bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Plasma Calprotectin Is Predictive for Short-Term Functional Outcomes of Acute Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Hu Zicheng , Li Haihua , Zhu Yongping , Zhang Jun , Yang Xiao , Huang Rongzhong , Li Yongyong , Ran Haitao , Shang Tingting 
Published: March 2022

BackgroundBlood-based prognostic biomarkers of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are limiting. Calprotectin is suggested to be involved in directing post-stroke inflammatory conditions. However, the pathological alteration of circulating calprotectin in AIS is yet to be thoroughly elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the levels and clinical relevance of calprotectin in AIS.MethodsThis study recruited 271 patients with AIS within 24 h since symptom onset and 145 non-stroke healthy controls (HC) from February 1, 2018, to Dec 31, 2020. Patients were followed up for 2 weeks for observation of functional outcomes, as determined by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Plasma calprotectin concentrations were determined by ELISA.ResultsPlasma calprotectin concentrations were significantly higher in patients with AIS compared with controls [patients vs. control: median (IQR) 54.2 (39.01–99.04) vs. 50.04 (35.42–61.22), p &lt; 0.001]. Besides, patients with poor prognosis, as defined by mRS ≥ 3, had significantly higher calprotectin levels than patients with good prognosis [poor prognosis patients vs. good prognosis patients: median (IQR) 61.99 (47.52–108) vs. 43.36 (33.39–60.2), p &lt; 0.001]. Plasma calprotectin levels were positively associated with the disease severity of AIS, as reflected by infarction volume and NIHSS score at baseline. Furthermore, baseline calprotectin was found to be independently associated with poor prognosis [odds ratio (OR): 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01–1.03] and disease progression (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.02–1.04) of AIS during a 2-week follow-up, with adjustment of possible confounding factors.ConclusionPlasma calprotectin is associated with short-term functional outcomes of AIS.
Medication Regimen Complexity and Medication Burden Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Retrospective Analysis
Authors: Ab Rahman Norazida , Lim Ming Tsuey , Thevendran Shantini , Ahmad Hamdi Najwa , Sivasampu Sheamini 
Published: March 2022

Introduction: Most type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with chronic conditions require multiple medications to achieve and maintain good glycemic control.Objective: This study assessed medication burden, regimen complexity, and adherence among T2DM patients and evaluate its association with glycemic control.Method: We analyzed data of 2,696 T2DM patients at public health clinics in Malaysia from January 2018 until May 2019. Medication burden was based on medication count, regimen complexity was measured using the validated Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI) tool, and adherence was measured using proportion of days covered (PDC) formula. Logistic regression models were used to compute unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for association between the medication parameters and glycemic control (HbA1c ≤ 7.0%) over a 90-day period.Results: The cohort mean age was 60.4 years old (±10.8) and 62.9% were female. Overall, the average medication count was 4.8 with MRCI score of 15.1. Mean adherence score (PDC) was 90%. High medication count and MRCI scores were associated with lower odds of achieving good glycemic control (aOR 0.88; 95% CI 0.82, 0.94 and aOR 0.89; 95% CI 0.87, 0.92, respectively) while inverse association was observed between adherence and HbA1c level (aOR 2.7, 95% CI 1.66, 5.19). Similar findings were observed for diabetes-specific measures.Conclusions: High medication count, high regimen complexity, and low medication adherence were associated with poor glycemic control over the 3-month follow-up period. These parameters could be used to identify patients with complex pharmacotherapy regimens so that targets for intervention can be taken to achieve optimum outcomes and ease of self-care.
Combination Therapy of Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Gliclazide and Ramipril Protects Against Development of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy via Inhibition of TGF-β/Smad Pathway
Authors: Dugbartey George J. , Wonje Quinsker L. , Alornyo Karl K. , Robertson Louis , Adams Ismaila , Boima Vincent , Mensah Samuel D. 
Published: March 2022

Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major long-term complication of diabetes mellitus, accounting for over 20% of annual mortality rate of diabetic patients globally. Although several existing anti-diabetic drugs have improved glycemic status in diabetic patients, prevalence of DCM is still high. This study investigates cardiac effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation of anti-diabetic therapy in experimental DCM.Methods: Following 12 h of overnight fasting, 44 male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned to two groups of healthy control (n = 7) and diabetic (n = 37) groups, and fasting blood glucose was measured. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) was induced in diabetic group by intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of nicotinamide (110 mg/kg) and streptozotocin (55 mg/kg). After confirmation of T2DM on day 3, diabetic rats received monotherapies with ALA (60 mg/kg; n = 7), gliclazide (15 mg/kg; n = 7), ramipril (10 mg/kg; n = 7) or combination of the three drugs (n = 7) for 6 weeks while untreated diabetic rats received distilled water and were used as diabetic control (n = 9). Rats were then sacrificed, and blood, pancreas and heart tissues were harvested for analyses using standard methods.Results: T2DM induction caused pancreatic islet destruction, hyperglycemia, weight loss, high relative heart weight, and development of DCM, which was characterized by myocardial degeneration and vacuolation, cardiac fibrosis, elevated cardiac damage markers (plasma and cardiac creatine kinase-myocardial band, brain natriuretic peptide and cardiac troponin I). Triple combination therapy of ALA, gliclazide and ramipril preserved islet structure, maintained body weight and blood glucose level, and prevented DCM development compared to diabetic control (p &lt; 0.001). In addition, the combination therapy markedly reduced plasma levels of inflammatory markers (IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α), plasma and cardiac tissue malondialdehyde, triglycerides and total cholesterol while significantly increasing cardiac glutathione and superoxide dismutase activity and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol compared to diabetic control (p &lt; 0.001). Mechanistically, induction of T2DM upregulated cardiac expression of TGF-β1, phosphorylated Smad2 and Smad3 proteins, which were downregulated following triple combination therapy (p &lt; 0.001).Conclusion: Triple combination therapy of ALA, gliclazide and ramipril prevented DCM development by inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad pathway. Our findings can be extrapolated to the human heart, which would provide effective additional pharmacological therapy against DCM in T2DM patients.
Simultaneous Dual Echo Gadolinium Enhanced MR-PET for Evaluation of PET Tracer Delivery in Altered Pathophysiology
Authors: Cowin Gary J , Mardon Karine , Houston Zachary H. , Bhalla Rajiv , Stimson Damion H. R. , Thurecht Kristofer J. , Brereton Ian M. 
Published: March 2022

Efficacy of diagnostics and therapeutics for brain tumours can be modulated by vascular delivery and blood brain barrier permeability. Simultaneous dynamic gadolinium MR-PET enables independent assessment of vascular delivery and blood brain barrier integrity in a brain tumour animal model in the presence of a PET tracer.Dual echo dynamic gadolinium enhanced gradient echo imaging allows simultaneous calculation of T2* and T1 images from the TE image pairs. Relaxivity values then enabled determination of independent T2*- and T1-derived gadolinium concentrations simultaneously with measurement of [18F]DPA-714 neuroinflammation radiotracer delivery.Separate T2*- and T1-derived gadolinium concentrations curves were derived in a selection of tumours and normal tissue, reflecting vascular delivery and tissue uptake. Changes in the PET activity curves were seen in tumours and normal tissue, reflecting changes in the MR derived dynamic curves. The dramatic changes in the MR-derived vascular delivery and tissue uptake estimates may improve the understanding of the alteration of delivery and uptake of new theranostic agents.
The Attitudes and Perceptions of Israeli Psychiatrists Toward Telepsychiatry and Their Behavioral Intention to Use Telepsychiatry
Authors: Kaphzan Hanoch , Sarfati Noiman Margaret , Negev Maya 
Published: March 2022

BackgroundAlthough telemedicine care has grown in recent years, telepsychiatry is growing at a slower pace than expected, because service providers often hamper the assimilation and expansion of telepsychiatry due their attitudes and perceptions. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is a model that was developed to assess the factors influencing the assimilation of a new technology. We used the UTAUT model to examine the associations between the attitudes and perceptions of psychiatrists in Israel toward telepsychiatry and their intention to use it.MethodsAn online, close-ended questionnaire based on a modified UTAUT model was distributed among psychiatrists in Israel. Seventy-six questionnaires were completed and statistically analyzed.ResultsThe behavioral intention of Israeli psychiatrists to use telepsychiatry was relatively low, despite their perceptions of themselves as capable of high performance with low effort. Nonetheless, they were interested in using telepsychiatry voluntarily. Experience in telepsychiatry, and to a lesser extent, facilitating conditions, were found to be positively correlated with the intention to use telepsychiatry. Psychiatrists have a positive attitude toward treating patients by telepsychiatry and perceive its risk as moderate.DiscussionDespite high performance expectancy, low effort expectancy, low perceived risk, largely positive attitudes, high voluntariness, and the expectancy for facilitating conditions, the intention to use telepsychiatry was rather low. This result is explained by the low level of experience, which plays a pivotal role. We recommend promoting the facilitating conditions that affect the continued use of telepsychiatry when initiating its implementation, and conclude that it is critical to create a sense of success during the initial stages of experience.
COVID-19 Vaccination Among the Arab Bedouin Population: Lessons Learned From a Minority Population
Authors: Abu-Freha Naim , Alsana Hadel , El-Saied Sabri , Azbarga Zuya , Aloka Muhammad , Goda Tarek , Abu Tailakh Muhammad 
Published: March 2022

Objectives: We investigated the causes of low COVID-19 vaccination rates among a minority population and highlighted interventions for increasing the vaccination rate.Methods: We reviewed the experience during the mass vaccination campaign period among the Arab Bedouin (AB) in Israel, attempting to determine important causes of low vaccination rates and gathered information from real-life experience and through direct contact with the population during the campaign.Results: Causes for low vaccination rates in the AB are related to the health system infrastructure, crisis management strategies, and population characteristics. Long-standing socioeconomic inequalities, limited resources, and language and culture barriers present special challenges to the task of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. Key interventions for increasing vaccination rates among minority populations include raising awareness, improving vaccination access, and directly targeting risk-groups. To maximize the effectiveness of these interventions they should be culturally adapted and executed according to the needs of each individual target community.Conclusion: Culturally adapted awareness campaigns, interventions, and improved access to vaccines can be accomplished by cooperation between relevant governing and community bodies to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among minorities.
Developing a primary care-initiated hepatitis C treatment pathway in Scotland: a qualitative study
Authors: Whiteley David , Speakman Elizabeth M , Elliott Lawrie , Jarvis Helen , Davidson Katherine , Quinn Michael , Flowers Paul 
Published: March 2022

BackgroundThe ease of contemporary hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy has prompted a global drive towards simplified and decentralised treatment pathways. In some countries, primary care has become an integral component of community-based HCV treatment provision. In the UK, however, the role of primary care providers remains largely focused on testing and diagnosis alone.AimTo develop a primary care-initiated HCV treatment pathway for people who use drugs, and recommend theory-informed interventions to help embed that pathway into practice.Design and settingA qualitative study informed by behaviour change theory. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with key stakeholders (n = 38) primarily from two large conurbations in Scotland.MethodAnalysis was three-stage. First, a broad pathway structure was outlined and then sequential pathway steps were specified; second, thematic data were aligned to pathway steps, and significant barriers and enablers were identified; and, third, the Theoretical Domains Framework and Behaviour Change Wheel were employed to systematically develop ideas to enhance pathway implementation, which stakeholders then appraised.ResultsThe proposed pathway structure spans broad, overarching challenges to primary care-initiated HCV treatment. The theory-informed recommendations align with influences on different behaviours at key pathway steps, and focus on relationship building, routinisation, education, combating stigmas, publicising the pathway, and treatment protocol development.ConclusionThis study provides the first practicable pathway for primary care-initiated HCV treatment in Scotland, and provides recommendations for wider implementation in the UK. It positions primary care providers as an integral part of community-based HCV treatment, providing workable solutions to ingrained barriers to care.
Eficacia de la legislación anticorrupción en la gobernanza pública
Authors: Yumpo Racho Wualter 
Published: March 2022

Uno de los graves conflictos que enfrentan los países, en particular los Estados subdesarrollados, es la corrupción. Este problema se presenta de manera compleja y estructural, tanto a nivel interno como externo, en el cual, están involucrados funcionarios de mayor y menor importancia, la clase política dirigencial, así como instituciones públicas y empresarial privado, inclusive el deporte y parte de la ciudadanía. El objetivo de la presente investigación fue analizar la eficacia de la legislación anticorrupción frente al fenómeno de la corrupción en el contexto de la gobernanza pública para reducir su masificación. Este problema, en la última década, pese las diversas investigaciones, propuestas, reformas legales y esfuerzos realizados no se ha logrado reducir y continúa latente en la sociedad como principal problema. Por ello, resulta pertinente y relevante abordarlo desde diferentes perspectivas y en forma holística, debido que la corrupción se ha introducido en todo el sistema y continúa en él por lo que las reformas legales que se establezca para enfrentarla no la afectan significativamente. El tipo de investigación fue de revisión sistemática. El estudio permitió como resultado, que la legislación en materia anticorrupción tiene un nivel bajo de eficacia por falta de claridad en su contenido y debido a la complejidad y magnitud en que se presenta el problema, ello se expresa al no haberse logrado avances significativos en la disminución de los índices de corrupción desde el año 2012.
Review: Potensi Pengembangan Membran Polimer Hidrofilik untuk Produksi Biodiesel Berbasis Mikroalga
Authors: Lestari Widi Citra , Ningtiar Ellyzia Sukma , Irianto Mochammad Yusuf , Widiastuti Nurul 
Published: March 2022

Harvesting microalgae is an important process to be carried out in the production of biodiesel from microalgae. The method of harvesting by filtration technique provides many advantages over other methods. Polymer is a membrane material that is often used for harvesting microalgae. However, polymer membranes have limited hydrophobic properties, thus, modification was needed to improve the hydrophilic properties and performance of polymer membranes. The polyvylene fluoride (PVDF) flat-sheet membrane has advantages over other membrane materials which are rated with a flux rate of 67.3 L / m2h and a rejection value of 100%. Then, the development with hollow fiber modulation on the PVDF membrane was considered very suitable, which was reported to have succeeded in increasing the membrane flux in the harvest of Scenedemus Acuminatus reaching up to 5136 L / m2h. The addition of PVDF with the inorganic additive LiCl was successful in increasing its hydrophilicity as the water permeation size increased up to 542 L / m2h. In addition, the use of triethyl phosphate (TEP) as a solvent is more environmentally friendly and compatible with PVDF membranes. As a result, it can increase membrane porosity by up to 92.7%. Apart from improving the membrane material, this review also reports the design and economic analysis to produce an effective and efficient of polymeric membranes for microalgae harvesting.
"The Limits of Representative Democracy in Algeria".
Authors: BOUDJELAL OMAR. 
Published: March 2022

There are many studies in the field of political science which have touched on the subject of the limits of representative democracy but most of these studies have not exceeded the abstract aspect of political representation as an idea. Thus, lies the importance of this study in its scientific aspect of being a new addition to the researches that relate to the Democracy in Algeria. In the practical sense, the study aims to interrogate the Algerian reality to highlight the shortcomings that limit the optimal application of representative democracy. This scientific methodology has been employed in this study "Functional Constructivism approach" to investigate the efficacy of the different structures that react with the process of political representation. The study concluded that the political, legal and cultural structures in the frame of overall social system suffer from many crises in terms of construction and function that lead to failure in the optimal application of representative democracy in Algeria.
keywords : representative democracy – structure – function.
حماية حقوق الإنسان في النظام العربي مقارنة بالنظام الأوروبي
Authors: زازة لخضر 
Published: March 2022

ملخص:
لقد خطت الدول العربية خطوة كبيرة نحو تحقيق نظام عربي لحماية حقوق الإنسان من خلال إنشاء محكمة عربية لهذا الغرض. على الرغم من أن إنشاء مثل هذه الدورة جاء متأخراً جداً مقارنة بنظرائهم في النظم الإقليمية الأخرى ، إلا أن وثائق وصكوك حقوق الإنسان في الدول العربية ظهرت في وقت مبكر ومتكرر لكنها أدت إلى الفشل ولم يكن بالإمكان الإفراج عنها حتى بداية الألفية بنجاح في الموافقة الميثاق العربي لحقوق الإنسان وإنشاء اللجنة العربية لحقوق الإنسان وإنشاء المحكمة العربية لحقوق الإنسان في عام 2014. ومع ذلك ، هناك العديد من الانتقادات لهذا النظام مقارنة بالنظام الأوروبي لحقوق الإنسان ، وهو نموذج إجماعي لحماية حقوق الإنسان. الرجل بالسماح للأفراد بمواجهة الإجراءات القانونية أمام المحكمة ، والسماح للهيئات المتخصصة بممارسة مهامها على نطاق واسع. لذلك ، تبحث هذه المقالة في نظام حقوق الإنسان العربي من خلال تقديم هذه الوثائق والأدوات أولاً ، وتحقيق التوازن بين آلياته لضمان الامتثال لهذه الاتفاقيات والصكوك ، وكل ذلك في سياق فحص جانبي النظام الأوروبي لحقوق الإنسان من حيث الصكوك و آليات ، في شكل مقارنة بسيطة لمعرفة أين نحن النظام العربي مقارنة بالنظام الأوروبي. الكلمات المفتاحية: الإنسان ، الحقوق ، النظام العربي ، الحماية
التعددية وأزمة بناء الدولة الموريتانية
Authors: بون ولد باهي 
Published: March 2022

الملخص:
تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى تقديم تصور حول التعددية وأزمة بناء الدولة في موريانيا، وذلك من خلال البحث في جذور الأزمة ومآلاتها. وتندرج هذه الدراسة في سياق حقل الدراسات المناطقية المعروفة في بعضالأدبيات، وتفترض بأن واقع التعددية أوقع الدولة الموريتانية في مشكلين، مشكل الهوية السياسية: هل دولة عربية ام إفريقية؟ ومشكل الهوية الاجتماعية: هل دولة الزنوج أم العرب؟ وبالتالي ترى بأن التعددية هي المسؤولة عن أزمة بناء الدولة، نظرا لخصوصية هذه التعددية. وهي كذلك تسهم في استمرار هيمنة الأحكام العسكرية، لكونها تضعف المجتمع وتقتل قواه الحية بسبب تحييد اهدافه عن المجال العام إلى ما هو شخصي وخاص، بل إن الواقع أثبت أنها وإن كانت تدافع عن قضايا محلية إلا انها مدعومة من قوى خارجية وهذا ما يزيد من خطورة انحرافها عن جادة الصواب. تخلص الدراسة إلى أن خطورة المجتمع القبلي كذلك لا تقل عن المجتمع الاثني، وذلك لما قد يتسبب فيه المجتمع القبلي من خطر لاشك انه سيكون محقق على مستقبل الدولة.
الكلمات المفتاحية: التعددية، التعددية الاثنية، القبيلة، القبلية، أزمة، دولة
افريقيا بين تعاظم حدة النزاعات الاثنية والسعي نحو تطبيق الديمقراطية
Authors: شوفي مريم 
Published: March 2022

ملخص: عرفت قضية النزاعات العرقية أهمية كبيرة على المستوى العالمي لتصبح واحدة من أهم قضايا السياسة العالمية بسبب الآثار المتزايدة لتدخل المنظمات الحكومية وغير الحكومية ، في هذه الحالة من خلال نشر القوات العسكرية في حالات العنف طويل المدى بين الجماعات العرقية وإنشاء محكمة خاصة بجرائم الحرب للتحقيق في انتهاكات قوانينها. وفي نفس السياق ولأن إفريقيا تنتمي إلى النظام العالمي ولأنها الأكثر تأثراً بهذه الظاهرة القارة ، التي تعززت على أساس العوامل التاريخية كالاستمار ، وعوامل الأواني تتركز في مجملها على طبيعة النظم السياسية الإفريقية و أساليب التعامل السلبي مع القضية العرقية ، وبالتالي المساهمة في ظاهرة التيار وانتشارها على المستوى القاري وإعطاءها لأن القارة تحاول الوصول إلى صفوف الدول الديمقراطية التي تتبنى المظاهر تدل على أن السياسات والانتخابات كالتادة كوسيلة ل الانتقال السلمي للسلطة نتيجة للضغوط المحلية وغيرها من الضغوط الدولية ، ولكن استمرار التوترات العرقية كان له تأثير سلبي على حالة الأمن والاستقرار في البلدان الأفريقية. الكلمات المفتاحية: الصراعات العرقية ، الديمقراطية ، العوامل ، السياسة
Quantitative capacitance measurements in frequency modulation electrostatic force microscopy
Authors: Fukuzawa Ryota , Liang Jianbo , Shigekawa Naoteru , Takahashi Takuji 
Published: March 2022

Abstract
We have proposed a method for quantitative capacitance measurements using frequency modulation electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) with a dual bias modulation method and demonstrated it on n- and p-type Si samples. First, we theoretically derived a conversion formula from a frequency shift of cantilever resonance in EFM into a capacitance value based on the parallel plate capacitor model, by which a pair of an EFM tip and a semiconductor sample is expected to be equivalently represented. Then the capacitance measurements were experimentally conducted on the n- and p-type Si substrates, and the acquired capacitance–voltage curves indicated that the obtained capacitance values were consistent with the expected ones and that the carrier densities evaluated from the depletion capacitances were also in good agreement with those evaluated by the conventional Hall effect measurements. From those results, the validity of our quantitative evaluation method has been well confirmed.
Temperature sensitivity of BODIPY dye (pyrromethene 597) over different linear organic solvents
Authors: Jain Puneet , Motosuke Masahiro 
Published: March 2022

Abstract
Fluorescence anisotropy, which has been conventionally used to study the folding states of proteins or molecular binding, is exploited as a liquid temperature diagnostic tool in this study. In the present work, temperature sensitivity of fluorophore; pyrromethene 597; in various organic solvents, namely methanol, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, butanol, and pentanol, has been studied. These solvents are selected as they all have a difference of one –CH3 group, as one goes from methanol to pentanol. Temperature sensitivity is calculated by measuring the temperature dependence of fluorescence anisotropy. It has been found that pyrromethene 597 shows high temperature sensitivity in ethanol and isopropyl alcohol which is more than ten times larger than the other solution. In both solutions, temperature coefficients are positive, while the others are negative.