bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Circulating CitH3 Is a Reliable Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker of Septic Patients in Acute Pancreatitis
Authors: Pan Baihong , Li Yaozhen , Liu Yu , Wang Wei , Huang Gengwen , Ouyang Yang 
Published: November 2021

PurposeAcute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory disease. AP starts with sterile inflammation and is often complicated with critical local or systemic infection or sepsis in severe cases. Septic AP activates peptidyl arginine deiminase (PAD) and citrullinates histone H3 (CitH3), leading to neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation. Investigating the role of NETs and underlying mechanisms in septic AP may facilitate developing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. In this study, we sought to identify the expression of CitH3 in septic AP patients and to analyze the correlation of CitH3 concentration with NET components as well as clinical outcomes.MethodsSeventy AP patients with or without sepsis (40 septic cases, 30 nonseptic cases) and 30 healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. Concentration of NET components (CitH3 and double-strain DNA) and key enzymes (PAD2/4) were measured. Clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients were recorded and analyzed.ResultsLevels of CitH3 were elevated significantly in septic AP patients compared with those in nonseptic AP and healthy volunteers. The area under the curve (AUC, 95% confidence interval) for diagnosing septic AP was 0.93 (0.86–1.003), and the cutoff was 43.05 pg/ml. Among septic AP cases (n = 40), the concentration of CitH3 was significantly increased in those who did not survive or were admitted to the intensive care unit, when compared with that in those who survived or did not require intensive care unit. Association analysis revealed that CitH3 concentration was positively correlated with PAD2, PAD4, dsDNA concentration, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores.ConclusionCitH3 concentration increased in septic AP patients and was closely correlated with disease severity and clinical outcomes. CitH3 may potentially be a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of septic AP.
HOMO–LUMO Gaps and Molecular Structures of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soot Formation
Authors: Xu Yabei , Chu Qingzhao , Chen Dongping , Fuentes Andrés 
Published: November 2021

A large number of PAH molecules is collected from recent literature. The HOMO-LUMO gap value of PAHs was computed at the level of B3LYP/6-311+G (d,p). The gap values lie in the range of 0.64–6.59 eV. It is found that the gap values of all PAH molecules exhibit a size dependency to some extent. However, the gap values may show a big variation even at the same size due to the complexity in the molecular structure. All collected PAHs are further classified into seven groups according to features in the structures, including the types of functional groups and the molecular planarity. The impact of functional groups, including –OH, –CHO, –COOH, =O, –O– and –CnHm on the bandgap is discussed in detail. The substitution of ketone group has the greatest reduction on the HOMO-LUMO gap of PAH molecules. Besides functional groups, we found that both local structure and the position of five-member rings make critical impacts on the bandgap via a detailed analysis of featured PAHs with unexpected low and high gap values. Among all these factors, the five-member rings forming nonplanar PAHs impact the gap most. Furthermore, we developed a machine learning model to predict the HOMO-LUMO gaps of PAHs, and the average absolute error is only 0.19 eV compared with the DFT calculations. The excellent performance of the machine learning model provides us an accurate and efficient way to explore the band information of PAHs in soot formation.
Clinical Analysis of Risk Factors of Postoperative Psychiatric Disorders in Patients With Adult Craniopharyngioma
Authors: Zhao Rui , Lu Pengwei , Fan Yanzhu , Li Chuzhong , Liu Chunhui , Zhao Peng , Cao Lei , Gao Hongwei , Gui Songbai 
Published: November 2021

Objective: To analyze the risk factors relative to postoperative psychiatric disorders in adult patients with craniopharyngioma.Methods: A retrospective case-control study design was used in this study. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory–Questionnaire (NPI-Q) assessment tool was used to assess psychiatric disorders in postoperative patients with craniopharyngioma at Beijing Tiantan Hospital from January 2018 to December 2020. The relationship between the psychiatric disorders and basic demographic data as well as several risk factors, such as the tumor characteristics (tumor location, tumor size, pathological finding of the tumor, etc.) and treatment-related factors (the extent of the resection), were analyzed.Results: A total of 173 patients were included in this study. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 14.5% among adult craniopharyngioma patients. Irritability represented the most common type of psychological symptom (64%, n = 16), followed by agitation (36%, n = 9), and delusions (28%, n = 7). The risk factors relative to postoperative psychiatric disorders that were identified were a tumor volume larger than 7 cm3 (HR = 3.292, P = 0.042), tumor location (P = 0.003), hypothalamic invasion (HR = 9.766, P = 0.036), and gross-total resection (HR = 0.085, P = 0.042).Conclusion: Neurocognitive assessment and intervention before and after surgery are important in patients with larger tumors, invading the third ventricle, and tumors with hypothalamic invasion. Prediction of these risk factors is essential for the treatment.
Case Report: A Novel Compound Heterozygous Mutation of the FRMD4A Gene Identified in a Chinese Family With Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability, and Ataxia
Authors: Pan Yuhua , Guo Xiaoling , Zhou Xiaoqiang , Liu Yue , Lian Jingli , Yang Tingting , Huang Xiang , He Fei , Zhang Jian , Wu Buling , Xiong Fu , Yang Xingkun 
Published: November 2021

Background: FERM domain-containing protein 4A (FRMD4A) is a scaffolding protein previously proposed to be critical in the regulation of cell polarity in neurons and implicated in human intellectual development.Case Presentation: We report a case of a 3-year-old boy with corpus callosum anomaly, relative macrocephaly, ataxia, and unexplained global developmental delay. Here, compound heterozygous missense mutations in the FRMD4A gene [c.1830G&gt;A, p.(Met610Ile) and c.2973G&gt;C, p.(Gln991His)] were identified in the proband, and subsequent familial segregation showed that each parent had transmitted a mutation.Conclusions: Our results have confirmed the associations of mutations in the FRMD4A gene with intellectual development and indicated that for patients with unexplained global developmental delay, the FRMD4A gene should be included in the analysis of whole exome sequencing data, which can contribute to the identification of more patients affected by this severe phenotypic spectrum.
Precision Medicine in Autoimmune Thyroiditis and Hypothyroidism
Authors: Ferrari Silvia Martina , Ragusa Francesca , Elia Giusy , Paparo Sabrina Rosaria , Mazzi Valeria , Baldini Enke , Benvenga Salvatore , Antonelli Alessandro , Fallahi Poupak 
Published: November 2021

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) are T-cell-mediated organ specific autoimmune disorders, deriving from an altered response of the immune system that leads to the immune attack to the thyroid. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) and Graves’ disease (GD) are the two principal AITD clinical presentations. Hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis are, respectively, the clinical hallmarks of HT and GD. Patients with autoimmune thyroiditis are treated daily with synthetic L-thyroxine (L-T4) at the dose of 1.5–1.7 μg/kg. Various L-T4 formulations are commercially available (tablet, liquid solution, or soft gel capsule). L-T4 in tablets is generally prescribed to treat hypothyroidism, whereas the liquid formulation, or soft gel capsules, can be administered in hypothyroid patients in case of malabsorption or in patients in therapy with drugs interfering with L-T4 absorption. Furthermore, myoinositol has a crucial role in thyroid autoimmunity and function. Clinical studies reported a significant decline in TSH and antithyroid autoantibodies levels after treatment with myoinositol + selenium in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and autoimmune thyroiditis. Moreover, thyroidectomy can be rarely recommended in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, with cosmetic reasons for a goiter, or with important signs or symptoms of local compression, or nodular disease with a “suspicious” cytology for malignancy. Furthermore, a recent randomized trial suggested that total thyroidectomy can improve quality of life and fatigue, while medical therapy did not. In this review, we overview currently available evidence in personalized medicine in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism. Further research is needed in larger population to investigate the effect of these new treatments on quality of life.
Social Stigma Related to COVID-19 Disease Described by Primary and Secondary School Teachers and Adolescents Living With HIV in Western Kenya
Authors: Chory Ashley , Nyandiko Winstone , Ashimosi Celestine , Aluoch Josephine , Martin Roxanne , Biegon Whitney , Munyoro Dennis , Apondi Edith , Vreeman Rachel 
Published: November 2021

Introduction: Understanding community members' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus and the prevalence of associated stigma are critical steps for increasing accurate public health knowledge, encouraging uptake of preventative or mitigating health behaviors, and ultimately bringing the COVID-19 pandemic under control.Methods: We conducted a one-time, phone-based assessment to assess the presence of perceived COVID-19 community stigma reported by Kenyan primary and secondary school teachers, as well as adolescents living with HIV. Participants were previously enrolled in an ongoing, cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the impact of multi-media teacher training on teachers' negative attitudes and beliefs around HIV. The SAFI Stigma Questionnaire, a validated tool to assess HIV-related stigma in this setting, was adapted to ask questions regarding the stigma and discrimination experienced or perceived during the COVID-19 pandemic.Results: We enrolled 330 participants in this study, including 311 primary and secondary teachers (56% female, average age 36 years) and 19 adolescents living with HIV (57.89% female, average age 16.37 years). None of the adolescent participants reported witnessing or experiencing discrimination related to COVID-19, nor did they report losing financial and/or social support. In contrast, the teacher participants reported prominent social stigma experiences of various levels and related to COVID-19. Teachers in the intervention group, who had completed the multi-media training on HIV-related stigma, were significantly less likely to think that the community viewed COVID-19 as a dirty or shameful disease, and less likely to feel it was important to keep their COVID-19 infection a secret, compared to the teacher control group.Conclusion: These findings suggest that COVID-19-related stigma may be prevalent in western Kenya and that interventions to reduce community-level stigma for HIV may also have a protective impact on other stigmatized infectious diseases such as COVID-19.
Spatial Analysis and Comparison of the Economic Burden of Common Diseases: An Investigation of 5.7 Million Rural Elderly Inpatients in Southeast China, 2010–2016
Authors: Tang Xuwei , Xie Xiaoxu , Rao Zhixiang , Zheng Zhenquan , Hu Chanchan , Li Shanshan , Hu Zhijian 
Published: November 2021

Background: As China embraced an aging society, the burden of age-related diseases had increased dramatically. Knowledge about spatial distribution characteristics of disease burden and the influencing factors of medical expenditure is of great significance to the formulation of health policies. However, related research in rural China is still insufficient.Methods: A total of 5,744,717 records of hospitalized rural elderly in southeast China were collected from 2010 to 2016. We described the temporal trends of hospitalization medical expenditure and the prevalence of catastrophic health expenses (CHE) in the rural elderly by common diseases. Then, geographical information tools were used for visualization of geographic distribution patterns of CHE, the ordinary least squares methods (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were employed to examine the influencing factors of medical expenditure.Results: The number of CHE hospitalizations and the total number of hospitalizations for the rural elderly people increased by 2.1 times and 2.2 times, respectively, from 2010 to 2016. Counties with a high prevalence of CHE were clustered in the eastern coastal area (Moran's I = 0.620, P &lt; 0.001, General G &lt; 0.001, P &lt; 0.001). Unspecified transport accidents, cardiovascular disease, and essential hypertension were the top causes of CHE in the rural elderly. Adequate hospital beds (P &lt; 0.05) and reasonable utilization and distribution of town-level (P &lt; 0.001) and county-level hospitals (P &lt; 0.001) may help reduce medical expenditures.Conclusions: In the context of an aging society, the disease burden for the elderly in rural areas should arouse more attention. These findings highlight the importance of age-related disease prevention and the rational allocation of medical resources in rural areas.
Ion Dynamics in the Meso-scale 3-D Kelvin–Helmholtz Instability: Perspectives From Test Particle Simulations
Authors: Ma Xuanye , Delamere Peter , Nykyri Katariina , Burkholder Brandon , Eriksson Stefan , Liou Yu-Lun 
Published: November 2021

Over three decades of in-situ observations illustrate that the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability driven by the sheared flow between the magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma often occurs on the magnetopause of Earth and other planets under various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. It has been well demonstrated that the KH instability plays an important role for energy, momentum, and mass transport during the solar-wind-magnetosphere coupling process. Particularly, the KH instability is an important mechanism to trigger secondary small scale (i.e., often kinetic-scale) physical processes, such as magnetic reconnection, kinetic Alfvén waves, ion-acoustic waves, and turbulence, providing the bridge for the coupling of cross scale physical processes. From the simulation perspective, to fully investigate the role of the KH instability on the cross-scale process requires a numerical modeling that can describe the physical scales from a few Earth radii to a few ion (even electron) inertial lengths in three dimensions, which is often computationally expensive. Thus, different simulation methods are required to explore physical processes on different length scales, and cross validate the physical processes which occur on the overlapping length scales. Test particle simulation provides such a bridge to connect the MHD scale to the kinetic scale. This study applies different test particle approaches and cross validates the different results against one another to investigate the behavior of different ion species (i.e., H+ and O+), which include particle distributions, mixing and heating. It shows that the ion transport rate is about 1025 particles/s, and mixing diffusion coefficient is about 1010 m2 s−1 regardless of the ion species. Magnetic field lines change their topology via the magnetic reconnection process driven by the three-dimensional KH instability, connecting two flux tubes with different temperature, which eventually causes anisotropic temperature in the newly reconnected flux.
Studies on the electrical characteristics of a high-k dielectric/metal gate MOS capacitor by high-pressure annealing
Authors: Kumar Ashish , Divya Pandi , Lee Wen Hsi , Wang Y.L. 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
In this work, a high-pressure annealing (HPA) technique at 6 atm over a wide range of temperatures (200 °C–450 °C) was used for post-metallization annealing on a high-k/metal gate MOS capacitor. To verify the ability of HPA to improve interface trap density and leakage issues another MOS capacitor with the same structure was annealed by microwave annealing (MWA) for comparison. The electrical performance of the capacitors under different annealing conditions were analyzed and the difference in characteristics such as flat-band voltage shift, oxide trapped charge, interface state density and leakage current were compared. HPA demonstrates a low trap density when compared with other annealing techniques, indicating potential removal of charge traps and a reduction in leakage current density. The results show that HPA is more effective at minimizing the oxide trapped charged at low temperature than MWA at 3000 W and the reduction in leakage current density after HPA at low temperatures corresponds to the reduction in charge traps. HPA at low temperature demonstrates great potential as a post-metallization annealing process for high-k/metal gate structures due to its ability to overcome undesired effects such as diffusion of Al into the dielectric layer.
Developing a Contract Management System for FMCG Chain Retailing Companies in the Context of Digital Transformation
Authors: Voronova O. V. , Il’in I. V. , Sheleyko V. A. 
Published: November 2021

Aim. The presented study aims to develop and describe a contract management system for FMCG chain retailing companies in the context of the digital transformation of the economy.Tasks. The authors examine the specific aspects of developing a contract management system for chain retailing companies; develop a classification of contracts by sector of activity and outline the landscape of the contract management process; create and describe a system for managing contracts.Methods. The methodological basis of this study includes conceptual representations of the contract management system, which make it possible to apply a systems approach, generalization, grouping, methods of formal system representation, and socio-economic experimentation.Results. The study examines the specific aspects of developing a contract management system for chain retailing companies in the context of the digital transformation of the economy, describing the major types of contracts used by these companies. The contracts are classified by sector of activity, and the landscape of the contract management process is outlined. Its individual units correspond to the Deming cycle and represent a cyclically repeating decision-making process.Conclusions. As a result, a contract management system for chain retailing companies is proposed, and the relationship between the management subsystem and the system of requirements for the architecture of business services in the field of contract management is determined. It is shown that successful implementation of an efficient contract management system requires preliminary work to identify requirements for the architecture of business services. Taking into account these requirements in the modeling of architectural solutions and integrating them into the business architecture will ensure high-quality contract management through the optimization of the company’s resources and highly efficient regulation of the relationship between the stakeholders and counterparties of chain retailing companies.
The requalification of industrial buildings: a circular economy perspective
Authors: Maniero Agata , Fattori Giorgia 
Published: November 2021

Since the 1970s, in Europe the industrial decommissioning phenomenon has led to the generation of an obsolescent and widespread building stock, located in highly strategic areas. This paper, aiming to make abandoned industrial buildings re-enter the market, focused on the development of prefabricated housing modules, according to the nested-building renovation approach. The project started from the constraint’s typological analysis (architectural, functional and structural) of 900 reinforced concrete industrial buildings in view of the intervention replicability. Finally, to validate the design and technological choices, the analysed system was applied to a real case study in Verona: the Greggi Warehouse (1960) in the “ex-Manifattura Tabacchi” factory area.
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Retinal Vein Occlusion: Correlation between Foveal Avascular Zone Area and Visual Acuity
Authors: Feroz Lubna , Uzair Najia , Shamim Mariam , Siddiqui Shahab ul Hassan , Mehmood Syed Asad 
Published: November 2021

Purpose: To find out correlation between visual acuity and deep capillary plexus (DCP) in foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area using OCTA in patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO).
Study Design: Descriptive observational study.
Place and Duration of Study: Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent trust free Eye Hospital, from September 2018 to December 2019.
Methods: This observational study included 50 eyes of 50 patients, who were treated with intra-vitreal anti-VEGF for macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion. We excluded patients with macular edema due to other ocular diseases. OCTA was performed in every patient to measure the size of foveal avascular zone. FAZ area of 0.6mm2 or less was taken as normal and any value above that was considered to be larger FAZ. IBM SPSS version 25 was used to analyze the data. Frequencies with percentages were used to present qualitative variables and mean ± SD were calculated for the quantitative variables. P-value ≤ 0.005 was taken as significant.
Results: Mean age was 58.38 ± 7.51 years. There were 28 males and 22 females. Mean best-corrected visual acuity was 0.62 ± 0.26 logMar. The patients with normal FAZ area in DCP showed a mean BCVA of 0.51 ± 0.265 logMAR in comparison to those who had larger FAZ in DCP, where the mean BCVA was 0.75 ± 0.204 logMAR. DCP was larger in patients with CRVO than BRVO.
Conclusion: OCTA is a good diagnostic tool for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the deep capillary plexus. Improvement in visual acuity is related with the size of the DCP in FAZ.
Key Words: Retinal vein occlusion, Foveal avascular zone, Optical Coherence Tomograghy Angiography.
Evaluation of the Effect of Suprachoroidal Triamcinolone Injection on Refractory Diabetic Macular Edema
Authors: Jahangir Tehmina , Riaz Sidrah , Amjad Arooj 
Published: November 2021

Purpose: To assess the safety and efficacy of supra choroidal triamcinolone injection (SCT) in cases of refractory diabetic macular oedema.
Study Design: Interventional case series.
Place and Duration of Study: Lahore General Hospital, Lahore, from July to December 2019.
Methods: A total of 22 eyes of patients above 18 years of age, with either Type-1 or Type-2 diabetes mellitus and treatment resistant central Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) of 320 um or more (measured on Zeiss Cirrus HD-OCT) and Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) of less than or equal to 20/40 were included in the study. BCVA, Intra Ocular Pressure (IOP) and Central Subfield Thickness (CST) was recorded. After Supra-Choroidal triamcinolone (SCTA), patients were followed up at one and three months and same clinical parameters were recorded and the results were analysed.
Results: out of 22 patients, 10 (45.45%) were males and 12 (54.54%) were females. Mean pre injection CST was 615.5 ± 200.28 um and Log MAR BCVA was 0.9 ± 0.20. Mean post injection CST at one and three months was 302.45 ± 52.45 and 301.66 ± 55.82 um. Mean post injection Log MAR BCVA at one and three months was 0.52 ± 0.3 and 0.40 ± 0.22. The results were statistically significant for pre and post injection CST at both one and three months (p-value < 0.00001). Pre and post injection BCVA was also statistically significant (p-value < 0.05).
Conclusion: CST is a safe and effective means to reduce refractory diabetic macular edema and improve OCT macular thickness.
Key Words: Diabetic macular edema, Suprachoroidal Triamcinolone, Central sub-field thickness.