bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patients’ self-reported medical care for low back pain: a nationwide population-based study
Authors: Gomes Luís Antunes , Cruz Eduardo Brazete , Henriques Ana Rita , Branco Jaime C , Canhão Helena , Rodrigues Ana Maria 
Published: September 2022

ObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of medical care-seeking among adults with low back pain (LBP) and to characterise and compare use of diagnostic procedures and medical management between primary and secondary care.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingData from the EpiReumaPt, a nationwide population-based study conducted in Portugal including a representative sample of non-institutionalised adults (n=10 661) stratified by administrative territorial units was analysed.ParticipantsIndividuals who self-reported history of LBP within the previous 12 months (n=6434) and sought medical care for this problem in the same period (n=2618).Outcome measuresPatients’ self-reported diagnostic workup and management procedures performed by medical care for LBP collected through a structured questionnaire. Medical care procedures were stratified by level of care.ResultsThe prevalence of medical care-seeking for LBP was 38.0% (95% CI 35.9% to 40.1%). Primary care in isolation (45.3%) was the most sought level of care. Emergency departments (25.9%) and orthopaedics (19.4%) were the most sought secondary medical specialties. Several pathoanatomical diagnoses were used, supported by laboratory or imaging tests (91.1%). Disc herniation (20.4%) and osteoarthritis (19.7%) were the most frequent diagnoses, and X-ray (63.7%) was the most frequent diagnostic procedure self-reported by individuals. Most (75.1%) reported being treated for LBP: 80.4% with oral medication and 49.9% with injectables. The mean duration of pharmacological treatment was 104.24 (SD, 266.80) days. The use of pathoanatomical diagnoses, laboratory or imaging tests, and pharmacological treatments were generally more frequent for secondary care (p<0.05). Approximately one-quarter of individuals (24.5%) reported seeking care from additional healthcare providers, physiotherapists (66.9%) were the most frequent.ConclusionsMedical care for LBP is frequent and associated with high levels of pathoanatomical diagnoses, imaging and laboratory tests and pharmacological therapy in both primary and secondary care settings. Funding and delivery actions should be prioritised to assure appropriate care for LBP.
Prevalence and predictors of mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact at birth in Papua New Guinea
Authors: Aboagye Richard Gyan , Okyere Joshua , Dowou Robert Kokou , Adzigbli Leticia Akua , Tackie Vivian , Ahinkorah Bright Opoku , Seidu Abdul-Aziz 
Published: September 2022

ObjectiveThis study examined the prevalence and predictors of maternal and newborn skin-to-skin contact at birth in Papua New Guinea.DesignData for the study was extracted from the 2016–18 Papua New Guinea Demographic and Health Survey. We included 6,044 women with birth history before the survey in the analysis. Percentages were used to summarise the prevalence of maternal and newborn skin-to-skin contact. A multivariable multilevel binary logistic regression was adopted to examine the predictors of maternal and newborn skin-to-skin contact. The results were presented using adjusted ORs (aORs), with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.SettingThe study was conducted in Papua New Guinea.ParticipantMothers with children under 5 years.Outcome measuresMother and newborn skin-to-skin contact.ResultsThe prevalence of mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact was 45.2% (95% CI=42.4 to 48.0). The odds of mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact was higher among women with primary education (aOR=1.38; 95% CI=1.03 to 1.83), women with four or more antenatal care attendance (aOR=1.27; 95% CI=1.01 to 1.61), those who delivered at the health facility (aOR=1.27; 95% CI=1.01 to 1.61), and women from communities with high socioeconomic status (aOR=1.45; 95% CI=1.11 to 1.90).ConclusionThe study has demonstrated that the prevalence of mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact in Papua New Guinea is low. Factors shown to be associated with mother and newborn skin-to-skin contact were maternal level of education, antenatal care attendance, health facility delivery, and community socioeconomic status. A concerted effort should be placed in improving maternal health service utilisation such as antenatal care attendance and skilled birth delivery, which subsequently lead to the practice of skin-to-skin contact. Also, women should be empowered through education as it has positive impact on their socioeconomic status and health service utilisation.
Impact of cancer on income, wealth and economic outcomes of adult cancer survivors: a scoping review
Authors: Bentley Colene , Teckle Paulos , McQuarrie Lisa , Peacock Stuart , El Adam Shiraz 
Published: September 2022

ObjectiveTo summarise peer-reviewed evidence on the effect of a cancer diagnosis on the different sources of income of individuals diagnosed with cancer during adulthood (age ≥18 years).DesignA scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute’s methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews and reporting results following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist.Data sourcesOvid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, Econ-Lit and Evidence-based Medicine Reviews, and reference lists of evidence syntheses. Published literature of any study type in English was searched from January 2000 to December 2020.Eligibility and criteriaStudy participants were individuals diagnosed with cancer during adulthood (age ≥18 years). Studies from any country and/or healthcare system were included. Primary outcomes were employment income (eg, individual or household); investment income (eg, stocks/bonds, properties, savings); government transfer payments (eg, disability income/pension); debt and bankruptcy.Data extraction and synthesisFindings are summarised descriptively and in tabular form.ResultsFrom 6297 citations retrieved, 63 studies (67 articles) met our inclusion criteria. Most (51%) were published in 2016–2020; 65% were published in the USA or Scandinavia. Survivors incurred debt (24 studies), depleted savings (13 studies) and liquidated stocks/bonds (7 studies) in response to a cancer diagnosis. 41 studies reported changes to employment income; of these, 12 case–control studies reported varying results: 5 reported survivors earned less than controls, 4 reported no significant differences, 2 reported mixed results and 1 reported income increased. Initial declines in income tended to lessen over time.ConclusionsCancer’s impact on survivors’ income is complex and time-varying. Longitudinal studies are needed to document the trend of initial declines in income, with declines lessening over time, and its variations. Study designs using standardised income measures and capturing treatment type and follow-up time will improve our understanding of cancer’s impact on survivors’ income.
Comparison of two pathological processing methods for large endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) specimens
Authors: Yu Zixiang , Jiang Dongxian , Huang Wen , Luo Rongkui , Wang Haixing , Su Jieakesu , Liu Jia , Xu Chen , Hou Yingyong 
Published: September 2022

AimsAccurate histopathological evaluation of the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) specimens is essential for clinicians to guide further triage and management. This study aimed to report a novel processing technique for large ESD (≥4 cm) specimens.Methods92 patients with colorectal neoplasms who had undergone ESD were included. 46 ESD specimens were treated with conventional handling process, while the rest 46 cases were given the optimised method. Macrobiocassettes and L-shaped embedding moulds were applied in the optimised method. We evaluated the efficacy of this improved procedure in terms of the number of paraffin blocks, storage space and time consumption of pathological assessment.ResultsThe average diameter of ESD specimens was 4.5±0.4 cm and 4.7±0.5 cm in the control and test group (p=0.023), respectively. In control group, 398 paraffin blocks of 46 cases were obtained. With the same cases number and larger lesion size, only 276 blocks were achieved in test group (p<0.001). As for the storage space, the total volume of paraffin blocks and slides (4554.0 cm3and 1207.5 cm3) of optimised method was significantly reduced compared with the control group (6208.8 cm3and 1741.3 cm3) (p=0.001, p<0.001). In addition, the optimised method was superior to the conventional one in shortening time consumption of pathological assessment (164.5 min and 269.0 min, p<0.001).ConclusionsThe optimised technique not only reduced the workload and storage space, but also facilitated accurate pathological assessment.
Which interventions improve HPV vaccination uptake and intention in children, adolescents and young adults? An umbrella review
Authors: Bennett Clare , Edwards Deborah , Sherman Sue M , Baker Peter , Waheed Dur-e-Nayab , Vorsters Alex , Sarıca Çevik Hüsna , Karafillakis Emilie , Prue Gillian , Kelly Daniel 
Published: September 2022

BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offers protection against the virus responsible for cervical, oropharyngeal, anal, vulval and penile cancers. However, there is considerable variation across, and even within, countries as to how HPV vaccination is offered and accepted. This review aimed to identify what interventions exist to promote uptake and how effective they are.MethodsWe conducted an umbrella review using the JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) methodology to evaluate routine or catch-up interventions to increase HPV vaccination uptake and/or intention for children aged 9 years and older, adolescents and young adults up to 26. Comprehensive searches for English language quantitative systematic reviews, published between January 2011 and July 2021, were conducted across five databases. After reviewing titles and abstract, relevant papers were independently assessed in detail.Main resultsFrom 1046 records identified, 10 articles were included in the review. They reported on 95 randomised controlled trials, 28 quasi-experimental studies, 14 cohort studies, 6 non-randomised pretest/post-test studies with control groups, 5 single-group pretest/post-test studies, 1 single-group post-test study and 1 randomised longitudinal study. Some interventions promoted change at the individual, community or organisational level, while others used a multicomponent approach. Face-to-face presentations, printed information and supplementing both strategies with additional components appear effective at increasing vaccination intention, while reminders and multicomponent strategies, especially ones that include some intervention aimed at provider level, appear effective at increasing vaccination uptake. Interventions that did not lead to an improvement in HPV vaccination intention or uptake varied in design and impacts were inconsistent across children/adolescents, young adults or parents.ConclusionThe evidence suggests that there is no single solution to increasing vaccination uptake and that different approaches may be better suited to certain populations. However, generalisations are limited by poor reporting and a paucity of studies beyond the USA. Further high-quality studies, therefore, are needed to understand how best to increase HPV vaccination uptake in different target populations.
Effects of specialised nutritional interventions in patients with incurable cancer: a systematic review
Authors: de Oliveira Livia Costa , Calixto-Lima Larissa , Cunha Gabriella da Costa , Silva Naira Freire da , Souza-Silva Renata de , Fonseca Tais Saint Martin , Souza Thamiris de , Santos Carolline de Melo , Santos Daiane Almeida dos , Varea Maria Wiegert Emanuelly 
Published: September 2022

ObjectiveTo evaluate current evidence of the effect of specialised nutritional interventions on nutritional status, survival, quality of life and measures of functionality in patients with incurable cancer.MethodsSystematic literature review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines using PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, LILACS and Cochrane Library databases. Clinical studies that evaluated different specialised nutritional interventions, such as nutritional counselling, oral nutritional supplementation (ONS), enteral nutrition (EN) and parenteral nutrition (PN), were eligible. Only studies classified as being of high methodological quality (ie, low or moderate risk of bias) were included.ResultsA total of 22 studies reporting on 2448 patients were deemed eligible. Five types of specialised nutrition were observed: mixed (multimodal nature, ie, dietary counseling, ONS, physical activity and/or drugs) (n=12), ONS (n=5), PN (n=3), EN (n=1) and multidisciplinary team counselling (n=1). Benefits of any kind from the interventions were reported in 14 (63.6%) studies, mainly resulting from mixed intervention. Nutritional status improved in 12 (60.0%) of 20 studies and quality of life improved in eight (50.0%) of 16 studies. Few studies have evaluated the influence of nutritional interventions on survival and measure of functionality, and have not shown improvement in these outcomes.ConclusionDespite the limited evidence, specialised nutritional interventions can yield positive effects for patients with incurable cancer, mainly in their nutritional status and quality of life.
Lattice Monte Carlo simulations with two impurity worldlines
Authors: Hildenbrand Fabian , Elhatisari Serdar , Lähde Timo A. , Lee Dean , Meißner Ulf-G. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWe develop the impurity lattice Monte Carlo formalism for the case of two distinguishable impurities in a bath of polarized fermions. The majority particles are treated as explicit degrees of freedom, while the impurities are described by worldlines. The latter serve as localized auxiliary fields, which affect the majority particles. We apply the method to non-relativistic three-dimensional systems of two impurities and a number of majority particles where both the impurity–impurity interaction and the impurity–majority interaction have zero range. We consider the case of an attractive impurity–majority interaction, and we study the formation and disintegration of bound states as a function of the impurity–impurity interaction strength. We also discuss the potential applications of this formalism to other quantum many-body systems.
Interaction of two-photon NOON state with ultrasonic wave
Authors: Kwiek Piotr 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe paper presents a classical and quantum description of the diffraction of two light beams incident on an ultrasonic wave at a positive and negative Bragg angle. The quantum description of the interaction with the ultrasonic wave was carried out for the two-photon NOON state. Study of diffraction of entangled pair of photon was performed in Mach–Zehnder interferometer wherein an output beam splitter is replaced by ultrasonic wave. It has been shown theoretically and experimentally that when a pair of photons generated from a parametric down-conversion was incident on two input ports of Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an acousto-optical beam splitter, then two-photon beats are observed at the output of the interferometer. The phenomenon of two-photon beats with the double frequency of the ultrasonic wave is the result of the Doppler effect on the ultrasonic wave. Time-correlated single-photon counting method was used to register the phenomenon of two-photon beats. The method of calibrating the interferometer with the use of an additional light source was presented in detail, which guarantees the observation of interaction of two-photon NOON state with ultrasonic wave.
Graphical abstract
Multi-level Taxonomy Review for Sign Language Recognition: Emphasis on Indian Sign Language
Authors: Bahia Nimratveer Kaur , Rani Rajneesh 
Published: September 2022

With the phenomenal increase in image and video databases, there is an increase in the human-computer interaction that recognizes Sign Language. Exchanging information using different gestures between two people is sign language, known as non-verbal communication. Sign language recognition is already done in various languages; however, for Indian Sign Language, there is no adequate amount of work done. This article presents a review on sign language recognition for multiple languages. Data acquisition methods have been over-viewed in four ways (a) Glove-based, (b) Kinect-based, (c) Leap motion controller, and (d) Vision-based. Some of them have pros and cons that have also been discussed for every data acquisition method. Applications of sign language recognition are also discussed.
Furthermore, this review also creates a coherent taxonomy to represent the modern research divided into three levels: Level 1 Elementary level (Recognition of sign characters), Level 2 Advanced level (Recognition of sign words), and Level 3 Professional level (Sentence interpretation). The available challenges and issues for each level are also explored in this research to provide valuable perceptions into technological environments. Various publicly available datasets for different sign languages are also discussed. An efficient review of this article shows that the significant exploration of communication via sign acknowledgment has been performed on static, dynamic, isolated, and continuous gestures using various acquisition methods. Comprehensively, the hope is that this study will enable readers to learn new pathways and gain knowledge to carry out further research work in the domain related to sign language recognition.
Influences of Antithrombotic Elastic Socks Combined with Air Pressure in Reducing Lower Extremity Deep Venous Thrombosis for Patients Undergoing Cardiothoracic Surgery
Authors: Fu Weihong , Zhang Qun , Sun Xuemei , Gu Yan 
Published: September 2022

This study was designed to investigate the application and therapeutic effect of antithrombotic elastic socks combined with air pressure in the prevention of lower extremity deep venous thrombosis in patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery. Sixty patients in cardiothoracic surgery of our hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 were randomly divided into a study group and control group. The control group was treated with routine treatment intervention. Based on routine treatment intervention, the study group was treated with antithrombotic elastic socks combined with pneumatic treatment intervention. The activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), femoral venous blood flow velocity of both lower limbs, and the incidence of lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (LEDVT), postoperative lower extremity swelling, inflammatory factors, and satisfaction were measured. After intervention, APTT (

31.74
±
1.15

s) and TT (

14.58
±
0.24

s) in the study group were higher than those in the control group APTT (

25.13
±
1.14

s) and TT (

12.14
±
0.23

s) (

P
<
0.05

). The left lower limb femoral vein blood flow velocity and the right lower limb femoral vein blood flow velocity in the study group were better than those in the control group (

P
<
0.05

). The incidence of postoperative lower limb swelling and deep vein in the study group was lower than that in the control group (

P
<
0.05

). Serum tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 concentrations in the study group were lower than those in the control group (

P
<
0.05

). The satisfaction rate of patients in the study group (93.33%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (70.00%) (

P
<
0.05

). In conclusion, after cardiothoracic surgery, antithrombotic elastic socks combined with air pressure can significantly reduce the incidence of LEDVT by improving patients’ coagulation function, reducing inflammatory reaction. It is worthy of popularization and application in relevant surgery.
Decreased Preoperative Serum AGR as a Diagnostic Marker of Poor Prognosis after Radical Surgery of Upper Urinary Tract and Bladder Cancers from a Pooled Analysis of 9,002 Patients
Authors: Wang Xiaoyan , Yang Guodong , Chai Yumeng , Li Zhouyue , Che Xuanyan , Wang Yongqiang , Yang Liqing , Zhou Zhongbao 
Published: September 2022

A growing number of studies have regarded the preoperative serum albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) as a prognostic indicator of urothelial carcinoma (UC) following radical surgery. However, a pooled analysis of AGR’s effect on UC prognosis was still insufficient. Up to January 2022, a systematic search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. Stata SE software was applied in this study. The reviewers collected the hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and metastasis-free survival (MFS). A total of 9,002 patients from 12 retrospective studies were included in this analysis. The results showed that preoperative serum AGR was significantly associated with the OS (

HR
=
1.85

,

95
%
CI
=
1.43

to

2.39

), CSS (

HR
=
2.38

,

95
%
CI
=
1.69

to

3.34

), RFS (

HR
=
1.64

,

95
%
CI
=
1.29

to

2.08

), PFS (

HR
=
2.16

,

95
%
CI
=
1.43

to

3.27

), and MFS (

HR
=
3.00

,

95
%
CI
=
1.63

to

5.53

) of patients with UC following radical surgery. Sensitivity analysis indicated the stability of the results. Subgroup analysis revealed that preoperative low AGR was seen as a risk factor for OS (

HR
=
1.90

,

95
%
CI
=
1.34

to

2.69

), CSS (

HR
=
2.13

,

95
%
CI
=
1.40

to

3.26

), and RFS (

HR
=
1.60

,

95
%
CI
=
1.24

to

2.07

) in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC), but it was only a risk factor for CSS (

HR
=
2.95

,

95
%
CI
=
1.14

to

7.60

) in bladder cancer (BC). Besides,

preoperative

AGR

cut
−
value
≤
1.4

could not be deemed as a stable prognostic indicator for RFS (

HR
=
2.07

,

95
%
CI
=
0.71

to

6.04

) in UC. However, the predictive ability of

AGR

cut
−
value
>
1.4

was stable. All in all, preoperative low AGR was considered as a risk factor for UC. AGR level can be regarded as a prognostic indicator for OS, CSS, and RFS in UTUC but only for CSS in BC. AGR greater than 1.4 can be a great cut-off value for predicting the prognosis of UC patients with radical operation.