bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Early visual alterations in individuals at-risk of Alzheimer’s disease: a multidisciplinary approach
Authors: López-Cuenca Inés , Nebreda Alberto , García-Colomo Alejandra , Salobrar-García Elena , de Frutos-Lucas Jaisalmer , Bruña Ricardo , Ramírez Ana I. , Ramirez-Toraño Federico , Salazar Juan J. , Barabash Ana , Gil Pedro , Maestú Fernando , Ramírez José M. , de Hoz Rosa 
Published: January 2023

AbstractBackgroundThe earliest pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) appear decades before the clinical symptoms. The pathology affects the brain and the eye, leading to retinal structural changes and functional visual alterations. Healthy individuals at high risk of developing AD present alterations in these ophthalmological measures, as well as in resting-state electrophysiological activity. However, it is unknown whether the ophthalmological alterations are related to the visual-related electrophysiological activity. Elucidating this relationship is paramount to understand the mechanisms underlying the early deterioration of the system and an important step in assessing the suitability of these measures as early biomarkers of disease.MethodsIn total, 144 healthy subjects: 105 with family history of AD and 39 without, underwent ophthalmologic analysis, magnetoencephalography recording, and genotyping. A subdivision was made to compare groups with less demographic and more risk differences: 28 high-risk subjects (relatives/APOEɛ4 +) and 16 low-risk (non-relatives/APOEɛ4 −).Differences in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and macular thickness were evaluated. Correlations between each variable and visual-related electrophysiological measures (M100 latency and time–frequency power) were calculated for each group.ResultsHigh-risk groups showed increased visual acuity. Visual acuity was also related to a lower M100 latency and a greater power time–frequency cluster in the high-risk group. Low-risk groups did not show this relationship. High-risk groups presented trends towards a greater contrast sensitivity that did not remain significant after correction for multiple comparisons. The highest-risk group showed trends towards the thinning of the inner plexiform and inner nuclear layers that did not remain significant after correction. The correlation between contrast sensitivity and macular thickness, and the electrophysiological measures were not significant after correction. The difference between the high- and low- risk groups correlations was no significant.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind, assessing the relationship between ophthalmological and electrophysiological measures in healthy subjects at distinct levels of risk of AD. The results are novel and unexpected, showing an increase in visual acuity among high-risk subjects, who also exhibit a relationship between this measure and visual-related electrophysiological activity. These results have not been previously explored and could constitute a useful object of research as biomarkers for early detection and the evaluation of potential interventions’ effectiveness.
CT and MR imaging features of mixed neuroendocrine–non-neuroendocrine neoplasm of the pancreas compared with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumor
Authors: Zhong Yanqi , Zhang Heng , Wang Xian , Sun Zongqiong , Ge Yuxi , Dou Weiqiang , Hu Shudong 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Objective
This study aimed to assess the computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of pancreatic mixed neuroendocrine–non-neuroendocrine neoplasm (MiNEN) and compare them with those of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and neuroendocrine tumor (NET).

Methods
Twelve patients with pancreatic MiNEN, 24 patients with PDAC, and 24 patients with NET, who underwent both contrast-enhanced CT and MRI, were included. Clinical data and the key imaging features were retrospectively evaluated by two independent readers and compared between MiNEN and PDAC or NET. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to obtain predictors for pancreatic MiNEN.

Results
Patients with pancreatic MiNEN more frequently presented with large size and heterogeneous and cystic components compared with PDAC (p < 0.031) and ill-defined irregular margins, progressive enhancement, and adjacent organ involvement compared with NET (p < 0.036). However, vascular invasion was less commonly seen in MiNEN than PDAC (p = 0.010). Moderate enhancement was observed more frequently in MiNEN than in PDAC or NET (p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic analyses demonstrated that moderate enhancement and ill-defined irregular margin were the most valuable features for the prediction of pancreatic MiNEN (p ≤ 0.044). The combination of the two features resulted in a specificity of 93.8%, sensitivity of 83.3%, and accuracy of 91.7%.

Conclusions
We have mainly described the radiological findings of pancreatic MiNEN with ill-defined irregular margin and moderate enhancement compared with PDAC and NET. The combination of imaging features could improve diagnostic efficiency and help in the selection of the correct treatment method.
Predictive biomarkers for the responsiveness of recurrent glioblastomas to activated killer cell immunotherapy
Authors: Hwang Sohyun , Lim Jaejoon , Kang Haeyoun , Jeong Ju-Yeon , Joung Je-Gun , Heo Jinhyung , Jung Daun , Cho Kyunggi , An Hee Jung 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background
Recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive primary malignant brain tumor that is resistant to existing treatments. Recently, we reported that activated autologous natural killer (NK) cell therapeutics induced a marked increase in survival of some patients with recurrent GBM.

Methods
To identify biomarkers that predict responsiveness to NK cell therapeutics, we examined immune profiles in tumor tissues using NanoString nCounter analysis and compared the profiles between 5 responders and 7 non-responders. Through a three-step data analysis, we identified three candidate biomarkers (TNFRSF18, TNFSF4, and IL12RB2) and performed validation with qRT-PCR. We also performed immunohistochemistry and a NK cell migration assay to assess the function of these genes.

Results
Responders had higher expression of many immune-signaling genes compared with non-responders, which suggests an immune-active tumor microenvironment in responders. The random forest model that identified TNFRSF18, TNFSF4, and IL12RB2 showed a 100% accuracy (95% CI 73.5–100%) for predicting the response to NK cell therapeutics. The expression levels of these three genes by qRT-PCR were highly correlated with the NanoString levels, with high Pearson’s correlation coefficients (0.419 (TNFRSF18), 0.700 (TNFSF4), and 0.502 (IL12RB2)); their prediction performance also showed 100% accuracy (95% CI 73.54–100%) by logistic regression modeling. We also demonstrated that these genes were related to cytotoxic T cell infiltration and NK cell migration in the tumor microenvironment.

Conclusion
We identified TNFRSF18, TNFSF4, and IL12RB2 as biomarkers that predict response to NK cell therapeutics in recurrent GBM, which might provide a new treatment strategy for this highly aggressive tumor.
Personality traits among major depressive disorder in southern Thailand: a hospital-based case–control study
Authors: Pitanupong Jarurin , Sa-i Adchara 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background
Residual depression can cause functional impairment. This study aimed to assess personality traits among individuals with depression, to compare the results with personality traits found in outpatients without psychiatric disorders recruited from general practitioner settings, and to study the association between personality traits and the age-onset of depression, duration of treatment, and the presence of depressive residual symptoms.

Methods
A case–control study surveyed Thai individuals with depression and outpatients without psychiatric disorders recruited from general practitioner settings at an outpatient clinic of Songklanagarind hospital, in 2022. The questionnaires were: (1) demographic data, (2) the PHQ-9 Thai version, and (3) the International Personality Item Pool-NEO (IPIP-NEO) Thai version. The difference between personality traits and the assigned clinical group were analyzed using the Student’s t-test and the Wilcoxon rank sum test. A generalized linear model was performed to examine differences of personality traits between the assigned clinical group (case–control), and the presence of depressive residual symptoms. The association between personality traits and treatment profiles was assessed by using an analysis of the variance test and the Kruskal–Wallis test.

Results
In regards to 73 individuals with depression in the case group, and 73 gender-and age-matched outpatients without psychiatric disorders recruited from general practitioner settings in the control group; 78.1% of cases and 82.2% of controls were female. Thirty-eight (52.1%) cases had depressive residual symptoms. Regarding the IPIP-NEO Thai version, there was a statistically significant difference in Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness domains between the case and the control groups. In comparison to the control group, the case group scored higher on the Neuroticism domain, and lower on the Extraversion and Conscientiousness domains. Every 0.18-point reduction in the Neuroticism score and every 0.09-point increment in regards to the Openness score were associated with a 1-year increment of age-onset of depression. This study found an association between a higher score of Neuroticism and a lower score of Conscientiousness with the presence of depressive residual symptoms.

Conclusion
Different personality profiles were found between individuals with depression and outpatients without psychiatric disorders recruited from general practitioner settings. Individuals with depressive residual symptoms featured a higher score of Neuroticism and a lower score of Conscientiousness. A higher score of Neuroticism and a lower score of Openness were associated with age-onset of depression, but no personality traits were associated with treatment duration.
Radiogenomic association of deep MR imaging features with genomic profiles and clinical characteristics in breast cancer
Authors: Liu Qian , Hu Pingzhao 
Published: January 2023

AbstractBackgroundIt has been believed that traditional handcrafted radiomic features extracted from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of tumors are normally shallow and low-ordered. Recent advancement in deep learning technology shows that the high-order deep radiomic features extracted automatically from tumor images can capture tumor heterogeneity in a more efficient way. We hypothesize that MRI-based deep radiomic phenotypes have significant associations with molecular profiles of breast cancer tumors. We aim to identify deep radiomic features (DRFs) from MRI, evaluate their significance in predicting breast cancer (BC) clinical characteristics and explore their associations with multi-level genomic factors.MethodsA denoising autoencoder was built to retrospectively extract 4,096 DRFs from 110 BC patients’ MRI. Visualization and clustering were applied to these DRFs. Linear Mixed Effect models were used to test their associations with multi-level genomic features (GFs) (risk genes, gene signatures, and biological pathway activities) extracted from the same patients’ mRNA expression profile. A Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator model was used to identify the most predictive DRFs for each clinical characteristic (tumor size (T), lymph node metastasis (N), estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status).ResultsThirty-six conventional radiomic features (CRFs) for 87 of the 110 BC patients provided by a previous study were used for comparison. More than 1,000 DRFs were associated with the risk genes, gene signatures, and biological pathways activities (adjustedP-value < 0.05). DRFs produced better performance in predicting T, N, ER, PR, and HER2 status (AUC > 0.9) using DRFs. These DRFs showed significant powers of stratifying patients, linking to relevant biological and clinical characteristics. As a contrast, only eight risk genes were associated with CRFs. The RFs performed worse in predicting clinical characteristics than DRFs.ConclusionsThe deep learning-based auto MRI features perform better in predicting BC clinical characteristics, which are more significantly associated with GFs than traditional semi-auto MRI features. Our radiogenomic approach for identifying MRI-based imaging signatures may pave potential pathways for the discovery of genetic mechanisms regulating specific tumor phenotypes and may enable a more rapid innovation of novel imaging modalities, hence accelerating their translation to personalized medicine.
Artificial intelligence for differentiating COVID-19 from other viral pneumonias on CT: comparative analysis of different models based on quantitative and radiomic approaches
Authors: Zorzi Giulia , Berta Luca , Rizzetto Francesco , De Mattia Cristina , Felisi Marco Maria Jacopo , Carrazza Stefano , Nerini Molteni Silvia , Vismara Chiara , Scaglione Francesco , Vanzulli Angelo , Torresin Alberto , Colombo Paola Enrica 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background
To develop a pipeline for automatic extraction of quantitative metrics and radiomic features from lung computed tomography (CT) and develop artificial intelligence (AI) models supporting differential diagnosis between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other viral pneumonia (non-COVID-19).

Methods
Chest CT of 1,031 patients (811 for model building; 220 as independent validation set (IVS) with positive swab for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (647 COVID-19) or other respiratory viruses (384 non-COVID-19) were segmented automatically. A Gaussian model, based on the HU histogram distribution describing well-aerated and ill portions, was optimised to calculate quantitative metrics (QM, n = 20) in both lungs (2L) and four geometrical subdivisions (GS) (upper front, lower front, upper dorsal, lower dorsal; n = 80). Radiomic features (RF) of first (RF1, n = 18) and second (RF2, n = 120) order were extracted from 2L using PyRadiomics tool. Extracted metrics were used to develop four multilayer-perceptron classifiers, built with different combinations of QM and RF: Model1 (RF1-2L); Model2 (QM-2L, QM-GS); Model3 (RF1-2L, RF2-2L); Model4 (RF1-2L, QM-2L, GS-2L, RF2-2L).

Results
The classifiers showed accuracy from 0.71 to 0.80 and area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AUC) from 0.77 to 0.87 in differentiating COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Best results were associated with Model3 (AUC 0.867 ± 0.008) and Model4 (AUC 0.870 ± 0.011. For the IVS, the AUC values were 0.834 ± 0.008 for Model3 and 0.828 ± 0.011 for Model4.

Conclusions
Four AI-based models for classifying patients as COVID-19 or non-COVID-19 viral pneumonia showed good diagnostic performances that could support clinical decisions.
Pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricular free wall occurring after cardiac surgery of endocarditis affecting mitral and aortic valves: a case report
Authors: El Hadj Sidi Chighaly , Isselmou Varha , Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Feissal , Diop El Hadj Abdelaziz , Argueina Taleb Ekhyar , Mady Haimouda , Boye Khaled 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Background
Infective endocarditis remains a serious condition. Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm may complicate the clinical course of infective endocarditis or occur postoperatively.

Case presentation
We describe a case of a pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricular lateral wall which developed one month following cardiac surgery of active endocarditis affecting aortic and mitral valves. The diagnosis was established by transthoracic echocardiography and computed tomography angiography of the chest. Urgent cardiac surgery is performed with excision of the pseudoaneurysm and direct closure of the defect. The patient had a complete recovery and was discharged on the twelfth postoperative day.

Conclusions
Left ventricular pseudoaneurysms are rare but potentially fatal. The symptoms revealing such complications are very diverse. Surgical treatment can be offered to younger patients.
Emerging steel frames with Fe-SMA U-shaped dampers for enhancing seismic resilience
Authors: Zhang Zhe-Xi , Zhang Jie , Fang Cheng , Zhang Yuelin , Li Yuanmu 
Published: January 2023

AbstractPost-earthquake financial loss of structures induced by residual inter-story deformation (RID) has been recently noticed and various strategies have been proposed. A newly-emerged energy-dissipation material, namely, iron-based shape-memory-alloy (Fe-SMA), has gain favor in civil engineering community due to its extraordinary low-cycle fatigue resistance property. Besides, Fe-SMA is believed to help improve structure’s post-earthquake residual inter-story deformation control capacity due to its moderate strain hardening behavior and pseudo-elasticity. This study explores the performance of emerging steel frame systems equipped with energy-dissipation devices fabricated with Fe-SMA. In particular, a brace with built-in Fe-SMA-based U-shaped strips (USSs) is employed serving as the energy-dissipation devices in the proposed system. In this paper, the basic mechanical properties of Fe-SMA are discussed firstly, followed by a description of the working principle of the USSs. The hysteresis behavior of two types of USSs, fabricated with Fe-SMA and conventional mild steel (Q235), were investigated experimentally. Based on the test results, numerical models for the prototype braces equipped with USSs are established using ABAQUS and OpenSEES, and the necessary key material parameters are calibrated. Subsequently, system-level analysis is performed on 5-story prototype steel buildings. Specially, two types of steel frames, i.e., frames with high-strength-steel columns and frames with conventional structural steel-based columns, are established. Concurrently, braces with Fe-SMA-based USSs as well as mild steel-based USSs are considered. The results demonstrated that the Fe-SMA-based energy-dissipation devices along with the steel frames with high-strength-steel columns can provide the most satisfied RID control effectiveness compared with the other yielding structural systems investigated in this paper.
Visualizing the ultra-structure of microorganisms using table-top extreme ultraviolet imaging
Authors: Liu Chang , Eschen Wilhelm , Loetgering Lars , Penagos Molina Daniel S. , Klas Robert , Iliou Alexander , Steinert Michael , Herkersdorf Sebastian , Kirsche Alexander , Pertsch Thomas , Hillmann Falk , Limpert Jens , Rothhardt Jan 
Published: January 2023

AbstractTable-top extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscopy offers unique opportunities for label-free investigation of biological samples. Here, we demonstrate ptychographic EUV imaging of two dried, unstained model specimens: germlings of a fungus (Aspergillus nidulans), and bacteria (Escherichia coli) cells at 13.5 nm wavelength. We find that the EUV spectral region, which to date has not received much attention for biological imaging, offers sufficient penetration depths for the identification of intracellular features. By implementing a position-correlated ptychography approach, we demonstrate a millimeter-squared field of view enabled by infrared illumination combined with sub-60 nm spatial resolution achieved with EUV illumination on selected regions of interest. The strong element contrast at 13.5 nm wavelength enables the identification of the nanoscale material composition inside the specimens. Our work will advance and facilitate EUV imaging applications and enable further possibilities in life science.
Using the hearing in noise test (HINT) in the assessment of the performance of directional microphone
Authors: Kamal Wafaa Ahmed , Essawy Wessam Mostafa , Emara Afaf Ahmad , El-Gharib Amani Mohamed 
Published: January 2023

Abstract
Objectives
Hearing in noise test (HINT) is used to evaluate and compare the performance of different hearing aid. This research was designed to compare the performance of a fixed directional microphone (FDM) and an automatic adaptive directional microphone (AADM) with different noise directions using aided Arabic HINT.

Methods
Control group (CG): 20 normal peripheral hearing adults. Study group (SG): 40 adults with bilateral symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. Arabic HINT was performed in three noise situations at 0°, 90°, and 270° azimuths for both groups. For SG, test was done in 4 conditions: condition (I), without hearing aid; condition (II), aided response with omnidirectional microphone; condition (III), aided response with FDM; and condition (IV), aided response with AADM.

Results
For all azimuths, there was a statistically considerable difference between CG and SG in all conditions. Also, there was a statistically significant difference between SG conditions I and II and II and III. But no statistically significant difference was observed between conditions III and IV when the noise was at 90° and 270° azimuths.

Conclusion
AADM is the best choice of selection in hearing aid fitting, and it performs better in noise, especially when the noise and speech are in front of the patient.
Prospective cohort study of patients with stage III colorectal cancer aged ≥ 80 years who underwent curative resection: The HiSCO-04 study.
Authors: Shimomura Manabu , Ikeda Satoshi , Nakahara Masahiro , Adachi Tomohiro , Saitoh Yasufumi , Shimizu Yosuke , Toyota Kazuhiro , Ishizaki Yasuyo , Yoshimitsu Masanori , Takakura Yuji , Shimizu Wataru , Sumitani Daisuke , Kodama Shinya , Fujimori Masahiko , Oeda Mamoru , Kobayashi Hironori , Ohdan Hideki 
Published: January 2023

102 Background: There was no consensus about the safety and effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with stage III colorectal cancer (CRC) aged ≥80 years who underwent curative resection. We conducted a prospective cohort study of patients with stage III CRC aged ≥80 years who underwent curative resection together with a phase II feasibility study on uracil-tegafur and leucovorin (UFT/LV) as adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: This multi-institutional prospective cohort study involved 17 institutions in Hiroshima, Japan. Patients with stage III CRC aged ≥80 years who underwent curative resection were enrolled. We prospectively collected the clinicopathological data including the status of the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy, follow-up, and oncological outcomes. The primary endpoint was three-year disease-free survival (DFS) and secondary endpoints were three-year overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS). Results: From December 2013 to June 2021, 214 patients were examined. There were 99 men and 115 women with the median age of 84 years (range, 80–101). There were stage IIIA diseases in 27 cases, IIIB in 158 cases, and IIIC in 29 cases (TNM eighth edition). Median follow-up time was 42.5 months (range, 0.16–84.04 months). Thirty-six patients died due to CRC and 30 patients died due to other causes. There was recurrence in 58 cases (27.1%), and any treatment was administrated in 29 patients. Secondary cancers were observed in 17 cases in the follow-up period. The three-year DFS was 63.6%, 3-year OS was 76.9%, and 3-year RFS was 63.1%. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administrated in 64 cases and the completion rate was 53%. Adjuvant chemotherapy tends not to be given in older age, poor performance status, high Charlson comorbidity index, and low preoperative prognostic nutritional index. In a study of 80 patients adjusted for background factors using propensity score matching, it was shown that patients who completed planned treatment have improved DFS. Conclusions: Completion of adjuvant chemotherapy may improve prognosis in CRC patients over 80 years of age, but the number of patients who would benefit was limited. Appropriate dose adjustment and supportive care for postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy are important, as well as the need to identify patient groups who will not tolerate chemotherapy.