bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An unrecognized key population? Traditional treatment practices associated with HIV risk among traditional healers in rural South Africa
Authors: Audet Carolyn M. , Ngobeni Sizzy , Mkansi Mevian , Wafawanaka Floidy , Aliyu Muktar H. , Vermund Sten H. , Wagner Ryan G. 
Published: October 2020

Objective:
To understand the risk of HIV acquisition through occupational exposure among rural South African traditional healers, notably via the practice of traditional skin incisions with razors.

Design:
A random sample of traditional healers living in South Africa participated in a cross-sectional survey that included a rapid HIV test.

Setting:
Rural Bushbuckridge district of Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Participants:
Traditional healers.

Intervention:
Pretest counseling, posttest counseling, and referral to care if HIV seropositive.

Main outcome measure(s):
HIV infection.

Results:
Among healers who reported a previous positive test result or accepted an HIV test (96%), HIV prevalence was 30% (95% confidence interval: 23–37%). During their careers, 98% of healers reported conducting at least one ‘vaccination’ (as traditional incisions are called), 32% reported always using gloves when conducting these procedures, 29 (14%) reported patient blood touching their bare skin. Healers who reported exposure to patient blood had a higher HIV prevalence than their nonexposed colleagues (adjusted risk ratio: 2.35, 95% confidence interval: 1.55–3.56, P = 0.001).

Conclusion:
Nearly all traditional healers are routinely performing minimally invasive skin incisions that could expose them to patient blood. The lack of training and access to personal protective equipment increase their risk of acquisition of blood–borne pathogens, including HIV. Given the widespread practice of traditional skin incisions across southern Africa, and the higher levels of HIV among traditional healers exposed to patient blood, it is likely that traditional healers are a hitherto unrecognized key population at disproportionate risk of acquiring HIV.
Assessing self-reported discrimination among men who have sex with men (MSM)
Authors: Whiteman Ari , Baugher Amy , Sionean Catlainn 
Published: October 2020

Objectives:
To determine the prevalence of four forms of sexual identity discrimination among MSM in 23 US metropolitan statistical areas, examine racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in each form of discrimination.

Methods:
We examined interview data collected during 2017 for National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (n = 10 029 respondents) and used generalized linear models to assess the association between the prevalence of reported discrimination during the previous 12 months and selected sociodemographic groups.

Results:
Overall, 34% of participants reported experiencing verbal discrimination; 16%, discrimination in a workplace, school, or a healthcare setting; and 8%, physical assault. MSM who had reported experiencing discrimination were most likely to be young, had achieved lower education, and had lower incomes. High prevalence of reported discrimination was associated with young age, lower education, lower household income, sexual identity disclosure, and lower perceived community tolerance of gay or bisexual persons.

Conclusion:
MSM discrimination affects different groups and occurs in multiple settings. Addressing discrimination should be an integral aspect of multifaceted efforts to improve MSM health.
Risk of birth defects and perinatal outcomes in HIV-infected women exposed to integrase strand inhibitors during pregnancy
Authors: Sibiude Jeanne , Le Chenadec Jérôme , Mandelbrot Laurent , Dollfus Catherine , Matheron Sophie , Lelong Nathalie , Avettand-Fenoel Véronique , Brossard Maud , Frange Pierre , Reliquet Véronique , Warszawski Josiane , Tubiana Roland 
Published: October 2020

Objectives:
Following an alert on neural tube defects and dolutegravir, we sought to evaluate if the exposure integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) at conception was associated with birth defects or other adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Methods:
In the prospective national French Perinatal Cohort (EPF), we studied birth defects and other perinatal outcomes by matching each pregnant woman exposed to INSTIs with a pregnant woman exposed to darunavir/ritonavir receiving the same backbone of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and matched for other characteristics such as age, geographic origin, centre and year of delivery.

Results:
Among 808 women exposed to INSTIs during pregnancy (raltegravir = 703, dolutegravir = 57 and elvitegravir = 48), we reported a slightly higher rate of birth defects in infants exposed at conception to raltegravir (6.7%) vs. infants exposed to raltegravir later in pregnancy: 2.9% if initiated during pregnancy as first-line, and 2.5% as second-line treatment,  P =0.04. When compared with matched controls, raltegravir exposure at conception was not significantly associated with birth defects: 6.4 vs. 2.3%, P = 0.08. There was no cluster of birth defect type and no neural tube defects were observed. Other perinatal outcomes, such as preterm birth and stillbirths, did not differ significantly between raltegravir-exposed women and matched counterparts. No difference in any outcome was observed for elvitegravir/cobicistat or dolutegravir.

Conclusion:
We found a nonsignificant trend for an association between exposure to raltegravir at conception and birth defects, which needs to be evaluated by larger prospective surveillance data, as these drugs are increasingly prescribed in women living with HIV.
A high-throughput microfluidic nano-immunoassay for detecting anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum or ultra-low volume dried blood samples
Authors: Swank Zoe , Michielin Grégoire , Yip Hon Ming , Cohen Patrick , Andrey Diego O. , Vuilleumier Nicolas , Kaiser Laurent , Eckerle Isabella , Meyer Benjamin , Maerkl Sebastian J. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractNovel technologies are needed to facilitate large-scale detection and quantification of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) specific antibodies in human blood samples. Such technologies are essential to support seroprevalence studies, vaccine clinical trials, and to monitor quality and duration of immunity. We developed a microfluidic nano-immunnoassay for the detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in 1024 samples per device. The method achieved a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 98% based on the analysis of 289 human serum samples. To eliminate the need for venipuncture, we developed low-cost, ultra-low volume whole blood sampling methods based on two commercial devices and repurposed a blood glucose test strip. The glucose test strip permits the collection, shipment, and analysis of 0.6µL whole blood easily obtainable from a simple fingerprick. The nano-immunoassay platform achieves high-throughput, high sensitivity and specificity, negligible reagent consumption, and a decentralized and simple approach to blood sample collection. We expect this technology to be immediately applicable to current and future SARS-CoV-2 related serological studies and to protein biomarker diagnostics in general.
Extracting Brain Disease-Related Connectome Subgraphs by Adaptive Dense Subgraph Discovery
Authors: Wu Qiong , Huang Xiaoqi , Culbreth Adam , Waltz James , Hong Elliot , Chen Shuo 
Published: October 2020

AbstractGroup-level brain connectome analysis has attracted increasing interest in neuropsychiatric research with the goal of identifying connectomic subnetworks (subgraphs) that are systematically associated with brain disorders. However, extracting disease-related subnetworks from the whole brain connectome has been challenging, because no prior knowledge is available regarding the sizes and locations of the subnetworks. In addition, neuroimaging data is often mixed with substantial noise that can further obscure informative subnetwork detection. We propose a likelihood-based adaptive dense subgraph discovery (ADSD) model to extract disease-related subgraphs from the group-level whole brain connectome data. Our method is robust to both false positive and false negative errors of edge-wise inference and thus can lead to a more accurate discovery of latent disease-related connectomic subnetworks. We develop computationally efficient algorithms to implement the novel ADSD objective function and derive theoretical results to guarantee the convergence properties. We apply the proposed approach to a brain fMRI study for schizophrenia research and identify well-organized and biologically meaningful subnetworks that exhibit schizophrenia-related salience network centered connectivity abnormality. Analysis of synthetic data also demonstrates the superior performance of the ADSD method for latent subnetwork detection in comparison with existing methods in various settings.
Elevated antiviral, myeloid and endothelial inflammatory markers in severe COVID-19
Authors: Thwaites Ryan S , Sevilla Uruchurtu Ashley Sanchez , Siggins Matthew , Liew Felicity , Russell Clark D , Moore Shona C , Carter Edwin , Abrams Simon , Short Charlotte-Eve , Thaventhiran Thilipan , Bergstrom Emma , Gardener Zoe , Ascough Stephanie , Chiu Christopher , Docherty Annemarie B , Hunt David , Crow Yanick J , Solomon Tom , Taylor Graham P , Turtle Lance , Harrison Ewen M , Semple Malcolm G , Baillie J Kenneth , Openshaw Peter JM 
Published: October 2020

Introductory paragraphThe mechanisms that underpin COVID-19 disease severity, and determine the outcome of infection, are only beginning to be unraveled. The host inflammatory response contributes to lung injury, but circulating mediators levels fall below those in classical ‘cytokine storms’. We analyzed serial plasma samples from 619 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 recruited through the prospective multicenter ISARIC clinical characterization protocol U.K. study and 39 milder community cases not requiring hospitalization. Elevated levels of numerous mediators including angiopoietin-2, CXCL10, and GM-CSF were seen at recruitment in patients who later died. Markers of endothelial injury (angiopoietin-2 and von-Willebrand factor A2) were detected early in some patients, while inflammatory cytokines and markers of lung injury persisted for several weeks in fatal COVID-19 despite decreasing antiviral cytokine levels. Overall, markers of myeloid or endothelial cell activation were associated with severe, progressive, and fatal disease indicating a central role for innate immune activation and vascular inflammation in COVID-19.
Anxiety disorders and asthma among adolescents in urban Uganda: the role of early life exposures
Authors: Mpairwe Harriet , Mpango Richard Stephen , Sembajjwe Wilber , Webb Emily L , Elliott Alison M , Pearce Neil , Kinyanda Eugene 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe reasons for the association between anxiety disorders and asthma are not fully established, and data from Africa is sparse. We investigated whether the association between anxiety disorders and asthma among adolescents may be partly related to shared exposures in early life.MethodsWe conducted a case-control study among adolescents (12-17 years) with and without asthma in Wakiso District, an urban area in Uganda. Anxiety disorders were diagnosed by the Youth Inventory-4R (YI-4R), a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) referenced instrument. For this report, we focus on generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder and social anxiety disorder. Asthma was doctor-diagnosed by study clinicians. We used questionnaires to collect data on early life exposures. The data were analysed using multiple logistic regression models.ResultsWe enrolled 162 adolescents. Adolescents with asthma were more likely to have any of three anxiety disorders (44.6%) than adolescents without asthma (21.4%) [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.30-5.53, p-value=0.007]. The association was strong for GAD (AOR 4.49, 95% CI 1.48-13.56) and panic disorder (AOR 5.43, 95% CI 2.11-14.02), but not for social anxiety disorder (1.46, 95% CI 0.63-3.37). The early life risk factors associated with anxiety disorders among adolescents were similar to asthma risk factors previously published, including urban residence at birth [AOR 3.42 (1.29-9.09)] and during most of the first five years of life [AOR 2.87 (1.07-7.66)], father’s tertiary education [AOR 2.09 (1.00-4.37)], and adolescent’s history of other allergy-related diseases [AOR 4.64 (1.66-13.00)].ConclusionWe confirm a positive association between anxiety disorders and asthma among adolescents in urban Uganda. The early life risk factors associated with anxiety disorders among adolescents were similar to those for asthma in the same age-group, suggesting shared underlying causes.
Heart failure grading using single-lead electrocardiography
Authors: Hasumi Eriko , Fujiu Katsuhito , Chen Ying , Shimizu Yu , Oshima Tsukasa , Matsunaga Hiroshi , Matsuda Jun , Matsubara Takumi J , Fukuma Nobuaki , Yuxiang Liu , Sugita Junichi , Nakayama Yukiteru , Saga Akiko , Oguri Gaku , Kojima Toshiya , Maru Yujin , Shoda Morio , Komuro Issei 
Published: October 2020

AbstractConvolutional neural networks (CNNs) applied to electrocardiograms (ECGs) have been showing utility for detecting left ventricular (LV) dysfunction1. Although early detection of reduced LV ejection fraction (rEF) could improve handling of heart failure (HF) with rEF (HFrEF), it is not sufficient to detect HF with preserved EF (HFpEF). Here we developed a CNN algorithm to classify the severity of HF based on single-lead ECG data, irrespective of EF. We trained a CNN using ECG data and the HF classification from 7,865 patients with HF. The CNN achieved an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.996 for distinguishing patients with HF of various severity from healthy controls. It is anticipated that early detection of HF and therapeutic management of HF patients can be improved by employing this CNN with a single-lead ECG device.
Fast-Bonito: A Faster Basecaller for Nanopore Sequencing
Authors: Xu Zhimeng , Mai Yuting , Liu Denghui , He Wenjun , Lin Xinyuan , Xu Chi , Zhang Lei , Meng Xin , Mafofo Joseph , Zaher Walid Abbas , Li Yi , Qiao Nan 
Published: October 2020

AbstractOxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) is a promising sequencing technology that could generate relatively longer sequencing reads compared to the next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. The base calling process is very important for TGS. It translates the original electrical signals from the sequencer to the nucleotide sequence. By doing that, the base calling could significantly influence the accuracy of downstream analysis. Bonito is a recently developed basecaller based on deep neuron network, the neuron network architecture of which is composed of a single convolutional layer followed by three stacked bidirectional GRU layers. Although Bonito achieved the state-of-the-art accuracy, its speed is so slow that it is not likely to be used in production. We therefore implement Fast-Bonito, which introduces systematic optimization to speed up Bonito. Fast-Bonito archives 53.8% faster than the original version on NVIDIA V100 and could be further speed up by HUAWEI Ascend 910 NPU, achieving 565% faster than the original version. The accuracy of Fast-Bonito is also slightly higher than the original Bonito.
Genome-wide methylation data improves dissection of the effect of smoking on body mass index
Authors: Amador Carmen , Zeng Yanni , Barber Michael , Walker Rosie , Campbell Archie , McIntosh Andrew M. , Evans Kathryn L. , Porteous David , Hayward Caroline , Wilson James F. , Navarro Pau , Haley Chris S. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractVariation in obesity-related traits has a genetic basis with heritabilities between 40 and 70%. While the global obesity pandemic is usually associated with environmental changes related to lifestyle and socioeconomic changes, most genetic studies do not include all relevant environmental covariates, so genetic contribution to variation in obesity-related traits cannot be accurately assessed. Some studies have described interactions between a few individual genes linked to obesity and environmental variables but there is no agreement on their total contribution to differences between individuals. Here we compared self-reported smoking data and a methylation-based proxy to explore the effect of smoking and genome-by-smoking interactions on obesity related traits from a genome-wide perspective to estimate the amount of variance they explain. Our results indicate that exploiting omic measures can improve models for complex traits such as obesity and can be used as a substitute for, or jointly with, environmental records to better understand causes of disease.
Ocean Acidification Amplifies the Olfactory Response to 2-Phenylethylamine: Altered Cue Reception as a Mechanistic Pathway?
Authors: Schirrmacher Paula , Roggatz Christina C. , Benoit David M. , Hardege Jörg D. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractWith carbon dioxide (CO2) levels rising dramatically, climate change threatens marine environments. Due to increasing CO2concentrations in the ocean, pH levels are expected to drop by 0.4 units by the end of the century. There is an urgent need to understand the impact of ocean acidification on chemical-ecological processes. To date, the extent and mechanisms by which the decreasing ocean pH influences chemical communication are unclear. Combining behaviour assays with computational chemistry, we explore the function of the predator related cue 2-phenylethylamine (PEA) for hermit crabs (Pagurus bernhardus) in current and end-of-the-century oceanic pH. We demonstrate that this dietary predator cue for mammals and sea lampreys is an attractant for hermit crabs. Furthermore, we show that the potency of the cue increases at pH levels expected for the year 2100. In order to explain this increased potency, we assess changes to PEA’s conformational and charge-related properties as one potential mechanistic pathway. Using quantum chemical calculations validated by NMR spectroscopy, we characterise the different protonation states of PEA in water. We show how protonation of PEA could affect receptor-ligand binding, using a possible model receptor for PEA (human TAAR1). Investigating potential mechanisms of pH dependent effects on olfactory perception of PEA and the respective behavioural response, our study advances the understanding of how ocean acidification interferes with the sense of smell and thereby might impact essential ecological interactions in marine ecosystems.
Transcranial Bipolar Direct Current Stimulation of the Frontoparietal Cortex Reduces Ketamine-Induced Oscillopathies: A Pilot Study in the Sedated Rat
Authors: Lahogue Caroline , Pinault Didier 
Published: October 2020

ABSTRACTDuring the prodromal phase of schizophrenia with its complex and insidious clinical picture, electroencephalographic recordings detect widespread oscillation disturbances (or oscillopathies). Neural oscillations are electro-biomarkers of the connectivity state within systems. A single systemic administration of ketamine, a non-competitive NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist, transiently reproduces the oscillopathies with a clinical picture reminiscent of the psychosis prodrome. This acute pharmacological model may help the research and development of innovative treatments against the psychotic transition. Transcranial electrical stimulation is recognized as an appropriate non-invasive therapeutic modality since it can increase cognitive performance and modulate neural oscillations with little or no side effects. Therefore, our objective was to set up, in the sedated adult rat, a stimulation method able to normalize the ketamine-induced oscillopathies. Unilateral transcranial frontoparietal anodal stimulation by direct current (<+1 mA) was applied in ketamine-treated rats. A concomitant electroencephalographic recording of the parietal cortex measured the stimulation effects on its spontaneously-occurring oscillations. A 5-min bipolar anodal tDCS immediately and quickly reduced, significantly with an intensity-effect relationship, the ketamine-induced oscillopathies at least in the bilateral parietal cortex. A duration effect was also recorded. These preliminary neurophysiological findings are promising for developing a therapeutic proof-of-concept against neuropsychiatric disorders.
Isolating the role of corticosterone in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal genomic stress response
Authors: Austin Suzanne H. , Harris Rayna , Booth April M. , Lang Andrew S. , Farrar Victoria S. , Krause Jesse S. , Hallman Tyler A. , MacManes Matthew , Calisi Rebecca M. 
Published: October 2020

ABSTRACTThe negative impacts of stress on reproduction have long been studied. A large focus of investigation has centered around the effects of the adrenal steroid hormone corticosterone (CORT) on a system of tissues vital for reproduction, the hypothalamus of the brain, the pituitary gland, and the gonads (the HPG axis). Investigations of the role of CORT on the HPG axis have predominated the stress and reproductive biology literature, potentially overshadowing other influential mediators. To gain a more complete understanding of how elevated CORT, characteristic of the stress response, affects the activity of the HPG axis, we experimentally examined its role at the level of the genome in both male and female rock doves (Columba livia). We exogenously administrated CORT to mimic circulating levels during the stress response, specifically 30 min of restraint stress, an experimental paradigm known to increase circulating corticosterone in vertebrates. We examined all changes in genomic transcription within the HPG axis as compared to both restraint-stressed birds and vehicle-injected controls, as well as between the sexes. We report causal and sex-specific effects of CORT on the HPG stress response at the level of the transcriptome. Restraint stress caused 1567 genes to uniquely differentially express while elevated circulating CORT was responsible for the differential expression of 304 genes. Only 108 genes in females and 8 in males differentially expressed in subjects who underwent restraint stress and those who were given exogenous CORT. In response to CORT elevation characteristic of the stress response, both sexes shared the differential expression of 5 genes,KCNJ5, CISH, PTGER3, CEBPD, andZBTB16, all located in the pituitary. The known functions of these genes suggest potential influence of elevated CORT on immune function and prolactin synthesis. Gene expression unique to each sex indicated that elevated CORT affected more gene transcription in females than males (78 genes versus 3 genes, respectively). To our knowledge, this is the first study to isolate the role of CORT in HPG genomic transcription during a stress response. These results provide novel targets for new lines of further investigation and therapy development. We present an extensive and openly accessible view of the role corticosterone in the HPG genomic stress response, offering novel gene targets to inspire new lines of investigation of stress-induced reproductive dysfunction. Because the HPG system is well-conserved across vertebrates, these data have the potential to inspire new therapeutic strategies for reproductive dysregulation in multiple vertebrate systems, including our own.