bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Quantitative Molecular Imaging of Breast Microcalcification Composition using Photon-Counting Spectral Computed Tomography
Authors: Curtis Tyler E. , Roeder Ryan K. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractMammographic screening for breast cancer is unable to distinguish molecular differences between hydroxyapatite (HA) microcalcifications (μcals) that are associated with malignancy and calcium oxalate (CaOx) μcals that are benign. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate quantitative material decomposition of model breast μcals of clinically-relevant composition and size using spectral photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT). Model μcals composed of HA, CaOx, and dicalcium phosphate (DCP) were treated as materials containing spatially coincident elemental compositions of calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and oxygen (O). Elemental decomposition was performed using constrained maximum-likelihood estimation in the image domain. Images were acquired with a commercial, preclinical PCCT system (MARS Bioimaging) with five energy bins selected to maximize counts at low photon energies and spectral differences between Ca and P. Elemental concentrations of Ca and P within the each μcal composition were accurately identified and quantified with a root-mean-squared error < 12%. HA and CaOx μcals, < 1 mm is size, were accurately discriminated by the measured P content with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) > 0.9. The mole fraction of P, P/(Ca+P), was able to discriminate all three μcal compositions with AUC > 0.8 for μcals < 1 mm is size and AUC = 1 for μcals > 2 mm in size. The overall accuracy for the classification of μcal types and quantification of P was robust against different assumptions in the elemental decomposition calibration, but quantification of Ca was improved with assumptions that most accurately accounted for the molar volume of each element within μcal compositions. Thus, PCCT enabled quantitative molecular imaging of breast μcal composition, which is not possible with current clinical molecular imaging modalities.
Non-additive biotic interactions improve predictions of tropical tree growth and impact community size structure
Authors: Lai Hao Ran , Chong Kwek Yan , Yee Alex Thiam Koon , Mayfield Margaret M. , Stouffer Daniel B. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractGrowth in individual size or biomass is a key demographic component in population models, with wide-ranging applications from quantifying species performance across abiotic or biotic conditions to assessing landscape-level dynamics under global change. In forest ecology, the responses of tree growth to biotic interactions are widely held to be crucial for understanding forest diversity, function, and structure. To date, most studies on plant–plant interactions only examine the additive competitive or facilitative interactions between species pairs; however, there is increasing evidence of non-additive, higher-order interactions (HOIs) impacting species demographic rates. When HOIs are present, the dynamics of a multi-species community cannot be fully understood or accurately predicted solely from pairwise outcomes because of how additional species ‘interfere’ with the direct, pairwise interactions. Such HOIs should be particularly prevalent where species show nonlinear functional responses to resource availability and resource-acquisition traits themselves are density dependent. With this in mind, we used data from a tropical secondary forest—a system that fulfills both of these conditions—to build a ontogenetic diameter-growth model for individuals across ten woody-plant species. We allowed both direct and indirect interactions within communities to influence the species-specific growth parameters in a generalized Lotka–Volterra model. Specifically, indirect interactions entered the model as higher-order quadratic terms, i.e. non-additive effects of conspecific and heterospecific neighbour size on the focal individual’s growth. For the whole community and for four out of ten focal species, the model that included HOIs had more statistical support than the model that included only direct interactions, despite the former containing a far greater number of parameters. HOIs had comparable effect sizes to direct interactions, and tended to further reduce the diameter growth rates of most species beyond what direct interactions had already reduced. In a simulation of successional stand dynamics, the inclusion of HOIs lead to rank swaps in species’ diameter hierarchies, even when community-level size distributions remained qualitatively similar. Our study highlights the implications, and discusses possible mechanisms, of non-additive density dependence in highly diverse and light-competitive tropical forests.
Single-cell immune landscape of human recurrent spontaneous abortion
Authors: Wang Feiyang , Jia Wentong , Fan Mengjie , Li Zhilang , Liu Yongjie , Ma Yeling , Shao Xuan , Li Yu-xia , Li Rong , Tu Qiang , Wang Yan-Ling 
Published: September 2020

SUMMARYSuccessful pregnancy in placental mammals substantially depends on the establishment of maternal immune tolerance to the semi-allogenic fetus. Disorders in this process are tightly associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes including recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). However, an in-depth understanding of the disorders from the aspect of systematic and decidual immune environment in RSA remains largely lacking. In this study, we utilized single-cell RNA-sequencing to comparably analyze the cellular and molecular signatures of decidual and peripheral leukocytes in normal and RSA pregnancies at the early stage of gestation. Integrative analysis identified 22 distinct cell clusters in total, and a dramatic difference in leukocyte subsets and molecular properties in RSA cases was revealed. Specifically, the cytotoxic properties of CD8T effector, NK, and MAIT cells in peripheral blood indicated apparently enhanced immune inflammatory status, and the subpopulation proportions and ligand-receptor interactions of the decidual leukocyte subsets demonstrated preferential immune activation in RSA patients. The molecular features, spatial distribution and the developmental trajectories of five decidual NK (dNK) subsets were illustrated. The proportion of a dNK subset responsible for fetal protection was reduced, while the ratio of another dNK subset with cytotoxic and immune-active signature was significantly increased. Notably, a unique pro-inflammatory CD56+CD16+ dNK subpopulation was substantially accumulated in RSA decidua. These findings reveal a comprehensive cellular and molecular atlas of decidual and peripheral leukocytes in human early pregnancy, which provides an in-depth insight into the immune pathogenesis for early pregnancy loss.
Disparities in COVID-19 Related Mortality in U.S. Prisons and the General Population
Authors: Nowotny Kathryn M. , Cloud David , Wurcel Alysse G. , Brinkley-Rubinstein Lauren 
Published: September 2020

AbstractWe provide an analysis of COVID-19 mortality data to assess the potential magnitude of COVID-19 among prison residents. Data were pooled from Covid Prison Project and multiple publicly available national and state level sources. Data analyses consisted of standard epidemiologic and demographic estimates. A single case study was included to generate a more in-depth and multi-faceted understanding of COVID-19 mortality in prisons. The increase in crude COVID-19 mortality rates for the prison population has outpaced the rates for the general population. People in prison experienced a significantly higher mortality burden compared to the general population (standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 2.75; 95% confidence interval = 2.54, 2.96). For a handful of states (n = 5), these disparities were more extreme, with SMRs ranging from 5.55 to 10.56. Four states reported COVID-19 related death counts that are more than 50% of expected deaths from all-causes in a calendar year. The case study suggested there was also variation in mortality among units within prison systems, with geriatric facilities potentially at highest risk. Understanding the dynamic trends in COVID-19 mortality in prisons as they move in and out of “hotspot” status is critical.
The “Great Lockdown”: Inactive Workers and Mortality by Covid-19
Authors: Borri Nicola , Drago Francesco , Santantonio Chiara , Sobbrio Francesco 
Published: September 2020

AbstractIn response to the Covid-19 outbreak the Italian Government imposed an economic lockdown on March 22, 2020 and ordered the closing of all non-essential economic activities. This paper estimates the causal effects of this measure on mortality by Covid-19 and on mobility patterns. The identification of the causal effects exploits the variation in the active population across municipalities induced by the economic lockdown. The difference-in-differences empirical design compares outcomes in municipalities above and below the median variation in the share of active population before and after the lockdown within a province, also controlling for municipality-specific dynamics, daily-shocks at the provincial level and municipal unobserved characteristics. Our results show that the intensity of the economic lockdown is associated with a statistically significant reduction in mortality by Covid-19 and, in particular, for age groups between 40-64 and older (with larger and more significant effects for individuals above 50). Back of the envelope calculations indicate that 4,793 deaths were avoided, in the 26 days between April 5 to April 30, in the 3,518 municipalities which experienced a more intense lockdown. Several robustness checks corroborate our empirical findings.
The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on healthcare provision in Italy to non-COVID patients: a systematic review
Authors: Gianmarco Lugli , Maria Ottaviani Matteo , Annarita Botta , Guido Ascione , Alessandro Bruschi , Federico Cagnazzo , Lorenzo Zammarchi , Paola Romagnani , Tommaso Portaluri 
Published: September 2020

AbstractBackgroundItaly has been one of the countries most affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the regional healthcare system has had to quickly adapt its organization to meet the needs of infected patients. This has led to a drastic change in the routine management of non-communicable diseases with a potential long-term impact on patient health care. We investigated the management of non-COVID-19 patients across all medical specialties during the pandemic in Italy.MethodsA PRISMA guideline-based systematic review of the available literature was performed using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus, restricting the search to the main outbreak period in Italy (from 20 February to 25 June, 2020). We selected articles in English or Italian that detailed changes in the Italian hospital care for non-COVID-19 patients due to the pandemic. Our keywords included all medical specialties in combination with our geographical focus (Italy) and COVID-19.FindingsOf the 4643 potentially eligible studies identified by the search, 247 studies were included in the systematic review. A decrease in the management of emergencies in non-COVID patients was found together with an increase in mortality. Similarly, non-deferrable conditions met a tendency toward decreased diagnosis. All specialties have been affected by the reorganization of healthcare provision in the hub-and-spoke system and have benefited from telemedicine during the pandemic.InterpretationOur work highlights the changes taking place in the Italian public healthcare system in order to tackle the developing health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of our review may be useful to analyze future directions for the healthcare system in the case of new pandemic scenarios.
Anaemia Types and Severity in Patients aged 1 to 14 years at the Children’s Hospital of the University Teaching Hospitals in Zambia
Authors: Nkhoma Panji , Loti Patrick , Sinkala Musalula , Mantina Hamakwa , Mwaba Florence , Kafita Doris , Mwenechanya Oliver , Munsaka Sody 
Published: September 2020

AbstractAnaemia is a condition in which either the number of red blood cells or their oxygen-carrying capacity is insufficient to meet physiologic needs, which vary by age, sex, altitude, smoking and pregnancy status. The global estimate of childhood anaemia indicates that 293.1 million children are anaemic, and 28.5% of these children reside in sub-Sahara Africa. Also, anaemia is a significant public health problem with a high age-standardised death rate of 11.18 per 100,000 in Zambia.We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 392 anaemic children aged one year to 14 years. The study was conducted at the Children Hospital, University Teaching Hospitals, which is a third-level referral Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. The aim was to determine the most common type of anaemia, it’s severity, and the most affected age groups among children aged 1–14 years.Out of 392 participants, 219 (56%) were female. Maximum haemoglobin recorded was 10.9g/dl, a minimum of 2.0 g/dl, a mean of 7.8g/dl and a standard deviation of 1.86g/dl. 200 (51%) participants had severe anaemia, and 192 (49%) had moderate anaemia with none having mild anaemia. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the commonest (60%), followed by normochromic normocytic anaemia (26%) and the least was macrocytic anaemia in 14% of the participants. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the difference in mean haemoglobin concentration between age groups was not significant, F (7.94) = 0.83, p > 0.57. A Chi-squared test was used to determine the relationship between anaemia types (microcytic, hypochromic) and age groups. The interaction was not significant (Chi-Square (1) = 1.28, p-value = 0.73. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the most prevalent and all age groups were equally affected. We recommend the country’s National Food and Nutrition Commission to revisit the Zambian National Strategy and Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Vitamin A Deficiency and Anaemia of 1999 to 2004 and implement the measures stated in the strategic plan.
High-risk exposure without personal protective equipment and infection with SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers: results of the CoV-CONTACT prospective cohort
Authors: Tubiana Sarah , Burdet Charles , Houhou Nadhira , Thy Michael , Manchon Pauline , Blanquart François , Charpentier Charlotte , Guedj Jérémie , Alavoine Loubna , Behillil Sylvie , Leclercq Anne , Lucet Jean-Christophe , Yazdanpanah Yazdan , Attia Mikaël , Demeret Caroline , Rose Thierry , Bielicki Julia Anna , Bruijning-Verhagen Patricia , Goossens Herman , Descamps Diane , van der Werf Sylvie , Lina Bruno , Duval Xavier 
Published: September 2020

AbstractObjectiveWe aimed to estimate the risk of infection in Healthcare workers (HCWs) following a high-risk exposure without personal protective equipment (PPE).MethodsWe conducted a prospective cohort in HCWs who had a high-risk exposure to SARS-CoV-2-infected subject without PPE. Daily symptoms were self-reported for 30 days, nasopharyngeal swabs for SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR were performed at inclusion and at days 3, 5, 7 and 12, SARS-CoV-2 serology was assessed at inclusion and at day 30. Confirmed infection was defined by positive RT-PCR or seroconversion, and possible infection by one general and one specific symptom for two consecutive days.ResultsBetween February 5thand May 30th, 2020, 154 HCWs were enrolled within 14 days following one high-risk exposure to either a hospital patient (70/154; 46.1%) and/or a colleague (95/154; 62.5%). At day 30, 25.0% had a confirmed infection (37/148; 95%CI, 18.4%; 32.9%), and 43.9% (65/148; 95%CI, 35.9%; 52.3%) had a confirmed or possible infection. Factors independently associated with confirmed or possible SARS-CoV-2 infection were being a pharmacist or administrative assistant rather than being from medical staff (adjusted OR (aOR)=3.8, CI95%=1.3;11.2, p=0.01), and exposure to a SARS-CoV-2-infected patient rather than exposure to a SARS-CoV-2-infected colleague (aOR=2.6, CI95%=1.2;5.9, p=0.02). Among the 26 HCWs with a SARS-CoV-2-positive nasopharyngeal swab, 7 (26.9%) had no symptom at the time of the RT-PCR positivity.ConclusionsThe proportion of HCWs with confirmed or possible SARS-CoV-2 infection was high. There were less occurrences of high-risk exposure with patients than with colleagues, but those were associated with an increased risk of infection.
Seroprevalence of Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in US Blood Donors
Authors: Vassallo Ralph R. , Bravo Marjorie D. , Dumont Larry J. , Hazegh Kelsey , Kamel Hany 
Published: September 2020

AbstractBackgroundTo identify blood donors eligible to donate Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) Convalescent Plasma (CCP), a large blood center began testing for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the etiologic agent of COVID-19. We report the seroprevalence of total immunoglobulin directed against the S1 spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 in US blood donors.MethodsUnique non-CCP donor sera from June 1–July 31, 2020 were tested with the Ortho VITROS Anti-SARS-CoV-2 total immunoglobulin assay (positive: signal-to-cutoff (S/C) ≥1). Donor age, sex, race/ethnicity, ABO/RhD, education, and experience were compared to June and July 2019. Multivariate regressions were conducted to identify demographics associated with the presence of antibodies and with S/C values.ResultsUnique donors (n=252,882) showed an overall seroprevalence of 1.83% in June (1.37%) and July (2.26%), with the highest prevalence in northern New Jersey (7.3%). In a subset of donors with demographic information (n=189,565), higher odds of antibody reactivity were associated with non-Hispanic Native American/Alaskan (NH-NAA/A) and Black (NH-B), and Hispanic (H) race/ethnicity, age 18-64, middle school or lesser education, blood Group A, and never or non-recent donor status. In positive donors (n=2,831), antibody signal was associated with male sex, race/ethnicity (NH-NAA/A, NH-B and H) and geographic location.ConclusionsSeroprevalence remains low in US blood donors but varies significantly by region. Temporal trends in reactivity may be used to gauge the effectiveness of public health measures. Before generalizing these data from healthy donors to the general population however, rates must be corrected for false positive test results among low prevalence test subjects and adjusted to match the wider demography.
Intervention strategies for cystinuria: A systematic review
Authors: Bhatt Nirmal P. , Deshpande Aniruddh V. , Jones-Freeman Bernadette , Jiang Simon H. , Starkey Malcolm R. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractPurposeThis systematic review evaluates the current intervention strategies for cystinuria and assesses their quality and efficacy in order to determine the need to identify new and improved strategies for treatment.Materials and MethodsA literature search for interventions in cystinuria was conducted on key electronic databases for studies published between 1996 and 2019. Quality was assessed using Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS). Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were assessed for study design, patient characteristics and outcomes of interventions, including urinary cystine levels, stone-free rate and stone recurrence rate. A qualitative and critical analysis was performed.ResultsCommon treatment strategies for cystinuria include hydration and diuresis, alkali therapy and thiol-based therapeutics. Conservative therapies such as adequate hydration and urinary alkalization effectively increased urinary pH, decreased urinary cystine levels and the formation of cystine stones. Second line agents reported included thiols such as Tiopronin, D-penicillamine and captopril. Non-invasive surgical procedures were found to reduce operative trauma and preserved renal function. Combined treatment approaches with hydration and thiols after surgical procedures were associated with less stones and reduced stone recurrence rates. Patient compliance to interventions was often poor and contributed to recurrent cystine stones.ConclusionsDespite existing pharmacological intervention strategies, cystinuria patients frequently require surgical procedures. A more detailed understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis of cystinuria as well as an evaluation of patients on an individual basis may be beneficial in reducing the severity of cystinuria, by reducing stone recurrence and associated renal complications.
Factors associated with the spatial heterogeneity of COVID-19 in France: a nationwide ecological study
Authors: Gaudart J , Landier J , Huiart L , Legendre E , Lehot L , Bendiane MK , Chiche L , Petitjean A , Mosnier E , Kirakoya-Samadoulougou F , Demongeot J , Piarroux R , Rebaudet S 
Published: September 2020

AbstractLike in many countries and regions, spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has exhibited important spatial heterogeneity across France, one of the most affected countries so far.To better understand factors associated with incidence, mortality and lethality heterogeneity across the 96 administrative departments of metropolitan France, we thus conducted a geo-epidemiological analysis based on publicly available data, using hierarchical ascendant classification (HAC) on principal component analysis (PCA) of multidimensional variables, and multivariate analyses with generalized additive models (GAM).Our results confirm a marked spatial heterogeneity of in-hospital COVID-19 incidence and mortality, following the North East – South West diffusion of the epidemic. The delay elapsed between the first COVID-19 associated death and the onset of the national lockdown on March 17th, 2020, appeared positively associated with in-hospital incidence, mortality and lethality. Mortality was also strongly associated with incidence. Mortality and lethality rates were significantly higher in departments with older population, but they were not significantly associated with the number of intensive-care beds available in 2018. We did not find any significant association between incidence, mortality or lethality rates and incidence of new chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine dispensations in pharmacies either, nor between COVID-19 incidence and climate, nor between economic indicators and in-hospital COVID-19 incidence or mortality.This ecological study highlights the impact of population age structure, epidemic spread and transmission mitigation policies in COVID-19 morbidity or mortality heterogeneity.
Impact of obesity on gastroenterological diseases: a protocol for umbrella review of systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Kim Min Seo , Lee Inhyeok , Kwon Yeongkeun , Park Sungsoo 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTThe global prevalence of overweight and obesity among both men and women has risen as the global mean BMI has increased[1, 2]. As digestive diseases were known to have a close relation to metabolic and mechanical changes in obesity cohorts[3], several previous meta-analyses reported the association between obesity and gastroenterological diseases including cancers[4-9] and benign diseases[10-15] of the digestive system. Although some of the reported association between obesity and gastroenterological diseases might be causal, considerable heterogeneity, confounders, and bias could be included in the studies. We aim to conduct an umbrella review to evaluate the validity and strength of existing evidence for the impact of obesity on the risk and outcomes of gastroenterological (GI) diseases.