses revealed a gender-specific effect on the strength of the association between SSE and specific fears. Women scored higher in animal-related fears and SSE. Our findings support the self-efficacy hypothesis of anxiety disorder development and provide a more detailed insight into the role of GSE and SSE in specific fears and phobias.
Discovery of aphid-transmitted Rice tiller inhibition virus from native plants through metagenomic sequencing
Authors: Yan Wenkai , Zhu Yu , Liu Wencheng , Zou Chengwu , Jia Bei , Chen Zhong-Qi , Han Yanhong , Wu Jianguo , Yang Dong-Lei , Zhang Zhongkai , Xie Lianhui , Chen Baoshan , Li Rongbai , Ding Shou-Wei , Wu Qingfa , Guo Zhongxin
Published: March 2023

A major threat to rice production is the disease epidemics caused by insect-borne viruses that emerge and re-emerge with undefined origins. It is well known that some human viruses have zoonotic origins from wild animals. However, it remains unknown whether native plants host uncharacterized endemic viruses with spillover potential to rice (Oryza sativa) as emerging pathogens. Here, we discovered rice tiller inhibition virus (RTIV), a novel RNA virus species, from colonies of Asian wild rice (O. rufipogon) in a genetic reserve by metagenomic sequencing. We identified the specific aphid vector that is able to transmit RTIV and found that RTIV would cause low-tillering disease in rice cultivar after transmission. We further demonstrated that an infectious molecular clone of RTIV initiated systemic infection and causes low-tillering disease in an elite rice variety after Agrobacterium-mediated inoculation or stable plant transformation, and RTIV can also be transmitted from transgenic rice plant through its aphid vector to cause disease. Finally, global transcriptome analysis indicated that RTIV may disturb defense and tillering pathway to cause low tillering disease in rice cultivar. Thus, our results show that new rice viral pathogens can emerge from native habitats, and RTIV, a rare aphid-transmitted rice viral pathogen from native wild rice, can threaten the production of rice cultivar after spillover.
El cine durante la cuarentena: Una herramienta pedagógica de bioética en estudiantes de posgrado en salud
Authors: Prado-Molina Diego Gerardo , Rivas-Mina Adriana Marcela , Caicedo-Idrobo Ana María , Cáceres-Campo Catherine , Ordóñez-Ramos Gustavo Adolfo , Gamboa-Quejada Leslie , Nieto-Londoño James , Ossa-Tabares Kevin Steven , Pinilla-Medina Christian Camilo , Pacheco Robinson
Published: March 2023

La bioética estudia la conducta humana en los campos de las ciencias biológicas y de la atención de la salud. Es imprescindible que el contenido programático de las facultades de ciencias de la salud divulgue su significado e importancia. Todo aquel que pretenda una práctica profesional en la cual interaccione directamente con la vida, debe adquirir competencias desde el campo de la bioética con fundamentos arraigados en los principios éticos de no maleficencia, beneficencia, autonomía y justicia. De tal forma que desarrollen capacidad de reflexión crítica sobre los conflictos éticos provocados por los avances de la ciencia de la vida y la medicina. Cada día se propone más el uso de herramientas audiovisuales en la docencia, para facilitar el abordaje de dilemas éticos, crear espacios de análisis, discusión, que ayudan a la comprensión, memoria e interpretación de este tema entre los estudiantes. En este artículo se pretende divulgar la experiencia a través de una estrategia pedagógica que involucra el cineforo como medio de aprendizaje en bioética en un grupo de estudiantes posgrado en salud.
La medicina en el juego de la creación literaria. Papel de la enfermedad en la obra novelística de Ian McEwan
Authors: Hidalgo-Balsera Agustín , Cantabrana Begoña
Published: March 2023

La literatura y la medicina son actos narrativos en los que, indistintamente, una puede contribuir a la conformación de la otra. Por eso, no es anecdótico que diferentes aspectos de la medicina contribuyan a definir el perfil de los personajes literarios. En este trabajo analizamos la obra novelística de Ian McEwan para identificar los aspectos relacionados con la enfermedad y la medicina a los que ha recurrido el autor para confeccionar la trama de sus novelas y perfilar a sus personajes. También hemos seleccionado losaspectos referidos a la investigación científica dado que el autor recurre con alguna frecuencia a la ética de la investigación y al papel de la investigación científica y el desarrollo tecnológico en la sociedad y en la política. Se han analizado 16 novelas en las que hemos identificado 16 categorías de problemas sanitarios, algunos de los cuales se repiten en diferentes obras. A estas categorías hemos podido asignar 64 aspectos de interés médico o científico de los que las alteraciones psiquiátricas y conductuales, seguidas de diferentes alusiones a la ciencia y al cáncer son las más frecuentes. Le siguen las relacionadas con la neurología y la toxicología. Con poca frecuencia, las novelas de Ian McEwan contienen descripciones de la enfermedad en primera persona; la mayoría puede catalogarse como novelas que contienen incursiones en diferentes patologías o actos médicos como recursos expresivos dentro de la obra literaria. El autor también plantea cuestiones relacionadas con la investigación científica, la contribución de diferentes ciencias al desarrollo social, y puntualiza algunos pensamientos sobre el desarrollo de la medicina y la ética de la investigación.
Psychological dominant stressor modification to an animal model of depression with chronic unpredictable mild stress
Authors: Pangemanan Lisa , Irwanto Irwanto , Maramis Margarita M.
Published: March 2023

Background and Aim: Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) is a protocol widely used to create an animal model of depression with food deprivation, water deprivation, and physical-dominant stressors as routine procedures. However, human depression mainly involves psychological stressors and does not always involve a lack of food and water; thus, CUMS procedures should be modified accordingly. Therefore, this study aimed to create an animal model of depression, mainly focusing on a psychologically dominant stressor without food and water deprivation.

Materials and Methods: The CUMS and control groups, respectively, received CUMS modification (psychologically dominant stressors without food and water deprivation) for 21 days. A 24-h sucrose preference test (SPT) was used to assess the successful creation of an animal model of depression. Daily food intake measurements, weekly weight monitoring, and weight gain calculations were performed. Either an independent sample t-test or the Mann–Whitney test was used.

Results: Of the 42 rats included, 39 completed the study. Chronic unpredictable mild stress procedures for 21 days significantly reduced the SPT (p < 0.05), mean body weight (p < 0.05), and weekly weight gain (p < 0.05) in the CUMS group compared to the control group. However, the weekly average food intake did not statistically differ between the two groups.

Conclusion: Psychological dominant CUMS modification to an animal model of depression resulted in lower SPT, body weight, and weekly weight gain in the CUMS group than in the control group.

Keywords: body weight, chronic unpredictable mild stress, modification, psychological, rat, sucrose preference test.
Grósz Károly útja Makón át Aradra
Authors: Medgyesi Konstantin
Published: March 2023

On August 28, 1988, Prime Minister Károly Grósz, Secretary General of the MSZMP, sat down with Nicolae Ceausescu, a Romanian communist dictator in Arad; the outcome of the discussion is well known: „Arad” has become synonymous with failure in diplomatic history. The public faced the fiasco when, after the meeting, Grósz gave an interview to Hungarian Television in Hungarian territory in Szeged. Before the meeting in Arad, Károly Grósz was victorious in political terms; however, after this failure, he loses public battles after public battles. The Prime Minister and Secretary General is on the slope after an interview in Szeged following „Arad”, from where there was no coming back for him. Károly Grósz was greeted by a cheering crowd in Makó on the way back after the negotiations. People did not know at the time that the discussions had failed. The passage of Károly Grósz in Makó was just a historical flash. In this study, we attempt to outline the elements of this event and the background to this fleeting moment.
The Rhetoric of Physical Violence
Authors: Childers Jay P.
Published: March 2023

This essay serves as the introductory essay for this special issue on “The Rhetoric of Violence.” In conversation with the six other essays in this special issue, I suggest that scholars in our field need to focus more explicitly on the rhetorical purposes of physical violence. To support that suggestion, I offer a working definition of how we might conceptualize violence broadly and then distinguish physical violence from two others kinds that rhetorical scholars have been studying for years now—rhetorical violence and structural violence. Distinguishing that first mode of violence as worthy of more of our attention. I then argue that the primary purpose of most physical violence is to affectively and symbolically define and reinforce individual and group identities.
Plátano's Pharmacy: The Republic's Taste of its Own Medicine
Authors: Maldonado José Ángel
Published: March 2023

On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol, demanding the head of Vice-President Mike Pence while challenging the results of a fair presidential election. Amid the shock, US journalists—finding few words to describe the severity of the moment—dusted off the old term: “banana republic.” Banana republics are countries whose economy depends on the export of a finite natural resource, like bananas. By design, the ruling elites of banana republics work alongside foreign, multinational corporations to benefit from the republic's human labor. Banana republics are typically governed by a military dictator appointed by a foreign power and elected through illegitimate elections. Notably, dictators ascend to power through military and/or populist violence, like coups d’état and magnicide. Among the reckonings that US Americans encountered the days following the riots was the idea that their country had been relegated beside those so-called “banana republics.” Indeed, the public display of violence brought about by a populist insurrection indicated a failure of the highest rank. In this essay, I ask: “What are the implications of treating violence seriously as a rhetorical event?” I suggest that referring to the United States as a “banana republic” due to populist violence against sacrosanct, democratic institutions requires that US Americans open themselves to the possibility of unexceptionalism, a recognition that—like a medicine—few are willing to stomach. I offer the idea that Donald Trump is the first Latin American president of the United States, and, in turn, that the United States has opened itself to a vulnerability whose damage is unknowable. To do so, I revisit two works by Jacques Derrida: Autoimmunity (2003), an interview where he describes the paradox of post-9/11 counterterrorist violence as autoimmunity, or, how organisms attack themselves in a quasi-suicidal fashion; and Plato's Pharmacy (1968), where he demonstrates an approach to unveiling the unseen ideological traces that haunt particular words. I ask: what is the unseen, terroristic force concealed by the claim that the United States is a banana republic? I explore the Capitol riots as a new “major event” (a televised moment playing on loop and accompanied by specific phrases), where a new type of terrorist uses state-sanctioned freedoms to inflict violence upon itself. I then draw from Chilean poets to provide scholars a lesson on the role of violence in the forming of national identity.
Mapping Inter/National Terrain: On Violence, Definition, and Struggle from Afghanistan to Standing Rock
Authors: Hayes Heather Ashley
Published: March 2023

Definitional work has authorized vaguely articulated, unending, US-led terror wars, constituting amorphous, violent, global terrain, spatially, temporally, and discursively. Mapping the terrain in which this violence is enacted helps us examine re-emergences of violence, including entangling Indigenous communities inside the United States—particularly as they engage acts of protest—within the same colonial machines of terror deployed in the name of war outside those boundaries. This essay maps these circulations as they coalesce at one point: the use of battle grade military equipment and former special operations teams against Indigenous protesters at the Standing Rock #NoDAPL resistance fight in 2016 and 2017. As Native protestors were transformed into jihadists and assaulted at Standing Rock, frames of savage indigeneity permeated boundaries from the terror wars’ battle sites of Pakistan and Afghanistan back to the United States. In this cartography, conditions of possibility for governing global communities are remapped. The inter/national crossroads expand and are weaponized into new necropolitical tools of colonization. Examining this violent landscape and engaging with histories of settler colonialism as well as the spatial, temporal, and discursive power of definition, this essay explores rhetorical cartography as the ground for mapping new rhetorical terrains and inter/national coalition against ongoing materializations of colonialism.
«Scientia est assimilatio scientis ad rem scitam»: el conocimiento en cuanto relativo y la relación de «semejanza» en Tomás de Aquino
Authors: Limardo Darío José
Published: March 2023

La teoría del conocimiento en Tomás de Aquino es uno de los temas más controversiales de los últimos años entre los medievalistas debido a la interpretación de las teorías escolásticas en base a los modelos cognitivos contemporáneos. En estos debates, la noción de semejanza ocupa un lugar central, a pesar de que su estatus como una relación no es lo suficientemente tratado. En el presente trabajo abordo el problema del conocimiento en Tomás de Aquino como un término del orden de los relativos. Primero presento el modo en el cual el autor incluye el conocimiento dentro de esta categoría como una relación «asimétrica» exponiendo los criterios que distinguen a este tipo de relativos y argumentando de qué modo el conocimiento cumple con ellos. Luego destaco la importancia del término «semejanza» en la gnoseología de Tomás y lo analizo desde el punto de vista de la relación, señalando diversos problemas y ambigüedades que se desprenden de la presentación de Tomás de Aquino.