bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Optical coherence tomography in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: cross-sectional and longitudinal exploratory analysis from the MS-SMART randomised controlled trial
Authors: De Angelis Floriana , Cameron James R , Eshaghi Arman , Parker Richard , Connick Peter , Stutters Jonathan , Plantone Domenico , Doshi Anisha , John Nevin , Williams Thomas , Calvi Alberto , MacManus David , Barkhof Frederik , Chandran Siddharthan , Weir Christopher J , Toosy Ahmed , Chataway Jeremy 
Published: December 2024

BackgroundOptical coherence tomography (OCT) inner retinal metrics reflect neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS). We explored OCT measures as biomarkers of disease severity in secondary progressive MS (SPMS).MethodsWe investigated people with SPMS from the Multiple Sclerosis-Secondary Progressive Multi-Arm Randomisation Trial OCT substudy, analysing brain MRIs, clinical assessments and OCT at baseline and 96 weeks. We measured peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) and macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thicknesses. Statistical analysis included correlations, multivariable linear regressions and mixed-effects models.ResultsOf the 212 participants recruited at baseline, 192 attended at 96 weeks follow-up. Baseline pRNFL and GCIPL thickness correlated with Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) (respectively, r=0.33 (95% CI 0.20 to 0.47); r=0.39 (0.26 to 0.51)) and deep grey matter volume (respectively, r=0.21 (0.07 to 0.35); r=0.28 (0.14 to 0.41)).pRNFL was associated with Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score change (normalised beta (B)=−0.12 (−0.23 to −0.01)). Baseline pRNFL and GCIPL were associated with Timed 25-Foot Walk change (T25FW) (respectively, B=−0.14 (−0.25 to −0.03); B=−0.20 (−0.31 to −0.10)) and 96-week percentage brain volume change (respectively, B=0.14 (0.03 to 0.25); B=0.23 (0.12 to 0.34)). There were significant annualised thinning rates: pRNFL (−0.83 µm/year) and GCIPL (−0.37 µm/year).ConclusionsIn our cohort of people with SPMS and long disease duration, OCT measures correlated with SDMT and deep grey matter volume at baseline; EDSS, T25FW and whole brain volume change at follow-up.
Implementing a new model of residential rehabilitation: findings and future recommendations
Authors: Vickerstaff Anne , Hayhurst D , Morrison P , McHugh R 
Published: December 2024

IntroductionMusculoskeletal injury is one of the leading causes of medical discharge in the UK Armed Forces. Residential rehabilitation (RR) courses are part of Defence rehabilitation, for service personnel (SP) who do not respond to treatment at primary care. Historically, it was delivered as a 3-week block model. As a quality improvement project, rolling admissions were introduced aiming to improve access to RR and deliver outcomes that met the requirements of primary care referrers.MethodClinical outcomes were assessed for SP with either spinal or lower limb pathology using the Musculoskeletal Health Questionnaire (MSK-HQ) on course admission and discharge and the Medical Deployment Standard (MDS) on admission and 6 months post course. Wait times were also recorded. Outcomes were compared with the block admission using retrospective audit data. Referrer feedback was gathered using a questionnaire pre introduction and post introduction of rolling admissions.ResultsRolling admissions reduced course wait times from an average of 55 days to 19 days. Of SP who attended a rolling admission course with spinal pathology (n=23), 58% showed an increase in MDS, 65% showed an increase of the minimally important change in MSK-HQ. With lower limb pathology (n=35) 57% increased MDS, 49% increased MSK-HQ. For the block model, of those with spinal pathology (n=30) 43% increased MDS, 67% increased MSK-HQ, with lower limb pathology (n=30) 60% increased MDS, 33% increased MSK-HQ. Referrer feedback improved with rolling admissions with feedback most positive in relation to the model’s responsiveness for admitting SP onto the course.ConclusionRolling admission provided similar clinical outcomes as the previous block model in a shorter time frame with lower wait times and better met the needs of referrers. Future study recommendations include longer term follow-up and looking at alternative ways to measure the success of RR within the care pathway.
Quantum differential cryptanalysis based on Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm
Authors: Xu Rong-Xue , Sun Hong-Wei , Zhang Ke-Jia , Du Gang , Li Dan-Dan 
Published: December 2024

AbstractRecent research has demonstrated the potential of quantum algorithms to exploit vulnerabilities in various popular constructions, such as certain block ciphers like Feistel, Even-Mansour, and multiple MACs, within the superposition query model. In this study, we delve into the security of block ciphers against quantum threats, particularly investigating their susceptibility to cryptanalysis techniques, notably exploring quantum adaptations of differential cryptanalysis. Initially, we introduce a BV-based quantum algorithm for identifying linear structures with a complexity of $O(n)$
O
(
n
)
, where n denotes the number of bits in the function. Subsequently, we illustrate the application of this algorithm in devising quantum differential cryptanalysis techniques, including quantum differential cryptanalysis, quantum small probability differential cryptanalysis, and quantum impossible differential cryptanalysis, demonstrating polynomial acceleration compared to prior approaches. By treating the encryption function as a unified entity, our algorithm circumvents the traditional challenge of extending differential paths in differential cryptanalysis.
Scene Adaptive Context Modeling and Balanced Relation Prediction for Scene Graph Generation
Authors: Xu Kai , Wang Lichun , Li Shuang , Gao Tong , Yin Baocai 
Published: December 2024

Scene graph generation (SGG) aims to perceive objects and their relations in images, which can bridge the gap between upstream detection tasks and downstream high-level visual understanding tasks. For SGG models, over-fitting head predicates can lead to bias in the generated scene graph, which has become a consensus. A series of debiasing methods have been proposed to solve the problem. However, some existing debiasing SGG methods have a tendency to over-fit tail predicates, which is another type of bias. In order to eliminate the one-way over-fitting of head or tail predicates, this article proposes a balanced relation prediction (BRP) module which is model-agnostic and compatible with existing re-balancing methods. Moreover, because the relation prediction is based on object feature representation, this article proposes a scene adaptive context fusion (SACF) module to refine the object feature representation. Specifically, SACF models the context based on a chain structure, where the order of objects in the chain structure is adaptively arranged according to the scene content, achieving visual information fusion that adapts to the scene where the objects are located. Experiments on VG and GQA datasets show that the proposed method achieves competitive results on the comprehensive metric of R@K and mR@K.
A Highly Hardware Efficient ML-KEM Accelerator with Optimised Architectural Layers
Authors: Ni Ziying , Khalid Ayesha , Liu Weiqiang , O'Neill Máire 
Published: December 2024

The Module-Lattice-Based Key encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) scheme, which is currently being standardised, is a quantum attack resistant KEM that is based on CRYSTALS-Kyber. CRYSTALS-Kyber is the only Public-key Encryption (PKE)/ KEM scheme selected in the first set of successful candidates as part of the NIST initiated Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) process. ML-KEM scheme includes three different security levels, namely security level 1, 3, and 5. In this research, we propose a highly area-time efficient hardware ML-KEM architecture. The architecture comprises three computational layers. The first layer comprises a hash and sampling module; the second layer includes a number theoretic transform (NTT), its inverse (INTT) and a point-wise multiplication (PWM) module; and the third layer comprises addition, compressing and encoding. Intra-layer pipelining and out-of-layer scheduling ensures that either layer 1 or layer 2 operate in the shortest time. In the reduction module, we propose a novel hybrid architecture to obtain the final result within 2 cycles with low area consumption. In the NTT module, the PWM pipelining method is modified and an optimised iterative FIFO access method is adopted to reduce the size of FIFO units by 55% over previous research. Look-up tables are also used to replace the first-stage of the NTT to reduce 8 cycles. Furthermore, the memory unit uses only FIFOs, the size are optimised based on the requirements of the most resource-intensive function in ML-KEM (ML-KEM.CPA.Dec). The results show that the proposed architecture has a 48.2%, 41.2%, and 78.1% reduction in computational time in comparison to previous work for security levels 1, 3, and 5, respectively. In addition, the area of proposed optimised ML-KEM designs is reduced by 73%, 70%, 76% and resulting in an improved area-time (AT) product of 15.8%, 10.7%, and 11.3%, for the Level 1, 3, and 5 security levels respectively, compared with state-of-the-art designs.
Etiology and Prognostic Criteria for Liver Failure in Southeast China: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study Between 2018 and 2020
Authors: Lyu Chunyan , Han Jun , Kang Naling , Zeng Dawu , Davgadorj Chantsalmaa , Ge Lina , Zhou Meifang , Mao Richeng , Yan Yan 
Published: December 2024

Background: The prognosis of patients with liver failure (LF) depends significantly on the etiology and clinical indicators. This analysis of these basic indicators can help provide a basis for the study of predictive outcome indicators.Methods: We collected the data from multiple centers in Southeast China, including subclasses of acute liver failure (ALF), subacute liver failure (SLF), acute‐on‐chronic liver failure (ACLF), subacute‐on‐chronic liver failure (SALF), and chronic liver failure (CLF). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to screen for clinical indicators of nonsurvivors. We analyzed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and cutoff values to assess the prognostic criteria.Results: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the leading etiology of patients with LF (64.52% (411/637)). SALF (41.36%) and CLF (32.30%) are the main subclasses of the hepatitis B virus–related liver failure (HBV‐LF) group and the non‐HBV–related LF group in Southeast China, respectively. Between 2018 and 2020, the incidence of HBV‐LF decreased significantly, ranging from 72.36% to 59.74%, and the spontaneous survival rates of patients with HBV‐LF were substantially lower than those of non‐HBV‐LF patients (36.43%~44.93% vs. 58.97%~63.64%). Infection and cirrhosis were the leading causes of death in both groups. The age and total bilirubin value of the nonsurvivors with HBV‐LF were significantly higher, and the number of days of hospitalization was significantly shorter than that of the survivors. The ages of the nonsurvivors in the non‐HBV‐LF group were significantly higher than those of the survivors. The prothrombin time–international normalized ratio (PT‐INR) is 2.05, 1.92, or 2.11, and antithrombin III (AT III) is 24.50%, which are proposed as prognostic criteria for the HBV‐SALF (hepatitis B virus–related subacute‐on‐chronic liver failure), non‐HBV‐SLF (non‐hepatitis B virus–related subacute liver failure), non‐HBV‐ACLF (non‐hepatitis B virus–related acute‐on‐chronic liver failure), and HBV‐ALF (hepatitis B virus–related acute liver failure) subclasses, respectively.Conclusions: The incidence of HBV‐LF is decreasing annually. AT III, as an independent prognostic criterion, has excellent discriminative ability for the outcomes of the HBV‐ALF subclass.
Number of Prescription Medications and Overall Survival in Metastatic Castrate‐Resistant Prostate Cancer
Authors: Pickett Carley R. , Eaton Daniel B. , Karunanandaa Krishny , Cybulla Emily , Heiden Brendan T. , Chang Su-Hsin , Yan Yan , Subramanian Melanie P. , Puri Varun , Schoen Martin W. 
Published: December 2024

Background: Assessment of comorbid diseases is essential to clinical research and may risk‐stratify patients for mortality independent of established methods such as the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI).Methods: In a retrospective study of U.S. Veterans, we examined the association between the number of medications, 1‐year mortality, and overall survival in Veterans being treated for metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) between 2011 and 2017.Results: Among 8855 Veterans, a median of 11 medications and 6 medication classes were filled in the year prior to initial treatment of mCRPC with abiraterone or enzalutamide. The median patient age was 74 years, 25.7% of patients were Black, and the median CCI was 3. Despite being associated with fewer medications, increasing age was associated with an increased CCI. After adjusting for patient, tumor, and treatment factors, both the number of medications and the number of medication classes were associated with increased 1‐year mortality with adjusted OR (95% CI) of 1.03 (1.03, 1.04) and 1.08 (1.06, 1.11), respectively. Medications within Anatomic Therapeutic Class (ATC) N (nervous system) and ATC G (genitourinary and sex hormones) were associated with decreased OS, HR 1.18 (1.11, 1.25) and HR 1.15 (1.10, 1.20), respectively. Medications within ATC C (cardiovascular) were associated with increased OS, HR 0.91 (0.86, 0.97). Within a subgroup of patients with comparable age and CCI, the increased number of medications was associated with the increased risk of death.Conclusions: The number and type of medications were independently associated with survival in patients undergoing treatment for mCRPC. With new therapies for treatment of advanced prostate cancer, patients are living longer, which increases the need for better understanding of the impact of comorbid diseases. Simple methods to assess disease burden and prognosticate survival have the potential to guide treatment decisions and improve the quality of life in this patient population.
CLK1 Activates YAP to Promote Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinogenesis
Authors: Xue Shuai , Chen Xiangzheng , Qiu Guoteng , Liao Haotian , Qiang Zeyuan , Zhang Zheng , Feng Xuping , Xu Lin , Xie Rui , Zhou Hongyu , Huang Jiwei , Zeng Yong , Wang Haichuan 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Cdc2-like kinase 1 (CLK1) has dual-specificity kinase ability to phosphorylate tyrosine and serine/threonine protein residues. CLK1 regulates many physiological processes and has been shown to contribute to multiple types of cancer. Here, we investigated the functional role of CLK1 during intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) development. The expression of CLK1 was elevated in ICC tumors, and patients with high expression of CLK1 demonstrated poor prognosis. In hydrodynamically transfected mouse models, CLK1 alone was insufficient to induce ICC, whereas CLK1 cooperated with AKT (AKT/CLK1) to trigger ICC initiation. In addition, overexpression of CLK1 in ICC cells facilitated proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo, while loss of CLK1 elicited the opposite effects. Moreover, RNAseq analysis indicated that high levels of CLK1 corresponded with activation of the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway. Consistently, the AKT/CLK1 murine tumors displayed upregulation of YAP as well as its downstream targets. Furthermore, loss or pharmacological inhibition YAP in ICC cells inhibited CLK1-induced growth, and deletion of Yap completely retarded the induction of AKT/CLK1 tumors. Mechanistically, 4D-label free mass spectrometry and co-immunoprecipitation assays revealed WWC2 as a potential mediator of CLK1-YAP cascade. Collectively, the current findings identify a critical role for CLK1 in promoting ICC development and indicate that inhibiting YAP might be an effective approach for perturbing CLK1-mediated tumorigenesis.
Prognostic Implications of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Severe Degenerative Mitral Regurgitation
Authors: Bohbot Yohann , Essayagh Benjamin , Benfari Giovanni , Bax Jeroen J. , Le Tourneau Thierry , Topilsky Yan , Antoine Clemence , Rusinaru Dan , Grigioni Francesco , Ajmone Marsan Nina , van Wijngaarden Aniek , Hochstadt Aviram , Roussel Jean Christian , Diouf Momar , Thapa Prabin , Michelena Hector I. , Enriquez‐Sarano Maurice , Tribouilloy Christophe 
Published: December 2024

Background
The prevalence and impact of right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) in degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR) is unknown. We aimed to determine whether RVD assessed by echocardiography in routine clinical practice is independently associated with mortality in patients with DMR.

Methods and Results

We used data from the MIDA‐Q (Mitral Regurgitation International DAtabase‐Quantitative) registry, which included patients with isolated DMR due to mitral valve prolapse from January 2003 to January 2020 from 5 tertiary centers across North America, Europe, and the Middle East. A cohort of 2917 (mean age: 66 years, 70.8% male patients, follow‐up: 5.2 [3.3–8.3] years) consecutive patients with severe DMR was included and long‐term mortality was analyzed. RVD, identified in 426 (14.6%) patients, was associated with reduced 8‐year survival (55%±3% versus 77%±1%;
P
<0.001), overall and in all subgroups of patients, even after comprehensive adjustment including left ventricular dilatation and dysfunction, DMR severity, pulmonary pressures, and surgery (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.44 [95% CI, 1.17–1.77];
P
<0.001). This excess mortality was observed under medical management (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.20–2.05];
P
=0.001) and after surgical correction of mitral regurgitation (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.45 [95% CI, 1.02–2.05];
P
=0.039). Patients with RVD undergoing surgery within 3 months of diagnosis experienced a better 8‐year survival (73%±4% versus 43%±4%;
P
<0.001), even after adjustment (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.44 [95% CI, 0.29–0.67];
P
<0.001) despite an increase of 1‐month postoperative mortality (7.1% versus 0.5% for patients without RVD;
P
<0.001).

Conclusions
RVD is observed in 14.6% of severe DMR and exhibits a powerful and independent association with excess mortality partially attenuated by mitral surgery. Therefore, assessment of right ventricular systolic function should be included in routine DMR evaluation and in the clinical decision‐making process.
Dose–response of tDCS effects on motor learning and cortical excitability: A preregistered study
Authors: Hsu Gavin , Jafari Zhenous Hadi , Ahmed Abdelrahman , Edwards Dylan J. , Cohen Leonardo G. , Parra Lucas C. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Multiple studies have demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the primary motor cortex (M1) can influence corticospinal excitability and motor skill acquisition. However, the evidence for these effects is inconsistent, and a common neural substrate for these effects has not been directly demonstrated. To address this, we hypothesized that higher tDCS intensities would produce more robust effects, and uncover their relationship. In this preregistered study, 120 participants engaged in a motor skill learning task while receiving tDCS with posterior-to-anterior currents through M1. We employed a double-blind, between-subjects design, with groups of 4 mA, 6 mA, or sham stimulation, while ensuring balanced groups in terms of typing speed. Cortical excitability was assessed via motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) before and after motor skill learning with concurrent tDCS. tDCS at these higher intensities was well tolerated, and motor learning correlated with pretraining typing speed. Planned analyses found no dose–response effect of tDCS on motor skill performance or MEP amplitude. This suggests that, under our experimental conditions, tDCS did not significantly modulate motor skill learning or corticospinal excitability. Furthermore, there was no correlation between motor performance and MEP, and thus no evidence for a common neural substrate. Exploratory analyses found an increase in MEP and TEP amplitudes following the sequence learning task. Motor skill gains positively correlated with TEP changes over the stimulated M1, which were more negative with increasing tDCS intensity. The effects of tDCS on motor skill learning and MEPs, if they exist, may require particular experimental conditions that have not been tested here. Preregistration: https://osf.io/jyuev (in-principle acceptance: 2024/06/05)
Macrovascular contributions to resting-state fMRI signals: A comparison between EPI and bSSFP at 9.4 Tesla
Authors: Ramadan Dana , Mueller Sebastian , Stirnberg Ruediger , Bosch Dario , Ehses Philipp , Scheffler Klaus , Bause Jonas 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
The draining-vein bias of T2*-weighted sequences, like gradient echo echo-planar imaging (GRE-EPI), can limit the spatial specificity of functional MRI (fMRI). The underlying extravascular signal changes increase with field strength (B0) and the perpendicularity of draining veins to the main axis of B0, and are, therefore, particularly problematic at ultra-high field (UHF). In contrast, simulations showed that T2-weighted sequences are less affected by the draining-vein bias, depending on the amount of rephasing of extravascular signal. As large pial veins on the cortical surface follow the cortical folding tightly, their orientation can be approximated by the cortical orientation to B0→. In our work, we compare the influence of the cortical orientation to B0→ on the resting-state fMRI signal of three sequences aiming to understand their macrovascular contribution. While 2D GRE-EPI and 3D GRE-EPI (both T2*-weighted) showed a high dependence on the cortical orientation to B0→, especially on the cortical surface, this was not the case for 3D balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) (T2/T1-weighted). Here, a slight increase of orientation dependence was shown in depths closest to white matter (WM). And while orientation dependence decreased with increased distance to the veins for both EPI sequences, no change in orientation dependence was observed in bSSFP. This indicates the low macrovascular contribution to the bSSFP signal, making it a promising sequence for layer fMRI at UHF.
Using bibliometrics to detect questionable authorship and affiliation practices and their impact on global research metrics: A case study of 14 universities
Authors: Meho Lokman I. , Akl Elie A. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
From 2019 to 2023, a subset of 80 highly published universities demonstrated research output increases exceeding 100%, compared to the global average of 20%. Among these, 14 institutions showed significant declines in first authorship rates, raising questions about their authorship and affiliation practices. We employed bibliometric analysis to examine shifts in authorship and affiliation dynamics at these universities. Key findings include a 234% rise in total publications, a 23 percentage point drop in first authorship rates, and an increase in hyperprolific authors from 23 to 177. International collaborations surged, and several universities exhibited sharp rises in multiaffiliated publications. Additionally, the proportion of articles published in top 10% journals increased by 11 percentage points, and the proportion of articles ranked among the world’s top 10% most cited grew by 12 percentage points. These trends raise concerns about the integrity of authorship and affiliation practices, as they deviate from normative behavior, far exceeding those observed nationally and at top-ranked universities—Caltech, MIT, Princeton, and UC Berkeley. The study emphasizes the need for collaborative reforms by universities, ranking agencies, publishers, and other entities, highlighting the importance of each entity’s role in preserving academic integrity and ensuring the reliability of global research metrics.