bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A New Screening Questionnaire to Identify Patients With Dry Eye With a High Likelihood of Having Sjögren Syndrome
Authors: Bunya Vatinee Y. , Maguire Maureen G. , Akpek Esen K. , Massaro-Giordano Mina , Hennessy Sean , Vivino Frederick B. , Gonzales John A. , Baer Alan N. , Ying Gui-Shuang 
Published: October 2020

Purpose:
To develop a screening questionnaire to identify patients with dry eye with a high likelihood of having underlying Sjögren syndrome (SS).

Methods:
This was a cross-sectional study of participants with dry eye complaints who were self-referred or referred by an ophthalmologist to the Sjögren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance study. Symptoms and ocular surface examination findings were candidate predictors. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association of a symptom and/or ocular sign with SS. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to summarize the predictive ability of different regression models and the derived likelihood score.

Results:
Four questions were statistically significant in the final multivariable model: 1) Is your mouth dry when eating a meal? [Yes = OR 1.63 (1.18–2.26)]; 2) Can you eat a cracker without drinking a fluid or liquid? [No = OR 1.46 (1.06–2.01)]; 3) How often do you have excessive tearing? [None of the time = OR 4.06 (1.81–9.10)]; and 4) Are you able to produce tears? [No = OR 2.24 (1.62–3.09)]. The SS likelihood score had an AUC of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.66–0.73), and when including tear break-up time and conjunctival staining, it yielded an AUC of 0.79 (95% CI, 0.77–0.82).

Conclusions:
This questionnaire can be used to identify patients with dry eye with a high likelihood of having SS. With future refinement and validation, this screening tool could be used alone or in combination with examination findings to identify patients with SS earlier, thereby facilitating better clinical outcomes.
Considerations for Pooled Testing of Employees for SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Schulte Paul A. , Weissman David N. , Luckhaupt Sara E. , de Perio Marie A. , Beezhold Don , Piacentino John D. , Radonovich Lewis J. , Hearl Frank J. , Howard John 
Published: October 2020

Objectives:
To identify important background information on pooled tested of employees that employers workers, and health authorities should consider.

Methods:
This paper is a commentary based on the review by the authors of pertinent literature generally from preprints in medrixiv.org prior to August 2020.

Results/Conclusions:
Pooled testing may be particularly useful to employers in communities with low prevalence of COVID-19. It can be used to reduce the number of tests and associated financial costs. For effective and efficient pooled testing employers should consider it as part of a broader, more comprehensive workplace COVID-19 prevention and control program. Pooled testing of asymptomatic employees can prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and help assure employers and customers that employees are not infectious.
Fundal Fluid Cap Is Associated With Hearing Preservation in the Radiosurgical Treatment of Vestibular Schwannoma
Authors: Bojrab Dennis I. , Fritz Christian G. , Lin Kenny F. , Schutt Christopher A. , Hong Robert S. , Babu Seilesh C. , Chen Peter Y. , Maitz Ann , Bojrab Dennis I. 
Published: October 2020

Objective:
To evaluate the relationship between fundal fluid and hearing outcomes after treatment of vestibular schwannoma (VS) with Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKRS).

Study Design:
Retrospective case series.

Setting:
Tertiary neurotology referral center.

Patients:
Patients treated with GKRS for vestibular schwannoma between March 2007 and March 2017 were considered for this study. Exclusion criteria included pretreatment pure-tone average (PTA) >90 dB, neurofibromatosis type II, history of previous surgical resection, and follow-up less than 1 year.

Main Outcome Measure(s):
Hearing function was assessed both by preservation of serviceable hearing and by preservation of baseline hearing (≤20 dB change in PTA) after GKRS. Hearing preservation comparisons were made between groups of patients with and without a fundal fluid cap.

Results:
Patients with a fundal cap had significantly higher rates of baseline hearing preservation (≤20 dB change in PTA) according to Kaplan–Meier survival analysis of all 106 patients (p = 0.006). By the 3rd year posttreatment, 70.9% of patients with a fundal cap had maintained a ≤20 dB change in PTA, while only 43.6% of patients without a fundal fluid cap achieved this outcome (p = 0.004).

Conclusions:
Fundal fluid present on pretreatment magnetic resonance imaging is predictive of improved baseline hearing preservation rates in patients undergoing GKRS for vestibular schwannoma when considering all patients with PTA ≤90 dB. Fundal fluid cap presence may serve as a favorable prognostic indicator to help set hearing expectations and guide patient selection efforts.
Characterizing the Effects of Enchroma Glasses on Color Discrimination
Authors: Bastien Kevin , Mallet Dominique , Saint-Amour Dave 
Published: October 2020

SIGNIFICANCE
Enchroma glasses were designed to improve color vision among color-blind individuals. The putative aid of such optic filters in alleviating color blindness remains to be demonstrated. Our study shows that the beneficial impacts on color discrimination are quite small in comparison to the undesirable effects.

PURPOSE
Congenital color blindness is a common genetic anomaly, and there is still no effective aid for affected people. Enchroma glasses are selective filters designed to enhance color discrimination among red-green color-blind individuals. However, there is a lack of data supporting their efficiency. The present study aimed to characterize the effect of Enchroma filters on color discrimination.

METHODS
Colorimetric coordinates of figures from a pseudoisochromatic (American Optical Hardy-Rand-Rittler [AO H-R-R]) test were measured. Nine color-blind and five control adult participants performed the AO H-R-R test and a color-naming task using monochromatic stimuli. All data were collected with and without Enchroma filters.

RESULTS
Colorimetric coordinates of AO H-R-R figures were shifted out of their respective pseudoisochromatic line. The AO H-R-R error scores of participants with color blindness were not clearly improved by the filters except for the protanopic subgroup. However, the filters promoted a change in the classification of the defect, specifically by increasing protan errors in deutan participants. In the color-naming task, Enchroma filters impaired perception in all participants, specifically for cyan stimuli.

CONCLUSIONS
Enchroma filters may affect the nature of a color vision deficiency without necessarily alleviating its severity. Although the performance of protan participants increased in the pseudoisochromatic task with Enchroma filters, this was the only improvement observed across tasks and subgroups. In summary, this study does not support the efficacy of Enchroma filters in correcting color discrimination in color-blind individuals.
Can Protanopia Be Correctly Diagnosed in Clinical Practice? An Evaluation of Diagnosis by Four Screening Tests
Authors: Davison Peter A. , Scanlon Grainne 
Published: October 2020

SIGNIFICANCE
Protanopia is a color vision deficiency (CVD) that is unacceptable for certain occupations. This study compares simultaneously for the first time the ability of three recently revised or developed clinical tests of color vision with the Ishihara test to diagnose protanopia from other color vision deficiencies.

PURPOSE
The objectives were to examine the ability of four clinical tests to differentiate (1) between protan and deutan CVDs in patients with protanopia and deuteranopia, and (2) protanopes and deuteranopes as “strong” deficiencies.

METHODS
The Hardy-Rand-Rittler (4th ed.), City University (3rd ed.), Ishihara, and Mollon-Reffin tests were evaluated against the Oculus Heidelberg Multi-Color anomaloscope for 18 protanopes and 9 deuteranopes. Diagnosis by anomaloscopy was subsequent to administration of screening tests.

RESULTS
The Ishihara test misdiagnosed all 18 protanopes as having a deutan deficiency. In contrast, the Hardy-Rand-Rittler and Mollon-Reffin tests correctly identified protan CVD in 100% of protanopes. No screening test was able to reliably diagnose protanopia on the basis of a strong protan CVD.

CONCLUSIONS
The Ishihara test is not suitable for screening for protanopia; its failure to diagnose protanopes as having a protan CVD was far greater than that in previous studies. The Hardy-Rand-Rittler and Mollon-Reffin are the most reliable tests for this purpose. None of the screening tests were able to reliably differentiate dichromacy from strongly anomalous trichromacy.
The Relationship between Pupillometric Values and Visual Evoked Potential Test Results in Patients with Early Glaucoma
Authors: Işik Mehmed Uğur , Şahin Ömer Faruk 
Published: October 2020

SIGNIFICANCEMeasuring pupil diameter may provide an additional objective method to detect and monitor glaucoma.PURPOSEThe purposes of this study were to evaluate whether pupillometry can be used in the assessment of glaucomatous damage and to determine whether pupillometer can be used in glaucoma screening.METHODSIn this retrospective study, patients with early stages of glaucomatous optic neuropathy were tested using visual evoked potential (VEP), standard automated perimetry, and pupillometer. The VEP record was made using two consecutive check sizes (1° and 15′) at 1-Hz frequency. Patients with a mean deviation of <−2 and >−6 dB were included in the study. Pupil size measurements were performed under photopic conditions at 60-, 100-, and 130-cd/m2luminance levels with the OPD Scan (Nidek, Gamagori, Japan) device.RESULTSIn all, 24 eyes of 24 patients (14 women and 10 men) with newly diagnosed open-angle glaucoma were included, and 30 eyes of 30 healthy subjects (15 women, 15 men) were used as controls. There was no significant difference between sexes in photopic pupil diameters in either group. Comparing the pupil diameters in different luminance levels, the diameters were significantly larger in the patient group. When age-corrected values in the glaucoma group were compared with an age-matched control group, the differences in P100 latency and amplitudes were statistically significant. There were significant correlations between photopic pupil diameters and timing of VEP waveforms.CONCLUSIONSThere is a relationship between pupil diameters and VEP results in eyes with early glaucoma.
Los Angeles County SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic: Critical Role of Multi-generational Intra-household Transmission
Authors: Harris Jeffrey E. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractWe studied the incidence of confirmed COVID-19 cases diagnosed during February 24, 2020 -January 10, 2021 in approximately 300 communities making up Los Angeles County, the largest county by population in the United States. The surge in case incidence observed from October 19 onward, accounting for two-thirds of all confirmed cases, was concentrated in communities with a high prevalence of multi-generational households, as gauged by data from the American Community Survey. This indicator (abbreviated MULTI) was a more important predictor of the surge in incidence than the prevalence of households with low income or with at least one high-risk worker. Serial mapping of the epidemic revealed radial expansion from an initial focus in relatively affluent communities, followed by concentration in high-MULTI communities. This observation was supported by estimates from a spatial adaptation of the SIR model, which yielded a reproductive number of 2.7 for the initial outbreak during February 24 -March 30. With the subsequent flattening of the epidemic curve after the imposition of emergency stay-at-home orders, the global reproductive number fell to 1.0, but with wide local dispersion ranging from 0.6 in low-MULTI communities up to 1.5 in high-MULTI communities. The July 13 state-ordered reversal of the county’s prior decisions to reopen retail stores, indoor dining, hair salons, gyms and bars had a larger negative impact on social mobility in high-MULTI communities, as gauged by data from SafeGraph on smartphone visits to fast-food restaurants. After falling to a low of 0.6, the reproductive number rebounded to 1.4 during the final surge. By the end of the 46-week observation period, the estimated cumulative incidence of COVID-19, adjusted for underascertainment of both asymptomatic and symptomatic cases, ranged from under 10 percent in low-MULTI communities to over 30 percent in high-MULTI communities.
Testing and isolation to prevent overloaded health care facilities and to reduce death rates in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy
Authors: Bandyopadhyay Arnab , Schips Marta , Mitra Tanmay , Khailaie Sahamoddin , Binder Sebastian C. , Meyer-Hermann Michael 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundDuring the first wave of COVID-19, hospital and intensive care unit beds got overwhelmed in Italy leading to an increased death burden. Based on data from Italian regions, we disentangled the impact of various factors contributing to the bottleneck situation of health care facilities, not well addressed in classical SEIR-like models. A particular emphasis was set on the dark figure, on the dynamically changing hospital capacity, and on different testing, contact tracing, quarantine strategies.MethodsWe first estimated the dark figure for different Italian regions. Using parameter estimates from literature and, alternatively, with parameters derived from a fit to the initial phase of COVID-19 spread, the model was optimized to fit data (infected, hospitalized, ICU, dead) published by the Italian Civil Protection.ResultsWe showed that testing influenced the infection dynamics by isolation of newly detected cases and subsequent interruption of infection chains. The time-varying reproduction number (Rt) in high testing regions decreased to < 1 earlier compared to the low testing regions. While an early test and isolate (TI) scenario resulted in up to ∼ 32% peak reduction of hospital occupancy, the late TI scenario resulted in an overwhelmed health care system.ConclusionsAn early TI strategy would have decreased the overall hospital accessibility drastically and, hence, death toll (∼ 45% reduction in Lombardia) and could have mitigated the lack of health care facilities in the course of the pandemic, but it would not have kept the hospitalization amount within the pre-pandemic hospital limit. We showed that contact tracing and quarantine without testing would have a similar effect and might be an efficient strategy when sufficient test capacities are not available.
Sepsis Recording in Primary Care Electronic Health Records, Linked Hospital Episodes and Mortality Records: Population-based Cohort Study in England
Authors: Rezel-Potts Emma , Gulliford Martin C. ,   SafeAB Study Group
Published: October 2020

AbstractObjectivesSepsis is a growing concern for health systems, but the epidemiology of sepsis is poorly characterised. We evaluated sepsis recording across primary care electronic records, hospital episodes and mortality registrations.Methods and FindingsCohort study including 378 general practices in England from Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD database from 2002 to 2017 with 36,209,676 patient-years of follow-up with linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality registrations. Incident sepsis episodes were identified for each source. Concurrent records from different sources were identified and age-standardised and age-specific incidence rates compared. Logistic regression analysis evaluated associations of gender, age-group, fifth of deprivation and period of diagnosis with concurrent sepsis recording.There were 20,206 first episodes of sepsis from primary care, 20,278 from HES and 13,972 from ONS. There were 4,117 (20%) first HES sepsis events and 2,438 (17%) mortality records concurrent with incident primary care sepsis records within 30 days. Concurrent HES and primary care records of sepsis within 30 days before or after first diagnosis were higher at younger or older ages and for patients with the most recent period of diagnosis with those diagnosed during 2007:2011 less likely to have a concurrent HES record given CPRD compared to those diagnosed during 2012 to 2017 (odd ratio 0.65, 95% confidence interval 0.60 to 0.70). At age 85 and older, primary care incidence was 5.22 per 1,000 patient years (95% CI 1.75 to 11.97) in men and 3.55 (0.87 to 9.58) in women which increased to 10.09 (4.86 to 18.51) for men and 7.22 (2.96 to 14.72) for women after inclusion of all three sources.ConclusionExplicit recording of sepsis is inconsistent across healthcare sectors with a high proportion of non-concurrent records. Incidence estimates are higher when linked data are analysed.
Comparison of methods for estimating genetic correlation between complex traits using GWAS summary statistics
Authors: Zhang Yiliang , Cheng Youshu , Jiang Wei , Ye Yixuan , Lu Qiongshi , Zhao Hongyu 
Published: October 2020

AbstractGenetic correlation is the correlation of additive genetic effects on two phenotypes. It is an informative metric to quantify the overall genetic similarity between complex traits, which provides insights into their polygenic genetic architecture. Several methods have been proposed to estimate genetic correlations based on data collected from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Due to the easy access of GWAS summary statistics and computational efficiency, methods only requiring GWAS summary statistics as input have become more popular than methods utilizing individual-level genotype data. Here, we present a benchmark study for different summary-statistics-based genetic correlation estimation methods through simulation and real data applications. We focus on two major technical challenges in estimating genetic correlation: marker dependency caused by linkage disequilibrium (LD) and sample overlap between different studies. To assess the performance of different methods in the presence of these two challenges, we first conducted comprehensive simulations with diverse LD patterns and sample overlaps. Then we applied these methods to real GWAS summary statistics for a wide spectrum of complex traits. Based on these experiments, we conclude that methods relying on accurate LD estimation are less robust in real data applications compared to other methods due to the imprecision of LD obtained from reference panels. Our findings offer a guidance on how to appropriately choose the method for genetic correlation estimation in post-GWAS analysis in interpretation.
Automated chest radiograph diagnosis: A Twofer for Tuberculosis and Covid-19
Authors: Verma Mitushi , Patkar Deepak , Ingalharikar Madhura , Kharat Amit , Ajmera Pranav , Kulkarni Viraj , Pant Aniruddha , Thakker Vaishnavi , Naik Gunjan 
Published: October 2020

AbstractCoronavirus disease (Covid 19) and Tuberculosis (TB) are two challenges the world is facing. TB is a pandemic which has challenged mankind for ages and Covid 19 is a recent onset fast spreading pandemic. We study these two conditions with focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) based imaging, the role of digital chest x-ray and utility of end to end platform to improve turnaround times. Using artificial intelligence assisted technology for triage and creation of structured radiology reports using an end to end platform can ensure quick diagnosis. Changing dynamics of TB screening in the times of Covid 19 pandemic have resulted in bottlenecks for TB diagnosis. The paper tries to outline two types of use cases, one is COVID-19 screening in a hospital-based scenario and the other is TB screening project in mobile van setting and discusses the learning of these models which have both used AI for prescreening and generating structured radiology reports.
Healthcare workers with mild / asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection show T cell responses and neutralising antibodies after the first wave
Authors: Reynolds Catherine J. , Swadling Leo , Gibbons Joseph M. , Pade Corinna , Jensen Melanie P. , Diniz Mariana O. , Schmidt Nathalie M. , Butler David , Amin Oliver E. , Bailey Sasha N. L. , Taylor Stephen , Jones Jessica , Jones Meleri , Jason Lee Wing-Yiu , Rosenheim Joshua , Chandran Aneesh , Joy George , Di Genova Cecilia , Temperton Nigel , Lambourne Jonathan , Cutino-Moguel Teresa , Andiapen Mervyn , Fontana Marianna , Smit Angelique , Semper Amanda , O’Brien Ben , Chain Benjamin , Brooks Tim , Manisty Charlotte , Treibel Thomas , Moon James C ,   COVIDsortium investigators, Noursadeghi Mahdad ,   COVIDsortium immune correlates network, Altmann Daniel M. , Maini Mala K. , McKnight Aine , Boyton Rosemary J. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractStudies of adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 include characterisation of lethal, severe and mild cases1-8. Understanding how long immunity lasts in people who have had mild or asymptomatic infection is crucial. Healthcare worker (HCW) cohorts exposed to and infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the early stages of the pandemic are an invaluable resource to study this question9-14. The UK COVIDsortium is a longitudinal, London hospital HCW cohort, followed from the time of UK lockdown9,10 ; weekly PCR, serology and symptom diaries allowed capture of asymptomatic infection around the time of onset, so duration of immunity could be tracked. Here, we conduct a cross-sectional, case-control, sub-study of 136 HCW at 16-18 weeks after UK lockdown, with 76 having had laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 mild or asymptomatic infection. Neutralising antibodies (nAb) were present in 90% of infected HCW sampled after the first wave; titres, likely to correlate with functional protection, were present in 66% at 16-18 weeks. T cell responses tended to be lower in asymptomatic infected HCW than those reporting case-definition symptoms of COVID-19, while nAb titres were maintained irrespective of symptoms. T cell and antibody responses were discordant. HCW lacking nAb also showed undetectable T cells to Spike protein but had T cells of other specificities. Our findings suggest that the majority of HCW with mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection carry nAb complemented by multi-specific T cell responses for at least 4 months after mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Is there a resistance-threshold for macrolide consumption? Positive evidence from an ecological analysis of resistance data from Streptococcus pneumoniae, Treponema pallidum and Mycoplasma genitalium
Authors: Kenyon Chris , Manoharan-Basil Sheeba S. , Van Dijck Christophe 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundIf we were to keep macrolide consumption below a certain threshold, would this reduce the probability of macrolide resistance emerging? No study that we are aware of has addressed this question.MethodsWe assessed at a country level if there was a macrolide consumption threshold for the selection of a prevalence of macrolide resistance of over 5% in Streptococcus pneumoniae, Treponema pallidum and Mycoplasma genitalium.ResultsWe found evidence for a macrolide consumption threshold of 1.3 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID) for M. genitalium, 1.8 DID for T. pallidum and 2.3 DID for S. pneumoniae.ConclusionsOur results provide further motivation for macrolide stewardship campaigns that strive to reduce macrolide consumption to levels below at least 2 DID.