bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Soil microbiota explain differences in herbivore resistance between native and invasive populations of a perennial herb
Authors: Kalske Aino , Blande James D. , Ramula Satu
Published: July 2022

Soil microbiota can either slow down or facilitate plant invasions through their effects on plant performance. Associations with soil microbiota can also modify other plant traits such as herbivore resistance, which can indirectly affect the outcome of plant introductions.

We studied the effects of soil microbiota on the perennial herbaceous legume Lupinus polyphyllus that hosts nitrogen‐fixing mutualistic bacteria. We compared the plant performance, herbivore resistance and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of plants from native (North American) and invasive (Finnish) populations of the species that were inoculated with intact or autoclaved soil from an invasive population.

We found that plants of both origins greatly benefited from the intact soil inoculum with respect to all performance measures considered, suggesting that beneficial nitrogen‐fixing rhizobia in the soil play a major role in shaping plant phenotypes. For three traits, effects of the intact soil inoculum were stronger in plants of native origin than in plants of invasive origin (number of leaves, herbivore resistance and total biomass). With the intact soil inoculum, plants of invasive origin were more resistant to snails than plants of native origin. Strikingly, differences in resistance to snails between plants of different origins disappeared entirely when soil microbes were reduced. Soil inoculum treatment altered the composition of the leaf VOC bouquet similarly regardless of plant origin.

Synthesis. These results demonstrate the ability of Lupinus polyphyllus to associate with and benefit from putatively novel soil microbiota including rhizobia, which has likely contributed to its invasion success. Furthermore, it appears that the invasive populations have adapted to be less reliant on their symbionts, which further facilitates species spread. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that differences in herbivore resistance between native and invasive plant populations of the same species can depend entirely on soil microbiota.
My mother, my mirror? Three generations encounter family therapy
Authors: Grasaasen Anne
Published: July 2022

This article tells the story of the encounters of my mother, my daughter and myself with family therapy during divorce. The narrative employs evocative autoethnography, a research method in which my voice is viewed as a continuance of other voices emanating from the culture. I am researcher and informant both, and thereby, my own source. Events from the marital break‐ups of three generations are explored in relation to family therapeutic practice using an insider perspective. The results indicate that shame has been prominent for all of us. A common thread through our stories is how shame can be seen in the ways we each experienced the distribution of power through the exercise of family therapy, in which practice appears to be strongly shaped by social discourses. The method of autoethnography can be useful to expand the concept of knowledge as well as produce detailed research into family life through elevation of intimate stories often suppressed by larger meta‐narratives.
The Roles of Data Providers and Analysts in the Production, Dissemination, and Pricing of Street Earnings
Authors: BOCHKAY KHRYSTYNA , MARKOV STAN , SUBASI MUSA , WEISBROD ERIC
Published: July 2022

In September 2009, Thomson Reuters (TR) discontinued its practice of relying on analysts to determine the treatment of unexpected charges and gains in favor of their immediate exclusion from GAAP earnings. Adopting a difference‐in‐differences approach, we show that this plausibly exogenous change in TR's methodology resulted in street earnings that are more predictive of future performance; and timelier, more accurate, and less dispersed analyst forecasts of future earnings, consistent with TR enhancing the properties of street earnings and analyst forecasts. Finally, using path analysis we show that a significant portion of TR's effect on price discovery is through its effect on analysts; and that the change in TR's treatment of unexpected items increased (decreased) the relative influence of TR (analysts) on the pricing of street earnings. We conclude that forecast data providers like TR are more than a conduit of information from analysts to investors.
FreshOmics: A manually curated and standardized –omics database for investigating freshwater microbiomes
Authors: Biderre‐Petit Corinne , Charvy Jean‐Christophe , Bronner Gisèle , Chauvet Marina , Debroas Didier , Gardon Hélène , Hennequin Claire , Jouan‐Dufournel Isabelle , Moné Anne , Monjot Arthur , Ravet Viviane , Vellet Agnès , Lepère Cécile
Published: July 2022

Freshwater is a critical resource for human survival but severely threatened by anthropogenic activities and climate change. These changes strongly impact the abundance and diversity of the microbial communities which are key players in the functioning of these aquatic ecosystems. Although widely documented since the emergence of high‐throughput sequencing approaches, the information on these natural microbial communities is scattered among thousands of publications and it is therefore difficult to investigate the temporal dynamics and the spatial distribution of microbial taxa within or across ecosystems. To fill this gap and in the FAIR principles context we built a manually curated and standardized microbial freshwater –omics database (FreshOmics). Based on recognized ontologies (ENVO, MIMICS, GO, ISO), FreshOmics describes 29 different types of freshwater ecosystems and uses standardized attributes to depict biological samples, sequencing protocols and article attributes for more than 2487 geographical locations across 71 countries around the world. The database contains 24,808 sequence identifiers (i.e., Run_Id / Exp_ID, mainly from SRA/DDBJ SRA/ENA, GSA and MG‐RAST repositories) covering all sequence‐based ‐omics approaches used to investigate bacteria, archaea, microbial eukaryotes, and viruses. Therefore, FreshOmics allows accurate and comprehensive analyses of microbial communities to answer questions related to their roles in freshwater ecosystems functioning and resilience, especially through meta‐analysis studies. This collection also highlights different sort of errors in published works (e.g., wrong coordinates, sample type, material, spelling).
Identification of symptom clusters in patients with ankylosing spondylitis
Authors: Yang Wen , Rong Li , Xu Quan , Fu Xiaoli , Deng Xiaohong , Hu Ailing , Jiang Yutong
Published: July 2022

Symptom cluster refers to a group of 3 or more related symptoms that occur together. Our objectives were to: (1) investigate the frequency, severity and gender difference of symptoms in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS); and (2) identify symptom clusters in AS patients. A cross‐sectional questionnaire‐based survey was conducted using the Patient Health Questionnaire Symptoms Group combined with self‐designed variables. Demographic and symptom variables between male and female patients in terms of C‐reactive protein (CRP) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‐B27 status were analyzed with 2‐tailed independent t test for continuous variables and Chi‐square or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables. Symptom clusters were extracted and analyzed by principal component analysis. There were 122 AS patients included in the study. The most severe symptoms included severe back pain, extremity or joint pain, difficulty in breathing, constipation, intestine discomfort and diarrhea. Stomachache was more prevalent in male patients in which odds ratio was 4.60 (CI 1.59‐12.97) (P = .006). Patients with HLA‐B27 negativity or a higher CRP value were more likely to have dry mouth. Four symptom clusters were classified, which explained 58.4% of the total variation. They were named as the gastrointestinal‐cardiac cluster, the fatigue‐sleep disturbance cluster, the headache‐chest pain cluster, and the mouth‐eye cluster. The symptoms appeared to cluster into 4 groups in AS patients, which should be noticed in clinical care.
Sirt1 overexpression improves senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis induced by vitamin D deficiency through downregulating IL‐11 transcription
Authors: Zhou Jiawen , Chen Haiyun , Wang Qiuyi , Chen Sihan , Wang Rong , Wang Ziyang , Yang Cuicui , Chen Ao , Zhao Jingyu , Zhou Zihao , Mao Zhiyuan , Zuo Guoping , Miao Dengshun , Jin Jianliang
Published: July 2022

Determining the mechanism of senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis is crucial for designing more effective treatments for chronic lung diseases. This study aimed to determine the following: whether Sirt1 and serum vitamin D decreased with physiological aging, promoting senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis by activating TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling, whether Sirt1 overexpression prevented TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling‐mediated senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis in vitamin D‐deficient (Cyp27b1−/−) mice, and whether Sirt1 downregulated IL‐11 expression transcribed by TGF‐β1/Smad2 signaling through deacetylating histone at the IL‐11 promoter in pulmonary fibroblasts. Bioinformatics analysis with RNA sequencing data from pulmonary fibroblasts of physiologically aged mice was conducted for correlation analysis. Lungs from young and physiologically aged wild‐type (WT) mice were examined for cell senescence, fibrosis markers, and TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling proteins, and 1,25(OH)2D3 and IL‐11 levels were detected in serum. Nine‐week‐old WT, Sirt1 mesenchymal transgene (Sirt1Tg), Cyp27b1−/−, and Sirt1TgCyp27b1−/− mice were observed the pulmonary function, aging, and senescence‐associated secretory phenotype and TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling. We found that pulmonary Sirt1 and serum vitamin D decreased with physiological aging, activating TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling, and promoting senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis. Sirt1 overexpression improved pulmonary dysfunction, aging, DNA damage, senescence‐associated secretory phenotype, and fibrosis through downregulating TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling in Cyp27b1−/− mice. Sirt1 negatively regulated IL‐11 expression through deacetylating H3K9/14ac mainly at the region from −871 to −724 of IL‐11 promoter, also the major binding region of Smad2 which regulated IL‐11 expression at the transcriptional level, and subsequently inhibiting TGF‐β1/IL‐11/MEK/ERK signaling in pulmonary fibroblasts. This signaling in aging fibroblasts could be a therapeutic target for preventing senescence‐associated pulmonary fibrosis induced by vitamin D deficiency.
Introduction of the day case total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) protocol
Authors: Byford Sally , Madhok Drishti , Baldan Paula , Amey Guy , Barber James , Harris Rhys , Walker Graeme
Published: July 2022

Background

Traditionally total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) patients are admitted for 1–2 days post‐operatively. Day case TLH has been proven to be feasible and safe in other countries; however, this tertiary Queensland hospital is one of the first Australian institutions to introduce a day case TLH protocol.

Aim

To pilot the implementation of our day case TLH protocol assessing the feasibility, safety and patient satisfaction of same‐day discharge.

Materials and Methods

A retrospective audit of the implementation of our day case TLH protocol at a tertiary Queensland hospital was conducted. Primary outcome was length of post‐operative hospital stay. Secondary outcomes included perioperative complications and post‐operative re‐presentation rates. Patient satisfaction was assessed through a patient questionnaire.

Results

Seventy‐seven patients were included in the study. There were 94.81% patients who went home on the same day. Their average length of post‐operative hospital stay was 7.72 (SD ± 3.36) hours. Of the patients who did achieve same‐day discharge, the average length of stay was 7.05 (SD ±1.46) hours. There were no significant differences in perioperative complications or re‐presentation rates compared to previously published literature. Patients reported they were extremely satisfied with day case TLH.

Conclusion

The implementation of our day case TLH protocol is feasible, safe and well received by patients in our tertiary Australian hospital. These results can have multimodal effects in healthcare: decrease in hospital costs by reducing length of stay and overnight admissions, improved theatre efficiency and patient flow, while maintaining patient safety and satisfaction.
Willing but not able: A survey of New Zealand health practitioners' interests in providing second trimester abortion care and the obstacles they face
Authors: Whiting Rosie , Paterson Helen , Hudspith Anna , Caldwell Coleen
Published: July 2022

Background

In 2020, abortion was removed from the Crimes Act. Abortions under 20 weeks gestation no longer require an indication and criteria for abortion above 20 weeks gestation has broadened. Prior to law reform, all abortions were provided on licensed premises and the responsible health practitioner was a doctor. Subsequently, any health practitioner with abortion in their scope of practice can provide abortion care.

Aims

To describe the characteristics of health practitioners who expressed an interest in participating in second trimester abortion care, and to identify and describe the barriers to providing an optimal second trimester abortion service.

Materials and Methods

This was an exponential non‐discriminating snowball email survey using tick boxes and open comments. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and free‐text components were analysed using a general inductive approach.

Results

The 113 respondents included: 38 hospital‐based obstetrics and gynaecology doctors, 22 primary care doctors, 13 midwives and 14 nurses/nurse practitioners. Thirty‐three (29.2%) and 62 (54.9%) respondents reported interest in providing second trimester surgical and medical abortion care respectively. The most commonly identified barrier to both surgical and medical second trimester abortion provision was lack of trained staff, followed by an unsupportive work environment. Thematic analysis aligned with these findings and commonly featured difficulty in accessing feticide.

Conclusions

We need to actively recruit and train all health practitioners interested in providing second trimester abortion care to strengthen the workforce. This requires an organisation to oversee an inclusive national framework for abortion training, including feticide, and provide professional supervision.
The Santa María pottery of El Bolsón valley (Catamarca, Argentina): Compositional characterization and implications on the elaboration processes, ca. 1000–1600 ce
Authors: Puente Veronica , Botta Pablo Martín , Desimone Paula Mariela , Ramos Cinthia Paula , Porto Lopez José Manuel
Published: July 2022

The results obtained from the multi‐analytic compositional characterization of ceramic pastes and paints of the Santa María style, from the El Bolsón valley (Belén Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina), are presented here. This pottery style had a wide regional distribution in Northwestern Argentina between ca. 1000 and1600 ce and is characterized by its complex iconography painted in black, cream and red. The analyses show that the containers correspond to the technical tradition of using grog temper and suggest that its manufacture involved a double firing process. This reveals a new practice for the time.
Speciesism in everyday language
Authors: Leach Stefan , Kitchin Andrew P. , Sutton Robbie M. , Dhont Kristof
Published: July 2022

Speciesism, like other forms of prejudice, is thought to be underpinned by biased patterns of language use. Thus far, however, psychological science has primarily focused on how speciesism is reflected in individuals' thoughts as opposed to wider collective systems of meaning such as language. We present a large‐scale quantitative test of speciesism by applying machine‐learning methods (word embeddings) to billions of English words derived from conversation, film, books, and the Internet. We found evidence of anthropocentric speciesism: words denoting concern (vs. indifference) and value (vs. valueless) were more closely associated with words denoting humans compared to many other animals. We also found evidence of companion animal speciesism: the same words were more closely associated with words denoting companion animals compared to most other animals. The work describes speciesism as a pervasive collective phenomenon that is evident in a naturally occurring expression of human psychology – everyday language.
CD‐polytomous knowledge spaces and corresponding polytomous surmise systems
Authors: Wang Bo , Li Jinjin , Sun Wen
Published: July 2022

Heller (2021) generalized quasi‐ordinal knowledge spaces to polytomous items. Inspired by this paper, we propose CD‐polytomous knowledge space and its polytomous surmise system. A Galois connection is established between the collection of all polytomous knowledge structures and the collection of particular polytomous attribute functions. The closed elements of the Galois connection are CD‐polytomous knowledge spaces in and polytomous surmise functions in , respectively. With the help of these, this paper provides a characterization of the polytomous knowledge structure corresponding to the polytomous surmise function that is weakly factorial. Based on the finite sets of items and response values, these results generalize the previous approaches for polytomous knowledge spaces.
Socioeconomic inequalities related to maternal perception of children's oral health at age 4: Results of a birth cohort
Authors: Karam Sarah Arangurem , Costa Francine dos Santos , Correa Marcos Britto , Bertoldi Andréa D. , Barros Fernando C. , Demarco Flávio Fernando
Published: July 2022

Objectives

To estimate socioeconomic inequalities in the maternal perception of children's oral health from a birth cohort study in Brazil.

Methods

The data from this study were collected through perinatal interviews and at the 48‐month follow‐up from the 2015 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study. The main outcome was the maternal perception of children's oral health, dichotomized into positive (good/very good) and negative (fair/bad/very bad). The secondary outcome was untreated dental caries (absence and presence, according to the ICDAS index – International Caries Detection and Assessment System). For the statistical analysis, the absolute inequality index (Slope Index of Inequality – SII) and the relative concentration index (Concentration Index – CIX) were used. Analyses were stratified by maternal educational level, family income and wealth index.

Results

The prevalence of outcomes was 19.4% (95% CI 18.2; 20.7) for the negative maternal perception of children's oral health and 15.6% (95% CI 14.4; 16.8) for untreated dental caries. Socioeconomics inequalities were observed in negative maternal perception of children's oral health in both absolute and relative terms. A SII of −16.6 (95% CI −20.8; −12.5) was observed for family income, with higher prevalence in poor families. A higher prevalence of the negative maternal perception of children's oral health was observed in mothers without any educational level or a few years of study (CIX −21.1 [95% CI −24.5; −17.7]).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates socioeconomics disparities in the maternal perception of children's oral health and in the prevalence of untreated caries in children. A higher concentration of negative maternal perception of children's oral health was identified among the most socioeconomically vulnerable individuals. The findings reinforce the presence of socioeconomic inequalities in subjective measures about children's oral health.
Once‐more scattered next event estimation for volume rendering
Authors: Hanika Johannes , Weidlich Andrea , Droske Marc
Published: July 2022

We present a Monte Carlo path tracing technique to sample extended next event estimation contributions in participating media: we consider one additional scattering vertex on the way to the next event, accounting for focused blur, resulting in visually interesting image features. Our technique is tailored to thin homogeneous media with strongly forward scattering phase functions, such as water or atmospheric haze. Previous methods put emphasis on sampling transmittances or geometric factors, and are either limited to isotropic scattering, or used tabulation or polynomial approximation to account for some specific phase functions. We will show how to jointly importance sample the product of an arbitrary phase function with analytic sampling in the solid angle domain and the two reciprocal squared distance terms of the adjacent edges of the transport path. The technique is fast and simple to implement in an existing rendering system. Our estimator is designed specifically for forward scattering, so the new technique has to be combined with other estimators to cover the backward scattering contributions.
Automatic Feature Selection for Denoising Volumetric Renderings
Authors: Zhang Xianyao , Ott Melvin , Manzi Marco , Gross Markus , Papas Marios
Published: July 2022

We propose a method for constructing feature sets that significantly improve the quality of neural denoisers for Monte Carlo renderings with volumetric content. Starting from a large set of hand‐crafted features, we propose a feature selection process to identify significantly pruned near‐optimal subsets. While a naive approach would require training and testing a separate denoiser for every possible feature combination, our selection process requires training of only a single probe denoiser for the selection task. Moreover, our approximate solution has an asymptotic complexity that is quadratic to the number of features compared to the exponential complexity of the naive approach, while also producing near‐optimal solutions. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach on various state‐of‐the‐art denoising methods for volumetric content. We observe improvements in denoising quality when using our automatically selected feature sets over the hand‐crafted sets proposed by the original methods.
Deep Flow Rendering: View Synthesis via Layer‐aware Reflection Flow
Authors: Dai Pinxuan , Xie Ning
Published: July 2022

Novel view synthesis (NVS) generates images from unseen viewpoints based on a set of input images. It is a challenge because of inaccurate lighting optimization and geometry inference. Although current neural rendering methods have made significant progress, they still struggle to reconstruct global illumination effects like reflections and exhibit ambiguous blurs in highly view‐dependent areas. This work addresses high‐quality view synthesis to emphasize reflection on non‐concave surfaces. We propose Deep Flow Rendering that optimizes direct and indirect lighting separately, leveraging texture mapping, appearance flow, and neural rendering. A learnable texture is used to predict view‐independent features, meanwhile enabling efficient reflection extraction. To accurately fit view‐dependent effects, we adopt a constrained neural flow to transfer image‐space features from nearby views to the target view in an edge‐preserving manner. Then we further implement a fusing renderer that utilizes the predictions of both layers to form the output image. The experiments demonstrate that our method outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art methods at synthesizing various scenes with challenging reflection effects.
Apigenin inhibits fibrous scar formation after acute spinal cord injury through TGFβ/SMADs signaling pathway
Authors: Jin Zhengxin , Tian Lige , Zhang Ying , Zhang Xiaodi , Kang Jianning , Dong Hui , Huang Nana , Pan Liuzhu , Ning Bin
Published: July 2022

Aim

To investigate the effect of apigenin on fibrous scar formation after mouse spinal cord injury (SCI).

Methods

The pneumatic impactor strike method was used to establish an SCI model. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with 5 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg apigenin daily for 28 days after SCI. The Basso Mouse Scale (BMS) score, hematoxylin–eosin staining, and immunohistochemical staining were used to assess the effect of apigenin on scar formation and motor function recovery. Western blotting and qRT‐PCR were used to detect the expression of fibrosis‐related parameters in spinal cord tissue homogenates. NIH‐3 T3 cells and mouse primary spinal cord fibroblasts, α‐Smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA), collagen 1, and fibronectin were used to evaluate apigenin's effect in vitro. Western blotting and immunofluorescence techniques were used to study the effect of apigenin on TGFβ/SMADs signaling.

Results

Apigenin inhibited fibrous scar formation in the mouse spinal cord and promoted the recovery of motor function. It reduced the expression of fibroblast‐related parameters and increased the content of nerve growth factor in vivo, decreasing myofibroblast activation and collagen fiber formation by inhibiting TGFβ‐induced SMAD2/3 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation in vitro.

Conclusion

Apigenin inhibits fibrous scar formation after SCI by decreasing fibrosis‐related factor expression through TGFβ/SMADs signaling.
Physicians perceive that ostomates have decreased quality of life but not overall health: An international survey of physicians
Authors: Eid Mark A. , Goldwag Jenaya L. , Gray Philip P. , Shaw Robert D. , Ivatury Srinivas J.
Published: July 2022

Aim

The aim of this work was to evaluate physicians' perceptions of ostomates' quality of life (QoL) and comfort of care among an international sample of physicians caring for ostomates.

Method

This was a cross‐sectional survey study. We conducted a survey of primary care physicians (PCP), gastroenterologists (GI), and general surgeons (GS) from three continents using the SERMO online physician platform. We piloted the survey for content, clarity and domain development using a pilot sample of physicians from each speciality before use. We summarized responses to questions related to physician comfort of ostomate care with descriptive statistics. We conducted multiple logistic regression with the primary outcome of physician perception of ostomate QoL.

Results

A total of 617 physicians (PCP 264, GI 176, GS 177) completed the survey representing North America, Europe and Australia similarly. The average age was 46 years and 21% were women. Ninety per cent of physicians care for an ostomate at least once per month. Eighty eight per cent had access to enterostomal nurses. Eighty two per cent of physicians believed that ostomates have decreased QoL. Forty seven per cent believed that ostomates have decreased overall health. Almost half of respondents answered incorrectly to a ‘bogus question’ citing fake clinical evidence supporting a negative impact of ostomies on social relationships. Increased physician comfort in ostomy care (OR 1.30, p = 0.04) and US‐based physicians (OR 1.75, p = 0.01) were associated with increased odds of answering that ostomates have no decreased QoL.

Conclusion

Among a diverse international sample, most physicians believe that ostomates have decreased QoL but not overall health. Physician implicit bias, physician comfort and geographical variability account for these findings. Targeted efforts to increase physician comfort in ostomate care and establish universal best practices is needed.
Assessment of the Current State of In Situ Conservation and Use of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) in Colombia
Authors: Rosero Amparo , Rodríguez Eberto , Aguilera‐Arango Germán , Rosero María‐Gladis , Granda Leiter , Pastrana Iván , Martínez Remberto , Perez Jose‐Luis , Espitia Laura , Gomez Evelin , Rodríguez Tatiana , Sieber Stefan
Published: July 2022

Sweet potato is a valuable staple crop that guarantees food security to a large segment of the world population. The wide phenotypic and genetic variability of this species is an indication of its high adaptation capacity to diverse environmental conditions. In Colombia, it is a neglected and underutilized crop, mainly managed by traditional knowledge. The aim of this study was to recognize the contribution of in situ conservation and to characterize the habitats and the traditional uses to shed light on the design of their management and conservation strategies. Germplasm and data collection were conducted in the Caribbean and Andean regions of the country. This collection resulted in 750 accessions from 131 municipalities, belonging to 19 departments of the two regions. In these regions, sweet potato has been conserved in situ in a wide spatial and altitudinal distribution. The major collection sources were wild and cultivated habitats, which highlight the invaluable contribution of farmers and communities in the preservation of this species and its associated knowledge. In situ conservation seemed to be an efficient strategy for conserving and using plant genetic resources; therefore, it should be considered by conservation efforts.
Clip stopper closure method using a detachable snare in combination with ZEOCLIP for endoscopic submucosal dissection‐induced mucosal defects
Authors: Hamada Shohei , Ihara Eikichi , Yoshitake Chikako , Inada Taisuke , Fukuya Hiroki , Ohkubo Akito , Tomoeda Naru , Iboshi Yoichiro , Sumida Yorinobu , Yoshimura Daisuke , Nakamuta Makoto , Harada Naohiko
Published: July 2022

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is globally performed to treat early epithelial tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, but delayed perforation is a problematic procedure‐related complication. To address this problem, closure of ESD‐induced mucosal defects with a detachable snare has been reported. However, one problem is that this method usually requires some degree of skill and replacing a single‐channel scope with a two‐channel scope. We developed the clip stopper closure (CSC) method using a detachable snare in combination with the ZEOCLIP, which can be easily performed with a single‐channel scope, for ESD‐induced mucosal defects. Six consecutive cases were treated with this closure method for colonic ESD‐induced mucosal defects. The median closure time was 12.5 (10–24) min, and the success rate of this procedure was 100%. Our CSC method was able to be performed in any part of the colon. In conclusion, the CSC method using a detachable snare in combination with the ZEOCLIP is a simple but promising closure technique for ESD‐induced mucosal defects.
The TRP channel PKD2 is involved in sensing the mechanical stimulus of adhesion for initiating metamorphosis in the chordate Ciona
Authors: Sakamoto Aya , Hozumi Akiko , Shiraishi Akira , Satake Honoo , Horie Takeo , Sasakura Yasunori
Published: July 2022

Metamorphosis is the dramatic and irreversible reconstruction of animal bodies transitioning from the larval stage. Because of the significant impact of metamorphosis on animal life, its timing is strictly regulated. Invertebrate chordate ascidians are the closest living relatives of vertebrates. Ascidians exhibit metamorphosis that converts their swimming larvae into sessile adults. Ascidian metamorphosis is triggered by a mechanical stimulus generated when adhesive papillae adhere to a substrate. However, it is not well understood how the mechanical stimulus is generated and how ascidian larvae sense the stimulus. In this study, we addressed these issues by a combination of embryological, molecular, and genetic experiments in the model ascidian Ciona intestinalis Type A, also called Ciona robusta. We here showed that the epidermal neuronal network starting from the sensory neurons at the adhesive papillae is responsible for the sensing of adhesion. We also found that the transient receptor potential (TRP) channel PKD2 is involved in sensing the stimulus of adhesion. Our results provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the regulation of the timing of ascidian metamorphosis.
Proxy‐reported sensory measures for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review
Authors: Soler Nicolette , Cordier Reinie , Perkes Iain E. , Dale Russell C. , Bray Paula
Published: July 2022

Aim

To determine the quality and utility of proxy‐reported sensory measures for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (such as autism spectrum disorder, attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder, movement disorders, and intellectual disability).

Method

We systematically searched 11 databases. We applied the updated Consensus‐based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) Risk of Bias checklist and criteria for good measurement properties to evaluate instrument development and psychometric properties. Findings were summarized using a COSMIN adaptation of Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations.

Results

From 11 databases, 6748 articles were screened. Ninety‐one full‐length articles were reviewed after removing excluded studies and manual searches conducted by two reviewers. Data were extracted for 12 measures from 20 articles. Of the 12 measures, only three provided sufficient data to evaluate content validity and psychometric measurement properties. The Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire‐Home (PSEQ‐H) was the only measure that satisfied moderate content validity and moderate‐to‐high quality for measurement properties. These properties included: structural validity, hypothesis testing for construct validity, internal consistency, reliability, and measurement error.

Interpretation

One measure, the PSEQ‐H, met eight criteria for good measurement properties. To facilitate evidence‐informed clinical decision‐making, all psychometric properties of all 12 sensory‐based, proxy‐reported measures were presented. The importance of consumer engagement in measure development and the need for ongoing evaluation of measures against contemporaneous standards is recommended.

What this paper adds

Three measures provided studies on content validity and psychometric measurement properties.

The Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire‐Home had moderate quality for content validity studies and high‐to‐moderate quality evidence for psychometric properties.

The Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire was the only measure that included consumer involvement through qualitative interviews and pilot testing.

Consumer involvement in measure development is important for content validity.

Ongoing evaluation of measures against contemporaneous standards is recommended.
The usefulness of speckle tracking echocardiography in identifying subclinical myocardial dysfunction in young adults recovered from mild COVID‐19
Authors: Gherbesi Elisa , Bergamaschi Luca , Cusmano Ignazio , Tien Thien Trung , Paolisso Pasquale , Foà Alberto , Pizzi Carmine , Barosi Alberto
Published: July 2022

Background

Myocardial strain assessed with speckle tracking echocardiography is a sensitive marker of cardiac dysfunction. Both left‐ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV‐GLS) and right ventricular longitudinal strain (RV‐LS) were affected by severe SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. However, data about cardiac involvement in patients with asymptomatic/mild Coronavirus disease‐19 (COVID‐19) is still lacking.

Aim

To evaluate myocardial function using LV‐GLS and RV‐LS in patients with previous asymptomatic/mild COVID‐19.

Methods

Forty young adults without previously known comorbidities/cardiovascular risk factors and with a confirmed diagnosis of asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic SARS‐CoV‐2 infection were retrospectively included. A 2D‐transthoracic echocardiogram with speckle tracking analysis was performed at least 3 months after the diagnosis. Forty healthy subjects, matched for age, sex, and body surface area in a 1:1 ratio were used as the control group.

Results

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) and RV‐LS were comparable between the two groups. LV‐GLS was significantly lower in the cases compared to the control group (−22.7 ± 1.6% vs. −25.7 ± 2.3%; p < .001). Moreover, the prevalence of regional peak systolic strain below −16% in at least two segments was three times higher in patients with previous COVID‐19 compared to controls (30% vs. 10%, p = .02). In multivariable logistic regression, previous COVID‐19 infection was independently associated with reduced LV‐GLS values (p < .001).

Conclusion

SARS‐CoV‐2 infection may affect left ventricular deformation in 30% of young adult patients despite an asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic acute illness. Speckle‐tracking echocardiography could help early identification of patients with subclinical cardiac involvement, with potential repercussions on risk stratification and management.
Factors that influence owner consent for exploratory laparotomy in horses with colic in Australia and New Zealand
Authors: Averay Kate , Wilkins Clara , de Kantzow Max , Simon Olivier , van Galen Gaby , Sykes Benjamin , Verwilghen Denis
Published: July 2022

Background

Horse owners' motivators and barriers for consent to exploratory laparotomy are poorly understood.

Objectives

To (1) determine the proportion of Australian and New Zealand horse owners who would consent to exploratory laparotomy and (2) identify motivators and barriers for consent.

Study design

Cross‐sectional survey.

Methods

A questionnaire was developed and distributed online. Descriptive statistics were calculated by tabulating respondents by their answers to whether they would consent to exploratory laparotomy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify variables associated with consenting to exploratory laparotomy.

Results

Two thousand two hundred horse owners participated with a 68.3% survey completion rate. Most were female (95.6%), and 18.7% stated they would consent to exploratory laparotomy, 55.2% would consider exploratory laparotomy and 26.1% would not consent to exploratory laparotomy being performed on their horse. Geographical location, intended use of the horse and perceptions regarding the cost and prognosis of exploratory laparotomy, as well as the previous experience of respondents significantly impacted the decision. Self‐reported level of financial comfort, gender of respondents, number of horses owned and pre‐existing relationship with nearest equine referral clinic did not impact the decision. Top motivators for exploratory laparotomy were high probability of survival, trust in hospital, emotional value of horse and the alternative being euthanasia. Top barriers for exploratory laparotomy were financial cost, uncertain outcome, welfare concern and age of the horse.

Main limitations

Self‐selection bias and acquiescence in responses.

Conclusions

Most respondents indicated that they would consider or consent to exploratory laparotomy. Several factors for owners to decide for exploratory laparotomy could be identified. Improved owner education regarding the positively reported survival rates for exploratory laparotomy would be beneficial.
Detection of COVID‐19 from chest X‐ray images: Boosting the performance with convolutional neural network and transfer learning
Authors: Asif Sohaib , Wenhui Yi , Amjad Kamran , Jin Hou , Tao Yi , Jinhai Si
Published: July 2022

Coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) is a pandemic that has caused thousands of casualties and impacts all over the world. Most countries are facing a shortage of COVID‐19 test kits in hospitals due to the daily increase in the number of cases. Early detection of COVID‐19 can protect people from severe infection. Unfortunately, COVID‐19 can be misdiagnosed as pneumonia or other illness and can lead to patient death. Therefore, in order to avoid the spread of COVID‐19 among the population, it is necessary to implement an automated early diagnostic system as a rapid alternative diagnostic system. Several researchers have done very well in detecting COVID‐19; however, most of them have lower accuracy and overfitting issues that make early screening of COVID‐19 difficult. Transfer learning is the most successful technique to solve this problem with higher accuracy. In this paper, we studied the feasibility of applying transfer learning and added our own classifier to automatically classify COVID‐19 because transfer learning is very suitable for medical imaging due to the limited availability of data. In this work, we proposed a CNN model based on deep transfer learning technique using six different pre‐trained architectures, including VGG16, DenseNet201, MobileNetV2, ResNet50, Xception, and EfficientNetB0. A total of 3886 chest X‐rays (1200 cases of COVID‐19, 1341 healthy and 1345 cases of viral pneumonia) were used to study the effectiveness of the proposed CNN model. A comparative analysis of the proposed CNN models using three classes of chest X‐ray datasets was carried out in order to find the most suitable model. Experimental results show that the proposed CNN model based on VGG16 was able to accurately diagnose COVID‐19 patients with 97.84% accuracy, 97.90% precision, 97.89% sensitivity, and 97.89% of F1‐score. Evaluation of the test data shows that the proposed model produces the highest accuracy among CNNs and seems to be the most suitable choice for COVID‐19 classification. We believe that in this pandemic situation, this model will support healthcare professionals in improving patient screening.
Reelin deficiency exacerbates cocaine‐induced hyperlocomotion by enhancing neuronal activity in the dorsomedial striatum
Authors: de Guglielmo Giordano , Iemolo Attilio , Nur Aisha , Turner Andrew , Montilla‐Perez Patricia , Martinez Angelica , Crook Caitlin , Roberts Amanda , Telese Francesca
Published: July 2022

The Reln gene encodes for the extracellular glycoprotein Reelin, which regulates several brain functions from development to adulthood, including neuronal migration, dendritic growth and branching and synapse formation and plasticity. Human studies have implicated Reelin signaling in several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Mouse studies using the heterozygous Reeler (HR) mice have shown that reduced levels of Reln expression are associated with deficits in learning and memory and increased disinhibition. Although these traits are relevant to substance use disorders, the role of Reelin in cellular and behavioral responses to addictive drugs remains largely unknown. Here, we compared HR mice to wild‐type (WT) littermate controls to investigate whether Reelin signaling contributes to the hyperlocomotor and rewarding effects of cocaine. After a single or repeated cocaine injections, HR mice showed enhanced cocaine‐induced locomotor activity compared with WT controls. This effect persisted after withdrawal. In contrast, Reelin deficiency did not induce cocaine sensitization, and did not affect the rewarding effects of cocaine measured in the conditioned place preference assay. The elevated cocaine‐induced hyperlocomotion in HR mice was associated with increased protein Fos expression in the dorsal medial striatum (DMS) compared with WT. Lastly, we performed an RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization experiment and found that Reln was highly co‐expressed with the Drd1 gene, which encodes for the dopamine receptor D1, in the DMS. These findings show that Reelin signaling contributes to the locomotor effects of cocaine and improve our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the cellular and behavioral effects of cocaine.
Merlin immunohistochemistry is useful in diagnosis of tumours within the spectrum of biphasic hyalinizing psammomatous renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Collins Katrina , Hwang Michael , Antic Tatjana , Paintal Ajit , Argani Pedram , Matoso Andres , Gopinath Arun , Baskovich Brett , Mehra Rohit , Williamson Sean R. , Idrees Muhammad T. , Barletta Justine A. , Anderson William J. , Hirsch Michelle S. , Hornick Jason L. , Acosta Andres M.
Published: July 2022

Aims

Biphasic hyalinizing psammomatous (BHP) renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a newly described emerging entity within the spectrum of papillary RCC in the WHO 2022 classification. Molecular analyses have discovered that BHP RCC consistently harbour somatic mutations in the neurofibromin 2 (NF2) gene. The NF2 gene product, merlin, is known to primarily function as a tumour suppressor. Merlin protein loss correlates closely with the presence of NF2 mutations in benign and malignant tumours arising in different sites. In the present study we explored the role of merlin immunohistochemistry (IHC) in tumours within the spectrum of BHP RCC to determine the diagnostic utility of this marker.

Materials and Methods

We performed merlin IHC in 13 BHP RCC, 18 papillary RCC, 10 TFE3‐translocation RCC, 15 TFEB‐altered RCC (including 13 TFEB‐rearranged and 2 TFEB‐amplified), and 10 mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinomas of unknown mutational status.

Results

Unequivocal loss of merlin expression in >90% of the tumour cells was observed in 12/13 BHP‐RCC (92%), with the remaining tumour demonstrating weak focal cytoplasmic expression in ~10% of the tumour. In contrast, merlin was diffusely or multifocally expressed in all papillary RCC, TFE3‐translocation RCC, and TFEB‐altered RCC, as well as in 70% of mucinous tubular and spindle carcinomas. Conclusions: In this study, merlin IHC was ~92% sensitive and ~94% specific for BHP RCC. These data suggest that merlin IHC is a reliable surrogate marker for the presence of underlying NF2 gene inactivation, being diagnostically useful to identify BHP RCC.

Conclusions

In this study, merlin IHC was ~92% sensitive and ~94% specific for BHP RCC. These data suggest that merlin IHC is a reliable surrogate marker for the presence of underlying NF2 gene inactivation, being diagnostically useful to identify BHP RCC.
Assessing the fatty acid profile of migratory birds with different fuelling strategies
Authors: Lee Morgan , Viegas Ivan , Norte Ana C. , Ramos Jaime A. , Araújo Pedro M.
Published: July 2022

A detailed analysis of fatty acid (FA) profiles and their properties relating to fuelling strategy can improve understanding of avian migration. The study aimed to understand whether and how FA composition differs among several passerine species which migrate using different fuelling strategies (constant fuelling, gradual fuelling, early fuelling or late fuelling). We found evidence for differential FA composition among migratory species according to their fuelling strategies: early fuellers presented higher n‐3 polyunsaturated FA and gradual fuellers higher mono‐unsaturated FA, which can be directly related to their differential migratory strategies to maximize energy use.
The link between total antioxidant status, total oxidant status, arylesterase activity, and subgingival microbiota in psoriasis patients
Authors: Paksoy Tuğçe , Ustaoğlu Gülbahar , Yaman Deniz , Arıöz Özkan , Demirci Mehmet , Ünlü Özge , Avcı Emre , Polat Mualla
Published: July 2022

Background

Studies focusing on the relationship between periodontitis and systemic diseases have suggested a possible association between these two chronic and inflammatory disorders. We aimed to comparatively investigate the salivary oxidative status, biomarker levels, clinical findings, and the microbial load on subgingival biofilm samples in psoriasis patients and controls.

Methods

Forty participants were allocated into four groups as follows: (1) systemically and periodontally healthy (C group); (2) systemically healthy with periodontitis (P group); (3) psoriasis (Ps) and periodontally healthy (Ps‐C group); and (4) Ps with periodontitis (Ps‐P group). Subgingival biofilm samples were obtained to detect the periodontopathogenic agents by Real‐time PCR (qPCR). The total antioxidant status (TAS) (mmol/l), total oxidant status (TOS) (μmol/l), and arylesterase (ARE) activity (U/L) were analyzed using saliva samples.

Results

The level of TOS and oxidative stress index (OSI) were significantly higher in patients with Ps‐P and P compared to controls (P = 0.001, and P ˂ 0.001, respectively). ARE levels were higher in controls compared to Ps and P (P ˂ 0.001). The prevalences of bacteria detected in subgingival biofilm samples were similar between all groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusions

This study reported that psoriasis may amplify TOS and OSI, and the co‐existence of psoriasis and periodontitis may aggravate oxidative stress.