bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The majority of severe COVID-19 patients develop anti-cardiac autoantibodies
Authors: Fagyas Miklós , Nagy Béla , Ráduly Arnold Péter , Mányiné Ivetta Siket , Mártha Lilla , Erdősi Gábor , Sipka Sándor , Enyedi Enikő , Szabó Attila Ádám , Pólik Zsófia , Kappelmayer János , Papp Zoltán , Borbély Attila , Szabó Tamás , Balla József , Balla György , Bai Péter , Bácsi Attila , Tóth Attila 
Published: September 2022

AbstractSevere cases of COVID-19 are characterized by an inflammatory burst, which is accompanied by multiorgan failure. The elderly population has higher risk for severe or fatal outcome for COVID-19. Inflammatory mediators facilitate the immune system to combat viral infection by producing antibodies against viral antigens. Several studies reported that the pro-inflammatory state and tissue damage in COVID-19 also promotes autoimmunity by autoantibody generation. We hypothesized that a subset of these autoantibodies targets cardiac antigens. Here we aimed to detect anti-cardiac autoantibodies in severe COVID-19 patients during hospitalization. For this purpose, 104 COVID-19 patients were recruited, while 40 heart failure patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and 20 patients with severe aortic stenosis served as controls. Patients were tested for anti-cardiac autoantibodies, using human heart homogenate as a bait. Follow-up samples were available in 29 COVID-19 patients. Anti-cardiac autoantibodies were detected in 68% (71 out of 104) of severe COVID-19 patients. Overall, 39% of COVID-19 patients had anti-cardiac IgG autoantibodies, while 51% had anti-cardiac autoantibodies of IgM isotype. Both IgG and IgM anti-cardiac autoantibodies were observed in 22% of cases, and multiple cardiac antigens were targeted in 38% of COVID-19 patients. These anti-cardiac autoantibodies targeted a diverse set of myocardial proteins, without apparent selectivity. As controls, heart failure patients (with dilated cardiomyopathy) had similar occurrence of IgG (45%, p = 0.57) autoantibodies, while significantly lower occurrence of IgM autoantibodies (30%, p = 0.03). Patients with advanced aortic stenosis had significantly lower number of both IgG (11%, p = 0.03) and IgM (10%, p < 0.01) type anti-cardiac autoantibodies than that in COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, we detected changes in the anti-cardiac autoantibody profile in 7 COVID-19 patients during hospital treatment. Surprisingly, the presence of these anti-cardiac autoantibodies did not affect the clinical outcome and the prevalence of the autoantibodies did not differ between the elderly (over 65 years) and the patients younger than 65 years of age. Our results demonstrate that the majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients produce novel anti-cardiac IgM autoantibodies. COVID-19 also reactivates resident IgG autoantibodies. These autoantibodies may promote autoimmune reactions, which can complicate post-COVID recuperation, contributing to post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (long COVID).
Biology teachers’ collaborative experiences: benefits and difficulties in different contexts in relation to perceived value
Authors: Berglund Helena 
Published: September 2022

AbstractCollaboration has the potential to strengthen both professional learning and well-being for teachers. However, it can also bring problematic aspects, such as increased workload and conflicts. The purpose of this study was to explore biology teachers’ experiences of collaboration to better understand how upper secondary school organisations can support teachers to obtain valuable collaborations. By analysing accounts of biology teachers’ experiences of collaborations perceived as valued and less valued, I investigate how benefits and difficulties of the collaborations relate to organisational and situational conditions. Benefits and difficulties in different types of collaborations associated with high and low perceived value from collaborations can help identify ways to lower the cost and increase the gain for teachers in collaborations. The results showed that the chosen valued collaborations were often initiated by the teachers and typically involved benefits relating to both teacher and student learning. In the less valued collaborations, benefits were narrower, impacting teachers or students. The importance of structure was emphasised in most collaborations but management support appeared more important in interdisciplinary collaborations involving more than three teachers, while personal affinity between collaborators appeared more important in collaborations involving two or three teachers. Continuity was emphasised in order to give time for consensus and structure to develop, or to sustain discussions on important issues. Overall, this study shows that while continuity appeared important for developing valued collaborations, it can be difficult to obtain. Focusing on biology teachers’ experiences of benefits and difficulties in relation to more or less valued collaborations can help school organisations prioritise support, time and resources for professional development to allow for continuity in valuable collaborations that can strengthen the quality of biology education.
Two-machine flow shop scheduling with convex resource consumption functions
Authors: Choi Byung-Cheon , Park Myoung-Ju 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWe consider a two-machine flow shop scheduling problem in which the processing time of each operation is inversely proportional to the power of the amount of resources consumed by it. The objective is to minimize the sum of the makespan and the total resource consumption cost. We show that the problem is NP-hard, and its constrained version remains so. Then, we develop 1.25- and 2-approximation algorithms for the problem and its constrained version, respectively.
Social perception of embodied digital technologies—a closer look at bionics and social robotics
Authors: Bretschneider Maximilian , Mandl Sarah , Strobel Anja , Asbrock Frank , Meyer Bertolt 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis contribution of the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) presents a study on the social perception of Embodied Digital Technologies (EDTs) and provides initial insights into social perception processes concerning technicality and anthropomorphism of robots and users of prostheses. EDTs such as bionic technologies and robots are becoming increasingly common in workspaces and private lives, raising questions surrounding their perception and their acceptance. According to the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), social perception and stereotyping are based on two fundamental dimensions: Warmth (recently distinguished into Morality and Sociability) and Competence. We investigate how human actors, namely able-bodied individuals, users of low-tech prostheses and users of bionic prostheses, as well as artificial actors, such as industrial robots, social robots, and android robots, are perceived in terms of Competence, Sociability, and Morality. Results show that individuals with low-tech prostheses were perceived as competent as users of bionic prostheses, but only users of low-tech prostheses were perceived less competent than able-bodied individuals. Sociability did not differ between users of low-tech or bionic prostheses or able-bodied individuals. Perceived morality was higher for users of low-tech prostheses than users of bionic prostheses or able-bodied individuals. For robots, attributions of competence showed that industrial robots were perceived as more competent than more anthropomorphized robots. Sociability was attributed to robots to a lesser extent. Morality was not attributed to robots, regardless of their level of anthropomorphism.
Die verdoppelte Krise am Lebensende
Authors: Müller Falko 
Published: September 2022

ZusammenfassungIn Bezug auf den vielzitierten Wunsch, zuhause zu sterben, wird der Eingriffscharakter ambulant-aufsuchender Versorgung kaum thematisiert. Dies, obwohl der Hausbesuch hierzu die wichtigste Form der Begegnung zwischen Professionellen und Patient_innen ist. Soll der Anspruch, ihre Selbstbestimmung zu wahren, ernst genommen werden, sollte auch das Verhältnis von professionell organisierter Versorgung und Haushalt als Organisation des alltäglichen Lebenszusammenhangs als Gestaltungsaufgabe wahrgenommen werden.
Discriminatory capacity of serum interleukin-6 between complicated and uncomplicated acute appendicitis in children: a prospective validation study
Authors: Arredondo Montero Javier , Antona Giuseppa , Rivero Marcotegui Adriana , Bardají Pascual Carlos , Bronte Anaut Mónica , Ros Briones Raquel , Fernández-Celis Amaya , López-Andrés Natalia , Martín-Calvo Nerea 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
Background
Serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) has a moderate diagnostic performance in pediatric acute appendicitis (PAA). The evidence regarding its capacity to discern between complicated and uncomplicated PAA is scarce.

Methods
We designed a prospective observational study to validate serum IL-6 as a marker for diagnostic classification between complicated and uncomplicated PAA. This study included 205 patients divided into three groups: (1) patients who underwent major outpatient surgery (n = 57); (2) patients with non-surgical abdominal pain (NSAP) in whom the diagnosis of PAA was excluded (n = 53), and (3) patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PAA (n = 95). The PAA patients were further classified as uncomplicated or complicated PAA. IL-6 concentration was determined in all patients at diagnosis. Comparative statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, the Fisher exact test and the Kruskall Wallis test. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) were calculated.

Results
Median (interquartile range, IQR) serum IL-6 values were 2 pg/mL (2.0–3.4) in group 1, 3.9 pg/mL (2.4–11.9) in group 2, and 23.9 pg/mL (11.1–61.0) in group 3 (P < 0.001). Among the participants in group 3, those with uncomplicated PAA had median (IQR) serum IL-6 values of 17.2 pg/mL (8.5–36.8), and those with complicated PAA had 60.25 pg/mL (27.1–169) serum IL-6 (P < 0.001). At the cut-off point of 19.55 pg/mL, the AUC for the discrimination between patients in group 2 vs. 3 was 0.83 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.76–0.90], with a sensitivity of 61.3% and a specificity of 86.8. The AUC for the discrimination between patients with uncomplicated and complicated PAA was 0.77 (95% CI 0.68–0.86) and the cut-off point was 25.90 pg/mL, with a sensitivity and specificity of 84.6% and 65.6%, respectively.

Conclusions
Serum IL-6 has a good performance in discerning between complicated and uncomplicated PAA. A score including clinical and radiological variables may increase the diagnostic performance of this molecule.
Dental developmental defects due to mercurial treatment in a child from sixteenth-century Alghero (Sardinia, Italy)
Authors: Lombardo Daniela , Colard Thomas , Bandiera Pasquale , Milanese Marco , Baghdad Ouddane , Giuffra Valentina 
Published: September 2022

AbstractA child aged 3.5 to 4.5 years, exhumed from the cemetery of Alghero that is referable to the plague outbreak of 1582–83, showed remarkable dental anomalies in the permanent dentition. In particular, the central incisors exhibited large hypoplastic pits, and the first molars were characterized by a honeycomb appearance with large areas of missing enamel. Microtomographic analysis revealed very low values of enamel volume, while the dentin volumes of the crowns were mainly preserved; chemical analysis showed very high levels of mercury in the hard tissues. The enamel disturbances observed in the child from Alghero are highly suggestive of the administration of mercurial treatment to the individual during early childhood. Despite the absence of the typical signs of congenital syphilis, such as Hutchinson’s incisors, it cannot be excluded that the child was affected by the disease. After the appearance of venereal syphilis in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, mercury was employed to treat its severe skin manifestations, remaining in use until the nineteenth century despite its well-known negative side effects. However, mercury was also used in the treatment of a number of dermatological conditions and to eliminate head lice and fleas. Regardless of the disease the child was treated for, the case presented provides evidence of some of the highest levels of mercury recorded in osteoarcheological remains so far, making the individual the youngest patient documented in the paleopathological literature to exhibit signs of mercurial treatment.
Effects of Mobile App-Based Mindfulness Practice on Healthcare Workers: a Randomized Active Controlled Trial
Authors: Keng Shian-Ling , Chin Joseph Wei Ern , Mammadova Maleyka , Teo Irene 
Published: September 2022

Abstract

Objectives

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) may be at greater risk of suffering from psychological distress compared to the general population. This study aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness practice as delivered using Headspace on psychological and cognitive outcomes among HCWs in Singapore.

Methods
A total of 80 HCWs were recruited and randomly assigned to engage in either 3 weeks (10 min/day) of mindfulness practice using Headspace or an active control condition (Lumosity; involving playing cognitive games). Participants were administered several self-report measures and two working memory (digit span) tasks at pre- and post-intervention, and one-month follow-up.

Results
There were no significant between-condition changes on any outcome variables from pre- to post-intervention. From pre-intervention to 1-month follow-up, there were significantly greater improvements among Headspace participants on fear of COVID-19 (p = .005), compassion satisfaction (p = .007), trait mindfulness (p = .002), self-compassion (p = .005), sleep quality (p = .002), and the forward digit span task (p < .001). Several outcomes were mediated by increases in trait mindfulness or self-compassion.

Conclusions
Use of Headspace may lead to downstream benefits in reducing distress and improving psychological health outcomes among HCWs. The findings have implications for improving psychological support resources for HCWs amidst a pandemic.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04936893).
The quantification of intelligence in nineteenth-century craniology: an epistemology of measurement perspective
Authors: Luchetti Michele 
Published: September 2022

AbstractCraniology – the practice of inferring intelligence differences from the measurement of human skulls – survived the dismissal of phrenology and remained a widely popular research program until the end of the nineteenth century. From the 1970s, historians and sociologists of science extensively focused on the explicit and implicit socio-cultural biases invalidating the evidence and claims that craniology produced. Building on this literature, I reassess the history of craniological practice from a different but complementary perspective that relies on recent developments in the epistemology of measurement. More precisely, I identify two aspects of the measurement culture of nineteenth-century craniologists that are crucial to understand the lack of validity of craniological inference: their neglect of the problem of coordination for their presupposed quantification of intelligence and their narrow view of calibration. Based on my analysis, I claim that these methodological shortcomings amplified the impact of the socio-cultural biases of craniologists, which had a pervasive role in their evidential use of measurement. Finally, my argument shows how the epistemology of measurement perspective can offer useful tools in debates concerning the use of biological evidence to foster social discourse and for analyzing the relationship between theory, evidence, and measurement.
On the slope inequalities for extremal curves
Authors: Beorchia Valentina , Brundu Michela 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe present paper concerns the question of the violation of the r-th inequality for extremal curves in $$\mathbb {P}^r$$

P

r

, posed in [KM]. We show that the answer is negative in many cases (Theorem 4.13 and Corollary 4.14). The result is obtained by a detailed analysis of the geometry of extremal curves and their canonical model. As a consequence, we show that particular curves on a Hirzebruch surface do not violate the slope inequalities in a certain range (Theorem 6.4).
Homeschooling in Österreich in problematischen Kontexten
Authors: Hofinger Veronika , Reisinger Werner , Walter Rebecca 
Published: September 2022

ZusammenfassungSeit der Corona-Krise nehmen die Skepsis gegenüber dem staatlichen Schulwesen und die Abmeldungen zum häuslichen Unterricht in Österreich stark zu – die Zahlen haben sich zuletzt verdreifacht. Innerhalb des Homeschooling-Milieus gibt es sehr unterschiedliche Formen der konkreten Ausgestaltung des Unterrichts zuhause. Es besteht zudem eine große Bandbreite an Ideologien unter den „Homeschoolern“, die nicht alle gleichermaßen als problematisch einzustufen sind. Es gibt jedoch Gruppierungen und Strömungen innerhalb der Bewegung, die klar dem rechtsesoterischen Spektrum zuzuordnen sind und deren Kritik am Bildungs- und Gesundheitssystem massive staats- und wissenschaftsfeindliche sowie verschwörungsideologische Züge aufweist. Auch in religiös-fundamentalistischen Gruppen, wie z. B. in Freikirchen und sektenähnlichen Gemeinschaften, kann die Inanspruchnahme des Rechts auf Heimunterricht problematisch sein, etwa wenn Kinder von der Außenwelt abgeschottet streng religiös und autoritär erzogen und indoktriniert werden. Der Artikel widmet sich zunächst dem rechtlichen Rahmen und aktuellen Entwicklungen beim häuslichen Unterricht in Österreich, um dann anhand eines Fallbeispiels zu verdeutlichen, wie dieses Recht von ideologisch problematischen Gruppierungen missbraucht wird. Die Autor:innen plädieren dafür, die Kontrollrechte der Behörden auszubauen, um dem Kindeswohlvorrangigkeitsprinzip Geltung zu verschaffen.
On a Functional Inequality of Alzer and Salinas
Authors: Fechner Włodzimierz 
Published: September 2022

AbstractWe deal with the functional inequality $$\begin{aligned} f(x)f(y) - f(xy) \le f (x) + f (y) - f(x+y) \end{aligned}$$

f
(
x
)
f
(
y
)
-
f
(
x
y
)
≤
f
(
x
)
+
f
(
y
)
-
f
(
x
+
y
)

for $$f:{\mathbb {R}}\rightarrow {\mathbb {R}}$$

f
:
R
→
R

, which was introduced by Horst Alzer and Luis Salinas. We show that if f is a solution that is differentiable at 0 and $$f(0)=0$$

f
(
0
)
=
0

, then $$f=0$$

f
=
0

on $${\mathbb {R}}$$
R
or $$f(x) = x$$

f
(
x
)
=
x

for all $$x \in {\mathbb {R}}$$

x
∈
R

. Next, we prove that every solution f which satisfies some mild regularity and such that $$f(0)\ne 0$$

f
(
0
)
≠
0

is globally bounded.
Population growth of stored product insects on wheat containing wheat bugs
Authors: Sakka Maria K. , Athanassiou Christos G. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractIn the present study we examined the effect of the presence of wheat bugs (Eurygaster spp. and Aelia spp.) on wheat on the mortality, progeny production and infestation patterns of three stored product insects, Trogoderma granarium Everts, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and Rhyzopertha dominica (F.). The bioassays were carried out under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 5% relative humidity (r.h.) and continuous darkness), and 20 adults of each stored product insect species were placed in plastic vials (3 cm in diameter, 8 cm in height) with wheat that contained different numbers of wheat bugs (1, 2, 3 or 5 adults). In general, stored product insect mortality was not affected by the presence of wheat bugs, in most of the combinations examined. In most of the cases, mortality of T. granarium was higher on wheat which contained Eurygaster that wheat containing Aelia, while progeny production of S. oryzae was also affected by the presence of wheat bugs. Frass production for all combinations was similar, but greater frass production occurred by all combinations of R. dominica with Aelia. Overall, the presence of wheat bugs could affect the survival and the progeny production of both S. oryzae and R. dominica. In general, our results showed that beetle longevity and fecundity can be affected by the presence of wheat bugs that are likely to be present in stored grains after harvest.
Graphical abstract
The Italian interregional performance evaluation system
Authors: Vola Federico , Benedetto Vera , Vainieri Milena , Nuti Sabina 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThis contribution describes the Interregional Performance Evaluation System (IRPES) designed by MeS Lab of Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa—Italy), by highlighting its main characteristics and its evolution.Context: Since its creation in 2008, the IRPES has been developed by researchers from different backgrounds, with the involvement of practitioners and managers, so as to offer support to local, regional and national healthcare management. The IRPES is currently adopted by 12 Italian regions, which share a common performance evaluation system to assess the respective regional healthcare systems’ performance.Structure: The IRPES is currently composed of about 400 indicators, which monitor different dimensions of the health systems. About half of them are benchmarked against shared standards, to assess the healthcare systems’ performance. Indicators are grouped into around thirty composite indicators.Data visualization: MeS Lab designed innovative tools to deliver a clear representation of the performance of health systems, which in turn facilitate policymakers to gain a dynamic understanding of weaknesses and strengths of the systems they manage. In particular, the more traditional representation tools (such as maps or histograms) are accompanied by new visualisation instruments, such as “the dartboard” and “the stave”.Covid-19: With the outburst of COVID-19 pandemic emergency, assessing the resilience of healthcare systems has become the new challenge posed to the IRPES. Thus, 63 novel resilience indicators tailored for the pandemic were introduced, starting from the second semester of 2020. Continuous monitoring of the performance of health systems was equally implemented, which has been essential to policymakers during such a difficult time.
New Aggregation Approaches with HSV to Color Edge Detection
Authors: Flores-Vidal Pablo , Gómez Daniel , Castro Javier , Montero Javier 
Published: September 2022

AbstractThe majority of edge detection algorithms only deal with grayscale images, while their use with color images remains an open problem. This paper explores different approaches to aggregate color information of RGB and HSV images for edge extraction purposes through the usage of the Sobel operator and Canny algorithm. This paper makes use of Berkeley’s image data set, and to evaluate the performance of the different aggregations, theF-measure is computed. Higher potential of aggregations with HSV channels than with RGB channels is found. This article also shows that depending on the type of image used, RGB or HSV, some methods are more appropriate than others.
Leibniz on Agential Contingency and Inclining but not Necessitating Reasons
Authors: Garcia Juan 
Published: September 2022

AbstractI argue for a novel interpretation of Leibniz’s conception of the kind of contingency that matters for freedom, which I label ‘agential contingency.’ In brief, an agent is free to the extent that she determines herself to do what she judges to be the best of several considered options that she could have brought about had she concluded that these options were best. I use this novel interpretation to make sense of Leibniz’s doctrine that the reasons that explain free actions are merely inclining and not necessitating.