bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing diagnostic radiology knowledge among Syrian medical undergraduates
Authors: Alchallah Mhd Obai , Ismail Hlma , Dia Tala , Shibani Mosa , Alzabibi Mhd Amin , Mohsen Fatema , Turkmani Khaled , Sawaf Bisher 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
Background
The role of radiology in medicine and healthcare is rapidly expanding worldwide, but awareness about this field among medical students is poor. This is the first study to assess Syrian medical students’ knowledge and attitude regarding radiology.

Methods
This is a cross-sectional study conducted at the Syrian Private University, on November 8, 2019, on the International Day of Radiology during the war crisis. Data were collected through self-administered surveys and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

Results
The questionnaire was completed by 269 students whose ages ranged between 17 and 30 years old. Males constituted 63.6% of the respondents. The results revealed adequate knowledge about the basics of radiology. 73.6% of the students had previously heard about interventional radiology. There were slight misconceptions with certain points in each section, especially those pertaining to the radiation exposure of each imaging method. Finally, the students expressed low interest in radiology as a future career (24.5%).

Conclusions
The level of awareness can affect a student’s decision in considering radiology as a future career. Further evaluation of the methods of teaching, input from medical boards, curriculum advisors, and guidance from radiologists is required.
Selective deletion of endothelial mineralocorticoid receptor protects from vascular dysfunction in sodium-restricted female mice
Authors: Faulkner Jessica L. , Lluch Emily , Kennard Simone , Antonova Galina , Jaffe Iris Z. , Belin de Chantemèle Eric J. 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
Background
Recent evidence by our laboratory demonstrates that women and female mice endogenously express higher endothelial mineralocorticoid receptor (ECMR) than males. Mounting clinical evidence also indicates that aldosterone production is higher in pathological conditions in females compared to males. However, the role for increased activation of ECMR by aldosterone in the absence of a comorbid condition is yet to be explored. The current study hypothesized that increased ECMR activation induced by elevated aldosterone production predisposes healthy female mice to endothelial dysfunction.

Method
Vascular reactivity was assessed in aortic rings from wild-type (WT) and ECMR KO (KO) mice fed either a normal salt (NSD, 0.4% NaCl) or sodium-restricted diet (SRD, 0.05% NaCl) for 28 days.

Results
SRD elevated plasma aldosterone levels as well as adrenal CYP11B2 and angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) expressions in female, but not male, WT mice. In baseline conditions (NSD), endothelial function, assessed by vascular relaxation to acetylcholine, was higher while vascular contractility to phenylephrine, serotonin, and KCl lower in female than male WT mice. SRD impaired endothelial function and increased vascular contractility in female, but not male, WT mice effectively ablating the baseline sex differences. NOS inhibition with LNAME ablated endothelial relaxation to a higher extent in male than female mice on NSD and ablated differences in acetylcholine relaxation responses between NSD- and SRD-fed females, indicating a role for NO in SRD-mediated endothelial function. In association, SRD significantly reduced vascular NOX4 expression in female, but not male, mice. Lastly, selective deletion of ECMR protected female mice from SRD-mediated endothelial dysfunction and increased vascular contractility.

Conclusion
Collectively, these data indicate that female mice develop aldosterone-induced endothelial dysfunction via endothelial MR-mediated reductions in NO bioavailability. In addition, these data support a role for ECMR to promote vascular contractility in female mice in response to sodium restriction.
Fanconi Bickel syndrome: clinical phenotypes and genetics in a cohort of Sudanese children
Authors: Musa Salwa A. , Ibrahim Areej A. , Hassan Samar S. , Johnson Matthew B , Basheer Asmahan T. , Arabi Ali M. , Abdullah Mohamed A. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBackgroundFanconi-Bickel syndrome (FBS) is a rare condition of carbohydrate metabolism, caused by a recessive defect in the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT2 encoded by theSLC2A2gene and characterized by a wide spectrum of phenotypical features. There is a paucity of reported data on FBS from Sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we describe the clinical, biochemical and genetic characteristics of our patients with FBS from Sudan, a country with a high consanguinity rate.Patients & methodsEleven patients from ten unrelated Sudanese families were included. Clinical & biochemical data were documented and imaging studies done including bone survey and abdominal ultrasound. Liver biopsy was done to confirm the pathological diagnosis in 45% of cases and molecular genetics was performed through contribution with the Exeter genomics laboratory for ten patients.ResultsReported consanguinity was 70% among our patients. Growth was significantly impaired at presentation with mean weights of (-5.3 ± 1.8) SD and heights (-5.4 ± 2.5) SD. Severe chest deformity was present in (27%) and all patients showed features of rickets at presentation. Three patients had neonatal diabetes requiring insulin therapy of which one has been reported before. Six families lost undiagnosed siblings with similar clinical presentations. We identified a total of four homozygous pathogenicSLC2A2variants in our patients, one of whom had a novel mutation.ConclusionsFBS is not uncommon in Sudan where there is a high rate of consanguinity. Many cases are likely missed because of variable presentation and lack of public and professionals’ awareness. This is the first series to describe this condition from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Data processing scheme based on blockchain
Authors: Fu Jinhua , Xu Mixue , Huang Yongzhong , Si Xueming , Yuan Chao 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn the white paper written on Bitcoin, a chain of blocks was proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto. Since then, blockchain has been rapidly developed. Blockchain is not only limited to the field of cryptocurrency but also has been extensively applied to the Internet of Things, supply chain finance, electronic evidence storage, data sharing, and e-government fields. Both the public chain and the alliance chain have been extensively developed. In the data processing field, blockchain has a particularly good application potential. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a proposal consisting of a joint venture of more than ten countries, resulting in the world’s largest synthetic aperture radio telescope. In the SKA, the processing scale of the data is large, and it consists of several data processing nodes. The data will be processed in the cloud computing mode. Taking the SKA under consideration, this report proposes a data processing scheme based on blockchain for the anti-counterfeiting, anti-tampering and traceability of data. Furthermore, the authenticity and integrity of the data are assured. The primary aspects include data distribution, data operation and data sharing, which correspond to the data reception, data algorithm processing and result sharing of data operation in the SKA. With this process, the integrity, reliability and authenticity of the data are guaranteed. Additionally, smart contracts, homomorphic hashing, secure containers, aggregate signatures and one-way encrypted channels are implemented to ensure the intelligence, security and high performance of the process.
Generalized trapezium-type inequalities in the settings of fractal sets for functions having generalized convexity property
Authors: Khan Zareen A. , Rashid Saima , Ashraf Rehana , Baleanu Dumitru , Chu Yu-Ming 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn the paper, we extend some previous results dealing with the Hermite–Hadamard inequalities with fractal sets and several auxiliary results that vary with local fractional derivatives introduced in the recent literature. We provide new generalizations for the third-order differentiability by employing the local fractional technique for functions whose local fractional derivatives in the absolute values are generalized convex and obtain several bounds and new results applicable to convex functions by using the generalized Hölder and power-mean inequalities.As an application, numerous novel cases can be obtained from our outcomes. To ensure the feasibility of the proposed method, we present two examples to verify the method. It should be pointed out that the investigation of our findings in fractal analysis and inequality theory is vital to our perception of the real world since they are more realistic models of natural and man-made phenomena.
Malaria elimination in Malaysia and the rising threat of Plasmodium knowlesi
Authors: Chin Abraham Zefong , Maluda Marilyn Charlene Montini , Jelip Jenarun , Jeffree Muhammad Saffree Bin , Culleton Richard , Ahmed Kamruddin 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBackgroundMalaria is a major public-health problem, with over 40% of the world’s population (more than 3.3 billion people) at risk from the disease. Malaysia has committed to eliminate indigenous human malaria transmission by 2020. The objective of this descriptive study is to understand the epidemiology of malaria in Malaysia from 2000 through 2018 and to highlight the threat posed by zoonotic malaria to the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan.MethodsMalaria is a notifiable infection in Malaysia. The data used in this study were extracted from the Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia, contributed by the hospitals and health clinics throughout Malaysia. The population data used in this study was extracted from the Department of Statistics Malaysia. Data analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel. Data used for mapping are available at EPSG:4326 WGS84 CRS (Coordinate Reference System). Shapefile was obtained from igismap. Mapping and plotting of the map were performed using QGIS.ResultsBetween 2000 and 2007, human malaria contributed 100% of reported malaria and 18–46 deaths per year in Malaysia. Between 2008 and 2017, indigenous malaria cases decreased from 6071 to 85 (98.6% reduction), while during the same period, zoonoticPlasmodium knowlesicases increased from 376 to 3614 cases (an 861% increase). The year 2018 marked the first year that Malaysia did not report any indigenous cases of malaria caused by human malaria parasites. However, there was an increasing trend ofP. knowlesicases, with a total of 4131 cases reported in that year. Although the increased incidence ofP. knowlesicases can be attributed to various factors including improved diagnostic capacity, reduction in human malaria cases, and increase in awareness ofP. knowlesi, more than 50% ofP. knowlesicases were associated with agriculture and plantation activities, with a large remainder proportion linked to forest-related activities.ConclusionsMalaysia has entered the elimination phase of malaria control. Zoonotic malaria, however, is increasing exponentially and becoming a significant public health problem. Improved inter-sectoral collaboration is required in order to develop a more integrated effort to control zoonotic malaria. Local political commitment and the provision of technical support from the World Health Organization will help to create focused and concerted efforts towards ensuring the success of the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan.
Low-frequency oscillations of finger skin blood flow during the initial stage of cold-induced vasodilation at different air temperatures
Authors: Sera Toshihiro , Kohno Taiki , Nakashima Yusuke , Uesugi Musashi , Kudo Susumu 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
Background
Cold-induced vasodilation (CIVD) is known to be influenced by the ambient temperature. Frequency analysis of blood flow provides information on physiological regulation of the cardiovascular system, such as myogenic, neurogenic, endothelial nitric oxide (NO) dependent, and NO-independent activities. In this study, we hypothesized that the major origin of CIVD occurs prior to the CIVD event and investigated finger skin blood flow during the initial stage of CIVD at different ambient temperatures using frequency analysis.

Methods
Eighteen healthy volunteers immersed their fingers in 5 °C water at air temperatures of 20 °C and 25 °C. Finger skin blood flow was measured using laser Doppler flowmetry and analyzed using Morlet mother wavelet. We defined the time when the rate of blood flow increased dramatically as the onset of CIVD, and defined three phases as the periods from the onset of cooling to minimum blood flow (vasoconstriction), from minimum blood flow to the onset of CIVD (prior to CIVD), and from the onset of CIVD to maximum blood flow (CIVD).

Results
The increment ratio of blood flow at CIVD was significantly higher at 20 °C air temperature. In particular, at 20 °C air temperature, arteriovenous anastomoses (AVAs) might be closed at baseline, as finger skin temperature was much lower than at 25 °C air temperature, and endothelial NO-independent activity was significantly higher and neurogenic activity significantly lower during vasoconstriction than at baseline. Additionally, the differences in both activities between vasoconstriction and prior to CIVD were significant. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in endothelial NO-dependent activity between baseline and all phases at both air temperatures.

Conclusions
Our results indicated that the increase of endothelial NO-independent activity and the decrease of neurogenic activity may contribute to the high increment ratio of blood flow at CIVD at 20 °C air temperature.
Neuroglia infection by rabies virus after anterograde virus spread in peripheral neurons
Authors: Potratz Madlin , Zaeck Luca M. , Weigel Carlotta , Klein Antonia , Freuling Conrad M. , Müller Thomas , Finke Stefan 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe highly neurotropic rabies virus (RABV) enters peripheral neurons at axon termini and requires long distance axonal transport and trans-synaptic spread between neurons for the infection of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent 3D imaging of field RABV-infected brains revealed a remarkably high proportion of infected astroglia, indicating that highly virulent field viruses are able to suppress astrocyte-mediated innate immune responses and virus elimination pathways. While fundamental for CNS invasion, in vivo field RABV spread and tropism in peripheral tissues is understudied. Here, we used three-dimensional light sheet and confocal laser scanning microscopy to investigate the in vivo distribution patterns of a field RABV clone in cleared high-volume tissue samples after infection via a natural (intramuscular; hind leg) and an artificial (intracranial) inoculation route. Immunostaining of virus and host markers provided a comprehensive overview of RABV infection in the CNS and peripheral nerves after centripetal and centrifugal virus spread. Importantly, we identified non-neuronal, axon-ensheathing neuroglia (Schwann cells, SCs) in peripheral nerves of the hind leg and facial regions as a target cell population of field RABV. This suggests that virus release from axons and infected SCs is part of the RABV in vivo cycle and may affect RABV-related demyelination of peripheral neurons and local innate immune responses. Detection of RABV in axon-surrounding myelinating SCs after i.c. infection further provided evidence for anterograde spread of RABV, highlighting that RABV axonal transport and spread of infectious virus in peripheral nerves is not exclusively retrograde. Our data support a new model in which, comparable to CNS neuroglia, SC infection in peripheral nerves suppresses glia-mediated innate immunity and delays antiviral host responses required for successful transport from the peripheral infection sites to the brain.
Big data actionable intelligence architecture
Authors: Ma Tian J. , Garcia Rudy J. , Danford Forest , Patrizi Laura , Galasso Jennifer , Loyd Jason 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe amount of data produced by sensors, social and digital media, and Internet of Things (IoTs) are rapidly increasing each day. Decision makers often need to sift through a sea of Big Data to utilize information from a variety of sources in order to determine a course of action. This can be a very difficult and time-consuming task. For each data source encountered, the information can be redundant, conflicting, and/or incomplete. For near-real-time application, there is insufficient time for a human to interpret all the information from different sources. In this project, we have developed a near-real-time, data-agnostic, software architecture that is capable of using several disparate sources to autonomously generate Actionable Intelligence with a human in the loop. We demonstrated our solution through a traffic prediction exemplar problem.
From anaerobic to aerobic treatment: upcycling of digestate as a moisturizing agent for in-vessel composting process
Authors: Chaher Nour El Houda , Hemidat Safwat , Chakchouk Mehrez , Nassour Abdallah , Hamdi Moktar , Nelles Michael 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn Tunisia, there are crucial challenges facing both urban and rural areas, the most prominent of which are the production of organic waste, the need for waste treatment, the demand for water and energy and the need for a circular economy. To this end, the study was designed to develop a technical concept on closed cycle ‘biowaste to bioenergy’ treating, basically food waste (FW) through combined biological processes. In this approach, the generated digestate from FW anaerobic reactors was used successfully as a moisturizing agent for FW in-vessel composting. Four types of digestate were examined to be used as moisturizing agent (MA). The selection of the appropriate MA was achieved based on technical criteria; moisture content (MC), C:N ratio and heavy metals concentrations. The findings showed that the digestate obtained from anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and wheat straw (D1) was the most efficient AD-effluent to be added. In terms of composting process performance, the thermophilic phase of the amended reactor (A1) lasted 16 days and reached higher temperatures of about 72 °C, while the unamended one (A1) was characterized by a thermophilic temperature of around 66 °C indicating that the end products were of a pathogen-free compost. When it comes to the physico-chemical factors examined demonstrating that the biological conditions were sufficiently developed. The findings showed overall decreasing profiles during the composting period for moisture, C:N ratio as well as nitrification index (NI). From the quality-point of view, it was found that heavy metal concentrations had lower limits than those values set by German standards. Moreover, all the compost samples appeared to be stable and classified as class IV and V end product.
FLAIR hyperintensity along the brainstem surface in leptomeningeal metastases: a case series and literature review
Authors: Mitsuya Koichi , Nakasu Yoko , Deguchi Shoichi , Shirata Kensei , Asakura Koiku , Nakashima Kazuaki , Endo Masahiro , Takahashi Toshiaki , Hayashi Nakamasa 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
Background
The incidence of leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) is underestimated because of its non-specific signs and the low sensitivity of clinical diagnostic modalities. Cerebrospinal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with and without contrast enhancement (CE) is a gold standard for the neuroradiological assessment of patients with suspected LM. Previous studies suggested that some LM cases show changes of the brainstem surface on non-contrast MR images without or before the appearance of abnormalities on CE images. We assessed the features of this non-contrast MR finding in a cohort of LM patients in this retrospective single-institution study.

Methods
We reviewed head MR images and clinical data of 142 consecutive patients in whom the final diagnosis was LM.

Results
We found that 11 of these 142 patients (7.7%) with LM had band-like hyperintensity on the brainstem surface on non-enhanced FLAIR images, which looked like bloomy rind on cheese. Three of seven patients who were examined using diffusion-weighted imaging showed restricted diffusion in the corresponding lesion site. The above-mentioned 11 patients included 10 women and 1 man, with a median age of 61 years. All 11 patients had primary lung adenocarcinoma. Seven patients had symptomatic hydrocephalus. Ten patients had EGFR-mutated and one had ALK-rearrangement adenocarcinomas. Before the diagnosis of LM, 10 patients had undergone systemic therapy with EGFR-TKI or pemetrexed, and 1 patient with ALK inhibitor and bevacizumab.

Conclusions
We present a series of patients with bloomy rind sign that is non-enhancing LM reliably detected by FLAIR hyperintensity on the brainstem surface. This finding is rare, but may reflect the spread of cancer cells in both the leptomeningeal membrane and the surface of the brain parenchyma specifically in patients with lung adenocarcinomas. Further study is needed to determine the clinical significance of this sign, and the pathophysiological factors associated with it may be clarified by analyzing serial MR images in a larger cohort of patients treated for LM.
Assessment of population-based input functions for Patlak imaging of whole body dynamic 18F-FDG PET
Authors: Naganawa Mika , Gallezot Jean-Dominique , Shah Vijay , Mulnix Tim , Young Colin , Dias Mark , Chen Ming-Kai , Smith Anne M. , Carson Richard E. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBackgroundArterial blood sampling is the gold standard method to obtain the arterial input function (AIF) for quantification of whole body (WB) dynamic18F-FDG PET imaging. However, this procedure is invasive and not typically available in clinical environments. As an alternative, we compared AIFs to population-based input functions (PBIFs) using two normalization methods: area under the curve (AUC) and extrapolated initial plasma concentration (CP*(0)). To scale the PBIFs, we tested two methods: (1) the AUC of the image-derived input function (IDIF) and (2) the estimatedCP*(0). The aim of this study was to validate IDIF and PBIF for FDG oncological WB PET studies by comparing to the gold standard arterial blood sampling.MethodsThe Feng18F-FDG plasma concentration model was applied to estimate AIF parameters (n= 23). AIF normalization used either AUC(0–60 min) orCP*(0), estimated from an exponential fit.CP*(0) is also described as the ratio of the injected dose (ID) to initial distribution volume (iDV).iDVwas modeled using the subject height and weight, with coefficients that were estimated in 23 subjects. In 12 oncological patients, we computed IDIF (from the aorta) and PBIFs with scaling by the AUC of the IDIF from 4 time windows (15–45, 30–60, 45–75, 60–90 min) (PBIFAUC) and estimatedCP*(0) (PBIFiDV). The IDIF and PBIFs were compared with the gold standard AIF, using AUC values and PatlakKivalues.ResultsThe IDIF underestimated the AIF at early times and overestimated it at later times. Thus, based on the AUC andKicomparison, 30–60 min was the most accurate time window for PBIFAUC; later time windows for scaling underestimatedKi(− 6 ± 8 to − 13 ± 9%). Correlations of AUC between AIF and IDIF, PBIFAUC(30–60), and PBIFiDVwere 0.91, 0.94, and 0.90, respectively. The bias ofKiwas − 9 ± 10%, − 1 ± 8%, and 3 ± 9%, respectively.ConclusionsBoth PBIF scaling methods provided good mean performance with moderate variation. Improved performance can be obtained by refining IDIF methods and by evaluating PBIFs with test-retest data.