bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Patterns of glycaemic control and associated factors among adult patients with diabetes attending medical referral clinics in two public hospitals in North-West Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Kassahun Hailemariam , Genetu Abere , Abuhay Taye , Tesfa Hiwot
Published: August 2024

Background

Poor glycaemic control is the most challenging issue in diabetes care globally. The glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) value is the most standard monitoring parameter for appropriate glycaemic control status.

Objective

To assess the patterns of glycaemic control and associated factors among patients with diabetes attending medical referral clinics in North-West Ethiopia.

Design

An institution-based cross-sectional study.

Setting

This study was conducted in two public hospitals (Felege-Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital and Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital), Amhara National Regional State, North-West Ethiopia.

Participants

A total of 355 adult patients with diabetes were included in the study using a systematic sampling technique. Patients were recruited from both hospitals proportionally between July and September 2021.

Outcome measures

Glycaemic control was assessed using HbA1c levels. Data were collected using a checklist and structured questionnaire and analysed using a binary logistic regression model.

Results

The overall prevalence of poor glycaemic control was 66.2% (95% CI 61.1% to 71%). Age 31–45 years (AOR=0.30, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.75), 46–60 years (AOR=0.12, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.33) and >60 years (AOR=0.09, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.31), lower educational status (AOR=3.48, 95% CI 1.01 to 12.01), type 2 diabetes (AOR=3.36, 95% CI 1.56 to 7.27), poor adherence to antidiabetic drugs (AOR=4.18, 95% CI 1.70 to 10.30), physical inactivity (AOR=4.30, 95% CI 2.11 to 8.76), longer duration of diabetes mellitus (AOR=2.06, 95% CI 1.13 to 3.75) and high body mass index (AOR=3.83, 95% CI 1.31 to 11.19) were associated with poor glycaemic control.

Conclusion

The prevalence of poor glycaemic control was high. Age, lower educational status, type 2 diabetes, physical inactivity, high body mass index, longer duration of diabetes and poor adherence to antidiabetic drugs were associated with uncontrolled glycaemia.
Unveiling silent stories of women with stillbirth at Shai Osudoku District Hospital
Authors: Nkansah Ophelia , Osei Evans Appiah , Richardson Doris , Menlah Awube
Published: August 2024

Background

Stillbirth remains a prevalent issue worldwide, particularly affecting low-income and middle-income countries, where it brings immense sorrow and suffering to families, especially mothers. Sadly, support for women coping with this loss is inadequate, particularly in regions like Africa, where literature on women’s experiences of stillbirth is lacking.

Methods

This qualitative study employed a narrative design guided by William Worden’s Four Task Theory to explore the experiences of 15 women who had experienced stillbirth, selected through purposive sampling. Semistructured interviews were conducted face to face with participants, and thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

Results

The study identified three overarching themes and nine subthemes, revealing participants’ perspectives on factors contributing to stillbirth, the experiences of women dealing with this loss and their accounts of the care provided by healthcare professionals focusing on communication, response and logistical aspects.

Conclusion

Mothers revealed a multitude of challenges following the loss, underscoring the imperative of providing them with essential support to navigate these difficulties. Future research should delve into coping strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing the coping mechanisms of these mothers.
PACMNET, V2, CoNEXT3, September 2024 Editorial
Authors: Mellia Marco , Steenkiste Peter , Qazi Ihsan Ayyub , Tyson Gareth
Published: August 2024

The Proceedings of the ACM on Networking (PACMNET) series present the highest-quality research conducted in the areas of emerging computer networks and their applications. We encourage submissions that present new technologies, novel experimentation, creative use of networking technologies, and new insights made possible using analysis. The journal is strongly supported by the ACM Special Interest Group on Communications and Computer Networks (SIGCOMM) and involves top-level researchers in its Editorial Board.

This issue contains five articles that were originally submitted to the December'23 deadline, which received 82 submissions in total. Each submission underwent a rigorous review process involving more than 80 Editors coordinated by the two Associate Editors. In the first phase of the review process, each article received at least three reviews. After an online discussion phase, about half of the articles were rejected, and half were promoted to the second review phase. There, the Editors provided at least two additional reviews for each article. After a second discussion phase, the Editors selected seven long articles for a ''one-shot'' resubmission in June'24. The revised papers were then reviewed again by the same editors, resulting in five accepted papers.

This issue covers topics related to computer networks and their applications: two articles focus on network analytics, one article focuses on packet processing, one article focuses on network trace generation, and one article focuses on IP geolocation.

We want to thank the many individuals who contributed to this issue of PACMNET, in particular the authors, who submitted their best work to PACMNET, and the Associate Editors, who provided constructive feedback to the authors in their reviews and participated in the discussions. We would also like to thank the SIGCOMM Executive Committee Chair and the CoNEXT Steering Committee members who supported and guided us as usual, giving important suggestions and insights during the article selection process.
Geofeeds: Revolutionizing IP Geolocation or Illusionary Promises?
Authors: Livadariu Ioana , Vermeulen Kevin , Mouchet Maxime , Giotsas Vasilis
Published: August 2024

Despite more than twenty years of efforts, the research community is still looking for a publicly available Internet-scale IP geolocation dataset with an explainable methodology. Recently, a new hope has appeared, with the emergence of geofeeds. Geofeeds are a self published IP geolocation dataset where operators give the geolocation of their IP addresses, with the underlying idea being that other network providers can tune their services to better serve the IP address depending on its geolocation. In this paper, we analyze whether the hope of finally obtaining the golden geolocation dataset is a real possibility or a mirage. Two years after the standardization of geofeeds, we look at how they are adopted by operators, and what is their accuracy, and how we can use them for operational and research scenarios. First, geofeeds are in the early adoption process with 1.50% and 0.70% of the allocated IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes covering the geofeed prefixes. Second, even if we cannot use geofeeds as ground truth as we found 0.9%, 4.0%, and 8.5% of the client, router, and server IP addresses with an erroneous geofeed, most of them look correct and provide at least a geolocation hint for building an internet scale IP geolocation dataset. Finally, we provide some recommendations on how to use geofeeds and how we could improve the format and the process of sharing geofeeds to improve their quality.
NetDiff: A Service-Guided Hierarchical Diffusion Model for Network Flow Trace Generation
Authors: Zhang Shiyuan , Li Tong , Jin Depeng , Li Yong
Published: August 2024

Network flow traces are fundamental to many network management workflows. In this paper, we aim to generate high-fidelity network flow traces by explicitly modeling users' dynamic network usage intents. We propose NetDiff, a service-guided hierarchical diffusion model for network flow trace generation. NetDiff employs a hierarchical generation structure that includes a layer to model mobile users' interactions with network services, such as app usage traces, and leverages these generated app usage traces to guide network flow generation. NetDiff avoids pattern collapse and generates controlled samples by gradually eliminating noise and using service conditions to guide each step more precisely. It captures the co-usage and sequential relationships across network service usage through a pre-trained embedding model and an encoder-decoder structure. Additionally, NetDiff captures the temporal and feature correlations present in multidimensional network flow data through a two-layer transformer network. Extensive experiments on real-world network flow datasets demonstrate that NetDiff significantly outperforms state-of-the-art baselines regarding Jensen-Shannon divergence, total variation distance, and cumulative residual probability sum squares. Furthermore, NetDiff is robust across various datasets from different cities, meeting users' requirements for downstream tasks by maintaining algorithm accuracy and order.
Unmake to Remake: Materiality-Driven Rapid Prototyping
Authors: Deshpande Himani , Takahashi Haruki , Kim Jeeeun
Published: August 2024

Within the domain of fabrication, the recent strides in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) have sparked growing interest in its sustainability. In this work, we analyze the contemporary lifecycle of polymers consumed in FDM, a common and accessible fabrication technique. Then we outline the points of design intervention to reduce wasted polymers in fabrication. Specifically, we discuss the design intervention of
Filament Wiring
, a set of hybrid craft techniques to promote sustainable prototyping and robust applications by highlighting left-over filaments. Our techniques aim to enhance the understanding of filaments as a unique material for hybrid fabrication, fostering creativity. Through our computational design system, end users can generate 3D printable frames, for exploring the possibilities of filament-based fabrication beyond 3D printing. We hope to provoke thought about filament as its own form of material, having capabilities to be made, unmade, and remade repeatedly into various artifacts. With this outlook, we discuss future research avenues and urge makers and practitioners to value material in any form, quantity, or stage of its lifecycle.
Topological Characterization of Consensus in Distributed Systems
Authors: Nowak Thomas , Schmid Ulrich , Winkler Kyrill
Published: August 2024

We provide a complete characterization of both uniform and non-uniform deterministic consensus solvability in distributed systems with benign process and communication faults using point-set topology. More specifically, we non-trivially extend the approach introduced by Alpern and Schneider in 1985, by introducing novel fault-aware topologies on the space of infinite executions: the process-view topology, induced by a distance function that relies on the local view of a given process in an execution, and the minimum topology, which is induced by a distance function that focuses on the local view of the process that is the last to distinguish two executions. Consensus is solvable in a given model if and only if the sets of admissible executions leading to different decision values is disconnected in these topologies. By applying our approach to a wide range of different applications, we provide a topological explanation of a number of existing algorithms and impossibility results and develop several new ones, including a general equivalence of the strong and weak validity conditions.
MOSS-MED: Medical Multimodal Model Serving Medical Image Analysis
Authors: Dai Junqi , Zhu Qin , Zhan Jun , Wang Bo , Qiu Xipeng
Published: August 2024

The remarkable advancements in large language models (LLMs) and large-scale visual encoders have laid a solid foundation for enhancing the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in various application scenarios. In this study, we introduce MOSS-MED, a suite of models designed for biomedical vision-language understandings. MOSS-MED includes two models currently: MOSS-MED-2.5B and MOSS-MED-LLaMA, with different scale of their underlying LLMs. We employ a two-stage training pipeline that involves visual-text alignment and visual-involved instruction fine-tuning from both general domains and the medical domain. We evaluate the performance of MOSS-MED family on medical visual question answering (VQA) benchmarks. The results and cases demonstrate the impressive proficiency in medical expertise that MOSS-MED embodies.
On-the-Go Automated Break Recommendation for Stress Avoidance during Highway Driving
Authors: Verma Rohit , Mitra Bivas , Chakraborty Sandip
Published: August 2024

Continuous cab driving is considered a highly stressful job, although drivers often ignore the stress. Taking a break from manual driving or transferring the control to another driver to release the stress would be an easy, intuitive solution, although the challenge is to detect the driving stress while the trip is going on. As driving stress depends on multiple diverse environmental and affective features, we, in this article, develop a novel assistive system,
SmartHalt
, which continuously senses the driving environment (such as road type, congestion, driver’s driving pattern) and then utilizes a spatial time series model of the driving environment with a deep learning framework to predict whether the driver will be stressed while on the trip. The model also considers the personality traits of the drivers along with the spatio-temporal features to differentiate the impact of stress on the driving behavior for different drivers and recommends taking a break soon before the driving behavior drops below a critical level. A thorough analysis of the model over seven different drivers for a 10 month-long experiment over 204,871 km of driving data reveals that the proposed approach can significantly improve driving behavior by recommending a driving break at proper times. Following the recommendation by
SmartHalt
improves the driving score by ≈50% and reduces the number of driving offenses by ≈50%.
SmartHalt
can help develop advanced driving assisting system (ADAS) platforms that understand the affective states of the driver and thus can be helpful for semi-autonomous driving environments for effective driver-vehicle interactions.
Multi-Class Imbalanced Data Handling with Concept Drift in Fog Computing: A Taxonomy, Review, and Future Directions
Authors: Sharief Farhana , Ijaz Humaira , Shojafar Mohammad , Naeem Muhammad Asif
Published: August 2024

A network of actual physical objects or “IoT components” linked to the internet and equipped with sensors, electronics, software, and network connectivity is known as the Internet of Things (IoT). This ability of the IoT components to gather and share data is made possible by this network connectivity. Many IoT devices are currently operating, which generate a lot of data. When these IoT devices started collecting data, the cloud was the only place to analyze, filter, pre-process, and aggregate it. However, when it comes to IoT, the cloud has restrictions regarding latency and a more centralized method of distributing programs. A new form of computing called Fog computing has been proposed to address the shortcomings of current cloud computing. In an IoT context, sensors regularly communicate signal information, and edge devices process the data obtained from these sensors using Fog computing. The sensors’ internal or external problems, security breaches, or the integration of heterogeneous equipment contribute to the imbalanced data, i.e., comparatively speaking, one class has more instances than the other. As a result of this data, the pattern extraction is
imbalanced
. Recent attempts have concentrated heavily on binary-class imbalanced concerns with exactly two classes. However, the classification of multi-class imbalanced data is an issue that needs to be fixed in Fog computing, even if it is widespread in other fields, including text categorization, human activity detection, and medical diagnosis. The study intends to deal with this problem. It presents a systematic, thorough, and in-depth comparative analysis of several binary-class and multi-class imbalanced data handling strategies for batch and streaming data in IoT networks and Fog computing. There are
five
major objectives in this study. First, reviewing the Fog computing concept. Second, outlining the optimization metric used in Fog computing. Third, focusing on binary and multi-class batch data handling for IoT networks and Fog computing. Fourth, reviewing and comparing the current imbalanced data handling methodologies for multi-class data streams. Fifth, explaining how to cope with the concept drift, including novel and recurring classes, targeted optimization measures, and evaluation tools. Finally, the best performance metrics and tools for concept drift, binary-class (batch and stream) data, and multi-class (batch and stream) data are highlighted.
Effect of UHT Thermal Treatment on the Secondary Structures of Milk Proteins: Insights From FTIR Analysis and Potential Allergenic Activity
Authors: Acuña-Nelson Sergio-Miguel , Henríquez-González Leslie-Patricia , Sepúlveda-Villagra Vieroska-Belén , Opazo-Navarrete Mauricio , Durán-Agüero Samuel , Parra-Flores Julio-Enrique
Published: August 2024

Although thermal treatments are beneficial for the preservation and safety of milk, they can also alter its immunogenic activity by affecting its protein components. To achieve precise results, it is essential to identify the specific proteins that cause food allergies. Therefore, investigating the possible alterations of cow’s milk proteins (CMPs) resulting from thermal treatments is necessary. In this study, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) technique was used to analyze the effect of UHT thermal treatment on the secondary structures of milk casein. Using the second derivative, six characteristic peaks were identified in the Amide I region, ranging from 1700 to 1600 cm−1. It was found that thermal treatments produce shifts in absorption peaks, indicating changes in protein conformation and possibly in allergenic activity. These shifts were clearly identified in the first characteristic peak of samples M8 and M9, from 1621 to 1600 cm−1. The results suggest that thermal treatments may promote protein aggregation by increasing β turns and reducing β sheets and α helices, which could enhance the allergenic potential of the proteins and facilitate the formation of complexes between different milk proteins, such as β‐lactoglobulin and κ‐casein. Further studies are needed to experimentally validate the allergenic activity of proteins modified by thermal treatments, as only an analytical method (FTIR) was used to evaluate the secondary structures of the proteins.
Performance Evaluation and Microstructural Assessment of Industrial Solid Waste as Sustainable Additives for Expansive Soil
Authors: Nadeem Muhammad , Ullah Sami , Khan Mohammad Arsalan , Chen Shanxiong , Q. Alkahtani Meshel , Mursaleen Mohammad , Salih Rania , Ali Dildar , Jian Li , Ahmad Jamal , Islam Saiful
Published: August 2024

Expansive soils pose significant challenges in civil engineering due to their susceptibility to volumetric changes, leading to structural instability and damage in infrastructure. This study evaluates the performance and microstructural characteristics of industrial solid waste materials (Class F‐fly ash and ground granulated blast‐furnace slag) as additives for stabilizing expansive soils. Tests, including moisture density, unconfined compressive strength, Atterberg limits, compressibility index (Cc), cation exchange capacity, direct shear test, and California bearing ratio, were conducted on the treated expansive soil. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) were used to analyze the changes in the soil matrix due to the incorporation of the waste materials. The results demonstrate improved engineering properties of expansive soil treated with these additives. The analysis confirms enhancements in particle arrangement, reduced porosity/pore sizes, and improved bonding between soil particles, indicating the formation of calcium silicate hydrate and calcium aluminate hydrate. This research suggests that these waste materials can be eco‐friendly and cost‐effective alternatives for stabilizing expansive soils in construction projects.
Physicochemical and Emulsifying Properties of Melia azedarach Gum
Authors: Asamoa Mensa Kofi Acheampong , Kuntworbe Noble , Osei Yaa Asantewaa , El Boakye-Gyasi Mariam , Owusu Frederick William Akuffo , Obeng Lawrence Michael , Antwi Osei-Asibey , Adoley Winifred Naa , Ofori-Kwakye Kwabena
Published: August 2024

Naturally occurring hydrophilic colloids are versatile excipients in drug delivery systems. They are often used as coating materials, disintegrating agents, binders, emulsion stabilizers, and other applications. This study sought to investigate the physicochemical and emulsifying properties of gum extracted from Melia azedarach (MA). The gum was harvested, authenticated, and purified using ethanol precipitation. Physicochemical, microbial, and proximate analyses were performed on the purified gum. Oil of olive emulsions containing different amounts (5–15%w/v) of the gum as emulsifiers were prepared by homogenization. The zeta potential, creaming index, and average droplet size of products were assessed. The effects of pH changes, temperature, and monovalent and divalent electrolytes on the stability of the emulsions were also investigated. The yield of the gum after purification was 68.3%w/w. The gum has low moisture content and good swelling properties. Lead, copper, cadmium, and mercury were not detected. Emulsions containing 15%w/v of acacia or MA gum had the smallest average (Z‐average) droplet size (acacia: 1.837 ± 0.420 μm; MA gum: 2.791 ± 0.694 μm) and the highest zeta potential (acacia: −30.45 mV; MA gum: −32.867 mV). Increasing the concentration of the gums increased the emulsion viscosity with MA gum emulsions being more viscous than corresponding acacia emulsions. MA gum emulsions had higher emulsion capacity and stability but lower creaming index relative to acacia gum emulsions of similar concentrations. Potassium chloride (KCl) reduced zeta potential but increased Z‐average for emulsions prepared with either gum. Calcium chloride (CaCl2) produced a similar but more pronounced effect. When the pH was decreased from 10 to 2, the zeta potential of the droplets was reduced, but the droplet size of emulsions prepared from either gum was increased. Increasing temperature from 25 to 90°C produced no significant (p value >0.9999) change in droplet size. These findings suggest that MA gum is a capable emulsifying agent at 15%w/v.
TCR-Engineered T Cells Directed against Ropporin-1 Constitute a Safe and Effective Treatment for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Authors: Kortleve Dian , Hammerl Dora , van Brakel Mandy , Wijers Rebecca , Roelofs Daphne , Kroese Kim , Timmermans Mieke M. , Liao Chen-Yi , Huang Shaozhuo , Trapman-Jansen Anita , Foekens Renée , Michaux Justine , de Beijer Monique T.A. , Buschow Sonja I. , Demmers Jeroen A.A. , Kok Marleen , Danen Erik H.J. , Bassani-Sternberg Michal , Martens John W.M. , Abbott Rachel J.M. , Debets Reno
Published: August 2024

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has an urgent need for new therapies. We discovered Ropporin-1 (ROPN1) as a target to treat TNBC with T cells. ROPN1 showed high and homogenous expression in 90% of primary and metastatic TNBC but not in healthy tissues. Human leukocyte antigen-A2-binding peptides were detected via immunopeptidomics and predictions and used to retrieve T-cell receptors (TCR) from naïve repertoires. Following gene introduction into T cells and stringent selection, we retrieved a highly specific TCR directed against the epitope FLYTYIAKV that did not recognize noncognate epitopes from alternative source proteins. Notably, this TCR-mediated killing of three-dimensional (3D) tumoroids in vitro and tumor cells in vivo and outperformed standard-of-care drugs. Finally, the T-cell product expressing this TCR and manufactured using a clinical protocol fulfilled standard safety and efficacy assays. Collectively, we have identified and preclinically validated ROPN1 as a target and anti-ROPN1 TCR T cells as a treatment for the vast majority of patients with TNBC.

Significance: Metastatic TNBC has a dismal prognosis. This study discovers Ropporin-1 as a target for T-cell therapy for most patients. The selected TCR is highly specific and sensitive in advanced models, and preclinical testing shows that the T-cell product expressing this TCR, manufactured according to good manufacturing practice, has favorable safety and potency.
Netrin-1 and UNC5B Cooperate with Integrins to Mediate YAP-Driven Cytostasis
Authors: Pearson Joel D. , Huang Katherine , Dela Pena Louis G. , Ducarouge Benjamin , Mehlen Patrick , Bremner Rod
Published: August 2024

Opposite expression and pro- or anti-cancer function of YAP and its paralog TAZ/WWTR1 stratify cancers into binary YAPon and YAPoff classes. These transcriptional coactivators are oncogenic in YAPon cancers. In contrast, YAP/TAZ are silenced epigenetically along with their integrin and extracellular matrix adhesion target genes in neural and neuroendocrine YAPoff cancers (e.g., small cell lung cancer, retinoblastoma). Forced YAP/TAZ expression induces these targets, causing cytostasis in part through Integrin-αV/β5, independent of the integrin-binding RGD ligand. Other effectors of this anticancer YAP function are unknown. Here, using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) screens, we link the Netrin receptor UNC5B to YAP-induced cytostasis in YAPoff cancers. Forced YAP expression induces UNC5B through TEAD DNA-binding partners, as either TEAD1/4-loss or a YAP mutation that disrupts TEAD-binding (S94A) blocks, whereas a TEAD-activator fusion (TEAD(DBD)-VP64) promotes UNC5B induction. Ectopic YAP expression also upregulates UNC5B relatives and their netrin ligands in YAPoff cancers. Netrins are considered protumorigenic, but knockout and peptide/decoy receptor blocking assays reveal that in YAPoff cancers, UNC5B and Netrin-1 can cooperate with integrin-αV/β5 to mediate YAP-induced cytostasis. These data pinpoint an unsuspected Netrin-1/UNC5B/integrin-αV/β5 axis as a critical effector of YAP tumor suppressor activity.

Significance:

Netrins are widely perceived as procancer proteins; however, we uncover an anticancer function for Netrin-1 and its receptor UNC5B.
Health Disparities among Patients with Cancer Who Received Molecular Testing for Biomarker-Directed Therapy
Authors: Heath Elisabeth , Dyson Gregory , Ribeiro Jennifer R. , Xiu Joanne , Poorman Kelsey , Mamdani Hirva , Al-Hallak Mohammed N. , Shields Anthony F. , Elayoubi Jailan A. , Winer Ira S. , Cackowski Frank C. , Puckrein Gary A. , Lopes Gilberto de Lima , Jones Nathaniel , Hauke Ralph J. , Kareff Samuel A. , Radovich Milan , Sledge George W. , Spetzler David B. , Vidal Gregory A. , Marshall John L.
Published: August 2024

Health disparities present a barrier to successful oncology treatment. The potential for precision oncology to reduce health disparities has not previously been analyzed. We performed a retrospective analysis of 12,627 patients from six major cancer centers whose tumors underwent molecular testing at Caris Life Sciences between 2010 and 2020. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression were used to describe and analyze overall survival. The molecular and demographic features of the cohort were analyzed by χ2 and ANOVA tests. Black patients composed 25% of the cohort and White patients 63%. Among this molecularly-tested cohort, there were minimal outcome differences based on race, geographic location, or poverty level. When analyzing the interaction of age, race, and sex, racial-based disparities were noted primarily for young non-White women in the study cohort but were more pronounced for men and women of all ages in the broader patient population within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Mutations in five genes—APC, EGFR, STK11, TP53, and KRAS—were found to affect overall survival among our cohort, and their prevalence varied by race in specific tumor types. Real-world outcomes data in mutation-defined cohorts also provided additional context to previously reported therapeutic response trends. Our study shows that patients who undergo molecular testing display reduced racial health disparities compared with the general population, whereas persistent racial disparities are influenced by age and sex. Genomic-driven racial disparities should be examined at a tumor lineage-specific level. Increased access to molecular testing for all eligible patients may play a role in improving health equity.

Significance: This study is the largest of its kind to analyze health disparities and genomic features among a diverse multiinstitutional cohort of patients who underwent molecular testing. Continuing to increase awareness of and access to molecular testing approaches may help to reduce cancer health disparities and improve outcomes for all patients.
Development and validation of a machine learning-based prognostic model for IgA nephropathy with CKD stage 3 or 4
Authors: Yu Zixian , Ning Xiaoxuan , Qin Yunlong , Xing Yan , Jia Qing , Yuan Jinguo , Zhang Yumeng , Zhao Jin , Sun Shiren
Published: August 2024

Introduction: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) patients with lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and higher proteinuria are at a higher risk for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and their prognosis is still unclear. We aim to develop and validate prognostic models in IgAN patients with CKD stage 3 or 4 and proteinuria≥1.0 g/d.
Methods: Patients who came from Xijing Hospital, spanning December 2008 to January 2020 were divided into training and test cohorts randomly, with a ratio of 7:3, achieving ESKD and death as study endpoints. Created prediction models for IgAN patients based on 66 clinical and pathological characteristics using the random survival forests (RSF), survival support vector machine (SSVM), eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGboost), and Cox regression models. The concordance index (C-index), integrated Brier scores (IBS), net reclassification index (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were used to evaluate discrimination, calibration, and risk classification respectively.
Results: A total of 263 patients were enrolled. The median follow-up time was 57.3 months, with 124 (47.1%) patients experiencing combined events. Age, blood urea nitrogen, serum uric acid, serum potassium, glomeruli sclerosis ratio, hemoglobin, and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis were identified as risk factors. The RSF model predicted the prognosis with a C-index of 0.871 (0.842, 0.900) in training cohort and 0.810 (0.732, 0.888) in test cohort, which was higher than the models built by SSVM model (0.794 (0.753, 0.835) and 0.805 (0.731, 0.879) respectively), XGboost model (0.840 (0.797, 0.883) and 0.799 (0.723, 0.875) respectively) and Cox regression (0.776 (0.727, 0.825) and 0.793 (0.713, 0.873) respectively). NRI and IDI showed that the RSF model exhibited superior performance than the Cox model.
Conclusion: Our model introduced seven risk factors that may be useful in predicting the progression of IgAN patients with CKD stage 3 or 4 and proteinuria ≥1.0g/d. The RSF model is applicable for identifying the progression of IgAN and has outperformed than SSVM, XGboost, and Cox models.
Plantas medicinais: caçaús ou mil-homens
Authors:   Universidade de São Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, Capellari Júnior Lindolpho
Published: August 2024

A observação do comportamento animal em casos de doenças e também a diversidade das formas dos órgãos vegetais, impulsionam o ser humano a ir escolhendo e tentando a utilização de plantas no combate de suas próprias moléstias. Obviamente esse processo nem sempre trouxe resultados satisfatórios e muitos devem ter perdido a vida nessas experiências, porém, o homem foi “montando” sua farmacopeia e pode-se dizer que ainda nos dias de hoje, esse acervo vem aumentando, agora com o respaldo da Ciência. Neste panorama, muitas espécies de Aristolochia foram, e em certos casos ainda o são, utilizadas como medicinais.
Thinking the Unthinkable about the First Amendment
Authors: Lemann Nicholas
Published: August 2024

The First Amendment's press clause has long played second fiddle to the speech clause. With the professional press in steep economic decline, it may be time to consider freedom of speech and freedom of the press separately, in order to shore up journalism's distinctive, and imperiled, role in a healthy democracy.
A review of present knowledge of larvae of the Calopterygoidea (Zygoptera) of the Oriental realm, including keys to families and known genera
Authors: ORR ALBERT G.W.
Published: August 2024

Literature on larvae of Calopterygoidea occurring in the Oriental Realm is comprehensively reviewed and assessed with a view to enabling workers in the region to identify larvae to genus level, and to navigate and interpret existing literature, which is scattered and uneven in quality. A family key and, where necessary and possible, generic keys for each family are provided, with the most significant gaps in our knowledge identified. Larvae of all 11 families except Priscagrionidae (2 genera) are known but larvae of many genera remain unknown and a few known genera cannot be determined with confidence by morphological characters. In total, larvae of 28 of 50 genera occurring in the region are known but apart from monotypic or ditypic families these are variably known: ratios of ‘genera with larva known’ to ‘total known genera’ are Calopterygidae (11/12), with confident generic determination of most specimens; Euphaeidae (6/8) with fair confidence of determination; Chlorocyphidae (6/16) with genera usually not clearly identifiable, hence no generic level key is provided for this family, although known intergeneric and interspecific variation is discussed.
Description of a new species of cusk-eel (Teleostei, Ophidiiformes, Ophidiidae, Ophidion) from the Galápagos Archipelago and Isla del Coco, long known but previously undescribed
Authors: LEA ROBERT N. , ROBINS C. RICHARD
Published: August 2024

A cusk-eel, known from the Galápagos Archipelago since 1905, which has remained undescribed, is herein formally named, Ophidion galapagensis Lea & Robins. The species is known from 10 collections, including material from Isla del Coco. The species is endemic to the Galápagos Archipelago–Isla del Cocos biogeographic complex and is compared to the seven known eastern Pacific ophidiine cusk-eels; its relationship to these species is unclear. It is distinguished by dorsal-fin ray, anal-fin ray, and vertebral counts, and the relationship of pelvic-fin filaments and pectoral-fin length. It is most frequently collected by ichthyocide from depths between 3–25 m and taken by bottom trawl to depths of 110 m. It is occasionally observed by scuba divers during night dives.
An Ethical Critique of the Sexist Mining Myths and the Gender Factor in the Extractive Industry of Southern Africa
Authors: Muko Keba
Published: August 2024

The extractive industry is an economic venue with enormous potentialities for men and women in Southern Africa particularly, DRC, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This part of the African Continent is flourishing with mineral resources in which women participate in different capacities. The contrast here is that of the increased number of women in this industry as opposed to the decline of social and economic wellbeing of women on account of gender based violence and many other oppressions against them. These dehumanising activities against women are fuelled by cultural and sexist mining myths from male peers reinforcing gender disparities. Thus, from an ethical perspective, the present study analyses cultural and sexist myths, deconstructing their patriarchal foundation and valorising women’s human agency and rights within the extractive industry. It is contended that women can contribute to the economic growth of the mining industry in Southern Africa provided that public institutions insure gender parity in the industry. In different levels, a response will be provided to the question: How can the cultural and sexist mining myths be ethically engaged to valorise women’s human agency and rights within the Southern Africa Extractive Industry? In response, this paper critically assesses the cultural basis of sexist myths from a perspective of feminist ethics, proceeding by deconstructing the patriarchal foundation of these myths and affirming women’s experience based on their human and economic capabilities. The present study proposes to contribute to the ethical discourse on gender parity, and the pursuit of women’s social and economic rights in the Extractive Industry.
Magnitude of Transfusion Transmissible Infections and Associated Factors Among Blood Donors at the Woliso Blood Bank, Oromia, Ethiopia: Across-Sectional Study
Authors: Amlak Alemnesh , Oljira Habtamu , Tafa Belay , Darcho Samuel , Begna Sisay
Published: August 2024

Background: Blood transfusion is an effective treatment for saving millions of lives, even though transfusion-transmissible infections are the major problem. The prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections varies between different geographical populations. This study aims to assess the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections and associated factors among blood donors at Woliso Blood Bank, South West Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data through a face-to-face interview. The data was entered in Epi Data version 3.1, and exported to STATA version 17.0 for data cleaning and analysis. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with outcome variables. Odd ratios along with the 95% confidence interval were used to present the finding and statistical significance was reported with a p-value of 0.05. Results: The overall prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections was 9.5% (95% CI 6.3-12.9%). Participants without formal education [AOR=4.84; 95% CI= 1.09, 21.46], unprotected sexual intercourse with multiple partners [AOR=4.77; 95% CI= 1.38, 16.44], and participants with a lower frequency of blood donation [AOR=2.85; 95% CI: 1.16, 6.99] were significantly associated with transfusion transmissible infections. Conclusions: The prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections was high in this study area. Educational level, unprotected sexual intercourse with more partners, and a number of blood donations were found to be independent predictors of transfusion-transmitted infections. Blood banks and regional health offices should work to mobilize the community and improve health promotion through prevention and control considering the associated factors identified.
Presurface Treatment of Zirconia and Lithium Disilicate Ceramics Conditioned With CO2 Laser, SECP, and Hydrofluoric Acid on Color Change, Surface Roughness, and Bond Failure: An In Vitro Analysis
Authors: Deeb Modhi Al
Published: August 2024

AIM: Shear bond strength (SBS), surface roughness (Ra), and color change (ΔE) of Lithium disilicate (LDC) and Zirconia (Zr) after pretreating with different surface conditioners i.e., Hydrofluoric acid (HF) and silane (S), self-etching ceramic primer (SECP)
and carbon dioxide laser (CO2) laser. METHODS: A total of 120 discs, sixty from Group A: LDC and Group B: Zr were prepared. Each group was divided into 3 subgroups based on the method of conditioner (n =20) A1 and B1: HF(S), A2 and B2: SECP and A3 and B3: CO2
laser. Five discs from each Group A and B underwent ΔE evaluation. Five discs from each group after conditioning were assessed for Ra and 10 samples from each group were evaluated for SBS. ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test were used to compare the means and SD of SBS, Ra,
and ΔE. RESULTS: The Highest ΔE was found in CO2 laser+LDC treated samples. The lowest ΔE was observed in HF(S)+Zr group. Samples pretreated with CO2 laser+LDC showed the maximum Ra and SBS. Conversely, discs conditioned
with SECP+Zr exhibited minimum Ra. CONCLUSION: CO2 laser exhibited satisfactory outcomes on the bond integrity of resin cement to LDC and Zr. However, it should be used with caution because of the color change observed after its application.
Anti-Corruption Initiatives and the Digital Challenge: The Role of Civil Society Organizations and Whistleblowing Infrastructures in the Italian Context
Authors: Fubini Alice , Lo Piccolo Alessandra
Published: August 2024

Civil society organizations increasingly rely on digital technologies to intervene in the whistleblowing process and advance their anti-corruption goals. However, scholars have yet to investigate how civil society organizations’ use of digital technologies impacts their role as whistleblowing actors and what consequences this might entail. Moving from this gap, the article explores how civil society organizations exploit digital technologies to intervene in the whistleblowing process and how their use of digital technologies affects patterns of interactions with institutional actors in the whistleblowing process. The article combines situational and thematic analysis to investigate three whistleblowing initiatives deployed by Italian civil society organizations: Linea Libera, the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre for Whistleblowers, and Whistleblowing PA. The results show that grassroots whistleblowing initiatives are more than just services or tools but represent whistleblowing infrastructures, running on more or less sophisticated technologies, which grant their developers a role as low- or high-tech intermediaries in the whistleblowing process, in turn affecting the relational dynamics between grassroots and institutional actors and civil society organizations’ influence over the whistleblowing process.
Prognostic Impact of a Decrease in Serum Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9 Levels After Preoperative Therapy for 4 Months or More for Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer Abutting Major Arteries
Authors: Matsumoto Michinori , Tsunematsu Masashi , Abe Kyohei , Hamura Ryoga , Onda Shinji , Furukawa Kenei , Haruki Koichiro , Okamoto Tomoyoshi , Uwagawa Tadashi , Ikegami Toru
Published: August 2024

Background: This study aimed to identify the prognostic factors after pancreatectomy for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer abutting major arteries (BR-A).

Methods: We retrospectively investigated relationship between preoperative and intraoperative variables and overall survival (OS) through univariate and multivariate analyses. The cut-off points of preoperative therapy duration and response rates of serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) levels after preoperative therapy were determined through a minimum P-value approach using the log-rank test for OS. Overall survival was compared among patients stratified according to the independent prognostic factors and the presence or absence of pancreatectomy.

Results: After pretreatment, 17 patients underwent pancreatectomy and four patients continued chemotherapy without surgery. Multivariate analysis in 17 resected BR-A patients demonstrated decreased serum CA19-9 levels and preoperative therapy duration of ≥4 months were the independent prognostic factors [hazard ratio (HR) 0.01; P = 0.002, HR 0.13; P = 0.02]. Patients who underwent surgery with decreased serum CA19-9 levels after preoperative therapy of ≥4 months had a significantly better prognosis than those without one or both of independent prognostic factors and those who did not undergo surgery (median survival time: not estimated, 23.3 months, 10.5 months, and 10.8 months; P = 0.02, P = 0.004, and P = 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, the prognosis did not significantly differ between the patients who underwent surgery without meeting either one or both criteria and those without surgery.

Conclusions: Preoperative therapy duration of ≥4 months and decreased serum CA19-9 levels are independent prognostic factors among BR-A patients.
Magahiya Doms and untouchability
Authors: Verma Sonali
Published: August 2024

Magahiya Doms have historically suffered from the double stigma of criminality and untouchability. They were notified as a Criminal Tribe in 1913 but also came to be recognised as useful for the colonial state due to their role as sweepers and scavengers. The missionaries and colonial officials attempted to order and fix the identities of communities such as these. In this paper, I discuss the concept of touch and untouchability in relation to the caste system in India. I juxtapose the idea of the body proposed by Ambedkar in Annihilation of Caste against the caste body and colonised body. Against the static and closed identity which the state attempted to bestow on the Doms, I seek to understand the body itself as processual, moving and relational. Magahiya Doms resisted colonial moves to stabilise social identities every step of the way. I also discuss the role of the colonial apparatus as a mediator that sought to impose a new order of hygiene. The colonial mechanisms of governance cut off the older ties and relational tendencies and placed themselves and their logistics as chains through which frozen identities could communicate. In this way, they partitioned off bodies and settled themselves as chains connecting the partitioned bodies. After being de-notified as a Criminal Tribe, the Magahiya Doms were categorised as a Scheduled Caste in 1952.
Impact of Socio-economic Factors  on Agricultural Prices: A Case  Study of Paddy Cultivation in India
Authors: Thakur Avanindra Nath
Published: August 2024

As part of agricultural price policy of the country, the government announces minimum support price (MSP) for selected crops every year based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). Since large part of procurement of paddy happens though the private procurement agencies, implementation of MSP remains extremely limited. Further, as far as government-regulated agencies are concerned, procurement remained concentrated in a few states; therefore uniformity of price even in the regulated markets is far from being a reality. Thus, the average price received by farmers is largely the outcome of intra-regional socio-economic dynamics. Even within a particular region, not all farmers at any point in time receive same price for their produce. In this context, the article, based on the analysis of unit level data of NSS 77th round, argues that while differences in socio-economic status based on land ownership, caste, religion, education, gender, etc., which are indicative of differential well-being conditions of households, are also instrumental in inducing some other relative deprivation in terms of bargaining power in the economy. Which to a large extent remains instrumental in the determination of final prices of the produce for farmers. Such deprivation, though prevalent in both regulated and non-regulated markets, is evidently more pronounced in non-regulated markets. Since access to regulated markets is not independent of the socio-economic status of the farmers, both exclusion and discrimination based on socio-economic status seem prevalent in the realisation of final price by the farmers, particularly in case of paddy cultivation in India.
Toward development and validation of a child maltreatment pictorial card tool
Authors: Lev-Wiesel Rachel , Weiner Nava , Binson Bussakorn
Published: August 2024

The study introduces the Child Maltreatment Pictorial Cards (CMPC) comprising 26 cards: 15 depict child maltreatment (CM) forms, and 11 cards illustrate positive situations. A total of 102 participants (age range 6–17 years) – 63 abused children and 39 non-abused controls – were recruited following ethical approval. Convergent and discriminant validities were established by using the Medical Somatic Dissociation Questionnaire and child history files. Known-group validity was achieved by comparing study variables, experiences, and memory recall disclosed through the pictorial cards. The findings revealed significant differences between the groups: abused children reported more negative experiences associated with memories and higher misperceptions of positive situations than controls.