bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth of Ethiopia
Authors: Dagne Girum 
Published: February 2024

This study examines the impact of foreign aid on growth in Ethiopia based on time series data from 1980 to 2019. This study uses Autoregressive distributed Lag and an Error Correction to determine the long- and short-run impacts of foreign aid on growth. The empirical results show that, in the long run, foreign aid has a negative and insignificant effect on real GDP growth. However, gross domestic savings, exports, and inflation exert positive and insignificant impacts on GDP growth. Furthermore, Human capital and gross consumption expenditure exert a positive and significant impact on GDP growth, and gross capital information has a negative and significant impact on GDP growth. Thus, Ethiopia’s national development policy should focus on the productive utilisation of domestic savings to increase GDP growth rather than depend on external capital inflow, which is uncertain even when donor countries face long recessions. JEL Codes: E1, E2, E3
Nurses’ priority-setting for older nursing home residents during COVID-19
Authors: Eklund Saksberg My , Bielsten Therése , Cahill Suzanne , Jaarsma Tiny , Nedlund Ann-Charlotte , Sandman Lars , Jaarsma Pier 
Published: February 2024

Background Ethical principles behind prioritization in healthcare are continuously relevant. However, applying ethical principles during times of increased need, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, is challenging. Also, little is known about nursing home nurses’ prioritizations in their work to achieve well-being and health for nursing home residents. Aim The aim of this study was to explore nursing home nurses’ priority-setting for older nursing home residents in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research design, participants, and research context We conducted a qualitative interview study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews (retrospective self-reports) between February and May 2021 with 21 nursing home nurses. To help respondents to recall their memories, we used the critical incident technique (CIT). We analyzed data within the theoretical framework and the methodological orientation of content analysis. Ethical considerations Written and verbal consent was obtained before the interviews, and information was given to participants informing them that participation was entirely voluntary. The Swedish Ethical Review Agency gave an advisory opinion stating that there were no ethical objections to the research project (Dnr. 2020-05649). Findings We identified an overarching theme—nursing home nurses struggling on multiple fronts, “just do it”—and seven categories: striving for survival and caring about a dignified death; responding sensitively to relatives’ expectations; ranking the urgency of needed care; responding to input from different actors; combating the spread of infection in unconventional ways; taking the lead and doing what is required; and following the ideals of person-centered nursing. Conclusions Nurses’ priority-setting for older nursing homes residents during the COVID-19 pandemic meant strain and struggle. In some cases, nurses had taken responsibility for priorities falling outside their statutory powers. Different demands and interests affected nurses’ priorities. Nursing home nurses need organizational and managerial support to prioritize.
Stretching oneself too thin and facing ethical challenges: Healthcare professionals’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Schaufel Margrethe Aase , Schanche Elisabeth , Onarheim Kristine Husøy , Forthun Ingeborg , Hufthammer Karl Ove , Engelund Inger Elise , Miljeteig Ingrid 
Published: February 2024

Backgrounds Most countries are facing increased pressure on healthcare resources. A better understanding of how healthcare providers respond to new demands is relevant for future pandemics and other crises. Objectives This study aimed to explore what nurses and doctors in Norway reported as their main ethical challenges during two periods of the COVID-19 pandemic: February 2021 and February 2022. Research design A longitudinal repeated cross-sectional study was conducted in the Western health region of Norway. The survey included an open-ended question about ethical challenges among doctors and nurses in hospital departments. Free-text comments were analysed using Systematic Text Condensation and also presented in a frequency table. Ethical considerations Ethical approval was granted by the Regional Research Ethics Committee in Western Norway (131,421). All participants provided consent when participating in the study. Results In 2021, 249 and in 2022, 163 healthcare professionals responded to the open-ended question. Nurses and doctors reported three main categories of ethical challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) barriers that hindered them in acting as they ethically would have wanted to do; (2) priority-setting dilemmas linked to overtreatment, transfer of resources and ranking patient needs; and (3) workload expansion threatening work–life balance and employees’ health. Category one comprised of resource barriers, regulatory barriers, system barriers, and personal barriers. Regulatory barriers, especially visitor restrictions for next-of-kin, were the most frequently reported in 2021. Resource barriers, related to the increased scarcity of qualified staff, were most frequently reported in 2022. Clinicians stretched themselves thin to avoid compromising on care, diagnostics, or treatment. Conclusions Developing clinicians’ ability to handle and cope with limited healthcare resources is necessary. To foster resilience and sustainability, healthcare leaders, in collaboration with their staff, should ensure fair priority-setting and initiate reflections among doctors and nurses on what it implies to provide ‘good enough’ care.
Predicting optimal sparse general matrix-matrix multiplication algorithm on GPUs
Authors: Wei Bingxin , Wang Yizhuo , Chang Fangli , Gao Jianhua , Ji Weixing 
Published: February 2024

Sparse General Matrix-Matrix Multiplication (SpGEMM) has played an important role in a number of applications. So far, many efficient algorithms have been proposed to improve the performance of SpGEMM on GPUs. However, the performance of each algorithm for matrices of different structures varies a lot. There is no algorithm that can achieve the optimal performance of SpGEMM computation on all matrices. In this article, we design a machine learning based approach for predicting the optimal SpGEMM algorithm on input matrices. By extracting features from input matrices, we utilize LightGBM and XGBoost to train different lightweight models. The models are capable of predicting the best performing algorithm with low inference overhead and high accuracy for the given input matrices. We also investigate the impact of tree depth on model accuracy and inference overhead. Our evaluation shows that an increase in tree depth leads to a corresponding increase in prediction accuracy, reaching a maximum of approximately 85%, while resulting in increased inference overhead of approximately 10 µs. Compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms on three GPU platforms, our method achieves better overall performance.
Optimization for diffusion-type oxygen supply nearby working face of railway tunnel in plateau
Authors: Tan Zhizhao , Zhao Kaiming , Wang Junjian , Xu Yu , Yuan Yanping 
Published: February 2024

During the construction of railway tunnels in plateau environment regions, ensuring adequate oxygen supply is crucial for both worker health and safety, and tunnelling progress. Existing diffusion-type oxygen supply enrichments for plateau regions lack quantitative conclusions and have not been implemented systematically in actual engineering. To refine the design parameters of the required method, this study utilized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to examine the optimal design parameters for oxygen supply equipment in a typical engineering project. The optimal scheme consisted of three rows of oxygen diffusion apparatuses with 0.07 m inlet diameter, 0.4 m lateral spacing and 60° tilt that maintain a constant oxygen supply rate. This configuration maximized oxygen concentration enrichment in workers’ breathing zones, with oxygen partial pressure in most target zones remaining below 3000 m altitude, except for the ventilation side where it was 3360 m. This study elucidated the effects of various design parameters on oxygen distribution and proposed the optimal combination for a typical tunnel engineering project. The findings provide a guidance for implementing diffusion-type oxygen enrichment in high-altitude tunnel construction, aiding both worker safety and project efficiency.
Recovering high-quality bacterial genomes from cross-contaminated cultures: a case study of marine Vibrio campbellii
Authors: Orel Neža , Fadeev Eduard , Herndl Gerhard J. , Turk Valentina , Tinta Tinkara 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
Environmental monitoring of bacterial pathogens is critical for disease control in coastal marine ecosystems to maintain animal welfare and ecosystem function and to prevent significant economic losses. This requires accurate taxonomic identification of environmental bacterial pathogens, which often cannot be achieved by commonly used genetic markers (e.g., 16S rRNA gene), and an understanding of their pathogenic potential based on the information encoded in their genomes. The decreasing costs of whole genome sequencing (WGS), combined with newly developed bioinformatics tools, now make it possible to unravel the full potential of environmental pathogens, beyond traditional microbiological approaches. However, obtaining a high-quality bacterial genome, requires initial cultivation in an axenic culture, which is a bottleneck in environmental microbiology due to cross-contamination in the laboratory or isolation of non-axenic strains.

Results
We applied WGS to determine the pathogenic potential of two Vibrio isolates from coastal seawater. During the analysis, we identified cross-contamination of one of the isolates and decided to use this dataset to evaluate the possibility of bioinformatic contaminant removal and recovery of bacterial genomes from a contaminated culture. Despite the contamination, using an appropriate bioinformatics workflow, we were able to obtain high quality and highly identical genomes (Average Nucleotide Identity value 99.98%) of one of the Vibrio isolates from both the axenic and the contaminated culture. Using the assembled genome, we were able to determine that this isolate belongs to a sub-lineage of Vibrio campbellii associated with several diseases in marine organisms. We also found that the genome of the isolate contains a novel Vibrio plasmid associated with bacterial defense mechanisms and horizontal gene transfer, which may offer a competitive advantage to this putative pathogen.

Conclusions
Our study shows that, using state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools and a sufficient sequencing effort, it is possible to obtain high quality genomes of the bacteria of interest and perform in-depth genomic analyses even in the case of a contaminated culture. With the new isolate and its complete genome, we are providing new insights into the genomic characteristics and functional potential of this sub-lineage of V. campbellii. The approach described here also highlights the possibility of recovering complete bacterial genomes in the case of non-axenic cultures or obligatory co-cultures.
Efficacy of esketamine for the treatment of postpartum depression and pain control following cesarean section: a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial
Authors: Li Shurong , Zhuo Zhifang , Li Renwei , Guo Kaikai 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
Postpartum depression (PPD) following a cesarean delivery is a frequently seen complication. Despite the prophylactic effects of ketamine, the impact of esketamine on PPD in women undergoing cesarean section remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of esketamine as an adjunct to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) in preventing PPD in women undergoing caesarean section.

Methods
A total of 275 parturients undergoing caesarean section and subsequent patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) were randomly assigned to receive either the control treatment (sufentanil 2 µg/kg + tropisetron 10 mg) or the experimental treatment with additional esketamine (1.5 mg/kg). The primary outcome measured was the incidence of postpartum depression (PPD), classified by Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores equal to or greater than 13 indicating PPD. Secondary outcomes included cumulative sufentanil consumption during specific time periods (0–24 h, 24–48 h, and 0–48 h) after the surgical procedure and numerical rating scale (NRS) scores at rest and during movements.

Results
The final analysis included a total of 246 postpartum women who had undergone caesarean delivery. On postoperative day 42, the incidence of depression among the control group was 17.6%, which was significantly higher compared to the esketamine group with a rate of 8.2% (P = 0.02). The EPDS scores also showed a significant difference between the two groups, with a mean score of 9.02 ± 2.21 in the control group and 6.87 ± 2.14 in the esketamine group (p < 0.0001). In terms of pain management, the esketamine group showed lower sufentanil consumption in the 0–24 h (42.5 ± 4.58 µg vs. 50.15 ± 5.47 µg, P = 0.04) and 0–48 h (87.40 ± 9.51 µg vs. 95.10 ± 9.36 µg, P = 0.04) postoperative periods compared to the control group. Differences in movement were also observed between the two groups at 24 and 48 h after the cesarean Sect. (3.39 ± 1.57 vs. 4.50 ± 0.80, P = 0.02; 2.43 ± 0.87 vs. 3.56 ± 0.76, P = 0.02). It is worth noting that the frequency of side effects observed in both groups was comparable.

Conclusions
Esketamine at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg, when used as a supplement in PCIA, has been shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of PPD within 42 days. Additionally, it has been found to decrease cumulative consumption of sufentanil over a 48-hour period following cesarean operation, all without increasing the rate of adverse effects.

Trial registration
Registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200067054) on December 26, 2022.
Effect of aspirin on blood pressure in hypertensive patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Li Zehan , Xu Shengchao , Chen Lin , Jiang Danxian 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Introduction
Aspirin is widely used for secondary prevention in patients with hypertension. However, previous studies mainly focused on the preventive effects of aspirin, and there has been a lack of reliable evidence on whether taking aspirin affects blood pressure This study aimed to investigate whether aspirin would affect the blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Methods
PubMed, Cochrane database, Embase, Scopus and Medline databases were searched until September 2023. For continuous variables (e.g., blood pressure reduction), the mean difference (MD) was selected as the effect magnitude indices. We used the Cochrane Collaboration’s Risk of Bias tool to assess the risk of bias.

Result
A total of five studies were included, comprising 20,312 patients. We found that aspirin did not affect SBP (MD = -0.78, 95% CI: − 2.41, 0.84). A similar result was found for DBP (MD = -0.86, 95% CI: − 2.14, 0.42).

Conclusion
This study showed no significant difference in blood pressure between the aspirin and control groups, suggesting that aspirin does not affect blood pressure.
Changes in mental health services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in high-income countries: a rapid review
Authors: Stepanova Evgenia , Thompson Alex , Yu Ge , Fu Yu 
Published: February 2024

Background
Severe deterioration in mental health and disrupted care provision during the COVID-19 increased unmet needs for mental health. This review aimed to identify changes in mental health services for patients in response to the pandemic and understand the impact of the changes on patients and providers.

Methods
Following the Cochrane guidance for rapid reviews, Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase and PsycInfo were searched for empirical studies that investigated models of care, services, initiatives or programmes developed/evolved for patients receiving mental health care during COVID-19, published in English and undertaken in high-income countries. Thematic analysis was conducted to describe the changes and an effect direction plot was used to show impact on outcomes.

Results
33 of 6969 records identified were included reporting on patients’ experiences (n = 24), care providers’ experiences (n = 7) and mixed of both (n = 2). Changes reported included technology-based care delivery, accessibility, flexibility, remote diagnostics and evaluation, privacy, safety and operating hours of service provision. These changes had impacts on: (1) care access; (2) satisfaction with telehealth; (3) comparability of telehealth with face-to-face care; (4) treatment effectiveness; (5) continuity of care; (6) relationships between patients and care providers; (7) remote detection and diagnostics in patients; (8) privacy; (9) treatment length and (10) work-life balance.

Conclusions
A shift to telecommunication technologies had a significant impact on patients and care providers’ experiences of mental health care. Improvements to care access, flexibility, remote forms of care delivery and lengths of operating service hours emerged as crucial changes, which supported accessibility to mental health services, increased attendance and reduced dropouts from care. The relationships between patients and care providers were influenced by service changes and were vastly depending on technological literacy and context of patients and availability and care access ranging from regular contact to a loss of in-person contact. The review also identified an increase in care inequality and a feeling of being disconnected among marginalised groups including homeless people, veterans and ethic minority groups. Telehealth in mental care could be a viable alternative to face-to-face service delivery with effective treatment outcomes. Further research is needed to better understand the impact of the changes identified particularly on underserved populations.
Assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of inpatient mental health rehabilitation services provided by the NHS and independent sector (ACER): protocol
Authors: Killaspy Helen , Dalton-Locke Christian , Clarke Caroline S , Leavey Gerard , Igoumenou Artemis , Arbuthnott Maurice , Barrett Katherine , Omar Rumana 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
Mental health rehabilitation services provide specialist treatment to people with particularly severe and complex problems. In 2018, the Care Quality Commission reported that over half the 4,400 mental health inpatient rehabilitation beds in England were provided by the independent sector. They raised concerns that the length of stay and cost of independent sector care was double that of the NHS and that their services tended to be provided much further from people’s homes. However, there has been no research comparing the two sectors and we therefore do not know if these concerns are justified. The ACER Study (Assessing the Clinical and cost-Effectiveness of inpatient mental health Rehabilitation services provided by the NHS and independent sector) is a national programme of research in England, funded from 2021 to 2026, that aims to investigate differences in inpatient mental health rehabilitation provided by the NHS and independent sector in terms of: patient characteristics; service quality; patient, carer and staff experiences; clinical and cost effectiveness.

Methods
ACER comprises a:1) detailed survey of NHS and independent sector inpatient mental health rehabilitation services across England; 2) qualitative investigation of patient, family, staff and commissioners’ experiences of the two sectors; 3) cohort study comparing clinical outcomes in the two sectors over 18 months; 4) comprehensive national comparison of inpatient service use in the two sectors, using instrumental variable analysis of routinely collected healthcare data over 18 months; 5) health economic evaluation of the relative cost-effectiveness of the two sectors. In Components 3 and 4, our primary outcome is ‘successful rehabilitation’ defined as a) being discharged from the inpatient rehabilitation unit without readmission and b) inpatient service use over the 18 months.

Discussion
The ACER study will deliver the first empirical comparison of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of NHS and independent sector inpatient mental health rehabilitation services.

Trial registration
ISRCTN17381762 retrospectively registered.
Comparison of percutaneous and open repair of Achilles tendon rupture: results and complications from a single institution
Authors: Čukelj jr Fabijan , Blažević Dejan , Čukelj Fabijan , Sabalić Srećko , Benčić Ivan , Ćuti Tomislav , Pivalica Dinko , Bakota Bore , Vidović Dinko 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
The Achilles tendon is the strongest tendon in the human body, but it is prone to injury, especially in modern times when recreational sports are growing in popularity. As a result, Achilles tendon rupture is becoming an increasingly common medical problem in modern society. The main objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of percutaneous repair and open repair for the treatment of Achilles tendon rupture.

Methods
A retrospective study was conducted involving a total of 316 patients who had undergone surgical treatment for Achilles tendon rupture between 2013 and 2021. The data collected from the medical history of these patients included the type of surgical procedure, the mechanism of injury, the age and sex of the patients, the time spent in the hospital, and any possible complications of the surgical treatment (such as infections, reruptures, or sural nerve injuries).

Results
The study revealed that there was no significant difference between percutaneous and open surgical approaches in terms of sural nerve injury. However, there was a statistically significant advantage of the percutaneous method in terms of the number of infections, which was significantly lower than that of the open method. Additionally, the median length of hospital stay was found to be four days longer with the open approach. However, the study noted that a statistically significant advantage of the percutaneous method for rerupture could not be established due to the small number of patients with rerupture and the insufficient ratio of patients with rerupture in relation to the size of the observed population.

Conclusions
Percutaneous repair is an effective treatment option for Achilles tendon rupture and has outcomes equal to or better than those of open repair. Therefore, this approach is recommended as the preferred method of treatment due to the presence of fewer complications, provided that the indications for this technique are appropriate.