bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patients’ knowledge of diabetes foot complications and self-management practices in Ghana: A phenomenological study
Authors: Bossman Irene Fosuhemaa , Dare Shadrach , Oduro Bright Anyimah , Baffour Prince Kyei , Hinneh Thomas Kwadwo , Nally Jane Elizabeth 
Published: August 2021

Background
The prevalence of diabetes is increasing in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and over two-thirds of these are not diagnosed. Consequently, diabetes complications usually exist at the time of diagnosis. Foot ulcers is a leading cause of disability and mortality among diabetes patients.

Purpose
To assess the knowledge and experiences of adult patients with Diabetes on diabetes complications and self-management practices with emphasis on foot care.

Methodology
This applied phenomenological study design. Twenty patients attending Diabetes clinics were purposively sampled from two hospitals in Ghana. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate patient’s understanding of diabetes and self-management practices. The interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and analysed to generate themes using the constant comparison method.

Results
Three-quarters of the participants in the study correctly defined diabetes as high blood glucose levels, but few knew the risk factors and complications of diabetes. Stroke and Hypertension were the most popular complications known, whiles diabetes foot complications were the least known. Almost all participants showed awareness of dietary self-management practices, but few had limited knowledge in foot care practices.

Conclusion
Diabetes education in LMICs should promote self-management practices, especially foot care and clear dietary guidelines. There is also opportunity to invest in specialist diabetes training for healthcare providers and increase community-based care for people living with diabetes in Ghana.
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and ambient air pollution: A dose-effect relationship and an association with OHCA incidence
Authors: Gentile Francesca Romana , Primi Roberto , Baldi Enrico , Compagnoni Sara , Mare Claudio , Contri Enrico , Reali Francesca , Bussi Daniele , Facchin Fabio , Currao Alessia , Bendotti Sara , Savastano Simone ,   Lombardia CARe researchers
Published: August 2021

Background
Pollution has been suggested as a precipitating factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, data about the link between air pollution and the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) are limited and controversial.

Methods
By collecting data both in the OHCA registry and in the database of the regional agency for environmental protection (ARPA) of the Lombardy region, all medical OHCAs and the mean daily concentration of pollutants including fine particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5), benzene (C6H6), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3) were considered from January 1st to December 31st, 2019 in the southern part of the Lombardy region (provinces of Pavia, Lodi, Cremona and Mantua; 7863 km2; about 1550000 inhabitants). Days were divided into high or low incidence of OHCA according to the median value. A Probit dose-response analysis and both uni- and multivariable logistic regression models were provided for each pollutant.

Results
The concentrations of all the pollutants were significantly higher in days with high incidence of OHCA except for O3, which showed a significant countertrend. After correcting for temperature, a significant dose-response relationship was demonstrated for all the pollutants examined. All the pollutants were also strongly associated with high incidence of OHCA in multivariable analysis with correction for temperature, humidity, and day-to-day concentration changes.

Conclusions
Our results clarify the link between pollutants and the acute risk of cardiac arrest suggesting the need of both improving the air quality and integrating pollution data in future models for the organization of emergency medical services.
Mitral surgical redo versus transapical transcatheter mitral valve implantation
Authors: Zubarevich Alina , Szczechowicz Marcin , Arjomandi Rad Arian , Vardanyan Robert , Marx Philipp , Lind Alexander , Jánosi Rolf Alexander , Roosta-Azad Mehdy , Malik Rizwan , Kamler Markus , Thielmann Matthias , El Gabry Mohamed , Schmack Bastian , Ruhparwar Arjang , Weymann Alexander , Wendt Daniel 
Published: August 2021

BackgroundTranscatheter methods have been rapidly evolving to provide an alternative less invasive therapeutic option, mainly because redo patients often present with multiple comorbidities and high operative risk. We sought to evaluate and compare our experience with transapical transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TA-TMVR) to conventional redo mitral valve replacement in patients presenting with degenerated biological mitral valve prostheses or failed valve annuloplasty.Methods and materialBetween March 2012 and November 2020, 74 consecutive high-risk patients underwent surgical redo mitral valve replacement (n = 33) or TA-TMVR (n = 41) at our institution. All patients presented with a history of a surgical mitral valve procedure. All transcatheter procedures were performed using the SAPIEN XT/3™ prostheses. Data collection was prospectively according to MVARC criteria.ResultsThe mean logistic EuroSCORE-II of the whole cohort was 19.9±16.7%, and the median STS-score was 11.1±12.5%. The mean age in the SMVR group was 63.7±12.8 years and in the TMVR group 73.6±9.7 years. Patients undergoing TA-TMVR presented with significantly higher risk scores. Echocardiography at follow up showed no obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract, no paravalvular leakage and excellent transvalvular gradients in both groups (3.9±1.2 mmHg and 4.2±0.8 mmHg in the surgical and transcatheter arm respectively). There was no difference in postoperative major adverse events between the groups with no strokes in the whole cohort. Both methods showed similar survival rates at one year and a 30-day mortality of 15.2% and 9.8% in SAVR and TMVR group, respectively. Despite using contrast dye in the transcatheter group, the rate of postoperative acute kidney failure was similar between the groups.ConclusionDespite several contraindications for surgery, we showed the non-inferiority of TA-TMVR compared to conventional surgical redo procedures in high-risk patients. With its excellent hemodynamic and similar survival rate, TA-TMVR offers a feasible alternative to the conventional surgical redo procedure in selected patients.
Changes in adiposity, physical activity, cardiometabolic risk factors, diet, physical capacity and well-being in inactive women and men aged 57-74 years with obesity and cardiovascular risk – A 6-month complex lifestyle intervention with 6-month follow-up
Authors: Hopstock Laila A. , Deraas Trygve S. , Henriksen Andre , Martiny-Huenger Torsten , Grimsgaard Sameline 
Published: August 2021

A key challenge in lifestyle interventions is long-term maintenance of favorable lifestyle changes. Middle-aged and older adults are important target groups. The purpose of this analysis was to investigate changes in adiposity, physical activity, cardiometabolic risk factors, diet, physical capacity, and well-being, in inactive middle-aged and older women and men with obesity and elevated cardiovascular disease risk, participating in an interdisciplinary single-arm complex lifestyle intervention pilot study. Participants were recruited from the population-based Tromsø Study 2015–2016 with inclusion criteria age 55–74 years, body mass index (BMI) ≥30kg/m2, sedentary lifestyle, no prior myocardial infarction and elevated cardiovascular risk. Participants (11 men and 5 women aged 57–74 years) underwent a 6-month intervention of two 1-hour group-sessions per week with instructor-led gradually intensified exercise (endurance and strength), one individual and three 2-hour group counselling sessions with nutritionist (Nordic Nutrition Recommendations) and psychologist (Implementation intention strategies). We investigated changes in adiposity (weight, BMI, body composition, waist circumference), physical activity (self-reported and via physical activity trackers), cardiometabolic risk factors (blood pressure, HbA1c, blood lipids), diet (intake of energy, nutrients, foods), physical capacity (aerobic capacity, muscle strength), and psychological well-being, measured at baseline and end-of-intervention, using mean-comparison paired t-tests. Further, we investigated self-reported healthy lifestyle maintenance six months after end-of-intervention, and monthly changes in daily step count, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and total energy expenditure. From baseline to end-of-intervention, there was a mean decrease in weight, BMI, fat mass, waist circumference, intake of total- and saturated fat, and increase in lean mass, lateral pulldown and leg press. We detected no changes in mean levels of physical activity, cardiometabolic risk factors or well-being. Six months after end-of-intervention, 25% responded healthy lifestyle achievement and maintenance, while objectively measured physical activity remained unchanged. The results are useful for development of a protocol for a full-scale trial.
Trial registration: The study was registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov registry (NCT03807323).
Eosinophilic Colitis in Recurrent Sigmoid Volvulus
Authors: Zucker Kelly , Pradhan Faruq , Gomez Adam , Nanda Rakesh 
Published: August 2021

ABSTRACT
Eosinophilic colitis (EC) falls along the spectrum of a series of inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders in which eosinophils infiltrate the gut without known tissue eosinophilia. Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders include eosinophilic esophagitis, eosinophilic gastritis, and the least common EC. The presentation of EC is extremely variable in mucosal, submucosal, and transmural inflammation. We present a case of recurrent volvulus with histologic findings of eosinophilia.
De Novo Crohn's Disease Triggered After COVID-19: Is COVID-19 More Than an Infectious Disease?
Authors: Senthamizhselvan Kuppusamy , Ramalingam Rajendran , Mohan Pazhanivel , Kavadichanda Chengappa , Badhe Bhawana , Hamide Abdoul 
Published: August 2021

ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated immune dysregulation is believed to trigger the onset of various autoimmune diseases. These occur either during active COVID-19 or soon after recovery. We report ileocolonic Crohn's disease in a 35-year-old woman after her recovery from a milder form of COVID-19. She achieved remission of her symptoms with oral corticosteroids and sulfasalazine.
Polypharmacy in elderly patients with falls
Authors: Khovasova N. O. , Naumov A. V. , Tkacheva O. N. , Dudinskaya E. N. , Moroz V. I. 
Published: August 2021

Background: Falls in elderly–a multifactorial syndrome. One of the modifiable factors is polypharmacy. STOPP/START criteria are used for correction of polypharmacy in geriatrics.Aim: Assessment of the prevalence of polypharmacy, analysis and correction of pharmacotherapy using STOPP/START criteria in patients with falls.Materials and methods: The study included 655 patients hospitalized in the geriatric department over 60 years of age, who were divided into two groups. Group 1 (n=332, 50.7%)–patients with 1 or more falls, group 2 (n=323,49.3%)–patients without falls. The analysis of the received therapy before hospitalization was performed. After that, based on the indications, contraindications and STOPP/START criteria, drug therapy was corrected in patients with falls.Results: Patients of group 1 took 4.5±2.18 drugs, group 2–4.3±2.6. Polypharmacy was diagnosed in 150 (45.2%) patients with falls and in 122 (37.8%) patients without falls. Patients with falls were more likely to receive sleeping pills, NSAIDs. Univariate analysis showed that falls were associated with NSAIDs (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.38–3.35, p=0.001) and sleeping pills (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.02–4.02, p=0.047). An audit and correction of therapy was performed: in 108 (32.5%) patients the number of prescribed drugs was reduced. Patients with falls were prescribed statins, antidementia drugs, anticonvulsants and antidepressants as components of therapy for chronic pain syndrome, chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine sulfate for the treatment of osteoarthritis, calcium and antiresorbtive therapy, antianemic drugs, vitamin D. Antiplatelet agents, digoxin, sleeping pills and NSAIDs were less frequently prescribed. STOPP/START criteria and their frequency in patients with falls were analyzed. 141 cases of potentially non-recommended but prescribed medications were identified. STOPP criteria were for the administration of NSAIDs (n=53, 37.6%) and acetylsalicylic acid (n=62, 44%). There were 458 cases of potentially recommended but not prescribed medications. The most common START criteria were not for the administration of vitamin D and statins.Conclusion. Half of elderly patients with falls have polypharmacy. These patients are more likely to take sleeping pills and NSAIDs. STOPP criteria most often concerned the appointment of NSAIDs and acetylsalicylic acid, and the START criteria revealed the absence of the appointment of vitamin D and statins.
Alchemy in the Cairo Genizah: the Nachlass of an untidy Jewish alchemist
Authors: Ferrario Gabriele 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Among the hundreds of thousands of fragments of mediaeval manuscripts found in the genizah of the Ben Ezra Synagogue of al-Fusṭāṭ (Old Cairo), a noteworthy corpus of alchemical material preserves alchemical recipes and theoretical works that have the potential to shed light on the oft-debated question of the involvement of Jews in alchemy during the Middle Ages. After an assessment of the status quaestionis, this article offers an introduction to the corpus and to its codicological, palaeographic and linguistic features, and focusses on a discreet number of fragments that were composed by the same alchemist/copyist. The first Judaeo-Arabic edition, Arabic transcription and English translation of a selection of passages from these fragments is presented, together with discussion of their contents. While the first of the fragments is a collection of practical alchemical recipes, the second fragment preserves the Judaeo-Arabic version of a work by the famous alchemist Jābir ibn Ḥayyān that was previously considered lost.
Biodegradable macromers for implant bulk and surface engineering
Authors: Krieghoff Jan , Gronbach Mathis , Schulz-Siegmund Michaela , Hacker Michael C. 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Macromers, polymeric molecules with at least two functional groups for cross-polymerization, are interesting materials to tailor mechanical, biochemical and degradative bulk and surface properties of implants for tissue regeneration. In this review we focus on macromers with at least one biodegradable building block. Manifold design options, such as choice of polymeric block(s), optional core molecule and reactive groups, as well as cross-co-polymerization with suitable anchor or linker molecules, allow the adaptation of macromer-based biomaterials towards specific application requirements in both hard and soft tissue regeneration. Implants can be manufactured from macromers using additive manufacturing as well as molding and templating approaches. This review summarizes and discusses the overall concept of biodegradable macromers and recent approaches for macromer processing into implants as well as techniques for surface modification directed towards bone regeneration. These aspects are reviewed including a focus on the authors’ contributions to the field through research within the collaborative research project Transregio 67.
Satire as safety valve: moving beyond a mistaken metaphor
Authors: Declercq Dieter , El Khachab Chihab 
Published: August 2021

AbstractThe safety valve metaphor is ubiquitous in scholarship on satire and usually implies that, although the genre seems intent on upsetting the political order, it really has unintended conservative effects which maintain the status quo. Although there is previous criticism of the safety valve theory, which focuses on the inadequacy of its empirical predictions or the flawed theoretical foundations of the associated relief theory of humor, the metaphor remains in common use – and continues to obscure our understanding of satire’s political effects. What remains overlooked in humor studies is the fundamental mistakenness of the metaphor itself. We argue that comparing satire to a safety valve always implies a reasoning about the genre which is mistaken because the mechanistic function of a safety valve cannot be informatively mapped onto the political effects of satire. As a result, the safety valve metaphor is problematically opaque (because its actual meaning is unclear) and elastic (because it means whatever anyone wants it to mean). The metaphor fails to elucidate how satire works even in authoritarian political contexts, like Egypt, which should, in principle, act as a fertile ground for its purported function as a safety valve.
Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC): fear it or dare it? An evaluation of potential risk factors
Authors: Lazarou Anastasia , Oestergaard Magdalena , Netzl Johanna , Siedentopf Jan-Peter , Henrich Wolfgang 
Published: August 2021

Abstract

Objectives
The consultation of women aspiring a vaginal birth after caesarean may be improved by integrating the individual evaluation of factors that predict their chance of success. Retrospective analysis of correlating factors for all trials of labor after caesarean that were conducted at the Department of Obstetrics of Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Clinic from 2014 to October 2017.

Methods
Of 2,151 pregnant women with previous caesarean, 408 (19%) attempted a vaginal birth after cesarean. A total of 348 women could be included in the evaluation of factors, 60 pregnant women were excluded because they had obstetric factors (for example preterm birth, intrauterine fetal death) that required a different management.

Results
Spontaneous delivery occurred in 180 (51.7%) women and 64 (18.4%) had a vacuum extraction. 104 (29.9%) of the women had a repeated caesarean delivery. The three groups showed significant differences in body mass index, the number of prior vaginal deliveries and the child’s birth weight at cesarean section. The indication for the previous cesarean section also represents a significant influencing factor. Other factors such as maternal age, gestational age, sex, birth weight and the head circumference of the child at trial of labor after caesarean showed no significant influence.

Conclusions
The clear majority (70.1%) of trials of labor after caesarean resulted in vaginal delivery. High body mass index, no previous spontaneous delivery, and fetal distress as a cesarean indication correlated negatively with a successful vaginal birth after cesarean. These factors should be used for the consultation of pregnant women.
Media debates over the renaming of the cityscape
Authors: Fabiszak Małgorzata , Rubdy Rani 
Published: August 2021

AbstractThis contribution presents two case studies: Poznań in Poland and New Delhi in India, focusing on the media coverage surrounding the re-naming of one street in each location. We apply a uniform method – the Discourse Historical Approach – to analyse newspaper articles, below-the-line comments and Internet forum discussions. As symbolic marking of the territory can be recruited for a political agenda going beyond memory politics, this article not only investigates the public controversy surrounding the (re-)naming of the cityscape, but also addresses the questions of how these debates link inter-discursively with other issues in contemporary politics, such as the independence of the judiciary in Poland and social justice in India.
Transverse shifts and time delays of spatiotemporal vortex pulses reflected and refracted at a planar interface
Authors: Mazanov Maxim , Sugic Danica , Alonso Miguel A. , Nori Franco , Bliokh Konstantin Y. 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Transverse (Hall-effect) and Goos–Hänchen shifts of light beams reflected/refracted at planar interfaces are important wave phenomena, which can be significantly modified and enhanced by the presence of intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM) in the beam. Recently, optical spatiotemporal vortex pulses (STVPs) carrying a purely transverse intrinsic OAM were predicted theoretically and generated experimentally. Here we consider the reflection and refraction of such pulses at a planar isotropic interface. We find theoretically and confirm numerically novel types of OAM-dependent transverse and longitudinal pulse shifts. Remarkably, the longitudinal shifts can be regarded as time delays, which appear, in contrast to the well-known Wigner time delay, without temporal dispersion of the reflection/refraction coefficients. Such time delays allow one to realize OAM-controlled slow (subluminal) and fast (superluminal) pulse propagation without medium dispersion. These results can have important implications in various problems involving scattering of localized vortex states carrying transverse OAM.
AI and robotics to help older adults: Revisiting projects in search of lessons learned
Authors: Cortellessa Gabriella , De Benedictis Riccardo , Fracasso Francesca , Orlandini Andrea , Umbrico Alessandro , Cesta Amedeo 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
This article is a retrospective overview of work performed in the domain of Active Assisted Living over a span of almost 18 years. The authors have been creating and refining artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics solutions to support older adults in maintaining their independence and improving their quality of life. The goal of this article is to identify strong features and general lessons learned from those experiences and conceive guidelines and new research directions for future deployment, also relying on an analysis of similar research efforts. The work considers key points that have contributed to increase the success of the innovative solutions grounding them on known technology acceptance models. The analysis is presented with a threefold perspective: A Technological vision illustrates the characteristics of the support systems to operate in a real environment with continuity, robustness, and safety; a Socio-Health perspective highlights the role of experts in the socio-assistance domain to provide contextualized and personalized help based on actual people’s needs; finally, a Human dimension takes into account the personal aspects that influence the interaction with technology in the long term experience. The article promotes the crucial role of AI and robotics in ensuring intelligent and situated assistive behaviours. Finally, considering that the produced solutions are socio-technical systems, the article suggests a transdisciplinary approach in which different relevant disciplines merge together to have a complete, coordinated, and more informed vision of the problem.