bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Thoracic aortic aneurysms exerting high extrinsic pressure on the airway
Authors: Jung Hanna , Do Young Woo , Lee Sang Yub , Lee Youngok , Oh Tak Hyuk , Kim Gun Jik 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Thoracic aortic aneurysms, although mostly asymptomatic, are life threatening owing to the risk of rupture. Moreover, the extrinsic pressure of a ruptured aneurysm may encroach the mediastinum.

Case presentation
A 74-year-old woman diagnosed with ruptured descending thoracic aortic aneurysm compressing the lower trachea and both main bronchi underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair; however, the extrinsic pressure on the airway persisted. Following failing of endobronchial silicon stents insertion, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support was required, and endobronchial metallic stents were inserted. The patients’ hypoventilation resolved, and the patient was withdrawn from the ventilator.

Conclusions
Technological improvement in endovascular or endobronchial procedures has provided more options for managing complex cases. However, we must be aware of how high the extrinsic pressure might be before management and take steps to minimize complications.
The novel use of oral antibiotic monotherapy in prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Finegoldia magna: a case study
Authors: Chien Siobhan , Gorman David , Koutsogiannidis Charilaos-Panagiotis , Ravishankar Ramanish , Kamath Ganesh , Zamvar Vipin 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Finegoldia magna, a Gram-positive anaerobic coccus, is part of the human normal microbiota as a commensal of mucocutaneous surfaces. However, it remains an uncommon pathogen in infective endocarditis, with only eight clinical cases previously reported in the literature.
Currently, infective endocarditis is routinely treated with prolonged intravenous antibiotic therapy. However, recent research has found that switching patients to oral antibiotics is non-inferior to prolonged parenteral antibiotic treatment, challenging the current guidelines for the treatment of infective endocarditis.

Case presentation
This case report focuses on a 52-year-old gentleman, who presented with initially culture-negative infective endocarditis following bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement. Blood cultures later grew Finegoldia magna. Following initial intravenous antibiotic therapy and re-do surgical replacement of the prosthetic aortic valve, the patient was successfully switched to oral antibiotic monotherapy, an unusual strategy in the treatment of infective endocarditis inspired by the recent publication of the POET trial. He made excellent progress on an eight-week course of oral antibiotics and was successfully discharged from surgical follow-up.

Conclusions
This case is the 9th reported case of Finegoldia magna infective endocarditis in the literature. Our case also raises the possibility of a more patient-friendly and cost-effective means of providing long-term antibiotic therapy in suitable patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis and suggests that the principles highlighted in the POET trial can also be applicable to post-operative patients after cardiac surgery.
Documentation of human rights abuses among Rohingya refugees from Myanmar
Authors: Haar Rohini J. , Wang Karen , Venters Homer , Salonen Satu , Patel Rupa , Nelson Tamaryn , Mishori Ranit , Parmar Parveen K. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Decades of persecution culminated in a statewide campaign of organized, systematic, and violent eviction of the Rohingya people by the Myanmar government beginning in August 2017. These attacks included the burning of homes and farms, beatings, shootings, sexual violence, summary executions, burying the dead in mass graves, and other atrocities. The Myanmar government has denied any responsibility. To document evidence of reported atrocities and identify patterns, we interviewed survivors, documented physical injuries, and assessed for consistency in their reports.

Methods
We use purposive and snowball sampling to identify survivors residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Interviews and examinations were conducted by trained investigators with the assistance of interpreters based on the Istanbul Protocol – the international standard to investigate and document instances of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. The goal was to assess whether the clinical findings corroborate survivors’ narratives and to identify emblematic patterns.

Results
During four separate field visits between December 2017 and July 2018, we interviewed and where relevant, conducted physical examinations on a total of 114 refugees. The participants came from 36 villages in Northern Rakhine state; 36 (32%) were female, 26 (23%) were children. Testimonies described several patterns in the violence prior to their flight, including the organization of the attacks, the involvement of non-Rohingya civilians, the targeted and purposeful destruction of homes and eviction of Rohingya residents, and the denial of medical care. Physical findings included injuries from gunshots, blunt trauma, penetrating trauma such as slashings and mutilations, burns, and explosives and from sexual and gender-based violence.

Conclusions
While each survivor’s experience was unique, similarities in the types and organization of attacks support allegations of a systematic, widespread, and premeditated campaign of forced displacement and violence. Physical findings were consistent with survivors’ narratives of violence and brutality. These findings warrant accountability for the Myanmar military per the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has jurisdiction to try individuals for serious international crimes, including crimes against humanity and genocide. Legal accountability for these crimes should be pursued along with medical and psychological care and rehabilitation to address the ongoing effects of violence, discrimination, and displacement.
Qualitative evidence of crimes against humanity: the August 2017 attacks on the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar
Authors: Messner Nicole , Woods Andrea , Petty Agnes , Parmar Parveen K. , Leigh Jennifer , Thomas Ernest , Curry Douglass , Venters Homer , Gilbert Andra , Nelson Tamaryn , Lester Ed 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
The Rohingya ethnic minority population in northern Rakhine state, Myanmar, have experienced some of the most protracted situations of persecution. Government-led clearance operations in August 2017 were one of many, but notably one of the most devastating, attacks on the population. The study aimed to conduct a multiphase mixed-methods assessment of the prevalence and contexts of violence and mortality across affected hamlets in northern Rakhine State during the August 2017 attacks. This publication describes qualitative accounts by Rohingya community leaders from affected hamlets, with a focus on the events and environment leading up to and surrounding the attacks.

Methods
Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with Rohingya community leaders representing 88 northern Rakhine state hamlets across three townships affected by the August 2017 attacks (Maungdaw, n = 34; Buthidaung, n = 42; Rathedaung, n = 12). Prior quantitative surveys conducted among representative hamlet leaders allowed for preliminary screening and identification of interview candidates: interviewees were then selected based on prior reports of 10 or more deaths among Rohingya hamlet community members, mass rape, and/or witness of mass graves in a hamlet or during displacement. Recorded interviews were transcribed, translated, and thematically coded.

Results
Rohingya leaders reported that community members were subjected to systematic civil oppression characterized by severe restrictions on travel, marriage, education, and legal rights, regular denial of citizenship rights, and unsubstantiated accusations of terrorist affiliations in the months prior to August 2017. During the attacks, Rohingya civilians (inclusive of women, men, children, and elderly) reportedly suffered severe, indiscriminate violence perpetrated by Myanmar security forces. Crimes against children and sexual violence were widespread. Bodies of missing civilians were discovered in mass graves and, in some cases, desecrated by armed groups. Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw), consisting of the Army, Navy, and Border Guard Police continued to pursue, assault, and obstruct civilians in flight to Bangladesh.

Conclusions
Qualitative findings corroborate previously published evidence of widespread and systematic violence by the Myanmar security forces against the Rohingya. The accounts describe intentional oppression of Rohingya civilians leading up to the August 2017 attacks and coordinated and targeted persecution of Rohingya by state forces spanning geographic distances, and ultimately provide supporting evidence for investigations of crimes against humanity and acts of genocide.
Determining post-treatment surveillance criteria for predicting the elimination of Schistosoma mansoni transmission
Authors: Toor Jaspreet , Truscott James E. , Werkman Marleen , Turner Hugo C. , Phillips Anna E. , King Charles H. , Medley Graham F. , Anderson Roy M. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set elimination (interruption of transmission) as an end goal for schistosomiasis. However, there is currently little guidance on the monitoring and evaluation strategy required once very low prevalence levels have been reached to determine whether elimination or resurgence of the disease will occur after stopping mass drug administration (MDA) treatment.

Methods
We employ a stochastic individual-based model of Schistosoma mansoni transmission and MDA impact to determine a prevalence threshold, i.e. prevalence of infection, which can be used to determine whether elimination or resurgence will occur after stopping treatment with a given probability. Simulations are run for treatment programmes with varying probabilities of achieving elimination and for settings where adults harbour low to high burdens of infection. Prevalence is measured based on using a single Kato-Katz on two samples per individual. We calculate positive predictive values (PPV) using PPV ≥ 0.9 as a reliable measure corresponding to ≥ 90% certainty of elimination. We analyse when post-treatment surveillance should be carried out to predict elimination. We also determine the number of individuals across a single community (of 500–1000 individuals) that should be sampled to predict elimination.

Results
We find that a prevalence threshold of 1% by single Kato-Katz on two samples per individual is optimal for predicting elimination at two years (or later) after the last round of MDA using a sample size of 200 individuals across the entire community (from all ages). This holds regardless of whether the adults have a low or high burden of infection relative to school-aged children.

Conclusions
Using a prevalence threshold of 0.5% is sufficient for surveillance six months after the last round of MDA. However, as such a low prevalence can be difficult to measure in the field using Kato-Katz, we recommend using 1% two years after the last round of MDA. Higher prevalence thresholds of 2% or 5% can be used but require waiting over four years for post-treatment surveillance. Although, for treatment programmes where elimination is highly likely, these higher thresholds could be used sooner. Additionally, switching to more sensitive diagnostic techniques, will allow for a higher prevalence threshold to be employed.
Human population movement can impede the elimination of soil-transmitted helminth transmission in regions with heterogeneity in mass drug administration coverage and transmission potential between villages: a metapopulation analysis
Authors: Vegvari Carolin , Truscott James E. , Kura Klodeta , Anderson Roy M. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections affect predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Americas. Previous mathematical modelling studies have evaluated optimal intervention strategies to break STH transmission in clusters of villages. These studies assumed that villages are closed independent units with no movement of people in or out of communities. Here we examine how human population movement, for example, of seasonal migrant labourers, affect the outcome of mass drug administration (MDA) programmes.

Results
We used a stochastic individual-based metapopulation model to analyse the impact of human population movement at varying rates on STH elimination efforts. Specifically, we looked at seasonal clumped movement events of infected individuals into a village. We showed that even if on average 75% of the entire resident population within a village are treated, an annual rate of 2–3% of the population arriving from an untreated source village can reduce the probability of STH elimination to less than 50% in high-prevalence settings. If a village is infection-free, an annual movement rate of 2–3% from an infected source village imposes a risk of re-introduction of STH of 75% or higher, unless the prevalence in the source village is less than 20%. Even a single arrival of 2–3% of the population can impose a risk of re-introducing STH of 50% or greater depending on the prevalence in the source village. The risk of re-introduction also depends on both the age group of moving individuals and STH species, since the pattern of cross-sectional age-prevalence and age-intensity profiles of infection in the human host are species-specific.

Conclusions
Planning for STH elimination programmes should account for human mobility patterns in defined regions. We recommend that individuals arriving from areas with ongoing STH transmission should receive preventive chemotherapy for STHs. This can most easily be implemented if migration is seasonal and overlaps with treatment rounds, e.g. seasonal migrant labour. Moreover, transmission hotspots in or near treatment clusters should be eliminated, for example, by implementing appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) measures and targeting treatment to individuals living in hotspots.
Mini-FLOTAC as an alternative, non-invasive diagnostic tool for Schistosoma mansoni and other trematode infections in wildlife reservoirs
Authors: Catalano Stefano , Symeou Amelia , Marsh Kirsty J. , Borlase Anna , Léger Elsa , Fall Cheikh B. , Sène Mariama , Diouf Nicolas D. , Ianniello Davide , Cringoli Giuseppe , Rinaldi Laura , Bâ Khalilou , Webster Joanne P. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundSchistosomiasis and food-borne trematodiases are not only of major public health concern, but can also have profound implications for livestock production and wildlife conservation. The zoonotic, multi-host nature of many digenean trematodes is a significant challenge for disease control programmes in endemic areas. However, our understanding of the epidemiological role that animal reservoirs, particularly wild hosts, may play in the transmission of zoonotic trematodiases suffers a dearth of information, with few, if any, standardised, reliable diagnostic tests available. We combined qualitative and quantitative data derived from post-mortem examinations, coprological analyses using the Mini-FLOTAC technique, and molecular tools to assess parasite community composition and the validity of non-invasive methods to detect trematode infections in 89 wild Hubert’s multimammate mice (Mastomys huberti) from northern Senegal.ResultsParasites isolated at post-mortem examination were identified asPlagiorchissp.,Anchitremasp.,Echinostoma caproni,Schistosoma mansoni, and a hybrid betweenSchistosoma haematobiumandSchistosoma bovis. The reports ofE. caproniandAnchitremasp. represent the first molecularly confirmed identifications for these trematodes in definitive hosts of sub-Saharan Africa. Comparison of prevalence estimates derived from parasitological analysis at post-mortem examination and Mini-FLOTAC analysis showed non-significant differences indicating comparable results between the two techniques (P = 1.00 forS. mansoni;P = 0.85 forE. caproni;P = 0.83 forPlagiorchissp.). A Bayesian model, applied to estimate the sensitivities of the two tests for the diagnosis ofSchistosomainfections, indicated similar median posterior probabilities of 83.1% for Mini-FLOTAC technique and 82.9% for post-mortem examination (95% Bayesian credible intervals of 64.0–94.6% and 63.7–94.7%, respectively).ConclusionsOur results showed that the Mini-FLOTAC could be applied as an alternative diagnostic technique for the detection of the zoonoticS. mansoniand other trematodes in rodent reservoirs. The implementation of non-invasive diagnostics in wildlife would offer numerous advantages over lethal sampling methodologies, with potential impact on control strategies of zoonotic helminthiases in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa and on fostering a framework of animal use reduction in scientific practice.
Lineage-specific rapid diagnostic tests can resolve Trypanosoma cruzi TcII/V/VI ecological and epidemiological associations in the Argentine Chaco
Authors: Murphy Niamh , Macchiaverna Natalia P. , Victoria Cardinal M. , Bhattacharyya Tapan , Mertens Pascal , Zeippen Nicolas , Gustin Yves , Gilleman Quentin , Gürtler Ricardo E. , Miles Michael A. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan agent of Chagas disease, is comprised of at least 6 genetic lineages (TcI-TcVI). Their geographical distribution, clinical associations and reservoir hosts are not fully elucidated, as genotyping is hampered due to the difficulty in isolating representative populations of organisms. Lineage-specific serological techniques may address these issues.

Methods
Trypanosoma cruzi lineage-specific serological assays were performed on human, canine, feline and armadillo sera from the Gran Chaco in northern Argentina, a region of ongoing transmission. Synthetic peptides representing lineage-specific epitopes of the trypomastigote small surface antigen (TSSA) were used in ELISA, and the TcII/V/VI shared epitope peptide (TSSApep-II/V/VI) was used in the Chagas Sero K-SeT rapid diagnostic test (RDT).

Results
Chagas Sero K-SeT RDT, using Protein G to detect human and canine IgG, was at least as sensitive as TSSApep-II/V/VI ELISA using specific secondary antibodies. For sera from humans TSSApep-II/V/VI seroprevalence by Chagas Sero K-SeT was 273/393 (69.5%), for dogs 48/73 (65.8%) and for armadillos 1/7 (14.3%); by ELISA for cats 5/19 (26.3%). The seroprevalence for humans was similar to that for Bolivian patients, amongst whom we previously observed an association of TSSApep-II/V/VI seropositivity with severity of cardiomyopathy. In humans, prevalence of TSSApep-II/V/VI recognition was associated with locality, and with increasing and decreasing age within the Qom and Creole populations, respectively. For dogs TSSApep-II/V/VI recognition was associated with being born before community-wide insecticide spraying (P = 0.05) and with Qom household (P < 0.001).

Conclusions
We show here that Chagas Sero K-SeT RDT can replace ELISA for TSSApep-II/V/VI serology of humans and dogs; for humans there were statistically significant associations between a positive Chagas Sero K-SeT RDT and being resident in Area IV, and for dogs association with Qom household or with being born before the mass spraying campaign; we also show that with cats the TcII/V/VI epitope can be detected by ELISA. We assessed the lineage distribution in an unprecedented 83% of the human T. cruzi-seropositive population. These results form the basis for more detailed studies, enabling rapid in-the-field surveillance of the distribution and clustering of these lineages among humans and mammalian reservoirs of T. cruzi infection.
Mapping the baseline prevalence of lymphatic filariasis across Nigeria
Authors: Eneanya Obiora A. , Fronterre Claudio , Anagbogu Ifeoma , Okoronkwo Chukwu , Garske Tini , Cano Jorge , Donnelly Christl A. 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Introduction
The baseline endemicity profile of lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a key benchmark for planning control programmes, monitoring their impact on transmission and assessing the feasibility of achieving elimination. Presented in this work is the modelled serological and parasitological prevalence of LF prior to the scale-up of mass drug administration (MDA) in Nigeria using a machine learning based approach.

Methods
LF prevalence data generated by the Nigeria Lymphatic Filariasis Control Programme during country-wide mapping surveys conducted between 2000 and 2013 were used to build the models. The dataset comprised of 1103 community-level surveys based on the detection of filarial antigenemia using rapid immunochromatographic card tests (ICT) and 184 prevalence surveys testing for the presence of microfilaria (Mf) in blood. Using a suite of climate and environmental continuous gridded variables and compiled site-level prevalence data, a quantile regression forest (QRF) model was fitted for both antigenemia and microfilaraemia LF prevalence. Model predictions were projected across a continuous 5 × 5 km gridded map of Nigeria. The number of individuals potentially infected by LF prior to MDA interventions was subsequently estimated.

Results
Maps presented predict a heterogeneous distribution of LF antigenemia and microfilaraemia in Nigeria. The North-Central, North-West, and South-East regions displayed the highest predicted LF seroprevalence, whereas predicted Mf prevalence was highest in the southern regions. Overall, 8.7 million and 3.3 million infections were predicted for ICT and Mf, respectively.

Conclusions
QRF is a machine learning-based algorithm capable of handling high-dimensional data and fitting complex relationships between response and predictor variables. Our models provide a benchmark through which the progress of ongoing LF control efforts can be monitored.