bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Differential immune cell infiltrations between healthy periodontal and chronic periodontitis tissues
Authors: Li Wei , Zhang Zheng , Wang Zuo-min 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
Host immunity plays an important role against oral microorganisms in periodontitis.

Methods
This study assessed the infiltrating immune cell subtypes in 133 healthy periodontal and 210 chronic periodontitis tissues from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets using the CIBERSORT gene signature files.

Results
Plasma cells, naive B cells and neutrophils were all elevated in periodontitis tissues, when compared to those in healthy controls. In contrast, memory B cells, resting dendritic, mast cells and CD4 memory cells, as well as activated mast cells, M1 and M2 macrophages, and follicular helper T cells, were mainly present in healthy periodontal tissues. Furthermore, these periodontitis tissues generally contained a higher proportion of activated CD4 memory T cells, while the other subtypes of T cells, including resting CD4 memory T cells, CD8 T cells, follicular helper T cells (TFH) and regulatory T cells (Tregs), were relatively lower in periodontitis tissues, when compared to healthy tissues. The ratio of dendritic and mast cells and macrophages was lower in periodontitis tissues, when compared to healthy tissues. In addition, there was a significant negative association of plasma cells with most of the other immune cells, such as plasma cells vs. memory B cells (γ = − 0.84), plasma cells vs. resting dendritic cells (γ = − 0.64), plasma cells vs. resting CD4 memory T cells (γ = 0.50), plasma cells versus activated dendritic cells (γ = − 0.46), plasma cells versus TFH (γ = − 0.46), plasma cells versus macrophage M2 cells (γ = − 0.43), or plasma cells versus macrophage M1 cells (γ = − 0.40), between healthy control and periodontitis tissues.

Conclusion
Plasma cells, naive B cells and neutrophils were all elevated in periodontitis tissues. The infiltration of different immune cell subtypes in the periodontitis site could lead the host immunity against periodontitis.
Self-reported confidence and perceived training needs of surgical interns at a regional hospital in Ghana: a questionnaire survey
Authors: Kang Mee Joo , Ngissah Reuben Kwesi Sakyi 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
Due to disparities in their regional distribution of the surgical specialists, those who have finished “housemanship,” which is the equivalent of an internship, are serving as main surgical care providers in rural areas in Ghana. However, the quantitative volume of postgraduate surgical training experience and the level of self-reported confidence after formal training have not been investigated in detail in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods
The quality-assessment data of the Department of surgery at a regional hospital in Ghana was obtained from the convenience samples of house officers (HOs) who had their surgical rotation before July 2019. A self-reported questionnaire with 5-point Likert-type scale and open-ended responses regarding the 35 topics listed as learning objectives by the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana were retrospectively reviewed to investigate the volume of surgical experience, self-reported confidence, and perceived training needs.

Results
Among 52 respondents, the median self-reported number of patients experienced for each condition was less than 11 cases. More than 40% of HOs reported that they had never experienced cases of liver tumor (n = 21, 40.4%), portal hypertension (n = 23, 44.2%), or cancer chemotherapy/cancer therapy (n = 26, 50.0%). The median self-confidence score was 3.69 (interquartile range, 3.04 ~ 4.08). More than 50% of HOs scored ≤2 points on the self-confidence scale of gastric cancer (n = 28, 53.8%), colorectal cancer (n = 31, 59.6%), liver tumors (n = 32, 61.5%), and cancer chemotherapy/cancer therapy (n = 38, 73.1%). The top 3 reasons for not feeling confident were the limited number of patients (n = 42, 80.8%), resources and infrastructure (n = 21, 40.4%), and amount of supervision (n = 18, 34.6%). Eighteen HOs (34.6%) rated their confidence in their surgical skills as ≤2 points. Of all respondents, 76.9% (n = 40) were satisfied with their surgical rotation and 84.6% (n = 44) perceived the surgical rotation as relevant to their future work. Improved basic surgical skills training (n = 27, 51.9%) and improved supervision (n = 18, 34.6%) were suggested as a means to improve surgical rotation.

Conclusions
Surgical rotation during housemanship (internship) should be improved in terms of cancer treatment, surgical skills, and supervision to improve the quality of training, which is closely related to the quality of surgical care in rural areas.
Ethics and the marketing authorization of pharmaceuticals: what happens to ethical issues discovered post-trial and pre-marketing authorization?
Authors: Bernabe Rosemarie D. L. C. , van Thiel Ghislaine J. M. W. , Breekveldt Nancy S. , Gispen Christine C. , van Delden Johannes J. M. 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
In the EU, clinical assessors, rapporteurs and the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use are obliged to assess the ethical aspects of a clinical development program and include major ethical flaws in the marketing authorization deliberation processes. To this date, we know very little about the manner that these regulators put this obligation into action. In this paper, we intend to look into the manner and the extent that ethical issues discovered during inspection have reached the deliberation processes.

Methods
To gather data, we used the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board database and first searched for the inspections, and their accompanying site inspection reports and integrated inspection reports, related to central marketing authorization applications (henceforth, application/s) of drugs submitted to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from 2011 to 2015. We then extracted inspection findings that were purely of ethical nature, i.e., those that did not affect the benefit/risk balance of the study (issues related to informed consent, research ethics committees, and respect for persons). Only findings graded at least major by the inspectorate were included. Lastly, to identify how many of the ethically relevant findings (ERFs) reach the application deliberation processes, we extracted the relevant joint response assessment reports and reviewed the sections that discussed inspection findings.

Results
From 2011 to 2015, there were 390 processed applications, of which 65 had inspection reports and integrated inspection reports accessible via the database of the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board. Of the 65, we found ERFs in 37 (56.9%). The majority of the ERFs were graded as major and half of the time it was informed-consent related. A third of these findings were related to research ethics committee processes and requirements. Of the 37 inspections with ERFs, 30 were endorsed in the integrated inspection reports as generally GCP compliant. Day 150 joint response assessment reports and Day 180 list of outstanding issues were reviewed for all 37 inspections, and none of the ERFs were carried over in any of the assessment reports or list of outstanding issues.

Conclusion
None of the ethically relevant findings, all of which were graded as major or critical in integrated inspection reports, were explicitly carried over to the joint assessment reports. This calls for more transparency in EMA application deliberations on how ERFs are considered, if at all, in the decision-making processes.
The relationship between the perception of open disclosure of patient safety incidents, perception of patient safety culture, and ethical awareness in nurses
Authors: Kim Yujeong , Lee Eunmi 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
Scientific advances have resulted in more complex medical systems, which in turn have led to an increase in the number of patient safety incidents (PSIs). In this environment, the importance of honest disclosure of PSIs is rising, which highlight the need to settle a reliable system. This study aimed to investigate the effects of patient safety culture and ethical awareness on open disclosure of PSIs.

Methods
Data were collected from 389 nurses using self-reported perceptions of open disclosure of PSIs, perceptions of patient safety culture, and ethical awareness.

Results
Perception of open disclosure of PSIs was significantly correlated with ethical awareness and perception of patient safety culture. Ethical awareness had the greatest impact on perception of PSIs, and two components of the perception of patient safety culture, namely overall knowledge about patient safety and staffing, were found to have significant effects.

Conclusions
To enhance nurses’ perception of open disclosure of PSIs, educational curriculum and programs that teach and practice fundamental ethical values are needed. Furthermore, it also calls for effort on the part of healthcare institutions and the government, as well as people’s trust, to implement a legal safety net and foster patient safety culture to promote honest disclosure of PSIs to patients.
"It gets people through the door": a qualitative case study of the use of incentives in the care of people at risk or living with HIV in British Columbia, Canada
Authors: Gagnon Marilou , Guta Adrian , Upshur Ross , Murray Stuart J. , Bungay Vicky 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
There has been growing interest in the use of incentives to increase the uptake of health-related behaviours and achieve desired health outcomes at the individual and population level. However, the use of incentives remains controversial for ethical reasons. An area in which incentives have been not only proposed but used is HIV prevention, testing, treatment and care—each one representing an interconnecting step in the "HIV Cascade."

Methods
The main objective of this qualitative case study was to document the experiences of health care and service providers tasked with administrating incentivized HIV testing, treatment, and care in British Columbia, Canada. A second objective was to explore the ethical and professional tensions that arise from the use of incentives as well as strategies used by providers to mitigate them. We conducted interviews with 25 providers and 6 key informants, which were analyzed using applied thematic analysis. We also collected documents and took field notes.

Results
Our findings suggest that incentives target populations believed to pose the most risk to public health. As such, incentives are primarily used to close the gaps in the HIV Cascade by getting the "right populations" to test, start treatment, stay on treatment, and, most importantly, achieve (and sustain) viral suppression. Participants considered that incentives work because they "bring people through the door." However, they believed the effectiveness of incentives to be superficial, short-lived and one-dimensional—thus, failing to address underlying structural barriers to care and structural determinants of health. They also raised concerns about the unintended consequences of incentives and the strains they may put on the therapeutic relationship. They had developed strategies to mitigate the ensuing ethical and professional tensions and to make their work feel relational rather than transactional.

Conclusions
We identify an urgent need to problematize the use of incentives as a part of the "HIV Cascade" agenda and interrogate the ethics of engaging in this practice from the perspective of health care and service providers. More broadly, we question the introduction of market logic into the realm of health care—an area of life previously not subject to monetary exchanges.
An ethical issue: nurses’ conscientious objection regarding induced abortion in South Korea
Authors: Ko Chung Mee , Koh Chin Kang , Lee Ye Sol 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
The Constitutional Court of South Korea declared that an abortion ban was unconstitutional on April 11, 2019. The National Health Care System will provide abortion care across the country as a formal medical service. Conscientious objection is an issue raised during the construction of legal reforms.

Methods
One hundred sixty-seven perioperative nurses responded to the survey questionnaire. Nurses’ perception about conscientious objection, support of legislation regarding conscientious objection, and intention to object were measured. Logistic regression was used to explore the factors associated with support of the legislation and the intention to conscientiously object.

Results
Only 28.8% of the responding nurses were aware of health care professionals’ conscientious objection. The majority (68.7%) felt that patients’ rights should be prioritized over health care professionals’ conscientious objection. On the other hand, 45.8% supported the legislation on conscientious objection to abortion, and 42.5% indicated a willingness to refuse to participate in an abortion case if conscientious objection was permitted. Religion, awareness of conscientious objection, and prioritizing of nurses’ right to conscientious objection were significantly associated with supporting the legislation. Moreover, religion and prioritizing nurses' rights were significantly associated with the intention to conscientiously object.

Conclusions
This study provides information necessary for further discussion of nurses’ conscientious objection. Nursing leaders, researchers, and educators should appeal to nurses and involve them in making policies that balance a women's right to non-discrimination and to receiving appropriate care with nurses' rights to maintain their moral integrity without compromising their professional obligation.
Validation of a machine learning algorithm for early severe sepsis prediction: a retrospective study predicting severe sepsis up to 48 h in advance using a diverse dataset from 461 US hospitals
Authors: Burdick Hoyt , Pino Eduardo , Gabel-Comeau Denise , Gu Carol , Roberts Jonathan , Le Sidney , Slote Joseph , Saber Nicholas , Pellegrini Emily , Green-Saxena Abigail , Hoffman Jana , Das Ritankar 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
Severe sepsis and septic shock are among the leading causes of death in the United States and sepsis remains one of the most expensive conditions to diagnose and treat. Accurate early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the risk of adverse patient outcomes, but the efficacy of traditional rule-based screening methods is limited. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a machine learning algorithm (MLA) for severe sepsis prediction up to 48 h before onset using a diverse patient dataset.

Methods
Retrospective analysis was performed on datasets composed of de-identified electronic health records collected between 2001 and 2017, including 510,497 inpatient and emergency encounters from 461 health centers collected between 2001 and 2015, and 20,647 inpatient and emergency encounters collected in 2017 from a community hospital. MLA performance was compared to commonly used disease severity scoring systems and was evaluated at 0, 4, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h prior to severe sepsis onset.

Results
270,438 patients were included in analysis. At time of onset, the MLA demonstrated an AUROC of 0.931 (95% CI 0.914, 0.948) and a diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 53.105 on a testing dataset, exceeding MEWS (0.725, P < .001; DOR 4.358), SOFA (0.716; P < .001; DOR 3.720), and SIRS (0.655; P < .001; DOR 3.290). For prediction 48 h prior to onset, the MLA achieved an AUROC of 0.827 (95% CI 0.806, 0.848) on a testing dataset. On an external validation dataset, the MLA achieved an AUROC of 0.948 (95% CI 0.942, 0.954) at the time of onset, and 0.752 at 48 h prior to onset.

Conclusions
The MLA accurately predicts severe sepsis onset up to 48 h in advance using only readily available vital signs extracted from the existing patient electronic health records. Relevant implications for clinical practice include improved patient outcomes from early severe sepsis detection and treatment.
Communicating tailored risk information of cancer treatment side effects: Only words or also numbers?
Authors: Vromans Ruben D. , Pauws Steffen C. , Bol Nadine , van de Poll-Franse Lonneke V. , Krahmer Emiel J. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe increased availability of patient reported outcome data makes it feasible to provide patients tailored risk information of cancer treatment side effects. However, it is unclear how such information influences patients’ risk interpretations compared to generic population-based risks, and which message format should be used to communicate such individualized statistics.MethodsA web-based experiment was conducted in which participants (n = 141) read a hypothetical treatment decision-making scenario about four side effect risks of adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced colon cancer. Participants were cancer patients or survivors who were recruited from an online Dutch cancer patient panel. All participants received two tailored risks (of which the reference class was based on their age, gender and tumor stage) and two generic risks conveying the likelihood of experiencing the side effects. The risks were presented either in words-only (‘common’ and ‘very common’), or in a combination of wordsandcorresponding numerical estimates (‘common, 10 out of 100’ and ‘very common, 40 out of 100’). Participants’ estimation of the probability, accuracy of their estimation, and perceived likelihood of occurrence were primary outcomes. Perceived personal relevance and perceived uncertainty were secondary outcomes.ResultsTailored risks were estimated as higher and less accurate than generic risks, but only when they were presented in words; Such differences were not found in the verbal and numerical combined condition. Although tailoring risks did not impact participants’ perceived likelihood of occurrence, tailored risks were perceived as more personally relevant than generic risks in both message formats. Finally, tailored risks were perceived as less uncertain than generic risks, but only in the verbal-only condition.ConclusionsConsidering current interest in the use of personalized decision aids for improving shared decision-making in oncology, it is important that clinicians considerhowtailored risks of treatment side effects should be communicated to patients. We recommend both clinicians who communicate probability information during consultations, and decision aid developers, that verbal descriptors of tailored risks should be supported by numerical estimates of risks levels, to avoid overestimation of risks.
Antibiotic prescription for febrile outpatients: a health facility-based secondary data analysis for the Greater Accra region of Ghana
Authors: Opoku Michael Mireku , Bonful Harriet Affran , Koram Kwadwo Ansah 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundMisguided prescription of antibiotics is an important contributor towards the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. The absence of effective interventions to control antibiotic use leads to increased consumption beyond the needed requirements. Antibiotic stewardship interventions must be appropriately targeted and assessed to enhance the controlled use of antibiotics. The objective of this study was to determine the factors associated with antibiotic prescription to febrile outpatients who seek care in health facilities within the Greater Accra region of Ghana.MethodsSecondary data obtained from the medical records of 2519 febrile outpatients, consecutively sampled at the outpatient department of 6 health facilities in 3 municipalities during the baseline survey of a quasi-experiment in 2015 was used. The primary outcome was prescription of any antibiotic. Independent variables included patients’ demographics, symptoms, laboratory investigations (blood film microscopy, malaria rapid diagnostic test, full blood count, urine and stool routine examinations), diagnoses, and prescribers’ demographics. Crude and adjusted logistic regression analyses were used to determine the factors associated with antibiotic prescription.ResultsThe prevalence of antibiotic prescription was 70.1% (95% CI: 67.7–72.4). Prescribers with more years of practice (> 5 years) were more likely to prescribe antibiotics compared to those with less than 3 years of practice (p <  0.001). Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) training was associated with a 2.3 (95% CI: 1.54, 3.53,p <  0.001) fold odds of antibiotic prescribing. Patients aged 5 years or more were 60% less likely to receive antibiotics compared with those under 5 years (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.51;p <  0.001). Patients referred for laboratory investigations were 29% less likely to be prescribed antibiotics than those not referred. The presence of cough as a presenting symptom was associated with a 3.5 (95% CI: 2.54, 4.92) fold odds of antibiotic prescription.ConclusionPrescription of antibiotics to febrile outpatients was high. Promoting laboratory testing can potentially reduce irrational antibiotic prescription. Prescribing antibiotics for children under five and the prescribing practices of prescribers with longer years of practice should be targeted with interventions to reduce high use of antibiotics.
Otago exercise programme—from evidence to practice: a qualitative study of physiotherapists’ perceptions of the importance of organisational factors of leadership, context and culture for knowledge translation in Norway
Authors: Worum Hilde , Lillekroken Daniela , Ahlsen Birgitte , Roaldsen Kirsti Skavberg , Bergland Astrid 
Published: October 2020

Abstract
Background
Falls and fall-related injuries are a major public health problem and an international priority for health services. Despite research showing that evidence-based fall prevention is effective, its translation into practice has been delayed and limited. Although organisational factors such as leadership, culture and context are key factors for implementing evidence-based practice, there is still limited information on whether these factors represent barriers in the Norwegian and international healthcare context. Thus, this study aimed to explore the views of physiotherapists in clinical practice and their leaders’ views on the importance of organisational factors, such as leadership, culture and contextual and human resources, regarding successful knowledge translation of the Otago evidence-based fall programme in a Norwegian community.

Methods
Four in-depth interviews with physiotherapists and a focus group interview with nine physiotherapists and leaders representing local hospitals and municipalities were conducted to collect data. The data were analysed using a thematic analysis.

Results
The analysis yielded an overarching theme: an empowering leader as an anchor is needed for successful knowledge translation of physiotherapists’ and leaders’ views about the role of organisational structure, leadership, culture, financial resources and competence in research-based knowledge, as well as how to enhance the clinical staff’s expertise. Four main themes further elaborated on the overarching theme: (1) multifactor leadership—the importance of reinforcement, knowledge, goals and attention; (2) potential for change in professional roles as shaped by culture, context and type of practice; (3) knowledge translation—the tension between real-life capabilities, optimism and learning; and (4) different types of support—environmental resources and social influences.

Conclusions
This study highlighted the importance of organisational factors in knowledge translation in fall prevention. The findings emphasise the importance of leaders’ role and style in providing a supportive culture and contextual factors during the knowledge translation process. This study provides an understanding of the knowledge translation and sustainability of evidence-based practice and the Otago exercise programme for fall prevention programmes for community-dwelling older adults in Norway.