bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Beyond Conventional Models: Recreating the Initiation, Evolution, and Genome of GBM
Authors: Bohm A , DePetro J , Binding C , Gerber A , Chahley N , Ware M , Thomas K , Bukhari S , Chen C , Chahley E , Grisdale C , Berger D , Lawn S , Yu Y , Wong R , Shen Y , Omairi H , Mirzaei R , Maxwell L , Pederson H , Yong V , Weiss S , Chan J , Cimino P.J. , Kelly J. , Jones S.J.M. , Holland E , Blough M.D. , Cairncross J.G.
Published: November 2019

Background

Imagining ways to prevent or treat glioblastoma (GBM) have been hindered by a lack of understanding of its pathogenesis. Although PDGF-AA overexpression may be an early event, critical details of the core biology are lacking. Existing PDGF-driven models replicate its microscopic appearance but not the genomic architecture characteristic of the human disease. Here we report a new model of GBM that overcomes this barrier to authenticity.

Methods

Using a method developed to study neural stem cells, we investigated the effects of PDGF-AA on subventricular zone (SVZ) cells, the putative cell of origin of GBM. We micro-dissected SVZ tissue from p53-null and wild-type adult mice, established primary cultures in media supplemented with PDGF-AA, and assessed cell viability, proliferation, genome stability, and tumour forming potential.

Results

Counterintuitive to its canonical role as a growth factor, we observed immediate and massive death of SVZ cells in PDGF-AA. Wild-type cells did not survive in PDGF-AA. However, a small fraction of null cells evaded apoptosis, displayed attenuated proliferation, gradually accumulated whole chromosome gains and losses, and, signalled by sudden rapid proliferation and growth factor independence, became tumorigenic in immune-competent syngeneic mice. Transformed cells had an OPC-like profile, were resistant to PDGFR-α inhibition, and harboured highly abnormal karyotypes similar to those seen in human GBMs.

Conclusion

This model associates genome instability in SVZ cells with chronic exposure to PDGF-AA; it is the first model to replicate the genomic landscape of GBM and first in which the earliest phases of GBM can be directly observed.

IMPORTANCE OF STUDY

We have developed a mouse model in which the initiation, evolution and genomic landscape of GBM can be thoroughly studied thus paving the way for ideas about how this deadly brain cancer might be prevented, interrupted at an occult stage, or treated with very different therapies.
Removal of high frequency contamination from motion estimates in single-band fMRI saves data without biasing functional connectivity
Authors: Gratton Caterina , Dworetsky Ally , Coalson Rebecca S. , Adeyemo Babatunde , Laumann Timothy O. , Wig Gagan S. , Kong Tania S. , Gratton Gabriele , Fabiani Monica , Barch Deanna M. , Tranel Daniel , Miranda-Dominguez Oscar , Fair Damien A. , Dosenbach Nico U. F. , Snyder Abraham Z. , Perlmutter Joel S. , Petersen Steven E. , Campbell Meghan C.
Published: November 2019

Denoising fMRI data requires assessment of frame-to-frame head motion and removal of the biases motion introduces. This is usually done through analysis of the parameters calculated during retrospective head motion correction (i.e., ‘motion’ parameters). However, it is increasingly recognized that respiration introduces factitious head motion via perturbations of the main (B0) field. This effect appears as higher-frequency fluctuations in the motion parameters (> 0.1 Hz, here referred to as ‘HF-motion’), primarily in the phase-encoding direction. This periodicity can sometimes be obscured in standard single-band fMRI (TR 2.0 – 2.5 s.) due to aliasing. Here we examined (1) how prevalent HF-motion effects are in seven single-band datasets with TR from 2.0 - 2.5 s and (2) how HF-motion affects functional connectivity. We demonstrate that HF-motion is relatively trait-like and more common in older adults, those with higher body mass index, and those with lower cardiorespiratory fitness. We propose a low-pass filtering approach to remove the contamination of high frequency effects from motion summary measures, such as framewise displacement (FD). We demonstrate that in most datasets this filtering approach saves a substantial amount of data from FD-based frame censoring, while at the same time reducing motion biases in functional connectivity measures. These findings suggest that filtering motion parameters is an effective way to improve the fidelity of head motion estimates, even in single band datasets. Particularly large data savings may accrue in datasets acquired in older and less fit participants.

Highlights

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Single-band fMRI motion traces show factitious high-frequency content (HF-motion)

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The magnitude of HF-motion relates to age and other demographic factors

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HF-motion elevates framewise displacement (FD) and causes data loss

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Substantial fMRI data can be recovered from censoring by filtering motion traces

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Filtering motion traces reduces motion artifacts in functional connectivity
SpaCell: integrating tissue morphology and spatial gene expression to predict disease cells
Authors: Tan Xiao , Su Andrew , Tran Minh , Nguyen Quan
Published: November 2019

Motivation

Spatial transcriptomics technology is increasingly being applied because it enables the measurement of spatial gene expression in an intact tissue along with imaging morphology of the same tissue. However, current analysis methods for spatial transcriptomics data do not use image pixel information, thus missing the quantitative links between gene expression and tissue morphology.

Results

We developed an user-friendly deep learning software, SpaCell, to integrate millions of pixel intensity values with thousands of gene expression measurements from spatially-barcoded spots in a tissue. We show the integration approach outperforms the use of gene count alone or imaging data alone to create deep learning models to identify cell types or predict labels of tissue images with high resolution and accuracy.

Availability

The SpaCell package is open source under a MIT license and it is available at https://github.com/BiomedicalMachineLearning/SpaCell

Contact

quan.nguyen@uq.edu.au
genuMet: distinguish genuine untargeted metabolic features without quality control samples
Authors: Cao L , Clish C , Hu FB , Martínez-González MA , Razquin C , Bullo-Bonet M , Corella D , Gómez-Gracia E , Fiol M , Estruch R , Lapetra J , Fitó M , Arós F , Serra-Majem L , Ros E , Liang L
Published: November 2019

Motivation

Large-scale untargeted metabolomics experiments lead to detection of thousands of novel metabolic features as well as false positive artifacts. With the incorporation of pooled QC samples and corresponding bioinformatics algorithms, those measurement artifacts can be well quality controlled. However, it is impracticable for all the studies to apply such experimental design.

Results

We introduce a post-alignment quality control method called genuMet, which is solely based on injection order of biological samples to identify potential false metabolic features. In terms of the missing pattern of metabolic signals, genuMet can reach over 95% true negative rate and 85% true positive rate with suitable parameters, compared with the algorithm utilizing pooled QC samples. genu-Met makes it possible for studies without pooled QC samples to reduce false metabolic signals and perform robust statistical analysis.

Availability and implementation

genuMet is implemented in a R package and available on https://github.com/liucaomics/genuMet under GPL-v2 license.

Contact

Liming Liang: lliang@hsph.harvard.edu

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at ….
Scaling laws in spoken language associated with cognitive functions
Authors: Abe Masato S. , Otake-Matsuura Mihoko
Published: November 2019

A decline in cognitive functions due to aging has led to critical problems in modern society, and it is imperative to develop a method to predict the decline or related diseases, including dementia. Although it has been expected that language could be a sign of the cognitive decline, it remains less understood, especially in natural conditions. In this study, we recorded the large-scale data of one million words from group conversations among healthy elderly people and analysed the relationship between spoken language and cognitive functions based on scaling laws, namely, Zipf’s law and Heaps’ law. We found that word patterns followed these scaling laws irrespective of cognitive function, but the variations in scaling laws were associated with cognitive functions. Moreover, using generative models, we uncovered the relationship between the variations and cognitive functions. These results indicate that scaling laws in language can be a biomarker for the cognitive decline.
Solvates of acotiamide hydrochloride: characterization and phase transformation
Authors: Zhang Guoshun , Wang Na , Shang Xiaoqing , Zhang Lifeng , Wang Ruili , Zhang Shuqiu
Published: November 2019

Five novel crystals of acotiamide hydrochloride (AH) with solvates dimethyl formide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethyl acetate (EA) and water (W) [1AH-1W-1DMF, 1AH-1DMSO-I, 1AH-1DMSO-II, 1AH-1W-1DMSO and 2AH-2DMSO-1EA] were characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The five crystals can be divided into four distinct structural types based on analysis of their similarities; 1AH-1W-1DMF and 1AH-1W-1DMSO are isostructural. The benzene rings in 1AH-1DMSO-I, 1AH-1DMSO-II and 2AH-2DMSO-1EA can rotate 180°, and the intramolecular hydrogen bond changes from an OH...C=O bond to an NH...OH bond relative to what is seen in 1AH-1W-1DMF and 1AH-1W-1DMSO. Phase transformation experiments show that a humidity-induced phase transformation is closely tied to moisture content.
Hodgesmithite, (Cu,Zn)6Zn(SO4)2(OH)10·3H2O, a new copper zinc sulfate mineral with a unique, decorated, interrupted-sheet structure
Authors: Elliott Peter
Published: November 2019

Hodgesmithite, ideally (Cu,Zn)6Zn(SO4)2(OH)10·3H2O, is a new copper zinc sulfate mineral from the Block 14 Opencut, Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. Electron microprobe analysis provided the empirical formula Cu4.84,Zn2.16,Cd0.04[(SO4)1.89,(SiO4)0.12]2.01(OH)9.82·3.15H2O based on 21 oxygen atoms per formula unit. Hodgesmithite is trigonal, space groupP3, witha= 8.1905 (12),c= 7.0990 (14) Å,V= 412.43 (12) Å3andZ= 1. The crystal structure of hodgesmithite,R1= 0.0272 for 5145 reflections withFo> 4σ(Fo) measured with synchrotron X-ray radiation (λ = 0.71080 Å), contains interrupted sheets of edge-sharing Cu(O,OH)6octahedra in the (001) plane. Every seventh octahedral site is vacant and capped by a ZnO4tetrahedron and an SO4tetrahedron which are attached to the sheet above and below this position. The sheets are additionally decorated on one side by SO4tetrahedra that share a vertex incident to three Cu—O(apical) bonds. Interstitial H2O groups lie between the sheets. ZnO4tetrahedra share vertices with SO4tetrahedra from the adjacent sheet to provide linkage between the sheets in thecdirection.
Anti-money laundering ratings: uncovering evidence hidden in plain sight
Authors: Pol Ronald F.
Published: November 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to increase the transparency of information in official anti-money laundering rating data to assist evidence-informed decision-making in compliance, policy-making and research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper converts anti-money laundering rating data into information-rich visualisations, reintroduces a comparison methodology and ranks all anti-money laundering regimes evaluated to date.

Findings

Official anti-money laundering ratings as currently structured and presented offer surprisingly little policy-relevant information. Persistent failure to transform available data into information for knowledge and insight suggests that the risk has been realised that impressionistic judgments or politicised interests drive the policy agenda at least as much as objective evidence or substantive economic and social goals.

Practical implications

Any reluctance to generate policy-relevant information from the industry’s primary data set or disinclination to engage constructively with a growing body of independent critical policy effectiveness evidence calls into question whether implementing anti-money laundering controls with some prospect of achieving substantial societal benefits, or perpetuating the current system, prevails.

Originality/value

With a dearth of scholarship at the intersection of money laundering and policy effectiveness scholarship and practice, this paper combines elements of these disciplines and examines anti-money laundering effectiveness from a different viewpoint. Rather than seeking to measure money laundering or estimate the proportion of criminal proceeds successfully intercepted, this paper draws directly from the anti-money laundering industry’s own “main” data set.
Money laundering control in Tanzania
Authors: Mniwasa Eugene E.
Published: November 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how banks in Tanzania have been vulnerable to money laundering activities and how the banking institutions have been implicated in enabling or aiding the commission of money laundering offences, and highlights the banks’ failure or inability to prevent, detect and thwart money laundering committed through their financial systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores Tanzania’s anti-money laundering law and analyzes non-law factors that make the banks exposed to money laundering activities. It looks at law-related, political and economic circumstances that impinge on the banks’ efficacy to tackle money laundering offences committed through their systems. The data are sourced from policy documents, statutes, case law and literature from Tanzania and other jurisdictions.

Findings

Both law-related and non-law factors create an enabling environment for the commission of money laundering offences, and this exposes banks in Tanzania to money laundering activities. Some banks have been implicated in enabling or aiding money laundering offences. These banks have abdicated their obligations to fight against money laundering. This is attributed to the fact that the banks’ internal anti-money laundering policies, regulations and procedures are inefficient, and Tanzania’s legal framework is generally ineffective to tackle money laundering offences.

Originality/value

This paper uncovers a multi-faceted nature of money laundering affecting banks in Tanzania. It is recommended that Tanzania’s anti-money laundering policy should address law-related, political, economic and other factors that create an enabling environment for the commission of money laundering offences. Tanzania’s anti-money laundering law should be reformed to enhance its efficacy and, lastly, banks should reinforce their internal anti-money laundering policies and regulations and policies.
Adaptation of ventricular repolarization duration and dispersion during changes in heart rate induced by atrial stimulation
Authors: Axelsson Karl‐Jonas , Brännlund Adam , Gransberg Lennart , Lundahl Gunilla , Vahedi Farzad , Bergfeldt Lennart
Published: November 2019

Background

The duration of ventricular repolarization (VR) and its spatial and temporal heterogeneity are central elements in arrhythmogenesis. We studied the adaptation of VR duration and dispersion and their relationship in healthy human subjects during atrial pacing.

Methods

Patients 20‐50 years of age who were scheduled for ablation of supraventricular tachycardia without preexcitation but otherwise healthy were eligible. Vectorcardiography recordings with Frank leads were used for data collection. Incremental atrial pacing from a coronary sinus electrode was performed by decrements of 10ms/cycle from just above sinus rate, and then kept at a fixed heart rate (HR) just below the Wenckebach rate for ≥5min and then stopped. VR duration was measured as QT and VR dispersion as T area, T amplitude and ventricular gradient. The primary measure (T90 End) was the time to reach 90% change from baseline to the steady state value during and after pacing.

Results

A complete study protocol was accomplished in 9 individuals (6 women). VR duration displayed a monophasic adaptation during HR acceleration lasting on average 20s. The median (Q1‐Q3) T90 End for QT was 85s (51‐104), a delay by a factor >4. All dispersion measures displayed a tri‐phasic response pattern during HR acceleration and T90 End was 3‐5 times shorter than for VR duration.

Conclusions

Even during close to “physiological” conditions, complex and differing response patterns in VR duration and dispersion measures followed changes in HR. Extended knowledge about these responses in disease conditions might assist in risk evaluation and finding therapeutic alternatives.
Long‐term clinical outcomes and prognoses of ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction patients who present with tombstoning ST‐segment elevation
Authors: Tanık Veysel Ozan , Çınar Tufan , Şimşek Barış , Güngör Barış , Avcı İlker , Tanboga İbrahim Halil , Karabay Can Yücel
Published: November 2019

Introduction

Although patients with tombstoning ST‐segment elevation (Tomb‐ST) usually have poor in‐hospital and short‐term survival rates, no studies have examined the long‐term clinical outcomes and prognosis of ST‐segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients who have this electrocardiographic pattern. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the long‐term clinical events and mortality of such patients in this study.

Methods

In this retrospective analysis, we included 335 consecutive patients who were diagnosed with acute anterior wall‐STEMI from January 2015 to June 2018. The criteria for the definition of Tomb‐ST were accepted as provided in a previous study. Endpoints of the study were the incidence of significant in‐hospital and long‐term major adverse clinical events (MACE) including the composite of total death, myocardial reinfarction, and hospitalizations due to heart failure.

Results

Patients who presented with Tomb‐ST had significantly higher in‐hospital and long‐term mortality (10% [n = 12 patients] vs. 2.3% [n = 5 patients]; p < 0.001and 6.5% [n = 7 patients] vs. 1.9% [n = 4 patients]; p = .04, respectively). In a multivariate traditional and penalized Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, this type of electrocardiographic pattern was found as independent predictor of long‐term MACE (Odds ratio [OR]: 3.82, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.91–7.63, p < .001 and OR: 4.36, 95% CI: 1.97–9.66, p < .001, respectively).

Conclusion

In the present study, we observed that the presence of Tomb‐ST might be an independent predictor of long‐term MACE in STEMI patients. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the long‐term MACE of such patients.
Seamless Mipmap Filtering for Dual Paraboloid Maps
Authors: Wang Zhenni , Yui Ho Tze , Leung Chi Sing , Wong Eric. W. M.
Published: November 2019

Dual paraboloid mapping is an approach for environment mapping. Its major advantage is its fast map generation speed. For graphics applications, when filtering is needed, the filtering tool would naturally be mipmapping. However, directly applying mipmapping to dual paraboloid mapping would give us three problems. They are the discontinuity across the dual paraboloid map boundary, the non‐uniform sampling problem and the depth testing issue. We propose three approaches to solve these problems. Our approaches are based on some closed form equations derived via theoretical analysis. Using these equations, we modify the coordinates involved during the rendering process. In other words, these problems are handled just by using dual paraboloid maps and mipmaps differently, instead of fundamentally altering their data structures. Consequently, we are fixing the problems without damaging the map generation speed advantage. Applying all three approaches, we improve the rendering quality of dual paraboloid map mipmaps to a level equivalent to that of cubemap mipmaps, while preserving its fast map generation speed advantage. This gives dual paraboloid map mipmaps the potential to be a better choice than cubemap mipmaps for the devices with less computational power. The effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed approaches are demonstrated using a glossy reflection application and an omnidirectional soft shadow generation application.
Lighting Layout Optimization for 3D Indoor Scenes
Authors: Jin Sam , Lee Sung‐Hee
Published: November 2019

As the number of models for 3D indoor scenes are increasing rapidly, methods for generating the lighting layout have also become increasingly important. This paper presents a novel method that creates optimal placements and intensities of a set of lights in indoor scenes. Our method is characterized by designing the objective functions for the optimization based on the lighting guidelines used in the interior design field. Specifically, to apply major elements of the lighting guideline, we identify three criteria, namely the structure, function, and aesthetics, that are suitable for the virtual space and quantify them through a set of objective terms: pairwise relation, hierarchy, circulation, illuminance, and collision. Given an indoor scene with properly arranged furniture as input, our method combines the procedural and optimization‐based approaches to generate lighting layouts appropriate to the geometric and functional characteristics of the input scene. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated with an ablation study of cost terms for the optimization and a user study for perceptual evaluation.
Learning Style Compatibility Between Objects in a Real‐World 3D Asset Database
Authors: Liu Yifan , Tang Ruolan , Ritchie Daniel
Published: November 2019

Large 3D asset databases are critical for designing virtual worlds, and using them effectively requires techniques for efficient querying and navigation. One important form of query is search by style compatibility: given a query object, find others that would be visually compatible if used in the same scene. In this paper, we present a scalable, learning‐based approach for solving this problem which is designed for use with real‐world 3D asset databases; we conduct experiments on 121 3D asset packages containing around 4000 3D objects from the Unity Asset Store. By leveraging the structure of the object packages, we introduce a technique to synthesize training labels for metric learning that work as well as human labels. These labels can grow exponentially with the number of objects, allowing our approach to scale to large real‐world 3D asset databases without the need for expensive human training labels. We use these synthetic training labels in a metric learning model that analyzes the in‐engine rendered appearance of an object—combining geometry, material, and texture—whereas prior work considers only object geometry, or disjoint geometry and texture features. Through an ablation experiment, we find that using this representation yields better results than using renders which lack texture, materiality, or both.
Occurrence of Neodolichodorus persiangulfus n. sp. (Nematoda: Dolichodoridae) in mangrove forests of southern Iran
Authors: Gharahkhani Azadeh , Pourjam Ebrahim , Pedram Majid
Published: November 2019

An infestation of mangrove forests with Neodolichodorus persiangulfus n. sp. in southern Iran is reported. This paper is the first to report a representative species of the genus in the country. The new species was characterized by 2,120 (1795–2400) µm long females, and 1755 (1533–2019) µm long males, a continuous to slightly offset cephalic region separated from the rest of the body by a shallow depression, having 5–7 annuli and a distinct labial plate, a lateral field with four lines, the outer ones crenate, irregularly areolated in anterior and posterior body region, 79 (66–85) μm long female stylet, a didelphic‐amphidelphic female reproductive system with asymmetric sclerotized vaginae, phasmids 5–10 annuli behind the anus, female tail elongate conoid, suddenly narrowing at 5–12 annuli posterior to anus and males with trilobed bursa, 52.5 (47–58) μm long spicules and 21.5 (18–27) μm gubernaculum. With the elongate‐conoid female tail and cʹ >1.2, the new species is close to five known species of the genus: N. brevistylus, N. leiocephalus, N. paralongicaudatus, N. rageshi and N. sinensis, but is distinguished from them by the morphology of the female tail, areolation type of the lateral field, position of hemizonid and phasmid and morphometric data. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using sequences of the near full‐length fragment of the small and the D2‐D3 expansion segments of the large subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU and LSU rDNA D2‐D3) revealed the new species placed in a clade including one isolate of Neodolichodorus sp. and some species of Globodera, Heterodera and Rotylenchulus with 0.89 Bayesian posterior probability (BPP) in SSU phylogeny. The only available SSU sequence of the genus was the tentative closest relative to the new species in the inferred SSU tree. In the reconstructed LSU phylogenetic tree, N. persiangulfus n. sp. formed a poorly supported clade with Rotylenchulus spp. in Bayesian inference (BI), and the only other available D2‐D3 sequence of the genus occupied a distant placement to the new species.
Morphological characteristics, cytogenetic profile, and outcome of RUNX1‐RUNX1T1‐positive acute myeloid leukemia: Experience of an Indian tertiary care center
Authors: Gupta Ruchi , Yadav Sanjeev , Parashar Yatendra , Rahman Khaliqur , Singh Manish Kumar , Chandra Dinesh , Gupta Anshul , Nityanand Soniya
Published: November 2019

Introduction

A prototype of good prognosis, t(8;21)‐positive AML, has diverse clinical and genetic features which affect its outcome. This study aimed at evaluating the clinico‐pathological spectrum of t(8;21)‐positive AML and ascertaining prognostic factors influencing its outcome in the Indian subcontinent.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of 75 cases of t(8;21)‐positive AML diagnosed over a period of six years (2013‐2018) was carried out. Detailed clinical and laboratory data of the patients were collected from the electronic medical records and reviewed.

Results

Median age was 19.5 years (range 5‐75 years) with a M:F of 1.7. Myeloid sarcoma was observed in 9.3% cases. There were 85% FAB AML‐M2, 8% AML‐M1, and 7% AML‐M4 subtypes. Prominent morphological characteristics included dyspoiesis in maturing myeloid cells (83%), long thin tapered Auer rods (58%), cytoplasmic vacuoles (58%), eosinophilia (50%), and mast cells (22%). Auer rods in maturing granulocytes (4% cases) were highly suggestive of the translocation. Additional cytogenetic abnormalities were present in 53% cases. Seventy‐one percent (25/35) achieved CR. The overall survival (OS) was 40%, with a median follow‐up of 27 months (range 4‐57 months). None of the hematological or cytogenetic factors correlated with OS, except for the presence of myeloid sarcoma which had a trend toward poor survival (P = .07).

Conclusion

Outcome of t(8;21) AML is not influenced by any of the clinico‐pathological parameters, except for a myeloid sarcoma, which may herald a poor prognosis. Recognition of this distinct subtype of AML would facilitate further molecular screening for risk stratification in resource‐constrained settings.
Geriatric nutritional risk index is associated with mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients
Authors: Ren Mian , Sheng Qilin , Xie Xishao , Zhang Xiaohui , Han Fei , Chen Jianghua
Published: November 2019

Background

Malnutrition is one of the most common complications among dialysis patients. The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) is rarely used in dialysis patients, especially peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Aim

To use the GNRI to evaluate the initial nutritional state of PD patients and to examine the association between the GNRI and mortality in chronic PD patients.

Methods

We retrospectively examined the medical records at our centre to identify all adults (≥18 years) who had undergone PD for over 3 months before recruitment from January 2005 to December 2017. The correlation between the GNRI and mortality was examined by Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards analyses.

Results

A total of 1804 patients was enrolled in the study. Significant correlations were noted between the initial GNRI and Charlson index, uric acid, blood calcium, potassium, triglycerides, low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, haemoglobin and so on. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses demonstrated that the GNRI was associated with all‐cause mortality (hazard ratio = 0.96, P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval: 0.95—0.98) after adjustment. Compared with the lowest GNRI group, all‐cause mortality decreased significantly for each level of GNRI after adjusting for various influencing factors, and the mortality risk of the highest GNRI grade decreased by 66%. The Kaplan–Meier analysis survival rate was significantly different among the four groups in terms of all‐cause mortality and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality (log‐rank test, P < 0.05).

Conclusions

These results demonstrated that the GNRI is significantly associated with mortality and can be a simple, clinically useful marker for the assessment of nutritional status in PD patients.
Trends in stroke reperfusion treatment and outcomes in New Zealand
Authors: Hedlund Fredrik , Leighs Andrew , Barber P. Alan , Lundström Erik , Wu Teddy Y. , Ranta Annemarei
Published: November 2019

Background

Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) can help reverse stroke symptoms in selected patients but are both time sensitive interventions.

Aims

To report current stroke reperfusion rates and quality measures as well as trends over time in New Zealand.

Method

Since 2015 New Zealand treatment centres have been mandated to enter prospectively all IVT and EVT patients into a low‐cost National Stroke Register. Data were cleaned, and missing data added where possible through contact with individual hospitals. Main outcomes include treatment delays, vital status at day 7 and complications.

Results

In 2018, there were 719 of 7173 (10.0%) patients with ischaemic stroke or stroke unspecified treated with IVT, up from 389 of 5963 (6.5%) patients in 2015 (P < 0.001), with no change in day 7 mortality (P = 0.63) or sICH rate (P = 0.22). Median (interquartile range (IQR)) door‐to‐needle times decreased from 65 (47–89) min in 2017 to 59 (40–84) min in 2018 (P = 0.022), and patients treated within 60 min increased from 40 to 51% (P < 0.001). In 2018, there were 243 (3.4%) patients treated with EVT up from 134/6859 (1.9%) in 2017 (P < 0.0001), with no change in 7‐day mortality (P = 0.39) or intracerebral haemorrhage (sICH) (P = 0.78). There was no significant change in onset‐to‐needle (P = 0.21), arrival‐to‐groin (P = 0.28) or onset‐to‐reperfusion time (P = 0.32).

Conclusion

Stroke reperfusion rates in New Zealand are continuously rising with no associated increase in complications. More patients are being treated faster upon hospital arrival but there remains room for further improvement in reducing onset to treatment delays.
Commentary: Money can't buy you love, but lack of love costs families and society plenty – a comment on Bachmann et al. (2019)
Authors: Steele Howard
Published: November 2019

The target paper on the costs of (lack of) love underscores the ongoing need for early preventive interventions that support parents, both mothers and fathers, aiming to provide for their children. With effective targeting of such interventions, the emergence of children's antisocial behavioral problems may be greatly lessened. In addition to the economic costs to family and society of caring for children with moderate or severe antisocial behavior problems is substantial, the costs in terms of diminished health and well‐being may persist across the lifespan. Recent research on attachment and physical health adds to the evidence base pointing to the substantial economic burdens, falling to families, schools, and health services, when insecurity or disorganization of attachment typifies early parent‐child relationships. Further research ought to give consideration to potentially moderating or compensatory relationships that otherwise vulnerable youth may develop to supportive peers, siblings or teachers.
Is embryo abortion a post‐zygotic barrier to gene flow between Littorina ecotypes?
Authors: Johannesson Kerstin , Zagrodzka Zuzanna , Faria Rui , Marie Westram Anja , Butlin Roger K.
Published: November 2019

Genetic incompatibilities contribute to reproductive isolation between many diverging populations, but it is still unclear to what extent they play a role if divergence happens with gene flow. In contact zones between the "Crab" and "Wave" ecotypes of the snail Littorina saxatilis, divergent selection forms strong barriers to gene flow, while the role of post‐zygotic barriers due to selection against hybrids remains unclear. High embryo abortion rates in this species could indicate the presence of such barriers. Post‐zygotic barriers might include genetic incompatibilities (e.g. Dobzhansky–Muller incompatibilities) but also maladaptation, both expected to be most pronounced in contact zones. In addition, embryo abortion might reflect physiological stress on females and embryos independent of any genetic stress. We examined all embryos of >500 females sampled outside and inside contact zones of three populations in Sweden. Females' clutch size ranged from 0 to 1,011 embryos (mean 130 ± 123), and abortion rates varied between 0% and 100% (mean 12%). We described female genotypes by using a hybrid index based on hundreds of SNPs differentiated between ecotypes with which we characterized female genotypes. We also calculated female SNP heterozygosity and inversion karyotype. Clutch size did not vary with female hybrid index, and abortion rates were only weakly related to hybrid index in two sites but not at all in a third site. No additional variation in abortion rate was explained by female SNP heterozygosity, but increased female inversion heterozygosity added slightly to increased abortion. Our results show only weak and probably biologically insignificant post‐zygotic barriers contributing to ecotype divergence, and the high and variable abortion rates were marginally, if at all, explained by hybrid index of females.
Use of grape pomace in formulated feed for the rainbow trout fry, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792)
Authors: Peña Emyr , Badillo‐Zapata Daniel , Viana María T. , Correa‐Reyes Gabriel
Published: November 2019

Two different experiments with rainbow trout fry were carried out to evaluate the effect of different grape pomace (GP) levels in feed on growth performance and apparent digestibility. The first experiment used 0, 20, 40, and 60 g kg−1 GP (D0, D2, D4, and D6, respectively); the second experiment used 0, 60, 120, and 180 g kg−1 GP (D0, D6, D12, and D18, respectively). Total polyphenols in the diet ranged from 0 to 8.19 mg g−1 in D0–D18. At the end of the first and second experiments (83 days and 77 days, respectively), no significant differences in fish growth were observed between the different diets. On the other hand, feed containing up to 2.7 mg g−1 total polyphenols (D6) showed a significantly higher digestibility relative to feed with more than 5.5 mg g−1 total polyphenols (D12). Our findings suggest that the inclusion of GP at levels of up to 18% in feed for Oncorhynchus mykiss fry did not affect growth parameters. However, it did influence apparent digestibility; fry that consumed diet D6 showed benefits in terms of nutrient digestibility and feed conversion efficiency.
Should we use kidneys from donors with acute kidney injury for renal transplantation?
Authors: Chan Gordon C.‐K. , Chow Kai Ming
Published: November 2019

The scarcity of donor organs for transplant results in long waiting times for kidney transplantation and low transplant rate worldwide. Utilization of kidneys from donors with acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the strategies that has attracted attention recently. This article reviewed the outcomes of transplanted renal allografts from donors with acute kidney injury. Key findings about the transplant outcomes included a higher incidence of delayed graft function and primary non function, but respectable outcomes in the context of similar acute rejection rates, and graft function and graft survival. Against this background and with evidence of high mortality for patients remaining on waiting list of transplant, we advocate consideration of AKI donors for kidney transplantation.
Mediating role of cognition and social cognition on creativity among patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls: Revisiting the Shared Vulnerability Model
Authors: Sampedro Agurne , Peña Javier , Ibarretxe‐Bilbao Naroa , Sánchez Pedro , Iriarte‐Yoller Nagore , Ledesma‐González Sara , Tous‐Espelosin Mikel , Ojeda Natalia
Published: November 2019

Aim

As suggested by the Shared Vulnerability Model, impairment in executive functions could lead to worse creative performance among individuals with schizophrenia. Another impaired function in schizophrenia, previously related to creativity in healthy people, is theory of mind. However, little is known about the effect of theory of mind in creativity in schizophrenia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze differences in creativity among patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls (HC) and to explore the potential role of executive functions and theory of mind as mediators of this relation.

Methods

Forty‐five patients with schizophrenia and 45 HC underwent a neuropsychological assessment, including executive functions (cognitive flexibility and working memory), theory of mind, and verbal and figural creativity.

Results

As expected, patients with schizophrenia obtained lower scores in creativity, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and theory of mind compared to HC. Path analysis showed that theory of mind mediated the relation between group (schizophrenia or HC) and both figural (Z = 2.075, P = 0.037) and verbal creativity (Z = 2.570, P = 0.010). Working memory mediated the relation between group and figural creativity (Z = 2.034, P = 0.041) and was marginally significant for verbal creativity (Z = 1.930, P = 0.053). Finally, cognitive flexibility mediated between group and figural creativity (Z = 2.454, P = 0.014).

Conclusion

Results suggest that the lower performance in creativity among patients with schizophrenia was partly due to an impairment in executive functions and theory of mind. The involvement of theory of mind opens up a new field of research as a possible risk factor in the Shared Vulnerability Model.
Association of Religious Activity with Male Suicide Deaths
Authors: de la Vega Sánchez Diego , Guija Julio A. , Pérez‐Moreno Pedro , Kelly Samuel A. , Santos María , Oquendo María A. , Courtet Philippe , Giner José , Giner Lucas
Published: November 2019

Objective

To analyze the relationship between suicide in men and stratified measures of religiosity.

Methods

We studied 192 suicides and 81 controls (nonsuicide, sudden, or accidental death). We employed the psychological autopsy method to compile diagnoses based on DSM‐IV criteria. Overall, religiosity and participation in religious associations were determined using a Likert‐type scale. Given the limited participation of women in the religious associations of southern Spain, only male subjects were included.

Results

Religious participants had decreased risk of suicide compared to nonparticipants (OR = 0.148, 95% CI = 0.049–0.447). This lower risk was further associated with the degree of involvement in religious activity. Suicides accounted for 73.47% of subjects with no religious participation, 61.17% of those with some participation, and 56.52% of frequent participants (linear trend test Z = −2.0329, p = .042). Membership in a religious association was also associated with a lower rate of suicide compared to nonmembers (OR = 0.356, 95% CI = 0.172–0.736). This effect was similarly associated with the degree of involvement in the association. Suicides accounted for 74.67% of subjects who never participated in the activities of a religious association, 69.23% of those who sometimes participated, and 42.86% of frequent participants (linear trend test Z = −3.4082, p < .001).

Conclusions

Religiosity, either as general participation or through a religious association, was associated with protection against suicide proportional to the degree of involvement in religious activities.
Spatial politics and the spatial contract in Exarcheia, Athens, Greece (1974–2018)
Authors: Vradis Antonis
Published: November 2019

This paper intervenes in recent geographical debates about territory, sovereignty, hegemony, and urban marginality by introducing the concept of a “spatial contract.” The concept emerged from a longitudinal ethnographic engagement with the Exarcheia neighbourhood in Athens, Greece. The neighbourhood's unique concentration of riots during Greece's post‐dictatorial era is theorised thus as manifesting a kind of spatial contract in which local conflict and contestation of state sovereignty endures amid the wider regional and national reproduction of state hegemony. Exarcheia's reputation and sustenance as a place of protest becomes explainable in this way as being made possible by an unstated but enduring state–society contract that the local contestation can be continued so long as it is also spatially contained. The paper first identifies key advances in geographical understandings of the relationship between territory and sovereignty that support such a theorisation. This growing body of scholarship is still largely unable to account for temporal and spatial exceptions in the sovereign control of territory. The paper proceeds to explain how a two‐year ethnographic residence in Exarcheia (2008–2010), and repeat field visits since, have made manifest the emergence of a distinct spatial contract during Greece's immediate post‐dictatorial era (post‐1974), and again since 2008 during the country's three‐fold crisis (economic, political, and of migrant reception). Far from being disconnected from these wider social transformations, the spatial contract actually reflects them, including now as it comes undone during a new and arguably revanchist period of hegemony through coercion. In this way, the changing conflictual relationships in Exarcheia can be interpreted anew as part of a hybrid yet hegemonic sovereign control over territory at large. This hybrid hegemonic mix has critical implications for our understanding of marginality, sovereignty, and territorial control more generally, including our ability to conceptualise agency, resistance, and citizenship within shifting forms of hegemony.
TRANSFORMATION AND THE WAKING BODY: A RETURN TO TRUTH VIA OUR BODIES
Authors: Beharrell William H.
Published: November 2019

This article considers the kind of knowledge that is constituted through embodied sensory perception and makes the case for a form of knowledge that is embodied, relational, and potentially transformational. Such knowledge is encountered through our physiological senses and cultivated by reestablishing connections to our bodies. The discussion starts by exploring the literature on sensory perception and interoception and moves on to the role of human agency, which is implicit in the idea of top‐down causation. It is argued that this process can be explained by a top‐down predictive model within which a sense of greater interoceptive accuracy may be cultivated while reducing interoceptive perturbation. The roles of active and perceptual inference are discussed with regard to the regulatory opportunities that these types of attention yield. By being more interoceptively aware, through a practice of contemplation, it is argued, we open ourselves to an encounter with divine presence that is immanent in the world around us.
SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND ITALY'S SEVENTEENTH‐CENTURY DECLINE: FROM FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS TO BENEDETTO CROCE
Authors: Tarrant Neil
Published: November 2019

Historians have often argued that from the mid‐sixteenth century onward Italian science began to decline. This development is often attributed to the actions of the so‐called Counter‐Reformation Church, which had grown increasingly intolerant of novel ideas. In this article, I argue that this interpretation of the history of science is derived from an Italian liberal historiographical tradition, which linked the history of Italian philosophy to the development of the modern Italian state. I suggest that although historians of science have appropriated parts of this distinctive narrative to underpin their account of Italy's seventeenth‐century scientific decline, they have not always fully appreciated its complexity. In this article, I consider the work of two scholars, Francesco de Sanctis and Benedetto Croce. Both explicitly suggested that although the actions of the Church caused Italy to enter into a period of decline, they in fact argued that science represented one of the few areas in which Italian intellectual life actually continued to thrive.
Using Rio-Paris Flight 447 Crash to Assess Human Error and Failure Propagation Analysis Early in Design
Authors: Irshad Lukman , Onan Demirel H. , Tumer Irem Y. , Brat Guillaume
Published: November 2019

While a majority of system vulnerabilities such as performance losses and accidents are attributed to human errors, a closer inspection would reveal that often times the accumulation of unforeseen events that include both component failures and human errors contribute to such system failures. Human error and functional failure reasoning (HEFFR) is a framework to identify potential human errors, functional failures, and their propagation paths early in design so that systems can be designed to be less prone to vulnerabilities. In this paper, the application of HEFFR within the complex engineering system domain is demonstrated through the modeling of the Air France 447 crash. Then, the failure prediction algorithm is validated by comparing the outputs from HEFFR and what happened in the actual crash. Also, two additional fault scenarios are executed within HEFFR and in a commercially available flight simulator separately, and the outcomes are compared as a supplementary validation.
Experiential effects in speech perception: Do they arise from a level playing field?
Authors: Best Catherine T.
Published: November 2019

Much evidence has accrued indicating that language experience from infancy shapes our categorization and discrimination of consonants and vowels, differentiating perception of native versus non-native speech contrasts. The Perceptual Assimilation (PAM: Best), Speech Learning (SLM: Flege), Native Language Magnet (NLM: Kuhl) and Second Language Linguistic Perception (L2LP: Escudero) models each offer theoretical accounts of this attunement but do not explicitly consider whether it begins with perceptual equivalence across all speech contrasts. Other findings suggest the initial perceptual playing field Is not level -- some contrasts are intrinsically easier than others to discriminate. This paper considers two theoretical accounts of this uneven initial state, the Natural Referent Vowel framework (NRV: Polka and Bohn) and the Articulatory Organ Hypothesis (AOH: Goldstein), in light of additional findings of discrimination biases. We will discuss how initial biases may interact with language experience to modulate perceptual attunment to the native language.