bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Repeatability of lung clearance index in infants with cystic fibrosis and recurrent wheeze
Authors: Koucký Václav , Komárek Arnošt , Pohunek Petr
Published: April 2022

Objectives

To describe the short‐ and medium‐term repeatability of lung clearance index at 2.5% (LCI2.5) in infants and calculate the number of patients needed to enroll in a study (N) using LCI2.5 as a primary outcome.

Methods

An 8‐month follow‐up observational study was employed for assessing short‐term [coefficient of repeatability (CR) and intraclass correlation (ICC)] and medium‐term repeatability (Bland–Altman method) of LCI2.5 in infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) or recurrent wheeze (RW) measured by the nitrogen multiple‐breath washout test (N2‐MBW). Using these variability data, the N to reach 90% test power at the level of statistical significance (0.05) was calculated.

Results

Forty infants with CF and 21 with RW were enrolled. Initial N2‐MBW testing was successful in 33 and 17 patients, respectively. Follow‐up data were available for 23 and 11 infants, respectively. Short‐term repeatability of LCI2.5 was high (CR = 1.10 and 1.04 in CF and RW patients, respectively; ICC = 0.88 and 0.83 in CF and RW patients, respectively). The between‐subject standard deviation was <13% of the actual LCI2.5 value. In clinically stable patients, LCI2.5 did not significantly change during the 8‐month follow‐up. Mean LCI2.5 change was −0.08 (1% of baseline) in CF and −0.05 (0.6%) in RW, with 95% limits of agreement being (−1.70; 1.53) in CF and (−1.51; 1.40) in RW patients. N = 23 infants if both intragroup differences of LCI2.5 and minimal difference to be detected would be 2.0.

Conclusion

N2‐MBW may be a reproducible tool with reasonable test power to detect differences in infant studies.
Evaluation of the efficiency of the systemic immune‐inflammation index in differentiating parapneumonic effusion from empyema
Authors: Güneylioğlu Muhammed M. , Güngör Ali , Göktuğ Aytaç , Üner Çiğdem , Bodur İlknur , Yaradılmış Raziye M. , Öztürk Betül , Şen Zeynep S. , Tuygun Nilden
Published: April 2022

Aim

To evaluate the effectiveness of the systemic immune‐inflammation index (SII) and other biomarkers in distinguishing parapneumonic effusion (PPE) and empyema.

Methods

Patients who were thought to have pleural effusion secondary to pneumonia in the pediatric emergency department (PED) between 2004 and 2021 were retrospectively evaluated. The patients were divided into two groups as empyema and PPE. The efficacy of infection markers in predicting empyema was compared.

Results

Fifty‐nine patients (59.3% male) were included in the study. Forty‐three (72.9%) patients were in the PPE and 16 (27.1%) were in the empyema group. Length of hospital stay and pleural fluid thickness measured with thoracic ultrasonography were significantly higher in the empyema group (p = 0.018 and p = 0.002, respectively). The mean SII was 1902.73 ± 1588.87 in PPE patients, while it was 6899.98 ± 6678 in empyema patients (p = 0.009). C‐reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell (WBC) count, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and neutrophil‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) ​​were significantly higher in the empyema group; absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) and lymphocyte‐monocytes ratio (LMR) were significantly lower than the PPE group. When the best cut‐off values of inflammation markers are determined according to the area under the curve, the highest odds ratios suggesting empyema were found in SII, LMR, CRP, and ANC, respectively.

Conclusion

Inflammation markers can be useful in predicting empyema. The best markers were found to be SII, LMR, CRP, and ANC. High SII is one of the practical diagnostic markers that can be used differentiate empyema from PPE in PED.
A novel bee‐friendly peptidomimetic insecticide: Synthesis, aphicidal activity and 3D‐QSAR study of insect kinin analogs at Phe2 modification
Authors: Zhou Yuan‐lin , Li Xin‐lu , Zhang Yi‐meng , Shi Yan , Li Hong‐hong , Zhang Zhe , Iqbal Chandni , Ye De‐xing , Li Xue‐sheng , Zhao Ying‐ru , Xu Wei‐long , Smagghe Guy , Yang Xin‐ling
Published: April 2022

BACKGROUND

As one of the most abundant and destructive pests in agriculture, aphids cause significant damage to crops due to their sap‐taking and as virus vectors. Chemical insecticides are the most effective method to control aphids, but they bring insecticide resistance problems and harm nontarget organisms, especially bees, therefore the search for novel eco‐friendly aphid control agents with low bee toxicity is urgent. Insect kinins are a class of small neuropeptides that control important functions in insects. In our previous study, we found insect kinin analog IV‐3 has good aphicidal activity and the location of the aromatic ring on the side chain of Phe2 is the key to the formation of the β‐turn resulting in the biological activity of insect kinin analogs. However, there are few studies on insect kinin Phe2 substitution and modification, and its structure–activity relationship is still unclear.

RESULTS

In this project, 44 insect kinin analogs with the Phe2 modification, replacing it with different natural or unnatural amino acids, were designed and synthesized based on the lead IV‐3 to explore the role of the Phe2 residues. Bioassays with soybean aphids of Aphis glycines indicated that nine analogs have better aphicidal activity than the lead IV‐3. In particular, compound L25 exhibits excellent aphicidal activity (LC50 = 0.0047 mmol L−1) and has low toxicity to bees. Furthermore, a reliable three‐dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship (3D‐QSAR) was established to produce a helpful clue that introducing hydrophobic groups away from the backbone chain is beneficial to improve aphicidal activity.

CONCLUSION

The residue Phe2 of insect kinin analogs is the key position and has a significant impact on the activity. L25 has a high toxicity for aphids, while a low toxicity to bees, and therefore can be considered as a lead compound to develop new biosafe aphid control agents. Finally, we provide a useful 3D‐QSAR model as theoretical guidance for further structural optimization. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Role of the foraging gene in worker behavioral transition in the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Authors: Chen Jie , Zhou Yangyang , Lei Yanyuan , Shi Qingxing , Qi Guojun , He Yurong , Lyu Lihua
Published: April 2022

BACKGROUND

Worker division of labor is predominant in social insects. The foraging (for) gene, which encodes cGMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKG), has been implicated in the regulation of behavioral transitions in honeybees, but information regarding its function in other social insects is scarce.

RESULTS

We investigated the role of the for (Sifor) gene in the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, and found that Sifor and PKG exhibited different expression patterns in different castes, body sizes, ages and tissues of fire ants, especially in foragers and nurses. Foragers displayed greater locomotor activity but showed no preference for larval or adult odors, whereas nurses showed lesser locomotor activity but had a strong preference for larval odors. We found that the expression of Sifor was significantly higher in the heads of foragers (compared to nurses). RNA interference‐mediated Sifor knockdown in foraging workers induced behavioral transition of foragers toward the nurse phenotype characterized by reduced locomotor activity and a stronger preference for larval odors. By contrast, treating nurses with 8‐Br‐cGMP, an activator of PKG, resulted in behavioral transition toward the forager phenotype characterized by higher locomotor activity but reduced preference for larval odors.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that Sifor plays a critical role in the behavioral transition between foragers and nurses of workers, which may be a promising target for RNAi‐based management of worker caste organization in S. invicta. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Mirabel Airport: In the name of development, modernity, and Canadian unity
Authors: Poulin Éric Gagnon
Published: April 2022

In 1969, in the name of development modernity and Canadian unity, the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau undertook the most extensive land expropriation in the history of the country, to build the largest airport in the world, Mirabel. The Canadian government expropriated approximately twelve thousand people and ninety‐seven thousand acres of land for the project. Mirabel was a dramatic failure, for social, political, and economic reasons. This article focuses on the development discourse that the state used to promote its ambitions, the relation that expropriated farmers had to their private property, and the slow but eventually strong and successful resistance of owners whose lands the state requisitioned.
Combined pentalogy of Cantrell with ectrodactyly and surgical implant‐free repair of a sternal cleft and supraumbilical hernia in an adult cat
Authors: Kokkinos Panagiotis , Pratschke Kathryn
Published: April 2022

A 20‐month‐old, British shorthair cat was presented for treatment of a ventral thoracic wall defect. Physical examination showed cleft sternum with supraumbilical body wall defect, an immediately palpable heart under the skin between the cleft halves and a unilateral forelimb ectrodactyly. Survey radiographs and sonographic examination revealed ectopia cordis associated with the sternal cleft, a supraumbilical abdominal hernia, ventral diaphragmatic defect and cardiac abnormalities. Radiography of the dysostotic limb confirmed ectrodactyly. Surgery involved reconstruction of the ventral body wall defects using a transversus abdominis muscle flap supported by an omental flap. Clinical, imaging and intraoperative findings supported the diagnosis of complete pentalogy of Cantrell. The cat recovered from surgery uneventfully and periodic follow‐ups to 17 months after surgery confirmed a good outcome.
Open F-branes
Authors: Hatsuda Machiko , Siegel Warren
Published: April 2022

Abstract

We include in F-theory, through open Type I F-theory branes (F-branes), string theories with N = 1 supersymmetry, both Type I and heterotic. Type I branes are distinguished from Type II by worldvolume parity projection. The same open Type I branes describe both open Type I superstrings and closed heterotic upon different sectionings from F-branes to worldsheets, while closed Type I superstrings arise from closed Type I branes. (Type II superstrings come from closed Type II branes, as described previously.)

F-theory manifests the exceptional-group U-duality symmetry, with all massless bosonic fields in a single gauge coset. This coset branches to the usual bosonic supergravity fields upon sectioning. We examine in detail the simple case of D = 3 F-theory: parity projection reduces the Type II coset SL(5)/SO(3,2) to the Type I coset SO(3,3)/SO(2,1)2 = SL(4)/SO(2,2).
Top-pair production at the LHC with MINNLOPS
Authors: Mazzitelli Javier , Monni Pier Francesco , Nason Paolo , Re Emanuele , Wiesemann Marius , Zanderighi Giulia
Published: April 2022

Abstract

We consider the production of a pair of heavy quarks and illustrate the derivation of the MiNNLOPS method to match next-to-next-to-leading order calculations with parton showers (NNLO+PS) for this class of processes. As a first application, we construct an event generator for the fully differential simulation of hadronic top-quark pair production at NNLO+PS and discuss all details of its implementation in a parton shower Monte Carlo framework. We present new phenomenological results for the Large Hadron Collider obtained by including the tree-level decays of the top quarks, while accounting for spin-correlation effects. A comprehensive comparison to LHC measurements shows an excellent description of experimental data across multiple hadronic and leptonic particle-level observables. The computer code is available for download within the Powheg-Box.
Lightweight design of variable-angle filament-wound cylinders combining Kriging-based metamodels with particle swarm optimization
Authors: Wang Zhihua , Almeida José Humberto S. , Ashok Aravind , Wang Zhonglai , Castro Saullo G. P.
Published: April 2022

Variable-angle filament-wound (VAFW) cylinders are herein optimized for minimum mass under manufacturing constraints, and for various design loads. A design parameterization based on a second-order polynomial variation of the tow winding angle along the axial direction of the cylinders is utilized to explore the nonlinear steering-thickness dependency in VAFW structures, whereby the thickness becomes a function of the filament steering angle. Particle swarm optimization coupled with three Kriging-based metamodels is used to find the optimum designs. A single-curvature Bogner–Fox–Schmit–Castro finite element is formulated to accurately and efficiently represent the variable stiffness properties of the shells, and verifications are performed using a general purpose plate element. Alongside the main optimization studies, a vast analysis of the design space is performed using the metamodels, showing a gap in the design space for the buckling strength that is confirmed by genetic algorithm optimizations. Extreme lightweight while buckling-resistant designs are reached, along with non-conventional optimum layouts thanks to the high degree of thickness build-up tailoring.
Radiology artificial intelligence: a systematic review and evaluation of methods (RAISE)
Authors: Kelly Brendan S. , Judge Conor , Bollard Stephanie M. , Clifford Simon M. , Healy Gerard M. , Aziz Awsam , Mathur Prateek , Islam Shah , Yeom Kristen W. , Lawlor Aonghus , Killeen Ronan P.
Published: April 2022

Objective

There has been a large amount of research in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) as applied to clinical radiology. However, these studies vary in design and quality and systematic reviews of the entire field are lacking.This systematic review aimed to identify all papers that used deep learning in radiology to survey the literature and to evaluate their methods. We aimed to identify the key questions being addressed in the literature and to identify the most effective methods employed.

Methods

We followed the PRISMA guidelines and performed a systematic review of studies of AI in radiology published from 2015 to 2019. Our published protocol was prospectively registered.

Results

Our search yielded 11,083 results. Seven hundred sixty-seven full texts were reviewed, and 535 articles were included. Ninety-eight percent were retrospective cohort studies. The median number of patients included was 460. Most studies involved MRI (37%). Neuroradiology was the most common subspecialty. Eighty-eight percent used supervised learning. The majority of studies undertook a segmentation task (39%). Performance comparison was with a state-of-the-art model in 37%. The most used established architecture was UNet (14%). The median performance for the most utilised evaluation metrics was Dice of 0.89 (range .49–.99), AUC of 0.903 (range 1.00–0.61) and Accuracy of 89.4 (range 70.2–100). Of the 77 studies that externally validated their results and allowed for direct comparison, performance on average decreased by 6% at external validation (range increase of 4% to decrease 44%).

Conclusion

This systematic review has surveyed the major advances in AI as applied to clinical radiology.

Key Points

• While there are many papers reporting expert-level results by using deep learning in radiology, most apply only a narrow range of techniques to a narrow selection of use cases.

• The literature is dominated by retrospective cohort studies with limited external validation with high potential for bias.

• The recent advent of AI extensions to systematic reporting guidelines and prospective trial registration along with a focus on external validation and explanations show potential for translation of the hype surrounding AI from code to clinic.
Künstliche Intelligenz im Management der Anti-VEGF-Therapie: der „Vienna Fluid Monitor“ in der klinischen Praxis
Authors: Fuchs P. , Coulibaly L. , Reiter G. S. , Schmidt-Erfurth U.
Published: April 2022

Der Vienna Fluid Monitor ist ein künstlicher Intelligenz(KI)-Algorithmus zur präzisen Lokalisation und Quantifizierung von retinaler Flüssigkeit. Der Algorithmus soll Klinikern und Klinikerinnen helfen, objektive und genaue Behandlungsentscheidungen bei der antivaskulären endothelialen Wachstumsfaktor(Anti-VEGF)-Therapie von Patienten mit neovaskulärer altersbedingter Makuladegeneration zu treffen. Ziel der Implementierung ist die Optimierung der Patientensicherheit, die Erhaltung der Sehleistung und gleichzeitig die Behandlungslast für das Gesundheitssystem und die Patienten zu verringern.
A prospective, multicenter, open-label study of the clinical efficacy of tapentadol extended-release in the treatment of cancer-related pain and improvement in the quality of life of opioid-naïve or opioid-resistant patients
Authors: Jung Ji Yoon , Chon Hong Jae , Choi Young Jin , Yeon Sang Eun , Choi Seok Young , Lee Kyung Hee
Published: April 2022

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of tapentadol extended-release (ER) on pain control and the quality of life (QoL) of patients with moderate to severe chronic cancer pain in clinical practice in Korea.

Methods

In this prospective, open-label, multicenter trial, patients with sustained cancer pain as well as chronic pain, who were or were not using other analgesics were enrolled. Thirteen centers recorded a total of 752 patients during the 6-month observation period, based on the tapentadol ER dose and tolerability, prior and concomitant analgesic treatment, pain intensity, type of pain, adverse effects, and clinical global impression change (CGI-C). Of those 752 patients, 688 were enrolled, and 650 completed the study for efficacy and adverse drug reactions; among them, 349 were cancer patients.

Results

Tapentadol ER significantly reduced the mean pain intensity including neuropathic pain during the observation period by 2.9 points (from a mean 7 ± 0.87 to 4.1 ± 2.02). Furthermore, QoL was observed to be significantly improved based on the CGI-C, an objective measure.

Conclusion

This study showed that tapentadol ER was effective for treating patients with moderate to severe cancer pain and neuropathic pain, and therefore it significantly improved the patients’ QoL.
Analysis of two-decade meteorological and air quality trends in Rome (Italy)
Authors: Di Bernardino Annalisa , Iannarelli Anna Maria , Diémoz Henri , Casadio Stefano , Cacciani Marco , Siani Anna Maria
Published: April 2022

This study presents a trend analysis of a two-decade (2000–2020) series of surface meteorological and air quality data measured in Rome (Italy). Data series are collected at three sites in Rome downtown and its coastal surroundings. This paper fills the gap due to missing or incomplete recent information about the meteorological and atmospheric composition tendencies in the Rome area. Datasets are subjected to in-depth quality control and to statistical analysis to verify the data homogeneity, whilst trend analysis is performed using the Seasonal Kendall test. The results show a statistically significant positive trend for average air temperature (0.07 °C year−1 in urban and coastal sites), whilst maximum and minimum temperatures increase more in urban (0.10 °C year−1) than in coastal (0.01 °C year−1) environment. The water vapour mixing ratio trend is higher in the city (0.10 g kg−1 year−1) than along the coast (0.03 g kg−1 year−1). The heat index tendency is more pronounced in the Rome centre (0.11 °C year−1) than in the coast (0.06 °C year−1). The monthly cumulative precipitations do not show statistically significant trends. On the other hand, air quality generally improved: surface pollutant concentrations show a significant decrease thanks to the reduction of local emissions (C6H6, − 0.12 µg m−3 year−1; SO2, − 0.09 µg m−3 year−1; CO, − 0.02 mg m−3 year−1; NOx, − 1.28 µg m−3 year−1; NO, − 0.38 µg m−3 year−1; NO2, − 0.60 µg m−3 year−1, PM10, − 0.35 µg m−3 year−1). Only O3 shows a statistically significant positive trend (0.15 µg m−3 year−1), in agreement with wider scale studies. The outcomes suggest that whilst local and national policies contribute to the improvement of air quality, the rising of temperature—as likely consequence of climate change—may be an emerging cause of concern for human thermal discomfort and potential effect on the conservation of tangible immovable heritage.
Epilepsiechirurgie bei älteren Patienten
Authors: Hebel Jonas M. , Holtkamp Martin
Published: April 2022

Die Entfernung des Anfallsfokus – durch Resektion oder Laserthermoablation – stellt bei ausgesuchten Patienten mit fokaler pharmakoresistenter Epilepsie eine Therapie mit guter Aussicht auf Anfallsfreiheit bei geringen Risiken dar. Die Vagusnerv- und die tiefe Hirnstimulation sind palliative Verfahren, die die Häufigkeit und die Schwere epileptischer Anfälle reduzieren sollen. Bei älteren Patienten besteht eine allgemeine Zurückhaltung hinsichtlich aller epilepsiechirurgischen Verfahren, „älter“ bedeutet in diesem Kontext in der Regel ein Lebensalter jenseits von 50 Jahren. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, ob es im Vergleich von älteren zu jüngeren Patienten relevante Unterschiede bezüglich Anfallsprognose und Komplikationsraten bei den verschiedenen epilepsiechirurgischen Verfahren gibt. Insgesamt ist die Datenlage dünn, es gibt kaum qualitativ hochwertige Studien. Die meisten Daten liegen für resektive Verfahren vor. Hier sind fast 700 ältere Patienten publiziert, meist in retrospektiven, monozentrischen Studien zu Temporallappenepilepsien. Zusammengefasst unterscheidet sich die Rate an Anfallsfreiheit und die an Komplikationen bei älteren Patienten nicht von der bei jüngeren Patienten. Es ist aber nicht auszuschließen, dass in der Gruppe der älteren Patienten bevorzugt besonders klare und erwartbar unkomplizierte Fälle reseziert wurden. Bei den Thermoablationsverfahren liegen keine Daten für ältere Patienten vor. Der minimal-invasive Ansatz könnte jedoch bei geringerer Komplikationsrate gerade für die Gruppe der Älteren interessant sein. Bei der Vagusnerv- und der tiefen Hirnstimulation deuten die wenigen verfügbaren Daten nicht auf Unterschiede zwischen älteren und jüngeren Patienten in Bezug auf Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit hin.
Nanotechnology-based controlled release of sustainable fertilizers. A review
Authors: Beig Bilal , Niazi Muhammad Bilal Khan , Sher Farooq , Jahan Zaib , Malik Umer Shahzad , Khan Mohammad Daud , Américo-Pinheiro Juliana Heloisa Pinê , Vo Dai-Viet N.
Published: April 2022

The rising population is increasing food demand, yet actual crop production is limited by the poor efficiency of classical fertilizers. In particular, only about 40–60% of fertilizer nitrogen, 15–20% of phosphorus and 50–60% of potassium are used by crop plants, the rest ending polluting the environment. Nanofertilizers are promising alternatives. Here, we review plant nutrients, synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles, encapsulation of nanoparticles in fertilizers, and effect on plants.
Transapical TAVI in chronic type A dissection
Authors: Mayer Christian , Zirngast Birgit , Luha Olev , Marte Wolfgang , Schmid Johannes , Toth Gabor , Nebert Clemens , Schmidt Albrecht , Mächler Heinrich
Published: April 2022

Background

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been a routine procedure for quite some years. Advancements in technology and experience have enabled its use in even more challenging anatomies.

Case report

An 83-year-old female patient with severe aortic pathology due to chronic type A dissection after supracoronary ascending aortic repair was suffering from progressive dyspnea and recurrent cardiac decompensations due to severe aortic stenosis. She was successfully treated with a transapical TAVI procedure by our interdisciplinary heart team.

Conclusion

Transapical TAVI is a good alternative for overcoming severe aortic pathology when treating aortic stenosis.
Efficient quantile tracking using an oracle
Authors: Hammer Hugo L. , Yazidi Anis , Riegler Michael A. , Rue Håvard
Published: April 2022

Concept drift is a well-known issue that arises when working with data streams. In this paper, we present a procedure that allows a quantile tracking procedure to cope with concept drift. We suggest using expected quantile loss, a popular loss function in quantile regression, to monitor the quantile tracking error, which, in turn, is used to efficiently adapt to concept drift. The suggested procedures adapt efficiently to concept drift, and the tracking performance is close to theoretically optimal. The procedures were further applied to three real-life streaming data sets related to Twitter event detection, activity recognition, and stock trading. The results show that the procedures are efficient at adapting to concept drift, thereby documenting the real-world applicability of the procedures. We further used asymptotic theory from statistics to show the appealing theoretical property that, if the data stream distribution is stationary over time, the procedures converge to the true quantile.
Comparison study of phase-field and level-set method for three-phase systems including two minerals
Authors: Kelm Mathis , Gärttner Stephan , Bringedal Carina , Flemisch Bernd , Knabner Peter , Ray Nadja
Published: April 2022

We investigate reactive flow and transport in evolving porous media. Solute species that are transported within the fluid phase are taking part in mineral precipitation and dissolution reactions for two competing mineral phases. The evolution of the three phases is not known a-priori but depends on the concentration of the dissolved solute species. To model the coupled behavior, phase-field and level-set models are formulated. These formulations are compared in three increasingly challenging setups including significant mineral overgrowth. Simulation outcomes are examined with respect to mineral volumes and surface areas as well as derived effective quantities such as diffusion and permeability tensors. In doing so, we extend the results of current benchmarks for mineral dissolution/precipitation at the pore-scale to the multiphasic solid case. Both approaches are found to be able to simulate the evolution of the three-phase system, but the phase-field model is influenced by curvature-driven motion.
Effects of 8 Weeks with Embodied Learning on 5–6-Year-Old Danish Children’s Pre-reading Skills and Word Reading Skills: the PLAYMORE Project, DK
Authors: Damsgaard Linn , Nielsen Anne-Mette Veber , Gejl Anne Kær , Malling Anne Sofie Bøgh , Jensen Søren Kildahl , Wienecke Jacob
Published: April 2022

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of embodied learning on children’s pre-reading and word reading skills. We conducted a three-armed randomized controlled trial including two intervention groups and one control group. One hundred forty-nine children from grade 0 (5–6 years old) who had just started school were recruited from 10 different classes from four elementary schools. Within each class, children were randomly assigned to receive teaching of letter-sound couplings and word decoding either with whole-body movements (WM), hand movements (HM), or no movements (CON) over an 8-week period. Children were evaluated on pre-reading, word reading, and motor skills before (T1), immediately after (T2), and after 17–22 weeks of retention period (T3) following the intervention. Between-group analysis showed a significant improvement in children’s ability to name letter-sounds correctly from T1 to T2 (p < 0.001) and from T1 to T3 (p < 0.05) for WM compared to CON. HM and WM improved significantly in naming conditional letter-sounds from T1 to T2 (p < 0.01, p < 0.01) compared to CON and from T1 to T3 for the HM group compared to CON (p < 0.05). We did not find an effect on word reading or a correlation between motor skill performance and reading. Results from the present study suggest that there are beneficial effects of using whole-body movements for children. Hand motor movements indeed also had a performance effect on letter-sound knowledge; however, the whole-body movements had longer-lasting effects. We do not see an effect on whole word reading.
What happens in my code reviews? An investigation on automatically classifying review changes
Authors: Fregnan Enrico , Petrulio Fernando , Di Geronimo Linda , Bacchelli Alberto
Published: April 2022

Code reviewing is a widespread practice used by software engineers to maintain high code quality. To date, the knowledge on the effect of code review on source code is still limited. Some studies have addressed this problem by classifying the types of changes that take place during the review process (a.k.a. review changes), as this strategy can, for example, pinpoint the immediate effect of reviews on code. Nevertheless, this classification (1) is not scalable, as it was conducted manually, and (2) was not assessed in terms of how meaningful the provided information is for practitioners. This paper aims at addressing these limitations: First, we investigate to what extent a machine learning-based technique can automatically classify review changes. Then, we evaluate the relevance of information on review change types and its potential usefulness, by conducting (1) semi-structured interviews with 12 developers and (2) a qualitative study with 17 developers, who are asked to assess reports on the review changes of their project. Key results of the study show that not only it is possible to automatically classify code review changes, but this information is also perceived by practitioners as valuable to improve the code review process. Data and materials: 10.5281/zenodo.5592254
Genome size, ploidy levels, and development of novel SSR primer to evaluate genetic diversity of Corylopsis Siebold & Zucc. germplasm collections
Authors: Lattier Jason D. , Ballard Harvey E. , Kramer Matthew , Pooler Margaret R.
Published: April 2022

CorylopsisSeibold & Zucc. is a genus of flowering shrubs with few cultivars and little information on genome size, ploidy levels, and genetic relationships among taxa. The United States National Arboretum and collaborating gardens in North America maintain a diverse germplasm collection ofCorylopsisincluding cultivated and wild-collected taxa. The objectives of this study were to determine genome size, ploidy, and genetic diversity inCorylopsis. Flow cytometry revealed a ploidy series of diploid, tetraploid, pentaploid, and hexaploid taxa inCorylopsiswith 2C genome sizes ranging from 1.9 pg to 5.7 pg. Representative taxa were selected for root tip cytology, revealing diploid (C.platypetalaRehder & E.H. Wilson), tetraploid (C.gotoanaMakino), pentaploid (unnamed hybrid selection), and hexaploid (C.willmottiaeRehder & E.H. Wilson) taxa. Seventeen genomic simple sequence repeat markers were developed and used to determine the genetic diversity ofCorylopsis. These markers had an average of 7.4 alleles per locus with a range of three to 17 alleles. A dendrogram was generated by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) cluster analysis using the Jaccard similarity coefficient to visualize genetic relationships and ploidy series within taxa. Information gained from this study will further breeding efforts and aid management of germplasm collections ofCorylopsis.
SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Responses in Individuals with Antibody Deficiency: Findings from the COV-AD Study
Authors: Shields Adrian M. , Faustini Sian E. , Hill Harriet J. , Al-Taei Saly , Tanner Chloe , Ashford Fiona , Workman Sarita , Moreira Fernando , Verma Nisha , Wagg Hollie , Heritage Gail , Campton Naomi , Stamataki Zania , Klenerman Paul , Thaventhiran James E. D. , Goddard Sarah , Johnston Sarah , Huissoon Aarnoud , Bethune Claire , Elcombe Suzanne , Lowe David M. , Patel Smita Y. , Savic Sinisa , Burns Siobhan O. , Richter Alex G. ,   on behalf of the COV-AD consortium, Ahmed Zahra , Bancroft Hollie , Bates Michelle , Clifford Hayley , Davis Georgina , Dasgin Joanne , Dinally Mohammad , Dhalla Fatima , Efstathiou Elena , Elkhalifa Shuayb , Gompels Mark , Hartland Dan , Hoque Madeeha , Heritage Emily , Hughes Deborah , Ivory Ann , Jain Rashmi , Kelly Sinead , McCarthy Theresa , McGee Christopher , Mullan Daniel , Morsi Hadeil , O’Grady Eileen , Page Shannon , Peters Nicholas , Plant Timothy , Shajidevadas Archana , Slowinsksa Malgorzata , Suleiman Zehra , Townsend Neil , Trinham Charlotte , Wareham Stuart , Walder Sinead
Published: April 2022

Background

Vaccination prevents severe morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the general population. The immunogenicity and efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with antibody deficiency is poorly understood.

Objectives

COVID-19 in patients with antibody deficiency (COV-AD) is a multi-site UK study that aims to determine the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in patients with primary or secondary antibody deficiency, a population that suffers from severe and recurrent infection and does not respond well to vaccination.

Methods

Individuals on immunoglobulin replacement therapy or with an IgG less than 4 g/L receiving antibiotic prophylaxis were recruited from April 2021. Serological and cellular responses were determined using ELISA, live-virus neutralisation and interferon gamma release assays. SARS-CoV-2 infection and clearance were determined by PCR from serial nasopharyngeal swabs.

Results

A total of 5.6% (n = 320) of the cohort reported prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, but only 0.3% remained PCR positive on study entry. Seropositivity, following two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, was 54.8% (n = 168) compared with 100% of healthy controls (n = 205). The magnitude of the antibody response and its neutralising capacity were both significantly reduced compared to controls. Participants vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were more likely to be seropositive (65.7% vs. 48.0%, p = 0.03) and have higher antibody levels compared with the AstraZeneca vaccine (IgGAM ratio 3.73 vs. 2.39, p = 0.0003). T cell responses post vaccination was demonstrable in 46.2% of participants and were associated with better antibody responses but there was no difference between the two vaccines. Eleven vaccine-breakthrough infections have occurred to date, 10 of them in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Conclusion

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines demonstrate reduced immunogenicity in patients with antibody deficiency with evidence of vaccine breakthrough infection.
Automated deep learning approach for classification of malignant melanoma and benign skin lesions
Authors: Salma Wessam , Eltrass Ahmed S.
Published: April 2022

Skin cancer becomes a significant health problem worldwide with an increasing incidence over the past decades. Due to the fine-grained differences in the appearance of skin lesions, it is very challenging to develop an automated system for benign-malignant classification through images. This paper proposes a novel automated Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system for skin lesion classification with high classification performance using accuracy low computational complexity. A pre-processing step based on morphological filtering is employed for hair removal and artifacts removal. Skin lesions are segmented automatically using Grab-cut with minimal human interaction in HSV color space. Image processing techniques are investigated for an automatic implementation of the ABCD (asymmetry, border irregularity, color and dermoscopic patterns) rule to separate malignant melanoma from benign lesions. To classify skin lesions into benign or malignant, different pretrained convolutional neural networks (CNNs), including VGG-16, ResNet50, ResNetX, InceptionV3, and MobileNet are examined. The average 5-fold cross validation results show that ResNet50 architecture combined with Support Vector Machine (SVM) achieve the best performance. The results also show the effectiveness of data augmentation in both training and testing with achieving better performance than obtaining new images. The proposed diagnosis framework is applied to real clinical skin lesions, and the experimental results reveal the superior performance of the proposed framework over other recent techniques in terms of area under the ROC curve 99.52%, accuracy 99.87%, sensitivity 98.87%, precision 98.77%, F1-score 97.83%, and consumed time 3.2 s. This reveals that the proposed framework can be utilized to help medical practitioners in classifying different skin lesions.
Trust, social capital, and the bond market benefits of ESG performance
Authors: Amiraslani Hami , Lins Karl V. , Servaes Henri , Tamayo Ane
Published: April 2022

We investigate whether a firm’s social capital and the trust that it engenders are viewed favorably by bondholders. Using firms’ environmental and social (E&S) performance to proxy for social capital, we find no relation between social capital and bond spreads over the period 2006–2019. However, during the 2008–2009 financial crisis, which represents a shock to trust and default risk, high-social-capital firms benefited from lower bond spreads. These effects are stronger for firms with higher expected agency costs of debt and firms whose E&S efforts are more salient. During the crisis, high-social-capital firms were also able to raise more debt, at lower spreads, and for longer maturities. We find no evidence that the governance element of ESG is related to bond spreads. The gap between E&S performance of firms in the bottom and top E&S terciles has narrowed since the financial crisis, especially in the year prior to accessing the bond market.
Analysis of workflow schedulers in simulated distributed environments
Authors: Beránek Jakub , Böhm Stanislav , Cima Vojtěch
Published: April 2022

Task graphs provide a simple way to describe scientific workflows (sets of tasks with dependencies) that can be executed on both HPC clusters and in the cloud. An important aspect of executing such graphs is the used scheduling algorithm. Many scheduling heuristics have been proposed in existing works; nevertheless, they are often tested in oversimplified environments. We provide an extensible simulation environment designed for prototyping and benchmarking task schedulers, which contains implementations of various scheduling algorithms and is open-sourced, in order to be fully reproducible. We use this environment to perform a comprehensive analysis of workflow scheduling algorithms with a focus on quantifying the effect of scheduling challenges that have so far been mostly neglected, such as delays between scheduler invocations or partially unknown task durations. Our results indicate that network models used by many previous works might produce results that are off by an order of magnitude in comparison to a more realistic model. Additionally, we show that certain implementation details of scheduling algorithms which are often neglected can have a large effect on the scheduler’s performance, and they should thus be described in great detail to enable proper evaluation.
Direct Estimation of Diagnostic Classification Model Attribute Mastery Profiles via a Collapsed Gibbs Sampling Algorithm
Authors: Yamaguchi Kazuhiro , Templin Jonathan
Published: April 2022

This paper proposes a novel collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithm that marginalizes model parameters and directly samples latent attribute mastery patterns in diagnostic classification models. This estimation method makes it possible to avoid boundary problems in the estimation of model item parameters by eliminating the need to estimate such parameters. A simulation study showed the collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithm can accurately recover the true attribute mastery status in various conditions. A second simulation showed the collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithm was computationally more efficient than another MCMC sampling algorithm, implemented by JAGS. In an analysis of real data, the collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithm indicated good classification agreement with results from a previous study.
“More than just giving them a piece of paper”: Interviews with Primary Care on Social Needs Referrals to Community-Based Organizations
Authors: Beidler Laura B. , Razon Na’amah , Lang Hannah , Fraze Taressa K.
Published: April 2022

Background

Primary care practices are responding to calls to incorporate patients’ social risk factors, such as housing, food, and economic insecurity, into clinical care. Healthcare likely relies on the expertise and resources of community-based organizations to improve patients’ social conditions, yet little is known about the referral process.

Objective

To characterize referrals to community-based organizations by primary care practices.

Design

Qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with healthcare administrators responsible for social care efforts in their organization.

Participants

Administrators at 50 diverse US healthcare organizations with efforts to address patients’ social risks.

Main Measures

Approaches used in primary care to implement social needs referral to community-based organizations.

Results

Interviewed administrators reported that social needs referrals were an essential element in their social care activities. Administrators described the ideal referral programs as placing limited burden on care teams, providing patients with customized referrals, and facilitating closed-loop referrals. We identified three key challenges organizations experience when trying to implement the ideal referrals program: (1) developing and maintaining resources lists; (2) aligning referrals with patient needs; and (3) measuring the efficacy of referrals. Collectively, these challenges led to organizations relying on staff to manually develop and update resource lists and, in most cases, provide patients with generic referrals. Administrators not only hoped that referral platforms may help overcome some of these barriers, but also reported implementation challenges with platforms including inconsistent buy-in and use across staff; integration with electronic health records; management and prioritization of resources; and alignment with other organizations in their market.

Conclusion and Relevance

Referrals to community-based organizations were used in primary care to improve patients’ social conditions, but despite strong motivations, interviewees reported challenges providing tailored and up-to-date information to patients.
Professional Oversight of Emergency-Use Interventions and Monitoring Systems: Ethical Guidance From the Singapore Experience of COVID-19
Authors: Lysaght Tamra , Schaefer Gerald Owen , Voo Teck Chuan , Wee Hwee Lin , Joseph Roy
Published: April 2022

High degrees of uncertainty and a lack of effective therapeutic treatments have characterized the COVID-19 pandemic and the provision of drug products outside research settings has been controversial. International guidelines for providing patients with experimental interventions to treat infectious diseases outside of clinical trials exist but it is unclear if or how they should apply in settings where clinical trials and research are strongly regulated. We propose the Professional Oversight of Emergency-Use Interventions and Monitoring System (POEIMS) as an alternative pathway based on guidance developed for the ethical provision of experimental interventions to treat COVID-19 in Singapore. We support our proposal with justifications that establish moral duties for physicians to record outcomes data and for institutions to establish monitoring systems for reporting information on safety and effectiveness to the relevant authorities. Institutions also have a duty to support generation of evidence for what constitutes good clinical practice and so should ensure the unproven intervention is made the subject of research studies that can contribute to generalizable knowledge as soon as practical and that physicians remain committed to supporting learning health systems. We outline key differences between POEIMS and other pathways for the provision of experimental interventions in public health emergencies.
Emerging Disparities in Prevention and Survival Outcomes for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer and Recommendations for Health Equity
Authors: Salinas Manisha , Chintakuntlawar Ashish , Arasomwan Ivie , Eltahir Ahmed , Price Katharine A. R.
Published: April 2022

Purpose of Review

The aim of this review is to describe less known and emerging disparities found in the prevention and survival outcomes for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) that are likely to play an increasingly important role in HNC outcomes and health inequities.

Recent Findings

The following factors contribute to HNC incidence and outcomes: (1) the effect of rurality on prevention and treatment of HNC, (2) dietary behavior and nutritional factors influencing the development of and survival from HNC, and (3) barriers and benefits of telehealth for patients with HNC.

Rurality, nutrition and diet, and telehealth usage and access are significant contributors to the existing health disparities associated with HNC. Population and culturally specific interventions are urgently needed as well as more research to further define the issues and develop appropriate population and individual level solutions.
Industrialized GMP Production of CD34+ Cells (ProtheraCytes®) at Clinical Scale for Treatment of Ischemic Cardiac Diseases Is Feasible and Safe
Authors: Hénon Philippe , Kowalczyk Marc , Aries Anne , Vignon Christine , Trébuchet Guillaume , Lahlil Rachid
Published: April 2022

Regenerative medicine now needs to pass a crucial turning point, from academic research to the market. Several sources/types of cells have been experimented with, more or less successfully. CD34+ cells have demonstrated multipotent or even pluripotent capacities, making them good candidates for regenerative medicine, particularly for treating heart diseases. Strongly encouraged by the results we achieved in a pilot study using CD34+ stem cells in patients with poor-prognosis acute myocardial infarcts (AMIs), we soon began the development of an industrialized platform making use of a closed automated device (StemXpand®) and a disposable kit (StemPack®) for the large-scale expansion of CD34+ cells with reproducible good manufacturing practice (GMP). This scalable platform can produce expanded CD34+ cells (ProtheraCytes®) of sufficient quality that, interestingly, express early markers of the cardiac and endothelial pathways and early cardiac-mesoderm markers. They also contain CD34+ pluripotent cells characterized as very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs), capable of differentiating under appropriate stimuli into different tissue lineages, including endothelial and cardiomyocytic ones.
Gender equality and artificial intelligence in Europe. Addressing direct and indirect impacts of algorithms on gender-based discrimination
Authors: Lütz Fabian
Published: April 2022

This article assesses whether current European law sufficiently captures gender-based biases and algorithmic discrimination in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) and provides a short analysis of a draft EU legislative proposal, the Artificial Intelligence Act. To this end, current trends and uses of algorithms with potential impacts on gender will be analysed through the lens of direct and indirect impacts for gender equality law, highlighting the implications for European gender equality enforcement. This article concludes that legislative and accompanying policy measures are necessary to ensure an effective gender equality policy and to avoid algorithmic discrimination.
Agony of choice—selecting chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatment in 2022
Authors: Bohn Jan-Paul
Published: April 2022

The treatment landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has undergone profound change in recent years. Targeted therapies have outnumbered chemotherapy-based treatment approaches demonstrating superior efficacy and tolerability profiles across nearly all CLL patient subgroups in the frontline and relapsed disease treatment setting. Individual selection of these novel agents is rather driven by patients’ comorbidities and personal preferences than fitness and age. Given the high amount of currently licensed novel agents in both treatment-naïve as well as relapsed CLL patients and currently limited evidence from comparative clinical trials, clinicians sometimes appear spoilt for choice when selecting optimal therapy. This short review discusses recent clinical trial data focusing on treatment with targeted drugs and aims to help guide CLL treatment selection in individual patients.