bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Managing stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional analysis of socio-demographic inequalities in a London borough
Authors: Wou Constance , Crompton James , Ashworth Mark , Williams Helen , Dodhia Hiten 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Background
Stroke prevention is essential for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), but some receive sub-optimal management. We reviewed those with a recorded AF diagnosis assessed with CHA2DS2-VASc stroke risk score (SRS) and socio-demographic determinants of anticoagulation prescribing. The objective was to compare with national guidance recommendations, which recommend anticoagulant therapy for SRS ≥ 2, to determine if there were inequalities in management.

Methods
A cross-sectional design was used to analyze records from all (n = 41) general practices in one London borough. Patients were excluded if they were &lt;18 years, had AF resolved or diagnosed &lt; 3 months. Logistic regression identified socio-demographic factors associated with high SRS and anticoagulant prescribing.

Results
Of 2913 patients, 2885 (99.0%) had an SRS, and 2411 (83.6%) a score ≥ 2 and 82.9% (1999 of 2411) were prescribed anticoagulation. Women (compared with men), Black and Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups (compared with White), and those living in most deprived areas (compared with least) were more likely to have a score ≥ 2. Patients with a high SRS from Black and Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups and aged 18–74 years were less likely to be prescribed anticoagulation.

Conclusion
We found evidence of age and ethnic inequity in anticoagulation prescribing for stroke prevention in patients with AF.
Collective health behavior and face mask utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma, USA
Authors: Bray Laura A , Porter Olivia , Kim Andrew , Jervis Lori L 
Published: January 2022

AbstractBackgroundFace mask use offers an important public health tool for reducing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), yet the politicization of COVID-19 has resulted in uneven adherence. This study assesses the effects of setting characteristics and the sociodemographic composition of crowds on group-level masking rates.MethodsWe conducted 123 site observations of masking behavior at public locations across Oklahoma (USA) between June and September 2020. We used analyses of variance and t-tests to examine variation in masking and ordinary least squares regression to model the effect of setting and sociodemographic characteristics on site-level masking rates.ResultsThe masking rate across all sites averaged 34% but varied widely. Site-level masking rates were higher at metropolitan sites and sites with a store or municipal masking mandate. The masking rate at sites where women or older adults (60+) were the predominant group did not differ significantly from other sites. Ethnically diverse sites exhibited significantly higher masking rates compared with predominantly white sites. Findings indicate that setting characteristics explained a greater amount of variation in collective masking rates than sociodemographic differences.ConclusionsThis study underscores the importance of place and policy for mask adherence. In the absence of state-level mandates, masking policies at a more local level may be effective.
Asset Pricing Tests of Infrequently Traded Securities: The Case of Municipal Bonds
Authors: Chen Yao-Tsung , Wu Chunchi , Yeh Chung-Ying 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Using a dynamic selection model, we obtain consistent and unbiased estimates of risk and returns for infrequently traded bonds and conduct the first comprehensive asset pricing test of municipal bonds using the multifactor approach. Correction for sample selection and infrequent trading problems results in substantially higher beta estimates. Besides conventional risk factors, illiquidity and taxes are important for the pricing of municipal bonds. Importantly, bond returns contain a significant liquidity risk premium. Failing to account for sample selection bias leads to erroneous inference on the magnitude of systematic risk and substantial underestimation of risk premiums. (JEL G12, G14)
Comparing Partitioned Models to Mixture Models: Do Information Criteria Apply?
Authors: Crotty Stephen M , Holland Barbara R 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
The use of information criteria to distinguish between phylogenetic models has become ubiquitous within the field. However, the variety and complexity of available models are much greater now than when these practices were established. The literature shows an increasing trajectory of healthy skepticism with regard to the use of information theory-based model selection within phylogenetics. We add to this by analyzing the specific case of comparison between partition and mixture models. We argue from a theoretical basis that information criteria are inherently more likely to favor partition models over mixture models, and we then demonstrate this through simulation. Based on our findings, we suggest that partition and mixture models are not suitable for information-theory based model comparison. [AIC, BIC; information criteria; maximum likelihood; mixture models; partitioned model; phylogenetics.]
Evaluation of a social marketing approach to healthy, home-cooked family meals for low-income mothers of young children
Authors: Tietyen Mullins Janet , Walters Jackie , Najor Jean , Mikuška Jakub , Courtney Anita , Norman-Burgdolf Heather 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Cooking is a complex behavior associated with more frequent and nutrient-dense family meals. The Cook Together, Eat Together (CTET) social marketing program used formative, process, and outcome evaluations over a 3-year period to design a program to increase fruit and vegetable intake and frequency of family meals. We used a quasi-experimental, mixed-methods design with a nonequivalent comparison group to evaluate fruit and vegetable intake and family meals. Eight focus groups of mothers in low-income families with young children revealed two predominant behavioral mediators: (i) importance of family time and (ii) desire for children to learn to cook and become self-sufficient adults. Program design was grounded in formative evaluation and organized by the four Ps of social marketing: (i) product—learning to prepare healthy meals while teaching children to cook; (ii) price—lowered by reducing barriers of food cost, kitchen clean-up, meal planning, grocery shopping; (iii) placement—in neighborhood gathering places with a “cooking social”; and (iv) promotion—flyers, newsletters, and social media. Outcome indicators were assessed pre/post intervention with questions from instruments validated for the audience. Significant changes (n = 68, p ≥ .002, Bonferroni adjustment for p = .05, Cohen’s d = .50 medium effect size) were found in consumption of fruits and vegetables with an average increase of half cup each per day. CTET participation significantly increased fruits and vegetables served and eaten at family meals. A social marketing approach can help families with young children increase fruit and vegetable consumption.
The Bureaucratization of Death: The First World War, Families, and the State
Authors: Foster Ann-Marie 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
After the First World War the British state tried to show the families of the dead their thanks, and memorialize the dead, through the two-minute silence and the creation of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. However, before families of deceased servicepeople encountered the state through national commemorations they encountered it through the administrative paperwork of death. Other than brief mentions in wider works, the bureaucracy of death is remarkably absent from discussions of death, yet the paperwork associated with death was a significant part of family experiences of bereavement, particularly in wartime. This article argues that state bureaucracy played a key role in defining people’s experience of wartime bereavement, both practically, through the paperwork sent, but also temporally, by controlling when and how families could carry out grave-related elements of mourning, such as choosing an epitaph. Over the course of the early inter-war period, the bureaucracy of death encountered by the families of the war dead could profoundly shape their experience of loss.
Women of the Left, Patriotism, and National Identity, 1914–28
Authors: Swift David 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
The literature on the role of women in the First World War, and the war’s effect on gender roles, considers conservative and socialist feminism, the expansion of the franchise in 1918 and 1928, and state welfare policies. However, there has been less work on the women of the Left who participated in the war effort, and who used nationalism to push for socialist and feminist objectives. These women have been understudied for various reasons: as women, they were often disregarded by military and political historians, and as enablers a conflict they have usually been overlooked by historians of gender and of the Left. This article is concerned with these women, and examines the extent, nature and significance of their participation within the war effort and their use of nationalism to advance socialist and feminist objectives. It analyses how their actions during the conflict affected the gender, class and political frameworks of the time, both in the lead-up to the Representation of the People Act 1918, and in the first years of female enfranchisement. Based on extensive use of the files of the War, Emergency: Workers’ National Committee and on the publications of the labour and co-operative movements, it argues that a substantial section of the female labour movement articulated a sense of British nationalism in the years during and after the First World War, utilized this to advance their political, economic, and feminist objectives, and in doing so challenged political orthodoxy and prevailing gender roles.
Construction of the final results of infinite iterative processes in individuals’ mind in a geometrical context
Authors: Barahmand Ali 
Published: January 2022

AbstractThis study provides a framework for explaining the way individuals might construct the final result of infinite iterative processes in a geometrical context. To this end, 30 undergraduate students were interviewed. The analysis of the data collected yielded two different views: first, there were those who believed that the presented infinite iterative processes will have to end because nothing else could be imagined; second, there were those who claimed that the processes will not end because assuming that a final result will fall out of processes would be paradoxical. In this regard, this study demonstrates how some related paradoxes in a geometrical context can be interpreted, by analyzing their potential sources, within the proposed framework.
Situation of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors in the World Health Organization of Eastern Mediterranean region 1990–2020
Authors: Vatandoost Hassan , Hanafi-Bojd Ahmad Ali , Nikpoor Fatemeh , Raeisi Ahmad , Abai Mohammad Reza , Zaim Morteza 
Published: January 2022

Abstract
Malaria is the most important mosquito-borne disease, which is transmitted by Anopheles species. According to the recent report of World Health Organization, there were an estimated 229 million malaria cases in 2019 in 87 malaria endemic countries. There are several vector control method specially using pesticides. The aim of this study was to collect all the data about insecticide resistant of malaria vectors in the Eastern Mediterranean region countries. In this study, all the published papers related to insecticide resistance of malaria vectors in the region were collected and resistant status of vectors in the countries was mapped. Resistance to different insecticide classes such as pyrethroids, organophosphate, organochlorine and carbamates were evaluated using World Health Organization guidelines. Results showed a wide variety of susceptibility/resistance status to these chemicals according to the location, historical context of pesticide used, genetic background of vectors, age and abdominal conditions of adults may play a role in the susceptibility status of these species to different insecticides. The results of this study is providing a guideline for countries to manage their vector control activities against insecticide resistance of malaria vectors and provide novel approaches such as male sterility, using Wolbachia, using new insecticide with new mode of action.
The Great Health Paradox: A Call for Increasing Investment in Public Health
Authors: Blazer Dan G. , Colenda Christopher C. , Applegate William B. , Reifler Burton V. 
Published: January 2022

The great health paradox is that the least expensive and most effective public health measures available for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic—and other society-wide health challenges—have long been ignored and rejected in the United States in favor of more expensive and personalized care. The U.S. medical system is being overwhelmed in part because of this paradox. The authors argue that the country has invested excessively in acute care medical technology while investing insufficiently in its public health infrastructure.
In this Invited Commentary, the authors recommend 5 steps that academic medicine should take to increase emphasis on and understanding of public health interventions to address society’s health problems: (1) incorporate problem-based learning experiences in the medical school curriculum and community-based clinical rotations in public health departments, (2) better integrate schools of public health and schools of medicine, (3) encourage physicians to pursue public health careers, (4) educate the public about strategies for decreasing chronic illnesses, and (5) increase collaboration with colleagues around the world to identify and track outbreaks.
Alcohol-related Opioid Overdose Deaths in Minnesota Between 2011 and 2020: Trends by Sex
Authors: Friedman Jessica K. , Wright Nate , Gloppen Kari M. 
Published: January 2022

Objectives
To characterize the overall trend and differences by sex in opioid overdose death (OOD) and alcohol-related opioid overdose deaths (AOOD) in Minnesota between 2011 and 2020 in relation to drug overdose deaths.

Methods
Using Minnesota death certificate data from 2011 to 2020, we identified OOD and AOOD among Minnesota residents aged 15 and older who died of a drug overdose death. We calculated significant differences in the annual proportion of OOD and AOOD and sex differences using Pearson x

2
tests.

Results
Approximately 59% of all drug overdose deaths are attributed to opioids, and 18% of those deaths are alcohol-related. Significant increases in the proportion of OOD were found between 2019 and 2020 and a significant decrease between 2017 and 2018 for women only. No significant changes were found in the overall proportion of AOOD. Men had higher on average proportions of OOD and alcohol-related OOD.

Conclusions
Proportions of OOD in relation to overdose deaths increased between 2011 and 2020, with a precipitous increase between 2019 and 2020 while the proportion of AOOD remained relatively stable over the period. Alcohol remains a contributing factor in approximately 1 in 5 OODs in Minnesota. These results support the need for accessible, evidence-based prevention and treatment programs to prevent drug overdose.
The Social Context of Unhealthy Alcohol Use Among Emergency Department Patients: A Cross Sectional Study
Authors: Anderson Erik S. , Fraimow-Wong Leah , Blake Rachel , Batiste Kierra , Liang Amy , DeFries Triveni , Herring Andrew A. , Alter Harrison 
Published: January 2022

Background
Housing status and additional social determinants of health are important data for clinicians and policy makers to design and implement effective interventions for emergency department (ED) patients with unhealthy alcohol use (UAU).

Methods
We surveyed patients in an urban, safety-net ED from June to August 2018. UAU was assessed by a validated single-item screening question endorsed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Housing status was assessed using items validated for housing stability.

Results
Seven hundred fifty-eight patients completed the survey (60% response rate), and 296 (39%; 95% confidence interval: 36%–43%) reported UAU. Patients with and without UAU had the same rates of ED visits (median 2, interquartile range: 1–4; P = 0.69) and hospitalizations (median 0, interquartile range: 0–0; P = 0.31) in the 12 months before index visit. Patients with UAU were more likely to lack stable housing compared to patients without UAU (69% vs 59%; P = 0.006). Illicit drug use and prescription drug misuse was more common in patients with UAU compared to those without UAU (29% vs 14%, P < 0.001; and 18% vs 10%; P < 0.001, respectively). Only 60 (20.3%) of the 296 patients with UAU had a documented diagnosis of UAU in the medical record.

Conclusions
UAU is common in the general ED patient population and usually not clinically recognized. Patients with UAU have high rates of homelessness and co-occurring substance use. Future studies should consider strategies to incorporate social determinants of health and harm reduction treatments into ED-based interventions for UAU.
Management of Xylazine Withdrawal in a Hospitalized Patient: A Case Report
Authors: Ehrman-Dupre Rachel , Kaigh Caroline , Salzman Matt , Haroz Rachel , Peterson Lars-Kristofer , Schmidt Ryan 
Published: January 2022

Background
Xylazine is an alpha-2 adrenergic agonist commonly used as a large animal anesthetic. It is used as an adulterant in illicit opioids, and it is now well established that its synergistic effect with opioids increases lethality. The amount of xylazine adulterating illicit opioids is growing at an alarming rate, present in almost one-third of opioid overdose deaths reported in Philadelphia in 2019. Despite this, there are no reports considering the management of patients using xylazine chronically. In particular, there are no reported cases detailing the management of xylazine withdrawal or exploring the potential for ongoing treatment for those in recovery from xylazine use.

Case Summary
We present the case of a 29 year old female with opioid use disorder and chronic xylazine use, admitted to the intensive care unit for treatment of chronic lower extremity wounds thought to be due to xylazine injection. Her xylazine withdrawal was managed with a combination of dexmedetomidine infusion, phenobarbital and tizanidine, later transitioned to clonidine. By hospital day 4 she was no longer experiencing withdrawal symptoms. She was transitioned from full-agonist opioids for pain to buprenorphine via a buprenorphine “micro-induction” and was ultimately discharged on buprenorphine, clonidine, and gabapentin on day 19 of admission.

Clinical Significance
This case illustrates a potential treatment pathway that allows for safe and comfortable xylazine withdrawal in hospitalized patients. It also provides an introduction into several medical concerns affecting this patient population specifically, including xylazine-mediated soft tissue wounds.
Temporal Trends and Predictors of Opioid Use Among Older Patients With Cancer
Authors: Salans Mia , Riviere Paul , Vitzthum Lucas K. , Nalawade Vinit , Murphy James D. 
Published: January 2022

Objectives:
While opioids represent a cornerstone of cancer pain management, the timing and patterns of opioid use in the cancer population have not been well studied. This study sought to explore longitudinal trends in opioid use among Medicare beneficiaries with nonmetastatic cancer.

Materials and Methods:
Within a cohort of 16,072 Medicare beneficiaries ≥66 years old diagnosed with nonmetastatic cancer between 2007 and 2013, we determined the likelihood of receiving a short-term (0 to 6 mo postdiagnosis), intermediate-term (6 to 12 mo postdiagnosis), long-term (1 to 2 y postdiagnosis), and high-risk (morphine equivalent dose ≥90 mg/day) opioid prescription after cancer diagnosis. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify patient and cancer risk factors associated with these opioid use endpoints.

Results:
During the study period, 74.6% of patients received an opioid prescription, while only 2.66% of patients received a high-risk prescription. Factors associated with use varied somewhat between short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term use, though in general, patients at higher risk of receiving an opioid prescription after their cancer diagnosis were younger, had higher stage disease, lived in regions of higher poverty, and had a history of prior opioid use. Prescriptions for high-risk opioids were associated with individuals living in regions with lower poverty.

Conclusions:
Temporal trends in opioid use in cancer patients depend on patient, demographic, and tumor characteristics. Overall, understanding these correlations may help physicians better identify patient-specific risks of opioid use and could help better inform future evidence-based, cancer-specific opioid prescription guidelines.
Relationship between serum vitamin D concentration and parameters of gonadal function in infertile male patients
Authors: Holzer Mariela , Massa Estefanía , Ghersevich Sergio 
Published: January 2022

Abstract

Background
Vitamin D (vitD) deficiency could affect male reproductive function. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between serum vitD concentrations and hormonal and seminal parameters in infertile patients and to compare the results with those in healthy controls.

Materials and methods
Infertile patients (n = 29) and normozoospermic healthy donors (n = 27) were recruited for the study. Serum concentrations of vitD, total testosterone, estradiol, and sex hormone-binding globulin were determined using chemiluminescence assays, and free testosterone concentration was determined by radioimmunoassay. Semen analysis was performed as suggested by the World Health Organization. Statistical analysis was conducted using Student’s t test, contingency tables, and linear regression studies.

Results
VitD concentrations were lower in patients than in controls (p < 0.001). A significant association (p < 0.001) was observed between vitD concentrations <20ng/mL and infertility. In the control group, significant correlations were reported between vitD concentrations >30 ng/mL and the concentrations of testosterone (p < 0.05), free testosterone (p < 0.01), and estradiol (p < 0.05). A direct correlation was found between vitD concentration and percentage of sperm vitality (p = 0.01). VitD also positively correlated with the percentage of progressive sperm motility (p <0.05) and sex hormone-binding globulin concentrations (p < 0.01).

Conclusions
VitD may affect male reproductive parameters, and its deficiency could be associated with infertility.