bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Knowledge and perceptions of theCOVID‐19 pandemic among patients with myasthenia gravis
Authors: Li Yingkai , Emmett C. Douglas , Cobbaert Marjan , Sanders Donald B. , Juel Vern C. , Hobson‐Webb Lisa D. , Massey Janice M. , Gable Karissa L. , Raja Shruti M. , Gonzalez Natalia L. , Guptill Jeffrey T. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractBackgroundPatients with myasthenia gravis (MG) may be particularly vulnerable during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) pandemic due to risk of worsening disease during infection, potential adverse impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) treatments on neuromuscular transmission, and a limited ability to fight off infection related to immunosuppressive treatments. Our goal is to understand how patients are experiencing the COVID‐19 pandemic, including where they receive relevant information, how it has affected medical care, and what measures they use to protect themselves.MethodsThis is a prospective online survey study at large academic practice. All patients with a neuromuscular junction disorder diagnosis code in the Duke Health System were invited to participate.ResultsOne thousand eight hundred and forty eight patients were approached to participate and 75 completed the survey between 16 April 2020 and 28 May 2020. The most frequently used information sources were non‐presidential federal government (75%), state government (57%), local healthcare provider (37%), and television news (36%). Non‐presidential federal government (80%), local healthcare providers (55%), state government (33%), and patient support organizations (29%) were considered the most trusted information sources. Thirty‐three (44%) of survey responders had attended a telemedicine visit. Patients were taking recommended precautions during the pandemic and remained very concerned (69%) about COVID‐19. Generalized Anxiety Disorder‐7 scores were moderate‐severe in 20% of responders.ConclusionsHealthcare providers, the government, and patient organizations play a critical role in communicating with the MG patient community. Use of targeted messaging strategies by these groups to convey accurate information may increase effectiveness and lead to more informed patients with reduced anxiety.
Familial Obesity Risk and Current Excess Weight Influence Brain Structure in Adolescents
Authors: Thapaliya Gita , Chen Liuyi , Jansen Elena , Smith Kimberly R. , Sadler Jennifer R. , Benson Leora , Papantoni Afroditi , Carnell Susan 
Published: December 2020

ObjectiveObesity risk transmits from parents to children. Underlying neural mechanisms were investigated in this study by evaluating influences of familial obesity risk defined by maternal obesity and influences of current overweight on three indices of brain structure in adolescents.MethodsIn total, 22 lean adolescents with lean mothers (lean low‐risk), 25 lean adolescents with mothers with obesity/overweight (lean high‐risk), and 36 adolescents with obesity/overweight underwent structural MRI scans for estimation of regional gray and white matter volume and cortical thickness.ResultsThe lean high‐risk compared with the lean low‐risk group demonstrated lower gray and white matter volume and cortical thickness in the postcentral gyrus (somatosensory cortex), lower gray and white matter volume in the opercular cortex (taste cortex), lower gray matter volume and cortical thickness in the anterior cingulate cortex, and lower cortical thickness in the precuneus. Comparisons of the lean and obesity/overweight groups revealed further structural alterations in the postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus.ConclusionsFamilial obesity risk and current obesity/overweight were associated with overlapping and distinct patterns of brain structure alterations. Longitudinal studies are warranted to investigate whether structural changes associated with familial obesity risk predict future weight trajectories.
Self‐medication practice with antimalarials & the determinants of malaria treatment‐seeking behavior among postpartum mothers in a rural community in Nigeria
Authors: Iribhogbe Osede Ignis , Odoya Ebube Manfred 
Published: December 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe majority of the population has inappropriate malaria treatment‐seeking behavior and little is known about self‐medication practice with antimalarials among postpartum mothers.Aim & objectives of studyThe study, therefore, aims to determine the prevalence of self‐treatment practice with antimalarials and identify factors that determine inappropriate treatment‐seeking practice in this susceptible group.Research methodsThe study is a cross‐sectional study that was conducted using a purposive sampling technique. In the study, 150 respondents were administered questionnaires by one‐on‐one interviews, and results were presented as frequencies and proportions. A chi‐square test was done to determine the association between independent categorical variables and the dependent variable.ResultsIn the study, 91 (60.7%) of the women claimed they did malaria screening tests in the laboratory/clinic before treatment, while only half of them sought professional care for treatment after the screening test. Additionally, most of the participants claimed they practice self‐medication with antimalarials for themselves (64, 42.7%), and their newborn children (34, 22.7%). The experience of adverse effects (χ2 = 4.790, df = 1, p = .029) drug prescription by doctors (χ2 = 10.26, df = 1, p = .001) and the experience of malaria in the rainy season (χ2 = 4.86, df = 2, p = .027) was significantly related to receiving malaria treatment in the clinic/hospital.ConclusionThe study has shown that the practice of self‐medication and inappropriate malaria treatment behavior is common in postpartum women in rural settings hence public health intervention that will develop standardized self‐treatment guidelines for uncomplicated malaria will be useful in promoting appropriate self‐treatment practice in this population.Highlights
Self‐medication practice with antimalarials among postpartum mothers both for themselves and their newborn child was 42.7% and 22.7% respectively
One of the reasons adduced for such practice is that malaria is expensive to treat (37, 24.7%)
Artemether/lumefantrine combination was the most commonly used drug for treatment (75.3%), and most of the participants preferred parenteral medication (68%) to oral drugs
The experience of adverse effects was significantly related to receiving treatment in the clinic/hospital
Of the 60.7% of women who claimed they did malaria screening test, only half of them sought professional care after the test.
Pharmacotherapy for durable left ventricular assist devices
Authors: Hollis Ian B. , Doligalski Christina T. , Jennings Douglas J. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractLeft ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have revolutionized the care of patients with advanced heart failure, yet still require concomitant medications in order to achieve the best possible clinical outcomes. Since the outset of routine placement of durable, continuous‐flow LVADs, much of the medication management of these patients to date has been based on International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) guidance, most recently published in 2013. Since 2013, numerous multidisciplinary pharmacotherapy publications have increased the LVAD community's understanding of best practices with respect to medications. We identified the major domains of LVAD medication management and conducted a comprehensive search of US National Library of Medicine MEDLINE® database using keywords chosen to identify medication‐related publications of significance dated 2013 or later. Trials pertaining to the HeartMate II™ and the HeartMate™ 3 LVADs (Abbott, Chicago, IL) and the HeartWare™ HVAD™ System (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) were chosen for inclusion. Highest priority for inclusion was given to prospective, randomized, controlled studies. Absent these, controlled trials (retrospective or prospective observational) were given next‐highest consideration, followed by retrospective uncontrolled studies, and finally case series. Reference lists of qualified publications were reviewed to find any other publications of interest that were not discovered on initial search. Case reports were generally excluded, except where the insight gained was deemed to be uniquely pertinent. This document serves to provide a comprehensive review of the current understanding of optimal medication management in patients with durable, continuous‐flow LVADs.
Relationship between crystallization state and degradation behavior of poly(l‐lactide)/four‐armed poly(d,l‐lactide)‐block‐poly(d‐lactide) blends with different poly(d‐lactide) block lengths
Authors: Dai Suyang , Jiang Ni , Ning Zhenbo , Gan Zhihua 
Published: December 2020

AbstractA series of four‐armed poly(d,l‐lactide)‐block‐poly(d‐lactide) (4‐DL‐D) copolymers were synthesized by ring‐opening polymerization. By fixing the poly(d,l‐lactide) (PDLLA) block length (1 kg mol−1) and changing the poly(d‐lactide) (PDLA) block length (Mn,PDLA = 0, 0.5, 1.1, 1.3, 1.8 and 2.6 kg mol−1), the crystallization and alkaline degradation of the PLLA/4‐DL‐D blends were investigated. The four‐armed PDLLA core of the copolymer inhibited the crystallization of PLLA, while the outer PDLA block could affect the crystallization differently when its length changed. If Mn,PDLA was 0 or 0.5 kg mol−1, the crystallization of PLLA in the PLLA/4‐DL‐D blend was retarded markedly and the degradation rate of the blend films was much faster than that of neat PLLA film. Interestingly, when Mn,PDLA was 1.1 kg mol−1 or higher, stereocomplex (SC) crystallites with different morphologies were formed, and the degradation rate of the PLLA/4‐DL‐D blend decreased gradually with increasing Mn,PDLA. In the PLLA/4‐DL‐D1.1 blend, the SC crystallites acted as nucleators for PLLA homocrystallites, while in the PLLA/4‐DL‐D1.3 blend, small isolated SC crystallites were observed inside the PLLA homospherulites. When Mn,PDLA was 1.8 or 2.6 kg mol−1, a network structure of SC crystallites was formed and the degradation resistance of the films was markedly enhanced. A possible isothermal crystallization mechanism was proposed for the PLLA/4‐DL‐D blends, and the relationship between the crystallization state and degradation behavior was explored. This work revealed that the crystallization state, which was controlled by the PDLA block length, had a significant effect on the degradation behavior of PLLA/4‐DL‐D blend films. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry
Vanilla aerial and terrestrial roots host rich communities of orchid mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi
Authors: Johnson Lynnaun J. A. N. , Gónzalez‐Chávez Ma. del Carmen A. , Carrillo‐González Rogelio , Porras‐Alfaro Andrea , Mueller Gregory M. 
Published: December 2020

Social Impact StatementVanilla planifolia is the source of the spice vanilla. This study is part of an international initiative to study the biology, including mycorrhizal fungi and cultivation practices of vanilla to improve its production in Mexico. The study focused on documenting mycorrhizal fungal diversity in vanilla. It also provided preliminary data on differences in mycorrhizal fungal communities associated with cultivation practices. A richer mycorrhizal community was observed in vanilla growing in a wild natural farm compared with those from a highly managed farm. Our research provides insights for sustainable vanilla production that can benefit Mexican farming communities.Summary

Relatively little is known regarding differences in root symbionts (i.e., mycorrhizae) between epiphytic and terrestrial orchids. We characterized the mycorrhizal fungal communities of aerial and terrestrial roots of the orchid, Vanilla planifolia, from four Mexican farms representing different management systems.
Amplicon sequencing identified 40 putative mycorrhizal fungi based on ITS sequence data, these included traditional orchid mycorrhizal fungi such as Ceratobasidium, and Thanatephorus in the order Cantharellales as well as Serendipitaceae in the order Sebacinales, and species of several genera traditionally considered as ectomycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungal communities were similar in aerial and terrestrial roots, but differed in read abundances.
Plants growing in wild‐natural conditions hosted a richer, but not statistically different, community of mycorrhizal fungi in comparison with plants in the highly managed farm. Soil characteristics including texture, organic matter, N, P, and K do not explain differences between fungal communities at these farms.
This is one of the first reports of a diverse community of fungi traditionally considered to form ectomycorrhizas in association with aerial orchid roots. Further research is needed to understand the functional role of these putative mycorrhizal fungi in the ecology of V. planifolia, and if ectomycorrhizal fungi commonly occur in other hemiepiphytic and epiphytic orchids.
Classification of drug use patterns
Authors: Righolt Christiaan H. , Zhang Geng , Mahmud Salaheddin M. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractCharacterizing long‐term prescription data is challenging due to the time‐varying nature of drug use. Conventional approaches summarize time‐varying data into categorical variables based on simple measures, such as cumulative dose, while ignoring patterns of use. The loss of information can lead to misclassification and biased estimates of the exposure‐outcome association. We introduce a classification method to characterize longitudinal prescription data with an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. We used administrative databases covering virtually all 1.3 million residents of Manitoba and explicitly designed features to describe the average dose, proportion of days covered (PDC), dose change, and dose variability, and clustered the resulting feature space using K‐means clustering. We applied this method to metformin use in diabetes patients. We identified 27,786 metformin users and showed that the feature distributions of their metformin use are stable for varying the lengths of follow‐up and that these distributions have clear interpretations. We found six distinct metformin user groups: patients with intermittent use, decreasing dose, increasing dose, high dose, and two medium dose groups (one with stable dose and one with highly variable use). Patients in the varying and decreasing dose groups had a higher chance of progression of diabetes than other patients. The method presented in this paper allows for characterization of drug use into distinct and clinically relevant groups in a way that cannot be obtained from merely classifying use by quantiles of overall use.
Identification of an irreversible PPARγ antagonist with potent anticancer activity
Authors: Peng Youyi , Zhang Qiang , Zielinski Robert M. , Howells Richard D. , Welsh William J. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractMelanoma is responsible for most skin cancer deaths, and its incidence continues to rise year after year. Different treatment options have been developed for melanoma depending on the stage of the disease. Despite recent advances in immuno‐ and targeted therapies, advanced melanoma remains incurable and thus an urgent need persists for safe and more effective melanoma therapeutics. In this study, we demonstrate that a novel compound MM902 (3‐(3‐(bromomethyl)‐5‐(4‐(tert‐butyl) phenyl)‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl) phenol) exhibited potent efficacies in inhibiting the growth of different cancer cells, and suppressed tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model of malignant melanoma. Beginning with MM902 instead of specific targets, computational similarity‐ and docking‐based approaches were conducted to search for known anticancer drugs whose structural features match MM902 and whose pharmacological target would accommodate an irreversible inhibitor. Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor (PPAR) was computationally identified as one of the pharmacological targets and confirmed by in vitro biochemical assays. MM902 was shown to bind to PPARγ in an irreversible mode of action and to function as a selective antagonist for PPARγ over PPARα and PPARδ. It is hoped that MM902 will serve as a valuable research probe to study the functions of PPARγ in tumorigenesis and other pathological processes.
Application of Machine Learning for Tumor Growth Inhibition – Overall Survival Modeling Platform
Authors: Chan Phyllis , Zhou Xiaofei , Wang Nina , Liu Qi , Bruno René , Jin Jin Y. 
Published: December 2020

Machine learning (ML) was used to leverage tumor growth inhibition (TGI) metrics to characterize the relationship with overall survival (OS) as a novel approach and to compare with traditional TGI‐OS modeling methods. Historical dataset from a phase III non‐small cell lung cancer study (OAK, atezolizumab vs. docetaxel, N = 668) was used. ML methods support the validity of TGI metrics in predicting OS. With lasso, the best model with TGI metrics outperforms the best model without TGI metrics. Boosting was the best linear ML method for this dataset with reduced estimation bias and lowest Brier score, suggesting better prediction accuracy. Random forest did not outperform linear ML methods despite hyperparameter optimization. Kernel machine was marginally the best nonlinear ML method for this dataset and uncovered nonlinear and interaction effects. Nonlinear ML may improve prediction by capturing nonlinear effects and covariate interactions, but its predictive performance and value need further evaluation with larger datasets.
Robust trajectory‐tracking in finite‐time for robot manipulators using nonlinear proportional‐derivative control plus feed‐forward compensation
Authors: Cruz‐Zavala Emmanuel , Nuño Emmanuel , Moreno Jaime A. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractIn this article, we propose a novel nonlinear control scheme for the trajectory tracking in finite‐time of robot manipulators. Our control proposal is composed of two parts: a proportional‐derivative (PD) nonlinear feedback and a feed‐forward compensation term. The (discontinuous) nonlinear PD term is designed like a twisting sliding mode controller that ensures robust global uniform finite‐time stabilization of the tracking error, in spite of model uncertainties and nonvanishing perturbations. Moreover, in order to decrease the (possible) chattering phenomena, we also propose two alternatives: a variable‐gain version and a continuous version of the PD term. The feed‐forward term allows us to deal intelligently with Coriolis and gravity effects because the compensation for these terms is generated off‐line. In the continuous case, practical stability is guaranteed in the presence of model uncertainties and nonvanishing perturbations. The stability conclusions are established, in both cases, designing novel strict Lyapunov functions.
Comparative Study on Effects of Xanthan Gum at Different Concentrations on the Functional, Thermal, and Digestibility Characteristics of Corn and Sorghum Starch Extrudates
Authors: Shaikh Faiza , Ali Tahira Mohsin , Mustafa Ghulam , Hasnain Abid 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThe present study assesses the concentration dependent effect of xanthan gum, that is, 0%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2% (w/w), at 50% feed moisture, on the in vitro digestibility of corn and sorghum starch extrudates. Sorghum starch, being extracted from an underutilized and drought‐resistant crop, provides a promising alternative to corn starch in the future. X‐ray and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results show that xanthan gum at 1% has optimum synergistic interaction with corn and sorghum extrudates. The percent crystallinity, FTIR ratio (1047 cm−1/1022 cm−1) and melting enthalpy are minimum at 1% for both corn (ECX1) and sorghum (ESX1) extrudates along with maximum resistant starch (RS) fraction. The highest RS (70.51%) with the least predicted glycemic index (61.16) is observed for ESX1. Xanthan gum incorporation increases the peak viscosity and decreases the hardness of extrudates. The corn and sorghum extrudates prepared in the present study can be used for the development of low‐calorie products due to the increase in RS content.
Behavior and design of screwed‐head fasteners in reinforced concrete under tensile loading
Authors: Di Nunzio Giuseppe , Muciaccia Giovanni 
Published: December 2020

AbstractScrewed‐head fastener is the common fabricated hold‐down bolt for steel structures and machine foundations. Although different models are available for evaluating its structural behavior, there are still aspects that need to be investigated. In particular, conflicting approaches for the design can be found among the European design‐oriented documents. Within this context, a comprehensive experimental study on screwed‐head fasteners under tensile loading was recently carried out at Milan Polytechnic. In this paper, some results are presented and commented which include (a) the presence of cracks and (b) the presence of supplementary reinforcement. In the discussion, predictive models are recalled demonstrating the need for a specific design approach, which should consider the geometry and the resistance of the fastening system, including that of the concrete member. Some design recommendations end the paper as useful guidance for the structural designer.
Dynamic network and own effects on abnormal returns: evidence from China’s stock market
Authors: Egger Peter H. , Zhu Jiaqing 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThis paper addresses the question of how to model the process of abnormal returns on individual stocks. It postulates a framework, where abnormal returns are generated by a process which features two autoregressive components, one stock-specific and one related to network effects. This process deviates from customary ones in that the parameters are specific to each stock/firm, that the autoregressive process is explicitly modelled instead of using cumulative abnormal returns over a pre-specified window, and that network effects are present. Abandoning either one of those deviations is rejected by data on Chinese stocks in 2018 and 2019, an episode which is significant for an abnormal stock-market returns analysis, as it was characterized by numerous tariff-setting events related to the “trade war” between the USA and China.