bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
“Dynamics of factors associated with neonatal death in Madagascar: a comparative analysis of the 2003, 2008, 2021 DHS”
Authors: Rakotondrasoa Sedera Radoniaina , Cissé Kadari , Millogo Tieba , Rabarisoa Hajalalaina , Alain Felix , Kouanda Seni , Rakotonirina Julio 
Published: August 2024

AbstractNeonatal mortality remains a major public health challenge, as reductions have stagnated worldwide despite cost-effective interventions in recent years. The temporal evolution of its determinants is insufficiently studied. This study aimed to analyze the dynamics of factors associated with neonatal death in Madagascar between 2003 and 2021.A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the 2003, 2008, and 2021 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of Madagascar. The study population is focused on children under the age of 5 years at the time of these surveys. The death of a newborn within 30 days after birth constitutes the outcome variable. A multilevel binomial logistic regression was performed.The number of children under 5 included in the analysis were 5,415 in 2003, 12,448 in 2008 and 12,399 in 2021. The prevalence of neonatal deaths was 3.05% in 2003, 2.42% in 2008, and 2.56% in 2021. Persistent significant associations with neonatal death were observed for low birth weight, lack of breastfeeding, medium-sized households, large households, and high birth weight. A loss of statistical significance of the association with neonatal death over time was observed for a birth interval of 2 to 3 years and 4 years and more, mother’s age 40-49 years, and use of mosquito net by the mother. In 2021, new significant associations with neonatal mortality were identified in the province of Toliara, absence of difficulty in accessing health centers, 4 to 7 ANC visits, and supervised delivery.The factors associated with neonatal mortality, which have worsened over time in Madagascar, include birth weight abnormalities, delivery in the presence of qualified personnel, and evaluation of neonatal health before discharge from the facility. This deterioration underscores the urgency of improving the quality of perinatal care in healthcare facilities, beyond mere geographical accessibility.
Barriers and facilitators to successful transition to civilian life for ex-servicewomen: the perspective of service providers and policymakers
Authors: Croak Bethany , Rafferty Laura , Sharp Marie-Louise , Smith Alexandria , Khan Rafiyah , Langston Victoria , Greenberg Neil , Fear Nicola T , Stevelink Sharon A.M 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe role of women in the UK Armed Forces has changed considerably in the last decade. With drives to increase the number of women serving in the military, research must consider the impact of both service and transition into civilian life on the health and wellbeing of service and ex-servicewomen (female veterans). This paper adds to the field by providing the perspective of service providers supporting ex-service personnel with their mental health, employment, housing and other needs in addition to those working in policy affecting ex-servicewomen. This study aimed to explore their understanding of what constitutes a successful transition into civilian life, the barriers and facilitators to achieving this and how transition might be impacted by the gender of the individual transitioning. Interviews and roundtable discussions were held with stakeholders (n=28) and analysed using framework analysis. Four overarching themes were identified: ’Successful transition is individual and all-encompassing’, ‘The conflicting identities of servicewomen’, ’Sexism: women don’t belong in service’ and ’The needs of servicewomen’. The first theme describes how the process and result of successful transition is individual to each ex-servicewoman, whilst the remaining themes outline common challenges faced by ex-servicewomen on this journey. There was no singular definition of ’successful transition’, but stakeholders described barriers to a successful transition. They identified prominent gender-specific barriers rooted in misogyny and inequality during military service that permeated into civilian life and impacted support use and workplace experiences. Ex- servicewomen were often required to juggle multiple responsibilities, mother and partner, and identities, women and warrior, simultaneously. Policies should look to address elements of military culture that may reinforce gender inequality and ensure veteran services are inclusive and welcoming to women and cater for gender-specific needs such as gynaecological health. Whilst in-service and veteran-focused interventions are needed, entrenched sexism in general society should not be ignored.
Pre-trained convolutional neural network with transfer learning by artificial illustrated images classify power Doppler ultrasound images of rheumatoid arthritis joints
Authors: Fukae Jun , Amasaki Yoshiharu , Fujieda Yuichiro , Sone Yuki , Katagishi Ken , Horie Tatsunori , Kamishima Tamotsu , Atsumi Tatsuya 
Published: August 2024

ABSTRACTObjectivesTo study the classification performance of a pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN) with transfer learning by artificial images of the joint ultrasonography in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsWe focused on abnormal synovial vascularity and created 870 artificial ultrasound joint images based on the European League Against Rheumatism/Outcome Measure in Rheumatology scoring system. One CNN, the Visual Geometry Group (VGG)-16 was trained with transfer learning using the 870 artificial images for initial training and the original plus five additional images for second training. Actual joint ultrasound images obtained from patients with RA were used for testing our models.ResultsWe obtained 156 actual ultrasound joint images from 74 patients with RA. Our initial model showed moderate classification performance, but grade 1 was especially low (area under curve (AUC) 0.59). In our second model, grade 1 showed improvement (AUC 0.73).ConclusionsWe concluded that artificial images were useful for training VGG-16. Our novel approach of using artificial images as an alternative to actual images for training CNN has the potential to be applied in medical imaging fields that face difficulties in collecting real clinical images.Registration of clinical trialsThis study was registered in UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000054321).
Understanding the clinical characteristics and timeliness of diagnosis for patients diagnosed with Long COVID: A retrospective observational cohort study from North West London
Authors: Prociuk Denys , Clarke Jonathan , Smith Nikki , Milne Ruairidh , Lee Cassie , de Lusignan Simon , Mir Ghazala , Kock Johannes De , Mayer Erik , Delaney Brendan C ,   LOCOMOTION Consortium
Published: August 2024

AbstractBackgroundLong COVID is a multisystem condition first identified in the COVID-19 pandemic characterised by a wide range of symptoms including fatigue, breathlessness and cognitive impairment. Considerable disagreement exists in who is most at risk of developing Long COVID, driven in part by incomplete coding of a Long COVID diagnosis in medical records.MethodsThis was a retrospective observational cohort study using an integrated primary and secondary care dataset from North West London, covering over 2.7 million patients. Patients with Long COVID were identified through clinical terms in their primary care record. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with having Long COVID diagnosis, while multivariate quantile regression was used to identify factors predicting the time a Long COVID diagnosis was recorded.FindingsA total of 6078 patients were identified with a Long COVID clinical term in their primary care record, 0.33% of the total registered adult population. Women, those aged 41 to 70 years or of Asian ethnicity were more likely to have a recorded Long COVID diagnosis, alongside those with pre-existing anxiety, asthma, depressive disorder or eczema and those living outside of the most socioeconomically deprived areas. Men, those aged 41 to 70 years, or of black ethnicity were diagnosed earlier in the pandemic, while those with depressive disorder were diagnosed later.InterpretationLong COVID is poorly coded in primary care records, and significant differences exist between patient groups in the likelihood of receiving a Long COVID diagnosis. Long COVID is more likely in those with pre-existing long-term conditions and is also associated with the frequent incidence of new long-term conditions. The experience of patients with Long COVID provides a crucial insight into inequities in access to timely care for complex multisystem conditions, and the importance of effective health informatics practices to provide robust, timely analytical support for front-line clinical services.FundingNational Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Ref: COV-LT2-0016
Spatial and Temporal Hotspot Analysis of COVID-19 in Toronto
Authors: Amoako Afia , Carabali Mabel , Ge Erjia , Tuite Ashleigh R , Fisman David N 
Published: August 2024

ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, Canada was unequal for its 2.7 million residents. As a dynamic pandemic, COVID-19 trends might have also varied over space and time. We conducted a spatiotemporal hotspot analysis of COVID-19 over the first four major waves of COVID-19 using three different applications of Moran’s I to highlight the variable experience of COVID-19 infections in Toronto, while describing the potential impact of socioeconomic and sociodemographic factors on increased risk of COVID-19 exposure and infection. Results highlight potential clustering of COVID-19 case rate hot spots in areas with higher concentrations of immigrant and low-income residents and cold spots in areas with more affluent and non-immigrant residents during the first three waves. By the fourth wave, case rate clustering patterns were more dynamic. In all, a better understanding of the unequal COVID-19 pandemic experience in Toronto needs to also consider the dynamic nature of the pandemic.HIGHLIGHTS- The COVID-19 pandemic was spatially and temporarily dynamic in the City of Toronto.- At first, hotspots were concentrated in areas with more marginalized residents.- Later, COVID-19 spatial trends diverged from initially identified patterns.- East Asian enclaves in the city disproportionally had lower COVID-19 case counts.- COVID-19 studies need to consider the dynamic nature of the pandemic.
Recent and forecasted increases in coccidioidomycosis incidence in California linked to hydroclimatic swings
Authors: Camponuri Simon K. , Heaney Alexandra K. , Cooksey Gail Sondermeyer , Vugia Duc J. , Jain Seema , Swain Daniel L. , Balmes John , Remais Justin V. , Head Jennifer R 
Published: August 2024

AbstractCoccidioidomycosis, or Valley fever, is an infectious disease caused by inhalation ofCoccidioidesspp., fungi found primarily in soils of the southwestern United States. Prior work showed that coccidioidomycosis cases in California sharply increase by nearly 2-fold following wet winters that occur one- and two-years following drought. Statewide drought between 2020-2022 followed by heavy precipitation during the 2022-2023 winter raised concerns over potential increases in coccidioidomycosis cases in the fall of 2023, prompting California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to issue public health alerts. As anticipated, California saw a near record number of cases in 2023, with 9,054 provisional cases reported. During the 2023-2024 California wet season, precipitation was 115% the long-term average, furthering concerns about continued high coccidioidomycosis risk. We developed an ensemble model to forecast coccidioidomycosis cases in California in 2024-2025. Using this model, we predicted a total of 11,846 cases (90% PI: 10,056–14,094) in California between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, encompassing the preliminary state report of 10,593. Our model forecasted 12,244 cases statewide between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025 — a 62% increase over the cases reported during the same period two years prior, and on par with the high incidence seen in 2023. The Southern San Joaquin Valley (5,398 cases, 90% PI: 4,556–6,442), Southern Coast (3,322, 90% PI: 2,694–3,961), and Central Coast (1,207 cases, 90% PI: 867–1,585) regions are expected to see the largest number of infections. Our model forecasts that disease incidence will exhibit pronounced seasonality, particularly in endemic regions, with cases rising in June and peaking in November at 1,411 (90% PI: 815–2,172) cases statewide – 98% higher than the peak two years prior (714) and nearly as high as the peak in 2023 (1,462). Near-term forecasts have the potential to inform public health messaging to enhance provider and patient awareness, encourage risk reduction practices, and improve recognition and management of coccidioidomycosis.
A wheat tandem kinase and NLR pair confers resistance to multiple fungal pathogens
Authors: Lu Ping , Zhang Gaohua , Li Jing , Gong Zhen , Wang Gaojie , Dong Lingli , Zhang Huaizhi , Guo Guanghao , Su Min , Wang Yueming , Zhu Keyu , Wu Qiuhong , Chen Yongxing , Li Miaomiao , Huang Baoge , Li Beibei , Li Wenling , Dong Lei , Hou Yikun , Cui Xuejia , Fu Hongkui , Qiu Dan , Yuan Chengguo , Li Hongjie , Zhou Jianmin , Han Guan-Zhu , Chen Yuhang , Liu Zhiyong 
Published: August 2024

AbstractRecently discovered tandem kinase proteins (TKPs) are pivotal to the innate immune systems of cereal plants, yet how they initiate plant immune responses remains unclear. This report identifies the wheat protein WTN1, a non-canonical NLR receptor featuring tandem NB-ARC domains, as crucial forWTK3-mediated disease resistance. Both WTK3 and its allelic variant Rwt4, known for conferring resistance to wheat powdery mildew and blast respectively, are capable of recognizing the blast effector PWT4, and activate WTN1 to form calcium-permeable channels, akin to ZAR1 and Sr35. This study unveils a unique plant defense mechanism wherein TKPs and associated NLRs operate as “sensor-executor” pairs against fungal pathogens. Additionally, evolutionary analyses reveal a co-evolutionary trajectory of the TKP-NLR module, highlighting their synergistic role in triggering plant immunity.One Sentence SummaryAn ancient synergistic TKP-NLR pair triggers innate immunity for multiple disease resistance in wheat.
Areas of high risk for mammalian biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People under global warming
Authors: Cimatti Marta , Sacchi Andrea , Di Marco Moreno 
Published: August 2024

AbstractClimate change has reached unprecedented levels, causing frequent extreme events like droughts and fires. Combined with land-use change, this crisis has impacted biodiversity, increasing species extinction rates, and Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP), degrading ecosystem functions. We developed a comparative extinction risk model for mammals sensitive to fire, drought, and extreme temperatures, utilizing a Random Forest algorithm to predict future extinction probabilities under different climatic scenarios. We then identified high-risk areas for both mammals and NCP under global warming, aiming to find synergies between biodiversity conservation and NCP preservation. Our results show that 288 out of 454 species (63%) face an increased extinction risk (mean increase 0.28), while 166 species (37%) show a predicted decrease (mean decrease 0.20) under the extreme "Fossil-fueled development" scenario. The highest risk increase was observed in Malaysia, Western Indonesia, Madagascar, Eastern Australia, and South Africa, under both pessimistic and optimistic ("Sustainability") scenarios. These regions also represent high-risk areas for several NCP: freshwater regulation, air quality, mitigation of extreme events. Preserving these high-risk regions is crucial for reducing habitat loss and human-induced extinctions. Safeguarding these ecosystems, which provide vital contributions like carbon storage, clean water, and extreme fire mitigation, should be a high priority. These regions warrant targeted policy and management interventions, including sustainable land-use practices and climate adaptation actions, to benefit both biodiversity and human well-being.
Creating anatomically-derived, standardized, customizable, and three-dimensional printable head caps for functional neuroimaging
Authors: McCann Ashlyn , Xu Edward , Yen Fan-Yu , Joseph Noah , Fang Qianqian 
Published: August 2024

AbstractSignificanceConsistent and accurate probe placement is a crucial step towards enhancing the reproducibility of longitudinal and group-based functional neuroimaging studies. While the selection of headgear is central to these efforts, there does not currently exist a standardized design that can accommodate diverse probe configurations and experimental procedures.AimWe aim to provide the community with an open-source software pipeline for conveniently creating low-cost, 3-D printable neuroimaging head caps with anatomically significant landmarks integrated into the structure of the cap.ApproachWe utilize our advanced 3-D head mesh generation toolbox and 10-20 head landmark calculations to quickly convert a subject’s anatomical scan or an atlas into a 3-D printable head cap model. The 3-D modeling environment of the open-source Blender platform permits advanced mesh processing features to customize the cap. The design process is streamlined into a Blender add-on named “NeuroCaptain”.ResultsUsing the intuitive user interface, we create various head cap models using brain atlases, and share those with the community. The resulting mesh-based head cap designs are readily 3-D printable using off-the-shelf printers and filaments while accurately preserving the head topology and landmarks.ConclusionsThe methods developed in this work result in a widely accessible tool for community members to design, customize and fabricate caps that incorporate anatomically derived landmarks. This not only permits person-alized head cap designs to achieve improved accuracy, but also offers an open platform for the community to propose standardizable head caps to facilitate multi-centered data collection and sharing.
Vagal Heart Rate Variability During Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Reduces Negative Memory Bias
Authors: Morehouse Allison B. , Simon Katharine C. , Chen Pin-Chun , Mednick Sara C. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractEmotional memories change over time, but the mechanisms supporting this change are not well understood. Sleep has been identified as one mechanism that supports memory consolidation, with sleep selectively benefitting negative emotional consolidation at the expense of neutral memories, with specific oscillatory events linked to this process. In contrast, the consolidation of neutral and positive memories, compared to negative memories, has been associated with increased vagally-mediated vagal heart rate variability (HRV) during wakefulness. However, how HRV during sleep contributes to emotional memory consolidation remains unexplored. We investigated how sleep oscillations and vagal contributions during sleep contribute to the consolidation of neutral and negative memories. Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject, cross-over design, we examined the impact of pharmacological vagal suppression using zolpidem on overnight emotional memory consolidation. Thirty-two participants encoded neutral and negative pictures in the morning, followed by picture recognition tests before and after a night of sleep. Zolpidem or placebo was administered in the evening before overnight sleep, and participants were monitored with electroencephalography and electrocardiography. In the placebo condition, greater overnight improvement for neutral pictures was associated with higher vagal HRV in both Non-Rapid Eye Movement Slow Wave Sleep (NREM SWS) and REM. Additionally, the emotional memory tradeoff (i.e., difference between consolidation of neutral versus negative memories) was associated with higher vagal HRV during REM, but in this case, neutral memories were remembered better than negative memories, indicating a potential role for REM vagal HRV in promoting a positive memory bias overnight. Zolpidem, on the other hand, reduced vagal HRV during SWS, increased NREM sigma power, and eliminated the positive memory bias. Lastly, we used a stepwise linear mixed effects regression to determine how NREM sigma power and vagal HRV during REM independently explained the variance in the emotional memory tradeoff effect. We found that the addition of vagal HRV in combination with sleep significantly improved the model’s fit. Overall, our results suggest that sleep brain oscillations and vagal signals synergistically interact in the overnight consolidation of emotional memories, with REM vagal HRV critically contributing to the positive memory bias.
LAPTM4B Alleviates Pulmonary Fibrosis by Enhancing NEDD4L-Mediated TGF-β Signaling Suppression
Authors: Xu Kai , Pan Xiaoyue , Lian Hui , Wang Yaxuan , Wan Ruyan , Li Zhongzheng , Pan Xin , Li Yajun , Yang Juntang , Rosas Ivan , Wang Lan , Yu Guoying 
Published: August 2024

AbstractIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and progressive lung disease with fatal outcome and a poorly understood pathogenesis. The lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta (LAPTM4B), a multi-transmembrane endo-lysosomal membrane protein, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases. However, its involvement in IPF remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the role of LAPTM4B in lung fibrosis and elucidate its underlying mechanisms. The results showed that LAPTM4B was significantly reduced in IPF and mouse fibrotic lungs. In vivo studies showed that the deficiency of LAPTM4B exacerbated bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis, while the restoration of LAPTM4B alleviated fibrosis. Mechanistically, LAPTM4B recruits the NEDD4 like E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (NEDD4L) to endosomes, leading to increased ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of TGFRB2 and active SMAD2/3, thereby blocking the TGF-β/SMAD signaling pathway. Overall, our data provided a novel insight for a deeper understanding of the pathogenesis of IPF, supporting the therapeutic potential of restoration of LAPTM4B as a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.Abstract Figure