bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Improved Delineation of Colorectal Cancer Molecular Subtypes and Functional Profiles with a 62-Gene Panel
Authors: Bhukdee Dhup , Nuwongsri Pattarin , Israsena Nipan , Sriswasdi Sira
Published: December 2022

Since its establishment in 2015, the transcriptomics-based consensus molecular subtype (CMS) classification has unified our understanding of colorectal cancer. Each of the four CMS exhibited distinctive high-level molecular signatures that correlated well with prognosis and treatment response. Nonetheless, many key aspects of colorectal cancer progression and intra-subtype heterogeneity remain unresolved. This is partly because the bulk transcriptomic data used to define CMS contain substantial interference from non-tumor cells. Here, we propose a concise panel of 62 genes that not only accurately recapitulates all key characteristics of the four original CMS but also identifies three additional subpopulations with unique molecular signatures. Validation on independent cohorts confirms that the new CMS4 intra-subtypes coincide with single-cell–derived intrinsic subtypes and that the panel consists of many immune cell-type markers that can capture the status of tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, a 2D embedding of CMS structure based on the proposed gene panel provides a high-resolution view of the functional pathways and cell-type markers that underlie each CMS intra-subtype and the continuous progression from CMS2 to CMS4 subtypes. Our gene panel and 2D visualization refined the delineation of colorectal cancer subtypes and could aid further discovery of molecular mechanisms in colorectal cancer.

Implications

: Well-selected gene panel and representation can capture both the continuum of cancer cell states and tumor microenvironment status.
LEF1 Drives a Central Memory Program and Supports Antitumor Activity of Natural Killer T Cells
Authors: Ngai Ho , Barragan Gabriel A. , Tian Gengwen , Balzeau Julien C. , Zhang Chunchao , Courtney Amy N. , Guo Linjie , Xu Xin , Wood Michael S. , Drabek Janice M. , Demberg Thorsten , Sands Caroline M. , Chauvin-Fleurence Cynthia N. , Di Pierro Erica J. , Rosen Jeffrey M. , Metelitsa Leonid S.
Published: December 2022

Vα24-invariant natural killer T cells (NKT) possess innate antitumor properties that can be exploited for cancer immunotherapy. We have shown previously that the CD62L+ central memory-like subset of these cells drives the in vivo antitumor activity of NKTs, but molecular mediators of NKT central memory differentiation remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that relative to CD62L– cells, CD62L+ NKTs express a higher level of the gene encoding the Wnt/β-catenin transcription factor lymphoid enhancer binding factor 1 (LEF1) and maintain active Wnt/β-catenin signaling. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated LEF1 knockout reduced CD62L+ frequency after antigenic stimulation, whereas Wnt/β-catenin activator Wnt3a ligand increased CD62L+ frequency. LEF1 overexpression promoted NKT expansion and limited exhaustion following serial tumor challenge and was sufficient to induce a central memory–like transcriptional program in NKTs. In mice, NKTs expressing a GD2-specific chimeric-antigen receptor (CAR) with LEF1 demonstrated superior control of neuroblastoma xenograft tumors compared with control CAR-NKTs. These results identify LEF1 as a transcriptional activator of the NKT central memory program and advance development of NKT cell–based immunotherapy.

See related Spotlight by Van Kaer, p. 144
Suppression of Tumor or Host Intrinsic CMTM6 Drives Antitumor Cytotoxicity in a PD-L1–Independent Manner
Authors: Long Yiru , Chen Runqiu , Yu Xiaolu , Tong Yongliang , Peng Xionghua , Li Fanglin , Hu Chao , Sun Jianhua , Gong Likun
Published: December 2022

CKLF-like MARVEL transmembrane domain-containing protein 6 (CMTM6) is known to be a regulator of membranal programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) stability and a factor associated with malignancy progression, but the effects and mechanisms of CMTM6 on tumor growth, as well as its potential as a target for therapy, are still largely unknown. Here, we show that CMTM6 expression increased with tumor progression in both patients and mice. Ablation of CMTM6 significantly reduced human and murine tumor growth in a manner dependent on T-cell immunity. Tumor CMTM6 suppression broke resistance to immune-checkpoint inhibitors and remodeled the tumor immune microenvironment, as specific antitumor cytotoxicity was enhanced and contributed primarily to tumor inhibition. Without the PD-1/PD-L1 axis, CMTM6 suppression still significantly dampened tumor growth dependent on cytotoxic cells. Furthermore, we identified that CMTM6 was widely expressed on immune cells. T-cell CMTM6 levels increased with sustained immune activation and intratumoral immune exhaustion and affected T cell–intrinsic PD-L1 levels. Host CMTM6 knockout significantly restrained tumor growth in a manner dependent on CD8+ T cells and not entirely dependent on PD-L1. Thus, we developed and evaluated the antitumor efficacy of CMTM6-targeting adeno-associated virus (AAV), which effectively mobilized antitumor immunity and could be combined with various antitumor drugs. Our findings reveal that both tumor and host CMTM6 are involved in antitumor immunity with or without the PD-1/PD-L1 axis and that gene therapy targeting CMTM6 is a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy.
Placental Inflammation Leads to Abnormal Embryonic Heart Development
Authors: Ward Eleanor J. , Bert Serena , Fanti Silvia , Malone Kerri M. , Maughan Robert T. , Gkantsinikoudi Christina , Prin Fabrice , Volpato Lia Karina , Piovezan Anna Paula , Graham Gerard J. , Dufton Neil P. , Perretti Mauro , Marelli-Berg Federica M. , Nadkarni Suchita
Published: December 2022

Background:

Placental heart development and embryonic heart development occur in parallel, and these organs have been proposed to exert reciprocal regulation during gestation. Poor placentation has been associated with congenital heart disease, an important cause of infant mortality. However, the mechanisms by which altered placental development can lead to congenital heart disease remain unresolved.

Methods:

In this study, we use an in vivo neutrophil-driven placental inflammation model through antibody depletion of maternal circulating neutrophils at key stages during time-mated murine pregnancy: embryonic days 4.5 and 7.5. Pregnant mice were culled at embryonic day 14.5 to assess placental and embryonic heart development. A combination of flow cytometry, histology, and bulk RNA sequencing was used to assess placental immune cell composition and tissue architecture. We also used flow cytometry and single-cell sequencing to assess embryonic cardiac immune cells at embryonic day 14.5 and histology and gene analyses to investigate embryonic heart structure and development. In some cases, offspring were culled at postnatal days 5 and 28 to assess any postnatal cardiac changes in immune cells, structure, and cardiac function, as measured by echocardiography.

Results:

In the present study, we show that neutrophil-driven placental inflammation leads to inadequate placental development and loss of barrier function. Consequently, placental inflammatory monocytes of maternal origin become capable of migration to the embryonic heart and alter the normal composition of resident cardiac macrophages and cardiac tissue structure. This cardiac impairment continues into postnatal life, hindering normal tissue architecture and function. Last, we show that tempering placental inflammation can prevent this fetal cardiac defect and is sufficient to promote normal cardiac function in postnatal life.

Conclusions:

Taken together, these observations provide a mechanistic paradigm whereby neutrophil-driven inflammation in pregnancy can preclude normal embryonic heart development as a direct consequence of poor placental development, which has major implications on cardiac function into adult life.
High Mobility Group Box 1 as an Autocrine Chemoattractant for Oligodendrocyte Lineage Cells in White Matter Stroke
Authors: Choi Jun Young , Jin Xuelian , Kim Hanki , Koh Seungyon , Cho Hyo Jin , Kim Byung Gon
Published: December 2022

Background:

The migration of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC) is a key process of remyelination, which is essential for the treatment of white matter stroke. This study aimed to investigate the role of HMGB1 (high mobility group box 1), a damage-associated molecular pattern released from dying oligodendrocytes, as an autocrine chemoattractant that promotes OPC migration.

Methods:

The migratory capacity of primary cultured OPCs was measured using the Boyden chamber assay. The downstream pathway of HMGB1-mediated OPC migration was specified by siRNA-induced knockdown or pharmacological blockade of TLR2 (toll-like receptor 2), RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end product), Src, ERK1/2 (extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2), and FAK (focal adhesion kinase). Conditioned media were collected from oxygen-glucose deprivation-treated oligodendrocytes, and the impact on OPC migration was assessed. Lesion size and number of intralesional Olig2(+) cells were analyzed in an in vivo model of white matter stroke with N5-(1-iminoethyl)-L-ornithine (L-NIO).

Results:

HMGB1 treatment promoted OPC migration. HMGB1 antagonism reversed such effects to untreated levels. Among the candidates for the downstream signal of HMGB1-mediated migration, the knockdown of TLR2 rather than that of RAGE attenuated the migration-promoting effect of HMGB1. Further specification of the HMGB1-TLR2 axis revealed that the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and its downstream molecule FAK, rather than of Src, was decreased in TLR2-knockdown OPCs, and pharmacological inhibition of ERK1/2 and FAK led to decreased OPC migration. Oxygen-glucose deprivation-conditioned media promoted OPC migration, suggesting the autocrine chemoattractant function of HMGB1. In vivo, TLR2(−/−)-mice showed lesser intralesional Olig2(+) cells compared to wild-type controls in response to L-NIO induced ischemic injury regardless of HMGB1 administration.

Conclusions:

HMGB1, through the TLR2-ERK1/2-FAK axis, functions as an autocrine chemoattractant to promote OPC migration, which is an initial and indispensable step in remyelination. Thus, a novel treatment strategy for white matter stroke based on the HMGB1-TLR2 axis in the oligodendrocyte lineage could be feasible.
8. Global Citizenship
Authors: de Souza Carrijo Manuella Heloisa
Published: December 2022

The word citizenship, a contested concept, emerges in different discourses that can hide contrasting interests. Differences in its meanings are enhanced with the changes in society through history. This chapter presents a discussion about mathematics education for citizenship and its outcomes. School presents itself as a stage of dispute and a space for expressing different ideologies that can configure ways of thinking and structuring an education on the topic of citizenship. Mathematics education is shown to be supportive of different citizenship discourses. In a globalised world with deep inequalities, a type of mathematics education for citizenship that matches with inclusion and diversity is required; one which considers global issues. The proposed landscape of investigation Global Visibility Matters is a possible support aid for mathematics classes, based on enabling students to develop

global citizenship. By reading and interpreting a social situation as being open to change, it becomes possible for the students to be recognised as—and to act as—global citizens.
10. Dialogue in Eternity
Authors: Carolina Faustino Ana Carolina
Published: December 2022

This chapter aims to discuss the connection between landscapes of investigation and dialogue shown through interactions amongst children in mathematics classes in the early years of elementary school. The characters Socrates, Lakatos, Galileo, Skovsmose and Carolina meet in eternity to comment on the relationships between landscapes of investigation and dialogue in mathematics education. Thus, this chapter is a fictitious dialogue in which the reader will encounter a dialogical text where Carolina will introduce some examples on children’s interaction in a landscape of investigation. The dialogue involves children from Grade 3 and Grade 5 mathematics classes in a public school in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.
11. Inclusive Landscapes of Investigation
Authors: Skovsmose Ole
Published: December 2022

By means of two examples, one concerning polygons and one concerning erosions of democracy, I characterise the conception of inclusive landscapes of investigation. These are teaching-learning environments that are accessible for everybody, and invite dialogue across differences. This brings me to refer to universal design, which provides a broader perspective on the construction of inclusive environments. Finally, I relate the concept of critique to the characteristics of inclusive landscapes of investigation.
12. Meetings amongst Deaf and Hearing Students in the Mathematics Classroom
Authors: Queiroz Moura Amanda , Godoy Penteado Miriam
Published: December 2022

In this chapter, we are aiming to contribute to practices in mathematics classes that value the idea of meetings amongst differences. We present landscapes that were designed specifically in order to favour interaction among deaf and hearing students. The discussion is based on data produced in a public elementary school in Brazil, in a fifth-year class with both deaf and hearing students. The results highlight that the organisation of tasks based on dialogic communication is essential in order to respond to unpredictability and to enable collaboration in conditions of equity in the mathematics classroom.
14. Landscapes of Investigation with Seniors
Authors: da Silva Guilherme Henrique Gomes , Siqueira Julio Rejane , Nascimento da Silva Rafaela
Published: December 2022

The authors discuss how seniors engage in mathematical activities when inserted into landscapes of investigation. Through a qualitative approach, the researchers collected data in two meetings with a group of seniors who were involved in landscapes of investigation in a mathematics education project aimed at that age range. The authors also highlight that the activities fostered interaction/collaboration between the seniors, causing them to change their conception of mathematics, producing knowledge and raising philosophical, aesthetic, technological and mathematical discussions.
16. Opening an Exercise
Authors: Milani Raquel
Published: December 2022

This text presents two possibilities for transforming exercises of the school mathematics tradition into investigative activities related to landscapes of investigation located in the context of critical mathematics education (CME). This process of transformation was based on what Skovsmose calls “opening an exercise”. In order to open an exercise with reference to pure mathematics, one can explore the theme proposed in the exercise by going in different directions. In order to open an exercise with reference to semi-reality and reality, I have proposed the exploration of comments produced by students as they work through the exercise. A task related to such transformation was developed for prospective mathematics teachers in order to reflect on mathemacy, help students to make mathematical discoveries, and potentially cause changes in traditional teaching practices. The result of the transformation process carried out by the prospective teachers in the course indicates that the investigative activity should have a strong appeal to reality and semi-reality, besides mobilising other actions that are not developed when one solves an exercise. Due to the characteristics of the task, a new reference emerged: an imagined reality. The task and reflections represent the first step in the process of these prospective teachers entering CME.
17. The Impact of Income Tax on the Teaching Profession
Authors: Douglas Ribeiro Renato , Alves Soares Daniela , de Souza Lima Adriana , Bezerra Lucicleide , Frango Edyenis
Published: December 2022

We present in this chapter a theoretical study and an example of teacher education practices, both inspired by the landscapes of investigation and critical mathematics education of Ole Skovsmose, as well as the mathematics for social justice of Eric Gutstein. This approach to teacher education was used with a group of undergraduate students in mathematics and Master’s students from a public university in the southeast of Brazil. The chosen theme was related to the teachers’ own issues and struggles. We explored a bill by the Brazilian Senate (445/2012), which proposes that teachers of all levels of education be exempt from paying income tax. With this programme, we intended the participants to experience landscapes of investigation in an open space for learning mathematics through a theme involving social justice, and to be able to consider the importance of this kind of approach for their own professional practice in the classroom. Based on the data produced, this chapter presents two narratives as a guiding thread for the analysis of the work carried out, showing that the assumptions of the landscapes of investigation and social justice served as a background for the teacher education proposal.
18. Critical Mathematics Education in Action
Authors: Civiero Paula Andrea Grawieski , Peres Zago de Oliveira Fátima
Published: December 2022

Society today presents a civilising equation where it is crucial to unveil and guide the imbricated relationship between what is technical and what is human. Therefore, the study of contemporary variables is central to the interpretation of this reality. By considering that critical mathematics education (CME) is the most developed approach to treating such themes in mathematics classes, we present a landscape of investigation developed with high-school students, step by step, based on reflective didactic transposition (RDT) of a Scientific Initiation (SI) project in high school. SI enables the investigation of contemporary themes that, in turn, approach the concerns of CME by fostering questions, autonomy, decision-making and a critical interpretation of reality. This proposal evidenced the approximation of SI concepts with landscapes of investigation, just as it was possible to perceive the urgency of the imbrication between the different milieus of learning and the contemporary variables of this complex civilising equation.
1. A Foundation for Bioethics
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

In this chapter, I describe the thoughts of one of the first people to use the word bioethics: Van Rensselaer Potter. I argue that we can learn from his ideas to rethink bioethics as a relevant discipline in times of superwicked problems. I also argue that process philosophy, biology, and feminist posthumanism.
4. Against Dualisms
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

I will use the example of nature and nurture, genes and environment to demonstrate how genetic research projects and communication about genes sometimes reinforce outdated and dualistic views on life that are not conducive to a science. I explain the different meanings of epigenetics. I argue that an ethical research practice is a self-reflective practice, and bioethicists and philosophers of science can help with that.
10. Medical Ethics and Environmental Ethics
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

I reflect on the ideas of Van Rensselaer Potter to argue for a rapprochement of medical ethics and environmental ethics.
12. Standpoints
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

If we take the normativity of concepts such as pathology seriously, this means that both in the encounter between an individual patient and their caregiver, as in evaluating the impact of systemic decisions, we should pay attention to experiences and situated knowledge. In this chapter I discuss standpoint epistemology. I argue that ensuring an ethical scientific and clinical practice entails including the viewpoints and explicitly paying attention to those who have held marginalized positions in healthcare. If we want to understand what health and pathology mean for different people, this means engaging honestly with those people that have been ignored.
13. Bringing Back the Environment
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

I reflect on the importance of thinking health and environment together. I give the example of disability caused by pollution. I argue that ‘thinking with’ disability means imagining a future that can sustain all different types of embodiment.
17. Concepts
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

I describe how ‘risk’ is not a neutral term, using examples from the COVID-19 pandemic and from prenatal screening. I suggest that bioethicists should keep pointing out the different aspects of risks and how they often cannot be reduced or weighed against one another.
19. Trouble
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

In this chapter, I discuss topics in animal ethics and the importance of not seeing ethics as a zero sum game. I use the examples of meat eating and animal experimentation to show that as bioethicists, we must keep asking the question, cui bono, why are we doing this? What knowledge do we get from this, and is this knowledge.
20. Creativity
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

In this chapter I use the example of my own journey in a computer game, Death Stranding, as a reflection on the importance, also for bioethicists, to stay with the trouble of our own and the world’s limits.
Epilogue
Authors: Hens Kristien
Published: December 2022

In this epilogue, I reflect back on the arguments in the book and argue for interdisciplinarity in bioethics.
RARE: The Regional Arctic Reanalysis
Authors: Carton James A. , Chepurin Gennady A.
Published: December 2022

This paper describes the new Regional Arctic Ocean/sea ice Reanalysis (RARE) with a domain that spans a subpolar/polar cap poleward of 45°N. Sequential data assimilation constrains temperature and salinity using World Ocean Database profiles as well as in situ and satellite SST, and PIOMAS sea ice thickness estimates. The 41-yr (1980–2020) RARE1.15.2 reanalysis with resolution varying between 2 and 5 km horizontally and 1–10 m vertically in the upper 100 m is examined. To explore the impact of resolution RARE1.15.2 is compared to a coarser-resolution SODA3.15.2, which uses the same modeling and data assimilation system. Improving resolution in the reanalysis system improves agreement with observations. It produces stronger more compact currents, enhances eddy kinetic energy, and strengthens along-isopycnal heat and salt transports, but reduces vertical exchanges and thus strengthens upper ocean haline stratification. RARE1.15.2 and SODA3.15.2 are also compared to the Hadley Center EN4.2.2 statistical objective analysis. In regions of reasonable data coverage such as the Nordic seas the three products produce similar time-mean distributions of temperature and salinity. But in regions of poor coverage and in regions where the coverage changes in time EN4.2.2 suffers more from those inhomogeneities. Finally, the impact on the Arctic of interannual temperature fluctuations in the subpolar gyres on the Arctic Ocean is compared. The influence of the subpolar North Pacific is limited to a region surrounding Bering Strait. The influence of the subpolar North Atlantic, in contrast, spreads throughout the Nordic seas and Barents Sea in all three products within two years.

Significance Statement

The Arctic Ocean/sea ice system plays crucial roles in climate variability and change by controlling the northern end of the oceanic overturning circulation, the equator to pole air pressure gradient, and Earth’s energy balance. Yet the historical ocean observation set is sparse and inhomogeneous, while ocean dynamics has challengingly fine horizontal and vertical scales. This paper introduces a new Regional Arctic Ocean/sea ice Reanalysis (RARE) whose goal is to use the combined constraints of mesoscale ocean dynamics, historical observations, surface meteorology, and continental runoff in a data assimilation framework to reconstruct historical variability. RARE is used to produce a 41-yr ocean/sea ice reanalysis 1980–2020 whose results are described here.
Historical Ocean Heat Uptake in Two Pairs of CMIP6 Models: Global and Regional Perspectives
Authors: Kuhlbrodt Till , Voldoire Aurore , Palmer Matthew D. , Geoffroy Olivier , Killick Rachel E.
Published: December 2022

Ocean heat content (OHC) is one of the most relevant metrics tracking the current global heating. Therefore, simulated OHC time series are a cornerstone for assessing the scientific performance of Earth system models and global climate models. Here we present a detailed analysis of OHC change in simulations of the historical climate (1850–2014) performed with two pairs of CMIP6 models: U.K. Earth System Model 1 (UKESM1.0) and HadGEM3-GC3.1-LL, and CNRM-ESM2-1 and CNRM-CM6-1. The small number of models enables us to analyze OHC change globally and for individual ocean basins, making use of a novel ensemble of observational products. For the top 700 m of the global ocean, the two CNRM models reproduce the observed OHC change since the 1960s closely. The two U.K. models (UKESM1.0-LL and HadGEM3-GC3.1-LL) compensate a lack of warming in the 0–700 m layer in the 1970s and 1980s with warming below 2000 m. The observed warming between 700 and 2000 m is substantially underestimated by all models. An increased relevance for ocean heat uptake in the Atlantic after 1991—suggested by observations—is picked up by the U.K. models but less so by the CNRM models, probably related to an AMOC strengthening in the U.K. models. The regional ocean heat uptake characteristics differ even though all four models share the same ocean component (NEMO ORCA1). Differences in the simulated global, full-depth OHC time series can be attributed to differences in the model’s total effective radiative forcing.
Observation of Near-Inertial Waves in the Bottom Boundary Layer of an Abyssal Seamount
Authors: Xie Xiaohui , Wang Yan , Liu Zhiyu , Liu Xiaohui , Chen Dake , Zhang Dongsheng , Wang Jiannan
Published: December 2022

The bottom boundary layer (BBL) contributes significantly to the global energy dissipation of low-frequency flows in the abyssal ocean, but how this dissipation occurs remains poorly understood. Using in situ data collected near the BBL at an abyssal seamount in the western Pacific Ocean, we demonstrate that strong bottom-trapped flows over sloping topography can lose their energy to near-inertial waves (NIWs) generated via the adjustment of the bottom Ekman layer. The NIWs with near-resonant frequencies corresponding to internal waves with propagation direction parallel to the topographic slope are observed. These waves are strongest in the BBL and have a correlation with the off-seamount subinertial flows largely attributed to the Ekman transport driven by the bottom-trapped anticyclonic circulation over the seamount. The bottom-intensified NIWs are observed to have dominant upward-propagating energy and hypothesized to be generated via Ekman flow–topography interactions in the BBL. Energy loss from the near-bottom flows to radiating NIWs (∼8 × 10−4 W m−2) is estimated to be substantially larger than that due to bottom drag dissipation (∼2 × 10−4 W m−2), suggesting the important role of internal-wave generation via the Ekman transport adjustment in damping the subinertial flows over the sloping seafloor.

Significance Statement

Dissipation of geostrophic currents and eddies via the oceanic bottom boundary layer (BBL) plays an important role in modulating the global oceanic mechanical energy budget. The bottom drag has long been considered a key process in inducing such dissipation, but it is recently suggested to be less effective at a sloping bottom. This study suggests another potentially important mechanism that can remove energy from the geostrophic flows at the sloping bottom. This mechanism is depicted as the resonant generation of near-inertial internal waves by near-bottom flows. Generation of internal waves due to near-bottom flows over sloping topography should be common in the global ocean and therefore have significant implications for the oceanic mechanical energy budget.
Everyday Talk on Twitter: Informal Deliberation About (Ir-)responsible Business Conduct in Social Media Arenas
Authors: Lundgaard Daniel , Etter Michael
Published: December 2022

Recent research has damped initial promises for democratic deliberation in social media arenas. Empirical studies find only low degrees of direct reciprocal interaction among participants, a lack of consensus orientation, and accelerated forms of communication that fail to meet traditional ideals of deliberation. In line with recent literature, we argue that traditional deliberative ideals are too narrow to embrace the potential contribution of social media for deliberation about (ir-)responsible business conduct. Instead, we propose to conceptualize social media as arenas for everyday talk, that is, everyday communication practices through which participants informally discuss and express opinions about current issues, thereby contributing to a broader deliberative system. In adopting this lens, we ask: How can everyday talk in social media contribute to deliberation about (ir-)responsible business conduct? Drawing on the latest insights from online deliberation studies, we develop a framework for evaluating everyday talk and propose that its deliberative quality depends on social media appropriate forms of justification, interactivity, equality, and civility. We apply this framework with an analysis of 260,224 tweets about the role of business in climate change. Based on our findings, we critically discuss how everyday talk in social media can contribute to deliberation at the intersection of business and society.
What Motivates Social Security Claiming Age Intentions? Testing Behaviorally Informed Interventions Alongside Individual Differences
Authors: Greenberg Adam Eric , Hershfield Hal E. , Shu Suzanne B. , Spiller Stephen A.
Published: December 2022

Choosing when to claim Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits is an important decision for older Americans’ financial health. While previous work has examined heterogeneity in claiming decisions, relatively little research has systematically tested the psychological factors that predict early or delayed SSA claiming or the effectiveness of theory-driven interventions meant to help with the claiming decision. A preregistered experiment and three replications examined the extent to which intended claiming age is a function of theory-driven interventions, individual difference measures, and relevant interactions between interventions and individual differences. The interventions that increased intended claiming age were those that suggest that delayed claiming may be the right choice (i.e., injunctive norm, information about the commonality of regret), those that highlight the financial benefits from delayed claiming (i.e., gains framing, focus on benefits to the future self), and those that guide preference construction through self-reflection (i.e., focus on right-tail longevity, reason generation). In addition, intertemporal discounting, subjective life expectancy, and perceived ownership of SSA benefits predicted intended claiming age. This research advances our understanding of which retirees will decide to claim earlier or later and offers practical insights for policy makers, financial planners, and consumer finance organizations.
UNDERSTANDING GRAY ZONE WARFARE FROM MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES
Authors: Azad Tahir Mahmood , Haider Muhammad Waqas , Sadiq Muhammad
Published: December 2022

This study examines the dynamics of gray zone warfare by analyzing its conceptualization in the literature and through its practice in several recent examples. Ever-increasing changes in the characteristics of contemporary warfare have complicated the security environment of the 21st century. Modern warfare inclines toward non-kinetic dimensions based on the principles of hybridity, soft power, and ambiguity. This changing nature of warfare has been defined and categorized in diverse ways, leading to numerous perspectives revealing more confusion than clarity. The terms “hybrid warfare,” “gray zone warfare,” “unrestricted warfare,” and “ambiguous warfare” have received unprecedented attention in recent years. A key contemporary challenge is to differentiate between war and peace because gray zone warfare occupies the space in between both these situations. Many contemporary conflicts are neither black nor white; instead, they fall in the middle of the two: the gray zone. These factors underscore the significance of evaluating and understanding the concept of gray zone warfare. The United States considers Russia, China, and Iran as revisionist states that employ gray zone warfare in various domains to challenge the United States-led world order. South Asia is also a manifested playground of gray zone warfare. The research further distinguishes between gray zone warfare and hybrid warfare and proposes strategies for countering this threat.
Differential Willingness to Pay for Kidney Transplantation From Living and Deceased Donors: Empirical Study Among End-Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) Patients
Authors: Gonen Limor Dina , Bokek-Cohen Ya’arit , Azuri Pazit , Tarabeih Mahdi
Published: December 2022

Kidney transplantation has developed to the stage where it is currently the most cost-effective treatment for patients suffering from end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and, when available, offers them the highest quality of life. Yet, kidney transplantation is challenged by cultural and traditional beliefs; thus, this study sought to evaluate the willingness to pay for a kidney transplant in a culturally sensitive population. A self-administered survey was completed by 734 end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients. A quantitative method and survey design were chosen and employed descriptive, correlational, nonparametric, and multivariate statistical tests. Participants were willing to pay a mean amount of $40 751.36 for a living donor kidney transplant, whereas the mean is considerably lower, $18 350.51, for a deceased donor kidney. Significant predictors of the willingness to pay (WTP) for a kidney transplant from a living donor and a deceased donor were found, among them: religiosity and ethnicity. The participants’ willingness to pay for a kidney transplant could attest to significant benefits in enhancing patient well-being. The willingness to pay differentially for a donation from a deceased or a living donor stems from the higher chances of success with a living-donor organ as well as from moral and religious motives. In Israel kidney transplantation is not tradable in the free market and is fully funded by the state. The average cost of kidney transplantation in Israel is $61 714.50. Since the cost exceeds the utility and since the economic literature suggests that the funding of healthcare interventions should be provided up to the point where the costs of that funding equal the benefits that society derives from it, crucial revisions in public health policy should be made. Education may have a significant impact on the approach to kidney donation and organ donation in general.
Implementing Competitive Bidding in the Medicare Program: An Expressway to Solvency
Authors: Chakravarthy Rohini , Wilensky Gail R. , Miller Brian J.
Published: December 2022

The Medicare program faces increasing budgetary pressures, with recent estimates suggesting that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust will be insolvent as soon as 2028. Simultaneously, the Medicare Advantage (MA) program, a managed competition model, continues to grow its market penetration as beneficiaries increasingly choose private plans over traditional fee for service (FFS) Medicare. With the relative cost of the 2 forms of Medicare a subject of debate, policy experts have proposed a variety of policy options to address the program’s budgetary pressures and place it on a firmer fiscal footing. This paper explores the implementation of one of these proposals in greater detail: fully transitioning the entire Medicare program to a competitive bidding model in order to reduce overall program costs and improve price competition. Current MA plan bidding methodology is explored, followed by a description of prior proposed competitive bidding models. Implementation challenges are addressed, along with specific policy considerations to protect beneficiaries who wish to remain in FFS Medicare.
An automatic alignment method for discharge arm of mobile crushing station based on binocular vision and fuzzy control
Authors: Guan Wei , Wang Shuai , Chen Zeren , Wang Guoqiang , Huang Tingting , Liu Zhengbin , Guo Jianbo
Published: December 2022

The mobile crushing station is one of the main equipment of the semi-continuous open-pit mining system. The discharge arm and the receiving equipment are manually aligned, which has the problems of long alignment time and low alignment accuracy, which affects the working efficiency of the mining system. According to the development and application of space rendezvous and docking technology at home and abroad, the advantages and disadvantages of different measurement methods are compared and analysed, and the method of applying binocular measurement technology to system positioning in the automatic alignment system of the discharge arm is determined. There are three movements in the mechanical part of the designed discharge arm alignment control system, including the rotary motion of the visual measurement mechanism and the horizontal rotation and telescopic motion of the discharge arm. According to the kinematic analysis and binocular vision measurement theory, the deviation model of the alignment control of the discharge arm is established. A binocular vision measurement and localization method based on the combination of stereo calibration and template matching is proposed, which achieves surprising measurement accuracy. An automatic alignment method of the discharge arm of the mobile crushing station is proposed based on the binocular vision and fuzzy control method. Its validity is verified by simulation and experiment. The strategy of motion decomposition is applied to the alignment system to avoid unnecessary motion of the discharge arm. The research results all show that the alignment method can achieve the angle deviation within ±0.5 degrees, the distance deviation within ±15 mm, and the test alignment time is about 5 minutes, which is better than other alignment control models; the alignment accuracy and the alignment time are improved by more than 50%. The method can control the discharge arm to complete the alignment task quickly and smoothly, which lays a foundation for the further automatic research of the discharge arm.
Student resilience to COVID-19-related school disruptions: The value of historic school engagement
Authors: Theron Linda , Ungar Michael , Höltge Jan
Published: December 2022

Does historic school engagement buffer the threats of disrupted schooling – such as those associated with the widespread COVID-19-related school closures – to school engagement equally for female and male high school students? This article responds to that pressing question. To do so, it reports a study that was conducted in 2018 and 2020 with the same sample of South African students ( n = 172; 66.30% female; average age in 2020: 18.13). A moderated moderation model of the 2018 and 2020 data showed that historic levels of school engagement buffered the negative effects of disrupted schooling on subsequent school engagement ( R² = .43, β = −5.09, p < .05). This protective effect was significant for girl students at moderate and high levels of historic school engagement, but not at lower levels of historic school engagement. Disrupted schooling did not significantly affect school engagement for male students at any level of historic school engagement. In addition, student perceptions of teacher kindness were associated with higher school engagement and having experienced an adverse event at school with lower school engagement. The results point to the importance of facilitating school engagement and enabling school environments – also when schooling is disrupted.
Rapport building with offenders in probation supervision: The views of English probation practitioners
Authors: Nahouli Zacharia , Mackenzie Jay-Marie , Aresti Andreas , Dando Coral
Published: December 2022

Rapport-based supervision in probation is linked to positive behavioural change and reduced reoffending for probation service users. However, the process of rapport building is not well documented in probation practice. This study conducted focus groups and interviews with London-based probation practitioners to understand their views of rapport when supervising service users. Thematic analysis generated five themes related to how practitioners facilitated rapport building and maintenance, as well as several barriers that exist towards building and maintaining rapport – these were conceptualised as a rapport-building process. We provide recommendations to help alleviate barriers and further facilitate the rapport-building process.
The Influence of Loneliness on Perceived Connectedness and Trust Beliefs – Longitudinal Evidence from the Netherlands
Authors: Langenkamp Alexander
Published: December 2022

While social pluralism and diversity are central characteristics of functioning democracies, civil society and democratic institutions require citizens to perceive themselves as an integral part of society in order to function. This stems from a general sense of unity and cohesion and a mutual understanding of citizens that institutions and other members of the society are trustworthy. While objective aspects of social embeddedness, that is organizational membership and inter-relational contact, are established predictors of these outcomes, perceived loneliness is rarely investigated. This study investigates whether changes in loneliness reduce levels of perceived connectedness and political and interpersonal trust beliefs. By analyzing 12 waves of panel data from the Netherlands gathered between 2008 and 2020 ( n = 41,508 observations from 9954 individuals), the analysis shows that intra-personal variation in loneliness predicts a citizen`s sense of connectedness and interpersonal trust beliefs. Regarding political trust, the relationship was not found with panel fixed effect.
Peripartum veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in patients with severe CoViD-19-related-ARDS
Authors: Kakar Vivek , Ahmed Ihab , Ahmed Walid , Raposo Nuno , Kumar G Praveen
Published: December 2022

We describe a case series of five pregnant or postpartum women with severe CoViD-19-related ARDS requiring VV ECMO at our centre between Jan 1 and Sep 30, 2021. All patients were cannulated at the referring hospitals by our team before transferring to our centre. None of the women were vaccinated against CoViD-19. All had severe ARDS with Murray’s Lung Injury Score of 3–4 and met the severity threshold for ECMO initiation that was used in the EOLIA study. All patients were discharged alive to home, acute rehabilitation, or lung transplant centre. One patient suffered intrauterine death before ECMO initiation and another while on ECMO. VV ECMO for refractory CoViD-19 related ARDS in the peripartum period is safe, and in this small series, it was associated with good maternal survival rates.
Estimates of Quality-Adjusted Life-Year Loss for Injuries in the United States
Authors: Raich William , Baxter Jennifer , Sheahan Megan , Goldhaber-Fiebert Jeremy , Sullivan Patrick , Hanmer Janel
Published: December 2022

Purpose

The goal of this study is to develop an approach for estimating nationally representative quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) loss from injury and poisoning conditions using data collected in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Methods

This study uses data from the 2002–2015 NHIS and MEPS surveys. Injuries were identified in the MEPS medical events file and through self-reporting of medical conditions. We restricted our model to 163,731 adults, for which we predict a total of 294,977 EQ-5D scores using responses to the self-administered questionnaire. EQ-5D scores were modeled using age, sex, comorbidities, and binary indicators of the presence and duration of injury at the time of the health status questionnaire. These models consider nonlinearity over time during the first 3 y following the injury event.

Results

Injuries are identified in MEPS using medical events that provide a reasonable proxy for the date of injury occurrence. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) decrements can be estimated using binary indicators of injury during different time periods. When grouped into 29 injury categories, most categories were statistically significant predictors of HRQL scores in the first year after injury. For these groups of injuries, mean first-year QALY loss estimates range from 0.005 (sprains and strains of joints and adjacent muscles, n = 7067) to 0.109 (injury to nerves and spinal cord, n = 71). Fewer estimates are significant in the second and third years after injury, which may reflect a return to baseline HRQL.

Conclusion

This research presents both a framework for estimating QALY loss for short-lived medical conditions and nationally representative, community-based HRQL scores associated with a wide variety of injury and poisoning conditions.

Highlights

This research provides a catalog of nationally representative, preference-based EQ-5D score decrements associated with surviving a large set of injuries, based on patient-reported health status. Mean first-year QALY loss estimates range from 0.005 (sprains and strains of joints and adjacent muscles, n = 7067) to 0.109 (injury to nerves and spinal cord, n = 71). This article presents a novel methodology for assessing quality-of-life impacts for acute conditions by calculating the time elapsed between injury and health status elicitation. Researchers may explore adapting these methods to study other short-lived conditions and health states, such as COVID-19 or chemotherapy.
A straw entering the abdominal cavity through the female reproductive tract: a case report
Authors: Huang Jincheng , Guo Min , zhang Wenjian , Li Cuifen
Published: December 2022

In this article, an unusual case of a 27-year-old woman, who presented with abdominal pain for the previous 2 days, is presented. Ultrasonography revealed a perforated uterus and a straw in the abdominal cavity. A foreign body in the abdominal cavity was diagnosed and removed by laparoscopic surgery, and antibiotics were administered. The patient reported no discomfort during follow-up for 1 month. This report highlights the rare case of a foreign body crossing the uterus into the abdominal cavity. The only possible action was immediate surgery to remove the foreign body from the abdominal cavity.