bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The use of a participatory patient engagement research project to meaningfully engage those with lived experience of diabetes and homelessness
Authors: Campbell David J.T. , Campbell Rachel B. , DiGiandomenico Anna , Larsen Matthew , Davidson Marleane A. , McBrien Kerry A. , Booth Gillian L. , Hwang Stephen W. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIntroductionParticipatory research is a study method that engages patient partners in research programs from study design through to completion. It has seldom been used in diabetes health services research. Our objectives were to describe the process and challenges of conducting a patient-engagement project and to highlight the experiences of patient participants and academic researchers.Research Design & MethodsWe recruited PWLEH and diabetes in Toronto, Canada to be patient partners. Group members were asked to commit to attending biweekly meetings. We undertook two major research projects: Concept mapping to choose a research focus; and photovoice to explore accessing healthy food while homeless. We used a convergent mixed methods design to evaluate their experience.ResultsA diverse group of 8 PWLEH had an average attendance of 82% over 21 meetings – despite this success, we encountered a number of challenges to conducting this research. Group members reported that participation improved their ability to be self-advocates in their diabetes care and provided them with tangible skills and social benefits. Group members stated that they valued being involved in all aspects of the research, in particular knowledge translation activities, including advocating for nutritious food at shelters; presenting to stakeholders; and meeting with policy makers.ConclusionsThe use of participatory patient engagement research methods enables academic researchers to support community members in pursuing research that is pertinent to them and which has a positive impact. In our study, group members contributed in meaningful ways and also valued the experience.What is already known about this subject?Patient oriented research is important to public health research as it helps with the development of relevant interventions and knowledge translation.Participatory research is a form of research that maximally involves patients in all phases of the research.Participatory research has rarely been used in research on diabetes and diabetes-related interventions.What are the new findings?Patient engagement is important for studies involving socially disadvantaged populations with diabetes.Community members involved in research contribute substantially to research projects but also find the experience to be enriching and valuable.How might these results change the focus of research or clinical practice?Those who conduct research with and develop programs to provide diabetes care, especially to socially disadvantaged populations, should involve community members through all phases of the process to ensure the intervention is maximally useful for patients.
mouth-to-mouth ventilation through cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is there any other way?
Authors: Maimaitiming Aini , Wang Xiaohai 
Published: March 2021

Abstractobjectiveto provide and explore possibility of new idea that perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation through cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Methodsstage one is establishing the ventilation technique using cola bottle, stage two is measuring the tidal volume when different sized cola bottles were used.Resultthe smallest sized cola bottle(500ml) can also make obvious thorax rise in manikin CPR model. The tidal volume is 174.5+9.1ml, 220+7.6ml and 447+15.9ml respectively for 500ml, 600ml and 1.25L cola bottles when using single hand performance. There are statistical differences (0.001) in tidal volume of different sized cola bottle by using one hand performance and two hands.Conclusionlarger sized cola bottles(600ml,1.25L) could be used as substitute ventilation technique for mouth-to-mouth ventilation in special circumnutates.
Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Adoption and Compliance of the NHS COVID-19 Mobile Application: A National Online Questionnaire Survey in England
Authors: Panchal Marcus , Singh Sukhpreet , Rodriguez-Villegas Esther 
Published: March 2021

AbstractObjectivesTo conduct an independent study investigating how adults perceive the usability, and functionality of the “NHS COVID-19” app. This study aims to highlight strengths, and provide recommendations to improve adoption of future contact tracing developments.DesignA 60-item, anonymous online questionnaire, disseminated through social media outlets and email-lists by a team from Imperial College London.SettingEnglandParticipantsConvenience sample of 1036 responses, from participants aged 18 and above, between December 2020 to February 2021.Primary Outcome MeasuresEvaluate the compliance and public attitude towards the “NHS COVID-19” app, regarding its functionality and features. This included whether participants expectations were met, and their thoughts on the app privacy and security. Furthermore, to distinguish how usability, perception, and adoption differed with varying demographics and user values.ResultsFair app compliance was identified, with the app meeting expectations of 62.1% of participants who stated they downloaded it after weighted analysis. However, participants finding the interface challenging were less likely to read information in the app and had a lesser understanding of its functionality. Furthermore, lack of understanding regarding the app’s functionality and privacy concerns were possibly reasons why users did not download it. A readability analysis of the text revealed that app information was conveyed at a level which might only be accessible to under 60% of the population. The study highlighted issues related to the potential of false positives caused by the design choices in the “Check-In” feature.ConclusionThis study showed that while the “NHS COVID-19” app was viewed positively, there remained issues regarding participants’ perceived knowledge of the app functionality, potentially affecting compliance. Therefore, we recommended improvements regarding the delivery and presentation of the app’s information, and highlighted the potential need for the ability to check out of venues to reduce the number of false positive contacts.Strengths and LimitationsThis is the first study assessing the perceived usability and functionality of the “NHS COVID-19” app directly from app users.Diverse sample size, with representation from all major regions of England.Statistical analysis to compare perceived app usability and functionality across demographics and the participants values regarding privacy and information.Study was conducted during lockdown where app use may have been minimal.Study may have missed potential participants who were not active on the relevant social media channels and email mailing lists which were used to disseminate the survey.
Adjusting COVID-19 seroprevalence survey results to account for test sensitivity and specificity
Authors: Meyer Mark J. , Yan Shuting , Schlageter Samantha , Kraemer John D. , Rosenberg Eli S. , Stoto Michael A. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractPopulation-based seroprevalence surveys can provide useful estimates of the number of individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and still susceptible as well as contribute to better estimates of the case fatality rate and other measures of COVID-19 severity. No serological test is 100% accurate, however, and the standard correction that epidemiologists use to adjust estimates relies on estimates of the test sensitivity and specificity often based on small validation studies. This paper develops a fully Bayesian approach to adjust observed prevalence estimates for sensitivity and specificity. Application to a seroprevalence survey conducted in New York State in 2020 demonstrates that this approach results in more realistic – and narrower – credible interval than the standard sensitivity analysis using confidence interval endpoints. In addition, the model permits incorporating data on the geographical distribution of reported case counts to create informative priors on the cumulative incidence to produce estimates and credible intervals for smaller geographic areas than often can be precisely estimated with seroprevalence surveys.
A single-center retrospective cohort study of Covid-19 medications: Remdesivir, Favipiravir, Methylprednisolone, Dexamethasone, and Interferon β1a and their combinations
Authors: Fateh Sahand Tehrani , Fateh Sepand Tehrani , Salehi Esmaeil , Rezai Nima , Haririan Nazanin , Asgari Abdollah , Salehi-Najafabadi Amir 
Published: March 2021

AbstractMany drugs have been suggested to be used for Covid-19. A suitable and efficient choice of drug would make the course of Covid-19 easier. we have investigated the efficacy of different treatment regimen in reducing hospitalization period (HP) and mortality of 324 confirmed Covid-19 patients. Received drugs included single therapy or combinations of Methylprednisolone, Remdesivir, Favipiravir, Interferon β1a, and Dexamethasone. HP and mortality were compared between different treatment groups to evaluate efficacy of each drug. HP and mortality were also calculated for patients in each treatment group based on their underlying diseases and age. we suggest that using IFN-β1a, RDV and corticosteroids might not have a significant effect on the HP or mortality of the Covid-19 patients as it was thought before.
Deep learning-based end-to-end automated stenosis classification and localization on catheter coronary angiography
Authors: Cong Chao , Kato Yoko , Vasconcellos Henrique D. , Ostovaneh Mohammad R. , Lima Joao A.C. , Ambale-Venkatesh Bharath 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackgroundAutomatic coronary angiography (CAG) assessment may help in faster screening and diagnosis of patients. Current CNN-based vessel-segmentation suffers from sampling imbalance, candidate frame selection, and overfitting; few have shown adequate performance for CAG stenosis classification. We aimed to provide an end-to-end workflow that may solve these problems.MethodsA deep learning-based end-to-end workflow was employed as follows: 1) Candidate frame selection from CAG videograms with CNN+LSTM network, 2) Stenosis classification with Inception-v3 using 2 or 3 categories (<25%, >25%, and/or total occlusion) with and without redundancy training, and 3) Stenosis localization with two methods of class activation map (CAM) and anchor-based feature pyramid network (FPN). Overall 13744 frames from 230 studies were used for the stenosis classification training and 4-fold cross-validation for image-, artery-, and per-patient-level. For the stenosis localization training and 4-fold cross-validation, 690 images with >25% stenosis were used.ResultsOur model achieved an accuracy of 0.85, sensitivity of 0.96, and AUC of 0.86 in per-patient level stenosis classification. Redundancy training was effective to improve classification performance. Stenosis position localization was adequate with better quantitative results in anchor-based FPN model, achieving global-sensitivity for LCA and RCA of 0.68 and 0.70 with mean square error (MSE) values of 39.3 and 37.6 pixels respectively, in the 520 × 520 pixel image.ConclusionA fully-automatic end-to-end deep learning-based workflow that eliminates the vessel extraction and segmentation step was feasible in coronary artery stenosis classification and localization on CAG images.Key PointsThe fully-automatic, end-to-end workflow which eliminated the vessel extraction and segmentation step for supervised-learning was feasible in the stenosis classification on CAG images, achieving an accuracy of 0.85, sensitivity of 0.96, and AUC of 0.86 in per-patient level.The redundancy training improved the AUC values, accuracy, F1-score, and kappa score of the stenosis classification.Stenosis position localization was assessed in two methods of CAM-based and anchor-based models, which performance was acceptable with better quantitative results in anchor-based models.Summary StatementA fully-automatic end-to-end deep learning-based workflow which eliminated the vessel extraction and segmentation step was feasible in the stenosis classification and localization on CAG images. The redundancy training improved the stenosis classification performance.
Diagnostic accuracy and predictive value of clinical symptoms for the diagnosis of mild COVID-19
Authors: Popovych V. , Koshel I. , Haman Y. , Leschak V. , Duplikhin R. 
Published: March 2021

ObjectiveTo assess the diagnostic accuracy of clinical symptoms and their predictive values in patients with suspected mild COVID-19 and to identify target groups for self-isolation and outpatient treatment without additional testing in the primary health care system.MethodsWe conducted an open-label prospective study in both male and female patients aged 18 to 72 years with suspected mild COVID-19 who were sequentially enrolled in the study. The clinical diagnosis was performed in accordance with the WHO recommendations based on the acute onset of such symptoms as olfactory dysfunction, hyperthermia, myalgia, nasal congestion, nasal discharge, cough, rhinolalia, sore throat, without pneumonia or hypoxia in persons in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19. The physician assessed clinical symptoms using a 4-point scale. The patient self-assessed clinical symptoms using a ten-point visual analogue scale (VAS). All enrolled patients underwent laboratory testing to confirm the diagnosis of COVID-19.ResultsOf the 120 patients underwent testing, the diagnosis of mild COVID-19 was confirmed in 96 patients and ruled out in 24 patients. When assessing symptoms by a physician according to the correlation analysis, hyperthermia, myalgia, nasal congestion and rhinolalia have a positive predictive value with a significance level of more than 0.6. When self-assessing symptoms by a patient, fever, myalgia and nasal congestion have a diagnostic accuracy with a significance level of more than 0.5. Nasal discharge, cough and sore throat have negative predictive values.DiscussionThe presence of these symptoms in patients with an acute onset of the disease can help to make a clinical diagnosis of coronavirus disease and identify target groups for self-isolation and outpatient treatment without additional testing. Highly suspect asymptomatic patients are not considered as those who have possible mild COVID-19 infection.RegistrationEthics Committee of Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University, Protocol No. 114/20 as of 21 May 2020.
Using Project-based Learning to Enhance Curricular Integration and Relevance of Basic Medical Sciences in Pre-clerkship Years
Authors: Elkhamisy Fatma Alzahraa Abdelsalam , Zidan Azza Hassan , Fathelbab Mohamed Fathelbab 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIntroductionIntegration levels vary in the basic medical pre-clerkship years. We aimed to discover the deficiencies and increase the level of integration for the multidisciplinary curriculum of the 1st 2 academic years at The Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University. We used Project-based learning (PtBL) via designing “Clinically-applied team-based integrated research project” tasks. The purpose was to make students fully appreciate the relationship between basic disciplines and their relevance to practice hence boosts their learning.MethodsWe designed interdisciplinary integrated research project tasks (cases/symptoms/signs) that followed each module’s objectives. Students worked in teams to write and deliver project reports. They analyzed the assigned tasks and used reasoning to create diagnoses, relate the condition to the disrupted normal structure/functions, suggest/contraindicate specific treatment plans, and create preventive plans based on their understanding of the basic medical sciences. A survey was introduced to assess students’ perceptions of the learning approach used. Students’ responses were analyzed.ResultsDeficient-, unrelated-, & should be related in an interdisciplinary way-topics in the curriculum were discovered and reported during the projects’ design. Students (n=694) completed the survey (52% response rate). Most (84.6%) were satisfied by the integrated interdisciplinary project, and 57.9% preferred substituting the traditional lectures completely by integrated PtBL. Students significantly (P=0.000) understood the relation between objectives of disciplines after project completion (mean 3.66, SD ±0.92) than before it (mean 3.46, SD ±0.91). A significant relation was detected between the rank given to the perceived degree of the integration between basic to clinical sciences in the projects and both the rank perceived for students’ developed clinical reasoning (P=0.000) and the students’ choice of implementing future learning via the integrated project tasks (P=0.002).ConclusionsThe PtBL can be used as a complementary learning method to elevate the level of integration within a multidisciplinary approach to boost students’ learning.
Early and long-term risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation after transient ischemic attack
Authors: Purroy Francisco , Vicente-Pascual Mikel , Arque Gloria , Baraldes-Rovira Mariona , Begue Robert , Farre Joan , Gallego Yhovany , Gil-Villar M. Pilar , Mauri Gerard , Montalà Nuria , Paul-Arias Miriam , Pereira Cristina , Torres-Querol Coral , Vazquez-Justes Daniel 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackgroundTransient ischemic attack (TIA) provides a unique opportunity to optimize secondary preventive treatments to avoid subsequent ischemic stroke (IS). Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is the leading cause of cardioembolism in IS and anticoagulation prevents stroke recurrence (SR), limited data exists about the risk of new-onset AF after TIA.MethodsWe carried out a prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with TIA from January 2006 to June 2010. The risk of new diagnosis of AF and SR was defined after a median follow-up time of 6.5 (5.0-9.6) years. In a subgroup of consecutive patients, a panel of biomarkers was assessed during the first 24 h of the onset of symptoms.Results723 TIA patients were included. New-onset AF was diagnosed in 116 (16.0%) patients, 42 (36.2%) of them during admission. 204 (28.2%) patients were included in the biomarker substudy. New-onset AF was associated with sex (female) (hazard ratio [HR] 1.61 [95% CI, 1.07-2.41]), age (HR 1.05 [95% CI, 1.03-1.07]), previous ischemic heart disease (HR 1.84 [95% CI 1.15-2.97]) and cortical DWI pattern (HR 2.81 [95% CI 1.87-4.21]). In the Kaplan-Meier analysis, NT-proBNP ≥218.2 pg/ml (log-rank test P<0.001) was associated with significant risk of new-onset AF during the first five years of follow-up. Patients with a new diagnosis of AF after admission and before five years of follow-up had the highest risk of SR (P=0.002).ConclusionThe risk of new diagnosis of AF after TIA is clinically relevant. We identified clinical, neuroimaging and biomarker predictors of new-onset AF.
Nano-CT characterization reveals coordinated growth of a rudimentary organ necessary for soldier development in the antPheidole hyatti
Authors: Koch Sophie , Tahara Rui , Vasquez-Correa Angelly , Abouheif Ehab 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe growth of imaginal discs in holometabolous insects is coordinated with larval growth to ensure the symmetrical and proportional development of the adult appendages. In ants, the differential growth of these discs generates distinct castes – the winged male and queen castes and the wingless worker caste. In the hyperdiverse ant genusPheidole, the worker caste is composed of two morphologically distinct subcastes: small minor workers and larger, big-headed soldiers. Although these worker subcastes are completely wingless, soldier larvae develop rudimentary forewing discs that are necessary for generating the disproportionate head-to-body scaling of the big-headed soldier subcaste. However, it remains unclear whether rudimentary forewing discs in soldier larvae are coordinated with other imaginal discs, and whether disc growth and coordination patterns vary between the minor worker and soldier subcastes. Here we show, using quantitative nano-CT three-dimensional analyses, that growth of the soldier rudimentary forewing discs is coordinated with the increase in volume of the leg and eye-antennal (head) discs as well as with larval size. We found that the growth rate of the rudimentary forewing discs differs from the leg discs but is similar to the growth of the head (eye-antennal) discs relative to larval size, suggesting that growth of each type of imaginal disc may be differentially regulated. In addition to their larger size, the soldier eye-antennal discs increase in width as they undergo morphogenesis to generate the characteristic shape of the large soldier head, suggesting that the rudimentary forewing discs may regulate their patterning in addition to their growth. Finally, we observe little growth of the leg and eye-antennal discs during the bipotential stage, while in minor worker development these discs grow at similar rates to one another in coordination with larval size to generate the smaller minor worker subcaste. Our results suggest that rudimentary organs with regulatory functions may participate in new patterns of inter-organ coordination and regulation to produce novel phenotypes and complex worker caste systems. We provide characterization of larval development and imaginal disc growth and morphogenesis with the aim of highlighting this as an emerging system for the study of rudimentary organs during development and evolution.
SARS-CoV-2 infects blood monocytes to activate NLRP3 and AIM2 inflammasomes, pyroptosis and cytokine release
Authors: Junqueira Caroline , Crespo Ângela , Ranjbar Shahin , Ingber Jacob , Parry Blair , Ravid Sagi , Lacerda Luna B. de , Lewandrowski Mercedes , Clark Sarah , Ho Felicia , Vora Setu M. , Leger Valerie , Beakes Caroline , Margolin Justin , Russell Nicole , Gehrke Lee , Adhikari Upasana Das , Henderson Lauren , Janssen Erin , Kwon Douglas , Sander Chris , Abraham Jonathan , Filbin Michael , Goldberg Marcia B. , Wu Hao , Mehta Gautam , Bell Steven , Goldfeld Anne E. , Lieberman Judy 
Published: March 2021

SARS-CoV-2 causes acute respiratory distress that can progress to multiorgan failure and death in some patients. Although severe COVID-19 disease is linked to exuberant inflammation, how SARS-CoV-2 triggers inflammation is not understood. Monocytes are sentinel blood cells that sense invasive infection to form inflammasomes that activate caspase-1 and gasdermin D (GSDMD) pores, leading to inflammatory death (pyroptosis) and processing and release of IL-1 family cytokines, potent inflammatory mediators. Here we show that ~10% of blood monocytes in COVID-19 patients are dying and infected with SARS-CoV-2. Monocyte infection, which depends on antiviral antibodies, activates NLRP3 and AIM2 inflammasomes, caspase-1 and GSDMD cleavage and relocalization. Signs of pyroptosis (IL-1 family cytokines, LDH) in the plasma correlate with development of severe disease. Moreover, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) linked to higherGSDMDexpression increase the risk of severe COVID-19 disease (odds ratio, 1.3, p<0.005). These findings taken together suggest that antibody-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection of monocytes triggers inflammation that contributes to severe COVID-19 disease pathogenesis.One sentence summaryAntibody-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection of monocytes activates inflammation and cytokine release.