bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Biological or mechanical mitral valve replacement in patients 50–70 years of age—a propensity-adjusted analysis
Authors: Leviner Dror B , Zafrir Barak , Saliba Walid , Stein Nili , Shiran Avinoam , Sharoni Erez 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The choice of a bioprosthetic valve (BV) over a mechanical valve (MV) in middle-aged adults in the mitral position is still under debate. Each valve type has benefits and drawbacks. We examined the mid-term survival of patients aged 50–70 years after BV versus MV mitral valve replacement (MVR).

METHODS
We conducted a multicentre, retrospective analysis of patients aged 50–70 years undergoing MVR from 2005 to December 2018 in 4 medical centres in Israel. To control for between-group differences, we used propensity-adjusted analysis. The primary end point was all-cause mortality. Secondary end points included reoperation, cerebrovascular accident and bleeding.

RESULTS
During the study period, 2125 MVR procedures were performed. Of these, 796 were eligible for inclusion [539 (67.8%) MV replacement and 257 (32.2%) BV]. The mean age was 61.0 ± 5.4. There were 287 deaths during 4890 person-years of follow-up. The adjusted hazard ratio was (1.13 [0.85–1.49], P = 0.672). There was also no difference in the secondary end points. Subgroup analysis of patients aged 50–64 years showed a higher risk of mortality with BV (hazard ratio = 1.50 [1.07–2.1], P = 0.018). Reoperation was a strong predictor of mortality during the study period (72.2%).

CONCLUSIONS
In patients aged 50–70 years, we found an interaction between age and MV or BV outcomes—those younger than 65 years gained a mortality advantage with MV, while outcomes were similar in the 65–70 age group. this supports the current guidelines recommending using MV in patients &lt;65 years of age.
Patterns and predictors of dyspnoea following left ventricular assist device implantation
Authors: Faulkner Kenneth M , Jurgens Corrine Y , Denfeld Quin E , Chien Christopher V , Thompson Jessica Harman , Gelow Jill M , Grady Kathleen L , Lee Christopher S 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Aims
Dyspnoea is a common symptom of heart failure (HF) that often prompts patients to seek treatment. Implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) has been associated with reduced dyspnoea but it is unclear if all patients experience similar improvements in dyspnoea over time following LVAD implantation. Our aim was to identify distinct trajectories of dyspnoea symptoms over time following LVAD implantation and predictors of dyspnoea trajectory. We hypothesized that at least two, distinct trajectories of dyspnoea would be observed following LVAD implantation.

Methods and results
This was a secondary analysis of data from the Profiling Biobehavioral Responses to Mechanical Support in Advanced Heart Failure study. In the parent study, sociodemographic and clinical data were collected prior to LVAD implantation and at 1, 3, and 6 months following LVAD implantation from a sample (n = 101) of patients with advanced HF. Latent growth mixture modelling was performed to identify distinct trajectories of dyspnoea symptoms. Backwards stepwise logistic regression was used to identify predictors of dyspnoea trajectory. Two, distinct trajectories of dyspnoea symptoms were identified: sustained improvement and unsustained improvement. Participants who experienced sustained improvement (86.7% of sample) demonstrated large, significant improvement in dyspnoea from pre-implantation to 3 months post-implant followed by smaller, non-significant improvement from 3 to 6 months. Participants who experienced unsustained improvement (13.3% of sample) demonstrated initial improvement from pre-implantation to 3 months post-implantation followed by worsening of dyspnoea from 3 to 6 months. Greater depressive symptoms at baseline and living alone were significant predictors of unsustained improvement.

Conclusion
Patients experience different patterns of dyspnoea over time following LVAD implantation. Clinicians should inquire about living arrangements and depressive symptoms at each visit to determine risk of unsustained improvement in dyspnoea.
Plant secondary compound- and antibiotic-induced community disturbances improve the establishment of foreign gut microbiota
Authors: Stapleton Tess E , Kohl Kevin D , Dearing M Denise 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Fecal transplants are a powerful tool for manipulating the gut microbial community, but how these non-native communities establish in the presence of an intact host gut microbiome is poorly understood. We explored the microbiome of desert woodrats (Neotoma lepida) to determine whether disrupting existing microbial communities using plant secondary compounds (PSCs) or antibiotics increases the establishment of foreign microbes. We administered two fecal transplants between natural populations of adult woodrats that harbor distinct gut microbiota and have different natural dietary exposure to PSCs. First, we administered fecal transplants to recipients given creosote resin, a toxin found in the natural diet of our “donor” population, and compared the gut microbial communities to animals given fecal transplants and control diet using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Second, we disrupted the gut microbial community of the same recipients with an antibiotic prior to fecal transplants. We found that gut microbial communities of woodrats disrupted with PSCs or antibiotics resembled that of donors more closely than control groups. PSC treatment also enriched microbes associated with metabolizing dietary toxins in transplant recipients. These results demonstrate that microbial community disturbances by PSCs or antibiotics are sufficient to facilitate establishment of foreign microbes in animals with intact microbiomes.
Role of double-subduction dynamics in the topographic evolution of the Sunda Plate
Authors: Dasgupta Ritabrata , Mandal Nibir 
Published: January 2022

SUMMARY
The Sunda Plate has shaped itself in a complex tectonic framework, driven by the interactions of multiple subduction zones in its history. Using thermomechanical computational fluid dynamic models we show in this paper how the in-dip double-subduction dynamics has controlled the first-order 3-D topography of this plate, currently bounded by two major N–S trending active trenches: Andaman–Sumatra–Java and Philippines on its western and eastern margins, respectively. We consider six E–W transects to account for an along-trench variation of the subduction parameters: subduction rate (Vc), shallow-depth (200–300 km) slab dip (α) and intertrench distance (ITD, λ) in our 2-D numerical experiments. The deviatoric stress fields and the topographic patterns are found to strongly depend on λ. For large ITDs (λ = 2000–3000 km), the overriding plate develops dominantly tensile stresses in its central zone, forming low topographic elevations. Decreasing λ results in a transition from extensional to contractional deformation, and promotes topographic uplift in the southern part. We explain these effects of λ in terms of the sublithospheric flow vortex patterns produced by the subducting slabs. Large λ (&gt; 2000 km) generates non-interacting flow vortices, located close to the two trenches, leaving the mantle region beneath the overriding plate weakly perturbed. In contrast, small λ results in their strong interaction to produce a single upwelling zone, which facilitates the overriding plate to gain a higher topographic elevation. The stress field predicted from our model is validated with the observed stress patterns. We also interpolate a 3-D topographic surface and vertical uplift rates from the serial model sections, and compare them with the observed surface topography of the Sunda Plate.
Attenuated orthotropic time-domain half-space BEM for SH-wave scattering problems
Authors: Mojtabazadeh-Hasanlouei Saeed , Panji Mehdi , Kamalian Mohsen 
Published: January 2022

SUMMARY
In this paper, the complete formulation of the attenuated orthotropic time-domain half-space boundary element method was proposed to analyse the transient SH-wave scattering problems. By changing the spatial variable, the time-domain half-space Green's functions were obtained in an isotropic-like analytical process by solving the singular form of the scalar wave equation. The stress-free boundary condition of the ground surface was satisfied using the wave source image theory. To include the materials damping, the Barkan approach was used in the formulation to attenuate the half-space by applying a constant logarithmic reduction into the modified boundary integral equation. The closed-form attenuated orthotropic half-space scalar kernels were obtained in the time-domain for displacement/traction fields by analytical integration of Green's functions. The method was easily implemented in a time-domain computer code to analyse the seismic homogenous orthotropic medium. To elaborate the model of the heterogeneous problems, a substructuring approach was presented to satisfy the continuity conditions at the interface depending on the position of the node and normal. Then, several seismic problems including a surface canyon, an underground cavity, a subsurface inclusion, and an alluvial valley subjected to SH wave was solved and compared with the literature to validate the surface response in the case of isotropic convergence. To evaluate the accuracy and the time of analysis for the proposed method versus the full-space boundary element models, a comparative test was carried out for two examples. A favourite agreement was testified between the responses to verify the proposed method's capability for simple modelling of the orthotropic topographic features. Finally, the ability of the method to analyse the problems with high degrees of freedom was investigated by solving a half-space model including 25 subsurface orthotropic circular inclusions.
Theorizing community health governance for strengthening primary healthcare in LMICs
Authors: Madon Shirin , Krishna S 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
In recent years, community health governance structures have been established in many low and middle-income countries (LMICs) as part of decentralization policies aimed at strengthening primary healthcare systems. So far, most studies on these local structures either focus on measuring their impact on health outcome or on identifying the factors that affect their performance. In this paper we offer an alternative contribution that draws on a sociological interpretation of community health governance to improve understanding of how the government’s policy vision and instrumentation translate to interactions that take place within local spaces at field level. We study 13 Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) in Karnataka, India, from 2016 to 2018 focusing on sanitation, nutrition and hygiene which remain impediments to improving primary healthcare amongst poor and marginalized communities. Three local governance mechanisms of horizontal coordination, demand for accountability and self-help help to explain improvements that have taken place at village level and contribute to the creation of a new theory of community health governance as evolving phenomenon that requires a constant process of learning from the field to strengthen policymaking.
Nonunital Operator Systems and Noncommutative Convexity
Authors: Kennedy Matthew , Kim Se-Jin , Manor Nicholas 
Published: January 2022

AbstractWe establish the dual equivalence of the category of generalized (i.e., potentially nonunital) operator systems and the category of pointed compact noncommutative (nc) convex sets, extending a result of Davidson and the 1st author. We then apply this dual equivalence to establish a number of results about generalized operator systems, some of which are new even in the unital setting. For example, we show that the maximal and minimal C*-covers of a generalized operator system can be realized in terms of theC*-algebra of continuous nc functions on its nc quasistate space, clarifying recent results of Connes and van Suijlekom. We also characterize “C*-simple” generalized operator systems, that is, generalized operator systems with a simple minimal C*-cover, in terms of their nc quasistate spaces. We develop a theory of quotients of generalized operator systems that extends the theory of quotients of unital operator systems. In addition, we extend results of the 1st author and Shamovich relating to nc Choquet simplices. We show that a generalized operator system is a C*-algebra if and only if its nc quasistate space is an nc Bauer simplex with zero as an extreme point, and we show that a second countable locally compact group has Kazhdan’s property (T) if and only if for every action of the group on a C*-algebra, the set of invariant quasistates is the quasistate space of a C*-algebra.
Non-Hamiltonian Actions With Fewer Isolated Fixed Points
Authors: Jang Donghoon , Tolman Susan 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
In an earlier paper, the second author resolved a question of McDuff by constructing a non-Hamiltonian symplectic circle action on a closed, connected six-dimensional symplectic manifold with exactly 32 fixed points. In this paper, we improve on this example by reducing the number of fixed points. More concretely, we construct a non-Hamiltonian symplectic circle action on a closed, connected six-dimensional symplectic manifold with exactly $2k$ fixed points for any $k \geq 5$.
Persistent Autoimmune Activation and Proinflammatory State in Post-Coronavirus Disease 2019 Syndrome
Authors: Acosta-Ampudia Yeny , Monsalve Diana M , Rojas Manuel , Rodríguez Yhojan , Zapata Elizabeth , Ramírez-Santana Carolina , Anaya Juan-Manuel 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Background
The immunopathological pathways enabling post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome (PCS) development are not entirely known. We underwent a longitudinal analysis of patients with COVID-19 who developed PCS aiming to evaluate the autoimmune and immunological status associated with this condition.

Methods
Thirty-three patients were included for longitudinal clinical and autoantibody analyses, 12 of whom were assessed for cytokines and lymphocyte populations. Patients were followed for 7–11 months after acute COVID-19. Autoimmune profile and immunological statuses were evaluated mainly by enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assays and flow cytometry.

Results
Latent autoimmunity and overt autoimmunity persisted over time. A proinflammatory state was observed in patients with PCS characterized by up-regulated interferon-α, tumor necrosis factor-α, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-6, IL-1β, and IL-13, whereas interferon-γ-induced protein 10 (IP-10) was decreased. In addition, PCS was characterized by increased levels of Th9, CD8+ effector T cells, naive B cells, and CD4+ effector memory T cells. Total levels of immunoglobulin G S1-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies remained elevated over time.

Conclusions
The clinical manifestations of PCS are associated with the persistence of a proinflammatory and effector phenotype induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection. This long-term persistent immune activation may contribute to the development of latent and overt autoimmunity. Results suggest the need to evaluate the role of immunomodulation in the treatment of PCS.
Populism as a Transgressive Style
Authors: Aiolfi Théo 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
As a consequence of its performative turn, the critical literature on populism has dedicated increasing attention to its sociocultural and stylistic features. Among the most prominent concepts underpinning this approach is the notion that populism relies on the “flaunting of the low” or the use of “bad manners.” This article engages in an extensive discussion of the way this concept is used in the literature and showcases its main limitations. In replacement, I then suggest the alternative concept of transgression, understood as the violation of a norm, which has the substantial advantages of being more flexible and versatile as well as less reliant on a normative binary. I then develop an associated typology of transgressive performances depending on which type of norms is being disrupted: transgressions of interactional norms, transgressions of rhetoric norms, and transgressions of theatrical norms. Following this, I showcase how this typology contributes to the IR literature by emphasizing the importance of agency and embodied performances in global politics. This article concludes on the potential of considering transgression beyond populism.
Minocycline pharmacodynamics against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in the neutropenic murine infection model: implications for susceptibility breakpoints
Authors: Fratoni Andrew J. , Nicolau David P. , Kuti Joseph L. 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Background
Minocycline displays high susceptibility rates against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia at the current breakpoint of 4 mg/L. However, no pharmacodynamic data are available to guide dosing or justify this breakpoint.

Methods
The murine neutropenic thigh infection model was utilized to determine minocycline pharmacodynamics against four S. maltophilia through dose ranging and fractionation studies. The efficacy of a human simulated regimen (HSR) of 100 mg IV q12h was tested against 17 isolates with a range of minocycline MICs. Monte Carlo simulation was employed to assess the PTA for achieving defined pharmacodynamic thresholds in critically ill patients.

Results
The pharmacodynamic index best correlated with reductions in cfu was fAUC/MIC (R2 = 0.376). The composite fAUC/MIC required for stasis and 1 log10 reduction was 9.6 and 23.6, respectively. The minocycline 100 mg q12h HSR yielded no bacterial reduction at MICs ≥1 mg/L and mixed efficacy at 0.5 mg/L. Monte Carlo simulation of minocycline 200 mg IV q12h achieved the 1 log10 kill threshold with PTAs of 93% and 51.7% at MICs of 0.5 and 1 mg/L, respectively, but 0.1% at the current breakpoint of 4 mg/L.

Conclusions
Clinically utilized minocycline dosing regimens fail to reach exposures predicted to be efficacious against S. maltophilia in critically ill patients at the current susceptibility breakpoint.
Pharmacokinetic modelling and simulation to optimize albendazole dosing in hookworm- or Trichuris trichiura-infected infants to adults
Authors: Hofmann Daniela , Brussee Janneke M. , Schulz Jessica D. , Coulibaly Jean T. , Pfister Marc , Keiser Jennifer 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Background
Albendazole is the most commonly used drug in preventive chemotherapy programmes against soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections, with the standard dose of 400 mg resulting in suboptimal clinical outcomes. Population pharmacokinetic (PK) models that could inform dosing strategies are not yet available.

Methods
A population pharmacokinetic model was developed based on micro-blood samples collected from 252 patients aged 2 to 65 years, infected with either hookworm or Trichuris trichiura and treated with albendazole doses ranging from of 200 to 800 mg. An exposure–response analysis was performed relating albendazole and its two metabolites to cure rates and egg reduction rates (ERR). Finally, model-based simulations were conducted to determine equivalent exposure coverage in infants to adults.

Results
A population PK model, with one distribution compartment for each compound and one peripheral compartment, following oral administration with a lag time, assuming first-order absorption and linear elimination, best described the concentration–time profiles. Clearance and volume parameters were scaled to body size (weight for albendazole and height for albendazole sulfoxide and sulfone). Dose proportionality was observed for the active metabolite, albendazole sulfoxide, but only in hookworm-infected individuals, with increasing exposure resulting in increased ERR. Exposure of sulfoxide was lowest in the tallest individuals.

Conclusions
Pharmacometric simulations indicate that doses up to 800 mg could further increase albendazole efficacy in hookworm-infected adults, whereas the standard dose of 400 mg is sufficient in the youngest age cohorts. In the absence of evidence-based arguments for adjusting albendazole doses in T. trichiura-infected individuals, the search for new treatment options is further emphasized.
Global consumption of antimicrobials: impact of the WHO Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance and 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)
Authors: Khouja Tumader , Mitsantisuk Kannop , Tadrous Mina , Suda Katie J 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Background
Little is known about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on antimicrobial consumption worldwide.

Objectives
To describe the impact of the WHO Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (GAP-AMR) on antimicrobial consumption pre-pandemic and to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antimicrobial consumption worldwide.

Methods
A cross-sectional time-series analysis using a dataset of monthly purchases of antimicrobials (antibiotics, antivirals and antifungals) from August 2014 to August 2020. Antimicrobial consumption per 1000 population was assessed pre-pandemic by economic development status using linear regression models. Interventional autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models tested for significant changes with pandemic declaration (March 2020) and during its first stage from April to August 2020, worldwide and by country development status.

Results
Prior to the pandemic, antimicrobial consumption decreased worldwide, with a greater apparent decrease in developed versus developing countries (−8.4%, P = 0.020 versus −1.2%, P = 0.660). Relative to 2019, antimicrobial consumption increased by 11.2%, P &lt; 0.001 in March 2020. The greatest increase was for antivirals in both developed and developing countries (48.2%, P &lt; 0.001; 110.0%, P &lt; 0.001) followed by antibiotics (6.9%, P &lt; 0.001; 5.9%, P = 0.003). From April to August 2020, antimicrobial consumption decreased worldwide by 18.7% (P &lt; 0.001) compared with the previous year. Specifically, antibiotic consumption significantly decreased in both developed and developing countries (−28.0%, P &lt; 0.001; −16.8%, P &lt; 0.001).

Conclusions
The global decrease in antimicrobial consumption pre-pandemic suggests a positive impact of the WHO GAP-AMR. During the pandemic, an initial increase in antimicrobial consumption was followed by a decrease worldwide. AMR plans should specify measures to ensure full implementation of AMR efforts during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.