bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A metabolomic perspective on the mechanisms by which environmental pollutants and lifestyle lead to male infertility
Authors: Yang Wen , Hua Rong , Cao Yunxia , He Xiaojin 
Published: October 2023

AbstractThe incidence of male infertility (MI) is rising annually. According to epidemiological studies, environmental pollution (e.g., organic, inorganic, and air pollutants), occupational exposure (e.g., high temperature, organic solvents, and pesticides), and poor lifestyle (e.g., diet, sleep, smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise) are important non‐genetic causative factors of MI. Due to multiple and complex causative factors, the dose–effect relationship, and the uncertainty of pathogenicity, the pathogenesis of MI is far from fully clarified. Recent data show that the pathogenesis of MI can be monitored by the metabolites in serum, seminal plasma, urine, testicular tissue, sperm, and other biological samples. It is considered that these metabolites are closely related to MI phenotypes and can directly reflect the individual pathological and physiological conditions. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative analysis of the metabolome, the related metabolic pathways, and the identification of biomarkers will help to explore the MI‐related metabolic problems and provide valuable insights into its pathogenic mechanisms. Here, we summarized new findings in MI metabolomics biomarkers research and their abnormal metabolic pathways triggered by the presented non‐genetic risk factors, providing a metabolic landscape of semen and seminal plasma in general MI patients. Then, we compared the similarities and differences in semen and seminal plasma biomarkers between MI patients exposed to environmental and poor lifestyle factors and MI patients in general, and summarized some common biomarkers. We provide a better understanding of the biological underpinnings of MI pathogenesis, which might offer novel diagnostic, prognostic, and precise treatment approaches to MI.
Measurement errors in semi‐parametric generalised regression models
Authors: Hattab Mohammad W. , Ruppert David 
Published: October 2023

SummaryRegression models that ignore measurement error in predictors may produce highly biased estimates leading to erroneous inferences. It is well known that it is extremely difficult to take measurement error into account in Gaussian non‐parametric regression. This problem becomes even more difficult when considering other families such as binary, Poisson and negative binomial regression. We present a novel method aiming to correct for measurement error when estimating regression functions. Our approach is sufficiently flexible to cover virtually all distributions and link functions regularly considered in generalised linear models. This approach depends on approximating the first and the second moment of the response after integrating out the true unobserved predictors in any semi‐parametric generalised regression model. By the latter is meant a model with both linear and non‐parametric effects that are connected to the mean response by a link function and with a response distribution in an exponential family or quasi‐likelihood model. Unlike previous methods, the method we now propose is not restricted to truncated splines and can utilise various basis functions. Moreover, it can operate without making any distributional assumption about the unobserved predictor. Through extensive simulation studies, we study the performance of our method under many scenarios.
Probability of second live birth after first natural and medically assisted reproduction‐mediated live birth: A historical cohort study
Authors: Esposito Giovanna , Parazzini Fabio , Viganò Paola , Franchi Matteo , Cipriani Sonia , Fedele Francesco , Corrao Giovanni , Somigliana Edgardo 
Published: October 2023

AbstractIntroductionEvidence on the role of medically assisted reproduction (MAR) in achieving the desired number of children is very limited. The aim of the current investigation was to assess the probability and the mode of conception of a second live birth according to the mode of conception of the first one.Material and methodsThis historical cohort study was based on administrative data from regional healthcare databases. Women hospitalized for childbirth in Lombardy between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017 were identified. The probability of a second live birth up to 2021 was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method. We calculated this probability according to the mode of conception of the first birth, and the analysis was also performed in strata of maternal age at first birth. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the association between mode of conception at first live birth and the probability of having a second live birth. Mothers were right‐censored if they moved out of the region, died, or did not have a second live birth by the end of follow‐up.ResultsWe identified 431 333 women who had their first live birth after a natural conception and 16 837 who had their first live birth after MAR. The probability of having a second live birth was 58.6% and 32.1%, respectively in the two groups (HR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.66–0.70). Considering solely women who naturally conceived their first live birth, the probability to have a second child with MAR was 1.1% and to have a second child naturally 59.3%. The corresponding values were 11.5% and 25.2% in the group of women with a first MAR‐mediated live birth.ConclusionsIn our cohort, one woman out of 10 having a first MAR‐mediated live birth underwent MAR programs again. Considering women who had a first natural live birth, this proportion was drastically reduced. In the field of MAR, more attention should be given to the capacity of a couple to achieve the number of desired children.
Systematic review: Scores used to predict outcomes in acute severe ulcerative colitis
Authors: Kayal Maia , Meringer Hadar , Martin Lily , Colombel Jean Frederic 
Published: October 2023

SummaryBackgroundApproximately 25% of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) experience an episode of acute severe ulcerative colitis (ASUC) during their disease course. Management and risk stratification of these patients is a great unmet medical need.AimTo review the literature systematically all currently available scores used to predict outcomes in patients with ASUC.MethodsWe executed a comprehensive search comprising both index terms and keywords in MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane CENTRAL databases. We included observational cohort studies that reported on scoring indices to predict outcomes in patients admitted with ASUC defined by the Truelove and Witts criteria. We excluded studies that reported on risk factors of outcomes in patients with ASUC in isolation, not in the context of a score.ResultsThe literature search identified 8729 studies, of which 18 were chosen to report 19 scores. Most scores included clinical and/or laboratory components. Two included imaging assessed by abdominal plain films; five included endoscopy assessed by the Ulcerative Colitis Endoscopic Index of Severity (UCEIS) or the Mayo Score. Outcomes included intravenous corticosteroid response and short‐ and long‐term colectomy. The reported positive predictive value of the scores ranged from 70 to 100% for their respective outcome.DiscussionMultiple scores exist for the prediction of outcomes in patients with ASUC, although each has limitations. A new score that reflects the current standard of care is needed to inform risk stratification in patients with ASUC.
Sites of infrastructure, apprenticeship and possibilities for self: Locating Indonesia's missing women in representative politics
Authors: Siahaan Asima Yanty , Jakimow Tanya , Yumasdaleni  , Harahap Aida Fitria 
Published: October 2023

AbstractWomen are under‐represented in Indonesian legislatures, and those women who are elected are disproportionately from ‘elite’ backgrounds. This research sought to understand the conditions for women to succeed in politics in conditions of patriarchy and clientelist politics. Research in North Sumatera, Indonesia, revealed that many women did not make the conscious decision not to enter politics, but rather found that they had not established the required preconditions earlier enough in life. Patriarchal social norms and a transactional political culture frustrate women's ability to acquire these conditions, yet they are also subject to change. Interviews with women elected representatives and women who had never contested an election revealed three sites that are critical to women either acquiring the preconditions to contest elections, or frustrating that pathway: the household, the ‘community’ and religious/ethnic associations. We demonstrate how women's actions in these sites transform the conditions to make them more conducive to women's political participation.
Geography's lens, landscape architecture, and the green recovery
Authors: Smith Carl A. 
Published: October 2023

AbstractIn this article, I expound upon the recent claim that Geography is well placed to contribute to the global ‘green recovery’ by suggesting that landscape architects have the potential to be highly effective collaborators in this endeavour. Contemporary Geography represents a diverse array of sub‐fields coalescing around scale, space and place. Altogether, Geography provides a disciplinary lens that is multi‐scalar and can focus on any number of critical environmental and cultural concerns that resonate with green recovery discourse. At various times, landscape architecture has shared Geography's multi‐scalar and multifaceted lens, and through this complementary outlook, the disciplines have collaborated within mutual spaces such as ‘geodesign’, and through a to‐and‐fro of methods of practice and disciplinary reflection. However, ongoing discourse within landscape architecture describes self‐doubt around the consistency of its agency and capacity to engage with the critical challenges of the climate crisis and social inequity. Elsewhere, this has been attributed to landscape architecture's loss of professional territory to other practices of spatial design, and a reverse into scenography. Here I articulate the concern that much landscape architectural practice appears to intermittently misplace the scale and scope that is akin to Geography's lens and that, although this has stymied the discipline, there are recent indications that landscape architecture is hungry for relevance and ready to re‐engage with the necessary space, place, and scale. This article, then, looks to provide are a reminder of the potential to be found in landscape architecture and whet the appetite for green recovery collaboration.
Milk as a diagnostic fluid to monitor viral diseases in dairy cattle
Authors: Brito B , Hick P 
Published: October 2023

BackgroundInfectious viral diseases in dairy cattle have substantial implications for milk production, quality and overall animal health. Diagnostic tools providing reliable results are crucial for effective disease control at the farm and industry level. Pooled or bulk tank milk (BTM) can be used as a cost‐effective aggregate sample to assess herd disease status in dairy farms.FindingsDetection of pathogens or specific antibodies in milk can be used for monitoring endemic diseases within‐farm, region or country‐level disease surveillance and to make informed decisions on farm management. The suitability of assays applied to pooled milk samples relies on validation data of fit‐for‐purpose tests to design an optimal testing strategy. Diverse approaches and variable scope of studies determining test accuracy need to be critically appraised before sourcing the parameters to design sampling strategies and interpreting surveys. Determining if BTM or pooled milk is the best approach for a disease management programme should carefully consider several aspects that will impact the accuracy and interpretation, for example, the size of the lactating herd, the risk of infection in the lactating and non‐lactating groups, the expected within‐herd prevalence, the duration of infection, the duration and concentration of antibodies in milk and use of vaccination.ConclusionsThere are examples of tests on BTM samples providing efficient assessments of the herd disease status and supporting disease control programmes for viral diseases. However, challenges arise in pooled milk testing due to the need for accurate estimates of the imperfect sensitivity and specificity of the assays. Integration of new biotechnologies could enhance multiplexing and data interpretation for comprehensive surveillance. The development of highly sensitive assays is necessary to meet the demands of larger dairy herds and improve disease detection and assessment.
Attitudes towards deprescribing in geriatric psychiatry: A survey among older psychiatric outpatients
Authors: Lundby Carina , Nielsen Marianne , Simonsen Trine , Galsgaard Stine , Haastrup Maija Bruun , Ravn‐Nielsen Lene Vestergaard , Pottegård Anton 
Published: October 2023

AbstractUnderstanding the patient perspective is a significant part of the deprescribing process. This study aimed to explore the attitudes of older patients with psychiatric disorders towards deprescribing. A total of 72 of psychiatric outpatients (68% women; median age 76 years) completed the validated Danish version of the revised Patients' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (rPATD) questionnaire. Patients used a median of eight medications (interquartile range 6–12), with 88%, 49% and 24% using antidepressants, antipsychotics and anxiolytics, respectively. Fifty‐one percent of patients reported an intrinsic desire to stop one of their medications, while 92% would be willing to stop one on their physician's advice. Seventy‐five percent of patients would be worried about missing out on future benefits following deprescribing and 37% had previous bad deprescribing experiences. Use of ≥8 regular medications was associated with more concerns about stopping medication and greater perceived burden of using medication, while use of antipsychotics was not associated with any differences in rPATD factor scores. It is crucial for health care professionals to be aware of patients' specific concerns and past experiences to promote a patient‐centred deprescribing approach that takes into account the needs and preferences of older patients with psychiatric disorders.
Effects of metalinguistic corrective feedback on novice EFL students' digital game‐based grammar learning performances, perceptions and behavioural patterns
Authors: Liu Lo‐An , Hwang Gwo‐Jen 
Published: October 2023

AbstractLearning with digital games has gained considerable popularity. While digital game‐based learning has the potential to improve learners' language learning achievement, engagement and motivation, there still exists a gap when it comes to providing effective feedback to learners within these games. Conventional digital games generally provide learners with immediate error correction, which could be of less help to learners when learning complex language content, such as grammar. In this study, a metalinguistic corrective feedback‐based digital gaming approach is proposed. Moreover, an experiment was conducted to explore how digital games, combined with metalinguistic corrective feedback, affect novice English learners' grammar learning achievement, as well as their perceptions of learning motivation, self‐efficacy and flow experience during learning. Lag sequential analysis was also applied to identify differences in the behavioural patterns of the two groups. A total of 76 university students participated in this study. The experimental group learned the target grammar via digital games combined with metalinguistic corrective feedback, whereas the control group learned with digital games combined with regular feedback, which is immediate error correction. The results suggest that metalinguistic corrective feedback has a positive impact on students' grammar learning, and benefits students who have lower initial intrinsic motivation and self‐efficacy. Different feedback types also lead to diverse learning behaviours.
Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic

Feedback has substantial potential within the domain of digital game‐based learning.
Proper instructional theories and strategies should be considered when designing digital games to guide language learners to engage in meaningful learning.
What this paper adds

Feedback that directs learners to rectify errors by emphasizing grammatical rules and language structures is referred to as metalinguistic corrective feedback. This study proposed a metalinguistic corrective feedback‐based digital gaming approach to explore the efficacy of such feedback in digital games.
In addition to learning outcomes, learners' learning behaviour patterns were also recorded and analysed in this study.
Implications for practice and/or policy

It is potentially worth integrating metalinguistic corrective feedback into digital games to facilitate language learners' learning performances and perceptions.
Metalinguistic corrective feedback has the potential to support learners with lower self‐efficacy and motivation to learn complicated language content.
Future research can integrate different feedback models into digital games and investigate their effectiveness.
Upgrading financial education by adding Python‐based personalized financial projection: A randomized control trial
Authors: Zhu Alex Yue Feng 
Published: October 2023

AbstractResearch has shown that even though standardized financial education has gained prevalence to promote financial literacy over the past decade, it has had little effect on personal financial planning. The present study used a randomized control trial to examine the effectiveness of a Python‐based personalized financial projection on young working adults in Hong Kong, to examine if and how this approach improves their financial planning. Participants assigned to the experiment group received standardized financial education and Python‐based financial projections, while those in the control group only received standardized financial education. The assessment based on the two‐wave data showed that Python‐based financial projection promoted future time perspectives, reduced temporal discounting, and improved financial planning via the full mediation of promoting financial attitudes. Although numerous applications for personal financial planning exist (such as Wallet, Walnut, Monefy, and Money View), our Python‐based financial projection stands out as the pioneering solution tailored for the hands‐on manipulation of programming code to effectively manage personal finances. Our findings suggest a new track to upgrade personalized financial projection and standardized financial education and contribute generously to the development of personal finance education.
Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic

Standardized financial education promotes objective financial knowledge.
Standardized financial education has a limited effect on personal financial planning.
Classical personalized financial projection promotes personal financial planning, but the effect is small.
What this paper adds

Introduction of a novel Python‐based personalized financial projection by manipulating projection code.
The evidence that Python‐based personalized financial projection more strongly improves personal financial planning, compared to the classical personalized financial projection.
The evidence why Python‐based personalized financial projection can improve personal financial planning.
Implications for practice and/or policy

Facilitating engagement of young working adults with personalized finance planning through the use of a Python‐based intervention.
Integrating Python‐based personalized financial projection into standardized financial education in the school setting.
Using Python as the platform to design more topic‐specific financial education module.
Systemic immunosuppression depletes peripheral blood regulatory B cells in patients with immune thrombocytopenia
Authors: Stimpson Madeleine L. , Wolf Julia , Charbit Bruno , Williams Emily L. , Lait Philippa J. P. , Schewitz‐Bowers Lauren P. , Lee Richard W. J. , Bradbury Charlotte A. 
Published: October 2023

SummaryRegulatory B (Breg) cells are potentially implicated in the pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). We analysed a prospective cohort of newly diagnosed steroid naïve ITP patients enrolled in the multicentre FLIGHT trial and found that the numbers of Bregs in their peripheral blood were similar to healthy controls. In contrast, Breg numbers were significantly reduced in ITP patients treated with systemic immunosuppression (glucocorticoids or mycophenolate mofetil). We also demonstrate that glucocorticoid treatment impairs Breg interleukin‐10 production via an indirect T‐cell‐mediated mechanism.
Beyond compliance: harmonising research and husbandry practices to improve experimental reproducibility using fish models
Authors: Paull Gregory C. , Lee Carole J. , Tyler Charles R. 
Published: October 2023

ABSTRACTReproducibility in animal research is impacted by the environment, by husbandry practices in the laboratory and by the animals' provenance. These factors, however, are often not adequately considered by researchers. A disconnect between researchers and animal care staff can result in inappropriate housing and husbandry decisions for scientific studies with those animals. This is especially the case for the research in neuro‐behaviour, epigenetics, and the impact of climate change, as heritable phenotypic, behavioural or physiological changes are known to result from the animals' environmental housing, husbandry, provenance and prior experience. This can lead to greater variation (even major differences) in data outcomes among studies, driving scientific uncertainties. Herein, we illustrate some of the endpoints measured in fish studies known to be intrinsically linked to the environment and husbandry conditions and assess the significance of housing and husbandry practice decisions for research adopting these endpoints for different fish species. We highlight the different priorities and challenges faced by researchers and animal care staff and how harmonising their activities and building greater understanding of how husbandry practices affect the fish will improve reproducibility in research outcomes. We furthermore illustrate how improving engagement between stakeholders, including regulatory bodies, can better underpin fish husbandry decisions and where researchers could help to drive best husbandry practices through their own research with fish models.