bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Migraine-Ischemic Stroke Relation in Young Adults
Authors: Pezzini Alessandro , Del Zotto Elisabetta , Giossi Alessia , Volonghi Irene , Costa Paolo , Dalla Volta Giorgio , Padovani Alessandro
Published: December 2010

In spite of the strong epidemiologic evidence linking migraine and ischemic stroke in young adults, the mechanisms explaining this association remain poorly understood. The observation that stroke occurs more frequently during the interictal phase of migraine prompts to speculation that anindirectrelation between the two diseases might exist. In this regard, four major issues might be considered which may be summarized as follows: (1) the migraine-ischemic stroke relation is influenced by specific risk factors such as patent foramen ovale or endothelial dysfunction and more frequent in particular conditions like spontaneous cervical artery dissection; (2) migraine is associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors; (3) the link is caused by migraine-specific drugs; (4) migraine and ischemic vascular events are linkedviaa genetic component. In the present paper, we will review epidemiological studies, discuss potential mechanisms of migraine-induced stroke and comorbid ischemic stroke, and pose new research questions.
Improvisational theatre as team development intervention for climate for work group innovation
Authors: Kirsten Burgert , Du Preez Ronel
Published: December 2010

Orientation: Changes in business environments have resulted in a need for the development of innovative teams. Improvisational theatre as a technique could contribute to the understanding of how individuals can work together and be innovative.Research purpose and motivation: This study evaluates the influence of a team development intervention utilising improvisational theatre exercises on innovative work group climate.Research design, approach and method: A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design was employed with an experimental group and a control group from a healthcare managerial division.Main findings: Repeated-measures ANOVA results indicated that for innovative work group climate as a whole, as well as for three of its factors, namely participative safety, vision, and task orientation, the experimental group’s scores improved significantly (p < 0.05). Support for innovation did not show significant differences.Practical/Managerial implications: This research has shown that improvisational theatre is a team development tool that can be used to assist work teams in creating a climate for innovation.Contribution/value-add: This study extends the body of knowledge in the field of team building and highlights the contribution that improvisational theatre can make toward the development of work teams.
Present and future impact of aircraft, road traffic and shipping emissions on global tropospheric ozone
Authors: Koffi B. , Szopa S. , Cozic A. , Hauglustaine D. , van Velthoven P.
Published: December 2010

Abstract. In this study, the LMDz-INCA climate-chemistry model and up-to-date global emission inventories are used to investigate the "present" (2000) and future (2050) impacts of transport emissions (road traffic, shipping and aircraft) on global tropospheric ozone. For the first time, both impacts of emissions and climate changes on transport-induced ozone are investigated. The 2000 transport emissions are shown to mainly affect ozone in the Northern Hemisphere, with a maximum increase of the tropospheric column of up to 5 DU, from the South-eastern US to Central Europe. The impact is dominated by road traffic in the middle and upper troposphere, North of 40° S, and by shipping in the northern lower troposphere, over oceanic regions. A strong reduction of road emissions and a moderate (B1 scenario) to high (A1B scenario) increase of the ship and aircraft emissions are projected by the year 2050. As a consequence, LMDz-INCA simulations predict a drastic decrease in the impact of road emissions, whereas aviation would become the major transport perturbation on tropospheric ozone, even in the case of a very optimistic aircraft mitigation scenario. The A1B emission scenario leads to an increase of the impact of transport on zonal mean ozone concentrations in 2050 by up to +30% and +50%, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, respectively. Despite a similar total amount of global NOx emissions by the various transport sectors compared to 2000, the overall impact on the tropospheric ozone column is increased everywhere in 2050, due to a sectoral shift in the emissions of the respective transport modes. On the opposite, the B1 mitigation scenario leads to a significant reduction (by roughly 50%) of the ozone perturbation throughout the troposphere compared to 2000. Considering climate change, and according to scenario A1B, a decrease of the O3 tropospheric burden is simulated by 2050 due to climate change (−1.2%), whereas an increase of ozone of up to 2% is calculated in the upper troposphere in the inter-tropical zone, due to enhanced lightning activity. A global impact of similar magnitude is simulated for the transport-induced ozone burden perturbation (−1.6%). As a result, the future increase in global ozone due to changes in anthropogenic emissions is lowered by 12% and by 4%, for the background and the transport-induced ozone, respectively. However, positive and negative climate effects are obtained on ozone, depending on the season, region and altitude, with an increase of the transport-induced ozone perturbation (+0.4 DU) in the already most affected area of Northern Hemisphere.
Sources of carbonaceous aerosol in the Amazon Basin
Authors: Gilardoni S. , Vignati E. , Marmer E. , Cavalli F. , Belis C. , Gianelle V. , Loureiro A. , Artaxo P.
Published: December 2010

Abstract. The quantification of sources of carbonaceous aerosol is important to understand their atmospheric concentrations and regulating processes and to study possible effects on climate and air quality, in addition to develop mitigation strategies. In the framework of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate Interaction (EUCAARI) project fine (Dp < 2.5 μm) and coarse (2.5 μm < Dp < 10 μm) aerosol particles were sampled from February to June (wet season) and from August to September (dry season) 2008 in the Central Amazon Basin. The mass of fine particles averaged 2.4 μg m−3 during the wet season and 4.2 μg m−3 during the dry season. The average coarse aerosol mass concentration during wet and dry periods was 7.9 and 7.6 μg m−3, respectively. The overall chemical composition of fine and coarse mass did not show any seasonality with the largest fraction of fine and coarse aerosol mass explained by organic carbon (OC); the average OC to mass ratio was 0.4 and 0.6 in fine and coarse aerosol modes, respectively. The mass absorbing cross section of soot was determined by comparison of elemental carbon and light absorption coefficient measurements and it was equal to 4.7 m2 g−1 at 637 nm. Carbon aerosol sources were identified by Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis of thermograms: 43% of fine total carbon mass was assigned to biomass burning, 34% to secondary organic aerosol (SOA), and 23% to volatile species that are difficult to apportion. In the coarse mode, primary biogenic aerosol particles (PBAP) dominated the carbonaceous aerosol mass. The results confirmed the importance of PBAP in forested areas. The source apportionment results were employed to evaluate the ability of global chemistry transport models to simulate carbonaceous aerosol sources in a regional tropical background site. The comparison showed an overestimation of elemental carbon (EC) by the TM5 model during the dry season and OC both during the dry and wet periods. The overestimation was likely due to the overestimation of biomass burning emission inventories and SOA production over tropical areas.
Uncertainties modelling CH4 emissions from northern wetlands in glacial climates: the role of vegetation
Authors: Berrittella C. , Van Huissteden J.
Published: December 2010

Abstract. The PEATLAND-VU methane (CH4) model has been used to simulate emissions from continental Europe under different climatic conditions during the last glacial (LG) and modern climates. Such emissions are reactive to hydrology and the results presented by this paper demonstrate high sensitivity to vegetation parameters. Vegetation influences natural CH4 emissions and thus affects its modelling. In wetlands ecosystems various interactions between plants and CH4 do take place and each type of plant is able to affect fluxes in its own way. However, effects of vegetation factors are rarely properly assessed in detail for large scale emission models. Consequently, modelling of CH4 fluxes is currently suffering from lack of information regarding vegetation processes and parameter quantification, thus explaining uncertain estimations. Modelled wetland CH4 emissions during glacial climates are highly uncertain regarding the extent and type of vegetation cover. Paleobotanical data indicate that past (glacial) northern wetland plants associations differed considerably from present moss-rich tundra vegetations. This study examines the effects of wetland vegetation on CH4 emissions, aiming at more plausible flux estimation as well as identifying the sources and the processes governing CH4 emissions.
Introducing empirical and probabilistic regional envelope curves into a mixed bounded distribution function
Authors: Guse B. , Hofherr Th. , Merz B.
Published: December 2010

Abstract. A novel approach to consider additional spatial information in flood frequency analyses, especially for the estimation of discharges with recurrence intervals larger than 100 years, is presented. For this purpose, large flood quantiles, i.e. pairs of a discharge and its corresponding recurrence interval, as well as an upper bound discharge, are combined within a mixed bounded distribution function. The large flood quantiles are derived using probabilistic regional envelope curves (PRECs) for all sites of a pooling group. These PREC flood quantiles are introduced into an at-site flood frequency analysis by assuming that they are representative for the range of recurrence intervals which is covered by PREC flood quantiles. For recurrence intervals above a certain inflection point, a Generalised Extreme Value (GEV) distribution function with a positive shape parameter is used. This GEV asymptotically approaches an upper bound derived from an empirical envelope curve. The resulting mixed distribution function is composed of two distribution functions which are connected at the inflection point. This method is applied to 83 streamflow gauges in Saxony/Germany. Our analysis illustrates that the presented mixed bounded distribution function adequately considers PREC flood quantiles as well as an upper bound discharge. The introduction of both into an at-site flood frequency analysis improves the quantile estimation. A sensitivity analysis reveals that, for the target recurrence interval of 1000 years, the flood quantile estimation is less sensitive to the selection of an empirical envelope curve than to the selection of PREC discharges and of the inflection point between the mixed bounded distribution function.
Remote landslide mapping using a laser rangefinder binocular and GPS
Authors: Santangelo M. , Cardinali M. , Rossi M. , Mondini A. C. , Guzzetti F.
Published: December 2010

Abstract. We tested a high-quality laser rangefinder binocular coupled with a GPS receiver connected to a Tablet PC running dedicated software to help recognize and map in the field recent rainfall-induced landslides. The system was tested in the period between March and April 2010, in the Monte Castello di Vibio area, Umbria, Central Italy. To test the equipment, we measured thirteen slope failures that were mapped previously during a visual reconnaissance field campaign conducted in February and March 2010. For reference, four slope failures were also mapped by walking the GPS receiver along the landslide perimeter. Comparison of the different mappings revealed that the geographical information obtained remotely for each landslide by the rangefinder binocular and GPS was comparable to the information obtained by walking the GPS around the landslide perimeter, and was superior to the information obtained through the visual reconnaissance mapping. Although our tests were not exhaustive, we maintain that the system is effective to map recent rainfall induced landslides in the field, and we foresee the possibility of using the same (or similar) system to map landslides, and other geomorphological features, in other areas.
Biofeedback Certification Institute of America Educators Who Have Made a Difference
Authors: Shaffer Fred , Crawford Judy
Published: December 2010

The Biofeedback Certification Institute of America believes that the public has a right to efficacious treatment from competent certified biofeedback professionals who practice ethically and operate within the scope of their professions. This article is the first in a series that introduces the dedicated educators who have helped us succeed in our mission to protect the welfare of biofeedback consumers, to provide credibility to biofeedback practitioners, and to advance the field of biofeedback.
Integration of Neurofeedback in the Therapeutic Work With Torture and Trauma Survivors: A Case Study
Authors: Askovic Mirjana , Gould Deborah
Published: December 2010

This paper describes a case study of a 14-year-old African refugee boy who survived multiple traumas related to war, displacement, and deprivation. Traumatized from the age of 2, his presentation was primarily one of affect dysregulation. In order to address both the core hyperarousal and the unavailability of the necessary cortical and behavioral skills required to regulate affect, an approach was chosen that integrates neurofeedback (electroencephalographic biofeedback) and psychotherapy.

We trust that the description of the process provides others with new practice options and an enthusiasm to expand in this direction.
Low Energy Neurofeedback System Treatment of an Acquired Brain Injury due to Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Authors: Harper Sara Hunt
Published: December 2010

There is confusion regarding whether to identify brain injuries as a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or a combination of both. No matter what you call it, brain injuries are a major public health problem. This article demonstrates the power of the Low Energy Neurofeedback System, a form of electroencephalography biofeedback/neurofeedback, with a 71-year-old woman who had a sudden cardiac arrest and was without pulse or respiration for 8 to 10 minutes. NeuroField and hyperbaric oxygen therapy were added later on in the treatment process.
What Has Biofeedback Certification Institute of America Been up to?
Authors: Shaffer Fred , Crawford Judy
Published: December 2010

The Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA) board has actively involved our certificants in strategic planning designed to strengthen our advocacy for the issues that concern them, improve an already successful certification process, and identify initiatives that will add value and recognition to our credentials. This article details the exciting actions that we have taken to protect the welfare of biofeedback consumers, to provide credibility to biofeedback practitioners, and to advance the field of biofeedback.
Adding Value to Your Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) Certification: A Q&A With the BCIA Board
Authors: Neblett Randy , Shaffer Fred , Crawford Judy
Published: December 2010

The Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) receives tens of thousands of inquiries each year. Due to the many recent policy and product changes this year, this article targets some issues of greatest relevance to our applicants, certificants, and vendors in a question-and-answer format. Additional information about all of these topics is available at http://www.bcia.org.
Platelet function testing in clinical diagnostics
Authors: Rechner A. R.
Published: December 2010

Although the utility of platelet function testing is still under debate, the necessity to inhibit platelets in patients suffering from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease is undoubted and well proven. The wide variety of available platelet function tests often using different methodologies, the apparent lack of standardization, and finally the emerging evidence on the clinical value of platelet function testing are resulting in a considerable uncertainty in the clinical practice, how to deal with the issue of platelet function testing. Platelet function testing might not only yield clinical benefits for the patients but also economical advantages by identifying the right drug at the right dose for the right patient.

This article intends to provide an overview of the current platelet function tests such as light transmittance aggregometry, whole blood impedance aggregometry, the PFA-1001 system, the VerifyNow2 system, flow cytometry, as well as other promising technologies like Plateletworks3, IMPACT-R4, PADA, thromboelastography, and the mean platelet component (MPC), briefly addressing strengths, weaknesses and clinical utility of these tests.
LFBTS: Enhanced Multimodality MRI Fusion for Brain Tumor Segmentation With Limited Computational Resources
Authors: Hu Yuanjing , Huang Aibin
Published: February 2025

Efficient and accurate segmentation of brain tumors in multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is crucial for clinical diagnosis and treatment planning. Traditional methods tend to concentrate solely on feature extraction from individual modalities, overlooking the substantial potential of multimodal feature fusion in enhancing segmentation performance. In this paper, we present a novel method that not only integrates salient features from different modalities strategically but also takes into account the constraints imposed by limited computational resources, ensuring both accuracy and efficiency. Two key modules, the attention‐guided cross‐modality fusion module (ACFM) and the hierarchical asymmetric convolution module (HACM), were designed to leverage the distinct modalities and the varying information focuses found within different dimensions. The ACFM is based on a transformer framework, utilizing self‐attention and cross‐attention mechanisms. These mechanisms enable the capture of both local and global dependencies within and between different MRI modalities. This design allows for the effective fusion of complementary features from multiple modalities, thereby enhancing segmentation performance by leveraging the valuable information contained in each modality. Meanwhile, the HACM reduces computational complexity using a pseudo‐3D convolution approach. This approach breaks down 3D convolutions into components along the transverse and sagittal axes. Unlike traditional 2D convolutions, this method preserves essential spatial information across dimensions. It ensures accurate segmentation while maximizing efficiency by capitalizing on the varying focus of information in different spatial planes. This approach takes advantage of the varying information density in these dimensions, achieving a balance between accuracy and efficiency. Through extensive experiments on the BraTS2021 dataset, our proposed modality fusion‐based network under limited resources (LFBTS) achieves dice scores of 0.925, 0.911, and 0.886 for whole tumor (WT), tumor core (TC), and enhanced tumor (ET), respectively. These results outperform state‐of‐the‐art (SOTA) models and consistently demonstrate superiority over models developed in the preceding 2 years. This highlights the potential of our approach in advancing brain tumor segmentation and improving clinical decision‐making, particularly in settings with limited resources.
Stearoyl‐CoA Desaturase 1 Regulates Metabolism and Inflammation in Mouse Perivascular Adipose Tissue in Response to a High‐Fat Diet
Authors: Sowka Adrian , Balatskyi Volodymyr V. , Navrulin Viktor O. , Ntambi James M. , Dobrzyn Pawel
Published: February 2025

The dysregulation of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) is a key contributor to obesity‐induced vascular dysfunction. Mouse periaortic adipose tissue is divided into two parts: thoracic perivascular adipose tissue (TPVAT) and abdominal perivascular adipose tissue (APVAT). These two parts have different physiological properties, which translate into different effects on the vascular wall in the onset of metabolic syndrome. Stearoyl‐CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is an enzyme that is involved in the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids and has been shown to play an important role in metabolic syndrome, including vascular homeostasis. Despite a considerable focus on the role of SCD1 in the development of vascular disorders, there is currently a lack of knowledge of the relationship between SCD1 and PVAT. The present study investigated effects of SCD1 deficiency on lipolysis, β‐oxidation, mitochondrial dynamics, and inflammation in mouse TPVAT and APVAT under high‐fat diet (HFD) feeding conditions. We found lower triglyceride levels in PVAT in SCD1−/− mice both in vitro and in vivo compared with wildtype perivascular adipocytes, attributable to activated lipolysis and β‐oxidation. Moreover, PVAT in HFD‐fed SCD1−/− mice was characterized by higher levels of oxidative phosphorylation complexes and mitochondrial respiratory potential and alterations of mitochondrial morphology compared with wildtype mice. Furthermore, TPVAT and APVAT in SCD1−/− mice showed signs of greater pro‐inflammatory macrophage polarization and higher inflammatory markers that were induced by a HFD. This may be related to the accumulation free fatty acids and diacylglycerols, which are enriched in saturated fatty acids. These findings elucidate the role of SCD1 in maintaining vascular integrity.
ZIF‐8 Functionalized Separator Regulating Na‐Ion Flux and Enabling High‐Performance Sodium‐Metal Batteries
Authors: Xu Shitan , Liu Congcong , Yang Yang , Yao Yu , Yang Hai , Rui Xianhong , Yu Yan
Published: February 2025

The practical application of sodium metal batteries faces significant challenges, such as unpredictable Na dendrite growth and the instability of solid‐electrolyte interphase. Herein, a novel separator composed of glass fiber (GF) impregnated with a zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF‐8) layer, referred to as GF@ZIF‐8 is introduced. This optimized separator exhibits enhanced anti‐puncture strength, a high Na transference number, and fast Na‐ion conductivity. The ZIF‐8 layer effectually regulates the spatial concentration distribution of Na ions and their flux vectors, leading to the homogeneous deposition of Na. Consequently, the Na||Na symmetric cells utilizing the GF@ZIF‐8 separator demonstrate outstanding cyclability, achieving 850 h at 0.5 mA cm−2 and 420 h at 1 mA cm−2, outperforming cells with bare GF (<180 h). Furthermore, the assembled Na3V2(PO4)3||GF@ZIF‐8||Na full cells exhibit remarkably improves rate performance (81 mA h g−1 at 30 C), cyclability (93.5% capacity retention over 900 cycles at 10 C), and low‐temperature applicability (78 mA h g−1 under 0.2 C and −40 °C). The simulations reveal that, except for regulating Na‐ion flux, the introduction of the porous ZIF‐8 on the GF separator also enhances the local electric field near the anode, thereby boosting the transfer of Na+, which contributes to the improved Na storage performance.
Beyond the Dhamma: Cultivating More-Than-Human Sustain-abilities Through Buddhist Stories in Thailand
Authors: Ribó Ignasi
Published: February 2025

This chapter discusses an experience in literary education for sustainability in a Thai university using stories of previous births of the Buddha, or jātakas, as a way of encouraging the development in students of an embodied, affective, experienced, relational sense of becoming-together with other co-inhabitants of the Earth. The textual history and cultural background of the jātakas is presented in order to argue for the need to go beyond traditional interpretations and uses of these stories in pedagogies grounded on humanistic ontology, including the moral didactics of Buddhist education. The case study of two jātakas, “The tigress” and “Others sow,” serves to illustrate the potential of situated and dialogical pedagogical invitations that incorporate stories of this kind as part of a posthumanist or post-anthropocentric pedagogy, with the aim of cultivating more-than-human sustain-abilities (vulner-ability, attend-ability, and response-ability) in the classroom.
e-product of distributions, with applications
Authors: Bagarello F.
Published: February 2025

We consider and reformulate a recent definition of multiplication between distributions. We show that this definition can be adopted, in particular, to prove biorthonormality of some distributions arising when looking to the (generalized) eigenvalues of a specific non-self-adjoint number-like operator, considered in connection with the recently introduced weak pseudo-bosons. Several examples are discussed in details.
Gesundheitskompetenz messen: Methoden und Instrumente zur Erfassung der allgemeinen Gesundheitskompetenz bei Erwachsenen
Authors: Griebler Robert , Link Thomas , Schütze Denise , Straßmayr Christa
Published: February 2025

Die Messung von Gesundheitskompetenz (GK) begann in den 1990er-Jahren mit Instrumenten, die sich auf ein funktionales Verständnis von GK konzentrierten. Seither hat sich das Verständnis von GK und damit auch die Messung von GK weiterentwickelt. Für die Messung einer umfassenden allgemeinen GK werden in diesem Beitrag 2 besonders gut validierte Instrumente vorgestellt, der Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) und der HLS19-Q12-Fragebogen.

Der HLQ umfasst 9 Skalen mit insgesamt 44 Items, die verschiedene GK-Aspekte in der Krankheitsbewältigung abdecken. Der HLQ wurde in zahlreichen Studien validiert und bisher in 47 Sprachen übersetzt. Er weist eine hohe Inhalts- und Kriteriumsvalidität auf und wird zum Beispiel im Rahmen des WHO European Action Network on Health Literacy for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases und in der European Joint Action on Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes (JACARDI) eingesetzt. Auf Basis der 9 Skalen können GK-Profile zu Stärken und Herausforderungen erstellt werden.

Der HLS19-Q12 ist ein Kurzfragebogen zur Messung der allgemeinen GK und basiert auf dem HLS19-Q47. Er besteht aus 12 Items, wurde in mehr als 20 Ländern validiert und ist in mehr als 30 Sprachen übersetzt. Der HLS19-Q12 weist ebenfalls eine hohe Inhalts- und Kriteriumsvalidität auf und wird in den Health Literacy Surveys des WHO Action Network on Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy (M-POHL) und der European Joint Action Prevent Non-Communicable Diseases eingesetzt. Aus den 12 Items wird ein Gesamtwert berechnet, der in 4 GK-Stufen kategorisiert werden kann.

Um langfristig eine vergleichbare Datenbasis zu schaffen, wird empfohlen, diese beiden Instrumente in Studien, Evaluationen und für das Monitoring von GK zu verwenden.
Update Amputationsregister Deutschland (AMP-Register)
Authors: Alimusaj Merkur , Michel Kristina , Block Julia , Daub Urban , Heitzmann Daniel , Nguyen Thanh-Duc , Bisele Maria , Wolf Sebastian I. , Schneider Urs
Published: February 2025

Hintergrund

In medizinischen Registern werden wertvolle Daten von Patienten gesammelt, die die Qualität und Wirksamkeit von Behandlungen überprüfen bzw. kontrollieren. Es existieren nationale Register im Bereich der Amputationsmedizin und Patientenversorgung wie das Swedish Amputation and Prosthetics Registry (SwedeAmp) und das Limb Loss and Preservation Registry (LLPR) in den USA, die Informationen zu Prothesenarten, -materialien und -verfahren sowie patientenbezogene Ergebnisse wie Mobilität und Lebensqualität erheben. Seit 2011 konnte SwedeAmp wichtige Erkenntnisse zu Langzeitergebnissen nach Amputationen beitragen und die Versorgung in Schweden verbessern. Das LLPR in den USA erfasst Daten von klinischen bis zu psychosozialen Aspekten, was länderübergreifende Vergleiche und die Optimierung der Versorgung ermöglicht.

Material und Methoden

In Deutschland leistet das AMP-Register bedeutende Beiträge, indem es u. a. Daten zu Prothesenpassform und -tragekomfort sowie Gründe für Revisionen dokumentiert. Ziel ist es, eine Evidenzbasis durch systematische Datenerhebung zu schaffen. Das Projekt umfasst den Aufbau einer benutzerfreundlichen IT-Struktur, eine Pilotphase zur Anwendungsevaluierung und die enge Zusammenarbeit mit Experten. Mithilfe standardisierter Datensätze sollen Versorgungsdefizite aufgedeckt und evidenzbasierte Ansätze entwickelt werden. Datenerfassung und -speicherung erfolgen gemäß der Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DSGVO) und werden durch technische Maßnahmen abgesichert.

Ergebnisse und Diskussion

Erste Ergebnisse am Studienzentrum Heidelberg zeigen das Potenzial des AMP-Registers. Subgruppenanalysen unterstützen die Versorgungsoptimierung und bestätigen die Relevanz regelmäßiger Assessments, um die Versorgungsqualität langfristig zu verbessern.
Risk of ptosis following eyelid speculum assisted intravitreal anti-VEGF injections
Authors: Berco Efraim , Ostrovsky Michael , Esomchukwu Obinna , Zaks Ortal , Schlesinger Mor , Molina Elkin Jose Cervantes , Ben-Zaken Shalhevet Goldfeather , Shoham-Hazon Nir
Published: February 2025

Purpose

Intravitreal injections are essential for treating retinal diseases. This study aims to assess the impact of repeated intravitreal anti-VEGF injections using an eyelid speculum on the risk of ptosis development.

Methods

This single-center, retrospective chart review included 114 patients (228 eyes) who received at least three unilateral intravitreal anti-VEGF injections. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and MRD1 and MRD2 of the injected and the fellow eyes were analyzed. A multivariate linear regression model was constructed to identify predictors of MRD1 in the injected eye.

Results

The study cohort had a mean age of 75.18 ± 0.98 years, with 57% female patients. On average, patients received 16.92 ± 1.18 injections. At the final follow-up, no significant difference was observed in mean MRD1 between injected and fellow eyes (2.85 ± 0.11 mm vs. 2.90 ± 0.11 mm, p = 0.445). Multivariate regression analysis identified MRD1 of the fellow eye as the only significant predictor of MRD1 in the injected eye (β = 0.769, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The repeated use of an eyelid speculum during intravitreal anti-VEGF injections does not significantly contribute to ptosis development. MRD1 tends to be similar between the injected and non-injected eye, suggesting that intrinsic factors may play a more crucial role in determining eyelid position than the mechanical effects of the procedure.
Approximating vision transformers for edge: variational inference and mixed-precision for multi-modal data
Authors: Katare Dewant , Leroux Sam , Janssen Marijn , Ding Aaron Yi
Published: February 2025

Vision transformer (ViTs) models have shown higher accuracy, robustness and large volume data processing ability, creating new baselines and references for perception tasks. However, these advantages require large memory and high-performance processors and computing units, which makes model adaptability and deployment challenging within resource-constrained environments such as memory-restricted and battery-powered edge devices. This paper addresses the model deployment challenges by proposing a model approximation approach VI-ViT, for edge deployment using variational inference with mixed precision for processing multi-modalities, such as point clouds and images. Our experimental evaluation on the nuScenes and Waymo datasets show up to 37% and 31% reduction in model parameters and Flops while maintaining a mean average precision of 70.5 compared to 74.8 of the baseline model. This work presents a practical deployment approach for approximating and optimizing Vision Transformers for edge AI applications by balancing model metrics such as parameters, flops, latency, energy consumption, and accuracy, which can easily be adapted to other transformer models and datasets.
Joseph Schneider (1777–1854), Heimatforscher, Arzt und früher Epileptologe
Authors: Krämer Günter
Published: February 2025

Es wird der bislang kaum bekannte deutsche Arzt Joseph Schneider vorgestellt, der in einer 1852/53 in einem zweibändigen Buch erschienenen Monographie im ersten Band mit einem Umfang von 175 Seiten das seinerzeitige Wissen über Epilepsie („Von der Fallsucht“) referierte und durch seine eigenen Erfahrungen ergänzte. Er verdient zweifellos einen Platz in der Epilepsiegeschichte.
A Handover Decision Optimization Method Based on Data-Driven MLP in 5G Ultra-Dense Small Cell HetNets
Authors: Riaz Hamidullah , Öztürk Sıtkı , Aldirmaz-Colak Sultan , Çalhan Ali
Published: February 2025

Deploying Ultra-Dense Small Cells (UDSCs) in Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) introduces advantages such as increased capacity and expanded coverage over conventional HetNets. However, these advantages come at the expense of some challenges during the Handover (HO) process. Radio Link Failure (RLF) and Unnecessary Handover (UHO) are severe among these challenges. To address these issues, accurate setting and optimization of Handover Control Parameters (HCPs), including Handover Margin (HOM) and Time-To-Trigger (TTT), are necessary. Inaccurate adjustment and optimization of HCPs in live networks may lead to underperformance. Thus, this paper proposes a method that optimizes the obtained dataset by developing an algorithm that adjusts HOM and TTT based on related metrics such as RLF and UHO. The optimized dataset is then applied to a Multi-Layer Perception (MLP) model within a developed HO decision algorithm to predict both HOM and TTT, considering user speed, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), and cell load. Simulation results showed that the proposed method outperforms the well-known A3 method in terms of Handover Rate (HOR), Handover Failure (HOF), Handover Ping-Pong (HOPP) and RLF by approximately 90.9%, 76.6%, 79.8% and 75%, respectively.
On a conjecture of Levesque and Waldschmidt II
Authors: Hilgart Tobias , Ziegler Volker
Published: February 2025

Related to Shank’s notion of simplest cubic fields, the family of parametrised Diophantine equations,

$$\begin{aligned} x^3 - (n-1) x^2 y - (n+2) xy^2 - 1 = \left( x - \lambda _0 y\right) \left( x-\lambda _1 y\right) \left( x - \lambda _2 y\right) = \pm 1, \end{aligned}$$

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y

x
-

λ
1
s

λ
2
t

y

x
-

λ
2
s

λ
0
t

y

=
±
1
,

retains a result similar to what Thomas obtained in the original or Levesque and Waldschidt in the once-twisted (

$$t = 0$$

t
=
0

) case; namely, that non-trivial solutions can only appear in equations where the parameters are small. We confirm this conjecture, given that the absolute values of the exponents s, t are not too large compared to the base parameter n.
Language Cues and Perceptions of Nationalism
Authors: O’Brochta William , Cunha Silva Patrick
Published: February 2025

How do people respond to symbols related to nationalism, and does having political context matter? We argue that nationalist symbols influence perceptions when in a political context. Leveraging that the Serbian language can be rendered in Cyrillic and Latin, and Cyrillic is associated with nationalism, we examine the use of linguistic symbols in Serbia. Using social media data, we demonstrate that politicians employ Cyrillic to discuss topics traditionally associated with nationalism. Then, based on a pre-registered survey experiment, we show that exposure to Cyrillic absent political context does not alter nationalist attitudes but that respondents exposed to a politician’s message in Cyrillic viewed that politician as more nationalist. Our findings speak to the power of nationalist symbols, demonstrating that said symbols are powerful even when associated with subtle, language-based manipulations. Moreover, they have broad implications for how politicians signal their political beliefs, including how they work to associate themselves with everyday symbols.
Exploring the effects of additive manufacturing technology adoption on the state of the supply chain: a resilience perspective
Authors: Naghshineh Bardia , Carvalho Helena
Published: February 2025

As a digital technology, the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing, affects the state of the supply chain, consequently affecting supply chain resilience. To investigate the subject matter from the industry’s viewpoint, an exploratory survey was conducted to collect quantitative and qualitative empirical data from a heterogeneous sample of experts in various companies with hands-on experience in AM technology adoption. The quantitative data analysis indicates that adopting AM technology affects the supply chain’s state to a moderate extent overall, which in turn is likely to moderately affect supply chain resilience. The qualitative data analysis elucidates how different adoption features of AM technology affect the supply chain’s state and identifies the barriers inhibiting these effects. Generic propositions are put forward to reflect the theoretical implications of the study. Moreover, an empirical framework is conceived that outlines the managerial implications of the study. This framework can be used by practitioners and academics seeking to understand to what extent and how AM adoption affects the supply chain’s state, a fundamental prerequisite for assessing the supply chain resilience outcomes of adopting this digital technology.
Understanding CEDAW Cities: A Descriptive Analysis
Authors: Kammerer Edward F. , Och Malliga
Published: February 2025

The United States is only one of eight countries, and the only Western democracy, that has not ratified the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Due to the failure of the US to ratify CEDAW, the Cities for CEDAW campaign encourages US municipalities to adopt the CEDAW framework locally through municipal ordinances and resolutions. This article provides a descriptive overview of CEDAW cities. Our descriptive approach will provide a comprehensive and accurate account of CEDAW cities and serve as an important and essential step for more in-depth analysis of CEDAW cities in the future. First, we identify a total of 61 CEDAW cities. Next, we ask if CEDAW cities share common characteristics. Our analysis shows that while Cities with ordinances are larger and tend to lean more Democratic, the entire universe of CEDAW cities contains significant variation.
Displacements in reported date of birth and differences in age at death in surveys of child mortality: a record linkage study in Guinea-Bissau
Authors: Jensen Andreas Møller , Thysen Sanne Marie , Martins Justiniano Sebastião Durga , Fernandes Didier Abdel , Rodrigues Amabelia , Helleringer Stéphane , Fisker Ane Bærent
Published: February 2025

Child mortality data in low- and middle-income countries are often derived from survey data prone to imprecision due to recall. Such imprecisions can affect the accuracy of date of birth (DOB) and age at death (AAD). Bandim Health Project runs two Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSSs) collecting prospective information on pregnancies, births, and deaths in Guinea-Bissau. In a survey, HDSS resident women were interviewed on their births and survival status of their children born within 5 years prior to the interview. We matched child records in the survey data to their corresponding records in the HDSS data based on sex, name, birth order, twinning status, and sibling names. We compared the risk and magnitude of displacement in DOB and AAD in regression models to identify risk factors for displacement. A total of 7679 out of 9960 survey-reported live births (78%) were matched to HDSS-reported births. Displacement in month or year of birth was observed for 9%, with a median displacement of 30 days backwards. Child death was associated with larger risk of displacement in DOB (adjusted risk ratio: 5.16 (95% confidence interval: 4.44–5.99)) and greater magnitude of displacement. A longer recall period was also associated with a greater risk of displacement. Among 339 children who had died, 68% had a discrepancy in AAD with 34% of these exceeding 1 week. Discrepancies were common and more likely for longer recall periods and children who had died. Hence, the interpretation of temporal mortality patterns from survey data may be compromised.
Distress Tolerance as a Risk Factor for Specific Internet-Use Disorders
Authors: Hew Yuan Chong , Chew Peter K. H.
Published: February 2025

Existing research on distress tolerance has focused on non-technological addictions and general Internet addiction; however, none explored its association with specific Internet-use addictions. This study aimed to investigate whether distress tolerance could be a risk factor for three specific Internet-use disorders: Internet gaming disorder (IGD), problematic social media use (PSMU), and problematic pornography use (PPU) guided by the interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution (I-PACE) model. As emotional regulation and distress tolerance are related but distinct constructs, emotional regulation was controlled in the current study. It was hypothesized lower distress tolerance would predict higher severity in IGD (H1), PSMU (H2), and PPU (H3) after controlling for demographics (i.e., age and gender) and emotional regulation. Upon ethics approval from the university’s human research ethics committee, 151 participants (62.9% females; mean age = 27.35, SD = 6.41) were recruited. Participants completed scales on distress tolerance, emotional regulation, IGD, PSMU, and PPU. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted thrice for each outcome variable, with demographics entered in Model 1, emotional regulation subscales entered in Model 2, and distress tolerance subscales entered in Model 3. Results revealed lower distress tolerance significantly predicted higher severity in IGD above and beyond demographics and emotional regulation, but not for PSMU and PPU. This suggests distress tolerance may be a more relevant risk factor for IGD than PPU and PSMU. Limitations pertain to lack of comprehensiveness measuring psychological distress. Longitudinal studies are recommended for future research.
Understanding the Regulatory Approach of the Cyber Resilience Act: Protection of Fundamental Rights in Disguise?
Authors: Chiara Pier Giorgio
Published: February 2025

The swift proliferation of connected devices in the Internal Market brought attention to their weak cybersecurity standard, reflected by widespread and oftentimes unpatched vulnerabilities and successful cyberattacks. Attacks on cyber-physical systems have a critical impact not only on the Union’s economy but also on consumers’ health, safety, and fundamental rights. Against the background of the failure of the cybersecurity market of connected devices, the 10 December 2024 entered into force Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 on horizontal cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements (Cyber Resilience Act, CRA). After casting light on the three regulatory foundational choices underpinning this EU legal act in the field of cybersecurity (ie, horizontal approach, risk-based approach, product safety approach), the article investigates the extent to which the CRA enhances the protection of fundamental rights, as claimed in the Explanatory Memorandum of the Commission’s proposal.
Late Pleistocene pedogenesis and loess magnetism in northwestern Ukraine
Authors: Bonchkovskyi Oleksandr , Hlavatskyi Dmytro
Published: February 2025

The central European loess-paleosol sequence (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6–2) at three sites located in northwestern Ukraine, in the transitional area between the oceanic and continental climates, has been studied using micromorphological, grain-size, pollen, and magnetic methods. The sequence is characterized by a well-developed pedocomplex S1 (correlative of MIS 5), comprising four soils, and three interstadial soils within loess L1 (MIS 4–2). The soils of S1 are synsedimentary, indicating a dynamic depositional environment with pulses of aeolian sand sedimentation from late MIS 6 to MIS 5a. From various cryogenic features, the permafrost aggradation for MIS 6, 4, and 2, and deep seasonal freezing for MIS 5d and 5b were reconstructed. Distinct redoximorphic features of the loess units, widespread solifluction, well-developed periglacial phenomena, and very low magnetic susceptibility values for the loess-paleosol sequence of northwestern Ukraine reveal its similarity to those of the central European loess subdomain of the northern European loess belt. The low concentration of ferrimagnetic minerals in the parent material and intensive processes of physical and chemical weathering are reflected in the specific model of magnetic enhancement of the studied sequence, which is transitional between the “Chinese” (pedogenic) and “Alaskan” (reducing-pedogenic) models.
Party Behaviour and the Gender Voting Gap
Authors: Di Landro Gonzalo
Published: February 2025

How does party support for gender equality in the labour market affect the gender voting gap? A well-established argument from the literature on gender and political behaviour states that working women tend to vote for left-wing parties more than men because they are stronger supporters of the welfare state. However, no study has assessed whether parties’ welfare positions affect the gender voting gap. Leveraging three decades of public opinion data from sixteen Western democracies, I provide evidence in support of that claim: increases in women’s labour force participation are associated with higher female/male voter ratios for the left, but only when those parties strongly support gender-egalitarian policies in the labour market. These findings confirm and add nuance to the previous understanding of the gap: by focusing on public opinion, previous research overlooked party behaviour. Therefore, my evidence elevates the importance of party strategy in explaining gender differences in voting.
Multidimensional Party Polarization in Europe: Cross-Cutting Divides and Effective Dimensionality
Authors: Koedam Jelle , Binding Garret , Steenbergen Marco R.
Published: February 2025

Ideological polarization between political parties is essential for meaningful electoral competition, but at its extreme can strain democratic functioning. Despite a widespread recognition that multiple divides structure contemporary party polarization in Europe, its prevailing conceptualization and measurement remain one-dimensional. To resolve this tension, we introduce a novel, multidimensional approach to party polarization. Our main focus is on whether different ideological divides reinforce or crosscut each other. We calculate the effective dimensionality of a policy space using the correlation matrix of parties’ positions, which accounts for how the dimensions interrelate. Using both artificial data and positional estimates from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (1999–2019), we highlight the advantages of our approach and demonstrate that it is better able to capture the relationship between party polarization and mass partisanship. This study has important theoretical, methodological, and empirical implications for our understanding of polarization and democratic representation in a changing political landscape.