bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Early Science observations with the CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) usingpycheops
Authors: Maxted P F L , Ehrenreich D , Wilson T G , Alibert Y , Cameron A Collier , Hoyer S , Sousa S G , Olofsson G , Bekkelien A , Deline A , Delrez L , Bonfanti A , Borsato L , Alonso R , Anglada Escudé G , Barrado D , Barros S C C , Baumjohann W , Beck M , Beck T , Benz W , Billot N , Biondi F , Bonfils X , Brandeker A , Broeg C , Bárczy T , Cabrera J , Charnoz S , Corral Van Damme C , Csizmadia Sz , Davies M B , Deleuil M , Demangeon O D S , Demory B-O , Erikson A , Florén H G , Fortier A , Fossati L , Fridlund M , Futyan D , Gandolfi D , Gillon M , Guedel M , Guterman P , Heng K , Isaak K G , Kiss L , Laskar J , Lecavelier des Etangs A , Lendl M , Lovis C , Magrin D , Nascimbeni V , Ottensamer R , Pagano I , Pallé E , Peter G , Piotto G , Pollacco D , Pozuelos F J , Queloz D , Ragazzoni R , Rando N , Rauer H , Reimers C , Ribas I , Salmon S , Santos N C , Scandariato G , Simon A E , Smith A M S , Steller M , Swayne M I , Szabó Gy M , Ségransan D , Thomas N , Udry S , Van Grootel V , Walton N A
Published: November 2021

CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is an ESA S-class mission that observes bright stars at high cadence from low-Earth orbit. The main aim of the mission is to characterize exoplanets that transit nearby stars using ultrahigh precision photometry. Here, we report the analysis of transits observed by CHEOPS during its Early Science observing programme for four well-known exoplanets: GJ 436 b, HD 106315 b, HD 97658 b, and GJ 1132 b. The analysis is done using pycheops, an open-source software package we have developed to easily and efficiently analyse CHEOPS light-curve data using state-of-the-art techniques that are fully described herein. We show that the precision of the transit parameters measured using CHEOPS is comparable to that from larger space telescopes such as Spitzer Space Telescope and Kepler. We use the updated planet parameters from our analysis to derive new constraints on the internal structure of these four exoplanets.
Observable gravitational waves from tidal disruption events and their electromagnetic counterpart
Authors: Pfister Hugo , Toscani Martina , Wong Thomas Hong Tsun , Dai Jane Lixin , Lodato Giuseppe , Rossi Elena M
Published: November 2021

We estimate the rate of tidal disruption events (TDEs) that will be detectable with future gravitational wave detectors as well as the most probable properties of these events and their possible electromagnetic counterpart. To this purpose, we combine standard gravitational waves and electromagnetic results with detailed rates estimates. We find that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) should not detect any TDEs, unless black holes (BHs) are typically embedded by a young stellar population, which, in this situation, could lead up to few 10 events during the duration of the mission. If there are gravitational wave observations, these events should also be observable in the X-ray or the optical/UV part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which may open up the multimessenger era for TDEs. The generation of detectors following LISA will at least yearly observe 104 TDEs at cosmological distances, allowing to do population studies and constrain the black hole mass function. In all cases, most probable events should be around black holes with a mass such that the Keplerian frequency at the Schwarzschild radius is similar to the optimal frequency of the detector and with a large penetration factor.
An imaging polarimetry survey of Type Ia supernovae: are peculiar extinction and polarization properties produced by circumstellar or interstellar matter?
Authors: Chu Matthew R , Cikota Aleksandar , Baade Dietrich , Patat Ferdinando , Filippenko Alexei V , Wheeler J Craig , Maund Justyn , Bulla Mattia , Yang Yi , Höflich Peter , Wang Lifan
Published: November 2021

Some highly reddened Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) display low total-to-selective extinction ratios (RV ≲ 2) in comparison to that of typical Milky Way dust (RV ≈ 3.3), and polarization curves that rise steeply to blue wavelengths, with peak polarization values at short wavelengths ($\lambda _{\rm max} \lt 0.4\, \mu$m) in comparison to the typical Galactic values ($\lambda _{\rm max} \approx 0.55\, \mu$ m). Understanding the source of these properties could provide insight into the progenitor systems of SNe Ia. We aim to determine whether they are the result of the host galaxy’s interstellar dust or circumstellar dust. This is accomplished by analysing the continuum polarization of 66 SNe Ia in dust-rich spiral galaxies and 13 SNe Ia in dust-poor elliptical galaxies as a function of normalized galactocentric distance. We find that there is a general trend of SNe Ia in spiral galaxies displaying increased polarization values when located closer to the host galaxies’ centre, while SNe Ia in elliptical host galaxies display low polarization. Furthermore, all highly polarized SNe Ia in spiral host galaxies display polarization curves rising toward blue wavelengths, while no evidence of such polarization properties is shown in elliptical host galaxies. This indicates that the source of the peculiar polarization curves is likely the result of interstellar material as opposed to circumstellar material. The peculiar polarization and extinction properties observed toward some SNe Ia may be explained by the radiative torque disruption mechanism induced by the SN or the interstellar radiation field.
Scintillation-limited photometry with the 20-cm NGTS telescopes at Paranal Observatory
Authors: O’Brien Sean M , Bayliss Daniel , Osborn James , Bryant Edward M , McCormac James , Wheatley Peter J , Acton Jack S , Alves Douglas R , Anderson David R , Burleigh Matthew R , Casewell Sarah L , Gill Samuel , Goad Michael R , Henderson Beth A , Jackman James A G , Lendl Monika , Tilbrook Rosanna H , Udry Stéphane , Vines Jose I , West Richard G
Published: November 2021

Ground-based photometry of bright stars is expected to be limited by atmospheric scintillation, although in practice observations are often limited by other sources of systematic noise. We analyse 122 nights of bright star (Gmag ≲ 11.5) photometry using the 20-cm telescopes of the Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. We compare the noise properties to theoretical noise models and we demonstrate that NGTS photometry of bright stars is indeed limited by atmospheric scintillation. We determine a median scintillation coefficient at the Paranal Observatory of $C_{\scriptscriptstyle \text{Y}}= 1.54$, which is in good agreement with previous results derived from turbulence profiling measurements at the observatory. We find that separate NGTS telescopes make consistent measurements of scintillation when simultaneously monitoring the same field. Using contemporaneous meteorological data, we find that higher wind speeds at the tropopause correlate with a decrease in long-exposure (t = 10 s) scintillation. Hence, the winter months between June and August provide the best conditions for high-precision photometry of bright stars at the Paranal Observatory. This work demonstrates that NGTS photometric data, collected for searching for exoplanets, contains within it a record of the scintillation conditions at Paranal.
Dependence of the eruptive filaments dynamics on their length
Authors: Filippov B
Published: November 2021

We analyse numerically a model of eruption of a thin flux rope with the endpoints frozen in the photosphere. The flux rope is assumed to maintain a shape of partial current-carrying torus staying initially in equilibrium in the external dipolar magnetic field. There is an unstable equilibrium point, which can be reached by slow evolution of the system, and then a catastrophic loss of equilibrium and flux-rope eruption follow. Parameters of eruption, such as acceleration, velocity, electric field generated at the null point, depend in particular on the initial length of the flux rope or in other words on the endpoints separation. Analysis of the sample of 30 eruptive events observed on the Sun in the period from 2012 to 2016 showed that the eruptions of shorter filaments are more often associated with flaring phenomena and not followed by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Eruptions of most lengthy filaments are followed as a rule by CMEs but are much rarely associated with flares.
Inclination pathways of planet-crossing asteroids
Authors: Namouni F
Published: November 2021

Long-term statistical simulations of the past evolution of high-inclination Centaurs showed that their orbits tend to be polar with respect to the Solar system’s invariable plane over a large semimajor axis range in trans-neptunian space. Here, we lay the analytical foundation of the study of the inclination pathways of planet-crossing asteroids that explains these findings. We show that the Tisserand relation partitions the inclination–semimajor axis parameter space of the three-body problem into distinct regions depending on the asteroid’s Tisserand parameter T or equivalently its orbital inclination I∞ far from the planet. The Tisserand relation shows that asteroids with I∞ > 110° (T < −1) cannot be injected inside the planet’s orbit. Injection on to retrograde orbits and high-inclination prograde orbits occurs inside the inclination corridor 45° ≤ I∞ ≤ 110° (−1 ≤ T ≤ 2). Inclination dispersion across the inclination pathway for moderate and high inclinations is explained by the secular perturbations from the planet and is smallest for polar orbits. When a planet-crossing asteroid temporarily leaves the inclination pathway, its long-term evolution still depends on its Tisserand parameter as evidenced by its eccentricity dispersion. Simulations of asteroid orbits using the equations of motion with Neptune as the perturbing planet confirm these results for moderate to high inclinations, forward and backward in time because the Tisserand relation is time-independent. The Tisserand inclination pathways will provide important constraints on comet delivery from the outer Solar system as well as on the possible presence of unknown planets in trans-neptunian space.
Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey: Data Release 1 blended spectra search for candidate strong gravitational lenses
Authors: Holwerda B W , Knabel S , Thorne J E , Bellstedt S , Siudek M , Davies L J M
Published: November 2021

Here, we present a catalogue of blended spectra in Data Release 1 of the Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Of the 23 197 spectra, 181 showed signs of a blend of redshifts and spectral templates. We examine these blends in detail for signs of either a candidate strong lensing galaxy or a useful overlapping galaxy pair. One of the three DEVILS target fields, COSMOS (D10), is close to complete and it is fully imaged with Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys, and we visually examine the 57 blended spectra in this field in the F814W postage stamps. Nine are classical strong lensing candidates with an elliptical as the lens, out to higher redshifts than any previous search with spectroscopic surveys such as Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) or Galaxy And Mass Assembly. The gravitational lens candidate success rate is similar to earlier such searches (0.1 per cent). Strong gravitational lenses identified with blended spectroscopy have typically shown a high success rate (>70 per cent), which make these interesting targets for future higher resolution lensing studies, monitoring for supernova cosmography, or searches for magnified atomic hydrogen signal.
A biophysical model for plant cell plate maturation based on the contribution of a spreading force
Authors: Jawaid Muhammad Zaki , Sinclair Rosalie , Bulone Vincent , Cox Daniel L , Drakakaki Georgia
Published: November 2021

Plant cytokinesis, a fundamental process of plant life, involves de novo formation of a “cell plate” partitioning the cytoplasm of dividing cells. Cell plate formation is directed by orchestrated delivery, fusion of cytokinetic vesicles, and membrane maturation to form a nascent cell wall by timely deposition of polysaccharides. During cell plate maturation, the fragile membrane network transitions to a fenestrated sheet and finally a young cell wall. Here, we approximated cell plate sub-structures with testable shapes and adopted the Helfrich-free energy model for membranes, including a stabilizing and spreading force, to understand the transition from a vesicular network to a fenestrated sheet and mature cell plate. Regular cell plate development in the model was possible, with suitable bending modulus, for a two-dimensional late stage spreading force of 2–6 pN/nm, an osmotic pressure difference of 2–10 kPa, and spontaneous curvature between 0 and 0.04 nm−1. With these conditions, stable membrane conformation sizes and morphologies emerged in concordance with stages of cell plate development. To reach a mature cell plate, our model required the late-stage onset of a spreading/stabilizing force coupled with a concurrent loss of spontaneous curvature. Absence of a spreading/stabilizing force predicts failure of maturation. The proposed model provides a framework to interrogate different players in late cytokinesis and potentially other membrane networks that undergo such transitions. Callose, is a polysaccharide that accumulates transiently during cell plate maturation. Callose-related observations were consistent with the proposed model’s concept, suggesting that it is one of the factors involved in establishing the spreading force.
Administrative Burden: Untangling a Bowl of Conceptual Spaghetti
Authors: Baekgaard Martin , Tankink Tara
Published: November 2021

Administrative burdens in citizen-state interactions are increasingly gaining attention in both research and practice. However, being a relatively young research field, there is still considerable disagreement about how to conceptualize and measure administrative burdens. In particular, burdens are sometimes equated with what the state does, and other times with what target group members experience. We argue that such disagreement is a barrier for further theoretical development and has removed focus from studying the process in which state actions are converted into individual outcomes. We provide advice on how to conceptually bridge the gap between different conceptualizations of administrative burden and lay out a research agenda covering the next important theoretical and empirical steps based on such a shared understanding. We propose that developing the conceptual and empirical foundation of administrative burden research will help asking new and important research questions and building cumulative knowledge. To illustrate these points, we present a series of new research questions for future research to engage with.
Cortical thickness abnormalities in patients with first episode psychosis: a meta-analysis of psychoradiologic studies and replication in an independent sample
Authors: Wen Keren , Zhao Youjin , Gong Qiyong , Zhu Ziyu , Li Qian , Pan Nanfang , Fu Shiqin , Radua Joaquim , Vieta Eduard , Kumar Poornima , Kemp Graham J , Biswal Bharat B
Published: November 2021

Background

Abnormalities of cortical thickness (CTh) in patients with their first episode psychosis (FEP) have been frequently reported, but findings are inconsistent.

Objective

To define the most consistent CTh changes in patients with FEP by meta-analysis of published whole-brain studies.

Methods

The meta-analysis used seed-based d mapping (SDM) software to obtain the most prominent regional CTh changes in FEP, and meta-regression analyses to explore the effects of demographics and clinical characteristics. The meta-analysis results were verified in an independent sample of 142 FEP patients and 142 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs), using both a vertex-wise and a region of interest analysis, with multiple comparisons correction.

Results

The meta-analysis identified lower CTh in the right middle temporal cortex (MTC) extending to superior temporal cortex (STC), insula, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in FEP compared with HCs. No significant correlations were identified between CTh alterations and demographic or clinical variables. These results were replicated in the independent dataset analysis.

Conclusion

This study identifies a robust pattern of cortical abnormalities in FEP and extends understanding of gray matter abnormalities and pathological mechanisms in FEP.
Majorana neutrino masses by D-brane instanton effects in magnetized orbifold models
Authors: Hoshiya Kouki , Kikuchi Shota , Kobayashi Tatsuo , Nasu Kaito , Uchida Hikaru , Uemura Shohei
Published: November 2021

We study Majorana neutrino masses induced by D-brane instanton effects in magnetized orbifold models. We classify the possible cases where neutrino masses can be induced. Three and four generations are favored in order to generate neutrino masses by D-brane instantons. Explicit mass matrices have specific features. Their diagonalizing matrices correspond to the bimaximal mixing matrix in the case with even magnetic fluxes, independently of the modulus value τ. On the other hand, for odd magnetic fluxes, diagonalizing matrices correspond nearly to the tri-bimaximal mixing matrix near τ = i, while they become the bimaximal mixing matrix for larger ${\rm Im} \, \tau$. For even fluxes, neutrino masses are modular forms of weight 1 on $T^2/\mathbb {Z}_2$, and they have symmetries such as $S_4^{\prime }$ and ${\Delta ^{\prime }}(96)\times \mathbb {Z}_3$.
Corporate Transactions in Hard-to-Value Stocks
Authors: Ben-David Itzhak , Kim Byungwook , Moussawi Hala , Roulstone Darren
Published: November 2021

Hard-to-value stocks provide opportunities for managers to exploit their informational advantage through trading on their firms’ and their own personal accounts. In contrast to the prediction that such transactions reflect private information about future events, they are contrarian and heavily depend on past returns. Corporate transactions in hard-to-value stocks outperform those in easy-to-value stocks in the early part of our sample, but this difference disappears after 2002, coinciding with a general decline in the profitability of stock market anomalies. Our evidence is consistent with managers’ perception of mispricing, rather than private information, being a key motivator of their transactions. (JEL G12, G14, G23, G32)
Factors Affecting the Quality of Life of Hospitalized Persons with Chronic Foot and Lower Leg Wounds
Authors: Ozkan Sultan , Yilmaz Emel , Baydur Hakan , Ertugrul M. Bulent
Published: November 2021

OBJECTIVE

To determine the factors affecting the quality of life of patients with chronic wounds.

METHODS

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in a university hospital wound care unit in western Turkey with 134 patients. The data were collected via personal information form, Barthel Index for activities of daily living, visual analog scale, and Short Form-12 questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation were used for data analysis.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 60.4 ± 10.7 years; 79.9% of the research group had diabetic foot wounds, and 56.7% had wounds on their right/left big toe. The mean duration of wounds was 9.4 ± 11.4 months, and 68.7% had previously been hospitalized because of wounds. The average visual analog scale pain level was 3.5 ± 2.5, and 45.5% of the patients were PEDIS (perfusion, extent, depth, infection, and sensation) classification grade II. A positive correlation was detected between Short Form-12 physical summary score and activities of daily living score.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with chronic wounds have a poor quality of life. Patient quality of life decreases as pain and PEDIS score increase and increases with their level of independence.
Volumetric Evaluation of Dead Space in Ischial Pressure Injuries Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Case Series
Authors: Kim Dong Gyu , Park Eun Soo , Nam Seung Min , Cha Han Gyu , Choi Chang Yong
Published: November 2021

OBJECTIVE

To establish a preoperative evaluation procedure by measuring the volume of dead space using MRI in patients with ischial pressure injuries.

METHODS

Patients with spinal cord injury and ischial pressure injuries who underwent treatment between August 2016 and November 2019 were included in the study. Preoperative MRI scan was conducted on all patients. The volume estimation and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction were performed based on MRI data using a 3D Slicer. Based on the resulting volume, a muscle flap that could fit the dead space was selected. Surgery was performed with the selected muscle flap, and a fasciocutaneous flap was added, if necessary.

RESULTS

A total of eight patients with ischial pressure injuries were included in the study. The mean patient age was 59.0 ± 11.0 years. The mean body mass index was 26.62 ± 3.89 kg/m2. The mean volume of dead space was 104.75 ± 81.05 cm3. The gracilis muscle was the most selected muscle flap and was used in four patients. In five of eight cases, a fasciocutaneous flap was used as well. The mean follow-up period was 16 months, and by that point, none of the patients evinced complications that required surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report on volumetric evaluation of dead space in ischial pressure injuries. The authors believe that the 3D reconstruction process would enable adequate dead space obliteration in ischial pressure injuries. The authors propose that preoperative MRI scans in patients with ischial pressure injury should become an essential part of the process.
Mechanism of Chronic Pain of Symptomatic Hip Osteoarthritis by Association of its Distribution, Nociceptive, Neuropathic, Nociplastic, or Mixed-pain Screening, and the Prevalence of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Authors: Miyamoto Shuichi , Iida Satoshi , Miyashita Tomohiro , Katou Kei , Kawarai Yuya , Nakamura Junichi , Orita Sumihisa , Ohtori Seiji
Published: November 2021

Objectives:

The pain of hip osteoarthritis (OA) is generally recognized as nociceptive in origin because of the local pathology. However, some patients with OA experience a neuropathic pain component as an essential part of some nociplastic pain subtype. Here, we sought to examine the mechanism of chronic pain of symptomatic hip OA by the association of its distribution, complex pain mechanism screening, and the prevalence of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Materials and Methods:

We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study of 100 hips in 100 patients with symptomatic hip OA in a chronic state. We examined all baseline clinical characteristics including clinical and functional score, location of pain and numbness, and pain score (PainDETECT questionnaire and the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs), and magnetic resonance imaging of the hip and lumbar spine.

Results:

The PainDETECT questionnaire and Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs revealed that 23% of the patients had a neuropathic pain component. There were 24 variations of the pain pattern. By contrast, the pain localized around the hip joint was only 15%. Pain distal to the thigh and any numbness was significantly more frequent in the group with neuropathic pain (P<0.001). Lumbar spinal stenosis grade was not significantly different between patients with nociceptive pain and those with neuropathic pain. Pain score was significantly correlated with the pain in clinical and functional scores.

Discussion:

Among patients with symptomatic hip OA, the distribution of pain was various, and about 23% of patients had neuropathic, nociplastic, or mixed pain as a possibility for somatosensory system disturbances.
Dorsal Push and Abdominal Binding Improve Respiratory Compliance and Driving Pressure in Proned Coronavirus Disease 2019 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Authors: Elmufdi Firas S. , Marini John J.
Published: November 2021

OBJECTIVES:

We describe seven proned patients with coronavirus disease 2019-related acute respiratory distress syndrome in whom a paradoxical decrease in driving pressure reversibly occurred during passive, volume-controlled ventilation when compressing the lower back by a sustained “dorsal push.” We offer a potential explanation for these unexpected observations and suggest the possible importance of eliciting this response for lung-protective ventilation of similar patients.

DESIGN/SETTING:

Case series at a single teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Minnesota. Measurements were recorded from continuously monitored airway pressure and flow data.

PATIENTS:

Nonconsecutive and nonrandomized sample of coronavirus disease 2019 acute respiratory distress syndrome patients who were already prone and paralyzed for optimized lung protective clinical management while inhaling pure oxygen.

INTERVENTIONS:

Sustained, firm manual pressure applied over the lower back in all patients, followed by abdominal binding in a subset of these.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:

Respiratory system driving pressure declined and respiratory system compliance improved in seven patients with the dorsal push maneuver. In a subset of four of these, abdominal binding sustained those improvements over >3 hours.

CONCLUSIONS:

Sustained compressive force applied to the dorsum of the passive and prone patient with severe respiratory failure due to coronavirus disease pneumonia may elicit a paradoxical response characterized by improved compliance and for a given tidal volume, lower plateau, and driving pressures. Such findings, which suggest end-tidal overinflation within the aerated part of the diseased lung despite the already compressed anterior chest wall of prone positioning, complement and extend those observations recently described for the supine position in coronavirus disease 2019 acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Atrial Fibrillation Induced by Anticancer Drugs and Underling Mechanisms
Authors: Burashnikov Alexander
Published: November 2021

Cancer therapy has made major progress in the past several decades, but treatments are often accompanied by significant side effects. Arrhythmias are a widespread complication of some antineoplastic drugs, with atrial fibrillation (AF) being the most often encountered drug-associated arrhythmia. Preexisting AF risk factors are commonly present in cancer patients who develop drug-associated AF, and active cancer itself may cause or promote AF. Although anticancer drugs may induce AF in cancer patients without AF risk factors, it appears that most drug-associated AF develop when cancer drugs add or aggravate precancer-existing and/or cancer-related pro-AF factors/alterations, additively or synergistically producing AF. Abnormalities in intracellular calcium activity seem to be involved in the generation of anticancer drug–induced AF. In cancer survivors with cancer therapy–induced cardiomyopathy, AF often occurs, with most of the arrhythmias likely to develop secondary to the cardiomyopathy. AF may lead to modification or even cessation of cancer therapy. The management of AF in patients with cancer is currently conducted largely based on pragmatic assumptions. This review briefly discusses AF caused by anticancer drugs and the underlying mechanisms.
Evaluating Breast Reconstruction Reviews Using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR)
Authors: Yuan Morgan , Wu Jeremy , Austin Ryan E. , Hofer Stefan O.P. , Lista Frank , Ahmad Jamil
Published: November 2021

Background:

Breast reconstruction is an important aspect in breast cancer treatment.

Methods:

A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews was performed. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that focused on breast reconstruction and were published between 2000 and 2020 were included. Quality assessment was performed using A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR). Study characteristics were extracted, including journal and impact factor, year of publication, country affiliation, reporting adherence to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, number of citations, and number of studies included.

Results:

The average AMSTAR score was moderate (5.32). There was a significant increase in AMSTAR score (P < 0.01) and number of studies (P < 0.01) over time. There were no significant correlations between AMSTAR score and impact factor (P = 0.038), and AMSTAR score and number of citations (P = 0.52), but there was a significant association between AMSTAR score and number of studies (P = 0.013). Studies that adhered to the PRISMA statement had a higher AMSTAR score on average (P < 0.01).

Conclusions:

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses about breast reconstruction had, on average, a moderate AMSTAR score. The number of studies and methodological quality have increased over time. Study characteristics including adherence to PRISMA guidelines are associated with improved methodological quality. Further improvements in specific AMSTAR domains would improve the overall methodological quality.
Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance
Authors: Zhang Qingpeng
Published: November 2021

Novel data science approaches are needed to confront large-scale infectious disease epidemics such as COVID-19, human immunodeficiency viruses, African swine flu and Ebola. Human beings are now equipped with richer data and more advanced data analytics methodologies, many of which have become available only in the last decade. The theme issue
Data Science Approaches to Infectious Diseases Surveillance
reports the latest interdisciplinary research on developing novel data science methodologies to capitalize on the rich ‘big data’ of human behaviours to confront infectious diseases, with a particular focus on combating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to conventional public health research, articles in this issue present innovative data science approaches that were not possible without the growing human behaviour data and the recent advances in information and communications technology. This issue has 12 research papers and one review paper from a strong lineup of contributors from multiple disciplines, including data science, computer science, computational social sciences, applied maths, statistics, physics and public health. This introductory article provides a brief overview of the issue and discusses the future of this emerging field.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance’.
Percolation of temporal hierarchical mobility networks during COVID-19
Authors: He Haoyu , Deng Hengfang , Wang Qi , Gao Jianxi
Published: November 2021

Percolation theory is essential for understanding disease transmission patterns on the temporal mobility networks. However, the traditional approach of the percolation process can be inefficient when analysing a large-scale, dynamic network for an extended period. Not only is it time-consuming but it is also hard to identify the connected components. Recent studies demonstrate that spatial containers restrict mobility behaviour, described by a hierarchical topology of mobility networks. Here, we leverage crowd-sourced, large-scale human mobility data to construct temporal hierarchical networks composed of over 175 000 block groups in the USA. Each daily network contains mobility between block groups within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and long-distance travels across the MSAs. We examine percolation on both levels and demonstrate the changes of network metrics and the connected components under the influence of COVID-19. The research reveals the presence of functional subunits even with high thresholds of mobility. Finally, we locate a set of recurrent critical links that divide components resulting in the separation of core MSAs. Our findings provide novel insights into understanding the dynamical community structure of mobility networks during disruptions and could contribute to more effective infectious disease control at multiple scales.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance’.
On some fundamental challenges in monitoring epidemics
Authors: Vasiliauskaite Vaiva , Antulov-Fantulin Nino , Helbing Dirk
Published: November 2021

Epidemic models often reflect characteristic features of infectious spreading processes by coupled nonlinear differential equations considering different states of health (such as susceptible, infectious or recovered). This compartmental modelling approach, however, delivers an incomplete picture of the dynamics of epidemics, as it neglects stochastic and network effects, and the role of the measurement process, on which the estimation of epidemiological parameters and incidence values relies. In order to study the related issues, we combine established epidemiological spreading models with a measurement model of the testing process, considering the problems of false positives and false negatives as well as biased sampling. Studying a model-generated ground truth in conjunction with simulated observation processes (virtual measurements) allows one to gain insights into the fundamental limitations of purely data-driven methods when assessing the epidemic situation. We conclude that epidemic monitoring, simulation, and forecasting are wicked problems, as applying a conventional data-driven approach to a complex system with nonlinear dynamics, network effects and uncertainty can be misleading. Nevertheless, some of the errors can be corrected for, using scientific knowledge of the spreading dynamics and the measurement process. We conclude that such corrections should generally be part of epidemic monitoring, modelling and forecasting efforts.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance’.
A statistical model of COVID-19 testing in populations: effects of sampling bias and testing errors
Authors: Böttcher Lucas , D'Orsogna Maria R. , Chou Tom
Published: November 2021

We develop a statistical model for the testing of disease prevalence in a population. The model assumes a binary test result, positive or negative, but allows for biases in sample selection and both type I (false positive) and type II (false negative) testing errors. Our model also incorporates multiple test types and is able to distinguish between retesting and exclusion after testing. Our quantitative framework allows us to directly interpret testing results as a function of errors and biases. By applying our testing model to COVID-19 testing data and actual case data from specific jurisdictions, we are able to estimate and provide uncertainty quantification of indices that are crucial in a pandemic, such as disease prevalence and fatality ratios.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approach to infectious disease surveillance’.
Characterizing super-spreaders using population-level weighted social networks in rural communities
Authors: Shridhar Shivkumar Vishnempet , Alexander Marcus , Christakis Nicholas A.
Published: November 2021

Sociocentric network maps of entire populations, when combined with data on the nature of constituent dyadic relationships, offer the dual promise of advancing understanding of the relevance of networks for disease transmission and of improving epidemic forecasts. Here, using detailed sociocentric data collected over 4 years in a population of 24 702 people in 176 villages in Honduras, along with diarrhoeal and respiratory disease prevalence, we create a social-network-powered transmission model and identify super-spreading nodes as well as the nodes most vulnerable to infection, using agent-based Monte Carlo network simulations. We predict the extent of outbreaks for communicable diseases based on detailed social interaction patterns. Evidence from three waves of population-level surveys of diarrhoeal and respiratory illness indicates a meaningful positive correlation with the computed super-spreading capability and relative vulnerability of individual nodes. Previous research has identified super-spreaders through retrospective contact tracing or simulated networks. By contrast, our simulations predict that a node’s super-spreading capability and its vulnerability in real communities are significantly affected by their connections, the nature of the interaction across these connections, individual characteristics (e.g. age and sex) that affect a person’s ability to disperse a pathogen, and also the intrinsic characteristics of the pathogen (e.g. infectious period and latency).

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approach to infectious disease surveillance’.
A global assessment of the impact of school closure in reducing COVID-19 spread
Authors: Wu Joseph T. , Mei Shujiang , Luo Sihui , Leung Kathy , Liu Di , Lv Qiuying , Liu Jian , Li Yuan , Prem Kiesha , Jit Mark , Weng Jianping , Feng Tiejian , Zheng Xueying , Leung Gabriel M.
Published: November 2021

Prolonged school closure has been adopted worldwide to control COVID-19. Indeed, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization figures show that two-thirds of an academic year was lost on average worldwide due to COVID-19 school closures. Such pre-emptive implementation was predicated on the premise that school children are a core group for COVID-19 transmission. Using surveillance data from the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Anqing together, we inferred that compared with the elderly aged 60 and over, children aged 18 and under and adults aged 19–59 were 75% and 32% less susceptible to infection, respectively. Using transmission models parametrized with synthetic contact matrices for 177 jurisdictions around the world, we showed that the lower susceptibility of school children substantially limited the effectiveness of school closure in reducing COVID-19 transmissibility. Our results, together with recent findings that clinical severity of COVID-19 in children is lower, suggest that school closure may not be ideal as a sustained, primary intervention for controlling COVID-19.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approach to infectious disease surveillance’.
COVID-19 Surveiller: toward a robust and effective pandemic surveillance system based on social media mining
Authors: Jiang Jyun-Yu , Zhou Yichao , Chen Xiusi , Jhou Yan-Ru , Zhao Liqi , Liu Sabrina , Yang Po-Chun , Ahmar Jule , Wang Wei
Published: November 2021

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has become one of the most severe pandemics in human history. In this paper, we propose to leverage social media users as social sensors to simultaneously predict the pandemic trends and suggest potential risk factors for public health experts to understand spread situations and recommend proper interventions. More precisely, we develop novel deep learning models to recognize important entities and their relations over time, thereby establishing dynamic heterogeneous graphs to describe the observations of social media users. A dynamic graph neural network model can then forecast the trends (e.g. newly diagnosed cases and death rates) and identify high-risk events from social media. Based on the proposed computational method, we also develop a web-based system for domain experts without any computer science background to easily interact with. We conduct extensive experiments on large-scale datasets of COVID-19 related tweets provided by Twitter, which show that our method can precisely predict the new cases and death rates. We also demonstrate the robustness of our web-based pandemic surveillance system and its ability to retrieve essential knowledge and derive accurate predictions across a variety of circumstances. Our system is also available athttp://scaiweb.cs.ucla.edu/covidsurveiller/.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approachs to infectious disease surveillance’.
Modelling the geographical spread of HIV among MSM in Guangdong, China: a metapopulation model considering the impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis
Authors: Jing Fengshi , Ye Yang , Zhou Yi , Zhou Hanchu , Xu Zhongzhi , Lu Ying , Tao Xiaoyu , Yang Shujuan , Cheng Weibin , Tian Junzhang , Tang Weiming , Wu Dan
Published: November 2021

Men who have sex with men (MSM) make up the majority of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses among young people in China. Understanding HIV transmission dynamics among the MSM population is, therefore, crucial for the control and prevention of HIV infections, especially for some newly reported genotypes of HIV. This study presents a metapopulation model considering the impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to investigate the geographical spread of a hypothetically new genotype of HIV among MSM in Guangdong, China. We use multiple data sources to construct this model to characterize the behavioural dynamics underlying the spread of HIV within and between 21 prefecture-level cities (i.e. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, etc.) in Guangdong province: the online social network via a gay social networking app, the offline human mobility network via the Baidu mobility website, and self-reported sexual behaviours among MSM. Results show that PrEP initiation exponentially delays the occurrence of the virus for the rest of the cities transmitted from the initial outbreak city; hubs on the movement network, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Foshan are at a higher risk of ‘earliest’ exposure to the new HIV genotype; most cities acquire the virus directly from the initial outbreak city while others acquire the virus from cities that are not initial outbreak locations and have relatively high betweenness centralities, such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shantou. This study provides insights in predicting the geographical spread of a new genotype of HIV among an MSM population from different regions and assessing the importance of prefecture-level cities in the control and prevention of HIV in Guangdong province.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approach to infectious disease surveillance’.
Data science approaches to confronting the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative review
Authors: Zhang Qingpeng , Gao Jianxi , Wu Joseph T. , Cao Zhidong , Dajun Zeng Daniel
Published: November 2021

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than ever, data science has become a powerful weapon in combating an infectious disease epidemic and arguably any future infectious disease epidemic. Computer scientists, data scientists, physicists and mathematicians have joined public health professionals and virologists to confront the largest pandemic in the century by capitalizing on the large-scale ‘big data’ generated and harnessed for combating the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we review the newly born data science approaches to confronting COVID-19, including the estimation of epidemiological parameters, digital contact tracing, diagnosis, policy-making, resource allocation, risk assessment, mental health surveillance, social media analytics, drug repurposing and drug development. We compare the new approaches with conventional epidemiological studies, discuss lessons we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlight opportunities and challenges of data science approaches to confronting future infectious disease epidemics.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance’.
Optimal resource allocation in HIV self-testing secondary distribution among Chinese MSM: data-driven integer programming models
Authors: Jing Fengshi , Zhang Qingpeng , Ong Jason J. , Xie Yewei , Ni Yuxin , Cheng Mengyuan , Huang Shanzi , Zhou Yi , Tang Weiming
Published: November 2021

Human immunodeficiency virus self-testing (HIVST) is an innovative and effective strategy important to the expansion of HIV testing coverage. Several innovative implementations of HIVST have been developed and piloted among some HIV high-risk populations like men who have sex with men (MSM) to meet the global testing target. One innovative strategy is the secondary distribution of HIVST, in which individuals (defined as indexes) were given multiple testing kits for both self-use (i.e.self-testing) and distribution to other people in their MSM social network (defined as alters). Studies about secondary HIVST distribution have mainly concentrated on developing new intervention approaches to further increase the effectiveness of this relatively new strategy from the perspective of traditional public health discipline. There are many points of HIVST secondary distribution in which mathematical modelling can play an important role. In this study, we considered secondary HIVST kits distribution in a resource-constrained situation and proposed two data-driven integer linear programming models to maximize the overall economic benefits of secondary HIVST kits distribution based on our present implementation data from Chinese MSM. The objective function took expansion of normal alters and detection of positive and newly-tested ‘alters’ into account. Based on solutions from solvers, we developed greedy algorithms to find final solutions for our linear programming models. Results showed that our proposed data-driven approach could improve the total health economic benefit of HIVST secondary distribution.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance’.
Prauserella cavernicola sp. nov., isolated from cave rock
Authors: Suriyachadkun Chanwit , Ngaemthao Wipaporn , Pujchakarn Tawanmol , Mhuantong Wuttichai , Chunhametha Suwanee
Published: November 2021

A novel actinomycete, designated strain ASG 168T, was isolated from cave rock collected from Stegodon Sea Cave in Thailand. Long chains of non-motile spores that were oval or spherical in shape with a smooth surface developed on aerial mycelia. Substrate mycelia fragmented into irregular rod-shaped elements. A polyphasic taxonomic study showed that strain ASG 168T had typical characteristics of members of the genus

Prauserella

. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain ASG 168T shared 97.5 % similarity with

Prauserella marina

MS498T and 96.7 % with

Prauserella coralliicola

SCSIO 11529T. Average nucleotide identity values with

P. coralliicola

SCSIO 11529T and

P. marina

MS498T were 82.98 and 76.08 %, respectively. The cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid. The whole-cell sugars contained ribose, arabinose and galactose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The predominant fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, C16 : 0 and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1
ω7c/C16 : 1
ω6c). The phospholipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannosides and two unknown phospholipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 70.6 mol%. Differentiation of strain ASG 168T from closely related species was evident from digital DNA–DNA hybridization values of 29.2 and 21.3 % with

P. coralliicola

and

P. marina

, respectively. Based on comparative analysis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, the novel actinomycete strain ASG 168T (=TBRC 13679T=NBRC 114887T) is proposed to be the type strain of a novel species, Prauserella cavernicola sp. nov.