bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessing the severity of cardiovascular disease in 213 088 patients with coronary heart disease: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Zghebi Salwa S , Mamas Mamas A , Ashcroft Darren M , Rutter Martin K , VanMarwijk Harm , Salisbury Chris , Mallen Christian D , Chew-Graham Caroline A , Qureshi Nadeem , Weng Stephen F , Holt Tim , Buchan Iain , Peek Niels , Giles Sally , Reeves David , Kontopantelis Evangelos
Published: April 2021

Objective

Most current cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification tools are for people without CVD, but very few are for prevalent CVD. In this study, we developed and validated a CVD severity score in people with coronary heart disease (CHD) and evaluated the association between severity and adverse outcomes.

Methods

Primary and secondary care data for 213 088 people with CHD in 398 practices in England between 2007 and 2017 were used. The cohort was randomly divided into training and validation datasets (80%/20%) for the severity model. Using 20 clinical severity indicators (each assigned a weight=1), baseline and longitudinal CVD severity scores were calculated as the sum of indicators. Adjusted Cox and competing-risk regression models were used to estimate risks for all-cause and cause-specific hospitalisation and mortality.

Results

Mean age was 64.5±12.7 years, 46% women, 16% from deprived areas, baseline severity score 1.5±1.2, with higher scores indicating a higher burden of disease. In the training dataset, 138 510 (81%) patients were hospitalised at least once, and 39 944 (23%) patients died. Each 1-unit increase in baseline severity was associated with 41% (95% CI 37% to 45%, area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve=0.79) risk for 1 year for all-cause mortality; 59% (95% CI 52% to 67%, AUROC=0.80) for cardiovascular (CV)/diabetes mortality; 27% (95% CI 26% to 28%) for any-cause hospitalisation and 37% (95% CI 36% to 38%) for CV/diabetes hospitalisation. Findings were consistent in the validation dataset.

Conclusions

Higher CVD severity score is associated with higher risks for any-cause and cause-specific hospital admissions and mortality in people with CHD. Our reproducible score based on routinely collected data can help practitioners better prioritise management of people with CHD in primary care.
Interplay between Swampland and Bayesian Machine Learning in constraining cosmological models
Authors: Elizalde Emilio , Khurshudyan Martiros
Published: April 2021

Constraints on a dark energy dominated Universe are obtained from an interplay Bayesian (Probabilistic) Machine Learning and string Swampland criteria. Unlike in previous studies, here, the field traverse itself has been used to constraint the theory and reveal its connection to the Swampland approach. The field traverse based Bayesian (Probabilistic) Learning approach is applied to two toy models. A parametrization of the Hubble constant is used for the first model, while a parametrization of the deceleration parameter is considered for the second one. The results obtained here allow to estimate how the high-redshift behavior of the Universe will affect the low-redshift one. Moreover, the adopted approach may highlight, in the future, the borders of the Swampland for the low-redshift Universe and help to develop new string-theory motivated dark energy models. The most important message from our study is a hint that the string Swampland criteria might be in tension with recent observations indicating that phantom dark energy cannot be in the Swampland. Finally, another interesting result obtained in our study is a spontaneous sign switch in the dark energy equation of state parameter when the field traverses are in the $$z\in [0,5]$$

z
∈
[
0
,
5
]

redshift range, a remarkable phenomenon requiring further analysis.
PREDICTION OF SYMPTOMS PROGRESSION FOR THE PATIENTS WITH KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS BASED ON THE QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURAL FEATURES: DATA FROM THE FNIH OA BIOMARKERS CONSORTIUM
Authors: XIAO YI , XIAO FENG , XU HAIBO
Published: April 2021

Cartilage repair can greatly alleviate the symptoms of the patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). However, some imaging results suggest that the patients with obvious cartilage repair may receive insignificant or even no improvement in their symptoms. This study aims to explore the possible reasons based on the structural feature of the knee joint and construct the models used to predict the progression of knee joint symptoms. 551 subjects from Osteoarthritis Biomarkers Consortium FNIH Project in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) were included and divided into training and test sets. A total of 153 structural features from five quantitative structural feature sets were included to access the structural characteristics of the knee joints. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index was used to evaluate the symptoms of the knee joints. A three-step feature selection method were used to screen the structural features. Finally, Naive Bayes (NB), logistic regression (LR), [Formula: see text]-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) models were constructed based on the selected features, and then compared using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The distribution in the demographics and WOMAC symptoms scores of the participants was consistent in the training and test sets. Two demographic features and several structural features were selected using the three-step feature selection method. Among the constructed models, the models used for the progression prediction of pain, stiffness and total scores were better than that of physical function. The performance of RF model was the best while SVM model was the second best, and the performance of the remaining three models in predicting the progression of knee symptoms is indistinguishable. Structural feature-based models for the prediction of knee joint symptoms’ progression were constructed and compared. The constructed model showed good feasibility and accuracy, and may assist clinicians to predict the occurrence or progression of the knee joints symptoms in the evaluation and prognosis of cartilage repair.
THE ESTIMATION OF RESPIRATION RATE BASED ON THE AMPLIFICATION OF RESPIRATION MOTION IN VIDEO
Authors: ZHANG CHI , LIU YUXIN , YUAN LIN , HOU XIAOXU
Published: April 2021

Standard instrument for the clinical diagnosis of sleep apnea is large and based on invasive method, which is not comfortable and not suitable for daily inspection. A video-based measurement method for the respiration rate (RR) is therefore proposed, which is meaningful to the home diagnosis of sleep apnea. We proposed a novel method for the visualization and calculation of RR from a video containing a sleeping person. The video was decomposed by spatio-temporal Laplacian pyramid method into multiresolution image sequences, which were filtered by an infinite-impulse-response bandpass filter to extract the respiration movement in the video. The respiration movement was amplified, and fused into the original video. On the other hand, the signal intensity of the filtering results was compared between layers of Laplacian pyramid to identify the layer with the strongest movement caused by respiration. A morphological calculation was conducted on the image reshaped from the filtered results in this layer, to find the region of interest (ROI) with most significant movement of respiration. The image intensity in the ROI was spatially averaged into a one-dimensional signal, of which the frequency domain was analyzed to obtain RR. The ROI and the calculation results for RR were visualized on the video with enhanced respiration movement. Ten videos lasting 30–60[Formula: see text]s were recorded by a general webcam. The respiration movement of the subject was successfully extracted and amplified, no matter the posture was supine or side lying. The thoracic and abdominal parts were generally identified as ROI in all postures. RR was calculated by the frequency domain analysis for the averaged image intensity in ROI with the error no more than 1 time per minute, and further, as well as ROI, was fused into the amplified video. The region of respiration movement and RR is calculated by the noncontact method, and well visualized in a video. The method provides a novel screening tool for the population suspected of sleep apnea, and is meaningful to the home diagnosis of sleep illness.
A COMPARATIVE RESEARCH ON G-HMM AND TSS TECHNOLOGIES FOR EYE MOVEMENT TRACKING ANALYSIS
Authors: WANG XIAOWEI , GENG XIAOXU , WANG JINKE , TAMURA SHINICHI
Published: April 2021

Eye movement analysis provides a new way for disease screening, quantification and assessment. In order to track and analyze eye movement scanpaths under different conditions, this paper proposed the Gaussian mixture-Hidden Markov Model (G-HMM) modeling the eye movement scanpath during saccade, combing with the Time-Shifting Segmentation (TSS) method for model optimization, and also the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) method was utilized to perform the recognition and evaluation tasks based on the multi-dimensional features. In the experiments, 800 real scene images of eye-movement sequences datasets were used, and the experimental results show that the G-HMM method has high specificity for free searching tasks and high sensitivity for prompt object search tasks, while TSS can strengthen the difference of eye movement characteristics, which is conducive to eye movement pattern recognition, especially for search tasks.
FETAL MOVEMENT SIGNAL DETECTION METHOD BASED ON MULTIPLE PRESSURE SENSORS
Authors: LIU JIANLI , LI XUWEN , ZHANG SONG , ZHANG QIANG , YANG LIN , YANG YIMIN , HAO DONGMEI
Published: April 2021

Objective: Fetal movement (FM) is one of the objective phenomena of fetal life. The decrease of FM is a clinical indicator of fetal hypoxia. A fetal motion detection method is based on multiple pressure sensors and multi features. Methods: Collecting the abdominal data of pregnant women using multi-pressure sensors, preprocessing the signal with a digital filter, extracting the time–frequency characteristics of FM signal. The designed classifier is used for recognition of the extracted features. Results: The detection system used for FM time series can provide reliable results with a detection rate of 93.0% and a positive rate is 75.9%. Conclusion: The portable detection system proposed in this paper is a good alternative that will optimize medical use, professionals and hospital resources and has potential application prospects in the field of home electronic medical treatment.
BEZ235 Increases the Sensitivity of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Sorafenib by Inhibiting PI3K/AKT/mTOR and Inducing Autophagy
Authors: Cao Weiya , Liu Xueke , Zhang Yinci , Li Amin , Xie Yinghai , Zhou Shuping , Song Li , Xu Ruyue , Ma Yongfang , Cai Shiyu , Tang Xiaolong
Published: April 2021

Acquired resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to sorafenib (SFB) is the main reason for the failure of SFB treatment of the cancer. Abnormal activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is important in the acquired resistance of SFB. Therefore, we investigated whether BEZ235 (BEZ) could reverse acquired sorafenib resistance by targeting the PI3K/mTOR pathway. A sorafenib‐resistant HCC cell line Huh7R was established. MTT assay, clone formation assay, flow cytometry, and immunofluorescence were used to analyze the effects of BEZ235 alone or combined with sorafenib on cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, and autophagy of Huh7 and Huh7R cells. The antitumor effect was evaluated in animal models of Huh7R xenografts in vivo. Western blot was used to detect protein levels of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and related effector molecules. In vitro results showed that the Huh7R had a stronger proliferation ability and antiapoptosis effect than did Huh7, and sorafenib had no inhibitory effect on Huh7R. SFB + BEZ inhibited the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway caused by sorafenib. Moreover, SFB + BEZ inhibited the proliferation and cloning ability, blocked the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase, and promoted apoptosis in the two cell lines. The autophagy level in Huh7R cells was higher than in Huh7 cells, and BEZ or SFB + BEZ further promoted autophagy in the two cell lines. In vivo, SFB + BEZ inhibited tumor growth by inducing apoptosis and autophagy. We concluded that BEZ235 enhanced the sensitivity of sorafenib through suppressing the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and inducing autophagy. These observations may provide the experimental basis for sorafenib combined with BEZ235 in trial treatment of HCC.
Analysis on the Development Status of Coal Mine Dust Disaster Prevention Technology in China
Authors: Zhang Hui , Han Weihai , Xu Youlin , Wang Zhenfeng
Published: April 2021

In recent years, with the increasing level of mechanization, automation, and intelligence in mine mining, dust pollution in the working environment of coal mines has become increasingly serious. Coal mine dust prevention is an important work related to the life, health, and production safety of miners, and it is also one of the technical problems of mine safety in production. With the continuous revision and improvement of China′s Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law, coal mining enterprises have generally strengthened the publicity, prevention, and control of occupational diseases among employees, and the control of coal mine dust has been used as a means for enterprises to improve the production environment and strengthen the occupational health of employees. Key work-based studies have shown that China’s coal mines have formed a theoretical system and technology system of dust prevention and control. In the future, China’s coal mines will start from intelligent dust prevention, achieve high-precision dust sensing-transmission-assessment and early warning, and develop a combined dust collector that integrates the functions of atomization dust removal, miniaturization, dry and wet mixing, and large air suction capacity. The combined dust collector realizes the efficient ventilation control and dust removal of the fine dust in wide-area complex spaces such as fully mechanized mining face and fully mechanized mining face. At the same time, breakthroughs have been achieved in low-permeability coal seams, such as strong hydraulic permeability-enhancing technology, intelligent dust-proof robots, and chemical dust suppression. This article introduces the basic concepts, generation, distribution, and hazards of coal mine dust and analyzes the characteristics, applicable conditions, and use effects of various dust control measures such as ventilation dust removal and wet dust removal. Moreover, this article also proposes specific prevention and control measures for related occupational diseases and discusses the development trend of dust prevention and control technology in the hope of providing guidance and reference for coal mine dust prevention and control.
EER-RL: Energy-Efficient Routing Based on Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Mutombo Vially Kazadi , Lee Seungyeon , Lee Jusuk , Hong Jiman
Published: April 2021

Wireless sensor devices are the backbone of the Internet of things (IoT), enabling real-world objects and human beings to be connected to the Internet and interact with each other to improve citizens’ living conditions. However, IoT devices are memory and power-constrained and do not allow high computational applications, whereas the routing task is what makes an object to be part of an IoT network despite of being a high power-consuming task. Therefore, energy efficiency is a crucial factor to consider when designing a routing protocol for IoT wireless networks. In this paper, we propose EER-RL, an energy-efficient routing protocol based on reinforcement learning. Reinforcement learning (RL) allows devices to adapt to network changes, such as mobility and energy level, and improve routing decisions. The performance of the proposed protocol is compared with other existing energy-efficient routing protocols, and the results show that the proposed protocol performs better in terms of energy efficiency and network lifetime and scalability.
Phytochemical Profile and Antioxidant Activity of Nigella sativa L Growing in Morocco
Authors: Tiji Salima , Benayad Ouijdane , Berrabah Mohamed , El Mounsi Ibrahim , Mimouni Mostafa
Published: April 2021

Background. Nigella sativa L (NS) is a powerful antioxidant and medicinal plant with many therapeutic applications particularly in traditional medicine for respiratory, gastrointestinal, rheumatic, and inflammatory disorders, as well as cancer. Objective. The aim of this study is to extract the active ingredients from the Moroccan Nigella sativa L and determine its antioxidant properties. We hypothesize that the separation of the compounds from Nigella sativa L has either a positive or negative effect on antioxidants. To study this, we explored different methods to simultaneously extract and separate compounds from Nigella sativa L and performed antioxidant tests (β-carotene and DPPH) for all collected fractions. Methods. Nigella sativa L was hot-extracted by Soxhlet and mother extracts and was separated using silica column chromatography with adequate eluents. Qualitative phytochemical tests to determine the chemical families in Nigella sativa L seeds were performed on the fractions. They were also identified and characterized by GC-MS and HPLC-DAD. Then, antioxidant activity was examined by β-carotene bleaching and DPPH radical scavenger tests. Results and Conclusion. The mother extract hexane FH generated eight different fractions (SH1-8) and the acetone extract FA generated 11 fractions (SA1-11). The FH fractions had a high percentage of fatty acids, and the FA fractions had some interesting polyphenols derivative compounds. Phytochemical screening revealed secondary metabolites such as polyphenols flavonoids, alkaloids, steroids, terpenes coumarins, tannins, and saponins. We found that only two solvents (hexane, acetone) of different polarities could easily extract and simultaneously separate the components of Nigella sativa L. The antioxidant fractions that we collected had close activity to reference compounds but were more active than the corresponding mother extracts. Moreover, several IC50 values of fractions from acetone extract were better than those from hexane. Therefore, the antioxidant activity of Nigella sativa L is more attributed to flavonoids and polyphenols than fatty acids. In summary, the separation of hexane extract presents a more pronounced positive effect for antioxidant tests than acetone extract.
Estimation of Navigation Mark Floating Based on Fractional-Order Gradient Descent with Momentum for RBF Neural Network
Authors: Fang Qionglin
Published: April 2021

To address the difficulty of estimating the drift of the navigation marks, a fractional-order gradient with the momentum RBF neural network (FOGDM-RBF) is designed. The convergence is proved, and it is used to estimate the drifting trajectory of the navigation marks with different geographical locations. First, the weight of the neural network is set. The navigation mark’s meteorological, hydrological, and initial position data are taken as the input of the neural network. The neural network is trained and used to estimate the mark’s position. The navigation mark’s position is taken at a later time as the output of the neural network. The difference between the later position and the estimated position obtained from the neural network is the error function of the neural network. The influence of sea conditions and months are analyzed. The experimental results and error analysis show that FOGDM-RBF is better than other algorithms at trajectory estimation and interpolation, has better accuracy and generalization, and does not easily fall into the local optimum. It is effective at accelerating convergence speed and improving the performance of a gradient descent method.
Three‐Dimensional Reconstruction of Tunnel Face Based on Multiple Images
Authors: Qiu Wenge , Jian Liao , Cheng Yunjian , Bai Hengbin
Published: April 2021

The current geological sketch in tunnel engineering is mainly based on sketches of workers. However, geological sketch drawn by workers always offers fundamental data purely due to its drawing mode. A novel drawing method for geological sketch has been introduced using multiview photos in this process. The images of tunnel faces are taken from multiple angles, and every two pictures have overlaps. By measuring the distance between the camera and the tunnel face using a laser range finder, the photographic scale of each photo can be confirmed. SpeededUp Robust Features (SURF) is a good practice for detecting feature points, and the sparse point cloud is reconstructed from multiview photos by structure from motion (SFM). However, the sparse point cloud is not suitable for analysis for structural planes due to its sparsity. Therefore, patch‐based multiview stereo (PMVS) is used to reconstruct dense point cloud from the sparse point cloud. After 3D reconstruction, the details of the tunnel face are recorded. The proposed technique was applied to multiview photos acquired in the Xiaosanxia railway tunnel and Fengjie tunnel in Chongqing, China. In order to record the geological conditions of the tunnel face quickly and accurately, Chengdu Tianyou Tunnelkey has developed a set of software and hardware integration system called CameraPad. Besides, CameraPad was used to collect the multiview photos of the tunnel face in the No. 1 Xinan railway tunnel in Jilin, China. By comparing with traditional and existing methods, the proposed method offers a more reductive model for geological conditions of the tunnel face.
Sufficiency Criteria for
q
-Starlike Functions Associated with Cardioid
Authors: Zainab Saira , Shakeel Ayesha , Imran Muhammad , Muhammad Nazeer , Naz Hira , Malik Sarfraz Nawaz , Arif Muhammad
Published: April 2021

This article deals with the

q

-differential subordinations for starlike functions associated with the lemniscate of Bernoulli and cardioid domain. The primary goal of this work is to find the conditions on

γ

for

1
+

γ
z

∂

q

 
h

z

/

h

n

 

z

 

≺

1
+
z

, where

h

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is analytic function and is subordinated by the function which is producing cardioid domain as its image domain while mapping the open unit disk. Along with this, certain sufficient conditions for

q

-starlikeness of analytic functions are determined.
Low Prevalence of Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and Undetectable Viral Load in Seropositive Blood Donors from South-Eastern Italy
Authors: Di Stefano Mariantonietta , Sarno Michelina , Faleo Giuseppina , Farhan Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed , Lipsi Maria Rosaria , De Nittis Rosella , Bruno Serena Rita , De Feo Lucia , Granato Tommaso , Corso Gaetano , Arena Fabio , Centra Michele , Lo Caputo Sergio , Margaglione Maurizio , Santantonio Teresa Antonia , Fiore Jose Ramon
Published: April 2021

Recently, a significant cluster of pneumonia caused by a novel betacoronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) was described initially in China and then spread throughout the world. Like other coronaviridae, the viral transmission occurs mainly through droplets. In addition, the virus has been detected in different clinical specimens, suggesting a potential transmission by other routes, including blood transfusion. However, the potential risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via blood products is still unclear. The aim of our study was to investigate the prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among blood donors from South-Eastern Italy. Moreover, in the seropositive donors, we searched for the presence of the virus in nasopharyngeal swabs and in plasma samples. Overall, 1,797 blood donors from the Apulia region were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, using a commercially available assay. Only 18/1,797 donors (1.0%) tested positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies; in none of them SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was detected in nasopharyngeal swabs and in plasma samples. Our results indicate that most of the blood donors in Apulia remained uninfected during this wave of the pandemic; further, none had detectable virus both in nasopharyngeal swabs and in blood samples. The risk to carry and transmit the virus by healthy and asymptomatic blood donors is probably very low.
Validity of the 6-Minute Walk Test in Patients with End-Stage Lung Diseases Wearing an Oronasal Surgical Mask in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Just Isabell Anna , Schoenrath Felix , Passinger Philipp , Stein Julia , Kemper Dagmar , Knosalla Christoph , Falk Volkmar , Knierim Jan
Published: April 2021

Background and Objectives: The 6-minute walk test (6MWT), as a clinical assessment tool for functional exercise capacity, is an integral component of lung allocation scores (LASs). In times of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, patients underwent 6MWTs wearing a surgical mask in ambulatory care. We investigated the impact of wearing a mask on 6-minute walk distances (6MWDs). Method: 6MWDs of 64 patients with end-stage lung diseases wearing an oronasal surgical mask were retrospectively compared to previously investigated 6MWDs of the same cohort, in a pre-COVID-19 pandemic era, without wearing a mask. Four patients were excluded due to a primary vascular disease, 29 patients due to clinically unstable pulmonary functions, and 1 patient due to a psychiatric disorder. Results: The median age of the patients included was 55 (46–58) years; 15 (48%) were male. Ten (32.2%) were on the Eurotransplant lung transplant waiting list with a median LAS of 34.3 (31.9–36.2). Twenty (64.5%) patients had chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, 7 (22.6%) had interstitial lung diseases, and 4 (12.9%) had other end-stage lung diseases. The mean 6MWD without versus with wearing a mask was 306.9 (101.9) versus 305.7 (103.8) m, with a mean difference of −1.19 m (95% confidence interval −13.4 to 11.03). The observed difference is statistically equivalent to zero (p < 0.001). No significant differences in 6MWDs were observed between the clinical groups. Conclusion: Wearing an oronasal surgical mask did not affect the 6MWDs of patients with advanced lung diseases. Therefore, a masked 6MWT appears to provide a reliable examination of functional exercise capacity in this cohort.
Chemokine in der Orchestrierung des Typ-1-Diabetes: Pathophysiologie und neuer Therapieansatz?
Authors: Adler Sabine
Published: April 2021

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is mainly precipitated by the destruction of insulin-producing β-cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans by autoaggressive T cells. The etiology of the disease is still not clear, but besides genetic predisposition the exposure to environmental triggers seems to play a major role. Virus infection of islets has been demonstrated in biopsies of T1D patients, but there is still no firm proof that such an infection indeed results in islet-specific autoimmunity. However, virus infection results in a local inflammation with expression of inflammatory factors, such as cytokines and chemokines that attract and activate immune cells, including potential autoreactive T cells. Many chemokines have been found to be elevated in the serum and expressed by islet cells of T1D patients. In mouse models, it has been demonstrated that β-cells express chemokines involved in the initial recruitment of immune cells to the islets. The bulk load of chemokines is however released by the infiltrating immune cells that also express multiple chemokine receptors. The result is a mutual attraction of antigen-presenting cells and effector immune cells in the local islet microenvironment. Although there is a considerable redundancy within the chemokine ligand-receptor network, a few chemokines, such as CXCL10, seem to play a key role in the T1D pathogenesis. Studies with neutralizing antibodies and investigations in chemokine-deficient mice demonstrated that interfering with certain chemokine ligand-receptor axes might also ameliorate human T1D. However, one important aspect of such a treatment is the time of administration. Blockade of the recruitment of immune cells to the site of autoimmune destruction might not be effective when the disease process is already ongoing. By that time, autoaggressive cells have already arrived in the islet microenvironment and a blockade of migration might even hold them in place leading to accelerated destruction. Thus, an anti-chemokine therapy makes most sense in situations where the cells have not yet migrated to the islets. Such situations include treatment of patients at risk already carrying islet-antigen autoantibodies but are not yet diabetic, islet transplantation recipients, and patients that have undergone a T cell reset as occurring after anti-CD3 antibody treatment.
Das Kataraktrisiko für junge Typ-1-Diabetiker: Ergebnisse einer nationalen Kohortenstudie in Taiwan
Authors: Dingerkus Vita
Published: April 2021

Background: Chronic hyperglycemia in type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients results in ocular problems over time, but only a few studies emphasized on cataracts. Aim: To evaluate the epidemiology of cataracts in the T1D population. Method: A two-part study was conducted using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Information from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) was served as a template of the general population. In the first part, a total of 3,622 T1D cases registered between 1998 and 2007 were enrolled and compared with a matched group from the LHID. For identifying risk factors of cataracts in the T1D population in the second part, a total of 9032 T1D cases registered between 1998 and 2013 were included. Results: Compared to the LHID, the hazard ratio (HR) of cataracts in the T1D group was 5.81 (95% CI 4.60–7.33), and the HR was higher in females (6.29, 95% CI 4.63–8.55). The peak incidence of cataracts occurred between age 20 and 29 in the T1D group, while in the LHID, it was after 60. The overall incidence of cataracts in the T1D group was 9.1%. In T1D patients with cataracts, they were found with higher rates of associated diabetic complications. Conclusion: Compared to the nondiabetic population, cataracts seemed more rampant and premature in T1D patients, especially those of female gender. Early ophthalmologic examination should be considered in T1D patients.
Bariatric Surgery as the Culprit of Malnutrition
Authors: Vlassopoulos Antonis
Published: April 2021

Obesity is a chronic life-threatening disease, and bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment in those patients. The two main operations are laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). LSG carries a smaller risk for nutritional deficiencies, while gastric bypass procedures are associated with increased nutritional deficiencies because the procedure is more complex and changes the gastrointestinal anatomy. Recent studies comparing LSG and RYGB have proven that these types of operation may lead to a similar weight reduction effect but cause different micronutrient deficiencies. Types of malnutrition after bariatric surgery include protein-energy malnutrition and deficiencies of micronutrients, such as iron, folate, vitamin A, and vitamin B12. Bariatric patients who do not adhere to the recommended diets are at a greater risk of developing relevant malnutrition. Therefore, life-long postoperative clinical and laboratory monitoring is necessary to diagnose deficiencies of vitamins, trace elements, and minerals and to correct them with supplements. Unfortunately, no standardized aftercare regimes exist for these patients, and the costs for nutritional supplements are paid by the patients themselves.
Die Wahl des Antidiabetikums bei bullösen Pemphigoiden entsprechend anpassen
Authors: Sticherling Michael
Published: April 2021

Purpose: An increasing body of evidence suggests that dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors could play a role in the development of bullous pemphigoid. The knowledge regarding this association is based on case reports, pharmacovigilance database analyses, and observational studies. Data from randomized clinical trials are a relevant source of information on adverse events. Since no single trial has a sufficient power to assess the risk of very rare adverse events, such as pemphigoid, metanalyses of RCTs could be a useful tool for exploring this issue. Methods: An extensive Medline, Embase and Cochrane Database search for sitagliptin or vildagliptin, omarigliptin or saxagliptin or alogliptin or trelagliptin or anagliptin or linagliptin or gemigliptin or evogliptin or teneligliptin was performed up to September 30th, 2019. All trials performed on type 2 diabetes, with duration ≥24 weeks, and comparing DPP4i with placebo or active drugs were collected. The study has been registered on PROSPERO (#153344). Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio (MH-OR) with 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) was calculated for pemphigoid. Results: A total of 138 eligible trials were identified (61,514 patients in DPP-4 inhibitors and 59,661 patients in the control group). Only six trials reported at least one case of pemphigoid (17 and 1 cases in DPP4i and control groups, respectively). DPP-4 inhibitors were associated with an increased risk of pemphigoid (MH-OR 4.44 [1.31, 15.00], p = 0.020). A separate analysis for trials with linagliptin showed a significant increase of BP with the active drug (MH-OR 4.69 [1.09, 20.22]; p = 0.04). Conclusion: In conclusion, available data from randomized controlled trials seem to confirm the association between DPP-4 inhibitors and bullous pemphigoid. This association could be limited to one molecule of the class (i.e., linagliptin), although data on other DPP4-i (e.g., vildagliptin) are insufficient to rule out similar detrimental effects.
Kohlenhydratrestriktion und Wachstumsstörung bei zwei Kindern mit Diabetes mellitus Typ 1: ein Fallbericht
Authors: Franceschi Roberto , Rizzardi Caterina , Cauvin Vittoria , Berchielli Federica , Liguori Alice , Soffiati Massimo
Published: April 2021

Zahlreiche Medien haben restriktive Diäten bei Diabetes mellitus populär gemacht und berichtet, dass Kohlenhydrate die Ursache für Blutzuckerspitzen, extrem hohe Insulin-Dosierungen und Gewichtszunahme sind. In der vorliegenden Arbeit berichten wir über zwei Fälle von Kindern mit Diabetes mellitus Typ 1, bei denen die Einhaltung einer streng kohlenhydratreduzierten Diät Wachstumsstörungen zur Folge hatte. Zwei präpubertäre Patienten mit Typ-1-Diabetes zeigten bei der Kontrolluntersuchung während der Honeymoon-Phase eine fehlende Gewichtszunahme und geringe Wachstumsgeschwindigkeit. Die Ernährungsanalyse ergab, dass eine kohlenhydratarme Diät begonnen worden war, um eine Reduzierung der postprandialen Blutzuckerspitzen zu erreichen. Nach Zufuhr entsprechender Kohlenhydratmengen begannen das Gewicht und die Körpergröße der beiden Patienten zu steigen. Es liegen nur wenige veröffentlichte Daten vor, die dafür sprechen, die Kohlenhydratzufuhr nicht zu begrenzen; darum berichten wir in der vorliegenden Arbeit über zwei Fälle von Kindern mit Typ-1-Diabetes, bei denen die Einhaltung einer solchen Ernährungsform zu Wachstumsstörungen geführt hat. Besonders hervorheben möchten wir, dass dabei die Schulung der Familien von Kindern mit Typ-1-Diabetes zu diesem Aspekt eine wichtige Rolle spielt, vor allem wenn sich die Kinder gerade in der Honeymoon-Phase befinden oder diese zu Ende geht.
Incidence, Predictors, and Outcomes of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
Authors: Julien Howard M. , Stebbins Amanda , Vemulapalli Sreekanth , Nathan Ashwin S. , Eneanya Nwamaka D. , Groeneveld Peter , Fiorilli Paul N. , Herrmann Howard C. , Szeto Wilson Y. , Desai Nimesh D. , Anwaruddin Saif , Vora Amit , Shah Binita , Ng Vivian G. , Kumbhani Dharam J. , Giri Jay
Published: April 2021

Background:

Reported rates of acute kidney injury (AKI) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement in small observational studies vary widely.

Methods:

Patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement in the United States between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2018, were included. Patients without reported baseline or peak creatinine values and those who were previously on hemodialysis were excluded. AKI was defined using AKI Network criteria from stages 0 to 3. Logistic regression was used to assess patient and clinical factors associated with incident in-hospital AKI. Among patients with available data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrative files, we compared 1-year mortality among patients with and without AKI.

Results:

Of 107 814 study patients, 11 566 (10.7%) experienced postprocedural AKI. Among patients who developed AKI, 10 220 (9.5%) experienced stage 1 AKI, 134 (0.1%) stage 2 AKI, and 1212 (1.1%) stage 3 AKI. Race, baseline comorbidities, clinical presentation, and procedural factors were associated with the development of stage 3 AKI. In Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services–linked analyses of 62 757 (58.2%) patients, those with AKI had higher adjusted hazard ratio for mortality at 1 year compared with patients who did not experience AKI (stage 1 AKI: adjusted hazard ratio, 2.7 [95% CI, 2.5–2.8],
P
<0.001; stage 2 AKI: adjusted hazard ratio, 10.4 [95% CI, 7.0–15.4],
P
<0.001; stage 3 AKI: adjusted hazard ratio, 7.0 [95% CI, 6.0–8.2],
P
<0.001).

Conclusions:

Using data from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Data Registry Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry registry, we found that AKI is common after transcatheter aortic valve replacement, with over 10% of patients developing postprocedure AKI. Patients who developed stage 3 AKI had 7× higher adjusted 1-year mortality compared with patients who did not develop AKI.
Autonomic Imbalance and Risk of Dementia and Stroke: The Framingham Study
Authors: Weinstein Galit , Davis-Plourde Kendra , Beiser Alexa S. , Seshadri Sudha
Published: April 2021

Background and Purpose:

The autonomic nervous system has been implicated in stroke and dementia pathophysiology. High resting heart rate and low heart rate variability indicate the effect of autonomic imbalance on the heart. We examined the associations of resting heart rate and heart rate variability with incident stroke and dementia in a community-based cohort of middle- and old-aged adults.

Methods:

The study sample included 1581 participants aged >60 years and 3271 participants aged >45 years evaluated for incident dementia and stroke, respectively, who participated in the Framingham Offspring cohort third (1983–1987) examination and had follow-up for neurology events after the seventh (1998–2001) examination. Heart rate variability was assessed through the standard deviation (SD) of normal-to-normal RR intervals and the root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats from 2-hour Holter monitor. Participants were followed-up for stroke and dementia incidence from exam 7 to a maximum of 10 years. Cox regression models were used to assess the link of resting heart rate and heart rate variability with stroke and dementia risk while adjusting for potential confounders, and interactions with age and sex were assessed.

Results:

Of the dementia (mean age, 55±6 years, 46% men) and stroke (mean age, 48±9 years, 46% men) samples, 133 and 127 developed dementia and stroke, respectively, during the follow-up. Overall, autonomic imbalance was not associated with dementia risk. However, age modified the associations such that SD of normal-to-normal intervals and root mean square of successive differences were associated with dementia risk in older people (hazard ratio [HR] [95% CI] per 1SD, 0.61 [0.38–0.99] and HR [95% CI] per 1SD, 0.34 [0.15–0.74], respectively). High resting heart rate was associated with increased stroke risk (HR [95% CI] per 10 bpm, 1.18 [1.01–1.39]), and high SD of normal-to-normal intervals was associated with lower stroke risk in men (HR [95% CI] per 1SD, 0.46 [0.26–0.79]) but not women (HR [95% CI] per 1SD, 1.25 [0.88–1.79];
P
for interaction=0.003).

Conclusions:

Some measures of cardiac autonomic imbalance may precede dementia and stroke occurrence, particularly in older ages and men, respectively.
Variation in reproductive traits of the river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849) (Caridea, Palaemonidae) among different sites in southern Taiwan
Authors: Tew Kwee Siong , Chen Hsin-Ling , Han Chiao-Chuan
Published: April 2021

Previous studies have revealed that reproductive traits of the Oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849) (Palaemonidae) can differ markedly across populations, though the environmental factors responsible for such variation are unknown. We therefore conducted monthly surveys of these prawns to determine their reproductive traits over two years at four study sites in southern Taiwan. The temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, conductivity, and turbidity in Long Luan Lake significantly differed from the other sites, yet levels of reproductive trait parameters were intermediate among all. The aforementioned environmental factors were similar between the two Sihchong River sites and Mudan Reservoir, yet the river populations had the highest values in all reproductive traits. The river’s substratum was comprised of >60% of cobbles and boulders, whereas <5% of the substratum of the reservoir and lake consisted of such rocks. We therefore suggest that this difference in substrate composition may be linked to the significant differences in reproductive traits observed.
A new thermosbaenacean of the genus Tethysbaena (Peracarida, Thermosbaenacea, Monodellidae) from Socotra Island, Yemen
Authors: Wagner H. P. , Van Damme K.
Published: April 2021

A new species of the thermosbaenacean genus Tethysbaena Wagner, 1994 (Crustacea: Peracarida: Thermosbaenacea) is described based on females from a freshwater cave lake and a brackish coastal well on Socotra Island (Yemen) as Tethysbaena dioscorida n. sp. It is the first representative of the Thermosbaenacea that is described from the Socotra Archipelago and the first member of the order known from an Indian Ocean island. The new species is the eighth known member of what is considered the “Tethysbaena relicta” species-group, which is known from Oman (four species), Somalia (one species), Israel (two species) and now Socotra Island (one species). The new species shows closest morphological affinities with T. barbatula Wagner, 2020 from Oman. We suggest that the speciation in this well-defined species-group is due to regressions of the Tethys Sea and the appearance of dry land since the Oligocene-Miocene boundary to the present time, forming major barriers and creating isolated populations of the ancestral species. Also the potential biocrisis in Socotra as a result of developmental activities during the last decades is mentioned, which may affect the subterranean faunas in particular in coastal areas, exemplified by the destruction of one of only two localities where the new species was found.
Situation-Oriented Designation of the International Criminal Court’s Jurisdiction by Non-Member States
Authors: Zakerhossein Mohammad Hadi
Published: April 2021

Rule 44 of the icc Rules of Procedure and Evidence stipulates that non-state parties to the Rome Statute may accept the jurisdiction of the Court with respect to the crimes referred to in Article 5 of relevance to the situation by lodging a declaration under Article 12(3) of the Statute. The ending phrase of this provision gives rise to the speculation that a non-member state has a power to accept the Court’s jurisdiction in a partial way, namely over a specific situation. To examine this feasibility, the present article will: (i) explain the functions of the Article 12(3) mechanism; (ii) discuss the possibility of making a situational acceptance; and (iii) contemplate the meaning of the concept of situation. This article suggests that a non-state party can exclusively accept the Court’s jurisdiction over a specific situation, and that is a concrete crisis within a territory. Keywords contextual element – crisis – ad hoc jurisdiction – acceptance – delegation
The Adoption and Use of the Word ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑ in the Early Christ-Movement
Authors: Esler Philip F.
Published: April 2021

This article engages with two recent monographs and three shorter publications to offer a fresh approach to the origin and some aspects of the use of the word ἐκκλησία in the Christ-movement of the first century ce. It argues that the word was first used as a collective designation by mixed groups of Greek-speaking Judean and non-Judean Christ-followers who were persecuted by Paul. Their intimate table-fellowship (especially of the one loaf and one cup of the Lord’s Supper) was regarded as involving or risking idolatry and thus imperilling the ethnic integrity of the Judean people. These Christ-followers adopted the word ἐκκλησία from instances in the Septuagint where it meant not ‘assembly’ but ‘multitude’ or ‘group’, most importantly of all in 1 Sam. 19.20. As Paul founded new communities in the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean that were recognisably similar to Greco-Roman voluntary associations, the word acquired new connotations that reverberated with the role of ἐκκλησίαι as civic voting assemblies in the Greek cities. Paul’s groups were not anti-Roman, nor did he believe that the Christ-movement would replace ethnic Israel, but rather that the two would co-exist until the End. The Pauline view on this matter finds theological endorsement in a 2015 document from the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with Jews.
The Book of Ezekiel: A Help or a Hindrance for Environmental Ethics?
Authors: Lyons Michael A.
Published: April 2021

In this essay, I examine how the book of Ezekiel has been employed or criticized as a resource for environmental ethics, and I explore the hermeneutical strategies behind these efforts. To do this, I make use of David Horrell’s critique and taxonomy of how the Bible has been used to inform attitudes about the environment. I conclude by arguing that while the book of Ezekiel is not as ecologically dangerous as some readers have claimed, neither can it function on its own as a useful tool for constructing an environmental ethic. However, reading Ezekiel as part of a metanarrative generated by a larger scriptural corpus may render its imagery useful as a resource.
“… as the young girl told them so”
Authors: Cindrea-Nagy Iuliana
Published: April 2021

This article explores the role of women and young girls in Old Calendarist communities in Romania and presents new sources relating to neglected history of the practice of incarceration in Orthodox monasteries in the region. The community developed into a spiritual mass movement that soon became the target of the secret police. Women played an important role within these communities in terms of membership but also in relation to the preservation of Old Calendarist ideas. Explored through the prism of the former secret police archival documents, these women were deemed dangerous and were accused of luring people into the Old Calendarist groups. In contrast to the extremely negative representation of these women that we find in contemporary Orthodox Church publications, police reports and popular press articles, the letters and postcards that they wrote from detention offer us an insight into the private life, personality and motivation of these women.
Une approche internationale de l’histoire de Rouen par Jochen Hoock
Authors: Marec Yannick
Published: April 2021

En prologue de cet article, nous rappelons les circonstances qui ont amené Jochen Hoock à contribuer à une nouvelle Histoire de Rouen. Il vise aussi à caractériser la spécificité de son approche par rapport à celle développée par Jean-Pierre Bardet dans la précédente Histoire de Rouen. Puis est envisagé, en deux temps, l’apport principal de l’auteur. Durant la première moitié du XVIIe siècle Rouen apparaît comme une grande ville marchande sous tension du fait notamment des guerres européennes. Les années 1650-1700 sont marquées par des difficultés économiques liées à l’exacerbation des tensions religieuses avant que le commerce colonial et international serve d’appui à l’expansion industrielle des années 1680-1740. En conclusion, la démarche de Jochen Hoock paraît essentielle en ce qui concerne l’articulation entre commerce et industrie et aussi entre différents niveaux d’analyse, du local à l’international et au global.