bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Colon Microbial Diversity of African Ostriches at Different Ages
Authors: Li Peng , Zhang Yan , Yang Jie , Zhang Xiaoting , Ye Lixun , Li Baitao , Luo Qingping , Wang Jiaxiang 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background:The colon is the unique digestive organ of the African ostrich. It has a large microbial population, which plays an important role in the digestive process of the African ostriches. Methods: In order to understand the diversity of colon microbes in African ostriches, this study used metagenomics sequencing technology to sequence and analyze the colonic microbes of African ostriches at the age of 7, 30, 60 and 180 days. Results: The results showed that with the increase of age, the microbial richness index first increased and then decreased, the highest at 60 days of age (ACE 271.5, Chao1 274.097), while the microbial diversity gradually reduced with the increase of age, the highest at 7 days ( Shannon 3.203, Simpson 0.104). At the phylum level, the dominant bacteria phylum at 7 days of age is Firmicutes, while at 30 days of age, the phyla Firmicutes and Tenericutes are dominant phyla, and the abundance of Proteobacteria is highest at 60 days of age and 180 days of age. At the genus level, the dominant bacteria in the colon at 7 and 30 days are Anaeroplasma and Bacteroides. Acinetobacter is the dominant genus at 60 days, and the dominant genus at 180 days is Pseudomonas. PCA analysis showed that the microbial composition in the 180-day-old colon was very different from other days. The microbial composition in the anterior and middle part of the colon at 7-day-old was similar to that of 30-day-old, while the microbial composition in the latter part was similar to that of 60-day-old. Results of LEfSe analysis showed that there were 34, 37, and 36 differential flora in the colon at 7, 30, and 60 days, respectively, while there was only one differential flora at 180 days of age. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the composition of the microbial community in the colon of African ostriches of different ages is different and there are different flora, but the microbes in the colon are still mainly concentrated in the phylum Firmicutes, Tenericutes, and Proteobacteria, which gives the intestinal tract and function of the African ostrich further research provides a theoretical basis.
Self-reported Sudden Onset Hyposmia: An Early Presentation of SARS CoV-2 Infection
Authors: Al-Naami Awaji Q. , Khan Liaqat A. , Zaidan Faisal I. , Hobani Abdulwahab I. , Hakami Anwar A. , Shaikh Ali H. , Ahmadini Mousa M. , Jafar Wejdan A. , Al-Neami Ibrahim A. , Damri Abdulrhman A. 
Published: December 2020

Abstract

The present outbreak of COVID-19 started in December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in Hubei province in China. The World health organization labeled the disease a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The disease is caused by a virus called severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2). The individuals may remain asymptomatic or present with symptoms of infection. The common presenting symptoms include but are not limited to fever, dry or productive cough, malaise. Contrary to the typical clinical presentation of COVID-19, the patients may present with non-specific symptoms of olfactory or gustatory origin. The olfactory symptoms include hyposmia or anosmia. Physicians may be vigilant to screen and isolate patients with sudden onset hyposmia or anosmia, an early indication of infection that will minimize person-to-person transmission and will contain the virus spread.
Acting between checklists and reality. Managers’ balancing between standardization and adaptive behaviour in patient safety work- an interview study
Authors: Hedsköld Mats , Sachs Magna Andreen , Rosander Thorleif , von Knorring Mia , Harenstam Karin Pukk 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Safety culture can be described and understood through its manifestations in the organisation as artefacts, espoused values and basic underlying assumptions and is strongly related to leadership-yet it remains elusive as a concept. Even if the literature points to leadership as an important factor for creating and sustaining a mature safety culture, little is known about how the safety work of first line managers’ actually is done and how they balance the different and often conflicting organizational goals in everyday practice. The purpose of this study was to explore how health care first line managers perceive their role and how they promote patient safety and patient safety culture in their units. Methods: Interview study with first line managers in intensive care units in eight different hospitals located in the middle of Sweden. An inductive qualitative content analysis approach was used, this was then followed by a deductive analysis of the strategies informed by constructs from High reliability organizations. Results: We present how first line managers view their role in patient safety and exemplify concrete strategies by which managers promote patient safety in everyday work. Conclusions: Our study shows the central role of front-line managers in organizing for safe care and creating a culture for patient safety. Although promoted widely in Swedish healthcare at the time for the interviews, the HSOPSC was not mentioned by the managers as a central source of information on the unit’s safety culture.
Determinants of Macular Ganglion Cell–Inner Plexiform Layer Thickness in Normal Chinese Adults
Authors: Xu Xiaoyu , Xiao Hui , Lai Kunbei , Guo Xinxing , Luo Jingyi , Liu Xing 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Demographic, systemic and ocular factors may impact macular ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness measurements. This study aimed to investigate the influences of multiple potential determinants of macular GCIPL thickness in normal Chinese adults.Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted on 225 normal eyes from 225 healthy Chinese adults. GCIPL thickness were obtained using Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography (OCT). The age, gender, laterality, spherical equivalent (SE) refractive error, intraocular pressure (IOP), axial length (AL), central cornea thickness (CCT), circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) thickness and OCT signal strength were recorded and their respective effect on GCIPL thickness parameters were evaluated.Results: The mean (± SD) average, minimum, superotemporal, superior, superonasal, inferonasal, inferior, and inferotemporal GCIPL thickness was 84.56 ± 5.36, 81.32 ± 5.58, 83.08 ± 5.37, 85.70 ± 5.95, 87.15 ± 6.26, 85.07 ± 6.11, 82.46 ± 5.76, and 83.88 ± 5.59 μm, respectively. Determinants of thinner GCIPL thickness were older age (P = 0.001 - 0.117; effects enhanced if age over 40 years), thinner pRNFL (all P <0.001), and weaker signal strength (all P <0.001). No significant difference was found between males and females (P = 0.069 - 0.842), and between right eyes and the left eyes (P = 0.160 - 0.875) except that of superonasal GCIPL thickness (P < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between GCIPL thickness and SE, IOP, CCT, and AL (P = 0.135 - 0.968). Conclusions: Individual determinants associated with thinner GCIPL thickness were older age (particularly over 40 years of age), thinner pRNFL, and weaker OCT signal strength.
Unbiased RNA-Seq-driven identification and validation of reference genes for quantitative RT-PCR analyses of pooled cancer exosomes
Authors: Dai Yao , Cao Yumeng , Köhler Jens , Lu Aiping , Xu Shaohua , Wang Haiyun 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Exosomes are extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from endocytic compartments of eukaryotic cells which contain various biomolecules like mRNAs or miRNAs. Exosomes influence the biologic behaviour and progression of malignancies and are promising candidates as non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers or as targets for therapeutic interventions. Usually, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is used to assess gene expression in cancer exosomes, however, the ideal reference genes for normalization yet remain to be identified.Results: In this study, we performed an unbiased analysis of high-throughput mRNA and miRNA-sequencing data from exosomes of patients with various cancer types and identify candidate reference genes and miRNAs in cancer exosomes. The expression stability of these candidate reference genes was evaluated by the coefficient of variation “CV” and the average expression stability value “M”. We subsequently validated these candidate reference genes in exosomes from an independent cohort of ovarian cancer patients and healthy control individuals by qRT-PCR.Conclusions: Our study identifies OAZ1 and hsa-miR-6835-3p as the most reliable individual reference genes for mRNA and miRNA quantification, respectively. For superior accuracy, we recommend the use of a combination of reference genes - OAZ1/SERF2/MPP1 for mRNA and hsa-miR-6835-3p/hsa-miR-4468-3p for miRNA analyses.
Comparative Study on Optic Disc Features of Premature Infants and full-term newborns
Authors: Feng Xiaofen , Nan Yan , Pan Jiandong , Zou Ruitao , Shen Lijun , chen feng 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: To study optic disc features of premature infants and compare to that of term infants to explore the pattern and features of newborn optic disc development and provide the basis for the diagnosis of newborn optic disc disease. Methods: This was a prospective clinical research. Newborns underwent newborn fundus disease screening from January 1st, 2016 to October 31st, 2016 in the neonatal ward of Ruian City Maternal and Child Health Hospital were selected. RetCam 3 Version6.1.25.0 Wide-Field Digital Pediatric Retinal Imaging System developed by Clarity Medical Systems, Inc was adopted to conduct fundus examination on both eyes, 130 degree wide-angle lens was used to film the images centering optic disc. Results: For both premature infants and full-term newborns, vertical diameter of the optic disc to lateral diameter of the optic disc ratio was >1, and the shape of the optic disc was a vertical oval. The difference of each optic disc parameter between premature infants and full-term newborns was not statistically significant (P>0.05). There’s a difference of constitution of sclerotic ring type on optic disc between premature infants and full-term newborns. Among which, the proportion of single ring type and double ring type in premature infants was higher than that in full-term newborns (P<0.05). The proportion of no ring type in full-term newborns was higher than that in premature infants (P<0.05). The proportion of mixed type had no significant difference (P>0.05) between premature infants and full-term newborns.Conclusions: We found that The proportion of mature types (single ring type and double ring type) in full-term newborns was higher than that in premature infants. While there’s no statistical difference of the proportion of mixed types between premature infants and full-term newborns. Double ring type was a normal stage of the development of optic disc.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Ethiopian Pediatricians concerning Childhood Eye Diseases
Authors: Regassa Tolosa Tufa , Daba Kumale Tolesa , Fabian Ido Didi , Mengesha Aemero Abateneh 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Eye examination and vision assessment are vital for the detection of conditions that result in blindness. Childhood blindness seriously impacts the development, education, and future employment opportunities of affected children. Pediatricians’ knowledge of eye diseases is critical for the prevention of blindness through early diagnosis, allowing proper treatment and identification of conditions requiring referral to an ophthalmologist to preserve or restore vision. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Ethiopian pediatricians concerning childhood eye diseases.Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional descriptive study of pediatricians working in various hospitals and clinics in Ethiopia. Participants were selected via a convenient sampling technique. Data were collected using both closed and open-ended semi-structured questionnaires. Responses were entered into EpiData 3.1 and transferred to SPSS version 21.0 software for analysis.Results: A total of 79 pediatricians participated in the study. Our findings showed that the attitude of all but 2 participants towards improving the management of childhood eye diseases was positive, even though this was not reflected in actual knowledge or practice. Even though attitudes were positive, knowledge was often poor and practice inadequate owing to barriers such as inadequate undergraduate training, lack of ophthalmology options during pediatric residency, and unavailability of ophthalmic equipment.Conclusions: Participants’ attitudes towards improving treatment for childhood eye diseases are positive, but their insufficient knowledge of eye diseases makes their practice poor in this respect.
Medical students’ self-reported gender discrimination and sexual harassment over time
Authors: Kisiel Marta Alina , Kühner Sofia , Stolare Karin , Lampa Erik , Wohlin Martin , Johnston Nina , Rask-Andersen Anna 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background Gender discrimination (GD) and sexual harassment (SH) occur at all academic institutions worldwide. Medical students report high prevalence of GD and SH, which may negatively affect their education and health. There are indications that policies and reforms on reducing GD/SH are insufficient. Swedish medical students’ experiences of GD/SH are monitored by course-evaluations and bi-annual student union evaluations; however, the response rate is usually low. The aim of this study was to compare the exposure to and context of self-reported GD/SH over an 11-year period amongst medical students at a Swedish university.Methods In 2002, a questionnaire (n=622) was mailed to medical students’ home addresses. It was repeated in 2013 and then distributed during mandatory lectures (n=856). The questions used a behavioristic approach and asked about specific GH/SH experiences. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. The changes in prevalence over time were calculated by sampling weights in order to obtain comparable estimates, representative of both cohorts.Results The response frequency was 55% (62% women) in 2002 and 81% (59% women) in 2013. The prevalence of GD tended to decrease for male and clinical students in comparison to female and pre-clinical peers. However, the prevalence of SH increased for female compared to male students. The ratio of SH for female pre-clinical students doubled in many instances; most often, the mistreatment occurred in the clinic. Medical doctors were indicated as perpetrators up to five times more often by all students in 2013.Conclusion Our results show a disproportional change in exposure to GD/SH between female and male medical students, resulting in a widening of the gender gap regarding prevalence of GD and SH between 2002 and 2013. In particular, personal experiences of SH increased for both sexes. It is proof that institutional efforts to fight mistreatment might be ineffective.
Efficient Masked Face Recognition Method during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Hariri Walid 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
The COVID-19 is an unparalleled crisis leading to a huge number of casualties and security problems. In order to reduce the spread of coronavirus, people often wear masks to protect themselves. This makes face recognition a very difficult task since certain parts of the face are hidden. A primary focus of researchers during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is to come up with suggestions to handle this problem through rapid and efficient solutions. In this paper, we propose a reliable method based on discard masked region and deep learning-based features in order to address the problem of the masked face recognition process. The first step is to discard the masked face region. Next, we apply pre-trained deep Convolutional neural networks (CNN) to extract the best features from the obtained regions (mostly eyes and forehead regions). Finally, the Bag-of-features paradigm is applied on the feature maps of the last convolutional layer in order to quantize them and to get a slight representation comparing to the fully connected layer of classical CNN. Finally, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) is applied for the classification process. Experimental results on Real-World-Masked-Face-Dataset show high recognition performance.
Combination of biomarker with clinical risk factors for prediction of severe acute kidney injury in critically ill patients
Authors: JIA LAN , Sheng Xiaohua , Zamperetti Anna , Xie Yun , Corradi Valentina , Chandel Shikha , De Cal Massimo , Montin Diego Pomarè , Caprara Carlotta , Ronco Claudio 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurs commonly in the intensive care unit (ICU). Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2), known as [TIMP-2] x [IGFBP7] (NephroCheck), have been identified as novel biomarkers for the prediction of AKI risk. However, the effective use of disease biomarkers is indispensable from an appropriate clinical context. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to find risk factors and assess the performance of the combination of NephroCheck with risk factors, so as to provide feasible information for AKI prediction.Methods: All patients who were admitted in the ICU ( from June 2016 to July 2017) participated in the study. The primary outcome was the detection of severe AKI within the first seven days after patients being admitted to the ICU. The predictors were separated into three categories: chronic risk factors, acute risk factors and biochemical indicators. Results: The study included 577 patients. 96 patients developed to severe AKI (16.6%) within seven days. In addition to NephroCheck (+) (OR=2.139, 95% CI (1.260-3.630), P =0.005), age >65 years (OR=1.961, 95% CI (1.153-3.336), P=0.013), CKD (OR=2.573, 95% CI (1.319-5.018), P=0.006) and PCT (+)(OR=3.223, 95% CI (1.643-6.321), P=0.001) were also the independent predictors of severe AKI within seven days. Compared to NephroCheck (+) only (AUC=0.66, 95% CI:0.60-0.72), the combination of NephroCheck (+) and risk factors (age>65years, CKD and PCT positive) (AUC=0.75, 95% CI:0.70-0.81) led to a significant increase in the area under ROC curve for severe AKI prediction within seven days.Conclusions: Although NephroCheck is an effective screening tool for recognizing high-risk patients, we found that combination with biomarker and risk factors (age>65years, CKD, procalcitonin positive) for risk assessment of AKI has the greatest significance to patients with uncertain disease trajectories.
Heart Rate Variability-Derived Features Based on Deep Neural Network for Distinguishing Different Anaesthesia States
Authors: Zhan Jian , Wu Zuo-xi , Duan Zhen-xin , Yang Gui-ying , Du Zhi-yong , Bao Xiao-hang , Li Hong 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Background: Estimating the depth of anaesthesia (DoA) is critical in modern anaesthetic practice. Multiple DoA monitors based on electroencephalograms (EEGs) have been widely used for DoA monitoring; however, these monitors may be inaccurate under certain conditions. In this work, the hypothesis that heart rate variability (HRV)-derived features based on a deep neural network can distinguish different anaesthesia states was investigated.Methods: A novel method of distinguishing different anaesthesia states was developed based on four HRV-derived time and frequency domain features combined with a deep neural network. Four features were extracted from an electrocardiogram, including the HRV high-frequency power, low-frequency power, high-to-low-frequency power ratio, and sample entropy. Next, these features were used as inputs for the deep neural network, which used the expert assessment of consciousness level as the reference output. Finally, the deep neural network was compared with the logistic regression, support vector machine, and decision tree models. The datasets of 23 anaesthesia patients were used to assess the proposed method.Results: The accuracies of the four models, in distinguishing the anaesthesia states, were 86.2% (logistic regression), 87.5% (support vector machine), 87.2% (decision tree), and 90.1% (deep neural network). The accuracy of deep neural network was higher than those of the logistic regression (p < 0.05), support vector machine (p < 0.05), and decision tree (p < 0.05) approaches. Our method outperformed the logistic regression, support vector machine, and decision tree methods.Conclusions: The incorporation of four HRV-derived time and frequency domain features and a deep neural network could accurately distinguish between different anaesthesia states; however, this study is a pilot of a feasibility study, providing a method to supplement DoA monitoring based on EEG features to improve the accuracy of DoA estimation.
Accuracy of self-perceived risk perception of breast cancer development in Iranian women
Authors: Hajian-Tilaki Karimollah , Nikpour Maryam 
Published: December 2020

Abstract
Backgrand: The accuracy of subjective risk perception is a
matter of concern in breast cancer development. The objective of
this study was to evaluate the accuracy of self-perceived risk
assessment compared to actual risk.

Methods: The demographic, clinical, and reproductive
characteristics of 800 women aged 35-85 years were collected with
an in-person interview. The self-perceived risk was assessed using
the visual analog scale (VAS) and the actual risk was calculated
from the Gail model. Gail’s cutoff of 1.66% risk was used to
categorize the estimated 5-year actual risk as low/average risk
(<1.66%) and high risk (≥1.66). In low/average risk, if the
self-perceived risk> actual risk, then individuals were
categorized as overestimating. Similarly, in high-risk women, if
the perceived risk<actual risk, then, the subjects were labeled
as under-estimate; otherwise, it was labeled as accurate. The Kappa
statistics were used to determine the agreement between
self-perceived risk and actual risk. ROC analysis was applied to
determine the accuracy of self-perceived risk in the prediction of
actual risk.

Results: The perceived risk was significantly higher than
actual risk (p=0.001, 0.01 for 5-year and lifetime risk
respectively). Both in low and high-risk groups about half of the
women over-estimate and underestimate the risk by subjective risk
perception. For a 5-year risk assessment, there was no agreement at
all between perceived risk and actual risk (Kappa=0.00, p=0.98) but
a very low agreement between them in lifetime risk assessment
(Kappa=0.09, p=0.005). The performance of accuracy of risk
perception versus actual risk was very low (AUC=0.53, 95%CI:
0.44-0.61 and AUC=0.58, 95%CI: 0.54-0.62 for the 5- year risk and
lifetime risk respectively).

Conclusion: The clinical performance of risk perception based
on VAS is very poor. Thus, the efforts of the public health
education program should focus on the correct perception of breast
cancer risk among Iranian women.