bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Integrative Approach to Assessing and Managing Risk
Authors: London Alex John
Published: December 2021

This chapter articulates the integrative approach to assessing and managing risk in research. This framework is grounded, not in role-related obligations, but in respect for the basic interests of persons. It models uncertainty as a property of a moderately idealized community of diverse experts, and it shows how studies that are designed to reduce conflict or uncertainty within such a community can reconcile the production of socially valuable information with respect for the status of research participants as free and equal. The merits of this approach relative to prominent alternatives, including component analysis, clinical equipoise, the non-exploitation view and the net risk view are elaborated at length. The merits off the integrative approach are demonstrated by showing how this framework allows trial that use response adaptive randomization to be designed in ways that respect a principle of equal concern and a series of related ethical requirements.
A Non-Paternalistic Model of Research Ethics and Oversight
Authors: London Alex John
Published: December 2021

This chapter argues that prospective review of research before bodies of diverse representation should not be understood as a paternalistic interference in the private interactions between researchers and participants. Instead, it is a mechanism for resolving a set of coordination problems that threaten the integrity of research. Its proper role is to provide credible social assurance that the research enterprise constitutes a voluntary scheme of cooperation through which diverse stakeholders can contribute to the common good without being subject to the arbitrary exercise of social authority including antipathy, abuse, coercion, domination, exploitation, or other forms of harmful, unfair, or disrespectful treatment. The limitations of prospective review are discussed, including the need for mechanisms that better address incentives for a wider range of stakeholders whose decisions shape the research agenda.
Introduction
Authors: Seo Hyunjin
Published: December 2021

This chapter serves as an overview of the book and orients readers to subsequent chapters. It provides major contexts for networked collective actions and offers a quick look at the emergence of nontraditional intermediaries and their dynamic interactions with traditional intermediaries. Then the chapter introduces South Korean citizens’ candlelight vigils in 2016 and 2017 calling for the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye and discusses how the impeachment example is an instance of the complex changes being observed in collective actions facilitated by digital communication technologies. The chapter briefly explains theoretical and methodological approaches used in this book in analyzing the intricate relationships between various agents (e.g., individuals, institutions, bots/algorithms) and their interactions with relevant affordances during South Korean citizens’ candlelight vigils demanding Park’s impeachment. The chapter ends with a brief summary of the focus of subsequent chapters.
Candlelight Vigils and Citizen Activism
Authors: Seo Hyunjin
Published: December 2021

This chapter focuses on modern political and social collective actions in South Korea to illustrate how changing information ecosystems have influenced the ways protests and candlelight vigils have been organized over the past several decades. In particular, the chapter explains how Internet and digital communication technologies began to be used to facilitate collective actions in South Korea in a series of candlelight vigils beginning in 2002, when two South Korean teenage girls were killed by a U.S. armored vehicle. It also covers other major candlelight vigils, including 2004 vigils against the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun and 2008 vigils against U.S. beef importation. In examining candlelight vigils at different time points and stages of technological development, it considers both what changed and what has remained largely the same, while highlighting key agents and affordances and their interactions at each time period analyzed.
Sewol Ferry Disaster
Authors: Seo Hyunjin
Published: December 2021

This chapter provides background information regarding South Koreans’ anger and frustration with the Park Geun-hye administration, which led to a series of candlelight vigils calling for her impeachment. In particular, it analyzes public sentiment surrounding President Park’s handling of the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry in which 250 South Korean high school students died. Prior to the revelation of the Park-Choi corruption scandal, the Sewol ferry disaster, caused by human error and poorly managed by the Park government, was the most significant event that contributed to reaching a tipping point for the impeachment movement. The Park-Choi scandal served as a trigger for public outrage, which had been simmering for several years. This chapter analyzes how outrage and embarrassment spread in the information ecosystem at that time and served to motivate people to participate in the impeachment vigils.
Initiation
Authors: Sauthoff Patricia
Published: December 2021

Chapter 5 turns toward the theoretical. It examines the use of mantra within initiation (dīkṣā) rites and how Sanskrit phonemes connect to the hierarchy of realities (tattva) through which one passes during initiation. This again offers an example of how the text describes the divine nature of sound. Initiation also offers a practitioner the ability to adopt a new identity. The process of initiation symbolically destroys the initiand’s body, unbinding his soul, and offering him the gift of liberation. The chapter analyzes sections of the Netra Tantra that speak to both the theoretical and practical elements of initiatory rites.
Maṇḍalas
Authors: Sauthoff Patricia
Published: December 2021

Chapter 8 continues the translation of Netra Tantra Chapter 6 as the topic shifts from oblation to maṇḍala. The theoretical basis for this analysis relies on understanding the nature of mantras from Chapters 1 and 2 and the initiation rites of Chapter 5. Because the Netra Tantra itself offers only practical information about maṇḍala use in ritual, the analysis turns to two other texts, the Mālinīvijayottaratantra and Cakrasamvara Tantra, to examine the written form of the mantra and colors of the maṇḍala. The chapter shows how the embodied mantra is placed onto the maṇḍala, thus activating it. Again, proper performance is necessary for the correct outcome. The colors of the ritual objects and maṇḍalas point to their efficacy.
Visualizing Amṛta
Authors: Sauthoff Patricia
Published: December 2021

Chapter 9 focuses on the Svacchanda Tantra to translate a section of the text focused on visualized meditation meant to conquer both time and death. Like the Netra Tantra, which assuages the threat of death through ritual, the Svacchanda Tantra also does so through meditation. This meditation focuses on breath control, drawing on the haṃsa mantra and instructing the practitioner to visualize Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra in order to attain longevity. It then offers further visualization of the self washed over with nectar. The chapter compares the imagery of the Svacchanda and Netra Tantras to offer a more complete understanding of immortality within the Śaiva canon.
Gifts, Weapons, and Values
Authors: Brenneman Robert
Published: December 2021

Central Americans from a variety of religious traditions and social classes speak freely of lo espiritual, or “that which is spiritual,” but they do so in widely diverging ways. This chapter attempts to make sense of the vast and varied ways in which Central Americans reference spirituality by describing four common threads of usage. Evangelical-Pentecostal pastors sometimes frame social problems like gang violence as having both spiritual causes and spiritual solutions. Other Central Americans use the term “spiritual” to describe supernatural entities with a strong bearing on political structures. Meanwhile, some Central Americans have come to use the term “spirituality” to refer to beliefs and practices with roots in precolonial Mayan narratives. A fourth means of utilizing the language of spirituality is as a catch-all term for quasi-religious meditative practices and prosocial values formation. In conclusion, religious background and social class influence how people define and conceive of “the spiritual.”
The Dynamics of Religious Legitimation
Authors: Wisman Jon D.
Published: December 2021

This chapter examines legitimation theory and the ways in which religion has justified inequality throughout most of history. The rise of economic and political inequality generated social attitudes and beliefs that justified it, making it seem proper, natural, and consonant with the mandates of celestial powers. Elites’ ideology presented this inequality as necessary and fair. Because religion also meets psychological and social needs, until modern times, religion played the major ideological role in legitimating inequality, social institutions, and behavior. Inequality and class or other group-based hierarchy can be maintained by either physical force or ideological persuasion. Physical force can be expressed as threat of imprisonment, torture, or death. But physical force generates resentment and expensive policing. Less costly, ideological control is generally expressed through the manipulation of social discourse. Thus, it is most effective for elites to embrace self-serving ideological systems that are convincing to themselves and to those below them.
Economic Sanctions
Authors: Hirschhorn Eric L. , Egan Brian J. , Krauland Edward J.
Published: December 2021

Chapter 3 covers U.S. government economic sanctions, which may be imposed upon entire countries (as embargoes), specified economic sectors, or individual state or nonstate actors. These comprise approximately thirty different programs that are governed principally by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), various other sanctions legislation, and the regulations of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The chapter explains: which types of transactions are subject to the OFAC regulations; the basis and criteria for those restrictions; how to determine whether your transaction is prohibited without a license and, if so, whether you are likely to get a license for it; how to seek a license if one is required; and the potential penalties for violating the rules. The chapter also explains how the OFAC regulations relate to the regulatory regimes covered in other parts of the book.
The Process of Interdependence
Authors: Arora Manish , Curtin Paul , Curtin Austen , Austin Christine , Giuliani Alessandro
Published: December 2021

In both Chapters 2 and 3, biodynamic interfaces are treated as independent entities. That is obviously not the case—biodynamic interfaces are connected to each other and, as always, it is important to place time at the center of these connections. Chapter 4 shows that these connections are not like networks of roads that are static; instead, they are more like an ensemble of musicians who are constantly in motion and their joint motion (their music) creates a whole that has meaning. Chapter 4 also shows that our understanding of biodynamic interfaces is dependent on our temporal perspective. In other words, the picture we see depends on where and when we are.
Introduction
Authors: Lissner Rebecca
Published: December 2021

More than 75 years after the end of World War II, military interventions—rather than major wars—have emerged as a defining feature of contemporary geopolitics. Yet, for all the fierce policy debates over interventions and their lessons, scholars have largely ignored the systematic linkages between these smaller-scale wars and transformations in the grand strategies of states that prosecute them. This book develops a new theory—the informational theory of strategic adjustment—to explain why military interventions can be crucibles of grand strategy. It argues that, by prosecuting a military intervention, states glean rich and rare information about adversaries’ capabilities and intentions, as well as their own military power and cost tolerance. The uniquely costly nature of warfighting renders this data particularly credible. Amidst background conditions of intense interstate competition and pervasive uncertainty, states face strong incentives to reassess their grand strategies in light of this new information. This process of grand strategic updating begins with a reassessment of the strategic assumptions directly tested on the battlefield, but it doesn’t end there. Indeed, the grand strategic effects of military interventions are far-reaching because information conveyed via warfighting is widely extrapolated to related strategic assessments. This book demonstrates the plausibility of the informational theory of strategic adjustment in three historically detailed case studies that trace the evolution of American grand strategy over the course of the Cold War and into the early post–Cold War era: the Korean, Vietnam, and First Gulf Wars.
War and Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony
Authors: Lissner Rebecca
Published: December 2021

This chapter summarizes the main findings and conclusions of the book, discusses the cross-national generalizability of the informational theory of strategy adjustment, considers directions for future research, and reflects on the implications of this book for American foreign policy in the 2020s.
Introduction
Authors: Friedman Lainie , Thistlethwaite, Jr J. Richard
Published: December 2021

This is a book about living solid organ donors as patients in their own right. It is premised on the supposition that the field of living donor organ transplantation is ethical, even if some instantiations are not, eg, pre-mortem organ procurement of an imminently dying patient. In this chapter, the objection to living solid organ donation based on the obligation to do no harm is rejected because it ignores the fact that for many living donors, the benefits outweigh the harms. It is argued that the principle of respect for persons permits some living solid organ donation provided that both the donor and the recipient are treated as patients in their own right. This chapter then provides an outline for the rest of the book in which a five-principle living donor ethics framework is developed and applied to various living donor transplant proposals.
Candidate Criteria for Living Versus Deceased Donor Liver Grafts
Authors: Friedman Lainie , Thistlethwaite, Jr J. Richard
Published: December 2021

This chapter explores whether living donor liver transplant (LDLT) is morally permissible when the candidate is ineligible for a deceased donor liver transplant (DDLT). Two cases are evaluated: a woman with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) and a young female liver transplant recipient with a history of multiple suicide attempts who is in acute liver failure due to another intentional drug overdose. Although both women could benefit (gain life years) from liver transplant, neither is deemed eligible for DDLT by their transplant teams because of a short post-transplant life expectancy in the first case and expected poor organ stewardship in the second case. This chapter argues that LDLT is morally permissible in candidates ineligible for DDLT if the living donor provides a voluntary informed consent, knows he or she can withdraw at any time, and understands that the recipient candidate will not be listed for a DDLT should the LDLT fail.
Dealing With Uncertainty
Authors: Friedman Lainie , Thistlethwaite, Jr J. Richard
Published: December 2021

Apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) may explain much of the excess rate of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Blacks compared to Whites. Kidney grafts from deceased donors with two APOL1 risk alleles have worse graft survival, but outcomes appear unaffected by recipient APOL1 status. Unknown is whether unilateral nephrectomy increases the risk of ESRD in living donors with two APOL1 risk alleles and whether their donated kidneys have worse graft survival compared with other living donor grafts. This chapter addresses the decision-making processes of the donor and candidate with their respective separate transplant teams when incomplete data about long-term safety and outcome have implications for both patients. The chapter argues that voluntary APOL1 testing should be offered to prospective Black living donors but the results should only be shared with potential recipients with the living donor’s consent. Living donors are patients who have a right to privacy about their genetic makeup.
The Ethics of Exile
Authors: Vasanthakumar Ashwini
Published: December 2021

Using the tools of normative political theory, this book explores the political relationship between exiles and the communities from which they have fled. It makes two central claims. First, exiles have rights and responsibilities in their homelands and are morally required and permitted to play particular roles in the homeland. Second, in playing these roles, exile politics can perform two corrective functions: it can repair defective political institutions at home and it can compensate for institutional shortcomings in the global domain. In short, exiles engage in a ‘politics from below’ and ‘away’ that produces alternative sites of power and can mitigate the several failings of an international system of states in an unequal world. This normative exploration of exile politics has a few implications. It counters an overwhelming focus, in both political philosophy and public discourse, on the consequences of forced migration for receiving societies—a focus that often treats exiles as passive actors. Recognizing the political agency of exiles reveals another side of the migration story, and allows for a more fulsome exploration of what political obligation and membership mean in an increasingly transnational world. Identifying exiles as important domestic and transnational actors also points to the ways third parties ought to enable the different roles exiles play in their communities of origin and in the international domain. And recognizing exile agency highlights the shortcomings of an international system of refugee protection that focuses on exiles’ humanitarian needs but denies them their political rights and agency.
Introduction
Authors: Stein Michael Ashley , Lazar Jonathan
Published: December 2021

This chapter provides an introduction to the intersection of international development and digital accessibility, and provides an underpinning for the entire book. Most research on information and communications technology (ICT) accessibility and innovation for persons with disabilities has focused primarily on developed countries. Yet many of the most creative, innovative, and resource-conserving innovations are occurring in the Global South. In this chapter, the editors of the book introduce the core international efforts and legal documents related to accessible technology in the Global South, propose a number of reasons why researchers often miss the innovations and contributions occurring in the Global South, and offer an introduction to the chapters contained in the book.
Design Approaches for Creating Person-Centered, Context Sensitive, and Sustainable Assistive Technology with the Global South
Authors: Chavarria Mario Andrés , Schönenberger Klaus , Mugeere Anthony , Hurst Samia , Velarde Minerva Rivas
Published: December 2021

The implementation of non-user-centered design is sometimes effective for traditionally mass-produced items; however, these methods do not take into account local needs, resources, and cultures, and the history of individual people and communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This neglect leads to “specialized” solutions based on a non-representative portion of high-income users, rather than the larger population of potential users, and results in devices that are alienated from the target community. In consequence, the resulting products do not work properly, nor do they have the intended impact. As an example, even if they do work at first, the implementation and maintenance effort and costs are usually so high that they rapidly fall into disuse. This chapter highlights examples of innovative practices of assistive technology based on users’ priorities, which are culturally appropriate and sustainable. The chapter also reviews the shortfalls of well-intentioned “solutions” that fail when they are implemented in the intended population due to the lack of a proper understanding of local context.
Western Values in International Relations
Authors: Wight Martin
Published: December 2021

This essay presents the three main traditions of thinking about international relations in Western societies since the sixteenth century, with particular attention to the ‘middle ground’ between extremes. These extremes are typified by thinkers such as Machiavelli and Hobbes at one pole, and Kant and Wilson at the other. The via media is associated with the development of constitutional government and the rule of law, as represented by thinkers such as Grotius and Gladstone. The essay illustrates the differences among these three traditions by analysing their distinct positions concerning international society, the maintenance of order, intervention, and international morality. ‘Western values’ are most effectively supported by thinkers and leaders who neither deny the existence of international society nor exaggerate its foreseeable prospects for gaining greater cohesion and strength. The middle course—the mainstream of the ‘Western values’ tradition—respects moral standards and sees moral challenges as complex, instead of regarding them as simple or nonexistent.
Company Law
Authors: Micheler Eva
Published: December 2021

This book advances a real entity theory of company law. In this theory the company is a legal entity allowing an organization to act autonomously in law, and company law establishes procedures facilitating autonomous organizational decision-making. The theory builds on the insight that organizations or firms are a social phenomenon outside of the law and that they are autonomous actors in their own right. They are more than the sum of the contributions of their participants and they act independently of the views and interests of their participants. The real entity theory advanced in this book explains company law as it stands at a positive level. Companies are liable in tort and crime. The statute creates roles for shareholders, directors, a company secretary, and auditors and so facilitates a process leading to organizational action. The law also integrates the interests of creditors and stakeholders. The book states the law as of 1 August 2021.
The arts and their functions
Authors: Brown Steven
Published: December 2021

In asking the question ‘What is art?’, four major conceptions of a work of art can be considered: an object; an indicator of beauty; an indicator of craftsmanship or creativity; and a process of performance. This chapter contends that the two principal functions of the arts are re-creation and interpersonal coordination. Re-creation reflects the inherently narrative and symbolic function of the arts, as conveyed through storytelling, acting, narrative dance, and figurative forms of visual art. Interpersonal coordination—as seen in artforms such as dance and music—occurs in the three domains of time, physical space (dance), and tonal pitch space (music). A unified view of the arts reveals not only the cognitive similarities among artforms, but the widespread ability of artforms to combine with one another to form syntheses, as seen in songs with words and dances choreographed to music. A comparative analysis of the arts provides greater insight into each artform than is possible by looking at artforms in isolation.
Theatre and storytelling
Authors: Brown Steven
Published: December 2021

The narrative arts deal with the presentation of stories via a variety of narrative processes and presentation media. Fictionality is a unique feature of the arts, one that distinguishes the narrative arts from the storytelling of everyday conversation. The plots of stories are grounded in the experientiality of the story’s protagonist in a storyworld, most especially his/her problem-solving dynamics. Literature describes these behaviours in the third person using narration, whereas theatre re-creates these actions in an embodied manner by having actors portray the characters in performance. While role playing is a central part of the presentation of the self in everyday social interactions, actors portray characters who they themselves are not, a re-creative process of impersonation and pretence that comprises the most art-specific feature of the narrative arts.
Creativity
Authors: Brown Steven
Published: December 2021

The study of creativity is about how people generate novel ideas and products, as opposed to reproducing or mimicking things that already exist. In this chapter, the author characterizes the study of creativity as the three Ms of mechanism, modulator, and meme. The mechanisms of creativity include the modification of existing products and the blending of two or more products to create stylistic fusions. Modulators of creativity include both individual-level factors (e.g. personality) and social factors (e.g. political constraints). The notion of a ‘meme’ reflects the cultural evolutionary concept that creative products either flourish or die out as a result of the critical reception they receive. A central question for the psychology of creativity is whether creativity depends more on domain-specific or domain-general mechanisms, or some combination of the two.
Silicon and strontium abundances of very metal-poor stars determined from near-infrared spectra
Authors: Aoki Wako , Beers Timothy C , Honda Satoshi , Ishikawa Hiroyuki T , Matsuno Tadafumi , Placco Vinicius M , Yoon Jinmi , Harakawa Hiroki , Hirano Teruyuki , Hodapp Klaus , Ishizuka Masato , Jacobson Shane , Kotani Takayuki , Kudo Tomoyuki , Kurokawa Takashi , Kuzuhara Masayuki , Nishikawa Jun , Omiya Masashi , Serizawa Takuma , Tamura Motohide , Ueda Akitoshi , Vievard Sébastien
Published: December 2021

Silicon and strontium are key elements to explore the nucleosynthesis and chemical evolution of the Galaxy by measurements of very metal-poor stars. There are, however, only a few useful spectral lines of these elements in the optical range that are measurable for such low-metallicity stars. Here we report on abundances of these two elements determined from near-infrared high-resolution spectra obtained with the Subaru Telescope Infrared Doppler instrument. Si abundances are determined for as many as 26 Si lines for six very and extremely metal-poor stars (−4.0 < [Fe/H] < −1.5), which significantly improves the reliability of the abundance measurements. All six stars, including three carbon-enhanced objects, show over-abundances of Si ([Si/Fe] ∼ +0.5). Two stars with [Fe/H] ∼ −1.5 have relatively small over-abundances. The [Mg/Si] ratios agree with the solar value, except for one metal-poor star with carbon excess. Strontium abundances are determined from the triplet lines for four stars, including two for the first time. The consistency of the Sr abundances determined from near-infrared and optical spectra require further examination from additional observations.
Morphological and Molecular Analysis of Fungal Species Associated with Blast and Brown Spot Diseases of Oryza sativa
Authors: Terensan Suvanthini , Fernando H. Nishadi S. , Silva J. Nilanthi , Perera S. A. Chandrika N. , Kottearachchi Nisha S. , Weerasena O. V. D. S. Jagathpriya
Published: December 2021

Fungal diseases blast and brown spot in rice cause severe yield losses worldwide. Blast is caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, and Bipolaris oryzae is reported as the main causal organism of brown spot. Both diseases cause leaf lesions that are difficult differentiate until the later stages. Early detection and differentiation of the lesions would help the adoption of disease management strategies specific to the pathogens and prevent reductions in the quality and quantity of rice yields. This study was conducted in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka over five consecutive rice cultivating seasons to characterize the causal fungi of rice blast and brown spot diseases by morphological and molecular means and to develop a visual guide to differentiate the two diseases. Disease incidence was recorded in 114 fields from 2017 to 2019, and fungal isolates associated with the lesions of both diseases were cultured and subjected to morphological and molecular characterization. Competitive growth interactions between M. oryzae and the more common individual fungal isolates of the brown spot lesions were evaluated. Fungal metagenomic analysis was conducted for the fungal species isolated from brown spot lesions. A suppression of blast accompanied by an increased incidence of brown spot disease was observed during the study period. M. oryzae was confirmed to be the causal organism of the blast, and >20 species of fungi were identified to be associated with brown spot lesions through morphological and molecular studies and metagenomic analyses. Fungal internal transcribed spacer region sequencing revealed genetic variation in the highly conserved region of DNA sequences of blast and brown spot fungal isolates. B. oryzae, Curvularia, and Microdochium species were commonly isolated from brown spot lesions. In vitro competitive growth interactions between the fungal isolates revealed growth suppression of M. oryzae by the fungal isolates associated with brown spot lesions. Similarly, it can be speculated that the abundance and severity of blast in the field may have an influence on brown spot–associated fungi. A simple visual guide was developed to differentiate blast and brown spot lesions. The findings would be highly useful in the timely management of these major fungal diseases affecting rice.
Psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in the population of Argentina
Authors: Lucuix María Beatriz , Gómez-Salgado Juan , Barone Myriam E. , Domínguez-Salas Sara , Luque Leticia Elizabeth , Rodríguez-Domínguez Carmen , Ruiz-Frutos Carlos
Published: December 2021

In addition to the implications that this pandemic has had on physical health, there are other circumstances that threaten the mental health of the population, such as lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the virus, uncertainty, and the increase in infections and deaths. For this reason, this study explored indicators of psychological distress in the Argentine population, as well as its relationship with sociodemographic and health variables.

Cross-sectional observational study, with data collection from May to August 2020. A total of 1112 people over the age of 18 who responded to various measurement instruments through an online questionnaire participated. A bivariate analysis and logistic regression were carried out in order to determine predictive factors of psychological distress.

The data revealed that 60.9% of the sample presented psychological distress. A greater number with this condition was observed in women, apart from younger people, with a greater number of symptoms associated with the disease and with worse self-perceived health. There was no evidence of association between psychological distress and contact with people infected with coronavirus disease 2019 or with material suspicious of being infected.

This research provided an overview of the mental health status of a significant population sample in Argentina, months after the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. These findings complement those found in other national and international studies, allowing the accumulation of evidence that states the need to demand to draw attention to the mental health of the population, especially the most vulnerable groups, on behalf of the public authorities.
Results From a National Mixed-Methods Study Exploring Community Health Improvement Implementation: An Opportunity to Strengthen Public Health Systems Through Collective Action
Authors: Welter Christina R. , Jarpe-Ratner Elizabeth , Seweryn Steven , Bonney Tessa , Verma Pooja , Weller Pegna Sarah
Published: December 2021

Context:

There are multiple calls for public health agency role and workforce transformation to increase capacity to orchestrate cross-sectoral partnerships that set and implement strategies addressing the structural and social determinants of health. Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships (MAPP) may be one tool for collective action to improve population health and equity. However, little is known about the Action Cycle in MAPP and implementation of resulting community health improvement plans.

Objective:

To explore the characteristics of MAPP users who completed the MAPP Action Cycle and factors that facilitated or inhibited implementation activities during this phase.

Methods:

We used a sequential participatory mixed-methods design involving 2 phases of data collection. The first data collection phase included a Web-based survey using Qualtrics. The second data collection phase included qualitative key-informant interviews and focus groups. A national public health and health care advisory group informed the evaluation throughout the entire process to ground the process in practice and experience.

Results:

This study showed that some MAPP participants do not conduct implementation activities as defined by the MAPP Action Cycle and of those who do, implementation activity varies by participant experiences conducting MAPP and accreditation status. The MAPP users who completed 3 or more rounds of MAPP were more likely to align and integrate MAPP within their agencies as well as organize a collaborative implementation process with partners. More resources and skills in planning that facilitate long-range partnerships were noted as key to implementation.

Conclusions:

Opportunity remains to improve implementation in MAPP. National leaders should explore and build capacity and infrastructure within public health agencies and with their partners to create a system of readiness and an infrastructure that support implementation over time.
The effect of an ankle–foot orthosis on tibiofemoral motion during step-up and step-down in healthy adults
Authors: Hall Jamie B. , Guess Trent M.
Published: December 2021

Background:

Solid ankle–foot orthoses (SAFOs) are frequently prescribed in conditions such as cerebral palsy and stroke. Although gait is improved in the short term, long-term effects of limiting ankle and foot motion during functional activities on joints such as the knee have not been investigated. Our study purpose was to compare tibiofemoral (TF) motion in shoe and SAFO conditions in healthy adults to inform future studies in clinical populations.

Methods:

A custom-made device using electromagnetic sensors was used to collect three-dimensional TF rotation data while 29 healthy adult participants (female participants = 19, age = 24.4 ± 4.5 years) performed step-up/step-down in shoe and SAFO conditions.

Results:

In the SAFO condition during step-up, extent of motion was greater in frontal and transverse planes and less in the sagittal plane. Discrete values at 0%–10% of the cycle in sagittal, 50%–100% in frontal, and 40%–100% in transverse planes were statistically different, producing more abduction and external rotation. In the SAFO condition during step-down, extent of motion was significantly greater in the frontal and transverse planes. Discrete values were statistically different in 40%–60% of the cycle in sagittal, 0%–30% and 70%–90% in frontal, and 0%–30% and 70%–90% in transverse planes, producing more abduction and external rotation in the first half of the cycle and more adduction and internal rotation in the second half of the cycle.

Conclusions:

An SAFO affects triplanar TF kinematics in healthy adults during step-up/step-down. Future investigations into ankle–foot orthosis prescription and TF motion in clinical populations will facilitate optimal ankle–foot orthosis prescription and knee function in the long term.
VicRK and CovR polymorphisms in Streptococcus mutans strains associated with cardiovascular infections
Authors: Oliveira Letícia T. , Alves Lívia A. , Harth-Chu Erika N. , Nomura Ryota , Nakano Kazuhiko , Mattos-Graner Renata O.
Published: December 2021

Introduction.

Streptococcus mutans

, a common species of the oral microbiome, expresses virulence genes promoting cariogenic dental biofilms, persistence in the bloodstream and cardiovascular infections.

Gap statement. Virulence gene expression is variable among

S. mutans

strains and controlled by the transcription regulatory systems VicRK and CovR.

Aim. This study investigates polymorphisms in the vicRK and covR loci in

S. mutans

strains isolated from the oral cavity or from the bloodstream, which were shown to differ in expression of covR, vicRK and downstream genes.

Methodology. The transcriptional activities of covR, vicR and vicK were compared by RT-qPCR between blood and oral strains after exposure to human serum. PCR-amplified promoter and/or coding regions of covR and vicRK of 18 strains (11 oral and 7 blood) were sequenced and compared to the reference strain UA159.

Results. Serum exposure significantly reduced covR and vicR/K transcript levels in most strains (P<0.05), but reductions were higher in oral than in blood strains. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in covR regulatory and coding regions, but SNPs affecting the CovR effector domain were only present in two blood strains. Although vicR was highly conserved, vicK showed several SNPs, and SNPs affecting VicK regions important for autokinase activity were found in three blood strains.

Conclusions. This study reveals transcriptional and structural diversity in covR and vicR/K, and identifies polymorphisms of functional relevance in blood strains, indicating that covR and vicRK might be important loci for

S. mutans

adaptation to host selective pressures associated with virulence diversity.
Virus-like particles (VLPs) are efficient tools for boosting mRNA-induced antibodies
Authors: Vogt Anne-Cathrine S. , Jörg Lukas , Martina Byron , Krenger Pascal S. , Chang Xinyue , Zeltins Andris , Vogel Monique , Mohsen Mona O. , Bachmann Martin F.
Published: December 2021

mRNA based vaccines against COVID-19 have proven most successful at keeping the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic at bay in many countries. Recently, there is an increased interest in heterologous prime-boost vaccination strategies for COVID-19 to maintain antibody response for the control of continuously emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VoCs) and to overcome other obstacles such as supply shortage, costs and reduced safety issues or inadequate induced immune-response. In this study, we investigate the antibody responses induced by heterologous prime-boost with vaccines based on mRNA and virus-like particles (VLPs). The VLP-based mCuMVTT-RBM vaccine candidate and the approved mRNA-1273 vaccine were used for this purpose. We find that homologous prime boost regimens with either mRNA or VLP induced high levels of high avidity antibodies. Optimal antibody responses were, however, induced by heterologous regimens both for priming with mRNA and boosting with VLP and vice versa, priming with VLP and boosting with mRNA. Thus, heterologous prime boost strategies may be able to optimize efficacy and economics of novel vaccine strategies.
Neutralization against Omicron SARS-CoV-2 from previous non-Omicron infection
Authors: Zou Jing , Xia Hongjie , Xie Xuping , Kurhade Chaitanya , Machado Rafael R. G. , Weaver Scott C. , Ren Ping , Shi Pei-Yong
Published: December 2021

The explosive spread of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant underscores the importance of analyzing the cross-protection from previous non-Omicron infection. We developed a high-throughput neutralization assay for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 by engineering the Omicron spike gene into an mNeonGreen USA-WA1/2020 SARS-CoV-2 (isolated in January 2020). Using this assay, we determined the neutralization titers of patient sera collected at 1- or 6-months after infection with non-Omicron SARS-CoV-2. From 1- to 6-month post-infection, the neutralization titers against USA-WA1/2020 decreased from 601 to 142 (a 4.2-fold reduction), while the neutralization titers against Omicron-spike SARS-CoV-2 remained low at 38 and 32, respectively. Thus, at 1- and 6-months after non-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infection, the neutralization titers against Omicron were 15.8- and 4.4-fold lower than those against USA-WA1/2020, respectively. The low cross-neutralization against Omicron from previous non-Omicron infection supports vaccination of formerly infected individuals to mitigate the health impact of the ongoing Omicron surge.
The Geometry of ATG-Walks of the Omicron SARS CoV-2 Virus RNAs
Authors: Kouzaev Guennadi A.
Published: December 2021

In this message, the complete RNA sequences (GISAID) of Omicron (BA.1 and BA.2) SARS CoV-2 viruses are studied using the genomic ATG-walks. These walks are compared visually and numerically with a reference RNA (Wuhan, China, 2020), and the deviation levels are estimated. Statistical characteristics of these distributions are compared, including the fractal dimension values of coding-word length distributions. Most of the 17 RNA ATG walks studied here show relatively small deviations of their characteristics and resistance to forming a new virus family.
Protein Complex Structure Prediction Powered by Multiple Sequence Alignments of Interologs from Multiple Taxonomic Ranks and AlphaFold2
Authors: Si Yunda , Yan Chengfei
Published: December 2021

AlphaFold2 is expected to be able to predict protein complex structures as long as a multiple sequence alignment (MSA) of the interologs of the target protein-protein interaction (PPI) can be provided. In this study, a simplified phylogeny-based approach was applied to generate the MSA of interologs, which was then used as the input to AlphaFold2 for protein complex structure prediction. Extensively benchmarked this protocol on non-redundant PPI dataset including 107 bacterial PPIs and 442 eukaryotic PPIs, we show complex structures of 79.5% of the bacterial PPIs and 49.8% of the eukaryotic PPIs can be successfully predicted, which yielded significantly better performance than the application of MSA of interologs prepared by two existing approaches. Considering PPIs may not be conserved in species with long evolutionary distances, we further restricted interologs in the MSA to different taxonomic ranks of the species of the target PPI in protein complex structure prediction. We found the success rates can be increased to 87.9% for the bacterial PPIs and 56.3% for the eukaryotic PPIs if interologs in the MSA are restricted to a specific taxonomic rank of the species of each target PPI. Finally, we show the optimal taxonomic ranks for protein complex structure prediction can be selected with the application of the predicted TM-scores of the output models.
From climate warming to accelerated cellular ageing: an experimental study in wild birds
Authors: Stier Antoine , Hsu Bin-Yan , Cossin-Sevrin Nina , Garcin Natacha , Ruuskanen Suvi
Published: December 2021

Climate change is increasing both the average ambient temperature and the frequency and severity of heat waves. While direct mortality induced by heat waves is increasingly reported, sub-lethal effects are also likely to impact wild populations. We hypothesized that accelerated ageing could be a cost of being exposed to higher ambient temperature, especially in early-life when thermoregulatory capacities are not fully developed. We tested this hypothesis in wild great tit (Parus major) by experimentally increasing nest box temperature by ca. 2°C during postnatal growth and measuring telomere length, a biomarker of cellular ageing predictive of survival prospects in many bird species. While increasing early-life temperature does not affect growth or survival to fledging, it accelerates telomere shortening and reduces medium-term survival from 34% to 19%. Heat-induced telomere shortening was not explained by oxidative stress, but more likely by an increase in energy demand (i.e. higher thyroid hormones levels, increased expression of glucocorticoid receptor, increased mitochondrial density) leading to a reduction in telomere maintenance mechanisms (i.e. decrease in the gene expression of telomerase and protective shelterin). Our results thus suggest that climate warming can affect ageing rate in wild birds, with potential impact on population dynamics and persistence.

Significance statement

Stressful environmental conditions are known to accelerate cellular ageing, especially when experienced early in life. One unexplored avenue through which climate warming might affect wild animal populations is accelerated ageing. Here we show that increasing nest temperature by ca. 2°C during postnatal growth in a wild bird species can impact numerous physiological pathways and medium-term survival. Notably, artificially warming nests accelerates the shortening of telomeres, which are the protective end-caps of chromosomes considered as a hallmark of ageing. We thus suggest that warm ambient temperatures might accelerate ageing in wild animals, which can potentially impact population dynamics and extinction risk in the face of climate change.
DNA fluctuations reveal the size and dynamics of topological domains
Authors: Vanderlinden Willem , Skoruppa Enrico , Kolbeck Pauline J. , Carlon Enrico , Lipfert Jan
Published: December 2021

DNA supercoiling is a key regulatory mechanism that orchestrates DNA readout, recombination, and genome maintenance. DNA-binding proteins often mediate these processes by bringing two distant DNA sites together, thereby inducing (transient) topological domains. In order to understand the dynamics and molecular architecture of protein induced topological domains in DNA, quantitative and time-resolved approaches are required. Here we present a methodology to determine the size and dynamics of topological domains in supercoiled DNA in real-time and at the single molecule level. Our approach is based on quantifying the extension fluctuations – in addition to the mean extension – of supercoiled DNA in magnetic tweezers. Using a combination of high-speed magnetic tweezers experiments, Monte Carlo simulations, and analytical theory, we map out the dependence of DNA extension fluctuations as a function of supercoiling density and external force. We find that in the plectonemic regime the extension variance increases linearly with increasing supercoiling density and show how this enables us to determine the formation and size of topological domains. In addition, we demonstrate how transient (partial) dissociation of DNA bridging proteins results in dynamic sampling of different topological states, which allows us to deduce the torsional stiffness of the plectonemic state and the kinetics of protein-plectoneme interactions. We expect our approach to enable quantification of the dynamics and reaction pathways of DNA processing enzymes and motor proteins, in the context of physiologically relevant forces and supercoiling densities.

Significance

In the cell, long DNA molecules carry the genetic information and must be stored and maintained, yet remain accessible for read out and processing. DNA supercoiling facilitates compaction of DNA, modulates its accessibility, and spatially juxtaposes DNA sites distant in linear DNA sequence. By binding to two sites in supercoiled DNA, DNA bridging proteins can pinch off topological domains and alter DNA plectoneme dynamics. Here we show how DNA bridging and topological domain dynamics can be detected from changes in the extension fluctuations of supercoiled DNA molecules tethered in magnetic tweezers. Our work highlights how considering DNA extension fluctuations, in addition to the mean extension, provides additional information and enables the investigation of protein-DNA interactions that are otherwise invisible.