bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Throughput interventions to reduce emergency department crowding: A systematic review
Authors: Grant Kiran L. , Bayley Conrad J. , Premji Zahra , Lang Eddy , Innes Grant 
Published: November 2020

ABSTRACTObjectiveEmergency department (ED) throughput efficiency is largely dependent on staffing and process, and many operational interventions to increase throughput have been described.MethodsWe systematically searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to find studies describing the impact of throughput strategies on ED length of stay and left without being seen rates. Two independent reviewers screened studies, evaluated quality and risk of bias, and stratified eligible studies by intervention type. We assessed statistical heterogeneity using the chi-squared statistic and the I-squared (I2) statistic, and pooled results where appropriate. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed.ResultsNinety-four (94) studies met inclusion criteria (Cohen's k = 0.7). Most were observational, five were determined to be low quality (Cohen's k = 0.6), and almost all reported modest reductions in length of stay and left without being seen rates, although there was substantial variability within and between intervention types. Fast track and patient streaming interventions showed the most consistent reduction in length of stay and left without being seenrates. Shifting high-level providers to triage appears effective and generally cost neutral. Evidence for enhanced testing strategies and alternative staffing models was less compelling.ConclusionsIntroducing a fast track and optimizing processes for important case-mix groups will likely enhance throughput efficiency. Expediting diagnostic and treatment decisions by shifting physician-patient contact to the earliest possible process point (e.g., triage) is an effective cost-neutral strategy to increase flow. Focusing ED staff on operational improvement is likely to improve performance, regardless of the intervention type.
Tales from New York City, the pandemic epicenter: A case study of COVID-19 impact on clinical and translational research training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Authors: Fattah Layla , Peter Inga , Sigel Keith , Gabrilove Janice L. 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
In the spring of 2020, New York City was at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA, resulting in disruption of TL1 and KL2-mentored Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). The impact of the pandemic on trainees’ research productivity and career plans was explored using a qualitative survey. Participant responses were analyzed using coding and categorization. Six key themes emerged: redirection of effort, reduced access to people, lack of access to resources, home as a workplace, future uncertainty, and stress and anxiety. Insight into participant experiences allows for the development of support strategies and resources to address trainee needs.
On Λ-Fleming–Viot processes with general frequency-dependent selection
Authors: Gonzalez Casanova Adrian , Smadi Charline 
Published: November 2020

AbstractWe construct a multitype constant-size population model allowing for general selective interactions as well as extreme reproductive events. Our multidimensional model aims for the generality of adaptive dynamics and the tractability of population genetics. It generalises the idea of Krone and Neuhauser [39] and González Casanova and Spanò [29], who represented the selection by allowing individuals to sample several potential parents in the previous generation before choosing the ‘strongest’ one, by allowing individuals to use any rule to choose their parent. The type of the newborn can even not be one of the types of the potential parents, which allows modelling mutations. Via a large population limit, we obtain a generalisation of$\Lambda$-Fleming–Viot processes, with a diffusion term and a general frequency-dependent selection, which allows for non-transitive interactions between the different types present in the population. We provide some properties of these processes related to extinction and fixation events, and give conditions for them to be realised as unique strong solutions of multidimensional stochastic differential equations with jumps. Finally, we illustrate the generality of our model with applications to some classical biological interactions. This framework provides a natural bridge between two of the most prominent modelling frameworks of biological evolution: population genetics and eco-evolutionary models.
Rate of convergence for traditional Pólya urns
Authors: Janson Svante 
Published: November 2020

AbstractConsider a Pólya urn with balls of several colours, where balls are drawn sequentially and each drawn ball is immediately replaced together with a fixed number of balls of the same colour. It is well known that the proportions of balls of the different colours converge in distribution to a Dirichlet distribution. We show that the rate of convergence is $\Theta(1/n)$ in the minimal $L_p$ metric for any $p\in[1,\infty]$, extending a result by Goldstein and Reinert; we further show the same rate for the Lévy distance, while the rate for the Kolmogorov distance depends on the parameters, i.e. on the initial composition of the urn. The method used here differs from the one used by Goldstein and Reinert, and uses direct calculations based on the known exact distributions.
Non-Comparability with respect to the convex transform order with applications
Authors: Arab Idir , Hadjikyriakou Milto , Oliveira Paulo Eduardo 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn the literature of stochastic orders, one rarely finds results characterizing non-comparability of random variables. We prove simple tools implying the non-comparability with respect to the convex transform order. The criteria are used, among other applications, to provide a negative answer for a conjecture about comparability in a much broader scope than its initial statement.
On a new stochastic model for cascading failures
Authors: Lee Hyunju 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn this paper, to model cascading failures, a new stochastic failure model is proposed. In a system subject to cascading failures, after each failure of the component, the remaining component suffers from increased load or stress. This results in shortened residual lifetimes of the remaining components. In this paper, to model this effect, the concept of the usual stochastic order is employed along with the accelerated life test model, and a new general class of stochastic failure models is generated.
State-level differences in public vocational rehabilitation closures among transition-aged youth with traumatic brain injury
Authors: Degeneffe Charles Edmund , Tucker Mark , Ahonle Zaccheus James 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis study aimed to understand state-level variation in participation in the State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation (State VR) System in the United States among transition-aged youth (persons under the age of 22 years at application for State VR services) with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Federal Fiscal Year 2016. A weighted least squares regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship of state-level population size, unemployment rate, and per-capita income to the number of State VR closures in each state for transition-aged youth with TBI. Population size and per-capita income significantly predicted closures, while there was no relationship between closures and unemployment rate. Research is needed that further explores and explains state-level disparities in participation among transition-aged youth with TBI.
The role of bioturbation-driven substrate disturbance in the Mesozoic brachiopod decline
Authors: Manojlovic Marko , Clapham Matthew E. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBrachiopods dominated the seafloor as a primary member of the Paleozoic fauna. Despite the devastating effects of the end-Permian extinction, the group recovered during the early Mesozoic only to gradually decline from the Jurassic to today. This decline likely had multiple causes, including increased predation and bioturbation-driven substrate disruption, but the role of changing substrate is not well understood. Given the importance of substrate for extant brachiopod habitat, we documented Mesozoic–Cenozoic lithologic preferences and morphological changes to assess how decreasing firm-substrate habitat may have contributed to the brachiopod decline. Compared with bivalves, Mesozoic brachiopods occurred more frequently and were disproportionately abundant in carbonate lithologies. Although patterns in glauconitic or ferruginous sediments are equivocal, brachiopods became more abundant in coarser-grained carbonates and less abundant in fine-grained siliciclastics. During the Jurassic, brachiopod species rarely had abraded beaks but tended to be more convex with a high beak, potentially consistent with a non-analogue lifestyle resting on the seafloor. However, those highly convex morphotypes largely disappeared by the Cenozoic, when more terebratulides had abraded beaks, suggesting closer attachment to hard substrates. Rhynchonellides disproportionately declined to become a minor component of Cenozoic faunas, perhaps because of less pronounced morphological shifts. Trends in lithologic preferences and morphology are consistent with bioturbation-driven substrate disruption, with brachiopods initially using firmer carbonate sediments as refugia before adapting to live primarily attached to hard surfaces. This progressive habitat restriction likely played a role in the final brachiopod decline, as bioturbating ecosystem engineers transformed benthic habitats in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
Scaling Data from Multiple Sources
Authors: Enamorado Ted , López-Moctezuma Gabriel , Ratkovic Marc 
Published: November 2020

AbstractWe introduce a method for scaling two datasets from different sources. The proposed method estimates a latent factor common to both datasets as well as an idiosyncratic factor unique to each. In addition, it offers a flexible modeling strategy that permits the scaled locations to be a function of covariates, and efficient implementation allows for inference through resampling. A simulation study shows that our proposed method improves over existing alternatives in capturing the variation common to both datasets, as well as the latent factors specific to each. We apply our proposed method to vote and speech data from the 112th U.S. Senate. We recover a shared subspace that aligns with a standard ideological dimension running from liberals to conservatives, while recovering the words most associated with each senator’s location. In addition, we estimate a word-specific subspace that ranges from national security to budget concerns, and a vote-specific subspace with Tea Party senators on one extreme and senior committee leaders on the other.
Mapping Political Communities: A Statistical Analysis of Lobbying Networks in Legislative Politics
Authors: Kim In Song , Kunisky Dmitriy 
Published: November 2020

AbstractWe propose a new methodology for inferring political actors’ latent memberships in communities of collective activity that drive their observable interactions. Unlike existing methods, the proposedBipartite Link Community Model(biLCM) (1) applies to two groups of actors, (2) takes into account that actors may be members of more than one community, and (3) allows a pair of actors to interact in more than one way. We apply this method to characterize legislative communities of special interest groups and politicians in the 113th U.S. Congress. Previous empirical studies of interest group politics have been limited by the difficulty of observing the ties between interest groups and politicians directly. We therefore first construct an original dataset that connects the politicians who sponsor congressional bills with the interest groups that lobby on those bills based on more than two million textual descriptions of lobbying activities. We then use thebiLCMto make quantitative measurements of actors’ community memberships ranging from narrow targeted interactions according to industry interests and jurisdictional committee membership to broad multifaceted connections across multiple policy domains.
Context-specific abnormalities of the central executive network in first-episode psychosis: relationship with cognition
Authors: Sarpal Deepak K. , Tarcijonas Goda , Calabro Finnegan J. , Foran William , Haas Gretchen L. , Luna Beatriz , Murty Vishnu P. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBackgroundCognitive impairments, which contribute to the profound functional deficits observed in psychotic disorders, have found to be associated with abnormalities in trial-level cognitive control. However, neural tasks operate within the context of sustained cognitive states, which can be assessed with ‘background connectivity’ following the removal of task effects. To date, little is known about the integrity of brain processes supporting the maintenance of a cognitive state in individuals with psychotic disorders. Thus, here we examine background connectivity during executive processing in a cohort of participants with first-episode psychosis (FEP).MethodsThe following fMRI study examined background connectivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), during working memory engagement in a group of 43 patients with FEP, relative to 35 healthy controls (HC). Findings were also examined in relation to measures of executive function.ResultsThe FEP group relative to HC showed significantly lower background DLPFC connectivity with bilateral superior parietal lobule (SPL) and left inferior parietal lobule. Background connectivity between DLPFC and SPL was also positively associated with overall cognition across all subjects and in our FEP group. In comparison, resting-state frontoparietal connectivity did not differ between groups and was not significantly associated with overall cognition, suggesting that psychosis-related alterations in executive networks only emerged during states of goal-oriented behavior.ConclusionsThese results provide novel evidence indicating while frontoparietal connectivity at rest appears intact in psychosis, when engaged during a cognitive state, it is impaired possibly undermining cognitive control capacities in FEP.
Suicidal/self-harm behaviors among cancer patients: a population-based competing risk analysis
Authors: Men Vera Yu , Emery Clifton Robert , Lam Tai-Chung , Yip Paul Siu Fai 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBackgroundCancer patients had elevated risk of suicidality. However, few researches studied the risk/protective factors of suicidal/self-harm behaviors considering the competing risk of death. The objective of this study is to systematically investigate the risk of suicidal/self-harm behaviors among Hong Kong cancer patients as well as the contributing factors.MethodsPatients aged 10 or above who received their first cancer-related hospital admission (2002–2009) were identified and their inpatient medical records were retrieved. They were followed for 365 days for suicidal/self-harm behaviors or death. Cancer-related information and prior 2-year physical and psychiatric comorbidities were also identified. Competing risk models were performed to explore the cumulative incidence of suicidal/self-harm behavior within 1 year as well as its contributing factors. The analyses were also stratified by age and gender.ResultsIn total, 152 061 cancer patients were included in the analyses. The cumulative incidence of suicidal/self-harm behaviors within 1 year was 717.48/100 000 person-years. Overall, cancer severity, a history of suicidal/self-harm behaviors, diabetes and hypertension were related to the risk of suicidal/self-harm behaviors. There was a U-shaped association between age and suicidal/self-harm behaviors with a turning point at 58. Previous psychiatric comorbidities were not related to the risk of suicidal/self-harm behaviors. The stratified analyses confirmed that the impact of contributing factors varied by age and gender.ConclusionsCancer patients were at risk of suicidal/self-harm behaviors, and the impacts of related factors varied by patients' characteristics. Effective suicide prevention for cancer patients should consider the influence of disease progress and the differences in age and gender.
Health literacy and age-related health-care utilisation: a multi-dimensional approach
Authors: Gerich Joachim , Moosbrugger Robert , Heigl Christoph 
Published: November 2020

AbstractInefficient health service utilisation puts pressure on health systems and may cause such negative individual consequences as over-medicalisation or exacerbation of health problems. While previous research has considered the key relevance of health literacy (HL) for efficient use of health services, the results of that research have been somewhat inconclusive. Possible reasons for diverging results of prior research may be grounded in different measurement concepts of HL and the disregarding of age-specific effects. This paper analyses the association between individuals’ HL typology based on a two-dimensional concept and indicators of health service utilisation measured by registered data covering the number of doctor visits and medication costs. Our results confirm a significant interaction effect between age and HL typology. The age-related increase in health service utilisation is strongest for individuals with the combination of high subjective HL but low health-related knowledge, while the smallest increase is for individuals with the constellation of high subjective HL combined with high health-related knowledge. Individuals with specific constellations of HL (that is, individuals with high subjective HL but low health-related knowledge) are associated with reduced service utilisation in younger ages but higher service utilisation in later stages of life, compared to other groups. These results are likely to be attributed to a higher external health-related locus of control and more traditional paternalistic role expectations in such groups.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for the food information environment in Brazil
Authors: Rodrigues Michele Bittencourt , Matos Juliana de Paula , Horta Paula Martins 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe food information environment includes food advertising disseminated in various media. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of schools, universities, non-essential commerce, public leisure areas, bars, restaurants, among others, the food information environment has changed in Brazil. People spent more time at home which led to greater exposure to television and internet advertising content. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the food production sector has invested in new ways to advertise their products that include advertising messages of support, empathy and solidarity, as well as social responsibility campaigns looking for self-promotion such as food donation and financial aids. Sponsoring online events promoted by Brazilian musicians on social media was also enhanced during the pandemic and allowed food companies to become part of the consumer’s leisure and entertainment moments. The advertising strategies adopted by the food industry during the COVID-19 pandemic are used to generate market demands, influence the consumer purchase decision and increase their loyalty to the supplier brands. Consequently, individuals may have been more vulnerable to excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods during this health crisis. This commentary aims to describe the changes in the food information environment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and propose a pathway to promote a healthier food information environment after this health crisis. Perspectives for promoting a healthier food information environment after the pandemic are also discussed, focusing on regulating food advertising with a shared responsibility between government, the food industry, the academy and civil society.
INFINITARY COMMUTATIVITY AND ABELIANIZATION IN FUNDAMENTAL GROUPS
Authors: BRAZAS JEREMY , GILLESPIE PATRICK 
Published: November 2020

AbstractInfinite product operations are at the forefront of the study of homotopy groups of Peano continua and other locally path-connected spaces. In this paper, we define what it means for a space X to have infinitely commutative

$\pi _1$
-operations at a point

$x\in X$
. Using a characterization in terms of the Specker group, we identify several natural situations in which this property arises. Maintaining a topological viewpoint, we define the transfinite abelianization of a fundamental group at any set of points

$A\subseteq X$
in a way that refines and extends previous work on the subject.
The Sickness Behavior Inventory-Revised: Sickness behavior and its associations with depression and inflammation in patients with metastatic lung cancer
Authors: McFarland Daniel C. , Walsh Leah E. , Saracino Rebecca , Nelson Christian J. , Breitbart William , Rosenfeld Barry 
Published: November 2020

AbstractBackgroundInflammation may contribute to the high prevalence of depressive symptoms seen in lung cancer. “Sickness behavior” is a cluster of symptoms induced by inflammation that are similar but distinct from depressive symptoms. The Sickness Behavior Inventory-Revised (SBI-R) was developed to measure sickness behavior. We hypothesized that the SBI-R would demonstrate adequate psychometric properties in association with inflammation.MethodParticipants with stage IV lung cancer (n = 92) were evaluated for sickness behavior using the SBI-R. Concomitant assessments were made of depression (Patient Hospital Questionniare-9, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and inflammation [C-reactive protein (CRP)]. Classical test theory (CTT) was applied and multivariate models were created to explain SBI-R associations with depression and inflammation. Factor Analysis was also used to identify the underlying factor structure of the hypothesized construct of sickness behavior. A longitudinal analysis was conducted for a subset of participants.ResultsThe sample mean for the 12-item SBI-R was 8.3 (6.7) with a range from 0 to 33. The SBI-R demonstrated adequate internal consistency with a Cronbach's coefficient of 0.85, which did not increase by more than 0.01 with any single-item removal. This analysis examined factor loadings onto a single factor extracted using the principle components method. Eleven items had factor loadings that exceeded 0.40. SBI-R total scores were significantly correlated with depressive symptoms (r = 0.78, p < 0.001) and CRP (r = 0.47, p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that inflammation and depressive symptoms explained 67% of SBI-R variance.Significance of resultsThe SBI-R demonstrated adequate reliability and construct validity in this patient population with metastatic lung cancer. The observed findings suggest that the SBI-R can meaningfully capture the presence of sickness behavior and may facilitate a greater understanding of inflammatory depression.