bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Association of glycosylated haemoglobin HbA1c levels with outcome in patients with COVID‐19: A Retrospective Study
Authors: Yuan Shuai , Li Huaping , Chen Chen , Wang Feng , Wang Dao Wen 
Published: March 2021

AbstractPatients with hyperglycemia tend to be susceptible to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). However, the association of HbA1c level with outcome of COVID‐19 patients was unclear. We performed a retrospective study of 2880 cases of COVID‐19 admitted in Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, China, among which 922 had detected the HbA1c levels. We found that COVID‐19 patients with either lower levels of HbAlc (3%‐4.9%) or higher levels of HbAlc (≥6%) were associated with elevated all‐cause mortality. Meanwhile, we observed that HbAlc levels were highly correlated with haemoglobin (Hb) and total cholesterol (TC) (P < .0001), moderately correlated with albumin (ALB) and high‐sensitive C reaction protein (hs‐CRP) (0.0001 < P<.001), and relatively low correlated with low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) (.001 < P<.01). These associated cofactors might together contribute to the clinical outcome of COVID‐19 patients. Furthermore, the mortality was higher in COVID‐19 patients with newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus (DM) compared with COVID‐19 patients with history of DM. Moreover, in patients with history of DM, the mortality was decreased in patients treated with anti‐hyperglycaemic drugs. In summary, our data showed that the in‐hospital mortality was increased in COVID‐19 patients with lower or higher levels of HbAlc. Meanwhile, initiation of appropriate anti‐hyperglycaemic treatment might improve the clinical outcome in COVID‐19 patients.
A potential role for overdominance in the maintenance of colour variation in the Neotropical tortoise beetle, Chelymorpha alternans
Authors: Strickland Lynette R. , Fuller Rebecca C. , Windsor Donald , Cáceres Carla E. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe presence of persistent polymorphisms within natural populations elicits the question of how such polymorphisms are maintained. All else equal, genetic drift and natural selection should remove genetic variants from populations. Disassortative mating and overdominance are potential mechanisms for maintaining variation within populations. Here, we consider the potential role of these mechanisms in maintaining variation in colour pattern in the tortoise beetle, Chelymorpha alternans. Five colour morphs distinguished by elytral and pronotal coloration are largely determined by a single locus of large effect with four segregating alleles. As many as four morphs co‐occur in natural populations. We first assessed whether disassortative mating might maintain this polymorphism. To test for assortative and disassortative mating, we paired females with two males, one with the same colour pattern as the female and one with a different colour pattern and examined the colour patterns of the offspring. We found strong evidence for random mating as a function of colour pattern. We next assessed whether differences in offspring survival among assortative and disassortative male‐female pairs maintain colour variation. Crosses involving disassortative pairings had significantly higher offspring survival during development and resulted in more adult progeny. This result is consistent with the effects of overdominance, whereby outcrossed individuals have higher fitness than their homozygous counterparts. Overall, differences in offspring survival appear to play a greater role in maintaining polymorphisms than nonrandom mating in species.
Genomic characterization of selfing in the cyclic parthenogen Daphnia magna
Authors: Cornetti Luca , Fields Peter D. , Ebert Dieter 
Published: March 2021

AbstractInbreeding refers to the fusion of related individuals' gametes, with self‐fertilization (selfing) being an extreme form of inbreeding—involving gametes produced by the same individual. Selfing is expected to reduce heterozygosity by an average of 50% in one generation; however, little is known about the empirical variation on a genome level surrounding this figure and the factors that affect variation. We selfed genotypes of the cyclic parthenogen Daphnia magna and analysed whole genomes of mothers and selfed offspring, observing the predicted 50% heterozygosity reduction on average. We also saw substantial variation around this value and significant differences among mother–offspring pairs. Crossover analysis confirmed the known trend of recombination occurring more often towards the telomeres. This effect was shown, through simulations, to increase the variance of heterozygosity reduction compared to when a uniform distribution of crossovers was used. Similarly, we simulated inbred line production after several generations of selfing and we observed higher variance in achieved homozygosity when we consider a higher recombination rate towards the telomeres. Our empirical and simulation study highlights that the expected mean values of heterozygosity reduction show remarkable variation, which can help understand, for example, differences among inbred individuals.
In the landscape of SARS‐CoV‐2 and fresh fruits and vegetables: The fake and hidden transmission risks
Authors: Benkeblia Noureddine 
Published: March 2021

AbstractFrom the first notification reporting to the WHO a cluster of coronavirus in Wuhan City (China), over 114 million cases of SARS‐CoV‐2 have been confirmed, with more than 2,530,000 deaths, and over 400,000 new cases and 10,000 deaths daily. Numerous viruses are susceptible to contaminate crops during growth, harvesting, handling, marketing and minimally processing, and these steps share one common factor which is human. Different studies showed that viruses might persist on different crops for periods of 2 to 14 days under different conditions such as refrigeration, household and freezing. Little is known on SARS‐CoV‐2, but preliminary studies showed that this virus might survive 24 hr on cardboard and 72 hr on plastic, materials used in fruits and vegetables packaging. Based on preliminary data, there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2. Certainly, to date there is no scientific evidence that SARS‐CoV‐2 might be transmitted by a contact with, or the ingestion of contaminated fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables. However, this risk even though being considered improbable, it cannot be “completely and definitely” discarded or ignored, particularly where the virus is spreading in the word. Some agencies indicated that in case some commodities and handlers are contaminated among the multiple people involved from the farm to the table, a cross‐contamination may occur, and the risk of the contamination of food, food contact materials, and packaging from infected but asymptomatic workers should not be discarded even though considered “Very Low = meaning very rare but cannot be excluded.”
Estimating the number of new hepatitis C infections in Australia in 2015, prior to the scale‐up of direct‐acting antiviral treatment
Authors: Palmer Anna Y , Wilkinson Anna , Aitken Campbell , Dietze Paul , Dore Gregory J , Maher Lisa , Sacks‐Davis Rachel , Stoove Mark , Wilson David , Hellard Margaret , Scott Nick 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackground and AimThe recent downward revision of the estimated number of people living with chronic hepatitis C in Australia means that the annual number of new hepatitis C infections should also be revised. We aimed to estimate the annual number of new hepatitis C infections among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Australia in 2015, prior to the introduction of direct‐acting antiviral (DAA) treatment for hepatitis C, as an updated baseline measure for assessing the impact of DAAs on hepatitis C incidence over the next 10 years.MethodsA systematic review identified articles estimating hepatitis C incidence rates among PWID between 2002 and 2015. Reported incidence rates were adjusted to account for unrepresentative needle and syringe program (NSP) coverage among study participants compared with PWID overall. The total number of PWID in Australia and the hepatitis C RNA prevalence among PWID were taken from published estimates. The annual number of new infections was estimated by multiplying the pooled NSP coverage‐adjusted incidence rate by the number of susceptible PWID in 2015.ResultsFive studies were included, with unadjusted incidence rates ranging from 7.6 to 12.8 per 100 person‐years. The overall pooled incidence rate (after adjusting for NSP coverage) was 9.9 per 100 person‐years (95% confidence interval: 8.3–11.8). This led to an estimate of 4126 (range 2499–6405) new hepatitis C infections in 2015.ConclusionsOur updated estimate provides an important baseline for evaluating the impact of hepatitis C elimination efforts and can be used to validate outcomes of future modeling studies.
The prevalence of burnout, risk factors, and job‐related stressors in gastroenterologists: A systematic review
Authors: Ong John , Swift Carla , Bath Michael , Ong Sharon , Lim Wanyen , Al‐Naeeb Yasseen , Shankar Arun , Dan Yock Young 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackground and AimsBurnout is an important occupational hazard, and the scale of the problem within gastroenterology remains poorly understood. The primary objective of this study was to understand the prevalence of burnout in gastroenterology and ascertain if there was a common prevalence within the field. The secondary objective was to identify factors and job‐related stressors that commonly contribute to burnout in gastroenterologists.MethodsSystematic searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and PsycINFO by two reviewers independently for articles published to 1 September 2020. The primary outcome measure was the reported prevalence of burnout in gastroenterologists. The secondary outcome measures were (i) the prevalence of non‐somatic burnout symptoms (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment) and (ii) the frequency of risk factors and stressors reported in studies. Data were presented, and limited meta‐analyses discussed.ResultsData were extracted from 11 studies. 54.5% (6/11) of these studies reported the prevalence of burnout in gastroenterologists; this ranged from 18.3% to 64.4%. Similar to burnout prevalence, burnout symptoms showed geographical variation and were common in gastroenterologists (up to 63.9%). Factors associated with work volume, age, and female gender were the three most frequently reported risk factors for increased levels of stress and burnout in 72.7% (8/11), 54.5% (6/11), and 45.5% (5/11) of studies, respectively. Significant methodological and clinical heterogeneity was observed.ConclusionsBurnout and its non‐somatic symptoms are common in gastroenterologists, but the syndrome is understudied within the field. Further research and good quality data are needed to help address the problem.
Low speech rate but high gesture rate during conversational interaction in people with Cornelia de Lange syndrome
Authors: Pearson E. , Nielsen E. , Kita S. , Groves L. , Nelson L. , Moss J. , Oliver C. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractBackgroundCornelia de Lange syndrsome (CdLS) is a rare genetic syndrome with notable impaired expressive communication characterised by reduced spoken language. We examined gesture use to refine the description of expressive communication impairments in CdLS.MethodsDuring conversations, we compared gesture use in people with CdLS to peers with Down syndrome (DS) matched for receptive language and adaptive ability, and typically developing (TD) individuals of similar chronological age.ResultsAs anticipated the DS and CdLS groups used fewer words during conversation than TD peers (P < .001). However, the CdLS group used twice the number of gestures per 100 words compared with the DS and TD groups (P = .003).ConclusionsIndividuals with CdLS have a significantly higher gesture rate than expected given their level of intellectual disability and chronological age. This result indicates the cause of reduced use of spoken language does not extend to all forms of expressive communication.
Clusterin inhibits Aβ42 aggregation through a “strawberry model” as detected by FRET‐FCS
Authors: Xu Lingwan , Tian Shijun , Peng Xianglei , Hua Ying , Yang Wenxuan , Chen Longwei , Liu Shilei , Wu Wenzheng , Zhao Jiang , He Jinsheng , Wu Liqing , Yang Jingfa , Zheng Yanpeng 
Published: March 2021

AbstractExtracellular plaque deposits of β‐amyloid peptide (Aβ) are one of the main pathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aggregation of Aβ42 species, especially Aβ42 oligomers, is still an active research field in AD pathogenesis. Secretory clusterin protein (sCLU), an extracellular chaperone, plays an important role in AD pathogenesis. Although sCLU interacts directly with Aβ42 in vitro and in vivo, the mechanism is not clear. In this paper, His‐tagged sCLU (sCLU‐His) was cloned, expressed and purified, and we applied florescence resonance energy transfer‐fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FRET‐FCS) to investigate the direct interaction of sCLU‐His and Aβ42 at the single‐molecule fluorescence level in vitro. Here, we chose four different fluorescently labeled Aβ42 oligomers to form two different groups of aggregation models, easy or difficult to aggregate. The results showed that sCLU‐His could form complexes with both aggregation models, and sCLU‐His inhibited the aggregation of Aβ42/RB ~ Aβ42/Atto647 (easy to aggregate model). The complexes were produced as the Aβ42/Label adhered to the sCLU‐His, which is similar to a “strawberry model,” as strawberry seeds are dotted on the outer surface of strawberries. This work provided additional insight into the interaction mechanism of sCLU and Aβ42.
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Silver linings: Observed reductions in aggression and use of restraints and seclusion in psychiatric inpatient care during COVID‐19
Authors: Martin Krystle , Arbour Simone , McGregor Carolyn , Rice Mark 
Published: March 2021

Accessible SummaryWhat is known about the subject?

In a survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the summer of 2020, 93% of countries worldwide acknowledged negative impacts on their mental health services.

Previous research during the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 established an increase of patient aggression in psychiatric facilities.

What the paper adds to existing knowledge?

Despite expected worsening of mental health, our hospital observed reductions in aggressive behaviour among inpatients and subsequent use of coercive interventions by staff in the months following Covid‐19 pandemic restrictions being implemented.

The downward trend in incidents observed during the pandemic has suggested that aggression in mental health hospitals may be more situation‐specific and less so a factor of mental illness.

What are the implications for practice?

We believe that the reduction in aggressive behaviour observed during the pandemic is related to changes in our organization that occurred in response to concerns about patient well‐being; our co‐design approach shifted trust, choice and power. Therefore, practices that support these constructs are needed to maintain the outcomes we experienced.

Rather than return to normal in the wake of the pandemic, we are strongly encouraged to sustain the changes we made and continue to find better ways to support and work with the individuals who rely on or use our services.

AbstractThe global COVID‐19 pandemic has dramatically changed the operation of health care such that many services were put on hold as patients were triaged differently, people delayed seeking care, and transition to virtual care was enacted, including in psychiatric facilities. Most of the media dialogue has been negative; however, there have been some silver linings observed. Coinciding with the pandemic has been a reduction in aggressive incidents at our psychiatric hospital, along with the decreased need to use restraints and seclusion to manage behaviour. In this paper, we are taking stock of the changes that have occurred in response to the pandemic in an attempt to share our learnings and offer suggestions so that health care does not necessarily return to “normal”.
Estimating purine derivatives and nitrogen compound excretion using total urine collection or spot urine samples in grazing heifers
Authors: da Silva Júnior Jarbas Miguel , Rodrigues João Paulo Pacheco , Valadares Filho Sebastião de Campos , Detmann Edenio , Paulino Mário Fonseca , Rennó Luciana Navajas 
Published: March 2021

SummaryThe study aimed to evaluate the excretion of purine derivatives (PDs) and nitrogen compounds (NCs) and their ratios with creatinine in supplemented Zebu heifers kept on pastures by comparing total urine collection and spot sampling. Five Nelore heifers (400 ± 15 kg) were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square design. The treatments were the amount of concentrate (220 g of crude protein/kg dry matter) offered (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 g/kg BW). In each period, the total urine collection was performed continuously for 3 days (subsampled at intervals of 4 h, 00:00–04:00 h, 04:00–08:00 h, 08:00–12:00 h, 12:00–16:00 h, 16:00–20:00 h and 20:00–24:00 h). The spot urine samplings were performed (in each period) for 24 h (0, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 h). Creatinine, total urinary nitrogen (UN), urea nitrogen (UreaN), allantoin and uric acid were analysed. Creatinine excretion was 23.01 ± 0.19 mg/kg BW and was not affected by collection day, treatment or their interactions (p > 0.05). Treatments affected (p < 0.05) PD excretions, however did not affect the ratio PD:creatinine (p > 0.05). Treatments and collection time affected (p < 0.05) NC excretion, whereas the UN:creatinine and UreaN:creatinine ratios were not affected (p > 0.05). Creatinine excretion and the PD:creatinine ratios in the urine samples estimated by the total or spot sampling were not different (p > 0.05). However, sampling method affected (p < 0.05) the UN:creatinine and UreaN:creatinine (p < 0.05) ratios. Creatinine can adequately estimate urinary excretion in grazing heifers, and a single spot urine sample at any time of the day can be used to estimate PD excretion in grazing heifers. But two spot urine samples are needed for proper NC excretion estimations in grazing heifers’ urine.
Contrasting levels of genetic predictability in the evolution of resistance to major classes of fungicides
Authors: Hawkins Nichola J. , Fraaije Bart A. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe evolution of resistance has been seen across all major classes of xenobiotics, including antimicrobial drugs and agricultural pesticides. This repeated emergence of resistance is a case of phenotypic parallel evolution, but often the parallelism extends to the molecular level too, with multiple species gaining the same mutation in response to the same chemical treatment. We review the degree of repeatability in target‐site resistance mutations affecting different classes of site‐specific agricultural fungicides used in crop protection, comparing the extent to which resistance in different pathogen species has evolved via the same or different mutations. For all major fungicide target sites, substantial levels of molecular parallel evolution can be seen, with at least one mutation recurring in over 50% of species. Target‐site mutations appear to be most repeatable in cytochrome b, target site of quinone‐outside inhibitor fungicides, and least predictable for CYP51, target site of the azoles. Intermediate levels of repeatability are seen for the MBC target site β‐tubulin, and the SDHI target site succinate dehydrogenase. Repeatability may be lower where there are selective trade‐offs between resistance and pleiotropic fitness penalties, or differing levels of cross‐resistance across members of a fungicide class; or where single mutations confer only partial resistance, and epistatic interactions between multiple mutations result in a rugged fitness landscape. This affects the predictive power of in vitro mutation studies, and has practical implications for resistance monitoring strategies and diagnostic methods.
Coda: An Expanding Research Agenda for the Use of Instructional Materials
Authors: HARWOOD NIGEL 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe rationale behind this special issue is to underscore the importance of studying instructional materials in context—that is, how materials and textbooks are used by teachers and learners. Research on teaching materials needs to reach beyond traditional ‘armchair’ analyses and evaluations to appreciate the place of instructional materials in the wider social and educational context, and to do so in a methodologically and analytically principled manner. I begin by comparing and contrasting the concept of ‘materials use,’ which underpins the contributions to this issue, with my own concept of ‘materials consumption.’ The bulk of the coda identifies and explores various themes emerging from this special issue, including student‐generated materials, teacher and learner resistance to materials, practitioner takeaways, and the importance of content and production focused research. I compare and contrast the articles with high quality research on materials elsewhere, highlighting potentially fruitful avenues of enquiry for the next generation of studies in this rapidly growing field.
Learning Potentials Afforded by a Film in Task‐Based Language Classroom Interactions
Authors: SERT OLCAY , AMRI MARWA 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe use of films as teaching and learning materials can provide a variety of opportunities for interaction in second language classrooms. Research on the usage of films in language‐learning tasks to provide opportunities for learning and interaction, however, is scarce. Drawing on a database of video‐recorded interactions in an upper‐secondary English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language classroom in Sweden and using multimodal conversation analysis, this study examines affordances of student interactions during a film‐based discussion task. Taking a sociomaterial perspective, we focus on students’ co‐narrations of the film in a group task and show how the emergent discussions about the film facilitate collaborative attention work (CAW). Our findings reveal that the CAW in this film‐based discussion task unfolds when students (a) correct each other, or (b) collaboratively search for words while discussing the scenes in the film. Our analysis of these sequences reveals the learning potentials that emerge in film‐based discussions. The findings have direct implications for the use of audio‐visual materials—in particular, films and movies—in language‐learning tasks.