bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Preserving Public Broadcasting Archives in the Digital Era: Circulatory Stories and Technologies, the Digital Turn, and the Return of the Past in West Africa
Authors: Losch Flora
Published: March 2020

Broadcasting archives have been being digitized in West Africa since the 2000s. Their digital transfer, presented as both a solution to their decay and a necessary step to take them into the new century, presents considerable challenges. This article, while emphasizing the historiographical value of the archives as sources and traces, argues that the processes they undergo, which also participate in these technical objects’ afterlife, are connected to a long and circulatory history of cooperation in broadcasting. Located at the interface of past, present, and future, they also provide an opportunity to question certain geopolitical fracture lines, especially those of knowledge and memory.
Can Latin America learn from India’s efforts at fighting poverty? The case of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
Authors: De Venanzi Augusto
Published: March 2020

A decade of high economic growth (2003–2013) in Latin America accompanied with high social spending, produced a significant improvement in the living conditions of the region’s population. Household incomes grew, poverty and inequality rates fell, and job opportunities increased. However, beginning in 2013 the economic situation of Latin America experienced a downwards trend. The effects have been felt in reduced income due to the fewer labour opportunities afforded by a decrease in demand and investment, particularly in infrastructure. Moreover, investment in infrastructure has remained stagnant since the late 1990s. The present article is intended as a preliminary study regarding the feasibility of transferring the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to the Latin American region. The paper contends that such a policy transfer could greatly improve the adverse employment conditions affecting large segments of the Latin American rural workforce and contribute to bridge the area’s rural-urban infrastructure gap.
Contraception and Catholicism in the Twentieth Century: Transnational Perspectives on Expert, Activist and Intimate Practices
Authors: Ignaciuk Agata , Kelly Laura
Published: March 2020

This special issue uses Catholicism as a thread to bring together five contributions to the transnational history of contraception. The articles, which cover examples from Western and East-Central Europe, East Africa and Latin America, all explore the complex interplay between users and providers of birth control in contexts marked by prevalence of the Catholic religion and/or strong political position of the Catholic Church. In the countries examined here, Brazil, Belgium, Poland, Ireland and Rwanda, Catholicism was the majority religion during the different moments of the long twentieth century the authors of this special issue focus on. Using transnationalism as a perspective to examine the social history of the entanglements between Catholicism and contraception, this special issue seeks to underscore the ways in which individuals and organisations used, adapted and contested local and transnational ideas and debate around family planning. It also examines the role of experts and activist groups in the promotion of family planning, while paying attention to national nuances in Catholic understandings of birth control. The contributions shed light on the motivations behind involvement in birth control activism and expertise, its modus operandi, networking strategies and interactions with men and women demanding contraceptive information and technology. Moreover, through the use of oral history, as well as other print sources such as women’s magazines, this collection of articles seeks to illustrate ‘ordinary’ men and women’s practices in the realm of reproductive health.
Systematic review of gene expression studies in people with Lewy body dementia
Authors: Chowdhury Anisa , Rajkumar Anto P.
Published: March 2020

Objectives:

Lewy body dementia (LBD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative dementia and it causes more morbidity and mortality than Alzheimer’s disease. Several genetic associations of LBD have been reported and their functional implications remain uncertain. Hence, we aimed to do a systematic review of all gene expression studies that investigated people with LBD for improving our understanding of LBD molecular pathology and for facilitating discovery of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for LBD.

Methods:

We systematically reviewed five online databases (PROSPERO protocol: CRD42017080647) and assessed the functional implications of all reported differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using Ingenuity Pathway Analyses.

Results:

We screened 3,809 articles and identified 31 eligible studies. In that, 1,242 statistically significant (p < 0.05) DEGs including 70 microRNAs have been reported in people with LBD. Expression levels of alternatively spliced transcripts of SNCA, SNCB, PRKN, APP, RELA, and ATXN2 significantly differ in LBD. Several mitochondrial genes and genes involved in ubiquitin proteasome system and autophagy–lysosomal pathway were significantly downregulated in LBD. Evidence supporting chronic neuroinflammation in LBD was inconsistent. Our functional analyses highlighted the importance of ribonucleic acid (RNA)-mediated gene silencing, neuregulin signalling, and neurotrophic factors in the molecular pathology of LBD.

Conclusions:

α-synuclein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, defects in molecular networks clearing misfolded proteins, and RNA-mediated gene silencing contribute to neurodegeneration in LBD. Larger longitudinal transcriptomic studies investigating biological fluids of people living with LBD are needed for molecular subtyping and staging of LBD. Diagnostic biomarker potential and therapeutic promise of identified DEGs warrant further research.
Matching with Text Data: An Experimental Evaluation of Methods for Matching Documents and of Measuring Match Quality
Authors: Mozer Reagan , Miratrix Luke , Kaufman Aaron Russell , Jason Anastasopoulos L.
Published: March 2020

Matching for causal inference is a well-studied problem, but standard methods fail when the units to match are text documents: the high-dimensional and rich nature of the data renders exact matching infeasible, causes propensity scores to produce incomparable matches, and makes assessing match quality difficult. In this paper, we characterize a framework for matching text documents that decomposes existing methods into (1) the choice of text representation and (2) the choice of distance metric. We investigate how different choices within this framework affect both the quantity and quality of matches identified through a systematic multifactor evaluation experiment using human subjects. Altogether, we evaluate over 100 unique text-matching methods along with 5 comparison methods taken from the literature. Our experimental results identify methods that generate matches with higher subjective match quality than current state-of-the-art techniques. We enhance the precision of these results by developing a predictive model to estimate the match quality of pairs of text documents as a function of our various distance scores. This model, which we find successfully mimics human judgment, also allows for approximate and unsupervised evaluation of new procedures in our context. We then employ the identified best method to illustrate the utility of text matching in two applications. First, we engage with a substantive debate in the study of media bias by using text matching to control for topic selection when comparing news articles from thirteen news sources. We then show how conditioning on text data leads to more precise causal inferences in an observational study examining the effects of a medical intervention.
Political Trust and Support for Immigration in the American Mass Public
Authors: Macdonald David
Published: March 2020

Immigration is one of the most salient and important issues in contemporary American politics. While a great deal is known about how cultural attitudes and economics influence public opinion toward immigration, little is known about how attitudes toward government influence support for immigration. Using cross-sectional data from the American National Election Studies (ANES), panel data from the ANES and General Social Survey, as well a Mechanical Turk (MTurk) survey experiment, I show that political trust exerts a positive and substantively meaningful influence on Americans' support for immigration. Politically trustful individuals, both Democrats and Republicans, are more supportive of pro-immigration policies. These findings underscore the political relevance of trust in government and show that public attitudes toward immigration are not driven solely by feelings about immigrant groups, partisanship, core political values, nor personality traits, but are also affected by trust in government, the actor most responsible for managing immigration policy.
Current innovations in otolaryngology medical education in the UK: a systematic literature review
Authors: Yip H M , Soh T C F , Lim Z Z
Published: March 2020

Objective

Recent studies have indicated a lack of ENT training at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. This study aimed to review the impact of recent educational innovations in improving ENT training for medical students and junior doctors in the UK.

Methods

Three independent investigators conducted a literature search of published articles on ENT education. Included studies were analysed using qualitative synthesis methods.

Results

An initial search yielded 2008 articles; 44 underwent full-text evaluation and 5 were included for final analysis. Most included studies demonstrated benefits for students when compared to existing teaching standards in terms of objective assessment (knowledge and skills gained) or subjective assessment (confidence and preference) following implemented educational innovations.

Conclusion

This study identified educational innovations developed in the past 15 years to enhance the teaching of core ENT competencies. More research is needed to establish their impact on the state of ENT medical education in the UK.
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a reservoir of a diversity ofToxoplasma gondiistrains in the USA and pose a risk to consumers of undercooked venison
Authors: Dubey J. P. , Cerqueira-Cézar C. K. , Murata F. H. A. , Verma S. K. , Kwok O. C. H. , Pedersen K. , Rosenthal B. M. , Su C.
Published: March 2020

To assess the role of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus, WTD) in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis, we conducted a national survey of WTD across the USA forToxoplasma gondiiinfection. To do this, we combined serology with parasite isolation to evaluate the prevalence and genetic diversity ofT. gondiiin this game species. From October 2012 to March 2019, serum and tissues were collected from 914 WTD across the USA. Serum samples were screened for antibodies toT. gondii, and then the tissues of seropositive WTD were bioassayed in mice. Antibodies were detected in 329 (36%) of 914 WTD tested by the modified agglutination test (positive reaction at 1:25 or higher). ViableT. gondiiwas isolated from the heart of 36 WTD from 11 states. Three of the 36 isolates were pathogenic but not highly virulent to outbred Swiss Webster mice and all 36 isolates could be propagated further in cell culture and were genotyped. For genotyping, DNA extracted from cell culture-derived tachyzoites was characterized by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) using the genetic markers SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1 and Apico. Genotyping revealed seven ToxoDB PCR-RFLP genotypes, including 24 isolates for genotype #5 (haplogroup 12), four isolates for #2 (type III, haplogroup 3), three isolates for genotypes #1 (type II, haplogroup 2), two isolates for genotypes #3 (type II, haplogroup 2) and one isolate each for #39, #221 and #224. Genotype #5 was the most frequently isolated, accounting for 66.6% (24 of 36) of the isolates. Combining the 36 isolates from this study with previously reported 69 isolates from WTD, 15 genotypes have been identified. Among these, 50.4% (53/105) isolates belong to genotype #5. Our results indicate moderate genetic diversity ofT. gondiiin WTD. The results also indicate that undercooked venison should not be consumed by humans or fed to cats.
Patients with borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder: a descriptive and comparative study
Authors: Zimmerman Mark , Balling Caroline , Chelminski Iwona , Dalrymple Kristy
Published: March 2020

Background

Bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are each significant public health problems. It has been frequently noted that distinguishing BPD from bipolar disorder is challenging. Consequently, reviews and commentaries have focused on differential diagnosis and identifying clinical features to distinguish the two disorders. While there is a burgeoning literature comparing patients with BPD and bipolar disorder, much less research has characterized patients with both disorders. In the current report from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services (MIDAS) project, we compare psychiatric outpatients with both BPD and bipolar disorder to patients with BPD without bipolar disorder and patients with bipolar disorder without BPD.

Methods

Psychiatric outpatients presenting for treatment were evaluated with semi-structured interviews. The focus of the current study is the 517 patients with both BPD and bipolar disorder (n= 59), BPD without bipolar disorder (n= 330), and bipolar disorder without BPD (n= 128).

Results

Compared to patients with bipolar disorder, the patients with bipolar disorder and BPD had more comorbid disorders, psychopathology in their first-degree relatives, childhood trauma, suicidality, hospitalizations, time unemployed, and likelihood of receiving disability payments. The added presence of bipolar disorder in patients with BPD was associated with more posttraumatic stress disorder in the patients as well as their family, more bipolar disorder and substance use disorders in their relatives, more childhood trauma, unemployment, disability, suicide attempts, and hospitalizations.

Conclusions

Patients with both bipolar disorder and BPD have more severe psychosocial morbidity than patients with only one of these disorders.
QUANTILE TREATMENT EFFECTS IN REGRESSION KINK DESIGNS
Authors: Chen Heng , Chiang Harold D. , Sasaki Yuya
Published: March 2020

The literature on regression kink designs develops identification results for average effects of continuous treatments (Nielsen et al., 2010, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2, 185–215; Card et al., 2015, Econometrica 83, 2453–2483), average effects of binary treatments (Dong, 2018, Jump or Kink? Identifying Education Effects by Regression Discontinuity Design without the Discontinuity), and quantile-wise effects of continuous treatments (Chiang and Sasaki, 2019, Journal of Econometrics 210, 405–433), but there has been no identification result for quantile-wise effects of binary treatments to date. In this article, we fill this void in the literature by providing an identification of quantile treatment effects in regression kink designs with binary treatment variables. For completeness, we also develop large sample theories for statistical inference, present a practical guideline on estimation and inference, conduct simulation studies, and provide an empirical illustration.
COUNT AND DURATION TIME SERIES WITH EQUAL CONDITIONAL STOCHASTIC AND MEAN ORDERS
Authors: Aknouche Abdelhakim , Francq Christian
Published: March 2020

We consider a positive-valued time series whose conditional distribution has a time-varying mean, which may depend on exogenous variables. The main applications concern count or duration data. Under a contraction condition on the mean function, it is shown that stationarity and ergodicity hold when the mean and stochastic orders of the conditional distribution are the same. The latter condition holds for the exponential family parametrized by the mean, but also for many other distributions. We also provide conditions for the existence of marginal moments and for the geometric decay of the beta-mixing coefficients. We give conditions for consistency and asymptotic normality of the Exponential Quasi-Maximum Likelihood Estimator of the conditional mean parameters. Simulation experiments and illustrations on series of stock market volumes and of greenhouse gas concentrations show that the multiplicative-error form of usual duration models deserves to be relaxed, as allowed in this paper.
Modelling the early expressive communicative trajectories of infants/toddlers with early cochlear implants
Authors: BAVIN Edith L , SARANT Julia , HACKWORTH Naomi. J. , BENNETTS Shannon K. , BUZHARDT Jay , JIA Fan , BUTTON Elizabeth , BUSBY Peter , LEIGH Greg , PETERSON Candy
Published: March 2020

For children with normal hearing (NH), early communication skills predict vocabulary, a precursor to grammar. Growth in early communication skills of infants with cochlear implants (CIs) was investigated using the Early Communication Indicator (ECI), a play-based observation measure. Multilevel linear growth modelling on data from six ECI sessions held at three-monthly intervals revealed significant growth overall, with a non-significant slower growth rate than that of children with NH (comparison age centred at 18 months). Analyses of gesture use and of nonword vocalisations revealed the CI group used significantly more of each, with more rapid growth. In contrast, the CI group used significantly fewer single words and multiword utterances, and with slower growth. Maternal education and time to achieve consistent CI use impacted significantly on growth for the CI sample. The results indicate that progression to vocabulary by young CI users can be supported by encouraging their use of prelinguistic communication.
Hopf bifurcation from spike solutions for the weak coupling Gierer–Meinhardt system
Authors: GOMEZ DANIEL , MEI LINFENG , WEI JUNCHENG
Published: March 2020

The Hopf bifurcation from spike solutions for the classical Gierer–Meinhardt system in a onedimensional interval is considered. The existence of time-periodic solution near the Hopf bifurcation parameter for a boundary spike is rigorously proved by the classical Crandall–Rabinowitz theory. The criteria for the stability of the limit cycle are determined, and it is shown that the limit cycle isunstable.
Challenges and lessons learned from the Pediatric Heart Network Normal Echocardiogram Database study
Authors: Truong Dongngan , Lopez Leo , Frommelt Peter C. , Stelter Jessica , Ni Brenda , Cohen Meryl S. , Prakash Ashwin , Colan Steven D. , Spurney Christopher , Soslow Jonathan , Pearson Gail D. , Mahgerefteh Joseph , Sachdeva Ritu , Pignatelli Ricardo , Trachtenberg Felicia , Stylianou Mario , Altmann Karen , Rathge Kathleen A. , Camarda Joseph , Chowdhury Shahryar , Dragulescu Andreea , Frommelt Michele , Garuba Olukayode , Soriano Brian , Srivastava Shubhika , Thankavel Poonam , van der Velde Mary E. , Minich L. LuAnn ,   For the Pediatric Heart Network Investigators
Published: March 2020

Background:

The Pediatric Heart Network Normal Echocardiogram Database Study had unanticipated challenges. We sought to describe these challenges and lessons learned to improve the design of future studies.

Methods:

Challenges were divided into three categories: enrolment, echocardiographic imaging, and protocol violations. Memoranda, Core Lab reports, and adjudication logs were reviewed. A centre-level questionnaire provided information regarding local processes for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used, and chi-square tests determined differences in imaging quality.

Results:

For the 19 participating centres, challenges with enrolment included variations in Institutional Review Board definitions of “retrospective” eligibility, overestimation of non-White participants, centre categorisation of Hispanic participants that differed from National Institutes of Health definitions, and exclusion of potential participants due to missing demographic data. Institutional Review Board amendments resolved many of these challenges. There was an unanticipated burden imposed on centres due to high numbers of echocardiograms that were reviewed but failed to meet submission criteria. Additionally, image transfer software malfunctions delayed Core Lab image review and feedback. Between the early and late study periods, the proportion of unacceptable echocardiograms submitted to the Core Lab decreased (14 versus 7%, p < 0.01). Most protocol violations were from eligibility violations and inadvertent protected health information disclosure (overall 2.5%). Adjudication committee reviews led to protocol changes.

Conclusions:

Numerous challenges encountered during the Normal Echocardiogram Database Study prolonged study enrolment. The retrospective design and flaws in image transfer software were key impediments to study completion and should be considered when designing future studies collecting echocardiographic images as a primary outcome.
The Populist Discourse on Representation in Lithuania
Authors: Ulinskaitė Jogilė
Published: March 2020

Populist parties participate in the process of political representation through elections. Little is known about how they conceptualize this process since their statements refer to a direct involvement of citizens in decision-making and disapprove of representatives. This article addresses this issue and presents an empirical study about how Lithuanian populist political parties define political representation. The data come from the 2016 election manifestos and from party websites between April 2016 and September 2017. The qualitative content analysis reveals that populists define representation by referencing common moral values and constant communication with citizens. This helps them create a political identity common to themselves as representatives and the represented.
Explaining Change: The Online Political Marketing of the Romanian Social Democrats
Authors: Grad Marius , Marian Claudiu
Published: March 2020

In the most recent two decades, the political campaigns conducted by the Social Democratic Party in Romania targeted specific groups of voters, with little intention to attract new voters. The reason behind their strategy is that they could secure a relatively constant support of roughly one third of the electorate and so win the popular vote in every election since 2000. However, the 2016 parliamentary elections marked a turning point in this approach and the party used almost exclusively online marketing to organize, streamline and channel its messages. This article seeks to understand why this change occurred although it did not seem to be necessary. This change is more surprising in a context in which the main political competitors were weak and disorganized. Our qualitative analysis aims to identify and explain the main elements that determined this change. It accounts for three main variables: experiential learning, the role of a new party leader and the use of new opportunities.
Members versus Experts: The Perceptions of Party Leadership Styles in New Democracies
Authors: Gherghina Sergiu
Published: March 2020

Party leaders are highly relevant for contemporary political arenas. Their leadership styles have been often investigated relative to their behaviour and attitudes, but rarely through the lenses of those who observe them closely. This article aims to fill this gap in the literature and compares the ways in which party members and experts evaluate leaders on the transactional–transformational continuum. It uses individual-level data from a survey conducted in 2018 with a modified version of the MLQ. The analysis focuses on eight parliamentary parties in Romania and Bulgaria, covering 19 party leaders and 33 terms over a period of 15 years (2004–2018). The results indicate important differences in the assessment of party leaders, with members having more heterogeneous opinions and seeing them more transformational in comparison to experts.
Energy-related financial literacy and bounded rationality in appliance replacement attitudes: evidence from Nepal
Authors: Filippini Massimo , Kumar Nilkanth , Srinivasan Suchita
Published: March 2020

As countries develop, they are likely to face challenges in meeting growing energy demand and in ensuring energy security. Given this, and the problem of climate change, improving demand-side energy efficiency is pivotal to ensuring sustainable development. However, agents often underinvest in energy-efficient technologies due to behavioral failures such as low levels of energy-related financial literacy, defined as the combination of energy knowledge and cognitive abilities needed to evaluate the lifetime costs of durables. Using novel data, we analyze the levels and determinants of energy-related financial literacy of households in urban areas in the eastern lowlands of Nepal, and whether it is correlated with their attitudes towards replacement of energy-inefficient appliances. We find that respondents have low levels of energy-related financial literacy, and higher levels of literacy are associated with more rational attitudes towards appliance replacement. The findings of this study are relevant to addressing the energy-efficiency gap in developing countries.
Towards a ‘theory of the gap’: Addressing the relationship between practice and theory
Authors: HOFIUS MAREN
Published: March 2020

In their ground-breaking philosophical investigation of the ‘practice turn’ Lechner and Frost prompt a standpoint debate in international relations theory, which touches upon the relationship between practice theory and its subject matter. Lechner and Frost decidedly opt for an internal standpoint, which promises to understand a social practice in terms of the meaning-in-use of its participants. This article argues that the internalist promise will ultimately remain unfulfilled, however, for the aim of collapsing the distinction between the ‘language of action’ and ‘language of observation’ is epistemologically impossible. Taking such an ‘internal’ perspective not only underestimates the problem of the double hermeneutic. It also disregards the gap between theory and practice. Any social enquiry that fails to acknowledge this gap inevitably becomes externalist, for it misses to reflect on its own normative presuppositions. The way ahead is to address this gap reflexively by way of a triple hermeneutics that is bolstered by abductive reasoning.
Understanding Arctic Ocean Circulation: A Review of Ocean Dynamics in a Changing Climate
Authors: Timmermans Mary‐Louise , Marshall John
Published: March 2020

The Arctic Ocean is a focal point of climate change, with ocean warming, freshening, sea‐ice decline, and circulation that link to the changing atmospheric and terrestrial environment. Major features of the Arctic and the interconnected nature of its wind‐ and buoyancy‐driven circulation are reviewed here by presenting a synthesis of observational data interpreted from the perspective of geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD). The general circulation is seen to be the superposition of Atlantic Water flowing into and around the Arctic basin and the two main wind‐driven circulation features of the interior stratified Arctic Ocean: the Transpolar Drift Stream and the Beaufort Gyre. The specific drivers of these systems, including wind forcing, ice‐ocean interactions, and surface buoyancy fluxes, and their associated GFD are explored. The essential understanding guides an assessment of how Arctic Ocean structure and dynamics might fundamentally change as the Arctic warms, sea‐ice cover declines, and the ice that remains becomes more mobile.
Coda and Intrinsic Attenuations From Ultrasonic Measurements in Tight Siltstones
Authors: Ma Rupeng , Ba Jing
Published: March 2020

We have performed ultrasonic measurements on tight siltstone samples to obtain thePwave coda and intrinsic attenuations using a single isotropic scattering model and the spectral ratio method. The results indicate that attenuation is predominantly caused by scattering. Intrinsic attenuation increases with gas saturation and permeability and decreases with grain size, whereas coda attenuation is stronger under partial saturation conditions and increases with grain size. Porosity and mineral composition do not have significant effects on attenuation. The triple‐porosity and scattering models are used to simulate the intrinsic and scattering attenuations, respectively. The results show that the intrinsic attenuation is predominately caused by wave‐induced fluid flow between microcracks/micropores and intergranular pores. The model incorporating the scattering effects of microcracks underestimates the scattering loss in the coda, which may thus be better explained by heterogeneities in the clustering structure of grains.
How Does the Air‐Sea Coupling Frequency Affect Convection During the MJO Passage?
Authors: Zhao Ning , Nasuno Tomoe
Published: March 2020

The importance of air‐sea coupling in the simulation and prediction of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) has been well established. However, it remains unclear how air‐sea coupling modulates the convection and related oceanic features on the subdaily scale. Based on a regional cloud‐permitting coupled model, we evaluated the impact of the air‐sea coupling on the convection during the convectively active phase of the MJO by varying the coupling frequency. The model successfully reproduced the atmospheric and oceanic variations observed by satellite and in situ measurements but with some quantitative biases. According to the sensitivity experiments, we found that stronger convection was mainly caused by the higher sea surface temperatures (SSTs) generated in high‐frequency coupled experiments, especially when the coupling frequency was 1 hr or shorter. A lower coupling frequency would generate the phase lags in the diurnal cycle of SST and related turbulent heat fluxes. Our analyses further demonstrated that the phase‐lagged diurnal cycle of SST suppressed deep convection through a decrease in daytime moistening in the lower troposphere. Meanwhile, in the upper ocean, the high‐frequency air‐sea coupling helped maintain the shallower mixed and isothermal layers by diurnal heating and cooling at the sea surface, which led to a higher mean SST. In contrast, the low‐frequency coupled experiments underestimated the SST and therefore convective activities. Overall, our results demonstrated that high‐frequency air‐sea coupling (1 hr or shorter) could improve the reproducibility of the intensity and temporal variation in both diurnal convection and upper ocean processes.
Calcipotriol and iBRD9 reduce obesity in Nur77 knockout mice by regulating the gut microbiota, improving intestinal mucosal barrier function
Authors: Lv Qingqing , Yang Aolin , Shi Wanying , Chen Feng , Liu Yixuan , Liu Ying , Wang Difei
Published: March 2020

Objective

The orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 is an important factor regulating metabolism. Nur77 knockout mice become obese with age, but the cause of obesity in these mice has not been fully ascertained. We attempted to explain the cause of obesity in Nur77 knockout mice from the perspective of the gut microbiota and to investigate the inhibitory effect of calcipotriol combined with BRD9 inhibitor (iBRD9) on obesity.

Methods

Eight-week-old wild-type mice and Nur77 knockout C57BL/6J mice were treated with calcipotriol combined with iBRD9 for 12 weeks. Mouse feces were collected and the gut microbiota was assessed by analyzing 16S rRNA gene sequences. The bacterial abundance difference was analyzed, and the intestinal mucosal tight junction protein, antimicrobial peptide, and inflammatory cytokine mRNA levels of the colon and serum LPS and inflammatory cytokine levels were measured.

Results

Calcipotriol combined with iBRD9 treatment reduced the body weight and body fat percentage in Nur77 knockout mice. In the gut microbiota of Nur77 knockout mice, the relative abundances of Lachnospiraceae and Prevotellaceae decreased, and Rikenellaceae increased; while Rikenellaceae decreased after treatment (p < 0.05). Correspondingly, the mRNA levels of intestinal mucosal tight junction proteins (occludin (Ocln), claudin3 (Cldn3)) in the colons of Nur77 knockout mice were significantly decreased, and they increased significantly after treatment (p < 0.001). The mRNA levels of inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β)) were significantly increased in Nur77 knockout mice, and TNF-α and IL-6 levels were significantly decreased after treatment (p < 0.05, <0.01, or <0.001). The levels of serum LPS, TNF-α, and IL-1β in Nur77 knockout mice were significantly increased (p < 0.05). Serum LPS, TNF-α, and IL-6 levels were significantly decreased after treatment (p < 0.05 or <0.01).

Conclusions

Calcipotriol combined with iBRD9 can regulate the gut microbiota, improve intestinal mucosal barrier function, reduce LPS absorption into the blood, and alleviate obesity in Nur77 knockout mice.
Clinical and radiographic evaluation of indirect pulp treatment of young permanent molars using photo-activated oral disinfection versus calcium hydroxide: a randomized controlled pilot trial
Authors: Elchaghaby Marwa Aly , Moheb Dalia Mohamed , El Shahawy Osama Ibrahim , Abd Alsamad Ahmed Mohamed , Rashed Mervat Abdel Moniem
Published: March 2020

Background

Calcium hydroxide is the most commonly used material in indirect pulp treatment (IPT). However, its drawbacks required its replacement by other materials.

Aim

This study aims to estimate clinically and radiographically the success of indirect pulp treatment of young permanent molars with either photo-activated oral disinfection (PAD) or calcium hydroxide.

Design

This Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial included 32 vital first permanent molars with deep caries that were treated by indirect pulp treatment with either PAD (group 1) or calcium hydroxide (group 2). Clinical and radiographic success in addition to newly-formed dentin thickness were evaluated regularly at 2, 6, 9, and 12 months.

Results

The success for both groups was 100% clinically and radiographically at all follow-up periods. Regarding the mean thickness of newly-formed dentin for both groups at different follow-up periods, there was no statistically significant difference between both groups at 2, 6, 9, and 12 months, with P values = 0.825, 0.146, 0.280, and 0.400, respectively.

Conclusions

The clinical and radiographic success for indirect pulp treatment of young permanent molars with both PAD and calcium hydroxide were comparable.
Correction: Targeting alkaline ceramidase 3 alleviates the severity of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by reducing oxidative stress
Authors: Wang Kai , Li Chuanjiang , Lin Xinxin , Sun Hang , Xu Ruijuan , Li Qingping , Wei Yiran , Li Yiyi , Qian Jianping , Liu Cuiting , Zhang Qifan , Yu Sheng , Cui Zhonglin , Huang Xixin , Zhu Bili , Zhou Jie , Mao Cungui
Published: March 2020

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Polaritonic molecular clock for all-optical ultrafast imaging of wavepacket dynamics without probe pulses
Authors: Silva R. E. F. , Pino Javier del , García-Vidal Francisco J. , Feist Johannes
Published: March 2020

Conventional approaches to probing ultrafast molecular dynamics rely on the use of synchronized laser pulses with a well-defined time delay. Typically, a pump pulse excites a molecular wavepacket. A subsequent probe pulse can then dissociate or ionize the molecule, and measurement of the molecular fragments provides information about where the wavepacket was for each time delay. Here, we propose to exploit the ultrafast nuclear-position-dependent emission obtained due to large light–matter coupling in plasmonic nanocavities to image wavepacket dynamics using only a single pump pulse. We show that the time-resolved emission from the cavity provides information about when the wavepacket passes a given region in nuclear configuration space. This approach can image both cavity-modified dynamics on polaritonic (hybrid light–matter) potentials in the strong light–matter coupling regime and bare-molecule dynamics in the intermediate coupling regime of large Purcell enhancements, and provides a route towards ultrafast molecular spectroscopy with plasmonic nanocavities.
Herding Friends in Similarity-Based Architecture of Social Networks
Authors: David-Barrett Tamas
Published: March 2020

Although friendship as a social behaviour is an evolved trait that shares many similarities with kinship, there is a key difference: to choose friends, one must select few from many. Homophily, i.e., a similarity-based friendship choice heuristic, has been shown to be the main factor in selecting friends. Its function has been associated with the efficiency of collective action via synchronised mental states. Recent empirical results question the general validity of this explanation. Here I offer an alternative hypothesis: similarity-based friendship choice is an individual-level adaptive response to falling clustering coefficient of the social network typical during urbanisation, falling fertility, increased migration. The mathematical model shows how homophily as a friend-choice heuristic affects the network structure: (1) homophilic friendship choice increases the clustering coefficient; (2) network proximity-based and similarity-based friendship choices have additive effects on the clustering coefficient; and (3) societies that face falling fertility, urbanisation, and migration, are likely go through a u-shaped transition period in terms of clustering coefficient. These findings suggest that social identity can be seen as an emergent phenomenon and is the consequence, rather than the driver of, homophilic social dynamics, and offer an alternative explanation for the rise of “fake news” as a societal phenomenon.
Effects of genotypes and explants on garlic callus production and endogenous hormones
Authors: Mostafa Hassan H. A. , Wang Haiping , Song Jiangping , Li Xixiang
Published: March 2020

High callus production is a feasible way to improve the propagation coefficient of garlic. It remains unknown how genotypes and explants affect garlic callus formation. In the present investigation, we found that there were significant differences in callus formation among garlic varieties. Tip explants were the best calli-producing source, and 91.05% of the explants from four varieties, on average, formed calli after 45 d of primary culturing. Upper leaf parts explants produced lower values. Among the different varieties and explant types, tip explants of variety T141 induced calli in the shortest time and had the greatest callus fresh weight at 45 d. An endogenous hormone contents analysis showed that auxins (indole-3-acetic acid and methyl indole-3-acetic acetate), cytokinins (trans-zeatin and dihydrozeatin), gibberellins4, 9,15,19,24 and 53, abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, jasmonoyl-L-isoleucine, and dihydrojasmonic acid were significantly greater in the tips than those in the upper leaf parts. High endogenous jasmonic acid content might play important roles in callus formation. These results will help us not only establish an efficient garlic callus induction protocol that can be applied to large-scale callus multiplication and regeneration, and to genetically improvement of garlic production, but also understand endogenous hormone roles in tissue/organ differentiation and dedifferentiation.
Phenome-Wide Scan Finds Potential Orofacial Risk Markers for Cancer
Authors: Bezamat Mariana , Harrison Benjamin , Zhou Yuqiao , Glickman Katherine M. , Telles Vicente , Guirguis Christopher , Modesto Adriana , Vieira Alexandre R.
Published: March 2020

Cancer is a disease caused by a process that drives the transformation of normal cells into malignant cells. The late diagnosis of cancer has a negative impact on the health care system due to high treatment cost and decreased chances of favorable prognosis. Here, we aimed to identify orofacial conditions that can serve as potential risk markers for cancers by performing a phenome-wide scan (PheWAS). From a pool of 6,100 individuals, both genetic and epidemiological data of 1,671 individuals were selected: 350 because they were previously diagnosed with cancer and 1,321 to match to those individuals that had cancer, based on age, sex, and ethnicity serving as a comparison group. Results of this study showed that when analyzing the individuals affected by cancer separately, tooth loss/edentulism is associated with SNPs in AXIN2 (rs11867417 p = 0.02 and rs2240308 p = 0.02), and leukoplakia of oral mucosa is associated with both AXIN2 (rs2240308 p = 0.03) and RHEB (rs2374261 p = 0.03). These phenotypes did not show the same trends in patients that were not diagnosed with cancer, allowing for the conclusion that these phenotypes are unique to cases with higher cancer risk.
Visualization of unstained homo/heterogeneous DNA nanostructures by low-voltage scanning transmission electron microscopy
Authors: Gang Geun Won , Shin Jihoon , Kim Young Heon , Ha Tai Hwan , Ogawa Takashi
Published: March 2020

Three-dimensional (3D) homo/heterogeneous DNA nanostructures were studied with low-voltage scanning transmission electron microscopy (LV-STEM). Four types of 3D DNA nanostructures were designed and fabricated by the origami method including newly proposed protocols. The low-energy electron probe and optimized dark-field STEM detector enabled individual unstained DNA nanostructures to be clearly imaged by the single acquisition without the averaging process. For the vertically stacked double structures, assembled through modified single-stranded domains, and the structures containing a square opening (i.e., a hole) in the center, the LV-STEM successfully reveals the vertical information of these 3D structures as the contrast differences compared to the reference. For the heterogeneous structures, the LV-STEM visualized both regions of the functionalized gold nanoparticles and the DNA base structure with distinct contrasts. This study introduces a straightforward method to fabricate stackable DNA nanostructures or nanoparticles by replacing a relatively small number of incumbent DNA strands, which could realize the simple and sophisticated fabrication of higher-order 3D DNA homo/hetero nanostructures. Together with these design techniques of DNA nanostructures, this study has demonstrated that the LV-STEM is the swift and simple method for visualizing the 3D DNA nanostructures and certifying the fabricated products as the specified design, which is applicable to various research fields on soft materials including DNA nanotechnology.
The Early Peopling of the Philippines based on mtDNA
Authors: Arenas Miguel , Gorostiza Amaya , Baquero Juan Miguel , Campoy Elena , Branco Catarina , Rangel-Villalobos Héctor , González-Martín Antonio
Published: March 2020

Despite the efforts made to reconstruct the history of modern humans, there are still poorly explored regions that are key for understanding the phylogeography of our species. One of them is the Philippines, which is crucial to unravel the colonization of Southeast Asia and Oceania but where little is known about when and how the first humans arrived. In order to shed light into this settlement, we collected samples from 157 individuals of the Philippines with the four grandparents belonging to the same region and mitochondrial variants older than 20,000 years. Next, we analyzed the hypervariable I mtDNA region by approximate Bayesian computation based on extensive spatially explicit computer simulations to select among several migration routes towards the Philippines and to estimate population genetic parameters of this colonization. We found that the colonization of the Philippines occurred more than 60,000 years ago, with long-distance dispersal and from both north and south migration routes. Our results also suggest an environmental scenario especially optimal for humans, with large carrying capacity and population growth, in comparison to other regions of Asia. In all, our study suggests a rapid expansion of modern humans towards the Philippines that could be associated with the establisment of maritime technologies and favorable environmental conditions.
Effectiveness of combined antithrombin and thrombomodulin therapy on in-hospital mortality in mechanically ventilated septic patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation
Authors: Umegaki Takeshi , Kunisawa Susumu , Nishimoto Kota , Kamibayashi Takahiko , Imanaka Yuichi
Published: March 2020

Septic patients can develop disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), which is characterized by systemic blood coagulation and an increased risk of life-threatening haemorrhage. Although antithrombin (AT) and thrombomodulin (TM) combination anticoagulant therapy is frequently used to treat septic patients with DIC in Japan, its effectiveness in improving patient outcomes remains unclear. In this large-scale multicentre retrospective study of adult septic patients with DIC treated at Japanese hospitals between February 2010 and March 2016, we compared in-hospital mortality between AT monotherapy and AT + TM combination therapy. We performed logistic regression analysis with in-hospital mortality as the dependent variable and anticoagulant therapy as the main independent variable of interest. Covariates included patient demographics, disease severity, and body surface area. The AT group and AT + TM group comprised 1,017 patients from 352 hospitals and 1,205 patients from 349 hospitals, respectively. AT + TM combination therapy was not significantly associated with lower mortality when compared with AT monotherapy (odds ratio: 0.97, 95% confidence interval: 0.78–1.21; P = 0.81). AT + TM combination therapy was also not superior to AT monotherapy in reducing mechanical ventilation or hospitalization durations. Despite its widespread use for treating sepsis with DIC, AT + TM combination therapy is not more effective in improving prognoses than the simpler AT monotherapy.
Glucose metabolism regulates expression of hair-inductive genes of dermal papilla spheres via histone acetylation
Authors: Choi Mina , Choi Yeong Min , Choi Soo-Young , An In-Sook , Bae Seunghee , An Sungkwan , Jung Jin Hyuk
Published: March 2020

Cellular metabolism is one of the crucial factors to regulate epigenetic landscape in various cells including immune cells, embryonic stem cells and hair follicle stem cells. Dermal papilla cells (DP) interact with epithelial stem cells to orchestrate hair formation. Here we show that active DP exhibit robust aerobic glycolysis. We observed decrease of signature genes associated with hair induction by DP in presence of low glucose (2 mM) and glycolysis inhibitors. Moreover, hair shaft elongation was attenuated by glycolysis inhibitors. Interestingly, excessive glucose is able to increase the expression of hair inductive genes and elongation of hair shaft. We also observed glycolysis-mediated histone acetylation is increased and chemical inhibition of acetyltransferase reduces expression of the signature genes associated with hair induction in active DP. These results suggest that glucose metabolism is required for expression of signature genes associated with hair induction. This finding may be beneficial for establishing and maintaining of active DP to generate hair follicle in vitro.