bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Does Maternal Omega 3 Supplementation Protect Against Infantile Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis?
Authors: Paran Maya , Freud Enrique , Samuk Inbal , Steiner Zvi 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTObjectives:Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is potentially life threatening. The etiology of IHPS remains unknown and many risk factors have been reported. We aimed to assess the prevalence of known risk factors and investigate maternal nutrition and habits as possible additional risk factors for IHPS.Methods:This case‐control study includes mothers of infants diagnosed with IHPS and control mothers of infants, age 2 to 11 months, hospitalized in the pediatric department due to other conditions. Cases of IHPS were identified by review of all infants diagnosed with IHPS and operated upon in 2010 to 2016 at 2 major hospitals in central Israel. Data regarding potential risk factors were collected via questionnaires in both study groups.Results:Sixty‐six cases and 67 controls were included in the study. Maternal omega 3 supplement consumption during pregnancy was significantly less common among cases of IHPS as compared with controls (P = 0.031). Consumption of omega 3 supplement was defined as consumption of at least 1 to 2 per week during the pregnancy period. Following adjustment for known risk factors, including male sex and maternal smoking, maternal omega 3 supplement consumption remained associated with a significantly lower risk of developing IHPS (odds ratio = 0.303, 95% confidence interval 0.111–0.828, P = 0.02).Conclusions:Maternal omega 3 supplement consumption during pregnancy was associated with a significantly reduced risk of IHPS. Further studies are needed to support these results and investigate possible mechanisms of the effect of omega 3.
Factors Associated With Childhood Vaccination Adherence in Kindergartens of the Houston Independent School District
Authors: Rajan Suja S. , Roy Debanshu , Delgado Rigoberto 
Published: January 2020

Objective:
Adequate childhood vaccination rates are crucial for successful control of infectious diseases. Nevertheless, exemption requests, lack of health care access and information and other barriers can reduce vaccination adherence rates, and increase the risk of epidemics. This study aimed to identify factors associated with kindergarten vaccination adherence in the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

Design and Setting:
This study was a retrospective observational data analysis. The study used data from 155 elementary schools of the HISD. The data sets included were (1) Elementary School Profile Reports (2015-2016) and (2) Annual Report of Immunization Status (2016-2017). Logistic regression was used to examine the association between vaccination adherence in schools and the school's student demographic and economic profile, student behavior indicators, teacher profile, and school rank.

Main Outcome Measure:
A binary variable measuring adequate vaccination adherence rates in schools is the main outcome variable.

Results:
Lower vaccination adherence among the kindergarten students was associated with higher enrollment, a higher percentage of African American students and students with English as second language, and a lower percentage of gifted/talented students in the schools.

Conclusions:
The school characteristics that were found to be significantly associated with kindergarten student vaccination adherence in this study are the ones that have historically been associated with socioeconomic determinants of health and socioeconomic privilege. Hence, the findings of this study suggest the need for development of policies and interventions that can help overcome the barriers associated with low socioeconomic status, language, and marginalization in order to improve vaccination rates in school districts. These include culturally appropriate polices and health promotion, patient navigation, and educational interventions that can overcome the challenges faced by socially and economically vulnerable minorities and immigrant communities in order to improve vaccination rates.
Pain-related anxiety promotes pronociceptive processes in Native Americans: bootstrapped mediation analyses from the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Risk
Authors: Rhudy Jamie L. , Huber Felicitas , Kuhn Bethany L. , Lannon Edward W. , Palit Shreela , Payne Michael F. , Hellman Natalie , Sturycz Cassandra A. , Güereca Yvette M. , Toledo Tyler A. , Demuth Mara J. , Hahn Burkhart J. , Shadlow Joanna O. 
Published: January 2020

Abstract

Introduction:
Evidence suggests Native Americans (NAs) experience higher rates of chronic pain than the general US population, but the mechanisms contributing to this disparity are poorly understood. Recently, we conducted a study of healthy, pain-free NAs (n = 155), and non-Hispanic whites (NHWs, n = 150) to address this issue and found little evidence that NAs and NHWs differ in pain processing (assessed from multiple quantitative sensory tests). However, NAs reported higher levels of pain-related anxiety during many of the tasks.

Objective:
The current study is a secondary analysis of those data to examine whether pain-related anxiety could promote pronociceptive processes in NAs to put them at chronic pain risk.

Methods:
Bootstrapped indirect effect tests were conducted to examine whether pain-related anxiety mediated the relationships between race (NHW vs NA) and measures of pain tolerance (electric, heat, ischemia, and cold pressor), temporal summation of pain and the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR), and conditioned pain modulation of pain/NFR.

Results:
Pain-related anxiety mediated the relationships between NA race and pain tolerance and conditioned pain modulation of NFR. Exploratory analyses failed to show that race moderated relationships between pain-related anxiety and pain outcomes.

Conclusion:
These findings imply that pain-related anxiety is not a unique mechanism of pain risk for NAs, but that the greater tendency to experience pain-related anxiety by NAs impairs their ability to engage descending inhibition of spinal nociception and decreases their pain tolerance (more so than NHWs). Thus, pain-related anxiety may promote pronociceptive processes in NAs to place them at risk for future chronic pain.
Pulmonary infections in the hematopoietic cell transplant patient
Authors: Ford Emily S. , Crothers Kristina , Cheng Guang-Shing 
Published: January 2020

Purpose of review
Despite progress in the management of pulmonary infections in the hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) population, substantial diagnostic, and therapeutic uncertainty remains.

Recent findings
A growing HCT population reflects more transplants and improved long-term survival. We continue to learn about the epidemiologic and prognostic significance of posttransplant pulmonary infections. Mold-active triazoles have removed invasive fungal pneumonia as a barrier to transplant eligibility. Ibrutinib and respiratory viruses are newly recognized risk factors for invasive fungal disease. Prophylaxis has elevated concerns of resistance in invasive fungal species and late onset Cytomegalovirus. The impact of human herpesviruses, community-associated respiratory viruses, and the microbiome is increasingly appreciated. Multiple antiviral therapies are currently in clinical trials and novel molecular diagnostics may improve the performance of bronchoscopy for infectious causes.

Summary
Fungal and viral pneumonias remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the HCT population. Despite our increased understanding of the epidemiology and outcomes of species-specific diagnoses, the utility of invasive diagnostic testing continues to be debated and effective therapies for many clinically relevant pathogens remain limited. Pulmonary infections are a priority for research efforts in this immunocompromised population.
Presacral Anatomy in Women With a Horseshoe Kidney
Authors: Ortega Marcus V. , Pierce Theodore T. , O’Shea Aileen , James Kaitlyn , Von Bargen Emily , Weinstein Milena M. 
Published: January 2020

Objective
Horseshoe kidney (HSK) is the most common renal fusion defect that can alter vascular and upper urinary tract anatomy. Anatomic variations in the presacral space can make surgical dissection very challenging. The aim of this study was to characterize presacral anatomy in women with HSK.

Methods
Large academic centers’ database was queried to identify imaging studies in adult women with HSK. Available multiplanar computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging images were reviewed, and relevant vascular and upper urinary tract anatomy was measured and compared with published normal values. Study population was compared with the normal controls using Student t test, χ2 test, or Fisher exact test as appropriate.

Results
One hundred seventy-eight women were identified initially, and 20 confirmed to have HSK on imaging. The mean ± SD age was 54.5 ± 16.9 years, and body mass index was 27.3 ± 7.5 kg/m2. Women with HSK had a narrower angle of aortic bifurcation (39.1 ± 18.7 degrees vs 55.6 ± 4.5 degrees, P = 0.014); the right ureter was closer to midline (22.9 ± 8.8 mm vs 32.3 ± 1.2 mm, P < 0.001) when compared with normal controls anatomy. In 40% of women with HSK, the bifurcation of the vena cava was below the level of L5 in contrast to the 8% in the normal population (P < 0.001). In 60% of women with HSK, the inferior pole of the kidney was at or below L5.

Conclusions
Ureteral, renal, and vascular anatomic alterations in women with HSK may make presacral surgical anatomy challenging by obscuring the anterior longitudinal ligament anchoring point. Preoperative imaging is warranted to determine the feasibility of female pelvic reconstructive surgery in HSK patients.
Alzheimer Disease and Cancer
Authors: Sherzai Ayesha Z. , Parasram Melvin , Haider Janelle M. , Sherzai Dean 
Published: January 2020

Introduction:
Studies have demonstrated an inverse relationship between Alzheimer dementia (AD) and cancer. This inverse relationship was further explored. In addition, Pin1 expression has been implicated in the cell cycle regulation of both disease processes. The relationship of Pin1 expression in 10 cancer types and secondary diagnosis of AD was examined.

Materials and Methods:
A cross-sectional analysis was performed using discharge data from the National Inpatient Sample from 1999 to 2008. Cancer was defined as the primary discharge diagnosis and AD was defined as the secondary discharge diagnosis. Cancer types were grouped according to their Pin1 expression to examine its relationship with AD. Analysis was performed by logistic regression.

Results:
Of ∼3 million cancer discharge diagnoses, 1.0% had a secondary diagnosis of AD. Discharge data of all 10 cancer types revealed a lower likelihood of secondary AD diagnosis. Prostate [crude odds ratios (OR): 0.26 (0.24 to 0.29), multivariate OR: 0.39 (0.35 to 0.43)], ovarian [crude OR: 0.38 (0.32 to 0.44), multivariate OR: 0.35 (0.30 to 0.41)], and lung cancer [crude OR: 0.39 (0.36 to 0.41), multivariate OR: 0.41 (0.39 to 0.44)] demonstrated the lowest odds of secondary AD diagnosis. When cancer types were grouped per Pin1 expression, cancer types with Pin1 underexpression were more likely to be associated with secondary diagnosis of AD than cancer types with Pin1 overexpression [crude OR: 1.4 (1.3 to 1.4), multivariate OR: 1.08 (1.02 to 1.14)].

Discussion:
This secondary data analysis further demonstrated an inverse relationship between AD and 10 cancer types, with prostate, ovarian, and lung cancers displaying the greatest inverse relationship. Pin1 underexpressing cancer types had a significantly higher likelihood of secondary diagnosis of AD than Pin1 overexpressing cancer types.
Systematic Monitoring of Cognitive Function During Electroconvulsive Therapy
Authors: Alvarez-Grandi Sebastian Alfredo , Groves Samantha J. , Douglas Katie M. , Porter Richard J. 
Published: January 2020

Objective
International guidelines suggest repeating cognitive testing at intervals throughout a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to monitor its effects on cognitive function. However, it is apparent that few services do this, and an optimal battery of testing has not yet been established. We aimed to evaluate the utility of such routine cognitive testing in a clinic where patients had been routinely tested at intervals throughout a course of ECT.

Methods
All patients referred for ECT at a public ECT clinic were offered routine cognitive testing to monitor cognitive function during their course of ECT. Testing was conducted at baseline and after 3, 6, and 9 treatments. Analyses examined whether change in individual measures predicted reduction in autobiographical memory at subsequent measures and whether the results that were given to clinicians informed treatment decisions.

Results
Changes in cognitive test results were not associated with clinician decisions to change treatment parameters. Only change in digit span forwards after 3 treatments was associated with later reduction in Colombia University Autobiographical Interview - Short Form (CUAMI-SF) of greater than 25%, with a larger improvement in digit span forwards being associated with greater chance of having a 25% reduction in CUAMI-SF.

Conclusions
There was no evidence that the screening undertaken in this clinic had been helpful in determining treatment decisions or that changes in cognitive tests predicted in a reliable way who would later experience changes in autobiographical memory. However, follow-up testing was not completed reliably, and longer-term data regarding autobiographical memory were not collected.
A synthetic biochemical device for sensing microgravity
Authors: Mukhopadhyay Sayak , Bagh Sangram 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBiological solutions to human space travel must consider microgravity as an important component, which is unknown by the biochemical worlds on the Earth. Thus, one of the fundamental challenges of space biotechnology is to create engineered biochemical systems to integrate microgravity as a signal within molecular and cellular processes. Here we created the first molecular or biochemical microgravity sensor by creating a synthetic-small-regulatory-RNA based molecular network inE.coli, which sensed microgravity and responded by altering the expression of a target protein. We demonstrated that the design was universal, could work potentially with any promoter and against any target gene. This device was applied to target cell division process and rescue the deformed cell shape by applying microgravity. The work showed for the first time, a way to integrate microgravity as physical signals within biochemical process of a living cell in a human designed way and thus, opens a new direction in space biotechnology, space chemistry and space technology.
Clinical predictors for etiology of acute diarrhea in children in resource-limited settings
Authors: Brintz Benjamin , Howard Joel , Haaland Benjamin , Platts-Mills James A. , Greene Tom , Levine Adam C. , Nelson Eric , Pavia Andrew T. , Kotloff Karen L. , Leung Daniel T. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackgroundDiarrhea is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in lower- and middle-income countries. In such settings, access to laboratory diagnostics are often limited, and decisions for use of antimicrobials often empiric. Clinical predictors are a potential non-laboratory method to more accurately assess diarrheal etiology, the knowledge of which could improve management of pediatric diarrhea.MethodsWe used clinical and quantitative molecular etiologic data from the Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS), a prospective, case-control study, to develop predictive models for the etiology of diarrhea. Using random forests, we screened the available variables and then assessed the performance of predictions from random forest regression models and logistic regression models using 5-fold cross-validation.ResultsWe identified 1049 cases where a virus was the only etiology, and developed predictive models against 2317 cases where the etiology was known but non-viral (bacterial, protozoal, or mixed). Variables predictive of a viral etiology included lower age, a dry and cold season, increased height-for-age z-score (HAZ), lack of bloody diarrhea, and presence of vomiting. Cross-validation suggests an AUC of 0.825 can be achieved with a parsimonious model of 5 variables, achieving a specificity of 0.85, a sensitivity of 0.59, a NPV of 0.82 and a PPV of 0.64.ConclusionPredictors of the etiology of pediatric diarrhea can be used by providers in low-resources setting to inform clinical decision-making. The use of non-laboratory methods to diagnose viral causes of diarrhea could be a step towards reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescription worldwide.Author SummaryDiarrhea is one of the leading causes of death in young children worldwide. In low-resource settings, diarrhea testing is not available or too expensive, and the decision to prescribe antibiotics is often made without testing. Using clinical information to predict which cases are caused by viruses, and thus wouldn’t need antibiotics, would help to improve appropriate use of antibiotics. We used data from a large study of childhood diarrhea, paired with advanced statistical methods including machine learning, to come up with the top clinical factors that could predict a viral cause of diarrhea. We compared 1049 cases where a virus was the only cause, with 2317 cases where the cause was known but not a virus. We found that a lower age, dry and cold season, nutritional status defined by increased height, lack of blood diarrhea, and vomiting, were the clinical factors most predictive of whether the diarrhea was caused by a virus. We found that, using just those 5 factors, we were able to predict a viral cause with good accuracy. Our findings can be used by doctors to guide the appropriate use of antibiotics for diarrhea in children.
Schizophrenia Risk Alleles Often Affect the Expression of Many Genes and Each Gene May Have a Different Effect on The Risk; A Mediation Analysis
Authors: Peng Xi , Bader Joel S. , Avramopoulos Dimitrios 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTVariants identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are often expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), suggesting they are proxies or are themselves regulatory. Across many datasets analyses show that variants often affect multiple genes. Lacking data on many tissue types, developmental time points and homogeneous cell types, the extent of this one-to-many relationship is underestimated. This raises questions on whether a disease eQTL target gene explains the genetic association or is a by-stander and puts into question the direction of expression effect of on the risk, since the many variant - regulated genes may have opposing effects, imperfectly balancing each other. We used two brain gene expression datasets (CommonMind and BrainSeq) for mediation analysis of schizophrenia-associated variants. We confirm that eQTL target genes often mediate risk but the direction in which expression affects risk is often different from that in which the risk allele changes expression. Of 38 mediator genes significant in both datasets 33 showed consistent mediation direction (Chi2test P=6*10−6). One might expect that the expression would correlate with the risk allele in the same direction it correlates with disease. For 15 of these 33 (45%), however, the expression change associated with the risk allele was protective, suggesting the likely presence of other target genes with overriding effects. Our results identify specific risk mediating genes and suggest caution in interpreting the biological consequences of targeted modifications of gene expression, as not all eQTL targets may be relevant to disease while those that are, might have different than expected directions.
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition proceeds through directional destabilization of multidimensional attractor
Authors: Wang Weikang , Poe Dante , Yang Yaxuan , Hyatt Thomas , Xing Jianhua 
Published: January 2020

ABSTRACTHow a cell changes from one stable phenotype to another one is a fundamental problem in developmental and cell biology. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a phenotypic transition process extensively studied recently but mechanistic details remain elusive. Through time-lapse imaging we recorded single cell trajectories of human A549/Vim-RFP cells undergoing EMT induced by different concentrations of TGF-β in a multi-dimensional cell feature space. The trajectories cluster into two distinct groups, indicating that the transition dynamics proceeds through parallel paths. We then reconstructed the reaction coordinates and corresponding pseudo-potentials from the trajectories. The potentials reveal a plausible mechanism for the emergence of the two paths as the original stable epithelial attractor collides with two saddle points sequentially with increased TGF-β concentration, and relaxes to a new one. Functionally the directional saddle-node bifurcation ensures a CPT proceeds towards a specific cell type, as a mechanistic realization of the canalization idea proposed by Waddington.
Hidden state dynamics reveal the prolonged inactive state across the adult lifespan
Authors: Chen Keyu , Wang Ruidi , Liu Dong-Qiang 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAdult lifespan is accompanied by functional reorganization of brain networks, but the dynamic patterns behind this reorganization remain largely unclear. This study focuses on modelling the dynamic process of spontaneous activity of large-scale networks using hidden Markov model (HMM), and investigates how it changes with age. The HMM with 12 hidden states was applied to temporally concatenated resting state fMRI data from two dataset of 176 / 170 subjects (aged 20-80 years), and each hidden state was characterized by distinct activation patterns of 17 brain networks. Results showed that (a) For both datasets, the elder tended to spend less time on and had less transitions to states showing antagonistic activity between various pairs of networks including default mode network, cognitive control and salience/ventral attention networks. (b) For both datasets, the elder were probable to spend more time on, have less transitions from and have more transitions to an ‘baseline’ state with only moderate-level activation of all networks, the time spent on this state also showed an U-shaped lifespan trajectory. (c) For both datasets, HMM exhibited higher specificity and reproducibility in uncovering the age effects compared with temporal clustering method, especially for age effects in transition probability. (d) These results demonstrate the age-correlated decrease of the anti-correlation between various networks, and further validate the prediction of Naik et al. (2017) that the existence of a particular network state with lower transition probability and higher fractional occupancy in old cohort, which may reflect the shift of the dynamical working point across the adult lifespan.