bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on staff turnover at long-term care facilities: a qualitative study
Authors: Yaraghi Niam , Henfridsson Ola , Gopal Ram 
Published: December 2022

ObjectiveThe objective of this research was to explore the lived experiences of long-term care facilities’ staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine if and how the pandemic played a role in their decision to leave their jobs.DesignQualitative study using thematic analysis of semistructured interviews. Interview transcripts were analysed using coding techniques based in grounded theory.ParticipantsA total of 29 staff with various roles across 21 long-term care facilities in 12 states were interviewed.ResultsThe pandemic influenced the staff’s decision to leave their jobs in five different ways, namely: (1) It significantly increased the workload; (2) Created more physical and emotional hazards for staff; (3) Constrained the facilities and their staff financially; (4) Deteriorated morale and job satisfaction among the staff and (5) Increased concerns with upper management’s commitment to both general and COVID-19-specific procedures.ConclusionsStaff at long-term care facilities discussed a wide variety of reasons for their decision to quit their jobs during the pandemic. Our findings may inform efforts to reduce the rate of turnover in these facilities.
Understanding discrimination towards persons experiencing homelessness: A scoping review protocol
Authors: Canham Sarah L , Rose Jeffrey N , Weldrick Rachel , Siantz Elizabeth , Casucci Tallie , McFarland Mary M 
Published: December 2022

IntroductionGiven the increasing rates of homelessness in recent years, there is an urgent need to address the ongoing discrimination and societal disinterest in preventing, reducing and ending homelessness. There is no systematic review of experiences of stigma and discrimination among persons experiencing homelessness or interventions to combat this discrimination. The objective for the proposed study is to identify ways in which persons experiencing homelessness have been stigmatised and discriminated against, the results of these experiences, and interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination towards persons experiencing homelessness.Methods and analysisWe are conducting a scoping review with guidance from the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis and Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. From 15 to 19 July 2022, we searched the following databases from our institutional licensed years of coverage: Medline, Embase, CINAHL Complete, Academic Search Ultimate, APA PsycINFO, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Emerging Sources Citation Index, Left, PAIS International, PILOTS, Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection, Sociological Abstracts, and Dissertations and Theses Global. Two independent reviewers are screening study titles/abstracts and will independently screen the full texts. Study inclusion criteria include any study type reporting primary findings of English-language research on non-refugee persons experiencing homelessness in any type of setting or service worldwide. Three reviewers will then chart data of our included studies. Data will be extracted and organised into categories and subthemes in tabular form. To understand the validity of the scoping review findings in the local context and to gather additional perspectives on the topic, we will conduct an ‘expert consultation’ workshop.Ethics and disseminationThis study has ethics approval from the University of Utah Institutional Review Board. Review findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal and at conferences. We plan to preregister this protocol with Open Science Framework.
Chronic conditions patient’s perception of post-COVID-19 pandemic teleconsulting continuation in primary care clinics: a qualitative descriptive study
Authors: Poitras Marie-Eve , Poirier Marie-Dominique , Couturier Yves , T Vaillancourt Vanessa , Cormier Caroline , Gauthier Gilles , Massé Sylvie , Gendron Audrey , Oswick Megan L , Morin Anaelle , Blanchette Patricia , Bernier Andréanne 
Published: December 2022

ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to the prioritisation of teleconsultation instead of face-to-face encounters. However, teleconsultation revealed some shortcomings and undesirable effects that may counterbalance benefits. This study aims to explore the perspective of patients with chronic diseases on teleconsultation in primary care. This article also proposes recommendations to provide patient-oriented and appropriate teleconsultations.DesignWe conducted a qualitative descriptive study that explored the patients’ perception regarding teleconsultation services and the following themes: access, perceived benefits and disadvantages, interprofessional collaboration, patient-centred approach, specific competencies of professionals, and patient’s global needs and preferences.SettingSix primary care clinics in three regions of Quebec.Participants39 patients were interviewed by telephone through semistructured qualitative interviews.ResultsPatients want to maintain teleconsultation for the postpandemic period as long as their recommendations are followed: be able to choose to come to the clinic if they wish to, feel that their individual and environmental characteristics are considered, feel involved in the choice of the modality of each consultation, feel that interprofessional collaboration and patient-centred approach are promoted, and to maintain the professionalism, which must not be lessened despite the remote context.ConclusionPatients mainly expressed high satisfaction with teleconsultation. However, several issues must be addressed. Patients do and should contribute to the implementation of teleconsultation in primary care. They wish to be frequently consulted about their preferred consultation modality, which may change over time. The patient perspective must, therefore, be part of the balanced implementation of optimal teleconsultation that is currently taking place.
Biomarkers and outcomes in hospitalised patients with COVID-19: a prospective registry
Authors: Khedar Raghubir Singh , Gupta Rajeev , Sharma Krishnakumar , Mittal Kartik , Ambaliya Harshad C , Gupta Jugal B , Singh Surendra , Sharma Swati , Singh Yogendra , Mathur Alok 
Published: December 2022

ObjectivesTo determine association of biomarkers—high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP), D-dimer, interleukin-6 (IL-6), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), ferritin and neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR)—at hospitalisation with outcomes in COVID-19.Design and SettingTertiary-care hospital based prospective registry.ParticipantsSuccessive virologically confirmed patients with COVID-19 hospitalised from April 2020 to July 2021 were prospectively recruited. Details of clinical presentation, investigations, management and outcomes were obtained.Primary and secondary outcome measuresAll biomarkers were divided into tertiles to determine associations with clinical features and outcomes. Primary outcome was all-cause deaths and secondary outcome was oxygen requirement, non-invasive and invasive ventilation, dialysis, duration of stay in ICU and hospital. Numerical data are presented in median and interquartile range (IQR 25–75). Univariate and multivariate (age, sex, risk factors, comorbidities, treatments) ORs and 95% CIs were calculated.Results3036 virologically confirmed patients with COVID-19 were detected and 1251 hospitalised. Men were 70.0%, aged >60 years 44.8%, hypertension 44.1%, diabetes 39.6% and cardiovascular disease 18.9%. Median symptom duration was 5 days (IQR 4–7) and oxygen saturation 95% (90%–97%). Total white cell count was 6.9×109/L (5.0–9.8), neutrophils 79.2% (68.1%–88.2%), lymphocytes 15.8% (8.7%–25.5%) and creatinine 0.93 mg/dL (0.78–1.22). Median (IQR) for biomarkers were hsCRP 6.9 mg/dL (2.2–18.9), D-dimer 464 ng/dL (201–982), IL-6 20.1 ng/dL (6.5–60.4), LDH 284 mg/dL (220–396) and ferritin 351 mg/dL (159–676). Oxygen support at admission was in 38.6%, subsequent non-invasive or invasive ventilatory support in 11.0% and 11.6%, and haemodialysis in 38 (3.1%). 173 (13.9%) patients died and 15 (1.2%) transferred to hospice care. For each biomarker, compared with the first, those in the second and third tertiles had more clinical and laboratory abnormalities, and oxygen, ventilatory and dialysis support. Multivariate-adjusted ORs (95% CI) for deaths in second and third versus first tertiles, respectively, were hsCRP 2.24 (1.11 to 4.50) and 12.56 (6.76 to 23.35); D-dimer 3.44 (1.59 to 7.44) and 14.42 (7.09 to 29.30); IL-6 2.56 (1.13 to 5.10) and 10.85 (5.82 to 20.22); ferritin 2.88 (1.49 to 5.58) and 8.19 (4.41 to 15.20); LDH 1.75 (0.81 to 3.75) and 9.29 (4.75 to 18.14); and NLR 3.47 (1.68 to 7.14) and 17.71 (9.12 to 34.39) (p<0.001).ConclusionHigh levels of biomarkers—hsCRP, D-dimer, IL-6, LDH, ferritin and NLR—in COVID-19 are associated with more severe illness and higher in-hospital mortality. NLR, a widely available investigation, provides information similar to more expensive biomarkers.
Knowledge and beliefs about autism spectrum disorders among physicians: a cross-sectional survey from China
Authors: Mao Shujiong , Fan Xiaoli , Ma Ye , Chen Yi , Lv Jiamin , Yang Rongwang 
Published: December 2022

BackgroundThe incidence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is increasing greatly, with high demands for earlier diagnosis and intervention. However, little is known about ASD knowledge and beliefs among physicians in China.MethodsA questionnaire survey was used to assess the knowledge and beliefs about the diagnosis and management of ASD and 24 beliefs regarding the treatment and prognostic aspects of ASD among physicians of any medical specialty in China.ResultsA total of 1160 physicians were recruited and surveyed, with an average score of 8.48±2.66 (total of 18 points) for the questionnaire on the main symptoms of ASD and 14.35±3.69 (total of 24 points) for beliefs about ASD. Physicians’ age, sex, specialty and practice years were related to their knowledge of identifying patients with ASD. Physicians specialising in paediatrics/psychology/psychiatry scored higher than those specialising in other specialties both in response to diagnostic questions (8.98±2.63 vs 8.30±2.65, p<0.001) and beliefs about ASD (15.57±3.44 vs 13.97±3.97, p<0.001).ConclusionsKnowledge and beliefs about ASD symptoms, diagnosis and treatment are insufficient among physicians in China. Education and training programmes on this topic should be enhanced in physicians of all specialties, especially for male physicians who have short years in practice.
Efficacy of rectus femoris stretching on pain, range of motion and spatiotemporal gait parameters in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled trial
Authors: ElGendy Mohamed Hussein , Zalabia Mostafa Mahmoud , Moharram Ashraf Nehad , Abdelhay Mohamed Ibrahim 
Published: December 2022

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the efficacy of rectus femoris stretching on pain intensity, knee range of motion (ROM), spatiotemporal gait parameters and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA).MethodsThis parallel group, single-blinded randomised controlled trial was conducted in two outpatient physical therapy clinics. Study participants (n=60, with age>45 years) with mild-to-moderate bilateral KOA were randomised into the study group (SG) and control group (CG). SG received rectus femoris stretching exercises together with stretching exercises of the calf, hamstring and iliotibial band, strength exercises for the quadriceps, gluteus medius, gluteus maximus and calf muscles, whereas, the CG received all exercises mentioned for SG except rectus femoris stretching. Pain intensity, ROM, spatiotemporal gait parameters and function were measured before and after 4 weeks of treatment.ResultsThe SG showed a significant improvement in the visual analogue scale, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities measure and ROM (p<0.001). The SG also had a significantly greater step length and speed than CG (p<0.001). Extension ROM did not significant difference between the groups (p>0.05).ConclusionSimple rectus femoris stretching exercises are easy to perform even at home and are beneficial for pain, flexion ROM, function and spatiotemporal gait parameters, such as step length and speed, in KOA patients if the compliance with the exercise regimen is good.Trial registration numberPan African Clinical Trials Registry PACTR202003828737019.
Palliative care inpatients favour research participation irrespective of prognosis, performance or socioeconomic status: multicentre cohort study
Authors: Dewhurst Felicity , Wakefield Donna , Elverson Joanna , McConnell Robert , Bryan Charlotte , Spriggs Helena , Atkinson Kate , Frew Katherine 
Published: December 2022

ObjectivesPalliative care needs to embrace research to guide service development and effective symptom management. Healthcare professionals often feel research is too burdensome for patients who have poor performance status or are near the end of life. Many studies exclude these groups from participating.We aimed to identify whether specialist palliative care inpatients would wish to take part in research and whether preference varies according to study design, demographics, diagnosis, performance status and prognosis.Methods100 inpatients in two National Health Service specialist palliative care units and one independent hospice in the Northeast of England completed a short questionnaire about preferences for involvement in research.Results92% of participants stated they were interested in being involved in research. This was mostly unaffected by age, diagnosis, prognosis, performance and socioeconomic status. Three-quarters were within the last 3 months of life. Simple questions or interviews were the preferred methodology, whereas only half of patients would want further investigations or additional medications and fewer still wanted to participate in online activities, lifestyle change or group activities.ConclusionsPalliative care inpatients welcome the opportunity to be involved in research and should not be excluded on the grounds of advanced disease, poor prognosis and low performance status.
Palliative care development in India: new WHO conceptual model
Authors: Nair Devi Nair , Paul Aneka Suresh , Raveendran Krishnan Unni 
Published: December 2022

BackgroundPalliative care is gaining global attention and is endorsed in high level policy commitments,but progress towards universal palliative care coverage is constrained in many countries. The WHO released a new conceptual model for the assessment of palliative care development in 2021, comprising 18 indicators to measure a country’s palliative care situation. Of these 10 core indicators to be used to monitor the progressof palliative care in countries at more mature stage of development. The coreindicators would then facilitate both in country and global comparativeanalysis and will also inform decision makers about the gaps and challenges in palliative care provision.AimThis article tries to analyse the position of the development of palliative care in India on the 10 coreindicators and uses information from various relevant secondary resources.ResultsNational programme forpalliative care (2017) has been included in the National Health Mission and policies on palliative care have been framed by four states: Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. While significant improvement in the availability of palliative care services across India have been observed, regional and state- wise disparities remain high.ConclusionOur analysis indicates that the prosed set of indicators by WHO can be a valuable means to monitor the progress of palliative care development in the country on a year- on -year basis.
Climate conditions in the near-term, mid-term and distant future for growing soybeans in Canada
Authors: Qian Budong , Smith Ward , Jing Qi , Kim Yong Min , Jégo Guillaume , Grant Brian , Duguid Scott , Hester Ken , Nelson Alison 
Published: December 2022

The soybean industry in Canada aimed to extensively expand soybean production to benefit from new early-maturing varieties and the warming climate. However, setbacks in the soybean industry since 2017 demonstrated the impacts of climate risk and global market uncertainty. Therefore, a better understanding of future climate conditions that will impact soybean growth in Canada is needed for decision-making in the sector, such as prioritizing regions for expansion and developing climate change adaptation strategies through either agronomic management practices or breeding new cultivars. Based on climate projections from a set of global climate models, we analyzed climate conditions for growing soybeans, including growing season start, crop heat units, precipitation, precipitation deficits and climate extremes, in the near-term (2030s), the mid-term (2050s) and the distant future (2070s). We found that a future warmer climate with an increase of 1.6, 2.8 and 4.1 °C in the growing season (May–September) mean temperature averaged over Canada’s land area in the near-term, mid-term and distant future under SSP3-7.0 would favour the expansion of soybean production further north and west. However, an increase of approximately 200 mm in precipitation deficits on the semiarid Canadian Prairies in the mid-term would constrain soybean production unless irrigation could be introduced. Heat- and drought-tolerant cultivars should be developed to adapt soybean production to a changing climate, in addition to the adoption of late-maturing cultivars that would benefit from the lengthened growing season and increased crop heat units.
Chiral spin symmetry and the QCD phase diagram
Authors: Glozman Leonid Ya. , Philipsen Owe , Pisarski Robert D. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractLattice QCD simulations with chirally symmetric quarks have recently established approximate $$SU(2)_{CS}$$

S
U

(
2
)

CS

and $$SU(2N_F)$$

S
U
(
2

N
F

)

symmetries of the quantum effective action in a temperature range above the chiral crossover $$T_\textrm{ch}$$

T
ch

, in which color-electric interactions between quarks dominate the dynamics. We show that such an intermediate temperature range between the chirally broken and plasma regimes is fully consistent with published screening mass spectra, which demonstrate the breakdown of thermal perturbation theory at the crossover between the partonic and the chiral spin symmetric regime at $$T_s\sim (2-3)T_\textrm{ch}$$

T
s

∼

(
2
-
3
)

T
ch

. From the known behavior of screening masses with baryon chemical potential, we deduce qualitatively how this chiral spin symmetric band extends into the QCD phase diagram. In the cold and dense region, we propose parity doubled baryons as possible candidates for chiral spin symmetric matter. This represents a special case of quarkyonic matter with confinement and restored chiral symmetry, and can smoothly transform to quark matter at sufficiently high densities. Finally, we discuss the potential of dilepton spectra to identify such matter forms.
Chiral nonet mixing in $$\pi \eta $$ scattering
Authors: Fariborz Amir H. , Zarepour Soodeh , Pourjafarabadi Esmaiel , Zebarjad S. Mohammad 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe generalized linear sigma model for mixing among two- and four-quark components of scalar (and pseudoscalar) mesons below and above 1 GeV is applied to the $$\pi \eta $$

π
η

channel in which the isovector scalars $$a_0(980)$$

a
0

(
980
)

and $$a_0(1450)$$

a
0

(
1450
)

are probed. In the leading order, the model parameters have been previously fixed by various low-energy experimental data, and then applied to $$\pi \pi $$

π
π

and $$\pi K$$

π
K

channels in which the properties of the light and broad $$\sigma $$
σ
and $$\kappa $$
κ
mesons are extracted in agreement with estimates reported in the literature. With the same parameters fixed in the leading order, in the present work the prediction of the model for the $$\pi \eta $$

π
η

scattering amplitude in the elastic region is given and unitarized with the K-matrix method. The poles of the unitarized scattering amplitude, which determine the mass and decay width of $$a_0(980)$$

a
0

(
980
)

and $$a_0(1450)$$

a
0

(
1450
)

are computed. It is found that the model predicts an isovector scalar state below 1 GeV, with mass 984 ± 6 MeV and decay width 108 ± 30 MeV which is a clear signal for the $$a_0(980)$$

a
0

(
980
)

. The $$a_0$$

a
0

pole extracted in this work, further supports the plausibility of the mixing patterns for scalar mesons predicted by this model according to which there is a significant underlying mixing among scalars below and above 1 GeV, with those below 1 GeV being generally of four-quark nature while those above 1 GeV being overall closer to quark–antiquark states. Predictions for various scattering lengths as well as for properties of $$a_0(1450)$$

a
0

(
1450
)

are also presented.
Lee model and its resolvent analysis
Authors: Jagvaral Yesukhei , Turgut O. Teoman , Ünel Meltem 
Published: December 2022

We revisit the relativistic (2+1)-dimensional Lee model on flat space in light-front coordinates and on a space-time with a spatial section given by a compact manifold, in the usual canonical formalism. The simpler 2+1 dimension is chosen because renormalization is needed only for the mass difference but not required for the coupling constant and the wave function. The model is constructed non-perturbatively based on the resolvent formulation [B. T. Kaynak and O. T. Turgut, The relativistic Lee model on Riemannian manifolds, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 42(22) (2009) 225402]. The bound state spectrum is studied through its “principal operator” and bounds for the ground state energy are obtained. We show that the formal expression found indeed defines the resolvent of a self-adjoint operator–the Hamiltonian of the interacting system. Moreover, we prove an essential result that the principal operator corresponds to a self-adjoint holomorphic family of type-A, in the sense of Kato.
Efficient Document-at-a-Time and Score-at-a-Time Query Evaluation for Learned Sparse Representations
Authors: Mackenzie Joel , Trotman Andrew , Lin Jimmy 
Published: December 2022

Researchers have had much recent success with ranking models based on so-called learned sparse representations generated by transformers. One crucial advantage of this approach is that such models can exploit inverted indexes for top-
k
retrieval, thereby leveraging decades of work on efficient query evaluation. Yet, there remain many open questions about how these learned representations fit within the existing literature, which our work aims to tackle using four representative learned sparse models. We find that impact weights generated by transformers appear to greatly reduce opportunities for skipping and early exiting optimizations in well-studied document-at-a-time (
DaaT
) approaches. Similarly, “off-the-shelf” application of score-at-a-time (
SaaT
) processing exhibits a mismatch between these weights and assumptions behind accumulator management strategies. Building on these observations, we present solutions to address deficiencies with both
DaaT
and
SaaT
approaches, yielding substantial speedups in query evaluation. Our detailed empirical analysis demonstrates that both methods lie on the effectiveness–efficiency Pareto frontier, indicating that the optimal choice for deployment depends on operational constraints.