bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Combining hepatitis B core‐related and surface antigens at end of nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment to predict off‐therapy relapse risk
Authors: Hsu Yao‐Chun , Nguyen Mindie H. , Mo Lein‐Ray , Wu Ming‐Shiang , Yang Tzeng‐Huey , Chen Chieh‐Chang , Tseng Cheng‐Hao , Tai Chi‐Ming , Wu Chun‐Ying , Lin Jaw‐Town , Tanaka Yasuhito , Chang Chi‐Yang 
Published: November 2018

SummaryBackgroundThere remains an unmet need for convenient biomarkers to assess the risks of discontinuing nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB).AimTo investigate if hepatitis B core‐related antigen (HBcrAg) is an independent of surface antigen (HBsAg) for risk prediction of NA cessation.MethodsThis prospective multicentre study enrolled 135 CHB patients who stopped entecavir or tenofovir after achieving viral remission for a median of 25.2 months. All patients stopped NA with negative HBeAg and undetectable viral DNA, and were then observed for clinical relapse and HBsAg loss. Predictors including HBsAg and HBcrAg levels were explored using Cox proportional hazard model and weighted to develop a risk score.ResultsDuring a median follow‐up of 25.9 months, clinical relapse and HBsAg loss occurred in 66 and eight patients, respectively, with a 5‐year cumulative incidence of 56.1% (95% CI 46.7‐66.0%) and 8.8% (95% CI 4.3‐17.4%), respectively. HBcrAg was an independent relapse predictor, as well as HBsAg, age, ALT and tenofovir use. A score (SCALE‐B) was calculated by the equation of 35*HBsAg (log IU/mL) + 20*HBcrAg (log U/mL) + 2*age (year) + ALT (U/L) + 40 for tenofovir use. The concordance rates for clinical relapse were 0.87, 0.88, 0.87, 0.85 and 0.90 at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively. Moreover, HBsAg loss occurred exclusively in low‐risk patients predicted by the score.ConclusionsSerum HBcrAg and HBsAg levels were independent predictors of off‐NA relapse and can be factored into a risk score to guide treatment cessation in patients with CHB.
Cognition with magnetic resonance imaging findings and social activities in patients with multiple sclerosis in a Japanese cohort
Authors: Niino Masaaki , Fukazawa Toshiyuki , Kira Jun‐ichi , Okuno Tatsusada , Mori Masahiro , Sanjo Nobuo , Ohashi Takashi , Fukaura Hikoaki , Fujimori Juichi , Shimizu Yuko , Mifune Nobuhiro , Miyazaki Yusei , Takahashi Eri , Kikuchi Seiji , Langdon Dawn , Benedict Ralph H. B. , Matsui Makoto 
Published: November 2018

AbstractObjectiveWe investigated the association of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and social activities with cognition in Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).MethodsCognition was evaluated by the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS), using previously published data for 156 Japanese patients with MS. The BICAMS results were analyzed with available MRI data, focusing on hyperintense lesions on T2/fluid‐attenuated inversion recovery images. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations between the BICAMS scores and social activities (i.e. “student,” “employed full time,” “employed part time,” “homemaker” and “unemployed because of MS”). The independent variables were the BICAMS scores, and the Expanded Disability Status Scale, sex, age at examination, education and disease duration. The dependent variable was the “social activity.”ResultsAnalysis of variance showed that patients with MS and more cerebral lesions on MRI had lower scores in all three domains of the BICAMS (the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the second edition of the California Verbal Learning Test and the revised Brief Visuospatial Memory Test). Scores of all three domains were also significantly lower in patients with cerebellar lesions. Regarding social activities, patients who were unemployed because of MS had lower BICAMS scores compared with employed patients. However, the BICAMS domain scores did not independently affect the other social activities.ConclusionsHigher numbers of cerebral lesions and the presence of cerebellar lesions evaluated by MRI affect cognitive function based on the BICAMS. Cognitive function might affect social activities in patients with MS.
Long‐term, single‐arm, open‐label, multicenter phase 2/4 study of glatiramer acetate by subcutaneous injection in Japanese patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis
Authors: Yamamura Takashi , Fukazawa Toshiyuki , Tanaka Masami , Ohashi Takashi , Tanaka Shinichiro , Yoshida Michihiro , Houzen Hideki 
Published: November 2018

AbstractObjectiveGlatiramer acetate (GA) has been shown to be a well‐tolerated and effective treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with relapse. The present open‐label study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of long‐term treatment with GA.MethodsJapanese patients with relapsing–remitting MS received up to 52‐weeks’ treatment with GA 20 mg/mL once daily in the phase 2 study. In phase 4, patients continued to receive treatment after marketing approval in Japan until commercial availability. Key end‐points were safety and tolerability of GA. Other analyses included numbers and volumes of gadolinium‐enhancing and T2‐weighted (T2) lesions.ResultsOf 17 patients initially treated, 13 completed 52 weeks’ therapy and 10 completed the phase 4 extension (efficacy assessment: 104 weeks; maximum treatment period/long‐term safety assessment: up to 5 years). No new safety signals were observed; most adverse events were mild or moderate, with injection site reactions being the most common. The number of T1 gadolinium‐enhancing lesions declined from 2.9 (baseline) to 1.3 (week 104), and the number of T2 lesions increased from 1.7 to 6.7. T1 and T2 lesion volume changes were not clinically meaningful (changes of −0.090 and 0.088 mL, respectively, by week 104). The mean annualized relapse rate was 2.01 (baseline) and 1.78 (week 104); the mean Expanded Disability Status Scale scores indicated reduced levels of disability.ConclusionsThese findings suggest the favorable tolerability and safety profile of GA in Japanese patients, and provide supportive evidence for the efficacy of GA in reducing MS recurrence and improving disability in Japanese MS patients.
National estimations of airway foreign bodies in children in the United States, 2000 to 2009
Authors: Cheng Jeffrey , Liu Beiyu , Farjat Alfredo E. , Routh Jonathan 
Published: November 2018

ObjectiveIdentify risk factors associated with airway foreign bodies in children in the United States and report observed trends over time.Data sourceKID database (2000‐2009).MethodsICD‐9‐CM codes for airway foreign bodies were used to identify patients. Risk factors were used for univariate analysis and a multivariate model to identify any increased risk of mortality. These factors were then also trended over time.ResultsChildren with airway foreign bodies demonstrate similar risk factors as previously reported, such as male gender, age less than five years and lack of private insurance. The weighted mortality rate for paediatric inpatients with airway foreign bodies was about 2.75%. Fortunately, the rate remained relatively unchanged from 2000 to 2009. Geographically, urban hospital settings appeared to be more affected. Increased risks of mortality were noted for older age, urban hospital setting and teaching hospital status.ConclusionsOur findings confirm previous findings and identified that the diagnosis of airway foreign bodies in children were associated with male gender, age <5 years, lack of private insurance and geographic location in an urban setting. Further investigation may be warranted to provide clarity on other factors found to have increased association with mortality for quality improvement.
Encouraging children to mentalise about a perceived outgroup increases prosocial behaviour towards outgroup members
Authors: McLoughlin Niamh , Over Harriet 
Published: November 2018

AbstractWe investigated whether encouraging young children to discuss the mental states of an immigrant group would elicit more prosocial behaviour towards them and impact on their perception of a group member's emotional experience. Five‐ and 6‐year‐old children were either prompted to talk about the thoughts and feelings of this social group or to talk about their actions. Across two studies, we found that this manipulation increased the extent to which children shared with a novel member of the immigrant group who was the victim of a minor transgression. The manipulation did not lead to greater sharing towards a victim from the children's own culture and did not influence their perception of a victim's negative emotions. These results may ultimately have implications for interventions aimed at fostering positive intergroup relations within the context of immigration.
Impact of appropriate use criteria for transesophageal echocardiograms on clinically meaningful care
Authors: Gupta Tripti , Jahangir Eiman , Gilliland Yvonne , Lavie Carl J. , Shah Sangeeta 
Published: November 2018

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to evaluate appropriateness of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) studies based on 2011 Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for Echocardiography and its impact on patient management.Methods and ResultsIn a retrospective analysis of 100 inpatient TEEs, 85% of the TEEs ordered were determined to be appropriate, 9% were inappropriate, and 6% were uncertain. Inter‐observer differences in the determination of AUC were seen in 24% of the studies, requiring a senior‐level cardiologist to make the final determination of AUC score. The variance in interpretation by experts is concerning for how that might translate into differences in clinical practice. Of all TEEs, only 63% led to an active change in care, including changes in medications or procedures, while 37% did not. We found a statistically significant difference between cardiologists’ and non‐cardiologists’ orders for TEE having an impact on patient's clinical care (41% vs 22%, respectively, P < 0.05) (Table ). While not statistically significant, a trend toward clinical change was observed in the appropriate vs inappropriate TEEs (70% vs 44%, respectively, P = 0.06).ConclusionIdeally, the role of a diagnostic cardiovascular imaging test, such as a TEE, is to influence clinical care, if it is ordered appropriately on the right patient. While the AUC guides clinicians on the appropriate use of cardiovascular imaging, it is broadly written and offers room for interpretation to encompass variety of clinical scenarios. Clinical care paths that utilize AUC and standardize use of multidisciplinary institutional resources offer opportunity for optimal clinical impact and patient care.
Sprint speed is not reduced by exaggerated male weapons in a flower beetle Dicronocephalus wallichii
Authors: Kojima Wataru , Lin Chung‐Ping 
Published: November 2018

AbstractExaggerated sexually selected traits are assumed to decrease the mobility of bearers. However, previous empirical studies have often failed to support this assumption, possibly because locomotor performance represents the integration of numerous morphological, physiological and behavioural traits. Males of a flower beetle Dicronocephalus wallichii Pouillaude 1914 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) possess elongated forelegs and a pair of exaggerated horns, which are used as dual weapons in male–male competition for mates. We investigated whether these two sexual traits impede the maximum sprint speed on bamboo branches with different angles and thicknesses under laboratory conditions. Our results suggested that no negative relationship exists between relative foreleg length or horn length and sprint speed. Elongated forelegs and horns may entail negligible locomotor costs. Males with longer horns and forelegs were found to have longer midlegs and hindlegs independent of body size. Thus, elongated midlegs and hindlegs in males may enhance balance, stabilize running on bamboo branches and compensate for the locomotor costs of bearing exaggerated weapons. Furthermore, a positive relationship was found between horn length and sprint speed on a horizontal branch. Males with longer horns probably have more energy and/or invest more heavily in appendage musculature. As is known in other animals, male horns of D. wallichii may act as honest indicators of body condition.
Automatically solving two‐variable linear algebraic word problems using text mining
Authors: Rehman Tayyeba , Khan Sharifullah , Hwang Gwo‐Jen , Abbas Muhammad Azeem 
Published: November 2018

AbstractThe teaching and learning of algebraic word problems is a basic component of elementary education. Recently, to facilitate its learning, a few approaches for automatically solving algebraic and arithmetic word problems have been proposed. These systems generally use either natural language processing (NLP) or a combination of NLP and machine learning. However, they have low accuracy due to their large feature sets, extracted using limited preprocessing techniques. In this research work, we propose a template‐based approach that was developed by following a two‐step process. In the first step, we predict an equation template from a training dataset using NLP and a classification mechanism. The next step is to instantiate the predicted template with nouns and numbers through reasoning. To validate the proposed methodology, a prototype system was implemented. We then compared the proposed system with the existing systems using their respective datasets and the proposed dataset. The experimental results show improvement in accuracy, with an average precision of 80.6% and average recall of 83.5%.
Historicising popular geopolitics
Authors: Harby Alexander J. 
Published: November 2018

AbstractCritical geopolitics has long recognised the role of history in geopolitics, yet popular geopolitics research is often ahistorical, focusing on ongoing conflicts without recognising the context of past wars and ideologies. In this paper, I review the literature on historical popular geopolitics. I use the literary technique of new historicism to evaluate the ways in which geographers have historicised popular geopolitics, in terms of their ideological contexts and influences on the present. Much of this work deals with various forms of media such as films and comic books, often read as products of their time or of their authors' ideologies. Some geographers, however, have been able to combine historicism with non‐representational methodologies to study embodiment, practices of consumption, and affect. I reflect that historicism is vital for understanding the continuity of geopolitics.
Geographies of deindustrialization and the working‐class: Industrial ruination, legacies, and affect
Authors: Emery Jay 
Published: November 2018

AbstractSections of the post‐industrial working‐class have made a notable return to media and political discourses in the context of the rise of populism across Europe and the United States. These narratives, which exclude women and BAME working‐class people, suggests the (white, male) working‐class are angry and resentful of being left behind by increasingly globalized political economies, nostalgic for the industrial ordering of work, home, and community. It seems that the political and media establishment are, selectively, understanding what has long been realized by researchers of deindustrialization. In the first, this paper surveys and critiques recent discourses on the post‐industrial working‐classes. The paper then traces the development of industrial ruination as an interdisciplinary area of academic focus, highlighting the themes of memory and temporal factors that have come to dominate the literature. The next section reviews contestations surrounding the affordances of landscapes and industrial ruins for the analysis of memory and history. Finally, the paper proposes interrelated ways to advance future study which historical–cultural geographers are well placed to carry forward. Here, I call for greater attention toward the affective and embodied dimensions of classed experience and the intersectionalities of race and gender in working‐class subjectivities. Further, I suggest there is an imperative to a deeper understanding of constitutive “affective” histories to mediate enduring social inequalities and their political and socially divisive mobilizations.
Elementary Index Bias: Evidence for the Euro Area from a Large Scanner Dataset
Authors: Gábor-Tóth Enikő , Vermeulen Philip 
Published: November 2018

Abstract
We provide evidence on the effect of elementary index choice on inflation measurement in the euro area. Using scanner data for 15,844 individual items from 42 product categories and 10 euro area countries, we compute product category level elementary price indexes using eight different elementary index formulas. Measured inflation outcomes of the different index formulas are compared with the Fisher ideal index to quantify elementary index bias. We have three main findings. First, elementary index bias is quite variable across product categories, countries and index formulas. Second, a comparison of elementary index formulas with and without expenditure weights shows that a shift from price only indexes to expenditure weighted indexes would entail at the product level multiple percentage points differences in measured price changes. And finally, we show that elementary index bias is quantitatively more important than upper level substitution bias.
Sequential Chemical Separation of Cr and Ti from a Single Digest for High‐Precision Isotope Measurements of Planetary Materials
Authors: Hibiya Yuki , Iizuka Tsuyoshi , Yamashita Katsuyuki , Yoneda Shigekazu , Yamakawa Akane 
Published: November 2018

Combined determination of Cr and Ti isotopes of planetary materials offers a means with which to investigate their genetic relationship and the evolution of the protoplanetary disk. Here, we report the new sequential chemical separation procedure for combined Cr and Ti isotope ratio measurements. It comprises three steps: (a) Fe removal using AG1‐X8 anion exchange resin, (b) Ti separation using TODGA resin and (c) Cr separation using AG50W‐X8 cation exchange resin (with one additional step of Ti purification using AG1‐X8 anion exchange resin for samples having high Cr/Ti and Ca/Ti ratios). We applied the proposed procedure to terrestrial and meteorite samples with various compositions. Typical recovery rates of 90–100% were achieved with total procedural Cr and Ti blanks of 3–5 and 2–3 ng, respectively. We measured the Cr and Ti isotope compositions of the separated samples using thermal ionisation mass spectrometry and multiple collector‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry, respectively. Our Cr and Ti isotope data were found to be consistent with those of previous studies of individual Cr and Ti isotopic compositions of the meteorites. These results demonstrate the capability of our separation method when applied to combined high‐precision Cr and Ti isotope analyses for single digests of planetary materials.
The Slippery Slope Argument against Geoengineering Research
Authors: Callies Daniel Edward 
Published: November 2018

AbstractWith the lack of progress there has been so far on climate change, some have begun researching the potential of geoengineering to allay future climatic harms. However, others contend that such research should be abandoned. One of the most‐cited reasons as to why research into geoengineering should be abandoned is the idea that such research sits at the top of slippery slope. The Slippery Slope Argument warns that even mere research into geoengineering will create institutional momentum, ultimately leading to the deployment of a technology that is untested and perhaps morally objectionable. This article clearly lays out the Slippery Slope Argument against geoengineering research and analyses its premises. I claim that both the empirical premise – that research will inevitably lead to deployment – and the normative premise – that we have decisive moral reasons to avoid deployment – are questionable. The main conclusion of the article is that while we should be cognizant of the potential for research to lead to undesirable deployment scenarios, engaging in research need not necessarily lead inexorably to deployment. While insufficient to ground a moratorium on research, the Slippery Slope Argument points to the need for regulation and oversight in order to prevent undesirable deployment.
Non‐invasive measurement of reservoir pressure parameters from brachial‐cuff blood pressure waveforms
Authors: Peng Xiaoqing , Schultz Martin G. , Picone Dean S. , Dwyer Nathan , Black J. Andrew , Roberts‐Thomson Philip , Sharman James E. 
Published: November 2018

AbstractReservoir pressure parameters [eg, reservoir pressure (RP) and excess pressure (XSP)] are biomarkers derived from blood pressure (BP) waveforms that have been shown to predict cardiovascular events independent of conventional cardiovascular risk markers. However, whether RP and XSP can be derived non‐invasively from operator‐independent cuff device measured brachial or central BP waveforms has never been examined. This study sought to achieve this by comparison of cuff reservoir pressure parameters with intra‐aortic reservoir pressure parameters. 162 participants (aged 61 ± 10 years, 72% male) undergoing coronary angiography had the simultaneous measurement of cuff BP waveforms (via SphygmoCor XCEL, AtCor Medical) and intra‐aortic BP waveforms (via fluid‐filled catheter). RP and XSP derived from cuff acquired brachial and central BP waveforms were compared with intra‐aortic measures. Concordance between brachial‐cuff and intra‐aortic measurement was moderate‐to‐good for RP peak (36 ± 11vs48 ± 14 mm Hg,P < 0.001; ICC 0.77, 95% CI: 0.71‐0.82), and poor‐to‐moderate for XSP peak (28 ± 10vs24 ± 9 mm Hg,P < 0.001; ICC 0.49, 95% CI: 0.35‐0.60). Concordance between central‐cuff and intra‐aortic measurement was moderate‐to‐good for RP peak (35 ± 9vs46 ± 14 mm Hg,P < 0.001; ICC 0.77, 95% CI: 0.70‐0.82), but poor for XSP peak (12 ± 3vs24 ± 9 mm Hg,P < 0.001; ICC 0.12, 95% CI: −0.13 to 0.31). In conclusion, both brachial‐cuff and central‐cuff methods can reasonably estimate intra‐aortic RP, whereas XSP can only be acceptably derived from brachial‐cuff BP waveforms. This should enable widespread application to determine the clinical significance, but there is significant room for refinement of the method.