bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Solvent effect on cycloaddition of C20 nanofullerene with indoline‐2‐one, at density functional theory
Authors: Asnaashariisfahani Manzarbanou , Mahmood Evan Abdulkareem , Poor Heravi Mohammad Reza , Habibzadeh Sepideh , Ebadi Abdol Ghaffar , Mohammadi‐Aghdam Sarvin
Published: April 2022

The biologically active (E)‐3‐(furan‐2‐yl)methylene‐indoline‐2‐one (I) is studied, in the gas phase, C6H6, C2H4Cl2, EtOH, MeNO2, DMSO, and H2O using the self‐consistent reaction field (SCRF)—density functional theory (DFT). This species has been used in tumor growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis. A mainly interesting issue is the solvent effect on the stability, geometry, and energy of intermolecular hetero‐Diels–Alder cycloaddition of I with C20 to yield drug delivery (Ia). By optimization of adduct (Ia) from gas phase to nonpolar and then polar solvent, the following results is obtained: (1) The trend of thermodynamic and kinetic stability and also polarity seem proportional to the dielectric constant of the used solvent and formation of the hydrogen bonding. (2) In contrast to general belief that the endo isomer appears more stable than exo isomer, here, the exo isomer appears more stable than endo isomer. (3) The exo cycloaddition can be carried out thermally at room temperature and currently hold responsible for regioselectivity. (4) The possibility of endo cycloaddition is favorable by the lowest energy barrier of 4.2 kcal/mol probed in benzene, while the highest energy barrier of 7.3 kcal/mol is estimated in water. (5) Nonbonding electrostatic interaction between the sulfur heteroatom and nanocage, as well as the π–π aromatic stacking, appears to have significant destabilizing effect on the endo isomer. (6) In going from exo transition state (TS) and endo TS to and Ia cycloadduct, the molecular electrostatic potential is changed as a function of shape, size, symmetry, and regioselectivity.
A flexible mixed‐data model applied to claims data for post‐market surveillance of prescription drug safety behavior
Authors: Butler Harris , Rice John D. , Carlson Nichole E. , Morrato Elaine H.
Published: April 2022

We develop a new modeling framework for jointly modeling first prescription times and the presence of risk‐mitigating behavior for prescription drugs using real‐world data. We are interested in active surveillance of clinical quality improvement programs, especially for drugs which enter the market under an FDA‐mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). Our modeling framework attempts to jointly model two important aspects of prescribing, the time between a drug's initial marketing and a patient's first prescription of that drug, and the presence of risk‐mitigating behavior at the first prescription. First prescription times can be flexibly modeled as a mixture of component distributions to accommodate different subpopulations and allow the proportion of prescriptions that exhibit risk‐mitigating behavior to change for each component. Risk‐mitigating behavior is defined in the context of each drug. We develop a joint model using a mixture of positive unimodal distributions to model first prescription times, and a logistic regression model conditioned on component membership to model the presence of risk‐mitigating behavior. We apply our model to two recently approved extended release/long‐acting (ER/LA) opioids, which have an FDA‐approved blueprint for best prescribing practices to inform our definition of risk‐mitigating behavior. We also apply our methods to simulated data to evaluate their performance under various conditions such as clustering.
Topotecan reduces sepsis‐induced acute lung injury and decreases the inflammatory response via the inhibition of the NF‐κB signaling pathway
Authors: Wang Xiaoxia , Xu Tianxiang , Jin Jiajia , Ting Gao M. M. , Wan Bing , Gong Mei , Bai Lingxiao , Lv Tangfeng , Song Yong
Published: April 2022

This study aims to determine the function of topotecan (TPT) in acute lung injury (ALI) induced by sepsis. The mouse sepsis model was constructed through cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). The ALI score and lung wet/dry (W/D) weight ratio were applied to evaluate the level of lung injury. Hematoxylin–eosin staining was used to examine the role of TPT in lung tissue in a CLP‐induced ALI mouse model. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction were used to detect the concentrations of inflammatory factors, such as interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), IL‐1β, and tumor necrosis factor‐α. Western blot was used to detect relevant protein levels in the nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) pathway. Moreover, 10‐day survival was recorded by constructing the CLP model. The results indicated that TPT could improve lung tissue damage in mice and could significantly reduce lung injury scores (p < 0.01) and the W/D ratio (p < 0.05). Treatment with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate obtained the similar results with the TPT treatment. Both significantly reduced the inflammatory response in the lungs, including reducing the number of neutrophils and total cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), significantly reducing the total protein concentration of the BALF, and significantly inhibiting the activity of MPO. Both also inhibited inflammatory cytokine expression and the levels of NF‐κB pathway proteins induced by sepsis. Furthermore, TPT significantly improved survival in sepsis. TPT improves ALI in the CLP model by inhibiting the NF‐κB pathway, preventing fatal inflammation.
Using the GenCut core biopsy tool with the radial endobronchial ultrasound guide sheath enables a high‐quality histology sample capable of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) testing
Authors: Herath Samantha , Bashirzadeh Farzad , Mahajan Hema , Ing Alvin , Fielding David
Published: April 2022

Radial EndoBronchial UltraSound (R‐EBUS)‐guided biopsies are a promising biopsy technique for pulmonary nodules suspected of lung cancer with great safety profile. Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) testing is increasingly demanded from lung biopsies. GenCut is a novel blunt tool that can be used to obtain core biopsies. This case series explores prospective performance of the GenCut core biopsy with R‐EBUS. Once Peripheral Pulmonary Lesion was located, GenCut biopsy was performed followed by conventional (forceps ± cytology brush) R‐EBUS biopsies. The overall diagnostic yield for the 16 patients with a mean peripheral pulmonary lesion (PPL) size of 4.1 cm was 100% from multi‐modal R‐EBUS sampling. The diagnostic yield for GenCut tool alone was 13/16 (81.2%) and the ability to perform PD‐L1 from GenCut was 10/16 (62.5%). There were no adverse events recorded. GenCut tool is a novel blunt instrument that can be used safely to obtain a core biopsy suitable for PD‐L1 in combination with R‐EBUS without compromising the high safety profile.
Overall recursive least squares and overall stochastic gradient algorithms and their convergence for feedback nonlinear controlled autoregressive systems
Authors: Wei Chun , Zhang Xiao , Xu Ling , Ding Feng , Yang Erfu
Published: April 2022

This article deals with the problems of the parameter estimation for feedback nonlinear controlled autoregressive systems (i.e., feedback nonlinear equation‐error systems). The bilinear‐in‐parameter identification model is formulated to describe the feedback nonlinear system. An overall recursive least squares algorithm is developed to handle the difficulty of the bilinear‐in‐parameter. For the purpose of avoiding the heavy computational burden, an overall stochastic gradient algorithm is deduced and the forgetting factor is introduced to improve the convergence rate. Furthermore, the convergence analysis of the proposed algorithms are established by means of the stochastic process theory. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms are illustrated by the simulation example.
Evaluation of discharge measurements methods in a natural river of low or middle flow using an electromagnetic flow meter
Authors: Pantelakis Dimitrios , Doulgeris Charalampos , Hatzigiannakis Evangelos , Arampatzis George
Published: April 2022

Measurement of river discharge should be accurate, as it is key environmental data and essential for hydrologic simulations, regardless of whether the flow is high, medium, or low. Herein, conventional methods based on velocity measurements at different depths (i.e., one‐point method, two‐point method, and three‐point method) are evaluated with a method using a surface velocity index and a method based on the entropy theory to estimate river discharge. All the methods were implemented to calculate the discharge of Agios Germanos River, located in Northern Greece, based on 2 years of measurement. Considering that the uncertainty in flow measurement is decreasing by increasing the number of velocity measurements points (EN ISO, 2007), in this work, the reference method is the conventional three‐point method. Results show that the other two conventional methods (the one‐point and the two‐point) estimate the discharge with an error of about 3%, while the error of the other two methods ranges between 11 and 14%. Nevertheless, the nonconventional methods could be considered acceptable and could be used safely to minimize time and subsequently, the cost of field measurements.
A study of the impact of COVID‐19 on the Chinese stock market based on a new textual multiple ARMA model
Authors: Xu Weijun , Fu Zhineng , Li Hongyi , Huang Jinglong , Xu Weidong , Luo Yiyang
Published: April 2022

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) has caused violent fluctuation in stock markets, and led to heated discussion in stock forums. The rise and fall of any specific stock is influenced by many other stocks and emotions expressed in forum discussions. Considering the transmission effect of emotions, we propose a new Textual Multiple Auto Regressive Moving Average (TM‐ARMA) model to study the impact of COVID‐19 on the Chinese stock market. The TM‐ARMA model contains a new cross‐textual term and a new cross‐auto regressive (AR) term that measure the cross impacts of textual emotions and price fluctuations, respectively, and the adjacent matrix which measures the relationships among stocks is updated dynamically. We compute the textual sentiment scores by an emotion dictionary‐based method, and estimate the parameter matrices by a maximum likelihood method. Our dataset includes the textual posts from the Eastmoney Stock Forum and the price data for the constituent stocks of the FTSE China A50 Index. We conduct a sliding‐window online forecast approach to simulate the real‐trading situations. The results show that TM‐ARMA performs very well even after the attack of COVID‐19.
The Synthesis of New Triazole‐Linked Supramolecules Based on Bis‐[1,3]‐Naphthodioxocines
Authors: Ozukanar Ozge , Talinli Naciye , Kumbaraci Volkan
Published: April 2022

In this study, the synthesis of novel three molecular cages based on bis‐structure of 8,16‐methano‐16H‐dinaphtho[2,1‐d: 1’,2’‐g][1,3]dioxocine (DNDO) is reported. The linkers between bis‐DNDO structures are bearing both etheric structures and bis(1,2,3‐triazole) moieties that are acting also as coordination ligands. The cavities of the molecular cages change depending of the position of dioxocine ring oxygens.
A Dual‐Modal Single‐Antibody Plasmonic Spectro‐Immunoassay for Detection of Small Molecules
Authors: Zheng Peng , Wu Lintong , Raj Piyush , Mizutani Takayuki , Szabo Miklos , Hanson William A. , Barman Ishan
Published: April 2022

Small molecules play a pivotal role in regulating physiological processes and serve as biomarkers to uncover pathological conditions and the effects of therapeutic treatments. However, it remains a significant challenge to detect small molecules given the size as compared to macromolecules. Recently, the newly emerging plasmonic immunoassays based on surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) offer great promise to deliver extraordinary sensitivity. Nevertheless, they are limited by the intrinsic SERS intensity fluctuations associated with the SERS uncertainty principle. The single transducer that relies on the intensity change is also prone to false signals. Additionally, the prevailing sandwich immunoassay format proves less effective towards detecting small molecules. To circumvent these critical issues, a dual‐modal single‐antibody approach that synergizes both the intensity and shift of the peak‐based immunoassay with Raman enhancement, coined as the INSPIRE assay, is developed for small molecules detection. With two independent transduction mechanisms, it allows better prediction of analyte concentration and attenuation of signal artifacts, providing a new and robust strategy for molecular analysis. With a proof‐of‐concept demonstration for detection of free T4 and testosterone in serum matrix, the authors envision that the INSPIRE assay could be expanded for a wide spectrum of applications in biomedical diagnosis, discovery of new biopharmaceuticals, food safety, and environmental monitoring.
Facilitating Reversible Cation Migration and Suppressing O2 Escape for High Performance Li‐Rich Oxide Cathodes
Authors: Chai Ke , Zhang Jicheng , Li Qingyuan , Wong Deniz , Zheng Lirong , Schulz Christian , Bartkowiak Maciej , Smirnov Dmitry , Liu Xiangfeng
Published: April 2022

High‐capacity Li‐rich Mn‐based oxide cathodes show a great potential in next generation Li‐ion batteries but suffer from some critical issues, such as, lattice oxygen escape, irreversible transition metal (TM) cation migration, and voltage decay. Herein, a comprehensive structural modulation in the bulk and surface of Li‐rich cathodes is proposed through simultaneously introducing oxygen vacancies and P doping to mitigate these issues, and the improvement mechanism is revealed. First, oxygen vacancies and P doping elongates OO distance, which lowers the energy barrier and enhances the reversible cation migration. Second, reversible cation migration elevates the discharge voltage, inhibits voltage decay and lattice oxygen escape by increasing the Li vacancy‐TM antisite at charge, and decreasing the trapped cations at discharge. Third, oxygen vacancies vary the lattice arrangement on the surface from a layered lattice to a spinel phase, which deactivates oxygen redox and restrains oxygen gas (O2) escape. Fourth, P doping enhances the covalency between cations and anions and elevates lattice stability in bulk. The modulated Li‐rich cathode exhibits a high‐rate capability, a good cycling stability, a restrained voltage decay, and an elevated working voltage. This study presents insights into regulating oxygen redox by facilitating reversible cation migration and suppressing O2 escape.
Full‐Color Long‐Lived Room Temperature Phosphorescence in Aqueous Environment
Authors: Zheng Yan , Zhou Qian , Yang Yan , Chen Xiaohong , Wang Chang , Zheng Xian , Gao Liang , Yang Chaolong
Published: April 2022

Long‐lived room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials are widely utilized in the field of biological and chemical sensing, due to their unique characteristics of long‐lived luminescence and no background autofluorescence. However, the realization of full‐color RTP in aqueous solution still remains a great challenge. Herein, a feasible strategy for achieving high stability and full‐color RTP of carbon dots (CDs)‐based composite materials in aqueous environment is reported by constructing a rigid hydrogen bonds’ network. The obtained m,p‐CDs@CA composite materials exhibit deep‐blue RTP with phosphorescence quantum yield of 23.2% and lifetime of 1.74 s, and the afterglow can last for over 12 s. More importantly, the m,p‐CDs@CA composite materials are desirable in the detection of biomarkers, because of excellent stability, dispersion, and long‐lived RTP properties. The m,p‐CDs@CA suspension also displays excellent sensitivity, and a limitation of detection as low as 5.61 and 550 nm for biomarkers 5‐hydroxyindole‐3‐acetic acid (HIAA) and serotonin (5‐hydroxytryptamine, HT), respectively. Meanwhile, the sensing performance exhibits excellent selectivity even in the presence of other competitive species in blood plasma and urine. With superior selectivity, the long‐lived phosphorescence probe based on m,p‐CDs@CA suspension can be as an effective biomarker for carcinoid identification, which has potential application in clinical analysis.
3D Nanoscale Mapping of Short‐Range Order in GeSn Alloys
Authors: Liu Shang , Covian Alejandra Cuervo , Wang Xiaoxin , Cline Cory T. , Akey Austin , Dong Weiling , Yu Shui‐Qing , Liu Jifeng
Published: April 2022

GeSn on Si has attracted much research interest due to its tunable direct bandgap for mid‐infrared applications. Recently, short‐range order (SRO) in GeSn alloys has been theoretically predicted, which profoundly impacts the band structure. However, characterizing SRO in GeSn is challenging. Guided by physics‐informed Poisson statistical analyses of k‐nearest neighbors (KNN) in atom probe tomography (APT), a new approach is demonstrated here for 3D nanoscale SRO mapping and semi‐quantitative strain mapping in GeSn. For GeSn with ≈14 at. % Sn, the SRO parameters of Sn–Sn 1NN in 10 × 10 × 10 nm3 nanocubes can deviate from that of the random alloys by ±15 %. The relatively large fluctuation of the SRO parameters contributes to band‐edge softening observed optically. Sn–Sn 1NN also tends to be more favored toward the surface, less favored under strain relaxation or tensile strain, while almost independent of local Sn composition. An algorithm based on least square fit of atomic positions further verifies this Poisson‐KNN statistical method. Compared to existing macroscopic spectroscopy or electron microscopy techniques, this new APT statistical analysis uniquely offers 3D SRO mapping at nanoscale resolution in a relatively large volume with millions of atoms. It can also be extended to investigate SRO in other alloy systems.
A Robust Method for Perfusable Microvascular Network Formation In Vitro
Authors: Wan Zhengpeng , Zhong Amy X. , Zhang Shun , Pavlou Georgios , Coughlin Mark F. , Shelton Sarah E. , Nguyen Huu Tuan , Lorch Jochen H. , Barbie David A. , Kamm Roger D.
Published: April 2022

Micropost‐based microfluidic devices are widely used for microvascular network (MVN) formation in diverse research fields. However, consistently generating perfusable MVNs of physiological morphology and dimension has proven to be challenging. Here, how initial seeding parameters determine key characteristics of MVN formation is investigated and a robust two‐step seeding strategy to generate perfusable physiological MVNs in microfluidic devices is established.
A work of art in concrete
Authors: Niens Michiel , Loosjes Myrte , Peters Pim
Published: April 2022

The precious collection of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam has regularly suffered from floods in the past. When the depot in the museum's basement flooded for the umpteenth time in 2004, it was time for action and the idea for the “Depot Boijmans van Beuningen” was born. Initially conceived as a traditional depot, the decision was later made to make the building fully accessible to the public, thus providing insight into the preservation and management of the important art collection. This concept, unique in the world, does, however, involve considerable challenges, such as maintaining the indoor climate and guaranteeing the security of the public building. For the client and the architect, it was a major task to define the design for the Boijmans van Beuningen Depot and the indoor usage as well. For the structural engineer, it was a challenge to design a rational and functional construction. Concrete plays an important role in addressing this challenge. Obviously, all options had to be examined and alternatives had to be proposed to achieve the most optimal integral result.
Structural and load parameter estimation of a real‐world reinforced concrete slab bridge using measurements and Bayesian statistics
Authors: Rózsás Árpád , Slobbe Arthur , Martini Giulia , Jansen Rob
Published: April 2022

This paper describes a static diagnostic load testing and measurement campaign of a reinforced concrete road bridge in Amsterdam. We consider 29 vertical translation sensors and 37 strain sensors. Multiple Bayesian parameter estimations are performed to estimate two structural and two load parameters of a three‐dimensional finite element (FE) model. The structural parameters are the concrete elastic modulus of the deck and the rotational spring stiffness at the piers. The load (truck) parameters are the load mass and position, which are estimated from separate measurements. We found that estimating (updating) the two selected structural parameters considerably improves the vertical translation model prediction accuracy over the FE model that was built before the measurement campaign, that is, the R2 score increases from 0.90 to 0.98. Moreover, the load (truck) mass and position parameters can be estimated with high accuracy and high precision. When all measurements are used, the load mass and position are estimated with an error, respectively, less than 1.5 tonnes and 0.5 m with respect to the ground truth. On the negative side: when only certain strain measurements are used, the 90% posterior credible interval is about 3 m and 10 tonnes off the ground truth. Although the results are promising, they are restricted to the considered case and, more importantly, to operational loading conditions where the loading is well controlled. All data, models, and code are freely available upon request.
Health risk associated with the collection, transport, and storage practices of drinking water by the population of the Dschang city, West‐Cameroon
Authors: Ntangmo Tsafack Honorine , Temgoua Emile , Nono Kwekap Christophe Holyfield , Saah Fokou Cédric , Wamba Franck Robean , Kenfack Siméon
Published: April 2022

Persistence of water‐borne diseases in Dschang raises the question of drinking water management. The aim of this work was to establish a link between drinking water chain and its quality. Eighty‐four water samples were followed and analyzed (membrane filter technique), from collection points, after transport, and then after 1 and 2 days of storage. A progressive degradation of water quality was observed regardless of the standing of the district and the type of container used. Salmonella species absent at the collection point were subsequently detected. After 2 days of storage, the highest rates were obtained in water collected with buckets in the water collection points of Madagascar, Gendarmerie, and Campus C Districts. The fecal coliform rate increased respectively in CFU/100 ml from 10 to 5100, 20 to 2333, and 10 to 953 and that of fecal streptococcus from 0 to 383, 6 to 380, and 4 to 125. The poor condition of the containers is indexed. This variation is partly responsible for the persistence of water‐borne diseases in the town of Dschang.
The Pressing Need to Study the Code of Silence
Authors: Kutnjak Ivković Sanja , Maskály Jon , Kule Ahmet , Haberfeld Maria Maki
Published: April 2022

This chapter summarizes the most recent calls for defunding and reforming police organizations around the country. A number of high-profile cases that focused primarily on the alleged notions of excessive use of force contributed to the explosion of criticism of the legitimacy of police actions. No time has been more critical in terms of the study of police integrity than now. This importance is further underscored by the need to connect the public outcry, mostly based on anecdotal accounts of police performance, to empirical research that has been in existence for over two decades and has produced valuable and implementable solutions. The pressing need to study the nature of the police code of silence and its resistance to change will be illustrated by our analyses of one case study, expanding the traditional police integrity framework developed by Klockars and colleagues in the past two decades.
The Code of Silence and Self-Legitimacy
Authors: Kutnjak Ivković Sanja , Maskály Jon , Kule Ahmet , Haberfeld Maria Maki
Published: April 2022

An emerging body of research suggests that the concept of self-legitimacy plays an important role in various outcomes associated with police officer attitudes and behaviors. In this chapter, we extend this literature by looking at the potential role that self-legitimacy may play in explaining the code of silence. The results suggest that self-legitimacy exerts an inconsistent effect on police officers’ decisions to adhere to the code of silence across the scenarios. Moreover, adding self-legitimacy to the model does not substantively change the effect of the traditional police integrity variables. The chapter concludes with a discussion of theoretical and policy implications of these findings.
Lessons Learned About the Code of Silence
Authors: Kutnjak Ivković Sanja , Maskály Jon , Kule Ahmet , Haberfeld Maria Maki
Published: April 2022

This chapter discusses the findings of a case study of a mid-size U.S. police agency in the context of extant research and elaborates on the lessons learned from our study. Based on the empirical study of the contours of the code of silence across behaviors that violate tenets of police integrity, including police corruption, use of excessive force, interpersonal deviance, and organizational deviance, the chapter illustrates the interconnectedness between the code of silence and the police agency’s organizational perspectives. The study emphasizes the role that the police officers’ organizational attitudes play in their willingness to adhere to the code of silence, from their perceptions of how willing other police officers are to report misconduct and the severity of the disciplinary threat that their police agency is making, to their perceptions of self-legitimacy and organizational justice. The chapter concludes the book by offering a discussion of theoretical and policy implications of the findings.
Leveraging Customer Reviews for E-commerce Query Generation
Authors: Lien Yen-Chieh , Zhang Rongting , Harper F. Maxwell , Murdock Vanessa , Lee Chia-Jung
Published: April 2022

Customer reviews are an effective source of information about what people deem important in products (e.g. “strong zipper” for tents). These crowd-created descriptors not only highlight key product attributes, but can also complement seller-provided product descriptions. Motivated by this, we propose to leverage customer reviews to generate queries pertinent to target products in an e-commerce setting. While there has been work on automatic query generation, it often relied on proprietary user search data to generate query-document training pairs for learning supervised models. We take a different view and focus on leveraging reviews without training on search logs, making reproduction more viable by the public. Our method adopts an ensemble of the statistical properties of review terms and a zero-shot neural model trained on adapted external corpus to synthesize queries. Compared to competitive baselines, we show that the generated queries based on our method both better align with actual customer queries and can benefit retrieval effectiveness.
Steuerung der Notfallversorgung während der Pandemie
Authors: Dodt Christoph , Hinzmann Dominik
Published: April 2022

Die Versorgung von Notfallpatienten während der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie betrifft alle drei Säulen der Notfallversorgung und deren Zusammenspiel. Derkassenärztliche Sektorversorgt die große Zahl der akut Erkrankten, bei denen eine Krankenhausbehandlung nicht notwendig ist oder nicht sinnvoll erscheint. Entscheidend ist dabei, die schwer Erkrankten zu detektieren und die leichter Erkrankten im häuslichen Umfeld zu betreuen. Besonders wichtig ist eine Vor-Ort-Betreuung von Patienten in den Heimen. DieNotfallzentren der Krankenhäusersind die entscheidenden Schaltstellen für die Steuerung der Versorgung der Covid-Patienten mit schweren Infektionsverläufen und sorgen durch eine frühzeitige Trennung der Wege von infizierten und nicht infizierten Patienten innerhalb des Krankenhauses, um eine weitestgehende Sicherheit der aufgenommenen Patienten zu gewährleisten. Durch die Tatsache, dass die schweren Covid-Verläufe alle zuerst in der Notaufnahme gesehen werden, ist die Pandemie-Surveillance besonders günstig durch eine Datenerhebung von Patienten der Notfallzentren zu erreichen. Hier ist eine zeitnahe Abbildung der Pandemieentwicklung und der Belastung des Gesamtsystems Krankenhaus eher zu erreichen als bei einer Fokussierung allein auf die Intensivbelegung, deren Entwicklung der allgemeinen dynamischen Pandemieentwicklung hinterherhinkt. Eine verbesserte Abbildung der Krankenhausbelastung ist auch für denRettungsdienstentscheidend, damit die Disposition der akut erkrankten Notfallpatienten sich besser an der Belastung der Krankenhäuser orientieren kann.
Krankenhausföderalismus während der Corona-Pandemie: Effektiv, aber nicht effizient?
Authors: Bandelow Nils C. , Hornung Johanna , Iskandar Lina Y.
Published: April 2022

Krankenhauspolitik ist in Deutschland ein stark vom Föderalismus geprägter Politikbereich. Auf der einen Seite ist den Ländern der Sicherstellungsauftrag zugewiesen. Auf der anderen Seite nehmen Bund und Selbstverwaltung zunehmend Einfluss. Durch die Corona-Pandemie hat sich die Bedeutung des Bundes deutlich erhöht, vor allem in der Finanzierung der Krankenhäuser. Die Finanzhilfen waren effektiv, indem sie zur Funktionsfähigkeit der Krankenhäuser beigetragen haben. Bei der Umsetzung fehlte es aber an einer systematischen Berücksichtigung von Akteursinteressen und Anreizstrukturen. Dies führte zu einer ineffizienten Mittelverwendung. Bei der konkreten Umsetzung der zu erwartenden nachhaltigen Stärkung des Bundes in der Krankenhauspolitik müssen die Erfahrungen aus der Pandemiepolitik berücksichtigt werden.
Investitionsförderung im Krankenhausmarkt von 1972 bis 2018
Authors: Pilny Adam
Published: April 2022

Die Diskussion um die Investitionsfinanzierung im Krankenhausmarkt hat an Aktualität nicht verloren. Gerade in der Covid-19-Pandemie rückte die wirtschaftliche Lage von Krankenhäusern in den Fokus. Als Datengrundlage des Fördermittelvolumens nach Krankenhausfinanzierungsgesetz (KHG) dient meistens die Statistik der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Obersten Landesgesundheitsbehörden (AOLG). In einem früheren Beitrag wurden die Limitationen dieser Statistik erläutert, indem die AOLG-Zahlen mit den Ist- und Soll-Zahlen aus den Landeshaushalten verglichen wurden (Augurzky und Pilny 2019). Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt ein umfassenderes Bild, indem er die Investitionsförderung durch die Länder für die Jahre 1955 bis 2018 abbildet. Auf dieser Basis lassen sich für die gesamte KHG-Ära ab 1972 Unterschiede zwischen den Landeshaushalten und der AOLG-Statistik herausarbeiten. Darüber hinaus wird erstmals analysiert, wie sich die Investitionsförderung nach Trägertypen aufgeteilt hat.
Krankenhaus-Directory 2020 – DRG-Krankenhäuser im Vergleich
Authors: Mostert Carina , Pritzkau Andreas
Published: April 2022

Das Directory deutscher Krankenhäuser bietet eine jährlich aktualisierte Übersicht stationärer Leistungserbringer. Die Darstellung umfasst unter anderem Informationen zur Struktur des vereinbarten Leistungsangebots, zum Grad der Spezialisierung, zur regionalen Marktpositionierung und Wettbewerbssituation sowie Informationen zur Ergebnisqualität nach dem Verfahren Qualitätssicherung mit Routinedaten (QSR). Aufgrund der deutlich verzögerten Budgetverhandlungen für das Jahr 2020 finden die Daten von 1.300 Krankenhäusern Eingang, zu denen eine Budgetvereinbarung für das Jahr 2019 oder QSR-Behandlungsergebnisse vorliegen.
Leistungen und Erlöse von Krankenhäusern in der Corona-Krise
Authors: Augurzky Boris , Busse Reinhard , Haering Alexander , Nimptsch Ulrike , Pilny Adam , Werbeck Anna
Published: April 2022

Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat die deutsche Krankenhauslandschaft seit dem Frühjahr 2020 vor neue Herausforderungen gestellt. Aufgrund der Unsicherheit im Hinblick auf die Zahl der zu erwartenden Covid-19-Fälle sollten die Krankenhäuser ab Mitte März 2020 Kapazitäten freihalten und Intensivkapazitäten ausbauen. In diesem Beitrag werden die Folgen der Covid-19-Pandemie auf das Leistungsgeschehen der deutschen Krankenhäuser betrachtet und untersucht, ob die seit dem 16. März 2020 geltenden Ausgleichszahlungen die Erlösminderungen der Krankenhäuser ausgleichen konnten. Der Fallzahlrückgang variierte für die betrachteten Indikationen sehr breit um den Durchschnitt von −20 %. Die Ausgleichszahlungen konnten jedoch die hierdurch entstehenden Erlösminderungen der nach DRG abrechnenden Krankenhäuser im Mittel ausgleichen.
Stationäre Behandlung der Covid-19-Patienten in den ersten drei Pandemiewellen in Deutschland: Was hat sich verändert?
Authors: Karagiannidis Christian , Busse Reinhard , Schuppert Andreas , Weber-Carstens Steffen , Hentschker Corinna
Published: April 2022

Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat bedingt durch die hohe Morbidität und Mortalität das deutsche Gesundheitssystem vor große Herausforderungen gestellt. Der Beitrag vergleicht die Charakteristika der Covid-19-Patienten in den ersten drei Pandemiewellen und zeigt die Versorgungsstrukturen auf. Darüber hinaus wird auf die medizinischen Veränderungen im Zeitverlauf eingegangen. Es zeigt sich ein Rückgang des Durchschnittsalters und der Verweildauer der stationär behandelten Patienten in der dritten Pandemiewelle. Die Sterblichkeit, insbesondere bei den beatmeten Patienten, bleibt hoch. Eine deutliche Verschiebung ist bei den Beatmungsverfahren zu beobachten. Im Laufe der Pandemie konnte es durch die Gabe von Medikamenten gelingen, schwere Verläufe abzumildern.
Auswirkungen der Covid-19-Pandemie auf die onkologische Versorgung
Authors: Rückher Johannes , Mangiapane Sandra , Seufferlein Thomas , Pflüger Maren , Wesselmann Simone
Published: April 2022

Die Corona-Pandemie hat nahezu alle Bereiche des Gesundheitswesens, aber gerade auch die Onkologie stark beeinflusst. Anhand unterschiedlicher Datenquellen werden die ambulante und stationäre Entwicklung onkologischer Fälle insgesamt sowie am Beispiel des Kolorektalen Karzinoms (KRK) die Auswirkungen der Pandemie auf diagnostische und therapeutische Maßnahmen retrospektiv untersucht.

Von März 2020 bis Mai 2021 zeigen sich – in Abhängigkeit des Infektionsgeschehens – unterschiedlich starke Einbrüche bei den Fallzahlen. Diese betreffen die Krankenhäuser durchweg stärker als den vertragsärztlichen Bereich, beim KRK sind sie im Vergleich der Jahre 2020 mit 2019 sowohl in der Gesamtzahl (−10,27 %; −10,57 %) als auch bezogen auf die operative Tumorentfernung (−9,56 %; −10,52 %) stärker als in der Onkologie insgesamt (−5,86 %; −6,57 %). Diagnostische Koloskopien insgesamt haben im Jahresvergleich moderat abgenommen, wobei die Rückgänge im Krankenhausbereich (ambulant −14,18 % und stationär −15,74 %) deutlich stärker als im vertragsärztlichen Bereich (−2,47 %; −3,29 %) sind. Früherkennungskoloskopien haben 2020 im Vergleich zum Vorjahr sogar leicht zugenommen (+2,89 % bzw. +2,16 %).

Trotz erschwerter Versorgungsbedingungen hat onkologische Versorgung während der Covid-19-Pandemie in einem beträchtlichen Ausmaß stattgefunden. Das deutsche Gesundheitswesen hat sich damit als leistungsfähig erwiesen. Perspektivisch müssen nicht hinreichend erklärbare Fallzahlrückgänge, insbesondere bei den operativen Fällen mit KRK, weiter untersucht werden.
Data and Biomaterial Archives in Radioecology and Radiobiology; the Importance of STOREing
Authors: Schofield Paul N. , Kulka Ulrike , Tapio Soile , Woloschak Gayle , Gruenberger Michael , Saigusa Shin , Birschwilks Mandy , Grosche Bernd
Published: April 2022

In this commentary we consider the importance of ready access to ecological data, existing resources and approaches for radiological datasets and material, and wider public policy developments in regard to data access and reuse. We describe the development and operation of the STORE database for radiobiology, radioecology and epidemiology as a central data sharing resource, and finally we consider the issues of financial and scientific sustainability of material resource archives and the future of resources like STORE.
Modelling Direct and Indirect Effects of Radiation: Experimental, Clinical and Environmental Implications
Authors: Brüningk Sarah C. , Powathil Gibin G.
Published: April 2022

Radiotherapy is a commonly used treatment for cancer and is usually given in varying doses. Mathematical modelling of radiation effects traditionally means the modelling or estimation of cell-kill due to its direct exposure to irradiation and sometimes ignoring other multiple direct/indirect effects. However, advances in molecular biology have expanded this classical view and it is now realized that in addition to cell-death, signals produced by irradiated cells can further influence the behavior of non-irradiated cells or organisms in several ways. Consequently, it has now wider implications in multiple areas making it relevant for further exploration, both experimentally and mathematically. Here, we provide a brief overview of a hybrid multiscale mathematical model to study the direct and indirect effects of radiation and its implications in clinical radiotherapy, experimental settings and radiation protection.
On Foundational Discretization Barriers in STFT Phase Retrieval
Authors: Grohs Philipp , Liehr Lukas
Published: April 2022

We prove that there exists no window function $$g \in {L^2(\mathbb {R})}$$

g
∈

L
2

(
R
)

and no lattice $${\mathcal {L}} \subset \mathbb {R}^2$$

L
⊂

R

2

such that every $$f \in {L^2(\mathbb {R})}$$

f
∈

L
2

(
R
)

is determined up to a global phase by spectrogram samples $$|V_gf({\mathcal {L}})|$$

|

V
g

f

(
L
)

|

where $$V_gf$$

V
g

f

denotes the short-time Fourier transform of f with respect to g. Consequently, the forward operator $$\begin{aligned} f \mapsto |V_gf({\mathcal {L}})| \end{aligned}$$

f
↦
|

V
g

f

(
L
)

|

mapping a square-integrable function to its spectrogram samples on a lattice is never injective on the quotient space "Equation missing" with $$f \sim h$$

f
∼
h

identifying two functions which agree up to a multiplicative constant of modulus one. We will further elaborate this result and point out that under mild conditions on the lattice $${\mathcal {L}}$$
L
, functions which produce identical spectrogram samples but do not agree up to a unimodular constant can be chosen to be real-valued. The derived results highlight that in the discretization of the STFT phase retrieval problem from lattice measurements, a prior restriction of the underlying signal space to a proper subspace of $${L^2(\mathbb {R})}$$

L
2

(
R
)

is inevitable.
Anti-icing strategies of plant surfaces: the ice formation on leaves visualized by Cryo-SEM experiments
Authors: Gorb Stanislav N. , Gorb Elena V.
Published: April 2022

This paper presents an experimental study on surface icing on leaves in six plant species having different surface micromorphology and wettability properties. Contrary to previous studies on ice crystallization, which have been mainly performed by using infrared video thermography, we applied a Cryo-SEM approach allowing not only characterization of plant surfaces in their native conditions but also visualization of ice crystal formation on the native plant surfaces at the micro- and nanoscales. The Cryo-SEM was also used as an experimental device to freeze water vapor, thaw ice crystals, and freeze fluid water on the plant surface again. The experiments clearly demonstrate that trichome coverage (especially with several distinct layers) and 3D wax projections can be recognized as anti-icing strategies of plants. Trichomes can prevent and delay ice formation by being nucleation points for the formation of ice from vapor and protect the plant surface from overcooling, when fluid water freezes in contact with the leaf surface. The study shows for the first time two important effects that might reduce plant cell freezing rate: the presence of air pockets between wax projections that protect from direct contact between ice crystals and the plant cuticle and elimination of fluid water after thawing and preventing further re-freezing on the surface. The detailed knowledge obtained here is not only important for plant ecology, evolution, and plant protection but also for looking for potential biomimetic strategies that reduce/avoid icing of cultural plants and artificial technical surfaces.

Graphical Abstract
Changes in thumb tapping rates and central motor conduction times are associated in persons with multiple sclerosis
Authors: Gulde Philipp , Cetin Mehmet , Hermsdörfer Joachim , Rieckmann Peter
Published: April 2022

Introduction

In persons with multiple sclerosis, nerve conductivity can be reduced. The assessment is generally performed via motor evoked potentials (MEP). So far, a strongly associated motor performance surrogate for changes in the extracted central motor conduction time (CMCT) is missing.

Methods

CMCT and performance in the nine-hole peg test and maximum thumb tapping frequencies over 10 s of 12 persons with multiple sclerosis were measured prior to and after training over 5 consecutive days. Each training consisted of 10,000 thumb taps at maximum effort with the dominant upper limb.

Results

The dominant upper limb improved in maximum tapping frequency over 10 s (d = 0.79) and 10,000 taps (d = 1.04), the nine-hole peg test (d = 0.60), and CMCT (d = 0.52). The nondominant upper limb only improved in the nine-hole peg test (d = 0.38). Models of multiple linear regression predicted 0.78 (model 1, tapping performance as factors) and 0.87 (model 2, patient baseline characteristics as factors) of the variance in CMCT changes.

Discussion

Changes in CMCT were well predictable, although the assessment of those surrogates is either not economic (model 1) or rather describing a potential of change (model 2). However, we were able to show moderate changes in CMCT within 5 days.
Sensitivity analysis and inverse uncertainty quantification for the left ventricular passive mechanics
Authors: Lazarus Alan , Dalton David , Husmeier Dirk , Gao Hao
Published: April 2022

Personalized computational cardiac models are considered to be a unique and powerful tool in modern cardiology, integrating the knowledge of physiology, pathology and fundamental laws of mechanics in one framework. They have the potential to improve risk prediction in cardiac patients and assist in the development of new treatments. However, in order to use these models for clinical decision support, it is important that both the impact of model parameter perturbations on the predicted quantities of interest as well as the uncertainty of parameter estimation are properly quantified, where the first task isa prioriin nature (meaning independent of any specific clinical data), while the second task is carried outa posteriori(meaning after specific clinical data have been obtained). The present study addresses these challenges for a widely used constitutive law of passive myocardium (the Holzapfel-Ogden model), using global sensitivity analysis (SA) to address the first challenge, and inverse-uncertainty quantification (I-UQ) for the second challenge. The SA is carried out on a range of different input parameters to a left ventricle (LV) model, making use of computationally efficient Gaussian process (GP) surrogate models in place of the numerical forward simulator. The results of the SA are then used to inform a low-order reparametrization of the constitutive law for passive myocardium under consideration. The quality of this parameterization in the context of an inverse problem having observed noisy experimental data is then quantified with an I-UQ study, which again makes use of GP surrogate models. The I-UQ is carried out in a Bayesian manner using Markov Chain Monte Carlo, which allows for full uncertainty quantification of the material parameter estimates. Our study reveals insights into the relation between SA and I-UQ, elucidates the dependence of parameter sensitivity and estimation uncertainty on external factors, like LV cavity pressure, and sheds new light on cardio-mechanic model formulation, with particular focus on the Holzapfel-Ogden myocardial model.
The association between platelet indices and presence and severity of psoriasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Liu Z. , Perry L. A. , Morgan V.
Published: April 2022

The role of platelet function indices—platelet count (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), plateletcrit (PCT), immature platelet fraction (IPF), and platelet mass index (PMI)—in psoriasis is uncertain. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association of these platelet biomarkers with both presence and severity of psoriasis. We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), and the Cochrane Library from inception to November 2021. To evaluate the association of platelet function indices and psoriasis, we recorded mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) as well as correlation coefficients (r) for each included study, and generated summary estimates using random-effects inverse-variance modelling. We screened 1,079 unique studies, and included 33 studies with 6724 patients in the quantitative analyses. Compared with controls, patients with psoriasis had higher PLT (MD 12.86 × 109/L, 95% CI 6.34–19.39, p < 0.001), MPV (MD 0.61fL, 95% CI 0.31–0.92, p < 0.001), and PCT (MD 0.05%, 95% CI 0.01–0.09, p = 0.010), but similar PDW (MD 0.16%, 95% CI -0.46–0.79, p = 0.610). Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) was weakly correlated with PLT (r 0.17, 95% CI 0.06–0.28, p = 0.003), MPV (r 0.36, 95% CI 0.22–0.49, p < 0.001), and PDW (r 0.17, 95% CI 0.08–0.26, p < 0.001). Study numbers were insufficient to judge the relationship of IPF and PMI with psoriasis presence, or PCT, IPF, and PMI with psoriasis severity. In summary, PLT, MPV, and PCT are significantly elevated in patients with psoriasis, and PLT, MPV, and PDW are weakly correlated with PASI. Future studies are needed to evaluate the independent diagnostic and prognostic potentials of these biomarkers in patients with psoriasis.
Efficient numerical approximation of a non-regular Fokker–Planck equation associated with first-passage time distributions
Authors: Boehm Udo , Cox Sonja , Gantner Gregor , Stevenson Rob
Published: April 2022

In neuroscience, the distribution of a decision time is modelled by means of a one-dimensional Fokker–Planck equation with time-dependent boundaries and space-time-dependent drift. Efficient approximation of the solution to this equation is required, e.g., for model evaluation and parameter fitting. However, the prescribed boundary conditions lead to a strong singularity and thus to slow convergence of numerical approximations. In this article we demonstrate that the solution can be related to the solution of a parabolic PDE on a rectangular space-time domain with homogeneous initial and boundary conditions by transformation and subtraction of a known function. We verify that the solution of the new PDE is indeed more regular than the solution of the original PDE and proceed to discretize the new PDE using a space-time minimal residual method. We also demonstrate that the solution depends analytically on the parameters determining the boundaries as well as the drift. This justifies the use of a sparse tensor product interpolation method to approximate the PDE solution for various parameter ranges. The predicted convergence rates of the minimal residual method and that of the interpolation method are supported by numerical simulations.