bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of Advanced Renal Dysfunction on Posttransplant Outcomes After Living Donor Liver Transplantation in the United States
Authors: Bittermann Therese , Abt Peter L. , Olthoff Kim M. , Kaur Navpreet , Heimbach Julie K. , Emamaullee Juliet
Published: March 2021

Background.

Survival after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in the United States is excellent. However, the significance of pretransplant kidney disease on outcomes in this population is poorly understood.

Methods.

This was a retrospective cohort study of 2806 LDLT recipients nationally between January 2010 and June 2020. Recipients with estimated glomerular filtration rate <40 mL/min/1.73 m2 (eGFR-low) or requiring dialysis were compared. Multivariable survival analyses evaluated (1) eGFR-low as a predictor of post-LDLT survival and (2) the survival of LDLT versus deceased donor liver transplant (DDLT) alone with eGFR-low.

Results.

From 2010 to 2020, 140 (5.0%) patients had eGFR-low and 18 (0.6%) required dialysis pre-LDLT. The number of LDLTs requiring dialysis between 2017 and 2020 outnumbered the prior 7 y. Overall LDLT experience was greater at centers performing LDLT in recipients with renal dysfunction (P < 0.001). LDLT recipients with eGFR-low had longstanding renal dysfunction: mean eGFR 3–6 mo before LDLT 42.7 (±15.1) mL/min/1.73 m2. Nearly half (5/12) of eGFR-low recipients with active kidney transplant (KT) listing at LDLT experienced renal recovery. Five patients underwent early KT after LDLT via the new “safety net” policy. Unadjusted survival after LDLT was worse with eGFR-low (hazard ratio 2.12 versus eGFR ≥40 mL/min/1.73 m2; 95% confidence interval, 1.47-3.05; P < 0.001), but no longer so when accounting for mean eGFR 3–6 mo pre-LDLT (hazard ratio, 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-1.95; P = 0.3). The adjusted survival of patients with eGFR-low receiving LDLT versus deceased donor liver transplant alone was not different (P = 0.08).

Conclusions.

Overall, outcomes after LDLT with advanced renal dysfunction are acceptable. These findings are relevant given the recent “safety net” KT policy.
Can you have a migraine aura without knowing it?
Authors: Hadjikhani Nouchine , Vincent Maurice
Published: March 2021

Purpose of review

This review covers several aspects our understanding of episodic manifestations and unusual symptoms that may be associated with migraine aura.

Recent findings

The episodic manifestation of migraine aura is typically visual in nature, although five other types are currently recognized: sensory, speech and/or language, motor, brainstem, and retinal. Other transitory perceptions or experiences such as emotional, olfactory, or auditory have been reported as possible migraine auras. As underlined by the much higher reported prevalence of aura manifestation in individuals with professional knowledge of its possible manifestations, it appears that a number of migraine auras may remain unnoticed, unreported, or misdiagnosed.

Aura manifestations may be more common, complex, symptom-rich and variable than previously thought. Clinicians should proactively ask questions beyond those addressing visual symptoms when examining individuals with a potential diagnosis of migraine with aura.
Ambulatory EEG to Classify the Epilepsy Syndrome
Authors: González Otárula Karina A. , Balaguera Pedro , Schuele Stephan
Published: March 2021

Recording of interictal epileptiform discharges to classify the epilepsy syndrome is one of the most common indications for ambulatory EEG. Ambulatory EEG has superior sampling compared with standard EEG recordings and advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness and convenience compared with a prolonged inpatient EEG study. Ambulatory EEG allows for EEG recording in all sleep stages and transitional states, which can be very helpful in capturing interictal epileptiform discharges. In the absence of interictal epileptiform discharges or in patients with atypical events, the characterization of an epilepsy syndrome may require recording of the habitual events. Diagnostic ambulatory EEG can be a useful alternative to inpatient video-EEG monitoring in a selected number of patients with frequent events who do not require medication taper or seizure testing for surgical localization.
Litoreibacter roseus sp. nov., a novel bacteriochlorophyll a-containing bacterium
Authors: Kanamuro Masataka , Sato-Takabe Yuki , Muramatsu So , Hirose Setsuko , Muramatsu Yuki , Takaichi Shinichi , Hanada Satoshi
Published: March 2021

A strictly aerobic, bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) a-containing alphaproteobacterium, designated strain K6T, was isolated from seawater around an aquaculture site in the Uwa Sea in Japan. The novel strain grew optimally at 30 °C at pH 7.0–7.5 and in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. The nonmotile and coccoid or rod-shaped cells formed pink-pigmented colonies on agar plates containing organic compounds. Cells showed an in vivo absorption maximum at 870 nm in the near-infrared region, indicating the presence of BChl a in the light-harvesting 1 complex. The new bacterial strain was Gram-stain-negative and oxidase- and catalase-positive. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain K6T was closely related to species in the genus

Litoreibacter

. The closest phylogenetic relatives of strain K6T were

Litoreibacter ponti

GJSW-31T (98.56 % sequence similarity),

Litoreibacter janthinus

KMM 3842T (97.63 %) and

Litoreibacter albidus

KMM 3851T (96.88 %). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 58.26 mol%. The average nucleotide identity value of strain K6T with the type strain of

L. ponti

was 77.16 % (SD 4.79 %). The digital DNA−DNA hybridization value of strain K6T with the type strain of

L. ponti

was 19.40 %. The respiratory quinone was ubiquinone-10. The major cellular fatty acids were C18 : 1 ω7c, C16 : 0 and 11-methyl C18 : 1 ω7c. The dominant polar lipids were phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol. On the basis of the genetic and phenotypic data obtained in the present study, we propose a new species in the genus

Litoreibacter

: Litoreibacter roseus sp. nov., whose type strain is K6T (=DSM 110109T=NBRC 114114T). Strain K6T represents the first confirmed species that produces BChl a within the genus

Litoreibacter

.
Conidial fusion in the asexual fungusVerticillium dahliae
Authors: Vangalis Vasileios , Knop Michael , Typas Milton A. , Papaioannou Ioannis A.
Published: March 2021

Cell-to-cell fusion is a fundamental biological process across the tree of life. In filamentous fungi, somatic fusion (or anastomosis) is required for the normal development of their syncytial hyphal networks, and it can initiate non-sexual genetic exchange processes, such as horizontal genetic transfer and the parasexual cycle. Although these could be important drivers of the evolution of asexual fungi, this remains a largely unexplored possibility due to the lack of suitable resources for their study in these puzzling organisms. In this study, we report that the spores of the important asexual plant-pathogenic fungusVerticillium dahliaeoften engage in cell fusion via Conidial Anastomosis Tubes (CATs). We optimized appropriate procedures for their highly reproducible quantification and live-cell imaging, which were used to characterize their physiology and cell biology, and to start elucidating their underlying genetic machinery. Formation of CATs was shown to depend on growth conditions and require functional Fus3 and Slt2 MAP kinases, as well as the NADPH oxidase NoxA, whereas the GPCR Ste2 and the mating-type protein MAT1-2-1 were dispensable. We show that nuclei and other organelles can migrate through CATs, which often leads to the formation of transient dikaryons. Their nuclei have possible windows of opportunity for genetic interaction before degradation of one by a presumably homeostatic mechanism. We establish here CAT-mediated fusion inV. dahliaeas an experimentally convenient system for the cytological analysis of fungal non-sexual genetic interactions. We expect that it will facilitate the dissection of sexual alternatives in asexual fungi.
Distributed context-dependent choice information in mouse dorsal-parietal cortex
Authors: Orlandi Javier G. , Abdolrahmani Mohammad , Aoki Ryo , Lyamzin Dmitry R. , Benucci Andrea
Published: March 2021

Choice information appears in the brain as distributed signals with top-down and bottom-up components that together support decision-making computations. In sensory and associative cortical regions, the presence of choice signals, their strength, and area specificity are known to be elusive and changeable, limiting a cohesive understanding of their computational significance. In this study, examining the mesoscale activity in mouse posterior cortex during a complex visual discrimination task, we found that broadly distributed choice signals defined a decision variable in a low-dimensional embedding space of multi-area activations, particularly along the ventral visual stream. The subspace they defined was near-orthogonal to concurrently represented sensory and motor-related activations, and it was modulated by task difficulty and contextually by the animals’ attention state. To mechanistically relate choice representations to decision-making computations, we trained recurrent neural networks with the animals’ choices and found an equivalent decision variable whose context-dependent dynamics agreed with that of the neural data. In conclusion, our results demonstrated an independent decision variable broadly represented in the posterior cortex, controlled by task features and cognitive demands. Its dynamics reflected decision computations, possibly linked to context-dependent feedback signals used for probabilistic-inference computations in variable animal-environment interactions.
Exploring the microdiversity within marine bacterial taxa: Towards an integrated biogeography in the Southern Ocean
Authors: Schwob G , Segovia NI , González-Wevar CA , Cabrol L , Orlando J , Poulin E
Published: March 2021

The phylogeography traditionally correlates the genetic relationships among individuals within a macroorganism species, to their spatial distribution. Most microbial phylogeographic studies so far have been restricted to narrow geographical regions, mainly focusing on isolated strains, either obtained by culture or single-strain natural enrichments. However, the laborious culture-based methodology imposes a low number of studied individuals, leading to poor resolution of haplotype frequency estimation, making difficult a realistic evaluation of the genetic structure of natural microbial populations in the environment.

To tackle this limitation, we present a new approach to unravel the phylogeographic patterns of bacteria combining (i) community-wide survey by 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, (ii) intra-species resolution through the oligotyping method, and (iii) genetic and phylogeographic indices, as well as migration parameters, estimated from populational molecular data as traditionally developed for macroorganisms as models.

As a proof-of-concept, we applied this methodology to the bacterial genusSpirochaeta, classically reported as a gut endosymbiont of various invertebrates inhabiting the Southern Ocean (SO), but also described in marine sediment and in open waters. For this purpose, we centered our sampling into three biogeographic provinces of the SO; maritime Antarctica (King George Island), sub-Antarctic Islands (Kerguelen archipelago) and Patagonia in southern South America. Each targeted OTU was chaLRracterized by substantial intrapopulation microdiversity, a significant genetic differentiation and a robust phylogeographic structure among the three distant biogeographic provinces. Patterns of gene flow inSpirochaetapopulations support the role of the Antarctic Polar Front (APF) as a biogeographic barrier to bacterial dispersal between Antarctic and sub-Antarctic provinces. Conversely, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) appears as the main driver of connectivity between geographically distant sub-Antarctic areas such as Patagonia and Kerguelen archipelago, and between Kerguelen archipelago and maritime Antarctica. Additionnally, we found that historical processes (drift and dispersal limitation) together govern up to 86% of the spatial turnover amongSpirochaetapopulations. Overall, our approach represents a substantial first attempt to bridge the gap between microbial and macrobial ecology by unifying the way to study phylogeography. We revealed that strong congruency with macroorganisms patterns at the populational level shaped by the same oceanographic structures and ecological processes.
Autism spectrum disorder: understanding the impact of SNPs on biological pathways in the fetal and adult cortex
Authors: Golovina E. , Fadason T. , Lints T.J. , Walker C. , Vickers M.H. , O’Sullivan J.M.
Published: March 2021

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant and complex genetic etiology. GWAS studies have identified genetic variants associated with ASD, but the functional impacts of these variants remain unknown. Here, we integrated four distinct levels of biological information (GWAS, eQTL, spatial genome organization and protein-protein interactions) to identify potential regulatory impacts of ASD-associated SNPs (p< 5×10-8) on biological pathways within fetal and adult cortical tissues. We found 80 and 58 SNPs that mark regulatory regions (i.e. expression quantitative trait loci or eQTLs) in the fetal and adult cortex, respectively. These eQTLs were also linked to other psychiatric disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, ADHD, bipolar disorder). Functional annotation of ASD-associated eQTLs revealed that they are involved in diverse regulatory processes. In particular, we found significant enrichment of eQTLs within regions repressed by Polycomb proteins in the fetal cortex compared to the adult cortex. Furthermore, we constructed fetal and adult cortex-specific protein-protein interaction networks and identified that ASD-associated regulatory SNPs impact on immune pathways, fatty acid metabolism, ribosome biogenesis, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis and spliceosome in the fetal cortex. By contrast in the adult cortex, they largely affect immune pathways. Overall, our findings highlight potential regulatory mechanisms and pathways important for the etiology of ASD in early brain development and adulthood. This approach, in combination with clinical studies on ASD, will contribute to individualized mechanistic understanding of ASD development.
Loss ofTsc1in cerebellar Purkinje cells induces transcriptional and translation changes in FMRP target transcripts
Authors: Dalal Jasbir , Winden Kellen D. , Salussolia Catherine L. , Sundberg Maria , Singh Achint , Zhou Pingzhu , Pu William T , Miller Meghan T. , Sahin Mustafa
Published: March 2021

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder that is associated with multiple neurological manifestations. Previously, we demonstrated thatTsc1loss in cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) can cause altered social behavior in mice. Here, we performed detailed transcriptional and translational analyses ofTsc1-deficient PCs to understand the molecular alterations in these cells. We found that target transcripts of the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP) are reduced in mutant PCs with evidence of increased degradation. Surprisingly, we observed unchanged ribosomal binding for many of these genes using Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP). Finally, we found that the FMRP target, SHANK2, was reduced in PC synapses, suggesting that compensatory increases in ribosomal binding efficiency may be unable to overcome reduced transcript levels. These data further implicate dysfunction of FMRP and its targets in TSC and suggest that treatments aimed at restoring the function of these pathways may be beneficial.
Identification and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 leader subgenomic mRNA gene junctions in nasopharyngeal samples shows phasic transcription in animal models of COVID-19 and dysregulation at later time points that can also be identified in humans
Authors: Dong Xiaofeng , Penrice-Randal Rebekah , Goldswain Hannah , Prince Tessa , Randle Nadine , Salguero Javier , Tree Julia , Vamos Ecaterina , Nelson Charlotte , Stewart James P. ,   ISARIC4C Investigators,   COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Semple Malcolm G. , Baillie J. Kenneth , Openshaw Peter J. M. , Turtle Lance , Matthews David A. , Carroll Miles W. , Darby Alistair C. , Hiscox Julian A.
Published: March 2021

Introduction

SARS-CoV-2 has a complex strategy for the transcription of viral subgenomic mRNAs (sgmRNAs), which are targets for nucleic acid diagnostics. Each of these sgRNAs has a unique 5’ sequence, the leader-transcriptional regulatory sequence gene junction (leader-TRS-junction), that can be identified using sequencing.

Results

High resolution sequencing has been used to investigate the biology of SARS-CoV-2 and the host response in cell culture models and from clinical samples. LeTRS, a bioinformatics tool, was developed to identify leader-TRS-junctions and be used as a proxy to quantify sgmRNAs for understanding virus biology. This was tested on published datasets and clinical samples from patients and longitudinal samples from animal models with COVID-19.

Discussion

LeTRS identified known leader-TRS-junctions and identified novel species that were common across different species. The data indicated multi-phasic abundance of sgmRNAs in two different animal models, with spikes in sgmRNA abundance reflected in human samples, and therefore has implications for transmission models and nucleic acid-based diagnostics.
miQC: An adaptive probabilistic framework for quality control of single-cell RNA-sequencing data
Authors: Hippen Ariel A. , Falco Matias M. , Weber Lukas M. , Erkan Erdogan Pekcan , Zhang Kaiyang , Doherty Jennifer Anne , Vähärautio Anna , Greene Casey S. , Hicks Stephanie C.
Published: March 2021

Motivation

Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) has made it possible to profile gene expression in tissues at high resolution. An important preprocessing step prior to performing downstream analyses is to identify and remove cells with poor or degraded sample quality using quality control (QC) metrics. Two widely used QC metrics to identify a ‘low-quality’ cell are (i) if the cell includes a high proportion of reads that map to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encoded genes and (ii) if a small number of genes are detected. Current best practices use these QC metrics independently with either arbitrary, uniform thresholds (e.g. 5%) or biological context-dependent (e.g. species) thresholds, and fail to jointly model these metrics in a data-driven manner. Current practices are often overly stringent and especially untenable on lower-quality tissues, such as archived tumor tissues.

Results

We propose a data-driven QC metric (miQC) that jointly models both the proportion of reads mapping to mtDNA genes and the number of detected genes with mixture models in a probabilistic framework to predict the low-quality cells in a given dataset. We demonstrate how our QC metric easily adapts to different types of single-cell datasets to remove low-quality cells while preserving high-quality cells that can be used for downstream analyses.

Availability

Software available athttps://github.com/greenelab/miQC. The code used to download datasets, perform the analyses, and reproduce the figures is available athttps://github.com/greenelab/mito-filtering.

Contact

Stephanie C. Hicks (shicks19@jhu.edu) and Anna Vähärautio (anna.vaharautio@helsinki.fi)
High molecular weight DNA extraction strategies for long-read sequencing of complex metagenomes
Authors: Trigodet Florian , Lolans Karen , Fogarty Emily , Shaiber Alon , Morrison Hilary G. , Barreiro Luis , Jabri Bana , Eren A. Murat
Published: March 2021

By offering extremely long contiguous characterization of individual DNA molecules, rapidly emerging long-read sequencing strategies offer comprehensive insights into the organization of genetic information in genomes and metagenomes. However, successful long-read sequencing experiments demand high concentrations of highly purified DNA of high molecular weight (HMW), which limits the utility of established DNA extraction kits designed for short-read sequencing. Challenges associated with input DNA quality intensify further when working with complex environmental samples of low microbial biomass, which requires new protocols that are tailored to study metagenomes with long-read sequencing. Here, we use human tongue scrapings to benchmark six HMW DNA extraction strategies that are based on commercially available kits, phenol-chloroform (PC) extraction, and agarose encasement followed by agarase digestion. A typical end goal of HMW DNA extractions is to obtain the longest possible reads during sequencing, which is often achieved by PC extractions as demonstrated in sequencing of cultured cells. Yet our analyses that consider overall read-size distribution, assembly performance, and the number of circularized elements found in sequencing results suggest that non-PC methods may be more appropriate for long-read sequencing of metagenomes.
Collective behavior emerges from genetically controlled simple behavioral motifs in zebrafish
Authors: Aspiras Ariel C. , Harpaz Roy , Chambule Sydney , Tseng Sierra , Engert Florian , Fishman Mark C. , Bahl Armin
Published: March 2021

Since Darwin, coordinated movement of animal groups has been believed to be essential to species survival, but it is not understood how changes in the genetic makeup of individuals might alter behavior of the collective. Here we find that even at the early larval stage, zebrafish regulate their proximity and alignment with each other. Two simple visual responses, one that measures relative visual field occupancy and the other global visual motion, suffice to account for the group behavior that emerges. We analyze how mutations in genes known to affect social behavior of humans perturb these simple reflexes in larval zebrafish and thereby affect their collective behaviors. We use model simulations to show that changes in reflexive responses of individual mutant animals predict well the distinctive collective patterns that emerge in a group. Hence group behaviors reflect in part genetically defined primitive sensorimotor “motifs”, which are evident even in young larvae.
Self-reported food safety knowledge and practices of early-school-aged children – a result of analysis in towns near the Warsaw city
Authors: Tomaszewska Marzena , Neffe-Skocińska Katarzyna , Trząskowska Monika , Trafialek Joanna , Wadolowska Lidia , Hamulka Jadwiga
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and practices of selected group of Polish children in early school age in terms of issues such as: (1) the principles of food preparation, storage and eating meals; (2) personal hygiene; and (3) basic information about microorganisms.

Design/methodology/approach

The auditorium survey method was used. The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions related to the children's knowledge of personal hygiene, the principles of food preparation and storage and the physiology of microorganisms and 13 questions related to the children's personal and food hygiene practice. In total, 169 questionnaires were collected. The study group of children had incomplete knowledge and often reported inappropriate food hygiene practices.

Findings

The subjects of food preparation and storage and knowledge of microbes were particular problem areas. By contrast, aspects related to handwashing, the appropriate practices while coughing or sneezing and washing fruit before consumption were positively evaluated. The children demonstrated the most knowledge in the field of personal hygiene. However, a very low percentage of correct answers was noted for the question about handwashing at school. None of the 13 questions related to this practice received more than 90% correct answers. The boys and girls demonstrated a comparable level of knowledge and practice in the area of food safety. It was showed that the place of school influenced answers to a greater extent compared to gender.

Originality/value

The results of the study play an important role in the prevention of food poisoning and are useful for the teachers, staff of training institutions and parents. They can also inspire institutions in countries with a high incidence of food poisoning to search for the causes in the inappropriate hygienic practices of young children.
Authentic leadership and employee health: a conditional process model
Authors: Hildenbrand Kristin , Daher Pascale , Akaighe Godbless
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of authentic leadership (AL) on employees' health via employees' perception of climate of authenticity (PCA) across two studies. In study 2, the authors additionally explore the moderating role of employees' neuroticism.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses were tested across two studies using two-wave survey data. In study 1 (n = 104), the mediation hypothesis was tested. Study 2 (n = 146) extended study 1 and examined the moderated mediation model.

Findings

Across both studies, AL is positively related to employee health, and employees' perceived climate of authenticity mediates this relationship. Study 2 additionally shows that employees' neuroticism moderates this indirect effect such that perceived climate of authenticity instigated by AL is particularly conducive for employees high in neuroticism as opposed to those low in neuroticism.

Practical implications

Findings emphasize the health-promoting effect of AL. It is recommended that organizations cascade, through their leaders, emotional display rules that encourage genuine emotional expression.

Originality/value

This paper addresses gaps in the leadership literature through investigating perceived climate of authenticity, a mediating variable that lies at the heart of AL, and integrating the role of employees' personality in the leadership process.
Effects of trust, structure and processes on effectiveness in a military organization: exploring a moderated mediation model
Authors: Bjørnstad Anne Lise , Ulleberg Pål
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to better understand the consequences of trust between personnel at different hierarchical levels for organizational effectiveness. The authors aim to explore the direct effects and the interaction effects of trust with organizational structure and processes. The study focuses on military organizations and expands on models and research from this context.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from a Norwegian military exercise organization at two different hierarchical levels. The hypothesized relationships between the variables were tested using moderation and serial mediation analyses.

Findings

Trust between personnel at different hierarchical levels was found to positively influence organizational effectiveness in terms of higher shared awareness of tasks and responsibilities, better information sharing and, in turn, better decision-making. A perceived flat organizational structure and decentralized processes were found to increase flexibility, an increase that in turn improved decision-making. Moderation analyses further suggested that trust between hierarchical levels could attenuate the negative effects of personnel's perception of their organization as hierarchical and centralized.

Practical implications

The study’s results suggest that, at least in Norwegian military contexts, practitioners should be concerned with building trust between personnel at different hierarchical levels, flattening the organizational structure, and decentralizing processes to increase organizational flexibility and effectiveness.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to a better understanding of the role of trust between personnel at different hierarchical levels in the effort to achieve effective organizational structures and processes in military contexts.
Students’ self-perceptions of creativity: the case of Emirati students in a first-year English program
Authors: Deveci Tanju
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the opinions of first-year Emirati students in a writing-intensive English program regarding the extent to which they found themselves creative and the ways in which they expressed creativity in general. The other aim was to identify the ways in which they tended to make their writing creative. The study also sought to see if there were differences between male and female students’ responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 54 first-year Emirati students using a survey with closed and open-ended questions.

Findings

Results revealed that only three quarters of the students considered themselves creative. The most common ways in which they perceived themselves creative were through originality, problem-solving and design. With regards to creativity in writing, amongst several factors, they believed that the incorporation of experience, skillful use of lexis and grammar and understanding of their audience in particular make their writing creative. There were no statistically significant differences between male and female students’ responses.

Originality/value

People’s cultural backgrounds play a significant role in their perception of creativity and beliefs in their own creative writing powers. Creative writing skills are, therefore, often among key learning outcomes, and many universities offer their students writing-focused courses. For these courses to be successful, students’ perceptions of creativity skills ought to be taken into consideration. The current study achieved this.
The planning of smart elderly housing in Dubai with IoT technologies
Authors: Jung Chuloh , Awad Jihad , Chohan Afaq
Published: March 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to optimize the smart elderly housing planning with IoT (internet of things) technologies for an aging society in Dubai. To reflect the IoT technologies in the elderly housing, the characteristics of the IoT home network devices, applied to Ajman University (AU) testbed and smart services model with the IoT technologies are thoroughly analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach

To extract the optimal smart elderly housing model in Dubai, the Korean smart home model from smart cities in Korea was used to implement the testbed at AU. In total, 100 users survey had been performed to adjust the Korean model to local culture/context.

Findings

It was analyzed that convenience and functionality are factors that must be provided. The security system was pointed out as a common denominator for future enhancements. When IoT technologies are applied to elderly housing, it should focus on the safety and health management of the elderly.

Social implications

Dubai had announced a strategy to transform into a Smart City in 2014 and the strategy had included 100 initiatives. The base unit of smart homes, however, was not covered and furthermore as society grows older, the priority for IoT technologies application in the smart home should be focused on smart elderly housing, as the elderly is equivalent to the handicapped due to deteriorated physical abilities.

Originality/value

The characteristics of the IoT home network devices applied to the AU testbed and smart services model with the IoT technologies are thoroughly analyzed.
Optimising monitoring for trend detection after 16 years of woodland‐bird surveys
Authors: Prowse Thomas A. A. , O'Connor Patrick J. , Collard Stuart J. , Peters Kristian J. , Possingham Hugh P.
Published: March 2021

Long‐term biodiversity monitoring programs provide important information about species' trajectories and broader environmental change. Often constrained by funding and organisational capability and commitment, monitoring programs need to be optimised to maximise ecological and economic efficiencies, as part of sound adaptive management.

The monitoring design requirements for detecting biodiversity trends, across assemblages of species with different traits, can be informed by historical datasets. Using data from a landscape‐scale (c. 2,500 km2) bird monitoring program encompassing 151 sites visited three times annually over 16 years, we used resampling to simulate different monitoring designs. We quantified the capacity of modified monitoring regimes to detect population trends for 65 bird species with different densities, detectabilities and specialisations.

The majority (58%) of species exhibited a significant decline in relative abundance, with the ability to detect trends proportional to the length of the time series used for analysis. The percentage of trends detected decreased as survey sites or sessions were dropped from the monitoring dataset. Statistically significant trends remained undetected for an additional 2.5 species for every 10% of sites excluded randomly from the program. As monitoring effort was reduced, the precision of trend estimates for rare species was particularly compromised.

Conducting bird surveys every second year would produce better results than an equivalent reduction in effort achieved by surveying only half the sites each year, but could compromise the sustainability of the program. If the number of survey sites were reduced, trend detection would be optimised by retaining the spatial extent of the surveys (i.e. by dropping sites from well‐surveyed regions rather than excluding outlying, isolated sites), but the cost savings of this approach would be small.

Synthesis and applications. Reduced monitoring effort will compromise trend detection for rare species or species that are difficult to observe, and declining species that will soon become rare. Consequently, monitoring effort that is considered ‘surplus’ today could provide critical data for detecting species‐level trends and prioritising conservation interventions in the future. Further, sampling efficiencies are not all‐important; we must also consider the impacts of survey design modification on the social and political sustainability of existing monitoring programs.
Occurrence of aflatoxin M1 in milk and Minas Frescal cheese manufactured in Brazilian dairy plants
Authors: Gonçalves Bruna L , Ulliana Rômulo D , Ramos Gustavo L P A , Cruz Adriano G , Oliveira Carlos A F , Kamimura Eliana S , Corassin Carlos H
Published: March 2021

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) was determined in milk and Minas Frescal cheese (MFC) manufactured in dairy plants from São Paulo, Brazil. The average AFM1 levels in raw, pasteurised milk and MFC were 0.028 ± 0.009 µg, 0.023 ± 0.006 µg/L and 0.113 ± 0.092 µg/kg, respectively. AFM1 in raw (n = 1; 4%) and pasteurised (n = 2; 8%) milks exceeded the European maximum permitted level (MPL) of 0.05 µg/L. AFM1 concentration rate for MFC was 4.9 ± 1.2. Although AFM1 in all MFC samples was below the Brazilian’s MPL for cheese (2.5 µg/kg), the levels found may increase the overall exposure of consumers to dietary aflatoxins.
Inter‐model Comparison of Turbidity‐Discharge Rating Curves and the Implications for Reservoir Operations Management
Authors: Wang Kezhen , Gelda Rakesh K. , Mukundan Rajith , Steinschneider Scott
Published: March 2021

This study compares several statistical rating curve techniques to estimate turbidity, a proxy for suspended sediment concentration, in fluvial systems based on available discharge data. Seven models were tested, including variants of quadratic rating curves, quantile regression, local regression, dynamic linear models (DLMs), and Box‐Jenkins models. Two comparisons were conducted in a case study of the Esopus Creek watershed in New York, a major water source for the New York City Water Supply System (NYCWSS). First, the models were tested in their ability to forecast turbidity at 1–7 day lead times assuming perfect forecasts of discharge using two daily datasets of varying record lengths and resolution. Second, the models were used to gap‐fill turbidity data based on available discharge data, and the resulting continuous turbidity time series were used to assess optimal reservoir operations in the NYCWSS to manage water quality. Results suggest that DLMs coupled with additional time series modeling on the residuals produce the most robust forecasts across lead times for both high and low turbidity values. During average conditions, differences between rating curves have little impact on inferred reservoir operations due to the buffering effect of storage. But during extreme events, rating curve differences lead to large differences in inferred operations, suggesting that rating curve choice can play an important role in assessing the risk of reservoir‐based water quality management.
A novel p53 regulator, C16ORF72/TAPR1, buffers against telomerase inhibition
Authors: Benslimane Yahya , Sánchez‐Osuna María , Coulombe‐Huntington Jasmin , Bertomeu Thierry , Henry Danielle , Huard Caroline , Bonneil Éric , Thibault Pierre , Tyers Mike , Harrington Lea
Published: March 2021

Telomere erosion in cells with insufficient levels of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), contributes to age‐associated tissue dysfunction and senescence, and p53 plays a crucial role in this response. We undertook a genome‐wide CRISPR screen to identify gene deletions that sensitized p53‐positive human cells to telomerase inhibition. We uncovered a previously unannotated gene, C16ORF72, which we term Telomere Attrition and p53 Response 1 (TAPR1), that exhibited a synthetic‐sick relationship with TERT loss. A subsequent genome‐wide CRISPR screen in TAPR1‐disrupted cells reciprocally identified TERT as a sensitizing gene deletion. Cells lacking TAPR1 or TERT possessed elevated p53 levels and transcriptional signatures consistent with p53 upregulation. The elevated p53 response in TERT‐ or TAPR1‐deficient cells was exacerbated by treatment with the MDM2 inhibitor and p53 stabilizer nutlin‐3a and coincided with a further reduction in cell fitness. Importantly, the sensitivity to treatment with nutlin‐3a in TERT‐ or TAPR1‐deficient cells was rescued by loss of p53. These data suggest that TAPR1 buffers against the deleterious consequences of telomere erosion or DNA damage by constraining p53. These findings identify C16ORF72/TAPR1 as new regulator at the nexus of telomere integrity and p53 regulation.
Does credit rating conservatism matter for corporate tax avoidance?
Authors: Chen Tao , Leung Sidney , Xie Lingmin
Published: March 2021

Using the passage of Dodd‐Frank and the US sovereign downgrade as quasi‐natural experiments, we examine the effect of credit rating conservatism on corporate tax avoidance. We find that treatment firms engage in more tax‐planning activities than control firms in both research settings. We further find that these effects are driven mainly by firms with large existing tax‐planning capacity, firms with decreased use of external financing, firm with more reliance on rating information, and firms with weak external monitoring using the large Dodd‐Frank sample. Overall, the findings provide evidence that credit rating conservatism plays a role in corporate tax‐avoidance decisions.
Systematic evaluation of the ‘efficacy‐effectiveness gap’ in the treatment of depression with venlafaxine and duloxetine
Authors: Schneider Carolin , Breilmann Johanna , Reuter Benedikt , Becker Thomas , Kösters Markus
Published: March 2021

Objective

Evidence of larger drug effects in highly standardized studies (efficacy) compared to clinical routine (effectiveness) is discussed as efficacy‐effectiveness gap. This study aimed to quantify effect size differences of RCTs and non‐RCTs in the treatment of depression with venlafaxine and duloxetine and to identify effect modifying predictors.

Methods

A comprehensive systematic review and meta‐analysis was conducted, including all prospective trials, which evaluated the treatment effects of duloxetine or venlafaxine in patients with depression. The primary outcome was the pre‐post effect size after acute therapy, which were compared between RCTs and non‐RCTs. Moreover, an exploratory analysis of predictors in a mixed meta‐regression model within an information‐theoretic approach was performed.

Results

171 RCTs and 74 non‐RCTs were included. The pre‐post effect size differed significantly between RCTs and non‐RCTs (−3.04 vs. −2.62, Δ = 0.41, p = 0.012, high heterogeneity). Study characteristics were very similar between RCTs and non‐RCTs. Most important variables to predict effect sizes were ‘depression severity’, ‘dose’ and ‘number of participants’.

Conclusion

Despite differences in effect sizes between RCTs and non‐RCTs, study design is not clearly an important predictor for the effect sizes. Our results question the common assumption that non‐RCTs are generally better suited to describe a drug’s effectiveness in clinical practice than RCTs. Future studies and their reporting should put more emphasis on the description of external validity, in order to allow better assessments of clinical relevance.
Simultaneous targeting of oxidative stress and fibrosis reverses cardiomyopathy‐induced ventricular remodelling and dysfunction
Authors: Wang Chao , Gaspari Tracey A. , Ferens Dorota , Spizzo Iresha , Kemp‐Harper Barbara K. , Samuel Chrishan S.
Published: March 2021

Background and Purpose

Oxidative stress and fibrosis are hallmarks of cardiomyopathy‐induced heart failure yet are not effectively targeted by current frontline therapies. Here, the therapeutic effects of the anti‐oxidant, N‐acetylcysteine (NAC), were compared and combined with an acute heart failure drug with established anti‐fibrotic effects, serelaxin (RLX), in a murine model of cardiomyopathy.

Experimental Approach

Adult male 129sv mice were subjected to repeated isoprenaline (25 mg·kg−1)‐induced cardiac injury for five consecutive days and then left to undergo fibrotic healing until Day 14. Subgroups of isoprenaline‐injured mice were treated with RLX (0.5 mg·kg−1·day−1), NAC (25 mg·kg−1·day−1) or both combined, given subcutaneously via osmotic minipumps from Day 7 to 14. Control mice received saline instead of isoprenaline.

Key Results

Isoprenaline‐injured mice showed increased left ventricular (LV) inflammation (~5‐fold), oxidative stress (~1–2.5‐fold), cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (~25%), cardiac remodelling, fibrosis (~2–2.5‐fold) and dysfunction by Day 14 after injury. NAC alone blocked the cardiomyopathy‐induced increase in LV superoxide levels, to a greater extent than RLX. Additionally, either treatment alone only partly reduced several measures of LV inflammation, remodelling and fibrosis. In comparison, the combination of RLX and NAC prevented the cardiomyopathy‐induced LV macrophage infiltration, remodelling, fibrosis and cardiomyocyte size, to a greater extent than either treatment alone after 7 days. The combination therapy also restored the isoprenaline‐induced reduction in LV function, without affecting systolic BP.

Conclusion and Implications

These findings demonstrated that the simultaneous targeting of oxidative stress and fibrosis is key to treating the pathophysiology and dysfunction induced by cardiomyopathy.
Midges not only sucks, but may carry lethal pathogens to wild amphibians
Authors: Toledo Luís Felipe , Ruggeri Joice , Leite Ferraz de Campos Leonardo , Martins Marcio , Neckel‐Oliveira Selvino , Breviglieri Crasso Paulo Bosco
Published: March 2021

The chytrid fungus (Bd) is one of the main causes of recent amphibian population declines and extinctions. However, one possible disease transmission pathway remained unexplored: the insect‐borne transport between hosts. We found Bd DNA on specialized blood‐sucking midges, which could indicate the transport of alive zoospores between amphibian hosts, in this case acting as Bd carriers in the wild.

Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.
The changing and enduring priorities of Deputy Ministers through the IPAC survey
Authors: Dutil Patrice , Migone Andrea
Published: March 2021

Since 1994, the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) has conducted a survey among Canadian Deputy Ministers (DM) to measure what administrative issues they considered the most important. Carried out in varying methods, the IPAC surveys present a unique longitudinal dataset that can shed light on the core focus of top administrative executives over the past 25 years. The results show a consistency in DM priorities. The tasks of preparing to respond strategically to improve service delivery and accountability are always present. The mission of managing human resources emerged in 1998 and has been a top priority ever since.
Multicenter 1‐month follow‐up study of the patch test reaction to the gold sodium thiosulfate of the TRUE Test and its association with piercings and dental metal history
Authors: Suzuki Kayoko , Matsunaga Kayoko , Ito Akiko , Yagami Akiko , Ito Takashi , Miyazawa Hitoshi , Sugiura Mariko , Adachi Atsuko , Kubota Yumiko , Watanabe Yuko , Kato Atsuko , Nishioka Kazue , Fukunaga Atsushi , Mochizuki Masako , Ikezawa Yuko , Tsunoda Takahiko , Takayama Kaoru , Washizaki Kumiko , Yokozeki Hiroo , Ishihara Takuma , Asada Hideo , Kanto Hiromi
Published: March 2021

Background

There is controversy over late and long‐lasting reactions to gold sodium thiosulfate (GST).

Objectives

To study the GST patch test reaction by observing the application site after 1 month, and to clarify the relevance of GST sensitization by piercings and dental metals.

Patients

A retrospective analysis was performed on 746 patients (143 male; 603 female) who were patch tested using GST of the TRUE Test. We conducted a questionnaire on the presence of piercings or dental metals in these patients.

Results

The GST positive rate was 27.9% at day (D)3 and/or D7 and 40.3% up to the 1‐month reading. The positive rate was significantly higher in female patients and increased with age. Sixty‐two percent of cases with a positive reaction at D7 continued to show a positive reaction after 1 month. Eleven percent of cases with a negative reaction at D3 and D7 showed a late reaction. Both piercings and dental metals were related to gold sensitization.

Conclusions

The GST of the TRUE Test had a high positive and low false‐negative rate. The 1‐month reading after the patch test was important for identifying late reactions. Piercing history and dental metal were associated with gold sensitization.
Treatment of jejunal variceal bleeding with portal vein thrombosis after bile duct cancer surgery by short single‐balloon endoscope
Authors: Furuichi Yoshihiro , Honjo Mitsuyoshi , Itoi Takao
Published: March 2021

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Hypothalamic–pituitary organoid generation through the recapitulation of organogenesis
Authors: Ozaki Hajime , Suga Hidetaka , Arima Hiroshi
Published: March 2021

This paper overviews the development and differentiation of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland from embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. It is important to replicate the developmental process in vivo to create specific cells/organoids from ES/iPS cells. We also introduce the latest findings and discuss future issues for clinical application. Neuroectodermal progenitors are induced from pluripotent stem cells by strictly removing exogenous patterning factors during the early differentiation period. The induced progenitors differentiate into rostral hypothalamic neurons, in particular magnocellular vasopressin+ neurons. In three‐dimensional cultures, ES/iPS cells differentiate into hypothalamic neuroectoderm and nonneural head ectoderm adjacently. Rathke’s pouch‐like structures self‐organize at the interface between the two layers and generate various endocrine cells, including corticotrophs and somatotrophs. Our next objective is to sophisticate our stepwise methodology to establish a novel transplantation treatment for hypopituitarism and apply it to developmental disease models.