bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spinning black holes magnetically connected to a Keplerian disk
Authors: El Mellah I. , Cerutti B. , Crinquand B. , Parfrey K.
Published: April 2022

Context.Accreting black holes (BHs) may be surrounded by a highly magnetized plasma threaded by an organized poloidal magnetic field. Nonthermal flares and power-law spectral components at high energy could originate from a hot, collisionless, and nearly force-free corona. The jets we often observe from these systems are believed to be rotation-powered and magnetically driven.

Aims.We study axisymmetric BH magnetospheres, where a fraction of the magnetic field lines anchored in a surrounding disk are connected to the event horizon of a rotating BH. For different BH spins, we identify the conditions and sites of magnetic reconnection within 30 gravitational radii.

Methods.With the fully general relativistic particle-in-cell codeGRZeltron, we solve the time-dependent dynamics of the electron–positron pair plasma and of the electromagnetic fields around the BH. The aligned disk is represented by a steady and perfectly conducting plasma in Keplerian rotation, threaded by a dipolar magnetic field.

Results.For prograde disks around Kerr BHs, the topology of the magnetosphere is hybrid. Twisted open magnetic field lines crossing the horizon power a Blandford-Znajek jet, while open field lines with their footpoint beyond a critical distance on the disk could launch a magneto-centrifugal wind. In the innermost regions, coupling magnetic field lines ensure the transfer of significant amounts of angular momentum and energy between the BH and the disk. From the Y point at the intersection of these three regions, a current sheet forms where vivid particle acceleration via magnetic reconnection takes place. We compute the synchrotron images of the current sheet emission.

Conclusions.Our estimates for jet power and BH–disk exchanges match those derived from purely force-free models. Particles are accelerated at the Y point, which acts as a heat source for the so-called corona. It provides a physically motivated ring-shaped source of hard X-rays above the disk for reflection models. Episodic plasmoid ejection might explain millisecond flares observed in Cygnus X-1 in the high-soft state, but are too fast to account for daily nonthermal flares from Sgr A*. Particles flowing from the Y point down to the disk could produce a hot spot at the footpoint of the outermost closed magnetic field line.
Galapagos-2/Galfitm/Gama – Multi-wavelength measurement of galaxy structure: Separating the properties of spheroid and disk components in modern surveys
Authors: Häußler Boris , Vika Marina , Bamford Steven P. , Johnston Evelyn J. , Brough Sarah , Casura Sarah , Holwerda Benne W. , Kelvin Lee S. , Popescu Cristina
Published: April 2022

Aims. We present the capabilities of Galapagos-2 and Galfitm in the context of fitting two-component profiles – bulge–disk decompositions – to galaxies, with the ultimate goal of providing complete multi-band, multi-component fitting of large samples of galaxies in future surveys. We also release both the code and the fit results to 234 239 objects from the DR3 of the GAMA survey, a sample significantly deeper than in previous works.

Methods. We use stringent tests on both simulated and real data, as well as comparison to public catalogues to evaluate the advantages of using multi-band over single-band data.

Results. We show that multi-band fitting using Galfitm provides significant advantages when trying to decompose galaxies into their individual constituents, as more data are being used, by effectively being able to use the colour information buried in the individual exposures to its advantage. Using simulated data, we find that multi-band fitting significantly reduces deviations from the real parameter values, allows component sizes and Sérsic indices to be recovered more accurately, and – by design – constrains the band-to-band variations of these parameters to more physical values. On both simulated and real data, we confirm that the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the two main components can be recovered to fainter magnitudes compared to using single-band fitting, which tends to recover ‘disks’ and ‘bulges’ with – on average – identical SEDs when the galaxies become too faint, instead of the different SEDs they truly have. By comparing our results to those provided by other fitting codes, we confirm that they agree in general, but measurement errors can be significantly reduced by using the multi-band tools developed by the MEGAMORPH project.

Conclusions. We conclude that the multi-band fitting employed by Galapagos-2 and Galfitm significantly improves the accuracy of structural galaxy parameters and enables much larger samples to be be used in a scientific analysis.
Low-order wavefront control using a Zernike sensor through Lyot coronagraphs for exoplanet imaging
Authors: Pourcelot R. , N’Diaye M. , Por E. H. , Laginja I. , Carbillet M. , Benard H. , Brady G. , Canas L. , Dohlen K. , Fowler J. , Lai O. , Maclay M. , McChesney E. , Noss J. , Perrin M. D. , Petrone P. , Pueyo L. , Redmond S. F. , Sahoo A. , Vigan A. , Will S. D. , Soummer R.
Published: April 2022

Context.The combination of large segmented space telescopes, coronagraphy, and wavefront control methods is a promising solution for producing a dark hole (DH) region in the coronagraphic image of an observed star in order to study planetary companions. The thermal and mechanical evolution of such a high-contrast instrumental setup leads to wavefront drifts that degrade the DH contrast during the observing time, thus limiting the ability to retrieve planetary signals.

Aims.Lyot-style coronagraphs are starlight-suppression systems that remove the central part of the image for an unresolved observed star, that is, the point spread function, with an opaque focal plane mask (FPM). When implemented with a flat mirror containing an etched pinhole, the mask rejects part of the starlight through the pinhole which can be used to retrieve information about low-order aberrations.

Methods.We propose an active control scheme using a Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS) to analyze the light rejected by the FPM, control low-order aberrations, and stabilize the DH contrast. We first present the concept formalism and then describe how we characterized the sensor behavior in simulations and in the laboratory. We performed experimental tests to validate a wavefront control loop using a ZWFS on the HiCAT testbed.

Results.By controlling the first 11 Zernike modes, we show a decrease in the standard deviation of the wavefront error by a factor of up to 9 between open- and closed-loop operations using the ZWFS. In the presence of wavefront perturbations, we show the ability of this control loop to stabilize a DH contrast around 7 × 10−8with a standard deviation of 7 × 10−9.

Conclusions.Active control with a ZWFS proves to be a promising solution in Lyot coronagraphs with an FPM-filtered beam for controlling and stabilizing low-order wavefront aberrations and DH contrast for exoplanet imaging with future space missions.
NOEMA observations support a recoiling black hole in 3C 186
Authors: Castignani G. , Meyer E. , Chiaberge M. , Combes F. , Morishita T. , Decarli R. , Capetti A. , Dotti M. , Tremblay G. R. , Norman C. A.
Published: April 2022

3C 186 is a powerful radio-loud quasar (a quasi-stellar object) at the center of a cool-core cluster at z = 1.06. Previous studies have reported evidence for a projected spatial offset of ∼1″ between the isophotal center of the galaxy and the point-source quasi-stellar object (QSO) as well as a spectral shift of ∼2000 km s−1 between the narrow and broad line region of the system. In this work we report high-resolution molecular gas CO(4→3) observations of the system taken with the NOEMA interferometer. We clearly detect a large reservoir of molecular gas, MH2 ∼ 8 × 1010 M⊙, that is co-spatial with the host galaxy and likely associated with a rotating disk-like structure. We firmly confirm both the spatial offset of the galaxy’s gas reservoir with respect to the continuum emission of the QSO and the spectral offset with respect to the redshift of the broad line region. Our morphological and kinematical analysis confirms that the most likely scenario to explain the 3C 186 system is that the QSO is a kicked super-massive black hole (SMBH), which we believe may have resulted from a strong gravitational wave recoil as two SMBHs coalesced after the merger of their host galaxies.
Perceived Hearing Aid Benefit in Relation to Perceived Needs
Authors: Schum Donald J.
Published: April 2022

A new scale, the Hearing Aid Needs Assessment (HANA), was developed in order to examine the relationship between perceived communication needs/expectations with the actual benefit eventually achieved with newly fitted hearing aids. A serial sample of 82 patients completed the HANA prior to hearing aid consultation. A subgroup of 42 patients eventually completed the Hearing Aid Performance Inventory after 2 to 3 months of new device use. The results indicated that candidates for amplification expect more benefit than they will typically achieve, especially when listening to speech in noise or without visual cues. For the most part, hearing aid benefit could not be reliably predicted based on perceived need or expectation.

Abbreviations: COSI = Client Oriented Scale of Improvement, HANA= Hearing Aid Needs Assessment, HAPI = Hearing Aid Performance Inventory
Dynamical response of a floating plate to water waves using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics algorithm for nonlinear elasticity
Authors: Tran-Duc Thien , Meylan Michael H. , Thamwattana Ngamta
Published: April 2022

In this work, a newly developed Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) algorithm for nonlinear elasticity is combined with an incompressible SPH fluid solver to investigate the dynamics of a floating plate under impacts of regular water waves with a high steepness. Two scenarios of the plate's rigidity are investigated. The simulation results show that deformations of the stiffer plate mainly occur in a simple bending mode with small amplitudes, and the plate is almost submerged by a strong fluid flow over its surface. In the other scenario, the plate deforms more complexly with much higher deformation amplitudes but experiences a much weaker overwash. The more flexible plate is less resistant to wave motions and converts more wave energy into elastic deformations, and therefore, the overwash is less severe. A strong overflow exerts a pressure force onto the plate that alters the plate's dynamics and adds a viscous (damping) effect on the plate's elastic vibrations, especially in high-frequency modes. A rigorous examination of the numerical convergence and validation using the linear thin plate theory is also carried out. The new SPH algorithm for nonlinear elasticity shows its stability and reliability in evaluating finite and large elastic deformations. Therefore, it is promising for simulating elastic structures in fluid–structure interaction problems.
Characterization of two-way coupled thermovibrationally driven particle attractee
Authors: Lappa Marcello
Published: April 2022

Following the recent identification of a new category of thermovibrationally driven particle attractors in dilute fluid–particle systems [M. Lappa, “The patterning behaviour and accumulation of spherical particles in a vibrated non-isothermal liquid,” Phys. Fluids 26(9), 093301 (2014); M. Lappa, “On the formation and morphology of coherent particulate structures in non-isothermal enclosures subjected to rotating g-jitters,” Phys. Fluids 31(7), 073303 (2019); and M. Lappa and T. Burel, “Symmetry breaking phenomena in thermovibrationally driven particle accumulation structures,” Phys. Fluids 32(5), 053314 (2020)], some effort is provided here to develop an integrated framework able to encompass earlier discoveries and account for new effects in a single treatment. In particular, we examine the alterations (“corrugation”) that can be induced in the geometrically perfect particle structures pertaining to this class of phenomena as the percentage of dispersed solid mass is progressively increased. The related dynamics are explored within the framework of a two-way coupled model with respect to several parameters (solid mass load, density ratio, frequency, and amplitude of the imposed vibrations). Ensuing results are interpreted by separating instantaneous and time-averaged contributions and using some ideas borrowed from the companion theory of bifurcations. We show that the back influence of particles on the carrier flow can lead to a variety of possible paths of evolution. While in some cases the original attractee can be overshadowed by particle-induced turbulence, in other circumstances new aggregates with heretofore unseen morphology show up.
Host-induced silencing of a nematode chitin synthase gene decreases abundance of rhizosphere fungal community while enhancing
Authors: Tian Shuan , Shi Xue , Qu Baoyuan , Kang Houxiang , Huang Wenkun , Peng Huan , Peng Deliang , Wang Jiajun , Liu Shiming , Kong Lingan
Published: April 2022

Context A transgenic variety of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), H57, has been developed from wild-type variety Jack, with host-induced gene silencing of a chitin synthase gene (CHS) in soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines Ichinohe), a devastating pathogen in soybean. H57 needs to be characterised for suitability to manage SCN, especially because rhizosphere microbial communities may be sensitive to genetically modified crops. Aims We aimed to evaluate the SCN resistance of H57 at the T7 generation, and analyse the impact on the rhizosphere microbial community of planting H57 into SCN-infected soil. Methods Infection with SCN was assessed at 60 days after planting of H57 and Jack into SCN-infected soil by examining recovered cysts from rhizosphere soil and comparing with an infected bulk soil control. For analysis of rhizosphere microbial communities (bacterial and fungal), 16S and ITS amplicons were identified by high-throughput sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis was used to define operational taxonomic units. Alpha diversity, using five indexes, and relative abundance were determined. Key results Soybean H57 showed significantly enhanced and heritable resistance to SCN compared with Jack. The diversity and richness (abundance) of the bacterial community of H57 and Jack were significantly and similarly increased relative to the bulk soil. The fungal community of H57 had considerably lower abundance than both other treatments, and lower diversity than the bulk soil. The relative abundance of only two bacterial phyla (Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria) and one fungal phylum (Glomeromycota), and three bacterial genera (Candidatus_Solibacter, Candidatus_Udaeobacter and Bryobacter) and one fungal genus (Aspergillus), differed significantly between rhizosphere soils of H57 and Jack. Conclusions Host-induced gene silencing of SCN-CHS substantially and heritably enhanced SCN resistance in soybean, did not significantly alter the rhizosphere bacterial community, but greatly suppressed the abundance of the rhizosphere fungal community, which was likely associated with boosted SCN resistance. Implications This study established a basis for interaction research between soybean with SCN-CHS host-induced gene silencing and the rhizosphere microbial community, and for potentially planting soybean H57 to manage SCN.
Detection and control of off-flavour compound-producing streptomycetes on locally produced nuts using streptophages
Authors: Dionysius Laura G. , Brooks Peter R. , Kurtböke D. İpek
Published: April 2022

Members of the phylum Actinomycetota are the most prominent part of the soil microbiota, more specifically the species within the genus Streptomyces of this phylum. Key functions of Streptomyces species (or streptomycetes in general terms) include nutrient cycling and plant growth promotion and disease protection. However, these species can also produce volatile organic compounds, predominantly geosmin, which is responsible for musty and mildew scents that are unpleasant to humans and can negatively impact the nut crop industry as odorous nuts generally lose their market value. Bacterial viruses, called bacteriophages have been previously used successfully in agriculture and aquaculture to remove such odorous species and they may therefore be applied to the nut industry. To eliminate these compounds, the producer streptomycetes may be selectively removed from nut surfaces using streptophages. The removal of Streptomyces species from nut surfaces can then be expected to minimise geosmin production, therefore removing the unpleasant off-flavours and benefiting the nut industry.
Effects of Mindfulness Yoga Versus Conventional Physical Exercises on Symptom Experiences and Health-related Quality of Life in People with Parkinson’s Disease: The Potential Mediating Roles of Anxiety and Depression
Authors: Kwok Jojo Yan Yan , Choi Edmond Pui Hang , Lee Jung Jae , Lok Kris Yuet Wan , Kwan Jackie Cheuk Yin , Mok Vincent Chung Tong , Auyeung Man
Published: April 2022

Background

Although several studies have reported positive effects of mind-body exercises on symptom management and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD), it is not known whether these effects are attributable to a change in anxiety and depression.

Purpose

To compare the effects of mindfulness yoga to conventional stretching exercises in a randomized controlled trial while examining potentially mediating effects of anxiety and depression.

Methods

138 adults with PD were randomized to eight weekly yoga (n = 71) or stretching (n = 67) sessions. Symptom experiences, anxiety and depression, and HRQOL outcomes were assessed at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and 3-month post-intervention.

Results

Generalized estimating equation analyses revealed that, compared to stretching, yoga significantly improved patients’ nonmotor (time-by-group interaction, T1:β = −1.99, p = .008; T2:β = −2.86, p < .001) and motor (time-by-group interaction, T1:β = −1.77, p = .03) symptom experiences. The mediation analysis found that the changes in anxiety and depression were the mediators in the associations between non-motor experience and HRQOL; while only the changes in depression were found to be the mediator in the relationship between motor experience and HRQOL.

Conclusions

Yoga is superior to conventional stretching exercises in improving nonmotor and motor symptoms in daily living. Reduced anxiety and depression play a role in mediating the positive effects of the mindfulness yoga intervention. To optimize HRQOL, rehabilitation should reinforce psychological care in addition to pharmacological treatments and physical relief of PD symptoms. Future studies are needed to identify strategies for facilitating the implementation and sustainability of mind-body rehabilitation to enhance the quality of care for PD.
Gyrus rectus asymmetry predicts trait alexithymia, cognitive empathy, and social function in neurotypical adults
Authors: Li Wenlong , Lou Wutao , Zhang Wenyun , Tong Raymond Kai-Yu , Jin Richu , Peng Weiwei
Published: April 2022

Reduced empathy and elevated alexithymia are observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which has been linked to altered asymmetry in brain morphology. Here, we investigated whether trait autism, empathy, and alexithymia in the general population is associated with brain morphological asymmetry. We determined left–right asymmetry indexes for cortical thickness and cortical surface area (CSA) and applied these features to a support-vector regression model that predicted trait autism, empathy, and alexithymia. Results showed that less leftward asymmetry of CSA in the gyrus rectus (a subregion of the orbitofrontal cortex) predicted more difficulties in social functioning, as well as reduced cognitive empathy and elevated trait alexithymia. Meta-analytic decoding of the left gyrus rectus annotated functional items related to social cognition. Furthermore, the link between gyrus rectus asymmetry and social difficulties was accounted by trait alexithymia and cognitive empathy. These results suggest that gyrus rectus asymmetry could be a shared neural correlate among trait alexithymia, cognitive empathy, and social functioning in neurotypical adults. Left–right asymmetry of gyrus rectus influenced social functioning by affecting the cognitive processes of emotions in the self and others. Interventions that increase leftward asymmetry of the gyrus rectus might improve social functioning for individuals with ASD.
Network Traffic Classification Based On A Deep Learning Approach Using NetFlow Data
Authors: Long Zhang , Jinsong Wang
Published: April 2022

Network traffic classification is of fundamental importance to a wide range of network activities, such as security monitoring, accounting, quality of service and forecasting for long-term provisioning purposes. This task has been increasingly implemented using machine learning methods due to the inability of conventional approaches to accommodate the increasing use of encryption. However, the application of machine learning methods to network traffic classification based on sampled NetFlow data is poorly developed despite the fact that NetFlow is a widely extended monitoring solution routinely employed by network operators. This study addresses this issue by proposing a network traffic classification module using NetFlow data in conjunction with a deep neural network. The performance of the proposed classification module is demonstrated by its application to two real-world datasets, and an average classification accuracy of 95% is obtained for $\sim $1.4 million test cases. Moreover, the performance of the proposed classifier is demonstrated to be superior to three other state-of-the-art classifiers. Accordingly, the proposed module represents a promising alternative for network traffic classification.
Comparative Analysis of Overlap Community Detection Techniques on Social Media Platform
Authors: Meena Pawan , Pawar Mahesh , Pandey Anjana
Published: April 2022

Community structure over social media (SM) is the collaborative group of globally spread users with identical characteristics and ideologies. The collective features of SM are inherent with both the implicit and explicit nature of end-users. This paper presents an analytical and methodological community detection framework to bind passive users’ implicit and explicit nature after scrutinizing graphical data to identify seed nodes and communities. Moreover, this work provides the concept of the unsupervised machine learning approach over the graphical perspective of SM to identify the trade-off between similarity of nodes attributes and density of connections for social theories. Subsequently, this paper evaluates a comprehensive analysis of the benchmark community detection algorithm (CDA) Label Propagation Algorithm (LPA), Clique Percolation Method (CPM), Democratic Estimate of the Modular Organization of a Network (DEMON) and Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF). The evaluation has been carried out over modularity and normalized mutual information of resultant structured community on six real-time SM data set. The performance of benchmark CDAs is significantly increased after incorporating social theories. NMF, DEMON, CPM and LPA gained the highest improvement over Zachary’s Karate Club data sets, i.e. approximate 26.91%, 21.68%, 18.79%, 19.96%, respectively.
Debiased machine learning of global and local parameters using regularized Riesz representers
Authors: Chernozhukov Victor , Newey Whitney K , Singh Rahul
Published: April 2022

We provide adaptive inference methods, based on $\ell _1$ regularization, for regular (semiparametric) and nonregular (nonparametric) linear functionals of the conditional expectation function. Examples of regular functionals include average treatment effects, policy effects, and derivatives. Examples of nonregular functionals include average treatment effects, policy effects, and derivatives conditional on a covariate subvector fixed at a point. We construct a Neyman orthogonal equation for the target parameter that is approximately invariant to small perturbations of the nuisance parameters. To achieve this property, we include the Riesz representer for the functional as an additional nuisance parameter. Our analysis yields weak ‘double sparsity robustness’: either the approximation to the regression or the approximation to the representer can be ‘completely dense’ as long as the other is sufficiently ‘sparse’. Our main results are nonasymptotic and imply asymptotic uniform validity over large classes of models, translating into honest confidence bands for both global and local parameters.
Which risk score best predicts cardiovascular outcome in pregnant women with congenital heart disease?
Authors: Bredy Charlene , Deville Fanny , Huguet Helena , Picot Marie-Christine , De La Villeon Gregoire , Abassi Hamouda , Avesani Martina , Begue Laetitia , Burlet Gilles , Boulot Pierre , Fuchs Florent , Amedro Pascal
Published: April 2022

Background

Management of pregnancy and risk stratification in women with congenital heart diseases (CHD) are challenging, especially due to physiological haemodynamic modifications that inevitably occur during pregnancy.

Aims

To compare the accuracy of the existing pregnancy cardiovascular risk scores in prediction of maternal complications during pregnancy in CHD patients.

Method and results

From 2007 to 2018, all pregnant women with a CHD who delivered birth after 20 weeks of gestation were identified. The discriminating power and the accuracy of the five existing pregnancy cardiovascular risk scores [CARPREG, CARPREG II, HARRIS, ZAHARA risk scores, and modified WHO (mWHO)] were evaluated.

Out of 104 pregnancies in 65 CHD patients, 29% experienced cardiovascular complications during pregnancy or post-partum. For the five scores, the observed rate of cardiovascular events was higher than the expected risk. The values of area under the ROC curve were 0.75 (0.62–0.88) for mWHO, 0.65 (0.53–0.77) for CARPREG II, 0.60 (0.40–0.80) for HARRIS, 0.59 (0.47–0.72) for ZAHARA, and 0.58 (0.43–0.73) for CARPREG.

Conclusion

The modified WHO classification appeared to better predict cardiovascular outcome in pregnant women with CHD than the four other existing risk scores.

Clinical Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04221048.
Double advantage of parental education for child educational achievement: the role of parenting and child intelligence
Authors: Tamayo Martinez Nathalie , Xerxa Yllza , Law James , Serdarevic Fadila , Jansen Pauline W , Tiemeier Henning
Published: April 2022

Background

Parental education is one of the best predictors of child school achievement. Higher parental education is not only associated with higher child intelligence, but children from highly educated parents also perform better in school due to other family related factors. This study evaluates the relation between parental education, child non-verbal intelligence and parenting practices with child school achievement.

Methods

Longitudinal data from a large population-based, multi-ethnic cohort of children in the Netherlands (63% Dutch origin) followed from birth to age 13 years (3547 children; 52.3% girls) were analyzed. School achievement was measured at the end of primary school (12 years of age) with a national Dutch academic test score. Parental education was assessed at age 3 years. The non-verbal intelligence of the child was measured at age 6 years and a full intelligence was measured at age 13 years. Maternal and paternal family routines, harsh parenting and corporal punishment were assessed in early and mid-childhood. Mediation analysis was performed with the G-formula and Structural Equation Models.

Results

Child intelligence partially mediated [B indirect effect =0.54 95% CI (0.46, 0.62) P < 0.001] the association between parental education and child school achievement. Independent of intelligence, family routines [B indirect effect =0.04 95% CI (0.01, 0.07) P < 0.01], but not harsh parenting mediated this association.

Conclusions

Higher parental education was associated with better school achievement through two independent mechanisms, through higher intelligence of the child and parenting practices.
The early history of the eye-antennal disc ofDrosophila melanogaster
Authors: Weasner Brandon P , Kumar Justin P
Published: April 2022

A pair of eye-antennal imaginal discs give rise to nearly all external structures of the adult Drosophila head including the compound eyes, ocelli, antennae, maxillary palps, head epidermis, and bristles. In the earliest days of Drosophila research, investigators would examine thousands of adult flies in search of viable mutants whose appearance deviated from the norm. The compound eyes are dispensable for viability and perturbations to their structure are easy to detect. As such, the adult compound eye and the developing eye-antennal disc emerged as focal points for studies of genetics and developmental biology. Since few tools were available at the time, early researchers put an enormous amount of thought into models that would explain their experimental observations—many of these hypotheses remain to be tested. However, these “ancient” studies have been lost to time and are no longer read or incorporated into today’s literature despite the abundance of field-defining discoveries that are contained therein. In this FlyBook chapter, I will bring these forgotten classics together and draw connections between them and modern studies of tissue specification and patterning. In doing so, I hope to bring a larger appreciation of the contributions that the eye-antennal disc has made to our understanding of development as well as draw the readers’ attention to the earliest studies of this important imaginal disc. Armed with the today’s toolkit of sophisticated genetic and molecular methods and using the old papers as a guide, we can use the eye-antennal disc to unravel the mysteries of development.
Recombination, selection, and the evolution of tandem gene arrays
Authors: Otto Moritz , Zheng Yichen , Wiehe Thomas
Published: April 2022

Multigene families—immunity genes or sensory receptors, for instance—are often subject to diversifying selection. Allelic diversity may be favored not only through balancing or frequency-dependent selection at individual loci but also by associating different alleles in multicopy gene families. Using a combination of analytical calculations and simulations, we explored a population genetic model of epistatic selection and unequal recombination, where a trade-off exists between the benefit of allelic diversity and the cost of copy abundance. Starting from the neutral case, where we showed that gene copy number is Gamma distributed at equilibrium, we derived also the mean and shape of the limiting distribution under selection. Considering a more general model, which includes variable population size and population substructure, we explored by simulations mean fitness and some summary statistics of the copy number distribution. We determined the relative effects of selection, recombination, and demographic parameters in maintaining allelic diversity and shaping the mean fitness of a population. One way to control the variance of copy number is by lowering the rate of unequal recombination. Indeed, when encoding recombination by a rate modifier locus, we observe exactly this prediction. Finally, we analyzed the empirical copy number distribution of 3 genes in human and estimated recombination and selection parameters of our model.
The Aging Human Lung Mucosa: A Proteomics Study
Authors: Garcia-Vilanova Andreu , Olmo-Fontánez Angélica M , Moliva Juan I , Allué-Guardia Anna , Singh Harjinder , Merritt Robert E , Maselli Diego J , Peters Jay I , Restrepo Blanca I , Wang Yufeng , Schlesinger Larry S , Turner Joanne , Weintraub Susan T , Torrelles Jordi B
Published: April 2022

The older adult population, estimated to double by 2050, is at increased risk of respiratory infections and other pulmonary diseases. Biochemical changes in the lung alveolar lining fluid (ALF) and in alveolar compartment cells can alter local immune responses as we age, generating opportunities for invading pathogens to establish successful infections. Indeed, the lung alveolar space of older adults is a pro-inflammatory, pro-oxidative, dysregulated environment that remains understudied. We performed an exploratory, quantitative proteomic profiling of the soluble proteins present in ALF, developing insight into molecular fingerprints, pathways, and regulatory networks that characterize the alveolar space in old age, comparing it to that of younger individuals. We identified 457 proteins that were significantly differentially expressed in older adult ALF, including increased production of matrix metalloproteinases, markers of cellular senescence, antimicrobials, and proteins of neutrophilic granule origin, among others, suggesting that neutrophils in the lungs of older adults could be potential contributors to the dysregulated alveolar environment with increasing age. Finally, we describe a hypothetical regulatory network mediated by the serum response factor that could explain the neutrophilic profile observed in the older adult population.
An Identity in Distribution Between Full-Space and Half-Space Log-Gamma Polymers
Authors: Barraquand Guillaume , Wang Shouda
Published: April 2022

We prove an identity in distribution between two kinds of partition functions for the log-gamma directed polymer model: (1) the point-to-point partition function in a quadrant and (2) the point-to-line partition function in an octant. As an application, we prove that the point-to-line free energy of the log-gamma polymer in an octant obeys a phase transition depending on the strength of the noise along the boundary. This transition of (de)pinning by randomness was first predicted in physics by Kardar in 1985 and proved rigorously for zero temperature models by Baik and Rains in 2001. While it is expected to arise universally for models in the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang universality class, this is the first positive temperature model for which this transition can be rigorously established.
Performance of BEAMS Risk of Death Score for Mortality Prediction in Australian and New Zealand Burns Patients
Authors: Lu Patrick , Burrell Aidan , Bailey Michael , Moore Edwina , Pilcher David , Cleland Heather
Published: April 2022

The BEAMS (Burns Evaluation and Mortality Study) risk of death score was developed in 2013 as a mortality prediction tool for burns patients admitted to an ICU (intensive care unit) in Australia and New Zealand. While it previously performed well, identifying high-risk groups and allowing benchmarking, over time such scores may lose calibration or be superseded by improved scoring systems. Our aim was to assess the performance of the BEAMS score in a modern cohort of burns patient. Data were sourced from the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand (BRANZ) and the Australia New Zealand Intensive Care Society Centre for Outcome and Resource Evaluation (ANZICS CORE) databases. Data were linked using probabilistic methodology. BEAMS risk of death scores was calculated for all adult patients. Between 2009 and 2019, there were 2075 patients admitted to an Australian or New Zealand ICU with a burn-related injury. Advanced age, female gender, higher %TBSA burns, and inhalation injury were all associated with increased rate of mortality (P < .05). Overall hospital mortality was 9.4% (n = 195). The predicted risk of death from BEAMS was 8.7% and the score had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.934. We found the BEAMS risk of death score continues to have excellent performance in a modern cohort of adult critically ill burns patients. It remains a valid tool for mortality prediction among adult burns patients admitted to ICU across Australia and New Zealand.
Evidence for Chronotropic Incompetence in Well-healed Burn Survivors
Authors: Foster Josh , Watso Joseph C , Crandall Craig G
Published: April 2022

Due to various pathophysiological responses associated with a severe burn injury, we hypothesized that burn survivors exhibit chronotropic incompetence. To test this hypothesis, a graded peak oxygen consumption (V̇O2peak) test was performed in 94 adults (34 nonburned, 31 burn survivors with 14–35% body surface area grafted, and 29 burn survivors with >35% body surface area grafted). The threshold of 35% body surface area grafted was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Peak exercise heart rates (HRmax) were compared against age-predicted HRmax within each group. The proportion of individuals not meeting their age-predicted HRmax (within 5 b/min) were compared between groups. Age-predicted HRmax was not different from measured HRmax in the nonburned and moderate burn groups (P = .09 and .22, respectively). However, measured HRmax was 10 ± 6 b/min lower than the age-predicted HRmax in those with a large burn injury (P < .001). While 56 and 65% of individuals in the nonburned and moderate burn group achieved a measured HRmax within 5 b/min or greater of age-predicted HRmax, only 21% of those in the large burn group met this criterion (P < .001). These data provide preliminary evidence of chronotropic incompetence in individuals with severe burn injury covering >35% body surface area.
Incidental Zenker’s diverticulum during exploration of penetrating neck wound
Authors: Nyren Molly Q , Rosenthal Martin D
Published: April 2022

Intraoperative incidental findings are a persistent concern for surgeons. Even when such findings are not overtly life-threatening, surgeons must quickly decide whether to intervene. Esophageal diverticula are rare and underdescribed incidental findings associated with increased morbidity. A 40-year-old man was brought in by EMS after sustaining a penetrating Zone II left anterolateral neck wound. Emergent surgical exploration revealed a full-thickness distal oropharyngeal injury. The endotracheal tube was exposed and a Zenker’s diverticulum was identified on the superior edge of the laceration. The diverticulum was excised and oversewn along with the oropharyngeal laceration repair. Intraoperative esophagogastroduodenoscopy leak test and 7-day post-op computed tomography esophagram were negative. Our case describes the first successful management of an incidental Zenker’s diverticulum in the literature. The decision to resect the diverticulum allowed for proper repair of the oropharyngeal laceration and improved outcomes by reducing the need for future surgical intervention.
Review Essay: Implicated in violence: Socio-legal approaches to international humanitarian law and international criminal law
Authors: Wilke Christiane
Published: April 2022

Kamari Maxine Clarke, Affective Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Pan-Africanist Pushback (Duke University Press 2020).

Noura Erakat, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press 2019).

Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini, Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire (University of California Press 2020).

Craig Jones, The War Lawyers: The United States, Israel, and Juridical Warfare (Oxford University Press 2020).

Rebecca Sutton, The Humanitarian Civilian: How the Idea of Distinction Circulates Within and Beyond International Humanitarian Law (Oxford University Press 2021).
Core-collapse, evaporation, and tidal effects: the life story of a self-interacting dark matter subhalo
Authors: Zeng Zhichao Carton , Peter Annika H G , Du Xiaolong , Benson Andrew , Kim Stacy , Jiang Fangzhou , Cyr-Racine Francis-Yan , Vogelsberger Mark
Published: April 2022

Self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) cosmologies admit an enormous diversity of dark matter (DM) halo density profiles, from low-density cores to high-density core-collapsed cusps. The possibility of the growth of high central density in low-mass haloes, accelerated if haloes are subhaloes of larger systems, has intriguing consequences for small-halo searches with substructure lensing. However, following the evolution of ${\lesssim}10^8 \, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ subhaloes in lens-mass systems (${\sim}10^{13}\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$) is computationally expensive with traditional N-body simulations. In this work, we develop a new hybrid semi-analytical + N-body method to study the evolution of SIDM subhaloes with high fidelity, from core formation to core-collapse, in staged simulations. Our method works best for small subhaloes (≲1/1000 host mass), for which the error caused by dynamical friction is minimal. We are able to capture the evaporation of subhalo particles by interactions with host halo particles, an effect that has not yet been fully explored in the context of subhalo core-collapse. We find three main processes drive subhalo evolution: subhalo internal heat outflow, host-subhalo evaporation, and tidal effects. The subhalo central density grows only when the heat outflow outweighs the energy gain from evaporation and tidal heating. Thus, evaporation delays or even disrupts subhalo core-collapse. We map out the parameter space for subhaloes to core-collapse, finding that it is nearly impossible to drive core-collapse in subhaloes in SIDM models with constant cross-sections. Any discovery of ultracompact dark substructures with future substructure lensing observations favours additional degrees of freedom, such as velocity-dependence, in the cross-section.
Selumetinib in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 and asymptomatic inoperable plexiform neurofibroma at risk for developing tumor-related morbidity
Authors: Gross Andrea M , Glassberg Brittany , Wolters Pamela L , Dombi Eva , Baldwin Andrea , Fisher Michael J , Kim AeRang , Bornhorst Miriam , Weiss Brian D , Blakeley Jaishri O , Whitcomb Patricia , Paul Scott M , Steinberg Seth M , Venzon David J , Martin Staci , Carbonell Amanda , Heisey Kara , Therrien Janet , Kapustina Oxana , Dufek Anne , Derdak Joanne , Smith Malcolm A , Widemann Brigitte C
Published: April 2022

Background

Selumetinib was recently approved for the treatment of inoperable symptomatic plexiform neurofibromas (PNs) in children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). This parallel phase II study determined the response rate to selumetinib in children with NF1 PN without clinically significant morbidity.

Methods

Children with NF1 and inoperable PNs, which were not yet causing clinically significant morbidity but had the potential to cause symptoms, received selumetinib at 25 mg/m2 orally twice daily (1 cycle = 28 days). Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging analysis and outcome assessments, including patient-reported (PRO), observer-reported, and functional outcome measures were performed every 4 cycles for 2 years, with changes assessed over time. A confirmed partial response (cPR) was defined as PN volume decrease of ≥20% on at least 2 consecutive scans ≥3 months apart.

Results

72% of subjects experienced a cPR on selumetinib. Participants received selumetinib for a median of 41 cycles (min 2, max 67) at data cutoff. Approximately half of the children rated having some target tumor pain at baseline, which significantly decreased by pre-cycle 13. Most objectively measured baseline functions, including visual, motor, bowel/bladder, or airway function were within normal limits and did not clinically or statistically worsen during treatment.

Conclusions

Selumetinib resulted in PN shrinkage in most subjects with NF1 PN without clinically significant morbidity. No new PN-related symptoms developed while on selumetinib, and PRO measures indicated declines in tumor-related pain intensity. This supports that selumetinib treatment may prevent the development of PN-related morbidities, though future prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.

Clinical Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01362803.
Association between area-level material deprivation and incidence of hospitalization among children with SARS-CoV-2 in Montreal
Authors: Abda Assil , del Giorgio Francesca , Gauvin Lise , Autmizguine Julie , Kakkar Fatima , Drouin Olivier
Published: April 2022

Background

Although sociodemographic factors have been linked with SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalizations in adults, there are little data on the association between sociodemographic characteristics and SARS-CoV-2-related hospitalization in children. The objective of this study was to determine the association between area-level material deprivation and incidence of hospitalization with SARS-CoV-2 among children.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children (0 to 17 years of age) with a PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection March 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021 at a tertiary-care paediatric hospital, in Montreal, Canada. Data were collected through chart review and included age, sex, and postal code, allowing linkage to dissemination area-level material deprivation, measured with the Pampalon Material Deprivation Index (PMDI) quintiles. We examined the association between PMDI quintiles and hospitalization using Poisson regression.

Results

During the study period, 964 children had a positive PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 test and 124 were hospitalized. Children living in the most deprived quintile of PMDI represented 40.7% of hospitalizations. Incidence rate ratio of hospitalization for this group compared to the most privileged quintile was 2.42 (95%CI: 1.33; 4.41).

Conclusion

Children living in the most materially deprived areas had more than twice the rate of hospitalizations for COVID-19 than children living in most privileged areas. Special efforts should be deployed to protect children who live in disadvantaged areas, especially pending vaccination of younger children.
Light-induced displacement of PLASTID MOVEMENT IMPAIRED1 precedes light-dependent chloroplast movements
Authors: Dwyer Matthew E , Hangarter Roger P
Published: April 2022

Light-dependent chloroplast movements are an actin-dependent cellular response to changes in the light environment that help plants maximize photosynthetic potential and reduce photodamage. Over a dozen proteins are known to be required for normal chloroplast movements, but the molecular mechanisms regulating the transformation of light perception into chloroplast motility are not fully understood. Here, we show that in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) the actin-bundling plasma membrane-associated proteins THRUMIN1, PLASTID MOVEMENT IMPAIRED1 (PMI1), and KINESIN-LIKE PROTEIN FOR ACTIN-BASED CHLOROPLAST MOVEMENT1 (KAC1) interact through the 14-3-3 proteins KAPPA and OMEGA. We also show that the interaction of PMI1 with 14-3-3 KAPPA and OMEGA is regulated by blue light activation of the Phototropin2 photoreceptor. Live-cell confocal microscopy revealed light-induced dynamic changes in the cellular localizations of PMI1 and KAC1. In particular, PMI1 was relocated away from irradiated areas of the plasma membrane in less than a minute after blue light exposure, consistent with PMI1 playing a critical role in initiating light-dependent chloroplast movements. We present a modified conceptual model for high light-dependent chloroplast movements in which PMI1 acts as the mobile signal that initiates a coordinated sequence of changes in protein–protein and protein–plasma membrane interactions that initiate the chloroplast movement response and determine where in the cell chloroplasts are able to anchor to the plasma membrane.