bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Replication in the presence of dengue convalescent serum impacts Zika virus neutralization sensitivity and fitness
Authors: Marano Jeffrey M. , Weger-Lucarelli James 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionFlaviviruses like dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are mosquito-borne viruses that cause febrile, hemorrhagic, and neurological diseases in humans, resulting in 400 million infections annually. Due to their co-circulation in many parts of the world, flaviviruses must replicate in the presence of pre-existing adaptive immune responses targeted at serologically closely related pathogens, which can provide protection or enhance disease. However, the impact of pre-existing cross-reactive immunity as a driver of flavivirus evolution, and subsequently the implications on the emergence of immune escape variants, is poorly understood. Therefore, we investigated how replication in the presence of convalescent dengue serum drives ZIKV evolution.MethodsWe used an in vitro directed evolution system, passaging ZIKV in the presence of serum from humans previously infected with DENV (anti-DENV) or serum from DENV-naïve patients (control serum). Following five passages in the presence of serum, we performed next-generation sequencing to identify mutations that arose during passaging. We studied two non-synonymous mutations found in the anti-DENV passaged population (E-V355I and NS1-T139A) by generating individual ZIKV mutants and assessing fitness in mammalian cells and live mosquitoes, as well as their sensitivity to antibody neutralization.Results and discussionBoth viruses had increased fitness in Vero cells with and without the addition of anti-DENV serum and in human lung epithelial and monocyte cells. In Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—using blood meals with and without anti-DENV serum—the mutant viruses had significantly reduced fitness compared to wild-type ZIKV. These results align with the trade-off hypothesis of constrained mosquito-borne virus evolution. Notably, only the NS1-T139A mutation escaped neutralization, while E-V335I demonstrated enhanced neutralization sensitivity to neutralization by anti-DENV serum, indicating that neutralization escape is not necessary for viruses passaged under cross-reactive immune pressures. Future studies are needed to assess cross-reactive immune selection in humans and relevant animal models or with different flaviviruses.
Self-paced heart rate control for treadmill exercise
Authors: Wang Hanjie , Hunt Kenneth J. 
Published: March 2023

Introduction: With conventional heart rate (HR) control systems, the exercising person is bound to walk or run at a pace determined by the feedback. This may be challenging for people with impairments that make it difficult for them to achieve a smooth, continuous pace. The aim of this work was to assess the technical feasibility of a novel self-paced heart rate control strategy and to compare its accuracy with conventional heart rate control.Methods: We propose a self-paced heart rate control system that embeds an automatic positioning controller within the heart rate control loop. The treadmill speed command is decoupled from the heart rate compensator, whereas speed is determined by the exerciser’s own volition: target speed is displayed visually to the person and, when they try to follow this target, the position controller sets the treadmill speed while keeping the person at a safe reference position on the track. A further novel contribution of this work is a new input-sensitivity-shaping, frequency-domain design strategy for feedback control of position.Results: Experimental evaluation with four participants showed that self-paced heart rate control is technically feasible: all participants were able to accurately follow the target running speed calculated by the HR compensator and presented to them visually; for all four participants, self-paced HR tracking accuracy was not substantially different from conventional HR control performance; on average, the self-paced heart rate controller gave slightly better performance than conventional HR control, with RMS tracking error of 2.98 beats per minute (bpm) vs 3.11 bpm and higher average control signal power.Conclusion: The proposed self-paced heart rate control strategy with embedded automatic position control is deemed feasible. This approach may be helpful for people with gait impairments or other limitations that make it difficult for them to follow an imposed treadmill speed.
Risk investigation of in-stent restenosis after initial implantation of intracoronary drug-eluting stent in patients with coronary heart disease
Authors: Xi Hongfei , Liu Jiasi , Xu Tao , Li Zhe , Mou Xuanting , Jin Yu , Xia Shudong 
Published: March 2023

ObjectiveTo analyze the risk factors of in-stent restenosis (ISR) after the first implantation of drug-eluting stent (DES) patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and to establish a nomogram model to predict the risk of ISR.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with CHD who underwent DES treatment for the first time at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine from January 2016 to June 2020. Patients were divided into an ISR group and a non-ISR (N-ISR) group according to the results of coronary angiography. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis was performed on the clinical variables to screen out the characteristic variables. Then we constructed the nomogram prediction model using conditional multivariate logistic regression analysis combined with the clinical variables selected in the LASSO regression analysis. Finally, the decision curve analysis, clinical impact curve, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, and calibration curve were used to evaluate the nomogram prediction model's clinical applicability, validity, discrimination, and consistency. And we double-validate the prediction model using ten-fold cross-validation and bootstrap validation.ResultsIn this study, hypertension, HbA1c, mean stent diameter, total stent length, thyroxine, and fibrinogen were all predictive factors for ISR. We successfully constructed a nomogram prediction model using these variables to quantify the risk of ISR. The AUC value of the nomogram prediction model was 0.806 (95%CI: 0.739–0.873), indicating that the model had a good discriminative ability for ISR. The high quality of the calibration curve of the model demonstrated the strong consistency of the model. Moreover, the DCA and CIC curve showed the model's high clinical applicability and effectiveness.ConclusionsHypertension, HbA1c, mean stent diameter, total stent length, thyroxine, and fibrinogen are important predictors for ISR. The nomogram prediction model can better identify the high-risk population of ISR and provide practical decision-making information for the follow-up intervention in the high-risk population.
Views and experiences of using advanced technologies in higher education of healthcare professionals: A systematic mixed-method review
Authors: Atout Maha , Nalubega Sylivia 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionWhile it is highly recommended to adopt technology in higher education of healthcare professionals, user experiences have not been widely studied. This review investigates the experience of using technology within healthcare higher education, in an attempt to gather useful insights into how use of such technologies can be improved.MethodsBoth quantitative and qualitative data was used for this mixed-method review.ResultsThe findings revealed many benefits associated with technology use, which included; improved clinical competency, improved overall quality of education and improved peer networking. However, there were numerous factors which hindered the widespread adoption of advanced technology. These factors included; the high costs involved, a lack of adequate equipment and a lack of understanding in such technology.DiscussionWhile the use of advanced technology for the training of healthcare professionals is generally embraced, it is not without problems. It is necessary for institutions to offer relevant and accessible support to both students and teachers, in order to improve the use of such technology in teaching and learning practice.
Conceptualizations and instructional strategies on critical thinking in higher education: A systematic review of systematic reviews
Authors: Andreucci-Annunziata Paola , Riedemann Andrea , Cortés Susana , Mellado Augusto , del Río María Teresa , Vega-Muñoz Alejandro 
Published: March 2023

AimThis systematic review identified systematic reviews of quantitative and qualitative empirical studies on the promotion and development of critical thinking in higher education students that allowed us to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the main definitions of critical thinking found in systematic reviews of critical thinking in higher education, and what are their similarities and differences? and (2) What are the most commonly used teaching strategies in higher education for teaching or promoting critical thinking, and how effective have they proven to be?MethodsSystematic reviews were selected according to the guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyzes (PRISMA, 2020) and the eligibility criteria proposed by the PICOS strategy (population, interventions, comparators, outcomes and study design), based on 23 records of scientifically identified registers in the Journal Citation Report databases of the Web of Science.ResultsThe bibliometric and systematic search of reviews of empirical studies on the topic allowed the selection of five systematic reviews. The results highlighted that conceptually critical thinking is related to both dispositions and skills, and that although there is no consensus on its definition, it is established that it is a higher-order cognitive process that can be trained. However, the results show that more studies have been conducted considering critical thinking as a skill than as a disposition, that the immersion approach has been widely used, and that some instructional strategies have shown greater effectiveness than others when the disciplines are evaluated independently.DiscussionDespite the relative consensus on the importance of critical thinking for professional development in higher education, this review highlights some difficulties in conceptualizing critical thinking, in the relationship between dispositions and skills, and in its assessment in academic disciplines.
Prediction model for gestational diabetes mellitus using the XG Boost machine learning algorithm
Authors: Hu Xiaoqi , Hu Xiaolin , Yu Ya , Wang Jia 
Published: March 2023

ObjectiveTo develop the extreme gradient boosting (XG Boost) machine learning (ML) model for predicting gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) compared with a model using the traditional logistic regression (LR) method.MethodsA case–control study was carried out among pregnant women, who were assigned to either the training set (these women were recruited from August 2019 to November 2019) or the testing set (these women were recruited in August 2020). We applied the XG Boost ML model approach to identify the best set of predictors out of a set of 33 variables. The performance of the prediction model was determined by using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) to assess discrimination, and the Hosmer–Lemeshow (HL) test and calibration plots to assess calibration. Decision curve analysis (DCA) was introduced to evaluate the clinical use of each of the models.ResultsA total of 735 and 190 pregnant women were included in the training and testing sets, respectively. The XG Boost ML model, which included 20 predictors, resulted in an AUC of 0.946 and yielded a predictive accuracy of 0.875, whereas the model using a traditional LR included four predictors and presented an AUC of 0.752 and yielded a predictive accuracy of 0.786. The HL test and calibration plots show that the two models have good calibration. DCA indicated that treating only those women whom the XG Boost ML model predicts are at risk of GDM confers a net benefit compared with treating all women or treating none.ConclusionsThe established model using XG Boost ML showed better predictive ability than the traditional LR model in terms of discrimination. The calibration performance of both models was good.
Surface irrigation potential assessment of Chacha River Watershed, Jemma subbasin of upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia
Authors: Getahun Yitea Seneshaw , Gebremedhn Abrha Ybeyn , Lemma Estifanos , Tesfay Fikrey , Tadesse Solomon Ayele 
Published: March 2023

Introduction: Evaluation of water availability and land suitability for surface irrigation practice is crucial for a country like Ethiopia whose livelihood is highly dependent on seasonal rainfed agriculture, which is susceptible to climate change and has a large population suffering from food insecurity.Methods: In this study, several factors, such as slope, land use land cover, rainfall, proximities to (market centers, roads, and rivers), and soil factors (i.e., pH, organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, electrical conductivity, available water storage capacity, drainage, depth, texture, and soil type) were considered. The data were entered and analyzed using the GIS tool and multicriteria analysis of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine the suitable area for surface irrigation in the Chacha Watershed. Subsequently, a CROPWAT tool was used to check the water requirement of the dominant crops grown in the study watershed, while a flow duration curve of 90-percentile exceedance frequency of monthly average streamflow was carried out to identify the minimum available water flow in the Chacha River.Results and Discussion: The findings of the suitability assessment revealed that 13336.5 ha (11.8%), 58357.4 ha (51.6%), 37588.1 ha (33.2 %), and 3887.9 ha (3.4 %) of lands found in the study watershed are highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable, and unsuitable for surface irrigation, respectively. The crop water requirement was estimated to be 7 l/s per hectare, and the minimum available water flow was estimated at 87 l/s which can potentially irrigate about 9280 ha of land with an average of 10 days of the watering interval using surface irrigation. However, the currently irrigated land in the study watershed was found to be 2159.8 ha implying that the existing surface irrigation practice is quite limited in the watershed though water availability is not a limiting factor. Hence, the government and other concerned bodies should exhaustively work to develop irrigation projects and practices to maximally utilize the available water and suitable land resources to enhance agricultural productivity. In return, it ameliorates the livelihoods of the communities and thereby helps ensure food security in the study watershed.
Performance insurance for jurisdictional REDD+: Unlocking finance and increasing ambition in large-scale carbon crediting systems
Authors: Chan Kitty Kay , Golub Alexander , Lubowski Ruben 
Published: March 2023

IntroductionJurisdictional pay-for-performance systems, with nested accounting of smaller project activities, offer potential to more rapidly scale up carbon finance for reducing deforestation as well as to ensure greater environmental integrity compared to stand-alone projects. However, the design and implementation of such programs raise numerous challenges, including for mobilizing upfront investment when there is a risk of non-performance at the jurisdictional level. This paper provides the first analysis to examine the use of insurance mechanisms to mitigate this jurisdictional delivery risk.MethodsA conceptual model based on the theory of individual choice under uncertainty is developed to examine the impact of performance uncertainty on large-scale reductions in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). We calibrate the model to perform simulations of how reductions could change with and without the availability of revenue insurance as well as of a carbon buffer to manage performance risks.ResultsPerformance uncertainty constrains the potential for large-scale mitigation supply when payments are contingent on emissions falling below a threshold level and when it is important to break even on payments to domestic actors. We show that insurance would allow jurisdictions to increase emissions reductions despite this uncertainty and that building a performance buffer offers nonlinear potential to unlock supply in a complementary manner.DiscussionPrivate insurers, together with philanthropic and public funders, have a critical role to play in establishing an insurance market that can de-risk jurisdictional program investments and unlock forest conservation and other climate and nature protection efforts at scale.
Bioinformatics gene analysis of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets of osteoarthritis associated myelodysplastic syndrome
Authors: Xin Peicheng , Li Ming , Dong Jing , Zhu Hongbo , Li Jie 
Published: March 2023

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) and Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) are diseases caused by the same immune disorder with unclear etiology and many similarities in clinical manifestations; however, the specific mechanisms between osteoarthritis and myelodysplastic syndrome are unclear.Methods: The expression profile microarrays of osteoarthritis and myelodysplastic syndrome were searched in the GEO database, the intersection of their differential genes was taken, Venn diagrams were constructed to find common pathogenic genes, bioinformatics analysis signaling pathway analysis was performed on the obtained genes, and protein-protein interaction networks were constructed to find hub genes in order to establish diagnostic models for each disease and explore the immune infiltration of hub genes.Results: 52 co-pathogenic genes were screened for association with immune regulation, immune response, and inflammation. The mean area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) for all 10 genes used for co-causal diagnosis ranged from 0.71–0.81. Immune cell infiltration analysis in the myelodysplastic syndrome subgroup showed that the relative numbers of Macrophages M1, B cells memory, and T cells CD4 memory resting in the myelodysplastic syndrome group were significantly different from the normal group, however, in the osteoarthritis subgroup the relative numbers of Mast cells resting in the osteoarthritis subgroup was significantly different from the normal group.Conclusion: There are common pathogenic genes in osteoarthritis and myelodysplastic syndrome, which in turn mediate differential alterations in related signaling pathways and immune cells, affecting the high prevalence of osteoarthritis and myelodysplastic syndrome and the two disease phenomena.
Release of exosomes in polytraumatized patients: The injury pattern is reflected by the surface epitopes
Authors: Weber Birte , Henrich Dirk , Schindler Cora Rebecca , Marzi Ingo , Leppik Liudmila 
Published: March 2023

BackgroundTrauma is still a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in the younger population. Trauma patients need a precise, early diagnostic to avoid complications like multiorgan failure and sepsis. Exosomes were described as markers and mediators in trauma. The aim of the present study was to analyze, whether the surface epitopes of plasma-exosomes can reflect the injury pattern in polytrauma.Material and MethodsPolytraumatized patients (Injury Severity Score = ISS ≥16, n = 38) were subdivided according to the predominant injury in either abdominal trauma, chest trauma or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Plasma exosomes were isolated via size exclusion chromatography. The concentration and size distribution of the plasma exosomes from emergency room samples were measured by nanoparticle tracking analysis. The exosomal surface antigens were investigated by bead-based multiplex flow cytometry and compared with healthy controls (n=10).ResultsIn contrast to other studies, we did not observe an increase in the total amount of plasma exosomes in polytrauma patients (1,15x109 vs. 1,13x109 particles/ml), but found changes in the exosomal surface epitopes. We found a significant reduction of CD42a+ (platelet-derived) exosomes in polytrauma patients, CD209+ (dendritic cell-derived) exosomes in the patients with predominant abdominal trauma, and CD11+ (monocyte-derived) exosomes in the patients with chest trauma. The group of patients with TBI was characterized in contrast by an increase of CD62p+ (endothelial/platelet-derived) exosomes (*p&lt;0.05).ConclusionOur data showed that the polytrauma injury pattern might be reflected by the cellular origin/surface epitopes of plasma-released exosomes immediately after trauma. The observed reduction of CD42+ exosomes in polytrauma patients was not associated with a reduction of total platelets in polytrauma patients.
Antibody response to different COVID-19 vaccines among the migrant workers of Bangladesh
Authors: Hossain Md. Imam , Sarker Protim , Raqib Rubhana , Rahman Md Ziaur , Hasan Rezaul , Svezia Chloe K. , Rahman Mahbubur , Amin Nuhu 
Published: March 2023

BackgroundDue to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, various host countries such as Singapore, imposed entry requirements for migrant workers including pre-departure COVID-19 seroconversion proof. To combat COVID-19 worldwide, several vaccines have acquired conditional approval. This study sought to assess antibody levels after immunization with different COVID-19 vaccines among the migrant workers of Bangladesh.MethodsVenous blood samples were collected from migrant workers who were vaccinated with different COVID-19 vaccines (n=675). Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S) and nucleocapsid protein (N) were determined using Roche Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S and N immunoassay, respectively.ResultsAll participants receiving COVID-19 vaccines showed antibodies to S-protein, while 91.36% were positive for N-specific antibodies. The highest anti-S antibody titers were found among the workers who completed booster doses (13327 U/mL), received mRNA vaccines Moderna/Spikevax (9459 U/mL) or Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty (9181 U/mL), and reported SARS-CoV-2 infection in the last six months (8849 U/mL). The median anti-S antibody titers in the first month since the last vaccination was 8184 U/mL, which declined to 5094 U/mL at the end of six months. A strong correlation of anti-S antibodies was found with past SARS-CoV-2 infection (p &lt; 0.001) and the type of vaccines received (p &lt;0.001) in the workers.ConclusionBangladeshi migrant workers receiving booster doses of vaccine, vaccinated with mRNA vaccines, and having past SARS-CoV-2 infection, mounted higher antibody responses. However, antibody levels waned with time. These findings suggest a need for further booster doses, preferably with mRNA vaccines for migrant workers before reaching host countries.