bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Antegrade balloon dilatation of the duodenal papilla during laparoscopic cholecystectomy versus endoscopic retrograde cholangiography in patients with acute choledocholithiasis: a case control matched study
Authors: Gloor Severin , Minder Simone , Schnell Bianca , Prevost Gian Andrea , Wiest Reiner , Candinas Daniel , Schnüriger Beat
Published: May 2024

Introduction

In acute obstructive common bile duct (CBD) stones endoscopic retrograde cholangiography for CBD stone removal before cholecystectomy (ChE) (‘ERC-first’) is the gold standard of treatment. Intraoperative antegrade balloon dilatation of the duodenal papilla during ChE with flushing of CBD stones to the duodenum (‘ABD-during-ChE’) may be an alternative ‘one-stop-shop’ treatment option. However, a comparison of outcomes of the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ technique and the’ERC-first’ approach has never been performed.

Methods

Retrospective case control matched study of patients suffering from obstructive CBD stones (< 8 mm) without severe pancreatitis or cholangitis that underwent the traditional ‘ERC-first’ approach versus the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ technique. Primary endpoint was the overall Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI®) from diagnosis to complete CBD stone removal and performed ChE.

Results

A total of 70 patients were included (35 patients each in the ‘ERC first’- and ‘ABD-during-ChE’-group). There were no statistical significant differences in terms of demographics and disease specific characteristics between the two study groups. However, there was a not significant difference towards an increased overall CCI® in the ‘ERC-first’ group versus the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ group (14.4 ± 15.4 versus 9.8 ± 11.1, p = 0.225). Of note, six major complications (Clavien-Dindo classification ≥ IIIa) occurred in the ‘ERC-first’ group versus two in the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ group (17% versus 6%, p = 0.136). In addition, significantly more interventions and a longer overall time from diagnosis to complete clearance of bile ducts and performed ChE was found, when comparing the ‘ERC-first’ group and the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ group (3.7 ± 0.8 versus 1.1 ± 0.4, p < 0.001; 160.5 ± 228.6 days versus 12.0 ± 18.0 days, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

In patients suffering from acute obstructive CBD stones smaller than 8 mm, compared to the ‘ERC-first’ approach, the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ technique resulted in significantly less interventions and reduced overall treatment time from diagnosis to complete clearance of bile ducts and performed ChE. This comes together with a strong trend of less intervention related complications in the ‘ABD-during-ChE’ group.
Oocyte collection and outcome following oncologic treatment: a retrospective multicentre study
Authors: Fernández-González Marta J. , Borgmann-Staudt Anja , Llagostera Clara González , Ceballos-Garcia Elena , Gebauer Judith , Jantke Andreas , Barnbrock Anke , Kentenich Heribert , Klco-Brosius Stephanie , Lotz Laura , Balcerek Magdalena
Published: May 2024

Purpose

This study assesses fertility treatment outcomes in female patients who had undergone successful oocyte retrieval following cancer therapy.

Methods

Between January 2020 and December 2022, we collected fertility treatment data from six participating centres in Spain and Germany. All patients associated with this data had undergone successful oocyte retrieval following cancer treatment.

Results

Women had most frequently been diagnosed with a haematological (41.9%), breast (22.6%) or gynaecological malignancy (12.9%); two thirds (67.7%) had previously received a chemotherapy, half a radiotherapy (53.3%) and 45.2% had undergone surgery. On average, 7 years (range 0–28) had passed between cancer treatment and first ovarian stimulation cycle. Forty-nine ovarian stimulation cycles had been conducted on these 31 women between 2004 and 2021 (mean age at first oocyte collection following treatment: 34.8 ± 5.7 years). On average, 7 oocytes were collected per cycle (range 0–26) and 11 were collected per patient (range 0–51). Out of the 190 oocytes collected for immediate use of artificial reproductive technique, 139 were fertilised at a rate of 73%. Live birth rate per fresh transfer was 45% (9/20); no births were reported following cryotransfer (0/10). Mean values of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) before stimulation declined with time since treatment; however, oocytes were successfully collected from four women with an AMH of <0.5 ng/ml, although no pregnancies were reported. Ten pregnancies were documented; 3 ended in miscarriage. Two twin and 5 single pregnancies resulted in nine live births. On average, children were carried to term.

Conclusion

In this small cohort, oocytes were successfully collected after chemotherapy and radiotherapy, despite—in individual cases—low AMH values. Further studies are needed to enrich the database and ultimately provide appropriate counselling to female cancer patients regarding expectations and ART outcome following cancer therapy.
Erector spinae could be the game changer in surgical decision-making in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis: a cross-sectional analysis of an age-, sex-, subtype-, level-matched patients with similar spinopelvic parameters received surgical or conservative management
Authors: Ekşi Murat Şakir , Öztaş Uğur Ozan , Topaloğlu Fatma , Yeşilyurt Sidar Cenk , Duymaz Umut Can , Osama Mahmoud , Özcan-Ekşi Emel Ece
Published: May 2024

Purpose

In this study we aimed to identify whether paraspinal muscle morphology could play a role in surgical decision-making in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a prospectively collected database between January 2013 and May 2023. Consecutive women and men, who visited our outpatient clinics with chronic LBP, neurogenic claudication, and had lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for their complaints were included into the preliminary dataset. We compared the patients who had conservative management (conservative group) or underwent surgery for lumbar spondylolisthesis (surgical group) in terms of intervertebral disc degeneration, end-plate changes, fatty infiltration in the paraspinal muscles and spinopelvic parameters.

Results

Conservative and surgical groups were similar in terms of severe IVDD and Modic changes at any lumbar level. Surgical group had significantly fattier erector spinae compared to the conservative group. Regression analysis and ROC analysis revealed an OR of 1.088 and a cut-off value of 17 points for fatty infiltration in the erector spinae to predict which patient could undergo surgery for lumbar spondylolisthesis.

Conclusion

Each 1-point increment in fatty infiltration in the erector spinae at any lumbar level increased the likelihood of surgery by 8%. Lumbar spondylolisthesis patients with fatty infiltration score for erector spinae at or above 17 were more likely to have surgery. We recommend clinicians to focus on improving erector spinae muscles in patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis.
An N-terminal acidic β-sheet domain is responsible for the metal-accumulation properties of amyloid-β protofibrils: a molecular dynamics study
Authors: Gómez-Castro Carlos Z. , Quintanar Liliana , Vela Alberto
Published: May 2024

The influence of metal ions on the structure of amyloid-$$\beta $$
β
(Aβ) protofibril models was studied through molecular dynamics to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying metal-induced Aβ aggregation relevant in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The models included 36-, 48-, and 188-mers of the Aβ42 sequence and two disease-modifying variants. Primary structural effects were observed at the N-terminal domain, as it became susceptible to the presence of cations. Specially when β-sheets predominate, this motif orients N-terminal acidic residues toward one single face of the β-sheet, resulting in the formation of an acidic region that attracts cations from the media and promotes the folding of the N-terminal region, with implications in amyloid aggregation. The molecular phenotype of the protofibril models based on Aβ variants shows that the AD-causative D7N mutation promotes the formation of N-terminal β-sheets and accumulates more Zn2+, in contrast to the non-amyloidogenic rodent sequence that hinders the β-sheets and is more selective for Na+ over Zn2+ cations. It is proposed that forming an acidic β-sheet domain and accumulating cations is a plausible molecular mechanism connecting the elevated affinity and concentration of metals in Aβ fibrils to their high content of β-sheet structure at the N-terminal sequence.

Graphic abstract
Constraining acyclicity of differentiable Bayesian structure learning with topological ordering
Authors: Tran Quang-Duy , Nguyen Phuoc , Duong Bao , Nguyen Thin
Published: May 2024

Distributional estimates in Bayesian approaches in structure learning have advantages compared to the ones performing point estimates when handling epistemic uncertainty. Differentiable methods for Bayesian structure learning have been developed to enhance the scalability of the inference process and are achieving optimistic outcomes. However, in the differentiable continuous setting, constraining the acyclicity of learned graphs emerges as another challenge. Various works utilize post-hoc penalization scores to impose this constraint which cannot assure acyclicity. The topological ordering of the variables is one type of prior knowledge that contains valuable information about the acyclicity of a directed graph. In this work, we propose a framework to guarantee the acyclicity of inferred graphs by integrating the information from the topological ordering into the inference process. Our integration framework does not interfere with the differentiable inference process while being able to strictly assure the acyclicity of learned graphs and reduce the inference complexity. Our extensive empirical experiments on both synthetic and real data have demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach with preferable results compared to related Bayesian approaches.
A framework for trust-related knowledge transfer in human–robot interaction
Authors: Diab Mohammed , Demiris Yiannis
Published: May 2024

Trustworthy human–robot interaction (HRI) during activities of daily living (ADL) presents an interesting and challenging domain for assistive robots, particularly since methods for estimating the trust level of a human participant towards the assistive robot are still in their infancy. Trust is a multifaced concept which is affected by the interactions between the robot and the human, and depends, among other factors, on the history of the robot’s functionality, the task and the environmental state. In this paper, we are concerned with the challenge of trust transfer, i.e. whether experiences from interactions on a previous collaborative task can be taken into consideration in the trust level inference for a new collaborative task. This has the potential of avoiding re-computing trust levels from scratch for every new situation. The key challenge here is to automatically evaluate the similarity between the original and the novel situation, then adapt the robot’s behaviour to the novel situation using previous experience with various objects and tasks. To achieve this, we measure the semantic similarity between concepts in knowledge graphs (KGs) and adapt the robot’s actions towards a specific user based on personalised interaction histories. These actions are grounded and then verified before execution using a geometric motion planner to generate feasible trajectories in novel situations. This framework has been experimentally tested in human–robot handover tasks in different kitchen scene contexts. We conclude that trust-related knowledge positively influences and improves collaboration in both performance and time aspects.
Exploring the Concept of Social Reconciliation Through the Experience of a Dance/Movement Therapy Group of Migrant Women in Spain
Authors: Castellanos-Montenegro Catherine Sophia , de Zárate Margaret Hills
Published: May 2024

This paper explores the potential of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) as a means of contributing to social reconciliation processes. The study, conducted through a group process with migrant women living in Spain, suggests that the relationships developed between participants in the DMT group reflect some of the key elements underpinning theories of social reconciliation. The elements of trust, empathy, and a willingness to coexist with others can be understood as the return to a sense of community and belonging. Furthermore, working with migrant women appeared as an opportunity to explore the concept of social reconciliation beyond national borders as an initial step to understanding this phenomenon through DMT. In summary, it is proposed that Dance Movement Therapy, oriented towards the configuration of new forms of relationship, has the potential to contribute to the modification of polarization frameworks in group and community relationships, particularly in areas affected by conflict or social marginalization experienced by migrants and refugees.
The (In)Visibility of Diversity in Alternative Organizations
Authors: Bendl Regine , Fleischmann Alexander , Schmidt Angelika
Published: May 2024

Reflecting current debates on ‘organizational virtues’ as going beyond the capitalocentrist bias of contemporary economies and to see diversity as ‘ethical responsibility,’ this article explores ‘ethical organizing’ at the intersection of alternative organizations and diversity. Our interest in a diversity-oriented analysis of alternative organizations stems from the assumption that those which question taken-for-granted notions of existing economies and follow alternative values of autonomy, solidarity, and responsibility might also be likely to challenge existing diversity relations and, thus, potentially open up new avenues for ethical organizing. Discussing our findings in terms of Lewis and Simpson’s (in)visibility vortex, our study shows that even though organizations position themselves discursively as ‘alternative,’ this positioning is not related to diversity issues. We conclude that a shift is needed to fully constitute ethical organizing, namely the establishment of a strong connection between alternative organizations’ virtues with, e.g., the feminist, anti-racist, queer, and disability rights movements.
Hypocrites! Social Media Reactions and Stakeholder Backlash to Conflicting CSR Information
Authors: Lewin Lisa D. , Warren Danielle E.
Published: May 2024

At a time when firms signal their commitment to CSR through online communication, news sources may convey conflicting information, causing stakeholders to perceive firm hypocrisy. Here, we test the effects of conflicting CSR information that conveys inconsistent outcomes (results-based hypocrisy) and ulterior motives (motive-based hypocrisy) on hypocrisy perceptions expressed in social media posts, which we conceptualize as countersignals that reach a broad audience of stakeholders. Across six studies, we find that (1) conflicting CSR information from internal (firm) and external (news) sources elicits hypocrisy perceptions regardless of whether the CSR information reflects inconsistencies in results or motives, (2) individuals respond to conflicting CSR information with countersignals accusing firms of hypocrisy expressed in social media posts, (3) hypocrisy perceptions are linked to other damaging stakeholder consequences, including behavior (divestment, boycotting, lower employment interest), affect (moral outrage), and cognition (moral condemnation), and (4) firms with higher credibility are more likely to experience adverse effects of conflicting CSR information. These findings advance theory regarding the effects of conflicting CSR information as it relates to the role of credibility and different forms of hypocrisy. Importantly, damaging social media posts and stakeholder backlash can arise from hypocrisy perceptions associated with inconsistent CSR results as well as inconsistent motives, and strong firm credibility only makes a firm more vulnerable to this backlash.
Assessing petroleum contamination in parts of the Niger Delta based on a sub-catchment delineated field assessment
Authors: Ola Ibukun , Drebenstedt Carsten , Burgess Robert M. , Mensah Martin , Hoth Nils , Okoroafor Precious , Külls Christoph
Published: May 2024

The Niger Delta in Nigeria is a complex and heavily contaminated area with over 150,000 interconnected contaminated sites. This intricate issue is compounded by the region’s strong hydrological processes and high-energy environment, necessitating a science-based approach for effective contamination assessment and management. This study introduces the concept of sub-catchment contamination assessment and management, providing an overarching perspective rather than addressing each site individually. A description of the sub-catchment delineation process using the digital elevation model data from an impacted area within the Delta is provided. Additionally, the contamination status from the delineated sub-catchment is reported. Sediment, surface water and groundwater samples from the sub-catchment were analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), respectively. Surface sediment TPH concentrations ranged from 129 to 20,600 mg/kg, with subsurface (2-m depth) concentrations from 15.5 to 729 mg/kg. PAHs in surface and subsurface sediment reached 9.55 mg/kg and 0.46 mg/kg, respectively. Surface water exhibited TPH concentrations from 10 to 620 mg/L, while PAHs ranged from below detection limits to 1 mg/L. Groundwater TPH concentrations spanned 3 to 473 mg/L, with total PAHs varying from below detection limits to 0.28 mg/L. These elevated TPH and PAH levels indicate extensive petroleum contamination in the investigated sediment and water environment. Along with severe impacts on large areas of mangroves and wetlands, comparison of TPH and PAH concentrations with sediment and water quality criteria found 54 to 100% of stations demonstrated exceedances, suggesting adverse biological effects on aquatic and sediment biota are likely occurring.
Do Agile scaling approaches make a difference? an empirical comparison of team effectiveness across popular scaling approaches
Authors: Verwijs Christiaan , Russo Daniel
Published: May 2024

With the prevalent use of Agile methodologies, organizations are grappling with the challenge of scaling development across numerous teams. This has led to the emergence of diverse scaling strategies, from complex ones such as “SAFe", to more simplified methods e.g., “LeSS", with some organizations devising their unique approaches. While there have been multiple studies exploring the organizational challenges associated with different scaling approaches, so far, no one has compared these strategies based on empirical data derived from a uniform measure. This makes it hard to draw robust conclusions about how different scaling approaches affect Agile team effectiveness. Thus, the objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Agile teams across various scaling approaches, including “SAFe", “LeSS", “Scrum of Scrums", and custom methods, as well as those not using scaling. This study focuses initially on responsiveness, stakeholder concern, continuous improvement, team autonomy, management approach, and overall team effectiveness, followed by an evaluation based on stakeholder satisfaction regarding value, responsiveness, and release frequency. To achieve this, we performed a comprehensive survey involving 15,078 members of 4,013 Agile teams to measure their effectiveness, combined with satisfaction surveys from 1,841 stakeholders of 529 of those teams. We conducted a series of inferential statistical analyses, including Analysis of Variance and multiple linear regression, to identify any significant differences, while controlling for team experience and organizational size. The findings of the study revealed some significant differences, but their magnitude and effect size were considered too negligible to have practical significance. In conclusion, the choice of Agile scaling strategy does not markedly influence team effectiveness, and organizations are advised to choose a method that best aligns with their previous experiences with Agile, organizational culture, and management style.
The effect of crack orientation on the mode I fracture resistance of pinewood
Authors: Romanowicz Marek , Grygorczuk Maciej
Published: May 2024

The fracture resistance of pinewood under mode I loading is investigated experimentally for different crack plane orientations and the crack propagation direction parallel to longitudinal cells. Experiments are conducted on double cantilever beams using a digital image correlation system to evaluate the crack tip opening displacement. The compliance based beam method is used to determine the energy release rate at various crack lengths. The decomposition of crack propagation into the pre-peak and post-peak propagations is proposed to find the fracture energy contributions from individual toughening mechanisms in pinewood. The cohesive strengths measured in the experiments are confirmed by comparison with the tensile strengths obtained from separate tests performed on pinewood. An analytical model for evaluating the fracture process zone is used to validate the experimental results. The difference between the fracture energy values in different crack propagation systems is explained by using X-ray microtomography images of the fracture surfaces.
ADHD Symptoms in Childhood and Big Five Personality Traits in Adolescence: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study in Girls
Authors: Bell Laura J. , John Oliver P. , Hinshaw Stephen P.
Published: May 2024

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental condition characterized by developmentally extreme and impairing symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Great interest has emerged in the ways ADHD and its underlying symptom dimensions relate to the development of personality traits. Much extant research on this topic is cross-sectional, relying on self-report measures and male samples. Herein, we present data from a prospective, longitudinal study of a socioeconomically and racially diverse sample of girls, including those with ADHD and a matched neurotypical comparison sample. We examined how parent- and teacher-reported ADHD in middle childhood relate to self-reported Big Five personality traits in adolescence. As expected, childhood ADHD diagnosis prospectively predicted lower self-reported Conscientiousness, lower Agreeableness, and higher Neuroticism in adolescence. With ADHD diagnosis covaried, Inattention (IA) predicted only low Conscientiousness, Hyperactivity/Impulsivity (HI) predicted only low Agreeableness, and neither predicted adolescent Neuroticism. An exploratory moderator analysis showed that family income moderated the effects of IA and HI on the negativity of adolescent self-descriptions of their own personalities, with more pronounced negative effects for girls in families with higher (rather than lower) income. Familial pressures to achieve in higher-income families may be linked to more pronounced negative ramifications of ADHD on personality development.
Multichannel Multimodal Emotion Analysis of Cross-Modal Feedback Interactions Based on Knowledge Graph
Authors: Dong Shaohua , Fan Xiaochao , Ma Xinchun
Published: May 2024

Multimodal sentiment analysis is a downstream branch task of sentiment analysis with high attention at present. Previous work in multimodal sentiment analysis have focused on the representation and fusion of modalities, capturing the underlying semantic relationships between modalities by considering contextual information. While this approach is feasible for simple contextual comments, more complex comments require the integration of external knowledge to obtain more accurate sentiment information. However, incorporating external knowledge into sentiment analysis to enhance information complementarity has not been thoroughly investigated. To address this, we propose a multichannel cross-modal feedback interaction model that incorporates the knowledge graph into multimodal sentiment analysis. Our proposed model consists of two main components: the cross-modal feedback recurrent interaction module and the external knowledge module for capturing latent information. The cross-modal interaction employs a self-feedback mechanism during network training, extracting feature representations of each modality and using these representations to mask sensory inputs, allowing the model to perform feedback-based feature masking. The external knowledge graph captures potential semantic information representations in the textual data through knowledge graph embedding. Finally, a global feature fusion module is employed for multichannel multimodal information integration. On two publicly available datasets, our method demonstrates good performance in terms of accuracy and F1 scores, compared to state-of-the-art models and several baselines.
The controversial relationship between narcissistic leadership and voluntary work behaviours: a meta-analytic approach
Authors: Lartey Joshua King Safo , Almeida Shamika , Paloyo Alfredo R.
Published: May 2024

Contradictory evidence on the correlation between narcissism in organisations and voluntary work behaviours forms the basis for the present study. The authors employed a systematic review (meta-analysis) to describe the relationship between narcissistic leadership and voluntary work behaviours. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) model, the authors identified fifty-two (52) research articles for the meta-analysis. The study highlighted a statistically significant relationship between narcissistic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) but an insignificant relationship between narcissistic leadership and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). The results necessitate looking at leader narcissism from a multidimensional perspective. The use of longitudinal and experimental designs to study the relationship between leader narcissism and voluntary work behaviours can also address the current limitations. A theoretical justification for the use of either self or other measures of the relationship between leader narcissism and voluntary work behaviours should also be considered.
The Critical Robot: Impact of Performance Feedback on Intrinsic Motivation, Self-Esteem and Psychophysiology in Human–Robot Interaction
Authors: Marx Cyril , Könczöl Clemens , Altmanninger Agnes , Kubicek Bettina
Published: May 2024

Social, anthropomorphic robots are increasingly used in professional work environments to collaborate with humans. However, little is known about how these robots affect human workers in performance-critical aspects, such as feedback. The present study investigates differences between the effects of a robot and a human feedback giver on self-esteem, intrinsic motivation, and psychophysiological reactions. Using a mixed model design for subjective data and a between-subject design for psychophysiological data, we tested 72 participants who performed a cognitive task on working memory, namely the 3-back task. The results indicate that people are more motivated to perform the task when receiving feedback from a robot, but their electrodermal activity and heart rate are higher after receiving positive feedback from a human. There is no difference in electrodermal activity following negative feedback from a human or a robot. Additional analyses show that individuals report feeling less comfortable and perceiving less social warmth when receiving feedback from a robot compared to a human. Furthermore, individuals exhibit higher skin conductance responses when perceiving greater social warmth in their interactions, regardless of whether their interaction partner is a human or a robot. The results suggest that social robots may serve as surrogates for social interaction. However, they seem to have less social presence, which leads to reduced psychophysiological reactions. This knowledge may be used to calibrate arousal in feedback situations.
Der ungelöste Nukleardisput mit dem Iran im Schatten der Eskalation im Nahen Osten
Authors: Akbulut Hakan
Published: May 2024

Vor dem Hintergrund der Entwicklungen im Nahen Osten seit dem 7. Oktober 2023 lenkt dieser Beitrag die Aufmerksamkeit auf die zuletzt wenig berücksichtigte nukleare Dimension der nahöstlichen Konfliktherde und fasst den Nukleardisput in seiner Genese zusammen. Es wird argumentiert, dass der Nukleardisput aufgrund seines ungelösten Status im Sog der aktuellen Entwicklungen eine Eskalation erfahren und zu einer weiteren Verschärfung der Situation im Nahen Osten beitragen könnte.
Designing Virtual Coaching Solutions
Authors: Schlieter Hannes , Gand Kai , Weimann Thure Georg , Sandner Emanuel , Kreiner Karl , Thoma Steffen , Liu Jin , Caprino Massimo , Corbo Massimo , Seregni Agnese , Tropea Peppino , Del Pino Rocio , Gómez Esteban Juan Carlos , Gabilondo Inigo , Lacraru Andreea Elena , Busnatu Stefan Sebastian
Published: May 2024

Especially older persons are prone to disabilities and chronic diseases. These chronic conditions pose a worldwide challenge, leading to deteriorating health, economic strain, loss of life, and a decline in the quality of life (QoL). Therefore, healthcare institutions seek to enhance their strategies for disease prevention and management to uphold the well-being of the community. This leads to the need to regain independence and improve QoL to properly rehabilitate the patients. Virtual Coaches (VCs) in the form of Embodied Conversational Agents are seen as a relevant digital intervention to support the continuity of care. The paper at hand reports on a Design Science Research project about implementing a VC solution to support older patients' home rehabilitation. The study underpins four pivotal design principles: Adaptivity, Coaching Strategy, Multi-user Interface, and Sustainable Infrastructure. The final artifact was tested with 80 patients which were supported in continuing their inpatient rehabilitation at home by using a VC. The evaluation shows both positive results for usability and acceptance of the intervention for four different use cases and a positive impact on the QoL. Given the comprehensive clinical evaluation, the system represents a safe and appealing solution for ensuring the continuity of medical rehabilitation care and the access to personalized cognitive and motor function treatments.
Dosimetric comparison of proton therapy and CyberKnife in stereotactic body radiation therapy for liver cancers
Authors: Shyllon Samuel , Penfold Scott , Dalfsen Ray , Kirkness Elsebe , Hug Ben , Rowshanfarzad Pejman , Devlin Peter , Tang Colin , Le Hien , Gorayski Peter , Grogan Garry , Kearvell Rachel , Ebert Martin A
Published: May 2024

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been increasingly used for the ablation of liver tumours. CyberKnife and proton beam therapy (PBT) are two advanced treatment technologies suitable to deliver SBRT with high dose conformity and steep dose gradients. However, there is very limited data comparing the dosimetric characteristics of CyberKnife to PBT for liver SBRT. PBT and CyberKnife plans were retrospectively generated using 4DCT datasets of ten patients who were previously treated for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, N = 5) and liver metastasis (N = 5). Dose volume histogram data was assessed and compared against selected criteria; given a dose prescription of 54 Gy in 3 fractions for liver metastases and 45 Gy in 3 fractions for HCC, with previously published consensus-based normal tissue dose constraints. Comparison of evaluation parameters showed a statistically significant difference for target volume coverage and liver, lungs and spinal cord (p < 0.05) dose, while chest wall and skin did not indicate a significant difference between the two modalities. A number of optimal normal tissue constraints was violated by both the CyberKnife and proton plans for the same patients due to proximity of tumour to chest wall. PBT resulted in greater organ sparing, the extent of which was mainly dependent on tumour location. Tumours located on the liver periphery experienced the largest increase in organ sparing. Organ sparing for CyberKnife was comparable with PBT for small target volumes.
Engineering mannose-functionalized nanostructured lipid carriers by sequential design using hybrid artificial intelligence tools
Authors: Martinez-Borrajo Rebeca , Diaz-Rodriguez Patricia , Landin Mariana
Published: May 2024

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) hold significant promise as drug delivery systems (DDS) owing to their small size and efficient drug-loading capabilities. Surface functionalization of NLCs can facilitate interaction with specific cell receptors, enabling targeted cell delivery. Mannosylation has emerged as a valuable tool for increasing the ability of nanoparticles to be recognized and internalized by macrophages. Nevertheless, the design and development of functionalized NLC is a complex task that entails the optimization of numerous variables and steps, making the process challenging and time-consuming. Moreover, no previous studies have been focused on evaluating the functionalization efficiency. In this work, hybrid Artificial Intelligence technologies are used to help in the design of mannosylated drug loaded NLCs. Artificial neural networks combined with fuzzy logic or genetic algorithms were employed to understand the particle formation processes and optimize the combinations of variables for the different steps in the functionalization process. Mannose was chemically modified to allow, for the first time, functionalization efficiency quantification and optimization. The proposed sequential methodology has enabled the design of a robust procedure for obtaining stable mannosylated NLCs with a uniform particle size distribution, small particle size (< 100 nm), and a substantial positive zeta potential (> 20mV). The incorporation of mannose on the surfaces of these DDS following the established protocols achieved > 85% of functionalization efficiency. This high effectiveness should enhance NLC recognition and internalization by macrophages, thereby facilitating the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Graphical Abstract
Investigation of infectious droplet dispersion in a hospital examination room cooled by split-type air conditioner
Authors: Yüce Bahadır Erman , Kalay Onur Can , Karpat Fatih , Alemdar Adem , Temel Şehime Gülsün , Dilektaşlı Aslı Görek , Başkan Emel Bülbül , Özakın Cüneyt , Coşkun Burhan
Published: May 2024

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak has spread worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic in March 2020. The transmission mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 in indoor environments has begun to be investigated in all aspects. In this regard, many numerical studies on social distancing and the protection of surgical masks against infection risk have neglected the evaporation of the particles. Meanwhile, a 1.83 m (6 feet) social distancing rule has been recommended to reduce the infection risk. However, it should be noted that most of the studies were conducted in static air conditions. Air movement in indoor environments is chaotic, and it is not easy to track all droplets in a ventilated room experimentally. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) enables the tracking of all particles in a ventilated environment. This study numerically investigated the airborne transmission of infectious droplets in a hospital examination room cooled by a split-type air conditioner with the CFD method. Different inlet velocities (1, 2, 3 m/s) were considered and investigated separately. Besides, the hospital examination room is a model of one of the Bursa Uludag University Hospital examination rooms. The patient, doctor, and some furniture are modeled in the room. Particle diameters considered ranged from 2 to 2000 μm. The evaporation of the droplets is not neglected, and the predictions of particle tracks are shown. As a result, locations with a high infection risk were identified, and the findings that could guide the design/redesign of the hospital examination rooms were evaluated.
Insights from an Italian Delphi panel: exploring resistance to first-generation somatostatin receptor ligands and guiding second-line medical therapies in acromegaly management
Authors: Grottoli S. , Maffei P. , Tresoldi A. S. , Granato S. , Benedan L. , Mariani P. , Giustina A.
Published: May 2024

Purpose

First-line medical therapy for acromegaly management includes first-generation somatostatin receptor ligands (fgSRLs), but resistance limits their use. Despite international guidelines, the choice of second-line therapy is debated.

Methods

We aim to discuss resistance to fgSRLs, identify second-line therapy determinants and assess glycemia’s impact to provide valuable insights for acromegaly management in clinical practice. A group of Italian endocrinologists expert in the pituitary field participated in a two-round Delphi panel between July and September 2023. The Delphi questionnaire encompassed a total of 75 statements categorized into three sections: resistance to fgSRLs therapy and predictors of response; determinants for the selection of second-line therapy; the role of glycemia in the therapeutic management. The statements were rated on a 6-point Likert scale.

Results

Fifty-nine (79%) statements reached a consensus. IGF-1 levels resulted central for evaluating resistance to fgSRLs, that should be defined considering also symptomatic clinical response, degree of tumor shrinkage and complications, using clinician- and patient-reported outcome tools available. Factors to be evaluated for the choice of second-line medical therapy are hyperglycemia—that should be managed as in non-acromegalic patients—tumor remnant, resistant headache and compliance. Costs do not represent a main determinant in the choice of second-line medical treatment.

Conclusion

The experts agreed on a holistic management approach to acromegaly. It is therefore necessary to choose currently available highly effective second-line medical treatment (pegvisomant and pasireotide) based on the characteristics of the patients.
Donor genetic burden for cerebrovascular risk and kidney transplant outcome
Authors: Collins Kane E. , Gilbert Edmund , Mauduit Vincent , Benson Katherine A. , Elhassan Elhussein A. E. , O’Seaghdha Conall , Hill Claire , McKnight Amy Jayne , Maxwell Alexander P. , van der Most Peter J. , de Borst Martin H. , Guan Weihua , Jacobson Pamala A. , Israni Ajay K. , Keating Brendan J. , Lord Graham M. , Markkinen Salla , Helanterä Ilkka , Hyvärinen Kati , Partanen Jukka , Madden Stephen F. , Limou Sophie , Cavalleri Gianpiero L. , Conlon Peter J.
Published: May 2024

Background and hypothesis

Kidney grafts from donors who died of stroke and related traits have worse outcomes relative to grafts from both living donors and those who died of other causes. We hypothesise that deceased donors, particularly those who died of stroke, have elevated polygenic burden for cerebrovascular traits. We further hypothesise that this donor polygenic burden is associated with inferior graft outcomes in the recipient.

Methods

Using a dataset of 6666 deceased and living kidney donors from seven different European ancestry transplant cohorts, we investigated the role of polygenic burden for cerebrovascular traits (hypertension, stroke, and intracranial aneurysm (IA)) on donor age of death and recipient graft outcomes.

Results

We found that kidney donors who died of stroke had elevated intracranial aneurysm and hypertension polygenic risk scores, compared to healthy controls and living donors. This burden was associated with age of death among donors who died of stroke. Increased donor polygenic risk for hypertension was associated with reduced long term graft survival (HR: 1.44, 95% CI [1.07, 1.93]) and increased burden for hypertension, and intracranial aneurysm was associated with reduced recipient estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at 1 year.

Conclusions

Collectively, the results presented here demonstrate the impact of inherited factors associated with donors' death on long-term graft function.

Graphical Abstract
Crossover in mutation oriented norm evolution
Authors: Lv Bingyu , Wang Xianchang , Zhang Rui
Published: May 2024

Norms are a coordination mechanism. They control agents’ behavior in a multiagent system (MAS) and need to evolve to cope with changing environments. Mutation oriented norm evolution is a strategies for allowing norms to evolve. However, this strategy simply adds some possible trigger condition constraints on the norms, which means that some agents are unable to perform actions. To address this problem, this paper presents a new strategy for norm evolution based on an improved crossover operator. First, this paper presents a power-set approach to improve the integrity of norm evolution. This approach can help ensure that all possible combinations of norms are considered during the analysis, providing a deeper understanding of how norms interact and evolve within a norm set. Then, to improve the efficiency of norm evolution, a trade-off between efficiency and completeness is proposed. This approach reduces the search space and improves efficiency, as not every power set combination needs to be searched; it also ensures completeness. Finally, the crossover operator in this strategy is improved based on the trade-off approach. Specifically, the triggers and expectations of one mutated norm enrich the triggers and expectations of other norms. All of these factors enrich the normative conditions through the trade-off approach. A MAS can take immediate action to adapt to new requirements or problems encountered, and quickly make normative changes and learn to respond appropriately to a new situation. The MAS is able to more clearly understand and learn about causality in the environment during norm evolution, and understand the connection between behavior and outcomes. The proposed strategy is applied to a case study of an unmanned vehicle system. The experimental results show that the trade-off approach has greater completeness and effectiveness in norm evolution. This strategy achieves a more complete and effective autonomous norm evolution. It helps the system achieve its goals better and reach better performance in terms of adaptability, helping it to function better in complex multiagent environments.
Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue over MIL-100(Fe)/GO composites: a performance and kinetic study
Authors: Wei Yuxue , Fu Zhiyuan , Meng Yingzi , Li Chun , Yin Fu , Wang Xue , Zhang Chenghua , Guo Lisheng , Sun Song
Published: May 2024

Adsorption coupled with photocatalytic degradation is proposed to fulfill the removal and thorough elimination of organic dyes. Herein, we report a facile hydrothermal synthesis of MIL-100(Fe)/GO photocatalysts. The adsorption and photocatalytic degradation process of methylene blue (MB) on MIL‐100(Fe)/GO composites were systematically studied from performance and kinetic perspectives. A possible adsorption‐photocatalytic degradation mechanism is proposed. The optimized 1M8G composite achieves 95% MB removal (60.8 mg/g) in 210 min and displays well recyclability over ten cycles. The obtained MB adsorption and degradation results are well fitted onto Langmuir isotherm and pseudo‐second order kinetic model. This study shed light on the design of MOFs based composites for water treatment.

Graphical Abstract
Occurrence mechanism and prevention technology of rockburst, coal bump and mine earthquake in deep mining
Authors: Du Kun , Bi Ruiyang , Khandelwal Manoj , Li Guichen , Zhou Jian
Published: May 2024

Rockburst, coal bump, and mine earthquake are the most important dynamic disaster phenomena in deep mining. This paper summarizes the differences and connections between rockburst, coal bumps and mine earthquakes in terms of definition, mechanism, phenomenon, evaluation index, etc. The definition and evolution progress of the three disaster categories are summarized, as well as the monitoring, early warning, and prevention measures are also presented. Firstly, by combining theoretical research with specific technologies and engineering field cases, the main categories and failure mechanisms of rockburst, coal bumps and mine earthquakes are introduced. Then, the evaluation indexes of coal bump and mine earthquake are summarized, and a new evaluation index of rockburst is given. Finally, the characteristics of monitoring, early warning technologies and prevention methods of rockburst, coal bumps, and mine earthquakes are discussed in technology and application. At last, the future directions of rockburst, coal bump and mine earthquake are put forward.
Bayesian Variable Shrinkage and Selection in Compositional Data Regression: Application to Oral Microbiome
Authors: Datta Jyotishka , Bandyopadhyay Dipankar
Published: May 2024

Microbiome studies generate multivariate compositional responses, such as taxa counts, which are strictly non-negative, bounded, residing within a simplex, and subject to unit-sum constraint. In presence of covariates (which can be moderate to high dimensional), they are popularly modeled via the Dirichlet-Multinomial (D-M) regression framework. In this paper, we consider a Bayesian approach for estimation and inference under a D-M compositional framework, and present a comparative evaluation of some state-of-the-art continuous shrinkage priors for efficient variable selection to identify the most significant associations between available covariates, and taxonomic abundance. Specifically, we compare the performances of the horseshoe and horseshoe+ priors (with the benchmark Bayesian lasso), utilizing Hamiltonian Monte Carlo techniques for posterior sampling, and generating posterior credible intervals. Our simulation studies using synthetic data demonstrate excellent recovery and estimation accuracy of sparse parameter regime by the continuous shrinkage priors. We further illustrate our method via application to a motivating oral microbiome data generated from the NYC-Hanes study. implementation of our method is made available at the GitHub link: (https://github.com/dattahub/compshrink).
Unveiling Regional Climate Patterns Through Global Subsurface Ocean Temperature Data: An AI Multi-Layer Analysis Framework
Authors: Radin Cristina , Nieves Veronica
Published: May 2024

Regional-scale climate variability has far-reaching implications for both local and global climate systems, impacting factors like temperature, precipitation patterns, oceanic circulation, and the occurrence of extreme weather events. However, despite these influences, there is currently no universal methodology for the automated identification of regional-scale variability modes, including those less dominant globally, and for simultaneously exploring the influence of various ocean depth layers in characterizing these modes and diagnosing regional sea level variations. The presented innovative approach addresses these critical region-specific needs by assisting in the extraction of novel regional depth-layered variability modes and establishing their correlation with regional sea level fluctuations, employing tailored machine-learning techniques. This dual-purpose is achieved through the utilization of an optimized k-means clustering method for the automatic identification of regions with shared variability patterns across all global oceans, revealing previously unexplored regional variability modes. Additionally, guided by an EOF/PC analysis, the approach facilitates an automatic exploration of depth layers that significantly contribute to explaining sea level variability, providing insights into diverse climatic regions. Furthermore, the methodology is specifically designed for a multi-scale analysis, enabling the examination of climate variability spanning from months to several years. The results obtained through this approach have the potential to support informed decision-making regarding local climate-related changes.