bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The ultradian transcriptome of the human prefrontal cortex and abnormalities in schizophrenia
Authors: Scott Madeline R. , Zong Wei , Ketchesin Kyle D. , Seney Marianne L. , Tseng George C. , Zhu Bokai , McClung Colleen A.
Published: May 2022

Twelve-hour (12 h) ultradian rhythms are a well-known phenomenon in coastal marine organisms. While 12 h cycles are observed in human behavior and physiology, no study has measured 12 h rhythms in the human brain. Here we identify 12 h rhythms in transcripts which either peak at sleep/wake transitions (~9 AM/PM) or static times (~3 PM/AM) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region involved in cognition. Subjects with schizophrenia lose 12 h rhythms in genes associated with the unfolded protein response and neuronal structural maintenance. Moreover, genes involved in mitochondrial function and protein translation, which normally peak at sleep/wake transitions, peak instead at static times in schizophrenia, suggesting suboptimal timing of these essential processes that may contribute to cognitive deficits commonly found in schizophrenia.
A new perspective of learning in organisations: eight strategies to develop skills and core competencies
Authors: Kapoor Bhavya
Published: May 2022

Purpose

The post-pandemic world of work portrays a changing learning landscape that allows employees to control their learning requirements. This study aims to show how organizations can facilitate effective learning environments to suit employees’ changing needs. It points out how they can facilitate personalized learning experiences for their employees by various means.

Design/methodology/approach

This study draws on existing literature in the domain of self-directed and self-managed learning. It also extensively reviews the practical training tactics adopted by organizations and learning and development leaders.

Findings

The most significant contribution of this study is highlighting that self-directed learning is not limited to being a function or an approach adopted by employees. There are various ways by which organizations can facilitate learning, encourage and also enable their workforce to own and drive their personal development for future job roles. This study lists eight new learning and development strategies, ranging from tactical to strategic, to facilitate personalized learning in organizations in the prevailing era of flexible working environments in which organizations embrace the hybrid model and offer better work-life integration.

Practical implications

By cultivating self-directed learning via described strategies, organizations can encourage employees to share performance ownership.

Originality/value

This study is a literature review that highlights the increasing proclivity of employees toward self-directed learning. It suggests new learning and development strategies that every organization should adopt to sustain the changed world order and expand the learning opportunities for its employees.
Tackling obesity in aged-care homes: the effects of environmental cues
Authors: Lau Joyce Hei Tong , Khan Huda , Lee Richard , Lockshin Larry S. , Sharp Anne , Buckley Jonathan , Midgley Ryan
Published: May 2022

Purpose

Obesity among elderly consumers precipitates undesirable health outcomes. This study aims to investigate the effects of environmental cues on food intake of elderly consumers in an aged-care facility.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal study conducted over 17 weeks in situ within an aged-care facility with 31 residents investigated how auditory (soothing music), olfactory (floral-scented candle) and visual (infographic on health benefits of the main meal component) cues influenced food intake quantity during a meal, while accounting for portion size effect (PSE).

Findings

Analysing the cross-sectional results of individual treatments and rounds did not reveal any consistent patterns in the influence of the three environmental cues. Longitudinal analyses, however, showed that the presence of auditory and olfactory cues significantly increased food intake, but the visual cue did not. Moreover, PSE was strong.

Research limitations/implications

Extending research into environmental factors from a commercial to a health-care setting, this study demonstrates how the presence of auditory and olfactory, but not cognitive cues, increased food intake behaviour among elderly consumers. It also shows that a cross-sectional approach to such studies would have yielded inconclusive or even misleading findings. Merely serving more would also lead to higher food intake amount.

Practical implications

Environmental factors should be a part of health-care providers’ arsenal to manage obesity. They are practical and relatively inexpensive to implement across different health-care settings. However, the same environmental factors would have opposite desired-effects with normal or underweight residents, and hence, aged-care facilities need to separate the dining experience (or mealtime) of obese and other residents. Quantity served should also be moderated to discourage overeating.

Originality/value

While studies into managing obesity, particularly among older adults, have mainly focused on techniques such as pharmacotherapy treatments with drugs, dietary management or even lifestyle change, less attention has been given to the influence of environmental cues. This study, executed in situ within an aged-care facility, provided evidence of the importance of considering the impact of environmental factors on food intake to help reduce obesity.
Actor value formation in Airbnb: insight from multi-source data
Authors: Kim Hyunsu , Shin Hyejo Hailey , So Kevin Kam Fung
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This study aims to present a novel examination of actor value formation (AVF) in the sharing economy by uncovering its key dimensions (i.e. information seeking, personal interaction and feedback) at each stage of Airbnb consumption. Using multi-source data, how the key dimensions of AVF affect consumers’ evaluative judgment capturing the key aspects of consumption experiences (i.e. communication quality, value for money and overall evaluations) was empirically tested.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a triangulated, multi-study approach to test and validate the hypotheses. In Study 1, the authors analyzed 586,778 online reviews through deductive and inductive approaches to determine how three AVF dimensions could be captured and examine these dimensions’ effects on consumers’ evaluative judgments. In Study 2, an online survey was adopted to improve the reliability and validity of findings.

Findings

This study identified positive and negative outcomes of AVF. The results also revealed which AVF dimensions significantly led to communication quality and value for money, which in turn influenced consumers’ overall evaluations. The findings further provided robust support for the mediating role of value for money as a mechanism in the relationships between AVF and overall evaluations across the two studies.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by empirically identifying the three key dimensions of AVF in each consumption stage and subsequently testing a conceptual model using different data, research methods and analytical techniques to cross-validate the results. The authors also extended the scope of AVF by integrating both positive and negative aspects in the context of Airbnb.
Association between use of clinical governance systems at the frontline and patient safety: a pre-post study
Authors: Lucas Jigi , Leggat Sandra G. , Taylor Nicholas F.
Published: May 2022

Purpose

To investigate the association between implementation of clinical governance and patient safety.

Design/methodology/approach

A pre-post study was conducted in an Australian health service following the implementation of clinical governance systems (CGS) in the inpatient wards in 2016. Health service audit data from 2017 on CGS implementation and the rate of adverse patient safety events (PSE) for 2015 (pre-implementation) and 2017 (post-implementation), across 45 wards in six hospitals were collected. CGS examined compliance with 108 variables, based on the Australian National Safety and Quality Health Service standards. Patient safety was measured as PSE per 100 bed days. Data were analysed using odds ratios to explore the association between patient safety and CGS percentage compliance score.

Findings

There was no change in PSE between 2015 and 2017 (MD 0.04 events/100 bed days, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.21). There were higher odds that wards with a CGS score >90% reported reduced PSE, compared to wards with lower compliance. The domains of leadership and culture, risk management and clinical practice had the strongest association with the reduction in PSE.

Practical implications

Given that wards with a CGS score >90% showed increased odds of reduced PSE health service boards need to put in place strategies that engage frontline managers and staff to facilitate full implementation of clinical governance systems for patient safety.

Originality/value

The findings provide evidence that implementation of all facets of CGS in a large public health service is associated with improved patient safety.
How does transfer duty relates to housing demand in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa?
Authors: Cheruiyot Koech , Ramantswana Thabelo
Published: May 2022

Purpose

Acknowledging that housing forms a large part of households’ and country’s long-term wealth, the South African Government has implemented various housing-related policies towards that end. Among these, the government has extended transfer duty exemption to house buyers – both individuals or natural persons and companies or other parties – to enable them buy houses of their choices since January 1950 to date. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between historical transfer duty exemption and housing demand in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) over a longer period, where a comprehensive data set on house sales and other predictors was available.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses multi-year data on repeat house sales from 2010 to 2020 and other macro- and socio-economic variables to test the relationship between transfer duty exemption and housing demand in the CoJ, a core part of Gauteng province, South Africa. After cleaning the original data, final analysis was based on 139,121 repeat sales transactions. Data was analyzed in R.

Findings

Findings suggest that, when macro-, socio-economic and yearly effects are controlled, transfer duty has a damping effect on housing demand in the CoJ. The results were consistent across all the estimated models. While the motivation behind the implementation of transfer duty exemption in South Africa continues to encourage home ownership, these findings are unexpected because they do not offer support to that policy intention. These unexpected results are partly explained by the prevailing complexities of the housing market and related policies and the progressive tax regime. However, there are welfare effects that all buyers achieve across the housing market ecosystem.

Originality/value

This paper extends work on housing markets research in South Africa through the investigation of mortgage-based housing market in the CoJ that presents one of the densest, developed, bustling and growing housing market in the country. It also presents a fertile ground where all the effects of all the housing policies coalesce – in the statistical sense, one can control the effect of some aspects of housing policies, while appropriately testing the link between a specific policy (in this case, transfer duty exemption) and housing dynamics.
Corporate board gender, institutional strength and energy disclosure in Nigeria
Authors: Jibril Rabiu Saminu , Isa Muhammad Aminu , Maigoshi Zaharaddeen Salisu
Published: May 2022

Purpose

The study aims to evaluate the impact of corporate board gender on the energy disclosure with moderating effect of institutional strength (global competitiveness index) by the listed firms in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a sample of 49 non-financial firms listed on the floor of the Nigerian stock exchange commission for the period of five years (2016–2020). The study uses content analysis techniques to obtain data on environmental disclosure through the use of Global Reporting Initiative standards from the sampled firms. Random and fixed effect regression analyses were run for both direct and moderation models. Based on the results of the Hausman tests, random results were adopted and used in examining the relationship among research variables.

Findings

The study revealed average energy disclosure by the sampled firms. The overall results of the regression analysis found that board gender diversity is significantly related to energy disclosure. The institutional strength moderation result was found to have an insignificant impact on the relationship between board gender and energy disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The study is constrained by not considering all environmentally sensitive firms in the country. Furthermore, the study considered only gender among numerous important board attributes. Hence, other important board attributes should be assessed for better energy disclosure. Future studies should consider data from all sensitive firms and other board attributes.

Practical implications

Recently, the Nigerian Government mandates all firms to comply with environmental disclosure in Nigeria, this should be used as a way forward to encourage and compel all listed firms to improve their energy disclosure.

Social implications

With diverse and vibrant women on boards, firms would benefit and gain legitimacy across demographic, ethnic and religious groups in the society. Hence, corporate bodies can effectively contribute toward enhancing the social welfare of various segments of society.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides empirical evidence on the effect of board gender attributes on the energy disclosure using institutional strength as a moderator in Nigeria.
A real options approach to growth opportunities and resilience aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Wang Zhi , Upadhyay Arvind , Kumar Anil
Published: May 2022

Purpose

Facing the challenges posed by the pandemic of COVID-19, this paper aims to contribute to the resilience of businesses through the development of a real options approach (ROA) that provides alternatives and opportunities for a decision process under situations when future events and outcomes are unknown and not capable of being known from current information.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper involves a stochastic modelling process in generating a set of absolute option values, using available data and scenarios from the COVID-19 pandemic event. The modelling and simulations using ROA suggest how strategic portfolios resolve the growing problem during the endemic to all but in the most isolated societies.

Findings

This study finds the emergent correlation between circuit breakers and lockdowns, which have brought about a “distorted gravity” effect (inverse growth of global businesses and trades). However, “time-to-build” real options (i.e. deferral, expand, switch and compound exchange) start to function in the adaptive-transformative capabilities for growth opportunities of both government and corporate sectors. Significantly, some sectors grow faster than others while the compound exchange remains primarily challenging. Clearly, the government and corporate sectors are entangled, inevitably, the decoherence allows for the former to change uncertainty in the latter; therefore, government sector options change option values in the corporate sector.

Originality/value

The ROA by empirically focusing on both government and corporate sectors demonstrates under conditions of uncertainty how options in decision-making generate opportunities that hitherto have not been recognised and exercised upon by research in the immediate context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, the ROA provides an insightful concatenation (capability–behaviour approach) that drives resilience.
Affective factors influencing responses to international brand alliances
Authors: Shi Tiebing , Tian Robert Guang , Tu Cindy Zhiling , Lim Chi Lo
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This study aims to explore how two affective factors (i.e. brand attachment and consumer affinity) influence host country consumers' responses to an international brand alliance (IBA).

Design/methodology/approach

A two (brand attachment: high vs low) × two (consumer affinity: high vs low) factorial experiment was conducted with 336 US university students. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the conceptual model.

Findings

(1) Pre-attachment to the host brand and consumer affinity for the country-of-origin (COO) of the foreign partner brand positively influence attitudes toward the IBA. (2) Attitudes toward the IBA positively influence post-attachment to the host brand, intention to buy the IBA product and willingness to recommend the IBA product. (3) Pre-attachment to the host brand positively influences post-attachment to the host brand.

Originality/value

This study extends the literature on factors influencing attitudes toward IBAs by finding the significant influences of pre-attachment to the host brand and consumer affinity for the COO of the foreign partner brand on host country consumers' responses to IBAs.
The effect of auditors’ psychological characteristics on cultural values and social health
Authors: Salehi Mahdi , Aljhlini Ahmed Kareem , Shafeeq Nimr Al-Maliki Hind
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of psychological characteristics, including perfectionism, transcendental future and lifelong learning, on auditors’ cultural values and social health. It answers whether psychological characteristics can improve auditors’ cultural and social health values in Iraqi auditing firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the Cochran sampling method, 198 auditors were selected as the sample size. The effect of independent variables on the dependent variable has been investigated using partial least squares tests.

Findings

The results show a positive and significant relationship between perfectionism and improving cultural values of auditors. Moreover, the evidence indicates that the transcendental future positively impacts and enhances cultural and social health values by preventing and motivating criminal and lawful activities.

Originality/value

No research has been done on the impact of psychological characteristics on auditors’ cultural values and social health in Iraq. Therefore, this research will have helpful information and help develop knowledge in this field.
Growth resilience of conifer species decreases with early, long‐lasting and intense droughts but cannot be explained by hydraulic traits
Authors: Song Yanjun , Sterck Frank , Sass‐Klaassen Ute , Li Chenxuan , Poorter Lourens
Published: May 2022

Drought events may reduce growth and survival of conifer trees. The effects of the intensity and timing of drought on the growth resilience, including growth reductions during drought and recovery of growth after drought, remain, however, highly uncertain.

Growth resilience of 20 conifer species to 11 dry years was compared in a common garden experiment. We assessed (a) the relationships among growth resistance, recovery and resilience, (b) the impacts of different drought dimensions (intensity, onset and length) on resistance and (c) the underlying mechanisms in terms of growth potential and hydraulic traits.

Droughts led to 22% reduction in stem growth for 85% of species, but most species (85%) were resilient due to high recovery. Growth resistance decreased with an early onset of drought (significant for 55% of species), and longer‐lasting (35%) and intense droughts (60%). While fast‐growing species and slow‐growing species were similar in resistance and recovery, fast‐growing species were more resilient. Unexpectedly, resilience could not be explained by hydraulic traits, possibly because the species grew on poor sandy soils and were acclimated to drought with large hydraulic safety margins.

Synthesis. Our study shows that in a mild maritime climate almost all conifer species are resilient to drought, and that putative hydraulic traits may be less important here for growth resilience. It also highlights the importance of addressing multiple dimensions of drought, that is, timing, duration and severity, to predict species responses to climate change.
Idea paper: Extended benefits of pollinator‐mediated microbial dispersal among flowers
Authors: Takeda Kazuya , Sakai Shoko
Published: May 2022

Since the production of large and conspicuous flowers can be costly, self‐pollinated or asexually reproducing plants are expected to lose characters for pollinator attraction. However, some plants still produce conspicuous flowers despite not relying on pollinators for fertilization, suggesting overlooked benefits of receiving flower visitors. Here, we present visitor‐mediated microbial dispersal as a potential benefit of receiving flower visitors. Recent studies revealed that diverse microbes inhabit plant surfaces or plant tissues and that these microbes substantially benefit host plants. Animal flower visitors disperse these microbes. Since some microbes can migrate to seeds, the enhanced dispersal via visitors can modulate microbial communities of the next generations. Microbial dispersal via flower visitors may improve plant fitness via increased opportunities to receive microbes mutualistic for seeds and higher variances in seed microbial communities that function as “bet‐hedging.” We can test this hypothesis by comparing microbial communities and the performance of seeds from experimentally visitor‐excluded flowers and naturally animal‐visited control flowers. Further experiments with sterilization or microbe inoculation may confirm the contribution of specific taxa or microbial community structures to the observed effects on seed performances.
Reproducing white normativity in parties' candidate recruitment: Evidence from the 2017 Finnish municipal elections
Authors: Sipinen Josefina , Seikkula Minna
Published: May 2022

This study approaches the underrepresentation of ethnic and migrant minorities (EMMs) in political assemblies from the perspective of candidate recruitment and examines how white normativity as an ideal shapes the recruitment process. The article draws on empirical interview data from the 2017 Finnish municipal elections. Through a qualitative analysis of parties' recruiting agents' (n = 24) and EMM candidates' (n = 12) interviews, the article provides nuanced insights into the informal aspects of candidate recruitment and more perspectives into the discussions of ‘ideal’ and ‘acceptable’ candidates. The analysis identifies four discursive strategies that the parties use to describe their (lack of) efforts to recruit EMM candidates. The analysis of these strategies deepens the analytical understanding of the persistent underrepresentation of EMMs in candidate lists by explaining how recruitment is shaped by white normativity.
Structural persistence as an explanatory factor in synchrony and diachrony*
Authors: Börjars Kersti , Breban Tine
Published: May 2022

In this paper, we look at examples of linguistic change in which the structure associated with the original element can help us understand aspects of both the diachronic process and the synchronic outcome of change. We first consider a range of phenomena that have resisted formal analysis because they show mixed‐category behaviour. We argue that these elements have undergone changes that we would expect to lead to complete decategorialisation, but the synchronically odd behaviour arises because structural change that would be expected to take place, given what we know of decategorialisation, has failed to occur. We argue that these cases can usefully be thought of as instances of ‘structural persistence’, and that Plank's (1995) notion ofSystemstörung‘system disturbance’ offers a helpful way of looking at these cases. We then put this type of structural persistence alongside other types of change that have been identified in the literature as involving persistence at a structural level, and argue for a renewed focus on the role of structure in language change, including in instances of change that have a semantic component. We argue that the role played by structure is necessary to understand constraints on change, motivations for change, and synchronic mixed behaviour.
The chromosome‐level genome of a free‐floating aquatic weed Pistia stratiotes provides insights into its rapid invasion
Authors: Qian Zhihao , Li Yan , Yang Jingshan , Shi Tao , Li Zhizhong , Chen Jinming
Published: May 2022

Pistia stratiotes (Araceae), commonly referred to as water lettuce, is one of the most notorious weeds that cause severe damage to the economy and natural ecosystems of infested areas. In order to explore the mechanism of its rapid invasion, here, we assembled a high‐quality chromosome‐level genome for P. stratiotes based on the Illumina sequencing, PacBio sequencing, and Hi‐C scaffolding technology. The assembled genome is 311.87 Mb in size with a contig N50 of 1.08 Mb. The contigs were further anchored on 14 pseudochromosomes with a scaffold N50 of 21.21 Mb. A total of 20,356 protein‐coding genes were predicted, of which 79.35% were functionally annotated here. Evolutionary analysis showed that P. stratiotes and Colocasia esculenta were clustered together as sister lineages that diverged approximately 61 Ma. The synteny analyses indicated that two whole‐genome duplication (WGD) events occurred within a short period in P. stratiotes. Moreover, comparative genome analysis indicated that the expansion of gene families corresponding to disease resistance might contribute to rapid invasion in P. stratiotes. Also, we analysed the disease‐resistance gene family (NBS‐LRR) involved in plant defence. A genome‐wide search in P. stratiotes genome identified 85 NBS‐LRR genes in this study. In conclusion, this study provides some new insights into the evolution of the invasive aquatic plant P. stratiotes. Our reference genome will also provide valuable resources for future invasion genomic research programmes.
Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis caused by gemcitabine after nivolumab in metastatic lung adenocarcinoma followed by a dramatic tumor response: A case report
Authors: Magdelaine Pierre , Costantini Adrien , Fabre Lucie , Giroux‐Leprieur Etienne
Published: May 2022

Herein, we report a case of a 73‐year‐old female patient diagnosed with cT4N0M1a lung adenocarcinoma with KRAS G12C mutation, PDL1 < 1% and treated in fourth‐line setting with gemcitabine after progression under nivolumab. After one infusion of gemcitabine, the patient presented with an acute worsening of general condition (performance status 4) with extensive skin lesions and fever, leading to hospitalization and diagnosis of acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis. Initial blood work revealed multiple organ failures with an important inflammatory syndrome. Patient state improved after intravenous hydration and local and systemic corticosteroids. The decision was made to stop systemic cancer treatment. Two months follow‐up showed a remarkable response on all cancer localizations. Although immunotherapy is transforming cancer care, predicting response to immunotherapy remains challenging and resistant mechanisms remain mostly unknown. This case underlines that important immune‐stimulation can lead to tumor response in a patient previously refractory to all antitumor treatments.
Accumulation of pTreg cells is detrimental in late‐onset (aged) mouse model of multiple sclerosis
Authors: Wang Weikan , Thomas Rachel , Oh Jiyoung , Su Dong‐Ming
Published: May 2022

Although typically associated with onset in young adults, multiple sclerosis (MS) also attacks the elderly, which is termed late‐onset MS. The disease can be recapitulated and studied in a mouse model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The onset of induced EAE is delayed in aged mice, but disease severity is increased relative to young EAE mice. Given that CD4+FoxP3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells play an ameliorative role in MS/EAE severity, and the aged immune system accumulates peripheral Treg (pTreg) cells, failure of these cells to prevent or ameliorate EAE disease is enigmatic. When analyzing the distribution of Treg cells in EAE mice, the aged mice exhibited a higher proportion of polyclonal (pan‐) pTreg cells and a lower proportion of antigen‐specific pTreg cells in the periphery but lower proportions of both pan‐ and antigen‐specific Treg cells in the central nervous system (CNS). Furthermore, in the aged inflamed CNS, CNS‐Treg cells exhibited a higher plasticity, and T effector (CNS‐Teff) cells exhibited greater clonal expansion, disrupting the Treg/Teff balance. Transiently inhibiting FoxP3 or depleting pTreg cells partially corrected Treg distribution and restored the Treg/Teff balance in the aged inflamed CNS, thereby ameliorating the disease in the aged EAE mice. These results provide evidence and mechanism that accumulated aged pTreg cells play a detrimental role in neuronal inflammation of aged MS.
Optimizing two‐stage surgery by expanding single‐stage nasal reconstruction in the COVID‐19 era
Authors: Suarez‐Valle Ana , Rios‐Buceta Luis , Dominguez‐Santas Miguel , Muñoz‐Marrones Oscar , Bea‐Ardebol Sonia
Published: May 2022

The COVID‐19 pandemic led to a decrease in the number of operating rooms available. Single‐stage islanded forehead flaps have emerged as a good alternative to the classic frontal flap helping to diminish the surgical waiting list. We present our case series of 6 patients reconstructed with islanded forehead flaps between February and July 2020.The purpose of this report is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of this technique in order to inform which subgroup of patients may benefit from the one‐stage flap, now the pandemic is better controlled.
Proteomics endotyping of infants with severe bronchiolitis and risk of childhood asthma
Authors: Ooka Tadao , Raita Yoshihiko , Fujiogi Michimasa , Freishtat Robert J. , Gerszten Robert E. , Mansbach Jonathan M. , Zhu Zhaozhong , Camargo Carlos A. , Hasegawa Kohei
Published: May 2022

Background

Bronchiolitis is the leading cause of hospitalization in U.S. infants and a major risk factor for childhood asthma. Growing evidence supports clinical heterogeneity within bronchiolitis. We aimed to identify endotypes of infant bronchiolitis by integrating clinical, virus, and serum proteome data, and examine their relationships with asthma development.

Methods

This is a multicenter prospective cohort study of infants hospitalized for physician‐diagnosis of bronchiolitis. We identified bronchiolitis endotypes by applying unsupervised machine learning (clustering) approaches to integrated clinical, virus (respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], rhinovirus [RV]), and serum proteome data measured at hospitalization. We then examined their longitudinal association with the risk for developing asthma by age 6 years.

Results

In 140 infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis, we identified three endotypes: (1) clinicalatopicvirusRVproteomeNFκB‐dysregulated, (2) clinicalnon‐atopicvirusRSV/RVproteomeTNF‐dysregulated, and (3) clinicalclassicvirusRSVproteomeNFκB/TNF‐regulated endotypes. Endotype 1 infants were characterized by high proportion of IgE sensitization and RV infection. These endotype 1 infants also had dysregulated NFκB pathways (FDR < 0.001) and significantly higher risks for developing asthma (53% vs. 22%; adjOR 4.04; 95% CI, 1.49–11.0; p = 0.006), compared with endotype 3 (clinically resembling “classic” bronchiolitis). Likewise, endotype 2 infants were characterized by low proportion of IgE sensitization and high proportion of RSV or RV infection. These endotype 2 infants had dysregulated tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐mediated signaling pathway (FDR <0.001) and significantly higher risks for developing asthma (44% vs. 22%; adjOR 2.71; 95% CI, 1.03–7.11, p = 0.04).

Conclusion

In this multicenter cohort, integrated clustering of clinical, virus, and proteome data identified biologically distinct endotypes of bronchiolitis that have differential risks of asthma development.
Judicialising Urban Political Ecologies: Post‐Politics and Environmental Governance in South Asia
Authors: Mehmood Asif , Cousins Joshua J.
Published: May 2022

Legal and judicial mediation and arbitration significantly influence who has access and control over resources. Taking insights from post‐political debates in political ecology and discussions at the intersection of critical legal geography and political ecology, we focus on the production of judicial ecologies. Through case studies on waste management in India, water governance in Pakistan, and urban air pollution in Bangladesh, we describe how political‐ecological questions get transferred to the courts. We describe this as a process of political bonsaification—a process that shifts political questions to the courts and contains political action to legal and technocratic forums. Our aim is to stimulate research on how courts and legal institutions form judicial ecologies by setting, enforcing, or ignoring rules that influence human–environment interactions. Understanding how judicial and legal systems intersect across class, race, gender, and different political‐ecological contexts, we argue, is the aim of research in judicial ecology.
Month of birth and the risk of developing type 1 diabetes among children in the Swedish national Better Diabetes Diagnosis Study
Authors: Hedlund Emma , Ludvigsson Johnny , Elding Larsson Helena , Forsander Gun , Ivarsson Sten , Marcus Claude , Samuelsson Ulf , Persson Martina , Carlsson Annelie
Published: May 2022

Aim

Previous studies have reported an association between month of birth and incidence of type 1 diabetes. Using population‐based data, including almost all newly diagnosed children with type 1 diabetes in Sweden, we tested whether month of birth influences the risk of type 1 diabetes.

Methods

For 8761 children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between May 2005 and December 2016 in the Better Diabetes Diagnosis study, month of birth, sex and age were compared. Human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genotype and autoantibodies at diagnosis were analysed for a subset of the cohort (n = 3647). Comparisons with the general population used data from Statistics Sweden.

Results

We found no association between month of birth or season and the incidence of type 1 diabetes in the cohort as a whole. However, boys diagnosed before 5 years were more often born in May (p = 0.004). We found no correlation between month of birth and HLA or antibodies.

Conclusion

In this large nationwide study, the impact of month of birth on type 1 diabetes diagnosis was weak, except for boys diagnosed before 5 years of age, who were more likely born in May. This may suggest different triggers for different subgroups of patients with type 1 diabetes.
Strongly increased risk of gastric and duodenal ulcers among new users of low‐dose aspirin: results from two large cohorts with new‐user design
Authors: Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai , Sha Sha , Chen Li‐Ju , Holleczek Bernd , Brenner Hermann , Schöttker Ben
Published: May 2022

Background

Low‐dose aspirin is a risk factor for peptic ulcer disease but previous, population‐based cohort studies may have underestimated the low‐dose aspirin risk because they did not use a new‐user design. Gastrointestinal bleeding occurs more frequently early after initiation of low‐dose aspirin therapy than in later years.

Aim

To assess the associations of low‐dose aspirin with gastric and duodenal ulcer incidence in prevalent‐ and new‐user design.

Methods

Multivariate Cox regression models in the German ESTHER study (N = 7737) and the UK Biobank (N = 213,598) with more than 10 years of follow‐up.

Results

In the prevalent‐user design, there was no significant association between low‐dose aspirin and gastric ulcer observed in both cohorts. Furthermore, low‐dose aspirin was weakly, statistically significantly associated with prevalent duodenal ulcer in the UK Biobank (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval]: 1.27 [1.07–1.51]) but not in the ESTHER study (1.33 [0.54–3.29]). When restricting the exposure to only new users, the hazard ratios for incident gastric and duodenal ulcer disease were 1.82 [1.58–2.11] and 1.66 [1.36–2.04] in the UK Biobank, respectively, and 2.83 [1.40–5.71] and 3.89 [1.46–10.42] in the ESTHER study, respectively.

Conclusions

This study shows that low‐dose aspirin is an independent risk factor for both gastric and duodenal ulcers. The associations were not significant or weak in the prevalent‐user design and strong and statistically significant in the new‐user design in both cohorts. Thus, it is important to weigh risks against benefits when low‐dose aspirin treatment shall be initiated and to monitor adverse gastrointestinal symptoms after the start of low‐dose aspirin therapy.
Flexible Copula Model for Integrating Correlated Multi-Omics Data from Single-Cell Experiments
Authors: Ma Zichen , Davis Shannon W. , Ho Yen-Yi
Published: May 2022

With recent advances in technologies to profile multi-omics data at the single-cell level, integrative multi-omics data analysis has been increasingly popular. It is increasingly common that information such as methylation changes, chromatin accessibility, and gene expression are jointly collected in a single-cell experiment. In biomedical studies, it is often of interest to study the associations between various data types and to examine how these associations might change according to other factors such as cell types and gene regulatory components. However, since each data type usually has a distinct marginal distribution, joint analysis of these changes of associations using multi-omics data is statistically challenging. In this paper, we propose a flexible copula-based framework to model covariate-dependent correlation structures independent of their marginals. In addition, the proposed approach could jointly combine a wide variety of univariate marginal distributions, either discrete or continuous, including the class of zero-inflated distributions. The performance of the proposed framework is demonstrated through a series of simulation studies. Finally, it is applied to a set of experimental data to investigate the dynamic relationship between single-cell RNA sequencing, chromatin accessibility, and DNA methylation at different germ layers during mouse gastrulation.
It's All Relative: Regression Analysis with Compositional Predictors
Authors: Li Gen , Li Yan , Chen Kun
Published: May 2022

Compositional data reside in a simplex and measure fractions or proportions of parts to a whole. Most existing regression methods for such data rely on log-ratio transformations that are inadequate or inappropriate in modeling high-dimensional data with excessive zeros and hierarchical structures. Moreover, such models usually lack a straightforward interpretation due to the interrelation between parts of a composition. We develop a novel relative-shift regression framework that directly uses proportions as predictors. The new framework provides a paradigm shift for regression analysis with compositional predictors and offers a superior interpretation of how shifting concentration between parts affects the response. New equi-sparsity and tree-guided regularization methods and an efficient smoothing proximal gradient algorithm are developed to facilitate feature aggregation and dimension reduction in regression. A unified finite-sample prediction error bound is derived for the proposed regularized estimators. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods in extensive simulation studies and a real gut microbiome study. Guided by the taxonomy of the microbiome data, the framework identifies important taxa at different taxonomic levels associated with the neurodevelopment of preterm infants.
Exploring Ghanaian male immigrants' transnational dating practices within the integration‐transnationalism matrix
Authors: Kutor Senanu Kwasi , Kyeremeh Emmanuel , Annan‐Aggrey Eunice , Oklikah Desmond Ofori
Published: May 2022

The migration literature focusing on understanding interactions between immigrants' integration and transnationalism is replete with mixed findings. However, contemporary consensus among migration scholars suggests that immigrants' integration and transnational connections can occur simultaneously. Focusing on transnational dating—which is understudied—this exploratory study draws on an online qualitative survey with five Ghanaian male immigrants in southwestern Ontario, Canada, to explore how immigrants' attachment to the host society, homeland, and “elsewhere” shape transnational dating behaviour. Transnational dating is conceptualized in this paper as dating partners that live part or most of their life or time detached from each other, yet hold together and create a sense of shared welfare and harmony, namely “datehood” that surpasses national borders. Using the integration‐transnationalism matrix as the theoretical framework, this paper demonstrates that the roles of integration and transnationalism should not be seen as separate influences on participants' transnational dating behaviour given participants' strong attachment to the host society, sending country, and “elsewhere.” Importantly, our finding indicates that the motivation for transnational dating is related to transnational connections rather than not feeling integrated into Canadian society. Overall, the finding contributes to discourses on dating, transnational dating, transnationalism, and the conceptual framework of the integration‐transnationalism matrix.
‘SCHÖNE JUGENDLICHE MÄDCHENKÖPFE’: GENDER AND ‘GENIE’ IN LOU ANDREAS‐SALOMÉ’S MENSCHENKINDER
Authors: Mairhofer Marlen
Published: May 2022

In her essay ‘Der Mensch als Weib’ (1899) Lou Andreas‐Salomé compares women to trees: both produce their ‘fruit’ unintentionally. This comparison seems to allow very little scope for active female creativity, let alone ingenuity. Closer inspection, however, reveals a more differentiated view of questions of gender and creativity. By bringing biology together with psychology and outlining the differences between male and female desire, Salomé establishes the feminine as an entity in its own right. Although she denies the existence of female genius, women and geniuses suspiciously seem to have a lot in common in her writing: both embody a heightened self‐sufficiency through their very essence. Characters who illustrate the complex relations between self‐fulfilment, desire and creativity can be found throughout Salomé’s literary work; I take as my example here the early ‘Novellencyclus’ Menschenkinder (1899). Hans Holtema (‘Mädchenreigen’), Hildegard (‘Das Paradies’) and Irene von Geyern (‘Zurück ans All’) possess skills that can best be described as ingenium, an innate gift, which is often seen as a challenge by their (male) surroundings. Rather than offering dogmatic answers, Salomé’s novellas as well as her theoretical work around 1900 emphasise the richness of debates about gender and genius.
Digital intermediaries, market competition, and citizen‐state interactions
Authors: Agnihotri Anustubh
Published: May 2022

Can market competition between intermediaries improve the quality of citizen‐state interactions? I test this question in the context of a public‐private partnership (PPP) policy that created a network of digital intermediaries ‐ individuals authorized by the state to submit online applications on behalf of citizens. I use the overtime and staggered expansion of the intermediary network to identify the relationship between greater competition among digital intermediaries for the share of citizen applications and the quality of citizen‐state interactions. I find that having an increased presence of intermediaries in a jurisdiction does not improve the citizen experience in engaging with the state. Why doesn't an increase in the presence of intermediaries positively impact the quality of citizen‐state interactions? I argue that digital intermediaries selected by the state have limited incentives to compete in the market for citizen applications. To establish the incentives of digital intermediaries, I juxtapose their functioning against informal intermediaries, who submitted paper‐based applications before the state moved citizen applications online. Based on qualitative interviews and data on the transition from paper‐based to online applications, I show that the PPP policy by formalizing the citizen‐state interface disrupts informal mediation arrangement and limits market competition. The lack of relationship between the expansion of the intermediary network and the quality of citizen‐state interactions has important implications for how low and middle‐income countries deploy information technology for digitizing citizen interfacing governance processes. I conclude by outlining how formalization of citizen‐state interface can be implemented in a manner that can improve citizen experience engaging with the state.
Thermal shock resistance of thermal barrier coatings modified by selective laser remelting and alloying techniques
Authors: Zhang Panpan , Sun Yuhai , Wang Yueliang , Zheng Yafeng , Zhang Xiaofeng , Zhang Qunli , Yao Jianhua
Published: May 2022

Aiming to improve the thermal shock resistance of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), the plasma‐sprayed 7YSZ TBCs were modified by selective laser remelting and selective laser alloying, respectively, in this study. A self‐healing agent TiAl3 was introduced into the 7YSZ TBCs by selective laser alloying to fill cracks during thermal cycling. The thermal shock experiments of the plasma‐sprayed, laser‐remelted, and laser‐alloyed TBCs were conducted by a means of heating and water‐quenching method. Results revealed that some segmented microcracks were distributed on the surface of the laser‐remelted and the laser‐alloyed zones, showing a dense columnar crystal structure. After thermal shock tests, the numbers of segmented microcracks on the laser‐remelted coating increased, whereas, in the laser‐alloyed condition, some irregular particles formed, leading to the decreased numbers of segmented microcracks. The laser‐alloyed coating exhibited the best thermal shock resistance, followed by the laser‐remelted condition, with the thermal shock lifetime 3.3 and 2.7 times higher than that of the as‐sprayed coating, respectively. On the one hand, both columnar grains and segmented microcracks in the laser‐treated zone could effectively improve the strain tolerance of coatings. On the other hand, the oxidation products of TiAl3 under high‐temperature condition could seal the microcracks to postpone the crack connection. Thus, the thermal shock resistance of the laser‐treated coatings was significantly improved.
Efficacy and safety of combined fractional ablative CO2 laser and 5 fluorouracil in the treatment of acral vitiligo: An open, uncontrolled study
Authors: Weshahy Ragia , Abdelhamid Mahmoud F. , Sayed Khadiga S. , El Desouky Eman D. , Ramez Shahenda A.
Published: May 2022

Background

Acral lesions of vitiligo are most likely recalcitrant to the known lines of treatment. Ablative fractional CO2 has shown efficacy in treatment of vitiligo in combination with other modalities.

Methods

Thirty non‐segmental vitiligo patients with acral lesion were included in the study. Each patient was subjected to fractional Carbon Dioxide Laser Treatment followed by application of 5 fluorouracil (5FU) cream for five consecutive days. Evaluation was done 3 weeks from the start of treatment and 12 weeks after the last treatment session using VESTA score, evaluation of patients' photos by blinded investigation in addition to patients' satisfaction scores.

Results

Patients showed significant improvement of Vitiligo extent score for a target area (VESTA) score and developed considerable degree of repigmentation as assessed by blinded investigators.

Conclusion

The combination of fractional ablative CO2 and 5FU is an effective and safe procedure for the treatment of acral vitiligo with promising results offering patients a new therapeutic window.