bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ultrasound 2020 – Diagnostics & Therapy: On the Way to Multimodal Ultrasound: Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS), Microvascular Doppler Techniques, Fusion Imaging, Sonoelastography, Interventional Sonography
Authors: Kloth Christopher , Kratzer Wolfgang , Schmidberger Julian , Beer Meinrad , Clevert Dirk Andre , Graeter Tilmann 
Published: July 2020

Background Ultrasound as a non-ionizing imaging procedure is one of the most important diagnostic procedures in everyday clinical practice. The technology is widely used. Due to constant technical innovations, sonographic procedures, such as contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), sonoelastography, new microvascular Doppler modalities and, as an example of interventional procedures, sonographically controlled microwave ablation (MWA), are becoming increasingly important in diagnostic imaging and interventional medicine alongside CT and MRI. However, this also requires greater expertise, specialization and qualification on the part of users.
Method This review article provides information about the range of technical innovations in ultrasound in recent years and describes the underlying technology, the clinical applications, and their diagnostic value. These are presented in the context of the current literature, explaining their advantages and disadvantages and their clinical value.
Results and Conclusion Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), microvascular Doppler modalities, fusion imaging and elastography complement B-scan ultrasound and conventional Doppler procedures for various problems. Microwave ablation (MWA) has a firm place as an ablative procedure for local tumor therapy in different organ systems and can be performed under ultrasound guidance. Thanks to new developments, the possibilities of ultrasound are now greater than ever. Knowledge of the technology, indications, and possible applications of newer procedures is essential for adequate patient care.
Key Points:
Citation Format
Tribulus Terrestris for Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Systematic Review
Authors: Martimbianco Ana Luiza Cabrera , Pacheco Rafael Leite , Vilarino Fábia Lima , Latorraca Carolina de Oliveira Cruz , Torloni Maria Regina , Riera Rachel 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Objective We performed a systematic review to assess the effectiveness and safety of Tribulus terrestris to treat female sexual dysfunction (FSD).
Data sources We performed unrestricted electronic searches in the MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE, LILACS, CINAHL, PsycINFO, WHO-ICTR, Clinicaltrials.gov and OpenGrey databases.
Selection of studies We included any randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared T. terrestris versus inactive/active interventions. After the selection process, conducted by two reviewers, 5 RCTs (n = 279 participants) were included.
Data collection Data extraction was performed by two reviewers with a preestablished data collection formulary.
Data synthesis Due to lack of data and clinical heterogeneity, we could not perform meta-analyses. The risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB) tool, and the certainty of evidence was assessed with Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE).
Results After 1 to 3 months of treatment, premenopausal and postmenopausal women randomized to T. terrestris had a significant increase in sexual function scores. Three months of treatment with T. terrestris showed a significant increase in the serum testosterone levels of premenopausal women. There was no report of serious adverse events, and none of the studies assessed health-related quality of life. The certainty of the evidence was very low, which means that we have very little confidence in the effect estimates, and future studies are likely to change these estimates.
Conclusion More RCTs are needed to support or refute the use of T. terrestris. The decision to use this intervention should be shared with the patients, and the uncertainties around its effects should be discussed in the clinical decision-making process.Number of Protocol registration in PROSPERO database: CRD42019121130
Infecção liquórica em drenagem ventricular externa: avaliação dos fatores de risco em 110 pacientes de uma única instituição
Authors: Larsen Itamar Cristian , Matias Jorge Eduardo F. , Moro Marlus S. , Maranha Luana A. , Araújo João Cândido 
Published: July 2020

AbstractObjectives External ventricular drainage (EVD) is extensively used in the neurosurgical practice with the purpose of monitoring the intracranial pressure and draining the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Despite its remarkable benefits, the technique is not devoid of risks, notably infections, which have been reported in up to 45% of the cases.Methods A retrospective analysis of the main risk factors for CSF infection in neurosurgical patients submitted to EVD at a single institution. We recorded and submitted to statistical comparison every risk factor for CSF infection present or absent in each of the 110 EVD patients enrolled, 53 males and 57 females, with an average age of 52.9 years, with different underlying neurosurgical conditions.Results Infection of the CSF occurred in 32 patients (29%). The rate of mortality related to CSF infection was of 18.7% (6 of 32). The risk factors that showed statistical significance for CSF infection in this series were: emergency surgery; length of stay at the intensive care unit (UCI); duration of the EVD; parenchymal and/or intraventricular hemorrhage; simultaneous infections; time of bladder catheterization; and the use of non-disposable adhesive drapes as part of the preparation of the wound area.Conclusions Infection of the CSF in patients submitted to EVD is multifactorial and a challenge in terms of prevention. Further studies proposing scores with blended risk factors may be useful to prevent and reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with CSF infection.
Historically rice-farming societies have tighter social norms in China and worldwide
Authors: Talhelm Thomas , English Alexander S. 
Published: July 2020

Significance
Rice is a highly interdependent crop. Rice required far more labor than dryland crops like wheat, and rice’s irrigation networks forced farmers to coordinate water use. To deal with these demands, rice villages developed strong norms for labor exchange. Using China as a natural test case, we compare nearby provinces that differ in rice and wheat, but share the same ethnicity, religion, and national government. In survey data from over 11,000 Chinese citizens, rice-farming provinces report tighter norms than traditionally wheat-growing provinces. Rice also predicts tight norms around the world. These data suggest that China’s agricultural past still shapes cultural differences in the modern day—and perhaps explain why East Asia has tighter social norms than the wheat-growing West.
An Unexpected Direction: Pauline Hopkins, S. E. F. C. C. Hamedoe, and “The Dark Races of the Twentieth Century”
Authors: Wong Edlie 
Published: July 2020

AbstractThis essay mines the earliest and most influential of African American literary magazines, the Boston-based Colored American Magazine (CAM) (1900–09), and its southern rival, the Atlanta-based Voice of the Negro (1904–07), to investigate how black writers and activists addressed the links between US race relations, settler colonialism, and empire in the Pacific. Spanning these two periodicals, Pauline Hopkins’s work as an editor and contributor grappled with the question of how to represent, engage, and position Black Americans in a globalizing world that was at once becoming more vast, heterogeneous, and integrated. Race remained a powerful structuring principle, yet it accrued dynamic new meanings in the era of new imperialism. Along the way, the essay investigates an unexplored facet of Hopkins’s authorship and compositional style. It speculates that Hopkins may have published under another as yet unattributed pen name. The enigmatic S. E. F. C. C. Hamedoe was one of the most significant of regular CAM contributors. Before disappearing from print history, Hamedoe published a four-year-long series that mapped the political contours of the emerging Global South, crisscrossing continents and oceans. The extensive connections between Hamedoe’s writings and Hopkins’s final known completed series beg the question of whether they were one and the same.The series allowed Hopkins to experiment with various epistemologies of racial and historical knowledge in her efforts to formulate an understanding of Blackness that, like the episodic serial form, was open-ended, accretive, and noncohesive.
Internal trophic pressure, a regulator of plant development? Insights from a stochastic functional–structural plant growth model applied to Coffea trees
Authors: Letort Véronique , Sabatier Sylvie , Okoma Michelle Pamelas , Jaeger Marc , de Reffye Philippe 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Background and Aims
Using internal trophic pressure as a regulating variable to model the complex interaction loops between organogenesis, production of assimilates and partitioning in functional–structural models of plant growth has attracted increasing interest in recent years. However, this approach is hampered by the fact that internal trophic pressure is a non-measurable quantity that can be assessed only through model parametric estimation, for which the methodology is not straightforward, especially when the model is stochastic.

Methods
A stochastic GreenLab model of plant growth (called ‘GL4’) is developed with a feedback effect of internal trophic competition, represented by the ratio of biomass supply to demand (Q/D), on organogenesis. A methodology for its parameter estimation is presented and applied to a dataset of 15 two-year-old Coffea canephora trees. Based on the fitting results, variations in Q/D are reconstructed and analysed in relation to the estimated variations in organogenesis parameters.

Key Results
Our stochastic retroactive model was able to simulate realistically the progressive set-up of young plant architecture and the branch pruning effect. Parameter estimation using real data for Coffea trees provided access to the internal trophic dynamics. These dynamics correlated with the organogenesis probabilities during the establishment phase.

Conclusions
The model can satisfactorily reproduce the measured data, thus opening up promising avenues for further applying this original procedure to other experimental data. The framework developed can serve as a model-based toolkit to reconstruct the hidden internal trophic dynamics of plant growth.
Estimated National and Regional Impact of COVID-19 on Elective Case Volume in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
Authors: Bregman Dana E , Cook Tracey , Thorne Charles 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Background
In efforts to help alleviate the strain placed on healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Society of Plastic Surgery recommended suspending elective procedures on March 19, 2020. When this suspension was enacted, it was unknown when cases would resume.

Objectives
This analysis aimed to estimate the regional economic impact of the pandemic specifically with regards to elective, aesthetic surgical procedures. As knowledge regarding the effects of the pandemic has grown, the authors then evaluated the accuracy of the projected estimates compared with actual events.

Methods
Utilizing the American Society of Plastic Surgery 2018 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, regional case volume and surgeons’ fees were obtained for the top 5 aesthetic procedures. Models developed by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation were employed to estimate the anticipated duration of suspension by utilizing the date that no ventilators would be required for COVID-19 patients. This duration was utilized to calculate the volume of cases that would not occur.

Results
These estimates predict up to 1.3 billion fewer dollars will be collected in surgeons’ fees, representing a 20% loss compared with 2018. The South Atlantic region is predicted to have the greatest number of operating room days lost. However, the Mountain and Pacific regions are estimated to have the greatest loss in case volume and surgeons’ fees.

Conclusions
The cumulative impact of the pandemic on life, society, and the economy is tremendous. This analysis may help guide surgeons’ responses during and after the crisis.
Discerning novel drug targets for treating Mycobacterium avium ss. paratuberculosis-associated autoimmune disorders: an in silico approach
Authors: Garg Anjali , Singhal Neelja , Kumar Manish 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) exhibits ‘molecular mimicry’ with the human host resulting in several autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease (CD), etc. The conventional therapy for autoimmune diseases includes immunosuppressants or immunomodulators that treat the symptoms rather than the etiology and/or causative mechanism(s). Eliminating MAP–the etiopathological agent might be a better strategy to treat MAP-associated autoimmune diseases. In this case study, we conducted a systematic in silico analysis to identify the metabolic chokepoints of MAP’s mimicry proteins and their interacting partners. The probable inhibitors of chokepoint proteins were identified using DrugBank. DrugBank molecules were stringently screened and molecular interactions were analyzed by molecular docking and ‘off-target’ binding. Thus, we identified 18 metabolic chokepoints of MAP mimicry proteins and 13 DrugBank molecules that could inhibit three chokepoint proteins viz. katG, rpoB and narH. On the basis of molecular interaction between drug and target proteins finally eight DrugBank molecules, viz. DB00609, DB00951, DB00615, DB01220, DB08638, DB08226, DB08266 and DB07349 were selected and are proposed for treatment of three MAP-associated autoimmune diseases namely, T1DM, CD and multiple sclerosis. Because these molecules are either approved by the Food and Drug Administration or these are experimental drugs that can be easily incorporated in clinical studies or tested in vitro. The proposed strategy may be used to repurpose drugs to treat autoimmune diseases induced by other pathogens.
Role of R-spondin 2 in arterial lymphangiogenesis and atherosclerosis
Authors: Singla Bhupesh , Lin Hui-Ping , Chen Alex , Ahn WonMo , Ghoshal Pushpankur , Cherian-Shaw Mary , White Joseph , Stansfield Brian K , Csányi Gábor 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Aims
Impaired lymphatic drainage of the arterial wall results in intimal lipid accumulation and atherosclerosis. However, the mechanisms regulating lymphangiogenesis in atherosclerotic arteries are not well understood. Our studies identified elevated levels of matrix protein R-spondin 2 (RSPO2) in atherosclerotic arteries. In this study, we investigated the role of RSPO2 in lymphangiogenesis, arterial cholesterol efflux into lesion-draining lymph nodes (LNs) and development of atherosclerosis.

Methods and results
The effect of RSPO2 on lymphangiogenesis was investigated using human lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) in vitro and implanted Matrigel plugs in vivo. Cellular and molecular approaches, pharmacological agents, and siRNA silencing of RSPO2 receptor LGR4 were used to investigate RSPO2-mediated signalling in LEC. In vivo low-density lipoprotein (LDL) tracking and perivascular blockade of RSPO2–LGR4 signalling using LGR4-extracellular domain (ECD) pluronic gel in hypercholesterolemic mice were utilized to investigate the role of RSPO2 in arterial reverse cholesterol transport and atherosclerosis. Immunoblotting and imaging experiments demonstrated increased RSPO2 expression in human and mouse atherosclerotic arteries compared to non-atherosclerotic controls. RSPO2 treatment inhibited lymphangiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. LGR4 silencing and inhibition of RSPO2–LGR4 signalling abrogated RSPO2-induced inhibition of lymphangiogenesis. Mechanistically, we found that RSPO2 suppresses PI3K-AKT-endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) signalling via LGR4 and inhibits activation of the canonical Wnt-β-catenin pathway. ApoE−/− mice treated with LGR4-ECD developed significantly less atherosclerosis compared with control treatment. Finally, increased arterial lymphatic vessel density and improved lymphatic drainage of fluorescently labelled LDL to deep cervical LNs were observed in LGR4-ECD-treated mice.

Conclusion
These findings demonstrate that RSPO2 inhibits lymphangiogenesis via LGR4 and downstream impairment of AKT-eNOS-nitric oxide signalling. These results may also inform new therapeutic strategies to promote lymphangiogenesis and improve cholesterol efflux from atherosclerotic arteries.
Recurrent spontaneous coronary artery dissection in a middle-aged male athlete patient: a case report
Authors: Fitzpatrick John J , Noman Awsan , Ryan Nicola , Dawson Dana K 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Background
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare condition, mainly affecting young women. Cases in male patients are rare, especially with recurrence.

Case summary
A 59-year-old male non-elite athlete presented as an ST-elevation myocardial infarction following a 5-km run. Urgent coronary angiogram was normal, but cardiac magnetic resonance showed a myocardial infarction. Four years later, he experienced similar chest pain with no ST-elevation on electrocardiogram and a mild troponin rise. Urgent coronary angiogram was initially thought normal but subsequent close inspection confirmed a Type 2b SCAD. Cardiac magnetic resonance showed a small additional myocardial infarction contained within an area of acute myocardial oedema.

Discussion
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is more common in young women compared to men and recurrent dissection has been rarely reported in the literature. Cohort studies have shown the rate of recurrent dissection to be 13–16%, but most of the patients in these cohorts are female. Poor data exists on the best treatment of SCAD in men, but given the presence of intramural thrombus, dual antiplatelet therapy was discontinued on the presumption that it may exacerbate an intramural bleeding process.
Healthcare system performance and socioeconomic inequalities in hearing and visual impairments in 17 European countries
Authors: Maharani Asri , Dawes Piers , Nazroo James , Tampubolon Gindo , Pendleton Neil ,   the SENSE-Cog WP1 group
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Background
Socioeconomic status is associated with health status among older adults, including hearing and vision impairments, and healthcare system performance is an important consideration in examining that association. We explored the link between a country’s healthcare system performance and the hearing and visual impairments of its people in Europe.

Methods
This study enrolled 65 332 individuals aged 50+ from 17 countries participating in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe Wave 6. We used latent class analysis to identify groups of countries based on six domains of healthcare system performance. We then performed multiple logistic regressions to quantify the association between socioeconomic status and hearing and visual impairments adjusted for demographic and other co-variates; finally, we compared the patterns of observed associations in each of the country groups.

Results
The latent class analysis separated countries into three groups based on the performance of their healthcare systems: poor, moderate and high. Respondents in countries with moderate and poor healthcare performance were more likely to experience hearing and visual impairment than those in countries with high healthcare performance. With respect to hearing and visual impairments, wealth gradients at the individual level varied among countries in different healthcare performance groups, with less wealth associated with worse hearing and seeing only in the countries with moderate and poor healthcare performance.

Conclusion
The relationships between wealth and hearing and visual impairments differ among countries with different healthcare performance.
Multifrequency beam-based migration in inhomogeneous media using windowed Fourier transform frames
Authors: Tuvi Ram , Zhao Zeyu , Sen Mrinal K 
Published: July 2020

SUMMARY
We consider the problem of inhomogeneous subsurface imaging using beam waves. The formulation is based on the ultra-wide-band phase-space beam summation (UWB-PS-BS) method, which is structured upon windowed Fourier transform (WFT) expansions of surface fields and sources. In this approach, the radiated field is given as a superposition of beam propagators. Here, we use the beams first for expanding the surface sources and the scattered data, and then for imaging where we use the backpropagation and cross-correlation of beams. This formulation enables a target oriented imaging approach, where we take into account only pairs of source and receiver beams that pass near a region of interest, and thus extract only the relevant data arriving from this region. It also leads to a priori sparse representation of both the beam domain data and the beam propagators. A physical cogent for the beam domain data is obtained under the Born approximation. The beam domain data can be approximated as the local interaction between the beam propagators and the medium reflectivity. Thus, one may interpret the beam domain data as a local Snell’s law reflection in the direction defined by the vector summation of the incident beam and backpropagated beam ray parameters. We demonstrate a physical model for the beam domain data and the salient features of the proposed imaging algorithm using numerical examples.