bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Echocardiographic parameters differentiating heart failure with preserved ejection fraction from asymptomatic left ventricular diastolic dysfunction
Authors: Ibrahim Ismail Mohamed , Hafez Hesham , Al‐Shair Mohamad Hossam Aldin , El Zayat Ahmed 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackground(LVDD) either remains latent or manifests as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Little is known about echocardiographic parameters associated with symptomatic phenotype.ObjectiveTo investigate echocardiographic parameters associated with symptomatic state in LVDD.MethodsThree hundred and thirty patients with definite diagnosis of LVDD (according to ASE/EACVI recommendations 2016) were included and divided into asymptomatic LVDD and HFpEF groups according to presence of dyspnea and brain natriuretic peptide levels. We excluded patients with left ventricular ejection fraction <50%, significant valvular heart disease, chronic lung disease, or renal dysfunction.ResultsMean age was 61.2 ± 8.3 years; 71% were females. Both groups were matched regarding age, gender, comorbidities, and drug history. HFpEF group showed significantly larger BMI (P = .04), significantly higher IVS thickness (P < .001), LA diameter (P < .001), LA volume index (P = .004), E velocity (P = .001), TR jet velocity (P = .03), and average E/e' ratio (P < .001).On the contrary, lateral e' velocity was significantly lower in HFpEF group (P < .001). By regression analysis, lateral e' velocity was the best independent predictor of symptomatic state. Area under ROC curve of lateral e' velocity was 0.789 (0.667‐0.911, P < .001) to predict symptomatic state in LVDD with the best cutoff value of ≤8.2 cm/s (76% sensitivity and 79% specificity). Moreover, lateral e' velocity was significantly negatively correlated with NYHA class in HFpEF group.ConclusionReduced lateral e' velocity was associated with symptomatic state in LVDD. Moreover, it was significantly negatively correlated with NYHA class in HFpEF.
Early predictors of mental health in mid‐adulthood
Authors: Pijnenburg Lisa J. , de Haan Lieuwe , Smith Lauren , Rabinowitz Jonathan , Levine Stephen Z. , Reichenberg Abraham , Velthorst Eva 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAimSubstantial research has focused on the examination of factors that contribute to the development of psychiatric problems. However, much less is known about factors early in life that may protect from poor mental health outcomes in midlife. This study aimed to identify the extent to which a set of key perinatal demographic variables and adolescent academic performance were associated with good mental health in mid‐adulthood.MethodsIn a sample of 525 individuals (aged 34‐44, 55.4% male) born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel (STREAM study) we attempted to differentiate those who did and did not report psychiatric symptoms in mid‐adulthood. Using χ2 and regression analysis, we explored birth factors (year of birth, sex, birth weight, and number of older siblings, data on parental immigration and socioeconomic status), academic achievement in eighth grade and contemporaneous measures of lifestyle factors, personality traits, and perceived resilience.ResultsParticipants with good mental health were more often male (P = .005) and had better academic performance already at adolescence than participants who reported psychiatric symptoms in midlife (P < .001). They reported fewer physical complaints (P = .008), were less likely to smoke (P = .001) and considered themselves to be more “resilient” (P < .001).ConclusionsThe results showed that better academic performance in adolescence may be associated with better stress‐coping strategies, resulting in fewer psychiatric complaints, more perceived resilience, and less stress‐related behaviours in mid‐adulthood. Future studies confirming this hypothesis could inform public mental health interventions.
ArA*summarizer: An Arabic text summarization system based on subtopic segmentation and using an A* algorithm for reduction
Authors: Bahloul Belahcene , Aliane Hassina , Benmohammed Mohamed 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAutomatic text summarization is a field situated at the intersection of natural language processing and information retrieval. Its main objective is to automatically produce a condensed representative form of documents. This paper presents ArA*summarizer, an automatic system for Arabic single document summarization. The system is based on an unsupervised hybrid approach that combines statistical, cluster‐based, and graph‐based techniques. The main idea is to divide text into subtopics then select the most relevant sentences in the most relevant subtopics. The selection process is done by an A* algorithm executed on a graph representing the different lexical–semantic relationships between sentences. Experimentation is conducted on Essex Arabic summaries corpus and using recall‐oriented understudy for gisting evaluation, automatic summarization engineering, merged model graphs, and n‐gram graph powered evaluation via regression evaluation metrics. The evaluation results showed the good performance of our system compared with existing works.
Evidence‐poor medicine: just how evidence‐based are Australian clinical practice guidelines?
Authors: Venus Cameron , Jamrozik Euzebiusz 
Published: January 2020

AbstractBackgroundClinical practice guidelines aim to assist medical practitioners in making efficient evidence‐based decisions in daily practice. However, international studies have shown that the majority of recommendations in American and European guidelines are not based on strong evidence.AimsTo review Australian clinical practice guidelines across a broad range of high‐impact conditions and determine how evidence‐based they are.MethodsAustralian guidelines published from January 2010 to May 2018 relating to the top 10 causes of death in Australia were identified from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) clinical practice guideline database and other relevant sources. The graded recommendations in these guidelines were extracted for analysis and the systems used for grading the recommendations were recorded.ResultsTen relevant Australian guidelines were identified, containing a total of 748 graded recommendations. All 10 guidelines used either the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) or NHMRC systems to assess recommendations. However, only 18% (n = 136) of these recommendations were based on Level I (or equivalent) evidence; 25% (n = 185) were based on Level II evidence, 29% (n = 218) on Level III, and 9% (n = 66) on Level IV. Consensus‐based recommendations accounted for 19% (n = 143) of all recommendations.ConclusionsDespite the enthusiasm of the evidence‐based medicine movement and its documented successes, contemporary medicine appears to remain largely evidence‐poor, not evidence‐based. Future research should aim to provide reliable descriptions of what constitutes valid clinical reasoning in evidence‐poor situations.
Hospital infection control: old problem – evolving challenges
Authors: Gilbert Gwendolyn L. , Kerridge Ian 
Published: January 2020

AbstractHospital infection prevention and control (IPC) is often regarded by doctors as mundane and unnecessarily rigid, but the continued occurrence of preventable healthcare‐associated infections, increasing antimicrobial resistance (to which hospitals are major contributors) and rare, but potentially devastating hospital outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, suggest that IPC must be taken seriously. Healthcare professionals often fail to comply with effective, evidence‐based IPC practices and there is ample evidence that doctors, generally, do so less consistently than nurses. However, doctors' practices are highly variable, apparently because of a perceived entitlement to clinical autonomy. In practice, most doctors observe safe IPC practices, most of the time. However, some are ignorant or dismissive of IPC policies and some respond angrily, when reminded. Among a small proportion of senior consultants, negative attitudes to IPC are perceived by their peers to correlate with a more general failure to meet their public hospital commitments, apparently because of conflicting demands, including private practice. The fact that breaches of IPC practice have significant, although often hidden, consequences indicates a need for continued improvement based on new strategies that might include: better surveillance, to identify and inform doctors of the true burdens of healthcare‐associated infections; professional self‐reflection on falsely dichotomous claims of medical professionalism namely: clinical autonomy versus regard for patient welfare by complying with ‘rules’ designed to protect them; and review of the consequences of recent changes in healthcare delivery, including proliferation of multiple, part‐time consultant contracts at the expense of public hospital culture and status.
Review of gout clinic in a tertiary hospital setting
Authors: Leonardo Nieves , Lester Susan , Whittle Samuel , Rischmueller Maureen 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAlthough updated consensus guidelines, and effective therapies, are available for management of gout, suboptimal management remains an issue. Barriers were identified and addressed as part of a dedicated, structured gout clinic. More frequent appointments resulted in a faster rate of serum urate reduction, and the clinic provided the opportunity for the education of both patients and general practitioners in the management of gout.
Wilson disease: copper deficiency and iatrogenic neurological complications with zinc therapy
Authors: Wu Landy M. , Ekladious Adel , Wheeler Luke , Mohamad Abdulrazak A. 
Published: January 2020

AbstractA 17‐year‐old female was diagnosed with Wilson disease and commenced on oral zinc therapy. She re‐presented 6 months later with a fall and had classical signs of subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord confirmed on nerve conduction studies, as a result of zinc‐induced copper deficiency. After 6 months of copper therapy, she made a complete recovery with no residual neurological deficits. Early detection of zinc‐induced copper deficiency and stringent follow‐up mechanisms are crucial. Early initiation of copper replacement may both limit and completely reverse neurological deficits.
Plastid ribosomal protein LPE2 is involved in photosynthesis and the response to C/N balance in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Dong Xiaoxiao , Duan Sujuan , Wang Hong‐Bin , Jin Hong‐Lei 
Published: January 2020

AbstractThe balance between cellular carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) must be tightly coordinated to sustain optimal growth and development in plants. In chloroplasts, photosynthesis converts inorganic C to organic C, which is important for maintenance of C content in plant cells. However, little is known about the role of chloroplasts in C/N balance. Here, we identified a nuclear‐encoded protein LOW PHOTOSYNTHETIC EFFICIENCY2 (LPE2) that it is required for photosynthesis and C/N balance in Arabidopsis. LPE2 is specifically localized in the chloroplast. Both loss‐of‐function mutants, lpe2‐1 and lpe2‐2, showed lower photosynthetic activity, characterized by slower electron transport and lower PSII quantum yield than the wild type. Notably, LPE2 is predicted to encode the plastid ribosomal protein S21 (RPS21). Deficiency of LPE2 significantly perturbed the thylakoid membrane composition and plastid protein accumulation, although the transcription of plastid genes is not affected obviously. More interestingly, transcriptome analysis indicated that the loss of LPE2 altered the expression of C and N response related genes in nucleus, which is confirmed by quantitative real‐time‐polymerase chain reaction. Moreover, deficiency of LPE2 suppressed the response of C/N balance in physiological level. Taken together, our findings suggest that LPE2 plays dual roles in photosynthesis and the response to C/N balance.
Effects of differences in wiping pressure applied by nurses during daily bed baths on skin barrier function, cleanliness, and subjective evaluations
Authors: Konya Issei , Yamaguchi Shinya , Sugimura Naotaka , Matsuno Chiyomi , Yano Rika 
Published: January 2020

AbstractAimTo clarify the actual condition and examine the effects of differences in wiping pressure applied by clinical nurses during daily bed baths on skin barrier function, cleanliness, and subjective evaluations.MethodsFor the purposes of the present quasi‐experimental interventional study, “wiping pressure” was defined as the “force applied vertically to the skin surface during bed baths.” Two types of bed baths, one using ordinary wiping (pressure: 23–25 mmHg) and the other using weak wiping (pressure: 12–14 mmHg), were performed on the forearms (right and left) of 30 healthy adult men and women, and the effects on transepidermal water loss, stratum corneum hydration, cleanliness, and subjective evaluations were examined.ResultsThe results showed no differences between ordinary and weak wiping pressure in regard to the effects on skin barrier function and cleanliness. In terms of subjective evaluations, a significant association was seen between wiping pressure and the “sensation of having dirt removed” (P = .036). Regarding “degree of pain,” some participants reported that the wiping pressure felt “slightly painful” under both conditions (ordinary: 31.1%; weak: 10.7%), while some with sensitive skin reported feeling pain even during weak wiping pressure.ConclusionsThe results of the present study suggest that skin assessments should be performed before and after bed baths, and that wiping pressure should be controlled and evaluated while considering the patient's feelings.
Mad about Austerity? The Effect of Fiscal Consolidation on Public Opinion
Authors: KALBHENN ANNA , STRACCA LIVIO 
Published: January 2020

AbstractWe explore the impact of fiscal austerity on three different dimensions of public opinion in 26 European Union countries (consumer confidence, attitude toward national authorities, and European institutions) on annual data between 1997 and 2017. Our main finding is that the independent effect of a tighter fiscal stance on public opinion is not large and, when present, seems to closely follow the impact of fiscal austerity on economic activity. Our results therefore are inconsistent with the view that fiscal austerity necessarily implies a negative effect on public opinion and a decline in popularity of national and European institutions.
Central‐line‐associated bloodstream infections in a surgical paediatric intensive care unit: Risk factors and prevention with chlorhexidine bathing
Authors: Martinez Thibault , Baugnon Thomas , Vergnaud Estelle , Duracher Caroline , Perie Anne C , Bustarret Olivier , Jugie Myriam , Rubinsztajn Robert , Frange Pierre , Meyer Philippe , Orliaguet Gilles , Blanot Stéphane 
Published: January 2020

AimThe aims of the study are to evaluate the impact of a 4% chlorhexidine (CHG4%) bathing on the occurrence of central‐line‐associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and to identify risk factors (RFs) for CLABSI in our population. This is a retrospective monocentric cohort study in the paediatric surgical intensive care unit at the Necker Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris, France.MethodsAll hospitalised patients with central venous catheters (CVCs) in 2015 were included. CHG4% bathing was prescribed in CLABSI high‐risk patients, defined by the presence of exposition factors (EFs): constitutive or acquired immunosuppression, presence of an invasive medical device (IMD) and the carriage of Staphylococcus aureus. The overall 2015 CLABSI incidence rate was compared with 2014 CLABSI incidence rate (before CHG4% bathing).ResultsIn all, 775 patients were analysed. Some 182 had at least one EF, and 49 received CHG4%. The incidence rates of CLABSI in 2014 and 2015 were, respectively, 6.1 and 2.3/1000 days CVC (P < 0.01). The presence of at least one EF was associated with the CLABSI's occurrence: odds ratio = 15.13 (95% confidence interval: 4.26–53.71; P < 0.0001), particularly acquired immunosuppression, IMD and S. aureus colonisation. Other RFs were age <1 year and carrying duration >16 days.ConclusionsThis study showed a significant reduction in incidence of CLABSI after introduction of a targeted CHG4% bathing protocol. Presence of IMD, S. aureus colonisation, immunosuppression, age <1 year and carrying duration >16 days were CLABSI RFs. Regarding the literature, the presence of IMD seems to be underestimated in CLABSI prevention.
A LuxR‐type regulator, AcrR, regulates flagellar assembly and contributes to virulence, motility, biofilm formation, and growth ability of Acidovorax citrulli
Authors: Guan Wei , Wang Tielin , Huang Qi , Tian Eryuan , Liu Bo , Yang Yuwen , Zhao Tingchang 
Published: January 2020

AbstractLuxR‐type regulators regulate many bacterial processes and play important roles in bacterial motility and virulence. Acidovorax citrulli is a seedborne bacterial pathogen responsible for bacterial fruit blotch, which causes great losses in melon and watermelon worldwide. We identified a LuxR‐type, nonquorum sensing‐related regulator, AcrR, in the group II strain Aac‐5 of A. citrulli. We found that the acrR mutant lost twitching and swimming motilities, and flagellar formation. It also showed reduced virulence, but increased biofilm formation and growth ability. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that 394 genes were differentially expressed in the acrR mutant of A. citrulli, including 33 genes involved in flagellar assembly. Our results suggest that AcrR may act as a global regulator affecting multiple important biological functions of A. citrulli.
Territory, islandness, and the secessionist imaginary: Why do very small communities favour autonomy over integration?
Authors: Corbett Jack 
Published: January 2020

AbstractSmall communities should have the most to gain from integration, but the average size of the state is shrinking as island nationalism creates new, and very small, states out of former colonies, and federalised or autonomous territories. “Islandness,” as a proxy for territory, is employed as a resource to justify secession, but mainstream studies subordinate this factor in accounts that privilege ethnic, religious, linguistic, or economic drivers of identity. This article adds to a small body of work that foregrounds territory. Drawing on an in‐depth case study of Barbuda's (population 1,600) attempt to secede from Antigua demonstrates how nationalists employ different meanings of territory—legal, cultural, and political—to make the case for secession in the absence of factors commonly theorised to drive identify formation. Barbudan secessionism therefore problematises mainstream theory. It concludes by arguing that paying greater attention to how territory acts as a resource in the nationalist imaginary allows us to re‐examine long‐standing studies and cases in new and penetrating light.
Human Factors Analysis for Maritime Accidents Based on a Dynamic Fuzzy Bayesian Network
Authors: Qiao Weiliang , Liu Yu , Ma Xiaoxue , Liu Yang 
Published: January 2020

AbstractHuman factors are widely regarded to be highly contributing factors to maritime accident prevention system failures. The conventional methods for human factor assessment, especially quantitative techniques, such as fault trees and bow‐ties, are static and cannot deal with models with uncertainty, which limits their application to human factors risk analysis. To alleviate these drawbacks, in the present study, a new human factor analysis framework called multidimensional analysis model of accident causes (MAMAC) is introduced. MAMAC combines the human factors analysis and classification system and business process management. In addition, intuitionistic fuzzy set theory and Bayesian Network are integrated into MAMAC to form a comprehensive dynamic human factors analysis model characterized by flexibility and uncertainty handling. The proposed model is tested on maritime accident scenarios from a sand carrier accident database in China to investigate the human factors involved, and the top 10 most highly contributing primary events associated with the human factors leading to sand carrier accidents are identified. According to the results of this study, direct human factors, classified as unsafe acts, are not a focus for maritime investigators and scholars. Meanwhile, unsafe preconditions and unsafe supervision are listed as the top two considerations for human factors analysis, especially for supervision failures of shipping companies and ship owners. Moreover, potential safety countermeasures for the most highly contributing human factors are proposed in this article. Finally, an application of the proposed model verifies its advantages in calculating the failure probability of accidents induced by human factors.
The evolving role of organizational theory within economic sociology
Authors: Nedzhvetskaya Nataliya , Fligstein Neil 
Published: January 2020

AbstractOrganizational theory was one of the roots of the “new” economic sociology. In recent years, a set of complementary research programs have come to the fore that augment our understanding of the social structuring of markets. These include an interest in the role of conventions and commensuration, market devices, the performativity of economics, and the role of morality in the construction of markets. These other interests have come to enrich our conception of the ways in which “the social” structures market activities. While this has decentered some of the emphasis on organizations, there are still active research programs pushing forward new ideas that are focused on organizations, institutions, and networks in economic sociology. We discuss some of the recent work on organizational logics, inter‐ and intra‐organizational networks, and social movements and organization. We note there has also been some hybridity as scholars borrow from each other's toolkits in order to deepen our knowledge of the way the economy works. Organizational theory remains a main theoretical mainstay of economic sociology, but it has now been joined by additional perspectives.