bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Glycaemic variability is associated with all-cause mortality in COVID-19 patients with ARDS, a retrospective subcohort study
Authors: Hartmann Bojan , Verket Marlo , Balfanz Paul , Hartmann Niels-Ulrik , Jacobsen Malte , Brandts Julia , Dreher Michael , Kossack Nils , Häckl Dennis , Marx Nikolaus , Müller-Wieland Dirk 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThere is high mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Important factors for COVID-19 mortality are diabetes status and elevated fasting plasma glucose (FPG). However, the effect of glycaemic variability on survival has not been explored in patients with COVID-19 and ARDS. This single-centre cohort study compared several metrics of glycaemic variability for goodness-of-fit in patients requiring mechanical ventilation due to COVID-19 ARDS in the ICU at University Hospital Aachen, Germany. 106 patients had moderate to severe ARDS (P/F ratio median [IQR]: 112 [87–148] mmHg). Continuous HRs showed a proportional increase in mortality risk with daily glycaemic variability (DGV). Multivariable unadjusted and adjusted Cox-models showed a statistically significant difference in mortality for DGV (HR: 1.02, (P) < 0.001, LR(P) < 0.001; HR: 1.016, (P) = 0.001, LR(P) < 0.001, respectively). Kaplan–Meier estimators yielded a shorter median survival (25 vs. 87 days) and a higher likelihood of death (75% vs. 31%) in patients with DGV ≥ 25.5 mg/dl (P < 0.0001). High glycaemic variability during ICU admission is associated with significant increase in all-cause mortality for patients admitted with COVID-19 ARDS to the ICU. This effect persisted even after adjustment for clinically predetermined confounders, including diabetes, median procalcitonin and FPG.
Using multi-parametric quantitative MRI to screen for cardiac involvement in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy
Authors: Huang Lu , Tao Qian , Zhao Peijun , Ji Suqiong , Jiang Jiangang , van der Geest Rob J. , Xia Liming 
Published: June 2022

AbstractIdiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) is a group of heterogeneous autoimmune systemic diseases, which not only involve skeletal muscle but also myocardium. Cardiac involvement in IIM, which eventually develops into heart failure, is difficult to identify by conventional examinations at early stage. The aim of this study was to investigate if multi-parametric cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging can screen for early cardiac involvement in IIM, compared with clinical score (Myositis Disease Activity Assessment Tool, MDAAT). Forty-nine patients of IIM, and 25 healthy control subjects with comparable age-range and sex-ratio were enrolled in this study. All subjects underwent CMR examination, and multi-slice short-axis and 4-chamber cine MRI were acquired to evaluate biventricular global circumferential strain (GCS) and global longitudinal strain (GLS). Native T1 and T2 mapping were performed, and post-contrast T1 mapping and LGE were acquired after administration of contrast. A CMR score was developed from native T1 mean and T2 mean for the identification of cardiac involvement in the IIM cohort. Using contingency tables MDAAT and CMR were compared and statistically analyzed using McNemar test. McNemar’s test revealed no significant difference between CMR score and MDAAT (p = 0.454). CMR score had potential to screen for early cardiac involvement in IIM patients, compared to MDAAT.
A deep learning model identifies emphasis on hard work as an important predictor of income inequality
Authors: Sheetal Abhishek , Chaudhury Srinwanti H. , Savani Krishna 
Published: June 2022

AbstractHigh levels of income inequality can persist in society only if people accept the inequality as justified. To identify psychological predictors of people’s tendency to justify inequality, we retrained a pre-existing deep learning model to predict the extent to which World Values Survey respondents believed that income inequality is necessary. A feature importance analysis revealed multiple items associated with the importance of hard work as top predictors. As an emphasis on hard work is a key component of the Protestant Work Ethic, we formulated the hypothesis that the PWE increases acceptance of inequality. A correlational study found that the more people endorsed PWE, the less disturbed they were about factual statistics about wealth equality in the US. Two experiments found that exposing people to PWE items decreased their disturbance with income inequality. The findings indicate that machine learning models can be reused to generate viable hypotheses.
Comparison of calcium-based technologies to remineralise enamel subsurface lesions using microradiography and microhardness
Authors: Fernando James R. , Walker Glenn D. , Park Thomas Kwan-Soo , Shen Peiyan , Yuan Yi , Reynolds Coralie , Reynolds Eric C. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractAssessment of enamel subsurface lesion remineralisation is essential for the evaluation of novel remineralisation technologies. The gold standard to assess subsurface mineral gain of enamel lesions is transverse microradiography (TMR). However, some studies have utilised surface microhardness (SMH) to evaluate efficacy of remineralisation agents. The aim of this study was to assess remineralisation of enamel subsurface lesions using TMR and SMH after in vitro treatment with calcium-containing technologies, and to test correlation between the TMR and SMH measurements. The parameters obtained from the TMR and SMH analyses of enamel subsurface remineralisation were not significantly correlated. Furthermore, the enamel subsurface remineralisation as measured by TMR was significantly correlated with the water-soluble calcium concentration of the remineralisation products. Scanning electron microscopy revealed surface precipitates formed by specific remineralisation treatments obfuscated accurate assessment of remineralisation by SMH. It was concluded that TMR is a more appropriate method for analysis of enamel subsurface remineralisation, and that SMH values of remineralised enamel should be interpreted with caution. Using TMR the level of remineralisation (%R) by the different technologies was CPP-ACP/F (31.3 ± 1.4%); CPP-ACP (24.2 ± 1.4%); CaSO4/K2HPO4/F (21.3 ± 1.4%); f-TCP/F (20.9 ± 1.0%); Nano-HA/F (16.3 ± 0.3%); Nano-HA (15.3 ± 0.6%) and F alone control (15.4 ± 1.3%).
Insights into nitrogen metabolism in the wild and cultivated lettuce as revealed by transcriptome and weighted gene co-expression network analysis
Authors: Kumar Pawan , Eriksen Renee L. , Simko Ivan , Shi Ainong , Mou Beiquan 
Published: June 2022

AbstractLarge amounts of nitrogen fertilizers applied during lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) production are lost due to leaching or volatilization, causing severe environmental pollution and increased costs of production. Developing lettuce varieties with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is the eco-friendly solution to reduce nitrogen pollution. Hence, in-depth knowledge of nitrogen metabolism and assimilation genes and their regulation is critical for developing high NUE varieties. In this study, we performed comparative transcriptomic analysis of the cultivated lettuce (L. sativa L.) and its wild progenitor (L. serriola) under high and low nitrogen conditions. A total of 2,704 differentially expressed genes were identified. Key enriched biological processes included photosynthesis, oxidation–reduction process, chlorophyll biosynthetic process, and cell redox homeostasis. The transcription factors (TFs) belonging to the ethylene responsive factor family and basic helix-loop-helix family were among the top differentially expressed TFs. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis we constructed nine co-expression modules. Among these, two modules were further investigated because of their significant association with total nitrogen content and photosynthetic efficiency of photosystem II. Three highly correlated clusters were identified which included hub genes for nitrogen metabolism, secondary metabolites, and carbon assimilation, and were regulated by cluster specific TFs. We found that the expression of nitrogen transportation and assimilation genes varied significantly between the two lettuce species thereby providing the opportunity of introgressing wild alleles into the cultivated germplasm for developing lettuce cultivars with more efficient use of nitrogen.
Double bit range estimation with eight estimators for CABAC in VVC
Authors: Chan Ka‐Hou , Im Sio‐Kei 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThis work describes the modification of Context‐based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) using the double bit range estimation in the VVC engine and the consideration of range updates by using eight hypothetical probability estimators. The focus is on the selected adaptation rates performed in these proposed estimators, which are chosen based on memory consideration and coding efficiency. An investigation of arithmetic coding engines with multi‐hypothesis probability estimates and their consideration of contextual modeling of entropy coding at the level of transform coefficients. The proposed scheme enables a quantitative representation of probabilistic predictions linearly and describes the scalability potential for higher accuracy. In addition, this work discusses the hardware implementation, which is based on simple operations such as bitwise operations and subinterval updates. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach specified in VTM framework. The improved results show that it provides more significant gains in terms of RA and LD, which is better than the AI configuration.
Near‐field sensor based on substrate integrated waveguide microstrip cavity resonator with a circular aperture
Authors: Qi Chaoxian , Jackson David R. , Wei Yong , Chen Jiefu 
Published: June 2022

AbstractA near‐field planar sensor fabricated from a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity resonator is presented. The SIW cavity resonator is a modification of a rectangular microstrip antenna. The rectangular microstrip antenna radiates from two radiating edges that produce far‐field radiation, which is undesired for near‐field sensing. To suppress the radiation from the edges, the microstrip antenna is modified to have conducting vias that short all four edges of the patch to the ground plane. A circular hole is placed on the patch surface in the middle of the patch to form a sensing aperture. The field is thus confined inside the cavity with leakage only allowed through a small aperture, which is used for sensing surrounding objects in the vicinity of the aperture. This cavity resonator operates in the TM21 mode of the SIW cavity. Full‐wave simulations are performed and the results are consistent with the theoretical analysis as well as CAD formulas that are derived. The performance of the sensor as a near‐field sensing device and as a near‐field imager is explored.
Enhancing PSMA-PET/CT with intravenous contrast: Improved tracer clearance in the prostate bed
Authors: Tulipan Andreas Julius , Guzman Angela Jaramillo , Haslerud Torjan Magne , Foldnes Kjartan , Kvernenes Ole Heine , Honoré Alfred , Brekke Njål , Reisæter Lars Anders Rokne , Biermann Martin 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Aims We observed hitherto unreported layering of radioactivity in the bladder on PET/CT in prostate cancer (PC) when combined with contrast-enhanced CT (CECT). This effect facilitates assessment of the prostate bed in PC.
Methods Among 128 patients imaged with [18F]PSMA-1007, we selected all 8 studies without and 28 studies with CECT. 20 patients also underwent PET/MR. As controls, we chose 20 and 16 males studied with [18F]FDG for extrapelvic disease with and without CECT. Posterior anterior (PA) ratio was calculated as SUVpost/SUVant * 100 % based on maximal standard uptake values (SUV) in 20 mm spheres in the anterior and posterior bladder. Four nuclear physicians scored assessibility of the bladder base on a 3-point Likert scale (3 = optimal, 1 = poor). We acquired serial PET/CT over 4 hours of a flask with layering of 100 ml intravenous contrast agent and 100 ml physiological saline with 40 MBq of [18F]PSMA-1007, while a control flask was shaken at the start of the experiment.
Results Layering of tracer was observed in all PET/CT studies with CE-CT, but not in studies without contrast. Median PA ratios were 44 % (interquartile range 33–62) for [18F]PSMA-1007 and 73 % (52–67) for [18F]FDG, respectively. Intravenous contrast improved assessibility scores in PET of the bladder base, but the effect only reached significance in the PET/MR data. In the in vitro data, radioactivity was retained in the aqueous supernatant over the entire experiment whereas there was no separation of phases in the control flask over time.
Conclusion When performing PET combined with CECT, sedimentation of contrast agent in the bladder leads to upward displacement of radioactivity, enhancing clarity of PET images in the posterior bladder and the prostate bed on both PET/CT and PET/MR.
Assessment of Dentofacial Characteristics in Individuals with Different Midfacial Skeletal Morphologies
Authors: Kori Chaitra , Cheriyachan Roy , MS Ravi 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Introduction An orthodontist's primary objective is to diagnose and describe the characteristics of any particular malocclusion. It has been reported that when the anteroposterior dimension of the maxilla is either reduced or increased, the measured dentoalveolar and skeletal parameters gets affected in other dimensions also.
Aim This study aims to assess and compare the dentofacial characteristics in individuals with different skeletal morphology (normal, retrognathic, and prognathic maxilla).
Materials and Methods A total of 194 individuals in the age group of 18 to 32 years were grouped as group I (34 males, 33 females) with normal maxilla, group II (30 males, 32 females) with retrognathic maxilla, and group III (34 males, 31 females) with prognathic maxilla. The measurements of N-A and anterior nasal spine to posterior nasal spine were the basis for selecting the individuals. The dentoalveolar characteristics were assessed using 17 lateral cephalometric and 08 posteroanterior (P-A) cephalometric parameters.
Results The data of the study when analyzed statistically using sample “t” test (p < 0.05), revealed significant differences between the genders within the groups. All 08 characteristics measured in the P-A cephalogram showed had significant differences. Pairwise comparison between the groups was performed using the Tukey post hoc test (p < 0.05) and significant differences in various dentoalveolar characteristics were observed between the groups.
Conclusion Dentoalveolar and facial parameters showed a significant degree of sexual dimorphism associated with maxillary morphology in all three groups of individuals. The majority of the parameters showed male dominance, and the differences were statistically significant. Statistically significant differences were observed in dentofacial characteristics in individuals with different skeletal morphologies
Efficacy and Safety of Radio Frequency Ablation for Benign Thyroid Nodules: Initial Clinical Experience in United Arab Emirates
Authors: Lee Kwang Hwi , Jeon Eui Yong , Jang Sung June 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Objectives Radio frequency ablation (RFA) to treat thyroid nodules is well known as one of alternative therapeutic modalities. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and complications of RFA to treat symptomatic benign thyroid nodules in United Arab Emirates.
Materials and Methods Eight-nine benign thyroid nodules of 63 patients were enrolled, who were treated by percutaneous ultrasound (US)-guided RFA from 2017 to 2020, and had following US examinations during 12 months after RFA procedure. Symptomatic score with 10-cm visual scale, cosmetic score with four-point scale, and US findings (nodule diameter, volume, composition and vascularity) were compared before and after RFA procedures. RFA-related complications (hematoma, voice change, hypothyroidism, and hyperthyroidism) were assessed.
Statistical Analysis Paired t test was applied to compare laboratory findings before and after RFA procedure. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to determine significant factors to predict the efficacy of RFA. One-way analysis of variance was applied to compare volume reduction rate (VRR) at 3, 6, and 12 months.
Results Symptomatic and cosmetic scores were significantly improved (pre-RFA vs. post-RFA; 6.07 ± 1.89 vs. 2.06 ± 1.09, 2.94 ± 0.84 vs. 1.27 ± 0.51, p< 0.001). Nodule diameter (cm), volume (mL) at pre-RFA, post-RFA 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months were 3.86 ± 1.26, 2.64 ± 1.14, 2.06 ± 1.09, 1.82 ± 1.14, and 18.8 ± 18.79, 8.82 ± 12.42, 4.47 ± 5.59, 4.11 ± 9.17 (p< 0.001). VRR (%) was 52.81 ± 23.48 at post-RFA 3 months, 79.77 ± 16.91 at 6 months, and 82.08 ± 19.54 at 12 months. Composition of solidity was a significant predictive factor, related to VRR at post-RFA 12 months (p = 0.003). Complication rate was 12.7% (8 of 63 patients). Major complications did not occur.
Conclusion RFA can be an effective and safe alternative modality to treat benign thyroid nodules, and be preferable to treat symptomatic cystic thyroid nodules in Middle East population.
Influence of students’ career interests on perceived difficult concept in computer studies in Ghanaian and Nigerian secondary schools
Authors: Gbeleyi Olasunkanmi A. , Awaah Fred , Okebukola Peter A. , Shabani Juma , Potokri Onoriode Collins 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThere have been few studies on students’ difficulty in the computer studies curriculum of African senior secondary schools. This study attempts to fill this gap by investigating the concepts students find difficult in the Ghanaian and Nigerian computer science curriculum and the influence of students’ career interests on these perceived difficult concepts. The study is important to the extent that our understanding of “where the shirt tights” regarding topics difficulty will guide teachers, students, secondary schools’ managers, and governments in applying applicable remediating measures. The study sought to establish (a) the concepts that students perceive to be difficult in the computer studies curriculum in Ghanaian and Nigerian schools and (b) if there is a statistically significant relationship between students’ career interests and perceived concept difficulty in computer studies. Anchored on cognitive constructivism theory of Piaget, a quantitative method was employed with the sample (N = 1776). The study reports computer basics and evolution, programme development cycle, managing computer files, Developing problem-solving skills, computer ethics and human concerns, Networking, Logic circuits, Machine language, flowcharting, Algorithm and arithmetic logic unit as perceived difficult concepts. The study also found a negative statistically significant relationship between students’ career interests and perceived concept difficulty in the Ghanaian and Nigerian computer studies curriculum. Various remediating measures have been preferred.
Analysing the influence of geometry and pressure on corona discharges
Authors: Riba Jordi-Roger , Bas-Calopa Pau , Moreno-Eguilaz Manuel 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
In this work, the authors propose an experiment aimed for undergraduate laboratories with the aim of introducing different novelties as a topic for practical sessions or student projects. The topics here investigated are appropriate for students with intermediate physics knowledge. Corona discharges are little studied in regular physics courses despite their practical importance in different areas, such as the distribution and transmission of electrical power, generation of ozone, particulate removal in air conditioning systems, improvement of wettability in polymeric materials, or the removal of electrostatic charges from the surface of airplanes among others. This work analyses the minimum voltage level leading to corona discharges and the influence of geometry and atmospheric pressure because these two factors are the most influential to determine the minimum voltage at which corona discharges appear.
Rider’s position and acceleration of bicycle
Authors: Kajiyama Yuji 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
We study how the acceleration of a bicycle varies as a function of the rider’s position. Since the rolling resistance of wheels depends on their deformation and therefore on the load on each wheel, the rider’s position affects the rolling resistance and the acceleration of the bicycle. The acceleration is a concave quadratic function of the rider’s position, and one can find the optimal position which maximizes the acceleration. Our study will be another topic for bicycle physics in addition to stability and aerodynamics and an example of the rolling motion of two connected objects to help students’ understanding of the rolling motion in a university physics course.
Single harmonic-based narrowband magnetic particle imaging
Authors: Janssen Klaas-Julian , Schilling Meinhard , Ludwig Frank , Zhong Jing 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) quantitatively visualizes in vivo superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), which has shown great promises in biomedicine. In this paper, we propose a single harmonic-based narrowband MPI approach via measuring a single harmonic—3f
0 harmonic—of the SPIONs induced in an excitation magnetic field with frequency f
0 = 5 kHz. The narrowband MPI scanner is built to scan the field-free-point, generated by a pair of permanent magnets, through an imaging field-of-view, and to measure the magnetic response of the SPIONs by a narrowband receive system. The narrowband MPI approach dramatically reduces the design efforts in the transmit system and noise matching in the receive system. Phantom experiments are performed with the custom-built narrowband MPI scanner to evaluate the spatial resolution and limit of detection (LOD). Experimental results indicate that the proposed single harmonic-based narrowband MPI approach allows a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm and an LOD of 27 μg (Fe) ml−1 (254 ng Fe weight) using Perimag® SPIONs, which can significantly be improved by using optimized SPIONs and by improving the detection circuitry. We believe that the proposed narrowband MPI approach minimizes the MPI hardware efforts but still allows for good performance in terms of spatial resolution and LOD.