Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Health Policy Plan 2021 Apr 21. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, 8th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.

Vertical disease control programmes have enormous potential to benefit or weaken health systems, and it is critical to understand how programmes' design and implementation impact the health systems and communities in which they operate. We use the Develop-Distort Dilemma (DDD) framework to understand how the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) distorted or developed local health systems. We include document review and 176 interviews with respondents at the global level and across seven focus countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Nigeria). Read More

PLoS One 2021 21;16(4):e0249173. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

School of Marine & Environmental Affairs, College of The Environment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America.

This study develops a definition of what mangrove-fisheries can encompass, incorporating a broad range of their possible characteristics. A detailed case study was conducted to develop a typology of mangrove-fishing in the Perancak Estuary, Bali, Indonesia, using interview surveys to investigate the fishing activities associated with mangroves. This case study demonstrated the complexity that a mangrove-fishery can entail, where fishing is connected to the mangrove forest by fishers of multiple sectors, functions, locations and temporal scales. Read More

IEEE Trans Image Process 2021 Apr 21;PP. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

In this paper, a Backward Attentive Fusing Network with Local Aggregation Classifier (BAF-LAC) is proposed to improve the performance of 3D point cloud semantic segmentation. It consists of a Backward Attentive Fusing Encoder-Decoder (BAF-ED) to learn semantic features and a Local Aggregation Classifier (LAC) to maintain the context-awareness of points. BAF-ED narrows the semantic gap between the encoder and the decoder via fusing multi-layer encoder features with the decoder features. Read More

Int J Adv Couns 2021 Apr 15:1-20. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

School of Education, University of Redlands, 1200 East Colton Ave, Redlands, CA 92373 USA.

Counsellor educators face complex challenges in the advancement of the counselling profession internationally. One way the counselling profession in Ukraine has been developed is through the use of cross-cultural engagement between local supervisees and U.S. Read More

J Phys Condens Matter 2021 Apr 20. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Notkestrasse 85, Hamburg, Hamburg, 22607, GERMANY.

Niobium's superconducting properties are affected by the presence and precipitation of impurities in the near-surface region. A systematic wide-temperature range x-ray diffraction study is presented addressing the effect of low temperatures (108\,K-130\,K) and annealing treatments (523\,K in nitrogen atmosphere, 400\,K in UHV) on the near-surface region of a hydrogen-loaded Nb(100) single-crystal. Under these conditions, the response of the natural surface oxides (Nb$_2$O$_5$, NbO$_2$, and NbO) and the changes in the subsurface concentration of interstitial species in Nb are explored, thereby including the cryogenic temperature regime relevant for device operation. Read More

Int Emerg Nurs 2021 Apr 17;56:101000. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK.

Background: Variation in initial assessment methods at emergency departments in with primary care service models and a conflated terminology causes difficulties in assessing relative performance, improving quality or gathering evidence about safety and clinical effectiveness. We aim to describe and classify streaming pathways in emergency departments in different models of emergency department primary care services in England and Wales.

Methods: We used a multi-stage method, including an online survey completed by 77 emergency departments across England & Wales, interviews with 21 clinical leads, and in-depth case studies of 13 emergency departments. Read More

IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph 2021 Apr 20;PP. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

The topology of isosurfaces changes at isovalues of critical points, making such points an important feature when building contour trees or Morse-Smale complexes. Hexahedral elements with linear interpolants can contain additional off-vertex critical points in element bodies and on element faces. Moreover, a point on the face of a hexahedron which is critical in the element-local context is not necessarily critical in the global context. Read More

Inhal Toxicol 2021 Apr 20:1-15. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands.

Background: Risk assessment of individual tobacco smoke components is important for the purpose of prioritization or selecting chemicals for monitoring products. Smoking is characterized by a highly varying, intermittent exposure and the challenge is to choose the most appropriate dose metric.

Methods: Generally, average daily exposure estimates are used as dose metric, without considering temporal determinants. Read More

J Clin Immunol 2021 Apr 19. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.

Purpose: Common variable immune deficiency (CVID) confers an increased risk of lymphoid neoplasms, but reports describing the precise WHO specification of the lymphoma subtypes and their immunological environment are lacking. We therefore classified lymphomas-occurring in a cohort of 21 adult CVID patients during a 17-year period at our center-according to the 2016 WHO classification and characterized the local and systemic immunological context RESULTS: The median time between the onset of CVID and lymphoma was 14 years. Patients showed a high prevalence of preceding immune dysregulation: lymphadenopathy (n = 13, 62%), splenomegaly (n = 18, 86%), autoimmune cytopenia (n = 14, 67%), and gastrointestinal involvement (n = 15, 71%). Read More

Immun Ageing 2021 Apr 19;18(1):19. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA.

Background: The impact of aging on the immune system is unequivocal and results in an altered immune status termed immunosenescence. In humans, the mechanisms of immunosenescence have been examined almost exclusively in blood. However, most immune cells are present in tissue compartments and exhibit differential cell (e. Read More

BMC Public Health 2021 Apr 19;21(1):753. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, UK.

Background: Policymakers in many countries promote collaboration between health care organizations and other sectors as a route to improving population health. Local collaborations have been developed for decades. Yet little is known about the impact of cross-sector collaboration on health and health equity. Read More

BMC Bioinformatics 2021 Apr 19;22(1):200. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.

Background: Transcriptional regulation is complex, requiring multiple cis (local) and trans acting mechanisms working in concert to drive gene expression, with disruption of these processes linked to multiple diseases. Previous computational attempts to understand the influence of regulatory mechanisms on gene expression have used prediction models containing input features derived from cis regulatory factors. However, local chromatin looping and trans-acting mechanisms are known to also influence transcriptional regulation, and their inclusion may improve model accuracy and interpretation. Read More

Spine J 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Laboratory of Cell Biology, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital of Tübingen, D-72072 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital of Tübingen, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address:

Background Context: Low back pain is commonly attributed to intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. IVD resembles articular cartilage in its biochemical and cellular composition in many ways. For articular cartilage, degeneration stage-specific characteristic spatial chondrocyte patterns have recently been described. Read More

PLoS Comput Biol 2021 Apr 19;17(4):e1008856. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Inria, Montpellier, France.

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are statistical models suited for learning complex visual patterns. In the context of Species Distribution Models (SDM) and in line with predictions of landscape ecology and island biogeography, CNN could grasp how local landscape structure affects prediction of species occurrence in SDMs. The prediction can thus reflect the signatures of entangled ecological processes. Read More

Methods Mol Biol 2021 ;2249:467-482

Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

There is a significant gap between what is known and what is implemented by key stakeholders in practice (the evidence to practice gap). The primary purpose of knowledge translation is to address this gap, bridging evidence to clinical practice. The knowledge to action cycle is one framework for knowledge translation that integrates policy makers throughout the research cycle. Read More

Protein Cell 2021 Apr 19. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, School of Life Sciences, Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.

Axonal degeneration is one of the key features of neurodegenerative disorders. In the canonical view, axonal degeneration destructs neural connections and promotes detrimental disease defects. Here, we assessed the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the mouse, non-human primate, and human by advanced 3D imaging. Read More

Mol Biol Evol 2021 Apr 19. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Department of Biology and Medical Genetics, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.

The activity of a gene newly integrated into a chromosome depends on the genomic context of the integration site. This "position effect" has been widely reported, although the other side of the coin, i.e. Read More

J Vis Exp 2021 Apr 5(170). Epub 2021 Apr 5.

Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and the Rocky Mountain Taste and Smell Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus;

The sense of taste is mediated by taste buds on the tongue, which are composed of rapidly renewing taste receptor cells (TRCs). This continual turnover is powered by local progenitor cells and renders taste function prone to disruption by a multitude of medical treatments, which in turn severely impacts the quality of life. Thus, studying this process in the context of drug treatment is vital to understanding if and how taste progenitor function and TRC production are affected. Read More

Melanoma Res 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Health Technology Assessment, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam Department of Internal Medicine, Northwest Clinics, Alkmaar Department for Medical Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam Department of Surgical Oncology, Albert Schweitzer Hospital, Dordrecht Department of Dermatology, Tergooi, Hilversum Department of Internal Medicine, Amphia Hospital, Breda Department of Surgical Oncology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam Institute for Medical Technology Assessment, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The aim of this study was to provide insight into real-world healthcare costs of patients initially diagnosed with localized or regionally advanced melanoma in three Dutch hospitals between 2003 and 2011. Patients were stratified according to their stage at diagnosis and recurrence status. Costs were calculated by applying unit costs to individual patient resource use and reported for the full disease course, the initial treatment episode, and treatment episodes for disease recurrence (stratified by type of recurrence). Read More

Ophthalmic Genet 2021 Apr 19:1-6. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Jules-Gonin Eye Hospital, Lausanne University, Lausanne, Switzerland.

: Absence of mutation is rare in retinoblastoma and MYCN amplifications were recently identified in a subset of aggressive retinoblastomas occurring in infants. Here we describe not only the clinical phenotype of MYCN retinoblastoma at presentation, but also the tumor response to the first attempt of conservative management in this context.: Interventional retrospective case report: A 6-month-old boy was referred with right leukocoria. Read More

Front Res Metr Anal 2021 11;6:637187. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Office of the Academic Vice Rector, Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced healthcare systems globally to handle a dramatic surge in healthcare utilization while also taxing available testing resources. In the context of healthcare systems in Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID-19 added to the existing burden of infectious diseases related to endemic infections such as arboviruses and HIV. In the Dominican Republic, testing is supplied mostly by the private sector and a national public laboratory. Read More

Heliyon 2021 Mar 31;7(3):e06609. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Department of History, Archaeology and Development Studies, Great Zimbabwe University, Zimbabwe.

Ancient pottery from the Nyanga agricultural complex (CE 1300-1900) in north-eastern Zimbabwe enjoys more than a century of archaeological research. Though several studies dedicated to the pottery have expanded the frontiers of knowledge about the peopling of Bantu-speaking agropastoral societies in this part of southern Africa, we know little about the social context in which the pottery was made, distributed, used, and discarded in everyday life. This mostly comes from the fact that the majority of the ceramic studies undertaken were rooted in Eurocentric typological approaches to material culture hence these processes were elided by most researchers. Read More

Front Sociol 2021 29;6:641622. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia.

The paper explores the relationship between the religious identity and the ethnic and national identities of Old Believer youth in Latvia. This case is of particular interest in providing an in-depth insight into the intersection of ethnicity, nationality and religion, as the Old Believers are an ethnic and religious minority living in Latvia. Applying the concepts of multiple identities, this article explores the role of religion played in the integration of identity among young people belonging to the Old Believer religious community: their self-understanding as a composition of intersecting identities that influence each other; the manifestations of the intersection of various identities; the relationship of identity integration to religion. Read More

Front Sociol 2020 6;5:624160. Epub 2021 Jan 6.

University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

The global Covid-19 crisis has shown its impact on all the aspect of life: health, social, economic, and politic. The attention mainly reserved to the economic and politic aspect musts also take into account the risk of social fragmentation. In which way this emergency has impact on communities where social fragilities were already existing? In which way, social dynamics are changed by the fear of the pandemic and the physical isolation imposed by governments to contain it. Read More

Front Sociol 2020 17;5:611990. Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Psychology Graduate Program, Psychology Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The consequences of coronavirus in favelas in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) point to social inequality as a structuring factor in Brazilian society. The contagion spread and multiple death cases reveal the multiplicity of existence ways that cohabit the urban context, indicating that in many of these scenarios, access to decent housing, drinking water, and minimum income is not a reality and recommendations from international health agencies are challenging to implement. Against government technopolitics that drive different forms of death to the poorest, black communities, and slum dwellers, territorial insurgencies indicate other paths for the construction of a dignified life and access to fundamental rights, targeted solidarity practices, territorial political organization and the construction of specific public policies to deal with the effects of the virus which takes into account the particularities and distinct realities of the territory. Read More

Front Sociol 2020 17;5:583931. Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.

The availability and accessibility of Westernized mental health diagnostic processes and evidence-based treatments are limited in developing countries, such as Ethiopia (Kakuma et al., 2011; Hohenshil et al., 2013; Wondie, 2014; Zeleke et al. Read More

Front Sociol 2020 22;5:576827. Epub 2020 Dec 22.

Department of Data Science and Innovation, Child Trends, Bethesda, MD, United States.

The protracted COVID-19 crisis provides a new social niche in which new inequalities can emerge. We provide predictions about one such new inequality using the logic of Status Construction Theory (SCT). SCT, rooted in Expectations State Theory and from there developed by Ridgeway and colleagues, proposes general hypotheses about how new inequalities arise through process of interaction at the individual level: an unordered categorical difference becomes attached to a cultural value that gives one category more value than the other; social scripts concerning it emerge; small elements of assertion and deference creep into more and more encounters that an individual participates in, hears about through networks, and learns about via social and conventional media. Read More

Front Sociol 2019 20;4:82. Epub 2019 Dec 20.

School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.

African Caribbean women in the UK who are diagnosed with chronic illnesses that are related to overweight and obesity are more likely to experience poorer outcomes than their White British counterparts. It is then important to increase understandings of how women from this ethnic group perceive health with relation to body shape and size so that interventions can be developed to prevent the development of such conditions and to improve outcomes. As such, it is important to develop research methodology that encourages participation in health research from African Caribbean women and enables the capture of in-depth data that gives insight into the nuances of health understandings related to the body and the social realities in which they exist. Read More

Front Sociol 2019 29;4:75. Epub 2019 Nov 29.

Postgraduate Programme in Social Sciences, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.

This article explores the intersection between low-complexity biomedical technologies and ideas about race in Brazil. Using ethnographic material collected in the northeastern city of Salvador on the clinical management of low white blood cell count (leukopenia), and debates involving doctors, biomedical scientists, and social movement activists on establishing racialized parameters in complete blood count tests, I explore how the notion of normalcy is connected to ideas about racial difference. Taken both at a population and individual bodily level, normalcy serves to contrast local history, portrayed as the result of widespread admixture between groups, with other national contexts, such as that of the United States. Read More

Front Sociol 2019 2;4:19. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

Ageing Studies, Institute for the Environment, Health and Societies, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United Kingdom.

Aging is continuously depicted as a force majeure event despite clear and robust premonitions of its coming. However, such depiction serves to justify the unpreparedness and inadequacy of policies manifesting in loneliness and isolation, unsatisfied demands in health and social care, lack of suitably inclusive residential and social facilities, and inequitable access to support and services. Recent years have seen an increase in social innovation that involves alternative transaction models, such as time-banks and circular economies. Read More