bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Role of maternal tryptophan metabolism in allergic diseases in the offspring
Authors: Lau Hui Xing , El‐Heis Sarah , Yap Qai Ven , Chan Yiong Huak , Tan Cheryl Pei Ting , Karnani Neerja , Tan Karen Mei Ling , Tham Elizabeth Huiwen , Goh Anne Eng Neo , Teoh Oon Hoe , Tan Kok Hian , Eriksson Johan Gunnar , Chong Yap Seng , Chong Mary Foong‐Fong , Van Bever Hugo , Lee Bee Wah , Shek Lynette P. , Godfrey Keith M. , Loo Evelyn Xiu Ling 
Published: May 2021

AbstractBackgroundNicotinamide (vitamin B3) is a metabolite of tryptophan and dietary precursor of enzymes involved in many regulatory processes, which may influence fetal immune development.ObjectiveWe examined whether maternal plasma concentrations of nicotinamide, tryptophan or nine related tryptophan metabolites during pregnancy were associated with the risk of development of infant eczema, wheeze, rhinitis or allergic sensitization.MethodsIn the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study, we analysed the associations between maternal plasma levels of nicotinamide, tryptophan and tryptophan metabolites at 26–28 weeks of gestation and allergic outcomes collected through interviewer‐administered questionnaires at multiple time‐points and skin prick testing to egg, milk, peanut and mites at age 18 months. Multivariate analysis was undertaken adjusting for all metabolites measured and separately adjusting for relevant demographic and environmental exposures. Analyses were also adjusted for multiple comparisons using the false discovery method.ResultsTryptophan metabolites were evaluated in 976/1247 (78%) women enrolled in GUSTO. In multivariate analysis including all metabolites, maternal plasma 3‐hydrokynurenine was associated with increased allergic sensitization at 18 months (AdjRR 2.6, 95% CI 1.3–5.2 for highest quartile) but the association with nicotinamide was not significant (AdjRR 1.8, 95% CI 0.9–3.6). In analysis adjusting for other exposures, both 3‐hydrokynurenine and nicotinamide were associated with increased allergic sensitization (AdjRR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1–3.6 for both metabolites). High maternal plasma nicotinamide was associated with increased infant eczema diagnosis by 6 and 12 months, which was not significant when adjusting for all metabolites measured, but was significant when adjusting for relevant environmental and demographic exposures. Other metabolites measured were not associated with allergic sensitization or eczema, and maternal tryptophan metabolites were not associated with offspring rhinitis and wheeze.Conclusions and Clinical RelevanceMaternal tryptophan metabolism during pregnancy may influence the development of allergic sensitization and eczema in infants.
Biology of sinus floor augmentation with an autograft versus a bone graft substitute in a preclinical in vivo experimental model
Authors: Coyac Benjamin R. , Wu Meagan , Bahat Daniel J. , Wolf Benjamin J. , Helms Jill A. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractObjectivesCompared to autografts, bone graft substitutes are slower to consolidate. If we understood why, this might open strategies to accelerate new bone formation and thus shorten the time to implant placement. In this study, we aimed at comparing autologous bone graft with a bovine bone graft substitute in a preclinical sinus lift model.Materials and MethodsThe mouse posterior paranasal sinus served as a recipient site for grafting. Autograft from the oral cavity was compared against bone graft substitute using molecular, cellular, and histological analyses conducted on post‐grafting days (PSD) 0, 9, 18, and 120.ResultsEither autografts or bone graft substitutes were positioned on the sinus floor and remained in situ throughout the study. At the time of grafting and until day 9, bone graft substitutes were devoid of cells and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity while autografts were comprised of viable cells and showed strong ALP (mineralization) activity. Consequently, new bone formed faster in autografts compared to bone graft substitutes (140.21 ± 41.21 µm vs. 41.70 ± 10.09 µm, respectively, PSD9,p = .0143). By PSD18, osteogenesis was evident in autografted and xenografted sites. Osteoclasts identified by tartrate resistant acid phosphatase attached to, but did not resorb the bone graft substitute matrix. Autograft matrix, however, underwent extensive resorption. Transgenic mice revealed that Wnt‐responsive osteoprogenitor cells originated primarily from the internal periosteum of the maxillary bone, and not from the Schneiderian membrane.ConclusionAutografts produce new bone sooner, but bovine bone graft substitutes eventually consolidate and then resist resorption. Enhancing osteoprogenitor cell recruitment to a bone graft substitute constitutes a viable strategy for accelerating bone formation in a sinus lift procedure.
Training, supervision and performance of Community Health Workers in the delivery of ear and hearing care to 321 community members in rural Uganda
Authors: O’Donovan James , Nakku Doreen , Nyanzi Daniel , Nakasagga Esther , Hamala Rebecca , Namanda Allan S. , Kabali Kenneth , Winters Niall , Chadha Shelly , Bhutta Mahmood F. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractObjectivesCommunity Health Workers are one way to address the shortage of ear and hearing care specialists in low‐resource settings. However, there are few reports evaluating training and service delivery by Community Health Workers.Design, setting and participantsWe trained 13 Community Health Workers in primary ear and hearing care in Mukono District, Uganda. Community Health Workers attended a two‐day training workshop and received remote supervision thereafter during service delivery in the community. An ear camp was held at the local health centre every two months, where a local ENT specialist could assess referred cases.Main outcome measuresClinical and diagnostic skills and decision‐making were assessed using an Objective Structured Clinical Examination, with scores recorded at baseline and six months. Service delivery was evaluated by analysing the following: (i) number of individuals evaluated; (ii) treatments delivered; (iii) cases referred for specialist opinion; (iv) proportion of appropriately referred cases; and (v) agreement between Community Health Worker and specialist diagnosis.ResultsObserved Structured Clinical Examination scores were high and stable for six months. 312 individuals were screened in the community by the Community Health Workers, with 298 classified as having an abnormality. Care was delivered in the community to 167 of these, and the remaining 131 referred to the ear camp. Diagnostic agreement was 39%, but 98% of referrals were deemed “appropriate” by the ENT specialist. 27 individuals self‐presented to the ear camp without prior assessment by a Community Health Worker, and 97% of these were deemed appropriate.ConclusionTrained Community Health Workers can play an important role in delivering ear and hearing services. Future work should look to explore this model in other contexts and/or compare it to other models of service delivery.
Sequential assessment of bowel function and anorectal physiology after anterior resection for cancer: a prospective cohort study
Authors: Pilkington Sophie A. , Bhome Rahul , Gilbert Sally , Harris Scott , Richardson Carl , Dudding Thomas C. , Knight John S. , King Andrew T. , Mirnezami Alex H. , Beck Nicholas E. , Nichols Paul H. , Nugent Karen P. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to investigate changes in bowel function and anorectal physiology (ARP) after anterior resection for colorectal cancer.MethodPatients were recruited from November 2006 to September 2008. Cleveland Clinic Incontinence (CCI) scores and stool frequency were determined by patient questionnaires before surgery (t0) and at three (t3), six (t6), nine (t9) and 12 (t12) months after restoration of intestinal continuity. ARP measurements were recorded at T0, T3 and T12. Endoanal ultrasound was performed at T0 and T12.ResultsEighty‐nine patients were included. CCI score increased postoperatively then normalized, whereas stool frequency did not change. Patients who had neoadjuvant radiotherapy or a lower anastomosis had increased incontinence and stool frequency in the postoperative period, whereas those with defunctioning stomas or open surgery had increased stool frequency alone. Maximum resting pressure, volume at first urge and maximum rectal tolerance were reduced throughout the postoperative period. Radiotherapy, lower anastomosis and defunctioning stoma (but not operative approach) altered manometric parameters postoperatively. Maximum rectal tolerance correlated with incontinence and first urge with stool frequency. The length of the anterior internal anal sphincter decreased postoperatively.ConclusionsIncontinence recovers in the first year after anterior resection. Radiotherapy, lower anastomosis, defunctioning stoma and open surgery have a negative influence on bowel function. ARP may be useful if bowel dysfunction persists beyond 12 months.
Quantitative cytomorphological comparison of SurePath and ThinPrep liquid‐based cytology using high‐grade urothelial carcinoma cells
Authors: Okuda Chihiro , Kyotake Aiko , Nakamura Akihiro , Itoh Tomoo , Kamoshida Shingo , Ohsaki Hiroyuki 
Published: May 2021

AbstractObjectiveIn The Paris System for Reporting Urinary Cytology (TPS), the important cytomorphological features for diagnosing high‐grade urothelial carcinoma (HGUC) are a nuclear‐to‐cytoplasmic (N:C) ratio exceeding 0.7, hyperchromasia, coarse chromatin, and irregular nuclear borders. However, quantitative cytomorphological assessments of HGUC cells using SurePath slides are rare. Therefore, we evaluated HGUC cells on SurePath slides quantitatively using a digital image analysis system and compared these data with ThinPrep data.MethodsThe same urine samples were divided into two aliquots and used to prepare SurePath and ThinPrep slides. We used ImageJ to measure the N:C ratio, hyperchromasia, and irregular nuclear borders for HGUC cells on SurePath and ThinPrep slides.ResultsThe total number of analysed HGUC cells on SurePath slides was 981, versus 889 on ThinPrep slides. Hyperchromasia and irregular nuclear borders were significantly more severe on SurePath than on ThinPrep slides. Conversely, the N:C ratio did not differ between the methods. Additionally, HGUC cells with N:C ratios exceeding 0.7 were present on almost all slides for both methods.ConclusionsOur data indicated the reasonableness of using the N:C ratio as the major criterion for TPS on both SurePath and ThinPrep slides, and an N:C ratio cut‐off of 0.7 as suitable for identifying HGUC cells. However, the severity of hyperchromasia and irregular nuclear borders differed between the processing methods.
Atypical presentations of erythema nodosum leprosum: Diagnostic and therapeutic aspects
Authors: Alakad Rania , Nofal Ahmad , Assaf Magda 
Published: May 2021

SummaryClassic erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) is characterized clinically by abrupt eruption of tender erythematous nodules, papules and plaques. Variable atypical patterns have been described, for example pustular, bullous, ulcerative, necrotic and Sweet’s syndrome‐like ENL. We aim to review previously reported cases of atypical ENL addressing the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of these uncommon presentations. A search of medical literature for all cases of atypical ENL was conducted in the PubMed database till 2020. Data of patients with atypical ENL were collected and analyzed to describe the epidemiological, clinico‐histological and therapeutic features. The major five clinically described presentations of atypical ENL include vesiculo‐bullous lesions (46 % of patients), ulcero‐necrotic lesions (41 %), erythema multiforme‐like lesions (28 %), Sweet’s syndrome‐like lesions (11 %) and pustules (9 %). The skin lesions were accompanied by fever and constitutional symptoms in all patients. Oral steroids and thalidomide were the main lines of therapy in most of the reported patients. Dermatologists and pathologists should keep in mind the clinical variability of ENL to avoid misdiagnosis and delayed management. Early recognition can help control disease progression and save the patients from further complications.
Prediabetes is associated with proteinuria development but not with glomerular filtration rate decline: A longitudinal observational study
Authors: Furukawa Mariko , Onoue Takeshi , Kato Kiminori , Wada Takashi , Shinohara Yukito , Kinoshita Fumie , Goto Motomitsu , Arima Hiroshi , Tsushita Kazuyo 
Published: May 2021

AbstractAimsDiabetes is recognized as the leading cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, the association of prediabetes with CKD remains unclear, in particular, the independent effect of prediabetes on proteinuria or estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) has not been evaluated. This study aimed to investigate the associations of prediabetes with the proteinuria development and with eGFR decline separately in the Japanese general population without CKD.MethodsParticipants who underwent health check‐ups in 2014 and had adequate data after 2 years were retrospectively analysed. A total of 405,487 participants without CKD (eGFR, ≥60 ml min−1 1.73 m−2, with negative or trace urinary protein) at baseline were categorized according to fasting plasma glucose as having diabetes (≥126 mg/dl [7.0 mmol/l]), prediabetes (100–125 mg/dl [5.6–6.9 mmol/l]) or normal glucose level (˂100 mg/dl [5.6 mmol/l]). Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the effects of prediabetes (vs. normal glucose level) on the proteinuria development (urinary protein of ≥1+) and eGFR decline (˂60 ml min−1 1.73 m−2) after 2 years.ResultsAfter 2 years, 7037 participants (1.7%) developed proteinuria alone, 19,015 (4.7%) presented eGFR decline alone and 636 (0.2%) showed both proteinuria and eGFR decline. Compared to normal glucose level and adjusting for prognostic factors, prediabetes was independently associated with the proteinuria development (odds ratio [OR] 1.233; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.170–1.301], whereas prediabetes was not associated with eGFR decline (OR 0.981; 95% CI 0.947–1.017).ConclusionsPrediabetes is associated with the proteinuria development but not with eGFR decline in the general population.
Prevalence of multimorbidity and its impact on survival in people with motor neuron disease
Authors: Glasmacher Stella A. , Kearns Patrick K. A. , Larraz Juan , Stirland Lucy , Mehta Arpan R. , Newton Judith , Weir Christopher J. , Chandran Siddharthan , Pal Suvankar ,   CARE‐MND Consortium
Published: May 2021

AbstractBackground and purposeThis study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of multimorbidity in people with motor neuron disease (MND) and to identify whether specific patterns of multimorbidity impact survival beyond age alone.MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis of the Scottish national MND register from 1 January 2015 to 29 October 2019. People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, primary lateral sclerosis, progressive muscular atrophy, or progressive bulbar palsy were included. We fitted latent class regression models incorporating comorbidities (class indicators), age, sex, and bulbar onset (covariates), and survival (distal outcome) with multimorbidity as a hypothesised latent variable. We also investigated the association between the Charlson Comorbidity Index and survival in Cox regression and compared its discrimination and calibration to age alone.ResultsA total of 937 people with MND were identified (median age = 67 years, 60.2% male); 64.8% (n = 515) had two or more comorbidities. We identified a subpopulation with high prevalence of cardiovascular disease, but when accounting for the relationship between age and individual comorbidities, there was no difference in survival. Both Charlson Comorbidity Index (hazard ratio [HR] per unit increase = 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07–1.15, p < 0.0001) and age (HR per year increase = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.03–1.05, p < 0.0001) were significantly associated with survival, but discrimination was higher for age compared to Charlson Comorbidity Index (C‐index = 0.63 vs. 0.59).ConclusionsMultimorbidity is common in MND, necessitating holistic interdisciplinary management, but age is the dominant predictor of prognosis in people with MND. Excluding people with MND and multimorbidity from trial participation may do little to homogenise the cohort in terms of survival potential and could harm generalisability.
A fixed structure learning automata‐based optimization algorithm for structure learning of Bayesian networks
Authors: Asghari Kayvan , Masdari Mohammad , Soleimanian Gharehchopogh Farhad , Saneifard Rahim 
Published: May 2021

AbstractOne of the useful knowledge representation tools, which can describe the joint probability distribution between some random variables with a graphical model and can be trained by a dataset, is the Bayesian network (BN). A BN is composed of a network structure and a conditional probability distribution table for each node. Discovering an optimal BN structure is an NP‐hard optimization problem that various meta‐heuristic algorithms are applied to solve this problem by researchers. The genetic algorithms, ant colony optimization, evolutionary programming, artificial bee colony, and bacterial foraging optimization are some of the meta‐heuristic methods to solve this problem using a dataset. Most of these methods are applying a scoring metric to generate the best network structure from a set of candidates. A Fixed Structure Learning Automata‐Based (FSLA‐B) algorithm is presented in this paper to solve the structure learning problem of BNs. There is a fixed structure learning automaton for each pair of vertices in the BN's graph structure in the proposed algorithm. The action of this automaton determines the presence and direction of an edge between the vertices. The proposed algorithm performs a guided search procedure using the FSLA and escapes from local optimums. Several datasets are utilised in this paper to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. By performing various experiments, multiple meta‐heuristic algorithms are compared with the introduced new one. The obtained results represented that the proposed algorithm could produce competitive results and find the near‐optimal solution for the BN structure learning problem.
Hybrid intelligent framework for automated medical learning
Authors: Belhadi Asma , Djenouri Youcef , Diaz Vicente Garcia , Houssein Essam H. , Lin Jerry Chun‐Wei 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThis paper investigates the automated medical learning and proposes hybrid intelligent framework, called Hybrid Automated Medical Learning (HAML). The goal is the efficient combination of several intelligent components in order to automatically learn the medical data. Multi agents system is proposed by using distributed deep learning, and knowledge graph for learning medical data. The distributed deep learning is used for efficient learning of the different agents in the system, where the knowledge graph is used for dealing with heterogeneous medical data. To demonstrate the usefulness and accuracy of the HAML framework, intensive simulations on medical data were conducted. A wide range of experiments were conducted to verify the efficiency of the proposed system. Three case studies are discussed in this research, the first case study is related to process mining, and more precisely on the ability of HAML to detect relevant patterns from event medical data. The second case study is related to smart building, and the ability of HAML to recognize the different activities of the patients. The third one is related to medical image retrieval, and the ability of HAML to find the most relevant medical images according to the image query. The results show that the developed HAML achieves good performance compared to the most up‐to‐date medical learning models regarding both the computational and cost the quality of returned solutions.
Centennial relationships between ocean temperature and Atlantic puffin production reveal shifting decennial trends
Authors: Hansen Erpur S. , Sandvik Hanno , Erikstad Kjell Einar , Yoccoz Nigel G. , Anker‐Nilssen Tycho , Bader Jürgen , Descamps Sébastien , Hodges Kevin , Mesquita Michel d. S. , Reiertsen Tone K. , Varpe Øystein 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThe current warming of the oceans has been shown to have detrimental effects for a number of species. An understanding of the underlying mechanisms may be hampered by the non‐linearity and non‐stationarity of the relationships between temperature and demography, and by the insufficient length of available time series. Most demographic time series are too short to study the effects of climate on wildlife in the classical sense of meteorological patterns over at least 30 years. Here we present a harvest time series of Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) that goes back as far as 1880. It originates in the world's largest puffin colony, in southwest Iceland, which has recently experienced a strong decline. By estimating an annual chick production index for 128 years, we found prolonged periods of strong correlations between local sea surface temperature (SST) and chick production. The sign of decennial correlations switches three times during this period, where the phases of strong negative correlations between puffin productivity and SST correspond to the early 20th century Arctic warming period and to the most recent decades. Most of the variation (72%) in chick production is explained by a model in which productivity peaks at an SST of 7.1°C, clearly rejecting the assumption of a linear relationship. There is also evidence supporting non‐stationarity: The SST at which puffins production peaked has increased by 0.24°C during the 20th century, although the increase in average SST during the same period has been more than three times faster. The best supported models indicate that the population's decline is at least partially caused by the increasing SST around Iceland.