bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ultrasound-guided Parasternal Intercostal Nerve Block for Postoperative Analgesia in Mediastinal Mass Resection by Median Sternotomy: a Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial
Authors: Chen Hexiang , Song Wenqin , Wang Wei , Peng Yawen , Zhai Chunchun , Yao Lihua , Xia Zhongyuan 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Ultrasound-guided parasternal intercostal nerve block is rarely used for postoperative analgesia, and its value remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided parasternal intercostal nerve block for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing median sternotomy for mediastinal mass resection.Methods: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial performed in Renmin Hospital, Wuhan University, enrolled 41 participants aged 18-65 years. The patients scheduled for mediastinal mass resection by median sternotomy were randomly assigned were randomized into 2 groups, and preoperatively administered 2 injections of ropivacaine (PSI) and saline (control) groups, respectively, in the 3rd and 5th parasternal intercostal spaces with ultrasound-guided (USG) bilateral parasternal intercostal nerve block. Sufentanil via patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) was administered to all participants postoperatively. Pain score, total sufentanil consumption, and postoperative adverse events were recorded within the first 24 hours.Results: There were 20 and 21 patients in the PSI and control group, respectively. The PSI group required 20% less PCIA-sufentanil compared with the control group (54.05 ± 11.14 μg vs. 67.67 ± 8.92 μg; P < 0.001). In addition, pain numerical rating scale (NRS) scores were significantly lower in the PSI group compared with control patients, both at rest and upon coughing within 24 postoperative hours. Postoperative adverse events were generally reduced in the PSI group compared with controls. Conclusions: USG bilateral parasternal intercostal nerve block effectively reduces postoperative pain and adjuvant analgesic requirement, with good patient satisfaction, therefore constituting a good option for mediastinal mass resection by median sternotomy.
Elevated mature monocytes in bone marrow accompanied with a higher IPSS-R score predicts a poor prognosis in myelodysplastic syndromes
Authors: Wu An , Gao Panpan , Wu Ningning , Shi Cong , Huang Zhenya , Rong Chunmeng , Sun Ye , Sheng Lixia , Ouyang Guifang , Mu Qitian 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) is a group of heterogeneousmyeloid clonal diseases originating from hematopoietic stem cells. Clinically, elevated mature monocyte is often observed, but its clinical value still remains unclear.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 235 MDS patients to explore the prognostic value of the percentage of mature monocyte in bone marrow (PMMBM). All patients were divided into elevated PMMBM group and the normal group by 6% PMMBM as the cut-off value. Results: Our results showed that PMMBM>6% was associated with inferior overall survival (OS) (P=0.007) and leukemia-free survival (LFS) (P=0.016) along with higher Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R) score (P<0.0001) and higher frequency of IDH2 mutation (P=0.001). Multivariate analyses showed that besides older age (>60 years), lower hemoglobin level (<10 g/dl), higher bone marrow blast percentage (>5%), poorer karyotype, elevated PMMBM was also an independent adverse prognostic factor for OS in MDS (P=0.049). Conclusions: These findings indicate that increased PMMBM accompanied with a higher IPSS-R score may predict a poor outcome and provide a novel evaluation factor for MDS patients especially when their karyotype analyses fail.
Inflammation and its association with oxidative stress in dogs with heart failure
Authors: Svete Alenka Nemec , Verk Barbara , Čebulj-Kadunc Nina , Salobir Janez , Rezar Vida , Petrič Aleksandra Domanjko 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background

Inflammation and oxidative stress can contribute to the development and progression of heart failure. This study aimed to investigate the association between inflammatory and oxidative stress markers in dogs with congestive heart failure (CHF). Associations between the disease severity marker N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress were also determined.
Results

Thirty-seven dogs with cardiovascular diseases (dilated cardiomyopathy (16 dogs), myxomatous mitral valve disease (21 dogs)) and ten healthy dogs were included in this prospective study. The patients were further divided into groups with (26) and without CHF (11). We found a significantly higher serum concentration of C-reactive protein (P = 0.012), white blood cell (P = 0.001), neutrophil (P = 0.001) and monocyte counts (P = 0.001) in patients with CHF compared to control dogs. The concentration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) was significantly higher in patients with CHF compared to patients without CHF (P = 0.030). In patients with CHF, TNF-α correlated positively with malondialdehyde (P = 0.014, r = 0.474) and negatively with glutathione peroxidase (GPX) (P = 0.026, r = − 0.453), and interleukin-6 correlated negatively with GPX (P = 0.046, r = − 0.412). NT -proBNP correlated positively with malondialdehyde (P = 0.011, r = 0.493). In patients without CHF none of the inflammatory and oxidative stress markers correlated significantly. Furthermore, in the group of all cardiac patients, GPX activity significantly negatively correlated with NT-proBNP (P = 0.050, r = − 0.339) and several markers of inflammation, including TNF–α (P = 0.010, r = − 0.436), interleukin-6 (P = 0.026, r = − 0.382), white blood cell (P = 0.032, r = − 0.369), neutrophil (P = 0.027, r = − 0.379) and monocyte counts (P = 0.024, r = − 0.386).
Conclusion

Inflammatory and oxidative stress markers are linked in canine CHF patients, but not in patients without CHF. These results suggest complex cross communication between the two biological pathways in advanced stages of CHF.
Knowledge towards Cervical Cancer Screening and Associated Factors among Urban Health Extension Workers at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Authors: Ararsa Tiruneh , Tadele Niguse , Ayalew Yohannes , Gela Debela 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is preventable and remains a leading cause of avoidable death among women in the world. In a developing country, the knowledge of screening for cervical cancer behavior still very low. However, little is known about the knowledge towards cervical cancer screening of urban health extension workers in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess knowledge towards cervical cancer screening and associated factors among urban health extension workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 312 urban health extension workers completed the survey in the Amharic language. Data collected using a structured questionnaire face to face interview. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted using SPSS version 26. Results: The mean age of the urban health extension workers was 20.41±3.73 years and 55.1% were married. The majority of the participants (75.6%) had diploma educational level, and 38.1% of them had 1-2 years of work experience. More than half (51.6%) of the participants had poor knowledge about cervical cancer screening. Participants with work experience of 5-6 years (AOR=4.32: 95% CI=1.71,10.94) and those who had a monthly income of 5,000-10,000 ETB (AOR=3.75: 95% CI=1.49,9.41) and greater than >10,000ETB (AOR=3.08: 95% CI =1.06, 8.98) were positively associated with knowledge towards cervical cancer screening among urban health extension workers, p-value< 0.05. Conclusion: This study indicated that the knowledge towards cervical cancer screening of urban health extension workers was inadequate. Urban health extension workers’ work experiences and monthly income were found to be independent predictors of the knowledge towards cervical cancer screening of respondents. Therefore, urban health extension workers with low work experiences and those with small monthly income could be targeted for cervical cancer screening information and training interventions.
Neuroprotective effect of a new free radical scavenger HL-008 against ischemia-reperfusion injury
Authors: Liu Yahong , Cheng Ying , Zhang Wei , Tian Hongqi 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Oxidative stress plays a critical role in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. We previously developed a powerful antioxidant, HL-008, and this study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective function of HL-008. The in vitro and in vivo efficacy of HL-008 was evaluated using a PC-12 cell oxidative stress model induced by hydrogen peroxide and a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion, respectively. The MTT assay was used to analyze cell viability. TTC staining, HE staining, immunofluorescence, western blot, and proteomics were used to evaluate the infarction volume, brain tissue morphology, apoptosis, inflammation, and related pathways. Indicators related to oxidative levels were mainly detected using commercial kits. HL-008 significantly reduced the cerebral infarction area induced by ischemia-reperfusion, improved the neurological score, alleviated oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain tissue, reduced glial cell activation, inhibited brain tissue apoptosis by influencing multiple signaling pathways, and had a neuroprotective effect. If HL-008 is successfully developed, it can significantly improve the quality of life of stroke patients.
Research on Speaker Recognition of DRNN in Different Noise Environment
Authors: lan chaofeng , Zhang yuanyuan , Zhao hongyun 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
This paper draws on the training method of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), By increasing the number of hidden layers of RNN and changing the layer activation function from traditional Sigmoid to Leaky ReLU on the input layer, the first group and the last set of data are zero-padded to enhance the effective utilization of data such that the improved reduction model of Denoise Recurrent Neural Network (DRNN) with high calculation speed and good convergence is constructed to solve the problem of low speaker recognition rate in noisy environment. According to this model, the random semantic speech signal with a sampling rate of 16 kHz and a duration of 5 seconds in the speech library is studied. The experimental settings of the signal-to-noise ratios are − 10dB, -5dB, 0dB, 5dB, 10dB, 15dB, 20dB, 25dB. In the noisy environment, the improved model is used to denoise the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and the Gammatone Frequency Cepstral Coefficents (GFCC), impact of the traditional model and the improved model on the speech recognition rate is analyzed. The research shows that the improved model can effectively eliminate the noise of the feature parameters and improve the speech recognition rate. When the signal-to-noise ratio is low, the speaker recognition rate can be more obvious. Furthermore, when the signal-to-noise ratio is 0dB, the speaker recognition rate of people is increased by 40%, which can be 85% improved compared with the traditional speech model. On the other hand, with the increase in the signal-to-noise ratio, the recognition rate is gradually increased. When the signal-to-noise ratio is 15dB, the recognition rate of speakers is 93%.
Exploration for olive fruit fly parasitoids across Africa - regional distributions and dominance of co-evolved parasitoids
Authors: Wang Xingeng , Walton Vaughn , Hoelmer Kim , Pickett Charles , Blanchet Arnaud , Straser Robert , Kirk Alan , Daane Kent 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, has been a key pest of olives in invaded regions Europe and North America. We conducted the largest modern exploration for the fly’s co-evolved parasitoids across Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa) and some of the fly’s expanded regions (Canary Islands, China, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Réunion Island and Tunisia). From Sub-Saharan regions, four native braconids, Psytallia lounsburyi, P. humilis, Utetes africanus and Bracon celer were collected. Principal Component Analysis showed that the regional dominance of these parasitoid species was related to climate niches, with P. lounsburyi the dominant species in the more tropical areas of Kenya, P. humilis dominant in the hot semi-arid areas of Namibia and U. africanus prevalent in Mediterranean climates of South Africa. Psytallia concolor was found in the Canary Islands, Moroccan and Tunisian, and the Afrotropical braconid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata in Réunion Island. In South Africa, seasonal monitoring of B. oleae showed consistently low infestation in unripe or ripe fruits. Multivariate analyses suggest that fruit maturity, seasonal climates and interspecific interactions shape the local parasitoid diversity that effectively regulates fly populations at low levels. The results are discussed with regard to ecological adaptations of co-evolved parasitoids, and how their adaptations impact biocontrol.
Development of an efficient tef-1α RNA hairpin structure to efficient management of lasiodiplodia theobromae
Authors: Nili Omid , Azizi Abdolbaset , Abdollahzadeh Jafar 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Lasiodiplodia theobromae is a serious worldwide-distributed plant pathogenic fungus with a wide host range in temperate and tropical climates. L. theobromae causes fruit rot, canker, and dieback of twigs in various woody plants. Protection of pruning wounds using fungicides is the prevalent strategy to management of the diseases caused by L. theobromae. Chemical control of plant diseases is not environmentally safe and the residues of fungicides are a threat to nature. Furthermore, genetic resources of resistance to plant diseases in woody plants are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of RNA silencing using an efficient hairpin structure based on tef-1α gene to management of L. theobromae. Hairpin structure of tef-1α was cloned in pFGC5941 binary vector and the recombinant construct was named pFGC-TEF-d. Transient expression of pFGC-TEF-d using Agrobacterium LBA4404 in grapevine (Bidaneh Sefid cv.) and strawberry cultivars (Camarosa and Ventana) led to reduction in disease progress. The disease reduction in grapevine was estimated by 55% and in strawberries cultivars Camarosa and Ventana by 58% and 93%, respectively. Here we introduce RNAi silencing using pFGC-TEF-d construct as an efficient strategy to management of L. theobromae for the first time.
Novel Color Orthogonal Moments-Based Image Representation and Recognition
Authors: He Bing , Liu Jun , Yang Tengfei , Xiao Bin , Peng Yanguo 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Inspired by quaternion algebra and the idea of fractional-order transformation, we propose a new set of quaternion fractional-order generalized Laguerre orthogonal moments (QFr-GLMs) based on fractional-order generalized Laguerre polynomials. Firstly, the proposed QFr-GLMs are directly constructed in Cartesian coordinate space, avoiding the need for conversion between Cartesian and polar coordinates; therefore, they are better image descriptors than circularly orthogonal moments constructed in polar coordinates. Moreover, unlike the latest Zernike moments based on quaternion and fractional-order transformations, which extract only the global features from color images, our proposed QFr-GLMs can extract both the global and local color features. This paper also derives a new set of invariant color-image descriptors by QFr-GLMs, enabling geometric-invariant pattern recognition in color images. Finally, the performances of our proposed QFr-GLMs and moment invariants were evaluated in simulation experiments of correlated color images. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate the value of the proposed QFr-GLMs and their geometric invariants in the representation and recognition of color images.
Dynamic Evaluation of Compound Ento-PB&nbsp;for the Repair of Mucosal Ulcer in Dogs With Acetic Acid-induced Experimental Colitis&nbsp;
Authors: Chen Jin-hu , Zhao Jian-ting , Yu Zheng-yong , Che Yi-hao , Wang Yu-jia , Lu Qian , Geng Fu-neng , Liu Heng , Zhang Cheng-gui , Wu Xiu-mei , Zhao Yu , He Miao 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Mucosal inflammation and ulcer play important roles in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis. As as traditional Chinese medicine compound composed of Periplaneta americana and Taraxacum mongolicum, Ento-PB is always prescribed for the treatment of ulcer and inflammatory diseases. As for the significant role of P. americana in terms of promoting mucosal healing, the compatibility of the anti-inflammatory drug T. mongolicum may enable Ento-PB to simultaneously play anti-inflammatory and promote mucosal healing effects on the treatment of UC. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential and possible mechanism of Ento-PB for UC by establishing an acetic acid-induced colitis model in dogs.Methods: Preliminary identification to the chemical components of compound Ento-PB was carried out through high performance liquid chromatography. A cross-bred dogs model of acetic acid-induced ulcerative colitis was established to evaluate the efficacy of compound Ento-PB. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines C-reactive protein (CRP), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in plasma were measured by carrying out enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: With the extension of treatment time, Ento-PB could effectively improve clinical symptoms of UC cross-bred dogs. Colonoscopy displayed that mucosal redness, swelling and congestion decreased gradually, and obviously repaired after mucosal injury. The intestinal texture was gradually clear, and the colonoscopy score gradually reduced. Histopathological examination revealed that the structure of colon was restored significantly, the infiltration of inflammatory cells was reduced, and the histological score was remarkably reduced. At the same time, the results of dynamic monitoring of inflammatory cytokines in plasma proved that Ento-PB can gradually down-regulate the activity of CRP, iNOS and COX-2, reduce the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-1β, and gradually restore anti-inflammatory and the expression level of cytokine IL-10.Conclusions: Ento-PB reduces the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines in a dose- and time-dependent manner and inflammation, improves colon tissue lesions and the repair of intestinal mucosa after injury, and effectively increases acetic acid-induced colon inflammation in UC cross-bred dogs.
Facilitators, Barriers, and Strategies for Health-system Guidance Implementation: A Protocol for a Critical Interpretive Synthesis
Authors: Wang Qi , Chu Xiajing , Zhu Ying , Kibria Mohammad Golam , Guo Qiangqiang , Belal Ahmed Atef , Li Yanfei , Zhang Jingyi , Chen Yaolong , Yang Kehu , Schünemann Holger J. , Wilson Michael G. , Lavis John N. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: As systematically developed statements about possible courses of action, health-system guidance (HSG) can assist with making decisions and developing policies to address problems or achieve goals in health systems. However, there are conceptual and methodological challenges related to HSG implementation due to the complexity of health systems and policymaking, the diversity of available evidence, and vast differences in contexts. To address these gaps, we aim to develop a theoretical framework for supporting the implementation of HSG as part of an effort to promote evidence-informed policymaking about health systems. Methods: To develop a theoretical framework about facilitators, barriers, and strategies to the implementation of HSG, we will apply a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) approach to synthesize the findings from a range of relevant literature. We will search eleven electronic databases and grey literature websites to identify relevant published and grey literature. We will check the references of included studies and papers recommended by experts. Finally, we will conduct purposive searches to identify literature that fills any identified conceptual gaps. We will use relevance and a general five-items quality criteria to assess included papers. A standardized form will be developed for extracting information. We will use an interpretive analytic approach to synthesize the findings from included papers, including the constant comparative method throughout the analysis. The literature screening and relevance assessment will be conducted by two independent reviewers and disagreements will be resolved through discussion. Data extraction and synthesis will be extracted by the principal investigator and the sample of extracted data will be checked by a second reviewer for consistency and accuracy. Discussion: A new theoretical framework about facilitators, barriers, and strategies for HSG implementation will be developed using the CIS approach. The HSG implementation framework could be widely used for different HSG with varied topics and in different contexts (including low-, middle-, high-income countries and settings). In later work we will develop a tool for supporting HSG implementation based on the theoretical framework. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRDXXXX (Pending)