bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparative Single-Dose mRNA and ChAdOx1 Vaccine Effectiveness Against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, Including Variants of Concern: Test-Negative Design, British Columbia, Canada
Authors: Skowronski Danuta M , Setayeshgar Solmaz , Zou Macy , Prystajecky Natalie , Tyson John R , Sbihi Hind , Fjell Chris D , Galanis Eleni , Naus Monika , Patrick David M , El Adam Shiraz , Ahmed May A , Kim Shinhye , Henry Bonnie , Hoang Linda M N , Sadarangani Manish , Jassem Agatha N , Krajden Mel
Published: January 2022

Background

In British Columbia, Canada, most adults 50–69 years old became eligible for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine in April 2021, with chimpanzee adenoviral vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1) restricted to ≥55-year-olds and second doses deferred ≥6 weeks to optimize single-dose coverage.

Methods

Among adults 50–69 years old, single-dose messenger RNA (mRNA) and ChAdOx1 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization, including variant-specific, was assessed by test-negative design between 4 April and 2 October 2021.

Results

Single-dose VE included 11 861 cases and 99 544 controls. Median of postvaccination follow-up was 32 days (interquartile range, 15–52 days). Alpha, Gamma, and Delta variants comprised 23%, 18%, and 56%, respectively, of genetically characterized viruses. At 21–55 days postvaccination, single-dose mRNA and ChAdOx1 VE (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 74% (71%–76%) and 59% (53%–65%) against any infection and 86% (80%–90%) and 94% (85%–97%) against hospitalization, respectively. VE (95% CI) was similar against Alpha and Gamma infections for mRNA (80% [76%–84%] and 80% [75%–84%], respectively) and ChAdOx1 (69% [60%–76%] and 66% [56%–73%], respectively). mRNA VE was lower at 63% (95% CI, 56%–69%) against Delta but 85% (95% CI, 71%–92%) against Delta-associated hospitalization (nonestimable for ChAdOx1).

Conclusions

A single mRNA or ChAdOx1 vaccine dose gave important protection against SARS-CoV-2, including early variants of concern. ChAdOx1 VE was lower against infection, but 1 dose of either vaccine reduced the hospitalization risk by >85% to at least 8 weeks postvaccination. Findings inform program options, including longer dosing intervals.
Species Paraphyly and Social Parasitism: Phylogenomics, Morphology, and Geography Clarify the Evolution of thePseudomyrmex elongatulusGroup (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a Mesoamerican Ant Clade
Authors: Ward Philip S , Branstetter Michael G
Published: January 2022

Using genetic, morphological, and geographical evidence, we investigate the species-level taxonomy and evolutionary history of the Pseudomyrmex elongatulus group, a clade of ants distributed from southwestern United States to Costa Rica. Through targeted enrichment of 2,524 UCE (ultraconserved element) loci we generate a phylogenomic data set and clarify the phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of these ants. The crown group is estimated to have originated ~8 Ma, in Mexico and/or northern Central America, and subsequently expanded into southern Central America and the southwestern Nearctic. The P. elongatulus group contains a mix of low- and high-elevation species, and there were apparently multiple transitions between these habitat types. We uncover three examples of one species—of restricted or marginal geographical distribution—being embedded phylogenetically in another species, rendering the latter paraphyletic. One of these cases involves an apparent workerless social parasite that occurs sympatrically with its parent species, with the latter serving as host. This suggests a sympatric origin of the parasite species within the distribution range of its host. Species boundaries are tested using three molecular delimitation approaches (SODA, bPTP, BPP) but these methods generate inflated species estimates (26–46 species), evidently because of a failure to distinguish population structure from species differences. In a formal taxonomic revision of the P. elongatulus group, based on almost 3,000 specimens from ~625 localities, we allow for geographic variation within species and we employ distinctness-in-sympatry criteria for testing hypotheses about species limits. Under these guidelines we recognize 13 species, of which nine are new: P. arcanus, sp. nov. (western Mexico); P. capillatus, sp. nov. (western Mexico); P. cognatus, sp. nov. (Chiapas, Mexico to Nicaragua); P. comitator, sp. nov. (Chiapas, Mexico); P. ereptor, sp. nov. (Veracruz, Mexico); P. exoratus, sp. nov. (southeastern Mexico, Honduras); P. fasciatus, sp. nov. (Chiapas, Mexico to Costa Rica); P. nimbus, sp. nov. (Costa Rica); and P. veracruzensis, sp. nov. (Veracruz, Mexico). Our study highlights the value of combining phylogenomic, phenotypic, and geographical data to resolve taxonomic and evolutionary questions.
Phylogenomic Delimitation of Morphologically Cryptic Species in Globetrotting Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Species Complexes
Authors: Williams Jason L , Zhang Y Miles , LaPolla John S , Schultz Ted R , Lucky Andrea
Published: January 2022

The ant genus Nylanderia Emery has a cosmopolitan distribution and includes 150 extant described species and subspecies, with potentially hundreds more undescribed. Global taxonomic revision has long been stalled by strong intra- and interspecific morphological variation, limited numbers of diagnostic characters, and dependence on infrequently collected male specimens for species description and identification. Taxonomy is further complicated by Nylanderia being one of the most frequently intercepted ant genera at ports of entry worldwide, and at least 15 globetrotting species have widespread and expanding ranges, making species-level diagnoses difficult. Three species complexes (‘bourbonica complex’, ‘fulva complex’, and ‘guatemalensis complex’) include globetrotting species. To elucidate the phylogenetic positions of these three complexes and delimit species boundaries within each, we used target enrichment of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) from 165 specimens representing 98 Nylanderia morphospecies worldwide. We also phased the UCEs, effectively doubling sample size and increasing population-level sampling. After recovering strong support for the monophyly of each complex, we extracted COI barcodes and SNPs from the UCE data and tested within-complex morphospecies hypotheses using three molecular delimitation methods (SODA, bPTP, and STACEY). This comparison revealed that most methods tended to over-split taxa, but results from STACEY were most consistent with our morphospecies hypotheses. Using these results, we recommend species boundaries that are conservative and most congruent across all methods. This work emphasizes the importance of integrative taxonomy for invasive species management, as globetrotting occurs independently across at least nine different lineages across Nylanderia.
The Last Piece of the Puzzle? Phylogenetic Position and Natural History of the Monotypic Fungus-Farming Ant GenusParamycetophylax(Formicidae: Attini)
Authors: Hanisch Priscila Elena , Sosa-Calvo Jeffrey , Schultz Ted R
Published: January 2022

The evolutionary history of fungus-farming ants has been the subject of multiple morphological, molecular phylogenetic, and phylogenomic studies. Due to its rarity, however, the phylogenetic position, natural history, and fungal associations of the monotypic genus Paramycetophylax Kusnezov have remained enigmatic. Here we report the first excavations of colonies of Paramycetophylax bruchi (Santschi) and describe its nest architecture and natural history. Utilizing specimens from these collections, we generated ultraconserved-element (UCE) data to determine the evolutionary position of Paramycetophylax within the fungus-farming ants and ribosomal ‘fungal barcoding’ ITS sequence data to identify the fungal cultivar. A maximum-likelihood phylogenomic analysis indicates that the genus Paramycetophylax is the sister group of the yeast-cultivating Cyphomyrmex rimosus group, an unexpected result that renders the genus Cyphomyrmex Mayr paraphyletic. A Bayesian divergence-dating analysis indicates that Paramycetophylax diverged from its sister group around 36 mya (30–42 mya, HPD) in the late Eocene-early Oligocene, a period of global cooling, expansion of grasslands, and large-scale extinction of tropical organisms. Bayesian analysis of the fungal cultivar ITS gene fragment indicates that P. bruchi practices lower agriculture and that the cultivar grown by P. bruchi belongs to the Clade 1 group of lower-attine fungi, a clade that, interestingly, also includes the C. rimosus-group yeast cultivars. Based on these results, we conclude that a better understanding of P. bruchi and its fungal cultivar, including whole-genome data, is critical for reconstructing the origin of yeast agriculture, a major transition in the evolution of fungus-farming ants.
Guilty Pleasures Revisited
Authors: Reid Melinda
Published: January 2022

In 2007, Song-Ming Ang initiated Guilty Pleasures, a series of listening parties dedicated to sharing beloved “bad songs” and facilitating critical discussions about complex desires and hierarchies of taste. In this article, I extend on these discussions and offer a theory of guilty pleasures. Informed by queer and critical approaches to affect and minor aesthetic categories, I argue that guilty pleasures are characterized not by a specific medium or style, but rather by their ability to evoke pleasure interrupted by a meta-response of guilt. This experience is activated by the outmoded, saccharine, or naff qualities of an object. I contrast guilty pleasures with good-bad art, painful art, and objects that foster akrasia, and provide an extended examination of naff, another minor aesthetic category with roots in Polari (a once-secret queer dialect) that intersects aspects of camp, heteronormativity, and Lauren Berlant’s notion of “cruel optimism.” I ultimately argue that guilty pleasures are far from a simplistic category of low art enjoyed with indifference. Instead, I perceive guilty pleasures as always enjoyed with a degree of criticality or skepticism that is tethered to the beholder’s taste, life experiences, and values.
Directional mutation and crossover for immature performance of whale algorithm with application to engineering optimization
Authors: Qi Ailiang , Zhao Dong , Yu Fanhua , Heidari Ali Asghar , Chen Huiling , Xiao Lei
Published: January 2022

In recent years, a range of novel and pseudonovel optimization algorithms has been proposed for solving engineering problems. Swarm intelligence optimization algorithms (SIAs) have become popular methods, and the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) is one of the highly discussed SIAs. However, regardless of novelty concerns about this method, the basic WOA is a weak method compared to top differential evolutions and particle swarm variants, and it suffers from the problem of poor initial population quality and slow convergence speed. Accordingly, in this paper, to increase the diversity of WOA versions and enhance the performance of WOA, a new WOA variant, named LXMWOA, is proposed, and based on the Lévy initialization strategy, the directional crossover mechanism, and the directional mutation mechanism. Specifically, the introduction of the Lévy initialization strategy allows initial populations to be dynamically distributed in the search space and enhances the global search capability of the WOA. Meanwhile, the directional crossover mechanism and the directional mutation mechanism can improve the local exploitation capability of the WOA. To evaluate its performance, using a series of functions and three models of engineering optimization problems, the LXMWOA was compared with a broad array of competitive optimizers. The experimental results demonstrate that the LXMWOA is significantly superior to its exploration and exploitation capability peers. Therefore, the proposed LXMWOA has great potential to be used for solving engineering problems.
PBIL for optimizing inception module in convolutional neural networks
Authors: García-Victoria Pedro , Gutiérrez-Naranjo Miguel A , Cárdenas-Montes Miguel , Vasco-Carofilis Roberto A
Published: January 2022

Inception module is one of the most used variants in convolutional neural networks. It has a large portfolio of success cases in computer vision. In the past years, diverse inception flavours, differing in the number of branches, the size and the number of the kernels, have appeared in the scientific literature. They are proposed based on the expertise of the practitioners without any optimization process. In this work, an implementation of population-based incremental learning is proposed for automatic optimization of the hyperparameters of the inception module. This hyperparameters optimization undertakes classification of the MNIST database of handwritten digit images. This problem is widely used as a benchmark in classification, and therefore, the learned best configurations for the Inception module will be of wide use in the deep learning community. In order to reduce the carbon footprint of the optimization process, policies for reducing the redundant evaluations have been undertaken. As a consequence of this work, an evaluation of configurations of the inception module and a mechanism for optimizing hyperparameters in deep learning architectures are stated.
A hybrid genetic algorithm, list-based simulated annealing algorithm, and different heuristic algorithms for the travelling salesman problem
Authors: Ilin Vladimir , Simić Dragan , Simić Svetislav D , Simić Svetlana , Saulić Nenad , Calvo-Rolle José Luis
Published: January 2022

The travelling salesman problem (TSP) belongs to the class of NP-hard problems, in which an optimal solution to the problem cannot be obtained within a reasonable computational time for large-sized problems. To address TSP, we propose a hybrid algorithm, called GA-TCTIA-LBSA, in which a genetic algorithm (GA), tour construction and tour improvement algorithms (TCTIAs) and a list-based simulated annealing (LBSA) algorithm are used. The TCTIAs are introduced to generate a first population, and after that, a search is continued with the GA. The problem of premature convergence of the GA to local optimum is tackled by a method called social disaster technique. Afterwards, the LBSA is applied to generate a new population based on one of two proposed operators called packing and judgement day. The proposed algorithm is implemented in the MATLAB environment, and its two variants, called GA-TCTIA-LBSA packing and GA-TCTIA-LBSA judgement day, are tested on symmetric and asymmetric instances from TSPLIB. The overall results demonstrate that the proposed GA-TCTIA-LBSAs offer promising results, particularly for small-sized instances.
When speed matters: a discussion on the benefits of a grace period in patent law to accelerate pharmaceutical innovation in times of pandemic
Authors: Ozyhar Tomasz , Barnabei Laura , Myrick Dorkina
Published: January 2022

The unprecedented coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a solemn reminder of the need to accelerate pharmaceutical innovation. The desire for fast access to vaccines triggered discussion of unrestricted access to research findings with the hope of facilitating the drug discovery process to combat COVID-19. Increasingly, abolition of the patent system is being discussed in connection with the fight against the pandemic. This may accelerate discovery of and increase access to medicines. However, society's desire for immediate disclosure of research findings conflicts with the inventor's legitimate interest to protect his or her invention as well as the need to recover investments made to develop the drug. The call for immediate disclosure of research results contradicts the interest of the inventor, whose primary goal is to secure his intellectual property rights, usually by applying for patent protection. In Europe, where patent law is based on the principle of absolute novelty, disclosure of the results reduces novelty and prevents subsequent patenting. Consequently, patenting remains the top priority for pharmaceutical companies in Europe, while disclosure of the results is secondary. The following article looks critically at the idea of using the grace period in European patent law to reconcile the conflicting interests of society and inventors in times of pandemic. In this paper, we investigate whether the implementation of a grace period in European patent law like that known in the USA, Japan, or Korea benefits the disclosure of results and increases the flow of information, ultimately leading to the promotion of innovation and rapid drug discovery. This article questions whether the use of a grace period provides a sufficient incentive to the inventor for rapid disclosure.
Using camera traps to estimate density of snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus): a keystone boreal forest herbivore
Authors: Jensen Paul O , Wirsing Aaron J , Thornton Daniel H
Published: January 2022

Boreal ecosystems are experiencing extensive changes because of anthropogenic stressors such as climate change. Information on density of species at multiple sites is vital to understand and manage the impact of these changing conditions on boreal forest communities. Yet, for most boreal forest species, including the vast majority of mammals, obtaining reliable estimates of density is exceedingly difficult. Recently developed methods for the estimation of densities of unmarked animals from camera-trapping data could help to overcome this hurdle, but have not yet been empirically validated in many ecosystems. Here, we assess the ability of camera traps to estimate density of snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) using three different models: the random encounter model (REM), the random encounter and staying time (REST) model, and the time-to-event (TTE) model. We additionally evaluate the relationship between hare density and two simple indices based on camera detection rate and pellet counts. Across 13 sites in North Central Washington, United States, we compared live-trapping spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) estimates of density to the three camera-based density models and the two indices. We found that the camera-based models, in particular the REM and REST models, performed well in estimating densities consistent with the live-trapping data, with an average difference in density from SECR-based estimates of only 0.12 and 0.13 hares/ha, respectively. Both indices also had strong predictive relationships with hare density. Our results show that, owing to their noninvasive nature and relative ease of application, camera-based methods could be used to obtain hare density estimates at much larger spatiotemporal scales than have been applied to date. Given the keystone role of hare in boreal ecosystems, and emerging evidence of hare range retraction, the ability to estimate densities across many sites is a key tool for hare conservation and management. Moreover, our results are highly encouraging for the application of camera-based methods to obtain density estimates on a wide variety of boreal forest species, though additional validation will be necessary.
Individual Agency in Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Implementation of Policy Reforms: The Role of Their Policy Evaluation and Self-efficacy
Authors: Winter Søren C , Mikkelsen Maria Falk , Skov Peter Rohde
Published: January 2022

This paper develops and tests a parsimonious micro-theory of street-level bureaucrats’ individual implementation behavior. By systemizing and synthesizing theoretical insights from Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior, from Bandura’s theory of perceived self-efficacy, and from implementation literature, we claim that street-level bureaucrats’ policy implementation behavior is a function of their individual evaluation of the efficacy of the policy and of their own ability to implement the policy measures in terms of their perceived self-efficacy. We test our theory on a panel data set capturing teachers’ implementation of the wide-scale Danish public school reform of 2014. We use administrative data and a five-wave panel survey (2014–18) of 2,055 teachers in approx. 200 schools as well as their school leaders. Our results confirm the importance of teachers’ perceived policy efficacy and of their perceived self-efficacy for their implementation behavior. When, as shown in this study, street-level bureaucrats’ individual evaluations of a policy and their own perceived abilities shape their implementation behaviors, street-level bureaucrats become even more important individual policymakers than depicted in most research on street-level bureaucrats that mainly focuses on structural determinants of their behaviors rather than individual factors.
Non-Intrusive Questions as a Special Type of Non-Canonical Questions
Authors: Farkas Donka F
Published: January 2022

This paper introduces on the scene a new type of non-canonical question, dubbed non-intrusive, exemplified by interrogatives marked by the particle oare in Romanian. It does so by providing an account of the distribution and interpretation of this particle using an updated version of the context components in Fălăuş & Laca (2014), and an elaboration of the general assumptions in Faller (2002). The intuition the account captures is that by marking an interrogative with oare, the speaker signals that she does not assume that the issue she raises will be resolved in a future state of the conversation. It is further argued that non-intrusive questions are empirically close to but not identical with conjectural questions, discussed most recently in Eckardt (2018), and therefore have to be recognized as a separate category. The predictions and theoretical implications of the account are discussed relative to a general typology of canonical and non-canonical questions.
Refugee Community-Based Organizations: Resources, Power, and Dependency
Authors: Nungsari Melati , Chuah Hui Yin
Published: January 2022

In developing countries with limited resources available for aid distribution, community-based organizations have been pivotal in providing emergency relief to marginalized groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent lockdown(s). Using the theory of power–dependence relations and resource dependency theory, this paper explores the realities of refugee-led community-based organizations (RLOs) in Malaysia and their relationships with internal and external agents. Utilizing qualitative data from 38 leaders and followers, we conducted a thematic analysis to understand the experiences of RLOs since March 2020, finding that during the pandemic: (1) a significant burden fell on a few leaders to distribute aid from external parties; (2) leaders and followers experienced the pandemic very differently; and (3) leaders became disseminators of public health information. Given the power structures, dependencies and findings identified in this paper, we propose a more cohesive aid distribution strategy for different actors to engage with RLOs, allowing them to maximize the reach of disbursed funds.
Situs inversus: an interesting case of spontaneous splenic rupture
Authors: Dastouri Darius , McSweeney William , Sivananthan Suntharalingam
Published: January 2022

Situs inversus is described as exact mirroring of the normal anatomical arrangement of the major visceral organs. Polysplenia is a congenital anomaly associated with situs inversus and causes various splenic abnormalities. This case discusses a 62-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with hypotension and abdominal pain. Commuted tomography reveals situs inversus and a lobulated mass in the right upper quadrant consistent with a splenic rupture intraoperatively. This is the first reported case of a spontaneous splenic rupture in a patient with situs inversus. This case highlights the rarity of splenic injuries in situs inversus and the unique anatomical challenges that surgeons are faced with intraoperatively in a high-pressure environment.
Trichoblastic fibroma mimicking sarcoma
Authors: Hotak Mirwais Khan , He Mike
Published: January 2022

Trichoblastic fibroma (TF) is a benign trichogenic tumour that has both epithelial and mesenchymal components and exhibits partial to complete follicular induction.TF is rare and in our case it is mimicking sarcoma. We report a 35-year-old gentleman who presented with a lump over his left lower leg for the last 15 years. The lump was gradually increasing in size with a slight discomfort, no pain or any other symptoms. Consequently, the patient had an ultrasound which revealed bilobed solid lesion, and ultrasound-guided core biopsy revealed basaloid neoplasm. After positron emission tomography scan and discussion in MDT wide local excision performed. The histopathology revealed TF. Hence, TF should be included in differential diagnosis of relative superficial suspicious sarcomas. If there is any suspicion and changes in behaviour of long-term stable nodules they should be excised with a clear margin as there are aggressive TF reported in the literature.
Using social media listening and data mining to understand travellers’ perspectives on travel disease risks and vaccine-related attitudes and behaviours
Authors: Bravo Catherine , Castells Valérie Bosch , Zietek-Gutsch Susann , Bodin Pierre-Antoine , Molony Cliona , Frühwein Markus
Published: January 2022

Background

Travellers can access online information to research and plan their expeditions/excursions, and seek travel-related health information. We explored German travellers’ attitude and behaviour toward vaccination, and their travel-related health information seeking activities.

Methods

We used two approaches: web ‘scraping’ of comments on German travel-related sites and an online survey. ‘Scraping’ of travel-related sites was undertaken using keywords/synonyms to identify vaccine- and disease-related posts. The raw unstructured text extracted from online comments was converted to a structured dataset using Natural Language Processing Techniques. Traveller personas were defined using K-means based on the online survey results, with cluster (i.e. persona) descriptions made from the most discriminant features in a distinguished set of observations. The web-scraped profiles were mapped to the personas identified. Travel and vaccine-related behaviours were described for each persona.

Results

We identified ~2.6 million comments; ~880 k were unique and mentioned ~280 k unique trips by ~65 k unique profiles. Most comments were on destinations in Europe (37%), Africa (21%), Southeast Asia (12%) and the Middle East (11%). Eight personas were identified: ‘middle-class family woman’, ‘young woman travelling with partner’, ‘female globe-trotter’, ‘upper-class active man’, ‘single male traveller’, ‘retired traveller’, ‘young backpacker’, and ‘visiting friends and relatives’. Purpose of travel was leisure in 82–94% of profiles, except the ‘visiting friends and relatives’ persona. Malaria and rabies were the most commented diseases with 12.7 k and 6.6 k comments, respectively. The ‘middle-class family woman’ and the ‘upper-class active man’ personas were the most active in online conversations regarding endemic disease and vaccine-related topics, representing 40% and 19% of comments, respectively. Vaccination rates were 54%–71% across the traveller personas in the online survey. Reasons for vaccination reluctance included perception of low risk to disease exposure (21%), price (14%), fear of side effects (12%) and number of vaccines (11%).

Conclusions

The information collated on German traveller personas and behaviours toward vaccinations should help guide counselling by healthcare professionals.
Rethreading the Fabric of Mystery: Thinking Myth, Counter-Myth, and Christian Theology With Hortense Spillers
Authors: Watson Ed
Published: January 2022

Hortense Spillers asserts the imperative for black writers to reconfigure the languages they inherit. One way of doing so is to craft counter-myths against dominative mythologies. Spillers casts myth as an integration of form and concept which overdetermines the significance of what it is used to talk about. One crucial effect of America’s racialising mythos has been to deny black women the ability to determine that significance. She then describes how this mythos is crafted through a double wounding that creates at least two ‘interstices’—first between home and market, then between blackness and humanity—which are covered up by mythological terms. Finally, Spillers shows how counter-mythologies can be crafted by speaking from within these interstices to reconfigure the conditions of possibility governing meaningful speech, taking the 19th- century African-American preaching tradition as her example. The article concludes by reflecting on what it might mean to practice Christian theology as counter-mythology in light of Spillers’ work through a reading of Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker.
Comprehensive Species Sampling and Sophisticated Algorithmic Approaches Refute the Monophyly of Arachnida
Authors: Ballesteros Jesús A , Santibáñez-López Carlos E , Baker Caitlin M , Benavides Ligia R , Cunha Tauana J , Gainett Guilherme , Ontano Andrew Z , Setton Emily V W , Arango Claudia P , Gavish-Regev Efrat , Harvey Mark S , Wheeler Ward C , Hormiga Gustavo , Giribet Gonzalo , Sharma Prashant P
Published: January 2022

Deciphering the evolutionary relationships of Chelicerata (arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and allied taxa) has proven notoriously difficult, due to their ancient rapid radiation and the incidence of elevated evolutionary rates in several lineages. Although conflicting hypotheses prevail in morphological and molecular data sets alike, the monophyly of Arachnida is nearly universally accepted, despite historical lack of support in molecular data sets. Some phylotranscriptomic analyses have recovered arachnid monophyly, but these did not sample all living orders, whereas analyses including all orders have failed to recover Arachnida. To understand this conflict, we assembled a data set of 506 high-quality genomes and transcriptomes, sampling all living orders of Chelicerata with high occupancy and rigorous approaches to orthology inference. Our analyses consistently recovered the nested placement of horseshoe crabs within a paraphyletic Arachnida. This result was insensitive to variation in evolutionary rates of genes, complexity of the substitution models, and alternative algorithmic approaches to species tree inference. Investigation of sources of systematic bias showed that genes and sites that recover arachnid monophyly are enriched in noise and exhibit low information content. To test the impact of morphological data, we generated a 514-taxon morphological data matrix of extant and fossil Chelicerata, analyzed in tandem with the molecular matrix. Combined analyses recovered the clade Merostomata (the marine orders Xiphosura, Eurypterida, and Chasmataspidida), but merostomates appeared nested within Arachnida. Our results suggest that morphological convergence resulting from adaptations to life in terrestrial habitats has driven the historical perception of arachnid monophyly, paralleling the history of numerous other invertebrate terrestrial groups.
Mazama rufina(Artiodactyla: Cervidae)
Authors: Jasper Jonathan G , Lee Thomas E , Zabel Carson J , Twohy Chelsea L , Lane Kristina K , Robertson Coral S
Published: January 2022

Mazama rufina (Pucheran, 1851) is a small endemic cervid of the Andes of northern South America, commonly called the dwarf red brocket or little red brocket. It stands about 45 cm tall at the shoulder, has a red coloring on the body, with darker brown to black on the face and legs. Mazama rufina is one of eight species in the genus Mazama. It is generally found in the Andes mountain range that spans parts of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela inhabiting the páramo and remaining patches of forest. It is currently considered “Vulnerable” (VU) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, mostly due to habitat destruction from encroaching human populations.
Transcriptome and methylome analysis of CNS germ cell tumor finds its cell-of-origin in embryogenesis and reveals shared similarities with testicular counterparts
Authors: Takami Hirokazu , Elzawahry Asmaa , Mamatjan Yasin , Fukushima Shintaro , Fukuoka Kohei , Suzuki Tomonari , Yanagisawa Takaaki , Matsushita Yuko , Nakamura Taishi , Satomi Kaishi , Tanaka Shota , Mukasa Akitake , Saito Nobuhito , Kanamori Masayuki , Kumabe Toshihiro , Tominaga Teiji , Kobayashi Keiichi , Nagane Motoo , Iuchi Toshihiko , Tamura Kaoru , Maehara Taketoshi , Sugiyama Kazuhiko , Yoshimoto Koji , Sakai Keiichi , Nonaka Masahiro , Asai Akio , Yokogami Kiyotaka , Takeshima Hideo , Narita Yoshitaka , Shibui Soichiro , Nakazato Yoichi , Hama Natsuko , Totoki Yasushi , Kato Mamoru , Shibata Tatsuhiro , Nishikawa Ryo , Matsutani Masao , Ichimura Koichi
Published: January 2022

Background

CNS germ cell tumors (GCTs) predominantly develop in pediatric and young adult patients with variable responses to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. This study aimed to examine the complex and largely unknown pathogenesis of CNS GCTs.

Methods

We used a combined transcriptomic and methylomic approach in 84 cases and conducted an integrative analysis of the normal cells undergoing embryogenesis and testicular GCTs.

Results

Genome-wide transcriptome analysis in CNS GCTs indicated that germinoma had a transcriptomic profile representative of primitive cells during early embryogenesis with high meiosis/mitosis potentials, while nongerminomatous GCTs (NGGCTs) had differentiated phenotypes oriented toward tissue formation and organogenesis. Co-analysis with the transcriptome of human embryonic cells revealed that germinomas had expression profiles similar to those of primordial germ cells, while the expression profiles of NGGCTs were similar to those of embryonic stem cells. Some germinoma cases were characterized by extensive immune-cell infiltration and high expression of cancer-testis antigens. NGGCTs had significantly higher immune-cell infiltration, characterized by immune-suppression phenotype. CNS and testicular GCTs (TGCTs) had similar mutational profiles; TGCTs showed enhanced copy number alterations. Methylation analysis clustered germinoma/seminoma and nongerminoma/nonseminoma separately. Germinoma and seminoma were co-categorized based on the degree of the tumor microenvironment balance.

Conclusions

These results suggested that the pathophysiology of GCTs was less dependent on their site of origin and more dependent on the state of differentiation as well as on the tumor microenvironment balance. This study revealed distinct biological properties of GCTs, which will hopefully lead to future treatment development.
When the virus hits suddenly: COVID-19 mimicking a subarachnoid haemorrhage—a case report and concise review of the literature
Authors: Pretorius Martha , Weichert Immo
Published: January 2022

We report a clinical case, where COVID-19 presented with a thunderclap headache and collapse, but no fever or respiratory symptoms on initial presentation. The patient was worked up for a possible spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), but had a normal CT brain and normal lumbar puncture and then very rapidly deteriorated with worsening respiratory failure and COVID-19 pneumonitis. We discuss the current evidence of neurological involvement by SARS-COV-2 and the proposed pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these presentations.
Gynaecological cylindroma in association with CYLD gene mutation
Authors: Khoury Emma , Godfrey Michelle , Yeoh Chit Cheng
Published: January 2022

Cylindroma is a benign adnexal tumour that occurs as a solitary pink–red coloured nodule and is usually found on the scalp or neck. There have been few cases reported of these lesions being found on the genitalia. They can be found in single or in multiple form, with the latter usually inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. CYLD lysine 63 deubiquitinase (CYLD) cutaneous syndrome, also known as Brooke-Spiegler syndrome, is a genetic condition characterized by the growth of multiple benign adnexal skin tumours. The most common tumours are cylindromas, spiradenomas and trichoepitheliomas. The cause of this syndrome can be attributed to mutations in the CYLD tumour suppressor gene. If both copies of this gene are mutated, the cell undergoes uncontrolled cell proliferation and division resulting in the formation of a tumour. Here, we present an unusual case of a female patient presenting with a large cylindroma over the mons pubis.
Acute abdomen revealed Streptococcus gordonii infective endocarditis with systemic embolism
Authors: Chang Chee Yik , Gan Yi Lung , Radhakrishnan Anuradha P , Ong Edmund L C
Published: January 2022

Infective endocarditis can result in potentially fatal complications such as heart failure, systemic embolization, mycotic aneurysm and neurological complications. Staphylococci and streptococci are the most common causative agents of infective endocarditis, with Streptococcus gordonii being a rare cause. We present a case of infective endocarditis in a young patient who presented with an acute abdomen 2 months after being diagnosed with cerebrovascular accident. An abdominal computed tomography revealed superior mesenteric artery thrombosis, and infarct in the right kidney and spleen as a result of systemic septic embolism. Echocardiography showed numerous vegetations at the aortic and mitral valves. Infective endocarditis was diagnosed based on echocardiographic findings and positive blood cultures for S. gordonii. He was treated with intravenous benzylpenicillin and was also referred for surgical intervention.
Up, Down, and Sideways
Authors: Renda Andrea
Published: January 2022

Nowhere else but in the EU has multilevel governance has shown its complexity and its possible variations. The chapter explores various strategies followed by EU institutions and member states to fine-tune the allocation of competences, while at the same time reflecting the balance of political powers and the need to increasingly involve stakeholders in open governance arrangements. This leads to a richer overall framework compared to the traditional binary model, which focused on whether to centralize or decentralize regulatory functions between the EU, national, and subnational levels. The involvement of nonstate actors, the introduction of conditionalities, and the rise of agencies in many policy areas further complicate the picture. And upcoming initiatives such as Agenda 2030 and mission innovation promise to bring new elements to this evolving mosaic. The chapter calls for a sharper definition of subsidiarity and proportionality, as well as a greater role of experimentation in the quest for optimal multilevel governance schemes.
Market Access, Harmonization, and Governance in Network Industries
Authors: de Almeida Lucila
Published: January 2022

Opening markets in network industries to competition is challenging. This chapter compares how such challenges have been addressed by the two most remarkable trade liberalization regimes—the internal market project of the European Union (EU) and the trade agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The chapter proposes a threefold framework to narrate the evolution of the EU and the WTO since their foundations—namely, the animating principles underlying the rules of market access, the procedural rules for enforcement, and the harmonization alternative. The results reveal that the different approaches to promoting market access and competition in the network industry find justification in the differences in institutional capabilities. These differences have enabled the EU to adjust its economic governance across time better than the WTO.
Interpreting the History of a Region in Crisis
Authors: Holden Robert H.
Published: January 2022

As Latin America’s most well-defined multinational region, Central America stands apart primarily for its distinctive status as an isthmus between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, surely its most historically consequential feature, but not its only one. Ever since its separation from the Spanish monarchy two centuries ago, Central America’s fraught political history has been marked by antagonistic tendencies within the region both for and against unification, by successive national and regional movements in favor of reform, revolution and counter-revolution, and by the intervention of external powers, particularly the United States. As a result, a persistent pattern of violence, instability and lawlessness has also distinguished its political history, as its economy continues to rank among the poorest of Latin America. This introductory essay interprets the region’s largely unsought separation from Spain (a process that spanned the years 1808 to 1821) as the hinge event of the last 500 years, having launched what the author calls Central America’s ongoing, two-century “crisis of order.” The cross-regional and country-level essays that follow this introduction reach back to the period before the Spanish conquest and proceed to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Each chapter aims to both synthesize and evaluate the main directions of the historiography related to its particular theme. The overall purpose of the volume is to highlight both Central America’s distinctiveness as a region and the attributes it shares with the rest of Latin America, while encouraging the comparative study of national, cross-national, and subnational historical experiences both within Central America, and between it and other places within and beyond Latin America.
Dissident Feminism and Its Place in Soviet Women’s History
Authors: Mitrofanova Alla
Published: January 2022

In the second half of the twentieth century a retreat from the radicalism of early Soviet decrees changed women’s epistemological, as well as civil, status in the USSR. Still-prevailing gender stereotypes and the patriarchal form of life, enhanced by the conservative turn of the 1930s, the purges, and the war presented problems for politics and women’s everyday life. However, during the Thaw of the 1960s, women writers shaped in the 1920s became mouthpieces for a time with unmatched social and cultural experience overcoming a patriarchal canon and reinventing writing. The next generation of feminists was largely raised on their writing. When they ran up against ideological censorship and renewed political repression after 1968, feminists become dissidents. The almanac Zhenshchina i Rossiia (Woman and Russia) was published in 1979 and taken by the ruling ideology to be a dangerous political demonstration that undermined a significant socialist priority—gender equality. As a result, the almanac’s founders and editors were pushed to emigrate.
Social Systems and the Indigenous Lifeworld
Authors: Henry Robert
Published: January 2022

Much of the research on Indigenous Peoples engaged in street lifestyles focuses on pathologized and deficit approaches. Such approaches ignore how individuals make specific and innovative decisions to help them survive. To challenge this approach, this chapter focuses on Gerald Vizenor’s concept of survivance as an applied theory to reread Indigenous street spaces. The chapter shows how survivance is an ever-active presence that challenges settler colonialism, where Indigenous Peoples continuously negotiate strategies of survival and resistance to their erasure. Specific actions of taking up space, which at specific times and in specific contexts may be read as violent or destructive, are ways to resurge and remake their lives in violent urban colonial spaces challenging settler colonialism. This chapter focuses on a life history narrative to show how survivance needs to be taken up within sociology as an applied theory to better understand the ways in which Indigenous Peoples engaged in street lifestyles engage in acts of survivance to survive, resist, and resurge their lives.
India and Pakistan
Authors: Ganguly Šumit
Published: January 2022

Despite multilateral, bilateral, and even unilateral attempts at peacemaking, the India-Pakistan rivalry has persisted since their emergence as independent states following the collapse of the British Indian Empire in 1947. Focused on the territorial dispute over the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the underlying causes of discord can be traced to divergent conceptions of nation-building in South Asia. Though the elemental reasons for the conflict have long been surpassed neither side has evinced any interest in making substantive concessions that could led to a termination of this rivalry. Exogenous or endogenous shocks or growing material disparities between the two states as opposed to a negotiated peace may bring an end to this enduring rivalry as Pakistan’s continued intransigence toward India may simply cease to matter.
Music Theory YouTube
Authors: Grasso Julianne , Arnold Cory
Published: January 2022

This chapter discusses the landscape of music theory content on YouTube, or “MTYT.” The authors summarize the development of the MTYT community in relation to similar genres of educational videos as part of YouTube’s history as an online video platform. Focusing on music theory content creators, this chapter provides an overview of how creators have used the platform to produce and distribute increasingly varied genres of content, classified here as Utilitarian, Expositional, Analytical, Explorational, Narrative, and Participatory content. These categories all serve a goal of music theory democratization—that is, making music theory content accessible to anyone with an internet connection. The authors use their own perspectives—Grasso is a university instructor of music theory and Arnold is a prominent MTYT creator—to consider some of the implications of YouTube’s promise of free and accessible knowledge, particularly in contrast to traditional academic music theory.
Phytoplankton cell geometric shapes along Mediterranean seasonal environmental variability in natural and artificial lakes
Authors: Pulina Silvia , Stanca Elena , Luglié Antonella , Satta Cecilia Teodora , Padedda Bachisio Mario
Published: January 2022

In this work, we grouped phytoplankton species according to their cell geometric shape for the first time in lake ecosystems. Field multiannual data were analyzed in order to understand the phytoplankton cell geometric shape distribution along the seasonal environmental variability in two Mediterranean lakes, a shallow natural lake and a deeper artificial lake. We characterized seasonally each lake on the basis of dominant phytoplankton cell geometric shapes, detecting the following common highlights comparing the two ecosystems: a complex and globular geometric shape (Cone + Half Sphere) with high mean volume and low mean surface-to-volume ratio in winter (at the deepest mixing layer); a variety of geometric shapes in spring (at the lowest nutrient concentrations), with a relevant contribution of simple and compact geometric shapes (Sphere and Cube) with low mean volume and high mean surface-to-volume ratio; a simple and elongated geometric shape (Cylinder) in summer (at thermal stratification conditions); a variety of geometric shapes in autumn (at intermediate environmental conditions), when the geometric shapes detected were at similar size.

We provide new insights on how phytoplankton cell geometric shapes with similar and different sizes relate to the seasonal environmental variations in lake ecosystems, a topic relatively neglected in literature.