bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Undiagnosed polycythemia, an uncommon cause of Wallenberg syndrome: A case report
Authors: Rayamajhi Aadesh , Pokhrel Biraj , Khanal Shambhu , Shrestha Anjan 
Published: April 2022

AbstractA 26‐year‐old man presented with difficulty swallowing, dizziness, hiccups, and Horner's syndrome. Clinical and neuroimaging collaboration confirmed lateral medullary syndrome. Polycythemia was identified as the only attributable risk factor. However, the cause of polycythemia could not be assessed further. Polycythemia was managed with phlebotomy.
Concomitant lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and amyloidosis: A diagnostic and therapeutic challenge
Authors: Ceballos Candela , Alburquerque Cristina , Zabalza Amaya , Quispe Iván , Panizo Ángel , Burguete Yolanda , Redondo Ana Margarita , Mateos María Carmen 
Published: April 2022

AbstractWe report a case based on simultaneous occurrence of Waldenström macroglobulinemia, myeloma and amyloidosis as a collision neoplasm. The strangeness and severity of the case presented a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, which required individualised treatment and close follow‐up to achieved stringent complete response.
Cytomorphology of NUTM1‐rearranged sarcoma involving pleural fluid
Authors: Chen Longwen , Larsen Brandon , Dermawan Josephine K. , Zarka Matthew A. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractWe describe an exceedingly rare cytology case of a NUTM1‐rearranged sarcoma involving pleural fluid. A 48‐year‐old female presented with progressive abdominal pain. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen revealed a 5.6 cm soft tissue mass in the right hemi‐abdomen. Needle core biopsy of the mass showed a small round cell tumor. Extensive work‐up including next generation sequencing (NGS) demonstrated a NUTM1:MXI1 rearranged sarcoma. The patient was first treated with ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide (ICE) chemotherapy. She responded initially and then progressed with multiple masses in the abdomen and pleural effusion. The cytology of the pleural effusion showed clusters and single small round blue cells. Some of them displayed rhabdoid morphology. Immunostains of NUT antibody on cell block demonstrated strong positivity of NUT. NUTM1‐rearranged sarcoma is an emerging class of mesenchymal neoplasm and the cytomorphology of this neoplasm in liquid‐based cytology (LBC) is yet to be described. We herein reported the first cytology case of NUTM1‐rearranged sarcoma in pleural fluid.
Aperiodic electrophysiological activity in preterm infants is linked to subsequent autism risk
Authors: Shuffrey Lauren C. , Pini Nicolò , Potter Mandy , Springer Priscilla , Lucchini Maristella , Rayport Yael , Sania Ayesha , Firestein Morgan , Brink Lucy , Isler Joseph R. , Odendaal Hein , Fifer William P. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractApproximately 7% of preterm infants receive an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Yet, there is a significant gap in the literature in identifying prospective markers of neurodevelopmental risk in preterm infants. The present study examined two electroencephalography (EEG) parameters during infancy, absolute EEG power and aperiodic activity of the power spectral density (PSD) slope, in association with subsequent autism risk and cognitive ability in a diverse cohort of children born preterm in South Africa. Participants were 71 preterm infants born between 25 and 36 weeks gestation (34.60 ± 2.34 weeks). EEG was collected during sleep between 39 and 41 weeks postmenstrual age adjusted (40.00 ± 0.42 weeks). The Bayley Scales of Infant Development and Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) were administered at approximately 3 years of age adjusted (34 ± 2.7 months). Aperiodic activity, but not the rhythmic oscillatory activity, at multiple electrode sites was associated with subsequent increased autism risk on the BITSEA at three years of age. No associations were found between the PSD slope or absolute EEG power and cognitive development. Our findings highlight the need to examine potential markers of subsequent autism risk in high‐risk populations other than infants at familial risk.
Interacting lethal and nonlethal human activities shape complex risk tolerance behaviors in a mountain herbivore
Authors: Courbin Nicolas , Garel Mathieu , Marchand Pascal , Duparc Antoine , Debeffe Lucie , Börger Luca , Loison Anne 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAnimals perceive human activities as risky and generally respond with fear‐induced proactive behaviors to buffer the circadian patterns of lethal and nonlethal disturbances, such as diel migrations (DMs) between risky places during safe nighttime and safer places during risky daytime. However, such responses potentially incur costs through movement or reduced foraging time, so individuals should adjust their tolerance when human activities are harmless, through habituation. Yet this is a challenging cognitive task when lethal and nonlethal risks co‐occur, forming complex landscapes of fear. The consequences of this human‐induced complexity have, however, rarely been assessed. We studied the individual DM dynamics of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra rupicapra), 89 GPS‐tracked individual‐years, from/to trails in the French Alps in areas with co‐occurring lethal (hunting) and nonlethal (hiking and skiing) disturbances, with different intensities across seasons. We developed a conceptual framework relying on the risk‐disturbance hypothesis and habituation to predict tolerance adjustments of chamois under various disturbance contexts and across contrasted seasonal periods. Based on spatial and statistical analyses combining periodograms and multinomial logistic models, we found that DM in relation to distance to a trail was a consistent response by chamois (~85% of individuals) to avoid human disturbance during daytime, especially during the hiking and hunting periods. Such behavior revealed a low tolerance of most chamois to human activities, although there was considerable interindividual heterogeneity in DM. Interestingly, there was an increased tolerance among the most disturbed diel migrants, potentially through habituation, with chamois performing shorter DMs in areas highly disturbed by hikers. Crucially, chamois that were most human‐habituated during the hiking period remained more tolerant in the subsequent harvesting period, which could increase their risk of being harvested. In contrast, individuals less tolerant to hiking performed longer DMs when hunting risk increased, and compared to hiking, hunting exacerbated the threshold distance to trails triggering DMs. No carryover effect of hunting beyond the hunting period was observed. In conclusion, complex human‐induced landscapes of fear with co‐occurring disturbances by nature‐based tourism and hunting may shape unexpected patterns of tolerance to human activities, whereby animal tolerance could become potentially deleterious for individual survival.
Invasive species do not exploit early growing seasons in burned tallgrass prairies
Authors: Ratcliffe Hugh , Ahlering Marissa , Carlson Daren , Vacek Sara , Allstadt Andrew , Dee Laura E. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractInvasive species management is key to conserving critically threatened native prairie ecosystems. While prescribed burning is widely demonstrated to increase native diversity and suppress invasive species, elucidating the conditions under which burning is most effective remains an ongoing focus of applied prairie ecology research. Understanding how conservation management interacts with climate is increasingly pressing, because climate change is altering weather conditions and seasonal timing around the world. Increasingly early growing seasons due to climate change are shifting the timing and availability of resources and niche space, which may disproportionately advantage invasive species and influence the outcome of burning. We estimated the effects of burning, start time of the growing season, and their interaction on invasive species relative cover and frequency, two metrics for species abundance and dominance. We used 25 observed prairie sites and 853 observations of 267 transects spread throughout Minnesota, USA from 2010 to 2019 to conduct our analysis. Here, we show that burning reduced the abundance of invasive cool‐season grasses, leading to reduced abundance of invasive species as a whole. This reduction persisted over time for invasive cover but quickly waned for their frequency of occurrence. Additionally, and contrary to expectations that early growing season starts benefit invasive species, we found evidence that later growing season starts increased the abundance of some invasive species. However, the effects of burning on plant communities were largely unaltered by the timing of the growing season, although earlier growing season starts weakened the effectiveness of burning on Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and smooth brome (Bromus inermis), two of the most dominant invasive species in the region. Our results suggest that prescribed burning will likely continue to be a useful conservation tool in the context of earlier growing season starts, and that changes to growing season timing will not be a primary mechanism driving increased invasion due to climate change in these ecosystems. We propose that future research seek to better understand abiotic controls on invasive species phenology in managed systems and how burning intensity and timing interact with spring conditions.
Revisiting the comparative phylogeography of unglaciated eastern North America: 15 years of patterns and progress
Authors: Lyman Rachel Ann , Edwards Christine E. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractIn a landmark comparative phylogeographic study, “Comparative phylogeography of unglaciated eastern North America,” Soltis et al. (Molecular Ecology, 2006, 15, 4261) identified geographic discontinuities in genetic variation shared across taxa occupying unglaciated eastern North America and proposed several common biogeographical discontinuities related to past climate fluctuations and geographic barriers. Since 2006, researchers have published many phylogeographical studies and achieved many advances in genotyping and analytical techniques; however, it is unknown how this work has changed our understanding of the factors shaping the phylogeography of eastern North American taxa. We analyzed 184 phylogeographical studies of eastern North American taxa published between 2007 and 2019 to evaluate: (1) the taxonomic focus of studies and whether a previously detected taxonomic bias towards studies focused on vertebrates has changed over time, (2) the extent to which studies have adopted genotyping technologies that improve the resolution of genetic groups (i.e., NGS DNA sequencing) and analytical approaches that facilitate hypothesis‐testing (i.e., divergence time estimation and niche modeling), and (3) whether new studies support the hypothesized biogeographic discontinuities proposed by Soltis et al. (Molecular Ecology, 2006, 15, 4261) or instead support new, previously undetected discontinuities. We observed little change in taxonomic focus over time, with studies still biased toward vertebrates. Although many technological and analytical advances became available during the period, uptake was slow and they were employed in only a small proportion of studies. We found variable support for previously identified discontinuities and identified one new recurrent discontinuity. However, the limited resolution and taxonomic breadth of many studies hindered our ability to clarify the most important climatological or geographical factors affecting taxa in the region. Broadening the taxonomic focus to include more non‐vertebrate taxa, employing technologies that improve genetic resolution, and using analytical approaches that improve hypothesis testing are necessary to strengthen our inference of the forces shaping the phylogeography of eastern North America.
Assessing spatiotemporal variation in abundance: A flexible framework accounting for sampling bias with an application to common pochard (Aythya ferina)
Authors: Folliot Benjamin , Caizergues Alain , Tableau Adrien , Souchay Guillaume , Guillemain Matthieu , Champagnon Jocelyn , Calenge Clément 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAssessing trends in the relative abundance of populations is a key yet complex issue for management and conservation. This is a major aim of many large‐scale censusing schemes such as the International Waterbird Count (IWC). However, owing to the lack of sampling strategy and standardization, such schemes likely suffer from biases due to spatial heterogeneity in sampling effort. Despite huge improvements of the statistical tools that allow tackling these statistical issues (e.g., GLMM, Bayesian inference), many conservationists still prefer to rely on stand‐alone turn‐key statistical tools, often violating the prerequisites put forward by the developers of these tools. Here, we propose a straightforward and flexible approach to tackle the typical statistical issues one can encounter when analyzing count data of monitoring schemes such as the IWC. We rely on IWC counts of the declining common pochard populations of the Northwest European flyway as a case study (period 2002–2012). To standardize the size of sampling units and mitigate spatial autocorrelation, we grouped sampling sites using a 75 × 75 km grid cells overlaid over the flyway of interest. Then, we used a hierarchical modeling approach, assessing population trends with random effects at two spatial scales (grid cells, and sites within grid cells) in order to derive spatialized values and to compute the average population trend at the whole flyway scale. Our approach allowed to tackle many statistical issues inherent to this type of analysis but often neglected, including spatial autocorrelation. Concerning the case study, our main findings are that: (1) the northwestern population of common pochards experienced a steep decline (4.9% per year over the 2002–2012 period); (2) the decline was more pronounced at high than low latitude (11.6% and 0.5% per year at 60° and 46° of latitude, respectively); and, (3) the decline was independent of the initial number of individuals in a given site (random across sites). Beyond the case study of the common pochard, our study provides a conceptual statistical framework for estimating and assessing potential drivers of population trends at various spatial scales.
Distinct mtDNA lineages in free‐ranging Ammotragus(aoudad) from the United States indicate multiple introductions from northern Africa
Authors: Wright Emily A. , Wiedmeier Rachael C. , Roberts Emma K. , Pipkin David R. , Hernández Froylán , Bayouth Joseph P. , Conway Warren C. , Bradley Robert D. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractTranslocation records indicate aoudad (Ammotragus lervia) populations in the United States are a product of multiple human‐mediated introductions. Two mitochondrial markers (cytochrome b, cytb; displacement loop, D loop) and one nuclear gene (prion protein gene exon 3, PRNP) were used to determine: (1) genetic variation, (2) if genetic units correspond to taxonomic designations, (3) the number and geographic origin of translocations, and (4) divergence times. Three phylogenetic analyses (Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood, and parsimony) produced similar topologies with two clades (I and II). Clade I contained progeny of individuals resulting from introductions to Texas and Spain, and individuals from Algeria. Individuals in Clade II were progeny of past introductions to the United States and Europe, and northern Algeria. Clade II was subdivided into two subclades (A and B) representing two haplogroups. No genetic variation was detected in the PRNP sequences. Three haplogroups appeared to correspond to the subspecies A. l. lervia and A. l. sahariensis whose native distribution includes northwestern Africa. Network analyses assigned haplogroups to two major groups similar to those depicted in the phylogenetic analyses. Genetic distances ranged from 0.80% to 5.17% and 2.99% to 15.42% for cytb and D loop, respectively; and were higher than normally recovered for caprids, warranting a reexamination of subspecific status. Divergence dates indicated a major split between A. l. lervia and A. l. sahariensis circa 2.38 mya. Together, the high level of genetic divergences among US populations and apparent presence of two subspecies of aoudad in the United States support the hypothesis of multiple introductions from multiple sources.
Impact of diabetes on COVID‐19 mortality and hospital outcomes from a global perspective: An umbrella systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Kastora Stavroula , Patel Manisha , Carter Ben , Delibegovic Mirela , Myint Phyo Kyaw 
Published: April 2022

AbstractIntroductionTo date, COVID‐19 has claimed 4.9 million lives. Diabetes has been identified as an independent risk factor of serious outcomes in people with COVID‐19 infection. Whether that holds true across world regions uniformly has not been previously assessed.MethodsThis study offers the first umbrella systematic review and meta‐analysis to analyse the collective and geographically stratified mortality, ICU admission, ventilation requirement, illness severity and discharge rate amongst patients with diabetes. Five databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, CAB Abstracts, PsychInfo and Web of Science) and 3 additional sources (SSRN's eLibrary, Research Square and MedRxiv) were searched from inception to 30 August 2021. Prospective and retrospective cohort studies, reporting the association between diabetes and one or more COVID‐19 hospitalization outcomes, were included. This meta‐analysis was registered on PROSPERO, CRD42021278579. Abbreviated MeSH terms used for search were as follows: (Diabetes) AND (2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease), adapted per database requirements. Exclusion criteria exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) none of the primary or secondary outcomes of meta‐analysis reported, (2) no confirmed COVID‐19 infection (laboratory or clinical) and (3) no unexposed population (solely patients with diabetes included). Quality of the included studies were assessed using the Newcastle‐Ottawa Scale (NOS) whilst quality of evidence by the GRADE framework. Studies that were clinically homogeneous were pooled. Summative data and heterogeneity were generated by the Cochrane platform RevMan (V. 5.4).ResultsOverall, 158 observational studies were included, with a total of 270,212 of participants, median age 59 [53–65 IQR] of who 56.5% were male. A total of 22 studies originated from EU, 90 from Far East, 16 from Middle East and 30 from America. Data were synthesized with mixed heterogeneity across outcomes. Pooled results highlighted those patients with diabetes were at a higher risk of COVID‐19‐related mortality, OR 1.87 [95%CI 1.61, 2.17]. ICU admissions increased across all studies for patients with diabetes, OR 1.59 [95%CI 1.15, 2.18], a result that was mainly skewed by Far East‐originating studies, OR 1.94 [95%CI 1.51, 2.49]. Ventilation requirements were also increased amongst patients with diabetes worldwide, OR 1.44 [95%CI 1.20, 1.73] as well as their presentation with severe or critical condition, OR 2.88 [95%CI 2.29, 3.63]. HbA1C levels under <70 mmol and metformin use constituted protective factors in view of COVID‐19 mortality, whilst the inverse was true for concurrent insulin use.ConclusionsWhilst diabetes constitutes a poor prognosticator for various COVID‐19 infection outcomes, variability across world regions is significant and may skew overall trends.
Sputum neutrophil elastase and its relation to pediatric bronchiectasis severity: A cross‐sectional study
Authors: Ali Heba A. , Fouda Eman M. , Salem Mona A. , Abdelwahad Marwa A. , Radwan Heba H. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBackground and AimsSputum neutrophil elastase (NE) is a marker of neutrophilic airway inflammation in bronchiectasis. Yet, not much is known about its role in pediatric bronchiectasis severity. This study aimed to assess the sputum NE value as a biomarker of clinical and radiological severity in pediatric bronchiectasis.MethodsThis was a cross‐sectional study assessing sputum NE in a total of 50 bronchiectasis patients under the age of 18 years—30 patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and 20 patients with non‐CF bronchiectasis were included. Bronchiectasis severity was assessed using Shwachman–Kulczycki (SK) score, CF‐ABLE score, and CF risk of disease progression score, among CF patients, and bronchiectasis severity index (BSI) and FACED criteria among non‐CF bronchiectasis patients, associations between sputum NE and bronchiectasis severity were assessed in both patient groups.ResultsSputum NE was directly correlated with C‐reactive protein (r = 0.914, p < 0.001), (r = 0.786, p < 0.001), frequency of exacerbations (r = 0.852, p < 0.001) (r = 0.858, p < 0.001), exacerbations severity (r = 0.735, p = 0.002), (r = 0.907, p < 0.001), and the number of hospital admissions (r = 0.813, p < 0.001), (r = 0.612, p  =0.004) in the last year among CF, and non‐CF bronchiectasis patients, respectively. Additional linear correlations were found between sputum NE, CF risk of disease progression score (p < 0.001), CF‐ABLE score (p < 0.001), and lower forced expiratory volume 1% of predicted (p = 0.017; ρ = −0.8) among CF patients. Moreover, sputum NE was positively correlated with the neutrophil count (p = 0.018), and BSI severity score (p = 0.039; ρ = 0.465) among non‐CF bronchiectasis patients.ConclusionsSputum NE may be considered a good biomarker of bronchiectasis severity in both CF and non‐CF bronchiectasis patients, as confirmed by the exacerbations rate, CF risk of disease progression, and BSI scores.
Counseling and prenatal diagnosis in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy: A retrospective study on a 13‐year multidisciplinary approach
Authors: Di Feo Maria Francesca , Bettio Cinzia , Salsi Valentina , Bertucci Emma , Tupler Rossella 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBackground and AimsThis is the first national population‐based report about prenatal diagnosis for families with a history of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a complex hereditary disease. The incomplete disease penetrance and the phenotypic heterogeneity observed in carriers of D4Z4 alleles of reduced size, the FSHD molecular hallmark, make the estimate of genetic risk problematic.MethodsWe considered all requests of preconception counseling and prenatal diagnosis received between January 2008 and December 2020 by the genetic counseling service associated with the Italian National Registry for FSHD (INRF). A multidisciplinary team managed the clinical and molecular data of each family.ResultsBetween 2008 and 2020, 60 couples required preconception counseling (PC) for FSHD. In 52 couples was observed at least one partner carried a D4Z4 reduced allele (DRA). Out of these 52 couples, 47 had a follow‐up visit routine yearly. Out of these 47, 26 (55.3%) couples had children: eight asked for prenatal diagnosis (PND), two had assisted reproduction by heterologous in vitro fertilization (IVF), and 16 did not require further assistance. Regarding PND, 50 prenatal analyses were performed for 36 couples. The test resulted positive in 27 pregnancies, 12 (44.4%) were terminated, and 15 (55.6%) were carried to term.ConclusionThe different choices made by the couples show the importance of an integrated approach to support genetic counseling for FSHD. These results remark the relevance of the clinical and molecular investigation of the extended family, preferably before conception.