bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Dialogue Study: A randomized clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of a virtual reality-based intervention plus treatment as usual versus treatment as usual for eating disorders
Authors: Hansen NK , Ries ES , Ward T , Cardi V , Christensen AB , Hjorthøj C , Nordentoft M , Micali N , Glenthøj LB 
Published: February 2025

AbstractBackgroundThere is considerable interest in developing novel psychological interventions for eating disorders targeting characteristics potentially serving as maintaining factors in eating disorder pathology. An estimated 94% of patients with an eating disorder report a dominant internal voice commenting on weight and self-worth, often referred to as the ‘eating disorder voice‘. The experience of a more dominating ‘eating disorder voice’ has been linked to longer illness duration. Within psychotic disorders, an intervention termed AVATAR therapy, using computerized avatars, has proven effective in reducing the severity of the psychotic voice and the associated distress. Building on this evidence and the proof-of-concept for AVATAR therapy adapted to eating disorders, this study investigates a modified version of this treatment approach. In this version participants engage with an avatar representing their inner eating disorder voice in immersive virtual reality.MethodsThe study is a randomized parallel-group superiority clinical trial. A total of 96 patients with an eating disorder will be allocated to either seven sessions of virtual reality-based avatar intervention plus treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU. All participants will be assessed at baseline, at treatment cessation (12 weeks), and at 24 weeks post baseline. A stratified block-randomization with concealed randomization sequence will be conducted.DiscussionA case-series study has demonstrated that a non-immersive (2D) application of avatar-based therapy is feasible and acceptable for patients with an eating disorder. While this preliminary evidence is promising, further research is needed to evaluate its efficacy. This current study will be the first investigating this by testing a 3D immersive version of the intervention in a large-scale, methodological rigorous trial. Should the efficacy of this intervention be confirmed, it could open new avenues for research into psychological treatments for eating disorders.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.govIdentifier:NCT06345040Administrative informationTrial registration {2a and 2b}:H-22067692 andNCT06345040Protocol version {3}02.04.24, version 1.0.Funding {4}Independent Research Fund Denmark (reference-number: 2096-00078B) Research Fund of the Mental Health services – Capital Region of Denmark.Name and contact information for the trial sponsor {5b}-Independent Research Fund Denmark, Asylgade 7, 5000 Odense C, Denmark, Phone +45 35446800,dff@ufm.dk-Research Fund of the Mental Health Services – Capital Region of Denmark, Kongens Vænge 2, 3400 Hillerød, Denmark, Phone +45 38665000,pure@regionh.dkRole of sponsor {5c}The sponsors played no part in study design; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the report; and the decision to submit the report for publication.
Outcome of Atrial Fibrillation in Obesity- Insights from The National Inpatient Sample Database
Authors: Argueta Allan Santos , Garg Archit , Singh Birgurman , Paul Olayiwola Olalekan , Ali Junaid , Kaur Nirmal 
Published: February 2025

AbstractBackgroundObesity is considered a significant risk factor for numerous cardiovascular conditions. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is elevated among patients with obesity. Weight loss has been shown to reverse cardiac remodelling, leading to lower recurrence of AF despite the better prognosis in obese patients.MethodsWe utilized the National Inpatient Sample 2016-2019 to extract patients ≥18 years of age admitted with AF as the primary diagnosis based on ICD 10 codes. We performed univariate and multivariate regression analysis for known coronary risk factors. We divided patients based on their body mass index (BMI), and our primary outcomes were determining the odds of electrical cardioversion (ECV) and cardiac ablation (CA) due to AF.ResultsThe analysis included 1,625,809 weighted patients. Patients include underweight (6.66%), normal BMI (4.03), overweight (6.51%), obesity class I (20.65%), obesity class II (21.45%), and obesity class III (40.7).After multivariate regression analysis, patients with obesity class I, II, or III had higher odds of ECV, irrespectively of coronary risk factors (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.25-1.37, OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.32-1.43, OR 1.3, 95% CI1.29-1.38, respectively, with statistically significant P values).However, underweight or normal BMI patients had fewer odds of ECV (OR 0.5 95%CI 0.49-0.61 and OR 0.6 95%CI 0.58-0.74, respectively, with P values <0.001). Meanwhile, there was no statistical significance between a BMI and the odds of CA.ConclusionOur study highlights the significant impact of BMI on managing AF, particularly regarding ECV. Patients in higher BMI categories (obesity class I to III) had increased odds of undergoing ECV, suggesting obesity influences treatment approaches and outcomes in AF management. Interestingly, BMI did not affect the likelihood of CA, indicating a complex relationship between body weight and AF treatment modalities warranting further investigation.
ACE-2-like Enzymatic Activity in COVID-19 Convalescent Patients with Persistent Pulmonary Symptoms Associated with Immunoglobulin
Authors: Song Yufeng , Mehl Frances , Muehling Lyndsey M. , Canderan Glenda , Enfield Kyle , Sun Jie , Yin Michael T. , Ratcliffe Sarah J. , Wilson Jeffrey M. , Kadl Alexandra , Woodfolk Judith , Zeichner Steven L. 
Published: February 2025

AbstractMany difficult to understand clinical features characterize COVID-19 and Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC or Long COVID, LC). These can include blood pressure instability, hyperinflammation, coagulopathies, and neuropsychiatric complaints. The pathogenesis of these features remains unclear. The SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) binds Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the surface of host cells to initiate infection. We hypothesized that some patients may produce anti-RBD antibodies that resemble ACE2 sufficiently to have ACE2-like catalytic activity, that is they are ACE2-like proteolytic abzymes that may help mediate the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and LC. In previous work, we showed that some acute COVID-19 patients had immunoglobulin-associated ACE2-like proteolytic activity, suggesting that some COVID-19 patients indeed produced ACE2-like abzymes. However, it remained unknown whether ACE2-like abzymes were seen only in acute COVID-19 patients or whether ACE2-like abzymes could also be identified in convalescent COVID-19 patients. Here we show that some convalescent COVID-19 patients attending a clinic for patients with persistent pulmonary symptoms also have ACE2-like abzymes and that the presence of ACE2-like catalytic activity correlates with alterations in blood pressure in an exercise test.
Social, cognitive and sensory dimensions of cortical network overconnectivity in young children with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Rodríguez-Herreros Borja , Mheich Ahmad , Almeida Osório Joana Maria , Richetin Sonia , Junod Vincent , Arnold Lorène , Aeschbach Victoria , Adamou Lilia Nora , Mendes Laura , Gschwend Katherina , Romascano David , Yu Paola , Hassan Mahmoud , Chabane Nadia 
Published: February 2025

AbstractThe heterogeneity in both the neurobiological mechanisms and the phenotypic presentation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) poses a major challenge to clinical and translational research. Early inefficiencies in functional connectivity (FC) have been associated with ASD, yet it remains unclear whether and how abnormal brain network properties may account for individual differences across ASD-related symptomatology and behaviors. We applied source-level reconstruction to resting-state high-definition EEG data in a cohort of 113 young children (40 with ASD) to identify early global and local alterations of cortical network connectivity. We subsequently used regularized canonical correlation analysis (rCCA) to characterize specific FC patterns linked to variation in cognitive, social and sensory dimensions within the autism spectrum. We found increased low-frequency FC in frontotemporal cross-hemispheric networks and lateral-occipital regions of young ASD children. RCCA revealed three distinct FC patterns in recurrent ASD-related networks, each contributing to predict individual differences in cognitive, social and sensory features. These linked FC-behavior dimensions may shed light on atypical brain network topology conferring risk for specific phenotypic manifestations of ASD, which may implicate unique underlying neurobiological mechanisms.
Elusive scents: neurocomputational mechanisms of verbal omissions in free odor naming
Authors: Chrysanthidis N. , Raj R. , Hörberg T. , Lindroos R. , Lansner A. , Laukka E.J. , Olofsson J.K. , Herman P. 
Published: February 2025

AbstractOdor naming is considered a particularly challenging cognitive test, but the underlying cause of this difficulty is unknown. People often fail to report any source label to identify common odors, resulting in omissions (i.e., a lack of response). Here, with the support of a computational model, we offer a hypothesis about the neural network mechanisms underlying odor naming omissions. Based on an evaluation of behavioral data from almost 40,000 odor naming attempts, we suggest that high omission rates are driven by odors that are referred to by multiple linguistic labels. To explain this observation at the systems level, where olfactory perception and language (semantic) processing are produced by interacting cortical systems, we developed a computational model consisting of two associatively coupled attractor memory networks (odor and language networks), and investigated the effect of Hebbian-like learning on the simulated task performance. We used distributed network representations for the odor percepts and word label mental objects, and accounted for their statistical inter-relationships (correlations) extracted from collected data on odor perceptual similarity, and from a large Swedish odor language corpus, respectively. We evaluated a novel hypothesis, that Bayesian-Hebbian synaptic plasticity mechanisms can explain behavioral omissions in odor naming tasks, casting new light on the underlying mechanisms of this frequently observed memory phenomenon. Due to the nature of Bayesian-Hebbian associative learning connecting the two networks, there was a progressively weaker coupling for odors paired with multiple different labels in the encoding process (one-to-many mapping). Thus, when the model was cued with perceptual odor stimuli that established multiple word label associations (one-to-many mapping), the olfactory language network often produced subthreshold network responses, resulting in elevated omissions (opposite to one-to-few mapping scenario that led to improved performance scores). Our results are of theoretical interest, as they suggest a biologically plausible mechanism to explain a common, but poorly understood, behavioral phenomenon.
Maintaining tandem movement cohesion through antennal movements in termites
Authors: Mizumoto Nobuaki , Reiter Sam 
Published: February 2025

AbstractHow do animals coordinate their motion during migration? Traditional models of collective motion, for example, describing bird flocks or fish schools, rely on visual interactions. However, many animals are blind, requiring movement coordination through maintenance of physical contact. The risks and cost of becoming accidentally separated may encourage the evolution of compensatory strategies. Here we study tandem running in blind termites. We quantitatively investigate how these animals use their appendages to maintain stable pair movements. During tandem runs, male followers use shorter palps and longer antennae to maintain physical contact with female leaders. Our posture-tracking analysis revealed that termites dynamically change their antennal movements. Males stabilize their antennae to maintain contact with their partners while their palps are in contact. When the male palps lost contact with a female, males started swinging antennae while increasing movement speed. Antennae removal experiments revealed that antennal swinging contributes to pair maintenance, and males compensate for single antenna loss by increasing the swinging of the remaining one. By providing detailed information on contact-based movement coordination, our results contribute to understanding the diversity of animal collective behavior.
Capability readiness model for green design practices for affordable housing delivery in Ghana
Authors: Kwofie Titus Ebenezer , Addy Michael Nii , Marful Alexander Boakye , Aigbavboa Clinton , Amos-Abanyie Samuel , Simons Barbara , Afram Samuel Owusu 
Published: February 2025

Purpose
Creating green design capability readiness has become an emerging necessity toward increasing sustainable performance. However, the understanding of the green design readiness markers for housing delivery is lacking. The purpose of this study is to highlight a green design capability readiness model for affordable housing delivery.

Design/methodology/approach
Through the use of the self-determination theory and the Technology–Organization–Environment framework, a comprehensive review of related literature revealed 23 indicators on motivational, technological, organizational and environmental markers for green design practices capability readiness for affordable housing delivery. Adopting a deductive design, a questionnaire was developed from these markers for a survey on practitioners with knowledge and experience in green design, sustainability and housing supply chain through purposive and snowballing sampling. Mean score analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation were subsequently used to develop the capability readiness model.

Findings
This study affirmed the markers and revealed the top indicators in each of the markers. The markers subsequently accounted for 28%, 29%, 17.7% and 25.3% of green design capability readiness for affordable housing delivery. Accordingly, technological and motivational markers had the greatest contributions to green design readiness for affordable housing followed by environmental marker and organizational being the least.

Practical implications
The findings of this study will contribute to developing the right motivations, technological capability and regulatory factors for green design practices to optimize the capability readiness for affordable housing delivery in Ghana.

Originality/value
The model serves as a valuable resource that could be used to objectively align actions and gauge readiness for green design practices toward sustainability performance improvement in affordable housing delivery. It could also aid in benchmarking the readiness potential of future regulations, policies and motivations for green design practices, concepts and technologies for housing delivery.
Capitalism in modern ignorance (jahilliyah): exploring Islamic alternatives to reshape human behaviour and provide solutions for the 21st century
Authors: Hasnat Md. Abu , Khandakar Hissan , Rahman Md. Azizur , Islam SM Nahidul , Hasan Khandakar Kamrul 
Published: February 2025

Purpose
This study aims to analyse the research themes in Islamic finance, assess the extent to which Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved through implementing Islamic financial principles and explore the potential for reshaping human behaviour under an Islamic framework. The research aims to establish a paradigm that evaluates the role of Islamic finance in fostering social justice, environmental sustainability and ethical governance as a sustainable alternative to the capitalist system.

Design/methodology/approach
This research employs a comprehensive literature review and thematic analysis to assess the alignment of Islamic finance with SDGs. Secondary data from peer-reviewed academic articles (2016–2024) were collected and analysed using an inductive thematic approach. Key themes include Islamic finance, maqasid ash-shariah and the role of Islamic finance in sustainable development. A conceptual framework is proposed to depict how Islamic financial practices can contribute to the SDGs.

Findings
The study identifies that Islamic finance, rooted in Shariah principles, offers a robust foundation for fostering social justice, ethical governance and environmental sustainability. By integrating zakat, donations, private investments and socially responsible investments, the Islamic financial model aligns with SDGs, addressing poverty (SDG 1), reducing inequality (SDG 10) and promoting sustainable economic growth (SDG 8). The findings underscore the potential of Islamic finance to address capitalism’s shortcomings, such as income inequality and unsustainable practices, while advocating for a paradigm shift in human behaviour through adherence to Islamic values.

Practical implications
Policymakers and financial institutions can leverage the insights from this research to design and implement Islamic financial models that promote equitable resource allocation, sustainable development and ethical practices. The framework offers a practical guide for integrating Islamic finance into conventional financial systems to achieve SDGs.

Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing literature by presenting a novel conceptual framework that integrates Islamic finance with sustainable development goals. It offers a unique perspective on transitioning from capitalism to an Islamic financial model, emphasizing behavioural and ideological changes to achieve equitable and sustainable economic outcomes.
Unveiling the key dimensions of service quality in automobile maintenance and repair for enhanced electric vehicle users' intentions in Thailand
Authors: Lapyen Rattapong , Darawong Chonlatis 
Published: February 2025

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to propose measurements for assessing various service quality dimensions in the field of automobile maintenance and repair businesses. The study also examines the impact of service quality dimensions on continuance and recommendation intentions of electric vehicle (EV) users.Design/methodology/approachSamples comprised 397 EV users who experienced the services provided by automobile maintenance and repair centers. Convenience and snowball sampling methods were conducted to obtain suitable participants.FindingsFor continuance intention, the strongest dimension of service is reliability, followed by responsiveness, empathy, price fairness, queue and waiting management and physical environment. For recommendation intention, the strongest dimension of service quality is also reliability, followed by empathy, responsiveness, queue and waiting management, physical environment and price fairness.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the samples of this study consisted of EV users only in Thailand. The findings may not be universally applicable to other nations due to varying levels of EV adoption. Second, the degree to which the six dimensions of service quality vary can be influenced by the demographic characteristics of customers.Practical implicationsPrioritize staff training in responsiveness, empathy and reliability to effectively meet customer needs. Enhance the physical environment for a comfortable experience. Promote transparent pricing aligned with service quality and explain the pricing rationale. Implement effective queueing and waiting management strategies for improved customer comfort during waits. These measures aim to enhance intention to reuse the service and positive recommendations.Originality/valueThis research undertakes an original survey comprising EV users who utilized services from automobile maintenance and repair centers in Thailand. The results sheds light on the influence of service quality on individual’s intentions.
Developments in the medical tourism market in Poland from the perspective of international factors
Authors: Białk-Wolf Anna 
Published: February 2025

PurposeThe aim of this article is to present the changes in the medical tourism market due to shifting in consumer behavior, international competition and the influence of political factors.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on the author’s own qualitative research carried out between November 2023 and January 2024 within medical clinics dealing actively with medical tourism in Poland and is supported by partial statistical data as well as estimates of the entire phenomenon over a five-year period.FindingsThe most important factors influencing the change in the tourism market relate to the emergence of new international competitors, challenges related to the image of the country and region as a destination, the impact of changes in the healthcare system on tourists' needs and inbound medical tourism. The changes also relate to the services sought and are driven by megatrends. The article also indirectly points to barriers to the development of extensive cooperation for the creation of medical tourism destinations.Research limitations/implicationsThe article provides practical knowledge from important players in the market on factors influencing success in the medical tourism market. It is also possible to deduce from the interviews which factors enable a sustainable competitive advantage in the market. This can serve as a guideline for other clinics.Originality/valueThe article provides practical knowledge from important players in the market on factors influencing success in the medical tourism market. It is also possible to deduce from the interviews which factors enable a sustainable competitive advantage in the market. This can serve as a guideline for other clinics. They should focus on very high-quality specialized procurements, as low prices are no longer a factor in gaining victory over the competition.