bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The influence of omega‐3 fatty acids on semen quality markers: a systematic PRISMA review
Authors: Falsig A.‐M. L. , Gleerup C. S. , Knudsen U. B. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractBackgroundInfertility affects about 15% of all couples worldwide. Male factors such as decreased semen quality contribute to around 40% of the cases. Recent reviews have shown that different foods and nutrients may improve semen quality.ObjectivesWe conducted a systematic review in order to investigate whether intake of omega‐3 fatty acids can improve semen quality markers.Materials and methodsA systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane was conducted in adherence with the PRISMA guideline from the earliest available online indexing year to October 2018. Keywords related to male fertility or infertility was combined with words describing omega‐3 fatty acids and dietary fish intake. RCTs and observational studies on infertile and fertile men were included. Studies were considered eligible if they met the inclusion criteria, evaluated either the effect of omega‐3 fatty acids or dietary fish intake and had semen quality as primary outcome.ResultsThousand and seventy four records were screened, and sixteen studies were ultimately included. Fourteen of the included studies found an improvement or association between omega‐3 and at least one semen quality marker. As the studies were very inhomogeneous in participants (fertile/infertile, age, BMI, ethnicity etc), no meta‐analysis was performed.DiscussionThe findings in this review are limited by the few available RCTs. Furthermore, RCTs were very heterogenetic according to study population, sample size, dosage of omega‐3, and durations of follow up. Results from the observational studies might have been affected by recall bias and confounded by lifestyle factors.ConclusionBased on the findings in this review, omega‐3 supplements and dietary intake of omega‐3 might improve semen quality parameters in infertile men and men from couples seeking fertility treatment. However, more research is required in order to fully clarify the effect of omega‐3 on semen quality and research with fecundity as end point is needed.
Is antiarrhythmic therapy safe in twin pregnancies?
Authors: Gesuete Valentina , Fantasia Ilaria , Lo Bello Leila , Rizzante Elisa , D'Agata Mottolese Biancamaria , Stampalija Tamara 
Published: May 2019

AbstractAimThe optimal treatment for foetal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) in twin pregnancies is unclear because of the possible impact on the second twin. This review compared a foetus we treated with antiarrhythmic drugs with the previous case studies.MethodsOur case was a dichorionic diamniotic twin pregnancy, where one twin developed foetal hydrops secondary to SVT at 22 weeks of gestation. We searched PubMed to look for previous cases of SVT in twin pregnancies.ResultsTreatment with transplacental antiarrhythmic therapy from 22 to 36 weeks of gestation successfully resolved the SVT in our affected twin without any impact on the healthy twin or mother. We only found seven similar cases of SVT in twin pregnancies from 1999 to 2017. Although there was no consensus on the treatment that should be provided, none of the studies reported side effects in the twins or the mothers.ConclusionDespite a lack of data on SVT in twin pregnancies, our case, and the previous cases we identified, allowed us to conclude that transplacental antiarrhythmic treatment can successfully achieve cardioversion in the affected twin. It can do this without side effects for the healthy foetus or the mother, even if the treatment lasts for a long period of time.
Requirement for etoposide in the initial treatment of Epstein‐Barr virus–associated haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
Authors: Song Yue , Wang Yini , Wang Zhao 
Published: May 2019

SummaryHaemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a severe, even fatal, inflammatory condition. Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection‐associated HLH (EBV‐HLH) is one of the most common types of secondary HLH. Etoposide is a key drug in HLH‐94/04 regimen. We sought to identify the importance of etoposide in the initial treatment of EBV‐HLH. Ninety‐three patients with EBV‐HLH of all ages admitted to our centre in 2017 were divided into two groups according to whether the initial treatment contained etoposide or not. The survival of the group whose initial therapy included etoposide (Group 1, 52 patients; 6‐month survival rate 0·769) was significantly better than that of the group whose initial therapy did not include etoposide (Group 2, 41 patients; 6‐month survival rate 0·269) (P < 0·001). In patients aged <18 years old, the survival of Group 1 patients was not significantly better than that of Group 2 patients (P = 0·447), in contrast to patients aged ≥18 years, where the survival of Group1 patients was significantly better than that of Group 2 patients (P < 0·001). We concluded that including etoposide in the initial treatment of EBV‐HLH patients can improve their prognosis, especially adult patients. This may be because that adult patients are recognized as “higher risk” patients.
A meta‐analysis of the effect of chromium supplementation on anthropometric indices of subjects with overweight or obesity
Authors: Tsang Catherine , Taghizadeh Mohsen , Aghabagheri Elahe , Asemi Zatollah , Jafarnejad Sadegh 
Published: May 2019

SummaryThe role of chromium as a weight loss agent remains questionable, and although previous meta‐analyses findings have reported small reductions in body weight in individuals with overweight/obesity following chromium supplementation, there have been significant limitations with these findings. The objective of this meta‐analysis was to evaluate the current evidence for the efficacy of oral chromium supplementation in individuals with overweight/obesity from randomized controlled trials. Studies were identified by a search of electronic databases from inception to November 2018 and combined and stratified analyses were used. Twenty‐one trials from 19 studies were identified which met all inclusion criteria which were suitable for statistical pooling, and data from 1316 participants were included. Pooled analysis showed significant reductions in anthropometric indices associated with body composition; for weight loss (weighted mean difference [WMD]: −0.75 kg, 95% confidence interval [CI], −1.04, −0.45, P < 0.001), body mass index (WMD: −0.40, 95% CI, −0.66, −0.13, P = 0.003 and body fat percentage (WMD: −0.68%, 95% CI, −1.32, −0.03, P = 0.04) in individuals with overweight/obesity. No changes were detected in controls. Subgroup analysis showed significant improvements in weight loss and body fat percentage, particularly for study durations ≤12 weeks and doses ≤400 μg/d. Chromium supplementation was associated with some improvements in body composition in subjects with obesity/overweight. The effect size was medium and the clinical relevance of chromium as a weight loss aid remains uncertain. Further investigation from larger and well‐designed randomized controlled studies, especially in patients with diabetes, is warranted.
Nicht‐infektiöse granulomatöse Dermatosen
Authors: Schmitt Andrea , Volz Andreas 
Published: May 2019

ZusammenfassungGranulomatöse Dermatosen umfassen ein breites Spektrum ätiologisch und klinisch heterogener Dermatosen, deren Gemeinsamkeit in einem histologisch von Histiozyten‐ bzw. Makrophagen‐Akkumulation geprägten Bild liegt. Die Pathogenese der einzelnen Krankheitsbilder ist unvollständig verstanden. Als Mechanismus wird zumeist ein Reaktionsmuster des Organismus auf einen immunogenen Stimulus angenommen. Antigenpräsentierende Zellen und der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Zytokine spielen eine Schlüsselrolle. Erkenntnisse zu granulomatösen Reaktionen unter iatrogener Immunmodifikation sowie bei genetisch determinierten Schwächen der Immunabwehr verbessern unser Verständnis granulomatöser Reaktionsmuster.Üblicherweise werden infektiöse granulomatöse von nicht‐infektiösen granulomatösen Dermatosen unterschieden. Der vorliegende Artikel behandelt granulomatösen Dermatosen ohne nachweislich kausalen Erregerbezug. Zu den klassischen Vertretern nicht erregerbedingter granulomatöser Dermatosen zählen das Granuloma anulare, die Necrobiosis lipoidica und die kutane Sarkoidose. Granulomatöse Dermatosen können kutane Manifestation einer systemischen Erkrankung darstellen oder mit einer solchen assoziiert sein. neoplastischen Erkrankungen, können das Bild einer granulomatösen Dermatose imitieren.Das klinische Bild ist entsprechend der pathogenetischen Vielfalt heterogen, insgesamt jedoch meist charakteristisch für das jeweilige Krankheitsbild. Die Diagnosestellung erfordert regelhaft eine gute klinisch‐pathologische Korrelation. Die Behandlung orientiert sich an der Pathogenese und erfolgt oft antientzündlich. Allerdings besteht meist eine unzureichende Datenlage und der dermale Charakter der Erkrankung erschwert die topische Behandlung.
Direct insertion of papillary muscle into mitral valve leaflets in a healthy patient without hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Lépori Augusto José , Lépori Orlando José , Werenitzky José , Islas Fabián , Perez de Isla Lepoldo 
Published: May 2019

AbstractWe present the case of a healthy young woman that was evaluated before participation in amateur sports. A systolic and diastolic murmur was heard during the physical examination. Two‐dimensional echocardiography was performed, and a direct insertion of the posteromedial papillary muscle into the mitral valve leaflets was found. Mild mitral stenosis and moderate regurgitation were also found. Because she was asymptomatic, a follow‐up in 6 months was planned to control the evaluation of her valve disease.
How might the negative impact of higher education on growth be explained? The role of vertical qualification (mis)match in an MRW‐type model
Authors: Neycheva Mariya 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThis study explores the impact of higher education on growth in 11 new EU members over the period 2000–2016 using an augmented MRW‐type model which takes into account the quality of education and vertical mismatch. More precisely, it tests whether the accelerating increase of college graduates causes an oversupply of educated labour which, in turn, extends the qualification mismatch and adversely affects growth of per capita income. We find that an increase of the most educated labour force does notper selead to a higher growth rate. The impact of human capital becomes positive and statistically significant only if graduates with occupations requiring tertiary education are considered in the model. In addition, the econometric outcome implies that the extent of skill mismatch is determined primarily by the rising female population with college education and the gross value added of trade‐related services.
“The Heavier Selves”: Embodied and Subjective Suffering of Organ Sellers in Bangladesh
Authors: Moniruzzaman Monir 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe rapid growth of organ transplantation has created an illegal market for human organs sourced from the destitute poor predominantly in the developing world. Drawing on challenging fieldwork, I investigate the lived experiences of organ sellers who sold their bodily organs on the black market of Bangladesh. Sellers’ narratives reveal that living without an organ is not just a bodily alteration, but instead it results in embodied suffering and ontological impairment of being in the world. Organ sellers reported that they experienced embodied suffering due to selling their vital organs, which violates long‐standing cultural practices, such as bodily integrity, body ownership, and human dignity. In addition, these sellers faced subjective suffering due to selling living parts of themselves. As they felt, selling an organ divided their whole body into two halves, which destroyed their homeostatic balance, ontological harmony, and affinity with recipients. Sellers referred to these embodied and subjective sufferings as “heavier selves.”
Agency, Cultural Consonance and Depressive Symptoms: A Brazilian Example
Authors: Dressler William W. , Balieiro Mauro C. , dos Santos José Ernesto 
Published: May 2019

AbstractCultural consonance, or individual enactment of cultural models, is associated with lower depressive symptoms. This article incorporates individual agency into the cultural consonance model. Data were collected using mixed methods in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Brazil is a unique setting for this research, given that personal agency is institutionalized in the practice of o jeitinho (a distinctively Brazilian way of circumventing rules). Cultural consonance was measured relative to cultural models of life goals. A measure of a sense of personal agency combined scales of locus of control and frustration tolerance. Cultural consonance had a stronger association with depressive symptoms than individual agency. These results are also consistent with cultural consonance as a mediator of the association of agency and depressive symptoms. The implications for the conceptualization of culture and its role in mental health, and for the influence of psychological factors on culture, are discussed. [Brazil, agency, cultural consonance, depression]
Novel neutrosophic Dombi Bonferroni mean operators with mobile cloud computing industry evaluation
Authors: Peng Xindong , Smarandache Florentin 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn the age of mobile cloud computing, we are confronted by mobility, diversity of network access types, frequent network disconnection and poor reliability, and security with complex structures. Mobile cloud computing industry decision making is crucially important for countries or societies to enhance the effectiveness and validity of leadership, which can greatly expedite industrialized and large‐scale development. In the case of mobile cloud computing industry decision evaluation, the indispensable issue arises serious inexactness, fuzziness, and ambiguity. Single‐valued neutrosophic set, disposing the indeterminacy portrayed by truth membership T, indeterminacy membership I, and falsity membership F, is a more viable and effective means to seize indeterminacy. The main purpose of the current paper is to investigate the novel operations on single‐valued neutrosophic number (SVNN) based on Dombi Bonferroni mean (DBM) and Dombi geometric Bonferroni mean (DGBM) operator, which have the enormous advantage of high flexibility with adjustable parameters. Moreover, we employ the DBM operator to present single‐valued neutrosophic DBM (SVNDBM) operator, single‐valued neutrosophic weighted DBM (SVNWDBM) operator, single‐valued neutrosophic DGBM (SVNDGBM), operator and single‐valued neutrosophic weighted DGBM (SVNWDGBM) operator for disposing with the aggregation of SVNNs and develop two multiple attribute decision making methods based on SVNWDBM and SVNWDGBM. The validity of algorithms are illustrated by a mobile cloud computing industry decision making issue, along with the sensitivity analysis of diverse parameters on the ranking. Finally, a comparison of the developed with the existing single‐valued neutrosophic decision making methods has been executed for displaying their effectiveness.
Looking for love under the ice: Using passive acoustics to detect burbot (Lota lota: Gadidae) spawning activity
Authors: Grabowski Timothy , Young Shawn P. , Cott Peter A. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractBurbot (Lota lota: Gadidae) is a difficult species to manage effectively due to its preference for deep‐water habitats and under‐ice spawning behaviour, resulting in a poor understanding of its reproductive activity. However, the use of acoustic signalling by burbot as part of their mating system has recently been described and this behaviour may provide a means of investigating questions regarding the spatial and temporal distribution of spawning aggregations using passive acoustic monitoring.We used audio and video recording to confirm that burbot vocalise and that these vocalisations can be detected under field conditions as well as to characterise the relationship between burbot acoustic signalling and spawning behaviour. We also evaluated the feasibility of locating and monitoring burbot spawning aggregations in real time using passive acoustics.Burbot vocalisations were difficult to identify with only about 6% of the recordings containing calls being successfully identified as such in the field. Burbot vocalised more often between sundown and sunrise than during daylight hours. Calls recorded at night tended to be lower frequency, longer duration, and have lower bandwidth than those made during the day.Burbot vocalisations could not be recorded in conjunction with video recordings of spawning activity, indicating that burbot may not call during active spawning, but may use acoustic communication to signal the onset of reproductive readiness and to form pre‐spawning aggregations.While burbot calls were readily identifiable, observers had a difficult time identifying burbot calls in real time under field conditions. Passive acoustic monitoring demonstrates considerable potential as a management tool to locate burbot spawning grounds and identify periods of activity, but may not be an appropriate technique for monitoring spawning activity in real time.
The grass subfamily Pooideae: Cretaceous–Palaeocene origin and climate‐driven Cenozoic diversification
Authors: Schubert Marian , Marcussen Thomas , Meseguer Andrea S. , Fjellheim Siri 
Published: May 2019

AimFrost is among the most dramatic stresses a plant can experience, and complex physiological adaptations are needed to endure long periods of sub‐zero temperatures. Owing to the need to evolve these complex adaptations, transitioning from tropical to temperate climates is regarded as difficult. Here, we study the transition from tropical to temperate climates in the grass subfamily Pooideae, which dominates cool temperate, continental and Arctic regions. We produce a dated phylogeny and investigate the role of climate cooling in diversification.LocationGlobal, temperate regions.Time periodCretaceous–Cenozoic.Major taxaPooideae.MethodsUsing newly available fossils and methods, we dated a comprehensive Pooideae phylogeny and tested for the impact of palaeoclimates on diversification rates. Using ancestral state reconstruction, we investigated whether Pooideae ancestors experienced frost and winter. To locate the ancestral distribution area of Pooideae, we performed biogeographical analyses.ResultsWe estimated a Late Cretaceous/early Palaeocene origin of the Pooideae (61–77 Ma), with all major clades already having diversified at the Eocene–Oligocene climate cooling (34 Ma). Climate cooling was a probable driving force of Pooideae diversification. Pooideae probably evolved in a temperate niche experiencing frost, but not long winters.Main conclusionPooideae probably originated in a temperate niche and experienced cold temperatures and frost long before expansion of temperate biomes after the Eocene–Oligocene transition. This suggests that the Pooideae ancestor had adaptations to temperate climate and that certain responses to low‐temperature stress are shared in extant Pooideae grasses. Throughout the Cenozoic, falling temperatures and expansion of temperate biomes were associated with an increase in diversification. However, complex mechanisms for enduring strongly seasonal climate with long, cold winters most probably evolved independently in daughter lineages. Our findings provide insight into how adaptations to historical changes in chill and frost exposure influence the distribution of plant diversity today.
Efficacy testing of silage additives—Methodology and existing schemes
Authors: Pauly Thomas , Wyss Ueli 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn the period between 1979 and 1996 several national silage additive approval schemes appeared in Europe. Today only two approval schemes are still in use, the European Union (EU) authorization of additive components (compulsory) and the German DLG approval scheme of complete additives (voluntary). The EU authorization focuses on safety and environmental properties. Since EU authorization is compulsory for all additives and most additives are composed of more than one single active component, it offers no immediate help to advisors or farmers to help selecting a suitable additive. The DLG approval scheme has a more consumer‐oriented approach and can test complete additives under a rather large variety of conditions. Approved additives get the privilege to carry a DLG Quality Mark. Comparative trials from 1995 between the German and the French approval schemes were described as well as trials from 2010 to evaluate a DLG test protocol for testing additives in round bales. The DLG test scheme has to take into account that there are different aims of action, which cannot be covered by one additive. There are therefore six aims of action, directly related to the ensiling process.
Halophytic shrubs accumulate minerals associated with antioxidant pathways
Authors: Norman Hayley C. , Duncan Elliott G. , Masters David G. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractHalophytic shrubs from the Chenopodiaceae family are planted by farmers in Mediterranean climate and semi‐arid farming systems because they produce year‐round feed for livestock and grow on poor‐quality soils that are unfit for cereal or traditional pasture production. Halophytes have evolved in environments that exert a high oxidative stress and through this have a high antioxidant capacity. The higher antioxidant capacity of halophytes means that they could have elevated concentrations of the minerals and vitamins associated with antioxidant defence and, as a consequence, may be a good source of antioxidant minerals and vitamins for sheep, cattle and goats. It was hypothesized that a range of halophytic shrub species and accessions within species will contain copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn) and sulphur (S) concentrations that will exceed the requirements of grazing ruminants. Concentrations of these minerals were measured across nineteen shrub accessions representing seven widely distributed Australian chenopod species: Atriplex amnicola, Atriplex nummularia, Atriplex rhagodioides, Chenopodium nitrariaceum, Enchylaena tomentosa, Maireana brevifolia and Rhagodia preissii, as well as Eremophila glabra from the Scrophulariaceae family. Measurements were made at one location in spring and winter and at another location in winter only. Concentrations of the elements analysed almost always exceeded requirements and ranged up to 610%, 952%, 1840%, 590% and 250% of the requirement for grazing sheep for Cu, Mn, Se, Zn and S respectively. These results indicate some shrubs have significant potential for use as an antioxidant mineral supplement for ruminants.