bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Psychological impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on healthcare workers in China Xi’an central hospital
Authors: Wang Nan , Li Yongqin , Wang Qiaoxia , Lei Caihong , Liu Yuanyuan , Zhu Shanshan 
Published: January 2021

AbstractObjectiveCOVID‐19 significantly altered our routine, lifestyle, and stress level across the globe. This study investigated the psychological impact of COVID‐19 on healthcare workers in China Xi'an Center hospital.MethodsA modified online questionnaire of Psychological Status and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐12) was provided to 1,967 healthcare workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Participation was voluntary, and the responses were anonymous. The survey lasted for 2 weeks, and the GHQ‐12 was completed every other day. The data were collected automatically and electronically and then statistically analyzed.ResultsThe 431 (21.9%) responders included 214 nurses (49.7%), 146 clinicians (33.9%), 29 pharmacists (6.7%), 15 medical technicians (3.5%), 17 administrative staff (3.9%), and 10 other departments (2.3%). Of these, 46.2% had 10 years of work experiences or more and 78.2% were married. Work experience increased emotional stress as 23% of participants with 10 years or more of experience exhibited higher stress compared to those with fewer than 3 years of work experience (7.5%). Moreover, 33.3% of participants who worked in or were exposed to the affected areas of the pandemic experienced psychological stress. Overall, this study identified four factors that were significantly associated with psychological stress: (a) work experience (OR 2.99; 95% CI: 1.06 to 8.41); (b) change in job position (OR 1.99; 95% CI: 1.10 to 3.59); (c) change in lifestyle (OR 4.06; 95% CI: 1.81 to 9.10); and (d) need for psychological counseling (OR 3.07; 95% CI: 1.62 to 5.82).ConclusionsThe COVID‐19 pandemic has increased psychological stress among healthcare workers with 10 years or more work experiences and who recently experienced a career position change.
Effect of hTIMP‐1 overexpression in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells on the repair of pancreatic islets in type‐1 diabetic mice
Authors: Bao Yu , Zhao Zhengyan , Gao Huihui 
Published: January 2021

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been suggested for pancreatic islet repair in Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This study aimed to investigate the effect of human umbilical cord MSCs (hUC‐MSCs) transfected with tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP)‐1 on the regeneration of β‐cell islets in vitro and in vivo. hUC‐MSCs were isolated, cultured, and transfected with lentiviruses for the overexpression of hTIMP‐1. An in vitro coculture system of hUC‐MSCs and streptozotocin‐induced islets was established to examine the morphology, apoptosis, and insulin secretion of the cocultured islets. Diabetic mouse models were injected with lenti‐TIMP‐1‐enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)‐hUC‐MSCs to test the effect of hTIMP‐1 on insulin levels and glucose tolerance in vivo. The expression of insulin and glucagon was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining. The results showed that coculture with hUC‐MSCs or Lenti‐TIMP‐1‐EGFP‐hUC‐MSCs improved islet viability rates. Lenti‐TIMP‐1‐EGFP‐hUC‐MSC coculture increased the insulin and C‐peptide secretion function of the cultured islets and increased the secretion of tumor necrosis factor‐β1, interleukin‐6, IL‐10, and hTIMP‐1. hUC‐MSCs, especially those transfected with Lenti‐hTIMP‐1‐EGFP, showed a strong protective effect in diabetic mice by alleviating weight loss and improving glucose and insulin metabolism. In addition, transplantation rescued islet histology and function in vivo. The overexpression of TIMP‐1 by hUC‐MSCs seems to exert beneficial effects on pancreatic islet cells. In conclusion, this study may provide a new perspective on the development of hUC‐MSC‐based cell transplantation therapy for T1DM.
Feasibility and acceptability of human papillomavirus self‐sampling in a semi‐urban area in northern Tanzania
Authors: Mahande Michael J. , Oneko Olola , Amour Caroline , Pollie Meridith , Smith Cheyenne , Mboya Innocent B. , Finkel Madelon 
Published: January 2021

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the feasibility and acceptability of HPV self‐sampling in Arusha region, northern Tanzania, because the ability for women to self‐collect HPV samples can help reduce the number of health facility visits and improve cervical cancer screening coverage rates.MethodsWe conducted a facility‐ and community‐based cross‐sectional study among 350 women aged 25–55 years in Arumeru district, Arusha region, northern Tanzania. Women were trained to self‐collect an HPV sample, and follow‐up visits were used to provide results after laboratory testing. Data were analyzed using Stata version 15.1 and summarized using mean and standard deviation for numeric variables and frequencies and percentages for categorical variables.ResultsAmong 350 women, 65 (18.6%) ever screened for cervical cancer, all provided self‐collected samples, and 349 (99.4%) would advise their female friends to undergo the same procedure. The prevalence of positive HPV results was 31 (8.9%), of which 26 (83.9%) were further examined. Two women found with lesions were treated following the national guidelines.ConclusionThis study has demonstrated that the HPV self‐sampling intervention for cervical cancer screening is a feasible and acceptable intervention, especially in resource‐limited countries like Tanzania. Scaling‐up policies should consider addressing the potential barriers to the uptake of this intervention.
Robustness of MR Elastography in the Healthy Brain: Repeatability, Reliability, and Effect of Different Reconstruction Methods
Authors: Svensson Siri F. , De Arcos José , Darwish Omar Isam , Fraser‐Green Jorunn , Storås Tryggve H. , Holm Sverre , Vik‐Mo Einar O. , Sinkus Ralph , Emblem Kyrre E. 
Published: January 2021

BackgroundChanges in brain stiffness can be an important biomarker for neurological disease. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) quantifies tissue stiffness, but the results vary between acquisition and reconstruction methods.PurposeTo measure MRE repeatability and estimate the effect of different reconstruction methods and varying data quality on estimated brain stiffness.Study TypeProspective.SubjectsFifteen healthy subjects.Field Strength/Sequence3T MRI, gradient‐echo elastography sequence with a 50 Hz vibration frequency.AssessmentImaging was performed twice in each subject. Images were reconstructed using a curl‐based and a finite‐element‐model (FEM)‐based method. Stiffness was measured in the whole brain, in white matter, and in four cortical and four deep gray matter regions. Repeatability coefficients (RC), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and coefficients of variation (CV) were calculated. MRE data quality was quantified by the ratio between shear waves and compressional waves.Statistical TestsMedian values with range are presented. Reconstruction methods were compared using paired Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests, and Spearman's rank correlation was calculated between MRE data quality and stiffness. Holm–Bonferroni corrections were employed to adjust for multiple comparisons.ResultsIn the whole brain, CV was 4.3% and 3.8% for the curl and the FEM reconstruction, respectively, with 4.0–12.8% for subregions. Whole‐brain ICC was 0.60–0.74, ranging from 0.20 to 0.89 in different regions. RC for the whole brain was 0.14 kPa and 0.17 kPa for the curl and FEM methods, respectively. FEM reconstruction resulted in 39% higher stiffness than the curl reconstruction (P < 0.05). MRE data quality, defined as shear‐compression wave ratio, was higher in peripheral regions than in central regions of the brain (P < 0.05). No significant correlations were observed between MRE data quality and stiffness estimates.Data ConclusionMRE of the human brain is a robust technique in terms of repeatability. Caution is warranted when comparing stiffness values obtained with different techniques.Level of Evidence1Technical Efficacy Stage1
Accounting for Variable Task Discrimination in Divergent Thinking Fluency Measurement: An Example of the Benefits of a 2‐Parameter Poisson Counts Model and its Bifactor Extension Over the Rasch Poisson Counts Model
Authors: Myszkowski Nils , Storme Martin 
Published: January 2021

AbstractFluency tasks are among the most common item formats for the assessment of certain cognitive abilities, such as verbal fluency or divergent thinking. A typical approach to the psychometric modeling of such tasks (e.g., Intelligence, 2016, 57, 25) is the Rasch Poisson Counts Model (RPCM; Probabilistic models for some intelligence and attainment tests. Copenhagen: Danish Institute for Educational Research, 1960), in which, similarly to the assumption of (essential) ‐equivalence in Classical Test Theory, tasks have equal discriminations—meaning that, beyond varying in difficulty, they do not vary in how strongly they are related to the latent variable. In this research, we question this assumption in the case of divergent thinking tasks, and propose instead to use a more flexible 2‐Parameter Poisson Counts Model (2PPCM), which allows to characterize tasks by both difficulty and discrimination. We further propose a Bifactor 2PPCM (B2PPCM) to account for local dependencies (i.e., specific/nuisance factors) emerging from tasks sharing similarities (e.g., similar prompts and domains). We reanalyze a divergent thinking dataset (Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2008, 2, 68) and find the B2PPCM to significantly outperform the 2PPCM, both outperforming the RPCM. Further extensions and applications of these models are discussed.
A disaggregation approach for indirect preference elicitation in Electre TRI‐nC: Application and validation
Authors: Madhooshiarzanagh Parisa , Abi‐Zeid Irène 
Published: January 2021

AbstractMulticriteria sorting methods are often used in decision aiding contexts where the objective is to assign alternatives to predefined ordered categories. The Electre Tri family of sorting methods is based on pairwise comparisons of the alternatives with some, possibly fictional, alternatives that are either upper or lower limits of the categories (Electre Tri‐B), or one or more typical reference alternatives, that is, representative categories profiles (Electre Tri‐C, Tri‐nC). In this paper, we are interested in the Electre Tri‐nC method and in indirect preference elicitation based on partial information provided by the Decision Maker. We therefore propose, apply and evaluate a preference disaggregation method for learning criteria weights and the credibility threshold used in Electre Tri‐nC. The proposed disaggregation method is validated in an experiment using a climate classification problem for light tourism where 62,482 touristic locations are sorted into four categories. A robustness analysis of the method's performance using 150 learning sets is conducted and the results are presented and discussed.
Unfractionated heparin using actual body weight without dose capping in obese pediatric patients—Subgroup analysis from an observational cohort study
Authors: Kuhn Alexis K. , Saini Surbhi , Stanek Joseph , Dunn Amy , Kumar Riten 
Published: January 2021

AbstractTo evaluate the correlation between an uncapped, actual body weight‐based unfractionated heparin dosing strategy, we performed a body mass index‐based subanalysis of a previously reported pediatric cohort. Nearly half (45%) of obese patients were supra‐therapeutic on initial anti‐FXa assessment. Obese patients achieved therapeutic anti‐FXa significantly faster than nonobese patients (median 4 vs 12 hours, P = .0192) and were more likely to have any supra‐therapeutic anti‐FXa levels (77% vs 35%; P = .0021). There was no statistically significant difference in major or clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding rates between weight categories (P = .69). Prospective pediatric studies are warranted to confirm our findings.
Characterizing Topological Order with Matrix Product Operators
Authors: Şahinoğlu Mehmet Burak , Williamson Dominic , Bultinck Nick , Mariën Michaël , Haegeman Jutho , Schuch Norbert , Verstraete Frank 
Published: January 2021

AbstractOne of the most striking features of gapped quantum phases that exhibit topological order is the presence of long-range entanglement that cannot be detected by any local order parameter. The formalism of projected entangled-pair states is a natural framework for the parameterization of gapped ground state wavefunctions which allows one to characterize topological order in terms of the virtual symmetries of the local tensors that encode the wavefunction. In their most general form, these symmetries are represented by matrix product operators acting on the virtual level, which leads to a set of algebraic rules characterizing states with topological quantum order. This construction generalizes the concepts of $${\mathsf {G}}$$
G
- and twisted injectivity; the corresponding matrix product operators encode all topological features of the theory and provide a complete picture of the ground state manifold on the torus. We show how the string-net models of Levin and Wen fit within this formalism and in doing so provide a particularly intuitive interpretation of the pentagon equation for F-symbols as the pulling of matrix product operators through the string-net tensor network. Our approach paves the way to finding novel topological phases beyond string nets and elucidates the description of topological phases in terms of entanglement Hamiltonians and edge theories.
Weighted voting procedure having a unique blocker
Authors: Bhattacherjee Sanjay , Sarkar Palash 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council of India has a non-conventional weighted voting procedure having a primary player who is a blocker and a set of secondary players. The voting weights are not fixed and are determined based on the subset of players which participate in the voting. We introduce the notion of voting schema to formally model such a voting procedure. Individual voting games arise from a voting schema depending on the subset of secondary players who participate in the voting. We make a detailed formal study of the trade-off between the minimal sizes of winning and blocking coalitions in the voting games that can arise from a voting schema. Finally, the GST voting procedure is assessed using the theoretical results leading to suggestions for improvement.
The thymus and the science of self
Authors: Geenen Vincent 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe conventional perception asserts that immunology is the science of ‘discrimination’ between self and non-self. This concept is however no longer tenable as effector cells of the adaptive immune system are first conditioned to be tolerant to the body’s own antigens, collectively known as self until now. Only then attain these effectors the responsiveness to non-self. The acquisition of this essential state of tolerance to self occurs for T cells in the thymus, the last major organ of our body that revealed its intricate function in health and disease. The ‘thymus’ as an anatomical notion was first notably documented in Ancient Greece although our present understanding of the organ’s functions was only deciphered commencing in the 1960s. In the late 1980s, the thymus was identified as the site where clones of cells reactive to self, termed ‘forbidden’ thymocytes, are physically depleted as the result of a process now known as negative selection. The recognition of this mechanism further contributed to the belief that the central rationale of immunology as a science lies in the distinction between self and non-self. This review will discuss the evidence that the thymus serves as a unique lymphoid organ able to instruct T cells to recognize and be tolerant to harmless self before adopting the capacity to defend the body against potentially injurious non-self-antigens presented in the context of different challenges from infections to exposure to malignant cells. The emerging insight into the thymus’ cardinal functions now also provides an opportunity to exploit this knowledge to develop novel strategies that specifically prevent or even treat organ-specific autoimmune diseases.
ALS2-related disorders in Spanish children
Authors: Nogueira Enrique , Alarcón Juana , Garma Carmen , Paredes Cecilia 
Published: January 2021

AbstractALS2 gene encoding for alsin protein is responsible for neurological disorders due to retrograde degeneration of the upper motor neurons of the pyramidal tracts, inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, and displaying a clinical continuum including the infantile ascending hereditary spastic paraplegiaidentified in three Spanish children presented here.
The effects of paid family leave on food insecurity—evidence from California
Authors: Lenhart Otto 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between the 2004 introduction of California’s paid family leave (PFL) program on food security. While previous work has shown that PFL laws affect employment, poverty and health, there is no evidence so far whether such policies affect food security levels of families after the birth of a child. Estimating difference-in-differences (DD) and triple difference (DDD) models, this is the first study to evaluate potential effects on food security, which could be a potential mechanism explaining improvements in health outcomes for both infants and mothers found in previous studies. My analysis shows that California’s PFL implementation reduced the incidence of very low household food security by 2.29 (DD) and 1.98 percentage points (DDD) in the year following a birth. I find that the effects are driven improvements in food security among children who are 1.41 percentage points less likely to be food insecure after the PFL introduction. Subgroup analysis shows that the effects are largest for low-income households, a group that has been shown to highly value PFL benefits, as well as for families with more than one child.
Bioethicists Should Be Helping Scientists Think About Race
Authors: Russell Camisha 
Published: January 2021

AbstractIn this essay, I argue that bioethicists have a thus-far unfulfilled role to play in helping life scientists, including medical doctors and researchers, think about race. I begin with descriptions of how life scientists tend to think about race and descriptions of typical approaches to bioethics. I then describe three different approaches to race: biological race, race as social construction, and race as cultural driver of history. Taking into account the historical and contemporary interplay of these three approaches, I suggest an alternative framework for thinking about race focused on how the idea of race functions socially. Finally, using assisted reproductive technologies as an example, I discuss how bioethicists and scientists might work together using this framework to improve not only their own but broader perspectives on race.
The composition and diversity of natural regeneration of tree species in gaps under different intensities of forest disturbance
Authors: Hammond Maame Esi , Pokorný Radek , Okae-Anti Daniel , Gyedu Augustine , Obeng Irene Otwuwa 
Published: January 2021

AbstractThe positive ecological interaction between gap formation and natural regeneration has been examined but little research has been carried out on the effects of gaps on natural regeneration in forests under different intensities of disturbance. This study evaluates the composition, diversity, regeneration density and abundance of natural regeneration of tree species in gaps in undisturbed, intermittently disturbed,
and disturbed forest sites. Bia Tano Forest Reserve in Ghana was the study area and three gaps each were selected in the three forest site categories. Ten circular subsampling areas of 1 m2 were delineated at 2 m spacing along north, south, east, and west transects within individual gaps. Data on natural regeneration < 350 cm height were gathered. The results show that the intensity of disturbance was disproportional to gap size. Species diversity differed significantly between undisturbed and disturbed sites and, also between intermittently disturbed and disturbed sites for Simpson’s (1-D), Equitability (J), and Berger–Parker (B–P) indices. However, there was no significant difference among forest sites for Shannon diversity (H) and Margalef richness (MI) indices. Tree species composition on the sites differed. Regeneration density on the disturbed site was significantly higher than on the two other sites. Greater abundance and density of shade-dependent species on all sites identified them as opportunistic replacements of gap-dependent pioneers. Pioneer species giving way to shade tolerant species is a natural process, thus make them worst variant in gap regeneration.
Liability for AI: public policy considerations
Authors: Zech Herbert 
Published: January 2021

AbstractLiability for AI is the subject of a lively debate. Whether new liability rules should be introduced or not and how these rules should be designed hinges on the function of liability rules. Mainly, they create incentives for risk control, varying with their requirements – especially negligence versus strict liability. In order to do so, they have to take into account who is actually able to exercise control. In scenarios where a clear allocation of risk control is no longer possible, social insurance might step in.This article discusses public policy considerations concerning liability for artificial intelligence (AI). It first outlines the major risks associated with current developments in information technology (IT) (1.). Second, the implications for liability law are discussed. Liability rules are seen conceptualized as an instrument for risk control (2.). Negligence liability and strict liability serve different purposes making strict liability the rule of choice for novel risks (3.). The key question is, however, who should be held liable (4.). Liability should follow risk control. In future scenarios where individual risk attribution is no longer feasible social insurance might be an alternative (5). Finally, the innovation function of liability rules is stressed, affirming that appropriate liability rules serve as a stimulus for innovation, not as an impediment (6.).
Krieg und Frieden im Südkaukasus. Der ewige Konflikt um Berg-Karabach
Authors: Sarjveladze Mikheil 
Published: January 2021

ZusammenfassungDer jüngste Krieg zwischen Armenien und Aserbaidschan veränderte den 26 Jahre bestehenden Status quo in der Region. Die aktuelle Veränderung des Status quo war bedingt durch das Zusammenspiel dreier Faktoren: 1) gescheiterte internationale Konfliktvermittlung, 2) die Rüstungsspirale der Konfliktparteien, 3) die Veränderung des geopolitischen Gleichgewichts durch Eingriffe der Türkei und Russlands. Im Ergebnis profitierten Moskau und Ankara von der Passivität der westlichen Akteure vor allem der EU und bauten ihren Einfluss im Südkaukasus aus.