bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Acrophyseal growth arrest in a long-term survivor of acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Authors: de Rooy Jacky , Buckens Stan , Brons Paul M. , van der Geest Ingrid , Vanhoenacker Filip 
Published: June 2020

AbstractGrowth arrest at the secondary growth plate, also known as the acrophysis, is a rare phenomenon with only very few known published case reports. We report on a case of formation of ghost secondary ossification centers at the acrophyses of the knee joint in a 14-year-old female, who survived early childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The patient suffered from severe side effects from both disease and subsequent treatment strategies with a 10-month immobilization period as a consequence at the age of 3 years. The ghost secondary ossification centers were encountered on radiographs and MRI 10 years later, when she presented for evaluation of chronic pain in her left knee related to sports activities, due to a meniscal cyst. Awareness of this phenomenon is nevertheless important, because it seems that endochondral bone growth recovery at the acrophyses might be different from recovery in physes, because we found no concomitant sequelae of growth arrest in the metaphyses.
Renal biopsies performed before versus during ablation of T1 renal tumors: implications for prevention of overtreatment and follow-up
Authors: Widdershoven Christiaan V. , Aarts Brigitte M. , Zondervan Patricia J. , Henderickx Michaël M. E. L. , Klompenhouwer Elisabeth G. , van Delden Otto M. , Prevoo Warner , Montauban van Swijndregt Alexander D. , van Moorselaar Reindert J. A. , Bex Axel , Lagerveld Brunolf W. 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Purpose
To assess the difference between renal mass biopsy (RMB) performed either before or during the ablation procedure.

Methods
A retrospective multicenter study was performed in patients with a cT1 renal mass treated with ablation between January 2007 and July 2019, including a search in the national pathology database for patients with a RMB planned for ablation. Patient and tumor characteristics and information on malignant, benign, and non-diagnostic biopsy results were collected to establish rates of overtreatment and number of ablations avoided in case of benign or non-diagnostic histology.

Results
RMB was performed in 714 patients, of which 231 patients received biopsy before planned ablation, and 483 patients at the time of ablation. Pathology results before ablation were malignant in 63% (145/231), benign in 20% (46/231) and non-diagnostic in 17% (40/231). Pathology results at the time of ablation were malignant in 67.5% (326/483), benign in 16.8% (81/483) and non-diagnostic in 15.7% (76/483), leading to a total of 32.5% of ablation of benign or non-diagnostic lesions. Of the patients with a benign biopsy obtained before ablation, 80.4% (37/46) chose not to undergo ablation. Patients with inconclusive biopsy before planned ablation chose an informed individualized approach including ablation, repeated biopsy, or no intervention in 56%, 34% and 10%.

Conclusion
This study emphasizes the importance of obtaining a biopsy prior to the ablation procedure in a separate session to lower the rate of potentially unnecessary ablations.
Impact of Personal Protective Equipment on Surgical Performance During the COVID‐19 Pandemic
Authors: Yánez Benítez Carlos , Güemes Antonio , Aranda José , Ribeiro Marcelo , Ottolino Pablo , Di Saverio Salomone , Alexandrino Henrique , Ponchietti Luca , Blas Juan L. ,   International Cooperation Group on PPE and Emergency Surgery, Ramos Juan Pablo , Rangelova Elena , Muñoz Mercedes , Yánez Carlos 
Published: June 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 pandemic has exposed surgeons to hazardous working conditions, imposing the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) use during surgery. The use of such equipment may affect their non‐technical skills, augment fatigue, and affect performance. This study aimed to assess the surgeons’ perceptions of the impact of wearing PPE during emergency surgery throughout the pandemic.MethodsAn international cooperation group conducted an anonymous online survey among surgeons from over 30 countries, to assess perceptions about the impact of PPE use on non‐technical skills, overall comfort, decision making, and surgical performance during emergency surgery on COVID‐19 patients.ResultsResponses to the survey (134) were received from surgeons based on 26 countries. The vast majority (72%) were males. More than half of the respondents (54%) felt that their surgical performance was hampered with PPE. Visual impairment was reported by 63%, whereas 54% had communication impediments. Less than half (48%) felt protected with the use of PPE, and the same proportion perceived that the use of such equipment influenced their decision making. Decreased overall comfort was cited by 66%, and 82% experienced increased surgical fatigue.ConclusionsSurgeons perceived impediment for both visibility and communication, and other non‐technical skills while using PPE on emergency surgery in COVID‐19 patients. Their perceived lack of protection and comfort and increased fatigue may have inhibited their optimal surgical performance. More attention should be placed in the design of more user‐friendly equipment, given the possibility of a second wave of the pandemic.
Comparison of sheep and human middle-ear ossicles: anatomy and inertial properties
Authors: Péus Dominik , Dobrev Ivo , Pfiffner Flurin , Sim Jae Hoon 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe sheep middle ear has been used in training to prepare physicians to perform surgeries and to test new ways of surgical access. This study aimed to (1) collect anatomical data and inertial properties of the sheep middle-ear ossicles and (2) explore effects of these features on sound transmission, in comparison to those of the human. Characteristic dimensions and inertial properties of the middle-ear ossicles of White-Alpine sheep (n = 11) were measured from high-resolution micro-CT data, and were assessed in comparison with the corresponding values of the human middle ear. The sheep middle-ear ossicles differed from those of human in several ways: anteroinferior orientation of the malleus handle, relatively small size of the incus with a relatively short distance to the lenticular process, a large area of the articular surfaces at the incudostapedial joint, and a relatively small moment of inertia along the anterior–posterior axis. Analysis in this study suggests that structure and orientation of the middle-ear ossicles in the sheep are conducive to an increase in the hinge-like ossicular-lever-action around the anterior–posterior axis. Considering the substantial anatomical differences, outcomes of middle-ear surgeries would presumably be difficult to assess from experiments using the sheep middle ear.
On the glass transition and correlation functions
Authors: Frielinghaus Henrich 
Published: June 2020

AbstractCorrelation functions are the basis for the understanding of many thermodynamic systems that can be directly observed by scattering experiments. In this manuscript, the correlation functions include the steric repulsion of atoms that also leads to distinct shells of neighbors. A free energy is derived on the basis of these assumptions, and in the following the temperature dependence of the density (or specific volume), the typical time scale of the α-relaxation, and the heat capacity. From this, I argue that the glass transition is dominated by the vicinity of a first-order phase transition. While the correlation length stays rather constant in the vicinity of the glass transition, the intensity of the fluctuations is considerably increasing. The scattering amplitude is connected to the cluster size, also introduced in the cooperativity argument. Additionally, correlations of loops are discussed. The additional correlations describe rather small structures. Applying this to scattering intensities, a correlation peak was described that may be connected to the “Boson Peak” or a “cooperativity length.” The new concept of correlation functions on sterically repulsive atoms may find more attention in the wider field of physics.
The effect of sunlight and UV lamp exposure on EPR signals in X-ray irradiated touch screens of mobile phones
Authors: Juniewicz Małgorzata , Marciniak Agnieszka , Ciesielski Bartłomiej , Prawdzik-Dampc Anita , Sawczak Mirosław , Boguś Piotr 
Published: June 2020

AbstractElectron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signals generated by ionizing radiation in touch-screen glasses have been reported as useful for personal dosimetry in people accidently exposed to ionizing radiation. This article describes the effect of light exposure on EPR spectra of various glasses obtained from mobile phones. This effect can lead to significant inaccuracy of the radiation doses reconstructed by EPR. The EPR signals from samples unexposed and exposed to X-rays and/or to natural and artificial light were numerically separated into three model spectra: those due to background (BG), radiation-induced signal (RIS), and light-induced signal (LIS). Although prolonged exposures of mobile phones to UV light are rather implausible, the article indicates errors underestimating the actual radiation doses in dose reconstruction in glasses exposed to UV light even for low fluences equivalent to several minutes of sunshine, if one neglects the effects of light in applied dosimetric procedures. About 5 min of exposure to sunlight or to light from common UV lamps reduced the intensity of the dosimetric spectral components by 20–60% as compared to non-illuminated samples. This effect strongly limits the achievable accuracy of retrospective dosimetry using EPR in glasses from mobile phones, unless their exposure to light containing a UV component can be excluded or the light-induced reduction in intensity of the RIS can be quantitatively estimated. A method for determination of a correction factor accounting for the perturbing light effects is proposed on basis of the determined relation between the dosimetric signal and intensity of the light-induced signal.
131I thyroid activity and committed dose assessment among family members of patients treated with radioactive iodine
Authors: Brudecki K. , Kluczewska-Gałka A. , Zagrodzki P. , Jarząb B. , Gorzkiewicz K. , Mróz T. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe main goal of the present study was estimation of an internal contamination of 131I among family members of patients treated with radioactive iodine. Thyroid activity measurements of 131I in examined volunteers were performed using a whole-body spectrometer at the institute of nuclear physics, Polish academy of sciences. During this research, 20 relatives of patients treated with 131I were examined: eight women and 12 men with an age in the range from 3 to 72 years. In the case of nine individuals, the activity of 131I in the thyroid was below the detection limit, but among the remaining 11 individuals, the activity varied from (9 ± 3) Bq up to (1140 ± 295) Bq. Subsequently, based on the measurements of thyroid 131I activities, the corresponding doses were assessed. The highest estimated effective dose reached 218 μSv, while the thyroid equivalent dose was 2.4 mSv. In addition, the experimental data obtained were statistically analysed together with the results of surveys of the individuals participating in the study by means of correspondence analysis and nonparametric tests: Mann–Whitney, gamma, χ2 and Yule Phi coefficient. These analyses revealed relationships between 131I activities in the thyroids of the examined individuals and their housing conditions as well as consumption of meals prepared by the patients.
Midlife alcohol consumption and longitudinal brain atrophy: the PREVENT-Dementia study
Authors: Firbank Michael J. , O’Brien John T. , Ritchie Karen , Wells Katie , Williams Guy , Su Li , Ritchie Craig W. 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background and aims
Consensus is lacking on whether light to moderate consumption of alcohol compared to abstinence is neuroprotective. In this study, we investigated the relationship between self-reported alcohol use and brain volume change over 2 years in middle-aged subjects.

Methods
A sample of 162 subjects (aged 40–59 at baseline) from the PREVENT-Dementia programme underwent MRI scans on two separate occasions (mean interval 734 days; SD 42 days). We measured longitudinal rates of brain atrophy using the FSL Siena toolbox, and change in hippocampal volume from segmentation in SPM.

Results
Controlling for age and sex, there were no significant associations of either total brain, ventricular, or hippocampal volume change with alcohol consumption. Adjusting for lifestyle, demographic and vascular risk factors did not alter this.

Conclusions
We did not find any evidence of influence of alcohol consumption on changes in brain volume over a 2-year period in 40–60-year-olds.
Explicit Correlation Amplifiers for Finding Outlier Correlations in Deterministic Subquadratic Time
Authors: Karppa Matti , Kaski Petteri , Kohonen Jukka , Ó Catháin Padraig 
Published: June 2020

AbstractWe derandomize Valiant’s (J ACM 62, Article 13, 2015) subquadratic-time algorithm for finding outlier correlations in binary data. This demonstrates that it is possible to perform a deterministic subquadratic-time similarity join of high dimensionality. Our derandomized algorithm gives deterministic subquadratic scaling essentially for the same parameter range as Valiant’s randomized algorithm, but the precise constants we save over quadratic scaling are more modest. Our main technical tool for derandomization is an explicit family of correlation amplifiers built via a family of zigzag-product expanders by Reingold et al. (Ann Math 155(1):157–187, 2002). We say that a function $$f:\{-1,1\}^d\rightarrow \{-1,1\}^D$$

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An efficient optimization approach for designing machine learning models based on genetic algorithm
Authors: Hamdia Khader M. , Zhuang Xiaoying , Rabczuk Timon 
Published: June 2020

AbstractMachine learning (ML) methods have shown powerful performance in different application. Nonetheless, designing ML models remains a challenge and requires further research as most procedures adopt a trial and error strategy. In this study, we present a methodology to optimize the architecture and the feature configurations of ML models considering a supervised learning process. The proposed approach employs genetic algorithm (GA)-based integer-valued optimization for two ML models, namely deep neural networks (DNN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The selected variables in the DNN optimization problems are the number of hidden layers, their number of neurons and their activation function, while the type and the number of membership functions are the design variables in the ANFIS optimization problem. The mean squared error (MSE) between the predictions and the target outputs is minimized as the optimization fitness function. The proposed scheme is validated through a case study of computational material design. We apply the method to predict the fracture energy of polymer/nanoparticles composites (PNCs) with a database gathered from the literature. The optimized DNN model shows superior prediction accuracy compared to the classical one-hidden layer network. Also, it outperforms ANFIS with significantly lower number of generations in GA. The proposed method can be easily extended to optimize similar architecture properties of ML models in various complex systems.
Effective extraction methodology for the isolation of antidepressants from human blood
Authors: Świądro Magdalena , Wietecha-Posłuszny Renata , Dudek Dominika 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
The objective of this study is to choose the best methodology containing a high-efficiency extraction technique and an extraction agent for the isolation of antidepressants, such as citalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, and venlafaxine, from human blood samples. In this research, various extraction agents have been examined to achieve the highest efficiency of the conducted process. Moreover, the following most available extraction techniques have been investigated and compared: liquid–liquid extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, and microwave-assisted extraction. The obtained extracts have been analysed with the application of the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. The conducted research has confirmed that the microwave-assisted extraction with ethyl acetate—the average extraction efficiency is 77.4 ± 2.7%—onstitute the most promising extraction method and the agent. Furthermore, the developed method was successfully applied to the analysis of the whole blood samples collected from patients treated with the analysed drugs. It should be emphasised that choice of extraction and solvent methods are the first steps to develop the methods allowing for determination of antidepressants in whole blood for toxicological and clinical purposes.

Graphic abstract
Modelling decision-making within rail maintenance control rooms
Authors: Dadashi Nastaran , Golightly David , Sharples Sarah 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis paper presents a cognitive task analysis to derive models of decision-making for rail maintenance processes. Maintenance processes are vital for safe and continuous availability of rail assets and services. These processes are increasingly embracing the ‘Intelligent Infrastructure’ paradigm, which uses automated analysis to predict asset state and potential failure. Understanding the cognitive processes of maintenance operators is critical to underpin design and acceptance of Intelligent Infrastructure. A combination of methods, including observation, interview and an adaptation of critical decision method, was employed to elicit the decision-making strategies of operators in three different types of maintenance control centre, with three configurations of pre-existing technology. The output is a model of decision-making, based on Rasmussen’s decision ladder, that reflects the varying role of automation depending on technology configurations. The analysis also identifies which types of fault were most challenging for operators and identifies the strategies used by operators to manage the concurrent challenges of information deficiencies (both underload and overload). Implications for design are discussed.
The Study of Metaphor in Argumentation Theory
Authors: van Poppel Lotte 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis paper offers a review of the argumentation-theoretical literature on metaphor in argumentative discourse. Two methodologies are combined: the pragma-dialectical theory is used to study the argumentative functions attributed to metaphor, and distinctions made in metaphor theory and the three-dimensional model of metaphor are used to compare the conceptions of metaphor taken as starting point in the reviewed literature. An overview is provided of all types of metaphors distinguished and their possible argumentative functions. The study reveals that not all possible argumentative functions of metaphor have been taken into account, such as the role of conventional direct metaphors in standpoint and starting point. Novel direct metaphor as part of an analogy argument has received most attention, while indirect metaphor can constitute argumentative moves as well, such as the introduction of a standpoint, starting point or connection premise. The overview also shows that certain combinations of variables seem to be impossible of unlikely to occur. These results have a bearing on the analysis of metaphors in argumentative discourse and show the omission in current studies of metaphor. Being aware of these dimensions of metaphor ánd of its potential in argumentation would enrich argumentation studies and metaphor studies alike.
Pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel for Chinese patients with previously untreated HER2-positive locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer (PUFFIN): a phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study
Authors: Xu Binghe , Li Wei , Zhang Qingyuan , Shao Zhimin , Li Qiao , Wang Xiaojia , Li Huiping , Sun Tao , Yin Yongmei , Zheng Hong , Feng Jifeng , Zhang Hong , Lei Guiyuan , Restuccia Eleonora 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Purpose
The Chinese bridging study PUFFIN (NCT02896855) aimed to assess consistency of efficacy with CLEOPATRA (NCT00567190), investigating pertuzumab with trastuzumab and docetaxel versus placebo, trastuzumab, and docetaxel in patients with previously untreated HER2-positive locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.

Methods
Patients were randomized 1:1, stratified by visceral/non-visceral disease and hormone receptor status. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints included objective response rate (in patients with measurable baseline disease), overall survival, and safety. The consistency threshold for PFS (hazard ratio [HR] < 0.81) (maintaining ≥ 50% of the risk reduction determined in CLEOPATRA [HR 0.62]) determined the target sample size (n = 240).

Results
Two hundred forty-three patients were randomized. Median PFS was 14.5 months in the pertuzumab arm (95% confidence interval [CI] 12.5, 18.6) and 12.4 months in the placebo arm (95% CI 10.4, 12.7) in the intention-to-treat population (HR: 0.69 [95% CI 0.49, 0.99]). Objective responses were recorded in 83/105 (79.0%) and 67/97 (69.1%) patients, respectively. Grade ≥ 3 adverse events (70.5% and 69.2%, respectively) and serious adverse events (19.7% and 19.2%, respectively) were similar across both arms. No heart failure cases or symptomatic left ventricular ejection fraction declines were reported.

Conclusions
PUFFIN met its primary objective. Overall, efficacy data were consistent with CLEOPATRA. Safety was consistent with the known pertuzumab safety profile. PUFFIN adds to the totality of data with pertuzumab in previously untreated HER2-positive locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer and supports the favorable benefit–risk profile of pertuzumab in Chinese patients

Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02896855, registered 7 September 2016