bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The old and familiar meets the new and unknown: patient and clinician perceptions on e‐cigarettes for smoking reduction in UK general practice, a qualitative interview study
Authors: Albury Charlotte , Barnes Rebecca , Ferrey Anne , Coleman Tim , Gilbert Hazel , Naughton Felix , Aveyard Paul , Begh Rachna ,   the MaSC Study Investigators
Published: December 2021

AbstractBackground and AimsClinicians could promote e‐cigarettes for harm reduction to people who smoke but cannot stop, but many clinicians feel uneasy doing so. In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), primary care clinicians offered free e‐cigarettes and encouraged people with chronic diseases who were unwilling to stop smoking to switch to vaping. We interviewed clinicians and patients to understand how to adopt harm reduction in routine practice.DesignQualitative analysis nested within an RCT, comprising thematic analysis of semi‐structured interviews with primary care clinicians who delivered the trial intervention, and patients who took part.SettingPrimary care clinics in England.Participants/CasesTwenty‐one patients and 11 clinicians, purposively sampled from an RCT.MeasurementsWe qualitatively explored patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of: being offered/offering an e‐cigarette, past and current perceptions about e‐cigarettes and applying a harm reduction approach.FindingsFour themes captured clinicians’ and patients’ reported perspectives. These were: (1) concepts of safety/risk, with clinicians concerned about recommending a product with unknown long‐term risks and patients preferring the known risks of cigarettes; (2) clinicians felt they were going out on a limb by offering these as though they were prescribing them, whereas patients did not share this view; (3) equating quitting with success, as both patients and clinicians conceptualized e‐cigarettes as quitting aids; and (4) unchanged views, as clinicians reported that training did not change their existing views about e‐cigarettes. These themes were united by the higher‐order concept: ‘The old and familiar meets the new and unknown’, as a contradiction between this new approach and long‐established methods underpinned these concerns.ConclusionsA qualitative analysis found barriers obstructing clinicians and patients from easily accepting e‐cigarettes for harm reduction, rather than as aids to support smoking cessation: clinicians had difficulty reconciling harm reduction with their existing ethical models of practice, even following targeted training, and patients saw e‐cigarettes as quitting aids.
The impact of COVID‐19 on emergency cholecystectomy
Authors: Ma Joyce Lok Gee , Yogaraj Vikash , Siddiqui Mustafa , Chauhan Karanjeet , Tobin Vicky A. , Pilgrim Charles H. C. 
Published: December 2021

ABSTRACTBackgroundsThe impact of the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus (COVID‐19) upon the delivery of surgical services in Australia has not been well characterized, other than restrictions to elective surgery due to government directive‐related cancellations. Using emergency cholecystectomy as a representative operation, this study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID‐19 on emergency general surgery in Australia in relation to in‐hours versus after‐hours operating.MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted of medical records for patients admitted with cholecystitis or biliary colic between 1 March 2019 and 28 February 2021 at Frankston Hospital, Australia. Patient demographics, admission data, imaging findings, operative and post‐operative data were compared between pre‐COVID‐19 and COVID‐19 periods. Variables were compared using the Wilcoxon‐Mann–Whitney, Chi Squared or Fishers exact test.ResultsDuring the COVID‐19 period, emergency cholecystectomy was performed for a greater proportion of patients presenting with cholecystitis or biliary colic (93.5% versus 77.7%, p < 0.01). Despite this, there was concomitant reduction in after‐hours cholecystectomy from 14.4% to 7.5% (p = 0.04). Patients requiring after‐hours surgery during the COVID‐19 period had more features of sepsis (23% more tachypnoeic, 18% more hypotensive), and were more likely to have certain features of cholecystitis on imaging (45% more likely to have pericholecystic fluid).ConclusionFollowing elective surgery cancellations during the COVID‐19 period, an increase was seen in the proportion of patients presenting with gallstone disease who were managed with emergency cholecystectomy due to improved theatre access. Concurrently, there was a decrease in the requirement for surgery to be performed after‐hours.
Comparison of Modern Omnidirectional Precise Shadowing Techniques Versus Ray Tracing
Authors: Kobrtek Jozef , Milet Tomas , Tóth Michal , Herout Adam 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThis paper presents an in depth comparison of state‐of‐the‐art precise shadowing techniques for an omnidirectional point light. We chose several types of modern shadowing algorithms, starting from stencil shadow volumes, methods using traversal of acceleration structures to hardware‐accelerated ray‐traced shadows. Some methods were further improved – robustness, increased performance; we also provide the first multi‐platform implementations of some of the tested algorithms. All the methods are evaluated on several test scenes in different resolutions and on two hardware platforms – with and without dedicated hardware units for ray tracing. We conclude our findings based on speed and memory consumption. Ray‐tracing is the fastest and one of the easiest methods to implement with small memory footprint. The Omnidirectional Frustum‐Traced Shadows method has a predictable memory footprint and is the second fastest algorithm tested. Our stencil shadow volumes are faster than some newer algorithms. Per‐Triangle Shadow Volumes and Clustered Per‐Triangle Shadow Volumes are difficult to implement and require the most memory; the latter method scales well with the scene complexity and resolution. Deep Partitioned Shadow Volumes does not excel in any of the measured parameters and is suitable for smaller scenes. The source codes of the testing framework have been made publicly available.
Brain stimulation: a therapeutic approach for the treatment of neurological disorders
Authors: Camacho‐Conde Jose Antonio , Gonzalez‐Bermudez Maria del Rosario , Carretero‐Rey Marta , Khan Zafar U. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractBrain stimulation has become one of the most acceptable therapeutic approaches in recent years and a powerful tool in the remedy against neurological diseases. Brain stimulation is achieved through the application of electric currents using non‐invasive as well as invasive techniques. Recent technological advancements have evolved into the development of precise devices with capacity to produce well‐controlled and effective brain stimulation. Currently, most used non‐invasive techniques are repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), whereas the most common invasive technique is deep brain stimulation (DBS). In last decade, application of these brain stimulation techniques has not only exploded but also expanded to wide variety of neurological disorders. Therefore, in the current review, we will provide an overview of the potential of both non‐invasive (rTMS and tDCS) and invasive (DBS) brain stimulation techniques in the treatment of such brain diseases.
A low‐investment, high‐impact approach for training stronger and more confident graduate student science writers
Authors: Druschke Caroline Gottschalk , Karraker Nancy , McWilliams Scott R. , Scott Al , Morton‐Aiken Jenna , Reynolds Nedra , Finan Elaine , Lofgren Ingrid E. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractScientists in applied fields, including conservation biology, face increasing expectations to communicate their research across multiple audiences. As environmental issues become more complex, the need for scientists to clearly communicate with other scientists, managers, stakeholders, tribes, the public, and policy makers becomes ever critical. Despite this need, students in graduate science programs receive limited direct instruction in writing and little training in writing for audiences outside of academia or in different genres. To that end, we developed an interdisciplinary program that incorporates rhetorical theory and writing intensive pedagogy to train graduate science students to write more effectively across genres. During the pilot testing in the first year of this broader, multiyear program, we evaluated changes in the writing practices and confidence of participants as writers and scientists who completed a low‐investment, two‐workshop sequence that highlighted habitual writing, peer review, and writing for multiple audiences and multiple genres. In just six contact hours, we documented significant increases in students' reporting maintaining a more consistent writing routine and writing environment, revising multiple drafts for writing projects, and being willing to have work reviewed by peers or mentors. Upon completion of both workshops, students reported an increase in their confidence as writers. The development of comprehensive graduate writing programs can be costly and time intensive, but our evaluation demonstrates that significant gains in writing capacity and confidence as writers were made by graduate science students with even a low level of investment. We urge graduate science faculty in all Science Technology Engineering Math disciplines to consider how they might offer this two‐workshop sequence or similar low‐investment interventions that will build writing capacity and confidence as writers and scientists in graduate students.
An efficient cardiovascular disease detection model based on multilayer perceptron and moth‐flame optimization
Authors: Ahmadian Sajad , Jalali Seyed Mohammad Jafar , Raziani Saeid , Chalechale Abdolah 
Published: December 2021

AbstractCardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in recent decades, which are increasing due to changes in people's lifestyles. Their treatment has high costs and a long treatment process. Therefore, predicting such diseases can provide care, and prevention services and treatment programs can be very useful to increase the quality of life and reduce the cost of treatment and the risk of death for patients. Various artificial neural network (ANN) techniques and machine learning (ML) algorithms can be used as efficient and reliable methods to automatically analyze and detect the hidden patterns of patient medical records data collected through medical examinations related to cardiovascular diseases. In this paper, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network is employed as a supervised learning approach to detect cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, we propose a modified version of moth‐flame optimization algorithm named as MMFO which is used to achieve the optimal values of weights and biases in the MLP to speed‐up the training process and provide more accurate predictions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is assessed according to performing extensive experiments on three cardiovascular disease datasets from the UCI repository, and its performance is compared with different state‐of‐the‐art classification approaches. The results reveal that the proposed method performs better than other models in terms of all medical datasets.
Time‐course changes in liver functional reserve after successful sofosbuvir/velpatasvir treatment in patients with decompensated cirrhosis
Authors: Atsukawa Masanori , Tsubota Akihito , Kondo Chisa , Toyoda Hidenori , Nakamuta Makoto , Takaguchi Koichi , Watanabe Tsunamasa , Hiraoka Atsushi , Uojima Haruki , Ishikawa Toru , Iwasa Motoh , Tada Toshifumi , Nozaki Akito , Chuma Makoto , Fukunishi Shinya , Asano Toru , Ogawa Chikara , Abe Hiroshi , Kato Keizo , Hotta Naoki , Shima Toshihide , Matsuura Kentaro , Mikami Shigeru , Tachi Yoshihiko , Fujioka Shinichi , Okubo Hironao , Shimada Noritomo , Tani Joji , Morishita Asahiro , Hidaka Isao , Moriya Akio , Tsuji Kunihiko , Akahane Takehiro , Okubo Tomomi , Arai Taeang , Kitamura Michika , Morita Kiyoshi , Kawata Kazuhito , Tanaka Yasuhito , Kumada Takashi , Iwakiri Katsuhiko ,   KTK49 Liver Study Group
Published: December 2021

AbstractAimDirect‐acting antivirals (DAAs) are currently available even for patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Reportedly, hepatic functional reserve improved in the short term after achievement of sustained virologic response (SVR). We aimed to clarify the outcomes after achievement of SVR in patients with decompensated cirrhosis who were treated by DAAs in real‐world clinical practice.MethodsA prospective, multicenter study of 12‐week sofosbuvir/velpatasvir was conducted in 86 patients with decompensated cirrhosis, who were evaluated for 48 weeks post‐treatment.ResultsThe cohort included 8 patients with Child–Pugh class A, 56 with B, and 22 with C. The proportion of Child–Pugh class A patients increased from 9.1% at baseline to 44.1% at 48 weeks post‐treatment, while that of class B and C patients decreased from 66.2% to 35.1% and from 24.7% to 14.3%, respectively. Among the patients with Child–Pugh class B and C, univariate analysis identified low total bilirubin, Child–Pugh score, Child–Pugh class B, ALBI score, and high serum albumin as factors associated with improvement to Child–Pugh class A. The optimal cut‐off value of the factors for predicting improvement to Child–Pugh class A were 1.4 mg/dl for total bilirubin, 2.9 g/dl for serum albumin, 8 points for Child–Pugh score, and −1.88 for ALBI score.ConclusionAchievement of SVR with sofosbuvir/velpatasvir improved the liver functional reserve at 12 weeks post‐treatment and maintained the stable effects until 48 weeks post‐treatment in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Specifically, the patients with less advanced conditions had the likelihood of improving to Child–Pugh class A at 48 weeks post‐treatment.
Cardio‐ankle vascular index of increased arterial wall stiffness is associated with neurocognitive impairment in well‐controlled HIV
Authors: Kaewpoowat Quanhathai , Rerkasem Amaraporn , Rerkasem Kittipan , Robertson Kevin R. , Aita Stephen L. , Roth Robert M. , Yasri Saowaluck , Choovuthayakorn Janejit , Ausayakhun Somsanguan , Supparatpinyo Khuanchai , Robbins Nathaniel M. 
Published: December 2021

AbstractObjectivesHIV‐associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain prevalent in people living with HIV (PLWH) despite widespread use of combined antiretroviral therapy (ART). Vascular disease contributes to the pathogenesis of HAND, but traditional vascular risk factors do not fully explain the relation between vascular disease and HAND. A more direct measure of vascular dysfunction is needed. This cross‐sectional study tested whether the cardio‐ankle vascular index (CAVI), a novel method to assess arterial stiffness, is associated with HAND among PLWH.MethodsParticipants included 75 non‐diabetic adults with well‐controlled HIV from an outpatient HIV clinic. We assessed the relation between CAVI and neurocognitive impairment (NCI). The latter was primarily characterized by the Frascati criteria and secondarily (post hoc) using the Global Deficit Score (GDS). Logistic regression models tested whether high CAVI (≥ 8) was independently associated with NCI when controlling for potential confounders.ResultsParticipants (Mage = 45.6 ± 8.3 years; 30.1% male) had few traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (hypertension, n = 7; dyslipidaemia, n = 34; body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2, n = 12; smoking history, n = 13; 2.2% mean 10‐year risk of CVD or stroke). Twelve (16%) participants had high CAVI, which was independently associated with meeting Frascati criteria for NCI [n = 39, odds ratio (OR) = 7.6, p = 0.04], accounting for age, education, gender, income, CD4 nadir, recent CD4 and traditional CVD risk factors. High CAVI was also associated with NCI as reflected by higher GDS (OR = 17.4, p = 0.02).ConclusionsCardio‐ankle vascular index is a promising measure of vascular dysfunction that may be independently associated with NCI in relatively healthy PLWH. Larger studies should test the utility of CAVI in predicting NCI/decline in PLWH.
Retrospective evaluation of an observational cohort by the Central and Eastern Europe Network Group shows a high frequency of potential drug–drug interactions among HIV‐positive patients receiving treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)
Authors: Lakatos Botond , Kowalska Justyna , Antoniak Sergii , Gokengin Deniz , Begovac Josip , Vassilenko Anna , Wasilewski Piotr , Fleischhans Lukas , Jilich David , Matulionyte Raimonda , Kase Kerstin , Papadopoulus Antonios , Rukhadze Nino , Harxhi Arjan , Hofman Sam , Dragovic Gordana , Vasyliev Marta , Verhaz Antonija , Yancheva Nina , Oprea Cristiana ,   the Euroguideliness in Central and Eastern Europe (ECEE) Network Group
Published: December 2021

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of this international multicentre study was to review potential drug–drug interactions (DDIs) for real‐life coadministration of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19)‐specific medications.MethodsThe Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe Network Group initiated a retrospective, observational cohort study of HIV‐positive patients diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection. Data were collected through a standardized questionnaire and DDIs were identified using the University of Liverpool's interaction checker.ResultsIn total, 524 (94.1% of 557) patients received cART at COVID‐19 onset: 117 (22.3%) were female, and the median age was 42 (interquartile range 36–50) years. Only 115 (21.9%) patients were hospitalized, of whom 34 required oxygen therapy. The most frequent nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) backbone was tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF)/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) with lamivudine or emtricitabine (XTC) (79.3%) along with an integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) (68.5%), nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) (17.7%), protease inhibitor (PI) (13.7%) or other (2.5%). In total, 148 (28.2%) patients received COVID‐19‐specific treatments: corticosteroids (15.7%), favipiravir (7.1%), remdesivir (3.1%), hydroxychloroquine (2.7%), tocilizumab (0.6%) and anakinra (0.2%). In total, 62 DDI episodes were identified in 58 patients (11.8% of the total cohort and 41.9% of the COVID‐19‐specific treatment group). The use of boosted PIs and elvitegravir accounted for 43 DDIs (29%), whereas NNRTIs were responsible for 14 DDIs (9.5%).ConclusionsIn this analysis from the Central and Eastern European region on HIV‐positive persons receiving COVID‐19‐specific treatment, it was found that potential DDIs were common. Although low‐dose steroids are mainly used for COVID‐19 treatment, comedication with boosted antiretrovirals seems to have the most frequent potential for DDIs. In addition, attention should be paid to NNRTI coadministration.
The effects of experimentally manipulated social status and subjective social status on physical activity among Hispanic adolescents: An RCT
Authors: Lee Alexandra M. , Huo Tianyao , Miller Darci , Gurka Matthew J. , Thompson Lindsay A. , Modave François P. , Hong Young‐Rock , Pavela Gregory , Cardel Michelle I. 
Published: December 2021

SummaryBackgroundLow objective socioeconomic status (SES) and subjective social status (SSS), one's perceived social rank, are associated with obesity. This association may be due, in part, to social status‐related differences in energy expenditure. Experimental studies are needed to assess the extent to which SES and SSS relate to energy expenditure.ObjectiveAssess the effects of experimentally manipulated social status and SSS on moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behaviour.MethodsOne hundred thirty‐three Hispanic adolescents aged 15–21 were randomized to a high or low social status position, facilitated through a rigged game of Monopoly™. SSS was assessed with MacArthur Scales. Post‐manipulation 24‐h MVPA and sedentary behaviour were assessed via accelerometry. Analyses were conducted with general linear regression models.ResultsExperimentally manipulated social status did not significantly affect the total time spent in MVPA or sedentary behaviour; however, identifying as low SSS was significantly associated with less MVPA (p = 0.0060; 18.76 min less).ConclusionsTewnty‐four‐hour MVPA and sedentary behaviour are not affected by an acute experimental manipulation of social status. However, low SSS, independent of SES, was associated with clinically significant differences in MVPA. SSS may be a better predictor of MVPA than SES among Hispanic adolescents, potentially influencing obesity, and other health‐related outcomes.
Enfin entendus? L'expression des travailleurs dans le cadre du Fair Food Program
Authors: MIERES Fabiola , MCGRATH Siobhán 
Published: December 2021

RésuméLe Fair Food Program constitue un mécanisme permettant aux travailleurs agricoles de faire entendre leur voix de façon collective au sein des chaînes de valeur. Il met ainsi à l'honneur un modèle de responsabilité sociale qui dépend des travailleurs, plutôt que des entreprises. Les autrices détaillent les grandes composantes de ce système adaptable en montrant comment il a permis de répondre aux problèmes d'une population de travailleurs agricoles migrants spécifique aux États‐Unis. L'étude de cas prouve le potentiel du programme, qui semble capable de remédier aux atteintes aux droits des travailleurs sur les marchés du travail transnationaux et pourrait être reproduit dans d'autres contextes.
Modeling and solving the endpoint cutting problem
Authors: Cuellar‐Usaquén Daniel , Palacio Alejandro , Ospina Emilia , Botero Marcelo , Álvarez‐Martínez David 
Published: December 2021

AbstractThe material cutting process consists of two NP‐hard problems: first, it is necessary to find the optimal cutting pattern to minimize the waste area. Second, it is necessary to find the cutting sequence over the plate to extract the pieces in the shortest possible time. The structure of the cutting path problem can vary according to the technology used in the process. In industries where material can be considered a commodity, the cutting path is decisive due to the need to operate economically and efficiently. These types of minimization demand exact models that use nonconventional formulation techniques in search of computational efficiency and for heuristic processes to be specialized so that a good solution is guaranteed. In this paper, three different approaches were proposed. First, a novel and accurate formulation was presented based on a network flow structure. Second, a reactive GRASP algorithm with solution filtering was designed, using seven operators executed under two randomly selected local search philosophies. Finally, four warm‐start variants were designed hybridizing the GRASP algorithm subprocedures with the exact model. The approaches are compared through benchmarking; for this, a set of instances composed of cutting patterns taken from the solution of classical instances of the two‐dimensional cutting problem was created and made available. The obtained results show that all three approaches solve the problem successfully. Additionally, the computing time is analyzed, illustrating the pros and cons of each approach. Given the cutting path, including the quality of the pieces is left as a future work proposal.