bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Surgical rib fixation in traumatic rib fractures: is it warranted?
Authors: Doben Andrew R. , Schubl Sebastian D. , Dudaryk Roman 
Published: February 2022

Purpose of review
Traumatic chest wall injuries and rib fractures remain a prevalent injury. Despite many advances, these injuries result in high morbidity and mortality. Surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) is increasing in utilization with expanding indications. Recent studies have demonstrated that many patients may benefit from surgical intervention.

Recent findings
Over the past 20 years the indications and timing of SSRF has evolved. Once reserved mainly for the most extreme of injuries, expanding indications demonstrate that even minimally injured patients may benefit from intervention regarding pain control, respiratory complications, and overall mortality.

Summary
SSRF has become more prevalent with improving outcomes for patients. Understanding the indications will help expand utilization and improve patient outcomes.
Impaired Microvascular Function in Patients With Critical COVID-19
Authors: Gille-Johnson Patrik , Kessler Irene , Tehrani Sara 
Published: February 2022

OBJECTIVES:
Severe coronavirus disease 2019 is characterized by infected microvascular endothelial cells. The primary aim of this study was to investigate microvascular function in patients with critical coronavirus disease 2019.

DESIGN:
A prospective observational study was conducted in which patients with critical and severe COVID-19 were investigated during acute disease phase and at least 3 months after disease onset.

SETTING:
Single-center study at Danderyd University Hospital.

PATIENTS:
Twenty-three patients with critical coronavirus disease 2019 treated with noninvasive or invasive mechanical ventilation, seven patients with severe COVID-19 with dyspnea or need of oxygen supply up to 8 L/min, and 15 noncoronavirus disease controls.

INTERVENTIONS:
None.

MEASUREMENTS:
Skin perfusion was investigated through laser speckle contrast imaging before and after iontophoresis of acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside for determination of the endothelial-dependent and the endothelial-independent vasodilation, respectively.

MAIN RESULTS:
Patients with critical COVID-19 had higher basal skin perfusion during both the acute (34 ± 9 perfusion unit; p = 0.0003) and the postinfectious phase (29 ± 8 perfusion unit; p = 0.04), compared with noncoronavirus disease controls (23 ± 7 perfusion unit). In addition, endothelial-dependent and endothelial-independent vasodilation were reduced in patients with critical COVID-19 during the acute disease phase (p < 0.001 for both), whereas no significant differences between patients and controls were found during the postinfectious phase. In patients with severe COVID-19, basal skin perfusion and endothelial-dependent vasodilatation were not significantly changed, whereas endothelial-independent vasodilatation was reduced (p = 0.02) compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONS:
Changes in skin microcirculation in patients with critical COVID-19 indicate that the infection induces a systemic microvascular impairment with persisting long-term effects on the microvascular function.
New Psychoactive Substances: Which Biological Matrix Is the Best for Clinical Toxicology Screening?
Authors: Wagmann Lea , Jacobs Cathy M. , Meyer Markus R. 
Published: February 2022

Background:
Every year, more new psychoactive substances (NPSs) emerge in the market of the drugs of abuse. NPSs belong to various chemical classes, such as synthetic cannabinoids, phenethylamines, opioids, and benzodiazepines. The detection of NPSs intake using different types of biological matrices is challenging for clinical toxicologists because of their structural diversity and the lack of information on their toxicokinetics, including their metabolic fate.

Methods:
PubMed-listed articles reporting mass spectrometry–based bioanalytical approaches for NPSs detection published during the past 5 years were identified and discussed. Furthermore, the pros and cons of using common biological matrices in clinical toxicology (CT) settings to screen for NPSs are highlighted in this review article.

Results:
Twenty-six articles presenting multianalyte screening methods for use in the field of CT were considered. The advantages and disadvantages of different biological matrices are discussed with a particular view of the different analytical tasks in CT, especially emergency toxicology. Finally, an outlook introduces the emerging trends in biosamples used in CT, such as the exhaled breath.

Conclusions:
Blood and urine represent the most common biological matrices used in a CT setting; however, reports concerning NPSs detection in alternative matrices are also available. Noteworthy, the selection of the biological matrix must depend on the clinician's enquiry because the individual advantages and disadvantages must be considered.
Update on the molecular landscape of thoracic aortic aneurysmal disease
Authors: Luyckx Ilse , Callejon Irene Valdivia , Buccioli Lucia , Loeys Bart 
Published: February 2022

Purpose of the review
Thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections (TAADs) are a major health problem in the Western population. This review summarises recent discoveries in the genetic landscape of TAAD disease, discusses current challenges in clinical practice, and describes the molecular road ahead in TAAD research. Disorders, in which aneurysmal disease is not observed in the thoracic aorta, are not discussed.

Recent findings
Current gene discovery studies have pinpointed about 40 genes associated with TAAD risk, accounting for about 30% of the patients. Importantly, novel genes, and their subsequent functional characterisation, have expanded the knowledge on disease-related pathways providing crucial information on key elements in this disease, and it pinpoints new therapeutic targets. Moreover, current molecular evidence also suggests the existence of less monogenic nature of TAAD disease, in which the presentation of a diseased patient is most likely influenced by a multitude of genetic and environmental factors.

Summary (clinical practice/relevance)
Ongoing molecular genetic research continues to expand our understanding on the pathomechanisms underlying TAAD disease in order to improve molecular diagnosis, optimise risk stratification, advance therapeutic strategies and facilitate counselling of TAAD patients and their families.
REGIONAL POPULATION MOBILITY AND OUTPATIENT RETINA VISITS IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Authors: Soares Rebecca R. , Huang Charles , Boucher Nick , Aggarwal Nitika , Fernando Rusirini , Hinkle John , DeSimone Joseph , Cai Louis , Patel Samir N. , Xu David , Kuriyan Ajay E. , Yonekawa Yoshihiro 
Published: February 2022

Purpose:
To characterize how community mobility patterns across the United States correlate with local changes in retina visits during the pandemic.

Methods:
Outpatient retina clinic visits were linked to population mobility by combining multiple public data sets, including the Google Community Mobility Reports and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Infection. Percentage change from baseline in daily-average number of retina visits by county and mobility were measured by county.

Results:
A total of 2,159,689 patient visits were examined across 332 counties. Daily-average retina visits decreased by 7.0%, 19.0%, 5.0%, and 4.0% from Quarter 1 to 4 of 2020. This decrease was negatively correlated with increased incident of COVID-19 deaths for Quarters 1 to 3 (r = −0.13, r = −0.16, and r = −0.15, respectively, P < 0.001) and increased incident cases for Quarters 1 and 2 (r = −0.18, r = −0.13, respectively, P < 0.001). Daily-average retina visits relative to baseline were significantly lower for metropolitan counties in Quarters 1 and 2, compared with urban and rural (P < 0.001). The decline in retina visits had greatest association with decline in workplace visits in Quarters 1 to 3 (r = 0.27, r = 0.09, r = 0.12, respectively, P < 0.001 for all).

Conclusion:
This study provides insight into how regional mobility patterns may help to explain and predict patient behaviors and retina outpatient visit responses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Relationship Between Adaptation to Disease and Self-care Agency Levels in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Bayram Aysun , Yurttaş Afife 
Published: February 2022

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. The patients with MS have some difficulties in physical, social, and psychological functions. This study was carried out to determine the relationship between the adaptation levels of patients with MS to the disease and their self-care agency levels. METHODS: This study used a descriptive design and was carried out in a university hospital's neurology clinic and outpatient clinic between July 2019 and March 2020. The sample size was determined as 258 using the known universe sampling method. Data were collected using the “Adaptation to Chronic Illness Scale,” the “Self-Care Agency Scale,” and a “Patient Identification Form.” Spearmen correlation analysis was used to evaluate the data. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 41.36 (0.74) years, 74% of them had MS for more than 3 years, 58% had their last attack more than a year ago, and 27% had balance problems. The adaptation levels of patients to the disease (76.79 [0.57]) and their self-care agency (88.42 [1.34]) were slightly higher than the moderate level. A moderate-level, significant, and positive correlation was found between the adaptation level of the patients to the chronic illness and their self-care agency levels (r = 0.310, P = .000). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that there was a moderate-level, significant, and positive correlation between the patients' level of adaptation to MS disease and the level of their self-care agency. We recommend the provision of supportive professional training to patients with MS on their disease.
Increased 68Ga-FAPI Uptake in Active Atherosclerotic Plaque
Authors: Hu Zhi , Yang Xiao , You Zhouxiang , Chen Yue , Liu Huipan 
Published: February 2022

Abstract
A 67-year-old man with esophageal cancer was included in a clinical trial of a 68Ga-FAPI PET/CT study on tumors (ChiCTR2100044131). Increased tracer uptake was noted in the esophageal cancer with esophagitis. In addition, active coronary atherosclerotic plaque also revealed increased FAPI activity.
Improving functional recovery after severe spinal cord injury by a noninvasive dual functional approach of neuroprotection and neuromodulation
Authors: Zuo Yanming , Ye Jingjia , Cai Wanxiong , Guo Binjie , Chen Xiangfeng , Lin Lingmin , Jin Shuang , Zheng Hanyu , Fang Ao , Qian Xingran , Abdelrahman Zeinab , Wang Zhiping , Zhang Zhipeng , Yu Bin , Gu Xiaosong , Wang Xuhua 
Published: February 2022

AbstractDespite tremendous unmet medical needs, there is no effective pharmacological treatment to promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). Although multiple pathological events have been implicated in SCI, the development of a noninvasive pharmacological approach to simultaneously target the different mechanisms involved in SCI remains a formidable challenge. In this study, we report the development of a noninvasive nanodrug delivery system that consists of ROS-responsive amphiphilic copolymers and an encapsulated neurotransmitter-conjugated KCC2 agonist. We show that upon intravenous administration, the nanodrugs were able to enter the injured spinal cord due to blood spinal cord barrier disruption and ROS-responsive disassembly. Remarkably, once in the injured spinal cord, these nanodrugs exhibited dual functions: scavenging ROS accumulated in the lesion to protect spared connections and increasing neuronal excitability in the injured spinal cord through targeted delivery of the KCC2 agonist to inhibitory neurons. Thus, the noninvasive treatment led to significant functional recovery in the rats with contusive SCI. Together, these findings provide a much-needed translational pharmacological approach for treating severe SCI.
A Simple and Reproducible In-Vivo Rabbit Phonation Model for Glottic Insufficiency
Authors: Swift William M. , Churnin Ian T. , Hamdi Osama A. , Strumpf Andrew M. , Koehn Heather A. , Cottler Patrick S. , Daniero James J. 
Published: February 2022

ABSTRACTIntroductionGlottic insufficiency can result from neurologic injury, surgery, radiation, and the aging larynx. Treatment includes voice therapy, vocal fold injection augmentation, surgical medialization, or laryngeal reinnervation procedures. The objective of this study is to describe an in-vivo rabbit phonation model for glottic insufficiency that is simple and reproducible by means of unilateral cricothyroid muscle stimulation and high-speed video recordings of evoked phonation.MethodsA non-randomized controlled trial utilizing seven New Zealand white rabbits was performed via a single operation including evoked phonation with bilateral and unilateral cricothyroid muscle stimulation conditions. The effect of stimulation method on glottic cycle, pitch and loudness was compared. Endoscopic recordings using 5,000 frames-per-second image capture technology and audiologic recordings were obtained for all phonation conditions. Primary outcome measures included means of maximum glottal area (MGA)/length pixel ratio, right and left amplitude/length pixel ratios, calculated cycle frequency, auditory recorded frequency, and maximum auditory intensity. Measurements were obtained via pixel counts using imageJ. Paired t-tests compared the average values obtained over five consecutive glottic cycles for each unilateral and bilateral stimulation during evoked phonation.ResultsMean (median, IQR) MGA/length was significantly greater with unilateral, 20.30 (19.13, 10.97), vs bilateral, 9.62 (8.33, 2.58), stimulation (p=0.043). Mean frequency (median, IQR), 683.46 Hz (658.5, 197.1) vs 479.92 Hz (458.1, 112); (p=0.027) and mean maximum intensity, 83.5 dB (83.5, 1) vs 76.3 dB (74.5, 4); (p=0.013) were significantly reduced from bilateral to unilateral stimulation. There was no significant difference of mean right amplitude/length between bilateral and unilateral.ConclusionThe described model demonstrates a simple and reproducible means of producing glottic insufficiency and represents a pathway for better understanding the biomechanics and pathophysiology of glottic insufficiency and offers the potential to compare treatment modalities through in-vivo study.
Urinary single-cell sequencing captures intrarenal injury and repair processes in human acute kidney injury
Authors: Klocke Jan , Kim Seung Joon , Skopnik Christopher M. , Hinze Christian , Boltengagen Anastasiya , Metzke Diana , Grothgar Emil , Prskalo Luka , Wagner Leonie , Freund Paul , Görlich Nina , Muench Frédéric , Schmidt-Ott Kai M. , Mashreghi Mir-Farzin , Kocks Christine , Eckardt Kai-Uwe , Rajewsky Nikolaus , Enghard Philipp 
Published: February 2022

AbstractAcute kidney injury (AKI) is a major health issue, the outcome of which depends primarily on damage and reparative processes of tubular epithelial cells (TEC). Mechanisms underlying AKI remain incompletely understood, specific therapies are lacking and monitoring the course of AKI in clinical routine is confined to measuring urine output and plasma levels of filtration markers.Here we demonstrate feasibility and potential of a novel approach to assess the cellular and molecular dynamics of AKI by establishing a robust urine-to-single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) pipeline for excreted kidney cells via flow cytometry sorting. We analyzed 42,608 single cell transcriptomes of 40 urine samples from 32 AKI patients and compared our data with reference material from human AKI post-mortem biopsies and published mouse data. We demonstrate that TEC transcriptomes mirror intrarenal pathology and reflect distinct injury and repair processes, including oxidative stress, inflammation, and tissue rearrangement. We also describe an AKI-specific abundant urinary excretion of progenitorlike cells.In conclusion, single cell transcriptomics of kidney cells excreted in urine provides non-invasive, unprecedented insight into cellular processes underlying AKI, thereby opening novel opportunities for target identification, AKI sub-categorization and monitoring of natural disease course and interventions.Graphical abstract
Extension of bacterial rDNA sequencing to concurrent epigenetic analysis and its application to 16S meta-epigenetics
Authors: Nishimura Motoi , Tanaka Tomoaki , Murata Syota , Miyabe Akiko , Ishige Takayuki , Kawasaki Kenji , Yokoyama Masataka , Tojo-Nishimura Satomi , Matsushita Kazuyuki 
Published: February 2022

AbstractAlthough polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing of the 16S rDNA region has been used in a wide range of scientific fields, it does not provide DNA methylation information. We describe a simple add-on method to investigate 5-methylcytosine residues in the bacterial 16S rDNA region from clinical samples or flora. Single-stranded bacterial DNA after bisulfite conversion was preferentially amplified with multiple displacement amplification (MDA) at pH neutral, and the 16S rDNA region was analyzed using nested bisulfite PCR and sequencing. 16S rDNA bisulfite sequencing can provide clinically important bacterial DNA methylation status concurrently with intact 16S rDNA sequence information. We used this approach to identify novel methylation sites and a methyltransferase (M. MmnI) in Morganella morganii. Next, we analyzed bacterial flora from clinical specimens of small amount and identified different methylation motifs among Enterococcus faecalis strains. The method developed here, referred to as "add-on" to the conventional 16S rDNA analysis, is the most clinically used bacterial identification genetic test, which provides additional information that could not be obtained with the conventional method. Since the relationship between drug resistance in bacteria and DNA methylation status has been reported, bacterial epigenetic information would be useful in clinical testing as well. Our analysis suggests that M. MmnI has a promotive effect on erythromycin resistance. 16S rDNA bisulfite PCR and sequencing coupled with MDA at pH neutral is a useful add-on tool for analyzing 16S meta-epigenetics.
Melanosomes degrade lipofuscin and precursors that are derived from photoreceptor membrane turnover in the retinal pigment epithelium—an explanation for the origin of the melanolipofuscin granule
Authors: Lyu Yanan , Tschulakow Alexander V. , Schraermeyer Ulrich 
Published: February 2022

AbstractThe accumulation of the age pigment lipofuscin within the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is one the most remarkable changes observed in association with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Stargardt disease. Both aging and pathological processes lead to the accumulation of melanolipofuscin (MLF) granules, which have been reported to reflect the onset of AMD more accurately than lipofuscin. The underlying mechanism by which MLF forms is still not understood. We investigate the potential role that melanin plays in the degradation of lipofuscin and MLF in pigmented Abca4-/- mice following treatment with several NO generating drugs. Abca4-/- mice are generally used as models for lipofuscin-related eye diseases. We also induced melanogenesis in albino Abca4-/- mice via the over-expression of tyrosinase, the key enzyme involved in melanogenesis. We compared the ultrastructure of lipofuscinogensis in the RPE of pigmented and albino Abca4-/- mice. Fluorescence microscopy was employed for the quantification of lipofuscin. We found high amounts of unique thin (3–4 nm) lamellar membranes (TLMs) that were left over from the degradation of photoreceptor disc membranes by high-resolution electron microscopy. Accumulated TLMs were significantly more frequent in the RPE cells of the albinos than the pigmented mice, indicating that melanin plays a role in removing TLMs. The intravitreal injection of several NO generating drugs was found to reduce the amount of autofluorescent lipofuscin in the cytoplasm of RPE cells, particularly the MLF granules of pigmented Abca4-/- mice. No effect was observed in terms of lipofuscin removal in NO-exposed albino Abca4-/- mice. However, transfection with tyrosinase led to a reduction in the lipofuscin levels of artificially pigmented RPE cells in albino Abca4-/- mice following the formation of melanin. The results show for the first time that melanin plays an important, if not a key, role in the degradation of lipofuscin in RPE cells.
“Critique is not a verb”: is peer review stifling the dialogue in disaster scholarship?
Authors: Chmutina Ksenia , Cheek Wesley , von Meding Jason 
Published: February 2022

PurposeIn this position piece, the authors will reflect on some of their recent experiences with the peer-review process in disaster studies and show how debate can so easily be stifled. The authors write it as a plea for healthy academic argumentative discussion and intellectual dialogue that would help all of us to refine our ideas, respect others’ ideas and learn from each other.Design/methodology/approachThe authors provide reflection on our own experiences. All the examples here are based on the anonymous (double-blinded) peer reviews that the authors have received in the past two years in response to papers submitted to disaster-related journals.FindingsThe authors show that the grounds for rejection often have nothing to do with the rigour of the research but are instead based on someone's philosophy, beliefs, values or opinions that differ from that of the authors, and which undermine the peer-review process.Research limitations/implicationsThere is so much potential in amicable and productive disagreements, which means that we can talk together – and through this, we can learn. Yet, the debate in its purest academic sense is a rare beast in disaster scholarship – largely because opposing views do not get published.Originality/valueThe authors call for ideological judgement and self-interest to be put aside when peers' work is reviewed – and for intellectual critique to be used in a productive way that would enhance rather than stifle scholarship.