bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cauterisation versus fibrin glue for conjunctival autografting in primary pterygium surgery (CAGE CUP): study protocol of a randomised controlled trial
Authors: Lešin Mladen , Paradžik Martina , Marin Lovrić Josipa , Olujić Ivana , Ljubić Žana , Vučinović Ana , Bućan Kajo , Puljak Livia 
Published: June 2018

IntroductionPterygium is a non-cancerous growth of the conjunctival tissue over the cornea that may lead to visual impairment in advanced stages, restriction of ocular motility, chronic inflammation and cosmetic concerns. Surgical removal is the treatment of choice, but recurrence of pterygium is a frequent problem. It has been previously shown that fibrin glue may result in less recurrence and may take less time than sutures for fixing the conjunctival graft in place during pterygium surgery. However, fibrin glue is a biological material and it carries the risk of transmitting infectious agents from pooled and single-donor blood donors and anaphylaxis in susceptible individuals. Cauterisation is another surgical option, and it would be advantageous to know whether cauterisation may be superior surgical option compared with fibrin glue. This protocol describes the rationale and design of the randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which we will compare cauterisation versus fibrin glue for conjunctival autografting in primary pterygium surgery.Methods and analysesThis will be a parallel group RCT comparing cauterisation versus fibrin glue for conjunctival autografting in primary pterygium surgery. Computer-generated randomisation will be used, and allocation concealment will be conducted using sequentially numbered opaque sealed envelopes. Surgeons will not be blinded to the procedures, but participants, other investigators and outcome assessors will be blinded. Adult participants with primary pterygium operated in a tertiary hospital in Split, Croatia, will be included. Primary outcome will be recurrence of pterygium, defined as any regrowth of tissue from the area of excision across the limbus onto the cornea after 180 days.Ethics and disseminationThe trial was approved by the ethics review board of the University Hospital Split (500-03/17-01/68). Results will be disseminated at conferences and through peer-reviewed publications.Trial registration numberNCT03321201; Pre-results.
Characteristics and treatment of African-American and European-American patients with resistant hypertension identified using the electronic health record in an academic health centre: a case−control study
Authors: Shuey Megan M , Gandelman Jocelyn S , Chung Cecilia P , Nian Hui , Yu Chang , Denny Joshua C , Brown Nancy J 
Published: June 2018

ObjectiveTo identify patients with hypertension with resistant and controlled blood pressure (BP) using electronic health records (EHRs) in order to elucidate practices in the real-world clinical treatment of hypertension and to enable future genetic studies.DesignUsing EHRs, we developed and validated algorithms to identify patients with resistant and controlled hypertension.SettingAn academic medical centre in Nashville, Tennessee.PopulationEuropean-American (EA) and African-American (AA) patients with hypertension.Main outcome measuresDemographic characteristics: race, age, gender, body mass index, outpatient BPs and the history of diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease stage 3, ischaemic heart disease, transient ischaemic attack, atrial fibrillation and sleep apnoea.Medication treatmentAll antihypertensive medication classes prescribed to a patient at the time of classification and ever prescribed following classification.ResultsThe algorithms had performance metrics exceeding 92%. The prevalence of resistant hypertension in the total hypertensive population was 7.3% in EA and 10.5% in AA. At diagnosis, AA were younger, heavier, more often female and had a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes and higher BPs than EA. AA with resistant hypertension were more likely to be treated with vasodilators, dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers and alpha-2 agonists while EA were more likely to be treated with angiotensin receptor blockers, renin inhibitors and beta blockers. Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists use was increased in patients treated with more than four antihypertensive medications compared with patients treated with three (12.4% vs 2.6% in EA, p<0.001; 12.3% vs 2.8% in AA, p<0.001). The number of patients treated with a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist increased to 37.4% in EA and 41.2% in AA over a mean follow-up period of 7.4 and 8.7 years, respectively.ConclusionsClinical treatment of resistant hypertension differs in EA and AA patients. These results demonstrate the feasibility of identifying resistant hypertension using an EHR.
Dual versus mono antiplatelet therapy for acute non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Yang Yingying , Zhou Mengyuan , Zhong Xi , Wang Yongjun , Zhao Xingquan , Liu Liping , Wang Yilong 
Published: June 2018

ObjectiveRecent years have seen new evidence on the efficacy and safety of dual antiplatelet therapy for secondary stroke prevention. We updated a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials evaluating dual antiplatelet versus monotherapy for patients with acute non-cardioembolic ischaemic stroke (IS) or transient ischaemic attack (TIA).MethodsWe searched PubMed and identified randomised controlled trials evaluating dual antiplatelet versus monotherapy for acute non-cardioembolic IS or TIA within 3 days of ictus up to May 2018. Risk ratio (RR) with 95% CI were calculated using random effects models. Clinical endpoints included stroke recurrence, composite vascular events and major bleeding.Results18 randomised controlled trials including 15 515 patients were pooled in the meta-analysis. When compared with monotherapy among patients with acute IS or TIA, dual antiplatelet therapy reduced the risk of stroke recurrence (RR 0.69; 95% CI 0.61 to 0.78; p<0.001) and composite vascular events (RR 0.72; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.80; p<0.001). Dual therapy was associated with a significant increase in the risk of major bleeding (RR 1.77; 95% CI 1.09 to 2.87; p=0.02) when all trial data were combined. However, when all previous trials before the completion of the POINT trial were analysed, dual antiplatelet versus monotherapy was not associated with a significant increase in the risk of major bleeding (RR 1.46; 95% CI 0.77 to 2.75; p=0.25).ConclusionsAmong patients with acute non-cardioembolic IS or TIA within 3 days of ictus, dual antiplatelet therapy was associated with a reduction in stroke recurrence, and composite vascular events, when compared with monotherapy. However, a significant increase in the risk of major bleeding was observed.
Biochar affects aspen seedling growth and reclaimed soil properties in the Athabasca oil sands region
Authors: Dietrich Sebastian T. , MacKenzie M. Derek 
Published: June 2018

Restoring ecosystem function after oil sands surface mining involves reestablishing the biotic and abiotic ecosystem components that affect biogeochemical cycles and fluxes. In boreal forest ecosystems, pyrogenic carbon is a native soil component that affects a variety of biogeochemical parameters and biochar is its human-made analog. To evaluate the benefits of biochar amendment to reclamation cover soils, we compared characteristics and function of peat–mineral mix (PM) and forest floor–mineral mix (FFM) with and without biochar in an 18 wk greenhouse study. We assessed nutrient bioavailability (NO3, NH4, P, K, S, Mg, and Ca), foliar nutrient concentrations (N, P, K, S, Mg, Ca, Na, and Mo), soil respiration, rhizosphere polysaccharide concentration, soil organic matter stability, and Populus tremuloides Michx. seedling growth. Seedling growth increased significantly on PM cover soil with biochar. Biochar improved K nutritional status and potentially interacted with Na bioavailability in PM, affecting growth. Soil respiration significantly decreased in PM with biochar and increased in FFM. Soil organic matter stability was positively correlated with seedling growth and increased with biochar. Our findings suggest that biochar may have a significant positive effect on upland forest reclamation in the Athabasca oil sands region, especially on sites that are reclaimed with PM.
Majority is not enough
Authors: Eyal Ittay , Sirer Emin Gün 
Published: June 2018

The Bitcoin cryptocurrency records its transactions in a public log called the blockchain. Its security rests critically on the distributed protocol that maintains the blockchain, run by participants called miners. Conventional wisdom asserts that the mining protocol is incentive-compatible and secure against colluding minority groups, that is, it incentivizes miners to follow the protocol as prescribed.
We show that the Bitcoin mining protocol is not incentive-compatible. We present an attack with which colluding miners' revenue is larger than their fair share. The attack can have significant consequences for Bitcoin: Rational miners will prefer to join the attackers, and the colluding group will increase in size until it becomes a majority. At this point, the Bitcoin system ceases to be a decentralized currency.
Unless certain assumptions are made, selfish mining may be feasible for any coalition size of colluding miners. We propose a practical modification to the Bitcoin protocol that protects Bitcoin in the general case. It prohibits selfish mining by a coalition that command less than 1/4 of the resources. This threshold is lower than the wrongly assumed 1/2 bound, but better than the current reality where a coalition of any size can compromise the system.
Exploring the complexity: the interplay between the angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism and the sympathetic response to hemodialysis
Authors: Ribas Ribeiro Larissa , Flores de Oliveira Jacqueline , Bueno Orcy Rafael , Castilho Barros Carlos , Damé Hense Jessica , Santos Fernando , Irigoyen Maria Claudia , Gonzalez Maria Cristina , Oses Jean Pierre , Böhlke Maristela 
Published: June 2018

Patients on hemodialysis (HD) are at increased risk for arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction seems to participate in the arrhythmogenic process. Genetic factors have an impact on ANS modulation, but the specific role of the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in the gene for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) has not been investigated. Since the D allele increases gene expression, it is a candidate polymorphism to interact with the ANS. The aim of the present study was to compare the behavior of heart rate variability (HRV) during HD, as a surrogate for ANS response to stressors, between the ACE genotypes. In a sample of patients with chronic kidney disease I/D ACE genotypes were assessed with PCR and HRV was measured before, in the second hour, and after a HD session. HRV parameters in the time and frequency domains were analyzed by repeated-measures mixed models according to the time of measurement and ACE polymorphism. HRV parameters in the frequency domain presented significantly different variations during the HD session between patients with or without the D allele. Only patients with the II genotype presented an increase in low-frequency normalized units and in the low frequency-to-high frequency ratio throughout HD. Patients with the II genotype seemed to have a more physiological response to the volemic and electrolytic changes that occur during HD, with greater sympathetic activation than patients with ID and DD genotypes.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Adding to the effort to understand the complexity of cardiovascular system regulation, we have found that the autonomic nervous system response to the acute volume removal during hemodialysis may be different between angiotensin-converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphisms. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this specific interaction was analyzed during a volume removal intervention.
Adult mouse sensory neurons on microelectrode arrays exhibit increased spontaneous and stimulus-evoked activity in the presence of interleukin-6
Authors: Black Bryan J. , Atmaramani Rahul , Kumaraju Rajeshwari , Plagens Sarah , Romero-Ortega Mario , Dussor Gregory , Price Theodore J. , Campbell Zachary T. , Pancrazio Joseph J. 
Published: June 2018

Following inflammation or injury, sensory neurons located in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) may exhibit increased spontaneous and/or stimulus-evoked activity, contributing to chronic pain. Current treatment options for peripherally mediated chronic pain are highly limited, driving the development of cell- or tissue-based phenotypic (function-based) screening assays for peripheral analgesic and mechanistic lead discovery. Extant assays are often limited by throughput, content, use of tumorigenic cell lines, or tissue sources from immature developmental stages (i.e., embryonic or postnatal). Here, we describe a protocol for culturing adult mouse DRG neurons on substrate-integrated multiwell microelectrode arrays (MEAs). This approach enables multiplexed measurements of spontaneous as well as stimulus-evoked extracellular action potentials from large populations of cells. The DRG cultures exhibit stable spontaneous activity from 9 to 21 days in vitro. Activity is readily evoked by known chemical and physical agonists of sensory neuron activity such as capsaicin, bradykinin, PGE2, heat, and electrical field stimulation. Most importantly, we demonstrate that both spontaneous and stimulus-evoked activity may be potentiated by incubation with the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). Acute responsiveness to IL-6 is inhibited by treatment with a MAPK-interacting kinase 1/2 inhibitor, cercosporamide. In total, these findings suggest that adult mouse DRG neurons on multiwell MEAs are applicable to ongoing efforts to discover peripheral analgesic and their mechanisms of action. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This work describes methodologies for culturing spontaneously active adult mouse dorsal root ganglia (DRG) sensory neurons on microelectrode arrays. We characterize spontaneous and stimulus-evoked adult DRG activity over durations consistent with pharmacological interventions. Furthermore, persistent hyperexcitability could be induced by incubation with inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and attenuated with cercosporamide, an inhibitor of the IL-6 sensitization pathway. This constitutes a more physiologically relevant, moderate-throughput in vitro model for peripheral analgesic screening as well as mechanistic lead discovery.
Estrous cycle-induced sex differences in medium spiny neuron excitatory synaptic transmission and intrinsic excitability in adult rat nucleus accumbens core
Authors: Proaño Stephanie B. , Morris Hannah J. , Kunz Lindsey M. , Dorris David M. , Meitzen John 
Published: June 2018

Naturally occurring hormone cycles in adult female humans and rodents create a dynamic neuroendocrine environment. These cycles include the menstrual cycle in humans and its counterpart in rodents, the estrous cycle. These hormone fluctuations induce sex differences in the phenotypes of many behaviors, including those related to motivation, and associated disorders such as depression and addiction. This suggests that the neural substrate instrumental for these behaviors, including the nucleus accumbens core (AcbC), likewise differs between estrous cycle phases. It is unknown whether the electrophysiological properties of AcbC output neurons, medium spiny neurons (MSNs), change between estrous cycle phases. This is a critical knowledge gap given that MSN electrophysiological properties are instrumental for determining AcbC output to efferent targets. Here we test whether the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of adult rat AcbC MSNs differ across female estrous cycle phases and from males. We recorded MSNs with whole cell patch-clamp technique in two experiments, the first using gonad-intact adult males and females in differing phases of the estrous cycle and the second using gonadectomized males and females in which the estrous cycle was eliminated. MSN intrinsic electrophysiological and excitatory synaptic input properties robustly changed between female estrous cycle phases and males. Sex differences in MSN electrophysiology disappeared when the estrous cycle was eliminated. These novel findings indicate that AcbC MSN electrophysiological properties change across the estrous cycle, providing a new framework for understanding how biological sex and hormone cyclicity regulate motivated behaviors and other AcbC functions and disorders. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This research is the first demonstration that medium spiny neuron electrophysiological properties change across adult female hormone cycle phases in any striatal region. This influence of estrous cycle engenders sex differences in electrophysiological properties that are eliminated by gonadectomy. Broadly, these findings indicate that adult female hormone cycles are an important factor for neurophysiology.
The critical stability task: quantifying sensory-motor control during ongoing movement in nonhuman primates
Authors: Quick Kristin M. , Mischel Jessica L. , Loughlin Patrick J. , Batista Aaron P. 
Published: June 2018

Everyday behaviors require that we interact with the environment, using sensory information in an ongoing manner to guide our actions. Yet, by design, many of the tasks used in primate neurophysiology laboratories can be performed with limited sensory guidance. As a consequence, our knowledge about the neural mechanisms of motor control is largely limited to the feedforward aspects of the motor command. To study the feedback aspects of volitional motor control, we adapted the critical stability task (CST) from the human performance literature (Jex H, McDonnell J, Phatak A. IEEE Trans Hum Factors Electron 7: 138–145, 1966). In the CST, our monkey subjects interact with an inherently unstable (i.e., divergent) virtual system and must generate sensory-guided actions to stabilize it about an equilibrium point. The difficulty of the CST is determined by a single parameter, which allows us to quantitatively establish the limits of performance in the task for different sensory feedback conditions. Two monkeys learned to perform the CST with visual or vibrotactile feedback. Performance was better under visual feedback, as expected, but both monkeys were able to utilize vibrotactile feedback alone to successfully perform the CST. We also observed changes in behavioral strategy as the task became more challenging. The CST will have value for basic science investigations of the neural basis of sensory-motor integration during ongoing actions, and it may also provide value for the design and testing of bidirectional brain computer interface systems. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Currently, most behavioral tasks used in motor neurophysiology studies require primates to make short-duration, stereotyped movements that do not necessitate sensory feedback. To improve our understanding of sensorimotor integration, and to engineer meaningful artificial sensory feedback systems for brain-computer interfaces, it is crucial to have a task that requires sensory feedback for good control. The critical stability task demands that sensory information be used to guide long-duration movements.
Motor planning perturbation: muscle activation and reaction time
Authors: Delmas Stefan , Casamento-Moran Agostina , Park Seoung Hoon , Yacoubi Basma , Christou Evangelos A. 
Published: June 2018

Reaction time (RT) is the time interval between the appearance of a stimulus and initiation of a motor response. Within RT, two processes occur, selection of motor goals and motor planning. An unresolved question is whether perturbation to the motor planning component of RT slows the response and alters the voluntary activation of muscle. The purpose of this study was to determine how the modulation of muscle activity during an RT response changes with motor plan perturbation. Twenty-four young adults (20.5 ±1.1 yr, 13 women) performed 15 trials of an isometric RT task with ankle dorsiflexion using a sinusoidal anticipatory strategy (10–20% maximum voluntary contraction). We compared the processing part of the RT and modulation of muscle activity from 10 to 60 Hz of the tibialis anterior (primary agonist) when the stimulus appeared at the trough or at the peak of the sinusoidal task. We found that RT ( P = 0.003) was longer when the stimulus occurred at the peak compared with the trough. During the time of the reaction, the electromyography (EMG) power from 10 to 35 Hz was less at the peak than the trough ( P = 0.019), whereas the EMG power from 35 to 60 Hz was similar between the peak and trough ( P = 0.92). These results suggest that perturbation to motor planning lengthens the processing part of RT and alters the voluntary activation of the muscle by decreasing the relative amount of power from 10 to 35 Hz. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We aimed to determine whether perturbation to motor planning would alter the speed and muscle activity of the response. We compared trials when a stimulus appeared at the peak or trough of an oscillatory reaction time task. When the stimulus occurred at the trough, participants responded faster, with greater force, and less EMG power from 10-35 Hz. We provide evidence that motor planning perturbation slows the response and alters the voluntary activity of the muscle.
Control of redundant pointing movements involving the wrist and forearm
Authors: Dorman Garrett R. , Davis Kevin C. , Peaden Allan W. , Charles Steven K. 
Published: June 2018

The musculoskeletal system can move in more ways than are strictly necessary, allowing many tasks to be accomplished with a variety of limb configurations. Why some configurations are preferred has been a focus of motor control research, but most studies have focused on shoulder-elbow or whole arm movements. This study focuses on movements involving forearm pronation-supination (PS), wrist flexion-extension (FE), and wrist radial-ulnar deviation (RUD) and elucidates how these three degrees of freedom (DOF) combine to perform the common task of pointing, which only requires two DOF. Although pointing is more sensitive to FE and RUD than to PS and could be easily accomplished with FE and RUD alone, subjects tend to involve a small amount of PS. However, why we choose this behavior has been unknown and is the focus of this paper. With the use of a second-order model with lumped parameters, we tested a number of plausible control strategies involving minimization of work, potential energy, torque, and path length. None of these control schemes robustly predicted the observed behavior. However, an alternative control scheme, hypothesized to control the DOF that were most important to the task (FE and RUD) and ignore the less important DOF (PS), matched the observed behavior well. In particular, the behavior observed in PS appears to be a mechanical side effect caused by unopposed interaction torques. We conclude that moderately sized pointing movements involving the wrist and forearm are controlled by ignoring forearm rotation even though this strategy does not robustly minimize work, potential energy, torque, or path length. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Many activities require us to point our hands in a given direction using wrist and forearm rotations. Although there are infinitely many ways to do this, we tend to follow a stereotyped pattern. Why we choose this pattern has been unknown and is the focus of this paper. After testing a variety of hypotheses, we conclude that the pattern results from a simplifying strategy in which we focus on wrist rotations and ignore forearm rotation.