bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
High KRT17 expression in tumour budding indicates immunologically ‘hot’ tumour budding and predicts good survival in patients with colorectal cancer
Authors: Liang Wenfeng , Jie Haiqing , Xie Hao , Zhou Yebohao , Li Wenxin , Huang Liang , Liang Zhenxing , Liu Huashan , Zheng Xiaobin , Zeng Ziwei , Kang Liang 
Published: February 2024

AbstractObjectivesEmerging evidence has demonstrated that tumour budding (TB) is negatively associated with T‐lymphocyte infiltration in CRC. Despite extensive research, the molecular characteristics of immunologically ‘hot’ TB remain poorly understood.MethodsWe quantified the number of TB by haematoxylin–eosin (H&E) sections and the densities of CD3+ and CD8+ T‐lymphocytes by immunohistochemistry in a CRC cohort of 351 cases who underwent curative resection. We analysed the differential expression and T‐lymphocyte infiltration score of 37 human epithelial keratins in CRC using RNA sequencing from the TCGA dataset. In 278 TB‐positive cases, KRT17 expression was evaluated in tumour centre (TC) and TB with a staining score. Patient demographic, clinicopathological features and survival rates were analysed.ResultsIn a CRC cohort of 351 cases, low‐grade TB was associated with high CD3+ and CD8+ T‐cell densities in the invasive margin (IM) but not in the TC. Of 37 human epithelial keratins, only KRT17 expression in TB had an apparent association with TB‐grade and T‐lymphocyte infiltration. In 278 TB‐positive cases, high KRT17 expression in TB (KRT17TB) was negatively associated with low‐grade TB and positively associated with high CD3+ and CD8+ T‐cell densities in IM. High KRT17TB predicted early tumour grade, absence of lymph node metastasis and absence of tumour deposits. Additionally, patients with high KRT17TB had good overall survival and disease‐free survival. Notably, low KRT17TB can specifically identify those patients with a poor prognosis among colorectal cancer patients with low TB and high T‐lymphocyte infiltration.ConclusionsKRT17 can be employed as a new indicator for distinguishing different immunological TBs.
Segmentation, feature extraction and classification of leukocytes leveraging neural networks, a comparative study
Authors: Fang Tingxuan , Huang Xukun , Chen Xiao , Chen Deyong , Wang Junbo , Chen Jian 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe gold standard of leukocyte differentiation is a manual examination of blood smears, which is not only time and labor intensive but also susceptible to human error. As to automatic classification, there is still no comparative study of cell segmentation, feature extraction, and cell classification, where a variety of machine and deep learning models are compared with home‐developed approaches. In this study, both traditional machine learning of K‐means clustering versus deep learning of U‐Net, U‐Net + ResNet18, and U‐Net + ResNet34 were used for cell segmentation, producing segmentation accuracies of 94.36% versus 99.17% for the dataset of CellaVision and 93.20% versus 98.75% for the dataset of BCCD, confirming that deep learning produces higher performance than traditional machine learning in leukocyte classification. In addition, a series of deep‐learning approaches, including AlexNet, VGG16, and ResNet18, was adopted to conduct feature extraction and cell classification of leukocytes, producing classification accuracies of 91.31%, 97.83%, and 100% of CellaVision as well as 81.18%, 91.64% and 97.82% of BCCD, confirming the capability of the increased deepness of neural networks in leukocyte classification. As to the demonstrations, this study further conducted cell‐type classification of ALL‐IDB2 and PCB‐HBC datasets, producing high accuracies of 100% and 98.49% among all literature, validating the deep learning model used in this study.
Investigation on lysosomal accumulation by a quantitative analysis of 2D phase‐maps in digital holography microscopy
Authors: Giugliano Giusy , Schiavo Michela , Pirone Daniele , Běhal Jaromír , Bianco Vittorio , Montefusco Sandro , Memmolo Pasquale , Miccio Lisa , Ferraro Pietro , Medina Diego L. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractLysosomes are the terminal end of catabolic pathways in the cell, as well as signaling centers performing important functions such as the recycling of macromolecules, organelles, and nutrient adaptation. The importance of lysosomes in human health is supported by the fact that the deficiency of most lysosomal genes causes monogenic diseases called as a group Lysosomal Storage Diseases (LSDs). A common phenotypic hallmark of LSDs is the expansion of the lysosomal compartment that can be detected by using conventional imaging methods based on immunofluorescence protocols or overexpression of tagged lysosomal proteins. These methods require the alteration of the cellular architecture (i.e., due to fixation methods), can alter the behavior of cells (i.e., by the overexpression of proteins), and require sample preparation and the accurate selection of compatible fluorescent markers in relation to the type of analysis, therefore limiting the possibility of characterizing cellular status with simplicity. Therefore, a quantitative and label‐free methodology, such as Quantitative Phase Imaging through Digital Holographic (QPI‐DH), for the microscopic imaging of lysosomes in health and disease conditions may represent an important advance to study and effectively diagnose the presence of lysosomal storage in human disease. Here we proof the effectiveness of the QPI‐DH method in accomplishing the detection of the lysosomal compartment using mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) derived from a Mucopolysaccharidosis type III‐A (MSP‐IIIA) mouse model, and comparing them with wild‐type (WT) MEFs. We found that it is possible to identify label‐free biomarkers able to supply a first pre‐screening of the two populations, thus showing that QPI‐DH can be a suitable candidate to surpass fluorescent drawbacks in the detection of lysosomes dysfunction. An appropriate numerical procedure was developed for detecting and evaluate such cellular substructures from in vitro cells cultures. Results reported in this study are encouraging about the further development of the proposed QPI‐DH approach for such type of investigations about LSDs.
The secondary transfer effects of contact in facilitating peace in a frozen conflict: The case of Turkish immigrants in Cyprus
Authors: Ünver‐Aba Halime , Çakal Hüseyin 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe present research focuses on the secondary transfer effect of contact, a relatively less researched dimension of intergroup contact, on reconciliation in the context of one of the most intractable and longest surviving interethnic conflicts in Europe, the Cyprus conflict. Currently, Cyprus is home to three groups with differential social, economic and political statuses: (1) disadvantaged low‐status Turkish immigrants, (2) simultaneously advantaged (relative to Turkish immigrants) and disadvantaged (relative to Greek Cypriots) Turkish Cypriots and (3) historically advantaged high‐status Greek Cypriots. Across two studies (Study 1 N = 270 and Study 2 N = 501), we test whether and how Turkish immigrants’ contact with Turkish Cypriots shapes Turkish immigrants' support for reconciliation and willingness to live with Greek Cypriots via attitude generalisation. We also investigate whether Turkish immigrants’ perceived ingroup reputation qualifies this process. Controlling for the effects of direct contact with Greek Cypriots, our results show that both quantity and quality of contact with proximal Turkish Cypriots were indirectly associated with greater support for reconciliation with them and more willingness to live with Greek Cypriots via positive attitudes towards the primary (Turkish Cypriots) and positive attitudes towards the secondary (Greek Cypriots), sequentially. Moreover, we found that the perceived higher ingroup reputation across the island positively moderated the indirect effects of primary group contact on support for reconciliation and willingness to live with Greek Cypriots. That is, more contact with the primary outgroup was positively linked to greater support for reconciliation with the distal secondary outgroup Greek Cypriots when perceptions of ingroup reputation were higher.
Damage assessment of unreinforced masonry buildings incorporating damage accumulation
Authors: Inarritu Pablo García de Quevedo , Kohrangi Mohsen , Bazzurro Paolo 
Published: February 2024

AbstractRecent earthquakes have shown susceptibility of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings to damage accumulation in seismic sequences or long duration ground motions. Current structural modelling approaches commonly disregard the damage accumulation in URM buildings or they are unable to accurately capture this phenomenon unless sophisticated FEM models are employed. Such models are not feasible in risk‐based applications given the required large number of dynamic analyses needed to develop robust fragility and vulnerability curves. On the other hand, the common displacement‐based engineering demand parameters (EDP), such as inter‐story drift ratio, fail to capture the impact of damage accumulation in simpler, more manageable models. An alternative is to use advanced damage indices that are capable of monitoring the monotonic accumulation of damages. This study proposes a displacement‐ and energy‐based damage index that uses, as the basis, the Park and Ang damage index, modified and calibrated through experimental data of individual URM elements. Our calibration procedure maps the physical observed damage states to the hysteretic response of the elements. Consequently, damage on the individual elements is aggregated to define a global damage state at building level. Validation is carried out based on an equivalent frame model of a building tested on a shake table. Additionally, the model is subjected to multiple ground motions of seismic sequences and to long‐duration ground motions to evaluate the performance of the proposed damage index. In comparison with displacement‐based damage measures, the proposed damage index shows a superior ability to capture cumulative damage, even when simplified models are employed.
Gas desorption law of coal particles and calculation method of gas loss during fixed‐point closed sampling
Authors: Wen Zhihui , Wu Xinliang , Wei Jianping , Wang Yanping , Ren Jiangang , Jia Ran 
Published: February 2024

AbstractWith the application of new technologies for coal mine gas control, it has been increasingly urgent to apply the fixed‐point closed sampling (FPCS) technology for accurate measurement of coal seam gas content. In this study, gas desorption during FPCS was analyzed. In addition, gas desorption experiments and COMSOL simulations were conducted on coal particles. Furthermore, the gas desorption law during FPCS was compared with that under atmospheric pressure. The results show that Sun's formula can effectively characterize the gas desorption law during FPCS, and the i value remains unchanged when the gas desorption curve is fitted with Sun's formula. On this basis, a specific method for calculating gas loss during FPCS by using Sun's formula was proposed. The research findings are expected to provide a theoretical basis for accurate measurement of coal seam gas content by means of FPCS.
Wind turbine fault detection and isolation robust against data imbalance using KNN
Authors: Fazli Ali , Poshtan Javad 
Published: February 2024

AbstractDue to the difficulties of system modeling, nonlinearity effects, uncertainties, and the availability of Wind Turbines (WTs) SCADA system data, data‐driven Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) methods for WTs have received increasing attention. In this paper, using the wind turbine SCADA data, an effective FDI scheme is proposed using the K‐Nearest Neighbors (KNN) classifier. The operational data set is labeled by the status and warning data sets, and the labeled operational data set, after eliminating invalid data, feature selection, and standardization, is used for training and validation of the FDI model. Data imbalance, which is common in real data sets, does not affect the performance of the proposed method, hence there is no need for data balancing methods in this algorithm and the performance is not deteriorated by occurring false alarms. Therefore, the proposed method has provided impressive performance in FDI compared with previous research on this data set. Also, many of the fault classes addressed in this paper were not considered in previous works on this data set.
Unveiling challenges in Mendelian randomization for gene–environment interaction
Authors: Gorfine Malka , Qu Conghui , Peters Ulrike , Hsu Li 
Published: February 2024

AbstractGene–environment (GxE) interactions play a crucial role in understanding the complex etiology of various traits, but assessing them using observational data can be challenging due to unmeasured confounders for lifestyle and environmental risk factors. Mendelian randomization (MR) has emerged as a valuable method for assessing causal relationships based on observational data. This approach utilizes genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs) with the aim of providing a valid statistical test and estimation of causal effects in the presence of unmeasured confounders. MR has gained substantial popularity in recent years largely due to the success of genome‐wide association studies. Many methods have been developed for MR; however, limited work has been done on evaluating GxE interaction. In this paper, we focus on two primary IV approaches: the two‐stage predictor substitution and the two‐stage residual inclusion, and extend them to accommodate GxE interaction under both the linear and logistic regression models for continuous and binary outcomes, respectively. Comprehensive simulation study and analytical derivations reveal that resolving the linear regression model is relatively straightforward. In contrast, the logistic regression model presents a considerably more intricate challenge, which demands additional effort.
Insights into a collective impact partnership to promote consumption of healthy drinks in North East Melbourne: A qualitative case study
Authors: Mithen J. , Archibald D. , Begnell P. , Thomson D. , Vally H. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIssue AddressedTo explore insights and perspectives of a collective impact (CI) partnership taking on a new project that aimed to reduce sugary drink consumption and promote water as the drink of choice across North East Melbourne.MethodsA qualitative case study was undertaken. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders in the partnership. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsFourteen organisations participated in the North East Healthy Drinks Alliance. The data demonstrated that investing in developing a common agenda supported the establishment of a CI approach. The backbone organisation was found to have played a crucial role in coordinating the activities of the Alliance. This coordination was found to be particularly important in terms of ensuring that organisations were able to work on mutually reinforcing activities at their own pace. Program planning and reporting was managed through open continuous communication by the backbone organisation. The data collected pertains to the activities of the Alliance in its first 2 years, prior to the development of a shared measurement strategy, thus no data was collected on this aspect of the collective impact framework. Although some participants were found to have limited knowledge of CI, this did not seem to hinder their participation in the Alliance.ConclusionSelecting a relevant and accessible focus area and investing in developing a common agenda supported the establishment of a CI approach.So What?The CI framework offers a valuable tool for undertaking cross‐sectoral, local partnerships for health.
Potentially inappropriate medication prescribing based on 2019 Beers criteria and the impact of pharmacist intervention in elderly patients with kidney diseases: A report from Iran
Authors: Nader Babaei Yasaman , Niazkhani Zahra , Makhdoomi Khadijeh , Esmaeili Ayda 
Published: February 2024

AbstractBackground and AimsA potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) is a pharmaceutical agent that poses a greater risk of harm than potential benefit to elderly patients. This study aimed to detect PIMs and their risk factors in hospitalized elderly patients with kidney disease.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study assessed medication orders of elderly patients (≥65 years old) with kidney diseases admitted to the hospital. In the first 6 months, we retrospectively evaluated all medications to identify PIMs according to the 2019 Beers criteria. In the second phase, a clinical pharmacist prospectively evaluated all medications and suggested modifications as needed. Data were analyzed to determine risk factors for prescribing PIMs.ResultsBased on our evaluation of 258 patients, we observed that the utilization of PIMs was prevalent among the study population. Of the total patients evaluated, 273 instances of PIM use were identified, with only 23.3% of patients not having any PIMs. Notably, proton pump inhibitors and benzodiazepines were the most frequently prescribed PIMs. The risk of experiencing a PIM was significantly amplified by a higher degree of polypharmacy, with odds approximately 2.68 times higher (p < 0.01). Several factors were found to be associated with an increased likelihood of having a PIM, including being male, undergoing hemodialysis, having chronic kidney disease or other comorbidities, and having an extended hospital stay. The second phase of study, in terms of addressing these issues, physicians adhered to 67.5% of the 120 recommendations made by pharmacists regarding the discontinuation of PIM usage.ConclusionHigh prevalence of PIMs was detected in our study population. Preventing medication‐associated harms in the elderly can reduce the financial burden imposed on healthcare systems. Therefore, routine evaluation of medications with clinical pharmacists and/or implementation of computerized medication decision support systems is recommended to prevent PIMs use.
Impact of the pandemic on surgical oncology in Piedmont, Italy: A retrospective observational study
Authors: Lo Moro Giuseppina , Ragusa Paolo , Previti Christian , Comandone Alessandro , Airoldi Mario , Aglietta Massimo , Siliquini Roberta 
Published: February 2024

AbstractBackground and MethodsThis retrospective observational study analyzes how the COVID‐19 pandemic affected surgical oncology healthcare in a large sample from Piedmont, Northern Italy. Patients admitted for regular hospitalization were included (n = 99 651). Data from 2020 were compared to the averages from 2016 to 2019, stratified by tumor site, year, month, and admission method, using interrupted time series analysis post‐March 2020.ResultsIn 2020, oncological surgeries decreased by 12.3% (n = 17 923) compared to the 2016–2019 average (n = 20 432), notably dropping post‐March (incidence rate ratio = 0.858;p < 0.001). The greatest reduction was observed for breast (−19.2%), colon (−18.2%), bladder (−17.5%), kidney (−14.2%), and prostate (−14%) surgeries. There was a huge reduction in nonemergency admissions (−13.6%), especially for colon (−23.8%), breast (−19.4%), and bladder (−18.7%). The proportion of hospitalizations with emergency access increased (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe COVID‐19 pandemic led to a significant decrease in cancer surgeries in Piedmont in 2020, with an increase in the proportion of admissions through emergency access.DiscussionThe research provides valuable insights for comparing data with other regions and evaluating the effectiveness of efforts to recover lost surgical procedures. These findings can be useful to policymakers in developing coordinated measures and more efficient access strategies to healthcare services in any future emergency situations.
Contemporary report of surgical outcomes after single‐stage total pancreatectomy: A 10‐year experience
Authors: Zohar Nitzan , Kowal Luke , Moskal David , Ponzini Francesca , Sun George , Lamm Ryan J. , Williamson John , Nevler Avinoam , Lavu Harish , Maley Warren R. , Yeo Charles J. , Bowne Wilbur B. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractBackgroundSurgeons rarely perform elective total pancreatectomy (TP). Our study seeks to report surgical outcomes in a contemporary series of single‐stage (SS) TP patients.MethodsBetween the years 2013 to 2023 we conducted a retrospective review of 60 consecutive patients who underwent SSTP. Demographics, pathology, treatment‐related variables, and survival were recorded and analyzed.ResultsSSTP consisted of 3% (60/1859) of elective pancreas resections conducted. Patient median age was 68 years. Ninety percent of these patients (n = 54) underwent SSTP for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Conversion from a planned partial pancreatectomy to TP occurred intraoperatively in 31 (52%) patients. Fifty‐nine patients (98%) underwent an R0 resection. Median length of hospital stay was 6 days. The majority of morbidities were minor, with 27% patients (n = 16) developing severe complications (Clavien‐Dindo ≥3). Thirty and ninety‐day mortality rates were 1.67% (one patient) and 5% (three patients), respectively. Median survival for the entire cohort was 24.4 months; 22.7 months for PDAC patients, with 1‐, 3‐, and 5‐year survival of 68%, 43%, and 16%, respectively. No mortality occurred in non‐PDAC patients (n = 6).ConclusionElective single‐stage total pancreatectomy can be a safe and appropriate treatment option. SSTP should be in the armamentarium of surgeons performing pancreatic resection.
Gamification in the Metaverse: Affordance, perceived value, flow state, and engagement
Authors: Cha Seong‐Soo , Kim Choo Yeon , Tang Ying 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThis study aims to empirically validate a theoretical model for the engagement of the performance Metaverse platform with other rapidly developing Metaverse platforms around the world. It innovatively examines the relationship between gamification affordance, perceived value, and flow state in the context of the Metaverse concert platform and the relationship that improves engagement in the tourism and entertainment industries. The proposed model incorporates five stages: gamification, affordance, perceived value, flow state, and engagement. A total of 671 usable questionnaires were obtained, and the results were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, discriminant validity analysis, and path analysis. Social gain and enjoyment have a positive effect on the personal flow state and are influenced by identity affordance, competition affordance, and self‐expression affordance. Furthermore, the flow state increases engagement. However, the relationship between perceived value (effectiveness, social gain, and enjoyment) and flow state differ according to gender.