bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Environmental subjectivities and experiences of climate extreme-driven loss and damage in northern Australia
Authors: Jackson Guy
Published: June 2023

Australia has objectively suffered climate extreme-driven loss and damage—climate change impacts that cannot or will not be avoided. Recent national surveys demonstrate a growing awareness of the link between climate change and climate extremes. However, climate extremes interact with existing environmental subjectivities (i.e., how people perceive, understand, and relate to the environment), which leads to different social, cultural, and political responses. For example, people in northern Australia are familiar with climate extremes, with the heat, humidity, fires, floods, storms, and droughts intimately connected to identities and sense of place. In this climate ethnography, I demonstrate the value of undertaking environmental subjectivities analyses for research on climate-society relations. I detail how environmental subjectivities influence people’s experiences, or non-experiences, of climate extreme-driven loss and damage in northern Australia. I identify a growing concern for climate change and climate extremes are influencing environmental subjectivities. Yet, many northern Australians—even people concerned about climate change—are not, for now, connecting extreme events to climate change. A widespread subjectivity of anticipatory loss supplied people with an imagined temporal buffer, which contributes to non-urgency in political responses. Together with more structural political-economic barriers and a sense of helplessness to affect progressive change, limited action beyond individual consumer decisions and small-scale advocacy are occurring. These, amongst other, findings extend research on the role of climate extremes in climate opinion, lived experiences of loss and damage in affluent contexts, and the environmental value-action gap.
Evaluation of Trichoderma isolates as biocontrol measure against Claviceps purpurea
Authors: Stange Pia , Seidl Sophia , Karl Tanja , Benz J. Philipp
Published: June 2023

Claviceps purpurea causes ergot, a floral disease of major cereal crops, such as winter rye and winter triticale. The dark sclerotia formed by C. purpurea contain numerous toxic ergot alkaloids, which pose a major health risk for humans and animals when ingested. The countermeasures against ergot infection are currently limited to intensive tillage, seed cleaning, crop rotation or integration of optical sorting machines to remove ergot from cereals before processing. However, these practices confer only a minor protective effect and are highly energy-demanding. Thus, more effective and sustainable plant protection measures to combat ergot infections in cereals are needed. The application of Trichoderma spp. as biological control agent has already proven successful against a wide range of phytopathogenic fungi. However, there is only minor scientific evidence about its protective capacity against C. purpurea in cereal crops. In our study, we therefore investigated the antagonistic potential of several Trichoderma isolates against C. purpurea and their ability to confer protection against ergot infection. In initial in vitro tests and confrontation assays, we quantified and compared the production of iron-chelating compounds and hydrolytic enzymes as well as the antagonistic activity against C. purpurea sclerotia and mycelial cultures. Several strains showed high antifungal capacity and growth inhibitory effects towards C. purpurea. Selected Trichoderma strains were then tested for their potential to protect rye (Secale cereale) plants from ergot infection within a greenhouse trial. Rhizosphere-inoculated plants displayed a decreased disease severity compared to plants that had been sprayed with Trichoderma spores above-ground. Gene expression analysis by reverse transcription quantitative PCR also indicated the induction of systemic defense reactions. Overall, our data suggest that individual Trichoderma isolates possess a high antagonistic potential towards C. purpurea, which could be effective by direct mycoparasitism and by inducing systemic plant resistance, and therefore provide important guidance towards the development of Trichoderma treatments of cereals as biocontrol measure against ergot.

Graphical abstract
Localisation of Ultrasonic NDT Data Using Hybrid Tracking of Component and Probe
Authors: Wilken Andreas , Willneff Jochen , Rodeck Rebecca , Wende Gerko , Friedrichs Jens
Published: June 2023

Knowledge about the location of a defect is essential for damage assessment. In terms of a digitalised maintenance, inspection data is combined with position information. The presented approach regards the manual ultrasonic inspection, where the ultrasonic probe and the inspected component are both hand-held. By using markerless tracking technologies, it is possible to track the component without any markers. The ultrasonic probe is tracked by a more stable marker-based tracking technology. This results in a hybrid tracking system, which allows a referencing of the non-destructive testing (NDT) data directly to the local coordinate system of the 3D model that corresponds to the inspected component. Transferring this approach to other manual inspection technologies allows for a superimposition of recorded NDT data without any postprocessing or transformation. A better damage assessment is thus enabled. The inspection system, the inspection tool calibration and the camera registration process are described and analysed in detail. This work is focused on the analysis of the system accuracy, which is realised by using a reference body.
High-density DArTSeq SNP markers revealed wide genetic diversity and structured population in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm in Ethiopia
Authors: Gelaw Yonas Moges , Eleblu John S. Y. , Ofori Kwadwo , Fenta Berhanu Amsalu , Mukankusi Clare , Emam Ermias Assefa , Offei Samuel
Published: June 2023

Introduction

Common bean is one of the widely consumed food security crop in Africa, Asia, and South America. Understanding genetic diversity and population structure is crucial for designing breeding strategies.

Materials

Two hundred and eighty-nine germplasm were recently collected from different regions of Ethiopia and introduced from CIAT to estimate genetic diversity and population structure using 11,480 DArTSeq SNP markers.

Results

The overall mean genetic diversity and polymorphic information content (PIC) were 0.38 and 0.30, respectively, suggested the presence of adequate genetic diversity among the genotypes. Among the geographical regions, landraces collected from Oromia showed the highest diversity (0.39) and PIC (0.30). The highest genetic distance was observed between genotypes collected from SNNPR and CIAT (0.49). In addition, genotypes from CIAT were genetically more related to improved varieties than the landraces which could be due to sharing of parents in the improvement process. The analysis of molecular variance revealed that the largest proportion of variation was due to within the population both in geographical region (63.67%) and breeding status (61.3%) based classification. Model-based structure analysis delineated the 289 common bean genotypes into six hypothetical ancestoral populations.

Conclusions

The genotypes were not clustered based on geographical regions and they were not the main drivers for the differentiation. This indicated that selection of the parental lines should be based on systematic assessment of the diversity rather than geographical distance. This article provides new insights into the genetic diversity and population structure of common bean for association studies, designing effective collection and conservation for efficient utilization for the improvement of the crop.
How and when are topological explanations complete mechanistic explanations? The case of multilayer network models
Authors: Krickel Beate , de Bruin Leon , Douw Linda
Published: June 2023

The relationship between topological explanation and mechanistic explanation is unclear. Most philosophers agree that at least some topological explanations are mechanistic explanations. The crucial question is how to make sense of this claim. Zednik (Philos Psychol 32(1):23–51, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2018.1512090) argues that topological explanations are mechanistic if they (i) describe mechanism sketches that (ii) pick out organizational properties of mechanisms. While we agree with Zednik’s conclusion, we critically discuss Zednik’s account and show that it fails as a general account of how and when topological explanations are mechanistic. First, if topological explanations were just mechanism sketches, this implies that they could be enriched by replacing topological terms with mechanistic detail. This, however, conflicts how topological explanations are used in scientific practice. Second, Zednik’s account fails to show how topological properties can be organizational properties of mechanisms that have a place in mechanistic explanation. The core issue is that Zednik’s account ignores that topological properties often are global properties while mechanistic explanantia refer to local properties. We demonstrate how these problems can be solved by a recent account of mechanistic completeness (Craver and Kaplan in Br J Philos Sci 71(1):287–319, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axy015; Kohár and Krickel in Calzavarini and Viola (eds) Neural mechanisms—new challenges in the philosophy of neuroscience, Springer, New York, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54092-0_17) and use a multilayer network model of Alzheimer’s Disease to illustrate this.
A supplement to Chebotarev’s density theorem
Authors: Harcos Gergely , Soundararajan Kannan
Published: June 2023

Let L/K be a Galois extension of number fields with Galois group G. We show that if the density of prime ideals in K that split totally in L tends to 1/∣G∣ with a power saving error term, then the density of prime ideals in K whose Frobenius is a given conjugacy class C ⊂ G tends to ∣C∣/∣G∣ with the same power saving error term. We deduce this by relating the poles of the corresponding Dirichlet series to the zeros of ζL(s)/ζK(s).
Junge Menschen in urbanen Räumen
Authors: Hübner Jennifer
Published: June 2023

Die meisten jungen Menschen leben heute in der Stadt. Diese jedoch gilt schon länger nicht mehr als der urbane Sehnsuchtsort. Städte sehen sich mit unterschiedlichen Herausforderungen konfrontiert, in deren Gemengelage sich auf junge Menschen bewegen und positionieren müssen. Unter Rückgriff auf ausgewählte Perspektiven zu Raum und Zeit wird die Bedeutung von Stadt für die Kohorte der Kinder und Jugendlichen herausgearbeitet und schließlich gefragt, was Stadt aus ihrer Sicht braucht, um lebenswert zu sein, zu werden und zu bleiben.
Application of different chromatographic techniques to characterise wax by-products generated during cannabinoid extraction
Authors: Duminy Jan-Hendrik , Goosen Neill , van Rensburg Eugéne , Arries William , Mokwena Lucky , Kotobe Lindani , Pott Robert
Published: June 2023

Cannabinoid extraction during Cannabis processing produces a wax by-product which is currently underutilised, partially because the composition is poorly understood. This study applied both gas and liquid chromatography methods to characterise the major compounds present in the waxy by-product from commercial Cannabis processing. Two industrial wax by-products (wax A and wax B) were used as the feedstock for the characterisation, differing in both strain of Cannabis used and downstream processing conditions. The main classes quantified in the Cannabis waxes were cannabinoids, n-alkanes, fatty alcohols, fatty acids, sterols, and various terpenoids. The cannabinoid fraction was the most abundant fraction in both waxes, reporting a total fraction of 509.3 mg/g for wax A and 392.6 mg/g for wax B, on a solvent-free basis. For wax A the largest remaining wax compound class was the fatty acids, which reported a concentration of 172.2 mg/g, with linoleic acid being the most abundant at a concentration of 68.47 mg/g. The most abundant wax compound class in wax B was the n-alkanes at a concentration of 54.55 mg/g and the dominant species in that fraction was nonacosane (C29) with a concentration of 24.47 mg/g. It can be concluded that due to the high concentration of cannabinoids remaining in the wax even after processing, and their relative commercial value, recovery of the cannabinoids from the wax could form a potential valorisation application for the underutilised Cannabis wax by-product.
Effect of Wheat Straw Addition on Organic Carbon Mineralisation and Bacterial Community in Orchard Soil
Authors: Lang Dongmei , Zhou Ruijin , Hao Fengge , Zhu Zitan , Zhang Peng
Published: June 2023

Crop straw returning can stimulate organic carbon mineralisation and C sequestration simultaneously, which affects soil fertility. However, the effects of crop straw on organic carbon mineralisation and soil bacterial community in orchards are not fully understood. A 90-day incubation experiment was performed to investigate the effects of wheat straw (0, 1, 4, 6, 8, and 10 t·ha−1) on organic carbon mineralisation and bacterial community in orchard soil. Wheat straw addition enhanced the CO2 efflux rate and cumulative organic carbon mineralisation (Cmin), especially high level. The trend of CO2 efflux rate was increased sharply, especially during the early incubation stage (the first 13 days), and then decreased in the later phase. Furthermore, soil bacterial community structure displayed distinct changes in response to straw addition. Available nitrogen, potassium, organic carbon, β-glucosidase, and pH were the key factors driving soil bacterial community changes. The bacterial taxa in networks were significantly related to Cmin. The Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi were positively related to Cmin; while Planctomycetes, Patescibacteria, and Gemmatimonadetes showed a negative relationship with Cmin by correlation and redundancy analyses. Co-occurrence network analysis showed a discrete bacterial network in 10 t·ha−1 of straw, while cohesive networks in others. Straw addition promoted organic carbon mineralisation by improving the soil biochemical properties, including enzymes activities, and nutrient contents, and regulating bacterial community composition. On the whole, 4 t·ha−1 of straw could be considered an economical level for improving soil organic carbon and bacterial community stability in orchards.
Addressing Prenatal Alcohol and Other Drug Exposure in Tribal Child Welfare: an Environmental Scan
Authors: Geary Erin , Moyer Natalie , Day Priscilla , Ingoldsby Erin
Published: June 2023

Tribal communities face critical challenges in identifying and addressing substance use by pregnant women. These challenges are often exacerbated by limited resources for services and limited research on effective interventions. To address these challenges, tribal communities are developing innovative and culturally resonant approaches to address prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and prenatal substance exposure (PSE). This article describes an environmental scan that was completed to understand and support the important work of these communities. It concludes with a discussion of the implications for tribal practitioners, specifically those in child welfare as well as policymakers and funders in child welfare and allied service provision systems, and provides potential directions for future research.
Antimicrobial stewardship and drug formulary restrictions during COVID-19: what is restricted and who decides?
Authors: Mena Lora Alfredo J. , Burgos Rodrigo , Borgetti Scott , Chaisson Lelia H. , Bleasdale Susan C.
Published: June 2023

COVID-19 therapies were challenging to deploy due to evolving literature and conflicting guidelines. Antimicrobial stewardship can help optimize drug use. We conducted a survey to understand the role of stewardship and formulary restrictions during the pandemic. Restrictions for COVID-19 therapies were common and approval by infectious disease physicians often required.
Optimizing human performance in extreme environments through precision medicine: From spaceflight to high-performance operations on Earth
Authors: Schmidt Michael A. , Jones Jeffrey A. , Mason Christopher E.
Published: June 2023

Humans operating in extreme environments often conduct their operations at the edges of the limits of human performance. Sometimes, they are required to push these limits to previously unattained levels. As a result, their margins for error in execution are much smaller than that found in the general public. These same small margins for error that impact execution may also impact risk, safety, health, and even survival. Thus, humans operating in extreme environments have a need for greater refinement in their preparation, training, fitness, and medical care. Precision medicine (PM) is uniquely suited to address the needs of those engaged in these extreme operations because of its depth of molecular analysis, derived precision countermeasures, and ability to match each individual (and his or her specific molecular phenotype) with any given operating context (environment). Herein, we present an overview of a systems approach to PM in extreme environments, which affords clinicians one method to contextualize the inputs, processes, and outputs that can form the basis of a formal practice. For the sake of brevity, this overview is focused on molecular dynamics, while providing only a brief introduction to the also important physiologic and behavioral phenotypes in PM. Moreover, rather than a full review, it highlights important concepts, while using only selected citations to illustrate those concepts. It further explores, by demonstration, the basic principles of using functionally characterized molecular networks to guide the practical application of PM in extreme environments. At its core, PM in extreme environments is about attention to incremental gains and losses in molecular network efficiency that can scale to produce notable changes in health and performance. The aim of this overview is to provide a conceptual overview of one approach to PM in extreme environments, coupled with a selected suite of practical considerations for molecular profiling and countermeasures.
A Case Study on Drivers of the Isotopic Composition of Water Vapor at the Coast of East Antarctica
Authors: Sigmund Armin , Chaar Riqo , Ebner Pirmin Philipp , Lehning Michael
Published: June 2023

Stable water isotopes (SWIs) contain valuable information on the past climate and phase changes in the hydrologic cycle. Recently, vapor measurements in the polar regions have provided new insights into the effects of snow‐related and atmospheric processes on SWIs. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the drivers of the particularly depleted vapor isotopic composition measured on a ship close to the East Antarctic coast during the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition in 2017. Reanalysis data and backward trajectories are used to model the isotopic composition of air parcels arriving in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) above the ship. A simple model is developed to account for moisture exchanges with the snow surface. The model generally reproduces the observed trend with strongly depleted vapor δ18O values in the middle of the 6‐day study period. This depletion is caused by direct air mass advection from the ice sheet where the vapor is more depleted in heavy SWIs due to distillation during cloud formation. The time spent by the air masses in the marine ABL shortly before arrival at the ship is crucial as ocean evaporation typically leads to an abrupt change in the isotopic signature. Snow sublimation is another important driver when the isotopic composition of the sublimation flux differs substantially from that of the advected air mass, for example, marine air arriving at the coast or free‐tropospheric air descending from high altitudes. Despite strong simplifications, our model is a useful and computationally efficient method for understanding SWI dynamics at polar sites.
Ethical considerations in rapid and novel treatments in psychiatry
Authors: Haeusermann Tobias , Chiong Winston
Published: June 2023

New treatment modalities for mental illness are deeply needed, and emerging therapeutic agents such as psychedelics, ketamine, and neuromodulatory technologies have been welcomed by many researchers and patients. These treatment approaches have also been observed to raise novel ethical questions, and to pose new and different versions of familiar ethical questions in clinical treatment and research. We present an overview and introduction to these issues organized around three specific domains of ethical concern: informed consent, the role of expectancy in clinical response, and distributive justice.
Optimized production, purification, and radiolabeling of the 203Pb/212Pb theranostic pair for nuclear medicine
Authors: McNeil Brooke L. , Mastroianni Simona A. , McNeil Scott W. , Zeisler Stefan , Kumlin Joel , Borjian Sogol , McDonagh Anthony W. , Cross Michael , Schaffer Paul , Ramogida Caterina F.
Published: June 2023

TRIUMF is one of the only laboratories in the world able to produce both lead-203 (203Pb, t1/2 = 51.9 h) and 212Pb (t1/2 = 10.6 h) onsite via its 13 and 500 MeV cyclotrons, respectively. Together, 203Pb and 212Pb form an element-equivalent theranostic pair that potentiate image-guided, personalized cancer treatment, using 203Pb as a single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) source, and 212Pb for targeted alpha therapy. In this study, improvements to 203Pb production were accomplished by manufacturing electroplated, silver-backed thallium (Tl) targets to improve target thermal stability, which allow for higher currents during irradiation. We implemented a novel, two-column purification method that employs selective Tl precipitation (203Pb only) alongside extraction and anion exchange chromatography to elute high specific activity and chemical purity 203/212Pb in a minimal volume of dilute acid, without the need for evaporation. Optimization of the purification method translated to improvements in radiolabeling yields and apparent molar activity of lead chelators TCMC (S-2-(4-Isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraaza-1,4,7,10-tetra(2-carbamoylmethyl)cyclododecane) and Crypt-OH, a derivative of a [2.2.2]-cryptand.
Evaluation and timing optimization of CT perfusion first pass analysis in comparison to maximum slope model in pancreatic adenocarcinoma
Authors: Vats Neha , Mayer Philipp , Kortes Franziska , Klauß Miriam , Grenacher Lars , Stiller Wolfram , Kauczor Hans-Ulrich , Skornitzke Stephan
Published: June 2023

For implementation, performance evaluation and timing optimization of CT perfusion first pass analysis (FPA) by correlation with maximum slope model (MSM) in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, dynamic CT perfusion acquisitions of 34 time-points were performed in 16 pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients. Regions of interest were marked in both parenchyma and carcinoma. FPA, a low radiation exposure CT perfusion technique, was implemented. Blood flow (BF) perfusion maps were calculated using FPA and MSM. Pearson’s correlation between FPA and MSM was calculated at each evaluated time-point to determine optimum timing for FPA. Differences in BF between parenchyma and carcinoma were calculated. Average BF for MSM was 106.8 ± 41.5 ml/100 ml/min in parenchyma and 42.0 ± 24.8 ml/100 ml/min in carcinoma, respectively. For FPA, values ranged from 85.6 ± 37.5 ml/100 ml/min to 117.7 ± 44.5 ml/100 ml/min in parenchyma and from 27.3 ± 18.8 ml/100 ml/min to 39.5 ± 26.6 ml/100 ml/min in carcinoma, depending on acquisition timing. A significant difference (p value < 0.0001) between carcinoma and parenchyma was observed at all acquisition times based on FPA measurements. FPA shows high correlation with MSM (r > 0.90) and 94% reduction in the radiation dose compared to MSM. CT perfusion FPA, where the first scan is obtained after the arterial input function exceeds a threshold of 120 HU, followed by a second scan after 15.5–20.0 s, could be used as a potential imaging biomarker with low radiation exposure for diagnosing and evaluating pancreatic carcinoma in clinical practice, showing high correlation with MSM and the ability to differentiate between parenchyma and carcinoma.
Experimental insights into energy savings and future directions of drag reducing polymers in multiphase flow pipelines
Authors: Alsurakji Ihab H. , Al-Sarkhi Abdelsalam , El-Qanni Amjad , Mukhaimar Ayman
Published: June 2023

Frictional pressure drop has been grasping the attention of many industrial applications associated with multi-phase and academia. Alongside the United Nations, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for the exigency of giving attention to economic growth, a considerable reduction in power consumption is necessary to co-up with this vision and to adhere to energy-efficient practices. Thereinto, drag-reducing polymers (DRPs), which do not require additional infrastructure, are a much better option for increasing energy efficiency in a series of critical industrial applications. Therefore, this study evaluates the effects of two DRPs—polar water-soluble polyacrylamide (DRP-WS) and nonpolar oil-soluble polyisobutylene (DRP-OS)—on energy efficiency for single-phase water and oil flows, two-phase air–water and air-oil flows, and three-phase air–oil–water flow. The experiments were conducted using two different pipelines; horizontal polyvinyl chloride with an inner diameter of 22.5 mm and horizontal stainless steel with a 10.16 mm internal diameter. The energy-efficiency metrics are performed by investigating the head loss, percentage saving in energy consumption (both per unit pipe length), and throughput improvement percentage (%TI). The larger pipe diameter was used in experiments for both DRPs, and it was discovered that despite the type of flow or variations in liquid and air flow rates, there was a reduction in head loss, an increase in energy savings, and an increase in the throughput improvement percentage. In particular, DRP-WS is found to be more promising as an energy saver and the consequent savings in the infrastructure cost. Hence, equivalent experiments of DRP-WS in two-phase air–water flow using a smaller pipe diameter show that the head loss drastically increases. However, the percentage saving in power consumption and throughput improvement percentage is significantly compared with that found in the larger pipe. Thus, this study found that DRPs can improve energy efficiency in various industrial applications, with DRP-WS being particularly promising as an energy saver. However, the effectiveness of these polymers may vary depending on the flow type and pipe diameter.
Automatic identification of medically important mosquitoes using embedded learning approach-based image-retrieval system
Authors: Kittichai Veerayuth , Kaewthamasorn Morakot , Samung Yudthana , Jomtarak Rangsan , Naing Kaung Myat , Tongloy Teerawat , Chuwongin Santhad , Boonsang Siridech
Published: June 2023

Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria are the top 10 leading causes of death in low-income countries. Control measure for the mosquito population plays an essential role in the fight against the disease. Currently, several intervention strategies; chemical-, biological-, mechanical- and environmental methods remain under development and need further improvement in their effectiveness. Although, a conventional entomological surveillance, required a microscope and taxonomic key for identification by professionals, is a key strategy to evaluate the population growth of these mosquitoes, these techniques are tedious, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and reliant on skillful and well-trained personnel. Here, we proposed an automatic screening, namely the deep metric learning approach and its inference under the image-retrieval process with Euclidean distance-based similarity. We aimed to develop the optimized model to find suitable miners and suggested the robustness of the proposed model by evaluating it with unseen data under a 20-returned image system. During the model development, well-trained ResNet34 are outstanding and no performance difference when comparing five data miners that showed up to 98% in its precision even after testing the model with both image sources: stereomicroscope and mobile phone cameras. The robustness of the proposed—trained model was tested with secondary unseen data which showed different environmental factors such as lighting, image scales, background colors and zoom levels. Nevertheless, our proposed neural network still has great performance with greater than 95% for sensitivity and precision, respectively. Also, the area under the ROC curve given the learning system seems to be practical and empirical with its value greater than 0.960. The results of the study may be used by public health authorities to locate mosquito vectors nearby. If used in the field, our research tool in particular is believed to accurately represent a real-world scenario.
A universal UHPLC-CAD platform for the quantification of polysaccharide antigens
Authors: Corrado A. , De Martino M. , Bordoni V. , Giannini S. , Rech F. , Cianetti S. , Berti F. , Magagnoli C. , De Ricco R.
Published: June 2023

Several glycoconjugate-based vaccines against bacterial infections have been developed and licensed for human use. Polysaccharide (PS) analysis and characterization is therefore critical to profile the composition of polysaccharide-based vaccines. For PS content quantification, the majority of Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) methods rely on the detection of selective monosaccharides constituting the PS repeating unit, therefore requiring chemical cleavage and tailored development: only a few methods directly quantify the intact PS. The introduction of charged aerosol detector (CAD) technology has improved the response of polysaccharide analytes, offering greater sensitivity than other detector sources (e.g., ELSD). Herein, we report the development of a universal UHPLC-CAD method (UniQS) for the quantification and quality evaluation of polysaccharide antigens (e.g., Streptococcus Pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis and Staphylococcus aureus). This work laid the foundation for a universal UHPLC-CAD format that could play an important role in future vaccine research and development helping to reduce time, efforts, and costs.
Liver transplantation for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a propensity score-matched analysis
Authors: Huang Gaobo , Song Weilun , Zhang Yanchao , Yu Jiawei , Lv Yi , Liu Kang
Published: June 2023

Liver resection (LR) is the only recommended effective curative treatment for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), but the prognosis of patients with ICC is still poor even after curative resection. Recently, many researchers focused on the therapeutic value of LT for patients with ICC. This study aimed to identify the role of liver transplantation in patients with ICC by internally comparing with LR in ICC and externally comparing with LT in HCC. We obtained patient data from SEER database. Propensity score methods were applied to control confounders. Survival outcome was estimated using Kaplan–Meier survival curves and compared using the log-rank test. A total of 2538 patients with ICC after surgery and 5048 patients with HCC after LT between 2000 and 2019 were included in this study. The prognosis of patients with ICC after LT were better than patients with ICC after LR in both unmatched (HR 0.65, P = 0.002) and matched cohorts (HR 0.62, P = 0.009). The 5-year OS rate after LT could be improved to 61.7% in patients with local advanced ICC after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that the prognosis of patients with ICC after LT was better than patients with ICC after LR, but was still worse than patients with HCC after LT. LT with neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be considered as a treatment option for patients with locally advanced ICC, but more prospective multicenter clinical trials are needed to further confirm these results.
Supramolecular Solvents (SUPRASs) in Green Sample Preparation
Authors: González-Martín R. , Negrín-Santamaría I. , Saura-Cayuela M. , Trujillo-Rodríguez M. J.
Published: June 2023

Supramolecular solvents (SUPRASs) are water-immiscible nanostructured liquids composed of a 3D network of amphiphilic aggregates that maintain their structures via non-covalent interactions. These solvents are prepared from aquo/organic solutions of amphiphiles at concentrations above their critical aggregation concentration. Under these conditions, amphiphiles initially self-aggregate to form micelles or vesicles. Coacervation of these nano-aggregates into the 3D network of the SUPRAS is induced by different strategies, including variations in the composition of the initial mixture and modifications of temperature, pH, or ionic strength. SUPRASs are appealing alternative solvents in sample preparation. Thus, SUPRASs have several features (i.e., solvation capabilities, viscosity, chemical stability, and easy preparation) that favor their incorporation as extraction solvents in several microextraction methods. Besides, SUPRASs can be considered within the group of green and sustainable materials because they can be designed to present both low flammability and low vapor pressure, and can be prepared from natural, green, and cost-effective sources. This book chapter provides an overview of the use of SUPRASs in green sample preparation, including their utilization in all modes of liquid-phase microextraction (i.e., dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction, hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction, and single-drop microextraction), solid-phase extraction (with special attention to magnetic solid-phase extraction), and solid–liquid microextraction.
The Role of Green Sample Preparation in Food Chemistry Applications
Authors: Bosco C. Dal , Gentili A.
Published: June 2023

Food analysis is a tricky issue due to the great complexity of matrices. Even if very selective and sensitive analytical techniques are applied, an effective procedure of isolation is a preliminary indispensable step. Over the last few years the attention of the scientific community has been devoted to the development of procedures, materials, and recycling operations to make analytical chemistry more and more sustainable. In particular, this chapter deals with the green procedures applied to extract nutrients (vitamins, carotenoids, polyphenols, etc.) or contaminants of major concern (pesticides, veterinary drugs, mycotoxins, etc.) from different types of food samples, discussing recent advancements and future trends in this sector.
(Epi)catechin damage effects on the development of mouse intestinal epithelial structure through the PERK-eIF2α-ATF4-CHOP pathway
Authors: Guo Shijie , Huang Weiwei , Cao Qingqing , Guo Qingbin , Han Jianzhong , Qin Yumei
Published: June 2023

Overdosage (epi)catechins increase the risk of intestinal damage through the PERK-eIF2α-ATF4-CHOP pathway activated by oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress.
How accretion of planet-forming disks influences stellar abundances
Authors: Hühn L.-A. , Bitsch B.
Published: June 2023

Millimeter-sized dust grains experience radial velocities exceeding the gas velocities by orders of magnitude. The viscous evolution of the accretion disk adds disk material onto the central star’s convective envelope, influencing its elemental abundances, [X/H]. At the same time, the envelope mass shrinks as the stellar age increases, amplifying the rate of abundance change. Therefore, the elemental abundances of the star are sensitive to disk processes that alter the composition and timing of disk accretion. We performed numerical 1D log-radial simulations integrating the disk advection-diffusion equation, while accounting for evaporation and condensation of chemical species at the evaporation fronts. They reveal a peak of refractory abundance within the first 2 Myr of Δ[X/H] ~ 5 × 10−2 if grain growth is significant, but subsequent accretion diminishes previous refractory abundance increases for long-lived disks. Planet formation can reduce the abundance of dust species whose evaporation fronts lie within the planet’s orbit by preventing solids from reaching the inner edge once the planet starts opening a gap exerting a pressure bump exterior to its orbit and consequently blocking inward drifting pebbles. We expect the accretion of the solar protoplanetary disk with Jupiter present to have changed the Sun’s elemental abundances by ~1 × 10−2 throughout its lifetime. These considerations were also applied to the HD106515 wide binary system. We find that measurements of Δ[X/H] are in reasonable agreement with results from simulations where the observed giant planet around HD106515 A is included and if HD106515B’s disk formed planetesimals more efficiently. Simulations where the planet formed inside the water ice line are more favorable to agree with observations. Even though the general changes in the stellar abundances due to disk accretion are small, they are detectable at current sensitivities, indicating that the methods presented here can be used to constrain the planet formation pathway.
Nouveau et (beaucoup) plus cher – Meilleur ?
Authors: Jordan Bertrand
Published: June 2023

The prices of new oncology drugs are frequently above 100,000 US dollars, and this does not generally correlate with significantly improved clinical efficacy. In the absence of effective regulation and of real competition, companies tend to charge « what the market can bear ». Regulatory intervention is required, notably at the EU level.
Der bewusste Blick nach innen – Gesunde Selbstführung
Authors: Holtmeier Lisa
Published: June 2023

Wer andere führen will, muss sich selbst führen lernen. Handelt es sich bei diesem Satz um eine Phrase oder steckt doch mehr dahinter? Was bedeutet (gesunde) Selbstführung und wie kann sie im stressigen Alltag gelingen? Das und vieles mehr erfahren Sie in diesem Beitrag.
Sich einem Tabuthema nähern – Lernmodul Palliative Care
Authors: Förster Anika
Published: June 2023

Ergotherapeut*innen kommen in ihrem Beruf immer wieder mit den Themen Sterben, Tod und Trauer in Berührung. Dabei kann es insbesondere für Berufsanfänger*innen herausfordernd sein, einen Umgang damit zu finden. Umso wichtiger ist es, Lernende im Rahmen der Ausbildung darauf vorzubereiten. Anika Förster hat ein Lernmodul entwickelt, mit dem das gelingt.
Wie PROMETHEUS zur Klitoris kam – Bulboklitoralorgan
Authors: Schindler Carola
Published: June 2023

In der zuletzt erschienenen Neuauflage des PROMETHEUS ist erstmals das weibliche Bulboklitoralorgan ausführlich beschrieben. Warum das bemerkenswert ist und wie die Zeichnungen entstanden sind, darüber hat Thieme mit Professor Schünke, Professor Haag-Wackernagel und Karl Wesker gesprochen.
A tale of two cities
Authors: Granados Adrián , Lorenzo Francisco
Published: June 2023

This study analyses the implementation of CLIL in two monolingual regions of Spain: Madrid and Andalusia. As a matter of fact, as these two regions have been mostly governed by political parties with contrasting ideologies, this may have affected the way in which CLIL has been implemented. Firstly, this paper will offer a literature review of the outcomes that the CLIL programme has produced in the two regions according to research. Secondly, the implementation of CLIL in each region will be examined by means of a document analysis of the CLIL regulations introduced in the two contexts, on the basis of the following themes: CLIL introduction and development, pupil selection, teacher training and compensation, and the inclusion of other languages. Finally, the discussion will explore whether the different outcomes of CLIL in the two regions may be the result of the ideologies guiding the implementation of the programme and will establish some sociolinguistic principles required to frame bilingual competence in the wider social debate on inequality. The greatest ideological difference observed is pupil selection, which may lead to language poverty in certain layers of society.
Six reconstruction effects in Mandarin Chinese
Authors: Law Paul , Pan Haihua
Published: June 2023

The paper presents empirical evidence for six reconstruction effects in Mandarin Chinese. It includes data concerning the copula verb, epistemic modals, scope of aspectual sentence-final particle–leover indefinitewh-phrases, downward entailing quantifiers, predicates of creation, Binding Condition B, quantifier scope anddōu-quantification. The syntactic structures in which reconstruction applies can be derived either by A- or A-bar-movement. Our investigation brings empirical facts to bear on the syntax-semantics interface showing an essential property of natural language that semantic properties and syntactic structures do not vary freely.
Gbb glutathionylation promotes its proteasome-mediated degradation to inhibit synapse growth
Authors: Hossain Md Shafayat , Yao Aiyu , Qiao Xinhua , Shi Wenwen , Xie Ting , Chen Chang , Zhang Yong Q.
Published: June 2023

Glutathionylation is a posttranslational modification involved in various molecular and cellular processes. However, it remains unknown whether and how glutathionylation regulates nervous system development. To identify critical regulators of synapse growth and development, we performed an RNAi screen and found that postsynaptic knockdown of glutathione transferase omega 1 (GstO1) caused significantly more synaptic boutons at the Drosophila neuromuscular junctions. Genetic and biochemical analysis revealed an increased level of glass boat bottom (Gbb), the Drosophila homolog of mammalian bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), in GstO1 mutants. Further experiments showed that GstO1 is a critical regulator of Gbb glutathionylation at cysteines 354 and 420, which promoted its degradation via the proteasome pathway. Moreover, the E3 ligase Ctrip negatively regulated the Gbb protein level by preferentially binding to glutathionylated Gbb. These results unveil a novel regulatory mechanism in which glutathionylation of Gbb facilitates its ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Taken together, our findings shed new light on the crosstalk between glutathionylation and ubiquitination of Gbb in synapse development.
High-grade cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions in female partners of men with high-grade penile squamous intraepithelial lesions: a monocentric retrospective study
Authors: Isnard Camille , Chanal Johan , Bergeron Christine  , Aynaud Olivier
Published: June 2023

We have conducted the first study to focus on the presence of cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) lesions in the female partners of males with high-grade penile squamous intraepithelial lesions (PHSILs). A histologically confirmed cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) in female partners was observed in 81% of cases, with high-grade SIL seen in more than two-thirds of cases and low-grade SIL in a third. It is important to screen females whose male partners have PHSIL, in order to detect a clinical HPV lesion early and treat it, if necessary. Our results indicate that a HPV test and reflex cytology (if the HPV test is positive) are necessary for the female partners of males with PHSIL. If there is an abnormal Pap smear, colposcopy should be performed.
O035 Evaluating the mental wellbeing of prostate cancer patients: initial results from the ongoing MIND-P cohort study
Authors: Brunckhorst O , Liszka J , James C , Fanshawe J , Hammadeh M , Williams M , Thomas R , Khan S , Sheriff M , Ahmed H , Van Hemelrijck M , Stewart R , Dasgupta P , Ahmed K
Published: June 2023

Introduction

The impact of prostate cancer on an individual's mental wellbeing is becoming increasingly apparent. However, less is known about which patient, treatment and oncological factors are associated with poorer wellbeing outcomes.

Methods

This ongoing prospective cohort study follows newly diagnosed patients for 1 year post cancer diagnosis (NCT04647474). Participants were recruited across eight hospitals with validated questionnaires completed at 3-monthly intervals. Wellbeing scores were compared between treatment groups with a univariate logistic regression conducted to evaluate a composite outcome of developing any significant mental wellbeing issue (depressive or anxiety symptoms, fear of cancer recurrence, body image or masculine self-esteem) against other patient and oncological factors.

Results

Of 198 participants recruited, 134 have undergone at least 3 months follow up and were included in the analysis. Mental wellbeing issues were common with probable depression and anxiety in 11.2% and 9.7% of participants respectively. Overall, a third (33.5%) of participants developed at least one significant mental wellbeing issue. No differences were seen between treatment group mental wellbeing mean scores. However, younger age (OR 0.95, p=0.028) and Black or African ethnicity (OR 5.41, p=0.008) were significant patient factors. Additionally, all baseline mental wellbeing symptoms scores were significantly associated, with depressive and anxiety (both OR 1.36, p<0.001) symptoms important predictors.

Conclusion

We demonstrate the significant incidence of mental wellbeing issues during the initial prostate cancer follow up. Additionally, patient factors and baseline mental wellbeing scores appear to be associated with poorer outcomes and should be considered during prostate cancer follow up.

Take-home message

Mental wellbeing issues are common post a prostate cancer diagnosis. It is therefore important to consider associative features for their development such as younger age and ethnicity during cancer follow up to improve identification of these issues during care.
920 Complications of Facial Cosmetic Botulinum Toxin an Injections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Zargaran D , Zoller F , Zargaran A , Rahman E , Woollard A , Weyrich T , Mosahebi A
Published: June 2023

Aim

Botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) injections are a popular non-surgical procedure for facial rejuvenation with increasingly pervasive use in cosmetic clinical practice. This study analyzes the safety profile of cosmetic glabellar and forehead BoNT-A injections and assesses the influence of the practitioner factor and BoNT-A type on the complication rate.

Method

A systematic search of MEDLINE and EMBASE was performed for studies reporting complications after cosmetic BoNT-A injections glabellar or in the forehead region. A random effects meta-analysis was carried out to assess complication rate. Where there were sufficient Randomized-Controlled Trials (RCTs) a network meta-analysis was performed.

Results

Of 556 identified articles, 24 were included in the final quantitative analysis with 4,268 BoNT-A injection sessions and 1,234 placebos. Frequently observed treatment-related complications in the BoNT-A intervention group included headache, local skin reactions and facial neuromuscular symptoms. Overall BoNT-A complication rate was 16%. The odds ratio of developing complications from Abobotulinum toxin injections compared to placebo was 1.62 [1.15, 2.27; p>0.05]. The odds ratio of developing complications from Onabotulinum toxin injections compared to placebo was 1.34 [0.52, 3.48; p>0.05]. In 30% of studies the injectors were doctors, whilst in the remaining 70% the training status of practitioners was not reported.

Conclusions

Cosmetic BoNT-A injections in the glabellar and forehead region appear to be safe and the majority of complications are mild and transient. Nevertheless, the literature demonstrates heterogeneous reporting of complications and a lack of consistency of the definition of treatment-related complications.