bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Limited Care Offered to People with Epilepsy in Mwanza, Tanzania: Need for Intervention
Authors: Dika Haruna , Nkola Rahel , Iddi Shabani , Magwiza Catherine , Kongola Gilbert , Dekker Marieke 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorder worldwide. It is associated with high socioeconomic burden. Epilepsy successful treatment depends on appropriate diagnosis, correct choice of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) and adherence to the prescribed AEDs. While up to 90% of PWE in developing countries don’t get appropriate treatment, there is limited information about care offered to people with epilepsy (PWE) in Tanzania. Therefore, this study aimed to describe available care offered to PWE in Mwanza.Methods This was a cross sectional descriptive study which enrolled health Care workers (HCWs) who regularly treated PWE in five selected hospitals of Mwanza region. It aslo enrolled PWE (or their caretakers) attending outpatient clinic in these hospitals. HCWs completed self-administered questionnaires while PWE or caretakers were interviewed using structured Swahili translated questionnaires. Coded data were analyzed using SPSS.Results A total of 18 HCWs and 218 PWE (or their care takers) participated in this study. Among 18 HCWs who routinely diagnosed and treated PWE, nurses were majority and none was a neurologist. Only 2/18 (11.1%) HCWs reported to use investigations to confirm epilepsy diagnosis or explore its causes. 10/18 (55.6%) of HCWs reported that counseling was given to patients. However, counseling information was largely inadequate regarding the use of AEDs. The AEDs prescriptions were mainly dictated by drug availability and affordability to patients, rather than seizure types. 27/218 (12.4%) patients were given subtherapeutic and 109/218 (50.0%) sub-optimal doses, despite some had one or more seizures in the last 30 days. No follow-up investigation was done to any of the 218 participant patients. Ten (55.6%) HCWs did not stop AEDs medication to their patients while the rest stopped medication after varying periods of seizure free.Conclusion Most PWE in Mwanza were diagnosed and treated by nurses. Patients were not thoroughly investigated, counseled and followed-up, and had limited choice and accessibility to AEDs. Some patients particularly in district hospitals were under-medicated despite of seizure recurrence. There was discrepancy between hospitals and practitioners regarding withdraw of AEDs. We recommend short-course training about epilepsy management to the HCWs who diagnose and treat PWE regularly.
A multicenter study assessing the prevalence of germline genetic alterations in Chinese gastric cancer patients
Authors: Zhang Yinjie , Yang Yang , Wei Qing , Xu Ting , Zhang Xiaotian , Gao Jing , Zhu Changbin , Shao Di , Ke Yang , Tan Siyi , Liu Baorui , Zhang Jingdong , Chen Xiaobing , Wang Zhaojie , Qiu Meng , Wang Xin , Shen Lin , Wang Xicheng 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
BackgroundApproximately 10% of patients with gastric cancer (GC) have a genetic predisposition for the disease. To date, knowledge regarding germline mutations in predisposing genes in the Chinese GC population is scarce. The aim of this study was to determine the spectrum and distribution of predisposing gene mutations among Chinese GC patients known to have hereditary high-risk factors for cancer. Forty patients from among ten families were recruited from seven medical institutions in China. Next-generation sequencing was performed on 171 genes associated with cancer predisposition. For probands with pathogenic/likely pathogenic germline variants, Sanger sequencing was used to validate the variants in the probands and their relatives.ResultsSequencing indicated that 25% (10/40) of the patients carried a combined total of ten pathogenic or likely pathogenic germline variants involving nine different genes: CDH1 (n = 1), MLH1 (n = 1), MSH2 (n = 1), CHEK2 (n = 1), BLM (n = 1), EXT2 (n = 1), PALB2 (n = 1), ERCC2 (n = 1), and SPINK1 (n = 2). Five of these variants have not previously been reported. In addition, a total of 129 variants of uncertain significance were identified in 27 patients.ConclusionsThis study found that 25% of Chinese GC patients with hereditary high-risk factors have deleterious germline alterations. This result may indicate a unique genetic background of GC among Chinese patients.
Genetic diversity and population structure of Vernonia [Vernonia galamensis (Cass.) Less] populations from Ethiopia revealed by SSR markers
Authors: Egu Alemneh Mideksa , Dagne Kifle , Tesfaye Kassahun , Hu Xuebo 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
BackgroundVernonia (Vernonia galamensis) is a potential novel industrial crop due to high demand for its natural epoxidised oil, which can be used for the manufacturing of oleochemicals such as paints, plastic formulations (polyvinyl chloride), and pharmaceutical products. This study is initiated for the systematic and intensive genetic diversity assessment of V. galamensis accessions by SSR molecular markers to minimize the existing research gaps, provide a clue for germplasm conservation and further research. ResultsTwenty SSR markers were used for genetic diversity analyses of 150 individual V. galamensis accessions representing 10 populations, from which a total of 79 bands were identified across the entire loci. All the loci used showed high polymorphism that ranged from 0.50 to 0.96, while the mean observed heterozygosity (Ho) was 0.15 across all the 20 markers evaluated. The molecular variance analysis (AMOVA) showed significant variations despite low differentiation among populations which accounted for only 11% of the total variations. Populations clustering showed that the dendrogram and principal coordinate’s analysis roughly classified the 150 accessions into four groups. However, the Bayesian model-based clustering (STRUCTURE) grouped into 6 (K = 6) major gene pools. These analyses showed accessions collected from the same region of origin did not often grouped entirely together within a given major groups. ConclusionsThe result suggested that the markers applied to ten populations, in which East Showa and East Harerghe revealed higher genetic diversity, signaled that these areas are the hotspots for in-situ conservation of V. galamensis. In addition, the values of SSR markers such as heterozygosity, Shannon‘s index, polymorphic information content, and population clusters are important baseline information for future V. galamensis cultivation, breeding and genetic resource conservation endeavors in Ethiopia.
Effects of Kinesio Tape on kinesiophobia, balance and functional performance of athletes with post anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A Pilot Trial
Authors: Gholami Milad , Kamali Fahimeh , Shamsi MohammadBagher , Motealleh Alireza 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background: This study aimed to investigate the effects of Kinesio Taping on Kinesiophobia (fear of re-injury), balance and functional performance in athletes after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.Methods: This randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed on 20 athletes with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (mean age 32.35 ± 6.25 years) at the time of return to sport. The participants were selected using purposive sampling approach and they were randomly assigned to kinesio tape group (n=10) or placebo kinesio tape group (n=10). While subjects under taped, the following outcomes were measured at baseline, ten minutes after the intervention, and two days later. Kinesiophobia, balance, strength, functional / agility performance was assessed by Tampa Scale, Y balance test (YBT), single leg hops and 10-yard extremity functional test, respectively. Data were analyzed using the repeated measure analysis of variance (RMANOVA) in the SPSS v.23.Results: Two days after Kinesio taping, the difference between the scores obtained in the first and the second measurements for all variables in the kinesio tape group was not significantly different rather than placebo kinesio tape group (all P> 0.05). The difference between scores of the third and the first measurements of all variables was also not significantly different in the kinesio tape group compared to the placebo kinesio tape group (all P> 0.05). In the kinesio tape and placebo kinesio tape groups, RMANOVA indicated that the differences in all variables scores were significant over time (P < 0.001), Sidak post-hoc test indicated that the differences between the first and the second measurements, as well as between the first and the third measurements were significant (P < 0.001).Conclusion: Kinesio taping reduced kinesiophobia and provided more improvement in balance, agility and functional performance of athletes with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, but these effects were too small to be clinically worthwhile. Trial registration: This study was registered in the Iranian Clinical Trial Center with the code IRCT20190130042556N1, https://www.irct.ir/trial/37312, registered 12 February 2019. Keywords: Kinesio tape, Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, Fear, Physical Functional Performance, Balance
A Novel Computational Model for Predicting Potential LncRNA-Disease Associations based on Both Direct and Indirect Features of LncRNA-Disease Pairs
Authors: Xiao Yubin , Xiao Zheng , Feng Xiang , Chen Zhiping , Kuang Linai , wang lei 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
BackgroundAccumulating evidence has demonstrated that lncRNAs are closely associated with human diseases, and it is helpful for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases to get the relationships between lncRNAs and diseases. Due to the high costs and time complexity of traditional bio-experiments, in recent years, more and more computational methods have been proposed by researchers to infer potential lncRNA-disease associations. However, there exist all kinds of limitations in these prediction methods as well. ResultsIn this manuscript, a novel computational model named FVTLDA is proposed to infer potential lncRNA-disease associations. In FVTLDA, its major novelty lies in the integration of direct and indirect features related to lncRNA-disease associations such as the feature vectors of lncRNA-disease pairs and their corresponding association probability fractions, which guarantees that FVTLDA can be utilized to predict diseases without known related-lncRNAs and lncRNAs without known related-diseases. Moreover, FVTLDA neither relies solely on known lncRNA-disease nor requires any negative samples, which guarantee that it can infer potential lncRNA-disease associations more equitably and effectively than traditional methods. Additionally, to avoid the limitations of single model prediction techniques, we combine FVTLDA with the Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for data analysis respectively. Simulation experiment results show that FVTLDA with MLR can achieve reliable AUCs of 0.8909, 0.8936 and 0.8970 in 5-Fold Cross Validation, 10-Fold Cross Validation and Leave-One-Out Cross Validation, separately, while FVTLDA with ANN can achieve reliable AUCs of 0.8766, 0.8830 and 0.8807 in 5-fold CV, 10-fold CV, and LOOCV respectively. Furthermore, in case studies of gastric cancer, leukemia and lung cancer, experiment results show that there are 8, 8 and 8 out of top 10 candidate lncRNAs predicted by FVTLDA with MLR, and 8, 7 and 8 out of top 10 candidate lncRNAs predicted by FVTLDA with ANN, having been verified by recent literature. Moreover, comparing with the representative prediction model of KATZLDA, results illustrate that FVTLDA with MLR and FVTLDA with ANN can achieve the average case study contrast scores of 0.8429 and 0.8515 respectively, which are both higher than the average case study contrast score of 0.6375 achieved by KATZLDA.
Long non-coding RNA landscapes in benign and malignant thyroid neoplasms of distinct histological subtypes
Authors: Yakushina Valentina , Lavrov Alexander 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background: The main types of thyroid neoplasms, follicular adenoma (FA), follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), classical and follicular variants of papillary carcinoma (clPTC and fvPTC), anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC), are differ in the prognosis, rate of progression and metastatic behavior. It can be supposed that there are specific patterns of lncRNAs involved in the development of clinical and morphological features. The lncRNA landscapes within distinct benign and malignant histological variants of thyroid neoplasm are unknown. Methods: Comprehensive set of Microarray and RNA-Seq datasets was analyzed for the expression of lncRNAs in FA, FTC, fvPTC, clPTC and ATC. The potential biological functions were evaluated via coexpression and enrichment analysis. Results and conclusion: Abberant expression of lncRNA in FA, FTC, fvPTC, clPTC and ATC was established. The lncRNAs common for benign and malignant neoplasms, specific for papillary carcinomas, specific for clPTC, fvPTC and ATC are determined. The determined common and specific lncRNAs are found to be putatively involved into L1CAM interactions; processing of capped intron-containing pre-mRNA; Tryptophan metabolism; PCP/CE pathway and Beta-catenin independent WNT signaling; extracellular matrix organization and cell cycle and mitotic. The patterns of lncRNA expression in FA and FTC are appeared to be similar with no genes significantly differentially expressed within these subtypes. Previously known oncogenic and supressor lncRNAs (NR2F1-AS1, LINC00511, SLC26A4-AS1, CRNDE, LINC01116, RMST) are found aberrantly expressed in thyroid carcinomas. The findings enhance the understanding of lncRNA landscape in thyroid neoplasms and its role in thyroid cancer progression.
ATP measurement as an objective method to measure environmental contamination in 9 hospitals in the Dutch/Belgian border area.
Authors: Arkel Andreas van , Willemsen Ina , Kilsdonk-Bode Linda , Vlamings-Wagenaars Sindy , Oudheusden Anne van , De Waegemaeker Pascal , Leroux-Roels Isabel , Verelst Martine , Maas Evelien , Oosten Anita van , Willemse Patricia , Asselen Esther van , Klomp-Berens Ella , Franssen Karen , Cauwenberg Elise Van , Kluytmans Jan 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background The objective of this study was to determine the level of environmental contamination in hospitals in the Dutch/Belgian border area, using ATP measurements. Design A cross-sectional observational survey Methods Standardized ATP measurements were conducted in 9 hospitals on 32 hospital wards. Thirty pre-defined surfaces per hospital ward were measured with the 3M Clean Trace NG luminometer. Results are displayed in relative light units (RLU). RLU >1000 was considered as “not clean.” Differences in RLU values were compared between countries, hospitals, fomite groups and medical specialties. Results A total of 960 ATP measurements were performed, ranging from 60 up to 120 per hospital. The median RLU-value was 568 (range: 3 – 277,586) and 37.7% of the measurements were rated as not clean (RLU >1000). There were significant differences between countries, hospitals and fomite groups. Conclusion ATP measurements can be used as a more objective approach to determine the level of environmental contamination in hospitals. Significant differences in ATP levels were found between hospitals and between countries. Also, substantial differences were found between different fomite groups. These findings offer potential targets for improvement of cleanliness in healthcare facilities.
Laparoscopic adventitial renal sympathetic denervation in a canine neurogenic hypertension model
Authors: Shao Chunlai , Zhou Yan , You Tao , Xue Boxin , Stella Pieter R , Jiang TingBo , Miao Zhigang , Xu Longjiang , Yin Yin , Lan Longsheng , Rong Guang 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background Previous renal denervation (RDN) studies showed controversial results in reducing blood pressure. The aim of this study was to provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of laparoscopic renal denervation (LRA) in treating hypertension.Methods Sixteen Beagle dogs were randomly divided into RDN group (n = 12) and sham group (n = 4). Neurogenic hypertension was generated in all dogs via carotid artery route. LRA was performed in the RDN group, with sham operation performed as a control. Blood pressure (BP) changes were recorded at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after the procedure. Changes in serum creatinine (sCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and level of norepinephrine (NE) were analyzed. Histological changes of kidney and renal arteries were also evaluated.Results BP and NE levels were significantly elevated after hypertension induction (p < 0.01). Systolic and diastolic BP of RDN group were decreased by 15.5 mmHg and 7.3 mmHg (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0021, respectively) at the eighth week after LRA. Invasive systolic and diastolic BP of RDN group were significantly decreased by 14.5 mmHg and 15.3 mmHg (p < 0.0001). In addition, RDN group but not the sham group showed a significant decrease in NE levels (p < 0.001), while no significant changes in sCr and BUN were observed in both groups. Pathological examinations showed no discernible damage, tear, or dissection to the renal arteries in RND group.Conclusions LRA lowered BP and NE levels in hypertensive dogs without affecting renal artery morphology and kidney function.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization among HIV-infected patients in Taiwan: prevalence, molecular characteristics and associated factors with nasal carriage
Authors: Huang Yhu-Chering , Hsu Yi-Yu , Wu David , Hung Chien-Ching , Huang Shie-Shian , Yuan Fang-Hsueh , Lee Ming-Hsun , Huang Ching-Tai , Shie Shian-Sen , Huang Po-Yen , Yang Chien-Chang , Cheng Chun-Wen , Leu Hsieh-Shong , Wu Ting-Shu 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Objective: To evaluate nasal carriage and molecular characteristics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as the risk factors of MRSA colonization, in in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients in northern Taiwan.Methods: From September 2014 to November 2015, HIV-infected patients seeking outpatient care at four hospitals were eligible for this study. A nasal specimen was obtained from each subject for the detection of S. aureus and a questionnaire was completed by each subject. MRSA isolates once identified were characterized.Results: Of 553 patients surveyed, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) was detected in 119 subjects (21.5%) and MRSA in 19 subjects (3.4%). Female gender, injection drug use, smoking, hepatitis C virus carrier, cancer and antibiotic use within one year were positively associated with MRSA colonization. By multivariate analysis, only cancer (adjust odds ratio (aOR) 7.78, [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.909-31.731]) and antibiotic use within one year (aOR 3.89, [95% CI, 1.219-12.433]) were significantly associated with MRSA colonization. Ten isolates were characterized as sequence type (ST) 59/staphylococcal chromosome cassette (SCC) IV or VT, endemic community strains in Taiwan, four isolates as ST 8/SCCmec IV (USA 300) and one isolate as ST 239/SCCmec IIIA, a hospital strain.Conclusions: Nasal MRSA carriage in HIV-infected patients seeking outpatient care was low (3.4%) in northern Taiwan, and most of the colonizing isolates were genetically endemic community strains. Cancer and antibiotic use within one year were associated with MRSA colonization.
Informal and formal care among persons with dementia immediately before nursing home admission.
Authors: Ydstebø Arnt Egil , Benth J. Šaltytė , Bergh Sverre , Selbæk Geir , Vossius Corinna 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background: This study assesses the use of formal and informal care resources among home-dwelling persons with dementia during the last month before nursing home admission. It also describes providers of informal care and assesses clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with the use of care stratified by living situation. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 47 nursing homes in four counties in Norway from January 2012 to August 2014. The subjects were persons with dementia who were newly admitted to a permanent nursing home. The main outcome measures were the use of formal care and informal care by the family caregiver and the extended social network. Results: A total of 395 persons were included. The amount of informal care provided by the family caregiver was 141.9 hours (SD=227.4). Co-resident patients received five times more informal care than non-co-residents. Informal care from the extended social network was provided to 212 patients (53.7%) with a mean of 5.6 (SD=11.2) hours per month. Formal care was provided to 52.7% of the patients with a mean of 18.0 (SD=50.1) hours per month. Co-residency was significantly associated with more informal care, and the associations varied with respect to age, relation to the caregiver, and the caregiver’s working situation. Good/excellent general health was associated with less formal care. Conclusion: Persons with dementia on the verge of admission to a nursing home are mostly supported by the family caregiver, and the use of informal care is particularly high among co-residents. Future research should explore the unrealized care potential in extended social networks, as well as the potential for increasing the number of recipients and utilization of formal care services directed at persons with dementia and their caregivers in order to delay nursing home admission.