bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Acute pain assessment and management in the prehospital setting, in the Western Cape, South Africa: A Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Survey
Authors: Lourens Andrit , Hodkinson Peter , Parker Romy 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: Acute pain is frequently encountered in the prehospital setting, and therefore, a fundamental aspect of quality emergency care. Research has shown a positive association between health care providers’ knowledge of, and attitudes towards pain and pain management practices. This study aimed to describe the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of emergency care providers regarding acute pain assessment and management in the prehospital setting, in the Western Cape, South Africa. The specific objectives were to, identify gaps in pain knowledge; assess attitudes regarding pain assessment and management; describe pain assessment and management behaviours and practices; and identify barriers to and enablers of pain care.
Methods: A web-based descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among emergency care providers of all qualifications, using a face-validated Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Pain survey.
Results: Responses of 100 participants was included in the analysis. The survey response rate could not be calculated. The mean age of respondents was 34.74 (SD8.13) years and the mean years’ experience 10.02 (SD6.47). Most respondents were male (69%), employed in the public/government sector (93%) as operational practitioners (85%) with 54% of respondents having attended medical education on pain care in the last two years. The mean percentage for knowledge and attitudes regarding pain among emergency care providers was 58.01% (SD15.66) with gaps identified in various aspects of pain and pain care. Practitioners with higher qualifications, more years’ experience and those who did not attend medical education on pain, achieved higher scores. Alcohol and drug use by patients were the most selected barrier to pain care while the availability of higher qualified practitioners was the most selected enabler. When asked to record pain scores, practitioners were less inclined to assign scores which were self-reported by the patients in the case scenarios. The participant dropout rate was 35%.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that there is suboptimal knowledge and attitudes regarding pain among emergency care providers in the Western Cape, South Africa. Further, gaps in pain knowledge, attitudes and practices were identified. Some barriers and enablers of pain care in the South African prehospital setting were identified but further research is indicated.
In-depth immune cellular profiling reveals sex-specific associations with frailty
Authors: Samson Leonard Daniël , Boots A. Mieke H. , Ferreira José A. , Picavet H. Susan J. , De Rond Lia G. H. , de Zeeuw-Brouwer Mary-lène , Verschuren W. M. Monique , Buisman Anne-Marie , Engelfriet Peter 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: With advancing age, the composition of leukocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood is known to change, but how this change differs between men and women and how it relates to frailty is poorly understood. Thus, our aim in this exploratory study was to investigate whether frailty is associated with changes in immune cell subpopulations and whether associations differ between men and women. Therefore, we performed in-depth immune cell phenotyping by enumerating a total of 37 subsets of T cells, B cells, NK cells, monocytes, and neutrophils in peripheral blood of 289 elderly people between 60-87 years of age. Associations between frailty and each immune cell subpopulation were tested separately in men and women and were adjusted for age and CMV serostatus. In addition, a random forest algorithm was used to predict a participant’s frailty score based on enumeration of immune cell subpopulations. Results: In an association study, frailty was observed to be associated with increases in numbers of neutrophils in both men and in women. Furthermore, sex-specific associations were found. Frailer women, but not men, showed higher numbers of total and CD16^-^ monocytes and lower numbers of CD56^+^ T cells. Overall, the accuracy of the predictions in the random forest analysis was low (9.2% explained variance in men and 12.2% in women). Yet, the random forest analysis confirmed all associations mentioned above, but did not confirm a possible negative association in women between frailty and late differentiated CD4^+^ TemRA cells. Moreover, the random forest analysis revealed additional relationships with frailty, with frailer men showing higher CD16^+^ monocyte and lower naïve B cell numbers. Other important variables for predicting frailty were plasmablast numbers in men and total T cell numbers in women. Conclusions: We report on observed associations of frailty with elevated myeloid cell numbers in men and women. In-depth immune cellular profiling also revealed sex-specific associations of frailty with several immune subpopulations. However, an expected positive association between frailty and memory T cells was not observed. We hope that our study will prompt further investigation into the immune mechanisms associated with the development of frailty in men and women.
Low program access despite high burden of sexual, structural, and reproductive health vulnerabilities among young women who sell sex in Mombasa, Kenya
Authors: Roberts Elizabeth , Ma Huiting , Bhattacharjee Parinita , Musyoki Helgar K , Gichangi Peter , Avery Lisa , Musimbi Janet , Tsang Jenkin , Kaosa Shem , Kioko Japheth , Becker Marissa L , Mishra Sharmistha 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: Across Sub-Saharan Africa, young women who sell sex (YSW) face institutional barriers in accessing sexual health and HIV prevention programs designed for female sex workers. In 2018, Kenya developed a national framework to guide service provision for YSW aged 14 – 24 years. To help inform the implementation of the framework, we estimated the burden of vulnerabilities related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and program contact among YSW. Methods: We used data from Transitions, a 2015 bio-behavioural cross-sectional survey of 408 YSW aged 14 – 24 years in Mombasa, Kenya. We estimated the prevalence of sexual (inconsistent condom use), structural (financial, violence), and reproductive health vulnerabilities; and characterized engagement with local HIV programs tailored to sex workers. We then compared the prevalence of vulnerabilities by age group (14 – 18 years, N=117; 19 – 24 years, N=291) and by program contact (ever contacted by local program for sex workers). Results: 47.3% reported inconsistent condom use in the previous week with little variability by age. Structural vulnerabilities were common and did not vary by age: 83.6% did not have a regular source of income; 29.9% and 29.2% had experienced physical and sexual violence, respectively. 26.5% reported at least one pregnancy before age 18, and 18.5% used a non-reliable form of contraception with little variability by age. 25.7% were aware of at least one program, and only 13.7% of YSW had ever been contacted by a program (8.5% of those aged 14 – 18 years; and 15.8% of those aged 19 – 24 years, p=0.06). Sexual, structural, and reproductive health vulnerabilities did not vary by program contact. Conclusions: SDG-related vulnerabilities begin early in the lives of YSW and current programs are not reaching them.
In vitro antiviral activity of Echinaforce®, an Echinacea purpurea preparation, against common cold coronavirus 229E and highly pathogenic MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV
Authors: Signer Johanna , Jonsdottir Hulda Run , Albrich Werner C. , Strasser Marc , Züst Roland , Ryter Sarah , Ackermann-Gäumann Rahel , Lenz Nicole , Siegrist Denise , Suter Andreas , Schoop Roland , Engler Olivier B. 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: Coronaviruses (CoVs) were long thought to only cause mild respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms in humans but recent outbreaks of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV, and the newly identified SARS-CoV-2 have cemented their zoonotic potential and their capacity to cause serious morbidity and mortality, with case fatality rates ranging from 2 to 35%. Currently, no specific prophylaxis or treatment is available for CoV infections and therefore we investigated the antiviral potential of Echinacea purpurea (Echinaforce®) against human coronavirus (HCoV) 229E and the highly pathogenic MERS- and SARS-CoVs in vitro.Methods:To evaluate the antiviral potential of Echinaforce we pre-treated virus particles and cells and evaluated remaining infectivity by limited dilution. Furthermore, we exposed cells to the extract post-infection to further estimate its potential as a prophylaxis and treatment against coronaviruses. We also determined the protective effect of Echinaforce in re-constituted nasal epithelium.Results:We found that HCoV-229E was irreversibly inactivated when exposed to Echinaforce at 3.2mg/ml IC50. Pre-treatment of cell lines, however, did not inhibit infection with HCoV-229E and post-infection treatment had only a marginal effect on virus propagation at 50 mg/ml. However, we did observe a protective effect in an organotypic respiratory cell culture system by exposing pre-treated respiratory epithelium to droplets of HCoV-229E, imitating a natural infection. Finally, antiviral activity was not restricted to common cold coronaviruses, as the highly pathogenic SARS- and MERS-CoVs were inactivated at comparable concentrations.Conclusions:These results suggest that Echinacea purpurea preparations, such as Echinaforce, could be effective as prophylactic treatment for all CoVs, including newly occurring strains, such as SARS-CoV-2.
NPF：Network propagation for protein function prediction
Authors: zhao bihai , Zhang Zhihong , Jiang Meiping , Hu Sai , Luo Yingchun , Wang Lei 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: The accurate annotation of protein functions is of great significance in elucidating the phenomena of life, disease treatment and new drug development. Various methods have been developed to facilitate the prediction of functions by combining protein interaction networks (PINs) with multi-omics data. However, how to make full use of multiple biological data to improve the performance of functions annotation is still a dilemma.Results: We presented NPF (Network Propagation for Functions prediction), an integrative protein function predicting framework assisted by network propagation and functional module detection, for discovering interacting partners with similar functions to target proteins. NPF leverages knowledge of the protein interaction network architecture and multi-omics data, such as domain annotation and protein complex information, to augment protein-protein functional similarity in a propagation manner. We have verified the great potential of NPF for accurately inferring protein functions. Comprehensive evaluation of NPF indicates that NPF archived higher performance than competing methods in terms of leave-one-out cross-validation and ten-fold cross validation.Conclusions: We demonstrated that network propagation combined with multi-omics data can not only discover more partners with similar function, but also effectively free from the constraints of the "small-world" feature of protein interaction networks. We conclude that the performance of function prediction depends greatly on whether we can extract and exploit proper functional similarity information from protein correlations.
Impact of Concurrency on the Performance of a Whole Exome Sequencing Pipeline
Authors: Dall'Olio Daniele , Curti Nico , Fonzi Eugenio , Sala Claudia , Remondini Daniel , Castellani Gastone C , Giampieri Enrico 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: Current high-throughput technologies - i.e. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, etc. - generate huge amounts of data and their usage gets more widespread with each passing year. Complex analysis pipelines involving several computationally-intensive steps have to be applied on an increasing number of samples. Workflow Management Systems (WMSs) allow parallelization and a more efficient usage of computational power. Nevertheless, this mostly happens by assigning the available cores to a single or few samples at a time. We refer to this approach as naive parallel strategy (NPS). Here, we discuss an alternative approach, which we refer to as concurrent execution strategy (CES), which equally distributes the available processors across every sample. Results: Theoretically, we show that the CES results, under loose conditions, in a substantial speedup, with an ideal gain range spanning from 1 to the number of samples. Practically, we tested both strategies on a Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) pipeline applied to three publicly available matched tumour-normal sample pairs of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST). The CES achieved speedups in latency up to 2-2.4. Conclusions: Our results hint that if resources distribution is further tailored to fit specific situations, an even greater gain in performance could be achieved. For this to be feasible, a benchmarking of the tools included in the pipeline would be necessary. It is our opinion these benchmarks should be consistently performed by the tools' developers. Finally, these results suggest that concurrent strategies might also lead to energy and cost savings by making feasible the usage of low power machine clusters.
Adaptive Support Ventilation versus Conventional Ventilation during Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Zhang Wei , Liu Xiaoli , Jin Can , Zhang Longju , Liang Zong’an 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background The purpose of the study is to examine whether the adaptive support ventilation (ASV) mode compared with conventional ventilation reduces the duration of mechanical ventilation (MV) in patients with acute respiratory failure. Methods We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Library Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE and Web of Science databases from inception through July 27, 2019. We considered all the randomized controlled studies (RCTs) that examined the efficacy of ASV in comparison with conventional ventilation in mechanically ventilated adults. The primary outcomes were (1) the length of MV, (2) weaning duration and (3) length of stay (LOS) in ICU. Results We included three RCTs for the analysis enrolling a total of 374 patients. Patients treated with ASV had a lower weaning duration than patients treated with conventional ventilation (MD -28.98 [95% CI -42.42, -15.54, p˂0.0001]). Then, 28-day mortality was not different between the two groups (OR 0.95 [95%CI 0.6, 1.52, p=0.83; I2=0%, p=0.96]). The incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia and sedation level was not included into the quantitative analysis. Conclusions The study showed that a lower number of duration of MV and a shorter number of weaning duration in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure patients treated with ASV than conventional ventilation. Keywords: pulmonary infection; critically ill patients; adaptive support ventilation; hypoxemic respiratory failure Background Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure is a severe disorder of the respiratory system to maintain oxygenation or eliminate carbon dioxide (CO2), leading to a series of metabolic disorders and physiological dysfunction. Mechanical ventilation (MV) serve as a lifesaving therapy is widely employed in intensive care units (ICU) for treating clinical symptoms related to critically illness.[1,2] Employment of mechanical ventilation in patients could help effectively to replace, control and change spontaneous breathing, reduce or eliminate respiratory muscle oxygen consumption, increasing ventilation and improving ventilation[3], removing the residual mucous in airway.[4] The choice of ventilation mode is such a very important issue in ICU that clinicians capable to choose the ventilation mode and adapt the ventilator controls according to the patient's respiratory mechanics.
Can the Apex of Tibial Tubercle Represent the Insertion of Patellar Tendon in Measurement of Quadriceps Angles? Imaging Verification
Authors: Wu Chi-Chuan , Wong Yon-Cheong 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background Clinical measurement of a quadriceps angle (Q-angle) has yet achieved consensus. The patellar stability is generally low despite that the tibial tubercle (TT) is fixed. The aim of this retrospective study was to verify whether the lower arm of a Q-angle (i.e. the patellar tendon [PT]) can be represented by the localization of TT. Methods The locations of the apex of TT and the center of PT in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were investigated in 100 consecutive young adult patients (50 men and 50 women; average, 27 years). The tibial width (TW), the distance from the apex of TT and the center of PT to the lateral edge of TW, and the PT width were measured. The ratios of the TT and PT to TW were compared statistically. Results The TW was 64 mm (62-66 mm). The apex of TT was 38% (37-39%) from the lateral edge of TW. The center of PT was 37% (36-38%) from the lateral edge of TW. Except the TW and PT width (both, p < 0.001), there was no statistical significance in all other comparisons between sexes ( p > 0.05). The correlation between the TT and PT in 100 patients was 0.84. There was statistical difference between the two parameters ( p = 0.02). Conclusion Although the center of PT is lateral to the apex of TT, the discrepancy is minimal (1% of TW, about 0.6 mm; or 3% of PT width). Clinically, using the TT to represent the insertion of PT may be reasonable.
Two-hour surgical access in South Africa: a useful indicator in a middle-income country?
Authors: Chu Kathryn , Dell Angela J , Moultrie Harry , Day Candy , Naidoo Megan , Straten Stephanie van , Rayne Sarah 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background In a robust health care system, at least 80% of a country’s population should be able to access a district hospital that provides surgical care within two hours. The objective was to identify the proportion of the population living within two hours of a district hospital with surgical capacity in South Africa. Methods All government hospitals in the country were identified. Surgical district hospitals were defined as district hospitals with a surgical provider, a functional operating theatre, and the provision of at least one caesarean section annually. The proportion of the population within two-hour access was estimated using service area methods. Results One hundred and thirty-eight of 240 (58%) district hospitals had surgical capacity and 86% of the population had two-hour access to these facilities. Ninety-eight percent of the population had two-hour access to any government hospital in South Africa. Conclusion Improving equitable surgical access is urgently needed in sub-Saharan Africa. This study demonstrated that in South Africa, just over half of district hospitals had surgical capacity but more than 80% of the population had two-hour access to these facilities. Strengthening district hospital surgical capacity is an international mandate and needed to improve access.
WITHDRAWN: Evaluation of immunity and protection in chicken administered a developed vaccine against predominant Middle Eastern strains of genotypes VI and VII of velogenic Newcastle Disease Virus
Authors: Yaghmoor` Soonham Sami , Kumosani Taha Abdullah , Barbour Elie Kamil , Baothman Othman Abubaker 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background The velogenic-Newcastle Disease Virus (v-NDV) causes an important disease in chicken, associated with serious economic losses to the global poultry industry. This research evaluated the immunity in broilers administered a developed bivalent vaccine, aiming at protection against predominant Middle Eastern strains of genotypes VI and VII of v-NDV. The completely randomized design implemented in this evaluation included eight treatments, differing in birds being administered or deprived of the developed vaccine, with a difference in type of challenge, either by v-NDV strain(s) of genotype VI, VII, or both. Vaccination was administered subcutaneously at 6 and 21 d of age, followed by an intra-pectoral challenge at the age of 28 d. Results The acquired humoral immunity by vaccinated and challenged birds to Hemagglutinin (H) protein was the highest at market age of 40 d, compared to challenged birds deprived of vaccination, and to vaccinates deprived of challenge (P<0.05). The same statistical difference pattern was obtained by the cell-mediated immunity (CMI), represented by birds’ level of serum IFN- γ . The type of challenge by either strain(s) of genotype VI, VII, or VI+VII did affect statistically the cross reactivity of acquired humoral immunity specific to H protein of homologous versus heterologous strains. The absence of humoral immunity and the low IFN- γ levels at 28 d of age in challenged birds deprived of vaccination lead to highest mortality, and lowest performance compared to vaccinates and challenged, vaccinates and deprived of challenge, and unvaccinated-unchallenged birds (P<0.05). Conclusions The developed bivalent vaccine was able to induce enough humoral and CMI responses, enabling protection of the broilers against production losses by each of the three types of v-NDV challenges. It is recommended to conduct future studies to evaluate such types of vaccines in chicken breeders and commercial layers, reared in various world’s zones with existing endemicity of v-NDV.
Short-latency afferent inhibition and somato-sensory evoked potentials during the migraine cycle: surrogate markers of a cycling cholinergic thalamo-cortical drive?
Authors: Coppola Gianluca , Lenola Davide Di , Abagnale Chiara , Ferrandes Fabio , Sebastianelli Gabriele , Casillo Francesco , Lorenzo Cherubino Di , Serrao Mariano , Evangelista Maurizio , Schoenen Jean , Pierelli Francesco 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Background: Short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) consists of motor cortex inhibition induced by sensory afferents and depends on the excitatory effect of cholinergic thalamocortical projections on inhibitory GABAergic cortical networks. Given the electrophysiological evidence for thalamo-cortical dysrhythmia in migraine, we studied SAI in migraineurs during and between attacks and searched for correlations with somatosensory habituation, thalamocortical activation, and clinical features.Methods: SAI was obtained by conditioning the transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced motor evoked potential (MEP) with an electric stimulus on the median nerve at the wrist with random stimulus intervals corresponding to the latency of individual somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) N20 plus 2, 4, 6, or 8 ms. We recruited 30 migraine without aura patients, 16 between (MO), 14 during an attack (MI), and 16 healthy volunteers (HV). We calculated the slope of the linear regression between the unconditioned MEP amplitude and the 4-conditioned MEPs as a measure of SAI. We also measured SSEP amplitude habituation, and high-frequency oscillations (HFO) as an index of thalamo-cortical activation.Results: Compared to HV, SAI, SSEP habituation and early SSEP HFOs were significantly reduced in MO patients between attacks, but enhanced during an attack. There was a positive correlation between degree of SAI and amplitude of early HFOs in HV, but not in MO or MI. When the two patient groups were pooled, both the MEP SAI slope and the SSEP habituation slope correlated positively with the number of days elapsed since the last migraine attack.Conclusions: The migraine cycle-dependent variations of SAI and SSEP HFOs are further evidence that facilitatory thalamocortical activation (of GABAergic networks in the motor cortex for SAI), likely to be cholinergic, is reduced in migraine at a distance from an attack, but increased ictally.