bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Soil surface roughness impacts the risk arising from a hypothetical urban radiological dispersive device activation
Authors: Bonfim Carlos E S , Silva Vitor W L , Rodrigues Lucas D , Curzio Rodrigo C , Santos Avelino , Profeta William H S , Xavier Larissa R P , de Mello Luiz A , Stenders Ricardo M , Andrade Edson R 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
This study considers a deliberate hypothetical release of radioactive material over an inhabited urban zone. The event is initiated by the activation of a radiological dispersion device. The main threat is the deposition of radioactive material onto the soil’s surface. The radiation represents the threat-defining risks, which depend on the main variables, i.e. soil surface roughness, sex, age of the exposed individuals and the moment of the release (day or nighttime). This study aims to evaluate the effect of soil surface roughness on the radiological risk. The simulation was performed by an analytical method using the HotSpot Health Physics code within the first 100 h. The results found relevant elements that allow for differentiating consequences as a function of the time of release (whether daytime or nighttime), thus allowing decision-makers to be supported with a little more detail about the situation, although in a critical initial phase.
When Legal Inclusion is not Enough: the “Uganda Model” of Refugee Protection on the Brink of Failure
Authors: Grześkowiak Maciej 
Published: November 2023

ABSTRACT
This article develops the existing literature on the challenges facing the Ugandan refugee protection system by showing the interrelatedness of these challenges and linking them to the core assumptions of the “Uganda Model” of refugee protection. To that effect, it presents primary, qualitative data gathered in the field. This empirical evidence reveals profound marginalisation of refugees within Uganda and the difficulties of the authorities to remedy it in the face of the status quo, where the international community’s support has been disproportionately small. This reality, being strikingly at odds with the promise of Uganda’s refugee protection architecture, has led the government and UNHCR officials who were interviewed for this research to doubt whether it is possible to uphold this architecture. This, together with the outcomes of a desk study utilising existing quantitative and qualitative data, suggests that the Uganda Model might, at the time of writing, be approaching its threshold of viability. The findings suggest that a substantial rethink of the model’s assumptions might be in order.
Anterior Distal Femoral Hemiepiphysiodesis Does Not Change Pelvic Tilt in Children With Cerebral Palsy
Authors: Hanson Alison M. , Wren Tishya A.L. , Rethlefsen Susan A. , Ciccodicola Eva , Rubel Boris , Kay Robert M. 
Published: November 2023

Background:
Anterior distal femoral hemiepiphysiodesis (ADFH) is a surgical treatment choice to correct flexed knee gait and fixed knee flexion deformities in children with cerebral palsy who are skeletally immature. Increased anterior pelvic tilt has been reported after surgeries that correct knee flexion deformities, including hamstring lengthening (HSL) and distal femoral extension osteotomies, but anterior pelvic tilt has not been studied after ADFH. We hypothesized that anterior pelvic tilt would increase after ADFH, especially when combined with HSL, and it would correlate with the change in minimum knee flexion in stance and dynamic hamstring lengths.

Methods:
Thirty-four eligible participants (age: 13.0, SD: 2.0) were included. Change in mean pelvic tilt across the gait cycle was compared as a function of clinical and gait parameters using linear mixed models. The relationship of change in pelvic tilt to change in other variables was examined using Pearson correlation

Results:
Overall, anterior pelvic tilt increased significantly after ADFH by 4.4 degrees (P = 0.02). Further, the analysis revealed anterior pelvic tilt only increased significantly in the group that had concurrent HSL (11.1 degrees, P < 0.001). Overall, minimum knee flexion significantly decreased (increase in knee extension) in stance (−19.1 degrees, P < 0.001) and there was an increase in maximum normalized dynamic hamstring lengths (0.03, P < 0.001). The anterior pelvic tilt increased significantly in Gross Motor Function Classification System levels III to IV (5.9 degrees, P = 0.02) but did not change significantly in Gross Motor Function Classification System I to II (2.5 degrees, P = 0.37). Change in pelvic tilt was correlated with change in maximum dynamic hamstring lengths (r = 0.87, P < 0.0001) and change in minimum knee flexion in stance (r = −0.71, P < 0.0001).

Conclusions:
Anterior distal hemiepiphysiodesis without concurrent HSL for flexion knee deformities does not result in increased anterior pelvic tilt. Surgeons should consider anterior distal hemiepiphysiodesis in patients with cerebral palsy and flexed knee gait, who preoperatively have long dynamically modeled hamstrings, are skeletally immature, and when maintenance of pelvic tilt is desired.

Level of Evidence:
Level III—retrospective comparative study.
Maternal Group B Streptococcus Infection Correlates Inversely With Preeclampsia in Pregnant African American Women
Authors: Kwon Keun Soo , Cheng Tzu Hsuan , Reynolds Simone A. , Zhou Jordan , Cai Huchong , Lee Sharon , Velickovic Ivan , Dalloul Mudar , Wlody David , Zhang Ming 
Published: November 2023

Abstract

Objective
To determine whether an association exists between group B Streptococcus (GBS) colonization and preeclampsia among pregnant Black women.

Methods
This retrospective cross-sectional study involved Black women who gave birth at State University of New York Downstate Hospital between January 2010 and December 2017. Data were collected from the Obstetric Department, including delivery date, time, mode of delivery, age of the mother, weeks of gestation at delivery, and antepartum complications. The GBS test results were originally determined using the eSwab transport system. Preeclampsia was defined based on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists criteria for the periods 2010–2012 and 2013–2017. The primary outcome was whether GBS was associated with the outcome of preeclampsia in the population of Black women. Covariates, including smoking status, gestational age, parity, body mass index, maternal age, and presence of herpes simplex virus (HSV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were examined as potential confounders. Chi-squared test and logistic regression model were used, presenting odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (P < 0.050), analyzed with SAS on Demand for Academics (SAS Institute, Inc., NY).

Results
Among the 8,019 Black women included in this study, GBS-positive women (n = 977) had a 53% reduction in the likelihood of being diagnosed with preeclampsia compared to GBS-negative women (adjusted odds ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.32–0.70). We did not find evidence of differences in the distribution of smoking habits (P = 0.783) or maternal age (P = 0.107) between GBS-positive and GBS-negative women. However, the GBS-positive women tended to be less likely to have a preterm delivery (9.62% (94/977) vs. 24.24% (1707/7042), P < 0.001), less likely to be nulliparous (33.37% (326/977) vs. 37.87% (2667/7042), P = 0.006), and less likely to be obese (51.38% (502/977) vs. 55.30% (3894/7042), P < 0.001) compared with GBS-negative women. In contrast, GBS-positive women were more likely to have a comorbid infection than their counterparts: HSV (5.94% (58/977) vs. 2.63% (185/7042), P < 0.001) and HIV (1.54% (15/977) vs. 0.82% (58/7042), P = 0.028).

Conclusion
We found a reduced likelihood of preeclampsia among women who were positive for GBS at delivery. Given the cross-sectional nature of our study, more research is needed to further explore this association.
Treating Hand High-voltage Electrical Burn by Combination of Radial Artery Perforator Flap, Artificial Dermis, and Vacuum Sealing Drainage
Authors: Guo Yibin , Liu Xiaofei , Chen Liping 
Published: November 2023

Summary:
Severe high-voltage electrical burns (HVEBs) to the hand can result in significant injuries, requiring early use of skin flaps or grafts for reconstruction to optimize hand function recovery. However, there is currently a lack of consensus on strategies to improve aesthetics and hand function. We reported a case of severe HVEB on the left hand that was successfully treated by a radial artery perforator flap assisted by artificial dermis (AD) and vacuum sealing drainage (VSD). In phase I, necrotic tissue was removed through debridement while preserving parabiotic tissue. The left thumb was fixed with a Kirschner wire, and the wound was covered with AD and VSD. After 2 weeks, phase II repair surgery was performed using a radial artery perforator flap to cover the wound surface. At 2 weeks after surgery, the skin flap showed good tension and no blood circulation disorders or blister formation. At 12 months after surgery, the flap had not shrunk, and its texture and color closely resembled the surrounding normal tissues. The flap also demonstrated resistance to friction, and there was nearly normal wrist joint mobility. The use of a radial artery perforator flap assisted by AD and VSD provides a simple and effective reconstruction method that preserves important vessels in the forearm, minimizes damage to local cutaneous nerves, and eliminates the need for vascular anastomosis. Therefore, this technique offers advantages in terms of aesthetics and functional improvement for severe HVEBs to the hand, although it has been rarely reported before.
The Incidence of Retained Objects in Intraoperative X-rays for Missing Counts in Plastic Surgery: We Should Do Better
Authors: Trieu Nhan , Ockerman Kyle M. , Kerekes David , Han Sabrina H. , Moser Patricia , Heithaus Evans , Satteson Ellen , Spiguel Lisa P. , Momeni Arash , Sorice-Virk Sarah 
Published: November 2023

Background:
In the event of incorrect surgical counts, obtaining X-rays to rule out retained surgical items (RSI) is standard practice. However, these safeguards also carry risk. This study investigates the actual incidence of RSI in plastic reconstructive surgery (PRS) cases as measured on intraoperative X-rays and its associated modifiable risk factors.

Methods:
X-rays with indication of “foreign body” in PRS procedures from 2012 to 2022 were obtained. Reports with “incorrect surgical counts” and associated perioperative records were retrospectively analyzed to determine the incidence of retained surgical items.

Results:
Among 257 X-rays, 21.4% indicated incorrect counts during PRS operations. None were positive for RSIs. The average number of staff present was 12.01. This correlated to an average of 6.98 staff turnovers. The average case lasted 8.42 hours. X-rays prolonged the time under anesthesia by an average of 24.3 minutes. Free flap surgery had 49.1% prevalence of missing counts (lower extremity 25.5%, breast 20%, craniofacial 3.6%), followed by hand (14.5%), breast (10.9%), abdominal reconstruction (10.9%), craniofacial (9.1%), and cosmetic (5.4%).

Conclusions:
Although X-rays for incorrect counts intend to prevent catastrophic sequela of inadvertent RSIs, our results suggest the true incidence of RSI in PRS is negligible. However, intraoperative X-rays have potentially detrimental and pervasive consequences for patients, including increased anesthesia time, radiation exposure, and higher overall cost. Addressing modifiable risk factors to minimize unnecessary intraoperative X-rays is imperative while also considering whether this modality is an effective and appropriate tool in PRS procedures with incorrect surgical counts.
Elizabethkingia meningoseptica Outbreak in NICU: An Observational Study on a Debilitating Neuroinfection in Neonates
Authors: Swami Manish , Mude Praneetha , Kar Shrutiprajna , Sarathi Sushree , Mohapatra Ashoka , Devi Usha , Mohanty Pankaj K. , Som Tapas K. , Bijayini Behera , Sahoo Tanushree 
Published: November 2023

Background:

Elizabethkingia meningoseptica is an emerging nosocomial pathogen implicated in neonatal sepsis with high mortality and morbidities. However, there is very limited data regarding the characteristics as well as outcomes following this infection, particularly in developing countries.

Methods:
We conducted a retrospective observational study of all infants with culture-positive Elizabethkingia sepsis as part of an outbreak, to study their clinical and epidemiological characteristics, as well as their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, using a structured proforma from the neonatal intensive care unit database. Analysis was done using descriptive statistics and predictors of mortality and hydrocephalus were also identified.

Results:
Of the 21 neonates enrolled, 9 (42.9%) were male, with a mean gestational age and birth weight of 31.7 ± 3.4 weeks and 1320 ± 364 g, respectively. The median (interquartile range) age of onset of illness was 7 (5–12) days. The overall mortality rate was 23.8%, and among survivors, 50% had neurologic complications requiring intervention. Vancomycin and ciprofloxacin were the most used antibiotics for treatment in our series, with a median duration of 26 (17–38) days. On univariate analysis, shock at presentation was significantly associated with increased mortality (P = 0.04) while, seizures (P = 0.04) and elevated cerebrospinal fluid protein levels (P = 0 .01) at onset of illness predicted progressive hydrocephalus in surviving neonates.

Conclusion:

E. meningoseptica sepsis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis and prompt initiation of appropriate antibiotics are critical for improving survival and neurodevelopmental outcomes. Though isolation of the organism by environmental surveillance is always not possible, with proper infection control measures, the infection can be controlled.
Hypophosphatemia as a Predictor of Clinical Outcomes in Acute Pancreatitis
Authors: Lee Joshua P. , Darlington Kimberly , Henson Jacqueline B. , Kothari Darshan , Niedzwiecki Donna , Farooq Ahmad , Liddle Rodger A. 
Published: November 2023

Objective
Phosphate is crucial for cellular repair after injury and may be important in recovery following acute pancreatitis (AP). This study aimed to evaluate the association between hypophosphatemia and severity of AP.

Methods
Patients admitted with AP between 2014–2018 were identified and their records were retrospectively reviewed. Pancreatitis severity was defined using the modified Atlanta Criteria. Hypophosphatemia was defined as phosphate <2 mg/dL and was assessed at three time points: within one day, within two days, at any time during admission. The proportion of patients who developed severe AP was compared between patients with and without hypophosphatemia.

Results
Of 312 patients, 30.1% (n = 94) developed severe AP. Hypophosphatemia occurred in 25.0% overall, within one day in 19.7%, and within two days in 20.0%. A higher proportion of patients with hypophosphatemia developed severe AP (overall: 47.4% vs. 24.4%, P < 0.001; one day: 47.4% vs. 23.9%, P = 0.004; two days: 42.9% vs. 24.5%, P = 0.01). Patients with hypophosphatemia within one day were also more likely to have ICU admission (P < 0.001) and longer length of stay (P < 0.001).

Conclusions
Early hypophosphatemia during an admission for AP was associated with increased AP severity, ICU admission, and longer length of stay.
Single-molecule tracking-based drug screening
Authors: Watanabe Daisuke , Hiroshima Michio , Yasui Masato , Ueda Masahiro 
Published: November 2023

AbstractThe single-molecule tracking of transmembrane receptors in living cells has provided significant insights into signaling mechanisms, such as mobility and clustering upon their activation/inactivation, making it a potential screening method for drug discovery. Here we show that single-molecule tracking-based screening can be used to explore compounds both detectable and undetectable by conventional methods for disease-related receptors. Using an automated system for a fast large-scale single-molecule analysis, we screened for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) from 1,134 of FDA approved drugs. The 18 hit compounds included all EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in the library that suppressed any phosphorylation-dependent mobility shift of EGFR, proving the concept of this approach. The remaining hit compounds are not reported as EGFR-targeted drugs and did not inhibit EGF-induced EGFR phosphorylation. These non-TKI compounds affected the mobility and/or clustering of EGFR without EGF and induced EGFR internalization, to impede EGFR-dependent cell growth. Thus, single-molecule tracking provides a new modality for discovering novel therapeutics on various receptor functions with previously untargeted mechanisms.
Single-Cell RNA-Seq Analysis Reveals Four Stages of Replicative Senescence in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
Authors: Ahn Minseo , Kim Junil , Seo Jae Ho 
Published: November 2023

AbstractCellular senescence is a phenomenon marked by an irreversible growth arrest with altered physiological properties. Many studies have focused on the characteristics of cells that have already entered a senescent state. However, to elucidate the mechanisms of cellular aging, it is essential to investigate the gradual transition of proliferative cells into senescent cells. We assumed that cellular senescence is a complex and multi-step process, and each stage exhibits unique traits. To test this hypothesis, we utilized publicly available single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq) data from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) undergoing replicative senescence. We employed Seurat and Monocle 3 to capture the transition from proliferating to senescent states in HUVECs. Four clusters were identified, and each cluster displayed distinct expression patterns of cellular senescence markers and the senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASPs). We also employed SCENIC to identify the expression patterns of core transcription factors (TFs) during replicative senescence. While the majority of TFs exhibited a linear trend, HMGB1, FOSL1, SMC3, RAD21, SOX4, and XBP1 showed fluctuating expression patterns during replicative senescence. Furthermore, the expression patterns of these TFs exhibited slight differences in the ionizing radiation (IR) model of senescence. Overall, our study unveils the distinct characteristics of each phase during replicative senescence and identifies expression trends in TFs that may play pivotal roles in this process. These findings highlight the intricate nature of cellular senescence and provide new insights into the process of cellular aging.
Deciphering fitness trade-offs in metabolite exchange at the origin of a bacterial cross-feeding community
Authors: Zhu Dongxuan , Pawar Samraat 
Published: November 2023

AbstractObligate cross-feeding is a common type of interaction among microbial communities, yet gaps persist in understanding its maintenance and limit practical applications. In particular, little is known about how contextualised metabolite exchange intensities affect community fitness, despite their influential role in shaping interdependencies1, diversities2, and lifespan3of cross-feeding community members.Here I computationally test how amino acids isoleucine (ile) and lysine (lys) exchange intensities affect individual and community fitness of a two-strain auxotroph cross-feeding community. I innovatively integrated metabolite exchange intensities and multi-strain growth using Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) and evolutionary game theory, and showed that crossfeeding communities have the highest fitness when the metabolite exchange intensity is slightly above individual amino acid uptake demands, stimulated by cheaters’ presence. Using FBA with different metabolite uptake / secretion combinations, I discovered the individual amino acid demands are linearly correlated with sole carbon source (glucose) availability. Additionally, as cheating mutants emerge, costly exchange intensities can be better sustained when accumulated shared metabolites are accessible.This is the first study linking metabolite exchange intensities and cross-feeding community fitness considering all known metabolic reactions of a bacterial strain. The fittest metabolite exchange range and its relationships with glucose and shared metabolite availability shed lights on resilient microbial community engineering as well as metabolite exchange parameter constraints for multi-species population / metabolism models4–6.
AutoPeptideML: A study on how to build more trustworthy peptide bioactivity predictors
Authors: Fernandez-Diaz Raul , Cossio-Pérez Rodrigo , Agoni Clement , Lam Hoang Thanh , Lopez Vanessa , Shields Denis C. 
Published: November 2023

AbstractMotivationAutomated machine learning (AutoML) solutions can bridge the gap between new computational advances and their real-world applications by enabling experimental scientists to build their own custom models. We examine different steps in the development life-cycle of peptide bioactivity binary predictors and identify key steps where automation can not only result in a more accessible method, but also more robust and interpretable evaluation leading to more trustworthy models.ResultsWe present a new automated method for drawing negative peptides that achieves better balance between specificity and generalisation than current alternatives. We study the effect of homology-based partitioning for generating the training and testing data subsets and demonstrate that model performance is overestimated when no such homology correction is used, which indicates that prior studies may have overestimated their performance when applied to new peptide sequences. We also conduct a systematic analysis of different protein language models as peptide representation methods and find that they can serve as better descriptors than a naive alternative, but that there is no significant difference across models with different sizes or algorithms. Finally, we demonstrate that an ensemble of optimised traditional machine learning algorithms can compete with more complex neural network models, while being more computationally efficient. We integrate these findings into AutoPeptideML, an easy-to-use AutoML tool to allow researchers without a computational background to build new predictive models for peptide bioactivity in a matter of minutes.AvailabilitySource code, documentation, and data are available athttps://github.com/IBM/AutoPeptideMLand a dedicated webserver athttp://peptide.ucd.ie/AutoPeptideML.