bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patterns and outcomes of acute toxicological cases before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdown in Sohag University hospitals, Egypt
Authors: Shokry Zaghary Meray Medhat , Abd ElKader Mai M , Mousa Rasha Elhaddad Ali , Said Ahmed M 
Published: April 2024

Abstract

Background
Toxicologists manage poisoning by preventing, detecting, and treating it, which requires continuous data collection and analysis of toxicological hazards.

Aim of the work
The study aims to report and compare the pattern and outcome of acute toxicological cases admitted to Sohag University Hospitals during the COVID-19 lockdown (2020–2021) with the year before (2019) and the year after (2022).

Methods
This comparative study reviewed the sociodemographic and clinical data in the medical records. The study showed that Sohag University Hospitals received 670 toxicological cases between 2019 and 2022; 105 cases in 2019, 347 cases in 2020–2021, and 218 cases in 2022.

Results
Most of patients were below seven years with no sex differences. Accidental poisoning was the most frequent toxicity. The oral route was the most common in the three studied periods. During the lockdown, metal phosphide was the most frequent (19.0%), while therapeutic agents were the most reported after the lockdown (23.9%). The delay time showed a significant difference between the studied periods (p-value &lt; 0.001). In the three studied periods, complete recovery was achieved in more than 70% of cases; however, the mortality rate and the rate of complications during the lockdown period (10.4% and 9.5%, respectively) were almost twice those of the year before and the year after the pandemic with significant odds ratio of mortality during pandemic (OR) 0.07 CI 95% (0.02, 0.11).

Conclusion
The pandemic had a bad impact on outcomes as showed the highest percentage of mortality compared to before and after COVID-19 periods.
Unravelling the veil of traffic safety: a comprehensive analysis of factors influencing crash frequency across US states
Authors: Obeidat Mohammed Said , Obeidat Rahma Mohammad , Dweiri Fikri 
Published: April 2024

Abstract
Traffic crashes are a prominent cause of fatalities around the world. This study focuses on the dynamics of traffic safety by analysing factors influencing crash frequency during both nighttime and daytime conditions. Four years' data derived from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database were analysed statistically based on the negative binomial regression model, to identify the contributions of several factors affecting crash outcomes. The findings reveal significant related factors, including area type, roadway alignment, speeding-related factors, sex of driver, number of lanes, grade, surface type and weather conditions, that contributed to the expected crash frequency during both daytime and nighttime conditions. Through quantitative analysis, the extent to which each factor contributes to the expected crash frequency was determined, offering effective insights for policymaking to boost roadway safety. The findings highlight the necessity of implementing targeted strategies to minimize the risk of crashes by creating safer road environments.
Patterns of use of a myoelectric prosthesis in a cohort of children with transverse defects below the level of the elbow
Authors: Ros Dopico Lucía , Alfonso Barrera Ejessie , Valero Telleria Berta , Ruiz-Zurita Gonzalo , Martinez Moreno Mercedes 
Published: April 2024

Background:
Myoelectric prostheses have become the accepted standard of care for pediatric upper-limb amputees.

Objectives:
To describe the clinical characteristics and patterns of prosthesis use and to analyze the changes that occur during the growth process of these patients.

Study design:
This is a longitudinal retrospective study comparing the results of surveys carried out in 2015 and 2022.

Methods:
The variables measured included clinical and demographic characteristics, patterns of use, and satisfaction with the prosthesis.

Results:
Twenty-one patients with transverse defects were fitted with myoelectric prostheses. With increasing age, there was a statistically nonsignificant decrease in the duration of use and a decrease in the number of patients using the prosthesis for activities of daily living from 13 to 10 (p = 0.045), with a 28% dropout rate, higher in patients with more distal defects.

Conclusions:
Since 2015, we have observed a decrease in the number of hours of prosthesis use, while maintaining a high percentage of patients using the prosthesis.
Altered Mechanobiology of PDAC Cells with Acquired Chemoresistance to Gemcitabine and Paclitaxel
Authors: Gregori Alessandro , Bergonzini Cecilia , Capula Mjriam , de Mercado Rick Rodrigues , Danen Erik H. J. , Giovannetti Elisa , Schmidt Thomas 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackgroundPancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) acquired resistance to chemotherapy poses a major limitation to patient survival. Despite understanding of some biological mechanisms of chemoresistance, much of those mechanisms remain to be uncovered. Mechanobiology, which studies physical properties of cells, holds promise as a potential target for addressing challenges of chemoresistance in PDAC. Therefore, we here in an initial step, assessed the altered mechanobiology of PDAC cells with acquired chemoresistance to gemcitabine and paclitaxel.MethodsFive PDAC cell lines and six stably-resistant subclones were assessed for force generation on elastic micropillar arrays. Those measurements of mechanical phenotype were complemented by single-cell motility and invasion in collagen matrix were investigated using 2D models and 3D extracellular matrix-mimetic, respectively. Further the nuclear translocation of Yes-associted protein (YAP), as a measure of active mechanical status, was compared, and biomarkers of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) were evaluated using RT-PCR.ResultsPDAC cells with acquired chemoresistance exert higher traction forces than their parental/wild-type (WT) cells. In 2D, single-cell motility was altered for all chemoresistant cells, with a cell-type specific pattern. In 3D, spheroids of chemoresistant PDAC cells were able to invade the matrix, and remodel collagen more than their WT clones. However, YAP nuclear translocation and EMT were not significantly altered in relation to changes in other physical parameters.ConclusionThis is the first study to investigate and report on the altered mechanobiological features for PDAC cells that have acquired chemoresistance. A better understanding of mechanical features could help in identifying future targets to overcome chemoresistance in PDAC.
Sleep deprivation and the rodent psychomotor vigilance test (rPVT): Assessing lapses in attention, the response stimulus interval effect, and time on task in rats using food reinforcement
Authors: Davis Catherine M. , Elliott Victoria , Smith Joan 
Published: April 2024

AbstractStudy objectiveSleep deprivation (SD) impairs sustained attention when assessed with the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). Food restriction attenuates the effects of SD on sustained attention in rats, possibly limiting translation of rodent tests. Our goal was to determine if an rPVT requiring high baseline performance was sensitive to the effects of SD when using food restriction and reinforcement.MethodsrPVT-trained rats experienced SD and were tested the following day.ResultsSD significantly increased lapses, and this effect was specific to shorter response-stimulus intervals. Decreased percent correct responses and increased slow reaction times were also found following SD.ConclusionThe rPVT is sensitive to the performance impairing effects of SD in food restricted rats, a common methodology used to train and maintain performance on operant tests.
E.PathDash, pathway activation analysis of publicly available pathogen gene expression data
Authors: Taub Lily , Hampton Thomas H. , Sarkar Sharanya , Doing Georgia , Neff Samuel L. , Finger Carson E. , Fukutani Kiyoshi Ferreira , Stanton Bruce A. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractE.PathDash facilitates re-analysis of gene expression data from pathogens clinically relevant to chronic respiratory diseases, including a total of 48 studies, 548 samples, and 404 unique treatment comparisons. The application enables users to assess broad biological stress responses at the KEGG pathway or Gene Ontology level and also provides data for individual genes. E.PathDash reduces the time required to gain access to data from multiple hours per dataset to seconds. Users can download high quality images such as volcano plots and boxplots, differential gene expression results and raw count data, making it fully interoperable with other tools. Importantly, users can rapidly toggle between experimental comparisons and different studies of the same phenomenon, enabling them to judge the extent to which observed responses are reproducible. As a proof of principle, we invited two cystic fibrosis scientists to use the application to explore scientific questions relevant to their specific research areas. Reassuringly, pathway activation analysis recapitulated results reported in original publications, but it also yielded new insights into pathogen responses to changes in their environments, validating the utility of the application. All software and data are freely accessible and the application is available at scangeo.dartmouth.edu/EPathDash.ImportanceChronic respiratory illnesses impose a high disease burden on our communities and people with respiratory diseases are susceptible to robust bacterial infections from pathogens, includingPseudomonas aeruginosaandStaphylococcus aureus, that contribute to morbidity and mortality. Public gene expression datasets generated from these and other pathogens are abundantly available and an important resource for synthesizing existing pathogenic research, leading to interventions that improve patient outcomes. However, it can take many hours or weeks to render publicly available datasets usable; significant time and skills are needed to clean, standardize, and apply reproducible and robust bioinformatic pipelines to the data. Through collaboration with two microbiologists we have shown that E.PathDash addresses this problem, enabling them to elucidate pathogen responses to a variety of over 400 experimental conditions and generate mechanistic hypotheses for cell-level behavior in response to disease-relevant exposures, all in a fraction of the time.
Gaze inversion effect: Sex invariance and difference in gaze direction sensitivity
Authors: Matsuyoshi Daisuke , Kuraguchi Kana , Ashida Hiroshi , Watanabe Katsumi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractEven though humans are adept at distinguishing various faces, inversion dramatically spoils the ability. This face inversion effect is remarkably robust across observers; however, whether inversion impairs the perception of facial parts (particularly the eye) is inconsistent across studies. Some studies have shown that featural processing remains preserved or even enhanced when faces are inverted, while others have shown that inversion impairs featural processing. These mixed findings may result from confounding factors such as a small number of participants, an imbalanced participant sex ratio, and the varying nature of the tasks in previous reports. To address these issues, we assessed the effect sizes of face orientation, sex, and their interaction in low-level psychophysical discrimination of briefly presented gaze stimuli in a well-powered cohort with a balanced sex ratio (N = 190). The results revealed a medium-to-large-sized effect of inversion (f= 0.35) and a small-to-medium-sized effect of sex (f= 0.17) on gaze direction discrimination but no meaningful interaction (f= 0.05). Thus, our results demonstrated an almost equivalent gaze inversion effect between females and males (sex invariance) and a female superiority in overall gaze direction sensitivity (sex difference). We suggest that inversion impairs sensitivity to gaze direction, but whether it leads to a change in explicit behavioral performance may depend on specific task settings rather than the participant’s sex.
FLASH Irradiation Regulates IFN-β induction by mtDNA via Cytochrome c Leakage
Authors: Lv Jianfeng , Sun Jianhan , Luo Yunbin , Liu Juntao , Wu Di , Fang Yiyu , Lan Haoyang , Diao Longfei , Ma Yuqi , Li Yuan , Wang Meizhi , Zhao Ziming , Wang Heming , Morris Austin , Zhang Wenkang , Zhang Zihao , Lin Lin , Jia Haoyan , Wang Chao , Li Tianyi , Mourou Gerard , Huang Senlin , Yang Gen , Yan Xueqing 
Published: April 2024

AbstractUltrahigh dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) is under intensive investigation for its biological benefits. The mechanisms underlying its ability to spare normal tissues while suppress tumor growth still remain controversial. Here we reveal that compared to the low dose rate electron irradiation (0.36 Gy/s), FLASH electron irradiation at 61 or 610 Gy/s enhances the cytochrome c leakage from mitochondria in human breast cells MCF-10A, which elicits substantial caspase activation, suppresses both the cytosolic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) accumulation and IFN-β secretion. Besides, the deletion of mtDNA severely decreases the radiation-induced cGAS-STING activation. Conversely, the cytochrome c leakage in carcinoma cells MDA-MB-231 post electron irradiation is limited, especially for the case of FLASH irradiation, resulting in less cytosolic cytochrome c but stronger cGAS-STING activation than those in MCF-10A cells. The enhanced difference of cytochrome c leakage between cancer cells and normal cells post FLASH irradiation indicates a potential mechanism of FLASH effect by regulating the apoptotic and inflammatory pathway.
Motor Learning Mechanisms are not modified by Feedback Manipulations in a Real-World Task
Authors: Nardi Federico , Faisal A. Aldo , Haar Shlomi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractError-based and reward-based mechanisms of motor learning co-occur in real-world scenarios but are traditionally isolated in laboratory tasks via feedback manipulations. This study examines the distinctiveness of these mechanisms by applying a lab-based feedback manipulation to a real-world task. Using Embodied Virtual Reality (EVR) of pool billiards - allowing for full proprioception via interaction with the physical pool table, cue stick, and balls - we introduced visual perturbations to a real-world task. 32 participants (12 F) underwent two sessions learning a visuomotor rotation, once with error and once with reward feedback. While naive participants corrected the entire rotation with error feedback, only partial correction was observed with reward feedback, highlighting the influence of the feedback regime on learning. However, the reward-dependent motor variability, lag-1 autocorrelation decay, and inter-trial variability decay - all indicators of reward-based and skill learning - were higher in the error feedback session, suggesting that the provided visual feedback did not exclusively engage specific learning mechanisms. Analysis of post-movement beta rebound (PMBR), a brain activity marker of learning mechanisms, revealed a decrease in PMBR with reward feedback but no consistent trend during error feedback sessions. These findings support the behavioural results, suggesting that while reward feedback was absent in error conditions, participants still engaged in reward-based learning. This study underscores the complexity of motor learning processes and highlights that visual feedback by itself can not elucidate the interplay between error-based and reward-based mechanisms in real-world contexts.
Sustaining microglial reparative function enhances stroke recovery
Authors: Tsuyama Jun , Sakai Seiichiro , Kurabayashi Kumiko , Koyama Ryuki , Hara Yuichiro , Kawakami Ito , Kawaji Hideya , Shichita Takashi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractNeurological symptoms after brain injury can remain as lifelong detrimental sequelae since most spontaneous brain recovery disappears within a few months after brain injury. Microglia play an essential role in recovery processes after brain injury; however, cellular and molecular mechanisms that diminish spontaneous brain functional recovery remain unknown. We discovered by cellular fate analysis that reparative myeloid cells remained in the post-stroke brain even after losing their reparative function. ZFP384 was identified as a pivotal transcriptional regulator that diminished recovery phase–associated gene expression in reparative myeloid cells, turning them into ruined cells which lost reparative functions. ZFP384 diminished the YY1-mediated chromatin interaction necessary for expressing recovery phase–associated genes. Antisense oligonucleotide againstZfp384sustained the broad range of neural repair effects of myeloid cells and enhanced stroke recovery, even in the chronic phase of ischemic stroke recovery. Thus, therapeutics preventing the myeloid reparative immunity from reaching a ruined state sustains brain functional recovery.
Increased functional integration of emotional control network in late adulthood
Authors: Bätz Leona Rahel , Ye Shuer , Lan Xiaqing , Ziaei Maryam 
Published: April 2024

AbstractAcross the adult lifespan, emotion regulation ability remains stable or even improves. The corresponding effects, however, in the emotion regulation networks in the brain remain underexplored. By utilizing large-scale datasets such as the Human Connectome Project (HCP-Aging, N=621, 349 females) and Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN, N=333, 155 females), we were able to investigate how emotion regulation networks’ functional topography differs across the entire adult lifespan. Based on previous meta-analytic work that identified four large-scale functional brain networks involved in emotion generation and regulation, we investigated the association between the integration of these emotion regulation networks and measures of mental wellbeing with age in the HCP-Aging dataset. We found an increase in the functional integration of the emotional control network among older adults, which was replicated using the Cam-CAN data set. Further we found that the network that is mediating emotion generative and regulative processes, and carries our introspective and reflective functions, is less integrated in higher age. Our study highlights the importance of identifying topological changes in the functional emotion network architecture across the lifespan, as it allows for a better understanding of functional brain network changes that accompany emotional aging.Highlights- We aimed to identify age-related differences in the functional integration of large-scale emotion regulation brain networks across the adult lifespan, and its implications for well-being.- Frontal emotion control network showed increased while interoception network showed decreased functional integration with higher age in the HCP-Aging dataset.- Increased integration of emotion control network was replicated and validated in the Cam-CAN dataset.
NSCLC patients with oligo-metastatic brain disease show an altered CD4 T-cells immune profile
Authors: Alsousli Mais , Maire Cecile L. , Piffko Andras , Matschke Jakob , Glau Laura , Reetz Merle , Schneegans Svenja , Emurlai Gresa , Asey Benedikt , Rünger Alessandra , Peine Sven , Kropidlowski Jolanthe , Gempt Jens , Glatzel Markus , Westphal Manfred , Tolosa Eva , Lamszus Katrin , Pantel Klaus , Joosse Simon A. , Mohme Malte , Wikman Harriet 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackgroundLung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with brain metastasis (BM) occurring in 40% of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. In 15% of these patients, the brain is the only affected organ (oligo-metastasis), corresponding to improved prognosis compared to widespread disease. Thus far, it is unknown if the metastatic dissemination to the brain without systemic metastases is a consequence of the immune system’s ability to control systemic tumor outgrowth.MethodsHere, we investigated the local and peripheral immune cell composition in NSCLC BM patients, and identified new immune patterns related to the occurrence of brain metastases either as oligo- or poly-metastatic disease.ResultsThe multi-parametric immune phenotyping of peripheral blood revealed a downregulation of KLRG1 in CD8+T-cells and an increase in CD4+TH17 cells and elevated IL-17 levels in the blood of all NSCLC BM patients compared to healthy individuals. In addition, BM patients CD4+T cells showed less CD73 expression with reduced effector memory differentiation. Furthermore, we observed less intra-tumoral infiltration in tumor tissues and a distinctive CD4+ T-cell profile in oligo-synchronous BM, both in the tumor microenvironment and peripheral blood compared to poly-metastatic BM patients. Moreover, 5′-ectonucleotidase CD73 was significantly upregulated in CD4 and T-regulatory cells of oligo-synchronous BM.ConclusionsThese results indicate that oligo-synchronous BM exhibits a more pronounced alteration in the CD4 T-cell immune profile both locally at the tumor site and systemically.Key PointsBM patients exhibit a skewed systemic immune profile, characterized by downregulation of KLRG1 in CD8+and induction of TH17/IL-17 axis and CD73 in CD4+T-cells.Oligo-synchronous BM displayed a distinct CD4+T-cell profile in both TME and peripheral blood.Importance of the StudyThis study presents a novel insight into immune profiles of brain metastasis types in NSCLC patients. Examining tissues and PBMCs sheds light on the disease and uncovers unique immune responses within distinct brain metastasis patterns. This research offers valuable knowledge for improved understanding and identifying potential prognosis markers.
A mathematical description of non-self for biallelic genetic systems in pregnancy, transfusion, and transplantation
Authors: Rieneck Klaus 
Published: April 2024

AbstractA central issue in immunology is the immunological response against non-self. The prerequisite for a specific immunological response is the exposure to the immune system of a non-self-antigen. Mathematical equations are presented, that define the fraction of all outcomes with a non-self-allele in biallelic systems at the population level in pregnancy and transfusion/transplantation medicine. When designing assays, the mathematical descriptions can be used for estimating the number of genetic markers necessary to obtain a predetermined probability level in detecting non-self-alleles of a given frequency. For instance, the equations can be helpful in the design of assays, where the non-self-allele can be detected by analysis of cfDNA in plasma from pregnant women, to estimate fetal fraction or to monitor changes in cfDNA in plasma of transplantation patients.The equations give exact, quantitative descriptions of all non-self-situations in pregnancy and transfusion/transplantation.