bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nature-based approaches to managing climate change impacts in cities
Authors: Hobbie Sarah E. , Grimm Nancy B. 
Published: January 2020

Managing and adapting to climate change in urban areas will become increasingly important as urban populations grow, especially because unique features of cities amplify climate change impacts. High impervious cover exacerbates impacts of climate warming through urban heat island effects and of heavy rainfall by magnifying runoff and flooding. Concentration of human settlements along rivers and coastal zones increases exposure of people and infrastructure to climate change hazards, often disproportionately affecting those who are least prepared. Nature-based strategies (NBS), which use living organisms, soils and sediments, and/or landscape features to reduce climate change hazards, hold promise as being more flexible, multi-functional and adaptable to an uncertain and non-stationary climate future than traditional approaches. Nevertheless, future research should address the effectiveness of NBS for reducing climate change impacts and whether they can be implemented at scales appropriate to climate change hazards and impacts. Further, there is a need for accurate and comprehensive cost–benefit analyses that consider disservices and co-benefits, relative to grey alternatives, and how costs and benefits are distributed across different communities. NBS are most likely to be effective and fair when they match the scale of the challenge, are implemented with input from diverse voices and are appropriate to specific social, cultural, ecological and technological contexts.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’.
Harnessing employment-based social assistance programmes to scale up nature-based climate action
Authors: Norton Andrew , Seddon Nathalie , Agrawal Arun , Shakya Clare , Kaur Nanki , Porras Ina 
Published: January 2020

As the severity of the triple challenges of global inequality, climate change and biodiversity loss becomes clearer, governments and international development institutions must find effective policy instruments to respond. We examine the potential of social assistance policies in this context. Social assistance refers to transfers to poor, vulnerable and marginalized groups to reduce their vulnerability and livelihood risks, and to enhance their rights and status. Substantial public funds support social assistance programmes globally. Collectively, lower- and middle-income countries spend approximately 1.5% of their GDP on social assistance annually. We focus on the potential of paid employment schemes to promote effective ecosystem stewardship. Available evidence suggests such programmes can offer multiple benefits in terms of improvements in local ecosystems and natural capital, carbon sequestration and local biodiversity conservation. We review evidence from three key case studies: in India (the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), Ethiopia (the Productive Safety Nets Programme) and Mexico (the Temporary Employment Programme). We conclude that, to realize the potential of employment-based social assistance for ecosystem benefits it will be necessary to address two challenges: first, the weak design and maintenance of local public works outputs in many schemes, and second, the concern that social protection schemes may become less effective if they are overburdened with additional objectives. Overcoming these challenges requires an evolution of institutional systems for delivering social assistance to enable a more effective combination of social and environmental objectives.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’.
Mapping co-benefits for carbon storage and biodiversity to inform conservation policy and action
Authors: Soto-Navarro C. , Ravilious C. , Arnell A. , de Lamo X. , Harfoot M. , Hill S. L. L. , Wearn O. R. , Santoro M. , Bouvet A. , Mermoz S. , Le Toan T. , Xia J. , Liu S. , Yuan W. , Spawn S. A. , Gibbs H. K. , Ferrier S. , Harwood T. , Alkemade R. , Schipper A. M. , Schmidt-Traub G. , Strassburg B. , Miles L. , Burgess N. D. , Kapos V. 
Published: January 2020

Integrated high-resolution maps of carbon stocks and biodiversity that identify areas of potential co-benefits for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation can help facilitate the implementation of global climate and biodiversity commitments at local levels. However, the multi-dimensional nature of biodiversity presents a major challenge for understanding, mapping and communicating where and how biodiversity benefits coincide with climate benefits. A new integrated approach to biodiversity is therefore needed. Here, we (a) present a new high-resolution map of global above- and below-ground carbon stored in biomass and soil, (b) quantify biodiversity values using two complementary indices (BIp and BIr) representing proactive and reactive approaches to conservation, and (c) examine patterns of carbon–biodiversity overlap by identifying 'hotspots' (20% highest values for both aspects). Our indices integrate local diversity and ecosystem intactness, as well as regional ecosystem intactness across the broader area supporting a similar natural assemblage of species to the location of interest. The western Amazon Basin, Central Africa and Southeast Asia capture the last strongholds of highest local biodiversity and ecosystem intactness worldwide, while the last refuges for unique biological communities whose habitats have been greatly reduced are mostly found in the tropical Andes and central Sundaland. There is 38 and 5% overlap in carbon and biodiversity hotspots, for proactive and reactive conservation, respectively. Alarmingly, only around 12 and 21% of these proactive and reactive hotspot areas, respectively, are formally protected. This highlights that a coupled approach is urgently needed to help achieve both climate and biodiversity global targets. This would involve (1) restoring and conserving unprotected, degraded ecosystems, particularly in the Neotropics and Indomalaya, and (2) retaining the remaining strongholds of intactness.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’.
Comparing the impact of future cropland expansion on global biodiversity and carbon storage across models and scenarios
Authors: Molotoks Amy , Henry Roslyn , Stehfest Elke , Doelman Jonathan , Havlik Petr , Krisztin Tamás , Alexander Peter , Dawson Terence P. , Smith Pete 
Published: January 2020

Land-use change is a direct driver of biodiversity and carbon storage loss. Projections of future land use often include notable expansion of cropland areas in response to changes in climate and food demand, although there are large uncertainties in results between models and scenarios. This study examines these uncertainties by comparing three different socio-economic scenarios (SSP1–3) across three models (IMAGE, GLOBIOM and PLUMv2). It assesses the impacts on biodiversity metrics and direct carbon loss from biomass and soil as a direct consequence of cropland expansion. Results show substantial variation between models and scenarios, with little overlap across all nine projections. Although SSP1 projects the least impact, there are still significant impacts projected. IMAGE and GLOBIOM project the greatest impact across carbon storage and biodiversity metrics due to both extent and location of cropland expansion. Furthermore, for all the biodiversity and carbon metrics used, there is a greater proportion of variance explained by the model used. This demonstrates the importance of improving the accuracy of land-based models. Incorporating effects of land-use change in biodiversity impact assessments would also help better prioritize future protection of biodiverse and carbon-rich areas.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’.
Combined vitrectomy, near-confluent endolaser, bevacizumab and cyclophotocoagulation for neovascular glaucoma
Authors: Strzalkowski P. , Strzalkowska A. , Göbel W. , Ach T. , Loewen N.A. , Hillenkamp J. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractPurposeEvaluated the safety and efficacy of an integrative surgical approach to neovascular glaucoma (NVG).MethodsConsecutive interventional case series of NVG with one-year follow-up. Eyes underwent pars plana vitrectomy, near-confluent panretinal photocoagulation, intravitreal bevacizumab, and transscleral cyclophotocoagulation. Phakic eyes underwent concomitant cataract surgery. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA, logMAR), intraocular pressure (IOP, mmHg), glaucoma medication score (GMS), visual analog pain scale (VAPS, 0-10) were recorded at baseline, and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Blind eyes were excluded.Results83 eyes of 83 patients (53 male, 30 female, mean age 74.6±11.6 years) were included and 53 completed a one-year follow-up. NVG underlying conditions included retinal vein occlusion (n=41), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (n=25), central retinal artery occlusion (n=10), and ocular ischemic syndrome (n=6). Mean IOP decreased postoperatively from 46.0±10.3 mmHg to 14.2±8.9 mmHg (p<0.001), GMS from 4.8 to 1.8 (p<0.001) and VAPS from 6 to 0. BCVA was unchanged. All postoperative complications had resolved at 1 month postop. 26 eyes did not require additional surgical treatment during follow-up.ConclusionsA single, comprehensive surgery session was able to significantly lower IOP, reduce GMS and control pain.
Rule learning in adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis shows altered patterns of activation
Authors: Orr Joseph M. , Lopez Jesus , Imburgio Michael J. , Pelletier-Baldeli Andrea , Bernard Jessica A. , Mittal Vijay A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe ability to flexibly apply rules to novel situations is a critical aspect of adaptive human behavior. While executive function deficits are known to appear early in the course of psychosis, it is unclear which specific facets are affected. Identifying whether rule learning is impacted at the early stages of psychosis is necessary for truly understanding the etiology of psychosis and may be critical for designing novel treatments. Therefore, we examined rule learning in healthy adolescents and those meeting criteria for clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis.Methods24 control and 22 CHR adolescents underwent rapid, high-resolution fMRI while performing a paradigm which required them to apply novel or practiced task rules.ResultsPrevious work has suggested that practiced rules rely on rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) during rule encoding and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during task performance, while novel rules show the opposite pattern. We failed to replicate this finding, with greater activity for novel rules during performance. Comparing the HC and CHR group, there were no statistically significant effects, but an effect size analysis found that the CHR group showed less activation during encoding and greater activation during performance. This suggests the CHR group may use less efficient reactive control to retrieve task rules at the time of task performance, rather than proactively during rule encoding.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that flexibility may be altered in the clinical high risk state, however, more data is needed to determine whether these deficits predict disease progression.
Family Presence and Audience Effects on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: Perceptions of Pre-hospital Emergency Caregivers in Turkey
Authors: Erbay Hasan 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTBackgroundThere have been many studies regarding family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and most of them are about emergency services or intensive care units. However, the issue has not been studied enough in terms of pre-hospital emergency medicine and the perspective of pre-hospital emergency caregivers.AimIn this study, it is aimed to present the perceptions and attitudes of a group of pre-hospital emergency care professionals to family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.MethodThe data for this descriptive research was collected between March-May 2015. The participants were 63 pre-hospital healthcares from a small city, Afyonkarahisar. The data was collected using a questionnaire and the responses summarized by using frequencies and percentages. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and each of the survey items.FindingsOf the respondents, for demographic findings of each groups by highest rates; 38 (60.32%) were male, 31 (49.21%) were paramedics and 37 (58.73%) were 1-3 years work experienced. 65.07% were strongly opposed to the family presence during CPR. Among the total sample, 71.41% of participants did not agree with that the presence of press members positively affects their performance.ConclusionThe presence of significant others during CPR affects pre-hospital emergency caregivers negatively. Disturbing effect on caregivers is related not only to the presence of family members or to other significant others but also related to the press and audience. Family presence causes health professionals to experience performance anxiety. Family presence and the audience effect are crucial issues that need more attention in pre-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Comprehensive assessment of PINK1 variants in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Krohn Lynne , Grenn Francis P. , Makarious Mary B. , Kim Jonggeol Jeffrey , Bandres-Ciga Sara , Roosen Dorien A. , Gan-Or Ziv , Nalls Mike A. , Singleton Andrew B. , Blauwendraat Cornelis 
Published: January 2020

AbstractMultiple genes have been associated with monogenic Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonism syndromes. Mutations in PINK1 (PARK6) have been shown to result in autosomal recessive early onset Parkinson’s disease. In the past decade, several studies have suggested that carrying a single heterozygous PINK1 mutation is associated with increased risk for Parkinson’s disease. Here we comprehensively assess the role of PINK1 variants in Parkinson’s disease susceptibility using several large datasets totalling 376,558 individuals including: 13,708 Parkinson’s disease cases and 362,850 controls. After combining these data, we did not find evidence to support a role for heterozygous PINK1 mutations as a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease.
A prospective evaluation of inter-rater agreement of routine medical records audits at a large general hospital in São Paulo, Brazil
Authors: Nunes Mafra Ana Carolina Cintra , Miraglia João Luiz , Basile Colugnati Fernando Antonio , Lourenço Padilha Gilberto Soares , Santos Tadeucci Renata Rafaella , Almeida Ederson , Bracco Mario Maia 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe quality of the patient’s medical records is strictly related to patient safety. Besides, its data are widely used in observational studies. However, the reliability of the information extracted from them is a matter of concern in audit processes to ensure inter-rater agreement (IRA). Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the IRA among members of the Patient’s Health Record Review Board (PHRRB), in routine auditing of medical records, and the impact of periodic discussions of results with raters.MethodsProspective longitudinal study conducted between July of 2015 and April of 2016 at Hospital Municipal Dr. Moysés Deutsch, a large public hospital in São Paulo. The PHRRB was composed of 12 physicians, 9 nurses and 3 physiotherapists, who audited medical records, monthly, with the number of raters changing throughout the study. It was carried out PHRRB meetings to reach a consensus on criteria that the members have to rate in the auditing process. It was created a review chart that raters should verify the registry of patient’s secondary diagnosis, chief complaint, history of presenting complaint, past medical history, medication history, physical exam and diagnostic testing. It was obtained the IRA every three months. The Gwet’s AC1 coefficient and Proportion of Agreement (PA) were calculated to evaluate the IRA for each item over time.ResultsThe study included 1884 items from 239 records with an overall full agreement among raters of 71.2%. A significant IRA increase by 16.5% (OR=1.17; 95% CI=1.03—1.32; p=0.014) was found in the routine PHRRB auditing, with no significant differences between the PA and the Gwet’s AC1, that showed a similar evolution over time. The PA decreased by 27.1% when at least one of the raters was absent from the review meeting (OR=0.73; 95% CI=0.53—1.00; p=0.048).ConclusionsMedical record quality has been associated with the quality of care and could be optimized and improved by targeted interventions. The PA and the Gwet’s AC1 are suitable agreement coefficients that are feasible to be incorporated in the routine of PHRRB evaluation process.
Neural stimulation and recording performance in human somatosensory cortex over 1500 days
Authors: Hughes Christopher L. , Flesher Sharlene N. , Weiss Jeffrey M. , Downey John E. , Collinger Jennifer L. , Gaunt Robert A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractObjectiveIntracortical microstimulation (ICMS) in somatosensory cortex can restore sensation to people who have lost it due to spinal cord injury or other conditions. One potential challenge for chronic ICMS is whether neural recording and stimulation can remain stable over many years. This is particularly relevant since the recording quality of implanted microelectrode arrays frequently experience degradation over time and stimulation safety has been considered a potential barrier to the clinical use of ICMS. Our objective is to evaluate stability of recordings on intracortical stimulated and non-stimulated electrodes in a human participant across a long period of implantation. Additionally, we would like to assess the ability to evoke sensations with ICMS over time.ApproachIn a study investigating intracortical implants for a bidirectional brain-computer interface, we implanted microelectrode arrays with sputtered iridium oxide tips in the somatosensory cortex of a human participant with a cervical spinal cord injury. We regularly stimulated through electrodes on these microelectrode arrays to evoke tactile sensations on the hand. Here, we quantify the stability of these electrodes in comparison to non-stimulated electrodes implanted in motor cortex over 1500 days in two ways: recorded signal quality and electrode impedances. Additionally, we quantify the perceptual stability of ICMS-evoked sensations with detection thresholds.Main resultsWe found that recording quality, as assessed by the number of electrodes with high-amplitude waveform recordings (> 100 µV), peak-to-peak voltage, noise, and signal-to-noise ratio, generally decreased over time on stimulated and non-stimulated electrodes. However, stimulated electrodes were much more likely to continue to record high-amplitude signals than non-stimulated electrodes. Interestingly, the detection thresholds for stimulus-evoked tactile sensations decreased over time from a median of 31.5 μA at Day 100 to 10.4 μA at Day 1500, with the most substantial changes occurring between Day 100 and Day 500.SignificanceThese results provide evidence that ICMS in human somatosensory cortex can be provided over long periods of time without deleterious effects on recording or stimulation capabilities. In fact, psychophysical sensitivity to stimulation improves over time and stimulation itself may promote more robust long-term neural recordings.
Drug susceptibility profiling of AustralianBurkholderiaspecies as models for developing melioidosis therapeutics
Authors: Amiss Anna S. , Webb Jessica R. , Mayo Mark , Currie Bart J. , Craik David J. , Henriques Sónia Troeira , Lawrence Nicole 
Published: January 2020

SynopsisBackgroundMelioidosis is a neglected tropical disease caused by the Gram-negative soil bacteriumBurkholderia pseudomallei.Current treatment regimens are prolonged and costly, and acquired antimicrobial resistance has been reported for all currently used antibiotics.ObjectivesEfforts to develop new treatments for melioidosis are hampered by the risks associated with handling pathogenicB. pseudomallei, which restricts research to facilities with Biosafety Level (BSL) 3 containment. Closely relatedBurkholderiaspecies that are less pathogenic can be investigated under less stringent BSL 2 containment. We hypothesized that near-neighbourBurkholderiaspecies could be used as model organisms for developing therapies that would also be effective againstB. pseudomallei.MethodsWe used microbroth dilution assays to compare the susceptibility of three AustralianB. pseudomalleiisolates and five near-neighbourBurkholderiaspecies –B. humptydooensis, B. thailandensis, B. oklahomensis, B territoriiandB. stagnalis –to antibiotics currently used to treat melioidosis, and general-use antibacterial agents. We also established the susceptibility profiles ofB. humptydooensisandB. territoriito 400 compounds from the Medicines for Malaria Venture Pathogen Box.ResultsFrom these comparisons, we observed a high degree of similarity in the susceptibility profiles ofB. pseudomalleiand near-neighbour speciesB. humptydooensis, B. thailandensis, B. oklahomensisandB. territorii.ConclusionsLess pathogenic AustralianBurkholderiaspeciesB. humptydooensis, B. thailandensis, B. oklahomensisandB. territoriiare excellent model organisms for developing potential new therapies for melioidosis.
To pool or not to pool samples for Sexually Transmitted Infections detection in Men who have Sex with Men? An evaluation of a new pooling method using the GeneXpert instrument in West-Africa
Authors: De Baetselier Irith , Vuylsteke Bea , Yaya Issifou , Dagnra Anoumou , Diandé Souba , Yaka Jeff , Kadanga Gérard , Traore Issa , Cuylaerts Vicky , Smet Hilde , Dah Elias , Mensah Ephrem , Anoma Camille , Koné Amadou , Dramane Diallo , Fayé-Ketté Hortense , Yeo Alain , Keita Bintou Dembélé , Laurent Christian , Crucitti Tania ,   for the CohMSM-PrEP study group
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackgroundMen who have sex with Men (MSM) using Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are at risk for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Therefore, PrEP services should include regular screening for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) at urethra, anorectum and pharynx. However, financial and logistic challenges arise in low resource settings. We assessed a new STI sample pooling method using the GeneXpert instrument among MSM initiating PrEP in West-Africa.MethodsUrine, anorectal and pharyngeal samples were pooled per individual for analysis. Unpooled samples were analyzed in case of an invalid or positive result of the pool, to identify the infection’s biological location. The results of two different pooling strategies were compared against a gold standard.ResultsWe found a prevalence of 14.5% for chlamydia and 11.5% for gonorrhea, with a predominance of infections being extra-genital (77.6%). The majority of infections were asymptomatic (88.2%). The pooling strategy with unpooling of invalid results only, had a sensitivity, specificity and agreement for CT of 95.4%, 98.7% and 0.93, respectively; and 92.3%, 99.2% and 0.93 with additional unpooling of positive results. For NG, these figures were 88.9%, 97.7% and 0.85 for testing of invalid results, and 88.9%, 96.7% and 0.81 with unpooling of positive results.ConclusionWest-African MSM have a high prevalence of extra-genital and asymptomatic STIs. The GeneXpert method provides an opportunity to move from syndromic towards etiological STI diagnosis in low income countries, as the platform is available in all African countries for tuberculosis testing. Pooling will reduce costs of triple site testing.