julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
S1 Guideline onychomycosis
2023-05-22

Summary Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of the fingernails and toenails. In Europe, tinea unguium is mainly caused by dermatophytes. The diagnostic workup comprises microscopic examination, culture and/or molecular testing (nail scrapings). Local treatment with antifungal nail polish is recommended for mild or moderate nail infections. In case of moderate to severe onychomycosis, oral treatment is recommended (in the absence of contraindications). Treatment should consist of topical and systemic agents. The aim of this update of the German S1 guideline is to simplify the selection and implementation of appropriate diagnostics and treatment. The guideline was based on current international guidelines and the results of a literature review conducted by the experts of the guideline committee. This multidisciplinary committee consisted of representatives from the German Society of Dermatology (DDG), the German‐Speaking Mycological Society (DMykG), the Association of German Dermatologists (BVDD), the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM), the German Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), the Working Group for Pediatric Dermatology (APD) and the German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (DGPI). The Division of Evidence‐based Medicine (dEBM) provided methodological assistance. The guideline was approved by the participating medical societies following a comprehensive internal and external review.
Prediction of estimated risk for bipolar disorder using machine learning and structural MRI features
2023-05-22

Abstract Background Individuals with bipolar disorder are commonly correctly diagnosed a decade after symptom onset. Machine learning techniques may aid in early recognition and reduce the disease burden. As both individuals at risk and those with a manifest disease display structural brain markers, structural magnetic resonance imaging may provide relevant classification features. Methods Following a pre-registered protocol, we trained linear support vector machine (SVM) to classify individuals according to their estimated risk for bipolar disorder using regional cortical thickness of help-seeking individuals from seven study sites ( N = 276). We estimated the risk using three state-of-the-art assessment instruments (BPSS-P, BARS, EPI bipolar ). Results For BPSS-P, SVM achieved a fair performance of Cohen's κ of 0.235 (95% CI 0.11–0.361) and a balanced accuracy of 63.1% (95% CI 55.9–70.3) in the 10-fold cross-validation. In the leave-one-site-out cross-validation, the model performed with a Cohen's κ of 0.128 (95% CI −0.069 to 0.325) and a balanced accuracy of 56.2% (95% CI 44.6–67.8). BARS and EPI bipolar could not be predicted. In post hoc analyses, regional surface area, subcortical volumes as well as hyperparameter optimization did not improve the performance. Conclusions Individuals at risk for bipolar disorder, as assessed by BPSS-P, display brain structural alterations that can be detected using machine learning. The achieved performance is comparable to previous studies which attempted to classify patients with manifest disease and healthy controls. Unlike previous studies of bipolar risk, our multicenter design permitted a leave-one-site-out cross-validation. Whole-brain cortical thickness seems to be superior to other structural brain features.
Responsibility and decision-making authority in using clinical decision support systems: an empirical-ethical exploration of German prospective professionals’ preferences and concerns
2023-05-22

Machine learning-driven clinical decision support systems (ML-CDSSs) seem impressively promising for future routine and emergency care. However, reflection on their clinical implementation reveals a wide array of ethical challenges. The preferences, concerns and expectations of professional stakeholders remain largely unexplored. Empirical research, however, may help to clarify the conceptual debate and its aspects in terms of their relevance for clinical practice. This study explores, from an ethical point of view, future healthcare professionals’ attitudes to potential changes of responsibility and decision-making authority when using ML-CDSS. Twenty-seven semistructured interviews were conducted with German medical students and nursing trainees. The data were analysed based on qualitative content analysis according to Kuckartz. Interviewees’ reflections are presented under three themes the interviewees describe as closely related: (self-)attribution of responsibility, decision-making authority and need of (professional) experience. The results illustrate the conceptual interconnectedness of professional responsibility and its structural and epistemic preconditions to be able to fulfil clinicians’ responsibility in a meaningful manner. The study also sheds light on the four relata of responsibility understood as a relational concept. The article closes with concrete suggestions for the ethically sound clinical implementation of ML-CDSS.
Clinical characteristics and outcomes for children, adolescents and young adults with “CIC‐fused” or “BCOR‐rearranged” soft tissue sarcomas: A multi‐institutional European retrospective analysis
2023-05-22

Abstract Background In certain rare undifferentiated small round cell sarcomas new specific molecular CIC‐DUX4 /other partner, BCOR‐CCNB3 /other partner, YWHAE fusions, or BCOR‐ITD (internal tandem duplication) were identified. These new “ CIC fused ” (CIC‐fused/ ATXN1::NUTM1 ) and “ BCOR rearranged ” (BCOR fused/ITD/ YWHAE ) soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are not well described. Methods Multi‐institutional European retrospective analysis of young patients (0–24 years) with CIC‐fused and BCOR rearranged STS. Results Overall, out of the 60 patients selected, the fusion status was CIC‐fused ( n = 29), ATXN1::NUTM1 ( n = 2), BCOR::CCNB3 ( n = 18), BCOR‐ITD ( n = 7), and YWHAE ( n = 3), MAML::BCOR STS ( n = 1). The main primaries were abdomen‐pelvic ( n = 23) and limbs ( n = 18). Median age was 14 years (0.9–23.8) and 0.9 (0.1–19.1) for CIC‐fused and BCOR‐rearranged groups, respectively ( n = 29; p &lt; 0.001). IRS stages were I ( n = 3), II ( n = 7), III ( n = 35), and IV ( n = 15). Overall, 42 patients had large tumors (&gt;5 cm) but only six had lymph node involvement. Patients received mainly chemotherapy ( n = 57), local surgery ( n = 50), and/or radiotherapy ( n = 34). After a median follow‐up of 47.1 months (range, 3.4–230), 33 (52%) patients had an event and 23 patients died. Three‐year event‐free survivals were 44.0% (95% CI 28.7–67.5) and 41.2% (95% CI 25.4–67.0) for CIC and BCOR groups ( p = 0.97), respectively. Three‐year overall survivals were 46.3% (95% CI 29.6–72.4) and 67.1% (95% CI 50.4–89.3; p = 0.24), respectively. Conclusions Pediatric patients often present with large tumors and metastatic disease, especially CIC sarcomas. Overall outcome is dismal. New treatment options are needed.
Networks of Dissolved Organic Matter and Organo-Mineral Associations Stimulate Electron Transfer over Centimeter Distances
2023-05-22

Natural organic matter (NOM) dominated electron transfer has been widely studied in wetlands, freshwater sediments, and peatlands, in which a diffusion-electron hopping mechanism consisting of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) was found to mediate electron transfer over centimeter (cm) distances. However, it remains unclear whether such long-distance electron transfer also occurs when NOM is associated with minerals, which form organo-mineral associations (OMAs) and thus are less mobile and accessible. In this study, we investigated the roles of DOM and OMAs in transferring electrons by performing a series of microbial Fe(III)-mineral reduction experiments over a 2 cm distance. We found that significant electron transfer only occurred when both DOM and OMAs were present. Generally, we observed a positive correlation between the relative proportion of DOM and OMAs and the extent of Fe(III) mineral reduction. However, varying the proportion of DOM showed a stronger effect on the Fe(III)-mineral reduction compared to OMAs, indicating that DOM played a more critical role in the electron transfer network. Our findings shed new light on how organic carbon facilitates iron transformation and the associated biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and contaminants in forest soil systems.
Cognigrams
2023-05-22

Abstract The aim of cognitive archaeology is to infer prehistoric mental systems from behavioral systems, the products of which we see in the archaeological record. A prerequisite for this is a detailed reconstruction of the performances associated with an artifact. The archaeological remains have to be translated from a narrow object perspective to a perspective of the behavioral context, taking into account the acquisition of resources necessary for obtaining the artifact, the technical steps for producing it, the requirements of its use, and the resources it makes accessible to the user. Cognigrams offer a framework for systematically encoding reconstructions of perception-and-action sequences, providing a contextualized, detailed procedural understanding of the associated techno-behaviors. This chapter explains the elements and structural organization of cognigrams and shows the potential of the method in different perspectives on tool behavior and comparing performances. The systematic coding permits comparison of the evidence from different contexts and levels of complexity, thus facilitating a developmental perspective. The detailed reconstruction of behavioral architectures in cognigrams represents a metatool to reflect on tool behavior and provides a powerful basis for inferences about prehistoric cognition.
Higher order time discretization for the stochastic semilinear wave equation with multiplicative noise
2023-05-22

Abstract In this paper, a higher order time-discretization scheme is proposed, where the iterates approximate the solution of the stochastic semilinear wave equation driven by multiplicative noise with general drift and diffusion. We employ variational method for its error analysis and prove an improved convergence order of for the approximates of the solution. The core of the analysis is Hölder continuity in time and moment bounds for the solutions of the continuous and the discrete problem. Computational experiments are also presented.
The Basic Documentation for Psycho-Oncology in Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients: Ratings of Parents and Staff and the Profile of Salivary α-Amylase
2023-05-22

Background. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative treatment option for malignant and nonmalignant diseases that is highly distressing, especially for children. A valid assessment of pediatric patients’ distress that is independent from their language skills would be beneficial. Research regarding HSCT-specific self-reporting or rater-reporting instruments is scarce. Method. In this single-center prospective study, pediatric patients and young adolescents undergoing HSCT were screened for mental and somatic distress using PO-Bado (Basic Documentation for Psycho-Oncology) ratings from parents and medical caregivers on eight observations days before, during, and up to 200 days after HSCT. Additionally, the stress biomarkers cortisol and α-amylase were monitored on the same observation days. Results. A total of 39 pediatric and young adult patients with a median age of 9.3 years (range 0.5–19.0), with 18 females (46%) and 21 males, were enrolled. The perceptions of the patients’ somatic and mental distress of parents and medical caregivers of patients were significantly correlated (mental subscale ((r(276) = 0.31, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"> <mi>p</mi> <mo>&lt;</mo> <mn>0.001</mn> </math> ., 95% CI of the correlation: (0.20, 0.41)) and somatic subscale ((r(284) = 0.46, <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"> <mi>p</mi> <mo>&lt;</mo> <mn>0.001</mn> </math> ., 95% CI of the correlation: 0.36, 0.54)). The time period between the days of transplantation until day +10 was rated as the most mentally and somatically distressing. Conclusions. While the somatic burden declined over time, the mental distress in the patients remained at a stable level, emphasizing the importance of further psychological and psycho-oncological support in these patients. The use of salivary α-amylase as a suitable distress detection marker in pediatric patients undergoing HSCT should be further investigated.
k-Planar Placement and Packing of Δ-Regular Caterpillars
2023-05-22

This paper studies a packing problem in the so-called beyond-planar setting, that is when the host graph is “almost-planar” in some sense. Precisely, we consider the case that the host graph is [Formula: see text]-planar, i.e., it admits an embedding with at most [Formula: see text] crossings per edge, and focus on families of [Formula: see text]-regular caterpillars, that are caterpillars whose non-leaf vertices have the same degree [Formula: see text]. We study the dependency of [Formula: see text] from the number [Formula: see text] of caterpillars that are packed, both in the case that these caterpillars are all isomorphic to one another (in which case the packing is called placement) and when they are not. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the placement of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]-regular caterpillars and sufficient conditions for the packing of a set of [Formula: see text]-, [Formula: see text]-, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]-regular caterpillars such that the degree [Formula: see text] and the degree [Formula: see text] of the non-leaf vertices can differ from one caterpillar to another, for [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text].
Astrocytes: Dissecting Their Diverse Roles in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia
2023-05-23

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are fatal neurodegenerative disorders often co-occurring in the same patient, a feature that suggests a common origin of the two diseases. Consistently, pathological inclusions of the same proteins as well as mutations in the same genes can be identified in both ALS/FTD. Although many studies have described several disrupted pathways within neurons, glial cells are also regarded as crucial pathogenetic contributors in ALS/FTD. Here, we focus our attention on astrocytes, a heterogenous population of glial cells that perform several functions for optimal central nervous system homeostasis. Firstly, we discuss how post-mortem material from ALS/FTD patients supports astrocyte dysfunction around three pillars: neuroinflammation, abnormal protein aggregation, and atrophy/degeneration. Furthermore, we summarize current attempts at monitoring astrocyte functions in living patients using either novel imaging strategies or soluble biomarkers. We then address how astrocyte pathology is recapitulated in animal and cellular models of ALS/FTD and how we used these models both to understand the molecular mechanisms driving glial dysfunction and as platforms for pre-clinical testing of therapeutics. Finally, we present the current clinical trials for ALS/FTD, restricting our discussion to treatments that modulate astrocyte functions, directly or indirectly.
LFQ-Based Peptide and Protein Intensity Differential Expression Analysis
2023-05-23

Testing for significant differences in quantities at the protein level is a common goal of many LFQ-based mass spectrometry proteomics experiments. Starting from a table of protein and/or peptide quantities from a given proteomics quantification software, many tools and R packages exist to perform the final tasks of imputation, summarization, normalization, and statistical testing. To evaluate the effects of packages and settings in their substeps on the final list of significant proteins, we studied several packages on three public data sets with known expected protein fold changes. We found that the results between packages and even across different parameters of the same package can vary significantly. In addition to usability aspects and feature/compatibility lists of different packages, this paper highlights sensitivity and specificity trade-offs that come with specific packages and settings.
Enforcing outsiders’ rights: seasonal agricultural workers and institutionalised exploitation in the EU
2023-05-23

Enforcement is a crucial aspect for understanding labour market hierarchies in Europe and exploitation of mobile and migrant EU workers. Whereas most literature on intra-EU mobility and enforcement has focused on posted workers, this paper sheds light on enforcement in seasonal agriculture and forestry where posted work is very uncommon yet mobile workers overrepresented. In the EU, enforcement highly depends on Member States' capacities. Therefore, we explore how labour rights, and specifically wages, are enforced across four EU Member States with different enforcement regimes, namely Austria, Germany, Sweden and the UK. In line with existing research, we expect that enforcement will be more effective also in agriculture/forestry where it is organised mainly through industrial relations, as opposed to administrative or judicial enforcement. Nevertheless, our review of enforcement practices suggests that seasonal agricultural and forestry workers' rights are neglected across countries, irrespective of enforcement regime. We argue that the scant efforts made to enforce these workers' rights amounts to institutionalised exploitation of labour market outsiders and that administrative enforcement is necessary to ensure hypermobile workers' rights. We also draw attention to the contradictory role of the EU and its simultaneous attempt to strengthen and weaken enforcement.
Constraining the cosmic-ray pressure in the inner Virgo Cluster using H.E.S.S. observations of M 87
2023-05-23

The origin of the gamma-ray emission from M 87 is currently a matter of debate. This work aims to localize the very high-energy (VHE; 100 GeV – 100 TeV) gamma-ray emission from M 87 and probe a potential extended hadronic emission component in the inner Virgo Cluster. The search for a steady and extended gamma-ray signal around M 87 can constrain the cosmic-ray energy density and the pressure exerted by the cosmic rays onto the intracluster medium and allow us to investigate the role of cosmic rays in the active galactic nucleus feedback as a heating mechanism in the Virgo Cluster. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) telescopes are sensitive to VHE gamma rays and have been used to observe M 87 since 2004. We utilized a Bayesian block analysis to identify M 87 emission states with H.E.S.S. observations from 2004 to 2021, dividing them into low, intermediate, and high states. Because of the causality argument, an extended (≳1 kpc) signal is allowed only in steady emission states. Hence, we fitted the morphology of the 120 h low-state data and find no significant gamma-ray extension. Therefore, we derive for the low state an upper limit of 58′′(corresponding to ≈4.6 kpc) in the extension of a single-component morphological model described by a rotationally symmetric 2D Gaussian model at the 99.7% confidence level. Our results exclude the radio lobes (≈30 kpc) as the principal component of the VHE gamma-ray emission from the low state of M 87. The gamma-ray emission is compatible with a single emission region at the radio core of M 87. These results, with the help of two multiple-component models, constrain the maximum cosmic-ray to thermal pressure ratio to X CR, max. ≲ 0.32 and the total energy in cosmic-ray protons to U CR ≲ 5 × 10 58 erg in the inner 20 kpc of the Virgo Cluster for an assumed cosmic-ray proton power-law distribution in momentum with spectral index α p = 2.1.
Clinical characteristics of gyrate atrophy compared with a gyrate atrophy-like retinal phenotype
2023-05-23

Introduction Gyrate atrophy (GA) is a rare retinal dystrophy due to biallelic pathogenic variants in the ornithine aminotransferase (OAT) gene, causing a 10-fold increase in plasma ornithine levels. It is characterized by circular patches of chorioretinal atrophy. However, a GA-like retinal phenotype (GALRP) without elevated ornithine levels has also been reported. The aim of this study is to compare the clinical characteristics of GA and GALRP and to identify possible discriminators. Methods A multicenter, retrospective chart review was performed at three German referral centres on patient records between 01/01/2009 and 31/12/2021. Records were screened for patients affected by GA or GALRP. Only patients with examination results for plasma ornithine levels and / or genetic testing of the OAT gene were included. Further clinical data was gathered where available. Results Ten patients (5 female) were included in the analysis. Three suffered from GA, while seven had a GALRP. Mean age (± SD) at onset of symptoms was 12.3 (± 3.5) years for GA compared with 46.7 (± 14.0) years for GALRP patients (p = 0.002). Mean degree of myopia was higher in GA (−8.0 dpt. ± 3.6) compared to GALRP patients (−3.8 dpt. ± 4.8, p = 0.04). Interestingly, all GA patients showed macular oedema, while only one GALRP patient did. Only one patient with GALRP had a positive family history, while two were immunosuppressed. Discussion Age of onset, refraction and presence of macular cystoid cavities appear to be discriminators between GA and GALRP. GALRP may encompass both genetic and non-genetic subtypes.
Glycolipids in Parkinson's disease: beyond neuronal function
2023-05-23

Glycolipid balance is key to normal body function, and its alteration can lead to a variety of diseases involving multiple organs and tissues. Glycolipid disturbances are also involved in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis and aging. Increasing evidence suggests that glycolipids affect cellular functions beyond the brain, including the peripheral immune system, intestinal barrier, and immunity. Hence, the interplay between aging, genetic predisposition, and environmental exposures could initiate systemic and local glycolipid changes that lead to inflammatory reactions and neuronal dysfunction. In this review, we discuss recent advances in the link between glycolipid metabolism and immune function and how these metabolic changes can exacerbate immunological contributions to neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on PD. Further understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control glycolipid pathways and their impact on both peripheral tissues and the brain will help unravel how glycolipids shape immune and nervous system communication and the development of novel drugs to prevent PD and promote healthy aging.