bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The perception of patient safety in an alternate site of care for elective surgery during the first wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom: a survey of 158 patients
Authors: Lee George , Clough Oliver T. , Walker Joseph A. , Anakwe Raymond E. 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
We undertook a prospective qualitative survey to ascertain the perceptions and experience of National Health Service patients in the United Kingdom who underwent planned or elective procedures and surgery at alternate ‘clean’ hospital sites during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. These alternate ‘clean’ hospital sites were independent hospitals running active staff and patient testing programmes for COVID-19 and which did not admit or treat patients suffering with COVID-19.

Methods
A prospective survey was undertaken to include patients at least 30 days after a planned surgery or procedure conducted at a ‘clean’ alternate hospital site during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted using structured interviews undertaken by trained assessors. A 20% sample group of patients were randomly selected to participate in this study. Qualitative data related to confidence, safety and perceptions of safety were collected.

Results
Ninety-five patients (60%) reported that they had prior worries or concerns about undergoing an elective procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 47 patients (30%) had delayed their surgery at least once because of these concerns. A total of 150 patients (95%) felt that the precautions in place to protect their safety in the setting of an alternate ‘clean’ hospital site were well thought out and proportionate. Patients reported high levels of confidence in the measures undertaken. Separation of patient pathways using the independent sector and patient testing were identified by patients as having the greatest impact on their perception of safety.

Conclusions
Patient confidence will be key to ensuring uptake of planned and elective procedures and surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceptions of safety will be key to this confidence and efforts to demonstrably enhance safety are well received by patients. In particular, patients felt that a dedicated programme of patient testing and separation of patient pathways provided the greatest levels of confidence in the safety of their treatment.
Microbial lipid production from crude glycerol and hemicellulosic hydrolysate with oleaginous yeasts
Authors: Chmielarz Mikolaj , Blomqvist Johanna , Sampels Sabine , Sandgren Mats , Passoth Volkmar 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Crude glycerol (CG) and hemicellulose hydrolysate (HH) are low—value side-products of biodiesel transesterification and pulp—and paper industry or lignocellulosic ethanol production, respectively, which can be converted to microbial lipids by oleaginous yeasts. This study aimed to test the ability of oleaginous yeasts to utilise CG and HH and mixtures of them as carbon source.

Results
Eleven out of 27 tested strains of oleaginous yeast species were able to grow in plate tests on CG as sole carbon source. Among them, only one ascomycetous strain, belonging to Lipomyces starkeyi, was identified, the other 10 strains were Rhodotorula spec. When yeasts were cultivated in mixed CG/ HH medium, we observed an activation of glycerol conversion in the Rhodotorula strains, but not in L. starkeyi. Two strains—Rhodotorula toruloides CBS 14 and Rhodotorula glutinis CBS 3044 were further tested in controlled fermentations in bioreactors in different mixtures of CG and HH. The highest measured average biomass and lipid concentration were achieved with R. toruloides in 10% HH medium mixed with 55 g/L CG—19.4 g/L and 10.6 g/L, respectively, with a lipid yield of 0.25 g lipids per consumed g of carbon source. Fatty acid composition was similar to other R. toruloides strains and comparable to that of vegetable oils.

Conclusions
There were big strain differences in the ability to convert CG to lipids, as only few of the tested strains were able to grow. Lipid production rates and yields showed that mixing GC and HH have a stimulating effect on lipid accumulation in R. toruloides and R. glutinis resulting in shortened fermentation time to reach maximum lipid concentration, which provides a new perspective on converting these low-value compounds to microbial lipids.
Expression profiles of NOD-like receptors and regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in Toxoplasma gondii-infected human small intestinal epithelial cells
Authors: Chu Jia-Qi , Gao Fei Fei , Wu Weiyun , Li Chunchao , Pan Zhaobin , Sun Jinhui , Wang Hao , Huang Cong , Lee Sang Hyuk , Quan Juan-Hua , Lee Young-Ha 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that primarily infects through the oral route. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors (NLRs) play crucial roles in the immune responses generated during parasitic infection and also drive the inflammatory response against invading parasites. However, little is known about the regulation of NLRs and inflammasome activation in T. gondii-infected human small intestinal epithelial (FHs 74 Int) cells.

Methods
FHs 74 Int cells infected with T. gondii were subsequently evaluated for morphological changes, cytotoxicity, expression profiles of NLRs, inflammasome components, caspase-cleaved interleukins (ILs), and the mechanisms of NLRP3 and NLRP6 inflammasome activation. Immunocytochemistry, lactate dehydrogenase assay, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), real-time quantitative RT-PCR, and western blotting techniques were utilized for analysis.

Results
Under normal and T. gondii-infected conditions, members of the NLRs, inflammasome components and caspase-cleaved ILs were expressed in the FHs Int 74 cells, except for NLRC3, NLRP5, and NLRP9. Among the NLRs, mRNA expression of NOD2, NLRP3, NLRP6, and NAIP1 was significantly increased in T. gondii-infected cells, whereas that of NLRP2, NLRP7, and CIITA mRNAs decreased significantly in a time-dependent manner. In addition, T. gondii infection induced NLRP3, NLRP6 and NLRC4 inflammasome activation and production of IL-1β, IL-18, and IL-33 in FHs 74 Int cells. T. gondii-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation was strongly associated with the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK; however, JNK1/2 had a weak effect. NLRP6 inflammasome activation was not related to the MAPK pathway in FHs 74 Int cells.

Conclusions
This study highlighted the expression profiles of NLRs and unraveled the underlying mechanisms of NLRP3 inflammasome activation in T. gondii-infected FHs 74 Int cells. These findings may contribute to understanding of the mucosal and innate immune responses induced by the NLRs and inflammasomes during T. gondii infection in FHs 74 Int cells.

Graphical Abstract
Exosomes derived from human placental mesenchymal stem cells enhanced the recovery of spinal cord injury by activating endogenous neurogenesis
Authors: Zhou Wenshu , Silva Marta , Feng Chun , Zhao Shumei , Liu Linlin , Li Shuai , Zhong Jingmei , Zheng Wenhua 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a debilitating medical condition that can result in the irreversible loss of sensorimotor function. Current therapies fail to provide an effective recovery being crucial to develop more effective approaches. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) exosomes have been shown to be able to facilitate axonal growth and act as mediators to regulate neurogenesis and neuroprotection, holding great therapeutic potential in SCI conditions. This study aimed to assess the potential of human placental MSC (hpMSC)-derived exosomes on the functional recovery and reactivation of endogenous neurogenesis in an experimental animal model of SCI and to explore the possible mechanisms involved.

Methods
The hpMSC-derived exosomes were extracted and transplanted in an experimental animal model of SCI with complete transection of the thoracic segment. Functional recovery, the expression of neural stem/progenitor cell markers and the occurrence of neurogenesis, was assessed 60 days after the treatment. In vitro, neural stem cells (NSCs) were incubated with the isolated exosomes for 24 h, and the phosphorylation levels of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), and cAMP response element binding (CREB) proteins were assessed by western blot.

Results
Exosomes were successfully isolated and purified from hpMSCs. Intravenous injections of these purified exosomes significantly improved the locomotor activity and bladder dysfunction of SCI animals. Further study of the exosomes’ therapeutic action revealed that hpMSC-derived exosomes promoted the activation of proliferating endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells as denoted by the significant increase of spinal SOX2+GFAP+, PAX6+Nestin+, and SOX1+KI67+ cells. Moreover, animals treated with exosomes exhibited a significative higher neurogenesis, as indicated by the higher percentage of DCX+MAP 2+ neurons. In vitro, hpMSC-derived exosomes promoted the proliferation of NSCs and the increase of the phosphorylated levels of MEK, ERK, and CREB.

Conclusions
This study provides evidence that the use of hpMSC-derived exosomes may constitute a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of SCI.
Will mesenchymal stem cells be future directions for treating radiation-induced skin injury?
Authors: Fang Zhuoqun , Chen Penghong , Tang Shijie , Chen Aizhen , Zhang Chaoyu , Peng Guohao , Li Ming , Chen Xiaosong 
Published: March 2021

AbstractRadiation-induced skin injury (RISI) is one of the common serious side effects of radiotherapy (RT) for patients with malignant tumors. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are applied to RISI repair in some clinical cases series except some traditional options. Though direct replacement of damaged cells may be achieved through differentiation capacity of MSCs, more recent data indicate that various cytokines and chemokines secreted by MSCs are involved in synergetic therapy of RISI by anti-inflammatory, immunomodulation, antioxidant, revascularization, and anti-apoptotic activity. In this paper, we not only discussed different sources of MSCs on the treatment of RISI both in preclinical studies and clinical trials, but also summarized the applications and mechanisms of MSCs in other related regenerative fields.
ChemProps: A RESTful API enabled database for composite polymer name standardization
Authors: Hu Bingyin , Lin Anqi , Brinson L. Catherine 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe inconsistency of polymer indexing caused by the lack of uniformity in expression of polymer names is a major challenge for widespread use of polymer related data resources and limits broad application of materials informatics for innovation in broad classes of polymer science and polymeric based materials. The current solution of using a variety of different chemical identifiers has proven insufficient to address the challenge and is not intuitive for researchers. This work proposes a multi-algorithm-based mapping methodology entitled ChemProps that is optimized to solve the polymer indexing issue with easy-to-update design both in depth and in width. RESTful API is enabled for lightweight data exchange and easy integration across data systems. A weight factor is assigned to each algorithm to generate scores for candidate chemical names and optimized to maximize the minimum value of the score difference between the ground truth chemical name and the other candidate chemical names. Ten-fold validation is utilized on the 160 training data points to prevent overfitting issues. The obtained set of weight factors achieves a 100% test accuracy on the 54 test data points. The weight factors will evolve as ChemProps grows. With ChemProps, other polymer databases can remove duplicate entries and enable a more accurate “search by SMILES” function by using ChemProps as a common name-to-SMILES translator through API calls. ChemProps is also an excellent tool for auto-populating polymer properties thanks to its easy-to-update design.
On preservation of binomial operators
Authors: Zhang Chungou , Meng Xiangying , Zhang Jingwen 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBinomial operators are the most important extension to Bernstein operators, defined by$$ \bigl(L^{Q}_{n} f\bigr) (x)=\frac{1}{b_{n}(1)} \sum ^{n}_{k=0}\binom { n}{k } b_{k}(x)b_{n-k}(1-x)f\biggl( \frac{k}{n}\biggr),\quad f\in C[0, 1], $$(LnQf)(x)=1bn(1)∑k=0n(nk)bk(x)bn−k(1−x)f(kn),f∈C[0,1],where$\{b_{n}\}${bn}is a sequence of binomial polynomials associated to a delta operator Q. In this paper, we discuss the binomial operators$\{L^{Q}_{n} f\}${LnQf}preservation such as smoothness and semi-additivity by the aid of binary representation of the operators, and present several illustrative examples. The results obtained in this paper generalize what are known as the corresponding Bernstein operators.
Approximation by a power series summability method of Kantorovich type Szász operators including Sheffer polynomials
Authors: Loku Valdete , Braha Naim L. , Mansour Toufik , Mursaleen M. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe main purpose of this paper is to use a power series summability method to study some approximation properties of Kantorovich type Szász–Mirakyan operators including Sheffer polynomials. We also establish Voronovskaya type result.
Dynamic behaviors for inertial neural networks with reaction-diffusion terms and distributed delays
Authors: Zheng Famei 
Published: March 2021

AbstractA class of inertial neural networks (INNs) with reaction-diffusion terms and distributed delays is studied. The existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point for the considered system is obtained by topological degree theory, and a sufficient condition is given to guarantee global exponential stability of the equilibrium point. Finally, an example is given to show the effectiveness of the results in this paper.
Genetic and molecular biology of autism spectrum disorder among Middle East population: a review
Authors: Rahmani Zahra , Fayyazi Bordbar Mohammad Reza , Dibaj Mohsen , Alimardani Maliheh , Moghbeli Meysam 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease, characterized by impaired social communication, executive dysfunction, and abnormal perceptual processing. It is more frequent among males. All of these clinical manifestations are associated with atypical neural development. Various genetic and environmental risk factors are involved in the etiology of autism. Genetic assessment is essential for the early detection and intervention which can improve social communications and reduce abnormal behaviors. Although, there is a noticeable ASD incidence in Middle East countries, there is still a lack of knowledge about the genetic and molecular biology of ASD among this population to introduce efficient diagnostic and prognostic methods.

Main body
In the present review, we have summarized all of the genes which have been associated with ASD progression among Middle East population. We have also categorized the reported genes based on their cell and molecular functions.

Conclusions
This review clarifies the genetic and molecular biology of ASD among Middle East population and paves the way of introducing an efficient population based panel of genetic markers for the early detection and management of ASD in Middle East countries.
Tau assemblies do not behave like independently acting prion-like particles in mouse neural tissue
Authors: Miller Lauren V. C. , Mukadam Aamir S. , Durrant Claire S. , Vaysburd Marina J. , Katsinelos Taxiarchis , Tuck Benjamin J. , Sanford Sophie , Sheppard Olivia , Knox Claire , Cheng Shi , James Leo C. , Coleman Michael P. , McEwan William A. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractA fundamental property of infectious agents is their particulate nature: infectivity arises from independently-acting particles rather than as a result of collective action. Assemblies of the protein tau can exhibit seeding behaviour, potentially underlying the apparent spread of tau aggregation in many neurodegenerative diseases. Here we ask whether tau assemblies share with classical pathogens the characteristic of particulate behaviour. We used organotypic hippocampal slice cultures from P301S tau transgenic mice in order to precisely control the concentration of extracellular tau assemblies in neural tissue. Whilst untreated slices displayed no overt signs of pathology, exposure to recombinant tau assemblies could result in the formation of intraneuronal, hyperphosphorylated tau structures. However, seeding ability of tau assemblies did not titrate in a one-hit manner in neural tissue. The results suggest that seeding behaviour of tau arises at high concentrations, with implications for the interpretation of high-dose intracranial challenge experiments and the possible contribution of seeded aggregation to human disease.
Comparability of teachers’ educational background items in TIMSS: a case from Turkey
Authors: Oz Elif 
Published: March 2021

AbstractLarge-scale international assessment studies such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) or Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provide researchers and policy makers the opportunity to conduct secondary analyses to answer questions related to educational outcomes and compare the impact of certain inputs on student outcomes across countries. These comparisons are made under the assumption that the questionnaire items translated to different languages are understood in the same way by its participants. Presenting a case from Turkey, this paper shows that equivalency of questionnaire items is not always achieved. The case explores demographic information related to teacher preparation and the sample is drawn from eighth grade science and mathematics teachers participated in TIMSS 2007, 2011, and 2015 in Turkey. Descriptive analysis of data collected from these teachers and comparisons across subjects and years show that teachers may have misunderstood a question regarding their major, thus limiting potential claims related to teacher preparation in Turkey. Researchers and policy analyst who use secondary data collected by international assessment studies should be aware of such comparability issues in adapted items prior to conducting any secondary analyses.
Influence of dosimetry method on bone lesion absorbed dose estimates in PSMA therapy: application to mCRPC patients receiving Lu-177-PSMA-I&T
Authors: Brosch-Lenz Julia , Uribe Carlos , Gosewisch Astrid , Kaiser Lena , Todica Andrei , Ilhan Harun , Gildehaus Franz Josef , Bartenstein Peter , Rahmim Arman , Celler Anna , Ziegler Sibylle , Böning Guido 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Patients with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) present with an increased tumor burden in the skeleton. For these patients, Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) radioligand therapy targeting the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has gained increasing interest with promising outcome data. Patient-individualized dosimetry enables improvement of therapy success with the aim of minimizing absorbed dose to organs at risk while maximizing absorbed dose to tumors. Different dosimetric approaches with varying complexity and accuracy exist for this purpose. The Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) formalism applied to tumors assumes a homogeneous activity distribution in a sphere with unit density for derivation of tumor S values (TSV). Voxel S value (VSV) approaches can account for heterogeneous activities but are simulated for a specific tissue. Full patient-individual Monte Carlo (MC) absorbed dose simulation addresses both, heterogeneous activity and density distributions. Subsequent CT-based density weighting has the potential to overcome the assumption of homogeneous density in the MIRD formalism with TSV and VSV methods, which could be a major limitation for the application in bone metastases with heterogeneous density. The aim of this investigation is a comparison of these methods for bone lesion dosimetry in mCRPC patients receiving Lu-177-PSMA therapy.

Results
In total, 289 bone lesions in 15 mCRPC patients were analyzed. Percentage difference (PD) of average absorbed dose per lesion compared to MC, averaged over all lesions, was + 14 ± 10% (min: − 21%; max: + 56%) for TSVs. With lesion-individual density weighting using Hounsfield Unit (HU)-to-density conversion on the patient’s CT image, PD was reduced to − 8 ± 1% (min: − 10%; max: − 3%). PD on a voxel level for three-dimensional (3D) voxel-wise dosimetry methods, averaged per lesion, revealed large PDs of + 18 ± 11% (min: − 27%; max: + 58%) for a soft tissue VSV approach compared to MC; after voxel-wise density correction, this was reduced to − 5 ± 1% (min: − 12%; max: − 2%).

Conclusion
Patient-individual MC absorbed dose simulation is capable to account for heterogeneous densities in bone lesions. Since the computational effort prevents its routine clinical application, TSV or VSV dosimetry approaches are used. This study showed the necessity of lesion-individual density weighting for TSV or VSV in Lu-177-PSMA therapy bone lesion dosimetry.
If I told you that there is no need for yellow fever vaccine booster would you still come to the travel clinic?: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Alves Iolanda , Teodósio Rosa , Pereira Filomena 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Background
Yellow Fever (YF) immunization required a single dose vaccine with boosters every 10 years. After International Health Regulation (IHR) amendment annex 7 (July 2016), it was accepted that a single dose confers lifelong immunity. Since pre-travel advice is as important as vaccination when traveling, it is essential to clarify why travelers come to a travel health consultation, with the possibility of IHR amendment having a negative impact on travelers’ health. This study aims to describe travelers’ reasons to come to a pre-travel consultation in Lisbon and if they would return if they wouldn’t need the YF vaccine booster.

Methods
An observational cross-sectional study was conducted during 5 months in the waiting room of Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical travel clinic in Lisbon, Portugal. Travelers were asked about sociodemographic characteristics, destination country, travel duration and reasons to travel in an anonymous self-administered questionnaire.

Results
A total of 1043 travelers agreed to participate in the study. Although 61.0% (627/1028) did not come to the clinic to get the YF vaccine, from those who did, 36.7% (133/362) would not come and 12.9% (47/362) didn’t knew if they would come if the vaccine would not be necessary.

Conclusion
The IHR amendment may have a negative impact on travel clinic attendance and on travelers´ health.
Stretching and shearing contamination analysis for Liutex and other vortex identification methods
Authors: Shrestha Pushpa , Nottage Charles , Yu Yifei , Alvarez Oscar , Liu Chaoqun 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe newly developed vortex-identification method, Liutex, has provided a new systematic description of the local fluid rotation, which includes scalar, vector, and tensor forms. However, the advantages of Liutex over the other widely used vortex-identification methods such asQ, ∆,λ2, and λcihave not been realized. These traditional methods count on shearing and stretching as a part of vortex strength. But, in the real flow, shearing and stretching do not contribute to fluid rotation. In this paper, the decomposition of the velocity gradient tensor is conducted in the Principal Coordinate for uniqueness. Then the contamination effects of stretching and shearing of the traditional methods are investigated and compared with the Liutex method in terms of mathematical analysis and numerical calculations. The results show that the Liutex method is the only method that is not affected by either stretching or shear, as it represents only the local fluid rigid rotation. These results provide supporting evidence that Liutex is the superior method over others.