bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Performance of Noninvasive Liver Fibrosis Tests in Morbidly Obese Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Authors: Alqahtani Saleh A. , Golabi Pegah , Paik James M. , Lam Brian , Moazez Amir H. , Elariny Hazem A. , Goodman Zachary , Younossi Zobair M.
Published: February 2021

Background

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is highly prevalent in morbidly obese patients, and fibrosis is an independent predictor of mortality. Noninvasive tests (NITs) are being developed for the detection of advanced fibrosis (AF).

Purpose

To assess the performance of three NITs (NAFLD fibrosis score, NFS, fibrosis-4 index, FIB-4, and aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio, APRI), in the identification of AF among morbidly obese patients.

Materials and Methods

Patients, who underwent bariatric surgery between 2004 and 2009 and had liver biopsy, were included. Fibrosis stages ≥ F2 and ≥ F3 were defined as significant and AF, respectively. Published and optimal thresholds (Youden index) for NFS, FIB-4 and APRI, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV-NPV), and area under the receiver operator curves (AUROC) were evaluated.

Results

Among 584 patients (mean age 43.3 ± 11.3 years, 21.2% male, 75% white, mean BMI 45.5 ± 8.80), 31.7% had NASH. Stages distributions were F1 = 68.1%, F2 = 16.4%, F3 = 8%, and F4 = 3.2%. At published thresholds, all 3 NITs performed poorly for detection of AF, with AUROC < 0.62. Overall performance at optimal thresholds improved to 0.68, 0.72, and 0.74 for NFS, FIB-4, and APRI, respectively. At optimal thresholds, all tests had good NPV (94.4–95.9%) but low PPV (24.2–32.5%). Combinations of the tests did not improve their performance.

Conclusions

NFS, FIB-4, and APRI fall short to detect advanced fibrosis but valuable for excluding advanced fibrosis. More research is needed to develop new NITs with high positive predictive value.
Unmet needs in the management of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Waeijen-Smit Kiki , Houben-Wilke Sarah , DiGiandomenico Antonio , Gehrmann Ulf , Franssen Frits M. E.
Published: February 2021

Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are episodes of acute worsening of respiratory symptoms that require additional therapy. These events play a pivotal role in the natural course of the disease and are associated with a progressive decline in lung function, reduced health status, a low physical activity level, tremendous health care costs, and increased mortality. Although most exacerbations have an infectious origin, the underlying mechanisms are heterogeneous and specific predictors of their occurrence in individual patients are currently unknown. Accurate prediction and early diagnosis of exacerbations is essential to develop novel targets for prevention and personalized treatments to reduce the impact of these events. Several potential biomarkers have previously been studied, these however lack specificity, accuracy and do not add value to the available clinical predictors. At present, microbial composition and host-microbiome interactions in the lung are increasingly recognized for their role in affecting the susceptibility to exacerbations, and may steer towards a novel direction in the management of COPD exacerbations. This narrative review describes the current challenges and unmet needs in the management of acute exacerbations of COPD. Exacerbation triggers, biological clusters, current treatment strategies, and their limitations, previously studied biomarkers and prediction tools, the lung microbiome and its role in COPD exacerbations as well as future directions are discussed.
The risk of arterial thrombosis in carriers of natural coagulation inhibitors: a prospective family cohort study
Authors: Tormene Daniela , Noventa Franco , Campello Elena , Gavasso Sabrina , Marobin Michelangelo , Turatti Giacomo , Prandoni Paolo , Simioni Paolo
Published: February 2021

Background

Whether the carriership of inherited antithrombin (AT), protein C (PC), and protein S (PS) deficiency increases the risk of arterial thromboembolic events (ATE) is controversial. This information has the potential to inform the management of family members of probands with inherited deficiency of natural anticoagulants.

Patients/methods

We conducted a large prospective family cohort study in 640 subjects (of whom 341 carriers and 299 non-carriers) belonging to 86 families with inherited deficiency of AT, PC, or PS.

Results

A total of 4240 and 3810 patient-years were available for carriers and non-carriers, respectively. Risk factors for atherosclerosis were similarly distributed in the two groups. Of the 26 ATE that were recorded, 19 occurred in carriers (5.6%), as compared to 7 in non-carriers (2.3%) [p = 0.07]. After adjusting for confounders, the hazard ratio (HR) for ATE was 4.9 (95% CI 1.5–16.3) in carriers as compared to non-carriers.

Conclusions

Among family members of probands with an inherited deficiency of natural anticoagulants, carriers exhibit a risk of ATE that is almost five times higher than in non-carriers.
Sustainable Resumption of Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Procedures, and the Importance of Testing, During Endemic COVID-19
Authors: Zaman Mahvash , Tiong Denise , Saw Jacqueline , Zaman Sarah , Daniels Matthew J.
Published: February 2021

Purpose

As second and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic challenge healthcare in North America and Europe once again, we analyze the impact of the first wave on routine elective cardiovascular care, and the differential COVID risk emerging within our patient groups and staff.

Perspective

We describe the need to sustainably resume, and temporarily expand, routine elective cardiac services in the face of resurgent COVID-19. Some, but not all, cardiac patient groups are particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes following COVID-19 infection. We explore mitigation measures at the institutional level to increase resilience within cardiac services to enable them to operate deep into subsequent waves of COVID infection which place unprecedented demands on intensive care infrastructure. As measures to eradicate the virus appear to have failed in many countries, and vaccine roll-out will take many months we take the view that the threat imposed by endemic COVID-19 alters the way elective procedural care should be offered to cardiovascular patients.

Conclusion

Our patients are at definite risk from their cardiovascular disease, and a return to suspension of proven prognostic interventional treatments on an elective basis – the default for the first wave – must be avoided at all costs.
The cage of freedom — law, justice and the judiciary
Authors: Heusel Wolfgang
Published: February 2021

This paper representing the slightly amended text of a speech the author was invited to deliver on the occasion of the Portuguese judicial school’s fortieth anniversary. It offers a reflection on the relationship between freedom, law, justice and the judiciary. Its starting point is the sculpture The Cage of Freedom which symbolically embellishes the square in front of the seat of the Academy of European Law in Trier.
Queere Jugendliche in der stationären Erziehungshilfe
Authors: Rein Angela
Published: February 2021

In den Biographien von queeren Jugendlichen in der stationären Erziehungshilfe werden Ausgrenzungserfahrungen sichtbar. Heteronormative Normalitätskonstruktionen führen dazu, dass LGBTIQ*-Jugendliche in ihrem Alltag zu Anderen gemacht werden. Heteronormativität in der stationären Erziehungshilfe kann sich bspw. in Familienkonstruktionen ausdrücken oder im Unsichtbarmachen von queeren Lebensweisen. In den Biographien von queeren Jugendlichen zeigen sich ambivalente Umgangsstrategien damit. Der Beitrag gibt Anregungen für eine queergerechte Jugendhilfe, die Normalitätskonstruktionen und hegemoniale Ordnungen in der stationären Erziehungshilfe hinterfragen.
Distal and proximal motivational processes related to flow experience: Investigating the role of implicit motives, affective and cognitive preferences, and perceived abilities
Authors: Schiepe-Tiska Anja , Schattke Kaspar , Seeliger Jörg , Kehr Hugo M.
Published: February 2021

One of the prominent questions in flow research is the investigation of conditions that need to be met so that people will get involved in an activity for the sheer sake of doing it. The present study examined the relationship between distal (i.e., implicit motives) and proximal (i.e., affective preferences, cognitive preferences, perceived abilities) motivational processes and flow experience based on assumptions of the compensatory model of motivation and volition. In order to arouse the implicit agentic motive, 63 participants worked on an online platform in an open innovation environment. Results showed that affective preferences mediated the effect of the implicit agentic motive on flow experience. Moreover, a hierarchical regression analysis with simple slope tests yielded that, at the proximal level, the congruence of affective preferences, cognitive preferences, and perceived abilities was associated with flow experience. The present research adds some new and essential ingredients to Csikszentmihalyis’ traditional conception of flow.
New tetradentate Schiff base Cu(II) complexes: synthesis, physicochemical, chromotropism, fluorescence, thermal, and selective catalytic oxidation
Authors: Salih Kifah S. M. , Shraim Amjad M. , Al-Mhini Soaad R. , Al-Soufi Ranim E. , Warad Ismail
Published: February 2021

Three neutral Cu(II)/ƞ4-NNNO Schiff base complexes (1-3) were prepared from the (E)-4-nitro-2-(((2-(piperazin-1-yl)ethyl)imino)methyl)phenol, tetradentate Schiff base (SB) ligand, and the corresponding copper(II) salts. The new SB and its complexes were fully characterized by CHN-EA, standard spectroscopic, thermal, and fluorescence analyses. The formation of the complexes was monitored by EDX, FT-IR, and UV-Vis. The chromotropism studies of the complexes reflected remarkable findings, in which bathochromic solvato- and thermochromism shifts were detected. The turn-off-on halochromism phenomena were observed in the acidic and basic medium. On the other hand, the fluorescence of the free SB ligand was turned off via complexation to the Cu(II) center. In the presence of H2O2 as green oxidant and under mild oxidation catalytic condition, the three complexes successfully catalyzed the formation benzaldehyde from benzyl alcohol.
Autonomous wheelchair for patient’s transportation on healthcare institutions
Authors: Baltazar André R. , Petry Marcelo R. , Silva Manuel F. , Moreira António Paulo
Published: February 2021

The transport of patients from the inpatient service to the operating room is a recurrent task in a hospital routine. This task is repetitive, non-ergonomic, time consuming, and requires the labor of patient transporters. In this paper is presented a system, named Connected Driverless Wheelchair, that can receive transportation requests directly from the hospital information management system, pick up patients at their beds, navigate autonomously through different floors, avoid obstacles, communicate with elevators, and drop patients off at the designated operating room. As a result, a prototype capable of transporting patients autonomously in hospital environments was obtained. Although it was impossible to test the final developed system at the hospital as planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the extensive tests conducted at the robotics laboratory facilities, and our previous experience in integrating mobile robots in hospitals, allowed to conclude that it is perfectly prepared for this integration to be carried out. The achieved results are relevant since this is a system that may be applied to support these types of tasks in the future, making the transport of patients more efficient (both from a cost and time perspective), without unpredictable delays and, in some cases, safer.
A mathematical model for designing a reliable cellular hybrid manufacturing-remanufacturing system considering alternative and contingency process routings
Authors: Hooshyar Telegraphi Amirreza , Bulgak Akif Asil
Published: February 2021

Due to the stringent awareness toward the preservation and resuscitation of natural resources and the potential economic benefits, designing sustainable manufacturing enterprises has become a critical issue in recent years. This presents different challenges in coordinating the activities inside the manufacturing systems with the entire closed-loop supply chain. In this paper, a mixed-integer mathematical model for designing a hybrid-manufacturing-remanufacturing system in a closed-loop supply chain is presented. Noteworthy, the operational planning of a cellular hybrid manufacturing-remanufacturing system is coordinated with the tactical planning of a closed-loop supply chain. To improve the flexibility and reliability in the cellular hybrid manufacturing-remanufacturing system, alternative process routings and contingency process routings are considered. The mathematical model in this paper, to the best of our knowledge, is the first integrated model in the design of hybrid cellular manufacturing systems which considers main and contingency process routings as well as reliability of the manufacturing system.
FUCOM-MOORA and FUCOM-MOOSRA: new MCDM-based knowledge-driven procedures for mineral potential mapping in greenfields
Authors: Feizi Faranak , Karbalaei-Ramezanali Amir Abbas , Farhadi Sasan
Published: February 2021

In this study, we present the application of two novel hybrid multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques in the mineral potential mapping (MPM), namely FUCOM-MOORA and FUCOM-MOOSRA, as robust computational frameworks for MPM. These were applied to a set of exploration targeting criteria of skarn. The multi-objective optimization method on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) and the multi-objective optimization on the basis of simple ratio analysis (MOOSRA) approaches are used to prioritize and rank individual cells. What makes MOORA and MOOSRA more reliable compared to many other methods is the fact that the optimizations procedure is applied to calculate the prospectivity score of individual unit cells. This reduces the uncertainty stemming from erroneous mathematical calculations. The full consistency method (FUCOM), on the other hand, is useful for assigning weights to the spatial proxies. The FUCOM method, as a pairwise comparison method, reduces a large number of pairwise comparisons of similar and popular approaches such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with $$n\left( {n - 1} \right)/2$$

n

n
-
1

/
2

and the best–worst method (BWM) with $$2n - 3$$

2
n
-
3

number of pairwise comparisons with $$n - 1$$

n
-
1

which leads to a less time-consuming and more consistent performance compared with AHP and BWM. These were applied to a set of exploration targeting criteria of skarn iron deposits from Central Iran. Two potential maps were retrieved from the procedures applied, the comparison of which using correct classification rates and field checks revealed the superiority of FUCOM-MOOSRA over the FUCOM-MOORA.
Real-Time Detection of Dictionary DGA Network Traffic Using Deep Learning
Authors: Highnam Kate , Puzio Domenic , Luo Song , Jennings Nicholas R.
Published: February 2021

Botnets and malware continue to avoid detection by static rule engines when using domain generation algorithms (DGAs) for callouts to unique, dynamically generated web addresses. Common DGA detection techniques fail to reliably detect DGA variants that combine random dictionary words to create domain names that closely mirror legitimate domains. To combat this, we created a novel hybrid neural network, Bilbo the “bagging” model, that analyses domains and scores the likelihood they are generated by such algorithms and therefore are potentially malicious. Bilbo is the first parallel usage of a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a long short-term memory (LSTM) network for DGA detection. Our unique architecture is found to be the most consistent in performance in terms of AUC,$$F_1$$F1score, and accuracy when generalising across different dictionary DGA classification tasks compared to current state-of-the-art deep learning architectures. We validate using reverse-engineered dictionary DGA domains and detail our real-time implementation strategy for scoring real-world network logs within a large enterprise. In 4 h of actual network traffic, the model discovered at least five potential command-and-control networks that commercial vendor tools did not flag.
Identification of the vibrational marker of tyrosine cation radical using ultrafast transient infrared spectroscopy of flavoprotein systems
Authors: Pirisi Katalin , Nag Lipsa , Fekete Zsuzsanna , Iuliano James N. , Tolentino Collado Jinnette , Clark Ian P. , Pécsi Ildikó , Sournia Pierre , Liebl Ursula , Greetham Gregory M. , Tonge Peter J. , Meech Stephen R. , Vos Marten H. , Lukacs Andras
Published: February 2021

Tryptophan and tyrosine radical intermediates play crucial roles in many biological charge transfer processes. Particularly in flavoprotein photochemistry, short-lived reaction intermediates can be studied by the complementary techniques of ultrafast visible and infrared spectroscopy. The spectral properties of tryptophan radical are well established, and the formation of neutral tyrosine radicals has been observed in many biological processes. However, only recently, the formation of a cation tyrosine radical was observed by transient visible spectroscopy in a few systems. Here, we assigned the infrared vibrational markers of the cationic and neutral tyrosine radical at 1483 and 1502 cm−1 (in deuterated buffer), respectively, in a variant of the bacterial methyl transferase TrmFO, and in the native glucose oxidase. In addition, we studied a mutant of AppABLUF blue-light sensor domain from Rhodobacter sphaeroides in which only a direct formation of the neutral radical was observed. Our studies highlight the exquisite sensitivity of transient infrared spectroscopy to low concentrations of specific radicals.
Global boundedness of a class of multilinear Fourier integral operators
Authors: Rodríguez-López Salvador , Rule David , Staubach Wolfgang
Published: February 2021

We establish the global regularity of multilinear Fourier integral operators that are associated to nonlinear wave equations on products of$L^p$spaces by proving endpoint boundedness on suitable product spaces containing combinations of the local Hardy space, the local BMO and the$L^2$spaces.
Comparison of different scoring methods based on latent variable models of the PHQ-9: an individual participant data meta-analysis
Authors: Fischer Felix , Levis Brooke , Falk Carl , Sun Ying , Ioannidis John P. A. , Cuijpers Pim , Shrier Ian , Benedetti Andrea , Thombs Brett D. ,   the Depression Screening Data (DEPRESSD) PHQ Collaboration
Published: February 2021

Background

Previous research on the depression scale of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) has found that different latent factor models have maximized empirical measures of goodness-of-fit. The clinical relevance of these differences is unclear. We aimed to investigate whether depression screening accuracy may be improved by employing latent factor model-based scoring rather than sum scores.

Methods

We used an individual participant data meta-analysis (IPDMA) database compiled to assess the screening accuracy of the PHQ-9. We included studies that used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID) as a reference standard and split those into calibration and validation datasets. In the calibration dataset, we estimated unidimensional, two-dimensional (separating cognitive/affective and somatic symptoms of depression), and bi-factor models, and the respective cut-offs to maximize combined sensitivity and specificity. In the validation dataset, we assessed the differences in (combined) sensitivity and specificity between the latent variable approaches and the optimal sum score (⩾10), using bootstrapping to estimate 95% confidence intervals for the differences.

Results

The calibration dataset included 24 studies (4378 participants, 652 major depression cases); the validation dataset 17 studies (4252 participants, 568 cases). In the validation dataset, optimal cut-offs of the unidimensional, two-dimensional, and bi-factor models had higher sensitivity (by 0.036, 0.050, 0.049 points, respectively) but lower specificity (0.017, 0.026, 0.019, respectively) compared to the sum score cut-off of ⩾10.

Conclusions

In a comprehensive dataset of diagnostic studies, scoring using complex latent variable models do not improve screening accuracy of the PHQ-9 meaningfully as compared to the simple sum score approach.
The effects of social comparisons on subjective age and self-rated health
Authors: Sayag Maayan , Kavé Gitit
Published: February 2021

Older adults consistently report young subjective age and provide high ratings of their subjective health. The current research examined which social comparisons older adults make when they assess their subjective age and health, as well as the effects of experimentally manipulated social comparisons on these assessments. In Study 1, 146 participants (aged 60 and over) reported to whom they compared themselves when assessing their subjective age or health. In Study 2, 100 participants (aged 60 and over) reported their subjective age and health after receiving feedback that compared them to younger adults or to their peers. Study 1 shows that participants compared themselves primarily to their peer group. Yet, individuals who selected a younger comparison group when assessing subjective age reported a younger subjective age, better self-rated health and more positive expectations regarding ageing relative to those who selected their peers as a comparison group. No equivalent differences emerged in any of the measures when participants were divided by their selection of comparison group after providing their self-rated health ratings. In Study 2, feedback that emphasised the performance of younger people led to reports of younger subjective age relative to feedback that emphasised peer performance, with no equivalent difference for self-rated health. These findings help explain why older adults feel younger and healthier than they actually are. We suggest that older adults use social comparisons as a strategy that protects them from the negative effects of ageing on self-perception.
Influence of socio-economic profile of neighbourhoods on the selection of home care strategies for older dependants
Authors: Julià Albert , Escapa Sandra , Gallo Pedro
Published: February 2021

Care strategies for older dependants are determined by not only individuals or network characteristics, but also contextual factors. The objective of this study is to determine whether urban contexts (neighbourhoods) are linked to the use of family care (informal), public services or private care at home (formal). We applied logistic regression analysis to data from the Survey of People in a Situation of Dependence 2018. The sample was composed of 530 older people (55 years old and over) living in two types of socio-economic groups of neighbourhoods in Barcelona, Spain. The type of neighbourhood is relevant in explaining the home care that older dependants receive. In neighbourhoods with a high socio-economic level, dependants are more likely to use private services and less likely to use informal care services and public services, even after controlling for household income, degree of dependency, sex, age and the number of people in the household. Understanding the factors that determine the use of public care services, private care services or family care-giving is important due to the increment in the number of older people in the population. Our results suggest that differences in urban socio-economic contexts determine some inequalities in the use of services even after controlling for socio-economic individual differences. The characteristics of neighbourhoods should be considered to adjust care policies for older dependants.
Intergenerational equity, equality and reciprocity in economically and politically turbulent times: narratives from across generations
Authors: Wildman Josephine M. , Goulding Anna , Moffatt Suzanne , Scharf Thomas , Stenning Alison
Published: February 2021

The concept of intergenerational fairness has taken hold across Europe since the 2008 financial crisis. In the United Kingdom (UK), focus on intergenerational conflict has been further sharpened by the 2016 ‘Brexit’ vote to take the UK out of the European Union. However, current debates around intergenerational fairness are taking place among policy makers, the media and in think-tanks. In this way, they are conversations about, but not with, people. This article draws on qualitative interviews with 40 people aged 19–85 years and living in North-East England and Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, to explore whether macro-level intergenerational equity discourses resonate in people's everyday lives. We find widespread pessimism around young people's prospects and evidence of a fracturing social contract, with little faith in the principles of intergenerational equity, equality and reciprocity upon which welfare states depend. Although often strong, the kin contract was not fully ameliorating resentment and frustration among participants observing societal-level intergenerational unfairness mirrored within families. However, blame for intergenerational inequity was placed on a remote state rather than on older generations. Despite the precariousness of the welfare state, participants of all ages strongly supported the principle of state support, rejecting a system based on family wealth and inherited privilege. Rather than increased individualism, participants desired strengthened communities that encouraged greater intergenerational mixing.
The Humanization of Nature and Half-Earth Socialism
Authors: Pendergrass Drew , Vettese Troy
Published: February 2021

Edward Jenner took the long view. His 1798 treatise on vaccination, which reported a revolutionary new method of preventing smallpox, opened with a medical philosophy of history rather than a description of symptoms or a review of existing treatments. “The deviation of Man from the state in which he was originally placed by Nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of Diseases,” he explained. By this he meant that infectious disease ultimately resulted from human and animal intermingling since the agricultural revolution, an insight anthropologists and epidemiologists have since confirmed. The majority of human pathogens are ultimately zoonoses, originating not at the dawn of the human species but in the relatively recent past. Measles likely evolved from the bovine disease rinderpest seven thousand years ago. Influenza may have started about forty-five hundred years ago with the domestication of waterfowl. Jenner's own specialty, smallpox, probably originated four thousand years ago in eastern Africa when a gerbil virus jumped to the newly domesticated camel and then to humans. The New World's Indigenous nations cultivated countless crops but practiced little animal husbandry, allowing them to live relatively free of disease before 1492. European conquest succeeded in a large part thanks to the invaders’ pathogenic armory of measles, typhus, tuberculosis, and smallpox, which decimated Indigenous populations by 90 percent over the succeeding centuries.
Fatigue Life and Reliability Analysis of a Parallel Hip Joint Simulator
Authors: Guo Feng , Cheng Gang , Yuan Xin
Published: February 2021

Aiming at 3SPS+1PS parallel hip joint simulator, the maximum stress of branched chains under the suggested trajectory is obtained by elastodynamic analysis. Based on Corten-Dolan fatigue damage theory and Rain-flow counting method, the dynamic stress of each branched chain is statistically analyzed. The fatigue life prediction shows that branched-chain A2P2C2 is the weakest component for the simulator. Finally, the fatigue reliability is analyzed and the fatigue life and reliability under different structural parameters are discussed. The study shows that the fatigue life of each branched chain can be increased or balanced by increasing structural parameters or exchanging initial motion parameters.
The role of women in the shaping of civic identity in Edwardian Leicester: Edith Gittins and the Anglo-Saxon past of Æthelflæd's fountain. Historical reconstruction and 3D visualization
Authors: Smurra Rosa , Orlandi Marco
Published: February 2021

This article analyses a case of female patronage in Edwardian Leicester, a drinking fountain surmounted by a statuette dedicated to a female Anglo-Saxon ruler. The bequest, by Edith Gittins (1845–1910), is contextualized within the nineteenth-century perspectives on the past that identified the roots of the English people in the Anglo-Saxon period. The article explores the cultural, social and gender implications of Gittins’ intentions behind the bequest both for women's rights and for the use of the past in the construction of civic identity. These have not hitherto received sufficient attention. In order to address these questions the article exploits the potential of a 3D visualization of the urban setting where the fountain was intended to be erected to help frame the historical inquiry.
Peijingsu effectively improves sperm DNA integrity
Authors: Yuan Caixia , Song Haixia , Wang Zhulin , Wang Huaixiu
Published: February 2021

Intact human sperm DNA is an essential prerequisite for successful fertilization and embryo development. Abnormal sperm DNA fragmentation is a independent factor for male infertility. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Peijingsu, a health product, on the DNA integrity of human sperm. Peijingsu was administered for 15 days to 22 patients who had an abnormal sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). The DFIs before and after treatment were compared and analyzed using pairedt-test. DFIs decreased significantly (P= 0.0008) after treatment, therefore it was concluded that Peijingsu effectively improved sperm DNA integrity in infertile patients who had an abnormal sperm DFI.
Transcatheter closure of muscular ventricular septal defects using the Cardi-O-Fix plug
Authors: Chen Zhisong , Yu Zhuo , Su Li , Zhang Huasheng , Hu Wei
Published: February 2021

Objective:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Cardi-O-Fix plug used for the treatment of muscular ventricular septal defects.

Methods:

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of five patients with muscular ventricular septal defects who underwent transcatheter closure using the Cardi-O-Fix Plug, from November 2017 to August 2019. The median age was 5.1 years (range: 3.2–6.5). Their median body weight was 18.1 kg (range: 13.4–21.8). All the patients underwent detailed two-dimensional Doppler and colour flow imaging by transthoracic echocardiography. The left ventricular median defect size of the muscular ventricular septal defects was 5.6 mm (range: 5.3–7.0). The right ventricular median defect size of the muscular ventricular septal defects was 3.9 mm (range: 3.3–4.7). All the procedures were performed on beating hearts.

Results:

All the patients underwent successful device implantation with no displacement or detachment, they have complete echocardiographic closure at the 1-year follow-up. There were no occluder-related arrhythmia, chordae tendineae rupture, tricuspid insufficiency, aortic regurgitation, haemolysis, or embolisation.

Conclusions:

Application of the Cardi-O-Fix plug appears to be a feasible, safe, and effective treatment option for patients with muscular ventricular septal defects. Longer follow-up periods are warranted to prove the conclusion for long-term outcomes.
A RECONSIDERATION OF THE DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS OF MONETARY POLICY RULES: FISHER VERSUS CHICAGO
Authors: Tavlas George S.
Published: February 2021

There has long been a presumption that the price-level stabilization frameworks of Irving Fisher and Chicagoans Henry Simons and Lloyd Mints were essentially equivalent. I show that there were subtle, but important, differences in the rationales underlying the policies of Fisher and the Chicagoans. Fisher’s framework involved substantial discretion in the setting of the policy instruments; for the Chicagoans the objective of a policy rule was to tie the hands of the authorities in order to reduce discretion and, thus, monetary policy uncertainty. In contrast to Fisher, the Chicagoans provided assessments of the workings of alternative rules, assessed various criteria—including simplicity and reduction of political pressures—in the specification of rules, and concluded that rules would provide superior performance compared with discretion. Each of these characteristics provided a direct link to the rules-based framework of Milton Friedman. Like Friedman’s framework, Simons’s preferred rule targeted a policy instrument.
Modelling random vectors of dependent risks with different elliptical components
Authors: Landsman Zinoviy , Shushi Tomer
Published: February 2021

In Finance and Actuarial Science, the multivariate elliptical family of distributions is a famous and well-used model for continuous risks. However, it has an essential shortcoming: all its univariate marginal distributions are the same, up to location and scale transformations. For example, all marginals of the multivariate Student’s t-distribution, an important member of the elliptical family, have the same number of degrees of freedom. We introduce a new approach to generate a multivariate distribution whose marginals are elliptical random variables, while in general, each of the risks has different elliptical distribution, which is important when dealing with insurance and financial data. The proposal is an alternative to the elliptical copula distribution where, in many cases, it is very difficult to calculate its risk measures and risk capital allocation. We study the main characteristics of the proposed model: characteristic and density functions, expectations, covariance matrices and expectation of the linear regression vector. We calculate important risk measures for the introduced distributions, such as the value at risk and tail value at risk, and the risk capital allocation of the aggregated risks.
Are Conspiracy Theories Harmless?
Authors: Douglas Karen M.
Published: February 2021

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the consequences of conspiracy theories and the COVID–19 pandemic raised this interest to another level. In this article, I will outline what we know about the consequences of conspiracy theories for individuals, groups, and society, arguing that they are certainly not harmless. In particular, research suggests that conspiracy theories are associated with political apathy, support for non-normative political action, climate denial, vaccine refusal, prejudice, crime, violence, disengagement in the workplace, and reluctance to adhere to COVID–19 recommendations. In this article, I will also discuss the challenges of dealing with the negative consequences of conspiracy theories, which present some opportunities for future research.
Erfahrungen bei der Anwendung einer interprofessionellen Anamnese im Krankenhaus
Authors: Hillewerth Kathrin , Schönbächler Marcar Claudia , Rettke Horst , van Holten Karin
Published: February 2021

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Interprofessionelle Zusammenarbeit ist heute ein zentrales Thema, wenn von der Verbesserung der Qualität und Prozessoptimierung im Gesundheitswesen die Rede ist. Interprofessionelle Dokumentationssysteme spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle. Ziel: Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Erfahrungen von 19 Pflegefachpersonen und Ärzt_innen eines Akutkrankenhauses, die diese vor und nach der Einführung einer interprofessionellen Anamnese gemacht haben. Ziel war es aufzuzeigen, ob und wie sich in dem zehnmonatigen Untersuchungszeitraum die interprofessionelle Zusammenarbeit verändert hat. Methode: Datengrundlage bilden drei Gruppendiskussionen zu drei unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten mit je sechs bis sieben stets neu rekrutierten Teilnehmenden in interprofessioneller Zusammensetzung. Die Datenanalyse erfolgte mittels Dokumentarischer Methode nach Bohnsack. Ergebnisse: Die Gruppendiskussionen dokumentieren unterschiedliche Phasen einer sich entwickelnden interprofessionellen Zusammenarbeit. Durch das Erkennen unterschiedlicher Professionsperspektiven und Ablaufstrukturen konnten Verantwortungsbereiche geklärt und Vertrauen aufgebaut werden. Dies ermöglichte den Beteiligten von der neuen Zusammenarbeit zu profitieren und weiterführende Verbesserungswünsche einzubringen. Schlussfolgerungen: Ein interprofessionell entwickeltes Arbeitsinstrument, wie z. B. die Anamnese, kann die interprofessionelle Zusammenarbeit positiv beeinflussen. Interprofessionelle Austauschformate scheinen auf diesen Entwicklungsprozess eine fördernde Wirkung zu haben.
Long‐term Observations Reveal Environmental Conditions and Food Supply Mechanisms at an Arctic Deep‐Sea Sponge Ground
Authors: Hanz Ulrike , Roberts Emyr Martyn , Duineveld Gerard , Davies Andrew , van Haren Hans , Rapp Hans Tore , Reichart Gert‐Jan , Mienis Furu
Published: February 2021

Deep‐sea sponge grounds are hotspots of benthic biomass and diversity. To date, very limited data exist on the range of environmental conditions in areas containing deep‐sea sponge grounds and which factors are driving their distribution and sustenance. We investigated oceanographic conditions at a deep‐sea sponge ground located on an Arctic Mid‐Ocean Ridge seamount. Hydrodynamic measurements were performed along Conductivity‐Temperature‐Depth transects, and a lander was deployed within the sponge ground that recorded near‐bottom physical properties as well as vertical fluxes of organic matter over an annual cycle. The data demonstrate that the sponge ground is found at water temperatures of −0.5°C to 1°C and is situated at the interface between two water masses at only 0.7° equatorward of the turning point latitude of semi‐diurnal lunar internal tides. Internal waves supported by vertical density stratification interact with the seamount topography and produce turbulent mixing as well as resuspension of organic matter with temporarily very high current speeds up to 0.72 m s−1. The vertical movement of the water column delivers food and nutrients from water layers above and below toward the sponge ground. Highest organic carbon flux was observed during the summer phytoplankton bloom period, providing fresh organic matter from the surface. The flux of fresh organic matter is unlikely to sustain the carbon demand of this ecosystem. Therefore, the availability of bacteria, nutrients, and dissolved and particulate matter, delivered by tidally forced internal wave turbulence and transport by horizontal mean flows, likely plays an important role in meeting ecosystem‐level food requirements.
Reducing alcohol and/or cocaine-induced reward and toxicity via an epidermal stem cell-based gene delivery platform
Authors: Kong Qingyao , Li Yuanyuan , Yue Jiping , Wu Xiaoyang , Xu Ming
Published: February 2021

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the foremost public health problems. Alcohol is also frequently co-abused with cocaine. There is a huge unmet need for the treatment of AUD and/or cocaine co-abuse. We recently demonstrated that skin grafts generated from mouse epidermal stem cells that had been engineered by CRISPR-mediated genome editing could be transplanted onto mice as a gene delivery platform. Here, we show that expression of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) gene delivered by epidermal stem cells attenuated development and reinstatement of alcohol-induced drug-taking and seeking as well as voluntary oral alcohol consumption. GLP1 derived from the skin grafts decreased alcohol-induced increase in dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens. In exploring the potential of this platform in reducing concurrent use of drugs, we developed a novel co-grafting procedure for both modified human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE)- and GLP1-expressing cells. Epidermal stem cell-derived hBChE and GLP1 reduced acquisition of drug-taking and toxicity induced by alcohol and cocaine co-administration. These results imply that cutaneous gene delivery through skin transplants may add a new option to treat drug abuse and co-abuse.
Correction: SPINK1 promotes colorectal cancer progression by downregulating Metallothioneins expression
Authors: Tiwari R. , Pandey S. K. , Goel S. , Bhatia V. , Shukla S. , Jing X. , Dhanasekaran S. M. , Ateeq B.
Published: February 2021

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41389-021-00305-2
Quantitative assessment of erector spinae muscles and prognosis in elderly patients with pneumonia
Authors: Yoshikawa Hiroki , Komiya Kosaku , Yamamoto Takashi , Fujita Naoko , Oka Hiroaki , Okabe Eiji , Yamasue Mari , Umeki Kenji , Rubin Bruce K. , Hiramatsu Kazufumi , Kadota Jun-ichi
Published: February 2021

Erector spinae muscle (ESM) size has been reported as a predictor of prognosis in patients with some respiratory diseases. This study aimed to assess the association of ESM size on all-cause in-hospital mortality among elderly patients with pneumonia. We retrospectively included patients (age: ≥ 65 years) admitted to hospital from January 2015 to December 2017 for community-acquired pneumonia who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) on admission. The cross-sectional area of the ESM (ESMcsa) was measured on a single-slice CT image at the end of the 12th thoracic vertebra and adjusted by body surface area (BSA). Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the influence of ESMcsa/BSA on in-hospital mortality. Among 736 patients who were admitted for pneumonia, 702 patients (95%) underwent chest CT. Of those, 689 patients (98%) for whom height and weight were measured to calculate BSA were included in this study. Patients in the non-survivor group were significantly older, had a greater frequency of respiratory failure, loss of consciousness, lower body mass index, hemoglobin, albumin, and ESMcsa/BSA. Multivariate analysis showed that a lower ESMcsa/BSA independently predicted in-hospital mortality after adjusting for these variables. In elderly patients with pneumonia, quantification of ESMcsa/BSA may be associated with in-hospital mortality.
Author Correction: Interaction of neuropsychiatric symptoms with APOE ε4 and conversion to dementia in MCI patients in a Memory Clinic
Authors: Valero Sergi , Marquié Marta , De Rojas Itziar , Espinosa Ana , Moreno‑Grau Sonia , Orellana Adelina , Montrreal Laura , Hernández Isabel , Mauleón Ana , Rosende‑Roca Maiteé , Alegret Montse , Pérez‑Cordón Alba , Ortega Gemma , Roberto Natalia , Sanabria Angela , Abdelnour Carla , Gil Silvia , Tartari Juan Pablo , Vargas Liliana , Antonio Ester Esteban‑De , Benaque Alba , Tárraga Lluís , Boada Mercè , Ruíz Agustín
Published: February 2021

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Publisher Correction: Quantitative evaluation of the human vocal fold extracellular matrix using multiphoton microscopy and optical coherence tomography
Authors: Benboujja Fouzi , Hartnick Christopher
Published: February 2021

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Handling missing MRI sequences in deep learning segmentation of brain metastases: a multicenter study
Authors: Grøvik Endre , Yi Darvin , Iv Michael , Tong Elizabeth , Nilsen Line Brennhaug , Latysheva Anna , Saxhaug Cathrine , Jacobsen Kari Dolven , Helland Åslaug , Emblem Kyrre Eeg , Rubin Daniel L. , Zaharchuk Greg
Published: February 2021

The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical value of a deep learning (DL) model for automatic detection and segmentation of brain metastases, in which a neural network is trained on four distinct MRI sequences using an input-level dropout layer, thus simulating the scenario of missing MRI sequences by training on the full set and all possible subsets of the input data. This retrospective, multicenter study, evaluated 165 patients with brain metastases. The proposed input-level dropout (ILD) model was trained on multisequence MRI from 100 patients and validated/tested on 10/55 patients, in which the test set was missing one of the four MRI sequences used for training. The segmentation results were compared with the performance of a state-of-the-art DeepLab V3 model. The MR sequences in the training set included pre-gadolinium and post-gadolinium (Gd) T1-weighted 3D fast spin echo, post-Gd T1-weighted inversion recovery (IR) prepped fast spoiled gradient echo, and 3D fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), whereas the test set did not include the IR prepped image-series. The ground truth segmentations were established by experienced neuroradiologists. The results were evaluated using precision, recall, Intersection over union (IoU)-score and Dice score, and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve statistics, while the Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare the performance of the two neural networks. The area under the ROC curve (AUC), averaged across all test cases, was 0.989 ± 0.029 for the ILD-model and 0.989 ± 0.023 for the DeepLab V3 model (p = 0.62). The ILD-model showed a significantly higher Dice score (0.795 ± 0.104 vs. 0.774 ± 0.104, p = 0.017), and IoU-score (0.561 ± 0.225 vs. 0.492 ± 0.186, p < 0.001) compared to the DeepLab V3 model, and a significantly lower average false positive rate of 3.6/patient vs. 7.0/patient (p < 0.001) using a 10 mm3 lesion-size limit. The ILD-model, trained on all possible combinations of four MRI sequences, may facilitate accurate detection and segmentation of brain metastases on a multicenter basis, even when the test cohort is missing input MRI sequences.
Deviations from Taylor’s frozen hypothesis and scaling laws in inhomogeneous jet flows
Authors: Roy Sukesh , Miller Joseph D. , Gunaratne Gemunu H.
Published: February 2021

Difficulties in studying turbulent flows stem, in part, from the lack of high-frequency, high-resolution measurements to interrogate small-scale structures and their rapid evolution. We present analysis of data from experiments employing a burst-mode laser system to capture both spatially resolved velocity fields and their dynamics using high-resolution particle image velocimetry measurements at 100 kHz. We show directly that velocity fluctuations in axisymmetric jet flows are inhomogeneous and anisotropic. The peak of the time-delayed cross correlation function decays exponentially in time and its velocity is smaller than the convection velocity; thus, Taylor’s frozen hypothesis fails to generalize for these inhomogeneous flows. Structure functions are isotropic only at small distances. They exhibit extended self-similarity, but no inertial range is found where the Kolmogorov $$\frac{2}{3}$$

2

3

-law is satisfied. Spectral-energy density of the flow, although anisotropic, is consistent with the Kolmogorov–Obukhov $$\frac{5}{3}$$

5

3

-law in the flow direction.
Constructing a 2D/2D heterojunction of MoSe2/ZnIn2S4 nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
Authors: Feng Ting , Zhao Kaili , Li Haiyan , Wang Wei , Dong Bohua , Cao Lixin
Published: February 2021

2D/2D MoSe2/ZnIn2S4 heterojunctions exhibit high photocatalytic activity owing to MoSe2 as a cocatalyst, which provides more active sites, reducing the overpotential and the activation energy for water reduction.
Experimental observation of the unique solvation process along multiple solvation coordinates of photodissociated products
Authors: Fujii Kaori , Nakano Hiroshi , Sato Hirofumi , Kimura Yoshifumi
Published: February 2021

Schematic illustration of the photo-excitation process of the experiment. Solvation around the photo-dissociated radical has been monitored both in the electronic ground state and in the excited state.
Peptide-based coacervates as biomimetic protocells
Authors: Abbas Manzar , Lipiński Wojciech P. , Wang Jiahua , Spruijt Evan
Published: February 2021

This tutorial review describes molecular design principles for peptides and peptide derivatives undergoing phase separation and highlights the potential of the resulting coacervate protocells.