bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Preoperative risk factors associated with chronic pain profiles following total knee arthroplasty
Authors: Lindberg Maren F. , Miaskowski Christine , Rustøen Tone , Cooper Bruce A. , Aamodt Arild , Lerdal Anners 
Published: December 2020

ABSTRACTBackgroundOne in five patients experience chronic pain 12 months following total knee arthroplasty (TKA). This longitudinal study used a person‐centred approach to identify subgroups of patients with distinct chronic pain profiles following TKA and identified preoperative characteristics associated with these profiles.MethodsOn the day before surgery, 202 patients completed questionnaires that assessed pain, interference with functioning, fatigue, anxiety, depression and illness perceptions. Average and worst pain were assessed prior to surgery, on postoperative day 4, at 6 week and at 3 and 12 months following surgery. Using growth mixture modelling, two subgroups with distinct average and worst pain profiles were identified.ResultsPatients in the “lower average” and “lower worst” pain classes had moderate preoperative pain scores that decreased over the remaining 9 months following TKA. Patients in the “higher average” and “higher worst” pain classes had relatively higher preoperative pain scores that increased during the first three months and then decreased slightly over the remaining 9 months. Patients in the higher pain classes had higher interference with function scores; used opioids prior to surgery more often, were more likely to receive a continuous nerve block and ketamine; had higher preoperative fatigue severity and interference scores; and had worse perceptions of illness than patients in the lower pain classes.ConclusionsThese risk factors may be used to identify subgroups of patients at higher risk for more severe pain after TKA. Future studies should test whether modifying these risk factors can improve patients’ outcomes after TKA.Significance statementThe present study provides a novel and original analysis of pain profiles following total knee arthroplasty that may contribute to our understanding of the transition from acute to chronic pain. Our results may be used to identify patients at higher risk for poorer outcomes based on preoperative risk factors.
High‐performance flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator based on necklace‐like PZT particle chains
Authors: Zhang Shuo , Lin Xiujuan , Liu Huan , Yuan Zie , Huan Yu , Yuan Xi , Huang Shifeng , Cheng Xin 
Published: December 2020

SummaryFlexible piezoelectric nanogenerators (F‐PENG) as a clean, green power generation device have attracted much attention. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) was used to prepare flexible piezoelectric nanogenerators with necklace‐like oriented structure. The results showed that the oriented structure significantly improved the electrical output performance of F‐PENG by enhancing the stress and free charge transmission. For the F‐PENG with 8 vol% oriented PZT particle, open‐circuit voltage and short‐circuit current reached 176 V and 35 μA and an instantaneous power of up to 2 mW was collected for an optimal matched load resistance of 6 MΩ. Output voltage and current increase by 135% and 133%, respectively, compared with the F‐PENG with random structure. Meanwhile, the finite element simulation results also confirmed the superiority of this oriented structure. There was a clear linear relationship between the output voltage and pressure, and the sensitivity was 1.13 N/V. The oriented PZT particle‐based F‐PENG with excellent electrical output performance has great application prospects in the fields of green power generation and self‐powered building monitoring system.
TamForen: A tamper‐proof cloud forensic framework
Authors: Ye Fei , Zheng Yunzhi , Fu Xiao , Luo Bin , Du Xiaojiang , Guizani Mohsen 
Published: December 2020

AbstractCloud forensics has become increasingly critical in cloud computing security in recent years. A fundamental problem in cloud forensics is how to safely and effectively obtain, preserve, and analyze evidence. With massive cloud forensic systems and tools having been proposed over the years, we identify one challenge that is not adequately addressed in the current literature. The problem is “credibility of cloud evidence”; this is where the evidence collected in the cloud is unreliable due to its multitenancy and the multiple participants in the forensic process. In this paper, we develop a new Cloud Forensics Tamper‐Proof Framework (TamForen) for cloud forensics, which can be used in an untrusted and multitenancy cloud environment. This framework relies on the cloud forensics system independent of the daily cloud activities and is implemented based on the Multilayer Compressed Counting Bloom Filter. Unlike existing cloud forensics methods that depend on the support and trust of cloud service providers, TamForen takes into account the untrustworthiness of participants in the forensics process and conducts tamper‐proof protection of data in a decentralized way without violating users' privacy. We simulate a cloud forensics environment to evaluate TamForen, and the results show that TamForen is feasible.
Consumer acceptance among Dutch and German students of insects in feed and food
Authors: Naranjo‐Guevara Natalia , Fanter Michelle , Conconi Anna Maria , Floto‐Stammen Sonja 
Published: December 2020

AbstractDue to the environmental and nutritional benefits of insects, their consumption would be one of the solutions to feed the growing human population. Despite the increasing interest in the use of insects as food and feed, consumer acceptance is the major obstacle to successful implementation in Western countries and we studied the factors that influence consumer acceptance in a group of university students from Germany and the Netherlands. In this exploratory research, a survey was conducted (n = 222). Socio‐demographic and psychological factors were established from a theoretical review. In addition, we elaborated on questions regarding information on the health and environmental benefits of consuming insects. Initially, the data obtained are presented through descriptive statistics. The influence of the socio‐demographic and psychological factors, and the information on the willingness to accept insects as animal feed and human food was analyzed using correlations and multiple linear regressions. Results showed more willingness to accept insects as animal feed than in human food. The acceptance among German and Dutch students seems to be driven by issues similar to those in other European countries, such as visual aspects and knowledge about the benefits. The effect of the information on willingness constitutes an important finding of this study, especially for the use of insects in animal feed, since most of the previous studies have focused on the use of insects as human food. Our data support the need to inform and educate consumers about the environmental and health benefits of entomophagy. We conclude that effective efforts to implement entomophagy could increase the level of familiarity with the insect food and inform (or educate) consumers about its benefits. Insights from this study are useful to address studies focusing on specific segments of possible early adopters and consequently addressing communication strategies in this market segmentation.
Optimal portfolio allocation using option‐implied information
Authors: Kyriacou Maria , Olmo Jose , Strittmatter Marius 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThis paper explores option‐implied information measures for optimal portfolio allocation. We introduce two state variables constructed from option prices. The first state variable is the risk‐premium on the risky asset and the second variable is the market price of risk. We also explore a lognormal distribution, a mixture of lognormal distributions, and a binomial tree for constructing the implied risk‐neutral density function. Using a combination of statistical and economic measures applied to a portfolio given by the 1‐month US Treasury bill and the S&P 500 Index we show the good performance of option‐implied information measures for optimal portfolio allocation.
Assessing the effectiveness of the emergency liquidity assistance tool in the euro area
Authors: Kostika Eleftheria , Laopodis Nikiforos T. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractWe examine the role and the efficiency of the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) tool in the Euro area which has been used to confront the contagion in the banking sector and the illiquid financial market conditions. We study four European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, and Ireland), which have received substantial ELA since the 2008 financial crisis. Through Bayesian VAR models, we seek to determine the effectiveness of national central bank lending, which includes the amount of ELA received by the domestic banking sector, an assessment of the direct effect of ELA on banks' liquidity and lending through deposits thus allowing banks to supply loans. In general, we find that the ELA tool was very effective in alleviating financial strains in these countries' central banks. For the Greek case, in particular, our findings indicate that the ELA was influenced not only from any changes in bank deposits but also from changes in the spread between the 10–year Greek and German government bond yields. Finally, the volume of non‐performing loans in Greek banks was declining to capital injections to banks as their capital base was continually being restored through the ELA mechanism.
Prenatal sevoflurane exposure: Effects of iron metabolic dysfunction on offspring cognition and potential mechanism
Authors: Zuo Yong , Chang Yanzhong , Thirupathi Anand , Zhou Changhao , Shi Zhenhua 
Published: December 2020

AbstractFor decades, the neurotoxicity caused by anesthetics in mammalian brain development has gained increasing attention. Exposure to anesthetics leads to neurotoxicity and apoptosis of nerve cells, which in turn induces cognitive dysfunction. Although most of the data came from animal studies, general anesthetics have been shown to have adverse effects on cognitive function in infants and young children in recent years. This concern has led to a number of retrospective studies that observed an association between general anesthesia in pregnant women and neurobehavioral problems in fetuses or offspring. Every year, many pregnant women undergo non‐obstetric anesthesia due to various reasons such as traffic accidents, fetal interventions, acute appendicitis, symptomatic cholelithiasis, and trauma. A matter of concern for these pregnant women is whether anesthesia has a detrimental effect on fetal brain development in the womb and whether the fetus has cognitive impairment after birth. In humans, the association of anesthetic exposure in infants with the long‐term impairment of neurologic functions has been reported in several retrospective clinical studies. Recently, we have found that sevoflurane anesthesia during pregnancy in mice‐induced cognitive impairment in the offspring by causing iron deficiency and inhibiting myelinogenesis. Sevoflurane is a commonly used general anesthetic in the hospitals, which can induce neurotoxicity and cause cognitive impairment in fetuses, infants, children, and adults. However, the exact mechanism of sevoflurane‐induced damage to the central nervous system (CNS) is not fully understood. Based on our recent results, this paper reviewed the effects of sevoflurane on cognitive impairment and pathological changes such as neurogenesis, neuronal apoptosis, and iron metabolism dysfunction in the offspring.
Plasma exchange for COVID‐19 thrombo‐inflammatory disease
Authors: Arulkumaran Nishkantha , Thomas Mari , Brealey David , Alwan Ferras , Singh Deepak , Lunn Michael , Welch Anna , Clark Samuel , Raith Eamon , Reddy Ugan , Low Ryan , Leverett David , Singer Mervyn , Scully Marie 
Published: December 2020

AbstractSevere COVID‐19 disease is a hyperinflammatory, pro‐thrombotic state. We undertook plasma exchange (PEX) to determine its effects on organ function and thrombo‐inflammatory markers.Seven critically ill adults with severe COVID‐19 respiratory failure (PaO2:FiO2 ratio < 200 mm Hg) requiring invasive or noninvasive ventilatory support and elevated thrombo‐inflammatory markers (LDH >800 IU/L and D‐dimer >1000 μg/L (or doubling from baseline) received PEX, daily, for a minimum of 5 days. No other immunomodulatory medications were initiated during this period. Seven patients matched for age and baseline biochemistry were a comparator group.Coagulation screening revealed no evidence of coagulopathy. However, von Willebrand Factor (VWF) activity, antigen and VWF antigen: ADAMTS13 ratio, Factor VIII and D‐dimers were all elevated. Following 5 days of PEX, plasma levels of all the above, and ferritin levels, were significantly reduced (P < .05) while lymphocyte counts normalized (P < .05). The PaO2:FiO2 ratio increased from a median interquartile range (IQR) of 11.6 (10.8‐19.7) kPa to 18.1 (16.0‐25.9) kPa (P < .05). Similar improvements were not observed in controls. Acute kidney injury (AKI) occurred among five patients in the control arm but not in patients receiving PEX.PEX improved oxygenation, decreased the incidence of AKI, normalized lymphocyte counts and reduced circulating thrombo‐inflammatory markers including D‐Dimer and VWF Ag:ADAMTS13 ratio.
Efficient optimization of wideband reflector feed antennas for optimal receiving sensitivity
Authors: Mokhupuki Fahmi , de Villiers Dirk I. L. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractWideband reflector antenna feeds are a geometrically complex class of antennas, requiring a variety of design parameters to describe their form. This casts the optimization of such structures as a high‐dimensionality problem. The antenna responses are also difficult to predict and must be determined via computationally expensive full‐wave electromagnetic simulations. This paper proposes a surrogate‐based optimization approach for the design of wideband feed antennas. Beginning with high‐fidelity goal function data from a global search space, the framework nominates a number of local search regions where separate, formal, multifidelity optimizations are performed. The formulated goal function maximizes the receiving sensitivity, while ensuring that the reflection coefficient response satisfies a predefined criterion. An approximate, fast‐to‐evaluate coarse model of the goal function, based on a series of surrogate models estimating the feed and reflector antenna responses, is formulated. Most of the optimization burden is shifted to the coarse model, where high‐fidelity samples are adaptively added to the regions of the design space where the coarse model performs well or where the sampling is sparse. As a design example, the optimization of a quad‐ridge flared horn feed antenna, on a Square Kilometre Array reflector system, is presented to highlight the efficacy of the method.
Performance of the IPCC AR6 models in simulating the relation of the western North Pacific subtropical high to the spring northern tropical Atlantic SST
Authors: Chen Shangfeng , Chen Wen , Wu Renguang , Yu Bin , Song Linye 
Published: December 2020

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between the spring northern tropical Atlantic (NTA) sea surface temperature (SST) and its following summer western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) in historical simulations of 20 coupled models of the IPCC AR6. These models well simulate the spring NTA SST, as well as the WNPSH‐related atmospheric and precipitation anomalies over the Asian monsoon region. Ensemble mean of these models reproduces the observed relation and processes linking the spring NTA SST to the summer WNPSH. In the ensemble mean, spring NTA SST warming persists to the following summer, and induces an anomalous Walker circulation with an ascent over the tropical Atlantic and a descent over the tropical central Pacific. The associated precipitation decrease over the tropical central Pacific induces an anomalous low‐level anticyclone over the WNP via a Rossby wave atmospheric response. Meanwhile, spring NTA SST warming leads to easterly wind anomalies over the Indian Ocean (IO) via a Kelvin wave atmospheric response and causes SST warming there via reducing wind speeds. Then, the precipitation anomalies induced by the IO SST warming result in an enhancement of the WNPSH. There exists a large diversity of the NTA SST‐WNPSH relationship among the models. This diversity is related to the difference in the climatological mean IO precipitation. The models with large mean IO precipitation provide a favourable condition for the IO SST warming to bring large local precipitation anomalies and trigger strong easterly wind anomalies over the tropical WNP, and thus exert a strong impact on the WNPSH.
Surgeon decision‐making for management of positive sentinel lymph nodes in the post‐Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial II era: A survey study
Authors: Hui Jane Yuet Ching , Burke Erin , Broman Kristy K. , Marmor Schelomo , Jensen Eric , Tuttle Todd M. , Zager Jonathan S. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractBackground and ObjectivesCompletion lymph node dissection (CLND) did not improve melanoma‐specific survival for patients with sentinel lymph node (SLN)‐positive melanoma in the second Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT‐II). We assessed surgeons’ awareness of MSLT‐II and its impact on CLND recommendations.MethodsAn anonymous online cross‐sectional survey of the Society of Surgical Oncology membership evaluated surgeon thresholds in offering CLND using patient scenarios and clinicopathologic characteristics ranking.ResultsOf the 2881 e‐mails delivered, 146 surgeons (5.1%) completed all seven scenarios. Most (129 of 131, 98%) were aware of MSLT‐II and 125 (95%) found it practice‐changing. Specifically, 52% (65 of 125) always, 40% usually, 6% rarely, and 3% never offered CLND before MSLT‐II. Meanwhile, 4% always, 9% usually, 78% rarely, and 8% never offer CLND now, after MSLT‐II (p < .0001). The most important clinicopathologic factors in determining CLND recommendations were extracapsular extension, number of positive SLN, and SLN tumor deposit size, while primary tumor mitotic index and nodal basin location were the least important. Surgical oncology fellowship training, melanoma patient volume, and academic center practice also influenced CLND recommendations.ConclusionsMost surgeon respondents are aware of MSLT‐II, but its application in practice varies according to several clinicopathologic and surgeon factors.
Outcomes of superior segmentectomy versus lower lobectomy for superior segment Stage I non‐small‐cell lung cancer are equivalent: An analysis of 196 patients at a single, high volume institution
Authors: Dolan Daniel P. , White Abby , Mazzola Emanuele , Lee Daniel N. , Gill Ritu , Kucukak Suden , Bueno Raphael , Jaklitsch Michael T. , Mentzer Steven J. , Swanson Scott J. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractObjectivesTo determine if superior segmentectomy has equivalent overall (OS), disease‐free (DFS), and locoregional‐recurrence‐free survival (LRFS) to lower lobectomy for early‐stage non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the superior segment.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed all Stage 1 lower lobectomies for superior segment lesions and superior segmentectomies at our hospital from 2000 to 2018. Comparison statistics and Cox hazard modeling were performed to determine differences between groups and attempt to identify risk factors for OS, DFS, and LRFS.ResultsSuperior segmentectomy patients, compared with lower lobectomy patients, had more current smokers, worse forced expiratory volume in 1 s percentage, radiologic emphysema scores, clinically and pathologically smaller tumors, and more occurrences of 0 lymph nodes examined. Outcomes for superior segmentectomy compared with lower lobectomy were equivalent for 5‐year OS (67.0% vs. 75.1%, p = 0.70), DFS (56.9% vs. 60.4%, p = 0.59), and LRFS (87.9% vs. 91.3%, p = 0.46). Multivariable Cox modeling lacked utility due to no outcome differences.ConclusionsIn well‐selected patients, superior segmentectomies can have equivalent OS, DFS, and LRFS compared with lower lobectomies of superior segment tumors for early stage lung cancer. Further data are needed to provide better risk estimates.
The emerging role of immunotherapy for the treatment of sarcoma
Authors: Klemen Nicholas D. , Kelly Ciara M. , Bartlett Edmund K. 
Published: December 2020

AbstractClinicians caring for patients with sarcoma founded the field of cancer immunotherapy. Despite this, contemporary success with immunotherapy for sarcoma has been limited. Here, we review immunotherapy for sarcoma including Coley's toxins, interleukin‐2, adoptive cell transfer, and checkpoint blockade. We detail recent and ongoing efforts to combine checkpoint blockade with other immune modulators, surgery, or radiation. These results, along with ongoing investigations, have identified immunotherapeutic approaches as a promising avenue for progress in advanced sarcomas.
Racial disparities in low‐value surgical care and time to surgery in high‐volume hospitals
Authors: Jackson Destiny K. , Li Yaming , Eskander Mariam F. , Tsung Allan , Oppong Bridget A. , Bhattacharyya Oindrila , Paskett Electra D. , Obeng‐Gyasi Samilia 
Published: December 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe objective of this study is to examine racial differences in receipt of low‐value surgical care and time to surgery (TTS) among women receiving treatment at high‐volume hospitals.MethodsStage I–III non‐Hispanic Black (NHB) and Non‐Hispanic White (NHW) breast cancer patients were identified in the National Cancer Database. Low‐value care included (1) sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) among T1N0 patients age ≥70 with hormone receptor–positive cancers, (2) axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in patients meeting ACOSOG Z0011 criteria, and (3) contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) with unilateral cancer. TTS was days from biopsy to surgery. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were used to compare the groups.ResultsCompared to NHWs, NHBs had lower rates of SLNB among women age ≥70 with small hormone–positive cancers (NHB 58.5% vs. NHW 62.2% p < .001) and CPM (NHB 26.3% vs. NHW 36%; p < .001). ALND rates for patients meeting ACOSOG Z0011 criteria were similar between both groups (p = .13). The odds of surgery >60 days were higher among NHBs (odds ratio, 1.77; 95% confidence interval, 1.64–1.91; NHW ref).ConclusionsNHBs treated at high‐volume hospitals have higher rates of surgical delay but are less likely to undergo low‐value surgical procedures compared to NHW women.