bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Illness Insight and Medication Adherence Among Patients With Bipolar Disorder
Authors: Gutiérrez-Rojas Luis , Martínez-Ortega José María , Pérez-Costillas Lucía , Jiménez-Fernández Sara , Carretero María Dolores , Gurpegui Manuel
Published: February 2020

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors associated with illness insight and medication adherence in bipolar disorder (BD). This is a cross-sectional study (with a retrospective evaluation of longitudinal variables) and a secondary analysis of a BD database. The insight of 108 outpatients (age, 48.2 ± 14.1 years, 69% women, 33% euthymic) was measured with three items of the Association of Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry scale. Their adherence was assessed through patients' and caregivers' reports, plus serum levels. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses. Full insight was independently and directly associated with adherence, a social support score, and depressive symptoms and inversely associated with intensity of manic symptoms, problems ever with alcohol, and age at onset of the first symptoms. Medication adherence was independently and directly associated with insight, being married, and having had a psychiatric hospitalization and inversely with having suffered a high number of depressive episodes, intensity of manic symptoms, and heavy tobacco smoking.
Combining Rotation and V-Y Design for Lower Forehead and Temporal Region Reconstruction With Myocutaneous Frontal Flap
Authors: Righi Bernardo , Robotti Enrico , Carminati Marcello
Published: February 2020

Background

Because of direct sun exposure, lower forehead and temporal area are anatomical regions with frequently observed skin tumors. The resulting defects after oncological ablations are usually treated, especially in older patients, by split thickness skin grafting or A-to-T and O-to-T flaps if facing small defects. On specific sites that expose bone or periosteum as well as when a skin graft is best avoided for cosmetic reasons, alternative reconstructive procedures should be considered. An excellent option is the use of myocutaneous frontal flap with rotation and V-Y design, which provide a reliable coverage of defects especially of the temporal area, dispensing appropriate like-tissue by its wide arc of rotation.

Methods

Between 2010 and 2019, 27 patients underwent myocutaneous frontal flap with rotation and V-Y design reconstruction of medium-to-large-sized soft-tissue defects of the lower forehead and temporal area after tumor excision. The malignant skin lesions involved were basal cell carcinoma (n = 17), squamous cell carcinoma (n = 9), and melanoma (n = 1). Twenty one patients were male, and 6 were female with an average age of 64 (54–86) years.

Results

All defects were successfully resurfaced with no local recurrences.

Conclusions

The authors present a modification to myocutaneous frontal flap harvesting, with emphasis on its extensive arc of rotation with a V-Y design to minimize donor-site morbidity. The advantages of myocutaneous frontal flap with rotation and V-Y design include a good contour with excellent color, texture, and thickness match and good to excellent aesthetic results.
Human transposon insertion profiling by sequencing (TIPseq) to map LINE-1 insertions in single cells
Authors: McKerrow Wilson , Tang Zuojian , Steranka Jared P. , Payer Lindsay M. , Boeke Jef D. , Keefe David , Fenyö David , Burns Kathleen H. , Liu Chunhong
Published: February 2020

Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1, L1) sequences, which comprise about 17% of human genome, are the product of one of the most active types of mobile DNAs in modern humans. LINE-1 insertion alleles can cause inherited and de novo genetic diseases, and LINE-1-encoded proteins are highly expressed in some cancers. Genome-wide LINE-1 mapping in single cells could be useful for defining somatic and germline retrotransposition rates, and for enabling studies to characterize tumour heterogeneity, relate insertions to transcriptional and epigenetic effects at the cellular level, or describe cellular phylogenies in development. Our laboratories have reported a genome-wide LINE-1 insertion site mapping method for bulk DNA, named transposon insertion profiling by sequencing (TIPseq). There have been significant barriers applying LINE-1 mapping to single cells, owing to the chimeric artefacts and features of repetitive sequences. Here, we optimize a modified TIPseq protocol and show its utility for LINE-1 mapping in single lymphoblastoid cells. Results from single-cell TIPseq experiments compare well to known LINE-1 insertions found by whole-genome sequencing and TIPseq on bulk DNA. Among the several approaches we tested, whole-genome amplification by multiple displacement amplification followed by restriction enzyme digestion, vectorette ligation and LINE-1-targeted PCR had the best assay performance.

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Crossroads between transposons and gene regulation’.
An atlas of transposable element-derived alternative splicing in cancer
Authors: Clayton Evan A. , Rishishwar Lavanya , Huang Tzu-Chuan , Gulati Saurabh , Ban Dongjo , McDonald John F. , Jordan I. King
Published: February 2020

Transposable element (TE)-derived sequences comprise more than half of the human genome, and their presence has been documented to alter gene expression in a number of different ways, including the generation of alternatively spliced transcript isoforms. Alternative splicing has been associated with tumorigenesis for a number of different cancers. The objective of this study was to broadly characterize the role of human TEs in generating alternatively spliced transcript isoforms in cancer. To do so, we screened for the presence of TE-derived sequences co-located with alternative splice sites that are differentially used in normal versus cancer tissues. We analysed a comprehensive set of alternative splice variants characterized for 614 matched normal-tumour tissue pairs across 13 cancer types, resulting in the discovery of 4820 TE-generated alternative splice events distributed among 723 cancer-associated genes. Short interspersed nuclear elements (Alu) and long interspersed nuclear elements (L1) were found to contribute the majority of TE-generated alternative splice sites in cancer genes. A number of cancer-associated genes, including
MYH11
,
WHSC1
and
CANT1
, were shown to have overexpressed TE-derived isoforms across a range of cancer types. TE-derived isoforms were also linked to cancer-specific fusion transcripts, suggesting a novel mechanism for the generation of transcriptome diversity via
trans
-splicing mediated by dispersed TE repeats.

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Crossroads between transposons and gene regulation'.
Principal component analysis exploring the association between antibiotic resistance and heavy metal tolerance of plasmid-bearing sewage wastewater bacteria of clinical relevance
Authors: Mandal Manisha , Das Saumendra Nath , Mandal Shyamapada
Published: February 2020

This paper unravels the occurrence of plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance in association with tolerance to heavy metals among clinically relevant bacteria isolated from sewage wastewater. The bacteria isolated were identified following conventional phenotypic and/or molecular methods, and were subjected to multiple-antibiotic resistance (MAR) profiling. The isolates were tested against the heavy metals Hg2+, Cd2+, Cr2+ and Cu2+. SDS-PAGE and agarose gel electrophoretic analyses were performed, respectively, for the characterization of heavy metal stress protein and R-plasmid among the isolated bacteria. Principal component analysis was applied in determining bacterial resistance to antibiotics and heavy metals. Both lactose-fermenting (

Escherichia coli

) and non-fermenting (

Acinetobacter baumannii

and

Pseudomonas putida

) Gram-negative bacterial strains were procured, and showed MAR phenotypes with respect to three or more antibiotics, along with resistance to the heavy metals Hg2+, Cd2+, Cr2+ and Cu2+. The Gram-positive bacteria,

Enterococcus faecalis

, isolated had ‘ampicillin–kanamycin–nalidixic acid’ resistance. The bacterial isolates had MAR indices of 0.3–0.9, indicating their (

E. faecalis

,

E. coli

,

A. baumannii

and

P. putida

) origin from niches with high antibiotic pollution and human faecal contamination. The Gram-negative bacteria isolated contained a single plasmid (≈54 kb) conferring multiple antibiotic resistance, which was linked to heavy metal tolerance; the SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated the expression of heavy metal stress proteins (≈59 and ≈10 kDa) in wastewater bacteria with a Cd2+ stressor. The study results grant an insight into the co-occurrence of antibiotic resistance and heavy metal tolerance among clinically relevant bacteria in sewage wastewater, prompting an intense health impact over antibiotic usage.
Niastella caeni sp. nov., isolated from activated sludge
Authors: Sheng Mengyao , Yang Zhou , Yang Xiaojun , Xu Jianyi , Qiu Jiguo , He Jian , Qiu Shanlian
Published: February 2020

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-flagellated and filamentous-shaped bacterium, HX-16-21T, was isolated from activated sludge. Strain HX-16-21Twas able to degrade gentisate, protocatechuic acid andp-hydroxybenzoic acid and herbicides quizalofop-p-ethyl and diclofop-methyl. The strain shared 97.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity toNiastella viciCCTCC AB 2015052Tand less than 97 % similarities to other type strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain HX-16-21Tbelonged to the genusNiastellaand formed a subclade withN. viciCCTCC AB 2015052T. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and six unidentified lipids. The major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, iso-C15:1G and iso-C17:03-OH. The predominant respiratory quinone was menaquinone 7 (MK-7). The draft genome of strain HX-16-21Twas 8.1 Mb, and the G+C content was 43.5 mol%. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain HX-16-21TandN. viciCCTCC AB 2015052Twere 80.6 and 26.8 %, respectively. Based on both phenotypic and phylogenetic evidence, strain HX-16-21Tis considered to represent a novel species in the genusNiastella, for which the nameNiastella caenisp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HX-16-21T(=KCTC 72288T=ACCC 61580T).
Paracoccus alkanivorans sp. nov., isolated from a deep well with oil reservoir water
Authors: Zhang Ya-Xi , Li Xin , Li Fang-Ling , Ma Su-Chen , Zheng Guo-Di , Chen Wen-Feng , Li Wen-Jun , Wang Lei
Published: February 2020

A Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and ovoid bacterial strain, designated 4-2T, was isolated from oil-contaminated water which was collected from Xinjiang Province, north-west PR China. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain 4-2T belonged to the genus

Paracoccus

. The species with highest similarity to strain 4-2T was

Paracoccus saliphilus

YIM 90738T (97.83 %), followed by ‘

Paracoccus siganidrum

’ M26 (97.83 %) and

Paracoccus endophyticus

SYSUP0003T (97.25 %). The average nucleotide identity values between 4-2T and three type strains were 84.69, 77.88 and 74.07 %, respectively. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain 4-2T was 61.4 mol%. Chemotaxonomical characteristic results showed that the respiratory quinone was ubiquinone Q-10 and the major fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1
ω7c or C18 : 1
ω6c) and C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c. The polar lipid profile consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, unidentified phospholipids, an unidentified aminolipid and an unidentified polar lipid. The predominant polyamines were putrescine, cadaverine and spermidine. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic inferences, strain 4-2T represents a novel species of the genus

Paracoccus

, for which the name Paracoccus alkanivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 4-2T (=CGMCC 1.13669T=LMG 30882T).
RNP-MaP: In-cell analysis of protein interaction networks defines functional hubs in RNA
Authors: Weidmann Chase A. , Mustoe Anthony M. , Jariwala Parth B. , Calabrese J. Mauro , Weeks Kevin M.
Published: February 2020

RNAs interact with networks of proteins to form complexes (RNPs) that govern many biological processes, but these networks are currently impossible to examine in a comprehensive way. We developed a live-cell chemical probing strategy for mapping protein interaction networks in any RNA with single-nucleotide resolution. This RNP-MaP strategy (RNPnetwork analysis bymutationalprofiling) simultaneously detects binding by and cooperative interactions involving multiple proteins with single RNA molecules. RNP-MaP revealed that two structurally related, but sequence-divergent noncoding RNAs, RNase P and RMRP, share nearly identical RNP networks and, further, that protein interaction network hubs identify function-critical sites in these RNAs. RNP-MaP identified numerous protein interaction networks within the XIST long noncoding RNA that are conserved between mouse and human RNAs and distinguished communities of proteins that network together on XIST. RNP-MaP data show that the Xist E region is densely networked by protein interactions and that PTBP1, MATR3, and TIA1 proteins each interface with the XIST E region via two distinct interaction modes; and we find that the XIST E region is sufficient to mediate RNA foci formation in cells. RNP-MaP will enable discovery and mechanistic analysis of protein interaction networks across any RNA in cells.
RNase L amplifies Interferon signaling by inducing PKR-mediated antiviral stress granules
Authors: Manivannan Praveen , Siddiqui Mohammad Adnan , Malathi Krishnamurthy
Published: February 2020

Virus infection leads to activation of the interferon-induced endoribonuclease, RNase L, which results in degradation of viral and cellular RNAs. Both cellular and viral RNA cleavage products of RNase L bind pattern recognition receptors (PRR) like Retinoic acid-inducible I (Rig-I) and or melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) to further amplify interferon (IFN) production and antiviral response. Although much is known about the mechanics of ligand binding and PRR activation, how the cells coordinate RNA sensing to signaling response and interferon production remains unclear. We show that RNA cleavage products of RNase L activity induce formation of antiviral stress granule (avSG) by regulating activation of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase R (PKR), and recruit antiviral proteins Rig-I, PKR, OAS and RNase L to avSG. Biochemical analysis of purified avSG showed interaction of key stress granule protein, G3BP1, with only PKR and Rig-I and not with OAS or RNase L. AvSG assembly during RNase L activation is required for IRF3-mediated IFN production and not IFN signaling or proinflammatory cytokine induction. Consequently, cells lacking avSG formation or RNase L signaling produced less IFN and showed higher susceptibility during Sendai virus infection demonstrating the importance of avSG in RNase L-mediated host defense. During viral infection, we propose a role for RNase L-cleaved RNAs in inducing avSG containing antiviral proteins to provide a platform for efficient interaction of RNA ligands with pattern recognition receptors to enhance IFN production to effectively mount antiviral response.

IMPORTANCE

Double-stranded RNAs produced during viral infections serve as pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and bind pattern recognition receptors to stimulate IFN production. RNase L is an IFN-regulated endoribonuclease that is activated in virus-infected cells and cleaves single-stranded viral and cellular RNAs. The RNase L-cleaved dsRNAs signal to Rig-like helicases to amplify IFN production. This study identifies a novel role of antiviral stress granules induced by RNase L as an antiviral signaling hub to coordinate the RNA ligands with cognate receptors to mount effective host response during viral infections.
Defining endemism levels for biodiversity conservation: tree species in the Atlantic Forest hotspot
Authors: Lima Renato A.F. , Souza Vinicius Castro , de Siqueira Marinez Ferreira , ter Steege Hans
Published: February 2020

Endemic species are important for biodiversity conservation. Yet, quantifying endemism remains challenging because endemism concepts can be too strict (i.e., pure endemism) or too subjective (i.e., near endemism). We propose a data-driven approach to objectively estimate the proportion of records inside a given the target area (i.e., endemism level) that optimizes the separation of near-endemics from non-endemic species. We apply this approach to the Atlantic Forest tree flora using millions of herbarium records retrieved from multiple sources. We first report an updated checklist of 5044 species for the Atlantic Forest tree flora and then we compare how species-specific endemism levels obtained from herbarium data match species-specific endemism accepted by taxonomists. We show that an endemism level of 90% separates well pure and near-endemic from non-endemic species, which in the Atlantic Forest revealed an overall endemism ratio of 45% for its tree flora. We also found that the diversity of pure and near endemics and of endemics and overall species was congruent in space. Our results for the Atlantic Forest reinforce that pure and near endemic species can be combined to quantify regional endemism and therefore to set conservation priorities taking into account endemic species distribution. We provided general guidelines on how the proposed approach can be used to assess endemism levels of regional biotas in other parts of the world.
Transient analysis of impatient customers in an M/M/1 disasters queue in random environment
Authors: Ammar Sherif I. , Jiang Tao , Ye Qingqing
Published: February 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to consider a single server queue with system disasters and impatience behavior are evident in our daily life. For this purpose, authors require to know the general behavior of these systems. Transient analysis shows for us how the system will operate up to some time instant t.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, authors consider a single server queue with system disaster and impatient behavior of customers in a multi-phase random environment, in which the system transits to a repair state after each system disaster. When the system is in a failure phase or going through a repair phase, the new arrivals would be impatient. In case the system is not repaired before the customer’s time expires, the customer would leave the queue and never return. Moreover, after repair, the system becomes ready for service in an operative phase with probability $q_{i} \ge 0.$. Using generating functions along with continued fractions and some properties of the confluent hypergeometric function, authors obtained on their own results.

Findings

Explicit expressions have been obtained for the time-dependent probabilities of the underlying queuing model. Also, time-dependent mean and variance of customers in the system are deduced.

Research limitations/implications

The system authors are dealing with is somewhat complicated, there are some performance measures that cannot be achieved, but some of them have been obtained, such as the expectation and variance of the number of customers in the system.

Practical implications

Based on the obtained results, some numerical examples are some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effect of various parameters on the behavior of the proposed system.

Social implications

Authors’ studied transient analysis of a single server queue with system disaster and impatient customer system is suitable for behavior interpretation of many systems in our lives, such as telecommunication networks, inventory systems and impatient telephone switchboard customers, manufacturing system and service system.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s/authors’ knowledge and according to the literature survey, in a multi-phase random environment, no previous published article is presented for transient analysis of a single server queue with system disaster and impatient customer behavior in a random environment.
A novel approach for nonlinear equations occurs in ion acoustic waves in plasma with Mittag-Leffler law
Authors: Veeresha P. , Prakasha D.G. , Singh Jagdev
Published: February 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to find the solution for special cases of regular-long wave equations with fractional order using q-homotopy analysis transform method (q-HATM).

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed technique (q-HATM) is the graceful amalgamations of Laplace transform technique with q-homotopy analysis scheme and fractional derivative defined with Atangana-Baleanu (AB) operator.

Findings

The fixed point hypothesis considered to demonstrate the existence and uniqueness of the obtained solution for the proposed fractional-order model. To illustrate and validate the efficiency of the future technique, the authors analysed the projected nonlinear equations in terms of fractional order. Moreover, the physical behaviour of the obtained solution has been captured in terms of plots for diverse fractional order.

Originality/value

To illustrate and validate the efficiency of the future technique, we analysed the projected nonlinear equations in terms of fractional order. Moreover, the physical behaviour of the obtained solution has been captured in terms of plots for diverse fractional order. The obtained results elucidate that, the proposed algorithm is easy to implement, highly methodical, as well as accurate and very effective to analyse the behaviour of nonlinear differential equations of fractional order arisen in the connected areas of science and engineering.
The multi-level effects of developmental opportunities, pay equity, and paternalistic leadership on organizational commitment
Authors: Chai Dae Seok , Jeong Shinhee , Joo Baek-Kyoo
Published: February 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of developmental opportunities and perceived pay equity-and paternalistic leadership on affective organizational commitment and the moderating role of paternalistic leadership at the team level in a Korean context.

Design/methodology/approach

Hierarchical linear modeling with a two-level design was used to analyze data collected from 844 employees and 59 work teams.

Findings

The study identified that developmental opportunities and perceived pay equity were significantly associated with affective organizational commitment. However, paternalistic leadership was not significantly related to affective organizational commitment. The results also showed that the moderation effect of paternalistic leadership on the relationship between pay equity and organizational commitment was non-significant, and paternalistic leadership moderated the relationship between developmental opportunities and organizational commitment. In particular, the relationship of developmental opportunities with organizational commitment became weaker when the supervisor’s paternalistic leadership was stronger.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study supported the applicability of organizational support theory and previous empirical studies supporting the relationships between human resource (HR) practices and commitment, particularly in the Korean cultural context. The results have several practical implications for employers, mangers and HR practitioners in an East Asian cultural context.

Originality/value

This study extends the body of knowledge in leadership research by investigating the influences of two key factors of HR practices and a Confucianism-based indigenous leadership theory on organizational commitment. More importantly, the results can guide future cross-national or cross-organizational studies exploring the relationships among leadership, organizational culture and organizational effectiveness. This study also offers clearer empirical evidence for why and how developmental opportunities and perceived pay equity need to be enhanced in an East Asian cultural context.
Training Ukrainian military in job creation and job taking
Authors: Kolvereid Lars , Iermolenko Olga
Published: February 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of courses offered to Ukrainian military personnel and their families to facilitate transfer to the civilian society, and to investigate the extent to which transfer to the civilian sector is associated with increased quality of life.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 1,077 former course participants by handing out a structured questionnaire at different locations in Ukraine.

Findings

Among the 40 courses arranged, 15 proved to be effective with regard to the odds of obtaining a civilian job, and 10 with regard to the odds of becoming a business owner. Business owners and civilian employees scored higher than military employees with regard to different indicators of quality of life. Individuals who are unemployed or not members of the workforce score lower on quality of life than any other group.

Originality/value

This study evaluates the courses offered in a large educational program where the Norwegian and Ukrainian government cooperate to facilitate transfer of military veterans in Ukraine to the civilian sector.
Do firms harvest from political connections during general elections? Case of Pakistan
Authors: Ashraf Ayesha , Hassan M. Kabir , Abbas Khurram , Zaman Qamar Uz
Published: February 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact of general elections on the stock returns of the politically connected group affiliated firms of Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the market model to assess the impact of political connections (PCs) on abnormal stock returns, before and after election events. We have used share price data of non-financial firms of Pakistan for the years 2008-2013.

Findings

It has been found that behavior of cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) is significantly different for standalone and politically connected group affiliated firms. The results reveal that CAARs of politically connected group affiliated firms have experienced less deviation as compared to stand alone firms. Therefore, it is argued that politically connected group firms may reduce the impact of political uncertainty on stock returns in comparison to stand alone firms.

Practical implications

This study is helpful for policy regulators of Pakistan to devise appropriate policies to maintain a level playing field for politically connected and standalone firms.

Originality/value

This study provides a new dimension to understand the role and association of PCs and general elections with stock markets returns.
Leadership by fragmented destruction after a merger: an example from a facility of acute psychiatry
Authors: Berg John E. , Grimeland Jorid
Published: February 2020

Hospitals are labor intensive facilities based on highly skilled employees. A merger of hospitals is an effort to increase and rationalize this production. Decisions behind a merger are made at the top leadership level. How this might be done is demonstrated by examples from a 36 bed acute psychiatric facility. The aim of the study was to calculate the hidden costs of fragmented destruction of parts of a total hospital supply to patients after a merger. Fragmented destruction is the deliberate stopping of activities deemed not part of the core activities of the hospital without due consideration of the impact on core activities. The proposed changes to operational expenses at a single acute psychiatric hospital were materials for the study. The changes included activities as a reduction in local laboratory service, cleaning services, closure of physiotherapy unit, closing of cultural activities and reduced productivity. The selected activities are calculated as giving an imputed gain of € 630,000 as indicated by the leadership. The not calculated costs of reducing or removing the selected activities are estimated at € 1,955,640. The cost of staff disappointment after a merger is difficult to assess, but is probably higher than assumed in the present calculations.

Imputed cost containment is not attained. The calculations indicate that implemented changes may increase cost, contrary to the belief of the leadership at both the hospital level and further up in the hospital trust.

Arguments in favor of a merger have to be scrutinized thoroughly for optimistic neglect of uncalculated costs of mergers. Future hospital mergers and selected fragmentation of productive tasks at ward or hospital levels should include calculations of unavoidable costs as shown in the present paper.
Towards a further understanding of prenatal thyroid theory of homosexuality: Autoimmune thyroiditis, polycystic ovary syndrome, autism and low birth weight
Authors: Sabuncuoglu Osman
Published: February 2020

Research into the neurobiological origins of same-sex attraction is inconclusive. A recent theory of homosexuality posited that maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy is associated with an increased rate of homosexual orientation in offspring. Relevant studies from the prenatal thyroid model perspective were reviewed, the major findings of which are as follows: i) An increased prevalence of Hashimoto's disease in lesbian women suggests a maternal and even familial presence of the same autoimmune thyroid disease. Female-to-male transsexuals and lesbian women were also reported to have higher rates of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Over the last several years, reports suggesting a strong link between PCOS and thyroid autoimmunity have accumulated. ii) The increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the offspring of mothers with thyroid autoimmunity in pregnancy and the association between ASD and gender dysphoria indicate a link between maternal thyroid dysfunction and gender dysphoria/same-sex attraction in the off-spring. iii) The high risk of miscarriage and retarded fetal growth in pregnancies of mothers who give birth to homosexual off-spring can be explained by the impact of maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy. This perspective review highlights relevant research findings and integrates them into the prenatal thyroid model of homosexuality. A better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the generation of same-sex orientation will contribute to the betterment of individual lives, as well as of society.
Capgras syndrome in substance-induced psychosis
Authors: Sampathi Bharat R. , Sofine Anna , Alvarez John , Bota Robert
Published: February 2020

Capgras Syndrome is a subcategory of delusional disorder. People affected by this syndrome believe that a close associate such as a friend or family member has been replaced by an identical imposter. This case report describes a 23-year-old woman with no prior psychiatric history, whom developed Capgras syndrome, via folie a deux, in the setting of poly-substance use. In this patient, a combination of Aripiprazole 10 mg daily and Escitalopram 10 mg daily were effective in resolving symptoms. Clonazepam was utilized for anxiety and Omega-3 fatty acids 1 g for anti-oxidative effects. Further studies are needed to investigate the effects of a variety of causes and treatments for Capgras Syndrome.
Deep brain stimulation for obsessive compulsive disorder: A review of results by anatomical target
Authors: Borders Candace , Hsu Frank , Sweidan Alexander J. , Matei Emily S. , Bota Robert G.
Published: February 2020

Studies suggest deep brain stimulation (DBS) as a treatment modality for the refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It is unclear where to place the DBS. Various sites are proposed for placement with the ventral capsule/ventral striatum (VC/VS) among the most studied. Herein, we aim to summarize both quantitative Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) data and qualitative descriptions of the participants' symptoms when given. A literature search conducted via PubMed yielded 32 articles. We sought to apply a standard based on the utilization of YBOCS. This yielded 153 distinct patients. The outcome measure we focused on in this review is the latest YBOCS score reported for each patient/cohort in comparison to the location of the DBS. A total of 32 articles were found in the search results. In total, 153 distinct patients' results were reported in these studies. Across this collection of papers, a total of 9 anatomic structures were targeted. The majority of studies showed a better response at the last time point as compared to the first time point. Most patients had DBS at nucleus accumbens followed by VC/VS and the least patients had DBS at the bilateral superolateral branch of the median forebrain bundle and the bilateral basolateral amygdala. The average YBOCS improvement did not seem to directly correlate with the percentile of patients responding to the intervention.

Well-controlled, randomized studies with larger sample sizes with close follow up are needed to provide a more accurate determination for placement of DBS for OCD.
Relationship between body mass and clinical response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for major depressive disorder
Authors: Davila Maria Cristina , Ely Brianna , Manzardo Ann M.
Published: February 2020

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been proven to be efficacious in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). We previously examined the effectiveness of rTMS for MDD in an applied clinical setting, AwakeningsKC Clinical Neuroscience Institute (CNI) and found high remission rates for patients diagnosed with MDD following rTMS treatment. An unexpected relationship with body composition and rTMS unit was discovered. This sub-study extends the previous investigation through a focused analysis of the effects of body composition on response to rTMS in the treatment of MDD. We utilized data collected from a retrospective review of medical records for patients diagnosed with MDD undergoing rTMS therapy at AwakeningsKC CNI. Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) scores, time to remission status and body mass index (BMI) at baseline were considered while referencing two different rTMS instruments (MagVenture; NeuroStar). We found 23 (9%) of 247 participants met criteria for obese status (BMI?30) with an average baseline PHQ-9 score of 22±4, classified as “severe depression”. Obesity status was differentially impacted by the rTMS instrument used for treatment. Patients with obesity showed a shorter time to remission (mean 2.7±0.27 vs. mean 3.4±0.3 weeks) and proportionately greater remission rate (100% vs. 71%) when treated using the MagVenture relative to the NeuroStar instrument. Clinical response to rTMS therapy for MDD appears to be guided by individual factors including body composition and rTMS parameters such as the unit used for treatment. Further study of these influences could aid in the optimization of clinical response to rTMS.
Evaluating models of how morphological awareness connects to reading comprehension: A study in Portuguese
Authors: Oliveira Márcia , Levesque Kyle C. , Deacon S. Hélène , da Mota Márcia Maria Peruzzi Elia
Published: February 2020

Background

Reading comprehension is a complex skill, drawing on a range of resources. One is morphological awareness, or the awareness of the smallest meaningful units in language. Testing the predictions of the Simple View of Reading, we evaluate how morphological awareness relates to reading comprehension in a relatively transparent orthography.

Method

There were 70 Portuguese‐speaking children in Grade 2 in our study. The children completed measures of morphological awareness and reading comprehension, along with two potential mediators: word reading and listening comprehension. Children also completed control measures of phonological awareness and nonverbal ability.

Results

Path analysis showed that there were indirect effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension through each of word reading and listening comprehension. There was no significant direct effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension beyond these mediators and controls.

Conclusions

Our results provide a novel empirical confirmation of the predictions of current models of reading comprehension. We do so for readers of a relatively transparent orthography.

Highlights

What is already known about this topic

Many studies with English‐speaking children have demonstrated that morphological awareness contributes to reading comprehension.

Much less is known about how this relation works and if it holds for readers of relatively transparent orthographies.

What this paper adds

This study shows that the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension holds for children learning to read in the relatively transparent orthography of Portuguese.

This study also shows just how these relations work. For Portuguese‐speaking children in Grade 2, the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension is fully mediated by word reading and listening comprehension.

Implications for theory, policy or practice

Our findings provide support for the Simple View of Reading, highlighting the dual roles of word reading and listening comprehension in reading comprehension.

Our findings point to targets for intervention; morphological awareness instruction might be most effective if paired with instruction on how morphology impacts both word reading and oral language.
Vestigial suppresses apoptosis and cell migration in a manner dependent on the level of JNK‐Caspase signaling in the Drosophila wing disc
Authors: Fan Wen‐Min , Luo Dan , Zhang Jun‐Zheng , Wang Dan , Shen Jie
Published: February 2020

The Decapentaplegic (Dpp) and Wingless (Wg) signal pathways play important roles in numerous biological processes in Drosophila. The Drosophila vestigial (vg) gene is selectively required for wing imaginal disc cell proliferation, which is essential for the formation of the adult wing and halter structures, and is regulated by Dpp and Wg signaling. Using a Drosophila invasion model of wing epithelium, we showed herein that inhibition of Dpp or Wg signaling promoted cells to migrate across the cell lineage restrictive anterior/posterior (A/P) compartment boundary. Being downstream of both Dpp and Wg signaling, vg can block cell migration induced by loss of either pathway. In addition, suppression of vg is sufficient to induce cell migration across the A/P boundary. Transcriptomic analysis revealed potential downstream genes involved in the cell migration after suppressing vg in the wing disc. We further demonstrated that the c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) signaling promoted cell migration induced by vg suppression by upregulating Caspase activity. Taken together, our results revealed the requirement of Vg for suppressing cell migration and clarified how developmental signals collaborate to stabilize cells along the compartment boundary.
Playing with Fire: The 4th Duke of Hamilton's Jacobite Politics and the Union
Authors: Szechi Daniel
Published: February 2020

James Hamilton, duke of Hamilton and the Scots jacobites are generally linked in analyses of the final years of the Scots polity. Indeed, Hamilton is often presented as the leader of the jacobite party in the Scottish parliament. Yet both contemporaries and historians have been unsure what to make of his on‐again, off‐again, conduct with respect to the exiled Stuarts and France. This has fuelled an ongoing debate about Hamilton's erratic and highly enigmatic behaviour during the winter of 1706–7, when the Union was passing the Scottish parliament. Was he genuinely opposing the Union? Was he duped by the court? Or was he, ‘bought and sold for English gold ’? This essay takes a fresh look at the duke and his part in the Union crisis in the light of new and previously underused jacobite sources with a view to better understanding Hamilton's aims, objectives, and influence with this crucial group. Only the jacobites and the Cameronians were potentially willing to take their opposition to the Union to God's Acre. But neither party immediately flew to arms in response to passage of a union they both believed was a betrayal of everything they held dear, and Hamilton was a major factor in their failure to do so. This essay thus takes a close look at the duke's part in preventing a major national uprising against the Union in the winter of 1706–7 and advances a new interpretation of his conduct and significance throughout the Union crisis.
‘’Tis Not in the Power of Words to Tell What My Heart Feels in Favour of You’; or, What the Ossulston Diary Does Not Reveal
Authors: Littleton Charles
Published: February 2020

Charles Bennet, 2nd Baron Ossulston is largely known through his diary of his daily social encounters, which was first analysed for its political import by Clyve Jones. A further set of documents in the Bennet family papers deepens our understanding of Ossulston's life and his social milieu among the aristocracy under Queen Anne. The love letters sent to him from a Mrs Sarah Sidney throughout 1710 reveal much about life in the aristocratic hothouse of St James's Square. They also show how the ‘ministerial revolution’ of that year was seen by two politically conversant figures at the margins of the royal court. This relationship was long‐lasting and has been a hitherto unknown aspect of Ossulston's life, which may help explain some of his attitudes.
Party and Management in the Irish House of Lords, 1713–15
Authors: Hayton D.W.
Published: February 2020

The ‘constitutional revolution’ which occurred in Ireland after 1691 meant that parliamentary management became one of the prime functions of the viceroyalty. Interest focused on the Commons, where supply legislation was drafted. But the upper House, though smaller, less busy, and on the whole more easily managed, could not be ignored, since it could still cause major problems for government. The situation for the incoming ministers in 1714 was problematic, since the Lords had been a tory stronghold, and the ‘Church party’, buttressed by the bishops, remained powerful. The situation was a mirror image of Westminster in 1710, when Robert Harley's tory ministry had to cope with a whig‐dominated house of lords. This essay analyses the means by which Lord Lieutenant Sunderland (1714–15), and his successors, Lords Justices Grafton and Galway, brought the Irish upper House under control, constructing a court party with some of the elements which Clyve Jones has identified as having been crucial to Harley's strategy in 1710–14: moderate or non‐party men, pensioners and placemen depending on government largess, new episcopal appointments and a block creation of peerages. In Ireland it was the new peers who played the most important part. The whigs were able to make some inroads into the episcopal bench, previously a stronghold of toryism, until the issue of relief for dissenters rekindled anxiety over the maintenance of the ecclesiastical establishment, prefiguring future problems.
The Members of the House of Lords and the Hanoverian Succession
Authors: Handley Stuart
Published: February 2020

This essay examines what happened in August and September 1714, from the death of Queen Anne on 1 August to the swearing‐in of the new privy council on 1 October, specifically from the perspective of the membership of the house of lords. It confirms that most members were present in London during this period and active in parliament, the privy council, the regency, and politics generally. Very few were absent without a good reason.
‘Hereditary Guardians of the Nation’: The House of Lords and the East India Company in the Age of the American Revolution
Authors: Connors Richard , Gilding Ben
Published: February 2020

The reform of the East India Company following its acquisition of vast territories in Bengal in the mid 1760s raised hopes that it could provide Britain with a fund to alleviate the burdens of the national debt in the wake of the failure of American taxation. Concomitantly, it elicited genuine fears that the acquisition of such revenues and patronage by the state would radically augment the already overgrown ‘influence of the crown’. Studies of the parliamentary debates surrounding East India reform have consistently emphasized the house of commons as the principal scene of action. Inspired by the work of Clyve Jones in reasserting the centrality of the house of lords as a ‘pillar’ of the 18th‐century constitution, this essay seeks to redress the balance, arguing that the Lords was a key arena through which co‐ordinated parliamentary and extra‐parliamentary activities and press campaigns altered the trajectory of the regulation and reform of the East India Company. Through the use of its distinct privileges, such as the right of opposition lords to protest any vote of the House and the right of peers to an audience with the monarch, as well as its determination to uphold its status as a mediator between the powers of the crown and the Commons, the upper chamber played a crucial role in shaping debates in the 1770s and 1780s over the future of the East India Company and its place in a burgeoning British Empire.
Fixing the Membership of the Lords and Commons: The Case of Sir John Cam Hobhouse and the Nottingham By‐Election, 1834
Authors: Beckett John
Published: February 2020

When Melbourne replaced Grey in 1834 he looked to recruit men with experience to join his government. He enlisted Sir John Cam Hobhouse, but Hobhouse needed a seat in the Commons. This was achieved by a writ of acceleration, whereby Viscount Duncannon, one of the sitting MPs for Nottingham, was called into the Lords in his father's lifetime to release a seat in the Commons. Writs had normally been used to strengthen the power of the government in the Lords, and the resentment in Nottingham at this political fix was expressed in a full‐scale contest with accusations that the town was being turned into a government nomination borough. Hobhouse might have hoped for a free run as he had already been appointed to the cabinet. Rather, he was forced to fight for the seat, and to go through most of the activities more frequently associated with general elections.
NUTRITION, CROWDING, AND DISEASE AMONG LOW‐INCOME HOUSEHOLDS IN TOKYO IN 1930
Authors: Ogasawara Kota , Gazeley Ian , Schneider Eric B.
Published: February 2020

This article employs a household survey of low‐income working‐class households conducted in Tokyo in 1930 to investigate nutritional attainment levels and the relationship between calorie intake and morbidity. We find that the daily calorie intake was 2,118 kcal per adult male equivalent, high enough to satisfy the energy requirements for moderate physical activity. Richer households purchased more expensive calories mainly by substituting meat and vegetables for rice. We find negative associations between morbidity and income and crowding, but no significant associations for nutrition, tentatively suggesting that income and crowding were more important for morbidity in 1930 Tokyo than nutrition.