bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Nonoperative Management of Chronic Anal Fissure and Hemorrhoid Disease on Bowel Function Patient-Reported Outcomes
Authors: Wilson Matthew Z. , Swarup Abhishek , T. Wilson Lauren R. , Ivatury Srinivas Joga 
Published: September 2018

BACKGROUND:
Nonoperative management has been reported to decrease symptoms from common anorectal conditions such as chronic anal fissures and hemorrhoids. The effects of these interventions on bowel function are unknown.

OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to perform a prospective evaluation of patient-reported outcomes of bowel function on nonoperative management for chronic anal fissures and hemorrhoid disease.

DESIGN:
This is a prospective, observational study.

SETTINGS:
Patient-reported outcome measures were collected from the clinical practice of the division of colon and rectal surgery at a tertiary colon and rectal surgery referral center.

INTERVENTION:
All patients received standardized dietary counseling including fiber supplementation as well as toileting strategies. Those with chronic anal fissures were also prescribed topical calcium channel blockers. The Colorectal Functional Outcome questionnaire was administered at baseline and at first follow-up visit.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
The primary outcomes measured were the mean change in patient-reported bowel function scores after nonoperative management for each disease and in aggregate.

RESULTS:
A cohort of 64 patients was included, 37 patients (58%) with chronic anal fissure and 27 patients with hemorrhoid disease. Incontinence, social impact, stool-related aspects, and the global score were observed to have statistically significant improvement in the aggregate group. When analyzed by diagnosis, hemorrhoid disease demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in incontinence and stool-related aspects, whereas chronic anal fissure was associated with a statistically significant change in social impact, stool-related aspects, and the global score.

LIMITATIONS:
This study was limited by the small cohort size and unclear patient adherence to medical management.

CONCLUSIONS:
Nonoperative management of chronic anal fissures and hemorrhoid disease is associated with significant improvement in patient-reported outcome scores in several domains, suggesting that dietary counseling and medical therapy should be the first-line outpatient therapy for these diseases. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/A726.
Investing in workability of patients with inflammatory bowel disease: results of a pilot project Activ84worK (Activate for work)
Authors: Coenen Sofie , Schmickler Marie-Noëlle , Staes Daniëlle , Wieme Frieda , Swinnen Tony , Dekeuleneer Xavier , van Hooland Tineke , van den Cruys Kris , Vermeire Séverine 
Published: September 2018

Objectives
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic gastrointestinal conditions mainly affecting young people. Disease symptoms often make it difficult to actively participate in the workplace. The aim of Activ84worK was to stimulate professional activity and reduce absenteeism by removing work-related stress factors and providing patients with more flexible working conditions.

Patients and methods
Activ84worK was a collaboration between Abbvie, Mensura, Proximus, SD Worx, and University Hospitals Leuven (UZ Leuven) with the support of the patient association ‘Crohn-en Colitis Ulcerosa Vereniging (CCV vzw)’ in Flanders, Belgium. Since March 2015, IBD patients whose employer was also willing to participate, were recruited. Informed consent was signed and both the employee and the employer were followed for 6 months.

Results
Between March 2015 and October 2016, 70 patients showed interest in the Activ84worK program, 18 were eligible to participate, and 14 completed the program (29% male, 29% private companies). The case studies, based on interviews conducted with participating employees, indicated that removing work-related stress factors resulted in employees feeling much more at ease. Concretely, this led to absence of sick leave for more than 50% of the included patients. A higher degree of workability and focus of employees was achieved, and a decrease in costs of absenteeism was associated with this.

Conclusion
This pilot project shows that teleworking and flexible working conditions improve labor participation of IBD patients. The results of this project are now used to inspire policy-makers and employers. This initiative should be extended to a larger cohort and tested in other chronic diseases.
Improved Visualization of Juxtaprosthetic Tissue Using Metal Artifact Reduction Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: Jungmann Pia M. , Bensler Susanne , Zingg Patrick , Fritz Benjamin , Pfirrmann Christian W. , Sutter Reto 
Published: September 2018

Objectives
The purpose of this study was to identify an optimal imaging protocol for metal artifact reduced magnetic resonance imaging by application of different imaging and postprocessing parameters in compressed sensing slice-encoding for metal artifact correction (CS-SEMAC) and to test it in patients with total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Materials and Methods
In an experimental setup, a phantom consisting of a standard THA embedded in gadolinium-containing agarose was scanned at 1.5 T. Pulse sequences included coronal short tau inversion recovery (STIR), T1-weighted (w), and T2-w CS-SEMAC sequences. All pulse sequences were acquired with 11, 19, and 27 slice-encoding steps (SESs), respectively. For each raw dataset, postprocessing was performed with variations of the parameters: (1) number of iterations (5, 10, 20, 30, 50) and (2) normalization factor (0.0005, 0.001, 0.002, 0.003, 0.005). Following, in clinical magnetic resonance scans of patients with THA, identical STIR, T1-w, and T2-w pulse sequences with 11 and 19 SESs were acquired and were postprocessed similarly with variations in parameters. Semiquantitative outcome measures were assessed on a 5-point scale (1 = best, 5 = worst). The overall best image quality was determined. Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio were calculated. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, t-tests, multivariate regression models, and partial Spearman correlations.

Results
Scan times varied between 2:24 (T2-w, 11 SESs) and 8:49 minutes (STIR, 27 SESs). Reconstruction times varied between 3:14 minutes (T1-w, 11 SESs, 5 iterations) and 85:00 minutes (T2-w, 27 SESs, 50 iterations). Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio increased with increasing SESs, iterations, and normalization factor. In phantom scans, artifact reduction was optimal with an intermediate normalization factor (0.001) and improved with higher SESs and iterations. However, iterations greater than 20 did not improve artifact reduction or image quality further. On the contrary, ripple artifacts increased with higher SESs and iterations. In clinical scans, up to 20 iterations reduced blurring of the image; no further reduction was observed with iterations greater than 20. A normalization factor of 0.001 or 0.002 was best for reduction of blurring, whereas the soft tissue contrast was better and the distortion of soft tissue was less severe with lower normalization factors. Overall best soft tissue image quality was found for STIR and T1-w images with 19 SESs, 10 iterations, and a normalization factor of 0.001, and for T2-w images with 11 SESs, 10 iterations, and a normalization factor of 0.0005.

Conclusions
Optimized advanced acceleration and reconstruction algorithms of CS-SEMAC have been identified to reduce metal artifacts in patients with THA enabling imaging with clinically feasible acquisition and reconstruction times.
Linearity, Bias, Intrascanner Repeatability, and Interscanner Reproducibility of Quantitative Multidynamic Multiecho Sequence for Rapid Simultaneous Relaxometry at 3 T
Authors: Hagiwara Akifumi , Hori Masaaki , Cohen-Adad Julien , Nakazawa Misaki , Suzuki Yuichi , Kasahara Akihiro , Horita Moeko , Haruyama Takuya , Andica Christina , Maekawa Tomoko , Kamagata Koji , Kumamaru Kanako Kunishima , Abe Osamu , Aoki Shigeki 
Published: September 2018

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the linearity, bias, intrascanner repeatability, and interscanner reproducibility of quantitative values derived from a multidynamic multiecho (MDME) sequence for rapid simultaneous relaxometry.Materials and MethodsThe NIST/ISMRM (National Institute of Standards and Technology/International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) phantom, containing spheres with standardized T1 and T2 relaxation times and proton density (PD), and 10 healthy volunteers, were scanned 10 times on different days and 2 times during the same session, using the MDME sequence, on three 3 T scanners from different vendors. For healthy volunteers, brain volumetry and myelin estimation were performed based on the measured T1, T2, and PD. The measured phantom values were compared with reference values; volunteer values were compared with their averages across 3 scanners.ResultsThe linearity of both phantom and volunteer measurements in T1, T2, and PD values was very strong (R2= 0.973–1.000, 0.979–1.000, and 0.982–0.999, respectively) The highest intrascanner coefficients of variation (CVs) for T1, T2, and PD were 2.07%, 7.60%, and 12.86% for phantom data, and 1.33%, 0.89%, and 0.77% for volunteer data, respectively. The highest interscanner CVs of T1, T2, and PD were 10.86%, 15.27%, and 9.95% for phantom data, and 3.15%, 5.76%, and 3.21% for volunteer data, respectively. Variation of T1 and T2 tended to be larger at higher values outside the range of those typically observed in brain tissue. The highest intrascanner and interscanner CVs for brain tissue volumetry were 2.50% and 5.74%, respectively, for cerebrospinal fluid.ConclusionsQuantitative values derived from the MDME sequence are overall robust for brain relaxometry and volumetry on 3 T scanners from different vendors. Caution is warranted when applying MDME sequence on anatomies with relaxometry values outside the range of those typically observed in brain tissue.
Evaluation the Efficacy of Hilotherm Cooling System in Reducing Postoperative Pain and Edema in Maxillofacial Traumatized Patients and Orthognathic Surgeries
Authors: Lateef Thair A. , AL-Anee Auday M. , Agha Muntasser T. Fattah 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
Surgical treatment in patients with facial bone surgeries governs a meaningful extent of tissue trauma prompting prevalent postoperative portents of pain, facial swelling, and inconvenience. Beneficial effects of local cold therapy following surgery, facial swelling, pain, and inflammation have been discussed. The aim of study is to evaluate the efficacy of hilotherm cooling system in reducing postoperative pain and edema in patients following maxillofacial trauma and orthognathic surgeries.
A clinical prospective study was done in the postoperative period for patients with facial trauma or those subjected to orthognathic surgery, 34 patients divided randomly into 2 groups; study group treated with the hilotherm cooling system and control group without. Facial swelling was quantified by 5 linear distances (A, B, C, D, and E). Pain was reported on day 1, 2, and 7 postoperatively. Satisfaction with cooling therapy at day 7 following surgery was recorded. The means of swelling variation in study group were less than in control group with highly significant difference (P < 0.01) except in (line D) which is from tragus to the chin most prominent point where it was significant. Pain scores in control group were higher than in study group with highly significant difference (P < 0.01) except at 7th day which was not significant (P > 0.05). All patients in the study group were very satisfied.
Effect of Septoplasty on Cardiopulmonary Functions in the Patients With Nasal Obstruction
Authors: Öğreden Şahin , Tansuker Hasan Deniz , Cengiz A. Buğra , Tabaru Alper , Özyilmaz Cemal , Oğur Özcan , Katkat Fahrettin 
Published: September 2018

Objective:
In this study, the authors aimed to investigate whether septoplasty has an effect on cardiopulmonary functions in the patients with nasal obstruction.

Methods:
A total of 53 patients with nasal obstruction due to septum deviation were included in the study. All the patients were performed septoplasty operation. Echocardiography and spirometric analysis were performed to assess cardiopulmonary functions before and after the operation (6 months postoperatively). The same evaluation was done for the degree of nasal obstruction by visual analogue scale. The preoperative and postoperative values were compared with each other.

Results:
Of the total 53 patients, 44 were males (83%) and 9 were female (17%). The mean age was 31.71 ± 9.46. The preoperative and postoperative mean right ventricular volumes were 2.0736 and 2.0906, respectively. The preoperative and postoperative mean left ventricular volumes were 4.4264 and 4.3528, respectively. The preoperative and postoperative mean cardiac septal thicknesses were 0.9642 and 0.9358, respectively. The mean value of preoperative cardiac posterior wall thicknesses was 0.8849, whereas the postoperative value was measured as 0.8340. The preoperative and postoperative mean pulmonary artery pressures were 27.8302 mmHg and 23.6415, respectively, and this was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The preoperative and postoperative mean forced vital capacities (FVC) were 4.3221 and 4.5564, respectively, and this was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The preoperative and postoperative mean 1st second forced expiratory volumes (FEV1) were 3.6698 and 3.8085, respectively, and this was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The mean value of preoperative FEV1/FVC was 84.9811, whereas postoperative mean value was measured as 83.8019 and this was statistically significant (P < 0.001).

Conclusion:
In this study, the authors observed that septoplasty has positive effect on cardiopulmonary functions in the patients with nasal obstruction due to nasal septum deviation. The authors also claim that septoplasty may be a preventive procedure for future pathologies of cardiopulmonary functions.
Respiratory Pathway and Swallowing Management in a Patient With Epiglottis Loss After Life-Threatening Penetrating Laryngeal Trauma
Authors: Ertugrul Suha 
Published: September 2018

Abstract
Laryngeal trauma is a rare but potentially life-threatening injury. Damage to larynx structures may occur in forms of a simple contusion, fractures of the laryngeal cartilage, and may even result in laryngotracheal disjunction depending on the ossification level of the larynx and the severity of the trauma. However, in almost all cases, damaged laryngeal tissue is also observed in the trauma area. Because thyroid cartilage protects the endolaryngeal tissues like a shield against trauma. Epiglottis prevents escape of the food to respiratory tract and directs food to digestive system. In this article, a case of knife attack resulted in deep neck incision with loss of epiglottis in the incision area, the surgical operation, and the postoperative recovery period which had a clinical significance due to loss of epiglottis were presented. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first laryngeal trauma case with loss of epiglottis.
Novel Mapping Method for the Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring of Sexual Function During Prostate Surgery
Authors: Martín-Palomeque Guillermo , Cabañes-Martínez Lidia , de Blas Beorlegui Gema , Moreno Galera M del Mar , López Jaime R. , Burgos Francisco Javier , Regidor Bailly-Baillière Ignacio 
Published: September 2018

Purpose:
The occurrence of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction after surgical treatment for prostate cancer is a significant and lingering problem. The aim of this study is to revise and improve older techniques of intraoperative cavernous nerve mapping already in use to improve accuracy and reliability.

Methods:
We prospectively studied this technique in 12 patients suffering from prostate cancer. Inhalation or intravenous anesthetic regimen was used with nondepolarizing muscle relaxants. Stimulation protocol was 30 Hz, 0.2 ms, 10 to 20 mA intensity and a maximum duration of 30 seconds. Recording was performed with a system for measuring pressure changes using a stainless steel needle electrode inside the cavernous bodies. Stimulation was systematically performed at three distinct moments during the surgery at various points. An increase or decrease in pressure of 4 cm of H20 in the cavernous bodies was considered a positive result and negative response when no changes occurred after 30 seconds of continuous stimulation.

Results:
Of patients, 91.6% had positive responses to initial stimulation. The anesthetic regimen did not appear to significantly influence the responses in our series.

Conclusions:
In light of the results of this study, the stimulation of the cavernous nerves may be a viable technique in the right context, which includes good patient selection (young patients with a localized tumor and with preserved potency). The major limitation is that mapping techniques are useful to localize functional nerves, but not to monitor function in a continuous manner.
Chronically-implanted Neuropixels probes enable high yield recordings in freely moving mice
Authors: Juavinett A.L. , Bekheet G. , Churchland A.K. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThe advent of high-yield electrophysiology using Neuropixels probes is now enabling researchers to simultaneously record hundreds of neurons with remarkably high signal to noise. However, these probes have not been comprehensively tested in freely moving mice. It is critical to study neural activity in unrestricted animals, and the field would benefit from the inclusion of ethological approaches to studying the neural circuitry of behavior. We therefore adapted Neuropixels probes for chronically-implanted experiments in freely moving mice. We demonstrate the ease and utility of this approach in recording hundreds of neurons across weeks, and provide the methodological details for other researchers to do the same. Importantly, our approach enables researchers to explant and reuse these valuable probes.
Ecological niche modelling of the wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) suggest range expansion and contraction during the Pleistocene
Authors: Zacarias Daniel Augusta 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThis paper attempts to understand the potential effects of historical climate changes on the distribution of the wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus). The potential distribution in past and present climatic scenarios is investigated through ensemble distribution modelling of 232 independent and sparsely distributed occurrence records. Potential effects of climate change were evaluated by means on niche overlap and niche gains and losses across time scales. Massive range expansion was observed from the Last Interglacial (LIG) era to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with loss of suitability in most areas of western Africa and an increase in suitability across southern and eastern Africa. From the LGM, climate suitability tended to establish in southern and eastern Africa with slight disjunction in the mid-Holocene, a trend that was maintained through current distribution. Results indicate the presence of southern and northern refugia, with massive range expansion in central populations. These results support the idea that the current disjunct distribution of the wattled crane is driven by climate oscillations during the Pleistocene that generated range expansion and retraction of the species and also support the hypothesis that the current occurrence of the species is driven by other factors such as food and habitat availability.
SimulateCNVs: a novel software application for simulating CNVs in WES and WGS data
Authors: Xing Yue , Dabney Alan R. , Li Xiao , Casola Claudio 
Published: September 2018

AbstractSummarySimulateCNVs is a fast and novel software application for simulating CNVs in WES and WGS data. Current NGS simulators cannot simulate rearranged genomes and their alignment files for WES data and are not easy to use. SimulateCNVs is the first software application that can simulate CNVs in both WES and WGS data, is easy to install, has many unique features, and can output rearranged genomes, short reads and bam files in a single command.AvailabilitySimulateCNVs is freely available from https://yjulyxing.github.io/Contactinumia@tamu.edu, ccasola@tamu.edu
BDNF Val66Met moderates the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and memory in cognitively normal older adults
Authors: Brown Belinda M. , Castalanelli Natalie , Rainey-Smith Stephanie R. , Doecke James , Weinborn Michael , Sohrabi Hamid R. , Laws Simon M. , Martins Ralph N , Peiffer Jeremiah J 
Published: September 2018

AbstractHigher cardiorespiratory fitness has been associated with enhanced cognitive function in older adults; yet, this relationship demonstrates a degree of variability. Thus, it is hypothesised that variation in genetic factors may influence the relationship between fitness and cognitive health. In this study we evaluate whether the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism moderates the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and verbal and visuospatial memory. Data from ninety-nine cognitively normal men and women aged 60 – 80 years were used. Fitness was assessed by peak oxygen consumption, and verbal and visuospatial memory were evaluated using well-validated measures. Participants were categorised into: lower-fit Met carriers, higher-fit Met carriers, lower-fit Val/Val, or higher-fit Val/Val. A significant interaction was observed between BDNF Val66Met and fitness on visuospatial memory performance; whereby lower-fit Met carriers performed 1SD lower than higher-fit Met carriers (p=0.04). We observed higher levels of fitness mitigated the deleterious effect of BDNF Met allele carriage on visuospatial memory. Future intervention studies should evaluate the effect of structured exercise on cognitive health between BDNF Val66Met carriers and Val/Val homozygotes.
Object-in-Place Memory Predicted by Anterolateral Entorhinal Cortex and Parahippocampal Cortex Volume in Older Adults
Authors: Yeung Lok-Kin , Olsen Rosanna K. , Hong Bryan , Mihajlovic Valentina , D’Angelo Maria C. , Kacollja Arber , Ryan Jennifer D. , Barense Morgan D. 
Published: September 2018

AbstractThe lateral portion of the entorhinal cortex is one of the first brain regions affected by tau pathology, an important biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Improving our understanding of this region’s cognitive role may help identify better cognitive tests for early detection of AD. Based on its functional connections, we tested the idea that the human anterolateral entorhinal cortex (alERC) may play a role in integrating spatial information into object representations. We recently demonstrated that the volume of the alERC was related to processing the spatial relationships of the features within an object (Yeung et al., 2017). In the present study, we investigated whether the human alERC might also play a role in processing the spatial relationships between an object and its environment using an eyetracking task that assessed visual fixations to a critical object within a scene. Guided by rodent work, we measured both object-in-place memory, the association of an object with a given context (Wilson et al., 2013), and object-trace memory, the memory for the former location of objects (Tsao, Moser, & Moser, 2013). In a group of older adults with varying stages of brain atrophy and cognitive decline, we found that the volume of the alERC and the volume of the parahippocampal cortex (PHC) selectively predicted object-in-place memory, but not object-trace memory. These results provide support for the notion that the alERC may integrate spatial information into object representations.