bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using prey availability to evaluate Lower Colorado River riparian restoration
Authors: Rubin Zan , Rios‐Touma Blanca , Kondolf G. Mathias , Power Mary E. , Saffarinia Parsa , Natali Jennifer
Published: May 2018

The Lower Colorado River Multi‐species Conservation Program (MSCP) is charged with restoring habitat for 26 species such as the southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) impacted by water development projects on the river. As of 2015, the MSCP had spent $200 million to create 1,200 ha of habitat at nine sites, but the benefits to these insectivorous birds and other target species have not been quantified. Many MSCP projects emphasized riparian plantings of willow (Salix exigua, Salix gooddingii) and cottonwood (Populus fremontii) on high terraces disconnected from the river. We documented prey availability for insectivores in constructed habitats as an indicator of restoration effectiveness. Using sticky traps as a proxy to estimate aerial insect flux, we found the number of aquatic insects, proportion of aquatic insects, total number of insects, and number of insect orders were all significantly lower in MSCP plantation sites than at the river's edge. Riparian restoration sites over 100 m from the river had only 4% of the aquatic insects, 20% of the total insects, and only half as many insect orders as sites adjacent to the river. Thus, food availability and overall habitat quality for insectivores are likely low in restoration sites that are distant from the river.
Environmental Inequities and Water Policy During a Drought: Burdened Communities, Minority Residents, and Cutback Assignments
Authors: Wikstrom Kristoffer , Miller Trisha , Campbell Heather E. , Tschudi Michael
Published: May 2018

In 2014 the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) released CalEnviroScreen 2.0, developed to identify communities facing “multiple burdens of pollution and socioeconomic disadvantage” (CalEnviroScreen FAQs, 2016). Contemporaneously, California was suffering a severe drought. CalEPA implemented emergency water cutbacks such that community allowances ranged from approximately 70%–430% of the U.S. average for water consumption. Decades of research find that racial and ethnic minorities face greater environmental burdens than others. Did the CalEPA cutbacks disproportionately affect already burdened communities or those with higher percentages of minorities? Using geographic information systems and spatial regression analysis, we find that the water cutbacks did not, ceteris paribus, further stress already burdened communities, but communities with a more significant percentage of Hispanics are estimated to receive lower water allowances even controlling for poverty. This research broadens the areas in which we can look for environmental (in)justice beyond standard dis/amenities, and implies that even intra‐organizational policy goals of reducing environmental justice burdens may not be enough.
How patient participation is constructed in mental health care: a grounded theory study
Authors: Jørgensen Kim , Rendtorff Jacob Dahl , Holen Mari
Published: May 2018

Aim

The aim of the study was to explore how patient participation is constructed in social interaction processes between nurses, other health professionals and service users, and which structures provide a framework for the participation of service users in a psychiatric context?

Methodological design

Ten tape‐recorded interviews of nurses and observations of interactions between nurses, other health professionals and service users reflected differing constructed views of patient participation. Charmaz's interpretation of the grounded theory method was used, and the data were analysed using constant comparative analysis.

Ethical issues and approval

The study was designed in accordance with the ethical principles of the Helsinki Declaration (1) and Danish law (2). Each study participant in the two psychiatric departments gave informed consent after verbal and written information.

Findings

The articulation of patient participation emphasises the challenge between, on the one side, orientations of ethical care, and, on the other, paternalism and biomedicine. The core category was generated from four inter‐related categories: (i) taking care of the individual needs; (ii) the service user as expert; and (iii) biomedicine, and (iv) paternalism, and their 13 subcategories.

Conclusions

This study illuminates the meaning of patient participation in a psychiatric context based on social interaction between nurses, other health professionals and service users. This can contribute to dealing with the challenges of incorporating patient participation as an ideology in all service users in a psychiatric context and is therefore important knowledge for health professionals.
Misery Has Company: The Shared Emotional Consequences of Everwork Among Women and Men
Authors: Wynn Alison T.
Published: May 2018

Everwork—defined as a combination of overwork, face time, constant availability, and unpredictability—is becoming an increasingly common form of work, especially among highly skilled service workers. While such an environment would seem to disadvantage mothers in particular, I find that employees of all genders and parental statuses suffer in such intensive work environments. Through 50 in‐depth interviews with management consultants, I examine how employees reconcile their personal lives with the realities of everwork. I characterize young childless men and women as “quit intenders,” mothers as “tightrope walkers,” and fathers as “reluctant sacrificers.” This article offers new insight into the tensions employees face between their parenthood ideals and everwork expectations, the strategies they engage in to manage those tensions, and the emotional impacts they experience as a result. Because employees use career–life strategies that accommodate rather than challenge the fundamental nature of everwork, everwork environments may persist despite the negative consequences.
Identifying a newly discovered HLA‐C allele: HLA‐C*07:607
Authors: Duellman P. M. , Schneider B. A. , Dukek B. A. , Wakefield L. L. , Gandhi M. J.
Published: May 2018

Phased sequencing identified the HLA‐C*07:607 allele in an African‐American patient and sibling donor.
Wild waterfowl as potential vectors of Vibrio cholerae and Aeromonas species
Authors: Laviad‐Shitrit Sivan , Izhaki Ido , Arakawa Eiji , Halpern Malka
Published: May 2018

Objective

To study the hypothesis that migratory waterfowl are possible disseminators of Vibrio cholerae and Aeromonas.

Methods

We monitored the presence of V. cholerae and Aeromonas in three wild waterfowl species.

Results

V. cholerae and Aeromonas species were isolated and identified from intestine samples of little egrets and black‐crowned night herons. Only Aeromonas species were isolated from black‐headed gulls. The majority of Aeromonas isolates were A. veronii. Twenty‐three V. cholerae serogroups were identified. V. cholerae serogroup O1 was found in the intestine DNA extractions from four little egrets and black‐crowned night herons; six birds carried cholera toxin subunit A gene.

Conclusion

Wild waterfowl species may carry pathogenic V. cholerae O1 and non‐O1 serogroups and Aeromonas species in their intestine. The migration of waterfowl is a potential mechanism for global distribution of V. cholerae and Aeromonas.
Complex mammary carcinoma with metastases to lymph nodes, subcutaneous tissue, and multiple joints in a dog
Authors: McCourt Maggie R. , Dieterly Alexandra M. , Mackey Paige E. , Lyon Shane D. , Rizzi Theresa E. , Ritchey Jerry W.
Published: May 2018

An 8‐year‐old, intact female, mixed‐breed dog presented to the Oklahoma State University Boren Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for evaluation of progressive lameness and joint effusion of multiple joints. Physical examination revealed joint effusion of the elbow, hock, and stifle joints bilaterally, enlarged left axillary and right popliteal lymph nodes, a subcutaneous mass over the left elbow, and a subcutaneous mass involving the left second and third mammary glands. Cytologic examination of the mammary mass, enlarged lymph nodes, and joint fluid from most affected joints revealed a monomorphic population of loosely cohesive neoplastic epithelial cells. The patient was humanely euthanized, and subsequent necropsy with histopathologic examination revealed a complex mammary carcinoma with metastases to enlarged lymph nodes, subcutaneous tissue over the left elbow, and the synovium of multiple joints. Immunohistochemical stains were performed and showed diffusely positive pan cytokeratin, CK8/18, and CK19 staining in the neoplastic luminal epithelial cells of the mammary carcinoma, synovium, and lymph nodes, and showed diffusely positive vimentin staining of the myoepithelial cells. Myoepithelial calponin positivity was diffuse in the mammary mass and lymph nodes but minimal in the synovium. Only the mammary mass showed p63 positivity. Metastatic mammary neoplasia is relatively common in dogs; however, metastasis to the synovium has only been reported once previously in the literature. This is the first case utilizing immunohistochemistry for confirmation and characterization of metastases.
‘If you could change two things’: Social workers in schools talk about what could improve schools' responses to child abuse and neglect
Authors: Beddoe Liz , De Haan Irene , Joy Eileen
Published: May 2018

INTRODUCTION: Given recent legislative changes to the child welfare system in Aotearoa New Zealand, it was deemed timely to examine the challenges faced by school-based social workers and other school professionals in responding to child abuse and neglect (CAN).METHOD: A qualitative study of school professionals’ responses to CAN included 20 semistructured interviews with school-based social workers. The participants were asked to describe two things that, from their perspective, would improve schools’ responses to CAN. This article reports on this aspect of the study.FINDINGS: Four main themes were identified in social workers’ responses: the necessity for improved training for teachers on CAN; better support for teachers; a more holistic approach to child wellbeing; and enhanced understanding of child welfare.IMPLICATIONS: These findings pose challenges to both initial teacher education and crossagency child protection. School social workers use their relationship skills and knowledge to act as bridges between teacher education, school leaders, teachers and the Ministry for Children Oranga Tamariki and believe they can do more.
Lifting the veil on the government’s regulatory agenda for the social work profession in Aotearoa New Zealand
Authors: Randal Howard
Published: May 2018

INTRODUCTION: The article discusses the two contrasting agendas evident when statutory registration for social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand was introduced in 2003 – that of the professional association and that of the government.METHOD:  The approach taken draws on a longitudinal research study of the aspirations for statutory registration held by a sample of members of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZSW). In addition, the motives behind the professionalisation strategy introduced by the principal government social work service are examined and analysed applying Foucault’s concept of governmentality.FINDINGS: The qualitative analysis of the data shows that the profession, although aspiring to having some role in statutory registration, also held concerns about its implications. By way of contrast, the professionalisation strategy adopted by the government social work service shows it was driven by public service performance, fiscal and risk management imperatives.CONCLUSIONS: The application of the Foucauldian theory of governmentality to the data and findings shows that the introduction of statutory registration is a manifestation of the managerial and statutory controls adopted by government and a means of governmentality. This has resulted in the government holding the upper hand in providing public accountability for social work practice thereby perpetuating its hold over the profession with the risk that the ANZASW is left in its wake.
‘We barely survived’: Social work students’ mental health vulnerabilities and implications for educators, universities and the workforce
Authors: Gair Susan , Baglow Len
Published: May 2018

INTRODUCTION: Evidence is mounting that poverty and psychological stress among university students are common and the mental health of university students is a topic of increasing attention.METHODS: In late 2015, 2,320 social work students from 29 Australian universities completed an online survey on the impact of low income on students’ daily lives and study success.FINDINGS: Overall, students revealed financial hardships and a precarious balancing act of study, limited finances, paid work and family. Some students revealed the impact of these hardships on their mental health and wellbeing. Undertaking compulsory field placement increased students’ financial stresses and exacerbated mental health vulnerabilities.CONCLUSIONS: The qualitative findings reported here draw on students’ responses within the larger student survey data set where mental health impacts were reported. These findings have implications for universities, social work education, field
Professional identity and social work
Authors: Stephen Webb A.
Published: May 2018

Reviewed by Lynne Soon-Chean Park.
Modeling talker- and listener-based sources of variability in babble-induced consonant confusions
Authors: Silbert Noah H. , Motlagh Zadeh Lina
Published: May 2018

Speech communication often occurs in the presence of noise. Patterns of perceptual errors induced by background noise are influenced by properties of the listener and of the noise and target speech. The present study introduces a modification of multilevel general recognition theory in which talker- and listener-based variability in confusion patterns are modeled as global or dimension-specific scaling of shared, group-level perceptual distributions. Listener-specific perceptual correlations and response bias are also modeled as random variables. This model is applied to identification-confusion data from 11 listeners' identifications of ten tokens of each of four consonant categories—[t], [d], [s], [z]—produced by 20 talkers in CV syllables and masked by 10-talker babble. The results indicate that dimension-specific scaling for both listeners and talkers provides a good account of confusion patterns. These findings are discussed in relation to other recent research showing substantial listener-, talker-, and token-based sources of variability in noise-masked speech perception.
Measurement of the neutron lifetime using a magneto-gravitational trap and in situ detection
Authors: Pattie R. W. , Callahan N. B. , Cude-Woods C. , Adamek E. R. , Broussard L. J. , Clayton S. M. , Currie S. A. , Dees E. B. , Ding X. , Engel E. M. , Fellers D. E. , Fox W. , Geltenbort P. , Hickerson K. P. , Hoffbauer M. A. , Holley A. T. , Komives A. , Liu C.-Y. , MacDonald S. W. T. , Makela M. , Morris C. L. , Ortiz J. D. , Ramsey J. , Salvat D. J. , Saunders A. , Seestrom S. J. , Sharapov E. I. , Sjue S. K. , Tang Z. , Vanderwerp J. , Vogelaar B. , Walstrom P. L. , Wang Z. , Wei W. , Weaver H. L. , Wexler J. W. , Womack T. L. , Young A. R. , Zeck B. A.
Published: May 2018

How long does a neutron live?

Unlike the proton, whose lifetime is longer than the age of the universe, a free neutron decays with a lifetime of about 15 minutes. Measuring the exact lifetime of neutrons is surprisingly tricky; putting them in a container and monitoring their decay can lead to errors because some neutrons will be lost owing to interactions with the container walls. To overcome this problem, Pattie
et al.
measured the lifetime in a trap where ultracold polarized neutrons were levitated by magnetic fields, precluding interactions with the trap walls (see the Perspective by Mumm). This more precise determination of the neutron lifetime will aid our understanding of how the first nuclei formed after the Big Bang.

Science
, this issue p.
627
; see also p.
605
MFN2 agonists reverse mitochondrial defects in preclinical models of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2A
Authors: Rocha Agostinho G. , Franco Antonietta , Krezel Andrzej M. , Rumsey Jeanne M. , Alberti Justin M. , Knight William C. , Biris Nikolaos , Zacharioudakis Emmanouil , Janetka James W. , Baloh Robert H. , Kitsis Richard N. , Mochly-Rosen Daria , Townsend R. Reid , Gavathiotis Evripidis , Dorn Gerald W.
Published: May 2018

An innovative approach for a rare disease

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2A (CMT2A) is a rare, inherited neurodegenerative condition. Affected individuals develop severe progressive muscle weakness, motor deficits, and peripheral neuropathy. Although defects in the gene encoding mitofusin 2 (MFN2) are known to cause CMT2A, the disease remains incurable. Rocha
et al.
identified specific MFN2 residues contributing to the disease and developed a class of MFN2-agonist drugs. The small molecules restored mitochondrial fusion and activity in the sciatic nerves of mice; they may also help in other diseases linked to mitochondrial trafficking.

Science
, this issue p.
336
Observing the cell in its native state: Imaging subcellular dynamics in multicellular organisms
Authors: Liu Tsung-Li , Upadhyayula Srigokul , Milkie Daniel E. , Singh Ved , Wang Kai , Swinburne Ian A. , Mosaliganti Kishore R. , Collins Zach M. , Hiscock Tom W. , Shea Jamien , Kohrman Abraham Q. , Medwig Taylor N. , Dambournet Daphne , Forster Ryan , Cunniff Brian , Ruan Yuan , Yashiro Hanako , Scholpp Steffen , Meyerowitz Elliot M. , Hockemeyer Dirk , Drubin David G. , Martin Benjamin L. , Matus David Q. , Koyama Minoru , Megason Sean G. , Kirchhausen Tom , Betzig Eric
Published: May 2018

Continuing the resolution revolution

The living cell contains dynamic, spatially complex subassemblies that are sensitive to external perturbations. To minimize such perturbations, cells should be imaged in their native multicellular environments, under as gentle illumination as possible. However, achieving the spatiotemporal resolution needed to follow three-dimensional subcellular processes in detail under these conditions is challenging: Sample-induced aberrations degrade resolution and sensitivity, and high resolution usually requires intense excitation. Liu
et al.
combined noninvasive lattice light-sheet microscopy with aberration-correcting adaptive optics to study a variety of delicate subcellular events in vivo, including organelle remodeling during mitosis and growth cone dynamics during spinal cord development.

Science
, this issue p.
eaaq1392
Five-dimensional imaging of freezing emulsions with solute effects
Authors: Dedovets Dmytro , Monteux Cécile , Deville Sylvain
Published: May 2018

Images frozen in time

Freezing processes involving multiple phases are common, as seen in the zone refining used to remove impurities from a crystal through the heating of a narrow region. However, it is difficult to visualize the processes as they happen. Dedovets
et al.
studied the freezing of an oil-in-water emulsion and the interaction of the oil droplets with the leading edge of the freezing water. In situ visualization of the freezing front was achieved through confocal microscopy of samples on a moving sample holder. The authors tracked the effects of solution concentration on the droplet positions and observed premelting at the interface of the droplets by using fluorescence markers.

Science
, this issue p.
303
Probing the ultimate plasmon confinement limits with a van der Waals heterostructure
Authors: Alcaraz Iranzo David , Nanot Sébastien , Dias Eduardo J. C. , Epstein Itai , Peng Cheng , Efetov Dmitri K. , Lundeberg Mark B. , Parret Romain , Osmond Johann , Hong Jin-Yong , Kong Jing , Englund Dirk R. , Peres Nuno M. R. , Koppens Frank H. L.
Published: May 2018

Light confined to a single atomic layer

The development of nanophotonic technology is reliant on the ability to confine light to spatial dimensions much less than the wavelength of the light itself. Typically, however, in metal plasmonic approaches, there is a trade-off between confinement and losses. Alcaraz Iranzo
et al.
fabricated heterostructures comprising monolayers of graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and an array of metallic rods. The light was confined vertically (as propagating plasmons) between the metal and the graphene, even when the insulating hBN spacer was just a single monolayer. Such heterostructures should provide a powerful and versatile platform for nanophotonics.

Science
, this issue p.
291
Reconsidering the Nobel Prize
Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science's Highest Honor
Brian Keating
Norton, 2018. 350 pp.
Authors: Halpern Paul
Published: May 2018

After dust stymies a quest to confirm cosmic inflation, a physicist questions science's most prestigious award
Maximizing Growth Yield and Dispersal via Quorum Sensing Promotes Cooperation in Vibrio Bacteria
Authors: Bruger Eric L. , Waters Christopher M.
Published: May 2018

Quorum sensing (QS) is a form of bacterial chemical communication that regulates cellular phenotypes, including certain cooperative behaviors, in response to environmental and demographic changes. Despite the existence of proposed mechanisms that stabilize QS against defector exploitation, it is unclear if or how QS cooperators can proliferate in some model systems in populations mostly consisting of defectors. We predicted that growth in fragmented subpopulations could allow QS cooperators to invade a QS defector population. This could occur despite cooperators having lower relative fitnesses than defectors due to favored weighting of genotypes that produce larger populations of bacteria. Mixed metapopulations ofVibrioQS-proficient or unconditional cooperators and QS defectors were diluted and fragmented into isolated subpopulations in an environment that requires QS-regulated public good production to achieve larger population yields. Under these conditions, we observed global invasions of both cooperator genotypes into populations composed of primarily defectors. This spatially dependent increase in cooperator frequency was replicated for QS cooperators when mixed populations were competed in soft agar motility plates under conditions that allowed cooperators to disperse and outcompete defectors at the population edge, despite being less motile in isolation than defectors. These competition results show that the coordinated growth and dispersal of QS cooperators to additional resources is heavily favored in comparison to unconditional cooperation, and that dispersal of cooperators by motility into new environments, examined here in laboratory populations, constitutes a key mechanism for maintaining QS-regulated cooperation in the face of defection.

IMPORTANCEBehaviors that are cooperative in nature are at risk of exploitation by cheating and are thus difficult to maintain by natural selection alone. While bacterial cell-cell communication, known as quorum sensing (QS), can stabilize microbial cooperative behaviors and is widespread inVibriospecies, it is unclear how QS can increase the frequency of cooperative strains in the presence of defectors without additional mechanisms. In this study, we demonstrate under multiple conditions that QS-mediated cooperation can increase in populations ofVibriostrains when cells experience narrow population bottlenecks or disperse from defectors. This occurred for both conditional cooperation mediated by QS and for unconditional cooperation, although conditional cooperators were better able to stabilize cooperation over a much wider range of conditions. Thus, we observed that population structuring allowed for assortment of competing genotypes and promoted cooperation via kin selection in microbes in a QS-dependent manner.
Two
dd
-Carboxypeptidases from Mycobacterium smegmatis Affect Cell Surface Properties through Regulation of Peptidoglycan Cross-Linking and Glycopeptidolipids
Authors: Pandey Satya Deo , Pal Shilpa , Kumar N Ganesh , Bansal Ankita , Mallick Sathi , Ghosh Anindya S.
Published: May 2018

During the peptidoglycan (PG) maturation of mycobacteria, the glycan strands are interlinked by both 3-3 (between two
meso
-diaminopimelic acids [
meso
-DAPs]) and 4-3 cross-links (between
d
-Ala and
meso
-DAP), though there is a predominance (60 to 80%) of 3-3 cross-links. The
dd
-carboxypeptidases (
dd
-CPases) act on pentapeptides to generate tetrapeptides that are used by
ld
-transpeptidases as substrates to form 3-3 cross-links. Therefore,
dd
-CPases play a crucial role in mycobacterial PG cross-link formation. However, the physiology of
dd
-CPases in mycobacteria is relatively unexplored. In this study, we deleted two
dd
-CPase genes,
msmeg_2433
and
msmeg_2432
, both individually and in combination, from
Mycobacterium smegmatis
mc
2
155. Though the single
dd
-CPase gene deletions had no significant impact on the mycobacterial physiology, many interesting functional alterations were observed in the double-deletion mutant,
viz
., a predominance in PG cross-link formation was shifted from 3-3 cross-links to 4-3, cell surface glycopeptidolipid (GPL) expression was reduced, and susceptibility to β-lactams and antitubercular agents was enhanced. Moreover, the survival rate of the double mutant within murine macrophages was higher than that of the parent. Interestingly, the complementation with any one of the
dd
-CPase genes could restore the wild-type phenotype. In a nutshell, we infer that the altered ratio of 4-3 to 3-3 PG cross-links might have influenced the expression of surface GPLs, colony morphology, biofilm formation, drug susceptibility, and subsistence of the cells within macrophages.

IMPORTANCE
The glycan strands in mycobacterial peptidoglycan (PG) are interlinked by both 3-3 and 4-3 cross-links. The
dd
-CPases generate tetrapeptides by acting on the pentapeptides, and
ld
-transpeptidases use tetrapeptides as substrates to form 3-3 cross-links. In this study, we showed that simultaneous deletions of two
dd
-CPases alter the nature of PG cross-linking from 3-3 cross-links to 4-3 cross-links. The deletions subsequently decrease the expression of glycopeptidolipids (significant surface lipid present in many nontuberculous mycobacteria, including
Mycobacterium smegmatis
) and affect other physiological parameters, like cell morphology, growth rate, biofilm formation, antibiotic susceptibility, and survival within murine macrophages. Thus, unraveling the physiology of
dd
-CPases might help us design antimycobacterial therapeutics in the future.
Searching for a Potential Algorithm for Clostridium difficile Testing at a Tertiary Care Hospital: Does Toxin Enzyme Immunoassay Testing Help?
Authors: Theiss Angela M. , Balla Agnes , Ross Angie , Francis Denise , Wojewoda Christina
Published: May 2018

Clostridium difficileis a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in the United States. Methods for identifying the organism in stool include molecular platforms, enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) for toxin, and culture. Controversy persists over whether molecular tests are too sensitive at identifyingC. difficile, and there are questions about how additional laboratory information could inform clinical management and reduce over treatment. The aim of this study was to assess whether clinical factors are related to the toxin status of patients and whether information about toxin status could potentially inform clinical management of patients. A total of 201 PCR-positiveC. difficilestool samples from adult patients at our institution underwent EIA toxin testing. Clinical and laboratory data were collected, and the percentage of PCR-positive/EIA-positive (PCR+/EIA+) patients and PCR+and EIA-negative (PCR+/EIA−) patients was calculated. Of the 201 samples, 47% were EIA positive and 53% were EIA negative. Although PCR+/EIA+patients were more likely to have had a priorC. difficileinfection (P= 0.015), there was no statistical difference between the additional data collected that correlated with a positive EIA result. We were unable to show that patients with an EIA+result had worse clinical parameters than those with EIA−results and concluded that establishing a testing algorithm that included both PCR and EIA testing would not change the clinical management of patients at our hospital.
Updates in the Language of
Histoplasma
Biodiversity
Authors: Gladieux Pierre
Published: May 2018

In a recent article, Sepúlveda et al. (mBio 8:e01339-17, 2017,
https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01339-17
) investigated the genetic structure and evolutionary history of the human pathogen
Histoplasma
. Using whole-genome resequencing data, Sepúlveda et al. found that the
Histoplasma
genus is composed of at least four strongly differentiated lineages. Their tour de force is to use a smart combination of population genomic approaches to show that the advanced stage of intraspecific divergence observed within
Histoplasma
does not simply reflect population structure, but instead results from previously unidentified speciation events. The four independently evolving
Histoplasma
lineages are elevated to the species status and assigned names. The newly described species exhibit medically important differences in phenotype, and these findings, therefore, have important epidemiological implications. This work provides a blueprint for phylogenomic species recognition in fungi, opening the way for a new age of enlightenment in which fungal species are diagnosed using highly discriminatory tools within a hypothesis-testing framework.
A High Frequency of HIV-Specific Circulating Follicular Helper T Cells Is Associated with Preserved Memory B Cell Responses in HIV Controllers
Authors: Claireaux M. , Galperin M. , Benati D. , Nouël A. , Mukhopadhyay M. , Klingler J. , de Truchis P. , Zucman D. , Hendou S. , Boufassa F. , Moog C. , Lambotte O. , Chakrabarti L. A.
Published: May 2018

Follicular helper T cells (Tfh) play an essential role in the affinity maturation of the antibody response by providing help to B cells. To determine whether this CD4+T cell subset may contribute to the spontaneous control of HIV infection, we analyzed the phenotype and function of circulating Tfh (cTfh) in patients from the ANRS CO21 CODEX cohort who naturally controlled HIV-1 replication to undetectable levels and compared them to treated patients with similarly low viral loads. HIV-specific cTfh (Tet+), detected by Gag-major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) tetramer labeling in the CD45RA−CXCR5+CD4+T cell population, proved more frequent in the controller group (P= 0.002). The frequency of PD-1 expression in Tet+cTfh was increased in both groups (median, >75%) compared to total cTfh (<30%), but the intensity of PD-1 expression per cell remained higher in the treated patient group (P= 0.02), pointing to the persistence of abnormal immune activation in treated patients. The function of cTfh, analyzed by the capacity to promote IgG secretion in cocultures with autologous memory B cells, did not show major differences between groups in terms of total IgG production but proved significantly more efficient in the controller group when measuring HIV-specific IgG production. The frequency of Tet+cTfh correlated with HIV-specific IgG production (R= 0.71 for Gag-specific andR= 0.79 for Env-specific IgG, respectively). Taken together, our findings indicate that key cTfh-B cell interactions are preserved in controlled HIV infection, resulting in potent memory B cell responses that may play an underappreciated role in HIV control.

IMPORTANCEThe rare patients who spontaneously control HIV replication in the absence of therapy provide a unique model to identify determinants of an effective anti-HIV immune response. HIV controllers show signs of particularly efficient antiviral T cell responses, while their humoral response was until recently considered to play only a minor role in viral control. However, emerging evidence suggests that HIV controllers maintain a significant but “silent” antiviral memory B cell population that can be reactivated upon antigenic stimulation. We report that cTfh help likely contributes to the persistence of controller memory B cell responses, as the frequency of HIV-specific cTfh correlated with the induction of HIV-specific antibodies in functional assays. These findings suggest that T follicular help may contribute to HIV control and highlight the need for inducing such help in HIV vaccine strategies that aim at eliciting persistent B cell responses.
Compositional and Functional Differences in the Human Gut Microbiome Correlate with Clinical Outcome following Infection with Wild-Type Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi
Authors: Zhang Yan , Brady Arthur , Jones Cheron , Song Yang , Darton Thomas C. , Jones Claire , Blohmke Christoph J. , Pollard Andrew J. , Magder Laurence S. , Fasano Alessio , Sztein Marcelo B. , Fraser Claire M.
Published: May 2018

Insights into disease susceptibility as well as the efficacy of vaccines against typhoid and other enteric pathogens may be informed by better understanding the relationship between the effector immune response and the gut microbiota. In the present study, we characterized the composition (16S rRNA gene profiling) and function (RNA sequencing [RNA-seq]) of the gut microbiota following immunization and subsequent exposure to wild-typeSalmonella entericaserovar Typhi in a human challenge model to further investigate the central hypothesis that clinical outcomes may be linked to the gut microbiota. Metatranscriptome analysis of longitudinal stool samples collected from study subjects revealed two stable patterns of gene expression for the human gut microbiota, dominated by transcripts from eitherMethanobrevibacteror a diverse representation of genera in theFirmicutesphylum. Immunization with one of two live oral attenuated vaccines againstS. Typhi had minimal effects on the composition or function of the gut microbiota. It was observed that subjects harboring the methanogen-dominated transcriptome community at baseline displayed a lower risk of developing symptoms of typhoid following challenge with wild-typeS. Typhi. Furthermore, genes encoding antioxidant proteins, metal homeostasis and transport proteins, and heat shock proteins were expressed at a higher level at baseline or after challenge withS. Typhi in subjects who did not develop symptoms of typhoid. These data suggest that functional differences relating to redox potential and ion homeostasis in the gut microbiota may impact clinical outcomes following exposure to wild-typeS. Typhi.

IMPORTANCES. Typhi is a significant cause of systemic febrile morbidity in settings with poor sanitation and limited access to clean water. It has been demonstrated that the human gut microbiota can influence mucosal immune responses, but there is little information available on the impact of the human gut microbiota on clinical outcomes following exposure to enteric pathogens. Here, we describe differences in the composition and function of the gut microbiota in healthy adult volunteers enrolled in a typhoid vaccine trial and report that these differences are associated with host susceptibility to or protection from typhoid after challenge with wild-typeS. Typhi. Our observations have important implications in interpreting the efficacy of oral attenuated vaccines against enteric pathogens in diverse populations.
Feasibility and effects of a home-based intervention using activity trackers on achievement of individual goals, quality of life and motor performance in patients with paediatric cancer
Authors: Götte Miriam , Kesting Sabine Verena , Gerss Joachim , Rosenbaum Dieter , Boos Joachim
Published: May 2018

Objectives

Supervised exercise interventions during inpatient care are feasible. The objective was to evaluate the usability of activity trackers and centralised monitoring to conduct a home-based exercise intervention during cancer treatment. The primary endpoint and confirmatory analysis was achievement of individual goals for daily steps, compared (A) in the intervention group (IG) over time and (B) between the IG and control group (CG). Secondary endpoints included achievement of goals for active minutes and effects on motor performance and health-related quality of life (hrQoL).

Methods

Forty patients treated for paediatric cancer (14.7±3.9 years) were included. The IG received a 6–8 week intervention during acute treatment (T1) and a 2-week intervention in transition to aftercare (T2). The CG only received the intervention at T2. Baseline tests to assess motor performance and physical activity were conducted prior to every intervention.

Results

In the primary confirmatory analysis, the IG significantly improved achievement of individual step goals (p=0.04) whereas group analyses did not reveal significant differences. Achievement of active minutes remained low (p=0.23). IG scored higher in hrQoL than CG (p<0.01) and percentage of children scoring below normative value in strength tests was higher in CG. Of all participants, 94% rated the intervention as meaningful and 80% as motivational.

Conclusions

Results of this study indicate that this intervention for home stays with centralised supervision is feasible and leads to increased achievement of individual step goals. Despite the positive effects on hrQoL, further strategies are needed to increase positive effects on motor performance.
A unifying theory for cognitive abnormalities in functional neurological disorders, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: systematic review
Authors: Teodoro Tiago , Edwards Mark J , Isaacs Jeremy D
Published: May 2018

Background

Functional cognitive disorder (FCD) describes cognitive dysfunction in the absence of an organic cause. It is increasingly prevalent in healthcare settings yet its key neuropsychological features have not been reported in large patient cohorts. We hypothesised that cognitive profiles in fibromyalgia (FM), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and functional neurological disorders (FNDs) would provide a template for characterising FCD.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of studies with cognition-related outcomes in FM, CFS and FND.

Results

We selected 52 studies on FM, 95 on CFS and 39 on FND. We found a general discordance between high rates of subjective cognitive symptoms, including forgetfulness, distractibility and word-finding difficulties, and inconsistent objective neuropsychological deficits. Objective deficits were reported, including poor selective and divided attention, slow information processing and vulnerability to distraction. In some studies, cognitive performance was inversely correlated with pain, exertion and fatigue. Performance validity testing demonstrated poor effort in only a minority of subjects, and patients with CFS showed a heightened perception of effort.

Discussion

The cognitive profiles of FM, CFS and non-cognitive FND are similar to the proposed features of FCD, suggesting common mechanistic underpinnings. Similar findings have been reported in patients with mild traumatic brain injury and whiplash. We hypothesise that pain, fatigue and excessive interoceptive monitoring produce a decrease in externally directed attention. This increases susceptibility to distraction and slows information processing, interfering with cognitive function, in particular multitasking. Routine cognitive processes are experienced as unduly effortful. This may reflect a switch from an automatic to a less efficient controlled or explicit cognitive mode, a mechanism that has also been proposed for impaired motor control in FND. These experiences might then be overinterpreted due to memory perfectionism and heightened self-monitoring of cognitive performance.
Diagnostic accuracy of a two-stage model for detecting obstructive sleep apnoea in chronic tetraplegia
Authors: Graco Marnie , Schembri Rachel , Cross Susan , Thiyagarajan Chinnaya , Shafazand Shirin , Ayas Najib T , Nash Mark S , Vu Viet H , Ruehland Warren R , Chai-Coetzer Ching Li , Rochford Peter , Churchward Thomas , Green Sally E , Berlowitz David J
Published: May 2018

Background

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is highly prevalent in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Polysomnography (PSG) is the gold-standard diagnostic test for OSA, however PSG is expensive and frequently inaccessible, especially in SCI. A two-stage model, incorporating a questionnaire followed by oximetry, has been found to accurately detect moderate to severe OSA (MS-OSA) in a non-disabled primary care population. This study investigated the accuracy of the two-stage model in chronic tetraplegia using both the original model and a modified version for tetraplegia.

Methods

An existing data set of 78 people with tetraplegia was used to modify the original two-stage model. Multivariable analysis identified significant risk factors for inclusion in a new tetraplegia-specific questionnaire. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses of the questionnaires and oximetry established thresholds for diagnosing MS-OSA. The accuracy of both models in diagnosing MS-OSA was prospectively evaluated in 100 participants with chronic tetraplegia across four international SCI units.

Results

Injury completeness, sleepiness, self-reported snoring and apnoeas were included in the modified questionnaire, which was highly predictive of MS-OSA (ROC area under the curve 0.87 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.95)). The 3% oxygen desaturation index was also highly predictive (0.93 (0.87–0.98)). The two-stage model with modified questionnaire had a sensitivity and specificity of 83% (66–93) and 88% (75–94) in the development group, and 77% (65–87) and 81% (68–90) in the validation group. Similar results were demonstrated with the original model.

Conclusion

Implementation of this simple alternative to full PSG could substantially increase the detection of OSA in patients with tetraplegia and improve access to treatments.

Trial registration number

Results, ACTRN12615000896572 (The Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry) and pre-results, NCT02176928 (clinicaltrials.gov).
Comparing manned to unmanned aerial surveys for cetacean monitoring in the Arctic: methods and operational results
Authors: Angliss R.P. , Ferguson M.C. , Hall P. , Helker V. , Kennedy A. , Sformo T.
Published: May 2018

Manned aerial surveys are routinely used to assess cetacean distribution and density, often over large geographic areas. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have been identified as a technology that could augment or replace manned aerial surveys for cetaceans. To understand what research questions involving cetacean distribution and density can be addressed using manned and UAS technology in the Arctic, we conducted paired aerial surveys for cetaceans near Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska. We present the methods and operational results from the project, and challenges encountered during the field work. Fall arctic weather varied dramatically over small spatiotemporal scales and harsh environmental conditions increased the maintenance required for repeated UAS operations. Various technologies, such as temperature and humidity sensors, a software system that provided near-term forecasts of highly variable weather, and a surface-based air traffic radar feed, directly contributed to the ability to conduct routine, successful, beyond line-of-sight UAS flights under these situations. We provide recommendations for future projects to help streamline project planning and enhance researchers’ ability to use UAS to collect data needed for ecological research.
Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithms to Find Most Relevant Volumes of the Brain Related to Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment
Authors: Valenzuela Olga , Jiang Xiaoyi , Carrillo Antonio , Rojas Ignacio
Published: May 2018

Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) represents a relevant instrument to automatically classify between patients with and without Alzheimer's Disease (AD) using several actual imaging techniques. This study analyzes the optimization of volumes of interest (VOIs) to extract three-dimensional (3D) textures from Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) in order to diagnose AD, Mild Cognitive Impairment converter (MCIc), Mild Cognitive Impairment nonconverter (MCInc) and Normal subjects. A relevant feature of the proposed approach is the use of 3D features instead of traditional two-dimensional (2D) features, by using 3D discrete wavelet transform (3D-DWT) approach for performing feature extraction from T-1 weighted MRI. Due to the high number of coefficients when applying 3D-DWT to each of the VOIs, a feature selection algorithm based on mutual information is used, as is the minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) algorithm. Region optimization has been performed in order to discover the most relevant regions (VOIs) in the brain with the use of Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithms, being one of the objectives to be optimize the accuracy of the system. The error index of the system is computed by the confusion matrix obtained by the multi-class support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used with the purpose of reducing the number of features to the classifier. The cohort of subjects used in the study consisted of 296 different patients. A first group of 206 patients was used to optimize VOI selection and another group of 90 independent subjects (that did not belong to the first group) was used to test the solutions yielded by the genetic algorithm. The proposed methodology obtains excellent results in multi-class classification achieving accuracies of 94.4% and also extracting significant information on the location of the most relevant points of the brain. This suggests that the proposed method could aid in the research of other neurodegenerative diseases, improving the accuracy of the diagnosis and finding the most relevant regions of the brain associated with them.
Experimental investigation of flow field around the elastic flag flapping in periodic state
Authors: Jia Yongxia , Jia Lichao , Su Zhuang , Yuan Huijing
Published: May 2018

The flapping of a flag in the wind is a classical fluid-structure problem that concerns the interaction of elastic bodies with ambient fluid. We focus on the desirable experimental results of the flow around the flapping flag. By immersing the elastic yet self-supporting heavy flag into water flow, we use particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques to obtain the whole flow field around the midspan of the flag interacting with a fluid in periodic state. A unique PIV image processing method is used to measure near-wall flow velocities around a moving elastic flag. There exists a thin flow circulation region on the suction side of the flag in periodic state. This observation suggests that viscous flow models may be needed to improve the theoretical predictions of the flapping flag in periodic state, especially in a large amplitude.
Experimental investigation of yawing–rolling coupling effects on unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of an aircraft
Authors: Shen Lin , Huang Da , Wu Genxing
Published: May 2018

In this paper, an aircraft model was tested in the wind tunnel with different degrees of yaw–roll coupling at different angles of attack. The dynamic increments of yawing and rolling moments are compared to study the coupling effects on damping characteristics. The characteristic time constants are calculated to study the changes of flow field structure related to coupling ratios. The damping characteristics and time lag effects of aerodynamic loads calculated by dynamic derivative method are also compared with experimental results to estimate the applicability of linear superposition principle at large angles of attack.