bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Improving the Quality of Inpatient Ulcerative Colitis Management: Promoting Evidence-Based Practice and Reducing Care Variation With an Inpatient Protocol
Authors: Lewin Sara M , McConnell Ryan A , Patel Roshan , Sharpton Suzanne R , Velayos Fernando , Mahadevan Uma 
Published: April 2019

Abstarct

Background
Hospitalization for ulcerative colitis is a high-risk period associated with increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection, thromboembolism, and opiate use. The study aim was to develop and implement a quality-improvement intervention for inpatient ulcerative colitis management that standardizes gastroenterology consultant recommendations and improves delivery of evidence-based care.

Methods
All adult patients hospitalized for ulcerative colitis between July 1, 2014, and December 31, 2017, who received intravenous corticosteroids were included. On July 1, 2016, the UCSF Inpatient Ulcerative Colitis Protocol was implemented, featuring standardized core recommendations and a daily checklist for gastroenterology consultant notes, a bundled IBD electronic order set, and an opiate awareness campaign. The composite primary outcome was adherence to all 3 evidence-based care metrics: C. difficile testing performed, pharmacologic venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis ordered, and opiates avoided.

Results
Ninety-three ulcerative colitis hospitalizations occurred, including 36 preintervention and 57 postintervention. Age, gender, disease duration, disease extent, and medication use were similar preintervention and postintervention. C. difficile testing was performed in 100% of hospitalizations. Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis was ordered on 84% of hospital days before intervention compared with 100% after intervention (P ≤ 0.001). Opiates were administered in 67% of preintervention hospitalizations, compared with 53% of postintervention hospitalizations (P = 0.18). The median daily dose of oral morphine equivalents decreased from 12.1 mg before intervention to 0.5 mg after intervention (P = 0.02). The composite outcome of adherence to all 3 metrics was higher after intervention (25% vs. 47%, P = 0.03).

Conclusions
Evidence-based inpatient ulcerative colitis management may be optimized with standardized algorithms that reinforce core principles, reduce care variation, and do not require IBD specialists to implement.
Tacrolimus Therapy in Steroid-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis: A Review
Authors: Wu Biyu , Tong Jinglu , Ran Zhihua 
Published: April 2019

AbstractInflammatory bowel diseases are known for a chronic inflammatory process of the gastrointestinal tract and include Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients who are dependent on or resistant to corticosteroids account for about 20% of severe UC patients. Tacrolimus is a calcineurin inhibitor that has recently been used in the treatment of steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis. Tacrolimus has been demonstrated to have remarkable therapeutic efficacy in UC patients, without increased risk of severe adverse effects such as induction of remission and maintenance therapy. This article reviews the mechanism of action, pharmacogenetics, efficacy, and safety of tacrolimus for patients with steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis.
Preterm birth and selection in utero among males following the November 2015 Paris attacks
Authors: Bruckner Tim A , Lebreton Élodie , Perrone Natalie , Mortensen Laust H , Blondel Béatrice 
Published: April 2019

Abstract

Background
On 13 November 2015, coordinated terrorist attacks swept through Paris. This large stressor, like earlier terrorist attacks in the USA, may have perturbed the health of pregnant women. We test whether the attacks preceded an increase in the risk of preterm parturition among live-born males as well as excess male loss in utero. We focused on males on the basis of previous findings of elevated male frailty following population stressors.

Methods
We examined live births in the Paris region (n = 1 049 057) over 70 months, from January 2011 to October 2016. Interrupted time-series methods identified and removed serial correlation in the monthly risk of preterm birth; these methods employed non-linear least-squares estimation. We also repeated analyses using month of conception, and performed sensitivity tests among females as well as among male births outside Paris.

Results
Males exhibited an elevated incidence of preterm birth in November 2015 and January 2016 [risk difference for November 2015 = 0.006, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0002—0.012; risk difference for January 2016 = 0.010, 95% CI: 0.004—0.016], which equates to an 11% increase in the count of preterm births. Females, as well as males born outside Paris, showed no change in preterm delivery. The sex ratio also fell below expected values in December 2015, January 2016 and February 2016.

Conclusions
Among males, more preterm births, but fewer live births, occurred after the November 2015 Paris attacks. Future examinations of perinatal health responses to unexpected stressors may benefit from sex-specific analyses.
Homogeneous or Heterogeneous? Insights into Signposts in Learners’ Dictionaries
Authors: Dziemianko Anna 
Published: April 2019

AbstractThe current study tests empirically whether linguistically homogeneous or heterogeneous signposts better serve dictionary users. It aims to determine which signposts, homogeneous or heterogeneous, are more beneficial to sense identification, language reception, and production as well as immediate and delayed retention of meaning. The paper also investigates whether the usefulness of the type of signposting is dependent on the grammatical category of headwords. The results indicate that entries with heterogeneous signposts are significantly more useful for sense identification and reception. In production, the results obtained after reference to entries with homogeneous and heterogeneous signposts were comparable. Immediate and delayed retention was significantly better when the subjects had consulted entries with homogeneous signposts. The influence of signpost type on the scores for any task was not dependent on the part of speech.
Sustainable applications of asphalt mixes with reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials: innovative and new building brick
Authors: Alwetaishi Mamdooh , Kamel Mostafa , Al-Bustami Nidal 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate the effect of various percentages of RAP on the properties of asphalt mixtures. Moreover, the thermal characteristics of using asphalt mixes with RAP in asphalt concrete blocks for sustainable application in building construction was also studied. For this issue, four mixtures, which were the combination of different ratios of RAP materials viz, 0%, 30%, 60%, 90% and virgin aggregates, were studied in this research. A comprehensive experimental program was conducted to find out the highest ratio of RAP in asphalt mixes that retains an acceptable level of physical and mechanical properties. This revealed that 90% RAP has such an acceptable level. Finally, the thermal characteristics of asphalt concrete blocks for walls in building construction were analytically investigated using TAS EDSL. This software was initially validated by building a real model of walls with asphalt concrete blocks where temperature and humidity measurements were taken through data loggers for both the indoor and outdoor spaces. A comparative study was conducted to find out the energy efficient behaviour of this material in four different climate conditions. It was concluded that the asphalt concrete mixes with 90% RAP are beneficial materials for use as a thermal mass in building construction and it is suitable only for cold weathers.
G-Tutte Polynomials and Abelian Lie Group Arrangements
Authors: Liu Ye , Tran Tan Nhat , Yoshinaga Masahiko 
Published: April 2019

AbstractFor a list $\mathcal{A}$ of elements in a finitely generated abelian group $\Gamma $ and an abelian group $G$, we introduce and study an associated $G$-Tutte polynomial, defined by counting the number of homomorphisms from associated finite abelian groups to $G$. The $G$-Tutte polynomial is a common generalization of the (arithmetic) Tutte polynomial for realizable (arithmetic) matroids, the characteristic quasi-polynomial for integral arrangements, Brändén–Moci’s arithmetic version of the partition function of an abelian group-valued Potts model, and the modified Tutte–Krushkal–Renhardy polynomial for a finite CW complex. As in the classical case, $G$-Tutte polynomials carry topological and enumerative information (e.g., the Euler characteristic, point counting, and the Poincaré polynomial) of abelian Lie group arrangements. We also discuss differences between the arithmetic Tutte and the $G$-Tutte polynomials related to the axioms for arithmetic matroids and the (non-)positivity of coefficients.
Characterization of Pneumocystis murina Bgl2, an Endo-β-1,3-Glucanase and Glucanosyltransferase
Authors: Kutty Geetha , Davis A Sally , Schuck Kaitlynn , Masterson Mya , Wang Honghui , Liu Yueqin , Kovacs Joseph A 
Published: April 2019

AbstractGlucan is the major cell wall component of Pneumocystis cysts. In the current study, we have characterized Pneumocystis Bgl2 (EC 3.2.1.58), an enzyme with glucanosyltransferase and β-1,3 endoglucanase activity in other fungi. Pneumocystis murina, Pneumocystis carinii, and Pneumocystis jirovecii bgl2 complementary DNA sequences encode proteins of 437, 447, and 408 amino acids, respectively. Recombinant P. murina Bgl2 expressed in COS-1 cells demonstrated β-glucanase activity, as shown by degradation of the cell wall of Pneumocystis cysts. It also cleaved reduced laminaripentaose and transferred oligosaccharides, resulting in polymers of 6 and 7 glucan residues, demonstrating glucanosyltransferase activity. Surprisingly, confocal immunofluorescence analysis of P. murina–infected mouse lung sections using an antibody against recombinant Bgl2 showed that the native protein is localized primarily to the trophic form of Pneumocystis in both untreated mice and mice treated with caspofungin, an antifungal drug that inhibits β-1,3-glucan synthase. Thus, like other fungi, Bgl2 of Pneumocystis has both endoglucanase and glucanosyltransferase activities. Given that it is expressed primarily in trophic forms, further studies are needed to better understand its role in the biology of Pneumocystis.
Fully Automated Determination of Phosphatidylethanol 16:0/18:1 and 16:0/18:2 in Dried Blood Spots
Authors: Luginbühl Marc , Gaugler Stefan , Weinmann Wolfgang 
Published: April 2019

Abstract

Purpose
Direct alcohol markers are widely applied during abstinence monitoring, driving aptitude assessments and workplace drug testing. The most promising direct alcohol marker was found to be phosphatidylethanol (PEth). Compared to other markers it shows a long window of detection due to accumulation in blood. To facilitate and accelerate the determination of PEth in DBS, we developed a fully automated analysis approach.

Methods
The validated and novel online-SPE-LC-MS/MS method with automated sample preparation using a CAMAG DBS-MS 500 system reduces manual sample preparation to an absolute minimum, only requiring calibration and quality control DBS.

Results
During the validation process, the method showed a high extraction efficiency (>88%), linearity (correlation coefficient >0.9953), accuracy and precision (within ±15%) for the determination of PEth 16:0/18:1 and PEth 16:0/18:2. Within a run time of about 7 min, the two monitored analogs could be baseline separated. A method comparison in liquid whole blood of 28 authentic samples from alcohol use disorder patients showed a mean deviation of less than 2% and a correlation coefficient of >0.9759. The comparison with manual DBS extraction showed a mean deviation of less than 8% and a correlation coefficient of >0.9666.

Conclusions
The automated analysis of PEth in DBS can provide a fast and accurate solution for abstinence monitoring. In contrast to the manual extraction of PEth in DBS, no laborious sample preparation is required with this automated approach. Furthermore, the application of the internal standard by a spray module can compensate for extraction bias and matrix effects.
Joseph Schumpeter Lecture, EEA Annual Congress 2017: Do Tax Cuts Produce more Einsteins? The Impacts of Financial Incentives VerSus Exposure to Innovation on the Supply of Inventors
Authors: Bell Alex , Chetty Raj , Jaravel Xavier , Petkova Neviana , Van Reenen John 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
Many countries provide financial incentives to spur innovation, ranging from tax incentives to research and development grants. In this paper, we study how such financial incentives affect individuals’ decisions to pursue careers in innovation. We first present empirical evidence on inventors’ career trajectories and income distributions using deidentified data on 1.2 million inventors from patent records linked to tax records in the United States. We find that the private returns to innovation are extremely skewed—with the top 1% of inventors collecting more than 22% of total inventors’ income—and are highly correlated with their social impact, as measured by citations. Inventors tend to have their most impactful innovations around age 40 and their incomes rise rapidly just before they have high-impact patents. We then build a stylized model of inventor career choice that matches these facts as well as recent evidence that childhood exposure to innovation plays a critical role in determining whether individuals become inventors. The model predicts that financial incentives, such as top income tax reductions, have limited potential to increase aggregate innovation because they only affect individuals who are exposed to innovation and have essentially no impact on the decisions of star inventors, who matter most for aggregate innovation. Importantly, these results hold regardless of whether the private returns to innovation are fully known at the time of career choice or are fully stochastic. In contrast, increasing exposure to innovation (e.g., through mentorship programs) could have substantial impacts on innovation by drawing individuals who produce high-impact inventions into the innovation pipeline. Although we do not present direct evidence supporting these model-based predictions, our results call for a more careful assessment of the impacts of financial incentives and a greater focus on alternative policies to increase the supply of inventors.
Diagnostic Testing and Antibiotic Use in Young Children With Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the United States, 2008–2015
Authors: Florin Todd A , Byczkowski Terri , Gerber Jeffrey S , Ruddy Richard , Kuppermann Nathan 
Published: April 2019

AbstractDiagnostic testing and antibiotics are not routinely recommended for young children with community-acquired pneumonia. In a national sample of &gt;6 million outpatient 1- to 6-year-olds with community-acquired pneumonia between 2008 and 2015, a complete blood count was obtained for 8.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.1%–11.1%), radiography was performed for 43% (95% CI, 36%–50%), and antibiotics were given for 73.9% (95% CI, 67.1%–80.7%). There were no changes in testing or antibiotic use over time.
The Function of ’aṮmāhā in Genesis Rabbah
Authors: Fleck Einav 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
The meaning and use of the Jewish Palestinian Aramaic word (‘astonishment‘) have been discussed only briefly in scholarly literature. The present article examines its use and seeks to demonstrate that most of its occurrences mark two specific types of questions: (1) rhetorical questions and (2) conducive questions. In these functions it is similar to the Zawgā ‘elāyā in New Testament Peshitta manuscripts. We conclude that was not intended to be pronounced, nor did it function as a standard punctuation mark, but rather was a marker for a specific pragmatic feature, i.e. questions that are not requests for information. Additionally, it may have developed a secondary asseverative usage.
Auden, Auden’s Milton, and Songs for Virgins
Authors: Daniel Clay 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
Deep though unexplored currents of W.H. Auden’s incipient Christian theology in ‘Song for St Cecilia’s Day’ become clearer when we read the poem with an eye on John Milton’s madrigal ‘At a Solemn Music’ and his musical tribute to virginity, ‘A Masque’. Auden closely identified Milton with the religious dualism that impeded his acceptance of Christianity, as well with the divided consciousness of the Protestantism whose disintegration was a primary source for contemporary global chaos; and his examination of art, religion, and sexuality consistently uses Milton’s poems as counter-texts off which to ‘bounce’ his own vision of Christian flesh and Christian spirit.
Chandra and Hubble Space Telescope observations of dark gamma-ray bursts and their host galaxies
Authors: Chrimes A A , Levan A J , Stanway E R , Lyman J D , Fruchter A S , Jakobsson P , O’Brien P , Perley D A , Tanvir N R , Wheatley P J , Wiersema K 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
We present a study of 21 dark gamma-ray burst (GRB) host galaxies, predominantly using X-ray afterglows obtained with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) to precisely locate the burst in deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of the burst region. The host galaxies are well-detected in F160W in all but one case and in F606W imaging in 60 per cent of cases. We measure magnitudes and perform a morphological analysis of each galaxy. The asymmetry, concentration, and ellipticity of the dark burst hosts are compared against the host galaxies of optically bright GRBs. In agreement with other studies, we find that dark GRB hosts are redder and more luminous than the bulk of the GRB host population. The distribution of projected spatial offsets for dark GRBs from their host galaxy centroids is comparable to that of optically bright bursts. The dark GRB hosts are physically larger, more massive and redder, but are morphologically similar to the hosts of bright GRBs in terms of concentration and asymmetry. Our analysis constrains the fraction of high redshift (z &gt; 5) GRBs in the sample to 14 per cent, implying an upper limit for the whole long-GRB population of ≤4.4 per cent. If dust is the primary cause of afterglow darkening amongst dark GRBs, the measured extinction may require a clumpy dust component in order to explain the observed offset and ellipticity distributions.
Active Site-Induced Evolutionary Constraints Follow Fold Polarity Principles in Soluble Globular Enzymes
Authors: Mayorov Alexander , Dal Peraro Matteo , Abriata Luciano A 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
A recent analysis of evolutionary rates in >500 globular soluble enzymes revealed pervasive conservation gradients toward catalytic residues. By looking at amino acid preference profiles rather than evolutionary rates in the same data set, we quantified the effects of active sites on site-specific constraints for physicochemical traits. We found that conservation gradients respond to constraints for polarity, hydrophobicity, flexibility, rigidity and structure in ways consistent with fold polarity principles; while sites far from active sites seem to experience no physicochemical constraint, rather being highly variable and favoring amino acids of low metabolic cost. Globally, our results highlight that amino acid variation contains finer information about protein structure than usually regarded in evolutionary models, and that this information is retrievable automatically with simple fits. We propose that analyses of the kind presented here incorporated into models of protein evolution should allow for better description of the physical chemistry that underlies molecular evolution.
The use of plasma donor-derived, cell-free DNA to monitor acute rejection after kidney transplantation
Authors: Gielis Els M , Ledeganck Kristien J , Dendooven Amélie , Meysman Pieter , Beirnaert Charlie , Laukens Kris , De Schrijver Joachim , Van Laecke Steven , Van Biesen Wim , Emonds Marie-Paule , De Winter Benedicte Y , Bosmans Jean-Louis , Del Favero Jurgen , Abramowicz Daniel 
Published: April 2019

Abstract

Background
After transplantation, cell-free deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) derived from the donor organ (ddcfDNA) can be detected in the recipient’s circulation. We aimed to investigate the role of plasma ddcfDNA as biomarker for acute kidney rejection.

Methods
From 107 kidney transplant recipients, plasma samples were collected longitudinally after transplantation (Day 1 to 3 months) within a multicentre set-up. Cell-free DNA from the donor was quantified in plasma as a fraction of the total cell-free DNA by next generation sequencing using a targeted, multiplex polymerase chain reaction-based method for the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms.

Results
Increases of the ddcfDNA% above a threshold value of 0.88% were significantly associated with the occurrence of episodes of acute rejection (P = 0.017), acute tubular necrosis (P = 0.011) and acute pyelonephritis (P = 0.032). A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed an equal area under the curve of the ddcfDNA% and serum creatinine of 0.64 for the diagnosis of acute rejection.

Conclusions
Although increases in plasma ddcfDNA% are associated with graft injury, plasma ddcfDNA does not outperform the diagnostic capacity of the serum creatinine in the diagnosis of acute rejection.