bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biotechnological approaches for the production of camptothecin
Authors: Banadka Akshatha , Narasimha Sudheer Wudali , Dandin Vijayalaxmi S. , Naik Poornanand M. , Vennapusa Amaranatha Reddy , Melmaiee Kalpalatha , Vemanna Ramu S. , Al-Khayri Jameel M. , Thiruvengadam Muthu , Nagella Praveen
Published: June 2024

Camptothecin (CPT), an indole alkaloid popular for its anticancer property, is considered the third most promising drug after taxol and famous alkaloids from Vinca for the treatment of cancer in humans. Camptothecin was first identified in Camptotheca acuminata followed by several other plant species and endophytic fungi. Increased harvesting driven by rising global demand is depleting the availability of elite plant genotypes, such as Camptotheca acuminata and Nothapodytes nimmoniana, crucial for producing alkaloids used in treating diseases like cancer. Conservation of these genotypes for the future is imperative. Therefore, research on different plant tissue culture techniques such as cell suspension culture, hairy roots, adventitious root culture, elicitation strategies, and endophytic fungi has been adopted for the production of CPT to meet the increasing demand without affecting the source plant’s existence. Currently, another strategy to increase camptothecin yield by genetic manipulation is underway. The present review discusses the plants and endophytes that are employed for camptothecin production and throws light on the plant tissue culture techniques for the regeneration of plants, callus culture, and selection of cell lines for the highest camptothecin production. The review further explains the simple, accurate, and cost-effective extraction and quantification methods. There is enormous potential for the sustainable production of CPT which could be met by culturing of suitable endophytes or plant cell or organ culture in a bioreactor scale production. Also, different gene editing tools provide opportunities for engineering the biosynthetic pathway of CPT, and the overall CPT production can be improved .

Key points

• Camptothecin is a naturally occurring alkaloid with potent anticancer properties, primarily known for its ability to inhibit DNA topoisomerase I.

• Plants and endophytes offer a potential approach for camptothecin production.

• Biotechnology approaches like plant tissue culture techniques enhanced camptothecin production.
Quantitative proteomics reveals cellular responses to individual mAb expression and tunicamycin in CHO cells
Authors: Sulaj Eldi , Schwaigerlehner Linda , Sandell Felix L. , Dohm Juliane C. , Marzban Gorji , Kunert Renate
Published: June 2024

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are popular in the pharmaceutical industry for their ability to produce high concentrations of antibodies and their resemblance to human cells in terms of protein glycosylation patterns. Current data indicate the relevance of CHO cells in the biopharmaceutical industry, with a high number of product commendations and a significant market share for monoclonal antibodies. To enhance the production capabilities of CHO cells, a deep understanding of their cellular and molecular composition is crucial. Genome sequencing and proteomic analysis have provided valuable insights into the impact of the bioprocessing conditions, productivity, and product quality. In our investigation, we conducted a comparative analysis of proteomic profiles in high and low monoclonal antibody–producing cell lines and studied the impact of tunicamycin (TM)-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. We examined the expression levels of different proteins including unfolded protein response (UPR) target genes by using label-free quantification techniques for protein abundance. Our results show the upregulation of proteins associated with protein folding mechanisms in low producer vs. high producer cell line suggesting a form of ER stress related to specific protein production. Further, Hspa9 and Dnaja3 are notable candidates activated by the mitochondria UPR and play important roles in protein folding processes in mitochondria. We identified significant upregulation of Nedd8 and Lgmn proteins in similar levels which may contribute to UPR stress. Interestingly, the downregulation of Hspa5/Bip and Pdia4 in response to tunicamycin treatment suggests a low-level UPR activation.

Key points

• Proteome profiling of recombinant CHO cells under mild TM treatment.

• Identified protein clusters are associated with the unfolded protein response (UPR).

• The compared cell lines revealed noticeable disparities in protein expression levels.
Characterization and Genome Analysis of the Delftia lacustris Strain LzhVag01 Isolated from Vaginal Discharge
Authors: Zhang Li , Zhang Xin , Bai Huihui , Li Ting , Zhang Zhan , Zong Xiaonan , Shang Xiang , Liu Zhaohui , Fan Linyuan
Published: June 2024

Delftia has been separated from freshwater, sludge, and soil and has emerged as a novel opportunistic pathogen in the female vagina. However, the genomic characteristics, pathogenicity, and biotechnological properties still need to be comprehensively investigated. In this study, a Delftia strain was isolated from the vaginal discharge of a 43-year-old female with histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasm (CIN III), followed by whole-genome sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis and average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis demonstrated that it belongs to Delftia lacustris, named D. lacustris strain LzhVag01. LzhVag01 was sensitive to β-lactams, macrolides, and tetracyclines but exhibited resistance to lincoamines, nitroimidazoles, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones. Its genome is a single, circular chromosome of 6,740,460 bp with an average GC content of 66.59%. Whole-genome analysis identified 16 antibiotic resistance-related genes, which match the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of this strain, and 11 potential virulence genes. These pathogenic factors may contribute to its colonization in the vaginal environment and its adaptation and accelerate the progression of cervical cancer. This study sequenced and characterized the whole-genome of Delftia lacustris isolated from vaginal discharge, which provides investigators and clinicians with valuable insights into this uncommon species.
Microbial Communities in Standing Dead Trees in Ghost Forests are Largely Aerobic, Saprophytic, and Methanotrophic
Authors: Carmichael Mary Jane , Martinez Melinda , Bräuer Suzanna L. , Ardón Marcelo
Published: June 2024

Standing dead trees (snags) are recognized for their influence on methane (CH4) cycling in coastal wetlands, yet the biogeochemical processes that control the magnitude and direction of fluxes across the snag-atmosphere interface are not fully elucidated. Herein, we analyzed microbial communities and fluxes at one height from ten snags in a ghost forest wetland. Snag-atmosphere CH4 fluxes were highly variable (− 0.11–0.51 mg CH4 m−2 h−1). CH4 production was measured in three out of ten snags; whereas, CH4 consumption was measured in two out of ten snags. Potential CH4 production and oxidation in one core from each snag was assayed in vitro. A single core produced CH4 under anoxic and oxic conditions, at measured rates of 0.7 and 0.6 ng CH4 g−1 h−1, respectively. Four cores oxidized CH4 under oxic conditions, with an average rate of − 1.13 ± 0.31 ng CH4 g−1 h−1. Illumina sequencing of the V3/V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed diverse microbial communities and indicated oxidative decomposition of deadwood. Methanogens were present in 20% of the snags, with a mean relative abundance of < 0.0001%. Methanotrophs were identified in all snags, with a mean relative abundance of 2% and represented the sole CH4-cycling communities in 80% of the snags. These data indicate potential for microbial attenuation of CH4 emissions across the snag-atmosphere interface in ghost forests. A better understanding of the environmental drivers of snag-associated microbial communities is necessary to forecast the response of CH4 cycling in coastal ghost forest wetlands to a shifting coastal landscape.
Clustering Longitudinal Data for Growth Curve Modelling by Gibbs Sampler and Information Criterion
Authors: Fei Yu , Li Rongli , Li Zhouhong , Qian Guoqi
Published: June 2024

Clustering longitudinal data for growth curve modelling is considered in this paper, where we aim to optimally estimate the underpinning unknown group partition matrix. Instead of following the conventional soft clustering approach, which assumes the columns of the partition matrix to have i.i.d. multinomial or categorical prior distributions and uses a regression model with the response following a finite mixture distribution to estimate the posterior distribution of the partition matrix, we propose an iterative partition and regression procedure to find the best partition matrix and the associated best growth curve regression model for each identified cluster. We show that the best partition matrix is the one minimizing a recently developed empirical Bayes information criterion (eBIC), which, due to the involved combinatorial explosion, is difficult to compute via enumerating all candidate partition matrices. Thus, we develop a Gibbs sampling method to generate a Markov chain of candidate partition matrices that has its equilibrium probability distribution equal the one induced from eBIC. We further show that the best partition matrix, given a priori the number of latent clusters, can be consistently estimated and is computationally scalable based on this Markov chain. The number of latent clusters is also best estimated by minimizing eBIC. The proposed iterative clustering and regression method is assessed by a comprehensive simulation study before being applied to two real-world growth curve modelling examples involving longitudinal data clustering.
Biological outliers: essential elements to understand the causes and consequences of reductions in maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII in plants
Authors: Julián Clara , Villadangos Sabina , Jené Laia , Pasques Ot , Pintó-Marijuan Marta , Munné-Bosch Sergi
Published: June 2024

Main conclusion

By studying Cistus albidus shrubs in their natural habitat, we show that biological outliers can help us to understand the causes and consequences of maximum photochemical efficiency decreases in plants, thus reinforcing the importance of integrating these often-neglected data into scientific practice.

Outliers are individuals with exceptional traits that are often excluded of data analysis. However, this may result in very important mistakes not accurately capturing the true trajectory of the population, thereby limiting our understanding of a given biological process. Here, we studied the role of biological outliers in understanding the causes and consequences of maximum photochemical efficiency decreases in plants, using the semi-deciduous shrub C. albidus growing in a Mediterranean-type ecosystem. We assessed interindividual variability in winter, spring and summer maximum PSII photochemical efficiency in a population of C. albidus growing under Mediterranean conditions. A strong correlation was observed between maximum PSII photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm ratio) and leaf water desiccation. While decreases in maximum PSII photochemical efficiency did not result in any damage at the organ level during winter, reductions in the Fv/Fm ratio were associated to leaf mortality during summer. However, all plants could recover after rainfalls, thus maximum PSII photochemical efficiency decreases did not result in an increased mortality at the organism level, despite extreme water deficit and temperatures exceeding 40ºC during the summer. We conclude that, once methodological outliers are excluded, not only biological outliers must not be excluded from data analysis, but focusing on them is crucial to understand the causes and consequences of maximum PSII photochemical efficiency decreases in plants.
Multidisciplinary surgical management of severe posterior compartment endometriosis
Authors: Mueller Carolin , Luna Russo Miguel , Schabl Lukas , Kessler Hermann
Published: June 2024

Background

Endometriosis is a chronic, inflammatory, and hormone-dependent disease that affects approximately 10% of women in reproductive age. Endometriosis is categorized into different types, as superficial, deep, and ovarian endometriosis. When deep endometriosis occurs, the sigmoid and rectum are often affected (Becker et al. in Hum Reprod Open, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1093/hropen/hoac009). In the following article, we aim to demonstrate stepwise surgery for stage IV endometriosis involving the anterior rectosigmoid.

Methods

We present the case of a 26-year-old obese (BMI 35.87) woman with severe posterior pelvic compartment endometriosis, persistent abdominal pain, and constipation. On preoperative MRI of the pelvis, a 13 cm conglomerate incorporating both ovaries (kissing ovaries), uterine serosa, and the anterior rectosigmoid was observed (Fig. 1). Accordingly, interdisciplinary laparoscopic surgery with a gynecologist and colorectal surgeon was planned.

Results

The total laparoscopic approach is demonstrated step by step in the video.

Conclusions

Deep endometriosis is a rare condition. When involvement of other organs (e.g., the bowel) is suspected, preoperative endometriosis-specific imaging should be performed for optimal surgical planning. Experienced endometriosis multidisciplinary surgical teams can provide specialized and high-quality care for patients suffering from this debilitating disease (Luna Russo et al. in Minerva Ginecol, 2020, https://doi.org/10.23736/S0026-4784.20.04544-X).
Nanoplatelet Orientation and Young’s Modulus of Graphene/Phenoxy Nanocomposites
Authors: Lin Han , Potluri Prasad , Sampson William W. , Wilkinson Arthur N.
Published: June 2024

We report on the development of phenoxy-graphene nano-composite fibres for improving the toughness of thermoset composites. In this paper, a systematic experimental investigation into the underlying mechanisms of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) reinforcement of phenoxy nanocomposite fibres prepared via melt spinning is provided. The analysis reveals a tangential orientation of GNP in the outer layer of the fibres, while such orientation is absent in the fibre core region. We show that the relative size of the fibre sheath depends on process variables and exhibits a linear relationship with the modulus of GNP obtained via theoretical analysis using simple rule of mixtures. This is because the area ratio (AR) is proportional to the orientation degree of GNP. This indicates that the enhancement of the Young’s modulus of fibres mainly originates from the increased AR of the fibre sheath layer where the orientation of GNP is more regular.
Cellulose nanocrystal dispersions conjugated with symmetric and asymmetric dialkylamine groups
Authors: Wojno Sylwia , Sonker Amit Kumar , Garg Mohit , Cooper Sahana , Rigdahl Mikael , Linares Matthieu , Zozoulenko Igor , Kádár Roland , Westman Gunnar
Published: June 2024

The present study discusses the effect of symmetric and asymmetric grafting on the surface of CNCs (cellulose nanocrystals) on their dispersion properties using dialkyl azetidinium salts. Three dialkylamine of different size and chain length were successfully grafted to the sulfate groups on the surface of CNCs by conjugation of azetidinium salts. The coupling process resulted in the formation of 2-hydroxypropyl-N-dialkylamine conjugated to the CNC sulfate groups abbreviated as C$$_n$$

n

-N-C$$_m$$

m

-Prop-2-OH-CNC, where m, n are the number of carbons in the alkyl groups, each with a total of $$m+n=12$$

m
+
n
=
12

, with $$(m,n) = (11,1); (9,3); (6,6)$$

(
m
,
n
)
=
(
11
,
1
)
;
(
9
,
3
)
;
(
6
,
6
)

. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to assess the probable morphology of the grafted chains and the interaction potential between CNCs. Steady shear simultaneously combined with polarized light imaging and oscillatory shear rheological measurements were used to evaluate for the first time the impact of the CNC surface modifications on their dispersion flow and optical properties. Overall, the results show that the different linker topologies could effectively promote different types of aggregation morphologies based on the size of the linker, their flexibility and their most probable conformation.
Keeping Safe Together: A Brief Report on Children’s Experiences of One ‘All of Family’ Domestic Violence Intervention Program in Melbourne, Australia
Authors: Diemer Kristin , Hammond Kate , Absler Deborah , Spiteri-Staines Anneliese , Humphreys Cathy
Published: June 2024

Purpose

To develop a response to an identified service gap for domestic violence (DV) victim-survivors who are living with their abusive partner and have children in their care, Keeping Safe Together (KST) was designed as an ‘all of family’ program and piloted over 18-months in Victoria, Australia. The purpose of this brief report is to explore how children had experienced the KST program, and what, if any, changes to their safety and situations they experienced because of the program.

Methods

Interviews were conducted with eight children engaged in the program alongside their family members. Thematic analysis of the data was undertaken to draw out themes.

Results

The children were aware of the impact of the violence and conflict on their families. They demonstrated strong empathy for their family members’ wellbeing, and a desire for change. The children saw the KST program as having a positive impact on their own and their families’ safety and circumstances, particularly in terms of reducing their fathers’ abusive behaviors. The program supported them to increase their own sense of control, happiness, and development of coping strategies.

Conclusions

The findings indicate that the program met a significant support gap and improved the lives of children in this sample who were living with fathers using violence against their mothers. Further trial and evaluation of ‘all of family’ programs such as KST is needed to build the evidence base on their effectiveness for children.
High order congruences for M-ary partitions
Authors: Żmija Błażej
Published: June 2024

For a sequence $$M=(m_{i})_{i=0}^{\infty }$$

M
=

(

m
i

)

i
=
0

∞

of integers such that $$m_{0}=1$$

m
0

=
1

, $$m_{i}\ge 2$$

m
i

≥
2

for $$i\ge 1$$

i
≥
1

, let $$p_{M}(n)$$

p
M

(
n
)

denote the number of partitions of n into parts of the form $$m_{0}m_{1}\cdots m_{r}$$

m
0

m
1

⋯

m
r

. In this paper we show that for every positive integer n the following congruence is true: $$\begin{aligned} p_{M}(m_{1}m_{2}\cdots m_{r}n-1)\equiv 0\ \ \left( \textrm{mod}\ \prod _{t=2}^{r}\mathcal {M}(m_{t},t-1)\right) , \end{aligned}$$

p
M

(

m
1

m
2

⋯

m
r

n
-
1
)

≡
0

mod

∏

t
=
2

r

M

(

m
t

,
t
-
1
)

,

where $$\mathcal {M}(m,r):=\frac{m}{\textrm{gcd}\big (m,\textrm{lcm}(1,\ldots ,r)\big )}$$

M

(
m
,
r
)

:
=

m

gcd

(

m
,
lcm
(
1
,
…
,
r
)

)

. Our result answers a conjecture posed by Folsom, Homma, Ryu and Tong, and is a generalisation of the congruence relations for m-ary partitions found by Andrews, Gupta, and Rødseth and Sellers.
An efficient workflow for modelling high-dimensional spatial extremes
Authors: Vandeskog Silius M. , Martino Sara , Huser Raphaël
Published: June 2024

We develop a comprehensive methodological workflow for Bayesian modelling of high-dimensional spatial extremes that lets us describe both weakening extremal dependence at increasing levels and changes in the type of extremal dependence class as a function of the distance between locations. This is achieved with a latent Gaussian version of the spatial conditional extremes model that allows for computationally efficient inference with . Inference is made more robust using a post hoc adjustment method that accounts for possible model misspecification. This added robustness makes it possible to extract more information from the available data during inference using a composite likelihood. The developed methodology is applied to the modelling of extreme hourly precipitation from high-resolution radar data in Norway. Inference is performed quickly, and the resulting model fit successfully captures the main trends in the extremal dependence structure of the data. The post hoc adjustment is found to further improve model performance.
Guide to developing case-based attack scenarios and establishing defense strategies for cybersecurity exercise in ICS environment
Authors: Kim Donghyun , Jeon Seungho , Kim Kwangsoo , Kang Jaesik , Lee Seungwoon , Seo Jung Taek
Published: June 2024

Critical infrastructure mainly performs its role through an industrial control system (ICS). Organizations conduct cyber exercises between red and blue teams, focusing on offense and defense. Practical exercises require explicit attack scenarios and corresponding defense strategies. However, systematic guides for deriving cyberattack scenarios or defense strategies still need to be improved. This paper proposes a guide for establishing realistic attack scenarios and defense strategies for cybersecurity exercises in ICS environments. Attack scenario generation is divided into four steps: generating attack references, deriving attack sequences, mapping threat information, and mapping vulnerable implementation patterns. Deriving a defensive strategy consists of two steps parallel to developing an attack scenario: deriving containment and eradication. The methodology we propose guides exercise planning based on a knowledge base, thereby assisting exercise planners in generating various scenarios and deriving clear defense strategies. We showed that a clear exercise plan could be established through a case study.
Association between serum chloride levels and estimated glomerular filtration rate among US adults: evidence from NHANES 1999–2018
Authors: Zhao Peipei , Li Yiping , Fei Zhewei , Gu Leyi , Han Baosan , Ye Ping , Dai Huili
Published: June 2024

Purpose

Chloride, the predominant anion in extracellular fluid from humans, is essential to maintaining homeostasis. One important metric for thoroughly assessing kidney function is the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). However, the relationship between variations in serum chloride concentration and eGFR in general populations has been poorly studied. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to elucidate the correlation between serum chloride levels and eGFR within the United States’ adult population.

Methods

This cohort study was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which covered the years 1999–2018. We employed multiple linear regression analysis and subgroup analysis to evaluate the correlation between serum chloride concentration and eGFR. To examine the nonlinear association between serum chloride levels and eGFR, restricted cubic spline analyses were employed.

Results

Data from 49,008 participants in this cohort study were used for the chloride analysis. In the comprehensively adjusted model, a noteworthy inverse relationship was discovered between chloride plasma concentration and eGFR. Restricted cubic spline analyses revealed a significant nonlinear relationship between chloride levels and eGFR (P for overall < 0.001 and P for nonlinear < 0.001). A significant interaction was observed between eGFR and plasma chloride concentration (all P < 0.001 for interaction) among the subgroups characterized by sex, household income to poverty ratio, BMI, hypertension, and diabetes.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that higher levels of chloride plasma concentration were linked to decreased eGFR. These findings underscore the significance of monitoring chloride plasma concentration as a potential indicator for identifying individuals at risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Arteriovenous fistula of the mandible: a case report
Authors: Todaro Mattia , Pashaj Ermal , Pedicelli Alessandro , Alexandre Andrea , Saponaro Gianmarco , Gasparini Giulio , Moro Alessandro
Published: June 2024

Intraosseous arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are uncommon high-flow vascular malformation that can affect the maxilla or mandible. AVM may present with aspecific and misleading signs and symptoms. The diagnosis is often accidental and bleeding may represent the first symptom. Radiographically, there are few characteristic features and misdiagnosis is easy. Here we report the case of a young male affected by arteriovenous fistula on the right side of the mandible initially misdiagnosed as a cystic lesion. The patient underwent transarterial embolization of the vascular malformation and subsequently the lesion was surgically removed. 1-year follow-up showed complete healing of the mandibular bone and absence of recurrence. Intraosseous arteriovenous malformations are rare entities. However, due to their harmfulness, both clinicians and radiologists must be aware of this type of lesion and should always consider them in the differential diagnosis of osteolytic lesions.
Does the public want the police to stop, stopping? An experimental look at the impact of outcome data on public perceptions of police discretionary traffic stops
Authors: Boehme Hunter M. , Jung Sohee , Geary Irick A. , Brown Robert A. , Leasure Peter
Published: June 2024

Objectives

To assess whether data on traffic stop outcomes causally impacts public approval of discretionary traffic stops as a crime control strategy.

Methods

We distributed an original online survey experiment randomly assigning respondents (N = 4740) into either the (1) contraband condition, (2) disparity condition, or (3) the control condition.

Results

In comparison to the control condition, the contraband condition significantly increased respondent support of discretionary traffic stops as a crime-fighting tool. Black respondents assigned the contraband treatment were significantly more likely to support the use of discretionary traffic stops compared to Black respondents assigned the control condition.

Conclusions

Although scrutiny exists regarding the efficacy of discretionary traffic stops, public opinion may be shifted if they are provided with information on the outcomes of such stops. Police agencies should consider coupling evidence-based strategies with data on the outcomes of crime control strategies, which may also address community desire for more transparency. Minority civilians may support crime control strategies if presented with data on such strategies’ effectiveness.
Macrophyte assisted phytoremediation and toxicological profiling of metal(loid)s polluted water is influenced by hydraulic retention time
Authors: Khan Aqib Hassan Ali , Soto-Cañas Alberto , Rad Carlos , Curiel-Alegre Sandra , Rumbo Carlos , Velasco-Arroyo Blanca , de Wilde Herwig , Pérez-de-Mora Alfredo , Martel-Martín Sonia , Barros Rocío
Published: June 2024

The present study reports findings related to the treatment of polluted groundwater using macrophyte-assisted phytoremediation. The potential of three macrophyte species (Phragmites australis, Scirpus holoschoenus, and Typha angustifolia) to tolerate exposure to multi-metal(loid) polluted groundwater was first evaluated in mesocosms for 7- and 14-day batch testing. In the 7-day batch test, the polluted water was completely replaced and renewed after 7 days, while for 14 days exposure, the same polluted water, added in the first week, was maintained. The initial biochemical screening results of macrophytes indicated that the selected plants were more tolerant to the provided conditions with 14 days of exposure. Based on these findings, the plants were exposed to HRT regimes of 15 and 30 days. The results showed that P. australis and S. holoschoenus performed better than T. angustifolia, in terms of metal(loid) accumulation and removal, biomass production, and toxicity reduction. In addition, the translocation and compartmentalization of metal(loid)s were dose-dependent. At the 30-day loading rate (higher HRT), below-ground phytostabilization was greater than phytoaccumulation, whereas at the 15-day loading rate (lower HRT), below- and above-ground phytoaccumulation was the dominant metal(loid) removal mechanism. However, higher levels of toxicity were noted in the water at the 15-day loading rate. Overall, this study provides valuable insights for macrophyte-assisted phytoremediation of polluted (ground)water streams that can help to improve the design and implementation of phytoremediation systems.
Optimal Control of Collective Electrotaxis in Epithelial Monolayers
Authors: Martina-Perez Simon F. , Breinyn Isaac B. , Cohen Daniel J. , Baker Ruth E.
Published: June 2024

Epithelial monolayers are some of the best-studied models for collective cell migration due to their abundance in multicellular systems and their tractability. Experimentally, the collective migration of epithelial monolayers can be robustly steered e.g. using electric fields, via a process termed electrotaxis. Theoretically, however, the question of how to design an electric field to achieve a desired spatiotemporal movement pattern is underexplored. In this work, we construct and calibrate an ordinary differential equation model to predict the average velocity of the centre of mass of a cellular monolayer in response to stimulation with an electric field. We use this model, in conjunction with optimal control theory, to derive physically realistic optimal electric field designs to achieve a variety of aims, including maximising the total distance travelled by the monolayer, maximising the monolayer velocity, and keeping the monolayer velocity constant during stimulation. Together, this work is the first to present a unified framework for optimal control of collective monolayer electrotaxis and provides a blueprint to optimally steer collective migration using other external cues.
Widerspruch und/oder Paradoxie?
Authors: Sailer Patrick
Published: June 2024

Dieser Beitrag in der Zeitschrift „Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO)“ arbeitet ein Verfahren aus, mit dem Führungskräfte zwischen Widersprüchen und Paradoxien in Organisationen unterscheiden und entsprechend zielgerichtet intervenieren können. Es ist nichts Neues, dass in Organisationen Widersprüche wahrgenommen werden. Auffällig ist jedoch, dass dort, wo früher Widersprüche erkannt wurden, heute überall Paradoxien entdeckt werden. Fast gebetsmühlenartig wird Managern im aktuellen Managementdiskurs dazu geraten, statt auf ein „Entweder-oder-Mindset“ auf „Sowohl-als-auch-Lösungen“ zu setzen. In diesem Beitrag wird argumentiert, dass nicht jeder Widerspruch eine Paradoxie darstellt und dass daher „Sowohl-als-auch“-Lösungen nicht immer die geeignetste Reaktion auf Widersprüche sind. Aus der Unterscheidung von Widerspruch und Paradoxie sollen Empfehlungen für den praktischen Umgang abgeleitet werden. Dazu wird ein Prüfverfahren für die Praxis ausgearbeitet, mit dem die Unterscheidung in Widersprüche und Paradoxien in der Praxis gelingt und geeignete Interventionen gewählt werden können.
Die postkoloniale Herausforderung: Antworten der Pädagogik kollektiver Zugehörigkeiten
Authors: Nohl Arnd-Michael
Published: June 2024

Die postkolonialen Theorien fordern all jene erziehungswissenschaftlichen Ansätze heraus, die sich mit der Heterogenität von Gesellschaft befassen. In diesem Aufsatz wird aus der Perspektive der Pädagogik kollektiver Zugehörigkeiten diskutiert, welche Konsequenzen insbesondere für die empirische Forschung und pädagogische Diagnose gezogen werden können. Während die postkolonial inspirierte Rassismuskritik hauptsächlich die Diskriminierung von Nicht-Weißen betont, erscheint es wichtig, auch andere Diskriminierungs- und Erfahrungsdimensionen (Geschlecht, Klasse, Bildung etc.) und ihre Überlappung mit rassistischer Diskriminierung empirisch zu rekonstruieren. Auch wenn Rassismus seit der Kolonialzeit weltweit gesellschaftlich etabliert ist, kann nicht davon ausgegangen werden, dass er sich in allen Organisationen, Milieus und Interaktionen eins zu eins reproduziert; vielmehr gilt es, die Eigenlogiken dieser unterschiedlichen Ebenen des Sozialen zu analysieren. Im Gegensatz zu einer objektivistischen Haltung, die einen privilegierten Zugang der Forschenden zur Wirklichkeit der Erforschten beansprucht, ermöglicht dies auch den rekonstruktiven Zugang zu den Erfahrungen und Orientierungen der Erforschten. Hilfreich ist dabei der Suchbegriff der ‚postkolonialen Lagerung‘, mit dem sich mögliche postkoloniale Erfahrungen analysieren lassen. Diskriminierung lässt sich dabei als eine totale Identifizierung von Menschen begreifen, die in unterschiedlichen Dimensionen zu finden ist, aber – wie der Postkolonialismus postuliert – in bestimmten Ausprägungen auch in der Gesellschaft verfestigt sein kann. Dabei sind neben expliziten totalen Identifizierungen stillschweigende Implikationen und Suppositionen sowie die impliziten Erfahrungen der Akteur*innen in den Blick zu nehmen.
Natural language processing and financial markets: semi-supervised modelling of coronavirus and economic news
Authors: Moreno-Pérez Carlos , Minozzo Marco
Published: June 2024

This paper investigates the reactions of US financial markets to press news from January 2019 to 1 May 2020. To this end, we deduce the content and uncertainty of the news by developing apposite indices from the headlines and snippets of The New York Times, using unsupervised machine learning techniques. In particular, we use Latent Dirichlet Allocation to infer the content (topics) of the articles, and Word Embedding (implemented with the Skip-gram model) and K-Means to measure their uncertainty. In this way, we arrive at the definition of a set of daily topic-specific uncertainty indices. These indices are then used to find explanations for the behavior of the US financial markets by implementing a batch of EGARCH models. In substance, we find that two topic-specific uncertainty indices, one related to COVID-19 news and the other to trade war news, explain the bulk of the movements in the financial markets from the beginning of 2019 to end-April 2020. Moreover, we find that the topic-specific uncertainty index related to the economy and the Federal Reserve is positively related to the financial markets, meaning that our index is able to capture the actions of the Federal Reserve during periods of uncertainty.
Exploring practice and perspectives on shared decision-making about osteoporosis medicines in Fracture Liaison Services: the iFraP development qualitative study
Authors: Bullock Laurna , Manning Fay , Hawarden Ashley , Fleming Jane , Leyland Sarah , Clark Emma M. , Thomas Simon , Gidlow Christopher , Iglesias-Urrutia Cynthia P. , Protheroe Joanne , Lefroy Janet , Ryan Sarah , O’Neill Terence W. , Mallen Christian , Jinks Clare , Paskins Zoe
Published: June 2024

Interviews and focus groups with patients, FLS clinicians, and GPs identified challenges relating to clinical and shared decision-making about bone health and osteoporosis medicines. Findings will inform the development of the multicomponent iFraP intervention to address identified training needs and barriers to implementation to facilitate SDM about osteoporosis medicines.

Purpose

The iFraP (improving uptake of Fracture Prevention treatments) study aimed to develop a multicomponent intervention, including an osteoporosis decision support tool (DST), to support shared decision-making (SDM) about osteoporosis medicines. To inform iFraP intervention development, this qualitative study explored current practice in relation to communication about bone health and osteoporosis medicines, anticipated barriers to, and facilitators of, an osteoporosis DST, and perceived training needs.

Methods

Patients attending an FLS consultation (n = 8), FLS clinicians (n = 9), and general practitioners (GPs; n = 7) were purposively sampled to participate in a focus group and/or telephone interview. Data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) as a deductive framework to systematically identify possible barriers to, and facilitators of, implementing a DST.

Results

Inductive codes were deductively mapped to 12 TDF domains. FLS clinicians were perceived to have specialist expertise (knowledge). However, clinicians described aspects of clinical decision-making and risk communication as difficult (cognitive skills). Patients reflected on decisional uncertainty about medicines (decision processes). Discussions about current practice and the proposed DST indicated opportunities to facilitate SDM, if identified training needs are met. Potential individual and system-level barriers to implementation were identified, such as differences in FLS configuration and a move to remote consulting (environmental context and resources).

Conclusions

Understanding of current practice revealed unmet training needs, indicating that using a DST in isolation would be unlikely to produce a sustained shift to SDM. Findings will shape iFraP intervention development to address unmet needs.
Double left brachiocephalic vein in a paediatric patient with CHD: a case report
Authors: Jain Simran , Thakur Prashant , Ravindra M. S. , Sathe Yogesh , Pandey Ragini
Published: June 2024

Anomalous brachiocephalic vein (ABCV) is a rare entity of head and neck venous channel variations and malformations. Amongst the five subtypes of ABVC, double left brachiocephalic vein (DLBCV) is the rarest. We present the case of a 1-year-11-month-old syndromic child, who had global developmental delay (GDD) with Sprengel deformity and failure to thrive (suspected Klippel Feil phenotype), who presented to us for the cardiac evaluation. Her 2D echocardiography revealed unobstructed total anomalous supra-cardiac pulmonary venous connection. However, for the delineation of individual pulmonary venous course, CT-pulmonary angiography was advised. CTPA revealed supra-cardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) with incidentally noted DLBCV. Importance of recognition of DLBCV enables us to prevent accidental venous injury during cardiac surgery and to avoid intraoperative technical issues during transvenous pacemaker insertion.
Extended water wave optimization (EWWO) technique: a proposed approach for task scheduling in IoMT and healthcare applications
Authors: Bapuram Bhasker , Subramanian Murali , Mahendran Anand , Ghafir Ibrahim , Ellappan Vijayan , Hamada Mohammed
Published: June 2024

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a version of the Internet of Things. It is getting the attention of researchers because it can be used in a wide range of smart healthcare systems. One of the main advancements employed recently is the IoMT-cloud, which allows users to access cloud services remotely over the internet. These cloud services require an efficient task scheduling approach that satisfies the Quality of Service parameters with a low energy consumption. This paper presents an overview of the integration of IoMT and cloud computing technologies. Besides,this work proposes an efficient Extended Water Wave Optimization (EWWO) task scheduling in the IoMT Cloud for healthcare applications. EWWO algorithm performs based on its operations propagation, refraction and breaking. The proposed EWWO scheduling technique minimizes the energy consumption, makespan time, execution time and increases the resource utilization. Cloudsim simulator is used to simulate the IoMT-Cloud environment to verify the effectiveness of EWWO technique. The performance has been evaluated based on various parameters such as energy consumption, makespan time and execution time.
Safety and Pleasure Motives Determine Perceived Risks and Rewards in Casual Sex
Authors: Rodrigues David L. , Carvalho A. Catarina , Balzarini Rhonda N. , de Visser Richard O. , Garrido Margarida V. , Prada Marília , Lopes Diniz
Published: June 2024

People differ in their predispositions to value safety maintenance (i.e., disease prevention regulatory focus) or pleasure pursuit (i.e., pleasure promotion regulatory focus). Extending recent research, results of a cross-sectional study with participants living in Portugal and Spain (N = 770) showed that these individual differences resulted in a trade-off between potential health risks and pleasure rewards in sexual practices and experiences with casual partners. Specifically, people who were more focused on promotion (vs. prevention) reported riskier and more unrestricted sexual activities (more frequent condomless sex activities; more casual partners) and experienced more positive sexual outcomes (more sexual satisfaction; more positive and less negative affect related to condomless sex). This pattern of results remained the same after controlling for country differences, suggesting the robustness of our findings across different cultural contexts. Our study shows the complexity of sexual decisions and align with our reasoning that prevention-focused people tend to prioritize health safety, whereas promotion-focused people tend to prioritize sexual pleasure. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.
Rethinking of Government Institutions and Governance Quality Indicators on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries
Authors: Şit Ahmet , Radulescu Magdalena , Güneş Hakan , Simba Hamis Miraji Ally , Şit Mustafa , Karadağ Haydar
Published: June 2024

The study aims to investigate the effect of governance quality on economic growth and government consumption in Sub-Saharan African countries. Balanced dynamic panel data for 36 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2011 to 2022 were analyzed using GMM and Driscoll-Kraay regressions. In addition to the fact that there is no study in the literature that examines the effect of state governance indicators on economic growth in SSA countries, the addition of government consumption variable as a second dependent variable adds originality to the study. The empirical analysis revealed that government institutions have a positive effect and are significant in SSA countries’ economic growth. In addition, according to the Driscoll-Kraay regression, it is seen that governments’ development of institutions increases government consumptions. The governance indicators threshold that strengthens the government institution in Sub-Sahara Africa must be reached to increase the economic growth of Sub-Sahara Africa. For economic growth, effective government institutions and governance quality policies should be practiced and maintained among the Sub-Saharan African countries.

Graphical Abstract
The role of body composition and appetite-regulating hormones in idiopathic central precocious puberty and their changes during GnRH analog therapy
Authors: Tarçin G. , Bayramoğlu E. , Güneş Kaya D. , Karakaş H. , Demirbaş K. C. , Turan H. , Evliyaoğlu O.
Published: June 2024

Purpose

It was aimed to compare circulating levels of ghrelin, leptin, peptide YY (PYY), and neuropeptide (NPY) between girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP) and prepubertal girls, as well as to evaluate alterations in these hormone levels and body composition during leuprolide acetate treatment in girls with ICPP.

Methods

This prospective study was conducted on girls with isolated premature thelarche (IPT), girls with ICPP, and age-matched prepubertal controls. Anthropometric measurements, body composition analysis and appetite-regulating hormone level measurements were performed in each group and also at the 6th and 12th months of the leuprolide acetate treatment for the girls with ICPP.

Results

Seventy-three girls participated in the study (24 girls with ICPP, 28 with IPT, and 21 prepubertal controls). No significant differences were observed in ghrelin, leptin, PYY, and NPY levels among the three groups. Leuprolide acetate treatment resulted in increased leptin, decreased PYY and NPY levels, and no significant changes in ghrelin. Despite no significant change in body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS), body fat percentage increased during treatment.

Conclusion

While appetite-regulating hormones do not seem to directly contribute to precocious puberty pathogenesis, puberty blockade was shown to lead to altered levels of these hormones along with changes in body composition.
Nested attention network based on category contexts learning for semantic segmentation
Authors: Li Tianping , Liu Meilin , Wei Dongmei
Published: June 2024

The attention mechanism is widely used in the field of semantic segmentation, due to the fact that it can be used to obtain effective long-distance dependencies by assigning different weights to objects according to different tasks. We propose a novel Nested Attention Network (NANet) for semantic segmentation, which combines Feature Category Attention (FCA) and Channel Relationship Attention (CRA) to effectively aggregate same-category contexts in both spatial and channel dimensions. Specifically, FCA captures the dependencies between spatial pixel features and categories to achieve the aggregation of features of the same category. CRA further captures the channel relationships on the output of FCA to obtain richer contexts. Numerous experiments have shown that NANet has a lower number of parameters and computational complexity than other state-of-the-art methods, and is a lightweight model with a lower total number of floating-point operations. We evaluated the performance of NANet on three datasets: Cityscapes, PASCAL VOC 2012, and ADE20K, and the experimental results show that NANet obtains promising results, reaching a performance of 82.6% on the Cityscapes test set.
An Anatomy of Human Dignity; Dissecting the Heart of Humanistic Management
Authors: Huijser Danaë , Nullens Patrick
Published: June 2024

Human dignity is introduced in the humanistic management school to distinguish humanistic from economistic perspectives on organizational business practices. Placing human dignity at the core of management leads to a different outlook on doing business, organizing and leading. Within the humanistic management literature, there are several distinct paths to ground human dignity in humanistic management. One school views human dignity as a form of motivation, another focuses on its value-laden components, and still others view human dignity as a form of human development. We introduce relational anthropology as a fourth possibility, emphasizing relationality in the notion of human dignity, with love at its core as the essence of human experience. However, as the experience of human dignity is universally human, culturally specific and extremely personal, interpretations of experienced dignity could be very different for different people. We continue to discuss a cosmopolitan view on human dignity, in which we reject both naïve universalism and lazy relativism, pointing to the challenge of leading moral plurality. We close by summarizing the different approaches to human dignity in a conciliatory framework and outline why we believe an explicit emphasis on qualitative, phenomenological research is the best way forward, bringing love to the stage as the potentially unifying principle for humanistic management.