bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Use of Machine Learning to Investigate the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) towards Early Autism Screening
Authors: Tartarisco Gennaro , Cicceri Giovanni , Di Pietro Davide , Leonardi Elisa , Aiello Stefania , Marino Flavia , Chiarotti Flavia , Gagliano Antonella , Arduino Giuseppe Maurizio , Apicella Fabio , Muratori Filippo , Bruneo Dario , Allison Carrie , Cohen Simon Baron , Vagni David , Pioggia Giovanni , Ruta Liliana
Published: March 2021

In the past two decades, several screening instruments were developed to detect toddlers who may be autistic both in clinical and unselected samples. Among others, the Quantitative CHecklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) is a quantitative and normally distributed measure of autistic traits that demonstrates good psychometric properties in different settings and cultures. Recently, machine learning (ML) has been applied to behavioral science to improve the classification performance of autism screening and diagnostic tools, but mainly in children, adolescents, and adults. In this study, we used ML to investigate the accuracy and reliability of the Q-CHAT in discriminating young autistic children from those without. Five different ML algorithms (random forest (RF), naïve Bayes (NB), support vector machine (SVM), logistic regression (LR), and K-nearest neighbors (KNN)) were applied to investigate the complete set of Q-CHAT items. Our results showed that ML achieved an overall accuracy of 90%, and the SVM was the most effective, being able to classify autism with 95% accuracy. Furthermore, using the SVM–recursive feature elimination (RFE) approach, we selected a subset of 14 items ensuring 91% accuracy, while 83% accuracy was obtained from the 3 best discriminating items in common to ours and the previously reported Q-CHAT-10. This evidence confirms the high performance and cross-cultural validity of the Q-CHAT, and supports the application of ML to create shorter and faster versions of the instrument, maintaining high classification accuracy, to be used as a quick, easy, and high-performance tool in primary-care settings.
Optical Devices in Tracheal Intubation—State of the Art in 2020
Authors: Matek Jan , Kolek Frantisek , Klementova Olga , Michalek Pavel , Vymazal Tomas
Published: March 2021

The review article is focused on developments in optical devices, other than laryngoscopes, in airway management and tracheal intubation. It brings information on advantages and limitations in their use, compares different devices, and summarizes benefits in various clinical settings. Supraglottic airway devices may be used as a conduit for fiberscope-guided tracheal intubation mainly as a rescue plan in the scenario of difficult or failed laryngoscopy. Some of these devices offer the possibility of direct endotracheal tube placement. Hybrid devices combine the features of two different intubating tools. Rigid and semi-rigid optical stylets represent another option in airway management. They offer benefits in restricted mouth opening and may be used also for retromolar intubation. Awake flexible fiberoptic intubation has been a gold standard in predicted difficult laryngoscopy for decades. Modern flexible bronchoscopes used in anesthesia and intensive care are disposable devices and contain optical lenses instead of fibers. Endotracheal tubes with an incorporated optics are used mainly in thoracic anesthesia for lung separation. They are available in double-lumen and single-lumen versions. They offer a benefit of direct view to the carina and do not require flexible fiberscope for their correct placement.
Lecturer Readiness for Online Classes during the Pandemic: A Survey Research
Authors: Junus Kasiyah , Santoso Harry Budi , Putra Panca Oktavia Hadi , Gandhi Arfive , Siswantining Titin
Published: March 2021

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most educational institutions across the world have shifted their teaching and learning processes and put efforts into preparing online distance education to ensure education continues uninterrupted. Some did not face difficult tasks or challenges during this process because they were already implementing online or blended learning before the pandemic. However, some institutions, lecturers and students were not ready to adapt to the conditions, and it is therefore important to examine to what extent lecturers are ready to teach online. This research aims to evaluate the readiness of lecturers during a pandemic that arises unexpectedly. It also aims to investigate the weaknesses and obstacles that lecturers must overcome in order to teach an online class. This research applies a mixed-method approach. Lecturers were surveyed through online preparedness questionnaires, and several themes were constructed from the gathered qualitative data. The results show that lecturers have strong baseline technical skills to use e-learning platforms for online courses; they have quickly adapted to using a Learning Management System (LMS), and most have a tactical solution for most online classes with insufficient feasibility, but they do not have a strategic solution. Their sufficiency for teaching online courses was not optimised since they did not fully believe the learning goals could be achieved. This paper elaborates on the theoretical and practical implications.
How the Multiplicity of Suggested Information Affects the Behavior of a User in a Recommender System
Authors: Ban Yuseok , Lee Kyungjae
Published: March 2021

Many researchers have suggested improving the retention of a user in the digital platform using a recommender system. Recent studies show that there are many potential ways to assist users to find interesting items, other than high-precision rating predictions. In this paper, we study how the diverse types of information suggested to a user can influence their behavior. The types have been divided into visual information, evaluative information, categorial information, and narrational information. Based on our experimental results, we analyze how different types of supplementary information affect the performance of a recommender in terms of encouraging users to click more items or spend more time in the digital platform.
Line Chart Understanding with Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Sohn Chanyoung , Choi Heejong , Kim Kangil , Park Jinwook , Noh Junhyug
Published: March 2021

Visual understanding of the implied knowledge in line charts is an important task affecting many downstream tasks in information retrieval. Despite common use, clearly defining the knowledge is difficult because of ambiguity, so most methods used in research implicitly learn the knowledge. When building a deep neural network, the integrated approach hides the properties of individual subtasks, which can hinder finding the optimal configurations for the understanding task in academia. In this paper, we propose a problem definition for explicitly understanding knowledge in a line chart and provide an algorithm for generating supervised data that are easy to share and scale-up. To introduce the properties of the definition and data, we set well-known and modified convolutional neural networks and evaluate their performance on real and synthetic datasets for qualitative and quantitative analyses. In the results, the knowledge is explicitly extracted and the generated synthetic data show patterns similar to human-labeled data. This work is expected to provide a separate and scalable environment to enhance research into technical document understanding.
Auditory Uta-Karuta: Development and Evaluation of an Accessible Card Game System Using Audible Cards for the Visually Impaired
Authors: Miyakawa Haruna , Kuratomo Noko , Salih Hisham E. Bilal , Zempo Keiichi
Published: March 2021

Playing board games is important for people with a visually impairment, as it promotes interactive socialization and communication skills. However, some board games are not accessible to them at present. In this study, we proposed an auditory card game system that presents a card’s contents with auditory stimuli to all players, towards playing equally with others, regardless of whether they have a visual impairment or not as one of the solutions to make board games accessible. This proposal contributes significantly to expand the range of inclusive board games for the visually impaired. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the game allows for fair competition for people with visual impairments and to clarify the effects of the valuable parameters of the system on the players. The effectiveness of the proposed system was verified by having experimental participants play “Auditory Uta-Karuta”. The results suggested that the proposed system has the potential for an accessible board game design regardless of visual impairment. In the following experiment, we investigated the impact of each valuable parameter of the system on the player’s perception of the board games to clarify the appropriate audio cue design method. The results of this experiment will greatly assist in designing an appropriate board game using the proposed system.
On the Identification and Prediction of Stalling Events to Improve QoE in Video Streaming
Authors: Martinez-Caro J.-M. , Cano M.-D.
Published: March 2021

Monitoring the Quality of user Experience is a challenge for video streaming services. Models for Quality of User Experience (QoE) evaluation such as the ITU-T Rec. P.1203 are very promising. Among the input data that they require are the occurrence and duration of stalling events. A stalling even5 is an interruption in the playback of multimedia content, and its negative impact on QoE is immense. Given the idiosyncrasy of this type of event, to count it and its duration is a complex task to be automated, i.e., without the participation of the user who visualizes the events or without direct access to the final device. In this work, we propose two methods to overcome these limitations in video streaming using the DASH framework. The first method is intended to detect stalling events. For simplicity, it is based on the behavior of the transport layer data and is able to classify an IP packet as belonging (or not) to a stalling event. The second method aims to predict if the next IP packet of a multimedia stream will belong to a stalling event (or not), using a recurrent neural network with a variant of the Long Short–Term Memory (LSTM). Our results show that the detection model is able to spot the occurrence of a stalling event before being experienced by the user, and the prediction model is able to forecast if the next packet will belong to a stalling event with an error rate of 10.83%, achieving an F1 score of 0.923.
Dynamics of Soil Nutrients, Microbial Community Structure, Enzymatic Activity, and Their Relationships along a Chronosequence of Pinus massoniana Plantations
Authors: Pan Jinwen , Guo Qiqiang , Li Huie , Luo Siqiong , Zhang Yaqin , Yao Shan , Fan Xin , Sun Xueguang , Qi Yujiao
Published: March 2021

Pinus massoniana is the major afforestation and vegetation restoration tree in southern China, and it plays an important role in the sustainable development of plantations. However, long-term single planting of P. massoniana has resulted in the decline of soil quality and forest productivity, and a soil fertility assessment is urgently needed. We selected P. massoniana plantations of four age stages for plot investigation and sampling to determine the soil physicochemical properties, microbial diversity and composition, and enzyme activities at different soil depths. The results showed that soil total phosphorus (TP) and available phosphorus (AP) decreased with the increase of age, especially low C/N ratio and high C/P and N/P ratio in the 30-year and 36-year stands, leading to P limitation. Meanwhile, the bacterial Shannon index also decreased with the increase of age and was positively correlated with AP, NO3−-N, and pH. However, the fungal Shannon index decreased first and then increased with the increase of age; soil acid phosphatase (S-ACP) and urease activities showed a similar trend. Correlation analysis demonstrated that the increase of total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) promoted the increase of fungal Shannon index, which was beneficial to the secretion of more enzymes. We found that soil physicochemical properties, microbial diversity, and enzyme activity decreased simultaneously when soil depths increased. Moreover, Acidobacteria and Basidiomycota were the most abundant bacterial and fungal communities, respectively, followed by Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria for bacteria and Ascomycota for fungi, and these microbial taxa were significantly affected by soil water content (SWC), TOC, AP, and C/P. In conclusion, this work reveals the potential correlation among soil physicochemical properties, microbial diversity and composition, and enzyme activities, and revealed potential correlations among them which will help to improve understanding of soil conditions and provide a reference for rational management of soil resources.
Towards a Starter Culture for Cocoa Fermentation by the Selection of Acetic Acid Bacteria
Authors: Farrera Lucie , Colas de la Noue Alexandre , Strub Caroline , Guibert Benjamin , Kouame Christelle , Grabulos Joël , Montet Didier , Teyssier Corinne
Published: March 2021

Acetic acid bacteria are involved in many food and beverage fermentation processes. They play an important role in cocoa bean fermentation through their acetic acid production. They initiate the development of some of the flavor precursors that are necessary for the organoleptic quality of cocoa, and for the beans’ color. The development of starter cultures with local strains would enable the preservation of the microbial biodiversity of each country in cocoa-producing areas, and would also control the fermentation. This approach could avoid the standardization of cocoa bean fermentation in the producing countries. One hundred and thirty acetic acid bacteria were isolated from three different cocoa-producing countries, and were identified based on their 16S rRNA gene sequence. The predominate strains were grown in a cocoa pulp simulation medium (CPSM-AAB) in order to compare their physiological traits regarding their specific growth rate, ethanol and lactic acid consumption, acetic acid production, and relative preferences of carbon sources. Finally, the intraspecific diversity of the strains was then assessed through the analysis of their genomic polymorphism by (GTG)5-PCR fingerprinting. Our results showed that Acetobacter pasteurianus was the most recovered species in all of the origins, with 86 isolates out of 130 cultures. A great similarity was observed between the strains according to their physiological characterization and genomic polymorphisms. However, the multi-parametric clustering results in the different groups highlighted some differences in their basic metabolism, such as their efficiency in converting carbon substrates to acetate, and their relative affinity to lactic acid and ethanol. The A. pasteurianus strains showed different behaviors regarding their ability to oxidize ethanol and lactic acid into acetic acid, and in their relative preference for each substrate. The impact of these behaviors on the cocoa quality should be investigated, and should be considered as a criterion for the selection of acetic acid bacteria starters.
Design of a Fluidic Actuator with Independent Frequency and Amplitude Modulation for Control of Swirl Flame Dynamics
Authors: Adhikari Amrit , Schweitzer Thorge , Lückoff Finn , Oberleithner Kilian
Published: March 2021

Fluidic actuators are designed to control the oscillatory helical mode, called a precessing vortex core (PVC), which is often observed in gas turbine combustors. The PVC induces large-scale hydrodynamic coherent structures, which can considerably affect flow and flame dynamics. Therefore, appropriate control of this structure can lead to a more stable and efficient combustion process. Currently available flow control systems are designed to control the PVC in laboratory-scale setups. To further develop these systems and find an approach applicable to the industrial scale, a new actuator design based on fluidic oscillators is presented and studied in this paper. This actuator allows for independently adjusting forcing frequency and amplitude, which is necessary to effectively target the dynamics of the PVC. The functionality and flow control of this actuator design are studied based on numerical simulations and experimental measurements. To verify the flow control authority, the actuator is built into a prototype combustor test rig, which allows for investigating the impact of the actuator’s forcing on the PVC at isothermal conditions. The studies conducted in this work prove the desired functionality and flow control authority of the 3D-printed actuator. Accordingly, a two-part stainless steel design is derived for future test conditions with flame.
Imaging in the Assessment of Musculoskeletal Manifestations Associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Becciolini Andrea , Di Donato Eleonora , Lucchini Gianluca , Santilli Daniele , Mozzani Flavio , Riva Michele , Ariani Alarico
Published: March 2021

Extraintestinal manifestations are the cause of morbidity and affect the quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Musculoskeletal manifestations, in particular, spondyloarthritis and osteoporosis, are the most frequent extraintestinal manifestation of IBDs. The diagnosis and management of the musculoskeletal manifestation of IBDs relies on imaging. Conventional radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and ultrasound can help to detect pathological signs of spondyloarthritis, both peripheral and with axial involvement. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry is the gold standard for identifying the presence of osteoporosis, whereas conventional radiology and computed tomography can reveal occult vertebral fractures. The aim of this narrative review is to describe the imaging of musculoskeletal manifestations of IBDs.
Spatial Organization and Coordination of the Plant Circadian System
Authors: Nohales Maria A.
Published: March 2021

The plant circadian clock has a pervasive influence on many aspects of plant biology and is proposed to function as a developmental manager. To do so, the circadian oscillator needs to be able to integrate a multiplicity of environmental signals and coordinate an extensive and diverse repertoire of endogenous rhythms accordingly. Recent studies on tissue-specific characteristics and spatial structure of the plant circadian clock suggest that such plasticity may be achieved through the function of distinct oscillators, which sense the environment locally and are then coordinated across the plant through both intercellular coupling and long-distance communication. This review summarizes the current knowledge on tissue-specific features of the clock in plants and their spatial organization and synchronization at the organismal level.
The Impact of Complement Genes on the Risk of Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease
Authors: Carpanini Sarah M. , Harwood Janet C. , Baker Emily , Torvell Megan ,   The GERAD1 Consortium, Sims Rebecca , Williams Julie , Morgan B. Paul
Published: March 2021

Late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD), the most common cause of dementia, and a huge global health challenge, is a neurodegenerative disease of uncertain aetiology. To deliver effective diagnostics and therapeutics, understanding the molecular basis of the disease is essential. Contemporary large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified over seventy novel genetic susceptibility loci for LOAD. Most are implicated in microglial or inflammatory pathways, bringing inflammation to the fore as a candidate pathological pathway. Among the most significant GWAS hits are three complement genes: CLU, encoding the fluid-phase complement inhibitor clusterin; CR1 encoding complement receptor 1 (CR1); and recently, C1S encoding the complement enzyme C1s. Complement activation is a critical driver of inflammation; changes in complement genes may impact risk by altering the inflammatory status in the brain. To assess complement gene association with LOAD risk, we manually created a comprehensive complement gene list and tested these in gene-set analysis with LOAD summary statistics. We confirmed associations of CLU and CR1 genes with LOAD but showed no significant associations for the complement gene-set when excluding CLU and CR1. No significant association with other complement genes, including C1S, was seen in the IGAP dataset; however, these may emerge from larger datasets.
A Resource for the Network Representation of Cell Perturbations Caused by SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Authors: Perfetto Livia , Micarelli Elisa , Iannuccelli Marta , Lo Surdo Prisca , Giuliani Giulio , Latini Sara , Pugliese Giusj Monia , Massacci Giorgia , Vumbaca Simone , Riccio Federica , Fuoco Claudia , Paoluzi Serena , Castagnoli Luisa , Cesareni Gianni , Licata Luana , Sacco Francesca
Published: March 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused more than 2.3 million casualties worldwide and the lack of effective treatments is a major health concern. The development of targeted drugs is held back due to a limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the perturbation of cell physiology observed after viral infection. Recently, several approaches, aimed at identifying cellular proteins that may contribute to COVID-19 pathology, have been reported. Albeit valuable, this information offers limited mechanistic insight as these efforts have produced long lists of cellular proteins, the majority of which are not annotated to any cellular pathway. We have embarked in a project aimed at bridging this mechanistic gap by developing a new bioinformatic approach to estimate the functional distance between a subset of proteins and a list of pathways. A comprehensive literature search allowed us to annotate, in the SIGNOR 2.0 resource, causal information underlying the main molecular mechanisms through which severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and related coronaviruses affect the host–cell physiology. Next, we developed a new strategy that enabled us to link SARS-CoV-2 interacting proteins to cellular phenotypes via paths of causal relationships. Remarkably, the extensive information about inhibitors of signaling proteins annotated in SIGNOR 2.0 makes it possible to formulate new potential therapeutic strategies. The proposed approach, which is generally applicable, generated a literature-based causal network that can be used as a framework to formulate informed mechanistic hypotheses on COVID-19 etiology and pathology.
Shukla-Vernon Syndrome: A Second Family with a Novel Variant in the BCORL1 Gene
Authors: Muthusamy Babylakshmi , Bellad Anikha , Girimaji Satish Chandra , Pandey Akhilesh
Published: March 2021

Shukla-Vernon syndrome (SHUVER) is an extremely rare neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay, intellectual disability, behavioral anomalies, and dysmorphic features. Pathogenic variants in the BCORL1 gene have been identified as the molecular cause for this disorder. The BCORL1 gene encodes for BCL-6 corepressor-like protein 1, a transcriptional corepressor that is an integral component of protein complexes involved in transcription repression. In this study, we report an Indian family with two male siblings with features of Shukla-Vernon syndrome. The patients exhibited global developmental delay, intellectual disability, kyphosis, seizures, and dysmorphic features including bushy prominent eyebrows with synophrys, sharp beaked prominent nose, protuberant lower jaw, squint, and hypoplastic ears with fused ear lobes. No behavioral abnormalities were observed. Whole exome sequencing revealed a novel potentially pathogenic arginine to cysteine substitution (p.Arg1265Cys) in the BCORL1 protein. This is the second report of Shukla-Vernon syndrome with a novel missense variant in the BCORL1 gene. Our study confirms and expands the phenotypes and genotypes described previously for this syndrome and should aid in diagnosis and genetic counselling of patients and their families.
Re-Calibrating Steampunk London: Heterotopia and Spatial Imaginaries in Assassins Creed: Syndicate and The Order 1886
Authors: Esser Helena
Published: March 2021

Video games have become important but understudied narrative media, which link into as well as perpetuate popular forms of cultural memory. They evoke and mediate space (or the illusion thereof) in unique ways, literally putting into play Doreen Massey’s theory of space as being produced through a multiplicity of trajectories. I examine how Assassins Creed: Syndicate and The Order 1886 (both 2015) configure a neo-Victorian London as a simulated, spatio-temporal imaginary in which urban texture becomes a readable storytelling device in and of itself, and interrogate how their neo-Victorian heterotopias are mediated through a spatial experience. Both games conjure up imaginaries of steampunk London as a counter-site sourced from and commenting on the Victorian city of memory. Through retro-speculation, they re-calibrate neo-Victorian London as a playground offering alternative forms of agency and adventure or as cyberpunk-infused hyper-city. In so doing, they invite the player to re-evaluate, through their spatial experience in such a heterotopic steampunk London, shared imaginaries of ‘the city’ and ‘the Victorian’.
Father and God (the Father) in Wiesel’s Night as Response to the Holocaust
Authors: Quigley Shannon
Published: March 2021

The proposed paper will begin by looking at the father–son relationship in Elie Wiesel’s Night. I will then briefly note the father–child relationship between God and Israel in the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. I will link the two challenges evident in Wiesel’s Night and in his continuing thought after the Shoah—the loss of family and the loss of God, his faith and/or his understanding of God—and note how these affect one another. After further assessing Wiesel’s father imagery in Night, I will note how Wiesel’s story, eventually making its way into the current version of Night, played a critical role in affecting the thought of Christian leaders and post-Holocaust Jewish–Christian reconciliation efforts.
Beyond Objects in Space-Time: Towards a Movement Analysis Framework with ‘How’ and ‘Why’ Elements
Authors: Rahimi Saeed , Moore Antoni B. , Whigham Peter A.
Published: March 2021

Current spatiotemporal data has facilitated movement studies to shift objectives from descriptive models to explanations of the underlying causes of movement. From both a practical and theoretical standpoint, progress in developing approaches for these explanations should be founded on a conceptual model. This paper presents such a model in which three conceptual levels of abstraction are proposed to frame an agent-based representation of movement decision-making processes: ‘attribute,’ ‘actor,’ and ‘autonomous agent’. These in combination with three temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal general forms of observations distinguish nine (3 × 3) representation typologies of movement data within the agent framework. Thirdly, there are three levels of cognitive reasoning: ‘association,’ ‘intervention,’ and ‘counterfactual’. This makes for 27 possible types of operation embedded in a conceptual cube with the level of abstraction, type of observation, and degree of cognitive reasoning forming the three axes. The conceptual model is an arena where movement queries and the statement of relevant objectives takes place. An example implementation of a tightly constrained spatiotemporal scenario to ground the agent-structure was summarised. The platform has been well-defined so as to accommodate different tools and techniques to drive causal inference in computational movement analysis as an immediate future step.
Information Retrieval and Knowledge Organization: A Perspective from the Philosophy of Science
Authors: Hjørland Birger
Published: March 2021

Information retrieval (IR) is about making systems for finding documents or information. Knowledge organization (KO) is the field concerned with indexing, classification, and representing documents for IR, browsing, and related processes, whether performed by humans or computers. The field of IR is today dominated by search engines like Google. An important difference between KO and IR as research fields is that KO attempts to reflect knowledge as depicted by contemporary scholarship, in contrast to IR, which is based on, for example, “match” techniques, popularity measures or personalization principles. The classification of documents in KO mostly aims at reflecting the classification of knowledge in the sciences. Books about birds, for example, mostly reflect (or aim at reflecting) how birds are classified in ornithology. KO therefore requires access to the adequate subject knowledge; however, this is often characterized by disagreements. At the deepest layer, such disagreements are based on philosophical issues best characterized as “paradigms”. No IR technology and no system of knowledge organization can ever be neutral in relation to paradigmatic conflicts, and therefore such philosophical problems represent the basis for the study of IR and KO.
Comparison of Accumulated Degree-Days and Entomological Approaches in Post Mortem Interval Estimation
Authors: Franceschetti Lorenzo , Pradelli Jennifer , Tuccia Fabiola , Giordani Giorgia , Cattaneo Cristina , Vanin Stefano
Published: March 2021

Establishing the post mortem interval (PMI) is a key component of every medicolegal death investigation. Several methods based on different approaches have been suggested to perform this estimation. Among them, two methods based their evaluation on the effect of the temperature and time on the considered parameters: total body score (TBS)/accumulated degree-days (ADDs) and insect development. In this work, the two methods were compared using the results of minPMI and PMI estimates of 30 forensic cases occurring in northern Italy. Species in the family Calliphoridae (Lucilia sericata, Calliphora vomitoria and Chrysomya albiceps) were considered in the analyses. The results highlighted the limits of the TBS/ADD method and the importance of the entomological approach, keeping in mind that the minPMI is evaluated. Due to the fact that the majority of the cases occurred in indoor conditions, further research must also be conducted on the different taxa to verify the possibility of increasing the accuracy of the minPIM estimation based on the entomological approach.
Proposal of a Standardized Questionnaire to Structure Clinical Peer Reviews of Mortality and Failure of Rescue in Pancreatic Surgery
Authors: Brunner Maximilian , Mücke Franziska , Langheinrich Melanie , Struller Florian , Rückert Felix , Welsch Thilo , Distler Marius , Kersting Stephan , Weber Georg F. , Grützmann Robert , Krautz Christian
Published: March 2021

Background: Quality management tools such as clinical peer reviews facilitate root cause analysis and may, ultimately, help to reduce surgery-related morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of a standardized questionnaire for clinical peer reviews in pancreatic surgery. Methods: All cases of in-hospital-mortality following pancreatic surgery at two high-volume centers (n = 86) were reviewed by two pancreatic surgeons. A standardized mortality review questionnaire was developed and applied to all cases. In a second step, 20 cases were randomly assigned to an online re-review that was completed by seven pancreatic surgeons. The overall consistency of the results between the peer review and online re-review was determined by Cohen’s kappa (κ). The inter-rater reliability of the online re-review was assessed by Fleiss’ kappa (κ). Results: The clinical peer review showed that 80% of the patient mortality was related to surgery. Post-operative pancreatic fistula (POPF) (36%) followed by post-pancreatectomy hemorrhage (PPH) (22%) were the most common surgical underlying (index) complications leading to in-hospital mortality. Most of the index complications yielded in abdominal sepsis (62%); 60% of the cases exhibited potential of improvement, especially through timely diagnosis and therapy (42%). There was a moderate to substantial strength of agreement between the peer review and the online re-review in regard to the category of death (surgical vs. non-surgical; κ = 0.886), type of surgical index complication (κ = 0.714) as well as surgical and non-surgical index complications (κ = 0.492 and κ = 0.793). Fleiss’ kappa showed a moderate to substantial inter-rater agreement of the online re-review in terms of category of death (κ = 0.724), category of common surgical index complications (κ = 0.455) and surgical index complication (κ = 0.424). Conclusion: The proposed questionnaire to structure clinical peer reviews is a reliable tool for root cause analyses of in-hospital mortality and may help to identify specific options to improve outcomes in pancreatic surgery. However, the reliability of the peer feedback decreases with an increasing specificity of the review questions.
The Operative Time for Unilateral Inguinal Hernia Repair in Children Performed with Percutaneous Internal Ring Suturing (PIRS) or Open Approach Method
Authors: Wolak Przemyslaw Karol , Strzelecka Agnieszka , Piotrowska Aneta , Dąbrowska Katarzyna , Wolak Piotr Przemysław , Piotrowska Ilona , Nowak-Starz Grażyna
Published: March 2021

In this study, we compared the operative time for unilateral inguinal hernia repair in children performed with either an open approach (OA) or the Percutaneous Internal Ring Suturing (PIRS) method. It was a retrospective chart review of all patients ages 0 to 18 who underwent unilateral inguinal hernia repair in the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Urology and Traumatology of the Regional Hospital in Kielce between January 2011 and December 2018. Patients with bilateral hernias or additional problems were excluded. Of 878 patients qualified for the study, 701 were in the OA group and 177 in the PIRS group. Overall, the time needed to complete the procedure was significantly longer for the OA method. The operative time was longer if the hernia was left-sided (p = 0.024). Analysis by gender showed that operative time was generally longer in males. For both genders, surgery was shorter if the PIRS method was used. For males in the PIRS group the operative time was affected by the location of the hernia, and it was longer for a left-sided hernia. The take-home message is that the PIRS procedure is faster than the OA for inguinal hernia repair in children and it might be considered as a preferred method, especially in females.
Application of Pelvic Circumferential Compression Devices in Pelvic Ring Fractures—Are Guidelines Followed in Daily Practice?
Authors: Kuner Valerie , van Veelen Nicole , Studer Stephanie , Van de Wall Bryan , Fornaro Jürgen , Stickel Michael , Knobe Matthias , Babst Reto , Beeres Frank J.P. , Link Björn-Christian
Published: March 2021

Early administration of a pelvic circumferential compression device (PCCD) is recommended for suspected pelvic trauma. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of PCCD in patients with pelvic fractures assigned to the resuscitation room (RR) of a Level I trauma center. Furthermore, correct application of the PCCD as well as associated injuries with potential clinical sequelae were assessed. All patients with pelvic fractures assigned to the RR of a level one trauma center between 2016 and 2017 were evaluated retrospectively. Presence and position of the PCCD on the initial trauma scan were assessed and rated. Associated injuries with potential adverse effects on clinical outcome were analysed. Seventy-seven patients were included, of which 26 (34%) had a PCCD in place. Eighteen (23%) patients had an unstable fracture pattern of whom ten (56%) had received a PCCD. The PCCD was correctly placed in four (15%) cases, acceptable in 12 (46%) and incorrectly in ten (39%). Of all patients with pelvic fractures (n = 77, 100%) treated in the RR, only one third (n = 26, 34%) had a PCCD. In addition, 39% of PCCDs were positioned incorrectly. Of the patients with unstable pelvic fractures (n = 18, 100%), more than half either did not receive any PCCD (n = 8, 44%) or had one which was inadequately positioned (n = 2, 11 %). These results underline that preclinical and clinical education programs on PCCD indication and application should be critically reassessed.
Bleomycin for Percutaneous Sclerotherapy of Venous and Lymphatic Malformations: A Retrospective Study of Safety, Efficacy and Mid-Term Outcomes in 26 Patients
Authors: Nevesny Franck , Chevallier Olivier , Falvo Nicolas , Guillen Kévin , Malakhia Alexandre , Pellegrinelli Julie , Comby Pierre-Olivier , Bonniaud Bertille , Midulla Marco , Loffroy Romaric
Published: March 2021

Percutaneous sclerotherapy is used to treat venous and lymphatic vascular malformations, which can cause significant discomfort and/or disfigurement. The purpose of this study is to describe the bleomycin sclerotherapy technique and to evaluate its clinical and radiological efficacy and safety. We retrospectively identified consecutive patients with venous malformations (VMs) and lymphatic malformations (LMs) who underwent bleomycin sclerotherapy in 2011–2020 at our institution. We collected the clinical and radiological success rates, complications and recurrences separately in the VM and LM groups. We identified 26 patients, 15 with VMs and 11 with LMs. The significant volume reductions obtained were 45% in the VM group and 76% in the LM group (p = 0.003 and p = 0.009, respectively). Significant reductions in discomfort/pain and in cosmetic disfigurement were obtained in both groups. An overall improvement was reported by 69% and 82% of patients in the VM and LM groups, respectively. No major complications occurred during the mean follow-up of 51 ± 34 months in the VM group and 29 ± 18 months in the LM group. A recurrence developed within 2 years in 23% of patients. Bleomycin is clinically and radiologically effective for the treatment of venous and lymphatic malformations, with a high level of patient safety.
Application of a Genus-Specific LAMP Assay for Schistosome Species to Detect Schistosoma haematobium x Schistosoma bovis Hybrids
Authors: Crego-Vicente Beatriz , Fernández-Soto Pedro , Febrer-Sendra Begoña , García-Bernalt Diego Juan , Boissier Jérôme , Angora Etienne K. , Oleaga Ana , Muro Antonio
Published: March 2021

Schistosomiasis is a disease of great medical and veterinary importance in tropical and subtropical regions caused by different species of parasitic flatworms of the genus Schistosoma. The emergence of natural hybrids of schistosomes indicate the risk of possible infection to humans and their zoonotic potential, specifically for Schistosoma haematobium and S. bovis. Hybrid schistosomes have the potential to replace existing species, generate new resistances, pathologies and extending host ranges. Hybrids may also confuse the serological, molecular and parasitological diagnosis. Currently, LAMP technology based on detection of nucleic acids is used for detection of many agents, including schistosomes. Here, we evaluate our previously developed species-specific LAMP assays for S. haematobium, S. mansoni, S. bovis and also the genus-specific LAMP for the simultaneous detection of several Schistosoma species against both DNA from pure and, for the first time, S. haematobium x S. bovis hybrids. Proper operation was evaluated with DNA from hybrid schistosomes and with human urine samples artificially contaminated with parasites’ DNA. LAMP was performed with and without prior DNA extraction. The genus-specific LAMP properly amplified pure Schistosoma species and different S. haematobium-S. bovis hybrids with different sensitivity. The Schistosoma spp.-LAMP method is potentially adaptable for field diagnosis and disease surveillance in schistosomiasis endemic areas where human infections by schistosome hybrids are increasingly common.
DNA Fragmentation in Human Spermatozoa and Pregnancy Rates after Intrauterine Insemination. Should the DFI Threshold Be Lowered?
Authors: Rex Anne Sofie , Wu Chunsen , Aagaard Jørn , Fedder Jens
Published: March 2021

Sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) can be analyzed by a flow cytometric assay after treatment with acid and acridine orange. In this prospective, cohort study, the value of DFI was determined in a semen analysis collected before fertility treatment (baselineDFI) in 146 couples and during 1–3 intrauterine inseminations (IUI) in 211 couples (511 cycles). The pregnancy rate (PR)/cycle was 9.9% if baselineDFI was >10 and 21.7% if baselineDFI was ≤10, (p < 0.005). The live birth rate (LBR)/cycle was 5% if baselineDFI was >10 and 14.2% if baselineDFI was ≤10 (p < 0.005). PR/patient was 23.1% if baselineDFI was >10 and 45.5% if baselineDFI was ≤10 (p < 0.005). LBR/patient was 12.4% if baselineDFI was >10 and 34% if baselineDFI was ≤10 (p < 0.005). When isolating non-stimulated IUI cycles and couples with female age < 35, a significant difference in PR and LBR between couples with high DFI and low DFI was seen. Results suggest that DFI > 10 could advice against timed coitus and non-stimulated IUI cycles. Analysis for DFI performed before treatment provides information about PR and LBR after IUI.
Fullerol C60(OH)24 Nanoparticles and Drought Impact on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) during Growth and Infection with Aspergillus flavus
Authors: Kovač Tihomir , Marček Tihana , Šarkanj Bojan , Borišev Ivana , Ižaković Maja , Jukić Katarina , Lončarić Ante , Krska Tamara , Sulyok Michael , Krska Rudolf
Published: March 2021

Fullerol C60(OH)24 nanoparticles (FNP)-wheat-A. flavus interaction outcome is more complicated in the presence of drought. This study sheds light on how the presence of FNP affects food and feed safety from the perspective of mycotoxin contamination. The study aims to determine the influence of FNP at environmentally plausible concentrations on wheat growth under drought stress and on the aggressiveness of A. flavus during wheat germination, as well as the influence of FNP on the secondary metabolite profile during the inappropriate wheat storage. The co-occurrence of drought and FNP inhibited germination and shoot growth, while an application of FNP alone had no negative effect on plant growth. Wheat pre-treated with FNP showed a concentration dependent resistance pattern to A. flavus aggressiveness. Nevertheless, using a LC-MS/MS based multi-mycotoxin method, six secondary fungal metabolites: 3-nitropropionic acid (<LOD −775.7336 ± 10.7752 ng mL−1), aflatoxin B1 (<LOD −6.78 ± 0.43 ng mL−1) and B2 (<LOD −0.07 ± 0.00 ng mL−1), aflatoxicol (<LOD −0.37 ± 0.16 ng mL−1), kojic acid (<LOD −1337.87 ± 189.04 ng mL−1), and O-methylsterigmatocystin (<LOD −0.17 ± 0.00 ng mL−1), were detected. FNP affected secondary metabolism of A. flavus during inappropriate wheat storage and increased the concentration of secondary metabolites in a concentration-dependent pattern (3-nitropropionic acid and kojic acid). In addition, aflatoxicol production was provoked in FNP treated samples.
Diagnostic Performance of (1→3)-β-D-Glucan Alone and in Combination with Aspergillus PCR and Galactomannan in Serum of Pediatric Patients after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Authors: Springer Jan , Held Jürgen , Mengoli Carlo , Schlegel Paul Gerhardt , Gamon Florian , Träger Johannes , Kurzai Oliver , Einsele Hermann , Loeffler Juergen , Eyrich Matthias
Published: March 2021

Data on biomarker-assisted diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in pediatric patients is scarce. Therefore, we conducted a cohort study over two years including 404 serum specimens of 26 pediatric patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT). Sera were tested prospectively twice weekly for Aspergillus-specific DNA, galactomannan (GM), and retrospectively for (1→3)-β-D-glucan (BDG). Three probable IA and two possible invasive fungal disease (IFD) cases were identified using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Mycoses Study Group (EORTC/MSGERC) 2019 consensus definitions. Sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of probable IA and possible IFD was 80% (95% confidential interval (CI): 28–99%) and 55% (95% CI: 32–77%) for BDG, 40% (95% CI: 5–85%) and 100% (95% CI: 83–100%) for GM, and 60% (95% CI: 15–95%) and 95% (95% CI: 75–100%) for Aspergillus-specific real-time PCR. However, sensitivities have to be interpreted with great caution due to the limited number of IA cases. Interestingly, the low specificity of BDG was largely caused by false-positive BDG results that clustered around the date of alloSCT. The following strategies were able to increase BDG specificity: two consecutive positive BDG tests for diagnosis (specificity 80% (95% CI: 56–94%)); using an optimized cutoff value of 306 pg/mL (specificity 90% (95% CI: 68–99%)) and testing BDG only after the acute posttransplant phase. In summary, BDG can help to diagnose IA in pediatric alloSCT recipients. However, due to the poor specificity either an increased cutoff value should be utilized or BDG results should be confirmed by an alternative Aspergillus assay.
Impact of Financial Support on Textile Enterprises’ Development
Authors: Boichenko Kateryna , Mata Mário Nuno , Mata Pedro Neves , Martins Jéssica Nunes
Published: March 2021

The purpose of this study is to determine the mutual influence of financial security on the textile enterprises development level. The proposed methodological approach is based on the formation of an integrated financial security indicator and its regression model. The study is based on 16 textile enterprises in the European Union. Integral indicators on capital structure, current financing sufficiency and financial efficiency of the investigated enterprises have been defined according to the rapid diagnostics of financial provision of the textile enterprises. The state of financial support for the studied companies’ development has been evaluated. It has been established that the development of textile enterprises depends to a large extent on their financial support as a whole. The change in the development level of companies depends substantially on the change in the integrated indicator of their financial provision. In particular, textile enterprises’ development is significantly affected by the capital structure and the predominance of equity in it, as well as current financing. The financial efficiency factors taken into account do not have a significant impact on the development of textile enterprises. This study proposes a financial security model, developed by partial integrated indicators. It enables visual comparison, collation of the capital structure state, current financing and financial efficiency of the studied enterprises with optimal value.
Recognition and Analysis of Image Patterns Based on Latin Squares by Means of Computational Algebraic Geometry
Authors: Falcón Raúl M.
Published: March 2021

With the particular interest of being implemented in cryptography, the recognition and analysis of image patterns based on Latin squares has recently arisen as an efficient new approach for classifying partial Latin squares into isomorphism classes. This paper shows how the use of a Computer Algebra System (CAS) becomes necessary to delve into this aspect. Thus, the recognition and analysis of image patterns based on these combinatorial structures benefits from the use of computational algebraic geometry to determine whether two given partial Latin squares describe the same affine algebraic set. This paper delves into this topic by focusing on the use of a CAS to characterize when two partial Latin squares are either partial transpose or partial isotopic.