bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Ebola virus disease surveillance system capability to promptly detect a new outbreak in Liberia
Authors: Shannon, Fulton Quincy , Bawo Luke L , Crump John A , Sharples Katrina , Egan Richard , Hill Philip C 
Published: August 2023

IntroductionLiberia was heavily affected by the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak. With substantial investments in interventions to combat future outbreaks, it is hoped that Liberia is well prepared for a new incursion. We assessed the performance of the current EVD surveillance system in Liberia, focusing on its ability to promptly detect a new EVD outbreak.MethodsWe integrated WHO and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for public health surveillance system evaluation and used standardised indicators to measure system performance. We conducted 23 key informant interviews, 150 health facility assessment surveys and a standardised patient (SP) study (19 visits) from January 2020 to January 2021. Data were summarised and a gap analysis conducted.ResultsWe found basic competencies of case detection and reporting necessary for a functional surveillance system were in place. At the higher (national, county and district) levels, we found performance gaps in 2 of 6 indicators relating to surveillance system structure, 3 of 14 indicators related to core functions, 1 of 5 quality indicators and 2 of 8 indicators related to support functions. The health facility assessment found performance gaps in 9 of 10 indicators related to core functions, 5 of 6 indicators related to support functions and 3 of 7 indicators related to quality. The SP simulations revealed large gaps between expected and actual practice in managing a patient warranting investigation for EVD. Major challenges affecting the system’s operations across all levels included limited access to resources to support surveillance activities, persistent stock out of sample collection materials and attrition of trained staff.ConclusionThe EVD surveillance system in Liberia may fail to promptly detect a new EVD outbreak. Specific improvements are required, and regular evaluations recommended. SP studies could be crucial in evaluating surveillance systems for rarely occurring diseases that are important to detect early.
Association between HIV and treatment-resistant hypertension in Malawian adults: a protocol for a case–control study
Authors: Gondwe Josephine , Ndovie Maclean , Khuluza Felix , Banda Clifford George 
Published: August 2023

IntroductionTreatment-resistant hypertension (RH), defined as uncontrolled blood pressure (≥140/90 mm Hg) despite treatment with ≥3 medications of different classes (including diuretics) at optimal doses, is associated with poor prognosis and an elevated risk of end-organ damage. In areas where HIV is endemic, such as sub-Saharan Africa, the risk of hypertension is high in people living with HIV. It remains unknown if HIV infection further increases the risk of RH. This study seeks to determine the association between HIV and RH as well as investigate other factors associated with RH in hypertensive Malawian adults.Methods and analysisA case–control study will be conducted among adult hypertensive patients attending a clinic at a referral hospital in Malawi. The cases will be hypertensive patients with a confirmed diagnosis of RH. For each case, two controls (hypertensive patients without RH), frequency matched for age group and sex, will be selected from among hospital clients attending the same hypertension clinic as the case. In both groups, HIV status will be ascertained. Additionally, information on other potential risk factors of RH, such as chronic kidney disease, obesity, hypercholesteraemia, diabetes, smoking, alcohol use, antiretroviral therapy regimen and duration, will be collected in both cases and controls. For each of the potential risk factors, ORs will be calculated to quantify the strength of their association with RH. In a multivariate analysis, conditional logistic regression will be used to assess the independent association between HIV and RH as well as the influence of the other potential drivers of RH.Ethics and disseminationThis protocol has been approved by the College of Medicine Research Ethics Committee (COMREC) in Malawi (P.05/22/3637). Findings from this study will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication in an open-access international journal. Furthermore, anonymised data will be available on request from the authors.
School performances in children with cataract: results from a population-based cohort study
Authors: Al-Bakri Moug , Skovgaard Anne Mette , Bach-Holm Daniella , Larsen Dorte Ancher , Siersma Volkert , Kessel Line 
Published: August 2023

ObjectivesChildhood cataract is a chronic condition that may interfere with the child’s learning capacities. We aimed to investigate whether childhood cataract influences academic development by comparing school performance in reading and mathematics in children with cataract to a matched control group.DesignNationwide registry-based cohort study.SettingsTwo surgical centres that perform all treatments for childhood cataract in Denmark.ParticipantsChildren born between 2000 and 2009 diagnosed with cataract before 10 years of age (n=275) and an age-matched and sex-matched control group (n=2473).Main outcome measuresSchool performance was assessed as test scores in national tests performed at regular intervals from grade 2 to grade 8 in reading and mathematics. Analyses were corrected for birth origin, child somatic and mental disorder and parental socioeconomic status and mental disorders.ResultsOf 275 children, 85 (30.9%) were operated for bilateral cataract, 79 (28.7%) unilateral cataract and 111 (40,4%) were not operated. We found that children with cataract have lower participation rate in the tests (62.5%) compared with the control cohort (77.2%) (p value=0.0001). After adjusting the pooled analyses for birth origin, somatic and mental disease in the child and parental socioeconomic status and mental disorders, we found that the children with cataract scored significantly lower in mathematics compared with those without cataract (mean difference=−4.78, 95% CI: −8.18 to −1.38, p value=0.006), whereas no difference was found regarding scores in reading (p=0.576). The lower score in mathematics was driven by children who had been operated for bilateral cataract (p-value=0.004).ConclusionChildren with cataract without somatic or neurodevelopmental comorbidities or psychosocial adversities seem to do well in school, whereas children operated for bilateral cataract have higher frequencies of difficulties in mathematical tasks.
Improving outpatient clinic experience: the future of chronic kidney disease care and associated multimorbidity
Authors: Al-Chalabi Saif , Alderson Helen , Garratt Natalie , Green Darren , Kalra Philip A , Ritchie James , Santhirasekaran Schanhave , Poulikakos Dimitrios , Sinha Smeeta 
Published: August 2023

BackgroundChronic kidney disease (CKD) is estimated to affect more than 2.5 million adults in England, and this is expected to rise to 4.2 million by 2036 (1). Population-level digital healthcare systems have the potential to enable earlier detection of CKD providing an opportunity to introduce interventions that attenuate progression and reduce the risk of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Services that can support patients with CKD, CVD, and diabetes mellitus (DM) have the potential to reduce fragmented clinical care and optimise pharmaceutical management.Methods and resultsThe Salford renal service has established an outpatient improvement programme which aims to address these issues via two projects. Firstly, the development of a CKD dashboard that can stratify patients by their kidney failure risk equation (KFRE) risk. High-risk patients would be invited to attend an outpatient clinic if appropriate. Specialist advice and guidance would be offered to primary care providers looking after patients with medium risk. Patients with lower risk would continue with standard care via their primary care provider unless there was another indication for a nephrology referral. The CKD dashboard identified 11546 patients (4.4% of the total adult population in Salford) with T2DM and CKD. The second project is the establishment of the Metabolic CardioRenal (MRC) clinic. It provided care for 209 patients in the first 8 months of its establishment with a total of 450 patient visits. Initial analysis showed clustering of cardiorenal metabolic diseases with 85% having CKD stages 3 and 4 and 73.2% having DM. In addition, patients had a significant burden of CVD with 50.2% having hypertension and 47.8% having heart failure.ConclusionThere is a pressing need to create new outpatient models of care to tackle the rising epidemic of cardio-renal metabolic diseases. This model of service has potential benefits at both organisational and patient levels including improving patient management via risk stratification, increased care capacity and reduction of variation of care. Patients will benefit from earlier intervention, appropriate referral for care, reduction in CKD-related complications, and reduction in hospital visits and cardiovascular events. In addition, this combined digital and patient-facing model of care will allow rapid translation of advances in cardio-renal metabolic diseases into clinical practice.
Cost analysis of archives in the pathology laboratories: from safety to management
Authors: Eccher Albino , Dei Tos Angelo Paolo , Scarpa Aldo , L'Imperio Vincenzo , Munari Enrico , Troncone Giancarlo , Naccarato Antonio Giuseppe , Seminati Davide , Pagni Fabio 
Published: August 2023

ContextDespite the reluctance to invest and the challenging estimation of necessary supporting costs, optimising the archives seems to be one of the hottest topics in the future management of the pathology laboratories. Historically, archives were only partially designed to securely store and organise tissue specimens, and tracking systems were often flawed, posing significant risks to patients’ health and legal ramifications for pathologists.ObjectiveThe current review explores the available data from the literature on archives’ management in pathology, including comprehensive business plans, structure setup, outfit, inventories, ongoing conservation and functional charges.Data sourcesElectronic searches in PubMed-MEDLINE and Embase were made to extract pertinent articles from the literature. Works about the archiving process and storage were included and analysed to extract information. Prepublication servers were ignored. Italian Institutional Regional databases for public competitive bidding processes were queried too.ConclusionsA new emergent feeling in the pathology laboratory is growing for archives management; the digital pathology era is a great opportunity to apply innovation to tracking systems and samples preservation. The main aim is a critical evaluation of the return of investment in developing automatic and tracked archiving processes for improving not only quality, efficacy and efficiency of the labs but also patients’ healthcare.
Leflunomide/hydroxychloroquine combination therapy targets type I IFN-associated proteins in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome that show potential to predict and monitor clinical response
Authors: Hamkour Safae , van der Heijden Eefje HM , Lopes Ana P , Blokland Sofie L M , Bekker Cornelis P J , Van Helden-Meeuwsen Cornelia G , Versnel Marjan A , Kruize Aike A , Radstake Timothy RDJ , Leavis Helen L , Hillen Maarten R , van Roon Joel AG 
Published: August 2023

ObjectivesTo assess to what extent leflunomide (LEF) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) therapy in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (RepurpSS-I) targets type I IFN-associated responses and to study the potential of several interferon associated RNA-based and protein-based biomarkers to predict and monitor treatment.MethodsIn 21 patients treated with LEF/HCQ and 8 patients treated with placebo, blood was drawn at baseline, 8, 16 and 24 weeks. IFN-signatures based on RNA expression of five IFN-associated genes were quantified in circulating mononuclear cells and in whole blood. MxA protein levels were measured in whole blood, and protein levels of CXCL10 and Galectin-9 were quantified in serum. Differences between responders and non-responders were assessed and receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the capacity of baseline expression and early changes (after 8 weeks of treatment) in biomarkers to predict treatment response at the clinical endpoint.ResultsIFN-signatures in peripheral blood mononuclear cell and whole blood decreased after 24 weeks of LEF/HCQ treatment, however, changes in IFN signatures only poorly correlated with changes in disease activity. In contrast to baseline IFN signatures, baseline protein concentrations of galectin-9 and decreases in circulating MxA and Galectin-9 were robustly associated with clinical response. Early changes in serum Galectin-9 best predicted clinical response at 24 weeks (area under the curve 0.90).ConclusionsLEF/HCQ combination therapy targets type-I IFN-associated proteins that are associated with strongly decreased B cell hyperactivity and disease activity. IFN-associated Galectin-9 is a promising biomarker for treatment prediction and monitoring in pSS patients treated with LEF/HCQ.
To treat or not to treat? Current attitudes on treatment aimed at modifying the disease burden in clinically suspect arthralgia: a survey among participants of the TREAT EARLIER trial and healthcare professionals
Authors: Krijbolder Doortje I , Khidir Sarah J H , van der Helm-van Mil Annette HM 
Published: August 2023

ObjectivesWhile awaiting therapies accomplishing rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-prevention in individuals at-risk, recent evidence supports that a 1-year methotrexate treatment may lead to sustained reduction in disease burden and subclinical joint inflammation in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA). We aimed to study the previously unexplored attitudes of CSA patients and rheumatologists on 1-year DMARD treatment in the arthralgia phase to reduce the disease burden, while not preventing RA.MethodsCSA patients who participated in the TREAT EARLIER trial, thus being expert by experience, were informed on the trial results. Thereafter they completed an anonymous questionnaire about their attitudes on treatment in the CSA phase. We used the same approach for Dutch healthcare professionals in rheumatology.ResultsThe majority of trial participants (85%) considered the effects of the 1-year treatment as found in the TREAT EARLIER trial, beneficial in the symptomatic at-risk stage. 79% would recommend a 1-year methotrexate course to others with comparable joint complaints. Two-thirds indicated RA prevention and improving disease burden to be equally important treatment goals in the CSA phase. Most healthcare professionals (88%) were inclined to prescribe 1-year treatment to CSA patients aimed at long-term improvement of symptoms and functioning, while not preventing RA development. 59% believed the profits of a 1-year methotrexate course to outweigh disadvantages, for example, side effects.ConclusionsA considerable willingness exists among CSA patients and rheumatologists to start a 1-year treatment resulting in long-term improvement of symptoms and functioning, while not preventing RA. This emphasises the need for more research optimising treatment regimens and disease monitoring in individuals at-risk to facilitate such treatment decisions in the future, while avoiding an intervention, either limited or for a prolonged period, which may have harms that outweigh benefits.Trial registration numberThe Netherlands Trials Registry (NTR4853-trial-NL4599). EudraCT number: NL2014-004472-35.
Are cleaning activities a source of exposure to crystalline silica in women with rheumatoid arthritis? A case–control study
Authors: Sigaux Johanna , Cavalin Catherine , Lescoat Alain , El Rharras Sarah , Macchi Odile , Brillet Pierre-Yves , Sesé Lucile , Nunes Hilario , Boissier Marie-Christophe , Rosental Paul-André , Semerano Luca 
Published: August 2023

IntroductionInhalation of crystalline silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) is associated with a wide range of acute and chronic diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objectives of this work were to identify the main sources of exposure to SiO2in a series of patients with RA not selected on the basis of their professional activity, compared with a representative sample of the French general population, and to assess the association between silica exposure and disease features.MethodsThe Dust Exposure Life-Course Questionnaire (DELCQ) is a tool that enables retrospective quantification of both occupational and non-occupational lifetime exposure to SiO2. DELCQ—previously validated in a large representative sample of the French general population—was administered to 97 consecutive RA patients, and exposure scores were compared between cases and age, gender and smoking status-matched controls (1:4). The main sources of SiO2exposure were identified in cases and controls, and source-specific exposure levels were compared. The association between DELCQ scores and disease variables in cases was tested via univariable and multivariable analyses.ResultsIn women with RA, the main sources of SiO2exposure were cleaning activities and dusty clothes laundry, with higher exposure levels from these sources versus the general population (p<0.005). Across the whole series of RA patients, high SiO2exposure was independently associated with mediastinal lymphadenopathy (OR 6.3, 95% CI 1.4 to 27.7).ConclusionCleaning activities and dusty clothes laundry may be underestimated sources of SiO2exposure in women with RA.
On a new proof of the Okuyama–Sakai conjecture
Authors: Yang Di , Zhang Qingsheng 
Published: August 2023

Okuyama and Sakai [JT supergravity and Brézin–Gross–Witten tau-function, J. High Energy Phys. 2020 (2020) 160] gave a conjectural equality for the higher genus generalized Brézin–Gross–Witten (BGW) free energies. In a recent work [D. Yang and Q. Zhang, On the Hodge-BGW correspondence, preprint (2021), arXiv:2112.12736], we established the Hodge-BGW correspondence on the relationship between certain special cubic Hodge integrals and the generalized BGW correlators, and a proof of the Okuyama–Sakai conjecture was also given ibid. In this paper, we give a new proof of the Okuyama–Sakai conjecture by a further application of the Dubrovin–Zhang theory for the KdV hierarchy.
Comment on: “The structural, elastic, electronic and optical properties of MgCu under pressure: A first-principles study”
Authors: Anand K. , Rajesh K. , Sharma V. S. 
Published: August 2023

Rahman et al. [International Journal of Mod. Phys. B 30, 1650199 (2016)] found that MgCu intermetallic compound with CsCl-type (B2) structure becomes unstable under pressure at about 15[Formula: see text]GPa. This prediction has been made using an elastic instability condition for second-order elastic constants given by Born. They determined the elastic constants using Hooke’s law for the linear stress–strain relationship which does not hold good at high pressures. It has been shown here that the values of elastic constants for MgCu at high pressures determined by Rahman et al. are not consistent with the values of bulk modulus computed from the Birch–Murnaghan equation of state (BM-EOS). We have used the Tallon formulation based on the thermodynamics of elastic deformation to estimate elastic constants which yields results for the bulk modulus of MgCu at different pressures in good agreement with those determined from the BM-EOS. It has been found that MgCu remains stable up to about 20 GPa which is significantly higher than the limit of elastic stability predicted by Rahman et al.
The UK National Geological Repository: a case study in innovation
Authors: Howe Michael P. A. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The UK National Geological Repository (UKNGR) is the largest collection of British geoscience samples, with 16 m ‘specimens’, including 600 km of drillcore. Samples are available for study/subsampling by commercial organizations and researchers. Data, reports and publications must be returned. Raw data are available after 2 years.
The scientific method requires published results to be repeatable, necessitating the archiving of samples. Re-purposing samples for new research saves money and time and thereby reduces risk. The National Geological Repository (NGR) has cost over £200 bn to collect and the cost of a single deep cored borehole would be outside the funding of most research projects, so the operation of an NGR makes financial sense. Many of the boreholes have been extensively characterized, so new research can build on the wealth of published data.
The NGR has been at the forefront of international efforts to utilize digitization and the World Wide Web to improve the impact of the collections. Geographical information system (GIS) access was provided to the onshore borehole collection in 2000, and GIS access and text searching were added to the other collections over the next 10 years. This was followed by high-resolution images of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) cores, petrological thin-sections, and images, stereo anaglyphs and 3D-digital models of British-type fossils.
The role of core in twenty-first century reservoir characterization: an introduction
Authors: Neal Adrian , Ashton Michael , Bowman Mike , Hern Caroline Y. , Levell Bruce 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The first two decades of the twenty-first century have seen significant advances across a wide range of reservoir characterization techniques, from microscale digital rock physics to macroscale 3D and 4D seismic. At the same time, industry downturns and the requirements of the energy transition have demanded improved understanding of the value and impact of subsurface data to justify their acquisition and commercial relevance. Despite changing technologies and demands, the acquisition, description and analysis of core remains a fundamental tool in managing subsurface uncertainty and associated risk. Value continues to be created in relation to the reservoir property, sedimentological, diagenetic and structural characterization of subsurface reservoirs, and these are the focus of the Core Values volume. The enduring business impact of core reflects advances in acquisition methods and laboratory-based core analysis (Theme 1 of the volume); the recent development of multi-sensor core scanning and associated artificial intelligence (AI) tools that allow unprecedented high-resolution data collection and visualization (Theme 2); the integration of core-derived data with new complementary technologies, leading to improved characterization of both cored and uncored intervals (Theme 3); the changing nature and role of legacy core collections due to digitization and improved data access (Theme 4). These are complemented by the need to better understand both existing hydrocarbon resources and other subsurface energy-related systems, particularly CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage), geothermal energy and the long-term storage of nuclear waste (Theme 5). Through the energy transition core will remain the ground truth foundation to any subsurface understanding and evaluation. At the same time, the technologies available to maximize the applied value of core will continue to develop and evolve, with the integration of diverse and complex core-derived and core-related datasets becoming the norm. Even in the face of AI's impact and value in handling such datasets, those earth scientists who can effectively analyse, interpret and integrate core will still be best placed to meet the subsurface challenges of the future.