bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A community-engaged mHealth intervention to increase uptake of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in China: Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial
Authors: Li Chunyan , Xiong Yuan , Muessig Kathryn E. , Tang Weiming , Huang Haojie , Mu Tong , Tong Xiaokai , Yu Jianxiong , Yang Zeyu , Sherer Renslow , Hazra Aniruddha , Lio Jonathan , Matthews Derrick D. , Fisher Edwin B. , Li Linghua , Tucker Joseph D. 
Published: October 2020

ABSTRACTIntroductionEmtricitabine-Tenofovir was officially approved as the first medicine for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in China on August 11, 2020. The large number of key populations who would benefit from PrEP in the context of limited health system capacity and public awareness will pose challenges for timely PrEP scale-up. This suggests an urgent need for innovative and accessible intervention tools for promoting PrEP. Our overall goal is to develop and pilot test a theory-informed, tailored mobile phone intervention to increase engagement in PrEP education and initiation among Chinese gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). We also aim to generate hypotheses of potential behavioral pathways to PrEP uptake among Chinese GBMSM.Methods and analysisThis two-phase study includes a formative assessment (Phase 1) using in-depth interviews (N=30) and a 12-week experimental pilot study (Phase 2) using a two-arm randomized controlled trial design (N=60). The primary intervention is delivered through a WeChat-based mini-app (a program built into a Chinese multipurpose social media application) developed by young GBMSM from a 2019 crowdsourcing hackathon. This participatory event brought together GBMSM, tech experts, health professionals, and other key stakeholders. This study will further investigate the specific needs and concerns among GBMSM in terms of using PrEP as an HIV prevention strategy, how their concerns and PrEP use behaviors may change with exposure to the mini-app intervention at 8-week and 12-week follow-up, and how we can further refine this intervention tool to better meet GBMSM ‘s needs for broader implementation.Ethics and disseminationThis study and its protocols have been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA (IRB#19-3481), the Guangdong Provincial Dermatology Hospital, China (IRB#2020031), and the Guangzhou Eighth People ‘s Hospital, China (IRB#202022155). Study staff will work with local GBMSM community-based organizations to disseminate the study results to participants and the community via social media, offline workshops, and journal publication. This research addresses a critical need as GBMSM bear a disproportionate burden of HIV infections in China and remain underserved in the healthcare system.Trial RegistrationThe study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (Trial#: NCT04426656) on June 11, 2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04426656. Prospectively registered.
Repeated introductions and intensive community transmission fueled a mumps virus outbreak in Washington State
Authors: Moncla Louise H. , Black Allison , DeBolt Chas , Lang Misty , Graff Nicholas R. , Pérez-Osorio Ailyn C. , Müller Nicola F. , Haselow Dirk , Lindquist Scott , Bedford Trevor 
Published: October 2020

AbstractIn 2016/2017, Washington State experienced a mumps outbreak despite high childhood vaccination rates, with cases more frequently detected among school-aged children and members of the Marshallese community. We sequenced 166 mumps virus genomes collected during outbreaks in Washington and other US states, and apply phylodynamic approaches to trace mumps introductions and transmission within Washington. We uncover that mumps was introduced into Washington at least 13 times, primarily from Arkansas, sparking multiple co-circulating transmission chains. Neither vaccination status nor age were strong determinants of transmission. Instead, the outbreak in Washington was overwhelmingly sustained by transmission within the Marshallese community. Our findings underscore the utility of genomic data to clarify epidemiologic factors driving transmission, and pinpoint contact networks as critical determinants of mumps transmission. These results imply that contact structures and historic disparities may leave populations at increased risk for respiratory virus disease even when a vaccine is effective and widely used.
Modifiable lifestyle factors and severe COVID-19 risk: Evidence from Mendelian randomization analysis
Authors: Li Shuai 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundLifestyle factors including obesity and smoking are suggested to be related to increased risk of COVID-19 severe illness or related death. However, little is known about whether these relationships are causal, or the relationships between COVID-19 severe illness and other lifestyle factors, such as alcohol consumption and physical activity.MethodsGenome-wide significant genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI), lifetime smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity identified by large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were selected as instrumental variables. GWAS summary statistics of these genetic variants for relevant lifestyle factors and severe illness of COVID-19 were obtained. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were conducted.ResultsBoth genetically predicted BMI and lifetime smoking were associated with about 2-fold increased risks of severe respiratory COVID-19 and COVID-19 hospitalization (all P<0.05). Genetically predicted physical activity was associated with about 5-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4, 20.3; P=0.02) decreased risk of severe respiratory COVID-19, but not with COVID-19 hospitalization, though the majority of the 95% CI did not include one. No evidence of association was found for genetically predicted alcohol consumption, but associations were found when using pleiotropy robust methods.ConclusionEvidence is found that BMI and smoking causally increase and physical activity causally decreases the risk of COVID-19 severe illness. This study highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in protecting from COVID-19 severe illness and its public health value in fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.
Developmental profile of psychiatric risk associated with voltage-gated cation channel activity
Authors: Clifton Nicholas E , Collado-Torres Leonardo , Burke Emily E , Pardiñas Antonio F , Harwood Janet C , Di Florio Arianna , Walters James TR , Owen Michael J , O’Donovan Michael C , Weinberger Daniel R , Holmans Peter A , Jaffe Andrew E , Hall Jeremy 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundRecent breakthroughs in psychiatric genetics have implicated biological pathways onto which genetic risk for psychiatric disorders converges. However, these studies do not reveal the developmental time point(s) at which these pathways are relevant.MethodsWe aimed to determine the relationship between psychiatric risk and developmental gene expression relating to discrete biological pathways. We used post-mortem RNA sequencing data (BrainSeq and BrainSpan) from brain tissue at multiple pre- and post-natal timepoints and summary statistics from recent genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. We prioritised gene sets for overall enrichment of association with each disorder, and then tested the relationship between the association of each of their constituent genes with their relative expression at each developmental stage.ResultsWe observed relationships between the expression of genes involved involtage-gated cation channel activityduring Early Midfetal, Adolescence and Early Adulthood timepoints and association with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, such that genes more strongly associated with these disorders had relatively low expression during Early Midfetal development and higher expression during Adolescence and Early Adulthood. The relationship with schizophrenia was strongest for the subset of genes related to calcium channel activity, whilst for bipolar disorder the relationship was distributed between calcium and potassium channel activity genes.ConclusionsOur results indicate periods during development when biological pathways related to the activity of calcium and potassium channels may be most vulnerable to the effects of genetic variants conferring risk to psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, they indicate key time points and potential targets for disorder-specific therapeutic interventions.
CellRank for directed single-cell fate mapping
Authors: Lange Marius , Bergen Volker , Klein Michal , Setty Manu , Reuter Bernhard , Bakhti Mostafa , Lickert Heiko , Ansari Meshal , Schniering Janine , Schiller Herbert B. , Pe’er Dana , Theis Fabian J. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractComputational trajectory inference enables the reconstruction of cell-state dynamics from single-cell RNA sequencing experiments. However, trajectory inference requires that the direction of a biological process is known, largely limiting its application to differentiating systems in normal development. Here, we present CellRank (https://cellrank.org) for mapping the fate of single cells in diverse scenarios, including perturbations such as regeneration or disease, for which direction is unknown. Our approach combines the robustness of trajectory inference with directional information from RNA velocity, derived from ratios of spliced to unspliced reads. CellRank takes into account both the gradual and stochastic nature of cellular fate decisions, as well as uncertainty in RNA velocity vectors. On data from pancreas development, we show that it automatically detects initial, intermediate and terminal populations, predicts fate potentials and visualizes continuous gene expression trends along individual lineages. CellRank also predicts a novel dedifferentiation trajectory during regeneration after lung injury, which we follow up experimentally by confirming the existence of previously unknown intermediate cell states.
Toll-9 interacts with Toll-1 to mediate a feedback loop during apoptosis-induced proliferation inDrosophila
Authors: Shields Alicia , Amcheslavsky Alla , Brown Elizabeth , Nie Yingchao , Tanji Takahiro , Ip Y. Tony , Bergmann Andreas 
Published: October 2020

AbstractDrosophilaToll-1 and all mammalian Toll-like receptors regulate innate immunity. However, the functions of the remaining eight Toll-related proteins inDrosophilaare not fully understood. Here, we show thatDrosophilaToll-9 is necessary and sufficient for a special form of compensatory proliferation after apoptotic cell loss (undead apoptosis-induced proliferation (AiP)). Mechanistically, for AiP, Toll-9 interacts with Toll-1 to activate the intracellular Toll-1 pathway for nuclear translocation of the NF-κB-like transcription factor Dorsal which induces expression of the pro-apoptotic genesreaperandhid. This activity contributes to the feedback amplification loop that operates in undead cells. Given that Toll-9 also functions in loser cells during cell competition, we define a general role of Toll-9 in cellular stress situations leading to the expression of pro-apoptotic genes which trigger apoptosis and apoptosis-induced processes such as AiP. This work identifies conceptual similarities between cell competition and AiP.
Characteristics and outcomes of clinically diagnosed RT-PCR swab negative COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Middleton Paul , Perez-Guzman Pablo N. , Cheng Alexandra , Kumar Naveenta , Kont Mara D. , Daunt Anna , Mukherjee Sujit , Cooke Graham , Hallett Timothy B. , Hauck Katharina , White Peter J. , Thursz Mark R. , Nayagam Shevanthi 
Published: October 2020

AbstractPatients with strong clinical features of COVID-19 with negative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) SARS-CoV-2 testing are not currently included in official statistics. The scale, characteristics and clinical relevance of this group are thus unknown. We performed a retrospective cohort study in two large London hospitals to characterize the demographic, clinical, and hospitalization outcome characteristics of swab-negative clinical COVID-19 patients. We found 1 in 5 patients with a negative swab and clinical suspicion of COVID-19 received a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 within clinical documentation, discharge summary or death certificate. We compared this group to a similar swab positive cohort and found similar demographic composition, symptomology and laboratory findings. Swab-negative clinical COVID-19 patients had better outcomes, with shorter length of hospital stay, reduced need for >60% supplementary oxygen and reduced mortality. Patients with strong clinical features of COVID-19 that are swab-negative are a common clinical challenge. Health systems must recognize and plan for the management of swab-negative patients in their COVID-19 clinical management, infection control policies and epidemiological assessments.
Tocilizumab is associated with reduction in inflammation and improvement in P/F ratio in critically sick COVID19 patients
Authors: Rana Muhammad Asim , Hashmi Mubashar , Ullah Saif Muhammad Muneeb , Munir Muhammad Faisal , Qayyum Ahad , Pervaiz Rizwan , Hafeez Muhammad Mansoor 
Published: October 2020

AbstractIntroductionCoronavirus disease 2019 was initially detected in China and has been declared a global pandemic by World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. In the majority of patients, SARS□CoV□2 causes a mild to moderate illness characterized by fever and respiratory symptoms, with or without evidence of pneumonia. The recent studies suggest that anti-cytokine targeted therapies might be associated with benefit for patients with severe COVID-19 especially in improving respiratory failure. Tocilizumab, a monoclonal antibody against interleukin 6 (IL6) receptor, is associated with clinical benefit for COVID-19 patients as it inhibits IL6 and decreases inflammation.MethodsAs Tocilizumab has been an important part of our treatment and a strict criterion was followed to administer Tocilizumab, a retrospective study design used to assess the beneficial effects of Tocilizumab in improvement of ratio partial pressure of arterial Oxygen and fraction of inspired Oxygen (PaO2/FiO2 or P/F ratio) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in COVID19 patients has been done. 60 patients were taken for this study by using convenient sampling technique the data of demographics, laboratory results, and clinical outcomes i.e. improvement of respiratory failure depicted in the form of PF Ratio were obtained from the medical records, Statistical analysis was done with SPSS, version 21.0.ResultsSixty patients (47 males and 13 females) with COVID□19 were included in this study, the mean age of patients was 53.83 (14□81) years. After administration of Tocilizumab the lab parameters were changed as CRP decreased down to .40 (9.6□73) mg/L but other parameters were not affected. The PF ratio improved in COVID-19 patients after administration of Tocilizumab the median of PF Ratio before treatment was 108 (52□362) and improved up to 128 (37□406) after Tocilizumab therapy.ConclusionIn summary, Tocilizumab appears to be associated with improvement in P/F Ratio and CRP in COVID19 patients but other markers did not improve in response to Tocilizumab therapy in severely ill COVID-19 patients.
Validation of expert system enhanced deep learning algorithm for automated screening for COVID-Pneumonia on chest X-rays
Authors: Gidde Prashant Sadashiv , Prasad Shyam Sunder , Singh Ajay Pratap , Bhatheja Nitin , Prakash Satyartha , Singh Prateek , Saboo Aakash , Thakar Rohit , Gupta Salil , Saurav Sumeet , Raghunandanan M V , Singh Amritpal , Sardana Viren , Mahajan Harsh , Kalyanpur Arjun , Mandal Atanendu Shekhar , Mahajan Vidur , Agrawal Anurag , Agrawal Anjali , Venugopal Vasantha Kumar , Singh Sanjay , Dash Debasis 
Published: October 2020

AbstractThe coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic exposed a limitation of artificial intelligence (AI) based medical image interpretation systems. Early in the pandemic, when need was greatest, the absence of sufficient training data prevented effective deep learning (DL) solutions. Even now, there is a need for Chest-X-ray (CxR) screening tools in low and middle income countries (LMIC), when RT-PCR is delayed, to exclude COVID-19 pneumonia (Cov-Pneum) requiring transfer to higher care. In absence of local LMIC data and poor portability of CxR DL algorithms, a new approach is needed. Axiomatically, it is faster to repurpose existing data than to generate new datasets. Here, we describe CovBaseAI, an explainable tool which uses an ensemble of three DL models and an expert decision system (EDS) for Cov-Pneum diagnosis, trained entirely on datasets from the pre-COVID-19 period. Portability, performance, and explainability of CovBaseAI was primarily validated on two independent datasets. First, 1401 randomly selected CxR from an Indian quarantine-center to assess effectiveness in excluding radiologic Cov-Pneum that may require higher care. Second, a curated dataset with 434 RT-PCR positive cases of varying levels of severity and 471 historical scans containing normal studies and non-COVID pathologies, to assess performance in advanced medical settings. CovBaseAI had accuracy of 87% with negative predictive value of 98% in the quarantine-center data for Cov-Pneum. However, sensitivity varied from 0.66 to 0.90 depending on whether RT-PCR or radiologist opinion was set as ground truth. This tool with explainability feature has better performance than publicly available algorithms trained on COVID-19 data but needs further improvement.
Innate Immune Response Modulation and Resistance to SARS-CoV-2 infection: A Prospective Comparative Cohort Study in High Risk Healthcare Workers
Authors: Jaiswal Sarita Rani , Mehta Anupama , Bhagwati Gitali , Lakhchaura Rohit , Aiyer Hemamalini , Khamar Bakulesh , Chakrabarti Suparno 
Published: October 2020

AbstractTo evaluate ability of modulated innate immune response to provide resistance to development of symptomatic RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19, 96 inpatient front line health care workers (HCW) were cohorted in 1:2 ratio to receive TLR2 agonist (heat killed Mycobacterium w, Mw; n=32) as innate immune response modulator or observation (n=64). All were followed up for 100 days. The incidence of COVID-19 was 31 (32.3%) for the entire cohort, with only one developing COVID-19 in Mw group (3.1% vs 46.8%. protective efficacy - 93.33%, p=0.0001; 95% CI 53.3-99.1). Self-limiting local injection site reaction was the only side effect and was seen in 14 HCW. Findings from the study suggest the potential for providing resistance against novel pathogen like SARS-CoV-2 by modulating innate immune response.
Depiction of Mental Illness in Film and Association with Financial and Critical Success
Authors: Kamal Shaan , El-Gabalawy Osama , Zhao Nathan , MacLeod Jelena 
Published: October 2020

AbstractFilm and cinema are an important part of American culture and discourse. In recent years, there have been increasing discussions around the media portrayal of suicide and psychiatric illness and its subsequent impact on prejudice towards individuals with mental health issues. To date, there is no published work quantifying the depiction of mental illness in film. In this work we use movie plot descriptions to identify movies that depict mental illness and compare their financial and critical success to all movies released during the same time period.
Challenges Faced by Dialysis Unit Staff during COVID −19 times-A Qualitative Study
Authors: RaviKumar P. , Dongre Amol 
Published: October 2020

ABSTRACTIntroductionThe novel SARS COV2-Covid −19 has become a global pandemic since January 2020 and has been spreading exponentially. Dialysis patients with lowered immunity are at high risk. The dialysis patients come for repeated treatment. Hence the dialysis staffs are also at great risk of contracting COVID-19.ObjectiveTo study the challenges faced by the dialysis staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural hemodialysis unit.Material and MethodsThe study was conducted in the hemodialysis unit of Sri ManakulaVinayagar Medical College Hospital, Puducherry, India. We did free list and pile sorting to understand the salient problems and its structure as perceived by the team members. We found Smith’s S value for free list. Multidimensional scaling and Hierarchical cluster analysis were done to pile sort data. Data was analyzed using Anthropac 4.983/X. In addition, group interview was done to get in-depth information and validate the findings obtained from the free list and pile sort exercise.ResultsTwelve salient items were generated from the free list. In pile sort, we got three broad domains-the shortage of personal safety equipment, the lack of personal safety and presence of logistical and operational problems. Relative to other items, testing by RT-PCR was surprisingly not perceived to be important for them.ConclusionAddressing the shortage of personal safety equipment, impediments to personal safety and giving credence to the feelings, fears and needs of the dialysis staff in a dialysis unit during COVID −19 pandemic are paramount in ensuring their safety and improving working dynamics.
Associations between COVID-19 transmission rates, park use, and landscape structure
Authors: Johnson Thomas F. , Hordley Lisbeth A. , Greenwell Matthew P. , Evans Luke C. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has had severe impacts on global public health. In England, social distancing measures and a nationwide lockdown were introduced to reduce the spread of the virus. Green space accessibility may have been particularly important during this lockdown, as it could have provided benefits for physical and mental wellbeing. However, the associations between public green space use and the rate of COVID-19 transmission are yet to be quantified, and as the size and accessibility of green spaces vary within England’s local authorities, the risks and benefits to the public of using green space may be context-dependent. To evaluate how green space affected COVID-19 transmission across 299 local authorities (small regions) in England, we calculated a daily case rate metric, based upon a seven-day moving average, for each day within the period June 1st- November 30th2020 and assessed how baseline health and mobility variables influenced these rates. Next, looking at the residual case rates, we investigated how landscape structure (e.g. area and patchiness of green space) and park use influenced transmission. We first show that reducing mobility is associated with a decline in case rates, especially in areas with high population clustering. After accounting for known mechanisms behind transmission rates, we found that park use (showing a preference for park mobility) was associated with decreased residual case rates, especially when green space was low and contiguous (not patchy). Our results support that a reduction in overall mobility may be a good strategy for reducing case rates, endorsing the success of lockdown measures. However, if mobility is necessary, outdoor park use may be safer than other forms of mobility and associated activities (e.g. shopping or office-based working).