bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Restructuring seafarers’ welfare under the Maritime Labour Convention: an empirical case study of Greece
Authors: Zhang Pengfei , Zhao Lijun , Vata Olga , Rajagopal Sriram 
Published: September 2020

Purpose
This paper aims to examine three of the major issues relating to the welfare of seafarers, including wages, social security benefits and onboard and ashore welfare facilities and services. It is impossible to research all countries here, so this paper selects Greece – which is one of today’s primary shipping countries as for shipowning, as well as for global supply and demand for seafarers – to conduct an empirical case study.

Design/methodology/approach
Based on the existing knowledge and scholarship, and primary data collected in several phases of fieldwork, this paper intends to critically examine three major issues relating to the welfare for Greek seafarers, namely, wages, social security benefits and onboard and ashore welfare facilities and services.

Findings
This paper finds that they face poor labour conditions, which are getting worse due to the depressed world and Greek economies and intense financial pressures on shipping companies. The entry into force of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 has a significant impact on the world maritime industry.

Research limitations/implications
This paper critically examines the three major issues relating to the welfare of Greek seafarers.

Originality/value
Such issues, which Greece is facing are also common in other countries, so the findings and suggestions revealed from this paper are of importance for the global shipping industry and other states.
Assessing nutrient inadequacies and influence of socio-economic characteristics on diet quality of the Mbororo minority women in Northwest Cameroon
Authors: Ebile Pride Anya , Ndah Hycenth Tim , Wünsche Jens Norbert 
Published: September 2020

Purpose
Limited data are available in facilitating nutritional interventions in developing countries. The objective of this study is to assess the mean dietary diversity score (DDS)of Mbororo minority women in the Northwest region of Cameroon.

Design/methodology/approach
The study used the random sampling technique within the Mbororo minority communities (Adorates). A questionnaire on dietary diversity, including 461 Mbororo women, provided information on food consumed using the 24-h dietary recall method.

Findings
Various socio-cultural and economic characteristics of the Mbororo women affected the nutrient level of their diet. Moreover, starchy staples, vitamin-A rich vegetables and palm oil and milk and milk products were consumed by more than half of the Mbororo community. Family herd size showed a positive influence on the dietary habit of the Mbororo population. The mean DDS significantly increased (p = 0.001), as herd size increased from below 50 (3.9 ± 1.1) to above 100 (4.8 ± 1.2).

Practical implications
Most of the diet consumed by the Mbororo women were low in iron, making them susceptible to nutrition anemia. The diet of the Aku women was more deficient in micronutrients than their Jaafun counterpart. These results indicate suitable areas of intervention for any nutrition program that targets the Mbororo minority group of Northwest Cameron.

Social implications
DDS can be used in assessing and classifying the population in rural communities according to the deficiencies in micronutrients of their diet.

Originality/value
The use of DDS to assess the nutrient quality of diets is frequently used to evaluate the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies but has never been applied to Mbororo minority women.
Dichotomies of method and practice: a review of literature on transcription
Authors: Shelton Stephanie Anne , Flint Maureen A. 
Published: September 2020

PurposeTranscription is an integral component to qualitative research, and as such, the ways that researchers discuss transcription in the literature matter. Scholarly discussions on the “how” and “why” of transcription not only shape discourse within interview data-based fields; they inform the ways that researchers understand the roles and ramifications of transcribing. This study aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of articles on transcription published in qualitative methods journals over the past 25 years, offering implications for research practice and pedagogy.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review asked: How do qualitative researchers discuss transcription/transcribing? The authors first reviewed how transcription was discussed in the literature in qualitative studies in the social sciences broadly. Based on the findings, the authors then conducted a comprehensive literature review in 14 qualitative methods journals.FindingsThe authors found that overall, authors discussed transcription either as a technical tool or as a complex, researcher-constructed process. Specifically, utilitarian discussions of transcription emphasized transcription accuracy and efficiency, while theoretical discussions of transcription emphasized a continuously analytic and researcher-constructed process.Originality/valueThis study offers a comprehensive overview of the past 25 years of articles published on transcription. The authors conclude with a discussion of articles that bridge the theoretical and utilitarian discussions, as well as considerations for using transcription as a pedagogical tool for teaching qualitative research methods.
Voles mediate functional trait diversity along a resource gradient
Authors: Larios Loralee , Maron John L. 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Disentangling the effect of multiple ecological processes on plant trait composition is complicated by the fact that both top‐down and bottom‐up processes may affect similar traits.

We examined the interacting role of resource variation and vole herbivory on functional trait patterns in an annual California grassland. We manipulated vole herbivory via exclosures at eight grassland sites along a steep resource gradient and measured plant composition and functional traits over 3 years.

Plants with resource acquisitive functional traits were favoured at sites with increasing resources. Vole herbivory influenced community‐weighted mean (CWM) leaf nitrogen (N) and seed mass, suggesting these traits may mediate plant susceptibility to vole herbivory. After 3 years, CWM leaf N increased in the absence of the voles, as did CWM seed mass, although this increase in CWM seed mass only occurred at higher resource sites. Vole exclusion at high‐resources sites also increased the functional diversity of leaf N and seed mass by the end of the experiment.

Overall, environmental filtering primarily structured the dominant plant trait strategies, but vole herbivory also influenced the functional diversity of traits that influence herbivore susceptibility, particularly at resource‐rich sites.

Thus, habitat filtering and herbivory can operate on different dimensions of plant functional composition to influence the species and functional composition of communities.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Dysfunction of perivascular adipose tissue in mesenteric artery is restored by aerobic exercise in high‐fat diet induced obesity
Authors: Liao Jingwen , Yin Honggang , Huang Junhao , Hu Min 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThis study investigated the function of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) on vascular contractility within resistant arteries in high‐fat diet induced obese rats after long‐term aerobic exercise. Male Sprague‐Dawley rats were subjected to normal diet control group (N‐CTRL), normal diet exercise group (N‐EX), high‐fat diet control group (H‐CTRL), and high‐fat diet exercise group (H‐EX) (n = 8 in each group). After intervention, adipose tissues morphology was observed. Vasomotor function of mesenteric arteries with or without PVAT were assessed; mesenteric PVAT isolated from each group were transferred to chambers bath with untreated vessels (without PVAT) to evaluate the independent effect. Isolated PVAT was further pre‐treated with inhibitor of cystathionine‐γ‐lyase (CSE), a key hydrogen sulphide (H2S) enzyme. Results showed that the size of lipid droplet around mesenteric arteries from H‐EX was significantly reduced (P < .05); uncoupling protein1 (UCP1) in PVAT from H‐EX was enhanced. In N‐CTRL, N‐EX, and H‐EX, vessels without PVAT showed higher sensitivity to serotonin (5‐HT) than that with intact PVAT. Vascular tension by 5‐HT was significantly reduced in H‐EX than H‐CTRL (P < .05) in vessels with PVAT. Transferred PVAT from H‐EX compared with H‐CTRL significantly reduced vascular sensitivity to 5‐HT (P < .05), and this effect was eliminated through inhibiting CSE. In summary, the anti‐contractile effect of PVAT on resistance artery was impaired in obesity but restored by long‐term aerobic exercise. The function of PVAT modified by obesity or by exercise has an independent influence on vascular reactivity, and PVAT derived H2S may participate in this process.
The availability of LGBT‐specific mental health and substance abuse treatment in the United States
Authors: Williams Natasha D. , Fish Jessica N. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo examine the availability and facility‐level predictors of LGBT‐specific mental health and substance abuse treatment in the United States.Data Sources/Study Setting2016 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, 2016 National Mental Health Service Survey, and 2015‐2016 Gallup Daily tracking survey.Study DesignLogistic regression models and average marginal effects were used to identify characteristics of facilities that offer LGBT‐specific programs. Linear regression models were used to estimate the association between the state‐level proportion of LGBT people and the proportion of facilities that offer LGBT‐specific programs.Data Collection/Extraction MethodsSecondary data analysis. Cases with missing values for any predictor were excluded.Principle Findings12.6 percent of mental health and 17.6 percent of substance abuse facilities reported LGBT‐specific programs. Several facility characteristics were statistically associated with the likelihood of mental health and substance abuse facilities providing LGBT‐specific programs, including offering outpatient or residential treatment, private ownership, religious affiliation, and payment type. The proportion of LGBT adults living within each state was statistically associated with state‐level density of LGBT‐specific mental health programs, but not substance abuse programs.ConclusionsFindings suggest limited availability of culturally competent mental health and substance abuse treatment, despite well‐documented need.
Firearm examination: Examiner judgments and computer‐based comparisons
Authors: Mattijssen Erwin J. A. T. , Witteman Cilia L. M. , Berger Charles E. H. , Zheng Xiaoyu A. , Soons Johannes A. , Stoel Reinoud D. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractForensic firearm examination provides the court of law with information about the source of fired cartridge cases. We assessed the validity of source decisions of a computer‐based method and of 73 firearm examiners who compared breechface and firing pin impressions of 48 comparison sets. We also compared the computer‐based method's comparison scores with the examiners' degree‐of‐support judgments and assessed the validity of the latter. The true‐positive rate (sensitivity) and true‐negative rate (specificity) of the computer‐based method (for the comparison of both the breechface and firing pin impressions) were 94.4% and at least 91.7%, respectively. For the examiners, the true‐positive rate was at least 95.3% and the true‐negative rate was at least 86.2%. The validity of the source decisions improved when the evaluations of breechface and firing pin impressions were combined and for the examiners also when the perceived difficulty of the comparison decreased. The examiners were reluctant to provide source decisions for "difficult" comparisons even though their source decisions were mostly correct. The correlation between the computer‐based method's comparison scores and the examiners' degree‐of‐support judgments was low for the same‐source comparisons to negligible for the different‐source comparisons. Combining the outcomes of computer‐based methods with the judgments of examiners could increase the validity of firearm examinations. The examiners' numerical degree‐of‐support judgments for their source decisions were not well‐calibrated and showed clear signs of overconfidence. We suggest studying the merits of performance feedback to calibrate these judgments.
The impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms in ADORA2A and ADORA3 genes on the early response to methotrexate and presence of therapy side effects in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: Results of a preliminary study
Authors: Roszkiewicz Justyna , Michałek Dominika , Ryk Aleksandra , Swacha Zbigniew , Szmyd Bartosz , Smolewska Elżbieta 
Published: September 2020

AbstractAimMethotrexate (MTX) administered at the dose 10‐15 mg/m2 is recommended as the first‐line therapy in most juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) subtypes. The disease‐modifying effect of methotrexate is associated with release of adenosine and mediated via binding to adenosine receptor A2A (ADORA2A) and 3 (ADORA3). The aim of our study was to determine the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in ADORA2A (rs2236624, rs2298383) and ADORA3 (rs3393) receptor genes on the disease activity and presence of MTX therapy side effects in patients with JIA.MethodsOne hundred children with JIA of all subtypes treated with MTX were recruited to the study. Demographic and clinical parameters were collected at the baseline of MTX therapy and on a control visit 4‐6 months after starting MTX. Single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping was performed using genomic DNA isolated from peripheral blood samples.ResultsThe polymorphic variant of ADORA2A rs2236624 was associated with ~3.5 times higher odds of gastrointestinal side effects occurrence (odds ratio: 3.59, 95% CI: 1.15‐11.22, P = 0.0282). Children with the ADORA3 rs3393 polymorphic variants (CT/CC) after 6 months of MTX treatment had significantly lower number of joints with active arthritis (median: 0.00 vs 1.00, P = 0.0400) and value of C‐reactive protein (0.60 vs 2.40, P = 0.0242) in comparison to TT variant.ConclusionAlthough future studies are needed to verify our findings, polymorphisms in ADORA2A and ADORA3 genes may become the determinants of MTX treatment efficacy and gastrointestinal toxicity in children with JIA.
Seek and learn: Automated identification of microevents in animal behaviour using envelopes of acceleration data and machine learning
Authors: Chakravarty Pritish , Cozzi Gabriele , Dejnabadi Hooman , Léziart Pierre‐Alexandre , Manser Marta , Ozgul Arpat , Aminian Kamiar 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Animal‐borne accelerometers have been used across more than 120 species to infer biologically significant information such as energy expenditure and broad behavioural categories. While the accelerometer's high sensitivity to movement and fast response times present the unprecedented opportunity to resolve fine‐scale behaviour, leveraging this opportunity will require overcoming the challenge of developing general, automated methods to analyse the nonstationary signals generated by nonlinear processes governing erratic, impulsive movement characteristic of fine‐scale behaviour.

We address this issue by conceptualising fine‐scale behaviour in terms of characteristic microevents: impulsive movements producing brief (<1 s) shock signals in accelerometer data. We propose a ‘seek‐and‐learn’ approach: a novel microevent detection step first locates where shock signals occur (‘seek’) by searching for peaks in envelopes of acceleration data. Robust machine learning (‘learn’) employing meaningful features then separates microevents. We showcase the application of our method on tri‐axial accelerometer data collected on 10 free‐living meerkats Suricata suricatta for four fine‐scale foraging behaviours – searching for digging sites, one‐armed digging, two‐armed digging and head jerks during prey ingestion. Annotated videos served as groundtruth, and performance was benchmarked against that of a variety of classical machine learning approaches.

Microevent identification (μEvId) with eight features in a three‐node hierarchical classification scheme employing logistic regression at each node achieved a mean overall accuracy of >85% during leave‐one‐individual‐out cross‐validation, and exceeded that of the best classical machine learning approach by 8.6%. μEvId was found to be robust not only to inter‐individual variation but also to large changes in model parameters.

Our results show that microevents can be modelled as impulse responses of the animal body‐and‐sensor system. The microevent detection step retains only informative regions of the signal, which results in the selection of discriminative features that reflect biomechanical differences between microevents. Moving‐window‐based classical machine learning approaches lack this prefiltering step, and were found to be suboptimal for capturing the nonstationary dynamics of the recorded signals. The general, automated technique of μEvId, together with existing models that can identify broad behavioural categories, provides future studies with a powerful toolkit to exploit the full potential of accelerometers for animal behaviour recognition.
Treatment outcomes for patients with metastatic castrate‐resistant prostate cancer following docetaxel for hormone‐sensitive disease
Authors: Schmidt Andrew , Anton Angelyn , Shapiro Julia , Wong Shirley , Azad Arun , Kwan Edmond , Spain Lavinia , Muthusamy Arun , Torres Javier , Parente Phillip , Parnis Francis , Goh Jeffrey , Joshua Anthony M. , Pook David , Gibbs Peter , Tran Ben , Weickhardt Andrew 
Published: September 2020

AbstractAimOptimal treatment for newly diagnosed metastatic hormone‐sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) has evolved, with many patients deriving benefit from the addition of docetaxel to androgen deprivation therapy (D‐ADT). This study sought to define the therapy used and associated activity following D‐ADT.MethodsRetrospective analysis of patients with mHSPC treated with one or more cycles of D‐ADT who were identified from a prospectively maintained multisite prostate cancer database of patients treated in a community or academic center setting in Australia. The primary endpoint of this study was first‐line time to treatment failure (1L TTF) for subsequent treatment of metastatic Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC), with secondary endpoints of prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) reduction >50% and time from 1L to second‐line (2L) treatment initiation.ResultsA total of 93 patients received D‐ADT for mHSPC, 85 (91%) had subsequent treatment for mCRPC. Median time to mCRPC (biochemical, clinical or radiographic) had been 14.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.9–16.5). 1L treatment was enzalutamide 47 patients (55%), abiraterone 23 (27%), cabazitaxel 7 (8%), docetaxel 4 (5%) and other therapies 4 (5%). Median 1L TTF was 6.3 months (95% CI, 4.9–7.6), PSA > 50% reduction was achieved in 32 of 89 patients (36%), median time from 1L to second‐line treatment was 7.3 months (1.3–27.4), which did not differ significantly between treatment groups.ConclusionsAbiraterone, enzalutamide, cabazitaxel and docetaxel all demonstrate activity following progression on D‐ADT. No difference in efficacy was detected between treatment options for mCRPC. Prospective trials investigating the optimal treatment sequence for prostate cancer following progression on D‐ADT needed.
Long‐term survival and prognostic analysis of advanced stage follicular lymphoma in the rituximab era: A China single‐center retrospective study
Authors: Zhou Yu , Qin Yan , He Xiaohui , Liu Peng , Yang Jianliang , Zhou Liqiang , Zhou Shengyu , Gui Lin , Yang Sheng , Zhang Changgong , Shi Yuankai 
Published: September 2020

AbstractAimThe prognosis and treatment options for follicular lymphoma (FL) remain heterogenous. This study aimed to analyze the prognostic impact of rituximab maintenance and evaluate the prognostic models in Chinese FL patients.MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated patients with treatment‐naïve advanced stage FL who were treated in Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College between January 2008 and December 2018. We compared the baseline characteristics, long‐term survival outcomes, prognostic factors and the performance of four common prognostic models (i.e., FLIPI, FLIPI2, PRIMA‐PI and LDH+β2M) between them.ResultsA total of 158 patients were included (rituximab maintenance group, 77 patients; observation group, 81 patients). The median follow‐up time was 61.0 months. The rituximab maintenance group showed significantly higher 5‐year progression‐free survival (PFS; 83.3% vs 52.7%, P < 0.001) and overall survival (OS; 97.8% vs 84.1%, P = 0.032) than the observation group. FLIPI2 showed a more discriminating C index than the other three models.ConclusionThis study showed that rituximab maintenance after chemoimmunotherapy induction can prolong both PFS and OS in patients with advanced‐stage FL, and FLIPI2 is a promising prognostic model.
Three‐dimensional ultrasonography for advanced neurosonography (neurosofe‐3D): Validation of a brain volume acquisition guideline
Authors: Maiz Nerea , Tajada Mauricio , Rodríguez María Á. , Irasarri Ana , Molina Francisca S. , Tubau Albert , Burgos Jorge , Alonso Ignacio , Plasencia Walter , Rodó Carlota , Pijoan José I. , Belar María , De Paco Matallana Catalina 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIntroductionThis study aimed to evaluate the quality of the brain volumes acquired following an evidence‐based guideline for the acquisition of brain volumes.Material and methodsThis was a prospective multicenter study. Five centers recruited five cases each, acquiring two volumes per case, at different gestational age ranges. From the collected volumes, 10 operators performed an advanced neurosonography of each case. The evaluable anatomic structures were counted in each volume and expressed as a percentage. The results were compared with those obtained in a previous study where no recommendations had been made for the acquisition of the volumes.ResultsFive hundred evaluations were included in the study. In the axial plane, 91.5% of the structures were satisfactorily evaluated, 81.8% in the coronal plane and 89.9% in the sagittal plane. These results were significantly better than those obtained in a previous study where the volumes had been acquired without any guidelines and the percentage of evaluable structures were 80% (P < .001), 67.1% (P < .001) and 55.1% (P < .001) in the axial, coronal and sagittal planes, respectively.ConclusionsThe application of an evidence‐based guideline for the acquisition of brain volumes improves the quality of these by increasing the number of evaluable structures in the volume.