bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Placebo effects on cutaneous pain and itch: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental results and methodology
Authors: Blythe Joseph S. , Thomaidou Mia A. , Peerdeman Kaya J. , van Laarhoven Antoinette I.M. , van Schothorst Myrthe M.E. , Veldhuijzen Dieuwke S. , Evers Andrea W.M. 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Placebo effects, positive treatment outcomes that go beyond treatment processes, can alter sensations through learning mechanisms. Understanding how methodological factors contribute to the magnitude of placebo effects will help define the mechanisms by which these effects occur. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental placebo studies in cutaneous pain and itch in healthy samples, focused on how differences in methodology contribute to the resulting placebo effect magnitude. We conducted meta-analyses by learning mechanism and sensation, namely, for classical conditioning with verbal suggestion, verbal suggestion alone, and observational learning, separately for pain and itch. We conducted subgroup analyses and meta-regression on the type of sensory stimuli, placebo treatment, number of acquisition and evocation trials, differences in calibrated intensities for placebo and control stimuli during acquisition, age, and sex. We replicated findings showing that a combination of classical conditioning with verbal suggestion induced larger placebo effects on pain (k = 68, g = 0.59) than verbal suggestion alone (k = 39, g = 0.38) and found a smaller effect for itch with verbal suggestion alone (k = 7, g = 0.14). Using sham electrodes as placebo treatments corresponded with larger placebo effects on pain than when topical gels were used. Other methodological and demographic factors did not significantly affect placebo magnitudes. Placebo effects on pain and itch reliably occur in experimental settings with varied methods, and conditioning with verbal suggestion produced the strongest effects. Although methods may shape the placebo effect to some extent, these effects appear robust overall, and their underlying learning mechanisms may be harnessed for applications outside the laboratory.
Epidemiology of geriatric patients presenting to emergency departments in Europe: EGERS study
Authors: Karamercan Mehmet A. , Dündar Defne Z. , Slagman Ana , Ergin Mehmet , Janssens Kelly Ann C. , Fabbri Andrea , Bjornsen Lars P. , Somodi Sándor , Adam Visnja N. , Polyzogopoulou Effie , Demir Hüseyin A. , Laribi Said ,   on behalf of the EGERS study investigators
Published: January 2023

Background and importance
Patients aged 65 and above constitute a large and growing part of emergency department (ED) visits in western countries.

Objective
The primary aim of this European prospective study was to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of elderly patients presenting to EDs across Europe. Our secondary objective was to determine the hospitalization rate, characteristics, and in-hospital mortality rates of geriatric patients presenting to EDs.

Design setting and participants
An observational prospective cohort study over seven consecutive days between 19 October and 30 November 2020, in 36 EDs from nine European countries. Patients aged 65 years and older presenting to EDs with any complaint during a period of seven consecutive days were included.

Outcome measures
Data were collected on demographics, the major presenting complaint, the presenting vital signs, comorbidities, usual medication, and outcomes after the ED, including disposition, in-hospital outcome, and the final hospital diagnosis. The patients were stratified into three groups: old (65–74 years), older (75–84 years), and oldest age (>85 years).

Main results
A total of 5767 patients were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 77 (interquartile range: 71–84) years. The majority presented with a non-traumatic complaint (81%) and about 90% of the patients had at least one comorbid disease and were on chronic medication. An ED visit resulted in subsequent hospital admission in 51% of cases, with 9% of patients admitted to an intensive care unit. Overall in-hospital mortality was 8%, and ED mortality was 1%. Older age was associated with a higher female proportion, comorbidities, need for home care service, history of previous falls, admission rates, length of ED, and hospital stay.

Conclusion
The characteristics of ED elderly patients and their subsequent hospital stay are reported in this prospective study.
The Association of Antimicrobial Prophylaxis With Return Visits After Dog Bites in Children
Authors: Davis Ashley , Fullerton Lynne , Hill Deirdre A. , Snow Harry , Dehority Walter 
Published: January 2023

ObjectivesDog bites occur frequently in the United States, yet there are no clear guidelines for prescribing antibiotic prophylaxis in healthy children after a dog bite. The aim of our study was to assess antibiotic prophylaxis and subsequent rates of infection after dog bites in children. We hypothesized a negative association between prophylactic prescription of any antimicrobial and return visit within 14 days for infection.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort study, we assessed the frequency of antibiotic prophylaxis prescribed after dog bite injuries in patients 0 to 18 years old and subsequent return visits for infection using 2016 to 2017 medical and pharmacy claims derived from the IBM MarketScan Research Databases. We used the International Classification of Diseases-10 code W54 for dog bites then used keyword searches to find diagnoses (including infection), wound descriptions, and medications.ResultsOver the 2-year period, 22,911 patients were seen for dog bites that were not coded as infected. The majority, 13,043 (56.9%), were prescribed an antibiotic at the initial visit and 9868 (43.1%) were not. Of those prescribed antibiotics, 98 (0.75%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60–0.90) returned with an infection, compared with 59 (0.60%; 95% CI, 0.44–0.75) of those not prescribed antibiotics. Receiving an antibiotic prescription at the initial visit was associated with a reduced rate of return for wound infection only among children whose wounds were repaired or closed. Children not receiving a prescription whose wounds were repaired were more than twice as likely to return with an infection in the subsequent 14 days as children whose wounds were not repaired (odds ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.2–4.0).ConclusionsMost children are prescribed antibiotics at an initial emergency department visit after a dog bite. However, very few return for infection independent of antimicrobial prophylaxis, which suggests antibiotics are overprescribed in this setting.
Update on drug treatments for multidrug resistant tuberculosis
Authors: Davies Geraint R. , Aston Stephen 
Published: January 2023

Purpose of the review
To describe important recent developments in the treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)

Recent findings
In the last decade, novel and repurposed antituberculosis drugs have transformed MDR-TB treatment with improved rates of treatment success, better tolerability and safety and reduced duration. As recently as 2016, standard care relied on up to seven drugs for 24 months with treatment success no better than 70%. Seven drug shorter so-called “Bangladesh” style regimens subsequently achieved similar or better results at a duration of 9–12 months but concerns about first-line resistance additional to rifampicin hampered global uptake. After conditional approval in 2012, the novel agent bedaquiline was demonstrated to improve outcomes and reduce mortality when used in longer and shorter regimens, resulting in the replacement of injectable agents. In the last 2 years, clinical trials of all-oral 6-month three or four drug regimens containing bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid have shown superior efficacy against both longer and shorter traditional regimens, resulting in major changes in WHO guidance.

Summary
Although some concerns around safety and emergent bedaquiline resistance remain to be fully addressed, 6-month all oral regimens promise to transform the treatment of people with MDR-TB worldwide.
Skin and soft tissue infections in the elderly
Authors: Falcone Marco , Tiseo Giusy 
Published: January 2023

Purpose of review
To highlight the peculiarity of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) in elderly patients and to provide useful elements for their optimal management.

Recent findings
In the COVID-19 era, early discharge from the hospital and implementation of outpatient management is of key importance.

Summary
Elderly patients are at high risk of SSTIs due to several factors, including presence of multiple comorbidities and skin factors predisposing to infections. Clinical presentation may be atypical and some signs of severity, such as fever and increase in C-reactive protein, may be absent or aspecific in this patients population. An appropriate diagnosis of SSTIs in the elderly is crucial to avoid antibiotic overtreatment. Further studies should explore factors associated with bacterial superinfections in patients with pressure ulcers or lower limb erythema. Since several risk factors for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may coexist in elderly patients, these subjects should be carefully screened for MRSA risk factors and those with high risk of resistant etiology should receive early antibiotic therapy active against MRSA. Physicians should aim to several objectives, including clinical cure, patient safety, early discharge and return to community. SSTIs in the elderly may be managed using long-acting antibiotics, but clinical follow-up is needed.
Cortical oscillatory changes during thermal grill illusion
Authors: Uragami Shinji , Osumi Michihiro 
Published: January 2023

Objective
The thermal grill illusion (TGI) can cause a burning pain sensation when the skin is subjected to simultaneously harmless hot and cold stimuli, and the pain is reported to be similar to central neuropathic pain. Although electroencephalography (EEG) is commonly used in pain research, no reports have revealed EEG activity during TGI.

Methods
One healthy subject was enrolled, and EEG activity was recorded during the experience of the TGI and a warm sensation. Independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to preprocessed EEG data, which was divided into several clusters.

Results
Theta and alpha bands in the insular cortex and parietal operculum clusters were significantly more desynchronized under the TGI condition than under the warm condition (P < 0.05). Additionally, theta, alpha and beta bands in the frontal (middle and inferior frontal gyrus) cluster showed significantly more desynchronization under the TGI condition than under the warm condition (P < 0.05).

Conclusion
EEG oscillations in these brain areas could be useful markers of central neuropathic pain.
Real-Time Quantification of Cell Mechanics and Functions by Double Resonator Piezoelectric Cytometry — Theory and Study of Cellular Adhesion of HUVECs
Authors: Zhou Tiean , Huang Jingyuan , Xiong Lun , Shen Haibo , Huang Fushen , Li Wenwei , Peng Hange , Su Zhaohong , Pan Weison , Zhao Jia , Zhou Zhen , Bao Dongqin , Deng Linhong 
Published: January 2023

AbstractCell mechanics is closely associated with cellular structure and function. However, the inability to measure both cellular force and viscoelasticity of statistically significant number of cells noninvasively remains a challenge for quantitative characterizations of various cellular functions and practical applications. Here a double resonator piezoelectric cytometry (DRPC), using AT and BT cut quartz crystals of the same frequency and surface morphology is developed to simultaneously quantify the cells-generated forces (ΔS) and viscoelastic moduli (G′, G″) of a population of isolated single cells or cells with different degrees of cell-cell interactions in a non-invasive and real time manner. DRPC captures the dynamic mechanical parameters ΔS and G′, G″ during the adhesions of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) under different ligand densities of adhesion molecules fibronectin or Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) modified on the gold surfaces of 9 MHz AT and BT cut quartz crystals, and different seeding densities of HUVECs. It is found that both the ligand density and cell seeding density affect the magnitudes of ΔS and G′, G″ and their correlations are revealed for the first time by DRPC. The validity of DRPC is further verified by mechanical changes of the cells in response to treatments with cytoskeleton regulators.
movedesign: Shiny R app to evaluate sampling design for animal movement studies
Authors: Silva Inês , Fleming Christen H. , Noonan Michael J. , Fagan William F. , Calabrese Justin M. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractProjects focused on movement behavior and home range are commonplace, but beyond a focus on choosing appropriate research questions, there are no clear guidelines for such studies. Without these guidelines, designing an animal tracking study to produce reliable estimates of space-use and movement properties (necessary to answer basic movement ecology questions), is often done in anad hocmanner.We developed ‘movedesign’, a user-friendly Shiny application, which can be utilized to investigate the precision of three estimates regularly reported in movement and spatial ecology studies: home range area, speed, and distance traveled. Conceptually similar to statistical power analysis, this application enables users to assess the degree of estimate precision that may be achieved with a given sampling design;i.e., the choices regarding data resolution (sampling interval) and battery life (sampling duration).Leveraging the ‘ctmm’Rpackage, we utilize two methods proven to handle many common biases in animal movement datasets: autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimators (AKDE) and continuous-time speed and distance (CTSD) estimators. Longer sampling durations are required to reliably estimate home range areas via the detection of a sufficient number of home range crossings. In contrast, speed and distance estimation requires a sampling interval short enough to ensure that a statistically significant signature of the animal’s velocity remains in the data.This application addresses key challenges faced by researchers when designing tracking studies, including the trade-off between long battery life and high resolution of GPS locations collected by the devices, which may result in a compromise between reliably estimating home range or speed and distance. ‘movedesign’ has broad applications for researchers and decision-makers, supporting them to focus efforts and resources in achieving the optimal sampling design strategy for their research questions, prioritizing the correct deployment decisions for insightful and reliable outputs, while understanding the trade-off associated with these choices.
Lumbar endplate microfracture injury induces Modic-like changes, intervertebral disc degeneration and spinal cord sensitization – An In Vivo Rat Model
Authors: Wang Dalin , Lai Alon , Gansau Jennifer , Seifert Alan C. , Munitz Jazz , Zaheer Kashaf , Bhadouria Neharika , Lee Yunsoo , Nasser Philip , Laudier Damien M. , Holguin Nilsson , Hecht Andrew C. , Iatridis James C. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractBACKGROUND CONTEXT: Endplate (EP) injury plays critical roles in painful IVD degeneration since Modic changes (MCs) are highly associated with pain. Models of EP microfracture that progress to painful conditions are needed to better understand pathophysiological mechanisms and screen therapeutics.PURPOSE: Establish in vivo rat lumbar EP microfracture model with painful phenotype.STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: In vivo rat study to characterize EP-injury model with characterization of IVD degeneration, vertebral bone marrow remodeling, spinal cord sensitization, and pain-related behaviors.METHODS: EP-driven degeneration was induced in 5-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats L4-5 and L5-6 IVDs through the proximal vertebral body injury with intradiscal injections of TNFα (n=7) or PBS (n=6), compared to Sham (surgery without EP-injury, n=6). The EP-driven model was assessed for IVD height, histological degeneration, pain-like behaviors (hindpaw von Frey and forepaw grip test), lumbar spine MRI and μCT analyses, and spinal cord substance P (SubP).RESULTS: EP injuries induced IVD degeneration with decreased IVD height and MRI T2 values. EP injury with PBS and TNFα both showed MC type1-like changes on T1 and T2-weighted MRI, trabecular bone remodeling on μCT, and damage in cartilage EP adjacent to the injury. EP injuries caused significantly decreased paw withdrawal threshold and reduced grip forces, suggesting increased pain sensitivity and axial spinal discomfort. Spinal cord dorsal horn SubP was significantly increased, indicating spinal cord sensitization.CONCLUSIONS: EP microfracture can induce crosstalk between vertebral bone marrow, IVD and spinal cord with chronic pain-like conditions.CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This rat EP microfracture model of IVD degeneration was validated to induce MC-like changes and pain-like behaviors that we hope will be useful to screen therapies and improve treatment for EP-drive pain.
Assessing the impact of successive soil cultivation onMeloidogyne enterolobiiinfection and on soil bacterial assemblages
Authors: Pasche Josephine , Brito Janete A. , Vallad Gary E. , Brawner Jeremy , Snyder Samantha L. , Fleming Ellen A. , Yang Jingya , Terra Willian C. , Martins Samuel J. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractSoil cultivation may change the soil microbiome and alter interactions between plants and parasites. The objective of this work was to evaluate temporal changes in plant health, microbiome abundance, bacterial diversity and the plant-parasitic nematode,Meloidogyne enterolobiiincidence in two soil fields with different agricultural uses. Soil samples were collected from a commercial tomato production field (agricultural soil) and a single-cultivation strawberry field (native soil). Samples for the second experiment were collected from the same fields the following year. Tomato plants cv. Yearly Girl were grown in a greenhouse and inoculated withM. enterolobii. After 45 days, plants were evaluated for the plant growth parameters, nematode reproduction, and soil bacterial assemblages were assessed using cultivation-independent sequencing methods (V3/V4 region of the rRNA 16S). Overall the average of fruit fresh weight in the second experiment was 2.4-fold to 14-fold higher than the first experiment. Moreover, there was a 80.5% decrease in eggs present per root system from the first experiment to the second. The relative abundance of bacterial assemblages from Experiment 1 to Experiment 2 changed for most of the top phyla (eg.Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, andChloroflexi) and genera (eg.Bacillus, Streptomyces, andFlavisolibacter) and there was no change in microbial diversity between the two experiments. This study suggests that soil management can lead to an overall decrease in nematode reproduction and better crop yield, as well as a shift in the overall bacterial assemblages.Graphical Abstract
Causal inference during closed-loop navigation: parsing of self- and object-motion
Authors: Noel Jean-Paul , Bill Johannes , Ding Haoran , Vastola John , DeAngelis Gregory C. , Angelaki Dora E. , Drugowitsch Jan 
Published: January 2023

AbstractA key computation in building adaptive internal models of the external world is to ascribe sensory signals to their likely cause(s), a process of Bayesian Causal Inference (CI). CI is well studied within the framework of two-alternative forced-choice tasks, but less well understood within the cadre of naturalistic action-perception loops. Here, we examine the process of disambiguating retinal motion caused by self- and/or object-motion during closed-loop navigation. First, we derive a normative account specifying how observers ought to intercept hidden and moving targets given their belief over (i) whether retinal motion was caused by the target moving, and (ii) if so, with what velocity. Next, in line with the modeling results, we show that humans report targets as stationary and steer toward their initial rather than final position more often when they are themselves moving, suggesting a misattribution of object-motion to the self. Further, we predict that observers should misattribute retinal motion more often: (i) during passive rather than active self-motion (given the lack of an efference copy informing self-motion estimates in the former), and (ii) when targets are presented eccentrically rather than centrally (given that lateral self-motion flow vectors are larger at eccentric locations during forward self-motion). Results confirm both of these predictions. Lastly, analysis of eye-movements show that, while initial saccades toward targets are largely accurate regardless of the self-motion condition, subsequent gaze pursuit was modulated by target velocity during object-only motion, but not during concurrent object- and self-motion. These results demonstrate CI within action-perception loops, and suggest a protracted temporal unfolding of the computations characterizing CI.
Competition between bottom-up visual input and internal inhibition generates error neurons in a model of the mouse primary visual cortex
Authors: Fraile J. Galván , Scherr Franz , Ramasco José J. , Arkhipov Anton , Maass Wolfgang , Mirasso Claudio R. 
Published: January 2023

AbstractThe predictive coding theory, although attractive, is far from being proven. Supporters of this theory agree that bottom-up sensory inputs and top-down predictions of these inputs must be compared in certain types of neurons called error neurons. Excitatory neurons in layer 2/3 (E2/3) of the primary visual cortex (V1) are ideal candidates to act as error neurons, although how these error neurons are generated is poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to gain insight into how the genetically encoded structure of canonical microcircuits in the neocortex implements the emergence of error neurons. To this end, we used a biologically realistic computational model of V1, developed by the Allen Institute, to study the effect that sudden changes in bottom-up input had on the dynamics of E2/3 neurons. We found that the responses of these neurons can be divided into two main classes: one that depolarized (reporting positive errors; dVf neurons) and one that hyperpolarized (reporting negative errors; hVf neurons). Detailed analysis of both network and effective connectivity allowed us to uncover the mechanism that led to the dynamic segregation of these neurons. This mechanism was found to be the competition between the external visual input, originating in the thalamus, and the recurrent inhibition, originating mainly in layers 2/3 and 4. In contrast, we found no evidence of similar division and responses in excitatory infragranular neurons of layers 5 and 6. Our results are in agreement with recent experimental findings and shed light on the mechanisms responsible for the emergence of error neurons.