bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring the importance of diversified physical activities in early childhood for later motor competence and physical activity level: a seven-year longitudinal study
Authors: Melby Paulina S. , Elsborg Peter , Nielsen Glen , Lima Rodrigo A. , Bentsen Peter , Andersen Lars B.
Published: August 2021

Background

Research indicates that childhood motor competence (MC) can predict physical activity (PA) levels later in life and it has been argued that frequently engaging in a wide diversity of physical activities will eventually improve children’s MC. However, no longitudinal or experimental studies have confirmed this theoretical rationale. The aims of this study are to explore the longitudinal associations between diversified physical activities at age six and later MC and PA (time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA) (age nine and 13). Furthermore, we explore to what extent the longitudinal association between diversified physical activity and PA is mediated by MC.

Methods

Longitudinal data from the Copenhagen School Intervention Study were used for this analysis, where 704 participated (69% response rate). Diversified physical activity (self-reported), MC (The Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder battery of postural stability and locomotor skills) and PA (accelerometer) were assessed in the children at age six, age nine and age 13. A total of 654 participated in at least two of the measures and, therefore, were included in the analysis. Two structural equation models were constructed, with diversified physical activity at age six and MC and PA at age nine as predictors of PA and MC at age 13.

Results

The data from both models demonstrated good model fit. Diversified physical activity at 6 years of age was significantly associated with physical activity and MC at age 13, when adjusting for sex, age, intervention, weight, height, and previous levels of PA and MC. Diversified physical activity at age six was also positively associated with PA and MC at age nine, which were, in turn, positively related to PA at age 13 but to a lesser degree than diversified PA at age six. The association between diversified physical activity at age six and PA at age 13 was not mediated by MC at age nine.

Conclusions

The results of this study indicate that diversified physical activity at age six is important for the development of MC and PA in adolescence. Increasing the diversity of children’s daily physical activities, not only the amount and intensity, seems important for future PA behavior and thereby health promotion in a life course perspective.
Trends in the association between educational assortative mating, infant and child mortality in Nigeria
Authors: Ariyo Tolulope , Jiang Quanbao
Published: August 2021

Background

Existing knowledge has established the connection between maternal education and child survival, but little is known about how educational assortative mating (EAM), relates to childhood mortality. We attempt to examine this association in the context of Nigeria.

Methods

Data was obtained from the 2008, 2013, and 2018 waves of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, which is a cross-sectional study. The sample includes the analysis of 72,527 newborns within the 5 years preceding each survey. The dependent variables include the risk of a newborn dying before 12 months of age (infant mortality), or between the age of 12–59 months (child mortality). From the perspective of the mother, the independent variable, EAM, includes four categories (high-education homogamy, low-education homogamy, hypergamy, and hypogamy). The Cox proportional hazard regression was employed for multivariate analyses, while the estimation of mortality rates across the spectrum of EAM was obtained through the synthetic cohort technique.

Results

The risk of childhood mortality varied across the spectrum of EAM and was particularly lowest among those with high-education homogamy. Compared to children of mothers in low-education homogamy, children of mothers in high-education homogamy had 25, 31 to 19% significantly less likelihood of infant mortality, and 34, 41, and 57% significantly less likelihood of child mortality in 2008, 2013 and 2018 survey data, respectively. Also, compared to children of mothers in hypergamy, children of mothers in hypogamous unions had 20, 12, and 11% less likelihood of infant mortality, and 27, 36, and 1% less likelihood of child mortality across 2008, 2013 and 2018 surveys, respectively, although not significant at p < 0.05. Both infant and child mortality rates were highest in low-education homogamy, as expected, lowest in high-education homogamy, and lower in hypogamy than in hypergamy. Furthermore, the trends in the rate declined between 2008 and 2018, and were higher in 2018 than in 2013.

Conclusion

This indicates that, beyond the absolute level of education, the similarities or dissimilarities in partners’ education may have consequences for child survival, alluding to the family system theory. Future studies could investigate how this association varies when marital status is put into consideration.
Physician induced demand for knee replacement surgery in Iran
Authors: Alinia Cyrus , Takian Amirhossein , Saravi Nasser , Yusefzadeh Hasan , Piroozi Bakhtiar , Olyaeemanesh Alireza
Published: August 2021

Background

The structure of the Iranian health system has raised this hypothesis that a part of the Knee Replacement Surgery (KRS) services are provided due to Physician-Induced Demand (PID).

Methods

This paper used an unbalanced individual panel data covering the steady-state 15,729 KRSs performed by 995 surgeons provided by the Armed Forces Insurance Organization at the provincial level over the 60 months (2014–2018). We use a generalized method of moment’s system (GMM-SYS) to obtain consistent and asymptotically efficient estimates, which provide a vital instrument for our dynamic panel data.

Results

The outcomes show that with unequal increasing orthopedic surgeons to population ratio, both the number and size of KRS services were increased significantly at a 1 % level. Given that the positive elasticity obtained for the service size was significantly larger than the number of services, the findings give strong support for the existence of PID in the Iran system for KRS care. Also, the raw and population-adjusted number of KRS, cost, and the surgery per active physician increased significantly at the monthly province level.

Conclusions

This is the first time that the existence of PID in the Iranian health system is investigated using approved econometric models. The findings indicate that the health system structure has been provided the conditions for aggressive, costly, and high-risk services such as KRS to be exposed to PID.
PSPC1 is a new contextual determinant of aberrant subcellular translocation of oncogenes in tumor progression
Authors: Lang Yaw-Dong , Jou Yuh-Shan
Published: August 2021

Dysregulation of nucleocytoplasmic shuttling is commonly observed in cancers and emerging as a cancer hallmark for the development of anticancer therapeutic strategies. Despite its severe adverse effects, selinexor, a selective first-in-class inhibitor of the common nuclear export receptor XPO1, was developed to target nucleocytoplasmic protein shuttling and received accelerated FDA approval in 2019 in combination with dexamethasone as a fifth-line therapeutic option for adults with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). To explore innovative targets in nucleocytoplasmic shuttling, we propose that the aberrant contextual determinants of nucleocytoplasmic shuttling, such as PSPC1 (Paraspeckle component 1), TGIF1 (TGF-β Induced Factor Homeobox 1), NPM1 (Nucleophosmin), Mortalin and EBP50, that modulate shuttling (or cargo) proteins with opposite tumorigenic functions in different subcellular locations could be theranostic targets for developing anticancer strategies. For instance, PSPC1 was recently shown to be the contextual determinant of the TGF-β prometastatic switch and PTK6/β-catenin reciprocal oncogenic nucleocytoplasmic shuttling during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. The innovative nucleocytoplasmic shuttling inhibitor PSPC1 C-terminal 131 polypeptide (PSPC1-CT131), which was developed to target both the shuttling determinant PSPC1 and the shuttling protein PTK6, maintained their tumor-suppressive characteristics and exhibited synergistic effects on tumor suppression in HCC cells and mouse models. In summary, targeting the contextual determinants of nucleocytoplasmic shuttling with cargo proteins having opposite tumorigenic functions in different subcellular locations could be an innovative strategy for developing new therapeutic biomarkers and agents to improve cancer therapy.
Financial Incentives for Preventing Postpartum return to Smoking (FIPPS): study protocol for a three-arm randomised controlled trial
Authors: Ussher M. , Best C. , Lewis S. , McKell J. , Coleman T. , Cooper S. , Orton S. , Bauld L.
Published: August 2021

Background

Financial incentives are an effective way of helping women to stop smoking during pregnancy. Unfortunately, most women who stop smoking at this time return to smoking within 12 months of the infant’s birth. There is no evidence for interventions that are effective at preventing postpartum smoking relapse. Financial incentives provided after the birth may help women to sustain cessation. This randomised controlled trial will assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of financial incentives to help women who are abstinent from smoking at end-of-pregnancy to avoid return to smoking up to 12 months postpartum.

Methods

This is a UK-based, multi-centre, three-arm, superiority, parallel group, individually randomised controlled trial, with 1:1:1 allocation. It will compare the effectiveness of two financial incentive interventions with each other (one intervention for up to 3 months postpartum offering up to £120 of incentives (£60 for the participant and £60 for a significant other support); the other for up to 12 months postpartum with up to £300 of incentives (£240 for the participant and £60 for a significant other support) and with a no incentives/usual care control group. Eligible women will be between 34 weeks gestation and 2 weeks postpartum, abstinent from smoking for at least 4 weeks, have an expired carbon monoxide (CO) reading < 4 parts per million (ppm), aged at least 16 years, intend remaining abstinent from smoking after the birth and able to speak and read English.

The primary outcome is self-reported, lapse-free, smoking abstinence from the last quit attempt in pregnancy until 12 months postpartum, biochemically validated by expired CO and/or salivary cotinine or anabasine. Outcomes will be analysed by intention-to-treat and regression models used to compare the proportion of abstinent women between the two intervention groups and between each intervention group and the control group. An economic evaluation will assess the cost-effectiveness of offering incentives and a qualitative process evaluation will examine barriers and facilitators to trial retention, effectiveness and implementation.

Discussion

This pragmatic randomised controlled trial will test whether offering financial incentives is effective and cost-effective for helping women to avoid smoking relapse during the 12 months after the birth of their baby.

Trial registration

International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number 55218215. Registered retrospectively on 5th June 2019
Effect of intestinal microecology on postnatal weight gain in very preterm infants in intensive care units
Authors: Ding Ying-Xue , Wang Shou-Ni , Cui Hong , Jiang Li-Na
Published: August 2021

Objective

To study the effect of intestinal microecology on postnatal weight gain of very preterm infants in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Methods

Very preterm infants who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. The subjects were divided into the extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR) group(defined as a body weight less than the 10th percentile of the corresponding gestational age or a weight loss between birth and a given time of  >  2SD were considered EUGR) and normal growth group, and the growth was evaluated at 2 and 4 weeks after birth. Meanwhile, the stool samples were taken to perform16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) high -throughput 16S rRNA sequencing of the intestinal microflora was performed on stool samples.

Results

A total of 22 infants were included. There was no significant difference in the alpha diversity indexes indices between the two groups at 2 weeks or 4 weeks after birth. The beta diversity analysis showed that the two groups had similar principal components of the intestinal microflora were similar between the two groups. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) showed that 2 weeks after birth, the bacteria with an absolute LDA score (log10) higher than 4 included Streptococcaceae, Streptococcus, Bacteroidetes, Bacteroidales and Stenotrophomonas in the EUGR group and Enterococcaceae and Enterococcus in the control group. At the 4th week after birth, the bacteria with an absolute LDA score (log10) higher than 3 in the EUGR group includedwere Clostriaceae, Eubacteriaceae and Eubacterium. TheBy comparing the composition of the microbial community composition comparison showed, significant differences were found in the principal components of Enterococcus and Streptococcus on the family and genus levels at 2 weeks after birth. No Bifidobacterium was found in either group at 4 weeks after birth.

Conclusion

Intestinal microecology is different between infants with EUGR and those with normal growth. The diversity and richness of the intestinal microflora in preterm infants at the NICU are significantly insufficient and change dynamically with time, and the establishment of intestinal homeostasis is obviously delayed.
Supply chain resilience and industry 4.0: a evaluation of the Brazilian northeast automotive OEM scenario post COVID-19
Authors: Soares Milton C. , Ferreira Cristiano V. , Murari Thiago B.
Published: August 2021

COVID-19 outbreak has heavily impacted the manufacturing industry, including Brazilian Automotive Industry. The effects of COVID-19 created restrictions in several industry processes as supply chain. On the other hand, several industry 4.0 technologies is able to support the industry supply chain activities in the COVID 19 scenarios, as well it may contributed for the automotive industry recovery and it will define the next steps of this industry. A supply chain is a network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. Industry 4.0 is related to the technology development and the digitalization process that improve significantly productivity. Considering the automotive process, an important reference model is described in Advanced Product Quality Planning and Control Plan, that is a manual that communicate the guidelines of the product quality planning and control plan for internal and external suppliers. In this scenario, this paper evaluated the current situation and the future outlook for the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in the automotive OEM post-pandemic scenario on the point of view of automotive specialists. The results of this research provide an overview of the current situation and the future outlook for the usage of Industry 4.0 technologies by the Brazilian Northeast automotive OEM, from the perspective of manufacturing engineering experts on APQP.
President's Page: Welcome to IMAGE '21 — The ultimate geoscience experience
Authors: Shemeta Julie , Swinford Bryce , Hawkins Brandy
Published: August 2021

How do you plan an international convention after more than a year of social distancing and virtual meetings? How do two leading professional societies join their annual meetings into a combined event? What does the future look like for geoscientists?
Advances in surface-wave tomography for near-surface applications
Authors: Papadopoulou Myrto , Anjom Farbod Khosro , Karimpour Mohammad Karim , Socco Valentina Laura
Published: August 2021

Surface-wave (SW) tomography is a technique that has been widely used in the field of seismology. It can provide higher resolution relative to the classical multichannel SW processing and inversion schemes that are usually adopted for near-surface applications. Nevertheless, the method is rarely used in this context, mainly due to the long processing times needed to pick the dispersion curves as well as the inability of the two-station processing to discriminate between higher SW modes. To make it efficient and to retrieve pseudo-2D/3D S-wave velocity (VS) and P-wave velocity (VP) models in a fast and convenient way, we develop a fully data-driven two-station dispersion curve estimation, which achieves dense spatial coverage without the involvement of an operator. To handle higher SW modes, we apply a dedicated time-windowing algorithm to isolate and pick the different modes. A multimodal tomographic inversion is applied to estimate a VS model. The VS model is then converted to a VP model with the Poisson's ratio estimated through the wavelength-depth method. We apply the method to a 2D seismic exploration data set acquired at a mining site, where strong lateral heterogeneity is expected, and to a 3D pilot data set, recorded with state-of-the-art acquisition technology. We compare the results with the ones retrieved from classical multichannel analysis.
Interpreter's Corner
Authors: Bhardwaj Priyanka , Mitra Mainak , Saha Pranab Kumar
Published: August 2021

Basaltic reservoirs have produced hydrocarbon from Yurihara Field in Japan, Quiko Depression in China, and Padra Field of Cambay Basin and Western Offshore Basin in India. The availability of fractured, altered, and vesicular basalts contributes to reservoir development in this stratigraphic unit. This study is conducted in the Kutch-Saurashtra Basin, located at the western continental margin of the Indian subcontinent wherein, the Deccan basalt, with a thickness range of 200–2500 m, overlies Mesozoic sediments. The Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments constitute the main source rock in the area. Several wells have been drilled through the entire basalt section, and some are hydrocarbon bearing in basalt. The entire basalt section in the study area has been classified into four major units using gamma-ray logs. These units have been further subdivided into individual flows and correlated all over the basin. Analysis shows that the base of an individual basalt flow is massive, and the top is differentially altered. Crossplot analysis of P-impedance and VP/VS ratio carried out on logs delineates a zone of moderately weathered/altered basalt, which is due to spheroidal weathering and calibrated with sidewall cores. These moderately altered zones between two successive flows of basalt are the probable reservoir facies for hydrocarbon accumulation, provided that there is an overlying seal in the form of massive or completely altered basalt. Three-dimensional seismic data in the area show an alternating reflection pattern in the basalt section due to the alternation of massive and weathered basalt. The seismic signature of basalt in the area is similar to that of a sedimentary sequence in any given area. Continuity of the identified individual flows in seismic scale has been propagated over the entire seismic, and subsequent inversion has facilitated the deciphering of the probable hydrocarbon-bearing locales within basalt.
Wnt5a Regulates Junctional Function of Sertoli cells Through PCP-mediated Effects on mTORC1 and mTORC2
Authors: Fu Yan , Wei Yuexin , Zhou Yu , Wu Huan , Hong Yifan , Long Chunlan , Wang Junke , Wu Yuhao , Wu Shengde , Shen Lianju , Wei Guanghui
Published: August 2021

The blood–testis barrier (BTB) and apical ectoplasmic specialization (ES), which are synchronized through the crosstalk of Sertoli cells and Sertoli germ cells, are required for spermatogenesis and sperm release. Here, we show that Wnt5a, a noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway ligand, is predominately expressed in both the BTB and apical ES and has a specific expression pattern during the seminiferous epithelium cycle. We employed siRNA to knockdown Wnt5a expression in testis and Sertoli cells, and then identified elongated spermatids that lost their polarity and were embedded in the seminiferous epithelium. Moreover, phagosomes were found near the tubule lumen. These defects were due to BTB and apical ES disruption. We also verified that the expression level and/or location of BTB-associated proteins, actin binding proteins (ABPs), and F-actin was changed after Wnt5a knockdown in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, we demonstrated that Wnt5a regulated actin dynamics through Ror2-mediated mTORC1 and mTORC2. This study clarified the molecular mechanism of Wnt5a in Sertoli cell junctions through the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway. Our findings could provide an experimental basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of male infertility caused by Sertoli cell junction impairment.
Sentiment and Prejudice
Authors: Chassonnery-Zaïgouche Cléo , Cot Annie L.
Published: August 2021

This article describes the evolution of Edgeworth’s thought on women’s wages and on the principle of “equal pay for equal work.” We first document Edgeworth’s early works on “exact utilitarianism” as an epistemic basis for his reflections upon women’s wages. Second, we review his first writings on women’s work and wages: early mentions in the 1870s, his book reviews published in the Economic Journal, and the substantial preface he wrote for the British Association for the Advancement of Science 1904 report on Women in Printing Trades. Third, we document his 1922 British Association presidential address in relation to the burgeoning literature on women’s work and wages within political economy at the time. Finally, we show that his 1923 follow-up article on women’s wages and economic welfare constitutes an update of his “aristocratical utilitarianism” in the post–World War I context.
John Stuart Mill on China’s Stationary State
Authors: Xiao Yue
Published: August 2021

Current literature on John Stuart Mill’s writings about Asia have focused mainly on his relationship with India because of Mill’s thirty-five-year career in the East India Company. Scholars in both China and the West have not paid attention to Mill’s views on China. This paper delves into Mill’s notion of China’s stationary state from two perspectives: (1) a stationary state of capital accumulation and (2) a stationary state of human improvement. In Principles, Mill explained his conception of a stationary state. He linked China’s economic stagnation to the low desire for capital accumulation. In On Liberty and Considerations, Mill explored the reasons for China’s stagnancy in human improvement. He discussed the negative impact of the “despotism of custom” on individual liberty and the defects of a bureaucratic government in nineteenth-century China. Mill thought that a stationary state of capital accumulation does not necessarily imply a stationary state of human improvement. However, he seemed to argue that in China these two types of stationary states have a mutual effect upon each other.
Reimagining Social Medicine from the South
Authors: Neely Abigail H.
Published: August 2021

In Reimagining Social Medicine from the South, Abigail H. Neely explores social medicine's possibilities and limitations at one of its most important origin sites: the Pholela Community Health Centre (PCHC) in South Africa. The PCHC's focus on medical and social factors of health yielded remarkable success. And yet South Africa's systemic racial inequality hindered health center work, and witchcraft illnesses challenged a program rooted in the sciences. To understand Pholela's successes and failures, Neely interrogates the “social” in social medicine. She makes clear that the social sciences the PCHC used failed to account for the roles that Pholela's residents and their environment played in the development and success of its program. At the same time, the PCHC's reliance on biomedicine prevented it from recognizing the impact on health of witchcraft illnesses and the social relationships from which they emerged. By rewriting the story of social medicine from Pholela, Neely challenges global health practitioners to recognize the multiple worlds and actors that shape health and healing in Africa and beyond.
Capturing Finance
Authors: Hardin Carolyn
Published: August 2021

Arbitrage—the trading practice that involves buying assets in one market at a cheap price and immediately selling them in another market for a profit—is fundamental to the practice of financial trading and economic understandings of how financial markets function. Because traders complete transactions quickly and use other people's money, arbitrage is considered to be riskless. Yet, despite the rhetoric of riskless trading, the arbitrage in mortgage-backed securities led to the 2008 financial crisis. In Capturing Finance Carolyn Hardin offers a new way of understanding arbitrage as a means for capturing value in financial capitalism. She shows how arbitrage relies on a system of abstract domination built around risk. The commonsense beliefs that taking on debt is necessary for affording everyday life and that investing is necessary to secure retirement income compel individuals to assume risk while financial institutions amass profits. Hardin insists that mitigating financial capitalism's worst consequences, such as perpetuating class and racial inequities, requires challenging the narratives that naturalize risk as a necessary element of financial capitalism as well as social life writ large.
Domestic Contradictions
Authors: Kandaswamy Priya
Published: August 2021

In Domestic Contradictions, Priya Kandaswamy analyzes how race, class, gender, and sexuality shaped welfare practices in the United States alongside the conflicting demands that this system imposed upon Black women. She turns to an often-neglected moment in welfare history, the advent of the Freedmen's Bureau during Reconstruction, and highlights important parallels with welfare reform in the late twentieth century. Kandaswamy demonstrates continuity between the figures of the “vagrant” and “welfare queen” in these time periods, both of which targeted Black women. These constructs upheld gendered constructions of domesticity while defining Black women's citizenship in terms of an obligation to work rather than a right to public resources. Pushing back against this history, Kandaswamy illustrates how the Black female body came to represent a series of interconnected dangers—to white citizenship, heteropatriarchy, and capitalist ideals of productivity —and how a desire to curb these threats drove state policy. In challenging dominant feminist historiographies, Kandaswamy builds on Black feminist and queer of color critiques to situate the gendered afterlife of slavery as central to the historical development of the welfare state.
INHERITANCE AND GENETIC ANALYSIS OF GRAIN WEIGHT PER SPIKE IN BARLEY
Authors: Dolzhenko Dmitri , Shevchenko Sergei
Published: August 2021

The aim of the study was to investigate the systems of genetic control of the trait “grain weight per main spike” in spring barley in the system of diallel crosses to optimize the breeding process for yield. Six varieties of barley were used as parental forms: Condor and Omskiy naked 1 (hulless), Margret, Lun, Nutans 553, and Anna (hulled). Crosses according to the full diallelic scheme were performed in 2008 and 2009. Field experiments were carried out in the forest-steppe of Penza region in 2009 and 2010 with contrasting hydrothermal regimes. In most hybrid populations, the grain weight per spike was inherited according to the type of overdominance and complete dominance of the parent with a high value of the trait. The analysis of the combining ability by B.Griffing showed that both additive and non-additive effects were present in the control of the trait; their balance varied by years and genotypes. The correlation coefficients between the general combining ability (GCA) and the degree of the trait in parental varieties (r=0.76...0.96) indicate that the selection of pairs for crosses can be carried out on the basis of high values of grain weight per spike, especially in a dry year. Genetic analysis by B.Hayman showed the prevalence of the effects of overdominance in the control of the trait; in 2009, complementary epistasis was also registered. Overdominance and non-additive effects in the control of a trait complicates selection in early generations, which is confirmed by the differences between the values of heritability coefficients in the broad sense (H2=0.79...0.94) and in the narrow sense (h2=0.24...0.59). The largest number of dominant genes controlling the grain weight per spike was found in Margret in both years of research and Anna in the dry year. These varieties are also distinguished for the consistently positive effects of GCA and are recommended as donors of the trait for breeding
La regulacion convencional del teletrabajo.
Authors: Pedrosa González Juan
Published: August 2021

Este trabajo intenta poner de manifiesto las dificultades para que la legislación estatal pueda regular el trabajo a distancia, y las posibilidades que para ello puede desarrollar la norma convencional. Se ponen de manifiesto algunas condiciones de trabajo que no pueden ser reguladas por la norma estatal, y sí por la norma convencional.
Platform Competition Under Network Effects: Piggybacking and Optimal Subsidization
Authors: Dou Yifan , Wu D. J.
Published: August 2021

A repeated challenge in launching a two-sided market platform is how to ignite the cross-side network effects to jump-start adoption. This research note studies “piggybacking”—expanding the focal market to recruit exclusive users from external networks—as a new and nonpricing control to launch platforms in conjunction with pricing controls. We first consider consumer-side piggybacking. Our results provide a rich set of novel insights into strategies that platforms use to monetize exclusive access to external users with nontrivial characterizations of the interplay among piggybacking, cross-side network effects, and price competition. We identify conditions when piggybacking is profit improving and when it leads to a prisoner’s dilemma, depending on the piggybacking cost and strengths of cross-side network effects. Among others, we show that piggybacking may intensify rather than ease price competition. We then consider provider-side piggybacking, and we show that the insights are qualitatively the same as consumer-side piggybacking except that the prisoner’s dilemma disappears if piggybacking providers multihome.
Cross-sectional UK survey of advanced practice physiotherapy: characteristics and perceptions of existing roles
Authors: Rath Lucy , Faletra Agostino , Downing Nick , Rushton Alison
Published: August 2021

Background/aims

Few studies have investigated the characteristics of advanced practice physiotherapy in the UK to evaluate current context and implementation. The aim of this study was to understand how advanced practice physiotherapy is implemented in the UK.

Methods

A cross-sectional online descriptive national questionnaire was developed, using a previous survey and literature, comprising 33 closed, Likert-scale and open questions. Data analysis was undertaken using frequencies and thematic analysis. All 646 members of the Advanced Practice Physiotherapy Network were invited to participate.

Results

A total of 142 (22% response) reported 13 job titles; 40% had experienced ≥1 title change; most (50.7%) preferred ‘advanced practice physiotherapist’. High level job satisfaction was identified but barriers prevent fulfilment of the four advanced practice physiotherapy pillars: clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research. High level clinical skills and facilitating patient pathways were key to role differentiation. Problems included lack of support, inconsistency between responsibility and reward, and no consistent framework for advanced practice physiotherapy roles.

Conclusions

Advanced practice physiotherapists are largely satisfied, but significant variation exists in titles and implementation of roles. A consistent advanced practice physiotherapy framework is required.
Two-dimensional quantum walks of correlated photons
Authors: Jiao Zhi-Qiang , Gao Jun , Zhou Wen-Hao , Wang Xiao-Wei , Ren Ruo-Jing , Xu Xiao-Yun , Qiao Lu-Feng , Wang Yao , Jin Xian-Min
Published: August 2021

Quantum walks in an elaborately designed graph are a powerful tool for simulating physical and topological phenomena, constructing novel quantum algorithms, and realizing universal quantum computing. Integrated photonics technology has emerged as a versatile platform for implementing a variety of quantum information tasks and as a promising candidate for performing large-scale quantum walks. Both extending physical dimensions and involving more particles will increase the complexity of the evolving systems. Pioneering studies have demonstrated a single particle walking on two-dimensional lattices and multiple walkers interfering on a one-dimensional structure. However, multiple particles evolving in a genuine two-dimensional space in a scalable fashion has remained a vacancy for nearly 10 years. We present a genuine two-dimensional quantum walk with correlated photons on a triangular photonic lattice, which is mapped to a

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high-dimensional state space. The genuine two-dimensional quantum walk breaks through the physical restrictions of single-particle evolution, allowing for the encoding of information in large spaces and construction of high-dimensional graphs, which are beneficial for quantum information processing. Between the chip and the two-dimensional fanout interface, site-by-site addressing enables simultaneous detection of over 600 nonclassical interferences and observation of quantum correlations that violate a classical limit by 57 standard deviations. Our implementation provides a paradigm for multi-photon quantum walks in a two-dimensional configuration on a large scale, paving the way for practical quantum simulation and computation beyond the classical regime.
Deletion of the SELENOP gene leads to CNS atrophy with cerebellar ataxia in dogs
Authors: Christen Matthias , Högler Sandra , Kleiter Miriam , Leschnik Michael , Weber Corinna , Thaller Denise , Jagannathan Vidhya , Leeb Tosso
Published: August 2021

We investigated a hereditary cerebellar ataxia in Belgian Shepherd dogs. Affected dogs developed uncoordinated movements and intention tremor at two weeks of age. The severity of clinical signs was highly variable. Histopathology demonstrated atrophy of the CNS, particularly in the cerebellum. Combined linkage and homozygosity mapping in a family with four affected puppies delineated a 52 Mb critical interval. The comparison of whole genome sequence data of one affected dog to 735 control genomes revealed a private homozygous structural variant in the critical interval, Chr4:66,946,539_66,963,863del17,325. This deletion includes the entire protein coding sequence of SELENOP and is predicted to result in complete absence of the encoded selenoprotein P required for selenium transport into the CNS. Genotypes at the deletion showed the expected co-segregation with the phenotype in the investigated family. Total selenium levels in the blood of homozygous mutant puppies of the investigated litter were reduced to about 30% of the value of a homozygous wildtype littermate. Genotyping >600 Belgian Shepherd dogs revealed an additional homozygous mutant dog. This dog also suffered from pronounced ataxia, but reached an age of 10 years. Selenop-/- knock-out mice were reported to develop ataxia, but their histopathological changes were less severe than in the investigated dogs. Our results demonstrate that deletion of the SELENOP gene in dogs cause a defect in selenium transport associated with CNS atrophy and cerebellar ataxia (CACA). The affected dogs represent a valuable spontaneous animal model to gain further insights into the pathophysiological consequences of CNS selenium deficiency.
THz irradiation inhibits cell division by affecting actin dynamics
Authors: Yamazaki Shota , Ueno Yuya , Hosoki Ryosuke , Saito Takanori , Idehara Toshitaka , Yamaguchi Yuusuke , Otani Chiko , Ogawa Yuichi , Harata Masahiko , Hoshina Hiromichi
Published: August 2021

Biological phenomena induced by terahertz (THz) irradiation are described in recent reports, but underlying mechanisms, structural and dynamical change of specific molecules are still unclear. In this paper, we performed time-lapse morphological analysis of human cells and found that THz irradiation halts cell division at cytokinesis. At the end of cytokinesis, the contractile ring, which consists of filamentous actin (F-actin), needs to disappear; however, it remained for 1 hour under THz irradiation. Induction of the functional structures of F-actin was also observed in interphase cells. Similar phenomena were also observed under chemical treatment (jasplakinolide), indicating that THz irradiation assists actin polymerization. We previously reported that THz irradiation enhances the polymerization of purified actin in vitro; our current work shows that it increases cytoplasmic F-actin in vivo. Thus, we identified one of the key biomechanisms affected by THz waves.
Penalized homophily latent space models for directed scale-free networks
Authors: Yang Hanxuan , Xiong Wei , Zhang Xueliang , Wang Kai , Tian Maozai
Published: August 2021

Online social networks like Twitter and Facebook are among the most popular sites on the Internet. Most online social networks involve some specific features, including reciprocity, transitivity and degree heterogeneity. Such networks are so called scale-free networks and have drawn lots of attention in research. The aim of this paper is to develop a novel methodology for directed network embedding within the latent space model (LSM) framework. It is known, the link probability between two individuals may increase as the features of each become similar, which is referred to as homophily attributes. To this end, penalized pair-specific attributes, acting as a distance measure, are introduced to provide with more powerful interpretation and improve link prediction accuracy, named penalized homophily latent space models (PHLSM). The proposed models also involve in-degree heterogeneity of directed scale-free networks by embedding with the popularity scales. We also introduce LASSO-based PHLSM to produce an accurate and sparse model for high-dimensional covariates. We make Bayesian inference using MCMC algorithms. The finite sample performance of the proposed models is evaluated by three benchmark simulation datasets and two real data examples. Our methods are competitive and interpretable, they outperform existing approaches for fitting directed networks.
De novo sequencing and analysis of the transcriptome of two highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) cultivars ‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Legacy’ at harvest and following post-harvest storage
Authors: Cárcamo de la Concepción María , Sargent Daniel James , Šurbanovski Nada , Colgan Richard John , Moretto Marco
Published: August 2021

Fruit firmness and in particular the individual components of texture and moisture loss, are considered the key quality traits when describing blueberry fruit quality, and whilst these traits are genetically regulated, the mechanisms governing their control are not clearly understood. In this investigation, RNAseq was performed on fruits of two blueberry cultivars with very different storage properties, ‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Legacy’, at harvest, three weeks storage in a non-modified environment at 4 °C and after three weeks storage at 4 °C followed by three days at 21 °C, with the aim of understanding the transcriptional changes that occur during storage in cultivars with very different post-harvest fruit quality. De novo assemblies of the transcriptomes of the two cultivars were performed separately and a total of 39,335 and 41,896 unigenes for ‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Legacy’ respectively were resolved. Differential gene expression analyses were grouped into four cluster profiles based on changes in transcript abundance between harvest and 24 days post-harvest. A total of 290 unigenes were up-regulated in ‘Legacy’ only, 685 were up-regulated in ‘Bluecrop’, 252 were up-regulated in both cultivars and 948 were down-regulated in both cultivars between harvest and 24 days post-harvest. Unigenes showing significant differential expression between harvest and following post-harvest cold-storage were grouped into classes of biological processes including stress responses, cell wall metabolism, wax metabolism, calcium metabolism, cellular components, and biological processes. In total 21 differentially expressed unigenes with a putative role in regulating the response to post-harvest cold-storage in the two cultivars were identified from the de novo transcriptome assemblies performed. The results presented provide a stable foundation from which to perform further analyses with which to functionally validate the candidate genes identified, and to begin to understand the genetic mechanisms controlling changes in firmness in blueberry fruits post-harvest.
Subnormothermic ex vivo lung perfusion attenuates ischemia reperfusion injury from donation after circulatory death donors
Authors: Arni Stephan , Maeyashiki Tatsuo , Opitz Isabelle , Inci Ilhan
Published: August 2021

Use of normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) was adopted in clinical practice to assess the quality of marginal donor lungs. Subnormothermic perfusion temperatures are in use among other solid organs to improve biochemical, clinical and immunological parameters. In a rat EVLP model of donation after circulatory death (DCD) lung donors, we tested the effect of four subnormothermic EVLP temperatures that could further improve organ preservation. Warm ischemic time was of 2 hours. EVLP time was of 4 hours. Lung physiological data were recorded and metabolic parameters were assessed. Lung oxygenation at 21°C and 24°C were significantly improved whereas pulmonary vascular resistance and edema formation at 21°C EVLP were significantly worsened when compared to 37°C EVLP. The perfusate concentrations of potassium ions and lactate exiting the lungs with 28°C EVLP were significantly lower whereas sodium and chlorine ions with 32°C EVLP were significantly higher when compared to 37°C EVLP. Also compared to 37°C EVLP, the pro-inflammatory chemokines MIP2, MIP-1α, GRO-α, the cytokine IL-6 were significantly lower with 21°C, 24°C and 28°C EVLP, the IL-18 was significantly lower but only with 21°C EVLP and IL-1β was significantly lower at 21°C and 24°C EVLP. Compared to the 37°C EVLP, the lung tissue ATP content after 21°C, 24°C and 28°C EVLP were significantly higher, the carbonylated protein content after 28°C EVLP was significantly lower and we measured significantly higher myeloperoxidase activities in lung tissues with 21°C, 24°C and 32°C. The 28°C EVLP demonstrated acceptable physiological variables, significantly higher lung tissue ATP content and decreased tissue carbonylated proteins with reduced release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, the 28°C EVLP is a non inferior setting in comparison to the clinically approved 37°C EVLP and significantly improve biochemical, clinical and immunological parameters and may reduce I/R injuries of DCD lung donors.
Traffic-related pollution history (1994–2014) determined using urban lake sediments from Nanjing, China
Authors: Liu Gengyu
Published: August 2021

With the development of urbanisation and the increasing number of modern vehicles, traffic contamination has become an important source of environmental pollution. Most previous studies have focused on using roadside soil or plants to determine the spatial pattern of traffic pollutants along roads and the factors that influence this pattern, whereas few studies have reconstructed pollution histories caused by traffic using suitable methods. In this study, two gravity cores were obtained from Qianhu Lake, which is in the Zhongshan tourist area of Nanjing City and is distant from industrial areas. An accurate chronological framework covering the period from 1994 to 2014 was established using the correlation between the variation in grain size of the sediment cores and the variation in annual rainfall in Nanjing City. Moreover, magnetic and chemical parameters were also measured, and the results demonstrated that concentration-related magnetic parameters exhibited different correlations with different heavy metal concentrations. These correlations were significantly positive forZn,Pb, andCo; weakly positive for Ni; absent for Cr; and negative for V. Combined with statistical data on industrial emissions and private cars in Nanjing City since 1994, the observed variations in magnetic susceptibility, anhysteretic remanent magnetisation, saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation,Zn,Pb, andCo, were controlled by traffic activities in the tourist area but not by industry. Therefore, the variations in these parameters record the traffic pollution history of the study area. Combined with the obtained chronological framework, the traffic-related pollution history could be divided into two stages: 1) from 1994 to 2003, when traffic-related pollution became increasingly serious because of the exponential increase in the number of private cars and the prosperity of tourism; 2) from 2003 to 2014, when traffic-related pollution continuously increased but at a much slower rate than in stage 1. This slower rate of increase was probably related to the maximum carrying capacity of the tourist area and technological innovations in automobile manufacturing, as well as improvements in fuels.
Educational attainment and trajectories of cognitive decline during four decades—The Glostrup 1914 cohort
Authors: Harrsen Kristine , Christensen Kaare , Lund Rikke , Mortensen Erik Lykke
Published: August 2021

Background

The potential association between level of education and age-related cognitive decline remains an open question, partly because of a lack of studies including large subsamples with low education and follow-up intervals covering a substantial part of the adult lifespan.

Objectives

To examine cognitive decline assessed by a comprehensive clinical test of intelligence over a 35-year period of follow-up from ages 50 to 85 and to analyze the effect of education on trajectories of cognitive decline, including the effects of selective attrition.

Methods

A longitudinal cohort study with a 35-year follow-up of community dwelling members of the Glostrup 1914 cohort. The study sample comprised 697 men and women at the 50-year baseline assessment and additional participants recruited at later follow-ups. Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs were assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale at ages 50, 60, 70, 80, and 85. To be able to track cognitive changes between successive WAIS assessments, all IQs were based on the Danish 50-year norms. Information on school education was self-reported. The association between education and cognitive decline over time was examined in growth curve models. Selective attrition was investigated in subsamples of participants who dropped out at early or later follow-ups.

Results

The trajectories for Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ showed higher initial cognitive performance, but also revealed steeper decline among participants with a formal school exam compared to participants without a formal exam. Verbal IQ showed the largest difference in level between the two educational groups, whereas the interaction between education and age was stronger for Performance IQ than for Verbal IQ. In spite of the difference in trajectories, higher mean IQ was observed among participants with a formal school exam compared to those without across all ages, including the 85-year follow-up.

Further analyses revealed that early dropout was associated with steeper decline, but that this effect was unrelated to education.

Conclusion

Comprehensive cognitive assessment over a 35-year period suggests that higher education is associated with steeper decline in IQ, but also higher mean IQ at all follow-ups. These findings are unlikely to reflect regression towards the mean, other characteristics of the employed test battery or associations between educational level and study dropout.