bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Blockchain-based application at a governmental level: disruption or illusion? The case of Estonia
Authors: Semenzin Silvia , Rozas David , Hassan Samer 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Blockchain technology enables new kinds of decentralized systems. Thus, it has often been advocated as a “disruptive” technology that could have the potentiality of reshaping political, economic, and social relations, “solving” problems like corruption, power centralization, and distrust toward political institutions. Blockchain has been gradually gaining attention beyond finance and is thus applied by a range of different actors. This includes local, regional, and national governments interested in the potentiality of experimenting with blockchain-supported governance. This article contributes to identifying blockchain as a contested socio-political object prone to contradictory political imaginaries regarding its potentialities, particularly when applied to policy. The article explores some of the most praised of blockchain’s affordances (e.g., decentralization and transparency) in the context of Estonia, one of the most cited examples of blockchain governmental applications. Estonia has received international attention as the alleged first national infrastructure integrating blockchain. However, so far, few have asked: what kind of blockchain-based tools have been built by the Estonian government in practice and why? And to what extent do blockchain-based governmental applications reflect the original promises of disruption of the crypto-community? This article draws on a qualitative approach to explore several blockchain-based socio-technical objects to identify the narratives that have emerged in Estonia. The research shows clear contrasting views between stakeholders and technical experts from inside and outside the institutional sphere. The conflict revolves around two different social imaginaries associated with permissioned vs. public blockchains. The paper concludes with an analysis of the profound political implications of each vision.
The Effect of Surgeon Experience on Short- to Medium-Term Complication Rate Following Operative Fixation of Acetabular Fractures
Authors: Butler Bennet A. , Hannan Zachary D. , Ghulam Qasim M. , DeLeon Genaro A. , O'Hara Nathan , Nascone Jason W. , Sciadini Marcus F. , O'Toole Robert V. 
Published: April 2022

Objectives:
Operative management of acetabular fractures is technically challenging, but there is little data regarding how surgeon experience affects outcomes. Previous efforts have focused only on reduction quality in a single surgeon series. We hypothesized that increasing surgeon experience would be associated with improved acetabular surgical outcomes in general.

Design:
Retrospective cohort study.

Setting:
Urban academic level-I trauma center.

Patients/Participants:
Seven hundred ninety-five patients who underwent an open reduction internal fixation for an acetabular fracture.

Results:
There was a significant association between surgeon experience and certain outcomes, specifically reoperation rate (16.9% overall), readmission rate (13.9% overall), and reduction quality. Deep infection rate (9.7% overall) and secondary displacement rate (3.7% overall) were not found to have a significant association with surgeon experience. For reoperation rate, the time until 50% peak performance was 2.4 years in practice.

Conclusion:
Surgeon experience had a significant association with reoperation rate, quality of reduction, and readmission rate after open reduction internal fixation of acetabular fractures. Other patient outcomes were not found to be associated with surgeon experience.

Level of Evidence:
Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Effects of an Inpatient Physical Rehabilitation Program Designed for Persons with Amputations of Traumatic or Vascular Etiologies
Authors: Utiyama Daniela Mitiyo Odagiri , Alfieri Fábio Marcon , dos Santos Artur César Aquino , Ribeiro Carla Paschoal Corsi , Sales Viviane Caroline , Battistella Linamara Rizzo 
Published: April 2022

ABSTRACT

Introduction
Rehabilitation after amputation is essential, and descriptions of inpatient rehabilitation programs for individuals with amputation are scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe the effects of an inpatient physical rehabilitation program on mobility, balance, function, and gait of individuals with unilateral lower-limb amputations.

Materials and Methods
This was a retrospective before-after study. Data were extracted from medical records of individuals with lower-limb amputation admitted for inpatient intensive rehabilitation programs. Data on etiology, functional mobility (by timed up and go [TUG]), balance and functionality (amputee mobility predictor [AMP]), and gait (2-minute walk test [2MWT]) were collected before and after prosthetic fitting phase of an inpatient rehabilitation program. Patient information was stratified as traumatic and vascular etiologies, and after descriptive analysis, general outcomes and intragroup results were compared with t-test and followed by linear regressions analysis for a better understanding of the demographic and clinical roles on treatment evolution.

Results
Group comparison evidenced differences of age between traumatic and vascular groups, as traumatic amputations had greater incidence among younger individuals, regardless of the prosthesis phase. Before the prosthesis fitting and regardless of the groups, there were significant improvements on AMP, 2MWT, and TUG, and the differences between both groups were influenced by their baseline conditions. After prosthesis fitting, significant improvements were identified, regardless of the etiology.

Conclusions
This study provides evidence that individuals with amputation who are admitted to an intensive hospitalized physical rehabilitation program experience benefits in mobility, balance, functionality, and gait capacity irrespective of causality or if the prosthesis was provided. Gains evidenced in the preprosthetic phase were continued in the postprosthetic phase.

Clinical Relevance
Inpatient rehabilitation programs for individuals with amputation are beneficial for improving the functionality of these individuals. This type of multidisciplinary rehabilitation provides functional improvements to the patient from the preprosthetic to the prosthetic phases, favoring global rehabilitation in a short period, which can reduce treatment time and provide better living conditions for the patient.
Patient-reported continuous clinical response to golimumab in adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis: results from GO OBSERVE, a real-world European observational study
Authors: Ferrante Marc , Schirbel Anja , Pierik Marieke J. , Haas Thomas , Flamant Mathurin , Khalifa Ahmed , Philip George , Cornillie Freddy , Meehan Alan G. , Govoni Marinella 
Published: April 2022

Background
In PURSUIT, golimumab (GLM) was efficacious in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC). We assessed whether remote monitoring of combined patient-reported Mayo stool frequency and rectal bleeding scores is an effective real-world outcome measure for assessing maintenance of GLM-induced clinical response.

Methods
This was a 54-week prospective, observational cohort study conducted at 43 European outpatient clinics in adults with moderate-to-severe UC who were biologic naïve or had received a maximum of one other biological therapy. Patients were treated according to European GLM UC label/local practice. Clinical response (based on partial or full Mayo score) was assessed at week 6, 10, or 14 of induction, depending on local practice. Investigators remotely monitored scores every 4 weeks. The primary endpoint was the proportion of induction responders in patient-reported continuous clinical response (pCCR) at week 54, defined as absence of UC flare based on combined patient-reported Mayo stool frequency and rectal bleeding scores every 4 weeks and full or partial Mayo score. A key secondary endpoint was the proportion of induction responders in clinical remission at week 54.

Results
Among 109 patients, 37 (34.0%) received at least two GLM induction doses and completed induction in clinical response (induction responders). At week 54, 15/37 (40.5%) induction responders were in pCCR, and 21/37 (56.8%) were in clinical remission.

Conclusion
In daily clinical practice, regular remote monitoring of combined patient-reported Mayo stool frequency and rectal bleeding scores appears to be a meaningful real-world outcome measure for monitoring maintenance of GLM-induced clinical response in UC.
Morphologic Differences in Sagittal Synostosis with Age before Surgery
Authors: Massenburg Benjamin B. , Shepard Elizabeth , Mercan Ezgi , Nassar Amer , Birgfeld Craig B. , Lee Amy , Ellenbogen Richard G. , Hopper Richard A. 
Published: April 2022

Background:
It is important to determine whether sagittal synostosis–associated scaphocephaly is static in the presurgical period, or whether there are morphologic differences with time to include in surgical decision-making. The authors’ purpose was to perform cross-sectional analysis of cranial morphology before any surgical intervention in children with sagittal synostosis younger than 9 months compared to matched controls.

Methods:
The authors performed morphometric analysis on computed tomographic scans from 111 untreated isolated sagittal synostosis patients younger than 9 months and 37 age-matched normal controls. The authors divided the patients into three age groups and performed statistical comparison between sagittal synostosis and controls for each group.

Results:
Sagittal synostosis cephalic indices were stable and lower in patients than in controls across groups. Total cranial volume was equivalent, but sagittal synostosis patients had a greater posterior volume than controls at all ages and a smaller middle fossa volume at older ages. Pterional width was greater in sagittal synostosis patients than in controls for each age group. Frontal bossing vectors were most severe in the youngest age groups and least in the older group. Occipital protuberance was consistent across the age groups.

Conclusions:
Upper parietal narrowing and occipital protuberance were the consistent deformities across age groups, with the most parietal constriction seen in older patients. Frontal bossing was not consistent and was more severe in the younger patients. The authors did not detect significant pterional constriction, and the appearance of constriction is relative to adjacent morphology and not absolute.

CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:
Risk, II.
A Neurodynamic Model of Inter-Brain Coupling in the Gamma Band
Authors: Quentin Moreau , Lena Adel , Caitriona Douglas , Ghazaleh Ranjbaran , Guillaume Dumas 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe use of EEG to simultaneously record multiple brains (i.e., hyperscanning) during social interactions has led to the discovery of inter-brain coupling (IBC). IBC is defined as the neural synchronization between people and is considered to be a marker of social interaction. IBC has previously been observed across different frequency bands, including Theta [4-7 Hz]. Given the proximity of this frequency range with behavioral rhythms, models have been able to combine IBC in Theta with sensorimotor coordination patterns. Interestingly, empirical EEG-hyperscanning results also report the emergence of IBC in the Gamma range [>30 Hz]. Gamma oscillations’ fast and transient nature makes a direct link between Gamma-IBC and other (much slower) interpersonal dynamics difficult, leaving Gamma-IBC without a plausible model. However, at the intra-brain level, Gamma activity is coupled with the dynamics of lower frequencies through cross-frequency coupling (CFC). This paper provides a biophysical explanation for the emergence of Gamma inter-brain coupling using a Kuramoto model of four oscillators divided into two separate (brain) units. By modulating both the degree of inter-brain coupling in the Theta band (i.e., between-units coupling) and CFC (i.e., intra-unit Theta-Gamma coupling), we provide a theoretical explanation of the observed Gamma-IBC phenomenon in the EEG-hyperscanning literature.
Privacy-Preserving Statistical Analysis of Genomic Data using Compressive Mechanism with Haar Wavelet Transform*
Authors: Yamamoto Akito , Shibuya Tetsuo 
Published: April 2022

AbstractTo promote the use of personal genome information in medicine, it is important to analyze the relationship between diseases and the human genomes. Therefore, statistical analysis using genomic data is often conducted, but there is a privacy concern with respect to releasing the statistics as they are. Existing methods to address this problem using the concept of differential privacy cannot provide accurate outputs under strong privacy guarantees, making them less practical. In this study, for the first time we investigate the application of a compressive mechanism to genomic statistical data and propose two approaches. The first is to apply the normal compressive mechanism to the statistics vector along with an algorithm to determine the number of nonzero entries in a sparse representation. The second is to alter the mechanism based on the data, aiming to release significant SNPs with a high probability. In this algorithm, we apply the compressive mechanism with the input as a sparse vector for significant data and the Laplace mechanism for non-significant data. Using the Haar transform for the wavelet matrix in the compressive mechanism is advantageous to determine the number of nonzero elements and the amount of noise. In addition, we theoretically prove that our proposed method achieves ϵ-differential privacy. We evaluated our methods in terms of accuracy, rank error, and run time compared to the Laplace and exponential mechanisms. The results show that our second method in particular can guarantee both high privacy assurance as well as utility. The Python implementation of our experiments is available at https://github.com/ay0408/CompLaplace.
Hypervoxels: a multidimensional framework for the representation and analysis of neuroimaging data
Authors: Luque Laguna Pedro A. , Beyh Ahmad , de S. Requejo Francisco , Stones Richard , Jones Derek K. , Goldstein Laura. H. , Catani Marco , Williams Steve C.R. , Dell’Acqua Flavio 
Published: April 2022

AbstractMost neuroimaging modalities use regular grids of voxels to represent the three-dimensional space occupied by the brain. However, a regular 3D voxel grid does not reflect the anatomical and topological complexity represented by the brain’s white matter connections. In contrast, tractography reconstructions based on diffusion MRI provide a closer characterisation of the white matter pathways followed by the neuronal fibres interconnecting different brain regions. In this work, we introduce hypervoxels as a new methodological framework that combines the spatial encoding capabilities of multidimensional voxels with the anatomical and topological information found in tractography data. We provide a detailed description of the framework and evaluate the benefits of using hypervoxels by carrying out comparative voxel and hypervoxel cluster inference analyses on diffusion MRI data from a neuroimaging study on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Compared to the voxel analyses, the use of hypervoxels improved the detection of effects of interest in the data in terms of statistical significance levels and spatial distribution across white matter regions known to be affected in ALS. In these regions, the hypervoxel results also identified specific white matter pathways that resolve the anatomical ambiguity otherwise observed in the results from the voxel analyses. The observed increase in sensitivity and specificity can be explained by the superior ability of hypervoxel-based methods to represent and disentangle the anatomical overlap of white matter connections. Based on this premise, we expect that the use of hypervoxels should improve the analysis of neuroimaging data when the effects of interest under investigation are expected to be aligned along distinct but potentially overlapping white matter pathways.
Core and accessory effectors of type VI secretion systems contribute differently to the intraspecific diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Authors: Habich Antonia , Galeev Alibek , Vargas Verónica Chaves , Vogler Olga , Ghoul Melanie , Andersen Sandra B. , Johansen Helle Krogh , Molin Søren , Griffin Ashleigh S. , Unterweger Daniel 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBacteria use type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) to deliver effector proteins into other cells or the extracellular space. Those effectors kill microbes1, manipulate eukaryotic cells2, and sequester nutrients3. Which T6SS-mediated functions are generalisable across bacteria of a species or are specific to particular strains is little known. Here, we use genomics to test for the intraspecific diversity of T6SS effectors in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We found effectors that are omnipresent and conserved across strains acting as ‘core effectors’, while additional ‘accessory effectors’ vary. In vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate different roles of the two types of effectors in bacterial killing and virulence. Further, effectors compose various effector combinations. Within one local population of clinical isolates, we observed 36 combinations among 52 bacterial lineages. These findings show the distinct contribution of T6SS effectors to strain-level variation of a bacterial pathogen and might reveal conserved targets for novel antibiotics.
Expansion of Ventral Foregut Primes the Enhancer Landscape for Organ Specific Differentiation
Authors: Wong Yan Fung , Kumar Yatendra , Proks Martin , Herrera Jose Alejandro Romero , Rothová Michaela Mrugala , Monteiro Rita S. , Pozzi Sara , Jennings Rachel E. , Hanley Neil A. , Bickmore Wendy A. , Brickman Joshua M. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractCell proliferation is fundamental for almost all stages of development and differentiation that require an increase cell number. Although cell cycle phase has been associated with differentiation, the actual process of proliferation is not seen as having a specific role. Here we exploit human embryonic stem cell derived endodermal progenitors that we find are an in vitro model for the ventral foregut. These cells exhibit expansion dependent increases in differentiation efficiency to pancreatic progenitors that are linked to organ-specific enhancer priming at the level of chromatin accessibility and the decommissioning of lineage inappropriate enhancers. Our findings suggest that cell proliferation in embryonic development is about more than tissue expansion, it is required to ensure equilibration of gene regulatory networks allowing cells to become primed for future differentiation. The use of expansion of lineage specific intermediates may therefore be an important step in high fidelity in vitro differentiation.
Exploring the mobilome and resistome of Enterococcus faecium in a One Health context across two continents
Authors: Sanderson Haley , Gray Kristen L. , Manuele Alexander , Maguire Finlay , Khan Amjad , Liu Chaoyue , Rudrappa Chandana N. , Nash John H. E. , Robertson James , Bessonov Kyrylo , Oloni Martins , Alcock Brian P. , Raphenya Amogelang R. , McAllister Tim A. , Peacock Sharon J. , Raven Kathy E. , Gouliouris Theodore , McArthur Andrew G. , Brinkman Fiona S. L. , Fink Ryan C. , Zaheer Rahat , Beiko Robert G. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractEnterococcus faecium is a ubiquitous opportunistic pathogen that is exhibiting increasing levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Many of the genes that confer resistance and pathogenic functions are localized on mobile genetic elements (MGEs), which facilitate their transfer between lineages. Here, features including resistance determinants, virulence factors, and MGEs were profiled in a set of 1273 E. faecium genomes from two disparate geographic locations (in the UK and Canada) from a range of agricultural, clinical, and associated habitats. Neither lineages of E. faecium nor MGEs are constrained by geographic proximity, but our results show evidence of a strong association of many profiled genes and MGEs with habitat. Many features were associated with a group of clinical and municipal wastewater genomes that are likely forming a new human-associated ecotype. The evolutionary dynamics of E. faecium make it a highly versatile emerging pathogen, and its ability to acquire, transmit, and lose features presents a high risk for the emergence of new pathogenic variants and novel resistance combinations. This study provides a workflow for MGE-centric surveillance of AMR in Enterococcus that can be adapted to other pathogens.
Positive fitness effects help explain the broad range ofWolbachiaprevalences in natural populations
Authors: Karisto Petteri , Duplouy Anne , de Vries Charlotte , Kokko Hanna 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe bacterial endosymbiontWolbachiais best known for its ability to modify its host’s reproduction by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) to facilitate its own spread. Classical models predict either near-fixation of costlyWolbachiaonce the symbiont has overcome a threshold frequency (invasion barrier), orWolbachiaextinction if the barrier is not overcome. However, natural populations do not all follow this pattern:Wolbachiacan also be found at low frequencies (below one half) that appear stable over time.Wolbachiais known to have pleiotropic fitness effects (beyond CI) on its hosts. Existing models typically focus on the possibility that these are negative. Here we consider the possibility that the symbiont provides direct benefits to infected females (e.g. resistance to pathogens) in addition to CI. We discuss an underappreciated feature ofWolbachiadynamics: that CI with additional fitness benefits can produce low-frequency (<1/2) stable equilibria. Additionally, without a direct positive fitness effect, any stable equilibrium close to one half will be sensitive to perturbations, which make such equilibria unlikely to sustain in nature. The results hold for both diplodiploid and different haplodiploid versions of CI. We suggest that insect populations showing low-frequencyWolbachiainfection might host CI-inducing symbiotic strains providing additional (hidden or known) benefits to their hosts, especially when classical explanations (ongoing invasion, source-sink dynamics) have been ruled out.