bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Building Solidarity Amid Hostility: Experiences of Fat People in Online Communities
Authors: Payne Blakeley H. , Taylor Jordan , Spiel Katta , Fiesler Casey
Published: January 2025

Online communities are important spaces for members of marginalized groups to organize and support one another. To better understand the experiences of fat people - a group whose marginalization often goes unrecognized - in online communities, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with fat people. Our participants leveraged online communities to engage in consciousness raising around fat identity, learning to locate ''the problem of being fat'' not within themselves or their own bodies but rather in the oppressive design of the society around them. Participants were then able to use these communities to mitigate everyday experiences of anti-fatness, such as navigating hostile healthcare systems. However, to access these benefits, our participants had to navigate myriad sociotechnical harms, ranging from harassment to discriminatory algorithms. In light of these findings, we suggest that researchers and designers of online communities support selective fat visibility, consider fat people in the design of content moderation systems, and investigate algorithmic discrimination toward fat people. More broadly, we call on researchers and designers to contend with the social and material realities of fat experience, as opposed to the prevailing paradigm of treating fat people as problems to be solved in-and-of-themselves. This requires recognizing fat people as a marginalized social group and actively confronting anti-fatness as it is embedded in the design of technology.
Exploring Engagement Opportunities for Autistic Children: Using AAC as a Controller in a Wizard-of-Oz Coloring Game
Authors: Garrison Elizabeth , MacNeil Stephen , Lorah Elizabeth R. , Holyfield Christine , Vucetic Slobodan
Published: January 2025

Autistic children face significant challenges in vocal communication and social interaction, often leading to social isolation. There is evidence that Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) offers support to mitigate these challenges, enabling them to communicate with non-vocal means through forms of AAC, such as speech-generation devices (SGDs). However, the adoption and use of SGDs are hindered by several factors, including the large amount of practice required to learn to use SGDs and the limited options for highly engaging social learning contexts. Our study introduces the novel approach of using SGDs as game controller for digital and interactive games. With three design goals guiding our work, we conducted a Wizard-of-Oz formative case study with five participants aged 3-5 years, who were learning to use their SGD. We simulated a digital coloring game, integrating the speech-generated output of the participant's SGD to function as the game's controller. From this case study, we observed that all participants engaged with the game using their SGD for at least one turn, and two participants also engaged in emerging joint attention responses with the game and game's facilitator. This paper discusses these findings and contributes directions for future research, with suggestions for the design of future SGD-controlled games and exploration of social connection and collaboration between autistic children who use AAC and their caregivers, siblings, and peers.
Learning to Work From Home: How Novice and Experienced Software Professionals Compare Online and In-person Collaboration
Authors: Tang Ying , Ziv Hadar , Patil Sameer
Published: January 2025

Industry-sponsored capstone experiences that involve developing software solutions create valuable opportunities for students to engage in teamwork and learn important career skills just prior to joining the software workforce. The collaboration and communication in capstone projects, which typically happen in person, were forced to move online during the COVID-19 pandemic. We leveraged the transition to conduct a two-stage mixed-methods study that compared the in-person and online capstone experiences of students (novice software developers) and project sponsors (experienced industry professionals) to understand how novices engage in online collaboration. We uncovered that novices find online collaboration more challenging compared to experienced professionals. The challenges faced by the novices and the misalignment with experienced professionals point to a number of avenues for training novice software professionals on effective engagement in geographically distributed collaboration, which is increasingly the norm in the software industry.
Meeting People Where They Are: Building Community-Centered Care with Smartphone-Facilitated Response to Overdoses
Authors: Sha Yongjie , Roth Alexis , Lankenau Stephen , Schwartz David G. , Marcu Gabriela
Published: January 2025

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 members who engaged in community-based effort to reverse overdoses using a smartphone-based app in an Eastern United States (U.S.) city. Drawing from feminist ethics of care, we identify how the caring practices of community members extend from administering a medical intervention to building trust and support between the care receivers and caregivers in the case of opioid overdose response. Contrary to the predominant patient-centered care paradigm, we emphasize community-centered care, which acknowledges the resistance of individuals and attends to reallocating caring responsibility and building relationships within the community. Our results highlight how trust intersects with social ecologies of care in the highly stigmatized context of opioid overdose and that trustful and less hierarchical relationships are critical sources of care for groups experiencing marginalization. We discuss applying harm reduction principles in designing health technologies for substance use disorders. We also discuss research and design opportunities for community-centered design for marginalized individuals and community caregivers.
Playing with Privacy: Exploring the Social Construction of Privacy Norms Through a Card Game
Authors: Berkholz Jenny , Rahman Aniqa , Stevens Gunnar
Published: January 2025

Investigating digital privacy behavior requires consideration of its contextual nuances and the underlying social norms. This study delves into users' joint articulation of such norms by probing their implicit assumptions and "common sense" surrounding privacy conventions. To achieve this, we introduce
Privacy Taboo,
a card game designed to serve as a playful breaching interview method, fostering discourse on unwritten privacy rules. Through nine interviews involving pairs of participants (n=18), we explore the decision-making and collective negotiation of privacy's vagueness. Our findings demonstrate individuals' ability to articulate their information needs when consenting to fictive data requests, even when contextual cues are limited. By shedding light on the social construction of privacy, this research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of usable privacy, thereby facilitating the development of democratic privacy frameworks. Moreover, we posit
Privacy Taboo
as a versatile tool adaptable to diverse domains of application and research.
Qualitative Research of the Multimodal In-Vehicle Interaction Systems Latency Perception
Authors: Tan Zhengyu , Wang Jing , Dai Ningyi , Zhang Ruifo
Published: January 2025

As the automotive industry evolves towards greater technological intelligence, multimodal in-vehicle interaction systems introduce new challenges, particularly in managing system latency-the delay between user input and system response. This study aims to explore how various factors influence latency perception in in-vehicle multimodal interactions, offering a comprehensive framework to guide future design improvements. Our research, conducted in three phases, began with mapping key input and output modalities through literature reviews and expert evaluations. We then examined real-world user experiences to identify specific latency-related issues in common interaction scenarios. Finally, focus groups refined a framework that categorizes tasks based on interaction complexity, sensitivity, and tolerance to latency. The framework highlights how different modalities impact user sensitivity to delays and their tolerance levels, providing valuable insights for designers. It emphasizes that tasks requiring higher cognitive engagement and quicker responses demand more attention to latency. Although focused on intelligent vehicles, the framework is applicable to traditional vehicles with similar systems and aligns with upcoming safety regulations. This research contributes to creating safer, more intuitive in-vehicle systems that enhance user experience and meet regulatory standards.
Self-Promotion Practices and Context Collapse Management of Adult Content Creators on OnlyFans
Authors: Bonifacio Ross , Uttarapong Jirassaya , Jereza Rae , Wohn Donghee Yvette
Published: January 2025

Content creators' self-promotion strategies play a significant role in their usage of social media. While these self-promotion practices have been extensively researched, there is less known in regards to content creators who produce adult content. Our study focuses on OnlyFans, a digital patronage platform with a large user base of adult content creators. Despite its popularity, OnlyFans possesses key limitations that lead creators to other social media platforms for self-promotion and audience building. This study explores the self-promotion strategies and context collapse management among adult content creators on OnlyFans. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews with 15 OnlyFans creators, we investigated their approaches to self-promotion, audience growth, and boundary management among different social media platforms. OnlyFans creators face unique challenges compared to other creators due to the stigma associated with adult content and digital sex work. Our findings reveal the unique strategies they employ to navigate the constraints of their work in tandem with maintaining boundaries to avoid context collapse. This research contributes to a broader understanding of the nuances of impression management within under-researched, stigmatized online communities. We discuss how these motivations and strategies to build a sustainable online presence lie in tension with the risks associated with adult content creation.
Sentiment Analysis of #Meanspo Tweets: Humans vs. Automatic Classifications
Authors: Nova Fayika Farhat , Shinde Aniruddha Sunil , Pfafman Rachel , Harrison Annalise , Logan Delaney Caralyn , Pater Jessica
Published: January 2025

With the increasing adoption of automatic text classifications driven by AI, there is a growing need to explore their safe and accurate applications, particularly in sensitive online communities. Sentiment analysis of X (formerly known as Twitter) data is widely used by researchers to automatically categorize textual data, providing valuable insights into the content of specific online communities. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of automatic sentiment classification models (TextBlob and Vader) by analyzing n=6930 #meanspo tagged tweets from 2020 to 2022 from X. This community is known for promoting harmful eating disorder related content, often in a harsh and derogatory manner. By comparing these models with human coding, our analysis reveals significant limitations in the models' ability to capture the nuanced contextual values inherent to these communities. Both TextBlob and Vader demonstrate poor performance compared to human coding, highlighting the need for improved sentiment analysis techniques tailored to sensitive online communities like #meanspo. Additional limitations occur when media is attached with tweets contributing to the sentiments. This study contextualizes how human involvement and expertise are essential for exploring these communities, as relying solely on automatic classifications can be risky and fail to grasp the complex dynamics and implications of such online interactions. Future contextual work is essential to evaluate the risks and harms of using automatic classification models in sensitive online communities and to develop effective human-centered strategies to mitigate these impacts. TRIGGER WARNING: potentially triggering content.
Transcending Transit Deserts: Participatory Design of Interactive Bicycling Advocacy Tools in an American City
Authors: Prottoy Hasan Mahmud , Gyi Serena , Hamidi Foad
Published: January 2025

Recent HCI research has focused on developing interactive technologies for cyclists and using technology to promote this activity. However, the community-building and advocacy aspects of cycling remain relatively unexplored. In this study, we explored the integration of urban cycling and participatory technology design to address transportation inequities and promote cycling advocacy in a US city characterized by infrastructural and social disparities. We engaged with nine bicycling advocates from five organizations in Baltimore, USA in participatory design activities to understand their motivations for promoting cycling in urban areas and how interactive technology can aid in creating a cyclist-friendly city. Along with the various practical motivations, we found the participants also promote cycling with a desire to challenge historical discriminatory practices and infrastructural inequalities and as a means of community building and identity expression. We identify three interconnected directions for future change: supporting ancillary bicycle infrastructure and DIY repair practices, changing perceptions through community engagement, and using technology to support community awareness and inclusion. We argue cycling can be a tool for resistance and identity shaping in this context, and participatory design can offer innovative directions for urban designers, policymakers, and system designers to strengthen efforts toward creating inclusive and equitable urban environments.
Understanding the Impact of YouTube Videos on Parents of Children with Developmental Delay and Disabilities
Authors: Ahmed Saquib , Sakib Md. Nazmus , Dey Sanorita
Published: January 2025

Children go through several developmental milestones at an early age. When a child becomes slow or cannot even reach one or more of these milestones compared to other typically developing children, that condition is called Developmental Delays and Disabilities (DDDs). Children's DDDs create much parental stress, resulting in social isolation and loneliness. YouTubers make videos on DDDs to assist parents and other caregivers. We need to gain more knowledge of how these videos are created and how much they impact the parents of children with DDDs. We followed a mixed-method approach to annotate and analyze 1,532 YouTube videos on children's DDDs. Our analysis found that YouTube videos on DDDs support the community with critical informational content and provide mental and emotional strength through content related to personal experiences. Our analysis of the comments in these videos explored how YouTubers and viewers created a strong community connection through these video content. Most importantly, the interviews with the parents of children with DDDs revealed how parents find these videos relatable and critical for taking necessary actions for their children's DDDs diagnosis and follow-up treatments. We concluded by discussing platform-centric design implications for supporting parents and other caregivers of children with DDDs.
Location Privacy Schemes in Vehicular Networks: Taxonomy, Comparative Analysis, Design Challenges, and Future Opportunities
Authors: Ullah Ikram , Ali Shah Munam , Khan Abid , Guizani Mohsen
Published: January 2025

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) have revolutionized the world with smart traffic management, better utilizing the road environment, and providing safety and convenience to the vehicles’ drivers. Despite the useful features of VANETs, there are some privacy issues, which hinder their way toward achieving smarter and safer traffic in the world. Location privacy is one of the critical research challenges for the efficient deployment of VANETs. This challenge can be solved using a pseudonym instead of an actual vehicle identity in the beacon messages. For this purpose, many location privacy schemes are introduced in the literature. In this article, we thoroughly review the existing location privacy schemes and present their comprehensive taxonomy. We discuss the design challenges for the development of an efficient location privacy scheme. Moreover, the existing location privacy techniques are critically analyzed based on diverse road network environments and parameters. Various issues and challenges regarding the pseudonym-changing process are elaborated in detail. Finally, we discuss the future trends for the implementation of location privacy in a vehicular network.
Modeling Multi-modal Cross-interaction for Multi-label Few-shot Image Classification Based on Local Feature Selection
Authors: Yan Kun , Bouraoui Zied , Wei Fangyun , Xu Chang , Wang Ping , Jameel Shoaib , Schockaert Steven
Published: January 2025

The aim of multi-label few-shot image classification (ML-FSIC) is to assign semantic labels to images, in settings where only a small number of training examples are available for each label. A key feature of the multi-label setting is that an image often has several labels, which typically refer to objects appearing in different regions of the image. When estimating label prototypes, in a metric-based setting, it is thus important to determine which regions are relevant for which labels, but the limited amount of training data and the noisy nature of local features make this highly challenging. As a solution, we propose a strategy in which label prototypes are gradually refined. First, we initialize the prototypes using word embeddings, which allows us to leverage prior knowledge about the meaning of the labels. Second, taking advantage of these initial prototypes, we then use a Loss Change Measurement (LCM) strategy to select the local features from the training images (i.e., the support set) that are most likely to be representative of a given label. Third, we construct the final prototype of the label by aggregating these representative local features using a multi-modal cross-interaction mechanism, which again relies on the initial word embedding-based prototypes. Experiments on COCO, PASCAL VOC, NUS-WIDE, and iMaterialist show that our model substantially improves the current state-of-the-art.
PORTRAIT: A Hybrid Approach to Create Extractive Ground-truth Summary for Disaster Event
Authors: Garg Piyush Kumar , Chakraborty Roshni , Dandapat Sourav Kumar
Published: January 2025

Nowadays, X (formerly known as Twitter) is an important source of information and latest updates during ongoing events, such as disaster events. However, the huge number of tweets posted during a disaster makes identification of relevant information highly challenging. Therefore, a summary of the tweets can help the decision-makers to ensure efficient allocation of resources among the affected population. There exist several automated summarization approaches that can generate a summary given the tweets related to a disaster. Development of these automated summarization approaches require availability of ground-truth summary of the dataset for verification. However, the number of publicly available datasets along with the ground-truth summary for disaster events are still inadequate. To improve this situation, we need to create more ground-truth summaries. Existing approaches for ground-truth summary generation rely on the annotators’ wisdom and intuition. This process requires immense human effort and significant time. Moreover, the selection of the important tweets from the humongous set of input tweets often results in sub-optimal choice of tweets in the final summary. Therefore, to handle these challenges, we propose a hybrid approach (PORTRAIT) for ground-truth summary generation, where we partly automate the procedure to improve the quality of ground-truth summary and reduce human effort and time. We validate the effectiveness of PORTRAIT on nine disaster events through quantitative and qualitative analysis. We prepare and release the ground-truth summaries for nine disaster events, which consist of both natural and man-made disaster events belonging to five different continents.
Taming Flexible Job Packing in Deep Learning Training Clusters
Authors: Yang Pengyu , Cui Weihao , Xue Chunyu , Zhao Han , Chen Chen , Chen Quan , Yang Jing , Guo Minyi
Published: January 2025

Job packing is an effective technique to harvest the idle resources allocated to the deep learning (DL) training jobs but not fully utilized, especially when clusters may experience low utilization, and users may overestimate their resource needs. However, existing job packing techniques tend to be conservative due to the mismatch in scope and granularity between job packing and cluster scheduling. In particular, tapping the potential of job packing in the training cluster requires a local and fine-grained coordination mechanism. To this end, we propose a novel job-packing middleware named
Gimbal
, which operates between the cluster scheduler and the hardware resources. As middleware,
Gimbal
must not only facilitate coordination among the packed jobs but also support various scheduling objectives of different schedulers.
Gimbal
achieves dual functionality by introducing a set of worker calibration primitives designed to calibrate workers’ execution status in a fine-grained manner. The primitives obscure the complexity of the underlying job and resource management mechanisms, thus offering the generality and extensibility for crafting coordination policies tailored to various scheduling objectives. We implement
Gimbal
on a real-world GPU cluster and evaluate it with a set of representative DL training jobs. The results show that
Gimbal
improves different scheduling objectives up to 1.32 × compared with the state-of-the-art job packing techniques.
Introduction to the Special Issue on Deep Learning for Robust Human Body Language Understanding
Authors: Guo Dan , McDaniel Troy , Wang Shuhui , Wang Meng
Published: January 2025

This editorial introduces the Special Issue on
Deep Learning for Robust Human Body Language Understanding
, hosted by the ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications in 2024. Human body language understanding has emerged as a critical research area, addressing challenges in analyzing, recognizing, and synthesizing
multimodal human behavioral data
such as
gestures, poses, facial expressions
. This Special Issue highlights recent advancements in deep learning techniques that enhance the
robustness, scalability, and applicability
of human body language understanding in diverse scenarios, including healthcare, education, and barrier-free human-computer interaction systems. The issue features a total of eight research articles focusing on key aspects of human body language understanding. These contributions are categorized into major research areas:
gesture and sign language understanding
,
pose and action recognition
, and
facial expression and emotion analysis
. Each article provides novel insights into challenges such as
data scarcity, multimodal integration, adversarial robustness, and cross-modal generative modeling
. We summarize the main contributions of the included works and emphasize their role in advancing the field of human body language understanding. Finally, we discuss ongoing challenges and future opportunities in this rapidly evolving domain, particularly in the context of integrating human-centric AI systems into real-world applications.
Electrochemical Characteristics of Sr(Ti0.3Fe0.7)O3–Based Electrodes in Solid Oxide Cells Operated in H2/H2O and CO/CO2 Mixtures
Authors: Geisendorfer Nicholas R , Pibulchinda Pattiya , Cox Dalton M , Barnett Scott A.
Published: January 2025

The electrochemical characteristics of SrTi0.3Fe0.7O3-δ (STF), Sr0.95Ti0.3Fe0.63Ni0.07 O3-δ (STFN), and Sr0.95Ti0.3Fe0.63Ru0.07 O3-δ (STFR) fuel electrodes were compared for a range of H2/H2O and CO/CO2 fuel mixtures. Electrodes prepared in symmetrical solid oxide cells were measured using impedance spectroscopy over a range of temperatures. Impedance spectra were fitted well in all cases using an equivalent circuit that featured three R-Q elements, but the response was generally dominated by a low frequency process associated with adsorption and charge transfer. The electrodes all yielded similar polarization resistances RP values at relatively high temperature ( 800°C) in H2/H2O, but STFN and STFR were substantially better than STF at lower temperatures. STFR yielded a much lower RP than the other electrodes when operating in CO/CO2. In full cells with these electrodes, STFR-based cells yielded superior power density and smaller polarization resistance compared to both STFN and STF cells, consistent with the symmetric cell results. It is suggested that the superior performance of STFR in CO/CO2 resulted from an enhancement of electrode processes in the presence of exsolved Ru-Fe nanoparticles.
First-Principle Analysis of K2NaTiX6 (X=F, Cl and Br): Magnetic Stability and Half-Metallic Behavior
Authors: Mokaddem Khadidja , Malaoui Rachida , Bensaid Djillali , Bendouma Doumi , Kheirallah Mohammed , Bendahah Abla , Benkhettou Nour-Eddine , Bencherif Kaddour
Published: January 2025

This study presents a detailed density functional theory (DFT) analysis of the double perovskite compounds K2NaTiX6 (X = F, Cl, Br). Our findings indicate that these materials are thermodynamically stable and exhibit intriguing electronic and magnetic properties. All three compounds show ferromagnetic ordering and half-metallic behavior, characterized by a spin gap in the minority spin channel. Notably, the half-metallic gap increases from F to Cl to Br, suggesting that the electronic structure can be tuned through halide substitution. The magnetic properties are largely attributed to the titanium (Ti) atom, which contributes a consistent magnetic moment of 1 μB per formula unit. To account for strong electron correlations, we applied the Hubbard U correction to the Ti d-orbitals, varying U from 1 to 4 eV. This correction led to an increase in both the half-metallic gap and the local magnetic moment on Ti, while preserving the total magnetic moment. Using the Heisenberg model, we estimated the Curie temperatures based on calculated exchange constants, providing insights into the thermal stability of the magnetic ordering. K2NaTiX₆ compounds are promising for spintronic applications due to their complete spin polarization at the Fermi level, supported by numerous studies on ferromagnetic half-metal halides.
A Contemporary Insight Into the Seroepidemiology of Herpes Simplex Virus Infection in the Sub‐Himalayan Region
Authors: Deka Sangeeta , Kumar Jha Mithilesh , Gupta Pratima , Mahanta Putul , Kalita Deepjyoti
Published: January 2025

Infection by human herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV‐1/2) is common globally though with wide regional variability. Seroepidemiology of HSV‐1/2 infections is of utmost importance in formulating control strategies, but there is a paucity of data from many regions of India. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anti‐HSV‐1/2 antibodies in Uttarakhand and adjoining areas and to study its pattern and distribution in different subgroups. Serum samples from 322 cases were subjected to ELISA test to check for the presence of anti‐HSV‐1/2 IgG and IgM antibodies. Sociodemographic and clinical information were extracted from medical records. The association of seropositivity and associated factors was analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. The overall HSV‐1/2 seropositivity was observed to be 46.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 40.5–51.4). Total IgM and IgG were found in 6.2% (95% CI: 3.6–8.8) and 45.3% (95% CI: 38.1–48.9) cases, respectively. No significant difference between seropositivity of males and females was observed (45.7% in males versus 46.2% in females; p value: 0.928). Seroprevalence increased with age in both genders but was more pronounced in males (p value: <0.001), while 50.6% of women in the reproductive age group (18–30 years) were found to be seropositive. Females from Uttarakhand, compared to adjoining states (p value: 0.041) and both men and women residing in hilly terrain compared to plains (p value: 0.018; p value: 0.030), showed significantly lower prevalence, while urban‐dwelling men showed higher seropositivity (p value: 0.048). Thus, HSV‐1/2 seroprevalence is lower in this region, especially in young, rural, and hill dwellers, indicating majority are vulnerable to acquiring new infections. More awareness among high‐risk groups and implementation of targeted public health policies can help control the disease burden.
Mechanical Characterization of Unsaturated Loess and Numerical Simulation of Slope Stability Under Freeze–Thaw Cycles
Authors: Wei Gang , Xiao Jianyu , Xia Yuanbing , Peng Weiheng , Wu Xinning , A Huijuan , Qi Huawen , Ren Zhilin
Published: January 2025

The soils in the eastern region of Qinghai, China, are characterized by typical unsaturated loess with poor engineering properties, rendering them susceptible to geological disasters such as landslides. To investigate the mechanical properties of these soils, triaxial and direct shear tests were conducted, followed by simulations of deformation and stability under freeze–thaw cycles using the discrete element software MatDEM, based on the experimental data. The findings indicate that (1) the stress–strain curves from both tests typically exhibit weak strain‐softening behavior, with increased matric suction enhancing shear strength; (2) in the direct shear test, both cohesion (c) and the angle of internal friction (φ) rise with matric suction, whereas in the triaxial test, cohesion increases while φ decreases; and (3) an increase in freeze–thaw cycles results in a gradual decline in slope safety factor, though the rate of decline diminishes over time. Additionally, initial water content and slope gradient changes significantly affect slope stability. These insights are essential for geohazard risk assessment and the formulation of prevention and control strategies in Qinghai and similar alpine regions.
Epigenetic Alterations in Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma: A Comprehensive Expression and Clinical Outcome Analysis
Authors: Weng Dafei , Qin Zhenqian , Yuan Xuefeng , Jiang Xuping , Rui Hua
Published: January 2025

Renal clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC) presents a unique landscape of genetic and epigenetic modifications, the understanding of which is crucial for the development of targeted therapies and improved prognostication. This study explores the differential expression of histone‐related genes (HRGs) in ccRCC and correlates these findings with patient clinical outcomes. By leveraging the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data, we performed a robust multidimensional analysis of HRG expression profiles in ccRCC versus adjacent normal tissues. Our results demonstrate a significant upregulation of several key epigenetic regulators, including UHRF1, KDM5A, EZH2, PRDM6, and TWIST1, in tumor samples, with statistical significance suggesting their involvement in tumorigenesis and progression. Paired expression analysis within patient‐matched samples confirmed the consistency of overexpression in tumors. The prognostic relevance of these genes was underscored through survival analyses, which revealed a clear stratification of patients into distinct risk categories based on their expression profiles. The integration of these genetic markers with clinical parameters facilitated the development of a predictive nomogram, yielding a quantifiable tool for survival prediction. Our comprehensive analysis elucidates the profound impact of epigenetic dysregulation in ccRCC and proposes a novel set of biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognostic stratification, and potential therapeutic targeting, marking a significant stride toward precision oncology in renal cancer.
The Dynamic Changes of COL11A1 Expression During the Carcinogenesis and Development of Breast Cancer and as a Candidate Diagnostic and Prognostic Marker
Authors: Wang Yuli , Wang Jing
Published: January 2025

Purpose: Collagen type XI alpha 1 (COL11A1), a critical member of the collagen superfamily, is essential for tissue structure and integrity. This study aimed to validate previously identified variations in COL11A1 expression during breast cancer carcinogenesis and progression, as well as elucidate their clinical implications.

Methods: COL11A1 mRNA expression levels were assessed using real‐time reverse transcription‐PCR (RT‐PCR) in 30 pairs of normal breast tissue and primary breast cancer, 30 pairs of primary breast cancer and lymph node metastases, 30 benign tumors, and 107 primary breast cancers. COL11A1 protein expression was evaluated by Western blot in six matched trios of normal tissue, primary cancer, and lymph node metastasis.

Results: COL11A1 mRNA levels were significantly higher in primary breast cancer tissues (n = 30) than in adjacent normal breast tissues (p < 0.001). Conversely, lymph node metastases (n = 30) showed significantly lower COL11A1 mRNA levels compared to their primary breast cancer counterparts (p = 0.005). In a larger cohort, primary breast cancers (n = 107) had significantly elevated COL11A1 mRNA levels relative to adjacent normal tissues (n = 30) and benign tumors (n = 30) (p < 0.001). Benign tumors also demonstrated higher levels compared to normal tissues (p = 0.012). The protein expression patterns were consistent with the mRNA findings. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis confirmed the diagnostic relevance of COL11A1 expression levels. Significant associations were found between COL11A1 mRNA levels and clinical parameters including lymph node involvement (p = 0.046), clinical stage (p = 0.004), and progesterone receptor status (p = 0.048). Overexpression of COL11A1 was correlated with poor prognosis.

Conclusions: COL11A1 expression varies during breast tumor initiation and progression, with elevated levels linked to worse prognoses. These findings underscore COL11A1’s potential as a biomarker in breast cancer, suggesting its assessment could enhance diagnostic and prognostic strategies for more personalized patient management.
Efficiency of Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol Thermoplastic Material to Functional and Expansion Forces in Orthodontic Applications: An Experimental Study
Authors: Haik Anosh A. , Yassir Yassir A.
Published: January 2025

Background: While polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) is widely used in orthodontic appliances such as clear aligners and retainers, there is limited experimental data assessing its performance under functional stresses, such as those encountered during dental movements and palatal expansion.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the ability of PETG thermoplastic material to withstand deformation under functional and expansion forces, specifically within the context of orthodontic applications.

Subjects and Methods: To estimate the firmness of the screw within the appliance, a universal Instron testing machine was used to record the forces released by each activation of the expander within the upper part of 10 clear modified twin blocks (MTBs) made from PETG and compare it with that released by 10 conventional twin blocks (CTBs). On the other hand, to determine the ability of the thermoplastic appliance to withstand the deformation during functional forces, a three‐point bending test was used to investigate the response of both appliances under static loading. Independent samples t‐test was used to compare the differences between groups.

Results: Both CTB and MTB groups follow the same pattern of increase and decrease in the amount of mean load with the CTB group line showing a considerably higher amount of mean load reaching the peak (334.5 N) at turn 25 of screw activation while the peak of mean load for MTB group was equal to 252.6 N at turn 23. There was a statistically significant difference between the CTB and MTB groups in the three‐point bending test (p = 0.001). However, both appliances did not deform at the required force.

Conclusions: The MTB can withstand both required expansion and functional load without deformation.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06116500.
Regulación del uso de agua en Chile. Oportunidades y desafíos
Authors: Bobenrieth Eugenio
Published: January 2025

El artículo analiza la gestión del agua en Chile, enfocándose en los desafíos actuales y futuros de su regulación. Identifica problemas como el cumplimiento limitado de caudales ecológicos, la creciente demanda de agua, el impacto del cambio climático y la compleja estructura de gobernanza. El estudio destaca la importancia de considerar las expectativas de los usuarios en la implementación de regulaciones y advierte sobre la "paradoja verde" en la gestión de recursos hídricos.
Senescent cell-derived extracellular vesicles inhibit cancer recurrence by coordinating immune surveillance
Authors: Ziglari Tahereh , Calistri Nicholas L. , Finan Jennifer M. , Derrick Daniel S. , Nakayasu Ernesto S. , Burnet Meagan C. , Kyle Jennifer E. , Hoare Matthew , Heiser Laura M. , Pucci Ferdinando
Published: January 2025

Senescence is a non-proliferative, survival state that cancer cells can enter to escape therapy. In addition to soluble factors, senescence cells secrete extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are important mediators of intercellular communication. To explore the role of senescent cell-derived EVs (senEVs) in inflammatory responses to senescence, we developed an engraftment-based senescence model in wild-type mice and genetically blocked senEV release in vivo, without significantly affecting soluble mediators. SenEVs were both necessary and sufficient to trigger immune-mediated clearance of senescent cells, thereby suppressing tumor growth. In the absence of senEVs, the recruitment of MHC-II+ antigen-presenting cells to the senescence microenvironment was markedly impaired. Blocking senEV release redirected the primary target of senescent cell signaling from antigen-presenting cells to neutrophils. Comprehensive transcriptional and proteomic analyses identified six ligands specific to senEVs, highlighting their role in promoting antigen-presenting cell–T cell adhesion and synapse formation. Antigen-presenting cells activated CCR2+CD4+ TH17 cells, which appeared to inhibit B cell activation, and CD4+ T cells were essential for preventing tumor recurrence. These findings suggest that senEVs complement the activity of secreted inflammatory mediators by recruiting and activating distinct immune cell subsets, thereby enhancing the efficient clearance of senescent cells. These conclusions may have implications not only for tumor recurrence but also for understanding senescence during de novo carcinogenesis. Consequently, this work could inform the development of early detection strategies for cancer based on the biology of cellular senescence.
Cancer Neuroscience of Brain Tumors: From Multicellular Networks to Neuroscience-Instructed Cancer Therapies
Authors: Venkataramani Varun , Yang Yvonne , Ille Sebastian , Suchorska Bogdana , Loges Sonja , Tost Heike , Sahm Felix , Pfister Stefan M. , Trumpp Andreas , Krieg Sandro M. , Kuner Thomas , Wick Wolfgang , Winkler Frank
Published: January 2025

Deepening our understanding of neuro-cancer interactions can innovate brain tumor treatment. This mini review unfolds the most relevant and recent insights into the neural mechanisms contributing to brain tumor initiation, progression, and resistance, including synaptic connections between neurons and cancer cells, paracrine neuro-cancer signaling, and cancer cells’ intrinsic neural properties. We explain the basic and clinical–translational relevance of these findings, identify unresolved questions and particularly interesting future research avenues, such as central nervous system neuro-immunooncology, and discuss the potential transferability to extracranial cancers. Lastly, we conceptualize ways toward clinical trials and develop a roadmap toward neuroscience-instructed brain tumor therapies.

Significance: Neural influences on brain tumors drive their growth and invasion. Herein, we develop a roadmap to use these fundamentally new insights into brain tumor biology for improved outcomes.
Figure 4 from Preclinical Development of Tuspetinib for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Authors: Sonowal Himangshu , Rice William G. , Bejar Raphael , Byun Joo-Yun , Jung Seung Hyun , Sinha Ranjeet , Howell Stephen B.
Published: January 2025

Characterization of TUS/R MOLM-14 cell lines. A, Effect of TUS on the growth rate of parental MOLM-14 cells and four sublines selected for growth in 75 nmol/L TUS (P < 0.01 vs. MOLM-14 parental cells for all TUS/R lines). B, Change in TUS IC50 of resistant cells when grown in TUS-free media. Data are presented as mean ± SEM from three-independent experiments. Western blot analysis documenting levels of selected kinases in (C) TUS-resistant lines 3 and 4 (D) after acute exposure to 75 nmol/L TUS for the indicated time. Representative data from two Western blots are shown.
Figure 2 from Preclinical Development of Tuspetinib for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Authors: Sonowal Himangshu , Rice William G. , Bejar Raphael , Byun Joo-Yun , Jung Seung Hyun , Sinha Ranjeet , Howell Stephen B.
Published: January 2025

Relative effects of TUS and gilteritinib on phosphorylation of FLT3 and downstream kinases in (A) MOLM-14 and (B) KG-1a cells. A representative Western blot from two independent experiments is shown. A was assembled from several separate blocks.
Concurrent TP53 Mutations Facilitate Resistance Evolution in EGFR Exon 20 S768I Mutant Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Zhu Huijuan , Tang Hui , Peng Huizhen , Ding Wei
Published: January 2025

Introduction: Adenocarcinoma of the lung is the most common subtype of non-small cell lung cancer, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are the most common driver genes in the development of cancer (NSCLC). Among them, mutations in exons 18–21 are the most frequent, especially the deletion of exons 19 and 21, where L858R mutations are the most common. Other mutations such as S768I, G719X, and 20ins are relatively rare. In the population of lung adenocarcinoma patients with EGFR mutations, some common mutations may occur, especially TP53. Case Presentation: Here, this study presents a retrospective analysis of neoadjuvant therapy for lung adenocarcinoma and reviews relevant literature. The patient was diagnosed with T4N3M1a, stage IVa. After 1 month of chemotherapy with 860 mg of pemetrexed and 480 mg of carboplatin, and immunotherapy with 200 mg of sintilimab, good response to conventional chemotherapy, but a follow-up CT scan showed disease progression. Next-generation sequencing showed EGFR exon 20 missense mutation (p.S768I and p.V774M) combined with tumor protein p53 (TP53) (p.Y220C) missense mutation, with mutation abundance of 48.6%/49.7% and 49.2%, respectively. Subsequently, chemotherapy with paclitaxel albumin 400 mg and treatment with pembrolizumab 200 mg were administered, followed by targeted treatment with oral afatinib (PFS: 12 months). And then, brain metastasis occurred, and targeted treatment with osimertinib was used instead (PFS: 9 months). The therapeutic effect is significant, but due to severe side effects, the patient stopped taking the medication on their own. Five months later, the patient became seriously ill again and CEA levels increased. Targeted treatment with furmonertinib (PFS: 3 months) and sunvozertinib (PFS: 3 months) was used instead. Three months later, the blood CEA level briefly decreased and then continued to increase, indicating the patient’s critical condition. Conclusion: The results indicate that targeted therapy with afatinib and osimertinib for EGFR S7688I/V774M and TP53 mutations has better PFS than targeted therapy with furmonertinib and sunvozertinib. Simultaneously, the combination of platinum-based chemotherapy and immunotherapy may be a potential neoadjuvant therapy for NSCLC IVa stage patients.
The Sex-Specific Effects of Early Life Adversity and Chronic Psychosocial Stress during Adulthood on Bone Are Mitigated by Mycobacterium vaccae NCTC 11659 in Mice
Authors: Gebauer Dorothea , Schimmele Tamara , Mazzari Giulia , Krüger Benjamin T. , Zemui Msgana , Ignatius Anita , Langgartner Dominik , Haffner-Luntzer Melanie , Reber Stefan O.
Published: January 2025

Introduction: Chronic stress is a major burden in our society and increases the risk for various somatic and mental diseases, in part via promoting chronic low-grade inflammation. Interestingly, the vulnerability for chronic stress during adulthood varies widely among individuals, with some being more resilient than others. For instance, women, relative to men, are at higher risk for developing typical stress-related diseases, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Moreover, the experience of early life adversity (ELA) may increase an individuals' vulnerability for chronic stress during adulthood (CAS), possibly due to its association with chronic inflammation. Because severe consequences of stress-induced immune activation are a dysregulated endochondral ossification, delayed long-bone growth, and bone regeneration following fracture, the aim of this study was to investigate the sex-specific effects of ELA alone or in combination with CAS on bone. As enhancement of an individuals’ immunoregulatory potential by repeated administrations of a heat-inactivated preparation of Mycobacterium vaccae NCTC (National Collection of Type Cultures) 11659 has been shown to promote stress resilience in mice, we further aimed to investigate if M. vaccae NCTC 11659 also protects against the negative effects of ELA/CAS on bone. Methods: Male and female C57BL/6N mice were subjected to ELA using a maternal separation (MS) model. CAS was induced by either using the chronic subordinate colony housing (CSC) paradigm in males or the social instability paradigm (SIP) in females. The effects on bone were evaluated by µCT, histological, and gene expression analysis. M. vaccae NCTC 11659 was administered repeatedly s.c. prior to CAS. Results: No cumulative impact of ELA and CAS on bone could be detected. Female mice seem to be more susceptible to ELA while male mice to CAS. Importantly, repeated M. vaccae NCTC 11659 administrations were able to mitigate the negative consequences of stress on bone in both sexes. Conclusion: Our results support the hypotheses that the negative effects of ELA and CAS on bone are highly sex-dependent. Moreover, repeated s.c. administrations with immunoregulatory microorganisms might be a future therapeutic option for stress-related bone disorders.
Semiótica e interdisciplina no ecossistema mediático atual
Authors: Fernández José Luis
Published: January 2025

La investigación de las vidas platafórmicas en postbroadcasting exige más que un conocimiento sociosemiótico sobre sus intercambios discursivos, aunque su perspectiva sea imprescindible. En este artículo, se propone una revisión del trabajo de investigación desde la sociosemiótica de las mediatizaciones y sus relaciones en marcha con otros enfoques, por dentro y aparte de la disciplina sobre ese fenómeno central de la época. En primer lugar, se describirá el ecosistema mediático actual, y, dentro de él, el enfoque sociosemiótico. Se expondrán luego caminos metodológicos que complementen a otras disciplinas. Finalmente, se propondrán caminos para un futuro mejor integrado, tanto dentro de la propia semiótica, como respecto de otras disciplinas que estudian la mediatización.