bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Probing adaptation and spontaneous firing in human auditory-nerve fibers with far-field peri-stimulus time responses
Authors: Huet Antoine , Batrel Charlène , Dubernard Xavier , Kleiber Jean-Charles , Desmadryl Gilles , Venail Frédéric , Liberman M. Charles , Nouvian Régis , Puel Jean-Luc , Bourien Jérôme
Published: March 2021

Information in sound stimuli is conveyed from sensory hair cells to the cochlear nuclei by the firing of auditory nerve fibers (ANFs). For obvious ethical reasons, single unit recordings from the cochlear nerve have never been performed in human, thus functional hallmarks of ANFs are unknown. By filtering and rectifying the electrical signal recorded at the round window of gerbil cochleae, we reconstructed a peri-stimulus time response (PSTR), with a waveform similar to the peri-stimulus time histograms (PSTHs) recorded from single ANFs. Pair-by-pair analysis of simultaneous PSTR and PSTH recordings in gerbil provided a model to predict the rapid adaptation and spontaneous discharge rates (SR) in a population of ANFs according to their location in the cochlea. We then probed the model in the mouse, in which the SR-based distribution of ANFs differs from the gerbil. We show that the PSTR-based predictions of the rapid adaptation time constant and mean SR across frequency again matched those obtained by recordings from single ANFs. Using PSTR recorded from the human cochlear nerve in 8 normal-hearing patients who underwent cerebellopontine angle surgeries for a functional cranial-nerve disorders (trigeminal neuralgia or hemifacial spasm), we predicted a rapid adaptation of about 3 milliseconds and a mean SR of 23 spikes/s in the 4 kHz frequency range in human ANFs. Together, our results support the use of PSTR as a promising diagnostic tool to map the auditory nerve in humans, thus opening new avenues to better understanding neuropathies, tinnitus, and hyperacusis.
The role of meaning in service innovation: a conceptual exploration
Authors: Kustrak Korper Ana , Holmlid Stefan , Patrício Lia
Published: March 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of meaning as a relevant but missing link in understanding the building blocks of service innovation informed by service-dominant (S-D) logic. In exploring the role of meaning in service innovation, especially related to new value propositions, resource integration and new value cocreation, the authors suggest using the conceptualization of meaning within human-centered design, which has an established body of knowledge on addressing how actors engage and interact.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper builds an actionable conceptual framework that relates meaning to central tenets of service innovation, such as resource integration, value propositions and cocreation of value. It delineates the central building blocks of service innovation and conceptually integrates them with meaning to explain the underlying mechanisms of service innovation related both to its development and adoption.

Findings

The findings highlight how and why meaning precedes value creation and directs resource integration. Indicating that meaning is driven by experience of earlier interactions it delineates its relationships with new value formation and positions resource interpretation as a driver of this process.

Originality/value

This paper extends the understanding of service innovation in relation to S-D logic, with meaning as a conceptual link to aspects of S-D logic that claim a phenomenological nature. Meaning contributes to S-D logic by providing an understanding of how beneficiaries form intentions to engage in value creation and resource integration. Additionally, by integrating service and design research domains, this paper suggests possibilities for multidisciplinary contributions in future research.
Mastocytosis in the skin accompanied by pseudo‐Kaposi’s sarcoma
Authors: Vergara‐de‐la‐Campa Laura , Torrado Inés , Recuero‐Pradillo María , Torrelo Antonio , Gironella Mercedes , Pardal Emilia , Godoy Ana Cristina , Matito Almudena , Pérez‐Hortet Cristina , Mollejo Manuela , Álvarez‐Twöse Iván
Published: March 2021

Mastocytosis is a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by abnormal proliferation of neoplastic mast cells in the skin and/or other extracutaneous tissues. Most patients with skin involvement can be subclassified into one of the three subtypes of cutaneous mastocytosis currently recognized by the World Health Organization (i.e., mastocytoma, maculopapular cutaneous mastocytosis and diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis); however, some patients may occasionally present with atypical skin lesions that cannot be ascribed to any of these disease subtypes. Here, we report three patients diagnosed with mastocytosis and an unusual cutaneous involvement mimicking Kaposi’s sarcoma. Skin biopsies showed neoplastic mast cell infiltrates together with features commonly seen in acroangiodermatitis, and immunohistochemistry for human herpesvirus 8 was negative. One patient fulfilled the criteria for aggressive systemic mastocytosis, showed no response to cytoreductive therapy, and died because of disease progression. The remaining two patients had indolent and smoldering systemic mastocytosis, respectively, but they showed several features associated with an unfavorable prognosis such as extensive involvement of the hematopoiesis by the KIT D816V mutation, increased serum β2‐microglobulin, and decreased serum lactate dehydrogenase. The presence of pseudo‐Kaposi’s sarcoma skin lesions is an uncommon finding in mastocytosis which may alert physicians to the possible existence of underlying features indicative of a poor prognosis.
Economic Aspects of Loneliness in Australia
Authors: Kung Claryn S. J. , Kunz Johannes S. , Shields Michael A.
Published: March 2021

We highlight the problem of loneliness, and argue that it is not only a public health issue but also an economic problem. We provide a brief review of findings from the key literature on the associations between loneliness, mental and physical health, and healthcare costs; and then present some evidence on its trends, the extent of socioeconomic inequalities and its links with health and healthcare usage, in Australia. We hope to encourage further economics research on loneliness, and related issues of social isolation and poor social support, to aid the design of policies and interventions to reduce loneliness.
‘You Have to Withstand That Because You Have Come for What You Have Come for’: Barriers and facilitators to antiretroviral treatment access among older South Africans living with HIV
Authors: Schatz Enid , Knight Lucia , Mukumbang Ferdinand C. , Teti Michelle , Myroniuk Tyler W.
Published: March 2021

Nationwide rollout of antiretroviral treatment (ART) is increasing the number of older persons living with HIV (OPLWH) in South Africa. Yet, little is known about how the sociological aspects of ageing – stigma, finances and family dynamics – impact access to ART. Qualitative interviews with 23 persons aged 50‐plus living near Cape Town highlight the barriers and facilitators to the acceptability, affordability and availability of ART access among OPLWH. Key age‐related barriers included perceived shame of sexuality and disclosing HIV status to others, perceived disrespect by clinical staff, affording transportation to clinics and pre‐existing co‐morbidities. Key age‐related facilitators included family moral and financial support, particularly from children and grandchildren, and access to social grants. Importantly, many barriers and facilitators had feedback loops, for example social grants reduced transportation barriers to clinics when ageing and poor health limited mobility. As the population living with HIV ages, it is critical to assess the ways ageing, as a social process, impacts ART access and to address these to improve older persons’ HIV care.
A population‐genomic approach for estimating selection on polygenic traits in heterogeneous environments
Authors: Gompert Zachariah
Published: March 2021

Strong selection can cause rapid evolutionary change, but temporal fluctuations in the form, direction and intensity of selection can limit net evolutionary change over longer time periods. Fluctuating selection could affect molecular diversity levels and the evolution of plasticity and ecological specialization. Nonetheless, this phenomenon remains understudied, in part because of analytical limitations and the general difficulty of detecting selection that does not occur in a consistent manner. Herein, I fill this analytical gap by presenting an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) method to detect and quantify fluctuating selection on polygenic traits from population genomic time‐series data. I propose a model for environment‐dependent phenotypic selection. The evolutionary genetic consequences of selection are then modelled based on a genotype–phenotype map. Using simulations, I show that the proposed method generates accurate and precise estimates of selection when the generative model for the data is similar to the model assumed by the method. The performance of the method when applied to an evolve‐and‐resequence study of host adaptation in the cowpea seed beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) was more idiosyncratic and depended on specific analytical choices. Despite some limitations, these results suggest the proposed method provides a powerful approach to connect the causes of (variable) selection to traits and genome‐wide patterns of evolution. Documentation and open‐source computer software (fsabc) implementing this method are available from github (https://github.com/zgompert/fsabc.git).
Experimental support for genomic prediction of climate maladaptation using the machine learning approach Gradient Forests
Authors: Fitzpatrick Matthew C. , Chhatre Vikram E. , Soolanayakanahally Raju Y. , Keller Stephen R.
Published: March 2021

Gradient Forests (GF) is a machine learning algorithm that is gaining in popularity for studying the environmental drivers of genomic variation and for incorporating genomic information into climate change impact assessments. Here we (i) provide the first experimental evaluation of the ability of “genomic offsets” ‐ a metric of climate maladaptation derived from Gradient Forests ‐ to predict organismal responses to environmental change, and (ii) explore the use of GF for identifying candidate SNPs. We used high‐throughput sequencing, genome scans, and several methods, including GF, to identify candidate loci associated with climate adaptation in balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.). Individuals collected throughout balsam poplar's range also were planted in two common garden experiments. We used GF to relate candidate loci to environmental gradients and predict the expected magnitude of the response (i.e., the genetic offset metric of maladaptation) of populations when transplanted from their “home” environment to the common gardens. We then compared the predicted genetic offsets from different sets of candidate and randomly selected SNPs to measurements of population performance in the common gardens. We found the expected inverse relationship between genetic offset and performance: populations with larger predicted genetic offsets performed worse in the common gardens than populations with smaller offsets. Also, genetic offset better predicted performance than did “naive" climate transfer distances. However, sets of randomly selected SNPs predicted performance slightly better than did candidate SNPs. Our study provides evidence that genetic offsets represent a first order estimate of the degree of expected maladaptation of populations exposed to rapid environmental change and suggests GF may have some promise as a method for identifying candidate SNPs.
Long‐term fertilisation regimes influence the diversity and community of wheat leaf bacterial endophytes
Authors: Sun Zhan‐Bin , Li Hai‐Yan , Lin Zhi‐An , Yuan Liang , Xu Jiu‐Kai , Zhang Shui‐Qin , Li Yan‐Ting , Zhao Bing‐Qiang , Wen Yan‐Chen
Published: March 2021

Plant endophytes exhibit an excellent ability to promote plant growth and control plant diseases. However, the influence of long‐term fertilisation regimes on the diversity and community of plant endophytes has seldom been reported. In this research, Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to investigate the effect of 34 years of different fertilisation regimes on the diversity and community of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaf endophytes. Results showed that different fertilisation regimes could significantly influence the diversity and community of wheat leaf endophytes. The diversity of leaf endophytes after organic manure fertilisation was different from the diversity after chemical fertilisation and no fertilisation. The endophyte community was significantly different under different fertilisation regimes. Pseudomonas has higher abundance after chemical and organic manure fertilisation than in the no fertilisation treatment. The abundance of Brevundimonas in the organic manure fertilisation treatment group is higher than in chemical and no fertilisation treatment. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the endophyte communities in the chemical and organic manure fertilisation were positively correlated with wheat height, stem diameter, leaf area and yield. This research lays the foundations for understanding the diversity and community of wheat leaf endophytes under different fertilisation regimes and provides useful information for further scientific research on fertilisation.
Nutritional screening and intervention of older adults living in the community referred by the My Aged Care online portal
Authors: Hutchings Allison , Charlton Karen , do Rosario Vinicius Andre , Walton Karen
Published: March 2021

Objective

To assess whether nutritional screening and intervention improve the nutritional status of older adults living in the community.

Methods

The Kiama MOW service performed nutrition screening, after being trained by the research team and maintained the dataset. De‐identified data was provided to the research team for analysis. Meals on Wheels staff also kept detailed notes during the nutrition screening process and in discussions with clients. These notes were provided to the research team along with the de‐identified quantitative data, a summary of the measures taken following screening, including interventions that were recommended to clients by MOW staff. Staff were not formally interviewed about their experiences in conducting nutrition screening but their open‐ended text comments were retrospectively summarised, as well as anecdotal comments made to the research team who were involved in training and supporting the MOW team during the intervention period.

Results

Forty‐one individuals (25 women, mean age = 79.8 ± 8.9 years) were referred (21 well‐nourished, 16 at risk of malnutrition and 4 malnourished). After reassessment (n = 19), nutritional status had significantly improved (P = .008 for all referrals and P < .001 for those at risk of malnutrition or malnourished). The main interventions provided were as follows: nutrition education (100%), home‐delivered meals (78%) and social outings including meals (17%).

Conclusion

The My Aged Care portal may be a feasible source of referral of this population to perform routine nutrition screening for appropriate intervention.
Serum markers of B‐cell activation in pregnant women with atopic asthma
Authors: Martins Catarina , Lima Jorge , Cambridge Geraldine , Ângelo‐Dias Miguel , Leandro Maria , Miguel Borrego Luís
Published: March 2021

Problem

As maternal atopy represents a risk factor for the development of atopy in offspring, we aimed to assess how pregnancy affects B‐cell activation markers in women with atopic asthma and whether they correlate with risk manifestations for allergy in newborns from mothers with atopic asthma.

Method of Study

Pregnant women with atopic asthma (AP) in the third trimester of gestation and nonpregnant women with atopic asthma (ANP) were prospectively recruited and compared to respective healthy counterparts (HP and HNP). All pregnant women were also assessed during the postpartum period until 6 weeks after delivery (HP/PP and AP/PP). Newborns were clinically evaluated at the age of 6 months. Peripheral blood samples were taken from each woman at each time point. Soluble CD23 (sCD23), B‐cell activating factor (BAFF), IgA, IgG, IgM, kappa (κ), and lambda (λ) free light chains (FLC) were quantified in serum samples.

Results

The AP group presented increased sCD23 (p < 0.05) and BAFF (p < 0.001) levels compared to the ANP group and even higher levels of sCD23 during the postpartum period (p < 0.001). Moreover, the cutoffs of 6.74 g/L for IgG (sensitivity 90.9%, specificity 77.8%) and of 11.30 mg/L for λ FLC (sensitivity 81.8%, specificity 88.9%) in the AP group were predictive factors for the manifestation of allergy in their offspring.

Conclusions

After delivery, the dynamics of sCD23 and BAFF changed significantly in the AP group. Furthermore, we found novel predictive factors for allergy manifestations in the children of these women, with potential clinical application.
Resistance in health and healthcare
Authors: Essex Ryan
Published: March 2021

In this article I will introduce and outline the concept of resistance as it relates to health and healthcare. Starting with a number of examples of action, I will then turn to the broader literature to discuss some conventional definitions and related concepts, outlining debates, controversies and limitations related to conceptualizing resistance. I conceptualize resistance broadly, as any act, performed by any individual (or collective) acting as or explicitly identifying as a healthcare professional, that is a response to power, most often in opposition to contentious, harmful or unjust rules, practices, policies or structures. Practically this could account for any public action, marches, sit‐ins and civil disobedience, but also forms of ‘everyday resistance’, such as working slowly, feigning sickness, or even providing care for marginalized groups that would otherwise not have access. Such action could go unrecognized by those in power and perhaps more contentiously, those resisting needn’t even recognize their actions as resistance. I will then apply this conceptualization to explain action that has been undertaken by healthcare professionals, identifying its key features. I will briefly discuss future directions for inquiry that appear particularly pressing. These including ongoing conceptual development, identifying the functions of resistance in health and healthcare along with what makes it distinct from healthcare as usual and other forms of resistance and finally, the range of normative questions resistance raises.
Women’s dissatisfaction with inappropriate behavior by health care workers during childbirth care in France: A survey study
Authors: Gaucher Laurent , Huissoud Cyril , Ecochard Rene , Rudigoz René‐Charles , Cortet Marion , Bouvet Lionel , Bouveret Laetitia , Touzet Sandrine , Gonnaud Françoise , Colin Cyrille , Gaucherand Pascal , Dupont Corinne ,   the AURORE Group
Published: March 2021

Background

Quality care during childbirth requires that health care providers have not only excellent skills but also appropriate and considerate attitudes and behavior. Few studies have examined the proportion of women in Western countries expressing dissatisfaction with such inappropriate or inconsiderate behavior. This study evaluated this proportion in a sample presumably representative of French maternity units.

Methods

This prospective multicenter study, using data from a selfadministered questionnaire, took place in 25 French maternity units during one week in September 2018. The primary outcome measure was mothers' self‐reported dissatisfaction with blatantly inappropriate behavior (ie, inappropriate attitude, inadequate respect for privacy, insufficient gentleness of care, and/or inappropriate language) by health care workers in the delivery room. The secondary outcome was their self‐reported dissatisfaction with these workers' inconsiderate behavior (ie, unclear and inappropriate information, insufficient participation in decision‐making, or deficient consideration of pain).

Results

Of 803 potentially eligible women, 627 completed the questionnaire after childbirth; 5.62% (35/623, 95% CI: 3.94‐7.73) reported dissatisfaction with blatantly inappropriate behaviors and 9.79% (61/623, 95% CI: 7.57‐12.40) with inconsiderate behaviors. The main causes of dissatisfaction reported by women in this survey were the inadequate consideration of their pain and the failure to share decision‐making.

Conclusions

Most of the women were satisfied with how health care workers behaved towards them in the delivery room. Nonetheless, health care staff must be aware of women's demands for greater consideration of their expressions of pain and of their voice in decisions.
Impact of enhanced optical techniques at time of transurethral resection of bladder tumour, with or without single immediate intravesical chemotherapy, on recurrence rate of non‐muscle‐invasive bladder cancer: a systematic review and network meta‐analysis of randomized trials
Authors: Sari Motlagh Reza , Mori Keiichiro , Laukhtina Ekaterina , Aydh Abdulmajeed , Katayama Satoshi , Grossmann Nico C. , Mostafai Hadi , Pradere Benjamin , Quhal Fahad , Schuettfort Victor M. , Roshandel Mohammad Reza , Karakiewicz Pierre I. , Teoh Jeremy , Shariat Shahrokh F. , Fajkovic Harun
Published: March 2021

Objective

To assess whether single immediate intravesical chemotherapy (SIIC) adds value to bladder tumour management in combination with novel optical techniques: enhanced transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT).

Methods

A systematic search was performed using the PubMed and Web of Science databases in September 2020 according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐analysis (PRISMA) extension statement for network meta‐analyses. Studies that compared recurrence rates among intervention groups (TURBT with photodynamic diagnosis [PDD] ± SIIC, narrow‐band imaging [NBI] ± SIIC, or white‐light cystoscopy [WLC] + SIIC) and a control group (TURBT with WLC alone) were included. We used the Bayesian approach in the network meta‐analysis.

Results

Twenty‐two studies (n = 4519) met our eligibility criteria. Out of six different interventions including three different optical techniques, compared to WLC alone, blue‐light cystoscopy (BLC) plus SIIC (odds ratio [OR] 0.349, 95% credible interval [CrI] 0.196–0.601) and BLC alone (OR 0.668, 95% CrI 0.459–0.931) were associated with a significantly lower likelihood of 12‐month recurrence rate. In the sensitivity analysis, out of eight different interventions compared to WLC alone, PDD by 5‐aminolevulinic acid plus SIIC (OR 0.327, 95% CrI 0.159–0.646) and by hexaminolevulinic acid plus SIIC (OR 0.376, 95% CrI 0.172–0.783) were both associated with a significantly lower likelihood of 12‐month recurrence rate. NBI with and without SIIC was not associated with a significantly lower likelihood of 12‐month recurrence rate (OR 0.385, 95% CrI 0.105–1.29 and OR 0.653, 95% CrI 0.343–1.15).

Conclusion

Blue‐light cystoscopy during TURBT with concomitant SIIC seems to yield superior recurrence outcomes in patients with non‐muscle‐invasive bladder cancer. The use of PDD was able to reduce the 12‐month recurrence rate; moreover, concomitant SIIC increased this risk benefit by a 32% additional reduction in odds ratio. Although using PDD could reduce the recurrence rate, SIIC remains necessary. Moreover, ranking analysis showed that both PDD and NBI, plus SIIC, were better than these techniques alone.
Peer mentor training: Pathway to competency for facilitators of Healthy Mothers Healthy Families workshops
Authors: Bourke‐Taylor Helen M. , Grzegorczyn Sarah , Joyce Kahli S.
Published: March 2021

Background

Healthy Mothers Healthy Families (HMHF) is a women's health and empowerment programme designed to promote the health and well‐being of mothers of children with a disability. An ongoing need to extend the reach of HMHF to more mothers, and increase scalability, resulted in development of a training programme based in principles of adult and transformative learning, to credential mothers as HMHF facilitators. The current study evaluated the process and outcomes of the competency training programme for new facilitators.

Methods

A pretest and posttest design with midway data collection point was implemented to evaluate the facilitators' competence following the training programme. Surveys contained specifically designed demographic questions, open‐ended questions, self‐report of competency and estimation of need for education/training. Fifteen predetermined criteria enabled self‐ratings. Training of facilitators occurred alongside delivery of 23‐day HMHF workshops. Workshop participants provided anonymous objective evaluation of the facilitators' competencies. Triangulation enabled comparison of self‐ratings, workshop participant ratings and author evaluation of new facilitators.

Results

Facilitators (N = 7) completed all theory and practical elements of the HMHF facilitator education package and were successfully credentialed in May 2020. Overall, facilitators' competency ratings were highest at Time 3, which followed successful co‐facilitation of at least three HMHF workshops. As expected, facilitators rated their highest need for education/training at baseline. At Time 3, facilitators self‐reported a lower need for education/training for all competency criteria. All facilitators received mean anonymous competency ratings from workshop participants (N = 294), above the predetermined benchmark that was required to become credentialled.

Conclusions

The HMHF competency training programme, based on principles of adult and transformative learning, was effective in training seven HMHF facilitators who were mothers and had suitable professional backgrounds to deliver HMHF workshops. Training supports the fidelity of the HMHF intervention. Further research to evaluate maternal outcomes for participants attending the facilitator‐lead workshops is warranted.
Congenital ataxia due to novel variant in ATP8A2
Authors: Damásio Joana , Santos Diana , Morais Sara , Brás José , Guerreiro Rita , Sardoeira Ana , Cavaco Sara , Carrilho Inês , Barbot Clara , Barros José , Sequeiros Jorge
Published: March 2021

Congenital ataxias are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by congenital or early‐onset ataxia. Here, we describe two siblings with congenital ataxia, who acquired independent gait by age 4 years. After 16 years of follow‐up they presented near normal cognition, cerebellar ataxia, mild pyramidal signs, and dystonia. On exome sequencing, a novel homozygous variant (c.1580‐18C > G ‐ intron 17) in ATP8A2 was identified. A new acceptor splice site was predicted by bioinformatics tools, and functionally characterized through a minigene assay. Minigene constructs were generated by PCR‐amplification of genomic sequences surrounding the variant of interest and cloning into the pCMVdi vector. Altered splicing was evaluated by expressing these constructs in HEK293T cells. The construct with the c.1580‐18C > G homozygous variant produced an aberrant transcript, leading to retention of 17 bp of intron 17, by the use of an alternative acceptor splice site, resulting in a premature stop codon by insertion of four amino acids. These results allowed us to establish this as a disease‐causing variant and expand ATP8A2‐related disorders to include less severe forms of congenital ataxia.
It is all in the details: A bilateral approach for modelling trade agreements at the tariff line
Authors: Jafari Yaghoob , Himics Mihaly , Britz Wolfgang , Beckman Jayson
Published: March 2021

Policymakers are increasingly relying on computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to provide economy‐wide impacts of trade agreements; however, these assessments often make the simplifying assumption of complete bilateral tariff elimination. But agreements typically involve partial tariff elimination for sensitive sectors—which are often differentiated at the tariff line. As such, applying a uniform tariff reduction in a CGE sector that encompasses many products could introduce bias. We propose a tariff line approach for modelling exemptions for sensitive goods in CGE models with the aim of reducing this bias. This approach is tested for the Canada–EU trade agreement, and systematically compared to standard approaches to bilateral trade liberalisation in CGE analysis. We find that more common approaches might systematically overestimate trade and welfare impacts by neglecting partial liberalisation in selected sectors and/or not considering substitution across tariff lines.
Simulating the Acquisition of Verb Inflection in Typically Developing Children and Children With Developmental Language Disorder in English and Spanish
Authors: Freudenthal Daniel , Ramscar Michael , Leonard Laurence B. , Pine Julian M.
Published: March 2021

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have significant deficits in language ability that cannot be attributed to neurological damage, hearing impairment, or intellectual disability. The symptoms displayed by children with DLD differ across languages. In English, DLD is often marked by severe difficulties acquiring verb inflection. Such difficulties are less apparent in languages with rich verb morphology like Spanish and Italian. Here we show how these differential profiles can be understood in terms of an interaction between properties of the input language, and the child's ability to learn predictive relations between linguistic elements that are separated within a sentence. We apply a simple associative learning model to sequential English and Spanish stimuli and show how the model's ability to associate cues occurring earlier in time with later outcomes affects the acquisition of verb inflection in English more than in Spanish. We relate this to the high frequency of the English bare form (which acts as a default) and the English process of question formation, which means that (unlike in Spanish) bare forms frequently occur in third‐person singular contexts. Finally, we hypothesize that the pro‐drop nature of Spanish makes it easier to associate person and number cues with the verb inflection than in English. Since the factors that conspire to make English verb inflection particularly challenging for learners with weak sequential learning abilities are much reduced or absent in Spanish, this provides an explanation for why learning Spanish verb inflection is relatively unaffected in children with DLD.
Hospital‐at‐home for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation: Will it be an effective readmission avoidance model?
Authors: Kaymaz Dicle , Candemir İpek , Ergün Pınar , Demir Pervin
Published: March 2021

Objectives

Hospital‐at‐home (HAH), a pioneering health care model, is an accepted alternative to hospital treatment for patients with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effectiveness of HAH for patients with COPD exacerbations.

Methods

Two hundred six patients with COPD exacerbations who were admitted to our emergency room (ER) received the HAH model between January 2008 and March 2010. The number of patient’s hospitalization, admission to emergency room, unscheduled outpatient attendance, and the length of stay in hospital (day) were recorded before and after a one‐year period of HAH.

Results

After a one‐year follow‐up period of the HAH program, the number of patient who had hospitalization, admission to ER, unscheduled outpatient attendance rates was decreased 41.3%, 54.4%, 49.5% respectively. The decreases for all parameters were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.001). Additionally the total number of length of stay in hospital (day) after a one‐year period after HAH was decreased (46.5%).

Conclusion

Integrated care services, including home care units where HAH models are performed, are necessary to improve the health of patients with COPD, as well as to better manage their condition in terms of disease burden. Physicians should consider this form of management, especially because there is increasing pressure on inpatient bed requirement in Turkey.
Negotiating rights and faith: a study of rights‐based approaches to humanitarian action in Pakistan
Authors: Borchgrevink Kaja
Published: March 2021

‘Rights‐based approaches’ (RBAs) have become a well‐established concept over the past two decades, informing the work of diverse actors involved in development and humanitarian aid. Faith‐based organisations have increasingly embraced the RBA, although not without contestation. Drawing on new qualitative data from Pakistan, this paper examines how ‘global’ RBA norms are operationalised in ‘local’ contexts characterised by great normative diversity and identifies three dominant normative frameworks used by non‐governmental organisations in the translation of RBAs: humanitarian standards; citizens' rights; and Islamic principles. It utilises a case study of RBAs in Pakistan and reveals the significance of religion and religious entities in the translation of rights. From this example, the paper makes a conceptual distinction between ‘instrumental’ and ‘substantial’ modes of engagement, a framing that allows for a more detailed analysis of how humanitarian actors deal with religion and rights than what is often found in studies of humanitarian action.
Improvement of cognitive function, glucose and lipid homeostasis and serum osteocalcin levels by liraglutide in diabetic rats
Authors: Sedky Amina Ahmed
Published: March 2021

Background

Glucose and lipid abnormalities, oxidative stress (OXS) and reduced brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are involved in cognitive dysfunction in diabetes. Glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP1) receptors modulate glucose and lipid metabolism, cognitive function and serum osteocalcin. On the other hand, osteocalcin modulates cognitive function and glucose and lipid metabolism. This study investigated whether the GLP 1 agonist liraglutide improves cognitive function via modulation of serum osteocalcin and glucose and lipid metabolism.

Methods

Effects of 4 weeks liraglutide treatment (100 µg/Kg/d and 300 µg/Kg/d) on changes in cognitive function and bone homeostasis, induced by high fat diet/low‐dose streptozotocin (HFD‐STZ), were determined in rats. Cognitive function was assessed using Morris water maze (MWM) test. Serum and bone biochemical parameters were determined.

Results

Liraglutide dose‐dependently improved cognitive function in diabetic rats (reduced escape latency, and increased time spent in target quadrant in MWM test, compared to diabetic control). Glucose and lipid abnormalities and the associated changes in serum BDNF and oxidative stress makers were improved. Serum BDNF and glutathione were significantly increased, whereas malondialdehyde level was reduced. Serum osteocalcin was significantly increased and correlated with improvement in cognitive dysfunction. Serum and bone receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL)/osteoprotegerin ratios were significantly reduced by liraglutide treatment.

Conclusion

Improvement of cognitive dysfunction by liraglutide involves modulation of glucose and lipid metabolism and serum osteocalcin. GLP1 agonists may provide an alternative metabolic approach for cognitive dysfunction in diabetes.
Reg1 and Snf1 regulate stress‐induced relocalization of protein phosphatase‐1 to cytoplasmic granules
Authors: Schnell Helena Maria , Jochem Marco , Micoogullari Yagmur , Riggs Claire Louise , Ivanov Pavel , Welsch Hendrik , Ravindran Rini , Anderson Paul , Robinson Lucy Christina , Tatchell Kelly , Hanna John
Published: March 2021

The compartmentalization of cellular function is achieved largely through the existence of membrane‐bound organelles. However, recent work suggests a novel mechanism of compartmentalization mediated by membraneless structures that have liquid droplet‐like properties and arise through phase separation. Cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs) are the best characterized and are induced by various stressors including arsenite, heat shock, and glucose deprivation. Current models suggest that SGs play an important role in protein homeostasis by mediating reversible translation attenuation. Protein phosphatase‐1 (PP1) is a central cellular regulator responsible for most serine/threonine dephosphorylation. Here, we show that upon arsenite stress, PP1's catalytic subunit Glc7 relocalizes to punctate cytoplasmic granules. This altered localization requires PP1's recently described maturation pathway mediated by the multifunctional ATPase Cdc48 and PP1's regulatory subunit Ypi1. Glc7 relocalization is mediated by its regulatory subunit Reg1 and its target Snf1, the AMP‐dependent protein kinase. Surprisingly, Glc7 granules are highly specific to arsenite and appear distinct from canonical SGs. Arsenite induces potent translational inhibition, and translational recovery is strongly dependent on Glc7, but independent of Glc7's well‐established role in regulating eIF2α. These results suggest a novel form of stress‐induced cytoplasmic granule and a new mode of translational control by Glc7.
A new method for determining the accurate J‐R curves of steels
Authors: Gao Hui , Li Chun‐Qing , Wang Weigang , Wang Yanlin , Zhang Bohua
Published: March 2021

Unloading compliance (UC) method and normalization method (NM) are two of the most commonly used methods for determining the fracture toughness of materials. However, considerable differences often exist in the fracture toughness determined by these two methods, which solicits a new method to determine the fracture toughness accurately. In this paper, the compliance of crack length differences is discovered, analyzed, and verified by experiments. Based on this compliance, a new accurate method, known as the accurate J‐R curve method (AJR), is developed and verified by test results. It is found that the J‐R curves determined by the new AJR method are more accurate than those determined by UC and NM. The developed new AJR method and the results presented in this paper can assist engineers and researchers to determine J‐R curves and fracture toughness of steels more accurately and can contribute to the body of knowledge of fracture mechanics.
VICO'S NEW SCIENCE AND A NEW POETIC PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Authors: Luft Sandra Rudnick
Published: March 2021

This review essay discusses Giambattista Vico and the New Psychological Science, which contains seven essays that challenge traditional anthropological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions that define psychology as a social science and instead interpret it as an embodied understanding of human cultural activity. The authors use Vico's New Science to support this endeavor because, they suggest, it traces the creation of human existence from a prehuman animal state with the agency of poiesis, an embodied meta‐phoric language and social practices that are inseparable from that language. This effort is a potentially transformative reinterpretation of Vico, whose verum factum principle scholars interpret as challenging Cartesian epistemology. Identifying the true with the made, Vico's principle limits human knowing to what humans make—that is, their historical world. The authors rightly emphasize the embodied nature of making with poetic language and social practices. However, they undermine the significance of that embodiment by assuming that knowing what is made with poiesis is, like traditional understandings of knowledge, epistemic. Thus, they implicitly retain humanism's metaphysical assumption that grounds epistemology: humans know intelligible reality because they are dualistic beings who possess rational, subjective natures. By contrast, I claim that Vico's poetic humanism is a more radical move from traditional humanism's belief in epistemology toward a culturally active anthropology. For Vico, bodily skills of perception, memory, and imagination create a metaphoric language based on random perceptions, images, and sounds. This metaphoric language is inseparable from social practices and physical skills, creating a meaningful human world. The making achieved by embodied poetic language cannot lead to epistemic knowledge; it can only lead to the self‐referential hermeneutic understanding that humans are the creators of their human existence. Vico's verum factum is not an epistemological principle in the Cartesian tradition but an ontological unity of knowing and making through sociophysical skills that are inseparable from poetic language. Humans make their ontologically real, meaningful human world and know themselves as its creators.
The association of the steatosis severity, NAFLD fibrosis score and FIB‐4 index with atherogenic dyslipidaemia in adult patients with NAFLD: A cross‐sectional study
Authors: Tutunchi Helda , Naeini Fatemeh , Ebrahimi‐mameghani Mehrangiz , Mobasseri Majid , Naghshi Sina , Ostadrahimi Alireza
Published: March 2021

Objectives

Obesity and dyslipidaemia are the major risk factors for non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and are known to increase cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the leading cause of death in NAFLD patients. The present cross‐sectional study aimed to investigate associations among severity of hepatic steatosis, NAFLD fibrosis score and atherogenic lipid profile.

Methods

A total of 265 patients with NAFLD confirmed by ultrasonographic findings were included. The NAFLD fibrosis score and the fibrosis‐4 (FIB‐4) index were used to classify the probability of fibrosis as low, intermediate and high probability. Serum lipids including total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) were measured, and then TC/HDL‐C, LDL‐C/HDL‐C, TG/HDL‐C and non HDL‐C/HDL‐C ratios were determined. Fasting blood sugar (FBS), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were also assessed. The homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) was calculated.

Results

The severity of hepatic steatosis was positively correlated with TC/HDL‐C (r = 0.29, P = .002), LDL‐C/HDL‐C (r = 0.32, P < .001), TG/HDL‐C (r = 0.36, P < .001) and non‐HDL‐C/HDL‐C (r = 0.24, P = .001) ratios. Similarly, these parameters were positively correlated with NAFLD fibrosis score and FIB‐4 index (P < .05). In addition, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels were positively correlated with TG/HDL‐C ratio (r = 0.31, P = .003; and r = 0.27, P = .001 respectively). With increasing the severity of hepatic steatosis and NAFLD fibrosis score, the mean of all lipid ratios increased significantly (P < .01 and P < .05, respectively). Importantly, after controlling for potential confounders including age, gender, physical activity level, body mass index, waist circumference and HOMA‐IR, the severity of steatosis, NAFLD fibrosis score and FIB‐4 index remained independent predictors of atherogenic lipid profile.

Conclusions

Severity of hepatic steatosis, NAFLD fibrosis score and FIB‐4 index were significantly correlated with atherogenic lipid profile. As NAFLD is high among patients with metabolic risk factors for CVD, their dyslipidaemia should be aggressively managed.
Evaluation of biophysical skin parameters and hair changes in patients with acne vulgaris treated with isotretinoin, and the effect of biotin use on these parameters
Authors: Aksac Sema E. , Bilgili Serap G. , Yavuz Goknur O. , Yavuz Ibrahim H. , Aksac Murat , Karadag Ayse S.
Published: March 2021

Aim

Impairment of biotin metabolism with the use of isotretinoin and the mucocutaneous side effects observed in patients using isotretinoin suggests that they are a result of decreased enzyme activity. We aimed to determine the pattern of skin and hair changes in patients with acne receiving isotretinoin and how these changes were affected by biotin added to the treatment.

Materials and methods

Sixty patients were divided into two groups. Each group contained 30 patients. Groups A and B received 0.5 mg/kg/day isotretinoin, and 10 mg/day biotin supplement was added to Group B. Both groups were evaluated using a digital dermoscope for hair changes and with a DermaLab® Combo device for transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin retraction, skin hydration, and skin sebum levels at the beginning and end of the fourth month.

Results

In group B, the anagen hair ratio increased (P = 0.034) and the telogen hair ratio decreased significantly (P = 0.003). Skin sebum and the skin retraction values decreased in both groups. Skin hydration decreased significantly in group A (P = 0.001), but there was no significant decrease in group B (P = 0.43).

Conclusion

Biotin (10 mg/day) given in addition to isotretinoin treatment decreased telogen and increased anagen hair rates and helped to maintain skin hydration. The use of 10 mg/day biotin can prevent the mucocutaneous adverse effects of isotretinoin treatment.
A dermoscopic study of cutaneous myiasis: other findings
Authors: Nassar Ahmed , Abualiat Abdullah , El‐Attar Yasmina A. , Alkahtani Ayed M. , Alshahrani Mohammed S. , Aljubran Abdullah , Shaker Engi S. E.
Published: March 2021

Background

Myiasis is a cutaneous infestation by the larvae of dipterous flies. It can be furuncular/nodular, papular, or pustular. Diagnosis of cutaneous myiasis depends mainly on clinical examination especially for the nodular form. The latter two forms can present diagnostic difficulties. Dermoscopy has been reported to be helpful. This report illustrates some of the dermoscopic features of this condition.

Methods

The history, clinical findings, and dermoscopic findings of 15 affected individuals were documented.

Results

Dermoscopy in all patients showed the posterior end of larvae (creamy‐white bodies and respiratory spiracles resembling birds’ legs with digitated feet). Larval motility and bubbles were noticed in 15 and 10 of patients, respectively. Skin surrounding the larvae showed hypopigmentation in 11 patients and an increase in dilated capillaries in 13.

Conclusions

Dermoscopy can facilitate the diagnosis of myiasis particularly of the papular and pustular forms.
Genetics in the Host‐Mycobacterium ulcerans interaction
Authors: Fevereiro João , Fraga Alexandra G. , Pedrosa Jorge
Published: March 2021

Buruli ulcer is an emerging infectious disease associated with high morbidity and unpredictable outbreaks. It is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, a slow‐growing pathogen evolutionarily shaped by the acquisition of a plasmid involved in the production of a potent macrolide‐like cytotoxin and by genome rearrangements and downsizing. These events culminated in an uncommon infection pattern, whereby M. ulcerans is both able to induce the initiation of the inflammatory cascade and the cell death of its proponents, as well as to survive within the phagosome and in the extracellular milieu. In such extreme conditions, the host is sentenced to rely on a highly orchestrated genetic landscape to be able to control the infection. We here revisit the dynamics of M. ulcerans infection, drawing parallels from other mycobacterioses and integrating the most recent knowledge on its evolution and pathogenicity in its interaction with the host immune response.