bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of acupuncture versus usual care on sleep quality in cancer survivors with chronic pain: Secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial
Authors: Yang Mingxiao , Baser Raymond E. , Liou Kevin T. , Li Susan Q. , Piulson Lauren , Panageas Katherine S. , Mao Jun J. 
Published: March 2023

AbstractBackgroundChronic pain negatively affects sleep; it is unclear whether pain relief from acupuncture contributes to sleep quality improvements in cancer survivors. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of acupuncture versus usual care on sleep quality among cancer survivors with comorbid sleep disturbance and chronic musculoskeletal pain.MethodsSleep outcome data from the Personalized Electroacupuncture Versus Auricular Acupuncture Comparative Effectiveness (PEACE) randomized clinical trial were analyzed. Electroacupuncture or auricular acupuncture was compared with usual care for sleep quality improvement over 10 weeks of treatment among cancer survivors with clinically significant sleep disturbance and chronic musculoskeletal pain at baseline. Sleep quality was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) global score.ResultsAmong 268 participants (mean [standard deviation (SD)] age, 61.4 [12.6] years; 191 women [71.3%]; mean [SD] baseline PSQI global score, 10.3 [3.3] points), electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture resulted in greater reductions in the PSQI global score from baseline to 10 weeks in comparison with usual care: 1.42 points (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.45–2.38; p = .004) and 1.59 points (95% CI, 0.62–2.55; p = .001), respectively. The improvement in sleep quality for the acupuncture groups was sustained for 24 weeks from randomization. Furthermore, a greater proportion of patients in the electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture groups had clinically meaningful improvement in sleep quality compared to the usual care group (41.0% and 42.9% vs. 21.4%; p = .044).ConclusionsAmong cancer survivors with comorbid sleep disturbance and chronic pain, electroacupuncture and auricular acupuncture produced a clinically relevant and persistent improvement in sleep quality. These findings suggest that acupuncture may be an evidence‐based nonpharmacologic intervention to improve sleep health for cancer survivors with pain.Plain Language Summary

This study analyzed the sleep quality data from a published randomized clinical trial that evaluated the effect of electroacupuncture or auricular acupuncture versus usual care on pain relief among people who survived cancer.
This analysis included a prespecified subgroup of 268 participants with co‐occurring sleep disturbance and chronic musculoskeletal pain at baseline and found that patients who used acupuncture for pain relief demonstrated greater improvements in sleep quality compared with patients who received usual care.
Sleep quality improvement by acupuncture was sustained after the treatment ended.
Nanoarchitectures to Deliver Nucleic Acid Drugs to Disease Sites
Authors: Komiyama Makoto , Sumaoka Jun 
Published: March 2023

AbstractTherapeutic nucleic acid drugs (antisense DNA, siRNA, DNAzyme, and others) have been widely employed to regulate the expression of a disease‐causing gene. For the correction of a gene, the CRISPR/Cas9 system is available. Advantageously, they can be straightforwardly designed in terms of the Watson‐Crick rule. In order to deliver these nucleic acid drugs to a target place in our body (organs and cells) at desired timing, various nanoarchitectures have been elegantly designed. Their primary roles are protection of drugs from degradation, increase of cell‐membrane permeability, and spatiotemporal control of delivery. Encapsulated nucleic acid drugs are released by decomposing the nanostructures with either external stimuli or intracellular signals. Furthermore, therapeutic efficiency is enhanced by simultaneously delivering multiple types of nucleic acid drugs for their cooperation. Composites of nanoarchitectures and therapeutic nucleic acid drugs are highly promising for future applications.
Quantum Chemical Study of the Pressure‐dependent Phosphorescence of [Cr(ddpd)2]3+in the Solid State
Authors: Förster Christoph , Osthues Helena , Schwab Dominik , Doltsinis Nikos L. , Heinze Katja 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThe chromium(III) complex [Cr(ddpd)2][BF4]3shows two spin‐flip emission bands in the near‐infrared spectral region. These bands shift bathochromically by −14.1 and −7.7 cm−1 kbar−1under hydrostatic pressure (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2018,57, 11069). The present study elucidates the structural changes of the chromium(III) cations under pressure using density functional theory with periodic boundary conditions and the resulting effects on the excited state energies using high‐level CASSCF‐NEVPT2 calculations. The differences of the bands in pressure sensitivity are traced back to a different orbital occupation of the intraconfigurational excited states.
A novel membrane‐inspired multiverse optimizer algorithm for quality of service‐aware cloud web service composition with service level agreements
Authors: Maroosi Ali , Muniyandi Ravie Chandren 
Published: March 2023

SummaryCloud computing is an emerging technology in computing that provides different services over the Internet. It needs composite services to perform a complex task. Optimal selection of services that provides both functionality and nonfunctionality requirements is an NP‐hard problem. This study uses nondeterministic parallel and distributed structures of membrane systems for the recently improved multiverse optimization algorithm to improve the quality of solutions. In the previous membrane‐inspired algorithm, the population was divided into subpopulations that evolve different dynamic membranes. This study not only uses a conventional membrane‐inspired approach to introduce a conventional membrane‐inspired multiverse optimizer (CMIMVO) for the first time but also proposes an algorithm that divides the variables (dimension) into subgroups for different membranes called proposed membrane‐inspired multiverse optimizer (PMIMVO). Thus, in PMIMVO, each membrane works on a subgroup to gain global information, which considers the best values obtained by other membranes for other variables. The PMIMVO shows promising results on benchmark function problems. Furthermore, simulation results show that the PMIMVO approach could achieve up to 38% improvement in integrated quality of service (QoS) with attributes including response time, price, availability, and reliability in comparison with the previous approaches, including genetics algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), gravitational search algorithm (GSA), moth–flame optimization (MFO) improved multiverse optimizer (MVO), and CMIMVO.
An eight‐element sequentially rotated crescent‐slot‐coupled dielectric resonator antenna array for WIFI applications
Authors: Qasaymeh Yazeed 
Published: March 2023

SummaryIn this communication, the author presents an eight‐element sequentially rotated (SR) circularly polarized (CP) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for operation in the IEEE 802.11a standard. A novel resonating element composed of a crescent slot (CS) used to excite a rectangular dielectric resonator (RDR) is proposed that has two orthogonal modes
and
as required for CP radiation. An SR series–parallel geometry is used to prototype the array feed network to allocate the array elements to symmetrical positions. The phase progression of each element was 45° along the array, and the signal magnitude was distributed evenly based on the binomial theory to enhance the antenna performance. The prototyped SR array had a size of
mm3 and was measured and characterized in order to authenticate the design. The resonance bandwidth (S11 ˂ −10 dB) was found to be 14.28% with a 3 dB axial ratio (AR) of 17.7% for right‐hand CP. The gain varied from 15.71 to 16.26 dBi within the operating band. The size, gain, and impedance bandwidth of the proposed array make it a potential candidate for devices operating in the IEEE 802.11a band.
Effect of mortality in cost‐effectiveness modeling of disease‐modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Aye Sandar , Jönsson Linus , Gustavsson Anders , Tate Ashley , Ptacek Sara Garcia , Eriksdotter Maria 
Published: March 2023

AbstractINTRODUCTIONWe examined (1) the magnitude of mortality attributed to Alzheimer's disease (AD), and (2) the effect of mortality in cost‐effectiveness modeling of hypothetical disease‐modifying treatment (DMT) in AD.METHODData were derived from Swedish Dementia Registry (N = 39,308). Mortality was analyzed with survival analysis and multinomial logistic regression. A Markov microsimulation model was used to model the cost effectiveness of DMT using routine care as a comparator. Three scenarios were simulated: (1) indirect effect, (2) no effect on overall mortality, (3) indirect effect on AD‐related mortality.RESULTSOverall mortality increased with cognitive decline, age, male sex, number of medications used, and lower body mass index. Nearly all cause‐specific mortality was associated with cognitive decline. DMT increased survival by 0.35 years in scenario 1 and 0.14 years in scenario 3. DMT with no mortality effect is the least cost effective.DISCUSSIONThe results provide key mortality estimates and demonstrate influences on the cost effectiveness of DMT.Highlights
We describe cause‐specific mortality in relation to disease severity in Alzheimer's disease (AD).
We model different assumptions of disease‐modifying treatment (DMT) on AD survival.
DMT was the least cost effective when assuming no effect on AD survival.
Cost effectiveness is mainly influenced by the relative cost of staying in each disease state.
Detection of anabolic androgenic steroids in serum samples
Authors: Makvandi Bahare , Pohanka Anton , Bergström Mats , Börjesson Annica , Lehtihet Mikael , Ekström Lena , Zheng Yufang 
Published: March 2023

AbstractWhen testing for anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) outside sports communities, for example, in healthcare and forensic medicine, urine is the matrix of choice. However, there are drawbacks with urinary sampling, and serum might be useful as a complementary matrix. The aim was to develop an LC–MS/MS method for serum measuring AAS frequently used outside of sport, including testosterone (T), steroid esters, and eight other synthetic AAS. The sample pretreatment included sample precipitation and evaporation. Limit of quantification for the AAS was 0.05–0.5 ng/mL, and linearity was 0.05–20 ng/mL for most of the substances. Generally, the within‐ and between‐day CV results, matrix effect, and process efficiency were <15%. The AAS were stable for at least 6 months at −20°C. Serum samples were obtained from previous studies. A novel finding from an administration study was that T enanthate was present in serum even after 5 years of storage at −20°C. Serum samples from self‐reporting AAS individuals, where T esters were detected, were positive for testosterone using the urinary testosterone/epitestosterone criterion >10. Of those identified as positive in traditional urinary doping tests (n = 15), AAS in serum were found in 80% of the subjects. Our results show that serum may be a valid complementary matrix to urine samples for AAS testing.
Seasonality and growth in tropical freshwater ectotherm vertebrates: Results from 1‐year experimentation in the African gray bichir, giraffe catfish, and the West African mud turtle
Authors: Gardin Axelle , Otero Olga , Réveillac Elodie , Lafitte Alexandra , Valentin Xavier , Lapalus Florian , Bouchon Didier , Garcia Géraldine 
Published: March 2023

AbstractGrowth in ectotherm vertebrates is strongly rhythmed by seasonal variation in environmental parameters. To track the seasonal variation in ancient times in a continental and tropical context, we aim to develop a method based on the use of the growth rate of fossil ectotherm vertebrates (actinopterygians and chelonians) influenced by seasonal environmental fluctuations they experienced in their lifetime. However, the impact of environmental parameters on growth, positive or negative, and its intensity, depends on the taxa considered, and data are scarce for tropical species. For 1 year, an experiment was conducted to better understand the effect of seasonal variation in environmental parameters (food abundance, temperature, and photoperiod) on the somatic growth rate of three species of tropical freshwater ectotherm vertebrates: the fishes Polypterus senegalus and Auchenoglanis occidentalis and the turtle Pelusios castaneus. Mimicking seasonal shifts expected to be experienced by the animals in the wild, the experiment highlighted the preponderant effect of food abundance on the growth rate of those three species. Water temperature variation had a significant effect on the growth rate of Po. senegalus and Pe. castaneus. Moreover, the photoperiod demonstrated no significant effect on the growth of the three species. The duration of application of starvation or cool water conditions, ranging from 1 to 3 months, did not affect the growth rate of the animals. However, Pelusios castaneus showed a temporary sensitivity to the return of ad libitum feeding or of warm water, after a period of starvation or cool water, by a period of compensatory growth. Finally, this experiment revealed, in the three species, fluctuations in the growth rate under controlled and constant conditions. This variation, similar to the variation in precipitation and temperature observed in their native environment, could be linked to a strong effect of an internal rhythm controlling somatic growth rate.
Serial assessment of biomarkers and heart failure outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation
Authors: Oyama Kazuma , Giugliano Robert P. , Ruff Christian T. , Berg David D. , Jarolim Petr , Tang Minao , Park Jeong‐Gun , Lanz Hans J. , Antman Elliott M. , Braunwald Eugene , Morrow David A. 
Published: March 2023

AimsCardiac functional and structural remodelling in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) contributes to development of heart failure (HF) as their major cardiovascular comorbidity. Circulating biomarkers may reflect these cardiac alterations.Methods and resultsENGAGE AF‐TIMI 48 was a randomized trial of edoxaban versus warfarin in 21 105 patients with AF. We performed a nested biomarker study, analysing high‐sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT, n = 8705), N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP, n = 8765), and growth differentiation factor‐15 (GDF‐15, n = 8705) at baseline and 12 months. Of the biomarker cohort, 5207 had a history of HF, among whom 3996 had known ejection fraction (EF): 926 with reduced EF (HFrEF; ≤40%), 1043 with mildly reduced EF (HFmrEF; 40–49%), and 2027 with preserved EF (HFpEF; ≥50%). Elevated baseline hsTnT, NT‐proBNP, and GDF‐15 were associated with higher risk of hospitalization for HF (HHF) or HF death overall and in subpopulations defined by HF history and EF (p < 0.001 for each). These associations of outcome with each biomarker were consistent regardless of a history of HF or EF (p‐interaction >0.05 for each). Patients who had an increase in or had persistently elevated values in any of the three biomarkers over 12 months were at higher risk for HHF or HF death in the overall population (p < 0.001 for each biomarker and category).ConclusionSerial measurement of hsTnT, NT‐proBNP, and GDF‐15 revealed that higher baseline values, and increasing or persistently elevated values over 1 year are associated with higher risk of HF outcomes in patients with AF regardless of HF history or HF phenotype based on EF.Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov unique identifier NCT00781391.
Perceived environmental turbulence and corporate strategy: The case of the UK recession
Authors: Tapinos Efstathios , Leask Graham , Brown Mike 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThe impact of the external environment on strategy is a long debate in the “traditional” strategic management theory. In contrast, future studies have a clearer view, having established that the environment is perceived and has a direct impact on how the future is anticipated. The same field has grown significantly, in the last two decades, with regard to how companies should foresight the future, looking into their external environment. However, we observe that there is a lack of retrospective research on how companies have embraced extreme environmental events, surprises, and wildcards which led to crisis with regard to their perception of the external environment and the strategies developed for the future. This study fills this gap with a multimethodological approach, combining survey and archival data, to examine the relationship between the perceived environmental turbulence and corporate strategy in some of the largest UK‐listed companies. We use the recession of the UK economy in 2008 as the key phenomenon to compare the relationship between perceptions of the environment and corporate strategy before the economic recession (2007) and after (2009). With our analysis, we provide evidence of how the environment influences corporate strategy and we show how a wildcard, like the recession, changed the perception of environmental turbulence, which resulted in greater adoption of the risk averse, retrenchment strategies.
Forecasting nonperforming loans using machine learning
Authors: Abdullah Mohammad , Chowdhury Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous , Uddin Ajim , Moudud‐Ul‐Huq Syed 
Published: March 2023

AbstractNonperforming loans play a critical role in financial institutions' overall performance and can be controlled by forecasting the probable nonperforming loans. This paper employs a series of machine learning techniques to forecast bank nonperforming loans on emerging countries' financial institutions. Using quarterly cross‐sectional data of 322 banks from 15 emerging countries, this study finds that advanced machine learning‐based models outperform simple linear techniques in forecasting bank nonperforming loans. Among all 14 linear and nonlinear models, the random forest model outperforms other models. It achieves a 76.10% accuracy in forecasting nonperforming loans. The result is robust in different performance metrics. The variable importance analysis reveals that bank diversification is the most critical determinant for future nonperforming loans of a bank. Additionally, this study revealed that macroeconomic factors are less prominent in predicting nonperforming loans compared with bank‐specific factors.
Estimation of alfalfa fall dormancy using spaced plant and sward trials across multiple environments
Authors: Newell Scott A. , Undersander Daniel J. , Viands Donald , Hansen Julie , Orloff Steve , Putnam Daniel H. , Brummer E. Charles 
Published: March 2023

AbstractBackgroundAlfalfa is a globally important forage crop. Cultivars are characterized by fall dormancy (FD). FD affects biomass yield and winter survival and is used to identify appropriate growing regions of cultivars. It has historically been assessed by measuring the natural height of regrowth in autumn of spaced plants in the field. Because commercial alfalfa is normally grown as a solid planted sward, FD could be different if plants were grown under real production conditions. The objective of this experiment was to assess whether FD ratings obtained from swards were similar to those obtained on spaced plants.MethodsWe evaluated 20 alfalfa cultivars in field trials established in 2015 at five locations in the United States. We harvested the trials in early autumn and measured regrowth plant height approximately 3 weeks later in 2015 and 2016.ResultsAutumn plant height responded as expected for the established check cultivars in all locations. Fall dormancy ratings for cultivars under both management systems were highly correlated.ConclusionsEstimating FD from spaced plant height measurements in autumn is very robust, and using height data from sward plots gives equivalent results to that measured in spaced plant nurseries. This finding has many practical advantages.
Functional and structural brain network development in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Authors: Soman Shania Mereen , Vijayakumar Nandita , Thomson Phoebe , Ball Gareth , Hyde Christian , Silk Timothy J. 
Published: March 2023

AbstractAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent childhood neurodevelopmental disorder. Given the profound brain changes that occur during childhood and adolescence, it is important to examine longitudinal changes of both functional and structural brain connectivity across development in ADHD. This study aimed to examine the development of functional and structural connectivity in children with ADHD compared to controls using graph metrics. One hundred and seventy five individuals (91 children with ADHD and 84 non‐ADHD controls) participated in a longitudinal neuroimaging study with up to three waves. Graph metrics were derived from 370 resting state fMRI (197 Control, 173 ADHD) and 297 diffusion weighted imaging data (152 Control, 145 ADHD) acquired between the ages of 9 and 14. For functional connectivity, children with ADHD (compared to typically developing children) showed lower degree, local efficiency and betweenness centrality predominantly in parietal, temporal and visual cortices and higher degree, local efficiency and betweenness centrality in frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices. For structural connectivity, children with ADHD had lower local efficiency in parietal and temporal cortices and, higher degree and betweenness centrality in frontal, parietal and temporal cortices. Further, differential developmental trajectories of functional and structural connectivity for graph measures were observed in higher‐order cognitive and sensory regions. Our findings show that topology of functional and structural connectomes matures differently between typically developing controls and children with ADHD during childhood and adolescence. Specifically, functional and structural neural circuits associated with sensory and various higher order cognitive functions are altered in children with ADHD.
Influence of wetlands on nutrients in headwaters of agricultural catchments
Authors: Van Stempvoort Dale R. , MacKay D. Ross , Collins Pamela , Brown Susan J. , Koehler Geoff 
Published: March 2023

AbstractWe investigated the influence of land cover on nutrient concentrations (295 samples) in headwater streams over a 2‐year period in 10 agriculture‐dominated subcatchments (163–8373 ha) in southern Ontario Canada. In this region, monitoring and research on nutrient dynamics in headwater wetlands is sparse. Our results indicated a significant positive correlation (Pearson coefficient ρ = 0.320) between soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in the headwater streams and the percentage of wetlands in these agriculture‐dominated catchments. This result suggests that headwater wetlands, and other wet riparian zones, are key sources of SRP in the headwater streams. Nitrate concentrations were positively correlated with % agricultural land cover (ρ = 0.316), consistent with previous studies, while SRP concentrations were negatively correlated with % agricultural land cover (ρ = −0.325). There was a significant positive correlation between SRP concentrations and discharge in some of the streams. Seasonal SRP trends appear to be closely related to temperature‐dependent seasonal changes in redox conditions, including levels of dissolved O2. Surficial geology had some influence on nitrate concentrations in the streams, which tended to be higher in catchments dominated by glacial till (till terrain), compared to catchments with extensive areas of outwash sand, in addition to till terrain.