bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Apples and oranges: Conceptual review as task analysis method1
Authors: van Stee Annemarie
Published: January 2025

Conceptual review is a method to address issues of task comparability and task validity in cognitive neuroscience. Meta‐analyses within cognitive neuroscience (CNS) as well as integration of neuroscientific findings with findings from adjacent disciplines both involve gathering studies that have purportedly investigated the same mental concept. After all, it is no use comparing apples and oranges. Tasks, and in particular the experimental contrasts implemented through tasks, determine whether studies are in fact comparable. Yet studies tend to be grouped together or kept apart based on the mental label researchers have applied and unfortunately, labels are an unreliable proxy for experimental contrasts. Different contrasts may receive the same label: ‘working memory’ studies rely on a variety of contrasts, derived from a variety of tasks. Vice versa, the same contrast may receive different labels: ‘task switching’ and ‘working memory’ studies can be exactly the same in terms of their experimental contrast. Label use thus obscures comparability problems. What is more, even when experimental contrasts are comparable, they may be invalid operationalizations of the mental label attached to them. In this paper, I introduce conceptual review as a method for task analysis. It can stand on its own or be combined with a cognitive ontology. Conceptual review applies philosophical strategies for analysing concepts to methodological choices in CNS studies, to uncover their conceptual implications. Conceptual review thus sheds light on the precise concept that was studied and thereby, on the comparability of CNS studies and the validity of tasks.
Detection of odorants in odour mixtures among healthy people and patients with olfactory dysfunction
Authors: Drnovsek Eva , Weitkamp Kristina , Murthy Venkatesh N. , Gurbuz Edanur , Haehner Antje , Hummel Thomas
Published: January 2025

Target odorant detection in mixtures has been shown to become more difficult as the number of background odorants increases and falls below chance level in mixtures with 16 components. Our aim was to investigate target odorant detection in mixtures among healthy people and compare it between dysosmic patients and age‐ and gender‐matched controls. Participants underwent extensive olfactory testing and performed two target odorant detection tasks. Eugenol (‘clove’) and phenylethanol (PEA, ‘rose’) were target odorants for all participants, whereas a third target was randomised. For each target odorant in task one (task two), there were four steps. Mixtures contained two (three) odorants in the first step and up to seven (eight) odorants in the fourth step. In each step, participants were asked to choose the sample with the target odorant from the three (two) jars presented. The study included 90 healthy people and 40 patients. As expected, probability of successful target odorant detection decreased as the number of odorants in the mixture increased. However, even when there were seven (eight) odorants in the mixture, around 50% (50%) of healthy people detected Eugenol and around 30% (40%) detected PEA. Furthermore, both distributions of successful target odorant detection differed from the expected binominal distribution of chance (p < 0.001). Patients performed worse at detecting Eugenol or PEA at each step than controls. Furthermore, there were significant positive correlations between task scores and olfactory function. In conclusion, target odorant detection is influenced by the target odorant, number of background odorants, and individual olfactory function.
Laser‐Induced Olfactory Bulbectomy in Adult Zebrafish as a Novel Putative Model for Affective Syndrome: A Research Tribute to Brian Leonard
Authors: Nekhoroshev Evgeny V. , Kleshchev Maxim A. , Volgin Andrey D. , Shavlyakov Anton D. , Bao Xixin , Wang Shenghao , de Abreu Murilo S. , Amstislavskaya Tamara G. , Kalueff Allan V.
Published: January 2025

Inducing multiple neurobehavioural and neurochemical deficits, olfactory bulbectomy (OBX) has been developed as a rodent model of depression with potential for antidepressant drug screening. However, the generality of this model in other vertebrate taxa remains poorly understood. A small freshwater teleost fish, the zebrafish (Danio rerio), is rapidly becoming a common model species in neuroscience research. Capitalizing on a recently developed model of noninvasive targeted laser ablation of zebrafish brain, here we report an OBX model in adult fish. An easy‐to‐perform noninvasive method of inducing affective syndrome‐like behavioural deficits in fish, it extends the generality of OBX to other taxa beyond mammals, also offering several practical advantages and novel lines of research in experimental modelling of CNS disorders. The work is a scientific tribute to the legacy of Brian Leonard (1936–2023), a great friend and a brilliant scientist who introduced OBX as a rodent model for affective pathobiology and whose advice and encouragement have inspired the present study.
Predicting and Mapping the Phosphorus Adsorption Maximum and Phosphorus Adsorption Affinity Constant at Regional Scale
Authors: Gu Yu , Ros Gerard H. , Zhu Qichao , Zheng Dongfang , Shen Jianbo , de Vries Wim
Published: January 2025

Insight into the variation of the soil phosphorus (P) adsorption maximum (Qmax) and the P adsorption affinity constant (KL) is crucial for accurately assessing the dynamics of P availability, P uptake and P leaching in agricultural systems at regional scale. Data on the variation in soil P adsorption characteristics, derived from traditional batch experiments, combined with data on soil properties affecting them, such as pH, clay and organic matter content, can be used to assess the influence of soil properties on P adsorption characteristics. However, current studies are limited to explaining the variation in Qmax using linear models, focusing on either noncalcareous or calcareous soils. This study aims to (1) identify the soil properties governing both Qmax and KL for a combination of noncalcareous and calcareous soils, including nonlinear and interaction effects; and (2) create spatial maps depicting the variations in both soil P adsorption characteristics at the regional scale (two typical Chinese counties). We leveraged 83 data points of both Qmax and KL from 16 publications with main soil properties affecting P adsorption, that is, pH and the content of soil organic matter (SOM), clay and oxalate extractable Fe and Al (FeOX and AlOX), to develop predictive models for soil P adsorption. General linear regression (GLM) and extreme gradient boosting (XGB) models were used to unravel the relationships between soil properties and P adsorption characteristics. The XGB model outperformed GLM model, explaining more than 80% of the variations in both Qmax and KL in noncalcareous and calcareous soils, while the GLM model explained 52% for Qmax and only 21% for KL. Key drivers influencing Qmax were found to be FeOX, AlOX and pH, while clay and pH played significant roles in explaining the variability in KL. When applying these models at the county level using county‐level inventory data, noncalcareous soils generally exhibited higher P sorption capacity and binding energy than calcareous soils. To enhance the accuracy of soil P sorption predictions and guide sustainable P fertiliser use, regional mapping of FeOX and AlOX content is essential.
Changes in Biological and Chemical Soil Properties in an Austrian Long‐Term Tillage Experiment
Authors: Spiegel Heide , Sandén Taru , Sandén Hans , Götzinger Sophia , Miloczki Julia , Kandeler Ellen
Published: January 2025

Conventional tillage, including ploughing after harvest and/or for seedbed preparation, aims to incorporate crop residues and weeds and to loosen, mix and aerate the soil. However, less beneficial effects, such as a loss of soil organic carbon (SOC), are also associated with intensive tillage. This has made reduced and minimum tillage systems without ploughing increasingly popular in agriculture, contributing to soil health and climate change mitigation. We studied the effects of different tillage systems on chemical and microbial soil properties in a long‐term field experiment established on a fine‐sandy loamy Haplic Chernozem in Fuchsenbigl, Austria, in 1988. The tillage treatments include conventional tillage (CT) with a plough and a cultivator down to 30 cm soil depth, reduced tillage (RT) with a cultivator down to 15 cm two to three times a year, as well as minimum tillage (MT) treated with a rotary driller once a year down to 5–8 cm soil depth. In 2016, a soil sampling campaign was conducted, and alkaline phosphatase, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), and the nitrogen (N) mineralisation potential were analysed along with chemical properties including SOC, active C, total nitrogen (Nt), CAL extractable phosphorus (PCAL) and potassium (KCAL). Under MT, these properties were significantly higher compared to CT in 0–10 cm. In deeper soil layers, these parameters showed very few significant differences between the tillage treatments. RT yielded intermediate values but not always significantly different from CT. PLFA indicators significantly correlated with SOC and, even more distinctly, with Nt and active carbon. The high ratio of Gram‐positive to Gram‐negative bacteria indicates more recalcitrant organic matter in the top layer in MT than CT.
Temporal Trends in Hippocampal Sclerosis Surgery: An Observational Study From a Tertiary Epilepsy Centre
Authors: Vassallo Paola , Gursal Vaishali , Xiong Weixi , Zhou Dong , de Tisi Jane , Thijs Roland D. , Duncan John S. , Sander Josemir W.
Published: January 2025

Objective

Temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is a surgically remediable syndrome. We determined temporal trends in the prevalence of hippocampal sclerosis surgeries and related factors.

Methods

We analysed a prospective cohort of adults who underwent epilepsy surgery at the NHNN, London, between 1990 and 2019. HS group was compared with other pathologies. Demographics, surgical trends for HS and associations with sex, age, prior neurological insults and febrile seizures were analysed. Temporal trends were assessed by one‐way or Welch ANOVA, with post hoc analysis. Surgery latency over three decades was evaluated with the Kruskal–Wallis H test, using Dunn's procedure for pairwise comparisons. Chi‐squared analyses examined associations with sex, age at operation, febrile seizures, and between resection side and handedness.

Results

Of 1069 people operated, 586 had hippocampal sclerosis. After increasing, surgeries declined in the last decade (from 322 to 131), as did the number of people with hippocampal sclerosis and a history of childhood febrile seizures (from 87 to 23). The median interval from epilepsy onset to surgery increased from 22 to 24 and 27 years over each decade. Female sex and febrile seizures were associated with pathology (HS vs. non‐HS) but not age at surgery, previous neurological insults, or the resection side and handedness.

Discussion

Our study confirms the decline in hippocampal surgeries. This trend may be due to changes in the syndrome's natural history, possibly from improved paediatric care, and an increase in complex cases. The impact of delayed referrals, surgical risk fears and newer anti‐seizure medications remains unclear.
In Search of Cultural Entropy: A Call for New Frameworks of Analysis
Authors: KOCABAG GUNES
Published: January 2025

In this PechaKucha, I explore the tension between an increasingly interconnected global culture and our premise as ethnographers to focus on the culturally specific and make sense of the uniqueness of “local” cultures. I pose the questions what does “local” mean in our contemporary world where experiences, lifestyles, influences, aspirations are all seemingly converging towards a global norm. Through historical perspectives and some inspiration from the science of physics, I demonstrate that plural diversities are only visible based on the frames we use to observe them. The rise of a global culture is challenging our existing frameworks of analysis and there is tremendous opportunity in this unavoidable friction for us ethnographers to help society and business rethink how we make sense of our world.
Anthro x Journo: The Value of Ethnography for Solving Journalism's Challenges
Authors: KENNEDY EMILY
Published: January 2025

Today's working journalists are experiencing friction in stereo: both readers and sources don't trust them to get the story right. This friction between media and the communities they cover has always existed, but today's turbo‐charged antagonism has brought this to a personal level for modern journalists just trying to do their jobs. For our democratic society to thrive, we need journalism in top form. In this presentation, trained anthropologist and magazine editor, Emily Kennedy, will show how journalism and ethnography are close kin. With audience members already familiar with ethnographic methods, this Pecha Kucha turns our focus to the creative opportunities ethnography presents for solving some of journalism's modern challenges. Let's spark creative thinking around applying anthropology to a sister discipline in need!
Smartphones and the Future of Remembering: Frictions, Problems, and Pathways
Authors: PHD CHARLIE STRONG, , PHD SAEIDEH BAKHSHI,
Published: January 2025

This ethnographic case study discusses friction in everyday information‐seeking on smartphones and proposes new pathways for addressing these barriers. Our study delves into how smartphones have become integral tools for memory recall and inscription, creating multiple types of mnemonic friction. We draw on Andy Clark and David Chalmers's “Extended Mind Thesis” to situate our case dan to emphasize that smartphones are more than just a device we own—they inform who we are and what we are capable of. But smartphones also produce new kinds of social, psychological, and epistemic problems. Our case surfaces how users confront an ever‐increasing pool of sometimes interconnected, sometimes incommensurate, and often intractable mobile phone memories. We explore the consequences of this friction for power, capabilities, culture, and the challenges of information overload in an era where people have become inextricably reliant on smartphones for memory, learning, knowledge, sociality, and practical action.
Favoring Friction: Examining Hotel Browsing and Buying through the Lens of the Bazaar
Authors: ROBERTS SIMON , HACKETT ERIN , KAROL SOHIT , BARON DIEGO
Published: January 2025

This paper examines the domestic market for hotels in India and attempts to solve what at first appears to be a puzzle: in the context of a highly digitized market, with plentiful information about hotels and their prices available online, the majority of bookings are made offline and involve time‐intensive, socially‐mediated browsing and buying activities which we term “bazaar behaviors”. By engaging with the anthropology of bazaars and markets, in particular the work of Clifford Geertz, we show that the qualities of hotel rooms as commodities, and the cultural and price information logics at play, explain why Indian travelers favor friction in the search and booking process. While this paper is concerned with one specific commodity type, in one specific (albeit highly plural) market context, we conclude by outlining how we can generalize our analysis of bazaar behaviors to enrich our understanding of online commerce more widely.
Grounded Models: The Future of Sensemaking in a World of Generative AI
Authors: HOY TOM , BILAL IMAN MUNIRE , LIOU ZOE
Published: January 2025

The promise of generative AI technologies is seductive to product leaders: frictionless research in which synthetic data can be both generated and analysed via a simple end‐to‐end UI, enabling teams to speed up research timelines and reduce costs. However, our evidence suggests we should be sceptical of these maximalist claims. Over the last 18 months our combined team of NLP data scientists and ethnographers has conducted a series of experiments to explore, assess and define the value of LLM‐driven research techniques. First, we explore this value pragmatically, as new tools for sensemaking; and second, epistemologically, as we unpack their broader implications for ethnography. We demonstrate how ethnography can usefully “ground” LLMs in two “complex” worlds: that of the user and that of the organisation. We argue the future of research is not automation, but more collaboration between ethnographers and data scientists, as they better integrate their tools and ways of knowing.
Anticipation for Grand Challenges: An Ethnographic Study of Future‐Making Practices in a Technology Company
Authors: TEKOGUL IREM , TEIXEIRA CARLOS
Published: January 2025

Visions that highlight new technological capabilities often depict frictionless futures in which data, information, resources flow seamlessly. These visions suggest that our most pressing challenges could be solved with technological fixes. However, some challenges cannot be solved by technology alone. In recent years, grand challenges have gained attention in industry and academia, with organizations pledging to address large‐scale, complex, and intractable societal problems. While technoscientific advancements are typically seen as the key to achieving these goals, a more critical and systemic approach that starts with imagining alternative visions is required to address the multi‐faceted nature of grand challenges. We argue that the intersection of foresight and design could provide a rich ground for fostering new ways for making alternative futures in technology companies. In this paper we explore the role of future‐oriented design practices in addressing grand challenges within a large multinational conglomerate. Drawing from ethnographic research conducted in the company's Research and Development (R&D) Center in the USA, we find that grand challenges inform research and development strategies in the organization and shape the future visions they create and disseminate. We argue that while the organization shifts its R&D strategy to address grand challenges, the role of future‐oriented design becomes increasingly important. We also identify the frictions that arise when introducing future‐oriented design practices and explore the evolution of these practices in response to these frictions. Furthermore, we argue that future‐oriented design practices explicitly showcase how pressing grand challenges are and invite stakeholders to engage with futures more critically.
Sangharsh: (nm) Struggle; Conflict, Friction: Creative Workarounds in Negotiating Friction Arising from Patriarchy!
Authors: GANESH VIDYA
Published: January 2025

India is a country of people belonging to varied socioeconomic backgrounds. Patriarchy is very much evident in the day to day lives of the different people we speak to in the course of our work.

As an ethnographer I am always interested in and amazed by the creativity of these rural women, their never give up attitude to maintain their identity, the bond they form with their community to continue growing and as a mother of two urban girls am fascinated by the diversity in situations yet similarity of the workarounds in place for both these completely different worlds. I am always struck by the difference in the approaches to life situations but also the commonality of finding a workaround to achieve what they want and slowly expand their boundaries. I can't help but wonder what the future is going to bring to all of these life journeys. In my PechaKucha I am sharing how these women navigate and negotiate the various frictions that arise either from the patriarchy within their homes or from society. How do they get around gatekeepers and what can be done to make their lives more frictionless?
Local Frictions in the Energy Transition: Design Anthropology for the Emergence of Energy Communities
Authors: VAN LEEUWEN GIJS , SINGH ABHIGYAN
Published: January 2025

Working in an interdisciplinary consortium aiming to design an innovative smart energy system in Amsterdam, we report on frictions encountered in ethnographic fieldwork. These frictions pertain to the invisibility of energy infrastructure and the resulting lack of a relatable narrative, people's past experiences with public participation in the energy transition, and conflicting time horizons of long‐term policy goals with people's short‐term concerns. We reflect on the starting assumptions of the project in which this study is embedded, noting how the typical techno‐economic framing of renewable energy projects inhibited the building of social connections and rapport within our fieldwork. Using a design anthropology approach, we describe how ethnographers can support the emergence of local energy communities and identify future directions to address the frictions identified. These directions include making energy systems more socially experienceable, design anthropologists mediating between people and institutions, and embedding ethnographic engagements in institutional structures to ensure continuity.
Friction in Equity Work for Product Development: A Human‐First Approach to Getting Unstuck
Authors: KOBAYASHI MARINA , EASTERDAY NOELLE , ZANONI ALEXANDRE
Published: January 2025

As part of an internal UX team, researchers at a multinational tech corporation were tasked with improving the Equity of products through product development practices within the company. However, the researchers had to first define the space and assess the friction their colleagues felt when trying to do Equity work. What followed was an ethnographic “noticing” of colleagues feeling “stuck” followed by an accounting of social and organizational blockages at three levels: institutional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. But to even capture these signals, the researchers themselves had to first get “unstuck” and reframe our UX‐centric understanding of internal “users” back to ethnographic‐centric “humans”. Based on the findings of mixed ethnographic and UX methods, this case study explores the multidimensionality of Equity work for the individual, questions the boundaries of what “counts” within the professional sphere, and argues for new strategies for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) solutioning. The first half of the paper lays out the fraught landscape of product building for Equity and the challenges practitioners face when business constraints intersect with top‐down DEI goals. How did we account for the many causes of friction in Equity work? How were our colleagues blocked, slowed down, or paused within the minutiae of their day‐to‐day? The second half identifies opportunities for Equity‐focused UX praxis within organizational structure. How did storytelling create space for productive discomfort? What were the calls‐to‐action for individual contributors, managers, and leadership? And how did we define success within our own work? In the end, this case study demonstrates how, when experiencing friction ourselves, we got unstuck by stepping back and simply asking ourselves, “Why is this so hard [for us right now]?”
Friction into Traction: A Case Study of Frictions in Strategic Ethnography
Authors: ANDERSON KEN , CURY MARIA
Published: January 2025

This case study highlights the transformative power of strategic ethnography in shaping frameworks that gain traction within organizations, facilitated by three frictions: research friction, analysis friction, and path‐to‐action friction. By embracing frictions as productive movements, we not only witnessed the profound impact of ethnographic research on the future of a product category but also experienced the convergence of previously competing divisions, fostering innovation, collaboration, and organizational growth. Through an analysis of these frictions, we distill lessons for applied ethnography and highlight the importance of embracing rather than avoiding frictions in today's business settings.
Let's Chat! Prototyping, Productive Frictions, and Radically Restructuring Adolescent Sexual Health Counseling Interactions
Authors: GEPPERT AMANDA A. , MOSS EMILY , PARADIS LAURA , BUSHE‐RIBERO SIERRA , ROCHLIN JULIA , SHERROD R. MCKINLEY , TYLER CRYSTAL P.
Published: January 2025

This case study examines the use of iterative prototyping to raise concerns important to adolescents and healthcare providers in the participatory design of an intervention to spark open and nonjudgmental sexual and reproductive health discussions. It describes how designers in an interdisciplinary, academic research center used prototyping to engage adolescents and clinicians as co‐designers in formative research. Prototypes were created, tested, and refined in focus groups, intercept interviews, semi‐structured interviews, and workshops. Varied in content and form, prototypes caused friction—generating key questions, revealing conflicting perspectives and power dynamics, driving exploration, and design. These frictions radiated from a primary tension—the difference between how sexual and reproductive health care is currently delivered and the kinds of care young people desire and need. The resultant intervention radically restructured the adolescent sexual health counseling interaction, empowering adolescents to set the agenda, overcome issues of hierarchy and mistrust, and enhance engagement in their own healthcare.
The Sound of Friction: How to Do Things with Listening
Authors: POWELL MICHAEL G.
Published: January 2025

This paper is an examination of ethnographic listening from an ethnographic perspective. Its guiding theme is that while listening is typically understood as a passive method or pathway to receive information and take notice of the world, ethnographic listening is unique and potentially productive. Despite recognizing the foundational nature of listening to our work, professional ethnographers typically do not highlight listening as part of our work. The paper is a prompt and provocation for professional ethnographers to consider new directions and new forms for listening, including directions inspired by the work of artists, musicians, and sonic activists. Specifically, the paper will explore unique ways that ethnographers listen and consider how listening‐based methods might be integrated into all steps of a professional research project. Examples of listening‐based methodological innovations are documented, as are suggestions for further avenues for creative exploration.
Eumelanic Coloration Impacts Mating Behavior, Stress Response, and Predator Preference in the Polymorphic Eastern Mosquitofish
Authors: Humphrey Eve , Wright Christine , Martinez Christian , Jones Blake , Hughes Kimberly , Travis Joseph
Published: January 2025

The expression of melanic or black coloration is ubiquitous and has significant behavioral and ecological relevance. Although black coloration is common, melanic morphs within populations are often considered rare. The mechanism for the maintenance of rare melanic morphs is often associated with differences in morph behavior, predator preference, or the interaction of both. Mechanistically, the genetic loci associated with black coloration in rare morphs can also influence behaviors, and these pleiotropic effects may provide some benefit to black morphs. We predicted that different mating behaviors, antipredator responses, and stress response, as well as predator preference influenced the maintenance of a rare black morph in freshwater Eastern mosquitofish. We created predator and control treatments to measure differences in melanic and silver mosquitofish behavior and cortisol levels. We also measured predator approach and attack of melanic and silver morphs. Overall, melanic morphs exhibited a higher number of mating behaviors compared to silver morphs and returned to mating attempts quicker than silver morphs after predator exposure. Melanic males also exhibited higher baseline cortisol levels, but silver males produced more cortisol after predator exposures compared to melanic males. These specific responses may provide the mechanism by which melanic males continue to persist in populations where they are rare.
Dual‐Cys bacteriophytochromes: intermediates in cyanobacterial phytochrome evolution?
Authors: Yang Hee Wook , Song Ji‐Young , Song Ji‐Joon , Kim Young Won , Rockwell Nathan C. , Kim Woojin , Kim Hyunsoo , Lagarias J. Clark , Park Youn‐Il
Published: January 2025

Previous studies have identified three families of knotted phytochrome photoreceptors in cyanobacteria. We describe a fourth type: ‘hybrid’ phytochromes with putative bilin‐binding cysteine residues in both their N‐terminal ‘knot’ extensions and cGMP‐phosphodiesterase/adenylate cyclase/FhlA (GAF) domains, which we designate as dual‐cysteine bacteriophytochromes (DCBs). Recombinant expression of DCBs in Escherichia coli yields photoactive phycocyanobilin (PCB) adducts with red/far‐red photocycles similar to those of the GAF‐Cys‐containing cyanobacterial phytochromes (Cph1s). Incorporation of the PCB precursor, biliverdin IXα (BV), gave multiple populations, one of which appears similar to those of cyanobacterial bacteriophytochromes (cBphPs). A crystal structure of FiDCB bound to BV exhibits two thioether linkages between the GAF‐ and ‘PAS‐knot’‐Cys residues and the C31 and C32 atoms of BV. When expressed in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, DCBs incorporate PCB rather than BV. DCBs can be converted to photoactive cBphP‐, Cph1‐, and tandem‐cysteine cyanobacterial phytochrome (TCCP) analogs by removal and/or addition of a cysteine residue by site‐directed mutagenesis. This structural plasticity contrasts with our inability to generate functional photosensor analogs by analogous site‐directed mutagenesis of TCCP and Cph1 representatives. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrates that DCBs do not form a monophyletic clade and also suggest that Cph1 and TCCP families independently emerged from different lineages of cBphPs, possibly via DCB intermediates.
Involvement of GTPases and vesicle adapter proteins in Heparan sulfate biosynthesis: role of Rab1A, Rab2A and GOLPH3
Authors: Meneghetti Maria C. Z. , Cavalheiro Renan P. , Yates Edwin A. , Nader Helena B. , Lima Marcelo A.
Published: January 2025

Vesicle trafficking is pivotal in heparan sulfate (HS) biosynthesis, influencing its spatial and temporal regulation within distinct Golgi compartments. This regulation modulates the sulfation pattern of HS, which is crucial for governing various biological processes. Here, we investigate the effects of silencing Rab1A and Rab2A expression on the localisation of 3‐O‐sulfotransferase‐5 (3OST5) within Golgi compartments and subsequent alterations in HS structure and levels. Interestingly, silencing Rab1A led to a shift in 3OST5 localization towards the trans‐Golgi, resulting in increased HS levels within 24 and 48 h, while silencing Rab2A caused 3OST5 accumulation in the cis‐Golgi, with a delayed rise in HS content observed after 48 h. Furthermore, a compensatory mechanism was evident in Rab2A‐silenced cells, where increased Rab1A protein expression was detected. This suggests a dynamic interplay between Rab1A and Rab2A in maintaining the fine balance of vesicle trafficking processes involved in HS biosynthesis. Additionally, we demonstrate that the trafficking of 3OST5 in COPI vesicles is facilitated by GOLPH3 protein. These findings identify novel vesicular transport mechanisms regulating HS biosynthesis and reveal a compensatory relationship between Rab1A and Rab2A in maintaining baseline HS production.
Does the Fishery or Climate Change Drive Commercial Catches in a Shallow Eutrophic Lagoon?
Authors: Ivanauskas Edgaras , Razinkovas‐Baziukas Artūras , Baziukė Dalia
Published: January 2025

Climate change has significantly affected the Curonian Lagoon, the largest coastal lagoon in Europe, which is of great economic importance to fisheries and tourism. We modeled how environmental factors and fisheries affected recruitment and subsequent catches of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca L.) and common bream (Abramis brama L.) in the lagoon. Recruitment, catch per unit effort (CPUE), environmental variables, and fishery catch, and effort were used to construct Bayesian belief networks (BBNs) for both fish species. Catches of pikeperch and common bream depended more on fishing effort than recruitment. Environmental factors (temperature and riverine discharge) were only weakly related to catches of pikeperch and common bream. Changes in salinity and temperature are expected to have only minor direct effects on populations of pikeperch and common bream.
Low trunk muscle mass could predict severe stress urinary incontinence in Asian women
Authors: Cheng Weiming , Chen Sheng‐Wen , Chiu Yi‐Chun , Fan Yu‐Hua
Published: January 2025

Aim

Adequate pelvic floor support for the urethra is crucial for preventing stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Obesity is an established risk factor for SUI. This study aimed to explore the relationship between SUI and body composition, specifically focusing on muscle and fat mass.

Methods

This single‐center, prospective, cross‐sectional study enrolled women who visited the genitourinary clinic of Taipei City Hospital‐Zhongxiao Branch between 1 February 2020 and 31 January 2021. SUI severity was classified according to the type of daily activity in which SUI occurred. Potential risk factors for SUI, including age, labor and history of hysterectomy, were also included. All participants underwent a bioelectric impedance analysis of their body composition. Independent t‐tests and Pearson's χ2‐tests were used to compare the differences in continuous and categorical parameters between groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to characterize the predictive value of body composition for severe SUI.

Results

Of the 256 included patients, 37 had severe SUI. The participants with severe SUI were older and were more likely to have undergone a hysterectomy. They also had a considerably higher prevalence of sarcopenia. In the univariate analysis, a sarcopenia diagnosis was associated with severe SUI. Furthermore, a history of hysterectomy correlated with severe SUI, although with borderline significance. In the multivariate analysis, a history of hysterectomy and lower trunk muscle mass index were found to be independent predictors of severe SUI.

Conclusions

A history of hysterectomy and a lower trunk muscle mass index are correlated with severe SUI. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2025; 25: 226–231.
When Do Liberal Governments Restrict Civil Society?
Authors: Bolleyer Nicole , Eick Adam , Ivanovska Hadjievska Milka , Grevesmühl Leonhard
Published: January 2025

Liberal democracies increasingly restrict civil society organizations (CSOs), a trend frequently linked to illiberal governments. But when do ideologically liberal governments resort to such restrictions? Linking research on state traditions, party ideology and crisis governance, we theorize factors enhancing liberal governments' propensity to adopt normatively contentious CSO restrictions. Distinguishing formal‐legal restrictions on CSO voice from those on CSO existence, we show that nearly 90 such restrictions were adopted by 17 cabinets in France and the United Kingdom over the last 2 decades. In line with theoretical expectations, restrictions on CSO existence are more prominent in statist France, while governments in the United Kingdom tend to restrict CSO voice. More right‐wing governments adopt more CSO restrictions, while restrictions go up with government crisis pressure. Overall, understanding how liberal governments use CSO restrictions requires considering contextual opportunity structures and ideological dispositions in conjunction.
Poverty exposure and poverty persistence for large families in Western Europe. A dynamic perspective
Authors: Cutuli Giorgio
Published: January 2025

This paper investigates income poverty in 14 Western European countries from 2004 to 2019, utilizing European statistics on income, social inclusion and living conditions longitudinal data. The study employs descriptive tables and panel regression models to examine poverty exposure and accumulation of poverty events over time for families with dependent children with a focus on large families with three and four or more children. The findings reveal that in all countries the reiteration of poverty spells, net of persistence dynamics, primarily results from higher risks for large families of falling back into poverty. The analysis shows large families experience carousels of poverty reoccurrence, especially among single‐earner households. All in all, analyses suggest the necessity for integrated social policies for large families, combining timely social transfers to mitigate current spells of poverty, with mid‐term follow‐up programs in the form of preventive measures tailored to families with recent poverty experiences.
Expanding access to maggot containment dressings through redesign and innovation
Authors: Sherman Ronald Arlen , Stadler Frank
Published: January 2025

There are two major styles of maggot debridement dressings: (1) confinement dressings that form a cage around the wound, and (2) containment dressings that completely surround the maggots within a sealed porous bag. For producers and clinicians wanting to prepare containment dressings using readily available polyester bags, it is currently difficult to seal these bags without expensive high‐temperature plastic welders. This study aimed to identify simple and affordable methods for sealing maggots within polyester net bags. Heat sealing was the most effective and simplest method to seal the polyester net bags, but the high melting point of polyester required industrial grade heat sealers. An inner lining of polyethylene or polypropylene film at the open side of the bag allowed for complete sealing using low‐cost hand‐actuated impulse heat sealers. This design even facilitated the addition of plastic zipper‐locks, allowing secure closure of the bag without electricity or special equipment. Other sealing methods were identified, but most were time‐consuming, required practice or not consistently successful. The maggot containment bag designs and closure methods described herein should prove useful to clinicians without access to contained maggots and to maggot producers without the resources to seal polyester containment bags. Clinical trials are expected to follow.
Digital Infographic Creation in Design Education: A Participatory Learning Algorithm Measuring Location‐Based Spatial Impact
Authors: Birer Emel , Hasgül Esin , Metin Elif Gizem
Published: January 2025

Design education includes many pursuits that deal with creativity, thinking and visual communication techniques in the learning process. This study aims to create a participatory learning algorithm based on a location, while measuring the spatial impact through an emergent situation. The exemplified issue is determined as fire that emerged due to climate change, which has become a significant agenda of the 21st century in most countries. The scope of the study is based on the creation of an algorithm for participatory learning techniques by using social media to create digital infographics in a workshop redefining Mugla, an affected place after the fire. The workshop context is designed to reveal the interaction between humankind and its natural environment, including nature, topography, animals, aids and all actors affected after the fire, while students are involved in research practices on participatory learning, using the diary method as a pedagogical research tool. The outputs of the participatory learning algorithm examine the informative part of the produced digital infographics with ethnomethodology and the visual part with descriptive analysis as a hybrid methodology taking data materials from social media. Cumulative results that reflect the location‐based spatial impact are measured with a coding system of frequencies and a time‐series data of polar mapping. We propose that such a participatory learning algorithm can improve students' visual communication, design creation, visualisation, expression of ideas and organisation of knowledge skills with the discipline of working together to make multilayered spatial readings.
Hydrogen‐Rich Saline Combined With Vacuum Sealing Drainage Promotes Wound Healing by Altering Biotin Metabolism
Authors: Kuang Xinwen , Liang Zhengyun , Xia Yijun , Shan Mengjie , Hao Yan , Liu Hao , Wang Zhi , He Qianjun , Xia Chao , Feng Cheng , Chang Guojing , Wang Youbin
Published: January 2025

Impaired wound healing affects the life quality of patients and causes a substantial financial burden. Hydrogen‐rich medium is reported to have antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory effects. However, the role of hydrogen‐rich saline (HRS) in cutaneous wound healing remains largely unexplored, especially by metabolomics. Thus, untargeted metabolomics profiling was analysed to study the effects and mechanism of HRS combined with vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) in a rabbit full‐thickness wound model. Our results indicated that the combination treatment of HRS and VSD could accelerate wound healing. In vitro experiments further confirmed its effects on HaCaT keratinocytes. We found that 45 metabolites were significantly changed between the VSD + HRS group and the VSD + saline‐treated group. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated that biotin metabolism was the potential target pathway. The biochemical interpretation analysis demonstrated that combining HRS and VSD might enhance mitochondrial function, ATP synthesis, and GSH homeostasis by altering biotin metabolism. The detection of representative indicators of oxidative stress supported the critical metabolic pathway analysis as well. In summary, VSD combined with HRS might provide a new strategy to enhance wound healing.
USP18 Promotes Cholesterol Efflux and Mitigates Atherosclerosis by Deubiquitinating ABCG1
Authors: An Yang , Guo Chuxian , Wang Xiaoli , Liu Jiangjin , Li Zhu , Ding Jiuyang , Zhang Qiaojun , Zhou Hongmei , Xia Bing , Wang Jiawen , Yu Yanni , Wan Changwu , Wang Jie , Dai Jialin
Published: January 2025

Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are integral regulators of protein stability. Among these, Ubiquitin‐specific protease 18 (USP18) has emerged as a potential therapeutic target for heart failure. However, its precise role in atherosclerosis remains to be comprehensively understood. This study endeavours to examine the impact of USP18 on atherosclerosis and elucidate its corresponding molecular mechanisms. Our studies indicate an elevated expression of USP18 in human coronary atherosclerotic plaques. Notably, the knockdown of USP18 significantly exacerbated lipid accumulation in macrophages. This knockdown effect impaired cholesterol efflux and influenced the downregulation of ATP‐binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) expression, achieved by altering the ubiquitination level of ABCG1. Comprehensive mechanistic studies unveiled that USP18 directly affiliates with ABCG1, reducing its ubiquitination and consequently bolstering ABCG1 stability within macrophages. Furthermore, in vivo studies elucidated that the knockdown of USP18 notably elevated atherosclerotic lesions and diminished ABCG1 levels in the plaques of Apoe−/− mice. In summary, our results suggested that USP18 plays a crucial role in managing the progression of atherosclerosis by strengthening the expression of ABCG1 protein through its deubiquitinating effect on ABCG1.
Association Between Chewing Capacity and Mortality Risk: The Role of Diet and Ageing
Authors: Du Mi , Deng Ke , Yin Jiawei , Wu Chenkai , Hu Shixian , Guo Linxu , Luo Zhixin , Tonetti Maurizio , Tjakkes Geerten‐Has E. , Visser Anita , Ge Shaohua , Li An
Published: January 2025

Aim

Masticatory dysfunction due to tooth loss is a potentially modifiable risk for mortality, but the pathway behind that remains to be investigated. This prospective study aimed to examine the role of diet and ageing in the associations between chewing capacity and long‐term mortality.

Methods

Data were obtained from participants (aged ≥ 20) in the National Health Nutritional and Health Survey (NHANES 1999–2010, n = 22,900). The mortality follow‐up ended on 31 December 2019. Chewing capacity was determined by the number of functional tooth units (FTUs). Diet information in NHANES was collected using a 24‐h‐recall questionnaire, and diet quality was measured by three index‐based dietary patterns, namely the nutrition index (NI), energy‐adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E‐DII) and healthy eating index‐2015 (HEI‐2015). The biological ageing process was reflected using phenotypic age acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel) and frailty index. Mediation analyses were conducted to assess the role of diet quality in the association between FTUs and ageing, as well as the role of ageing in the association between impaired chewing capacity (ICC) and mortality.

Results

Participants with more FTUs were found to have a slower biological ageing process. Diet quality scores were estimated to mediate 9.0%–23.0% of the association between chewing capacity and biological ageing. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models found a positive association between ICC and all‐cause mortality (hazard ratio = 1.282 [95% confidence interval: 1.189–1.382]). Also, ICC was significantly associated with a 28.9% higher risk of mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a 32.7% higher risk of mortality due to cancer. Mediation analyses indicated that PhenoAgeAccel mediated the effect of ICC on all‐cause, CVD and cancer mortality with proportions of 18.1%, 17.3% and 12.5%, respectively. Similar mediating proportions were observed in the frailty index (range: 11.6%–23.5%).

Conclusions

ICC was associated with poorer diet quality and accelerated ageing, resulting in higher mortality risk. Therefore, it is plausible that dietary interventions and oral rehabilitation would promote healthy longevity, although further investigations are needed.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Medical Students Towards Insomnia and Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment
Authors: Wang Liping , Luo Lan , Liu Lan , Shao Haoqing , Li Qiuying , Zhang Ting , Tian Xiaoying , Chen Shuoxuan
Published: January 2025

Background

To assess the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) of medical students at Hunan Medicine College towards insomnia and TCM treatment.

Methods

The study included 676 medical students. More than half were female (64.20%), and 33.8% reported experiencing insomnia for over a week. Participants' KAP scores were evaluated on insomnia and TCM treatment using a scale.

Results

The mean KAP scores for insomnia were 58.93%, 73.75%, and 64.94%, respectively, indicating insufficient knowledge but positive attitudes and moderate practices. TCM treatment scores were 78.18%, suggesting better awareness. Overall, 67.60% of medical students would choose TCM for insomnia treatment. Multivariable analysis revealed associations between choosing TCM and higher knowledge (OR = 1.30), positive attitude (OR = 1.46), better practice (OR = 3.44), and being in a later academic year (OR = 2.397).

Conclusion

The study underscores the need for targeted educational interventions to enhance understanding and promote effective practices among medical students, potentially improving their well‐being and addressing insomnia more comprehensively.