bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Loss of a novel striated muscle-enriched mitochondrial protein Coq10a enhances postnatal cardiac hypertrophic growth
Authors: Hirose Kentaro , Chang Steven , Yu Hongyao , Wang Jiajia , Barca Emanuele , Chen Xiaoxin , Khyeam Sheamin , Tajima Kazuki , Yoneshiro Takeshi , Kajimura Shingo , Quinzii Catarina M. , Hu Guang , Huang Guo N.
Published: September 2019

Postnatal mammalian cardiomyocytes undergo a major transition from hyperplasia (increases in cell numbers) to hypertrophy (expansion in cell size). This process is accompanied by rapid mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolic switches to meet the demand of increased cardiac output. Although most mitochondrial components express ubiquitously, recent transcriptomic and proteomic analyses have discovered numerous tissue-specific mitochondrial proteins whose physiological functions are largely unknown. Here we report that a highly evolutionarily conserved mitochondrial protein Coq10a is predominantly expressed in mammalian cardiac and skeletal muscles, and is highly up-regulated around birth in a thyroid hormone-dependent manner. Deletion ofCoq10aby CRISPR/Cas9 leads to enhanced cardiac growth after birth. Surprisingly, adultCoq10amutant mice maintain the hypertrophic heart phenotype with increased levels of coenzyme Q (CoQ) per cardiomyocyte, preserved cardiac contractile function and mitochondrial respiration, which contrasts with reported mice and humans with mutations in other Coq family genes. Further RNA-seq analysis and mitochondrial characterization suggest an increase of mitochondrial biogenesis in theCoq10amutant heart as a possible consequence of Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha (PGC1α) activation, consistent with a recent intriguing report that CoQ may function as a natural ligand and partial agonist of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor (PPAR) α/γ. Taken together, our study reveals a previously unknown function of a novel striated muscle-enriched mitochondrial protein Coq10a in regulating postnatal heart growth.
Hybridization to Homemade Microarrays
Authors: Rando Oliver
Published: September 2019

Competitive hybridization of labeled nucleic acids to a microarray is conceptually similar to other hybridization methods, such as Southern blotting. For massively multiplexed microarrays, the adoption of two-color hybridization schemes has been a significant advance. The use of two colors—typically Cy3- and Cy5-labeled nucleic acids—makes it possible to control for factors that affect hybridization intensity, including the number of labeled nucleotides and the Tm of each oligonucleotide. Thus, the difference in intensity among spots on a microarray can be quantified and analyzed to assess biological phenomena, like changes in gene expression or details of transcript structure. This protocol for hybridization is conceptually straightforward—“cold” (nonfluorescent) blocking nucleotide is added to the mixed nucleic acid material, Hybridization buffer is added, and the mixture is applied to the microarray surface. Hybridization occurs overnight, after which the microarray is washed and scanned.
Efficient computational models for shallow water flows over multilayer erodible beds
Authors: Rowan Thomas , Seaid Mohammed
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a new numerical model for shallow water flows over heterogeneous sedimentary layers. It is already several years since the single-layered models have been used to model shallow water flows over erodible beds. Although such models present a real opportunity for shallow water flows over movable beds, this paper is the first to propose a multilayered solver for this class of flow problems.

Design/methodology/approach

Multilayered beds formed with different erodible soils are considered in this study. The governing equations consist of the well-established shallow water equations for the flow, a transport equation for the suspended sediments, an Exner-type equation for the bed load and a set of empirical equations for erosion and deposition terms. For the numerical solution of the coupled system, the authors consider a non-homogeneous Riemann solver equipped with interface-tracking tools to resolve discontinuous soil properties in the multilayered bed. The solver consists of a predictor stage for the discretization of gradient terms and a corrector stage for the treatment of source terms.

Findings

This paper reveals that modeling shallow water flows over multilayered sedimentary topography can be achieved by using a coupled system of partial differential equations governing sediment transport. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed numerical model preserves the conservation property, and it provides accurate results, avoiding numerical oscillations and numerical dissipation in the approximated solutions.

Originality/value

A novel implementation of sediment handling is presented where both averaged and separate values for sediment species are used to ensure speed and precision in the simulations.
Innovation in health-care companies: a strategy to increase customer service productivity
Authors: Miraldo Claudio , Monken Sonia Francisca , Motta Lara , Ribeiro Ana Freitas
Published: September 2019

Purpose

To promote access to their services, health-care companies provide various communication channels to their customers (beneficiaries) to enable the receipt of requests, such as authorization for examinations, procedures and hospitalizations. Under the approach of innovation studies, the management of customer relationship channels for health-care companies is characterized as a knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS). The purpose of this study is presenting innovation as a strategy to increase customer service productivity, as well as the monitoring of the quality of the service, the generation of health information for beneficiaries and compliance with the regulation set by the Brazilian National Health Agency (ANS).

Design/methodology/approach

The study is characterized as an applied research, as it proposes solutions to problems faced by supplemental health-care companies using the strategy of action research, i.e. an independent, social research with an empirical basis.

Findings

The result of this study shows that a computerized health-care system can increase productivity by 21.96%, and it presents an innovative solution for health-care companies to guarantee the process of meeting the demands and requests of their beneficiaries, ensuring the compliance with ANS regulations.

Practical implications

These results can be replicated to other healthcare companies and contribute to those seeking innovation, increased productivity and quality improvements in their services.

Originality/value

This work was also motivated by the lack of lstudies in the areas of health-care companies in Brazil.
The quest for affordable owner-occupied housing in Germany
Authors: Schmidt Carolin E.
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Even though housing prices in Germany are low by international standards, housing in urban areas has become less affordable. Since 2018, certain families aspiring to become homeowners may apply for a capital subsidy (Baukindergeld) that contributes to their down-payment. This paper analyzes whether this subsidy is an appropriate policy instrument to achieve the desired goals.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an equilibrium model with two types of households (low- and high-income) and two types of houses (low- and high-quality) to examine equilibrium prices before and after the introduction of a subsidy.

Findings

This subsidy not only makes owning less affordable for the lower-income household but also increases the prices of more expensive houses that are not within reach of lower-income households.

Research limitations/implications

Because this policy has just come into effect in 2018 and no data are available yet, the implications of the model are yet to be tested.

Practical implications

The implications of the subsidy run counter to its intentions as house prices will rise even further. Other policies or fewer regulations for new construction may be more effective.

Social implications

An instrument aiming to relieve financially weaker families, this subsidy will increase prices for all house types, assuming continuing supply shortages observed in the German urban housing markets.

Originality/value

This is the first paper on Germany’s new homeownership subsidy. The model is general enough to be used with any explicit demand and supply functions and is thus applicable to other markets with low supply elasticities.
If numbers could “feel”: How well do executives trust their intuition?
Authors: Liebowitz Jay , Chan Yolande , Jenkin Tracy , Spicker Dylan , Paliszkiewicz Joanna , Babiloni Fabio
Published: September 2019

Purpose

In the business and data analytics community, intuition has not been discussed widely in terms of its application to executive decision-making. However, the purpose of this paper is to focus on new global research that combines intuition, trust and analytics in terms of how well C-level executives trust their intuition.

Design/methodology/approach

Our Fulbright research, as described in this paper and performed by colleagues from the United States, Canada, Poland and Italy, examines executives’ as well as other less experienced employees’ preferences for different types of intuition versus data analysis. This study set out to better understand the degree to which executives prefer intuition versus analysis and the relationship between these approaches to decision-making. Our research combines elements of a review, a cross-cultural/cross-company survey study and a biometrics study in interoception. The research team has a multidisciplinary background in business, information technology, strategy, trust management, statistics and neuroscience.

Findings

Based on our research, the main findings are as follows. The use of and preference for intuition types change as employees gain more experience. However, there may be intuition styles that are more static and trait-like, which are linked to roles, differentiating managers from leaders. Using “inferential intuition” and “seeing the big picture” go hand in hand. Listening to your body signals can promote improved intuition. Cross-cultural differences may impact executive decision-making. Executives often prefer to use their intuition over analysis/analytics.

Research limitations/implications

This research could be expanded to have a larger sample size of C-level executives. We had 172 responses with 65% C-level executives and 12% directors. However, a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit on intuition used by executives had a sample of 174 executives around the world, which is comparable with our sample size.

Practical implications

From our research, executives should continue to apply their experiential learning through intuition to complement their use of data in making strategic decisions. We have often discounted the use of intuition in executive decision-making, but our research highlights the importance of making it a critical part of the executive decision-making process.

Originality/value

Based on the results of our survey and biometrics research, executives apply their intuition to gain greater confidence in their decision-making. Listening to their body signals can also improve their intuitive executive awareness. This complements their use of data and analytics when making executive decisions.
TERAD: Extraction of transposable element composition from RADseq data
Authors: Chak Solomon T. C. , Rubenstein Dustin R.
Published: September 2019

Transposable elements (TEs) – selfish DNA sequences that can move within the genome – comprise a large proportion of the genomes of many organisms. Although low‐coverage whole‐genome sequencing can be used to survey TE composition, it is noneconomical for species with large quantities of DNA. Here, we utilize restriction‐site associated DNA sequencing (RADSeq) as an alternative method to survey TE composition. First, we demonstrate in silico that double digest restriction‐site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) markers contain the same TE compositions as whole genome assemblies across arthropods. Next, we show empirically using eight Synalpheus snapping shrimp species with large genomes that TE compositions from ddRADseq and low‐coverage whole‐genome sequencing are comparable within and across species. Finally, we develop a new bioinformatic pipeline, TERAD, to extract TE compositions from RADseq data. Our study expands the utility of RADseq to study the repeatome, making comparative studies of genome structure for species with large genomes more tractable and affordable.
Changing trends in surgical management of renal tumours from 2000 to 2016: a nationwide study of Medicare claims data
Authors: Ali Stephen , Ahn Thomas , Papa Nathan , Perera Marlon , Teloken Patrick , Coughlin Geoffrey , Wood Simon T. , Roberts Matthew J.
Published: September 2019

Background

Guidelines recommend nephron sparing surgery where possible for patients with T1 renal tumours. The trends of nephron sparing surgery outside the USA are limited, particularly since the introduction of robotic‐assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN). The aim of this study was to describe contemporary surgical management patterns of renal tumours in Australia according to Medicare claims data.

Methods

Claims data according to the Medicare Benefits Schedule on surgical management of renal tumours in adult Australians between January 2000 and December 2016 was collated. Analysis of absolute number, population‐adjusted rate and renal cancer‐adjusted rate of interventions according to age and gender were performed, as well as proportion of RAPN.

Results

Between 2000 and 2016, the rate of partial nephrectomy (PN) increased while radical nephrectomy (RN) remained stable (PN: 0.87–4.16, RN: 6.52–6.70 per 100 000 population). Since 2015, PN has become more common than RN in patients aged 25 to 44 years (0.98 versus 0.95 procedures per 100 000 population). Renal cancer‐adjusted rate exhibited a trend towards increasing utilization of PN and reduced RN across all age groups. An increase in overall surgical treatment was observed (25%–41%), mainly due to increased treatment of patients older than 75 years. The proportion of RAPN was seen to rapidly increase (4.7% in 2010 to 58% in 2016).

Conclusions

Treatment utilization for renal masses has markedly changed in Australia according to Medicare claims. PN is increasingly replacing RN in younger patients, and older patients are receiving more surgical treatment. The impact of increased RAPN utilization is yet to be determined.
Father's and mother's beliefs about children's anxiety
Authors: Beato Ana , Barros Luísa , Pereira Ana Isabel
Published: September 2019

Background

Previous research has focused on parenting styles and parental behaviors associated with children's anxiety. Parental beliefs about their child's anxiety have scarcely been studied, in spite of their probable influence in parents seeking help. The present study intended to fil that gap, by exploring what parents think about their children's anxiety and whether these cognitions are related or not to their use of professional help.

Method

In‐depth semistructured interviews were conducted with 48 parents (50% fathers) of children (9–12 years old) with anxiety problems. Theoretical thematic analysis was performed on the transcripts.

Results

Three dimensions were derived from the analysis, concerning (a) the causes of child's anxiety, (b) the impact of anxiety in the child's functioning, and (c) the evolution of anxiety. Most parents perceived the child's anxiety as a permanent condition, attributing it to external and parental factors and considering that the anxiety problems have a negative impact on the child's well‐being. Plus, parents who had previously sought professional help for the child's emotional problems tended to believe that anxiety could improve with child's or parents' efforts and with professional guidance, contrarily to those who had not. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Conclusion

The present study highlighted important parental beliefs about their children's anxiety that might influence their attitudes and decisions (e.g., seek for professional help). Other parental cognitions should be investigated in order to understand parenting in the context of childhood anxiety.
Resources spent on dermatological emergency patients: A twelve‐month prospective data collection from Germany
Authors: Ansorge Claudia , Miocic Johannes M. , von Bubnoff Dagmar , Technau‐Hafsi Kristin
Published: September 2019

Background and objectives

Rising numbers of patients consulting emergency units are associated with an increased demand for material and personnel. In order to better quantify these resources, we performed an analysis of diagnostic procedures, treatment types, and the quantity and educational level of staff involved in emergency consultations.

Patients and methods

The study was conducted as a prospective single‐center survey over twelve months in the dermatology unit of a Germany university hospital. 3155 consultations were included by consecutive sampling.

Results

Diagnostic tests (e.g. microbiological swab, blood testing, punch biopsy) were performed in 29 % of all consultations. Physicians prescribed treatment in 70 % of cases, with steroids and antihistamines being the most frequent topical and systemic treatment, respectively. Each patient was seen by at least one physician and a nurse, and in 25 % of cases an additional physician was involved. Less than thirty minutes was required for the consultation in the vast majority of cases. On average, emergency consultations required two hours per day of the treating physician's time, not including the time of other involved staff such as nurses and laboratory technicians.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the extent of resources involved in the treatment of dermatological emergency consultations.
Quantification of IGF‐1 receptor is useful in the differential diagnosis of essential thrombocytosis from reactive thrombocytosis
Authors: Wang Jen C. , Shi Guanfang , Wong Ching , Gotlieb Vladimir , Ramachandran Preethi , Chen Hui
Published: September 2019

Background

To make a definite diagnosis of essential thrombocytosis (ET) from reactive thrombocytosis (RT), the most reliable criteria are the presence of driver mutations, namely JAK2, CALR, or MPL gene mutations. In the absence of these driver mutations, so‐called triple‐negative ET, the differential diagnosis could be difficult. Although bone marrow biopsy could be helpful, it may be difficult in some cases, to do gene sequence analysis to identify other clonal marker gene mutations than the driver mutations, as only very few were found.

Methods

IGF‐1R quantification by flow cytometry in mononuclear cells (MNC) from peripheral blood was performed in 33 patients with ET (untreated or off treatment with hydroxyurea), 28 patients with RT, and 16 normal volunteer controls.

Results

We found IGF‐1R levels were significantly elevated in ET patients compared to RT patients or controls. A cutoff value of 253 was chosen from the logistic regression to predict each patient's group, a value ≥253 meant that a patient belonged to the ET group (sensitivity 96.4% and specificity 68.6%).

Conclusion

We suggest that adding quantification of IGF‐1R in blood MNC by flow cytometry is useful in differentiating ET from RT.
L'effet de la polarisation du marché du travail sur les parcours d'insertion des diplômés de l'université en République de Corée: apports pour une analyse du chômage des jeunes
Authors: CHUNG Sungyup
Published: September 2019

Les auteurs analysent l'incidence des caractéristiques du marché du travail sur les comportements d'activité des diplômés de l'université en République de Corée, exploitant des données d'enquête nationales relatives à la période 2005–2013. Ils estiment l'effet de variables macroéconomiques sur les parcours d'insertion, montrant que la polarisation du marché du travail, mesurée par l'indice de Chung et Jung (2016), a un effet significatif sur le chômage des diplômés, y compris sous ses formes masquées (par le report de la remise du diplôme ou une réinscription universitaire). L'analyse de la structure du marché du travail semble donc essentielle à une bonne compréhension du chômage des jeunes.
Quantitative evaluation of atrophic acne scars using 3D image analysis with reflected LED light
Authors: Tanizaki Hideaki , Tanioka Miki , Yamashita Yuki , Hayashi Nobukazu
Published: September 2019

Background

Methods for objective evaluation of acne scars have not been established yet. In this study, the capability of three‐dimensional image analysis of acne scarring was examined.

Methods

Two dermatologists evaluated the severity and counted the number of atrophic acne scars in a defined evaluation area of each cheek (3.5 cm × 3.5 cm) of 22 subjects (age, 21‐38 years). Images of the evaluation area were obtained with an Antera 3D® (Miravex Limited, Ireland) camera three times, and three parameters (affected area, volume, and max depth) were measured. Three different filters (small, medium, and large), which limit measurement targets based on the diameters of concavities, were used for measurement. The relationships between each parameter and the evaluation results of scars by dermatologists were analyzed using Spearman's correlation coefficients.

Results

The correlations between the evaluation results of scars by dermatologists and each parameter measured were the highest when the large filter was used. The correlation coefficients between the severity of scars by dermatologists and each of affected area, volume, and max depth were 0.736, 0.728, and 0.722, respectively, and those between scar counts and each of affected area and volume were 0.783 and 0.770, respectively. The correlations, scatter plots, and regression lines among three measurements of parameters suggested high repeatability.

Conclusions

Three‐dimensional image analysis has the capability to evaluate changes in the shape of scars before and after treatment quantitatively.
The molecular phylogenetics ofTrachymyrmexForel ants and their fungal cultivars provide insights into the origin and coevolutionary history of ‘higher‐attine’ ant agriculture
Authors: Solomon Scott E. , Rabeling Christian , Sosa‐Calvo Jeffrey , Lopes Cauê T. , Rodrigues André , Vasconcelos Heraldo L. , Bacci Maurício , Mueller Ulrich G. , Schultz Ted R.
Published: September 2019

The fungus‐growing ants and their fungal cultivars constitute a classic example of a mutualism that has led to complex coevolutionary dynamics spanningc. 55–65 Ma. Of the five agricultural systems practised by fungus‐growing ants, higher‐attine agriculture, of which leaf‐cutter agriculture is a derived subset, remains poorly understood despite its relevance to ecosystem function and human agriculture across the Neotropics and parts of North America. Among the ants practising higher‐attine agriculture, the genusTrachymyrmexForel, as currently defined, shares most‐recent common ancestors with both the leaf‐cutter ants and the higher‐attine generaSericomyrmexMayr andXerolitorSosa‐Calvoet al. Although previous molecular‐phylogenetic studies have suggested thatTrachymyrmexis a paraphyletic grade, until now insufficient taxon sampling has prevented a full investigation of the evolutionary history of this group and limited the possibility of resolving its taxonomy. Here we describe the results of phylogenetic analyses of 38Trachymyrmexspecies, including 27 of the 49 described species and at least 11 new species, using four nuclear markers, as well as phylogenetic analyses of the fungi cultivated by 23 species ofTrachymyrmexusing two markers. We generated new genetic data for 112 ants (402 new gene sequences) and 95 fungi (153 new gene sequences). Our results corroborate previous findings thatTrachymyrmex, as currently defined, is paraphyletic. We propose recognizing two new genera,Mycetomoelleriusgen.n.andParatrachymyrmexgen.n., and restricting the continued use ofTrachymyrmexto the clade of nine largely North American species that contains the type species [Trachymyrmex septentrionalis(McCook)] and that is the sister group of the leaf‐cutting ants. Our fungal cultivar phylogeny generally corroborates previously observed broad patterns of ant–fungus association, but it also reveals further violations of those patterns. Higher‐attine fungi are divided into two groups: (i) the single speciesLeucoagaricus gongylophorus(Möller); and (ii) its sister clade, consisting of multiple species, recently referred to asLeucoagaricusSinger ‘clade B’. Our phylogeny indicates that, although most non‐leaf‐cutting higher‐attine ants typically cultivate species in clade B, some species cultivateL. gongylophorus, whereas still others cultivate fungi typically associated with lower‐attine agriculture. This indicates that the attine agricultural systems, which are currently defined by associations between ants and fungi, are not entirely congruent with ant and fungal phylogenies. They may, however, be correlated with as yet poorly understood biological traits of the ants and/or of their microbiomes.
Codemakers find algorithms immune to quantum hacks
Authors: Cho Adrian
Published: September 2019

NIST will select cryptographic standards for the internet that could blunt future hacks by a quantum computer.
Salmon-smeared notebooks reveal fisheries past bounty
Authors: Ogden Lesley Evans
Published: September 2019

DNA from scales on pages exposed wild sockeye declines.
Reading an anguished brain
Authors: Underwood Emily
Published: September 2019

Scanning the brains of people who are depressed or suicidal could point to better-targeted treatments.
Warning signs
Authors: Servick Kelly
Published: September 2019

Can data from mobile phones anticipate a suicide attempt?
Probing an evolutionary riddle
Authors: Culotta Elizabeth
Published: September 2019

A startling evolutionary hypothesis considers why humans harm themselves—and how they've kept themselves safe for millennia.
Persistence of neuronal representations through time and damage in the hippocampus
Authors: Gonzalez Walter G. , Zhang Hanwen , Harutyunyan Anna , Lois Carlos
Published: September 2019

Robust memories through neuron networks

How does the brain store information over a long period of time? Gonzalez
et al.
chronically implanted custom-built high-sensitivity microendoscopes and performed long-term imaging of neuronal activity in freely moving mutant mice. The majority of neurons were active on most days, but their firing rate changed across sessions and tasks. Although the responses of individual neurons changed, the responses of groups of neurons with synchronous activity were very stable across days and weeks. In addition, the network activity in hippocampal area CA1 recovered after an extended period without performing the task or even after abnormal activity induced by local lesions. These findings indicate the presence of attractor-like ensemble dynamics as a mechanism by which the representations of an environment are encoded in the brain.

Science
, this issue p.
821
The 200-year effort to see the embryo
Authors: Wallingford John B.
Published: September 2019

Innovations in technology and thought help to visualize the embryo as it really is
NAD
+
cleavage activity by animal and plant TIR domains in cell death pathways
Authors: Horsefield Shane , Burdett Hayden , Zhang Xiaoxiao , Manik Mohammad K. , Shi Yun , Chen Jian , Qi Tiancong , Gilley Jonathan , Lai Jhih-Siang , Rank Maxwell X. , Casey Lachlan W. , Gu Weixi , Ericsson Daniel J. , Foley Gabriel , Hughes Robert O. , Bosanac Todd , von Itzstein Mark , Rathjen John P. , Nanson Jeffrey D. , Boden Mikael , Dry Ian B. , Williams Simon J. , Staskawicz Brian J. , Coleman Michael P. , Ve Thomas , Dodds Peter N. , Kobe Bostjan
Published: September 2019

NAD depletion as pathogen response

One way that plants respond to pathogen infection is by sacrificing the infected cells. The nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat immune receptors responsible for this hypersensitive response carry Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains. In two papers, Horsefield
et al.
and Wan
et al.
report that these TIR domains cleave the metabolic cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD
+
) as part of their cell-death signaling in response to pathogens. Similar signaling links mammalian TIR-containing proteins to NAD
+
depletion during Wallerian degeneration of neurons.

Science
, this issue p.
793
, p.
799
Visualizing G protein activation
Authors: Foley John F.
Published: September 2019

Structures provide insights into the mechanism by which the GPCR rhodopsin activates the G protein transducin.
Changes in intraocular pressure during reading or writing on smartphones in patients with normal-tension glaucoma
Authors: Ha Ahnul , Kim Young Kook , Kim Jin-Soo , Jeoung Jin Wook , Park Ki Ho
Published: September 2019

Background/aims

To investigate (1) the effect of reading or writing on a smartphone in terms of intraocular pressure (IOP) change in eyes with glaucoma, and (2) to determine whether previous glaucoma filtering surgery can affect IOP fluctuation during such work.

Methods

Forty eyes of 40 medically well IOP-controlled normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) patients and 38 eyes of 38 NTG patients who had undergone successful trabeculectomy (TLE) were enrolled. The participants were instructed to read a sample text and to then type it on a smartphone under low-light [100 lux] conditions. Three IOP measurements were obtained: baseline; during smartphone work (5, 15 and 25 min); post-work (5 and 15 min).

Results

Baseline IOP did not significantly differ between the two groups (medication group: 13.9±1.6 mm Hg; TLE group: 13.6±1.7 mm Hg; p=0.426). After 5 min of smartphone work, the medication group showed significantly elevated mean IOP (15.5±1.8 mm Hg;+11.5%; p<0.001), along with further increases over the course of 25 min (17.5±2.2 mm Hg;+25.9%; p<0.001). 5 min after halting work, IOP dropped below the baseline (13.1±1.7 mm Hg; p<0.001). For the TLE group, IOP also was elevated after 5 min (14.9±1.7 mm Hg;+9.4%; p<0.001); however, it did not show further increase over the course of 25 min of work (15.0±1.6 mm Hg;+10.3%). At 5 min after cessation of work, IOP had restored to the pre-work level (14.0±1.9 mm Hg;+2.8%; p=0.053).

Conclusion

Working on a smartphone under low-light condition can incur IOP elevation in treated NTG patients. However, among the participants in this study, IOP fluctuation was much smaller in those who had undergone TLE.
How to evaluate premature ventricular beats in the athlete: critical review and proposal of a diagnostic algorithm
Authors: Corrado Domenico , Drezner Jonathan A , D'Ascenzi Flavio , Zorzi Alessandro
Published: September 2019

Although premature ventricular beats (PVBs) in young people and athletes are usually benign, they may rarely mark underlying heart disease and risk of sudden cardiac death during sport. This review addresses the prevalence, clinical meaning and diagnostic/prognostic assessment of PVBs in the athlete. The article focuses on the characteristics of PVBs, such as the morphological pattern of the ectopic QRS and the response to exercise, which accurately stratify risk. We propose an algorithm to help the sport and exercise physician manage the athlete with PVBs. We also address (1) which athletes need more indepth investigation, including cardiac MRI to exclude an underlying pathological myocardial substrate, and (2) which athletes can remain eligible to competitive sports and who needs to be excluded.
National Health Priorities under the Kim Jong Un regime in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), 2012–2018
Authors: Shin Bo Kyung , Jeon Woo Taek
Published: September 2019

The National Health Priorities (NHP) 2016–2020 is the healthcare policy which was most recently announced to the international community by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). However, understanding DPRK’s internal and practical perspectives and priorities in the healthcare sector is difficult. Hence, there is a need to analyse domestic documents. One such document is theSa-seol—a kind of editorial in the first issue of the each quarterly medical journal published in DPRK. We analyse the content of 56Sa-seolpublished in eight medical journals during the Kim Jong Un regime (2012–2018), and then classified them in terms of their relevance to each of 12 items presented in NHP 2016–2020.Sa-seolmentioned a total of 612 medical and health issues which could be classified into 12 items based on NHP 2016–2020. We divided the items into three categories of concern in the NHP by summarising the total number of mentions: the areas of the most, medium and least concern. The areas of most concern (development of medical science and technology) are not directly related to the present improvement of health and rather, seem to focus on more future development. The areas of medium concern focused on disease control, health systems and social determinants of health. The areas of the least concern were emergency or disaster response and reproductive health services. This study suggests a two-track approach for healthcare cooperation with DPRK:, a well-balanced approach between ‘present’ and ‘future’ needs.
Sex differences in sickness absence and the morbidity-mortality paradox: a longitudinal study using Swedish administrative registers
Authors: Avdic Daniel , Hägglund Pathric , Lindahl Bertil , Johansson Per
Published: September 2019

Objective

To analyse whether gender-specific health behaviour can be an explanation for why women outlive men, while having worse morbidity outcomes, known as the morbidity-mortality or gender paradox.

Setting

The working population in Sweden.

Participants

Thirty per cent random sample of Swedish women and men aged 40–59 with a hospital admission in the 1993–2004 period were included. The sample for analysis consists of 233 274 individuals (115 430 men and 117 844 women) and in total 1 867 013 observations on sickness absence.

Intervention

Hospital admission across 18 disease categories.

Main outcome measures

The main outcome measures were sickness absence (morbidity) and mortality. Longitudinal data at the individual level allow us to study how sickness absence changed after a hospital admission in men and women using a difference-in-differences regression analysis. Cox regression models are used to study differences in mortality after the admission.

Results

Women increased their sickness absence after a hospital admission by around five more days per year than men (95% CI 5.25 to 6.22). At the same time, men had higher mortality in the 18 diagnosis categories analysed. The pattern of more sickness absence in women was the same across 17 different diagnosis categories. For neoplasm, with a 57% higher risk of death for men (54.18%–59.89%), the results depended on the imputation method of sickness for those deceased. By using the premortality means of sickness absence, men had an additional 14.47 (-16.30– -12.64) days of absence, but with zero imputation women had an additional 1.6 days of absence (0.05–3.20). Analyses with or without covariates revealed a coherent picture.

Conclusions

The pattern of increased sickness absence (morbidity) and lower mortality in women provides evidence on the more proactive and preventive behaviour of women than of men, which could thus explain the morbidity-mortality paradox.
Single-cell transcriptional analyses of spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia arising from acute drug injury and chronic inflammation in the stomach
Authors: Bockerstett Kevin A , Lewis Scott A , Wolf Kyle J , Noto Christine N , Jackson Nicholas M , Ford Eric L , Ahn Tae-Hyuk , DiPaolo Richard J
Published: September 2019

Objective

Spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) is a regenerative lesion in the gastric mucosa and is a potential precursor to intestinal metaplasia/gastric adenocarcinoma in a chronic inflammatory setting. The goal of these studies was to define the transcriptional changes associated with SPEM at the individual cell level in response to acute drug injury and chronic inflammatory damage in the gastric mucosa.

Design

Epithelial cells were isolated from the gastric corpus of healthy stomachs and stomachs with drug-induced and inflammation-induced SPEM lesions. Single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed on tissue samples from each of these settings. The transcriptomes of individual epithelial cells from healthy, acutely damaged and chronically inflamed stomachs were analysed and compared.

Results

scRNA-seq revealed a population Mucin 6 (Muc6)+gastric intrinsic factor (Gif)+cells in healthy tissue, but these cells did not express transcripts associated with SPEM. Furthermore, analyses of SPEM cells from drug injured and chronically inflamed corpus yielded two major findings: (1) SPEM and neck cell hyperplasia/hypertrophy are nearly identical in the expression of SPEM-associated transcripts and (2) SPEM programmes induced by drug-mediated parietal cell ablation and chronic inflammation are nearly identical, although the induction of transcripts involved in immunomodulation was unique to SPEM cells in the chronic inflammatory setting.

Conclusions

These data necessitate an expansion of the definition of SPEM to includeTff2+Muc6+cells that do not express mature chief cell transcripts such asGif. Our data demonstrate that SPEM arises by a highly conserved cellular programme independent of aetiology and develops immunoregulatory capabilities in a setting of chronic inflammation.
Attendees of Manchester’s Lung Health Check pilot express a preference for community-based lung cancer screening
Authors: Balata Haval , Tonge Janet , Barber Phil V , Colligan Denis , Elton Peter , Evison Matthew , Kirwan Marie , Novasio Juliette , Sharman Anna , Slevin Kathryn , Taylor Sarah , Waplington Sara , Booton Richard , Crosbie Phil A
Published: September 2019

Manchester’s ‘Lung Health Check’ pilot utilised mobile CT scanners in convenient retail locations to deliver lung cancer screening to socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. We assessed whether screening location was an important factor for those attending the service. Location was important for 74.7% (n=701/938) and 23% (n=216/938) reported being less likely to attend an equivalent hospital-based programme. This preference was most common in current smokers (27% current smokers vs 19% former smokers; AdjOR 1.46, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.08, p=0.036) and those in the lowest deprivation quartile (25% lowest quartile vs 17.6% highest quartile; AdjOR 2.0, 95% CI 1.24 to 3.24, p=0.005). Practical issues related to travel were most important in those less willing to attend a hospital-based service, with 83.3% citing at least one travel related barrier to non-attendance. A convenient community-based screening programme may reduce inequalities in screening adherence especially in those at high risk of lung cancer in deprived areas.
Five-year mortality and morbidity impact of prolonged versus brief ICU stay: a propensity score matched cohort study
Authors: Hermans Greet , Van Aerde Nathalie , Meersseman Philippe , Van Mechelen Helena , Debaveye Yves , Wilmer Alexander , Gunst Jan , Casaer Michael Paul , Dubois Jasperina , Wouters Pieter , Gosselink Rik , Van den Berghe Greet
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Long-term outcomes of critical illness may be affected by duration of critical illness and intensive care. We aimed to investigate differences in mortality and morbidity after short (<8 days) and prolonged (≥8 days) intensive care unit (ICU) stay.

Methods

Former EPaNIC-trial patients were included in this preplanned prospective cohort, 5-year follow-up study. Mortality was assessed in all. For morbidity analyses, all long-stay and—for feasibility—a random sample (30%) of short-stay survivors were contacted. Primary outcomes were total and post-28-day 5-year mortality. Secondary outcomes comprised handgrip strength (HGF, %pred), 6-minute-walking distance (6MWD, %pred) and SF-36 Physical Function score (PF SF-36). One-to-one propensity-score matching of short-stay and long-stay patients was performed for nutritional strategy, demographics, comorbidities, illness severity and admission diagnosis. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to explore ICU factors possibly explaining any post-ICU observed outcome differences.

Results

After matching, total and post-28-day 5-year mortality were higher for long-stayers (48.2% (95%CI: 43.9% to 52.6%) and 40.8% (95%CI: 36.4% to 45.1%)) versus short-stayers (36.2% (95%CI: 32.4% to 40.0%) and 29.7% (95%CI: 26.0% to 33.5%), p<0.001). ICU risk factors comprised hypoglycaemia, use of corticosteroids, neuromuscular blocking agents, benzodiazepines, mechanical ventilation, new dialysis and the occurrence of new infection, whereas clonidine could be protective. Among 276 long-stay and 398 short-stay 5-year survivors, HGF, 6MWD and PF SF-36 were significantly lower in long-stayers (matched subset HGF: 83% (95%CI: 60% to 100%) versus 87% (95%CI: 73% to 103%), p=0.020; 6MWD: 85% (95%CI: 69% to 101%) versus 94% (95%CI: 76% to 105%), p=0.005; PF SF-36: 65 (95%CI: 35 to 90) versus 75 (95%CI: 55 to 90), p=0.002).

Conclusion

Longer duration of intensive care is associated with excess 5-year mortality and morbidity, partially explained by potentially modifiable ICU factors.

Trail registration number

NCT00512122.
A new type of multibenzyloxy-wrapped porphyrin sensitizers for developing efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Authors: Chen Yingying , Zeng Kaiwen , Li Chengjie , Liu Xiujun , Xie Yongshu
Published: September 2019

Porphyrin dyes have been widely used for the fabrication of efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, dye aggregation and charge recombination still exert negative effects on photovoltaic performance, resulting in unsatisfactory power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Herein, we report a new class of porphyrin sensitizers, XW52 and XW53 employing four benzyloxy groups to wrap the porphyrin cores. As a result, an efficiency of 7.6% was obtained for XW52, with [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of 668 mV and 16.63 mA cm[Formula: see text], respectively. Compared with XW52, an additional 2,6-dialkoxyphenyl group has been introduced to the N-atom of the phenothiazine donor to furnish XW53 with the aim to further improve the anti-aggregation character and the solubility, and thus the [Formula: see text] was improved to 674 mV, and a higher efficiency of 7.9% was achieved for XW53. Upon cosensitization with PT-C6, the[Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were synergistically enhanced to 727 mV and 18.67 mA cm[Formula: see text], respectively. As a result, a high efficiency of 9.6% was successfully achieved for the cosensitization system of XW53 + PT-C6. These results provide an effective novel strategy for designing efficient porphyrin dyes by introducing multiple benzyloxy groups to the meso-phenyl groups.
Demystifying Parallel and Distributed Deep Learning
Authors: Ben-Nun Tal , Hoefler Torsten
Published: September 2019

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are becoming an important tool in modern computing applications. Accelerating their training is a major challenge and techniques range from distributed algorithms to low-level circuit design. In this survey, we describe the problem from a theoretical perspective, followed by approaches for its parallelization. We present trends in DNN architectures and the resulting implications on parallelization strategies. We then review and model the different types of concurrency in DNNs: from the single operator, through parallelism in network inference and training, to distributed deep learning. We discuss asynchronous stochastic optimization, distributed system architectures, communication schemes, and neural architecture search. Based on those approaches, we extrapolate potential directions for parallelism in deep learning.
Progress, Justness, and Fairness
Authors: Glabbeek Rob Van , Höfner Peter
Published: September 2019

Fairness assumptions are a valuable tool when reasoning about systems. In this article, we classify several fairness properties found in the literature and argue that most of them are too restrictive for many applications. As an alternative, we introduce the concept of justness.
Performance-Aware Management of Cloud Resources
Authors: Moghaddam Sara Kardani , Buyya Rajkumar , Ramamohanarao Kotagiri
Published: September 2019

The dynamic nature of the cloud environment has made the distributed resource management process a challenge for cloud service providers. The importance of maintaining quality of service in accordance with customer expectations and the highly dynamic nature of cloud-hosted applications add new levels of complexity to the process. Advances in big-data learning approaches have shifted conventional static capacity planning solutions to complex performance-aware resource management methods. It is shown that the process of decision-making for resource adjustment is closely related to the behavior of the system, including the utilization of resources and application components. Therefore, a continuous monitoring of system attributes and performance metrics provides the raw data for the analysis of problems affecting the performance of the application. Data analytic methods, such as statistical and machine-learning approaches, offer the required concepts, models, and tools to dig into the data and find general rules, patterns, and characteristics that define the functionality of the system. Obtained knowledge from the data analysis process helps to determine the changes in the workloads, faulty components, or problems that can cause system performance to degrade. A timely reaction to performance degradation can avoid violations of service level agreements, including performing proper corrective actions such as auto-scaling or other resource adjustment solutions. In this article, we investigate the main requirements and limitations of cloud resource management, including a study of the approaches to workload and anomaly analysis in the context of performance management in the cloud. A taxonomy of the works on this problem is presented that identifies main approaches in existing research from the data analysis side to resource adjustment techniques. Finally, considering the observed gaps in the general direction of the reviewed works, a list of these gaps is proposed for future researchers to pursue.
An Empirical Study on Learning Bug-Fixing Patches in the Wild via Neural Machine Translation
Authors: Tufano Michele , Watson Cody , Bavota Gabriele , Penta Massimiliano Di , White Martin , Poshyvanyk Denys
Published: September 2019

Millions of open source projects with numerous bug fixes are available in code repositories. This proliferation of software development histories can be leveraged to learn how to fix common programming bugs. To explore such a potential, we perform an empirical study to assess the feasibility of using Neural Machine Translation techniques for learning bug-fixing patches for real defects. First, we mine millions of bug-fixes from the change histories of projects hosted on GitHub in order to extract meaningful examples of such bug-fixes. Next, we abstract the buggy and corresponding fixed code, and use them to train an Encoder-Decoder model able to translate buggy code into its fixed version. In our empirical investigation, we found that such a model is able to fix thousands of unique buggy methods in the wild. Overall, this model is capable of predicting fixed patches generated by developers in 9--50% of the cases, depending on the number of candidate patches we allow it to generate. Also, the model is able to emulate a variety of different Abstract Syntax Tree operations and generate candidate patches in a split second.