bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Is orgasmic meditation a form of sex?: practitioners of orgasmic meditation view the practice as significantly more similar to meditation than to sex or fondling
Authors: Siegel Vivian , Roth Caryn , Bolaza Elisabeth , Emmert-Aronson Benjamin , Griggs Caroline 
Published: March 2022

Background: Orgasmic Meditation (OM) is a structured, partnered meditative practice in which one person, who can be any gender, strokes the clitoris of their partner for 15 minutes. As such, it resembles a sexual activity. OM is taught as a practice that is distinct from sex, and we wondered whether people who engage in OM actually maintain that distinction themselves. Methods: We conducted an online convenience sample survey including qualitative open-ended text questions and quantitative Likert-style questions that was distributed to email listservs for practitioners of OM. In the study, 414 participants completed the 30-item questionnaire including questions designed to differentiate the potentially related concepts of OM, seated meditation, fondling, and sex, as bases for comparison. Results: Participants reported that they strongly agreed that OM is not fondling or sex, giving an average Likert-type rating of 4.55 and 4.65, respectively. Participants disagreed most strongly with the statements “OM is Sex,” and “OM is Fondling,” with average ratings of 1.42 and 1.48, respectively (strongly disagree). There was also high disagreement with the statement “OM is not mediation,” with a rating of 1.53. Conclusion: The quantitative results of this mixed methods study show that OM practitioners view the practice as significantly more similar to meditation than to sex or fondling. These results were consistent, regardless of whether the question was asked in the positive or negative or whether OM was being compared to one behavior individually or to multiple behaviors at the same time. The distinction between OM and sex/fondling rapidly becomes more pronounced as practitioners complete more OMs. This suggests that the novelty of genital touching in meditation may diminish over time, as practitioners get used to the more alternative point of focus. The results of this study have implications for the practice and how it is approached and regulated.
Non-invasive health prediction from visually observable features
Authors: Khong Fan Yi , Connie Tee , Goh Michael Kah Ong , Wong Li Pei , Teh Pin Shen , Choo Ai Ling 
Published: March 2022

Background: The unprecedented development of Artificial Intelligence has revolutionised the healthcare industry. In the next generation of healthcare systems, self-diagnosis will be pivotal to personalised healthcare services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, new screening and diagnostic approaches like mobile health are well-positioned to reduce disease spread and overcome geographical barriers. This paper presents a non-invasive screening approach to predict the health of a person from visually observable features using machine learning techniques. Images like face and skin surface of the patients are acquired using camera or mobile devices and analysed to derive clinical reasoning and prediction of the person’s health. Methods: In specific, a two-level classification approach is presented. The proposed hierarchical model chooses a class by training a binary classifier at the node of the hierarchy. Prediction is then made using a set of class-specific reduced feature set. Results: Testing accuracies of 86.87% and 76.84% are reported for the first and second-level classification. Empirical results demonstrate that the proposed approach yields favourable prediction results while greatly reduces the computational time. Conclusions: The study suggests that it is possible to predict the health condition of a person based on his/her face appearance using cost-effective machine learning approaches.
The pathogenicity of blood stream and central nervous system forms of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense trypanosomes in laboratory mice: a comparative study
Authors: Ndungu Kariuki , Thuita John , Murilla Grace , Kagira John , Auma Joanna , Mireji Paul , Ngae Geoffrey , Okumu Paul , Gitonga Purity , Guya Samuel , Mdachi Raymond 
Published: March 2022

Background: Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) develops in two stages namely early stage when trypanosomes are found in the blood and late stage when trypanosomes are found in the central nervous system (CNS). The two environments are different with CNS environment reported as being hostile to the trypanosomes than the blood environment. The clinical symptoms manifested by the disease in the two environments are different. Information on whether blood stream are pathologically different from CNS trypanosomes is lacking. This study undertook to compare the inter-isolate pathological differences caused by bloodstream forms (BSF) and central nervous system (CNS) of five Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (Tbr) isolates in Swiss white mice. Methods: Donor mice infected with each of the five isolates were euthanized at 21 days post infection (DPI) for recovery of BSF trypanosomes in heart blood and CNS trypanosomes in brain supernatants. Groups of Swiss white mice (n = 10) were then infected with BSF or CNS forms of each isolate and monitored for parasitaemia, packed cell volume (PCV), body weight, survivorship, trypanosome length, gross and histopathology characteristics. Results: Amplification of SRA gene prior to trypanosome morphology and pathogenicity studies confirmed all isolates as T. b. rhodesiense. At 21 DPI, CNS trypanosomes were predominantly long slender (LS) while BSF were a mixture of short stumpy and intermediate forms. The density of BSF trypanosomes was on average 2-3 log-scales greater than that of CNS trypanosomes with isolate KETRI 2656 having the highest CNS trypanosome density. Conclusions: The pathogenicity study revealed clear differences in the virulence/pathogenicity of the five (5) isolates but no distinct and consistent differences between CNS and BSF forms of the same isolate. We also identified KETRI 2656 as a suitable isolate for acute menigo- encephalitic studies.
Numerical analysis of pulsing regimes near static borders of optically injected semiconductor lasers
Authors: Rodriguez Sergio , Campuzano Gabriel , Aldaya Ivan , Castañón Gerardo 
Published: March 2022

It is well known that semiconductor lasers under optical injection present rich, dynamic behavior. In this paper, we focus on pulsing regimes, which can be either exploited in a broad variety of applications or lead to undesired instabilities. In particular, we develop a multi-metric method to automatically identify pulsing regimes in the parameter space. We apply this method to extensive numerical simulations to show that these regimes occur in the vicinity of the static synchronization boundary. Furthermore, analyzing these pulsing regimes, we identify pulsations with repetition rates ranging from several megahertz up to more than 1 GHz. Finally, we analyze the effect of the linewidth enhancement factor and the slave-laser bias current, revealing that a linewidth enhancement factor of 3 and a higher bias current lead to broader regions of pulsation regimes.
Are early childhood stunting and catch-up growth associated with school age cognition?—Evidence from an Indian birth cohort
Authors: Koshy Beena , Srinivasan Manikandan , Gopalakrishnan Sowmiya , Mohan Venkata Raghava , Scharf Rebecca , Murray-Kolb Laura , John Sushil , Beulah Rachel , Muliyil Jayaprakash , Kang Gagandeep 
Published: March 2022

Background
Millions of children worldwide especially in the Asian subcontinent are vulnerable to early childhood stunting. There are contradictory reports of the association between catch-up growth in childhood and school age cognition.

Methods
A community-based birth cohort recruited between 2010 and 2012 from urban slums in Vellore, India was followed up until 9 years of age. From regular anthropometric measurements, stunting status for each individual child was calculated at 2, 5 and 9 years. Cognition was assessed at 9 years of age using the Malin’s Intelligence Scale for Indian Children (MISIC). Children were divided into groups based on stunting at each time point as well as catch-up growth, and a regression model was utilised to evaluate their association with cognition at 9 years.

Results
Among 203 children included in this analysis, 94/203 (46.31%) children were stunted at 2 years of age, of whom 39.36% had a catch-up growth at 5 years of age, and 38.30% at 9 years. Around 10% of the cohort remained stunted at all time points. In the multivariable analysis, children who were stunted at 2, 5 and 9 years had a significantly lower verbal and total intelligence quotient (IQ) scores by 4.6 points compared to those who were never stunted. Children with catch up growth following stunting at 2 years had higher cognition scores than those who were persistently stunted throughout the childhood.

Conclusions
This study showed persistent stunting in childhood was associated with lowering of 4–5 IQ points in childhood cognition at 9 years of age. Recovery from early life stunting in children with catch up growth prevented further lowering of cognition scores in these children compared to persistently stunted children. Nutritional supplementation during late infancy and early toddlerhood in addition to continuing nutritional supplementation programmes for preschool and school children can improve childhood stunting and cognitive abilities in vulnerable populations.
Influence of age on gadoxetic acid disodium-induced transient respiratory motion artifacts in pediatric liver MRI
Authors: Hojreh Azadeh , Ba-Ssalamah Ahmed , Lang Christian , Poetter-Lang Sarah , Huber Wolf-Dietrich , Tamandl Dietmar 
Published: March 2022

Purpose
Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced liver MRI is frequently compromised by transient severe motion artifacts (TSM) in the arterial phase, which limits image interpretation for the detection and differentiation of focal liver lesions and for the recognition of the arterial vasculature before and after liver transplantation. The purpose of this study was to investigate which patient factors affect TSM in children who undergo Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced liver MRI and whether younger children are affected as much as adolescents.

Methods
One hundred and forty-eight patients (65 female, 83 male, 0.1–18.9 years old), who underwent 226 Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRIs were included retrospectively in this single-center study. The occurrence of TSM was assessed by three readers using a four-point Likert scale. The relation to age, gender, body mass index, indication for MRI, requirement for sedation, and MR repetition was investigated using uni- and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results
In Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRIs, TSM occurred in 24 examinations (10.6%). Patients with TSM were significantly older than patients without TSM (median 14.3 years; range 10.1–18.1 vs. 12.4 years; range 0.1–18.9, p<0.001). TSM never appeared under sedation. Thirty of 50 scans in patients younger than 10 years were without sedation. TSM were not observed in non-sedated patients younger than 10 years of age (p = 0.028). In a logistic regression analysis, age remained the only cofactor independently associated with the occurrence of TSM (hazard ratio 9.152, p = 0.049).

Conclusion
TSM in Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced liver MRI do not appear in children under the age of 10 years.
Satisfaction with regular hospital foodservices and associated factors among adult patients in Wolaita zone, Ethiopia: A facility-based cross-sectional study
Authors: Teka Meskerem , Dihar Gargi , Dana Tadele , Asnake Gedion , Wakgari Negash , Bonger Zeleke , Daga Wakgari Binu 
Published: March 2022

Background
Food service in hospital is one of the essential parts of the treatment process that determines recovery length and a hospital stay of patients. Even though many researches have been conducted on patients’ satisfaction with healthcare services, there is a lack of studies that specifically address the satisfaction with food service at healthcare facilities in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with regular hospital food service and associated factors among adults admitted to in-patient departments of hospitals.

Methods
A hospital-based cross-sectional study design was conducted to interview 423 patients admitted to three randomly selected hospitals namely Wolaita Sodo University Referral and Teaching Hospital, Dubo St. Catholic Hospital and Sodo Christian Hospital. Participants were recruited based on probability proportional to the number of clients in each hospital. After data entry using EpiInfo v7.2.2.6, the data were exported to SPSS v23 software for further analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were undertaken to see the association between variables. Statistically significant variables were declared using an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval.

Result
Among the total participants 33.6% (95%CI: [29.1, 38.3]) of patients were satisfied with regular hospital food services. Multivariate analysis revealed that residence (AOR = 2.16; 95%CI: [1.28, 3.63]), monthly income (AOR = 5.64; 95%CI: [2.30, 8.28]), flavour of meal, (AOR = 2.63; 95%CI: [1.34, 5.56]), and provision of easily chewable food (AOR = 7.50; 95%CI: [2.00, 12.82]) were influencing factors for satisfaction on hospital foodservices.

Conclusion
This research ascertained a low patient satisfaction with regular hospital meal service. The identified factors need to be addressed giving attention for each foodservice dimension to scale up the patient satisfaction with hospital food services.
Automatic intra-subject registration and fusion of multimodal cochlea 3D clinical images
Authors: Al-Dhamari Ibraheem , Helal Rania , Morozova Olesia , Abdelaziz Tougan , Jacob Roland , Paulus Dietrich , Waldeck Stephan 
Published: March 2022

Background
The postoperative imaging assessment of Cochlear Implant (CI) patients is imperative. The main obstacle is that Magnetic Resonance imaging (MR) is contraindicated or hindered by significant artefacts in most cases with CIs. This study describes an automatic cochlear image registration and fusion method that aims to help radiologists and surgeons to process pre-and postoperative 3D multimodal imaging studies in cochlear implant (CI) patients.

Methods and findings
We propose a new registration method, Automatic Cochlea Image Registration (ACIR-v3), which uses a stochastic quasi-Newton optimiser with a mutual information metric to find 3D rigid transform parameters for registration of preoperative and postoperative CI imaging. The method was tested against a clinical cochlear imaging dataset that contains 131 multimodal 3D imaging studies of 41 CI patients with preoperative and postoperative images. The preoperative images were MR, Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) or Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) while the postoperative were CBCT. The average root mean squared error of ACIR-v3 method was 0.41 mm with a standard deviation of 0.39 mm. The results were evaluated quantitatively using the mean squared error of two 3D landmarks located manually by two neuroradiology experts in each image and compared to other previously known registration methods, e.g. Fast Preconditioner Stochastic Gradient Descent, in terms of accuracy and speed.

Conclusions
Our method, ACIR-v3, produces high resolution images in the postoperative stage and allows for visualisation of the accurate anatomical details of the MRI with the absence of significant metallic artefacts. The method is implemented as an open-source plugin for 3D Slicer tool.
Nursing students admitted through the affirmative action system display similar performance in professional and academic trajectories to those from the regular path in a public school in Brazil
Authors: Biazotto Marize Lima de Sousa Holanda , Donato Göttems Leila Bernarda , Bittencourt Fernanda Viana , de Araújo Gilson Roberto , Soares Fernandes Sérgio Eduardo , Lopes Rodrigues Carlos Manoel , de Assis Rocha Neves Francisco , Amorim Fábio Ferreira 
Published: March 2022

Objectives
Affirmative action providing higher education access for socially vulnerable students has been implemented in several countries. However, these policies remain controversial. This study compares the performance of students admitted through the regular path and social quota systems, during and after completion of nursing education, in a public nursing school in Brazil.

Methods
This retrospective cohort study included all students admitted to nursing school at the School of Health Sciences (ESCS), Brazil, between 2009 and 2014, who were followed until May 2020. The first phase involved document analysis from the ESCS academic management system and Brazilian government agencies. In the second phase, a survey was conducted among the alumni. The social quota system criterion was public school attendance across all primary and secondary education levels.

Results
Of the 448 students included in the study, 178 (39.7%) were from the affirmative action and 270 (60.3%) from the regular path systems. Affirmative action students were older at the time of nursing school admission (p < 0.001) and took longer to be admitted to the nursing school (p < 0.001) after completing high school. There were no significant differences in the dropout rates and years to complete nursing school. In the second phase, 108 alumni answered the survey. No significant differences were found in their participation in the undergraduate scientific research program and university extension projects, attending residency programs, getting a master’s degree and doctoral degree, monthly income, teaching activity, joining public service through a government job competition process, participation in management activities in the private and public health sector, and degree of job satisfaction.

Conclusion
Our results revealed that affirmative action is a policy that contributes to the reduction of inequalities and guarantees the training of nursing professionals with a similar professional qualification received through affirmative action and regular path systems.
Mortality and associated risk factors in patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 in a Peruvian reference hospital
Authors: Soto Alonso , Quiñones-Laveriano Dante M. , Azañero Johan , Chumpitaz Rafael , Claros José , Salazar Lucia , Rosales Oscar , Nuñez Liz , Roca David , Alcantara Andres 
Published: March 2022

Objectives
To determine the risk factors for in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19 from a Peruvian national hospital.

Methods
Retrospective cohort study of medical records of patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at Hospital Nacional Hipólito Unanue (HNHU) during the months of April to August 2020. The dependent variable was in-hospital mortality. Independent variables included sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, physical examination findings, oxygen saturation (SaO2) at admission, treatment received during hospitalization and laboratory results at admission. A Cox regression model was used to evaluate the crude and adjusted hazard ratios for associated factors.

Results
We included 1418 patients. Median age was 58 years (IQR 47–68 years) and 944 (66.6%) were male. The median length of hospitalization was 7 (4–13) days, and the mortality rate was 46%. The most frequent comorbidities were type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and obesity. In the adjusted analysis, mortality was associated with age (HR 1.02; 95%CI 1.02–1.03), history of surgery (HR 1.89; 95%CI 1.31–2.74), lower oxygen saturation at admission (HR 4.08; CI95% 2.72–8.05 for SaO2<70% compared to SaO2>94%), the presence of poor general condition (HR 1.81; 95% CI 1.29–2.53), altered state of consciousness (HR 1.58; 95%CI 1.18–2.11) and leukocyte levels (HR 1.01; 95%CI 1.00–1. 02). Treatment with ivermectin (HR 1.44; 95%CI 1.18–1.76) and azithromycin (HR 1.25; 95%CI 1.03–1.52) were associated with higher mortality. Treatment with corticosteroids at low to moderate doses was associated with lower mortality (HR 0.56 95%CI 0. 37–0. 86) in comparison to no steroid use.

Conclusion
A high mortality was found in our cohort. Low oxygen saturation at admission, age, and the presence of hematological and biochemical alterations were associated with higher mortality. The use of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin or azithromycin was not useful and was probably associated with unfavorable outcomes. The use of corticosteroids at moderate doses was associated with lower mortality.
Hubungan antara Pola Asuh Keluarga dengan Kejadian Balita Stunting pada Keluarga Miskin di Palembang
Authors: Bella Febriani Dwi , Fajar Nur Alam , Misnaniarti M 
Published: March 2022

Background: Stunting is a result of a malnutrition state that accumulates for an extended time and is a threat to the future of Indonesian children. The incidence of toddler’s stunting is indirectly related to the role of parenting in the family, namely feeding, nurturing, hygiene and getting health services. The aim of the study was to analyze the correlation of parenting to the incidence of toddler’s stunting on poor families in Palembang.Methods: This research was an observational study which using a quantitative approach with a Cross Sectional Study design on March 2019. Data samples of 100 mothers who had children aged 24-59 months from poor families in Palembang were chosen by proportional random sampling.Result: The results showed that the proportion of toddler’s stunting in poor families in Palembang was 29%. The results of bivariate analysis showed that there was a relationship between feeding habits (p = 0,000); parenting habits (p = 0.001); hygiene habits (p = 0.021); and the habit of getting health services (p = 0,000) with the incidence of stunting for toddlers.Conclusion : Normal height (not stunting) toddlers have parenting habits such as feeding habits, nurturing habits, hygiene habits and the habit of getting health services better than stunting toddlers in the same economic backgrounds family.
Growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broilers fed different type of diets and feed additives
Authors: Nalle C. L. , Helda H. , Toelle N. , Mawaddah U. 
Published: March 2022

This research aimed to evaluate the nutrient digestibility and the growth performance of broilers fed a different type of diet (TD) and feed additives (FA). A total of 264 day-old chicks (male, Lohmann) were randomly distributed into 24 pens (11 birds/pen). The experiment was designed by using a 2 x 4 factorial completely randomized design with the main factors TD and FA. The result shows that TD x FA interaction was significant (p<0.05-0.001) for feed intake (FI) and body weigt gain (BWG) of starter broilers. The TD, FA, and TD x FA affected (p<0.01-0.001) growth performance (GP) of growing broilers. TD and TD x FA interaction affected liver weight and the length of proventriculus and gizzard (p<0.05 to 0.001). Except for starch, the TD did not affect (p>0.05) nutrient digestibility (ND) and energy values (EV). Except for crude protein, FA did not affect (p>0.05) on ND and EV. The TD x FA interaction did not affect ND and EV. TD affected (p<0.05–0.001) on FI and BWG)of starter broilers. Except for day 7, FA influenced (p<0.01–0.001) FI and BWG of starter broilers. In conclusion, 1) The addition of Synbiotics and Allzyme SSF-E on Rice bran-sago diet (RSD) improved the GP of birds; and 2) The complex and multi enzymes work well in the rice bran-sago diet 3) RSD produced better growth performance of broiler starter.