bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Validation of a fast semi-analytic method for surface-wave propagation in layered media
Authors: Brissaud Quentin , Tsai Victor C 
Published: September 2019

SUMMARYGreen’s functions provide an efficient way to model surface-wave propagation and estimate physical quantities for near-surface processes. Several surface-wave Green’s function approximations (far-field, no mode conversions and no higher mode surface waves) have been employed for numerous applications such as estimating sediment flux in rivers, determining the properties of landslides, identifying the seismic signature of debris flows or to study seismic noise through cross-correlations. Based on those approximations, simple empirical scalings exist to derive phase velocities and amplitudes for pure power-law velocity structures providing an exact relationship between the velocity model and the Green’s functions. However, no quantitative estimates of the accuracy of these simple scalings have been reported for impulsive sources in complex velocity structures. In this paper, we address this gap by comparing the theoretical predictions to high-order numerical solutions for the vertical component of the wavefield. The Green’s functions computation shows that attenuation-induced dispersion of phase and group velocity plays an important role and should be carefully taken into account to correctly describe how surface-wave amplitudes decay with distance. The comparisons confirm the general reliability of the semi-analytic model for power-law and realistic shear velocity structures to describe fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves in terms of characteristic frequencies, amplitudes and envelopes. At short distances from the source, and for large near-surface velocity gradients or high Q values, the low-frequency energy can be dominated by higher mode surface waves that can be captured by introducing additional higher mode Rayleigh-wave power-law scalings. We also find that the energy spectral density for realistic shear-velocity models close to piecewise power-law models can be accurately modelled using the same non-dimensional scalings. The frequency range of validity of each power-law scaling can be derived from the corresponding phase velocities. Finally, highly discontinuous near-surface velocity profiles can also be approximated by a combination of power-law scalings. Analytical Green’s functions derived from the non-dimensionalization provide a good estimate of the amplitude and variations of the energy distribution, although the predictions are quite poor around the frequency bounds of each power-law scaling.
Anisotropy as an indicator for reservoir changes: example from the Rotokawa and Ngatamariki geothermal fields, New Zealand
Authors: Mroczek Stefan , Savage Martha K , Hopp Chet , Sewell Steven M 
Published: September 2019

SUMMARYWe investigate the relation between geothermal field production and fracture density and orientation in the Ngatamariki and Rotokawa geothermal fields, located in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand using shear wave splitting (SWS). We determine the SWS parameters for 17 702 microseismic events across 38 stations spanning close to 4 yr from 2012 to 2015. We compare the strength of anisotropy to changes in field production and injection. We also compare the orientation of the anisotropy to in situ and regional measurements of maximum horizontal stress orientation. ($S_{\mathrm{ H}_{\mathrm{ max}}}$). Due to the volume of unique events (approximately 160 000), shear wave phases are picked automatically. We carry out automatic SWS measurements using the Multiple Filter Automatic Splitting Technique (MFAST). The SWS measurements are interpreted in the context of stress aligned microcracks. Outside both fields and within Ngatamariki, fast polarizations align with the NE–SW regional orientation of $S_{\mathrm{ H}_{\max}}$. Within Rotokawa a greater complexity is observed, with polarizations tending toward N–S. We observe increases in per cent anisotropy coinciding with the start of production/injection in Ngatamariki and then a later correlated drop in per cent anisotropy and vP/vS ratios in southern Ngatamariki as injection is shifted to the north. This relationship is consistent with pore fluid pressure within the reservoir being affected by local changes in production and injection of geothermal fluids causing cracks to open and close in response.
Imaging zero-offset 3-D P-cable data with CRS method
Authors: Glöckner M , Walda J , Dell S , Gajewski D , Karstens J , Kläschen D , Berndt C 
Published: September 2019

SUMMARYStandard seismic acquisition and processing require appropriate source–receiver offsets. P-cable technology represents the opposite, namely, very short source–receiver offsets at the price of increased spatial and lateral resolution with a high-frequency source. To use this advantage, a processing flow excluding offset information is required. This aim can be achieved with a processing tuned to diffractions because point diffractions scatter the same information in the offset and midpoint direction. Usually, diffractions are small amplitude events and a careful diffraction separation is required as a first step. We suggest the strategy to use a multiparameter stacking operator, for example, common-reflection surface, and stack along the midpoint direction. The obtained kinematic wave-front attributes are used to calculate time-migration velocities. A diffractivity map serves as a filter to refine the velocities. This strategy is applied to a 3-D P-cable data set to obtain a time-migrated image.
Inequalities in the benefits of national health insurance on financial protection from out-of-pocket payments and access to health services: cross-sectional evidence from Ghana
Authors: Fiestas Navarrete Lucia , Ghislandi Simone , Stuckler David , Tediosi Fabrizio 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
A central pillar of universal health coverage (UHC) is to achieve financial protection from catastrophic health expenditure. There are concerns, however, that national health insurance programmes with premiums may not benefit impoverished groups. In 2003, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to introduce a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with progressively structured premium charges. In this study, we test the impact of being insured on utilization and financial risk protection compared with no enrolment, using the 2012–13 Ghana Living Standards Survey (n = 72 372). Consistent with previous studies, we observed that participating in health insurance significantly decreased the probability of unmet medical needs by 15 percentage points (p.p.) and that of incurring catastrophic out-of-pocket (OOP) health payments by 7 p.p. relative to no enrolment in the NHIS. Households living outside a 1-h radius to the nearest hospital had lower reductions in financial risk from excess OOP medical spending relative to households living closer (−5 p.p. vs −9 p.p.). We also find evidence that in Ghana, the scheme was highly pro-poor. Once insured, the poorest 40% of households experienced significantly larger improvements in medical utilization (18 p.p. vs. 8 p.p.) and substantively larger reductions in catastrophic OOP health expenditure (−10 p.p. vs. −6 p.p.) compared with that of the richest households. However, health insurance did not benefit vulnerable persons equally from financial risk. Once insured, poor, low-educated and self-employed households living far from hospitals had significantly lower reductions in catastrophic OOP medical spending compared with their counterparts living closer. Taken together, we show that enrolment in the NHIS is associated with improved financial protection but less so among geographically remote vulnerable groups. Efforts to boost not just insurance uptake but also health service delivery may be needed as a supplement for insurance schemes to accelerate progress towards UHC.
The impact of reimbursed user fee exemption of health centre outpatient consultations for the poor in pluralistic health systems: lessons from a quasi-experiment in two rural health districts in Cambodia
Authors: Korachais Catherine , Ir Por , Macouillard Elodie , Meessen Bruno 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Fees charged at the point of use are a barrier to the health services’ users, especially for the poorest. Two decades ago, Cambodia introduced the so-called health equity fund (HEF) strategy, a waiver scheme which enhances access to public health services for the poor without undermining the economic situation of facilities. Evidence suggests that hospital-based HEF effectively removed financial barriers and reduced out-of-pocket expenditures. There is less evidence on the effectiveness of the HEF when assistance is extended to the primary level of healthcare. This research explores the impact of a HEF extended to health centres in two rural health districts. Two household surveys and 16-month diary data allowed to assess the impact of the intervention on health-seeking behaviours and expenditure of poor households. Though HEF effectively removed user fees at public health facilities, health centre utilization of sick and poor people did not budge much in the intervention district; self-medication and private provider consultations remained the preferred health-seeking behaviours, by far, even if more expensive. Difference-in-difference estimates confirmed that HEF had a slight impact on health-seeking behaviours, but only for the subgroups of HEF beneficiaries living close to the health centre and ready to test their new entitlement. This research reminds on the importance of the context for the effectiveness of any policy: in a highly pluralistic health sector, waiving already low-user fees in public health centres may be insufficient to increase rapidly the use of those facilities and reduce catastrophic spending. In such context, apart from distance to health centres, perceived quality of services at the health centres, which was relatively low compared with other providers, also matters. Although the HEF scheme plays a role in improving perceived and objective quality of care, complementary means are to be deployed.
Individualized management of genetic diversity in Niemann-Pick C1 through modulation of the Hsp70 chaperone system
Authors: Wang Chao , Scott Samantha M , Sun Shuhong , Zhao Pei , Hutt Darren M , Shao Hao , Gestwicki Jason E , Balch William E 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Genetic diversity provides a rich repository for understanding the role of proteostasis in the management of the protein fold in human biology. Failure in proteostasis can trigger multiple disease states, affecting both human health and lifespan. Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) disease is a rare genetic disorder triggered by mutations in NPC1, a multi-spanning transmembrane protein that is trafficked through the exocytic pathway to late endosomes (LE) and lysosomes (Ly) (LE/Ly) to globally manage cholesterol homeostasis. Defects triggered by &gt;300 NPC1 variants found in the human population inhibit export of NPC1 protein from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and/or function in downstream LE/Ly, leading to cholesterol accumulation and onset of neurodegeneration in childhood. We now show that the allosteric inhibitor JG98, that targets the cytosolic Hsp70 chaperone/co-chaperone complex, can significantly improve the trafficking and post-ER protein level of diverse NPC1 variants. Using a new approach to model genetic diversity in human disease, referred to as variation spatial profiling, we show quantitatively how JG98 alters the Hsp70 chaperone/co-chaperone system to adjust the spatial covariance (SCV) tolerance and set-points on an amino acid residue-by-residue basis in NPC1 to differentially regulate variant trafficking, stability, and cholesterol homeostasis, results consistent with the role of BCL2-associated athanogene family co-chaperones in managing the folding status of NPC1 variants. We propose that targeting the cytosolic Hsp70 system by allosteric regulation of its chaperone/co-chaperone based client relationships can be used to adjust the SCV tolerance of proteostasis buffering capacity to provide an approach to mitigate systemic and neurological disease in the NPC1 population.
FUS-mediated dysregulation of Sema5a, an autism-related gene, in FUS mice with hippocampus-dependent cognitive deficits
Authors: Ho Wan Yun , Chang Jer-Cherng , Tyan Sheue-Houy , Yen Yi-Chun , Lim Kenneth , Tan Bernice Siu Yan , Ong Jolynn , Tucker-Kellogg Greg , Wong Peiyan , Koo Edward , Ling Shuo-Chien 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Pathological fused in sarcoma (FUS) inclusions are found in 10% of patients with frontotemporal dementia and those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) carrying FUS mutations. Current work indicates that FUS mutations may incur gain-of-toxic functions to drive ALS pathogenesis. However, how FUS dysfunction may affect cognition remains elusive. Using a mouse model expressing wild-type human FUS mimicking the endogenous expression pattern and level within the central nervous system, we found that they developed hippocampus-mediated cognitive deficits accompanied by an age-dependent reduction in spine density and long-term potentiation in their hippocampus. However, there were no apparent FUS aggregates, nuclear envelope defects and cytosolic FUS accumulation. These suggest that these proposed pathogenic mechanisms may not be the underlying causes for the observed cognitive deficits. Unbiased transcriptomic analysis identified expression changes in a small set of genes with preferential expression in the neurons and oligodendrocyte lineage cells. Of these, we focused on Sema5a, a gene involved in axon guidance, spine dynamics, Parkinson’s disease and autism spectrum disorders. Critically, FUS binds directly to Sema5a mRNA and regulates Sema5a expression in a FUS-dose-dependent manner. Taken together, our data suggest that FUS-driven Sema5a deregulation may underlie the cognitive deficits in FUS transgenic mice.
Duplicate and salami publication: a prevalence study of journal policies
Authors: Ding Ding , Nguyen Binh , Gebel Klaus , Bauman Adrian , Bero Lisa 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Duplicate and salami publication are unethical, but are common practices with substantial consequences for science and society at large. Scientific journals are the ‘gatekeepers’ of the publication process. We investigated journal policies on duplicate and salami publication.

Methods
In 2018, we performed a content analysis of policies of journals in the disciplines of ‘epidemiology and public health’ and ‘general and internal medicine’. Journal policies were searched, extracted, coded and cross-checked. The associations of disciplinary categories and journal impact factors with journal policies were examined using Poisson regression models with a robust error variance.

Results
A total of 209 journals, including 122 in epidemiology and public health and 87 in general and internal medicine, were sampled and their policies investigated. Overall, 18% of journals did not have any policies on either practice, 33% only referred to a generic guideline or checklist without explicit mention about either practice, 36% included policies on duplicate publication and only 13% included policies on both duplicate and salami publication. Having explicit journal policies did not differ by journal disciplinary categories (epidemiology and public health vs general and internal medicine) or impact factors. Further analysis of journals with explicit policies found that although duplicate publication is universally discouraged, policies on salami publication are inconsistent and lack specific definitions of inappropriate divisions of papers.

Conclusions
Gaps exist in journal policies on duplicate and salami publication, characterized by an overall lack of explicit policies, inconsistency and confusion in definitions of bad practices, and lack of clearly defined consequences for non-compliance. Scientific publication and the academic reward systems must evolve to credit good research practice.
Appraising the causal relevance of DNA methylation for risk of lung cancer
Authors: Battram Thomas , Richmond Rebecca C , Baglietto Laura , Haycock Philip C , Perduca Vittorio , Bojesen Stig E , Gaunt Tom R , Hemani Gibran , Guida Florence , Carreras-Torres Robert , Hung Rayjean , Amos Christopher I , Freeman Joshua R , Sandanger Torkjel M , Nøst Therese H , Nordestgaard Børge G , Teschendorff Andrew E , Polidoro Silvia , Vineis Paolo , Severi Gianluca , Hodge Allison M , Giles Graham G , Grankvist Kjell , Johansson Mikael B , Johansson Mattias , Davey Smith George , Relton Caroline L 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundDNA methylation changes in peripheral blood have recently been identified in relation to lung cancer risk. Some of these changes have been suggested to mediate part of the effect of smoking on lung cancer. However, limitations with conventional mediation analyses mean that the causal nature of these methylation changes has yet to be fully elucidated.MethodsWe first performed a meta-analysis of four epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of lung cancer (918 cases, 918 controls). Next, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis, using genetic instruments for methylation at CpG sites identified in the EWAS meta-analysis, and 29 863 cases and 55 586 controls from the TRICL-ILCCO lung cancer consortium, to appraise the possible causal role of methylation at these sites on lung cancer.ResultsSixteen CpG sites were identified from the EWAS meta-analysis [false discovery rate (FDR) &lt; 0.05], for 14 of which we could identify genetic instruments. Mendelian randomization provided little evidence that DNA methylation in peripheral blood at the 14 CpG sites plays a causal role in lung cancer development (FDR &gt; 0.05), including for cg05575921-AHRR where methylation is strongly associated with both smoke exposure and lung cancer risk.ConclusionsThe results contrast with previous observational and mediation analysis, which have made strong claims regarding the causal role of DNA methylation. Thus, previous suggestions of a mediating role of methylation at sites identified in peripheral blood, such as cg05575921-AHRR, could be unfounded. However, this study does not preclude the possibility that differential DNA methylation at other sites is causally involved in lung cancer development, especially within lung tissue.
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Serogroup C Meningococcal Meningitis Spread in Niger and Nigeria and Implications for Epidemic Response
Authors: Cooper Laura V , Ronveaux Olivier , Fernandez Katya , Lingani Clement , Goumbi Kadade , Ihekweazu Chikwe , Preziosi Marie-Pierre , Durupt Antoine , Trotter Caroline L 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
After the re-emergence of serogroup C meningococcal meningitis (MM) in Nigeria and Niger, we aimed to re-evaluate the vaccination policy used to respond to outbreaks of MM in the African meningitis belt by investigating alternative strategies using a lower incidence threshold and information about neighboring districts.

Methods
We used data on suspected and laboratory-confirmed cases in Niger and Nigeria from 2013 to 2017. We calculated global and local Moran’s I-statistics to identify spatial clustering of districts with high MM incidence. We used a Pinner model to estimate the impact of vaccination campaigns occurring between 2015 and 2017 and to evaluate the impact of 3 alternative district-level vaccination strategies, compared with that currently used.

Results
We found significant clustering of high incidence districts in every year, with local clusters around Tambuwal, Nigeria in 2013 and 2014, Niamey, Niger in 2016, and in Sokoto and Zamfara States in Nigeria in 2017.
We estimate that the vaccination campaigns implemented in 2015, 2016, and 2017 prevented 6% of MM cases. Using the current strategy but with high coverage (85%) and timely distribution (4 weeks), these campaigns could have prevented 10% of cases. This strategy required the fewest doses of vaccine to prevent a case. None of the alternative strategies we evaluated were more efficient, but they would have prevented the occurrence of more cases overall.

Conclusions
Although we observed significant spatial clustering in MM in Nigeria and Niger between 2013 and 2017, there is no strong evidence to support a change in methods for epidemic response in terms of lowering the intervention threshold or targeting neighboring districts for reactive vaccination.
Enabling Militarism? The Inclusion of Soldiers with Disabilities in the Israeli Military
Authors: Eastwood James 
Published: September 2019

AbstractSoldiers are rarely imagined as having disabilities, other than when they are injured in war. Yet in recent years the Israeli military has devoted considerable resources to programs promoting the inclusion of soldiers with intellectual disabilities. This paper critically examines two such programs, arguing that they should prompt a reexamination of assumptions in both critical military studies and critical disability studies. These two fields are rarely placed in dialogue, especially in international relations. Yet this paper argues that they have productive insights to offer each other and suggests that the Israeli case raises important questions when their analytical frames are combined. First, the paper argues that this example complicates the category of soldier fitness in critical military studies and reveals that militarist distinctions between ability and disability can be destabilized in ways suggested elsewhere by critical disability studies. Second, however, the paper cautions that the emancipatory potential of alternative “crip” subjectivities explored in critical disability studies remains circumscribed by geopolitical processes (including neoliberalism, settler colonialism, and militarism), which international relations is well placed to analyze. These arguments are advanced by showing how these inclusionary programs for soldiers with disabilities are implicated in the debilitating violence of Israel's settler colonial project.
The effectiveness of repeating a social norm feedback intervention to high prescribers of antibiotics in general practice: a national regression discontinuity design
Authors: Ratajczak Michael , Gold Natalie , Hailstone Simon , Chadborn Tim 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Objectives
Unnecessary antibiotic prescribing contributes to antimicrobial resistance. A randomized controlled trial in 2014–15 showed that a letter from England’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to high-prescribing GPs, giving feedback about their prescribing relative to the norm, decreased antibiotic prescribing. The CMO sent further feedback letters in succeeding years. We evaluated the effectiveness of the repeated feedback intervention.

Methods
Publicly available databases were used to identify GP practices whose antibiotic prescribing was in the top 20% nationally (the intervention group). In April 2017, GPs in every practice in the intervention group (n=1439) were sent a letter from the CMO. The letter stated that, ‘the great majority of practices in England prescribe fewer antibiotics per head than yours’. Practices in the control group received no communication (n=5986). We used a regression discontinuity design to evaluate the intervention because assignment to the intervention condition was exogenous, depending on a ‘rating variable’. The outcome measure was the average rate of antibiotic items dispensed from April 2017 to September 2017.

Results
The GP practices who received the letter changed their prescribing rates by −3.69% (95% CI=−2.29 to −5.10; P<0.001), representing an estimated 124 952 fewer antibiotic items dispensed. The effect is robust to different specifications of the model.

Conclusions
Social norm feedback from a high-profile messenger continues to be effective when repeated. It can substantially reduce antibiotic prescribing at low cost and on a national scale. Therefore, it is a worthwhile addition to antimicrobial stewardship programmes.