bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ratings of Performance in Multisource Feedback: Comparing Performance Theories of Residents and Nurses
Authors: Tariq Muhammad , Govaerts Marjan , Afzal Azam , Ali Syed Ahsan , Zehra Tabassum 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background Multisource feedback (MSF) is increasingly being used in assessing trainee performance and its most crucial element are the raters. However there is very little literature about rater behavior in MSF. Raters use multidimensional conceptualizations to distinguish between various behaviors and sub competencies when assessing trainee performance in work settings, also called performance theories. This may not only explain assessor variability in Multi Source Feedback, but also result in differing acceptance (and use) of assessment data for developmental purposes. The purpose of this study was to explore performance theories of various assessor groups (residents and nurses) when assessing performance of residents.Methods The study was conducted at the Aga Khan University in the Department of Medicine. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used. Quantitatively, 103 MSF self-ratings by the residents were included. In the qualitative part of the study, a constructivist, inductive research approach was used and conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 nurses and 15 residents involved in Internal Medicine residency training at Aga Khan University (AKU; Pakistan) to explore performance theories. Results Principle Component Analysis of the quantitative data showed a single construct identified as professional behavior (Cronbach’s α = .91). Seven major themes related to performance theories emerged from the qualitative data, namely; communication skills, patient care, accessibility, teamwork skills, responsibility, medical knowledge and professional attitude. There were considerable overlaps, but also meaningful differences in the performance theories of residents and the nurses, especially with respect to accessibility, teamwork and knowledge. Conclusion Our findings suggest that different assessor groups (i.e. residents and nurses) may hold different performance theories when evaluating resident performance. Our results further our understanding of assessor source effects in MSF. Implications of our findings are related to implementation of MSF, and based on our finding we revised the MSF instrument.
Risk factors for HIV infection among married couples in Rakai, Uganda: A cross-sectional study
Authors: Nabukenya Anne M. , Nambuusi Aminah , Matovu Joseph KB 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background: Evidence suggests that married couples are at an elevated risk of HIV infection. We explored the risk factors for HIV infection among married couples in settings with differing HIV prevalence in Rakai, Uganda.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 664 heterosexual couples living in three HIV prevalence strata (low: 9-11.2%; medium: 11.4-20% or high HIV prevalence: 21% or higher) in Rakai District, south-western Uganda, between November 2013 and February 2014. Data were collected on socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics from all consenting adults and aggregated to allow for couple-level analyses. We conducted bivariate and multivariable Logistic regression to assess the factors that were independently associated with HIV infection among married couples.Results: Of the 664 couples, 6.4% ( n =42) were in HIV-discordant relationships; 5.8% ( n =39) were in concordant HIV-positive relationships while 87.8% ( n =583) were in concordant HIV-negative relationships. At the bivariate analysis, we found that individuals residing in a high HIV prevalence stratum had 4 times the odds of living as part of an HIV infected couple (odds ratio [OR]=4.29; 95% CI:2.95 6.25) than those in other lower HIV prevalence strata. Individuals who had been in at least three previous couple relationships were six times more likely to be part of an HIV infected couple (OR=6.25, 95% CI:4.11, 9.17) than their counterparts. After adjusting for potential cofounders, living in a high HIV prevalence stratum (Adjusted OR [AOR] =2.31, 95% CI: 1.52, 3.52) and being in a second (AOR=3.32, 95% CI: 2, 33, 4.70), third or higher order relationship (AOR=3.79, 95% CI: 2.29, 6.28) were associated with couple HIV infection. Individuals that had stayed together for six or more years had 28% odds of being part of an HIV infected couple (AOR = 0.28; 95%CI: 0.18, 0.43).Conclusion: The risk factors associated with HIV infection in married couples were living in a high HIV prevalence stratum and having a higher number of previous couple relationships. These findings suggest a need for pre-marital couples’ HIV testing to reduce on the number of relationships that form when one or both partners are already infected with HIV.
Effect of Bowel Preparation Volume in Inpatient Colonoscopy: Results of a Prospective, Randomized, Comparative Pilot Study
Authors: Hernandez Patricia V , Horsley-Silva Jennifer L. , Snyder Diana L. , Baffy Noemi , Atia Mary , Koepke Laura , Buras Matthew R. , Lim Elisabeth S. , Ruff Kevin , Umar Sarah B. , Islam Sameer , Ramirez Francisco C. 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background: Inpatient status has been shown to be a predictor of poor bowel preparation for colonoscopy; however, the optimal colon cleansing regimen protocol for hospitalized patients is unknown. Our aim was to compare the efficacy of bowel preparation volume size in hospitalized patients undergoing inpatient colonoscopy.Methods: This prospective, single blinded (endoscopist), randomized controlled trial was conducted as a pilot study at a tertiary referral medical center. Hospitalized patients undergoing inpatient colonoscopy were assigned randomly to receive a high, medium, or low-volume solution. Data collection included colon preparation quality based on the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale and a questionnaire given to all subjects, in which we evaluated the ability to completely finish bowel preparation and adverse effects (unpleasant taste, nausea, and vomiting). Results: Twenty-five colonoscopies were performed in 25 subjects. Patients who received low-volume prep averaged a higher mean total BBPS (7.4, SD 1.62), in comparison to patients who received high-volume (6.6, SD 2.19) and medium-volume prep (6.9, SD 1.55), P = 0.64. The low-volume group scored unpleasant taste as 0.6 (0.74), while the high-volume group gave unpleasant taste a score of 2.2 (0.97) and the medium-volume group gave a score of 2.1 (1.36), P < 0.01.Conclusion: Although not statistically significant, a low-volume colon preparation showed a trend of equivalent quality of bowel preparation measured by BBPS in comparison to traditional volume regimens, with less unpleasant taste, which may contribute to better patient compliance and therefore better bowel preparation in the inpatient setting. Further more robust studies are required to confirm these findings.Trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov NCT01978509
Identifying hub genes associated with clinical characteristicsin IgA nephropathy by Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis
Authors: Yang Chengyu , Li Chenyu , Zhao Long , Zhou Bin , Man Xiaofei , Bu Quandong , Luo Congjuan , Shen Xuefei , Jiang Wei , Luan Hong , Che Lin , Wang Yanfei , Xu Yan 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background: Clinically, IgA nephropathy has a variety of symptoms including paroxysmal gross hematuria, nephritic and nephrotic syndrome. This study aimed at investigating hub geneand genes modular related to IgA nephropathy clinical characteristics by using weighted gene co-expression network analysis combining clinical, microarray and network database parameters.
Methods: We collected 32 human samples from the European Renal cDNA Bank and used RMA method to preprocess the data and utilize the limma package to obtain differentially expressed gene in renal interstitium and glomeruli. We used the WGCNA package to construct the gene co-expression of differential expression genes and identify hub genes associated with clinical characteristics in renal interstitium and glomeruli, respectively. Gene ontology enrichment analysis and KEGG analysis for hub genes which associated with clinical characteristics were performed by DAVID. PPI information was acquired from STRING.
Results: For glomeruli, 1470 genes differentially expressed between IgA nephropathy patients and healthy control, containing 10 hub genes associated with age, 8 hub genes associated with sex, 48 hub genes associated with Bp enrichd in ERK1 and ERK2 cascade and Rap1 signaling pathway, 223 hub genes associated with BMI enrich in organic acid catabolic process and fatty acid degradation pathway, 136 hub genes associated GFR enriched in immune response and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, 82 hub genes associated with proteinuria enriched in extracellular matrix organization and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. In tubulointerstitium, there were 480 genes differentially expressed between IgA nephropathy patients and healthy control. Among 480 DEGs, 6 hub genes associated with age, 15 hub genes associated with sex, 35 hub genes associated with Bp enrichd in positive regulation of apoptotic process, 87 hub genes associated with GFR enriched in negative regulation of macromolecule metabolic process and RNA transport, 33 hub genes associated with proteinuria enriched in regulation of apoptotic process and FoxO signaling pathway. PPI enrichment analysis shown that all hub genes sets are biologically connected cluster.
Conclusions: We made a preliminary investigation on molecular mechanisms of relationship between IgA nephropathy and clinical characteristics and identified hub genes and pathways closely related with BMI, GFR and Proteinuria in IgA nephropathy by a series of bioinformatics analysis.
Joint Longitudinal Data Analysis in detecting Predictors of Hypertension and Type2 Diabetes among adults receiving treatment at Felege Hiwot Teaching and Specialized Hospital, North-western Ethiopia
Authors: Tegegne Awoke Seyou , Alene Getu Degu 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background Hypertension is one of the chronic diseases with major health problems over the centuries due to its significant contribution to the global health burden. It is familiar that the hypertensive patients are also exposed to other diseases like diabetes in which the two are highly associated to each other. The objective of current investigation was to identify longitudinal predictors of hypertension and type2 diabetes for adult patients receiving treatments at Felege Hiwot Teaching and Specialized Hospital, North western Ethiopia.Methods In this study, 748 hypertensive and type2 diabetic adult patients were randomly selected using systematic sampling technique. A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted on the selected patients to identify predictors of hypertension and type2 diabetes. Patients were receiving treatments related to both hypertension and type2 diabetes.Results The current investigation revealed that age and weight of patients were positively and significantly associated with existence of hypertension and type2 diabetes whereas; visiting times were negatively associated with development of the two response variables. Rural patients, patients who are smoking, drinking alcohols and patients with family disease history were joint predictors for existence variables of interests. The interaction of visiting times * sex, visiting times *residence area and age *sex of patients were also significant factors for the existence of response variables.Conclusion Hypertensive patients living in rural areas and those who are drinking and smoking were highly affected by the existence of type2 diabetes. Awareness should be created to those hypertensive and type2 diabetic patients to attend properly their treatment as prescribed by the health staff. They should also be advised to checkup their hypertension (systolic/ diastolic) and diabetes of type2 regularly.
Vitamin D Deficiency in Non-Autoimmune Hypothyroidism: A case-control study
Authors: Ahi Salma , Dehdar Mohammad Reza , Hatami Naser 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Objectives:
Although in many studies, the relationship between autoimmune hypothyroidism (Hashimoto) and Vitamin D deficiency was shown, no research has been performed on the role of vitamin D in non-autoimmune hypothyroidism.
Design:
This was a Retrospective case–control study in Endocrinology clinic of Jahrom (south of Iran). The patients with Hashimoto (n=633) and non-Hashimoto hypothyroidism (n=305), along with a control group (n=200) were evaluated. 25(OH)D level, T3 and T4 levels were studied and Anti TPO and Anti TG tests were performed. The results of vitamin D level were analyzed and interpreted using SPSS in terms of the cause of hypothyroidism (immune and non-immune).
Results:
The results of the study showed a significantly lower level of vitamin D in both immune and non-immune Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) in comparison to healthy controls (P<0.05). We observed a significant inverse correlation between the vitamin D and TGAb level (p=0.001, r=-0.261) and a direct correlation of vitamin D with TSH level (p=0.008, r=0.108) in HT patients.
Conclusion:
Finally, the results indicated that non-autoimmune hypothyroidism, as well as HT, is associated with vitamin D deficiency. The role of vitamin D deficiency in HT was thought to be in the association of higher autoantibody (TGAb) level; while, there should be further studies determining vitamin D deficiency's role in non-immune hypothyroidism.
Investigating the role of opiorphin genes in prostate cancer and the possible genetic mechanisms by which they modulate tumor growth and androgen-sensitivity
Authors: Mukherjee Amarnath , Park Augene , Wang Li , Davies Kelvin Paul 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background The opiorphin family of genes (represented in humans by ProL1, hSMR3A and hSMR3B) encode peptides which act as potent neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibitors. Because modulated NEP activity is associated with cancer development, several years ago a review postulated that dysregulated opiorphin expression may be involved in oncogenesis. This has recently been supported by reports associating changes in expression of opiorphin-encoding genes with breast and oropharyngeal cancer. Based on these reports, we initiated the studies described here to determine if opiorphin-encoding genes play a role in prostate cancer (PrCa).Methods We screened publicly available data bases for evidence of an association between PrCa and opiorphin gene expression and then confirmed these findings using PrCa tissue arrays. Cell-lines representing early (LNCaP) and late stage (PC3) PrCa were engineered to overexpress ProL1 and the growth of xenografted tumors from these lines compared to parent cell lines in male and female nude mice. The changes in global gene expression caused by overexpression of ProL1 in these cell lines was determined by RNA-Seq to identify possible genetic mechanisms related to growth and progression of PrCa.Results Two datasets available on GEO showed an association between upregulation of opiorphin-encoding genes and PrCa, which was confirmed using tissue arrays. Xenografted tumors derived from PC3 engineered to overexpress ProL1 had an initial growth advantage over parent cell lines whilst tumors derived from LNCaP cells overexpressing ProL1 had impaired growth in female mice. Global gene expression analysis suggested that overexpression of ProL1 causes modulated expression of genes involved in signaling, angiogenesis and steroid response pathways. These pathways might be involved in overcoming the hypoxic barrier of the growing tumor and the development of androgen insensitivity.Conclusions This is the first report to show an association between upregulation of opiorphin-encoding genes and PrCa and that their overexpression in PrCa cell-lines modulates tumor growth in mouse xenograft models. Overexpression of opiorphin-encoding genes modulates genetic pathways that previous reports have associated with PrCa growth, suggesting possible genetic mechanisms for tumor development.
Proportion and Determinants of Repeat Induced Abortion Among Women Seeking Abortion Care Services At Debre Markos Town Health Institutions, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia, 2017
Authors: Mekonen Dawit Gebeyehu , Waktola Mahlet Imana , Nigussie Tewodros Seyoum , Cherkose Endeshaw Adimasu , Abate Addisu Taye 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Objective the aim of this study was to assess the proportion and determinants of repeat induced abortion among women seeking abortion care services at Debremarkos town health institutions, Amhara regional state, Ethiopia, 2017.Result from the total 567-sample size, 547 women were participated in the study making a response rate of 96.5%. In this study 191 woman reported that they had at least one previous abortion, making the proportion of repeat induced abortion 34.9%. In multivariable logistic regression analysis; illiteracy (AOR=8.45, 95%CI; 1.85, 36.49), living in an urban area (AOR=5.14, 95%CI; 2.29, 11.53), having multiple sexual partner (AOR=6.16, 95%CI; 3.25, 11.68), consuming alcohol (AOR=2.77, 95%CI; 1.52, 5.05) and having a history of physical violence by a male partner (AOR=2.68, 95%CI; 1.45, 4.94) were significantly associated with repeat induced abortion at p value less than 0.05.
The clinical significance of IL-6s and IL-27s in Bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from children with mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia
Authors: Zhao Jie , Li Yuyun , Zhang Wen 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Backgrounds: IL-6 is associated with the severity of mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP). But the relationship of IL-27 and MPP was unknown. Methods: 98 patients with MPP younger than 14 years old were enrolled in this study and divided into mild cases and severe cases by severity of disease, MP single infection group and MP mixed infection group by MP mixed-infection types, and low MP DNA loads group and high MP DNA loads group by MP DNA loads respectively. 15 children with foreign bronchus bodies were also enrolled as control. The levels of IL-6 and IL-27 in BALFs collected from these children were assayed by ELISA. Results: There were significant differences in the levels of IL-6 in BALFs from patients between 3 patient groups, respectively ( P ﹤0.05). Compared with the levels of IL-6 in BALFs from control, the levels of IL-6 in BALFs from the 5 groups were significantly higher ( P ﹤0.05) except that from low MP DNA loads group. The levels of IL-27 in BALFs from MP mixed infection group were significantly higher than those from MP single infection group and control( P ﹤0.05). Conclusion: IL-6 was firmly associated with MPP and had potential application in clinical practice while IL-27 was not associated with MP infection.
Conserved DNA-binding motif loci reflect functional transcription factor binding sites
Authors: Kuno Akihiro , Takahashi Satoru 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background
Transcription factors (TF) regulate gene expression by binding to specific DNA elements called DNA-binding motifs, or motifs. The motifs at a certain genomic locus can offer clues for predicting TFs that control target genes. However, since motifs are short nucleotide sequences and many TFs share similar motifs, they are distributed across the whole genome, making it difficult to investigate candidate functional DNA elements. Because previous studies have reported that TF binding sites are highly conserved among mammals, we focused on the conserved motif loci between humans and mice to identify functional DNA elements.

Results
Our results showed that conserved motif loci overlapping considerably with TF binding sites at both promoter and intergenic regions compared to nonconserved motif loci. In addition, conserved motif loci were significantly enriched in enhancer regions and enabled us to predict GATA4 binding to the heart-specific enhancer. Moreover, the integration of ChIP-seq and RNA-seq glioblastoma data revealed that genes with ASCL1 binding at the conserved ASCL1-related motifs were associated with NOTCH signaling, which is a critical pathway in glioblastoma.

Conclusions
These results suggest that conserved motif loci can reflect gene regulatory elements and can be utilized to predict candidate TFs that regulate genes of interest. The conserved motif data are publicly available at https://osf.io/jhfnb/?view_only=1c82bc9963ee45b799be42512abb08d1.
NaCl-responsive ROS scavenging and energy supply in alkaligrass callus revealed from proteomic analysis
Authors: Zhang Yongxue , Zhang Yue , Yu Juanjuan , Zhang Heng , Wang Liyue , Wang Sining , Guo Siyi , Miao Yuchen , Chen Sixue , Li Ying , Dai Shaojun 
Published: October 2019

Abstract
Background: Salinity has obvious effects on plant growth and crop productivity. The salt-responsive mechanisms have been well studied in differentiated organs (e.g., leaves, roots, and stems), but not in unorganized cells such as callus. High-throughput quantitative proteomics approaches have been used to investigate callus development, somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, and stress response in numbers of plant species. However, they have not been applied to callus from monocotyledonous halophyte alkaligrass ( Puccinellia tenuifora ).
Results: The alkaligrass callus growth, viability, and membrane integrity were disturbed by 50 mM and 150 mM NaCl treatments. Callus cells accumulated the proline, soluble sugar, and glycine betaine for the maintenance of osmotic homeostasis. Importantly, the activities of diverse ROS scavenging enzymes (e.g., SOD, APX, POD, GPX, MDHAR, and GR) and antioxidants (e.g., ASA, DHA, and GSH) were all induced by salinity. The abundance pattern of 55 salt-responsive proteins indicated that salt signal transduction, cytoskeleton, ROS scavenging, energy supply, gene expression, protein synthesis and processing, as well as other basic metabolism processes were altered in callus to cope with stress.
Conclusions: The undifferentiated callus exhibited unique salinity-responsive mechanisms for ROS scavenging and energy supply. Activation of the POD pathway and AsA-GSH cycle was universal in callus and differentiated organs, but salinity-induced SOD pathway and salinity-reduced CAT pathway in callus were different from those in leaves and roots. To cope with salinity, callus mainly relied on glycolysis, but not the TCA cycle, for energy supply.