bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Choroid plexus enlargement is associated with neuroinflammation and reduction of blood brain barrier permeability in depression
Authors: Althubaity Noha , Schubert Julia , Martins Daniel , Yousaf Tayyabah , Nettis Maria A. , Mondelli Valeria , Pariante Carmine , Harrison Neil A. , Bullmore Edward T. , Dima Danai , Turkheimer Federico E. , Veronese Mattia ,   the NIMA Consortium
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundRecent studies have shown that choroid plexuses (CP) may be involved in the neuro-immune axes, playing a role in the interaction between the central and peripheral inflammation. Here we aimed to investigate CP volume alterations in depression and their associations with inflammation.Methods51 depressed participants (HDRS score >13) and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) from the Wellcome Trust NIMA consortium were re-analysed for the study. All the participants underwent full peripheral cytokine profiling and simultaneous [11C]PK11195 PET/structural MRI imaging for measuring neuroinflammation and CP volume respectively.ResultsWe found a significantly greater CP volume in depressed subjects compared to HCs (t(76) = +2.17) that was positively correlated with [11C]PK11195 PET binding in the anterior cingulate cortex (r=0.28, p=0.02), prefrontal cortex (r=0.24, p=0.04), and insular cortex (r=0.24, p=0.04), but not with the peripheral inflammatory markers: CRP levels (r=0.07, p=0.53), IL-6 (r=-0.08, p=0.61), and TNF-α (r=-0.06, p=0.70). The CP volume correlated with the [11C]PK11195 PET binding in CP (r=0.34, p=0.005). Integration of transcriptomic data from the Allen Human Brain Atlas with the brain map depicting the correlations between CP volume and PET imaging found significant gene enrichment for several pathways involved in neuroinflammatory response.ConclusionThis result supports the hypothesis that changes in brain barriers may cause reduction in solute exchanges between blood and CSF, disturbing the brain homeostasis and ultimately contributing to inflammation in depression. Given that CP anomalies have been recently detected in other brain disorders, these results may not be specific to depression and might extend to other conditions with a peripheral inflammatory component.
Unraveling diagnostic co-morbidity makeup of each HF category as characteristically derived by ECG- and ECHO-findings
Authors: Zaman Azfar , Nogueira Marta Afonso , Szabo Erzsebet , Berta-Szabo Aniko , Zoccai Giuseppe Biondi , Campbell Niall , Koulaouzidis Georgios , Tsipas Dionissios , Kecskes Istvan 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundEchocardiography (ECHO) is not widely available in primary care, the key structural (chamber enlargements) and functional abnormality are not easily available precluding the ability to diagnose HF other than through mainly symptomatic means. The opportunity for earlier detection of HF is lost.MethodsUsing a unique database, the etiology of HF is explored by prevalence analysis to unravel the diagnostic makeup of each HF category. Various relationships and patterns of comorbidities have been extracted between the Electrocardiogram (ECG) and ECHO parameters that contribute to HF, those relationships are then confirmed and categorized by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Finally, it was summarized what type of non-invasive ECG-like device should be used in primary care to better diagnose HF.ResultsThe sensitivity of abnormal ECHO reaches 92% over the abnormal ECG of 81% in the detection of HF. The first five PCA are discovered, which cover 49% of all the variance. Left atrial enlargement is the most representative finding in the overall comorbidity rate, which coincides with the probability direction of HF (3rdas input, 1stas finding in the coefficients), and reaches the highest (250%) prevalence increase in function of decreasing LVEF.ConclusionsThe core structural and functional abnormalities diagnosed by ECHO with the ECG interpretation provide sufficient information to diagnose “consider HF” in primary care. This paper overview of a novel bio-signal-based system supported by Artificial Intelligence, able to replicate Echo-findings, predict HF and indicates its phenotype, suitable for use in Primary Care.
Predicting the unpredictable: how dynamic COVID-19 policies and restrictions challenge model forecasts
Authors: Houdroge Farah , Palmer Anna , Delport Dominic , Walsh Tom , Kelly Sherrie L , Hainsworth Samuel W , Abeysuriya Romesh , Stuart Robyn M , Kerr Cliff C , Coplan Paul , Wilson David P , Scott Nick 
Published: October 2021

AbstractIntroductionTo retrospectively assess the accuracy of a mathematical modelling study that projected the rate of COVID-19 diagnoses for 72 locations worldwide in 2021, and to identify predictors of model accuracy.MethodsBetween June and August 2020, an agent-based model was used to project rates of COVID-19 infection incidence and cases diagnosed as positive from 15 September to 31 October 2020 for 72 geographic settings. Five scenarios were modelled: a baseline scenario where no future changes were made to existing restrictions, and four scenarios representing small or moderate changes in restrictions at two intervals. Post hoc, upper and lower bounds for number of diagnosed Covid-19 cases were compared with actual data collected during the prediction window. A regression analysis with 17 covariates was performed to determine correlates of accurate projections.ResultsThe actual data fell within the lower and upper bounds in 27 settings and out of bounds in 45 settings. The only statistically significant predictor of actual data within the predicted bounds was correct assumptions about future policy changes (OR = 15.04; 95%CI 2.20-208.70; p=0.016).ConclusionsFor this study, the accuracy of COVID-19 model projections was dependent on whether assumptions about future policies are correct. Frequent changes in restrictions implemented by governments, which the modelling team was not always able to predict, in part explains why the majority of model projections were inaccurate compared with actual outcomes and supports revision of projections when policies are changed as well as the importance of policy experts collaborating on modelling projects.
A Computational Growth Framework for Biological Tissues: Application to Growth of Aortic Root Aneurysm Repaired by the V-shape Surgery
Authors: Dong Hai , Liu Minliang , Qin Tongran , Liang Liang , Ziganshin Bulat , Ellauzi Hesham , Zafar Mohammad , Jang Sophie , Elefteriades John , Sun Wei , Gleason Rudolph L. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractAscending aortic aneurysms (AsAA) often include the dilatation of sinotubular junction (STJ) which usually leads to aortic insufficiency. The novel surgery of the V-shape resection of the noncoronary sinus, for treatment of AsAA with root ectasia, has been shown to be a simpler procedure compared to traditional surgeries. Our previous study showed that the repaired aortic root aneurysms grew after the surgery. In this study, we developed a novel computational growth framework to model the growth of the aortic root repaired by the V-shape surgery. Specifically, the unified-fiber-distribution (UFD) model was applied to describe the hyperelastic deformation of the aortic tissue. A novel kinematic growth evolution law was proposed based on existing observations that the growth rate is linearly dependent on the wall stress. Moreover, we also obtained patient-specific geometries of the repaired aortic root post-surgery at two follow-up time points (Post1 and Post2) for 5 patients, based on clinical CT images. The novel computational growth framework was implemented into the Abaqus UMAT user subroutine and applied to model the growth of the aortic root from Post1 to Post2. Patient-specific growth parameters were obtained by an optimization procedure. The predicted geometry and stress of the aortic root at Post2 agree well with the in vivo results. The novel computational growth framework and the optimized growth parameters could be applied to predict the growth of repaired aortic root aneurysms for new patients and to optimize repair strategies for AsAA.
Experience(s) of the medical profession: A qualitative study using narrative facilitators
Authors: Bourquin Céline , Orsini Sandy , Stiefel Friedrich 
Published: October 2021

AbstractPhysicians’ narratives are means to approach and comprehend their experiences. They reveal the practice of medicine, and inform about the physicians’ embedment in their work and the healthcare context. This study aimed to examine physicians’ experience by means of interviews based on “narrative facilitators”, which goal is to encourage storytelling and to support the narrative process. Core stories were elaborated on the key aspects that emerged from the analysis. Thirty-three physicians participated in the study. The findings showed a focus on the transformations of a profession, the need for physicians to adapt in terms of role and status, and their withstanding of conflicting projections from the public and patients. The institutional context was described as darkness in which physicians are moving. When reacting to the quotes from their peers, participants showed a variety of un-patterned stances with regard to different aspects of medicine and the medical profession. Findings also indicated that as narrators, physicians may have particular difficulties accessing their inner world. Disenchanted physicians are not beneficial, neither for the patient nor for the health care system, and their feeling of being worn out may do harm and is certainly negatively affecting themselves and their families.
Association between time spent with family and loneliness among Japanese workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Fujii Rintaro , Konno Yusuke , Tateishi Seiichiro , Hino Ayako , Tsuji Mayumi , Ikegami Kazunori , Nagata Masako , Yoshimura Reiji , Matsuda Shinya , Fujino Yoshihisa ,   for the CORoNaWork Project
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had large impacts on society, including people practicing social distancing. This behavioral response has increased loneliness. Loneliness not only increases the risk of psychiatric disorders, but also affects occupational mental health. To avoid the negative effects of isolation, it is important to have social contact with other people, especially family members. Employment and economic instability caused by COVID-19 may have also affected family relationships. It is important to understand the association between family relationships and loneliness in workers under the pandemic.MethodsWe collected usable data from 27,036 Japanese workers who completed an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were asked how long they spend with members of their family during mealtimes or at home, and if they experienced loneliness; the latter was assessed by a single question. Other questions included whether participants lived with their spouse, or with someone in need of care. To estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of time with family associated with loneliness we used a multilevel logistic model nested in the prefecture of residence, with adjustments for age, sex, marital status, presence of a cohabitant requiring care, equivalent income, educational level, frequency of remote work, availability of someone for casual chat, smoking, drinking, time for leisure interests, and cumulative rates of COVID-19 in the prefecture.ResultsTen percent (2,750) of the 27,036 participants reported loneliness. The survey showed a significant negative correlation between time spent with family and loneliness (p<0.001): participants who spent more time with family were less likely to feel loneliness. In addition, not living with a spouse and living with someone in need of care were associated with loneliness (not living with a spouse: p<0.001; living with someone in need of care: p<0.001).ConclusionLoneliness under COVID-19 pandemic conditions was negatively associated with time spent with family members, with the converse result found for participants cohabiting with someone in need of care. These associations suggest the potential value of changes to working practices and interventions to combat loneliness.
Community social vulnerability and access to medications for opioid use disorder within the continental US: A cross-sectional study
Authors: Joudrey Paul J. , Kolak Marynia , Lin Qinyun , Paykin Susan , Anguiano Vidal , Wang Emily A. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic, like past natural disasters, was associated with significant disruptions in medications for opioid use disorder services and increased opioid overdose and mortality. We examined the association between community vulnerability to disasters and pandemics and geographic access to each of the three medications for opioid use disorder within the continental US and if this association was impacted by urban, suburban, or rural classification. We found communities with greater vulnerability did not have greater geographic access to medications for opioid use disorder and the mismatch between vulnerability and medication access was greatest in suburban communities. Rural communities had poor geographic access to all three medications regardless of vulnerability. Future disaster preparedness planning should include anticipation of access to medications for opioid use disorder and better match the location of services to communities with greater vulnerability to prevent inequities in opioid overdose deaths.
Structural synaptic signatures of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies in the male brain
Authors: Glebov Oleg O. , Williamson David , Owen Dylan M. , Hortobágyi Tibor , Troakes Claire , Aarsland Dag 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe impact of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) on synaptic organisation remains poorly understood. Here, we found that in humans, DLB and AD were associated with increased synaptic levels of glutamate transporter vGlut1 and active zone protein Bassoon clustering respectively; these effects were only observed in male brain samples. These findings demonstrate disease- and sex-specific presynaptic structural remodelling in age-related neurodegenerative disorders.
Modelling of COVID-19 pandemic vis-à-vis some socio-economic factors
Authors: Oshinubi Kayode , Rachdi Mustapha , Demongeot Jacques 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe impacts of COVID-19 outbreak on socio-economic status of countries across the globe cannot be overemphasized as we examine the role it played in various countries. A lot of people were out of jobs, many households were careful of their spending and a greater social fracture of the population in fourteen different countries has emerged. We considered periods of infection spread during the first and second wave in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and countries in Africa, that is developed and developing countries alongside their social-economic data. We established a mathematical and statistical relationship between Theil and Gini index, then we studied the relationship between the data from epidemiology and socio-economic determinants using several machine learning and deep learning methods. High correlations were observed between some of the socio-economic and epidemiologic parameters and we predicted three of the socio-economic variables in order to validate our results. These result shows a sharp difference between the first and second wave of the pandemic confirming the real dynamics of the spread of the outbreak in several countries and ways by which it was mitigated.
SARS-CoV-2 infections elicit higher levels of original antigenic sin antibodies compared to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations
Authors: Anderson Elizabeth M. , Eilola Theresa , Goodwin Eileen , Bolton Marcus J. , Gouma Sigrid , Goel Rishi R. , Painter Mark M. , Apostolidis Sokratis A. , Mathew Divij , Dunbar Debora , Fiore Danielle , Brock Amanda , Weaver JoEllen , Millar John S. , DerOhannessian Stephanie ,   The UPenn COVID Processing Unit, Greenplate Allison R. , Frank Ian , Rader Daniel J. , Wherry E. John , Hensley Scott E. 
Published: October 2021

SUMMARYSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccines elicit higher levels of antibodies compared to natural SARS-CoV-2 infections in most individuals; however, the specificities of antibodies elicited by vaccination versus infection remain incompletely understood. Here, we characterized the magnitude and specificity of SARS-CoV-2 spike-reactive antibodies from 10 acutely infected health care workers and 23 participants who received mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. We found that infection and primary mRNA vaccination elicited S1 and S2-reactive antibodies, while secondary vaccination boosted mostly S1 antibodies. Using magnetic bead-based absorption assays, we found that SARS-CoV-2 infections elicited a large proportion of original antigenic sin-like antibodies that bound efficiently to common seasonal human coronaviruses but poorly to SARS-CoV-2. In converse, vaccination only modestly boosted antibodies reactive to common seasonal human coronaviruses and these antibodies bound efficiently to SARS-CoV-2. Our data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations elicit fundamentally different antibody responses compared to SARS-CoV-2 infections.Abstract FigureHIGHLIGHTSSARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines elicit higher levels of antibodies compared to SARS-CoV-2 infectionsThe first dose of an mRNA vaccine generates both S1 and S2 responses while the second dose boosts primarily S1-specific antibodiesSARS-CoV-2 infections, but not mRNA vaccinations, elicit high levels of antibodies that bind strongly to seasonal coronaviruses but weakly to SARS-CoV-2
Estimates of pandemic excess mortality in India based on civil registration data
Authors: Banaji Murad , Gupta Aashish 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe population health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are less well understood in low-and middle-income countries, where mortality surveillance before the pandemic was patchy. Interpreting the limited all-cause mortality data available in India is challenging.ObjectiveWe use existing data on all-cause mortality from civil registration systems of twelve Indian states comprising around 60% of the national population to understand the scale and timing of excess deaths in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe carefully characterize the reasons why registration is incomplete and estimate the extent of coverage in the data. Comparing the pandemic period to 2019, we estimate excess mortality in twelve Indian states, and extrapolate our estimates to the rest of India. We explore sensitivity of the estimates to various assumptions.ResultsFor the 12 states with available all-cause mortality data, we document an increase of 28% in deaths during April 2020–May 2021 relative to expectations from 2019. This level of increase in mortality, if it applies nationally, would imply 2.8–2.9 million excess deaths. More limited data from June 2021 increases national estimates of excess deaths during April 2020–June 2021 to 3.8 million. With more optimistic or pessimistic assumptions, excess deaths during this period could credibly lie between 2.8 million and 5.2 million. The scale of estimated excess deaths is broadly consistent with expectations based on seroprevalence data and international data on COVID-19 fatality rates. Moreover, the timing of excess deaths and recorded COVID-19 deaths is similar – they rise and fall at the same time.ConclusionsThe surveillance of pandemic mortality in India has been extremely poor, with around 8–10 times as many excess deaths as officially recorded COVID-19 deaths. India is among the countries most severely impacted by the pandemic. Our approach highlights the utility of all-cause mortality data, as well as the significant challenges in interpreting it.
Sex, Military Occupation, and Rank Are Associated with Risk of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Tactical-Athletes
Authors: Aguero Aubrey D , Irrgang James J , MacGregor Andrew J , Rothenberger Scott D , Hart Joseph M , Fraser John J 
Published: October 2021

ABSTRACTBackgrounACL injury is frequent within the U.S. military and represents a significant loss to readiness. Since recent changes to operational tempo, there has not been an analysis of ACL injury risk. There is sparse evidence on salient risk factors for ACL injury across all service members.Hypothesis/PurposeThe aim of this study is to evaluate military occupation, sex, rank, and branch of service on ACL injury risk in the U.S. military from 2006 to 2018.Study DesignDescriptive Epidemiology Study.MethodsThe Defense Medical Epidemiology Database was queried for the number of U.S. military members with ICD diagnosis codes 717.83 (Old disruption of ACL), 844.2 (Sprain of knee cruciate ligament), M23.61 (Other spontaneous disruption of ACL), and S83.51 (Sprain of ACL of knee) on their initial encounter from 2006 to 2018. Relative risk (RR) and chi-square statistics were calculated to assess sex and military occupation effects on ACL injury. A multivariable negative binomial regression model evaluated changes in ACL injury incidence with respect to sex, branch of service, and rank.ResultsThe study period displayed a significant decrease in the ACL injury rate at 0.18 cases per 1000 person-years or relative decrease of 4.08% each year (p < 0.001) after averaging over the main and interactive effects of sex, rank, and branch of service. The interaction effect of time with sex indicated a steeper decline in ACL injury incidence in males as compared to females. The risk of ACL injury by sex was modified by rank. Furthermore, the incidence of ACL injury among military personnel varied depending on occupation.ConclusionDespite the decline in incidence among military members over time, the rates of ACL injury remain much higher than the general U.S. population. Sex, rank, branch of service, and military occupation were found to be risk factors for ACL injury.Clinical RelevanceThese results are evidence to support inquiry into the specific hazards associated with these factors. It is critical for policy makers to understand the salient risk factors for ACL injury to guide appropriate proactive measures to prevent injury.What is known about this subjectACL injury is a known command readiness issue in the military, and there is recent evidence of this within subpopulations of the military.What this study adds to existing literatureThis study provides updated trends in ACL injury across the military in light of changes to operational tempo and identifies salient risk factors for ACL injury, which have been previously unknown on a population basis.