bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Experiences of Conducting Clinical Research Projects in Their Bachelor Theses – a Qualitative Study
Authors: Grønning Kjersti , Karlsholm Guro , André Beate 
Published: April 2022

Introduction The aim of educational institutions in the field of nursing is to educate nurses with the competences to provide high-quality care to their patients, meaning that students need to learn about evidence-based practice and how to translate the knowledge, skills, competency, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours into daily practice. The bachelor thesis is the ultimate test for undergraduate nursing students to present what they have learned. Objective The aim of this study was to explore undergraduate nursing students’ experiences of conducting clinical projects in their bachelor theses. Methods We used qualitative focus-group interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the students’ experiences of conducting clinical projects in their bachelor theses as an approach to learn about evidence-based practice. The analyses focused on meaning according to Brinkmann and Kvale. Results Eighteen out of 22 eligible students who had chosen to participate in ongoing clinical research projects and write an academic paper as their bachelor thesis were included in this study. The students were all females and divided into three focus groups. The clinical projects were conducted in a public hospital, a private hospital, nursing homes, or within home-care nursing. The analyses showed that conducting clinical projects in the bachelor thesis provided the students with important knowledge for providing evidence-based care and it. motivated them to want to initiate future clinical projects as nurses., They got valuable hands-on experience for how to conduct research, and made the students aware of the importance of keeping themselves updated on the latest knowledge. Conclusion Conducting clinical research projects on a bachelor level provide undergraduate nursing students with important knowledge of how to provide evidence-based nursing care to their patients. Learning how to conduct clinical research projects is also important for motivating future nurses to initiate research aiming to improve clinical nursing practice.
Nailfold capillaroscopy for the early diagnosis of the scleroderma spectrum of diseases in patients without Raynaud’s phenomenon
Authors: Hong Cassandra , Xiang Ling , Saffari Seyed Ehsan , Low Andrea HL 
Published: April 2022

Background: The utility of nailfold capillaroscopy in the evaluation of patients without Raynaud’s phenomenon is unclear. Objective: This study aims to compare the utility of nailfold capillaroscopy for the early diagnosis of the scleroderma-spectrum of diseases in patients who present with Raynaud’s phenomenon, undifferentiated non-Raynaud’s phenomenon features and positive systemic sclerosis-associated antibodies without scleroderma-spectrum of disease features. Methods: Eligible patients were divided into three referral criteria groups: (I) Raynaud’s phenomenon; (II) Undifferentiated non-Raynaud’s phenomenon features and (III) Positive systemic sclerosis-associated autoantibodies without features to suggest scleroderma-spectrum of diseases. This includes systemic sclerosis, mixed connective tissue disease and dermatomyositis. The association between baseline scleroderma pattern on nailfold capillaroscopy (systemic sclerosis–nailfold capillaroscopy) and final diagnosis at follow-up was determined using logistic regression analysis. Test characteristics of nailfold capillaroscopy were compared and stratified by referral groups. Results: Of 95 patients followed-up for a mean of 1.6 years, 28 (29.5%) patients developed scleroderma-spectrum of diseases, 36 (37.9%) patients had suspected/other connective tissue disease and 27 (28.4%) patients had no connective tissue disease. Baseline systemic sclerosis-nailfold capillaroscopy was significantly associated with the development of scleroderma-spectrum of diseases in patients from Group I (odds ratio, 7.1, p = 0.01) and Group II (odds ratio 7.3, p = 0.005). In Group II patients, nailfold capillaroscopy had a sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of 71.4%, 76.5%, 55.6% and 86.7%, respectively. Specificity (81.8%) and PPV (69.2%) were the highest in Group I patients. Nailfold capillaroscopy had the highest negative predictive value in Group III (100%), followed by Group II (86.7%) and Group I (78.3%) patients. Conclusion: In addition to evaluating patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon, nailfold capillaroscopy was useful in the evaluation and exclusion of scleroderma-spectrum of diseases in patients with undifferentiated non-Raynaud phenomenon features and those with systemic sclerosis-associated antibodies without features to suggest scleroderma-spectrum of diseases.
Objective Sleep-Wake Characteristics Are Associated With Diabetes Symptoms in Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes
Authors: Griggs Stephanie , Grey Margaret , Ash Garrett I. , Li Chiang-shan R. , Crawford Sybil L. , Hickman Ronald L. 
Published: April 2022

Purpose: The primary purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to examine the associations between sleep-wake characteristics (total sleep time, sleep variability, sleep onset latency, and sleep efficiency), distress symptoms (general and diabetes), and diabetes physical symptoms in young adults ages 18 to 30 years with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The secondary purpose was to determine whether biological sex, body mass index (BMI), and T1D duration (covariates) influence the relationships among the study variables. Methods: Forty-six young adults with T1D, recruited from diabetes clinics from December 2018 to February 2020, wore a wrist actigraph and continuous glucose monitor concurrently for 6 to 14 days and completed the PROMIS Emotional Distress Scale, Diabetes Distress Scale, and Diabetes Symptom Checklist-Revised. Results: Shorter total sleep time and poorer sleep efficiency were associated with higher diabetes emotional distress symptoms. Higher sleep variability was associated with higher neurological pain symptoms. A longer sleep onset latency was associated with higher symptoms of diabetes distress, including psychological, cognitive, hyperglycemia, and a higher total symptom burden. Associations remained statistically significant after adjusting for biological sex and BMI, with the exception of sleep onset latency and total symptom burden. Conclusions: Poorer objective sleep-wake characteristics were associated with higher diabetes symptoms even after considering biological sex and BMI among young adults with T1D.
Impaired p47phox phosphorylation in neutrophils from patients with p67phox-deficient chronic granulomatous disease
Authors: Belambri Sahra Amel , Marzaioli Viviana , Hurtado-Nedelec Margarita , Pintard Coralie , Liang Shiyu , Liu Yezhou , Boussetta Tarek , Gougerot-Pocidalo Marie-Anne , Ye Richard D. , Dang Pham My-Chan , El-Benna Jamel 
Published: April 2022

AbstractSuperoxide production by the phagocyte reduced NAD phosphate (NADPH) oxidase is essential for innate immunity as shown in chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), an immunodeficiency disease resulting from mutations in 1 of its genes. The NADPH oxidase is composed of 2 membrane proteins (gp91phox/NOX2 and p22phox) and 4 cytosolic proteins (p47phox, p67phox, p40phox, and Rac1/2). The phosphorylation of p47phox is required for NADPH oxidase activation in cells. As p47phox and p67phox can form a tight complex in cells, we hypothesized that p67phox could regulate p47phox phosphorylation. To investigate this hypothesis, we used phospho-specific antibodies against 5 major p47phox-phosphorylated sites (Ser304, Ser315, Ser320, Ser328, and Ser345) and neutrophils from healthy donors and from p67phox−/− CGD patients. Results showed that formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine and phorbol myristate acetate induced a time- and a concentration-dependent phosphorylation of p47phox on Ser304, Ser315, Ser320, and Ser328 in healthy human neutrophils. Interestingly, in neutrophils and Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphocytes from p67phox−/− CGD patients, phosphorylation of p47phox on serine residues was dramatically reduced. In COSphox cells, the presence of p67phox led to increased phosphorylation of p47phox. In vitro studies showed that recombinant p47phox was phosphorylated on Ser304, Ser315, Ser320, and Ser328 by different PKC isoforms and the addition of recombinant p67phox alone or in combination with p40phox potentiated this process. Thus, p67phox and p40phox are required for optimal p47phox phosphorylation on Ser304, Ser315, Ser320, and Ser328 in intact cells. Therefore, p67phox and p40phox are novel regulators of p47phox-phosphorylation.
Stimulation of the EP3receptor causes lung oedema by activation of TRPC6 in pulmonary endothelial cells
Authors: Jiang Tian , Samapati Rudi , Klassen Sergej , Lei Disi , Erfinanda Lasti , Jankowski Vera , Simmons Szandor , Yin Jun , Arenz Christoph , Dietrich Alexander , Gudermann Thomas , Adam Dieter , Schaefer Michael , Jankowski Joachim , Flockerzi Veit , Nüsing Rolf , Uhlig Stefan , Kuebler Wolfgang M. 
Published: April 2022

BackgroundProstaglandin E2(PGE2) increases pulmonary vascular permeability by activation of the PGE2receptor 3 (EP3), which may explain adverse pulmonary effects of the EP1/EP3receptor agonist sulprostone in patients. In addition, PGE2contributes to pulmonary oedema in response to platelet-activating factor (PAF). PAF increases endothelial permeability by recruiting the cation channel transient receptor potential canonical 6 (TRPC6) to endothelial caveolaeviaacid sphingomyelinase (ASMase). Yet, the roles of PGE2and EP3in this pathway are unknown. We hypothesised that EP3receptor activation may increase pulmonary vascular permeability by activation of TRPC6, and thus, synergise with ASMase-mediated TRPC6 recruitment in PAF-induced lung oedema.MethodsIn isolated lungs, we measured increases in endothelial calcium (ΔCa2+) or lung weight (Δweight), and endothelial caveolar TRPC6 abundance as well as phosphorylation.ResultsPAF-induced ΔCa2+and Δweight were attenuated in EP3-deficient mice. Sulprostone replicated PAF-induced ΔCa2+and Δweight which were blocked by pharmacological/genetic inhibition of TRPC6, ASMase or Src-family kinases (SrcFK). PAF, but not sulprostone, increased TRPC6 abundance in endothelial caveolae. Immunoprecipitation revealed PAF- and sulprostone-induced tyrosine-phosphorylation of TRPC6 that was prevented by inhibition of phospholipase C (PLC) or SrcFK. PLC inhibition also blocked sulprostone-induced ΔCa2+and Δweight, as did inhibition of SrcFK or inhibitory G-protein (Gi) signalling.ConclusionsEP3activation triggers pulmonary oedemaviaGi-dependent activation of PLC and subsequent SrcFK-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of TRPC6. In PAF-induced lung oedema, this TRPC6 activation coincides with ASMase-dependent caveolar recruitment of TRPC6, resulting in rapid endothelial Ca2+influx and barrier failure.
Pulmonary function test and computed tomography features during follow-up after SARS, MERS and COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Huntley Christopher C. , Patel Ketan , Bil Bushra Shahnoor-E-Salam , Mobeen Farah , Armitage Michael N. , Pye Anita , Knight Chloe B. , Mostafa Alyaa , Kershaw Marie , Mughal Aishah Z. , McKemey Emily , Turner Alice M. , Burge P. Sherwood , Walters Gareth I. 
Published: April 2022

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic follows severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus epidemics. Some survivors of COVID-19 infection experience persistent respiratory symptoms, yet their cause and natural history remain unclear. Follow-up after SARS and MERS may provide a model for predicting the long-term pulmonary consequences of COVID-19.MethodsThis systematic review and meta-analysis aims to describe and compare the longitudinal pulmonary function test (PFT) and computed tomography (CT) features of patients recovering from SARS, MERS and COVID-19. Meta-analysis of PFT parameters (DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model) and proportion of CT features (Freeman-Tukey transformation random-effects model) were performed.FindingsPersistent reduction in the diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide following SARS and COVID-19 infection is seen at 6 months follow-up, and 12 months after MERS. Other PFT parameters recover in this time. 6 months after SARS and COVID-19, ground-glass opacity, linear opacities and reticulation persist in over 30% of patients; honeycombing and traction dilatation are reported less often. Severe/critical COVID-19 infection leads to greater CT and PFT abnormality compared to mild/moderate infection.InterpretationPersistent diffusion defects suggestive of parenchymal lung injury occur after SARS, MERS and COVID-19 infection, but improve over time. After COVID-19 infection, CT features are suggestive of persistent parenchymal lung injury, in keeping with a post-COVID-19 interstitial lung syndrome. It is yet to be determined if this is a regressive or progressive disease.
Benchmarking for biomedical natural language processing tasks with a domain specific ALBERT
Authors: Naseem Usman , Dunn Adam G. , Khushi Matloob , Kim Jinman 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBackgroundThe abundance of biomedical text data coupled with advances in natural language processing (NLP) is resulting in novel biomedical NLP (BioNLP) applications. These NLP applications, or tasks, are reliant on the availability of domain-specific language models (LMs) that are trained on a massive amount of data. Most of the existing domain-specific LMs adopted bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) architecture which has limitations, and their generalizability is unproven as there is an absence of baseline results among common BioNLP tasks.ResultsWe present 8 variants of BioALBERT, a domain-specific adaptation of a lite bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (ALBERT), trained on biomedical (PubMed and PubMed Central) and clinical (MIMIC-III) corpora and fine-tuned for 6 different tasks across 20 benchmark datasets. Experiments show that a large variant of BioALBERT trained on PubMed outperforms the state-of-the-art on named-entity recognition (+ 11.09% BLURB score improvement), relation extraction (+ 0.80% BLURB score), sentence similarity (+ 1.05% BLURB score), document classification (+ 0.62% F1-score), and question answering (+ 2.83% BLURB score). It represents a new state-of-the-art in 5 out of 6 benchmark BioNLP tasks.ConclusionsThe large variant of BioALBERT trained on PubMed achieved a higher BLURB score than previous state-of-the-art models on 5 of the 6 benchmark BioNLP tasks. Depending on the task, 5 different variants of BioALBERT outperformed previous state-of-the-art models on 17 of the 20 benchmark datasets, showing that our model is robust and generalizable in the common BioNLP tasks. We have made BioALBERT freely available which will help the BioNLP community avoid computational cost of training and establish a new set of baselines for future efforts across a broad range of BioNLP tasks.
Whole genome sequencing and taxonomic profiling of two Pantoea sp. isolated from environmental samples in Israel
Authors: Guedj-Dana Yehoudit , Cohen-Gihon Inbar , Israeli Ofir , Shifman Ohad , Aminov Tamar , Rotem Shahar , Ber Raphael , Zvi Anat 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Objective
As part of a research aiming at the isolation of bacteria secreting growth inhibiting compounds, cultures of Francisella tularensis were implanted in environmental samples and monitored for inhibition zones on agar. Two antibiotic-like secreting bacteria were isolated, their genomic sequence was deciphered and taxonomic profiling analysis classified them as belonging to the Pantoea genus.

Data description
Two bacterial isolates exhibiting growth inhibition zones to F. tularensis (LVS) were analyzed using the Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT). Preliminary de novo assembly of the reads was performed, followed by taxonomic profiling based on Multi Locus Sequence Analysis (MLSA) and implementation of the Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) measure. The genomic sequences resulted in the identification of two different Pantoea species, denoted EnvD and EnvH.
Subsequent de novo genome assembly generated 5 and 10 contigs for EnvD and EnvH, respectively. The largest contig (4,008,183 bps and 3,740,753 bps for EnvD and EnvH, respectively), overlaps to a major extent to the chromosome of closely related Pantoea species. ANI values calculated for both isolates revealed two apparently new species of the Pantoea genus.
Our study deciphered the identity of two bacteria producing antibiotic-like compounds, and the genomic sequence revealed they represent distinct Pantoea species.
Clinical characteristics, outcomes and regional variations of acquired valvular heart disease patients undergoing cardiac surgery in China
Authors: Lin Hongyuan , Hou Jianfeng , Gong Jiamiao , Wu Yongjian , Zheng Zhe 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Aims
To characterize surgical valvular heart diseases (VHDs) in China and disclose regional variations in VHD surgeries by analyzing the data derived from the Chinese Cardiac Surgery Registry (CCSR).

Methods and results
From January 2016 to December 2018, we consecutively collected the demographic information, clinical characteristics and outcomes of 38,131 adult patients undergoing valvular surgery in China. We sought to assess the quality of VHD surgery by examining in-hospital deaths of all patients from 7 geographic regions. Using a hierarchical generalized linear model, we calculated the risk-standardized mortality rate (RSMR) of each region. By comparing VHD characteristics and RSMRs, we pursued an investigation into regional variations. The mean age was 54.4 ± 12.4 years, and 47.2% of the patients were females. Among cases, the number of aortic valve surgeries was 9361 (24.5%), which was less than that of mitral valve surgeries (n = 14,506, 38.0%). The number of concurrent aortic and mitral valve surgeries was 6984 (18.3%). A total of 4529 surgical VHD patients (11.9%) also underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 2.17%. The lowest RSMR, 0.91%, was found in the southwest region, and the highest RSMR, 3.99%, was found in the northeast.

Conclusion
Although the overall valvular surgical mortality rate in large Chinese cardiac centers was in line with high-income countries, there were marked regional variations in the characteristics and outcomes of surgical VHD patients across China.
Independent factors affecting hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke in patients aged 40–69 years: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Mori Takahisa , Yoshioka Kazuhiro , Tanno Yuhei , Kasakura Shigen 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and acute ischemic stroke (AIS) have common vascular risk factors; however, ICH often occurs in adults aged < 70 years. Intracerebral hemorrhage and AIS in adults aged < 70 years should be preventable; however, it is unclear why different subtypes of ICH or AIS occur among adults aged < 70 years with vascular risk factors. This study aimed to identify independent variables for ICH or AIS onset in patients aged < 70 years.

Methods
We included patients aged 40–69 years who experienced ICH or AIS between August 2016 and July 2019. Patients aged < 40 years were excluded because other diseases, rather than vascular risk factors, are often associated with stroke etiology in this age group. Data on age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), serum lipids, and serum fatty acid levels were compared between patients with ICH and those with AIS. In addition, we conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses to identify independent factors among the variables, such as blood pressure or biomarkers, with significant differences between the two groups.

Results
Of the 1252 acute stroke patients screened, 74 patients with ICH and 149 patients with AIS met the inclusion criteria. After excluding variables with multicollinearity, SBP, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) proportion (%) of total fatty acids were identified as independent factors affecting ICH and AIS. The SBP and EPA% threshold values for ICH compared to AIS were ≥ 158 mmHg and ≤ 2.3%, respectively. The HbA1c threshold value for AIS compared to ICH was ≥ 6.1%.

Conclusions
Systolic blood pressure, HbA1c, and EPA%, were independent factors between ICH and AIS. Patients aged 40–69 years with high SBP and low EPA% were at a higher risk of ICH than AIS, and those with a high HbA1c were at a higher risk of AIS than ICH.
Simultaneous or staged resection for synchronous liver metastasis and primary rectal cancer: a propensity score matching analysis
Authors: Karam Elias , Bucur Petru , Gil Camille , Sindayigaya Remy , Tabchouri Nicolas , Barbier Louise , Pabst-Giger Urs , Bourlier Pascal , Lecomte Thierry , Moussata Driffa , Chapet Sophie , Calais Gilles , Ouaissi Mehdi , Salamé Ephrem 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in France and by the time of the diagnosis, 15–25% of patients will suffer from synchronous liver metastases. Surgery associated to neoadjuvant treatment can cure these patients, but few studies focus only on rectal cancer. This study was meant to compare the outcomes of patients who underwent a simultaneous resection to those who underwent a staged resection (rectum first or liver first) in the University Hospital of Tours, France.

Methods
We assessed retrospectively a prospective maintained data base about the clinical, pathological and survival outcomes of patients who underwent a simultaneous or a staged resection in our center between 2010 and 2018. A propensity score matching was used, considering the initial characteristics of our groups.

Results
There were 70 patients (55/15 males, female respectively) with median age 60 (54–68) years. After matching 48 (69%) of them underwent a staged approach and 22 (31%) a simultaneous approach were compared. After PSM, there were 22 patients in each group. No differences were found in terms of morbidity (p = 0.210), overall survival (p = 0.517) and disease-free survival (p = 0.691) at 3 years after matching. There were significantly less recurrences in the simultaneous group (50% vs 81.8%, p = 0.026).

Conclusions
Simultaneous resection of the rectal primary cancer and synchronous liver metastases is safe and feasible with no difference in terms of survival.