bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A systematic review on the outcomes of local anaesthetic transperineal prostate biopsy
Authors: Kanagarajah Abbie , Hogan Donnacha , Yao Henry H. , Dundee Philip , O'Connell Helen E. 
Published: September 2022

ObjectiveTo conduct a systematic review of the literature to assess the diagnostic ability, complication rate, patient tolerability, and cost of local anaesthetic (LA) transperineal prostate biopsy.MethodsTwo reviewers searched Medline, the Cochrane Library, and Embase for publications on LA transperineal prostate biopsy up to March 2021. Outcomes of interest included cancer detection rates, complication rates, pain assessments and cost.ResultsA total of 35 publications with 113 944 men were included in this review. The cancer detection rate for LA transperineal prostate biopsy in patients undergoing primary biopsy was 52% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45–0.60; I2 = 97) and the clinically significant cancer detection rate (Gleason≥3 + 4) was 37% (95% CI 0.24–0.52; I2 = 99%). The rate of infection‐related complications in the included studies was 0.15% (95% CI 0.0000–0.0043; I2 = 86). The LA transperineal procedures had a low rate of procedural abandonment (26/6954, 0.37%), with the greatest pain scores measured during LA administration. No formal cost analyses on LA transperineal prostate biopsies were identified in the literature. The overall risk of bias in the included studies was high, with considerable study heterogeneity and publication bias.ConclusionTransperineal prostate biopsy performed under LA is a viable option for centres interested in avoiding the risk of infection associated with transrectal biopsy, and the logistical burden of general anaesthesia. Further investigation into LA transperineal prostate biopsy with comparative studies is warranted for its consideration as the standard in prostate biopsy technique.
Integrative biology of injury in animals
Authors: Rennolds Corey W. , Bely Alexandra E. 
Published: September 2022

ABSTRACTMechanical injury is a prevalent challenge in the lives of animals with myriad potential consequences for organisms, including reduced fitness and death. Research on animal injury has focused on many aspects, including the frequency and severity of wounding in wild populations, the short‐ and long‐term consequences of injury at different biological scales, and the variation in the response to injury within or among individuals, species, ontogenies, and environmental contexts. However, relevant research is scattered across diverse biological subdisciplines, and the study of the effects of injury has lacked synthesis and coherence. Furthermore, the depth of knowledge across injury biology is highly uneven in terms of scope and taxonomic coverage: much injury research is biomedical in focus, using mammalian model systems and investigating cellular and molecular processes, while research at organismal and higher scales, research that is explicitly comparative, and research on invertebrate and non‐mammalian vertebrate species is less common and often less well integrated into the core body of knowledge about injury. The current state of injury research presents an opportunity to unify conceptually work focusing on a range of relevant questions, to synthesize progress to date, and to identify fruitful avenues for future research. The central aim of this review is to synthesize research concerning the broad range of effects of mechanical injury in animals. We organize reviewed work by four broad and loosely defined levels of biological organization: molecular and cellular effects, physiological and organismal effects, behavioural effects, and ecological and evolutionary effects of injury. Throughout, we highlight the diversity of injury consequences within and among taxonomic groups while emphasizing the gaps in taxonomic coverage, causal understanding, and biological endpoints considered. We additionally discuss the importance of integrating knowledge within and across biological levels, including how initial, localized responses to injury can lead to long‐term consequences at the scale of the individual animal and beyond. We also suggest important avenues for future injury biology research, including distinguishing better between related yet distinct injury phenomena, expanding the subjects of injury research to include a greater variety of species, and testing how intrinsic and extrinsic conditions affect the scope and sensitivity of injury responses. It is our hope that this review will not only strengthen understanding of animal injury but will contribute to building a foundation for a more cohesive field of ‘injury biology’.
Pigmentary anomaly caused by mosaic 3q22.2q29 duplication
Authors: Martinez-Falero Beatriz Suarez , Koutalopoulou Anastasia , Douglas Andrew G. L. , Kharbanda Mira , Collinson Morag N. , Lotery Andrew , Lotery Helen 
Published: September 2022

Abstract
A 39-year-old woman sought advice regarding potential risks to her offspring due to previous possible diagnosis of incontinentia pigmenti. She had linear hyperpigmentation along the lines of Blaschko affecting the upper and lower limbs, and skin-coloured papules on the left palm. Ophthalmoscopy revealed hypopigmented spots in the macular region of the retina in each eye due to focal areas of depigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium. An array comparative genomic hybridization on DNA extracted from a skin biopsy revealed a 63.63-Mb duplication, arr[GRCh37] 3q22.2q29(134212001_197837069)x3, on the long arm of chromosome 3. This case is an example of genetic mosaicism resulting from a de novo genetic defect arising at some point in embryonic development.
Click here for the corresponding questions to this CME article.
What do (future) civil servants think of bribery and corruption? Evidence from India
Authors: Verma Rajiv , Gupta Saurabh , Birner Regina 
Published: September 2022

SummaryMotivationCivil servants are often seen as key actors responsible for systemic corruption in emerging economies. Yet, there is a dearth of empirical studies on what public officials think of bribery and corruption. Owing to the limitations of enrolling in‐service bureaucrats into research on the sensitive topic of bribery, the study tries to understand the perceptions of future bureaucrats.PurposeThe study is a novel attempt to analyse how the select candidates aspiring to join the highly competitive elite civil services in India respond to experimental bribery situations. What deters potential bribe‐takers from accepting bribes, and what do they think about corruption in public life?Methods and approachThe study employs mixed‐methods research to answer these questions. Experimental bribery games were administered to examine the impact of varying degrees of “punishment,” “monitoring,” and “public loss” and their relation to the varying “bribery amount.” In addition, focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with these participants to explore the dynamics of corruption.FindingsThe findings suggest that high public loss and high severity of punishment were able to deter bribery even when the bribe was high. On the other hand, the impact of a high level of monitoring was only effective in cases where the bribe was low. FGDs revealed that social acceptance of corruption, and the low rate of convictions in corruption cases, are the main reasons for continuing corruption in the public sphere.Policy implicationsThe study suggests that in India and other countries in which corruption is systemic and socially accepted, it is imperative to move anti‐corruption policies away from their present fixation with strict monitoring to strict punishment. Monitoring alone without severe punishment is not sufficient. Corruption cases ought to have swift trials and a better rate of conviction. It is equally important to inculcate the values of social good and integrity in public life.
A rare cause of dyspnea: Primary large B cell lymphoma causes giant cardiac mass
Authors: Aksu Uğur , Korucu Cem , Atilgan Kivanç , Aybek Tayfun , Gökaslan Çiğdem Özer , Aksu Derya , Özdemir Çiğdem 
Published: September 2022

AbstractCardiac lymphoma (CL) is a rare and life‐threatening clinical condition. Most cases are diagnosed late period. Although the definitive diagnosis is made by biopsy, a biopsy could not be performed in most cardiac masses due to the high mortality rate and therefore the exact incidence is not known. In this case report, we present a case of giant CL filling both the pericardial area and right heart cavities and treated with surgical resection in a previously healthy male patient who presented with symptoms of heart failure.
Ecological and habitat preferences of diatoms in lakes of Lützow‐Holm Bay, East Antarctica
Authors: Rudd Rachel Claire , Tyler Jonathan James , Tibby John , Tanabe Yukiko , Kudoh Sakae 
Published: September 2022

Abstract

Lakes and ponds along the Antarctic coastline provide an opportunity for palaeoclimate reconstructions to complement ice core records from the interior of the continent, including via their diatom records.

Diatom palaeoecological studies in remote Antarctica are partially undermined by uncertainty concerning the relative influence of climate, water quality and substrate on diatom species assemblages.

The relative abundance and distribution of diatoms across a range of substrates and water depths were analysed from nine lakes in the coastal ice‐free regions of Lützow‐Holm Bay, East Antarctica.

Specific conductivity and sample position (whether from the shallow, littoral zone, or from deeper parts of the lake) were identified as significant variables in explaining diatom distribution, using non‐metric multidimensional scaling and regression tree analysis to identify statistically significant groupings of diatom assemblages and associated environmental variables.

In contrast to the significant difference between the diatom assemblages from the shallow littoral region and the lake floor at most sites, the diatom flora from different substrates in the littoral zone were not significantly different, which may be related to the extent of ice cover.

Humodophila australis was the most common species in the lakes with lowest specific conductivity, whereas Halamphora vyvermaniana was associated with lake‐floor habitats and Psammothidium papilio with samples from littoral zones at several sites.

These observations hold significance for the interpretation of lake sediment diatom assemblages in Lützow‐Holm Bay as archives of past climate and indicate that sampling strategies should consider a range of locations in lakes, with samples from the lake floor prioritised for the interpretation of sediment core diatom records.
Alternative pathway dysregulation in tissues drives sustained complement activation and predicts outcome across the disease course in COVID‐19
Authors: Siggins Matthew K. , Davies Kate , Fellows Rosie , Thwaites Ryan S. , Baillie J. Kenneth , Semple Malcolm G. , Openshaw Peter J. M. , Zelek Wioleta M. , Harris Claire L. , Morgan B. Paul ,   the ISARIC4C Investigators
Published: September 2022

AbstractComplement, a critical defence against pathogens, has been implicated as a driver of pathology in COVID‐19. Complement activation products are detected in plasma and tissues and complement blockade is considered for therapy. To delineate roles of complement in immunopathogenesis, we undertook the largest comprehensive study of complement in COVID‐19 to date, comprehensive profiling of 16 complement biomarkers, including key components, regulators and activation products, in 966 plasma samples from 682 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients collected across the hospitalization period as part of the UK ISARIC4C (International Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium) study. Unsupervised clustering of complement biomarkers mapped to disease severity and supervised machine learning identified marker sets in early samples that predicted peak severity. Compared to healthy controls, complement proteins and activation products (Ba, iC3b, terminal complement complex) were significantly altered in COVID‐19 admission samples in all severity groups. Elevated alternative pathway activation markers (Ba and iC3b) and decreased alternative pathway regulator (properdin) in admission samples were associated with more severe disease and risk of death. Levels of most complement biomarkers were reduced in severe disease, consistent with consumption and tissue deposition. Latent class mixed modelling and cumulative incidence analysis identified the trajectory of increase of Ba to be a strong predictor of peak COVID‐19 disease severity and death. The data demonstrate that early‐onset, uncontrolled activation of complement, driven by sustained and progressive amplification through the alternative pathway amplification loop is a ubiquitous feature of COVID‐19, further exacerbated in severe disease. These findings provide novel insights into COVID‐19 immunopathogenesis and inform strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Prioritizing municipal lead mitigation projects as a relaxed knapsack optimization: a method and case study
Authors: Slavitt Isaac 
Published: September 2022

AbstractLead pipe remediation budgets are limited and ought to maximize public health impact. This goal implies a nontrivial optimization problem; lead service lines connect water mains to individual houses, but any realistic replacement strategy must batch replacements at a larger scale. Additionally, planners typically lack a principled method for comparing the relative public health value of potential interventions and often plan projects based on nonhealth factors. This paper describes a simple process for estimating child health impact at a parcel level by cleaning and synthesizing municipal datasets that are commonly available but seldom joined due to data quality issues. Using geocoding as the core record linkage mechanism, parcel‐level toxicity data can be combined with school enrollment records to indicate where young children and lead lines coexist. A harm metric of estimated exposure‐years is described at the parcel level, which can then be aggregated to the project level and minimized globally by posing project selection as a 0/1 knapsack problem. Simplifying for use by nonexperts, the implied linear programming relaxation is solved with the greedy algorithm; ordering projects by benefit cost ratio produces a priority list that planners can then consider holistically alongside harder to quantify factors. A case study demonstrates the successful application of this framework to a small U.S. city's existing data to prioritize federal infrastructure funding.
Signal detection shapes ornament allometry in functionally convergent Caribbean Anolis and Southeast Asian Draco lizards
Authors: Summers Thomas C. , Ord Terry J. 
Published: September 2022

AbstractVisual ornaments have long been assumed to evolve hyper‐allometry as an outcome of sexual selection. Yet growing evidence suggests many sexually selected morphologies can exhibit other scaling patterns with body size, including hypo‐allometry. The large conspicuous throat fan, or dewlap, of arboreal Caribbean Anolis lizards was one ornament previously thought to conform to the classical expectation of hyper‐allometry. We re‐evaluated this classic example alongside a second arboreal group of lizards that has also independently evolved a functionally equivalent dewlap, the Southeast Asian Draco lizards. Across multiple closely related species in both genera, the Anolis and Draco dewlaps were either isometric or had hypo‐allometric scaling patterns. In the case of the Anolis dewlap, variation in dewlap allometry was predicted by the distance of conspecifics and the light environment in which the dewlap was typically viewed. Signal efficacy, therefore, appears to have driven the evolution of hypo‐allometry in what was originally thought to be a sexually selected ornament with hyper‐allometry. Our findings suggest that other elaborate morphological structures used in social communication might similarly exhibit isometric or hypo‐allometric scaling patterns because of environmental constraints on signal detection.
Measuring, comparing and interpreting phenotypic selection on floral scent
Authors: Opedal Øystein H. , Gross Karin , Chapurlat Elodie , Parachnowitsch Amy , Joffard Nina , Sletvold Nina , Ovaskainen Otso , Friberg Magne 
Published: September 2022

AbstractNatural selection on floral scent composition is a key element of the hypothesis that pollinators and other floral visitors drive scent evolution. The measure of such selection is complicated by the high‐dimensional nature of floral scent data and uncertainty about the cognitive processes involved in scent‐mediated communication. We use dimension reduction through reduced‐rank regression to jointly estimate a scent composite trait under selection and the strength of selection acting on this trait. To assess and compare variation in selection on scent across species, time and space, we reanalyse 22 datasets on six species from four previous studies. The results agreed qualitatively with previous analyses in terms of identifying populations and scent compounds subject to stronger selection but also allowed us to evaluate and compare the strength of selection on scent across studies. Doing so revealed that selection on floral scent was highly variable, and overall about as common and as strong as selection on other phenotypic traits involved in pollinator attraction or pollen transfer. These results are consistent with an important role of floral scent in pollinator attraction. Our approach should be useful for further studies of plant–animal communication and for studies of selection on other high‐dimensional phenotypes. In particular, our approach will be useful for studies of pollinator‐mediated selection on complex scent blends comprising many volatiles, and when no prior information on the physiological responses of pollinators to scent compounds is available.
QUARTZITIC SANDSTONES IN THE NAMURIAN AND LOWER WESTPHALIAN SUCCESSION OF THE SOUTHERN NORTH SEA: A NEW HIGH‐PERMEABILITY CARBONIFEROUS RESERVOIR TYPE
Authors: Blackbourn G. A. , Collinson J. D. 
Published: September 2022

Most of the potential sandstone reservoirs within the Namurian and lower Westphalian succession of the Southern North Sea Basin are originally feldspathic sands in which the feldspar has mainly been altered to microporous kaolinite clays. The sandstones provide a moderate porosity (typically 8‐15%, depending mainly on grain size), but permeability is severely limited owing to the microporous nature of much of the porosity. Permeability is typically 1 mD or less, rising to a few tens of millidarcies in occasional coarse‐ and very coarse‐grained sands. Predicting the presence of higher‐permeability reservoir zones is therefore a critical exploration problem in these successions.Quartzitic sands have been discovered in places, especially for example in the Trent field (block 43/24), where physical reworking of sands during the transgressions that preceded the deposition of marine bands removed much of the feldspar, so that less clay was formed during burial diagenesis. Although these sandstones display moderately elevated permeabilities, commonly several to several tens of millidarcies, they are usually fine‐grained, which limits their reservoir potential.A particular type of quartzitic sandstone reservoir has been identified quite widely within the Namurian and lower Westphalian succession of the Southern North Sea. This type is indistinguishable in terms of sedimentology and inferred detrital composition from the originally feldspathic facies which now form the widespread kaolinite‐rich, low‐permeability sandstones. However, it has a very low kaolinite content (commonly 1‐2%, compared with a more usual 5‐20%) so that these sandstones display permeabilities of the order of several hundred millidarcies.Wireline log data from nineteen wells within UK Quadrants 43 and 44 have been examined, and all relevant core logged in order to compare the depositional settings of the quartzitic and non‐quartzitic sandstones. Existing data from over 500 petrographic thin sections from the area have been reviewed and 78 new thin sections analysed to determine the petrographic controls on reservoir quality in both sandstone types. The diagenetic histories of each type have been interpreted. The dissolution of feldspars during diagenesis of the quartzitic sandstones, without a substantial residue of kaolinite or other aluminium‐rich mineral, is attributed to the mobilisation of aluminium within organic complexes. This is thought to require the presence of certain organic acids.
A comparison of harmonic and traditional sharp staphylectomy techniques in 15 brachycephalic dogs
Authors: Gilman O. , Moreira L. , Dobromylskyj M. , Doran I. 
Published: September 2022

ObjectivesThe objective was to compare sharp staphylectomy and staphylectomy using harmonic focus shears, assess surgical time, intraoperative haemorrhage and outcome. Our hypothesis was that harmonic staphylectomy would result in reduced surgical time, decreased intraoperative haemorrhage and greater relative improvement.Materials and MethodsDogs that were presented to Highcroft Veterinary Referrals between July 2020 and September 2021 with brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome and underwent surgical correction were prospectively enrolled. Surgical technique was randomised, and surgical time, staphylectomy time, intraoperative haemorrhage, hospitalisation and change in patients' Cambridge BOAS Grade at a 14‐day recheck were recorded.ResultsFifteen dogs were enrolled: seven dogs underwent sharp and eight underwent harmonic staphylectomy. Nine patients returned for follow‐up, four of seven and five of eight, respectively. Harmonic staphylectomy was associated with less haemorrhage (0 versus 9 cotton buds) and a shorter average staphylectomy time (3 minutes 36 seconds versus 14 minutes 50 seconds). No statistically significant differences were observed in total surgery time, number of nights hospitalised, or change in Cambridge BOAS Grade. An average of 0.68 mm of thermal necrosis was seen at the cut edges of soft palates removed by harmonic staphylectomy.Clinical SignificanceHarmonic staphylectomy can result in a reduction in staphylectomy time and degree of intraoperative haemorrhage compared to sharp staphylectomy, with no deleterious impact on postoperative recovery or the long‐term outcome of patients.
A meta–reinforcement learning algorithm for traffic signal control to automatically switch different reward functions according to the saturation level of traffic flows
Authors: Kim Gyeongjun , Kang Jiwon , Sohn Keemin 
Published: September 2022

AbstractReinforcement learning (RL) algorithms have been widely applied in solving traffic signal control problems. Traffic environments, however, are intrinsically nonstationary, which creates a convergence problem that RL algorithms struggle to overcome. Basically, as a target problem for an RL algorithm, the Markov decision process (MDP) can be solved only when both the transition and reward functions do not vary. Unfortunately, the environment for traffic signal control is not stationary since the goal of traffic signal control varies according to congestion levels. For unsaturated traffic conditions, the objective of traffic signal control should be to minimize vehicle delay. On the other hand, the objective must be to maximize the throughput when traffic flow is saturated. A multiregime analysis is possible for varying conditions, but classifying the traffic regime creates another complex task. The present study provides a meta‐RL algorithm that embeds a latent vector to recognize the different contexts of an environment in order to automatically classify traffic regimes and apply a customized reward for each context. In simulation experiments, the proposed meta‐RL algorithm succeeded in differentiating rewards according to the saturation level of traffic conditions.