bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ultrasound-guided vs. fluoro-guided axillary venous access for cardiac implantable electronic devices: a patient-based meta-analysis
Authors: Vitali Francesco , Zuin Marco , Charles Paul , Jiménez-Díaz Javier , Sheldon Seth H , Tagliari Ana Paula , Migliore Federico , Malagù Michele , Montoy Mathieu , Sobrino Felipe Higuera , Courtney Alex M , Kochi Adriano Nunes , Fareh Samir , Bertini Matteo 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Aims
The use of ultrasound (US)-guided venous puncture for cardiac pacing/defibrillation lead placement may minimize the risk of periprocedural complications and radiation exposure. However, none of the published studies have been sufficiently powered to recommend this approach as the standard of care. We compare the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided axillary venous puncture (US-AVP) vs. fluoroscopy-guided access for cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) by performing an individual patient data meta-analysis based on previously published studies.

Methods and results
We conducted a thorough literature search encompassing longitudinal investigations (five randomized and one prospective studies) reporting data on X-ray-guided and US-AVP for CIED procedures. The primary endpoint was to compare the safety of the two techniques. Secondary endpoints included the success rate of each technique, the necessity of switching to alternative methods, the time needed to obtain venous access, X-ray exposure, and the occurrence of periprocedural complications. Six longitudinal eligible studies were identified including 700 patients (mean age 74.9 ± 12.1 years, 68.4% males). The two approaches for venous cannulation showed a similar success rate. The use of an X-ray-guided approach significantly increased the risk of inadvertent arterial punctures (OR: 2.15, 95% CI: 2.10–2.21, P = 0.003), after adjustment for potential confounders. Conversely, a US-AVP approach reduces time to vascular access, radiation exposure, and the number of attempts to vascular access.

Conclusion
The US-AVP enhances safety by reducing radiation exposure and time to vascular access while maintaining a low rate of major complications compared to the X-ray-guided approach.

Clinical trial registration
PROSPERO identifier: CRD42024539623.
MegaLMM improves genomic predictions in new environments using environmental covariates
Authors: Hu Haixiao , Rincent Renaud , Runcie Daniel E 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Multienvironment trials (METs) are crucial for identifying varieties that perform well across a target population of environments. However, METs are typically too small to sufficiently represent all relevant environment-types, and face challenges from changing environment-types due to climate change. Statistical methods that enable prediction of variety performance for new environments beyond the METs are needed. We recently developed MegaLMM, a statistical model that can leverage hundreds of trials to significantly improve genetic value prediction accuracy within METs. Here, we extend MegaLMM to enable genomic prediction in new environments by learning regressions of latent factor loadings on Environmental Covariates (ECs) across trials. We evaluated the extended MegaLMM using the maize Genome-To-Fields dataset, consisting of 4,402 varieties cultivated in 195 trials with 87.1% of phenotypic values missing, and demonstrated its high accuracy in genomic prediction under various breeding scenarios. Furthermore, we showcased MegaLMM’s superiority over univariate GBLUP in predicting trait performance of experimental genotypes in new environments. Finally, we explored the use of higher-dimensional quantitative ECs and discussed when and how detailed environmental data can be leveraged for genomic prediction from METs. We propose that MegaLMM can be applied to plant breeding of diverse crops and different fields of genetics where large-scale linear mixed models are utilized.
Constitucionalismo transformador y derecho internacional de inversionesTransformative constitutionalism and international investment law
Authors: Bernal Pulido Carlos 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
International investment law faces five core legitimacy challenges: the state-dependency challenge, the human and constitutional rights challenge, the equality challenge, the standard of protection challenge, and the investor state dispute settlement system challenge.
This article endorses the claim that constitutional courts can contribute to the solution of those legitimacy challenges when they exercise the power to review the constitutionality of international investment treaties. From a transformative perspective, constitutional courts of host states can: (i) create public deliberation and raise awareness concerning the legitimacy challenges of international investment law; (ii) grant equal treatment to national and foreign investors; (iii) require governments to negotiate less open-textured provisions in international investment treaties; (iv) safeguard the protection of human and constitutional rights, and other common goods; and (v) raise due process, predictability, transparency, and proportionality standards concerning the investor state dispute settlement system. These judicial undertakings can strengthen the bargaining power of host executive branch authorities in the negotiation of international investment treaties and can narrow down the space of discretion of international investment arbitral tribunals. Both outcomes could render international investment treatises’ creation and enforcement more legitimate.
The Moduli Space of Twisted Laplacians and Random Matrix Theory
Authors: Marklof Jens , Monk Laura 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Rudnick recently proved that the spectral number variance for the Laplacian of a large compact hyperbolic surface converges, in a certain scaling limit and when averaged with respect to the Weil–Petersson measure on moduli space, to the number variance of the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble of random matrix theory. In this article we extend Rudnick’s approach to show convergence to the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble for twisted Laplacians that break time-reversal symmetry, and to the Gaussian Symplectic Ensemble for Dirac operators. This addresses a question of Naud, who obtained analogous results for twisted Laplacians on high degree random covers of a fixed compact surface.
Steering a middle path in Sino-US rivalry: contending middlepowerism and South Korea’s challenges
Authors: Shin Soon-Ok 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Deepening Sino-US rivalry is motivating Cold War-style bloc diplomacy, undermining post-1945 institutionalism. This presents extensive challenges to states at the crossroads where the interests of Beijing and Washington collide. How do those states—loosely, ‘middle powers’—maintain their relevance in a changing order? Can a middle-power strategy outweigh the risk of being side-lined by US-China rivalry? Is the middle-power concept still relevant today? The concept evolved from initial formulations of ‘good international citizen’ committed to multilateral institution-building. But a new bifurcated world requires redefinition of middlepowerism. This article proposes a comparative analytical template to interrogate middle-power diplomacy. It empirically examines how South Korea defines national interest and how it seeks a compelling diplomatic edge at a time of great power politics. The article concludes by examining South Korea’s future international challenges.
Studying Narratives in International Relations
Authors: Freistein Katja , Gadinger Frank , Groth Stefan 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Many scholars in international relations (IR) share an interest in narratives. With few, notable exceptions, IR scholars seem to lack clear methodological guidelines on how to conceptualize and study narratives in IR. We therefore develop a minimal definition of narratives and introduce a conceptual framework that shows how narrative analysis can be applied to questions and concepts within IR. We introduce narrative analysis as a multi-modal approach, which also draws on methodological insights from visual analysis, discourse analysis, and practice theory. The aim of the article is pedagogical, namely to translate insights from narratology to studies in IR and to show how everyday sources of the political, such as pop culture or social media, can be meaningfully analyzed. We argue that such an interpretive analysis implies adopting a critical and reflective stance to explore how narratives are shaped, how they appeal to specific political audiences, and whose interests are served by dominant political narratives. Such a perspective strongly resonates with current research debates in IR on practices, discourse, visuality, and emotions and puts a strong emphasis on power relations.
Contesting the Securitization of Migration: NGOs, IGOs, and the Security Backlash
Authors: Murray Jean-Pierre 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Studies of migration-related security concerns have focused on the emergence of these concerns through securitization or their potential dissolution through desecuritization. This paper challenges the conventional view of these processes—securitization and desecuritization—as oppositional and mutually exclusive. Instead, it argues that they are imbricated in complex ways in an arena of contestation where actors vie for legitimacy and justify their claims through ongoing actions and reactions. Focusing on the Global South case of securitized migration in the Dominican Republic, this paper conceptualizes desecuritization not as a discrete outcome measured by success or failure, but as a dynamic process evolving through interactions with securitization. By examining the role of non-state actors in contesting securitized policies, the paper reveals that such contestation can paradoxically intensify securitization through a “security backlash” that delegitimizes these actors and discredits their rights-based claims. This dynamic underscores the “resilience” of securitization amidst persistent contestation. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates desecuritization as iterative contestation rather than static outcomes, emphasizing the agency of non-state actors in shaping security narratives and practices while acknowledging their limitations against powerful state actors. These insights from a study of South–South migration extend the application of the securitization framework beyond convenient Western contexts and challenge perceived geographic boundaries.
Over-the-counter antibiotics compromising aminoglycoside activity
Authors: Robertson A , Coutinho G , Mantzourani E , Szomolay B , Pillay T , Shephard A , Maillard J Y 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Introduction
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global issue that needs addressing. While antibiotic stewardship has improved often by restricting antibiotic use, some antibiotics that are still sold legally over the counter (OTC), notably in sore throat medications. Recent findings suggest OTC antibiotics could trigger cross-resistance to antibiotics used in clinical treatments, whether systemic or topical. Here we investigated the impact of three antibiotics contained in OTC sore throat medicines on emerging AMR in vitro.

Methods
Bacterial pathogens were exposed to a bactericidal concentration of an aminoglycoside in the presence or absence of a during-use concentration of bacitracin, gramicidin or tyrothricin in a time–kill assay. Damage to the bacterial membrane was also investigated by measuring potassium leakage and membrane potential alteration post-OTC antibiotic exposure.

Results
Gramicidin (15 µg/mL) significantly decreased the bactericidal activity of amikacin, tobramycin or gentamicin in Acinetobacter baumannii. It also decreased gentamicin bactericidal activity in Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, while tyrothricin decreased the aminoglycoside efficacy in E. cloacae and E. coli. Gramicidin significantly decreased bacterial membrane potential and caused significant potassium leakage.

Conclusion
Gramicidin and to some extent tyrothricin impacted aminoglycoside efficacy by affecting membrane potential, which is essential for aminoglycosides uptake. Thus, some OTC antibiotics can interfere with aminoglycoside activity, which could in turn affect treatment efficacy. Although the likelihood of OTC antibiotics and aminoglycosides being used at the same time might not be common, this research highlights one potential reason for OTC antibiotics’ usage to result in treatment failure and their contribution to AMR development.
Patient characteristics and health system encounters of decedents not marked deceased in the electronic health record
Authors: Sanz Vidorreta Fernando Javier , Dudley Michael T , Walling Anne M , Tseng Chi-Hong , Hogarth Michael , Wenger Neil S 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Objectives
Health systems are increasingly accountable for patients and require accurate electronic health record (EHR) vital status. We recently demonstrated that 19% of seriously ill primary care patients in one system were not marked dead in the EHR and 80% of these decedents had an encounter or appointment outstanding after death. Herein we describe the mechanism of identifying decedents whose death is not captured at the level of the EHR, characterize these decedents, and describe medications refilled after death.

Materials and Methods
Description of multistep process to identify deceased patients not marked dead in the EHR among a cohort of seriously ill primary care patients including public death file matching, utilization analysis, and chart abstraction. We compared decedents not marked dead in the EHR to known decedents and described pharmacy requests and refills.

Results
Nearly 90% of encounters and appointments occurred because the health system EHR did not record the death although 11% of these encounters contained condolences or death notifications. Decedents not marked dead in the EHR were older and lived in more vulnerable areas than those marked dead. Of 146 refill requests after death, 88 medications were authorized.

Discussion and Conclusion
Matching with a limited public death file is an inadequate solution to inaccurate vital status. Better workflows are needed to capture deaths about which clinicians and staff are aware, but will identify only a fraction of the decedents inaccurately listed as alive. Efforts are needed to connect EHRs with more specific sources of linkable decedent information.
The impact of a primary aldosteronism predictive model in secondary hypertension decision support
Authors: Mack Peter B , Cole Casey , Lee Mintaek , Peterson Lisa , Lundy Matthew , Hegarty Karen , Espinoza William 
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Objectives
To determine whether the addition of a primary aldosteronism (PA) predictive model to a secondary hypertension decision support tool increases screening for PA in a primary care setting.

Materials and Methods
One hundred fifty-three primary care clinics were randomized to receive a secondary hypertension decision support tool with or without an integrated predictive model between August 2023 and April 2024.

Results
For patients with risk scores in the top 1 percentile, 63/2896 (2.2%) patients where the alert was displayed in model clinics had the order set launched, while 12/1210 (1.0%) in no-model clinics had the order set launched (P = .014). Nineteen of 2896 (0.66%) of these highest risk patients in model clinics had an aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR) ordered compared to 0/1210 (0.0%) patients in no-model clinics (P = .010). For patients with scores not in the top 1 percentile, 438/20 493 (2.1%) patients in model clinics had the order set launched compared to 273/17 820 (1.5%) in no-model clinics (P &lt; .001). One hundred twenty-four of 20 493 (0.61%) in model clinics had an ARR ordered compared to 34/17 820 (0.19%) in the no-model clinics (P &lt; .001).

Discussion
The addition of a PA predictive model to secondary hypertension alert displays and triggering criteria along with order set displays and order preselection criteria results in a statistically and clinically significant increase in screening for PA, a condition that clinicians insufficiently screen for currently.

Conclusion
Addition of a predictive model for an under-screened condition to traditional clinical decision support may increase screening for these conditions.
Intramuscular fat % in the loin of Australian pork demonstrates a stronger relationship with computed tomography lean and fat % than abattoir measures of P2 and lean %
Authors: Anderson Fiona , Corlett Maddison T , Williams Andrew , Gardner Graham E 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Intramuscular fat (IMF) % is an important measure of pork eating quality, with reduced IMF % linked to the selection of pigs with low backfat P2 thickness and more muscular genotypes over several decades. This experiment tested the association of IMF % from the M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum of 345 pigs at 3 abattoirs (sites) with computed tomography (CT) determined carcass composition (% lean or fat), accredited abattoir measures of P2 backfat (mm; Hennessy Grading Probe [HGP], AutoFom III, and PorkScan Lite) and the lean % output from abattoir devices (HGP, AutoFom III, and PorkScan Plus). There was a negative relationship between carcass CT lean % with IMF % at all sites (P &lt; 0.05), with the strength of this relationship varying between sites. The strongest relationship was demonstrated at site 1 (R2 0.30, RMSE 0.59), and across a 4 SD range in the carcass lean % at each site, resulted in a decrease in loin IMF % of 1.56, 0.44, and 0.80. There was a positive relationship of carcass CT fat % with IMF %, with similar, albeit slightly stronger relationship to IMF than with CT lean %. In contrast, only one of the 3 sites with an accredited P2 measurement device demonstrated a significant association (P &lt; 0.05) with IMF %. This is the first time the associations of IMF % with carcass CT composition has been assessed alongside that of P2 backfat measurements from commercially deployed abattoir devices. Given P2 backfat is the key industry measure on which carcass value is determined in Australia, this experiment demonstrates the limitations that P2 has in measuring and monitoring the associations of carcass lean and fat % with IMF. Ideally, an independent measure of IMF % would allow for independent selection for lean % and IMF %; however, there is currently no commercial device that can measure pork IMF %.
Dietary full-fat or defatted black soldier fly larvae can replace protein sources with no detrimental effect on growth performance or intestinal health of nursery pigs
Authors: Song Yoon Soo , Ha Dong Uk , Park Kwanho , Kim Beob Gyun 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
This work aimed to determine the effects of dietary full-fat or defatted black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to replace protein sources on growth performance, blood parameters, intestinal morphology, and intestinal microbiota in nursery pigs and to investigate the effects of dietary defatted BSFL at up to 30% at the expense of protein sources on growth performance in nursery pigs. In Exp. 1, a total of 36 barrows with an initial body weight of 7.0 kg (SD = 0.8) were allotted to three dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with four replicate pens per treatment and three barrows per pen. A corn-soybean meal (SBM)-whey-based control diet was prepared with soy protein concentrate and fish meal as additional protein supplements. Two additional diets were prepared to include 20% full-fat BSFL or 20% defatted BSFL to replace soy protein concentrate and fish meal to maintain the same energy and nutrient concentrations in all diets. In the 28-d feeding trial, pigs fed the diet containing defatted BSFL tended to consume more feeds (P &lt; 0.10) than other groups during days 14 to 28 and the overall period. On day 28, the serum blood urea nitrogen in pigs fed the control diet was less (P &lt; 0.05) than that fed the full-fat or defatted BSFL, but fecal score and jejunal morphology did not differ among the treatment groups. Relative abundance of Mycoplasma in the ileal digesta was less (P &lt; 0.05) in the pigs fed the diet containing full-fat or defatted BSFL compared with the control group. In Exp. 2, a total of 192 pigs with an initial body weight of 7.8 (SD = 1.2 kg) were randomly allotted to one of four dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with six replicate pens per treatment and four barrows and four gilts per pen. A control diet was mainly based on corn, SBM, fermented SBM, fish meal, and spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP). Three additional diets were prepared to contain 10%, 20%, and 30% defatted BSFL to replace SBM, fermented SBM, fish meal, and SDPP to maintain for the same energy and nutrient concentrations. Average daily gain, average daily feed intake, gain:feed, and fecal score were not affected by increasing dietary defatted BSFL. Overall, dietary BSFL did not compromise growth performance or intestinal health in nursery pigs. BSFL can be used in nursery pig diets to replace other protein sources without negative effects.
Development and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers for Periplaneta americana (Blattodea: Blattidae)
Authors: Lim Li , Ab Majid Abdul Hafiz 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
The American cockroach, Periplaneta americana (Blattodea: Blattidae), is a prevalent urban pest with significant public health implications. This study aimed to develop and validate novel microsatellite markers to understand the genetic diversity and population genetic structure of P. americana. In this study, a total of 397,898 microsatellite markers were developed based on 24.6 million genomic DNA sequences. Twenty microsatellite markers were selected and amplified with varying numbers of alleles ranging from 0 to 35. Seven out of 20 markers were characterized for their polymorphism and amplification efficiency. The polymorphic information content (PIC) values of these markers were high (0.669 to 0.950) implying their effectiveness. These markers also revealed 7 to 35 alleles per locus across tested samples, highlighting their utility in assessing the extensive genetic variation within Periplaneta americana populations. These results provide insightful information that may be applied to the genetic analysis of the American cockroach population using the developed species-specific microsatellite marker.
Published questionnaires and clinical observation surveys on traumatic sheep myiasis: optimizing survey design and the integration of these two survey methods
Authors: Bambaradeniya Tharindu Bandara , Magni Paola Annarosa , Dadour Ian Robert 
Published: October 2024

Abstract
Questionnaires and clinical observations are significant components of human and veterinary epidemiology surveys, providing a comprehensive prognosis of the occurrence and prevalence of diseases. The information compiled by these two survey methods is equally important for establishing an epidemiological surveillance system for disease outbreak management. This review summarizes 57 previous surveys, including questionnaires and clinical observations on sheep myiasis globally from 1976 to 2023, with an emphasis on their methodologies and areas of findings. Overall, this review establishes a baseline understanding of the essential entomological and veterinary aspects required for designing questionnaires and clinical observation surveys on sheep myiasis. Additionally, it provides guidance for implementing future study protocols and proposes a farmer-based approach that integrates these techniques to achieve improved outcomes in mitigating sheep myiasis.