bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ethical framework for head and neck cancer care impacted by COVID‐19
Authors: Shuman Andrew G. , Campbell Bruce H. ,   AHNS Ethics & Professionalism Service
Published: April 2020

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic has upended head and neck cancer care delivery in ways unforeseen and unprecedented. The impact of these changes parallels other fields in oncology, but is disproportionate due to protective measures and limitations on potentially aerosolizing procedures and related interventions specific to the upper aerodigestive tract. The moral and professional dimensions of providing ethically appropriate and consistent care for our patients in the COVID‐19 crisis are considered herein for head and neck oncology providers.
Should we wait or not? The preferable option for patients with stage IV oral cancer in COVID‐19 pandemic
Authors: Bhattacharjee Atanu , Patil Vijay M. , Dikshit Rajesh , Prabhash Kumar , Singh Arjun , Chaturvedi Pankaj 
Published: April 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe coronavirus infection is rapidly spreading, putting a strain on health care services across the globe. Patients with oral cancer are susceptible often immunosuppressed due to the disease and/or the treatment received.MethodsWe performed a simulation of the currently available data using a multistate and hazards model to provide an objective model for counseling and decision making for health care workers.ResultsStage IV patients with oral cancer who did not receive treatment had progression of disease and an increased mortality rate compared to patients who receive treatment but did not contract COVID‐19. The patients who received treatment and got affected with COVID‐19 had a far worse impact and higher mortality rate than all other groups.ConclusionIsolation and deferring treatment for stage IV patients with oral cancer, so as to avoid hospital visits and contraction of COVID‐19, is an advisable strategy based on this model.
Drainage water reuse in the Nile Delta of Egypt: Fitting density functions and assessing temporal trends*
Authors: Shaban M. 
Published: April 2020

AbstractThis study attempts to investigate the variability in the current drainage water reuse pattern in terms of discharges (DWR (MCM) and their corresponding salinities (DWR (TDS mg l¯¹)) recorded since 1984 in the Nile Delta regions (Case I). In addition, the expected future DWR (DWR_E) patterns were simulated, taking into account the expected future reuse expansion projects (Case II). For Case I, basic descriptive statistics as well as non‐parametric assessment for monotonous trends were employed to characterize the structure of the DWR discharge and salinity data sets. Also, best probability density functions (PDFs) were fitted as smoothed adaptations to predict the occurrence probability in a certain interval. These analyses were repeated (excluding trend assessment) for aggregated discharge and salinity data simulating the possible future DWR patterns (Case II). The results indicate that DWR discharge and salinity series had increasing trends except the DWR salinity measured in the Western Nile Delta region that showed an insignificant decreasing trend. The results also show that there is a potential for increasing the mean DWR discharges up to 101, 32.6 and 282% for the Eastern, Middle and Western Delta regions, respectively. This will be accompanied with DWR salinity increases up to 39.5, 11.4 and 46.1%, respectively. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Improvement of digital PCR conditions for direct detection of KRAS mutations
Authors: Lee Jina , Kim Ji Hyun , Kang Sun Hyung , Yoo Hee Min 
Published: April 2020

AbstractBackgroundIn standard analytical conditions, an isolation step is essential for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis. The necessity of this step becomes unclear with the development of highly sensitive detection methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate ctDNA mimetic nDNA detection as reference materials (RMs) using dPCR technologies either directly from serum or without serum.MethodsTo determine an absolute count of both mutation and wild‐type bearing DNA molecules, genomic DNA (gDNA) and nucleosomal DNA (nDNA), which are similar in size to cell‐free DNA, were evaluated. We tested 3 KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer cell lines.ResultsWe describe the recent progress in RMs. The short DNA fragments, such as sDNA and nDNA, exhibited higher quantitative values of dPCR compared to gDNA. The efficiency between Atlantis dsDNase (AD) and Micrococcal Nuclease (MN) affects DNA quantification. Moreover, there was a significant difference in dPCR output when spiking gDNA or nDNA containing KRAS mutations into FBS compared to the dPCR output under non‐FBS conditions.ConclusionThe matrix effect crucially affects the accuracy of gDNA and nDNA level estimation in the direct detection of mimic of patient samples. The form of reference material we proposed should be optimized for various conditions to develop reference materials that can accurately measure copy number and verify the detection of KRAS mutations in the matrix.
Sociodemographic, sexual, and reproductive variables associated with pregnancy among adolescents from low socioeconomic background
Authors: Canavarro Maria Cristina , Silva Neuza , Diniz Eva , Pereira Marco , Koller Sílvia H. , Pires Raquel 
Published: April 2020

AbstractAdolescent pregnancy remains a public health concern in both developed and developing countries. Portugal and Brazil represent some of the best examples of this phenomenon. The present study aimed to identify sociodemographic, sexual, and reproductive health‐related variables associated with adolescent pregnancy among students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in both countries. The sample included 984 female adolescents, among whom 215 became pregnant. Living with a partner and lack of information about sex and contraception from the family were the best explicative factors for pregnancy occurrence in both countries. Country‐specific variables were also identified. Our results may contribute to developing global preventive interventions, addressing the school as an ideal setting for primary intervention and considering culture‐specific characteristics of high‐risk populations.
l‐Serine transport in growing and maturing mouse oocytes
Authors: Zhang Han , McClatchie Taylor , Baltz Jay M. 
Published: April 2020

AbstractSerine has roles in cell metabolism besides protein synthesis including providing one‐carbon units to the folate cycle. Since growing mouse oocytes undergo a burst of folate accumulation as they near full size, we have investigated whether oocytes transport serine. Substantial serine transport appeared in oocytes near the end of their growth. Serine transport continued when oocytes resumed meiosis but ceased partway through first meiotic metaphase, remaining quiescent in mature eggs in second meiotic metaphase. The serine transporter was sodium dependent and inhibited by alanine, cysteine, leucine, or histidine, and had a Michaelis–Menten constant (Km) for serine of 200 µM. Unexpectedly, exposing cumulus cell‐enclosed oocytes to the physiological mediator of meiotic arrest, natriuretic peptide precursor Type C, substantially stimulated serine transport by the enclosed oocyte. Finally, in addition to transport by the oocyte itself, cumulus cells also supply serine to the enclosed oocyte via gap junctions within intact cumulus–oocyte complexes.
SIRT3 deficiency is resistant to autophagy‐dependent ferroptosis by inhibiting the AMPK/mTOR pathway and promoting GPX4 levels
Authors: Han Dandan , Jiang Lili , Gu Xiaolong , Huang Shimeng , Pang Jiaman , Wu Yujun , Yin Jingdong , Wang Junjun 
Published: April 2020

AbstractFerroptosis, an autophagy‐dependent cell death, is characterized by lipid peroxidation and iron accumulation, closely associated with pathogenesis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) has positive regulation on phosphorylation of activated protein kinase (AMPK), related to maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis. However, whether SIRT3 can confer autophagy by activating the AMPK‐mTOR pathway and consequently promote induction of ferroptosis is unknown. We used human trophoblastic cell line HTR8/SVneo and porcine trophoblastic cell line pTr2 to deterimine the mechanism of SIRT3 on autophagy and ferroptosis. The expression of SIRT3 protein was significantly elevated in trophoblastic cells exposed to high concentrations of glucose and ferroptosis‐inducing compounds. Increased SIRT3 expression contributed to classical ferroptotic events and autophagy activation, whereas SIRT3 silencing led to resistance against both ferroptosis and autophagy. In addition, autophagy inhibition impaired SIRT3‐enhanced ferroptosis. On the contrary, autophagy induction had a synergistic effect with SIRT3. Based on mechanistic investigations, SIRT3 depletion inhibited activation of the AMPK‐mTOR pathway and enhanced glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) level, thereby suppressing autophagy and ferroptosis. Furthermore, depletion of AMPK blocked induction of ferroptosis in trophoblasts. We concluded that upregulated SIRT3‐enhanced autophagy activation by promoting AMPK‐mTOR pathway and decreasing GPX4 level to induce ferroptosis in trophoblastic cells. SIRT3 deficiency was resistant to high glucose‐ and erastin‐induced autophagy‐dependent ferroptosis and is, therefore, a potential therapeutic approach for treating GDM.
Do Microcredit Loans Do What They Are Intended To Do? A Case Study of the Credit Village Microcredit Programme in China
Authors: Jiang Meishan , Paudel Krishna P. , Zou Fan 
Published: April 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to assess if the credit village is an effective way to develop a microcredit programme in China from the perspective of poverty reduction policy and risk monitoring. Cross‐sectional household survey data from three credit villages in the Yunan County of China are analysed using 3SLS and IV probit models. The major finding is that the credit village loosens credit restrictions to some extent. However, it has no impact on educational expenditures, medical expenditures, long‐term assets, short‐term assets and women's rights. It is our observation that the microcredit programme in China needs more innovation to become effective. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Understanding epidemic data and statistics: A case study of COVID‐19
Authors: Hoseinpour Dehkordi Amirhoshang , Alizadeh Majid , Derakhshan Pegah , Babazadeh Peyman , Jahandideh Arash 
Published: April 2020

AbstractThe 2019 novel‐coronavirus (COVID‐19) has affected 181 countries with approximately 1197405 confirmed cases (by 5th April). Understanding the transmission dynamics of the infection in each country which got affected on a daily basis and evaluating the effectiveness of control policies are critical for our further actions. To date, the statistics of COVID‐19 reported cases show that more than 80% of infected are mild cases of disease, around 14% of infected have severe complications, and about 5% are categorized as critical disease victims. Today's report (5th April 2020; daily updates in the prepared website) shows that the confirmed cases of COVID‐19 in the United States, Spain, Italy, and Germany are 308850, 126168, 124632, and 96092, respectively. Calculating the total case fatality rate (CFR) of Italy (4th April 2020), about 13.3% of confirmed cases have passed away. Compared with South Korea's rate of 1.8% (seven times lower than Italy) and China's 4% (69% lower than Italy), the CFR of Italy is too high. Some effective policies that yielded significant changes in the trend of cases were the lockdown policy in China, Italy, and Spain (the effect observed after some days), the shutdown of all nonessential companies in Hubei (the effect observed after 5 days), combined policy in South Korea, and reducing working hours in Iran.
Asymptomatic COVID‐19 infection in late pregnancy indicated no vertical transmission
Authors: Lu Dawei , Sang Lin , Du Shihua , Li Tao , Chang Yange , Yang Xiu‐An 
Published: April 2020

AbstractThis study is to investigate the clinical characteristics of late pregnancy with asymptomatic 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) infection, evaluate the outcome of maternal and fetal prognosis, and identify the evidence of intrauterine vertical transmission. A 22‐years‐old pregnant woman with asymptomatic COVID‐19 infection who was admitted to our hospital on 11 February 2020 was enrolled in this study. Clinical data including laboratory test results and chest computed tomography (CT) scanning were collected and reviewed. Diagnosis of late pregnancy with asymptomatic COVID‐19 infection was made. Lumbar anesthesia for cesarean section was performed and a female baby was delivered uneventfully, with the Apgar score of 9 to 10 points. Three times of COVID‐19 nucleic acid test for the baby was negative after delivery. The puerpera returned to normal after the operation and two times of throat swab COVID‐19 nucleic acid test were all negative after antiviral therapy. We reported an asymptomatic COVID‐19 pregnant woman with detailed clinical information and our result indicated that for late pregnant women with asymptomatic COVID‐19 infection, there might be no intrauterine infection caused by vertical transmission.
Characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) confirmed using an IgM‐IgG antibody test
Authors: Xie Jiajia , Ding Chengchao , Li Jing , Wang Yulan , Guo Hui , Lu Zhaohui , Wang Jinquan , Zheng Changcheng , Jin Tengchuan , Gao Yong , He Hongliang 
Published: April 2020

AbstractCoronavirus disease (COVID‐19), caused by a novel betacoronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), has rapidly developed into a pandemic since it was first reported in December 2019. Nucleic acid testing is the standard method for the diagnosis of viral infections. However, this method reportedly has a low positivity rate. To increase the sensitivity of COVID‐19 diagnoses, we developed an IgM‐IgG combined assay and tested it in patients with suspected SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. In total, 56 patients were enrolled in this study and SARS‐CoV‐2 was detected by using both IgM‐IgG antibody and nucleic acid tests. Clinical and laboratory data were collected and analyzed. Our findings suggest that patients who develop severe illness might experience longer virus exposure times and develop a more severe inflammatory response. The IgM‐IgG test is an accurate and sensitive diagnostic method. A combination of nucleic acid and IgM‐IgG testing is a more sensitive and accurate approach for diagnosis and early treatment of COVID‐19.
Strong policies control the spread of COVID‐19 in China
Authors: Li Bao‐Zhu , Cao Nv‐Wei , Zhou Hao‐Yue , Chu Xiu‐Jie , Ye Dong‐Qing 
Published: April 2020

AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) outbroke in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, affecting more than 200 countries and regions. This study aimed to predict the development of the epidemic with specific interventional policies applied in China and evaluate their effectiveness. COVID‐19 data of Hubei Province and the next five most affected provinces were collected from daily case reports of COVID‐19 on the Health Committee official website of these provinces. The number of current cases, defined as the number of confirmed cases minus the number of cured cases and those who have died, were examined in this study. A modified susceptible‐exposed‐infectious‐removed (SEIR) model was used to assess the effects of interventional policies on the epidemic. In this study, 28 January was day 0 of the model. The results of the modified SEIR model showed that the number of current cases in Hubei and Zhejiang provinces tended to be stabilized after 70 days and after 60 days in the four other provinces. The predicted number of current cases without policy intervention was shown to far exceed that with policy intervention. The estimated number of COVID‐19 cases in Hubei Province with policy intervention was predicted to peak at 51 222, whereas that without policy intervention was predicted to reach 157 721. Based on the results of the model, strong interventional policies were found to be vital components of epidemic control. Applying such policies is likely to shorten the duration of the epidemic and reduce the number of new cases.
Persistent viral RNA positivity during the recovery period of a patient with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection
Authors: Yang Jian‐Rong , Deng Dao‐Ting , Wu Nan , Yang Bin , Li Hong‐Juan , Pan Xiao‐Ben 
Published: April 2020

AbstractAs an emerging infectious disease, the clinical course and virological course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection remain to be further investigated. In this case report, we described a case of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection with the clinical course for more than 2 months. This patient had recovered from pneumonia after treatment. The viral RNA of throat swabs became negative and the viral‐specific antibodies were produced during the recovery period. However, the viral RNA reappeared and additionally persisted in throat swabs for more than 40 days. In addition, the viral RNA was detected in multiple types of specimens with extremely high titers in the saliva. In conclusion, these findings indicate that SARS‐CoV‐2 can cause a long clinical course. The coexistence of viral RNA and viral‐specific antibodies may imply an immune evasion of SARS‐CoV‐2 from the host's immune system.
Cognitive spectroscopy for evaluating Chinese black tea grades (Camellia sinensis): near‐infrared spectroscopy and evolutionary algorithms
Authors: Ren Guangxin , Sun Yemei , Li Menghui , Ning Jingming , Zhang Zhengzhu 
Published: April 2020

AbstractBACKGROUNDGrading represents an essential criterion for the quality assurance of black tea. The main objectives of the study were to develop a highly robust model for Chinese black tea of seven grades based on cognitive spectroscopy.RESULTSCognitive spectroscopy was proposed to combine near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) with machine learning and evolutionary algorithms, selected feature information from complex spectral data and show the best results without human intervention. The NIRS measuring system was used to obtain the spectra of Chinese black tea samples of seven grades. The spectra acquired were preprocessed by standard normal variate transformation (SNV), multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) and minimum/maximum normalization (MIN/MAX), and the optimal pretreating method was implemented using principal component analysis combined with linear discriminant analysis algorithm. Three feature selection evolutionary algorithms, which were a genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), were compared to search the best preprocessed characteristic wavelengths. Cognitive models of Chinese black tea ranks were constructed using extreme learning machine (ELM), K‐nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machine (SVM) methods based on the selected characteristic variables. Experimental results revealed that the PSO–SVM model showed the best predictive performance with the correlation coefficients of prediction set (Rp) of 0.9838, the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.0246, and the correct discriminant rate (CDR) of 98.70%. The extracted feature wavelengths were only occupying 0.18% of the origin.CONCLUSIONThe overall results demonstrated that cognitive spectroscopy could be utilized as a rapid strategy to identify Chinese black tea grades. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry
Hydrological evaluation of hourly merged satellite–station precipitation product in the mountainous basin of China using a distributed hydrological model
Authors: Zhu Dehua , Wang Gaoxu , Ren Qiwei , Ilyas Abro M. 
Published: April 2020

AbstractOver the past two decades, various satellite‐based precipitation products have been released to provide uninterrupted time‐series precipitation with quasi‐global coverage. The latest Chinese merged satellite–gauge (CMS) rainfall product developed by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) may reduce the errors in near real time by combining the Climate Prediction Centre's (CPC) morphing algorithm (CMORPH) rainfall estimates with over 30,000 weather station measurements, which therefore offer a potential alternative or supplement to ground‐based rainfall estimates for hydrometeorological applications in sparsely gauged or ungauged basins. In the present study, the characteristics of the CMS precipitation product were comprehensively evaluated for the period 2008–2012 over Danjiangkou basin, central China, and used to drive the Liuxihe (LXH)‐distributed hydrological model for detailed streamflow simulations. The results show that most of the small–median rainfall with an intensity < 25 mm·day–1 can be well captured by the CMS, and the simulated streamflow had relatively better agreement with observations for peak flow in the lower part of the basin. However, the total water amount was 15.7% less than the streamflow driven by rain gauges, on average. In addition, the depths of surface flow and groundwater forced by the CMS rainfall were 22.05% and 21.10% less than rain gauge, respectively. Overall, the study provides new insight into and experience of the hydrological applicability of the high spatiotemporal‐resolution satellite–gauge rainfall product for driving a distributed hydrological model at a daily resolution. This product has the potential to be an alternative data source for data‐sparse or ungauged basins for water resource management and hydrological simulation/prediction purposes.
Ensemble U‐net‐based method for fully automated detection and segmentation of renal masses on computed tomography images
Authors: Fatemeh Zabihollahy , Nicola Schieda , Satheesh Krishna , Eranga Ukwatta 
Published: April 2020

PurposeDetection and accurate localization of renal masses (RM) are important steps toward future potential classification of benign vs malignant RM. A fully automated algorithm for detection and localization of RM may eliminate the observer variability in the clinical workflow.MethodIn this paper, we describe a fully automated methodology for accurate detection and segmentation of RM from contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (CECT) images. We first determine the boundaries of the kidneys on the CECT images utilizing a convolutional neural network‐based method to be used as a region of interest to search for RM. We then employ a homogenous U‐Net‐based ensemble learning model to identify and delineate RM. We used an institutional dataset comprised of CECT images in 315 patients to train and evaluate the proposed method. We compared results of our method to those of three‐dimensional (3D) U‐Net for RM localization and further evaluated our algorithm using the kidney tumor segmentation (KiTS19) challenge dataset.ResultsThe developed algorithm reported a Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 95.79% ± 5.16% and 96.25 ± 3.37 (mean ± standard deviation) for segmentation accuracy of kidney boundary from 125 and 60 test images from institutional and KiTS19 datasets, respectively. Using our method, RM were detected in 125 and 52 test cases, which corresponds to 100% and 86.67% sensitivity at patient level in institutional and KiTS19 test images. Our ensemble method for RM localization yielded a mean DSC of 88.65% ± 7.31% and 87.91% ± 6.82% on the institutional and KiTS19 test datasets, respectively. The mean DSC for RM delineation from CECT institutional test images using 3D U‐Net was 85.95% ± 1.46%.ConclusionWe describe a method for automated localization of RM using CECT images. Our results are important in terms of clinical perspective as fully automated detection of RM is a fundamental step for further diagnosis of cystic vs solid RM and eventually benign vs malignant solid RM, that has not been reported previously.