bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Tuberculosis infection control practice among healthcare workers in Ethiopia: a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Tiruneh Misganaw Guadie , Anagaw Tadele Fentabil , Fenta Eneyew Talie 
Published: November 2023

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a main concern of health care workers in sub-Saharan Africa. Healthcare workers have the potential to have contact with TB patients and are the main stakeholders in healthcare settings to implement TB infection control, and the poor practice of TB infection control may increase the risk of transmission of TB in healthcare settings. However, there is no consistent conclusion on the TB infection control practice among healthcare workers in Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to determine the pooled magnitude of TB infection control practice and associated factors among healthcare workers in Ethiopia.MethodsThis systematic review and meta-analysis will be done by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. The following databases will be used to search for articles: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and grey literatures. The quality of studies will be assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklist. The data from included studies will be extracted using Microsoft Excel V.2016, and the extracted data will be analysed using STATA V.16. Forest plot and I2statistics will be done for heterogeneity. A funnel plot and Egger’s regression test will be conducted to check for publication bias. Potential sources of bias will be identified by subgroup analysis and meta-regression. Any type of study design conducted in Ethiopia and in English language will be included.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required, and the findings will be published in peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42023393580.
Optimising HIV care using information obtained from PROMs: protocol for an observational study
Authors: Moody Kevin , Nieuwkerk Pythia T , Bedert Maarten , Nellen Jeannine F , Weijsenfeld Annouschka , Sigaloff Kim C E , Laan Laura , Bruins Claire , van Oers Hedy , Haverman Lotte , Geerlings Suzanne E , Van der Valk Marc 
Published: November 2023

IntroductionSuccessful antiviral therapy has transformed HIV infection into a chronic condition, where optimising quality of life (QoL) has become essential for successful lifelong treatment. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can signal potential physical and mental health problems related to QoL. This study aims to determine whether PROMs in routine clinical care improve quality of care as experienced by people with HIV (PWH).Methods and analysisWe report the protocol of a multicentre longitudinal cohort studying PWH at Amsterdam University Medical Centres in the Netherlands. PROMs are offered annually to patients via the patient portal of the electronic health record. Domains include anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbances, social isolation, physical functioning, stigma, post-traumatic stress disorder, adherence, drug and alcohol use and screening questions for sexual health and issues related to finances, housing and migration status. Our intervention comprises (1) patients’ completion of PROMs, (2) discussion of PROMs scores during annual consultations and (3) documentation of follow-up actions in an individualised care plan, if indicated. The primary endpoint will be patient-experienced quality of care, measured by the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care, Short Form (PACIC-S). Patients will provide measurements at baseline, year 1 and year 2. We will explore change over time in PACIC-S and PROMs scores and examine the sociodemographical and HIV-specific characteristics of subgroups of patients who participated in all or only part of the intervention to ascertain whether benefit has been achieved from our intervention in all subgroups.Ethics and disseminationPatients provide consent for the analysis of data collected as part of routine clinical care to the AIDS Therapy Evaluation in the Netherlands study (ATHENA) cohort through mechanisms described in Boenderet al. Additional ethical approval for the analysis of these data is not required under the ATHENA cohort protocol. The results will be presented at national and international academic meetings and submitted to peer-reviewed journals for publication.
Increasing the reach of evidence-based interventions for weight management and diabetes prevention among Medicaid patients: study protocol for a pilot Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomised Trial
Authors: Schlechter Chelsey R , Del Fiol Guilherme , Jones Dusti R , Orleans Brian , Gibson Bryan , Nahum-Shani Inbal , Maxfield Ellen , Locke Amy , Cornia Ryan , Bradshaw Richard , Wirth Jennifer , Jaggers Shanna J , Lam Cho Y , Wetter David W 
Published: November 2023

IntroductionOver 40% of US adults meet criteria for obesity, a major risk factor for chronic disease. Obesity disproportionately impacts populations that have been historically marginalised (eg, low socioeconomic status, rural, some racial/ethnic minority groups). Evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for weight management exist but reach less than 3% of eligible individuals. The aims of this pilot randomised controlled trial are to evaluate feasibility and acceptability of dissemination strategies designed to increase reach of EBIs for weight management.Methods and analysisThis study is a two-phase, Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial, conducted with 200 Medicaid patients. In phase 1, patients will be individually randomised to single text message (TM1) or multiple text messages (TM+). Phase 2 is based on treatment response. Patients who enrol in the EBI within 12 weeks of exposure to phase 1 (ie, responders) receive no further interventions. Patients in TM1 who do not enrol in the EBI within 12 weeks of exposure (ie, TM1 non-responders) will be randomised to either TM1-Continued (ie, no further TM) or TM1 & MAPS (ie, no further TM, up to 2 Motivation And Problem Solving (MAPS) navigation calls) over the next 12 weeks. Patients in TM+ who do not enrol in the EBI (ie, TM+ non-responders) will be randomised to either TM+Continued (ie, monthly text messages) or TM+ & MAPS (ie, monthly text messages, plus up to 2 MAPS calls) over the next 12 weeks. Descriptive statistics will be used to characterise feasibility (eg, proportion of patients eligible, contacted and enrolled in the trial) and acceptability (eg, participant opt-out, participant engagement with dissemination strategies, EBI reach (ie, the proportion of participants who enrol in EBI), adherence, effectiveness).Ethics and disseminationStudy protocol was approved by the University of Utah Institutional Review Board (#00139694). Results will be disseminated through study partners and peer-reviewed publications.Trial registration numberclinicaltrials.gov;NCT05666323.
Quasi-experimental study finding no localised gun crime or call reduction after gun buybacks in Philadelphia
Authors: Ratcliffe Jerry H , Huffer Marc 
Published: November 2023

IntroductionGun buyback programmes have been popular in the USA since the 1970s. Studies show that they have no effect on citywide gun crime rates, but more microlevel examinations around gun buyback locations have not been conducted. This study tests for local effects of 34 Philadelphia, PA buyback events at 30 locations between 2019 and 2021.MethodsWe analysed all gun-related crime events and gun-related calls for service attended by the police from 2019 to 2021. Multilevel models with an autoregressive residual structure were estimated on weekly gun crime and call event intensity (inverse distance weighted) totals across a range of distances (4000–8000 feet). Impacts of a gun buyback event were estimated for 1–4 weeks postevent.ResultsStatistically significant weekly increases in gun event intensity are associated with seasonality and after the murder of George Floyd. Gun event intensity was not significantly affected by gun buybacks. Across 20 sensitivity tests of different distances and time periods (4000–8000 feet and between 1 and 4 weeks), gun buybacks were not statistically associated with any localised reduction in the intensity of gun crimes and calls.ConclusionsExtant research has failed to uncover any effect of gun buybacks on citywide gun crime rates. The current results now contribute a lack of evidence at the local level to this literature. While gun buybacks remain popular with politicians and the public, this study adds to the ongoing question of whether buyback funds could be better spent more effectively.
QRISK3 underestimates the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with COPD
Authors: Amegadzie Joseph Emil , Gao Zhiwei , Quint Jennifer K , Russell Richard , Hurst John R , Lee Tae Yoon , Sin Don D , Chen Wenjia , Bafadhel Mona , Sadatsafavi Mohsen 
Published: November 2023

BackgroundPatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The extent to which the excess CVD risk is captured by risk factors in QRISK, a widely used CVD risk scoring tool, is not well studied.MethodsWe created an incidence cohort of diagnosed COPD patients from the United Kingdom (UK) Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD database (January 1998–July 2018). The outcome was a composite of fatal or non-fatal CVD events. Sex-specific age-standardised incidence ratios (SIR) were compared with values for the UK primary-care population. The observed 10-year CVD risk was derived using the Kaplan-Meier estimator and was compared with predicted 10-year risk from the QRISK3 tool.Results13 208 patients (mean age 64.9 years, 45% women) were included. CVD incidence was 3.53 events per 100 person-years. The SIR of CVD was 1.71 (95% CI 1.61 to 1.75) in women and 1.62 (95%CI 1.54–1.64) in men. SIR was particularly high among patients younger than 65 years (women=2.13 (95% CI 1.94 to 2.19); men=1.86 (95% CI 1.74 to 1.90)). On average, the observed 10-year risk was 52% higher than QRISK predicted score (33.5% vs 22.1%). The difference was higher in patients younger than 65 years (observed risk 82% higher than predicted).ConclusionPeople living with COPD are at a significantly heightened risk of CVD over and beyond their predicted risk. This is particularly the case for younger people whose 10-year CVD risk can be >80% higher than predicted. Risk scoring tools must be validated and revised to provide accurate CVD predictions in patients with COPD.
Virtual Environment Model Generation for CPS Goal Verification using Imitation Learning
Authors: Shin Yong-Jun , Shin Donghwan , Bae Doo-Hwan 
Published: November 2023

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) continuously interact with their physical environments through embedded software controllers that observe the environments and determine actions. Field Operational Tests (FOT) are essential to verify to what extent the CPS under analysis can achieve certain CPS goals, such as satisfying the safety and performance requirements, while interacting with the real operational environment. However, performing many FOTs to obtain statistically significant verification results is challenging due to its high cost and risk in practice. Simulation-based verification can be an alternative to address the challenge, but it still requires an accurate virtual environment model that can replace the real environment interacting with the CPS in a closed loop.
In this article, we propose ENVI (ENVironment Imitation), a novel approach to automatically generate an accurate virtual environment model, enabling efficient and accurate simulation-based CPS goal verification in practice.To do this, we first formally define the problem of the virtual environment model generation and solve it by leveraging Imitation Learning (IL), which has been actively studied in machine learning to learn complex behaviors from expert demonstrations. The key idea behind the model generation is to leverage IL for training a model that imitates the interactions between the CPS controller and its real environment as recorded in (possibly very small) FOT logs. We then statistically verify the goal achievement of the CPS by simulating it with the generated model. We empirically evaluate ENVI by applying it to the verification of two popular autonomous driving assistant systems. The results show that ENVI can reduce the cost of CPS goal verification while maintaining its accuracy by generating accurate environment models from only a few FOT logs. The use of IL in virtual environment model generation opens new research directions, further discussed at the end of the article.
In Vitro Coexposure of Silymarin with Lithium Chloride Preserves Human Sperm Quality: A Useful Approach to Reduce Oxidative Damages
Authors: Nasimi Zahra , Momeni Hamid Reza , Etemadi Tahereh , Darbandi Niloufar 
Published: November 2023

Lithium, a common component in various mood-stabilizing drugs, induces adverse effects on spermatozoa and human fertility. Oxidative stress, as a possible mechanism involved in lithium toxicity, can be reversed using antioxidants. Therefore, in this study, the effects of silymarin as a potent antioxidant were evaluated on human spermatozoa treated with lithium. Human spermatozoa were divided into five groups: (1) spermatozoa at 0 min, (2) spermatozoa at 180 min (control group), (3) spermatozoa treated with lithium chloride (500 μM) for 180 min, (4) spermatozoa were treated with silymarin (100 μM) + lithium chloride (500 μM) for 180 min, and (5) spermatozoa treated with silymarin (100 μM) for 180 min. Sperm motility and viability, the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and the activity of antioxidant enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase) were evaluated in these groups. The results showed that sperm motility and viability significantly (

p

<
0.001

) decreased in the group treated with lithium. In addition, a significant increase (

p

<
0.001

) was observed in MDA levels, while FRAP amount and the activity of antioxidant enzymes decreased significantly (

p

<
0.001

) in this group. Interestingly, these results were significantly (

p

<
0.001

) reversed in the group treated with silymarin + lithium. The finding of the present study showed that oxidative stress plays a crucial role in lithium toxicity in human spermatozoa, and the coapplication of silymarin as a potent antioxidant with lithium can protect human sperm against oxidative stress-induced damage.
Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Visual Working Memory Reveal Metacognitive Aspects of Mental Imagery
Authors: Bates Kathryn E. , Smith Marie L. , Farran Emily K. , Machizawa Maro G. 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Mental imagery (MI) is the ability to generate visual phenomena in the absence of sensory input. MI is often likened to visual working memory (VWM): the ability to maintain and manipulate visual representations. How MI is recruited during VWM is yet to be established. In a modified orientation change-discrimination task, we examined how behavioral (proportion correct) and neural (contralateral delay activity [CDA]) correlates of precision and capacity map onto subjective ratings of vividness and number of items in MI within a VWM task. During the maintenance period, 17 participants estimated the vividness of their MI or the number of items held in MI while they were instructed to focus on either precision or capacity of their representation and to retain stimuli at varying set sizes (1, 2, and 4). Vividness and number ratings varied over set sizes; however, subjective ratings and behavioral performance correlated only for vividness rating at set size 1. Although CDA responded to set size as was expected, CDA did not reflect subjective reports on high and low vividness and on nondivergent (reported the probed number of items in mind) or divergent (reported number of items diverged from probed) rating trials. Participants were more accurate in low set sizes compared with higher set sizes and in coarse (45°) orientation changes compared with fine (15°) orientation changes. We failed to find evidence for a relationship between the subjective sensory experience of precision and capacity of MI and the precision and capacity of VWM.
Sensory Drive Modifies Brain Dynamics and the Temporal Integration Window
Authors: Karvat Golan , Ofir Nir , Landau Ayelet N. 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Perception is suggested to occur in discrete temporal windows, clocked by cycles of neural oscillations. An important testable prediction of this theory is that individuals' peak frequencies of oscillations should correlate with their ability to segregate the appearance of two successive stimuli. An influential study tested this prediction and showed that individual peak frequency of spontaneously occurring alpha (8–12 Hz) correlated with the temporal segregation threshold between two successive flashes of light [Samaha, J., & Postle, B. R. The speed of alpha-band oscillations predicts the temporal resolution of visual perception. Current Biology, 25, 2985–2990, 2015]. However, these findings were recently challenged [Buergers, S., & Noppeney, U. The role of alpha oscillations in temporal binding within and across the senses. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 732–742, 2022]. To advance our understanding of the link between oscillations and temporal segregation, we devised a novel experimental approach. Rather than relying entirely on spontaneous brain dynamics, we presented a visual grating before the flash stimuli that is known to induce continuous oscillations in the gamma band (45–65 Hz). By manipulating the contrast of the grating, we found that high contrast induces a stronger gamma response and a shorter temporal segregation threshold, compared to low-contrast trials. In addition, we used a novel tool to characterize sustained oscillations and found that, for half of the participants, both the low- and high-contrast gratings were accompanied by a sustained and phase-locked alpha oscillation. These participants tended to have longer temporal segregation thresholds. Our results suggest that visual stimulus drive, reflected by oscillations in specific bands, is related to the temporal resolution of visual perception.
Multi-modal Representation of the Size of Space in the Human Brain
Authors: Lee Jaeeun , Park Soojin 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
To estimate the size of an indoor space, we must analyze the visual boundaries that limit the spatial extent and acoustic cues from reflected interior surfaces. We used fMRI to examine how the brain processes the geometric size of indoor scenes when various types of sensory cues are presented individually or together. Specifically, we asked whether the size of space is represented in a modality-specific way or in an integrative way that combines multimodal cues. In a block-design study, images or sounds that depict small- and large-sized indoor spaces were presented. Visual stimuli were real-world pictures of empty spaces that were small or large. Auditory stimuli were sounds convolved with different reverberations. By using a multivoxel pattern classifier, we asked whether the two sizes of space can be classified in visual, auditory, and visual–auditory combined conditions. We identified both sensory-specific and multimodal representations of the size of space. To further investigate the nature of the multimodal region, we specifically examined whether it contained multimodal information in a coexistent or integrated form. We found that angular gyrus and the right medial frontal gyrus had modality-integrated representation, displaying sensitivity to the match in the spatial size information conveyed through image and sound. Background functional connectivity analysis further demonstrated that the connection between sensory-specific regions and modality-integrated regions increases in the multimodal condition compared with single modality conditions. Our results suggest that spatial size perception relies on both sensory-specific and multimodal representations, as well as their interplay during multimodal perception.
Multiple Historic Trajectories Generate Multiplicity in the Concept of Validity
Authors: Han Yingying 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Although researchers agree on the importance of validity, they have not yet reached a consensus on what validity consists of. This article traces the historic trajectories of validity theory development in three research traditions: psychometrics, experiment in social settings, and animal models of psychiatric disorders, showing that the multiplicity in the concept of validity is shaped by its multiple historic trajectories and reflects the diversity of practices and concerns in different research traditions. I argue that specifying validity of what target practice and for what purpose in discussions helps to connect validity to its rich context that gives rise to its specific meaning and relevance.
Constraining the Pattern and Magnitude of Projected Extreme Precipitation Change in a Multimodel Ensemble
Authors: Kotz Maximilian , Lange Stefan , Wenz Leonie , Levermann Anders 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Projections of precipitation extremes over land are crucial for socioeconomic risk assessments, yet model discrepancies limit their application. Here we use a pattern-filtering technique to identify low-frequency changes in individual members of a multimodel ensemble to assess discrepancies across models in the projected pattern and magnitude of change. Specifically, we apply low-frequency component analysis (LFCA) to the intensity and frequency of daily precipitation extremes over land in 21 CMIP-6 models. LFCA brings modest but statistically significant improvements in the agreement between models in the spatial pattern of projected change, particularly in scenarios with weak greenhouse forcing. Moreover, we show that LFCA facilitates a robust identification of the rates at which increasing precipitation extremes scale with global temperature change within individual ensemble members. While these rates approximately match expectations from the Clausius-Clapeyron relation on average across models, individual models exhibit considerable and significant differences. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that these differences contribute to uncertainty in the magnitude of projected change at least as much as differences in the climate sensitivity. Last, we compare these scaling rates with those identified from observational products, demonstrating that virtually all climate models significantly underestimate the rates at which increases in precipitation extremes have scaled with global temperatures historically. Constraining projections with observations therefore amplifies the projected intensification of precipitation extremes as well as reducing the relative error of their distribution.