bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
AleRax: a tool for gene and species tree co-estimation and reconciliation under a probabilistic model of gene duplication, transfer, and loss
Authors: Morel Benoit , Williams Tom A , Stamatakis Alexandros , Szöllősi Gergely J
Published: March 2024

Motivation

Genomes are a rich source of information on the pattern and process of evolution across biological scales. How best to make use of that information is an active area of research in phylogenetics. Ideally, phylogenetic methods should not only model substitutions along gene trees, which explain differences between homologous gene sequences, but also the processes that generate the gene trees themselves along a shared species tree. To conduct accurate inferences, one needs to account for uncertainty at both levels, that is, in gene trees estimated from inherently short sequences and in their diverse evolutionary histories along a shared species tree.

Results

We present AleRax, a software that can infer reconciled gene trees together with a shared species tree using a simple, yet powerful, probabilistic model of gene duplication, transfer, and loss. A key feature of AleRax is its ability to account for uncertainty in the gene tree and its reconciliation by using an efficient approximation to calculate the joint phylogenetic—reconciliation likelihood and sample reconciled gene trees accordingly. Simulations and analyses of empirical data show that AleRax is one order of magnitude faster than competing gene tree inference tools while attaining the same accuracy. It is consistently more robust than species tree inference methods such as SpeciesRax and ASTRAL-Pro 2 under gene tree uncertainty. Finally, AleRax can process multiple gene families in parallel thereby allowing users to compare competing phylogenetic hypotheses and estimate model parameters, such as duplication, transfer, and loss probabilities for genome-scale datasets with hundreds of taxa.

Availability and implementation

GNU GPL at https://github.com/BenoitMorel/AleRax and data are made available at https://cme.h-its.org/exelixis/material/alerax_data.tar.gz.
Readability assessment of British Journal of Dermatology plain language summaries
Authors: Barry Rory , O’Gorman Susan
Published: March 2024

Plain language summaries (PLSs) are being increasingly implemented and required by regulatory bodies to improve the accessibility of scientific research for the general population. We assessed whether BJD PLSs over 12 issues had been written at a suitable readability level for the general population, based on published guidelines. We found that authors may benefit from increased training or guidance in the production of these worthwhile texts, to further promote patient engagement with the BJD.
Novel photoactive material and fabrication techniques for solar cells application: nanocellulose-based graphene oxide CdS composite
Authors: Shoyiga Hassan Oriyomi , Akpasi Stephen Okiemute , Akpan Joseph , Amune Ubani Oluwaseun , Kiambi Sammy Lewis
Published: March 2024

In recent times, solar energy has become one of the largest available sources of renewable energy at our disposal. However, the design of highly efficient solar cells is increasingly becoming crucial as there has been a surge for economically viable alternative energy sources with the lowest cost. Significant advances have been made through different routes to make photovoltaic (PV)/solar technologies economically viable, eco-friendly and consequently scalable. As a result, cellulose nanomaterials have become one of the emerging technologies in this regard because of the advantages of high-value bio-based nanostructured materials, such as their abundance and sustainability. Nanocellulose-based photoactive nanocomposite materials can be made by integrating conducting photoactive and electroconductive materials with hydrophilic biocompatible cellulose. Inorganic nanoparticles, such as graphene/reduced graphene oxide cadmium sulphide quantum dots, amongst others, can be introduced into the nanocellulose matrix and can be applied either as charge transporters or photoactive materials in different types of solar cells. Thus, in this review, we highlight the optoelectronic properties of different photoactive materials, particularly nanocellulose-based graphene nanocomposites; their efficiencies and drawbacks were X-rayed. The effect of doping each PV material on the PV performance is also discussed. It is anticipated that the novel material would result in a reduction in the cost of solar cells, jointly enhancing their efficacy in generating environmentally friendly electricity. Since the fabrication techniques and equipment play a crucial role in the development of solar cells, the fabrication techniques of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) cells containing a nanocellulose-based graphene composite and case studies of already fabricated BHJ PV cells with nanocellulose-based graphene composite are discussed.
Dynamic identification of important nodes in complex networks by considering local and global characteristics
Authors: Cao Mengchuan , Wu Dan , Du Pengxuan , Zhang Ting , Ahmadi Sina
Published: March 2024

By combining centrality measures and community detection, a better insight into the nature of the evolution of important nodes in complex networks is obtained. Meanwhile, the dynamic identification of important nodes in complex networks can be enhanced by considering both local and global characteristics. Local characteristics focus on the immediate connections and interactions of a node within its neighbourhood, while global characteristics take into account the overall structure and dynamics of the entire network. Nodes with high local centrality in dynamic networks may play crucial roles in local information spreading or influence. On the global level, community detection algorithms have a significant impact on the overall network structure and connectivity between important nodes. Hence, integrating both local and global characteristics offers a more comprehensive understanding of how nodes dynamically contribute to the functioning of complex networks. For more comprehensive analysis of complex networks, this article identifies important nodes by considering local and global characteristics (INLGC). For local characteristic, INLGC develops a centrality measure based on network constraint coefficient, which can provide a better understanding of the relationship between neighbouring nodes. For global characteristic, INLGC develops a community detection method to improve the resolution of ranking important nodes. Extensive experiments have been conducted on several real-world datasets and various performance metrics have been evaluated based on the susceptible–infected–recovered model. The simulation results show that INLGC provides more competitive advantages in precision and resolution.
Case report: acute myocarditis complicated with persistent complete heart block: a clinical dilemma when myocardial inflammation remains
Authors: Lima Maria Rita , Custódio Pedro , Tralhão António , Trabulo Marisa
Published: March 2024

Background

Atrioventricular conduction abnormalities due to acute myocarditis are typically transient and do not require ventricular pacing beyond the acute phase of myocardial inflammation. Notwithstanding, selective injury and necrosis of the heart’s conduction system may lead to persistent complete heart block (CHB) requiring device implantation.

Case summary

We report the case of a 23-year-old man with acute lymphocytic myocarditis complicated by cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, and persistent CHB. Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) showed signs of subacute myocarditis, with no evidence of granulomas or giant cells, nor criteria for eosinophilic myocarditis. Aetiological work-up found serological evidence of previous Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection; Borrelia burgdorferi serology for Lyme disease was negative. The real time–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) of the EMB was positive for the presence of EBV DNA, but in situ hybridization for viral ribosomal RNA (rRNA) was negative. The patient progressed favourably, and left ventricle ejection fraction recovered 2 weeks after initial presentation. However, CHB persisted for more than 3 weeks, and the patient underwent definitive pacemaker implantation with left bundle branch pacing.

Discussion

Persistent CHB after acute myocarditis is generally considered unlikely, but in rare circumstances the damage portended by inflammation may be irreversible. Besides the play of chance, possible mechanisms behind the apparent predilection for the conduction system of the myocardium warrant further research.
Biventricular Takotsubo syndrome complicated with cardiogenic shock and ventricular septal rupture: a case report
Authors: Paiva Mariana Sousa , Maltês Sérgio , Brízido Catarina , Madeira Márcio , Tralhão António
Published: March 2024

Background

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) mimics acute coronary syndromes but can lead to serious cardiac complications, emphasizing the need for improved understanding and management.

Case summary

We describe a TTS case presented with cardiogenic shock due to ventricular septal rupture (VSR). Successful treatment involved mechanical circulatory support followed by VSR surgical closure.

Discussion

Ventricular septal rupture is the rarest and deadliest complication associated with TTS. Prompt recognition and a multidisciplinary approach are crucial to achieve the best possible outcome.
Inorganic nitrate benefits contrast-induced nephropathy after coronary angiography for acute coronary syndromes: the NITRATE-CIN trial
Authors: Jones Daniel A , Beirne Anne-Marie , Kelham Matthew , Wynne Lucinda , Andiapen Mervyn , Rathod Krishnaraj S , Parakaw Tipparat , Adams Jessica , Learoyd Annastazia , Khan Kamran , Godec Thomas , Wright Paul , Antoniou Sotiris , Wragg Andrew , Yaqoob Muhammad , Mathur Anthony , Ahluwalia Amrita
Published: March 2024

Background and Aims

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), also known as contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) underlies a significant proportion of the morbidity and mortality following coronary angiographic procedures in high-risk patients and remains a significant unmet need. In pre-clinical studies inorganic nitrate, which is chemically reduced in vivo to nitric oxide, is renoprotective but this observation is yet to be translated clinically. In this study, the efficacy of inorganic nitrate in the prevention of CIN in high-risk patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is reported.

Methods

NITRATE-CIN is a double-blind, randomized, single-centre, placebo-controlled trial assessing efficacy of inorganic nitrate in CIN prevention in at-risk patients presenting with ACS. Patients were randomized 1:1 to once daily potassium nitrate (12 mmol) or placebo (potassium chloride) capsules for 5 days. The primary endpoint was CIN (KDIGO criteria). Secondary outcomes included kidney function [estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)] at 3 months, rates of procedural myocardial infarction, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 12 months. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03627130.

Results

Over 3 years, 640 patients were randomized with a median follow-up of 1.0 years, 319 received inorganic nitrate with 321 received placebo. The mean age of trial participants was 71.0 years, with 73.3% male and 75.2% Caucasian; 45.9% had diabetes, 56.0% had chronic kidney disease (eGFR <60 mL/min) and the mean Mehran score of the population was 10. Inorganic nitrate treatment significantly reduced CIN rates (9.1%) vs. placebo (30.5%, P < .001). This difference persisted after adjustment for baseline creatinine and diabetes status (odds ratio 0.21, 95% confidence interval 0.13–0.34). Secondary outcomes were improved with inorganic nitrate, with lower rates of procedural myocardial infarction (2.7% vs. 12.5%, P = .003), improved 3-month renal function (between-group change in eGFR 5.17, 95% CI 2.94–7.39) and reduced 1-year MACE (9.1% vs. 18.1%, P = .001) vs. placebo.

Conclusions

In patients at risk of renal injury undergoing coronary angiography for ACS, a short (5 day) course of once-daily inorganic nitrate reduced CIN, improved kidney outcomes at 3 months, and MACE events at 1 year compared to placebo.
Temperature-dependent gene regulatory divergence underlies local adaptation with gene flow in the Atlantic silverside
Authors: Jacobs Arne , Velotta Jonathan P , Tigano Anna , Wilder Aryn P , Baumann Hannes , Therkildsen Nina O
Published: March 2024

Gene regulatory divergence is thought to play an important role in adaptation, yet its extent and underlying mechanisms remain largely elusive for local adaptation with gene flow. Local adaptation is widespread in marine species despite generally high connectivity and is often associated with tightly linked genomic architectures, such as chromosomal inversions. To investigate gene regulatory evolution under gene flow and the role of inversions associated with local adaptation to a steep thermal gradient, we generated RNA-seq data from Atlantic silversides (Menidia menidia) from two locally adapted populations and their F1 hybrids, reared under two temperatures. We found substantial divergence in gene expression and thermal plasticity between populations, with up to 31% of genes being differentially expressed. Reduced thermal plasticity, temperature-dependent gene misexpression, and the disruption of coexpression networks in hybrids point toward a role of regulatory incompatibilities in local adaptation, particularly under colder temperatures. Chromosomal inversions show an accumulation of regulatory incompatibilities but are not consistently enriched for differentially expressed genes. Together, these results suggest that gene regulation can diverge substantially among populations despite gene flow, partly due to the accumulation of temperature-dependent regulatory incompatibilities within inversions.
Dollo Parsimony Overestimates Ancestral Gene Content Reconstructions
Authors: Gàlvez-Morante Alex , Guéguen Laurent , Natsidis Paschalis , Telford Maximilian J , Richter Daniel J
Published: March 2024

Ancestral reconstruction is a widely used technique that has been applied to understand the evolutionary history of gain and loss of gene families. Ancestral gene content can be reconstructed via different phylogenetic methods, but many current and previous studies employ Dollo parsimony. We hypothesize that Dollo parsimony is not appropriate for ancestral gene content reconstruction inferences based on sequence homology, as Dollo parsimony is derived from the assumption that a complex character cannot be regained. This premise does not accurately model molecular sequence evolution, in which false orthology can result from sequence convergence or lateral gene transfer. The aim of this study is to test Dollo parsimony's suitability for ancestral gene content reconstruction and to compare its inferences with a maximum likelihood-based approach that allows a gene family to be gained more than once within a tree. We first compared the performance of the two approaches on a series of artificial data sets each of 5,000 genes that were simulated according to a spectrum of evolutionary rates without gene gain or loss, so that inferred deviations from the true gene count would arise only from errors in orthology inference and ancestral reconstruction. Next, we reconstructed protein domain evolution on a phylogeny representing known eukaryotic diversity. We observed that Dollo parsimony produced numerous ancestral gene content overestimations, especially at nodes closer to the root of the tree. These observations led us to the conclusion that, confirming our hypothesis, Dollo parsimony is not an appropriate method for ancestral reconstruction studies based on sequence homology.
Density structure of Kīlauea volcano: implications for magma storage and transport
Authors: Denlinger Roger P , Flinders Ashton
Published: March 2024

A Bayesian linear regression to determine the bias in the Nafe–Drake relationship between compressional velocity and density provides an improved model for the density structure of Kīlauea volcano, Hawaiʻi. In previous work, we combined the results of seismic tomography with the Nafe–Drake relationship between compressional velocity and density to explain the large values of gravity disturbances overlying the summits and rift zones of the island's volcanoes. These results were used to determine mechanisms for gravitational instability of the island flanks. Here, we use laboratory measurements of the relationship of velocity and density for a wide range of Hawaiʻi island rocks as a prior in a Bayesian regression, with seismic tomography, to refine the 3-D density structure for Kīlauea volcano. This refined structure shows dense bodies (3220 kg m−3) between 5 and 8 km below sea level that underly regions of magma storage, found from geodetic and geophysical studies, beneath the summit and East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano. Above these bodies, density isosurfaces surround and cradle sources of pressure change determined from geodetic models, both at the summit and along the East Rift Zone. Continued subsidence of the summit following the 2018 eruption is aligned with a bowl-shaped density structure, formed primarily by density isosurfaces between 2800 and 2900 kg m−3 at 4–6 km depth. These surfaces underly the ∼3 km depth at which dyke injection initiates, are largely aseismic, and from their density values are inferred to contain high concentrations of olivine. Taken together, these density structures are consistent with an olivine-rich mush with variable porosity that increases in density with depth and provides a mechanism to form olivine cumulates both at the summit and along the rift zones. This structural framework for Kīlauea volcano is consistent with melt and mush transport occurring over a large range of depths to accommodate the growth and spreading of the volcano.
Evaluation of drying shrinkage effects on the elastic properties of porous sandstones using a modified micromechanical model
Authors: Horikawa T , Katsura M , Nakashima S
Published: March 2024

The effects of pore fluids on the elastic properties of sedimentary rocks can be broadly categorized into two mechanisms: variations in pore compressibility due to the physical properties of the fluids and alterations in the stiffness of the rock frame resulting from rock–fluid interactions. Particularly, as rock–fluid interactions alter the stiffness of contacts between mineral grains, changes in the fluid properties around grain contacts can induce volumetric deformation of the rock as well as in variations of the associated elastic coefficients. Even though many previous studies have explored the influence of swelling of clay minerals, the relationships between changes in elastic moduli and deformation in rocks, which hardly contain swellable minerals, remain to date enigmatic. In this paper, to evaluate quantitatively these effects, drying rates, strains and ultrasonic velocities of small cylindrical Berea sandstone samples were measured as their water saturation was decreased by evaporative drying. The measurements clearly showed drying shrinkage and drastic increases in shear and compressional moduli for all the samples under an almost fully dried condition. Previous studies considered that the alteration in surface energy of grain minerals between wet and dry states affected the contact stiffness between them. Some of them used micromechanical model, uniting the Digby grain contact model with the effective medium theory, to interpret the changes in elastic moduli observed in the non-swellable sandstones during water adsorption on the grain surface. The conventional micromechanical model assumes that a mineral grain is a pure sphere and that the number of contacts between the grains is one. However, grains in a sedimentary rock are generally not purely spherical, and the contact surface is composed of several adhesive asperities. We therefore modified the conventional model by introducing the curvature radius and the number of asperities per contact surface. The modified model well reproduced the shear moduli under wet conditions using the strain and moduli measured under dry conditions. On the other hand, the predictions of the compressional moduli using the model were partially in agreement with the experimental results. Therefore, we attempted to qualitatively interpret the relationship by combining the model with the viscoelastic effect associated with wave-induced fluid flow. The deformation and changes in the elastic moduli of rocks resulting from multiple pore fluids within them can be better understood by the present combined model.
“An island of Jewish autonomous life”: Paul Rosner’s Diary and the Story of the Young Maccabi Movement in Germany
Authors: Corb Noam
Published: March 2024

From April to August 1937, Paul Rosner recorded his experiences while attending the Beth Halutz/Maccabi Hatzair boarding school in Berlin, and while participating in the Maccabi youth movement in Germany. Clearly illuminating his personal history in the group, the diary describes daily life, and offers a glimpse into several important events of the Berlin Jewish community, particularly within Zionist circles. This article first covers the history of the Maccabi youth movement, before analyzing the diary’s coverage of various topics including culture, religion, politics, and leisure. Previously, the official writings of the movement’s leaders dominated the narrative of this group, but Rosner’s diary offers a youth’s perspective that is both unique and complex, exploring the movement’s successful attempt to create a parallel Jewish reality for its members during a period of ongoing persecution.
Estimating the impact of bias in causal epidemiological studies: the case of health outcomes following assisted reproduction
Authors: Walker Adrian R , Venetis Christos A , Opdahl Signe , Chambers Georgina M , Jorm Louisa R , Vajdic Claire M
Published: March 2024

Researchers interested in causal questions must deal with two sources of error: random error (random deviation from the true mean value of a distribution), and bias (systematic deviance from the true mean value due to extraneous factors). For some causal questions, randomization is not feasible, and observational studies are necessary. Bias poses a substantial threat to the validity of observational research and can have important consequences for health policy developed from the findings. The current piece describes bias and its sources, outlines proposed methods to estimate its impacts in an observational study, and demonstrates how these methods may be used to inform debate on the causal relationship between medically assisted reproduction (MAR) and health outcomes, using cancer as an example. In doing so, we aim to enlighten researchers who work with observational data, especially regarding the health effects of MAR and infertility, on the pitfalls of bias, and how to address them. We hope that, in combination with the provided example, we can convince readers that estimating the impact of bias in causal epidemiologic research is not only important but necessary to inform the development of robust health policy and clinical practice recommendations.
Freezing and Mechanical Failure of a Habitat-Forming Kelp in the Rocky Intertidal Zone
Authors: Zuelow Angelina N , Roberts Kevin T , Burnaford Jennifer L , Burnett Nicholas P
Published: March 2024

Synopsis

Kelp and other habitat-forming seaweeds in the intertidal zone are exposed to a suite of environmental factors, including temperature and hydrodynamic forces, that can influence their growth, survival, and ecological function. Relatively little is known about the interactive effect of temperature and hydrodynamic forces on kelp, especially the effect of cold stress on biomechanical resistance to hydrodynamic forces. We used the intertidal kelp Egregia menziesii to investigate how freezing in air during a low tide changes the kelp’s resistance to breaking from hydrodynamic forces. We conducted a laboratory experiment to test how short-term freezing, mimicking a brief low-tide freezing event, affected the kelp’s mechanical properties. We also characterized daily minimum winter temperatures in an intertidal E. menziesii population on San Juan Island, WA, near the center of the species’ geographic range. In the laboratory, acute freezing events decreased the strength and toughness of kelp tissue by 8–20% (change in medians). During low tides in the field, we documented sub-zero temperatures, snow, and low canopy cover (compared to summer surveys). These results suggest that freezing can contribute to frond breakage and decreased canopy cover in intertidal kelp. Further work is needed to understand whether freezing and the biomechanical performance in cold temperatures influence the fitness and ecological function of kelp and whether this will change as winter conditions, such as freezing events and storms, change in frequency and intensity.
Digital disruption and market structure: the case of internet banking
Authors: Lyons Bruce , Zhu Minyan
Published: March 2024

We provide an econometric study of the adoption of internet banking, a case of a potentially disruptive digital technology which could devalue/replace an incumbent legacy. Our aim is to better understand the extent to which it disrupted the market structure where incumbents start with a strong customer base. We study both regional integration and national concentration dimensions of market structure in EU member states during the period of 1997–2018. We find that internet banking was initially introduced earlier in more concentrated markets. Although consumer uptake was slower over time than in less concentrated markets, the initial higher consumer penetration in more concentrated markets was sustained until market maturity. We further find a substantial de-concentrating effect of internet banking, and evidence of integration in previously regionalized markets following uptake.
Conspiracy Thinking and Electoral Trust During Tumultuous Times: The Case of Israel
Authors: Yair Omer , Cavari Amnon , Efrat Asif
Published: March 2024

Recent research reveals the association between conspiracy thinking, i.e., one’s predisposition to believe in conspiracy theories, and trust in elections and election outcomes. This research, however, has thus far only examined single election cycles. In this letter, we examine whether citizens’ conspiracy thinking, across electoral winners and losers, predicts electoral mistrust in the polarized, crisis-laden state of Israel. We test our expectation using four nationally representative samples fielded in 2022—before the electoral campaign started, during the campaign, and after the November national election, when a change in government took place. We show that conspiracy thinking predicts electoral mistrust and that this effect is independent of the effect of being an electoral loser. We also demonstrate that losing or winning the election does not meaningfully moderate the effect of conspiracy thinking on electoral mistrust.
Controllable image expansion of rock castings based on deep learning
Authors: Tian Lixin , Peng Wenxu , Han Wenming , Zhang Shixin , Cao Danping
Published: March 2024

Digital rock physics (DRP) offers an effective method of deriving elastic parameters from digital rock images, but its practical application is always limited to limited datasets. Recently, deep learning techniques have presented a promising avenue for generating more extensive and cost-effective samples. However, generating controllable samples according to user definition remains very difficult due to high dependence on sufficient datasets. To resolve this problem, a new network was proposed based on the UNet framework through image translation (UNet-IT) to expand rock castings by given porosity in relatively fewer datasets. Practical tests on carbonate rock images demonstrate that the proposed method can generate samples tailored to specific porosity requirements, which achieved a minimum porosity relative error of less than 1%. Compared with the unextended samples, the generated ones have completely different pore structures in terms of two-point probability, two-point cluster, and lineal path functions. Furthermore, the elastic parameters of the generated images obtained through the finite element method (FEM) and practical logging data matched well, with an average relative error of ∼9%. This indicates that the generated samples can be used as effective data to estimate fine rock physics templates and then improve inversion accuracy.
Beta Hebbian Learning for intrusion detection in networks with MQTT Protocols for IoT devices
Authors: Michelena Álvaro , García Ordás María Teresa , Aveleira-Mata José , Marcos del Blanco David Yeregui , Timiraos Díaz Míriam , Zayas-Gato Francisco , Jove Esteban , Casteleiro-Roca José-Luis , Quintián Héctor , Alaiz-Moretón Héctor , Luis Calvo-Rolle José
Published: March 2024

This paper aims to enhance security in IoT device networks through a visual tool that utilizes three projection techniques, including Beta Hebbian Learning (BHL), t-distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) and ISOMAP, in order to facilitate the identification of network attacks by human experts. This work research begins with the creation of a testing environment with IoT devices and web clients, simulating attacks over Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) for recording all relevant traffic information. The unsupervised algorithms chosen provide a set of projections that enable human experts to visually identify most attacks in real-time, making it a powerful tool that can be implemented in IoT environments easily.
Truth and knowledge in the community of inquiry
Authors: Zanetti Luca , Moruzzi Sebastiano
Published: March 2024

According to some Philosophy for Children theorists, the pedagogy of the Community of Inquiry hinges upon the acceptance of a pragmatist epistemology. The underlying idea is that it is possible to participate, and to justify participation, in a community of inquiry only if some pragmatist view of truth and knowledge is true and accepted by the participants engaged in dialogue. In this article we argue that this claim is false. In this way, we want to free the pedagogy of the Community of Inquiry from some epistemological assumptions that we regard as unwarranted. To support our contention, we shall highlight two distinctions that are important in order to appreciate the connection between epistemology and education: first, the distinction between the disposition of intellectual humility and the belief in fallibilism; second, the belief in the existence of Cartesian certainties and the attitude of psychological certainty. Finally, we also argue that to vindicate dialogic inquiry it is neither necessary to adopt a pragmatist theory of truth, nor is it necessary to regard warranted judgement as the primary aim of inquiry. In contrast, we argue that truth is the aim of inquiry, and so is the aim of children when they participate in a dialogic inquiry. In this way we also suggest a justification of philosophy with children that does not instrumentalize it.
Psychosexological correlates of 372 women with vulvodynia, overactive pelvic floor, postcoital cystitis, and interstitial cystitis
Authors: Ricucci Noemi , Colonnello Elena , Limoncin Erika , Mollaioli Daniele , Sansone Andrea , Jannini Emmanuele A , Ciocca Giacomo
Published: March 2024

Background

Among the plethora of urogynecological conditions possibly affecting women, some of them, less explored, have significant impacts on sexological and psychological health, with a mutual influence.

Aim

The aim of this study was to investigate the sexological and psychological correlates of four urogynecological pathologies in a sample of women of childbearing age: overactive pelvic floor, vulvodynia, postcoital cystitis, and interstitial cystitis. Women cured of these conditions were also included, to assess the same aspects after the remission of physical symptoms.

Methods

We recruited 372 women with an average age of 33.5 years through an online platform shared by a popular forum for women with urogynecological pathologies between March and May 2021. The participants filled out a socio-anamnestic questionnaire and a set of psychometric tests.

Outcomes

Participant data were collected by use of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, Female Sexual Function Index, and Orgasmometer-F, and the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) v.26 was used for data analysis.

Results

Overactive pelvic floor was reported by 66.4% of the women, vulvodynia by 55%, postcoital cystitis by 58.8%, and interstitial cystitis by 8.3%, and these conditions were often comorbid with each other, with 9.4% and 7% of women reporting having suffered psychological and sexual abuse, respectively. The presence of past abuse was correlated with overactive pelvic floor (P < .05), vulvodynia (P < .01), and major depression (P < .01). Significantly more depression occurred in women with vulvodynia than in the other subgroups (P < .05), except for women with only an overactive pelvic floor. There was no difference between the subgroups in the occurrence of alexithymia, sexual function, and orgasm (P < .05). Interestingly, the prevalence of sexual dysfunction increased in cured women.

Clinical implications

The lack of significant differences, except for depression, between the pathological subgroups suggests a similar clinical and psychological relevance of the four pathologies studied. The persistence of sexual dysfunctions in cured women may be related to a residual dysfunctional relational modality with the partner.

Strengths and Limitations

The evaluation of both psychological and sexological variables in a group of less-explored urogynecological conditions represents a strength of this study, while a lack of a face-to-face assessment could represent a limitation.

Conclusion

The results of the present study should promote psychosexological interventions in women with these diseases, both during the pathological state and after remission.
Higher order polyploids exhibit enhanced desiccation tolerance in the grass Microchloa caffra
Authors: Marks Rose A , Delgado Paula , Makonya Givemore Munashe , Cooper Keren , VanBuren Robert , Farrant Jill M
Published: March 2024

Desiccation tolerance evolved recurrently across diverse plant lineages to enable survival in water-limited conditions. Many resurrection plants are polyploid, and several groups have hypothesized that polyploidy contributed to the evolution of desiccation tolerance. However, due to the vast phylogenetic distance between resurrection plant lineages, the rarity of desiccation tolerance, and the prevalence of polyploidy in plants, this hypothesis has been difficult to test. Here, we surveyed natural variation in morphological, reproductive, and desiccation tolerance traits across several cytotypes of a single species to test for links between polyploidy and increased resilience. We sampled multiple natural populations of the resurrection grass Microchloa caffra across an environmental gradient ranging from mesic to xeric in South Africa. We describe two distinct ecotypes of M. caffra that occupy different extremes of the environmental gradient and exhibit consistent differences in ploidy, morphological, reproductive, and desiccation tolerance traits in both field and common growth conditions. Interestingly, plants with more polyploid genomes exhibited consistently higher recovery from desiccation, were less reproductive, and were larger than plants with smaller genomes and lower ploidy. These data indicate that selective pressures in increasingly xeric sites may play a role in maintaining and increasing desiccation tolerance and are mediated by changes in ploidy.
Developmental and Clinical Concerns and History
Authors: Kerns Connor M. , Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter details the section on Developmental and Clinical Concerns and History in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child Version, with Autism Spectrum Addendum (ADIS/ASA): Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). It is important to get some background information about the child’s development, behavior, and treatment history. The interviewer should ask the parent/guardian if the child has ever received a diagnosis from a medical doctor, psychologist, or educational specialist, or if the child has had a serious medical or behavior difficulty that required professional treatment. If yes, then the interviewer should record information on specific diagnoses. The types of treatments, therapies, or medications that the child received should also be recorded.
School History
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter details the section on School History in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child Version: Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). This section contains some general questions about the child's school attendance and performance. If the child is homeschooled, the interviewer should ask the parent to explain the reason for homeschooled education. This inquiry is not meant to judge the merits or ideology of different approaches to education, but rather, to examine whether the homeschooling is due to the child's anxiety or other mental health problem. The interviewer should also inquire for basic subjects such as math, reading, science, and history for the current and previous years, noting any changes reported in academic performance.
Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses the section on Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia) in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child Version: Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). The interviewer may ask the parents how the child feels in certain social situations such as school, restaurants, parties, or when meeting new people. The next step is to provide a list of some situations and measure the child's fear in relation to the situations through the Feelings Thermometer. For each situation with a fear rating of 4 or greater, the interviewer should inquire about avoidance. It is important to separate Social Anxiety Disorder symptoms from symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The interviewer should specify as “performance only” if the anxiety is restricted to evaluation and performance situations.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter focuses on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder section of the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child Version: Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). This section contains some questions that have to do with worrying. It is important to separate Generalized Anxiety Disorder symptoms from Social Anxiety Disorder symptoms. For each worry area to which the parent responded “Yes,” the interviewer should inquire about excessiveness and tension (severity rating). For each worry area endorsed with a severity rating of 4 (Some) or greater, the interviewer may ask the parent to rate the degree of difficulty in controlling the worry (perceived control of symptom). To meet the diagnostic criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, the parent must endorse excessive worry more days than not for at least 6 months, report that the child has difficulty controlling the worry, endorse one physical symptom, and report distress or impairment in functioning (interference).
Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses the section on Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child Version: Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). The interviewer should inquire whether the child experiences repeated, severe anger or temper outbursts that are either verbal (verbal rages) or involve physical aggression towards other people or things and for no good reason. The interviewer should also ask the parent whether these outbursts are unexpected or unusual, given their child's age. To meet the diagnostic criteria for Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, the temper outbursts and disruptive mood must occur on average three or more times per week, and must be constant for 12 months or more, without a period of 3 months of normal mood. Moreover, the temper outbursts and disruptive mood must have started before age 10, but not before age 6.
Substance Use Disorders
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses the section on Substance Use Disorders in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child Version: Parent Interview Schedule (PIS). This section is applicable if the child is 12 years old or older, or if the interviewer suspects the possibility of alcohol or other drug use in a younger child. The interviewer should inquire whether the child has ever abused medications that were prescribed for them or someone else, such as opioids or amphetamines prescribed for hyperactivity. The interviewer should also ask whether the child has ever drunk alcohol. If there is no evidence of caffeine, alcohol, or other substance use, the interviewer may skip to the section on Tic Disorders. The next step is to inquire about past use, indicating the time period over which the substance use occurred. If there is evidence of current use, the interviewer should inquire for the presence of prior, discrete episodes of disturbance. It is important to measure interference through the Feelings Thermometer.
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter looks at the Separation Anxiety Disorder module in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child and Parent Version: Child Interview Schedule (CIS). For the child to meet the diagnostic criteria for Separation Anxiety Disorder, the child must respond “yes” to at least three symptoms from Questions 1 through 8. It is important to report duration greater than 4 weeks in Question 9, and report significant distress or interference in functioning. The interviewer should explain the concept of interference with the child and obtain an overall rating of interference from the child through the Feelings Thermometer. If the child meets the criteria for Separation Anxiety Disorder, the interviewer should inquire about age of onset.
Agoraphobia
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter discusses the section on Agoraphobia in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child and Parent Version: Child Interview Schedule (CIS). If the child’s response to Question 2a suggests that they did not understand Question 1; or if the child’s “yes” response to Question 1 appears to be the result of another anxiety disorder; or if the child cites an obvious non-agoraphobic situation, then it is important to review Question 1, emphasizing, rewording, and clarifying the specifics with which the child had difficulty. The interviewer may continue only if the child reports experiencing a “clinically relevant” agoraphobic experience to Question 2a after further probing. Otherwise, the interviewer may skip to the section on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The next step is to measure how scared the child feels in certain situations by using the Feelings Thermometer. For situations that the child endorses with a rating of 4 (Some) or greater, the interviewer should inquire about avoidance. The diagnosis of Agoraphobia requires 6 months or longer of persistent fear, anxiety, or avoidance.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)/Acute Stress Disorder
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter focuses on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)/Acute Stress Disorder module of the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child and Parent Version: Child Interview Schedule (CIS). For any “yes” response, the interviewer should ensure that the event was extremely distressful or upsetting to the child and that the child’s or another person’s physical integrity was threatened. It is important that the child perceived the event as traumatic to qualify for the diagnosis. By DSM-5 definition, the person must have experienced, witnessed, or been confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death, injury, or threat to the physical integrity of self or others; the person’s response must involve intense fear, helplessness, horror, or, in children, disorganized or agitated behavior. For each event, it is important to record whether the child experienced the event personally, or witnessed the event in person as it happened to someone else, or both. The interviewer should also record whether the event was associated with actual or threatened death, serious injury, and/or sexual violation. In addition, the interviewer should record the severity of the event.
Screening Questions for Additional Disorders
Authors: Albano Anne Marie , Silverman Wendy K.
Published: March 2024

This chapter highlights the Screening Questions for Additional Disorders module in the Anxiety and Related Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-5, Child and Parent Version: Child Interview Schedule (CIS). This module contains screening questions for additional disorders that the interviewer may wish to pursue. These include Eating Disorders, Illness Anxiety Disorder, Somatic Symptom Disorder, Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders, Optional Interference Inquiry, and Child-Initiated Topics that were not previously discussed. The questions here are provided for the purpose of gathering basic information, not for establishing full diagnostic criteria. Further clinical inquiry will be necessary to confirm the presence of any of these disorders. If responses to questions in these categories indicate the need for further inquiry, the interviewer should circle the question mark at the end of each set of questions in each diagnostic category.
Airway Defences
Authors: Wilkinson Thomas S.
Published: March 2024

Summary

The lung has evolved an impressive array of strategies to sense and respond to foreign or dangerous material. In this chapter, lung host defence mechanisms are described from the top to the bottom of the respiratory tree—from nose to alveoli. Each mechanism is described individually in the first instance but then combined into a tissue-based description to better understand the biology as a whole. The review focuses on individual host defence mechanisms of the upper airways, including the nose, sneeze, cough, the mucociliary apparatus, epithelial cells, and dendritic cell network. We move further down the respiratory tree and discuss the individual mechanisms of the lower airways, including the contribution of macrophages, mast cells, and opsonins to host defence. Finally, focus is drawn to cellular interplay between the mechanisms and includes the importance of localized mucosal immunity in the nasopharyngeal-associated lymphoid tissue and bronchial-associated lymphoid tissue. To close, novel interactions based on new understanding of the lung microbiome and the gut/lung axis are incorporated to provide an up-to-date review.