bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Association Between Haematological Parameters and Sickle Cell Genotypes in Children With Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria Residents in Kisumu County in Western Kenya
Authors: Kosiyo Paul , Otieno Walter , Gitaka Jesse , Munde Elly O. , Ouma Collins 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a monogenic disorder due to point mutation in the β-globin gene resulting in substitution of Valine for Glutamic acid. The SCD is prevalent in P. falciparum endemic regions such as western Kenya. Carriage of different sickle cell genotypes may influence haematological parameter during malaria. Children resident in malaria holoendemic regions suffer more from malaria-related complications and this is moderated by the presence of the SCD. In the current study, we determined the association between sickle cell genotypes and haematological parameters in children with P. falciparum malaria resident in Kisumu County in Western Kenya.Methodology: Children (n=217, aged 1-192 months) with acute febrile condition were recruited at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital. Chi-square (2) analysis was used to determine differences between proportions. Differences in haematological parameters were compared across groups using Kruskal Wallis test and between groups using Mann Whitney U test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for infection status was used to determine the association between sickle cell genotypes and haematological parameters. Results: Using HbAA as the reference group, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that carriage of HbSS was associated with reduced haemoglobin [OR=0.310, 95% CI=0.101-0.956, P=0.041], reduced haematocrit [OR=0.318, 95% CI=0.128-0.793, P=0.014], reduced RBC count [OR=0.124, 95% CI=0.045-0.337, P=0.001], reduced MCHC [OR=0.325, 95% CI=0.118-0.892, P=0.029], increased leucocytosis [OR=9.283, 95% CI=3.167-27.210, P=0.001] and reduced monocytosis [OR=0.319, 95% CI=0.123-0.830, P=0.019]. However, carriage of HbAS was only associated with increased micro-platelets [OR=3.629, 95% CI=1.291-8.276, P=0.012]. Conclusion: Results show that carriage of HbSS in children influence the levels of haemoglobin, haematocrit, RBC, MCHC, WBC and Monocytes. Therefore prior knowledge of HbSS should be considered to improve clinical management of haematological alterations during malaria in children.
High-grade Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma With BCOR Gene Alterations is Recommended as an Independent Subtype of Endometrial Carcinoma: A Case Report
Authors: LING Feng , Ruan Sibei , Li Na , Xiong XiaoMing , Zhao DongMei , Zhang Cuiwei 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background:The uterine leiomyosarcoma combined high-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (HGESS) with BCOR gene alterations is exceedingly rare. The subtype of YWHAE-FAM22 HGESS is shown in the current World Health Organization classification, but not HGESS with BCOR alterations. Case presentation: We reported such a case in which HGESS with BCOR gene alterations and leiomyosarcoma coexist in a patient. And, most impressively, HGESS with BCOR gene alterations caused ovarian and pelvic metastases, although its volume was less than 1% of leiomyosarcoma.Conclusions: Given the more aggressive of HGESS with BCOR gene alterations, we suggest that it is classified as an independent subtype of HGESS, and when it coexists with other types of tumors, the HGESS with BCOR gene alterations needs to be noted in the pathological report even if it accounts for less than 1% of the tumour mass.
Genome sequence analysis of Bacillus subtilis PTA-271 isolated from a Vitis vinifera (cv. Chardonnay) rhizospheric soil: an highlight on some of its biocontrol traits
Authors: LEAL Catarina , Fontaine Florence , Aziz Aziz , Egas Conceiçao , Clement Christophe , Trotel-Aziz Patricia 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: Bacillus subtilis strains have been widely studied for their innumerous benefits in agriculture, including viticulture. Providing numerous assets, B. subtilis spp. are widely described as promising grapevine-protectors against a broad spectrum of pathogens, ranging from biotroph to necrotroph. B. subtilis spp. may both elicit host defenses and promote host vigor, but may also directly antagonize pathogens and detoxify their aggressive molecules. This study reports the draft genome sequence of the Bacillus subtilis PTA-271, isolated from the rhizospheric soil of healthy Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay at Champagne Region in France, attempting to draw outlines of its full biocontrol capacity. Results: The PTA-271 genome has a size of 4,001,755 bp, with 43.78% of G + C content and 3,945 protein coding genes. The draft genome of PTA-271 highlights (1) a functional swarming motility system hypothesizing a colonizing capacity and a strong interacting capacity, (2) strong survival capacities and (3) a set of genes encoding for bioactive substances. Bioactive compounds are known both (i) to stimulate plant growth or defenses such as hormones and elicitors, and (ii) to counteract pathogen aggressiveness such as effectors and many kinds of detoxifying enzymes.Conclusions: The plurality of the encoded biomolecules by Bacillus subtilis PTA-271 genome appears as strengths for PTA-271 biocontrol potential towards plants, offering a big potential against a broad spectrum of pathogens, especially those responsible for the complex grapevine trunk diseases.
Risk Factors and Comorbidities Associated With Magnesium Deficiency in Pregnant Women and Women With Hormone-related Conditions: Analysis of a Large Real-world Dataset
Authors: Orlova Svetlana , Dikke Galina , Pickering Gisele , Yaltseva Natalya , Konchits Sofya , Starostin Kirill , Bevz Alina 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Purpose
An accumulating body of literature indicates that magnesium deficiency is associated with a number of hormone-related conditions (HRC) in women, and epidemiological studies are needed to assess its prevalence and risk factors. Here, we present a secondary analysis of data pooled from four large observational studies that assessed magnesium deficiency among pregnant women and women with HRC across the Russian Federation.
Methods
The main objective of this analysis was to estimate the prevalence of magnesium deficiency in this population and to describe risk factors and comorbidities associated with low serum magnesium. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors and comorbid conditions associated with an increased risk of low serum magnesium level.
Results
A total of 983 pregnant women and 9444 women with HRC were eligible for analysis. Prevalence of hypomagnesemia (magnesium serum level cut-off < 0.66 mmol/L/<0.8 mmol/L) was 34.0%/78.9% in pregnant women and 21.4%/54.8% in women with HRC. The highest prevalence of magnesium deficiency was observed for osteoporosis and climacteric syndrome. Risk factors included diastolic blood pressure, previous pregnancy complications, infections and edema for pregnant women, and age, body mass index, and various comorbidities for women with HRC.
Conclusions
These results confirm the importance of magnesium in various aspects of women’s health and support the use of magnesium supplementation in populations at risk.
QiShenYiQi Pill Improves Myocardial Hypertrophy Caused by Pressure Overload in Rats
Authors: Lv Shichao , Wang Qiang , Wu Meifang , Li Meng , Wang Xiaojing , Xu Ling , Zhang Junping 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: QiShenYiQi pill (QSYQ), a traditional Chinese medicine, is widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, but its specific mechanism of action is still unclear. In the current study, we investigated the effect of QSYQ on myocardial hypertrophy in rats by partial abdominal aortic coarctation, and explored its mechanism of action.Methods: Wistar rats underwent the partial abdominal aortic coarctation were randomized into three groups: model, valsartan and QSYQ groups. And we treated rats which were sham operation as control group. Rats were euthanized at 4 and 8 weeks, and we weighed rat body mass, heart mass, and left ventricular mass. Myocardium sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson trichrome. Myocardial TGF- beta 1 and CTGF protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry, and myocardial TGF-b1 and CTGF mRNA expression was detected by real-time qPCR. Results: QSYQ reduced HMI, LVMI and CVF, improved the changes of myocardial pathology, and reduced the degree of myocardial hypertrophy. After 4 weeks, QSYQ inhibited the mRNA and protein expression of TGF- beta 1 and CTGF. In addition, after 8 weeks, QSYQ reduced the positive area of TGF- beta 1 protein, and its effect is better than that of valsartan. Conclusions: QSYQ can effectively improve the degree of myocardial hypertrophy in the pressure overload rats, which is related to the mechanism of regulation of TGF- beta 1 and CTGF.
Characteristics and Mortality of Older Adults Presenting to the Emergency Department With Generalized Weakness
Authors: Borodin Oksana , Cialic Ron , Halperin Pinchas , Lerman Yaffa 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background

Worldwide aging of the population leads to an increased number of older, more complicated patients attending emergency departments (ED). Presenting symptoms of various conditions can be vague in this population, leading to delayed and potentially missed diagnoses. In the current study, we sought to characterize the demographics, final diagnoses, and outcomes of older patients who are referred to the ED for generalized weakness.
METHODS

We conducted a retrospective observational study in an urban tertiary hospital ED. Participants were patients aged 65 years or older who were referred to a geriatric evaluation in the ED. A total of 2,226 patients met study eligibility criteria and were enrolled between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2013. Data on physical characteristics, discharge diagnoses, and vital status were obtained from an electronic medical database and the Ministry of the Interior.
RESULTS

There was no significant difference between the “weakness” and “non-weakness” groups for patients who were discharged from the ED. For admitted patients, statistically significant differences (although of no clinical significance) were noted for white blood cells (WBC) and sodium levels. Both statistically and clinically significant differences were observed for functional level. The main discharge diagnosis for admitted patients was an infection (24%), followed by "nonspecific diagnoses" (22%). Social issues as the main diagnosis were attributed to < 1% of the patients. Patients who were hospitalized for weakness were less likely to survive during the following year compared with patients hospitalized for non-weakness, but that was not the case for patients who were not admitted.
CONCLUSIONS

Patients admitted due to weakness were significantly more dependent on others for carrying out their daily activities. They were also more likely to die during and following hospitalization. Most of them were diagnosed during the hospitalization as having a specific medical condition.
PHISDetector: a tool to detect diverse in silico phage-host interaction signals for virome studies
Authors: Zhou Fengxia , Gan Rui , Zhang Fan , Ren Chunyan , Yu Ling , Si Yu , Huang Zhiwei 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: Phage-host interaction is one of the essential questions in microbial environments. These interactions not only are appealing systems to study coevolution but also have been increasingly emphasized due to their roles in human health, diseases, and novel therapeutic development. Meanwhile, molecular and ecological co-evolutionary processes of phages and microbe leave signals in their genomic sequences, defined as phage-host interaction signals (PHISs) in this study, which allow us to predict microbe-phage interactions in silico . Results: We developed PHISDetector, which utilizes sophisticated bioinformatics methods to detect comprehensive in silico PHISs, including sequence composition, CRISPR targeting, prophage, and protein-protein interaction signals, further systematically integrates various categories of PHISs, and carries out machine-learning modeling to predict phage-host interactions. PHISDetector captures phage-host associations in a data-driven manner and reflects various phage-microbe interaction patterns or mechanisms so that users can easily compare the results from different approaches to better understand phage-microbe coevolution. We present it as a software pipeline for phage-host interaction identification, annotation and analysis in a comprehensive and user-friendly manner. PHISDetector can be run either as a web-server (http://www.microbiome-bigdata.com/PHISDetector/) or as a stand-alone version especially designed for virome studies.Conclusions: PHISDetector is a unique tool capable of incorporating all five categories of PHISs for comprehensive prediction of global phage-host interactions. PHISDetector outperforms currently available tools which are limited by accuracy, effective detection range, types of interacting signals, and the capability to apply for high-throughput virome studies.
Radiomics analysis of magnetic resonance imaging helps to identify preclinical Alzheimer’s disease: an exploratory study
Authors: Li Tao-Ran , Wu Yue , Jiang Juan-Juan , Jiang Jie-Hui , Han Ying 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the preclinical stage offers opportunities to early intervention, however, there is a lack of convenient biomarkers currently. By using the methods of radiomics analysis, we aimed to determine whether the features extracted from multi-parameter magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used as potential biomarkers. Methods: This study is part of the SILCODE project (NCT03370744). All participants were cognitively healthy at baseline. The cohort 1 (n=183) was divided into individuals with preclinical AD (n=78) and controls (n=105) by amyloid-positron emission tomography, used as the training dataset (80%) and validation dataset (the rest 20%); cohort 2 (n=51) was divided into “converters” and “non-converters” by individuals’ future cognitive status, used as a separate test dataset; cohort 3 included 37 “converters” (13 from ADNI), was used as another test set for independent longitudinal researches. We extracted radiomics features from multi-parameter MRI of each participant, used t-tests, autocorrelation tests, and three independent selection algorithms, respectively, to select features. Then we established two classification models (support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF)) to verify the efficiency of retained features. Five-fold cross-validation and 100 repetitions were carried out for the above process. Furthermore, the acquired stable high-frequency features were tested in cohort 3 by paired two-sample t-tests and survival analyses, in order to identify whether their levels change with cognitive decline and impact conversion time. Results: The SVM and RF models both showed excellent classification efficiency, with the average accuracy of 89.65%-95.90% and 87.07%-90.81% respectively in the validation set, 81.86%-89.10% and 83.19%-83.68% respectively in the test set. Three stable high-frequency features were identified, namely Large zone high-gray-level emphasis feature of right posterior cingulate gyrus, Variance feature of left superior parietal gyrus and Coarseness feature of left posterior cingulate gyrus, all based on structural MRI modality; their levels were correlated with amyloid-β deposition, played good roles in predicting future cognitive decline (AUCs 64.9%-76.1%). In addition, levels of the Variance feature at baseline timepoint decreased with cognitive decline, and can affect the conversion time (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this exploratory study, we show radiomics features of multi-parameter MRI can be potential biomarkers of preclinical AD.
Modelling the SARS-CoVid-2 outbreak in Italy: development of a robust statistical index to track disease dynamics.
Authors: Bizzarri Mariano , Traglia Mario Di , Giuliani Alessandro , Vestri Annarita , Fedeli Valeria , Prestininzi Alberto 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy had a spatial distribution that made the tracking of its time course quite difficult. The most relevant anomaly was the marked spatial heterogeneity of pandemics. Lombardia region accounted for around 60% of fatal cases (while hosting 15% of Italian population); moreover, 86% of fatalities concentrated in four Northern Italy regions. The ‘explosive’ outbreak of COVID-19 in Lombardia at the very beginning of pandemic fatally biased the R-like statistics routinely used to control the disease dynamics. To (at least partially) overcome this bias, we propose a new index RI= dH/dI (daily derivative ratio of H and I, given H=Healed and I=Infected), corresponding to the ratio between healed and infected patients relative daily changes. The proposed index is less affected than R by the uncertainty related to the estimated number of infected persons and allows to follow (and possibly forecast) epidemic dynamics in a largely model-independent way. To analyze the dynamics of the epidemic, starting from the beginning of the virus spreading - when data are insufficient to make an estimate by adopting a SIR model - a "sigmoidal family" model was introduced. That approach allowed in estimating the epidemic peak using the few data gathered even before mid-March. Based on this analysis, the peak had been expected to occur by end of April. Later on, real data of the epidemic evolution have demonstrated to fit with the predicted values.The methodology of analysis of the dynamics of the epidemic we are proposing herein aims to forecast the time and intensity of the epidemic peak (forward prediction), while allowing identifying the (more likely) beginning of the epidemic (backward prediction). Finally, we established a relationship between hospitalization in intensive care units (ICU) versus deaths daily rates by avoiding the necessity to rely on precise estimates of the infected fraction of the population (the most difficult, uncertain and expensive data that can confidently be acquired, especially in presence of an elevated number of asymptomatic patients). The joint evolution of the above parameters over time allows for a trustworthy and unbiased estimation of the dynamics of the epidemics.
Multiple Arterial Conduits for Multi-Vessel Coronary Artery Bypass Graft in Patients with Mild to Moderate Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction: A Multicenter Retrospective Study
Authors: Zhang Hang , Chen Wen , Zhao Yang , Guan Lichun , Yu Min , Wang Rui , Chen Xin 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: Advantages of multiple arterial conduits for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) have been reported previously. We aimed to evaluate the mid-term outcomes of multiple arterial CABG (MABG) among patients with mild to moderate left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD).Methods: This multicenter study using propensity score matching (PSM) took place from January 2013 to June 2019 in Jiangsu Province and Shanghai, China, with a mean and maximum follow-up of 3.3 and 6.8 years, respectively. We included patients with LVSD, underwent primary, isolated multi-vessel CABG with left internal thoracic artery (LITA). The in-hospital and mid-term outcomes of MABG versus traditional LITA supplemented by saphenous vein grafts [single arterial CABG (SABG)] were compared. The primary endpoints were death from all causes and death from cardiovascular causes. The secondary endpoints were stroke, myocardial infarction (MI) and repeat revascularization, and a composite of all mentioned outcomes, including death from all causes [major adverse events (MAEs)]. Sternal wound infection was included with 6 months of follow-up after surgery.Results: 243 and 676 patients were formed in the MABG and SABG after PSM in a 1:3 ratio. Compared with SABG, MABG was associated with lower rate of MAEs (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.44-0.94; P=0.02), MI (HR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.16-0.99; P=0.05) and repeat revascularization (HR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.18-0.97; P=0.03). There was no difference in the rate of death, stroke, and sternal wound infection.Conclusions: In patients with mild to moderate LVSD, MABG was associated with reduced mid-term rate of MAEs and cardiovascular events, but without reduced rate of death and stroke. MABG did not increase sternal wound infection rate.
Aspergillus Flavus as a Surprise CNS Space Occupying Lesion in an Immunocompetent Pediatric Patient
Authors: Sajid Mir Ibrahim , Malik Noor , Balouch Samira Shabbir , Bari Ehsan 
Published: July 2020

Abstract
Background: Fungal infections of the CNS are almost always a clinical surprise. Aspergillus species although ubiquitous are more frequently observed in immuno-compromised individuals, upon inhalation of conidia. Most of the fungal infections which happen in humans are opportunistic- in an immunocompromised host. However, we report the case of CNS fungal infection in a healthy child, without any co-morbidities, trauma, or medico-surgical intervention- which could have been the nidus of infection. Case Presentation: We present the case of a 14 year old boy who presented to our institute’s emergency department with primary concern of right sided body hemiparesis since twenty-four hours. This was a rapid-onset condition which was associated with gait disturbances and multiple episodes of vomiting. An MRI of the head showed encapsulated Space Occupying Lesion in the left frontal lobe with surrounding edema. The patient was planned for craniotomy to remove the intracerebral abscess. Histopathology report revealed presence of chronic granulomatous inflammation with necrosis and numerous septate hyphae. A fungus culture was run which confirmed presence of heavy colonies of Aspergillus Flavus. Post-operatively the patient was kept on Voricoazole and anti-inflammatory medications. Conclusion: Fungal infections of the central nervous system are almost always a clinical surprise, and have subtle presentation. Any suspected lesion once removed should be sent for biopsy to rule out the presence of any fungal infection.