bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Landscape: Perspective on Medical Research among Resident Doctors in a Public and Private Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria
Authors: Ani Chidiebere Kingsley , Bassey Aniekeme Sunday , Osaghae Osahon Joseph , Eroh Miriam Uzezi 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Background: Medical research is an essential aspect of the training of resident doctors and is required by postgraduate medical colleges in Nigeria as part of the fulfilment offellowship awards. However, research participation among resident doctors in Nigeria is low, despite seemingly high interest in research among resident doctors. The objective of our study is to examine the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and barriers related to medical research among resident doctors in a public and private tertiary care in Nigeria.
Methodology: The study is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out between November 2023 and December 2023 in a public tertiary hospital and a private tertiary hospital in Nigeria. A total of 352 participants were recruited for the study—303from the public tertiary hospital and 49 from the private tertiary hospital. The obtained data were analysedusing SPSS Statistics version 26 (IBM Corp. Released 2019. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). The significance levelwas set at P<0.005.
Results: The majority(63.92%) of the participants had spent between 2 and 5 years in residency training. A total of 57.67% had participated in research other than dissertations,while 35.23% had participated in research publications. The majority (48.58%) of participants assessed their research knowledge to be fair, whereas 2.56% assessed their knowledge to be excellent. Multivariate analysis revealed asignificant positive correlation between self-reported knowledge of research and the number of research publications (adjusted ρ = 0.332; P<0.001). The leading (60.8%) barrier to research participation among resident doctors in Nigeria was lack of time due to stress/pressure of the residency program. An overwhelming majority (95.17%) of resident doctors have shown interest in research participation, and up to 75.87% even want it to be mandatory for all resident doctors in Nigeria.
Conclusion: This study showed that despite limited participation, resident doctors have a positive attitude towards research. However, there is a struggle to translate this enthusiasm into practical application; hence, there is aneed to addressthe barriers to effective participation of resident doctors in medical research.
Development and Validation of a Nomogram model for Predicting One-Year Unplanned Readmission in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Zhu Jieyun , Lu Zhao , Gao Min , Huang Chunli , Pan Dongzan , Zhou Juan , Meng Xiaoning , Cai Zhaoqiang , He Lei , Ye Changguang , Shen Yin 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Background
Unplanned readmission among patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is increasingly prevalent and imposes significant clinical and economic burdens. The aim of this study was to investigate the influencing factors of unplanned readmission in patients with COPD within 1 year after discharge, construct a risk prediction model and evaluate its effect.
Methods
We conducted a prospective observational study on 719 individuals diagnosed with COPD at HePu People's Hospital from January 2023 to May 2024. Participants were randomly divided into a model group (n = 427) and a validation group (n = 180), with a ratio of 7:3. We employed LASSO regression to identify optimal predictors and developed a nomogram prediction model using multivariable logistic regression. The model's performance was assessed through ROC curves, calibration plots, and decision curve analysis.
Results
Of 607 patients included in the final analysis, the incidence of readmission within one year was 40.0%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified several independent risk factors for readmission: white blood cell count (WBC; OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.03–1.12, P = 0.002), disease duration over ten years (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 0.75–2.462, P = 0.043), more than one acute exacerbation in the past year (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.05–1.20, P = 0.001), and concurrent respiratory failure (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 0.97–2.33, P = 0.047). A predictive nomogram model was developed based on these factors. The nomogram exhibited an AUC of 0.719 in the model group and 0.676 in the validation group, demonstrating good predictive performance. The calibration curve showed a good degree of fit, and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test confirmed no significant deviations in model fit (P > 0.05).The clinical decision curve demonstrated that both the model and the validation groups provided better net benefits than the treat-all tactics or the treat-none tactics with threshold probability values of 0.25–0.95 and 0.25–0.85.
Conclusion
The developed nomogram model, integrating WBC count, disease duration, number of acute exacerbations within the past year and concurrent respiratory failure, effectively predicts the risk of one-year unplanned readmission in patients with COPD, offering a valuable tool for clinical decision-making.
The Effects of Concrete Temperature on Air Void Parameters in Pumped Concrete
Authors: ABDELRAHMAN BAHAA , Ley M Tyler 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of concrete pumping on air content, SAM Number, spacing factor, and freeze-thaw performance. This work focuses on how the air dissolves under pressure and then returns to the concrete at room (30°C/86°F), cold (8°C/46°F), and hot (40°C/104°F) temperatures. The research reveals that concrete pumping leads to a significant reduction in air content, with cold mixtures experiencing higher air loss compared to room temperature and hot mixtures. Despite these changes, freeze-thaw performance remains satisfactory for mixtures with initial air content above 4% and SAM Number below 0.32. The study also observes that the dissolved air bubbles return to the concrete with a similar bubble distribution as was in the original mixture.
Technical Feasibility of the implementation of an intensive upper-limb rehabilitation system (NeuroVirt) intervention for stroke survivors
Authors: Mares Kathryn , Mas Maria del Rocio Hidalgo , Watt Alison , Gregoriou Evridiki , Clark Allan 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Background
80% of stroke survivors have upper limb (UL) disability. NeuroVirt is a portable immersive virtual reality (VR) platform that is designed to encourage high-repetition and high-quality UL movement training. The aim of the study is to investigate the technical feasibility, and the useability and acceptability of NeuroVirt.
Methods
8 adults with a stroke (≥ 3-months) completed the study. Participants used the device at home for up to two 1-hour sessions each day, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks. Participants also received a 15-minute weekly telephone call. Technical feasibility was measured by the percentage of Wi-Fi disconnections, data push failures, and mean scene frames per second (fps). Usability and acceptability were explored through interview feedback and analysed with a thematic inductive analysis approach. We also recorded the number of movement repetitions per session as an indication of compliance.
Results
From 12 participants enrolled in the study, 8 (67%) participants started the NeuroVirt exercise program and were included in the study analysis. Results indicated good Wi-Fi stability with 1(1.51%) disconnection out of 198 sessions, 1 (0.09%) push attempt failed out of 1052 data pushes and no data loss. An overall mean of 67.5 (2.27) fps during a session. Data from the interviews suggested that participants found NeuroVirt acceptable and indicated improvements in function. Participants completed on average 3.5 (1.3) sessions per week and performed on average 338.2 (172.7) movement repetitions per session.
Conclusion
NeuroVirt had no data loss and consistent Wi-Fi stability. The frame rate was above the minimum industry standards of 60-fps required to prevent motion sickness. Preliminary useability and acceptability results showed that a Home-based NeuroVirt program for stroke survivors with UL impairments was both, feasible and well accepted.
Trial registration:
registration number ISRCTN46051085; prospectively registered the 24/02/2023.
Enriching building function classification using Large Language Model embeddings of OpenStreetMap Tags
Authors: Memduhoğlu Abdulkadir , Fulman Nir , Zipf Alexander 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Automated methods for building function classification are becoming necessary due to restricted access to accurate building use data. Traditional on-site surveys conducted by government agencies are costly and can be influenced by subjective judgment, highlighting the need for more objective and cost-effective approaches. Existing approaches utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques such as text similarity and topic modeling, which typically struggle with the ambiguity of semantic contexts in textual data representing human activities. This study introduces a method for classifying urban building functions by integrating physical and spatial metrics with contextual embeddings from OpenStreetMap (OSM) tags, employing Large Language Models (LLMs) to improve the precision and relevance of function classifications in urban settings. We employed an XGBoost model trained on 32 features from six city datasets to classify urban building functions, demonstrating varying F1 scores from 67.80% in Madrid to 91.59% in Liberec. Integrating LLM embeddings enhanced the model's performance by an average of 12.5% across all cities compared to models using only physical and spatial metrics, and by 6.2% over models that incorporate direct tags from OSM. This suggests that deep contextual understanding is beneficial for classification. Moving forward, we suggest investigating the discrepancies in classification accuracy across different urban contexts, which is a common occurrence in existing research.
The Effect of Continuum Beliefs on Public Stigma of Depression: Evidence from Explicit and Implicit Sources
Authors: Wang Xuanyi , Lv Qiuyu , Lu Minghui , Qu Weiguo 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Objective
The Continuum Belief (CB) intervention approach has the potential to reduce the stigma of depression by suggesting that people with and without depression exist on one mental health-illness continuum. To date, few studies have examined the impact of implicit aspects.
Methods
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions. Continuum beliefs were induced by texts from a continuum view of depressive disorders, a categorized view, or a neutral text. Study 1 (N = 349) investigated explicit attitudes toward public stigma. Study 2 (N = 269) investigated implicit attitudes. Study 3 (N = 28) re-administered the continuum beliefs at a four-month interval.
Results
Inducing continuum beliefs significantly reduced the explicit stigma of depression among the public. At the implicit level, inducing continuum beliefs failed to decrease the public’s underlying stigma of depression. However, public stigma was slightly reduced through longitudinal studies.
Conclusions
This study found that continuum beliefs have a certain potential in reducing the stigma of depression.
Corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of carbon-ion-implanted AZ31B magnesium alloy
Authors: Zheng Chengdong , lin bingpeng , Li Tong , Wang Shuang , Hou Yuxia , Zhang Zhiyong , Yang Fan , Cao Baocheng 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

The poor corrosion resistance of magnesium limits its clinical applications. Accordingly, in the present study, carbon ions were incorporated into a AZ31b magnesium alloy surface via carbon plasma immersion ion-implantation to improve its corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. The surface morphology and properties of the modified alloy were evaluated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, water contact angle measurement, Raman scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Furthermore, compositional depth profiles were obtained by glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy, revealing a Gaussian-like distribution of carbon concentration. Electrochemical and hydrogen-evolution analysis demonstrated the successfully improved corrosion resistance of the AZ31b Mg alloy, while its biocompatibility was demonstrated by MTT and cell-adherence assays.
The Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of 18F-FDG PET/MR in Hypopharyngeal Cancer
Authors: Fan Cui , Shen Yilin , Wang Hao , Wu Jichang , Hu Haixia , Shen Chenling , Huang Xinyun , Ye Bin , Xiang Mingliang 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Objective
To evaluate the diagnostic performance of fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (18F-FDG PET/MR) in the preoperative staging of hypopharyngeal cancer (HPC), compare it with conventional enhanced computed tomography (CT) and MR, and further explore the prognostic value of its metabolic and diffusion metrics for HPC.
Methods
This retrospective study included 33 patients with pathologically confirmed HPC. All patients underwent preoperative 18F-FDG PET/MR, CT, and MR examination. The staging performance of the three modalities was evaluated using pathological staging as a reference. Additionally, metabolic indicators and diffusion-related parameters from PET/MR were collected to investigate their impact on larynx preservation and survival.
Results
PET/MR demonstrated accuracies of 90.9% and 71.4% in the preoperative T and N staging, respectively, significantly higher than those of CT (54.5%, P = 0.001; 42.9%, P = 0.021) and MR (66.7%, P = 0.016; 42.9%, P = 0.021). Significant differences were observed in the maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), minimum apparent diffusion coefficient (ADCmin), and mean ADC (ADCmean) across different T stages, and in SUVmax, mean SUV (SUVmean), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), and MTV across different N stages. ADCmin and ADCmean showed good predictive capability for larynx preservation, with AUCs of 0.857 and 0.920 (P < 0.05), respectively. In survival analysis, high ADCmin (P < 0.0001) and high ADCmean (P = 0.0011) were significantly associated with better survival, with AUCs of 0.815 and 0.866 (P < 0.05), respectively.
Conclusion
In HPC, 18F-FDG PET/MR imaging significantly surpasses CT and MR in preoperative diagnostic staging. Its diffusion-related parameters have substantial prognostic value, with high ADC values associated with larynx preservation and favorable survival, serving as prognostic indicators for HPC.
Post-operative Nausea and Vomiting Following Regional Anaesthesia at a Low-income Country Tertiary Hospital
Authors: Turitwenka Dorothy , Nabukenya Mary T. , Charles Kojjo , Luggya Tonny Stone 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV) is one of the complications associated with surgery and anesthesia especially with current advancements in both specialties increasing operations done under regional anesthesia rather than general anesthesia. PONV incidence and associated factors in our setting after regional anesthesia remain unknown yet suboptimal management causes distress postoperatively.
OBJECTIVE: We studied the incidence and the factors associated with Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting among surgical patients undergoing regional anesthesia in Mulago National Referral and Teaching Hospital.
METHODOLOGY: This was a prospective cohort study, registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as study number NCT03835234. Patients aged 18 years and above that were planned for surgery under regional anesthesia at Mulago National Referral and Teaching Hospital were consented and enrolled into the study over a six month period. Data was collected using pre-tested, semi structured questionnaires. Patients were post operatively observed for 24 hours. We determined the incidence of and factors associated with PONV which were submitted to multiple logistic regression analysis to determine a PONV causal relationship.
RESULTS: Out of 364 participants, 140(38%) experienced PONV. Factors associated with PONV in our setting were history of nausea or vomiting(AOR=3.49, 95% CI 1.53 - 7.96 ), motion sickness(AOR= 2.36, 95% CI 1.20 - 4.65), history of PONV(AOR= 2.61, 95% CI 1.25 - 5.46 ), age(AOR= 1.03,95% CI 1.01 - 1.06),ASA 2 classification(AOR=0.36,p=0.016), less than two hours of preoperative fasting(AOR=4.09, 95% CI 0.16 - 0.83) and low blood pressure(AOR=4.99, 95% CI 1.72 - 14.48 ). Ninety two participants (25.3%) received anti-emetics perioperatively.
CONCLUSION: The incidence of PONV following surgery under regional anesthesia at MNRTH is higher than elsewhere reported. Some factors associated with PONV were similar to those in other studies, while others were unique to this study. 25% of the patients received PONV prophylaxis.
Polypharmacy and Anticholinergic Burden Scales in Older Adults: A Longitudinal Cross-Sectional Study Among Psychiatric Outpatients in a Tertiary Care Hospital
Authors: Bidarolli Manjunath , Das Biswadeep , Rawat Vikram Singh , Sony Hannah Theresa , Agnihotri Akash 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Introduction
Assessment of pharmacotherapy quality in older adults relies on indicators such as polypharmacy and anticholinergic burden. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between polypharmacy and various anticholinergic burden scales in an elderly patient population.
Methods
This study was conducted at a psychiatry outpatient clinic at AIIMS, Rishikesh, India, from December 2021 to March 2023. Elderly patients (aged ≥ 60 years) who were on at least one psychotropic drug and had a primary working diagnosis of psychiatric illness were included. All psychotropic drugs, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and hypnotics, were evaluated. Anticholinergic burden scales were calculated by the respective tools. Univariate analysis was adopted to determine the factors that may affect polypharmacy.
Results
The study included 1165 elderly patients aged ≥ 60 years. The prevalence of polypharmacy was 20.43%. The most common medications prescribed were clonazepam (61.8%), an anxiolytic; escitalopram (25.52%), an antidepressant; and risperidone (26.14%), an antipsychotic. In terms of hypnotic and sedative medications, 51.92% of the patients were prescribed zolpidem. The strongest association with polypharmacy was observed for the Anticholinergic Load Scale (ALS), with an odds ratio of 4.3 (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
The anticholinergic burden in this cohort of elderly psychiatry patients was high, with 95.1% experiencing a significant burden. Adverse drug events and anticholinergic burden scales were positively associated with polypharmacy, with a stronger correlation between polypharmacy and ALS scores than with other anticholinergic burden scales in older adults.
A predictive model for depression in Chinese middle-aged and elderly people with arthritis
Authors: Yin Li , Pu Kehong , Ke Wei 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

BACKGROUND This study examines the prevalence of depression and its determinants among Chinese middle-aged and elderly arthritis patients, aiming to establish a theoretical foundation for enhancing their mental well-being and to inform the development of targeted prevention and intervention strategies.
METHODS Data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were selected for this study. We used whether middle-aged and elderly arthritis patients were depressed as the dependent variable and included 16 predictor variables. The data were randomly divided into training and validation sets according to 7:3. LASSO and binary logistic regression analyses were performed in the training set to screen the predictor variables of the model and construct the model, and the model was internally validated in the validation set.
RESULTS This study included 1302 middle-aged and elderly arthritis patients, and LASSO and binary logistic regression analysis were used to construct a prediction model for depression applicable to middle-aged and elderly arthritis patients in China. The column-line graph analysis revealed that gender, age, self-rated health, trouble with body pain, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction, child satisfaction, and instrumental activities of daily living were risk factors for depression (P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC) exceeded 0.70 in both the model training and internal validation phases, demonstrating the high accuracy of the model in predicting depression risk. In addition, decision curve analysis (DCA) and model mean calibration curve analysis further confirmed the practical value and validity of the model in depression prediction.
CONCLUSION In this study, we demonstrated that female, middle-aged, self-rated poor health, trouble with body pain, life dissatisfaction, marital dissatisfaction, children dissatisfaction, and instrumental activities of daily living difficulties are risk factors for depression among arthritis patients in the middle-aged and elderly population. We developed a predictive model for depression based on the above risk factors to provide early identification, intervention, and treatment for a high-risk group of middle-aged and elderly arthritis patients.
Association between non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio(NHHR) with depressive symptoms: recent findings from NHANES 2005– 2018
Authors: Yan chunyu , Zhou Yabin , wang he , Liu Changxing 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Objective
This study's main goal was to look into the connection between the prevalence of depression in the US population and the non-HDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio (NHHR).
Methods
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) provided the data for our investigation from 2005 to 2018. and primarily included participants who contained complete data on NHHR and depression in U.S. adults (age ≥ 20 years). Associations between NHHR and depression were assessed using multifactorial logistic regression analysis,subgroup analysis, and smoothed curve fitting.
Results
In our study, 29,561 subjects in total showed a mean NHHR index of 3.12 ± 1.58,A noteworthy positive correlation was observed between NHHR and depression in multifactorial logistic regression analysis.Subgroup analyses and tests of interaction showed that gender, age, ethnicity, PIR, smoking, alcohol consumption, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and stroke did not influence the NHHR and the association between depression (P for interaction > 0.05), whereas two stratification factors, BMI and sleep disturbance, may be potential factors in the association between NHHR and depression (P for interaction < 0.05).
Conclusion
According to our present study, if the level of NHHR rises in American adults, their likelihood of developing depression also increases.