bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Personality characteristics in specialist and generalist intimate partner violence perpetrators
Authors: Teva Inmaculada , Marín‐Morales Agar , Bueso‐Izquierdo Natalia , Pérez‐García Miguel , Hidalgo‐Ruzzante Natalia
Published: August 2022

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most common types of violence against women. Although personality disorders have been associated with IPV, perpetration research regarding personality according to the classification specialist/generalist IPV perpetrators is scarce. The general aim of this study was to describe personality in a large sample of IPV Spanish male perpetrators considering their classification (specialist vs. generalist). Participants were 1093 men convicted of IPV crimes whose ages ranged from 18 to 76 years old (M = 40.15; SD = 10.32). Of them, 554 men were classified as specialist perpetrators and 539 men were classified as generalist perpetrators. Participants completed questionnaires regarding sociodemographic and violence aspects as well as the Spanish version of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III. Generalist perpetrators showed higher means in nearly all the personality disorders scales compared to specialist perpetrators. Prevalence rates in the majority of personality disorders were lower than 5%. Higher scores on the avoidant, histrionic, and self‐defeating scales and lower scores on the aggressive, borderline, and drug dependence scales were related to being a specialist perpetrator. This study contributes to a better understanding of personality among generalist and specialist perpetrators.
Patient personality dimensions, relational patterns and therapeutic alliance in clinical practice: An empirical investigation
Authors: Tanzilli Annalisa , Boldrini Tommaso , Carone Nicola , Gualco Ivan , Lingiardi Vittorio , Williams Riccardo
Published: August 2022

Introduction

Transference (meant in this context, as the patient relational patterns expressed towards the clinician) and therapeutic alliance play a crucial role in the treatment of personality pathology. To date, no empirical study examined the association between these two dimensions of the clinical relationship and patients' personality maladaptive traits in psychotherapy.

Methods

A national sample of therapists (N = 100) of different theoretical orientations assessed dysfunctional personality features of a patient in their care using a comprehensive and empirically grounded dimensional diagnostic approach from the Shedler–Westen Assessment Procedure‐200 (SWAP‐200). Moreover, they filled in the Psychotherapy Relationship Questionnaire (PRQ) to identify interpersonal patterns expressed early in treatment by the patients and the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI‐T) to evaluate quality of therapeutic alliance.

Results

Overall, the most severe and maladaptive dimensions of patients' personality were associated with more negative clinician–patient dynamics and poorer levels of therapeutic alliance in statistically significant and clinically relevant ways. Notably, the hostile transference was predicted by both SWAP Hostility and Psychopathy, whereas the SWAP Narcissism was the strongest predictor of the special/entitled transference. The latter was also predicted by SWAP Emotional Dysregulation; conversely, the SWAP Dysphoria was the most robust predictor of anxious/preoccupied pattern. The SWAP Schizoid Orientation and Psychopathy predicted avoidant/dismissing attachment pattern; moreover, they were strongly and negatively related to the SWAP Psychological Health that was the best predictor of positive transference and alliance.

Conclusions

Findings support that therapists' careful understanding of patients' interpersonal ways during early treatment stages may meaningfully inform diagnostic and therapeutic processes.
Measuring Pattern Separation in Hippocampus by in Situ Hybridization
Authors: Eom Kisang , Lee Hyoung‐Ro
Published: August 2022

Distinguishing different contexts is thought to involve a form of pattern separation that minimizes overlap between neural ensembles representing similar experiences. Theoretical models suggest that the dentate gyrus (DG) segregates cortical input patterns before relaying its discriminated output patterns to the CA3 hippocampal field. This suggests that the evaluation of neural ensembles in DG and CA3 could be an important means to investigate the process of pattern separation. In the past, measurement of entorhinal cortex (EC), DG, and CA3 ensembles was largely dependent upon in vivo electrophysiological recording, which is technically difficult. This protocol provides a method to instead measure pattern separation by a molecular method that provides direct spatial resolution at the cellular level. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Basic Protocol: Measuring pattern separation by molecular methods
One‐sided 10T static‐random access memory cell for energy‐efficient and noise‐immune internet of things applications
Authors: Darabi Abdolreza , Salehi Mohammad Reza , Abiri Ebrahim
Published: August 2022

This paper presents a one‐sided 10‐transistors static‐random access memory (SRAM) cell appropriate for the internet of things (IoT) applications in which energy‐efficient SRAM cells are necessary to raise the battery lifetime. The bit‐cell core of the proposed SRAM cell is composed of two inverters with different structures based on the gate‐wrap‐around (GWA) carbon nanotube (CNT)‐gate‐diffusion input (GDI) technique and only one‐bit line to perform both read and write operations to minimize active power consumption. The proposed bit‐cell uses a transmission gate network and write‐assist schemes to significantly improve the write‐ability and stack read‐decoupling technique to enhance hold‐/read‐stability. Moreover, a memory mini‐array has been implemented using the proposed cell along with all the principal circuitries. Extensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulations show that write/hold/read static noise margins (SNMs) are improved by about 1.252, 1.196, and 1.152 times, respectively. Also, the results of evaluating the write‐ and read‐yield parameters for the proposed SRAM bit‐cell are about 22% and 13% better than counterpart bit‐cell designs, respectively. In addition, the bit error rate (BER) and energy dissipation parameters for the proposed memory cell are almost 61% and seven times higher than the studied SRAM bit‐cell in the same simulation process. Finally, to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed SRAM bit‐cell in the real‐world application, a memory array architecture with an online (or off‐chip) adaptive power supply voltage based on a hardware algorithm for storing digital images at a minimum energy dissipation is proposed. Our simulation results emphasize that the proposed memory array can be a good candidate for energy‐efficient and noise‐immunity IoT platforms.
Comprehensive molecular analysis of immortalization hallmarks in thyroid cancer reveals new prognostic markers
Authors: Montero‐Conde Cristina , Leandro‐García Luis Javier , Martínez‐Montes Ángel M. , Martínez Paula , Moya Francisco J. , Letón Rocío , Gil Eduardo , Martínez‐Puente Natalia , Guadalix Sonsoles , Currás‐Freixes Maria , García‐Tobar Laura , Zafon Carles , Jordà Mireia , Riesco‐Eizaguirre Garcilaso , González‐García Patricia , Monteagudo María , Torres‐Pérez Rafael , Mancikova Veronika , Ruiz‐Llorente Sergio , Pérez‐Martínez Manuel , Pita Guillermo , Galofré Juan Carlos , Gonzalez‐Neira Anna , Cascón Alberto , Rodríguez‐Antona Cristina , Megías Diego , Blasco María A. , Caleiras Eduardo , Rodríguez‐Perales Sandra , Robledo Mercedes
Published: August 2022

Background

Comprehensive molecular studies on tumours are needed to delineate immortalization process steps and identify sensitive prognostic biomarkers in thyroid cancer.

Methods and Results

In this study, we extensively characterize telomere‐related alterations in a series of 106 thyroid tumours with heterogeneous clinical outcomes. Using a custom‐designed RNA‐seq panel, we identified five telomerase holoenzyme‐complex genes upregulated in clinically aggressive tumours compared to tumours from long‐term disease‐free patients, being TERT and TERC denoted as independent prognostic markers by multivariate regression model analysis. Characterization of alterations related to TERT re‐expression revealed that promoter mutations, methylation and/or copy gains exclusively co‐occurred in clinically aggressive tumours. Quantitative‐FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis of telomere lengths showed a significant shortening in these carcinomas, which matched with a high proliferative rate measured by Ki‐67 immunohistochemistry. RNA‐seq data analysis indicated that short‐telomere tumours exhibit an increased transcriptional activity in the 5‐Mb‐subtelomeric regions, site of several telomerase‐complex genes. Gene upregulation enrichment was significant for specific chromosome‐ends such as the 5p, where TERT is located. Co‐FISH analysis of 5p‐end and TERT loci showed a more relaxed chromatin configuration in short telomere‐length tumours compared to normal telomere‐length tumours.

Conclusions

Overall, our findings support that telomere shortening leads to a 5p subtelomeric region reorganization, facilitating the transcription and accumulation of alterations at TERT‐locus.
Learn from the leadership of U.S. presidents
Authors: Hodges Dawn Z.
Published: August 2022

While in Dallas recently, I had some time to kill before my flight back to Atlanta. Just down the street from Love Field airport is the Southern Methodist University campus, which hosts the George W. Bush Presidential Center. I'd never been to a presidential library before and decided to venture inside.
Culture at the heart: Cultivating Native student success
Authors: Silverstein Lisa
Published: August 2022

“But the TCUs are already doing it. Sense of belonging is in the fabric of TCUs,” said Monte Schaff, Institutional Research Analyst from United Tribes Technical College, a small tribal college in Bismarck, North Dakota. He spoke at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Strategic Enrollment Management conference in Aventura, Florida, in November 2021.
Vitiligo: A black patch on white skin is a blessing—but a white patch on black skin is a curse
Authors: Ghia Deepti , Mysore Venkataram
Published: August 2022

Background

Vitiligo is one of the most common skin disorders of possible autoimmune etiology, causing serious cosmetic, psychological, financial, social problems, and affecting the quality of life. There is a lack of recognition of the sufferings of these patients as it is neither visible nor obvious in the fair‐skinned population. Treatment modalities too are varied and there is still a lack of expertise among physicians treating the disease.

Objective

To highlight the magnitude of the suffering due to Vitiligo and the need for its recognition for greater efforts by governmental and nongovernmental agencies to address the issues surrounding this disease.

Conclusion

Vitiligo affects the quality of life by its chronicity, visibility, and relapsing nature. The treatments are often expensive, and not easily accessible. There is a need for greater research to develop more effective modalities through the involvement of international organizations and better coordination with the private sector and patient groups to make information and treatments available, accessible, and economical for all patients.
Hay meadows' overriding effect shapes ground beetle functional diversity in mountainous landscapes
Authors: Gobbi Mauro , Corlatti Luca , Caccianiga Marco , ter Braak Cajo J. F. , Pedrotti Luca
Published: August 2022

Mountain regions are hotspots of biodiversity, and are particularly sensitive to human activities and global changes. Characterizing biodiversity using trait‐based approaches may improve the understanding of the evolutionary and mechanistic basis of ecological patterns in species distribution. The investigation of trait–environment relationships, however, is challenging, especially when a hierarchical sampling design is used, as this may lead to misidentification of associations. Here, we investigate how functional traits in ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), a taxon often used as a bioindicator of climate and environmental changes, vary with environmental features in a mountainous landscape. The study was conducted in the Stelvio National Park (Central Italian Alps), collecting individuals with pitfall traps deployed within plots (small spatial scale), located along altitudinal transects (large spatial scale). To investigate the trait–environment association, we used double constrained correspondence analysis, which permits the selection of important traits and environmental variables while accounting for the hierarchical structure of the sampling design. The trait–environment association was largely one‐dimensional, with hay meadow acting as main environmental driver, negatively related to brachypterous wing‐form (indicator of poor dispersal ability) and, to a lesser extent, to specialized diet and (only for the large scale) body length. Secondarily, these traits were related negatively to soil pH and, for the larger spatial scale, positively to canopy cover and elevation. Double constrained correspondence analysis with specialized permutation schemes for statistical testing was effective and robust to analyze the data of the hierarchical sampling.
Integrating water quality monitoring and diatom community trends to determine landscape‐level change in protected lakes
Authors: Ramstack Hobbs Joy M. , Heathcote Adam J. , VanderMeulen David D. , Edlund Mark B.
Published: August 2022

Lakes in protected or remote regions are not immune to anthropogenic impacts and face a variety of stressors ranging from atmospheric deposition of pollutants to global climate change. Monitoring programs in these lakes can be limited in scope due to sampling logistics, leaving an incomplete picture of how the systems may be impacted by environmental stressors. Here, we used diatoms as early indicators of change in relatively undisturbed lakes from five national park units in the US Great Lakes region. Surface sediment samples were collected repeatedly over more than a decade to analyze the diatom community turnover. This diatom community assemblage data were compared with the measured water quality data collected over the same period in order to identify the predominant drivers of ecological change. Even though the parks in this study span two biomes, and lake characteristics vary between and within parks, we found synchronicity in measured water quality trends and diatom responses. Changes in the thermal regime and water‐column mixing appeared to drive much of the change across parks, although much of the diatom turnover also followed a sulfate or pH gradient. Nutrients did not appear to play a major role in diatom community change. This method of using diatoms in conjunction with water quality monitoring allows for an integrated response over a number of years and provides managers with a complementary tool to determine which environmental parameters are having the biggest effect on lake ecology.
Light and photoacclimatization drive distinct differences between shallow and mesophotic coral communities
Authors: Carpenter Gaby E. , Chequer Alex D. , Weber Sabrina , Mass Tali , Goodbody‐Gringley Gretchen
Published: August 2022

The ecological distribution of coral species from shallow to mesophotic reefs is dependent on light, which varies drastically among local environments. Current definitions of mesophotic coral ecosystems primarily rely on a 30‐m recreational SCUBA boundary to define the upper limits of the community; however, this boundary does not consider local conditions and physiological adaptions of coral species. Using in situ benthic imagery and chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, we examined species distribution and community similarity, as well as photoacclimatization of two common depth‐generalist species (Montastraea cavernosa and Porites astreoides) across shallow to mesophotic reef zones at Little Cayman Island. Photoquadrat image analysis revealed a significant shift in coral species assemblages between 25 and 35 m, which was accompanied by a 30% drop in available surface light, suggesting light is a key driver of coral community composition. Patterns of photoacclimatization across depths differed significantly between the two coral species, with available surface light and the quantum yield of photochemistry in photosystem II found to be significant determinants of each species' abundance. These results provide valuable baseline data on coral community composition across a broad depth gradient in Little Cayman that can contribute to a growing body of evidence to set an upper boundary of mesophotic reefs based on light availability and photoacclimatization potential of depth‐generalist species.
The effects of prolonged drought on vegetation dieback and megafires in southern California chaparral
Authors: Keeley Jon E. , Brennan Teresa J. , Syphard Alexandra D.
Published: August 2022

Drought contributed to extensive dieback of southern California chaparral, and normalized difference vegetation index before drought and near the end of the drought was used to estimate this dieback, after accounting for other disturbances recorded in aerial photographs. Within the perimeters of two megafires that occurred after the drought, the 2017 Thomas Fire and the 2018 Woolsey Fire, there had been extensive areas of dieback. Comparing dieback with Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity measures of fire severity, there was a highly significant negative relationship between drought‐caused shrub dieback and fire‐caused dieback as measured by fire severity. We interpret this as further support for our remote sensing methodology for prefire dieback. Models of fire behavior suggest that one means by which dieback contributes to fire size is through increasing the density and distance of spot fires, particularly under extreme wind conditions. Lower elevation chaparral associations appear to be most vulnerable and are closer to urban environments, which should be a concern to fire managers in regions subjected to extended droughts.
Ferroelectricity Induced by Oxygen Vacancies in Rhombohedral ZrO2 Thin Films
Authors: Lenzi Veniero , Silva José P. B. , Šmíd Břetislav , Matolín Vladimir , Istrate Cosmin M. , Ghica Corneliu , MacManus‐Driscoll Judith L. , Marques Luís
Published: August 2022

Rhombohedral phase HfxZr1‐xO2 (HZO, x from 0 to 1) films are promising for achieving robust ferroelectric polarization without the need for an initial wake‐up pre‐cycling, as is normally the case for the more commonly studied orthorhombic phase. However, a large spontaneous polarization observed in rhombohedral films is not fully understood, and there are also large discrepancies between experimental and theoretical predictions. In this work, in rhombohedral ZrO2 thin films, we show that oxygen vacancies are not only a key factor for stabilizing the phase, but they are also a source of ferroelectric polarization in the films. This is shown experimentally through the investigation of the structural properties, chemical composition and the ferroelectric properties of the films before and after an annealing at moderate temperature (400 °C) in an oxygen environment to reduce the VO concentration compared. The experimental work is supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations which show that the rhombohedral phase is the most stable one in highly oxygen defective ZrO2 films. The DFT calculations also show that VO contribute to the ferroelectric polarization. Our findings reveal the importance of VO for stabilizing rhombohedral ZrO2 thin films with superior ferroelectric properties.
Clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential‐related mutations and outcome in dilated and ischaemic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Wu Jasmine M.F. , Bekfani Tarek , Hinze Anna , Westphal Julian Georg , Steinacker Berit , Zeller Max , Hartmann Charlotte , Möbius‐Winkler Sven , Hochhaus Andreas , Schulze P. Christian , Ernst Thomas
Published: August 2022

Aims

Clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP)‐associated mutation is a risk factor for the development of ischaemic cardiomyopathy (ICM), but its association with non‐ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains unclear. We aimed to determine the prevalence of CHIP in patients with DCM and define its risk for disease progression.

Methods and results

Next‐generation sequencing targeting 54 common CHIP‐associated genes was performed in 48 ICM and 52 DCM patients. The patients were monitored for a median of 3.1 years, and a COX proportional hazards model was used to examine the association between CHIP and adverse clinical outcome with regard to all‐cause death or all‐cause hospitalization. Overall, the prevalence of CHIP mutations was 19% and 13% in DCM and ICM, respectively. Seventeen per cent of ICM patients over 75 years were CHIP carriers. In DCM cohort, mutation event had already been observed in the patients who were under the age of 45 (13%). Among 54 genes analysed, DNMT3A had the highest mutation frequency, followed by TET2 and CUX1. Kaplan–Meier curve over a median of 3.1 year tracking period showed a trend towards poor clinical outcome in the DCM patients who carried DNMT3A or TET2 mutation; however, such association was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

The prevalence of CHIP is detected at a young age in DCM, and accumulation of mutational frequency in DCM patients is independent of age. However, a larger patient cohort is required to validate the association between CHIP and clinical progression in the DCM patients.
Human repair‐related Schwann cells adopt functions of antigen‐presenting cells in vitro
Authors: Berner Jakob , Weiss Tamara , Sorger Helena , Rifatbegovic Fikret , Kauer Max , Windhager Reinhard , Dohnal Alexander , Ambros Peter F. , Ambros Inge M. , Boztug Kaan , Steinberger Peter , Taschner‐Mandl Sabine
Published: August 2022

The plastic potential of Schwann cells (SCs) is increasingly recognized to play a role after nerve injury and in diseases of the peripheral nervous system. Reports on the interaction between immune cells and SCs indicate their involvement in inflammatory processes. However, the immunocompetence of human SCs has been primarily deduced from neuropathies, but whether after nerve injury SCs directly regulate an adaptive immune response is unknown. Here, we performed comprehensive analysis of immunomodulatory capacities of human repair‐related SCs (hrSCs), which recapitulate SC response to nerve injury in vitro. We used our well‐established culture model of primary hrSCs from human peripheral nerves and analyzed the transcriptome, secretome, and cell surface proteins for pathways and markers relevant in innate and adaptive immunity, performed phagocytosis assays, and monitored T‐cell subset activation in allogeneic co‐cultures. Our findings show that hrSCs are phagocytic, which is in line with high MHCII expression. Furthermore, hrSCs express co‐regulatory proteins, such as CD40, CD80, B7H3, CD58, CD86, and HVEM, release a plethora of chemoattractants, matrix remodeling proteins and pro‐ as well as anti‐inflammatory cytokines, and upregulate the T‐cell inhibiting PD‐L1 molecule upon pro‐inflammatory stimulation with IFNγ. In contrast to monocytes, hrSC alone are not sufficient to trigger allogenic CD4+ and CD8+ T‐cells, but limit number and activation status of exogenously activated T‐cells. This study demonstrates that hrSCs possess features and functions typical for professional antigen‐presenting cells in vitro, and suggest a new role of these cells as negative regulators of T‐cell immunity during nerve regeneration.
Cortical depth profiles of auditory and visual 7 T functional MRI responses in human superior temporal areas
Authors: Lankinen Kaisu , Ahlfors Seppo P. , Mamashli Fahimeh , Blazejewska Anna I. , Raij Tommi , Turpin Tori , Polimeni Jonathan R. , Ahveninen Jyrki
Published: August 2022

Invasive neurophysiological studies in nonhuman primates have shown different laminar activation profiles to auditory vs. visual stimuli in auditory cortices and adjacent polymodal areas. Means to examine the underlying feedforward vs. feedback type influences noninvasively have been limited in humans. Here, using 1‐mm isotropic resolution 3D echo‐planar imaging at 7 T, we studied the intracortical depth profiles of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals to brief auditory (noise bursts) and visual (checkerboard) stimuli. BOLD percent‐signal‐changes were estimated at 11 equally spaced intracortical depths, within regions‐of‐interest encompassing auditory (Heschl's gyrus, Heschl's sulcus, planum temporale, and posterior superior temporal gyrus) and polymodal (middle and posterior superior temporal sulcus) areas. Effects of differing BOLD signal strengths for auditory and visual stimuli were controlled via normalization and statistical modeling. The BOLD depth profile shapes, modeled with quadratic regression, were significantly different for auditory vs. visual stimuli in auditory cortices, but not in polymodal areas. The different depth profiles could reflect sensory‐specific feedforward versus cross‐sensory feedback influences, previously shown in laminar recordings in nonhuman primates. The results suggest that intracortical BOLD profiles can help distinguish between feedforward and feedback type influences in the human brain. Further experimental studies are still needed to clarify how underlying signal strength influences BOLD depth profiles under different stimulus conditions.
Office‐based mental healthcare and juvenile arrests
Authors: Deza Monica , Lu Thanh , Maclean Johanna Catherine
Published: August 2022

We estimate the effect of local access to office‐based mental healthcare on juvenile arrest outcomes. We leverage variation in the number of offices of physicians and non‐physicians specializing in mental healthcare in a county over the period 1999–2016 in a two‐way fixed‐effects regression. Office‐based treatment is the most common modality of mental healthcare received by juveniles. We find that 10 additional offices of physicians and non‐physicians specializing in mental healthcare in a county leads a decrease of 2.3%–2.6% in the per capita costs to society of juvenile arrest. Findings are similar for arrest rates although often less precise, which suggests that accounting for social costs is empirically important. Crime imposes substantial costs on society and individuals, and interventions during early life can have more pronounced effects than those received at later stages, therefore our results imply increased juvenile access to mental healthcare may have an unintended benefit for the current and future generations.
Thy‐Wise: An interpretable machine learning model for the evaluation of thyroid nodules
Authors: Jin Zhe , Pei Shufang , Ouyang Lizhu , Zhang Lu , Mo Xiaokai , Chen Qiuying , You Jingjing , Chen Luyan , Zhang Bin , Zhang Shuixing
Published: August 2022

Current risk stratification systems for thyroid nodules suffer from low specificity and high biopsy rates. Recently, machine learning (ML) is introduced to assist thyroid nodule diagnosis but lacks interpretability. Here, we developed and validated ML models on 3965 thyroid nodules, as compared to the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (ACR TI‐RADS). Subsequently, a SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) algorithm was leveraged to interpret the results of the best‐performing ML model. Clinical characteristics including thyroid‐function tests were collected from medical records. Five ACR TI‐RADS ultrasonography (US) categories plus nodule size were assessed by experienced radiologists. Random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM) and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were used to build US‐only and US‐clinical ML models. The ML models and ACR TI‐RADS were compared in terms of diagnostic performance and unnecessary biopsy rate. Among the ML models, the US‐only RF model (hereafter, Thy‐Wise) achieved the optimal performance. Compared to ACR TI‐RADS, Thy‐Wise showed higher accuracy (82.4% vs 74.8% for the internal validation; 82.1% vs 73.4% for external validation) and specificity (78.7% vs 68.3% for internal validation; 78.5% vs 66.9% for external validation) while maintaining sensitivity (91.7% vs 91.2% for internal validation; 91.9% vs 91.1% for external validation), as well as reduced unnecessary biopsies (15.3% vs 32.3% for internal validation; 15.7% vs 47.3% for external validation). The SHAP‐based interpretation of Thy‐Wise enables clinicians to better understand the reasoning behind the diagnosis, which may facilitate the clinical translation of this model.
Venous thromboembolism during pregnancy: Trends, incidence, and risk patterns in a large cohort population
Authors: Ram Shai , Ram Hila S. , Neuhof Bitya , Shperling Roza B. , Chodick Gabriel , Yogev Yariv
Published: August 2022

Objective

To determine the incidence and risk factors for pregnancy‐associated venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Methods

An observational retrospective study was conducted using data from 452 176 live births between the years 2010 and 2019. The study group consisted of women who were diagnosed with VTE during pregnancy or the postpartum period. The exclusion criteria included women who purchased anticoagulant drugs during pregnancy or postpartum. The hazard ratios (HRs) of VTE per week of each trimester and the postpartum period were calculated.

Results

A total of 421 125 live births were included in the study. Among the study population, 302 cases (0.71 cases/1000 pregnancies) were diagnosed with VTE during pregnancy and postpartum. The overall rates of diagnosis did not change significantly during the study period but followed a declining trend in the postpartum period. The highest risk of VTE was found to be during the third trimester (HR 0.002% per week, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0016–0.0023), while the lowest rate was during the postpartum period (HR 0.0007% per week, 95% CI 0.0004–0.0011).

Conclusion

Pregnancy and the puerperium are well‐established risk factors for VTE. The present study demonstrates a declining trend in the risk and incidence of VTE during the postpartum period, which can be explained by a liberal and effective VTE prevention policy.
Tandem hemodialysis and DFPP: Procedure, safety and cost‐effectiveness in patients requiring chronic hemodialysis and lipid apheresis
Authors: Moranne O , Chauvel F , Pambrun E , Ahmadpoor P , Prelipcean C , Wuillai A , Chkair S , Messikh Z
Published: August 2022

Introduction

Certain patients require simultaneous lipoprotein apheresis (LA) and intermittent hemodialysis (HD). Instead of undergoing 2 consecutive treatment sessions, a double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) and HD tandem procedure could be offered to reduce treatment times and costs. Our study evaluated the performance, safety and cost of this tandem procedure.

Material and Methods

Three patients underwent 168 HD and DFPP tandem sessions in a tertiary center from August 2018 to November 2020, using a Fresenius 5008 generator for HD and an InfomedHF440 for DFPP. The system's efficacy was assessed by lipid subtraction performance for DFPP. Efficacy of 2 blood line connection configurations (parallel or sequential) was compared in terms of Kt/V and matched against an HD control session for each patient. Clinical and biological safety and the differential cost between tandem and consecutive procedures were evaluated.

Results

Throughout the tandem sessions, DFPP lasted 85 to 120 minutes, overlapping the 240‐minute HD. Blood flow for HD and Kt/V were significantly lower during the tandem procedure with a parallel configuration compared to sequential or control paired HD. DFPP efficacy was comparable between all groups: over 60% reduction in cholesterol and over 50% for triglycerides. Symptomatic hypotension depended on the patients, not the procedure. The tandem procedure revealed an acceptable benefit‐cost ratio.

Conclusion

HD‐DFPP tandem with a sequential blood line connecting system (derivation installed on the HD venous line) is effective and well‐tolerated with a good cost‐benefit ratio. Tandem reduces hospitalization and treatment session times and can be offered to patients requiring simultaneous HD and DFPP.
How Team Members' Transformational Leadership and Effective Followership Work During Team Interactions
Authors: Alegbeleye I. Dami , Kaufman Eric K.
Published: August 2022

In the current study, a mixed‐method research design was used to explore how team members' transformational leadership and effective followership relate to teamwork quality. Data were collected from 10‐student project teams (N [team] = 10; N [individual] = 84 team members) in a leadership class at a large‐sized public university in the United States. As a follow‐up, focus group interviews were conducted with two teams (n = 13 team members) to explore how team members' transformational leadership and effective followership work during team interactions. Correlation results showed that team members' transformational leadership was positively related to teamwork quality (r (82) = .84, p < .01). In the qualitative phase, findings showed that the team exhibiting centralized transformational leadership also exhibited passive team followership and low‐quality teamwork. Low‐quality teamwork was described as social loafing and polarization. In contrast, the team exhibiting shared transformational leadership also exhibited proactive team followership and high‐quality teamwork. High‐quality teamwork was described as conflict resolution and team synergy. The findings have important implications for leaders, followers, leadership educators, teams, organizations, and researchers.
Revenue management in a refurbishing duopoly with cannibalization
Authors: Kurdhi Nughthoh Arfawi , Dabadghao Shaunak S. , Fransoo Jan C.
Published: August 2022

Refurbishing has promising economic potential, yet firms remain wary of its potential cannibalization effect on new product sales. Firms need to make strategic choices in competitive settings, involving varying brand strengths and collection constraints. The current study provides an empirical characterization of consumer behavior in such complex settings, which in turn informs an analytical model of optimal pricing policies. The results show that cannibalization (or switching) in a competitive environment has a linear relationship with price discounts, unlike the inverted U‐shaped relationship observed in monopolistic settings. The experimental results also highlight the relevance of cross‐cannibalization, especially for weaker firms (with low brand value) that compete with stronger firms to sell refurbished products. Our subsequent analytical results reveal how both competitors should adjust their refurbished product prices when internal and cross‐cannibalization coefficients change. Weaker firms should focus on surpassing stronger competitors in terms of collection and refurbishing efforts, which implies a predominant focus on operations. Finally, we show that refurbished product prices are a function of, and profits are concave in relation to, the number of core products collected by firms.
Hyperosmolar expansion medium improves nucleus pulposus cell phenotype
Authors: Laagland Lisanne T. , Bach Frances C. , Creemers Laura B. , Le Maitre Christine L. , Poramba‐Liyanage Deepani W. , Tryfonidou Marianna A.
Published: August 2022

Background

Repopulating the degenerated intervertebral disc (IVD) with tissue‐specific nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) has already been shown to promote regeneration in various species. Yet the applicability of NPCs as cell‐based therapy has been hampered by the low cell numbers that can be extracted from donor IVDs and their potentially limited regenerative capacity due to their degenerated phenotype. To optimize the expansion conditions, we investigated the effects of increasing culture medium osmolarity during expansion on the phenotype of dog NPCs and their ability to produce a healthy extracellular matrix (ECM) in a 3D culture model.

Methods

Dog NPCs were expanded in expansion medium with a standard osmolarity of 300 mOsm/L or adjusted to 400 or 500 mOsm/L in both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Following expansion, NPCs were cultured in a 3D culture model in chondrogenic culture medium with a standard osmolarity. Read‐out parameters included cell proliferaton rate, morphology, phenotype and healthy ECM production.

Results

Increasing the expansion medium osmolarity from 300 to 500 mOsm/L resulted in NPCs with a more rounded morphology and a lower cell proliferation rate accompanied by the expression of several healthy NPC and progenitor markers at gene (KRT18, ACAN, COL2, CD73, CD90) and protein (ACAN, PAX1, CD24, TEK, CD73) level. The NPCs expanded at 500 mOsm/L were able to retain most of their phenotypic markers and produce healthy ECM during 3D culture independent of the oxygen level used during expansion.

Conclusions

Altogether, our findings show that increasing medium osmolarity during expansion results in an NPC population with improved phenotype, which could enhance the potential of cell‐based therapies for IVD regeneration.
Outcomes of patients with acute liver failure listed for liver transplantation: A multicenter prospective cohort analysis
Authors: Karvellas Constantine J. , Leventhal Thomas M. , Rakela Jorge L. , Zhang Jingwen , Durkalski Valerie , Reddy K. Rajender , Fontana Robert J. , Stravitz R. Todd , Lake John R. , Lee William M. , Parekh Justin R.
Published: August 2022

Liver transplantation (LT) is a life‐saving treatment for patients with acute liver failure (ALF). Currently, there are few detailed data regarding long‐term outcomes after LT for ALF. We combined prospective data from the Acute Liver Failure Study Group (ALFSG) Registry with those of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) to assess outcomes among consecutive patients with ALF listed for LT. Cohort analysis of detailed pretransplantation data for patients listed for LT for ALF in the ALFSG Registry between January 1998 and October 2018 matched with transplantation‐related data from the SRTR. Primary outcomes were 1‐ and 3‐year post‐LT patient survival. Secondary outcome was receipt of LT; independent associations with successful receipt of LT were determined using multivariable logistic regression. Of 624 patients with ALF listed for LT, 398 (64%) underwent LT, 100 (16%) died without LT, and 126 (20%) recovered spontaneously. Among LT recipients, etiologies included seronegative/indeterminate (22%), drug‐induced liver injury (18%), acetaminophen overdose (APAP; 16%), and viral hepatitis (15%). The 1‐ and 3‐year post‐LT patient survival rates were 91% and 90%, respectively. Comparing those dying on the waiting list versus with those who received LT, the former had more severe multiorgan failure, reflected by increased vasopressor use (65% vs. 22%), mechanical ventilation (84% vs. 57%), and renal replacement therapy (57% vs. 30%; p < 0.0001 for all). After adjusting for relevant covariates, age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.04), APAP etiology (aOR 2.72, 95% CI 1.42–5.23), requirement for vasopressors (aOR 4.19, 95% CI 2.44–7.20), Grade III/IV hepatic encephalopathy (aOR 2.47, 95% CI 1.29–4.72), and Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores (aOR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02–1.09; p < 0.05 for all) were independently associated with death without receipt of LT. Post‐LT outcomes for ALF are excellent in this cohort of very ill patients. The development of multiorgan failure while on the transplantation list and APAP ALF etiology were associated with a lower likelihood of successful receipt of LT.
C2‐GAN: Content‐consistent generative adversarial networks for unsupervised domain adaptation in medical image segmentation
Authors: Zhang Zuyu , Li Yan , Shin Byeong‐Seok
Published: August 2022

Purpose

In clinical practice, medical image analysis has played a key role in disease diagnosis. One of the important steps is to perform an accurate organ or tissue segmentation for assisting medical professionals in making correct diagnoses. Despite the tremendous progress in the deep learning‐based medical image segmentation approaches, they often fail to generalize to test datasets due to distribution discrepancies across domains. Recent advances aligning the domain gaps by using bi‐directional GANs (e.g., CycleGAN) have shown promising results, but the strict constraints of the cycle consistency hamper these methods from yielding better performance. The purpose of this study is to propose a novel bi‐directional GAN‐based segmentation model with fewer constraints on the cycle consistency to improve the generalized segmentation results.

Methods

We propose a novel unsupervised domain adaptation approach by designing content‐consistent generative adversarial networks () for medical image segmentation. First, we introduce content consistency instead of cycle consistency to relax the constraint of the invertibility map to encourage the synthetic domain generated with a large domain transportation distance. The synthetic domain is thus pulled close to the target domain for the reduction of domain discrepancy. Second, we suggest a novel style transfer loss based on the difference in low‐frequency magnitude to further mitigate the appearance shifts across domains.

Results

We validate our proposed approach on three public X‐ray datasets, including the Montgomery, JSRT, and Shenzhen datasets. For an accurate evaluation, we randomly divided the images of each dataset into 70% for training, 10% for evaluation, and 20% for testing. The mean Dice was 95.73 ± 0.22%, 95.16 ± 1.42% for JSRT and Shenzhen datasets, respectively. For the recall and precision metrics, our model also achieved better or comparable performance than the state‐of‐the‐art CycleGAN‐based UDA approaches.

Conclusions

The experimental results validate the effectiveness of our method in mitigating the domain gaps and improving generalized segmentation results for X‐ray image segmentation.
Transcultural adaptation and validity of the nurse professional competence scale Korean version for graduating nursing students: An explanatory factor analysis
Authors: Lee Su Jung , Seo Hyun‐Ju , Kim Kye Ha , Kim Jinhee , Kim Hyunlye , Park Jeong‐Min
Published: August 2022

Aim

The study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the short‐form Nurse Professional Competence Scale–Korean version (NPC‐K) among Korean nursing students at the point of graduation.

Design

This was a cross‐sectional survey.

Methods

The Nurse Professional Competence scale was translated into Korean using the World Health Organization (WHO) translation method. A total of 195 graduating nursing students participated. Exploratory factor analysis for validity and Cronbach's alpha coefficients for reliability were examined.

Results

Factor analysis showed that five NPC‐K factors accounted for 68.38% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.97. The NPC‐K has high internal reliability and acceptable construct validity. The content of the scale reflected nursing students' confidence in formal competence requirements based on Korean cultural and educational backgrounds. An accurate assessment of nurse professional competence using the NPC‐K may help nursing academics enhance the quality of education and training.
Convolutional neural network prediction of molecular properties for aerosol chemistry and health effects
Authors: Krüger Matteo , Wilson Jake , Wietzoreck Marco , Bandowe Benjamin A. Musa , Lammel Gerhard , Schmidt Bertil , Pöschl Ulrich , Berkemeier Thomas
Published: August 2022

Quinones are chemical compounds commonly found in air particulate matter (PM). Their redox activity can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and contribute to the oxidative potential (OP) of PM leading to adverse health effects of aerosols. The quinones' OP and ability to form ROS are linked to their reduction potential (RP, measured in volts), a metric for the tendency to lose electrons in redox reactions. Here, we use convolutional neural networks (CNN) as quantitative structure‐activity relationship (QSAR) models to relate the one‐electron RP of quinones to their molecular structure. For CNN training and testing, a data set of more than 100,000 quinones with associated RP values derived from density functional theory calculations was encoded in simplified molecular input line entry system (SMILES). The best performing CNN model achieved a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.115 V for an independent test data set and outperformed linear regression models fitted on common molecular descriptors (≥ 0.140 V RMSE). Augmentation methods were newly adapted or applied to support CNN training with smaller data sets, improving RMSE by up to approximately 37% for a data set of 321 molecules. Adjusted for solvent effects, the CNN‐derived RP predictions showed good agreement with experimental data. Using the newly developed method, we identified a subset of atmospherically relevant quinones that are likely to have a high OP and play a role in aerosol health effects, which remains to be further elucidated by experimental studies. We suggest to use the presented machine learning approach in further investigations of atmospheric aerosol chemistry and health effects as well as other studies that require a target‐oriented screening of the properties and effects of large classes of substances.

Key Points

Convolutional neural networks can be used to estimate unknown physical and chemical properties of chemical substances and outperform additive group contribution methods.

Augmentation methods aid in the prevalent problem of data availability.

Quinone species detected in the environment are screened for potential relevance in atmospheric chemistry and public health and presented in this study.
Undiagnosed abnormal alanine transaminase levels in vulnerable populations: Impact of sex, race/ethnicity, and body mass
Authors: Kim Rebecca G. , Khalili Mandana
Published: August 2022

Background

Liver disease is a leading cause of death in the United States and is often initially detected incidentally on lab tests ordered by general practitioners. Alanine transaminase (ALT), a marker of liver inflammation, is commonly ordered and may be abnormal in the setting of elevated body mass index, diabetes and dyslipidemia. Data regarding ALT testing within vulnerable populations are limited. Therefore, the prevalence of ALT testing and abnormal ALT in the absence of known chronic liver disease (CLD) among a safety‐net population were assessed and factors associated with these outcomes were identified.

Methods

In this retrospective longitudinal study of 92,997 patients seen between 01/2017–01/2019 within San Francisco's Safety‐Net Healthcare System, electronic medical records were used to abstract data back to 04/1997. Descriptive analyses and multivariable modeling were performed.

Results

Overall, 59,323 (69%) without known CLD received an ALT test. Age, Black race, Latinx ethnicity, and metabolic factors were associated with higher odds of ALT testing, (p < 0.01). Among those with an abnormal ALT (44%) without known CLD: median age 53 years, 41% male, 19% White, 11% Black, 40% Latinx, 29% Asian/Pacific Islander (API), and 84% overweight/obese. On multivariable analysis, female sex (OR 2.7), Latinx ethnicity (OR 2.6), API race (OR 1.3), overweight/obesity (OR 1.8, OR 2.6), and dyslipidemia (OR 1.3) were associated with abnormal ALT, (p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusions

In the absence of known CLD, women, Latinx, API and persons with excess body weight were associated with greater odds of abnormal ALT. Future longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these differences and to determine if adequate work up for CLD is performed for abnormal ALT levels among at‐risk populations.