bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Use of double filtration plasmapheresis for the treatment of acquired thrombocytopenic thrombotic purpura
Authors: Chauvel Femie , Reboul Pascal , Cariou Sylvain , Aglae Cédric , Renaud Sophie , Trusson Rémi , Garo Florian , Ahmadpoor Pedram , Prelipcean Camelia , Pambrun Emilie , Moranne Olivier 
Published: January 2020

AbstractDouble filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP) could be an alternative method to simple plasma exchange plasmapheresis in the treatment of acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (aTTP). In a retrospective single center case series, we studied clinical presentation, management care, and prognosis of aTTP patients from our academic center treated with DFPP and IV infusion of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) between 2009 and 2018. Nine patients were included for 11 episodes. Median age was 38 years old (IQR 26‐53) with 78% women. Six episodes (55%) required admission to the ICU, four of which required mechanical ventilation. Median FFP volume transfused was 35.2 mL/kg/d of session. Response was complete for nine episodes (82%). Four patients presented an early relapse, two a late relapse. Four patients died: one had an active untreated HCV infection, and two were over 80‐year‐old polymorbid patients. DFPP seems to be an efficient method of therapeutic plasmapheresis in TTP when combined with FFP transfusion and immunosuppressive treatments.
A comparison of nonlethal sampling methods for amphibian gut microbiome analyses
Authors: Zhou Jia , Nelson Tiffanie Maree , Rodriguez Lopez Carlos , Sarma Roshmi Rekha , Zhou Shao Jia , Rollins Lee Ann 
Published: January 2020

AbstractNoninvasive sampling methods for studying intestinal microbiomes are widely applied in studies of endangered species and in those conducting temporal monitoring during manipulative experiments. Although existing studies show that noninvasive sampling methods among different taxa vary in their accuracy, no studies have yet been published comparing nonlethal sampling methods in adult amphibians. In this study, we compare microbiomes from two noninvasive sample types (faeces and cloacal swabs) to that of the large intestine in adult cane toads, Rhinella marina. We use 16S rRNA gene sequencing to investigate how microbial communities change along the digestive tract and which nonlethal sampling method better represents large intestinal microbiota. We found that cane toads' intestinal microbiota was dominated by Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes and, interestingly, we also saw a high proportion of Fusobacteria, which has previously been associated with marine species and changes in frog immunity. The large and small intestine of cane toads had a similar microbial composition, but the large intestine showed higher diversity. Our results indicate that cloacal swabs were more similar to large intestine samples than were faecal samples, and small intestine samples were significantly different from both nonlethal sample types. Our study provides valuable information for future investigations of the cane toad gut microbiome and validates the use of cloacal swabs as a nonlethal method to study changes in the large intestine microbiome. These data provide insights for future studies requiring nonlethal sampling of amphibian gut microbiota.
Novel ProCore 25‐gauge needle for endobronchial ultrasound‐guided transbronchial needle aspiration reduces the puncture time and frequency, with comparable diagnostic rate for mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy
Authors: Yang Li , Gu Ye , Wang Hai , Yu Dongmei , Zhang Haiping , Wang Hao 
Published: January 2020

BackgroundThe ProCore 25‐gauge needle is a novel specifically designed puncture needle for endobronchial ultrasound‐guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS‐TBNA), which may improve the puncture efficiency of the procedure while ensuring the diagnostic rate. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy, mRNA yield, and complication rate of 25‐gauge needles compared to those of 22‐gauge needles in the evaluation of mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy.MethodsA total of 39 patients undergoing EBUS‐TBNA at our institution were evaluated. All the procedures were performed by an experienced endoscopist formally trained in interventional pulmonology. Both the traditional 22‐gauge and ProCore 25‐gauge needles were used at each lymph node station. For all specimens obtained via EBUS‐TBNA, 50 μL was used to extract mRNA and detect the RNA concentration, whereas the other part was sent to the pathological evaluation. χ2 test and t‐test were performed to determine the differences between the two types of the needles. A P‐value of <0.05 was considered significant.ResultsA total of 88 lymph nodes were punctured by the two needles separately. The diagnostic accuracy for each puncture between the two needles did not show any significant difference (P > 0.05). No serious procedure‐related complications were reported. In addition, the mRNA concentration did not differ between the two types of needles (P > 0.05).ConclusionThe ProCore 25‐gauge needle gained a similar diagnostic yield with less puncture time and frequency compared with the 22‐gauge needle.
Causes of recurrent miscarriage after spontaneous pregnancy and after in vitro fertilization
Authors: Bilibio João Paolo , Gama Thiago Belém , Nascimento Izabel Cristina Magalhães , Meireles Arivaldo José Conceição , de Aguiar Ariene Simona Cohen , do Nascimento Fábio Costa , Lorenzzoni Pânila Longhi 
Published: January 2020

AbstractProblemWe aimed to investigate the main causes of recurrent miscarriage (RM) in patients with losses after spontaneous gestation (SG) and after in vitro fertilization (IVF).Method of StudyA prospective case‐control study was conducted. The eligible patients were women who had experienced two or more consecutive abortions after <12 weeks’ gestation, two consecutive losses after SG, or two consecutive losses after IVF. All patients were subjected to the following evaluations: karyotyping of the aborted material, alloimmune and autoimmune marker testing, and acquired and hereditary thrombophilia marker testing.ResultsIn total, 58 patients were eligible: 32 patients with RM after SG and 26 patients with RM after IVF. The factors associated with RM were genetic (29%), immune (14%), thrombophilic (21%), and thrombophilic and immune (24%), and only 12% of the cases were idiopathic. Comparing the two study groups (SG and IVF), all studied factors were similar, except for a higher ANA positivity observed in the SG group (SG 30.4% vs IVF 5.3%, OR 8.6 (CI 1.1‐21.1, P .048).ConclusionOur study identified the possibly factors associated with recurrent miscarriage in 86% of the cases, and these factors appear to be similar in patients with recurrent miscarriage after spontaneous gestation and IVF. This study demonstrates that IVF with PGT‐A with euploid embryo transfer could reduce abortions by up to 29%, but other factors need to be investigated even in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization.
Optimization of processing female genital tissue samples for lymphocyte analysis by flow cytometry
Authors: Stoner Kevin A. , Beamer May A. , Avolia Hilary A. , Meyn Leslie A. , Hillier Sharon L. , Achilles Sharon L. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractProblemA variety of methods have been used to process cervical cytobrush and genital tissue for flow cytometric evaluation of immune cell populations. We sought to optimize genital tract specimen processing and to determine if blood could be used as a model for assessment of tissue processing methods.Method of studyCervical cytobrushes, PBMCs, and genital tissue samples (cervical and endometrial biopsies) were subjected to varying processing conditions to characterize the effects on cell yields, lymphocyte viability, and surface receptors. We exposed PBMC and tissue specimens to varied collagenase types, concentrations, and exposure durations and cytobrushes to immediate vs delayed processing with/without vortexing.ResultsPBMCs and tissues exposed to varying enzymatic digestion conditions demonstrated stability of some cell surface receptors, including CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+, while others, including CCR6+, were cleaved when exposed to any concentration of collagenase B, or ≥0.25 mg/mL of collagenase D. We observed increased CD69 expression (marker of cell activation) after exposure to collagenase B. Neither a 2‐hour delay in cytobrush processing nor vortexing at a setting of 50% for 30 seconds had significant impacts on viability or quantities of genital immune cells of interest.ConclusionAlthough tissue digestion with collagenase D was sufficient to recover and analyze cells from endometrial biopsy specimens, cervical biopsy specimens required a limited exposure to collagenase B at 1 mg/mL to optimize cell yield and viability for cytometric analysis. PBMCs can be used as a model to assess the impact of tissue processing on co‐receptor expression and to optimize methods prior to study implementation.
Accompaniment Through Carceral Geographies: Abolitionist Research Partnerships with Indigenous Communities
Authors: Mei‐Singh Laurel 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis article approaches “ea”—a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) concept meaning life, breath, and sovereignty—as a vital mode of abolition ecologies, and proposes accompaniment as a methodology for mutual collaboration toward this endeavour. Research draws from ethnographic fieldwork on the Wai‘anae Coast of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i, a predominantly Native Hawaiian community, and reflects upon the author’s positionality on Wai‘anae’s insider–outsider borderlands. The argument is multifold: Carceral geographies inscribe racism by cleaving humans from the environment and each other, depriving life‐giving resources from populations deemed a threat to a dominant socioenvironmental order. At the same time, abolition ecologies entail worldmaking predicated on the interdependence of all life forces, employing syncretic practices that join disparate struggles, people, and places to generate possibilities greater than the sum of its parts. Accompaniment works against racism’s practices of criminalisation and containment while contributing to radical, syncretic placemaking as part of an expansive liberatory practice.
Foreign background and older age of children were associated with infection in Swedish tuberculosis contacts
Authors: Bennet Rutger , Nejat Sahar , Eriksson Margareta 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAimWe present our results using interferon‐gamma release assays in any child <18 years or tuberculin skin tests in Bacille Calmette‐Guérin unvaccinated children for tuberculosis contact investigation in Stockholm, Sweden.MethodsDuring 2000—2019, we investigated 892 children with a median age of seven years. We explored associations between TB infection and characteristics such as closeness to contact, age, sex, BCG status and foreign origin.ResultsThe overall rates were for TB infection 10.2% (n = 91) and for TB disease 1.1% (n = 10). In addition to infectiousness of index case and closeness of contact, foreign background, male sex and increasing age were independently associated with infection. In foreign‐born children, the rates of tuberculosis infection and disease were 18.7% and 3.9%, respectively. In 18/46 (39%) infected foreign‐born children, a baseline negative tuberculosis test supported a diagnosis of recent infection.ConclusionForeign background, older age and male sex were associated with infection. In a significant proportion of infected children, a previous negative test made recent infection likely.
Novel modified Peyton's approach for knowledge retention on newborn life support training in medical students
Authors: Nourkami‐Tutdibi Nasenien , Hilleke Anna‐Barbara , Zemlin Michael , Wagenpfeil Gudrun , Tutdibi Erol 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAimWe sought to improve retention of neonatal resuscitation skills by modifying step 3 through additional functional verbalisation in Peyton's four‐step approach (P4S).MethodsNewborn life support (NLS) training was performed in a simulation‐based setting. In contrast to the traditional approach, students taught with the modified approach were requested to explain every step of their performance in Peyton's step 3. A total of 123 students were allocated into both experimental groups. Students were then assessed by megacode on day four (initial assessment) and 6 months (follow‐up assessment).ResultsBoth groups showed similar scorings in the initial, follow‐up assessment and in mean change. On initial megacode, time to start with initial inflation and post‐resuscitation care was significantly faster in the control group. All showed a significant loss of performance irrespective of modification in step 3 in the follow‐up assessment. Only time until start with post‐resuscitation care shows a significant group difference in mean change between initial and follow‐up with increasing time in the control and decreasing time span in intervention group.ConclusionBoth methods showed equal levels of knowledge acquisition and long‐term decline in NLS performances. Verbalisation in step 3 influenced speed of applied NLS performance.
Letter: clinical outcomes of patients with hepatitis D infection in the liver transplant setting—authors' reply
Authors: Brancaccio Giuseppina , Gaeta Giovanni B. 
Published: January 2020

LINKED CONTENTThis article is linked to Brancaccio et al and Brancaccio and Ferrarese et al papers. To view this articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15188 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15619.
To Double Down or Decouple? North Korea and China as Challenges to the U.S.‐South Korea Alliance
Authors: Kim Jangho , Ohn Daewon , Park Jae Jeok , Richey Mason 
Published: January 2020

This article argues that both North Korea's nuclear weapons and Chinese attempts at wedge‐driving between South Korea and the United States represent threats to degrade and perhaps decouple the U.S.‐South Korea alliance. These will intensify regardless of the outcome of current diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula. This puts at risk a component of the San Francisco System that has served as a pillar for Northeast Asian regional security for almost seven decades. We assess what the potential problems will be for the U.S.‐South Korea alliance as they emanate from these two policy challenges, and what actions policymakers in both Washington and Seoul can prioritize in order to modify or neutralize them.
Developing an understanding of others’ emotional states: Relations among affective theory of mind and empathy measures in early childhood
Authors: Gallant Caitlyn M. M. , Lavis Lydia , Mahy Caitlin E. V. 
Published: January 2020

Theory of mind (ToM) consists of cognitive and affective components; however, few studies have evaluated the coherence of affective ToM measures and their associations with empathy. This research examined the relations among affective ToM tasks and assessments of empathy, measured directly and via parent reports in 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds. Children (N = 117) completed: an Appearance‐Reality Emotion Task, an adapted Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, an Affective Stories Task, and an empathy task. Parents reported on children’s ToM and empathy, and language was assessed using a Picture Vocabulary Test. Controlling for language, no relationships were found among affective ToM measures and children’s age was only related to the Affective Stories Task. Further, controlling for age, only parent‐reported empathy was associated with the Appearance‐Reality Emotion Task. Once vocabulary and age were controlled, measures of affective ToM are unrelated and different developmental patterns emerged across measures.
Statement of contribution

What is already known on this subject

Affective theory of mind is a distinct subcomponent of theory of mind that corresponds to an independent developmental mechanism.

However, little research has been conducted on affective ToM, its developmental trajectory during the preschool years, its assessment, and its relationship with related constructs, such as empathy.

What the present study adds

Children’s performance on affective ToM tasks was unrelated once age and language abilities were accounted for. Thus, there is a need to examine affective ToM and its measurement more extensively to ensure we are effectively capturing this construct.

This study was the first to establish a Preschool Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task that uses images of children and pictorial response options and an Affective Stories Task that captures age‐related changes in affective ToM beyond language skills.
The role of innate immune cells in systemic sclerosis in the context of autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Authors: Servaas N H , Spierings J , Pandit A , van Laar J M 
Published: January 2020

Summary
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex, heterogeneous autoimmune connective tissue disease. Autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (AHSCT) has emerged as a valuable treatment option for rapidly progressive diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) patients, and thus far is the only treatment that has been shown to have a long-term clinical benefit. AHSCT is thought to reintroduce immune homeostasis through elimination of pathogenic self-reactive immune cells and reconstitution of a new, tolerant immune system. However, the mechanism of action underlying this reset to tolerance remains largely unknown. In this study we review the immune mechanisms underlying AHSCT for SSc, with a focus on the role of the innate immune cells, including monocytes and natural killer (NK) cells, in restoring immune balance after AHSCT.
Low-dose IL-2 induces CD56bright NK regulation of T cells via NKp44 and NKp46
Authors: McQuaid S L , Loughran S T , Power P A , Maguire P , Szczygiel A , Johnson P A 
Published: January 2020

Summary
Low-dose interleukin (IL)-2 has shown clinical benefits in patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Both regulatory T cells (Tregs) and natural killer (NK) cells are increased in response to low-dose IL-2 immunotherapy. The role of regulatory T cells in autoimmune diseases has been extensively studied; however, NK cells have not been as thoroughly explored. It has not been well reported whether the increase in NK cells is purely an epiphenomenon or carries actual benefits for patients with autoimmune diseases. We demonstrate that low-dose IL-2 expands the primary human CD56bright NK cells resulting in a contact-dependent cell cycle arrest of effector T cells (Teffs) via retention of the cycle inhibitor p21. We further show that NK cells respond via IL-2R-β, which has been shown to be significant for immunity by regulating T cell expansion. Moreover, we demonstrate that blocking NK receptors NKp44 and NKp46 but not NKp30 could abrogate the regulation of proliferation associated with low-dose IL-2. The increase in NK cells was also accompanied by an increase in Treg cells, which is dependent on the presence of CD56bright NK cells. These results not only heighten the importance of NK cells in low-dose IL-2 therapy but also identify key human NK targets, which may provide further insights into the therapeutic mechanisms of low-dose IL-2 in autoimmunity.
Using machine learning to construct nomograms for patients with metastatic colon cancer
Authors: Zhao B. , Gabriel R. A. , Vaida F. , Eisenstein S. , Schnickel G. T. , Sicklick J. K. , Clary B. M. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAimPatients with synchronous colon cancer metastases have highly variable overall survival (OS), making accurate predictive models challenging to build. We aim to use machine learning to more accurately predict OS in these patients and to present this predictive model in the form of nomograms for patients and clinicians.MethodsUsing the National Cancer Database (2010–2014), we identified right colon (RC) and left colon (LC) cancer patients with synchronous metastases. Each primary site was split into training and testing datasets. Nomograms predicting 3‐ year OS were created for each site using Cox proportional hazard regression with lasso regression. Each model was evaluated by both calibration (comparison of predictedvsobserved OS) and validation (degree of concordance as measured by the c‐index) methodologies.ResultsA total of 11 018 RC and 8346 LC patients were used to construct and validate the nomograms. After stratifying each model into five risk groups, the predicted OS was within the 95% CI of the observed OS in four out of five risk groups for both the RC and LC models. Externally validated c‐indexes at 3 years for the RC and LC models were 0.794 and 0.761, respectively.ConclusionsUtilization of machine learning can result in more accurate predictive models for patients with metastatic colon cancer. Nomograms built from these models can assist clinicians and patients in the shared decision‐making process of their cancer care.
Kidney transplantation and cardiomyopathy: Concepts and controversies in clinical decision‐making
Authors: Jha Ajay Kumar , Lata Suman 
Published: January 2020

AbstractIncreasing comorbidities and an aging population have led to a tremendous increase in the burden of both kidney and cardiac dysfunction. Concomitant cardiomyopathy exposes the patients with kidney disease to further physiological, hemodynamic, and pathologic alterations. Kidney transplantation imposes lesser anesthetic and surgical complexities compared to another solid organ transplant. The surgical decision‐making remains an unsettled issue in these conditions. The surgical choices, techniques, and sequences in kidney transplant and cardiac surgery depend on the pathophysiological perturbations and perioperative outcomes. The absence of randomized controlled trials eludes us from suggesting definite management protocol in patients with end‐stage kidney disease with cardiomyopathy. Nevertheless, in this review, we extracted data from published literature to understand the pathophysiologic interactions between end‐stage renal diseases with cardiomyopathy and also proposed the management algorithm in this challenging scenario. The proposed management algorithm would ensure consensus across all stakeholders involved in decision‐making. Our simplistic evidence‐based approach would augur future randomized trials and would further ensure refinement in our management approach after the emergence of more definitive evidence.