bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Associations Between Systolic Interarm Differences in Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes and Mortality
Authors: Clark Christopher E. , Warren Fiona C. , Boddy Kate , McDonagh Sinead T.J. , Moore Sarah F. , Goddard John , Reed Nigel , Turner Malcolm , Alzamora Maria Teresa , Ramos Blanes Rafel , Chuang Shao-Yuan , Criqui Michael , Dahl Marie , Engström Gunnar , Erbel Raimund , Espeland Mark , Ferrucci Luigi , Guerchet Maëlenn , Hattersley Andrew , Lahoz Carlos , McClelland Robyn L. , McDermott Mary M. , Price Jackie , Stoffers Henri E. , Wang Ji-Guang , Westerink Jan , White James , Cloutier Lyne , Taylor Rod S. , Shore Angela C. , McManus Richard J. , Aboyans Victor , Campbell John L.
Published: December 2020

Systolic interarm differences in blood pressure have been associated with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease. We undertook individual participant data meta-analyses to (1) quantify independent associations of systolic interarm difference with mortality and cardiovascular events; (2) develop and validate prognostic models incorporating interarm difference, and (3) determine whether interarm difference remains associated with risk after adjustment for common cardiovascular risk scores. We searched for studies recording bilateral blood pressure and outcomes, established agreements with collaborating authors, and created a single international dataset: the Inter-arm Blood Pressure Difference - Individual Participant Data (INTERPRESS-IPD) Collaboration. Data were merged from 24 studies (53 827 participants). Systolic interarm difference was associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: continuous hazard ratios 1.05 (95% CI, 1.02–1.08) and 1.06 (95% CI, 1.02–1.11), respectively, per 5 mm Hg systolic interarm difference. Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality increased with interarm difference magnitude from a ≥5 mm Hg threshold (hazard ratio, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.01–1.14]). Systolic interarm differences per 5 mm Hg were associated with cardiovascular events in people without preexisting disease, after adjustment for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (hazard ratio, 1.04 [95% CI, 1.00–1.08]), Framingham (hazard ratio, 1.04 [95% CI, 1.01–1.08]), or QRISK cardiovascular disease risk algorithm version 2 (QRISK2) (hazard ratio, 1.12 [95% CI, 1.06–1.18]) cardiovascular risk scores. Our findings confirm that systolic interarm difference is associated with increased all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cardiovascular events. Blood pressure should be measured in both arms during cardiovascular assessment. A systolic interarm difference of 10 mm Hg is proposed as the upper limit of normal.

Registration:

URL:
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42015031227
Outcomes in Guideline‐Based Class I Indication Versus Earlier Referral for Surgical Myectomy in Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy
Authors: Alashi Alaa , Smedira Nicholas G. , Hodges Kevin , Popovic Zoran B. , Thamilarasan Maran , Wierup Per , Lever Harry M. , Desai Milind Y.
Published: December 2020

Background

In patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, surgical myectomy (SM) is indicated for severe symptoms. We sought to compare long‐term outcomes of patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy where SM was based on guideline‐recommended Class I indication (Functional Class or FC ≥3 or angina/exertional syncope despite maximal medical therapy) versus earlier (FC 2 and/or impaired exercise capacity on exercise echocardiography with severe obstruction).

Methods and Results

We studied 2268 consecutive patients (excluding <18 years, ≥ moderate aortic stenosis and subaortic membrane, 56±14 years, 55% men), who underwent SM at our center between June 2002 and March 2018. Clinical data, including left ventricular outflow tract gradient, were recorded. Death and/or appropriate internal defibrillator discharge were primary composite end points. One thousand three hundred eighteen (58%) patients met Class I indication and 950 (42%) underwent earlier surgery; 222 (10%) had a history of obstructive coronary artery disease. Basal septal thickness, and resting and maximal left ventricular outflow tract gradient were 2.0±0.3 cm, 61±44 mm Hg, and 100±31 mm Hg, respectively. At 6.2±4 years after SM, 248 (11%) had composite events (13 [0.6%] in‐hospital deaths). Age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.61; 95% CI, 1.26–1.91), obstructive coronary artery disease (HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.06–1.91), and Class I versus earlier SM (HR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.14–2.12) were associated with higher primary composite events (all
P
<0.001). Earlier surgery had better longer‐term survival (similar to age‐sex‐matched normal population) versus surgery for Class I indication (76 [8%] versus 193 [15%],
P
<0.001).

Conclusions

In patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, earlier versus surgery for Class I indication had a better long‐term survival, similar to the age‐sex‐matched US population.
Fetal Cerebral Oxygenation Is Impaired in Congenital Heart Disease and Shows Variable Response to Maternal Hyperoxia
Authors: Peyvandi Shabnam , Xu Duan , Wang Yan , Hogan Whitnee , Moon‐Grady Anita , Barkovich A. James , Glenn Orit , McQuillen Patrick , Liu Jing
Published: December 2020

Background

Impairments in fetal oxygen delivery have been implicated in brain dysmaturation seen in congenital heart disease (CHD), suggesting a role for in utero transplacental oxygen therapy. We applied a novel imaging tool to quantify fetal cerebral oxygenation by measuring T2* decay. We compared T2* in fetuses with CHD with controls with a focus on cardiovascular physiologies (transposition or left‐sided obstruction) and described the effect of brief administration of maternal hyperoxia on T2* decay.

Methods and Results

This is a prospective study performed on pregnant mothers with a prenatal diagnosis of CHD compared with controls in the third trimester. Participants underwent a fetal brain magnetic resonance imaging scan including a T2* sequence before and after maternal hyperoxia. Comparisons were made between control and CHD fetuses including subgroup analyses by cardiac physiology. Forty‐four mothers (CHD=24, control=20) participated. Fetuses with CHD had lower total brain volume (238.2 mm
3
, 95% CI, 224.6–251.9) compared with controls (262.4 mm
3
, 95% CI, 245.0–279.8,
P
=0.04). T2* decay time was faster in CHD compared with controls (beta=−14.4, 95% CI, −23.3 to −5.6,
P
=0.002). The magnitude of change in T2* with maternal hyperoxia was higher in fetuses with transposition compared with controls (increase of 8.4 ms, 95% CI, 0.5–14.3,
P
=0.01), though between‐subject variability was noted.

Conclusions

Cerebral tissue oxygenation is lower in fetuses with complex CHD. There was variability in the response to maternal hyperoxia by CHD subgroup that can be tested in future larger studies. Cardiovascular physiology is critical when designing neuroprotective clinical trials in the fetus with CHD.
New Early Permian insects (Insecta: Paoliida and Grylloblattida) from the Niedermoschel black shale of the Saar-Nahe Basin, SW Germany

Authors: POSCHMANN MARKUS J. , NEL ANDRÉ
Published: December 2020

A new paoliid genus and species, Permomertovia simpliciradius, and a new grylloblattid species, Oborella monsjovisensis, are described from the Early Permian (Lower Rotliegend) of Sitters and Niedermoschel in the Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany. These discoveries increase the insect diversity documented from the Niedermoschel black shale and furthermore confirm the high diversity of Paoliidae in Central Europe during this period.
The first representative of the archaeorthopteran family Eoblattidae in the Konservat Lagerstätte of Avion, France (Insecta: Polyneoptera)

Authors: NEL ANDRÉ , GARROUSTE ROMAIN , ROQUES PATRICK
Published: December 2020

The Carboniferous was a period of high diversification of the polyneopteran insects of the superorder Archaeorthoptera (so-called ‘orthopteroid’ insects) (see Fossilworks site at http://fossilworks.org/bridge.pl?a=home). Some of the Late Carboniferous outcrops are very rich (Mazon Creek in North America, Commentry in France). The Konservat-Lagerstätte of Avion (Northern France) is especially rich for a Moscovian outcrop, with no less than six described genera and species: Aviogramma gracilis Prokop et al., 2014, Aviocladus pectinatus Prokop et al., 2014, Aviohapaloptera bethouxi Prokop et al., 2014, Aviologus duquesnei Coty et al., 2014, Cacurgus avionensis Schubnel et al., 2020, and cf. Tococladus sp. (Coty et al., 2014; Prokop et al., 2014; Schubnel et al., 2020). Here we describe a new genus and species, the first representative of the Carboniferous family Eoblattidae Handlirsch, 1906 from this outcrop, on the basis of a forewing.
Observations of Sweep–Ejection Dynamics for Heat and Momentum Fluxes during Wildland Fires in Forested and Grassland Environments
Authors: Heilman Warren E. , Banerjee Tirtha , Clements Craig B. , Clark Kenneth L. , Zhong Shiyuan , Bian Xindi
Published: December 2020

The vertical turbulent transfer of heat and momentum in the lower atmospheric boundary layer is accomplished through intermittent sweep, ejection, outward interaction, and inward interaction events associated with turbulent updrafts and downdrafts. These events, collectively referred to as sweep–ejection dynamics, have been studied extensively in forested and nonforested environments and reported in the literature. However, little is known about the sweep–ejection dynamics that occur in response to turbulence regimes induced by wildland fires in forested and nonforested environments. This study attempts to fill some of that knowledge gap through analyses of turbulence data previously collected during three wildland (prescribed) fires that occurred in grassland and forested environments in Texas and New Jersey. Tower-based high-frequency (10 or 20 Hz) three-dimensional wind-velocity and temperature measurements are used to examine frequencies of occurrence of sweep, ejection, outward interaction, and inward interaction events and their actual contributions to the mean vertical turbulent fluxes of heat and momentum before, during, and after the passage of fire fronts. The observational results suggest that wildland fires in these environments can substantially change the sweep–ejection dynamics for turbulent heat and momentum fluxes that typically occur when no fires are present, especially the relative contributions of sweeps versus ejections in determining overall heat and momentum fluxes.
Rapid Detection of Significant Traumatic Brain Injury Requiring Emergency Intervention
Authors: Howley Isaac W. , Bennett Jonathan D. , Stein Deborah M.
Published: December 2020

Moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a major cause of severe morbidity and mortality; rapid diagnosis and management allow secondary injury to be minimized. Traumatic brain injury is only one of many potential causes of altered mental status; head computed tomography (HCT) is used to definitively diagnose TBI. Despite its widespread use and obvious importance, interpretation of HCT images is rarely covered by formal didactics during general surgery or even acute care surgery training. The schema illustrated here may be applied in a rapid and reliable fashion to HCT images, expediting the diagnosis of clinically significant traumatic brain injury that warrants emergent medical and surgical therapies to reduce intracranial pressure. It consists of 7 normal anatomic structures (cerebrospinal fluid around the brain stem, open fourth ventricle, “baby’s butt,” “Mickey Mouse ears,” absence of midline shift, sulci and gyri, and gray-white differentiation). These 7 features can be seen even as the CT scanner obtains images, allowing the trauma team to expedite medical management of intracranial hypertension and pursue neurosurgical consultation prior to radiologic interpretation if the features are abnormal.
Willing to serve: Empire, status, and Canadian campaigns for the United Nations Security Council (1946–1947)
Authors: Dunton Caroline
Published: December 2020

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a place where states can seek international status by campaigning for its elected seats. I understand status as membership in a club and examine both the nature of the hierarchies of status and the responsibilities associated with that membership. To do this, I examine Canada’s first two campaigns to the Security Council in 1946 and 1947 in the context of the origins of the UN. I make a twofold argument. First, I argue that the hierarchy of the UNSC in the late 1940s was an imperial one, within which states campaigned for seats by articulating their relationships to these imperial formations. Second, I argue that the process of campaigning is also a process of claiming to take on the responsibilities of the UNSC’s mandate.
Eavesdropping on Missing Data: What Are University Students Doing When They Miss Experience Sampling Reports?
Authors: Sun Jessie , Rhemtulla Mijke , Vazire Simine
Published: December 2020

Participants in experience sampling method (ESM) studies are “beeped” several times per day to report on their momentary experiences—but participants do not always answer the beep. Knowing whether there are systematic predictors of missing a report is critical for understanding the extent to which missing data threatens the validity of inferences from ESM studies. Here, 228 university students completed up to four ESM reports per day while wearing the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR)—an unobtrusive audio recording device—for a week. These audio recordings provided an alternative source of information about what participants were doing when they missed or completed reports (3,678 observations). We predicted missing ESM reports from 46 variables coded from the EAR recordings, and found very little evidence that missing an ESM report was correlated with constructs typically of interest to ESM researchers. These findings provide reassuring evidence for the validity of ESM research among relatively healthy university student samples.
Investigating Reddit to detect subreddit and author stereotypes and to evaluate author assortativity
Authors: Cauteruccio Francesco , Corradini Enrico , Terracina Giorgio , Ursino Domenico , Virgili Luca
Published: December 2020

In recent years, Reddit has attracted the interest of many researchers due to its popularity all over the world. In this article, we aim at providing a contribution to the knowledge of this social network by investigating three of its aspects, interesting from the scientific viewpoint, and, at the same time, by analysing a large number of applications. In particular, we first propose a definition and an analysis of several stereotypes of both subreddits and authors. This analysis is coupled with the definition of three possible orthogonal taxonomies that help us to classify stereotypes in an appropriate way. Then, we investigate the possible existence of author assortativity in this social medium; specifically, we focus on co-posters, that is, authors who submitted posts on the same subreddit.
Evaluation of Project Development Process at State Transportation Agencies
Authors: Jin Weimin , Haidary Tanin A. , Bausman Dennis C. , Chowdhury Mashrur
Published: December 2020

In the United States, transportation agencies across the country are increasingly challenged to deliver projects with greater speed and efficiency. This study evaluated the comprehensiveness of the project development process (PDP) adopted by different states. The authors excluded 10 states from their study because of the lack of available online data. The authors developed a three-step method to assess a PDP’s comprehensiveness, which was informed by reviewing each state’s PDP and related literature. The authors then developed a series of criteria for assessing the comprehensiveness of the PDPs of 40 state Departments of Transportation (DOTs), which was used to amass and analyze that multi-state information to explore individual PDP variations and comprehensiveness. Data analysis indicated a wide variance from state to state in each criterion’s comprehensiveness with a similar comprehensiveness characterizing the PDPs in 20 states. Additionally, the authors conducted an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to weight the criteria and rank PDP’s comprehensiveness. Through the AHP, PDP components relating to the process were determined as the most important criterion in the hierarchy. Environmental studies/documentation/permits, the number of tasks in PDP flowcharts, and value engineering had the highest weight among the sub-criteria of the PDP components, PDP flowchart, and other improvements, respectively. A case study that produced a list of rankings of the state’s PDP’s comprehensiveness was presented to demonstrate how the evaluation method works. The first five states identified through the AHP were Wisconsin, California, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia.
Which Audiences Engage With Advocacy Groups on Twitter? Explaining the Online Engagement of Elite, Peer, and Mass Audiences With Advocacy Groups
Authors: Halpin Darren R. , Fraussen Bert , Ackland Robert
Published: December 2020

Gaining an audience on social media is an important goal of contemporary policy advocacy. While previous studies demonstrate that advocacy-dedicated nonprofit organizations—what we refer to as advocacy groups—use different social media tools, we still know little about what specific audiences advocacy groups set out to target on social media, and whether those audiences actually engage with these groups. This study fills this gap, deploying survey and digital trace data from Twitter over a 12-month period for the Australian case. We show that while groups target a variety of audiences online, there are differences between group types in their strategic objectives and the extent to which particular audiences engage with them. Business groups appear to target elite audiences more often compared with citizen and professional groups, whereas citizen groups receive more online engagement from mass and peer audiences.
Theorizing in psychology: From the critique of a hyper-science to conceptualizing subjectivity
Authors: Teo Thomas
Published: December 2020

It is emphasized that theoretical psychology is based on the practice of theorizing. After presenting and challenging some ideas about theories, three tasks for theoretical psychologists are discussed: theorizing as critique refers to describing psychology as a hyper-science that inflates its methodological and technical activities in order to conceal its lack of a natural–scientific foundation. Theorizing as reconstruction is an activity that seeks to make sense of history, culture, society, power, money, and politics in the development of the discipline and subjectivity. This task also traces the elements that have led to psychology’s difficulties. Theorizing as creation means developing theories that are able to make sense of psychological knowledge. It is suggested that a theory of subjectivity is needed that draws on not only the psychological sciences but also the psychological humanities. Finally, it is argued that theorizing remains a duty of psychological work.
Dominatarian Theory of Regional Integration
Authors: Onditi Francis
Published: December 2020

In this article an alternative thinking and methodological approach for the study of regional integration is proposed, addressing the limitations of classical regional integration theories and the new regionalism approach. A ‘dominatarian’ theory is introduced as an alternative analytical framework that exposes meanings attributed to a social force called ‘personness’, and how regions could be (re)constructed through this anthropocentric lens. The East African Community (EAC, henceforth referred to as the Jumuiya) is chosen as a tour de force for regional integration theories. The triadal analysis of the three main components of classical regional integration theories—economy, institutions and politics—reveals the deficiency of these frameworks in explaining the role of ‘personness’ in regional integration processes, especially within the African context. Consequently, the phrase ‘contextual misfitability’ has been coined to describe this condition. The article concludes with a reflection on how meanings are created and re-created from the Darwinian ontologies of natural sciences into social science regimes and its application to regional integration studies.
Malaysian Sikh Youths’ Perception of Diverse Sexual Identities
Authors: Kaur Charanjit , Kaur Ashwinder
Published: December 2020

Malaysia is well known to the world audience as a multicultural nation and a country dominated by religious beliefs, including religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism. However, over the years, Malaysia has been doing its rounds in the papers for its strict rules over the denial of human rights for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. In 2015, Malaysia’s ex–Prime Minister Najib Razak openly declared his take on the LGBT community by equating them to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and claiming that both are ‘enemies of Islam’. Whereas Islamic religious authorities have made clear their stance on LGBT communities, the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) has taken a much-blanketed approach on the matter. The group is against any violent attack against, harassment or intimidation of and threat to the LGBT community, but the very essence of this stand is oxymoronic, as they have not done anything to prevent such incidents from taking place either. Sikhism has a liberal perspective on acceptance, regarding aspects such as gender, race, ethnicity and age, to name a few, that one would interpret it is an LGBT-friendly religion. Hence, this article is a humble attempt at understanding the Malaysian Sikh youths’ perspectives on the ever-growing branches of sexual identity. This article will add to the literature on Sikhs’ attitudes towards homosexuality, especially in Southeast Asia.
Medical Management of Inoperable Malignant Bowel Obstruction
Authors: Huang Xiaoyan , Xue Jing , Gao Min , Qin Qiyuan , Ma Tenghui , Li Xiaoyan , Wang Hui
Published: December 2020

Objective:

To review medical management of inoperable malignant bowel obstruction.

Data Sources:

A literature review using PubMed and MEDLINE databases searching malignant bowel obstruction, etiology, types, pathophysiology, medical, antisecretory, anti-inflammatory, antiemetic drugs, analgesics, promotion of emptying, prevention of infection, anticholinergics, somatostatin analogs, gastric antisecretory drugs, prokinetic agents, glucocorticoid, opioid analgesics, antibiotics, enema, and adverse effects.

Study Selection and Data Extraction:

Randomized or observational studies, cohorts, case reports, or reviews written in English between 1983 and November 2020 were evaluated.

Data Synthesis:

Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) commonly occurs in patients with advanced or recurrent malignancies and severely affects the quality of life and survival of patients. Its management remains complex and variable. Medical management is the cornerstone of MBO treatment, with the goal of reducing distressing symptoms and optimizing quality of life. Until now, there has been neither a standard clinical approach nor registered medications to treat patients with inoperable MBO.

Relevance to Patient Care and Clinical Practice:

This review provides information on the etiology, type and pathophysiology, and medical treatment of MBO and related adverse reactions of the drugs commonly used, which can greatly assist clinicians in making clinical decisions when treating MBO.

Conclusions:

Published research shows that medical management of MBO mainly consists of antisecretory, anti-inflammatory strategies, controlling vomiting and pain, promoting emptying, preventing infection, and combination therapy. Being knowledgeable about the most current treatment options, the related adverse effects, and the evidence supporting different practices is critical for clinicians to provide individualized medical therapy for MBO patients.
Elevated D-Dimer Levels Predict a Poor Outcome in Critically Ill Patients
Authors: Ichkawa Yuhuko , Wada Hideo , Ezaki Minoru , Tanaka Motoko , Hiromori Shinya , Shiraki Katsuya , Moritani Isao , Yamamoto Akitaka , Tashiro Haruhiko , Shimpo Hideto , Shimaoka Motomu
Published: December 2020

D-dimer is a biomarker of thrombosis and recently been considered to predict a poor outcome in patients with infectious diseases. Plasma D-dimer levels were measured in critically ill patients to examine their relationship with the poor outcome. The plasma D-dimer levels were markedly higher in the patients with various underlying disease especially venous thromboembolism in comparison to those without severe underlying diseases. The plasma D-dimer levels in non-survivors were significantly higher than those in survivors. In a receiver operating characteristic analysis, the area under the curve was high for the disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) score, the D-dimer value, and the prothrombin time-international normalize ratio (PT-INR). Adequate cut-off values for predicting the outcome were 3 as follows: DIC score, 3 points; D-dimer, 4.2 mg/L; and PT-INR, 1.08. D-dimer, which is a biomarker for thrombosis, is increased in various underlying diseases and predicts a poor outcome.
Rethinking Cultural Competence: Shifting to Cultural Humility
Authors: Lekas Helen-Maria , Pahl Kerstin , Fuller Lewis Crystal
Published: December 2020

Healthcare and social services providers are deemed culturally competent when they offer culturally appropriate care to the populations they serve. While a review of the literature highlights the limited effectiveness of cultural competence training, its value remains largely unchallenged and it is institutionally mandated as a means of decreasing health disparities and improving quality of care. A plethora of trainings are designed to expose providers to different cultures and expand their understanding of the beliefs, values and behavior thus, achieving competence. Although this intention is commendable, training providers in becoming competent in various cultures presents the risk of stereotyping, stigmatizing, and othering patients and can foster implicit racist attitudes and behaviors. Further, by disregarding intersectionality, cultural competence trainings tend to undermine provider recognition that patients inhabit multiple social statuses that potentially shape their beliefs, values and behavior. To address these risks, we propose training providers in cultural humility, that is, an orientation to care that is based on self-reflexivity, appreciation of patients’ lay expertise, openness to sharing power with patients, and to continue learning from one’s patients. We also briefly discuss our own cultural humility training. Training providers in cultural humility and abandoning the term cultural competence is a long-awaited paradigm shift that must be advanced.
Pragmatic randomized trial of a pre-visit intervention to improve the quality of telemedicine visits for vulnerable patients living with HIV
Authors: Hickey Matthew D , Sergi Francesco , Zhang Kevin , Spinelli Matthew A , Black Douglas , Sola Cyril , Blaz Vanessa , Nguyen Janet Q , Oskarsson Jon , Gandhi Monica , Havlir Diane V
Published: December 2020

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has required a shift of many routine primary care visits to telemedicine, potentially widening disparities in care access among vulnerable populations. In a publicly-funded HIV clinic, we aimed to evaluate a pre-visit phone-based planning intervention to address anticipated barriers to telemedicine.

Methods

We conducted a pragmatic randomized controlled trial of patients scheduled for a phone-based HIV primary care visit at the Ward 86 HIV clinic in San Francisco from 15 April to 15 May 2020. Once reached by phone, patients were randomized to either have a structured pre-visit planning intervention to address barriers to an upcoming telemedicine visit versus a standard reminder call. The primary outcome was telemedicine visit attendance.

Results

Of 476 scheduled telemedicine visits, 280 patients were reached by a pre-visit call to offer enrollment. Patients were less likely to be reached if virally unsuppressed (odds ratio (OR) 0.11, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.03–0.48), CD4 < 200 (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07–0.85), or were homeless (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07–0.87). There was no difference between intervention and control in scheduled visit attendance (83% v. 78%, OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.67–2.81).

Conclusions

A structured phone-based planning call to address barriers to telemedicine in a public HIV clinic was less likely to reach patients with poorly-controlled HIV and patients experiencing homelessness, suggesting additional interventions may be needed in this population to ensure access to telemedicine-based care. Among patients reachable by phone, telemedicine visit attendance was high and not improved with a structured pre-visit intervention, suggesting that standard reminders may be adequate in this population.
Dynamism in knowledge exchanges: developing move systems based on Khorchin Mongolian interactions
Authors: Zhang Dongbing
Published: December 2020

This paper aims to develop the description of move systems in Systemic Functional Linguistics based on dynamism in knowledge exchanges, that is, the possible move options made available at different points in an exchange concerned with the negotiation of information. Using conversational interactions in Khorchin Mongolian as examples, the paper argues that at different points in a knowledge exchange, both the speaker and the addressee’s knowledge of the information are at stake. The speaker may be positioned either as knowing or as not knowing the information; at the same time the addressee may be positioned either as knowing or as not knowing the information. It is also possible for the interlocutors not to be positioned either way. The move systems developed make it possible to discuss the options preselected and activated at different points in a knowledge exchange and the way interlocutors are dynamically positioned as an exchange unfolds.
Democratic, caring and disciplinary values in Danish preschools: Bringing values together
Authors: Hansen Ole Henrik , Jensen Anders Skriver , Broström Stig
Published: December 2020

Teachers and caregivers organize children’s everyday life in early childhood settings to support children’s well-being, learning and development. Teachers’ organizational decisions (e.g. daily schedule, arrangement of furnishings, activities, behavioural expectations) are influenced by a set of ideas, norms and values which they may or may not be conscious of at the time. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how democratic, caring and disciplinary values are communicated and negotiated between adults and children (from birth to five) in crèche and preschool settings, with particular attention to whether these values are animated in isolation (e.g. separately from one another) or in a more unified fashion. The conceptual framework for this study is based on previous theories and research on democracy education, communicative action, educational content and children’s democratic formation, caring values and disciplinary values. The researchers analysed video recordings of interactions between children and teachers during lunch, circle time and free activities. The findings reveal the nature and extent to which teachers expect children to follow and participate in the social order that adults have established for them, as well as ways in which empathic practitioners create space for children to influence changes in the social order.
Taking choice seriously: Emic understandings of decision-making about child marriage
Authors: Miedema Esther , Koster Winny , Pouw Nicky
Published: December 2020

In recent years, the international community has increasingly directed its attention to reducing the prevalence of child marriage, which is defined as marriage before the age of 18. Child marriage has been shown to disproportionately affect young women in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and to have a range of adverse health impacts, particularly for women. This special issue demonstrates empirically the complexity of drivers of child marriage, contributing to emic understandings of the circumstances in which families and young women consider an early marriage the most secure pathway. The special issue calls for moving beyond girls and families as sites of intervention, and beyond programmatic emphases on individual choice and ‘tradition.’

In this introductory article, we draw attention to the consequences of the exclusive focus on negative consequences of child marriage, arguing that this (a) obscures the complexity of the structural issues driving child marriage, (b) hinders developing understanding of (perceived) positive outcomes of a marriage before the age of 18, such as (short-term) physical and economic security, and (c) forms an impediment to efforts to identify alternatives to child marriage which can produce similarly positive—and more long-term—results. Rather than departing from the premise that certain choices are better than others, we call for research and interventions that seek to understand and respond to the broader context in which choices are made.
Anomaly detection of structural health monitoring data using the maximum likelihood estimation-based Bayesian dynamic linear model
Authors: Zhang Yi-Ming , Wang Hao , Wan Hua-Ping , Mao Jian-Xiao , Xu Yi-Chao
Published: December 2020

Enormous data are continuously collected by the structural health monitoring system of civil infrastructures. The structural health monitoring data inevitably involve anomalies caused by sensors, transmission errors, or abnormal structural behaviors. It is important to identify the anomalies and find their origin (e.g. sensor fault or structural damage) to make correct interventions. Moreover, online anomaly identification of the structural health monitoring data is critical for timely structural condition assessment and decision-making. This study proposes an online approach for detecting anomalies of the structural health monitoring data based on the Bayesian dynamic linear model. In particular, Bayesian dynamic linear model, consisting of various components, is implemented to characterize the feature of real-time measurements. Expectation maximization algorithm and Kalman smoother are combined to estimate the Bayesian dynamic linear model parameters and generate log-likelihood functions. The subspace identification method is introduced to overcome the initialization issue of the expectation maximization algorithm. The log-likelihood difference of consecutive time steps is then used to determine thresholds without introducing extra anomaly detectors. The proposed Bayesian dynamic linear model-based approach is first illustrated by the simulation data and then applied to the structural health monitoring data collected from two long-span bridges. The results indicate that the proposed method exhibits good accuracy and high computational efficiency and also allows for reconstructing the strain measurements to replace anomalies.
Southern Projections: Black Television Hosts, Madison Avenue, and Nationalizing the South in 1950s Primetime
Authors: Bronstein Phoebe
Published: December 2020

This article situates Nat King Cole’s NBC experience within those of Hazel Scott and Harry Belafonte, whose own programs bookended the first decade of television. While Scott was blacklisted and her Dumont show canceled, the brief primetime stints of Cole and Belafonte on national network television, reveal a shifting rhetoric surrounding the policing of blackness on TV that focused blame on the South. The South, then, became a convenient rhetorical device in the rejection of Black national television content. This article follows these two parallel yet interlocking threads, with the first section detailing the rise of national television in conversation with the South and the deflection of racism onto the region—an easy representational task amidst news coverage of the civil rights movement. The latter portion of the article follows a genealogy of Black hosted variety programs and Black televisual resistance from Scott to Cole and Belafonte.
Percutaneous Threaded Pin Fixation of Distal Radius Fracture in the Athlete
Authors: Luchini Patrick M. , Glener Julie E. , Vaida Justin , McCabe Lucy A. , Lese Andrea B. , Taras John S.
Published: December 2020

Background

The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes and return to play with early rehabilitation in athletes who sustained unstable extra-articular distal radius fractures treated with a purpose-designed threaded pin technique.

Methods

This prospective study examined athletes with displaced and unstable distal radius fractures treated surgically with purpose-designed threaded pins. Patients were enrolled in an early rehabilitation protocol, with formal therapy initiated on postoperative days 1 to 3. Range of motion and strength measurements were documented throughout the postoperative period, noting the time until return to athletic competition. These results were compared with historical values using other forms of fixation

Results

Nineteen athletes, average age of 35 years, were treated with threaded pin technique with early rehabilitation; all had complete healing and maintained alignment based on radiographic evaluation. The average time span between surgery and release to competition was 8 weeks, with all but 1 patient returning to sport within 12 weeks of injury. Average postoperative flexion measured 58°, extension was 57°, pronation was 81°, and supination was 74°. JAMAR grip strength in position 3 measured 25.22 kg, which equated to 73% of the uninjured side’s grip strength at the time of release to play.

Conclusions

Surgical fixation using a purpose-designed threaded pin is a useful alternative to volar plating for isolated radial styloid and extra-articular distal radius fractures in athletes. The purpose-designed threaded pin may afford athletes rapid recovery during the early postoperative period, preserving strength and dexterity and minimizing time lost before return to play.
IPSE, a parasite-derived, host immunomodulatory infiltrin protein, alleviates resiniferatoxin-induced bladder pain
Authors: Ishida Kenji , Mbanefo Evaristus C , Le Loc , Lamanna Olivia , Pennington Luke F , Finkel Julia C , Jardetzky Theodore S , Falcone Franco H , Hsieh Michael H
Published: December 2020

The transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1) receptor is an important mediator of nociception and its expression is enriched in nociceptive neurons. TRPV1 signaling has been implicated in bladder pain and is a potential analgesic target. Resiniferatoxin is the most potent known agonist of TRPV1. Acute exposure of the rat bladder to resiniferatoxin has been demonstrated to result in pain-related freezing and licking behaviors that are alleviated by virally encoded IL-4. The interleukin-4-inducing principle of Schistosoma mansoni eggs (IPSE) is a powerful inducer of IL-4 secretion, and is also known to alter host cell transcription through a nuclear localization sequence-based mechanism. We previously reported that IPSE ameliorates ifosfamide-induced bladder pain in an IL-4- and nuclear localization sequence-dependent manner. We hypothesized that pre-administration of IPSE to resiniferatoxin-challenged mice would dampen pain-related behaviors. IPSE indeed lessened resiniferatoxin-triggered freezing behaviors in mice. This was a nuclear localization sequence-dependent phenomenon, since administration of a nuclear localization sequence mutant version of IPSE abrogated IPSE’s analgesic effect. In contrast, IPSE’s analgesic effect did not seem IL-4-dependent, since use of anti-IL-4 antibody in mice given both IPSE and resiniferatoxin did not significantly affect freezing behaviors. RNA-Seq analysis of resiniferatoxin- and IPSE-exposed bladders revealed differential expression of TNF/NF-κb-related signaling pathway genes. In vitro testing of IPSE uptake by urothelial cells and TRPV1-expressing neuronal cells showed uptake by both cell types. Thus, IPSE’s nuclear localization sequence-dependent therapeutic effects on TRPV1-mediated bladder pain may act on TRPV1-expressing neurons and/or may rely upon urothelial mechanisms.
Oral Administration of Salmon Cartilage Proteoglycan Attenuates Osteoarthritis in a Monosodium Iodoacetate-Induced Rat Model
Authors: Le Tuyen Danh , Vu Hien Thi Thu , Arunasiri Iddamalgoda , Ito Kenichi , Makise Tadahiro , Thi Le Hang , Nguyen Truong Hong , Nguyen Lai Thi Hong , Nguyen An Thai , Pham Binh Quoc , Pham Phuong Thuy , Nguyen Ha Thi Thanh , Phan Minh Hong , Luong Long Hoang , Pham Thi Van Anh
Published: December 2020

Proteoglycan (PG) is a type of glycoprotein which forms an extracellular matrix with collagen and hyaluronic acid to maintain articular cartilage, synovial membrane, and synovial fluid. This study aimed to evaluate the antiosteoarthritis effects of salmon nasal cartilage-derived PG in alleviating knee osteoarthritis in an osteoarthritis rat model. Knee osteoarthritis was induced in rats by intra-articular injection of monosodium iodoacetate (MIA), 3 mg/knee, to the right knee. Animals were then administered either diclofenac (3 mg/kg body weight [b.w]/day) or proteoglycan F (PGF; 40 mg/kg and 120 mg/kg b.w/day) by oral gavage for 6 consecutive weeks. Knee diameters were measured throughout the experimental period; serum interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels, and histological analysis of the ligament were carried out at the end of the experiment. Salmon cartilage PG considerably alleviated the osteoarthritis symptoms in the model and lowered the serum concentrations of interleukin-1β and TNF-α. Diclofenac 3 mg/kg/day and PGF at doses of 40 mg/kg/day and 120 mg/kg/day also improved articular cartilage structure on further histological studies. This study demonstrated the in vivo effect of salmon cartilage PG in attenuating symptoms in an MIA-induced rat model, including reduction of inflammatory markers and histological improvement of cartilage tissue.
Land-Use Change in a Mexican Dry Forest Promotes Species Turnover and Increases Nestedness in Plant-Hummingbird Networks: Are Exotic Plants Taking Over?
Authors: Infante Sergio Díaz , Lara Carlos , Arizmendi María del Coro
Published: December 2020

Background

Despite the increasing knowledge of plant-pollinator interaction networks, the effects of human-induced disturbances on them have barely been studied. We analyzed whether land-use changes modified the structure and topology of plant-hummingbird interaction networks or promoted the integration of exotic plant species.

Methods

Fieldwork was carried out in two vegetation areas in Mexico: a protected tropical dry forest and nearby disturbed sites. For two years we registered hummingbird-plant interactions monthly in each area. Then, we constructed interaction matrices from these data and compared their assemblage structure.

Results

The conversion of original dry forest to disturbed habitats impacted some assemblage attributes of the plant-hummingbird network. In the disturbed sites, there were more plant species, mainly exotics, and one additional hummingbird species. Most network attributes remained the same except niche width and nestedness (pattern of interactions where generalists and specialists tend to interact with generalists whereas specialist-to-specialist interactions are infrequent), which were higher in the disturbed network. The generalist core in the disturbed network contained half of the core species in the conserved network. Implications for conservation Exotic plants that strongly integrated into the disturbed network may exert a large influence on network dynamics in these areas. Identifying the interacting species and their role provides valuable insights for their conservation and protection. Hummingbirds attracting native plant species have a potential for practical or ornamental use, and hummingbirds presence in human-modified landscapes not only provides positive aesthetic value to people but can additionally contribute to conserving native plants and the biodiversity associated with them.
Striatal and hippocampal contributions to flexible navigation in rats and humans
Authors: Gahnstrom Christoffer J. , Spiers Hugo J.
Published: December 2020

The hippocampus has been firmly established as playing a crucial role in flexible navigation. Recent evidence suggests that dorsal striatum may also play an important role in such goal-directed behaviour in both rodents and humans. Across recent studies, activity in the caudate nucleus has been linked to forward planning and adaptation to changes in the environment. In particular, several human neuroimaging studies have found the caudate nucleus tracks information traditionally associated with that by the hippocampus. In this brief review, we examine this evidence and argue the dorsal striatum encodes the transition structure of the environment during flexible, goal-directed behaviour. We highlight that future research should explore the following: (1) Investigate neural responses during spatial navigation via a biophysically plausible framework explained by reinforcement learning models and (2) Observe the interaction between cortical areas and both the dorsal striatum and hippocampus during flexible navigation.
Experimental analysis of walkability evaluation using virtual reality application
Authors: Nakamura Kazuki
Published: December 2020

Excessive motorisation, resulting from the vicious cycle of car-oriented road development and car-reliant land development, significantly deteriorates walking environments, causing traffic safety problems, damaging city-centre vitality, and hindering sustainable mobility. Many Asian cities face these issues, and as a result, it is often difficult for their street users to experience higher level walking needs, such as comfort and attractiveness, in their daily walking environments. Without such experiences, street users may have difficulty in finding high quality street environments. Visualisation technologies allowing street users to virtually experience more diverse walking needs may assist them in recognising new visions of walkable cities. Accordingly, this study conducts an experimental analysis of walkability evaluations by applying virtual reality tools for evaluating various streets to answer the following research questions: (1) How are street environments related to walking perceptions and behaviours? (2) Is virtual reality visualisation advantageous for revealing these relationships? The research conducted an experiment on virtual reality walkability evaluation that examined perception-based evaluations of street environments in car-reliant large cities of Japan, Thailand, and Australia. The evaluation mechanism of walkability was analysed based on walking needs, taking into account the impact of the virtual reality tools. The results demonstrate that virtual reality evaluation of internationally diverse street environments reflects the sensitivity of walking willingness to the satisfaction of hierarchical walking needs. Further, the impact of virtual reality use was observed in the greater engagement with virtual environments, which is related to higher walking willingness. The results have major implications for planning and design practices, suggesting the potential of virtual reality-based evaluation systems as useful tools for creating and implementing new visions of walkable cities.