bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Advance care planning and a structured palliative plan in primary health care decrease cancer deaths in hospital: A prospective controlled non-randomized intervention trial
Authors: Driller Bardo , Talseth-Palmer Bente , Strømskag Kjell Erik , Hole Torstein , Brenne Anne-Tove 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Background: Advance care planning (ACP) enables patients to define goals and preferences, reflecting a person’s wishes and current medical condition. Spending less time in hospital and not dying in hospital are advocated to be desirable outcomes in palliative care (PC). In 2015, 36% of cancer patients died in hospital and 13% died at home in Norway.
Method: From 2015 to 2022 this prospective controlled non-randomized intervention trial included and observed 151 cancer patients from the Romsdal region with or without an organized ACP conversation with a conclusive and structured palliative plan in primary health care (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02170168, June 23, 2014). The patients were identified through their contact with the local hospital, cancer outpatient clinic or hospital-based PC team.
Results: During the observation period, 135 patients died. Of these, 74 patients had a structured palliative plan (intervention (I) group) and 61 had not (control (C) group). Dying in hospital was significantly less common for patients in the I group compared to the C group (16.2% vs 34.4%; p=0.014; X2 (1, n = 135) = 6.00). Patients with the intervention were more likely to die at home (33.8% vs 29.5%) or in nursing home (50.0% vs 36.1%). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups according to days at home, in nursing home, or in hospital during the last 90 days of life. Observed differences between the groups when it came fulfilment of preferred place of death (PPOD) and actual place of death (APOD) on 109 patients (42.2% in I group and 26.7% in C group) did not reach statistical significance (p=0.096).
Conclusion: Organized ACP conversations with a conclusive and structured palliative plan in primary health care decreased the number of cancer deaths in hospital in our study. A structured ACP approach integrating palliative care into oncology within primary health care, supports patients´ preferences by changing the current care profile to a more outpatient care and is feasible within the Norwegian health care system.
Habitat suitability modeling of Aurelia jellyfish (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) in the Gulf of Mexico suggests distinct species’ distributions based on tolerance limits
Authors: Frolova Alexandra , Retchless David , Miglietta Maria Pia 
Published: June 2023

Abstract

Aurelia is a genus of Scyphozoan jellyfish with cosmopolitan distribution and a propensity to form large aggregations, or “blooms.” Along the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) coast, blooms of Aurelia have caused problems for human enterprise. Mature Aurelia medusae are observed each season, yet their benthic originators, the polyps, have never been found in nature in the GoM. The absence of information on polyp locations greatly limits our understanding of bloom formation as we are unable to identify bloom origins or study medusae production in situ. To address the lack of knowledge on polyp distribution, suitable settlement, and natural and artificial colonization habitats for two Aurelia species (A. sp. 9 and A. sp. 18) were modeled using a GIS spatial analysis, utilizing previously published experimentally determined species’ tolerance ranges for temperature and salinity. The results revealed that the GoM coastal waters are suitable for A. sp. 9, but not A. sp. 18, and that water temperature, but not salinity, limits distribution of both species. Also, 94% of GoM artificial reefs and 97% of gas platforms are suitable for A. sp. 9, while only 37% of the reef and 40% of the gas platforms offer suitable habitats for A. sp. 18. Based on the models, A. sp. 18 is an offshore species restricted to the deeper shelf waters of the GoM by summer high water temperatures and future increases in water temperature, such as those expected with climate change, may negatively impact jellyfish populations in the northern GoM.
Metformin-induced PCSK9 inhibition further decreases LDL-C following statin treatment in non-diabetic patients with coronary artery disease and hyperlipoproteinemia(a)
Authors: Hu Die , Qin Donglu , Kuang Jie , Yang Yang , Weng Shuwei , Chen Jin , Wu Sha , Wang Shuai , Mao Ling , Peng Daoquang , Yu Bilian 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Purpose: Previous studies have revealed that metformin can downregulate PCSK9 expression in vitro, which provides a strong rationale for a possible beneficial impact on lowering atherogenic lipoprotein particles by metformin combination therapy. We aimed to investigate whether adding metformin could counteract the adverse effect of statins on PCSK9 and thus further improve lipid profiles in non-diabetic patients with CAD and hyperlipoproteinemia(a).
Methods: This was an open-label, placebo-controlled, randomized trial (ChiCTR1900026925). Non-diabetic CAD patients with hyperlipoproteinemia(a) were randomized 1:1 to CLA (Cholesterol-Lowering Agents alone: atorvastatin+/-ezetimibe, n=38) and Met+CLA groups (metformin plus CLA, n=33). The primary endpoint was the therapeutic effect of 1-month metformin combination treatment on the LDL-C, Lp(a), and PCSK9 levels, analyzed using an enzymatic-based method, latex-enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay, and ELISA, respectively. Atherogenic lipoprotein particle components were assessed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Results: In our study, baseline medium LDL-C, Lp(a), and PCSK9 levels were 76.18 mg·dL-1, 201.30 nmol·L-1, and 80.54 ng·mL-1, respectively. After one month, metformin combination treatment significantly reduced LDL-C (-20.81%, P<0.001), allowing 72% of the patients to achieve guideline-recommended LDL-C goals. Additionally, there were notable drops in PCSK9 levels (-15.03%, P<0.001), but not in Lp(a) levels. Moreover, metformin plus CLA lowered LDL particle number (LDL-P) markedly more than CLA alone (-10.65% vs 1.45%，P=0.009), attributed mainly to a decrease in small-dense LDL particle (sdLDL-P) number in the Met+CLA group. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that metformin inhibited human hepatocellular cell PCSK9 expression induced by statins.
Conclusion: One-month metformin combination treatment resulted in an incremental reduction of LDL-C levels in non-diabetic CAD patients with hyperlipoproteinemia(a) via inhibiting PCSK9 expression.
Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry identifier: ChiCTR1900026925 (10/26/2019)
Impact of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) concentration on lithium intercalation into graphite monitored with Step Potential ElectroChemical Spectroscopy (SPECS)
Authors: Mackowiak Adam , Galek Przemyslaw , Jezowski Pawel , Fic Krzysztof 
Published: June 2023

Abstract

Step Potential Electrochemical Spectroscopy (SPECS) analysis of lithium intercalation into graphite was performed. Four different solutions of lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salt in EC:DMC solvent (1:1, v:v) with various concentrations (0.1, 1, 5 and 10 mol L-1) were selected as electrolytes. SPECS allowed for calculating the capacity resulting from lithium intercalation between the graphite layers and the capacity that comes from the adsorption of ions on the outer electrode surface, resistance, as well as the diffusion coefficient. Additionally, to compare the results obtained, the galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) was performed under the same conditions. However, it turned out that initially, similar diffusion parameters are not identical in their meaning. Hence, SPECS can offer fresh insights into the lithium intercalation process in highly concentrated electrolytic solutions, enhancing existing approaches.
An Ultra-Low-Cost, Pressure Sensing and Haptic Feedback-Enabled Transradial Prosthesis
Authors: Bell Okezue 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Transradial prostheses frequently lack intuitivity and responsiveness, constraining their suitability for everyday use. The high prevalence of below-the-elbow amputations in low- and middle-income countries underscores the need for affordable and functional prostheses. This study presents WeArm, a low-cost prosthesis that is lightweight, flexible, and provides haptic and pressure feedback. Our innovative design merges soft and articulated robotics, incorporating a 3D-printed, five-finger polyarticulated joint system made of rigid and flexible resin. Thin-film pressure sensors regulate soft inflatable haptic actuators, relaying a sense of touch to the amputee. We developed a gradient convolution kernel compensation algorithm (gCKC) for detecting and decoding amputee motor units. The gCKC, coupled with a convolutional neural network demonstrated an ROC of 90.38 ± 0.05%, a sensitivity of 0.83 (IQR 0.16), and a specificity of 0.89 (IQR 0.18) in decoding sEMG signals and accurately actuating the prosthetic arm, determined using sixfold cross-validation. The complete system cost $379.89 to produce. WeArm introduces a novel, cost-effective, and efficient prosthetic solution with the potential to enhance amputees’ quality of life and mobility.
Tubular basement membrane deposits after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Authors: Zhou Wenyan , Qi Chaojun , Zhang Minfang , Hou Xiaotao , Ni Zhaohui 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Background
Extraglomerular immune complex deposition is rare and only a few membranous nephropathy cases with tubular basement membrane deposits have been reported following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Case presentation
We reported a 56-year-old man with increased serum creatinine after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation who underwent a renal biopsy. Tubular interstitial nephritis was identified on light microscope. The unique histologic features were diffuse tubular basement membrane immune complex deposition detected by both immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, while the glomerular involvement was inconspicuous. The differential diagnosis from other forms of tubular basement membrane deposition is discussed.
Conclusion
The potential pathogenesis in our patient likely involves chronic graft-vs-host disease driven antibodies against tubular basement membrane components. However, the target antigen remains unknown.
XbaI polymorphism in the APOB gene and its association with increased cholesterol in children and adolescents: Ouro Preto Study
Authors: de Souza Thomás Viana , Batista Aline Priscila , de Menezes-Júnior Luiz Antônio Alves , Costa Anna Carolina Motta , Louzada Cibelle Ferreira , Lourenção Luciano Garcia , de Oliveira Wandeir Wagner , Lima Matheus Costa , Araujo Maisa Aparecida Marques , Baptista Izabela Vieira Duarte , Soares Ana Carolina de Souza , Guedes Raquel Laranjeira , Machado-Coelho George Luiz Lins 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Purpose: Atherosclerotic vascular changes can begin during childhood, providing a favorable environment for the onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood. Identifiable risk factors such as dyslipidemia accelerate this process for some children. The apolipoprotein B (APOB) gene could help explain the inter-individual variability in lipid levels among young individuals and identify groups that require greater attention to prevent cardiovascular problems in adulthood. However, there is few research on genetic risk factors for dyslipidemia in young individuals from mixed-race groups.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with elementary school students aged 6 to 17 in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, between April and December 2021. The study evaluated sociodemographic, behavioral, clinical, and biochemical variables and XbaI polymorphism in the APOB gene for associations with increased cholesterol.
Results: The study found that the prevalence of increased cholesterol was notably high, reaching 68.9% in the study population. Carriers of the variant T allele were 1.45 times more likely to develop increased cholesterol in a dominant model (CI: 1.09-1.94). After adjustments, excess weight and a family history of dyslipidemia interacted significantly with XbaI polymorphism in increased cholesterol, resulting in Odds Ratio of 1.74 (CI: 1.11-2.71) and 2.04 (CI: 1.14-3.67), respectively.
Conclusions: The results suggest that XbaI polymorphism in the APOB gene may affect the lipid profile of Brazilian children and adolescents living in urban areas and could contribute to the development of atherosclerosis and, consequently, CVD in adulthood.
The dilemmatic role of medicine in adolescent obesity from the perspective of reduced natural selection
Authors: Henneberg Maciej , You Wenpeng 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Objective Relaxed natural selection has been indexed with the Biological State Index (Ibs), which indicates the opportunity for an average member of a population to pass genes to the next generation. This study explores the correlation of Ibs to adolescent obesity prevalence.Methods Population level variables (adolescent obesity prevalence, self-calculated Ibs, GDP, urbanization and calories) are extracted from or calculated with the United Nations data agencies for the correlation analyses. To examine the Ibs-adolescent obesity relationship, the five non-normally distributed variables are analysed in curvilinear regression models with raw data and linear regressions with log-transformed data. Countries are grouped for exploring the regional Ibs-adolescent obesity correlations.Results Linear correlation and the first order curvilinear regression identified that Ibs-adolescent obesity correlation is significant, and this relationship remains in the third order curvilinear regression and partial correlation when the confounding effects of GDP, urbanization and calories are removed. Ibs-adolescent obesity correlation also presents in different country groupings. It is highlighted that Ibs-adolescent obesity is significantly stronger in developing countries than developed countries. Stepwise multiple linear regression identified Ibs as the second most influential risk factor for adolescent obesity. Caloric intake does not show significant effects on predicting adolescent obesity in both enter and stepwise regression models.Conclusions Reduced natural selection may drive obesity associated genetic background to accumulate in population through allowing people to participate in reproduction. The magnitude of reduced natural selection correlates with adolescent obesity prevalence. This suggests that reduced natural selection is another major risk factor for adolescent obesity.
Research on intelligent recognition method of software vulnerability severity based on event extraction
Authors: Wu Xiaoxue , Wen Shenwei , Lin Hui , Zheng Wei , Weng Shiyu , Sun Xiaobing 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe number of vulnerability reports is rapidly increasing, and relying on human resources for vulnerability analysis will become more difficult. In addition, the current vulnerability report research is mainly based on general vulnerability disclosure (CVE) or other foreign open source projects, and there are few researches on Chinese vulnerability reports. With the development of deep learning, the research on event extraction has also been greatly developed. In order to contribute to the vulnerability analysis of Chinese vulnerability report, this paper adopts the method of event extraction to automatically mine the vulnerability report of the National Information security Vulnerability Sharing platform (CNVD). A new vulnerability analysis method is proposed, that is, the severity level of vulnerability report is evaluated by the vulnerability description information and the event information. At the same time, a convolutional neural network method named EICNN is proposed to realize this new vulnerability analysis method by integrating event information. An application that obtains the vulnerability reporting event information and evaluates the vulnerability severity at the end.
A Guided Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization Approach for the Traveling Repairman Problem
Authors: Jmal Sirine , Haddar Boukthir , Chabchoub Habib 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
This paper focuses on the Traveling Repairman Problem (TRP), an extension of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), which has gained significant attention in various practical fields such as humanitarian logistics, machine scheduling, computer networking, and service-based distribution. Previous research on the TRP has primarily focused on exact and approximate algorithms, with limited attention given to heuristics. This paper introduces a new hybrid method called Guided Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization (GQPSO) to effectively solve the TRP. This GQPSO apporoach combines the Quantum Particle Swarm Optimization (QPSO) metaheuristic with the Guided Local Search (GLS) algorithm. We introduced several enhancements to improve the efficiency of QPSO when addressing the TRP: (i) The initialization phase of the QPSO algorithm is modified. (ii) A guided local search method is integrated within QPSO and used as an intensification strategy for each position generated throughout the search process. (iii) Several acceleration strategies are implemented to expedite the process of the local search procedure. The experimental results achieved on a collection of benchmark problems sourced from the literature clearly prove the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid approach for addressing the TRP when compared to other heuristic methods from the state-of-the-art.
Investigating the Economic Fallout of Hospital-Acquired Infections and Multidrug-Resistant Organisms of Neonatal Sepsis at a Chinese NICU
Authors: Lin Hui , Zhao Yan Jun , Tung Tao-Hsin , Hanafi Waqqas U , Xiong Cai Lian 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Introduction:
Neonatal sepsis refers to a condition in newborns characterized by systematic inflammation caused by an infection, leading to higher rates of illness and death in neonatal intensive care units worldwide. Despite extensive research on its causes, the financial costs associated with this harmful occurrence, particularly healthcare-associated and multidrug-resistant sepsis in neonatal intensive care units, have not been thoroughly assessed. This study was carried out to estimate the economic consequences of newborn sepsis of newborn sepsis among neonates hospitalized to intensive care units at a general hospital in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China.
Methods:
A hospital-based case-control study with retrospective medical records review was conducted among admitted newborns at the neonatal intensive care unit in Taizhou hospital. The study population consisted of 6,507 neonates who were admitted between January 1st, 2020, and December 31st, 2022. Among these neonates, we identified 155 cases of sepsis. To ensure comparability, we used the propensity score matching technique to match each septic case with four controls, resulting in a total of 620 controls. We then compared the length of hospitalization and the overall financial burden among neonates with hospital-acquired sepsis (HAI-sepsis), sepsis caused by multidrug resistant organisms (MDRO-sepsis), and those without sepsis.
Results:
The overall incidence of neonatal sepsis was 2.4%. Hospital-acquired sepsis (HAI-sepsis) was associated with an additional cost of $6,287 (95% CI: 2,372-11,688), while sepsis caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO-sepsis) incurred an extra expense of $15,199 (95%CI: 9,450-18,511). Moreover, HAI-sepsis and MDRO-sepsis were found to significantly prolong the length of hospital stay by 31 (95%CI: 16-43), and 41 days (95%CI: 31-50), respectively.
Conclusion:
This study highlights the substantial financial implications of nosocomial infections. It underscores the importance of implementing antimicrobial stewardship and preventive measures against healthcare associated infections in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) to effectively reduce healthcare resources utilization and enhance the efficiency of services provided.
Utilizing AI for Skin Disease Classification: Enhancing Early Identification and Differentiation
Authors: Samokhin Valentin , Nechaev Dmitry , Ivanova Ekaterina , Pchelnikov Alexey 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
This article explores the application of computer vision (CV) in skin disease classification. While working with images obtained on regular camera instead of dermatoscopic images, we focus on the significance of early identification the developed tool provides. The public datasets obtained through web crawling for the experiments include a wide range of skin diseases, from spot diseases to skin conditions. The diversity of prepared datasets allows to train model capable to find signs of 104 pathologies with 0.90 top-3 sensitivity.
Enhancing Strength and Toughness of Aluminum Laminated Composites through Hybrid Reinforcement using Dispersion Engineering
Authors: Sadeghi Behzad , Cavaliere Pasquale , Sadeghian Behzad 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
In order to address the challenge of balancing strength and ductility, we propose a novel approach of creating a hybrid aluminum matrix composite with a combination of in-situ and ex-situ reinforcement. This approach aims to achieve a uniform distribution of reinforcements and establish strong bonding between the reinforcements and the matrix. To harness the advantages of both intergranular and intragranular dispersion of reinforcements, we have synthesized nano-sized Al3BC particles in-situ within ultrafine-grained (UFG) aluminum. This in-situ synthesis was accomplished by incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the elemental powder mixture, followed by mechanical activation and subsequent annealing. The resulting in-situ nano-scaled Al3BC particles were uniformly dispersed within the elongated UFG aluminum grains, effectively impeding dislocation movement and preserving their strength under stress. This led to enhanced strength and strain hardening. Compared to the counterpart material without the in-situ nano-Al3BC reinforcement, the fabricated (Al3BC, CNT)/UFG Al composite exhibited simultaneous improvements in both strength (394 MPa) and total elongation (19.7%). These results demonstrate the promising reinforcing effects of the in-situ/ex-situ approach, which benefits from the uniform dispersion of reinforcements and the establishment of a strong semi-coherent interface with the matrix.
A novel hybrid nanoreinforcing via elemental powder mixture was adopted to the first time to achieve an excellent strength-ductility combination in CNT/Al composites.