bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy outperforms perfusion in distinguishing between pseudoprogression and disease progression in patients with glioblastoma
Authors: El-Abtah Mohamed E , Talati Pratik , Fu Melanie , Chun Benjamin , Clark Patrick , Peters Anna , Ranasinghe Anthony , He Julian , Rapalino Otto , Batchelor Tracy T , Gilberto Gonzalez R , Curry William T , Dietrich Jorg , Gerstner Elizabeth R , Ratai Eva-Maria 
Published: August 2022

Abstract

Background
There is a need to establish biomarkers that distinguish between pseudoprogression (PsP) and true tumor progression in patients with glioblastoma (GBM) treated with chemoradiation.

Methods
We analyzed magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MR perfusion data in patients with GBM with PsP or disease progression after chemoradiation. MRSI metabolites of interest included intratumoral choline (Cho), myo-inositol (mI), glutamate + glutamine (Glx), lactate (Lac), and creatine on the contralateral hemisphere (c-Cr). Student T-tests and area under the ROC curve analyses were used to detect group differences in metabolic ratios and their ability to predict clinical status, respectively.

Results
28 subjects (63 ± 9 years, 19 men) were evaluated. Subjects with true progression (n = 20) had decreased enhancing region mI/c-Cr (P = .011), a marker for more aggressive tumors, compared to those with PsP, which predicted tumor progression (AUC: 0.84 [0.76, 0.92]). Those with true progression had elevated Lac/Glx (P = .0009), a proxy of the Warburg effect, compared to those with PsP which predicted tumor progression (AUC: 0.84 [0.75, 0.92]). Cho/c-Cr did not distinguish between PsP and true tumor progression. Despite rCBV (AUC: 0.70 [0.60, 0.80]) and rCBF (AUC: 0.75 [0.65, 0.84]) being individually predictive of tumor response, they added no additional predictive value when combined with MRSI metabolic markers.

Conclusions
Incorporating enhancing lesion MRSI measures of mI/c-Cr and Lac/Glx into brain tumor imaging protocols can distinguish between PsP and true progression and inform patient management decisions.
A Comparison of Use Topography and Nicotine Pharmacokinetics Among Loose and Portioned Smokeless Tobacco Users
Authors: Nighbor Tyler , Meredith Steven , Salazar Esther , Cartagena Casandra , Koszowski Bartosz , Pickworth Wallace B , Hull Lynn C 
Published: August 2022

AbstractIntroductionMoist snuff smokeless tobacco (ST) products are available in the United States in both “loose” and “portioned” (ie, pouched) formats, but no published study to date has clinically evaluated the associations between ST format, use behavior, and nicotine exposure.Aims and MethodsParticipants used their usual brand of ST (loose ST [n = 30] or portioned ST [n = 20]) during an experimental visit wherein use behavior and plasma nicotine pharmacokinetic parameters were measured following single use (first hour of the session) and ad libitum use (remaining 7 h of the session). Participants’ ST products were chemically characterized prior to use for pH and nicotine content.ResultsThe average amount per use (2.99 vs. 1.52 g; p = .005) and total amount used (11.45 vs. 5.4 g; p = .002) were significantly higher among the loose ST group. Maximum plasma nicotine concentration (Cmax; 33.4 vs. 19.1 ng/ml) and area under the nicotine concentration versus time curve (AUC) were significantly higher for the loose ST group for the first hour (1474.8 vs. 807.2 min* ng/ml; p = .003) and throughout the 8-hour session (15827.9 vs. 8155.3 min* ng/ml; p &lt; .001). Significant associations were observed between free nicotine content and first use Cmax (rs = .488, loose ST group) and AUC0–1 h (rs = 0.448, loose ST group; rs = .441, portioned ST group).ConclusionsThe loose ST group used more product and had a greater average deposition time per use than the portioned ST group. Nicotine exposure was more strongly associated with free nicotine content than total nicotine content.ImplicationsTo our knowledge, the current investigation was the first study to date to clinically evaluate the associations between usual-brand smokeless format, use behavior, and nicotine exposure. We observed meaningful differences in use behavior and subsequent nicotine exposure between loose and portioned ST users. Further, we observed that nicotine exposure was more strongly associated with free nicotine content than total nicotine content.
Dampened sensory representations for expected input across the ventral visual stream
Authors: Richter David , Heilbron Micha , de Lange Floris P 
Published: August 2022

AbstractExpectations, derived from previous experience, can help in making perception faster, more reliable and informative. A key neural signature of perceptual expectations is expectation suppression, an attenuated neural response to expected compared with unexpected stimuli. While expectation suppression has been reported using a variety of paradigms and recording methods, it remains unclear what neural modulation underlies this response attenuation. Sharpening models propose that neural populations tuned away from an expected stimulus are particularly suppressed by expectations, thereby resulting in an attenuated, but sharper population response. In contrast, dampening models suggest that neural populations tuned toward the expected stimulus are most suppressed, thus resulting in a dampened, less redundant population response. Empirical support is divided, with some studies favoring sharpening, while others support dampening. A key limitation of previous neuroimaging studies is the ability to draw inferences about neural-level modulations based on population (e.g. voxel) level signals. Indeed, recent simulations of repetition suppression showed that opposite neural modulations can lead to comparable population-level modulations. Forward models provide one solution to this inference limitation. Here, we used forward models to implement sharpening and dampening models, mapping neural modulations to voxel-level data. We show that a feature-specific gain modulation, suppressing neurons tuned toward the expected stimulus, best explains the empirical fMRI data. Thus, our results support the dampening account of expectation suppression, suggesting that expectations reduce redundancy in sensory cortex, and thereby promote updating of internal models on the basis of surprising information.
Retinal degeneration induced in a mouse model of ischemia–reperfusion injury and its management by pemafibrate treatment
Authors: Lee Deokho , Nakai Ayaka , Miwa Yukihiro , Tomita Yohei , Kunimi Hiromitsu , Chen Junhan , Ikeda Shin‐Ichi , Tsubota Kazuo , Negishi Kazuno , Kurihara Toshihide 
Published: August 2022

AbstractRetinal ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury is a common cause of visual impairment. To date, no effective treatment is available for retinal I/R injury. In addition, the precise pathological mechanisms still need to be established. Recently, pemafibrate, a peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor α (PPARα) modulator, was shown to be a promising drug for retinal ischemia. However, the role of pemafibrate in preventing retinal I/R injury has not been documented. Here, we investigated how retinal degeneration occurs in a mouse model of retinal I/R injury by elevation of intraocular pressure and examined whether pemafibrate could be beneficial against retinal degeneration. Adult mice were orally administered pemafibrate (0.5 mg/kg/day) for 4 days, followed by retinal I/R injury. The mice were continuously administered pemafibrate once every day until the end of the experiments. Retinal functional changes were measured using electroretinography. Retina, liver, and serum samples were used for western blotting, quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry, or enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Retinal degeneration induced by retinal inflammation was prevented by pemafibrate administration. Pemafibrate administration increased the hepatic PPARα target gene expression and serum levels of fibroblast growth factor 21, a neuroprotective molecule in the eye. The expression of hypoxia‐response and pro‐and anti‐apoptotic/inflammatory genes increased in the retina following retinal I/R injury; however, these changes were modulated by pemafibrate administration. In conclusion, pemafibrate is a promising preventive drug for ischemic retinopathies.
Comparative efficacy and safety of oral nifedipine with other antihypertensive medications in the management of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Authors: George Rosemol , Thomas Christy , Joy Chippy Anna , Varghese Bincy , Undela Krishna , Adela Ramu 
Published: August 2022

Background:
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are the most frequently occurring medical condition during pregnancy, resulting in fetal and/or maternal morbidity and mortality. This meta-analysis compared the efficacy and safety of nifedipine with other antihypertensive medications used in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

Methodology:
A comprehensive search was performed using PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Google Scholar. The meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager Software, and the pooled effect estimate was generated as standardized mean difference and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and two-sided P-value.

Results:
The meta-analysis was comprised of 22 randomized control trials with 2595 participants. It was found that meantime and number of doses required to achieve target blood pressure were lower in the nifedipine group (P < 0.05). Even though it is statistically insignificant, fetal APGAR (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration) scores less than seven favors nifedipine intervention. Furthermore, none of the fetal or maternal secondary outcomes were found significant.

Conclusion:
Nifedipine was found to be more effective than other antihypertensive medications to reduce blood pressure, particularly in patients with severe hypertension. However, future clinical studies, including real-world data are necessary to establish the safety profile of nifedipine concerning the fetal outcomes in hypertensive pregnant women.
Descending projections from the insular cortex to the trigeminal spinal subnucleus caudalis facilitate excitatory outputs to the parabrachial nucleus in rats
Authors: Nakaya Yuka , Yamamoto Kiyofumi , Kobayashi Masayuki 
Published: August 2022

Abstract
Nociceptive information from the orofacial area projects to the trigeminal spinal subnucleus caudalis (Sp5C) and is then conveyed to several nuclei, including the parabrachial nucleus (PBN). The insular cortex (IC) receives orofacial nociceptive information and sends corticofugal projections to the Sp5C. The Sp5C consists of glutamatergic and GABAergic/glycinergic interneurons that induce excitatory postsynaptic currents and inhibitory postsynaptic currents, respectively, in projection neurons. Therefore, quantification of glutamatergic IC inputs in combination with identifying postsynaptic neuronal subtypes is critical to elucidate IC roles in the regulation of Sp5C activities. We investigated features of synaptic transmission from the IC to glutamatergic and GABAergic/glycinergic Sp5C neurons of laminae I/II using vesicular GABA transporter-Venus transgenic rats that received an injection of adeno-associated virus-channelrhodopsin-2-mCherry into the IC. Selective stimulation of IC axon terminals in Sp5C slice preparations induced monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic currents in both excitatory glutamatergic and inhibitory GABAergic/glycinergic Sp5C neurons with a comparable amplitude. Paired whole-cell patch-clamp recordings showed that unitary inhibitory postsynaptic currents from inhibitory neurons influencing excitatory neurons, including neurons projecting to the PBN, exhibited a high failure rate and were suppressed by both bicuculline and strychnine, suggesting that excitatory neurons in the Sp5C receive both GABAergic and glycinergic inhibition with low impact. Moreover, selective stimulation of IC axons increased the firing rate at the threshold responses. Finally, we demonstrated that selective stimulation of IC axons in the Sp5C by a chemogenetic approach decreased the thresholds of both mechanical and thermal nociception. Thus, IC projection to the Sp5C is likely to facilitate rather than suppress excitatory outputs from the Sp5C.
Orbital Reconstruction in Le Fort III Fractures
Authors: Wang Yang , Li Zhengkang , Chen Huifang , Deng Yuan 
Published: August 2022

Background:
Few quantitative results are reported about the surgical effect of orbital reconstruction in Le Fort III fractures. The authors’ team proposed an ordered surgery method which was effective for Le Fort III fractures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this method with quantitative outcomes.

Methods:
A retrospective study was conducted of all patients who were diagnosed with Le Fort III fractures and underwent orbital and facial fractures repair from January 2015 to June 2019. Surgical reconstruction was performed with an ordered surgery method. Orbital volumes were used to evaluate the effectiveness of orbital reconstruction.

Results:
Fifteen patients (21 eyes) with Le Fort III fractures were included in this study. Preoperative and postoperative orbital volume changes were statistically significant (P<0.01). For unilateral fractures, orbital volumes were different in 2 eyes (P<0.01). For bilateral fractures, orbital volumes were almost the same in 2 eyes (P=0.34). For the affected eye in unilateral fractures group and eyes in bilateral fractures group, after surgery, orbital volume were almost the same (P=0.35).

Conclusions:
This study showed effectiveness and safety of the ordered surgery in the treatment of Le Fort III fractures, which would result in significant decrease in orbital volumes.
Long-term Dependency in Older Adults After Surgery or Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Stage I Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Hirpara Dhruvin H. , Kidane Biniam , Louie Alexander V. , Zuk Victoria , Darling Gail , Rousseau Mathieu , Chesney Tyler , Coburn Natalie , Hallet Julie ,   for the REcovery After Surgical Therapy for Older adults REsearch—Cancer (RESTORE-C) Group
Published: August 2022

Objective:To examine long-term healthcare dependency outcomes of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to surgery for older adults with stage I non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Background:SBRT is an emerging alternative to surgery in patients with early-stage lung cancer. There remains a paucity of prospective studies comparing these modalities, especially with respect to long-term dependency outcomes in older adults with lung cancer.Methods:Adults 70 years old and above with stage I NSCLC treated with surgery or SBRT from January 2010 to December 2017 were analyzed using 1:1 propensity score matching. Homecare use, days at home, and time spent alive and at home were compared. E-value methods assessed residual confounding.Results:A total of 1129 and 2570 patients underwent SBRT and surgery, respectively. In all, 1016 per group were matched. SBRT was associated with a higher overall risk of homecare utilization [hazard ratio (HR)=1.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.37–2.23] than surgery up to 5 years following treatment. While the hazards of death or nursing home admission were lower in the first 3 months after SBRT (HR=0.55, 95% CI: 0.36–0.85), they became consistently higher beyond this period and remained high up to 5 years compared with surgery (HR=2.13; 95% CI: 1.85–2.45). The above findings persisted in stratified analyses for frail patients and those with no pretreatment homecare. E-values indicated it was unlikely that the observed estimates could be explained by unmeasured confounders.Conclusions:Surgery offers robust long-term dependency outcomes compared with SBRT. These are important patient-centered endpoints which may be used for counseling and shared decision-making in older adults with stage I NSCLC.
Estimation of local time-varying reproduction numbers in noisy surveillance data
Authors: Li Wenrui , Bulekova Katia , Gregor Brian , White Laura F. , Kolaczyk Eric D. 
Published: August 2022

A valuable metric in understanding local infectious disease dynamics is the local time-varying reproduction number, i.e. the expected number of secondary local cases caused by each infected individual. Accurate estimation of this quantity requires distinguishing cases arising from local transmission from those imported from elsewhere. Realistically, we can expect identification of cases as local or imported to be imperfect. We study the propagation of such errors in estimation of the local time-varying reproduction number. In addition, we propose a Bayesian framework for estimation of the true local time-varying reproduction number when identification errors exist. And we illustrate the practical performance of our estimator through simulation studies and with outbreaks of COVID-19 in Hong Kong and Victoria, Australia.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Technical challenges of modelling real-life epidemics and examples of overcoming these’.
Statistical analysis of number of genes and chromosome lengths of different microbial species
Authors: Ng Wenfa 
Published: August 2022

AbstractGenome architecture concerns the organisation of genes on a chromosome, and has important implications to the fidelity in which genes are encoded on the chromosome, and how the information is read by DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase. This facet of genomics did receive attention in the early epoch of genomics, but it has received less attention in contemporary genomics as attention shifts to structural and functional genomics with the goal of annotating the function of each gene in the genome. This work sought to uncover relationships between number of genes and chromosome length in a variety of bacteria and archaea species as a preamble to understanding the prevalence and importance of repetitive sequences in the genome of prokaryotic species. Aggregate results with the ensemble of prokaryotic species profiled revealed a positive linear correlation between number of genes and chromosome length. Upon dissection into the Bacteria and Archaea domains, the linear relationship described above still stands for Bacteria but starts to break down in Archaea. This suggests that repetitive sequences are more important to Archaea species, which generally have a smaller genome (1.8 to 2.8 Mbp) and fewer genes (1500 to 2400) compared to bacterial species. In comparison, the bacterial genome is larger (4 to 5.6 Mbp), and encodes more genes (3600 to 5100). Overall, the results highlight that bacterial genome are efficiently encoded with few repetitive sequences. This, however, is not true for archaeal genome, which provides another line of evidence supporting the notion that archaea are ancestral eukaryotic cells, which like the archaea also houses large repetitive sequences.Graphical abstractShort descriptionStatistical analysis across an ensemble of 59 microbial species revealed a strong linear correlation between number of genes and chromosome length. This suggests that prokaryotic genomes are highly compact with genes, and do not carry significant amounts of repeats unlike the case in eukaryotic organisms. The result holds significant implications for our understanding of genome evolution and compaction in prokaryotic organisms, and what drove their accession as foundational species of many ecosystems.Subject areasgenomics, molecular biology, evolutionary biology, bioinformatics, systems biology,
Criminal mutilation homicides in Japan: Corpse dismemberment and disposal pattern types, and offender characteristics
Authors: Zaitsu Wataru 
Published: August 2022

AbstractThis study examined the offender characteristics of criminal mutilation homicides in Japan for offender profiling. The current sample (N = 108) showed that the most typical offender was a male, in his 30s (age that observed most often), one‐person, and acquainted with the victim. This study highlighted that the cases of mutilation homicide differed in comparison with the regular homicide group in terms of the victim–offender (VO) relationship and the number of offenders. Furthermore, the multiple correspondence analysis classified mutilation homicides into four behavioral pattern types based on two dimensions (level of “efforts of corpse dismemberment” and “efforts of corpse disposal”). In the first type “high evidence destruction effort (n = 29)”, having the greatest efforts to destroy evidence, all offenders were men. The rates of no VO relationship and serial murders were higher. In the second type “convenient disposal (n = 32)”, likely to abandon victim body in home and trash, the rate of female offenders who assaulted family members was statistically significantly higher among the four types. In the third type “high geographic distance (n = 23)”, traveling long distances for corpse disposal, the percentage of cases by co‐offenders was likely to be higher than in the other types. Lastly, the offenders in “low evidence destruction effort (n = 24)” were likely to kill other acquaintances and have the least efforts for corpse dismemberment and disposal. From these results, the criminal profilers can estimate mutilation homicide offenders on the basis of efforts of corpse dismemberment and disposal.
soundscape_IR: A source separation toolbox for exploring acoustic diversity in soundscapes
Authors: Sun Yi‐Jen , Yen Shih‐Ching , Lin Tzu‐Hao 
Published: August 2022

Abstract

Soundscapes contain rich acoustic information associated with animal behaviours, environmental characteristics and human activities, providing opportunities for predicting biodiversity changes and associated drivers. However, assessing the diversity of animal vocalizations remains challenging due to the interference of environmental and anthropogenic noise. A tool for separating sound sources and delineating changes in acoustic signals is crucial for an effective assessment of acoustic diversity.

We present soundscape_IR, an open‐source Python toolbox dedicated to soundscape information retrieval in which nonnegative matrix factorization is applied. This toolbox provides algorithms for supervised and unsupervised source separation (SS). It also enables the use of a snapshot recording for model training and subsequently applying adaptive and semi‐supervised SS when target species produce sounds with varying features and when unseen sound sources are encountered.

Our results demonstrated that SS could enhance the vocalizations of target species, characterize the complexity of vocal repertoires and investigate the spatio‐temporal divergence of soundscapes. In tropical forest soundscapes, the application of SS effectively detected the rutting vocalizations of sika deer and revealed a graded structure in their acoustic characteristics. In subtropical estuarine soundscapes, SS automated the process of identifying distinct biotic and abiotic sounds, and the result uncovered divergent sound compositions between inshore and offshore waters.

Implementation of SS in soundscape analysis offers a promising method for streamlining the assessment of acoustic diversity in diverse environments. Future application of SS will open new directions to acoustically quantify ecological interactions across individual, species and ecosystem levels.