bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A mixed methods study of attitudes on location of gynaecological oncology outpatient care: a patient and healthcare professional questionnaire
Authors: Newhouse Rebecca , Cullimore Victoria , Hotton Emily , Maxwell Hilary , Jones Eleanor , Morrison Jo 
Published: August 2023

AbstractObjectiveGynaecological oncology place of care is often based on evolution of services, along historical professional boundaries, rather than user needs or preferences. We aimed to assess existing evidence, gather views of patients in the United Kingdom (UK) on their preferred place of outpatient care for gynaecological malignancies and evaluate alignment with preferences of healthcare professionals.MethodsWe performed a mixed methods study, including a scoping review, a patient survey, and a health care practitioner questionnaire. We collected quantitative and qualitative data, performing content analysis to determine current practice and impact on patients.ResultsWe performed a mixed methods study, using a scoping review of the literature, patient survey and a healthcare practitioner (HCP) questionnaire, collecting quantitative and qualitative data. No studies were identified in our scoping review. We received responses from 159 patients and 54 gynaecological oncology HCPs. There was a strong preference for a dedicated gynaecological oncology setting (89% somewhat or very happy) (P<0.0001). 53% of patients were somewhat or very unhappy to have care co-located with general obstetrics and gynaecology services. Specifically, two key themes were identified through content analysis of qualitative data from patients: “environment and getting this right is vital”; and “our cancer should be the priority”. HCPs un-der-estimated the strong patient-preference to be seen in dedicated units. Of those who see patients within general obstetrics and gynaecology, only 50% said patients were seen at separate times/locations from obstetric patients.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the significant impact of place of care on gynaecological oncology patients, which may be underestimated by HCPs.Key messagesWhat is already known on this topicStudies have shown that design of healthcare environment can significantly affect patient care, but have focussed on environmental factors, rather than co-location of services.What this study addsGynaecological oncology patients indicated that co-location of clinics with general obstetrics and gynaecology was psychologically distressing or inappropriate, as they were at a different point in their life journey.Patients have a strong preference for their outpatient care to be provided in a dedicated gynaecologic oncology setting, away from women and children’s services.However, gynaecologic oncology services were frequently co-located with general obstetrics and gynaecology services, reflecting evolution of the subspeciality and service development, rather than patient need.How this study might affect research, practice or policyIt is important to advocate for gynaecological oncology patients, to ensure that healthcare service infrastructure is designed around patient need, not historical professional boundaries.
How do gender norms contribute to stunting in Ntchisi District, Malawi? A qualitative study
Authors: Mphangwe Whitney , Nolan Ann , Vallieres Frédérique , Finn Mairéad 
Published: August 2023

AbstractBackground and AimDespite adequate food production and nutrition intervention coverage, stunting remains an enduring problem in Ntchisi, Malawi. Globally, gender and social norms are known to influence nutritional outcomes in children. This study explores how gender norms contribute to child stunting, in Ntchisi district, Central Malawi.Research MethodsInformed by the UNICEF Framework for Malnutrition, nine focus group discussions were conducted with mothers (n=24), fathers (n=23), and members of policy and health treatment committees (n=21), spanning three different areas of Ntchisi district. Data were analysed through inductive thematic analysis, guided by the framework for Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGs).ResultsThree primary themes were identified: 1) gender unequal decision making on the consumption, sale and distribution of food; 2) enshrined community norms influence feeding practices underpinned by gender-based violence; and 3) policy disconnections and gaps that reinforce gender norms regarding nutrition. Themes encompassed practices across household, health treatment, and policy level.ConclusionGender norms that underpin inequalities in decision making for production and consumption of food undermine children’s nourishment and contributes towards sustained child malnutrition in Ntchisi. Existing policy documents should revise their guidelines to incorporate gender norms as key determinants of malnutrition.
Computational Strategies in Nutrigenetics: Constructing a Reference Dataset of Nutrition-Associated Genetic Polymorphisms
Authors: De Filippis Giovanni Maria , Monticelli Maria , Pollice Alessandra , Angrisano Tiziana , Hay Mele Bruno , Calabrò Viola 
Published: August 2023

AbstractObjectiveThis study aims to create a comprehensive dataset of human genetic polymorphisms associated with nutrition by integrating data from multiple sources, including the LitVar database, PubMed, and the GWAS catalog. This consolidated resource is intended to facilitate research in nutrigenetics by providing a reliable foundation to explore genetic polymorphisms linked to nutrition-related traits.MethodsWe developed a data integration pipeline to assemble and analyze the dataset. The pipeline performs data retrieval from LitVar and PubMed, data merging to build a unified dataset, definition of comprehensive MeSH queries in order to retrieve relevant genetic associations, and cross-referencing the results with the GWAS data.ResultsThe resulting dataset aggregates extensive information on genetic polymorphisms and nutrition-related traits. Through MeSH query, we identified key genes and SNPs associated with nutrition-related traits. Cross-referencing with GWAS data provided insights on potential effects or risk alleles associated with this genetic polymorphisms. The co-occurrence analysis revealed meaningful gene-diet interactions, advancing personalized nutrition and nutrigenomics research.ConclusionThe dataset presented in this study consolidates and organizes information on genetic polymorphisms associated with nutrition, facilitating detailed exploration of gene-diet interactions. This resource advances personalized nutrition interventions and nutrigenomics research. The dataset is publicly accessible athttps://zenodo.org/records/14052302, its adaptable structure ensures applicability in a broad range of genetic investigations.
Socio-demographic determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Ontario: Exploring differences across the Health Region model
Authors: Ortiz Ariel Mundo , Nasri Bouchra 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a worldwide public health concern. Although vaccines against this disease were rapidly developed, vaccination uptake has not been equal across all the segments of the population. In particular, it has been shown that there have been differences in vaccine uptake across different segments of the population. However, there are also differences in vaccination across geographical areas, which might be important to consider in the development of future public health vaccination policies. In this study, we examined the relationship between vaccination status (having received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine), and different socio-economic and geographical factors. Our results show that between October of 2021 and January of 2022, individuals from underrepresented communities were three times less likely to be vaccinated than White/Caucasian individuals across the province of Ontario in Canada, and that in some cases, within these groups, individuals in low-income brackets had significantly higher odds of vaccination when compared to their peers in high income brackets. Finally, we identified significantly lower odds of vaccination in the Central, East and West Health Regions of Ontario within certain underrepresented groups. This study shows that there is an ongoing need to better understand and address differences in vaccination uptake across diverse segments of the population of Ontario that the pandemic has largely impacted.
Estimates and determinants of health facility delivery in the Birhan cohort in Ethiopia
Authors: Hunegnaw Bezawit M. , Goddard Frederick G. B. , Bekele Delayehu , Haneuse Sebastien , Pons-Duran Clara , Zeleke Mesfin , Mohammed Yahya , Bekele Chalachew , Chan Grace J. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractHealth facility delivery is one of the critical indicators to monitor progress towards the provision of skilled delivery care and reduction in perinatal mortality. In Ethiopia, utilization of health facilities for skilled delivery care has been increasing but varies greatly by region and among specific socio-demography groups. We aim to measure the prevalence and determinants of health facility delivery in the Amhara region in Ethiopia.From December 2018 to November 2020, we conducted a longitudinal study from a cohort of 2801 pregnant women and described the location of delivery and the association with determinants. We interviewed a subset of women who delivered in the community and analyzed responses using the three delays model to understand reasons for not using health facility services. A multivariable poisson regression model with robust error variance was used to estimate the presence and magnitude of association between location of delivery and the determinants.Of the 2,482 pregnant women followed through to birth, 73.6% (n=1,826) gave birth in health facilities, 24.3% (n=604) gave birth at home and 2.1% (n=52) delivered on the way to a health facility. Determinants associated with increased likelihood of delivery at a health facility included formal maternal education, shorter travel times to health facilities, primiparity, higher wealth index and having attended at least one ANC visit. Most common reasons mothers gave for not delivering in a health facility were delays in individual/family decision to seek care. The proportion of deliveries occurring in health facilities is improving but falls below targets. Interventions that focus on the identified social-demographic determinants to improve uptake of health facility delivery care are warranted.
Equivalent Binding Of Sera From Omicron And Delta Period To Future Omicron Subvariants
Authors: Biswas Deepayan , Mahalingam Gokulnath , Subaschandrabose Rajesh Kumar , Priya Sangeetha , Ramachandran Rohini , Suresh Sevanthy , Mathivanan Tamil Venthan , Balu Nelson Vijaykumar , Selvaraj Kavitha , Nellickal Arun Jose , Christudoss Pamela , Samuel Prasanna , Devi KT Ramya , Marepally Srujan , Moorthy Mahesh 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThroughout the COVID-19 pandemic, virus evolution and large-scale vaccination programs have caused multiple exposures to SARS CoV-2 spike protein, resulting in complex antibody profiles. Binding of sera to spike protein of future variants in the context of heterogeneous exposure, has not been studied. We tested archival sera (delta and omicron period) stratified by anti-spike levels for reactivity to omicron subvariant (BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.2.75, BA.4/5 and BF.7) spike. Antibody reactivity to wild-type (CLIA) and subvariants (ELISA) spike were similar between periods (p>0.05). Both High S group and Low S group of delta and omicron periods were closely related to future subvariants by Antigenic Cartography. Anti-spike antibodies to wild type (S1/S2 and Trimeric S) clustered with subvariant-binding antibodies. Low S group interspersed between High S group on hierarchical clustering. Hybrid immunity caused by cumulative virus exposure in delta or omicron periods caused equivalent binding to future variants. Low S antibody group demonstrating similar binding is a prominent finding.
Spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of microRNA alterations
Authors: Tigchelaar Seth Stravers , Wadhwa Harsh , Mathur Maya B. , He Zihuai , Tharin Suzanne 
Published: August 2023

AbstractSpinal cord injury (SCI) often results in life-long disability, lost wages, reduced quality of life, and high economic burden. A bottle neck in the performance of clinical trials exists, in part, due to a lack of diagnostic and prognostic markers of injury severity and neurologic recovery. In addition, while many interventions show promise in preclinical animal models, there are currently no neurorestorative treatments for SCI patients. The development of objective biological markers (biomarkers) and molecular targets for novel treatments for SCI represent two urgent unmet clinical needs. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent promising molecules as objective and informative molecules of injury severity and recovery and as potential therapeutic targets. miRNAs are small, stable, regulatory RNA molecules that are evolutionarily conserved across species. miRNAs represent powerful predictors of pathology, particularly with respect to neurologic disorders. Here, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the conserved inter- and intra-species miRNA changes that occur post-SCI and provide a comprehensive resource for the SCI community. Our analysis identifies a robust set of miRNAs that are involved in the pathophysiologic processes activated in response to SCI.
Computations and neural dynamics of audiovisual causal and perceptual inference in schizophrenia
Authors: Rohe Tim , Hesse Klaus , Ehlis Ann-Christine , Noppeney Uta 
Published: August 2023

AbstractHallucinations and perceptual abnormalities in psychosis are thought to arise from imbalanced integration of prior information and sensory inputs during perceptual inference. In this study, we combined psychophysics, Bayesian modelling and electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate potential changes in perceptual and causal inference in medicated individuals with schizophrenia when exposed to audiovisual sequences with varying numbers of flashes and beeps from either common or independent sources. Our findings reveal that individuals with schizophrenia, like their healthy controls, balance sensory integration and segregation in line with Bayesian causal inference rather than resorting to simpler heuristics. Both groups showed comparable weighting of prior information regarding the signals’ causal structure, with the schizophrenia group slightly overweighting prior information about the number of flashes or beeps. At the neural level, both groups computed Bayesian causal inference through dynamic encoding of perceptual estimates that segregate and flexibly combine audiovisual inputs. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the computational and neural mechanisms of multisensory perceptual and causal inference remain remarkably intact in medicated individuals with schizophrenia during flash-beep scenarios.
Synchrony and amplitude modulation of cortical activity in humans performing manipulative visuomotor tasks
Authors: Aoki F. , Shupe L. , Ojemann G. A. , Fetz E. E. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractSynchrony of oscillatory brain activity has been postulated to be a binding mechanism for cognitive and motor functions. Spectral analysis of human electrocorticogram (ECoG) in sensorimotor cortex has shown that power density of gamma band activity (30-60 Hz) increased and that of alpha-beta band activity (10-20 Hz) decreased during performance of manipulative visuomotor tasks, indicating that amplitude modulation of the gamma band activity occurred in relation to the task performance. Amplitude modulation may provide evidence for synchrony of local neuronal assembly. However, it does not implement the binding mechanisms for distributed networks that are necessary for cognitive and motor functions. To prove that oscillatory activity mediates a binding mechanism, phase modulation of oscillatory activity in a wide range area should be shown. We performed coherence analysis of the ECoG signals in sensorimotor cortex to study if synchrony of the gamma band activity between these areas occurs in relation to manipulative task performance. The ECoGs were recorded from 14 sites in sensorimotor cortex including hand-arm areas with subdural grid electrodes in four subjects. Coherence estimates in all pair-wise sites were calculated in different frequency bands with 10 Hz widths from 10 to 80 Hz. In all subjects, coherence estimates increased in the lower gamma band (20-50 Hz) during the performance of the manipulative tasks. But coherence in the alpha-beta band (10-20 Hz) also increased even though amplitude modulation did not occur in this frequency band. Coherence estimates increased in site pairs within and between sensory and motor areas, many separated by intervening sites. This interregional synchrony of the alpha-beta and the lower gamma activities may play a role in integration of sensorimotor information. Task-dependent increases in coherence estimates, i.e., greater increases during performance of the manipulative tasks than during the simple tasks, suggest another role of synchrony in attention mechanism. Time-series coherence analysis showed that phase modulation occurred in different timings for activities in the alpha-beta and the lower gamma bands. For the activity in higher gamma band (50-80 Hz), power density increased but coherence estimates decreased. Thus, only amplitude modulation occurred in this frequency band. Altogether these results suggest that oscillatory activities in different frequency bands may reflect different functional roles by modulating neural activity in different ways.
Material Properties of Nonpregnant and Pregnant Human Uterine Layers
Authors: Fodera Daniella M. , Russell Serena R. , Lund-Jackson Johanna L. , Fang Shuyang , Chen Xiaowei , Vink Joy-Sarah Y. , Oyen Michelle L. , Myers Kristin M. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe uterus has critical biomechanical functions in pregnancy and undergoes dramatic material growth and remodeling from implantation to parturition. The intrinsic material properties of the human uterus and how they evolve in pregnancy are poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap and assess the heterogeneity of these tissues, the time-dependent material properties of all human uterine layers were measured with nanoindentation. The endometrium-decidua layer was found to be the least stiff, most viscous, and least permeable layer of the human uterus in nonpregnant and third-trimester pregnant tissues. In pregnancy, endometrium-decidua becomes stiffer and less viscous with no material property changes observed in the myometrium or perimetrium. Additionally, uterine material properties did not significantly differ between third-trimester pregnant tissues with and without placenta accreta. The foundational data generated by this study will facilitate the development of physiologically accurate models of the human uterus to investigate gynecologic and obstetric disorders.HighlightsHuman uterine layers are distinct, heterogeneous and time-dependentPregnancy alters the material properties of the maternal-fetal interfaceLargest dataset of uterine mechanical properties measured by nanoindentationGraphical Abstract
Screening the human druggable genome identifies ABHD17B as an anti-fibrotic target in hepatic stellate cells
Authors: Li Wenyang , Sparks Robert P. , Sun Cheng , Yang Yang , Pantano Lorena , Kirchner Rory , Weilheimer Arden , Toles Benjamin J. , Chen Jennifer Y. , Moran Sean P. , Barrera Victor , Li Zixiu , Zhou Peng , Brassil Meghan L. , Wrobel David , Sui Shannan J. Ho , Aspnes Gary , Schuler Michael , Smith Jennifer , Medoff Benjamin D. , Zhou Chan , Boustany-Kari Carine M. , Rippmann Jörg F. , Santos Daniela M. , Doerner Julia F. , Mullen Alan C. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractHepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are activated with chronic liver injury and transdifferentiate into myofibroblasts, which produce excessive extracellular matrices that form the fibrotic scar. While the progression of fibrosis is understood to be the cause of end-stage liver disease, there are no approved therapies directed at interfering with the activity of HSC myofibroblasts. We performed a high-throughput small interfering RNA (siRNA) screen in primary human HSC myofibroblasts to identify gene products necessary for the fibrotic phenotype of HSCs. We found that depletion ofABHD17Bpromotes the inactivation of HSCs, characterized by reducedCOL1A1andACTA2expression and accumulation of lipid droplets. Mice deficient forAbhd17bare also protected from fibrosis in the setting ofin vivoliver injury. While ABHD17B is a depalmitoylase, our data suggest that ABHD17B promotes fibrosis through pathways independent of depalmitoylation that include interaction with MYO1B to modulate gene expression and HSC migration. Together, our results provide an analysis of the phenotypic consequences for siRNAs targeting RNAs from >9,500 genes in primary human HSCs and identify ABHD17B as a potential therapeutic target to inhibit liver fibrosis.
Purifying selection and adaptive evolution proximate to the zoonosis of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Townsend Jeffrey P. , Gaughran Stephen , Hassler Hayley B. , Fisk J. Nicholas , Nagib Mofeed , Wu Yinfei , Wang Yaning , Wang Zheng , Galvani Alison P. , Dornburg Alex 
Published: August 2023

AbstractOver the past two decades the pace of spillovers from animal viruses to humans has accelerated, with COVID-19 becoming the most deadly zoonotic disease in living memory. Prior to zoonosis, it is conceivable that the virus might largely be subjected to purifying selection, requiring no additional selective changes for successful zoonotic transmission. Alternatively, selective changes occurring in the reservoir species may coincidentally preadapt the virus for human-to-human transmission, facilitating spread upon cross-species exposure. Here we quantify changes in the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 proximate to zoonosis to evaluate the selection pressures acting on the viruses. Application of molecular-evolutionary and population-genetic approaches to quantify site-specific selection within both SARS-CoV genomes revealed strong purifying selection across many genes at the time of zoonosis. Even in the viral surface-protein Spike that has been fast-evolving in humans, there is little evidence of positive selection proximate to zoonosis. Nevertheless, in SARS-CoV-2, NSP12, a core protein for viral replication, exhibited a region under adaptive selection proximate to zoonosis. Furthermore, in both SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2, regions of adaptive selection proximate to zoonosis were found in ORF7a, a putative Major Histocompatibility Complex modulatory gene. These findings suggest that these replication and immunomodulatory proteins have played a previously underappreciated role in the adaptation of SARS coronaviruses to human hosts.