bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Whipple's disease and Tropheryma whipplei infections: when to suspect them and how to diagnose and treat them
Authors: Lagier Jean-Christophe , Raoult Didier
Published: October 2018

Purpose of review

The delay between first clinical signs and diagnosis of Whipple's disease and Tropheryma whipplei infections is more than 6 years, and relapses are frequently observed, resulting in a need for clinicians to be aware of this infection.

Recent findings

18 FDG-PET is useful in the diagnosis and the follow-up of patients (particularly in case of neurological involvement). Histological involvement remains the goldstandard for classic Whipple's disease diagnosis. PCR performed on biopsies of fluid is the main tool for the diagnosis of localized chronic infections. PCR performed on urine samples should become an important role of noninvasive diagnostic strategies, while T. whipplei PCR performed on saliva and stool lack specificity. Because of lifetime susceptibility to T. whipplei and in-vitro susceptibility data, a 1-year course of doxycycline and hydroxychloroquine followed by a lifelong treatment by doxycycline is recommended for Whipple's disease, localized endocarditis and encephalitis.

Clinical involvement of the different T. whipplei infections is well described, as well as the treatment of Whipple's disease, endocarditis and encephalitis. The place of PCR performed on urine remains to be clarified for diagnosis of localized T. whipplei infections and acute infections as well as the optimal treatment for arthritis and acute infections.
Invasive fungal disease and cytomegalovirus infection: is there an association?
Authors: Yong Michelle K. , Slavin Monica A. , Kontoyiannis Dimitrios P.
Published: October 2018

Purpose of review

Invasive fungal disease (IFD) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections occur frequently, either concomitantly or sequentially in immune-compromised hosts. Although there is extensive knowledge of the risk factors for these infections as single entities, the inter-relationship between opportunistic fungii and CMV has not been comprehensively explored.

Recent findings

Both solid organ and stem cell transplant recipients who develop CMV invasive organ disease are at an increased risk of developing IFD, particularly aspergillosis and Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). Moreover, CMV viremia and recipient CMV serostatus also increased the risk of both early and late-onset IFD. Treatment-related factors, such as ganciclovir-induced neutropenia and host genetic Toll-like receptor (TLR) polymorphisms are likely to be contributory. Less is known about the relationship between CMV and IFD outside transplantation, such as in patients with hematological cancers or other chronic immunosuppressive conditions. Finally, few studies report on the relationship between CMV-specific treatments or the viral/antigen kinetics and its influence on IFD management.

CMV infection is associated with increased risk of IFD in posttransplant recipients because of a number of overlapping and virus-specific risk factors. Better understanding of how CMV virus, its related treatment, CMV-induced immunosuppression and host genetic factors impact on IFD is warranted.
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis complicating severe influenza: epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment
Authors: Vanderbeke Lore , Spriet Isabel , Breynaert Christine , Rijnders Bart J.A. , Verweij Paul E. , Wauters Joost
Published: October 2018

Purpose of review

Bacterial super-infection of critically ill influenza patients is well known, but in recent years, more and more reports describe invasive aspergillosis as a frequent complication as well. This review summarizes the available literature on the association of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) with severe influenza [influenza-associated aspergillosis (IAA)], including epidemiology, diagnostic approaches and treatment options.

Recent findings

Though IPA typically develops in immunodeficient patients, non-classically immunocompromised patients such as critically ill influenza patients are at high-risk for IPA as well. The morbidity and mortality of IPA in these patients is high, and in the majority of them, the onset occurs early after ICU admission. At present, standard of care (SOC) consists of close follow-up of these critically ill influenza patients with high diagnostic awareness for IPA. As soon as there is clinical, mycological or radiological suspicion for IAA, antifungal azole-based therapy (e.g. voriconazole) is initiated, in combination with therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Antifungal treatment regimens should reflect local epidemiology of azole-resistantAspergillusspecies and should be adjusted to clinical evolution. TDM is necessary as azoles like voriconazole are characterized by nonlinear pharmacokinetics, especially in critically ill patients.

In light of the frequency, morbidity and mortality associated with influenza-associated aspergillosis in the ICU, a high awareness of the diagnosis and prompt initiation of antifungal therapy is required. Further studies are needed to evaluate the incidence of IAA in a prospective multicentric manner, to elucidate contributing host-derived factors to the pathogenesis of this super-infection, to further delineate the population at risk, and to identify the preferred diagnostic and management strategy, and also the role of prophylaxis.
Rational approach in the management of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections
Authors: Bassetti Matteo , Vena Antonio , Russo Alessandro , Croxatto Antony , Calandra Thierry , Guery Benoit
Published: October 2018

Purpose of review

This review details the management of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections covering both current and future treatment options that are and may be available for the clinicians.

Recent findings

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections are a great concern in hospital-acquired infections with very limited therapeutic options. The increasing antibiotic resistance has led to a need for different treatment choices that range from the use of new antibiotics to new nonantibiotic alternative agents to kill or disarm the pathogen.

New molecules such as ceftolozane–tazobactam, ceftazidime–avibactam, and imipenem–relebactam have shown an adequate activity against P. aeruginosa, especially against multidrug resistance strains. Other nonantibiotic alternative treatments, such as antibodies, bacteriocins or phage therapy, have shown promising results, but future clinical studies are needed.
Tropical land carbon cycle responses to 2015/16 El Niño as recorded by atmospheric greenhouse gas and remote sensing data
Authors: Gloor Emanuel , Wilson Chris , Chipperfield Martyn P. , Chevallier Frederic , Buermann Wolfgang , Boesch Hartmut , Parker Robert , Somkuti Peter , Gatti Luciana V. , Correia Caio , Domingues Lucas G. , Peters Wouter , Miller John , Deeter Merritt N. , Sullivan Martin J. P.
Published: October 2018

The outstanding tropical land climate characteristic over the past decades is rapid warming, with no significant large-scale precipitation trends. This warming is expected to continue but the effects on tropical vegetation are unknown. El Niño-related heat peaks may provide a test bed for a future hotter world. Here we analyse tropical land carbon cycle responses to the 2015/16 El Niño heat and drought anomalies using an atmospheric transport inversion. Based on the global atmospheric CO
2
and fossil fuel emission records, we find no obvious signs of anomalously large carbon release compared with earlier El Niño events, suggesting resilience of tropical vegetation. We find roughly equal net carbon release anomalies from Amazonia and tropical Africa, approximately 0.5 PgC each, and smaller carbon release anomalies from tropical East Asia and southern Africa. Atmospheric CO anomalies reveal substantial fire carbon release from tropical East Asia peaking in October 2015 while fires contribute only a minor amount to the Amazonian carbon flux anomaly. Anomalously large Amazonian carbon flux release is consistent with downregulation of primary productivity during peak negative near-surface water anomaly (October 2015 to March 2016) as diagnosed by solar-induced fluorescence. Finally, we find an unexpected anomalous positive flux to the atmosphere from tropical Africa early in 2016, coincident with substantial CO release.

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications’.
Monitoring emissions from the 2015 Indonesian fires using CO satellite data
Authors: Nechita-Banda Narcisa , Krol Maarten , van der Werf Guido R. , Kaiser Johannes W. , Pandey Sudhanshu , Huijnen Vincent , Clerbaux Cathy , Coheur Pierre , Deeter Merritt N. , Röckmann Thomas
Published: October 2018

Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, has periodically struggled with intense fire events. These events convert substantial amounts of carbon stored as peat to atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO
2
) and significantly affect atmospheric composition on a regional to global scale. During the recent 2015 El Niño event, peat fires led to strong enhancements of carbon monoxide (CO), an air pollutant and well-known tracer for biomass burning. These enhancements were clearly observed from space by the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instruments. We use these satellite observations to estimate CO fire emissions within an inverse modelling framework. We find that the derived CO emissions for each sub-region of Indonesia and Papua are substantially different from emission inventories, highlighting uncertainties in bottom-up estimates. CO fire emissions based on either MOPITT or IASI have a similar spatial pattern and evolution in time, and a 10% uncertainty based on a set of sensitivity tests we performed. Thus, CO satellite data have a high potential to complement existing operational fire emission estimates based on satellite observations of fire counts, fire radiative power and burned area, in better constraining fire occurrence and the associated conversion of peat carbon to atmospheric CO
2
. A total carbon release to the atmosphere of 0.35–0.60 Pg C can be estimated based on our results.

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'.
Nitrate inhibition of nodule formation in Medicago truncatula is mediated by ACC SYNTHASE 10
Authors: Zeijl Arjan van , Guhl Kerstin , Xiao Ting Ting , Shen Defeng , Geurts René , Kohlen Wouter
Published: October 2018

Legumes form a mutualistic endosymbiosis with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. These rhizobia are housed intracellularly in specialised lateral root organs, called nodules. Initiation of these nodules is triggered by bacterial derived signalling molecules, lipochitooligosaccharides (LCO). The process of nitrogen fixation is highly energy-demanding and therefore nodule initiation is tightly regulated. Nitrate is a potent inhibitor of nodulation. However, the precise mechanisms by which nitrate inhibits nodulation is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that in Medicago truncatula nitrate interferes with the transcriptional regulation of the ethylene biosynthesis gene ACC SYNTHASE 10. ACSs commit the rate limiting step in ethylene biosynthesis and in M. truncatula ACS10 is highly expressed in the zone of the root where nodulation occurs. Our results show that a reduction in ACS10 expression in response to LCO exposure correlates with the ability to form nodules. In addition, RNAi-mediated knockdown of ACS10 confers nodulation ability under otherwise inhibitory nitrate conditions. This discovery sheds new light on how ethylene is involved in the inhibition of nodulation by nitrate, bringing us one step closer to understanding how plants regulate their susceptibility towards rhizobia.
Yersiniabactin, Colibactin and Wider Resistome Contribute to Enhanced Virulence and Persistence of KPC-2-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae CG258 in South America
Authors: Cerdeira Louise T. , Esposito Fernanda , Lam Margaret M. C. , Wyres Kelly L. , Wick Ryan R. , Judd Louise M. , Cunha Marcos V. , Knöbl Terezinha , Araújo Bruna F. , Ribas Rosineide M. , Cifuentes Sebastian , Tamariz Jesus , Bueno Maria F. C. , Francisco Gabriela R. , Garcia Doroti O. , Gonzalez-Rocha Gerardo , Gutkind Gabriel , Holt Kathryn E. , Lincopan Nilton
Published: October 2018

The emergence and dissemination of carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-hvKp) is a worrisome public health issue compromising the treatment and outcome of infections caused by this pathogen. We performed a detailed virulome and resistome analysis of representative KPC- and/or CTX-M-producing K. pneumoniae belonging to clonal group (CG) 258 (sequence types ST11, ST258, ST340, ST437), circulating in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru; with further evaluation of the virulence behavior using the Galleria mellonella infection model. Genomic analysis of K. pneumoniae strains recovered from the human-animal-environment interface revealed a wide resistome characterized by the presence of genes and mutations conferring resistance to human and veterinary antibiotics, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) and heavy metals. Plasmid Inc typing revealed the presence of a wide diversity of replicon types with IncF, IncN, IncR and Col-like being frequently detected. Moreover, KPC-2-producing K. pneumoniae belonging to ST11 (KL-64 andKL-105) and ST340 (KL-15) carried multiple variants of distinct yersiniabactin siderophore (ybt) and/or genotoxic colibactin (clb) genes. In this regard, ICEKp3, ICEKp4 and ICEKp12 were identified in strains belonging to ST11 and ST340, recovered from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia; whereas ybt 17 and a novel ybt sequence type (YbST346) were identified together with clb in ICEKp10 structures from ST11 and ST258, from Brazil and Colombia, respectively. K. pneumoniae ST11 (ICEKp10/YbST346 and ICEKp4/ybt 10) strains killed 100% of wax moth larvae, in a similar way to hypervirulent K1/ST23 strain (ybt- and clb-negative) carrying the pLVPK-like plasmid, indicating enhanced virulence. In summary, our results indicate that yersiniabactin, colibactin and an expanded resistome have contributed to enhanced virulence and persistence of KPC-2-producing K. pneumoniae CG258 in South America. Therefore, active surveillance of hospital-associated lineages of K. pneumoniae should not only focus on clonal origin and antimicrobial resistance, but also on the virulence factors ybt and clb.
Effect of the macroalgaeAsparagopsis taxiformison methane production and the rumen microbiome assemblage
Authors: Roque Breanna Michelle , Brooke Charles Garrett , Ladau Joshua , Polley Tamsen , Marsh Lyndsey , Najafi Negeen , Pandey Pramod , Singh Latika , Salwen Joan King , Eloe-Fadrosh Emiley , Kebreab Ermias , Hess Matthias
Published: October 2018

Background

Recent studies using batch-fermentation suggest that the red macroalgaeAsparagopsis taxiformismight reduce methane (CH4) emission from beef cattle by up to ~99% when added to rhodes grass hay, a common feed in the Australian beef industry. These experiments have shown significant reductions in methane without compromising other fermentation parameters (i.e. volatile fatty acid production) withA. taxiformisorganic matter (OM) inclusion rates of up to 5%. In the study presented here,A. taxiformiswas evaluated for its ability to reduce methane production from dairy cattle fed a mixed ration widely utilized in California; the largest milk producer in the US.

Results

Fermentation in a semi-continuousin-vitrorumen system suggests thatA. taxiformiscan reduce methane production from enteric fermentation in dairy cattle by 95% when added at a 5% OM inclusion rate without any obvious negative impacts on volatile fatty acid production. High-throughput 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing showed that seaweed amendment effects rumen microbiome communities consistent with the Anna Karenina hypothesis, with increased beta-diversity, over time scales of approximately three days. The relative abundance of methanogens in the fermentation vessels amended withA. taxiformisdecreased significantly compared to control vessels, but this reduction in methanogen abundance was only significant when averaged over the course of the experiment. Alternatively, significant reductions of methane in theA. taxiformisamended vessels was measured in the early stages of the experiment. This suggests thatA. taxiformishas an immediate effect on the metabolic functionality of rumen methanogens whereas its impact on microbiome assemblage, specifically methanogen abundance, is delayed.

Conclusions

The methane reducing effect ofA. taxiformisduring rumen fermentation makes this macroalgae a promising candidate as a biotic methane mitigation strategy in the largest milk producing state in the US. But its effectin-vivo(i.e. in dairy cattle) remains to be investigated in animal trials. Furthermore, to obtain a holistic understanding of the biochemistry responsible for the significant reduction of methane, gene expression profiles of the rumen microbiome and the host animal are warranted.
Does supply chain finance improve SMEs performance? The moderating role of trade digitization
Authors: Ali Zulqurnain , Gongbing Bi , Mehreen Aqsa
Published: October 2018

Purpose

A growing need for financing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has become a significant obstacle to the development of firms. To remove this barrier, the purpose of this paper is to examine how supply chain finance (SCF) assists the firms to improve their performance by utilizing the resource-based view (RBV). Furthermore, the present study also pursues to test the effect of trade digitization as a moderating variable in the relationship between SC finance and the firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data from the textile sector, the authors run confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS 24 and hierarchical linear regression model in SPSS 23 to measure the proposed model and hypotheses, respectively.

Findings

The study suggests that SCF significantly improves the SMEs performance. Moreover, trade digitization strengthens the relationship between SCF and SMEs performance. Thus, the current study significantly describes the firm RBV through SCF and trade digitization to predict the SMEs performance.

Practical implications

SMEs entrepreneurs or executives can optimize the working capital through SCF and enhance the visibility of transactions through digitization for improving SMEs performance. Moreover, SCF protects the SMEs due to its nature of risk mitigation strategy.

Originality/value

This study covered the unexplored gap in the previous literature of supply chain management by establishing the relationship between SCF and the firm performance empirically while identifying the role of trade digitization as moderating variable in the context of textile SMEs by employing RBV theory.
Moving the 2030 agenda forward: SDG implementation in Colombia
Authors: Pineda-Escobar Maria A.
Published: October 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to contribute to the debate regarding the understanding of the multiple manifestations and alternatives for the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) across national borders. For this purpose, the Colombian context is taken as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study performs an exploration of SDGs implementation in Colombia, cutting across the macro and meso levels and the perspectives of governance-making and governance-taking. To answer the research questions, this study applies a two-stage qualitative research design with summative content analysis.

Findings

The study finds that the companies in Colombia are showing an interest in incorporating the SDGs into their corporate sustainability reporting. Although companies show a general interest in adopting the SDGs as part of their sustainability strategies, the findings demonstrate that very few would go deeply into the analysis of the SDG targets. The Colombian case might be a good example of how local governments are taking actions for the implementation of SDGs in their national action plans, policies and strategies.

Research limitations/implications

As is frequent with qualitative research, and particularly with content analysis, the generalizability of the findings obtained may only be applicable to those organizations included in the sample. The analysis at the meso level is limited to the private sector, and the findings are not applicable to other organizational actors, such as civil society organizations or academia. Future research can broaden the spectrum of analysis, both at a national and cross-national level.

Practical implications

The paper is of use for actors from the public, private and civil society sectors in Colombia, as well as for international actors with an interest in the ways in which the global sustainable development agenda can be translated into local action.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the understanding of the different ways in which the sustainable development agenda is moving from the global level to the local implementation.
Cash holdings and corporate governance: theory and contrary evidence from hotel firms
Authors: Dogru Tarik , Sirakaya-Turk Ercan
Published: October 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the quality of corporate governance mechanisms and growth opportunities affect agency problems in hotel firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The effects of cash flows on investments and cash holdings were analyzed using three-stage least square analysis to determine the extent to which agency problems are due to the quality of corporate governance in hotel firms.

Findings

The findings showed that the effects of cash flows on investments and cash holdings were greater in well-governed hotel firms than in poorly governed hotel firms. These effects were also greater in low-growth hotel firms than in high-growth hotel firms. However, the results from a concurrent examination of the quality of corporate governance and growth opportunities showed that poorly governed hotel firms with low-growth opportunities are exposed to agency problems.

Research limitations/implications

These results suggest that neither corporate governance mechanisms nor growth opportunities alone indicate agency problems. Theoretical implications are discussed within the realms of free cash flow theory and growth hypothesis.

Practical implications

High-growth hotel firms should retain all of their cash and cash flows to undertake value-increasing projects when they become available. Shareholders’ wealth is more likely to be maximized in high-growth firms regardless of the quality of corporate governance.

Originality/value

Although various aspects of corporate governance have been investigated in hospitality literature, previous studies did not examine the concurrent effects of corporate governance and growth opportunities on agency problems.
Investor confidence and mutual fund performance in emerging markets
Authors: Nguyen Ann-Ngoc , Shahid Muhammad Sadiq , Kernohan David
Published: October 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of investor confidence on mutual fund performance in two relatively vulnerable but leading emerging markets, India and Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

A pooled ordinary least squared (OLS) model is used to look at two alternative measures of investor confidence and test for the relationship between investor confidence and mutual fund returns. To check the robustness of the findings, the authors also implement two-stage least squares and generalized method of moments techniques to control for unobserved heterogeneity, simultaneity and dynamic endogeneity problems in the regressors.

Findings

The paper finds that the returns of mutual funds are positively associated with investor confidence and an interaction effect exists between investor confidence and persistence in performance. The paper also confirms that returns from mutual funds are associated with different fund characteristics such as fund size, turnover, expense, liquidity, performance persistence and the fund’s age. These findings remain robust to alternative model specifications and measures of investor confidence.

Originality/value

While the previous literature mainly focuses on mutual fund characteristics and the macroeconomic determinants of mutual fund returns, this paper demonstrates that investor confidence plays an important role in determining mutual fund performance. The authors attribute this finding to two relatively unique features of the emerging markets in the study. A lack of awareness of mutual funds as being a low-cost investment vehicle and the interplay of cultural and behavioral changes have prevented investor’s savings from being channeled into investment products, away from gold or property.
Green supply chain management assessment under chains of uncertain indices
Authors: Sahu Nitin Kumar , Sahu Atul Kumar , Sahu Anoop Kumar
Published: October 2018

Purpose

Around the world, protecting environment and purchasing green products by the manufacturing firms progressively becomes a popular and important issue. Manufacturers are realizing the importance of producing green products under green practices. This study aims to propose an appraisement platform to evaluate the overall performance index of a firm under green practices. Furthermore, the study also helps in identifying ill-performing areas, which necessarily require future attention to augment green supply chain (GSC) of a firm. A case research is conducted to assess the real-life application by the proposed approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used fuzzy performance index to measure the overall performance index of a firm. Beside this, they proposed a degree of similarity approach amalgamated with fuzzy performance importance index to classify the ills and strong indices in GSC extent.

Finding

The intermittent assessment of green practices and their metrics in the organizational supply chain management (SCM) is indeed necessary. The present study provides an appraisement module to assess overall GSC fuzzy performance index and also helps in identifying the ill-performing areas which require future augmentation toward successful green implementation.

Originality/value

The exposed research work dealt with chains of subjective indices (measure and their interrelated metrics), which are induced into hierarchical appraisement module. To tackle the uncertainty of indices, the subjective indices are transposed into interval-valued fuzzy number set (IVFNS), as IVFNs are preferred to undertake the uncertainty of GSC indices. The proposed approach is demonstrated with a case research to justify its validity and originality.
The effect of network size and sampling completeness in depauperate networks
Authors: Henriksen Marie V. , Chapple David G. , Chown Steven L. , McGeoch Melodie A.
Published: October 2018

The accurate estimation of interaction network structure is essential for understanding network stability and function. A growing number of studies evaluate under‐sampling as the degree of sampling completeness (proportional richness observed). How the relationship between network structural metrics and sampling completeness varies across networks of different sizes remains unclear, but this relationship has implications for the within‐ and between‐system comparability of network structure.

Here, we test the combined effects of network size and sampling completeness on the structure of spatially distinct networks (i.e., subwebs) in a host–parasitoid model system to better understand the within‐system variability in metric bias.

Richness estimates were used to quantify a gradient of sampling completeness of species and interactions across randomly subsampled subwebs. The combined impacts of network size and sampling completeness on the estimated values of twelve unweighted and weighted network metrics were tested.

The robustness of network metrics to under‐sampling was strongly related to network size, and sampling completeness of interactions were generally a better predictor of metric bias than sampling completeness of species. Weighted metrics often performed better than unweighted metrics at low sampling completeness; however, this was mainly evident at large rather than small subweb size.

These outcomes highlight the significance of under‐sampling for the comparability of both unweighted and weighted network metrics when networks are small and vary in size. This has implications for within‐system comparability of species‐poor networks and, more generally, reveals problems with under‐sampling ecological networks that may otherwise be difficult to detect in species‐rich networks. To mitigate the impacts of under‐sampling, more careful considerations of system‐specific variation in metric bias are needed.
Implications of evergreen shrub expansion in the Arctic
Authors: Vowles Tage , Björk Robert G.
Published: October 2018

Arctic shrub expansion is occurring across large parts of the tundra biome and its potential ecological repercussions have been widely discussed. But while the term “shrub expansion” often implicitly refers to an increase in tall, deciduous species such as birch and willow, several studies have also found a strong increase in evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to warming, a fact which has received far less attention.

The effects of an evergreen dwarf shrub expansion are markedly different from the effects of an increase in taller, deciduous species. While deciduous shrubs may increase carbon (C) cycling through changes in albedo, litter input, and snow depth, the low stature of evergreen dwarf shrubs means that they are unlikely to influence snow cover. They also produce more recalcitrant litter, which reduces microbial activity. Furthermore, recent research suggests that ericoid mycorrhiza associated with evergreen shrubs may help to decelerate litter and soil organic matter turnover rates through the production of melanized hyphae that resist decomposition. Through selective browsing, herbivores may promote evergreen shrubs and facilitate C storage.

Synthesis. In this mini review, we argue that basing predictions of how shrub expansion will affect tundra ecosystems on characteristics only applicable to tall deciduous shrubs hampers our understanding of the complex feedbacks related to Arctic vegetation shifts.
A profile of the language and cognitive skills contributing to oral inferential comprehension in young children with developmental language disorder*
Authors: Dawes Emily , Leitão Suze , Claessen Mary , Kane Robert
Published: October 2018

Background

Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) demonstrate poor oral inferential comprehension. Research investigating the skills that underpin oral inferential comprehension in young children with DLD is necessary in order to better understand and improve inferential comprehension in this population.

Aims

To profile the language and cognitive skills that contribute to oral inferential comprehension in young children with DLD.

Methods & Procedures

Seventy‐six children aged 5–6 years with a diagnosis of DLD were assessed on a wide range of language and cognitive measures. Oral inferential comprehension of narrative was the primary outcome measure.

Outcomes & Results

Narrative macrostructure and microstructure, literal comprehension, vocabulary, phonological loop, and theory of mind were significant predictors of inferential comprehension in bivariate analyses. However, multivariate regression analysis indicated that only narrative retell macrostructure and theory of mind contributed a significant amount of unique variance to inferential comprehension.

Conclusions & Implications

This study profiled the skills contributing to oral inferential comprehension in young children with DLD, to support the clinical and theoretical understanding of the ability in this population. The findings have implications for future intervention studies.
Mycoviruses mediate mycotoxin regulation in Aspergillus ochraceus
Authors: Nerva L. , Chitarra W. , Siciliano I. , Gaiotti F. , Ciuffo M. , Forgia M. , Varese G. C. , Turina M.
Published: October 2018

To date, no demonstration of a direct correlation between the presence of mycoviruses and the quantitative or qualitative modulation of mycotoxins has been shown. In our study, we transfected a virus‐free ochratoxin A (OTA)‐producing isolate of Aspergillus ochraceus with purified mycoviruses from a different A. ochraceus isolate and from Penicillium aurantiogriseum. Among the mycoviruses tested, only Aspergillus ochraceus virus (AoV), a partitivirus widespread in A. ochraceus, caused a specific interaction that led to an overproduction of OTA, which is regulated by the European Commission and is the second most important contaminant of food and feed commodities. Gene expression analysis failed to reveal a specific viral upregulation of the mRNA of genes considered to play a role in the OTA biosynthetic pathway. Furthermore, AoOTApks1, a polyketide synthase gene considered essential for OTA production, is surprisingly absent in the genome of our OTA‐producing isolate. The possible biological and evolutionary implications of the mycoviral regulation of mycotoxin production are discussed.
Antagonistic recursivities and successive cover‐ups: the case of private nuclear proliferation
Authors: Mallard Grégoire
Published: October 2018

“Legal recursivity” is a concept introduced by socio‐legal scholars to capture the progressive elaboration of transnational rules through policy linkages at the international and domestic levels, and the associated jurisdictional expansion of international institutions to new policy areas. Recursivity can take many forms, and this article introduces the concept of “antagonistic recursivity” to capture a dual process of recursive legal innovation and antagonistic obstruction by the same policy actors. The article shows how such antagonistic recursivity worked in the case of the global fight against private nuclear proliferators after the 2003 revelations about the reach of the A. Q. Khan network. In the case under study, antagonistic recursivities took the form of executive‐driven innovation in rule‐making and simultaneous subversion of the same rules by the executive most implicated in the new cycle of policy innovation: the United States government. This paradox can be explained in the following manner. Antagonistic recursivity, the article demonstrates, is likely to emerge when legal rules of global governance have already been previously defined in an opaque manner, so as to help hegemons follow multiple foreign policy goals: the subversion of the most recent policy innovations is then the unfortunate result of attempts to hide prior cover‐ups rather than a purposeful violation of new rules.
Comparison of Decision Tree and Logistic Regression Models for Utilization in Sexual Assault Kit Processing,
Authors: Wentzlof Chloe A. , Kerka Jaimie E. , Albert James H. , Sprague Jon E. , Maddox Lewis O.
Published: October 2018

To combat the influx of sexual assault kits (SAKs) that need to be tested, an exploration of data from Ohio's SAK Testing Initiative was carried out to identify variables that impact whether a SAK contains a probative DNA profile that is eligible for the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database. A validation study was completed to confirm the existence of variable relationships from the initial examination of data; new and modified statistical models were introduced to improve the predictive accuracy to determine if a SAK will contain at least one CODIS eligible DNA profile. Descriptive statistics from the validation data set confirmed conclusions about the effects of days between the assault and kit collection, the age of the victim, and consensual sex around the time of the kit collection for obtaining CODIS eligibility of DNA. The decision tree was selected as the best model.
Status of Mandibular Third Molar Development as Evidence in Legal Age Threshold Cases
Authors: Konigsberg Lyle W. , Frankenberg Susan R. , Liversidge Helen M.
Published: October 2018

The completion of the third molar roots has played an important role in ascertaining whether individuals may be at or over a legal threshold of age, often taken as 18 years. This study demonstrates that root apex completion in the third molar is relatively uninformative regarding the threshold of age 18 years in a sample of 1184 males, where mean age‐of‐attainment of root apex completion for third mandibular molars is about 19.4 years. This paper also considers the legal age threshold problem for cases where the third mandibular molar is not completely formed, and outlines the use of parametric models and Bayes’ factors to evaluate dental evidence in statistically appropriate ways. It attempts to resolve confusion over age‐within‐stage versus age‐of‐attainment, likelihood ratios versus other diagnostic tests, and prior odds for a case versus the prior density for an age distribution.
More‐than‐human planning: the agency of buildings and bodies in the post‐political city
Authors: Cook Nicole
Published: October 2018

Through a comparative study of political activism in Millers Point, Dawes Point, and The Rocks in Sydney from 1971 to 1974 and from 2014 to 2017, this paper examines the more‐than‐human force of bodies and buildings in redemocratising cities. The paper brings theoretical insights from urban assemblage and Deleuzian scholarship into dialogue with post‐political theory. In doing so, it shifts the focus in urban political geography from a concern with diverse social groups to the political potential in more‐than‐human assemblages. Through a re‐reading of Sydney's Green Bans in Millers Point, Dawes Point, and The Rocks, the paper first shows how the withdrawal of labour and stilled building sites comprise informal pathways of planning rejection that centralise social and ecological concerns in decision‐making in urban development. That first case is then contrasted with the contemporary case of privatisation and displacement at the same sites, showing how aged bodies can energise latent deliberative spaces across diverse (if repressed) institutions in liberal democracies. Given the capacities of materials and bodies to produce planning outcomes, the paper conceptualises planning as a more‐than‐human process enhanced by immersion in the experimental materialism of political movements—and this materialism is inherently geographical. The paper concludes with my reflecting on whether the proximity of workers and residents to the materials of the built environment in social movement activism of the 1970s intensified the reach of the event compared with the uncertain struggle over Millers Point today.
New tools for high‐throughput expression of fungal secretory proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris
Authors: González Mario , Brito Nélida , Hernández‐Bolaños Eduardo , González Celedonio
Published: October 2018

Heterologous protein expression in yeast, mostly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris, is a well‐established and widely used technique. It typically requires the construction of an expression vector in Escherichia coli containing the foreign gene and its subsequent transformation into yeast. Although simple, this procedure has important limitations for the expression of large numbers of proteins, that is, for the generation of protein libraries. We describe here the development of a novel system for the easy and fast expression of heterologous proteins both in S. cerevisiae and in P. pastoris, under the control of the GAL1 and AOX1 promoters respectively. Expression in S. cerevisiae requires only the transformation of yeast cells with an unpurified PCR product carrying the gene to be expressed, and the expression of the same gene in P. pastoris requires only the isolation of the plasmid generated in S. cerevisiae and its transformation into this second yeast, thus making this system suitable for high‐throughput projects. The system has been tested by the extracellular expression of 30 secretory fungal proteins.
Draft genomes and genomic divergence of two Lepidurus tadpole shrimp species (Crustacea, Branchiopoda, Notostraca)
Authors: Savojardo Castrense , Luchetti Andrea , Martelli Pier Luigi , Casadio Rita , Mantovani Barbara
Published: October 2018

Crustaceans of the order Notostraca (Branchiopoda) are distributed worldwide and are known for the remarkable morphological stasis between their extant and Permian fossil species. Moreover, these crustaceans show relevant ecological traits and a wide range of reproductive strategies. However, genomic studies on notostracans are fairly limited. Here, we present the genome sequences of two notostracan taxa, Lepidurus arcticus and Lepidurus apus lubbocki. Taking advantage of the small genome sizes (~0.11 pg) of these taxa, genomes were sequenced for one individual per species with one run on the Illumina HiSeq X platform. We finally assembled 73.2 Mbp (L. arcticus) and 90.3 Mbp (L. apus lubbocki) long genomes. Assemblies cover up to 84% of the estimated genome size, with a gene completeness >97% for both genomes. In total, 13%–16% of the assembled genomes consist of repeats, and based on read mapping, L. apus lubbocki shows a significantly lower transposable element content than L. arcticus. The analysis of 2,376 orthologous genes indicates an ~7% divergence between the two Lepidurus taxa, with a nucleotide substitution rate significantly lower than that of Daphnia taxa. Ka/Ks analysis suggests purifying selection in both branchiopod lineages, raising the question of whether the low substitution rate of Lepidurus is correlated with morphological conservation or is linked to specific biological traits. Our analysis demonstrates that, in these organisms, it is possible to obtain high‐quality draft genomes from single individuals with a relatively low sequencing effort. This result makes Lepidurus and Notostraca interesting models for genomic studies at taxonomic, ecological and evolutionary levels.
Banking privatization and market structure in Brazil: a dynamic structural analysis
Authors: Sanches Fabio , Silva Junior Daniel , Srisuma Sorawoot
Published: October 2018

This article examines the effects of bank privatization on the number of bank branches operating in small isolated markets in Brazil. We estimate a dynamic game played between Brazilian public and private banks. We find private banks compete with each other as expected. We also find public banks generate positive spillovers for private banks. Our counterfactual study shows that privatization substantially reduces the number of banks. The government can mitigate the effects of privatization by providing subsidies to private banks. Our model predicts subsidy policies that reduce operating costs are more cost‐effective than entry costs for isolated markets in Brazil.
Development Unchained: Trade and Industrialization in the Era of International Production
Authors: Kozul‐Wright Richard , Fortunato Piergiuseppe
Published: October 2018

Following a period of strong growth across all developing regions during the first decade of the millennium and a rapid rebound from the 2008 financial crisis, a combination of falling commodity prices, increasing financial market volatility and weak global demand has negatively affected growth performance in recent years. This growth slowdown has exposed the absence of structural transformation in many developing countries even under robust growth conditions. As a result, increasing attention has turned to the trade and industrialization opportunities offered by participation in global value chains (GVCs). However, while the evidence suggests a positive association between participation in GVCs and increased exports and inward FDI flows, evidence on their supporting structural transformation is weak. This paper discusses strategic approaches to participation in GVCs as part of a broader development agenda. In particular, it focuses on the opportunities offered by regional value chains (RVCs) and South‐South cooperation and examines the role of industrial policy, with reference to the case of Southern Africa.
Emerging opportunities and challenges for passive acoustics in ecological assessment and monitoring
Authors: Gibb Rory , Browning Ella , Glover‐Kapfer Paul , Jones Kate E.
Published: October 2018

High‐throughput environmental sensing technologies are increasingly central to global monitoring of the ecological impacts of human activities. In particular, the recent boom in passive acoustic sensors has provided efficient, noninvasive, and taxonomically broad means to study wildlife populations and communities, and monitor their responses to environmental change. However, until recently, technological costs and constraints have largely confined research in passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to a handful of taxonomic groups (e.g., bats, cetaceans, birds), often in relatively small‐scale, proof‐of‐concept studies.

The arrival of low‐cost, open‐source sensors is now rapidly expanding access to PAM technologies, making it vital to evaluate where these tools can contribute to broader efforts in ecology and biodiversity research. Here, we synthesise and critically assess the current emerging opportunities and challenges for PAM for ecological assessment and monitoring of both species populations and communities.

We show that terrestrial and marine PAM applications are advancing rapidly, facilitated by emerging sensor hardware, the application of machine learning innovations to automated wildlife call identification, and work towards developing acoustic biodiversity indicators. However, the broader scope of PAM research remains constrained by limited availability of reference sound libraries and open‐source audio processing tools, especially for the tropics, and lack of clarity around the accuracy, transferability and limitations of many analytical methods.

In order to improve possibilities for PAM globally, we emphasise the need for collaborative work to develop standardised survey and analysis protocols, publicly archived sound libraries, multiyear audio datasets, and a more robust theoretical and analytical framework for monitoring vocalising animal communities.