bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Early clinical characteristics of Covid-19: scoping review
Authors: Manoharan Lakshmi , Cattrall Jonathan W S , Harris Carlyn , Newell Katherine , Thomson Blake , Pritchard Mark G , Bannister Peter G , Solomon Tom , Horby Peter W , Sigfrid Louise , Carson Gail , Olliaro Piero 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe Coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic has spread rapidly across the globe. Accurate clinical characterisation studies conducted early in the pandemic are essential to informing research, diagnosis and clinical management efforts. In this scoping review we identify the clinical characteristics of patients admitted to hospital in the early months of the pandemic, focusing on symptoms, laboratory and imaging findings, and clinical outcomes.MethodsA scoping review. MEDLINE, EMBASE and Global Health databases were searched for studies published from January 1st2020 to April 28th2020. Studies which reported on at least 100 hospitalised patients with covid-19 of any age were included.ResultsOf 1,249 studies identified through the search 78 studies were eligible for inclusion; one randomized control trial and 77 observational studies presenting data on 77,443 patients admitted with covid-19. Most studies were conducted in China (82%), 9% in the US and 10% in Europe and two studies were set in more than one country. No studies included patients from low and middle income countries. Coagulopathy was underrecognised as a complication in the early months of the pandemic. Use of corticosteroids varied widely, and the use of anticoagulants was reported in only one study. Fever, cough and dyspnoea are less common in older adults; gastrointestinal symptoms, as the only presenting feature was underrecognised. The most common laboratory finding was lymphocytopenia. Inflammatory biomarkers were commonly elevated, including C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. Typical computed tomography findings include bilateral infiltrates however imaging may be normal in early disease. Data on clinical characteristics in children and vulnerable populations were limited.ConclusionsClinical characterisation studies from early in the pandemic indicated that covid-19 is a multisystem disease, with biomarkers indicating inflammation and coagulopathy. However, early data collection on symptoms and clinical outcomes did not consistently reflect this wide spectrum. Corticosteroid use varied widely, and anticoagulants were rarely used. Clinicians should remain vigilant to the possibility of covid-19 in patients presenting without fever, cough and dyspnoea, particularly in older adults. Further characterisation studies in different at-risk populations is needed.Review registrationAvailable athttps://osf.io/r2ch9
High prevalence of food insecurity, the adverse impact of COVID-19 in Brazilian favela
Authors: Manfrinato Catarina Vezetiv , Marino Aluízio , Condé Vitória Ferreira , Pinho Franco Maria do Carmo , Stedefeldt Elke , Tomita Luciana Yuki 
Published: August 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate food insecurity prevalence in two favelas in Brazil in the early weeks from physical distancing policy, between March 27, 2020 to June 1, 2020.DesignA cross-sectional study using online questionnaire to elicit information on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, the types of stores visited to buy food and food insecurity screening. Experience of food insecurity was collected according to the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. Factors associated with moderate or severe food insecurity (EBIA≥3) were investigated using the logistic regression model.SettingSão Paulo city, Brazil.Participants909 householders.Results88% of the households included young women working as cleaners or kitchen assistants and in sales services. One-fifth of the participants were recieving federal cash transfer programme, called Bolsa Família. There were 92% households with children. The most frequent experience reported was uncertainty about food acquisition or receiving more (89%), to eat less than one should (64%), not being able to eat healthy and nutritious food (46%), and skipping a meal (39%). 47% of the participants experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. Factors associated with moderate and severe food insecurity were low income, being Bolsa Família recipient, a low level of education, and households without children.ConclusionsHalf of the participants experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, and close to ten per cent was hungry. Our data suggest that families with children were at lower risk of moderate to severe food insecurity. It is possible that nationally established social programs like Bolsa Família were protecting those families.
Reconciling epidemiological models with misclassified case-counts for SARS-CoV-2 with seroprevalence surveys: A case study in Delhi, India
Authors: Bhattacharyya Rupam , Bhaduri Ritwik , Kundu Ritoban , Salvatore Maxwell , Mukherjee Bhramar 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACTUnderreporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths is a hindrance to correctly modeling and monitoring the pandemic. This is primarily due to limited testing, lack of reporting infrastructure and a large number of asymptomatic infections. In addition, diagnostic tests (RT-PCR tests for detecting current infection) and serological antibody tests for IgG (to assess past infections) are imperfect. In particular, the diagnostic tests have a high false negative rate. Epidemiologic models with a latent compartment for unascertained infections like the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Removed (SEIR) models can provide predictions for unreported cases and deaths under certain assumptions. Typically, the number of unascertained cases is unobserved and thus we cannot validate these estimates for a real study except for simulation studies. Population-based seroprevalence studies can provide a rough estimate of the total number of infections and help us check epidemiologic model projections. In this paper, we develop a method to account for high false negative rates in RT-PCR in an extension to the classic SEIR model. We apply this method to Delhi, the national capital region of India, with a population of 19.8 million and a COVID-19 hotspot of the country, obtaining estimates of underreporting factor for cases at 34-53 times and that for deaths at 8-13 times. Based on a recently released serological survey for Delhi with an estimated 22.86% seroprevalence, we compute adjusted estimates of the true number of infections reported by the survey (after accounting for misclassification of the antibody test results) which is largely consistent with the model outputs, yielding an underreporting factor for cases from 30-42. Together with the model and the serosurvey, this implies approximately 96-98% cases in Delhi remained unreported and whereas only 109,140 cases were reported on July 10, the true number of infections varied somewhere between 4.4-4.6 million across different estimates. While repeated serological monitoring is resource intensive, model-based adjustments, run with the most up to date data, can provide a viable option to keep track of the unreported cases and deaths and gauge the true extent of transmission of this insidious virus.
Sooner than you think: a very early affective reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine in Argentina
Authors: Torrente F. , Yoris A. , Low D.M. , Lopez P. , Bekinschtein P. , Manes F. , Cetkovich M. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractThe unique circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic pose serious challenges to mood stability and emotional regulation at all ages. Although many people tend to react resiliently to stress, others appear to display emotional anxiety and depression-related symptoms. In this study, we carried out a survey (N = 10,053) during the first week of the general lockdown (quarantine) in Argentina to measure early affective reactions in Argentine adults. Respondents showed substantial anxious and depressive symptoms, with 33 % and 23% of participants reporting possible depressive and anxious syndromes, respectively, with the youngest group (18 to 25 y.o.) showing the highest prevalence of symptoms. Even if prior mental health problems predisposed or aggravated the reaction, participants without prior complaints showed signs of psychological impact. Using linear regression, the most important independent variables related to depressive symptoms was the feeling of loneliness followed by daily stress. In the case of anxious states, the strongest variables were negative repetitive thinking and feeling of loneliness. Other psychological, economic, and social factors are discussed.This study is in line with previous literature that highlight the importance of the psychological impact of pandemics, but additionally demonstrates that these reactions are present at a large scale immediately after the start of quarantine with very low infectious rates as an early anticipatory adaptive reaction leading to potential negative outcomes from adjustment disorders to major disorders. In addition, the present results provide potentially relevant information about sudden environmental impacts on affective states and specific pathways for anxiety and depression to be expressed. We end by discussing implications for public policy based on considering the most vulnerable groups.Key FindingsMore than a third of the studied sample (n = 10,053) showed substantial depressive and anxious symptoms between 5 and 7 days after the start of the national quarantine.33.7% of the sample scored above the PHQ-9 cutoff for possible diagnosis of a depressive disorder and 23.2% for an anxiety disorder.28.6% of the participants showed moderate and severe levels of depressive symptoms and 23.2% showed moderate and severe levels of anxiety.The youngest participants were affected the most by the situation.The most important factor related to depressive symptoms was the feeling of loneliness followed by daily stress.The most important factor related to anxious states was negative repetitive thinking followed by feeling of loneliness.The existence of previous mental health difficulties aggravated the reactions, but even people who had not sought out treatment previously showed signs of psychological impact.
Peritoneal macrophage phenotype correlates with pain scores in women with suspected endometriosis
Authors: Gibson Douglas A , Collins Frances , De Leo Bianca , Horne Andrew W , Saunders Philippa TK 
Published: August 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo characterise peritoneal macrophage populations in women with suspected endometriosis and assess if they are correlated with severity of pelvic pain symptoms.DesignFlow cytometry analysis of peritoneal fluid samples and clinical data.SettingUniversity Research Institute.PatientsClinical questionnaires, surgical data and peritoneal fluid were collected with informed consent from women undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy for suspected endometriosis (n=54).Intervention(s)NoneMain Outcome Measure(s)Severity of pelvic pain symptoms was assessed by the EHP-30 questionnaire. Immune cells recovered from peritoneal fluid were analysed by flow cytometry.ResultsPain scores (pain domain of EHP30) did not differ according to endometriosis diagnosis, stage of endometriosis or whether or not women were receiving hormone treatment. Analysis of immune cells in peritoneal fluid revealed two populations of peritoneal macrophages: CD14highand CD14lowwhich were not altered by menstrual cycle phase or hormone treatment. CD14highperitoneal macrophages were increased in women with endometriosis compared to those without but were not altered by coincident reproductive health issues such as infertility or heavy menstrual bleeding. Peritoneal macrophage phenotype correlated with pelvic pain symptoms in women with suspected endometriosis. Notably, CD14highperitoneal macrophages negatively correlated with pain scores whereas CD14lowperitoneal macrophages were positively correlated. This association was independent of endometriosis diagnosis.ConclusionPeritoneal macrophage phenotypes correlate with pelvic pain symptoms in women with suspected endometriosis and are altered by presence of disease. These results provide new insight into the association between endometriosis pathophysiology and pelvic pain symptoms.
A novel sodium signaling complex regulates uterine activity
Authors: Ferreira Juan J. , Amazu Chinwendu , Puga-Molina Lis C. , Ma Xiaofeng , England Sarah K. , Santi Celia M. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractDepolarization of the myometrial smooth muscle cell (MSMC) resting membrane potential is necessary for the transition of the uterus from a quiescent state to a contractile state. The molecular mechanisms involved in this transition are not completely understood. Here, we report a novel coupled system between the Na+-activated K+channel (SLO2.1) and the non-selective Na+leak channel (NALCN) which determines the MSMC membrane potential. We show that SLO2.1 currents are activated by an inward Na+leak current carried by the NALCN channel leading to MSMC hyperpolarization. These results show an unanticipated role for the Na+leak currents in activating a negative feedback system countering the excitable effects of Na+currents. This is a novel role for the NALCN channel in which Na+acts as an intracellular signaling molecule. In fact, we report here that the net effect of Na+entry through NALCN channels is a hyperpolarization of the MSMCs plasma membrane because of the activation of SLO2.1 K channel. Importantly, we also report that a decrease in NALCN/SLO2.1 activity triggers both Ca2+entries through VDCCs, promoting myometrial contraction. Consistently, with a functional coupling, our data show that NALCN and SLO2.1 are in proximity to one another in human MSMCs. We propose that the spatial arrangement of SLO2.1 and NALCN permits these channels to functionally interact in order to regulate human MSMC membrane potential and cell excitability to modulate uterine contractile activity.
CSPα reduces aggregates and rescues striatal dopamine release in αsynuclein transgenic mice
Authors: Caló L , Hidari E , Wegrzynowicz M , Dalley JW , Schneider BL , Anichtchik O , Carlson E , Klenerman D , Spillantini MG 
Published: August 2020

AbstractαSynuclein aggregation at the synapse is an early event in Parkinson’s disease and is associated with impaired striatal synaptic function and dopaminergic neuronal death. The cysteine string protein (CSPα) and αsynuclein have partially overlapping roles in maintaining synaptic function and mutations in each cause neurodegenerative diseases. CSPα is a member of the DNAJ/HSP40 family of co-chaperones and like αsynuclein, chaperones the SNARE complex assembly and neurotransmitter release. αSynuclein can rescue neurodegeneration in CSPαKO mice. However, whether αsynuclein aggregation alters CSPα expression and function is unknown. Here we show that αsynuclein aggregation at the synapse induces a decrease in synaptic CSPα and a reduction in the complexes that CSPα forms with HSC70 and STGa. We further show that viral delivery of CSPα rescuesin vitrothe impaired vesicle recycling in PC12 cells with αsynuclein aggregates andin vivoreduces synaptic αsynuclein aggregates restoring normal dopamine release in 1-120hαsyn mice. These novel findings reveal a mechanism by which αsynuclein aggregation alters CSPα at the synapse, and show that CSPα rescues αsynuclein aggregation-related phenotype in 1-120hαsyn mice similar to the effect of αsynuclein in CSPαKO mice. These results implicate CSPα as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of early-stage PD.
Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities
Authors: Naniwadekar Rohit , Gopal Abhishek , Page Navendu , Ghuman Sartaj , Ramachandran Vivek , Joshi Jahnavi 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACTEndozoochory, a mutualistic interaction between plants and frugivores, is one of the key processes responsible for maintenance of tropical biodiversity. Islands, which have a smaller subset of plants and frugivores when compared with mainland communities, offer an interesting setting to understand the organization of plant-frugivore communities vis-a-vis the mainland sites. We examined the relative influence of functional traits and phylogenetic relationships on the plant-seed disperser interactions on an island and a mainland site. The island site allowed us to investigate the organization of the plant-seed disperser community in the natural absence of key frugivore groups (bulbuls and barbets) of Asian tropics. The endemic Narcondam Hornbill, was the most abundant frugivore on the island and played a central role in the community. Species strength, a measure of relevance of frugivores for plants, of frugivores was positively associated with their abundance. Among plants, figs had the highest species strength and played a central role in the community. Island-mainland comparison revealed that the island plant-seed disperser community was more asymmetric, connected and nested as compared to the mainland community. Neither phylogenetic relationships or functional traits (after controlling for phylogenetic relationships) were able to explain the patterns of interactions between plants and frugivores on the island or the mainland pointing towards the diffused nature of plant-frugivore interactions. The diffused nature is a likely consequence of plasticity in foraging behavior and trait convergence that contribute to governing the interactions between plants and frugivores.
Uncovering Transcriptional Dark Matter via Gene Annotation Independent Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Analysis
Authors: Wang Michael F.Z. , Mantri Madhav , Chou Shao-Pei , Scuderi Gaetano J. , McKellar David , Butcher Jonathan T. , Danko Charles G. , De Vlaminck Iwijn 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACTSingle-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables the study of cell biology with high resolution. scRNA-seq expression analyses rely on the availability of a high quality annotation of genes in the genome. Yet, as we show here with scRNA-seq experiments and analyses spanning human, mouse, chicken, mole rat, lemur and sea urchin, gene annotations often fail to cover the full transcriptome of every cell type at every stage of development, in particular for organisms that are not routinely studied. To overcome this hurdle, we created a scRNA-seq analysis routine that recovers biologically relevant information beyond the scope of the best available gene annotation. This is achieved by performing single-cell expression analysis on any region in the genome for which transcriptional products are detected. Our routine identifies transcriptionally active regions (TARs) using a hidden Markov model, generates a matrix of expression levels for all TARs across all cells in a dataset, performs single-cell TAR expression analysis to identify TARs that are biologically significant, and then annotates biologically significant TARs using gene homology analysis. This procedure leverages single-cell expression analyses as a filter to direct annotation efforts to biologically significant transcripts in complex tissues and thereby uncovers biology to which scRNA-seq would otherwise be in the dark.
Memory for stimulus duration is not bound to spatial information
Authors: Kruijne Wouter , Olivers Christian N. L. , van Rijn Hedderik 
Published: August 2020

AbstractDifferent theories have been proposed to explain how the human brain derives an accurate sense of time. One specific class of theories, intrinsic clock theories, postulate that temporal information of a stimulus is represented much like other features such as color and location, bound together to form a coherent percept. Here we explored to what extent this holds for temporal information after it has been perceived and is held in working memory for subsequent comparison. We recorded EEG of participants who were asked to time stimuli at lateral positions of the screen followed by comparison stimuli presented in the center. Using well-established markers of working memory maintenance, we investigated whether the usage of temporal information evoked neural signatures that were indicative of the location where the stimuli had been presented, both during maintenance and during comparison. Behavior and neural measures including the contralateral delay activity, lateralized alpha suppression and decoding analyses through time all supported the same conclusion: the representation of location was strongly involved during perception of temporal information, but when temporal information was to be used for comparison it no longer showed a relation to spatial information. These results support a model where the initial perception of a stimulus involves intrinsic computations, but that this information is subsequently translated to a stimulus-independent format to be used to further guide behavior.
Neural effects of placebo analgesia in fibromyalgia patients and healthy individuals
Authors: Frangos Eleni , Ceko Marta , Wang Binquan , Richards Emily A. , Gracely John L. , Colloca Luana , Schweinhardt Petra , Bushnell M. Catherine 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACTPlacebo analgesia is hypothesized to involve top-down engagement of prefrontal regions that access endogenous pain inhibiting opioid pathways. Fibromyalgia (FM) patients have neuroanatomical and neurochemical alterations in pathways relevant to placebo analgesia. Thus, it remains unclear whether placebo analgesic mechanisms would differ in FM patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). Here, using placebo-analgesia-inducing paradigms that included verbal suggestions and conditioning manipulations, we examined whether behavioral and neural placebo analgesic responses differed between 32 FM patients and 46 age- and sex-matched HCs. Participants underwent a manipulation scan, where noxious high and low heat were paired with the control and placebo cream, respectively, and a placebo experimental scan with equal noxious heat temperatures. Before the experimental scan, each participant received saline or naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist. Across all participants, the placebo condition decreased pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings, decreased activity within the right insula and bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex, and modulated the Neurologic Pain Signature. There were no differences between HCs and FM patients in pain intensity ratings or neural responses during the placebo condition. Despite the perceptual and neural effects of the placebo manipulation, prefrontal circuitry was not activated during the expectation period and the placebo analgesia was unaltered by naloxone, suggesting placebo effects were driven more by conditioning than expectation. Together, these findings suggest that placebo analgesia can occur in both HCs and chronic pain FM patients, without the involvement of opiodergic prefrontal modulatory networks.