bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Retropharyngeal Internal Carotid Artery Management in TORS Using Microvascular Reconstruction
Authors: Parhar Harman S. , Brody Robert M. , Shimunov David , Rajasekaran Karthik , Rassekh Christopher H. , Basu Devraj , O'Malley Bert W. , Chalian Ara A. , Newman Jason G. , Loevner Laurie , Lazor Jillian W. , Weinstein Gregory S. , Cannady Steven B. 
Published: July 2020

ObjectivesGuidelines for transoral robotic surgery (TORS) have generally regarded patients with retropharyngeal carotid arteries as contraindicated for surgery due to a theoretical risk of intraoperative vascular injury and/or perioperative cerebrovascular accident. We aimed to demonstrate that careful TORS‐assisted resection and free flap coverage could not only avoid intraoperative injury and provide a physical barrier for vessel coverage but also achieve adequate margin control.Study Design: Retrospective cohort analysis.MethodsRetrospective review of patients with oropharyngeal malignancies and radiologically confirmed retropharyngeal carotid arteries who underwent TORS, concurrent neck dissection, and free flap reconstruction between 2015 and 2019.ResultsTwenty patients were included, 19 (95.0%) with tonsillar tumors and one (5.0%) with a tongue base tumor with significant tonsillar extension. Eighteen patients (90.0%) received a radial artery forearm flap, one (5.0%) an ulnar artery forearm flap, and one (5.0%) an anteromedial thigh flap. All 20 (100%) flaps were inset through combined transcervical and transoral approaches without mandibulotomy. There were no perioperative mortalities, carotid injuries, oropharyngeal bleeds, cervical hematomas, or cerebrovascular accidents. One patient (5.0%) had a free flap failure requiring explant. All patients underwent decannulation and resumed a full oral diet. The mean length of hospitalization was 6.8 (standard deviation 1.2) days. One (5.0%) patient had a positive margin.ConclusionIn this analysis, 20 patients with oropharyngeal malignancy and retropharyngeal carotid arteries underwent TORS, neck dissection, and microvascular reconstruction without serious complication (perioperative mortality, vascular injury, or neurologic sequalae) with an acceptable negative margin rate. These results may lead to a reconsideration of a commonly held contraindication to TORS.Level of Evidence3 Laryngoscope, 131:E821–E827, 2021
Peripheral Vestibular Disorders: Nationwide Evidence From Taiwan
Authors: Yang Tzong‐Hann , Xirasagar Sudha , Cheng Yen‐Fu , Wu Chuan‐Song , Kuo Nai‐Wen , Lin Herng‐Ching 
Published: July 2020

Objectives/HypothesisThis study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of peripheral vestibular disorders in an Asian population of predominantly Han Chinese ethnicity.Study DesignCross‐sectional study.MethodsPatients with a peripheral vertigo disorder were identified from the Taiwan Health Insurance Research Database, a database of all medical claims of a randomly selected, population‐representative sample of 2 million enrollees of Taiwan's National Health Insurance system covering over 99% of Taiwan's citizens. In 2016, 59,986 patients received a diagnosis of peripheral vestibular disorders in Taiwan. We calculated the population‐wide prevalence rates of peripheral vestibular disorders in 2016 by sex and age group (20 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34, 35 to 39, 40 to 44, 45 to 49, 50 to 54, 55 to 59, 60 to 64, 65 to 69, and ≥ 70 years) stratified into five urbanization levels.ResultsThe prevalence rate of peripheral vestibular disorders was 2,833.4 per 100,000 population during the year. Prevalence of Meniere's disease was 70.4 per 100,000, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, 446.4, vestibular neuritis 307.2, and other or unspecified peripheral vestibular dizziness, 2,009.5 per 100,000. Prevalence rates steadily increased with age for every type of peripheral vestibular disorder, and were higher among females compared to males. The female‐to‐male gender ratios were 1.84, 1.89, and 1.93 for Meniere's disease, vestibular neuritis, and other peripheral vestibular dizziness, respectively. Counties with the lowest urbanization level had the highest prevalence rates of all types of peripheral vestibular disorders except vestibular neuritis.ConclusionsResults showed that peripheral vestibular disorders are common in Taiwan, increase with age, are predominantly female, and show higher prevalence in rural areas.Level of Evidence2b Laryngoscope, 131:639–643, 2021
Composition and diversity of prokaryotes at an iron ore post‐mining site revealed the natural resilience 10 years after mining exploitation
Authors: Cardoso Emanuelle Burgos , Júnior Paulo Prates , de Cássia Soares da Silva Marliane , Cerqueira Alan Emanuel Silva , Jordão Thuany Cerqueira , Moreira Bruno Coutinho , Pereira Eduardo Gusmão , Kasuya Maria Catarina Megumi 
Published: July 2020

AbstractProkaryotes play crucial roles in the rehabilitation process to restore the ecological integrity of disturbed areas. This work reports on the profiles of N‐fixing microorganisms and Actinobacteria, from DGGE, the prokaryotic composition from next‐generation sequencing (NGS) and physicochemical soil characteristics. We compared a deactivated mining site where mining ended about 10 years ago, when the revegetation process was begun (RV), and a reference site, with natural vegetation (NT), both located at Retiro das Almas Mine, in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero region, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In both sites, the most abundant archaeal and bacterial groups included Euryarchaeota, Thaumarchaeota, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia and revealed differences in their ecological metrics and distribution. Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were most abundant in RV sites, while Acidobacteria and Verrucomicrobia were most abundant in NT sites. Less abundant phyla, such as Bathyarchaeota (Archaea) and GAL 15 (Bacteria) were found only in NT, while Gracilibacteria, Ignavibacteriae BJ‐169, and BRC1 were only found in RV. The majority of identified bacterial genera were shared by RV and NT. Soil P, pH, and particle density were most significant (p < 0.05) in RV, while Fe, Ca, organic matter, potential acidity and dispersed clays, were most significant (p < 0.05) in NT, showing differences in soil characteristics, which led the prokaryotic composition in these sites. DGGE profiles of N‐fixing microorganisms revealed N‐fixing predominance in both sites, although after 10 years prokaryotes diversity increased in RV site. Our results revealed that prokaryotic structure and composition are indicative of RV soil resilience.
Salt‐tolerant broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) resists salt stress via modulation of cell wall biosynthesis and Na+ balance
Authors: Yuan Yu Hao , Li Jing , Ma Hong Chi , Yang Qing Hua , Liu Chun Juan , Feng Bai Li 
Published: July 2020

AbstractSoil salinization threatens sustainable agricultural production and ecological balance in many parts of the world. Therefore, to breed plants with salt tolerance and discover the resistance genes are essential for enhancing salt tolerance adaptation. We studied phenotypic, physiological characteristics, and digital RNA sequencing of two broomcorn millet cultivars (salt tolerant cultivar, ST 47; salt sensitive cultivar, SS 212), stressed by 1% NaCl (w/w; ~170 mM) for 0, 12 hr, 1, 3, 7 days and subsequent re‐watering 7 days (RW 7 days). By comparative phenotype and physiology analysis we suggest ST 47 showed greater salt tolerance and faster recovery after re‐watering than SS 212, and lower Na+ contents and higher K+/Na+ ratio. Digital RNA sequencing analysis suggested 6,878 and 1,940 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in ST 47 at 12 hr (vs. 0 hr) and RW 7 days (vs. 0 hr), respectively, whereas 7,246 and 5,375 DEGs were identified in SS 212. DEG functional enrichments suggested ST 47 exhibited better regulation of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, carbon metabolism, and auxin and gibberellin signal transduction in response to salt stress via enhancing the cell wall biosynthesis. Furthermore, ionic stress signaling analysis proposed ST 47 better regulation of Na+ distribution in response to salt stress. These results provide valuable information for improving salinity tolerance in plants and studying the function of candidate genes governing salt tolerance in broomcorn millet.
Infrared spectroscopy approaches support soil organic carbon estimations to evaluate land degradation
Authors: Barthès Bernard G. , Chotte Jean‐Luc 
Published: July 2020

AbstractSoil organic carbon (SOC) is an acknowledged indicator for land degradation, but conventional determination of SOC remains tedious, especially regarding SOC stock (in kg C m−2 for a given depth layer), which is the product of SOC concentration (g C kg−1) by volumetric mass (kg dm−3). Diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIS) is a time‐ and cost‐effective approach, which uses calibrations for making predictions. The aim of this paper is to propose an overview of DRIS uses for estimating SOC, thus land degradation. Indeed, many papers have demonstrated the precision of DRIS for quantifying SOC concentration, at different scales. Current development of large soil calibration databases and improvements in spectral data analysis pave the way for ever‐wider use of DRIS, which should help solving the soil data crisis, regarding SOC especially. The increasing availability of portable spectrometers allows SOC quantification in the field, which seems particularly promising; but large calibration databases made of soil spectra acquired in the field are difficult to build, while large collections of analyzed soil samples (air‐dried, 2‐mm sieved) already exist. Some recent studies indicate that DRIS can also be used for predicting SOC stock, even from sieved samples, which represents an efficient option because determining the volumetric mass is particularly tedious and an obstacle for exactly specifying the role of soils in the global carbon cycle. In short, DRIS has strong potential for supporting better evaluation of soil and land degradation, and the availability of spectrometers at increasingly affordable prices reinforces this potential.
A Multi‐Site, Single‐Blinded, Prospective Pilot Clinical Trial for Non‐Invasive Fat Reduction of the Abdomen and Flanks Using a Monopolar 2 MHz Radiofrequency Device
Authors: Somenek Michael T. , Ronan Stephen J. , Pittman Troy A. 
Published: July 2020

Background and ObjectivesDemand for non‐invasive body sculpting procedures has been steadily increasing, spurring the development of new energy‐based technologies. This study assessed the safety and efficacy of a new monopolar 2 MHz radiofrequency (RF) device for fat reduction of the flanks and abdomen.Study Design/Materials and MethodsNineteen subjects from two clinical sites were enrolled in this study and received a single 15‐minute treatment with the 2 MHz RF device. Up to six applicators were placed on the abdomen and/or flanks during the treatment. Follow‐up assessments were scheduled 12 weeks after treatment. Efficacy evaluations included live ratings and Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) ratings by blinded investigators, ultrasound measurements of fat thickness, and patient‐reported outcomes before and after treatment.ResultsInvestigator assessments showed more than one‐point change in the GAIS scale at the 12‐week follow‐up visit. Ultrasound measurements revealed a significant reduction in fat thickness in both the abdomen (average 24%) and the flanks (22%). The majority of the patients were satisfied with the treatment and mild self‐resolving side effects were observed. No serious adverse events were reported.ConclusionsTreatment of local adiposities with a new monopolar 2 MHz radiofrequency device leads to improvement of body contour with no downtime or side effects. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC
Crescent‐Shaped Hyperpigmentation Following Laser Hair Removal: Case Series of Fifteen Patients
Authors: Alajlan Abdulmajeed 
Published: July 2020

Background and ObjectivesPost‐inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) is a common adverse effect of laser hair removal procedures. This case series emphasizes the under‐reported crescent‐shaped form of PIH that may occur following laser therapy. This case series sought to assess the potential causes of the distinct, crescent‐shaped form of PIH that may arise following laser hair removal procedures, and to examine the concept of thermal versus cryogenic damage, which was discovered accidentally due misalignments between laser–cryogen spurts.Study Design/Materials and MethodsA retrospective, multicentre case recruitment was undertaken, involving three laser centers and presented in the form of a case series. The included patients were individuals with crescent‐shaped PIH following laser hair removal.ResultsFifteen patients were recruited over 12 months. All patients were treated with the GentleLase system (Candella) with built‐in cryogen spurt. Prior to the study, only one patient had suffered from PIH following laser hair removal. Most patients improved partially or completely both with and without the use of bleaching compounds. After testing one machine, it was found that the cryogen spurt was misaligned. It was not located in the circle of the laser beam, thereby leaving a crescent shape of uncooled but laser‐treated skin. A trial on one patient with cryogen alone did not cause PIH, whereas a trial with the laser alone caused PIH.ConclusionThe appearance of crescent‐shaped marks following PIH is a distinct and uncommon adverse effect associated with laser hair removal procedures. This case series suggests that it arises due to the malfunctioning of the built‐in cryogen spurt device, leading to a deficit in cooling a portion of the treated skin, urging checking the built‐in cryogen spurt device. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, LLC
In Vivo Molecular Signatures of Cerebellar Pathology in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3
Authors: Costa Maria do Carmo , Radzwion Maria , McLoughlin Hayley S. , Ashraf Naila S. , Fischer Svetlana , Shakkottai Vikram G. , Maciel Patrícia , Paulson Henry L. , Öz Gülin 
Published: July 2020

AbstractBackgroundNo treatment exists for the most common dominantly inherited ataxia Machado‐Joseph disease, or spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3). Successful evaluation of candidate therapeutics will be facilitated by validated noninvasive biomarkers of disease pathology recapitulated by animal models.ObjectiveWe sought to identify shared in vivo neurochemical signatures in two mouse models of SCA3 that reflect the human disease pathology.MethodsCerebellar neurochemical concentrations in homozygous YACMJD84.2 (Q84/Q84) and hemizygous CMVMJD135 (Q135) mice were measured by in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 9.4 tesla. To validate the neurochemical biomarkers, levels of neurofilament medium (NFL; indicator of neuroaxonal integrity) and myelin basic protein (MBP; indicator of myelination) were measured in cerebellar lysates from a subset of mice and patients with SCA3. Finally, NFL and MBP levels were measured in the cerebellar extracts of Q84/Q84 mice upon silencing of the mutant ATXN3 gene.ResultsBoth Q84/Q84 and Q135 mice displayed lower N‐acetylaspartate than wild‐type littermates, indicating neuroaxonal loss/dysfunction, and lower myo‐inositol and total choline, indicating disturbances in phospholipid membrane metabolism and demyelination. Cerebellar NFL and MBP levels were accordingly lower in both models as well as in the cerebellar cortex of patients with SCA3 than controls. Importantly, N‐acetylaspartate and total choline correlated with NFL and MPB, respectively, in Q135 mice. Long‐term sustained RNA interference (RNAi)‐mediated reduction of ATXN3 levels increased NFL and MBP in Q84/Q84 cerebella.ConclusionsN‐acetylaspartate, myo‐inositol, and total choline levels in the cerebellum are candidate biomarkers of neuroaxonal and oligodendrocyte pathology in SCA3, aspects of pathology that are reversible by RNAi therapy. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Dilated conditional GAN for bone suppression in chest radiographs with enforced semantic features
Authors: Zhou Zhizhen , Zhou Luping , Shen Kaikai 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this essay is to improve computer‐aided diagnosis of lung diseases by the removal of bone structures imagery such as ribs and clavicles, which may shadow a clinical view of lesions. This paper aims to develop an algorithm to suppress the imaging of bone structures within clinical x‐ray images, leaving a residual portrayal of lung tissue; such that these images can be used to better serve applications, such as lung nodule detection or pathology based on the radiological reading of chest x rays.MethodsWe propose a conditional Adversarial Generative Network (cGAN) (Mirza and Osindero, Conditional generative adversarial nets, 2014.) model, consisting of a generator and a discriminator, for the task of bone shadow suppression. The proposed model utilizes convolutional operations to expand the size of the receptive field of the generator without losing contextual information while downsampling the image. It is trained by enforcing both the pixel‐wise intensity similarity and the semantic‐level visual similarity between the generated x‐ray images and the ground truth, via optimizing an L‐1 loss of the pixel intensity values on the generator side and a feature matching loss on the discriminator side, respectively.ResultsThe framework we propose is trained and tested on an open‐access chest radiograph dataset for benchmark. Results show that our model is capable of generating bone‐suppressed images of outstanding quality with a limited number of training samples (N = 272).ConclusionsOur approach outperforms current state‐of‐the‐art bone suppression methods using x‐ray images. Instead of simply downsampling images at different scales, our proposed method mitigates the loss of contextual information by utilizing dilated convolutions, which gains a noticeable quality improvement for the outputs. On the other hand, our experiment shows that enforcing the semantic similarity between the generated and the ground truth images assists the adversarial training process and achieves better perceptual quality.
An optimized and highly repeatable MRI acquisition and processing pipeline for quantitative susceptibility mapping in the head‐and‐neck region
Authors: Karsa Anita , Punwani Shonit , Shmueli Karin 
Published: July 2020

PurposeQuantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) is an emerging technique sensitive to disease‐related changes including oxygenation. It is extensively used in brain studies and has increasing clinical applications outside the brain. Here we present the first MRI acquisition protocol and QSM pipeline optimized for the head‐and‐neck region together with a repeatability analysis performed in healthy volunteers.MethodsWe investigated both the intrasession and the intersession repeatability of the optimized method in 10 subjects. We also implemented two, Tikhonov‐regularisation‐based susceptibility calculation techniques that were found to have higher contrast‐to‐noise than existing methods in the head‐and‐neck region. Repeatability was evaluated by calculating the distributions of susceptibility differences between repeated scans and the corresponding minimum detectable effect sizes (MDEs).ResultsDeep brain regions had higher QSM repeatability than neck regions. As expected, intrasession repeatability was generally better than intersession repeatability. Susceptibility maps calculated using projection onto dipole fields for background field removal were more repeatable than using the Laplacian boundary value method in the head‐and‐neck region. Small (short‐axis diameter <5 mm) lymph nodes had the lowest repeatability (MDE = 0.27 ppm) as imperfect segmentation included some of the surrounding paramagnetic fatty fascia, highlighting the importance of accurate region delineation. MDEs in the larger lymph nodes (0.16 ppm), submandibular glands (0.10 ppm), and especially the parotid glands (0.06 ppm) were much lower, comparable to those of the brain regions.ConclusionsThe high repeatability of the acquisition and pipeline optimized for QSM will facilitate clinical studies in the head‐and‐neck region.
Built‐in software in children on long‐term ventilation in real life practice
Authors: Onofri Alessandro , Pavone Martino , De Santis Simone , Verrillo Elisabetta , Caggiano Serena , Ullmann Nicola , Paglietti Maria Giovanna , Chiarini Testa Beatrice , Cutrera Renato 
Published: July 2020

AbstractInformation gathered with built‐in software (BIS) on new ventilators allow clinicians to access long‐term noninvasive ventilation (LTNIV) data. Nevertheless, few evidence are available in literature that highlight potential strengths and disadvantages of using BIS in pediatrics. We aim to evaluate the use of BIS in a cohort of 90 children on LTNIV in our unit, focusing mainly on adherence, air leaks, and residual sleep events. We found that caregivers' perception of ventilator use is independent from objective adherence (P = .137). Furthermore, we failed to find any predictors of adherence. As regards air leaks, we found that pre‐scholars' (0‐6 years old) total air leaks are lower than teenagers' (more than 12 years old) (P < .05). Multiple regressive analysis showed that age at the beginning of therapy is a predictor of total air leaks: prescholars are associated with lower values (P < .05), while scholars (6‐12 years old) are associated with higher values (P < .05). Finally, we explored the validity of BIS automatic scoring of sleep events (AHIBIS) as compared with the manual scoring of polygraphy (AHIPG). AHIBIS is within a range of 3.98 from AHIPG in 95% of cases, with a 64% of sensitivity and a 67% of specificity in identifying a pathological state. The disagreement between the two methods seems to increase for high AHI values. In conclusion, data gathered by BIS are a useful support tool for the clinician in assessing the course of LTNIV. However, clinicians must be aware of the several limitations of built‐in software, especially in pediatrics.
Electronic adherence monitoring identifies severe preschool wheezers who are steroid responsive
Authors: Bingham Yvonne , Sanghani Nina , Cook James , Hall Pippa , Jamalzadeh Angela , Moore‐Crouch Rachael , Bush Andrew , Fleming Louise , Saglani Sejal 
Published: July 2020

AbstractLittle is known about adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in preschool children with troublesome wheeze. Children with aeroallergen senitization, or those reporting multiple trigger wheeze (MTW), are more likely to respond to ICS. We hypothesized that adherence to ICS and symptom control are only positively related in atopic children, or those reporting MTW. Patients aged 1 to 5 years with recurrent wheeze prescribed ICS were recruited from a tertiary respiratory clinic. Clinical phenotype and aeroallergen senitization were determined, and adherence assessed using an electronic monitoring device (Smartinhaler). Symptom control (test for respiratory and asthma control in kids [TRACK]), quality of life (PACQLQ), airway inflammation (offline exhaled nitric oxide) were assessed at baseline and follow‐up. Forty‐eight children (mean age 3.7 years; SD, 1.2) were monitored for a median of 112 (interquartile range [IQR], 91‐126) days. At baseline n = 29 reported episodic viral wheeze and n = 19 reported MTW. Twenty‐four out of 48 (50%) wheezers had suboptimal ICS adherence (<80%). Median adherence was 64% (IQR, 38‐84). There was a significant increase in TRACK and PACQLQ in the group as a whole, unrelated to adherence. In subgroup analysis only atopic wheezers with moderate or good adherence ≥ 60% had a significant increase in TRACK. There was no relationship between clinical phenotype, and adherence or TRACK. In this pilot study, overall adherence to ICS was suboptimal and was positively related to symptom control in atopic wheezers only. Assessments of adherence are important in preschool troublesome wheezers before therapy escalation to help identify those with an ICS responsive phenotype.