bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Four approaches to anticipatory climate governance: Different conceptions of the future and implications for the present
Authors: Muiderman Karlijn , Gupta Aarti , Vervoort Joost , Biermann Frank
Published: September 2020

In times of accelerating earth system transformations and their potentially disruptive societal consequences, imagining and governing the future is now a core challenge for sustainability research and practice. Much social science and sustainability science scholarship increasingly engages with the future. There is, however, a lack of scrutiny of how the future is envisioned in these literatures, and with what implications for governance in the present. This article analyses these two aspects, building on the concept of “anticipatory governance.” We understand anticipatory governance to broadly mean governing in the present to adapt to or shape uncertain futures. We review perspectives within public policy, futures studies, social–ecological systems, environmental policy and governance, transition studies, science and technology studies, and responsible research and innovation literatures. All these literatures engage explicitly or implicitly with the notion of anticipatory governance, yet from distinct ontological and epistemological starting points. Through our review, we identify four approaches to anticipatory governance that differ with regard to (a) their conceptions of and engagement with the future; (b) their implications for actions to be taken in the present; and (c) the ultimate end to be realized through anticipatory governance. We then map onto these four approaches a diverse set of methods and tools of anticipation that each engages with. In concluding, we discuss how these four approaches provide a useful analytical lens through which to assess ongoing practices of anticipatory governance in the climate and sustainability realm.

This article is categorized under:

Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance
Naturalisation of Normative Economics
Authors: Gorazda Marcin
Published: September 2020

It is almost taken for granted among economists that the ultimate goal of public policy is to provide society with more “welfare”, and the concept of welfare as well as the general strategy how to improve it is roughly the subject of studies of normative economics.

The naturalisation of normative economics is an attempt to analyse the “ultimate goal of public policy” from the perspective of human cultural evolution. The “ultimate goal” is one of the “cultural variants” which may be subject to Darwinian analysis and may or may not be adaptive in given circumstances. The most important problem which is posed here is whether such analysis could be helpful in establishing that “ultimate goal” and thus to contribute to normative economics and resolve the “normative problem” (as it is rephrased in the philosophy of law).

Three fundamental issues which seem to constitute the strong limits of the naturalization of the normative problem are highlighted:

Naturalistic ontology does not overcome the “naturalistic fallacy” indicated by Hume and Moore.

The epistemological perspectives in the naturalistic accounts are confused. Different normative postulates may be formulated from the individual perspective and from the perspective of the respective group, while the Darwinian analysis seems to privilege the population.

The genetic algorithm with endogenous fitness function seems to be non-susceptible to “mathematical close-up”. Even if we know the initial normative order, there are limits to finding a shortcut in order to predict the future value of the fitness function. In other words, the predictability of the future social order is fundamentally restricted.
Beyond Mere Utility-Maximisation. Towards an Axiologically Enriched Account of Well-being
Authors: Kwarciński Tomasz , Załuski Wojciech
Published: September 2020

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the way the concept of well-being is most commonly understood in economics, to identify deficiencies of this understanding, and to find a remedy to them. The paper defends two basic claims: (1) that the dominant understanding of well-being in economics is non-normative and boils down to the concept to utility maximisation, i.e., satisfaction of one’s preferences, whatever they are (subject, at best, to some formal constraints); (2) and that, given the shortcomings of the non-normative concept of well-being, e.g., its tautological character (at least in the case of certain formulations of this concept), it is indispensable to build an axiologically richer (that is: normative) concept of well-being, thereby going beyond the mere notion of utility-maximisation. As for the claim (2), two versions of the normative concept are distinguished in the article, viz. an exclusive one (well-being as causally dependent on prudential values but not moral ones) and an inclusive one (well-being as causally dependent on prudential values constrained in some way by moral ones), and it is argued that the latter is more plausible, since, in contrast to the former, it does not rely on a dubious assumption about the absolute priority of prudence over morality.
Pediatric airway surgery: Management of laryngotracheal stenosis in infants and children
Authors: Monnier Philippe
Published: September 2020

Conclusion

I think the author succeeded to present in details the different technical aspects of diagnosis and treatment to provide the reader not only with well-established treatment modalities, but also with new concepts of pediatric airway management. This book could be an excellent reference for those going to deal with pediatric airway stenosis. The book achieved its goals, and to my mind it deserves to be read.
Untersuchung standardisierter Anamnesefragebögen zur Diagnostik und Differenzierung von obstruktiven und klaffenden Tubenfunktionsstörungen
Authors: Lönnecker J. , Weiss N. M. , Heinrichs A. , Mlynski R. , Rettschlag S.
Published: September 2020

Hintergrund

Eine klaffende Tube kann insbesondere durch Autophonie, Druckgefühl und gestörten Höreindruck zu einer Einschränkung der Lebensqualität führen. Bei fehlenden spezifischen Symptomen kann die Diagnose der klaffenden Tube schwierig sein. Insbesondere die Abgrenzung zur chronisch obstruktiven Tubenfunktionsstörung stellt eine Herausforderung dar. Da derzeit kaum standardisierte Diagnostik- und Therapieoptionen zur Verfügung stehen, ist eine strukturierte Untersuchung zur sicheren Diagnostik und wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung dieser Erkrankung erforderlich. Für die Diagnostik der chronisch obstruktiven Tubenfunktionsstörung wurde 2012 bereits der „Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire“ (ETDQ-7-Fragebogen) nach McCoul entwickelt. Für die klaffende Tube existiert seit 2017 der PHI-10-Fragebogen („patulous Eustachian tube handicap inventory“) nach Kobayashi.

Material und Methoden

Der PHI-10-Fragebogen wurde ins Deutsche übersetzt und an 41 Gesunden, 13 Patienten mit Tinnitus auris, 11 Patienten mit klaffender Tube und 18 Patienten mit chronisch obstruktiver Tubenventilationsstörung getestet. Zusätzlich erfolgte im Vergleich die Auswertung des ETDQ‑7 nach McCoul.

Ergebnisse

Es erfolgt die Präsentation der deutschen Übersetzung des PHI-10 und der Ergebnisse von PHI-10 und ETDQ‑7 in allen Patientengruppen. Der ETDQ‑7 hat das Risiko falsch-positiver Ergebnisse bei Patienten mit klaffender Tube und der PHI-10 bei Patienten mit obstruktiver Tubenfunktionsstörung. Beide untersuchten Fragebögen sind falsch-positiv bei Tinnituspatienten.

Schlussfolgerung

Der PHI-10 (deutsch) und ETDQ‑7 (deutsch) sind eine nützliche Unterstützung der Anamnese bezüglich Tubenfunktionsstörungen. Sie unterscheiden jedoch nur unzureichend zwischen klaffenden und obstruktiven Tubenfunktionsstörungen und eignen sich nicht für Patienten mit Tinnitus. Die Stärke der Fragebögen ist in der Verlaufskontrolle und dem Monitoring von Therapieergebnissen zu sehen.
Hydropower impact on the river flow of a humid regional climate
Authors: Hunt Julian David , Falchetta Giacomo , Zakeri Behnam , Nascimento Andreas , Schneider Paulo Smith , Weber Natália Assis Brasil , Mesquita André Luiz Amarante , Barbosa Paulo Sergio Franco , de Castro Nivalde José
Published: September 2020

Land use and water management have considerable impacts on regional climates. This paper proposes that in humid regions with low wind patterns the construction of hydropower storage reservoirs contributes to the increases in the probability of precipitation in the regional climate. This observation has been tested with a methodology that calculates the cumulative influence of reservoir construction in the basins surrounding with a proposed index named Cumulative Impact of Existing Reservoirs, and compares this index with the historical flow of the rivers. It was found that the construction of reservoirs in Brazil had a considerable impact on its river flows.
A roadmap to neural automatic post-editing: an empirical approach
Authors: Shterionov Dimitar , Carmo Félix do , Moorkens Joss , Hossari Murhaf , Wagner Joachim , Paquin Eric , Schmidtke Dag , Groves Declan , Way Andy
Published: September 2020

In a translation workflow, machine translation (MT) is almost always followed by a human post-editing step, where the raw MT output is corrected to meet required quality standards. To reduce the number of errors human translators need to correct, automatic post-editing (APE) methods have been developed and deployed in such workflows. With the advances in deep learning, neural APE (NPE) systems have outranked more traditional, statistical, ones. However, the plethora of options, variables and settings, as well as the relation between NPE performance and train/test data makes it difficult to select the most suitable approach for a given use case. In this article, we systematically analyse these different parameters with respect to NPE performance. We build an NPE “roadmap” to trace the different decision points and train a set of systems selecting different options through the roadmap. We also propose a novel approach for APE with data augmentation. We then analyse the performance of 15 of these systems and identify the best ones. In fact, the best systems are the ones that follow the newly-proposed method. The work presented in this article follows from a collaborative project between Microsoft and the ADAPT centre. The data provided by Microsoft originates from phrase-based statistical MT (PBSMT) systems employed in production. All tested NPE systems significantly increase the translation quality, proving the effectiveness of neural post-editing in the context of a commercial translation workflow that leverages PBSMT.
Eye-Tracking in Educational Practice: Investigating Visual Perception Underlying Teaching and Learning in the Classroom
Authors: Jarodzka Halszka , Skuballa Irene , Gruber Hans
Published: September 2020

Classrooms full of pupils can be very overwhelming, both for teachers and students, as well as for their joint interactions. It is thus crucial that both can distil the relevant information in this complex scenario and interpret it appropriately. This distilling and interpreting happen to a large extent via visual perception, which is the core focus of the current Special Issue. Six empirical studies present examples of how to capture visual perception in the complexity of a classroom lesson. These examples open up new avenues that go beyond studying perception in restricted and artificial laboratory scenarios: some using video recordings from authentic lessons to others studying actual classrooms. This movement towards more realistic scenarios allows to study the visual perception in classrooms from new perspectives, namely that of the teachers, the learners, and their interactions. This in turn enables to shed novel light onto well-established theoretical concepts, namely students’ engagement during actual lessons, teachers’ professional vision while teaching, and establishment of joint attention between teachers and students in a lesson. Additionally, one theoretical contribution provides the very first model of teachers’ cognitions during teaching in relation to their visual perception, which in turn will allow future research to move beyond explorations towards hypothesis testing. However, to fully thrive, this field of research has to address two crucial challenges: (i) the heterogeneity of its methodological approaches (e.g., varying age groups, subjects taught, lesson formats) and (ii) the recording and processing of personal data of many people (often minors). Hence, these new approaches bear not only new chances for insights but also new responsibilities for the researchers.
Learner-generated graphic representations for word problems: an intervention and evaluation study in grade 3
Authors: Ott Barbara
Published: September 2020

The use of written or graphic representations is essential in mathematics. Graphic representations are mainly used and researched as instruments for problem solving. There is a gap in research for interventions that use learner-generated graphic representations as documents for reflection processes for promoting the development of children’s graphic representation competences. This is the focus of the study presented here. The study examines to what extent such an intervention has an effect on how the children take into account a mathematical structure in their self-generated graphic representations, how they ensure a mathematical matching with the word problem, and what degree of abstraction they choose. Additionally, the effect on the solution rates is investigated. The results show that children in the intervention group more frequently pay attention to a mathematically appropriate structure, compared with children in the control groups. This result is statistically significant. At the same time, children keep the degree of abstraction relatively constant. Solution rates improve continuously, but the difference is not significant.
Modelling lifestyle changes in Insect endosymbionts, from insect mutualist to plant pathogen
Authors: Manning Smith Robert , Alonso-Chavez Vasthi , Helps Joseph , Shaw Michael W. , van den Bosch Frank
Published: September 2020

Several insect endosymbionts have evolved to become plant pathogens, but the causes of this transition are currently unknown. In this paper, we use adaptive dynamics to develop hypotheses to explain why an insect endosymbiont would evolve to become a plant pathogen. We develop a model of facultative insect endosymbionts, capable of both vertical transmission within the insect population and horizontal transmission between insect and plant populations. We assume that an evolutionary trade-off between vertical and horizontal transmission exists. The transmission method of an endosymbiont is correlated with the nature of the symbiotic relationship between host and symbiont. We assume that vertical transmission represents an insect endosymbiont lifestyle and horizontal transmission represents a plant pathogen lifestyle. Our results suggest that temperature increases, increased agricultural intensification, disease dynamics within the plant host, insect mating system and change in the host plant of the insect may influence an evolutionary transition from an insect endosymbiont to a plant pathogen.
Civil Society, Populism and Liberalism
Authors: Osborne Thomas
Published: September 2020

This paper considers the threats that various kinds of populism might be said to pose to the ideal of a civil society that mediates between ‘private’ and family life and the state. Although it is difficult to generalise about populisms, just about all—whether on left or right—share a hostility to ‘intermediate’ powers. Of course civil society is exactly what could be called a forum for intermediate powers. In contrast, populists often tend to emphasise a vision of immediate power in the sense of the possibility of the direct expression of the people’s will in political institutions. Populists, of whatever pitch, often tend to invoke a partisan state that will be on the side of the people (however defined) rather than a putatively neutral ‘liberal’ state that stands over and against civil society. These factors make most populisms more or less generically hostile to liberalism, understood not in ideological terms but more as a doctrine which emphasises the necessity of mediating power through institutions. Very often, populism is a threat to the idea of civil society understood as a concept integral to liberal political theory, as a means of balancing the state and its wider interlocutors. In this paper, various means, largely inspired by the writings of Tocqueville on the one hand and Paul Hirst on the other, are suggested for addressing aspects of this predicament.
What Happens at a Dental Surgery When the Patient is a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder? An Italian Study
Authors: Logrieco Maria Grazia Mada , Ciuffreda Giuseppe Niccolò , Sinjari Bruna , Spinelli Maria , Rossi Rodrigo , D’Addazio Gianmaria , Lionetti Francesca , Caputi Sergio , Fasolo Mirco
Published: September 2020

Oral health care can be a difficult experience for a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), for their family and for the dentist. The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of the challenges experienced by the three aforementioned figures during oral care treatment. A cohort of 275 parents of typical development children (TD), 57 parents of children with ASD (3–15 years old) and by 61 dentists, completed two different multiple choices questionnaires. The data obtained show a great difficulty in the treatment of children with ASD as seen by the dentists and by the parents. This is due to: caregivers’ demographic issues; difficulties encountered before and during the dental examination; scarce presence of experts in ASD treatment.
Wellbeing, Developmental Crisis and Residential Status in the Year After Graduating from Higher Education: A 12-Month Longitudinal Study
Authors: Robinson Oliver C. , Cimporescu Maria , Thompson Trevor
Published: September 2020

Graduating from higher education is characterized by a complex set of changes, including the transition into employment as well as residential changes and identity shifts. We explored how wellbeing and depressive symptoms are associated with retrospective appraisals of developmental crisis in the year after leaving university, and the impact of living with parents following graduation. Data were collected from graduates based in the UK over the course of the 12 months following completing an undergraduate degree, via a 3-phase longitudinal design. One-third of the sample reported experiencing a developmental crisis within the year following university. Those who reported a crisis scored significantly lower on measures of environmental mastery across all time points and higher on measures of depression. Those living with parents scored significantly lower on measures of self-acceptance and autonomy and higher on measures of depression. In light of these findings, we conclude that interventions and targeted support to help students manage the psychological challenges of life after university should be developed and implemented.
Longitudinal–transversal internal resonances in Timoshenko beams with an axial elastic boundary condition
Authors: Lenci S. , Clementi F. , Kloda L. , Warminski J. , Rega G.
Published: September 2020

The internal resonances between the longitudinal and transversal oscillations of a forced Timoshenko beam with an axial end spring are studied in depth. In the linear regime, the loci of occurrence of 1 : ir, $$ir \in \mathbb {N}$$

i
r
∈
N

, internal resonances in the parameters space are identified. Then, by means of the multiple time scales method, the 1 : 2 case is investigated in the nonlinear regime, and the frequency response functions and backbone curves are obtained analytically, and investigated thoroughly. They are also compared with finite element numerical simulations, to prove their reliability. Attention is paid to the system response obtained by varying the stiffness of the end spring, and it is shown that the nonlinear behaviour instantaneously jumps from hardening to softening by crossing the exact internal resonance value, in contrast to the singular (i.e. tending to infinity) behaviour of the nonlinear correction coefficient previously observed (without properly taking the internal resonance into account).
Measuring the criticality of a Hopf bifurcation
Authors: Uteshev Alexei , Kalmár-Nagy Tamás
Published: September 2020

This work is based on the observation that the first Poincaré–Lyapunov constant is a quadratic function of the coefficients of the two-dimensional vector field at a Hopf bifurcation. From a given parameter point, we find the distance to the “Hopf quadric.” This distance provides a measure of the criticality of the Hopf bifurcation. The viability of the approach is demonstrated through numerical examples.
DNA barcoding of Oryza: conventional, specific, and super barcodes
Authors: Zhang Wen , Sun Yuzhe , Liu Jia , Xu Chao , Zou Xinhui , Chen Xun , Liu Yanlei , Wu Ping , Yang Xueying , Zhou Shiliang
Published: September 2020

Key message

We applied the phylogenomics to clarify the concept of rice species, aid in the identification and use of rice germplasms, and support rice biodiversity.

Rice (genus Oryza) is one of the most important crops in the world, supporting half of the world’s population. Breeding of high-yielding and quality cultivars relies on genetic resources from both cultivated and wild species, which are collected and maintained in seed banks. Unfortunately, numerous seeds are mislabeled due to taxonomic issues or misidentifications. Here, we applied the phylogenomics of 58 complete chloroplast genomes and two hypervariable nuclear genes to determine species identity in rice seeds. Twenty-one Oryza species were identified. Conspecific relationships were determined between O. glaberrima and O. barthii, O. glumipatula and O. longistaminata, O. grandiglumis and O. alta, O. meyeriana and O. granulata, O. minuta and O. malampuzhaensis, O. nivara and O. sativa subsp. indica, and O. sativa subsp. japonica and O. rufipogon.D and L genome types were not found and the H genome type was extinct. Importantly, we evaluated the performance of four conventional plant DNA barcodes (matK, rbcL, psbA-trnH, and ITS), six rice-specific chloroplast DNA barcodes (psaJ-rpl33, trnC-rpoB, rps16-trnQ, rpl22-rps19, trnK-matK, and ndhC-trnV), two rice-specific nuclear DNA barcodes (NP78 and R22), and a chloroplast genome super DNA barcode. The latter was the most reliable marker. The six rice-specific chloroplast barcodes revealed that 17% of the 53 seed accessions from rice seed banks or field collections were mislabeled. These results are expected to clarify the concept of rice species, aid in the identification and use of rice germplasms, and support rice biodiversity.
Die Organisationsreform der SPD 2017–2019: Jung, weiblich und digital?
Authors: Michels Dennis , Borucki Isabelle
Published: September 2020

Die Organisationsreform der SPD 2017–2019 beinhaltete die Einführung digitaler Onlinethemenforen, die mit Antrags- und Rederecht für Bundesparteitage ausgestattet wurden. Der Beitrag beantwortet die Frage, warum die Reformmaßnahme durchgeführt wurde, indem legitimatorische Begründungsmuster der Parteiführung als kausaler Mechanismus des Reformprozesses herausgearbeitet werden. Per interpretativem Process Tracing wird zur Theoriebildung des (digitalen) Parteienwandels beigetragen. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass neue Onlinethemenforen auf eine Basisbeteiligung in der Willensbildung abzielen. Begründet werden die Reformen mit der Niederlage bei der Bundestagswahl 2017, einer veränderten gesellschaftlichen Erwartungshaltung an Möglichkeiten digitaler Beteiligung sowie der Bindung von jungen Neumitgliedern, die traditionellen Parteistrukturen ablehnend gegenüberstehen. Weiterhin sollen Onlinethemenforen eine ortsunabhängige, themenbezogene Vernetzung der Mitglieder ermöglichen und eine eigene Informationspolitik innerhalb der Partei etablieren, neben Massenmedien und sozialen Medien. Zudem wird die Effizienz der Parteiarbeit als weiteres Begründungsmuster angeführt.
Social capital and community disaster resilience: post-earthquake tourism recovery on Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
Authors: Partelow Stefan
Published: September 2020

This study examines the hypothesis that social capital can be a foundation for community disaster resilience with an analysis of empirical findings from the August 2018 earthquake recovery on Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, a globally known coastal tourism destination. Positive links between community social capital and community disaster resilience are hypothesized, but the extent to which an iterative and interdependent relationship is co-shaping both is less understood. Social capital can enable collective action, providing self-organized social, psychological, financial and material resources following a disaster, that may otherwise need to be provided externally. In turn, disasters create collective action problems where collective response and recovery process are needed, creating an institutional space where the degree of usefulness, meaning and function of social capital can be shaped, recognized and drawn upon, often where external aid is insufficient. These relationships can be observed following disasters, because individuals and communities are often linked through emotive and meaningful sequences of common experiences, actions and activities. Findings descriptively detail Gili Trawangan’s response and recovery process through the events and activities that occurred, and are then theoretically analyzed with a social capital framework including bonding (within group), bridging (between group) and linking (across power and institutional) ties. Three conclusions can be summarized. (1) Community social capital and disaster resilience are iteratively co-shaped through collective experiences, actions and activities. (2) Understanding context is critical for understanding if and to what degree this relationship exists. (3) The mechanism through which social capital enhances resilience is that it can enable collective action that can lead to the provision of needed aid and services.
Range of motion after reverse shoulder arthroplasty: which combinations of humeral stem and glenosphere work best?
Authors: Lädermann Alexandre , Collin Philippe , Denard Patrick J.
Published: September 2020

A variety of changes in prosthetic design have been proposed to address the complications of Grammont-style reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA). The Grammont RSA is excellent at restoring forward flexion, but often leads to little improvement in external and internal rotation. The purpose of this review was to analyze the effect of different glenoid and humeral configurations on range of motion (ROM) following RSA. With low neck-shaft angle (135–145 degrees), glenosphere lateralization, and eccentricity, elevation remains unchanged, abduction slightly decreases, but a dramatic improvement in adduction, extension, and rotations with the elbow at the side are observed. However, all prosthetic designs should be considered on a case-by-case basis to optimize outcome.
The Gut Microbiome, Inflammation, and Salt-Sensitive Hypertension
Authors: Elijovich Fernando , Laffer Cheryl L. , Sahinoz Melis , Pitzer Ashley , Ferguson Jane F. , Kirabo Annet
Published: September 2020

Purpose of Review

Salt sensitivity of blood pressure (SSBP) is an independent predictor of death due to cardiovascular events and affects nearly 50% of the hypertensive and 25% of the normotensive population. Strong evidence indicates that reducing sodium (Na+) intake decreases blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular events. The precise mechanisms of how dietary Na+ contributes to elevation and cardiovascular disease remain unclear. The goal of this review is to discuss mechanisms of salt-induced cardiovascular disease and how the microbiome may play a role.

Recent Findings

The innate and adaptive immune systems are involved in the genesis of salt-induced hypertension. Mice fed a high-salt diet exhibit increased inflammation with a marked increase in dendritic cell (DC) production of interleukin (IL)-6 and formation of isolevuglandins (IsoLG)-protein adducts, which drive interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and IL-17A production by T cells. While prior studies have mainly focused on the brain, kidney, and vasculature as playing a role in salt-induced hypertension, the gut is the first and largest location for Na+ absorption. Research from our group and others strongly suggests that the gut microbiome contributes to salt-induced inflammation and hypertension.

Recent studies suggest that alterations in the gut microbiome contribute to salt-induced hypertension. However, the contribution of the microbiome to SSBP and its underlying mechanisms are not known. Targeting the microbiota and the associated immune cell activation could conceivably provide the much-needed therapy for SSBP.
From Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells to Insulin-Producing Cells: Progress and Challenges
Authors: Ghoneim Mohamed A. , Refaie Ayman F. , Elbassiouny Batoul L. , Gabr Mahmoud M. , Zakaria Mahmoud M.
Published: September 2020

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are an attractive option for cell therapy for type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). These cells can be obtained from many sources, but bone marrow and adipose tissue are the most studied. MSCs have distinct advantages since they are nonteratogenic, nonimmunogenic and have immunomodulatory functions. Insulin-producing cells (IPCs) can be generated from MSCs by gene transfection, gene editing or directed differentiation. For directed differentiation, MSCs are usually cultured in a glucose-rich medium with various growth and activation factors. The resulting IPCs can control chemically-induced diabetes in immune-deficient mice. These findings are comparable to those obtained from pluripotent cells. PD-L1and PD-L2expression by MSCs is upregulated under inflammatory conditions. Immunomodulation occurs due to the interaction between these ligands and PD-1 receptors on T lymphocytes. If this function is maintained after differentiation, life-long immunosuppression or encapsulation could be avoided. In the clinical setting, two sites can be used for transplantation of IPCs: the subcutaneous tissue and the omentum. A 2-stage procedure is required for the former and a laparoscopic procedure for the latter. For either site, cells should be transplanted within a scaffold, preferably one from fibrin. Several questions remain unanswered. Will the transplanted cells be affected by the antibodies involved in the pathogenesis of type 1 DM? What is the functional longevity of these cells following their transplantation? These issues have to be addressed before clinical translation is attempted.
Consensus statement of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology on secondary thromboprophylaxis in patients with cancer
Authors: Quintanar T. , Font C. , Gallardo E. , Barba R. , Obispo B. , Díaz-Pedroche C.
Published: September 2020

Up to 20% of cancer patients will develop some manifestation of venous thromboembolic disease (VTD) during their clinical course. VTD greatly impacts morbidity, mortality, quality of life and pharmaceutical expenditure. In addition, both thrombotic relapse and major haemorrhages derived from VTD treatment are more likely in oncological patients. To make the decision to establish secondary thromboprophylaxis as an indefinite treatment in these patients, it is important to review all the risk factors involved, whether related to the disease, the patient or the prior thrombotic event. The objectives of this consensus of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna—SEMI) and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica—SEOM) are to establish recommendations that help assess the risk of recurrence of VTD and haemorrhagic risk in patients with cancer, as well as to analyse the evidence that exists on the currently available drugs, which will allow the establishment of a protocol for shared decision-making with the informed patient.
Single-particle virology
Authors: Kiss Bálint , Mudra Dorottya , Török György , Mártonfalvi Zsolt , Csík Gabriella , Herényi Levente , Kellermayer Miklós
Published: September 2020

The development of advanced experimental methodologies, such as optical tweezers, scanning-probe and super-resolved optical microscopies, has led to the evolution of single-molecule biophysics, a field of science that allows direct access to the mechanistic detail of biomolecular structure and function. The extension of single-molecule methods to the investigation of particles such as viruses permits unprecedented insights into the behavior of supramolecular assemblies. Here we address the scope of viral exploration at the level of individual particles. In an era of increased awareness towards virology, single-particle approaches are expected to facilitate the in-depth understanding, and hence combating, of viral diseases.
Enhanced synchronization-inspired clustering for high-dimensional data
Authors: Chen Lei , Guo Qinghua , Liu Zhaohua , Zhang Shiwen , Zhang Hongqiang
Published: September 2020

The synchronization-inspired clustering algorithm (Sync) is a novel and outstanding clustering algorithm, which can accurately cluster datasets with any shape, density and distribution. However, the high-dimensional dataset with high dimensionality, high noise, and high redundancy brings some new challenges for the synchronization-inspired clustering algorithm, resulting in a significant increase in clustering time and a decrease in clustering accuracy. To address these challenges, an enhanced synchronization-inspired clustering algorithm, namely SyncHigh, is developed in this paper to quickly and accurately cluster the high-dimensional datasets. First, a PCA-based (Principal Component Analysis) dimension purification strategy is designed to find the principal components in all attributes. Second, a density-based data merge strategy is constructed to reduce the number of objects participating in the synchronization-inspired clustering algorithm, thereby speeding up clustering time. Third, the Kuramoto Model is enhanced to deal with mass differences between objects caused by the density-based data merge strategy. Finally, extensive experimental results on synthetic and real-world datasets show the effectiveness and efficiency of our SyncHigh algorithm.
ASSURE: A Hardware-Based Security Protocol for Resource-Constrained IoT Systems
Authors: Yilmaz Yildiran , Aniello Leonardo , Halak Basel
Published: September 2020

The Internet of Things technology is expected to generate tremendous economic benefits; this promise is undermined by major security threats. This is mainly due to the ubiquitous nature of this technology, which makes it easy for potential adversities to have access to IoT devices and carry well-established attacks. The development of defence mechanisms, in this case, is a challenging task; this is due to the fact that most IoT devices have limited computing and energy resources, which makes it hard to implement classic cryptographic algorithms. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing a lightweight mutual authentication and key agreement protocol named ASSURE based on Rivest Cipher (RC5) and physically unclonable functions (PUFs). To understand the effectiveness of this protocol, a rigorous security analysis under various cyber-attack scenarios is performed. In order to evaluate the overheads of the proposed solution, a wireless sensor network using typical IoT devices called Zolertia Zoul re-mote is constructed. The functionality of the proposed scheme is verified using a server-client configuration. Then, energy consumption and memory utilization are estimated and compared with the existing solutions, namely, the DTLS (datagram transport layer security) handshake protocol in pre-shared secret (key) mode and UDP (user datagram protocol). Experimental analysis results indicate that the proposed protocol can save up to 39.5% energy and uses 14% less memory compared with the DTLS handshake protocol.
Emerging Tickborne Viral Infections: What Wilderness Medicine Providers Need to Know
Authors: Diaz James H.
Published: September 2020

Ticks are versatile vectors of infectious diseases and transmit a broad range of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Ticks harbor pathogens without infection and share pathogens with other ticks while feeding together on a host. The primary objective of this review is to identify tickborne viral pathogens in the United States, focusing on emerging pathogens. Additional objectives include describing the epidemiology of tick-transmitted viruses, identifying the most common tick vectors of viral pathogens in the United States, identifying the most common tick-transmitted viruses worldwide, and recommending effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of tickborne viral infections. Flaviviruses transmitted by ixodid ticks cause most tickborne viral infections that present clinically as either encephalitis or hemorrhagic fever. Recently, several new tickborne viruses have emerged in the United States, including Bourbon virus, Heartland virus, Powassan virus, and the severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus transmitted by a tick recently introduced from China, the Asian long-horned tick ( Haemaphysalis longicornis). In most cases, there are no specific drug therapies for tickborne viral infections, and treatment is supportive. Vaccination, personal protection, landscape management, and wildlife management are all effective strategies for the primary prevention and control of tickborne viral infectious diseases.
StudentKost: a cross-sectional study assessing college students’ diets: reason for concern?
Authors: Valen Erlend L. , Engeset Dagrun , Øverby Nina C. , Hillesund Elisabet R.
Published: September 2020

College students constitute a significant proportion of the young adult population in Norway. They are in their reproductive years, which is of interest regarding diet and preconception health. Our objective was to assess young college students’ diet and nutrient intake in relation to national dietary recommendations and assess the probability of inadequate micronutrient intake for both genders using the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, and also to evaluate its consequences on preconception health and create a groundwork for future interventions on this group. At the University of Agder (UiA), we enrolled 622 students aged 18–40 years for a cross-sectional study of student's diet, StudentKost. The students completed a food frequency questionnaire, including questions of supplement use, over the past 4 weeks. Intake of fruits, vegetables, oily fish, and whole grain was lower than recommended, as were mean intake of folate, iron, and iodine. Our main findings are that students have a somewhat suboptimal diet compared to the Norwegian dietary guidelines. Male students had generally lower diet quality than females. Compared to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR), we also saw a relatively high probability of inadequate intake of several micronutrients and a very high probability for some micronutrients in a significant portion of the sample. Public health effort should be directed towards improving students and young adults’ diet in general, and interventions towards improving preconception health should be explored. The low participation rate limits the generalizability of our findings. Our findings encourage further investigation into young adults’ diet.
Prospective associations of the original Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system and three variants with weight gain, overweight and obesity risk: results from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort
Authors: Egnell Manon , Seconda Louise , Neal Bruce , Mhurchu Cliona Ni , Rayner Mike , Jones Alexandra , Touvier Mathilde , Kesse-Guyot Emmanuelle , Hercberg Serge , Julia Chantal
Published: September 2020

Nutrient profiling systems (NPS) are used to classify foods according to their nutritional composition. However, investigating their prospective associations with health is key to their validation. The study investigated the associations of the original Food Standards Agency (FSA)-NPS and three variants (Food Standards Australia New Zealand Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC), Health Star Rating NPS and the French High Council of Public Health NPS (HCSP-NPS)), with weight status. Individual dietary indices based on each NPS at the food level were computed to characterise the dietary quality of 71 403 French individuals from the NutriNet-Santé cohort. Associations of these indices with weight gain were assessed using mixed models and with overweight and obesity risks using Cox models. Participants with a higher dietary index (reflecting lower diet nutritional quality) were more likely to have a significant increase in BMI over time (β-coefficients positive) and an increased risk of overweight (hazard ratio (HR) T3v.T1 = 1·27 (95 % CI 1·17, 1·37)) for the HCSP-Dietary Index, followed by the original FSA-Dietary Index (HR T3v.T1 = 1·18 (95 % CI 1·09, 1·28)), the NPSC-Dietary Index (HR T3v.T1 = 1·14 (95 % CI 1·06, 1·24)) and the Health Star Rating-Dietary Index (HR T3v.T1 = 1·12 (95 % CI 1·04, 1·21)). Whilst differences were small, the HCSP-Dietary Index appeared to show significantly greater association with overweight risk. Overall, these results show the validity of NPS derived from the FSA-NPS, supporting their use in public policies for chronic disease prevention.
Characteristics of disrupted topological organization in white matter functional connectome in schizophrenia
Authors: Jiang Yuchao , Yao Dezhong , Zhou Jingyu , Tan Yue , Huang Huan , Wang MeiLin , Chang Xin , Duan Mingjun , Luo Cheng
Published: September 2020

Background

Neuroimaging characteristics have demonstrated disrupted functional organization in schizophrenia (SZ), involving large-scale networks within grey matter (GM). However, previous studies have ignored the role of white matter (WM) in supporting brain function.

Methods

Using resting-state functional MRI and graph theoretical approaches, we investigated global topological disruptions of large-scale WM and GM networks in 93 SZ patients and 122 controls. Six global properties [clustering coefficient (Cp), shortest path length (Lp), local efficiency (Eloc), small-worldness (σ), hierarchy (β) and synchronization (S) and three nodal metrics [nodal degree (Knodal), nodal efficiency (Enodal) and nodal betweenness (Bnodal)] were utilized to quantify the topological organization in both WM and GM networks.

Results

At the network level, both WM and GM networks exhibited reductions inEloc,CpandSin SZ. The SZ group showed reducedσandβonly for the WM network. Furthermore, theCp,ElocandSof the WM network were negatively correlated with negative symptoms in SZ. At the nodal level, the SZ showed nodal disturbances in the corpus callosum, optic radiation, posterior corona radiata and tempo-occipital WM tracts. For GM, the SZ manifested increased nodal centralities in frontoparietal regions and decreased nodal centralities in temporal regions.

Conclusions

These findings provide the first evidence for abnormal global topological properties in SZ from the perspective of a substantial whole brain, including GM and WM. Nodal centralities enhance GM areas, along with a reduction in adjacent WM, suggest that WM functional alterations may be compensated for adjacent GM impairments in SZ.
Compliance with aspirin in paediatric CHD post-percutaneous transcatheter occlusion: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Song Qing-Qing , Zhu Li-Hui , Chen Ou-Ying , Xiao Zhi-Rong , Chen Zhi , Xiao Yun-Bin , Meng Jian-Chao , Zuo Chao , Latour Jos M.
Published: September 2020

Background:

Predictors of compliance with aspirin in children following cardiac catheterisation have not been identified. The aim of this study is to identify the caregivers’ knowledge, compliance with aspirin medication, and predictors of compliance with aspirin in children with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) post-percutaneous transcatheter occlusion.

Methods:

A cross-sectional explorative design was adopted using a self-administered questionnaire and conducted between May 2017 and May 2018. Recruited were 220 caregivers of children with CHD post-percutaneous transcatheter occlusion. Questionnaires included child and caregivers’ characteristics, a self-designed and tested knowledge about aspirin scale (scoring scale 0–2), and the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (scoring scale 0–8). Data were analysed using multivariate binary logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of compliance with aspirin.

Results:

Of the 220 eligible children and caregivers, 210 (95.5%) responded and 209 surveys were included in the analysis. The mean score of knowledge was 7.25 (standard deviation 2.27). The mean score of compliance was 5.65 (standard deviation 1.36). Child’s age, length of aspirin use, health insurance policies, relationship to child, monthly income, and knowledge about aspirin of caregivers were independent predictors of compliance with aspirin (p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

Caregivers of children with CHD had an adequate level of knowledge about aspirin. Compliance to aspirin medication reported by caregivers was low. Predictors of medium to high compliance with aspirin were related to the child’s age and socio-economic reasons. Further studies are needed to identify effective strategies to improve knowledge, compliance with medication, and long-term outcomes of children with CHD.
Perioperative complications in a paediatric cardiac surgery program with limited systemic resources
Authors: Polivenok Igor V. , Novick William M. , Pyetkov Aleksander V. , Cardarelli Marcelo
Published: September 2020

Background:

The perioperative complications rate in paediatric cardiac surgery, as well as the failure-to-rescue impact, is less known in low- and middle-income countries.

Aim:

To evaluate perioperative complications rate, mortality related to complications, different patients’ demographics, and procedural risk factors for perioperative complication and post-operative death.

Methods:

Risk factors for perioperative complications and operative mortality were assessed in a retrospective single-centre study which included 296 consecutive children undergoing cardiac surgery.

Results:

Overall mortality was 5.7%. Seventy-three patients (24.7%) developed 145 perioperative complications and had 17 operative mortalities (23.3%). There was a strong association between the number of perioperative complications and mortality – 8.1% among patients with only 1 perioperative complication, 35.3% – with 2 perioperative complications, and 42.1% – with 3 or more perioperative complications (p = 0.007). Risk factors of perioperative complications were younger age (odds ratio 0.76; (95% confidence interval 0.61, 0.93), previous cardiac surgery (odds ratio 3.5; confidence interval 1.33, 9.20), extracardiac structural anomalies (odds ratio 3.03; confidence interval 1.27, 7.26), concomitant diseases (odds ratio 3.23; confidence interval 1.34, 7.72), and cardiopulmonary bypass (odds ratio 6.33; confidence interval 2.45, 16.4), whereas the total number of perioperative complications per patient was the only predictor of operative death (odds ratio 1.89; confidence interval 1.06, 3.37).

Conclusions:

In a program with limited systemic resources, failure-to-rescue is a major contributor to operative mortality in paediatric cardiac surgery. Despite the comparable crude mortality, the operative mortality among patients with perioperative complications in our series was significantly higher than in the developed world. A number of initiatives are needed in order to improve failure-to-rescue rates in low- and middle-income countries.