bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Circulating inflammatory cytokines alter transcriptional activity within fibrotic tissue of Dupuytren's disease patients
Authors: Wang Mark L. , Rajpar Ibtesam , Ruggiero Nicholas A. , Fertala Jolanta , Steplewski Andrzej , Beredjiklian Pedro K. , Rivlin Michael R. , Chen Yong , Feldman George J. , Fertala Andrzej , Tomlinson Ryan E.
Published: April 2021

Dupuytren's disease is a benign fibroproliferative disorder of the hand that results in disabling digital contractures that impair function and diminish the quality of life. The incidence of this disease has been correlated with chronic inflammatory states, but any direct association between inflammatory cytokines and Dupuytren's disease is not known. We hypothesized that advanced fibroproliferation is associated with increased levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines. Blood and fibrotic cord tissue were collected preoperatively from patients with severe contracture and control patients. Blood plasma concentrations of known inflammatory cytokines were evaluated using a multiplex immunoassay. Proteins from the cord tissue were analyzed by RNA sequencing and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, collagen‐rich cords were analyzed using Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy. The results indicate that patients exhibited significantly elevated circulating inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin (IL)‐2, and IL‐12p70, as compared with controls. Similarly, IL‐4 and IL‐13 were detected significantly more frequently in Dupuytren's disease as compared with control. RNA sequencing revealed 5311 differentially expressed genes and distinct clustering between diseased and control samples. In addition to increased expression of genes associated with fibroproliferation, we also observed upregulation of transcripts activated by inflammatory cytokines, including prolactin inducible protein and keratin intermediate filaments. IL‐2, but not TNF‐α, was detected in fibrotic cord tissue by immunohistochemistry. Finally, spectroscopic assays revealed a significant reduction of the collagen content and alterations of collagen cross‐linking within the Dupuytren's disease tissues. In total, our results illustrate that patients with severe Dupuytren's disease exhibit substantially elevated circulating inflammatory cytokines that may drive fibroproliferation. Clinical Significance: The results from this study establish the basis for a specific cytokine profile that may be useful for diagnostic testing and therapeutic intervention in Dupuytren's disease.
Differences in synovial fibrosis relative to range of motion in knee osteoarthritis patients
Authors: Hodgeson Sydney , O'Brien Sarah , Simkin Jennifer , Plakotaris Elena , McCarthy Christina , Dasa Vinod , Marrero Luis
Published: April 2021

This study tests if differences exist in the severity of synovial fibrosis between patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for osteoarthritis (OA) to help explain disparate deficits in pre‐ and postoperative range of motion (ROM) between patient groups. 117 knee OA patients were grouped by women (n = 74) and men (n = 43) or those who self‐reported as Black (n = 48) or White (n = 69). ROM was measured pre‐ and post‐TKA. Condyles and synovium collected during TKA were scored histologically for OA severity and synovitis. Fibrosis was measured from picrosirius‐stained sections of the synovium. Data were analyzed using Mann–Whitney, parametric, and Spearman's rho tests with alpha at 0.05. We found no significant differences between patient age, BMI, radiographic scores, or deformity type when grouped by sex or race, or between metrics or OA severity when grouped by sex. Notably, higher synovitis was measured in women (p = .039) than men. White patients had greater ROM before (p = 0.46) and after surgery (p = .021) relative to Black patients. Fibrosis, but not OA severity and synovitis scores, for the total patient sample negatively correlated with preoperative (r
s = −0.330; p = .0003) but not postoperative (rs
 = −0.032; p = .7627) ROM. Black patients manifested more fibrosis than White patients (p = <.0001), without significant differences between sexes. Statement of Clinical Significance: Coupled with histological scoring, measuring perioperative differences in synovial fibrosis against ROM may refine OA classification and justify the in‐depth preoperative assessment of the knee as a whole. Such individualized analyses could guide personalized strategies to relieve symptomatic OA when TKA is not readily accessible and promote equitable TKA outcomes.
Renal function in patients with intestinal failure receiving home parenteral support
Authors: Mathiesen Sophie Maria , Fuglsang Kristian Asp , Ranzato Giovanna , Scheike Thomas , Jeppesen Palle Bekker
Published: April 2021

Background

Progressive renal impairment, given by an annual decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), has been described in patients with intestinal failure (IF) receiving home parenteral support (HPS). The objective of this study was to examine changes in eGFR over 5 years following initiation of HPS treatment and to identify potential risk factors for loss of renal function.

Method

This retrospective database study investigates eGFR changes in nonmalignant IF patients discharged with HPS from Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, in an 8‐year period.

Results

One year after HPS initiation, mean eGFR decreased by 15.3 ml/min/1.73 m2. Paired t‐test showed a decline of 15.0 ml/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI, −18.3 to −11.6; P < .0001). Over the following years, eGFR continued to decrease but at insignificant lower rates. Decreased eGFR was associated with increasing age, female sex, increasing body weight, diabetes at HPS initiation, and a high requirement of HPS volume.

Conclusion

In nonmalignant IF patients, the decrease of eGFR was mainly seen during the first year of HPS. This may be due to a higher risk of dehydration and possibly secondary hyperaldosteronism leading to renal damage following the onset of IF. However, the decrease in eGFR may also represent a higher production of creatinine due to a beneficial increase of muscle mass in the initial recovery phase. In general, once the patients were stabilized, the eGFR decline followed a physiological course resembling the background population. Patients with diabetes or high HPS volume needs seem to be more vulnerable and may require special attention.
Effects of Insoluble Cereal Fibre on Body Fat Distribution in the Optimal Fibre Trial
Authors: Kabisch Stefan , Honsek Caroline , Kemper Margrit , Gerbracht Christiana , Meyer Nina Marie Tosca , Arafat Ayman M. , Birkenfeld Andreas L. , Machann Jürgen , Dambeck Ulrike , Osterhoff Martin A. , Weickert Martin O. , Pfeiffer Andreas F. H.
Published: April 2021

Scope

The Optimal Fibre Trial (OptiFiT) investigates metabolic effects of insoluble cereal fibre in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), showing moderate glycemic and anti‐inflammatory benefits, especially in subjects with an obesity‐related phenotype. An OptiFiT sub‐group is analysed for effects on body fat distribution.

Methods and results

180 participants with IGT receive a blinded, randomized supplementation with insoluble cereal fibre or placebo for 2 years. Once a year, all subjects undergo fasting blood sampling, oral glucose tolerance test, and anthropometric measurements. A subgroup (n=47) also received magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy for quantification of adipose tissue distribution and liver fat content. We compared MR, metabolic and inflammatory outcomes between fibre and placebo group metabolism and inflammation.

Visceral and non‐visceral fat, fasting glucose, HbA1c, fasting insulin, insulin resistance, and uric acid decrease only in the fibre group, mirroring effects of the entire cohort. However, after adjustment for weight loss, there are no significant between‐group differences. There is a statistical trend for fibre‐driven liver fat reduction in subjects with confirmed non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD; n = 19).

Conclusions

Data and evidence on beneficial effects of insoluble cereal fibre on visceral and hepatic fatstorage is limited, but warrants further research. Targeted trials are required.
Ti3C2Tx MXenes reinforced PAA/CS hydrogels with self‐healing function as flexible supercapacitor electrodes
Authors: Yu Ting , Lei Xiping , Zhou Yali , Chen Haonan
Published: April 2021

Lightweight, thin, and stretchable flexible microelectronic devices have become a new challenge for researchers. To provide power for these conformable devices, it is necessary to design the energy storage device into a flexible and stretchable structure. In this paper, a two‐step method was used to prepare a dual‐physical cross‐linked polyacrylic acid/chitosan/Ti3C2Tx(PCT) conductive hydrogel flexible electrode. The three‐dimensional (3D) porous structure not only offers a good electrical connection, but also saves the use of binder and additional current collector, which helps to enhance the electrochemical properties of electrode. The unique two‐dimensional layered structure of Ti3C2Tx enables the hydrogel electrode to withstand considerable pressure deformation without breaking, and has excellent tensile properties. The flexible electrode exhibited an excellent tensile strength of 0.083 MPa if only introduced 0.31 wt% of Ti3C2Tx with the tensile strain of 158.63% and owned remarkable self‐healing properties after injury. Thereby, the hydrogel electrode renders a maximum capacitance of 291.8 mF g−1 at 0.5 mA/g and a good cycling stability with 64.24% capacitance retention after 2000 charge–discharge cycles. This provides a research and development strategy for binder‐free, non‐toxic, and mini‐size flexible energy storage devices.
Thermal and electro‐induced shape‐memory Eucommia ulmoides gum composites filled with carbon nanotubes
Authors: Xia Lin , Wang Qi , Meng Jiafeng , Ma Zhenguo , Zhao Ping
Published: April 2021

A series of thermal and electro double‐stimulus shape memory composites were processed using natural Eucommia ulmoides gum (EUG) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Mechanical, cure, and thermal properties were studied by universal testing machine, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively. The shape memory behavior of the composites was explored via heat and electrical stimulation. The cross‐linked network in the composites acted as a fixed domain, and the crystalline regions acted as a reversible domain during shape memory process. We studied the shape memory behavior of composites at different voltage and monitored the temperature change of composites during the process of electro‐induced deformation memory in real time. Experimental results showed that appropriate amount of carbon nanotubes could not only improve the strength of composites but also provide electrical shape memory properties to composites. So, it is underscored that these kinds of shape memory composites exhibit excellent electro‐responsive properties and have the potential to be used for intelligent and multiresponse shape memory applications.
The European Paediatric Rare Tumours Network ‐ European Registry (PARTNER) project for very rare tumors in children
Authors: Orbach Daniel , Ferrari Andrea , Schneider Dominik T. , Reguerre Yves , Godzinski Jan , Bien Ewa , Stachowicz‐Stencel Teresa , Surun Aurore , Almaraz Ricardo Lopez , Dragomir Monica , Jani Dragana , Ami Tal Ben , Roganovic Jelena , Brecht Ines B. , Ladenstein Ruth , Bisogno Gianni
Published: April 2021

The PARTNER project (Paediatric Rare Tumours Network ‐ European Registry) was launched in 2016. PARTNER aims to create a European Registry dedicated to children and adolescents with very rare tumors (VRT). It links existing national registries and provides a registry for those countries in which a VRT registry has not yet been created. This consortium is composed of the various national cooperative groups and their respective member institutions. The strategic value of this project is based on the Europe‐wide data collection concerning the treatment of VRTs. These data are provided to experts and constitute the basis for new clinical practice guidelines for use by ERN (European Reference Network) and non‐ERN institutions. The proposed tasks and milestones will increase collaboration in the field of pediatric oncology among member states and will also facilitate the inclusion of low health expenditure average rate (LHEAR) countries in this process. In addition, this project creates a platform for VRTs that may represent a model on how to elaborate a comprehensive approach (case registration, international case consultation and treatment recommendations, and website to provide information for parents/patients) for rare diseases.
Elaboration and characterization of biocomposite based on polylactic acid and Moroccan sisal fiber as reinforcement
Authors: Samouh Zineb , Molnár Kolos , Hajba Sándor , Boussu François , Cherkaoui Omar , El Moznine Reddad
Published: April 2021

The aim of the current study is to further investigate the impact of the sisal fiber content up to 30% on the mechanical and thermal properties of polylactic acid (PLA) matrix composites following up to our previous study for sisal content up to 15%. The biocomposites were prepared successfully using a twin‐screw extruder and an injection molding machine. It was found that 20 m% resulted the best mechanical, dynamic mechanical, and thermal properties among the tested fiber contents. Beyond this weight fraction of sisal, these properties showed a slight decrease probably because of reaching the threshold percolation corresponding to weight fraction limit before the aggregations started to form in the matrix. This finding was supported by scanning electron microscopy. The degree of crystallinity increased until reaching 10% fiber content, but not above. The results reveal that the reinforcement of PLA by sisal fiber does not only improve mechanical properties but also it could be used as a nucleating agent for the PLA. Moreover, a new relationship is proposed to characterize the effectiveness of the composite due to the addition of sisal fiber. The performance of the biocomposites developed makes them capable for applications in various fields such as aeronautics, automotive, and construction.
Linkage of public health and all payer claims data for population‐level opioid research
Authors: Hallvik Sara E. , Dameshghi Nazanin , El Ibrahimi Sanae , Hendricks Michelle A. , Hildebran Christi , Bishop Carissa J. , Weiner Scott G.
Published: April 2021

Objective

Our objective is to describe how we combine, at an individual level, multiple administrative datasets to create a Comprehensive Opioid Risk Registry (CORR). The CORR will characterize the role that individual characteristics, household characteristics, and community characteristics have on an individual's risk of opioid use disorder or opioid overdose.

Data Sources

Study data sources include the voluntary Oregon All Payer Claims Database (APCD), American Community Survey Census Data, Oregon Death Certificate data, Oregon Hospital Discharge Data (HDD), and Oregon Prescription Drug Monitoring (PDMP) Data in 2013–2018.

Study Design

To create the CORR we first prepared the APCD data set by cleaning and geocoding addresses, creating a community grouper and adding census indices, creating household grouper, and imputing patient race. Then we deployed a probabilistic linkage methodology to incorporate other data sources maintaining compliance with strict data governance regulations.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods

Administrative datasets were obtained through an executed data use agreement with each data owner. The APCD served as the population universe to which all other data sources were linked.

Principal Findings

There were 3 628 992 unique people in the APCD over the entire study period. We identified 968 767 unique households in 2013 and 1 209 236 in 2018, and geocoded patient addresses representing all census tracts in Oregon. Census, death certificate, HDD, and PDMP datasets were successfully linked to this population universe.

Conclusions

This methodology can be replicated in other states and may also apply to a broad array of health services research topics.
Thoracic CTA in infants and young children: Image quality of dual‐source CT (DSCT) with high‐pitch spiral scan mode (turbo flash spiral mode) with or without general anesthesia with free‐breathing technique
Authors: Tivnan Patrick , Winant Abbey J. , Johnston Patrick R. , Plut Domen , Smith Katherine , MacCallum Gail , Lee Edward Y.
Published: April 2021

Purpose

To determine whether diagnostic quality thoracic computed tomography angiography (CTA) studies can be obtained without general anesthesia (GA) in infants and young children using dual‐source computed tomography (DSCT) with turbo flash spiral mode (TFSM) and free‐breathing technique.

Materials and Methods

All consecutive infants and young children (≤ 6 years old) who underwent thoracic CTA studies from January 2018 to October 2020 for suspected congenital thoracic disorders were categorized into two groups: with GA (Group 1) and without GA (Group 2). All thoracic CTA studies were performed on a DSCT scanner using TFSM and free‐breathing technique. Two pediatric thoracic radiologists independently evaluated motion artifact in three lung zones (upper, mid, and lower). Degree of motion artifact was graded 0–3 (0, none; 1, mild; 2, moderate; and 3, severe). Logistic models adjusted for age and gender were used to compare the degree of motion artifact between lung zones. Interobserver agreement between reviewers was evaluated with kappa statistics.

Results

There were a total of 73 pediatric patients (43 males (59%) and 30 females (41%); mean age, 1.4 years; range, 0–5.9 years). Among these 73 patients, 42 patients (58%) underwent thoracic CTA studies with GA (Group 1) and the remaining 31 patients (42%) underwent thoracic CTA studies without GA (Group 2). Overall, the degree of motion artifact was higher for Group 2 (without GA). However, only a very small minority (1/31, 3%) of Group 2 (without GA) thoracic CTA studies had severe motion artifact. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the presence of severe motion artifact (odds ratio [OR] = 6, p = .222). When two groups were compared with respect to the presence of motion artifact for individual lung zones, motion artifact was significantly higher in the upper lung zone for Group 2 (without GA) (OR = 20, p = .043). Interobserver agreement for motion artifact was high, the average Kappa being 0.81 for Group 1 and 0.95 for Group 2.

Conclusion

Although the degree of motion artifact was higher in the group without GA, only a small minority (3%) of thoracic CTA studies performed without GA had severe motion artifact, rendering the study nondiagnostic. Therefore, the results of this study support the use of thoracic CTA without GA using DSCT with TFSM and free‐breathing in infants and young children. In addition, given that motion artifact was significantly higher in the upper lung zone without GA, increased stabilization in the upper chest and extremities should be considered.
Mechanism of metabolic resistance to pymetrozine in Nilaparvata lugens: over‐expression of cytochrome P450 CYP6CS1 confers pymetrozine resistance
Authors: Wang Li‐Xiang , Tao Sha , Zhang Yan , Jia Ya‐Long , Wu Shun‐Fan , Gao Cong‐Fen
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND

Pymetrozine is commonly used for the control of Nilaparvata lugens, and resistance to pymetrozine has been frequently reported in the field populations in recent years. However, the mechanism of brown planthopper resistance to pymetrozine is still unknown.

RESULTS

In this study, a pymetrozine‐resistant strain (PMR) was established, and the potential biochemical resistance mechanism of N. lugens to pymetrozine was investigated. Pymetrozine was synergized by the inhibitor piperonyl butoxide (PBO) in the PMR with 2.83‐fold relative synergistic ratios compared with the susceptible strain (Sus). Compared with the Sus, the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activity of PMR was increased by 1.7 times, and two P450 genes (NlCYP6CS1 and NlCYP301B1) were found to be significantly overexpressed more than 6.0‐fold in the PMR. Pymetrozine exposure induced upregulation of NlCYP6CS1 expression in the Sus, but the expression of NlCYP301B1 did not change significantly. In addition, RNA interference (RNAi)‐mediated suppression of NlCYP6CS1 gene expression dramatically increased the toxicity of pymetrozine against N. lugens. Moreover, transgenic lines of Drosophila melanogaster expressing NlCYP6CS1 were less susceptible to pymetrozine, and had a stronger ability to metabolize pymetrozine.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, our findings indicate that the overexpression of NlCYP6CS1 is one of the key factors contributing to pymetrozine resistance in N. lugens. And this result is helpful in proposing a management strategy for pymetrozine resistance.
Investigation of nonadiabatic coupling and diabatic electronic population dynamics on F2O+ cation within multi reference configuration interaction calculations
Authors: Mirzaie‐Khalilabadi Elahe , Dehestani Maryam
Published: April 2021

In F2O+ cation the first (2B2) and second excited (2A1) electronic states can be coupled with each other by anti‐symmetric stretching mode and thus conical intersection and non‐adiabatic dynamics play an important role in characterizing molecular properties. In this work, we tried to find a suitable computational method for determining equilibrium structures and harmonic vibrational frequencies of the three lowest electronic states of F2O+. To understand non‐adiabatic dynamics at conical intersections, we calculated the probability of electronic population on 2B2 and 2A1 excited electronic states using linear vibronic coupling Hamiltonian mode including all three vibrational modes (bending (ω1), symmetric stretching (ω2) and anti‐symmetric stretching (ω3)).The amount of vibronic coupling constant between these states is obtained 0.08 eV at multi reference configuration interaction/Aug‐cc‐pVQZ level of theory.
Noncyclic Geometric Quantum Gates with Smooth Paths via Invariant‐Based Shortcuts
Authors: Ji Li‐Na , Ding Cheng‐Yun , Chen Tao , Xue Zheng‐Yuan
Published: April 2021

Nonadiabatic geometric quantum computation is dedicated to the realization of high‐fidelity and robust quantum gates, which are necessary for fault‐tolerant quantum computation. However, it is limited by cyclic and mutative evolution path, which usually requires longer gate‐time and abrupt pulse control, weakening the gate performance. Here, a scheme to realize geometric quantum gates with noncyclic and nonadiabatic evolution via invariant‐based shortcuts is proposed, where universal quantum gates can be induced in one step without path mutation and the gate time is also effectively shortened. Our numerical simulations show that, comparing with the conventional dynamical gates, the constructed geometric gates have stronger resistance not only to systematic errors, induced by both qubit‐frequency drift and the deviation of the amplitude of the driving fields, but also to environment‐induced decoherence effect. In addition, this scheme can also be implemented on a superconducting circuit platform, with the fidelities of single‐qubit and two‐qubit gates higher than 99.97% and 99.84%, respectively. Therefore, this scheme provides a promising way to realize high‐fidelity fault‐tolerant quantum gates for scalable quantum computation.
Abbruch einer Spannbetonbrücke am Autobahndreieck A 8 Saarlouis
Authors: Moldenhauer Florian , Schneider Christian , Vilas‐Román Cecilia
Published: April 2021

Im Zuge des Ersatzneubaus der Saarbrücke im Verlauf der A 8 am Autobahndreieck Saarlouis war auch ein anspruchsvoller Rückbau der alten Spannbetonbrücke erforderlich. Vor allem die Entwicklung und Umsetzung eines intelligenten Abbruchkonzepts für den die Saar überspannenden und aus zwei Spannbetonhohlkästen bestehenden Brückenquerschnitt stellte die Ingenieure vor besondere Herausforderungen. Durch geschickte Kooperation aller Projektbeteiligten konnte der Ausschreibungsentwurf in vielerlei Hinsicht perfektioniert werden. Hierdurch konnte ein optimales Zusammenwirken der jeweiligen Vorteile mehrerer Spezialgewerke genutzt und vor allem auch für die Umsetzung sichergestellt werden. Neben dem konventionellen Abbruch wurden die bei dieser Aufgabe erforderlichen Spezialoperationen durch entsprechend erfahrene Fachunternehmen ergänzt. So konnten funktionierende Konzepte aus Neubaugewerken zur letztendlich optimalen Lösung dieser komplexen Rückbauaufgabe in großem Umfang beitragen.
Antioxidant and Immunomodulatory Activities In Vitro of a Neutral Polysaccharide from Ginger (Zingiber Officinale)
Authors: Mingda Hou , Jun Gao , Ziqi Liu , Yu Shan , Shuyong Liu
Published: April 2021

In this study, crude polysaccharides from ginger are obtained by ultrasonic‐assisted enzymatic extraction. After deproteinization using Sevag method, dialysis, and isolation on a DEAE52‐cellulose column and a Sephadex G‐100 column, a neutral heteropolysaccharide purified ginger polysaccharide (pGP) with the molecular weight of 62 500 Da is obtained. Four sugar residues are confirmed in pGP, including →3)‐α‐L‐Araf‐(1→, →2)‐α‐L‐Rhap, →3)‐β‐D‐Galp‐(1→, →6)‐α‐D‐Glcp‐(1→. Antioxidant activities analysis confirms that pGP possess good scavenging effects on DPPH, 2,2‐azino‐bis‐3‐ethylbenzthiazoline‐6‐sulphonic acid, and hydroxyl radicals. In addition, pGP significantly stimulates the phagocytic activity of RAW264.7 cells and has strong protection effect against H2O2‐induced damage. These results show that pGP can be used as a potential antioxidant agent in medicine or functional food.
Estimates of Food Consumption Rates for Invasive Blue Catfish
Authors: Schmitt Joseph D. , Hilling Corbin D. , Orth Donald J.
Published: April 2021

As a prolific invasive species, Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus threaten native organisms in numerous estuarine and tidal freshwaters along the Atlantic coast of the United States. However, no published estimates of consumption rates are available for Blue Catfish in the scientific literature. This information is critical for development of bioenergetics models or estimation of population‐level impacts on native species. Using a combination of field and laboratory studies, we provide the first estimates of daily ration, maximum daily ration, and consumption to biomass ratios for Blue Catfish populations. Ad libitum feeding trials conducted in our laboratory reveal that maximum daily ration in Blue Catfish varies by prey type, temperature, and fish size, with maximal feeding occurring in medium‐sized Blue Catfish (500–600 mm total length) and at temperatures ≥15°C. Furthermore, estimates of daily ration were higher for fish prey (Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum) than for crustacean prey (blue crab Callinectes sapidus). Diel feeding chronologies based on field‐collected diet samples from 1,226 Blue Catfish demonstrated river‐specific variability in daily ration and maximum daily ration. Blue Catfish daily ration ranged between 2.27% and 5.22% bodyweight per 24 h, while maximum daily ration ranges between 8.56% and 9.37% bodyweight per 24 h. Estimates of consumption to biomass ratios varied by river and Blue Catfish size groupings but range between 2.42 and 3.39, which is similar to other benthic omnivores. This research will inform the assessment of predatory impacts of invasive Blue Catfish in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond as it will enable researchers to estimate predatory impacts through the coupling of population models, food habit information, and consumption rate information (current study).
Vanadium oxides modify the expression levels of the p21, p53, and Cdc25C proteins in human lymphocytes treated in vitro
Authors: Mateos‐Nava Rodrigo Aníbal , Rodríguez‐Mercado Juan José , Álvarez‐Barrera Lucila , García‐Rodríguez María del Carmen , Altamirano‐Lozano Mario Agustín
Published: April 2021

In vitro assays have demonstrated that vanadium compounds interact with biological molecules similar to protein kinases and phosphatases and have also shown that vanadium oxides decrease the proliferation of cells, including human lymphocytes; however, the mechanism, the phase in which the cell cycle is delayed and the proteins involved in this process are unknown. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of vanadium oxides (V2O3, V2O4 and V2O5) in human lymphocyte cultures (concentrations of 2, 4, 8, or 16 μg/ml) on cellular proliferation and the levels of the p53, p21 and Cdc25C proteins. After 24 h of treatment with the different concentrations of vanadium oxides, the cell cycle phases were determined by evaluating the DNA content using flow cytometry, and the levels of the p21, p53 and Cdc25C proteins were assessed by Western blot analysis. The results revealed that the DNA content remained unchanged in every phase of the cell cycle; however, only at high concentrations did protein levels increase. Although, according to previous reports, vanadium oxides induce a delay in proliferation, DNA analysis did not show this occurring in a specific cell cycle phase. Nevertheless, the increases in p53 protein levels may cause this delay.
An Introduction to Ecomodernism
Authors: Boersma Hidde
Published: April 2021

Land use change has detrimental impacts on the planet. It is not only a major cause of biodiversity loss, through habitat destruction and fragmentation, but also an important driver for climate change, through deforestation and peat oxidation. Land use change is mainly driven by food production, of which meat production comprises the major share. Ecomodernists therefore feel reduction of the impact of meat production is paramount for a sustainable future. To achieve this, ecomodernists focus on intensification of the production process to produce more on less land, both through the closing of global yield gaps and through the development of integrated indoor systems like agroparks. On the demand side, ecomodernists feel a diverse strategy is needed, from the development of meat substitutes and lab meat, to the persuasion of consumers to move from beef to monogastrics like pork or chicken.
Place-Making by Cows in an Intensive Dairy Farm: A Sociolinguistic Approach to Nonhuman Animal Agency
Authors: Cornips Leonie , van den Hengel Louis
Published: April 2021

Based on recent ethnographic fieldwork at an intensive dairy farm, this chapter examines the usefulness of posthuman critical theory for developing a new sociolinguistic approach to nonhuman animal agency. We explore how dairy cows, as encaged sentient beings whose mobility is profoundly restricted by bars and fences, negotiate their environment as a material-semiotic resource in linguistic acts of place-making. Drawing on the fields of critical posthumanism, new materialism and sociolinguistics, we explain how dairy cows imbue their physical space with meaning through materiality, the body and language. By developing a non-anthropocentric approach to language as a practice of more-than-human sociality, we argue for establishing egalitarian research perspectives beyond the assumptions of human exceptionalism and species hierarchy. The chapter thus aims to contribute towards a new understanding of nonhuman agency and interspecies relationships in the Anthropocene.
Reimagining Human Responsibility Towards Animals for Disaster Management in the Anthropocene
Authors: De Paula Vieira Andreia , Anthony Raymond
Published: April 2021

Animals, like human beings, are prone to suffering harms, such as disease, injury and death, as a result of anthropogenic and natural disasters. Animals are disproportionately prone to risk and adversely affected by disasters, and thus require humane and respectful care when disasters strike, due to socially situated vulnerabilities based on how human communities assess and value their moral standing and function. The inability to integrate animals into disaster risk and management practices and processes can sometimes be associated with a lack of understanding about what animal ethics and animal health and welfare require when designing disaster management programs. This chapter seeks to reimagine human responsibility towards animals for disaster management. The pervasiveness of disasters and their impacts on animals, human-animal and animal-environment relationships underscore the importance of effective animal disaster management supported by sound ethical decision-making processes. To this end, we delineate six ethically responsible animal caretaking aims for consideration when developing disaster management plans and policies. These aims, which address central vulnerabilities experienced by domesticated animals during disasters, are meant to be action-guiding within the disaster management context. They include: (1) Save lives and mitigate harm; (2) Protect animal welfare and respect animals’ experiences; (3) Observe, recognize and promote distributive justice; (4) Advance public involvement; (5) Empower caregivers, guardians, owners and community members; (6) Bolster public health and veterinary community professionalism, including engagement in multidisciplinary teams and applied scientific developments. To bring about these aims, we offer a set of practical and straightforward action steps for animal caregivers and disaster management teams to ensure that animals’ interests are systematically promoted in disaster management. They include: (1) Respect and humane treatment; (2) Collaboration and effective disaster communication; (3) Strengthening systems of information sharing, surveillance, scientific research, management and training; (4) Community outreach and proactive contact; (5) Cultural sensitivity and attitudes check, and (6) Reflection, review and reform.
Comment: Animals in ‘Non-Ideal Ethics’ and ‘No-Deal Ethics’
Authors: Eskens Erno
Published: April 2021

Within the animal movement there is a tension between those who favor a ‘humane treatment’ of animals and those who think we need to abolish the (ab)use of animals all together and grant animals legal personhood. For an number of reasons philophers and other reseachers often try not to take a stance in this strategy debate. They however fail in doing so. As they make recommendations on how to treat animals they cannot avoid taking an implicit of explicit stance in the debate. This paper argues that we need a ‘directionists approach’ in this matter. We, as philosophers or reseachers, may for all sorts of reasons advice farmers, organisations or governments to take small steps towards more animal welfare, but only if we make clear on the outset that this will not be the end of the journey. We, as a society and as philosophers and researchers, are heading in a direction and one can either take the long and exhausting road of incremental change or take a shortcut.
“Eek! A Rat!”
Authors: Nieuwland Joachim , Meijboom Franck L. B.
Published: April 2021

Rats are often despised. In what way does such aversion affect moral deliberation, and if so, how should we accommodate any distorting effects on our normative judgements? These questions are explored in this chapter with regard to recent proposals in (1) the ethics of pest management and (2) animal political theory. While ethical frameworks and tools used in the context of animal research can improve moral deliberation with regard to pest management, we argue based on psychological factors regarding the perception of rats that before implementing these methods in either animal research or pest management, one needs to ascertain that rats are owed genuine moral consideration. With regard to animal political theory, we identify three issues: truth-aptness, perception, and moral motivation. To complement as well as address some of the issues found in both animal research ethics and animal political theory, we explore compassion. Starting from compassion, we develop a pragmatist and interspecies understanding of morality, including a shift from an anthropocentric to a multispecies epistemology, and a distributed rather than an individual notion of moral agency. We need to engage with the experience of others, including rats and those who perceive these animals as pests, as well as pay attention to the specific way individual agents are embedded in particular socio-ecological settings so as to promote compassionate action.
Coexisting with Wolves in Cultural Landscapes: Fences as Communicative Devices
Authors: Drenthen Martin
Published: April 2021

This paper argues that many conflicts regarding the return of the wolf to the thoroughly humanized and densely populated cultural landscapes of Western Europe rest on the dualistic idea that culture and nature are two strictly separated realms of reality, and on the assumption that wild animals are primarily passive beings without proper agency. Once we acknowledge wolves as beings with agency with whom we share the landscape, we come to see that the challenge of coexistence with wild animals such as wolves is not primarily a matter of finding a compromise between human interests and the interests of wild animals. Rather, we have to learn and negotiate that the landscape is a space that is interpreted and inhabited by many different beings, with whom we are always already communicating, even if we are not always aware of it.
On Hunting: Lions and Humans as Hunters
Authors: Foster Charles
Published: April 2021

This is an interrogation of some commonly cited intuitions about killing animals, enjoying killing animals, and enjoying eating animals. It concludes that intuitions are the only possible philosophical guide through this territory. Accordingly if intuitions cannot be trusted, moral arguments about the killing of animals and related matters are likely to be fruitless.
Comment: Sharing Our World with Wild Animals
Authors: Swart J. A. A.
Published: April 2021

Wild animals are falling increasingly under threat as their habitats are being disrupted by human activities and global warming. At the same time, we see wild animals such as wolves actually settling in human landscapes. This forces us to rethink how we can live together with other living beings, with whom we share one earth. The contributions in this book section can be seen as attempts to do just that. However, these developments also challenge the traditional ethical approach towards wild animals, concisely worded as “Let them be”. That falls short in the current era, in which semi-wild, contact zone, and liminal animals are recognized. Animals, whether living in natural or human landscapes, all make opportunistic use of all sorts of resources – including human ones. If circumstances change, either due to natural or human-made causes, they will enter into new interactions with their environment to survive. They are nodes in a dynamic, heterogeneous network of dependency relationships that increasingly includes humans. In this chapter a framework is proposed to indicate the presence of wild animals in the human landscape based on the species’ adaptability and their degree of dependence on humans. The framework shows that species strongly differ in their vulnerability and that a diversity of measures is required in a world in which human and animal domains increasingly merge. Recognizing that we do not have exclusive rights to the earth implies an impersonal care perspective for wild animals as fellow-earthlings. It requires the reconsideration of our ethics, philosophies, culture and politics.
De-extinction and Gene Drives: The Engineering of Anthropocene Organisms
Authors: Preston Christopher J.
Published: April 2021

Advances in gene reading, gene synthesis, and genome editing are making possible a number of radical new practices for transforming animal futures in the Anthropocene. De-extinction may make it possible to bring back lost species. Gene drives may enable the sending of desirable traits through wild populations of organisms. The hype accompanying these promises can make each of them look ethically irresistible. This chapter investigates the ‘speculative ethics’ that has arisen around these technologies, asking questions about both their viability and the approach to animals they contain. Reductive and non-relational thinking is identified as one potential problem with the thinking behind these techniques. The neglect of non-human agency is identified as another. After indicating some of the problems these two ways of conceptualizing an animal and its genome can create, a brief suggestion is made about how to better conceptualize animal futures in the Anthropocene.
How to Save Cultured Meat from Ecomodernism? Selective Attention and the Art of Dealing with Ambivalence
Authors: van der Weele Cor
Published: April 2021

As a highly technological innovation, cultured meat is the subject of techno-optimistic as well as techno-sceptical evaluations. The chapter discusses this opposition and connects it with arguments about seeing the world in the right way. Both sides not only call upon us to see the world in a very particular light, but also point to mechanisms of selective attention in order to explain how others can be so biased. I will argue that attention mechanisms are indeed relevant for dealing with the Anthropocene, but that dualism has paralysing effects. In a dualistic framework, cultured meat is associated with ecomodernist optimism, bold technological control over nature and alienation from animals. But interested citizens and farmers in focus groups rather envisioned the future of cultured meat through small scale production on farms combined with intensive relations with animals. Such scenarios, involving elements from both sides of the dualistic gap, depend on constructive ways of dealing with dualisms and ambivalence.
Turning to Animal Agency in the Anthropocene
Authors: Blattner Charlotte E.
Published: April 2021

Agency is central to humans’ individual rights and their organization as a community. Human agency is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through guaranteed rights, such as the right to life, basic education, freedom of expression, and the freedom to form personal relationships, which all protect humans from tyranny and oppression. Though studies of animal agency consistently suggest that we grossly underestimate the capacity of animals to make decisions, determine and take action, and to organize themselves individually and as groups, few have concerned themselves with whether and how animal agency is relevant for the law and vice versa. Currently, most laws offer no guarantee that animals’ agency will be respected, and fail to respond when animals resist the human systems that govern them. This failure emerges from profound prejudices and deep-seated anthropocentric biases that shape the law, including law-making processes. Law and law-making operating exclusively as self-judging systems is widely decried and denounced—except in animal law. This chapter identifies standpoint acknowledgement as a means to dismantle these tendencies, and provides instructions on how to ask the right questions. It concludes by calling for an “animal agency turn” across disciplines, to challenge our assumptions about how we ought to organize human-animal relationships politically and personally, and to increase our civic competence and courage, empathy, participation, common engagement, and respect for animal alterity.
Animal Difference in the Age of the Selfsame
Authors: Kowalsky Nathan
Published: April 2021

In this chapter, I argue that mainstream animal-centered (i.e., “humane”) ethics and critical animal studies attempt to account for nonhuman moral considerability in terms of those animals’ similarities with human animals. I argue that this emphasis on similarity is a reason why these two fields are generally anti-naturalistic and ultimately (though ironically) anthropocentric. Moreover, on the assumption of a general Levinasian ethic of alterity, this anti-naturalism and anthropocentrism is violently immoral. I propose, therefore, an ethic of animal difference based on an ethically naturalistic reading of intra- and inter-specific behavior sets. However, such naturalism is problematic if the Anthropocene is understood to be a naturalized fact which undermines all (metaphysical or normative) claims to naturalness or wildness. In response, I argue that the Anthropocene is not a naturalized fact but a socially-contingent and constructed fact, and as such is open to moral evaluation. My proposed ethic of animal difference offers one such critique, and one more effective than those found in mainstream humane ethics or critical animal studies.
Should the Lion Eat Straw Like the Ox? Animal Ethics and the Predation Problem
Authors: Keulartz Jozef
Published: April 2021

Stephen Clark’s article The Rights of Wild Things from 1979 was the starting point for the consideration in the animal ethics literature of the so-called ‘predation problem’. Clark examines the response of David George Ritchie to Henry Stephens Salt, the first writer who has argued explicitly in favor of animal rights. Ritchie attempts to demonstrate—via reductio ad absurdum—that animals cannot have rights, because granting them rights would oblige us to protect prey animals against predators that wrongly violate their rights. This article navigates the reader through the debate sparked off by Clarke’s article, with as final destination what I consider to be the best way to deal with the predation problem. I will successively discuss arguments against the predation reductio from Singer’s utilitarian approach, Regan’s deontological approach, Nussbaum’s capability approach, and Donaldson and Kymlicka’s political theory of animal rights.
Humanity in the Living, the Living in Humans
Authors: Korthals Michiel
Published: April 2021

Recent studies in biology, ecology, and medicine make it clear that relationships between living organisms are complex and comprise different forms of collaboration and communication in particular in getting food. It turns even out that relations of collaboration and valuing are more important than those of aggression and predation. I will outline the ways organisms select and value specific items in their network of living and non-living entities. No organism eats everything; all organisms prefer certain foods, companions, and habitats. Relations between organisms are established on the basis of communication, exchange of signs, actions and goods, through mutual learning processes on all levels of life. Micro, meso and macro organisms participate in this process of valuing and communication. Animals and plants therefore show features that were traditionally attributed only to humans, like selfless assistance. The usual distinction between humans and other living beings on the basis of human’s sensitivity for altruism, language and values crumbles down due to the circumstance that also non-human living beings are prone to selfless assistance, communication and valuing.
Solute Driven Transient Convection in Layered Porous Media
Authors: Luther Emmanuel E. , Shariatipour Seyed M. , Dallaston Michael C. , Holtzman Ran
Published: April 2021

CO2 geological sequestration has been proposed as a climate change mitigation strategy that can contribute towards meeting the Paris Agreement. A key process on which successful injection of CO2 into deep saline aquifer relies on is the dissolution of CO2 in brine. CO2 dissolution improves storage security and reduces risk of leakage by (i) removing the CO2 from a highly mobile fluid phase and (ii) triggering gravity-induced convective instability which accelerates the downward migration of dissolved CO2. Our understanding of CO2 density-driven convection in geologic media is limited. Studies on transient convective instability are mostly in homogeneous systems or in systems with heterogeneity in the form of random permeability distribution or dispersed impermeable barriers. However, layering which exist naturally in sedimentary geological formations has not received much research attention on transient convection. Therefore, we investigate the role of layering on the onset time of convective instability and on the flow pattern beyond the onset time during CO2 storage. We find that while layering has no significant effect on the onset time, it has an impact on the CO2 flux. Our findings suggest that detailed reservoir characterisation is required to forecast the ability of a formation to sequester CO2.