bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of raltitrexed‐based transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for intermediate and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: A multicenter real‐world study
Authors: He Jiahui , Sun Hang , Li Fei , Yang Hao , Lou Minggeng , Wang Shunde , Wu Chuanxin 
Published: September 2021

AbstractAimThis study aimed to evaluate efficacy and safety of raltitrexed‐based transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for intermediate and advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using real‐world evidence.MethodsAll eligible HCC cases were collected from multiple centers in Chongqing, China, from January 2013 to December 2018 and divided into the raltitrexed group (raltitrexed + lobaplatin + pirarubicin) and control group (lobaplatin + pirarubicin). Propensity score matching (PSM) with a 1:1 ratio was used to eliminate the imbalance of potential confounding factors between groups. The primary end‐point was overall survival (OS) and the secondary end‐points were progression‐free survival (PFS) and disease control rate.ResultsThe median follow‐up period for patients in the raltitrexed and control groups was 8.7 and 5.9 months, respectively. After PSM, median OS was 10.0 months in the raltitrexed group and 7.0 months in the control group (p = 0.002). The 6‐month, 1‐year, and 2‐year OS rates of the raltitrexed group were significantly higher than those of the control group (78.2% vs. 60.9%, p = 0.010; 43.5% vs. 22.8%, p = 0.030; and 17.4% vs. 2.2% p = 0.001, respectively). Multivariate analysis of these propensity score‐matched HCC patients revealed treatment, age, tumor size, lipiodol accumulation, and the number of TACE cycles as independent predictors of OS (all p < 0.05). The disease control rate of the raltitrexed and control groups was 87.4% and 65.8%, respectively (p < 0.001).ConclusionsRaltitrexed‐based TACE can prolong the OS of patients with intermediate and advanced HCC in a real‐world clinical setting, and is safe and tolerable.
Prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis: A multi‐center retrospective observational study
Authors: Yamana Hayato , Imai Shinobu , Yamasaki Kazumi , Horiguchi Hiromasa , Ario Keisuke , Komatsu Tatsuji , Sugimoto Rie , Katsushima Shinji , Naganuma Atsushi , Mano Yutaka , Yamashita Tsutomu , Kamitsukasa Hiroshi , Tsuruta Satoru , Jo Taisuke , Yasunaga Hideo , Fushimi Kiyohide , Yatsuhashi Hiroshi 
Published: September 2021

AbstractAimDespite advances in the management of liver diseases and changes in the etiology of cirrhosis, few studies have updated the prognosis of cirrhosis. This study aimed to clarify the recent prognosis of cirrhosis and identify risk factors for death.MethodsIn this retrospective observational study by the Hepatic Disease Network of the National Hospital Organization in Japan, chart reviews were performed to follow patients with cirrhosis beginning in 2011. We conducted Kaplan–Meier survival time analyses stratified by Child–Pugh classification and albumin‐bilirubin grade. Cox regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for death.ResultsWe identified 444 eligible patients from 25 hospitals, including 303 (68%), 110 (25%), and 31 (7%) patients with Child–Pugh classes A, B, and C, respectively. Hepatitis C virus infection was the cause of cirrhosis for 63% of the patients. The 1‐year and 5‐year cumulative survival rates of patients with Child–Pugh classes A, B, and C were 90% and 61%, 78% and 42%, and 65% and 25%, respectively. The 1‐year and 5‐year cumulative survival rates of patients with albumin‐bilirubin grades 1, 2, and 3 were 98% and 80%, 91% and 56%, and 58% and 23%, respectively. Cirrhosis classification (Child–Pugh and albumin‐bilirubin), age, liver cancer, and untreated esophageal varices were associated with increased hazard of death.ConclusionsLittle improvement was observed in the prognosis of cirrhosis compared with previous reports, and the prognosis of Child–Pugh class C cirrhosis remained poor. Untreated esophageal varices were identified as a risk factor for death.
Effects of PNPLA3, TM6SF2 and SAMM50 on the development and severity of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease in children
Authors: Lee Kyung Jae , Moon Jin Soo , Kim Nan Young , Ko Jae Sung 
Published: September 2021

SummaryBackgroundAlthough genetic variants of PNPLA3, TM6SF2 and SAMM50 have been reported to increase the risk of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), no pediatric studies have evaluated the association between SAMM50 and NAFLD.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the risk factors, including genetic variants, of pediatric NAFLD.MethodsNAFLD was defined as the presence of hepatic steatosis on ultrasound. We included 228 patients with NAFLD (body mass index‐Z [BMI‐Z] = 2.51 ± 1.01) and 225 controls (BMI‐Z = 0.22 ± 1.48). We genotyped four variants of PNPLA3 (rs738409), TM6SF2 (rs58542926) and SAMM50 (rs2073080 and rs3761472) by TaqMan allelic discrimination. The pediatric NAFLD fibrosis score, aspartate transaminase (AST)/platelet ratio index and fibrosis‐4 score were used to evaluate the degree of fibrosis. We calculated the genetic risk score for additive effects according to the sum of risk alleles.ResultsThe mean age was 12.6 ± 3.5 years. The four genetic variants, male sex and BMI‐Z, independently increased susceptibility to NAFLD. These four variants, in addition to fasting insulin and triglycerides, remained significant risk factors with higher odds ratios in children with overweight. These variants increased the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level and three fibrosis scores independently. As the genetic risk score increased, AST, ALT and the fibrosis scores increased independently.ConclusionPNPLA3, TM6SF2 and SAMM50 are associated with the development and severity of pediatric NAFLD. The impact of genetic variants is greater in children with overweight. The four genetic variants have synergetic effects on the severity of pediatric NAFLD.
Goals and outcomes of hospitalised older people: does the current hospital care match the needs of older people?
Authors: van Munster Barbara C. , Boot Gerdine G. , Festen Suzanne , de Rooij Sophia E. 
Published: September 2021

AbstractBackgroundDue to the rising number of acutely hospitalised older people in the coming years, there is increased interest in tailoring care to the individual goals and preferences of patients in order to reach patient‐centred care.AimsTo investigate the goals of older hospitalised patients and the extent to which these goals were reached during hospitalisation.MethodsA single‐centre prospective cohort study was performed in The Netherlands between December 2017 and January 2018. Participants aged 70 years or older were included. In the first 3 days of hospitalisation, a semi‐structured interview was conducted to assess the patient goals regarding the hospital admission. At 1−2 weeks after discharge, patients were asked to what extent the recent hospitalisation had contributed to reaching their goals.ResultsOne hundred and four patients were included and follow up was completed for 86 patients. The main goals reported at hospital admission were ‘remaining alive’ (72.1%), ‘feeling better’ (71.2%) and ‘improving condition’ (65.4%). Hospitalisation seemed to have a positive contribution to reaching the goals ‘remaining alive’, ‘knowing what is wrong’, ‘feeling better’, ‘reducing pain’ and ‘controlling disease’. Hospitalisation seemed to contribute little to reaching the goals in the categories ‘enjoying life’, ‘independency and freedom’, ‘improving daily functioning’, ‘hobbies and work’ and ‘social functioning’.ConclusionsIt is important for healthcare professionals to know the goals of their patients. The majority of these goals were not achieved at hospital discharge. It is important to be aware of this, so sufficient aftercare can be arranged and patients can be prepared.
Prospective study of policies and use of therapies for COVID‐19 among Australian health services during 2020
Authors: Smith Emma L. , Gwee Amanda , Roberts Jason A. , Molton James S. , Wurzel Danielle , Hughes Carly M. , Rogers Benjamin A. 
Published: September 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe COVID‐19 pandemic has generated significant debate about how emerging infections can be treated in the absence of evidence‐based therapies to combat disease. In particular, the use of off‐label therapies outside of a clinical trial setting has been controversial.AimTo longitudinally study policies and prescribing practices pertaining to therapies for COVID‐19 in Australian health services during 2020.MethodsProspective data were collected from participating Australian health services who may care for patients with COVID‐19 via an electronic portal. A single informant from each health service was emailed a survey link at regular intervals. Information was sought regarding changes to COVID‐19 policy at their service and use of therapies for COVID‐19.ResultsOverall, 78 hospitals were represented from 39 respondents with longitudinal data collection from May to December 2020. All Australian states/territories were represented with the majority (34/39; 87%) of respondents located in a major city. Just over half (20/39) of respondents had a written policy for COVID‐19 therapy use at their health service at survey enrolment and policies changed frequently throughout the pandemic. Therapy use outside of a clinical trial was reported in 54% of health services, most frequently in Victoria, correlating with higher numbers of COVID‐19 cases. At study commencement, hydroxychloroquine was most frequently used, with corticosteroids and remdesivir use increasingly throughout the study period.ConclusionOur results reflect the reactive nature of prescribing of therapies for COVID‐19 and highlight the importance of evidence‐based guidelines to assist prescribers.
The COVID‐19 risk in the Chinese option market
Authors: Li Jianhui , Ruan Xinfeng , Gehricke Sebastian A. , Zhang Jin E. 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThe COVID‐19 pandemic has increased fear of a financial market crash in China. We use an implied volatility slope measure, which proxies the cost of option protection against and therefore trader's fear of crash risk, using the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index options. We show that this measure is positively related to new cases and deaths of the pandemic during the COVID‐19 outbreak in China. Option traders are willing to pay more for hedging downside tail risk as the pandemic worsens, and are no longer as concerned by news of cases and deaths after the lift of the lockdown.
Let me explain! The effects of writing and reading short justifications on students' performance, confidence and opinions in audience response systems
Authors: Papadopoulos Pantelis M. , Obwegeser Nikolaus , Weinberger Armin 
Published: September 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe feedback offered to students in audience response systems may enhance conformity bias, while asking closed‐type questions alone does not allow students to externalize and elaborate on their knowledge.ObjectivesThe study explores how writing short justifications and accessing peer justifications as collective feedback could affect students' performance, confidence and opinions in multiple‐choice audience response systems that apply the Peer Instruction model of voting/revoting.MethodsFor 8 weeks, 98 students, enrolled in an undergraduate course, attended each lecture following a flipped classroom approach. At the beginning of each lecture, students participated in a quiz with eight multiple‐choice questions. Four of these questions included a justification form in which students could elaborate on their answers. The students were randomly grouped into two conditions according to the collective feedback they received: the Shared group (n = 54) could see both the percentage each question choice received from the class and the respective peer justifications, while the Unshared group (n = 44) could only see the percentage information.ResultsAnalysis showed that students in both groups performed significantly better in questions with the justification form being available. Also, the two groups were comparable in terms of performance and self‐reported level of confidence suggesting no main effect for making peer justification available. Despite this, students in the Shared group expressed a significantly more positive opinion in the end‐of‐activity questionnaire in terms of perceived learning gains and the helpfulness of writing justifications for their answers.Take AwayWriting short justifications can have a positive impact on students' academic performance.
Research on the online rapid sensing method of moisture content in famous green tea spreading
Authors: Liu Zhongyuan , Yang Chongshan , Luo Xin , Hu Bin , Dong Chunwang 
Published: September 2021

AbstractMoisture content is an important indicator in the process of green tea spreading. In order to realize the rapid detection of moisture content in the green tea spreading process, this paper collects 200 near‐infrared spectroscopy data during the spreading process and establishes a quantitative model of moisture content. To improve the performance of the model, standard normal variables (SNV), mean centering (MC), max–min normalization (Max–Min), detrending (Detrend), and Savitzky–Golay filtering (SG FIR) are used to improve the signal‐to‐noise ratio of the original spectrum. By comparing the partial least squares regression (PLSR) models established by the different pretreatment methods, SG FIR is determined as the best preprocessing method. To simplify the prediction model, the successive projections algorithm, competitive adaptive reweighted sampling, interval random frog, iterative retained information variables, variable combination population analysis (VCPA), and VCPA‐GA are used to extract the characteristic wavelengths from the preprocessed spectrum by SG FIR method. Then, based on the full spectrum and characteristic variables, the PLSR and support vector regression (SVR) models are established. The results show that established SVR prediction model based on VCPA‐GA extracting the characteristic wavelengths has the best effect. Among them, the correlation coefficients of the calibration set (Rc) is 0.9785, and the correlation coefficients of the prediction set (Rp) is 0.9658. Relative percent deviations are 3.6787. The results show that the VCPA‐GA + SVR model, based on near‐infrared spectroscopy technology, is the most effective and can accurately predict the moisture content in the green tea spreading process.Practical ApplicationsAt present, near‐infrared spectroscopy technology has been widely used in food detection. This study solved the problem of the inability to quantitatively predict the moisture content during the green tea spreading process by discussing different spectral preprocessing methods, characteristic wavelength selection methods and machine learning algorithms, and realized the rapid online detection of moisture during the green tea spreading process. This research has important guiding significance for the intelligentization of green tea processing equipment.
Development of a nozzleless electrostatic atomization equipment for the mass production of encapsulated oil powders in the liquid phase
Authors: Wakita Kazuki , Kadota Kazunori , Kawabata Daichi , Yoshida Mikio , Shirakawa Yoshiyuki 
Published: September 2021

AbstractAs a simplistic concept, needle electrodes to generate atomization in the liquid phase were increased for forming multiple Taylor cones. Numerical simulations using a Poisson equation were performed to optimize the distance between the needle electrodes. The simulation results revealed that the distance between the needle electrodes affected the formation of the Taylor cone, and that the stabilization of the Taylor cone required a distance of over 30 mm between electrodes. The experimental results similarly showed the stabilization of Taylor cones by a distance of 30 mm between electrodes. Multiple Taylor cones stabilized via electrostatic atomization were applied to produce encapsulated oil powders. The increase in the number of electrodes enabled the mass production of encapsulated oil powders via nozzleless electrostatic atomization. This technology may allow the formation of oil powders with functional particles.Practical ApplicationsElectrostatic atomization in the liquid phase is an attractive process for obtaining spherical particles; however, this technique affords a low level of production of the generated particles. The present study aimed to develop a device for the mass production of encapsulated oil powders using nozzleless electrostatic atomization. Numerical simulations were used to design the device for electrostatic atomization for mass production. Multiple Taylor cones may allow the mass production of encapsulated oil powders.
Social Network Influences on Young Women's Choice to Use Long‐Acting Reversible Contraception: A Systematic Review
Authors: Mahony Helen , Spinner Chelse , Vamos Cheryl A. , Daley Ellen M. 
Published: September 2021

IntroductionLong‐acting reversible contraception (LARC; including intrauterine devices and implants) is recommended as the first‐line contraceptive choice by several professional organizations (eg, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists); however, rates of uptake are lower than those of other contraceptive methods. A young woman's social network may influence the decision to use LARC. The purpose of this review was to determine the role of health care providers (HCPs), family, peers, and sexual partner(s) on young women's decisions to initiate LARC.MethodsSeveral databases (PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO) were searched for articles published between 2000 and 2020 that studied the social network influences of HCPs, family, peers, and sexual partner(s) on LARC initiation among women in the United States aged 18 to 25. A narrative synthesis of the included articles was conducted.ResultsTwenty‐nine articles met the inclusion criteria (21 qualitative, 6 quantitative, 2 mixed methods). HCPs are an important influence on a young woman's LARC decision‐making. Peers and family also have a role but were often sources of negative or inaccurate information. Gaps in the literature were identified, including a lack of data on implant users and a dearth of studies on the role of sexual partner influence; most studies were not guided by theory.DiscussionHCPs are integral to LARC initiation and may be more influential than other social network members. Future research should focus on understanding how social network members interact to result in LARC initiation. Gaining insight into these influences may improve existing interventions or contribute to the development of new interventions and ultimately promote LARC use among young women.
Changes in serum levels of calcitonin gene‐related peptide, adiponectin, and ghrelin in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus
Authors: Koşar Can Özlem , Cabuş Ümit , Kabukcu Cihan , Fenkci Semin , Fenkci Veysel , Enli Yasar , Korkmaz Berker 
Published: September 2021

AbstractAimThis study was designed to determine serum calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) levels and define whether serum CGRP concentration is associated with adiponectin and ghrelin in pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Study DesignThirty‐six pregnant women with GDM and 43 normal pregnant women without glucose intolerance were evaluated in this study. The serum concentration of CGRP, adiponectin, and ghrelin were measured in two groups at the last trimester of gestation.Main FindingsThe serum CGRP level in the GDM group was significantly higher than the control group. Serum levels of adiponectin and ghrelin in the GDM group were significantly lower than in the control group. In pregnant women with GDM, there was a significant negative correlation between serum CGRP level and adiponectin level. However, the correlation between maternal serum CGRP levels and ghrelin levels was not significant.ConclusionOur investigation shows that serum CGRP level was significantly higher in pregnant women with GDM in comparison with the control group. These results suggest that CGRP may play a very important role in GDM pathogenesis.
Weighing the Risk: Developmental Pathways and Processes Underlying Obesity to Substance Use in Adolescence
Authors: Lanza H. Isabella 
Published: September 2021

AbstractResearch on co‐occurring obesity and substance use in adolescence has grown substantially in the past decade, but questions on the pathways and processes underlying co‐occurrence remain. This review first synthesizes empirical findings on the relationship between obesity and substance use (e.g., alcohol, cannabis, tobacco use). Multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks referencing behavioral medicine, neuroscience, psychology, and public health are then used to inform an interdisciplinary, conceptual model focused on pathways and processes by which obesity increases risk of substance use. Recommendations for future research underscore the importance of prospective studies that encompass multiple domains of development. Recommendations for practice include family‐based interventions that promote adaptive self‐regulation, targeted antibullying or victimization interventions, and increased attention by health professionals on risky behavior associated with adolescent obesity.
Context‐dependent dispersal determines relatedness and genetic structure in a patchy amphibian population
Authors: Unglaub Bianca , Cayuela Hugo , Schmidt Benedikt R. , Preißler Kathleen , Glos Julian , Steinfartz Sebastian 
Published: September 2021

AbstractDispersal is a central process in ecology and evolution with far reaching consequences for the dynamics and genetics of spatially structured populations (SSPs). Individuals can adjust their decisions to disperse according to local fitness prospects, resulting in context‐dependent dispersal. By determining dispersal rate, distance and direction, these individual‐level decisions further modulate the demography, relatedness and genetic structure of SSPs. Here, we examined how context‐dependent dispersal influences the dynamics and genetics of a great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) SSP. We collected capture–recapture data of 5564 individuals and genetic data of 950 individuals across an SSP in northern Germany. We added genetic data from six sites outside this SSP to assess genetic structure and gene flow at a regional level. Dispersal rates within the SSP were high but dispersal distances were short. Dispersal was context‐dependent: individuals preferentially immigrated into high‐quality ponds where breeding probabilities were higher. The studied SSP behaved like a patchy population, where subpopulations at each pond were demographically interdependent. High context‐dependent dispersal led to weak but significant spatial genetic structure and relatedness within the SSP. At the regional level, a strong hierarchical genetic structure with very few first‐generation migrants as well as low effective dispersal rates suggest the presence of independent demographic units. Overall, our study highlights the importance of habitat quality for driving context‐dependent dispersal and therefore demography and genetic structure in SSPs. Limited capacity for long‐distance dispersal seems to increase genetic structure within a population and leads to demographic isolation in anthropogenic landscapes.