bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hydrological, geochemical and land use drivers of greenhouse gas dynamics in eleven sub-tropical streams
Authors: Andrews Luke F. , Wadnerkar Praktan D. , White Shane A. , Chen Xiaogang , Correa Rogger E. , Jeffrey Luke C. , Santos Isaac R.
Published: March 2021

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from freshwater streams are poorly quantified in sub-tropical climates, especially in the southern hemisphere where land use is rapidly changing. Here, we examined the distribution, potential drivers, and emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) from eleven Australian freshwater streams with varying catchment land uses yet similar hydrology, geomorphology, and climate. These sub-tropical streams were a source of CO2 (74 ± 39 mmol m−2 day−1), CH4 (0.04 ± 0.06 mmol m−2 day−1), and N2O (4.01 ± 5.98 µmol m−2 day−1) to the atmosphere. CO2 accounted for ~ 97% of all CO2-equivalent emissions with CH4 (~ 1.5%) and N2O (~ 1.5%) playing a minor role. Episodic rainfall events drove changes in stream GHG due to the release of soil NOx (nitrate + nitrite) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Groundwater discharge as traced by radon (222Rn, a natural groundwater tracer) was not an apparent source of CO2 and CH4, but was a source of N2O in both agricultural and forest catchments. Land use played a subtle role on greenhouse gas dynamics. CO2 and CH4 increased with catchment forest cover during the wet period, while N2O and CH4 increased with agricultural catchment area during the dry period. Overall, this study showed how DOC and NOx, land use, and rainfall events interact to drive spatial and temporal dynamics of GHG emissions in sub-tropical streams using multiple linear regression modelling. Increasing intensive agricultural land use will likely decrease regional CO2 and CH4 emissions, but increase N2O.
Abdominal vessel depiction on virtual triphasic spectral detector CT: initial clinical experience
Authors: Lennartz Simon , Laukamp Kai Roman , Tandon Yasmeen , Jordan Michelle , Große Hokamp Nils , Zopfs David , Pennig Lenhard , Obmann Markus , Gilkeson Robert C. , Herrmann Karin A. , Ramaiya Nikhil , Gupta Amit
Published: March 2021

Purpose

To evaluate vessel assessment in virtual monoenergetic images (VMI40keV) and virtual-non-contrast images (VNC) derived from venous phase spectral detector computed tomography (SDCT) acquisitions in comparison to arterial phase and true non-contrast (TNC) images.

Methods

Triphasic abdominal SDCT was performed in 25 patients including TNC, arterial and venous phase. VMI40keV and VNC were reconstructed from the venous phase and compared to conventional arterial-phase images (CIart), TNC and conventional venous-phase images (CIven). Vessel contrast and virtual contrast removal were analyzed with region-of-interest-based measurements and in a qualitative assessment.

Results

Quantitative analysis revealed no significant attenuation differences between TNC and VNC in arterial vessels (p-range 0.07–0.47) except for the renal artery (p = 0.011). For venous vessels, significant differences between TNC and VNC were found for all veins (p < 0.001) except the inferior vena cava (p = 0.26), yet these differences remained within a 10 HU range in most patients. No significant attenuation differences were found between CIart/VMI40keV in arterial vessels (p-range 0.06–0.86). Contrast-to-noise ratio provided by VMI40keV and CIart was equivalent for all arterial vessels assessed (p-range 0.14–0.91).

Qualitatively, VMI40keV showed similar enhancement of abdominal and pelvic arteries as CIart and VNC were rated comparable to TNC.

Conclusion

Our study suggests that VNC and VMI40keV derived from single venous-phase SDCT offer comparable assessment of major abdominal vessels as provided by routine triphasic examinations, if no dynamic contrast information is required.
Lower visual field preference for the visuomotor control of limb movements in the human dorsomedial parietal cortex
Authors: Maltempo Teresa , Pitzalis Sabrina , Bellagamba Martina , Di Marco Sara , Fattori Patrizia , Galati Gaspare , Galletti Claudio , Sulpizio Valentina
Published: March 2021

Visual cues coming from the lower visual field (VF) play an important role in the visual guidance of upper and lower limb movements. A recently described region situated in the dorsomedial parietal cortex, area hPEc (Pitzalis et al. in NeuroImage 202:116092, 2019), might have a role in integrating visually derived information with somatomotor signals to guide limb interaction with the environment. In macaque, it has been demonstrated that PEc receives visual information mostly from the lower visual field but, to date, there has been no systematic investigation of VF preference in the newly defined human homologue of macaque area PEc (hPEc). Here we examined the VF preferences of hPEc while participants performed a visuomotor task implying spatially directed delayed eye-, hand- and foot-movements towards different spatial locations within the VF. By analyzing data as a function of the different target locations towards which upcoming movements were planned (and then executed), we observed the presence of asymmetry in the vertical dimension of VF in area hPEc, being this area more strongly activated by limb movements directed towards visual targets located in the lower compared to the upper VF. This result confirms the view, first advanced in macaque monkey, that PEc is involved in processing visual information to guide body interaction with the external environment, including locomotion. We also observed a contralateral dominance for the lower VF preference in the foot selective somatomotor cortex anterior to hPEc. This result might reflect the role of this cortex (which includes areas PE and S-I) in providing highly topographically organized signals, likely useful to achieve an appropriate foot posture during locomotion.
Ergebnisse nach gefäßchirurgischer Versorgung von Leistennahtaneurysmen
Authors: Romancik P. , Meyer F. , Hribaschek A. , Redlich U. , Halloul Z. , Tautenhahn J.
Published: March 2021

Hintergrund

Nahtaneurysmen (NA) sind ein relevanter Aspekt der Sekundärversorgung geworden. Das Ziel der Studie bestand darin, bei Patienten eines zertifizierten Gefäßzentrums das Auftreten von NA im Rahmen einer retrospektiven Fallserie zu untersuchen und selektiv eruierten Referenzen der wissenschaftlichen Literatur gegenüberzustellen.

Patienten und Methode

Über einen definierten Untersuchungszeitraum wurden alle Patienten mit einem Leisten-NA hinsichtlich patientenabhängiger Faktoren (Alter, Geschlechtsverteilung), NA-Größe, chirurgischer Versorgung (Rhaphie ± Patch vs. Interponat) und Ergebnis (Offenheitsrate, NA-Rezidiv, Morbidität, Letalität) charakterisiert.

Ergebnisse

Die meisten NA traten nach Anlage einer aortobifemoralen Prothese (52,3 %) auf. Das durchschnittliche Zeitintervall bis zur NA-Entwicklung betrug 55,4 Monate. Über die Hälfte der NA (n = 44; 51,2 %) wurden primär mittels Interponat versorgt. – Die Aneurysmorrhaphie mit bzw. ohne Patch hat eine signifikant höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit für ein NA-Rezidiv im Vergleich zum Interponat (p = 0,026 bzw. p = 0,006). Der durchschnittliche Durchmesser der Leisten-NA betrug 46,4 mm. Bei den postoperativen Komplikationen waren am häufigsten nicht operationspflichtige Lymphozelen (25,6 %), Hämatome mit notwendiger Ausräumung (8,1 %) und Infektionen mit erforderlicher Explantation des alloplastischen Materials (4,7 %). Die 30-Tage-Letalität betrug 2,3 %. Die notfallmäßig versorgten NA wiesen eine tendenziell höhere Wahrscheinlichkeit einer postoperativen Komplikation (p = 0,09) auf.

Schlussfolgerungen

Nahtaneurysmen sind mit einer Inzidenz von 0,2–15 % keine seltene Komplikation in der Gefäßchirurgie. Die Interponatanlage ist die Therapie der Wahl bei der Versorgung der Leisten-NA. Alle Patienten sollten über die Wichtigkeit einer lebenslangen gefäßchirurgischen Nachsorge aufgeklärt werden.
Assessing unlimited associative learning as a transition marker
Authors: Irvine Elizabeth
Published: March 2021

The target paper (building on Ginsburg and Jablonka in JTB 381:55–60, 2015, The evolution of the sensitive soul: Learning and the origins of consciousness, MIT Press, USA, 2019) makes a significant and novel claim: that positive cases of non-human consciousness can be identified via the capacity of unlimited associative learning (UAL). In turn, this claim is generated by a novel methodology, which is that of identifying an evolutionary ‘transition marker’, which is claimed to have theoretical and empirical advantages over other approaches. In this commentary I argue that UAL does not function as a successful transition marker (as defined by the authors), and has internal problems of its own. However, I conclude that it is still a very productive anchor for new research on the evolution of consciousness.
Selective caching: a persistent memory approach for multi-dimensional index structures
Authors: Jibril Muhammad Attahir , Götze Philipp , Broneske David , Sattler Kai-Uwe
Published: March 2021

After the introduction of Persistent Memory in the form of Intel’s Optane DC Persistent Memory on the market in 2019, it has found its way into manifold applications and systems. As Google and other cloud infrastructure providers are starting to incorporate Persistent Memory into their portfolio, it is only logical that cloud applications have to exploit its inherent properties. Persistent Memory can serve as a DRAM substitute, but guarantees persistence at the cost of compromised read/write performance compared to standard DRAM. These properties particularly affect the performance of index structures, since they are subject to frequent updates and queries. However, adapting each and every index structure to exploit the properties of Persistent Memory is tedious. Hence, we require a general technique that hides this access gap, e.g., by using DRAM caching strategies. To exploit Persistent Memory properties for analytical index structures, we proposeselective caching. It is based on a mixture of dynamic and static caching of tree nodes in DRAM to reach near-DRAM access speeds for index structures. In this paper, we evaluate selective caching on the OLAP-optimized main-memory index structure Elf, because its memory layout allows for an easy caching. Our experiments show that if configured well, selective caching with a suitable replacement strategy can keep pace with pure DRAM storage of Elf while guaranteeing persistence. These results are also reflected when selective caching is used for parallel workloads.
Dealing with multiple experts and non-stationarity in inverse reinforcement learning: an application to real-life problems
Authors: Likmeta Amarildo , Metelli Alberto Maria , Ramponi Giorgia , Tirinzoni Andrea , Giuliani Matteo , Restelli Marcello
Published: March 2021

In real-world applications, inferring the intentions of expert agents (e.g., human operators) can be fundamental to understand how possibly conflicting objectives are managed, helping to interpret the demonstrated behavior. In this paper, we discuss how inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) can be employed to retrieve the reward function implicitly optimized by expert agents acting in real applications. Scaling IRL to real-world cases has proved challenging as typically only a fixed dataset of demonstrations is available and further interactions with the environment are not allowed. For this reason, we resort to a class of truly batch model-free IRL algorithms and we present three application scenarios: (1) the high-level decision-making problem in the highway driving scenario, and (2) inferring the user preferences in a social network (Twitter), and (3) the management of the water release in the Como Lake. For each of these scenarios, we provide formalization, experiments and a discussion to interpret the obtained results.
Identifying limits of linear control design validity in nonlinear systems: a continuation-based approach
Authors: Nguyen D. H. , Lowenberg M. H. , Neild S. A.
Published: March 2021

It is well known that a linear-based controller is only valid near the point from which the linearised system is obtained. The question remains as to how far one can move away from that point before the linear and nonlinear responses differ significantly, resulting in the controller failing to achieve the desired performance. In this paper, we propose a method to quantify these differences. By appending a harmonic oscillator to the equations of motion, the frequency responses at different operating points of a nonlinear system can be generated using numerical continuation. In the presence of strong nonlinearities, subtle differences exist between the linear and nonlinear frequency responses, and these variations are also reflected in the step responses. A systematic way of comparing the discrepancies between the linear and the nonlinear frequency responses is presented, which can determine whether the controller performs as predicted by linear-based design. We demonstrate the method on a simple fixed-gain Duffing system and a gain-scheduled reduced-order aircraft model with a manoeuvre-demand controller; the latter presents a case where strong nonlinearities exist in the form of multiple attractors. The analysis is then expanded to include actuator rate saturation, which creates a limit-cycle isola, coexisting multiple solutions (corresponding to the so-called flying qualities cliff), and chaotic motions. The proposed method can infer the influence of these additional attractors even when there is no systematic way to detect them. Finally, when severe rate saturation is present, reducing the controller gains can mitigate—but not eliminate—the risk of limit-cycle oscillation.
The (Null) Effects of Happiness on Affective Polarization, Conspiracy Endorsement, and Deep Fake Recognition: Evidence from Five Survey Experiments in Three Countries
Authors: Yu Xudong , Wojcieszak Magdalena , Lee Seungsu , Casas Andreu , Azrout Rachid , Gackowski Tomasz
Published: March 2021

Affective polarization is a key concern in America and other democracies. Although past evidence suggests some ways to minimize it, there are no easily applicable interventions that have been found to work in the increasingly polarized climate. This project examines whether irrelevant factors, or incidental happiness more specifically, have the power to reduce affective polarization (i.e., misattribution of affect or “carryover effect”). On the flip side, happiness can minimize systematic processing, thus enhancing beliefs in conspiracy theories and impeding individual ability to recognize deep fakes. Three preregistered survey experiments in the US, Poland, and the Netherlands (totalN = 3611) induced happiness in three distinct ways. Happiness had no effects on affective polarization toward political outgroups and hostility toward various divisive social groups, and also on endorsement of conspiracy theories and beliefs that a deep fake was real. Two additional studies in the US and Poland (totalN = 2220), also induced anger and anxiety, confirming that all these incidental emotions had null effects. These findings, which emerged uniformly in three different countries, among different partisan and ideological groups, and for those for whom the inductions were differently effective, underscore the stability of outgroup attitudes in contemporary America and other countries.
Newcomb’s problem isn’t a choice dilemma
Authors: Li Zhanglyu , Zenker Frank
Published: March 2021

Newcomb’s problem involves a decision-maker faced with a choice and a predictor forecasting this choice. The agents’ interaction seems to generate a choice dilemma once the decision-maker seeks to apply two basic principles of rational choice theory (RCT): maximize expected utility (MEU); adopt the dominant strategy (ADS). We review unsuccessful attempts at pacifying the dilemma by excluding Newcomb’s problem as an RCT-application, by restricting MEU and ADS, and by allowing for backward causation. A probability approach shows that Newcomb’s original problem-formulation lacks causal information. This makes it impossible to specify the probability structure of Newcomb’s univocally. Once missing information is added, Newcomb’s problem and RCT re-align, thus explaining Newcomb’s problem as a seeming dilemma. Building on Wolpert and Benford (Synthese 190(9):1637–1646, 2013), we supply additional details and offer a crucial correction to their formal proof.
Meta-analyses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): a literature review
Authors: Velte Patrick
Published: March 2021

This paper addresses quantitative meta-analyses on corporate governance-related determinants and firms’ (non) financial consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Legitimacy theory as our theoretical framework assumes that, through a social contract, a company must fulfil the respective society’s values and expectations and gain legitimacy. We also rely on the business case argument, assuming a positive relationship between CSR and financial outcomes of the firm. This analysis focusses on 54 quantitative meta-analyses on CSR and includes a structured literature review in order to increase our knowledge, which corporate governance variables and proxies of firm’s (non) financial outcome have been heavily included in archival research, and if there is an overall impact of these variables. Prior meta-analyses indicate that board independence, board gender diversity, and board size have a positive impact on CSR performance. Moreover, both CSR performance and environmental performance increase financial performance. This literature review makes a useful contribution to prior studies by summarizing the overall impact of corporate governance variables on CSR and their (non) financial consequences and by deducing recommendations for future research.
Extensions of the distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) to account for cumulative mortality
Authors: Guo Chao-Yu , Huang Xing-Yi , Kuo Pei-Cheng , Chen Yi-Hau
Published: March 2021

The effects of meteorological factors on health outcomes have gained popularity due to climate change, resulting in a general rise in temperature and abnormal climatic extremes. Instead of the conventional cross-sectional analysis that focuses on the association between a predictor and the single dependent variable, the distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) has been widely adopted to examine the effect of multiple lag environmental factors health outcome. We propose several novel strategies to model mortality with the effects of distributed lag temperature measures and the delayed effect of mortality. Several attempts are derived by various statistical concepts, such as summation, autoregressive, principal component analysis, baseline adjustment, and modeling the offset in the DLNM. Five strategies are evaluated by simulation studies based on permutation techniques. The longitudinal climate and daily mortality data in Taipei, Taiwan, from 2012 to 2016 were implemented to generate the null distribution. According to simulation results, only one strategy, named MVDLNM, could yield valid type I errors, while the other four strategies demonstrated much more inflated type I errors. With a real-life application, the MVDLNM that incorporates both the current and lag mortalities revealed a more significant association than the conventional model that only fits the current mortality. The results suggest that, in public health or environmental research, not only the exposure may post a delayed effect but also the outcome of interest could provide the lag association signals. The joint modeling of the lag exposure and the delayed outcome enhances the power to discover such a complex association structure. The new approach MVDLNM models lag outcomes within 10 days and lag exposures up to 1 month and provide valid results.
Facing metal stress by multiple strategies: morphophysiological responses of cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) grown in hydroponics
Authors: Sorrentino Maria Cristina , Capozzi Fiore , Amitrano Chiara , De Tommaso Gaetano , Arena Carmen , Iuliano Mauro , Giordano Simonetta , Spagnuolo Valeria
Published: March 2021

The contamination of environments by heavy metals has become an urgent issue causing undesirable accumulations and severe damages to agricultural crops, especially cadmium and lead which are among the most widespread and dangerous metal pollutants worldwide. The selection of proper species is a crucial step in many plant-based restoration approaches; therefore, the aim of the present work was to check for early morphophysiological responsive traits in three cultivars of Cynara cardunculus (Sardo, Siciliano, and Spagnolo), helping to select the best performing cultivar for phytoremediation. For all three tested cultivars, our results indicate that cardoon displays some morphophysiological traits to face Cd and Pb pollution, particularly at the root morphology level, element uptake ability, and photosynthetic pigment content. Other traits show instead a cultivar-specific behavior; in fact, stomata plasticity, photosynthetic pattern, and antioxidant power provide different responses, but only Spagnolo cv. achieves a successful strategy attaining a real resilience to metal stress. The capacity of Spagnolo plants to modify leaf structural and physiological traits under heavy metal contamination to maintain high photosynthetic efficiency should be considered an elective trait for its use in contaminated environments.
Influence of Direct Splat-Affecting Parameters on the Splat-Type Distribution, Porosity, and Density of Segmentation Cracks in Plasma-Sprayed YSZ Coatings
Authors: Tillmann W. , Khalil O. , Baumann I.
Published: March 2021

The integrity and properties of ceramic coatings produced by atmospheric plasma spraying are highly controlled by the splat morphology and splat interconnection. In this study, the influence of selected parameters (spray angle, surface velocity of the spray gun, and substrate temperature) on splat morphology and coating microstructure was investigated. A favorite set of spray gun parameters, of which their effects on splat morphology and coating microstructure have been verified by previous experiments, were used to conduct the experiments for the present work. It was found that depositing fully molten particles on a hot substrate increases the fraction of disk-like splats by about 60% at the expense of the fraction of irregular splats. Preheating the substrate also increases the pore count and level of coating porosity, while it does not influence the density of segmentation cracks. In contrast, the surface velocity of the spray gun does not affect the splat morphology while a slow speed decreases the coating porosity and plays a significant role in generating segmentation cracks. Shifting the spray angle by 15° distorts up to 20% of disk-like splats and slightly decreases the porosity level. However, changing the spray angle does not affect the generation of segmentation cracks.
Ostracism and nationalism in the workplace: discursive exclusionary practices between cultural and geographic neighbors
Authors: Köllen Thomas , Kopf Susanne
Published: March 2021

So far, management research on mechanisms of exclusion of employee groups has mainly applied constructs of racism to understanding issues of origin-based ostracism. This research has primarily focused on issues faced by employees whose heritage is markedly different from the heritage shared by the norm group in the given socio-cultural, linguistic, and geographical setting. Against this backdrop, the present study investigates how ostracism plays out when the heritages involved are similar, as exemplified by German employees in Austria. Study 1 examines the discursive production of Austrian stereotyping of Germans in the usage of different terms of reference for ‘Germans’ in Austrian discourse. A corpus analysis of online comments on newspaper sites highlights the implicit Austrian need for delineation against Germany. Study 2 analyzes Germans’ perception of Austrians’ exclusionary linguistic practices and how this impacts on their employment experience and turnover intention. A quantitative analysis of survey data from 600 German nationals employed in Austria reveals that the degree of exposure to these demarcating practices is associated with lower job satisfaction, a higher burnout level and an increase in turnover intention. This study is amongst the first to shed light on the central role of nationalism and national identities in organizational mechanisms of exclusion.
The impact of emotional contagion on workplace safety: Investigating the roles of sleep, health, and production pressure
Authors: Petitta Laura , Probst Tahira M. , Ghezzi Valerio , Barbaranelli Claudio
Published: March 2021

Using emotional contagion theory and the Job Demands-Resources model as a theoretical foundation, we tested the proposition that higher levels of contagion of anger (i.e., a demand) vs. higher levels of contagion of joy (i.e., a resource) will be associated respectively with more vs. fewer sleep disturbances and health problems, which in turn are related to more workplace accidents and injuries. Moreover, we examined the moderating impact of production pressure (i.e., a contextual demand) on the relationship between emotional contagion and employee poor sleep and health. Data from 1000 employees in Italy showed that the conditional indirect effects of contagion of anger, but not of joy, on accidents and injuries via sleep and health problems were intensified as levels of production pressure increased. Furthermore, contagion of anger was positively associated with both sleep disturbances and health problems whereas contagion of joy was negatively related to only sleep disturbances. These findings suggest that the effect of anger that employees absorb during social interactions at work likely persists when coming at home and represents an emotional demand that impairs the physiological functions that regulate restorative sleep and energies recharging; and, this effect is even stronger among employees who perceived higher levels of organizational production pressure.
Treatment of pesticide intermediate industrial wastewater using hybrid methodologies
Authors: Akinapally Sindhu , Dheeravath Bhagawan , Panga Kiran Kumar , Vurimindi Himabindu , Sanaga Srinivasulu
Published: March 2021

Abatement of water pollution is being a major concern to be dealt with, as the scarcity of water for basic needs of human beings is increasing drastically. As a part of diminishing water pollution, treatment of industrial wastewater prior to disposal plays a paramount role. Due to the typical characteristics of pesticide, intermediate industrial waste water the treatment is also challenging issue. In this study three different sequential methodologies (Methodology-I: combined rotavapour distillation, fenton and anaerobic biological process, Methodology-II: combined rotavapour distillation, photo fenton and anaerobic biological process, Methodology-III combined coagulation, fenton, electro oxidation and anaerobic biological process) has been evaluated for the treatment of pesticide intermediate industrial wastewater. Among the three sequential methodologies opted in this study for the treatment of pesticide intermediate industrial wastewater, percentage removal of COD was 95% in methodology-1 (i.e. combined rotavapor distillation, fenton and anaerobic biological treatment).
Solutions-oriented research for sustainability: Turning knowledge into action
Authors: Tengö Maria , Andersson Erik
Published: March 2021

In this perspective, we reflect upon the question: what processes may help transition scientific insights on sustainability issues into practice and thus contribute to tackling the complex, systemic sustainability problems of today? We use five forerunners in the field of providing and brokering knowledge for science informed real world solutions, all published in Ambio and highlighted in this Anniversary collection, as our starting point. We discuss how the authors present solutions, whom they tried to reach, and what was suggested—implicitly or explicitly—as the potential uptake processes for turning scientific knowledge into practice. With this as the starting point, we discuss how sustainability science, as a field vowed to action, has evolved in its views of actors, pathways for impacts, and the potential roles of research and researchers to promote sustainability transformations.
Land-use and agriculture in Denmark around year 1900 and the quest for EU Water Framework Directive reference conditions in coastal waters
Authors: Christensen Bent T. , Pedersen Birger F. , Olesen Jørgen E. , Eriksen Jørgen
Published: March 2021

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to protect the ecological status of coastal waters. To establish acceptable boundaries between good and moderate ecological status, the WFD calls for reference conditions practically undisturbed by human impact. For Denmark, the nitrogen (N) concentrations present around year 1900 have been suggested to represent reference conditions. As the N load of coastal waters relates closely to runoff from land, any reduction in load links to agricultural activity. We challenge the current use of historical N balances to establish WFD reference conditions and initiate an alternative approach based on parish-level land-use statistics collected 1896/1900 and N concentrations in root zone percolates from experiments with year 1900-relevant management. This approach may be more widely applicable for landscapes with detailed historic information on agricultural activity. Using this approach, we find an average N concentration in root zone percolates that is close to that of current agriculture. Thus, considering Danish coastal waters to be practically unaffected by human activity around year 1900 remains futile as 75% of the land area was subject to agricultural activity with a substantial potential for N loss to the environment. It appears unlikely that the ecological state of coastal waters around year 1900 may serve as WFD reference condition.
Interleukin-6 producing pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma: case series from a tertiary referral centre for pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas
Authors: Meijs A. C. , Schroijen M. A. , Snel M. , Corssmit E. P. M.
Published: March 2021

Introduction

In addition to catecholamines, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGL) may secrete interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 contributes to the development of unusual symptoms, which may hinder the diagnosis.

Patients and methods

We report the clinical course and subsequent treatment of IL-6 producing PPGL in three patients from a single tertiary referral centre for PPGL patients in the Netherlands.

Conclusion

PPGL combined with persistent elevated inflammatory markers, either in the presence or absence of pyrexia, raised suspicion of IL-6 overproduction in these three patients. Although surgical resection of the tumour is the only curative treatment option, our case series adds to the accumulating evidence that alpha-blockers might be effective in these patients.
Predictors of reproductive and non-reproductive outcomes of gonadotropin mediated pubertal induction in male patients with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH)
Authors: Cangiano B. , Goggi G. , Federici S. , Bresesti C. , Cotellessa L. , Guizzardi F. , Vezzoli V. , Duminuco P. , Persani L. , Bonomi M.
Published: March 2021

Purpose

To investigate predictors of testicular response and non-reproductive outcomes (height, body proportions) after gonadotropin-induced puberty in congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH).

Design

A retrospective analysis of the puberty induction in CHH male patients, undergoing an off-label administration of combined gonadotropin (FSH and hCG).

Methods

Clinical and hormonal evaluations before and during gonadotropin stimulation in 19 CHH patients genotyped by Targeted Next Generation Sequencing for CHH genes; 16 patients underwent also semen analysis after gonadotropins.

Results

A lesser increase in testicular volume after 24 months of induction was significantly associated with: (I) cryptorchidism; (II) a positive genetic background; (III) a complete form of CHH. We found no significant correlation with the cumulative dose of hCG administered in 24 months. We found no association with the results of semen analyses, probably due to the low numerosity. Measures of body disproportion (eunuchoid habitus and difference between adult and target height: deltaSDSth), were significantly related to the: (I) age at the beginning of puberty induction; (II) duration of growth during the induction; (III) initial bone age. The duration of growth during induction was associated with previous testosterone priming and to partial forms of CHH.

Conclusions

This study shows that a strong genetic background and cryptorchidism, as indicators of a complete GnRH deficiency since intrauterine life, are negative predictors of testicular response to gonadotropin stimulation in CHH. Body disproportion is associated with a delay in treatment and duration of growth during the induction, which is apparently inversely related to previous androgenization.
Longitudinal Outcomes of Witnessed Workplace Incivility: a Three-Wave Full Panel Study Exploring Mediators and Moderators
Authors: Holm Kristoffer , Torkelson Eva , Bäckström Martin
Published: March 2021

The aims of the present study are formulated to test theoretical assumptions of the incivility spiral presented by Andersson and Pearson (1999). The first aim is to investigate possible longitudinal outcomes of witnessed workplace incivility, in the form of instigated incivility and well-being. An additional aim is to explore whether witnessed workplace incivility is indirectly related to instigated incivility or well-being over time, via lower levels of perceived organizational justice. Lastly, we aim to explore if control, social support (from coworkers and supervisors), and job embeddedness moderate the relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility over time. An online questionnaire was distributed to a panel of Swedish engineers at three time points over one year with about six months between waves. Longitudinal data were provided by 341 respondents. Results from longitudinal structural equation panel models showed that witnessed workplace incivility, over time, predicted subsequent higher levels of instigated incivility but not lower levels of well-being. In addition, witnessed incivility predicted lower levels of perceived organizational justice over time but perceived organizational justice did not mediate the relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility or well-being. Finally, the results showed that control, social support from supervisors (but not coworkers), and job embeddedness partly moderated the relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility over time. The relationship between witnessed and instigated incivility between time 1 and time 2 was stronger when levels of control, support and job embeddedness were high. However, job embeddedness was the only robust moderator of the relationship.
NOGEA: A Network-Oriented Gene Entropy Approach for Dissecting Disease Comorbidity and Drug Repositioning
Authors: Guo Zihu , Fu Yingxue , Huang Chao , Zheng Chunli , Wu Ziyin , Chen Xuetong , Gao Shuo , Ma Yaohua , Shahen Mohamed , Li Yan , Tu Pengfei , Zhu Jingbo , Wang Zhenzhong , Xiao Wei , Wang Yonghua
Published: March 2021

Rapid development of high-throughput technologies has permitted the identification of an increasing number of disease-associated genes (DAGs), which are important for understanding disease initiation and developing precision therapeutics. However, DAGs often contain large amounts of redundant or false positive information, leading to difficulties in quantifying and prioritizing potential relationships between these DAGs and human diseases. In this study, a network-oriented gene entropy approach (NOGEA) is proposed for accurately inferring master genes that contribute to specific diseases by quantitatively calculating their perturbation abilities on directed disease-specific gene networks. In addition, we confirmed that the master genes identified by NOGEA have a high reliability for predicting disease-specific initiation events and progression risk. Master genes may also be used to extract the underlying information of different diseases, thus revealing mechanisms of disease comorbidity. More importantly, approved therapeutic targets are topologically localized in a small neighborhood of master genes in the interactome network, which provides a new way for predicting drug-disease associations. Through this method, 11 old drugs were newly identified and predicted to be effective for treating pancreatic cancer and then validated by in vitro experiments. Collectively, the NOGEA was useful for identifying master genes that control disease initiation and co-occurrence, thus providing a valuable strategy for drug efficacy screening and repositioning. NOGEA codes are publicly available at https://github.com/guozihuaa/NOGEA.
Selection for Cheaper Amino Acids Drives Nucleotide Usage at the Start of Translation in Eukaryotic Genes
Authors: Gao Na L. , He Zilong , Zhu Qianhui , Jiang Puzi , Hu Songnian , Chen Wei-Hua
Published: March 2021

Coding regions have complex interactions among multiple selective forces, which are manifested as biases in nucleotide composition. Previous studies have revealed a decreasing GC gradient from the 5′-end to 3′-end of coding regions in various organisms. We confirmed that this gradient is universal in eukaryotic genes, but the decrease only starts from the ∼ 25th codon. This trend is mostly found in nonsynonymous (ns) sites at which the GC gradient is universal across the eukaryotic genome. Increased GC contents at ns sites result in cheaper amino acids, indicating a universal selection for energy efficiency toward the N-termini of encoded proteins. Within a genome, the decreasing GC gradient is intensified from lowly to highly expressed genes (more and more protein products), further supporting this hypothesis. This reveals a conserved selective constraint for cheaper amino acids at the translation start that drives the increased GC contents at ns sites. Elevated GC contents can facilitate transcription but result in a more stable local secondary structure around the start codon and subsequently impede translation initiation. Conversely, the GC gradients at four-fold and two-fold synonymous sites vary across species. They could decrease or increase, suggesting different constraints acting at the GC contents of different codon sites in different species. This study reveals that the overall GC contents at the translation start are consequences of complex interactions among several major biological processes that shape the nucleotide sequences, especially efficient energy usage.
FunHoP: Enhanced Visualization and Analysis of Functionally Homologous Proteins in Complex Metabolic Networks
Authors: Rise Kjersti , Tessem May-Britt , Drabløs Finn , Rye Morten B.
Published: March 2021

Cytoscape is often used for visualization and analysis of metabolic pathways. For example, based on KEGG data, a reader for KEGG Markup Language (KGML) is used to load files into Cytoscape. However, although multiple genes can be responsible for the same reaction, the KGML-reader KEGGScape only presents the first listed gene in a network node for a given reaction. This can lead to incorrect interpretations of the pathways. Our new method, FunHoP, shows all possible genes in each node, making the pathways more complete. FunHoP collapses all genes in a node into one measurement using read counts from RNA-seq. Assuming that activity for an enzymatic reaction mainly depends upon the gene with the highest number of reads, and weighting the reads on gene length and ratio, a new expression value is calculated for the node as a whole. Differential expression at node level is then applied to the networks. Using prostate cancer as model, we integrate RNA-seq data from two patient cohorts with metabolism data from literature. Here we show that FunHoP gives more consistent pathways that are easier to interpret biologically. Code and documentation for running FunHoP can be found at https://github.com/kjerstirise/FunHoP.
Malignant Cutaneous Adnexal Tumors and Role of SLNB
Authors: Storino Alessandra , Drews Reed E. , Tawa Nicholas E.
Published: March 2021

BACKGROUND:

Malignant cutaneous adnexal tumors (MCATs) are rare and their natural history is poorly understood. Available literature indicates aggressive behavior with a significant risk of metastasis.

STUDY DESIGN:

Retrospective review of our institutional surgical oncology databases was performed for patients diagnosed with MCATs (2001-2020). We hypothesized that most patients have a low risk of lymph node involvement, recurrence, and death. Kaplan-Meier statistical analysis was used to assess risk of recurrence and 5-year survival.

RESULTS:

We identified 41 patients diagnosed with MCATs (median age 59 years, 68% were men). Most patients had long-standing cutaneous lesions (median 24 months) and no palpable adenopathy. Most patients had stage I or II disease (98%). Primary tumors were treated with wide local excision (n = 28 [68%]), Mohs surgery (n = 5 [12%]), or amputation (n = 8 [19%]). Of 25 patients who underwent SLNB (61%), 1 had lymphatic metastasis. These include apocrine carcinoma (1 of 3), digital papillary adenocarcinoma (0 of 8), porocarcinoma (0 of 4), and additional MCAT sub-types (0 of 10). Three patients (7%) had disease recurrence at a median interval of 3.6 years (interquartile range 1.5 to 4.4 years). Five patients (12%) died at a median interval of 7 years (interquartile range 6.7 to 9.2 years), but only 1 patient was known to have succumbed to MCAT. Overall 5-year survival rate was 96% (95% CI, 75% to 99%).

CONCLUSIONS:

Despite the historical impression that MCATs have a high metastatic potential, most patients have low recurrence rates and excellent 5-year survival rates. Lymphatic disease identified after SLNB in early-stage tumors is rare and the value of this staging procedure in MCAT remains unclear.
Association of allergic rhinitis with hypothyroidism, asthma, and chronic sinusitis: clinical and radiological features
Authors: Fawzan Aljuaid Eidha , Assiri Sara Ahmad , Althaqafi Raad M. M. , Alsufyani Atheer , Alghamdi Ahmad Saeed A.
Published: March 2021

Background

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is characterized by mucosal inflammation that leads to a variety of symptoms, such as nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, and sneezing. This rhinitis is triggered by inhalation of allergens, such as pollen, and this condition has a negative impact on the quality of life. AR was shown to be associated with a number of co‐morbidities, including hypothyroidism, asthma, and chronic sinusitis.

Objective

This study aimed to assess AR‐associated comorbidities in patients presenting symptoms and paranasal sinus computed tomography (CT) scan findings in Taif City, Saudi Arabia.

Methods

This cross‐sectional study evaluated medical and radiological records of AR patients retrospectively from the period of December 2018 to September 2019 in Al‐Hada Armed Forces Military Hospital, Taif City, Saudi Arabia.

Results

A total of 103 AR patients with a mean age of 39.0 ± 15.6 years with 55.3% males and 44.7% females. The three most common associated comorbidities in allergic rhinitis patients were chronic sinusitis (28.2%), hypothyroidism (21.4%), and asthma (8.7%). Nasal obstruction (30.1%) was the symptom most frequently presented by all patients. Mucosal thickening occurred most frequently in patients with associated chronic sinusitis, while bilateral osteomeatal complex obliteration was observed mostly in asthmatic patients, and bony boundary thinning was more prevalent among patients with associated hypothyroidism.

Conclusion

The gender distribution of AR was 10% more common among males; however, the most common three comorbidites in allergic rhinitis patients were chronic sinusitis, hypothyroidism, and asthma, and most of those patients were females. Hypothyroidism can be a hidden predisposing factor for AR, while chronic sinusitis can be caused by AR due to secretion stasis or immune system activation.
There are no deviations for the ergodic averages of Giulietti–Liverani horocycle flows on the two-torus
Authors: BALADI VIVIANE
Published: March 2021

We show that the ergodic integrals for the horocycle flow on the two-torus associated by Giulietti and Liverani with an Anosov diffeomorphism either grow linearly or are bounded; in other words, there are no deviations. For this, we use the topological invariance of the Artin–Mazur zeta function to exclude resonances outside the open unit disc. Transfer operators acting on suitable spaces of anisotropic distributions and their Ruelle determinants are the key tools used in the proof. As a bonus, we show that for any
$C^\infty $
Anosov diffeomorphism F on the two-torus, the correlations for the measure of maximal entropy and
$C^\infty $
observables decay with a rate strictly smaller than
$e^{-h_{\mathrm {top}}(F)}$
. We compare our results with very recent related work of Forni.
Mineralization of bagged pruning waste in agrosystem on the subtropical coast of Andalusia (Spain)
Authors: Reyes-Martín M. P. , Martínez-Cartas M. L. , Ortiz-Bernad I. , San-Emeterio L. M. , Fernández-Ondoño E.
Published: March 2021

Spreading of pruning waste over the soil surface may increase soil organic carbon, thus improving soil physical properties and serving as a source of nutrients and energy for microbial populations. The aim of this study was to test the effect of the environmental conditions and the biochemical composition of pruning waste from avocado, cherimoya, mango and gardens on their decomposition process in a Mediterranean subtropical climate. Bagged pruning and garden waste were placed on the ground at a distance of 1 m around the trunk of the three trees from each crop. The concentrations in C, N, lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, other extracts and ash were determined at the beginning of the experiment (T0), after six (T6) and 24 (T24) months in the field. Initially, significant differences were detected for all types of waste, especially in lignin, hemicellulose, cellulose and other extracts. No significant differences were found in the N content and the C content in mango pruning waste was significantly lower than that in avocado. The greatest weight loss recorded at T24 (63.2%) was related to the lower content in lignin, cellulose and other extracts. Weight losses and C concentrations showed negative correlations with lignin content. Despite the intense decomposition of all the waste, between 55 and 36.8% of the original weights were recorded at the end of the experiment. Recalcitrant C could be the result of the lignin concentrating in the case of the garden waste applied to the different crops.