bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Turning intimate spaces into digital classrooms: Public health students’ experiences of learning and doing critical qualitative research in pandemic times
Authors: Serota Kristie , Giles Madison , Kinitz David J 
Published: March 2022

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, burgeoning health researchers have been tasked with learning how to conduct critical qualitative health research from the intimate spaces of their homes. In this presentation, we, three public health students, highlight our experiences as learners and doers of critical qualitative methods to demonstrate the challenges and triumphs that co-exist with pursuing our academic goals during a global pandemic.
We employ a critical, reflexive narrative approach to storying our experiences of learning and practicing critical qualitative health research methods from the (dis)comfort of our homes during the pandemic. Using diverse theoretical lenses, including embodiment and poststructuralism, we story our experiences of navigating the blurry boundaries created by our necessary participation in the digital world. We construct and present these stories using arts-based qualitative research methods that were introduced to us in our courses and readings through the Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research. Stitching together words to create poetry, fabric to construct a quilt, and pictures and writing to articulate experiences, these stories explore how the transformation of our intimate space into an academic and research space impacts the experience of learning to be a critical qualitative health researcher. David uses creative analytic writing practices through memos and journals, paired with photography, to express his experience as a learner. He draws on embodiment, attuning himself to the body to better understand his experiences. Through the medium of poetry, Madison grapples with the reality of being a digital student - letting her anxieties, curiosities, and questions stumble out to make sense of her virtual self. Finally, Kristie uses quilting to construct a material representation of the Zoom experience, exploring the intimacy and alienation of the digital classroom.
Through our stories, we hope to create space to deeply consider what it means to be an online learner and an online being. Through these three interwoven stories, we expose our vulnerabilities to carve out space to reflect on our needs and desires to thrive in digital learning environments.
Blended Learning as a Transformative Educational Approach for Qualitative Health Research
Authors: Arora Anish , Rice Kathleen , Adams Alayne 
Published: March 2022

Background: Qualitative health research seeks to elucidate the realities of context, reveal the complexities of behaviour, probe the intersecting and multiple determinants of health at individual, community and institutional levels, and capture the dynamics of health care provision from the perspectives of patients, providers, and systems. Traditionally, in our Family Medicine Department at McGill University, graduate students are trained in qualitative health research in the context of a synchronous in-person classroom. Amidst the pandemic, synchronous learning shifted to online modalities, obliging rapid innovation in pedagogic practice. Careful consideration and creation of new online modalities for engaged student learning took place, and when implemented, instructor and student feedback was solicited on whether or how they were effective. Together, co-instructors and the teaching assistant for the course reflected on the challenges and opportunities of teaching qualitative research in an online environment, and how online modalities might be usefully blended with in-person learning.
Reflections: Three arguments supporting a blended approach were identified. Firstly, blending online and in-person approaches enables learners to tailor their educational experience to their needs and objectives, and to some extent, control the content, sequence, pace, and time of their learning. Secondly, blended learning empowers educators by offering tools and systems to monitor learner progress, while encouraging creativity in conveying content that may be complicated and dense (e.g., providing online workshops about managing qualitative data analysis via readily accessible online software). Lastly, blended learning has the potential to transform graduate training for the better by facilitating innovative modes of communication (e.g., use of chat function in videoconferencing software and online discussion boards as modalities for discussion that engage students who may not otherwise speak), enabling students to contextualize their projects (e.g., implementation of an observational data collection assignment, unique to each student based on where they live and their interests), while better balancing their academic, professional, and personal lives.
Discussion: To develop a thorough understanding of qualitative health research, key concepts can be taught and practiced through a combination of in-person and online synchronous and asynchronous learning modalities. In doing so, educators can take advantage of innovative learning technologies, while also maintaining the humanistic touch necessary for education to be meaningful and effective. Importantly, from our experiences we note that blended learning approaches are viable and pertinent in the context of qualitative health research, an idea that was previously dismissed due to perceptions that qualitative inquiry and learning requires solely in-person, hands-on, engagement.
Self-citation and its impact on scientific workflow assessment: The review of publications. Part I
Authors: Pislyakov V. V. 
Published: March 2022

The author reviews publications on the problem of self-citation and resulting mispresentations at the stage bibliometric analysis. He introduces the definition of self-citation and its special cases, i. e. author’s, institutional, publisher’s and disciplinary. The formulas for general self-citation metrics, i. e. self-citation and self-citedness coefficients, are provided. The global publications on author’s, institutional, national and journal self-citation are reviewed thoroughly. The current concepts of the role and impact of self-citation on scientific activity assessment are generalized. On the basis of his analytical review, the author argues that the researchers obtain consensus on several aspects, e. g.: а) excessive and absent self-citation are both seen as pathologies; в) self-citation has insignificant impact on large research entities though this influence can be critical when analyzing contributions by individual authors; с) self-citation impact is well-expressed for scientific entities with weak bibliometric indicators, while the top scientists, organizations, journals, etc., get most of external links. The author examines the response of bibliometric indicators and databases to self-citation manipulations to adjust the indicators.Part I of the review is intended to define the basic concepts and terms and to examine the most popular author’s self-citation.
Potential of Cellular Therapy for ALS: Current Strategies and Future Prospects
Authors: Lin Ting-Jung , Cheng Kuang-Chao , Wu Luo-Yun , Lai Wei-Yu , Ling Thai-Yen , Kuo Yung-Che , Huang Yen-Hua 
Published: March 2022

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive upper and lower motor neuron (MN) degeneration with unclear pathology. The worldwide prevalence of ALS is approximately 4.42 per 100,000 populations, and death occurs within 3–5 years after diagnosis. However, no effective therapeutic modality for ALS is currently available. In recent years, cellular therapy has shown considerable therapeutic potential because it exerts immunomodulatory effects and protects the MN circuit. However, the safety and efficacy of cellular therapy in ALS are still under debate. In this review, we summarize the current progress in cellular therapy for ALS. The underlying mechanism, current clinical trials, and the pros and cons of cellular therapy using different types of cell are discussed. In addition, clinical studies of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in ALS are highlighted. The summarized findings of this review can facilitate the future clinical application of precision medicine using cellular therapy in ALS.
A Unique Mechanochemical Redox Reaction Yielding Nanostructured Double Perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 With an Extraordinarily High Degree of Anti-Site Disorder
Authors: Tóthová Erika , Düvel André , Witte Ralf , Brand Richard A. , Sarkar Abhishek , Kruk Robert , Senna Mamoru , Da Silva Klebson Lucenildo , Menzel Dirk , Girman Vladimír , Hegedüs Michal , Baláž Matej , Makreski Petre , Kubuki Shiro , Kaňuchová Mária , Valíček Jan , Hahn Horst , Šepelák Vladimír 
Published: March 2022

Strontium ferromolybdate, Sr2FeMoO6, is an important member of the family of double perovskites with the possible technological applications in the field of spintronics and solid oxide fuel cells. Its preparation via a multi-step ceramic route or various wet chemistry-based routes is notoriously difficult. The present work demonstrates that Sr2FeMoO6 can be mechanosynthesized at ambient temperature in air directly from its precursors (SrO, α-Fe, MoO3) in the form of nanostructured powders, without the need for solvents and/or calcination under controlled oxygen fugacity. The mechanically induced evolution of the Sr2FeMoO6 phase and the far-from-equilibrium structural state of the reaction product are systematically monitored with XRD and a variety of spectroscopic techniques including Raman spectroscopy, 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The unique extensive oxidation of iron species (Fe0 → Fe3+) with simultaneous reduction of Mo cations (Mo6+ → Mo5+), occuring during the mechanosynthesis of Sr2FeMoO6, is attributed to the mechanically triggered formation of tiny metallic iron nanoparticles in superparamagnetic state with a large reaction surface and a high oxidation affinity, whose steady presence in the reaction mixture of the milled educts initiates/promotes the swift redox reaction. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that the mechanosynthesized Sr2FeMoO6, even after its moderate thermal treatment at 923 K for 30 min in air, exhibits the nanostructured nature with the average particle size of 21(4) nm. At the short-range scale, the nanostructure of the as-prepared Sr2FeMoO6 is characterized by both, the strongly distorted geometry of the constituent FeO6 octahedra and the extraordinarily high degree of anti-site disorder. The degree of anti-site disorder ASD = 0.5, derived independently from the present experimental XRD, Mössbauer, and SQUID magnetization data, corresponds to the completely random distribution of Fe3+ and Mo5+ cations over the sites of octahedral coordination provided by the double perovskite structure. Moreover, the fully anti-site disordered Sr2FeMoO6 nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetism with the blocking temperature TB = 240 K and the deteriorated effective magnetic moment μ = 0.055 μB per formula unit.
Ethnicity-Specific Features of COVID-19 Among Arabs, Africans, South Asians, East Asians, and Caucasians in the United Arab Emirates
Authors: Al Zahmi Fatmah , Habuza Tetiana , Awawdeh Rasha , Elshekhali Hossam , Lee Martin , Salamin Nassim , Sajid Ruhina , Kiran Dhanya , Nihalani Sanjay , Smetanina Darya , Talako Tatsiana , Neidl-Van Gorkom Klaus , Zaki Nazar , Loney Tom , Statsenko Yauhen 
Published: March 2022

BackgroundDubai (United Arab Emirates; UAE) has a multi-national population which makes it exceptionally interesting study sample because of its unique demographic factors.ObjectiveTo stratify the risk factors for the multinational society of the UAE.MethodsA retrospective chart review of 560 patients sequentially admitted to inpatient care with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 was conducted. We studied patients’ demographics, clinical features, laboratory results, disease severity, and outcomes. The parameters were compared across different ethnic groups using tree-based estimators to rank the ethnicity-specific disease features. We trained ML classification algorithms to build a model of ethnic specificity of COVID-19 based on clinical presentation and laboratory findings on admission.ResultsOut of 560 patients, 43.6% were South Asians, 26.4% Middle Easterns, 16.8% East Asians, 10.7% Caucasians, and 2.5% are under others. UAE nationals represented half of the Middle Eastern patients, and 13% of the entire cohort. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity in COVID-19 patients. Subjective complaint of fever and cough were the chief presenting symptoms. Two-thirds of the patients had either a mild disease or were asymptomatic. Only 20% of the entire cohort needed oxygen therapy, and 12% needed ICU admission. Forty patients (~7%) needed invasive ventilation and fifteen patients died (2.7%). We observed differences in disease severity among different ethnic groups. Caucasian or East-Asian COVID-19 patients tended to have a more severe disease despite a lower risk profile. In contrast to this, Middle Eastern COVID-19 patients had a higher risk factor profile, but they did not differ markedly in disease severity from the other ethnic groups. There was no noticeable difference between the Middle Eastern subethnicities—Arabs and Africans—in disease severity (p = 0.81). However, there were disparities in the SOFA score, D-dimer (p = 0.015), fibrinogen (p = 0.007), and background diseases (hypertension, p = 0.003; diabetes and smoking, p = 0.045) between the subethnicities.ConclusionWe observed variations in disease severity among different ethnic groups. The high accuracy (average AUC = 0.9586) of the ethnicity classification model based on the laboratory and clinical findings suggests the presence of ethnic-specific disease features. Larger studies are needed to explore the role of ethnicity in COVID-19 disease features.
Do Probiotics Cause a Shift in the Microbiota of Dental Implants—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Sayardoust Shariel , Johansson Anders , Jönsson Daniel 
Published: March 2022

ObjectiveThe primary aim of this current systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the potential microbiological effect of probiotics on the implant microbiota. The secondary aim was to evaluate if probiotics have any effect as an adjunct to non-surgical peri-implant treatment in reducing peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis clinical parameters—bleeding on probing, modified Gingival Index, and pocket depth.MethodsThe research focus questions were constructed in accordance with the Participants, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcomes (PICO) criteria, and a PROSPERO protocol was registered. A comprehensive systematic search in MEDLINE via the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection databases was conducted. Two independent reviewers screened the reports based on the PICO criteria—inclusion and exclusion criteria.ResultsIn total, 467 records were identified, and ultimately, 7 papers were included: 3 papers in the qualitative synthesis of microbiological effect and 4 in the meta-analysis synthesis on pocket depth. The data synthesis showed that probiotics had no detectable effect on the implant microflora, and in the following data synthesis, no clinical peri-implantitis variable showed a significantly beneficial effect from probiotics in the test group compared to the control group.ConclusionWithin the limitations of this review, the oral implant microflora is not affected by probiotics nor do probiotics add any effect to the conventional non-surgical treatment of peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis.
Photo-Regulation of Enzyme Activity: The Inactivation of a Carboligase with Genetically Encoded Photosensitizer Fusion Tags
Authors: Gerlach Tim , Schain Jendrik , Söltl Simone , van Schie Morten M. C. H. , Hilgers Fabienne , Bitzenhofer Nora L. , Drepper Thomas , Rother Dörte 
Published: March 2022

Genetically encoded photosensitizers are able to produce reactive oxygen species upon illumination and are exploited in a wide range of applications, especially in the medical field. In this work, we envisioned to further apply these genetically encoded photosensitizers for the light-dependent control of single enzymes in multi-step biocatalysis. One of the challenges in the application of several enzymes in a cascade is the unwanted cross-reactivity of these biocatalysts on reaction intermediates when all enzymes are simultaneously present in the reaction. As one strategy to address this issue, we investigated whether the introduction of genetically encoded photosensitizers as fusion tags would allow the selective inactivation of enzymes after successful transformation by simply turning on light. We tested five different photosensitizers as molecular biological fusion tags to inactivate the pyruvate decarboxylase variant E469G/W543H from Acetobacter pasteurianus. Dimeric photosensitizer tags, like the flavin-binding fluorescent proteins from Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas putida showed the tendency to form insoluble protein aggregates in combination with the tetrameric carboligase. Enzyme activity was, to some extent, retained in these aggregates, but the handling of the insoluble aggregates proved to be unfeasible. Monomeric photosensitizer tags appeared to be much more suitable when fused to the tetrameric enzyme. In the dark, the singlet oxygen photosensitizing protein (SOPP3)-tagged carboligase retained 79% of its activity as compared to the unfused enzyme. Upon blue light exposure, the SOPP3 tag showed the best specific inactivation and enabled complete inactivation of the carboligase within 30 min. SOPP3 is thus seen as a promising photosensitizer tag to be applied in future multi-step enzyme cascades to overcome the challenge of cross-reactivity.
Phenotypic Presentations of Heart Failure Among Patients With Chronic Inflammatory Diseases
Authors: Underberg Daniel L. , Rivera Adovich S. , Sinha Arjun , Feinstein Matthew J. 
Published: March 2022

ObjectiveCharacterize incident heart failure (HF) phenotypes among patients with various chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs).BackgroundSeveral CIDs are associated with increased HF risk, but differences in HF phenotypes across CIDs are incompletely understood. No prior studies to our knowledge have manually adjudicated HF phenotypes across a CID spectrum.MethodsWe screened for patients with—and controls without—CIDs who had possible HF, then hand-adjudicated HF endpoints. Possible HF resulted from a single HF administrative code; HF was deemed definite/probable vs. absent using standardized, validated criteria. We queried adjudicated HF patients' charts to define specific HF phenotypes, then compared clinical, demographic, and HF phenotypic characteristics for HF patients with specific CIDs vs. non-CID controls using Fisher's exact test.ResultsOut of 415 possible HF patients, 192 had definite/probable HF. Significant differences in HF phenotypes existed across CIDs. Isolated right-sided HF was present in 27.8% of patients with SSc and adjudicated HF, which is more than twice as common as it was in any other CID. Left ventricular systolic dysfunction was most common in patients with HIV and lupus (SLE); mean LVEF was 45.0% ± 18.6% for HIV and 41.3% ± 17.1% for SLE, but was 57.7% ± 10.7% for SSc. Those with HIV and multiple CIDs were most likely to have coronary artery disease.ConclusionsDifferent CIDs present with different phenotypes of physician-adjudicated HF, potentially reflecting different underlying inflammatory pathophysiologies. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings, as are mechanistic studies focused on understanding specific immunoregulatory contributors to HF.
Protective Value of Aspirin Loading Dose on Left Ventricular Remodeling After ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Calvieri Camilla , Galea Nicola , Cilia Francesco , Pambianchi Giacomo , Mancuso Giuseppe , Filomena Domenico , Cimino Sara , Carbone Iacopo , Francone Marco , Agati Luciano , Catalano Carlo 
Published: March 2022

AimsLeft ventricular (LV) remodeling after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is a complex process, defined as changes of LV volumes over time. CMR feature tracking analysis (CMR-FT) offers an accurate quantitative assessment of LV wall deformation and myocardial contractile function. This study aimed to evaluate the role of myocardial strain parameters in predicting LV remodeling and to investigate the effect of Aspirin (ASA) dose before primary coronary angioplasty (pPCI) on myocardial injury and early LV remodeling.Methods and ResultsSeventy-eight patients undergoing CMR, within 9 days from symptom onset and after 6 months, were enrolled in this cohort retrospective study. We divided the study population into three groups based on a revised Bullock's classification and we evaluated the role of baseline CMR features in predicting early LV remodeling. Regarding CMR strain analysis, worse global circumferential and longitudinal strain (GCS and GLS) values were associated with adverse LV remodeling. Patients were also divided based on pre-pPCI ASA dosage. Significant differences were detected in patients receiving ASA 500 mg dose before pPCI, which showed lower infarct size extent and better strain values compared to those treated with ASA 250 mg. The stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusted for covariates, indicated that a 500 mg ASA dose remained an inverse independent predictor of early adverse LV remodeling.ConclusionGCS and GLS have high specificity to detect early LV adverse remodeling. We first reported a protective effect of ASA loading dose of 500 mg before pPCI on LV myocardial damage and in reducing early LV adverse remodeling.