bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A case report of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in three pulmonary veins presenting a common trunk
Authors: Kujiraoka Hirofumi , Hojo Rintaro , Takahashi Masao , Fukamizu Seiji 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Background
The pulmonary vein (PV) variant is present in 23–38% of patients who undergo atrial fibrillation ablation, and the common inferior PV (CIPV) variant is a rare PV variant that has been reported in 0.9–1.5% of patients. The arrhythmogenicity of the common trunk of the CIPV is unknown.

Case summary
A 77-year-old woman underwent catheter ablation for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). Preoperative computed tomography revealed a common trunk from which the bilateral inferior PVs and a left superior PV originated. The voltage map of the left atrium (LA) showed three PVs stemming from a common trunk. There was a low-voltage area bounded by the common trunk entrance. An isolation line was created to connect the right superior PV and the common trunk. Twelve months later, AF recurred. The voltage map in second session showed residual irregular potentials at the boundary between the common trunk and the LA, and posterior wall isolation was performed. Postoperatively, the patient maintained sinus rhythm with no antiarrhythmic drugs during the 12-month follow-up period.

Discussion
The CIPV is likely to predict the AF recurrence, even if preoperative voltage mapping shows a low voltage area. Substrate modification should be performed on abnormal potentials at the entrance of the common trunk, even though no potential is detected in the PVs or their antrum.
Common diagnostic errors in adults with congenital heart disease
Authors: Celermajer David S , Baker David W , Cordina Rachael L , Gatzoulis Michael , Broberg Craig S 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
Owing to the great advances in the care for children with congenital heart disease by paediatric cardiac surgeons and cardiologists, there are ever increasing numbers of patients with congenital heart disease who reach adult life. At some stage during the late teenage years or soon after, these patients ‘transition’ from paediatric cardiac care to surveillance by cardiologists who look after adults. Many such specialists, however, are more familiar with commoner acquired heart problems such as coronary disease, heart failure, and arrhythmia in structurally normal hearts and less familiar with congenital heart disease. For this reason, international guidelines have suggested that the care of young adults with congenital heart disease take place in designated specialist adult congenital heart disease centres. It remains very important, however, for general cardiologists to have a good understanding of many aspects of adult congenital heart disease, including common pitfalls to avoid and, importantly, when to refer on, to a specialist centre. To help healthcare providers across the spectrum of cardiology practice to address common themes in adult congenital heart disease, this state-of-the-art review provides a series of case vignettes to illustrate frequent diagnostic problems that we have seen in our tertiary-level adult congenital heart disease centres, which are sometimes encountered in general cardiology settings. These include commonly ‘missed’ diagnoses, or errors with diagnosis or management, in these often very complex patients.
Financial Fraud of Older Adults During the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Teaster Pamela B , Roberto Karen A , Savla Jyoti , Du Chenguang , Du Zhiyuan , Atkinson Emily , Shealy E Carlisle , Beach Scott , Charness Neil , Lichtenberg Peter A 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) created a “perfect storm” for financial fraud targeting older adults. Guided by the Contextual Theory of Elder Abuse, we focused on individual and systemic contexts to examine how older adults became prey to financial fraud.

Research Design and Methods
In July 2020, 998 adults who were 60–98 years of age (93% White; 64% female) completed an online survey about experiences with financial fraud. Participants were recruited from gerontology research registries at Florida State University, University of Pittsburg, Virginia Tech, and Wayne State University.

Results
Over half (65.9%) of the respondents experienced a COVID-19-related scam attempt, with charity contributions (49%) and COVID-19 treatments (42%) being the most common. Perpetrators commonly contacted older adults electronically (47%) two or more times (64%). Although most respondents ignored the request (i.e., hung up the phone and deleted text/e-mail), 11.3% sent a requested payment, and 5.3% provided personal information. Predictors of vulnerability included contentment with financial situation, concern about finances in the aftermath of the pandemic, and wishing to talk to someone about financial decisions. Respondents targeted for a non-COVID-19 scam attempt were less likely to be targets of a COVID-19-related scam.

Discussion and Implications
Older adults who were financially secure, worried about their financial situation, or wished they could speak with someone about their financial decisions appeared susceptible to falling victim to a fraud attempt. The high number of attempts indicates a need for a measurable and concerted effort to prevent the financial fraud of older adults.
A machine learning approach to joint gravity and cosmic-ray muon inversion at Mt Usu, Japan
Authors: Cosburn Katherine , Roy Mousumi , Nishiyama Ryuichi 
Published: December 2022

SUMMARY
The ability to accurately and reliably obtain images of shallow subsurface anomalies within the Earth is important for hazard monitoring and a fundamental understanding of many geologic structures, such as volcanic edifices. In recent years, machine learning (ML) has gained increasing attention as a novel approach for addressing complex problems in the geosciences. Here we present an ML-based inversion method to integrate cosmic-ray muon and gravity data sets for shallow subsurface density imaging at a volcano. Starting with an ensemble of random density anomalies, we use physics-based forward calculations to find the corresponding set of expected gravity and muon attenuation observations. Given a large enough ensemble of synthetic density patterns and observations, the ML algorithm is trained to recognize the expected spatial relations within the synthetic input–output pairs, learning the inherent physical relationships between them. Once trained, the ML algorithm can then interpolate the best-fitting anomalous pattern given data that were not used in training, such as those obtained from field measurements. We test the validity of our ML algorithm using field data from the Showa-Shinzan lava dome (Mt Usu, Japan) and show that our model produces results consistent with those obtained using a more traditional Bayesian joint inversion. Our results are similar to the previously published inversion, and suggest that the Showa-Shinzan lava dome consists of a relatively high-density (2200–2400 km m–3) cylindrical anomaly, about 300 m in diameter. Adding noise to synthetic training and testing data sets shows that, as expected, the ML algorithm is most robust in areas of high sensitivity, as determined by the forward kernels. Overall, we discover that ML offers a viable alternate method to a Bayesian joint inversion when used with gravity and muon data sets for subsurface density imaging.
Archaeointensity record of weak field recurrence in Japan: new data from Late Yayoi and Kofun ceramic artifacts
Authors: Tema E , Santos Y , Trindade R , Hartmann G A , Hatakeyama T , Terra-Nova F , Matsumoto N , Mitsumoto J , Gulmini M 
Published: December 2022

Summary
We present new absolute archaeointensity data from six archaeological sites situated in the Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The materials studied are well-dated fragments from pottery, ceramic coffins and haniwa artifacts. Their ages range from 160 AD to 675 AD, covering the Late Yayoi and Kofun periods. Rock magnetic experiments suggest the presence of magnetite and/or Ti-magnetite as the main carrier of the remanence, with a possible minor contribution of higher coercivity minerals. After thermal demagnetization experiments, the most magnetically stable samples were selected for archaeointensity analysis performed following the double-heating method proposed by Thellier and modified by Coe. Partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) checks and pTRM tail-checks were performed for monitoring possible chemical alterations during heating. All measurements were corrected for both anisotropy and cooling-rate effects. Successful archaeointensity determinations, following rigorous selection criteria, were obtained for samples from all the investigated archaeological sites. Compared with literature data from Japan, the new high-quality data show significantly lower intensity values. They also reveal possible fast secular variation changes during the Late Yayoi period and very weak geomagnetic intensity field around 630 AD. Such values offer evidence of a possible recurrence of weak intensity field in East Asia, suggesting an ancient recurrence of the West Pacific Anomaly. The new data might change the archaeomagnetic field models interpretations in the area, even though more data are still necessary to better understand the secular variation in Japan and the temporal evolution of the geomagnetic field's behavior in East Asia.
Constraining 3-D variations in mantle attenuation using normal modes: forward modelling and sensitivity tests
Authors: Talavera-Soza S , Deuss A 
Published: December 2022

SUMMARY
Robust estimates of the Earth’s temperature, composition and partial melt are difficult to obtain from seismic tomography models based only on wave velocities. Seismic attenuation is able to add crucial additional information and allows us to constrain 3-D variations in temperature as well as answer fundamental questions regarding the presence of water and partial melt within the mantle. A major problem with measuring attenuation is that scattering and focusing effects need to be included in order to distinguish between intrinsic attenuation (transformation of energy to heat) and scattering (redistribution of energy). Here, we will use whole Earth oscillations or normal modes, exploiting the fact that small scale scattering becomes less important at longer periods. In addition, focussing is implicitly included by simultaneously measuring the elastic and anelastic splitting function of a given normal mode. Normal mode data has rarely been used before to constrain 3-D variations in attenuation, hence we first need to assess the feasibility of using whole Earth oscillations to image 3-D variations in attenuation in Earth’s upper and lower mantle. Here, we use simple models in forward calculations to evaluate the sensitivity of normal modes to 3-D attenuation variations, and find observable differences in normal mode spectra when 3-D variations in mantle attenuation are included. We also test if 3-D attenuation variations can be recovered using splitting function measurements for synthetic normal mode spectra and investigate potential problems with unaccounted earthquake magnitude variations, noise and wide-band cross-coupling between modes. We find that we are able to recover input synthetic anelastic splitting functions, even when they are an order of magnitude smaller than the elastic splitting functions. Biases in the earthquake seismic moment solutions may lead to ‘ghost’ anelastic splitting functions being recovered, especially for high degree structure. However, this ‘ghost’ signal is only relevant if the size of the input anelastic splitting function is 50 per cent smaller than the scaled amplitude signal of expected upper mantle attenuation. Random noise and normal mode coupling also lead to spurious effects in the anelastic splitting functions. However, they manly affect high degree anelastic structure in a non-branch consistent manner. Thus, we are able to robustly recover low anelastic degree structure (smax ≤ 4) in all tested cases.
Breaking the sample complexity barrier to regret-optimal model-free reinforcement learning
Authors: Li Gen , Shi Laixi , Chen Yuxin , Chi Yuejie 
Published: December 2022

AbstractAchieving sample efficiency in online episodic reinforcement learning (RL) requires optimally balancing exploration and exploitation. When it comes to a finite-horizon episodic Markov decision process with $S$ states, $A$ actions and horizon length $H$, substantial progress has been achieved toward characterizing the minimax-optimal regret, which scales on the order of $\sqrt{H^2SAT}$ (modulo log factors) with $T$ the total number of samples. While several competing solution paradigms have been proposed to minimize regret, they are either memory-inefficient, or fall short of optimality unless the sample size exceeds an enormous threshold (e.g. $S^6A^4 \,\mathrm{poly}(H)$ for existing model-free methods).To overcome such a large sample size barrier to efficient RL, we design a novel model-free algorithm, with space complexity $O(SAH)$, that achieves near-optimal regret as soon as the sample size exceeds the order of $SA\,\mathrm{poly}(H)$. In terms of this sample size requirement (also referred to the initial burn-in cost), our method improves—by at least a factor of $S^5A^3$—upon any prior memory-efficient algorithm that is asymptotically regret-optimal. Leveraging the recently introduced variance reduction strategy (also called reference-advantage decomposition), the proposed algorithm employs an early-settled reference update rule, with the aid of two Q-learning sequences with upper and lower confidence bounds. The design principle of our early-settled variance reduction method might be of independent interest to other RL settings that involve intricate exploration–exploitation trade-offs.
Burden of stroke and its risk factors in Yunnan Province of China, 1990–2017
Authors: Liu Lu , Yang Yixing , Zhao Yuan , Zhang Tai 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Background
There is an overall decreasing trend in stroke incidence and an increasing trend in its prevalence. Disease burden of stroke continues to increase with an increase in the absolute number. In-depth analysis of stroke burden trends in remote areas is extremely important. Our aim was to describe the disease burden of and risk factors for stroke in Yunnan, from 1990 to 2017.

Methods
The methodological framework and analytical strategies adopted in the 2017 Global Burden of Disease study were used.

Results
Age-standardized mortality associated with stroke decreased from 1.53 per 100 000 in 1990 to 1.14 per 100 000 in 2017. The prevalence of stroke in Yunnan Province increased from 344 per 100 000 in 1990 to 870 per 100 000 in 2017. The age-standardized rates of years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) decreased more significantly for women than for men. The age-standardized rates of DALYs and YLLs of stroke decreased by 24.3 and 28.4%, respectively, from 1990 to 2017, and the rate of YLDs increased by 32.5%. The top three risk factors for stroke were dietary risks, high systolic blood pressure and tobacco consumption, and their percentage contributions to the DALYs of stroke were 67.5, 51.5 and 29.1%, respectively.

Conclusions
The burden of stroke has increased in Yunnan since 1990. The health department should emphasize on the changes of stroke risk factors and advocate healthy diet and living habits for residents.
Molecular epidemiology of bacteraemic vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium isolates and in vitro activities of SC5005 and other comparators against these isolates collected from a medical centre in northern Taiwan, 2019–2020
Authors: Wan Tsai-Wen , Yeo Hui-Hui , Lee Tai-Fen , Huang Yu-Tsung , Hsueh Po-Ren , Chiu Hao-Chieh 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Objectives
The global prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) highlights the need for new anti-enterococcal agents. Here, we assessed the molecular epidemiology of clinical VREfm bacteraemic isolates from a medical centre in northern Taiwan in 2019–2020 and to evaluate their susceptibility to last-line antibiotics and a new antimicrobial agent, SC5005.

Methods
The molecular epidemiology of VREfm was investigated using van genotyping, MLST and PFGE. The susceptibilities of VREfm strains to antibiotics and SC5005 were determined using the agar dilution and broth microdilution methods. The capability of E. faecium to develop resistance to antibiotics and SC5005 was evaluated using frequency of resistance and multipassage resistance assays. The mode of action of SC5005 was assessed by time-kill, bacterial membrane integrity and membrane potential assays.

Results
All 262 VREfm isolates harboured vanA gene, and the most prevalent sequence type was ST17 (51%, n = 134, 84 pulsotypes), followed by ST78 (25%, n = 65, 54 pulsotypes). Additionally, we identified four new STs (ST2101, ST2102, ST2135 and ST2136) and observed the arrival of multidrug-resistant ST1885 in Taiwan. Moreover, SC5005 was effective against all VREfm isolates, including those non-susceptible to last-line antibiotics. SC5005 can disrupt and depolarize the bacterial membrane to kill E. faecium without detectable resistance.

Conclusions
The findings provide insights into the latest epidemiology and resistance profiles of bacteraemic-causing VREfm in northern Taiwan. Additionally, SC5005 has the potential for development as a new therapeutic to treat VREfm infections.
Revisiting Poverty Trends and the Role of Social Protection Systems in Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Abay Kibrom A , Yonzan Nishant , Kurdi Sikandra , Tafere Kibrom 
Published: December 2022

AbstractQuantifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty in Africa has been as difficult as predicting the path of the pandemic, mainly due to data limitations. The advent of new data sources, including national accounts and phone survey data, provides an opportunity for a thorough reassessment of the impact of the pandemic and the subsequent expansion of social protection systems on the evolution of poverty in Africa. In this paper, we combine per capita GDP growth from national accounts with data from High-Frequency Phone Surveys for several countries to estimate the net impact of the pandemic on poverty. We find that the pandemic has increased poverty in Africa by 1.5 to 1.7 percentage points in 2020, relatively smaller than early estimates and projections. We also find that countries affected by Fragility, Conflict and Violence experienced the greatest increases in poverty, about 2.1 percentage points in 2020. Furthermore, we assess and synthesize empirical evidence on the role that social protection systems played in mitigating the adverse impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Africa. We review social protection responses in various African countries, mainly focusing on the impact of these programs and effectiveness of targeting systems. Although the evidence base on the protective role of social protection programs during the pandemic remains scarce, we highlight important findings on the impacts of these programs while also uncovering some vulnerabilities in social protection programming in Africa. We finally draw important lessons related to the delivery, targeting and impact of various social protection programs launched in Africa in response to the pandemic.
Structural Change and Inequality in Africa
Authors: Morsy Hanan , Shimeles Abebe , Nabassaga Tiguene 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThis paper examines how inequality could be tackled through structural transformation using unit record data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for Africa. Results suggest inequality between countries tends to be higher when the share of labour employed or value-added in the agriculture sector is higher, while no association is observed for industry and services sectors contributions to GDP or employment. Within-country inequality however tends to be strongly affected by structural change. A 1 standard deviation growth in the movement of labour from low- to high-productivity sectors could decrease overall inequality by 0.5% and inequality of opportunity by 1.1%. Results from other data sources strongly support these findings suggesting that positive structural transformation could lead to sustained reduction in inequality in Africa. Other factors correlated strongly with inequality reduction include human capital, which tend to have large and significant income or asset reducing effect in Africa, particularly at higher level of education, while the pace of urbanisation exacerbates it incidence.
Breast Cancer Screening and Outcomes Disparities Persist for Native American Women
Authors: Kurumety Sasha K , Howshar Jacob T , Loving Vilert A 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
Over the past three decades, mortality rates from breast cancer have decreased for multiple racial groups but have remained constant for American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) women. Additionally, AI/AN women are less likely to receive timely breast cancer screening and are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer at younger ages than their White counterparts. These disparities can be explained, in part, by the unique barriers to accessing care faced by AI/AN women. The Indian Health Service provides care to many AI/AN patients; however, their scope of practice is limited, and the service is chronically underfunded, leaving many women without appropriate and timely care. Additionally, geographic access to care is limited because of the sparsity of clinics and limited transportation resources. American Indian and Alaskan Native patients also harbor a history of mistrust in health care systems, and there is a paucity of culturally sensitive education regarding the importance of screening. There have been some grassroots efforts to address these barriers; however, large-scale coordinated efforts are lacking. In order to provide equitable breast health care, more awareness and widescale initiatives are needed and can be championed by breast radiologists.
Ancient islands or ancient mariners? The cryptic history and voyages of the South Pacific barnacle Rehderella Zevina & Kurshakova, 1973 (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Chthamalidae)
Authors: Wares John P , Thiel Martin , Munizaga Martin , Rech Sabine , Carlton James T 
Published: December 2022

Abstract
We report the first verified DNA barcode data for the tropical chthamalid barnacle Rehderella belyaevi (Zevina & Kurshakova, 1973) and place it in phylogenetic and biogeographic context among other lineages of Pacific barnacles. Hitherto found on a few remote but widely separated islands across the South Pacific, R. belyaevi is the sole described species of its genus. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that Nesochthamalus intertextus (Darwin, 1854) is its sister taxon and that this taxon pair is nested in a cluster of South Pacific chthamalid taxa. We found that the Pitcairn Is. population includes an admixture of diversity from French Polynesia and Rapa Nui (Easter I.), with those populations being quite divergent. In light of the long history of ocean-going vessel movements in this region, beginning with Polynesian voyagers and the propensity of chthamalid barnacles to occur in biofouling communities, the sequence diversity on Pitcairn is suggestive of ship-borne influence, the more so since the tremendous distances between these islands may preclude natural larval dispersal among them. The true distributional range of Rehderella in the South Pacific is unknown, as shown by our report herein of an undescribed lineage of this genus in French Polynesia based on specimens collected 20 years ago. Furthermore, our discovery that this species occurs on floating plastic debris, a vast amount of which is now present throughout the South Pacific, suggests that the ocean voyages of Rehderella may continue.