bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An open-access database of infectious disease transmission trees to explore superspreader epidemiology
Authors: Taube Juliana C. , Miller Paige B. , Drake John M.
Published: June 2022

Historically, emerging and reemerging infectious diseases have caused large, deadly, and expensive multinational outbreaks. Often outbreak investigations aim to identify who infected whom by reconstructing the outbreak transmission tree, which visualizes transmission between individuals as a network with nodes representing individuals and branches representing transmission from person to person. We compiled a database, called OutbreakTrees, of 382 published, standardized transmission trees consisting of 16 directly transmitted diseases ranging in size from 2 to 286 cases. For each tree and disease, we calculated several key statistics, such as tree size, average number of secondary infections, the dispersion parameter, and the proportion of cases considered superspreaders, and examined how these statistics varied over the course of each outbreak and under different assumptions about the completeness of outbreak investigations. We demonstrated the potential utility of the database through 2 short analyses addressing questions about superspreader epidemiology for a variety of diseases, including Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). First, we found that our transmission trees were consistent with theory predicting that intermediate dispersion parameters give rise to the highest proportion of cases causing superspreading events. Additionally, we investigated patterns in how superspreaders are infected. Across trees with more than 1 superspreader, we found preliminary support for the theory that superspreaders generate other superspreaders. In sum, our findings put the role of superspreading in COVID-19 transmission in perspective with that of other diseases and suggest an approach to further research regarding the generation of superspreaders. These data have been made openly available to encourage reuse and further scientific inquiry.
A method for the inference of cytokine interaction networks
Authors: Jansen Joanneke E. , Aschenbrenner Dominik , Uhlig Holm H. , Coles Mark C. , Gaffney Eamonn A.
Published: June 2022

Cell-cell communication is mediated by many soluble mediators, including over 40 cytokines. Cytokines, e.g. TNF, IL1β, IL5, IL6, IL12 and IL23, represent important therapeutic targets in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis, asthma, rheumatoid and juvenile arthritis. The identification of cytokines that are causative drivers of, and not just associated with, inflammation is fundamental for selecting therapeutic targets that should be studied in clinical trials. Asin vitromodels of cytokine interactions provide a simplified framework to study complexin vivointeractions, and can easily be perturbed experimentally, they are key for identifying such targets. We present a method to extract a minimal, weighted cytokine interaction network, givenin vitrodata on the effects of the blockage of single cytokine receptors on the secretion rate of other cytokines. Existing biological network inference methods typically consider the correlation structure of the underlying dataset, but this can make them poorly suited for highly connected, non-linear cytokine interaction data. Our method uses ordinary differential equation systems to represent cytokine interactions, and efficiently computes the configuration with the lowest Akaike information criterion value for all possible network configurations. It enables us to study indirect cytokine interactions and quantify inhibition effects. The extracted network can also be used to predict the combined effects of inhibiting various cytokines simultaneously. The model equations can easily be adjusted to incorporate more complicated dynamics and accommodate temporal data. We validate our method using synthetic datasets and apply our method to an experimental dataset on the regulation of IL23, a cytokine with therapeutic relevance in psoriasis and IBD. We validate several model predictions against experimental data that were not used for model fitting. In summary, we present a novel method specifically designed to efficiently infer cytokine interaction networks from cytokine perturbation data in the context of IMIDs.
Topological Sholl descriptors for neuronal clustering and classification
Authors: Khalil Reem , Kallel Sadok , Farhat Ahmad , Dlotko Pawel
Published: June 2022

Neuronal morphology is a fundamental factor influencing information processing within neurons and networks. Dendritic morphology in particular can widely vary among cell classes, brain regions, and animal species. Thus, accurate quantitative descriptions allowing classification of large sets of neurons is essential for their structural and functional characterization. Current robust and unbiased computational methods that characterize groups of neurons are scarce. In this work, we introduce a novel technique to study dendritic morphology, complementing and advancing many of the existing techniques. Our approach is to conceptualize the notion of a Sholl descriptor and associate, for each morphological feature, and to each neuron, a function of the radial distance from the soma, taking values in a metric space. Functional distances give rise to pseudo-metrics on sets of neurons which are then used to perform the two distinct tasks of clustering and classification. To illustrate the use of Sholl descriptors, four datasets were retrieved from the large public repository https://neuromorpho.org/ comprising neuronal reconstructions from different species and brain regions. Sholl descriptors were subsequently computed, and standard clustering methods enhanced with detection and metric learning algorithms were then used to objectively cluster and classify each dataset. Importantly, our descriptors outperformed conventional morphometric techniques (L-Measure metrics) in several of the tested datasets. Therefore, we offer a novel and effective approach to the analysis of diverse neuronal cell types, and provide a toolkit for researchers to cluster and classify neurons.
Electoral appeal of climate policies: The Green New Deal and the 2020 U.S. House of Representatives elections
Authors: Carmack Meagan , Dolšak Nives , Prakash Aseem
Published: June 2022

Climate issues widely feature in policy discussions, but it is not clear if voters reward politicians who champion climate policies. In some countries, candidates and parties with an explicit climate agenda have done well in elections (Switzerland and Germany being recent examples) while in other cases, voters have either ignored climate issues or punished candidates/parties for their climate positions (Australia, the U.K., and Canada). Focusing on the U.S. as a case study, we examine the electoral appeal of the Green New Deal (GND) legislative proposal which outlined a vision for a sustainable and equitable economy. Different versions of the GND policy idea have been adopted across the world. The GND was introduced in the US Congress in 2019 and was endorsed by 102 of the 232 House Democrats, but not by a single Republican. Our analysis finds an association between Democrats’ endorsement of the GND and a 2.01 percentage point increase in their vote share, even after controlling for the 2018 vote share. Unlike most western democracies, the U.S. is a laggard on climate issues. Yet, we find that U.S. voters reward legislators who advocate an ambitious climate policy agenda.
Influence of product selection criteria on clothing purchase and post-purchase behaviours: A gender and generational comparison
Authors: Barrera-Verdugo Gustavo , Villarroel-Villarroel Antonio
Published: June 2022

Purchasing and consumption behaviour is a factor with an important impact on sustainable development. In this regard, the clothing category plays a key role due to the high volume of products that are manufactured in countries with poor environmental and social conditions. While some research has investigated personal, social and cultural conditions that influence these behaviours, little is currently known about the influence of the attributes of sustainable clothing selection on the frequency of sustainable purchase and post-purchase actions in this category. This research seeks to evaluate this effect by comparing the results among genders and age/generation and measuring sustainable consumption using the Young Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Behaviour method, which has two dimensions: purchase choices and sufficient and frugal consumption. Responses to online surveys of 240 university students in Chile are analysed using descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test and ologit regressions. The findings show significant differences between the groups analysed with respect to the influence of attributes for sustainable clothing selection and highlight the negative effect of the search for quality in men and in older people. The evidence highlights the need to inform the population about the characteristics of sustainable clothing that positively affect purchase and post-purchase actions such as buying secondhand clothing, repairing, exchanging and donating clothing. This study also suggests that it is important to strengthen the relationship between sustainability and clothing quality among older generations and men.
Social support and C-reactive protein in a Québec population cohort of children and adolescents
Authors: Fairbank Eloïse J. , McGrath Jennifer J. , Henderson Mélanie , O’Loughlin Jennifer , Paradis Gilles
Published: June 2022

Objective

Robust evidence exists for the health-enhancing benefits of social support in adults. Inflammatory processes are thought to be an important mechanism linking social support and health risk. Less is known about the relation between social support and chronic inflammation during childhood and adolescence, or when the association emerges during the lifespan.

Method

Data from the population-representative 1999 Quebec Child and Adolescent Health and Social (QCAHS) survey were analyzed. Youth aged 9, 13, and 16 years (N= 3613) and their parents answered questions about social support. A subsample (n= 2186) completed a fasting blood draw that was assayed for C-reactive protein (CRP).

Findings

Higher social support was significantly associated with lower hs-CRPlog, after controlling for age, sex, body mass index (BMI Z-score), medication use, puberty, ethnoracial status (French-Canadian), smoking, household income, and parental education (F= 25.88,p= < .001, TotalR2adj= 10.2%). The association was largely similar for boys and girls, and strengthened with age.

Conclusion

Greater social support was linked to lower chronic low-grade inflammation in a large sample of children and adolescents. Effect sizes were small and consistent with prior findings in the adult literature. Importantly, these findings provide evidence that the relation between social support and inflammation emerges early in the lifespan. Future work should consider broader, more encompassing conceptualizations of social support, the role of social media, and prospective trajectories of social support and inflammatory markers.
The relative role of executive control and personality traits in grit
Authors: Aguerre Nuria V. , Gómez-Ariza Carlos J. , Bajo M. Teresa
Published: June 2022

Although grit is predictive of wellbeing, educational achievement, and success in life, it has been conceptualized as largely distinct from cognitive ability. The present study investigated the link between grit and executive functions since regulation abilities might underlie the expression of grit. A hundred thirty-four people were administered personality questionnaires (grit, impulsiveness, and mindfulness) and four experimental tasks tapping into Miyake’s and Braver’s models of executive functioning (including measures of flexibility, inhibition, working memory, and control mode dimensions). Multivariate analyses showed that two composite scores (trait and executive functioning) were reliably predictive of grit, although it was the trait composite (characterized by low impulsivity and high mindfulness) that explained more variance. Importantly, gritty participants did not demonstrate enhanced executive functioning. Instead, they exhibited a different pattern of performance that might be reflecting a cautious profile of control, characterized by paying attention to all available information, less reliance on previous contextual cues but sensitive to conflicting information of the current context. These findings converge with Duckworth’s idea that high grit people do not necessarily have a greater cognitive capacity. Rather, they use it in a different way.
Analysing the impact of modifiable risk factors on cardiovascular disease mortality in Brazil
Authors: Gaspar Renato Simões , Rezende Leandro F. M. , Laurindo Francisco Rafael Martins
Published: June 2022

Objectives

We have examined the impact of changes in modifiable risk factors on CVD mortality in 26 Brazilian states from 2005 to 2017.

Methods

Data were acquired from the Global Burden of Diseases study (GBD) and official sources of the Brazilian government, totalling 312 state-year observations. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated to determine the number of deaths attributed to changes in each risk factor. Fixed-effects multivariable linear regression models were performed, adjusting for income, income inequality, poverty and access to healthcare.

Results

Between 2005 and 2017, CVD deaths reduced by 21.42%, accompanied by a decrease in smoking (-33%) and increases in hyperglycaemia (+9.5%), obesity (+31%) and dyslipidaemia (+5.2%). Reduction in smoking prevented or postponed almost 20,000 CVD deaths in this period, while increased hyperglycaemia exposure resulted in more than 6,000 CVD deaths. The association between hyperglycaemia and CVD mortality was 5 to 10 times higher than those found for other risk factors, especially in women (11; 95%CI 7 to 14, deaths per 1-point increase in hyperglycaemia exposure). Importantly, the association between hyperglycaemia and CVD mortality was independent of socioeconomic status and access to healthcare, while associations for other risk factors after the same adjustments.

Conclusion

Reduction in smoking was the risk factor that led to the highest number of CVD deaths prevented or postponed, while hyperglycaemia showed the most deleterious association with CVD mortality. Health policies should aim to directly reduce the prevalence of hyperglycaemia to mitigate the population burden of CVD in Brazil in the future.
Geochemical fingerprinting of Pleistocene stone tools from the Tràng An Landscape Complex, Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam
Authors: Utting Benjamin
Published: June 2022

Raw material analyses of prehistoric stone tool assemblages can reveal insight into mobility and exchange patterns in hunter-gatherer populations by reconstructing the circulation of stone throughout ancient landscapes. In Pleistocene Southeast Asia, stone tools are generally thought to have been fashioned from easily accessible local raw materials. However, despite the consistent presence of stone tools made of igneous raw material at prehistoric sites throughout the Tràng An Landscape Complex in northern Vietnam, there are no sources of igneous raw material in the immediate vicinity. This paper presents the results of geochemical sourcing analysis of late Pleistocene igneous stone tools from Tràng An: the first analysis of its type in mainland Southeast Asia. The results shed light on mobility and raw material provisioning strategies in Pleistocene mainland Southeast Asian hunter-gatherer populations and raise questions surrounding the relationship between technological organization, raw material, and expediency in Southeast Asian stone tool assemblages.
Sex differences in the effect of muscle fatigue on static postural control under different vision and task conditions
Authors: Jo Donguk , Pannetier Maya , Drouin Sophie , Bassil Sarah , Matte Caroline , Bilodeau Martin
Published: June 2022

The main aim of this study was to compare the effects of ankle plantar flexors fatigue on postural control between healthy young adult males and females. The secondary aim was to determine the effects of vision on the fatigue-induced postural changes. Ten healthy young males and nine females were asked to perform quiet standing (QS) and standing forward lean (FL) tasks with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC) before and immediately following exercise, and throughout a 15-min recovery period. A sustained isometric exercise of ankle plantar flexors was performed until participants were no longer able to maintain a target torque of 50% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Mean anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) positions of the center of pressure (COP), mean COP sway velocity, and 95% ellipse area of COP sway were measured. Ankle plantar flexors fatigue had significant effects on all dependent variables, except for sway area. A fatigue X sex interaction was found for sway velocity with the most challenging task condition (FL-EC), where males showed a significant increase in sway velocity up to 15 min following exercise, whereas females did not. Fatigue X vision interactions for AP position were also found, with the withdrawal of vision leading to a greater backward shift during recovery for both the QS (5 to 15 min) and FL (5 to 10 min) tasks. Our findings suggest the use of different postural control strategies with ankle fatigue between males and females, and also a contribution of vision to compensate for fatigue-induced instability that is not dependent on task difficulty.
Modified W-type configuration for a single-phase reduced parts count 81-level inverter
Authors: Ahmed Sajjad , Saqib Muhammad Asghar , Kashif Syed Abdul Rahman
Published: June 2022

The technology of modern power systems is revolutionizing as renewable energy sources are being integrated with electric power grids. In the form of inverters, power electronic converters are becoming an integral part of power systems due to their massive demand for grid integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Existing multilevel inverter topologies either require an output filter to get a sinusoidal voltage or generate a higher number of output voltage levels at the expense of many hardware resources. This paper presents a new single-phase 81-level inverter configuration with the name given as ‘Modified W-Type Multilevel Inverter’. The proposed inverter configuration uses only eighteen power switches and four DC voltage sources to generate an 81-level output voltage approaching a sinusoidal waveform without an output filter. The general design equations are developed to calculate the number of switches, the number of voltage levels, and the number of DC sources for the proposed configuration. Loss and efficiency analysis is carried out that verifies a good practical efficiency of the proposed inverter configuration during the dynamic operation. A comparative analysis with the existing MLI topologies is also carried out that validates the effectiveness and novelty in reducing parts count and higher number of voltage levels. The proposed topology offers 1.04% total harmonic distortion of the output voltage which is within the benchmarks specified for grid integration without any filter requirements. The proposed inverter configuration is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink, and the results are validated by the design and development of a hardware prototype.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived publication pressure among academic researchers in Canada
Authors: Suart Celeste , Neuman Kaitlyn , Truant Ray
Published: June 2022

The phenomenon of “publish-or-perish” in academia, spurred on by limited funding and academic positions, has led to increased competition and pressure on academics to publish. Publication pressure has been linked with multiple negative outcomes, including increased academic misconduct and researcher burnout. COVID-19 has disrupted research worldwide, leading to lost research time and increased anxiety amongst researchers. The objective of this study was to examine how COVID-19 has impacted perceived publication pressure amongst academic researchers in Canada. We used the revised Publication Pressure Questionnaire, in addition to Likert-type questions to discern respondents’ beliefs and concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on academic publishing. We found that publication pressure increased across academic researchers in Canada following the pandemic, with respondents reporting increased stress, increased pessimism, and decreased access to support related to publishing. Doctoral students reported the highest levels of stress and pessimism, while principal investigators had the most access to publication support. There were no significant differences in publication pressure reported between different research disciplines. Women and non-binary or genderfluid respondents reported higher stress and pessimism than men. We also identified differences in perceived publication pressure based on respondents’ publication frequency and other demographic factors, including disability and citizenship status. Overall, we document a snapshot of perceived publication pressure in Canada across researchers of different academic career stages and disciplines. This information can be used to guide the creation of researcher supports, as well as identify groups of researchers who may benefit from targeted resources.
Under the influence of nature: The contribution of natural capital to tourism spend
Authors: Fitch Alice , Kuyer Jake , Kharadi Natalya , Gower Jacob , Roberts Caroline , Dewey Nicola , Hull Stephen , Jones Laurence
Published: June 2022

Tourism and outdoor leisure is an important economic sector for many countries, and has a substantial reliance on natural capital. Natural capital may be the primary purpose for tourism, or it may be a secondary factor, where the choice of location for a leisure activity is influenced by natural capital. Typically, when valuing tourism and outdoor leisure, all expenditure associated with the activity is assigned to the ecosystem it occurs in. However, this value illustrates the dependency on natural capital, rather than the contribution of natural capital. In natural capital accounting, a major challenge is to separately identify the contribution of natural capital from that of other forms of capital. In this study we develop a transparent and repeatable method that is able to attribute the contribution of natural capital (here defined as ecosystems) to the output of multiple tourism and outdoor leisure activities. Using national statistics from Great Britain, we calculate the natural capital contribution to tourism spend by activity at a national and regional scale, and for a case study map and value the contributing ecosystems. We estimated that, out of a total £36 billion spent on tourism and leisure activities in 2017, £22.5 billion was attributable to natural capital. This equates to 0.9% of the UK GDP. The Gross Value Added component of this attributable was £10.5 billion, equivalent to 0.4% of the UK GDP. Regions with the highest natural capital contribution in Great Britain were Scotland and Wales, with the lowest being Greater London and the West Midlands in England. For the case study, the ecosystems with the greatest contribution to terrestrial activities were marine and enclosed farmland. These methods can be applied worldwide for anywhere with aggregate economic statistics on expenditure associated with tourism and outdoor leisure, with the aid of open source GIS datasets.
Prevalence and associated risk factors for mental health problems among patients with polycystic ovary syndrome in Bangladesh: A nationwide cross—Sectional study
Authors: Hasan Moynul , Sultana Sumaya , Sohan Md. , Parvin Shahnaj , Rahman Md. Ashrafur , Hossain Md. Jamal , Rahman Mohammad Saydur , Islam Md. Rabiul
Published: June 2022

Background

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common female reproductive endocrine problem worldwide. The prevalence of mental disorder is increasing among PCOS patients due to various physical, psychological, and social issues. Here we aimed to evaluate the mental health and associated factors among women suffering from PCOS in Bangladesh.

Methods

We performed an online cross-sectional survey among 409 participants with PCOS using Google Forms. We used structured questionnaires to collect socio-demographic information and lifestyle-related factors. Also, we applied patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7) scale, and UCLA loneliness (UCLA-3) scale for psychometric assessment of the participants. Finally, we applied several statistical tools and performed data interpretations to evaluate the prevalence of mental health disorders and associated factors among patients with PCOS in Bangladesh.

Results

Prevalence of loneliness, generalized anxiety disorder and depressive illness among the women with PCOS were 71%, 88%, and 60%, respectively. Among the mental illness, mild, moderate, and severe cases were 39%, 18%, and 14% for loneliness; 39%, 23% and 26% for generalized anxiety disorder; and 35%, 18%, and 7% for depressive disorder. According to the present findings, obesity, financial condition, physical exercise, mealtime, food habit, daily water consumption, birth control method, and long-term oral contraceptive pills contribute to developing mental health disorders among females with PCOS in Bangladesh.

Conclusion

According to present study results, high proportion of women suffering from PCOS experience several mental disorders in Bangladesh. Although several socio-demographic and lifestyle-related factors were found to be associated with the poor mental health of women with PCOS; however, PCOS itself is a condition that favors poor physical and psychological health. Therefore, we recommend proper treatment, public awareness, and a healthy lifestyle to promote the good mental health of women suffering from PCOS.
Provider perspectives on the use of motivational interviewing and problem-solving counseling paired with the point-of-care nucleic acid test for HIV care
Authors: Atkins Dana L. , Violette Lauren , Neimann Lisa , Tanner Mary , Hoover Karen , Rao Deepa , Stekler Joanne D.
Published: June 2022

Aims

To evaluate provider perspectives on the use of a point-of-care nucleic acid test (POC NAT) and preferential opinions for motivational interviewing (MI) or problem-solving counseling (PSC) as an ultra-brief intervention for patients experiencing challenges to antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted among providers at an HIV care clinic in Seattle, Washington. Ten in-depth interviews with HIV care providers were completed, which explored determinants of acceptability, feasibility and preferences for a combined adherence counseling and POC NAT intervention for patients living with HIV. Interviews were analyzed through consensus coding and the Five A’s Framework to inform thematic analysis.

Results

Providers favored the use of a combined adherence counseling technique and POC NAT for their non-adherent patients living with HIV. Providers believed the intervention was an improvement on current assessment and advising practices. However, concerns about extended wait times for the POC NAT results influenced perceptions about feasibility around clinic flow and incorporation into clinic practice. Providers believed that acceptability of POC NAT implementation would be enhanced by including a subset of patient populations whom tend to be in the clinic for longer periods, and in tandem face greater ART adherence challenges.

Conclusion

The GAIN Study will be the first project to evaluate the implementation of POC NAT in the U.S. Continued formative work is ongoing and may illustrate how best to address feasibility and concern around the two-hour time to result. The planned GAIN study will incorporate some of the findings found in this qualitative study and pilot this intervention, including a time-in-motion analyses of clinic flow, which may help reduce perceived wide-scale adaptation of POC NAT and ART adherence counselling among PLHW. Future work, including a shorter time to results and/or lower limit detection could make a significant improvement in the provision of HIV care.
Cbp1, a fungal virulence factor under positive selection, forms an effector complex that drives macrophage lysis
Authors: Azimova Dinara , Herrera Nadia , Duvenage Lucian , Voorhies Mark , Rodriguez Rosa A. , English Bevin C. , Hoving Jennifer C. , Rosenberg Oren , Sil Anita
Published: June 2022

Intracellular pathogens secrete effectors to manipulate their host cells.Histoplasma capsulatum(Hc) is a fungal intracellular pathogen of humans that grows in a yeast form in the host.Hcyeasts are phagocytosed by macrophages, where fungal intracellular replication precedes macrophage lysis. The most abundant virulence factor secreted byHcyeast cells is Calcium Binding Protein 1 (Cbp1), which is absolutely required for macrophage lysis. Here we take an evolutionary, structural, and cell biological approach to understand Cbp1 function. We find that Cbp1 is present only in the genomes of closely related dimorphic fungal species of the Ajellomycetaceae family that lead primarily intracellular lifestyles in their mammalian hosts (Histoplasma,Paracoccidioides, andEmergomyces), but not conserved in the extracellular fungal pathogenBlastomyces dermatitidis. We observe a high rate of fixation of non-synonymous substitutions in the Cbp1 coding sequences, indicating that Cbp1 is under positive selection. We determine thede novostructures ofHc H88 Cbp1 and theParacoccidioides americana(Pb03) Cbp1, revealing a novel “binocular” fold consisting of a helical dimer arrangement wherein two helices from each monomer contribute to a four-helix bundle. In contrast to Pb03 Cbp1, we show thatEmergomycesCbp1 orthologs are unable to stimulate macrophage lysis when expressed in theHc cbp1mutant. Consistent with this result, we find that wild-typeEmergomyces africanusyeast are able to grow within primary macrophages but are incapable of lysing them. Finally, we use subcellular fractionation of infected macrophages and indirect immunofluorescence to show that Cbp1 localizes to the macrophage cytosol duringHcinfection, making this the first instance of a phagosomal human fungal pathogen directing an effector into the cytosol of the host cell. We additionally show that Cbp1 forms a complex with Yps-3, another knownHcvirulence factor that accesses the cytosol. Taken together, these data imply that Cbp1 is a fungal virulence factor under positive selection that localizes to the cytosol to trigger host cell lysis.
The AMA1-RON complex drives Plasmodium sporozoite invasion in the mosquito and mammalian hosts
Authors: Fernandes Priyanka , Loubens Manon , Le Borgne Rémi , Marinach Carine , Ardin Béatrice , Briquet Sylvie , Vincensini Laetitia , Hamada Soumia , Hoareau-Coudert Bénédicte , Verbavatz Jean-Marc , Weiner Allon , Silvie Olivier
Published: June 2022

Plasmodium sporozoites that are transmitted by blood-feeding female Anopheles mosquitoes invade hepatocytes for an initial round of intracellular replication, leading to the release of merozoites that invade and multiply within red blood cells. Sporozoites and merozoites share a number of proteins that are expressed by both stages, including the Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA1) and the Rhoptry Neck Proteins (RONs). Although AMA1 and RONs are essential for merozoite invasion of erythrocytes during asexual blood stage replication of the parasite, their function in sporozoites was still unclear. Here we show that AMA1 interacts with RONs in mature sporozoites. By using DiCre-mediated conditional gene deletion in P. berghei, we demonstrate that loss of AMA1, RON2 or RON4 in sporozoites impairs colonization of the mosquito salivary glands and invasion of mammalian hepatocytes, without affecting transcellular parasite migration. Three-dimensional electron microscopy data showed that sporozoites enter salivary gland cells through a ring-like structure and by forming a transient vacuole. The absence of a functional AMA1-RON complex led to an altered morphology of the entry junction, associated with epithelial cell damage. Our data establish that AMA1 and RONs facilitate host cell invasion across Plasmodium invasive stages, and suggest that sporozoites use the AMA1-RON complex to efficiently and safely enter the mosquito salivary glands to ensure successful parasite transmission. These results open up the possibility of targeting the AMA1-RON complex for transmission-blocking antimalarial strategies.
A single amino acid residue in bank vole prion protein drives permissiveness to Nor98/atypical scrapie and the emergence of multiple strain variants
Authors: Pirisinu Laura , Di Bari Michele Angelo , D’Agostino Claudia , Vanni Ilaria , Riccardi Geraldina , Marcon Stefano , Vaccari Gabriele , Chiappini Barbara , Benestad Sylvie L. , Agrimi Umberto , Nonno Romolo
Published: June 2022

Prions are infectious agents that replicate through the autocatalytic misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) into infectious aggregates (PrPSc) causing fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. Prions exist as strains, which are encoded by conformational variants of PrPSc. The transmissibility of prions depends on the PrPC sequence of the recipient host and on the incoming prion strain, so that some animal prion strains are more contagious than others or are transmissible to new species, including humans. Nor98/atypical scrapie (AS) is a prion disease of sheep and goats reported in several countries worldwide. At variance with classical scrapie (CS), AS is considered poorly contagious and is supposed to be spontaneous in origin. The zoonotic potential of AS, its strain variability and the relationships with the more contagious CS strains remain largely unknown. We characterized AS isolates from sheep and goats by transmission in ovinised transgenic mice (tg338) and in two genetic lines of bank voles, carrying either methionine (BvM) or isoleucine (BvI) at PrP residue 109. All AS isolates induced the same pathological phenotype in tg338 mice, thus proving that they encoded the same strain, irrespective of their geographical origin or source species. In bank voles, we found that the M109I polymorphism dictates the susceptibility to AS. BvI were susceptible and faithfully reproduced the AS strain, while the transmission in BvM was highly inefficient and was characterized by a conformational change towards a CS-like prion strain. Sub-passaging experiments revealed that the main strain component of AS is accompanied by minor CS-like strain components, which can be positively selected during replication in both AS-resistant or AS-susceptible animals. These findings add new clues for a better comprehension of strain selection dynamics in prion infections and have wider implications for understanding the origin of contagious prion strains, such as CS.
‘Coronavirus kindness’ phenomenon: Trends of social flow of creativity during the first 27 days of social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
Authors: Baracsi Zita
Published: June 2022

This study elaborates on the contradictory position of socially supportive haptic arts and crafts in the light of recent social distancing requirements, in order to gain insight into the roles of the socially engaged field in the COVID-19 afflicted world. The contrast between the practices of extreme social distancing and intensive social engagement is astonishing, yet both of these practices became driving forces of daily life during the pandemic. This study is also concerned with the representation of socially supportive visual arts and crafts during the first 27 days of lockdown in the United Kingdom. By collecting mass media data of socially engaged grassroots events during the observed period and analysing them in context of social flow and personal needs fulfilment, which are viewed with an understanding of their non-hierarchical nature, it raises questions for further discussions on motivations of contributing to ‘coronavirus kindness’ and future possibilities for the socially engaged arts and crafts field.
Creating a Global Cultural City via Public Participation in the Arts: Conversations with Hong Kong’s Leading Arts and Cultural Administrators, Patrick Lo, Wei-en Hsu, Stephanie H. S. Wu, J. Travis and Dickson K. W. Chiu (eds) (2021)
Authors: Boulil Djamila
Published: June 2022

Review of: Creating a Global Cultural City via Public Participation in the Arts: Conversations with Hong Kong’s Leading Arts and Cultural Administrators, Patrick Lo, Wei-en Hsu, Stephanie H. S. Wu, J. Travis and Dickson K. W. Chiu (eds) (2021)

New York: Nova Science Publishers, 369 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-53619-719-8, h/bk, $230.00,

ISBN 978-1-53619-879-9, e-book, $230.00
relação sociedade e natureza e a importância da Educação Ambiental para o Semiárido brasileiro:
Authors: Martins de Sousa Maria Losângela Martins de Sousa , Vidal de Oliveira Vládia Pinto , Nobre de Souza Anny Catarina , Gomes de Souza Sérgio Domiciano
Published: June 2022

A relação sociedade e natureza ganhou atenção com a crise ambiental no mundo, sobretudo no que diz respeito às alternativas de enfrentamento e harmonização dessa relação. Assim, o presente artigo objetiva discutir como o paradigma da complexidade pode contribuir para uma Educação Ambiental, na formação de sujeitos, atenta à relação harmônica com o semiárido brasileiro. Para tanto, foi feito um levantamento teórico sobre os seguintes temas: paradigma da complexidade, Morin (2007; 2010); Educação Ambiental, Sauvé (2005); Semiárido brasileiro, Ab’Sáber (2003); documentos normativos e curriculares, BRASIL (2018, 2012); e uma proposta de sequência didática orientada para o paradigma da complexidade na Educação Ambiental contextualizada ao semiárido. Neste contexto, coloca-se a Educação Ambiental como um meio capaz de formar sujeitos no enfrentamento da problemática, mormente orientada pelo paradigma da complexidade.
Educação Ambiental e os compromissos com a Sustentabilidade na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande – FURG
Authors: Schmitt Luciane , Silveira Kitzmann Dione Iara
Published: June 2022

A preocupação ambiental nos espaços universitários é tema emergente, que tem envolvido a integração da Educação Ambiental (EA) nos processos de gestão e de formação da comunidade universitária. Este artigo aborda os esforços desenvolvidos pela FURG nos seus compromissos com a sustentabilidade e objetiva responder como a EA está sendo, ou pode ser adotada pela FURG, e como dialoga com as diferentes funções universitárias. Foram analisados documentos institucionais, visando relacioná-los com os referenciais teóricos de EA e de sustentabilidade no contexto das Universidades. Como resultados, identificamos esforços institucionais nas ações propostas, mas observamos que a EA ainda não está amplamente disseminada nas rotinas de ensino-pesquisa-extensão e de gestão da Universidade e que, a partir da retomada das atividades presenciais, outras iniciativas precisam ser praticadas.
Education, decolonisation and international development at the Institute of Education (London): a historical analysis
Authors: Unterhalter Elaine , Kadiwal Laila
Published: June 2022

In this article, we review the process of building relationships around education and international development at IOE (Institute of Education), UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society (University College London, UK). The analysis looks at how hierarchies linked to colonialism were inscribed in initial structures, and unevenly and disparately contested by students, staff and a range of interlocutors around the world over one hundred years. The article considers how this history shapes practice in the present and perspectives on the future. In describing and reflecting on processes for change, the article considers some of the questioning, discussion and new forms of relationship that are emerging as part of trying to develop an orientation away from a colonial past. Efforts to decolonise education have raised questions and actions associated with reimagining practice. We reflect on what we have learned and unlearned from our efforts to promote decolonial, socially just alternatives.
DIMENSI PERSONAL DAN DIMENSI KOLEKTIF DALAM BUDAYA POPULER: KAJIAN PSIKOLOGI ANALITIS DALAM FILM FATE: THE WINX SAGA
Authors: Afifulloh M
Published: June 2022

This article tries to explore some of the implication of Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of personal dimension and collective dimension as represented by the characters in Fate: The Winx saga. This film is produced by Netflix and released on 22 January 2021. In this research, film is assumed as media to validate Jung’s theory about human psyche. This research is a qualitative descriptive. The data were processed by analyzing, categorizing, and interpreting the visual codes provided by the film. Therefore, the meaning can be theoretically drawn. The result of this study shows that the personal and collective dimensions offered by Jung are owned by the characters in the film. The personal dimension manifests in the Ego in the form of emotions and memories of the past. This personal dimension is represented through the characters such as Bloom, Musa, and Terra. While the collective dimension can be explained through the persona, shadow, anima and animus shared by all the characters in the film.
The Development of Critical Thinking Skills Among Students of University of Zakho Faculty of Humanities According to Gender and Mother Tongue Variables
Authors:   Department of Kurdish Language, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zakho, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, Haji Badre Jirwan S. , Saeed Halo Diyar A. ,   Department of Kurdish Language, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zakho, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Published: June 2022

Language and thought are two closely concatenating concepts the absence of one which undermines the other. and through which one can identify different types of thinking. Linguistic thinking is related to the environment from which the individual acquires the language. Thinking facilitates issues and does not complicate them for the advancement, growth, and high level of education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in general and at the universities of this region in particular. Much attention must be paid to critical thinking skills, because their usefulness does not involve only teaching, but extends to all areas of life. One of the prerequisites of the educational process is the presence of specialized teachers in order to make a change in the students' learning strategies. This study shows the relationship of the research variables, namely gender and mother tongue, with critical thinking skills for the California test (C-2000) based on statistics (SPSS) and the descriptive qualitative approach. In addition, the study also explores the relationship between the objectives of the study and the critical thinking skills of both first and fourth-graders at the Faculty of Humanities (morning classes)/University of Zakho for the academic year 2019-2020.
The Singular and Plural in Qur’anic Readings in The Interpretation Al-Jawahir Al-Hissan Of Al-Tha’alabi 875 AH A Morphological Study
Authors:   Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Education, Koya University, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, Muhammad Abduljabar A. , Al- Samrahy Ibrahim A. ,   Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Education, Koya University, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Published: June 2022

This paper investigates the morphological alternation of plural and singular in Al Tha’alibi’s AlJawahir AlHissan (875 H) to uncover the causes that gave rise to it. This issue, which is a characteristic of Arabic language, extends to include the alternation between the dual and the plural, on one hand, and within the types of plural, on the other. This latter includes alternation in plural of many and of few in broken plural, in addition to other types of plural. All these are represented in the various readings of the Holy Qur’an, which some believe due to the Qur’anic orthographic style which made it possible for some words to be read both as singular and plural. The research found that the annexed (added) gender noun indicates plurality and thus doesn’t need to be in plural form and annexing the (ta’a) at the end of the plural nouns is to emphasize the plurality of the noun. The paper also shows that there is a difference between collective noun and broken plural. The collective noun is singular in form but plural in meaning, while the broken plural is plural inform only.
Lucia Ráčková, François Schmitt, Les interférences linguistiques du français sur le slovaque. Lʼexemple du système verbal
Authors: Chovancová Katarína
Published: June 2022

COMPTES RENDUS: LUCIA RÁČKOVÁ, FRANÇOIS SCHMITT, LES INTERFÉRENCES LINGUISTIQUES DU FRANÇAIS SUR LE SLOVAQUE. LʼEXEMPLE DU SYSTÈME VERBAL. COLL. LANGUE ET PAROLE. PARIS : LʼHARMATTAN, 2019, PP. 139
A near-optimal approach to edge connectivity-based hierarchical graph decomposition
Authors: Chang Lijun , Wang Zhiyi
Published: June 2022

Driven by applications in graph analytics, the problem of efficiently computing all
k
-edge connected components (
k
-ECCs) of a graph
G
for
a user-given k
has been extensively and well studied. It is known that the
k
-ECCs of
G
for
all possible values
of
k
form a hierarchical structure. In this paper, we study the problem of efficiently constructing the hierarchy tree for
G
which compactly encodes the
k
-ECCs for all possible
k
values in space linear to the number of vertices
n.
All existing approaches construct the hierarchy tree in
O
(δ(
G
) × T
KECC

(
G
)

) time, where δ(
G
) is the degeneracy of
G
and T
KECC

(
G
)

is the time complexity of computing all
k
-ECCs of
G
for a specific
k
value. To improve the time complexity, we propose a divide-and-conquer approach running in
O
((log δ(
G
)) × T
KECC

(
G
)

) time, which is optimal up to a logarithmic factor. However, a straightforward implementation of our algorithm would result in a space complexity of
O
((
m
+
n
) log δ(
G
)). As main memory also becomes a scarce resource when processing large-scale graphs, we further propose techniques to optimize the space complexity to 2
m
+
O
(
n
log δ(
G
)), where
m
is the number of edges in
G.
Extensive experiments on large real graphs and synthetic graphs demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches by up to 28 times in terms of running time, and by up to 8 times in terms of main memory usage. As a by-product, we also improve the space complexity of computing all
k
-ECCs for a specific
k
to 2
m
+
O
(
n
).
TranAD
Authors: Tuli Shreshth , Casale Giuliano , Jennings Nicholas R.
Published: June 2022

Efficient anomaly detection and diagnosis in multivariate time-series data is of great importance for modern industrial applications. However, building a system that is able to quickly and accurately pinpoint anomalous observations is a challenging problem. This is due to the lack of anomaly labels, high data volatility and the demands of ultra-low inference times in modern applications. Despite the recent developments of deep learning approaches for anomaly detection, only a few of them can address all of these challenges. In this paper, we propose TranAD, a deep transformer network based anomaly detection and diagnosis model which uses attention-based sequence encoders to swiftly perform inference with the knowledge of the broader temporal trends in the data. TranAD uses focus score-based self-conditioning to enable robust multi-modal feature extraction and adversarial training to gain stability. Additionally, model-agnostic meta learning (MAML) allows us to train the model using limited data. Extensive empirical studies on six publicly available datasets demonstrate that TranAD can outperform state-of-the-art baseline methods in detection and diagnosis performance with data and time-efficient training. Specifically, TranAD increases F1 scores by up to 17%, reducing training times by up to 99% compared to the baselines.