bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The challenge of attracting residents in Cardiothoracic and vascular Surgery (CTVS): unveiling enduring potential
Authors: Soundararajan Anand Shankar 
Published: October 2023

AbstractThe declining interest in pursuing MCh Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) programs presents a significant concern within the medical community. This letter addresses the multifaceted factors contributing to this decline and proposes strategies to rekindle interest in this prestigious and rewarding super specialty. The perceived demerits of a career in CTVS, such as the extended training period and the need for well-equipped facilities, deter potential candidates. Furthermore, competition with interventional cardiology and demanding work hours pose additional challenges. To revitalize interest in CTVS, this letter advocates highlighting its immediate impact, technological advancements, and emerging subfields. CTVS offers the unique opportunity to witness immediate life-changing results for patients, an aspect often underemphasized. Additionally, showcasing advancements in skills and technology, including minimally invasive procedures and innovations in transplantation, can capture the enthusiasm of aspiring surgeons. Moreover, the letter emphasizes the vast opportunities in emerging subfields, such as heart failure surgery and transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).While the current situation may seem discouraging, CTVS remains a prestigious field with immense potential. By addressing the identified challenges and presenting the enduring rewards and opportunities within this domain of healthcare, it is possible to inspire the next generation of passionate and dedicated CTV surgeons, ensuring a bright future for the field. This letter encourages collaboration among medical professionals to address the challenges and actively promote CTVS as an exciting and fulfilling career choice. It highlights the importance of nurturing a new generation of surgeons who can contribute significantly to the ever-evolving field of cardiothoracic surgery.
Full degree-of-freedom polarization hologram by freeform exposure and inkjet printing
Authors: Xiong Jianghao , Zhong Haizheng , Cheng Dewen , Wu Shin-Tson , Wang Yongtian 
Published: October 2023

AbstractSince the invention of holography by Dennis Gabor, the fabrication of holograms has mainly relied on direct recording of wavefront by engraving the intensity fringes of interfering electric fields into the holographic material. The degree-of-freedom (DoF) is often limited, especially for its usage as a holographic optical element in imaging or display systems, as what is recorded is what to use. In this work, based on the emerging self-assembled photo-aligned liquid crystal, a polarization hologram with full DoF for local manipulation of optical structure is demonstrated. The ability to record an arbitrary wavefront (in-plane DoF) is achieved by freeform surface exposure, while the local adjustment of deposited liquid crystal (out-of-plane DoF) is realized by inkjet printing. The methodology for designing and fabricating such a hologram is exemplified by building a full-color retinal scanning display without color crosstalk. Here, the arbitrary wavefront modulation capability helps to eliminate the aberrations caused by mismatched exposure and display wavelengths. The local liquid crystal adjustment ability enables the suppression of crosstalk by variation of chiral pitch and film thickness to tune the peak and valley of Bragg diffraction band. The demonstrated method is expected to greatly impact the fields of advanced imaging and display, such as augmented reality and virtual reality, that require optics with an ultrathin form factor and high degrees of design freedom simultaneously.
Comparison between the effectiveness of three prophylactic drugs for vestibular migraine; cinnarizine, propranolol, and topiramate: prospective study
Authors: Maksoud Nassar Adel Abdel , Emara Tamer Hussien , Hamid Shaimaa Salah Abdel , Galal Eman Mohamed 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Background
Vestibular migraine (VM) is considered one of the most common causes of episodic vertigo. Acute attacks may interfere or hinder daily activities, and hence decrease the quality of life. Accordingly, this study was designed to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of Cinnarizine, Propranolol, and Topiramate as prophylactic treatment for vestibular migraine, in order to decrease the occurrence of acute attacks. Several medications have been proposed as a prophylactic treatment, but their benefit is still a vast field of study.

Methods
Forty-five subjects were diagnosed with vestibular migraine. They were divided into 3 groups; each group either received Cinnarzine, Propranolol, or Topiramate. All patients were submitted to thorough history taking for headache and vertiginous attacks, Dizziness Handicap Inventory questionnaire (DHI) -Arabic version, visual analog scale, videonystagmography, and computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) before and after receiving the treatment by 3 months.

Results
Topiramate was significantly superior in reducing the frequency and severity of headache attacks. The three drugs showed improvement but with no significant difference as regards duration and frequency of vertiginous attacks, DHI scores, and CDP. Only 5 patients had non-serious temporary side effects.

Conclusions
The three drugs were effective for ameliorating vertiginous attacks in vestibular migraine patients, but Topiramate was better in the 25 mg twice daily dose.
Evaluation of wetting front detector to estimate the dimensions of wetting front in the drip irrigation
Authors: Fattahi Nafchi Rouhallah , Valiyari-Eskandari Milad , Raeisi Vanani Hamid , Ostad-Ali-Askari Kaveh , Bahrami Abbas 
Published: October 2023

AbstractIn order to achieve proper water consumption efficiency in micro-irrigation systems, the space and flow rate of the drippers should match the hydraulic characteristics of the soil and the time and amount of plant irrigation water. As a result, having proper information about the width and depth of the wetted soil (wetting volume) is essential for the design, planning, and proper management of drip irrigation systems. The aim of this study was to obtain a set of semi-empirical relationships for more accurate and easier estimation of the diameter and depth of the wetting front. Field data of drip irrigation systems were collected by wet front detector (WFD) installed in three different conditions in terms of soil texture and flow rates of 4 and 8 L/h. Due to the technical problems and errors in the measurement of saturated hydraulic conductivity, which is the main representative of soil properties, the relationships presented here estimate the dimensions of the wetted soil volume based on the infiltration time and the volume of water stored in the reservoir. No need for hydraulic conductivity of the soil. The equations obtained in this research predict the diameter and depth of the wetted soil volume with a correlation coefficient of 89 and 98%, respectively.
Correlates of Skeletal Muscle Mass and Differences Between Novel Subtypes in Recent-Onset Diabetes
Authors: Herder Christian , Maalmi Haifa , Saatmann Nina , Zaharia Oana-Patricia , Strassburger Klaus , Burkart Volker , Norman Kristina , Roden Michael 
Published: October 2023

Abstract

Context
Low skeletal muscle mass (SMM) is associated with long-standing diabetes but little is known about SMM in newly diagnosed diabetes.

Objective
We aimed to identify correlates of SMM in recent-onset diabetes and to compare SMM between novel diabetes subtypes.

Methods
SMM was normalized to body mass index (SMM/BMI) in 842 participants with known diabetes duration of less than 1 year from the German Diabetes Study (GDS). Cross-sectional associations between clinical variables, 79 biomarkers of inflammation, and SMM/BMI were assessed, and differences in SMM/BMI between novel diabetes subtypes were analyzed with different degrees of adjustment for confounders.

Results
Male sex and physical activity were positively associated with SMM/BMI, whereas associations of age, BMI, glycated hemoglobin A1c, homeostatic model assessment for β-cell function, and estimated glomerular filtration rate with SMM/BMI were inverse (all P &lt; .05; model r2 = 0.82). Twenty-three biomarkers of inflammation showed correlations with SMM/BMI after adjustment for sex and multiple testing (all P &lt; .0006), but BMI largely explained these correlations. In a sex-adjusted analysis, individuals with severe autoimmune diabetes had a higher SMM/BMI whereas individuals with severe insulin-resistant diabetes and mild obesity-related diabetes had a lower SMM/BMI than all other subtypes combined. However, differences were attenuated after adjustment for the clustering variables.

Conclusion
SMM/BMI differs between diabetes subtypes and may contribute to subtype differences in disease progression. Of note, clinical variables rather than biomarkers of inflammation explain most of the variation in SMM/BMI.
Freeze-drying of Red Blood Cells Using Ultrafast Cooling by Spraying into a Vacuum
Authors: Konoo Tomoka , Uematsu Sora , Nishihashi Tsutomu , Murakami Hirohiko , Honda Hidemine , Takiuchi Tsuyoshi , Kimura Tadashi 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
Ultrafast cooling inhibits the growth of ice crystals and prevents red blood cells from being damaged by ice crystals. Micro-Powder-Dry (µPD), a novel freeze-drying technique, was applied in this work. Using the µPD approach, we looked at the hemolysis and morphology of frozen/freeze-dried red blood cells. After freezing, the µPD method had a higher recovery rate than the slow freezing method. The recovery of the red blood cells was maintained after freeze-drying.
Aquacel Ag Advantage/Ag+ Extra and Cutimed Sorbact in the management of hard-to-heal wounds: a cohort study
Authors: Dissemond Joachim , Aare Kristina , Ozer Kerem , Gandhi Divay , Ryan Jessica L , DeKoven Mitch 
Published: October 2023

Objective: To compare Aquacel Ag Advantage/Ag+ Extra (Aquacel Ag+) (Convatec, UK) and Cutimed Sorbact (Sorbact) (Essity, US) dressings indicated for the treatment of patients with venous leg ulcers (VLUs), diabetes foot ulcers (DFUs) and pressure injuries (PIs) for clinical performance and outcomes using real-world evidence in Germany and the US. Method: This study was a chart audit review of patients who used either Aquacel Ag+ or Sorbact dressings in the 24 months prior to October 2022. Healthcare providers with access to electronic medical records and charts were asked to capture data via patient record forms. The quantitative data were analysed. Results: Findings in Germany were comparable between Aquacel Ag+ and Sorbact with regards to wound description, management and treatment outcomes, including percent area reduction and wound closure. A difference was that a greater proportion of Sorbact patients required surgery (0% versus 11%; p=0.039). In the US, a greater proportion of wounds were worsening before dressing in the Aquacel Ag+ cohort (49% versus 34%; p=0.010). A multinomial logistic regression yielded the result that patients who received Aquacel Ag+ were 3.53 times more likely to have the wound completely healed (p=0.033). Conclusion: Both Aquacel Ag+ and Sorbact dressings are widely used in Germany and the US for patients with VLUs, DFUs and PIs. Our study found two important differences: patients who used Aquacel Ag+ were less likely to need further surgery in Germany; and in the US, there were significantly higher odds that wounds would completely heal with Aquacel Ag+ dressings compared to Sorbact.
Compression therapy for NHS inpatients with leg ulcers: a literature review
Authors: Lian Yaping , Anderson Irene , Atkin Leanne , Gohel Manj 
Published: October 2023

Objective: Leg ulcers are common, distressing and painful for patients, and are a significant financial burden to healthcare providers. Compression therapy is the mainstay of treatment for venous leg ulceration. Several studies have evaluated leg ulcer management and compression therapy in the community. However, little is known about the prevalence of leg ulceration and use of compression therapy in acute hospitals. The aim of this study was to explore the published literature on the use of compression therapy for inpatients with leg ulcers in UK National Health Service hospital settings. Method: A literature search was undertaken to identify published papers reporting on inpatient leg ulcer populations and the use of compression therapy in hospitals using the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE Complete, Embase and PubMed. Results: The literature review identified 364 articles, of which three met the eligibility criteria. These studies reported on the prevalence of leg ulceration, the number of Doppler assessments conducted for patients and the use of compression therapy. Conclusion: This review confirmed a lack of information on the prevalence of hospital inpatients with leg ulcers, and identified the need to conduct prevalence audits, establish leg ulcer services to streamline inpatient leg ulcer care and provide staff and patient education programmes.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy restores wound healing in irradiated gingiva to a similar level to that in healthy gingiva
Authors: Kasikasetsiri Juthathip , Apaijai Nattayaporn , Aschaitrakool Yuthakran , Kerdphoo Sasiwan , Sriyaranya Nutchada , Chattipakorn Nipon , Chattipakorn Siriporn C 
Published: October 2023

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the involvement of mitochondrial biogenesis, and determine the extent of fibroblast proliferation and cellular apoptosis, in the gingiva of patients who had undergone head and neck radiation, after receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), in comparison with normal gingiva. Method: A total of 16 patients who had undergone head and neck radiation with HBOT and six healthy subjects were included in the study. After the completion of radiation therapy, patients received HBOT at 2 ATA for 90 minutes per session, and for 20 sessions per patient. Samples of gingival tissues were then taken. The levels of: transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β); phospho-nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (p-NFϰB); nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFϰB); proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α); phospho-dynamin-related protein 1 at ser616 (p-Drp1ser616); dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1); Bcl-2-associated X-protein (Bax); and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) were determined using a Western blot. Independent t-test and Chi-squared tests were used in the study. Results: There were no differences in the levels of TGF-β, p-NFϰB, NFϰB, p-Drp1ser616, Drp1, Bax and Bcl-2 between the two groups. However, the level of PGC-1α was greater in irradiated gingival tissues with HBOT than in the healthy gingiva. Conclusion: Radiation-induced impaired wound healing can be improved by HBOT as indicated by levels of apoptosis, mitochondrial dynamics, cell proliferation and inflammation in irradiated gingiva with HBOT to a similar level to normal healthy gingiva. These findings may occur through an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis following HBOT.
Four-color fiber-coupled mid-infrared laser-absorption sensor for temperature, CO, CO2, and NO at 5  kHz in internal combustion engine vehicle exhaust
Authors: Stiborek Joshua W. , Schwartz Charles J. , Kempema Nathan J. , Szente Joseph J. , Loos Michael J. , Goldenstein Christopher S. 
Published: October 2023

A mid-infrared (MIR) laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) sensor was developed for temperature, CO, NO, and CO2 measurements at 5 kHz in engine-out exhaust. It used fiber-coupled quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) for measuring CO and NO, and an interband cascade laser (ICL) for measuring CO2. Validation tests in a heated gas cell confirmed that the LAS measurements of CO, CO2, NO, and temperature are accurate to within 4.8%, 5.1%, 4.6%, and 3.1%, respectively, at 1–2 atm and 300–1000 K. The LAS sensor was applied to characterize the engine-out exhaust gas of an 8-cylinder gasoline engine in a light-duty truck at operating conditions where commercial instruments lack sufficient time response to quantify important emission dynamics.
1-to-N terahertz integrated switches enabling multi-beam antennas
Authors: Dechwechprasit Panisa , Lees Harrison , Headland Daniel , Fumeaux Christophe , Withayachumnankul Withawat 
Published: October 2023

Implementing terahertz circuits and system designs relies on integrating reconfigurable devices such as switches, to fulfill a critical role in controlling and manipulating the flow of terahertz signals on the chip. Although there have been several demonstrations of on–off switching in the terahertz range, there have been no demonstrations of 1-to-N switching, to our knowledge. This pronounced lack of dynamically reconfigurable routing has severely limited the achievable complexity of terahertz systems. To address this, we propose 1-to-N switches made of cascaded disk resonators integrated into a substrateless silicon waveguide platform. A single switch can be controlled via photoexcitation using a low-power 658-nm laser focused onto the disk resonator, turning off the resonance and inhibiting coupling into a crossing port. The measurement results demonstrate that the proposed switch has low insertion loss, which can be attributed to the inherently low dissipation of the platform. The proposed on–off switch achieves a maximum insertion loss of 1.2 dB, and the maximum extinction ratio of the switch is 16.1 dB with 1.5 GHz of bandwidth. Furthermore, a 1-to-3 switch is monolithically integrated together with a Luneburg lens in order to project each of its output ports to a different far-field direction and, thereby, translate the switching operation into a form of reconfigurable beam control for future applications.
Conserved and divergent signals in 5’ splice site sequences across fungi, metazoa and plants
Authors: Beckel Maximiliano S. , Kaufman Bruno , Yanovsky Marcelo , Chernomoretz Ariel 
Published: October 2023

In eukaryotic organisms the ensemble of 5’ splice site sequences reflects the balance between natural nucleotide variability and minimal molecular constraints necessary to ensure splicing fidelity. This compromise shapes the underlying statistical patterns in the composition of donor splice site sequences. The scope of this study was to mine conserved and divergent signals in the composition of 5’ splice site sequences. Because 5’ donor sequences are a major cue for proper recognition of splice sites, we reasoned that statistical regularities in their composition could reflect the biological functionality and evolutionary history associated with splicing mechanisms.
Results: We considered a regularized maximum entropy modeling framework to mine for non-trivial two-site correlations in donor sequence datasets corresponding to 30 different eukaryotes. For each analyzed species, we identified minimal sets of two-site coupling patterns that were able to replicate, at a given regularization level, the observed one-site and two-site frequencies in donor sequences. By performing a systematic and comparative analysis of 5’splice sites we showed that lineage information could be traced from joint di-nucleotide probabilities. We were able to identify characteristic two-site coupling patterns for plants and animals, and propose that they may echo differences in splicing regulation previously reported between these groups.
A population-based cross-sectional study examining homicides among community-dwelling older adults in Victoria, Australia: A study protocol
Authors: Kennedy Briohny , Bugeja Lyndal , Olivier Jake , Koppel Sjaan , Dwyer Jeremy , Ibrahim Joseph 
Published: October 2023

Background
There is a need for both descriptive and analytical evidence on the factors associated with older adult homicide. The current landscape is insufficient because most published research is confined to the United States, and contains insufficient data about the homicide context. This study protocol describes the proposed method for examining the characteristics and factors associated with older adult homicide in the Australian state of Victoria, using data generated for the criminal and coronial investigation into these deaths stored in the Victorian Homicide Register (VHR). Outcomes will support practitioners, policy makers and other key stakeholders to strengthen prevention strategies to reduce the risk of future homicides among older Victorians.

Methods
This study will comprise a single-jurisdiction population-based cross-sectional design to analyse consecutive cases of homicide among community-dwelling older adults in Victoria, Australia for the period 2001 to 2015. All homicides of adults aged 18 years and older, and where the Coroner’s investigation is completed at data extraction will be included. Variables will be selected in accordance with elements of the social-ecological model (i.e., individual, interpersonal, incident, and community). This will include: socio-demographic characteristics; presence of mental or physical illness; deceased-offender relationship; nature of any abuse between the deceased and offender; incident location and weapon used; the presence of alcohol or drugs; and criminal justice outcomes. Homicide rates per 100,000 population will be calculated for older adults (aged 65 years and older) and younger adults (aged 18–64 years), and compared as rate ratios using Poisson regression. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation will be generated for factors associated with homicide for older compared to younger adults. Homicide typologies based on deceased-offender relationship and motive will be explored within group and family homicides will be compared between older and younger adults.
Diagnostic Performance of the ICD-10 Code K76.82 for Hepatic Encephalopathy in Patients With Cirrhosis
Authors: Ozturk Nazli Begum , Jamil Laith H. , Tapper Elliot B. 
Published: October 2023

INTRODUCTION:
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is prevalent and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality among patients with cirrhosis. On October 1, 2022, a new, specific International Classification of Diseases-10 code for HE, K76.82, was introduced. We aimed to analyze the diagnostic accuracy of K76.82.

METHODS:
Diagnostic performance of K76.82 for HE (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive ratio, and negative predictive ratio) was evaluated in 2 large health systems compared with lactulose, rifaximin, and K72.90.

RESULTS:
A total of 2,483 patients were analyzed. The combination term “lactulose or rifaximin” showed the highest sensitivity of >98% while K76.82 demonstrated a specificity of >87% in all cohorts.

DISCUSSION:
Although K76.82 is promising, the combination term “lactulose or rifaximin” identified patients with HE more accurately.
On the topological gradient method for an inverse problem resolution
Authors: Abdelwahed Mohamed , Chorfi Nejmeddine 
Published: October 2023

Abstract
In this work, we consider the topological gradient method to deal with an inverse problem associated with three-dimensional Stokes equations. The problem consists in detecting unknown point forces acting on fluid from measurements on the boundary of the domain. We present an asymptotic expansion of the considered cost function using the topological sensitivity analysis method. A detection algorithm is then presented using the developed formula. Some numerical tests are presented to show the efficiency of the presented algorithm.