bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
New distribution record of Slender Wild Basil Clinopodium gracile (Benth.) Kuntze (Lamiaceae: Nepetoideae: Mentheae) for the flora of Himachal Pradesh, India
Authors: Chandra Rimjhim , Kalita Mamita 
Published: July 2024

Clinopodium gracile (Benth.) Kuntze has been recorded for the first in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. The study provides descriptions, illustrations, and photographs to aid in the identification of the species. The new distribution record has been entrenched upon investigation based on observation and verification obtained from herbarium, literature, and plant web databases.
Outcomes With the WATCHMAN FLX in Everyday Clinical Practice From the NCDR Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Registry
Authors: Kapadia Samir R. , Yeh Robert W. , Price Matthew J. , Piccini Jonathan P. , Nair Devi G. , Bansal Agam , Hsu Jonathan C. , Freeman James V. , Christen Thomas , Allocco Dominic J. , Gibson Douglas N. 
Published: July 2024

BACKGROUND:
PINNACLE FLX (Protection Against Embolism for Nonvalvular AF Patients: Investigational Device Evaluation of the WATCHMAN FLX LAA Closure Technology) demonstrated improved outcomes and low incidence of adverse events with the WATCHMAN FLX device in a controlled setting. The National Cardiovascular Disease Registry’s Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Registry was utilized to assess the safety and effectiveness of WATCHMAN FLX in contemporary clinical practice in the United States.

METHODS:
The WATCHMAN FLX Device Surveillance Post Approval Analysis Plan used data from the Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion registry to identify patients undergoing WATCHMAN FLX implantation between August 2020 and September 2022. The key safety end point was defined as all-cause death, ischemic stroke, systemic embolism, or device or procedure-related events requiring open cardiac surgery or major endovascular intervention between device implantation and hospital discharge. Major adverse events were reported at hospital discharge, 45 days, and 1 year.

RESULTS:
Among 97 185 patients in the Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion registry undergoing WATCHMAN FLX, successful implantation occurred in 97.5% (n=94 784) of patients. The key safety end point occurred in 0.45% of patients. At 45 days post-procedure, all-cause death occurred in 0.81% patients, ischemic stroke in 0.23%, major bleeding in 3.1%, pericardial effusion requiring intervention in 0.50%, device-related thrombus in 0.44%, and device embolism in 0.04% patients. No peri-device leak was observed in 83.1% of patients at 45 days. At 1 year, the rate of all-cause death was 8.2%, the rate of any stroke was 1.5% (ischemic stroke, 1.2%), and major bleeding occurred in 6.4% of patients.

CONCLUSIONS:
In a large contemporary cohort of patients with the WATCHMAN FLX device, the rates of implant success and clinical outcomes through 1 year were comparable with the PINNACLE FLX study, demonstrating that favorable outcomes achieved in the pivotal approval study can be replicated in routine clinical practice.
Improving source estimation of retinotopic MEG responses by combining data from multiple subjects
Authors: Hietala Paavo , Kurki Ilmari , Hyvärinen Aapo , Parkkonen Lauri , Henriksson Linda 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a functional brain imaging modality, which measures the weak magnetic field arising from neuronal activity. The source amplitudes and locations are estimated from the sensor data by solving an ill-posed inverse problem. Commonly used solutions for these problems operate on data from individual subjects. Combining the measurements of multiple subjects has been suggested to increase the spatial resolution of MEG by leveraging the intersubject differences for increased information. In this article, we compare 3 multisubject analysis methods on a retinotopic mapping dataset recorded from 20 subjects. The compared methods are eLORETA with source-space averaging, minimum Wasserstein estimates (MWE), and MWE with source-space averaging. The results were quantified by the geodesic distances between early (60–100 ms) MEG peak activations and fMRI-based retinotopic target points in the primary visual cortex (V1). By increasing the subject count from 1 to 10, the median distances decreased by 6.6–9.4 mm (33–46%) compared with the single-subject median distances of around 20 mm. The observed peak activation locations with multisubject analysis also comply better with the established retinotopic maps of the primary visual cortex. Our results suggest that higher spatial accuracy can be achieved by pooling data from multiple subjects. The strength of MWE lies in individualized and sparse source estimates, but in our data, averaging eLORETA estimates across individuals in source space outperformed MWE in spatial accuracy.
Dynamic and Thermodynamic Environmental Modulation of Tropical Congestus and Cumulonimbus in Maritime Tropical Regions
Authors: Freeman Sean W. , Posselt Derek J. , Reid Jeffrey S. , van den Heever Susan C. 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
We have quantified the impacts of varying thermodynamic environments on tropical congestus and cumulonimbus clouds (CCCs) within maritime tropical regions. To elucidate this relationship, we employed the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) to conduct high-resolution (1 km) simulations of convection over the Philippine Archipelago for a month-long period in 2019. We subsequently performed a cloud-object-based analysis, identifying and tracking hundreds of thousands of individual CCCs using the Tracking and Object-Based Analysis of Clouds (tobac) tracking library. Using this object-oriented dataset of tracked cells, we examined differences in individual storm strength, organization, and morphology due to the storm’s initial environment. We found that storm strength, defined here as maximum midlevel updraft velocity, was controlled primarily by convective available potential energy (CAPE) and precipitable water (PW); high CAPE (>2500 J kg−1) and high (approximately 63 mm) PW were both required for midlevel CCC updraft velocities to reach at least 10 m s−1. Of the CCCs with the most vigorous updrafts, 80.9% were also in the upper tercile of precipitation rates, with the strongest precipitation rates requiring even higher PW. Further, we found that vertical wind shear was the primary differentiator between organized and isolated convective storms. Within the set of organized storms, linearly oriented CCC systems have significantly weaker vertical wind shear than nonlinear CCCs in low- (0–1, 0–3 km) and midlevels (0–5, 2–7 km). Overall, these results provide new insights into the environmental conditions determining the CCC properties in maritime tropical regions.
Cross-Time-Scale Analysis of Year-Round Atmospheric Circulation Patterns and Their Impacts on Rainfall and Temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula
Authors: Olmo Matías , Cos Pep , Muñoz Ángel G. , Altava-Ortiz Vicent , Barrera-Escoda Antoni , Campos Diego , Soret Albert , Doblas-Reyes Francisco 
Published: July 2024

Abstract
This study presents a framework to assess climate variability and change through atmospheric circulation patterns (CPs) and their link with regional processes across time scales. We evaluate the CP impacts on daily rainfall and maximum and minimum temperatures in the Iberian Peninsula using sea level pressure (SLP) during 1950–2022. Different sensitivity analyses are performed, employing multiple spatial domains and number of patterns. An optimal classification is found in midlatitudes, centered over the Mediterranean basin and covering part of the North Atlantic Ocean, which can identify atmospheric configurations significantly related to discriminated rainfall and temperature anomalies, with clear seasonal behavior. The temporal variability of CPs is studied across time scales showing, e.g., that transitions between patterns are faster in autumn and spring, and that CPs exhibit distinct temporal variability at intraseasonal, seasonal, interannual, and decadal scales, including significant long-term trends on their frequency. CPs influence temperature and precipitation variations throughout the year. The winter season exhibits the largest atmospheric circulation variability, while the summer is dominated by persistent high-pressure structures—the subtropical Azores high—leading to warm and dry conditions. Based on an interannual correlation analysis, some CPs are significantly associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), stronger during winter, indicating the NAO modulation on the regional-to-local climatic features. Overall, this approach arises as a dynamic cross-time-scale framework that can be adapted to specific user needs and levels of regional detail, being useful to study climate drivers for climate change and to perform a process-based evaluation of climate models.
Automated tools for identifying the causes of anaemia in general practices are particularly advantageous for patients who do not fit the typical profile
Authors: de Boer Bauke A , van Laar Tatum T , Candido Firmin , van Stralen Karlijn J , de Jong Anne Margreet 
Published: July 2024

Background The Dutch guideline algorithm for the analysis of anaemia in patients of general practitioners (GPs) was programmed in a Clinical Decision Support system (CDS-anaemia) to support the process of diagnosing the cause of anaemia in the laboratory. This research aims to assess the supplementary benefit provided by the automated algorithm in various demographic categories, including different sexes, age groups and severities of anaemia, in comparison to the manual diagnostic approach employed by GPs. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 5399 primary care patients where the cause of anaemia was diagnosed by GPs with or without the aid of CDS-anaemia within the age groups 18–44, 45–64, 65–79 and 80 and older. Anaemia was defined according to the Dutch College of General Practitioners (DCGP) guideline. Causes of anaemia were based on the DCGP guidelines with the corresponding blood tests. By calculation of rate ratios and percentage differences of the determined cause of anaemia we evaluated the effect of the diagnostic algorithm. Results and conclusion The percentage patients in which an underlying cause of anaemia was found increased 34 and 46 percentage points in females and males, respectively, when GPs were supported by CDS-anaemia compared to GPs who were not supported by CDS-anaemia. The highest increase in percentage points when CDS-anaemia was used, was found in younger- and middle-aged males and mild or moderate anaemia.
Variation in liver function testing and the effect of pyridoxal-5-phosphate on ALT, AST and FIB-4 results
Authors: Evans Charlotte , MacKenzie Finlay , Marrington Rachel 
Published: July 2024

Background As one of the most requested profiles of blood tests, there is a need for standardization among liver function tests (LFT). Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) are key markers of hepatocellular injury. ALT and AST are used to calculate a Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score for assessing liver fibrosis. Despite recommendations by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) to include pyridoxal-5-phosphate in ALT and AST assay methodologies, most laboratories continue to omit this. Methods Data from the UK NEQAS for Clinical Chemistry Scheme, Distribution 1160 (November 2023), was reviewed to investigate variation in practice regarding liver blood tests in relation to ALT, AST and FIB-4. In addition, a series of questions audited laboratory practice in relation to liver enzymes. Results Wide variation was seen in LFT profiles offered by laboratories, with 32 different combinations of tests used. The IFCC-recommended methods for ALT and AST are used by one-third of laboratories and give significantly higher results than non-IFCC methods. Laboratories using IFCC methods also reported significantly higher FIB-4 scores. Reference ranges and cut-offs for these tests also varied, and did not account for method-related differences in results. Conclusions The lack of standardization of LFTs can have a significant impact on patient care. The difference in results for ALT, AST and FIB-4 in laboratories not using IFCC-recommended methods may lead to misdiagnosis. This issue should be addressed by laboratories using methods including pyridoxal-5-phosphate. Until then, method-related reference ranges and cut-offs for ALT, AST and FIB-4 are required.
International Remittances and Household Expenditure Patterns in Bangladesh
Authors: Dey Sima Rani , Ahmed Faroque 
Published: July 2024

The study endeavours to investigate how the transfers of international remittances influence the expenditure behaviour of returnee migrant families in Bangladesh. The primary data were collected using the multi-stage stratified random sampling technique through a structured questionnaire from Tangail and Comilla on several expenditure characteristics of migrants. Propensity score matching (PSM) method is employed to assess the impact of remittances on expenditure patterns of returnee migrant households through the estimation of average treatment effects on the treated. The PSM technique has allowed us to evaluate the impact of remittances on several expenditure categories such as food, non-food, education, medical and so on. The study findings divulge that remittances exhibit a significant and positive impact on poverty reduction since they have contributed a lot in terms of income generation and increment of consumption expenditures. Moreover, compared to non-migrant families, migrant families are more exposed to positive behavioural transformations because of their spending on productive investments like non-durable goods, education and health care. Therefore, the findings underline the optimistic view of migration and development theory that foreign remittances support to increase the investments both in the physical and human capital of migrant families as well as to improve the wellbeing of Bangladeshi people. JEL Codes: D10, F24, O15
Effect of Childcare Influenza Vaccine Requirement on Vaccination Rates, New York City, 2012-2020
Authors: Metroka Amy E. , Papadouka Vikki , Ternier Alexandra , Cheng Iris , Zucker Jane R. 
Published: July 2024

Objectives: In 2014, New York City initiated a childcare influenza vaccine requirement to increase influenza vaccination rates among children aged 6-59 months attending city-regulated childcare, including prekindergarten. We evaluated the requirement’s effect on vaccination rates in childcare-aged children in New York City. Methods: We examined influenza vaccination rates in children aged 6-59 months and by age groups of 1, 2, 3, and 4 years for 8 influenza seasons (2012-2013 through 2019-2020), representing 2 seasons before the requirement, 2 seasons during the requirement, 2 seasons after its suspension, and 2 seasons after its reinstatement. We also assessed rates in a comparison group of children aged 5-8 years. We performed a difference-in-differences analysis to compare rate differences in age groups when the requirement was and was not in effect. We considered P < .05 as significant based on the Wald χ2 test. Results: Influenza vaccination rates among children aged 6-59 months increased 3.7 percentage points (from 47.7% to 51.4%) by the requirement’s second year and declined 6.7 percentage points to 44.7% after suspension. After reinstatement, rates increased 10.7 percentage points to 55.4%. Rate changes were most pronounced among 4-year-olds, increasing 12.7 percentage points (from 45.3% to 58.0%) by the requirement’s second year, declining 14.1 percentage points to 43.9% after suspension, and increasing 22.2 percentage points to 66.1% after reinstatement. In the comparison group, rates increased 4.9 percentage points (from 36.5% to 41.4%) after reinstatement. Rates increased significantly among 4-year-olds before versus at the initial requirement and decreased significantly after suspension. After reinstatement, rates increased significantly among all groups except 1-year-olds. Conclusion: The New York City influenza vaccine requirement improved influenza vaccination rates among preschool-aged children, adding to the evidence base showing that vaccine requirements raise vaccination rates.
Prevalence and correlates of insomnia and fatigue in patients with type 2 diabetes in Jordan
Authors: Shannag Salam , Al-Jabari Sereene , Sbitan Lana , Alsheyyab Jafar , Zeitoon Sa’ed , Hanandeh Suzan , Alsous Mervat , Gammoh Omar 
Published: July 2024

Objective The present study examined the prevalence and correlates of insomnia and fatigue in patients with type-2 diabetes in Jordan. Methods This was a cross-sectional online study involving a convenience sample of 390 patients with type-2 diabetes. Insomnia was assessed by the Insomnia-Severity Index (ISI-A) and fatigue by the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI-A). Results Severe insomnia was present in 132 patients (33.8%), and was correlated with length of diabetes (diagnosis >5 years) (OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.19-3.81, P = 0.01), presence of uncontrolled diabetes (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.45-2.69, P < 0.001), taking gabapentin (OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.07-4.01, P = 0.003), and age (<40 years) (OR = 0.30, 95% CI = 0.13-0.69, P = 0.005). Significant fatigue was also prevalent and correlated with gender (female) (B = 9.25, t = 4.48, P < 0.001), age (<40 years) (B = 7.56, t = 2.56, P = 0.01), a diagnosis of hypertension (B = 4.74, t = 2.03, P = 0.04), uncontrolled diabetes (B = 7.21, t = 4.82, P < 0.001), and taking a sulfonylurea (B = 8.03, t = 3.37, P < 0.001), carbamazepine (B = 10.93, t = 2.65, P = 0.008), or gabapentin (B = 12.60, t = 3.83, P < 0.001). Conclusion Given the high prevalence of insomnia and fatigue in this population, increased attention by primary healthcare providers to these symptoms in diabetic patients is warranted, particularly in developing countries such as Jordan.
Methods to Quantify the Importance of Parameters for Model Updating and Distributional Adaptation
Authors: Glynn David , Griffin Susan , Gutacker Nils , Walker Simon 
Published: July 2024

Purpose Decision models are time-consuming to develop; therefore, adapting previously developed models for new purposes may be advantageous. We provide methods to prioritize efforts to 1) update parameter values in existing models and 2) adapt existing models for distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DCEA). Methods Methods exist to assess the influence of different input parameters on the results of a decision models, including value of information (VOI) and 1-way sensitivity analysis (OWSA). We apply 1) VOI to prioritize searches for additional information to update parameter values and 2) OWSA to prioritize searches for parameters that may vary by socioeconomic characteristics. We highlight the assumptions required and propose metrics that quantify the extent to which parameters in a model have been updated or adapted. We provide R code to quickly carry out the analysis given inputs from a probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) and demonstrate our methods using an oncology case study. Results In our case study, updating 2 of 21 probabilistic model parameters addressed 71.5% of the total VOI and updating 3 addressed approximately 100% of the uncertainty. Our proposed approach suggests that these are the 3 parameters that should be prioritized. For model adaptation for DCEA, 46.3% of the total OWSA variation came from a single parameter, while the top 10 input parameters were found to account for more than 95% of the total variation, suggesting efforts should be aimed toward these. Conclusions These methods offer a systematic approach to guide research efforts in updating models with new data or adapting models to undertake DCEA. The case study demonstrated only very small gains from updating more than 3 parameters or adapting more than 10 parameters. Highlights It can require considerable analyst time to search for evidence to update a model or to adapt a model to take account of equity concerns. In this article, we provide a quantitative method to prioritze parameters to 1) update existing models to reflect potential new evidence and 2) adapt existing models to estimate distributional outcomes. We define metrics that quantify the extent to which the parameters in a model have been updated or adapted. We provide R code that can quickly rank parameter importance and calculate quality metrics using only the results of a standard probabilistic sensitivity analysis.
Assessment of prevalence of sexual dysfunction in patients having lower urinary tract symptoms with benign prostatic hyperplasia and effect of various treatment modalities on sexual function
Authors: Mishra Jagamohan , Choudhury Sunirmal , Sinha Subham , Kundu Gourab , Mondal Partha Protim , Bera Malay 
Published: July 2024

Introduction: Sexual dysfunction affects a couple’s relationship and quality of life of the patient and the partner irrespective of age. In Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent. This study aims to evaluate prevalence of sexual dysfunction in patients having LUTS with BPH and effect of various treatment on it. Materials and methods: The study is hospital based prospective cross-sectional study. Total 106 patients were included in this study. Fifty-six patients underwent medical treatment and 50 patients underwent transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) according to lower urinary tract symptom score along with grades of prostate. We measured prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms, erectile dysfunction (ED), ejaculatory dysfunction (EJD).We compared the pre and post treatment ED, EJD scores in both medical and TURP group. Result: In our study, 11 (10.4%) patients had very mild ED, 12 (11.3%) had mild ED, 54 (50.9%) had moderate ED and 23 (21.7%) had severe ED. In our study, 11 (10.4%) patients had very mild EJD, 7 (6.6%) had mild EJD, 28 (26.4%) had moderate EJD and 2 (1.9%) had severe EJD. In medical group, ED pre-treatment versus ED post treatment was statistically significant ( p = 0.0046), treatment of LUTS improves ED. EJD pre-treatment versus EJD post treatment was not statistically significant ( p = 0.8368), treatment of LUTS associated with deterioration of EJD. In TURP group association of ED pre-treatment versus ED post treatment was statistically significant ( p = 0.0319). Post TURP patients shows improvement in ED Association of EJD pre-treatment versus EJD post-treatment was statistically significant ( p = 0.03000). Post TURP EJD deteriorate. Conclusion: We concluded that the severity of sexual dysfunction correlates with severity of LUTS. Ejaculatory function deteriorates after treatment of TURP compared to medical.