bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Neural Dynamics Underlying Successful Auditory Short-Term Memory Performance
Authors: Pomper Ulrich , Curetti Lorenza Zaira , Chait Maria
Published: July 2023

Listeners often operate in complex acoustic environments, consisting of many concurrent sounds. Accurately encoding and maintaining such auditory objects in short-term memory is crucial for communication and scene analysis. Yet, the neural underpinnings of successful auditory short-term memory (ASTM) performance are currently not well understood.

To elucidate this issue, we presented a novel, challenging auditory delayed match-to-sample task while recording MEG. Human participants listened to “scenes” comprising 3 concurrent tone pip streams. The task was to indicate, after a delay, whether a probe stream was present in the just-heard scene. We present three key findings: First, behavioural performance revealed faster responses in correct vs. incorrect trials as well as in ‘probe present’ vs ‘probe absent’ trials, consistent with ASTM search. Second, successful compared to unsuccessful ASTM performance was associated with a significant enhancement of event-related fields and oscillatory activity in the theta, alpha, and beta frequency ranges. This extends previous findings of an overall increase of persistent activity during short-term memory performance. Third, using distributed source modelling, we found these effects to be confined mostly to sensory areas during encoding, presumably related to ASTM contents per-se. Parietal and frontal sources then became relevant during the maintenance stage, indicating that effective STM operation also relies on ongoing inhibitory processes suppressing task irrelevant information.

In summary, our results deliver a detailed account of the neural patterns that differentiate successful from unsuccessful ASTM performance in the context of a complex, multi-object auditory scene.
In vivomagnetic recording of single-neuron action potentials
Authors: Klein Frederike J. , Jendritza Patrick , Chopin Chloé , Parto-Dezfouli Mohsen , Solignac Aurélie , Fermon Claude , Pannetier-Lecoeur Myriam , Fries Pascal
Published: July 2023

Measuring fast neuronal signals is the domain of electrophysiology and magnetophysiology. While electrophysiology is easier to perform, magnetophysiology avoids tissue-based distortions and measures a signal with directional information. At the macroscale, magnetoencephalography (MEG) is established, and at the mesoscale, visually evoked magnetic fields have been reported. At the microscale however, while benefits of recording magnetic counterparts of electric spikes would be numerous, they are also highly challengingin vivo. Here, we combine magnetic and electric recordings of neuronal action potentials in anesthetized rats using miniaturized giant magneto-resistance (GMR) sensors. We reveal the magnetic signature of action potentials of well-isolated single units. The recorded magnetic signals showed a distinct waveform and considerable signal strength. This demonstration ofin vivomagnetic action potentials opens a wide field of possibilities to profit from the combined power of magnetic and electric recordings and thus to significantly advance the understanding of neuronal circuits.

Significance statement

Electrophysiological tools allow the measurement of single-neuron action potentials with high temporal resolution. Magnetophysiological measurements would add valuable information, but are particularly hard to achieve for single neurons. Established technology for non-invasive magnetic brain signal measurements can currently not be used inside living tissue. Here, we demonstrate that miniaturized magnetic sensors based on giant magneto-resistance enable the measurement of the magnetic counterpart of single-neuron action potentials in vivo. This proof-of-principle shows a way towards integrating magnetic and electric recordings in future experiments and thus to profit from the complementary information measured by the two modalities.
COVID-related anthropause highlights the impact of marine traffic on breeding little penguins
Authors: Dupuis Benjamin , Kato Akiko , Joly Nicolas , Saraux Claire , Ropert-Coudert Yan , Chiaradia Andre , Chimienti Marianna
Published: July 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic and its lock-down measures have resulted in periods of reduced human activity, known as anthropause. While this period was expected to be favorable for the marine ecosystem, due to a probable reduction of pollution, shipping traffic, industrial activity and fishing pressure, negative counterparts such as the increased use of disposable plastic and reduced fisheries surveillance and enforcement could counterbalance these positive effects. Simultaneously, on-land pressure due to human disturbance and tourism should have drastically decreased, potentially benefiting land-based marine breeders such as seabirds. Thus, long-term datasets became crucial to differentiate between historical trends and any evident changes resulting from the anthropause. We analyzed 11 years of data on several biological parameters of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) from the Penguin Parade ®, a popular tourist attraction at Phillip Island, Australia. We investigated the impact of anthropogenic activities on penguin behavior during the breeding season measured by (1) distribution at sea, (2) colony attendance, (3) isotopic niche (4) chick meal mass, and (5) offspring investment against shipping traffic and number of tourists. The 2020 lock-downs resulted in a near absence of tourists visiting the Penguin Parade ®, which was otherwise visited by 800,000+ visitors on average per year. However, our long-term analysis showed no effect of the presence of visitors on little penguins’ activities. Surprisingly, the anthropause did not triggered any changes in maritime traffic intensity and distribution in the region. While we found significant inter- and intra-annual variations for most parameters, we detected a negative effect of marine traffic on the foraging efficiency. Our results suggest that environmental variations have a greater influence on the breeding behavior of little penguins compared to short-term anthropause events. Our long-term dataset was key to test whether changes in anthropogenic activities affected the wildlife during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact statement

We found that marine traffic, but not tourist presence, negatively impact the foraging and provisioning behavior of little penguins.
Adsorbing DNA to mica by cations: Influence of the valency and ion type
Authors: Ibrahim Mohd , Wenzel Christiane , Lallemang Max , Balzer Bizan N. , Schwierz Nadine
Published: July 2023

Ion-mediated attraction between DNA and mica plays a crucial role in biotechnological applications and molecular imaging. Here, we combine molecular dynamics simulations and single-molecule atomic force microscopy experiments to characterize the detachment forces of single-stranded DNA at mica surfaces mediated by the metal cations Li+, Na+, K+, Cs+, Mg2+and Ca2+. Ion specific adsorption at the mica/water interface compensates (Li+, Na+) or overcompensates (K+, Cs+, Mg2+and Ca2+) the bare negative surface charge of mica. In addition, direct and water-mediated contacts are formed between the ions, the phosphate oxygens of DNA and mica. The different contact types give rise to low and high force pathways and a broad distribution of detachment forces. Weakly hydrated ions, such as Cs+and water-mediated contacts lead to low detachment forces and a high mobility of the DNA on the surface. Direct ion-DNA or ion-surface contacts lead to significantly higher forces. The comprehensive view gained from our combined approach allows us to highlight the most promising cations for imaging in physiological conditions: K+to overcompensate the negative mica charge and induce long-ranged attractions. Mg2+and Ca2+to from a few specific and long-lived contacts to bind DNA with high affinity.
Variations in perfusion detectable in advance of microstructure in white matter aging
Authors: Robinson Tyler D. , Sun Yutong L. , Chang Paul T. H. , Gauthier Claudine J. , Chen J. Jean
Published: July 2023

One of the most promising interventional targets for brain health is cerebral perfusion, but its link to white matter (WM) aging remains unclear. Motivated by existing literature demonstrating links between declining cortical perfusion and the development of WM hyperintensities, we posit that regional WM hypoperfusion precedes deteriorating WM integrity. Using the Human Connectome Project Aging (HCP-A) data set, we examine tract-wise associations between WM microstructural integrity (i.e. fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity, and radial diffusivity) and perfusion (i.e. cerebral blood flow and arterial transit time) in ten major bilateral WM tracts. Results show that tracts displaying the largest CBF decline in aging do not necessarily display the largest ATT decline, and vice versa. Moreover, significant WM perfusion-microstructure canonical correlations were found in all tracts, but the drivers of these correlations vary by both tract and sex, with female subjects demonstrating more tracts with large microstructural variations contributing to the correlations. Additionally, arterial transit time appears to be the earliest indicator of WM declines, preceding age-related microstructural differences and CBF in several tracts. This study contributes compelling evidence to the vascular hypothesis of WM degeneration, and highlights the utility of blood-flow timing as an early marker of aging.
Computational repurposing of oncology drugs through off-target drug binding interactions from pharmacological databases
Authors: Walpole Imogen , Zaman Farzana Y , Zhao Peinan , Marshall Vikki M. , Lin Frank , Thomas David M. , Shackleton Mark , Antolin Albert A. , Ameratunga Malaka
Published: July 2023

PURPOSE

Systematic repurposing of approved medicine for another indication represents an attractive strategy to accelerating drug development in oncology. Herein we present a strategy of combining biomarker testing with drug repurposing to identify new treatments for patients with advanced cancer.

METHODS

Tumours were sequenced with Illumina TruSight Oncology 500 (TSO-500) platform or the FoundationOne® CDx panel. Mutations were manually screened by two medical oncology clinicians and pathogenic mutations were categorised with reference to the literature. Variants of unknown significance were classified as potentially pathogenic if a plausible mechanism and computational prediction of pathogenicity existed. Gain of function mutations were evaluated through the repurposing databases Probe Miner, the Broad Institute Drug Repurposing Hub (Broad Institute DRH) and TOPOGRAPH. Gain of function mutations were classified as repurposing events if they were identified in Probe Miner, were not indexed in TOPOGRAPH which captures active clinical trial biomarkers and excluding mutations for which a known FDA-approved biomarker label exists. The performance of the computational repurposing approach was validated by evaluating its ability to identify known FDA-approved biomarkers. Exploratory functional analyses were performed with gene expression data and CRISPR-dependency data sourced from the DepMap portal. The total repurposable genome was identified by evaluating all possible gene-FDA drug approved combinations in the Probe Miner dataset.

RESULTS

The computational repurposing approach was highly accurate at identifying FDA therapies with known biomarkers (94%). Using a real-world dataset of next-generation sequencing molecular reports (n = 94) and excluding the identification of mutations that would render patients eligible for FDA-licensed therapies or local clinical trials, it was found that a meaningful percentage of patients (14%) would have an off-label therapeutic identified through this approach. Exploratory analyses were performed, including the identification of drug-target interactions that have been previously described in the medicinal chemistry literature but are not well known, and the evaluation of the frequency of theoretical drug repurposing events in the TCGA pan-cancer dataset (73% of samples in the cohort).

CONCLUSION

Overall, a computational drug repurposing approach may assist in identifying novel repurposing events in cancer patients with advanced tumours and no access to standard therapies. Further validation is needed to confirm the utility of a precision oncology approach using drug repurposing.
Early resource scarcity causes cortical astrocyte enlargement and sex-specific changes in the orbitofrontal cortex transcriptome in adult rats
Authors: Deckers Claire , Karbalaei Reza , Miles Nylah A. , Harder Eden V. , Witt Emily , Harris Erin P. , Reissner Kathryn , Wimmer Mathieu E. , Bangasser Debra A.
Published: July 2023

Astrocyte morphology affects function, including the regulation of glutamatergic signaling. This morphology changes dynamically in response to the environment. However, how early life manipulations alter adult cortical astrocyte morphology is underexplored. Our lab uses brief postnatal resource scarcity, the limited bedding and nesting (LBN) manipulation, in rats. We previously found that LBN promotes later resilience to adult addiction-related behaviors, reducing impulsivity, risky decision-making, and morphine self-administration. These behaviors rely on glutamatergic transmission in the medial orbitofrontal (mOFC) and medial prefrontal (mPFC) cortex. Here we tested whether LBN changed astrocyte morphology in the mOFC and mPFC of adult rats using a novel viral approach that, unlike traditional markers, fully labels astrocytes. Prior exposure to LBN causes an increase in the surface area and volume of astrocytes in the mOFC and mPFC of adult males and females relative to control-raised rats. We next used bulk RNA sequencing of OFC tissue to assess transcriptional changes that could increase astrocyte size in LBN rats. LBN caused mainly sex-specific changes in differentially expressed genes. However,Park7, which encodes for the protein DJ-1 that alters astrocyte morphology, was increased by LBN across sex. Pathway analysis revealed that OFC glutamatergic signaling is altered by LBN in males and females, but the gene changes in that pathway differed across sex. This may represent a convergent sex difference where glutamatergic signaling, which affects astrocyte morphology, is altered by LBN via sex-specific mechanisms. Collectively, these studies highlight that astrocytes may be an important cell type that mediates the effect of early resource scarcity on adult brain function.
A sucrose non-fermenting-1-related protein kinase 1 gene from wheat, TaSnRK1α regulates starch biosynthesis by modulating AGPase activity
Authors: Kumar Prashant , Madhawan Akansha , Sharma Akshya , Sharma Vinita , Das Deepak , Parveen Afsana , Fandade Vikas , Sharma Deepak , Roy Joy
Published: July 2023

Major portion of wheat grain consist of carbohydrate, mainly starch. The proportion of amylose and amylopectin in starch greatly influence the end product quality. Advancement in understanding starch biosynthesis pathway and modulating key genes has enabled the genetic modification of crops resulting in enhanced starch quality. However, the regulation of starch biosynthesis genes still remains unexplored. So, to expand the limited knowledge, here, we characterized a Ser/Thr kinase, SnRK1α in wheat and determined its role in regulating starch biosynthesis. SnRK1 is an evolutionary conserved protein kinase and share homology to yeast SNF1. Yeast complementation assay suggestTaSnRK1α restore growth defect and promotes glycogen accumulation. Domain analysis and complementation assay with truncated proteins suggest the importance of ATP-binding and UBA domain in TaSnRK1α activity. Sub-cellular localization identified nuclear and cytoplasmic localization of TaSnRK1α in tobacco leaves. Further, heterologous over-expression (O/E) ofTaSnRK1α in Arabidopsis not only led to increase in starch content but also enlarges the starch granules.TaSnRK1α was found to restore starch accumulation in Arabidopsiskin10.Remarkably,TaSnRK1α O/E increase the AGPase activity suggesting the direct regulation of rate limiting enzyme AGPase involved in starch biosynthesis. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo interaction assay reveal that TaSnRK1α interacts with AGPase large sub-unit. Overall, our findings indicate that TaSnRK1α plays role in starch biosynthesis by regulating AGPase activity.

Highlights

TaSnRK1α is Ser/Thr kinase in wheat and show dual localization in nucleus and cytoplasm.

Overexpression of TaSnRK1α increases starch content and enlarges starch granules in Arabidopsis.

TaSnRK1α enhances AGPase activity thereby regulating starch biosynthesis.

TaSnRK1α directly interact with AGPase large subunit in vivo and in vitro.
Analysis of histone H3K4me3 modifications in bovine placenta derived from different calf-production methods
Authors: Hattori Kanoko , Hoshino Yoichiro , Kachi Masayuki , Masuda Yasumitsu , Yamamoto Satoshi , Honda Shinnosuke , Minami Naojiro , Ikeda Shuntaro
Published: July 2023

In ruminants, overgrowth of offspring produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a common problem. Abnormal epigenetic modifications caused by environmental factors during the early embryonic period are suspected as an etiology of overgrowth. In this study, we investigated the genome-wide histone H3K4me3 profiles of bovine placentae that play a pivotal role in fetal development and compared their characteristics between artificial insemination (AI)- and IVF-derived samples. Cotyledons were harvested from the placentae obtained at parturition of 5 AI- and 13 IVF-derived calves, and chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing was performed for H3K4me3. We confirmed no significant maternal tissue contamination in the samples we used. The revealed H3K4me3 profiles reflected the general characteristics of the H3K4me3 modification, which is abundantly distributed in the promoter region of active genes. By extracting common modifications from multiple samples, the genes involved in placenta-specific biological processes could be enriched. Comparison with the H3K4me3 modifications of blastocyst samples was also effective for enriching the placenta-specific features. Principal component analysis suggested the presence of differential H3K4me3 modifications in AI- and IVF-derived samples. The genes contributing to the difference were related to the developmental biological processes. Imprinted genes such asBEGAIN, ZNF215, andDLX5were among the extracted genes. Principal component and discriminant analyses using only male samples categorized the samples into three groups based on fetal weight and calf-production methods. To our knowledge, this is the first study to profile the genome-wide histone modifications of bovine fetal placentae and reveal their differential characteristics between different calf-production methods.
Recurrent neural networks that learn multi-step visual routines with reinforcement learning
Authors: Mollard Sami , Wacongne Catherine , Bohte Sander , Roelfsema Pieter
Published: July 2023

Many problems can be decomposed into series of subproblems that are solved sequentially. When the subproblems are solved, relevant intermediate results have to be stored and propagated from one subproblem to the next, until the overarching goal has been completed. The same applies for visual tasks that can be decomposed into sequences of elemental visual operations: experimental evidence suggests that for visual tasks, intermediate results are stored in working memory as an enhancement of neural activity in the visual cortex. The focus of enhanced activity is then available for subsequent subroutines to act upon. However, it remains unknown how those dynamics can emerge in neural networks that are trained with only rewards, as animals are. Here, we propose a new recurrent architecture capable of solving composite visual tasks in a reinforcement learning context. We trained neural networks on three visual tasks for which electrophysiological recordings of monkeys' visual cortex are available and updated weights following RELEARNN, a biologically plausible four-factor Hebbian learning rule, which is local both in time and space. The networks learned an abstract, general rule and selected the appropriate sequence of elemental operations, solely based on the characteristics of the visual stimuli and the reward structure. The activity of the units of the neural network resembled the activity of neurons in the visual cortex of monkeys solving the same tasks. Relevant information that needed to be exchanged between subroutines was maintained as a focus of enhanced activity and passed on to the subsequent subroutines. Our results demonstrate how a biologically plausible learning rule can train a recurrent neural network on multistep visual tasks.
Detergent induced structural perturbations in peanut agglutinin: Insights from spectroscopic and molecular dynamic simulation studies
Authors: Asthana Shreyasi , Mohanty Sonali , Kalra Harshit , Karunanethi Nandini , Kumar Sujit , Agrawal Nikhil , Jha Suman
Published: July 2023

The three dimensional structure of a protein is very important for its structure. Studies relating to protein structure have been numerous and the effect of denaturants on proteins can help understand the process of protein folding and misfolding. Detergents are important denaturants and play important roles in various fields. Here we explored the effect of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) on the structure of peanut agglutinin (PNA). The protein was purified from its natural source and impact of SDS and CTAB was studied by circular dichroism, intrinsic fluorescence, 8-anilino-1-napthalenesulfonic acid, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation. Pure peanut agglutinin showed a trough at 220 nm and positive ellipticity peak at 195 nm, specific for lectins. Results from the experimental and simulation studies suggest how oppositely charged detergents can interact differently and lead to varied structural perturbations in PNA. Both the surfactants induce all α protein-like circular dichroism in the protein, above its critical micelle concentrations, with significant change in accessible surface area that became more hydrophobic upon the treatment. Major interactions between the surfactants and protein, resulting in PNA conformational rearrangement, are electrostatic and van der Waals interactions. However, CTAB, like a cationic surfactant, has similar effects as anionic surfactant (SDS) but at significantly very low concentration. Though the effects followed same pattern in both the surfactant treatment, i.e. above respective CMC, the surfactants were inducing α-helix/coil like conformation in PNA.
Emergent epileptiform activity drives spinal sensory circuits to generate ectopic bursting in intraspinal afferent axons after cord injury
Authors: Bryson Matthew , Kloefkorn Heidi , Idlett-Ali Shaquia , Martin Karmarcha , Garraway Sandra M. , Hochman Shawn
Published: July 2023

Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to hyperexcitability and dysfunction in spinal sensory processing. As hyperexcitable circuits can become epileptiform elsewhere, we explored whether such activity emerges in spinal sensory circuits in a thoracic SCI contusion model of neuropathic pain. Recordings from spinal sensory axons in multiple below-lesion segmental dorsal roots (DRs) demonstrated that SCI facilitated the emergence of spontaneous ectopic burst spiking in afferent axons, which synchronized across multiple adjacent DRs. Burst frequency correlated with behavioral mechanosensitivity. The same bursting events were recruited by afferent stimulation, and timing interactions with ongoing spontaneous bursts revealed that recruitment was limited by a prolonged post-burst refractory period. Ectopic bursting in afferent axons was driven by GABAAreceptor activation, presumably via shifting subthreshold GABAergic interneuronal presynaptic axoaxonic inhibitory actions to suprathreshold spiking. Collectively, the emergence of stereotyped bursting circuitry with hypersynchrony, sensory input activation, post-burst refractory period, and reorganization of connectivity represent defining features of epileptiform networks. Indeed, these same features were reproduced in naïve animals with the convulsant 4-aminopyridine (4-AP). We conclude that SCI promotes the emergence of epileptiform activity in spinal sensory networks that promotes profound corruption of sensory signaling. This corruption includes downstream actions driven by ectopic afferent bursts that propagate via reentrant central and peripheral projections and GABAergic presynaptic circuit hypoexcitability during the refractory period.
The structure of simple satellite variation in the human genome and its correlation with centromere ancestry
Authors: Said Iskander , Barbash Daniel A. , Clark Andrew G.
Published: July 2023

Although repetitive DNA forms much of the human genome, its study is challenging due to limitations in assembly and alignment of repetitive short-reads. We have deployedk-Seek, software that detects tandem repeats embedded in single reads, on 2,504 human genomes from the 1,000 Genomes Project to quantify the variation and abundance of simple satellites (repeat units < 20 bp). We find that homopolymers and theHuman Satellite 3monomer make up the largest portions of simple satellite content in humans (mean of ∼19 Mb combined). We discovered∼50,000 rare tandem repeats that are not detected in theT2T-CHM13v2.0assembly, including undescribed variants of telomeric- and centromeric repeats. We find broad homogeneity of the most abundant repeats across populations, except for AG-rich repeats that are more abundant in African individuals. We also find cliques of highly similar AG- and AT-rich satellites that are interspersed and form higher-order structures that covary in copy number across individuals, likely through concerted amplification via unequal exchange. Finally, we use centromere-linked polymorphisms to estimate centromeric genetic relatedness between individuals and find a strong predictive relationship between centromeric lineages and centromeric simple satellite abundances. In particular,Human Satellite 2andHuman Satellite 3abundances correlate with clusters of centromeric ancestry on chromosome 16 and chromosome 9, with some clusters structured by population. These results provide new descriptions of the population dynamics that underlie the evolution of simple satellites in humans.
Mechanosensing and Sphingolipid-Docking Mediate Lipopeptide-Induced Immunity inArabidopsis
Authors: Pršić Jelena , Gilliard Guillaume , Ibrahim Heba , Argüelles-Arias Anthony , Rondelli Valeria , Crowet Jean-Marc , Genva Manon , Luzuriaga-Loaiza W. Patricio , Deboever Estelle , Nasir M. Nail , Lins Laurence , Mathelie-Guinlet Marion , Boubsi Farah , Eschrig Sabine , Ranf Stefanie , Dorey Stephan , Coninck Barbara De , Nürnberger Thorsten , Mongrand Sébastien , Höfte Monica , Zipfel Cyril , Dufrêne Yves F. , Koutsioubas Alexandros , Brocca Paola , Deleu Magali , Ongena Marc
Published: July 2023

Bacteria-derived lipopeptides are immunogenic triggers of host defenses in metazoans and plants. Root-associated rhizobacteria produce cyclic lipopeptides that activate systemically induced resistance (IR) against microbial infection in various plants. How these molecules are perceived by plant cells remains elusive. Here, we reveal that immunity activation inArabidopsis thalianaby the lipopeptide elicitor surfactin is mediated by docking into specific sphingolipid-enriched domains and relies on host membrane deformation and subsequent activation of mechanosensitive ion channels. This mechanism leads to host defense potentiation and resistance to the necrotrophB. cinereabut is distinct from host pattern recognition receptor-mediated immune activation and reminiscent of damage-induced plant immunity.
Transcription factor ScWRKY4 in sugarcane negatively regulates the resistance to pathogen infection through the JA signaling pathway
Authors: Wang Dongjiao , Wang Wei , Zang Shoujian , Qin Liqian , Liang Yanlan , Lin Peixia , Su Yachun , Que Youxiong
Published: July 2023

WRKY transcription factor, the transcriptional regulators unique to plants, plays an important role in plant defense response to pathogen infection. However, the disease resistance mechanism ofWRKYgene in sugarcane remains unclear. Previously, we identified aScWRKY4gene, a member of class IIc of the WRKY gene family, from the sugarcane cultivar ROC22. This gene could be induced by the stresses of salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Interestingly, the expression of theScWRKY4gene was down-regulated in smut-resistant sugarcane cultivars but up-regulated in smut-susceptible sugarcane cultivars underSporisorium scitamineumstress. Besides, stable overexpression of theScWRKY4gene inNicotiana benthamianaenhanced susceptibility toFusarium solanivar.coeruleumand caused the down-regulated expression of immune marker-related genes. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis indicated that, the expression of mostJAZgenes was suppressed in plant signal transduction pathway. In addition, ScWRKY4 could interact with ScJAZ13 and repress the expression of ScJAZ13. We thus hypothesized that theScWRKY4gene was involved in the regulatory network of plant disease resistance, most probably through the JA signaling pathway. The present study depicted the molecular mechanism of theScWRKY4gene involved in sugarcane disease resistance and laid the foundation for the subsequent investigation.

Highlight

Transgenic plants overexpressing theScWRKY4gene negatively regulated resistance to pathogen by inhibiting the expression of theJAZgenes.
Characterization of GEXP15 as a potential regulator of Protein Phosphatase 1 and partner of ribosomal complex inPlasmodium falciparum
Authors: Mansour Hala , Cabezas-Cruz Alejandro , Peucelle Véronique , Farce Amaury , Salomé-Desnoulez Sophie , Metatla Ines , Guerrera Ida Chiara , Hollin Thomas , Khalife Jamal
Published: July 2023

The Protein Phosphatase type 1 catalytic subunit (PP1c) (PF3D7_1414400) operates in combination with various regulatory proteins to specifically direct and control its phosphatase activity. However, little is known about this phosphatase and its regulators in the human malaria parasite,Plasmodium falciparum. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive investigation into structural and functional characteristics of a conservedPlasmodium-specific regulator called Gametocyte EXported Protein 15, GEXP15 (PF3D7_1031600). Throughin silicoanalysis, we identified three significant regions of interest in GEXP15: an N-terminal region housing a PP1-interacting RVxF motif, a conserved domain whose function is unknown and a GYF-like motif that potentially facilitates specific protein-protein interactions. To further elucidate the role of GEXP15, we conductedin vitrointeraction studies, which demonstrated a direct interaction between GEXP15 and PP1 via the RVxF binding motif. This interaction was found to enhance phosphatase activity of PP1. Additionally, utilizing a transgenic GEXP15-tagged line and live microscopy, we observed high expression of GEXP15 in late asexual stages of the parasite, with localization predominantly in the parasite nucleus. Immunoprecipitation assays followed by mass spectrometry analyses revealed GEXP15’s interaction with ribosomal and RNA binding proteins. Furthermore, through pulldown analyses of recombinant functional domains of GEXP15 tagged with a His-tag, we confirmed its binding to the ribosomal complex via the GYF domain. Collectively, our study sheds light on the PfGEXP15-PP1-ribosome interaction, which plays a crucial role in protein translation. These findings suggest that PfGEXP15 could serve as a potential target for the development of malaria drugs.
Beyond the planetary boundaries: exploring pluralistic accountability in the new space age
Authors: Di Tullio Patrizia , La Torre Matteo , Rea Michele Antonio , Guthrie James , Dumay John
Published: July 2023

Purpose

New Space activities offer benefits for human progress and life beyond the Earth. However, there is a risk that the New Space Economy may develop according to an anthropocentric mindset favouring human progress and survival at the expense of all other species and the environment. This mindset raises concerns over the social and environmental impacts of space activities and the accountability of space actors. This research article explores the accountability of space actors by presenting a pluralistic accountability framework to understand, inspire and change accountability in the New Space Economy. This study also identifies future research opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a reflective and normative essay. The arguments are developed using contemporary multidisciplinary academic literature, publicly available evidence and examples. Further, the authors use Dillard and Vinnari's accountability framework to examine a pluralistic accountability system for space businesses.

Findings

The New Space Economy requires public and private entities to embrace hybrid and pluralistic accountability for their social and environmental impacts. A new way of seeing the relationship between human life, the Earth and celestial space is needed. Accounting language is used to mirror and mobilise broader forms of responsibility in those involved in space.

Originality/value

This paper responds to the AAAJ's special issue call for examining how accountability can be ensured in the New Space Age. The space activities businesses conduct, and the anthropocentric view inspiring their race toward space is concerning. Hence, the authors advocate the need for rethinking accountability between humans and nature. The paper contributes to fostering the debate on social and environmental accounting and the accountability of space actors in the New Space Economy. To this end, the authors use a pluralistic accountability framework to help understand how the New Space Economy can face the risks emanating from its anthropocentric mindset.
Structure theorem for Jordan algebra bundles
Authors: Kumar Ranjitha
Published: July 2023

Purpose

The aims of this paper is to prove that every semisimple Jordan algebra bundle is locally trivial and establish the decomposition theorem for locally trivial Jordan algebra bundles using the decomposition theorem of Lie algebra bundles.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the decomposition theorem of Lie algebra bundles, this paper proves the decomposition theorem for locally trivial Jordan algebra bundles.

Findings

Findings of this paper establish the decomposition theorem for locally trivial Jordan algebra bundles.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, all the results are new and interesting to the field of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics community.
CSR in domestic and foreign SMEs in Kenya: on the relationship between the SME manager’s values, emotional commitment to long-term socio-economic development and the firm's CSR practices
Authors: Dziuron Clara Lina , Halaszovich Tilo F.
Published: July 2023

Purpose

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) remains a prevalent topic for businesses worldwide, especially for those operating in developing countries. The attention on small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs') CSR engagement in developing countries has been neglected, although SMEs play a vital role in socio-economic development in African countries like Kenya. This paper aims to conceptualize the relationship between the SME manager's values, ethics, emotional commitment to long-term socio-economic development and the firm's CSR practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted seven semi-structured interviews with Kenyan and German SMEs located in Nairobi. A deductive-inductive analysis approach was chosen, confirming previous findings and contributing new ideas to the International Business (IB) literature.

Findings

This paper develops a concept linking the values and beliefs of the SME manager with the firm's CSR practices in developing countries via the manager's emotional commitment to local long-term socio-economic development. The Kenyan managers tend to show a higher degree of emotional commitment, which the authors explain by two drivers: (1) philanthropic, self-motivated driver and (2) expectation-based, environment-motivated driver. The authors' findings add to the literature on SMEs' CSR engagement in developing countries by looking at the individual level of analysis.

Originality/value

This paper develops a concept linking the values and beliefs of the SME manager with the firm's CSR practices in developing countries.
Creating memorable shopping experiences to meet phygital customers' needs: evidence from sporting goods stores
Authors: Bonfanti Angelo , Vigolo Vania , Vannucci Virginia , Brunetti Federico
Published: July 2023

Purpose

This study focuses on memorable customer shopping experience design in the sporting goods retail setting. It aims to identify the phygital customers' needs and expectations that are satisfied through in-store technologies and to detect the in-store strategies that use these technologies to make the store attractive and experiential.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study adopted a qualitative research methodology, specifically a multiple-case study, by performing semi-structured interviews with sporting goods store managers.

Findings

Sporting goods retailers use various in-store technologies to create a phygital customer shopping experience, including devices, mobile apps, wireless communication technologies, in-store activations, support devices, intelligent stations, and sensors. To improve the phygital customer journey and the phygital shopping experience, retailers meet customers' needs for utilitarian, hedonic, social, and playfulness experiences. Purely physical or digital strategies, as well as phygital strategies, are identified. This research also proposes a model of in-store phygital customer shopping experience design for sporting goods retailers.

Practical implications

Sporting goods managers can invest in multiple technologies by designing a physical environment according to the customers' needs for utilitarian, hedonic, social, and playful experiences. In addition, they can improve the phygital customer shopping experience with specific push strategies that increase customer engagement and, in turn, brand and store loyalty.

Originality/value

This study highlights how the phygital customer experiential journey can be created through new technologies and improved with specific reference to the sporting goods stores.
Teaching sustainability in higher education by integrating mathematical concepts
Authors: Lafuente-Lechuga Matilde , Cifuentes-Faura Javier , Faura-Martínez Úrsula
Published: July 2023

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the current situation of higher education institutions in Spain regarding the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals in the classroom, and what is the role of mathematics in this task.

Design/methodology/approach

A review is made of how the concept of sustainability has evolved in higher education, its gradual introduction in the University and the way in which this subject is approached in the field of mathematics.

Findings

The study concludes that higher education has a key role to play in designing strategies that lead to the global sustainability of the planet. This implies major changes in degree curricula, assessment, competences and teacher training. Cross-disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity between different subjects within the same degree is a strategy for students to analyse the Sustainable Development Goals using mathematical techniques.

Social implications

The University as an institution must train socially responsible professionals who are aware of the importance of promoting a sustainable world. Changes should be made to introduce values in the classroom that promote and encourage sustainability. Training should be seen as a continuous process that leads to the preparation of professionals committed to society and nature and who develop strategies aimed at improving the planet through values.

Originality/value

Through practical activities, the Sustainable Development objectives can be analysed from several subjects of the same degree, emphasising the interdisciplinary and transversal nature that should be the central axis of higher education. Each subject can develop a strategy for change in favour of sustainability that will be reinforced and increased by working together on the proposed teaching practice. In this way, the contents of the different subjects are not isolated, but rather the student can see how there is an interrelationship between them and with real life.
A Chinese nested named entity recognition approach using sequence labeling
Authors: Chen Maojian , Luo Xiong , Shen Hailun , Huang Ziyang , Peng Qiaojuan , Yuan Yuqi
Published: July 2023

Purpose

This study aims to introduce an innovative approach that uses a decoder with multiple layers to accurately identify Chinese nested entities across various nesting depths. To address potential human intervention, an advanced optimization algorithm is used to fine-tune the decoder based on the depth of nested entities present in the data set. With this approach, this study achieves remarkable performance in recognizing Chinese nested entities.

Design/methodology/approach

This study provides a framework for Chinese nested named entity recognition (NER) based on sequence labeling methods. Similar to existing approaches, the framework uses an advanced pre-training model as the backbone to extract semantic features from the text. Then a decoder comprising multiple conditional random field (CRF) algorithms is used to learn the associations between granularity labels. To minimize the need for manual intervention, the Jaya algorithm is used to optimize the number of CRF layers. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, demonstrating its superior performance on both Chinese nested NER and flat NER tasks.

Findings

The experimental findings illustrate that the proposed methodology can achieve a remarkable 4.32% advancement in nested NER performance on the People’s Daily corpus compared to existing models.

Originality/value

This study explores a Chinese NER methodology based on the sequence labeling ideology for recognizing sophisticated Chinese nested entities with remarkable accuracy.
Sustainable supplier selection with multidimensional overlapping criteria under carbon neutrality
Authors: Chen Yongtong , Chung William
Published: July 2023

Purpose

Sustainable supplier selection is of vital importance in sustainability decision of supply chain under carbon neutrality. Multi-criteria decision-making approaches are widely used in sustainable supplier selection and generally classified the involved criteria into three sustainable development (SD) dimensions: Environmental, Social and Economic. During the assignment of appropriate weighted scores to the criteria, most of the methods considered mutually exclusive criteria. However, some criteria cover multidimensions since ambiguity vagueness makes them difficult to classify into one dimension exclusively. The purpose of this paper is to find proper approaches addressed to multidimensional overlapping criteria in the evaluation of suppliers’ sustainability performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposes three approaches to resolve the multidimensional overlapping criteria issue by data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. The first approach uses all dimensional criteria and “dimensional overlapping criteria” in a single DEA model. The second approach consists of two-stage DEA. The first stage is to find SD dimensional performances, which are used in the second stage. The third approach uses an aggregate weight-constrained DEA model with additional constraints. Such approaches are applied to an empirical case study with six dimensions.

Findings

Results indicate that the third approach is better than the first two approaches in balancing the development among all dimensions instead of focusing on the superiority dimension to obtain high performance.

Originality/value

Discussing overlapping criteria in the context of sustainable supplier evaluation and other multi-criteria evaluation have a noticeable impact on evaluation systems, but appropriate approaches for this issue are currently under-researched.
How intergroup counter-empathy drives media consumption and engagement
Authors: Wakefield Robin , Wakefield Kirk
Published: July 2023

Purpose

Social media is replete with malicious and unempathetic rhetoric yet few studies explain why these emotions are publicly dispersed. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the intergroup counter-empathic response called schadenfreude originates and how it prompts media consumption and engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

The study consists of two field surveys of 635 in-group members of two professional sports teams and 300 residents of California and Texas with political party affiliations. The analysis uses SEM quantitative methods.

Findings

Domain passion and group identification together determine the harmonious/obsessive tendencies of passion for an activity and explain the schadenfreude response toward the rival out-group. Group identification is a stronger driver of obsessive passion compared to harmonious passion. Schadenfreude directly influences the use of traditional media (TV, radio, domain websites), it triggers social media engagement (posting), and it accelerates harmonious passion's effects on social media posting.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited by the groups used to evaluate the research model, sports, and politics.

Social implications

The more highly identified and passionate group members experience greater counter-empathy toward a rival. At extreme levels of group identification, obsessive passion increases at an increasing rate and may characterize extremism. Harboring feelings of schadenfreude toward the out-group prompts those with harmonious passion for an activity to more frequently engage on social media in unempathetic ways.

Originality/value

This study links the unempathetic, yet common emotion of schadenfreude with passion, intergroup dynamics, and media behavior.
Does capital structure matter? Evidence from family-owned firms in Jordan
Authors: Al-Haddad Lara M. , Saidat Zaid , Seaman Claire , Gerged Ali Meftah
Published: July 2023

Purpose

This study examines the potential impact of capital structure on the financial performance of family-owned firms in Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach

Using panel data of 107 listed companies from 2019 to 2021, the authors use a multivariate regression model to empirically examine the role that family firms' capital structure can play in engendering financial performance in the short and long terms.

Findings

This study's evidence indicates that family businesses rely on equity as their primary source of funding. This approach has been proven to be detrimental to their financial performance, as evidenced by the negative impact of capital structure on family firms' financial performance in the current study.

Originality/value

Capital structure-related decisions are essential to a firm's performance. Thus, there have been numerous empirical studies examining the relationship between capital structure and corporate performance in various settings worldwide. However, the findings of these studies are inconclusive. Also, there are relatively few empirical studies investigating the association between capital structure and the performance of family firms in emerging countries, particularly Jordan. This study, therefore, addresses this empirical gap in extant literature.