bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Using the Kitagawa Decomposition to Measure Overall—and Individual Facility Contributions to—Within-facility and Between-facility Differences
Authors: Shwartz Michael , Rosen Amy K. , Beilstein-Wedel Erin , Davila Heather , Harris Alex HS , Gurewich Deborah 
Published: April 2023

Background:Identifying whether differences in health care disparities are due to within-facility or between-facility differences is key to disparity reductions. The Kitagawa decomposition divides the difference between 2 means into within-facility differences and between-facility differences that are measured on the same scale as the original disparity. It also enables the identification of facilities that contribute most to within-facility differences (based on facility-level disparities and the proportion of patient population served) and between-facility differences.Objectives:Illustrate the value of a 2-stage Kitagawa decomposition to partition a disparity into within-facility and between-facility differences and to measure the contribution of individual facilities to each type of difference.Subjects:Veterans receiving a new outpatient consult for cardiology or orthopedic services during fiscal years 2019–2021.Measures:Wait time for a new-patient consultMethods:In stage 1, we predicted wait time for each Veteran from a multivariable model; in stage 2, we aggregated individual predictions to determine mean adjusted wait times for Hispanic, Black, and White Veterans and then decomposed differences in wait times between White Veterans and each of the other groups.Results:Noticeably longer wait times were experienced by Hispanic Veterans for cardiology (2.32 d, 6.8% longer) and Black Veterans for orthopedics (3.49 d, 10.3% longer) in both cases due entirely to within-facility differences. The results for Hispanic Veterans using orthopedics illustrate how positive within-facility differences (0.57 d) can be offset by negative between-facility differences (−0.34 d), resulting in a smaller overall disparity (0.23 d). Selecting 10 facilities for interventions in orthopedics based on the largest contributions to within-in facility differences instead of the largest disparities resulted in a higher percentage of Veterans impacted (31% and 12% of Black and White Veterans, respectively, versus 9% and 10% of Black and White Veterans, respectively) and explained 21% of the overall within-facility difference versus 11%.Conclusions:The Kitagawa approach allows the identification of disparities that might otherwise be undetected. It also allows the targeting of interventions at those facilities where improvements will have the largest impact on the overall disparity.
Influence on voxel-based dosimetry: noise effect on absorbed dose dosimetry at single time-point versus sequential single-photon emission computed tomography
Authors: Fonda Uysha de S. , Leitão André L.A. , Paiva Marcia M.D.P. , Willegaignon José , Josefsson Anders , Buchpiguel Carlos A. , Sapienza Marcelo T. 
Published: April 2023

Objective
The purpose of this study was to evaluate how statistical fluctuation in single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images propagate to absorbed dose maps.

Methods
SPECT/computed tomography (CT) images of iodine-131 filled phantoms, using different acquisition and processing protocols, were evaluated using STRATOS software to assess the absorbed dose distribution at the voxel level. Absorbed dose values and coefficient of variation (COV) were analyzed for dosimetry based on single time-point SPECT images and time-integrated activities of SPECT sequences with low and high counts.

Results
Considering dosimetry based on a single time-point, the mean absorbed dose was not significantly affected by total counts or reconstruction parameters, but the uniformity of the absorbed dose maps had an almost linear correlation with SPECT noise. When high- and low-count SPECT sequences were used to generate an absorbed dose map, the absorbed dose COV for each of the temporal sequences was slightly lower than the absorbed dose COV based on the single SPECT image with the highest count included in the sequence.

Conclusion
The impact of changes in SPECT counts and reconstruction parameters is almost linear when dosimetry is based on isolated SPECT images, but less pronounced when dosimetry is based on sequential SPECTs.
The Epidemiology of Takayasu Arteritis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Authors: Vieira Matheus , Ochtrop Manuella L. G. , Sztajnbok Flávio , Souto Oliveira Elias Camila , Verztman José Fernando , Bica Blanca E. R. G. , Ciconelli Rozana M. , de Souza Alexandre Wagner S. 
Published: April 2023

Objective
Few population-based studies for Takayasu arteritis (TAK) have been performed, and Latin America prevalence/incidence data are unavailable. We aimed to understand TAK epidemiology in Rio de Janeiro City in 2020 (i.e., 6,747,815 inhabitants).

Methods
This was a cross-sectional fieldwork study where physicians who regularly followed TAK patients in public or private practices from Rio de Janeiro were invited to complete a REDCap survey. Patients should fulfill internationally accepted criteria for TAK and be living in the city. The 2020 prevalence was calculated as cases per 1,000,000 inhabitants (106). National government databases were analyzed for comparative prevalence assessment. The incidence rate was estimated using retrospective sections of cases diagnosed between 2010 and 2019; relative incidence risk was assessed by Poisson regression models with robust variance.

Results
Between May 2020 and May 2021, 114 patients were analyzed. Ninety-seven (85.1%) were female, and the most frequent races were White (44.7%), Mestizo (33.3%), and Black (16.7%). Takayasu arteritis 2020 prevalence was 16.9 cases/106 (95% confidence interval [CI], 14.1–20.3 cases/106); female patients and Black Brazilians had higher prevalence rates at 27.0 (95% CI, 22.2–33.3) and 25.1 cases/106 (95% CI, 16.1–39.3 cases/106), respectively. Government databases' analyses generated a lower prevalence (7.26 cases/106; 95% CI, 5.49–9.60 cases/106). The 2010–2019 mean incidence rate was 0.94 cases/106 per year (95% CI, 0.73–1.21 cases/106). Female patients had a higher risk than male patients of having TAK between 2010 and 2019 (relative risk, 2.70; 95% CI, 1.59–4.55; p < 0.0001).

Conclusion
In the largest population-based fieldwork to date and the first Latin American study on TAK prevalence, Rio de Janeiro City in 2020 showed an intermediate prevalence between Europe and Asia. Female patients and Black Brazilians were more affected than the general population.
The Characteristics and Ethics of Sham Surgeries
Authors: Hetzler Peter T. , Berger Lauren E. , Huffman Samuel S. , Lee Margaret , Park Ryan , Song David H. , Dugdale Lydia S. 
Published: April 2023

Objective:
To better characterize these ethical considerations, we sought to perform a large-scale systematic review across all sham-controlled studies currently present in the literature.

Background:
Innovative surgical procedures are often introduced to the clinical setting without the robust clinical trials performed for medicinal treatments. Sham surgeries serve as placebos by performing all steps of a surgical intervention aside from those deemed therapeutically necessary. Yet, sham trials are underutilized due ethical controversy.

Methods:
Ovid MEDLINE was queried through April 2022 with combinations of the Medical Subject (MeSH) headings and keywords including, but not limited to, “surgery”, “endoscopy”, “randomized controlled trial”, and “sham procedure”. Primary outcomes were surgical indications and characteristics, outcome measurements, and whether the investigational treatment was offered to the sham cohort.

Results:
One hundred and seventy-two articles fit our inclusion criteria, with gastrointestinal pathologies being the most common surgical indication. Participants, personnel, and outcome assessment were all blinded in 8.7% of trials (n=15). Study populations included adult subjects (age ≥18) in 170 studies (98.8%), and two involved children. The most common level of dissection and type of anesthesia were deep (n=66, 38.4%) and general (n=49, 28.5%), respectively. An open surgical approach was utilized in 20.9% of studies (n=36). Primary outcomes were objective in 75 studies (43.6%), and subjective in 97 (56.4%), 62 of which employed validated outcome measures (36.0%). Four trials explicitly did not offer the surgery to the sham arm (2.3%), while 106 had no mention of whether the intervention was offered (61.6%).

Conclusions:
Our systematic review of 172 randomized, sham controlled trials highlights the ethical considerations that must be considered in these studies, namely the importance of transparent study design and objective outcome reporting, the difficulty of informed consent, and the inherent risks associated with surgical interventions.
Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes
Authors: Carlson Nora V. , Freeberg Todd M. , Goodale Eben , Theo Anne Heloise 
Published: April 2023

Mixed-species groups of birds, fishes and mammals have traditionally been described in taxa-specific journals. However, mixed-species systems are actually more widely found when one includes aggregative (non-moving) systems, such as those common in amphibians and invertebrates. The objective of this special issue is to dispel the idea that mixed-species phenomena are a ‘niche topic’ to ecology and instead explore how taking a mixed-species perspective can change our conception of important ecological patterns and processes. A mixed-species perspective starts by understanding the relative abundance and positioning of individuals of different species and their behavioural synchrony; it is enriched by understanding differences between species in their vulnerability/attractiveness to predators, their potential for competing with other group participants and their use as a source of public information. Contributions to the special issue show how the mixed-species perspective can change our ideas about invasion ecology, island biogeography, keystone species, mimicry, predator eavesdropping and more. Rather than seeking synthesis, the special issue celebrates the taxonomic and conceptual breadth of the field of mixed-species groups, with detailed descriptions of many distinctive systems.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes’.
Mixed-species groups and the question of dominance in the social ecosystem
Authors: Coppinger B. A. , Carlson N. V. , Freeberg T. M. , Sieving K. E. 
Published: April 2023

Dominance interactions and hierarchies are of long-standing interest in the field of animal behaviour. Currently, dominance hierarchies are viewed as complex social structures formed by repeated interactions between individuals. Most studies on this phenomenon come from single-species groups. However, animals are constantly surrounded by and interact with individuals of other species. Behaviour and social interactions of individuals can be shaped by the presence or behaviour of other species in their social ecosystem, which has important implications for social behaviour in groups. Given how ubiquitous mixed-species animal groups are, deeper study of the relationships between mixed-species group (MSG) structure and dominance will be key to understanding constraints on individual behaviour and decision making. Here we call for more research into dominance interactions among individuals in MSGs. Greater understanding of the dynamics of dominance relationships among individuals in MSGs, whose size and composition can change considerably over shorter and longer term time frames, will be crucial to understanding their structure and functioning.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes’.
Network structure of avian mixed-species flocks decays with elevation and latitude across the Andes
Authors: Montaño-Centellas Flavia A. , Muñoz Jenny , Mangini Gabriela Giselle , Ausprey Ian J. , Newell Felicity L. , Jones Harrison H. , Fanjul M. Elisa , Tinoco Boris A. , Colorado Z. Gabriel J. , Cahill Jennifer R. A. , Arbeláez-Cortés E. , Marin-Gómez Oscar H. , Astudillo Pedro X. , Guevara Esteban A. , Ippi Silvina , McDermott Molly E. , Rodewald Amanda D. , Matthysen Erik , Robinson Scott K. 
Published: April 2023

Birds in mixed-species flocks benefit from greater foraging efficiency and reduced predation, but also face costs related to competition and activity matching. Because this cost–benefit trade-off is context-dependent (e.g. abiotic conditions and habitat quality), the structure of flocks is expected to vary along elevational, latitudinal and disturbance gradients. Specifically, we predicted that the connectivity and cohesion of flocking networks would (i) decline towards tropical latitudes and lower elevations, where competition and activity matching costs are higher, and (ii) increase with lower forest cover and greater human disturbance. We analysed the structure of 84 flock networks across the Andes and assessed the effect of elevation, latitude, forest cover and human disturbance on network characteristics. We found that Andean flocks are overall open-membership systems (unstructured), though the extent of network structure varied across gradients. Elevation was the main predictor of structure, with more connected and less modular flocks upslope. As expected, flocks in areas with higher forest cover were less cohesive, with better defined flock subtypes. Flocks also varied across latitude and disturbance gradients as predicted, but effect sizes were small. Our findings indicate that the unstructured nature of Andean flocks might arise as a strategy to cope with harsh environmental conditions.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes’.
Can convergence in mixed-species flocks lead to evolutionary divergence? Evidence for and methods to test this hypothesis
Authors: Kimball Rebecca T. , Braun Edward L. , Liu Yang , Zhou Liping , Goodale Eben , Zhou Wenyi , Robinson Scott K. 
Published: April 2023

One of the most fundamental goals of modern biology is to achieve a deep understanding of the origin and maintenance of biodiversity. It has been observed that in some mixed-species animal societies, there appears to be a drive towards some degree of phenotypic trait matching, such as similar coloration or patterning. Here we build on these observations and hypothesize that selection in mixed-species animal societies, such as mixed-species bird flocks, may drive diversification, potentially leading to speciation. We review evidence for possible convergent evolution and even outright mimicry in flocks from southwestern China, where we have observed several cases in which species and subspecies differ from their closest relatives in traits that match particular flock types. However, understanding whether this is phenotypic matching driven by convergence, and whether this divergence has promoted biodiversity, requires testing multiple facets of this hypothesis. We propose a series of steps that can be used to tease apart alternative hypotheses to build our understanding of the potential role of convergence in diversification in participants of mixed-species societies. Even if our social convergence/divergence hypothesis is not supported, the testing at each step should help highlight alternative processes that may affect mixed-species flocks, trait evolution and possible convergence.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes’.
Mixed-species flock composition matters: interspecific influences on finding novel food in North American parids
Authors: Freeberg Todd M. , Coppinger Brittany A. , Eppert Shannon K. 
Published: April 2023

Individuals of a wide range of species are sensitive to the presence of other species, and can often benefit from associations with other species in mixed-species groups (MSGs) through food-finding or avoiding predation. In an earlier field study, we found that both Carolina chickadees,Poecile carolinensis,and tufted titmice,Baeolphus bicolor, were better able to solve a novel feeder task when their MSGs were more diverse in terms of species composition. Like most studies of MSGs, however, that earlier study did not experimentally manipulate MSG size and composition. We did that manipulation here, providing experimental flocks of chickadees and titmice with three novel feeder tasks in semi-natural aviary environments. We found that successful titmouse flocks generally had a higher proportion of titmice in them, going against the findings of our earlier field study. Conversely, successful chickadee flocks solved one of the novel feeder tasks more quickly with a higher proportion of titmice in them, corroborating the findings of our earlier field study. We now need to assess socio-ecological influences on MSG size and composition, and how those relate to individual behaviour.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes’.
Profile of Patients with Sleep Complaints in a Secondary Care Health Institution in the City of Campinas, São Paulo State
Authors: Mei Paulo Afonso 
Published: April 2023

ABSTRACTObjectiveWe report data of the profile of patients who sought our outpatient clinic for sleep disorders of the Faculty of Medicine of São Leopoldo Mandic Medical School, during the Week of Sleep, that took place in March, 2022.MethodsAll participants responded to a form designed by the researcher, as well as to commonly used questionnaires in Sleep Research, such as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the STOP-BANG questionnaire for screening of apnea, and the WHO Quality of Life abbreviated questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF).Results30 patients were evaluated, mean age 51.8 (± 14), 63% women. Main complaints were insomnia (63%), snore/apnea (23%) and excessive daytime sleepiness (10%). ESS scores were significantly higher among men, daytime nappers and alarm clock users. ISI scores were importantly associated with those who woke 2 or more times per night, while physically active, non-obese, normotensive people and those with Modified Mallampatti (MM) classes I and II scored significantly less in STOP-BANG. Obese, MM classes III-IV and people with abnormal cervical and abdominal circumferences performed markedly worse in Domain 1, while women, older people and alarm clock users went worse in Domain 4 of WHOQOL-BREF.DiscussionOne or more sleep disturbances were detected in all seekers of Sleep Care, emphasizing the importance of these types of action.
Monosomy 7/del(7q) Cause Sensitivity to Inhibitors of Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Authors: Eldfors Samuli , Saad Joseph , Ikonen Nemo , Malani Disha , Gjertsen Bjørn Tore , Kontro Mika , Porkka Kimmo , Heckman Caroline A. 
Published: April 2023

ABSTRACTMonosomy 7 and del(7q) (-7/-7q) are frequent chromosomal abnormalities detected in up to 10% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Despite unfavorable treatment outcomes, no approved targeted therapies exist for patients with -7/-7q. Therefore, we aimed to identify novel therapeutic vulnerabilities in AML with -7/-7q. Through an analysis of data from ex vivo drug screens in 270 primary AML samples, we discovered that -7/-7q AML cells are highly sensitive to the inhibition of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT). NAMPT is a rate-limiting enzyme in the NAD+ salvage pathway. Mechanistically, theNAMPTgene is located at 7q22.1, and deletion of one copy due to -7/-7q results inNAMPThaploinsufficiency. This leads to reduced gene expression and a therapeutically targetable vulnerability to the inhibition of NAMPT. Our results show that in -7/-7q AML, differentiated CD34+CD38+ progenitor cells are the most sensitive to the inhibition of NAMPT. In addition, we found that the combination of BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax and a NAMPT inhibitor efficiently eradicated undifferentiated AML blasts with -7/-7q. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that AML samples with -7/-7q are highly sensitive to NAMPT inhibition, suggesting that NAMPT inhibitors have the potential to be an effective targeted therapy for patients with monosomy 7 or del(7q).KEY POINTSMonosomy 7 and del(7q) result in a one-copy deletion of the NAMPT gene at 7q22.1NAMPT haploinsufficiency causes a vulnerability to the inhibition of NAMPT
Evaluating the Levels of Calprotectin in Patients with Chronic Non-specific Colitis: A Brief Report
Authors: Rafiei Rahmatollah , Najjar Khodabakhsh Amin , Rafiei Fereshteh , Kamyab Amirhossein , Ebrahimi Alireza , Ashkani-Esfahani Soheil 
Published: April 2023

AbstractBackgroundPatients with gastrointestinal symptoms of chronic diarrhea, chronic constipation, and abdominal pain might have unspecified signs and symptoms making them hardly characterized. These patients could be labeled as chronic nonspecific colitis patients. In this investigation, we aimed to compare the therapeutic effects of mesalamine in chronic nonspecific colitis patients with by measuring the levels of fecal calprotectin and assessing the reduction of their symptoms during the treatment.MethodsEighty-four outpatients (42 patients with normal, and 42 having high calprotectin levels) participated in this study. Participants were being treated by 2 grams of mesalamine for one month, and they were evaluated weekly. After one month, the participants’ signs and symptoms were reviewed, and the patients were labeled as treated or untreated.ResultsThe result of this study demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the level of calprotectin among male or female participants, patients with different ages, or patients with different symptoms. Calprotectin levels were significantly different between patients who positively responded to mesalamine treatment compared to those who did not (p<0.001). On the other hand, patients with high calprotectin levels had a higher response rate to mesalamine (94.5%), compared to those with normal calprotectin levels (36.1%; p<0.001).ConclusionThere was a significant correlation between the level of fecal calprotectin and the response rate of the patients to mesalamine; therefore, this parameter might be a good indicator to be used for treatment plans. Further studies are suggested to affirm this outcome.