bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Historical droughts recorded in extended Juniperus procera ring-width chronologies from the Ethiopian Highlands
Authors: Gebregeorgis E. Gebrehiwot , Robertson I. , Koprowski M. , Zhou L. P. , Gao P. , Williams A. P. , Eshetu Z. , Wils T. H. G. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractIn the Horn of Africa, little is known about temporal changes in hydroclimate owing to the influence of multiple weather systems, the complex terrain, and the sparse instrumental records. Absolutely dated tree-ring records offer the potential to extend our understanding of climate into the pre-instrumental era, but tree-ring studies in this region, and indeed all of tropical Africa, have been rare largely due to lack of an annual climate cycle that reliably produces annual tree-rings. In this study, 40 cores were obtained from 31 Juniperus procera trees growing in the grounds of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo churches in the Gonder region of Ethiopia. The samples were cross-dated using a re-iterative process involving identifying anatomical features from high-resolution images. The tentative ring-width chronologies were revised after the determination of bomb-peak accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates. Individual series were significantly correlated to the respective master chronologies (r > 0.55; P < 0.05), and expressed population signal values ranged from 0.55 to 0.92. Historical drought years were successfully traced in the chronologies by pointer year analysis. This study confirms that Juniperus procera growing in areas of unimodal precipitation exhibits annual tree-rings and offers the potential as an indirect measure of past climate.
Parametric study of 3D printed microneedle (MN) holders for interstitial fluid (ISF) extraction
Authors: Taylor Robert M. , Maharjan Dilendra , Moreu Fernando , Baca Justin T. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractThe need for novel, minimally invasive diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic biomedical devices has garnered increased interest in recent years. Microneedle (MN) technology has stood out as a promising new method for drug delivery, as well as extraction of interstitial fluid (ISF). ISF comprises a large portion of the extracellular fluid in living organisms yet remains inadequately characterized for clinical applications. Current MN research has focused on the fabrication of needles with different materials like silicone, carbon, and metals. However, little effort has been put forth into improving MN holders and patches that can be used with low cost MNs, which could effectively change how MNs are attached to the human body. Here, we describe different 3D-printed MN holders, printed using an MJP Pro 2500 3D printer, and compare the ISF extraction efficiencies in CD Hairless rats. We varied design parameters that may affect the skin-holder interface, such as throat thickness, tip curvature, and throat diameter. MN arrays, with insertion depths of 1500 μm, had extraction efficiencies of 0.44 ± 0.35, 0.85 ± 0.64, 0.32 ± 0.21, or 0.44 ± 0.46 µl/min when designed with flat, concave, convex, or bevel profile geometries, respectively. Our results suggest ISF extraction is influenced by MN holder design parameters and that a concave tip design is optimal for extracting ISF from animals. The future direction of this research aims to enable a paradigm in MN design that maximizes its efficiency and engineering performance in terms of volume, pressure, and wearability, thereby automatizing usage and reducing patient intervention to ultimately benefit remote telemedicine.
A potent risk model for predicting new-onset acute coronary syndrome in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Northwest China
Authors: Lyu Jun , Li Zhiying , Wei Huiyi , Liu Dandan , Chi Xiaoxian , Gong Da-Wei , Zhao Qingbin 
Published: February 2020

Abstract
Aims
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is now very prevalent in China. Due to the lower rate of controlled diabetes in China compared to that in developed countries, there is a higher incidence of serious cardiovascular complications, especially acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The aim of this study was to establish a potent risk predictive model in the economically disadvantaged northwest region of China, which could predict the probability of new-onset ACS in patients with T2DM.

Methods
Of 456 patients with T2DM admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University from January 2018 to January 2019 and included in this study, 270 had no ACS, while 186 had newly diagnosed ACS. Overall, 32 demographic characteristics and serum biomarkers of the study patients were analysed. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression was used to select variables, while the multivariate logistic regression was used to establish the predictive model that was presented using a nomogram. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the discriminatory capacity of the model. A calibration plot and Hosmer–Lemeshow test were used for the calibration of the predictive model, while the decision curve analysis (DCA) was used to evaluate its clinical validity.

Results
After random sampling, 319 and 137 T2DM patients were included in the training and validation sets, respectively. The predictive model included age, body mass index, diabetes duration, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, serum uric acid, lipoprotein(a), hypertension history and alcohol drinking status as predictors. The AUC of the predictive model and that of the internal validation set was 0.830 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.786–0.874] and 0.827 (95% CI 0.756–0.899), respectively. The predictive model showed very good fitting degree, and DCA demonstrated a clinically effective predictive model.

Conclusions
A potent risk predictive model was established, which is of great value for the secondary prevention of diabetes. Weight loss, lowering of SBP and blood uric acid levels and appropriate control for DBP may significantly reduce the risk of new-onset ACS in T2DM patients in Northwest China.
Phylogenetic placement of Ivodea and biogeographic affinities of Malagasy Rutaceae
Authors: Appelhans Marc S. , Wen Jun 
Published: February 2020

AbstractThe genusIvodeais endemic to Madagascar and the Comoros and consists of 30 species. This study is the first to include the genus in a molecular phylogenetic analysis. We sequenced the plastidtrnL–trnF and the nuclear ITS regions for threeIvodeaspecies and revealed that the genus is monophyletic and most closely related to the African and MalagasyVepris, refuting earlier suggestions of a close relationship betweenIvodeaand the Asian, Malesian, Australasian and Pacific generaEuodiaandMelicope.IvodeaandVeprisprovide another example of closely related pairs of Rutaceous groups that have drupaceous and capsular/follicular fruits, respectively, thus further confirming that fruit types are not suited to delimit subfamilies in Rutaceae, as has often been done in the past.Ivodeawas the last of the seven Malagasy genera to be included in the Rutaceae phylogeny, making it possible to conduct an assessment of biogeographic affinities of the genera that occur on the island. Our assessments based on sister-group relationships suggest that the eight lineages (representing seven genera) of Malagasy Rutaceae either have African or have Asian affinities. Two lineages have an African origin, and one lineage has an Asian origin. Taxon sampling is insufficient to interpret the directionality of dispersal events in the remaining lineages.
Model-based reconstruction and projections of soil moisture anomalies and crop losses in Poland
Authors: Piniewski Mikołaj , Marcinkowski Paweł , O’Keeffe Joanna , Szcześniak Mateusz , Nieróbca Anna , Kozyra Jerzy , Kundzewicz Zbigniew W. , Okruszko Tomasz 
Published: February 2020

AbstractEvidence shows that soil moisture (SM) anomalies (deficits or excesses) are the key factor affecting crop yield in rain-fed agriculture. Over last decades, Poland has faced several major droughts and at least one major soil moisture excess event leading to severe crop losses. This study aims to simulate the multi-annual variability of SM anomalies in Poland, using a process-based SWAT model and to assess the effect of climate change on future extreme SM conditions, potentially affecting crop yields in Poland. A crop-specific indicator based on simulated daily soil moisture content for the critical development stages of investigated crops (winter cereals, spring cereals, potato and maize) was designed, evaluated for past conditions against empirical crop-weather indices (CWIs), and applied for studying future climate conditions. The study used an ensemble of nine bias-corrected EURO-CORDEX projections for two future horizons: 2021–2050 and 2071–2100 under two Representative Concentration Pathways: RCP4.5 and 8.5. Historical simulation results showed that SWAT was capable of capturing major SM deficit and excess episodes for different crops in Poland. For spring cereals, potato and maize, despite a large model spread, projections generally showed increase of severity of soil moisture deficits, as well as of total area affected by them. Ensemble median fraction of land with extreme soil moisture deficits, occupied by each of these crops, is projected to at least double in size. The signals of change in soil moisture excesses for potato and maize were more dependent on selection of RCP and future horizon.
Inhibition of antigen-specific immune responses by co-application of an indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO)-encoding vector requires antigen transgene expression focused on dendritic cells
Authors: Sudowe Stephan , Höhn Yvonne , Renzing Andrea , Maxeiner Joachim , Montermann Evelyn , Habermeier Alice , Closs Ellen , Bros Matthias , Reske-Kunz Angelika B. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractWe have previously shown that particle-mediated epidermal delivery (PMED) of plasmids encoding β-galactosidase (βGal) under control of the fascin-1 promoter (pFascin-βGal) yielded selective production of the protein in skin dendritic cells (DCs), and suppressed Th2 responses in a mouse model of type I allergy by inducing Th1/Tc1 cells. However, intranasal challenge of mice immunized with pFascin-βGal induced airway hyperreactivity (AHR) and neutrophilic inflammation in the lung. The tryptophan-catabolizing enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) has been implicated in immune suppression and tolerance induction. Here we investigated the consequences of co-application of an IDO-encoding vector on the modulatory effect of DNA vaccination by PMED using pFascin-βGal in models of eosinophilic allergic and non-eosinophilic intrinsic airway inflammation. IDO-encoding plasmids and pFascin-βGal or pCMV-βGal were co-applied to abdominal skin of BALB/c mice without, before or after sensitization with βGal protein. Immune responses in the lung were analysed after intranasal provocation and airway reactivity was determined by whole body plethysmography. Co-application of pCMV-IDO with pFascin-βGal, but not pCMV-βGal inhibited the Th1/Tc1 immune response after PMED. Moreover, AHR in those mice was attenuated following intranasal challenge. Therapeutic vaccination of βGal-sensitized mice with pFascin-βGal plus pCMV-IDO slightly suppressed airway inflammation and AHR after provocation with βGal protein, while prophylactic vaccination was not effective. Altogether, our data suggest that only the combination of DC-restricted antigen and ubiquitous IDO expression attenuated asthma responses in mice, most probably by forming a tryptophan-depleted and kynurenine-enriched micromilieu known to affect neutrophils and T cells.
Clinical performance of non-precious metal double crowns with friction pins in severely reduced dentitions
Authors: Hinz Sebastian , Schweyen Ramona , Hey Jeremias , Setz Juergen , Arnold Christin 
Published: February 2020

Abstract
Objectives
Several in vitro studies have investigated the retention of double crowns with friction pins (DCP); however, clinical data on their long-term success have not been reported. We sought to evaluate the 5-year survival rate of DCPs in patients with severely reduced dentition (SRD) and not severely reduced dentition (NSRD).

Materials and methods
A total of 158 patients were treated with 182 dentures on 520 abutment teeth between 2006 and 2016. The SRD group included 144 dentures that had been inserted on 314 abutment teeth. We evaluated the influence of age, sex, jaw, number, tooth vitality, and abutment teeth localization (according to Steffel’s classification) on the 60-month survival rates of dentures and abutment teeth using the Kaplan-Meier estimator, logrank test, and Cox regression.

Results
The cumulative 60-month survival rate was 84.3% (CI 77.1–91.5%) for all dentures; however, the survival rate in the SRD group (80.3%; CI 71.5–89.1%) was significantly lower than in the NSRD group (100%; p = 0.04). Dentures classified in Steffel’s class A had the lowest survival rate (51.5%; CI 30.9–72.1%). Number, location, and vitality of the abutment teeth had a significant impact on survival rate.

Conclusions
DCP dentures showed comparable clinical long-term success to double crown systems that have been previously reported in the literature. The number, localization, and vitality of abutment teeth had the greatest influence on the survival rates of denture and abutment teeth.

Clinical relevance
DCP dentures have an acceptable 5-year survival rate. Clinical treatment planning must take into account key factors associated with the prognosis of the abutment teeth.
Co-occurring obsessive–compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorder in young people: prevalence, clinical characteristics and outcomes
Authors: Martin Alex F. , Jassi Amita , Cullen Alexis E. , Broadbent Matthew , Downs Johnny , Krebs Georgina 
Published: February 2020

AbstractObsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) commonly co-occur and are considered challenging to manage when they co-occur in youth. However, clinical characteristics and prognosis of this group remain poorly understood. This study examined the prevalence, clinical correlates and outcomes of paediatric OCD co-occurring with ASD (OCD + ASD) in a large clinical cohort. Data were extracted from electronic clinical records of young people aged 4–17 years who had attended a mental health trust in South London, United Kingdom. We identified young people with diagnoses of OCD + ASD (n = 335), OCD without ASD (n = 1010), and ASD without OCD (n = 6577). 25% of youth with OCD had a diagnosis of ASD, while 5% of those with ASD had a diagnosis of OCD. At diagnosis, youth with OCD + ASD had lower psychosocial functioning scores on the clinician-rated Child Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) compared to those with either OCD or ASD. Youth with OCD + ASD were equally likely to receive CBT compared to those with OCD but were more likely to be prescribed medication and use services for longer than either comparison group. Youth with OCD + ASD showed significant improvements in functioning (CGAS scores) after service utilisation but their gains were smaller than those with OCD. OCD + ASD commonly co-occur, conferring substantial impairment, although OCD may be underdiagnosed in youth with ASD. Young people with co-occurring OCD + ASD can make significant improvements in functioning with routine clinical care but are likely to remain more impaired than typically developing youth with OCD, indicating a need for longer-term support for these young people.
Patients with coronary artery disease after acute myocardial infarction: effects of continuous enrollment in a structured Disease Management Program on adherence to guideline-recommended medication, health care expenditures, and survival
Authors: Kirsch Florian , Becker Christian , Schramm Anja , Maier Werner , Leidl Reiner 
Published: February 2020

AbstractObjectiveAcute myocardial infarction (AMI) carries increased risk of mortality and excess costs. Disease Management Programs (DMPs) providing guideline-recommended care for chronic diseases seem an intuitively appealing way to enhance health outcomes for patients with chronic conditions such as AMI. The aim of the study is to compare adherence to guideline-recommended medication, health care expenditures and survival of patients enrolled and not enrolled in the German DMP for coronary artery disease (CAD) after an AMI from the perspective of a third-party payer over a follow-up period of 3 years.MethodsThe study is based on routinely collected data from a regional statutory health insurance fund (n = 15,360). A propensity score matching with caliper method was conducted. Afterwards guideline-recommended medication, health care expenditures, and survival between patients enrolled and not enrolled in the DMP were compared with generalized linear and Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsThe propensity score matching resulted in 3870 pairs of AMI patients previously and continuously enrolled and not enrolled in the DMP. In the 3-year follow-up period the proportion of days covered rates for ACE-inhibitors (60.95% vs. 58.92%), anti-platelet agents (74.20% vs. 70.66%), statins (54.18% vs. 52.13%), and β-blockers (61.95% vs. 52.64%) were higher in the DMP group. Besides that, DMP participants induced lower health care expenditures per day (€58.24 vs. €72.72) and had a significantly lower risk of death (HR: 0.757).ConclusionPrevious and continuous enrollment in the DMP CAD for patients after AMI is a promising strategy as it enhances guideline-recommended medication, reduces health care expenditures and the risk of death.
The impact of a road safety policy implementation within an international organization
Authors: Dandebo Lovisa , Dimberg Lennart M. , Goldoni Laestadius Jasminka 
Published: February 2020

Abstract
Aim
This study was performed within an international organization (IO), headquartered in Washington, D.C. The employees are facing great risks during their missions abroad, where developing countries are the most common travel destination. The IO conducted a staff road safety survey in 2008 and based a road safety policy on the results of this survey. In 2017, a follow-up survey investigated the impact of the policy implementation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of that policy.

Subjects and methods
This study is based on two cross-sectional road safety surveys conducted by the IO’s Staff Road Safety Task Force. The study population consisted of both regular employees and consultants based at country offices (CO) worldwide. The number of reported road traffic crashes and near-crashes (nearly had a crash), as well as road safety behavior, was compared between these two surveys. The analysis was performed from a gender perspective. High-risk countries were identified based on the number of reported road traffic crashes and near-crashes.

Results
Over a period of nine years, the incidence rates had dropped from 1.6 to 0.7 road traffic crashes per 1000 travel days and from 14 to 8.9 near-crashes per 1000 travel days. Seat belt usage had increased from 70% to 80%. There were no major differences between male and female respondents. Developing countries had the highest travel adjusted event rates.

Conclusion
The findings of this study suggest that the policy had a positive impact on road safety among CO staff within the IO.
Modeling law search as prediction
Authors: Dadgostari Faraz , Guim Mauricio , Beling Peter A. , Livermore Michael A. , Rockmore Daniel N. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractLaw search is fundamental to legal reasoning and its articulation is an important challenge and open problem in the ongoing efforts to investigate legal reasoning as a formal process. This Article formulates a mathematical model that frames the behavioral and cognitive framework of law search as a sequential decision process. The model has two components: first, a model of the legal corpus as asearch spaceand second, a model of the search process (orsearch strategy) that is compatible with that environment. The search space has the structure of a “multi-network”—an interleaved structure of distinct networks—developed in earlier work. In this Article, we develop and formally describe three related models of the search process. We then implement these models on a subset of the corpus of U.S. Supreme Court opinions and assess their performance against two benchmark prediction tasks. The first is to predict the citations in a document from its semantic content. The second is to predict the search results generated by human users. For both benchmarks, all search models outperform a null model with the learning-based model outperforming the other approaches. Our results indicate that through additional work and refinement, there may be the potential for machine law search to achieve human or near-human levels of performance.
Spectral decomposition of the Engineering Strong Motion (ESM) flat file: regional attenuation, source scaling and Arias stress drop
Authors: Bindi D. , Kotha S. R. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractWe perform a spectral decomposition of the Fourier amplitude spectra disseminated along with the Engineering Strong Motion (ESM) flat file for Europe and Middle East. We apply a non-parametric inversion schema to isolate source, propagation and site effects, introducing a regionalization for the attenuation model into three domains. The obtained propagation and source components of the model are parametrized in terms of geometrical spreading, quality factor, seismic moment, and corner frequency assuming a ω2source model. The non-parametric spectral attenuation values show a faster decay for earthquakes in Italy than in the other regions. Once described in terms of geometrical spreading and frequency-dependent quality factor, slopes and breakpoint locations of the piece-wise linear model for the geometrical spreading show regional variations, confirming that the non-parametric models capture the effects of crustal heterogeneities and differences in the anelastic attenuation. Since they are derived in the framework of a single inversion, the source spectra of the largest events which have occurred in Europe in the last decades can be directly compared and the scaling of the extracted source parameters evaluated. The Brune stress drop varies over about 2 orders of magnitude (the 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles of the ∆σ distribution are 0.76, 2.94, and 13.07 MPa, respectively), with large events having larger stress drops. In particular, the 5th, 50th and 95th percentiles forM > 5.5 are 2.87, 6.02, and 23.5 MPa, respectively whereas, forM < 5.5, the same percentiles are 0.73, 2.84, and 12.43 MPa. If compared to the residual distributions associated to a ground motion prediction equation previously derived using the same Fourier amplitude spectra, the source parameter and the empirical site amplification effects correlate well with the inter-event and inter-station residuals, respectively. Finally, we calibrated both non-parametric and parametric attenuation models for estimating the stress drop from the ratio between Arias intensity and significant duration. The results confirm that computing the Arias stress drop is a suitable approach for complementing the seismic moment with information controlling the source radiation at high frequencies for rapid response applications.