bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Modified Differentiation Protocol In Vitro to Generate Dopaminergic Neurons from Pluripotent Stem Cells
Authors: Zhang Nianping , Zhang Xudong , Yan Zhaoli , Li Ronghui , Xue Song , Long Dahong
Published: February 2024

Cell transplantation is considered a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Because of their strong differentiation potential, pluripotent stem cells may become a source of dopaminergic neurons for cell transplantation. Although published protocols
have revealed that pluripotent stem cells can be successfully induced into dopaminergic neurons, unwanted cell types still exist in PSC-derived cultures. Therefore, signaling parameters for dopaminergic neuron patterning in differentiation protocols need to be further identified and optimized.
In this study, we explored an In Vitro modified differentiation protocol for efficiently inducing dopaminergic neurons from pluripotent stem cells. Briefly, pluripotent stem cells were incubated in N2B27 medium for a 4-day culture, and then bFGF, SHH-C24II, purmorphamine, FGF8a and
laminin were added to the medium. After a 6-day culture, the medium was replaced with N2B27 medium containing L-ascorbic acid, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, cyclic adenosine monophosphate, laminin, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor for an additional 10 days. We confirmed
that combined treatment with bFGF, SHH-C24II, purmorphamine, FGF8a and laminin significantly promoted the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into dopaminergic neurons. Additionally, we determined a reasonable time window for the use of these factors. Our study provides new insights
into the role of cell factors in dopaminergic neuron differentiation of pluripotent stem cells.
Impact of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth of Ethiopia
Authors: Dagne Girum
Published: February 2024

This study examines the impact of foreign aid on growth in Ethiopia based on time series data from 1980 to 2019. This study uses Autoregressive distributed Lag and an Error Correction to determine the long- and short-run impacts of foreign aid on growth. The empirical results show that, in the long run, foreign aid has a negative and insignificant effect on real GDP growth. However, gross domestic savings, exports, and inflation exert positive and insignificant impacts on GDP growth. Furthermore, Human capital and gross consumption expenditure exert a positive and significant impact on GDP growth, and gross capital information has a negative and significant impact on GDP growth. Thus, Ethiopia’s national development policy should focus on the productive utilisation of domestic savings to increase GDP growth rather than depend on external capital inflow, which is uncertain even when donor countries face long recessions.

JEL Codes: E1, E2, E3
Authenticity: Conceptual Analysis and Relevance in the Indian Sociocultural Context
Authors: Sharma Prachi , Deb Amrita
Published: February 2024

This article attempts to understand the concept of psychological authenticity, identifies gaps in the literature, and emphasizes its significance in the Indian context. Studies on authenticity in global and Indian contexts were reviewed for this purpose and the multifacetedness of the concept was specifically highlighted. A comparison of Indian and Western accounts of authenticity shows that Indian researchers are more prescriptive while defining the authentic self than their Western counterparts, who have provided descriptive accounts of authenticity. Sociocultural factors impact authenticity, but whether they enrich or hinder authenticity across contexts is unclear. Factors such as fear of negative evaluation or the need for belongingness are expected to impact the expression of authenticity at the behavioral level in the unique sociocultural context of India. Considering context-specific factors, the process of becoming authentic is more central to understanding authenticity than perceiving it as an end state of being. This discussion shows that authenticity as a construct is yet to be adequately explored globally, as well as in the Indian sociocultural context. Future research on authenticity holds great promise in areas related to mental health and personality.
Improvement design of blade profile on rotary wings of winder for synthetic filament: Analysis and experiment
Authors: Liu Qinglong , Li Shujia , Wang Jincan , Chen Zihang , Wang Yongxing , Shan Hongbo , Wu KeHan
Published: February 2024

The synthetic filament winder drives the filament through the traverse mechanism with rotary wings so that it can complete the transverse reciprocating motion when it is continuously wound and achieve the spiral distribution on the cylindrical package. When the existing traverse mechanism leads the filament, the filament is easy to oscillate and breaks away from the control of the rotary blade during the reversing process at both ends of the package, which directly affects its forming on the package. In this study, firstly, the filament leading process is analyzed from the filament leading principle of the traverse mechanism with rotary wings and the key points of the profile are identified. Secondly, we applied parameter constraints of key points and developed a blade profile that can not only meet the demand of filament reversing but also improve the above abnormal phenomena by curve-fitting, so that the blade can continuously and stably lead and control the filament during the reversing process. Finally, through the actual winding experiment, we contrasted the state of the filament leading process of the original blades with the improved blades, and verified the improvement effect. This study provides a design basis and optimization reference for realizing a smooth and stable relay between the filament and blades.
“I Wanna be Bad”: Black Joy and Deviant Caretaking
Authors: Almore Anna
Published: February 2024

The disciplining technologies of schooling overshadow Black women educators’ movement beyond the classroom and shape the logics of spaces meant to encourage their joy and pleasure. A group of Black teachers’ experience negotiating delight while at a strip club inspired the writing of this article. Black queer political theory and Black feminism re-territorialize this moment as both a signifier of Black educators’ erotic embodiment of Black Joy as well as their discursively produced subjectivities as careworkers within the disciplinary arm of schooling. Black Joy is a slippery concept subject to the perniciousness of antiBlack heteropatriarchal capitalism. As a result, conversations about Black Joy in education must include Black educators’ erotic embodiment to confront the traps of capitalism and assimilation that conflate Black Joy with the maintenance of the status quo. Ultimately, Black women educators can practice what I call deviant caretaking to embody new sites and practices of rebellion.
Exploring the Impact of Disabilities and Accommodation on Students’ Online Learning Experiences
Authors: Lee Othelia EunKyoung , Kim Stella Y.
Published: February 2024

This study investigates the correlation between how learners are classified in terms of disability and their perceptions of (1) the effectiveness of online instructional methods, (2) their self-efficacy levels, and (3) the accommodations they need. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, the study included 278 higher education students with disabilities who participated in an online survey, with 50 of them undergoing in-depth interviews. Using an embedded mixed methods design, the research aimed to explore participants’ experiences with online classes. Data triangulation was employed to better comprehend the adequacy of accommodations and accessibility in online learning. The findings indicate that individuals with disabilities experience diverse benefits and challenges in online learning, influenced by their specific disability classifications and social contexts in which they engage with the learning environment. Further research is necessary to gain a more profound understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by students with disabilities in the realm of online learning.
Media exposure and plastic-reducing behaviours in China: The mediating effect of environmental concern and locus of control
Authors: Li Yingying , Wang Bairong , Li Yong
Published: February 2024

The environmental problems caused by plastic pollution have increased at an astonishing speed. However, attempts to study the dynamics of plastic-reducing behaviours are few and far between. In this regard, based on the attitudinal-contextual-behavioural (ABC) theory of pro-environmental behaviours, this study conducts an online survey to analyse the functioning of media exposure on Chinese consumers’ three types of plastic bag reducing behaviours during shopping, including saving inner plastic packaging bags by putting many goods into one bag, hand-carrying and bringing reusable bags. Employing the snowball sampling method, this study successfully collected 361 valid questionnaires for analysis. The findings of this study indicate that environmental concern and locus of control play mediating roles between media exposure and plastic-reducing behaviours. However, the study finds no supporting evidence for the mediating function of plastic pollution knowledge. These results have implications for plastic crisis managers and governmental officials. In designing media content for environmental education campaigns, it is advisable to prioritize strategies that evoke emotions over a sole focus on disseminating knowledge about plastic pollution.
Mathematical Analysis of Light-sensitivity Related Challenges in Assessment of the Intrinsic Period of the Human Circadian Pacemaker
Authors: Usmani Imran M. , Dijk Derk-Jan , Skeldon Anne C.
Published: February 2024

Accurate assessment of the intrinsic period of the human circadian pacemaker is essential for a quantitative understanding of how our circadian rhythms are synchronized to exposure to natural and man-made light-dark (LD) cycles. The gold standard method for assessing intrinsic period in humans is forced desynchrony (FD) which assumes that the confounding effect of lights-on assessment of intrinsic period is removed by scheduling sleep-wake and associated dim LD cycles to periods outside the range of entrainment of the circadian pacemaker. However, the observation that the mean period of free-running blind people is longer than the mean period of sighted people assessed by FD (24.50 [Formula: see text] 0.17 h vs 24.15 [Formula: see text] 0.20 h, p [Formula: see text]0.001) appears inconsistent with this assertion. Here, we present a mathematical analysis using a simple parametric model of the circadian pacemaker with a sinusoidal velocity response curve (VRC) describing the effect of light on the speed of the oscillator. The analysis shows that the shorter period in FD may be explained by exquisite sensitivity of the human circadian pacemaker to low light intensities and a VRC with a larger advance region than delay region. The main implication of this analysis, which generates new and testable predictions, is that current quantitative models for predicting how light exposure affects entrainment of the human circadian system may not accurately capture the effect of dim light. The mathematical analysis generates new predictions which can be tested in laboratory experiments. These findings have implications for managing healthy entrainment of human circadian clocks in societies with abundant access to light sources with powerful biological effects.
Adaptive control law based integrated guidance and control design for missile with the radome error compensation
Authors: Guo Jianguo , Zhou Yinghe , Zhou Min
Published: February 2024

This paper presents an integrated guidance and control design for the homing missiles with the radome error compensation to address the guidance problems caused by radome. Firstly, a mathematics model of the integrated guidance and control system with the compensation for the radome error is built by integrating the missile dynamics and the engagement kinematics between the missile and ground target on the longitudinal motion. Secondly, the model is transformed into a normal form by nonlinear coordinate transformation because the system is a time-varying system with mismatched uncertainties. Thirdly, an adaptive control law of the system is designed by adopting the sliding mode control theory, and the stability of the closed-loop system is also conducted. Finally, the simulation proves that the proposed integrated guidance and control scheme can effectively compensate for the radome error and ensure the hit-to-kill attack to the target.
Nurses’ priority-setting for older nursing home residents during COVID-19
Authors: Eklund Saksberg My , Bielsten Therése , Cahill Suzanne , Jaarsma Tiny , Nedlund Ann-Charlotte , Sandman Lars , Jaarsma Pier
Published: February 2024

Background

Ethical principles behind prioritization in healthcare are continuously relevant. However, applying ethical principles during times of increased need, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, is challenging. Also, little is known about nursing home nurses’ prioritizations in their work to achieve well-being and health for nursing home residents.

Aim

The aim of this study was to explore nursing home nurses’ priority-setting for older nursing home residents in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research design, participants, and research context

We conducted a qualitative interview study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews (retrospective self-reports) between February and May 2021 with 21 nursing home nurses. To help respondents to recall their memories, we used the critical incident technique (CIT). We analyzed data within the theoretical framework and the methodological orientation of content analysis.

Ethical considerations

Written and verbal consent was obtained before the interviews, and information was given to participants informing them that participation was entirely voluntary. The Swedish Ethical Review Agency gave an advisory opinion stating that there were no ethical objections to the research project (Dnr. 2020-05649).

Findings

We identified an overarching theme—nursing home nurses struggling on multiple fronts, “just do it”—and seven categories: striving for survival and caring about a dignified death; responding sensitively to relatives’ expectations; ranking the urgency of needed care; responding to input from different actors; combating the spread of infection in unconventional ways; taking the lead and doing what is required; and following the ideals of person-centered nursing.

Conclusions

Nurses’ priority-setting for older nursing homes residents during the COVID-19 pandemic meant strain and struggle. In some cases, nurses had taken responsibility for priorities falling outside their statutory powers. Different demands and interests affected nurses’ priorities. Nursing home nurses need organizational and managerial support to prioritize.
Stretching oneself too thin and facing ethical challenges: Healthcare professionals’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Schaufel Margrethe Aase , Schanche Elisabeth , Onarheim Kristine Husøy , Forthun Ingeborg , Hufthammer Karl Ove , Engelund Inger Elise , Miljeteig Ingrid
Published: February 2024

Backgrounds

Most countries are facing increased pressure on healthcare resources. A better understanding of how healthcare providers respond to new demands is relevant for future pandemics and other crises.

Objectives

This study aimed to explore what nurses and doctors in Norway reported as their main ethical challenges during two periods of the COVID-19 pandemic: February 2021 and February 2022.

Research design

A longitudinal repeated cross-sectional study was conducted in the Western health region of Norway. The survey included an open-ended question about ethical challenges among doctors and nurses in hospital departments. Free-text comments were analysed using Systematic Text Condensation and also presented in a frequency table.

Ethical considerations

Ethical approval was granted by the Regional Research Ethics Committee in Western Norway (131,421). All participants provided consent when participating in the study.

Results

In 2021, 249 and in 2022, 163 healthcare professionals responded to the open-ended question. Nurses and doctors reported three main categories of ethical challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) barriers that hindered them in acting as they ethically would have wanted to do; (2) priority-setting dilemmas linked to overtreatment, transfer of resources and ranking patient needs; and (3) workload expansion threatening work–life balance and employees’ health. Category one comprised of resource barriers, regulatory barriers, system barriers, and personal barriers. Regulatory barriers, especially visitor restrictions for next-of-kin, were the most frequently reported in 2021. Resource barriers, related to the increased scarcity of qualified staff, were most frequently reported in 2022. Clinicians stretched themselves thin to avoid compromising on care, diagnostics, or treatment.

Conclusions

Developing clinicians’ ability to handle and cope with limited healthcare resources is necessary. To foster resilience and sustainability, healthcare leaders, in collaboration with their staff, should ensure fair priority-setting and initiate reflections among doctors and nurses on what it implies to provide ‘good enough’ care.
Why Do Investors Trade in Equity Derivatives? A Literature Review
Authors: Sanghvi Manisha J. , Sharma Pankaj , Chandani Arti
Published: February 2024

The derivatives market is an important asset class and has been found to positively contribute to economic development. It has sparked interest from researchers, policymakers and financial agencies. This article aims to present a literature review that explains the motive of individual investors to trade in equity derivatives. Studies from 1997 to 2023 were extracted from SCOPUS, Emerald and Web of Science using the keywords, and articles were later refined with their motive, research methodology, source of data, journal, year of publication, country-wise articles published and publication source to explore the opportunities for further research. VOS viewer has been used to visualize the author keyword and link among various keywords. This study reviews 51 articles, which were found relevant and have been segregated theme-wise. The motives of investors are categorized as ‘Hedging vs. speculation’, ‘Return vs. risk’ and ‘Gambling’. The findings of the study show that most of the studies are conducted in the USA using discount house data and most of the articles were published in the Journal of Banking and Finance. The findings of the study will be useful to the researchers, practitioners, stock exchanges and regulators by providing the current landscape of the body in this domain.
Eco-cosmology, Sustainability, and a Spirit of Resilience: An Introduction
Authors: Guzy Lidia , Skoda Uwe , Beggiora Stefano
Published: February 2024

Introduction to the Special Issue “Eco-cosmology, Sustainability, and a Spirit of Resilience.”
Between ‘the Technical’ and ‘the Social’? The Case of Farm Ponds for Supplemental Irrigation in Burkina Faso and Mali
Authors: Araya María José , Araya-Moreno Javiera , Coulibaly Yacouba M. , Savadogo T. Barthélémy
Published: February 2024

Adopting the perspective of practitioners, we analyse the case of farm ponds for supplemental irrigation built in Burkina Faso and Mali. We reflect on the ways in which climate technologies can contribute to smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change, showing that in the different processes involved in the design and implementation of farm ponds as climate technologies, the distinction between infrastructure, equipment and machinery, on the one hand, and people, societies and communities, on the other, concealed the complexity of agricultural, agro-ecological and development practices. This ultimately hindered the potentially positive impacts of the technology and confirmed what the literature has already shown: that climate technologies should be approached as solutions that, regardless of their use of a particular piece of infrastructure or equipment, are always ‘socio-technical’.
Design, theoretical modeling, and experimental analysis of a magnetorheological damper with radial damping gap
Authors: Yan Jian , Dong Longlei
Published: February 2024

In order to describe and predict the damping force of the magnetorheological damper with radial damping gap, a more accurate damping force calculation model is proposed through theoretical modeling. Firstly, according to the working environment of the heavy vehicle, a magnetorheological damper with radial damping gap is designed in a limited installation space, which has the characteristics of large damping force and tensile damping force greater than compression damping force. Secondly, based on the Bingham model for theoretical modeling, the analytical solution of the pressure drop gradient of the radial damping gap is obtained, and then a theoretical model that can more effectively reflect the mechanical characteristics of the radial damping gap is proposed. The dynamic characteristics of the designed magnetorheological damper are tested, and the experimental results verify that the designed structure has a good magnetorheological effect. When the current is 3 A, the maximum damping force of the damper exceeds 16 kN. Finally, by comparing the simulation results of the theoretical model with the experimental results, the results show that the established mathematical model can describe the experimental results well. The accuracy of the theoretical model is verified by comparing the proposed model with two commonly used models.
Predicting optimal sparse general matrix-matrix multiplication algorithm on GPUs
Authors: Wei Bingxin , Wang Yizhuo , Chang Fangli , Gao Jianhua , Ji Weixing
Published: February 2024

Sparse General Matrix-Matrix Multiplication (SpGEMM) has played an important role in a number of applications. So far, many efficient algorithms have been proposed to improve the performance of SpGEMM on GPUs. However, the performance of each algorithm for matrices of different structures varies a lot. There is no algorithm that can achieve the optimal performance of SpGEMM computation on all matrices. In this article, we design a machine learning based approach for predicting the optimal SpGEMM algorithm on input matrices. By extracting features from input matrices, we utilize LightGBM and XGBoost to train different lightweight models. The models are capable of predicting the best performing algorithm with low inference overhead and high accuracy for the given input matrices. We also investigate the impact of tree depth on model accuracy and inference overhead. Our evaluation shows that an increase in tree depth leads to a corresponding increase in prediction accuracy, reaching a maximum of approximately 85%, while resulting in increased inference overhead of approximately 10 µs. Compared with the state-of-the-art algorithms on three GPU platforms, our method achieves better overall performance.
Experimentation and the future(s) of political hope
Authors: Goldman Loren
Published: February 2024

Against pessimistic trends in social and political theory, this article argues for the indispensability of hope in conceptualizing the future. Such hope, however, does not need to be beholden to a unitary vision of the future, as with traditional metaphysical or Enlightenment notions of progress, but should instead accommodate a multiplicity of possible better worlds. Pluralizing the future links it to diverse nonsynchronous temporalities of past and present and emphasizes the roles of contingency, action and experimentation in concrete aspiration. Immanuel Kant and Ernst Bloch here offer philosophical foundations for this perspective.
Optimization for diffusion-type oxygen supply nearby working face of railway tunnel in plateau
Authors: Tan Zhizhao , Zhao Kaiming , Wang Junjian , Xu Yu , Yuan Yanping
Published: February 2024

During the construction of railway tunnels in plateau environment regions, ensuring adequate oxygen supply is crucial for both worker health and safety, and tunnelling progress. Existing diffusion-type oxygen supply enrichments for plateau regions lack quantitative conclusions and have not been implemented systematically in actual engineering. To refine the design parameters of the required method, this study utilized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to examine the optimal design parameters for oxygen supply equipment in a typical engineering project. The optimal scheme consisted of three rows of oxygen diffusion apparatuses with 0.07 m inlet diameter, 0.4 m lateral spacing and 60° tilt that maintain a constant oxygen supply rate. This configuration maximized oxygen concentration enrichment in workers’ breathing zones, with oxygen partial pressure in most target zones remaining below 3000 m altitude, except for the ventilation side where it was 3360 m. This study elucidated the effects of various design parameters on oxygen distribution and proposed the optimal combination for a typical tunnel engineering project. The findings provide a guidance for implementing diffusion-type oxygen enrichment in high-altitude tunnel construction, aiding both worker safety and project efficiency.
Reimagining How Meaningfulness Can be Reconciled With Marketing
Authors: Viet Ngo Liem , Bagozzi Richard P.
Published: February 2024

There are continuing calls for marketing to have greater individual life-changing relevance and social impact. In this paper, we address this phenomenon and discuss how meaningfulness can significantly augment the legitimacy of marketing by (1) empowering practitioners and scholars to expand their horizontal vision in combating temporal and spatial myopia and elevating the scale of the marketing processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings, and (2) balancing firm-interest versus customer-interest and answering a critical question of why firms exist beyond making profits. We will then provide avenues for future research directions.
Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, and Family Conflict in Adolescence via Telehealth during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Kelner William C. , Bush Jennifer B. , Elledge L. Christian
Published: February 2024

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health disorders diagnosed in adolescents. While either disorder individually creates impairments in psychological, emotional, and social functioning, these disorders often co-occur and reciprocally influence one another which can lead to continual worsening in functioning over time. Specifically with adolescents, anxiety and depression are associated with interpersonal conflicts with family and friends, which can further contribute to disruptions in functioning. This case study explores the effectiveness of using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with a 14-year-old white male with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and persistent depressive disorder (PDD) via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Treatment was divided into two phases, with the first phase occurring over 20 sessions and the second phase occurring over nine sessions for a total of 29 sessions. In the first phase, the Unified Protocol for Adolescents (UP-A) was flexibly implemented to target emotion regulation, behavioral skills, and cognitive restructuring. The second phase focused on family dynamics and targeted effective communication and collaborative problem-solving. Outcome data showed significant reductions in anxiety symptoms and slight reductions in depressive symptoms as well moderate improvements in peer relationships. These results provide support for using the UP-A to target internalizing symptoms in adolescents but also highlight the importance of addressing the family system in treatments. Treatment implications and recommendations for clinicians are discussed.
Monoclonal antibody precision therapy targeting inflammation for bipolar disorder: a narrative review
Authors: Wu Shijin , Zhou Yuyang
Published: February 2024

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental disorder with various hypotheses regarding its pathogenesis. This article provides a summary of numerous studies on the variations in inflammatory cytokine levels in patients with BD and the effects of treatment with antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and antidepressants on these levels. In addition, patients with autoimmune diseases who use anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibodies experience symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia. These pieces of evidence suggest a potential association between immune inflammation and BD and offer new possibilities for therapy. Building upon this relationship, the authors propose an innovative approach for treating BD through individualized and precise therapy using anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibody drugs. To support this proposal, the authors compile information on pharmacological effects and relevant studies, including trials of various anti-inflammatory therapeutic monoclonal antibody drugs (e.g. infliximab, tocilizumab, and canakinumab) for the potential treatment of BD and its associated side effects in psychiatry. The authors categorize these anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibody drugs into levels I–IV through a comprehensive analysis of their advantages and disadvantages. Their potential is examined, and the need for further exploration of their pharmaceutical effects is established.
Collecting, assembling, ordering: Border politics and the invisible data work of asylum
Authors: Canzutti Lucrezia , Aradau Claudia
Published: February 2024

This article proposes to understand the ‘invisible data work’ that asylum seekers must do to put together a ‘credible’ asylum application. While the intersections between asylum and work have typically been analysed in relation to access to employment and labour conditions, we attend to the work of collecting, assembling, and ordering different forms of analogue and digital data inherent to the asylum process. Building on feminist interdisciplinary debates on work and drawing on a selection of asylum appeals from Italy and the UK, we argue that seeking asylum entails extensive and continual invisible work that requires significant resources, effort, skills and time. Attending to these forms of invisible work is crucial to understanding the challenges of seeking asylum beyond the migration journey and the implications of performing ‘invisible data work’ unaided and unequipped. It also counters problematic depictions of asylum seekers as passive subjects who are ‘just waiting’ for a decision to be made. Finally, rendering the collection and assemblage of data as ‘invisible work’ rather than just ‘doings’ has political implications for understanding the resources, responsibilities and resistance to the border politics of making precarious subjects.
Recovering high-quality bacterial genomes from cross-contaminated cultures: a case study of marine Vibrio campbellii
Authors: Orel Neža , Fadeev Eduard , Herndl Gerhard J. , Turk Valentina , Tinta Tinkara
Published: February 2024

Background

Environmental monitoring of bacterial pathogens is critical for disease control in coastal marine ecosystems to maintain animal welfare and ecosystem function and to prevent significant economic losses. This requires accurate taxonomic identification of environmental bacterial pathogens, which often cannot be achieved by commonly used genetic markers (e.g., 16S rRNA gene), and an understanding of their pathogenic potential based on the information encoded in their genomes. The decreasing costs of whole genome sequencing (WGS), combined with newly developed bioinformatics tools, now make it possible to unravel the full potential of environmental pathogens, beyond traditional microbiological approaches. However, obtaining a high-quality bacterial genome, requires initial cultivation in an axenic culture, which is a bottleneck in environmental microbiology due to cross-contamination in the laboratory or isolation of non-axenic strains.

Results

We applied WGS to determine the pathogenic potential of two Vibrio isolates from coastal seawater. During the analysis, we identified cross-contamination of one of the isolates and decided to use this dataset to evaluate the possibility of bioinformatic contaminant removal and recovery of bacterial genomes from a contaminated culture. Despite the contamination, using an appropriate bioinformatics workflow, we were able to obtain high quality and highly identical genomes (Average Nucleotide Identity value 99.98%) of one of the Vibrio isolates from both the axenic and the contaminated culture. Using the assembled genome, we were able to determine that this isolate belongs to a sub-lineage of Vibrio campbellii associated with several diseases in marine organisms. We also found that the genome of the isolate contains a novel Vibrio plasmid associated with bacterial defense mechanisms and horizontal gene transfer, which may offer a competitive advantage to this putative pathogen.

Conclusions

Our study shows that, using state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools and a sufficient sequencing effort, it is possible to obtain high quality genomes of the bacteria of interest and perform in-depth genomic analyses even in the case of a contaminated culture. With the new isolate and its complete genome, we are providing new insights into the genomic characteristics and functional potential of this sub-lineage of V. campbellii. The approach described here also highlights the possibility of recovering complete bacterial genomes in the case of non-axenic cultures or obligatory co-cultures.
Efficacy of esketamine for the treatment of postpartum depression and pain control following cesarean section: a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial
Authors: Li Shurong , Zhuo Zhifang , Li Renwei , Guo Kaikai
Published: February 2024

Background

Postpartum depression (PPD) following a cesarean delivery is a frequently seen complication. Despite the prophylactic effects of ketamine, the impact of esketamine on PPD in women undergoing cesarean section remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of esketamine as an adjunct to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) in preventing PPD in women undergoing caesarean section.

Methods

A total of 275 parturients undergoing caesarean section and subsequent patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) were randomly assigned to receive either the control treatment (sufentanil 2 µg/kg + tropisetron 10 mg) or the experimental treatment with additional esketamine (1.5 mg/kg). The primary outcome measured was the incidence of postpartum depression (PPD), classified by Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores equal to or greater than 13 indicating PPD. Secondary outcomes included cumulative sufentanil consumption during specific time periods (0–24 h, 24–48 h, and 0–48 h) after the surgical procedure and numerical rating scale (NRS) scores at rest and during movements.

Results

The final analysis included a total of 246 postpartum women who had undergone caesarean delivery. On postoperative day 42, the incidence of depression among the control group was 17.6%, which was significantly higher compared to the esketamine group with a rate of 8.2% (P = 0.02). The EPDS scores also showed a significant difference between the two groups, with a mean score of 9.02 ± 2.21 in the control group and 6.87 ± 2.14 in the esketamine group (p < 0.0001). In terms of pain management, the esketamine group showed lower sufentanil consumption in the 0–24 h (42.5 ± 4.58 µg vs. 50.15 ± 5.47 µg, P = 0.04) and 0–48 h (87.40 ± 9.51 µg vs. 95.10 ± 9.36 µg, P = 0.04) postoperative periods compared to the control group. Differences in movement were also observed between the two groups at 24 and 48 h after the cesarean Sect. (3.39 ± 1.57 vs. 4.50 ± 0.80, P = 0.02; 2.43 ± 0.87 vs. 3.56 ± 0.76, P = 0.02). It is worth noting that the frequency of side effects observed in both groups was comparable.

Conclusions

Esketamine at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg, when used as a supplement in PCIA, has been shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of PPD within 42 days. Additionally, it has been found to decrease cumulative consumption of sufentanil over a 48-hour period following cesarean operation, all without increasing the rate of adverse effects.

Trial registration

Registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2200067054) on December 26, 2022.
Effect of aspirin on blood pressure in hypertensive patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Li Zehan , Xu Shengchao , Chen Lin , Jiang Danxian
Published: February 2024

Introduction

Aspirin is widely used for secondary prevention in patients with hypertension. However, previous studies mainly focused on the preventive effects of aspirin, and there has been a lack of reliable evidence on whether taking aspirin affects blood pressure This study aimed to investigate whether aspirin would affect the blood pressure in patients with hypertension.

Methods

PubMed, Cochrane database, Embase, Scopus and Medline databases were searched until September 2023. For continuous variables (e.g., blood pressure reduction), the mean difference (MD) was selected as the effect magnitude indices. We used the Cochrane Collaboration’s Risk of Bias tool to assess the risk of bias.

Result

A total of five studies were included, comprising 20,312 patients. We found that aspirin did not affect SBP (MD = -0.78, 95% CI: − 2.41, 0.84). A similar result was found for DBP (MD = -0.86, 95% CI: − 2.14, 0.42).

Conclusion

This study showed no significant difference in blood pressure between the aspirin and control groups, suggesting that aspirin does not affect blood pressure.
Changes in mental health services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in high-income countries: a rapid review
Authors: Stepanova Evgenia , Thompson Alex , Yu Ge , Fu Yu
Published: February 2024

Background

Severe deterioration in mental health and disrupted care provision during the COVID-19 increased unmet needs for mental health. This review aimed to identify changes in mental health services for patients in response to the pandemic and understand the impact of the changes on patients and providers.

Methods

Following the Cochrane guidance for rapid reviews, Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase and PsycInfo were searched for empirical studies that investigated models of care, services, initiatives or programmes developed/evolved for patients receiving mental health care during COVID-19, published in English and undertaken in high-income countries. Thematic analysis was conducted to describe the changes and an effect direction plot was used to show impact on outcomes.

Results

33 of 6969 records identified were included reporting on patients’ experiences (n = 24), care providers’ experiences (n = 7) and mixed of both (n = 2). Changes reported included technology-based care delivery, accessibility, flexibility, remote diagnostics and evaluation, privacy, safety and operating hours of service provision. These changes had impacts on: (1) care access; (2) satisfaction with telehealth; (3) comparability of telehealth with face-to-face care; (4) treatment effectiveness; (5) continuity of care; (6) relationships between patients and care providers; (7) remote detection and diagnostics in patients; (8) privacy; (9) treatment length and (10) work-life balance.

Conclusions

A shift to telecommunication technologies had a significant impact on patients and care providers’ experiences of mental health care. Improvements to care access, flexibility, remote forms of care delivery and lengths of operating service hours emerged as crucial changes, which supported accessibility to mental health services, increased attendance and reduced dropouts from care. The relationships between patients and care providers were influenced by service changes and were vastly depending on technological literacy and context of patients and availability and care access ranging from regular contact to a loss of in-person contact. The review also identified an increase in care inequality and a feeling of being disconnected among marginalised groups including homeless people, veterans and ethic minority groups. Telehealth in mental care could be a viable alternative to face-to-face service delivery with effective treatment outcomes. Further research is needed to better understand the impact of the changes identified particularly on underserved populations.
Assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of inpatient mental health rehabilitation services provided by the NHS and independent sector (ACER): protocol
Authors: Killaspy Helen , Dalton-Locke Christian , Clarke Caroline S , Leavey Gerard , Igoumenou Artemis , Arbuthnott Maurice , Barrett Katherine , Omar Rumana
Published: February 2024

Background

Mental health rehabilitation services provide specialist treatment to people with particularly severe and complex problems. In 2018, the Care Quality Commission reported that over half the 4,400 mental health inpatient rehabilitation beds in England were provided by the independent sector. They raised concerns that the length of stay and cost of independent sector care was double that of the NHS and that their services tended to be provided much further from people’s homes. However, there has been no research comparing the two sectors and we therefore do not know if these concerns are justified. The ACER Study (Assessing the Clinical and cost-Effectiveness of inpatient mental health Rehabilitation services provided by the NHS and independent sector) is a national programme of research in England, funded from 2021 to 2026, that aims to investigate differences in inpatient mental health rehabilitation provided by the NHS and independent sector in terms of: patient characteristics; service quality; patient, carer and staff experiences; clinical and cost effectiveness.

Methods

ACER comprises a:1) detailed survey of NHS and independent sector inpatient mental health rehabilitation services across England; 2) qualitative investigation of patient, family, staff and commissioners’ experiences of the two sectors; 3) cohort study comparing clinical outcomes in the two sectors over 18 months; 4) comprehensive national comparison of inpatient service use in the two sectors, using instrumental variable analysis of routinely collected healthcare data over 18 months; 5) health economic evaluation of the relative cost-effectiveness of the two sectors. In Components 3 and 4, our primary outcome is ‘successful rehabilitation’ defined as a) being discharged from the inpatient rehabilitation unit without readmission and b) inpatient service use over the 18 months.

Discussion

The ACER study will deliver the first empirical comparison of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of NHS and independent sector inpatient mental health rehabilitation services.

Trial registration

ISRCTN17381762 retrospectively registered.
Comparison of percutaneous and open repair of Achilles tendon rupture: results and complications from a single institution
Authors: Čukelj jr Fabijan , Blažević Dejan , Čukelj Fabijan , Sabalić Srećko , Benčić Ivan , Ćuti Tomislav , Pivalica Dinko , Bakota Bore , Vidović Dinko
Published: February 2024

Background

The Achilles tendon is the strongest tendon in the human body, but it is prone to injury, especially in modern times when recreational sports are growing in popularity. As a result, Achilles tendon rupture is becoming an increasingly common medical problem in modern society. The main objective of this study was to compare the outcomes of percutaneous repair and open repair for the treatment of Achilles tendon rupture.

Methods

A retrospective study was conducted involving a total of 316 patients who had undergone surgical treatment for Achilles tendon rupture between 2013 and 2021. The data collected from the medical history of these patients included the type of surgical procedure, the mechanism of injury, the age and sex of the patients, the time spent in the hospital, and any possible complications of the surgical treatment (such as infections, reruptures, or sural nerve injuries).

Results

The study revealed that there was no significant difference between percutaneous and open surgical approaches in terms of sural nerve injury. However, there was a statistically significant advantage of the percutaneous method in terms of the number of infections, which was significantly lower than that of the open method. Additionally, the median length of hospital stay was found to be four days longer with the open approach. However, the study noted that a statistically significant advantage of the percutaneous method for rerupture could not be established due to the small number of patients with rerupture and the insufficient ratio of patients with rerupture in relation to the size of the observed population.

Conclusions

Percutaneous repair is an effective treatment option for Achilles tendon rupture and has outcomes equal to or better than those of open repair. Therefore, this approach is recommended as the preferred method of treatment due to the presence of fewer complications, provided that the indications for this technique are appropriate.
USP54 is a potential therapeutic target in castration-resistant prostate cancer
Authors: Zhou Cheng , Zhang Xuehu , Ma Hangbin , Zhou Yinghao , Meng Yibo , Chen Chenchen , Shi Guowei , Yu Wandong , Zhang Jun
Published: February 2024

Background

USP54, a ubiquitin-specific protease in the deubiquitinase (DUB) family, facilitates the malignant progression of several types of cancer. However, the role of USP54 in prostate cancer (PCa), especially castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), remains unknown.

Methods

We established the CRPC LNCaP-AI cell line from the hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC) LNCaP cell line. RNA-Seq was utilized to explore DUB expression levels in LNCaP and LNCaP-AI. USP54 was knocked down, and its effects on cell growth were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analyses were conducted to explore signaling pathways affected by USP54 in PCa. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to confirm key signaling pathways involved.

Results

USP54 was the most strongly upregulated DUB in LNCaP-AI cells compared with LNCaP cells. USP54 levels were higher in PCa than in normal tissues. USP54 silencing suppressed the proliferation of PCa cell lines, both in vitro and in vivo. USP54 expression was positively correlated with the androgen receptor (AR) signaling level in PCa samples, and USP54 knockdown inhibited AR signaling in PCa cells.

Conclusions

USP54 was upregulated during HSPC progression to CRPC. USP54 depletion suppressed CRPC cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. USP54 may facilitate PCa progression by regulating AR signaling.