bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Repair of Acute Type-A Aortic Dissection in the Present Era: Outcomes and Controversies
Authors: Moeller Ellie , Nores Marcos , Stamou Sotiris C. 
Published: April 2020

AbstractAcute Type-A aortic dissection (AAAD) remains a surgical emergency with a relatively high operative mortality despite advances in medical and surgical management over the past three decades. In spite of the severity of disease, there is a paucity of studies reviewing key controversies surrounding AAAD repair and management. A systematic literature search was performed using Cochrane review and PubMed bibliography review. Abstracts were first reviewed for general pertinence and then articles were reviewed in full. Literature review indicates that use of moderate hypothermia and antegrade cerebral perfusion is a safe alternative to deep hypothermia. In hemodynamically stable patients, axillary cannulation may be substituted for femoral cannulation. With regard to the technical aspects of repair, preserving the aortic root whenever possible and performing the distal anastomosis with the open distal technique rather than with the clamp on is the preferred approach. In patients with a patent false lumen, close monitoring is indicated. As demonstrated by the literature, significant improvement of early and late mortality over the past years has occurred in patients presenting with AAAD. Repair of acute Type-A aortic dissection remains a challenge with high operative mortality; however, improvement of surgical techniques and management have resulted in improvement of early and late clinical outcomes.
Optical and electrical optimization of all-perovskite pin type junction tandem solar cells
Authors: Soldera Marcos , Koffman-Frischknecht Alejandro , Taretto Kurt 
Published: April 2020

Abstract
A definitive breakthrough of perovskite solar cells towards large scale industrialization is believed to be the demonstration of higher efficiencies than conventional silicon technology, suggesting the exploration of perovskite tandem cell configurations. Since high efficiency tandem solar cells require careful optimization of photoactive as well as contact and additional functional layers, we propose an optical-electrical model to obtain the optimum layer thicknesses and the attainable electrical output parameters of two-terminal perovskite-perovskite tandem solar cells. The optical model takes into account the coherent propagation of light through the layer stack comprising two perovskite semiconductors and the corresponding contact layers, while the electrical model assumes two series-connected analytical current/voltage equations for pin solar cells. This model allows to assess the impact of the main physical parameters on each perovskite layer without requiring the high specificity needed in more rigorous numerical simulations. Efficiencies above 34% are predicted considering available perovskites with non-optimum bandgap and contact materials already proven in efficient laboratory solar cells. The requisite to attain such efficiencies is that recombination at the interfaces between the perovskite and contact materials is kept low in both bottom and top cells. Furthermore, within the assumption of non-optimum bandgaps of currently available perovskites, the simulation results suggest that efficiencies around 37% are possible when adopting contact materials with smaller absorption, more adequate refraction indices, and lower resistivity.
Integrating Sleep, Physical Activity, and Diet Quality to Estimate All-Cause Mortality Risk: A Combined Compositional Clustering and Survival Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2006 Cycle
Authors: del Pozo Cruz Borja , McGregor Duncan E , del Pozo Cruz Jesús , Buman Matthew P , Palarea-Albaladejo Javier , Alfonso-Rosa Rosa M , Chastin Sebastien F M 
Published: April 2020

Abstract
We aimed to compare all-cause mortality risk across clusters of adults ≥50 years of age (n = 1,035) with common lifestyle behaviors patterns, enrolled in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005–2006). Log-ratio coordinates of 24-hour movement pattern and z scores of diet quality were used as input into a model-based clustering analysis. A Cox regression model was fitted to ascertain the all-cause mortality risk associated with each cluster. Participants were clustered into 4 groups: 1) a group characterized by a better physical activity profile and longer sleep duration coupled with an average diet quality (cluster 1); 2) a group with the poorest activity profile and shortest sleep but also the best diet quality (cluster 2); 3) another group featuring lower levels of activity of either intensity and higher levels of sedentary behavior and also a poor diet quality score (cluster 3); and 4) a group with an average diet quality and the best activity profile in the sample (cluster 4). A combination of a poorer diet and activity profile increased the prospective risk of all-cause mortality. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering the combination of diet quality and 24-hour movement patterns when developing interventions to reduce the risk of premature mortality.
Performance-Based Rankings and School Quality
Authors: Herresthal Claudia 
Published: April 2020

AbstractI study students’ inferences about school quality from performance-based rankings in a dynamic setting. Schools differ in location and unobserved quality; students differ in location and ability. Short-lived students observe a school ranking as a signal about schools’ relative qualities, but this signal also depends on the abilities of schools’ past intakes. Students apply to schools, trading off expected quality against proximity. Oversubscribed schools select applicants based on an admission rule. In steady-state equilibrium, I find that rankings are more informative if more able applicants are given priority in admissions or if students care less about distance to school.
Likelihood Ratios as Value Proposition for Diagnostic Laboratory Tests
Authors: Fierz Walter , Bossuyt Xavier 
Published: April 2020

AbstractThe clinical and health economic value of clinical laboratory diagnostics has been debated increasingly in recent years without resulting in practical recommendations for measuring the effectiveness of diagnostic tests. One way to achieve such a goal could be to enrich the mere data of laboratory test results with additional information about their likelihood ratios for diagnosis. The diagnostic significance of test results can be judged subjectively based on the experience of the treating physician or expressed objectively in the form of likelihood ratios. The provision of likelihood ratios by the laboratory would increase the impact of laboratory diagnostics in healthcare and thus have positive economic value. Consequently, likelihood ratios should be taken into account in reimbursement strategies.
Mortality for robotic- versus video-assisted lobectomy treated stage I non-small cell lung cancer patients
Authors: Cui Yong , Grogan Eric L , Deppen Stephen A , Wang Fei , Massion Pierre P , Bailey Christina E , Zheng Wei , Cai Hui , Shu Xiao-Ou 
Published: April 2020

Abstract

Background
To address the United States Food & Drug Administration’s recent safety concern on robotic surgery procedures, we compared short- and long-term mortality for stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated by robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgical lobectomy (RATS-L) versus video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical lobectomy (VATS-L).

Methods
From the National Cancer Database, we identified 18,908 stage I NSCLC patients who underwent RATS-L or VATS-L as the primary operation from 2010 to 2014. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for short- and long-term mortality using unmatched and propensity score-matched analyses. All statistical tests were two-sided.

Results
Patients treated by RATS-L had higher 90-day mortality than those with VATS-L (6.6% vs. 3.8%; P=.03) if conversion to open thoracotomy occurred. After excluding first-year observation, multiple regression analyses showed RATS-L was associated with increased long-term mortality, compared to VATS-L, in cases with tumor size ≤20 mm: HRs were 1.33 (95%CI: 1.15-1.55), 1.36 (95%CI: 1.17-1.58) and 1.33 (95%CI: 1.11-1.61) for unmatched, N:1 matched and 1:1 matched analyses, respectively, in the intention-to-treat analysis. Among patients without conversion to an open thoracotomy, the respective HRs were 1.19 (95%CI: 1.10-1.29), 1.19 (95%CI: 1.10-1.29) and 1.17 (95%CI: 1.06-1.29). Similar associations were observed when follow-up time started 18- or 24-months post-surgery. No statistically significant mortality difference was found for patients with tumor size &gt;20 mm. These associations were not related to case volume of VATS-L/RATS-L performed at treatment institutes.

Conclusions
Patients with small (≤20 mm) stage I NSCLC treated with RATS-L had statistically significantly higher long-term mortality risk than VATS-L after one-year post-surgery.
Classifying CMB time-ordered data through deep neural networks
Authors: Rojas Felipe , Maurin Loïc , Dünner Rolando , Pichara Karim 
Published: April 2020

ABSTRACT
The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) has been measured over a wide range of multipoles. Experiments with arcminute resolution like the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) have contributed to the measurement of primary and secondary anisotropies, leading to remarkable scientific discoveries. Such findings require careful data selection in order to remove poorly behaved detectors and unwanted contaminants. The current data classification methodology used by ACT relies on several statistical parameters that are assessed and fine-tuned by an expert. This method is highly time-consuming and band or season-specific, which makes it less scalable and efficient for future CMB experiments. In this work, we propose a supervised machine learning model to classify detectors of CMB experiments. The model corresponds to a deep convolutional neural network. We tested our method on real ACT data, using the 2008 season, 148 GHz, as training set with labels provided by the ACT data selection software. The model learns to classify time-streams starting directly from the raw data. For the season and frequency considered during the training, we find that our classifier reaches a precision of 99.8 per cent. For 220 and 280 GHz data, season 2008, we obtained 99.4 per cent and 97.5 per cent of precision, respectively. Finally, we performed a cross-season test over 148 GHz data from 2009 and 2010 for which our model reaches a precision of 99.8 per cent and 99.5 per cent, respectively. Our model is about 10x faster than the current pipeline, making it potentially suitable for real-time implementations.
Characterizing the dynamo in a radiatively inefficient accretion flow
Authors: Dhang Prasun , Bendre Abhijit , Sharma Prateek , Subramanian Kandaswamy 
Published: April 2020

ABSTRACTWe explore the magneto-rotational instability (MRI)-driven dynamo in a radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) using the mean field dynamo paradigm. Using singular value decomposition (SVD) we obtain the least-squares fitting dynamo coefficients α and γ by comparing the time series of the turbulent electromotive force and the mean magnetic field. Our study is the first one to show the poloidal distribution of these dynamo coefficients in global accretion flow simulations. Surprisingly, we obtain a high value of the turbulent pumping coefficient γ, which transports the mean magnetic flux radially outwards. This would have implications for the launching of magnetized jets that are produced efficiently in presence a large-scale poloidal magnetic field close to the compact object. We present a scenario of a truncated disc beyond the RIAF where a large-scale dynamo-generated poloidal magnetic field can aid jet launching close to the black hole. Magnitude of all the calculated coefficients decreases with radius. Meridional variations of αϕϕ, responsible for toroidal to poloidal field conversion, is very similar to that found in shearing box simulations using the ‘test field’ (TF) method. By estimating the relative importance of α-effect and shear, we conclude that the MRI-driven large-scale dynamo, which operates at high latitudes beyond a disc scale height, is essentially of the α − Ω type.
Blazar variability power spectra from radio up to TeV photon energies: Mrk 421 and PKS 2155−304
Authors: Goyal Arti 
Published: April 2020

ABSTRACT
We present the results of the power spectral density (PSD) analysis for the blazars Mrk 421 and PKS 2155−304, using good-quality, densely sampled light curves at multiple frequencies, covering 17 decades of the electromagnetic spectrum, and variability time-scales from weeks up to a decade. The data were collected from publicly available archives of observatories at radio from Owens Valley Radio Observatory, optical and infrared (B, V, R, I, J, H, and Kbands), X-rays from the Swift and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, high and very high energy (VHE) γ-rays from the Fermi and Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System as well as the High Energy Stereoscopic System. Our results are: (1) the power-law form of the variability power spectra at radio, infrared, and optical frequencies have slopes ∼1.8, indicative of random-walk-type noise processes; (2) the power-law form of the variability power spectra at higher frequencies, from X-rays to VHE  γ-rays, however, have slopes ∼1.2, suggesting a flicker noise-type process; and (3) there is significantly more variability power at X-rays, high and VHE γ-rays on time-scales ≲ 100 d, as compared to lower energies. Our results do not easily fit into a simple model, in which a single compact emission zone is dominating the radiative output of the blazars across all the time-scales probed in our analysis. Instead, we argue that the frequency-dependent shape of the variability power spectra points out a more complex picture, with highly inhomogeneous outflow producing non-thermal emission over an extended, stratified volume.
Mid-Term to Long-Term Outcomes After Total Cervical Disk Arthroplasty Compared With Anterior Diskectomy and Fusion
Authors: Byvaltsev Vadim A. , Stepanov Ivan A. , Riew Daniel K. 
Published: April 2020

Study Design:
This study was a meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Objective:
We investigated the mid-term to long-term outcomes of cervical disk arthroplasty (CDA) versus anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion (ACDF) for the surgical treatment of symptomatic cervical disk degenerative disease.

Summary of Background Data:
ACDF has been widely performed for the surgical treatment of symptomatic cervical disk degenerative disease. However, the loss of motion at the operated level has been hypothesized to accelerate adjacent-level disk degeneration. CDA was designed to preserve motion segments and decrease the risk/rate of adjacent segment degeneration. However, it is still uncertain whether mid-term to long-term outcomes after CDA is more effective and safer than those observed after ACDF.

Methods:
Two independent reviewers conducted a search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases for RCTs with a minimum of 48 months of follow-up. For dichotomous variables, the risk ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. For continuous variables, the standardized mean difference and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

Results:
Eleven RCTs, finally, were included. The rate of neurological success in the CDA group was not significantly different from that in the ACDF group. The pooled results show that patients who underwent CDA had a significantly greater improvement in Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Short Form 36 Health Survey physical component (SF-36 HSPC) than did those who underwent ACDF. No significant difference was found when comparing the neck and arm pain scores between the CDA and ACDF groups. The overall rate of secondary surgical procedures was significantly lower in patients who underwent CDA than in those who underwent ACDF. We observed similar overall rates of adverse events and adjacent segment degeneration when comparing the CDA group with the ACDF group.

Conclusions:
This meta-analysis provides evidence suggesting that CDA was superior to ACDF in terms of NDI score, SF-36 HSPC score, and low rate of secondary surgical procedures. Furthermore, no significant differences existed between the CDA group and the ACDF group in the neck pain visual analog scale score, arm pain visual analog scale score, the rate of neurological success, adjacent segment degeneration, and adverse events.

Level of Evidence:
Level 1.
Implicit motor learning within three trials
Authors: Ruttle Jennifer E. , ’t Hart Bernard Marius , Henriques Denise Y. P. 
Published: April 2020

AbstractIn motor learning, the slow development of implicit learning is traditionally taken for granted. While much is known about training performance during adaptation to a perturbation in reaches, saccades and locomotion, little is known about the time course of the underlying implicit processes during normal motor adaptation. Implicit learning is characterized by both changes in internal models and state estimates of limb position. Here, we measure both as reach aftereffects and shifts in hand localization in our participants, after every training trial. The observed implicit changes were near asymptote after only one to three perturbed training trials and were not predicted by a two-rate model’s slow process that is supposed to capture implicit learning. Hence, we show that implicit learning is much faster than conventionally believed, which has implications for rehabilitation and skills training.
Sulforhodamine B and exogenous surfactant effects on alveolar surface tension under acute respiratory distress syndrome conditions
Authors: Nguyen Tam L. , Perlman Carrie E. 
Published: April 2020

AbstractIn the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), alveolar surface tension,T, may be elevated. ElevatedTshould increase ventilation-induced lung injury. Exogenous surfactant therapy, intended to lowerT, has not reduced mortality. Sulforhodamine B (SRB) might, alternatively, be employed to lowerT. We test whether substances suspected of elevatingTin ARDS raiseTin the lungs and test the abilities of exogenous surfactant and SRB to reduceT. In isolated rat lungs, we micropuncture a surface alveolus and instill a solution of a purportedT-raising substance: control saline, cell debris, secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2), acid or mucins. We test each substance alone; with albumin, to model proteinaceous edema liquid; with albumin and exogenous surfactant; or with albumin and SRB. We determineT in situin the lungs by combining servo-nulling pressure measurement with confocal microscopy, and applying the Laplace relation. With control saline, albumin does not alterT, additional surfactant raisesTand additional SRB lowersT. The experimental substances, without or with albumin, raiseT. Excepting under aspiration conditions, addition of surfactant or SRB lowersT. Exogenous surfactant activity is concentration and ventilation dependent. Sulforhodamine B, which could be delivered intravascularly, holds promise as an alternative therapeutic.New and NoteworthyIn the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), lowering surface tension,T, should reduce ventilation injury yet exogenous surfactant has not reduced mortality. We show with directT-determination in isolated lungs that substances suggested to elevateTin ARDS indeed raiseT, and exogenous surfactant reducesT. Further, we extend our previous finding that sulforhodamine B (SRB) reducesTbelow normal in healthy lungs and show that SRB, too, reducesTunder ARDS conditions.
Modulation of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase-mediated salvage to promote diabetic wound healing
Authors: Young Guang-Huar , Lin Jiun-Tsai , Cheng Yi-Fang , Ho Chia-Fang , Kuok Qian-Yu , Hsu Ru-Chun , Liao Wan-Rou , Chen Chin-Chen , Chen Han-Min 
Published: April 2020

AbstractAdenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) is the key enzyme in purine salvage by the incorporation of adenine and phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate to provide adenylate nucleotide. The up-regulated APRT found in wound skin correlated with the demands of repair in diabetic mice. Administration of adenine on the wound of diabetic mice exhibited elevated ATP levels in organismic skin and accelerated wound healing. In vitro studies showed that APRT utilized adenine to rescue cellular ATP levels and proliferation against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative damage. LC-MS/MS-based analysis of total adenylate nucleotides in NIH-3T3 fibroblast showed that adenine addition enlarged the cellular adenylate pool, reduced the adenylate energy charge, and provided more AMP for the generation of ATP in further. These data indicated the role of APRT during diabetic wound healing by regulating the nucleotide pool after injury and demonstrated the improvement by topical adenine, which highlights its value as a promising agent in therapeutic intervention. Our study provided an explanation for the up- regulation of APRT in tissue repair and adenine supplement resulted in an enlargement of the adenylate pool for ATP generation.
The role of competitive strategy in the performance impact of exploitation and exploration quality management practices
Authors: Castillo Apraiz Julen , Richter Nicole Franziska , Matey de Antonio Jesus , Gudergan Siegfried 
Published: April 2020

PurposeThis study aims to advance understanding about quality management (QM) practices by clarifying how competitive strategy conditions the impacts of exploitative and explorative QM practices on performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply partial least squares structural equation modeling to data from a sample of German pharmaceutical firms.FindingsThe results show that the impact of exploitative and explorative QM practices on firm performance is contingent on the competitive strategy pursued. Explorative QM practices are significantly more relevant for firms following a differentiation strategy, whereas exploitative QM practices are significantly more relevant for cost leaders. Furthermore, for strategically ambidextrous firms that follow simultaneously a cost and a differentiation focus, the interplay of the two QM practices matters.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to understanding which kind of management practices, exploitative and/or explorative, have greater performance impacts under certain competitive strategy conditions.