bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Decreased incidence of urinary tract infections in febrile infants aged ≤60 days during COVID‐19 pandemic
Authors: Orfanos Ioannis
Published: April 2024

Aim

To investigate the incidence rate of urinary tract infections (UTIs) among febrile infants aged ≤60 days before, during, and after the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective study in 2 Swedish paediatric emergency departments between 2014 and 2022. We included full‐term infants aged ≤60 days with fever without source. We calculated the annual incidence rate of UTI per 1000 births.

Results

We included 1589 full‐term infants with fever without source. In 2020, 89 infants were evaluated in the emergency department versus 203–259 in 2017–2019. In 2020, the incidence rate of UTI was 1.43 per 1000 births/year versus 2.18–2.37 in 2017–2019. The median age, sex, fever duration, and urine testing were similar between the years 2017 and 2020.

Conclusion

The number of febrile infants who presented to the paediatric emergency department and the incidence rate of UTIs decreased in 2020. This decrease might imply a systematic misdiagnosis of UTIs in infants with febrile viral infections. A more selective urine testing approach for febrile, previously healthy, infants should be considered to mitigate UTI misdiagnosis and its potential harmful effects.
Interpersonal sensitivity predicts slower change and less change in anxiety symptoms in cognitive behavioural therapy
Authors: Song Jiyoung , Freedman Genevieve , Li Letian , Persons Jacqueline B.
Published: April 2024

Objectives

Patients in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) who are high in interpersonal sensitivity may have difficulty fully engaging in treatment because therapy sessions require intimate interpersonal interactions that are especially uncomfortable for these individuals. The current study tests the hypotheses that patients who are high in interpersonal sensitivity benefit less from CBT for symptoms of depression and anxiety, show a slower rate of change in those symptoms, and are more likely to drop out of treatment.

Methods

Participants were 832 outpatients who received naturalistic CBT. We assessed interpersonal sensitivity before treatment began and depression and anxiety symptoms at every therapy session. We assessed early, premature, and uncollaborative termination after treatment ended. We constructed multilevel linear regression models and logistic regression models to assess the effects of baseline interpersonal sensitivity on the treatment outcome, the slope of change in depression and anxiety symptoms, and each type of dropout.

Results

Higher baseline interpersonal sensitivity was associated with a slower rate of change and less overall change in anxiety but not depressive symptoms. Baseline interpersonal sensitivity was not a predictor of dropout.

Conclusions

Interpersonal sensitivity at baseline predicts less change and a slower rate of change in anxiety symptoms. Early detection of elevated interpersonal sensitivity can help therapists take action to address these barriers to successful treatment and help scientists build decision support tools that accurately predict the trajectory of change in anxiety symptoms for these patients.
Memory biases for gender‐typed images in a gender‐diverse group of children
Authors: Gülgöz Selin , Alonso Daniel J. , Olson Kristina R. , Martin Carol Lynn
Published: April 2024

Self‐socialization accounts of gender development suggest that children attend more to people of their own gender, activities associated with their own gender and stereotype‐consistent examples in their environment. Evidence comes from research showing children's memory biases for such stimuli. This study sought to replicate these memory biases in 367 6‐ to 11‐year‐old transgender, cisgender and nonbinary children. Children were shown stereotype‐consistent and counter‐stereotypical images related to feminine‐ and masculine‐typed activities performed by girls/women or boys/men. Results showed that transgender and cisgender children showed better recall for activities related to their own gender than the other gender. Neither group showed better recall for own‐gender characters, and transgender children better recalled other‐gender characters. None of the three groups better recalled stereotype‐consistent than counter‐stereotypical images in probed recall, although all groups showed better recall for counter‐stereotypical than stereotype‐consistent images in free recall. These findings provide partial support for self‐socialization accounts of gender development.
A complete oral regimen for induction therapy of patients with high‐risk APL: An oral etoposide instead of intravenous infusion for cytoreductive chemotherapy
Authors: Tang Fei‐Fei , Duan Wen‐Bing , Liu Xiao‐Hong , Lu Sheng‐Ye , Zhao Xiao‐Su , Qin Ya‐Zhen , Jia Jin‐Song , Wang Jing , Gong Li‐Zhong , Jiang Qian , Zhao Ting , Shi Hong‐Xia , Chang Ying‐Jun , Huang Xiao‐Jun , Jiang Hao
Published: April 2024

There is an urgent need for an oral, efficient and safe regimen for high‐risk APL under the pandemic of COVID‐19. We retrospectively analysed 60 high‐risk APL patients. For induction therapy (IT), in addition to all‐trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and oral arsenic (RIF), 22 patients received oral etoposide (VP16) as cytotoxic chemotherapy (CC), and 38 patients received intravenous CC as historical control group. The median dose of oral VP16 was 1000 mg [interquartile rage (IQR), 650–1250]. One patient died during IT in the control group, 59 evaluable patients (100%) achieved complete haematological remission (CHR) after IT and complete molecular remission (CMR) after consolidation therapy. The median time to CHR and CMR was 36 days (33.8–44) versus 35 days (32–42; p = 0.75) and 3 months (0.8–3.5) versus 3.3 months (2.4–3.7; p = 0.58) in the oral VP16 group and in the control group. Two (9.1%) and 3 (7.9%) patients experienced molecular relapse in different group respectively. The 2‐year estimated overall survival and event‐free survival were 100% versus 94.7% (p = 0.37) and 90.9% versus 89.5% (p = 0.97) respectively. A completely oral, efficient and safe induction regimen including oral VP16 as cytoreductive chemotherapy combined with ATRA and RIF is more convenient to administer for patients with high‐risk APL.
InsT‐ALLing CD7 chimeric antigen receptors before transplantation
Authors: Delgado Julio
Published: April 2024

In their paper, the authors present their experience with the use of chimeric antigen receptor T cells targeting CD7 as a bridge to allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with relapsed/refractory T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia/lymphoblastic lymphoma.

Commentary on: Cao et al. A safety and efficacy study of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for refractory and relapsed T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia/lymphoblastic lymphoma patients who achieved complete remission after autologous CD7 chimeric antigen receptor T‐cell therapy. Br J Haematol 2024;204:2351‐2364.
Pairwise stochastic approximation for confirmatory factor analysis of categorical data
Authors: Alfonzetti Giuseppe , Bellio Ruggero , Chen Yunxiao , Moustaki Irini
Published: April 2024

Pairwise likelihood is a limited‐information method widely used to estimate latent variable models, including factor analysis of categorical data. It can often avoid evaluating high‐dimensional integrals and, thus, is computationally more efficient than relying on the full likelihood. Despite its computational advantage, the pairwise likelihood approach can still be demanding for large‐scale problems that involve many observed variables. We tackle this challenge by employing an approximation of the pairwise likelihood estimator, which is derived from an optimization procedure relying on stochastic gradients. The stochastic gradients are constructed by subsampling the pairwise log‐likelihood contributions, for which the subsampling scheme controls the per‐iteration computational complexity. The stochastic estimator is shown to be asymptotically equivalent to the pairwise likelihood one. However, finite‐sample performance can be improved by compounding the sampling variability of the data with the uncertainty introduced by the subsampling scheme. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method using simulation studies and two real data applications.
The oxytocin antagonist cligosiban reduces human prostate contractility: Implications for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia
Authors: Bester Beatrix , Koslowa Kristina , Gronau Ann‐Catherine , Mietens Andrea , Nowell Cameron , Whittaker Michael R. , Pilatz Adrian , Wagenlehner Florian , Exintaris Betty , Middendorff Ralf
Published: April 2024

Background and Purpose

With increasing life expectancy, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) consequently affects more ageing men, illustrating the urgent need for advancements in BPH therapy. One emerging possibility may be the use of oxytocin antagonists to relax smooth muscle cells in the prostate, similar to the currently used (although often associated with side effects) α1‐adrenoceptor blockers.

Experimental Approach

For the first time we used live‐imaging, combined with a novel image analysis method, to investigate the multidirectional contractions of the human prostate and determine their changes in response to oxytocin and the oxytocin antagonists atosiban and cligosiban. Human prostate samples were obtained and compared from patients undergoing prostatectomy due to prostate cancer as well as from patients with transurethral resection of prostate tissue due to severe BPH.

Key Results

The two cohorts of tissue samples showed spontaneous multidirectional contractions, which significantly increased after the addition of oxytocin. Different to atosiban, which showed ambiguous effects of short duration, only long‐acting cligosiban reliably prevented, as well as counteracted, any contractile oxytocin effect. Furthermore, cligosiban visibly reduced not only oxytocin‐induced contractions, but also showed intrinsic activity to relax prostatic tissue.

Conclusion and implications

Thus, the oxytocin antagonist cligosiban could be an interesting candidate in the search for novel BPH treatment options.
In‐depth immune profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma reveals discriminative immune subpopulations
Authors: Rodriguez Ernesto , Zwart Eline S. , Affandi Alsya A. , Verhoeff Jan , de Kok Mike , Boyd Lenka N. C. , Meijer Laura L. , Le Large Tessa Y. S. , Olesek Katarzyna , Giovannetti Elisa , García‐Vallejo Juan J. , Mebius Reina E. , van Kooyk Yvette , Kazemier Geert
Published: April 2024

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a dismal prognosis with a 5‐year survival of less than 10%. More knowledge of the immune response developed in patients with PDAC is pivotal to develop better combination immune therapies to improve clinical outcome. In this study, we used mass cytometry time‐of‐flight to undertake an in‐depth characterization of PBMCs from patients with PDAC and examine the differences with healthy controls and patients with benign diseases of the biliary system or pancreas. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with PDAC or benign disease are characterized by the increase of pro‐inflammatory cells, as CD86+ classical monocytes and memory T cells expressing CCR6+ and CXCR3+, associated with T helper 1 (Th1) and Th17 immune responses, respectively. However, PBMCs from patients with PDAC present also an increase of CD39+ regulatory T cells and CCR4+CCR6−CXCR3− memory T cells, suggesting Th2 and regulatory responses. Concluding, our results show PDAC develops a multifaceted immunity, where a proinflammatory component is accompanied by regulatory responses, which could inhibit potential antitumor mechanisms.
Adrenergic microenvironment driven by cancer‐associated Schwann cells contributes to chemoresistance in patients with lung cancer
Authors: Otani Yusuke , Katayama Haruyoshi , Zhu Yidan , Huang Rongsheng , Shigehira Takafumi , Shien Kazuhiko , Suzawa Ken , Yamamoto Hiromasa , Shien Tadahiko , Toyooka Shinichi , Fujimura Atsushi
Published: April 2024

Doublecortin (DCX)‐positive neural progenitor‐like cells are purported components of the cancer microenvironment. The number of DCX‐positive cells in tissues reportedly correlates with cancer progression; however, little is known about the mechanism by which these cells affect cancer progression. Here we demonstrated that DCX‐positive cells, which are found in all major histological subtypes of lung cancer, are cancer‐associated Schwann cells (CAS) and contribute to the chemoresistance of lung cancer cells by establishing an adrenergic microenvironment. Mechanistically, the activation of the Hippo transducer YAP/TAZ was involved in the acquisition of new traits of CAS and DCX positivity. We further revealed that CAS express catecholamine‐synthesizing enzymes and synthesize adrenaline, which potentiates the chemoresistance of lung cancer cells through the activation of YAP/TAZ. Our findings shed light on CAS, which drive the formation of an adrenergic microenvironment by the reciprocal regulation of YAP/TAZ in lung cancer tissues.
Near‐infrared photoimmunotherapy targeting PD‐L1: Improved efficacy by preconditioning the tumor microenvironment
Authors: Inagaki Fuyuki F. , Kano Makoto , Furusawa Aki , Kato Takuya , Okada Ryuhei , Fukushima Hiroshi , Takao Seiichiro , Okuyama Shuhei , Choyke Peter L. , Kobayashi Hisataka
Published: April 2024

Near‐infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR‐PIT) is a new type of cancer therapy that employs antibody‐IRDye700DX conjugates (AbPCs) and near‐infrared (NIR) light at a wavelength of 689 nm, the excitation wavelength of IR700. Administered intravenously, injected AbPCs bind specifically to cells expressing the target antigen, whereupon NIR light exposure causes rapid, selective killing. This process induces an anticancer T cell response, leading to sustained anticancer host immune response. Programmed cell death ligand‐1 (PD‐L1) is a major inhibitory immune checkpoint molecule expressed in various cancers. In this study, we first assessed the efficacy of PD‐L1‐targeted NIR‐PIT (αPD‐L1‐PIT) in immune‐competent tumor mouse models. αPD‐L1‐PIT showed a significant therapeutic effect on the tumor models with high PD‐L1 expression. Furthermore, αPD‐L1‐PIT induced an abscopal effect on distant tumors and long‐term immunological memory. In contrast, αPD‐L1‐PIT was not as effective for tumor models with low PD‐L1 expression. To improve the efficacy of PD‐L1‐targeted NIR‐PIT, PEGylated interferon‐gamma (IFNγ) was administered with αPD‐L1‐PIT. The combination therapy improved the treatment efficacy by increasing PD‐L1 expression leading to more efficient cell killing by αPD‐L1‐PIT. Furthermore, the PEGylated IFNγ led to a CD8+ T cell‐dominant tumor microenvironment (TME) with an enhanced anticancer T cell response after αPD‐L1‐PIT. As a result, even so‐called cold tumors exhibited complete responses after αPD‐L1‐PIT. Thus, combination therapy of PEGylated IFNγ and PD‐L1‐targeted NIR‐PIT has the potential to be an important future strategy for cancer immunotherapy.
Diosmetin derivatives as multifunctional anti‐AD ligands: Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation
Authors: Yang Aihong , Yi Xiaoyue , Zhang Hongwei , Shen Rui , Kou Xiaodi
Published: April 2024

With the increasing aging population, rational design of drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment has become an important research area. Based on the multifunctional design strategy, four diosmetin derivatives (1–4) were designed, synthesized, and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and MS. Docking study was firstly applied to substantiate the design strategies and then the biological activities including cholinesterase inhibition, metal chelation, antioxidation and β‐amyloid (Aβ) aggregation inhibition in vitro were evaluated. The results showed that 1–4 had good acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibition, metal chelation (selective chelation of Cu2+ ions), antioxidation, self‐induced, Cu2+‐induced, and AChE‐induced Aβ aggregation inhibition activities, and suitable blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability. Especially, compound 3 had the strongest inhibitory effect on AChE (10−8 M magnitude) and BuChE (10−7 M magnitude) and showed the best inhibition on AChE‐induced Aβ aggregation with 66.14% inhibition ratio. Furthermore, compound 3 could also reduce intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in Caenorhabditis elegans and had lower cytotoxicity. In summary, 3 might be considered as a potential multifunctional anti‐AD ligand.
Polysensitisation is associated with more severe symptoms: The reality of patients with allergy
Authors: Cacheiro‐Llaguno Cristina , Mösges Ralph , Calzada David , González‐de la Fuente Sandra , Quintero Eliana , Carnés Jerónimo
Published: April 2024

Background

Studying the sensitisation profiles of patients with allergies allows for a deeper understanding of the disease which may facilitate the selection of the best‐personalised allergen immunotherapy. This observational, cross‐sectional, multicentre study aimed to demonstrate the heterogeneity of the German population with allergies by analysing specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) patterns towards aeroallergens and exploring the relationship between sensitisation and clinical symptoms.

Methods

In total, 500 patients with allergies from different regions of Germany were recruited based on their case histories, clinical allergic symptoms and skin prick test data for aeroallergens. Serum samples were analysed using ImmunoCAP assays to determine sIgE levels for 33 allergenic sources and 43 molecular allergens.

Results

Most patients (81%) were polysensitised. Betula verrucosa pollen was the most common cause of sensitisation (59%), followed by Phleum pratense (58%) and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (44%). The highest prevalence rates of molecular allergens were observed for Bet v 1 (84%) from birch pollen, Phl p 1 from grass pollen (82%), Der p 2 (69%) from mites and Fel d 1 (69%) from cat. Polysensitisation was significantly associated with the presence of asthma and the severity of rhinitis symptoms.

Conclusions

Our findings show a high rate of polysensitisation and emphasise the importance of molecular diagnosis for more precise and comprehensive insights into sensitisation patterns and their association with clinical symptoms. These data may help improve personalised diagnosis and immunotherapy adapted to the needs of individual patients in the region.
TRIPS: Trilinear Point Splatting for Real‐Time Radiance Field Rendering
Authors: Franke Linus , Rückert Darius , Fink Laura , Stamminger Marc
Published: April 2024

Point‐based radiance field rendering has demonstrated impressive results for novel view synthesis, offering a compelling blend of rendering quality and computational efficiency. However, also latest approaches in this domain are not without their shortcomings. 3D Gaussian Splatting [KKLD23] struggles when tasked with rendering highly detailed scenes, due to blurring and cloudy artifacts. On the other hand, ADOP [RFS22] can accommodate crisper images, but the neural reconstruction network decreases performance, it grapples with temporal instability and it is unable to effectively address large gaps in the point cloud. In this paper, we present TRIPS (Trilinear Point Splatting), an approach that combines ideas from both Gaussian Splatting and ADOP. The fundamental concept behind our novel technique involves rasterizing points into a screen‐space image pyramid, with the selection of the pyramid layer determined by the projected point size. This approach allows rendering arbitrarily large points using a single trilinear write. A lightweight neural network is then used to reconstruct a hole‐free image including detail beyond splat resolution. Importantly, our render pipeline is entirely differentiable, allowing for automatic optimization of both point sizes and positions.

Our evaluation demonstrate that TRIPS surpasses existing state‐of‐the‐art methods in terms of rendering quality while maintaining a real‐time frame rate of 60 frames per second on readily available hardware. This performance extends to challenging scenarios, such as scenes featuring intricate geometry, expansive landscapes, and auto‐exposed footage. The project page is located at:https://lfranke.github.io/trips
BallMerge: High‐quality Fast Surface Reconstruction via Voronoi Balls
Authors: Parakkat Amal Dev , Ohrhallinger Stefan , Eisemann Elmar , Memari Pooran
Published: April 2024

We introduce a Delaunay‐based algorithm for reconstructing the underlying surface of a given set of unstructured points in 3D. The implementation is very simple, and it is designed to work in a parameter‐free manner. The solution builds upon the fact that in the continuous case, a closed surface separates the set of maximal empty balls (medial balls) into an interior and exterior. Based on discrete input samples, our reconstructed surface consists of the interface between Voronoi balls, which approximate the interior and exterior medial balls. An initial set of Voronoi balls is iteratively processed, merging Voronoi‐ball pairs if they fulfil an overlapping error criterion. Our complete open‐source reconstruction pipeline performs up to two quick linear‐time passes on the Delaunay complex to output the surface, making it an order of magnitude faster than the state of the art while being competitive in memory usage and often superior in quality. We propose two variants (local and global), which are carefully designed to target two different reconstruction scenarios for watertight surfaces from accurate or noisy samples, as well as real‐world scanned data sets, exhibiting noise, outliers, and large areas of missing data. The results of the global variant are, by definition, watertight, suitable for numerical analysis and various applications (e.g., 3D printing). Compared to classical Delaunay‐based reconstruction techniques, our method is highly stable and robust to noise and outliers, evidenced via various experiments, including on real‐world data with challenges such as scan shadows, outliers, and noise, even without additional preprocessing.
TailorMe: Self‐Supervised Learning of an Anatomically Constrained Volumetric Human Shape Model
Authors: Wenninger S. , Kemper F. , Schwanecke U. , Botsch M.
Published: April 2024

Human shape spaces have been extensively studied, as they are a core element of human shape and pose inference tasks. Classic methods for creating a human shape model register a surface template mesh to a database of 3D scans and use dimensionality reduction techniques, such as Principal Component Analysis, to learn a compact representation. While these shape models enable global shape modifications by correlating anthropometric measurements with the learned subspace, they only provide limitedlocalizedshape control. We instead register a volumetric anatomical template, consisting of skeleton bones and soft tissue, to the surface scans of the CAESAR database. We further enlarge our training data to the full Cartesian product of all skeletons and all soft tissues using physically plausible volumetric deformation transfer. This data is then used to learn an anatomically constrained volumetric human shape model in a self‐supervised fashion. The resultingTailorMemodel enables shape sampling, localized shape manipulation, and fast inference from given surface scans.
Snow and Ice Animation Methods in Computer Graphics
Authors: Goswami Prashant
Published: April 2024

Snow and ice animation methods are becoming increasingly popular in the field of computer graphics (CG). The applications of snow and ice in CG are varied, ranging from generating realistic background landscapes to avalanches and physical interaction with objects in movies, games, etc. Over the past two decades, several methods have been proposed to capture the time‐evolving physical appearance or simulation of snow and ice using different models at different scales. This state‐of‐the‐art report aims to identify existing animation methods in the field, provide an up‐to‐date summary of the research in CG, and identify gaps for promising future work. Furthermore, we also attempt to identify the primarily related work done on snow and ice in some other disciplines, such as civil or mechanical engineering, and draw a parallel with the similarities and differences in CG.
Research and practice priorities in pilonidal sinus disease: a consensus from the PITSTOP study
Authors: Lee Matthew J. , Lee Ellen , Bradburn Mike , Hind Daniel , Strong Emily B. , Din Farhat , Wysocki Arkadiusz P. , Lund Jon , Moffatt Christine , Morton Jonathan , Senapati Asha , Jones Helen , Brown Steven R. ,   the PITSTOP Management Group and the PITSTOP Validators
Published: April 2024

Aim

Pilonidal sinus disease is a common condition treated by colorectal surgeons. There is a lack of literature in the field to guide optimal management of this condition. As part of the PITSTOP study, we aimed to identify policy and research priorities to provide direction to the field.

Method

Patients and surgeons were invited to participate. A ‘So what, now what’ exercise was conducted, informed by data from PITSTOP. This generated statements for research and practice priorities. A three‐round online Delphi study was conducted, ranking statements based on policy and research separately. Statements were rated 1 (not important) to 9 (important). Statements that were rated 7–9 by more than 70% of participants were entered into the consensus meeting. Personalized voting feedback was shown between rounds. A face‐to‐face meeting was held to discuss statements, and participants were asked to rank statements using a weighted choice vote.

Results

Twenty‐two people participated in the focus group, generating 14 research and 19 policy statements. Statements were voted on by 56 participants in round 1, 53 in round 2 and 51 in round 3. A total of 15 policy statements and 19 research statements were discussed in the consensus round. Key policy statements addressed treatment strategies and intensity, surgeon training opportunities, need for classification and the impact of treatment on return to work. Research recommendations included design of future trials, methodology considerations and research questions.

Conclusion

This study has identified research and policy priorities in pilonidal sinus disease which are relevant to patients and clinicians. These should inform practice and future research.
Dissecting the surgeon's personality: cross‐cultural comparisons in Western Europe
Authors: Sier V. Q. , Bisset C. N. , Tesselaar D. A. J. , Schmitz R. F. , Schepers A. , Moug S. J. , van der Vorst J. R. ,   SUPER and Plato Project Collaborators
Published: April 2024

Aim

The surgeon's personality contributes to variation in surgical decision‐making. Previous work on surgeon personality has largely been reserved to Anglo‐Saxon studies, with limited international comparisons. In this work we built upon recent work on gastrointestinal surgeon personality and aimed to detect international variations.

Method

Gastrointestinal surgeons from the UK and the Netherlands were invited to participate in validated personality assessments (44‐item, 60‐item Big Five Inventory; BFI). These encompass personality using five domains (open‐mindedness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and negative emotionality) with three subtraits each. Mean differences in domain factors were calculated between surgeon and nonsurgeon populations from normative data using independent‐samples t‐tests, adjusted for multiple testing. The items from the 44‐item and 60‐item BFI were compared between UK and Dutch surgeons and classified accordingly: identical (n = 16), analogous (n = 3), comparable (n = 12).

Results

UK (n = 78, 61.5% male) and Dutch (n = 280, 65% male) gastrointestinal surgeons had marked differences in the domains of open‐mindedness, extraversion and agreeableness compared with national normative datasets. Moreover, although surgeons had similar levels of emotional stability, country of work influenced differences in specific BFI items. For example, Netherlands‐based surgeons scored highly on questions related to sociability and organization versus UK‐based surgeons who scored highly on creative imagination (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion

In a first cross‐cultural setting, we identified country‐specific personality differences in gastrointestinal surgeon cohorts across domain and facet levels. Given the variation between Dutch and UK surgeons, understanding country‐specific data could be useful in guiding personality research in healthcare. Furthermore, we advocate that future work adopts consensus usage of the five factor model.
Causal influence of gut microbiota on small cell lung cancer: a Mendelian randomization study
Authors: Yang Wenjing , Fan Xinxia , Li Wangshu , Chen Yan
Published: April 2024

Background

Previous studies have hinted at a significant link between lung cancer and the gut microbiome, yet their causal relationship remains to be elucidated.

Methods

GWAS data for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was extracted from the FinnGen consortium, comprising 179 cases and 218 613 controls. Genetic variation data for 211 gut microbiota were obtained as instrumental variables from MiBioGen. Mendelian randomization (MR) was employed to determine the causal relationship between the two, with inverse variance weighting (IVW) being the primary method for causal analysis. The MR results were validated through several sensitivity analyses.

Results

The study identified a protective effect against SCLC for the genus Eubacterium ruminantium group (OR = 0.413, 95% CI: 0.223–0.767, p = 0.00513), genus Barnesiella (OR = 0.208, 95% CI: 0.0640–0.678, p = 0.00919), family Lachnospiraceae (OR = 0.319, 95% CI: 0.107–0.948, p = 0.03979), and genus Butyricimonas (OR = 0.376, 95% CI: 0.144–0.984, p = 0.04634). Conversely, genus Intestinibacter (OR = 3.214, 95% CI: 1.303–7.926, p = 0.01125), genus Eubacterium oxidoreducens group (OR = 3.391, 95% CI: 1.215–9.467, p = 0.01973), genus Bilophila (OR = 3.547, 95% CI: 1.106–11.371, p = 0.03315), and order Bacillales (OR = 1.860, 95% CI: 1.034–3.347, p = 0.03842) were found to potentially promote the onset of SCLC.

Conclusion

We identified potential causal relationships between certain gut microbiota and SCLC, offering new insights into microbiome‐mediated mechanisms of SCLC pathogenesis, resistance, mutations, and more.
Public health efforts to prevent expansion of alcohol retail availability in neighbourhoods with factors associated with high rates of alcohol‐related harms: A case report
Authors: Hutchinson Melissa , Swirski Alexandra , Giesbrecht Norman
Published: April 2024

This commentary illustrates a recent case study within Ontario, Canada, in which the application of sociodemographic and health data was used by public health to support a legal case to oppose a retail licence application to consume liquor at a corner store located within a neighbourhood that has experienced low socio‐economic factors, including low income, high unemployment and low educational attainment levels. Communities in a similar situation may draw from this situation to prevent expansion of alcohol retail availability in neighbourhoods that have low socio‐economic status populations and high unemployment and other factors associated with high rates of alcohol‐related harms.
Game changer: Cloud‐based classroom interactions powered by Google Sheets
Authors: Edirisinghe Gihan S. , Trindade Maria A. M. , Luo Lan
Published: April 2024

The COVID‐19 pandemic forced instruction into remote formats, rendering active learning efforts in business classrooms infeasible. In response, we adopt a novel model for interactive classroom activities by hosting classroom games on Google Sheets, the free and widely used cloud‐based spreadsheet application. First developed for a synchronous Zoom class during the COVID‐19 pandemic, this approach was integrated into face‐to‐face courses in two countries. Due to its instructional flexibility, minimal need for resources, and tendency for student acceptance, using Google Sheets for classroom interaction has far‐reaching educational applications beyond the pandemic era. To illustrate this approach, we introduce three operations and supply chain management activities created on Google Sheets: the Virtual Assembly Line (VAL) activity, the Just‐in‐time Game, and the Dice Game. An in‐depth examination of implementing these activities in the classroom offers practical insights into the benefits of utilizing cloud‐based classroom games in teaching. Furthermore, a comparison of test results between students who played the game and a control group showed significantly improved learning outcomes. We also discuss how this approach could foster active learning adoption in environments traditionally less conducive to such practices, such as remote instruction and large enrollment classes.
Follow the leader? The long‐run interaction between public and private sector wage growth in the UK
Authors: Dolton Peter , Hantzsche Arno
Published: April 2024

With one‐fifth of the UK labour force employed in the public sector, public sector pay and its interaction with private sector pay is an important driver of the macroeconomy. Using new data on sector‐level earnings and sector–industry‐level pay settlements, this paper addresses the fundamental question of which sector leads and which follows in terms of earnings determination. We find that in the long run, public sector wages adjust to wages set in the private sector, maintaining a consistent relationship. We further find that there can be significant wage spillovers from the public sector to the private sector in the short run. These tend to be more pronounced for private sector industries that are domestically facing, characterized by low worker bargaining power, or reliant on public sector inputs. This paper's findings have important implications for macroeconomic policy that aims to balance inflationary forces and fiscal funding pressures.
Knowledge of undergraduate and postgraduate dental students about managing traumatic dental injuries based on the 2020 International Association of Dental Traumatology guidelines: A online survey of 10 dental schools from 10 countries
Authors: Nagendrababu Venkateshbabu , Gopinath Vellore Kannan , Arias Ana , Setzer Frank C. , Kazandag Meric Karapinar , Kishen Anil , Mannocci Francesco , Shetty Raghavendra M. , Narasimhan Srinivasan , Ode Wataru , Ravindran Sushmita , Suresh Nandini , Tsesis Igor , Yu Victoria , Abbott Paul V.
Published: April 2024

Background/Aim

The knowledge of dental students about managing traumatic dental injuries (TDIs) may not be uniform, depending on global location and dental education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of knowledge of undergraduate and postgraduate students specializing in endodontics and pediatric dentistry at 10 dental schools in 10 countries about the 2020 International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT) guidelines regarding the management of TDIs.

Materials & Methods

A previously published questionnaire was used in the current survey. It was an online survey with 12 questions regarding the management of TDIs and some additional questions regarding sociodemographic and professional profiles of the participants were added. The survey was distributed to final‐year undergraduate students and postgraduate students in pediatric dentistry and endodontics from 10 dental schools. Simple frequency distributions and descriptive statistics were predominantly used to describe the data. Differences in the median percentage scores among the student categories were assessed using the Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dwass–Steel–Critchlow–Fligner pairwise comparisons.

Results

A total of 347 undergraduates, 126 postgraduates in endodontics, and 72 postgraduates in pediatric dentistry from 10 dental schools participated in this survey. The postgraduates had a significantly higher percentage score for correct responses compared with the undergraduates. No significant difference was observed between the endodontic and pediatric dentistry postgraduates.

Conclusion

The knowledge possessed by undergraduate and postgraduate students concerning the IADT‐recommended management of TDIs varied across the globe and some aspects were found to be deficient. This study emphasizes the critical importance of reassessing the teaching and learning activities pertaining to the management of TDIs.
African time travellers: What can we learn from 500 years of written accounts?
Authors: Kerby Edward , Moradi Alexander , Odendaal Hanjo
Published: April 2024

In this paper we study 500 years of African economic history using traveller accounts. We systematically collected 2464 unique documents, of which 855 pass language and rigorous data quality requirements. Our final corpus of texts contains more than 230 000 pages. Analysing such a corpus is an insurmountable task for traditional historians and would probably take a lifetime's work. Applying modern day computational linguistic techniques such as a structural topic model approach (STM) in combination with domain knowledge of African economic history, we analyse how first‐hand accounts (topics) evolve across space and time. Apart from obvious accounts of climate, geography, and zoology, we find topics around imperialism, diplomacy, conflict, trade/commerce, health/medicine, evangelization, and many more topics of interest to scholarship. We illustrate how this novel database and text analysis can be employed in three applications (1) What views are introduced by travellers as a result of their occupational background? (2) Did the adoption of quinine as treatment and prophylaxis against malaria facilitate European expansion into Africa? (3) When and how did the diffusion of New World crops alter the African economic landscape?
The expression of compassion in leadership in intercultural organizational situations: The case of Japanese leaders in India
Authors: Ashta Ashok , Stokes Peter , Hughes Paul , Tarba Shlomo , Dekel‐Dachs Ofer , Rodgers Peter
Published: April 2024

In this paper, we examine the role played by compassion in leadership in intercultural situations. Focusing on the growing and important economic context of Indo‐Japanese business, we develop a model that identifies contingent factors that affect Japanese leaders' expressions of compassion in intercultural organizational contexts. We engage with the spiritual capital construct and analyse leaders' lived experiences leading to a novel extension of the well‐established Nested Spheres Model of Culture. By adopting an inductivist and social constructivist approach, semistructured interviews with Japanese business leaders operating in India are employed to generate data. The empirical data show how changes in time and place cause deeply embedded cultural values (such as compassion) to surface and become more explicit in leadership. The study also underlines the need to explore the wider spatial, temporal, and economic contingencies that affect both the dynamics of compassion in “intercultural” business situations and spiritual leadership in intercultural contexts.
So different and yet so alike: A comparative analysis of firms' connectedness in the stock and corporate bond markets
Authors: Beaupain Renaud , Heck Stephanie
Published: April 2024

We study firms' return and volatility connectedness in the stock and corporate bond markets. Our approach to capturing firm‐specific return and volatility time series in the corporate bond market is based on a repeat‐sales index at the firm level. Measuring the pairwise connectedness of firms, we show that the two markets share similar dynamics in the connectedness of their firms. Firms tend to cluster within their own sectors and ties between firms in the corporate bond market are proportionally weaker. Financial firms play a critical role in the propagation of shocks, but this role differs markedly in the two markets.
Revealing the pathogenesis of keloids based on the status: Active vs inactive
Authors: Oh Sejin , Yeo Eunhye , Shim Joonho , Noh Hyungrye , Park Jihye , Lee Kyeong‐Tae , Kim Seok‐Hyung , Lee Dongyoun , Lee Jong Hee
Published: April 2024

Recently, the pathomechanisms of keloids have been extensively researched using transcriptomic analysis, but most studies did not consider the activity of keloids. We aimed to profile the transcriptomics of keloids according to their clinical activity and location within the keloid lesion, compared with normal and mature scars. Tissue samples were collected (keloid based on its activity (active and inactive), mature scar from keloid patients and normal scar (NS) from non‐keloid patients). To reduce possible bias, all keloids assessed in this study had no treatment history and their location was limited to the upper chest or back. Multiomics assessment was performed by using single‐cell RNA sequencing and multiplex immunofluorescence. Increased mesenchymal fibroblasts (FBs) was the main feature in keloid patients. Noticeably, the proportion of pro‐inflammatory FBs was significantly increased in active keloids compared to inactive ones. To explore the nature of proinflammatory FBs, trajectory analysis was conducted and CCN family associated with mechanical stretch exhibited higher expression in active keloids. For vascular endothelial cells (VECs), the proportion of tip and immature cells increased in keloids compared to NS, especially at the periphery of active keloids. Also, keloid VECs highly expressed genes with characteristics of mesenchymal activation compared to NS, especially those from the active keloid center. Multiomics analysis demonstrated the distinct expression profile of active keloids. Clinically, these findings may provide the future appropriate directions for development of treatment modalities of keloids. Prevention of keloids could be possible by the suppression of mesenchymal activation between FBs and VECs and modulation of proinflammatory FBs may be the key to the control of active keloids.
Four cases of non‐Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter‐infected gastritis with duodenal spiral bacilli
Authors: Agawa Hiroyuki , Tsukadaira Toshihisa , Kobayashi Natsuko , Kodaira Himiko , Ota Hiroyoshi , Matsumoto Takehisa , Horiuchi Kazuki , Negishi Tatsuya , Tada Toshifumi
Published: April 2024

Background

Non‐Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter (NHPH) is rarely detected in duodenal mucosa due to its preference for slightly acidic environments. Here, we report four cases of NHPH‐infected gastritis with duodenal spiral bacilli, potentially NHPH, indicating the possibility of duodenal mucosal infection.

Case Presentation

In every case, gastric mucosa showed endoscopic findings characteristic of NHPH‐infected gastritis, and a mucosal biopsy was taken from the duodenal bulb; spiral bacilli were identified under microscopy using Giemsa staining. Case 1, a 46‐year‐old man, had diffuse spotty redness, mucosal edema, and multiple tiny erosions in the duodenal bulb, along with larger erosions in the second portion of the duodenum upon endoscopic examination. Histopathologically, moderate infiltration of mononuclear cells and neutrophils in the lamina propria and gastric epithelial metaplasia were observed. Case 2, a 54‐year‐old man, showed an elevated lesion, 1 cm in diameter, with multiple red spots and a few tiny erosions in the duodenal bulb. Histopathologically, mild inflammatory cell infiltration and gastric epithelial metaplasia were observed. In Case 3, a 52‐year‐old man, endoscopy revealed a flat elevated lesion, 7 mm in diameter, with multiple red spots and a few tiny erosions in the anterior wall of the duodenal bulb. Histopathologically, we observed moderate inflammatory cell infiltration in the gastric antrum and gastric epithelial metaplasia in the duodenal bulb. Case 4, a 40‐year‐old man, showed mild spotty redness in the duodenal bulb. Histopathologically, mild mononucleocyte infiltration and gastric epithelial metaplasia were observed. A single spiral bacillus was observed in Case 4 by microscopy. In all but Case 2, Helicobacter suis was identified in the gastric juice by polymerase chain reaction analysis.

Conclusions

Spiral bacilli resembling NHPH may infect the duodenal mucosa, particularly the bulb, causing inflammation. Gastric contents entering the duodenum may reduce the intraduodenal pH, promoting NHPH survival and proliferation.
Importance of treating acne sequelae in skin of color: 6‐month phase IV study of trifarotene with an appropriate skincare routine including UV protection in acne‐induced post‐inflammatory hyperpigmentation
Authors: Alexis Andrew , Del Rosso James Q. , Forman Seth , Martorell Antonio , Browning John , Laquer Vivian , Desai Seemal R. , York Jean Philippe , Chavda Rajeev , Dhawan Sunil , Moore Angela Y. , Stein‐Gold Linda
Published: April 2024

Background

Acne‐induced hyperpigmentation (AIH) may accompany acne vulgaris (AV) inflammation in all skin phototypes. Trifarotene has shown depigmenting properties in vivo. This study evaluated trifarotene plus skincare because it is increasingly recognized that holistic AV management should include skincare and treatments.

Methods

This is a phase IV double‐blind, parallel‐group study of patients (13–35 years) with moderate AV and AIH treated with trifarotene (N = 60) or vehicle (N = 63) plus skincare regimen (moisturizer, cleanser, and sunscreen) for 24 weeks. Assessments included the AIH overall disease severity (ODS) score, post‐AV hyperpigmentation index (PAHPI), exit interviews, photography, and acne assessments. Standard safety assessments were included.

Results

Trifarotene 50 μg/g cream improved significantly from baseline in ODS score versus vehicle (−1.6 vs. −1.1, P = 0.03) at Week 12, but scores were comparable between groups at Week 24 (primary endpoint). Trifarotene had a better reduction in PAHPI score at Week 24 (−18.9% vs. −11.3% vehicle, P < 0.01). Lesion count reductions were higher with trifarotene at Week 12 versus vehicle (P < 0.001) and at Week 24 (P < 0.05), as were IGA success rates versus vehicle at Weeks 12 (P < 0.05) and 24 (P < 0.05). Patients agreed that the skincare regimen contributed to less irritation, making treatment adherence easier. Photography showed improvements in pigmentation and erythema across all skin types. AEs were more common in the vehicle group versus trifarotene (30.2 vs. 16.7%, respectively).

Conclusions

In all skin phototypes, there was more rapid improvement in the ODS and PAHPI scores with trifarotene by Weeks 12 and 24, respectively. The combination of trifarotene and skincare correlated with high patient satisfaction and adherence to the treatment protocol.
Redefining food safety: the confluence of Web 3.0 andAItechnologies in the meat supply chain—a systematic review
Authors: Issa Aline , Mekanna Alexandria Nivelle , Doumit Jacqueline , Bou‐Mitri Christelle
Published: April 2024

Web 3.0 and artificial intelligence (AI) have presented unprecedent impact on the food sector. However, there is no clear scientific description yet related to their influences on food safety, quality and traceability across the meat supply chain. This study systematically reviews the available data pertaining to Web 3.0 and related novel technologies, their possible use in the meat supply chain and their confluent effect on meat safety. This systematic review followed the PRISMA methodology. The articles selected were identified by searching three databases: Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed. The search results showed that the meat industry and the meat supply chain have their share of positive implications instigated by Web 3.0 technologies. Web 3.0 technologies are shown to be effective for the food safety of meat from farm to fork, particularly in inspection and quality assessment with blockchain integration enhancing transparency and traceability with innovative approaches promising to improve meat safety, increase profitability, efficiency, scalability and modularisation of meat manufacturing in addition to better adherence to animal welfare increasing thus consumer's confidence. Further research is still, needed to examine the role of such technologies at the level of other parts of the supply chain including the pre‐processing step, processing and packaging.