bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Population-level task-evoked functional connectivity via Fourier analysis
Authors: Meng Kun , Eloyan Ani 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a noninvasive and in-vivo imaging technique essential for measuring brain activity. Functional connectivity is used to study associations between brain regions, either while study subjects perform tasks or during periods of rest. In this paper, we propose a rigorous definition of task-evoked functional connectivity at the population level (ptFC). Importantly, our proposed ptFC is interpretable in the context of task-fMRI studies. An algorithm for estimating the ptFC is provided. We present the performance of the proposed algorithm compared to existing functional connectivity frameworks using simulations. Lastly, we apply the proposed algorithm to estimate the ptFC in a motor-task study from the Human Connectome Project.
Parental concerns about genital differences in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia persist regardless of the selected intervention
Authors: Alderson Julie , Thornton Maia , Skae Mars , Jones Julie , Nicoll Nicky , Harcourt Diana , Woodward Mark , Crowne Elizabeth C 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Background
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21HD) can affect the in utero development of the genital anatomy of people with the 46XX karyotype. Health professionals engage parents in decision-making regarding managing genitals with this difference, including genital surgery options and patient communication.

Aim
We sought to investigate parental communication with their daughters regarding clitoral size variation related to neonatal CAH.

Methods
Semistructured in-person interviews of 24 parents of chromosomal XX children with clitoral size variation attributable to a neonatal CAH diagnosis comprised 3 management categories: (1) clitoral reduction surgery (RS) (7 parents, 9 children), (2) clitoral concealment surgery (CS) (8 parents, 8 children), and no surgery on or around the clitoris (NS) (9 parents, 7 children).

Outcomes
Four representative themes, Obvious Choice, Still Different, Parental Burden, and Ignorance Is Bliss, were common across all 3 treatment groups.

Results
For most parents, none of the 3 options of genital appearance alteration via clitoral reduction, clitoral concealment surgery, or avoidance of clitoral surgery ameliorated concerns, with most parents expressing an aversion to educating their child on the topic of genital differences, past treatment, or future function.

Clinical Implications
Reliance on surgical treatment pathways to manage this psychosocial concern is ineffective in alleviating parental uncertainty without the application of psychosocial interventions.

Strengths and Limitations
This was a qualitative study but was limited to parents of children with a specific genital difference, without direct exploration of parental values regarding the clitoris or the application of adequate psychosocial care.

Conclusion
Healthcare services must have an impact on parental ability to engage in essential communication with their children in cases such as clitoral size variation related to neonatal CAH. Improved communication skills allow parents to engage in more genuine decision-making and adapt to enduring genital reality, including possible future sexual challenges for their adult child, without resorting to burdensome strategies focused on attempts to perpetuate a benevolent ignorance.
Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K.) and Brazil nut oil: effects on oxidative stress and potential therapeutic health benefits from human, animal, and cell culture models
Authors: de Araújo Beatriz Alem Nascimento , de Campos Luisa Maria Tavares da Silva , Souza Gleiciane Teixeira , Abreu Giovanna de Menezes , de Almeida Carolina de Oliveira Ramos Petra , Figueiredo Mariana Sarto 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K.) is characterized by its high nutritional and energetic value. It contains high levels of l-arginine, antioxidant vitamins, phenolic compounds, and phytosterols. In addition to their biological functions, bioactive compounds and essential fatty acids present therapeutic effects on chronic disease prevention through their antioxidant effects. Thus, this review aims to present the most recent scientific evidence on the effect of Brazil nut on human health. A search for scientific articles was carried out through the MEDLINE/PubMed, Science Direct, and LILACS databases, considering articles published between the years 2010 and 2023. The results showed that Brazil nuts and Brazil nut oil, when consumed regularly and associated with a balanced diet, can improve lipid profile, attenuate inflammatory response, and improve oxidative stress through increased activity and gene expression of antioxidant enzymes. However, further studies are recommended to better understand the mechanisms of action.
Chloroplast ATP synthase: From structure to engineering
Authors: Rühle Thilo , Leister Dario , Pasch Viviana 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
F-type ATP synthases are extensively researched protein complexes because of their widespread and central role in energy metabolism. Progress in structural biology, proteomics, and molecular biology has also greatly advanced our understanding of the catalytic mechanism, post-translational modifications, and biogenesis of chloroplast ATP synthases. Given their critical role in light-driven ATP generation, tailoring the activity of chloroplast ATP synthases and modeling approaches can be applied to modulate photosynthesis. In the future, advances in genetic manipulation and protein design tools will significantly expand the scope for testing new strategies in engineering light-driven nanomotors.
Perception-Action Approach Versus Standard Care for Infants With Congenital Muscular Torticollis: A Pilot Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Rahlin Mary , Haney Nancy B , Barnett Joyce 
Published: March 2024

AbstractObjectiveThe purposes of this pilot study were to compare short-term outcomes of the Perception-Action Approach (P-AA) and standard care based on 5 components of first-choice interventions listed in the congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) clinical practice guideline. Changes in postural alignment, symmetrical use of both sides of the body during movement and play, gross motor development, and behavior observed during therapy were considered.MethodsThirty-two participants were enrolled in a 2-group (P-AA and standard care) randomized, single-blind trial with pre–posttest measures. Participants were infants with CMT, age range 5 to 35 weeks at enrollment. Outcome measures administered at initial and final evaluations included still photography, arthrodial goniometry, Muscle Function Scale, Alberta Infant Motor Scale, and Functional Symmetry Observation Scale. Participants in both groups attended 3 intervention sessions. Their behavior exhibited during therapy was compared using the Therapy Behavior Scale Version 2.2.ResultsData collection was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Twenty-four infants completed the study (10 in P-AA and 14 in the standard care group). There were no significant differences between the groups in performance at initial and final evaluations. Both groups improved on most outcome measures. The P-AA group made greater gains on the Functional Symmetry Observation Scale, and the Therapy Behavior Scale Version 2.2 scores were higher in the P-AA group; however, these results did not reach significance.ConclusionResults suggest that similar short-term outcomes may be obtained in infants with CMT undergoing P-AA and standard care interventions. Definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy of the P-AA in infants with CMT cannot be made at this time. Nevertheless, the pilot findings provide valuable preliminary data for a future efficacy trial, which will require funding.ImpactThis was the first randomized controlled trial to provide evidence for use of P-AA intervention in infants with CMT.Lay SummaryCompared to standard treatment, the Perception-Action Approach (P-AA) provided similar short-term benefits to infants with congenital muscular torticollis. The P-AA group participants demonstrated higher symmetry and behavior scores, which needs to be confirmed in a larger future study.
Efficacy and safety of dupilumab in the treatment of Kimura’s disease
Authors: Liu Y L , Ran Y T , Zhang Y F , Peng X T , Xia Y M , Yan H L 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Background
Kimura’s disease (KD) is a rare chronic inflammatory condition characterized by nodules and lymphadenopathy in the head and neck region, exhibiting type II inflammation. Dupilumab is commonly used against type II inflammation.

Aim
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of dupilumab in KD patients.

Design
The real-world study was conducted in a hospital in China.

Methods
Six male patients with a mean age of 24.50 ± 15.47 years were treated with dupilumab following the same protocol as that for atopic dermatitis (AD). Clinical and laboratory indicators, such as maximum nodule diameter, blood eosinophil count, eosinophil percentage, and total serum IgE levels were assessed at baseline, Week 12 and Week 24. Adverse events were documented. Paired t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used for statistical analysis.

Results
The results showed significant reductions in the longest nodule diameter at Week 12 (P = 0.006) and Week 24 (P = 0.017) compared to baseline. Blood eosinophil count decreased by 57.95% (P = 0.024) at Week 12 and 90.59% (P = 0.030) at Week 24. Eosinophil percentage decreased by 58.44% (P = 0.026) at Week 12 and 89.37% (P = 0.013) at Week 24. Total serum IgE levels decreased by 78.02% (P = 0.040) at Week 12 and 89.55% (P = 0.031) at Week 24. The presence of AD did not affect the results. One patient experienced temporary facial erythema after 32 weeks of treatment, which resolved with topical treatment. No other adverse events were reported.

Conclusion
Dupilumab demonstrated effectiveness in treating KD without severe adverse events.
Practicing responsible research assessment: Qualitative study of faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure assessments in the United States
Authors: Rushforth Alexander , De Rijcke Sarah 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Recent times have seen the growth in the number and scope of interacting professional reform movements in science, centered on themes such as open research, research integrity, responsible research assessment, and responsible metrics. The responsible metrics movement identifies the growing influence of quantitative performance indicators as a major problem and seeks to steer and improve practices around their use. It is a multi-actor, multi-disciplinary reform movement premised upon engendering a sense of responsibility among academic evaluators to approach metrics with caution and avoid certain poor practices. In this article we identify how academic evaluators engage with the responsible metrics agenda, via semi-structured interview and open-text survey responses on professorial hiring, tenure and promotion assessments among senior academics in the United States—a country that has so far been less visibly engaged with the responsible metrics reform agenda. We explore how notions of ‘responsibility’ are experienced and practiced among the very types of professionals international reform initiatives such as the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) are hoping to mobilize into their cause. In doing so, we draw on concepts from science studies, including from literatures on Responsible Research and Innovation and ‘folk theories’ of citation. We argue that literature on citation folk theories should extend its scope beyond simply asking researchers how they view the role and validity of these tools as performance measures, by asking them also what they consider are their professional obligations to handle bibliometrics appropriately.
Thorough assessment of the effectiveness of belimumab in a large Spanish multicenter cohort of systemic lupus erythematosus patients
Authors: Altabás-González Irene , Pego-Reigosa José María , Mouriño Coral , Jiménez Norman , Hernández-Martín Andrea , Casafont-Solé Ivette , Font Urguelles Judit , Román-Ivorra José Andrés , de la Rubia Navarro Marta , Galindo-Izquierdo María , Salman-Monte Tarek Carlos , Narváez Javier , Vidal-Montal Paola , García-Villanueva María Jesús , Garrote-Corral Sandra , Blázquez-Cañamero María Ángeles , Marras Carlos , Piqueras-García María , Martínez-Barrio Julia , Sánchez-Lucas Marina , Cortés-Hernández Josefina , Penzo Eleonora , Calvo-Alén Jaime , de Dios Juan Ramón , Álvarez Rodríguez Belén , Vasques-Rocha Margarida , Tomero Eva , Menor-Almagro Raúl , Gandía Myriam , Gómez-Puerta José A , Frade-Sosa Beatriz , Ramos-Giráldez Consuelo , Trapero-Pérez Carmen , Diez Elvira , Moriano Clara , Muñoz-Jiménez Alejandro , Rúa-Figueroa Iñigo Jesús 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Objectives
To provide an overview on the current use of belimumab (BLM) in SLE patients in clinical practice and to examine its efficacy in terms of standardized outcomes, drug survival, as well as patient and safety profiles.

Methods
A longitudinal retrospective multicenter cohort including SLE patients treated with BLM at 18 Spanish centers. Data was collected upon initiation of BLM, at 6 and 12 months after initiation, and at the last recorded visit. Changes in SLEDAI-2K, the proportion of patients who achieved LLDAS and DORIS 2021, and number of flares were compared between visits. Changes in damage, glucocorticoids use and employment status pre-BLM and post-BLM were also assessed.

Results
A total of 324 patients were included with a mean follow-up of 3.8 (±2.7) years. LLDAS was attained by 45.8%, 62% and 71% of patients, and DORIS by 24%, 36.2% and 52.5% on successive visits, respectively. A total of 27.2% of patients were in DORIS ≥50% of the visits and 46% in LLDAS-50. Flares and number of flares were significantly lower one year after treatment with BLM and no changes in damage accrual were observed. Mean (±SD) prednisone dose was significantly reduced over time, with 70 (24%) patients discontinuing GC.

Conclusion
Our study not only demonstrates belimumab’s efficacy in attaining treat-to-target goals in SLE patients, but also confirms its GC-sparing effect, and its prevention of flares and organ damage accrual.
Uptake and safety of pneumococcal vaccination in adults with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: a UK wide observational study
Authors: Nakafero Georgina , Grainge Matthew J , Card Tim , Mallen Christian D , Nguyen Van-Tam Jonathan S , Abhishek Abhishek 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Objective
The uptake and safety of pneumococcal vaccination in people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) is poorly understood. We investigated the UK-wide pneumococcal vaccine uptake in adults with IMIDs and explored the association between vaccination and IMID flare.

Methods
Adults with IMIDs diagnosed on or before 1 September 2018, prescribed steroid-sparing drugs within the last 12 months and contributing data to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Gold, were included. Vaccine uptake was assessed using a cross-sectional study design. Self-controlled case series analysis investigated the association between pneumococcal vaccination and IMID flare. The self-controlled case series observation period was up to 6 months before and after pneumococcal vaccination. This was partitioned into a 14-day pre-vaccination induction, 90 days post-vaccination exposed and the remaining unexposed periods.

Results
We included 32 277 patients, 14 151 with RA, 13 631 with IBD, 3804 with axial SpA and 691 with SLE. Overall, 57% were vaccinated against pneumococcus. Vaccine uptake was lower in those younger than 45 years old (32%), with IBD (42%) and without additional indication(s) for vaccination (46%). In the vaccine safety study, data for 1067, 935 and 451 vaccinated patients with primary-care consultations for joint pain, autoimmune rheumatic disease flare and IBD flare, respectively, were included. Vaccination against pneumococcal pneumonia was not associated with primary-care consultations for joint pain, autoimmune rheumatic disease flare and IBD flare in the exposed period, with incidence rate ratios (95% CI) 0.95 (0.83–1.09), 1.05 (0.92–1.19) and 0.83 (0.65–1.06), respectively.

Conclusion
Uptake of pneumococcal vaccination in UK patients with IMIDs was suboptimal. Vaccination against pneumococcal disease was not associated with IMID flare.
Patient and health professional views on risk-stratified monitoring of immune-suppressing treatment in adults with inflammatory diseases
Authors: Fuller Amy , Hancox Jennie , Williams Hywel C , Card Tim , Taal Maarten W , Aithal Guruprasad P , Fox Christopher P , Mallen Christian D , Maxwell James R , Bingham Sarah , Vedhara Kavita , Abhishek Abhishek 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Objective
To explore the acceptability of an individualized risk-stratified approach to monitoring for target-organ toxicity in adult patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases established on immune-suppressing treatment(s).

Methods
Adults (≥18 years) taking immune-suppressing treatment(s) for at least six months, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) with experience of either prescribing and/or monitoring immune-suppressing drugs were invited to participate in a single, remote, one-to-one, semi-structured interview. Interviews were conducted by a trained qualitative researcher and explored their views and experiences of current monitoring and acceptability of a proposed risk-stratified monitoring plan. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and inductively analysed using thematic analysis in NVivo.

Results
Eighteen patients and 13 HCPs were interviewed. While participants found monitoring of immune-suppressing drugs with frequent blood-tests reassuring, the current frequency of these was considered burdensome by patients and HCPs alike, and to be a superfluous use of healthcare resources. Given abnormalities rarely arose during long-term treatment, most felt that monitoring blood-tests were not needed as often. Patients and HCPs found it acceptable to increase the interval between monitoring blood-tests from three-monthly to six-monthly or annually depending on the patients’ risk profiles. Conditions of accepting such a change included: allowing for clinician and patient autonomy in determining individuals’ frequency of monitoring blood-tests, the flexibility to change monitoring frequency if someone’s risk profile changed, and endorsement from specialist societies and healthcare providers such as the National Health Service.

Conclusion
A risk-stratified approach to monitoring was acceptable to patients and health care professionals. Guideline groups should consider these findings when recommending blood-test monitoring intervals.
Can the neural representation of physical pain predict empathy for pain in others?
Authors: Li M , Racey C , Rae C L , Strawson W , Critchley H D , Ward J 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
The question of whether physical pain and vicarious pain have some shared neural substrates is unresolved. Recent research has argued that physical and vicarious pain are represented by dissociable multivariate brain patterns by creating biomarkers for physical pain (Neurologic Pain Signature, NPS) and vicarious pain (Vicarious Pain Signature, VPS), respectively. In the current research, the NPS and two versions of the VPS were applied to three fMRI datasets (one new, two published) relating to vicarious pain which focused on between-subject differences in vicarious pain (Datasets 1 and 3) and within-subject manipulations of perspective taking (Dataset 2). Results show that (i) NPS can distinguish brain responses to images of pain vs no-pain and to a greater extent in vicarious pain responders who report experiencing pain when observing pain and (ii) neither version of the VPS mapped on to individual differences in vicarious pain and the two versions differed in their success in predicting vicarious pain overall. This study suggests that the NPS (created to detect physical pain) is, under some circumstances, sensitive to vicarious pain and there is significant variability in VPS measures (created to detect vicarious pain) to act as generalizable biomarkers of vicarious pain.
Network Structure of Childhood Trauma, Bodily Disturbances, and Schizotypy in Schizophrenia and Nonclinical Controls
Authors: Torregrossa Lénie J , Liu Jinyuan , Armstrong Kristan , Heckers Stephan , Sheffield Julia M 
Published: March 2024

Abstract

Background and Hypothesis
Exposure to childhood trauma has been linked to the development of psychosis and bodily self-disturbances, 2 hallmarks of schizophrenia (SZ). Prior work demonstrated that bodily disturbances serve as a bridge between childhood trauma and SZ symptomatology, but the diagnostic specificity of these connections remains unknown. This study uses network analysis to bridge this gap by comparing the interplays between childhood trauma, bodily self-disturbances, and schizotypy in clinical and general populations.

Study Design
Networks were constructed to examine the relationships between schizotypy (Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire; SPQ), bodily self-disturbances (Perceptual Aberration Scale; PAS), and childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ) in 152 people with SZ and 162 healthy comparison participants (HC). The Fused Graphical Lasso was used to jointly estimate the networks in the 2 groups and the structure and strength of the networks were compared. Node centrality and shortest paths between CTQ, PAS, and schizotypy were examined.

Study Results
When comparing SZ and HC, the network of bodily self-disturbances, childhood trauma, and schizotypy were similarly structured, but the network was significantly stronger in SZ than HC. In both groups, bodily self-disturbances were on one of the shortest paths between childhood trauma to schizotypal experiences.

Conclusions
Our findings revealed reliable associations between childhood trauma, bodily self-disturbance, and schizotypy, with bodily disturbances acting as a bridge from childhood trauma to schizotypy. The elevated strength of the SZ network indicates a more highly interconnected, and therefore reactive network in which exposure to childhood trauma can more easily activate bodily disturbances and schizotypy.