bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Benefits of additive manufacturing and micro and nano surface texture modifications on mechanical strength and infection resistance of skin–implant interfaces in rats
Authors: Lindsay Christopher , Ruppert David , Abumoussa Sam , Dahners Laurence , Weinhold Paul
Published: February 2020

Patients find existing exo-prostheses utilizing traditional socket connections uncomfortable and irritating, as they do not provide the dexterity and proprioception which is often expected by active patients. Transcutaneous osseointegrated implants are a potential solution, but carry risk of infection at the skin–implant interface. Histological and observational studies previously demonstrated that textured implants have both improved epidermal ingrowth and decreased skin retraction. This study aimed to determine effects on mechanical integration, barrier to bacterial colonization, and infection of the skin–implant interface using additive manufacturing and post-manufactured surface modifications. In this study, titanium alloy implants were made by either computer numerical control machining (CNC) or electron beam melting (EBM). Implants in each group were left either unaltered (CNC-control and EBM-control), acid etched (CNC-micro and EBM-micro), or oxidatively treated (CNC-nano and EBM-nano) creating six distinct surface textures. This study was divided into two phases, each utilizing 10 rats. Six implants—one of each texture—randomized for position were placed in each rat. Phase 1 animals healed for three weeks and skin-implant mechanical pull-off strength was measured. Phase 2 animals were challenged by S. aureus inoculation during the three-week healing process and serial dilutions of the sonicated implants were performed to quantify bacterial colonization. The three EBM implant groups had 830% greater force at pull-off compared to the three CNC groups. Additionally, the pull-off force of EBM-micro implants was 101% and 83% stronger, respectively, than EBM-nano and EBM-control implants. There was negligible mechanical attachment of skin to any CNC implant. Bacterial colonization counts were collectively 63% ( P < 0.05) lower for EBM implants relative to CNC implants. CNC-control implants exhibited 90% ( P < 0.01) greater bacterial colonization than EBM-controls. No significant differences in bacterial colonization were noted between the other implant groups. Both manufacturing technique and post-manufacturing surface texture modification affected the skin-implant interface’s mechanical integration and effectiveness as a barrier to infection. EBM manufacturing produced markedly superior transcutaneous implants compared to machining.
Treated basalt fibers reinforced nylon 6,6/epoxy hybrid nanofibril composites
Authors: Abdelhady Saleh S , Zoalfakar Said H , Agwa MA , Ali Ashraf A
Published: February 2020

Basalt fiber was first treated in a mixture of formic acid (FA) and dichloromethane (DCM) to reduce its diameter down to one micrometer. Electrospinning process was utilized to produce treated basalt fiber (TBF)-reinforced nylon 6,6/epoxy (NY/EP) hybrid nanofibril composites. NY/EP polymers have been dissolved in 80:20 mixture of FA/DCM solvent to form a homogenous solution. TBFs with different weight ratios of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 wt% were added to NY/EP (ratio of 5:1). The morphology of the hybrid nanocomposites was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and their compositions were analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The thermal properties were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. The mechanical properties of the hybrid nanocomposites, including tensile strength and modulus, are improved with respect to NY/EP hybrid nanofibers. An increase of 76% and 87% in tensile strength and Young’s modulus was acquired, respectively, at 15 wt% of TBF. Also, the addition of TBF increased the thermal stability of nanofibril composites.
Investigations of the mechanical properties on different print orientations in SLA 3D printed resin
Authors: Saini JS , Dowling Luke , Kennedy John , Trimble Daniel
Published: February 2020

3D printing has been recognized as the future manufacturing technique by different industries. The properties of products manufactured using this technique depend upon large number of factors, with print orientation being one among the most important factors. Currently, there is no standard for the build orientation of the printed component. To date, the analysis of material properties is conducted by testing specimens printed in different orientations. The present work explores the effect of layer orientations on the different mechanical properties of an SLA manufactured polymer material. Five different orientations, i.e. 0°, 22.5°, 45°, 67.5° and 90° were used to print the specimens for the analysis of mechanical properties of the material. Tensile, compression, flexural, impact, fatigue and vibration analysis are the different mechanical tests that were conducted as per their respective standards. It was found that the print orientation plays a significant role in the behaviour of the respective mechanical property. The maximum tensile and compressive load are being taken by the specimens printed at an angle of 22.5° and 67.5°, respectively. The specimen printed at 67.5° orientation again have highest flexural strength, whereas the specimen printed at 0° have higher impact and fatigue strength.
Development of gynecomastia following initiation of bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide
Authors: Biagi MJ , Schriever CA , Chiampas TD , Michienzi SM , Patel MC , Young JD , Badowski ME
Published: February 2020

Bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (BIC/FTC/TAF) is a recently approved single-tablet antiretroviral regimen and is recommended as a first-line agent. No cases of gynecomastia were reported in clinical trials. We report development of ultrasound-confirmed gynecomastia in a previously antiretroviral-naïve patient approximately two months after starting BIC/FTC/TAF, which resolved ten weeks after discontinuing bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (BIC/FTC/TAF) based therapy.
Severe hydralazine-induced lupus presenting as systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors: Rubin R L , Haluptzok R F , Davila L M
Published: February 2020

Despite its long history of untoward side effects of a systemic autoimmune disease, drug-induced lupus can be difficult to recognize because of the disconnect between chronic drug usage and onset of symptoms. In this case, the patient was treated with hydralazine for two years when symptoms were initially reported, but a diagnosis of hydralazine-induced lupus was not considered for another half year. Despite treatment with steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications during this period, rheumatologic symptoms and signs continued to deteriorate, consistent with the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Not until the patient voluntarily discontinued hydralazine did symptoms begin to improve, fully resolving over the subsequent 6–12 months largely in the absence of anti-inflammatory medication. This patient demonstrates that failure to recognize a drug-induced disease etiology can result in substantial worsening of rheumatologic symptoms over the subsequent six months, ultimately satisfying criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus. While symptoms and signs largely normalized, some laboratory abnormalities and occasional arthralgia remained two years after discontinuing hydralazine, suggesting smoldering inflammatory disease.
Analysis of porosity effect on free vibration and buckling responses for sandwich sigmoid function based functionally graded material plate resting on Pasternak foundation using Galerkin Vlasov’s method
Authors: Singh SJ , Harsha SP
Published: February 2020

The objective of the present paper is to study the effect of porosity on vibration and buckling responses for sandwich plate supported with different boundary conditions at the edges. The formulation is performed for recently developed sandwich plate using new modified sigmoid function based functionally graded material plate of different symmetric and asymmetric configurations. Three different types of porosity are considered viz. even, uneven but symmetric, and uneven but non-symmetric. A new uneven non-symmetric porosity model is used in which micro-voids are varied in accordance with material property variation in the thickness direction in order to capture the accurate distribution of voids on the plate. The variational principle is employed to derive equilibrium equations. A closed form solution is obtained using the assumed solution with shape functions satisfying the edge boundary conditions using Galerkin Vlasov’s method. Free vibration and buckling analysis have been performed to study the effect of porosity, geometric configurations, inhomogeneity parameter, and buckling load parameter. These studies are performed on sandwich sigmoid function based functionally graded material plate for different boundary conditions and plate configurations. It is observed that in several cases with uneven symmetric porosity (P-2) distribution, the reduction in effective inertia appears to be more prominent in comparison to the reduction in effective stiffness of the plate and uneven non-symmetric porosity (P-3) distribution ascertains the realistic idealization for a plate with micro-voids. The higher modes of vibrations and nature of in-plane load are very sensitive to the type of porosity distribution considered. In addition, zero frequency parameter and zero critical buckling load in a load frequency curves correspond to critical buckling load and frequency parameter, respectively. The accuracy and validation of the present formulation are determined by considering different examples.
Validation of the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy for Greek children: Understanding assessment in response to culture and pedagogy
Authors: Dania Aspasia , Kaioglou Vasiliki , Venetsanou Fotini
Published: February 2020

Physical literacy (PL) is recognized as a channel for promoting holistic learning experiences within physical education (PE). Compared to conceptual advancements made in regard to its development, PL assessment lacks empirical evidence. The purpose of this study was to culturally adapt the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy – 2 (CAPL-2) and assess its construct validity in Greek children aged 8–12 years. Participants were 576 children (boys = 268, girls = 308; mean age = 10.22 years, standard deviation = 1.27), from Greek geographical locations. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) compared the present sample data to a suggested theoretical model. Analysis of variance models and frequency tabulations were used to examine age and gender associations with CAPL-2 scores. CFA results established a good fit for the data and supported a model with four interrelated domains (χ2(67) = 122.751, p < 0.01; root mean square error of approximation = 0.038; comparative fit index = 0.906; and Tucker–Lewis index = 0.873). Boys’ and older children’s physical competence was higher. Girls and older children scored lower in daily physical activity (PA) behaviour. Knowledge scores depicted misunderstandings in participants’ answers, which can be attributed to enacted Greek PE practices. Motivation was high across age groups and both genders, demonstrating that PA participation is prioritized for Greek children. CAPL-2 interpretive category scores were associated with age and gender, indicating the need for further research concerning their cultural adjustment. The CAPL-2 can be used as a valid and comprehensive instrument for charting Greek children’s PL progress and making judgements in relation to situationally grounded PE perspectives.
In the eyes of others: Loneliness and relational meaning in life among Japanese college students
Authors: Ozawa-de Silva Chikako
Published: February 2020

In recent years, loneliness has become widely recognized as a public health issue that impacts negatively both on physical and on psychological health, even increasing the risk of mortality. This article focuses on the relationships between social connection, loneliness, and meaning in life that emerged from a study of suicide website visitors and interviews with Japanese college students. It poses three questions: (1) Is the need to be needed and the strong desire for meaning in life unique to suicide website visitors or shared by Japanese college students? (2) Are the need to be needed and the need for meaning in life two separate types of mental pain that lead to loneliness, or are they interrelated?, and (3) What does meaning in life look like for Japanese college students? The interviews indicate that Japanese college students greatly value being needed and that they connect it closely to a sense of meaning in life. They exhibit a great fear of loneliness and understand meaning in life in a highly relational manner, rather than a cognitive one. The article therefore proposes that in Japan, relationships, especially those that include a strong perceived sense of being needed, are the foundation for meaning in life, but that such a strong need to be needed is also a manifestation of the fear of loneliness and social rejection.
Association of Circulating Osteopontin Levels With Lower Extremity Arterial Disease in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study
Authors: Eleftheriadou Ioanna , Tsilingiris Dimitrios , Tentolouris Anastasios , Mourouzis Iordanis , Grigoropoulou Pinelopi , Kapelios Christos , Pantos Constantinos , Makrilakis Konstantinos , Tentolouris Nikolaos
Published: February 2020

Osteopontin (OPN) is involved in the atherosclerotic and inflammatory process. In this article, we examined the relationship between circulating OPN levels with lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD) in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Seventy individuals with T2DM and 66 individuals without T2DM were recruited. Diagnosis of LEAD was based on the absence of triphasic waveform on the pedal arteries. Plasma OPN levels were determined by Luminex Multiplex immunoassay. LEAD was present in 34 (48.6%) patients with T2DM. In the diabetes cohort, individuals with LEAD had higher plasma OPN concentrations than those without LEAD (geometric mean [95% confidence intervals]; 43.4 [37.5-50.4] vs 26.1 [22.9-29.8] ng/mL, respectively, P < .001). Multivariable analysis showed that presence of LEAD independently associated with higher OPN levels in subjects with T2DM, with marginal statistical significance ( P = .049). In both cohorts, plasma OPN concentrations were negatively associated with ankle-brachial index values ( P < .05). In the total sample, there was a gradual increase of OPN levels across subgroups with triphasic, biphasic, and monophasic/blunted waveforms ( P < .001). In conclusion, plasma OPN levels are associated with the presence and severity of LEAD in subjects with T2DM. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of OPN in the pathogenesis and progression of LEAD.
Entropy: A Promising EEG Biomarker Dichotomizing Subjects With Opioid Use Disorder and Healthy Controls
Authors: Erguzel Turker Tekin , Uyulan Caglar , Unsalver Baris , Evrensel Alper , Cebi Merve , Noyan Cemal Onur , Metin Baris , Eryilmaz Gul , Sayar Gokben Hizli , Tarhan Nevzat
Published: February 2020

Electroencephalography (EEG) signals are known to be nonstationary and often multicomponential signals containing information about the condition of the brain. Since the EEG signal has complex, nonlinear, nonstationary, and highly random behaviour, numerous linear feature extraction methods related to the short-time windowing technique do not satisfy higher classification accuracy. Since biosignals are highly subjective, the symptoms may appear at random in the time scale and very small variations in EEG signals may depict a definite type of brain abnormality it is valuable and vital to extract and analyze the EEG signal parameters using computers. The challenge is to design and develop signal processing algorithms that extract this subtle information and use it for diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of subjects suffering from psychiatric disorders. For this purpose, finite impulse response–based filtering process was employed rather than traditional time and frequency domain methods. Finite impulse response subbands were analyzed further to obtain feature vectors of different entropy markers and these features were fed into a classifier namely multilayer perceptron. The performances of the classifiers were finally compared considering overall classification accuracies, area under receiver operating characteristic curve scores. Our results underline the potential benefit of the introduced methodology is promising and is to be treated as a clinical interface in dichotomizing substance use disorders subjects and for other medical data analysis studies. The results also indicate that entropy estimators can distinguish normal and opioid use disorder subjects. EEG data and theta frequency band have distinctive capability for almost all types of entropies while nonextensive Tsallis entropy outperforms compared with other types of entropies.
A single-center experience in the eversion femoral endarterectomy
Authors: Soares Tony R , Amorim Pedro , Manuel Viviana , Lopes Alice , Fernandes e Fernandes Ruy , Martins Carlos , Pedro Luís Mendes
Published: February 2020

Objectives

Endarterectomy is the treatment of choice for arterial occlusive disease of the femoral bifurcation. Longitudinal arteriotomy and prosthetic patch angioplasty is the standard technique but, due to the increasing concerns with prosthetic-related infections and multidrug-resistant pathogens our group adopted an alternative approach. We present our experience with eversion femoral endarterectomy.

Methods

All patients submitted to eversion femoral endarterectomy in a single institution during 2016–2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Patient demographics, surgical data, and complications were captured from medical records.

Results

Nineteen patients, 84.2% male and a median age of 67 years (IQR 62–78) were submitted to eversion femoral endarterectomy with a median follow-up of 180 days (IQR 71–395). Seventeen (89.4%) patients were treated for chronic limb ischemia and the other two were submitted to femoral endarterectomy during endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. Most of the patients had smoking history (84.2%), followed by hypertension (68.4%), dyslipidemia (63.2%), coronary heart disease (29.4%), and diabetes (26.3%). Only 3 patients (15.8%) were submitted exclusively to endarterectomy, 13 (68.4%) were submitted to endarterectomy as an adjuvant for peripheral endovascular treatment, 2 (10.5%) as a concomitant procedure to endovascular repair of aortic aneurysm, and 1 (5.3%) was complemented with thrombectomy of the femoro-popliteal sector. Primary patency rates were 100% and 87.5% (CI (38.7–98.1)) at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Primary-assisted and secondary patency rates were 100%. The 30-day mortality rate was 5.3% ( n = 1) and complication rate 10.5% ( n = 2). One patient complicated with acute renal disease related to rhabdomyolysis. Another patient developed a wound-related hematoma treated with surgical drainage, but died three days after consequent to ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Conclusions

Eversion femoral endarterectomy is a safe and feasible technique, with good patency results and respecting the concept of leaving nothing behind. A careful control of the proximal and distal endpoints is essential for the success of the technique.
Toward an Integrative Psychometric Model of Emotions
Authors: Lange Jens , Dalege Jonas , Borsboom Denny , van Kleef Gerben A. , Fischer Agneta H.
Published: February 2020

Emotions are part and parcel of the human condition, but their nature is debated. Three broad classes of theories about the nature of emotions can be distinguished: affect-program theories, constructionist theories, and appraisal theories. Integrating these broad classes of theories into a unifying theory is challenging. An integrative psychometric model of emotions can inform such a theory because psychometric models are intertwined with theoretical perspectives about constructs. To identify an integrative psychometric model, we delineate properties of emotions stated by emotion theories and investigate whether psychometric models account for these properties. Specifically, an integrative psychometric model of emotions should allow (a) identifying distinct emotions (central in affect-program theories), (b) between- and within-person variations of emotions (central in constructionist theories), and (c) causal relationships between emotion components (central in appraisal theories). Evidence suggests that the popular reflective and formative latent variable models—in which emotions are conceptualized as unobservable causes or consequences of emotion components—cannot account for all properties. Conversely, a psychometric network model—in which emotions are conceptualized as systems of causally interacting emotion components—accounts for all properties. The psychometric network model thus constitutes an integrative psychometric model of emotions, facilitating progress toward a unifying theory.
Synthesis, structure, and fluorescence properties of two metal-organic complexes based on a tripodal carboxamide-containing ligand
Authors: Wang Yan , Xu Xiner , Zhao Yong , Yu Hai , Zhang Yanyan , Xu Wei , Liu Zhiqiang , Huang Rongyi
Published: February 2020

Two novel ZnII complexes based on a tripodal carboxamide-containing ligand, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] (where LL-2 = N′, N″, N′″-tris(pyrid-2-ylmethyl)-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide) are synthesized and structurally characterized. The first complex is a zero-dimensional structure which was further connected into a three-dimensional structure via hydrogen bond interactions, while the second complex features a one-dimensional tube-like structure, where the structural diversities were mainly caused by the different anions. The solid-state luminescent properties of the complexes were investigated and powder X-ray diffraction and thermal gravimetric analysis were performed.
Synthesis and biological activity of new 2,4,6-trisubstituted triazines as potential phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors
Authors: Xin Minhang , Wang Hui-Yan , Zhang Hao , Shen Ying , Zhang San-Qi
Published: February 2020

Twenty-five novel 2,4,6-trisubstituted triazines were synthesized and biologically evaluated. Most of the compounds synthesized showed good antiproliferative activity against HCT-116 and MCF-7. Compounds B18 and B19 showed the best antiproliferative activity. Further study showed B18 and B19 inhibited four phosphoinositide 3-kinase isoforms and mammalian target of rapamycin with good potency. These results demonstrate that 2,4,6-trisubstituted triazines are potentially useful phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors for the development of new anticancer drugs.
Clinical and histological recovery of non-thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis in a cat treated with ciclosporin A
Authors: Combarros Daniel , Moulin Jean-Paul , Correge Sophie , Delverdier Maxence , Cadiergues Marie-Christine
Published: February 2020

Case summary

A 6-year-old neutered female European Shorthair cat was referred for chronic, moderately pruritic, alopecic and exfoliative dermatosis that was unresponsive to antiparasitic, antibiotic or steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The cat presented with truncular alopecia and numerous whitish adherent scales covering the whole body. Differential diagnoses included sebaceous adenitis, dermatophytosis, demodicosis, exfoliative dermatitis associated or not with thymoma, drug reaction, feline immunodeficiency virus- or feline leukaemia virus-associated dermatoses, epitheliotropic T-cell lymphoma, and Malassezia yeasts and/or bacterial overgrowth. Blood tests were within normal limits and the retrovirus tests were negative. Skin scrapings, fungal culture, coat brushing and skin cytology were negative for parasitic or microbial elements. Radiographs showed no signs of a thymic mass. Histological examination of skin biopsies revealed marked orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis, lymphocytic (CD3+) interface dermatitis and mural folliculitis with absence of sebaceous glands and occasional apoptotic cells in different epidermal layers. Clinical and histological findings were consistent with non-thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis syndrome. Ciclosporin A (7 mg/kg) was administered once daily. A dramatic improvement was observed after 3 weeks. Ciclosporin A intake was then progressively spaced out as the clinical signs diminished. Skin biopsies revealed resolution of hyperkeratosis, disappearance of the inflammatory infiltrate and recovery of the sebaceous glands.

Relevance and novel information

T-cell infiltration with signs of epidermal cytotoxicity, in the absence of infectious agents or neoplastic process, suggests an immune-mediated process, and ciclosporin A, a calcineurin inhibitor, would be the drug of choice. This is the first report showing resolution of both the clinical and histological signs of non-thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis.
What Can We Learn from Parents of Caries-Free and Caries-Active Hispanic Children?
Authors: Tiwari T. , Rai N.K. , Wilson A.R. , Gansky S.A. , Albino J.
Published: February 2020

Objective:

This study evaluated strength-based motivators within Hispanic families that support the creation of health in their children. A mixed-methods approach was used to understand differences in Hispanic parental factors between caries-free (CF) and caries-active (CA) children.

Methods:

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 200 parent-child triads (primary child: between 0 and 6 y; reference child: between 0 and 10 y) recruited from health centers in the Denver Metro area. All the participating children received an oral examination, and the triads were grouped as CF or CA based on the caries status of the primary child. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth individual interviews with the parents. The analysis only involved the primary child. Bivariable analysis were conducted between parent factors (independent variables) and presence or absence of caries (outcome variable). The variables with P < 0.20 in the bivariable analysis were subjected to 2 multivariable logistic regression models. The children in the CF group had mean (SD) age of 2.8 (1.28) y compared to the CA group at 4.0 (1.55) y ( P < 0.001). Bivariable analysis demonstrated that parents in the CF group reported higher oral hygiene behavior scores ( P = 0.047), perceived fewer barriers ( P = 0.009) to accessing preventive dental care, and considered their children more susceptible to cavities ( P = 0.001) compared to parents in the CA group. Multivariable model (adjusting for socioeconomic characteristics) demonstrated that parents of CF children perceived high susceptibility to caries for their children ( P = 0.040). Multivariable model (adjusting for acculturation) demonstrated an association of parental oral hygiene behavior ( P = 0.040) and parent-perceived susceptibility to caries ( P = 0.010) with CF child status. Qualitative interviews revealed that parents in the CF group were concerned about their children’s higher susceptibility to caries and tried to establish good oral hygiene routines for their children.

Conclusion:

The results of this study demonstrated that parental behaviors and health beliefs could be significant determinants of caries status in Hispanic children.

Knowledge Transfer Statement:

Results of this study indicate that parental oral health beliefs and behaviors are significant determinants of caries status in children of Hispanic population. Parental beliefs could motivate them to take action or establish behavior that prevents dental caries in their children. Health care providers and caries prevention efforts can incorporate this information to tailor oral health promotional messaging and approaches to improve the oral health of Hispanic children.
Patterns in Pediatric Dental Surgery under General Anesthesia across 7 State Medicaid Programs
Authors: Lee H.H. , Faundez L. , Yarbrough C. , Lewis C.W. , LoSasso A.T.
Published: February 2020

Objectives:

Children’s access to dental general anesthesia (DGA) is limited, with highly variable wait times. Access factors occur at the levels of facility, dental provider, and anesthesia provider. It is unknown if these factors also influence utilization of dental surgery. We characterized patterns in DGA utilization by system, provider, population, and individual disease levels to explain variation.

Methods:

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of Medicaid-enrolled children (≤9 y) who received DGA in Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas, Connecticut, Washington, Illinois, and Florida from 2011 to 2012. DGA events were characterized by the place of service, measures of disease burden, average reimbursements for dental provider and anesthesia provider, and average total expenditures.

Results:

A total of 10,149,793 children met study eligibility criteria. States with similar patterns of caries-related visits, such as Illinois (16% of Medicaid enrollees had a caries-related claim) and Washington (22%), had different DGA rates (1% and 17%, respectively). Reimbursement rates for dental providers, DGA services, and nonhospital places of services did not consistently align in states with higher DGA rates. Surgical extraction rates, as a proxy for the most severe disease, exceeded 75% in Maryland, which had the lowest DGA rate (0.3%)

Conclusions:

Variation in DGA rates across states was not explained by reimbursements rates (provider, DGA services, place of service) or population or individual level of caries burden. Efforts to evaluate and alter utilization of DGA should consider factors such as dental and anesthesia provider capacity, health facility capacity (hospital vs. ambulatory surgery center vs. office), and population- and individual-level disease burden. Our negative findings suggest the presence of other social determinants of oral health that influence utilization of services (e.g., race/ethnicity, language preference, immigration status, policy and budget goals), which should be explored. Our findings also raise the specter that variation in surgical rates may represent instances of unmet needs or overtreatment.

Knowledge Transfer Statement:

The results of this study can be used by clinicians and policy makers as they address policy and clinical interventions to influence children with severe caries. Interventions to change utilization of surgical services on a population level may need to include state-specific factors that extend beyond reimbursement, disease burden, anesthesia provider type, or facility type.
Diagnosis of non-neoplastic kidney diseases in cancer nephroureterectomy specimens
Authors: Tjota Melissa Y , Sekar Preethi , Paner Gladell P , Antic Tatjana , Smith Norm , Henriksen Kammi J , Chang Anthony
Published: February 2020

Purpose:

Renal function preservation is an important objective for renal malignancies, and similar data are emerging for urothelial carcinoma. Non-neoplastic kidney diseases can be identified in up to 15% of tumor nephrectomy specimens, and to our knowledge this has not been studied in tumor nephroureterectomy specimens. Therefore, we conducted this single-center study to determine the frequency and spectrum of non-neoplastic kidney diseases that occur in nephroureterectomy specimens.

Methods:

We retrospectively reviewed our pathology database from 2014 to 2018 and identified 63 nephroureterectomy specimens in adults. Clinical data were obtained through electronic medical record review including age, sex, race, and co-morbidities.

Results:

Analysis of the 63 cases demonstrated the average age was 69.3 years (range: 22–94 years) with 41 males (65%) and 22 females (35%). Ethnically, there were 54 Caucasians (86%), 5 African Americans (7.9%), and 4 others/unknown (6.3%). After review of the hematoxylin and eosin slide and periodic acid-Schiff slide, seven cases (11%) had significant diffuse and/or nodular mesangial sclerosis that was consistent with diabetic nephropathy. For these seven cases, one case was stage pTis, two cases were pT1, three cases were pT3, and one case was pT4. In five cases (8% of total cases), diabetic nephropathy had not been included in the original report.

Conclusion:

Analysis of the non-neoplastic renal parenchyma in nephroureterectomy specimens is not routinely performed by most pathologists, and this simple act can identify patients at risk for developing chronic kidney disease following surgery and improve coordination of care between urology, oncology, and nephrology. Specifically, diabetic nephropathy is common in this clinical setting and prompt treatment may result in additional gains in clinical outcomes, especially given the generally good and continually improving 5-year survival rates for urothelial neoplasms.
Effect of intravitreal injection of aflibercept on blood coagulation parameters in patients with age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Georgakopoulos Constantinos D. , Makri Olga E. , Pallikari Athina , Kagkelaris Konstantinos , Plotas Panagiotis , Grammenou Vasiliki , Emmanuil Andreas
Published: February 2020

Purpose:

Treatment with intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents has been associated with an increased risk of arterial thromboembolic events. The aim of the present pilot study was to assess the effect of a single intravitreal injection of aflibercept on coagulation.

Methods:

Treatment-naïve patients with age-related macular degeneration ( n = 47), who were scheduled to undergo treatment with intravitreal injections of aflibercept, were enrolled. None of the included patients received any anticoagulation therapy or had a history of a recent arterial thromboembolic event. Blood samples were collected before the first intravitreal injection, and at 7 and 30 days after aflibercept administration. We evaluated coagulation parameters, such as platelet count and plasma fibrinogen and D-dimer levels; functional clotting parameters, such as prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, and activated partial thromboplastin time; and anticoagulant parameters, such as the levels of Proteins S and C.

Results:

The levels of all of the evaluated biomarkers were within the normal range at baseline and at both the time points throughout the study. No statistically significant changes were observed in any of the measured parameters at 1 week and 1 month after aflibercept administration.

Conclusion:

A single intravitreal injection of aflibercept in treatment-naïve patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration has no statistically significant effect on blood coagulation parameters for up to 1 month after aflibercept administration. Our results also provide an explorative statistical data, and further studies are required to evaluate any significant clinical effects of aflibercept on blood coagulation parameters.

ClinicalTrials.gov ID:

NCT03509623.
The Contribution of Mineralogy to Cultural Heritage
Authors: Artioli Gilberto , Oberti Roberta
Published: February 2020

The chapters contributed to the volume recognize the important and diverse contributions of mineralogy to the valorization, characterization, interpretation and conservation of cultural heritage. The book focuses on examples of materials and methodological issues rather than technical/analytical details. We have attempted to deal with the cultural heritage materials in chronological order of their technological developments, to relate them to past human activities, and to highlight unresolved problems in need of investigation.
Mineral pigments: the colourful palette of nature
Authors: REICHE Ina
Published: February 2020

The use of minerals as pigments in art and on archaeological objects, from the use of ochre in prehistoric caves to the elaborate transformation and use in ancient and modern artist palettes, is reviewed in this chapter.

Starting from the purposes of the study of pigments, the chapter presents current trends in the study of coloured minerals in cultural heritage science. It emphasizes through the use of case studies the potential of these minerals in terms of information about former ways of life and especially the artistic techniques employed in ancient times.

This information is gained through knowledge of geological and physicochemical processes acting on minerals and on artefacts produced by human activities. Some new trends are presented as the state of the art of how to master most of the methods and techniques useful for investigating our common cultural heritage.
Cost savings to hospital of rituximab use in severe autoimmune acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
Authors: Goshua George , Gokhale Amit , Hendrickson Jeanne E. , Tormey Christopher , Lee Alfred Ian
Published: February 2020

Patients with severe autoimmune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) experience acute hematologic emergencies during disease flares and a lifelong threat for relapse. Rituximab, in addition to steroids and therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), has been shown to mitigate relapse risk. A barrier to care in initiating rituximab in the inpatient setting has been the presumed excessive cost of medication to the hospital. Retrospectively reviewing TTP admissions from 2004 to 2018 at our academic center, we calculated the actual inpatient cost of care. We then calculated the theoretical cost to the hospital of initiating rituximab in the inpatient setting for both initial TTP and relapse TTP cohorts, with the hypothesis that preventing sufficient future TTP admissions offsets the cost of initiating rituximab in all patients with TTP. At a median follow-up of 55 months in the initial TTP cohort, rituximab use produced a projected cost savings of $905 906 and would have prevented 185 inpatient admission days and saved 137 TPE procedures. In the relapse TTP setting, rituximab use produced a projected cost savings of $425 736 and would have prevented 86 inpatient admission days and saved 64 TPE procedures. From a hospital cost standpoint, cost of rituximab should no longer be a barrier to initiating inpatient rituximab in both initial and relapse TTP settings.
Different doses of galcanezumab versus placebo in patients with migraine and cluster headache: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Authors: Yang Yanbo , Wang Zilan , Gao Bixi , Xuan He , Zhu Yun , Chen Zhouqing , Wang Zhong
Published: February 2020

Background

Galcanezumab is a novel monoclonal antibody that target to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). It has been tested for the preventive treatment of migraine and episodic cluster headache by multiple randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and have been found to reduce headache frequency.

Methods

We systematically searched PubMed and Embase on Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from the earliest date to August 1, 2019. Relative risk (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) were used to evaluate clinical outcomes.

Results

Seven studies were pooled with 3889 patients. Subcutaneous injection of Galcanezumab at 120 mg, 240 mg leads to a statistically significant response rate for the treatment of migraine compared with placebo (120 mg: RR = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.33 to 1.70; P < 0.001; 240 mg: RR = 1.58; 95% CI, 1.43 to 1.76; P < 0.001). Among them, 120 mg group has the same treatment efficacy with 240 mg group (50% response: RR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.22; P = 0.425; 75% response: RR = 1.07; 95% CI, 0.94 to 1.23; P = 0.301; 100% response; RR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.81 to 1.37; P = 0.682; MHD: RR = − 0.08; 95% CI, − 0.55 to − 0.40; P = 0.748) while related to a lower risk for adverse events for the treatment of migraine (120 mg RR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.14; P = 0.084; 240 mg: RR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.25; P < 0.001). 300 mg per month galcanezumab is effective for the prevention of episodic cluster headache measured by at least 50% reduction of cluster headache frequency at week 3 (RR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.00–1.84; P = 0.048).

Conclusions

Use of galcanezumab is related to a significantly reduced monthly headache frequency compared with placebo for the treatment of migraine and episodic cluster headache, 120 mg has the same treatment efficacy with 240 mg group while related to a lower risk for adverse effects for the treatment of migraine. 300 mg per month galcanezumab is effective for the prevention of episodic cluster headache with no significantly increased adverse events.
DTranNER: biomedical named entity recognition with deep learning-based label-label transition model
Authors: Hong S. K. , Lee Jae-Gil
Published: February 2020

Background

Biomedical named-entity recognition (BioNER) is widely modeled with conditional random fields (CRF) by regarding it as a sequence labeling problem. The CRF-based methods yield structured outputs of labels by imposing connectivity between the labels. Recent studies for BioNER have reported state-of-the-art performance by combining deep learning-based models (e.g., bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory) and CRF. The deep learning-based models in the CRF-based methods are dedicated to estimating individual labels, whereas the relationships between connected labels are described as static numbers; thereby, it is not allowed to timely reflect the context in generating the most plausible label-label transitions for a given input sentence. Regardless, correctly segmenting entity mentions in biomedical texts is challenging because the biomedical terms are often descriptive and long compared with general terms. Therefore, limiting the label-label transitions as static numbers is a bottleneck in the performance improvement of BioNER.

Results

We introduce DTranNER, a novel CRF-based framework incorporating a deep learning-based label-label transition model into BioNER. DTranNER uses two separate deep learning-based networks: Unary-Network and Pairwise-Network. The former is to model the input for determining individual labels, and the latter is to explore the context of the input for describing the label-label transitions. We performed experiments on five benchmark BioNER corpora. Compared with current state-of-the-art methods, DTranNER achieves the best F1-score of 84.56% beyond 84.40% on the BioCreative II gene mention (BC2GM) corpus, the best F1-score of 91.99% beyond 91.41% on the BioCreative IV chemical and drug (BC4CHEMD) corpus, the best F1-score of 94.16% beyond 93.44% on the chemical NER, the best F1-score of 87.22% beyond 86.56% on the disease NER of the BioCreative V chemical disease relation (BC5CDR) corpus, and a near-best F1-score of 88.62% on the NCBI-Disease corpus.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that the incorporation of the deep learning-based label-label transition model provides distinctive contextual clues to enhance BioNER over the static transition model. We demonstrate that the proposed framework enables the dynamic transition model to adaptively explore the contextual relations between adjacent labels in a fine-grained way. We expect that our study can be a stepping stone for further prosperity of biomedical literature mining.
Reliability of genomic evaluation for egg quality traits in layers
Authors: Picard Druet David , Varenne Amandine , Herry Florian , Hérault Frédéric , Allais Sophie , Burlot Thierry , Le Roy Pascale
Published: February 2020

Background

Genomic evaluation, based on the use of thousands of genetic markers in addition to pedigree and phenotype information, has become the standard evaluation methodology in dairy cattle breeding programmes over the past several years. Despite the many differences between dairy cattle breeding and poultry breeding, genomic selection seems very promising for the avian sector, and studies are currently being conducted to optimize avian selection schemes. In this optimization perspective, one of the key parameters is to properly predict the accuracy of genomic evaluation in pure line layers.

Results

It was observed that genomic evaluation, whether performed on males or females, always proved more accurate than genetic evaluation. The gain was higher when phenotypic information was narrowed, and an augmentation of the size of the reference population led to an increase in accuracy prediction with regard to genomic evaluation. By taking into account the increase of selection intensity and the decrease of the generation interval induced by genomic selection, the expected annual genetic gain would be higher with ancestry-based genomic evaluation of male candidates than with genetic evaluation based on collaterals. This advantage of genomic selection over genetic selection requires more detailed further study for female candidates.

Conclusions

In conclusion, in the population studied, the genomic evaluation of egg quality traits of breeding birds at birth seems to be a promising strategy, at least for the selection of males.
A novel estimator of between-study variance in random-effects models
Authors: Wang Nan , Zhang Jun , Xu Li , Qi Jing , Liu Beibei , Tang Yiyang , Jiang Yinan , Cheng Liang , Jiang Qinghua , Yin Xunbo , Jin Shuilin
Published: February 2020

Background

With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technologies, many datasets on the same biological subject are generated. A meta-analysis is an approach that combines results from different studies on the same topic. The random-effects model in a meta-analysis enables the modeling of differences between studies by incorporating the between-study variance.

Results

This paper proposes a moments estimator of the between-study variance that represents the across-study variation. A new random-effects method (DSLD2), which involves two-step estimation starting with the DSL estimate and the $D_{g}^{2}$Dg2 in the second step, is presented. The DSLD2 method is compared with 6 other meta-analysis methods based on effect sizes across 8 aspects under three hypothesis settings. The results show that DSLD2 is a suitable method for identifying differentially expressed genes under the first hypothesis. The DSLD2 method is also applied to Alzheimer’s microarray datasets. The differentially expressed genes detected by the DSLD2 method are significantly enriched in neurological diseases.

Conclusions

The results from both simulationes and an application show that DSLD2 is a suitable method for detecting differentially expressed genes under the first hypothesis.