bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cohort profile: the Trivandrum non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) cohort
Authors: Chalmers Jane , Ban Lu , Leena Kondarapassery B , Edwards Kimberley L , Grove Jane L , Aithal Guruprasad P , Shenoy Kotacherry T 
Published: May 2019

PurposeThe Trivandrum non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) cohort is a population-based study designed to examine the interaction between genetic and lifestyle factors and their association with increased risk of NAFLD within the Indian population.ParticipantsBetween 2013 and 2016, a total of 2222 participants were recruited to this cohort through multistage cluster sampling across the whole population of Trivandrum—a district within the state of Kerala, South India. Data were collected from all inhabitants of randomly selected households over the age of 25.Findings to dateFull baseline clinical and pathological data were collected from 2158 participants. This included detailed demographic profiles, anthropometric measures and lifestyle data (food frequency, physical activity and anxiety and depression questionnaires). Biochemical profile and ultrasound assessment of the liver were performed and whole blood aliquots were collected for DNA analysis.The NAFLD prevalence within this population was 49.8% which is significantly higher than the global pooled prevalence of 25%. This highlights the importance of robust, prospective studies like this to enable collection of longitudinal data on risk factors, disease progression and to facilitate future interventional studies.Future plansThe complete analysis of data collected from this cohort will give valuable insights into the interaction of the phenotypic and genotypic profiles that result in such a dramatic increased risk of NAFLD within the Indian population. The cohort will also form the basis of future lifestyle interventional studies, aimed at improving liver and metabolic health.
Trends in the costs of drugs launched in the UK between 1981 and 2015: an analysis of the launch price of drugs in five disease areas
Authors: Ward Derek J , Doos Lucy , Stevens Andrew 
Published: May 2019

ObjectivesTo investigate the trend in the launch price of new drugs for five common health conditions.DesignCross-sectional study using data on new drugs launched in the UK between 1981 and 2015 for hypertension, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, schizophrenia and colorectal cancer.Data and sourcesAll drugs marketed in the UK between 1981 and 2015 (inclusive), and licensed specifically for the treatment of one of the five chosen conditions were included in the study. Newly launched medicines and their launch prices were identified by hand-searching all editions of the British National Formulary in addition to searching the websites of relevant regulatory agencies (European Medicines Agency and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency). The launch price in UK pounds for a 28-day supply of each medicine at a typical or usual maintenance dose was adjusted for the effects of general inflation using the gross domestic product deflator series.Results104 drugs were included in our study with a mean inflation-adjusted 28-day launch price of £288 (SD £678). The launch price of new drugs varied significantly across the five conditions, with drugs for hypertension having the lowest mean price (£27) and drugs for colorectal cancer having the highest mean price (£1590) (p<0.001). There were large increases in launch prices across the study period, but the magnitude and pattern was markedly different between therapeutic areas. Biological drugs represented 13.5% of all included drugs and had a significantly higher launch price than non- biological drugs (£1233 vs £141, p<0.001). 22.1% of included drugs were first-of-kind and had a significantly higher launch price than follow-on drugs (£768 vs £151) (p<0.0001).ConclusionDrugs prices continue to increase across different therapeutic areas. This has some association with novelty, but, it is not clear if this increase in price is associated with medical benefits.
General practitioners’ perceptions towards the use of digital health services for citizens in primary care: a qualitative interview study
Authors: Fagerlund Asbjørn Johansen , Holm Inger Marie , Zanaboni Paolo 
Published: May 2019

ObjectivesTo explore general practitioners’ (GPs) perceptions towards use of four digital health services for citizens: an electronic booking service to make reservations with the GP; an electronic prescription service to request renewal of maintenance drugs; a service for text-based non-clinical enquiries to the GP office and a service for text-based electronic consultation (e-consultation) with the GP.DesignA qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews.SettingPrimary care.ParticipantsNine GPs who were early adopters of the four services were interviewed.MethodOne moderator presented topics using open-ended questions, facilitated the discussion and followed up with further questions. Phone interviews were conducted, audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative data were analysed using the framework method.ResultsThe use of digital services in primary care in Norway is growing, although the use of text-based e-consultations is still limited. Most GPs were positive about all four services, but there was still some scepticism regarding their effects. Advantages for GP offices included reduced phone load, increased efficiency, released time for medical assessments, less crowded waiting rooms and more precise communication. Benefits for patients were increased flexibility, autonomy and time and money savings. Children, the elderly and people with low computer literacy might still need traditional alternatives.ConclusionsMore defined and standardised routines, as well as more evidence of the effects, are necessary for large-scale adoption.
Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network: a protocol for a multi-site prospective cohort study to identify modifiable risk factors for mortality among acutely ill children in Africa and Asia
Authors:   The Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition Network
Published: May 2019

IntroductionChildren admitted to hospitals in resource-poor settings remain at risk of both inpatient and post-discharge mortality. While known risk factors such as young age and nutritional status can identify children at risk, they do not provide clear mechanistic targets for intervention. The Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) cohort study aims to characterise the biomedical and social risk factors for mortality in acutely ill children in hospitals and after discharge to identify targeted interventions to reduce mortality.Methods and analysisThe CHAIN network is currently undertaking a multi-site, prospective, observational cohort study, enrolling children aged 1 week to 2 years at admission to hospitals at nine sites located in four African and two South Asian countries. The CHAIN Network supports the sites to provide care according to national and international guidelines. Enrolment is stratified by anthropometric status and children are followed throughout hospitalisation and for 6 months after discharge. Detailed clinical, demographic, anthropometric, laboratory and social exposures are assessed. Scheduled visits are conducted at 45, 90 and 180 days after discharge. Blood, stool and rectal swabs are collected at enrolment, hospital discharge and follow-up. The primary outcome is inpatient or post-discharge death. Secondary outcomes include readmission to hospital and nutritional status after discharge. Cohort analysis will identify modifiable risks, children with distinct phenotypes, relationships between factors and mechanisms underlying poor outcomes that may be targets for intervention. A nested case–control study examining infectious, immunological, metabolic, nutritional and other biological factors will be undertaken.Ethics and disseminationThis study protocol was reviewed and approved primarily by the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee, and the institutional review boards of all partner sites. The study is being externally monitored. Results will be published in open access peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented to academic and policy stakeholders.Trial registration numberNCT03208725.
Smoke signals: monitoring illicit cigarettes and smoking behaviour in Colombia to support tobacco taxes
Authors: Maldonado Norman , Llorente Blanca , Escobar Diego , Iglesias Roberto Magno 
Published: May 2019

BackgroundA street cross-sectional survey in 2016 with a representative sample of 1697 smokers in five Colombian cities was used to estimate the penetration of illicit cigarettes (PIC). The first wave was collected 3 months before a 100% increase in tobacco excise tax, and a second wave collected data 9 months after tax reform was effective.Objective Analyse changes after a cigarette tax increase in PIC, prices and smoking behaviour patterns for five Colombian cities (63% of the market). Smoking behaviour includes consumption intensity, presentation (stick/pack) and place of purchase.Methods Repeated street cross-sectional survey with smokers’ self-report on smoking behaviour, last purchase information and direct observation of smokers’ packs. Sampling frame: smokers, men and women, aged 12 years or older, all income levels, resident in the five cities with the highest number of smokers representing 63% of cigarette market share (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cartagena and Cúcuta) with 1 733 316 smokers in 2013. Sample size was 1697 per wave, with confidence level 95%, margin of error 3.5% for Bogotá and Medellín and 5% for the other three cities. Smokers in second wave match first wave’s location, sex and age group. Illicit cigarettes were identified based on brand, health warnings and price.Results After the tax hike, the average real price of a 20-stick pack increased by 28.2% and by 23.1% for loose cigarettes. Illicit cigarettes represented 3.4% of total cigarette consumption in 2016 and increased to 6.4% in 2017, lower than the current industry estimate of 18%. Consumption intensity decreased: the proportion of heavy smokers (more than 10 cigarettes per day) wentdown from 37% in 2016 to 26% in 2017.ConclusionAfter the tax increase, Colombia’s PIC remained at low levels, and there is enough space for new tobacco tax hikes.
Rigidity theory for C∗-dynamical systems and the “Pedersen Rigidity Problem”, II
Authors: Kaliszewski S. , Omland Tron , Quigg John 
Published: May 2019

This is a follow-up to a paper with the same title and by the same authors. In that paper, all groups were assumed to be abelian, and we are now aiming to generalize the results to nonabelian groups. The motivating point is Pedersen’s theorem, which does hold for an arbitrary locally compact group [Formula: see text], saying that two actions [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] are outer conjugate if and only if the dual coactions [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text] are conjugate via an isomorphism that maps the image of [Formula: see text] onto the image of [Formula: see text] (inside the multiplier algebras of the respective crossed products). We do not know of any examples of a pair of non-outer-conjugate actions such that their dual coactions are conjugate, and our interest is therefore exploring the necessity of latter condition involving the images; and we have decided to use the term “Pedersen rigid” for cases where this condition is indeed redundant. There is also a related problem, concerning the possibility of a so-called equivariant coaction having a unique generalized fixed-point algebra, that we call “fixed-point rigidity”. In particular, if the dual coaction of an action is fixed-point rigid, then the action itself is Pedersen rigid, and no example of non-fixed-point-rigid coaction is known.
Gravitational major-axis contraction of Mercury’s elliptical orbit
Authors: Liu Q. H. , Li Q. , Liu T. G. , Wang X. 
Published: May 2019

The local curvature of the space produced by the Sun causes not only the perihelion precession of Mercury’s elliptical orbit, but also the variations of the whole orbit, in comparison with those predicted by the Newtonian theory of gravitation. Calculations show that the gravitational major-axis contraction of Mercury’s elliptical orbit is 1.3 km which can in principle be confirmed by the present astronomical distance measurement technology.
An Enhanced Evolutionary Technique for the Generation of Compact Reconfigurable Scan-Network Tests
Authors: Cantoro Riccardo , Damljanovic Aleksa , Reorda Matteo Sonza , Squillero Giovanni 
Published: May 2019

Nowadays, many Integrated Systems embed auxiliary on-chip instruments whose function is to perform test, debug, calibration, configuration, etc. The growing complexity and the increasing number of these instruments have led to new solutions for their access and control, such as the IEEE 1687 standard. The standard introduces an infrastructure composed of scan chains incorporating configurable elements for accessing the instruments in a flexible manner. Such an infrastructure is known as Reconfigurable Scan Network or RSN. Since permanent faults affecting the circuitry can cause malfunction, i.e., inappropriate behavior, detecting them is of utmost importance. This paper addresses the issue of generating effective sequences for testing the reconfigurable elements within RSNs using evolutionary computation. Test configurations are extracted with automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) and used to guide the evolution. Post-processing techniques are proposed to improve the evolutionary fittest solution. Results on a standard set of benchmark networks show up to 27% reduced test time with respect to test generation based on RSN exploration.
Association Between Medication Adherence and 1‐Year Major Cardiovascular Adverse Events After Acute Myocardial Infarction in China
Authors: Shang Pu , Liu Gordon G. , Zheng Xin , Ho P. Michael , Hu Shuang , Li Jing , Jiang Zihan , Li Xi , Bai Xueke , Gao Yan , Xing Chao , Wang Yun , Normand Sharon‐Lise , Krumholz Harlan M. 
Published: May 2019

Background

Secondary prevention after acute myocardial infarction (
AMI
) requires long‐term guideline‐directed medical therapy. However, the level of medication adherence, factors associated with poor adherence, and extent to which good adherence can reduce adverse events after
AMI
in China remain uncertain.

Methods and Results

In 2013 to 2014, 4001
AMI
patients aged ≥18 years were discharged alive from 53 hospitals across China (mean age 60.5±11.7 years; 22.7% female). Good adherence was defined as taking medications (aspirin, β‐blockers, statins, clopidogrel, or angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin‐receptor blockers) ≥90% of the time as prescribed. Cox models assessed the association between good adherence (a time‐varying covariate) and 1‐year cardiovascular events after
AMI
. The most common medications were aspirin (82.2%) and statins (80.5%). There were 243 patients who were not prescribed any medications during follow‐up; 1‐year event rates were higher for these patients (25.1%, 95%
CI
19.7–30.6%) versus those taking ≥1 medications (6.6%, 95%
CI
5.76–7.34%). The overall rate of good adherence was 52.9%. Good adherence was associated with lower risk of 1‐year events (adjusted hazard ratio 0.61, 95%
CI
0.49–0.77). The most common reason for poor adherence was belief that one's condition had improved/no longer required medication. More comorbidities and lower education level were associated with poor adherence.

Conclusions

Good adherence reduced 1‐year cardiovascular event risk after
AMI
. About half of our cohort did not have good adherence. National efforts to improve
AMI
outcomes in China should focus on medication adherence and educating patients on the importance of cardiovascular medications for reducing risk of recurrent events.

Clinical Trial Registration

URL
:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier:
NCT
01624909.
Psychological Distress and Subsequent Cardiovascular Events in Individuals With Coronary Artery Disease
Authors: Pimple Pratik , Lima Bruno B. , Hammadah Muhammad , Wilmot Kobina , Ramadan Ronnie , Levantsevych Oleksiy , Sullivan Samaah , Kim Jeong Hwan , Kaseer Belal , Shah Amit J. , Ward Laura , Raggi Paolo , Bremner J. Douglas , Hanfelt John , Lewis Tene , Quyyumi Arshed A. , Vaccarino Viola 
Published: May 2019

Background

Higher symptom levels of a variety of measures of emotional distress have been associated with cardiovascular disease (
CVD
), especially among women. Here, our goal was to investigate the association between a composite measure of psychological distress and incident cardiovascular events.

Methods and Results

In a prospective cohort study, we assessed 662 individuals (28% women; 30% blacks) with stable coronary artery disease. We used a composite score of psychological distress derived through summation of Z‐transformed psychological distress symptom scales (depression, posttraumatic stress, anxiety, anger, hostility, and perceived stress) as a predictor of an adjudicated composite end point of adverse events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, or unstable angina). During a mean follow‐up of 2.8 years, 120 (18%) subjects developed
CVD
events. In the overall population, there was no association between the psychological distress measure and
CVD
events, but there was a sex‐based interaction (
P
=0.004). In women, higher psychological distress was associated with a higher incidence of
CVD
events; each SD increase in the composite score of psychological distress was associated with 1.44 times adjusted hazard of
CVD
events (95% CI, 1.09–1.92). No such association was found in men.

Conclusions
Among patients with coronary artery disease, higher psychological distress is associated with future cardiovascular events in women only.
Door‐to‐Targeted Temperature Management Initiation Time and Outcomes in Out‐of‐Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Insights From the Continuous Chest Compressions Trial
Authors: Stanger Dylan , Kawano Takahisa , Malhi Navraj , Grunau Brian , Tallon John , Wong Graham C. , Christenson James , Fordyce Christopher B. 
Published: May 2019

Background

Targeted temperature management (
TTM
) is a recommended treatment modality to improve neurological outcomes in patients with out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest. The impact of the duration from hospital admission to
TTM
initiation (door‐to‐
TTM
;
DTT
) on clinical outcomes has not been well elucidated. We hypothesized that shorter
DTT
initiation intervals would be associated with improved survival with favorable neurological outcome.

Methods and Results

We performed a post hoc analysis of nontraumatic paramedic‐treated out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrests. The primary outcome was favorable neurological status at hospital discharge, with a secondary outcome of survival to discharge. We fit a logistic regression analysis to determine the association of early compared with delayed
DTT
, dichotomized by the median
DTT
duration, and outcomes. Of 3805 patients enrolled in the
CCC
(Continuous Chest Compressions) Trial in British Columbia, 570 were included in this analysis. There was substantial variation in
DTT
among patients receiving
TTM
. The median
DTT
duration was 122 minutes (interquartile range 35‐218). Favorable neurological outcomes in the early and delayed
DTT
groups were 48% and 38%, respectively. Compared with delayed
DTT
(interquartile range 167‐319 minutes), early
DTT
(interquartile range 20‐81 minutes) was associated with survival (adjusted odds ratio 1.56, 95%
CI
1.02‐2.38) but not with favorable neurological outcomes (adjusted odds ratio 1.45, 95%
CI
, 0.94‐2.22) at hospital discharge.

Conclusions

There was wide variability in the initiation of
TTM
among comatose out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest survivors. Initiation of
TTM
within 122 minutes of hospital admission was associated with improved survival. These results support in‐hospital efforts to achieve early
DTT
among out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest patients admitted to the hospital.
Achilles Tatius and Chariton
Authors: Bird Rachel 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThis article will explore the nature of intertextuality between Achilles Tatius and Chariton, by focusing on key instances of Achilles Tatius’ reflection and refraction of Chariton’s second-marriage theme. By considering allusions on the level of character-narrator and author, and by looking at verbal and thematic connections between these two novels, a view of generic interplay will emerge. In turn, the full implications of how Achilles Tatius positions himself vis-à-vis Chariton, and the subversive intentions of the later author will be fully addressed. The article will contribute to the growing debate regarding intertextuality in the Greek novels, and will add weight to the idea that these authors had generic self-consciousness. The literary ambition and imaginative ability of Achilles Tatius is also a key aspect, which comes to the fore in this article.
On the Odd לארצו in Job 37:13
Authors: Pinker Aron 
Published: May 2019

Abstract
This study suggests that the difficulties associated with the interpretation of לְאַרְצוֹ in Job 37:13 can be resolved, if it is assumed that v. 13 is thematically linked to vv. 11-12, and the word should be separated into two words. Elihu capitalizes in his poem on the puzzling behavior of clouds, such as their constant moving from place to place, their yielding rain, generating thunders and seemingly their causing the jagged form of lightning, to describe God’s greatness in creating and controlling precipitation. In v. 13 Elihu concludes his poem by stating that God will withhold his order (לֺא יְצַו) to the clouds when he wants to punish (אִם־לְשֵׁבֶט), but will provide his order (יַמְצִיא הַצָּו) when he wants to show his goodness (אִם־לְחֶסֶד).
The World of P
Authors: Faust Avraham 
Published: May 2019

Abstract
The Priestly source (P) is a common designation in scholarship for significant parts of the Pentateuch, which are assumed to have been written in priestly circles. While the social circles and theological background of P are more agreed upon, its dating is hotly debated, and various textual, intertextual, linguistic and historical evidence were employed in an attempt to date its composition. The present paper aims to examine the material world that is assumed by a number of Priestly texts, and the landscape in which the writings are embedded, in order to shed new light on their dating. The paper concludes that much of the priestly writings (inclusive of some of the texts commonly attributed to the Holiness school) are quite intelligible on the background the late Iron Age, mainly the 8th-7th centuries BCE.