bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Association between statewide adoption of the CDC’s Core Elements of Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs and rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and Clostridioides difficile infection in the United States
Authors: Garcia Reeves Alessandra B. , Lewis James W. , Trogdon Justin G. , Stearns Sally C. , Weber David J. , Weinberger Morris 
Published: December 2019

AbstractObjective:To measure the association between statewide adoption of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Core Elements for Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (Core Elements) and hospital-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (MRSA) and Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) rates in the United States. We hypothesized that states with a higher percentage of reported compliance with the Core Elements have significantly lower MRSA and CDI rates.Participants:All US states.Design:Observational longitudinal study.Methods:We used 2014–2016 data from Hospital Compare, Provider of Service files, Medicare cost reports, and the CDC’s Patient Safety Atlas website. Outcomes were MRSA standardized infection ratio (SIR) and CDI SIR. The key explanatory variable was the percentage of hospitals that meet the Core Elements in each state. We estimated state and time fixed-effects models with time-variant controls, and we weighted our analyses for the number of hospitals in the state.Results:The percentage of hospitals reporting compliance with the Core Elements between 2014 and 2016 increased in all states. A 1% increase in reported ASP compliance was associated with a 0.3% decrease (P < .01) in CDIs in 2016 relative to 2014. We did not find an association for MRSA infections.Conclusions:Increasing documentation of the Core Elements may be associated with decreases in the CDI SIR. We did not find evidence of such an association for the MRSA SIR, probably due to the short length of the study and variety of stewardship strategies that ASPs may encompass.
Let's explore with a divided team! The effects of top management team demographic faultlines on technological exploration
Authors: Li Mengge , Liu Kun (Carl) 
Published: December 2019

AbstractResearch on top management team (TMT) diversity suggests that diverse backgrounds improve technological exploration. However, this diversity may also cause demographic faultlines that break a team into subgroups and undermine team performance, and the status difference between CEO and top managers may change inter-subgroup dynamics. We predicted that TMT faultline had an inverted U-shape relationship with technological exploration. Further, we predicted that the effects of TMT faultline were more prominent when the CEO is in the minority subgroup than when the CEO was in the majority subgroup. Using a longitudinal sample from the US IT services industry, the results found that TMT faultline exhibited an inverted U-shape relationship with technological exploration only when the CEO was in the minority subgroup, and such relationship disappeared when the CEO was in the majority subgroup.
Luminescence chronology and lithic technology of Tianhuadong Cave, an early Upper Pleistocene Paleolithic site in southwest China
Authors: Hu Yue , Ruan Qijun , Liu Jianhui , Marwick Ben , Li Bo 
Published: December 2019

AbstractTianhuadong is a cave site located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. Since 2010, several surveys and one test excavation have yielded more than 1000 stone artifacts. The lithic assemblage shows some features of Levallois and Quina technologies, similar to those found in Middle Paleolithic sites in the Western Hemisphere. In this study, we summarize the lithic industry and propose a reliable chronology for the site using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of individual quartz grains extracted from sediments. We applied the standardized growth curve method to deal with the problem associated with the saturation in natural OSL signals in quartz. Our dating results yielded ages of 90–40 ka, suggesting that the associated lithic assemblage could be assigned to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 5 and 4 and could potentially represent Middle Paleolithic technologies. Because the number of Middle Paleolithic sites in southwest China is small, this site provides one of the few traces of human occupation in southwest China during the early upper Pleistocene. Thus, it is important for understanding hominin evolution and dispersal in this region.
Ecchordosis physaliphora: a cautionary tale
Authors: Georgalas C , Terzakis D , Tsikna M , Alatzidou Z , de Santi S , Seccia V , Dallan I 
Published: December 2019

AbstractBackgroundEcchordosis physaliphora is a congenital, benign lesion originating from notochordal remnants along the craniospinal axis, most frequently located at the level of the clivus and sacrum. Sometimes ecchordosis physaliphora is difficult to recognise and treat, with a total of twenty-six cases described in the literature.MethodsThis study reports on three cases of previously undiagnosed ecchordosis physaliphora presenting with cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea and meningitis.ConclusionEndoscopic transclival or transsphenoid surgery including three-layer (fat, fascia and nasoseptal flap) reconstruction was used in all cases with complete resolution of the symptoms.
Systematic epidemiological and clinical comparisons across all 12 DSM-IV psychotic diagnoses in the Cavan–Monaghan First Episode Psychosis Study (CAMFEPS)
Authors: Nkire Nnamdi , Scully Paul J. , Browne David J. , Baldwin Patrizia A. , Kingston Tara , Owoeye Olabisi , Kinsella Anthony , O'Callaghan Eadbhard , Russell Vincent , Waddington John L. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractBackgroundResearch on psychotic illness is loosening emphasis on diagnostic stringency in favour of including a more dimensionally based conceptualization of psychopathology and pathobiology. However, to clarify these notions requires investigation of the full scope of psychotic diagnoses.MethodsThe Cavan–Monaghan First Episode Psychosis Study ascertained cases of first episode psychosis across all 12 DSM-IV psychotic diagnoses via all routes to care: public, private or forensic; home-based, outpatient or inpatient. There was no arbitrary upper age cut-off and minimal impact of factors associated with variations in social milieu, ethnicity or urbanicity. Cases were evaluated epidemiologically and assessed for psychopathology, neuropsychology, neurology, antecedent factors, insight and quality of life.ResultsAmong 432 cases, the annual incidence of any DSM-IV psychotic diagnosis was 34.1/100 000 of population and encompassed functional psychotic diagnoses, substance-induced psychopathology and psychopathology due to general medical conditions, through to psychotic illness that defied contemporary diagnostic algorithms. These 12 DSM-IV diagnostic categories, including psychotic disorder not otherwise specified, showed clinical profiles that were consistently more similar than distinct.ConclusionsThere are considerable similarities and overlaps across a broad range of diagnostic categories in the absence of robust discontinuities between them. Thus, psychotic illness may be of such continuity that it cannot be fully captured by operational diagnostic algorithms that, at least in part, assume discontinuities. This may reflect the impact of diverse factors each of which acts on one or more overlapping components of a common, dysfunctional neuronal network implicated in the pathobiology of psychotic illness.
Reevaluating Benefits in the Moral Justification of Animal Research: A Comment on “Necessary Conditions for Morally Responsible Animal Research”
Authors: EGGEL MATTHIAS , NEUHAUS CAROLYN P. , GRIMM HERWIG 
Published: December 2019

Abstract:In a recent paper in Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics on the necessary conditions for morally responsible animal research David DeGrazia and Jeff Sebo claim that the key requirements for morally responsible animal research are (1) an assertion of sufficient net benefit, (2) a worthwhile-life condition, and (3) a no-unnecessary-harm condition. With regards to the assertion (or expectation) of sufficient net benefit (ASNB), the authors claim that morally responsible research offers unique benefits to humans that outweigh the costs and harms to humans and animals. In this commentary we will raise epistemic, practical, and ethical challenges to DeGrazia and Sebo’s emphasis on benefits in the prospective assessment of research studies involving animals. We do not disagree with DeGrazia and Sebo that, at the theoretical level, the benefits of research justify our using animals. Our contribution intends to clarify, at the practical level, how we should understand benefits in the prospective assessment and moral justification of animal research. We argue that ASNB should be understood as an assessment of Expectation of Knowledge Production (EKP) in the prospective assessment and justification of animal research. EKP breaks down into two further claims: (1) that morally responsible research generates knowledge worth having and (2) that morally responsible research is designed and executed to produce generalizable knowledge. We understand the condition called knowledge worth having as scientists’ testing a hypothesis that, whether verified or falsified, advances an important interest, and production of generalizable knowledge in terms of scientific integrity. Generalizable knowledge refers to experimental results that generalize to a larger population beyond the animals studied. Generalizable scientific knowledge is reliable, replicable, and accurately descriptive. In sum, morally responsible research will be designed and carefully executed to successfully test a hypothesis that, whether verified or falsified, advances important interests. Our formulation of EKP, crucially, does not require further showing that an experiment involving animals will produce societal benefits.
A Dashboard to Improve the Alignment of Healthcare Organization Decisionmaking to Core Values and Mission Statement
Authors: LAHEY TIMOTHY , NELSON WILLIAM 
Published: December 2019

Abstract:The mission and value statements of healthcare organizations serve as the foundational philosophy that informs all aspects of the organization. The ultimate goal is seamless alignment of values to mission in a way that colors the overall life and culture of the organization. However, full alignment between healthcare organizational values and mission in a fashion that influences the daily life and culture of healthcare organizations does not always occur. Grounded in the belief that a lack of organizational alignment to explicit organizational mission and value statements often stems from the failure to develop processes that enable realization of the leadership’s good intentions, the authors propose an organizational ethics dashboard to empower leaders of healthcare organizations to assess the adequacy of systems in place to support alignment with the stated ethical mission.
Combined Focused Ion Beam-Ultramicrotomy Method for TEM Specimen Preparation of Porous Fine-Grained Materials
Authors: Ohtaki Kenta K. , Ishii Hope A. , Bradley John P. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractA new transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimen preparation method that utilizes a combination of focused ion beam (FIB) methods and ultramicrotomy is demonstrated. This combined method retains the benefit of site-specific sampling by FIB but eliminates ion beam-induced damage except at specimen edges and allows recovery of many consecutive sections. It is best applied to porous and/or fine-grained materials that are amenable to ultramicrotomy but are located in bulk samples that are not. The method is ideal for unique samples from which every specimen is precious, and we demonstrate its utility on fine-grained material from the one-of-a-kind Paris meteorite. Compared with a specimen prepared by conventional FIB methods, the final sections are uniformly thin and free from re-deposition and curtaining artifacts common in FIB specimens prepared from porous, heterogeneous samples.
Approaches to Exploring Spatio-Temporal Surface Dynamics in Nanoparticles with In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy
Authors: Lawrence Ethan L. , Levin Barnaby D.A. , Miller Benjamin K. , Crozier Peter A. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractMany nanoparticles in fields such as heterogeneous catalysis undergo surface structural fluctuations during chemical reactions, which may control functionality. These dynamic structural changes may be ideally investigated with time-resolved in situ electron microscopy. We have explored approaches for extracting quantitative information from large time-resolved image data sets with a low signal to noise recorded with a direct electron detector on an aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope. We focus on quantitatively characterizing beam-induced dynamic structural rearrangements taking place on the surface of CeO2 (ceria). A 2D Gaussian fitting procedure is employed to determine the position and occupancy of each atomic column in the nanoparticle with a temporal resolution of 2.5 ms and a spatial precision of 0.25 Å. Local rapid lattice expansions/contractions and atomic migration were revealed to occur on the (100) surface, whereas (111) surfaces were relatively stable throughout the experiment. The application of this methodology to other materials will provide new insights into the behavior of nanoparticle surface reconstructions that were previously inaccessible using other methods, which will have important consequences for the understanding of dynamic structure–property relationships.
Natural Disasters Are Prejudiced Against Disadvantaged and Vulnerable Populations: The Lack of Publicly Available Health‐Related Data Hinders Research at the Cusp of the Global Climate Crisis
Authors: Mazdiyasni Omid , AghaKouchak Amir 
Published: December 2019

AbstractNatural disasters often affect the most vulnerable countries/communities around the world. However, within the same countries/communities, the impact of natural disasters is far greater on disadvantaged populations. We investigate how wildfires affect asthma prevalence in different populations across California. Our results indicate that although there is no discernible relationship between wildfires and asthma prevalence for California's population as a whole, wildfires and asthma prevalence in Black and senior populations have a strong relationship. We believe there is an urgent need to make high‐resolution health‐related data publicly available for in‐depth analyses of climate change impacts on society and disadvantage communities
Ionospheric D Region Parameters Obtained Using VLF Measurements in the South Pacific Region
Authors: Kumar Abhikesh , Kumar Sushil 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe diurnal variations in the phase and amplitude of very low frequency (VLF) transmissions with the call signs NWC, NPM, and NLK, received at Suva, Fiji, have been modeled using the Long Wave Propagation Capability (V2.1) code to determine the ionospheric D region parameters, H΄ (reference height), and β (rate of increase of electron density with height), for different daytime and nighttime conditions along the transmitter‐receiver great circle paths (TRGCPs). Measured VLF signal amplitude and phase show explicit variation over the day and nighttime along a TRGCP, also revealing amplitude minima and phase steps during sunrise and sunset as the day/night terminator traverses a TRGCP. While the daytime signal strength is reasonably smooth, at nighttime, the signal exhibits a great deal of variability. For three signal paths, the mean daytime H΄ and β were found to be 70.7 km and 0.40 km−1, respectively, while nighttime mean values of these parameters were found to be 84.2 km and 0.68 km‐1, respectively. The temporal and day‐to‐day variability of the nighttime D region parameters shows that H΄ and β ranges in between 83.0 and 85.0 km and 0.58 and 0.80 km−1, respectively. One of the possible sources of nighttime signal variability is increase in the number of modes propagating and relative complex interference between them along the TRGCPs, whereby the weaker modes also become significant at night due to reduced attenuation. In addition, the variations in the nighttime D region may also be a cause of high signal variability.
Support Vector Machine Classification of Seismic Events in the Tianshan Orogenic Belt
Authors: Tang Lanlan , Zhang Miao , Wen Lianxing 
Published: December 2019

AbstractDiscriminating between various types of seismic events is of significant scientific and societal importance. We use a machine learning method employing support vector machine (SVM) to classify tectonic earthquakes (TEs), quarry blasts (QBs), and induced earthquakes (IEs) among 30,181 1.5 <ML<2.9 seismic events that occurred in the Tianshan orogenic belt in China from 2009 to 2017. SVM classifiers are derived based on discriminant features of a training data set consisting of 1,400 TEs selected from the aftershock sequences of 18ML≥ 5.0 earthquakes, 2,881 QBs from repeating events occurring in those areas with a percentage of event daytime occurrence greater than 0.9, and 987 IEs from events in the known oil/gas fields and water reservoirs. The discriminant features include spectral amplitudes of observed P and S wave signals in a frequency range of 1–15 Hz normalized by the P spectrum and averaged over the entire seismic network, and an optional feature of the percentage of event daytime occurrence. Statistics analyses indicate that the accuracies of the SVM classifiers are 99.81% for TEs, 99.93% for QBs, and 99.62% for IEs. Our classification indicates that 37.57% of the seismic events are QBs occurring in possible mine areas and appearing mostly as clusters with a percentage of event daytime occurrence greater than 0.9, 50.12% are TEs occurring in various thrust faults in the Tianshan orogenic belt, and 12.31% are IEs or shallow tectonic earthquakes occurring mostly as clusters near oil and gas fields and water reservoirs. We reevaluatebvalues in the region and obtain relatively uniform values for the classified TEs with most of them below 1.0, as opposed to a large range of values (0.5–2.7) when all the seismic events are used in the analysis.
From Andes to Amazon: Assessing Branched Tetraether Lipids as Tracers for Soil Organic Carbon in the Madre de Dios River System
Authors: Kirkels Frédérique M. S. A. , Ponton Camilo , Galy Valier , West A. Joshua , Feakins Sarah J. , Peterse Francien 
Published: December 2019

AbstractWe investigate the implications of upstream processes and hydrological seasonality on the transfer of soil organic carbon (OC) from the Andes mountains to the Amazon lowlands by the Madre de Dios River (Peru), using branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (brGDGT) lipids. The brGDGT signal in Andean soils (0.5 to 3.5 km elevation) reflects air temperature, with a lapse rate of −6.0 °C/km elevation (r2 = 0.89, p < 0.001) and −5.6 °C/km elevation (r2 = 0.89, p < 0.001) for organic and mineral horizons, respectively. The same compounds are present in river suspended particulate matter (SPM) with a lapse rate of −4.1 °C/km elevation (r2 = 0.82, p < 0.001) during the wet season, where the offset in intercept between the temperature lapse rates for soils and SPM indicates upstream sourcing of brGDGTs. The lapse rate for SPM appears insensitive to an increasing relative contribution of 6‐methyl isomer brGDGTs produced within the river. River depth profiles show that brGDGTs are well mixed in the river and are not affected by hydrodynamic sorting. The brGDGTs accumulate relative to OC downstream, likely due to the transition of particulate OC to the dissolved phase and input of weathered soils toward the lowlands. The temperature‐altitude correlation of brGDGTs in Madre de Dios SPM contrasts with the Lower Amazon River, where the initial soil signature is altered by changes in seasonal in‐river production and variable provenance of brGDGTs. Our study indicates that brGDGTs in the Madre de Dios River system are initially soil derived and highlights their use to study OC sourcing in mountainous river systems.
scRNA-seq in medulloblastoma shows cellular heterogeneity and lineage expansion support resistance to SHH inhibitor therapy
Authors: Ocasio Jennifer Karin , Babcock Benjamin , Malawsky Daniel , Weir Seth J. , Loo Lipin , Simon Jeremy M. , Zylka Mark J. , Hwang Duhyeong , Dismuke Taylor , Sokolsky Marina , Rosen Elias P. , Vibhakar Rajeev , Zhang Jiao , Saulnier Olivier , Vladoiu Maria , El-Hamamy Ibrahim , Stein Lincoln D. , Taylor Michael D. , Smith Kyle S. , Northcott Paul A. , Colaneri Alejandro , Wilhelmsen Kirk , Gershon Timothy R. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractTargeting oncogenic pathways holds promise for brain tumor treatment, but inhibition of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling has failed in SHH-driven medulloblastoma. Cellular diversity within tumors and reduced lineage commitment can undermine targeted therapy by increasing the probability of treatment-resistant populations. Using single-cell RNA-seq and lineage tracing, we analyzed cellular diversity in medulloblastomas in transgenic, medulloblastoma-prone mice, and responses to the SHH-pathway inhibitor vismodegib. In untreated tumors, we find expected stromal cells and tumor-derived cells showing either a spectrum of neural progenitor-differentiation states or glial and stem cell markers. Vismodegib reduces the proliferative population and increases differentiation. However, specific cell types in vismodegib-treated tumors remain proliferative, showing either persistent SHH-pathway activation or stem cell characteristics. Our data show that even in tumors with a single pathway-activating mutation, diverse mechanisms drive tumor growth. This diversity confers early resistance to targeted inhibitor therapy, demonstrating the need to target multiple pathways simultaneously.
Standing genetic variation fuels rapid adaptation to ocean acidification
Authors: Bitter M. C. , Kapsenberg L. , Gattuso J.-P. , Pfister C. A. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractGlobal climate change has intensified the need to assess the capacity for natural populations to adapt to abrupt shifts in the environment. Reductions in seawater pH constitute a conspicuous global change stressor that is affecting marine ecosystems globally. Here, we quantify the phenotypic and genetic modifications associated with rapid adaptation to reduced seawater pH in the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis. We reared a genetically diverse larval population in two pH treatments (pHT 8.1 and 7.4) and tracked changes in the shell-size distribution and genetic variation through settlement. Additionally, we identified differences in the signatures of selection on shell growth in each pH environment. Both phenotypic and genetic data show that standing variation can facilitate adaptation to declines in seawater pH. This work provides insight into the processes underpinning rapid evolution, and demonstrates the importance of maintaining variation within natural populations to bolster species’ adaptive capacity as global change progresses.