bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Design of experiments and white analytical chemistry-driven green and sensitive spectrofluorimetric estimation of pregabalin in its pharmaceutical dosage forms and spiked human plasma
Authors: Prajapati Pintu , Pulusu Veera Shakar , Shah Shailesh 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Background
Pregabalin (PGB) is a medication with anticonvulsant, analgesic and anxiolytic properties, employed in the treatment of epilepsy, neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, opioid withdrawal syndrome and generalized anxiety disorder. Several spectrofluorimetric techniques have been documented for the determination of PGB in pharmaceutical dosage forms. However, these published methods typically involve the use of expensive and toxic organic solvents and reagents, as well as high reaction temperatures for PGB analysis. These components pose risks to aquatic life and the environment, making them less environmentally friendly and user-friendly. A recent advancement in analytical chemistry has introduced a white analytical approach, providing an economical, eco-friendly and user-friendly method for the development of analytical procedures.

Objectives
Therefore, a green and sensitive spectrofluorimetric determination of PGB, guided by white analytical chemistry principles, has been conducted utilizing distilled water as an environmentally friendly solvent.

Methods
The establishment of the spectrofluorimetric method involved employing the design of experiments approach to ensure a robust, precise and accurate estimation of PGB. Response surface analysis and optimization of critical procedural variables and responses were carried out using the central composite design. The validation of the developed method adhered to the guidelines outlined in ICH (International Council for Harmonization) Q2 (R1) and M10.

Results
The established spectrofluorimetric method was utilized to determine the PGB content in commercially available formulations and human plasma samples spiked with PGB. The obtained results were in accordance with the labeled claim of PGB in the formulations. The recovery of PGB in the spiked human plasma samples ranged from 85 to 90% of the spiked amount.

Conclusions
The greenness profiles of the published and suggested spectrofluorimetric methods for PGB estimation were evaluated and compared using the AGREE calculator, GAPI software and ESA tool. The suggested method demonstrated sensitivity, robustness, environmental friendliness and user-friendliness.
Turkish dichotic sentence mobile scan test results in young and elderly people
Authors: Tabak Seyma Nur , Konukseven Ozlem 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Background
This study investigated the impact of age on dichotic listening performance by comparing results from the Turkish Dichotic Sentence Mobile Screening Test in young and elderly individuals with normal hearing. A total of 60 adults (30 young, 30 old) underwent otoscopic examination, audiological tests, and, for the elderly group, a mini-mental test. The Turkish Dichotic Sentence Mobile Screening Test was administered, and directed and undirected scores for the right and left ears were compared between age groups.

Results
In the young group, the directed left ear mean (96.67% ± 8.02%), directed right ear mean (98.33% ± 3.79%), undirected left ear mean (97.67% ± 6.26%), and undirected right ear mean (98.67% ± 5.71%) were obtained. In the elderly group, corresponding values were lower: directed left ear mean (49.00% ± 36.33%), directed right ear mean (54.67% ± 40.66%), undirected left ear mean (64.00% ± 32.86%), and undirected right ear mean (65.00% ± 30.82%). Statistically significant differences were found between the young and elderly groups (p < 0.001), with the young group consistently outperforming the elderly group.

Conclusions
These results align with existing literature on dichotic listening tests, highlighting age-related declines in performance. The study contributes valuable insights into age-related changes in auditory processing and cognition, emphasizing the importance of considering dichotic listening as a marker of cognitive aging. Future research should explore potential interventions to mitigate age-related declines in dichotic listening performance.
Evaluation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex with the functional head impulse test in people with motion sickness
Authors: Binay-Bolat Kübra , Aydogan Zehra , Ocak Emre , Tokgoz-Yilmaz Suna 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Background
In this study, we aimed to examine functional VOR values with and without optokinetic background stimulation in fHIT (functional head impulse test) in individuals with motion sickness.

Methods
Forty-two individuals between the ages of 18–50 years were included in study. The lateral fHIT test was applied to the motion sickness group and the control group with and without dynamic optokinetic (OKN) background stimulation.

Results
In the control group, no significant difference was observed in the correct response percentages (% CA) for fHIT and OKN-fHIT for the right and left lateral canals (p > 0.05). In the MS group, a significant difference was observed when comparing fHIT and OKN-fHIT correct response percentages for the right and left lateral canals (p < 0.05).

Conclusions
It has been observed that the optokinetic background triggers the disease in individuals with MS, and there is a decrease in the percentage of correct readings in the fHIT.
Nurse-Led Individualized Follow-Up Versus Regular Physician-Led Visits After Early Breast Cancer (MyHealth): A Phase III Randomized, Controlled Trial
Authors: Saltbæk Lena , Bidstrup Pernille E. , Karlsen Randi V. , Høeg Beverley L. , Horsboel Trine A. , Belmonte Federica , Andersen Elisabeth A.W. , Zoffmann Vibeke , Friberg Anne S. , Svendsen Mads N. , Christensen Helle G. , Glavicic Vesna , Nielsen Dorte L. , Dalton Susanne O. , Johansen Christoffer 
Published: March 2024

PURPOSE Follow-up after breast cancer with regular visits has failed to detect recurrences, be cost-effective, and address patient needs. METHODS MyHealth is a phase III randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02949167 ). Patients, who recently completed primary treatment for stage I-II breast cancer, were randomly assigned in variable block sizes and stratified by age and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status to intervention or control follow-up. The nurse-led intervention comprised three to five individual self-management sessions, regular reporting of symptoms, and navigation to health care services. The control follow-up comprised regular outpatient visits with the physician. The primary outcome was breast cancer–specific quality of life (QoL) measured by the Trial Outcome Index-Physical/Functional/Breast summary score of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast 2 years after random assignment. Secondary outcomes were fear of recurrence, anxiety, depression, and health care utilization. Analyses were intention-to-treat and P values were two-sided with 95% confidence level set at 0.005 because of multiple comparisons. RESULTS Among 1,101 eligible patients, 875 were invited and 503 were randomly assigned to control (n = 252) or intervention (n = 251) follow-up. At 2 years, patients in the intervention group reported a significantly and clinically relevant higher QoL (mean, 75.69 [standard deviation [SD], 12.27]) than patients in the control group (71.26 [SD, 14.08]), with a mean difference of 5.05 (95% CI, 3.30 to 6.79; P < .001). The intervention group reported significantly less fear of recurrence, anxiety, and depression; they had fewer physician consultations but more nurse contacts and an unchanged diagnostic imaging pattern. The effect on all outcomes was stable through a 3-year follow-up. CONCLUSION The MyHealth study suggested a new strategy for follow-up after early breast cancer as it provided significant improvements in QoL.
A blueprint most wonderful, the homeobox discovery
Authors: McGinnis William , Levine Michael 
Published: March 2024

ABSTRACT
This is a personal, non-linear summary of the discovery of the homeobox, a short DNA sequence encoding a DNA-binding domain conserved in developmental control genes. It is based on our recollections, a few decaying lab notebooks and letters, the early research papers we published, and conversations with a few colleagues who were in Basel at the time. It presents a simple story, when the research we did was anything but, with failed experiments, blind alleys and dumb ideas. Homeobox DNA sequences were independently discovered by Matt Scott and Amy Weiner in Thomas Kaufmann's lab at Indiana University ( Scott and Weiner, 1984). The accompanying Perspective from Scott (2024), provides their fascinating story.
Circadian coupling of mitochondria in a deep-diving mammal
Authors: Ciccone Chiara , Kante Fayiri , Folkow Lars P. , Hazlerigg David G. , West Alexander C. , Wood Shona H. 
Published: March 2024

ABSTRACT
Regulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation is essential to match energy supply to changing cellular energy demands, and to cope with periods of hypoxia. Recent work implicates the circadian molecular clock in control of mitochondrial function and hypoxia sensing. Because diving mammals experience intermittent episodes of severe hypoxia, with diel patterning in dive depth and duration, it is interesting to consider circadian–mitochondrial interaction in this group. Here, we demonstrate that the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata), a deep-diving Arctic pinniped, shows strong daily patterning of diving behaviour in the wild. Cultures of hooded seal skin fibroblasts exhibit robust circadian oscillation of the core clock genes per2 and arntl. In liver tissue collected from captive hooded seals, expression of arntl was some 4-fold higher in the middle of the night than in the middle of the day. To explore the clock–mitochondria relationship, we measured the mitochondrial oxygen consumption in synchronized hooded seal skin fibroblasts and found a circadian variation in mitochondrial activity, with higher coupling efficiency of complex I coinciding with the trough of arntl expression. These results open the way for further studies of circadian–hypoxia interactions in pinnipeds during diving.
Comparison of doses of Nebulized Magnesium sulphate as an adjuvant treatment with salbutamol in children with Status Asthmaticus
Authors: Asif Rabia , Rais Heena , Bai Prinka , Aziz Ramsha 
Published: March 2024

Objectives: To compare the response between different doses of nebulized magnesium sulphate along with Salbutamol in children between two to 12 years of age with status asthmaticus.
Methods: This single blinded, randomized clinical trial was carried out at the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan during October 2021 to September 2022. A total of 104 children aged between 2-12 years, with the diagnosis of asthma having “Pediatric Rapid Assessment Measure (PRAM)” score>4 and with reactive airways were included. Children either received three back-to-back nebulization with salbutamol solution only (n=50) or salbutamol and MgSO4 with three different doses (250mg, 500mg or 750mg) after every 20 minutes for 60 minutes. The PRAM score was used as an assessment tool to clinically score asthma.
Results: In a total of 104 children, 53 (51.0%) were girls. The mean age was 5.25±2.86 years. No statistically significant difference was found in PRAM scores at baseline (p=0.448) and at 20-minutes (p=0.072) but significant differences were observed at 40-minutes (p=0.009), 60-minutes (p=0.011), 120-minutes (p=0.010), 6-hours (=0.034), 12-hours (p=0.018), 18-hours (p=0.033) and at 24-hours (p=0.029). The reduction in PRAM scores from baseline to 24-hours following treatment among Salbutamol, Salbutamol+ MgSo4 250mg, Salbutamol+ MgSo4 500mg and Salbutamol+ MgSo4 750mg group were 6.53±1.09, 7.22±1.09, 6.85±1.43 and 7.57±1.06 respectively (p=0.007).
Conclusion: While children with status asthmaticus managed using salbutamol, with or without nebulized MgSO4, showed improved clinical outcomes, combining salbutamol with higher dosages of nebulized MgSO4 resulted in even greater clinical improvement.
Clinical Trial Registry: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04929626.
doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.5.7682
How to cite this: Asif R, Rais H, Bai P, Aziz R. Comparison of doses of Nebulized Magnesium sulphate as an adjuvant treatment with salbutamol in children with Status Asthmaticus. Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(5):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.5.7682
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Let the Laser Beam Connect the Dots: Forecasting and Narrating Stock Market Volatility
Authors: Zhang Zhu (Drew) , Yuan Jie , Gupta Amulya 
Published: March 2024

Forecasting market volatility, especially high-volatility incidents, is a critical issue in financial market research and practice. Business news as an important source of market information is often exploited by artificial intelligence–based volatility forecasting models. Computationally, deep learning architectures, such as recurrent neural networks, on extremely long input sequences remain infeasible because of time complexity and memory limitations. Meanwhile, understanding the inner workings of deep neural networks is challenging because of the largely black box nature of large neural networks. In this work, we address the first challenge by proposing a long- and short-term memory retrieval (LASER) architecture with flexible memory and horizon configurations to forecast market volatility. Then, we tackle the interpretability issue by devising a BEAM algorithm that leverages a large pretrained language model (GPT-2). It generates human-readable narratives verbalizing the evidence leading to the model prediction. Experiments on a Wall Street Journal news data set demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed LASER-BEAM pipeline in predicting high-volatility market scenarios and generating high-quality narratives compared with existing methods in the literature. History: Accepted by Ram Ramesh, Area Editor for Data Science & Machine Learning. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information ( https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2022.0055 ) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository ( https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2022.0055 ). The complete IJOC Software and Data Repository is available at https://informsjoc.github.io/ .
Demand Inertia and the Hidden Impact of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Authors: Feng Josh , Maini Luca 
Published: March 2024

Do pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) reduce spending on prescription drugs? Reduced-form evidence suggests that PBMs enforce a tradeoff between net-of-rebate prices and access to drugs within each market. However, net-of-rebate prices grow consistently over time and appear unresponsive to competitor entry. We argue that inertia in drug demand can reconcile these facts. To formally analyze the roles played by PBMs and demand inertia, we build a dynamic structural model of drug pricing and estimate it using net-of-rebate prices of three major statins from 1996 to 2013. Counterfactuals suggest that, relative to a market with price-setting by drug manufacturers and patients who face coinsurance, PBMs reduce overall spending by 28%, without greatly limiting patient access. Without demand inertia, the presence of PBMs would cause prices to fall significantly as competitors enter. This paper was accepted by Raphael Thomadsen, marketing. Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes on Aging [Grants R24-AG048059 and T32-AG000186] and the National Institute for Healthcare Management Foundation. Supplemental Material: The online appendices and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03331 .
Holding Foreign Insiders Accountable
Authors: Jackson Robert , Lynch-Levy Bradford , Taylor Daniel 
Published: March 2024

Whereas corporate insiders at U.S.-listed, U.S.-domiciled companies must disclose their stock sales electronically within two business days on Form 4, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exempts insiders at U.S.-listed, foreign-domiciled companies from this requirement. Instead, these “foreign insiders” report their sales on a paper form mail-filed with the SEC. Using a unique data set compiled from digitized versions of thousands of paper forms, we examine the stock sales of foreign insiders and compare their trading to that of their U.S. counterparts. Consistent with a lack of public scrutiny facilitating opportunism, we show that foreign insiders’ stock sales are highly opportunistic and opportunistic trading is concentrated in companies that are domiciled in nonextradition countries beyond the reach of U.S. legal authorities: specifically, Russia and China. The average stock sale by foreign insiders affiliated with companies domiciled in these countries is more than four times larger than that of U.S. insiders and occurs prior to stock price declines of at least −18%. In our sample, we estimate that insiders at these companies have traded to avoid losses of more than $9 billion. Collectively, our results suggest that corporate insiders associated with Chinese and Russian companies listed on U.S. exchanges trade in a highly opportunistic and abusive manner. The SEC’s decision to exempt these insiders from Form 4 reporting requirements prevents much needed public scrutiny of their trading and, in turn, prevents market forces from disciplining their trading. This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting. Funding: We thank our schools and the Dean’s Research Fund at Wharton for financial support. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.02131 .
Calibration for endoscopic 3D shape measurement with cone beam projection
Authors: Takahashi Yuta , Higashiguchi Takeshi , Wakayama Toshitaka 
Published: March 2024

We demonstrate a calibration method for endoscopic three-dimensional shape measurement with cone beam projection. In this method, changes in the shape of the optical sectioning profiles are quantified and fitted while scanning a calibration board in the depth direction, using a cubic function. In accuracy tests using a flat plate and a ring reference gauge, the proposed method obtains an accuracy of 0.02 mm in the depth dimension and 0.09 mm in the radial dimension. These results represent 88% and 55% improvements compared to previous analysis. For medical applications, an ear examination simulator was employed, and our measurement results were compared to ground truth data obtained by microfocus X-ray computed tomography. The surface deviation of our method relative to the ground truth data was ±0.36mm during manual operation. A comparison of the measurement results before and after calibration revealed an improvement in the peak agreement with the ground truth data, with the deviation shifting from 0.2 mm to −0.05mm. Our strategy achieves a digital transformation of 3D endoscopy, which would benefit a number of medical fields.
Local and global optimization methods for optical line control based on quality of transmission
Authors: Borraccini Giacomo , Straullu Stefano , D’Amico Andrea , Aquilino Francesco , Piciaccia Stefano , Tanzi Alberto , Galimberti Gabriele , Curri Vittorio 
Published: March 2024

The ever-increasing demand for data traffic in recent decades has pushed network operators to give importance to the aspect of infrastructure control to facilitate its scalability and maximize its capacity. A generic lightpath (LP) is deployed starting from a traffic request between a given pair of nodes in a network. LPs are operated in the network based on an estimate of the quality of transmission (QoT), which is derived from the physical layer characteristics of a selected route. Regardless of the model used to estimate QoT, it is necessary to calibrate the model to maximize its accuracy and define minimum design margins. The model calibration process depends significantly on the type of data that can be collected in the field (i.e., type of metric, resolution) and therefore on the available monitoring devices. In this work, a systematic evaluation of the QoT estimation is carried out on a multi-span erbium-doped-fiber-amplified optical line system (OLS) using in the first case only total power monitors and in the second experimentally emulating optical channel monitors (OCMs). Given the type of monitoring devices available, three different physical models are calibrated, and six optimization methods are used to define the optimal configuration of the target gain and tilt parameters of the optical amplifiers, jointly optimizing the working point of all amplifiers (global approach) or proceeding span by span (local approach). Subsequently, the OLS was set in each configuration obtained, and the generalized signal-to-noise ratio (GSNR) profile was measured at the end.
Missing Black males among preterm births in the US, 1995 to 2019
Authors: Bruckner Tim A. , Chakrabarti Suman , Bustos Brenda , Catalano Ralph , Gemmill Alison , Casey Joan A. , Lee Hedwig 
Published: March 2024

Background
In the US, non-Hispanic (NH) Black birthing persons show a two-fold greater risk of fetal death relative to NH white birthing persons. Since males more than females show a greater risk of fetal death, such loss in utero may affect the sex composition of live births born preterm (PTB; <37 weeks gestational age). We examine US birth data from 1995 to 2019 to determine whether the ratio of male to female preterm (i.e., PTB sex ratios) among NH Black births falls below that of NH whites and Hispanics.

Methods
We acquired data on all live births in the US from January 1995 to December 2019. We arrayed 63 million live births into 293 “conception cohort” months of which 2,475,928 NH Black, 5,746,953 NH white, and 2,511,450 Hispanic infants were PTB. We used linear regression methods to identify trend and seasonal patterns in PTB sex ratios. We also examined subgroup differences in PTB sex ratios (e.g., advanced maternal ages, twin gestations, and narrower gestational age ranges).

Results
The mean PTB sex ratio for NH Black births over the entire test period (1.06, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.05, 1.07) is much lower than that for NH white births (1.18, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.19). NH Black PTB sex ratios are especially low for twins and for births to mothers 35 years or older. Only NH white PTB sex ratios show a trend over the test period.

Conclusions
Analysis of over 10 million PTBs reveals a persistently low male PTB frequency among NH Black conception cohorts relative to NH white cohorts. Low PTB sex ratios among NH Black births concentrate among subgroups that show an elevated risk of fetal death. PTB sex ratios may serve as an indicator of racial/ethnic and subgroup differences in fetal death, especially among male gestations.