bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of COVID‐19 in patients with autoimmune liver disease in Europe: A patient‐oriented online survey
Authors: Zecher Britta Franziska , Buescher Gustav , Willemse José , Walmsley Martine , Taylor Alison , Leburgue Angela , Schramm Christoph , Lohse Ansgar W. , Sebode Marcial
Published: June 2021

Background

During the current SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic it is important to identify risk factors for COVID‐19. Registry studies are providing growing evidence on the elevated risk of mortality from COVID‐19 in patients with chronic liver disease, especially in advanced stages. Results may, however, have a selection bias towards severe cases. Limited data is available on COVID‐19 in patients with autoimmune liver disease (AILD).

Aim

To perform an online survey to capture the prevalence of COVID‐19 and the state of medical care of patients with AILD in Europe during the pandemic.

Methods

Data was collected via an anonymous patient‐oriented, online survey, which was available on the EUSurvey platform in nine European languages between 24th June 2020 and 14th October 2020. Of 1834 contributions, 51 were excluded because participants did not name an underlying AILD, and four were excluded because of duplicate data entry.

Results

Of 1,779 participants, 1,752 resided in 20 different countries of the European Union and the United Kingdom (UK). The five countries with the highest numbers of contributions were France (n = 450), Germany (n = 318), the Netherlands (n = 267), Spain (n = 225), and the UK (n = 183). 2.2% of participants (39/1779) had been diagnosed with COVID‐19. There were no differences regarding age, sex, AILD, the status of liver cirrhosis, or status post liver transplantation between COVID‐19 and non‐COVID‐19 cases. Of the 39 COVID‐19 cases, five patients were admitted to a regular ward, one patient was admitted to ICU and required ventilation.

Conclusion

In our Europe‐wide, patient‐oriented survey on COVID‐19 in patients with AILD, we detected a low rate of COVID‐19, comparable to the period prevalence of the general population. These results suggest that patients with AILD are not at elevated risk of COVID‐19.
What gastroenterologists should know about SARS–CoV 2 vaccine: World Endoscopy Organization perspective
Authors: Spadaccini Marco , Canziani Lorenzo , Aghemo Alessio , Lleo Ana , Maselli Roberta , Anderloni Andrea , Carrara Silvia , Fugazza Alessandro , Pellegatta Gaia , Galtieri Piera Alessia , Hassan Cesare , Greenwald David , Pochapin Mark , Wallace Michael , Sharma Prateek , Roesch Thomas , Bhandari Pradeep , Emura Fabian , Raju Gottumukkala S , Repici Alessandro
Published: June 2021

Background

The novel Coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) has caused almost 2 million deaths worldwide. Both Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency have recently approved the first COVID‐19 vaccines, and a few more are going to be approved soon.

Methods

Several different approaches have been used to stimulate the immune system in mounting a humoral response. As more traditional approaches are under investigation (inactivated virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, recombinant virus vaccines), more recent and innovative strategies have been tried (non‐replicating viral vector vaccines, RNA based vaccines, DNA based vaccines).

Results

Since vaccinations campaigns started in December 2020 in both the US and Europe, gastroenterologists will be one of the main sources of information regarding SARS‐CoV 2 vaccination for patients in their practice, including vulnerable patients such as those with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), patients with chronic liver disease, and GI cancer patients.

Conclusions

Thus, we must ourselves be well educated and updated in order to provide unambiguous counseling to these categories of vulnerable patients. In this commentary, we aim to provide a comprehensive review of both approved COVID‐19 vaccines and the ones still under development, and explore potential risks, benefits and prioritization of vaccination.
Role of forested land for natural flood management in the UK: A review
Authors: Cooper Matt M. D. , Patil Sopan D. , Nisbet Thomas R. , Thomas Huw , Smith Andrew R. , McDonald Morag A.
Published: June 2021

Natural flood management (NFM) is the use of natural processes and environments to mitigate flood risk by reducing and delaying peak flood. This review introduces the concept and history of NFM and looks at the current state of research into the potential for using different types of woodland to fulfill the aims of NFM. Four woodland types (catchment, cross‐slope, floodplain, and riparian) are discussed with reference to studies carried out, mainly in the United Kingdom, to determine the relative merits of each type and their effectiveness in mitigating flood risk. We then discuss how trees interact with the hydrological cycle, along with a discussion of modeling methods which seek to determine the amount of water intercepted by different types of forest cover. We find that while there is some evidence that carefully planned and managed woodland can mitigate flood risk, the published data for this evidence base is somewhat sparse. This may be either due to the long timescales needed for comprehensive studies or the relative infancy of the research on NFM. More research needs to be carried out in each of the four woodland types, especially in the UK, as policy makers are increasingly looking towards nature based solutions to mitigate the potential impacts of climate change. The concept of a combined canopy/hydrological model which can be scaled from stand to watershed level and incorporate different types of woodland is suggested as it would be beneficial in guiding woodland creation policy in the future, both at the local and regional scales.

This article is categorized under:

Science of Water > Water Extremes

Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness
The role of RNA editing enzyme ADAR1 in human disease
Authors: Song Brian , Shiromoto Yusuke , Minakuchi Moeko , Nishikura Kazuko
Published: June 2021

Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) catalyzes the posttranscriptional conversion of adenosine to inosine in double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA), which can lead to the creation of missense mutations in coding sequences. Recent studies show that editing‐dependent functions of ADAR1 protect dsRNA from dsRNA‐sensing molecules and inhibit innate immunity and the interferon‐mediated response. Deficiency in these ADAR1 functions underlie the pathogenesis of autoinflammatory diseases such as the type I interferonopathies Aicardi‐Goutieres syndrome and dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria. ADAR1‐mediated editing of endogenous coding and noncoding RNA as well as ADAR1 editing‐independent interactions with DICER can also have oncogenic or tumor suppressive effects that affect tumor proliferation, invasion, and response to immunotherapy. The combination of proviral and antiviral roles played by ADAR1 in repressing the interferon response and editing viral RNAs alters viral morphogenesis and cell susceptibility to infection. This review analyzes the structure and function of ADAR1 with a focus on its position in human disease pathways and the mechanisms of its disease‐associated effects.

This article is categorized under:

RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease

RNA Processing > RNA Editing and Modification

RNA Interactions with Proteins and Other Molecules > Protein‐RNA Interactions: Functional Implications
Challenges in adoption of water‐saving practices: Perspective from drip irrigation adoption in Kenya
Authors: Wainaina George K.
Published: June 2021

Climate change continues to affect the availability and quantity of water needed for food production globally. Due to this, authorities have increasingly advocated for the adoption of water‐saving practices and technologies such as drip irrigation systems to increase food production as well as efficiently conserve dwindling water resources. Such technologies promise efficiency but pose adoption challenges, especially to farmers as they transition from either rainfed agriculture or other less efficient irrigation technologies. This paper investigated the challenges associated with the adoption of drip irrigation with a focus on the Kenyan context. We employ insights from the sociotechnical systems approach that take into account technology elements such as infrastructures, rationale and meaning, organizational modes, social interactions, and time and space in relation to farmers’ capabilities to transition. The paper elucidates new capabilities that policy should take into account that smallholder farmers require to transition toward drip irrigation technology consequently improving their yields. Relevant and recently published scholarly articles and grey literature, formed the database and were reviewed and qualitatively analyzed. To complement these, eight key informants were consulted. Insights gathered are relevant to practitioners within the drip irrigation field and the method is potentially useful for analysis of other agricultural technology systems.
From News Diversity to News Quality: New Media Regulation Theoretical Issues
Authors: Lyubareva Inna , Rochelandet Fabrice
Published: June 2021

Media pluralism has been traditionally seen as threatened by market and ownership concentration of media outlets, negatively impacting their editorial independence and, hence, their diversity of opinions. We argue that, due to the structuring role of digital platforms in the current media ecosystem, the conditions of the production, distribution, selection, and consumption of news have become crucial issues of pluralism. Through this rethinking, we consider the pluralism issue requires us to re-examine the issue of news quality and its coupling with the concept of diversity. Beyond issues of ‘fake news,’ building new quantifiable measures of news quality proves necessary and meaningful in the today’s context. For that, we elaborate a theoretical framework based on a vertical/horizontal differentiation perspective, which permits direct evaluation of news quality in the current context of platformization. We apply this framework by depicting the existent editorial strategies of the French news providers in connection with their economic models and any other characteristics that regulation may potentially target.
Quantifying News Narratives to Predict Movements in Market Risk
Authors: Dierckx Thomas , Davis Jesse , Schoutens Wim
Published: June 2021

The theory of Narrative Economics suggests that narratives present in media influence market participants and drive economic events. In this chapter, we investigate how financial news narratives relate to movements in the CBOE Volatility Index. To this end, we first introduce an uncharted dataset where news articles are described by a set of financial keywords. We then perform topic modeling to extract news themes, comparing the canonical latent Dirichlet analysis to a technique combining doc2vec and Gaussian mixture models. Finally, using the state-of-the-art XGBoost (Extreme Gradient Boosted Trees) machine learning algorithm, we show that the obtained news features outperform a simple baseline when predicting CBOE Volatility Index movements on different time horizons.
Network Analysis for Economics and Finance: An Application to Firm Ownership
Authors: Engel Janina , Nardo Michela , Rancan Michela
Published: June 2021

In this chapter, we introduce network analysis as an approach to model data in economics and finance. First, we review the most recent empirical applications using network analysis in economics and finance. Second, we introduce the main network metrics that are useful to describe the overall network structure and characterize the position of a specific node in the network. Third, we model information on firm ownership as a network: firms are the nodes while ownership relationships are the linkages. Data are retrieved from Orbis including information of millions of firms and their shareholders at worldwide level. We describe the necessary steps to construct the highly complex international ownership network. We then analyze its structure and compute the main metrics. We find that it forms a giant component with a significant number of nodes connected to each other. Network statistics show that a limited number of shareholders control many firms, revealing a significant concentration of power. Finally, we show how these measures computed at different levels of granularity (i.e., sector of activity) can provide useful policy insights.
Machine Learning for Financial Stability
Authors: Alessi Lucia , Savona Roberto
Published: June 2021

What we learned from the global financial crisis is that to get information about the underlying financial risk dynamics, we need to fully understand the complex, nonlinear, time-varying, and multidimensional nature of the data. A strand of literature has shown that machine learning approaches can make more accurate data-driven predictions than standard empirical models, thus providing more and more timely information about the building up of financial risks. Advanced machine learning techniques provide several advantages over empirical models traditionally used to monitor and predict financial developments. First, they are able to deal with high-dimensional datasets. Second, machine learning algorithms allow to deal with unbalanced datasets and retain all of the information available. Third, these methods are purely data driven. All of these characteristics contribute to their often better predictive performance. However, as “black box” models, they are still much underutilized in financial stability, a field where interpretability and accountability are crucial.
New Data Sources for Central Banks
Authors: Ghirelli Corinna , Hurtado Samuel , Pérez Javier J. , Urtasun Alberto
Published: June 2021

Central banks use structured data (micro and macro) to monitor and forecast economic activity. Recent technological developments have unveiled the potential of exploiting new sources of data to enhance the economic and statistical analyses of central banks (CBs). These sources are typically more granular and available at a higher frequency than traditional ones and cover structured (e.g., credit card transactions) and unstructured (e.g., newspaper articles, social media posts, or Google Trends) sources. They pose significant challenges from the data management and storage and security and confidentiality points of view. This chapter discusses the advantages and the challenges that CBs face in using new sources of data to carry out their functions. In addition, it describes a few successful case studies in which new data sources have been incorporated by CBs to improve their economic and forecasting analyses.
Challenges of Adopting SAFe in the Banking Industry – A Study Two Years After Its Introduction
Authors: Nilsson Tengstrand Sara , Tomaszewski Piotr , Borg Markus , Jabangwe Ronald
Published: June 2021

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a framework for scaling agile methods in large organizations. We have found several experience reports and white papers describing SAFe adoptions in different banks, which indicates that SAFe is being used in the banking industry. However, there is a lack of academic publications on the topic, the banking industry is missing in the scientific reports analyzing SAFe transformations. To fill this gap, we present a study on the main challenges with a SAFe transformation at a large full-service bank. We identify the challenges in the bank under study and compare the findings with experience reports from other banks, as well as with research on SAFe transformations in other domains. Many of the challenges reported in this paper overlap with the generic SAFe challenges, including management and organization, education and training, culture and mindset, requirements engineering, quality assurance, and systems architecture. However, we also report some novel challenges specific to the banking domain, e.g., the risk of jeopardizing customer relations, stability, and trust of external stakeholders. This study validates several SAFe-related challenges reported in previous work in the banking context. It also brings up some novel challenges specific to the banking industry. Therefore, we believe our results are particularly useful to practitioners responsible for SAFe transformations at other banks.
Coordination Strategies: Managing Inter-team Coordination Challenges in Large-Scale Agile
Authors: Berntzen Marthe , Stray Viktoria , Moe Nils Brede
Published: June 2021

Inter-team coordination in large-scale software development can be challenging when relying on agile development methods that emphasize iterative and frequent delivery in autonomous teams. Previous research has introduced the concept of coordination strategies, which refer to a set of coordination mechanisms to manage dependencies. We report on a case study in a large-scale agile development program with 16 development teams. Through interviews, meeting observations, and supplemental document analyses, we explore the challenges to inter-team coordination and how dependencies are managed. We found four coordination strategies: 1) aligning autonomous teams, 2) maintaining overview in the large-scale setting, 3) managing prioritizations, and 4) managing architecture and technical dependencies. This study extends previous research on coordination strategies within teams to the inter-team level. We propose that large-scale organizations can use coordination strategies to understand how they coordinate across teams and manage their unique coordination situation.
Dark photon dark matter from charged inflaton
Authors: Firouzjahi Hassan , Gorji Mohammad Ali , Mukohyama Shinji , Salehian Borna
Published: June 2021

Abstract

We present a scenario of vector dark matter production during inflation containing a complex inflaton field which is charged under a dark gauge field and which has a symmetry breaking potential. As the inflaton field rolls towards the global minimum of the potential the dark photons become massive with a mass which can be larger than the Hubble scale during inflation. The accumulated energy of the quantum fluctuations of the produced dark photons gives the observed relic density of the dark matter for a wide range of parameters. Depending on the parameters, either the transverse modes or the longitudinal mode or their combination can generate the observed dark matter relic energy density.
Some Results on the Approximation of Solutions of Variational Inequalities for Multivalued Maps on Banach Spaces
Authors: Muglia Luigi , Marino Giuseppe
Published: June 2021

Multivalued $$*$$

∗

-nonexpansive mappings are studied in Banach spaces. The demiclosedness principle is established. Here we focus on the problem of solving a variational inequality which is defined on the set of fixed points of a multivalued $$*$$

∗

-nonexpansive mapping. For this purpose, we introduce two algorithms approximating the unique solution of the variational inequality.
HIGHER GENERATION BY ABELIAN SUBGROUPS IN LIE GROUPS
Authors: ANTOLÍN-CAMARENA O. , GRITSCHACHER S. , VILLARREAL B.
Published: June 2021

To a compact Lie group G one can associate a space E(2;G) akin to the poset of cosets of abelian subgroups of a discrete group. The space E(2;G) was introduced by Adem, F. Cohen and Torres-Giese, and subsequently studied by Adem and Gómez, and other authors. In this short note, we prove that G is abelian if and only if πi(E(2;G)) = 0 for i = 1; 2; 4. This is a Lie group analogue of the fact that the poset of cosets of abelian subgroups of a discrete group is simply connected if and only if the group is abelian.
Experimental investigation of the machining characteristics in diamond wire sawing of unidirectional CFRP
Authors: Seeholzer Lukas , Süssmaier Stefan , Kneubühler Fabian , Wegener Konrad
Published: June 2021

Especially for slicing hard and brittle materials, wire sawing with electroplated diamond wires is widely used since it combines a high surface quality with a minimum kerf loss. Furthermore, it allows a high productivity by machining multiple workpieces simultaneously. During the machining operation, the wire/workpiece interaction and thus the material removal conditions with the resulting workpiece quality are determined by the material properties and the process and tool parameters. However, applied to machining of carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP), the process complexity potentially increases due to the anisotropic material properties, the elastic spring back potential of the material, and the distinct mechanical wear due to the highly abrasive carbon fibres. Therefore, this experimental study analyses different combinations of influencing factors with respect to process forces, workpiece surface temperatures at the wire entrance, and the surface quality in wire sawing unidirectional CFRP material. As main influencing factors, the cutting and feed speeds, the density of diamond grains on the wire, the workpiece thickness, and the fibre orientation of the CFRP material are analysed and discussed. For the tested parameter settings, it is found that while the influence of the grain density is negligible, workpiece thickness, cutting and feed speeds affect the process substantially. In addition, higher process forces and workpiece surface temperatures do not necessarily deteriorate the surface quality.
Catheter ablation of supraventricular tachycardia in patients with and without structural heart disease: insights from the German ablation registry
Authors: Eitel Charlotte , Ince Hüseyin , Brachmann Johannes , Kuck Karl-Heinz , Willems Stephan , Spitzer Stefan G. , Tebbenjohanns Juergen , Iden Leon , Straube Florian , Hochadel Matthias , Senges Jochen , Tilz Roland R.
Published: June 2021

Aim

To compare patient characteristics, safety and efficacy of catheter ablation of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) in patients with and without structural heart disease (SHD) enrolled in the German ablation registry.

Methods and results

From January 2007 until January 2010, a total of 12,536 patients (37.2% with known SHD) were enrolled and followed for at least one year. Patients with SHD more often underwent ablation for atrial flutter (45.8% vs. 20.9%, p < 0.001), whereas patients without SHD more often underwent ablation for atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (30.2% vs. 11.8%, p < 0.001) or atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (9.1% vs. 1.6%, p < 0.001). Atrial fibrillation catheter ablation procedures were performed in a similar proportion of patients with and without SHD (38.1% vs. 36.9%, p = 0.21).

Overall, periprocedural success rate was high in both groups. Death, myocardial infarction or stroke occurred in 0.2% and 0.1% of patients with and without SHD (p = 0.066). Major non-fatal complications prior to discharge were rare and did not differ significantly between patients with and without SHD (0.5% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.34). Kaplan–Meier mortality estimate at 1 year demonstrated a significant mortality increase in patients with SHD (2.6% versus 0.7%; p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Patients with and without SHD undergoing SVT ablation exhibit similar success rates and low major complication rates, despite disadvantageous baseline characteristics in SHD patients. These data highlight the safety and efficacy of SVT ablation in patients with and without SHD. Nevertheless Kaplan–Meier mortality estimates at 1 year demonstrate a significant mortality increase in patients with SHD, highlighting the importance of treating the underlying condition and reliable anticoagulation if indicated.
The Baltic CAI challenge: reconciling Transatlanticism with EU solidarity
Authors: Bērziņa-Čerenkova Una Aleksandra
Published: June 2021

As the EU officials and their Chinese counterparts emphasised the end of 2020 as the date for a successful conclusion of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI, the Agreement), the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were sceptical. However, after discussions, with Lithuania appearing to be the most visible opponent of CAI among the Baltic nations, all three eventually upheld the proposal. Understanding that the ratification of CAI is unlikely after the mutual exchange of sanctions between the EU and PRC in March, 2021, the report nevertheless examines the roots of the Baltic position as a case study of inter-EU bargains, inspects what factors contributed to the Baltic position on the issue of CAI, presents the national pro- and counter-arguments to CAI along the domains of geo-politics, values, and economy, and brings up the dilemmas that remain unsolved.
Ticks on the turf: investigating the presence of ixodid ticks on and around football fields in Germany
Authors: Kahl Olaf , Kämmer Daniel , Bulling Ingrid , Komorek Martin , von Eiff Christof , Malerczyk Claudius
Published: June 2021

Ixodes ricinus is the most abundant tick species and an important vector of pathogens in Germany and in large parts of Europe. A few other ixodid tick species, e.g., Dermacentor reticulatus, may also be of eco-epidemiological relevance. As ticks are not only found in natural but also in suburban areas (parks, gardens), the present study investigated whether ticks occur on and near football grounds thus posing a potential risk to players and visitors. Thirty-two football grounds from all 16 German federal states were selected, mainly situated adjacent to a green area (forest, park). Ticks were collected by the conventional flagging method in spring 2018, and nymphs and adults were counted and morphologically determined. Altogether 807 nymphal and adult ticks were collected from 29 football grounds: 714 I. ricinus, 64 Ixodes inopinatus, 2 Ixodes frontalis, 24 Ixodes sp. ticks, and 3 D. reticulatus. Ixodes inopinatus was found in 13 out of 16 German states. Three ticks were even found on the turf of two football fields. It can be concluded that ticks occur quite frequently and sometimes in high abundance near football grounds situated close or adjacent to a forest or a park.
Climate change in the context of whole-farming systems: opportunities for improved outreach
Authors: Clements R. S. , Birthisel S. K. , Daigneault A. , Gallandt E. , Johnson D. , Wentworth T. , Niles M. T.
Published: June 2021

Climate change poses a challenge to farming systems worldwide. However, existing research suggests that farmers and those providing outreach may have different climate change perspectives, and there is little understanding of how farmers prioritize climate change compared with other aspects of their farming system. To compare how farmers and outreach professionals in northern New England consider climate change within the context of whole-farming systems, we conducted mental modeling interviews with 33 farmers and 16 outreach professionals. Despite being primed to consider climate during the interviews, only 24% of farmers and 25% of outreach professionals included climate in their mental models. Key differences arose in both group’s perceptions of weather: outreach professionals focused on connections between good weather and biophysical factors, while farmers drew additional connections to factors like quality of life and overall farm success. Social factors including community well-being, public education, and farm success were significantly more likely to be included (P < 0.05), and in some cases were more influential, in farmer models compared to outreach professional models. We conclude that farmer participants did not perceive climate to be a central factor of their farming systems, and valued human and social dimensions more highly than outreach professionals perceived. These factors may warrant special consideration in efforts to make outreach meaningful to local contexts, along with framing climate change within its broader relationship to other farming system aspects. Interdisciplinary teams may be helpful in developing outreach approaches that fully contextualize climate change within farmers’ complex whole-farm management perspectives.
Tracing international migration in projections of income and inequality across the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
Authors: Benveniste Hélène , Cuaresma Jesús Crespo , Gidden Matthew , Muttarak Raya
Published: June 2021

The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) represent five narratives of future development used for climate change research. They include quantified projections of socioeconomic variables such as population, income levels, inequalities, and emissions over the twenty-first century. The SSP’s population projections embody explicit, pathway-specific international migration assumptions, which are only implicit in the projections of other variables. In this contribution, we explicitly quantify the effects of international migration on income levels and income inequality across and within countries by comparing the original SSP projections to scenarios of zero migration. Income projections without migration are obtained by removing two effects of migration on income dynamics: changes in population size and remittances sent to origin countries. We base our remittance estimates on migrant stocks derived from bilateral migration flow estimates obtained from a gravity model. We find that, on average, migration tends to make the world richer in all SSP narratives. The nature of migration and remittance corridors is shaped by the specific scenario of future development considered. Depending on the particular SSP narrative and world region considered, the effects of migration on income can be substantial, ranging from −5 to +21% at the continental level. We show that migration tends to decrease income inequality across countries and within country in most destination countries but does not affect within-country inequality in origin countries. This new set of projections is consistent with the interdisciplinary framework of the SSPs, which makes it particularly useful for assessing global climate and sustainable development policy options.
Motherhood: Female Perspectives and Experiences of Being a Parent with ASC
Authors: Winnard Rebecca , Roy Mark , Butler-Coyne Hannah
Published: June 2021

Little is known about the emotional pressures and practical management of daily challenges and, intra and interpersonal demands of raising a child as a parent with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Conditions. The present study utilised a qualitative approach to understand perceptions of females diagnosed on the autistic spectrum of ‘being a parent’. Eight semi-structured interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Benefits and challenges of being a parent were highlighted alongside population-specific skill and characteristics associated with strength and resilience, love, nurture, routine and sensory considerations. Findings identify the need for population-specific specialist parenting support, provide direction for professionals in clinical settings and expand the paucity of research in this area.
PrEP University: A Multi-Disciplinary University-Based HIV Prevention Education Program
Authors: Cannon Sophie M. , Graber Sara , King Helen L. , Hanashiro Marvin , Averbach Sarah , Moore David J. , Blumenthal Jill
Published: June 2021

The introduction of emtricitabine/tenofovir diphosphate (FTC/TDF) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention has raised questions regarding which clinicians will serve as prescribers and how providers will be educated about this HIV prevention strategy. We piloted an HIV Prevention Education Program called PrEP University (PrEP U) to address knowledge gaps in HIV prevention among medical trainees. We examined PrEP awareness and assessed learning as a result of the program, measuring knowledge before and after the lectures with an anonymous 5-question multiple choice test. A total of 198 learners participated in PrEP University, which included 127 first year medical students, and post-graduate trainees in internal medicine (n = 23), family medicine (n = 16), OBGYN (n = 13) and pharmacy (n = 19). Prior to PrEP U, 27% of all participants were not aware of PrEP and an additional 8% were unsure if they had heard of it. Knowledge increased significantly after the education program among trainees in OBGYN (2.3 vs 3.8, p < 0.001), pharmacy (1.4 vs 2.5, p = 0.012) and school of medicine (3.3 vs 4.4, p < 0.001), with a trend seen in family medicine (2.7 vs. 3.7, p = 0.067) and internal medicine (2.7 vs 3.4, p = 0.068). Overall, an HIV Prevention Education Program was successfully administered to nearly 200 participants and resulted in improved knowledge of HIV prevention and PrEP across. Pharmacists and OBGYN physicians are two groups with an expanding role in the use of PrEP. Similar programs at other medical schools should be implemented to ensure that future physicians and pharmacists are comfortable with PrEP prescription.
Climate change adaptation in and through agroforestry: four decades of research initiated by Peter Huxley
Authors: van Noordwijk Meine , Coe Richard , Sinclair Fergus L. , Luedeling Eike , Bayala Jules , Muthuri Catherine W. , Cooper Peter , Kindt Roeland , Duguma Lalisa , Lamanna Christine , Minang Peter A.
Published: June 2021

Agroforestry (AF)-based adaptation to global climate change can consist of (1) reversal of negative trends in diverse tree cover as generic portfolio risk management strategy; (2) targeted, strategic, shift in resource capture (e.g. light, water) to adjust to changing conditions (e.g. lower or more variable rainfall, higher temperatures); (3) vegetation-based influences on rainfall patterns; or (4) adaptive, tactical, management of tree-crop interactions based on weather forecasts for the (next) growing season. Forty years ago, a tree physiological research tradition in aboveground and belowground resource capture was established with questions and methods on climate-tree-soil-crop interactions in space and time that are still relevant for today’s challenges. After summarising early research contributions, we review recent literature to assess current levels of uncertainty in climate adaptation assessments in and through AF. Quantification of microclimate within and around tree canopies showed a gap between standard climate station data (designed to avoid tree influences) and the actual climate in which crop and tree meristems or livestock operates in real-world AF. Where global scenario modelling of ‘macroclimate’ change in mean annual rainfall and temperature extrapolates from climate station conditions in past decades, it ignores microclimate effects of trees. There still is a shortage of long-term phenology records to analyse tree biological responses across a wide range of species to climate variability, especially where flowering and pollination matter. Physiological understanding can complement farmer knowledge and help guide policy decisions that allow AF solutions to emerge and tree germplasm to be adjusted for the growing conditions expected over the lifetime of a tree.
How achievement motive enactment shapes daily flow experience and work engagement: The interplay of personality systems
Authors: Digutsch Jan , Diestel Stefan
Published: June 2021

In the present study, we examined how different forms of achievement motive interact to predict daily flow experience and work engagement. In particular, we conducted two diary studies to examine the main and interaction effects of motive enactment via extension memory (a macrosystem that enables holistic and experience-based information processing) and via the object recognition system (an alert-oriented macrosystem). In study 1, in line with personality systems interaction (PSI) theory, we found that motive enactment via extension memory fosters both day-specific flow and work engagement, whereas the conjunction of both forms of motive enactment has beneficial effects on flow and work engagement (two-way interaction). In study 2, we found that role clarity moderates the interaction of the two forms of enactment, indicating that the two-way interaction occurs when role clarity is low. Our results imply that the interplay of different dispositional forms of achievement motive enactment shapes how employees experience flow and engagement.
The Calculus of Natural Calculation
Authors: Gazzari René
Published: June 2021

The calculus of Natural Calculation is introduced as an extension of Natural Deduction by proper term rules. Such term rules provide the capacity of dealing directly with terms in the calculus instead of the usual reasoning based on equations, and therefore the capacity of a natural representation of informal mathematical calculations. Basic proof theoretic results are communicated, in particular completeness and soundness of the calculus; normalisation is briefly investigated. The philosophical impact on a proof theoretic account of the notion of meaning is considered.
Trees as a solar control measure for southern-oriented street frontages. Analysis of a selected street model for a humid continental climate
Authors: Zielonko-Jung Katarzyna , Janiak Justyna
Published: June 2021

The present study is aimed at the analysis of possibilities for shading southern frontage of street oriented along the E-W axis by the single row of trees, parallel to the southern elevations. The effectiveness of solar control shading was tested depending on the geometric relationships between trees and buildings. Numerical simulation analyses were conducted in Rhinoceros® program for the street located in humid continental climate in city Płock, Poland (52°32′50 “N 19°42’00 “E), for the day of the highest degree of total solar radiation in the year i.e. June 7th, during hours: 8.00a.m - 5.00 p.m. The analysis has proved that a row of 20–25 year old Sycamore Maple ‘Rotterdam’ in the street 30 m wide and 18 m high (H/W = 0.6), can provide solar protection for the southern frontage, especially when trees are located no more than 4 m away. Location of greenery within the range of 4 to 5 m from the buildings leads to a radical reduction in the possibility of shading the wall surfaces (at 5 m to 0%). Over 90% of the shading area of the ground floor façade walls was found when trees were within the distance 2 and 3 m away from the building.
Conceptualising sustainability through environmental stewardship and virtuous cycles—a new empirically-grounded model
Authors: Turnbull John W. , Clark Graeme F. , Johnston Emma L.
Published: June 2021

Humans depend on earth’s ecosystems and in the Anthropocene, ecosystems are increasingly impacted by human activities. Sustainability—the long-term integrity of social–ecological systems—depends on effective environmental stewardship, yet current conceptual frameworks often lack empirical validation and are limited in their ability to show progress towards sustainability goals. In this study we examine institutional and local stewardship actions and their ecological and social outcomes along 7000 km of Australia’s coastline. We use empirical mixed methods and grounded theory to show that the combination of local and institutional stewardship leads to improved ecological outcomes, which in turn enhance social values and motivate further stewardship to form a virtuous cycle. Virtuous cycles may proceed over multiple iterations, which we represent in a new spiral model enabling visualisation of progress towards sustainability goals over time. Our study has important implications for collaborative earth stewardship and the role of policy in enabling virtuous cycles to ultimately realise sustainable futures.
A simple and effective algorithm for the maximum happy vertices problem
Authors: Ghirardi Marco , Salassa Fabio
Published: June 2021

In a recent paper, a solution approach to the Maximum Happy Vertices Problem has been proposed. The approach is based on a constructive heuristic improved by a matheuristic local search phase. We propose a new procedure able to outperform the previous solution algorithm both in terms of solution quality and computational time. Our approach is based on simple ingredients implying as starting solution generator an approximation algorithm and as an improving phase a new matheuristic local search. The procedure is then extended to a multi-start configuration, able to further improve the solution quality at the cost of an acceptable increase in computational time.
Use of healthcare REsources and associated COsts in controlled versus uncontrolled carcinoid SYndrome in patients with neuroendocrine tumours: the RECOSY study
Authors: Custodio A. , Jimenez-Fonseca P. , Carmona-Bayonas A. , Gomez M. J. , Del Olmo-García M. I. , Lorenzo I. , Díaz J. Á. , Canal N. , De la Cruz G. , Villabona C.
Published: June 2021

Purpose

To report healthcare resource use and associated costs in controlled versus uncontrolled carcinoid syndrome (CS) in patients with neuroendocrine tumours.

Methods

A cross-sectional, non-interventional multicentre study was conducted with retrospective data analysis. Resource use was compared between two patient groups: those with controlled CS (> 12 months with no uncontrolled CS episodes) and uncontrolled CS (< 12 months since last uncontrolled episode). Patients were matched for age, sex, and origin and grade of tumour. When no matching patients were available, data from deceased patients were used. Information on healthcare resource use came from review of medical records, patient history and physician reports. Working capacity was assessed using the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment General Health questionnaire.

Results

Twenty-six university hospitals in Spain participated, between July 2017 and April 2018. 137 patients were enrolled; 104 were analysed (2 groups of 52). Patients with uncontrolled CS had 10 times more emergency department (ED) visits (mean 1.0 vs 0.10 visits; P = 0.0167), were more likely to have a hospital admission (40.4% vs 19.2%; P = 0.0116) and had longer hospital stays (mean 7.87 vs 2.10 days; P = 0.0178) than those with controlled CS. This corresponded to higher annual hospitalisation costs (mean €5511.59 vs €1457.22; P = 0.028) and ED costs (€161.25 vs €14.85; P = 0.0236). The mean annual total healthcare costs were 60.0% higher in patients with uncontrolled than controlled CS (P = NS).

Conclusion

This study quantifies higher health resource use, and higher hospitalisation and ED costs in patients with uncontrolled CS. Better control of CS may result 3in lower medical costs.
The Other, Altruism and Empathy. Variety of Prosocial Behavior
Authors: Cipriani Roberto
Published: June 2021

Sociology is par excellence the science of the other since relationality is the object of its approach. It is precisely from the relationship that is established with the other that various dynamics develop, which can be pro-social or counter-social, generating forms of altruism and selfishness, generosity and appropriation, acceptance and rejection, collaboration and competition. Altruism, in particular, has been the object of attention by Comte and Spencer in a universalistic perspective very different from the contemporary forms assumed by the phenomenon of globalization. Perhaps, it is only through the analysis of the modalities of altruism that we can understand well enough the reasons that produce attitudes and behaviours that are more or less favourable towards others. If we then combine altruism with the peculiar processes of the exercise of empathy, the sociological problem in its complexity becomes even more intriguing. It is not by chance that Daniel Batson has started a rather articulate discussion that tends to show how altruism is motivated by empathy.
Dicer Deletion in Astrocytes Inhibits Oligodendroglial Differentiation and Myelination
Authors: Liu Kun , Yu Bin , Chen Jing-Fei , Li Rui-Xue , Chen Lin , Ren Shu-Yu , Wang Fei , Mei Feng , Xiao Lan
Published: June 2021

Increasing evidence has shown that astrocytes are implicated in regulating oligodendrocyte myelination, but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. To understand whether microRNAs in astrocytes function in regulating oligodendroglial differentiation and myelination in the developing and adult CNS, we generated inducible astrocyte-specific Dicer conditional knockout mice (hGFAP-CreERT; Dicer fl/fl). By using a reporter mouse line (mT/mG), we confirmed that hGFAP-CreERT drives an efficient and astrocyte-specific recombination in the developing CNS, upon tamoxifen treatment from postnatal day 3 (P3) to P7. The Dicer deletion in astrocytes resulted in inhibited oligodendroglial differentiation and myelination in the developing CNS of Dicer cKO mice at P10 and P14, and did not alter the densities of neurons or axons, indicating that Dicer in astrocytes is required for oligodendrocyte myelination. Consequently, the Dicer deletion in astrocytes at P3 resulted in impaired spatial memory and motor coordination at the age of 9 weeks. To understand whether Dicer in astrocytes is also required for remyelination, we induced Dicer deletion in 3-month-old mice and then injected lysolecithin into the corpus callosum to induce demyelination. The Dicer deletion in astrocytes blocked remyelination in the corpus callosum 14 days after induced demyelination. Together, our results indicate that Dicer in astrocytes is required for oligodendroglia myelination in both the developing and adult CNS.
Toward Automated Support of Complaint Handling Processes: An Application in the Medical Technology Industry
Authors: Hake Philip , Rehse Jana-Rebecca , Fettke Peter
Published: June 2021

Complaints about finished products are a major challenge for companies in the medical technology industry, where product quality is directly related to public health and therefore strictly regulated. In this paper, we examine how available data can be used to provide automated support to the complaint handling processes in the medical technology companies. We identify the automation potentials in the 8D reference process for complaint management and discuss their organizational and technical challenges. Using data from a large manufacturer of medical products, we show how partial process automation can be achieved in practice by designing, implementing, and evaluating a deep learning-based prototype for automatically suggesting a likely error code for future complaints, given their textual description. Our approach is able to assign the correct error code for more than 75% of all cases and outperforms the conventional classification approaches used as a baseline comparison. Our results show that partial automation of a complaint management process by means of deep learning can be achieved in practice.
Measuring Natural Hazard-Related Disasters through Self-Reports
Authors: Edwards Ben , Gray Matthew , Borja Judith B.
Published: June 2021

Exposure to multiple natural hazard-related disasters will become more common due to climate change. This article reports on the development and validation of a cumulative measure of exposure to natural hazard-related disasters (2013–2017) at the area level, and an individual-level measure of disaster impact using data from the Longitudinal Cohort Study on the Filipino Child and linked data from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT). Caregiver reports of cumulative exposure to disasters had statistically significant associations with disasters reported by neighborhood officials and with disasters in EM-DAT. Using ecometric techniques we generated a reliable community average measure of exposure to natural hazard-related disasters. Based on neighbor but not individual self-reports this exogenous measure of disaster exposure in the local area was more strongly related to EM-DAT and official neighborhood reports than individual reports. To capture household variation we developed an individual-level measure of disaster impacts. Disaster impact was associated with measures of exposure (individual and community average), community ratings by officials, and EM-DAT but only moderately associated with the community average exposure. Both the community average and disaster impacts measures were associated with household income and the adequacy of income in households.