bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cytomegalovirus durably primes neutrophil oxidative burst
Authors: Marandu Thomas F , Dombek Michael , Gutknecht Michael , Griessl Marion , Riça Ingred Goretti , Vlková Barbora , Macáková Kristína , Panagioti Eleni , Griffith Alec , Lederer James , Yaffe Michael , Shankar Sidharth , Otterbein Leo , Itagaki Kiyoshi , Hauser Carl J , Cook Charles H 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a ubiquitous herpes virus that infects most humans, thereafter persisting lifelong in tissues of the host. It is a known pathogen in immunosuppressed patients, but its impact on immunocompetent hosts remains less understood. Recent data have shown that CMV leaves a significant and long-lasting imprint in host immunity that may confer some protection against subsequent bacterial infection. Such innate immune activation may come at a cost, however, with potential to cause immunopathology. Neutrophils are central to many models of immunopathology, and while acute CMV infection is known to influence neutrophil biology, the impact of chronic CMV infection on neutrophil function remains unreported. Using our murine model of CMV infection and latency, we show that chronic CMV causes persistent enhancement of neutrophil oxidative burst well after resolution of acute infection. Moreover, this in vivo priming of marrow neutrophils is associated with enhanced formyl peptide receptor expression, and ultimately constitutive c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylation and enhanced CD14 expression in/on circulating neutrophils. Finally, we show that neutrophil priming is dependent on viral load, suggesting that naturally infected human hosts will show variability in CMV-related neutrophil priming. Altogether, these findings represent a previously unrecognized and potentially important impact of chronic CMV infection on neutrophil responsiveness in immunocompetent hosts.
Assessment of financial screening and navigation capabilities at National Cancer Institute community oncology clinics
Authors: Bell-Brown Ari , Watabayashi Kate , Delaney Debbie , Carlos Ruth C , Langer Shelby L , Unger Joseph M , Vaidya Riha R , Darke Amy K , Hershman Dawn L , Ramsey Scott D , Shankaran Veena 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Background
Cancer-related financial hardship is a side effect of cancer diagnosis and treatment, and affects both patients and caregivers. Although many oncology clinics have increased financial navigation services, few have resources to proactively provide financial counseling and assistance to families affected by cancer before financial hardship occurs. As part of an ongoing randomized study testing a proactive financial navigation intervention, S1912CD, among sites of the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), we conducted a baseline survey to learn more about existing financial resources available to patients and caregivers.

Methods
The NCORP sites participating in the S1912CD study completed a required 10-question survey about their available financial resources and an optional 5-question survey that focused on financial screening and navigation workflow and challenges prior to starting recruitment. The proportion of NCORP sites offering financial navigation services was calculated and responses to the optional survey were reviewed to determine current screening and navigation practices and identify any challenges.

Results
Most sites (96%) reported offering financial navigation for cancer patients. Sites primarily identified patients needing financial assistance through social work evaluations (78%) or distress screening tools (76%). Sites revealed challenges in addressing financial needs at the outset and through diagnosis, including lack of proactive screening and referral to financial navigation services as well as staffing challenges.

Conclusions
Although most participating NCORP sites offer some form of financial assistance, the survey data enabled identification of gaps and challenges in providing services. Utilizing community partners to deliver comprehensive financial navigation guidance to cancer patients and caregivers may help meet needs while reducing site burden.
Robust functional ANOVA with application to additive manufacturing
Authors: Centofanti Fabio , Colosimo Bianca Maria , Grasso Marco Luigi , Menafoglio Alessandra , Palumbo Biagio , Vantini Simone 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
In this paper, we propose a new robust non-parametric functional analysis of variance method (RoFANOVA) that reduces the weights of outlying curves on the functional analysis of variance. It is implemented through a permutation test based on a test statistic obtained via a functional M-estimator. The performance of the RoFANOVA is demonstrated through an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study, where it is compared with some alternatives already presented in the literature, and a motivating real-case study related to the analysis of spatter ejections in an additive manufacturing process. The RoFANOVA method is implemented in the R package rofanova, available online on CRAN.
“Solidarity with the Most Oppressed Peoples of the Earth”: The Boston Chronicle and Black Internationalist Print Culture, 1945–60
Authors: Lewontin Max 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
This article explores transformations in the Black press during some of the most repressive years of United States and global anticommunism in the 1940s and 1950s. Centering on an examination of the editorial politics of the Boston Chronicle, a daily newspaper founded by Caribbean immigrants in the early twentieth century, it argues that Black leftist internationalism continued to be visible in print despite a repressive political climate shaping the experiences of Black journalists and activists. The Chronicle, a relatively understudied Black newspaper, offers a somewhat different perspective on the evolution of a vibrant, transnational print culture that linked Black freedom struggles in the United States with anticolonial movements in the British Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America. An examination of the Chronicle’s coverage and journalists in a period of deepening anticommunist repression reveals ongoing links between Black activists, anticolonial movements, and the organized left before the 1960s.
Nodule-specific cysteine-rich peptide 343 is required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Medicago truncatula
Authors: Zhang Rui , Shen Yitong , He Juanxia , Zhang Chenyan , Ma Yelin , Sun Chenghui , Song Xiaopan , Li Li , Zhang Sisi , Biró János Barnabás , Saifi Farheen , Kaló Péter , Chen Rujin 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Symbiotic interactions between legumes and rhizobia lead to the development of root nodules and nitrogen fixation by differentiated bacteroids within nodules. Differentiation of the endosymbionts is reversible or terminal, determined by plant effectors. In inverted repeat lacking clade legumes, nodule-specific cysteine-rich (NCR) peptides control the terminal differentiation of bacteroids. Medicago truncatula contains ∼700 NCR-coding genes. However, the role of few NCR peptides has been demonstrated. Here, we report characterization of fast neutron 2106 (FN2106), a symbiotic nitrogen fixation defective (fix−) mutant of M. truncatula. Using a transcript-based approach, together with linkage and complementation tests, we showed that loss-of-function of NCR343 results in impaired bacteroid differentiation and/or maintenance and premature nodule senescence of the FN2106 mutant. NCR343 was specifically expressed in nodules. Subcellular localization studies showed that the functional NCR343-YFP fusion protein colocalizes with bacteroids in symbiosomes in infected nodule cells. Transcriptomic analyses identified senescence-, but not defense-related genes, as being significantly upregulated in ncr343 (FN2106) nodules. Taken together, results from our phenotypic and transcriptomic analyses of a loss-of-function ncr343 mutant demonstrate an essential role of NCR343 in bacteroid differentiation and/or maintenance required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation.
Examining the origins of observed terahertz modes from an optically pumped atomistic model protein in aqueous solution
Authors: Azizi Khatereh , Gori Matteo , Morzan Uriel , Hassanali Ali , Kurian Philip 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The microscopic origins of terahertz (THz) vibrational modes in biological systems are an active and open area of current research. Recent experiments [Phys Rev X. 8, 031061 (2018)] have revealed the presence of a pronounced mode at ∼0.3 THz in fluorophore-decorated bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein in aqueous solution under nonequilibrium conditions induced by optical pumping. This result was heuristically interpreted as a collective elastic fluctuation originating from the activation of a low-frequency phonon mode. In this work, we show that the sub-THz spectroscopic response emerges in a statistically significant manner (&gt;2σ) from such collective behavior, illustrating how photoexcitation can alter specific THz vibrational modes. We revisit the theoretical analysis with proof-of-concept molecular dynamics that introduce optical excitations into the simulations. Using information theory techniques, we show that these excitations can give rise to a multiscale response involving two optically excited chromophores (tryptophans), other amino acids in the protein, ions, and water. Our results motivate new experiments and fully nonequilibrium simulations to probe these phenomena, as well as the refinement of atomistic models of Fröhlich condensates that are fundamentally determined by nonlinear interactions in biology.
The Stroke Upper and Lower Extremity Physical Function Measures Were Supported for Score Reliability, Validity, and Administration Efficiency for Patients Poststroke
Authors: Deutscher Daniel , Kallen Michael A , Hayes Deanna , Werneke Mark W , Mioduski Jerome E , Toczylowski Theresa , Petitti Jessica M , Cook Karon F 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Objective
The aims of this study were to (1) evaluate the suitability of newly developed items for calibration into 2 item banks for stroke upper extremity (SUE) and stroke lower extremity (SLE) physical function (PF) patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and to (2) assess score reliability and validity and PROM administration efficiency based on computerized adaptive testing (CAT).

Methods
A retrospective longitudinal study involving patients poststroke who were treated in outpatient rehabilitation clinics and responded to 28 and 25 region-specific candidate items addressing tasks related to upper or lower extremity PF, respectively, was conducted. Item response theory (IRT) model assumptions of unidimensionality, local independence, item fit, and presence of differential item functioning were evaluated. CAT-generated scores were assessed for reliability, validity, and administration efficiency, and 10-item short forms were assessed for reliability.

Results
Cohorts consisted of 2017 patients with stroke involving the upper extremity and 2107 patients with stroke involving the lower extremity (mean age [SD]: SUE = 62 [14] and SLE = 63 [14]; range = 14–89). Two solutions (SUE: 28-item; SLE: 24-item) supported unidimensionality and fit to the IRT model, with reliability estimates &gt;0.93 for all administration modes. No items demonstrated differential item functioning. Scores discriminated among multiple patient groups in clinically logical ways, with better outcomes observed for patients who were younger, were male, had less chronicity, and had fewer comorbidities. The SUE and SLE, respectively, had 1 and 0.3% floor effects and 4.3 and 1.1% ceiling effects. Change score effect sizes were 0.5 (SUE) and 0.6 (SLE). Simulated CAT scores required an average of 6 (SUE) and 5.6 (SLE) items (median = 5).

Conclusion
The stroke upper extremity and stroke lower extremity PROM scores were reliable, valid, and efficient and had moderate change effect sizes for assessing PF as perceived by patients poststroke with upper and lower extremity impairments. Scores had negligible floor and acceptable ceiling effects. Based on these results, the stroke PROMs are suitable for research and routine clinical practice.

Impact
As IRT-based measures, these PROMs support clinical practice guideline recommendations for the use of outcome measures in neurologic physical therapy and the administration of condition-specific functional questions with low response burden for patients. The 10-item short forms offer a feasible alternative administration mode when CAT administration is not available.
Using Smartphones to Identify Momentary Characteristics of Persecutory Ideation Associated With Functional Disability
Authors: Buck Benjamin , Wingerson Mary , Tauscher Justin S , Enkema Matthew , Wang Weichen , Campbell Andrew T , Ben-Zeev Dror 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Objectives
Though often a feature of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, persecutory ideation (PI) is also common in other psychiatric disorders as well as among individuals who are otherwise healthy. Emerging technologies allow for a more thorough understanding of the momentary phenomenological characteristics that determine whether PI leads to significant distress and dysfunction. This study aims to identify the momentary phenomenological features of PI associated with distress, dysfunction, and need for clinical care.

Methods
A total of 231 individuals with at least moderate PI from 43 US states participated in a study involving 30 days of data collection using a smartphone data collection system combining ecological momentary assessment and passive sensors, wherein they reported on occurrence of PI as well as related appraisals, responses, and cooccurring states. Most (N = 120, 51.9%) participants reported never having received treatment for their PI, while 50 participants had received inpatient treatment (21.6%), and 60 (26.4%) had received outpatient care only.

Results
Individuals with greater functional disability did not differ in PI frequency but were more likely at the moment to describe threats as important to them, to ruminate about those threats, to experience distress related to them, and to change their behavior in response. Groups based on treatment-seeking patterns largely did not differ in baseline measures or momentary phenomenology of PI as assessed by self-report or passive sensors.

Conclusions
Smartphone data collection allows for granular assessment of PI-related phenomena. Functional disability is associated with differences in appraisals of and responses to PI at the moment.
Analysis of reproducibility and robustness of a renal proximal tubule microphysiological system OrganoPlate 3-lane 40 for in vitro studies of drug transport and toxicity
Authors: Sakolish Courtney , Moyer Haley L , Tsai Han-Hsuan D , Ford Lucie C , Dickey Allison N , Wright Fred A , Han Gang , Bajaj Piyush , Baltazar Maria T , Carmichael Paul L , Stanko Jason P , Ferguson Stephen S , Rusyn Ivan 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Microphysiological systems are an emerging area of in vitro drug development, and their independent evaluation is important for wide adoption and use. The primary goal of this study was to test reproducibility and robustness of a renal proximal tubule microphysiological system, OrganoPlate 3-lane 40, as an in vitro model for drug transport and toxicity studies. This microfluidic model was compared with static multiwell cultures and tested using several human renal proximal tubule epithelial cell (RPTEC) types. The model was characterized in terms of the functional transport for various tubule-specific proteins, epithelial permeability of small molecules (cisplatin, tenofovir, and perfluorooctanoic acid) versus large molecules (fluorescent dextrans, 60–150 kDa), and gene expression response to a nephrotoxic xenobiotic. The advantages offered by OrganoPlate 3-lane 40 as compared with multiwell cultures are the presence of media flow, albeit intermittent, and increased throughput compared with other microfluidic models. However, OrganoPlate 3-lane 40 model appeared to offer only limited (eg, MRP-mediated transport) advantages in terms of either gene expression or functional transport when compared with the multiwell plate culture conditions. Although OrganoPlate 3-lane 40 can be used to study cellular uptake and direct toxic effects of small molecules, it may have limited utility for drug transport studies. Overall, this study offers refined experimental protocols and comprehensive comparative data on the function of RPETCs in traditional multiwell culture and microfluidic OrganoPlate 3-lane 40, information that will be invaluable for the prospective end-users of in vitro models of the human proximal tubule.
Faculty and Student Perceptions of Unauthorized Collaborations in the Preclinical Curriculum: Student or System Failure?
Authors: Chen H. Carrie , Brown Kirsten , Hernandez Yvonne M. , Martin Laura E. , Witkop Catherine T. , Aintablian Aleek , Prince Arianna , Artino Anthony R. , Kind Terry , Maggio Lauren A. 
Published: August 2023

Purpose
Unauthorized collaboration among medical students, including the unauthorized provision of assistance and sharing of curricular and assessment materials, is a reported problem. While many faculty view such sharing as academic dishonesty, students do not always perceive these behaviors as problematic. With the trend toward more small-group and team-based learning and the proliferation of resource-sharing and online study aids, collaboration and sharing may have become a student norm. This multi-institutional, qualitative study examined faculty and student perceptions of and student motivations for unauthorized collaboration.

Method
Using a constructivist approach, the authors conducted scenario-prompted semistructured interviews with faculty and students in the preclinical curriculum. Participants were asked to reflect on scenarios of unauthorized collaboration and discuss their perceptions of student motivation and the influence of personal or environmental factors. The authors performed inductive thematic analysis of the interview transcripts using open and axial coding followed by abstraction and synthesis of themes.

Results
Twenty-one faculty and 16 students across 3 institutions were interviewed in 2021. There was variation in perceptions among faculty and among students, but little variation between faculty and students. Both participant groups identified the same 3 areas of tension/themes: faculty/curriculum goals vs student goals, inherent character traits vs modifiable behavioral states, and student relationships with their peer group vs their relationships with the medical education system. Student behaviors were perceived to be influenced by their environment and motivated by the desire to help peers. Participants suggested cultivating trust between students and the education system, environmental interventions, and educating students about acceptable and unacceptable behaviors to prevent unauthorized collaboration.

Conclusions
Given the various tensions and positive motivations behind unauthorized collaborations, institutions should consider explicitly preparing students to make thoughtful decisions when faced with competing priorities in addition to developing mitigation strategies that address the environment and its interactions with students.
Does Masking MCAT Scores During Admissions Increase Equity?
Authors: Arnold Michael J. , Dong Ting , Liotta Robert , Saguil Aaron A. , Durning Steven J. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Purpose
To improve admissions process equity, the Uniformed Services University masked Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores at or above the 51st percentile to admissions committee members. This policy was aimed at improving admissions rates for applicants in 2 priority groups: those from races and ethnicities underrepresented in medicine (URM) and those from lower socioeconomic status, represented by first-generation college (FGC) graduates.

Method
All applicants invited to interview were included: 1,624 applicants from admissions years 2014–2016 before MCAT score masking and 1,668 applicants from admissions years 2018–2020 during MCAT score masking. Logistic regression determined admissions likelihood before and during masking. Independent sample t tests compared average admissions committee scores for all applicants and for those in priority groups. Linear regression determined the weight of MCAT scores on admissions committee scores.

Results
Despite there being more priority group applicants during MCAT score masking, the admissions likelihood for an individual priority group applicant decreased during this period. URM applicants had an odds ratio of 0.513 for acceptance during MCAT score masking compared to before masking, and FGC applicants had an odds ratio of 0.695. Masking significantly reduced mean admissions committee scores, which decreased approximately twice as much for priority group applicants as for nonpriority group applicants (0.96 points vs 0.51 points). These score decreases were highest for priority group applicants with MCAT scores above the 67th percentile. Masking reduced the weight of MCAT scores; 10.9% of admissions committee score variance was explained by MCAT scores before masking and only 1.2% during masking.

Conclusions
Despite known disparities in MCAT scores with respect to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, admissions decisions in this study were more equitable when MCAT scores were included. While masking MCAT scores reduced the influence of the exam in admissions decisions, it also reduced admissions rates for URM and FGC applicants.
Cost-effectiveness of upper extremity arthroplasties at orthopedic specialty hospitals
Authors: Drtil Arin A. , Poondla Revanth K. , Bockhorn Lauren N. , Dunn Warren R. , Hryc Corey F. , Laughlin Mitzi S. , Morris Brent J. 
Published: August 2023

Background:
Major joint/limb reattachment procedures of upper extremities (Diagnosis-related group 483, DRG-483) are increasingly utilized, while average costs have increased yearly. This study seeks to determine the influence of volume, neighborhood demographics, and orthopedic specialization on the cost of DRG-483.

Methods:
Utilization and cost data for DRG-483 was extracted from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) inpatient charge data from 2014-2018. Neighborhood demographic data was queried as USDA Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes (RUCA) from the United States 2010 census and Esri’s ArcMap software. Orthopedic specialization ratios for each hospital (OSR = Musculoskeletal discharges/Total Discharges) was utilized to compare Orthopedic Specialty Hospitals (OSH) = OSR>0.99 and Nonspecialty Hospitals (NSH) = OSR≤0.99. The cost of DRG-483 procedures and the influence of volume, hospital demographics, and orthopedic specialization was analyzed using linear regression models.

Results:
OSH performed DRG-483 procedures at lower average Medicare payments (AMP) than NSH in all years studied (P<0.001), averaging 15% saved per surgery. DRG-483 volume was weakly negatively correlated with AMP, averaging $2.95 saved per discharge. Finally, population density of hospital location was inversely proportional to DRG-483 AMP with metropolitan centers performing the procedure at the lowest cost to the CMS.

Conclusions:
CMS payments are optimized at urban orthopedic specialty hospitals. Eliminating the AMP difference for the 222,519 DRG-483 performed at NSH would have saved CMS over 480 million dollars between 2014-2018.