bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Experiences of Civic Participation Among Older African American and Latinx Immigrant Adults in the Context of an Ageist and Racist Society
Authors: Reyes Laurent 
Published: April 2022

In the past 20 years, older adults’ civic participation has received considerable attention. Current literature shows that rates of voting and volunteering have been consistently lower among African Americans and Latinx older adults compared to White older adults. However, little research has explored civic participation in the context of historical structures of inequality that influence how Black and Latinx populations participate in civic life. I draw from an intersectional life course perspective and phenomenological methods to examine experiences of civic participation through participants’ lens. Findings draw our attention to how race/racism and age/ageism shape how, where, and with whom participants participate. Findings demonstrate how civic participation is embedded within systems of inequality that inform individual behavior as well as available opportunities for engagement. These findings call attention to the need to re-conceptualize and support civic participation that centers the experiences of historically ethnoracially oppressed populations.
Nature-derived epoxy resins: Synthesis, allergenicity, and thermosetting properties of pinoresinol diglycidyl ether
Authors: O’Boyle Niamh M , Niklasson Ida B , Ponting David J , Ortega Miguel A , Seifert Tina , Natsch Andreas , Luthman Kristina , Karlberg Ann-Therese 
Published: April 2022

We describe a novel nature-derived epoxy resin monomer (ERM) derived from the plant lignan pinoresinol. Epoxy resins are thermosetting materials in global usage owing to their excellent technical properties such as flexibility and durability. However, their adverse health effects are often not considered and affect users of epoxy resins worldwide. Components of epoxy resin systems are strong skin sensitizers and cause allergic contact dermatitis. The reported prevalence attributable to epoxy chemicals is between 11.7 and 12.5% of all cases of occupational allergic contact dermatitis. We are committed to developing epoxy resins with reduced allergenic effect, while maintaining their excellent properties. The novel ERM, pinoresinol diglycidyl ether (PinoDGE), was synthesized in one step from pinoresinol and epichlorohydrin in 88% yield. It was not classified as a skin sensitizer in the in vivo local lymph node assay, at concentrations up to 0.17 m, as it did not cause a stimulation index >3 compared to control. Pinoresinol diglycidyl ether reacted with the model peptide AcPHCKRM in a reactivity assay and was predicted to be a skin sensitizer in the KeratinoSens assay. Preliminary cross-linking studies indicate that it has promising properties compared to commercially used ERMs. Pinoresinol diglycidyl ether could be seen as a lead compound for further development of alternative ERMs with a better safety profile based on natural and renewable sources for construction of epoxy resin polymers.
An alternative reduced dose regimen of ticagrelor for neuroendovascular patients
Authors: Kass-Hout Omar , Stern Joseph , D Tangonan Ruth , Morsi Rami Z , Thind Sonam , Kass-Hout Tareq , Guterman Lee 
Published: April 2022

Objective There is a growing use of ticagrelor in patients undergoing neuroendovascular procedures, especially those who demonstrate clopidogrel resistance. While multiple dosages are studied in the cardiology literature, the optimal dose for patients with neurological pathology has yet to be established. Here, we describe a single center experience involving 39 patients who underwent neuroendovascular procedures that then received an adjusted lower dose of ticagrelor. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed between 2013 and 2017 for patients on dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) for either cervical or intracranial vascular pathologies, as well as stenting of the neurovasculature, including carotid arteries. Patients were placed on ticagrelor if their measured P2Y12 reaction units (PRU) responses to clopidogrel were outside the expected range in our center using the VerifyNow™ P2Y12 test. All patients were maintained on a dose of 45 mg twice daily except for one patient who received 22.5 mg twice daily. Responsiveness to ticagrelor were measured utilizing the VerifyNow™ P2Y12 test. Results The mean number of days for follow-up post treatment initiation was 532 days. A total of 39 patients were included in the analysis. Of these, 8 patients (21%) received implantation of intracranial stents (5 patients received pipeline embolization devices, 1 patient received stent-assisted coiling, and 2 patients received intracranial stents for atherosclerotic disease). Fourteen patients (35%) received carotid angioplasty and stenting. Seventeen patients (44%) did not receive permanent implantation of a stent. All patients on the lower dose ticagrelor of 45 mg twice daily achieved responsiveness (i.e., PRU < 194). Hemorrhagic transformation of ischemic stroke occurred in one patient (2.5%). No other hemorrhagic complications were encountered. No thromboembolic events were recorded aside from one patient (2.5%) with intracranial atherosclerotic disease who had an ischemic event. Conclusions A lower dose of ticagrelor (45 mg twice daily) appears to be safe and effective in this small cohort of patients who are resistant to clopidogrel per P2Y12 testing and who have increased risk of ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes due to neurovascular pathologies and implants. Further randomized studies are required to confirm these findings.
Population Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Dental Caries and Overweight/Obesity in Australian Children
Authors: Ha D.H. , Arora A. , Harford J. , Luzzi L. , Chrisopoulos S. , Do L.G. 
Published: April 2022

This study investigated population impact of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake on overweight and obesity and dental caries in Australian children. The National Child Oral Health Study collected parent-completed data (socioeconomic status, health behaviors, SSB consumption) and dental caries in the primary dentition of children aged 5 to 8 years. The outcomes (prevalence of caries and overweight and obesity) were assessed in multivariable regression models to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) with SSB intake as the main exposure. Population attributable fraction (PAF) was calculated using population distribution of the exposure and adjusted PRs. Among 7,021 children, some 15.2% children consumed 2+ SSBs per day. Prevalence of caries and overweight and obesity was 35.8% and 28.7%, respectively, and strongly associated with SSB consumption. Adjusted PRs for 2+ SSB intake/d for having dental caries and overweight and obesity was 1.45 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.27–1.66) and 1.49 (95% CI, 1.28–1.74), respectively. PAF of SSB consumption was 11% (95% CI, 18–35) for dental caries and 9% (95% CI, 11–34) for overweight and obesity. The reported findings consolidated evidence of detrimental effects of sugars intake on population health. Public health policy and advocacy initiatives such as a sugar tax and banning junk food advertisements should be prioritized to potentially reduce a significant proportion of cases with either condition. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The reported findings greatly consolidated evidence of detrimental effects of sugars intake on child oral health and overweight and obesity, some of the most prevalent chronic conditions in children. Evidence on population impact of sugars intake is directly informative to policy makers and the public about the potential impact of population-based programs targeting sugars intake to prevent dental caries and overweight and obesity.
Inflammation and myeloid malignancy: quenching the flame
Authors: Stubbins Ryan J. , Platzbecker Uwe , Karsan Aly 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Chronic inflammation with aging (“inflammaging”) plays a prominent role in the pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies. Aberrant inflammatory activity affects many different cells in the marrow, including normal blood and stromal marrow elements and leukemic cells, in unique and distinct ways. Inflammation can promote selective clonal expansion through differential immune-mediated suppression of normal hematopoietic cells and malignant clones. We review these complex roles, how they can be understood by separating cell-intrinsic from extrinsic effects, and how this informs future clinical trials.
Bioinspired Functional Surfaces for Medical Devices
Authors: Zhang Liwen , Liu Guang , Guo Yurun , Wang Yan , Zhang Deyuan , Chen Huawei 
Published: April 2022

AbstractMedical devices are a major component of precision medicine and play a key role in medical treatment, particularly with the rapid development of minimally invasive surgery and wearable devices. Their tissue contact properties strongly affect device performance and patient health (e.g., heat coagulation and slipperiness on surgical graspers). However, the design and optimization of these device surfaces are still indistinct and have no supporting principles. Under such conditions, natural surfaces with various unique functions can provide solutions. This review summarizes the current progress in natural functional surfaces for medical devices, including ultra-slipperiness and strong wet attachment. The underlying mechanisms of these surfaces are attributed to their coupling effects and featured micro-nano structures. Depending on various medical requirements, adaptable designs and fabrication methods have been developed. Additionally, various medical device surfaces have been validated to achieve enhanced contact properties. Based on these studies, a more promising future for medical devices can be achieved for enhanced precision medicine and human health.
Delivery of CXCL9/10/11 plasmid DNAs promotes the tumor-infiltration of T cells and synergizes with PD1 antibody for treating lung cancer
Authors: Ma Yuxia , Liu Yi , Zhi Ying , Wang Haibin , Yang Mei , Niu Jieting , Zhao Li , Wang Pengsheng 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB)-based cancer immunotherapy presents promising efficacy in cancer treatment. However, only a small portion of patients show responsiveness to the treatment, which is partially caused by limited tumor infiltration of T cells. Chemokines CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 bind to their receptor CXCR3 to regulate T cell invasion.

Methods
We delivered plasmids encoding CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 to tumor cells and tumor tissues using nanoparticles and investigated their effect on T cell invasion and infiltration. In addition, we applied these nanoparticles together with anti-PD-1 antibody, which is known to activate T cells and restore immune function against tumor cells. The anti-tumor effects were evaluated.

Results
Delivering plasmids encoding CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 by nanoparticles resulted in expression of these chemokines in both LLC cells and tumors. Expressing CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 promoted the infiltration of T cells in vitro and in vivo, as well as decreased the tumor size. Nanoparticles together with anti-PD-1 displayed the best anti-tumor effects.

Conclusions
Delivery of CXCL9/10/11 plasmids by nanoparticles promoted T cell infiltration in tumors and synergizes with the activity of anti-PD1 antibody.
AutoCoV: tracking the early spread of COVID-19 in terms of the spatial and temporal patterns from embedding space by K-mer based deep learning
Authors: Sung Inyoung , Lee Sangseon , Pak Minwoo , Shin Yunyol , Kim Sun 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
The widely spreading coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has three major spreading properties: pathogenic mutations, spatial, and temporal propagation patterns. We know the spread of the virus geographically and temporally in terms of statistics, i.e., the number of patients. However, we are yet to understand the spread at the level of individual patients. As of March 2021, COVID-19 is wide-spread all over the world with new genetic variants. One important question is to track the early spreading patterns of COVID-19 until the virus has got spread all over the world.

Results
In this work, we proposed AutoCoV, a deep learning method with multiple loss object, that can track the early spread of COVID-19 in terms of spatial and temporal patterns until the disease is fully spread over the world in July 2020. Performances in learning spatial or temporal patterns were measured with two clustering measures and one classification measure. For annotated SARS-CoV-2 sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), AutoCoV outperformed seven baseline methods in our experiments for learning either spatial or temporal patterns. For spatial patterns, AutoCoV had at least 1.7-fold higher clustering performances and an F1 score of 88.1%. For temporal patterns, AutoCoV had at least 1.6-fold higher clustering performances and an F1 score of 76.1%. Furthermore, AutoCoV demonstrated the robustness of the embedding space with an independent dataset, Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).

Conclusions
In summary, AutoCoV learns geographic and temporal spreading patterns successfully in experiments on NCBI and GISAID datasets and is the first of its kind that learns virus spreading patterns from the genome sequences, to the best of our knowledge. We expect that this type of embedding method will be helpful in characterizing fast-evolving pandemics.
Bias amplification in the g-computation algorithm for time-varying treatments: a case study of industry payments and prescription of opioid products
Authors: Inoue Kosuke , Goto Atsushi , Kondo Naoki , Shinozaki Tomohiro 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBackgroundIt is often challenging to determine which variables need to be included in the g-computation algorithm under the time-varying setting. Conditioning on instrumental variables (IVs) is known to introduce greater bias when there is unmeasured confounding in the point-treatment settings, and this is also true for near-IVs which are weakly associated with the outcome not through the treatment. However, it is unknown whether adjusting for (near-)IVs amplifies bias in the g-computation algorithm estimators for time-varying treatments compared to the estimators ignoring such variables. We thus aimed to compare the magnitude of bias by adjusting for (near-)IVs across their different relationships with treatments in the time-varying settings.MethodsAfter showing a case study of the association between the receipt of industry payments and physicians’ opioid prescribing rate in the US, we demonstrated Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the extent to which the bias due to unmeasured confounders is amplified by adjusting for (near-)IV across several g-computation algorithms.ResultsIn our simulation study, adjusting for a perfect IV of time-varying treatments in the g-computation algorithm increased bias due to unmeasured confounding, particularly when the IV had a strong relationship with the treatment. We also found the increase in bias even adjusting for near-IV when such variable had a very weak association with unmeasured confounders between the treatment and the outcome compared to its association with the time-varying treatments. Instead, this bias amplifying feature was not observed (i.e., bias due to unmeasured confounders decreased) by adjusting for near-IV when it had a stronger association with the unmeasured confounders (≥0.1 correlation coefficient in our multivariate normal setting).ConclusionIt would be recommended to avoid adjusting for perfect IV in the g-computation algorithm to obtain a less biased estimate of the time-varying treatment effect. On the other hand, it may be recommended to include near-IV in the algorithm unless their association with unmeasured confounders is very weak. These findings would help researchers to consider the magnitude of bias when adjusting for (near-)IVs and select variables in the g-computation algorithm for the time-varying setting when they are aware of the presence of unmeasured confounding.
Pentavalent vaccination in Kenya: coverage and geographical accessibility to health facilities using data from a community demographic and health surveillance system in Kilifi County
Authors: Ogero Morris , Orwa James , Odhiambo Rachael , Agoi Felix , Lusambili Adelaide , Obure Jerim , Temmerman Marleen , Luchters Stanley , Ngugi Anthony 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
There is substantial evidence that immunization is one of the most significant and cost-effective pillars of preventive and promotive health interventions. Effective childhood immunization coverage is thus essential in stemming persistent childhood illnesses. The third dose of pentavalent vaccine for children is an important indicator for assessing performance of the immunisation programme because it mirrors the completeness of a child’s immunisation schedule. Spatial access to an immunizing health facility, especially in sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries, is a significant determinant of Pentavalent 3 vaccination coverage, as the vaccine is mainly administered during routine immunisation schedules at health facilities. Rural areas and densely populated informal settlements are most affected by poor access to healthcare services. We therefore sought to determine vaccination coverage of Pentavalent 3, estimate the travel time to health facilities offering immunisation services, and explore its effect on immunisation coverage in one of the predominantly rural counties on the coast of Kenya.

Methods
We used longitudinal survey data from the health demographic surveillance system implemented in Kaloleni and Rabai Sub-counties in Kenya. To compute the geographical accessibility, we used coordinates of health facilities offering immunisation services, information on land cover, digital elevation models, and road networks of the study area. We then fitted a hierarchical Bayesian multivariable model to explore the effect of travel time on pentavalent vaccine coverage adjusting for confounding factors identified a priori.

Results
Overall coverage of pentavalent vaccine was at 77.3%. The median travel time to a health facility was 41 min (IQR = 18–65) and a total of 1266 (28.5%) children lived more than one-hour of travel-time to a health facility. Geographical access to health facilities significantly affected pentavalent vaccination coverage, with travel times of more than one hour being significantly associated with reduced odds of vaccination (AOR = 0.84 (95% CI 0.74 – 0.94).

Conclusion
Increased travel time significantly affects immunization in this rural community. Improving road networks, establishing new health centres and/or stepping up health outreach activities that include vaccinations in hard-to-reach areas within the county could improve immunisation coverage. These data may be useful in guiding the local department of health on appropriate location of planned immunization centres.
Do motorcycle helmets reduce road traffic injuries, hospitalizations and mortalities in low and lower-middle income countries in Africa? A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Abdi Nadifa , Robertson Tara , Petrucka Pammla , Crizzle Alexander M. 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
Studies in Africa have examined the association between helmet use and injury prevention, however, there has been no systematic review to synthesize the literature within an African context nor has there been any meta-analysis examining the effect of helmet use on injury prevention.

Methods
The review was performed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute for Systematic Reviews. Articles were searched using several databases (e.g. CINAHL, OVID Medline) and select gray literature (e.g. TRID) sources. Articles were included if they were quantitative studies published in English between 2000 and 2019 and examined the association between motorcycle helmet use with head injuries, hospitalizations, and deaths in low- and lower-middle income countries in Africa with comprehensive motorcycle helmet laws. A meta-analysis was performed using pooled effect sizes assessing the impact of helmet use on reducing head injuries.

Results
After screening 491 articles, eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Helmet use ranged from 0 to 43%. The mean age of being involved in a crash was 30 years with males being two times more likely to be involved in motorcycle crashes than females. Drivers (riders) were more likely to be involved in a crash, followed by passengers and then pedestrians. Helmet use reduced injury severity and provided an 88% reduction in serious head injuries (OR 0.118, 95% CI: 0.014–0.968, p = 0.049).

Conclusions
In our study, helmet usage significantly reduced the likelihood of fatal head injuries. African countries with no helmet laws should consider adopting helmet use policies to reduce severe head related injuries from motorcycle crashes.
Health risk associated with residential relocation among people who inject drugs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA: a cross sectional study
Authors: Chiang Joey C. , Bluthenthal Ricky N. , Wenger Lynn D. , Auerswald Colette L. , Henwood Benjamin F. , Kral Alex H. 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Background
Given the housing instability and frequent residential relocation (both volitional and hegemonic) of people who inject drugs, we sought to determine whether residential relocation (defined as sleeping in a different place in the past 30 days) is associated with health outcomes in a sample of people who inject drugs (PWID).

Methods
We recruited 601 PWID using targeted sampling and interviewed them between 2016 and 2018 in San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA about housing, drug use practices, and service utilization. We then developed multivariable regression models to investigate how residential relocation is associated with violence, health outcomes, and social service access. We analyzed our data between June 2018 and October 2019.

Results
Participants who relocated in the past 30 days had lower odds of being in substance use treatment (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 0.62, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 0.42, 0.89) and higher odds of nonfatal overdose (AOR = 2.50, CI = 1.28, 4.90), receptive syringe sharing (AOR = 2.26, CI = 1.18, 4.32), severe food insecurity (AOR = 1.69, CI = 1.14, 2.50), having belongings stolen (AOR = 2.14, CI = 1.42, 3.21), experiencing physical assault (AOR = 1.58, CI = 1.03, 2.43), arrest (AOR = 1.64, CI = 1.02, 2.65), and jail (AOR = 1.90, CI = 1.16, 3.13) in the past 6 months when compared to those who did not relocate.

Conclusions
PWID who have relocated in the past 30 days have higher odds of experiencing violence and life- threatening adverse outcomes, and policies that disrupt living circumstances of PWID should be ended in favor of those that support housing stability.