bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Modelling the effect of energy consumption on different environmental indicators in the United States: The role of financial development and renewable energy innovations
Authors: Usman Ojonugwa , Alola Andrew Adewale , Ike George N. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThis study offers new insights into the relationship between energy consumption and environmental degradation in the United States by controlling for financial development, renewable energy innovations, economic expansion, and trade policy uncertainty over the period 1985:Q1 to 2014:Q4. Based on the flexible autoregressive distributed lag model, our findings show that energy consumption deteriorates the environment, while renewable energy innovations reduce CO2 emissions but has no significant effect on ecological footprint. Furthermore, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid only when ecological footprint is used as an environmental indicator. The causality results establish a feedback effect between CO2 emissions and renewable energy innovations, a unidirectional causal flow from financial development to CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth. Also discovered is a unidirectional causal flow from the ecological footprint to energy use and economic growth, and from renewable energy innovations and energy consumption to economic growth. Therefore, the policy implications for this study, among others, include the provision of grants and subsidies for research in renewable energy to enhance sustainable environmental quality.
Non‐gonococcal septic arthritis of native joints in Western Australia. A longitudinal population‐based study of frequency, risk factors and outcome
Authors: Nossent Johannes , Raymond Warren , Keen Helen , Preen David B. , Inderjeeth Charles A 
Published: October 2021

AbstractObjectiveTo describe the incidence and long‐term outcome of non‐gonococcal septic arthritis (SA) in Western Australia (WA).MethodsNewman criteria were applied to define culture‐positive SA and suspected SA cases in the state‐wide West Australian Rheumatic Diseases Epidemiological Registry with longitudinally linked health data for patients >16 years with a first diagnostic code of pyogenic arthritis (711.xx [ICD‐9‐CM] and M00.xx [ICD‐10‐AM]) between 1990‐2010. Annual incidence rates/100 000 (AIR) and standardized (against WA population) mortality rates/1000 person‐years (SMR) and outcomes during 10.1 years follow‐up are reported.ResultsAmong 2633 SA patients (68.6% male, age 47.4 years), 1146 (43.5%) had culture‐positive SA. The overall AIR for culture‐positive (1.6‐6.3) and total SA cases (4.3‐12.9) increased between 1990 and 2010 as did age at onset (39.5‐54 years) and proportion of females (23‐35.6%). Knees (33.6.%) were most frequently affected and 37.1% of cultures showed microorganisms other than Gram‐positive cocci. Thirty‐day rates for readmission and mortality were 25.4% and 3.2.%. During follow‐up rates for serious infections (56.4%), osteoarthrosis (5.2%) and osteomyelitis (2.7%) were higher in culture‐positive SA. SMR was increased for all SA patients but especially in those 17‐40 years of age with culture‐positive SA (24.2; 95% CI 2.3‐261).ConclusionsThe incidence of SA in WA has risen steeply over 20 years. SA now occurs at higher age, affects females more often with over a third of cases caused by Gram‐negative microorganisms. Not only culture‐positive, but also suspected SA led to increased bone/joint complications, in‐hospital and late mortality.
Evaluating the validity of ultrasound in diagnosing hypertrophic pyloric stenosis: a cross‐sectional diagnostic accuracy study
Authors: Vinycomb Toby , Vanhaltren Keith , Pacilli Maurizio , Ditchfield Michael , Nataraja Ramesh Mark 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundOur aims were to evaluate the ultrasound scan (USS) criteria in diagnosing hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS), determine the best diagnostic threshold values for pyloric muscle thickness (PMT) and pyloric canal length (PCL), and assess the accuracy of flow through the pylorus.MethodsAll patients who underwent pyloromyotomy at our tertiary paediatric surgery centre between July 2013 and June 2019 were identified (Group 1). All patients undergoing an USS to investigate for a possible HPS and did not undergo pyloromyotomy were also identified (Group 2). Accuracy was determined by Youden's Index (J) with the highest J determining the ideal cut‐off value.ResultsTwo hundred and eighty‐four patients (142 patients in each group) were included in the analysis. Using only the last USS before surgery, PMT provided an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.987 (n = 275), and PCL an AUC of 0.977 (n = 267). Ideal threshold values were 3.0 mm for PMT (J = 0.92), and 14.5 mm for PCL (J = 0.87). Combining PMT ≥3.0 mm with a PCL ≥14.5 mm resulted in a sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 99% (J = 0.94). The absence of flow through the pylorus on dynamic USS provided a sensitivity of 99% and specificity of 91% (J = 0.91; n = 277).ConclusionCombining threshold values of 3.0 mm for PMT and 14.5 mm PCL provides the highest accuracy for diagnosing pyloric stenosis on an ultrasound scan. These combined values were more accurate than observing for the absence of flow through the pylorus.
Pretraining of basic skills on a virtual reality vitreoretinal simulator: A waste of time
Authors: Petersen Sarah Bjørn , Vestergaard Anders Højslet , Thomsen Ann Sofia Skou , Konge Lars , Cour Morten La , Grauslund Jakob , Vergmann Anna Stage 
Published: October 2021

AbstractPurposeTo investigate whether pretraining of basic skills in virtual vitreoretinal surgery affected the performance curve when proceeding to procedure‐specific modules.MethodsThis study was a prospective, randomized, controlled, two‐centre study. Medical students were randomized into two groups: Group 1 pretrained basic psycho‐motor skills (Navigation Training level 2 and Bimanual Training level 3) until they reached their performance curve plateau. Hereafter, both groups trained on the procedure‐specific modules (Posterior Hyaloid level 3 and ILM Peeling level 3) until they reached their performance curve plateau. Plateau was defined as three consecutive sessions with the same score with an acceptable variation. The primary outcome was time used to reach performance curve plateau in the procedure‐specific modules.ResultsA total of 68 medical students were included, and equally randomized into two groups. The participants in Group 1 used a median time of 88 minutes to reach plateau in the basic skills modules but did not differ from Group 2 in time to reach plateau on the procedure‐specific modules (183 min versus 210 min, p = 0.40) or in the amplitude of plateau. Group 1 and 2 differed significantly in the starting score of ILM peeling level 3 (0 (0‐0) versus 3.5 (0‐75), p = 0.03).ConclusionWe were not able to show positive skill transfer from basic skills training to the procedure‐specific modules in time, starting score or amplitude of plateau. Thus, we recommend that aspiring vitreoretinal surgeons proceed directly to simulation‐based training of procedures instead of spending valuable training time on basic skills training.
Jackknife model averaging for high‐dimensional quantile regression
Authors: Wang Miaomiao , Zhang Xinyu , Wan Alan T. K. , You Kang , Zou Guohua 
Published: October 2021

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a frequentist model averaging method for quantile regression with high‐dimensional covariates. Although research on these subjects has proliferated as separate approaches, no study has considered them in conjunction. Our method entails reducing the covariate dimensions through ranking the covariates based on marginal quantile utilities. The second step of our method implements model averaging on the models containing the covariates that survive the screening of the first step. We use a delete‐one cross‐validation method to select the model weights, and prove that the resultant estimator possesses an optimal asymptotic property uniformly over any compact (0,1) subset of the quantile indices. Our proof, which relies on empirical process theory, is arguably more challenging than proofs of similar results in other contexts owing to the high‐dimensional nature of the problem and our relaxation of the conventional assumption of the weights summing to one. Our investigation of finite‐sample performance demonstrates that the proposed method exhibits very favorable properties compared to the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and smoothly clipped absolute deviation (SCAD) penalized regression methods. The method is applied to a microarray gene expression data set.
The potential anti‐amyloidogenic candidate, SPA1413, for Alzheimer's disease
Authors: An Seong Soo A. , Shim Kyu Hwan , Kang Shinwoo , Kim Young Kyo , Subedi Lalita , Cho Hyewon , Hong Seong‐Min , Tan Mario A. , Jeon Raok , Chang Keun‐A , Kim Sun Yeou 
Published: October 2021

Background and PurposeRecently, isoflavone derivatives have been shown to have neuroprotective effects against neurological disorders. For instance, genistein attenuated the neuroinflammation and amyloid‐β accumulation in Alzheimer's disease animal models, suggesting the potential for use to prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease.Experimental ApproachHere, 50 compounds, including isoflavone derivatives, were constructed and screened for the inhibitory effects on amyloid‐β42 fibrilization and oligomerization using the high‐throughput screening formats of thioflavin T assay and multimer detection system, respectively. The potential neuroprotective effect of t3‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)‐2H‐chromen‐7‐ol (SPA1413), also known as dehydroequol, idronoxil or phenoxodiol, was evaluated in cells and in 5xFAD (B6SJL) transgenic mouse, a model of Alzheimer's disease.Key ResultsSPA1413 had a potent inhibitory action on both amyloid‐β fibrilization and oligomerization. In the cellular assay, SPA1413 prevented amyloid‐β‐induced cytotoxicity and reduced neuroinflammation. Remarkably, the oral administration of SPA1413 ameliorated cognitive impairment, decreased amyloid‐β plaques and activated microglia in the brain of 5xFAD (B6SJL) transgenic mouse.Conclusion and ImplicationsOur results strongly support the repurposing of SPA1413, which has already received fast‐track status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for cancer treatment, for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease due to its potent anti‐amyloidogenic and anti‐neuroinflammatory actions.
The singing question: re‐conceptualizing birdsong
Authors: Rose Evangeline M. , Prior Nora H. , Ball Gregory F. 
Published: October 2021

ABSTRACTBirdsong has been the subject of broad research from a variety of sub‐disciplines and has taught us much about the evolution, function, and mechanisms driving animal communication and cognition. Typically, birdsong refers to the specialized vocalizations produced by oscines. Historically, much of the research on birdsong was conducted in north temperate regions (specifically in Europe and North America) leading to multiple biases. Due to these historic biases these vocalizations are generally considered to be highly sexually dimorphic, heavily shaped by sexual selection and essential for courtship and territoriality. Song is also typically defined as a learned trait shaped by cultural evolution. Together, this framework focuses research specifically on males, particularly during the north temperate breeding season – reflecting and thereby reinforcing this framework. The physiological underpinnings of song often emphasize the role of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis (associated with breeding changes) and the song control system (underlying vocal learning). Over the years there has been great debate over which features of song are essential to the definition of birdsong, which features apply broadly to contexts outside males in the north temperate region, and over the importance of having a definition at all. Importantly, the definitions we use can both guide and limit the progress of research. Here, we describe the history of these definitions, and how these definitions have directed and restricted research to focus on male song in sexually selected contexts. Additionally, we highlight the gaps in our scientific knowledge, especially with respect to the function and physiological mechanisms underlying song in females and in winter, as well as in non‐seasonally breeding species. Furthermore, we highlight the problems with using complexity and learning as dichotomous variables to categorize songs and calls. Across species, no one characteristic of song – sexual dimorphism, seasonality, complexity, sexual selection, learning – consistently delineates song from other songbird vocal communication. We provide recommendations for next steps to build an inclusive information framework that will allow researchers to explore nuances in animal communication and promote comparative research. Specifically, we recommend that researchers should operationalize the axis of variation most relevant to their study/species by identifying their specific question and the variable(s) of focus (e.g. seasonality). Researchers should also identify the axis (axes) of variation (e.g. degree of control by testosterone) most relevant to their study and use language consistent with the question and axis (axes) of variation (e.g. control by testosterone in the seasonal vocal production of birds).
Recent advances in the remote sensing of insects
Authors: Rhodes Marcus W. , Bennie Jonathan J. , Spalding Adrian , ffrench‐Constant Richard H. , Maclean Ilya M. D. 
Published: October 2021

ABSTRACTRemote sensing has revolutionised many aspects of ecological research, enabling spatiotemporal data to be collected in an efficient and highly automated manner. The last two decades have seen phenomenal growth in capabilities for high‐resolution remote sensing that increasingly offers opportunities to study small, but ecologically important organisms, such as insects. Here we review current applications for using remote sensing within entomological research, highlighting the emerging opportunities that now arise through advances in spatial, temporal and spectral resolution. Remote sensing can be used to map environmental variables, such as habitat, microclimate and light pollution, capturing data on topography, vegetation structure and composition, and luminosity at spatial scales appropriate to insects. Such data can also be used to detect insects indirectly from the influences that they have on the environment, such as feeding damage or nest structures, whilst opportunities for directly detecting insects are also increasingly available. Entomological radar and light detection and ranging (LiDAR), for example, are transforming our understanding of aerial insect abundance and movement ecology, whilst ultra‐high spatial resolution drone imagery presents tantalising new opportunities for direct observation. Remote sensing is rapidly developing into a powerful toolkit for entomologists, that we envisage will soon become an integral part of insect science.
Effectiveness of benralizumab in severe eosinophilic asthma: Distinct sub‐phenotypes of response identified by cluster analysis
Authors: Di Bona Danilo , Crimi Claudia , D’Uggento Angela Maria , Benfante Alida , Caiaffa Maria Filomena , Calabrese Cecilia , Campisi Raffaele , Carpagnano Giovanna Elisiana , Ciotta Domenico , D'Amato Maria , Pelaia Corrado , Pelaia Girolamo , Pellegrino Simona , Scichilone Nicola , Scioscia Giulia , Ribecco Nunziata , Spadaro Giuseppe , Valenti Giuseppe , Vatrella Alessandro , Crimi Nunzio , Macchia Luigi 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundBenralizumab is effective in severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA), but suboptimal responses are observed in some patients. Although several factors have been associated with benralizumab response, no cluster analysis has yet been undertaken to identify different responsiveness sub‐phenotypes.ObjectiveTo identify SEA sub‐phenotypes with differential responsiveness to benralizumab.MethodsOne hundred and five patients diagnosed with SEA who had completed 6 months of benralizumab treatment were included in a hierarchical cluster analysis based on a set of clinical variables that can be easily collected in routine practice (age, age at disease onset, disease length, allergen sensitization status, blood eosinophil count, IgE levels, FEV1% predicted, nasal polyposis, bronchiectasis).ResultsFour clusters were identified: Clusters 2 and 3 included patients with high levels of both IgE and eosinophils (type‐2 biomarkers high), whereas Clusters 1 and 4 included patients with only one type‐2 biomarker at a high level: IgE in Cluster 1 and eosinophils in Cluster 4. Clusters 2 and 3 (both type‐2 biomarkers high) showed the highest response rate to benralizumab in terms of elimination of exacerbations (79% and 80% respectively) compared to Clusters 1 and 4 (52% and 60% respectively). When super‐response (the absence of exacerbation without oral corticosteroid use) was assessed, Cluster 2, including patients with more preserved lung function than the other clusters, but comparable exacerbation rate, oral corticosteroid use and symptom severity, was the most responsive cluster (87.5% of patients).ConclusionsOur cluster analysis identified benralizumab differential response sub‐phenotypes in SEA, with the potential of improving disease treatment and precision management.
Advanced glycation end product intake during pregnancy and offspring allergy outcomes: A Prospective cohort study
Authors: Venter Carina , Pickett Kaci , Starling Anne , Maslin Kate , Smith Pete K. , Palumbo Michaela P. , O’Mahony Liam , Ben Abdallah Miriam , Dabelea Dana 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundAssociations have been shown between concurrent assessment of dietary intake of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and childhood allergic outcomes. We examined the association between maternal AGEs intake and development of offspring asthma, wheeze, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and food allergies, and sought to determine whether the intake of AGEs was associated with cord sera cytokines/chemokines.MethodsPregnant women ≥16 years were recruited in the Healthy Start study, a prospective pre‐birth cohort from Colorado (N = 1410). The analysis included 962 dyads with adequate diet (≥2 recalls) and allergy outcome details. AGEs intake was estimated for each mother by matching intakes reported using 24‐h dietary recalls during pregnancy to a reference database of commonly consumed foods’ AGEs values. Child diagnoses of asthma and allergies up to 8 years were obtained from electronic medical records. Cord sera cytokines and chemokines were analysed in a subset (N = 462) of children.ResultsThe median [IQR] AGEs intake for the overall sample was 11,919 kU/day [8293, 16,573]. Unadjusted analysis showed a positive association between maternal AGEs intake in pregnancy and rhinitis up to 8 years of age (HR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.06), but the association was attenuated and no longer significant in adjusted models (HR = 1.01; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.04). Both adjusted and unadjusted models showed no associations between AGEs intake in pregnancy and any of the other outcomes (p > .05). There were no significant associations between any cytokine or chemokine measured and AGEs intake or any of the outcomes studied (p > .05).ConclusionThe study showed that maternal AGEs intake was not associated with offspring asthma and allergy outcomes. AGEs exposure during pregnancy may not have the same impact on child development as postnatal exposure.
Acute urticaria alone after CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccination should not be a contraindication for revaccination
Authors: Triwatcharikorn J. , Puaratana-arunkon T. , Punyaratabandhu P. , Mongkolpathumrat P. , Palapinyo S. , Buranapraditkul S. , Rerknimitr P. , Klaewsongkram J. 
Published: October 2021

SummaryPatients who develop an immediate allergic reaction within the first 4 h of COVID-19 vaccine injection are recommended not to receive the same vaccine again. This recommendation mainly focuses on the mRNA and adenoviral vector COVID-19 vaccines, but data for whole virus vaccines are unknown. We report seven patients who developed an immediate reaction within 4 h (six had generalized urticaria, one had localized urticaria) after the first vaccination with CoronaVac, the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The results of skin tests and basophil activation tests suggested that spike peptides play a role in exacerbating urticaria in some patients. However, all subjects who developed urticaria within 4 h after CoronaVac vaccination were successfully revaccinated without graded challenge, although recurrent urticaria was common. This preliminary result indicates that acute urticaria alone should not be a contraindication for the second dose of CoronaVac if the supply of alternative vaccines is limited.
Economic Upper Bound Estimation in Hausdorff Distance Computation for Triangle Meshes
Authors: Zheng Yicun , Sun Haoran , Liu Xinguo , Bao Hujun , Huang Jin 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe Hausdorff distance is one of the most fundamental metrics for comparing 3D shapes. To compute the Hausdorff distance efficiently from a triangular mesh to another triangular mesh , one needs to cull the unnecessary triangles on quickly. These triangles have no chance to improve the Hausdorff distance estimation, that is the parts with local upper bound smaller than the global lower bound. The local upper bound estimation should be tight, use fast distance computation, and involve a small number of triangles in during the reduction phase for efficiency. In this paper, we propose to use point‐triangle distance, and only involve at most four triangles in in the reduction phase. Comparing with the state‐of‐the‐art proposed by Tang et al. in 2009, which uses more costly triangle‐triangle distance and may involve a large number of triangles in reduction phase, our local upper bound estimation is faster, and with only a small impact on the tightness of the bound on error estimation. Such a more economic strategy boosts the overall performance significantly. Experiments on the Thingi10K dataset show that our method can achieve several (even over 20) times speedup on average. On a few models with different placements and resolutions, we show that close placement and large difference in resolution bring big challenges to Hausdorff distance computation, and explain why our method can achieve more significant speedup on challenging cases.
The Politics of Differentiation and the Co‐Production of the “Model Periphery” in Brazil’s Public Housing
Authors: Kopper Moisés 
Published: October 2021

AbstractIn Latin America’s pink tide democracies, peripheries were pivotal openings into the ambiguities of political and economic urban governance. Once portrayed as territories of decay, state disregard, and societal oblivion, peripheries turned into key moral and spatial assemblages in Brazil’s post‐neoliberal project of a “de‐poored,” middle‐class country. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted in two peripheral Minha Casa Minha Vida projects—Brazil’s large‐scale public housing program—in the city of Porto Alegre. Charting the long‐term entanglements of local activism, communal hope, and national developmentalism, I argue that peripheral zones illuminate the ambivalences of state‐ and place‐making. Unveiling the politics of differentiation and distended governance that render one periphery a successful case of state and market intervention over the other, I explore how images of the “model periphery” are enforced through local infrastructures of worth and the effacement of its failed Other: the intractable faraway periphery, deemed to disappear in the name of public accountability and social and economic development. In conclusion, the article suggests that the consorted travails of leaders, citizen activists, politicians, and planners in casting visibility onto the model periphery contribute to bolstering and obscuring extant patterns of urban segregation and social inequality.