bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Rate of achievement of therapeutic outcomes and factors associated with control of non-communicable diseases in rural east Malaysia: implications for policy and practice
Authors: Keng Zhi Yi , Saw Yu Mon , Thung Senk Chung , Chong Woon Wee , Albert Amanda , Kariya Tetsuyoshi , Yamamoto Eko , Hamajima Nobuyuki 
Published: February 2021

AbstractNon-communicable diseases (NCDs) are an increasing problem worldwide, including in Malaysia. National surveys have been performed by the government but had poor coverage in east Malaysia, particularly in rural regions. This study aimed to describe the achievement of target therapeutic outcomes in the control of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HPT), and dyslipidemia (DLP) among diabetic patients in rural east Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among DM patients who visited the NCDs clinic in Lundu Hospital, Sarawak, Malaysia, from Jan to March 2016. In total, 214 patients (male, 37.9%; female, 62.1%) were recruited using a systemic sampling method. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to estimate the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and confidence interval (CI) for the target therapeutic achievement in the control of DM, HPT, and DLP. Compared to the national average, therapeutic target achievement in Lundu was higher for DM (43.0% vs. 23.8%), equal for DLP (35.8% vs. 37.8%) but lower for HPT (30.9% vs. 47.9%). DM patients who had at least yearly HbA1c monitoring (AOR 2.30, 95% CI 1.04–5.06, P = 0.039), and those 58.7 years or older (AOR 2.50, 95% CI 1.32–4.74, P = 0.005) were more likely to achieve the therapeutic target for DM. Health promotion and public education regarding HPT needs to be emphasized in rural Malaysia. HbA1c monitoring at least once a year was one of the important factors associated with achieving DM control in rural east Malaysia. Accessibility to HbA1c tests and monitoring should be ensured for diabetic patients.
Self-incremental learning vector quantization with human cognitive biases
Authors: Manome Nobuhito , Shinohara Shuji , Takahashi Tatsuji , Chen Yu , Chung Ung-il 
Published: February 2021

AbstractHuman beings have adaptively rational cognitive biases for efficiently acquiring concepts from small-sized datasets. With such inductive biases, humans can generalize concepts by learning a small number of samples. By incorporating human cognitive biases into learning vector quantization (LVQ), a prototype-based online machine learning method, we developed self-incremental LVQ (SILVQ) methods that can be easily interpreted. We first describe a method to automatically adjust the learning rate that incorporates human cognitive biases. Second, SILVQ, which self-increases the prototypes based on the method for automatically adjusting the learning rate, is described. The performance levels of the proposed methods are evaluated in experiments employing four real and two artificial datasets. Compared with the original learning vector quantization algorithms, our methods not only effectively remove the need for parameter tuning, but also achieve higher accuracy from learning small numbers of instances. In the cases of larger numbers of instances, SILVQ can still achieve an accuracy that is equal to or better than those of existing representative LVQ algorithms. Furthermore, SILVQ can learn linearly inseparable conceptual structures with the required and sufficient number of prototypes without overfitting.
Stellate cell computational modeling predicts signal filtering in the molecular layer circuit of cerebellum
Authors: Rizza Martina Francesca , Locatelli Francesca , Masoli Stefano , Sánchez-Ponce Diana , Muñoz Alberto , Prestori Francesca , D’Angelo Egidio 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe functional properties of cerebellar stellate cells and the way they regulate molecular layer activity are still unclear. We have measured stellate cells electroresponsiveness and their activation by parallel fiber bursts. Stellate cells showed intrinsic pacemaking, along with characteristic responses to depolarization and hyperpolarization, and showed a marked short-term facilitation during repetitive parallel fiber transmission. Spikes were emitted after a lag and only at high frequency, making stellate cells to operate as delay-high-pass filters. A detailed computational model summarizing these physiological properties allowed to explore different functional configurations of the parallel fiber—stellate cell—Purkinje cell circuit. Simulations showed that, following parallel fiber stimulation, Purkinje cells almost linearly increased their response with input frequency, but such an increase was inhibited by stellate cells, which leveled the Purkinje cell gain curve to its 4 Hz value. When reciprocal inhibitory connections between stellate cells were activated, the control of stellate cells over Purkinje cell discharge was maintained only at very high frequencies. These simulations thus predict a new role for stellate cells, which could endow the molecular layer with low-pass and band-pass filtering properties regulating Purkinje cell gain and, along with this, also burst delay and the burst-pause responses pattern.
Dietary micronutrients intake and plasma fibrinogen levels in the general adult population
Authors: Padron-Monedero Alicia , Rodríguez-Artalejo Fernando , Lopez-Garcia Esther 
Published: February 2021

AbstractPlasma fibrinogen predicts cardiovascular and nonvascular mortality. However, there is limited population-based evidence on the association between fibrinogen levels and dietary intakes of micronutrients possibly associated with inflammation status. Data were taken from the ENRICA study, conducted with 10,808 individuals representative of the population of Spain aged ≥ 18 years. Nutrient intake (vitamin A, carotenoids, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, magnesium, selenium, zinc and iron) was estimated with a validated diet history, and plasma fibrinogen was measured under appropriate quality checks. Statistical analyses were performed with linear regression and adjusted for main confounders. The geometric means of fibrinogen (g/L) across increasing quintiles of nutrient intake were 3.22, 3.22, 3.22, 3.16, and 3.19 (p-trend = 0.030) for vitamin E; 3.23, 3.22, 3.20, 3.19, and 3.19 (p-trend = 0.047) for magnesium; and 3.24, 3.22, 3.19, 3.21, and 3.19 (p-trend = 0.050) for iron. These inverse associations were more marked in participants with abdominal obesity and aged ≥ 60 years, but lost statistical significance after adjustment for other nutrients. Although dietary intakes of vitamin E, magnesium and iron were inversely associated with fibrinogen levels, clinical implications of these findings are uncertain since these results were of very small magnitude and mostly explained by intake levels of other nutrients.
Eco friendly nanofluidic platforms using biodegradable nanoporous materials
Authors: Park Sungmin , Hong Seongjun , Kim Junsuk , Son Seok Young , Lee Hyomin , Kim Sung Jae 
Published: February 2021

AbstractSplendid advancement of micro/nanofluidic researches in the field of bio- and chemical-analysis enables various ubiquitous applications such as bio-medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring, etc. In such devices, nanostructures are the essential elements so that the nanofabrication methods have been major issues since the last couple of decades. However, most of nanofabrication methods are sophisticated and expensive due to the requirement of high-class cleanroom facilities, while low-cost and biocompatible materials have been already introduced in the microfluidic platforms. Thus, an off-the-shelf and biodegradable material for those nanostructures can complete the concept of an eco-friendly micro/nanofluidic platform. In this work, biodegradable materials originated from well-known organisms such as human nail plate and denatured hen egg (albumen and yolk) were rigorously investigated as a perm-selective nanoporous membrane. A simple micro/nanofluidic device integrated with such materials was fabricated to demonstrate nanofluidic phenomena. These distinctive evidences (the visualization of ion concentration polarization phenomenon, ohmic/limiting/over-limiting current behavior and surface charge-governed conductance) can fulfill the requirements of functional nanostructures for the nanofluidic applications. Therefore, while these materials were less robust than nano-lithographically fabricated structures, bio-oriented perm-selective materials would be utilized as a one of key elements of the biodegradable and eco friendly micro/nanofluidic applications.
Effects of exercise on cervical muscle strength and cross-sectional area in patients with thoracic hyperkyphosis and chronic cervical pain
Authors: Moon Hyunghun , Lee Sung-Ki , Kim Won-Moon , Seo Yong-Gon 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThere is a lack of studies comparing the effects of different exercise types in patients with thoracic hyperkyphosis. Twenty-four subjects were divided into three groups: corrective exercise, resistance exercise, and physical therapy. The groups performed their respective interventions, two times per week for three months. Clinical outcomes, including the value of Cobb’s angle, cervical muscle strength and endurance, and the cross-sectional area of the cervical deep muscles were measured pre- and post-intervention. There was a significant difference in the changes in the thoracic Cobb’s angle between the groups (P < 0.001). The corrective exercise group revealed a significantly superior increase in muscle strength and endurance between pre- and post-intervention (P < 0.012). There was a significant difference in the cross-sectional area of the cervical deep muscles included longus capitis and multifidus between the groups (P < 0.036 and 0.007, respectively). The corrective exercise group showed the most significant increase in cross-sectional area between pre- and post-intervention (P < 0.012). A corrective exercise program is a more effective intervention than traditional resistance exercise and physical therapy for improving the thoracic Cobb’s angle, cervical muscle strength and endurance, and the cross-sectional area of the deep muscles in patients with thoracic hyperkyphosis.Trial registration: KCT0005292.
Creation of a gene expression portrait of depression and its application for identifying potential treatments
Authors: Gammie Stephen C. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractDepression is a complex mental health disorder and the goal here was to identify a consistent underlying portrait of expression that ranks all genes from most to least dysregulated and indicates direction of change relative to controls. Using large-scale neural gene expression depression datasets, a combined portrait (for men and women) was created along with one for men and one for women only. The depressed brain was characterized by a “hypo” state, that included downregulation of activity-related genes, including EGR1, FOS, and ARC, and indications of a lower brain temperature and sleep-like state. MAP kinase and BDNF pathways were enriched with overlapping genes. Expression patterns suggested decreased signaling for GABA and for neuropeptides, CRH, SST, and CCK. GWAS depression genes were among depression portrait genes and common genes of interest included SPRY2 and PSEN2. The portraits were used with the drug repurposing approach of signature matching to identify treatments that could reverse depression gene expression patterns. Exercise was identified as the top treatment for depression for the combined and male portraits. Other non-traditional treatments that scored well were: curcumin, creatine, and albiflorin. Fluoxetine scored best among typical antidepressants. The creation of the portraits of depression provides new insights into the complex landscape of depression and a novel platform for evaluating and identifying potential new treatments.
Climate change as a driver of food insecurity in the 2007 Lesotho-South Africa drought
Authors: Verschuur Jasper , Li Sihan , Wolski Piotr , Otto Friederike E. L. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractClimate-induced food production shocks, like droughts, can cause food shortages and price spikes, leading to food insecurity. In 2007, a synchronous crop failure in Lesotho and South Africa—Lesotho’s sole trading partner—led to a period of severe food insecurity in Lesotho. Here, we use extreme event attribution to assess the role of climate change in exacerbating this drought, going on to evaluate sensitivity of synchronous crop failures to climate change and its implications for food security in Lesotho. Climate change was found to be a critical driver that led to the 2007 crisis in Lesotho, aggravating an ongoing decline in food production in the country. We show how a fragile agricultural system in combination with a large trade-dependency on a climatically connected trading partner can lead to a nonlinear response to climate change, which is essential information for building a climate-resilient food-supply system now and in the future.
Development of a comprehensive assessment model for coral reef island carrying capacity(CORE-CC)
Authors: Chen Ming , Su Fenzhen , Cheng Fei , Zhang Yu , Wang Xuege 
Published: February 2021

AbstractCoral reef islands provide precious living space and valuable ecological services for human beings, and its sustainability cannot be ignored under the pressure of human activities. Carrying capacity (CC) assessment has gradually become an important means to measure sustainability of islands. However, there is little comprehensive evaluation of the carrying capacity of coral reef islands, and traditional evaluation methods are difficult to express the social-ecological characteristics of coral reef islands. The present paper proposes a comprehensive assessment model for coral reef island carrying capacity (CORE-CC) which comprises dimensions of resources supply, environmental assimilative, ecosystem services, and socio-economic supporting. According to the characteristics of the coral reef islands, the core factors and indicators of each dimension are selected and the corresponding assessment index system of "pressure-support" is constructed. The assessment involves (1) identification of carrying dimensions and core factors, (2) pressure/support measurement and (3) assessment of carrying state. A case study is conducted in Zhaoshu Island of China, demonstrating the applicability of CORE-CC model and serving as a reference for adaptive management.
Variations in morphology, physiology, and multiple bioactive constituents of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos under salt stress
Authors: Cai Zhichen , Liu Xunhong , Chen Huan , Yang Rong , Chen Jiajia , Zou Lisi , Wang Chengcheng , Chen Jiali , Tan Mengxia , Mei Yuqi , Wei Lifang 
Published: February 2021

AbstractLonicerae Japonicae Flos (LJF) is an important traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of various ailments and plays a vital role in improving global human health. However, as unable to escape from adversity, the quality of sessile organisms is dramatically affected by salt stress. To systematically explore the quality formation of LJF in morphology, physiology, and bioactive constituents' response to multiple levels of salt stress, UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS and multivariate statistical analysis were performed. Lonicera japonica Thunb. was planted in pots and placed in the field, then harvested after 35 days under salt stress. Indexes of growth, photosynthetic pigments, osmolytes, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant enzymes were identified to evaluate the salt tolerance in LJF under different salt stresses (0, 100, 200, and 300 mM NaCl). Then, the total accumulation and dynamic variation of 47 bioactive constituents were quantitated. Finally, Partial least squares discrimination analysis and gray relational analysis were performed to systematically cluster, distinguish, and evaluate the samples, respectively. The results showed that 100 mM NaCl induced growth, photosynthetic, antioxidant activities, osmolytes, lipid peroxidation, and multiple bioactive constituents in LJF, which possessed the best quality. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between the accumulation of phenolic acids with antioxidant enzyme activity under salt stress, further confirming that phenolic acids could reduce oxidative damage. This study provides insight into the quality formation and valuable information to improve the LJF medicinal value under salt stress.
Ultra-broad spectral photo-response in FePS3 air-stable devices
Authors: Ramos Maria , Carrascoso Felix , Frisenda Riccardo , Gant Patricia , Mañas-Valero Samuel , Esteras Dorye L. , Baldoví José J. , Coronado Eugenio , Castellanos-Gomez Andres , Calvo M. Reyes 
Published: February 2021

AbstractVan der Waals materials with narrow energy gaps and efficient response over a broadband optical spectral range are key to widen the energy window of nanoscale optoelectronic devices. Here, we characterize FePS3 as an appealing narrow-gap p-type semiconductor with an efficient broadband photo-response, a high refractive index, and a remarkable resilience against air and light exposure. To enable fast prototyping, we provide a straightforward guideline to determine the thickness of few-layered FePS3 nanosheets extracted from the optical transmission characteristics of several flakes. The analysis of the electrical photo-response of FePS3 devices as a function of the excitation energy confirms a narrow gap suitable for near IR detection (1.23 eV) and, more interestingly, reveals a broad spectral responsivity up to the ultraviolet region. The experimental estimate for the gap energy is corroborated by ab-initio calculations. An analysis of photocurrent as a function of gate voltage and incident power reveals a photo-response dominated by photogating effects. Finally, aging studies of FePS3 nanosheets under ambient conditions show a limited reactivity of the outermost layers of flakes in long exposures to air.
HDXmodeller: an online webserver for high-resolution HDX-MS with auto-validation
Authors: Salmas Ramin Ekhteiari , Borysik Antoni James 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe extent to which proteins are protected from hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX) provides valuable insight into their folding, dynamics and interactions. Characterised by mass spectrometry (MS), HDX benefits from negligible mass restrictions and exceptional throughput and sensitivity but at the expense of resolution. Exchange mechanisms which naturally transpire for individual residues cannot be accurately located or understood because amino acids are characterised in differently sized groups depending on the extent of proteolytic digestion. Here we report HDXmodeller, the world’s first online webserver for high-resolution HDX-MS. HDXmodeller accepts low-resolution HDX-MS input data and returns high-resolution exchange rates quantified for each residue. Crucially, HDXmodeller also returns a set of unique statistics that can correctly validate exchange rate models to an accuracy of 99%. Remarkably, these statistics are derived without any prior knowledge of the individual exchange rates and facilitate unparallel user confidence and the capacity to evaluate different data optimisation strategies.
Emergence and evolution of social networks through exploration of the Adjacent Possible space
Authors: Ubaldi Enrico , Burioni Raffaella , Loreto Vittorio , Tria Francesca 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe interactions among human beings represent the backbone of our societies. How people establish new connections and allocate their social interactions among them can reveal a lot of our social organisation. We leverage on a recent mathematical formalisation of the Adjacent Possible space to propose a microscopic model accounting for the growth and dynamics of social networks. At the individual’s level, our model correctly reproduces the rate at which people acquire new acquaintances as well as how they allocate their interactions among existing edges. On the macroscopic side, the model reproduces the key topological and dynamical features of social networks: the broad distribution of degree and activities, the average clustering coefficient and the community structure. The theory is born out in three diverse real-world social networks: the network of mentions between Twitter users, the network of co-authorship of the American Physical Society journals, and a mobile-phone-calls network.
Grundlagen der praktischen Kontaktlinsenanpassung. Teil 2
Authors: von Livonius Bettina , Emminger Ralf , Ring-Mangold Theresia 
Published: February 2021

ZusammenfassungIn Zeiten der unbegrenzten Verfügbarkeit der Austauschlinsen im Internet und beim Discounter ist die Kontaktlinse mehr und mehr zum Lifestyle-, aber auch zum Wegwerfprodukt geworden. Dieser zweite Teil des Beitrags thematisiert die praktische Durchführung einer Kontaktlinsenanpassung und geht auf mögliche Komplikationen ein, die beim Kontaktlinsentragen auftreten können.
Echografie
Authors: Fiorentzis Miltiadis , Foerster Andreas M. , Rating Philipp , Bechrakis Nikolaos E. 
Published: February 2021

ZusammenfassungDie Echografie ist ein klinisches, nicht invasives Verfahren, welches für die Berechnung der Achsenlänge des Auges, die Darstellung von Pathologien des Kammerwinkels, der Iris und des Ziliarkörpers eingesetzt wird. Es dient außerdem dem Management vitreoretinaler Pathologie und der Differenzierung intraokularer Tumoren. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Methodik der unterschiedlichen Untersuchungsmöglichkeiten sowie die wichtigsten Krankheitsbilder, die mittels Echografie diagnostiziert werden können.
Pneumothorax
Authors: Eggeling Stephan 
Published: February 2021

ZusammenfassungAls Pneumothorax bezeichnet man das Vorhandensein von freier Luft zwischen der Pleura visceralis und der Pleura parietalis. Es kommt zu einer „Ablösung“ der Lunge von der Brustwand, welche in Abhängigkeit von dem Ausmaß des Pneumothorax zu einer geringen oder auch klinisch bedrohlichen Einschränkung der Lungenfunktion führt. Unspezifische Zeichen wie thorakaler Schmerz oder Hustenreiz sind häufig und korrelieren nicht mit der Ausdehnung des Pneumothorax. Nahezu ausnahmslos besteht die Ursache dieser Luftansammlung in einer Undichtigkeit der Lungenoberfläche, welche dann zu dem Ausweichen der Luft in den Pleuraraum führt. Je nach Ursache der „Lungenundichtigkeit“ unterscheidet man einen primären (idiopathischen) Spontanpneumothorax (PSP), bei zugrundliegender bekannter Lungenerkrankung einen sekundären Spontanpneumothorax (SSP), im Zusammenhang einer Lungenverletzung durch medizinische Maßnahmen einen iatrogenen Pneumothorax sowie bei einem unfallbedingten Lungenriss
einen traumatischen Pneumothorax. Die relevanten Therapieziele sind die Behebung der akuten Symptomatik, die verlässliche Erreichung einer Wiederausdehnung der Lunge sowie nach entsprechender Aufklärung über die Wahrscheinlichkeit und klinische Bedeutung eines Pneumothoraxrezidives je nach Patientenwunsch die Vermeidung eines Rezidives durch operative Maßnahmen. Die Therapiemöglichkeiten reichen hier von einem lediglich befundkontrollierenden abwartenden ambulanten Prozedere bis hin zu einer primären videoassistierten thorakoskopischen operativen Therapie mit Detektion und Resektion der oberflächlichen Lungenläsion sowie einer die Pleurahöhle obliterierenden Maßnahme zur Rezidivprophylaxe. Bezüglich einer „Nachsorge“ oder gar Verhaltensempfehlungen nach stattgehabtem Pneumothorax gibt es keine Empfehlungen, die die Rezidivgefahr verringern.