bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A SUMO4 initiator codon variant in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis reduces SUMO4 expression and alters stress granule dynamics
Authors: Osmanovic Alma , Förster Alisa , Widjaja Maylin , Auber Bernd , Das Anibh M. , Christians Anne , Brand Frank , Petri Susanne , Weber Ruthild G. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Background
Recent evidence points toward a role of the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) system, including SUMO4, in protecting from stress insults and neurodegeneration, such as the progressive motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), e.g., by regulating stress granule (SG) dynamics. Here, we investigated whether SUMO4 variants play a role in ALS pathogenesis.

Methods
Whole-exome or targeted SUMO4 sequencing was done in 222 unrelated European ALS patients. The consequences of the identified initiator codon variant were analyzed at the mRNA, protein and cellular level. SUMO4 expression was quantified in human tissues. All patients were subjected to clinical, electrophysiological, and neuroradiological characterization.

Results
A rare heterozygous SUMO4 variant, i.e., SUMO4:c.2T>C p.Met1?, was detected in four of 222 (1.8%) ALS patients, significantly more frequently than in two control cohorts (0.3% each). SUMO4 mRNA and protein expression was diminished in whole blood or fibroblasts of a SUMO4 variant carrier versus controls. Pertinent stress factors, i.e., head trauma or cancer (treated by radiochemotherapy), were significantly more frequent in SUMO4 variant carrier versus non-carrier ALS patients. The mean number of SGs per cell was significantly higher in fibroblasts of a SUMO4 variant carrier compared to controls at baseline, upon oxidative stress, and after recovery, and SUMOylation of ALS-associated valosin-containing protein by SUMO4 was decreased. SUMO4 mRNA expression was highest in brain of all human tissues analyzed.

Conclusions
Our results are consistent with SUMO4 haploinsufficiency as a contributor to ALS pathogenesis impacting SG dynamics and possibly acting in conjunction with environmental oxidative stress-related factors.
Vaccines and myasthenia gravis: a comprehensive review and retrospective study of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a large cohort of myasthenic patients
Authors: Sansone Giulio , Bonifati Domenico Marco 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Introduction
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease, for which the risk of exacerbation after vaccines is debated. The aim of this study is to review the available literature concerning safety and efficacy of vaccines in MG. In addition, we also conducted a retrospective research of MG exacerbations and new onset MG after anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a large cohort of patients.

Methods
A study of the available literature regarding vaccines and MG was carried out through research in the online database “Pubmed”. We also retrospectively collected data from 80 MG patients, who were followed at the Treviso Hospital and completed an anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination cycle. For each patient, we recorded MG exacerbations between first and second doses and within a window period of 1 day – 6 weeks after the second dose.

Results
We found 26 relevant articles about influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and other vaccines. No clear associations between most vaccines and MG exacerbations were found. Moreover, cases of new onset post-vaccine MG are mostly anecdotal, except for Japanese encephalitis virus vaccine. Concerning our cohort, 4/80 (5%) MG patients experienced an exacerbation within the post-vaccine window period. In addition, we report a case of new onset post-vaccine MG.

Discussion
Inactivated and subunit vaccines are safe and effective in MG. Although some of them, such as anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, might uncommonly cause MG exacerbations, data from our review suggest that benefits still outweigh by far the potential risks, thus they should be recommended to these patients. Nevertheless, large prospective studies are needed for further investigations.
Anatomy of the neural fibers at the superior mesenteric artery—a cadaver study
Authors: Reinehr Michael D. , Vuille-dit-Bille Raphael N. , Soll Christopher , Mittal Anubhav , Samra Jaswinder S. , Staerkle Ralph F. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPurposeMost surgeons perform right-sided semicircular clearance of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) nerve plexus for pancreatic head carcinoma, presuming a linear course of the SMA nerve fibers. The hypothesis was that the SMA nerve plexus fibers follow a non-linear course, and the goal of the present study was to assess the neural fibers distribution along the SMA.MethodsThe course of neural fibers along the retropancreatic and suprapancreatic SMA was assessed in 7 cadavers.ResultsIn the retropancreatic course of the vessel, the main nerve cords branch and form a large number of finer nerve branches performing an anti-clockwise rotation of slightly less than 90° around the SMA. Finer nerve branches are located rather close to the vessel, while the main nerve cords are localized in the loose connective tissue of the peripheral parts of the vascular sheath. Nerve fibers around the suprapancreatic SMA run as two main nerve cords framing the artery on the right lateral-ventral and the left lateral to lateral-dorsal side.ConclusionThe rotation of the nerve fiber around the SMA indicates that a more radical resection of at least 180° of neural tissue around the SMA might be required to achieve tumor clearance in pancreatic cancer with perineural invasion at the uncinate margin.
Assessment of structural disconnections in gliomas: comparison of indirect and direct approaches
Authors: Silvestri Erica , Villani Umberto , Moretto Manuela , Colpo Maria , Salvalaggio Alessandro , Anglani Mariagiulia , Castellaro Marco , Facchini Silvia , Monai Elena , D’Avella Domenico , Della Puppa Alessandro , Cecchin Diego , Corbetta Maurizio , Bertoldo Alessandra 
Published: May 2022

AbstractGliomas are amongst the most common primary brain tumours in adults and are often associated with poor prognosis. Understanding the extent of white matter (WM) which is affected outside the tumoral lesion may be of paramount importance to explain cognitive deficits and the clinical progression of the disease. To this end, we explored both direct (i.e., tractography based) and indirect (i.e., atlas-based) approaches to quantifying WM structural disconnections in a cohort of 44 high- and low-grade glioma patients. While these methodologies have recently gained popularity in the context of stroke and other pathologies, to our knowledge, this is the first time they are applied in patients with brain tumours. More specifically, in this work, we present a quantitative comparison of the disconnection maps provided by the two methodologies by applying well-known metrics of spatial similarity, extension, and correlation. Given the important role the oedematous tissue plays in the physiopathology of tumours, we performed these analyses both by including and excluding it in the definition of the tumoral lesion. This was done to investigate possible differences determined by this choice. We found that direct and indirect approaches offer two distinct pictures of structural disconnections in patients affected by brain gliomas, presenting key differences in several regions of the brain. Following the outcomes of our analysis, we eventually discuss the strengths and pitfalls of these two approaches when applied in this critical field.
Priority effects and density promote coexistence between the facultative predator Chrysomya rufifacies and its competitor Calliphora stygia
Authors: Dawson Blake M. , Wallman James F. , Evans Maldwyn J. , Butterworth Nathan J. , Barton Philip S. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractHighly competitive ephemeral resources like carrion tend to support much greater diversity relative to longer-lived resources. The coexistence of diverse communities on short-lived carrion is a delicate balance, maintained by several processes including competition. Despite this balance, few studies have investigated the effect of competition on carrion, limiting our understanding of how competition drives coexistence. We investigated how priority effects and larval density influence coexistence between two blowfly species, the facultative predator Chrysomya rufifacies and its competitor Calliphora stygia, which occupy broadly similar niches but differ in their ecological strategies for exploiting carrion. We examined how adult oviposition, larval survival, developmental duration, and adult fitness were affected by the presence of differently aged heterospecific larval masses, and how these measures varied under three larval densities. We found C. rufifacies larval survival was lowest in conspecific masses with low larval densities. In heterospecific masses, survival increased, particularly at high larval density, with priority effects having minimal effect, suggesting a dependency on collective exodigestion. For C. stygia, we found survival to be constant across larval densities in a conspecific mass. In heterospecific masses, survival decreased drastically when C. rufifacies arrived first, regardless of larval density, suggesting C. stygia is temporally constrained to avoid competition with C. rufifacies. Neither species appeared to completely outcompete the other, as they were either constrained by density requirements (C. rufifacies) or priority effects (C. stygia). Our results provide new mechanistic insights into the ecological processes allowing for coexistence on a competitively intense, ephemeral resource such as carrion.
Recommendation platform in Internet of Things leveraging on a self-organizing multiagent approach
Authors: Forestiero Agostino , Papuzzo Giuseppe 
Published: May 2022

AbstractIdentifying user requirements and preferences on the basis of the current context, is one of main challenges of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Users, services and applications interact maintaining, often unreliable, relations which need of smart management systems to satisfy their demands. Traditional information handling approaches in distributed systems are most often unsuitable for modern Smart Environments due to the huge amount and the extreme dynamism of the entities involved. This paper proposes NARIoT platform that allows building recommendation systems in IoT environment. The approach relies on vector representations of IoT resources obtained by using of a word embedding tool, the Doc2Vec neural model, which, starting from text documents describing the resources, provides real-valued vectors mapping them. The vectors are handled through intelligent agents, which self-organize themselves creating an ordered virtual structure, so enabling informed mechanisms of information filtering. In particular, an ordered overlay network emerges from the autonomous, parallel and decentralized work of intelligent agents, thus enabling efficient recommendation operations. The experimental validation confirms the effectiveness of the approach and provides very encouraging results.
External validation of prognostic models predicting outcome after chronic subdural hematoma
Authors: Holl Dana C. , Mikolic Ana , Blaauw Jurre , Lodewijkx Roger , Foppen Merijn , Jellema Korné , van der Gaag Niels A. , den Hertog Heleen M. , Jacobs Bram , van der Naalt Joukje , Verbaan Dagmar , Kho K. H. , Dirven C. M. F. , Dammers Ruben , Lingsma Hester F. , van Klaveren David 
Published: May 2022

AbstractBackgroundSeveral prognostic models for outcomes after chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) treatment have been published in recent years. However, these models are not sufficiently validated for use in daily clinical practice. We aimed to assess the performance of existing prediction models for outcomes in patients diagnosed with CSDH.MethodsWe systematically searched relevant literature databases up to February 2021 to identify prognostic models for outcome prediction in patients diagnosed with CSDH. For the external validation of prognostic models, we used a retrospective database, containing data of 2384 patients from three Dutch regions. Prognostic models were included if they predicted either mortality, hematoma recurrence, functional outcome, or quality of life. Models were excluded when predictors were absent in our database or available for < 150 patients in our database. We assessed calibration, and discrimination (quantified by the concordance index C) of the included prognostic models in our retrospective database.ResultsWe identified 1680 original publications of which 1656 were excluded based on title or abstract, mostly because they did not concern CSDH or did not define a prognostic model. Out of 18 identified models, three could be externally validated in our retrospective database: a model for 30-day mortality in 1656 patients, a model for 2 months, and another for 3-month hematoma recurrence both in 1733 patients. The models overestimated the proportion of patients with these outcomes by 11% (15% predicted vs. 4% observed), 1% (10% vs. 9%), and 2% (11% vs. 9%), respectively. Their discriminative ability was poor to modest (C of 0.70 [0.63–0.77]; 0.46 [0.35–0.56]; 0.59 [0.51–0.66], respectively).ConclusionsNone of the examined models showed good predictive performance for outcomes after CSDH treatment in our dataset. This study confirms the difficulty in predicting outcomes after CSDH and emphasizes the heterogeneity of CSDH patients. The importance of developing high-quality models by using unified predictors and relevant outcome measures and appropriate modeling strategies is warranted.
Tolerability of overnight rotigotine transdermal patch combined with intrajejunal levodopa infusion at 1 year: a 24-h treatment option in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Lau Yue Hui , Leta Valentina , Rukavina Katarina , Parry Miriam , Ann Natividad Jenny , Metta Vinod , Chung-Faye Guy , Chaudhuri K. Ray 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Background
Twenty-four-hour treatment options could provide a continuous drug delivery strategy in advanced Parkinson’s disease and can ameliorate motor and non-motor complications. Use of levodopa infusion is often limited to 12–16 h/day due to its cost. Adjunctive overnight rotigotine transdermal patch is a continuous drug delivery option successfully used in clinical practice coupled with apomorphine infusion. However, real-life data addressing the tolerability of transdermal dopamine agonist therapy with concomitant use of intrajejunal levodopa infusion in advanced Parkinson’s disease are not available.

Objective
To evaluate the tolerability and beneficial effects of combined therapy with overnight rotigotine transdermal patch and intrajejunal levodopa infusion over a follow-up period of 12 months in advanced Parkinson’s disease.

Method
In this retrospective data analysis, data before and after the initiation of the continuous drug delivery combined therapy using overnight rotigotine transdermal patch and intrajejunal levodopa infusion were collected from the ongoing non-motor-international-longitudinal study (NILS) and local clinical practice at King’s College Hospital (London, United Kingdom). 12 advanced Parkinson’s disease patients on intrajejunal levodopa therapy who were additionally treated with overnight rotigotine transdermal patch (mean dose 5.67 ± 4.19 mg) are included. Tolerability over a 12-month period was assessed. In addition, changes in motor symptoms (SCales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease, SCOPA-Motor), non-motor symptoms (Non-Motor Symptoms Scale, NMSS) and quality of life (Parkinson's disease Questionnaire-8, PDQ-8) before and 12-month after continuous drug delivery combined therapy initiation are evaluated.

Results
Tolerability was 100% irrespective of age, disease duration, stages of disease. (Treatment with overnight rotigotine transdermal patch that was maintained for a minimum of 6 months was considered “tolerated”, primary tolerability). In addition, we noted a significant reduction of the NMSS total score (p = 0.009) and the NMSS domain 3 score (mood and apathy domain) (p = 0.028), although the latter did not remain statistically significant after correction for multiple testing (p2 = 0.252) at 12 months.

Conclusion
Combination of intrajejunal levodopa infusion with overnight rotigotine transdermal patch is well tolerated and extend the beneficial effects of infusion with excellent tolerability; and also improved aspects of mood and apathy sustained at 12 months in advanced Parkinson’s disease.
Inter-comparability of analytical laboratories in quantifying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons collected from industrial emission sources
Authors: Lilley Adam , Coleman Marc D. , Goddard Sharon L. , Mills Ellie G. , Brown Richard J. C. , Robinson Rod A. , Clack Martin J. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractWe report an inter-laboratory comparison of analytical laboratories involved in the quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) collected by sampling organisations from industrial stacks (e.g. waste incinerators). Four reference solutions were prepared containing nominally 10 ng/ml, 50 ng/ml, 200 ng/ml and 500 ng/ml of naphthalene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene prior to despatch to five analytical laboratories with quantification requested in accordance with ISO 11338-2. Across four of the laboratories (the 5th returned unusable data), significant deviations from the reference concentrations were found frequently in excess of the benchmarks of 37 %—from the validation data in ISO 11338-2—and 21 %—from the Environment Agency for England’s Monitoring Certification Scheme. Also, much of the variance was systemic in nature indicating a possible issue with the quality of some of the stock solutions used by the laboratories for calibration. Whilst more proficiency testing would be welcomed to monitor and improve performance, this should be provided in addition to more support for analytical laboratories. A key mechanism of support is the standards themselves and there is a timely opportunity in that ISO/TC 146/SC 1 are due to revise ISO 11338. Possible improvements include full validation of high performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry methods (to better understand what performance can reasonably be expected from laboratories), a requirement to correct results to individual laboratory PAH extraction efficiency, and a required uncertainty stipulated for the overall method (also aiding setting pass/fail criteria for proficiency testing).
Gingival thickness threshold and probe visibility through soft tissue: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Kloukos Dimitrios , Kalimeri Eleni , Koukos George , Stähli Alexandra , Sculean Anton , Katsaros Christos 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Objectives
The aim was to retrieve the threshold of gingival thickness (GT), where the attribute of gingival translucency through probe visibility was altered.

Methods
In 200 patients, the soft tissue thickness was evaluated at both central mandibular incisors using ultrasound quantification (USD). Additionally, probe visibility was determined using a standard periodontal probe (PB) (CPU 15 UNC, Hu-Friedy), inserted 1 mm deep into the gingival sulcus. Frequencies and relative frequencies were calculated. Repeatability analyses and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were conducted to determine the USD cut-off point for probe visibility.

Results
Regression model indicated that the probe was not visible at a thickness of 0.82 mm for the mandibular left central incisor (95% CIs 0.77, 0.86) and became visible at a thickness of 0.69 mm (95% CIs 0.65, 0.72). The respective values for the mandibular right central incisor were 0.82 mm (95% CIs 0.77, 0.87) and 0.70 mm (0.68, 0.74). ROC analysis confirmed the retrieved regression results by indicating the best fitting balance for specificity and sensitivity at a thickness of 0.8 mm for both mandibular incisors.

Conclusions
In the frame of the current study, the data revealed that gingiva becomes non-transparent at a thickness of approximately 0.8 mm.

Clinical relevance
Probe visibility at mandibular incisors for the discrimination between thin and thick soft tissues was correlated with a gingival thickness of 0.8 mm and a high repeatability.
Patient-reported adherence to physical exercises of patients with ankylosing spondylitis
Authors: Ma Sai , Zhang Liang , Man Siliang , Bian Tao , Li Hongchao , Li Weiyi , Ma Zhuyi , He Da 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Introduction
Studies on adherence to exercise therapy of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are rare, and the criteria for adherence to exercise are inconsistent. This study aimed to quantify patient-reported adherence to exercise therapy of Chinese outpatients with AS and investigate the factors related to poor adherence.

Methods
The subjects’ sociodemographic, disease-related, radiographic, and laboratory parameters were collected. Patients’ adherence to exercise therapy was assessed using the Exercise Attitude Questionnaire (EAQ) with a 4-point Likert scale. All cases were grouped as good adherence and poor adherence using a cutoff score of 60, according to a previous study. Univariate analysis was conducted to assess the intergroup differences. Then, we built a multivariate logistic regression model to identify possible significant factors related to poor adherence to exercise therapy.

Results
A total of 185 outpatients completed the questionnaire. The mean EAQ score was 49.4 (IQR, 40.7–59.3) and 146 patients (78.9%) were considered to have poor adherence, and 39 patients (21.1%) were considered to have good adherence. The rates of current nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs), and tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor (TNF-i) use were significantly higher in the poor adherence group (p=0.001, p=0.027, p=0.018, respectively). Our multivariate logistic regression model revealed that the only significant associated factor was current use of NSAIDs (OR=3.517; p=0.016; 95% CI, 1.259–9.827).

Conclusions
Outpatients with AS had an unacceptable level of adherence to exercise therapy, and current use of NSAIDs was a significantly associated factor.

Key Points• Outpatients with AS had an unacceptable level of adherence to exercise therapy.• Current use of NSAIDs exerted a negative impact on patients’ adherence to exercise therapy.