bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss with Sweet syndrome
Authors: You Yeon Seok , Park Sang Woo , Yun Seok Kweon , Lee Eun Jung 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Introduction:
Sweet syndrome (SS) is an idiopathic autoimmune disease which has been associated with various extracutaneous manifestations. Otologic symptoms secondary to SS are characterized by bilateral, progressive, sensorineural hearing loss, which requires auditory rehabilitation with, for example, cochlear implantation.

Patient concerns:
A 43-year-old woman complaining of bilateral sudden hearing loss visited the Emergency Department of our University. Abrupt onset of fever peaking up to 40°C and vomiting accompanied the hearing loss and other associated symptoms were: tinnitus that sounded like a machine humming, mild dizziness, a painful rash (on the right upper eyelid, chest, back, forearms, and lower extremities), arthralgia in both the hip and knee joints, and vision loss in the right eye. The patient had no history of autoimmune diseases or surgery.

Diagnosis:
Pure tone audiometry and biopsy on the skin lesion were performed. SS with bilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss was confirmed.

Interventions:
The patient was treated with intravenous prednisolone and topical steroids.

Outcomes:
After a week of treatment, skin lesions had improved. And 3 months after treatment, the hearing test showed full recovery.

Conclusion:
This case emphasizes the point that early diagnosis and timely treatment are essential for hearing recovery in patients with SS who have otologic symptoms.
Complex Fistula Formations After Orbital Fracture Repair With Teflon
Authors: Goslin Krysta N. , Miller Nicholas J. , Nguyen Elizabeth V. , Hassan Adam S. 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
The authors present 3 unique cases of complex fistula formations because of orbital fracture repair with a Teflon (polytetrafluroethylene) implant. A 26-year-old man presented with dacryocystitis and a cutaneous fistula 8 years after left orbital floor and medial wall fracture repair with a Teflon implant. A 46-year-old woman suffered orbital trauma after a motor vehicle accident as a teenager and the fracture was repaired with Teflon implant. Thirty-two years later, she presented with lower eyelid fistula, ectropion, and retraction. A 65-year-old woman also previously had Teflon implants for the repair of her left inferior and lateral orbital rim after a motor vehicle accident. Twenty-five years later, she presented with chronic infections involving the repaired areas, as well as left lower lid ectropion and fistula formation. The woven material nature of Teflon acted as a nidus for infection, inflammation, and led to complex cutaneous fistula formations in these patients.
Electroconvulsive Therapy for Depression in Transgender Patients
Authors: Mormando Charles B. , Dalke Katharine , Mikoluk Cezary , Garman John C. , Francis Andrew 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
There is very limited information regarding the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a treatment for major depressive disorder in transgender patients. This population is also at risk for comorbid conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use that could impact the outcome of ECT. We report our experience with the use of ECT in this population. Clinical and response characteristics of 7 consecutive cases are described in this series. All patients had multiple psychiatric diagnoses and were refractory to pharmacologic intervention. Pretreatment Beck Depression Inventory-II scores were 45.5 ± 3.2 SEM and posttreatment scores were 21.2 ± 6.4 [P < 0.01]. Suicidality scores reduced by greater than 60%, whereas remission of depression was obtained for 2 of 7, and 4 of 7 showed greater than 50% reduction in depression scores. Treatments were tolerated well using conventional treatment procedures. This case series suggests that ECT can be effective for depressed transgender patients with multiple clinical comorbidities.
Tocilizumab in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19 Pneumonia
Authors: Rosas Ivan O. , Bräu Norbert , Waters Michael , Go Ronaldo , Hunter Bradley D. , Bhagani Sanjay , Skiest Daniel , Aziz Mariam S. , Cooper Nichola , Douglas Ivor S. , Savic Sinisa , Youngstein Taryn , Del Sorbo Lorenzo , Gracian Antonio Cubillo , De La Zerda David J. , Ustianowski Andrew , Bao Min , Dimonaco Sophie , Graham Emily , Matharu Balpreet , Spotswood Helen , Tsai Larry , Malhotra Atul 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTBACKGROUNDCOVID-19 is associated with immune dysregulation and hyperinflammation. Tocilizumab is an anti–interleukin-6 receptor antibody.METHODSPatients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia receiving standard care were randomized (2:1) to double-blinded intravenous tocilizumab 8 mg/kg or placebo. The primary outcome measure was clinical status on a 7-category ordinal scale at day 28 (1, discharged/ready for discharge; 7, death).RESULTSOverall, 452 patients were randomized; the modified-intention-to-treat population included 294 tocilizumab-treated and 144 placebo-treated patients. Clinical status at day 28 was not statistically significantly improved for tocilizumab versus placebo (P=0.36). Median (95% CI) ordinal scale values at day 28: 1.0 (1.0 to 1.0) for tocilizumab and 2.0 (1.0 to 4.0) for placebo (odds ratio, 1.19 [0.81 to 1.76]). There was no difference in mortality at day 28 between tocilizumab (19.7%) and placebo (19.4%) (difference, 0.3% [95% CI, –7.6 to 8.2]; nominal P=0.94). Median time to hospital discharge was 8 days shorter with tocilizumab than placebo (20.0 and 28.0, respectively; nominal P=0.037; hazard ratio 1.35 [95% CI 1.02 to 1.79]). Median duration of ICU stay was 5.8 days shorter with tocilizumab than placebo (9.8 and 15.5, respectively; nominal P=0.045). In the safety population, serious adverse events occurred in 34.9% of 295 patients in the tocilizumab arm and 38.5% of 143 in the placebo arm.CONCLUSIONSIn this randomized placebo-controlled trial in hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patients, tocilizumab did not improve clinical status or mortality. Potential benefits in time to hospital discharge and duration of ICU stay are being investigated in ongoing clinical trials.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCTG432G615
Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Palestine: a cross-sectional seroepidemiological study
Authors: Qutob Nouar , Awartani Faisal , Salah Zaidoun , Asia Mohammad , Khader Imad Abu , Herzallah Khaled , Balqis Nadeen , Sallam Husam 
Published: September 2020

AbstractSeroprevalence rates are important indicators to the epidemiology of COVID-19 and the extent of the pandemic given the existence of asymptomatic cases. The purpose of this study is to assess the seroprevalence rate in the Palestinian population residing in the West Bank. Blood samples were collected between 15th June 2020 and 30th June 2020 from 1355 adults from Palestinian households in the West Bank and 1136 individuals visiting laboratories between the 1st May 2020 and 9th July 2020 for a routine checkup. Serological tests for the 2491 serum samples were done using an Immunoassay for the qualitative detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. The random sample of Palestinians living in the West Bank yeilded 0% seroprevalence with 95% CI [0,0.0036], while the lab referrals sample yielded an estimated seroprevalence of 0.354% with 95% CI [0.0011,0096]. Our results indicate that as of July 2020, seroprevalence in Palestine persist low and is inadequate to provide herd immunity, emphasizing the need to maintain health measures to keep the outbreak under control. Population-based seroprevalence studies are to be conducted periodically to monitor the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Palestine and inform policy makers about the efficacy of their surveillance system.
Unraveling Endothelial Cell Phenotypic Regulation By Spatial Hemodynamic Flows With Microfluidics
Authors: Varma Sarvesh , Garcia-Cardena Guillermo , Voldman Joel 
Published: September 2020

AbstractHuman endothelial cells (hECs) experience complex spatiotemporal hemodynamic flows and that directly regulate hEC function and susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. Recent medical imaging studies reveal that helical flows strongly correlate with lowered disease susceptibility, as contrasted to multidirectional disturbed flows. However, a lack of platforms to replicate these spatial profiles of flow (SPF) has prevented biological studies to investigate the role hECs play in tuning the observed SPF-correlated disease susceptibility. Here, we utilize microfluidic devices to apply varying SPF upon hECs for the first time, and discover that these flows can differentially impact hEC morphology, transcription, and polarization. Collectively, our platform and studies significantly advance our ability to delineate flow-regulated hEC function and disease susceptibility.Significance StatementIn vivo, hECs experience complex hemodynamic flows, including those that are spatially helical or disturbed, which is in stark contrast to the unidirectional flows typically used to study hECsin vitro.Understanding the impact of SPF on hEC function informs our understanding of the pathophysiology of hEC dysfunction and can lead to interventional solutions that specifically perturb SPF to lower disease risk. Here, we leverage microfluidics to apply and discover the specific impact of SPF on hECs for the first time. Broadly, our platform bridges the mutual interests of the vascular biology and interventional cardiology communities to collectively understand how cardiovascular health is tied to the way blood flows upon the endothelium.
Estimating the effect of a scanner upgrade on measures of grey matter structure for longitudinal designs
Authors: Medawar Evelyn , Thieleking Ronja , Manuilova Iryna , Paerisch Maria , Villringer Arno , Witte A. Veronica , Beyer Frauke 
Published: September 2020

1AbstractLongitudinal imaging studies are crucial for advancing the understanding of brain development over the lifespan. Thus, more and more studies acquire imaging data at multiple time points or with long follow-up intervals. In these studies changes to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners often become inevitable which may decrease the reliability of the MRI assessments and introduce biases.We therefore investigated the difference between MRI scanners with subsequent versions (3 Tesla Siemens Verio vs. Skyra fit) on the cortical and subcortical measures of grey matter in 116 healthy, young adults using the well-established longitudinal FreeSurfer stream for T1-weighted brain images. We found excellent between-scanner reliability for cortical and subcortical measures of grey matter structure (intra-class correlation coefficient > 0.8). Yet, paired t-tests revealed statistically significant differences in at least 75% of the regions, with percent differences up to 5%, depending on the outcome measure. Offline correction for gradient distortions only slightly reduced these biases. Further, T1-imaging based quality measures systematically differed between scanners.We conclude that scanner upgrades during a longitudinal study introduce bias in measures of cortical and subcortical grey matter structure. Therefore, before upgrading a MRI scanner during an ongoing study, researchers should prepare to implement an appropriate correction method for these effects.
Representation of Color, Form, and their Conjunction across the Human Ventral Visual Pathway
Authors: Taylor JohnMark , Xu Yaoda 
Published: September 2020

AbstractDespite decades of neuroscience research, our understanding of the relationship between color and form processing in the primate ventral visual pathway remains incomplete. Using fMRI multivoxel pattern analysis, this study examined the coding of color with both a simple form feature (orientation) and a mid-level form feature (curvature) in human early visual areas V1 to V4, posterior and central color regions, and shape areas in ventral and lateral occipito-temporal cortex. With the exception of the central color region (which showed color but not form decoding), successful color and form decoding was found in all other regions examined, even for color and shape regions showing univariate sensitivity to one feature. That said, all regions exhibited significant feature decoding biases, with decoding from color and shape regions largely consistent with their univariate preferences. Color and form are thus represented in neither a completely distributed nor a completely modular manner, but abiased distributedmanner. Interestingly, coding of one feature in a brain region was always tolerant to changes in the other feature, indicating relative independence of color and form coding throughout the ventral visual cortex. Although evidence for interactive coding of color and form also existed, the effect was weak and only existed for color and orientation conjunctions in early visual cortex. No evidence for interactive coding of color and curvature was found. The predominant relationship between color and form coding in the human brain appears to be one of anatomical coexistence (in a biased distributed manner), but representational independence.
Comparison of transparency and shrinkage of insect brains using novel and traditional clearing methods
Authors: Bekkouche Bo M. B. , Fritz Helena K. M. , Rigosi Elisa , O’Carroll David C. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractImprovement of imaging quality has the potential to visualize previously unseen building blocks of the brain and is therefore one of the great challenges in neuroscience. Rapid development of new tissue clearing techniques in recent years have attempted to solve imaging compromises in thick brain samples, particularly for high resolution optical microscopy, where the clearing medium needs to match the refractive index of the objective immersion medium. These problems are exacerbated in insect tissue, where numerous (initially air-filled) tracheal tubes branching throughout the brain increase the scattering of light. To date, surprisingly few studies have systematically quantified the benefits of such clearing methods using objective transparency and tissue shrinkage measurements. In this study we compare a traditional and widely used insect clearing medium, methyl salicylate combined with permanent mounting in Permount (‘MS/P’) with several more recently applied clearing media that offer tunable refractive index (n): 2,2-thiodiethanol (TDE), ‘SeeDB2’ (in variants SeeDB2S & SeeDB2G matched to oil and glycerol immersion,n=1.52 & 1.47 respectively) and Rapiclear (also withn=1.52 & 1.47). We measured transparency and tissue shrinkage by comparing freshly dissected brains with cleared brains from dipteran flies, with or without addition of vacuum or ethanol pre-treatments (dehydration and rehydration) to evacuate air from the tracheal system. The results show that ethanol pre-treatment is very effective for improving transparency, regardless of the subsequent clearing medium, while vacuum treatment offers little measurable benefit. Ethanol pre-treated SeeDB2G and Rapiclear brains show much less shrinkage than using the traditional MS/P method. Furthermore, these newly developed media offer outstanding transparency compared to TDE and MS/P. Rapiclear protocols were less laborious compared to SeeDB2, but both offer sufficient transparency and refractive index tunability to permit super-resolution imaging of local volumes in whole mount brains from large insects, and even light-sheet microscopy. Although long-term permanency of Rapiclear stored samples remains to be established, our samples still showed good preservation of fluorescence after storage for more than a year at room temperature.
Sex-based clinical and immunological differences in COVID-19
Authors: Li Kening , Huang Bin , Cai Yun , Wang Zhihua , Li Lu , Wu Lingxiang , Zhu Mengyan , Li Jie , Wang Ziyu , Wu Min , Li Wanlin , Wu Wei , Zhang Lishen , Xia Xinyi , Wang Shukui , Wang Qianghu 
Published: September 2020

AbstractBackgroundMales and females differ in their immunological responses to foreign pathogens. However, most of the current COVID-19 clinical practices and trials do not take sex as consideration.MethodsWe performed an unbiased sex-based comparative analysis for the clinical outcomes, peripheral immune cells, and SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody levels of 1,558 males and 1,499 females COVID-19 patients from a single center. The lymphocyte subgroups were measured by Flow cytometry. Total antibody, Spike protein (S)-, receptor binding domain (RBD)-, and nucleoprotein (N)-specific IgM and IgG levels were measured by chemiluminescence.ResultsWe found that the mortality and ICU admission rates were approximately 2-fold higher in males than that in females (P<0.005). Survival analysis revealed that sex is an independent prognostic factor for COVID-19 (Hazard ratio=2.2, P=0.003). The concentration of inflammatory factors in peripheral blood was significantly higher in males. Besides, the renal and hepatic abnormality induced by COVID-19 was more common in males during the hospitalization. The analysis of lymphocyte subsets revealed that the percentage of CD19+ B cell and CD4+ T cell was significantly higher in females (P<0.001) during hospitalization, indicating the stronger humoral immunity in females than males. Notably, the protective IgG sharply increased and reached a peak in the fourth week after symptom onset in females, while gradually increased and reached a peak in the seventh week in males.ConclusionsThe unfavorable prognosis of male COVID-19 patients may result from the weak humoral immunity and indolent antibody responses during SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery. Early medical intervention and close monitoring are important, especially for male COVID-19 patients. Hormonal or convalescent plasma therapy may help improve the immunity of males to fight against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Poorly differentiated XX/XY sex chromosomes are widely shared across skink radiation
Authors: Kostmann Alexander , Kratochvíl Lukáš , Rovatsos Michail 
Published: September 2020

AbstractDifferentiated sex chromosomes are believed to be evolutionarily stable, and their emergence was suggested to lead to a remarkable increase in the diversification rate and in disparity in such groups as birds, mammals and snakes. On the other hand, poorly differentiated sex chromosomes are considered to be prone to turnovers. With around 1.700 currently known species formingc. 15% of reptile species diversity, skinks (family Scincidae) are a very diverse group of squamates known for their large ecological and morphological variability. Skinks generally have poorly differentiated and cytogenetically hardly distinguishable sex chromosomes and their sex determination was suggested to be highly variable. Here, we determined X-linked genes in the common sandfish (Scincus scincus) and demonstrate that skinks have shared the same homologous XX/XY sex chromosomes across their wide phylogenetic spectrum for at least 85 million years, approaching the age of the highly differentiated ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes of birds and advanced snakes. Skinks thus demonstrate that even poorly differentiated sex chromosomes can be evolutionarily stable and that large diversity can emerge even in groups with poorly differentiated sex chromosomes. The conservation of sex chromosomes across skinks allows us to introduce the first molecular sexing method widely applicable in this group.
ASHIC: Hierarchical Bayesian modeling of diploid chromatin contacts and structures
Authors: Ye Tiantian , Ma Wenxiu 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe recently developed Hi-C technique has been widely applied to map genome-wide chromatin interactions. However, current methods for analyzing diploid Hi-C data cannot fully distinguish between homologous chromosomes. Consequently, the existing diploid Hi-C analyses are based on sparse and inaccurate allele-specific contact matrices, which might lead to inaccurate modeling of diploid genome architecture.Here, we present ASHIC, a hierarchical Bayesian framework to model allele-specific chromatin organizations in diploid genomes. We developed two models under this Bayesian framework: the Poisson-multinomial (ASHIC-PM) model and the zero-inflated Poisson-multinomial (ASHIC-ZIPM) model. The proposed ASHIC methods impute allele-specific contact maps from diploid Hi-C data and simultaneously infer allelic 3D structures. Through simulation studies, we demonstrated that our methods outperformed existing approaches, especially under low coverage and low SNP density conditions. Additionally, we applied ASHIC-ZIPM to a published diploid mouse Hi-C data and studied the active/inactive X chromosomes and theH19/Igf2imprinting region. In both cases, our method produced fine-resolution diploid chromatin maps and 3D structures, and provided insights into the allelic chromatin organizations and functions. To summarize, our work provides a statistically rigorous framework for investigating fine-scale allele-specific chromatin conformations.The ASHIC software is publicly available athttps://github.com/wmalab/ASHIC.
Bacillus subtilisspore surface display of photodecarboxylase for the transformation of lipids to hydrocarbons
Authors: Karava Marianna , Gockel Peter , Kabisch Johannes 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe display of enzymes on the surface of spores allows the rapid and very simple biotechnological production of immobilized enzymes. Here we describe the development of aBacillus subtilisspore display platform and its application to produce hydrocarbons from lipids obtained from the oleaginous yeastsYarrowia lipolytica, Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosusas well as olive oil.Lipid hydrolysis was examined in a bienzymatic one-pot cascade using a commercially immobilized lipase (RO lipase) as well as spores with and without additional heterologous lipase expression. Decarboxylation of the released fatty acids was achieved displaying a photodecarboxylase (CvFAP) on the spore surface. Differences in composition of the formed hydrocarbons were observed depending on the lipids source. Using 3D printed lighting equipment titers of up to 64.0 ± 5.6 mg/L hydrocarbons were produced.
A Kinematic Index for Estimation of Metabolic Rate Reduction in Running withI-RUN
Authors: Aftabi Hamidreza , Nasiri Rezvan , Ahmadabadi Majid Nili 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we target multiple goals related to our passive running assistive device, calledI-RUN. The major goals are: (1) finding the main reason behind individual differences in benefiting from our assistive device at the muscles level, (2) devising a simple measure for on-lineI-RUNstiffness tuning, and creating a lab-free simple kinematic measure for (3) estimating metabolic rate reduction as well as (4) training subjects to maximize their benefit fromI-RUN. Our approach is using some extensive data-driven OpenSim simulation results employing a generic lower limb model with 92-muscles and 29-DOF.It is observed that there is a significant relation between the hip joints kinematic and changes in the metabolic rate in the presence ofI-RUN. Accordingly, a simple kinematic index is devised to estimate metabolic rate reduction. This index not only explains individual differences in metabolic rate reduction but also provides a quantitative measure for training subjects to maximize their benefits fromI-RUN.The simulation results also re-confirm our hypothesis that “reducing the forces of two antagonistic mono-articular muscles is sufficient for involved muscles’ total effort reduction”. Consequently, we introduce a two-muscles EMG-based metric for the on-line tuning ofI-RUN.