bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of acute malnutrition among under-5 children attending a rural hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Bavurhe Rodrigue Fikiri , Ahmad Bilal , Naaz Farheen , Oduoye Malik Olatunde , Rugendabanga Excellent , Nkundakozera Marie , Bianga Viviane Feza , Farhan Kanza , Kioma Josline , Biamba Chrispin , Bisimwa Jospin , Banyanga David , Opondjo Fernand Manga , Colombe Moise Mbaluku , Bucangende Eric Ndagano , Shamamba Peniel Kundo , Cirhuza Eric Cibambo , Isonga Stéphanie Sifa , Akilimali Aymar , Birindwa Archippe Muhandule ,   and the collaborators,   Collaborators
Published: June 2024

Background:
Malnutrition, a public health problem in a low-income country such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), is a major killer among children under 5 who are most at risk of acute malnutrition. This study aims to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of acute malnutrition in children under 5 years old.

Methods:
The authors conducted a retrospective and descriptive cross-sectional study on children under 5 with acute malnutrition from April 2022 to April 2023. A total of 287 malnourished children were consulted, hospitalized in a rural hospital, and registered for participation in this study.

Results:
Two hundred eighty-seven (25%) children were victims of acute malnutrition. The age group between 13 and 24 months is the most affected by acute malnutrition with 30%. The male-to-female(M/F) sex ratio was 1.17. Kwashiorkor is the most common form of acute malnutrition with 171 (59.6%) cases. Abdominal bloating, weight loss as well as diarrhea and vomiting were the more frequent clinical signs. Shock is the most complication of acute malnutrition. Therapeutic milk (Food 75 and Food 100) was the most effective in management. Twenty-nine (10.1%) other children died from acute malnutrition and 258 (89.9%) children progressed to full recovery.

Conclusion:
Acute malnutrition in children remains a public health problem worldwide and particularly in low-income countries such as DR Congo. It is associated with multiple physiological vulnerabilities and has many short- and long-term complications in children who have suffered from it.
Spatial Perspective Taking is Distinct from Cognitive and Affective Perspective Taking
Authors: Brucato Maria , Newcombe Nora S. , Chein Jason 
Published: June 2024

AbstractPerspective taking (PT) is the ability to imagine viewpoints different from our own. However, the nature of PT as a construct, and its underlying cognitive mechanisms, are not well established. Some researchers propose that understanding what others believe (cognitive PT), feel (affective PT), and see (spatial PT) form a single behavioral dimension, relying on the orienting of attention between competing frame-of-reference representations. Others propose that PT mechanisms are dissociable, although there are three different proposals about such dissociations. The present study examined behavioral associations among measures of spatial, cognitive, and affective PT and attentional control in neurotypical young adults. There was a lack of convergent validity for measures of cognitive and affective PT, pointing to the need for more psychometric work on these dimensions. Much better convergence was found for spatial PT measures. There was little to no behavioral association between spatial PT and either social forms of PT (cognitive or affective) or attentional control measures. This pattern suggests support for a dissociated model in which spatial PT is a distinct cognitive construct.
Modeling neural coding in the auditory midbrain with high resolution and accuracy
Authors: Drakopoulos Fotios , Sabesan Shievanie , Xia Yiqing , Fragner Andreas , Lesica Nicholas A 
Published: June 2024

AbstractComputational models of auditory processing can be valuable tools for research and technology development. Models of the cochlea are highly accurate and widely used, but models of the auditory brain lag far behind in both performance and penetration. Here, we present ICNet, a model that provides accurate simulation of neural dynamics in the inferior colliculus across a wide range of sounds, including near-perfect simulation of responses to speech. We developed ICNet using deep learning and large-scale intracranial recordings from gerbils, addressing three key modeling challenges that are common across all sensory systems: capturing the full statistical complexity of neuronal response patterns; accounting for physiological and experimental non-stationarity; and extracting features of sensory processing that are common across different brains. ICNet can be used to simulate activity from thousands of neural units or to provide a compact representation of central auditory processing through its latent dynamics, facilitating a wide range of hearing and audio applications.
Distinctive Transcriptional and Microbial Signature in Cutaneous Acute Graft-vs-Host-Disease
Authors: El Jurdi Najla , Shabaneh Ashraf , Schultz Brittney , Dean Owen , Wang Jinhua , Holtan Shernan G. 
Published: June 2024

AbstractSkin acute graft-vs-host disease (aGVHD) is often first manifestation of GVHD, yet very few preclinical and clinical studies have focused on this target organ, leaving a critical information gap in the pathophysiology of GVHD. We hypothesized that analysis of host and microbiome gene expression could yield novel insights into the molecular and immunologic mechanisms underlying skin GVHD. Our objectives were to determine the differential host gene expression and microbiome profile of human skin aGVHD samples compared to normal skin, and aGVHD corticosteroid responders to non-responders. We performed RNA-Sequencing on lower arm biopsies from 45 patients compared to 10 healthy controls. Our findings suggest a distinctive transcriptional signature of cutaneous aGVHD, that could identify potentially actionable targets for prevention or treatment corticosteroid refractory disease. Our analysis suggests a key role of dendritic cells and macrophages, potentially mediated by differential expression of MIF, in the development of cutaneous aGVHD and corticosteroid responsiveness. Additionally, we describe a unique microbial signature in cutaneous aGVHD that includes skin microbes not previously described in this population.
The DiffInvex evolutionary model for conditional somatic selection identifies chemotherapy resistance genes in 10,000 cancer genomes
Authors: Khalil Ahmed , Supek Fran 
Published: June 2024

AbstractTumors often show an initial response to chemotherapy, but then develop resistance, leading to relapse and poor prognosis. We hypothesized that a genomic comparison of mutations in pre-treated versus treatment-naive tumors would serve to identify genes that confer resistance. A challenge in such an analysis is that therapy alters mutation burdens and signatures, confounding association studies and complicating identifying causal, selected mutations. We developed DiffInvex, a framework for identifying changes in selection acting on individual genes in somatic genomes. Crucially, DiffInvex draws on a mutation rate baseline that accounts for these shifts in neutral mutagenesis during cancer evolution. We applied DiffInvex to 9,953 cancer whole-genomes from 29 cancer types from 8 studies, containing both WGS of treatment-naive tumors and tumors pre-treated by various drugs, identifying genes where point mutations are under conditional positive or negative selection for a certain chemotherapeutic, suggesting resistance mechanisms occurring via point mutation. DiffInvex confirmed well-known chemoresistance-driver mutations inEGFR,ESR1,KITandARgenes as being under conditional positive selection, with additional cancer types identified forEGFRandKIT. Additionally, DiffInvex identified 11 genes with treatment-associated selection for different classes of therapeutics. In most cases, these genes were common cancer genes includingPIK3CA,APC,MAP2K4andMAP3K1. This suggests that tumor resistance to therapy via mutation often occurs via selective advantages conferred by known driver genes, rather than via mutations in specialized resistance genes. Various gene-chemotherapy associations were further supported in tests for functional impact of mutations, again implemented in a conditional selection setting, as well as replicating in independent panel or exome sequencing data. In addition to nominating drug resistance genes that could be targeted by future therapeutics, DiffInvex can also be applied to diverse analysis in cancer evolution, such as comparing normal and tumoral tissues, or analyzing subclonal evolution, identifying changes in selection over time.
Antiviral insulin signaling during West Nile virus infection results in viral mutations
Authors: Char Aditya B. , Trammell Chasity E. , Fawcett Stephen , Ahlers Laura R.H. , Patel Dharmeshkumar , Luckhart Shirley , Goodman Alan G. 
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACTArthropod-borne viruses or arboviruses, including West Nile virus (WNV), dengue virus (DENV), and Zika virus (ZIKV) pose significant threats to public health. It is imperative to develop novel methods to control these mosquito-borne viral infections. We previously showed that insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 signaling (IIS)-dependent activation of ERK and JAK-STAT signaling has significant antiviral activity. Continuous immune pressure can lead to adaptive mutations of viruses during infection. We aim to elucidate how IIS-signaling in mosquitoes selects for West Nile virus escape variants, to help formulate future transmission blocking strategies. We hypothesize that passage of WNV under activation of IIS will induce adaptive mutations or escape variants in the infecting virus. To test our hypothesis, WNV was serially passaged throughCulex quinquefasciatusHsu cells in the presence or absence of bovine insulin to activate IIS antiviral pressure. We sequenced WNV genes encoding for E, NS2B, NS3, and NS5 and identified variants inEandNS5arising from IIS antiviral pressure. In parallel to the genetic analyses, we also report differences in the levels of virus replication and Akt activation in human cells using virus passaged in the presence or absence of insulin. Finally, using adultCulex quinquefasciatus, we demonstrated the enhancement of immune response gene expression in virus-infected mosquitoes fed on insulin, compared to control. Notably, virus collected from insulin-fed mosquitoes contained a non-synonymous mutation inNS3. These results contribute towards achieving our long-term goal of manipulating mosquito IIS-dependent antiviral immunity to reduce WNV or other flavivirus transmission to mammalian hosts.
Altered Dynamics and Characterization of Functional Networks in Cocaine Use Disorder: A Coactivation Pattern Analysis of Resting-State fMRI data
Authors: Klugah-Brown Benjamin , Yao Xing , Yang Hang , Wang Pan , Biswal Bharat B. 
Published: June 2024

AbstractBackgroundCocaine Use Disorder (CUD) poses significant neurobiological and neuropsychiatric challenges, often resulting in severe cognitive and behavioral impairments. This study aims to explore the neural dynamics of CUD using a dynamic coactivation pattern (CAP) analysis approach to provide a deeper understanding of the transient neurobiological mechanisms of the disorder.MethodsResting-state functional MRI data (SUDMEX_CONN) from 56 CUD patients and 57 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed. CAP analysis was employed to capture transient brain states and their coactivation patterns. Temporal dynamic metrics such as Fraction of Time, Persistence (PST), and Counts were computed to assess differences between groups. Stationary functional connectivity (sFC) was also examined, and meta-analytic term mapping from the Neurosynth database was used to characterize functional associations.ResultsCAP analysis revealed six distinct coactivation patterns, with five showing high spatial similarity between CUD and HC groups. Notable differences were observed in State 6, which displayed inverse activation patterns between the groups. CUD individuals exhibited significantly reduced PST across all brain states and altered transition probabilities, particularly increased transitions from the default mode network (DMN) to the somatomotor network and decreased transitions from DMN to attentional/executive networks. Clinical correlations indicated that prolonged cocaine use was associated with altered PST in specific brain states. sFC analysis identified significant alterations in regions such as the right supramarginal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, and right lingual gyrus, each linked to distinct cognitive and behavioral functions.ConclusionsThis study highlights the utility of CAP analysis in capturing the dynamic neural underpinnings of CUD. The findings provide insights into the neurobiological mechanisms of the disorder, suggesting potential biomarkers for CUD. These results have implications for developing an enhanced approach for substance use disorders, as well as improving our understanding and management of CUD.
Improving Tuberculosis Control: Assessing the Value of Medical Masks and Case Detection – A Multi-Country Study with Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Authors: Aldila Dipo , Fardian Basyar Lauzha , Chukwu Chidozie Williams , Noor Aziz Muhamad Hifzhudin , Kamalia Putri Zahra 
Published: June 2024

AbstractTuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global health concern, necessitating effective control strategies. This paper presents a mathematical model to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of medical mask usage and case detection in TB control. The model is constructed as a system of ordinary differential equations and incorporates crucial aspects of TB dynamics, including slow-fast progression, medical mask utilization, case detection, treatment interventions, and differentiation between symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. A key objective of TB control is to ensure that the reproduction number, ℛc, remains below unity to achieve TB elimination or persistence if ℛcexceeds one. Our mathematical analysis reveals the presence of a transcritical bifurcation when the ℛc= 1 signifies a critical juncture in TB control strategies. These results confirm that the effectiveness of case detection in diminishing the endemic population of symptomatic individuals within a TB-endemic equilibrium depends on exceeding a critical threshold value. Furthermore, our model is calibrated using TB yearly case incidence data per 100,000 population from Indonesia, India, Lesotho, and Angola, and we employ the Bootstrap Resampling Residual Approach to assess the uncertainty inherent in our parameter estimates and provide a comprehensive distribution of parameter values. Despite a declining trend in new incidence, these four countries exhibit a reproduction number greater than one, indicating persistent TB cases in the presence of ongoing TB control programs. We employ the Partial Rank Correlation Coefficient (PRCC) in conjunction with the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) method to conduct global sensitivity analysis of theℛcparameter for each fitted parameter in every country. We find that the medical mask use is more sensitive to reduce ℛccompared to the case detection implementation. To further gain insight into the necessary control strategy, we formulated an optimal control and studied the cost-effectiveness analysis of our model to investigate the impact of case detection and medical mask use as control measures in TB spread. Cost-effectiveness analysis demonstrates that combining these interventions emerges as the most cost-effective strategy for TB control. Our findings highlight the critical importance of medical masks and their efficacy coupled with case detection in shaping TB control dynamics, elucidating the primary parameter of concern for managing the control reproduction number. We envisage our findings to have implications and be vital for TB control if implemented by policymakers and healthcare practitioners involved in TB control efforts.
Comparison of clinical metagenomics with 16S rDNA Sanger sequencing for the bacteriological diagnosis of culture-negative samples
Authors: d’Humières Camille , Haviari Skerdi , Petitjean Marie , Deconinck Laurène , Gueye Signara , Peiffer-Smadja Nathan , Chalal Lynda , Beldjoudi Naima , Rossi Geoffrey , Nguyen Yann , Burdet Charles , Perrineau Ségolène , Le Pluart Diane , Rahli Roza , Thy Michael , Szychowiak Piotr , Lescure Xavier , Leflon-Guibout Véronique , de Lastours Victoire , Ruppé Etienne 
Published: June 2024

AbstractBackgroundCurrently, diagnosis of bacterial infections is based on culture, possibly followed by the amplification and sequencing (Sanger method) of the 16S rDNA - encoding gene when cultures are negative. Clinical metagenomics (CMg), i.e. the sequencing of a sample’s entire nucleic acids, may allow for the identification of bacteria not detected by conventional methods. Here, we tested the performance of CMg compared to 16S rDNA sequencing (Sanger) in 50 patients with suspected bacterial infection but negative cultures.MethodsThis is a prospective cohort study. Fifty patients (73 samples) with negative culture and a 16S rDNA sequencing demand (Sanger) were recruited from two sites. On the same samples, CMg was also performed and compared to 16S rDNA Sanger sequencing. Bacteria were identified using MetaPhlAn4.ResultsAmong the 73 samples, 20 (27.4%, 17 patients) had a clinically significant 16S rDNA Sanger sequencing result (used for patient management) while 11 (15.1%, 9 patients) were considered contaminants. At the patient level, the sensitivity of CMg was 70.1% (12/17) compared to 16S rDNA. In samples negative for 16S rDNA Sanger sequencing (n=53), CMg identified clinically-relevant bacteria in 10 samples (18.9%, 10 patients) with 14 additional bacteria.ConclusionsCMg was not 100% sensitive when compared to 16S, supporting that it may not be a suitable replacement. However, CMg did find additional bacteria in samples negative for 16S rDNA Sanger. CMg could therefore be positioned as a complementary to 16S rDNA Sanger sequencing.
Adverse sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health care in seven low- and middle-income countries: MASC study
Authors: Hanlon Charlotte , Lempp Heidi , Alem Atalay , Alemu Azeb Asaminew , Alvarado Rubén , Ayinde Olatunde , Adesola Adekunle , Brohan Elaine , Davies Thandi , Fekadu Wubalem , Gureje Oye , Jalagania Lucy , Makhashvili Nino , Mihretu Awoke , Misganaw Eleni , Milenova Maria , Mujirishvili Tamar , Myshakivska Olha , Pinchuk Irina , Solis-Araya Camila , Sorsdahl Katherine , Soto-Brandt Gonzalo , Susser Ezra , Toro-Devia Olga , Votruba Nicole , Wickramasinghe Anuprabha , Williams Shehan , Thornicroft Graham 
Published: June 2024

AbstractA WHO rapid assessment of early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health services worldwide found a consistent pattern of degradation. In this context the MASC study aimed to: identify the consequences of the pandemic for mental health services and people with pre- existing mental health conditions (MHCs) in 7 low- and middle-income countries; and (2) identify good practice to mitigate these impacts. The study was conducted in Chile, Ethiopia, Georgia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. This was an observational study, using a mixed- methods convergent design, triangulating data from: (1) 144 key informants participating in semi- structured interviews or focus groups and/or a self-completed survey; (2) routine service utilization data; (3) local grey literature; and (4) expert consultation. We found clear evidence in all sites that the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing disadvantages experienced by people with MHCs and led to a deterioration in the availability and quality of care, especially for psychosocial care. Alongside increased vulnerability to COVID-19, people with MHCs faced additional barriers to accessing prevention and treatment interventions compared to the general population. To varying extents, sites showed accelerated implementation of digital technologies, but with evidence of worsening inequities in access. Where primary care-based mental health care was more developed or prioritised, systems seemed more resilient and adaptive. Our findings have the following implications. First, mental health service reductions are clear examples of ‘structural stigma’, namely policy level decisions in healthcare which place a low priority upon services for people with MHCs. Second, integration of mental health care into all general health care settings is key to ensuring accessibility and parity of physical and mental health care. Third, digital innovations should be designed to strengthen and not fragment systems. We discuss these findings in terms of anticipating such challenges in future and preparing layers of resilience.
Seasonal and comparative evidence of adaptive gene expression in mammalian brain size plasticity
Authors: Thomas William R. , Richter Troy , O’Neil Erin T. , Baldoni Cecilia , Corthals Angelique P. , von Elverfeldt Dominik , Nieland John , Dechmann Dina K. N. , Hunter Richard G. , Dávalos Liliana M. 
Published: June 2024

AbstractContrasting almost all other mammalian wintering strategies, Eurasian common shrews,Sorex araneus, endure winter by shrinking their brain, skull, and most organs, only to then regrow to breeding size the following spring. How such tiny mammals achieve this unique brain size plasticity while maintaining activity through the winter remains unknown. To discover potential adaptations underlying this trait, we analyzed seasonal differential expression in the shrew hypothalamus, a brain region that both regulates metabolic homeostasis and drastically changes size, and compared hypothalamus expression across species. We discovered seasonal variation in suites of genes involved in energy homeostasis and apoptosis, shrew-specific upregulation of genes involved in the development of the hypothalamic blood brain barrier and calcium signaling, as well as overlapping seasonal and comparative gene expression divergence in genes implicated in the development and progression of human neurological and metabolic disorders, includingCCDC22. With high metabolic rates and facing harsh winter conditions,Sorex araneushave evolved both adaptive and plastic mechanisms to sense and regulate their energy budget. Many of these expression changes mirrored those identified in human neurological and metabolic disease, highlighting the interactions between metabolic homeostasis, brain size plasticity, and longevity.