bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Low serum uric acid levels are associated with the nonmotor symptoms and brain gray matter volume in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Shi Xiaoxue , Zheng Jinhua , Ma Jianjun , Wang Zhidong , Sun Wenhua , Li Mingjian , Huang Shen , Hu Shiyu 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Background
Uric acid (UA) plays a protective role in Parkinson’s disease (PD). To date, studies on the relationship between serum UA levels and nonmotor symptoms and brain gray matter volume in PD patients have been rare.

Methods
Automated enzymatic analysis was used to determine serum UA levels in 68 healthy controls and 88 PD patients, including those at the early (n = 56) and middle-late (n = 32) stages of the disease. Evaluation of motor symptoms and nonmotor symptoms in PD patients was assessed by the associated scales. Image acquisition was performed using a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3 T MRI scanner.

Results
Serum UA levels in early stage PD patients were lower than those in healthy controls, and serum UA levels in the middle-late stage PD patients were lower than those in the early stage PD patients. Serum UA levels were significantly negatively correlated with the disease course, dysphagia, anxiety, depression, apathy, and cognitive dysfunction. ROC assessment confirmed that serum UA levels had good predictive accuracy for PD with dysphagia, anxiety, depression, apathy, and cognitive dysfunction. Furthermore, UA levels were significantly positively correlated with gray matter volume in whole brain.

Conclusions
This study shows that serum UA levels were correlated with the nonmotor symptoms of dysphagia, anxiety, depression, apathy, and cognitive dysfunction and the whole-brain gray matter volume. That is the first report examining the relationships between serum UA and clinical manifestations and imaging features in PD patients.
Brains in space: the importance of understanding the impact of long-duration spaceflight on spatial cognition and its neural circuitry
Authors: Stahn Alexander C. , Kühn Simone 
Published: August 2021

AbstractFifty years after the first humans stepped on the Moon, space faring nations have entered a new era of space exploration. NASA’s reference mission to Mars is expected to comprise 1100 days. Deep space exploratory class missions could even span decades. They will be the most challenging and dangerous expeditions in the history of human spaceflight and will expose crew members to unprecedented health and performance risks. The development of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during those missions is considered a critical and unmitigated risk factor. Here, we argue that spatial cognition, i.e., the ability to encode representations about self-to-object relations and integrate this information into a spatial map of the environment, and their neural bases will be highly vulnerable during those expeditions. Empirical evidence from animal studies shows that social isolation, immobilization, and altered gravity can have profound effects on brain plasticity associated with spatial navigation. We provide examples from historic spaceflight missions, spaceflight analogs, and extreme environments suggesting that spatial cognition and its neural circuitry could be impaired during long-duration spaceflight, and identify recommendations and future steps to mitigate these risks.
The Costs of Creatinine Testing in the Context of a HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Demonstration Project in Eswatini
Authors: Kohler Stefan , Ndungwani Rumbidzai , Burgert Mark , Sibandze Dumile , Matse Sindy , Hettema Anita 
Published: August 2021

AbstractHIV treatment and prevention as well as other chronic disease care can require regular kidney function assessment based on a creatinine test. To assess the costs of creatinine testing in a public health care system, we conducted activity-based costing during a HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) demonstration project in the Hhohho region of Eswatini. Resource use was assessed by a laboratory technician and valued with government procurement prices, public sector salaries, and own cost estimates. Obtaining a blood sample in a clinic and performing a creatinine test in a high-throughput referral laboratory (> 660,000 blood tests, including > 120,000 creatinine tests, in 2018) were estimated to have cost, on average, $1.98 in 2018. Per test, $1.95 were variable costs ($1.38 personnel, ¢39 consumables, and ¢18 other costs) and ¢2.6 were allocated semi-fixed costs (¢1.1 laboratory equipment, ¢0.85 other, ¢0.45 consumables, and ¢1.3 personnel costs). Simulating different utilization of the laboratory indicated that semi-fixed costs of the laboratory (e.g., equipment purchase or daily calibration of the chemistry analyzer) contributed less than variable costs (e.g., per-test personnel time and test reagents) to the average creatinine test cost when certain minimum test numbers can be maintained. Our findings suggest, first, lower creatinine testing costs than previously used in cost and cost-effectiveness analyses of HIV services and, second, that investment in laboratory equipment imposed a relatively small additional cost on each performed test in the high-throughput referral laboratory.
Statins to mitigate cardiotoxicity in cancer patients treated with anthracyclines and/or trastuzumab: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Obasi Mary , Abovich Arielle , Vo Jacqueline B. , Gao Yawen , Papatheodorou Stefania I. , Nohria Anju , Asnani Aarti , Partridge Ann H. 
Published: August 2021

Abstract
Purpose
Cardiotoxicity affects 5–16% of cancer patients who receive anthracyclines and/or trastuzumab. Limited research has examined interventions to mitigate cardiotoxicity. We examined the role of statins in mitigating cardiotoxicity by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies.

Methods
A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Central. A random-effect model was used to assess summary relative risks (RR), weighted mean differences (WMD), and corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Testing for heterogeneity between the studies was performed using Cochran’s Q test and the I2 test.

Results
Two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 117 patients and four observational cohort studies with a total of 813 patients contributed to the analysis. Pooled results indicate significant mitigation of cardiotoxicity after anthracycline and/or trastuzumab exposure among statin users in cohort studies [RR = 0.46, 95% CI (0.27–0.78), p = 0.004, $${ }I^{2}$$

I
2

= 0.0%] and a non-significant decrease in cardiotoxicity risk among statin users in RCTs [RR = 0.49, 95% CI (0.17–1.45), p = 0.20, $$I^{2}$$

I
2

= 5.6%]. Those who used statins were also significantly more likely to maintain left ventricular ejection fraction compared to baseline after anthracycline and/or trastuzumab therapy in both cohort studies [weighted mean difference (WMD) = 6.14%, 95% CI (2.75–9.52), p < 0.001, $$I^{2}$$

I
2

= 74.7%] and RCTs [WMD = 6.25%, 95% CI (0.82–11.68, p = 0.024, $$I^{2}$$

I
2

= 80.9%]. We were unable to explore publication bias due to the small number of studies.

Conclusion
This meta-analysis suggests that there is an association between statin use and decreased risk of cardiotoxicity after anthracycline and/or trastuzumab exposure. Larger well-conducted RCTs are needed to determine whether statins decrease risk of cardiotoxicity from anthracyclines and/or trastuzumab.

Trial Registration Number and Date of Registration
PROSPERO: CRD42020140352 on 7/6/2020.
Risk factors for surgical site infection and association of surgical site infection with survival of lower rectal cancer patients without clinical lateral pelvic lymph node metastasis (clinical Stage II/III): Analysis of data from JCOG0212
Authors: Katsumata Kenji , Enomoto Masanobu , Ishizaki Tetsuo , Fujita Shin , Kanemitsu Yukihide , Ito Masaaki , Shiomi Akio , Komori Koji , Ohue Masayuki , Ota Mitsuyoshi , Akazai Yoshihiro , Shiozawa Manabu , Yamaguchi Takashi , Bando Hiroyuki , Sekimoto Mitugu , Kobatake Takaya , Machida Ryunosuke , Akasu Takayuki , Moriya Yoshihiro ,   the Colorectal Cancer Study Group of Japan Clinical Oncology Group
Published: August 2021

AbstractThis study aimed to examine the risk factors for surgical site infection (SSI) and the association of that with recurrence in JCOG0212. The results for secondary endpoints showed that compared with the mesorectal excision (ME) alone group, ME with lateral lymph node dissection (LLND) group showed significantly longer operative time and significantly higher blood loss. These results suggested that LLND was a risk factor for SSI. All 701 patients registered in JCOG0212 were analyzed in this study. Wound infection was defined as incisional/deep SSI, and pelvic abscess and anastomotic leakage were defined as organ/space SSI. The risk factors for the incidence of SSI and the effect of SSI on relapse-free survival (RFS) were investigated. Multivariable odds ratio of Grade 2 or higher all SSI was 0.58 [95% Confidence interval: 0.36–0.93] for female (vs. male) and that of Grade 2 or higher incisional/deep SSI was 2.24 [1.03–4.86] for blood infusion. For RFS, patients with Grade 3 or higher all SSI showed poor prognosis (multivariable hazard ratio: 1.66 [1.03–2.68]). LLND is not significant factor for the incidence of all SSI. Male sex might be a risk factor of Grade 2 or higher SSI, and blood transfusion is a possible risk factor of Grade 2 or higher incisional/deep SSI. Grade 3 or higher all SSI might be a significant worse prognostic factor for lower rectal cancer.
The welfare of wildlife: an interdisciplinary analysis of harm in the legal and illegal wildlife trades and possible ways forward
Authors: Wyatt Tanya , Maher Jennifer , Allen Daniel , Clarke Nancy , Rook Deborah 
Published: August 2021

AbstractWildlife trade—both legal and illegal—is an activity that is currently the focus of global attention. Concerns over the loss of biodiversity, partly stemming from overexploitation, and the corona virus pandemic, likely originating from wildlife trade, are urgent matters. These concerns though centre on people. Only sometimes does the discussion focus on the wildlife traded and their welfare. In this article, we make the case as to why welfare is an important component of any discussion or policy about wildlife trade, not only for the interests of the wildlife, but also for the sake of humans. We detail the harm in the trade as well as the current welfare provisions, particularly in relation to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which guide global transport and trade. There are a number of ways that the current approach to wildlife welfare could be improved, and we propose ways forward in this regard.
A study into the practice of reporting software engineering experiments
Authors: Revoredo Kate , Djurica Djordje , Mendling Jan 
Published: August 2021

AbstractIt has been argued that reporting software engineering experiments in a standardized way helps researchers find relevant information, understand how experiments were conducted and assess the validity of their results. Various guidelines have been proposed specifically for software engineering experiments. The benefits of such guidelines have often been emphasized, but the actual uptake and practice of reporting have not yet been investigated since the introduction of many of the more recent guidelines. In this research, we utilize a mixed-method study design including sequence analysis techniques for evaluating to which extent papers follow such guidelines. Our study focuses on the four most prominent software engineering journals and the time period from 2000 to 2020. Our results show that many experimental papers miss information suggested by guidelines, that no de facto standard sequence for reporting exists, and that many papers do not cite any guidelines. We discuss these findings and implications for the discipline of experimental software engineering focusing on the review process and the potential to refine and extend guidelines, among others, to account for theory explicitly.
Structural Injustice and Socially Undocumented Oppression: Changing Tides in Refugee and Immigration Ethics
Authors: Schmid Lukas 
Published: August 2021

AbstractIn this review essay, I discuss two recent works in refugee and migration ethics, Serena Parekh’s No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis and Amy Reed-Sandoval’s Socially Undocumented: Identity and Immigration Justice. I find that their methodological ambitions overlap significantly and that their arguments represent welcome and largely successful examinations of generally neglected issues. I also explain how both approaches could fruitfully learn from each other, and argue that they lay pioneering groundwork for future work to continue the analysis of only nascent modes and areas of inquiry.
Long noncoding RNA intersectin 1-2 gradually declines during adalimumab treatment, and its reduction correlates with treatment efficacy in patients with ankylosing spondylitis
Authors: Li Mingwu , Zhou Xianjie 
Published: August 2021

AbstractPrevious studies show that long noncoding RNA intersectin 1-2 (lnc-ITSN1-2) promotes the inflammation process and serves as a potential biomarker in autoimmune diseases, except for ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Therefore, this study aimed to explore the correlation of baseline lnc-ITSN1-2 expression with disease risk and activity of AS, and to investigate its longitudinal change with treatment response to a tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) inhibitor in patients with AS. In total, 63 patients with AS receiving 12-week adalimumab treatment were included and their baseline clinical features were collected. Lnc-ITSN1-2 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with AS was detected by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Meanwhile, Assessment in Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS) 40 response was evaluated at week 2 (W2), W4, W8, and W12. According to the ASAS40 response status at W12, patients with AS were classified into responders and non-responders. PBMC lnc-ITSN1-2 expression was also determined in healthy controls (N = 60). Lnc-ITSN1-2 expression was elevated in patients with AS compared to controls (P < 0.001). Baseline lnc-ITSN1-2 expression was positively associated with C-reaction protein (CRP) (P = 0.021), interleukin (IL)-1β (P = 0.020), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) score (P = 0.040), and Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity score with C-reactive protein (ASDASCRP) (P = 0.045) in patients with AS. Furthermore, lnc-ITSN1-2 expression declined during the treatment with adalimumab (P < 0.001). Notably, this reduction was more obvious in responders than non-responders. In conclusion, declined lnc-ITSN1-2 expression during the TNFα inhibitor treatment correlates with good treatment efficacy in patients with AS, suggesting its clinical value for AS management.
Should we Ascribe Capabilities to Species and Ecosystems? A Critical Analysis of Ecocentric Versions of the Capabilities Approach
Authors: Melin Anders 
Published: August 2021

AbstractMartha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach is today one of the most influential theories of justice. In her earlier works on the capabilities approach, Nussbaum only applies it to humans, but in later works she extends the capabilities approach to include sentient animals. Contrary to Nussbaum’s own view, some scholars, for example, David Schlosberg, Teea Kortetmäki and Daniel L. Crescenzo, want to extend the capabilities approach even further to include collective entities, such as species and ecosystems. Though I think we have strong reasons for preserving ecosystems and species within the capabilities approach, there are several problems with ascribing capabilities to them, especially if we connect it with the view that species and ecosystems are subjects of justice. These problems are partly a consequence of the fact that an ascription of capabilities to species and ecosystems needs to be based on an overlapping consensus between different comprehensive doctrines, in accordance with the framework of political liberalism on which the capabilities approach builds. First, the ascription of capabilities to species and ecosystems presupposes the controversial standpoint that they are objectively existing entities. Second, the ascription of capabilities to ecosystems and species and the view that they are subjects of justice is justified by claiming that they have integrity and agency, but these characteristics have different meanings when applied to collective entities and humans, respectively. Third, the view that species and ecosystems are subjects of justice seems to require the controversial assumption that they have interests of their own, which differ from the interests of the sentient beings that are part of them. However, even if we do not ascribe capabilities to species and ecosystems and regard them as subjects of justice, there are still strong reasons to protect them within the capabilities approach, as the preservation of ecosystems and species is an important precondition for many human and animal capabilities.
Revealing the influence of electron beam melted Ti-6Al-4V scaffolds on osteogenesis of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells
Authors: Ødegaard Kristin S. , Ouyang Lingzi , Ma Qianli , Buene Glenn , Wan Di , Elverum Christer W. , Torgersen Jan , Standal Therese , Westhrin Marita 
Published: August 2021

AbstractPorous Titanium-6Aluminum-4Vanadium scaffolds made by electron beam-based additive manufacturing (AM) have emerged as state-of-the-art implant devices. However, there is still limited knowledge on how they influence the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs). In this study, BMSCs are cultured on such porous scaffolds to determine how the scaffolds influence the osteogenic differentiation of the cells. The scaffolds are biocompatible, as revealed by the increasing cell viability. Cells are evenly distributed on the scaffolds after 3 days of culturing followed by an increase in bone matrix development after 21 days of culturing. qPCR analysis provides insight into the cells’ osteogenic differentiation, where RUNX2 expression indicate the onset of differentiation towards osteoblasts. The COL1A1 expression suggests that the differentiated osteoblasts can produce the osteoid. Alkaline phosphatase staining indicates an onset of mineralization at day 7 in OM. The even deposits of calcium at day 21 further supports a successful bone mineralization. This work shines light on the interplay between AM Ti64 scaffolds and bone growth, which may ultimately lead to a new way of creating long lasting bone implants with fast recovery times.
Religious Coping Amidst a Pandemic: Impact on COVID-19-Related Anxiety
Authors: DeRossett Tommy , LaVoie Donna J. , Brooks Destiny 
Published: August 2021

AbstractReligious coping is one potential strategy to manage stressors. Positive religious coping has been linked to better physical and mental health outcomes, while negative religious coping has been associated with increased stress and anxiety. The primary objective of this study was to examine individuals’ use of religious coping during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and religious coping in a national sample of 970 individuals located within the USA recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) between September 12, 2020, and September 25, 2020. Findings indicate negative religious coping is most strongly associated with COVID-19 anxiety, as higher levels of negative religious coping were positively related to COVID-19 anxiety. In a moderated multiple regression wherein positive religious coping and negative religious coping were included in an interaction term, only negative religious coping was significantly associated with COVID-19 anxiety. This may have been due, in part, because individual’s typical religious engagement was disrupted by social distancing and isolation measures. When accounting for participant age, sex, religious beliefs and behaviors, and negative religious coping, positive religious coping was negatively, although weakly, associated with COVID-19 anxiety. These findings suggest that negative religious coping has a stronger association with COVID-19 anxiety than positive religious coping.
Inclusive digital finance: the industry of equity crowdfunding
Authors: Butticè Vincenzo , Vismara Silvio 
Published: August 2021

AbstractNowadays equity crowdfunding plays an important role in the entrepreneurial finance markets. To better understand the functioning of the industry, it is important to consider the entire equity crowdfunding process and all the actors involved. Equity crowdfunding platforms match indeed the demand of capital from entrepreneurial ventures with the supply of capital by investors. This manuscript is a first step in this direction, by (1) comparing equity crowdfunding with traditional sources of entrepreneurial finance; (2) discussing the potential and the perils of equity crowdfunding for inclusivity and democratization; (3) highlighting the role of visual information in digital finance; and (4) providing first insights on the industrial dynamics in equity crowdfunding. The paper gives researchers and practitioners orientation about recent developments in equity crowdfunding literature and provides relevant research directions.
Psychosis Without Meaning: Creating Modern Clinical Psychiatry, 1950 to 1980
Authors: Braslow Joel T. 
Published: August 2021

AbstractOver the last fifty years, American psychiatrists have embraced psychotropic drugs as their primary treatment intervention. This has especially been the case in their treatment of patients suffering from psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. This focus has led to an increasing disregard for patients’ subjective lived-experiences, life histories, and social contexts. This transformation of American psychiatry occurred abruptly beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s. My essay looks the ways these major transformations played themselves out in everyday clinical practices of state hospital psychiatrists from 1950 to 1980. Using clinical case records from California state hospitals, I chronicle the ways institutional and ideological forces shaped the clinical care of patients with psychotic disorders. I show there was an abrupt rupture in the late 1960s, where psychiatrists’ concerns about the subjective and social were replaced by a clinical vision focused on a narrow set of drug-responsive signs and symptoms. Major political, economic, and ideological shifts occurred in American life and social policy that provided the context for this increasingly pharmacocentric clinical psychiatry, a clinical perspective that has largely blinded psychiatrists to their patients’ social and psychological suffering.