bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of innovative instructional module for professional competence in health literacy in medical students
Authors: Yang Hui-Fang , Chang Chia-Chen , Tseng Pei-Ling , Lai Hsiang-Ru , Tasi Jaw-Shiun , Huang Wei-Hsin , Fan Yu-Hao , Weng Ci-Xiang , Tung Chen-Yin
Published: March 2022

Background

Physicians should be equipped with professional competence in health literacy to communicate more effectively with patients with limited health literacy. However, the health literacy curriculum has not yet been refined globally, and is scarce in Taiwan’s medical education. We implemented an innovative instructional module to attain professional competence in health literacy among medical students and investigated its effects.

Methods

We adopted a quasi-experimental design and recruited 204 fifth-year Taiwanese medical students between December 2019 and May 2020. Participants who worked as clerks at the Department of Family Medicine of three medical schools in northern Taiwan were assigned to the experimental group through convenience sampling. A total of 98 students received a three-hour innovative instruction, including medical simulation videos, role-playing, and board games. Both the experimental and control groups completed the online pre-test and mail-in post-test. A generalized estimating equation was applied to measure the effects of the intervention.

Results

There was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of professional competence in health literacy in all three aspects. In terms of knowledge, the experimental group improved 12% more than the control group (𝛽=0.12, 95% CI: 0.05 ~ 0.19,p = 0.001). In terms of attitude, the experimental group improved by an average of 0.27 more points per question than the control group (𝛽=0.27, 95% CI: 0.08 ~ 0.46,p = 0.007). As for skill, the experimental group improved by an average of 0.35 more points per question than the control group (𝛽=0.35, 95% CI: 0.14 ~ 0.55,p = 0.001).

Conclusion

The proposed innovative instructional module significantly improved fifth-year medical students’ professional competence in health literacy, which is expected to benefit their future medical practices.
‘I feel that injustice is being done to me’: a qualitative study of women’s viewpoints on the (lack of) reimbursement for social egg freezing
Authors: De Proost Michiel , Coene Gily , Nekkebroeck Julie , Provoost Veerle
Published: March 2022

Background

During the last decade, the possibility for women to cryopreserve oocytes in anticipation of age-related fertility loss, also referred to as social egg freezing, has become an established practice at fertility clinics around the globe. In Europe, there is extensive variation in the costs for this procedure, with the common denominator that there are almost no funding arrangements or reimbursement policies. This is the first qualitative study that specifically explores viewpoints on the (lack of) reimbursement for women who had considered to uptake at least one social egg freezing cycle in Belgium.

Methods

To understand the moral considerations of these women, drawing from twenty-one interviews, this paper integrates elements of a symbiotic empirical ethics approach and thematic analysis.

Results

We identify four themes: (1) being confronted with unclear information; (2) financial costs as ongoing concern; (3) necessity of coverage; (4) extent of reimbursement. In the first theme, we found that some women were concerned about the lack of clear information about the cost of social egg freezing. In the second theme, we report moral sentiments of injustice and discrimination which some women attributed to their struggles and needs not being recognised. The third theme illustrates diverse views on reimbursement, ranging from viewing social egg freezing as an elective treatment not appropriate for reimbursement to preferences for greater public responsibility and wider access. Finally, we describe the participants’ varying proposals for partial reimbursement and the idea that it should not be made available for free.

Conclusions

This research adds important empirical insights to the bioethics debate on social egg freezing, in particular by presenting (potential) users’ views on the lack of reimbursement. While there is much more to say about the ethical and political complexities of the reimbursement of this procedure, our study highlighted the voices of (potential) users and showed that at least some of them would welcome the coverage of SEF through the public healthcare insurance.
Evaluation of an ARF diagnosis calculator: a survey and content analysis
Authors: Fisher Elizabeth , James Christian , Mosca Diana , Currie Bart J. , Ralph Anna P.
Published: March 2022

Background

Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) is a critically important condition for which there is no diagnostic test. Diagnosis requires the use of a set of criteria comprising clinical, laboratory, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings. The complexity of the algorithm and the fact that clinicians lack familiarity with ARF, make ARF diagnosis ideally suited to an electronic decision support tool. The ARF Diagnosis Calculator was developed to assist clinicians in diagnosing ARF and correctly assign categories of ‘possible, ‘probable’ or ‘definite’ ARF. This research aimed to evaluate the acceptability, accuracy, and test performance of the ARF Diagnosis Calculator.

Methods

Three strategies were used to provide triangulation of data. Users of the calculator employed at Top End Health Service, Northern Territory, Australia were invited to participate in an online survey, and clinicians with ARF expertise were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data were analysed using inductive analysis. Performance of the calculator in correctly diagnosing ARF was assessed using clinical data from 35 patients presenting with suspected ARF. Diagnoses obtained from the calculator were compared using the Kappa statistic with those obtained from a panel of expert clinicians.

Results

Survey responses were available from 23 Top End Health Service medical practitioners, and interview data were available from five expert clinicians. Using a 6-point Likert scale, participants highly recommended the ARF Diagnosis Calculator (median 6, IQR 1), found it easy to use (median 5, IQR 1) and believed the calculator helped them diagnose ARF (median 5, IQR 1). Clinicians with ARF expertise noted that electronic decision making is not a substitute for clinical experience. There was high agreement between the ARF Diagnosis Calculator and the ‘gold standard’ ARF diagnostic process (κ = 0.767, 95% CI: 0.568–0.967). Incorrect assignment of diagnosis occurred in 4/35 (11%) patients highlighting the greater accuracy of expert clinical input for ambiguous presentations. Sixteen changes were incorporated into a revised version of the calculator.

Conclusions

The ARF Diagnosis Calculator is an easy-to-use, accessible tool, but it does not replace clinical expertise. The calculator performed well amongst clinicians and is an acceptable tool for use within the clinical setting with a high level of accuracy in comparison to the gold standard diagnostic process. Effective resources to support clinicians are critically important for improving the quality of care of ARF.
Modeling the diagnosis of coronary artery disease by discriminant analysis and logistic regression: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Shariatnia Sahar , Ziaratban Majid , Rajabi Abdolhalim , Salehi Aref , Abdi Zarrini Kobra , Vakili Mohammadali
Published: March 2022

Purpose

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most significant cardiovascular diseases that requires accurate angiography to diagnose. Angiography is an invasive approach involving risks like death, heart attack, and stroke. An appropriate alternative for diagnosis of the disease is to use statistical or data mining methods. The purpose of the study was to predict CAD by using discriminant analysis and compared with the logistic regression.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional study included 758 cases admitted to Fatemeh Zahra Teaching Hospital (Sari, Iran) for examination and coronary angiography for evaluation of CAD in 2019. A logistics discriminant, Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) model and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) were fitted for prognosis of CAD with the help of clinical and laboratory information of patients.

Results

Out of the 758 examined cases, 250 (32.98%) cases were non-CAD and 508 (67.22%) were diagnosed with CAD disease. The results indicated that the indices of accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve (AUC) in the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were 78.6, 81.3, 71.3, and 81.9%, respectively. The results obtained by the quadratic discriminant analysis were respectively 64.6, 88.2, 47.9, and 81%. The values of the metrics in K-nearest neighbor method were 74, 77.5, 63.7, and 82%, respectively. Finally, the logistic regression reached 77, 87.6, 55.6, and 82%, respectively for the evaluation metrics.

Conclusions

The LDA method is superior to the Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Logistic Regression (LR) methods in differentiating CAD patients. Therefore, in addition to common non-invasive diagnostic methods, LDA technique is recommended as a predictive model with acceptable accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for the diagnosis of CAD. However, given that the differences between the models are small, it is recommended to use each model to predict CAD disease.
Short isoform thymic stromal lymphopoietin reduces inflammation and aerobic glycolysis of asthmatic airway epithelium by antagonizing long isoform thymic stromal lymphopoietin
Authors: Yu Changhui , Huang Wufeng , Zhou Zicong , Liang Shixiu , Zhou Zili , Liu Jieyi , Zhao Haijing , Liu Laiyu , Dong Hangming , Zou Fei , Cai Shaoxi
Published: March 2022

Background

Up-regulation of aerobic glycolysis has been reported as a characterization of asthma and facilitates airway inflammation. We has been previously reported that short isoform thymic stromal lymphopoietin (sTSLP) could reduce inflammation in asthmatic airway epithelial cells. Here we wanted to investigate whether the inhibition of sTSLP on asthma is related to aerobic glycolysis.

Methods

Asthmatic model was established in challenging Male BALB/c mice and 16-HBE (human bronchial epithelial) cell line with house dust mite (HDM). Indicators of glycolysis were assessed to measure whether involve in sTSLP regulating airway epithelial cells inflammation in asthmatic model in vivo and in vitro.

Results

sTSLP decreased inflammation of asthmatic airway and aerobic glycolysis in mice. HDM or long isoform thymic stromal lymphopoietin (lTSLP) promoted HIF-1α expression and aerobic glycolysis by miR-223 to target and inhibit VHL (von Hippel-Lindau) expression 16-HBE. Inhibition of aerobic glycolysis restrained HDM- and lTSLP-induced inflammatory cytokines production. sTSLP along had almost no potential to alter aerobic glycolysis of 16-HBE. But sTSLP decreased LDHA (lactate dehydrogenase A) and LD (Lactic acid) levels in BALF, and HIF-1α and LDHA protein levels in airway epithelial cells of asthma mice model. lTSLP and sTSLP both induced formation of TSLPR and IL-7R receptor complex, and lTSLP obviously facilitated phosphorylation of JAK1, JAK2 and STAT5, while sTSLP induced a little phosphorylation of JAK1 and STAT5.

Conclusion

We identified a novel mechanism that lTSLP could promote inflammatory cytokines production by miR-223/VHL/HIF-1α pathway to upregulate aerobic glycolysis in airway epithelial cells in asthma. This pathway is suppressed by sTSLP through occupying binding site of lTSLP in TSLPR and IL-7R receptor complex.
Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and pneumonia hospital admission among patients with COPD: a time-stratified case-crossover study
Authors: Lu Wenfeng , Tian Qi , Xu Ruijun , Zhong Chenghui , Qiu Lan , Zhang Han , Shi Chunxiang , Liu Yuewei , Zhou Yun
Published: March 2022

Background

Pneumonia is a major contributor to hospital admission for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, evidence for acute effects of ambient air pollution exposure on pneumonia hospital admission among patients with COPD is scarce. We aimed to examine the association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and pneumonia hospital admission among patients with COPD.

Methods

We enrolled COPD cases aged ≥ 60 years old and further filtered those who were admitted into hospitals from pneumonia during 2016–2019 in Guangdong province, China for main analysis. A time-stratified case-crossover design was applied to investigate the association and conditional logistic regression model was used for data analysis. We performed inverse distance weighting method to estimate daily individual-level exposure on particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3) based on personal residential addresses.

Results

We included 6473 pneumonia hospital admissions during the study period. Each interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 (lag 2; IQR, 22.1 μg/m3), SO2 (lag 03; IQR, 4.2 μg/m3), NO2 (lag 03; IQR, 21.4 μg/m3), and O3 (lag 04; IQR, 57.9 μg/m3) was associated with an odds ratio in pneumonia hospital admission of 1.043 (95% CI: 1.004–1.083), 1.081 (95% CI: 1.026–1.140), 1.045 (95% CI: 1.005–1.088), and 1.080 (95% CI: 1.018–1.147), respectively. Non-linear trends for PM2.5, PM10, and SO2 were observed in the study. Sex, age at hospital admission, and season at hospital admission did not modify the associations.

Conclusions

We found significantly positive associations of short-term exposure to PM2.5, SO2, NO2, and O3 with pneumonia hospital admission among COPD patients. It provides new insight for comprehensive pneumonia prevention and treatment among COPD patients.
Microbial and molecular differences according to the location of head and neck cancers
Authors: Kim Yun Kyeong , Kwon Eun Jung , Yu Yeuni , Kim Jayoung , Woo Soo-Yeon , Choi Hee-Sun , Kwon Munju , Jung Keehoon , Kim Hyung-Sik , Park Hae Ryoun , Lee Dongjun , Kim Yun Hak
Published: March 2022

Background

Microbiome has been shown to substantially contribute to some cancers. However, the diagnostic implications of microbiome in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remain unknown.

Methods

To identify the molecular difference in the microbiome of oral and non-oral HNSCC, primary data was downloaded from the Kraken-TCGA dataset. The molecular differences in the microbiome of oral and non-oral HNSCC were identified using the linear discriminant analysis effect size method.

Results

In the study, the common microbiomes in oral and non-oral cancers were Fusobacterium, Leptotrichia, Selenomonas and Treponema and Clostridium and Pseudoalteromonas, respectively. We found unique microbial signatures that positively correlated with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways in oral cancer and positively and negatively correlated KEGG pathways in non-oral cancer. In oral cancer, positively correlated genes were mostly found in prion diseases, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, Salmonella infection, and Pathogenic Escherichia coli infection. In non-oral cancer, positively correlated genes showed Herpes simplex virus 1 infection and Spliceosome and negatively correlated genes showed results from PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Focal adhesion, Regulation of actin cytoskeleton, ECM-receptor interaction and Dilated cardiomyopathy.

Conclusions

These results could help in understanding the underlying biological mechanisms of the microbiome of oral and non-oral HNSCC. Microbiome-based oncology diagnostic tool warrants further exploration.
ADHD symptoms and school impairment history in parents of ADHD children are a fundamental diagnostic and therapeutic clue
Authors: Wiel Luisa Cortellazzo , Rispoli Francesco , Peccolo Giulia , Rosolen Valentina , Barbi Egidio , Skabar Aldo
Published: March 2022

Background

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a multi-factorial condition, with inheritance playing a major role. Recognizing parents’ ADHD represents a clue not only for an earlier diagnosis of the disease in their children, but also to optimize psycho-educational therapy outcomes, by addressing the impairment of parenting related to untreated ADHD. This study aimed to assess the frequency of features suggestive of ADHD during childhood among parents of affected children, and the presence of school and emotional impairment.

Methods

We administered the Wender Utah Rating Scale-25, a self-assessment tool for the retrospective identification of symptoms consistent with ADHD during childhood, to a cohort of 120 parents of 60 children with ADHD, and to a consistent number of “controls”.

Results

The WURS-25 proved positive in 49.1% of fathers and 30.0% of mothers of ADHD patients, compared to 1.7% of fathers and 1.7% of mothers of non-ADHD patients (p < 0.0001).

The questions addressing learning and emotional impairment provided significantly higher scores in parents with an overall positive test compared to those with negative test (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates a remarkably high rate of symptoms consistent with ADHD during childhood in parents of affected children. Physicians should be aware that this is a relevant anamnestic clue and, given the relevance of parents’ role in the management of children with ADHD, an important issue to address in order to optimize patients’ treatment.
A deep learning MRI approach outperforms other biomarkers of prodromal Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Feng Xinyang , Provenzano Frank A. , Small Scott A. ,   for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: March 2022

Background

The three core pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are amyloid pathology, tau pathology, and neurodegeneration. Biomarkers exist for each. Neurodegeneration is often detected by neuroimaging, and we hypothesized that a voxel-based deep learning approach using structural MRI might outperform other neuroimaging methods.

Methods

First, we implement an MRI-based deep learning model, trained with a data augmentation strategy, which classifies Alzheimer’s dementia and generates class activation maps. Next, we tested the model in prodromal AD and compared its performance to other biomarkers of amyloid pathology, tau pathology, and neuroimaging biomarkers of neurodegeneration.

Results

The model distinguished between controls and AD with high accuracy (AUROC = 0.973) with class activation maps that localized to the hippocampal formation. As hypothesized, the model also outperformed other neuroimaging biomarkers of neurodegeneration in prodromal AD (AUROC = 0.788) but also outperformed biomarkers of amyloid (CSF Aβ = 0.702) or tau pathology (CSF tau = 0.682), and the findings are interpreted in the context of AD’s known anatomical biology.

Conclusions

The advantages of using deep learning to extract biomarker information from conventional MRIs extend practically, potentially reducing patient burden, risk, and cost.
Engineering strategies for customizing extracellular vesicle uptake in a therapeutic context
Authors: Esmaeili Abazar , Alini Mauro , Baghaban Eslaminejad Mohamadreza , Hosseini Samaneh
Published: March 2022

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are advanced therapeutic strategies that can be used to efficiently treat diseases. Promising features of EVs include their innate therapeutic properties and ability to be engineered as targeted drug delivery systems. However, regulation of EV uptake is one challenge of EV therapy that must be overcome to achieve an efficient therapeutic outcome. Numerous efforts to improve the factors that affect EV uptake include the selection of a cell source, cell cultivation procedure, extraction and purification methods, storage, and administration routes. Limitations of rapid clearance, targeted delivery, and off-targeting of EVs are current challenges that must be circumvented. EV engineering can potentially overcome these limitations and provide an ideal therapeutic use for EVs. In this paper, we intend to discuss traditional strategies and their limitations, and then review recent advances in EV engineering that can be used to customize and control EV uptake for future clinical applications.
Pupation inhibition and larvicidal activity of tyrosinase on Culex pipiens third-instar larvae
Authors: Shalaby Hatem A. , Ashry Heba M. , Saad Moataza M. , El Namaky Amira H. , Hassen Marwa T.
Published: March 2022

Background

Mosquitoes are considered to be the main vector of a variety of diseases in both humans and domesticated animals. The development of insecticide resistance and the limitations of traditional insecticide-based strategies have resulted in significant efforts to develop eco-friendly, alternative methods.

Main body

In this study, nine fungi species were screened to produce tyrosinase enzyme. This was done in order to evaluate its inhibitory activity against Culex pipiens third-instar larvae. The extracellular tyrosinase was produced by five strains. Aspergillus tamarii NRC3 was found to possess the highest tyrosinase activity and was therefore used in this study. Some factors were studied to enhance the production of the enzyme. The enzyme was partially purified using ammonium sulfate at a 70% saturation, giving 1.861 purification fold. The toxicity on Culex pipiens varied, depending upon the tyrosinase concentration and the period of exposure. In addition, notable histological effects were seen in the midgut region.

Conclusions

A concentration of 80% on third-stage larvae showed 90% inhibition in the formation of pupae at 72 h post-treatment. In addition, a significant cellular microvillus disruption was seen in the midgut region at 24 h post-treatment.
Native bacteria for field biocontrol of black root rot in Egyptian strawberry
Authors: Abd-El-Kareem Farid , Elshahawy Ibrahim E. , Abd-Elgawad Mahfouz M. M.
Published: March 2022

Background

Increasing cultivation of strawberry in Egypt has boosted efforts to increase its yield. Biocontrol agents (BCAs) may avoid side effects and health risks caused by chemical fungicides used to control black root rot disease in strawberry. Some BCAs control the disease and augment strawberry yield, but additional research is needed to fit BCAs into emerging control strategies. The impact of six bacterial isolates of Paenibacillus polymyxa and Bacillus brevis on this disease and on berry yield is reported and compared to a common chemical fungicide.

Results

The bacterial isolates reduced the growth of the black root rot causal agents Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani, and Macrophomina phaseolina, in dual culture bioassays. The greatest fungal inhibition was caused by P. polymyxa isolates 1 and 2 and B. brevis isolate 2. They suppressed the growth of F. solani, R. solani, and M. phaseolina by more than 74, 76, and 79%, respectively. Disease severity and incidence were significantly reduced on naturally infected strawberry plants in the field by the six isolates. The best results were obtained by the superior bioassay isolates which suppressed the disease incidence by 73, 77, and 71%, and its severity by 72, 78, and 70%, respectively. Disease suppression by bacteria was comparable to that by fungicide Actamyl. Bacteria surpassed Actamyl with regard to strawberry yield and enhancement of peroxidase and chitinase activities in the leaves.

Conclusions

These isolates are potential benign alternatives to fungicides used against black root rot in strawberry in Egypt. More studies are needed to examine their economic use on a wider scale.
Microbiome network traits in the rumen predict average daily gain in beef cattle under different backgrounding systems
Authors: Omontese Bobwealth O. , Sharma Ashok K. , Davison Samuel , Jacobson Emily , DiConstanzo Alfredo , Webb Megan J. , Gomez Andres
Published: March 2022

Background

Backgrounding (BKG), the stage between weaning and finishing, significantly impacts feedlot performance in beef cattle; however, the contributions of the rumen microbiome to this growth stage remain unexplored. A longitudinal study was designed to assess how BKG affects rumen bacterial communities and average daily gain (ADG) in beef cattle. At weaning, 38 calves were randomly assigned to three BKG systems for 55 days (d): a high roughage diet within a dry lot (DL, n = 13); annual cover crop within a strip plot (CC, n = 13); and perennial pasture vegetation within rotational paddocks (PP, n = 12), as before weaning. After BKG, all calves were placed in a feedlot for 142 d and finished with a high energy ration. Calves were weighed periodically from weaning to finishing to determine ADG. Rumen bacterial communities were profiled by collecting fluid samples via oral probe and sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA bacterial gene, at weaning, during BKG and finishing.

Results

Rumen bacterial communities diverged drastically among calves once they were placed in each BKG system, including sharp decreases in alpha diversity for CC and DL calves only (P < 0.001). During BKG, DL calves showed a substantial increase of Proteobacteria (Succinivibrionaceae family) (P < 0.001), which also corresponded with greater ADG (P < 0.05). At the finishing stage, Proteobacteria bloomed for all calves, with no previous alpha or beta diversity differences being retained between groups. However, at finishing, PP calves showed a compensatory ADG, particularly greater than that in calves coming from DL BKG (P = 0.02). Microbiome network traits such as lower average shortest path length, and increased neighbor connectivity, degree, number and strength of bacterial interactions between rumen bacteria better predicted ADG during BKG and finishing than variation in specific taxonomic profiles.

Conclusions

Bacterial co-abundance interactions, as measured by network theory approaches, better predicted growth performance in beef cattle during BKG and finishing, than the abundance of specific taxa. These findings underscore the importance of early post weaning stages as potential targets for feeding interventions that can enhance metabolic interactions between rumen bacteria, to increase productive performance in beef cattle.
Synergistic degradation of Methylene Blue by novel Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst supported on waste silica in photo-Fenton-like system
Authors: Quiton Khyle Glainmer N. , Lu Ming-Chun , Huang Yao-Hui
Published: March 2022

In this present study, a novel method to fabricate bimetallic Fe-Co catalyst supported on waste silica was investigated for the photo-Fenton-like (PFL) degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) dye. The uniqueness of this work is on the preparation of the catalyst via fluidized-bed crystallization (FBC) process. Under the optimum conditions of initial pH of 3.0, 3.0 mM of H2O2, and 1.0 g L-1 of FBC-derived Fe-Co/SiO2 catalyst (fFCS), the maximum response for the decoloration and mineralization efficiencies of 20 mg L-1 of MB in 60 min were 100 and 65%, respectively. Compared to the impregnated Fe-Co/SiO2 catalyst, the fFCS catalyst exhibited comparable decoloration and mineralization efficiencies, and relatively lower metal leaching for both iron and cobalt. Superoxide radical was unveiled to be the dominant reactive oxygen species in the PFL system over the fFCS catalyst. The catalysts were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. The results show the successful incorporation of iron and cobalt on the surface of the SiO2 support material.
Analysis of changes in tibial torsion angle on open-wedge high tibial osteotomy depending on the osteotomy level
Authors: Song In-Soo , Kwon Junhan
Published: March 2022

Purpose

This study evaluated the tibial torsional angle changes of 72 knees before and after open-wedge high tibial osteotomy (OWHTO) and compared the results according to the osteotomy level.

Materials and methods

Seventy patients (72 knees) with Kellgren–Lawrence grade 3 underwent OWHTO. Demographic data, operation procedures, and measurement of mechanical tibiofemoral angle (mTFA), anatomical tibiofemoral angle (aTFA), tibial torsional angle (TTA), and pre- and postoperative Lysholm and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores were obtained. The authors analyzed TTA changes between 30 knees with high-level osteotomy (group A) and 42 knees with low-level osteotomy (group B).

Results

The changes of TTAs in the subjects of 72 knees went from 29.26 ± 5.6° preoperative mean to 25.36 ± 6.4° postoperative mean (p = 0.032). The postoperative TTAs of group A (mean 27.4 ± 4.8°) and B (mean 25.7 ± 4.9°) were statistically significant (p < 0.01). Preoperative Lysholm and IKDC scores of 72 knees had means of 49.1 ± 3.5 and 49.0 ± 15.2, respectively, and postoperative means of 85.7 ± 8.56 and 78.0 ± 17.6, respectively, which were statistically significant (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Changes of TTA with internal rotation of distal tibia were observed following OWHTO. High-level osteotomy on the proximal tibia’s lateral cortex had less internal rotation of the distal tibia than low-level osteotomy.
Predictors of in-hospital mortality in diabetic patients with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction
Authors: Ghorashi Seyyed Mojtaba , Salarifar Mojtaba , Poorhosseini Hamidreza , Sadeghian Saead , Jalali Arash , Aghajani Hassan , Haji-Zeinali Ali-Mohammad , Omidi Negar
Published: March 2022

Background

There have been little data about the additive effects of coronary risk factors on mortality in diabetic patients presenting with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). This study aimed to evaluate the predictors of mortality in diabetic patients presenting with NSTEMI. All patients admitted to Tehran Heart Center (THC) with a confirmed diagnosis of NSTEMI and a history of diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2 between September 2003 and April 2017 were included. Clinical characteristics and paraclinical data such as lipid profiles, creatinine, hemoglobin, and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) were evaluated in these patients to predict in-hospital mortality. The approach for model calibration was a logistic regression with the backward elimination method.

Results

Of a total of 9158 patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, 3133 had diabetes mellitus type 2 and met our criteria to enter the final analysis. In the multivariable analysis, age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and a severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) significantly increased the rate of in-hospital mortality, whereas mildly and moderately reduced left ventricular ejection fraction did not increase the rate of mortality.

Conclusions

Age, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and severely reduced LVEF (< 30%) independently increased in-hospital mortality in our diabetic patients with a confirmed diagnosis of NSTEMI. Severely reduced LVEF had the strongest relationship with in-hospital mortality, whereas the mean HbA1C level and the type of DM management exerted no significant effect on in-hospital mortality.
Nonuniform 3D finite-difference elastic wave simulation on staggered grids
Authors: Gao Longfei , Ghattas Omar , Keyes David
Published: March 2022

We have developed develop an approach to simulate the 3D isotropic elastic wave propagation using nonuniform finite-difference discretization on staggered grids. Specifically, we consider simulation domains composed of layers of uniform grids with different grid spacings, separated by nonconforming interfaces. We determine that this layer-wise finite-difference discretization has the potential to significantly reduce the simulation cost, compared to its fully uniform counterpart. Stability of such a discretization is achieved by using specially designed difference operators, which are variants of the standard difference operators with adaptations near boundaries or interfaces, and penalty terms, which are appended to the discretized wave system to weakly impose boundary or interface conditions. Combined with specially designed interpolation operators, the discretized wave system is shown to preserve the energy-conserving property of the continuous elastic wave equation, and a fortiori ensures the stability of the simulation. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed simulation approach.
A novel and efficient engine for P-/S-wave-mode vector decomposition for vertical transverse isotropic elastic reverse time migration
Authors: Zhang Lele , Liu Lu , Niu Fenglin , Zuo Jiahui , Shuai Da , Jia Wanli , Zhao Yang
Published: March 2022

Wave-mode decomposition plays a very important role in elastic reverse time migration (ERTM). Improved imaging quality can be achieved due to reduced wave-mode crosstalk artifacts. The current state-of-the-art methods for anisotropic wavefield separation are based on either splitting model strategy, low-rank approximation, or lower-upper (LU) factorization. Most of these involve expensive matrix computation and Fourier transforms with strong model assumptions. Based on the anisotropic-Helmholtz (ani-Helmholtz) decomposition operator and decoupled formulations, we develop a novel and efficient P-/S-wave-mode vector decomposition method in vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) media with application in ERTM. We first review the basics of classical Helmholtz decomposition and isotropic decoupled formulations. In addition, the ani-Helmholtz decomposition operator is built from the P- and S-wave polarizations of the Christoffel equation in VTI media. We then derive novel decoupled formulations of anisotropic P-/S-waves based on the obtained ani-Helmholtz operator. Moreover, we use the first-order Taylor expansion to approximate the normalization term from the derived decoupled formulations and obtain an efficient ani-Helmholtz decomposition approach, which produces vector P- and S-wavefields with correct units, phases, and amplitudes. Compared with the previous studies, our approach mitigates model assumptions, avoids intricate calculations, such as LU factorization or low-rank approximation, and only needs three fast Fourier transforms at each time step. In addition, the graphic processing unit technique is used to dramatically accelerate various functions of ERTM, such as wavefields extrapolation, decomposition, and imaging. Three synthetic examples demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of our proposed approach.
The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers: Reflections on an Aspect of Technological Change in New Zealand Dairy Farming between the World Wars
Authors: Watson James
Published: March 2022

During the early 1930s many New Zealand farmers enthusiastically adopted the highly inflammable chemical sodium chlorate as a weedicide against ragwort. This development reflected many aspects of New Zealand farming at the time. Dairying was expanding rapidly, reducing the control of ragwort by grazing with sheep; large areas of land cleared in the post-war boom were reverting to weeds; farmers tended to look to the state to assist with their problems and the Department of Agriculture promoted the use of sodium chlorate; farmers were generally highly literate and were rapidly aware of new possibilities; and there was a continuing shortage of labor in farming. The latter reflected New Zealand’s generally restrictive immigration policies; higher wages and greater freedom in urban employment; changing demography and attitudes to child labor; attitudes to married women working out on the farm; and, perhaps most importantly, the widespread drive for independence from farm workers and neighbors. Sodium chlorate seemed to promise a solution to the control of ragwort without the high financial and personal cost of finding additional labor.
Uncovering the Subsistence Economy in the Twentieth-Century South: Blue Ridge Mountain Farms
Authors: Gregg Sara M.
Published: March 2022

The small upcountry farms of Southern Appalachia were slowly fading away during the early twentieth century, but pockets of self-sufficient farms remained in places like the northern Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. These farmers, responsive to the constraints of the mountain landscape that surrounded them, tended to rely on less invasive, century-old technologies to work their fields. Although contemporaries widely disparaged this way of life, the records of these communities reflect a long history of viability and suggest that the ecological basis of upcountry agriculture was strong. This article, which is part of a larger project that studies the transition from small farms to publicly owned forests in Appalachia, analyzes the agricultural patterns within five Blue Ridge Mountain hollows and the economics of subsistence farming in the early twentieth century.
Echoing off the Heart of the Heartland: The Mid-States Companies, Echocardiography, and Rural Medicine
Authors: Price Jay M. , Mershon James , Barlow Teddie
Published: March 2022

In many cases, residents in rural communities requiring specialized medical diagnostics and care have had to either endure long journeys to larger cities or do without. In response, a number of programs and services have emerged to bring the latest medical advances to rural populations. For example, in the 1970s a team of cardiologists in Wichita established a system of mobile echocardiography units that went to hospitals in Kansas and in neighboring states. In addition, the physicians themselves conducted regular clinics at these facilities. Sometimes the physicians drove, but in many cases, they flew to the location. In the 1980s these individuals formed a series of companies under the name of "Mid-States whose employees performed diagnostic work ranging from echocardiography to pregnancy sonograms. One company even provided fitness equipment. Lasting into the 1990s Mid-States’s legacy lives on in the personnel who have gone on to from new businesses and practices, as well as in the many patients who recived treatment over the years.
From Crop Lien to Contract Farming: The Roots of Agribusiness in the American South, 1929–1939
Authors: Gisolfi Monica Richmond
Published: March 2022

In 1929 rural sociologist Rupert Vance surveyed the southern landscape, seeing no end in sight to the cotton production that impoverished the South. In search of ways for cotton farmers to diversify, Vance noted that "whether equitable or not, a system of division of the product by shares between landlord and tenant has been worked out by custom and law for cotton." Indeed, there was a credit system in place that facilitated cotton production, a system that dated back to Reconstruction. Lamenting that "no generally accepted system of share cropping has been worked out for more complex forms of farming," Vance could not foresee that soon furnishing merchants would refashion the crop lien to facilitate poultry production. For some time, politicians, Vance, and a host of rural reformers waged an unsuccessful war against the crop lien, and its close relatives sharecropping and tenancy, which they considered to be the basis of southern problems. The poultry industry--today the model for contract farming and a multi-million-dollar business--grew out of the crop lien system, an institution thought to be the root of southern poverty.
The Squatter and Natural Law in Nineteenth-Century America
Authors: Pisani Donald J.
Published: March 2022

In the decade before the California Gold Rush, the popular idea that Americans held a natural right to land as a legacy of the American Revolution was enriched and expanded by such events as the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island, the Anti-Rent War in New York, the flood of Irish refugees into New York City, growing opposition to the expansion of slavery into new territories acquired during the war with Mexico, and the Revolution of 1848 in Europe. These events strengthened popular sovereignty and the notion that human beings had rights that transcended those defined by legislatures, courts, or even constitutions. They also promoted a new discussion of how values within the United States differed from those in Europe--where land was scarce and served as the foundation for aristocratic regimes and sharp class differences. The squatter was a ubiquitous figure on every frontier of the United States, but none more than California, where both town sites and agricultural land were covered by Mexican land grants that took decades to define and confirm. This article tells the story of how powerful forces in California undermined squatter rights--and the heritage of the American Revolution as well.
The Visible Hand and the New American Biology: Toward an Integrated Historiography of Railroad–Supported Agricultural Research
Authors: Amidon Kevin S.
Published: March 2022

In the early twentieth century, American railroad companies faced new challenges. The railroad network had developed fully, broad political opposition was gaining teeth in new, enforceable federal legislation, and financial markets--first established to support railroad expansion--had begun to move beyond railroads. Railroad companies answered with a wide range of new managerial and scientific practices. Recent scholarship that goes beyond the traditional disciplinary separation of technological, political, managerial, economic, and scientific concerns has enabled historians to recognize that agricultural research pursued in concert with other institutions empowered railroads to address all of these challenges in the period between 1900 and 1930.
Rural Sociology and Democratic Planning in the Third New Deal
Authors: Gilbert Jess
Published: March 2022

In the early 1940s, the agricultural New Deal was broader and more democratic than those aspects of it that survived World War II. Carl C. Taylor, who led the sociological research unit in the USDA’s Bureau of Agricultural Economics, and other rural sociologists shared a two-handed commitment to democracy. They merged social science with local knowledge and integrated federal action with citizen participation. These activist principles were best exemplified in a Third New Deal program called county land-use planning, within which sociologists played two roles. First, they "delineated" the boundaries of rural neighborhoods and communities so that the best representation of citizens on the local planning committees was obtained. With local citizen-researchers, Taylor’s sociologists delineated eleven thousand rural neighborhoods and nearly two thousand communities in thirty-two states. Second, they evaluated the planning program in a few select counties. The richest assessment was Arthur F. Raper’s study of Greene County, Georgia, "Tenants of the Almighty." He found that, despite racism, the program made tremendous physical, economic, and psychological gains among the county’s poor blacks and whites. However, a conservative Congress aborted the federal democratic-planning program in 1942; soon thereafter these anti-New Dealers banished critical social science from the USDA. The likes of which have not been seen since, at least not in the United States.
The Limits of Alliance: Cold War Solidarity and Canadian Wheat Exports to China, 1950–1963
Authors: Donaghy Greg , Stevenson Michael D.
Published: March 2022

Although Canada was a committed member of the western alliance and publically supported Washington, DC’s efforts to isolate communist China, Ottawa embarked on large-scale wheat sales to Beijing in the late 1950s in the face of sustained US opposition. Drawing on a broad range of archival records, this paper explores the three main factors that encouraged the Canadian government in this course: growing doubts about the wisdom of isolating communist China; mounting anger at Washington, DC’s use of subsidized wheat sales to capture traditional Canadian markets; and a surging sense of Canadian nationalism that sought a distinct role for Canada on the world stage. Clearly, as was so often the case in postwar Canadian foreign economic policy, a narrowly defined national interest easily trumped the ideological pressures of western solidarity.
Cold War Competition and Food Production in China, 1957–1962
Authors: Chen Yixin
Published: March 2022

This article examines how Mao’s grand strategy for Cold War competition inflicted a catastrophic agricultural failure in China and victimized tens of millions of Chinese peasants. It argues that Khrushchev’s 1957 boast about the Soviet Union surpassing the United States in key economic areas inspired Mao to launch an industrialization program that would push the People’s Republic past Great Britain in some production categories within fifteen years. Beginning in 1958 Mao imposed unrealistic targets on Chinese grain production to extract funds from agriculture for rapid industrial growth. Maoists placed relentless pressure on communist cadres for ruthless implementation of the Great Leap Forward. Contrary to Maoist plans, China’s grain output in 1959-1960 declined sharply from 1957 levels and rural per capita grain retention decreased dramatically. Throughout China, party cadres’ mismanagement of agricultural production was responsible for the decline in grain output, and the communist state’s excessive requisition of grain caused food shortages for the peasants. But the key factor determining the famine’s uneven impact on the peasantry in the provinces was the degree to which provincial leaders genuinely and energetically embraced Maoist programs. This is illustrated by a close examination of the Great Leap famine in Anhui Province.
The Intellectual Legacy of Mary Neth’s Work on Farm Women and Rural Communities
Authors: OSTERUD GREY
Published: March 2022

Mary Neth’s 1995 book, Preserving the Family Farm: Women, Community, and the Foundations of Agribusiness in the Midwest, 1900-1940, made a major contribution to the analysis of the connections between gender and the political economy that shaped farm women’s lives and fueled farmers’ resistance to the transformation of rural life wrought by agribusiness. Focusing on the processes of negotiation between women and men in farming families and rural communities, Íeth illuminated the relationship between women’s work and their power. Tracing the dense networks that connected farm families, she also showed how cooperation in work generated and sustained radical farm movements.