bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Roasted coffee wastes as a substrate for Escherichia coli to grow and produce hydrogen
Authors: Petrosyan Hripsime , Vanyan Liana , Mirzoyan Satenik , Trchounian Armen , Trchounian Karen
Published: May 2020

After brewing roasted coffee, spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are generated being one of the daily wastes emerging in dominant countries with high rate and big quantity. Escherichia coli BW25113 wild-type strain, mutants with defects in hydrogen (H2)-producing/oxidizing four hydrogenases (Hyd) (ΔhyaB ΔhybC, ΔhycE, ΔhyfG) and septuple mutant (ΔhyaB ΔhybC ΔhycA ΔfdoG ΔldhA ΔfrdC ΔaceE) were investigated by measuring change of external pH, bacterial growth and H2 production during the utilization of SCG hydrolysate. In wild type, H2 was produced with rate of 1.28 mL H2 (g sugar)−1 h−1 yielding 30.7 mL H2 (g sugar)−1 or 2.75 L (kg SCG)−1 during 24 h. In septuple mutant, H2 production yield was 72 mL H2 (g sugar)−1 with rate of 3 mL H2 (g sugar)−1 h−1. H2 generation was absent in hycE single mutant showing the main role of Hyd-3 in H2 production. During utilization of SCG wild type, specific growth rate was 0.72 ± 0.01 h−1 with biomass yield of 0.3 g L−1. Genetic modifications and control of external parameters during growth could lead to prolonged and enhanced microbiological H2 production by organic wastes, which will aid more efficiently global sustainable energy needs resulting in diversification of mobile and fixed energy sources.
Log on and Prosper? Little Evidence for Codevelopment Between Psychological Adjustment and Technology Use in Older Adulthood
Authors: Schwaba Ted , Bleidorn Wiebke
Published: May 2020

Objectives

Researchers have hypothesized that using Information and Communications Technology (ICT), such as e-mail and social media, may buffer older adults from normative age-graded declines in psychological adjustment. However, past intervention research has been unable to conclusively evaluate this proposition, and no studies to date have examined this topic using naturalistic large-scale longitudinal methods.

Method

In this preregistered study, we examined the codevelopment between three aspects of psychological adjustment (loneliness, satisfaction with life [SWL], and depressiveness) and three factor-analytically derived clusters of ICT use (instrumental, social, and media) using a longitudinal representative sample of 2,922 Dutch adults aged 65 and older that contributed data annually from 2012 to 2017.

Results

Latent growth curve analyses indicated that ICT use was largely unrelated to psychological adjustment, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Of 36 associations tested, three were significant, and only one remained significant after including health and demographic covariates. Specifically, higher levels of media ICT use at baseline predicted steeper declines in SWL across the study period. Furthermore, results of random-intercept cross-lagged analyses indicated that change in ICT use did not predict future change in psychological adjustment, and vice versa.

Discussion

Results of this study help clarify the mixed results of past intervention research, indicating that effects of ICT use on psychological adjustment tend to be either null or much smaller than can be detected using typical intervention sample sizes. Overall, these results suggest that the association between technology use and psychological adjustment is negligible in older adults.
Thermal Responses Differ across Levels of Biological Organization
Authors: Iverson Erik N K , Nix Rachel , Abebe Ash , Havird Justin C
Published: May 2020

Synopsis

Temperature is one of the most important environmental factors driving the genome-to-phenome relationship. Metabolic rates and related biological processes are predicted to increase with temperature due to the biophysical laws of chemical reactions. However, selection can also act on these processes across scales of biological organization, from individual enzymes to whole organisms. Although some studies have examined thermal responses across multiple scales, there is no general consensus on how these responses vary depending on the level of organization, or whether rates actually follow predicted theoretical patterns such as Arrhenius-like exponential responses or thermal performance curves (TPCs) that show peak responses. Here, we performed a meta-analysis on studies of ectotherms where biological rates were measured across the same set of temperatures, but at multiple levels of biological organization: enzyme activities, mitochondrial respiration, and/or whole-animal metabolic rates. Our final dataset consisted of 235 pairwise comparisons between levels of organization from 13 publications. Thermal responses differed drastically across levels of biological organization, sometimes showing completely opposite patterns. We developed a new effect size metric, “organizational disagreement” (OD) to quantify the difference in responses among levels of biological organization. Overall, rates at higher levels of biological organization (e.g., whole animal metabolic rates) increased more quickly with temperature than rates at lower levels, contrary to our predictions. Responses may differ across levels due to differing consequences of biochemical laws with increasing organization or due to selection for different responses. However, taxa and tissues examined generally did not affect OD. Theoretical TPCs, where rates increase to a peak value and then drop, were only rarely observed (12%), possibly because a broad range of test temperatures was rarely investigated. Exponential increases following Arrhenius predictions were more common (29%). This result suggests a classic assumption about thermal responses in biological rates is rarely observed in empirical datasets, although our results should be interpreted cautiously due to the lack of complete thermal profiles. We advocate for authors to explicitly address OD in their interpretations and to measure thermal responses across a wider, more incremental range of temperatures. These results further emphasize the complexity of connecting the genome to the phenome when environmental plasticity is incorporated: the impact of the environment on the phenotype can depend on the scale of organization considered.
Trade-offs, Pleiotropy, and Shared Molecular Pathways: A Unified View of Constraints on Adaptation
Authors: Mauro Alexander A , Ghalambor Cameron K
Published: May 2020

Synopsis

The concept of trade-offs permeates our thinking about adaptive evolution because they are exhibited at every level of biological organization, from molecular and cellular processes to organismal and ecological functions. Trade-offs inevitably arise because different traits do not occur in isolation, but instead are imbedded within complex, integrated systems that make up whole organisms. The genetic and mechanistic underpinning of trade-offs can be found in the pleiotropic nodes that occur in the biological pathways shared between traits. Yet, often trade-offs are only understood as statistical correlations, limiting the ability to evaluate the interplay between how selection and constraint interact during adaptive evolution. Here, we first review the classic paradigms in which physiologists and evolutionary biologists have studied trade-offs and highlight the ways in which network and molecular pathway approaches unify these paradigms. We discuss how these approaches allow researchers to evaluate why trade-offs arise and how selection can act to overcome trait correlations and evolutionary constraints. We argue that understanding how the conserved molecular pathways are shared between different traits and functions provides a conceptual framework for evolutionary biologists, physiologists, and molecular biologists to meaningfully work together toward the goal of understanding why correlations and trade-offs occur between traits. We briefly highlight the melanocortin system and the hormonal control of osmoregulation as two case studies where an understanding of shared molecular pathways reveals why trade-offs occur between seemingly unrelated traits. While we recognize that applying such approaches poses challenges and limitations particularly in the context of natural populations, we advocate for the view that focusing on the biological pathways responsible for trade-offs provides a unified conceptual context accessible to a broad range of integrative biologists.
Number of metastatic lymph nodes and zones as prognostic factors in non-small-cell lung cancer
Authors: Maniwa Tomohiro , Ohmura Akiisa , Hiroshima Takashi , Ike Akihiro , Kimura Toru , Nakamura Harumi , Nakatsuka Shin-Ichi , Okami Jiro , Higashiyama Masahiko
Published: May 2020

OBJECTIVES

Characterizing pathological nodes (pNs) by location alone is sometimes inadequate as patients with pN1 or pN2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show prognostic heterogeneity. We aimed to assess the relationship of the number of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) and zones with prognosis in NSCLC patients.

METHODS

We analysed 1393 patients who underwent lobectomy with mediastinal LN dissection for NSCLC at the Osaka International Cancer Institute between January 2006 and December 2015. Patients were classified into 3 groups according to the number of LNs: n1–3, n4–6 and n7–. We investigated the relationship of prognosis with the number of metastatic LNs and metastatic zones.

RESULTS

In the multivariable analyses, the number of metastatic LNs and zones were not independent factors for overall survival or recurrence-free survival in patients with pN1 disease after adjustment for age, sex, tumour histology and tumour diameter. However, n4–6 (ref. n1–3) was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival [hazard ratio (HR) 4.148, P < 0.001] in those with pN2 disease. There were no significant differences in overall survival and recurrence-free survival between pN1 (HR 0.674, P = 0.175) and pN2n1–3 disease (HR 1.056, P = 0.808). Moreover, patients with pN2 disease with a higher number of metastatic zones had a poor prognosis for recurrence-free survival [3 zones (ref. 1): HR 1.774, P = 0.051, and 4 zones (ref. 1): HR 2.173, P < 0.047].

CONCLUSIONS

The number of metastatic LNs and metastatic zones were useful prognostic factors in NSCLC patients. The findings could help in establishing a new pN classification.
Inhibition of Necroptosis to Prevent Long-term Cardiac Damage During Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Invasive Disease
Authors: Beno Sarah M , Riegler Ashleigh N , Gilley Ryan P , Brissac Terry , Wang Yong , Kruckow Katherine L , Jadapalli Jeevan K , Wright Griffin M , Shenoy Anukul T , Stoner Sara N , Restrepo Marcos I , Deshane Jessy S , Halade Ganesh V , González-Juarbe Norberto , Orihuela Carlos J
Published: May 2020

Background

Streptococcus pneumoniae infection can result in bacteremia with devastating consequences including heart damage. Necroptosis is a proinflammatory form of cell death instigated by pore-forming toxins such as S. pneumoniae pneumolysin. Necroptosis-inhibiting drugs may lessen organ damage during invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD).

Methods

In vitro experiments were carried out with human and mouse cardiomyocytes. Long-term cardiac damage was assessed using high-resolution echocardiography in ampicillin-rescued mice 3 months after challenge with S. pneumoniae. Ponatinib, a necroptosis-inhibiting and Food and Drug Administration–approved drug for lymphocytic leukemia treatment, was administered intraperitoneally alongside ampicillin to test its therapeutic efficacy. Histology of heart sections included hematoxylin-eosin staining for overt damage, immunofluorescence for necroptosis, and Sirius red/fast green staining for collagen deposition.

Results

Cardiomyocyte death and heart damage was due to pneumolysin-mediated necroptosis. IPD leads to long-term cardiac damage, as evidenced by de novo collagen deposition in mouse hearts and a decrease in fractional shortening. Adjunct necroptosis inhibition reduced the number of S. pneumoniae foci observed in hearts of acutely infected mice and serum levels of troponin I. Ponatinib reduced collagen deposition and protected heart function in convalescence.

Conclusions

Acute and long-term cardiac damage incurred during IPD is due in part to cardiomyocyte necroptosis. Necroptosis inhibitors may be a viable adjunct therapy.
The Potential Impact of Long-Acting Cabotegravir for HIV Prevention in South Africa: A Mathematical Modeling Study
Authors: Smith Jennifer A , Garnett Geoffrey P , Hallett Timothy B
Published: May 2020

Background

Although effective, some oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users face barriers to adherence using daily pills, which could be reduced by long-acting formulations. Long-acting cabotegravir (CAB LA) is a potential new injectable formulation for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) PrEP being tested in phase III trials.

Methods

We use a mathematical model of the HIV epidemic in South Africa to simulate CAB LA uptake by population groups with different levels of HIV risk. We compare the trajectory of the HIV epidemic until 2050 with and without CAB LA to estimate the impact of the intervention.

Results

Delivering CAB LA to 10% of the adult population could avert more than 15% of new infections from 2023 to 2050. The impact would be lower but more efficient if delivered to populations at higher HIV risk: 127 person-years of CAB LA use would be required to avert one HIV infection within 5 years if used by all adults and 47 person-years if used only by the highest risk women.

Conclusions

If efficacious, a CAB LA intervention could have a substantial impact on the course of the HIV epidemic in South Africa. Uptake by those at the highest risk of infection, particularly young women, could improve the efficiency of any intervention.
Perspective from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Authors: Kioko Ben
Published: May 2020

This practice note seeks to highlight the experience of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in monitoring and ensuring the implementation of its decisions. It outlines the implementation mechanisms in place, some specific areas and judgments and their status of implementation. An attempt is also made to outline the tools that have worked, challenges, and key lessons to be learned.
Leaking of secret military reports qualifies as reporting of current events
Authors: Jütte Bernd Justin , Priora Giulia
Published: May 2020

German Federal Supreme Court, Judgment of 30 April 2020, I ZR 139/15—‘Afghanistan Papiere II’

The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) followed the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in its interpretation of the exception for the reporting of current events.
Epistemic responsibility in the face of a pandemic
Authors: Levy Neil , Savulescu Julian
Published: May 2020

Should non-experts defer to epidemiologists with regard to the response to the coronavirus pandemic? We argue that deference is required with regard to settled science: non-experts (that is, people who may possess expertise of their own but whose expertise is not relevant to a particular question) ought to defer with regard to climate science and the efficacy of vaccines. However, we suggest that this deference is warranted because these questions have been appropriately probed many times by many different kinds of people. While non-experts should defer to epidemiologists with regard to matters within the sphere of epidemiology specifically, responding to the pandemic requires expertise from many fields. We best build a consensus worth deferring to by contributing our expertise now. Ethicists and philosophers are not epistemically arrogant if they question policy responses. Rather, they play a responsible role in building a reliable consensus.
COVID-19 contact tracing apps: a stress test for privacy, the GDPR, and data protection regimes
Authors: Bradford Laura , Aboy Mateo , Liddell Kathleen
Published: May 2020

Digital surveillance has played a key role in containing the COVID-19 outbreak in China, Singapore, Israel, and South Korea. Google and Apple recently announced the intention to build interfaces to allow Bluetooth contact tracking using Android and iPhone devices. In this article, we look at the compatibility of the proposed Apple/Google Bluetooth exposure notification system with Western privacy and data protection regimes and principles, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Somewhat counter-intuitively, the GDPR’s expansive scope is not a hindrance, but rather an advantage in conditions of uncertainty such as a pandemic. Its principle-based approach offers a functional blueprint for system design that is compatible with fundamental rights. By contrast, narrower, sector-specific rules such as the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and even the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), leave gaps that may prove difficult to bridge in the middle of an emergency.
Ambiguities in using telomere length for age determination in two North American bat species
Authors: Ineson Katherine M , O’Shea Thomas J , Kilpatrick C William , Parise Katy L , Foster Jeffrey T
Published: May 2020

The age of an animal, determined by time (chronological age) as well as genetic and environmental factors (biological age), influences the likelihood of mortality and reproduction and thus the animal’s contribution to population growth. For many long-lived species, such as bats, a lack of external and morphological indicators has made determining age a challenge, leading researchers to examine genetic markers of age for application to demographic studies. One widely studied biomarker of age is telomere length, which has been related both to chronological and biological age across taxa, but only recently has begun to be studied in bats. We assessed telomere length from the DNA of known-age and minimum known-age individuals of two bat species using a quantitative PCR assay. We determined that telomere length was quadratically related to chronological age in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), although it had little predictive power for accurate age determination of unknown-age individuals. The relationship was different in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), where telomere length instead was correlated with biological age, apparently due to infection and wing damage associated with white-nose syndrome. Furthermore, we showed that wing biopsies currently are a better tissue source for studying telomere length in bats than guano and buccal swabs; the results from the latter group were more variable and potentially influenced by storage time. Refinement of collection and assessment methods for different non-lethally collected tissues will be important for longitudinal sampling to better understand telomere dynamics in these long-lived species. Although further work is needed to develop a biomarker capable of determining chronological age in bats, our results suggest that biological age, as reflected in telomere length, may be influenced by extrinsic stressors such as disease.
Shattering Populists’ Rhetoric with Satire at Elections Times: The Effect of Humorously Holding Populists Accountable for Their Lack of Solutions
Authors: Boukes Mark , Hameleers Michael
Published: May 2020

The popularity of populist parties has increased worldwide, and disproportionate media attention for these parties arguably fueled their success. We empirically test our theoretical argument that political satire—with its humor, focus on internal contradictions, and lack of journalistic principles regarding objectivity and facticity—may be an effective antidote to populism’s success. Using a representative panel survey that functions as a natural experiment in the context of the Netherlands, we show that consumption of the satire show Zondag met Lubach (ZML) indeed lowered support for a right-wing populist party (PVV), its leader (Wilders), and the perceived capability of this party. Specifically, this study shows how satirically revealing the “weak spot” of populism (i.e., lacking concrete treatment recommendations) lowers populist support particularly among citizens already inclined to vote for populist parties. These findings have important democratic implications as they reveal that satire can have a real-life impact on the political decisions that voters make.
Make it bloom! CONSTANS contributes to day neutrality in rose
Authors: Denoyes Béatrice , Gaston Amèlia , Rothan Christophe
Published: May 2020

This article comments on:

Lu J, Sun J, Jiang A, Bai M, Fan C, Liu J, Ning G, Wang C. 2020. Alternate expression of CONSTANS-LIKE 4 in short days and CONSTANS in long days facilitates day-neutral response in Rosa chinensis. Journal of Experimental Botany 71, 4057–4068
Eclipsing binaries in the OGLE variable star catalogue: long-period evolved systems
Authors: Hoyman Barış , Bulut Sara , Özdarcan Orkun , Çakırlı Ömür
Published: May 2020

Red giant stars are proving to be an exceptional source of information for testing models of stellar evolution, as photometric and spectroscopic analysis has opened up a window into their interiors, providing an exciting chance to develop highly constrained stellar models. In this study, we present a determination of precise fundamental physical parameters belonging to five detached, double-lined, eclipsing binary stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds containing G- or early K-type giant stars with extended envelopes. We also derived the distances to the systems by using a temperature–colour relation and compared these distances with the measurements provided in the literature. The measured stellar masses are in the range 1.8–3.0 M⊙ and comparison with the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code (PARSEC) isochrones gives ages between 0.4 and 1.1 Gyr. The derived uncertainties for individual masses and radii of components are better than 3 and 7 per cent, respectively, for these systems. Additionally, we performed atmospheric parameter determination and [M/H] analysis for each, where we disentangled the spectra.
Pig-a gene mutation assay study design: critical assessment of 3- versus 28-day repeat-dose treatment schedules
Authors: Elhajouji Azeddine , Hove Tamsanqa Tafara , O’Connell Oliver , Martus Hansjoerg , Dertinger Stephen D
Published: May 2020

The in vivo Pig-a assay is being used in safety studies to evaluate the potential of chemicals to induce somatic cell gene mutations. Ongoing work is aimed at developing an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) test guideline to support routine use for regulatory purposes (OECD project number 4.93). Among the details that will need to be articulated in an eventual guideline are recommended treatment and harvest schedules. With this in mind, experiments reported herein were performed with Wistar Han rats exposed to aristolochic acid I (AA), 1,3-propane sultone, chlorambucil, thiotepa or melphalan using each of two commonly used treatment schedules: 3 or 28 consecutive days. In the case of the 3-day studies, blood was collected for Pig-a analysis on days 15 or 16 and 29 or 30. For the 28-day studies blood was collected on day 29 or 30. The effect of treatment on mutant reticulocytes and mutant erythrocytes was evaluated with parametric pair-wise tests. While each of the five mutagens increased mutant phenotype cell frequencies irrespective of study design, statistical significance was consistently achieved at lower dose levels when the 28-day format was used (e.g. 2.75 vs 20 mg/kg/bw for AA). To more thoroughly investigate the dose–response relationships, benchmark dose (BMD) analyses were performed with PROAST software. These results corroborate the pair-wise testing results in that lower BMD values were obtained with the 28-day design. Finally, mutagenic potency, as measured by BMD analyses, most consistently correlated with the mutagens’ tumorigenic dose 50 values when the lengthier treatment schedule was used. Collectively, these results suggest that both 3- and 28-day treatment schedules have merit in hazard identification-type studies. That being said, for the purpose of regulatory safety assessments, there are clear advantages to study designs that utilise protracted exposures.
Cdk9 and H2Bub1 signal to Clr6-CII/Rpd3S to suppress aberrant antisense transcription
Authors: Sansó Miriam , Parua Pabitra K , Pinto Daniel , Svensson J Peter , Pagé Viviane , Bitton Danny A , MacKinnon Sarah , Garcia Patricia , Hidalgo Elena , Bähler Jürg , Tanny Jason C , Fisher Robert P
Published: May 2020

Mono-ubiquitylation of histone H2B (H2Bub1) and phosphorylation of elongation factor Spt5 by cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (Cdk9) occur during transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), and are mutually dependent in fission yeast. It remained unclear whether Cdk9 and H2Bub1 cooperate to regulate the expression of individual genes. Here, we show that Cdk9 inhibition or H2Bub1 loss induces intragenic antisense transcription of ∼10% of fission yeast genes, with each perturbation affecting largely distinct subsets; ablation of both pathways de-represses antisense transcription of over half the genome. H2Bub1 and phospho-Spt5 have similar genome-wide distributions; both modifications are enriched, and directly proportional to each other, in coding regions, and decrease abruptly around the cleavage and polyadenylation signal (CPS). Cdk9-dependence of antisense suppression at specific genes correlates with high H2Bub1 occupancy, and with promoter-proximal RNAPII pausing. Genetic interactions link Cdk9, H2Bub1 and the histone deacetylase Clr6-CII, while combined Cdk9 inhibition and H2Bub1 loss impair Clr6-CII recruitment to chromatin and lead to decreased occupancy and increased acetylation of histones within gene coding regions. These results uncover novel interactions between co-transcriptional histone modification pathways, which link regulation of RNAPII transcription elongation to suppression of aberrant initiation.
RaptRanker: in silico RNA aptamer selection from HT-SELEX experiment based on local sequence and structure information
Authors: Ishida Ryoga , Adachi Tatsuo , Yokota Aya , Yoshihara Hidehito , Aoki Kazuteru , Nakamura Yoshikazu , Hamada Michiaki
Published: May 2020

Aptamers are short single-stranded RNA/DNA molecules that bind to specific target molecules. Aptamers with high binding-affinity and target specificity are identified using an in vitro procedure called high throughput systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (HT-SELEX). However, the development of aptamer affinity reagents takes a considerable amount of time and is costly because HT-SELEX produces a large dataset of candidate sequences, some of which have insufficient binding-affinity. Here, we present RNA aptamer Ranker (RaptRanker), a novel in silico method for identifying high binding-affinity aptamers from HT-SELEX data by scoring and ranking. RaptRanker analyzes HT-SELEX data by evaluating the nucleotide sequence and secondary structure simultaneously, and by ranking according to scores reflecting local structure and sequence frequencies. To evaluate the performance of RaptRanker, we performed two new HT-SELEX experiments, and evaluated binding affinities of a part of sequences that include aptamers with low binding-affinity. In both datasets, the performance of RaptRanker was superior to Frequency, Enrichment and MPBind. We also confirmed that the consideration of secondary structures is effective in HT-SELEX data analysis, and that RaptRanker successfully predicted the essential subsequence motifs in each identified sequence.
Replicative senescence and arteriosclerosis after kidney transplantation
Authors: De Vusser Katrien , Martens Dries , Lerut Evelyne , Kuypers Dirk , Nawrot Tim S , Naesens Maarten
Published: May 2020

Background

Replicative senescence is associated with telomere shortening. In native kidneys, obtained prior to transplantation, we recently described and validated a significant association between shorter intrarenal telomere length and renal arteriosclerosis. After renal transplantation, animal experiments suggested that ischaemia–reperfusion injury, acute rejection episodes and cytomegalovirus disease associate with accelerated renal allograft senescence. The association between post-transplant events and replicative senescence has not yet been evaluated in a human setting.

Methods

In a cohort of 134 kidney allograft recipients, we performed protocol-specified renal allograft biopsies at 3 months, 1 year, 2 years and 5 years after transplantation (n = 579 biopsies). We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to measure intrarenal relative average telomere length (T/S ratio). The association between donor and recipient demographic factors, post-transplant clinical/histological events, renal allograft histological evolution by 5 years post-transplant and intrarenal telomere length at 5 years after transplantation was studied using multiple regression models.

Results

At 5 years after transplantation, shorter intrarenal telomere length was associated with male donor gender, older donor age, donor history of hypertension and donor cardiovascular risk, which confirms the associations observed in native kidneys. Recipient characteristics and post-transplant events like delayed graft function, acute rejection episodes, presence of donor-specific antibodies, cytomegalovirus disease and immunosuppressive regimen did not associate with alterations of intrarenal telomere length at 5 years. Independent of donor age and donor cardiovascular risk, intrarenal arteriosclerosis in protocol biopsies obtained at 5 years after transplantation and progressive arteriosclerosis over time after transplantation associated with shorter telomere length, while this was not the case for other histological lesions. Moreover, telomere attrition augments the association between older donor age and the presence of severe arteriosclerosis. In the group with the oldest donor age and shortest telomere length, there was significantly more severe arteriosclerosis (43%) in protocol biopsies at 5 years after transplantation, compared with other combinations (13–28%) (P = 0.001). Intrarenal arteriosclerosis at 5 years after transplantation did not associate with post-transplant clinical events.

Conclusions

We demonstrate that intrarenal telomere length at 5 years after transplantation, as a marker for replicative senescence, associates with renal arteriosclerosis and reflects kidney donor characteristics, but not post-transplant events.
Atlantic New Orleans: 18th and 19th Centuries
Authors: Le Glaunec Jean-Pierre , Dessens Nathalie
Published: May 2020

Founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, the city of La Nouvelle-Orléans was named in honor of the French Regent Philippe, Duc d’Orléans. In 1722, it became the capital of the then-French colony of Louisiana. After four decades of French rule, it was ceded to Spain, at the end of the Seven Years’ War, in 1762. Almost four decades later, in 1800, it was briefly (and secretly) retroceded to France before the latter, faced with defeat in neighboring Saint-Domingue, sold it to the United States in 1803, turning La Nouvelle-Orléans into New Orleans. Throughout the eighty-five years of its colonial history, it remained a small frontier town, with a population of about 8,000 in 1805. Its integration to the United States marked the beginning of its expansion, favored by its ideal position at the mouth of the Mississippi River, at the confluence of the main riverway of the young American republic and the Gulf of Mexico, a position which permitted exchanges of products and people between the United States, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic. Receiving large contingents of migrants (free and forced) from the eastern part of the United States, the Caribbean (especially the “refugees” from the Haitian Revolution), Europe (France, in particular, throughout the first half of the 19th century), and Africa (until the closing of the Atlantic slave trade), it grew to 102,193 inhabitants by 1840, then becoming the third-largest city in the United States. Its specific colonial past and singular evolution in the early American period account for its complex status in the 19th-century United States. Because it relied on the institution of slavery, it was a city of the South in the forty-year sectional confrontation that eventually tore the country apart in 1860. The presence of a significant population of free people of color, often educated, politically conscious, and socially and economically active, however, made it depart from the usual Southern pattern. Moreover, its existence as one of the main port cities of the United States, its cosmopolitanism, and its multilingualism made it follow a development pattern closer to that of the Atlantic port cities of the northeastern United States. After the Civil War, it became the spearhead of the civil rights movement, under the lead of the politically conscious, culturally, socially, and sometimes economically influential population of color that had been free before the Civil War. When the 19th century closed, New Orleans became an American city of the segregated South and its Atlantic destiny ended.
Canada through World War I
Authors: Moffat Ian C. D.
Published: May 2020

The Great War was the world event that began the evolution of Canada from a self-governing British colony to a great independent country. However, one of Canada’s failings is its self-deprecation and modesty. Canada has produced a number of historic works documenting and analyzing Canada’s accomplishments and the individuals who made them happen. Although much was written by actual participants in the interwar years, the majority of the objective and analytical works have only slowly emerged after the Second World War when history became a respected academic discipline. This annotated bibliography gives a cross section of the Canadian Great War historiography with the majority of the work having been produced after 1980. The Canadian Army and the role of Canadians serving in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service have good coverage in Canadian monographs. The one area of study that has a dearth of work is on the Royal Canadian Navy since it had a very small role in the Great War and did not come into its own until after 1939. Nonetheless, there are a number of works included that show the Navy’s fledgling accomplishments between 1914 and 1918, as well as the efforts of the British Admiralty to restrict the Royal Canadian Navy’s actions in defense of its own area of operations. This bibliography also contains works on prisoners of war, the psychological effects of trench warfare on Canadians serving at the front, the internment of enemy aliens in Canada, and effects of the war on the home front, including one French work analyzing French Quebec’s changing attitude to World War I over the length of the 20th century.
A Case–Control Study on the Association Between Intestinal Helminth Infections and Treatment Failure in Patients With Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
Authors: Martínez Dalila Y , Llanos-Cuentas Alejandro , Dujardin Jean-Claude , Polman Katja , Adaui Vanessa , Boelaert Marleen , Verdonck Kristien
Published: May 2020

Background

Endemic regions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and intestinal helminthiasis overlap. CL treatment with systemic pentavalent antimonial drugs (Sb5+) fails in 10%–30% of patients. The study objective was to assess the etiological role of intestinal helminthiasis in CL treatment failure.

Methods

An unmatched case–control study was done in 4 CL treatment sites in Peru in 2012–2015. Cases were CL patients with Sb5+ treatment failure; controls were CL patients with Sb5+ treatment success. Patients with a parasitologically confirmed CL diagnosis who had received supervised Sb5+ treatment and could be classified as cases or controls were eligible. The main exposure variables were intestinal helminthiasis and strongyloidiasis, diagnosed through direct examination, rapid sedimentation, Baermann, Kato-Katz, or agar culture of stool samples. Additional exposure variables were other infections (HIV, human T-lymphotropic virus 1, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, intestinal protozoa) and noninfectious conditions (diabetes, renal insufficiency, and immunosuppressive medication). Age, gender, CL history, probable exposure place, and Leishmania species were treated as potential confounders in multiple logistic regression.

Results

There were 94 case and 122 control subjects. Overall, infectious and noninfectious comorbidities were frequent both among cases (64%) and controls (71%). The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for the association between any intestinal helminth infection and CL treatment failure was 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30–1.38), and the adjusted OR for the association between strongyloidiasis and CL treatment failure was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.11–0.92).

Conclusions

In the Peruvian setting, high Sb5+ treatment failure rates are not explained by intestinal helminthiasis. On the contrary, strongyloidiasis had a protective effect against treatment failure.
A Recent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Outbreak Among People Who Inject Drugs in Munich, Germany, Is Associated With Consumption of Synthetic Cathinones
Authors: Hanke Kirsten , Fiedler Stefan , Grumann Christina , Ratmann Oliver , Hauser Andrea , Klink Patrycja , Meixenberger Karolin , Altmann Britta , Zimmermann Ruth , Marcus Ulrich , Bremer Viviane , Auwärter Volker , Bannert Norbert
Published: May 2020

Background

Needle and syringe sharing among people who inject drugs (PWID) can result in a rapid regional spread of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) variant. Such outbreaks have been identified recently in several countries and have raised public health attention because of an association with new psychoactive substances (NPS).

Methods

Dried serum spots from approximately 60% of newly diagnosed HIV cases in Germany in 2013–2018 were received together with statutory notification data. Samples were sequenced in the pol-region, genotyped, and viral phylogenies were analyzed. For selected samples, the hepatitis C virus (HCV) status and the presence of NPS were determined.

Results

An outbreak of closely related 27 subtype C infections with a core of 11 cases with almost identical sequences was identified using phylogenetic analyses. The first case of the outbreak was diagnosed in 2015, and the last one was in 2018. With exception of 3 infections, all were reported from Munich, the capital of the federal state of Bavaria. Of 26 analyzed outbreak members, 24 (92.3%) had a resolved or viremic HCV coinfection. In 8 of 18 (44%) cases, α-pyrrolidinopentiothiophenone and/or the related substance α-pyrrolidinoheptiophenone was identified.

Conclusions

Despite harm reduction services in place, HIV outbreaks of considerable size can occur in PWID. The establishment of a real-time molecular surveillance is advised to rapidly identify outbreaks and target prevention measures.
En Bloc Subtotal Temporal Bone Resection in a Case of Advanced Ear Cancer: 2-Dimensional Operative Video
Authors: Kimura Hidehito , Taniguchi Masaaki , Shinomiya Hirotaka , Teshima Masanori , Fujita Yuichi , Hashikawa Kazunobu , Nibu Ken-ichi , Kohmura Eiji
Published: May 2020

Temporal bone cancer is extremely rare; thus, the optimal surgical strategy for advanced tumors, en bloc vs piecemeal resection, remain controversial. Some authors have favored piecemeal resection and reported comparable outcomes.
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Other authors recommend the use of en bloc subtotal temporal bone resection (STBR) for advanced tumors and reported better outcomes, although long-term cancer control remains uncertain.
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Because of the technical difficulty and the lack of demonstrative surgical videos, STBR has not been sufficiently distributed. This video demonstrates en bloc STBR in a stepwise manner with particular focus on the neurosurgeon's role and aims to improve its safety, feasibility, and distribution. This video conforms to the description of Osawa et al
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in the designations for each segment of the petrous ICA. A 67-yr-old man suffered from consistent otorrhea and underwent tympanoplasty at an outside hospital 1 yr earlier. Following a histopathological diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma in the specimen, he underwent chemoradiotherapy (cisplatin + 70 Gy). However, a current imaging revealed a recurrent tumor and he was admitted to our hospital for radical resection. Computed tomography revealed a disrupted external auditory canal and magnetic resonance imaging indicated a carcinoma equivalent to Pittsburg stage T3. The patient underwent radical STBR without complications. His postoperative course was uneventful. At 2 yr postoperative, his modified Rankin scale score was 1, no recurrence was noted, and his facial nerve function was restored to House-Brackmann Grade IV. This video was reproduced with informed consent from the patient.
The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Violent Police Victimization
Authors: Douglas Stephen
Published: May 2020

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been presented as a technological innovation to cultivate greater civility in police–citizen interactions. Attempts have been made to clarify the impact of BWCs upon various policing outcomes, but the effects of BWCs on assaults against police has received scant research attention. Existing studies have been limited to a handful of jurisdictions with limited generalizability to a broader range of police organizations. Combining a number of official data sets for the years 2011–13, the current study assesses the relationship between BWCs and police victimization by focusing on total assaults and firearm assaults against police officers in a sample of 516 police agencies. The results indicate that BWC usage is negatively associated with police victimization in both models. This suggests that BWCs can assist in preventing the occurrence of general and extreme violence against police in a wide range of law enforcement agencies in varied settings.
A prospective cohort study on predictors of mortality of delirium in an emergency observational unit
Authors: Pal S , Sharma N , Singh S M , Kumar S , Pannu A K
Published: May 2020

Background

Delirium is often an underdiagnosed and underestimated neuropsychiatric syndrome, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Aim

To document the prevalence and clinical profile of delirium and to detect the baseline parameters associated with in-hospital mortality.

Design

A prospective cohort study conducted between January 2016 to December 2016 at an adult medical emergency observational unit of an academic hospital in north India.

Methods

Confusion Assessment Method for the intensive care unit was used for screening and diagnosis of delirium. Subtypes of delirium and severity were defined with the Richmond agitation-sedation scale and Delirium Rating Scale-Revised-98 (DRS-R-98).

Results

Out of 939 screened patients, 312 (33.2%) had delirium, including 73.7% unrecognized cases. The mean age was 49.1 ± 17.3 years (range 17–90), and only 33.3% of the patients were above 60 years. The prevalence of hypoactive, mixed and hyperactive delirium was 39.1, 33.7 and 27.2%, respectively. Usual predisposing factors were alcohol use disorder (57.4%) and hypertension (51.0%), and infections remain the most common precipitating factors (42.0%). In total, 96.1% of patients received midazolam before delirium onset, and physical restraints were used in 73.4%. Mortality was higher in delirium (19.9% vs. 6.4%). The independent predictors of death in delirium were low diastolic blood pressure (P-value = 0.000), Glasgow coma scale score <15 (P = 0.026), high Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score (P = 0.007), high DRS-R-98 severity score (P = 0.000) and hyperactive delirium (P = 0.024).

Conclusion

Rapid screening with Confusion Assessment Method for the intensive care unit detected a high prevalence of delirium (even in young patients), and it associated with high mortality.
Definition of fibromyalgia severity: findings from a cross-sectional survey of 2339 Italian patients
Authors: Salaffi Fausto , Di Carlo Marco , Bazzichi Laura , Atzeni Fabiola , Govoni Marcello , Biasi Giovanni , Di Franco Manuela , Mozzani Flavio , Gremese Elisa , Dagna Lorenzo , Batticciotto Alberto , Fischetti Fabio , Giacomelli Roberto , Guiducci Serena , Guggino Giuliana , Bentivegna Mario , Gerli Roberto , Salvarani Carlo , Bajocchi Gianluigi , Ghini Marco , Iannone Florenzo , Giorgi Valeria , Farah Sonia , Cirillo Mariateresa , Bonazza Sara , Barbagli Stefano , Gioia Chiara , Santilli Daniele , Capacci Annunziata , Cavalli Giulio , Carubbi Francesco , Nacci Francesca , Riccucci Ilenia , Sinigaglia Luigi , Masullo Maurizio , Polizzi Bianca Maria , Cutolo Maurizio , Sarzi-Puttini Piercarlo
Published: May 2020

Objective

To establish optimal cut-off values for the scores of the revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), the modified Fibromialgia Assessment Scale (FAS 2019mod), and the Polysymptomatic Distress Scale (PDS) in order to distinguish five levels of FM disease severity.

Methods

Consecutive FM patients were evaluated with the three clinimetric indices, and each patient was required to answer the anchor question: ‘In general, would you say your health is 1 = very good, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor, or 5 = very poor?’—which represented the external criterion. Cut-off points were established through the interquartile reconciliation approach.

Results

The study sample consisted of 2181 women (93.2%) and 158 men (6.8%), with a mean age of 51.9 (11.5) years, and mean disease duration was 7.3 (6.9) years. The overall median FIQR, FAS 2019 mod and PDS scores (25th–75th percentiles) were respectively 61.16 (41.16–77.00), 27.00 (19.00–32.00) and 19.0 (13.00–24.00). Reconciliation of the mean 75th and 25th percentiles of adjacent categories defined the severity states for FIQR: 0–23 for remission, 24–40 for mild disease, 41–63 for moderate disease, 64–82 for severe disease and >83 for very severe disease; FAS 2019 mod: 0–12 for remission, 13–20 for mild disease, 21–28 for moderate disease, 29–33 for severe disease and >33 for very severe disease; PDS: 0–5 for remission, 6–15 for mild disease, 16–20 for moderate disease, 21–25 for severe disease and >25 for very severe disease.

Conclusions

Disease severity cut-offs can represent an important improvement in interpreting FM.