bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Megathrust Slip Behavior for Great Earthquakes Along the Sumatra-Andaman Subduction Zone Mapped From Satellite GOCE Gravity Field Derivatives
Authors: Álvarez Orlando , Pechuan Canet Stefanie , Gimenez Mario , Folguera Andrés 
Published: February 2021

During the last two decades, space geodesy allowed mapping accurately rupture areas, slip distribution, and seismic coupling by obtaining refined inversion models and greatly improving the study of great megathrust earthquakes. A better understanding of these phenomena involving large areas of hundreds of square kilometers came from the last gravity satellite mission that allowed detecting mass transfer through the Earth interior. In this work, we performed direct modeling of satellite GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) derived gravity gradients up to degree/order N = 200 of the harmonic expansion and then corrected this by the effect of topography. Cutting off the model up to this degree/order allows inferring mass heterogeneities located at an approximate depth of 31 km, just along the plate interface where most (but not all) significant slip occurs. Then, we compared the vertical gravity gradient to well-constrained coseismic slip models for three of the last major earthquakes along the Sunda interface. We analyzed seismic rupture behavior for recent and for historical earthquakes along this subduction margin and the relationship of the degree of interseismic coupling using the gravity signal. From this, we found that strong slip patches occurred along minima gravity gradient lobes and that the maximum vertical displacements were related quantitatively to the gravity-derived signal. The degree of interseismic coupling also presents a good correspondence to the vertical gravity gradient, showing an inverse relationship, with low degrees of coupling over regions of relatively higher density. This along-strike segmentation of the gravity signal agrees with the along-strike seismic segmentation observed from recent and historical earthquakes. The thermally controlled down-dip ending of the locked fault zone along central Sumatra also presented an inverse relationship with the density structure along the forearc inferred using our modeling. From this work, we inferred different mass heterogeneities related to persistent tectonic features along the megathrust and along the marine forearc, which may control strain accumulation and release along the megathrust. Combining these data with geodetical and seismological data could possibly delimit and monitor areas with a higher potential seismic hazard around the world.
Affective Touch Reduces Electrically Induced Itch Experience
Authors: Meijer Larissa L. , Schielen Zoë A. , van Ree Kim Y. , Dijkerman H. Chris 
Published: February 2021

Introduction: Itch is a common symptom in dermatologic and other diseases and can have a severe impact on quality of life and mental health. As a proportion of patients with itch-symptoms is resistant to commonly used anti-histamine treatments, development of new treatments is desirable. Past research on pain, itch and affective touch (i.e. slow, gentle stroking of the skin activating C-tactile fibers) revealed an inhibitory relationship between affective touch and pain and between pain and itch. Given the overlap in neural processing between these three sensory submodalities, a possible interaction between affective touch and itch might be expected. This study investigated whether there is a relationship between itch and affective touch, and if so, whether affective touch inhibits itch.Methodology: Itch was electrically induced with the use of electrodes that were placed at the ventral side of the wrist of 61 participants. A within-subject design was conducted with two conditions. An experimental -affective touch- condition (stroking the forearm with a soft brush at 3 cm/s) and a control -non-affective touch- condition (stroking the forearm with a soft brush at 18 cm/s). Touch was applied on the dorsal side of the forearm, the same arm as were the electrodes were placed. For each condition itch was induced for 20 min, with every 2 min a VAS-scale measurement of the level of experienced itch.Results: Both types of touch reduced the experienced itch compared to baseline (p &lt; 0.01, partial η2 = 0.67). However, affective touch had an additional significant relieving effect compared to non-affective touch (p = 0.03, partial η2= 0.08). The alleviation of itch started after 2 min of stroking and continued to increase up till 6 min, where after the relieving effect stabilized but still persisted.Conclusion: This finding suggest that affective touch, as with acute pain, has a relieving effect on electrically induced itch.
The Clinical Characteristics of Patients With Nonneutropenic Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis
Authors: Liu Lulu , Gu Yu , Wang Yu , Shen Kunlu , Su Xin 
Published: February 2021

Objective: The goal of this study was to reveal the clinical manifestations of nonneutropenic invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), which are different from those of neutropenic patients.Methods: The clinical data of patients with nonneutropenic IPA were collected at the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jinling Hospital, from February 2009 to November 2019. We analyzed the general conditions, clinical manifestations, imaging findings, and laboratory tests of these IPA patients.Results: A total of 116 patients with nonneutropenic IPA (31 proven and 85 probable) were included. They had an average age of 59.8 years. The most common underlying disease was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n = 33). The common clinical symptoms included cough (93.1%, n = 108), expectoration (59.5%, n = 69), fever (57.8%, n = 67), hemoptysis (30.2%, n = 35), and dyspnea (40.5%, n = 47). The common CT imaging manifestations included consolidation (47.4%, n = 55), cavities (47.4%, n = 55), air crescent sign (14.7%, n = 17), and nodules (8.6%, n = 10). Multiple lesions (74.1%, n = 86) were more common than single lesions (17.2%, n = 20) and diffuse lesions (8.6%, n = 10). The positive rate of laboratory tests was 88.2% (30/34) for BALF galactomannan (GM), 55.4% (56/101) for serum GM, 45.3% (48/106) for 1,3-β-D-glucan (BDG), 43.3% (46/106) for sputum culture, and 36.4% (20/55) for BALF culture. Patients who had high serum GM level [GM optical density index (ODI) &gt;1] were more likely to have severe respiratory symptoms and higher serum ferritin. Further investigation showed that there was a positive correlation between serum GM level and serum ferritin level.Conclusion: The clinical symptoms and radiological manifestations of nonneutropenic IPA are diverse and often lead to delayed diagnosis. It is important to become more vigilant of aspergillosis in nonneutropenic patients in order to achieve early diagnosis and treatment and to reduce mortality.
Memantine for Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials
Authors: Turalde Christian Wilson R. , Espiritu Adrian I. , Anlacan Veeda Michelle M. 
Published: February 2021

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS), a disabling demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, is associated with cognitive impairment, spasticity, and fatigue. There are still no established guidelines on the management of MS-related sequela. Memantine has the potential to reduce glutamate toxicity, thereby reducing consequent cognitive impairment, spasticity, and fatigue.Objectives: This study aims to determine the efficacy and safety of memantine in preventing cognitive impairment, reducing spasticity and fatigue, and controlling disability in MS patients through a review of relevant randomized trials.Methods: MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Scopus, Embase, LILACS, ClinicalTrials.gov, and HERDIN were searched from inception to May 2020 for relevant trials.Results: The search yielded 203 articles; four studies were included in the analysis. Pooled evidence shows that memantine compared with placebo does not significantly improve PASAT, ASS, MFIS, and EDSS scores of patients with MS. Memantine is associated with mild adverse drug events such as dizziness, fatigue, and anxiety.Conclusion: There is not enough evidence to support the efficacy of memantine in preventing cognitive decline, controlling spasticity, reducing fatigue, and preventing disability. Future researches should consider the different MS subtypes, effect of co-administration of disease-modifying therapies, longer duration of administration, and more sensitive outcome measures to evaluate the potential benefit of memantine in MS.
Thalamic Local Field Potentials Are Related to Long-Term DBS Effects in Tourette Syndrome
Authors: Marceglia Sara , Prenassi Marco , Galbiati Tommaso F. , Porta Mauro , Zekaj Edvin , Priori Alberto , Servello Domenico 
Published: February 2021

Background: Local field potential (LFP) recordings helped to clarify the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome (TS) and to define new strategies for deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment for refractory TS, based on the delivery of stimulation in accordance with changes in the electrical activity of the DBS target area. However, there is little evidence on the relationship between LFP pattern and DBS outcomes in TS.Objective: To investigate the relationship between LFP oscillations and DBS effects on tics and on obsessive compulsive behavior (OCB) comorbidities.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data and LFP recordings from 17 patients treated with DBS of the centromedian-parafascicular/ventralis oralis (CM-Pf/VO) complex, and followed for more several years after DBS in the treating center. In these patients, LFPs were recorded either in the acute setting (3–5 days after DBS electrode implant) or in the chronic setting (during impulse generator replacement surgery). LFP oscillations were correlated with the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) and the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) collected at baseline (before DBS surgery), 1 year after DBS, and at the last follow-up available.Results: We found that, at baseline, in the acute setting, the power of the oscillations included in the 5–15-Hz band, previously identified as TS biomarker, is correlated with the pathophysiology of tics, being significantly correlated with total YGTSS before DBS (Spearman's ρ = 0.701, p = 0.011). The power in the 5–15-Hz band was also correlated with the improvement in Y-BOCS after 1 year of DBS (Spearman's ρ = −0.587, p = 0.045), thus suggesting a relationship with the DBS effects on OCB comorbidities.Conclusions: Our observations confirm that the low-frequency (5–15-Hz) band is a significant biomarker of TS, being related to the severity of tics and, also to the long-term response on OCBs. This represents a step toward both the understanding of the mechanisms underlying DBS effects in TS and the development of adaptive DBS strategies.
High Burden of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Rural Northeast China: A Population-Based Study
Authors: Xing Liying , Li Ru , Zhang Suli , Li Dan , Dong Baojing , Zhou Hong , Jing Li , Tian Yuanmeng , Liu Shuang 
Published: February 2021

Objective: Carotid atherosclerosis is a known marker of increased cardiovascular risk. We aimed to assess the current epidemiology of carotid atherosclerosis, carotid plaque and related risk factors in rural northeast China.Methods: The population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in 5,838 adults aged ≥40 years residing in rural northeast China in 2017–2018. A multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to select the representative sample. Carotid atherosclerosis was defined as carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) ≥1.0 mm or presence of plaque.Results: The mean CIMT was 0.72 ± 0.13 mm and increased with age in this population. Among 2,457 individuals with carotid atherosclerosis, 2,333 were diagnosed with carotid plaque, and 210 individuals were moderate or severe carotid stenosis. Crude prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis and plaque were 42.1 and 40.0%, significantly higher in men than in women (p &lt; 0.001). The age-standardized prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis and carotid plaque were 33.1 and 31.5%, respectively. Advancing age, men, hypertension, diabetes, current smoking, ever-smoking and lack of exercise were risk factors for carotid atherosclerosis. Hypertension (69.1%), dyslipidemia (26.0%) and diabetes (16.1%) were highly prevalent in participants with carotid atherosclerosis. However, the control rates of those comorbidities were frustratingly low (4.7, 8.2, and 14.2%, respectively).Conclusions: The high prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis, carotid plaque, carotid stenosis and uncontrolled risk factors indicated the high burden of cardiovascular disease in rural northeast China, particularly in men. Strategies of prevention and management of atherosclerosis and related risk factors were urgently needed in rural northeast China.
Rising Catastrophic Expenditure on Households Due to Tuberculosis: Is India Moving Away From the END-TB Goal?
Authors: Prasad Banuru Muralidhara , Tripathy Jaya Prasad , Muraleedharan V. R. , Tonsing Jamhoih 
Published: February 2021

Introduction: One of the targets of the END-TB strategy is to ensure zero catastrophic expenditure on households due to TB. The information about household catastrophic expenditure is limited in India and, therefore difficult to monitor. The objective is to estimate household and catastrophic expenditure for Tuberculosis using national sample survey data.Methods: For arriving at out-of-pocket expenditure due to tuberculosis and its impact on households the study analyzed four rounds of National Sample Survey data (52nd round-1995–1996, 60th round-2004–2005, 71st round-2014–15, and 75th round 2017–2018). The household interview survey data had a recall period of 365 days for inpatient/ hospitalization and 15 days for out-patient care expenditure. Expenditure amounting to &gt;20% of annual household consumption expenditure was termed as catastrophic.Results: A 5-fold increase in median outpatient care cost in 75th round is observed compared to previous rounds and increase has been maximum while accessing public sector. The overall expense ratio of public v/s private is 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, and 1:5, respectively across four rounds for hospitalization. The prevalence of catastrophic expenditure due to hospitalization increased from 16.5% (52nd round) to 43% (71st round), followed by a decline to 18% in the recent 75th round.Conclusion: Despite free diagnostic and treatment services offered under the national program, households are exposed to catastrophic financial expenditure due to tuberculosis. We strongly advocate for risk protection mechanisms such as cash transfer or health insurance schemes targeting the patients of tuberculosis, especially among the poor.
Patient complaints in general practice seen through the lens of professionalism: a retrospective observational study
Authors: Barnhoorn Pieter C , Essers Geurt TJM , Nierkens Vera , Numans Mattijs E , van Mook Walther NKA , Kramer Anneke WM 
Published: February 2021

BackgroundProfessionalism is a key competence for physicians. Patient complaints provide a unique insight into patient expectations regarding professionalism. Research exploring the exact nature of patient complaints in general practice, especially focused on professionalism, is limited.AimTo characterise patient complaints in primary care and to explore in more detail which issues with professionalism exist.Design & settingA retrospective observational study in which all unsolicited patient complaints to a representative out-of-hours general practice (OOH GP) service provider in The Netherlands were analysed over a 10-year period (2009–2019).MethodComplaints were coded for general characteristics and thematically categorised using the CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework (CanMEDS) as sensitising concepts. Complaints categorised as professionalism were subdivided using open coding.ResultsOut of 746 996 patient consultations (telephone, face-to-face, and home visits) 484 (0.065%) resulted in eligible complaint letters. The majority consisted of two or more complaints, resulting in 833 different complaints. Most complaints concerned GPs (80%); a minority (19%) assistants. Thirty-five per cent concerned perceived professionalism lapses of physicians. A rich diversity in the wording of professionalism lapses was found, where'not being taken seriously'was mentioned most often. Forty-five per cent related to medical expertise, such as missed diagnoses or unsuccessful clinical treatment. Nineteen per cent related to management problems, especially waiting times and access to care. Communication issues were only explicitly mentioned in 1% of the complaints.ConclusionMost unsolicited patient complaints were related to clinical problems. A third, however, concerned professionalism issues. Not being taken seriously was the most frequent mentioned theme within the professionalism category.
Requerimientos para la gestión de mantenimiento en la industria petrolera venezolana división occidente
Authors: Hernández Ángel 
Published: February 2021

El presente artículo es un avance de una investigación de mayor alcance, la cual tuvo como objetivo analizar la gestión de mantenimiento; de allí, en este avance se determinan los requerimientos para la gestión de mantenimiento en la industria petrolera división occidente. La investigación es de tipo descriptiva, con diseño no experimental, transeccional y de campo. Se empleó un censo poblacional, para un total de 30 sujetos de investigación pertenecientes a las gerencias que prestan mantenimiento a taladros de perforación en la industria petrolera división occidente. Para recolectar la información, se aplicó un cuestionario, validado por el juicio de expertos, con un valor de 0,83 considerado de muy fuerte confiabilidad, según el coeficiente Alfa Crombach. El análisis de los datos se realizó mediante la estadística descriptiva, a través del estudio de la media aritmética, apoyada en las frecuencias registradas. Se evidencio alta presencia de los recursos humanos, técnicos y financieros.
Jūzenji, ou l’enfance du divin
Authors: Faure Bernard 
Published: February 2021

During the medieval period and till the Meiji Restoration, Jūzenji was one of the preeminent gods of the Hie Shrines (known today as Hiyoshi Taisha). The very name “Jūzenji” sounds rather strange for a kami, and it has received various Buddhist and “Shintō” interpretations. It points toward a Buddhist monastic institution, that of the “ten dhyāna masters” (jūzenji),
which was important in the Nara and Heian periods but had declined by the time Jūzenji’s cult arose, toward the eleventh century. There are few representations of Jūzenji. He is usually represented as a young monk or as a youth (dōji or chigo). Indeed, youth is his most characteristic feature, and it links him not only with a category of more or less divine or demonic deities but also with an important figure often represented as a child or an adolescent, Shōtoku Taishi. The figure of Jūzenji is also intimately related to the image of the monkey, the emissary of Sannō Gongen, the main protector of Mount Hiei. Jūzenji was above all an oracular god. He delivered his oracles not only through incubatory dreams but also through children that he possessed. The sudden and violent nature of Jūzenji’s child possession, as reported in literary sources, reveals an unruly, demonic nature. Yet Jūzenji also came to be perceived as a deity watching over the destiny of humans. This transformation was made easier through his identification with the snake deity Ugajin, and, through him, with the so-called “wild gods of the placenta” (ena kōjin).
This identification took place within a specific context, that of the beliefs concerning placenta deities. In his role as placenta deity, Jūzenji was mostly a nurturing deity that brings “longevity and happiness,” yet, as “wild deity” (kōjin), he remained essentially ambivalent—and potentially dangerous when not properly initiated. The ascension of Jūzenji into the medieval pantheon led to identifying him with the “god of destiny,” Shukujin. This identification derives logically from the nature and functions of that deity—a child-deity related to Jizō, but also an oracular deity and a deity of limits, and a violent deity of the kōjin type, perceived as the aramitama of the mountain god Sannō Gongen. This latent symbolic complex was brought to the forefront with the emergence of certain social groups (the artistic guilds of the sarugakusha and biwa hōshi, and the inhabitants of the shuku, way-stations). This complex symbolic network explains how, even within the orthodox circles of Enryakuji and Hie Shrine, Jūzenji eventually became a “god of the warp and woof of Heaven and Earth.”
L’exégèse des mythes du Nihon shoki chez Yoshikawa Koretari : entre allégorie et théologie de la présence
Authors: Rocher Alain 
Published: February 2021

In tune with the anti-allegorical stance of the Kokugakusha, most modern specialists of mythology consider the interpretation of myths advocated by the Yoshida school and its successors an artificial construct so dependent on Buddhist, Confucianist, and yin-yang concepts that it is alien to the very nature of the theo-cosmological narratives of the Nara period. The aim of the present article is to rehabilitate the hermeneutics of myth developed by esoteric Shinto in the course of its long history of commentaries on the Jindaikan.
Special attention is devoted to Yoshikawa Koretari, whose exegetical texts can be read as the grand “coda” of the Yoshida tradition as a whole. The concept of “divine words” appears to be the keystone of this interpretative system, and the Yoshida school hermeneuts radically change its meaning, giving it a wide spectrum: the “divine words” stop being limited to punctual utterances (prophetic or ritual) to acquire a complex syntactic dimension, referring to extensive narratives transmitting a secret knowledge to the men. The semantic density of the divine words explains the role played in the Yoshida schools by a unique, multilayered etymology (connotations borrowed from Buddhist, neo-Confucian, and vernacular cultures coexist in the decoding process), and the importance of theurgic practices (understood, as in the neo-Platonician tradition, in their double movement, descending and ascending). We then proceed to identify the conceptual tools produced (or borrowed) by the Yoshida schools to interpret the cosmological narrative. The fusion of different gods, associations between god names and neo-Confucian notions, numerological games, and systematic parallelism between the cosmogony and the theogony are the most common hermeneutical procedures. But the conceptual operator mishō/ishō plays an even more decisive role in the Yoshidian interpretative strategies: it allows us to distinguish different moments of the creation myth while, at the same time, playing the role of an ontologico-semantic tool (ritual artifacts described in the myth possess an invisible and a visible dimension). These functions are, in turn, subordinated to an original theological thesis. Far from being erased by the emergence of the forms in the cosmogonic process, the formless (the marokare as well as the pre-named Kuni no tokotachi) continue to exist/ insist in the world as a hidden dynamic principle. This theology of presence (the divine voice is inscribed in the text in the same way as the kami are immanent to the world and man’s heart) translates into an ethical system based on a reinterpretation of the virtue of humility (tsutsushimi) in gogyō terms (tsuchikane no hiketsu). Far-fetched as it may seem, this allegorical interpretation of the Jindaikan is paradoxically faithful to the polysemy and the narrative quality of the myth, to the point that it deserves the qualification of “mytheology.”