bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Spherically symmetric anisotropic strange stars
Authors: Lopes Luiz L. , Das H. C. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn this work, we made an extensive study about the possible presence of anisotropies in strange stars. To accomplish this task, we use three different configurations for the strange matter: the unpaired matter, a two-flavor super-conducting (2SC) strange matter, and a fully three-flavor super-conducting strange matter (CFL). For each configuration, we calculate the relevant quantities for the strange stars, such as the mass-radius relation, the dimensionless tidal parameter, the moment of inertia, and the surface curvature for different degrees of anisotropies. Whenever possible, we compare our results with constraints found in the literature, especially focusing on the existence of very massive pulsars (PSR J0952-0607), as well as very light compact objects (HESS J1731-347).
CALGB 80802 (Alliance): Impact of Sorafenib with and without Doxorubicin on Hepatitis C Infection in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Abou-Alfa Ghassan K. , Geyer Susan M. , Nixon Andrew B. , Innocenti Federico , Shi Qian , Kumthekar Priya , Jacobson Sawyer , El Dika Imane , Yaqubie Amin , Lopez Juan , Huang Binhui , Tang Yi-Wei , Wen Yujia , Schwartz Lawrence H. , El-Khoueiry Anthony B. , Knox Jennifer J. , Rajdev Lakshmi , Bertagnolli Monica M. , Meyerhardt Jeffrey A. , O'Reilly Eileen M. , Venook Alan P. 
Published: February 2024

Abstract

Sorafenib blocks nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A)-recruited c-Raf–mediated hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication and gene expression. Release of Raf-1-Ask-1 dimer and inhibition of Raf-1 via sorafenib putatively differ in the presence or absence of doxorubicin. Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 80802 (Alliance) randomized phase III trial of doxorubicin plus sorafenib versus sorafenib in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), showed no improvement in median overall survival (OS). Whether HCV viral load impacts therapy and whether any correlation between HCV titers and outcome based on HCV was studied. In patients with HCV, HCV titer levels were evaluated at baseline and at multiple postbaseline timepoints until disease progression or treatment discontinuation. HCV titer levels were evaluated in relation to OS and progression-free survival (PFS). Among 53 patients with baseline HCV data, 12 patients had undetectable HCV (HCV-UN). Postbaseline HCV titer levels did not significantly differ between treatment arms. One patient in each arm went from detectable to HCV-UN with greater than 2 log-fold titer levels reduction. Aside from these 2 HCV-UN patients, HCV titers remained stable on treatment. Patients who had HCV-UN at baseline were 3.5 times more likely to progress and/or die from HCC compared with HCV detectable (HR = 3.51; 95% confidence interval: 1.58–7.78; P = 0.002). HCV titer levels remained unchanged, negating any sorafenib impact onto HCV titer levels. Although an overall negative phase III study, patients treated with doxorubicin plus sorafenib and sorafenib only, on CALGB 80802 had worse PFS if HCV-UN. Higher levels of HCV titers at baseline were associated with significantly improved PFS.

Significance:
Sorafenib therapy for HCC may impact HCV replication and viral gene expression. In HCV-positive patients accrued to CLAGB 80802 phase III study evaluating the addition of doxorubicin to sorafenib, HCV titer levels were evaluated at baseline and different timepoints. Sorafenib did not impact HCV titer levels. Despite an improved PFS in patients with detectable higher level HCV titers at baseline, no difference in OS was noted.
Cost‐Effectiveness Analysis of Empagliflozin for Treatment of Patients With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction in the United States
Authors: Reifsnider Odette S. , Tafazzoli Ali , Linden Stephan , Ishak Jack , Rakonczai Pal , Stargardter Matthew , Kuti Effie 
Published: February 2024

Background
In the EMPEROR‐Reduced trial (Empagliflozin Outcome Trial in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure and a Reduced Ejection Fraction), empagliflozin plus standard of care reduced the composite of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure versus standard of care in adults with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. This analysis investigated the cost‐effectiveness of the 2 regimens from the perspective of US payors.

Methods and Results
A Markov cohort model was developed based on Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Clinical Summary Score quartiles and death. Transition probabilities between health states, risk of cardiovascular/all‐cause death, hospitalization for heart failure and adverse events, treatment discontinuation, and health utilities were estimated from trial data. Medicare and commercial payment rates were combined for treatment acquisition, acute event management, and disease management. An annual discount rate of 3% was used. Empagliflozin plus standard of care yielded 18% fewer hospitalizations for heart failure and 6% fewer deaths versus standard of care over a lifetime, providing cost‐offsets while adding 0.19 life years and 0.19 quality‐adjusted life years at an incremental cost of $16 815/patient. The incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio was $87 725/quality‐adjusted life years gained. Results were consistent across payors, subpopulations, and in deterministic sensitivity analyses. In probabilistic sensitivity analyses, empagliflozin plus standard of care was cost‐effective in 3%, 62%, and 80% of iterations at thresholds of $50 000, $100 000, and $150 000/quality‐adjusted life years.

Conclusions
Empagliflozin plus standard of care may prevent hospitalizations for heart failure, extend life, and increase quality‐adjusted life years for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction at an acceptable cost for US payors.
Impact of Updating the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Guidelines on Out‐of‐Hospital Shockable Cardiac Arrest: A Population‐Based Cohort Study in Japan
Authors: Yagi Tsukasa , Nagao Ken , Yonemoto Naohiro , Gaieski David F. , Tachibana Eizo , Ito Noritoshi , Shirai Shinichi , Tahara Yoshio , Nonogi Hiroshi , Ikeda Takanori ,   for the Japanese Circulation Society with Resuscitation Science Study (JCS‐ReSS) Group
Published: February 2024

Background
International consensus on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and emergency cardiovascular care science and treatment recommendations (CoSTR) have reported updates on CPR maneuvers every 5 years since 2000. However, few national population‐based studies have investigated the comprehensive effectiveness of those updates for out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest due to shockable rhythms. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether CPR based on CoSTR 2005 or 2010 was associated with improved outcomes in Japan, as compared with CPR based on Guidelines 2000.

Methods and Results
From the All‐Japan Utstein Registry between 2005 and 2015, we included 73 578 adults who had shockable out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest witnessed by bystanders or emergency medical service responders. The study outcomes over an 11‐year period were compared between 2005 of the Guidelines 2000 era, from 2006 to 2010 of the CoSTR 2005 era, and from 2011 to 2015 of the CoSTR 2010 era. In the bystander‐witnessed group, the adjusted odds ratios for favorable neurological outcomes at 30 days after out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest by enrollment year increased year by year (1.19 in 2006, and 3.01 in 2015). Similar results were seen in the emergency medical service responder‐witnessed group and several subgroups.

Conclusions
Compared with CPR maneuvers for shockable out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest recommended in the Guidelines 2000, CPR maneuver updates in CoSTR 2005 and 2010 were associated with improved neurologically intact survival year by year in Japan. Increased public awareness and greater dissemination of basic life support may be responsible for the observed improvement in outcomes.

Registration

URL:
https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/
; Unique identifier: 000009918.
Potential Mediators for Treatment Effects of Novel Diabetes Medications on Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes: A Meta‐Regression Analysis
Authors: Rodriguez‐Valadez José M. , Tahsin Malak , Masharani Umesh , Park Meyeon , Hunink M. G. Myriam , Yeboah Joseph , Li Lihua , Weber Ellerie , Berkalieva Asem , Avezaat Luuk , Max Wendy , Fleischmann Kirsten E. , Ferket Bart S. 
Published: February 2024

Background
Prior research suggests clinical effects of glucagon‐like peptide‐1 receptor agonists (GLP‐1RAs) and sodium‐glucose cotransporter‐2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are mediated by changes in glycated hemoglobin, body weight, systolic blood pressure, hematocrit, and urine albumin‐creatinine ratio. We aimed to confirm these findings using a meta‐analytic approach.

Methods and Results

We updated a systematic review of 9 GLP‐1RA and 13 SGLT2i trials and summarized longitudinal mediator data. We obtained hazard ratios (HRs) for cardiovascular, renal, and mortality outcomes. We performed linear mixed‐effects modeling of LogHRs versus changes in potential mediators and investigated differences in meta‐regression associations among drug classes using interaction terms. HRs generally became more protective with greater glycated hemoglobin reduction among GLP‐1RA trials, with average HR improvements of 20% to 30%, reaching statistical significance for major adverse cardiovascular events (ΔHR, 23%;
P
=0.02). Among SGLT2i trials, associations with HRs were not significant and differed from GLP1‐RA trials for major adverse cardiovascular events (
P
interaction
=0.04). HRs for major adverse cardiovascular events, myocardial infarction, and stroke became less efficacious (ΔHR, −15% to −34%), with more weight loss for SGLT2i but not for GLP‐1RA trials (ΔHR, 4%−7%;
P
interaction
<0.05). Among 5 SGLT2i trials with available data, HRs for stroke became less efficacious with larger increases in hematocrit (ΔHR, 123%;
P
=0.09). No changes in HRs by systolic blood pressure (ΔHR, −11% to 9%) and urine albumin‐creatinine ratio (ΔHR, −1% to 4%) were found for any outcome.

Conclusions
We confirmed increased efficacy findings for major adverse cardiovascular events with reduction in glycated hemoglobin for GLP1‐RAs. Further research is needed on the potential loss of cardiovascular benefits with increased weight loss and hematocrit for SGLT2i.
Impact of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement on Cardiac Reverse Remodeling and Prognosis in Mixed Aortic Valve Disease
Authors: Saijo Yoshihito , Kusunose Kenya , Takahashi Tomonori , Yamada Hirotsugu , Sata Masataka , Sato Kimi , Albakaa Noor , Ishizu Tomoko , Seo Yoshihiro , Izumo Masaki , Izumi Chisato , Inami Shu , Takeda Yasuharu , Izumi Yuki , Kumagai Akiko , Takahashi Naohiko , Kitai Takeshi , Iwano Hiroyuki , Sugawara Shigeo , Akasaka Kazumi , Harada Kenji , Masaoka Yoshiko , Tanabe Kazuaki , Sakamoto Takahiro , Takamura Takeshi 
Published: February 2024

Background
The management of mixed aortic valve disease (MAVD), defined as the concomitant presence of aortic stenosis (AS) and aortic regurgitation, remains a clinical challenging. The present study assessed the impact of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) on cardiac geometry and prognosis in patients with MAVD.

Methods and Results

A retrospective multicenter TAVR registry was conducted, including patients who underwent TAVR for severe symptomatic AS between January 2015 and March 2019. Patients were subdivided into 2 groups according to concomitant presence of moderate or more severe aortic regurgitation as the MAVD group, and with mild or less severe aortic regurgitation as the isolated AS group. The primary outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death and rehospitalization due to cardiovascular causes. A total of 1742 patients (isolated AS, 1522 patients; MAVD, 220 patients) were included (84.0±5.2 years). Although MAVD exhibited significantly larger left ventricular volumes and higher left ventricular mass index at the TAVR procedure than isolated AS (respectively,
P
<0.001), MAVD showed a greater improvement of left ventricular volumes and left ventricular mass index after TAVR (respectively,
P
≤0.001). During a median follow‐up of 747 days, 301 patients achieved the primary event. The prognosis post‐TAVR was comparable between the 2 groups (log‐rank
P
=0.65). Even after adjustment using propensity score matching to reduce the potential bias between the 2 groups, similar results were obtained for the entire cohort.

Conclusions
Despite more advanced cardiac remodeling in MAVD at the time of TAVR compared with isolated AS, a greater improvement of cardiac reverse remodeling was found in MAVD, and the prognosis following TAVR was comparable between the 2 groups.
Advantages of Persistent Cohomology in Estimating Animal Location From Grid Cell Population Activity
Authors: Kawahara Daisuke , Fujisawa Shigeyoshi 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Many cognitive functions are represented as cell assemblies. In the case of spatial navigation, the population activity of place cells in the hippocampus and grid cells in the entorhinal cortex represents self-location in the environment. The brain cannot directly observe self-location information in the environment. Instead, it relies on sensory information and memory to estimate self-location. Therefore, estimating low-dimensional dynamics, such as the movement trajectory of an animal exploring its environment, from only the high-dimensional neural activity is important in deciphering the information represented in the brain. Most previous studies have estimated the low-dimensional dynamics (i.e., latent variables) behind neural activity by unsupervised learning with Bayesian population decoding using artificial neural networks or gaussian processes. Recently, persistent cohomology has been used to estimate latent variables from the phase information (i.e., circular coordinates) of manifolds created by neural activity. However, the advantages of persistent cohomology over Bayesian population decoding are not well understood. We compared persistent cohomology and Bayesian population decoding in estimating the animal location from simulated and actual grid cell population activity. We found that persistent cohomology can estimate the animal location with fewer neurons than Bayesian population decoding and robustly estimate the animal location from actual noisy data.
Active Learning for Discrete Latent Variable Models
Authors: Jha Aditi , Ashwood Zoe C. , Pillow Jonathan W. 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Active learning seeks to reduce the amount of data required to fit the parameters of a model, thus forming an important class of techniques in modern machine learning. However, past work on active learning has largely overlooked latent variable models, which play a vital role in neuroscience, psychology, and a variety of other engineering and scientific disciplines. Here we address this gap by proposing a novel framework for maximum-mutual-information input selection for discrete latent variable regression models. We first apply our method to a class of models known as mixtures of linear regressions (MLR). While it is well known that active learning confers no advantage for linear-gaussian regression models, we use Fisher information to show analytically that active learning can nevertheless achieve large gains for mixtures of such models, and we validate this improvement using both simulations and real-world data. We then consider a powerful class of temporally structured latent variable models given by a hidden Markov model (HMM) with generalized linear model (GLM) observations, which has recently been used to identify discrete states from animal decision-making data. We show that our method substantially reduces the amount of data needed to fit GLM-HMMs and outperforms a variety of approximate methods based on variational and amortized inference. Infomax learning for latent variable models thus offers a powerful approach for characterizing temporally structured latent states, with a wide variety of applications in neuroscience and beyond.
Red Teaming Language Model Detectors with Language Models
Authors: Shi Zhouxing , Wang Yihan , Yin Fan , Chen Xiangning , Chang Kai-Wei , Hsieh Cho-Jui 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
The prevalence and strong capability of large language models (LLMs) present significant safety and ethical risks if exploited by malicious users. To prevent the potentially deceptive usage of LLMs, recent work has proposed algorithms to detect LLM-generated text and protect LLMs. In this paper, we investigate the robustness and reliability of these LLM detectors under adversarial attacks. We study two types of attack strategies: 1) replacing certain words in an LLM’s output with their synonyms given the context; 2) automatically searching for an instructional prompt to alter the writing style of the generation. In both strategies, we leverage an auxiliary LLM to generate the word replacements or the instructional prompt. Different from previous works, we consider a challenging setting where the auxiliary LLM can also be protected by a detector. Experiments reveal that our attacks effectively compromise the performance of all detectors in the study with plausible generations, underscoring the urgent need to improve the robustness of LLM-generated text detection systems. Code is available at https://github.com/shizhouxing/LLM-Detector-Robustness.
Building a reputation for trustworthiness: Experimental evidence on the role of the feedback rate
Authors: Jiao Ruohuang , Przepiorka Wojtek , Buskens Vincent 
Published: February 2024

In 25 years, research on reputation-based online markets has produced robust evidence on the existence of the so-called reputation effect, that is the positive relation between online traders’ reputations and these traders’ market success in terms of sales and prices. However, there is an ongoing debate on what the size of the reputation effect means. We argue that the rate of truthful feedback that traders leave after completed transactions is negatively related to the size of the reputation effect. The higher the rate of truthful feedback, the quicker will untrustworthy traders be screened and disincentivized to enter the market. With mostly trustworthy traders entering the market, buyers will demand smaller price discounts from market entrants without a good reputation. We test this mechanism empirically in two laboratory experiments. In both experiments, we systematically vary the probability with which information about sellers’ behavior in an economic trust game is recorded and shown to future interaction partners of these sellers. In the second experiment, we introduce competition among sellers by allowing buyers to choose one of two sellers in each interaction. We find that sellers give discounts to buyers to build or repair their reputation and that sellers who give discounts or have a good reputation are trusted more. However, we do not find support for our hypothesis that a higher feedback rate significantly decreases sellers’ propensity to give discounts. We argue and show in exploratory analyses that this is likely due to the high level of unconditional trust buyers exhibit towards sellers without a reputation. Yet, seller competition increases the propensity to offer discounts among sellers without a reputation the most.
Preoperative Amiodarone and Primary Graft Dysfunction in Heart Transplantation
Authors: Servais Abigail , Lundgren Scott , Bowman Stephanie , Stoller Douglas , Burdorf Adam , Hyden Marshall , Lowes Brian , Zolty Ronald , Klepser Don , Brink Heidi 
Published: February 2024

Background: Preoperative amiodarone effects on postorthotopic heart transplant (OHT) outcomes remain controversial. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cumulative pre-OHT amiodarone exposure on severe primary graft dysfunction (PGD). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed adult OHT recipients between August 2012 and June 2018. Primary outcome was severe PGD in patients receiving amiodarone at 3, 6, and 12 months prior to OHT compared with those not receiving amiodarone. Secondary outcomes included intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, early graft failure (EGF), mortality at 3, 6, and 12 months post-OHT, and 30-day incidence of postoperative tachyarrhythmias, bradycardia, permanent pacemaker implantation, and rejection. Results: Incidence of severe PGD was 12.5% in those who received amiodarone compared to 6.8% in those who did not (14 vs 6, P = 0.18). Cumulative preoperative amiodarone significantly increased the odds of severe PGD at 3 months (odds ratio [OR]: 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.001-1.06; P = 0.044) and 6 months (OR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.003-1.044; P = 0.024) in a multivariate logistic regression. Patients on amiodarone had significantly higher rates of postoperative bradycardia (13.4% vs 4.5%, P = 0.03). Conclusion and Relevance: A trend toward increased PGD was present in patients receiving preoperative amiodarone. This finding combined with the regression showing significantly increased odds of PGD with increasing 3 and 6 month cumulative amiodarone dose is clinically concerning. Escalation of care with pacemaker implantation was required more frequently in patients on pre-OHT amiodarone.
Investigating the impact of probiotic on neurological outcomes in Rett syndrome: A randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled pilot study
Authors: Wong Lee Chin , Hsu Chia-Jui , Wu Yen-Tzu , Chu Hsu-Feng , Lin Jui-Hsiang , Wang Hsin-Pei , Hu Su-Ching , Tsai Ying-Chieh , Tsai Wen-Che , Lee Wang-Tso 
Published: February 2024

This pilot study investigates the feasibility and assesses the impact of Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 probiotics on the neurological function in Rett syndrome. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial on Rett syndrome with MECP2 mutation aged between 1 and 50 years in Taiwan. In this pilot study, twice-daily L. plantarum PS128 or placebo was administered for 16 weeks. In addition to feasibility, we also assessed the changes utilizing the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. In total, 36 participants were finally randomized into L. plantarum PS128 (n = 18) or placebo (n = 18) groups. At the end of intervention, the retention rates were 100% for L. plantarum PS128 and 94.44% for placebo, with withdrawal rates of 5.56% for the placebo group. Both groups tolerated well, except for one L. plantarum PS128 participant who reported loose stool. The probiotic group showed a change of 2.19 ± 3.76, while the placebo group had −0.85 ± 5.09 (p = 0.051) in the total age-equivalent scores of Mullen Scales of Early Learning. There was a significant difference in the change of the total score on the Burke–Fahn–Marsden Movement Scale between probiotc group and placebo group (−12.19 ± 12.12 vs −4.59 ± 4.20, p = 0.020). In leg dystonia, the probiotic group exhibited a change of −4.11 ± 5.11 compared with −0.38 ± 1.50 in the placebo group (p = 0.008). Our findings affirm the feasibility of L. plantarum PS128 in Rett syndrome. Future clinical trials are mandatory to further explore its long-term impact on Rett syndrome. Lay abstract Rett syndrome often involves gastrointestinal symptoms and gut microbiota imbalances. We conducted a study to explore the feasibility of probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 and the impact on neurological functions in Rett syndrome. The results of our investigation demonstrated that the supplementation of probiotic L. plantarum PS128 was feasible and well tolerated, with 100% retention rate and 0% withdrawal rate. In addition, there was only one participant who had loose stool after taking L. plantarum PS128. Further, there was a tendency to enhance overall cognitive developmental level, as assessed using Mullen Scales of Early Learning. In addition, it significantly improved dystonia, as assessed using the Burke–Fahn–Marsden Movement Scale, in comparison with the placebo group. This study provides a strong foundation for future research and clinical trials exploring the potential of L. plantarum PS128 probiotics as a complementary therapy for individuals with Rett syndrome.