bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of additional protein on lean body mass preservation in post-bariatric surgery patients: a systematic review
Authors: Romeijn Marleen M. , Holthuijsen Daniëlle D. B. , Kolen Aniek M. , Janssen Loes , Schep Goof , van Dielen François M. H. , Leclercq Wouter K. G. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackgroundAs result of bariatric surgery, patients are susceptible to protein deficiency which can result in undesirable lean body mass (LBM) loss. Consumption of high-protein diets or supplements could counteract this, but evidence about the effect is scarce. This paper systematically reviewed the literature to determine the effect of additional protein intake (≥60 g/day) on LBM preservation in post-bariatric patients.MethodsAn electronic search of PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library was conducted. Studies were included if patients received a high-protein diet or protein supplements for at least one month, and LBM was assessed. The primary outcome was difference in mean LBM loss between the experimental (protein) and control group. Secondary outcomes were differences in body fat mass, total body water, body mass index and resting metabolic rate.ResultsTwo of the five included studies (n = 223) showed that consumption of proteins resulted in significant LBM preservation. Only one study reported a significant difference in the reduction of body fat mass and resting metabolic rate in favour of a high-protein diet, but none of the studies showed a significant difference in total body water loss or body mass index change between the two groups.ConclusionsThis paper showed inconclusive evidence for LBM preservation due to protein supplementation or a high-protein diet in post-bariatric patients. This outcome might be subjected to certain limitations, including a lack of blinding and a low compliance rate reported in the included studies. More specific and personalized recommendations regarding protein intake may need to be established by high quality research. Studies investigating the quantity (g/day) and quality (whey, casein or soy) of proteins are also needed.
Cerebral metastasis of Merkel cell carcinoma following resection with negative margins and adjuvant external beam radiation: a case report
Authors: Grubb Alex F. , Hankollari Elizabeth 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive neuroendocrine tumor of the skin. It is associated with advanced age, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and Merkel cell polyomavirus. It has a predilection for the lymphatic system, but rarely spreads to the central nervous system.

Case presentation
A 71-year-old Caucasian man with a history of rheumatoid arthritis and MCC of the right lower eyelid and cheek presented with left-sided hemineglect and word-finding difficulty. Twenty months earlier he had undergone local excision of a 3 cm lesion with negative margins, negative sentinel lymph node biopsy, and external beam radiation. On presentation he was found to have a 6.3 cm mass in the right frontotemporal region. He underwent prompt resection, with pathological analysis consistent with metastatic MCC. He subsequently underwent stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and adjunctive immunotherapy with pembrolizumab. He has since tolerated the therapy well and is currently without neurological symptoms or evidence of recurrence.

Conclusions
Cerebral metastasis of MCC is a rare event and should be considered when a patient with a history of MCC presents with neurological symptoms. Optimal treatment regimens of these rare cases are unclear; however, prompt resection, stereotactic radiosurgery, and adjunctive immunotherapy have shown an initial positive response in this patient.
Intestinal mycobiota in health and diseases: from a disrupted equilibrium to clinical opportunities
Authors: Wu Xiaoyan , Xia Yaoyao , He Fang , Zhu Congrui , Ren Wenkai 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi establish a complex ecosystem in the gut. Like other microbiota, gut mycobiota plays an indispensable role in modulating intestinal physiology. Notably, the most striking characteristics of intestinal fungi are their extraintestinal functions. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the importance of gut fungi in the regulation of intestinal, pulmonary, hepatic, renal, pancreatic, and brain functions, and we present possible opportunities for the application of gut mycobiota to alleviate/treat human diseases.
The frequency distribution of reported THC concentrations of legal cannabis flower products increases discontinuously around the 20% THC threshold in Nevada and Washington state
Authors: Zoorob Michael J. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Cannabis laboratory testing reliability is a scientific and policy challenge in US states with legal cannabis. Greater reported THC concentration yields higher prices, and media reports describe a well-known consumer and dispensary preference for flower products containing a minimum 20% THC content—an economically meaningful but biologically arbitrary threshold. This paper examines the frequency distribution of reported THC concentration in legal cannabis flower products in Nevada and Washington state for unusual shifts around the 20% threshold suggestive of potential manipulation of reported THC results.

Methods
THC concentration test results for 142,000 Chemotype 1 flower products from Washington state between June 2014 and May 2017 and 55,000 flower products from Nevada between December 2017 and January 2020 were analyzed for changes in the frequency distribution around the 20% threshold using the McCrary density test. Analyses were performed among all labs in each state, the highest volume lab in Washington, and two labs in Washington which had their licenses suspended for testing irregularities during the study period.

Results
Comparing just above the 20% THC threshold with just below it, the frequency of test results increased by about 43% in Nevada (z = 15.6, p < 0.001) and by about 17% in Washington (z = 11.0, p < 0.001). In Washington’s highest volume testing lab, frequency increased by only about 1% (z = 0.39, p = 0.70), while it increased by about 47% (z = 12.7, p < 0.001) among the two suspended labs. Subset to those growers which sent products to both sets of labs, frequency of flower products just above the 20% threshold increased by 2% in Washington’s largest lab (z = 0.50, p = 0.62) and by 52% among the two suspended labs (z = 12.8, p < 0.001).

Discussion
There is a statistically unusual spike in the frequency of products reporting just higher than 20% THC in both states consistent with economic incentives for products to contain at least 20% THC. This “bunching” of reported THC levels exists among some, but not all, cannabis testing labs, suggesting that laboratory differences (rather than precise manipulation by growers) drive this potential manipulation in reported THC content. These findings elaborate on prior research highlighting unexplained interlaboratory variation in cannabis testing results and highlight ongoing irregularities with legal cannabis testing.

Conclusion
These findings highlight the need for industry oversight and cautions researchers working with reported cannabis THC concentration data, which may be biased by economic incentives to report higher THC.
Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxicity: Molecular Insights Obtained from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell–Derived Cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs)
Authors: Bozza William P. , Takeda Kazuyo , Alterovitz Wei-Lun , Chou Chao-Kai , Shen Rong-Fong , Zhang Baolin 
Published: March 2021

AbstractAnthracyclines are a class of chemotherapy drugs that are highly effective for the treatment of human cancers, but their clinical use is limited by associated dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. The precise mechanisms by which individual anthracycline induces cardiotoxicity are not fully understood. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) are emerging as a physiologically relevant model to assess drugs cardiotoxicity. Here, we describe an assay platform by coupling hiPSC-CMs and impedance measurement, which allows real-time monitoring of cardiomyocyte cellular index, beating amplitude, and beating rate. Using this approach, we have performed comparative studies on a panel of four anthracycline drugs (doxorubicin, epirubicin, idarubicin, and daunorubicin) which share a high degree of structural similarity but are associated with distinct cardiotoxicity profiles and maximum cumulative dose limits. Notably, results from our hiPSC-CMs impedance model (dose-dependent responses and EC50 values) agree well with the recommended clinical dose limits for these drugs. Using time-lapse imaging and RNAseq, we found that the differences in anthracycline cardiotoxicity are closely linked to extent of cardiomyocyte uptake and magnitude of activation/inhibition of several cellular pathways such as death receptor signaling, ROS production, and dysregulation of calcium signaling. The results provide molecular insights into anthracycline cardiac interactions and offer a novel assay system to more robustly assess potential cardiotoxicity during drug development.
Self-marketing as a way of boost global competitiveness of a teacher
Authors: Egurnova Aleksandra 
Published: March 2021

Digital transformation in modern society incessantly increases the growth rate of investment in the cutting-edge information technologies, which greatly affects the quality of products and services provided. The Russian education system, with the priority goal of modernizing it being to update the teaching staff and reconstruct the system of advanced professional training of educators, is also undergoing radical changes. The process of integrating distance technologies into the structure of pedagogical activity makes significant adjustments to the strategy of teaching students, which leads to re-evaluation of professionally and socially meaningful qualities of a teacher for building effective business relations with consumers of educational services and improving self-competitiveness in the labor market. This requires a fundamentally new approach to selecting an individual educational trajectory that will contribute to the successful development of professional competence of a teacher, which, according to the author, can be achieved by implementing self-marketing.
The article considers the author’s scheme of self-marketing of a foreign language teacher developed to assess self-effectiveness – competitive advantages (professionally and socially meaningful qualities) – and provide useful guidelines to fight off competition in the [international] educational industry.
The influence of parental attitudes on the formation of the personality of a minor with delinquent behavior
Authors: Teregulova Oxana 
Published: March 2021

The article considers the parental attitude as one of the main factors influencing the formation of the personality of a juvenile delinquent with delinquent behavior. The concept of "parental relationship" and its structure are studied. The author analyzes the features of destructive parental attitudes, such as shortcomings in the educational process, emotional alienation of parents, low moral level of families, deviant motherhood.
The differences in the structure of the maternal and paternal relationship are determined. The features of negative relations between parents and minors are described, such as inconsistency, coldness, aloofness, inconsistency, disrespect, and misunderstanding. The authors also consider the causes of deviant motherhood, which consist in psychiatric and intellectual disorders of young women, resulting from violence, abuse in childhood, improper upbringing, as well as due to the influence of social factors, such as the low level of education of women, poverty, and unemployment.
The article is written on the basis of a study conducted on the basis of the methodology for diagnosing parental attitudes developed by A. Ya. Varga and V. V. Stolin, parents of minors with law-abiding and delinquent behavior took part in the survey.
As a result of the study, it was found that parents treated minors with delinquent behavior more coldly, distanced and alienated, and showed little attention to their lives than to law-abiding minors.
The technical and economic comparison of ethylene production from natural gas and ethane
Authors: Atiku Farooq Abubakar , Pirouzfar Vahid , Su Chia-Hung , Wei Sung-Yen 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Ethylene is one of the most primary and widely used petrochemical products in today’s world and is considered as a chemical building block in the petrochemical industry. In this research, ethylene production from ethane and natural gas is evaluated in terms of cost and optimum conditions. Also, a comprehensive economic and technical comparison is made to achieve the optimal conditions for ethylene production concerning feed diversity. Nowadays most ethylene production units run with ethane feed. If it is possible to implement gas-ethylene processes with an inexpensive natural gas feed, it will be a significant step for technical and economic optimization. Thus, some methods are introduced and compared, and finally an economic review about best condition for ethylene production from ethane and natural gas/investment with regard to cost and economic efficiency of the methods is provided. The investment cost for Gas to Ethylene (GTE) and Ethane to Ethylene (ETE) processes is 363–701 million dollars per year, respectively. Also, rate of return (ROR) of 24 and 19% is calculated for GTE and ETE processes, respectively.
“Creating the illusion of speaking Romanian well”: Hungarian speakers’ teaching and learning the majority language in Romania
Authors: Rácz Krisztina 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
The case study of the article is translanguaging as an educational strategy in preparation for the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature in a Hungarian school in Miercurea Ciuc/Csíkszereda, Romania. Romanian language competence scores are at the bottom of national rankings in this Hungarian-majority town in Szeklerland. Students who speak a minority language have their knowledge of the majority language evaluated in the graduation exam in Romanian language and literature based on the same criteria as first-language speakers’, which has strong implications for their participation in Romanian society. The main research question of this ethnographically informed article is how translanguaging happens in a classroom where students’ first language is being used with the aim of facilitating performance in their second language. The article argues that in the classrooms where the research was conducted, translanguaging is a strategy that negotiates between students’ educational needs in the local environment and the expectation espoused by the state to perform as if they were monolingual Romanian speakers. Similarly, students use translanguaging to strategize between the curricular expectations and their language performance. Yet, I argue that in this case study the emancipatory potential of translanguaging is limited due to ethnolinguistic hierarchies that remain unchallenged.
Effects of gas-assisted extrusion on slip in the cable coating process
Authors: Yin Hongna , Huang Xingyuan , Liu Tongke , Song Minjie 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
The isothermal viscoelastic finite element method is used to simulate and analyze the process of cable coating extrusion, in which the Navier slip model is adopted. The Phan–Thien–Tanner differential viscoelastic constitutive equation is used to describe the flow characteristics of the polymer melt. The polymer material used for simulation is polypropylene. The extrudate swell, velocity field, pressure field and shear stress field are calculated by finite element method. The influences of the gas-assisted extrusion and traditional extrusion on wall slip of cable coating extrusion are compared. The results indicate that the extrudate swell ratio is the largest under the condition of the complete slip between core wire and melt during traditional extrusion process. The increase of core wire dragging velocity can lead to the increase of slip velocity, the decrease of pressure and the increase of shear stress of melt. Gas-assisted extrusion can eliminate the negative effects caused by the slip of core wire or the increase of core wire dragging velocity. Therefore, gas-assisted extrusion can reduce the energy consumption, improve the cable coating layer quality and increase the production efficiency during extrusion process.
A review on tribo-mechanical properties of micro- and nanoparticulate-filled nylon composites
Authors: Randhawa Kawaljit Singh , Patel Ashwin D. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Nylon composites are of evolving interest due to their good strength, toughness, and low coefficient of friction. Various fillers like micro- and nanoparticulates of metals and metal compounds were used to enhance the mechanical and tribological properties of nylons for many years by researchers. In this paper, an overall understanding of composites, filler materials, especially particulate filler materials, application areas of polymer composites, wear of polymers, and the effect of various fillers on tribo-mechanical properties of nylons have been discussed. The detailed review is limited to micro- and nanoparticulate fillers and their influence on the mechanical and tribological properties of various nylon matrices.
Lifestyle and Dietary Factors Associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease among Jordanian Patients
Authors: Qualqily Tamara R , Rayyan Yasser M , Tayyem Reema F 
Published: March 2021

Background and Aims: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) affect Jordanian adults more than other age groups. Several studies highlight the independent effect of various lifestyle factors on the risk of IBD. Therefore, this study aims to compare the differences between some lifestyle factors among IBD cases and IBD-free controls, while detecting the varying degree of malnutrition in the study sample.
Methods: A case-control study was conducted between November 2018 and December 2019. Three hundred and thirty-five Jordanian adults above the age of 18 years were enrolled in this study. Out of the 335 participants, 185 of them were recently diagnosed with IBD [100 ulcerative colitis (UC) and 85 Crohn‘s disease (CD)] and 150 IBD-free controls. Sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, dietary habits and the degree of malnutrition using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) were collected from all participants.
Results: Body mass index and waist circumference were significantly different in UC patients as compared to controls. Cigarette smoking, work status, duration of sleeping hours, physical activity, number of daily main meals intake, meals skipped daily, number of daily snack meal intake, and fast-food intake were all significantly different when comparing IBD cases to controls. While cigarette smoking (OR=0.52, 95%CI: 0.29-0.96, p=0.02) and sleep duration hours during working day (OR=0.05, 95%CI: 0.01-4.68, p=0.001)] were found to be protective factors, the increase in daily working hours (OR=22.13, 95%CI: 10.35-47.32, p=0.001) was identified as a risk factor for IBD. The degree of moderate and severe malnutrition among patients with IBD was significantly (p<0.001) higher as compared to controls.
Conclusions: Patients with IBD had lower BMI and physical activity values compared to controls. The number of daily main meals intake, meals skipped daily, number of daily snack meals intake, fast food intake and the degree of malnutrition were significantly different when IBD cases were compared to controls.
Periodontal Outcomes in Liver Transplantation Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Galdino Tuélita Marques , Oliveira Carla Souza , Moreira Allyson Nogueira , Limeira Francisco Ivison Rodrigues , Magalhães Cláudia Silami , Abreu Lucas Guimarães 
Published: March 2021

Aim: To systematically review the literature for observational studies evaluating periodontal outcomes in pre- and post-liver transplant (LT) individuals compared to a control group.
Methods: Specific strategies were designed to search five databases and the grey literature. Hand-searches were also performed. The following periodontal outcomes were analyzed in pre-LT, post-LT and control groups: plaque index (PI), gingival index (GI), gingival growth (GO), alveolar bone loss (ABL) probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL). Meta-analyses and subgroup analyses were conducted.
Results: Among the 257 studies retrieved, 11 studies were included. Four studies were incorporated into the meta-analysis and showed that PI (mean difference=0.15, 95%CI: 0.12-0.18) and GI (mean difference=0.31, 95%CI: 0.06-0.56) were significantly higher in post-LT individuals compared to the control group. There was no significant mean difference of PD (mean difference=0.49, 95%CI: -0.26-1.25) but CAL (mean differ- ence=1.47, 95%CI: 0.19-2.75) were significantly higher in pre-LT individuals compared to the control group.
Conclusion: The higher means of PI and GI in post-LT and CAL in pre-LT compared to healthy individuals suggest a relationship between the periodontal condition and the transplantation status.
Vasoactive Agents for the Management of Acute Variceal Bleeding: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Huaringa-Marcelo Jorge , Huaman Mariella R , Brañez-Condorena Ana , Villacorta-Landeo Pamela , Pinto-Ruiz Diego F , Urday-Ipanaqué Diana , García-Gomero David , Montes-Teves Pedro , Lozano Miranda Adelina 
Published: March 2021

Background and Aims: Vasoactive agents with endoscopic therapy are used to treat acute variceal bleeding (AVB). There are two main groups of vasoactive agents: terlipressin and vasopressin (T-V), and octreotide and somatostatin (O-S). However, the benefit/harm balance is unclear. Our aim was to assess the efficacy and safety of T-V versus O-S for the management of AVB.
Methods: We performed a systematic search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in PubMed, Scopus, and CENTRAL. Our main outcomes were mortality and adverse events. Secondary outcomes were bleeding control, rebleeding, blood transfusion, hospital stay. We evaluated the certainty of evidence using GRADE methodology.
Results: We included 21 RCTs. The risk of mortality (RR: 1.01; 95%CI: 0.83-1.22), bleeding control (RR: 0.96; 95%CI: 0.91-1.02; I 2 =53%), early rebleeding (RR: 0.91; 95%CI: 0.66-1.24: I 2 =0%), late rebleeding (RR: 0.94; 95 CI: 0.56-1.60; I 2 =0%), blood transfusion (MD: 0.04; 95%CI: -0.31-0.39; I 2 =68%) and hospital stay (MD: -1.06; 95%CI: -2.80-0.69; I 2 =0%) were similar between T-V and O-S groups. Only 15 studies reported adverse events, which were significantly higher in the T-V compared to the O-S group (RR 2.39; 95%CI: 1.58-3.63; I 2 =57%). The certainty of evidence was moderate for the main outcomes, and low or very low for others.
Conclusions: In cirrhotic patients with AVB, those treated with T-V had similar mortality risk compared to O-S. However, the use of T-V showed an increased risk of adverse events compared to O-S.