bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Urban sprawl drives heterogeneous flood exposure patterns along socio-demographic gradients: a case study in the Amite River Basin during the 2016 Louisiana (USA) Floods
Authors: Tama Israt J , Douthat Thomas , Smiley Kevin T. , de Jesus Crespo Rebeca
Published: February 2025

The impact of floods may be exacerbated due to urban sprawl, which leads to residential development in naturally flood-prone areas. In the United States (US), urban sprawl has been historically tied to racial segregation, while flood-prone suburban development has been facilitated by flood insurance. While previous studies have found links between flood exposure and socio-demographic inequities, no research has addressed this question by looking at watershed-level segregation and the location of properties relative to flood-prone areas. We evaluate socio-demographic patterns of flood impact during the 2016 Floods in Louisiana (LA), USA, and whether these impacts differed inside or outside the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the nation’s main flood risk indicator for property owners. We assess this question in the Amite River Basin (ARB), LA, looking at the following socio-demographic predictors: 1) race, 2) income, 3) year of property built, and 4) property type, and accounting for the location of properties relative to the FEMA-SFHA (inside/outside), and the Parish of origin. The FEMA SFHA was generally a good predictor of flood impact, and the most impacted parishes were those within the downstream area of the ARB (EBR-East Baton Rouge, Ascension, and Livingston). At the watershed scale, properties in blocks dominated by wealthier black residents had a greater impact during this flood event, but the trends, varied by parish. Trends in the older and more urban EBR parish reflected those reported for the watershed. In the newer suburban parishes of Ascension and Livingston, the highest impact was experienced by high-income, predominantly white neighborhoods, mainly inside the FEMA SFHA. Properties built between 1970-1989 were associated with higher flood impact than homes built during other periods. While socio-demographic predictors of flood exposure were heterogeneous across the ARB, our findings collectively highlight the social costs of suburbanization into hazardous areas.
Risk of simultaneous food shocks to cities increases with supply chain vulnerability to droughts
Authors: Gomez Michael J , Mejia Alfonso
Published: February 2025

Global warming exacerbates agricultural production losses from extreme climate events with cascading impacts along supply chains that affect cities. However, little is known about cities’ vulnerability to climate-related food supply shocks. Using data-driven and network-based approaches, we determine the vulnerability of cities in the United States to domestic drought-related food shocks. Our vulnerability framework integrates key traits of a social-ecological system’s response to hazards: resilience, exposure, and sensitivity to disruption. We find that vulnerability varies considerably across cities, with western cities showing higher vulnerability than eastern cities (56% versus 47%; p < 0.001). It tends to be high in western cities because of high supply chain exposure to water stress and high urban food insecurity. Moreover, we find that southern cities show higher vulnerability than their northern counterparts, primarily due to disparities in food insecurity. Using the unprecedented 2012 U.S. drought as a case study, we show that high-vulnerability cities are associated with a higher risk of simultaneous food shocks and greater food supply losses than low-vulnerability cities. Our vulnerability framework can help inform climate adaptation interventions for food system security in urban-rural interactions.
Freedom and Failing to Treat Persons as Equals
Authors: Beeghly Erin
Published: February 2025

This chapter examines W. E. B. Du Bois’s trenchant critique of stereotyping in Darkwater: Voices Within the Veil and develops an equality- and freedom-focused theory of wrongful stereotyping. What’s wrong with stereotyping, according to Du Bois? For one thing, it fails to treat Black people as equals. For another, it unjustly curtails Black freedom. His analysis, this chapter argues, anticipates by one hundred years a prominent, equality-focused theory of wrongful discrimination argued for by Sophia Moreau. Though Moreau’s theory targets discriminatory actions, policies, and laws, it generalizes to stereotyping. Both theories entail that stereotyping can wrong people intrinsically (i.e., by treating them as inferior and thus not as equals), independently of its consequences. At the same time, both emphasize the ethical importance of stereotyping’s social impacts and its role in perpetuating group inequality and subordination, including practices of economic exploitation, political domination, and group-based violence.
The Necessity and Effectiveness of Violence
Authors: Pasternak Avia
Published: February 2025

This chapter embarks on the normative analysis of violent protests by looking at the necessity and effectiveness conditions. It examines the political context in which oppressed violent protestors operate and reviews empirical findings about the likely impact of such protests. This examination demonstrates, first, that highly marginalized groups can find it very difficult to effectively protest against state injustices through traditional non-violent means. Second, there is evidence to suggest that some violence can be effective for meeting the protestors’ political goals. The discussion offers important cautionary warnings against the resort to violence, but it also shows that whether violent protests are necessary and effective is highly context-dependent and that they can be so in a non-trivial set of cases.
The Moral Seriousness of Harm to Police Officers
Authors: Pasternak Avia
Published: February 2025

This chapter begins the investigation of the proportionality of the protective harm inflicted by violent protestors, focusing on damage to public property and state personnel. Its goal is to assess the moral seriousness of such harm, given its targets’ rights and obligations. The chapter first examines damage inflicted on public property. It rejects corporatist accounts, which assess such harm in light of the moral standing of the state itself, arguing instead that the seriousness of such harm flows from its impact on state citizens alone. It then investigates the moral seriousness of harm to police officers and develops the argument that police officers may be liable to some bodily harm, given their participation in the police force.
Redistributing Protective Harm
Authors: Pasternak Avia
Published: February 2025

This chapter deals with three objections to the analysis of the proportionality of protective harm in violent protests and the restrictions it sets on protestors’ conduct. The first objection is that participants in violent protests are neither able nor willing to comply with such restrictions. The second objection is that even if protestors were to comply, the distribution of the harm of violent protests would concentrate only on a small proportion of the population and as such would be inherently unfair. The third objection is that in the real world, those who end up bearing the costs of violent protests are fellow oppressed citizens. This chapter offers action-guiding responses to these objections, which have implications for the ways in which the costs of repairing the damage inflicted in violent protests should be distributed.
Radical Reality
Authors: Borum Caty , Conrad-Pérez David
Published: February 2025

Radical Reality: Documentary Storytelling and the Global Fight for Social Justice reveals how independent documentary makers around the world produce cinematic stories that speak truth to power, and why nonfiction storytelling matters for social justice. Pushing against challenging political and economic constraints, these tenacious filmmakers produce artistic nonfiction stories that stand up for freedom of expression, serve as witnesses to conflict and resilience, maintain cultural memory of human rights abuses, and open intimate windows into acts of protest, reconciliation, and resistance that often go unseen. They collaborate with activists and civil society leaders to create powerful movements of dissent, centering underrepresented voices, providing spaces for community healing and recognition, and challenging damaging narratives of people and their lived realities. And they do so in significant times. Across the globe, repressive forces threaten those who challenge power—including independent nonfiction filmmakers, journalists, and activists. And yet, hope is found in the hands of storytellers who marshal a way forward, again and again, to push the status quo toward justice. Contemporary independent documentaries are an invaluable form of public interest media and a public good, and yet, they are imperiled amid climates that are hostile to freedom of expression and open media systems. This book tells their stories.
Fighting the Good Fight Around the World
Authors: Borum Caty , Conrad-Pérez David
Published: February 2025

The journey of the book begins with a firm positioning of its major themes, situating the contemporary moment for independent documentary storytelling around the world. Chapter 1 provides the necessary foundation to explain the broad functions of documentary storytelling as a mechanism for social change—as a monitor, creatively artistic interpreter of events and issues, form of counternarrative that reveals realities often marginalized in broader news media systems, mobilizer of people and communities, and force that strengthens civil society in pursuit of social good and justice. This chapter introduces the chief questions and preoccupations of the book: What roles do independent documentary stories play around the world in a social justice context, against a backdrop of commercial media consolidation, technology platform dominance, and government repression? How do documentaries fight for justice and freedom of expression around the globe, alongside and bolstering the work of civil society? The first chapter provides a clear articulation of the book’s major claims, and it sets up a roadmap overview of the full volume, chapter by chapter.
Confronting Government Power
Authors: Borum Caty , Conrad-Pérez David
Published: February 2025

“Confronting Government Power” showcases social-issue documentaries around the world that speak often-inconvenient truths to systems of power, from government to corporate. Across the globe, populism often facilitates political order through repression and control of publics and media, posing threats even in democratic forms of government. Through observational, intimate, expansive storytelling, the documentary stories in this chapter showcase and push back on repressive institutions of power, offering cautionary historical lessons and warning bells for a range of contests, including All In: The Fight for Democracy (United States) and The Silence of Others (Spain).
Introduction
Authors: Gawne Lauren
Published: February 2025

This chapter provides an introduction to Gesture Studies, and to the aims of this book. Gesture is an integral part of human communication, but one that does not always receive a lot of attention in academic research. The growth of the field of Gesture Studies has resulted in research from a range of disciplines that highlights the important role that gesture plays in human interaction. An understanding of gesture is relevant to anyone who has an interest in human communication. Gesture Studies is a highly interdisciplinary field that includes work from researchers in psychology, anthropology, linguistics, primatology, and more, and touches on interaction in varied domains including first and second language acquisition, artistic performance, and online interaction.
Gesture categorization
Authors: Gawne Lauren
Published: February 2025

This chapter provides an overview of major gesture categories identified in the Gesture Studies literature, including their features and implications for our understanding of human communication. We begin with an overview of the history of gesture categorization, and the way gesture categorization draws on both form and function to distinguish between types of gestures. We then look at five major categories of gesture; iconic, metaphoric, deictic, beat, and recurrent, and additionally look at emblems. For each category there is a definition, examples, a history of terminology, and a discussion of key literature. This chapter also includes discussion of the complexities of applying a category approach to gesture.
Gesture acquisition and use
Authors: Gawne Lauren
Published: February 2025

In this chapter, we look at gesture use in a wide variety of contexts. We start with an exploration of the role gesture plays in interaction for both the speaker and the addressee. People will vary their use of gesture depending on their audience, but gesture may also be useful for the speaker as well. We then look at the role of gesture in language development, from our earliest acquisition of language, through later childhood. We also look at the role gesture plays for children who are raised in a ‘homesign’ context and for village and local sign languages. Finally, we look at gesture in multilingual contexts, and specifically for second language learners.
The past and future
Authors: Gawne Lauren
Published: February 2025

This chapter looks back to the role of gesture in the origins of human language, and then looks at the current and future role of gesture in modern digital communication. The chapter outlines some of the main arguments in the debate about the role of gesture in the development of modern human language. It also considers the evidence for gesture-like behaviour in other animals, including primates and non-primates before turning to the future of human gesture. Gesture Studies is informing the way we communicate with digital devices, and shaping how those devices and avatars are gesturing to us in return. Finally, the chapter examines the ways we continue to gesture to each other in digital formats, and how online communication is returning to centring gesture as part of human communication.
Glossary
Authors: Gawne Lauren
Published: February 2025

This chapter provides an alphabetized glossary of 91 key terms used in this book. Where relevant, each entry cross-references other relevant terms, and directs the reader to the most useful chapter.
Synchronising anti-predator behaviour in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum
Authors: Matsumura Kentarou
Published: February 2025

In many animals, a phenomenon is often observed in which behaviour depends on population density and many individuals within the group synchronise their state of behaviour to some extent, and theoretical studies have suggested that this synchronisation phenomenon is adaptive for predation avoidance. Moreover, death-feigning behaviour (DF) has been observed as an anti-predator strategy in many animals. There are large individual differences in the duration of DF, and the optimal duration of DF often varies depending on the situation. Therefore, although it is expected that prey may synchronise with others around them for an optimal DF duration, there are few experimental studies testing this hypothesis. This study investigated whether DF duration varies with and without other individuals, and whether it synchronised with the DF duration of other individuals, in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. This study used populations with genetically longer (L-population) and shorter (S-population) DF duration and measured DF duration when maintained alone and cohabitated with individuals from the L- and S-populations, respectively. The results showed that the DF duration of individuals living alone increased significantly compared to pre-treatment. Moreover, individuals that cohabitated with S populations were significantly shorter after cohabitation, but the presence of the L population did not cause any changes in how individuals synchronised their activities. When many individuals had shorter DF durations, DF was synchronised towards shorter durations. This is the first study to illustrate the synchronisation of anti-predator behaviour in terms of DF behaviour.
Management of an asymptomatic pulmonary arteriovenous fistula diagnosed prenatally by detachable balloon embolization: a case report
Authors: Li Wenjuan , Zhao Pengjun , Chen Sun
Published: February 2025

Background

Pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas (PAVFs) are abnormal vascular malformations that connect pulmonary arteries and pulmonary veins, resulting in a right-to-left shunt. This anatomical shunt leads to a decrease in arterial oxygen saturation. Patients with PAVFs are usually treated with embolization or surgical procedures.

Case summary

A 15-month-old child was diagnosed with PAVF in utero at 36 weeks’ gestational age. The patient had no history of dyspnoea, repeated haemoptysis, or pneumonia, and there was no relevant family history. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed a bilobed opacity located in the inferior lobe of the right lung, and an echocardiogram detected a small atrial septal defect with positive contrast echocardiography. The patient underwent successful embolization using a detachable balloon catheter due to the relatively large diameter of the fistula. After the surgery, a significant decrease in flow was observed in the fistula, and the contrast is no longer visible.

Discussion

Here, we report a case of a paediatric patient with congenital asymptomatic PAVF, diagnosed prenatally, and successfully treated with detachable balloon embolization. The case illustrates the detachable occlusion balloons appear to be an effective tool for embolization of PAVF in children, especially in cases involving large feeding vessels.
Joining Forces: A Complex Cardio-Obstetrics Case Report of Severe Ergometrine-Induced Vasospasm
Authors: Radhakrishna Avinash , Burke Cathy , Barry Patrick , Cawley Christian , Cronin Heather
Published: February 2025

Background

Ergometrine is part of the current guideline-directed management of post-partum haemorrhage (PPH). However, it is also a potent vasoconstrictor capable of causing significant coronary artery vasospasm in susceptible individuals.

Case Summary

A 31-year-old primigravida suffered from post-partum haemorrhagic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation following vaginal delivery. She was urgently resuscitated with intravenous fluids and blood products. Intramuscular ergometrine was administered and surgery was required due to retained placenta. Two days later upon extubation, she demonstrated symptoms of speech apraxia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed extensive cerebral and cerebellar infarction with subcortical sparring. Her electrocardiogram showed diffuse T-wave inversions and a high-sensitivity troponin-I peaked at 37,000 ng/L. Echocardiography showed severe left ventricular (LV) failure, apical akinesia and thrombi formation. One week later, she suffered a middle cerebral artery stroke causing aphasia and right-sided hemiparesis, necessitating emergency thrombectomy. Cardiovascular MRI showed moderate LV systolic impairment and focal apical infarction. Coronary angiography was unremarkable. The most likely unifying diagnosis was severe ergotamine-induced coronary vasospasm causing acute myocardial infarction in the setting of life-threatening PPH. Following three weeks of multi-disciplinary care, her speech and motor abilities improved. She was discharged on long-acting nitrates, oral anticoagulation and heart failure therapy with close outpatient monitoring. Subsequent echocardiograms showed marked improvement in LV ejection fraction (45-50%).

Conclusion

This case highlights the potential life-threatening complications of ergometrine and the importance of recognising pregnancy-associated myocardial infarction as a significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. The cardio-obstetrics team plays a pivotal role in improving patient outcomes.
Sense of coherence and quality of life in the recovery of women and men with myocardial infarction: A 10-year follow-up study
Authors: Malm Dan , Mårtensson Jan , Årestedt Kristofer
Published: February 2025

Aim

Sense of coherence (SOC) allows individuals to be more resilient to adverse life events and it is associated with quality of life (QoL), but its long-term effects are unknown in patients with myocardial infarction. This study aimed to examine longitudinal variations of SOC and associations between SOC at baseline and QoL at a 10-year follow-up in relation to gender.

Method and results

This longitudinal study included 61 patients, 16 women and 45 men with a mean age of 57.1 ± 6.5 years, who completed a questionnaire package in relation to hospital discharge, two years, five years, and 10 years later. The questionnaire package included the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13), 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), and Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). Data were analysed with repeated measure ANOVA and linear regression. Overall, SOC was stable over the 10-year follow-up, but Comprehensibility improved significantly (p = 0.003). A significant main effect for gender was shown regarding SOC total (p = 0.032) and Comprehensibility (p = 0.034); women reported lower SOC compared to men. An interaction effect between gender and time was shown in Comprehensibility (p = 0.007), as the differences between genders decreased over time. SOC-13 was significantly associated with all dimensions of QoL; three significant interaction effects showed that the associations was true for women but not men.

Conclusion

SOC is an important aspect to consider in the care of patients with myocardial infarction, as it is associated with long-term QoL, particularly for women. This means that SOC can also be used to identify patients who are at risk for poor QoL after a myocardial infarction.
Risk of Cardiovascular Events According to the Severity of an Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Zysman Maeva , Nordon Clementine , Fabry-Vendrand Caroline , Rhodes Kirsty , Bretin Oriane , Rey Amayelle , Collin Cedric , Poccardi Nolwenn , Aboyans Victor
Published: February 2025

Aims

Risk estimation of different types of cardiovascular events (CVE) following a hospitalisation for exacerbated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (exCOPD) is warranted to consider prevention.

Methods

A case-crossover study was conducted using the French exhaustive hospital discharge database (2013-2019). Case-patients had a diagnosis of COPD, hospitalised for a CVE in France in 2018-2019 (admission date was index date) with no other CVE in ≤12 months, and had ≥1 hospitalisation for exCOPD ≤24 weeks before index CVE. The key exposure was hospitalisation for exCOPD (overall and according to levels of care intensity) ≤1-4 weeks versus 9-24 weeks preceding the CVE. Conditional logistic regression models estimated odds ratios (OR) for the association between hospitalisation for exCOPD and different types of CVE.

Results

Among 9,840 case-patients, the most frequent CVE was decompensated heart failure (5,888 case-patients, 59.8%). The CVE risk was greater ≤4 weeks after a hospitalisation for any exCOPD (OR, 3.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.90–3.16) and 7 times greater if mechanical ventilation was necessary (OR, 6.99; 95% CI, 6.09–8.03). The risk of NSTEMI (OR, 5.33; 95% CI, 4.47–6.34) was the highest among CVE. The risk was also significantly increased (p<0.05) for many other CVE: STEMI (OR, 4.24), resuscitated cardiac arrest (OR, 4.33), pulmonary embolism (OR, 4.02), atrial fibrillation/flutter (OR, 3.03), ischaemic stroke (OR, 1.93) and limb events (1.34). Ten percent of CVE were fatal.

Conclusion

Following hospitalisation for exCOPD, the risk of cardiovascular complications is increased. These patients require close and sustained monitoring to mitigate CVE risk.
Computational phenotyping of cognitive decline with retest learning
Authors: Oravecz Zita , Vandekerckhove Joachim , Hakun Jonathan G , Kim Sharon H , Katz Mindy J , Wang Cuiling , Lipton Richard B , Derby Carol A , Roque Nelson A , Sliwinski Martin J
Published: February 2025

OBJECTIVES

Cognitive change is a complex phenomenon encompassing both retest-related performance gains and potential cognitive decline. Disentangling these dynamics is necessary for effective tracking of subtle cognitive change and risk factors for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD).

METHOD

We applied a computational cognitive model of learning and forgetting to data from Einstein Aging Study (EAS; n = 316). EAS participants completed multiple bursts of ultra-brief, high-frequency cognitive assessments on smartphones. Analyzing response time data from a measure of visual short-term working memory, the Color Shapes task, and from a measure of processing speed, the Symbol Search task, we extracted several key cognitive markers: short-term intraindividual variability in performance, within-burst retest learning and asymptotic (peak) performance, across-burst change in asymptote and forgetting of retest gains.

RESULTS

Asymptotic performance was related to both mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and age, and there was evidence of asymptotic slowing over time. Long-term forgetting, learning rate, and within-person variability uniquely signified MCI, irrespective of age.

DISCUSSION

Computational cognitive markers hold promise as sensitive and specific indicators of preclinical cognitive change, aiding risk identification and targeted interventions.
How often and why do people manage their emotions in older adulthood?
Authors: Springstein Tabea , English Tammy
Published: February 2025

Objectives

Prominent theories of adult development suggest individuals increasingly prioritize emotional goals and social relationships as they age. Accordingly, older adults are expected to invest more in maintaining their emotional well-being compared to younger adults. Prior work suggests older adults may accomplish this goal by structuring their lives in ways that reduce the need to actively manage unwanted emotion. We tested the hypotheses that (1) older adults regulate their emotions less often in daily life compared to younger adults, and (2) when emotion regulation occurs, older adults are more motivated than younger adults by pro-hedonic and social concerns.

Method

Using experience sampling (7x/day for 9 days), we assessed emotion regulation frequency and motives in younger adults (n=75), cognitively normal older adults (n=93), and older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n=63).

Results

Emotion regulation was less frequent for older adults with MCI (16%) and without MCI (18%) compared to younger adults (43%), even when controlling for emotional experience. However, few differences in emotion regulation motives emerged and they were not robust to controlling for age group differences in emotion.

Discussion

These findings extend previous work on emotion regulation in aging, which largely has focused on strategies, by documenting age differences in how often, but not why, people regulate. Future work is needed to explore how age-related differences in life contexts might result in less need for emotion regulation in older adults. Conserving effort directed towards emotion regulation could be particularly beneficial among older adults with more limited cognitive resources.
The impact of TRPV4 pathogenic mutations on barrier integrity
Authors: Sampaio Gabriela , Ismaili Taylor , Torkamani Ali , Breckenridge David G , Katana Ashley , Goldstein David B , Sahdeo Sunil
Published: February 2025

Pathogenic mutations in the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) gene cause two classes of rare autosomal dominant disorders: peripheral neuropathies and skeletal dysplasias. Although most TRPV4 pathogenic mutations increase ion flux, it remains unclear how different mutations in TRPV4 cause such distinct disease presentations. Through an in vitro cell impedance platform, we showed that TRPV4 overactivity leads to cell barrier disruption, while pharmacological or genetic inhibition of TRPV4 activity protects against barrier disruption. Unexpectedly, we find that mutations causing peripheral neuropathies and metatropic dysplasias are more likely to cause barrier disruption than mutations causing non-metatropic skeletal dysplasia presentations. Finally, we show that a novel TRPV4 inhibitor (ABS-0872) protects cell-barrier disruption and promotes recovery of barrier integrity after damage caused by TRPV4 mutations.
Characterization of immune phenotypes in peripheral blood of adult renal transplant recipients using mass cytometry (CyTOF)
Authors: Kowli Sangeeta , Minocherhomji Sheroy , Martinez Olivia M , Busque Stephan , Lebrec Herve , Maecker Holden T
Published: February 2025

Chronic immunosuppressive therapies are crucial in organ transplantation but can increase the risk of opportunistic infections and cancer over time. We investigated immune status changes in 10 kidney transplant patients and 11 age-matched healthy adults using broad in vitro stimulation of subject-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells followed by mass cytometry by time of flight over 6 mo. Overall, the immune cells of transplant patients exhibited increased CD8+ T cell activation and differentiation compared with healthy donors, with elevated CD8+ CD57+, MIP-1β, and interferon γ production (P < 0.05, P < 0.05, and P < 0.01, respectively). CD107a and granzyme B expression were increased in CD8+ T cells and CD56bright natural killer cells (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively), while T regulatory cells had decreased interleukin-10 production (P < 0.05). These changes indicated a proinflammatory environment influenced by induction therapy and ongoing maintenance drugs. Additionally, transplant recipients displayed signs of immune modulation, including decreased tumor necrosis factor α, interferon γ, and MIP-1β expression in γδT cells (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), and reduced interleukin-17 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor expression in CD8+ T memory cell subsets (P < 0.05). The diverse functional changes underscore the importance of comprehensive immune status profiling for optimizing individual treatment strategies and developing better immunosuppressants that specifically target activated cell populations.
Optimizing Salmonella Detection in Beijing’s Surface Water: Unveiling Rare Serotypes with a Modified Moore Swab (MMS) Method
Authors: Wang Xueshuo , Dou Yue , Li Jingyun , Bai Yao , Cui Shenghui
Published: February 2025

Background

Salmonella, a notorious foodborne pathogen with a wide range of hosts, poses a significant public health concern globally. Contaminated surface water acts as a potential source of Salmonella transmission.

Objective

To optimize a Salmonella detection method from large-volume water and analyze surface water samples in Beijing and characterize Salmonella isolates from these samples by whole genome sequencing.

Methods

A microbial enrichment device based on the modified Moore swab (MMS) design was optimized and validated. Thirty-five water samples were collected and analyzed for Salmonella from 11 park lakes, two rivers, and two farms. Multiple characteristics of isolates were analyzed using antibiotic antimicrobial testing and whole genome sequencing.

Results

The optimized MMS unit showed high efficiency (over 80% recovery) and a low detection limit (100 cells) for enriching and isolating Salmonella from large-volume water (10 liters). Compared to the conventional method, the MMS device significantly improved Salmonella detection efficiency (62.86 versus 8.57%) in Beijing’s surface water. Most of the Salmonella isolates from surface water belonged to rare serotypes from water wildlife susceptible to all the tested antimicrbials.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates the optimized MMS’s effectiveness for on-site enrichment of pathogens from large-volume water, validates the accuracy and sensitivity of a Salmonella detection method for surface water, and reveals previously unknown information about Salmonella contamination in Beijing’s public water system.

Highlights

Salmonella concentrations in water are typically very low: implementation of this method would successfully realize large-volume water sampling and on-site pathogen enrichment, and significantly improve Salmonella detection efficiency in surface water.
A chromosome-length genome assembly for the Pismo clam, Tivela stultorum, a long-lived bivalve species severely impacted by overfishing
Authors: Emery Kyle A , DeBiasse Melissa B , Escalona Merly , Marimuthu Mohan P A , Nguyen Oanh H , Fairbairn Colin W , Seligmann William , Miller Courtney , Schooler Nicholas K , Hubbard David M , Dugan Jenifer E , Dawson Michael N
Published: February 2025

The Pismo clam, Tivela stultorum, is an ecologically and economically important species that inhabiting sandy beaches and subtidal zones in central and southern California, USA, and northern Baja California, Mexico. This long lived venerid clam species is of great management, cultural and conservation interest in California where it was harvested for centuries by indigenous people and then nearly extirpated by intense commercial and recreational overfishing in the mid 1900’s. A recreational fishery continues today in California, however T. stultorum faces pressure from poaching, overharvest, and the loss of sandy beaches from rising sea levels and beach erosion. Understanding the susceptibility and resilience of Pismo clams to these pressures is essential for their conservation. We used Pacific Biosciences HiFi long sequencing reads and Dovetail Omni-C proximity reads to assemble a highly contiguous genome of 763 Mb. The genome had a contig N50 of 13 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 38 Mb with a BUSCO completeness score of 95%. Most of the genome sequences (96%) were contained in 19 scaffolds at least 10MB long, consistent with prior evidence that venerid clam genomes are composed of 19 autosomes. This reference genome will enable a more complete understanding of the ecology and evolutionary dynamics of T. stultorum via population genomic analyses, which will help assess risks from climate, fishing, environmental change, and susceptibilities due to life history. Our goal is to better support the continued recovery, informed management and conservation, and future persistence of T. stultorum, a long lived and highly valued clam species.
Bad faith in EU trade mark law: the impact of SkyKick post-Brexit
Authors: Sanseverino Giuseppe
Published: February 2025

This article explores the evolving concept of bad faith in EU trade mark law, particularly in light of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU’s) judgment in SkyKick. The concept, rooted in ethical and commercial fairness, has been clarified through pivotal cases, including Lindt, Koton, and—as mentioned—SkyKick. These judgments highlight how overly broad trade mark registrations can serve as anti-competitive tools, undermining fair market practices. The UK Supreme Court’s alignment with CJEU jurisprudence post-Brexit underscores a commitment to a nuanced analysis balancing trade mark protection, honest commercial practices and market integrity. The findings provide a robust framework for addressing trade mark abuses while fostering fair competition.
Local content requirements in Asia’s Just Energy Transition: Neutralizing tensions with international economic law
Authors: Hug Francine
Published: February 2025

Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) encourage coal-dependent emerging economies to phase out coal and transition to renewable energy. However, JETPs face significant obstacles, creating tensions with international economic law. Local content requirements (LCRs) represent a particularly problematic regulatory barrier to energy transitions. This article thus examines whether international economic law expedites or obstructs Asia’s energy transition, and whether LCRs are incompatible with international economic law. To answer these questions, this article juxtaposes LCR provisions in JETPs and domestic regulations in two case studies: Indonesia and Vietnam. It then contextualizes LCR costs and benefits before examining tensions with international economic law and potential state defences justifying LCRs. It culminates in suggesting how LCRs could be designed to neutralize such tensions. This article argues that international economic law complements, rather than collides with, energy transition goals and that LCRs are not anathema to international economic law, as long as they are designed and implemented in a non-discriminatory manner.
Ultra relativistic charged particle dynamics in Jupiter’s radiation belts
Authors: Srivastava Ayushi , Kakad Bharati , Kakad Amar
Published: February 2025

Jupiter possesses the most hazardous radiation belt in the solar system, which contains ultra-relativistic protons (∼100 GeV), electrons (∼100 MeV), and heavier ions like O+, O++, S+, S++, S++ + (∼100 MeV) etc. Based on the energies and locations of the charged particles, and the strength of local magnetic field, they either get lost or remain trapped in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. The trapped charged particles are expected to gyrate, bounce and drift under the influence of a magnetic field. However, owing to their higher energies, these charged particles can exhibit non-adiabatic behavior. Many theoretical and simulation models often use the gyro-center approximation to study charged particle dynamics in various plasma environments. However, under non-adiabatic condition the applicability of such models is questionable. In this context, we have performed three-dimensional relativistic test particle simulations to examine behavior of the charged particles in the Jupiter’s inner radiation belt. In this paper, we provide a parameter (rL = γm0v⊥/qB) to distinguish the adiabatic and non-adiabatic nature of the energetic charged particles. It is found that when rL exceeds 1000 km, the charged particles follow non-adiabatic behavior. This new proxy is useful for predicting the adiabatic and non-adiabatic regime of the trapped charged particles, leading to a better understanding of Jupiter’s radiation belts.
SALT OVERLY SENSITIVE2 and AMMONIUM TRANSPORTER1;1 contribute to plant salt tolerance by maintaining ammonium uptake
Authors: Ma Liang , Qin De-Bin , Sun Liping , Zhang Kaina , Yu Xiang , Dang An-Kai , Hou Shengfan , Zhao Xiaoyun , Yang Yongqing , Wang Yang , Chen Yuhang , Guo Yan
Published: February 2025

Soil salinity is a severe threat to agriculture and plant growth. Under high salinity conditions, ammonium (NH4+) is the predominant inorganic nitrogen source used by plants due to limited nitrification. However, how ammonium shapes the plant response to salt stress remains a mystery. Here, we demonstrate that the growth of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings is less sensitive to salt stress when provided with ammonium instead of nitrate (NO3−), a response that is mediated by ammonium transporters (AMTs). We further show that the kinase SALT OVERLY SENSITIVE2 (SOS2) physically interacts with and activates AMT1;1 by directly phosphorylating the nonconserved serine residue Ser-450 in the C-terminal region. In agreement with the involvement of SOS2, ammonium uptake was lower in sos2 mutants grown under salt stress relative to the wild type. Moreover, AMT-mediated ammonium uptake enhanced salt-induced SOS2 kinase activity. Together, our study demonstrates that SOS2 activates AMT1;1 to fine-tune and maintain ammonium uptake and optimize the plant salt stress response.
Theoretical study of mismatch-induced halo formation from an intense hadron bunch in a uniform focusing channel
Authors: Kato Kimihiro , Okamoto Hiromi
Published: February 2025

A basic mechanism of halo formation in high-intensity hadron accelerators is explored theoretically. As a possible origin of halos, we focus on deviation of an initial bunch size from its ideal dimensions, in other words, spatial mismatch of the bunch shape to an accelerator lattice. Such an error is unavoidable in any machines and thus needs to be considered carefully. Assuming an axisymmetric uniform beam-focusing potential, we calculate the transverse and longitudinal wavenumbers of linear collective modes from the three-dimensional envelope equations. The obtained analytical formulas are found to explain the power spectra derived from self-consistent numerical simulations. Approximate conditions of possible resonances driven by mismatch-induced envelope oscillation are presented to estimate dangerous parameter ranges where a particularly serious halo may be developed. A simple measure to separate tail particles from the beam core is introduced, which suggests the existence of two distinct regimes of halo formation. The maximum extent of a halo as well as emittance growth rates are evaluated through systematic simulations as a function of initial mismatch factors.
Municipalities at Court
Authors: Myers William M , Downey Davia C
Published: February 2025

Municipal governments do not have constitutional recognition and risk being viewed as an afterthought by federalism scholars despite being key partners in facilitating state and federal policymaking as well as managing local affairs. How municipal governments exercise power and their role in the federal system has been litigated throughout the nation's history and has permitted the Supreme Court to issue rulings with implications for governmental power, private rights, and the functioning of the nation's federal framework and intergovernmental organization. To explore how the Court’s decisions shaped the federal framework, we utilize litigation involving municipal governments at the Supreme Court to assess theories of dual and cooperative federalism from the Founding through 2021. The lack of constitutional recognition places municipalities at a disadvantage against litigation opponents with entrenched powers (federal and state governments) or rights (businesses, organizations, and individuals). Our findings suggest that the Court’s treatment of municipal governments is much more complex than is normally assumed and is consistent with an institution focused on monitoring the federal system and adjusting accordingly.
25 THE IMPACT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION INTERVENTION ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH OF ADOLESCENT SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS
Authors: Yang Lin
Published: February 2025

Background

Although traditional schizophrenia medication has achieved certain results in controlling symptoms, it still has limitations in improving patients’ social functioning and enhancing their quality of life. Therefore, exploring non-pharmacological treatment methods is of great significance for promoting the mental health of adolescent schizophrenia patients. Related studies have shown that physical activity can promote the secretion of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin in the body, and has been widely proven to have a positive effect on improving the mental health level of adolescents. The study aims to explore the impact of physical education intervention on the mental health of adolescent patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

The study selected 80 students with schizophrenia from a high school in a certain city that provided physical exercise education, aged between 15-18 years old. The study randomly divided patients into an experimental group and a control group, with 40 people in each group. The experimental group received intervention treatment through physical exercise, while the control group only received conventional antipsychotic medication intervention treatment. Both treatment periods are a complete semester, once a week for 40 minutes each time. The study used the Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3) and the Middle School Students’ Mental Health Scale (MSMH Scale) as evaluation tools.

Results

The PARS-3 and MSMH Scale scores of patients in the experimental and control groups before and after a one semester intervention are shown in Table 1. According to Table 1, the experimental group receiving physical exercise education therapy showed significant improvement in both PARS-3 and MSMH Scale scores, and the improvement effect was significantly better than that of the control group. Among them, the PARS-3 score of the experimental group before intervention was 33.51 ± 2.14 points, and after intervention, the score decreased to 22.65 ± 2.21 points, with a statistical difference between the two (P<0.05). Meanwhile, there was a statistically significant difference (P<0.05) in the MSMH Scale scores of the experimental group before and after intervention. In addition, in the inter group comparison, the experimental group had significantly lower scores on various scales after intervention compared to the control group.

Discussion

The research results indicate that using physical exercise as a treatment method has a significant clinical intervention effect on patients with schizophrenia. Physical education intervention can enhance patients’ self-efficacy and social communication skills, alleviate feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Overall, physical education intervention has significant advantages in improving treatment effectiveness, reducing drug side effects, promoting emotional expression and social function recovery in patients, providing new perspectives and methods for the treatment of schizophrenia.
35 THE ROLE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF VOCATIONAL COLLEGE TEACHERS IN EARLY INTERVENTION FOR STUDENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA
Authors: Wu Zheng
Published: February 2025

Background

Schizophrenia, as a mental and psychological disorder of early-onset dementia, is mainly manifested in cognitive deviation, social sensitivity, and hallucinations in adolescents, which in turn affects their learning, life, and social interactions. At present, the treatment plan for student schizophrenia mainly adopts antipsychotic drugs and psychological counseling, which have a good control effect on hospitalized patients. Research on utilizing the role of vocational college teachers in early intervention for students with schizophrenia to assist in the treatment of their mental and psychological disorders.

Methods

Firstly, 100 vocational college students who meet the criteria for early symptoms of schizophrenia will be evaluated by professional physicians and confirmed to have no other mental disorders. Next, 100 students will be randomly selected and divided into a control group of 50 and an experimental group of 50. Both groups received routine nursing interventions, while students in the experimental group received psychological counseling and role intervention from teachers on this basis. They provided disease explanations and actively communicated with patients to maintain their dignity and reduce their sense of shame. Finally, before and after the treatment intervention, the two groups of patients were evaluated using the Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (FIS), Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ), and Generic Quality of Life Inventory (GQOLI-74), and statistical significance was analyzed using SPSS 25.0 software.

Results

There was no statistically significant difference in FIS evaluation between the two groups before intervention (P>0.05). After the intervention, the FIS score of the experimental group improved, with a score of 26.36 ± 3.68 for FIS self-esteem, which was about 49% higher than before the intervention. There was a significant difference (P<0.001) in the scoring results compared to the control group, indicating that the auxiliary intervention of vocational college teachers has an effective relief and positive effect on students with schizophrenia. The results are shown in Table 1.

Discussion

Research on adding teacher role communication intervention on the basis of routine nursing intervention to enhance the effectiveness of teachers in influencing students’ mental health. The results showed that routine nursing interventions can improve the psychological problems of early schizophrenia students to a certain extent, but combined with communication and positive guidance from vocational college teachers, students’ confidence in fighting schizophrenia was significantly enhanced, and the early intervention effect of schizophrenia was significantly improved.