bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Outcomes of preterm infants born with marginal viability in a University Hospital in Thailand
Authors: Piriyapokin Nuttha , Chuthapisith Jariya , Emrat Kanuengnit , Nuntnarumit Pracha 
Published: January 2020

AimReports of the outcomes of infants born with marginal viability in developing countries are limited. This study aimed to determine the mortality rate and major disabilities of extremely preterm infants.MethodsA retrospective cohort with a prospective part of neurodevelopmental assessment was performed in infants born at 23–25+6 weeks' gestational age (GA) who received active resuscitation and were admitted to neonatal intensive care unit during 2005–2015. Surviving infants were recruited for neurodevelopmental assessment including cognition, gross motor and neurosensory disorders. Major disability was defined as one of the following: severe cognitive impairment, severe cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness.ResultsA total of 67 infants were enrolled (8, 22 and 37 in the 23, 24 and 25 weeks' GA groups, respectively). The overall mortality rate before discharge was 26%. Infants in the 23 and 24 weeks' GA groups had a significantly higher mortality rate than did those in the 25 weeks' GA group (42 vs. 10%). Of 50 survivors (aged 2–12 years), 3 and 2 had blindness and deafness, respectively. Cognitive function assessment in 37 survivors showed that 4 (11%) and 15 (40%) had severe and borderline cognitive impairment, respectively. Death or major disability was found in 100, 63 and 38% in the 23, 24 and 25 weeks' GA groups, respectively.ConclusionIn our centre, infants born at 23–24 weeks had a much higher chance of death or major disability than those born at 25 weeks' GA. Given such information, active management should be offered together with the family's involvement.
Complex patterns of differentiation and gene flow underly the divergence of aposematic phenotypes in Oophaga poison frogs
Authors: Ebersbach Jana , Posso‐Terranova Andrés , Bogdanowicz Steven , Gómez‐Díaz Mónica , García‐González Ma. Ximena , Bolívar‐García Wilmar , Andrés José 
Published: January 2020

AbstractHybridization and introgression can have complex consequences for both species evolution and conservation. Here, we investigated the origin and characteristics of a putative hybrid zone between two South American poison dart frog species, Oophaga anchicayensis and the critically endangered Oophaga lehmanni, which are heavily sought after on the illegal pet market. Using a combination of phenotypic (49 traits) and genomic (ddRADseq) data, we found that the putative hybrids are morphologically distinct from their parental species and confirmed genomic signatures of admixture in these populations. Several lines of evidence (hybrid indices, interspecific hybrid heterozygosity, genomic clines, comparisons with simulated hybrids and demographic modelling) support the conclusion that these populations are not comprised of early‐generation hybrids and thus, they probably did not arise as a result of illegal translocations associated with wildlife trafficking. Instead, they probably represent an independent lineage which has persisted through isolation and has only relatively recently re‐established gene flow with both parental species. Furthermore, we detected signals of differential introgression from parental species into these hybrid populations which suggest relaxed stabilizing selection on these aposematic colour morphs, potentially via context‐dependent female choice. These populations thus provide a fascinating window into the role of hybridization, isolation and female choice in the diversification of South American poison dart frogs. In addition, our results underline the importance of landscape conservation measures to protect, not only known localities of nominal species, but also the phenotypic and genomic variation harbored by admixed lineages which represent crucial repositories for the impressive diversity in this system.
A systematic review of digital badges in health care education
Authors: Noyes Julie A. , Welch Patrick M. , Johnson Jason W. , Carbonneau Kira J. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractObjectivesA challenge to competency‐based medical education is the verification of skill acquisition. Digital badges represent an innovative instruction strategy involving the credentialing of competencies to provide evidence for achievement. Despite increasing interest in digital badges, there has been no synthesis of the health care education literature regarding this credentialing strategy. The present authors proposed to address this gap by conducting the first systematic review of digital badges in health care education, to reveal pedagogical and research limitations, and to provide an evidence‐based foundation for the design and implementation of digital badges.MethodsA systematic search of the medical education literature from January 2008 to March 2019 was conducted using MEDLINE, Web of Science, CAB Abstracts and ScienceDirect. Included studies described digital badges in academic or professional medical education programmes in any health care profession. Included studies were appraised and quality assessment, methodological scoring, quantitative analysis and thematic extraction were conducted.ResultsA total of 1050 relevant records were screened for inclusion; 201 full text articles were then assessed for eligibility, which resulted in the identification of 30 independent papers for analysis. All records had been published since 2013; 77% were journal articles, and 83% involved academic health care education programmes. Scores for quality were relatively moderate. Thematic analyses revealed implications for the design and implementation of digital badges: learner characteristics may moderate student outcomes; the novelty effect can negate the value of digital badges, and educators may overcome instruction‐related challenges with digital badges using design and implementation strategies such as the creation of badging ecosystems.ConclusionsThe results indicate a growing momentum for the use of digital badges as an innovative instruction and credentialing strategy within higher education and provide evidence for outcomes within a learner‐centred, competency‐based model of medical education. There is a paucity of research to support the design and implementation of this credentialing system in health care education. The potential benefits necessitate future high‐quality analyses reporting institutional, patient and workplace‐based outcomes to evaluate the effectiveness and moderating conditions of digital badges.
T‐cell receptor diversity as a prognostic biomarker in melanoma patients
Authors: Charles Julie , Mouret Stephane , Challende Isabelle , Leccia Marie‐Therese , De Fraipont Florence , Perez Solene , Plantier Nadia , Plumas Joel , Manuel Manuarii , Chaperot Laurence , Aspord Caroline 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThere is increasing evidence that T‐cell receptor (TCR) repertoire diversity can be a predictive biomarker of immune responses in cancer patients. However, the characteristics of the T‐cell repertoire together with its prognostic significance in melanoma patients and impact on disease progression remain unknown. We investigated the combinatorial TCR repertoire diversity by semi‐quantitative multi‐N‐plex PCR in peripheral blood samples from 44 melanoma patients together with seven matched metastatic lymph nodes and explored its potential predictive value on clinical prognosis. The diversity was quantified by calculating both richness (number of different specificities) and evenness (relative abundance of the different specificities). Our results revealed that a higher TCR repertoire diversity in blood of patients was associated with a longer PFS, while divpenia (low repertoire diversity) was linked with poor prognosis. The diversity was significantly higher in patients undergoing late relapse and long survival compared to patients who progressed rapidly. Interestingly, the TCR repertoire diversity in tumor may have a potential prognostic value. Thus, our study highlights that the TCR repertoire diversity is a prognostic indicator of clinical outcome in patients with melanoma.
Setting precedent: Initial feature variability affects the subsequent precision of regularly varying sound contexts
Authors: Todd Juanita , Frost Jade , Fitzgerald Kaitlin , Winkler István 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe task of making sense of the world around us is supported by brain processes that simplify the environment. For example, repetitive patterns of sensory input help us to predict future events. This study builds on work, suggesting that sensory predictions are heavily influenced by first impressions. We presented healthy adults with a sequence comprising three sounds each differing from the other two on three dimensions; for simplicity A, B and C. These three sounds were arranged in blocks where two were equally common and one was rare, and the probabilities rotated creating three different block types (i.e., probabilities, A < B = C, B < A = C, C < A = B). Sequences included two of each block type with three versions—one starting with A < B = C, one with B < A = C and one with C < A = B. The common tone evoked responses in any given block were highly suppressed consistent with the auditory system predicting regular events, while the rare tone in each block elicited a larger response signaling a prediction error. However, results indicated that the auditory system assessed the configurations in which the two common tones were adjacent in space (within the three locations used) as less volatile compared to when they were highly separate. When the more volatile environment was encountered at the beginning of the sequence, all deviance‐related responses were significantly lower in amplitude. Results suggest that the representation of a stimulus configuration is affected by the estimate drawn from the initial context, expanding our notion of the nature of primacy bias to include powerful effects of initial feature variance.
Multiply Robust Causal Inference with Double-Negative Control Adjustment for Categorical Unmeasured Confounding
Authors: Shi Xu , Miao Wang , Nelson Jennifer C. , Tchetgen Tchetgen Eric J. 
Published: January 2020

SummaryUnmeasured confounding is a threat to causal inference in observational studies. In recent years, the use of negative controls to mitigate unmeasured confounding has gained increasing recognition and popularity. Negative controls have a long-standing tradition in laboratory sciences and epidemiology to rule out non-causal explanations, although they have been used primarily for bias detection. Recently, Miao and colleagues have described sufficient conditions under which a pair of negative control exposure and outcome variables can be used to identify non-parametrically the average treatment effect (ATE) from observational data subject to uncontrolled confounding. We establish non-parametric identification of the ATE under weaker conditions in the case of categorical unmeasured confounding and negative control variables. We also provide a general semiparametric framework for obtaining inferences about the ATE while leveraging information about a possibly large number of measured covariates. In particular, we derive the semiparametric efficiency bound in the non-parametric model, and we propose multiply robust and locally efficient estimators when non-parametric estimation may not be feasible. We assess the finite sample performance of our methods in extensive simulation studies. Finally, we illustrate our methods with an application to the post-licensure surveillance of vaccine safety among children.
Elicitation of prior probability distributions for a proposed Bayesian randomized clinical trial of whole blood for trauma resuscitation
Authors: Jansen Jan O. , Wang Henry , Holcomb John B. , Harvin John A. , Richman Joshua , Avritscher Elenir , Stephens Shannon W. , Truong Van Thi Thanh , Marques Marisa B. , DeSantis Stacia M. , Yamal Jose‐Miguel , Pedroza Claudia 
Published: January 2020

BACKGROUNDWhole blood trauma resuscitation is conceptually appealing and increasingly used but lacks evidence. A randomized controlled trial is needed but challenging to design. A Bayesian approach might be more efficient and more interpretable than a conventional frequentist design. We report the results on an elicitation meeting to create prior probability distributions to help develop such a trial.METHODSIn‐person expert elicitation meeting, based on Sheffield Elicitation Framework methodology. We used an interactive graphical tool to elicit the quantities of interest (24‐hour mortality and certainty required). Two rounds were conducted, with an intervening discussion of deidentified responses. Individual responses were aggregated into probability distributions.RESULTSFifteen experts participated. The pooled belief was that the median 24‐hour mortality of trauma patients with hemorrhagic shock treated with component therapy (the current standard of care) was 19% (95% credible interval [CrI], 6%‐45%), and the median 24‐hour mortality of those treated with whole blood, 16% (95% CrI, 5%‐39%). The pooled prior distribution for the relative risk had a median of 0.84 (95% CrI, 0.26‐3.1), indicating that the expert group had a 64% prior belief that whole blood decreases 24‐hour mortality compared to component therapy.CONCLUSIONSExperts had moderately strong beliefs that whole blood reduces the 24‐hour mortality of trauma patients with hemorrhagic shock. These data will assist with the design and planning of a Bayesian trial of whole blood resuscitation, which will help to answer a key question in contemporary transfusion practice.
Unemployment governance, labour cost and earnings management: Evidence from China
Authors: Beladi Hamid , Cheng Chen , Hu May , Yuan Yuan 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThis study investigates the effect of labour cost on earnings management based on the panel data of listed firms in China. We use the average wage of employees in firm level as the proxy for labour cost. Firms with rising labour cost become more likely to engage in negative earnings management to conceal profits or report losses. The effect becomes more significant in state‐owned enterprises, labour‐intensive enterprises, firms in high unemployment‐rate regions and firms with political connections. Further research finds that, under the institutional background of Chinese unemployment governance, firms get more government subsidies and tax preferences and reduce the excessive employment through negative earnings management. To a certain extent, this weakens the policy effect of unemployment governance. Overall, our conclusions are meaningful to the reform of unemployment governance, the standardisation of earnings management behaviour, the improvement of the government subsidy policies and the improvement of the efficiency of public resource allocation.
Potential of a coevolved rust fungus for the management of Himalayan balsam in the British Isles: first field releases
Authors: Ellison C A , Pollard K M , Varia S 
Published: January 2020

SummaryIn 2014, the rust fungus Puccinia komarovii var. glanduliferae, native to the foothills of the Himalayas from Kashmir to Western Nepal, became the first fungal agent to be released into Europe for the classical biological control of a non‐native weed. The target, Impatiens glandulifera or Himalayan balsam, is a prolific invader of riparian habitats in Europe and North America. During the period 2015–2018, a strain of the rust from India was released at a total of 36 sites, in 17 counties in England and Wales. There was limited field infection in 2015 and inoculation experiments conducted under controlled conditions revealed significant variation in the susceptibility of plant populations to the rust, with some showing immunity. Subsequently, a second strain of the rust from Pakistan was released in 2017 and was found to infect a different cohort of Himalayan balsam populations. The rust mass production methodology, and field inoculation and monitoring protocol, are detailed, and plants were tested for susceptibility to both rust strains prior to field release. Levels of foliar infection at selected sites in 2017 and 2018 are presented, as well as seedling infection rates in the spring of 2019. The results show that the rust is able to overwinter and establish populations in stands of Himalayan balsam in England. The issues involved with measuring the impact of the biological control agent are discussed.
Effect of Feedstock Properties on Extrusion of High Aspect Ratio Microbi-Lumen Tubes
Authors: Kuriakose Sandeep , Parenti Paolo , Annoni Massimiliano 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
The micro-extrusion of feedstock is a promising and emerging technology for manufacturing very high length to thickness aspect ratio metallic microcomponents which are not feasible for conventional metal processing methodologies or commonly used feedstock processing technologies. Extrusion of high aspect ratio microcomponents using metallic feedstock confronts the challenges of achieving a continuous extrusion without any breakage, the geometrical accuracy, surface finish and structural properties for the component which are required for the micro-application, during micro-extrusion process. The type of metallic powder, powder size, type of binder, and binder properties are very decisive in making the extrusion process feasible for the micro-application. The influence of feedstock properties on micro-extrusion of high aspect ratio microcomponents are still unknown in case of micro-extrusion of feedstock. In this research work, the effect of type of feedstock on micro-extrusion is studied by extruding microbi-lumen tubes using biocompatible steel feedstocks AISI316 L and 17-4PH at two different aging states (no aging and 1.5 years aging). The geometrical features of the extruded bi-lumen tubes, surface roughness and structural properties are analyzed using three-dimensional (3D) focus variation microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The analysis showed that feedstock type affects the feasibility of extrusion and geometrical size to a great extent. An average Sa roughness deviation from 1.73 to 4.57 μm was observed for feedstocks 17-4PH and AISI316 L. The study also confirms that binder properties and aging of the feedstocks also have to be taken into account for maintaining the surface finish and structural properties in case of metallic feedstock extrusion of high aspect ratio bi-lumen tubes.
On the Optimal Control of a Rolling Ball Robot Actuated by Internal Point Masses
Authors: Putkaradze Vakhtang , Rogers Stuart 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
The controlled motion of a rolling ball actuated by internal point masses that move along arbitrarily shaped rails fixed within the ball is considered. Application of the variational Pontryagin's minimum principle yields the ball's controlled equations of motion, a solution of which obeys the ball's uncontrolled equations of motion, satisfies prescribed initial and final conditions, and minimizes a prescribed performance index.
Analysis of Whirling Vibration Due to Morton Effect by Using Frequency Transfer Function Model in Journal Bearings
Authors: Yabui Shota , Chiba Jotaro , Suzuki Takafumi , Tomimatsu Shigeyuki , Inoue Tsuyoshi 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
In recent years, rotating machinery has been required to operate at high rotational speeds for high efficiency. However, with increase in the rotational speed, the rotating machinery may become unstable. One cause of unstable vibrations is the Morton effect that occurs in journal bearings. Thus, developing a mathematical model to predict the Morton effect is desirable to avoid the occurrence of such unstable vibrations. In this study, a model based on a frequency response that can quantitatively evaluate the Morton-effect-induced vibrations in rotating machinery supported by a journal bearing was developed. Experimental data were collected for modeling by using an experimental rig. Using the experimental data pertaining to the journal position in the journal bearing and temperature of the journal, a model for the Morton effect was established based on the frequency responses. From a control engineering viewpoint, the journal bearing was considered to be a proportional differential controller. In addition, the Morton-effect-induced vibrations were considered as a new bending mode of a rotating shaft, caused by thermal differences. Subsequently, the developed model was evaluated in the frequency domain. The characteristics of the vibrations, determined using the proposed model, exhibited good correlation with those corresponding to experimental data. The experimental data agreed well with the predicted results, and the results demonstrated the usefulness of the proposed method for predicting the Morton effect.
Numerical Study of the Behaviors of Ventilated Supercavities in a Periodic Gust Flow
Authors: Huang Renfang , Shao Siyao , Arndt Roger E. A. , Luo Xianwu , Wang Yiwei , Hong Jiarong 
Published: January 2020

Abstract
We conducted a numerical simulation of ventilated supercavitation from a forward-facing cavitator in unsteady flows generated by a gust generator under different gust angles of attack and gust frequencies. The numerical method is validated through the experimental results under specific steady and unsteady conditions. It is shown that the simulation can capture the degree of cavity shape fluctuation and internal pressure variation in a gust cycle. Specifically, the cavity centerline shows periodic wavelike undulation with a maximum amplitude matching that of the incoming flow perturbation. The cavity internal pressure also fluctuates periodically, causing the corresponding change of difference between internal and external pressure across the closure that leads to the closure mode change in a gust cycle. In addition, the simulation captures the variation of cavity internal flow, particularly the development internal flow boundary layer along the cavitator mounting strut, upon the incoming flow perturbation, correlating with cavity deformation and closure mode variation. With increasing angle of attack, the cavity exhibits augmented wavelike undulation and pressure fluctuation. As the wavelength of the flow perturbation approaches the cavity length with increasing gust frequency, the cavity experiences stronger wavelike undulation and internal pressure fluctuation but reduced cavitation number variation.
Age- and Sex-Related Differences in the Maximum Muscle Performance and Rate of Force Development Scaling Factor of Precision Grip Muscles
Authors: Corrêa Talyene G.C. , Donato Stephanie V.S. , Lima Kauê C.A. , Pereira Ronaldo V. , Uygur Mehmet , de Freitas Paulo Barbosa 
Published: January 2020

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of age and sex on the rate of force development scaling factor (RFD-SF) and maximum performance (i.e., maximum grip force [GFMax] and maximum rate of grip force development [RGFDMax]) of precision handgrip muscles. Sixty-four subjects, allocated in four groups according to their age and sex, were asked to hold an instrumented handle with the tip of the digits and perform two tests: maximum voluntary contraction and RFD-SF tests. In the maximum voluntary contraction test, GFMax and RGFDMax were assessed. In the RFD-SF test, the subjects generated quick isometric force pulses to target amplitudes varying between 20% and 100% of their GFMax. The RFD-SF and R2 values were obtained from the linear relationship between the peak values of the force pulses and the corresponding peak values of the rate of force development. Younger adults and males produced higher GFMax and RGFDMax and presented higher R2 and RFD-SF than older adults and females, respectively. No correlations between GFMax and RFD-SF and between RGFDMax and RFD-SF were observed.