bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Construction of an Evaluation Indexes Framework of Primary Care Competencies for Chinese General Practitioners
Authors: LU Zhanghong , ZHU Yaxin , HE Xiaoqin , JIN Song , QU Bo 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Background: The training of general practitioners (GPs) is important for the implementation of a tiered diagnosis and treatment system and realization of Healthy China 2030. A GPs training system in line with Chinese characteristics has been established, of which the standardized residency training program is the most important part. Primary care competencies (PCC) are essential for GPs, but there is a lack of research on the evaluation of PCC for Chinese GPs.
Aim: The study was to construct a more suitable evaluation indexes framework (EIF) of PCC for Chinese GPs by using mixed methods research.
Methods: The research included three steps: (1) Selecting five representative competency frameworks from literature for description, explanation and comparison, extracting evaluation indexes for EIF, and generating an evaluation indexes pool; (2) Using one-to-one in-depth structured interviews with 12 GPs to add new evaluation indexes and generate a preliminary EIF through coding of the interview content; (3) Optimizing the evaluation indexes and determining the EIF by Delphi method consultation with 25 general practice experts.
Results: Five representative competency frameworks of GPs were compared, and sixty-five indexes were selected to establish the evaluation index pool. A preliminary EIF with 120 indexes were generated after in-depth interviews with 12 GPs. These indexeswere refined, leaving 108 indexes for the Delphi process with 25 general practice experts, which produced a final EIF of PCC for GPs including 8 level-1 indexes, 24 level-2 indexes and 76 level-3 indexes.
Conclusion: An evaluation indexes framework of primary care competencies for GPs was established in this study, which had eight level-1 indexes including theoretical knowledge, physical examination, basic skills operation, auxiliary exam interpretation, clinical reasoning, medical documents writing, communication and health management. These represent the primary care competency needs for Chinese GPs.
Malaria positivity rate trend analysis from 2013-2021 at water resources development project of Wonji Sugar Estate Oromia, Ethiopia
Authors: Lelisa Kidane , Hailemeskel Elifaged , Bekele Damtew , Dugassa Sisay 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Background: Evidence on the trends of the proportion of malaria infections detected by routine passive case detection at health facilities is important for public health decision making especially in areas moving towards elimination. This study assessed nine years of trends on clinical malaria infections detected at health facility and its associated climate factors, in the water resource development set up of Wonji sugar estate, Oromia, Ethiopia.
Methods: From January, 2013 to December 2021, retrospective data were collected from malaria suspected patient recording logbook at Wonji sugar factory’s primary hospital. Monthly average mereological data were obtained from the estate meteorological station.
Results: Over the last nine years, 34,388 cases were legible for analysis with complete data. Of these, 11.75% (4,039/34,388) were positive for clinical malaria. Plasmodium vivaxtest positivity was the highest proportion (8.2%, n=2,820) followed by Plasmodium falciparum (3.48%, n=1,197) and mixed infections (P. falciparumand P. vivax, 0.06%, n=21). The odds of being positive for malaria was highest in males (AOR = 1.46; 95%CI: 1.36-1.52; P<0.001) compared to females, in older individuals of above 15 years old (AOR=4.55, 95%CI=4.01-5.17, P<0.001) followed by school-age children (5–15 years old) (AOR=2.16; 95%CI: 1.88–2.49, P<0.001). There was no significant variation in the proportion of malaria-positive cases in the dry and wet seasons (P=0.059). Malaria test positivity rates were associated with average monthly rainfall (AdjIRR=1.00; 95%CI=1.00-1.001, P<0.001) while negatively associated with average monthly minim temperature (adjIRR=0.94; 95%CI=0.94–0.95; P<0.001) and average monthly relative humidity (adjIRR=0.99, 95%CI=0.99- 1.00, P=0.023).
Conclusion: There was year-round malaria transmission, adults especially males and school children frequently tested malaria positive. Hence, alternative vector management tools like larval source management have to be deployed besides ITNs and IRS in such water development areas to achieve the malaria elimination goals.
Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of bacterial pathogens in two tertiary care hospitals in Damascus, Syria: A cross-sectional study
Authors: Abdelwahed Rawan N. K. , Jassem Manaf , Kakaje Ameer , Kharat Mohammed , Alkhoury Michael , Kanaan Mohammad 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Antibiotics resistance is a major concern as it renders antibiotics ineffective, which would have disastrous effects on patient care. The contribution of the Middle Eastern countries in limiting antimicrobial resistance is diminished due to instability and deteriorating healthcare infrastructure. This study aims to report on the antimicrobial resistance pattern in two tertiary care hospitals in Damascus, the capital of Syria in samples of blood, sputum, urine and other. A cross-sectional study based on reports of bacterial cultures was performed between April and November in 2020 in microbiology labs of Damascus Hospital and Al-Razi Hospital. Identification of bacteria was performed using standard microbiological procedures. Susceptibility testing was performed using disk diffusion method. Interpretation of the results was done according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 26. 412 cultures were positive for pathogens. Most frequently isolated pathogens were Enterobacter, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. Enterobacter was completely sensitive to doripenem and cefoperazone-sulbactam. The resistance rates of Staphylococcus aureus to vancomycin and linezolid were 23.5% and 24.5%, respectively. Escherichia coli was resistant to ciprofloxacin in 72.4% of samples. Klebsiella pneumonia had shown various resistance rates to all used antibiotics. Females had significantly higher frequency of Escherichia coli, Enterobacter, and Klebsiella pneumoniae in urine samples, while males had significantly higher frequency of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis. This study showed the high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Damascus Hospital and Al-Razi Hospital, two of major hospitals in Damascus. The decreasing potency of antimicrobials is concerning and may require urgent interventions, such as effective surveillance, and development of national guidelines for prescribing antibiotics.
Utilization of carob bean pulp and seeds in preparing some functional bakery products
Authors: Hafez Hoda , Mahgoub Saad 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis study aimed to (i) utilize roasted carob powder (130° C/ 30 min) from carob bean pulp as a natural sweetener in replacement with cane sugar at 0, 25, 50, and 75% in cacao cupcakes formula; (ii) utilize carob bean gum from carob bean seeds as a by-product of pods in gluten-free bread at 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5%, (iii) assess the chemical, viscosity and antioxidant properties of the raw materials, (iv) evaluate the sensory, physicochemical and texture properties of the produced cupcakes and gluten-free bread. Roasted carob powder hadP≤0.05 values of fiber (7.11%), ash (2.73%), Fe (38.7%), Ca (228.5%), Zn (3.1%), Total phenol (205.53 mg/100g) and antioxidant activity (91.78%). The aqueous dispersion (1%) of carob bean gum showed pseudoplastic behavior with apparent viscosity (η) from 2110-438.33 cP. Both cupcakes and gluten-free bread had water activity (aw) < 0.94. Roasted carob powder could be used as a natural sweetener in replacement with cane sugar up to 50% in cacao cupcakes formula, with nop≥0.05 increase in appearance, crust color, crumb texture, odor, and acid value compared with the control sample, which can suit low glycemic diet. Carob bean gum could be used as a binder up to 1.0% in gluten-free bread withP≤0.05 soft texture, shape symmetry, bright color, and higher overall acceptability, which can meet celiac patient needs.
AI-based smart water leak detection using hydrophones ​
Authors: Bakhtawar Beenish , Fares Ali , Zayed Tarek 
Published: November 2022

Abstract

Acoustic technologies are popular for the detection of leak detriments in water pipelines. However, problems of false alarms, missed leaks, limited site information, and the high cost of long-term monitoring remain prevalent. These issues demand a more sophisticated testing approach suitable for real-world applications. Hydrophone technology has a strong promise for precision leak detection. However, acoustic leak detection is mostly focused on detection using controlled testbed experiments. The practical application of hydrophones for leak detection has not been well reported in the literature. The current study presents a smart real-time leak detection system that uses real-time acoustic data collection. AI-based data-driven models were developed to identify leaks based on limited site information. Different classification models were trained using various feature combinations to identify the most significant model and feature set. ensemble-based classifiers of Adaboost, and Random Forest demonstrated the most promising performance for the leak detection application. Results reveal hydrophones to be more effective as compared to other acoustic devices like accelerometers and noise loggers in detecting leaks.
Single-voxel MR spectroscopy of gliomas with s-LASER at 7T
Authors: Prener Martin , Opheim Giske , Shams Zahra , Søndergaard Christian Baastrup , Lindberg Ulrich , Larsson Henrik BW , Ziebell Morten , Larsen Vibeke Andrée , Vestergaard Mark Bitsch , Paulson Olaf B. 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Background and Purpose: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) – a method to analyse metabolites in vivo – has been utilized in several studies of brain glioma biomarkers at lower fields strengths. At ultrahigh field strengths, MRS provides improved signal-to-noise-ratio and spectral resolution, but 7T studies on patients with gliomas are sparse. The purpose of this exploratory study was to evaluate the potential clinical implication of single-voxel MRS at 7T to assess metabolic information of lesions in a pilot cohort of patients with grade II and III gliomas.
Methods: We scanned seven patients and seven healthy controls using the semi-localization by adiabatic-selective refocusing sequence on a Philips Achieva 7T system with a standard dual-transmit head coil. The metabolic ratios were calculated relative to water and total creatine. Additionally, 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG) MRS was carried out in four of the patients and 2-HG concentration was calculated relative to water.
Results: When comparing tumour data to control regions in both patients and healthy controls, we found that choline/creatine and myo-inositol/creatine was significantly increased and that N-acetylaspartate/creatine and the neurotransmitter glutamate/creatine was significantly decreased. N-acetylaspartate/water and glutamate/water were also significantly decreased. Lactate/water and lactate/creatine showed an increase, although not significant. GABA/water was significantly decreased, but GABA/creatine was not. MRS spectra showed the presence of 2-HG in three of the four patients studied. Three of the patients, including the MRS 2-HG negative one, were operated and all of them had the IDH mutation.
Conclusion: Our findings were consistent with existing literature on 3T- and 7T-MRS.
A study of the effect of retirement on depression among female workers: Empirical evidence from China
Authors: Yang Hua-lei , Tao Yiwen , Cheng Si-Meng , Ti Shi-ming 
Published: November 2022

AbstractAs a major event in the later stages of women's lives, retirement affects the mental health status and quality of life of female retirees. Based on data from the second, fourth, and fifth rounds of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper empirically examined the effect of retirement on depression levels among Chinese female workers using regression discontinuity and found that retirement significantly reduced female depression levels. On average, female depression scores would decrease by 3.399 points after retirement, and this result is robust. Further heterogeneity analysis found that retirement did not significantly improve depression levels and may even exacerbate depression among retired women with smaller family size, no spouse, and no intimate relationship; women with less than high school education and better self-rated health significantly reduced their depression due to the occurrence of retirement behaviors; and women working in corporate units or manual laborers possessed lower depression levels after retirement. Additionally, this paper further compared and analyzed the change in depression in men before and after retirement and found that retirement did not significantly reduce the level of depression in men. The significance of this paper is that, based on the fact that retirement is more beneficial to women's mental health, the mental health of working women should be fully considered when implementing a delayed retirement policy, and corresponding supporting policies should be implemented to minimize the negative effects of extended working hours. Considering the differences in the effects of retirement on depression levels of different groups of people, more social support can be given to those groups lacking social support and family support, such as women with smaller families, no spouse or no intimate relationships; for female workers in enterprises and manual laborers, their willingness to delay retirement can be respected.
Prevalence of bacterial respiratory infections and antimicrobial susceptibility profile among outpatients visiting Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital, Meru County, Kenya
Authors: Miriti Dinah Muthoni , Muthini John Maingi , Nyamache Anthony Kebira 
Published: November 2022

Abstract

Objective:Respiratory tract infections cause significant morbidity and mortality globally and are the most common infectious diseases in humans. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of bacterial respiratory infections and antimicrobial susceptibility profile among outpatients presenting with respiratory tract infections in Meru teaching and referral hospital.Methods:The study was conducted in Meru teaching and referral hospital, Meru County from April 2017 to August 2018. A total of 175 sputum and throat samples were collected aseptically from patients who were clinically suspected to have respiratory infections and cultured in blood agar, MacConkey agar and chocolate agar. Bacterial isolates were identified by colonial morphology, Gram stain and confirmed by biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility profile was determined using agar disc diffusion method.Results: Respiratory bacterial pathogens were isolated in 43.6 % of the samples. The prevalence of the bacteria species isolated were as followsPseudomonasspecies(30.9 %),Staphylococcus aureus(22.2 %),Klebsiellaspecies(19.8 %), Streptococcus pyogenes(14.8 %) andStreptococcus pneumoniae (12.4 %). The susceptibility test showed that both Gram positive and Gram-negativeisolates were highly susceptible to gentamicin, cefuroxime and amikacin while resistance was recorded for amoxicillin and ampicillin. However, resistance to more than two antibiotics was recorded in 54 (66.7 %) of the isolates.Conclusion: Many of the isolates obtained showed resistance to some antibiotics used hence there is need for a continuous surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in management of respiratory infections in Meru County.Ethical approval and consent to participate: This study obtained approval from Kenyatta University ethics review committee (KUERC) and ethics review committee of Meru teaching and referral hospital. Informed consent was obtained from all the subjects and their legal guardians. The patients voluntarily consented to participate in the study. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations (declaration of helsinki). The ethics review committee of Meru teaching and referral hospital approved the study protocol.
Genetic Risk Factors for ME/CFS Identified using Combinatorial Analysis
Authors: Das Sayoni , Taylor Krystyna , Kozubek James , Sardell Jason , Gardner Stephen 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Background: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating chronic disease that lacks known pathogenesis, distinctive diagnostic criteria, and effective treatment options. Understanding the genetic (and other) risk factors associated with the disease would begin to help to alleviate some of these issues for patients.
Methods: We applied both GWAS and the PrecisionLife combinatorial analytics platform to analyze ME/CFS cohorts from UK Biobank, including the Pain Questionnaire cohort, in a case-control design with 1,000 cycles of fully random permutation. Results from this study were supported by a series of replication and cohort comparison experiments, including use of disjoint Verbal Interview CFS, post-viral fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia cohorts also derived from UK Biobank, and results compared for overlap and reproducibility.
Results: Combinatorial analysis revealed 199 SNPs mapping to 14 genes, that were significantly associated with 91% of the cases in the ME/CFS population. These SNPs were found to stratify by shared cases into 15 clusters (communities) made up of 84 high-order combinations of between 3-5 SNPs. p-values for these communities range from 2.3 x 10-10 to 1.6 x 10-72. Many of the genes identified are linked to the key cellular mechanisms hypothesized to underpin ME/CFS, including vulnerabilities to stress and/or infection, mitochondrial dysfunction, sleep disturbance and autoimmune development. We identified 3 of the critical SNPs replicated in the post-viral fatigue syndrome cohort and 2 SNPs replicated in the fibromyalgia cohort. We also noted similarities with genes associated with multiple sclerosis and long COVID, which share some symptoms and potentially a viral infection trigger with ME/CFS.
Conclusions: This study provides the first detailed genetic insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning ME/CFS and offers new approaches for better diagnosis and treatment of patients.
WITHDRAWN: Deep Learning Based Approach for Plant Disease Detection
Authors: Yadav Ravindra , Seth Anita 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Plant disease detection has a huge impact on plant farming. Early diagnosis of plant illness can help control disease spread and reduce loss. It is a soil-borne disease that affects leaves of plants. In the current research, the emphasis is on the early diagnosis and prevention of plant leaf disease. In this paper, strawberry, tomato, pepper bell, and potato disease detection network (STPP- DDN) based on Faster R-CNN and multi-task learning. STPP-ddn is developed which leverages attention mechanisms in feature extraction. STPP-DDN detects disease based on plant symptoms. Unlike other approaches for diagnosing disease from the total plant look, the STPP-DDN automatically classifies the petioles and young leaves. A large dataset with number of photos divided into various groups is constructed to serve as a basis for analyzing and testing our proposed technique. Each image also includes a label that indicates whether or not the plants has been affected. With the proposed STPP-DDN, we achieved a mAP of 77:54% on object detection of 4 categories and 99:95% accuracy for strawberry verticillium wilt detection.
Compensatory gene expression potentially rescues impaired brain development in Kit mutant mice
Authors: Minei Ryuhei , Aoki Hitomi , Ogura Atsushi , Kunisada Takahiro 
Published: November 2022

Abstract

While loss-of-function mutations in the murine dominant whitespotting/Kit (W)locus affect a diverse array of cell lineages, the brain and organs with the highest expression show the least number of defective phenotypes. We performed transcriptome analysis of the brains ofKitWembryos and found prominent gene expression changes specifically in the E12.5KitW/Whomozygous mutant. Although other potentially causative changes in gene expression were observed, uniform downregulation of ribosomal protein genes and oxidative phosphorylation pathway genes specifically observed in the E12.5 brain may comprise a genetic compensation system exerting protective metabolic effects against the deleterious effect ofKitW/Wmutation in the developing brain.
Hormone Measurements and Histomorphological Observations in Male Bactrian Camels
Authors: Hasi Gaowa , Sodnompil Tserennadmid , Na Haya , Liu Hejie , Ji Musi , Xie Wangwei , Nasenochir Narenhua 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Bactrian camel age on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis hormone and to determine the morphological changes of the testis. The Bactrian camels were divided into two groups based on their ages, including three years old (puberty) and six years old (adult). The results showed that the testicular weight was significantly heavier in adult male camels than in pubertal male camels (p <0.05). There were also significant differences between testicular length, testicular width and testicular volume (p < 0.05). In the testes of both pubertal and adult male camels, Sertoli cells, spermatogonia, spermatocytes, round spermatids and elongated spermatids were observed. Adult male camels had more Sertoli cells (p<0.01) and elongated spermatids (p <0.05). The concentrations of testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) were higher in the plasma and testes of camels than in pubertal camels (p <0.05), and E2 concentrations were lower in adult camels than in pubertal camels (p <0.05). Plasma testosterone levels were significantly higher in adults than in puberty, and testosterone levels in testicular tissue were also higher than in plasma in both adult and pubertal stage (p <0.05). In conclusion, these findings provide supportive knowledge and show the significant differences in terms of testicular volume, testicular hormone concentrations, and testicular morphology between different developmental stages in Bactrian camels.
Lung ultrasound to evaluate pulmonary changes in patients with cardiogenic shock undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation:A retrospective study
Authors: Wang Rongguo , Zhou Meiyan , Man Yuanyuan , Zhu Yangzi , Ding Wenping , Liu Qian , Sun Bin , Yan Li , Zhang Yan , Zhou Hai , Wang Liwei 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the value of lung ultrasound (LUS) in patients with cardiogenic shock treated by venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO).
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in Xuzhou Central Hospital from September 2015 to April 2022. Patients with cardiogenic shock who received VA-ECMO treatment were enrolled in this study. The LUS score was obtained at the different time points of ECMO.
Results: Twenty-two patients were divided into a survival group (n=16) and a nonsurvival group (n=6). The ICU mortality was 27.3% (6/22). The LUS scores in the nonsurvival group were significantly higher than those in the survival group after 72 h (P<0.05). There was a significant negative correlation between LUS scores and PaO2/FiO2 and LUS scores and Cdyn after 72 h of ECMO treatment (P<0.001). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of T72-LUS for predicting ICU mortality was 0.964 (95% CI 0.887~1.000, P<0.01).
Conclusion: LUS is a promising tool for evaluating pulmonary changes in patients with cardiogenic shock undergoing VA-ECMO. Moreover, T72-LUS can effectively predict the ICU survival status of patients.
Trial registration:The study had been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry(NO.ChiCTR2200062130 and 24/07/2022).