bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tumor size, but not consolidation‐to‐tumor ratio, is an independent prognostic factor for part‐solid clinical T1 non‐small cell lung cancer
Authors: Li Zhihua , Xu Wenzheng , Gu Tianhao , Cao Xincen , Wu Weibing , Chen Liang
Published: December 2022

Background

Tumor size and consolidation‐to‐tumor ratio (CTR) are crucial for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prognosis. However, the optimal CTR cutoff remains unclear. Whether tumor size and CTR are independent prognostic factors for part‐solid NSCLC is under debate. Here, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic impacts of CTR and tumor size on NSCLC, especially on part‐solid NSCLC.

Methods

We reviewed 1366 clinical T1 NSCLC patients who underwent surgical treatment. Log‐rank test and Cox regression analyses were adopted for prognostic evaluation. The “surv_cutpoint” function was used to identify the optimal CTR and tumor size cutoff values.

Results

There were 416, 510, and 440 subjects with pure ground‐glass opacity (pGGO), part‐solid, and pure solid nodules. The 5‐year overall survival (disease‐free survival) for patients with pGGO, part‐solid, and pure solid nodules were 99.5% (99.5%), 97.3% (95.8%), and 90.4% (78.9%), respectively. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that CTR was an independent prognostic factor for the whole patients, and the optimal CTR cutoff was 0.99. However, for part‐solid NSCLC, CTR was not independently associated with survival, even if categorized by the optimal cutoffs. The predicted optimal cutoffs of total tumor size and solid component size were 2.4 and 1.4 cm for part‐solid NSCLC. Total tumor size (HR = 6.21, 95% CI: 1.58–24.34, p = 0.009) and solid component size (HR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.04–5.92, p = 0.045) grouped by the cutoffs were significantly associated with part‐solid NSCLC prognosis.

Conclusions

CTR was an independent prognostic factor for the whole NSCLC, but not for the part‐solid NSCLC. Tumor size was still meaningful for part‐solid NSCLC.
Introduction of General Chapters on standard methods for allergen quantification in the European Pharmacopoeia
Authors: Zimmer Julia , Bonertz Andreas , Kaul Susanne , Vieths Stefan
Published: December 2022

The Biological Standardization Project BSP090 has been successfully concluded in 2021. As a result, two standard methods for quantification of the major allergens Bet v 1 and Phl p 5 will be implemented in the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.). The General Chapter describing the protocol of the respective Bet v 1‐specific ELISA has already been adopted by the Ph. Eur. Commission and will become an official part of the Ph. Eur. in the beginning of 2023. As this will be the first allergen‐specific standard method in the EU, this paper intends to summarize the preceding process and outline the measures necessary to comply with the new regulatory requirement.
Severe colitis in patients with melanoma treated with BRAF/MEK inhibitors
Authors: Carbonnel Franck , Routier Emilie , Lazure Thierry , Mussini Charlotte , Bellanger Christophe , Merklen Carine , Bejou Bakhtiar , Buisson Anthony , Amiot Aurélien , Meyer Antoine , Dong Catherine , Robert Caroline
Published: December 2022

Background and Aims

Dual blockade of BRAF and MEK kinases is a standard of care for metastatic V600E/K BRAF mutant melanoma. This study reports the first systematic description of colitis due to BRAF and MEK inhibitors.

Methods

We studied consecutive patients with melanoma, treated with BRAF and MEK inhibitors, who had colitis requiring hospitalisation. Electronic files were studied; endoscopic biopsies and colectomy specimens were read centrally.

Results

Between January 2021 and March 2022, nine women and one man, aged 50–90 years, were studied. Nine patients received encorafenib and binimetinib; one patient received dabrafenib and trametinib. The main symptoms were diarrhoea, haematochezia, abdominal pain and intestinal obstruction. Blood tests showed anaemia, increased CRP and low serum albumin levels in most patients. All patients had ulcerations of the right colon with (2/10) or without (8/10) stenosis of the ileocecal valve, and 4/10 patients also had ulcerations distal to the right colon. Histopathological findings were suggestive of ischaemia and mild inflammation. Nine of the 10 patients discontinued BRAF/MEK inhibitors. Drugs were reintroduced in four patients, three of whom had a severe relapse of diarrhoea. Two patients required surgery and underwent intestinal resection. One patient died of enterocolitis.

Conclusion

BRAF/MEK inhibitors can induce severe colitis characterised by ulcerations of the right colon.
Contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to numerical equivalence in 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children
Authors: Chen Yinghe , Han Congcong , Yu Xiao , Yang Xiujie , Jiang Jiali , Zhao Yuxi
Published: December 2022

To investigate the contributions of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge to children's numerical equivalence, one hundred and one 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds were administered the dimensional change card sorting task, the day‐night task and the give‐a‐number task. The numerical equivalence was assessed with the numerical matching task in three surface similarity conditions. Results showed that, in the high surface similarity condition, cognitive flexibility and label knowledge, rather than inhibition, were significant predictors of children's performance in numerical equivalence. In the low surface similarity and the cross‐mapping conditions, only cognitive flexibility, rather than number label knowledge and inhibition, significantly explained the unique variance in numerical equivalence. Besides, cognitive flexibility explained more variation in numerical equivalence in the cross‐mapping condition compared with the low surface similarity condition. These findings highlight different roles of cognitive flexibility, inhibition and number label knowledge in numerical equivalence in the three surface similarity conditions.
Soft tissue esthetics around immediately provisionalized delayed implants with and without connective tissue graft: A randomized clinical trial pilot study
Authors: Abdelwahab Dina , Ezz AlArab Azza , El Nahass Hani
Published: December 2022

Objective

Evaluate the peri‐implant soft tissue esthetics following a single, immediately provisionalized, delayed implant with/‐out subepithelial connective tissue graft (SCTG).

Material and Methods

The eligible patients were randomized into two groups. Immediate provisionalization was performed with (test group: SCTGG) or without SCTG (control group: NGG). The soft tissue esthetics was assessed by Pink Esthetic Score (PES) and Mucosal Scarring Index (MSI), at 6 and 12 months, following final implant restoration.

Results

The SCTGG, compared to NGG, yielded a 0.2 increased PES at 12 months (95% confidence interval (CI): −1, 1.4) and a 0.2 decreased MSI score (95% CI −0.9, 0.5) with no statistically significant differences in PES and MSI between both groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

Soft tissue grafting around immediately provisionalized delayed implants could exhibit comparable results to immediate provisionalization alone in terms of peri‐implant soft tissue esthetics using PES and MSI (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03770975).
Smurf1 regulates ameloblast polarization by ubiquitination‐mediated degradation of RhoA
Authors: Niu Haoman , Bi Fei , Zhao Wenjun , Xu Yuchan , Han Qi , Guo Weihua , Chen Yu
Published: December 2022

Cell polarity is essential for ameloblast differentiation and enamel formation. Smurf1 can mediate cell polarization through ubiquitination degradation of specific substrates. But it remains unclear whether Smurf1 could regulate ameloblast polarity and the underlying mechanism. Here, immuno‐fluorescence staining and RT‐qPCR were applied to detect the expression of Smurf1 and F‐actin. A mouse lower incisor defect model was constructed. Scanning electron microscope, rat lower incisor culture, western blot, wound healing assay and trans‐well migration assay were performed to detect the influence of Smurf1 knockdown on ameloblast. IF double staining, western blot and co‐immunoprecipitation were conducted to detect the interaction between Smurf1 and RhoA. The in vivo experiment was also performed. We found that Smurf1 was mainly expressed in the membrane and cell cortex of ameloblast, similar to F‐actin. Smurf1 expression increased along ameloblast polarization and differentiation. After knocking down Smurf1, the cytoskeleton and cell morphology changed and the cell polarity was damaged. Smurf1 regulated ameloblast polarity through ubiquitination degradation of activated RhoA in vitro. Local knockdown of Smurf1 in rat lower incisor ameloblast resulted in ameloblast polarity loss, enamel matrix secretion disorder and chalky enamel, but RhoA inhibitor Y‐27632 could reverse this effect. Collectively, Smurf1 could regulate the polarization of ameloblast through ubiquitination degradation of activated RhoA, which contributed to the knowledge of tooth development and provided new research ideas for cell polarity.
Flood regimes alter the role of landform and topographic constraint on functional diversity of floodplain forests
Authors: Van Appledorn Molly , Baker Matthew E.
Published: December 2022

Understanding patterns of species coexistence is a fundamental challenge in ecology. The physical environment is believed to play an important role, influencing patterns of dispersal and biotic interactions across space and time. Floodplain forest species are presumed to interact strongly with their environment, as evidenced by pronounced spatial variation in forest composition associated with flood‐driven abiotic constraints. Questions of how, and to what degree, fine‐scale heterogeneity interacts with broad‐scale hydrogeomorphology to influence patterns of functional composition remain unresolved. We examined how functional diversity (i.e. richness and range of functional traits) and ecological strategies (i.e. functional trait combinations) of floodplain forest communities varied across regional and local gradients of flooding in a northern temperate region of the United States of America. We found functional diversity of woody overstory species varied across hydrogeomorphic settings and that different settings altered associations between functional diversity and both the relative elevation above and proximity to rivers. Ecological strategies shifted over local gradients of relative elevation and distance to channel with different magnitudes and directions depending on the broader hydrogeomorphic context. We found evidence that interactions among flood regimes and landform position impose different levels of functional constraint. These results indicate patterns of community assembly are not easily discerned from landform type or position alone, but rather from filtering that operates and interacts with biota over multiple spatial scales. Our results imply that it is important to characterize flood dynamics in ways that can be clearly linked to ecological processes and that treatment of floodplain landforms as transferable units across river‐valley segments is problematic, even within a single basin.
Rehearsing Imagined Futures: Creative Performance as a Resilient Process Among Refugees
Authors: ALEONG NICOLE
Published: December 2022

Cultivating resilience while navigating uncertainty is crucial for refugees. In the Netherlands, after receiving asylum and the right to work, refugees are often urged to adapt or evolve in hopes of successfully integrating into the Dutch economy. How do forced migrants who pursue work in creative enterprises help us rethink the relationship between forging new lives and uncertain futures? In this paper, resiliency of refugees is presented as a process of creative performance and experimentation. Efforts taken by refugees to explore, or ‘self‐potentialize’, new future creative pathways suggest that resilience is overly simplified when defined as a pursuit of resistance to integrate and conform into established creative industries. The stories of two refugees living in Amsterdam showcase how resiliency is future‐oriented, processual (Pink & Seale 2017), and connected to the preservation of one's ‘capacity to aspire’ (Appadurai 2013). ‘Future‐making’ is embedded into their creative pursuits and weaved into their ongoing journeys of personal and professional development. Ethnographic inquiry into the perspective of refugees pursuing work in the creative economy sheds light on the complexities and nuances of rehearsing alternative imagined futures.
Building Resilient Futures in the Virtual Everyday: Virtual Worlds and the Social Resilience of Teens During COVID‐19
Authors: GOPFFARTH JULIAN , JABLONSKY REBECCA , RICHARDSON CATHERINE
Published: December 2022

Virtual worlds have been central to an imagined future in which advances in technology propel new social practices. The recent focus within the technology industry on the “metaverse” is the latest iteration of imagined, utopian virtual worlds which have continually surfaced in literature, film, product development, and more since the 1960s. One might say that the concept of virtual worlds is resilient—but do these proposed virtual worlds actually make society more resilient? We argue that despite their endurance, these concepts present a deterministic vision of a singular future towards which humanity is inevitably progressing, revoking the agency, desires and resilience expressed by people today in their everyday realities. Building on original ethnographic research conducted with 31 teenagers in China, Germany and the US as well as past anthropological work on using ethnography to anticipate the future and teenage online practices, this paper conceptualizes resilience as present‐day creative adaptations which propel people into more desirable futures. Virtual worlds emerge as multilayered and equiprimordial spaces for the building of social worlds, giving teenagers novel tools to build and augment their social resilience.
Research and Design in Controversial Spaces
Authors: BACHETTI STEFANI
Published: December 2022

Research within public safety and law enforcement in America highlights important issues and considerations for designers and researchers. Within this industry exists controversial points of views and high stakes consequences. How do we as researchers balance empathy in spaces where points of views don't just differ, but actively clash? Who should we consider to be our true users within a product life cycle, and how do we ensure we are designing for the future rather than the present state of the world? This PechaKucha surfaces some of the strategies employed by the research and design teams at Motorola Solutions in a holistic effort to navigate these challenges.
Amplifying Resilient Communities: Identifying Resilient Community Practices to Better Inform Health System Design
Authors: RAJ ROMIT , GEORGE BABITHA , MARONA CRISTIN , WEST REBECCA , GOMEZ ANABEL , JOHNSON TRACY PILAR , PRAKASH ADITYA , SHARMA SUNNY , BIYANI AYUSHI , BARUA MRITTIKA , BRUNS CAL
Published: December 2022

Globally, the COVID‐19 pandemic has been an inflection point, bringing heightened awareness around the preparedness and resilience of public health systems in dealing with severe shocks. While the pandemic has accentuated the existing weakness in public health systems, for many, especially those belonging to marginalized sections of society, seeking healthcare has always been fraught with severe challenges and frictions.

This paper presents the findings from a two‐year design research project conducted in South Africa and Bangladesh, which studied the challenges faced by health seekers, especially those whose ability to access healthcare is compromised by a range of vulnerabilities. These populations display remarkably adaptive behaviors and innovations that are aimed at mitigating the lacunae in public health systems.

In our analysis, these lacunae are articulated as points of friction, which are the gaps between the expectations of health seekers while accessing healthcare and the ability of health systems to meet these expectations. For vulnerable communities, these points of friction are often accentuated and more acutely felt. Taking a design thinking lens, we see these points of friction as opportunities for change that can potentially drive innovations in the public health space, leading to better health outcomes. The paper concludes with a set of design principles, which are meant to address the frictions identified during the course of the study and inform more user centered health systems in the future.
Enhancing the structural diversity between forest patches—A concept and real‐world experiment to study biodiversity, multifunctionality and forest resilience across spatial scales
Authors: Müller Jörg , Mitesser Oliver , Cadotte Marc W. , van der Plas Fons , Mori Akira S. , Ammer Christian , Chao Anne , Scherer‐Lorenzen Michael , Baldrian Petr , Bässler Claus , Biedermann Peter , Cesarz Simone , Claßen Alice , Delory Benjamin M. , Feldhaar Heike , Fichtner Andreas , Hothorn Torsten , Kuenzer Claudia , Peters Marcell K. , Pierick Kerstin , Schmitt Thomas , Schuldt Bernhard , Seidel Dominik , Six Diana , Steffan‐Dewenter Ingolf , Thorn Simon , von Oheimb Goddert , Wegmann Martin , Weisser Wolfgang W. , Eisenhauer Nico
Published: December 2022

Intensification of land use by humans has led to a homogenization of landscapes and decreasing resilience of ecosystems globally due to a loss of biodiversity, including the majority of forests. Biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) research has provided compelling evidence for a positive effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functions and services at the local (α‐diversity) scale, but we largely lack empirical evidence on how the loss of between‐patch β‐diversity affects biodiversity and multifunctionality at the landscape scale (γ‐diversity). Here, we present a novel concept and experimental framework for elucidating BEF patterns at α‐, β‐, and γ‐scales in real landscapes at a forest management‐relevant scale. We examine this framework using 22 temperate broadleaf production forests, dominated by Fagus sylvatica. In 11 of these forests, we manipulated the structure between forest patches by increasing variation in canopy cover and deadwood. We hypothesized that an increase in landscape heterogeneity would enhance the β‐diversity of different trophic levels, as well as the β‐functionality of various ecosystem functions. We will develop a new statistical framework for BEF studies extending across scales and incorporating biodiversity measures from taxonomic to functional to phylogenetic diversity using Hill numbers. We will further expand the Hill number concept to multifunctionality allowing the decomposition of γ‐multifunctionality into α‐ and β‐components. Combining this analytic framework with our experimental data will allow us to test how an increase in between patch heterogeneity affects biodiversity and multifunctionality across spatial scales and trophic levels to help inform and improve forest resilience under climate change. Such an integrative concept for biodiversity and functionality, including spatial scales and multiple aspects of diversity and multifunctionality as well as physical and environmental structure in forests, will go far beyond the current widely applied approach in forestry to increase resilience of future forests through the manipulation of tree species composition.
Visual interstitial fibrosis assessment as continuous variable in protocol renal transplant biopsies
Authors: Keijbeck Anke , Raaijmaakers Anniek , Hillen Lisa , Gelens Marielle , van Kuijk Sander , Cleutjens Jack P M , Peutz‐Kootstra Carine , Christiaans Maarten
Published: December 2022

Aims

In current renal transplant pathology practice, interstitial fibrosis is visually assessed in categories according to the Banff classification. As this has a moderate reproducibility, which is little ameliorated by morphometric analysis, we investigated whether visual renal fibrosis assessment is feasible on a continuous scale, i.e. as a percentage of affected area of the cortex.

Methods and results

Protocol renal biopsies taken at transplantation (n = 125), three (n = 73) and 12 months (n = 88) after transplantation were visually scored in categories (Banff) and percentages for interstitial fibrosis (ci). Interobserver variation (ICC and weighted κ) was assessed, and morphometric analysis on Sirius red‐stained sections was performed. Correlations between the different methods and their association with donor age and eGFR 1 and 5 years post‐transplant were analysed using Pearson's or Spearman's rho. Interobserver agreement was equivalent for Banff and %ci (κ = 0.713 versus ICC = 0.792), and for Banff IF/TA and %IF/TA (κ = 0.615 versus ICC = 0.743). Both Banff and %ci were associated with Sirius red morphometry in 3 and 12 months. With all three methods, a significant correlation was found between donor age and fibrosis in the implantation biopsy and between fibrosis in the 12 months’ biopsy and eGFR at 1 and 5 years (eGFR at 1 year: Sirius red ρ = 0.487, %ci ρ = 0.393, Banff ρ = 0.413, all P < 0.01, eGFR at 5 years: Sirius red ρ = 0.392, %ci ρ = 0.333, Banff ρ = 0.435, all P < 0.01).

Conclusion

Interstitial fibrosis assessment on a continuous scale can be used next to scoring in categories according to the Banff classification in protocol renal transplant biopsies.
Tooth loss and periodontal status in patients with cardiovascular disease in the Serbian population: A randomized prospective study
Authors: Pejcic Ana , Kostic Milena , Marko Igic , Obradovic Radmila , Minic Ivan , Bradic‐Vasic Marija , Gligorijevic Nikola , Kurtagic Dzemil
Published: December 2022

Objectives

Chronic periodontal infections may predispose to cardiovascular disease. Since tooth loss may be due to periodontitis it is assumed that tooth loss can also predisposes cardiovascular disease. The aim was to investigate the possible relationship between the severity of the clinical picture of periodontitis and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease.

Methods

We evaluated the association between clinical periodontal parameters, tooth loss and cardiovascular incident. A total of 100 subjects (50 subjects diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and 50 in control group without cardiovascular disease) underwent a dental examination. Tooth loss in all participants was caused only as a consequence of periodontitis. In addition to periodontal status, conventional risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, smoking, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes) were measured, too.

Results

Periodontal status was worse in patients in the group with cardiovascular disease compared to the group without cardiovascular disease. A significant association was observed between tooth loss levels and cardiovascular disease. In the group of patients who had cardiovascular disease, tooth loss was more than 50%. In the group of patients without cardiovascular disease, tooth loss was about 20% of the total number of teeth. A significant association was observed between tooth loss levels and cardiovascular disease prevalence.

Conclusion

This study presents relationship between number of teeth and cardiovascular disease, indicating a link between oral health and cardiovascular disease.
A comparative study on nivolumab and axitinib as secondary treatment in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: A multi‐institutional retrospective study in Japan
Authors: Kato Taigo , Yumiba Satoru , Nakata Wataru , Nakano Kosuke , Nagahara Akira , Matsuzaki Kyosuke , Hayashi Yujiro , Hatano Koji , Kawashima Atsunari , Takao Tetsuya , Nishimura Kensaku , Nakai Yasutomo , Nakayama Masashi , Nishimura Kazuo , Takada Shingo , Tsujihata Masao , Uemura Motohide , Nonomura Norio , Imamura Ryoichi
Published: December 2022

Objectives

When primary treatment has been inadequate, nivolumab and axitinib are often used as a secondary treatments for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). However, there have been few reports comparing the efficacy and safety of these drugs.

Methods

We retrospectively investigated 58 patients treated with nivolumab and 57 patients treated with axitinib as secondary treatment between April 2013 and December 2019. We then assessed the clinical efficacy and safety of the treatments in both groups.

Results

The most common primary therapy was sunitinib (61.7%). Both nivolumab and axitinib groups showed no significant differences in terms of the objective response rate and disease control rate (p = 0.280 and p = 0.518, respectively). Importantly, progression‐free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) seemed to be similar in patients treated with nivolumab and axitinib (p = 0.527 and p = 0.266, respectively), irrespective of the objective response to primary therapy. Furthermore, a Cox proportional hazards model showed that pretreatment Karnofsky Performance Status was significantly associated with PFS and OS. Although the incidence of adverse events was significantly higher in the patients treated with axitinib, there was no significant difference in time to treatment failure between the two groups.

Conclusions

Nivolumab and axitinib showed similar clinical benefits as secondary treatment in patients with mRCC; thus, they should be an option in sequential therapy following treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Future studies and feasible therapeutic biomarkers would help predict the clinical response to TKIs or immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with mRCC.
Anything for a quiet life: shelter from mobbers drives reproductive success in a top‐level avian predator
Authors: Rebollo Salvador , Pérez‐Camacho Lorenzo , Martínez‐Hesterkamp Sara , Tapia Luis , Fernández‐Pereira José M. , Morales‐Castilla Ignacio
Published: December 2022

Understanding how habitat structure relates to reproductive performance of species can help identify what habitats are of the highest quality for a given species and thereby guide effective management. Here, we compared the influence of prey abundance and the amount of shelter area on the relationship between habitat and breeding performance. We focused on the forest‐dwelling northern goshawkAccipiter gentilisin an agroforestry system. Using structural equation modelling, we tested the associations between reproductive performance and three explanatory factors: habitat structure, abundance of food resources or levels of mobbing disturbance, and prey supply to the nest. Our results suggest that habitat structure influences reproductive performance through shelter rather than through prey abundance. During the study period, forested habitats in the breeding territories provided shelter to the goshawk, reducing disturbance by carrion crowsCorvus corone, which acted as large, aggressive, social mobbers. Decreased disturbance increased prey supply to the nest, probably because it favored food accessibility and male goshawk foraging efficiency. Habitat was not significantly associated with quality of the breeders, both in terms of body size and seniority in the territories. Our findings suggest that reproductive performance, and therefore habitat quality, may depend more on sheltered access to food resources than on the amount of food available. Our observation that mobbers decrease predator foraging efficiency highlights the possibility of designing effective, socially acceptable predator management strategies to protect sensitive domestic prey.
RNF7 promotes glioma growth via the PI3K/AKT signalling axis
Authors: Tang Nan , Zhu Kai , Jiang Cheng , Xiong Zhiyong , Wang Qiangping , Li Junjun , Xu Weiming
Published: December 2022

RNF7 has been reported to play critical roles in various cancers. However, the underlying mechanisms of RNF7 in glioma development remain largely unknown. Herein, the expression level of RNF7 was examined in tissues by quantitative real‐time PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The effect of RNF7 on glioma progression was measured by performing CCK‐8 and apoptosis assays, cell cycle‐related experiments and animal experiments. The effect of RNF7 on PI3K/AKT signalling pathway was tested by Western blotting. First, we found that RNF7 was upregulated in tumour tissue compared with normal brain tissue, especially in high‐grade glioma, and the high expression of RNF7 was significantly related to tumour size, Karnofsky Performance Scale score and a poor prognosis. Second, RNF7 overexpression facilitated tumour cell cycle progression and cell proliferation and suppressed apoptosis. Conversely, RNF7 knockdown suppressed tumour cell cycle progression and cell proliferation and facilitated apoptosis. Furthermore, follow‐up mechanistic studies indicated that RNF7 could facilitate glioma cell proliferation and cell cycle progression and inhibit apoptosis by activating the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway. This study shows that RNF7 can clearly promote glioma cell proliferation by facilitating cell cycle progression and inhibiting apoptosis by activating the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway. Targeting the RNF7/PI3K/AKT axis may provide a new perspective on the prevention or treatment of glioma.
Formation of multicellular colonies by choanoflagellates increases susceptibility to capture by amoeboid predators
Authors: Chin Nicole E. , Wu Tiffany C. , O'Toole J. Michael , Xu Kevin , Hata Tom , Koehl Mimi A. R.
Published: December 2022

Many heterotrophic microbial eukaryotes are size‐selective feeders. Some microorganisms increase their size by forming multicellular colonies. We used choanoflagellates, Salpingoeca helianthica, which can be unicellular or form multicellular colonies, to study the effects of multicellularity on vulnerability to predation by the raptorial protozoan predator, Amoeba proteus, which captures prey with pseudopodia. Videomicrography used to measure the behavior of interacting S. helianthica and A. proteus revealed that large choanoflagellate colonies were more susceptible to capture than were small colonies or single cells. Swimming colonies produced larger flow fields than did swimming unicellular choanoflagellates, and the distance of S. helianthica from A. proteus when pseudopod formation started was greater for colonies than for single cells. Prey size did not affect the number of pseudopodia formed and the time between their formation, pulsatile kinematics and speed of extension by pseudopodia, or percent of prey lost by the predator. S. helianthica did not change swimming speed or execute escape maneuvers in response to being pursued by pseudopodia, so size‐selective feeding by A. proteus was due to predator behavior rather than prey escape. Our results do not support the theory that the selective advantage of becoming multicellular by choanoflagellate‐like ancestors of animals was reduced susceptibility to protozoan predation.
Potential virulence factors of Nocardia seriolae AHLQ20‐01 based on whole‐genome analysis and its pathogenicity to largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
Authors: Cao Shoulin , Chang Jiaojiao , Yue Xiaozhen , Li Jinnian , Liu Xuelan
Published: December 2022

Nocardia seriolae is a major causative agent of fish nocardiosis that results in serious economic losses in the aquaculture industry. However, the virulence factors and pathogenic mechanisms of the bacterium are poorly understood. Here, a new N. seriolae strain AHLQ20‐01 was isolated from the diseased Micropterus salmoides and identified by phenotypic examination combined with 16S rRNA sequencing. Subsequently, the potential virulence factors of the strain were analysed at genome level by whole‐genome sequencing. The results showed that the whole‐genome sequence derived from N. seriolae AHLQ20‐01 circular chromosome contains 8,129,380 bp DNA with G + C content of 68.14%, and encompasses 7650 protein‐coding genes, 114 pseudo‐genes, 3 rRNAs, 66 tRNAs and 36 non‐coding RNAs. More importantly, a total of 139 genes, which mainly involved in adhesion, invasion, resistance to oxidative and nitrosative stress, phagosome arresting, iron acquisition system, toxin production and bacterial secretion systems, were identified as core virulence‐associated genes. Furthermore, the pathogenicity of N. seriolae AHLQ20‐01 to M. salmoides was further investigated through experimental infection. It was found that the LD50 value of the strain to M. salmoides was 9.3 × 106 colony forming unit/fish. Histopathological examination demonstrated typical granuloma with varying sizes in the liver, head kidney, spleen and heart of the experimentally infected fish. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling assay and 4′,6‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole staining showed that there were distinctly more apoptotic cells in all the tested tissues in the infection group, but not in the control group. Together, these findings provide the foundation to further explore the pathogenic mechanism of N. seriolae, which might contribute to the prevention and treatment of fish nocardiosis.
Evaluation and selection of large cardamom supply chain using fuzzy logic based decision‐making model
Authors: Dash Soumya , Dash Kshirod Kumar , Choudhury Shibabrata
Published: December 2022

Large cardamom is a high‐value, low‐volume cash crop that is commercially important. The evaluation and selection of suppliers is a complicated and common multi‐criteria decision‐making challenge. Supplier selection becomes more difficult and unpredictable as a result of the necessity for human judgment in many areas of supplier selection, such as preferences for alternatives or supplier qualities. The objective of the study was to evaluate various large cardamom supply chains based on various supply chain quality parameters. The proposed selection strategy used fuzzy logic to identify the best acceptable supplier as well as rank the various supply chain parameters. The major steps of supply chain evaluation by fuzzy modeling involve the calculation of triplets for the score of various supply chains, calculation of triplets for the score of supply chain quality attributes, and calculation of overall membership function on a standard fuzzy scale. The results revealed that the proposed fuzzy logic method was well suited as a decision‐making tool for supplier evaluation. The assessment of various supply chains showed that the best supply chain management method included material moving from producers to consumers through aggregators, commission agents, wholesalers, and retailers. Comparing the overall similarity values of each chosen supply chain, customer satisfaction was ranked top among the quality attributes of the supply chain, followed by external and internal support, internal performance, and strategic and operational coordination. Consumers monitoring the performance of the supply chain can assist in information acquisition, influence the behavior of supply chain participants, and enhance overall performance.

Practical application

Selecting a suitable large cardamom supply chain would provide a solution for regulating the flow of products and information across the supply chain network. Implementing fuzzy logic for preferred supplier selection has a significant impact on the financial perspective. In the fuzzy logic for a large cardamom supply chain, fuzzy sets or membership functions were employed to express input space to output space. Fuzzification was used to transform a vector of crisp input data acquired from a study of a large cardamom supply chain into a vector of equivalent input language variables. The fuzzy output variables are defuzzified in the defuzzification process, and the fuzzy variables are turned into crisp values or crisp output vectors.
Populist infrastructures: The aesthetics and semiotics of how obras do politics in Lima, Peru
Authors: Zhang Adela
Published: December 2022

Obrismo, or the exchange of public works projects (obras) for popular goodwill, is a fixture of politics in Latin America. In Lima, Peru, various politicians use aesthetic‐semiotic forms like bright colors and snappy hashtags to highlight their concrete contributions to municipal governance. This article examines the specific aesthetic and semiotic operations behind the political alchemy that aims to transform material infrastructures into popular legitimacy. Through digital anthropology of social media, I argue that the aesthetics of obras reveal a populist logic underpinning how infrastructures do politics in Lima. I also suggest that using aesthetic forms to articulate a political constituency like “the people” is a fundamentally unstable political practice. Through colors and hashtags, obras that promise popular legitimacy may instead be resignified, resulting in widespread disapproval. This article therefore uncovers the open‐ended populist possibilities of obras to underscore the need to collectively rethink how populism and infrastructures operate in Latin American politics, online and offline.
Imágenes de la muerte y necropolítica de la dictadura en Chile
Authors: Pavez Ojeda Jorge
Published: December 2022

Violent death and forced disappearance, as necropolitical operations of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (Chile, 1973–1990), has been the subject of a war of images where the naturalization of disappearance and the invisibilization of violence were confronted by images created to make visible what state terrorism had tried to erase from historical memory. This article addresses the becoming‐image of these bodies, after their organic death, in the different temporalities of their inscription in social memory through art, cinema, anthropology, and the law. I offer thus a journey into a little explored dimension of necropolitics, such as attempts to manage time and memory through operations of concealment and the technopolitics of images. The written montage of Walter Benjamin's “dialectical images,” which juxtapose, condense, and intertwine heterogeneous temporalities, seeks to show how images of the dead can contribute to disabling the necropolitical administration of memory.
“En Bolivia lo hacen andar”: Régimen de mantenimiento, dimensión emotiva y prácticas de renovación vehicular del transporte colectivo de La Paz
Authors: García‐Jerez Francisco
Published: December 2022

In this article I analyze the emotional logic that urban transport drivers in La Paz assign to their vehicles in their life cycle. I pay attention to the emotive dimension of the “technical rationality” of practices of vehicle renewal, reuse, and maintenance—that is to say, the set of emotions, affections, and, especially, feelings that emerge in keeping the vehicle in good condition or in its possible replacement. This emotional dimension does not emerge as an autonomous sphere of technical rationality but rather is inherent to it. My hypothesis also points to its overflowing and kaleidoscopic character, since it transcends the individual experience by allowing us to analyze other phenomena of social life.
Tracking farmland investment in Australia: Institutional finance and the politics of data mapping
Authors: Smith Kiah , Langford Alexandra , Lawrence Geoffrey
Published: December 2022

Tracking farmland purchases is central to interpreting transnational finance's growing power in agrarian restructuring. Australia's publicRegisterof foreign land ownership reveals little about agrarian change, however. In presenting the first comprehensive mapping of farmland purchases made between 2008 and 2020, this paper examines the ways that financial investments are altering farm ownership patterns in Australia. First, we show that most foreign owned land has been purchased by only 10 pastoral companies, which are implicated in speculative development activities. Second, foreign investment in cropping and horticulture is more significant than it appears in theRegister, with investments in agricultural infrastructure increasingly driving land use change. Third, we illustrate the deepening entrenchment of institutional finance. By engaging with the findings from our dataset as well as with the politics of data that have shaped the availability of information, the paper progresses understandings of the financialization of farmland in both its material and ideational aspects.
The therapeutic relationship at the heart of nursing care: A participatory action research in acute mental health units
Authors: Tolosa‐Merlos Diana , Moreno‐Poyato Antonio R. , González‐Palau Francesca , Pérez‐Toribio Alonso , Casanova‐Garrigós Georgina , Delgado‐Hito Pilar ,   MiRTCIME.CAT Working Group
Published: December 2022

Aims and Objectives

To explore the process of change within the clinical practice of nurses in mental health inpatient units in the context of a participatory process to improve the nurse–patient therapeutic relationship.

Design

Participatory Action Research.

Methods

Ninety‐six nurses from 18 mental health units participated. Data were collected through focus groups and reflective diaries between March 2018 and January 2020. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. The COREQ guidelines were used.

Results

The research process was carried out through two cycles of four stages each in which the nurses were able to identify the facilitating and limiting elements of their practice in relation to the therapeutic relationship. They then proposed two consensual improvement strategies for all the units, which they called reserved therapeutic space and postincident analysis. Finally, they implemented and evaluated the two strategies for change.

Conclusions

This study has shown that, despite the different cultural and structural realities of the participating units, it is possible to implement a collaborative process of change, provided the needs and expectations of both the participants and the organisations are similar.

Relevance to Clinical Practice

The results obtained through Participatory Action Research were directly transferred to clinical practice, thus having an impact on individual nurses and patients, as well as on the collective dynamics of the teams and aspects related to the management of the units.

No Patient or Public Contribution

Patient or public input is not directly applicable to this study. Patients were recipients of the changes that were occurring in the nurses as part of their daily clinical practice.
Dynamics of personality: The Zurich model of motivation revived, extended, and applied to personality
Authors: Quirin Markus , Malekzad Farhood , Paudel Dinesh , Knoll Alois C. , Mirolli Marco
Published: December 2022

Personality researchers are increasingly interested in the dynamics of personality, that is, the proximal causal mechanisms underlying personality and behavior. Here, we review the Zurich Model of Social Motivation concerning its potential to explain central aspects of personality. It is a cybernetic model that provides a nomothetic structure of the causal relationships among needs for security, arousal, and power, and uses them to explain an individual's approach‐avoidance or “proximity‐distance” behavior. We review core features of the model and extend them by adding features based on recent behavioral and neuroscientific evidence. We close by discussing the model considering contemporary issues in personality science such as the dynamics of personality, five‐factor personality traits and states, and personality growth.
Nutritional value, productive performance, and economic efficiency response to the degree of steam‐flaked yellow corn in growing rabbits
Authors: El‐Maghawry Hend A. M. , Bassiony Samar S.
Published: December 2022

The performance of a corn steam flaker was evaluated to improve steam‐flaked corn (SFC) quality and investigate its feeding effects on nutritional value, productive performance, digestibility coefficients, and economic efficiency of growing rabbits. The flaker performance was studied as a function of change in steaming time, steam chest temperature and roll gap. Performance evaluation of the flaker was carried out in terms of flake thickness (FT), flake density (FD) and processing index (PI) as well as rabbit feeding trials. Experimental results clarified that values of FT, FD and PI are in the optimal limits under conditions of 118°C steam chest temperature, 40 min steaming time and 0.80 mm roll gap. Steam flaking is an acceptable process for rabbit feeds as SFC with optimal FD of between 0.36 and 0.39 kg/L corresponding to a PI of between 50.14% and 54.32% significantly improve the nutritional value of SFC compared with whole corn grain by 1.31%, 1.26% and 160.75% respectively. Also, SFC severely decreased the total count of harmful bacteria, fungi count and mortality rate compared to whole corn grain. Rabbits fed SFC processed to the density of 0.36 kg/L of the diet had better body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, organic matter digestibility, net revenue and economic efficiency of 9.29%, 8.89%, 4.65%, 15.62% and 15.43% compared with rabbit fed whole yellow corn grain respectively. In conclusion, it is convenient to entirely substitute whole corn grain with SFC to be utilised in rabbits' diets where achieved the best feeding effects results.
Diverse flowering responses subjecting to ambient high temperature in soybean under short‐day conditions
Authors: Tang Yang , Lu Sijia , Fang Chao , Liu Huan , Dong Lidong , Li Haiyang , Su Tong , Li Shichen , Wang Lingshuang , Cheng Qun , Liu Baohui , Lin Xiaoya , Kong Fanjiang
Published: December 2022

Flowering time is one of important agronomic traits determining the crop yield and affected by high temperature. When facing high ambient temperature, plants often initiate early flowering as an adaptive strategy to escape the stress and ensure successful reproduction. However, here we find opposing ways in the short‐day crop soybean to respond to different levels of high temperatures, in which flowering accelerates when temperature changes from 25 to 30 °C, but delays when temperature reaches 35 °C under short day. phyA‐E1, possibly photoperiodic pathway, is crucial for 35 °C‐mediated late flowering, however, does not contribute to promoting flowering at 30 °C. 30 °C‐induced up‐regulation of FT2a and FT5a leads to early flowering, independent of E1. Therefore, distinct responsive mechanisms are adopted by soybean when facing different levels of high temperatures for successful flowering and reproduction.
Effects of Japanese policies and novel hypnotics on long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics
Authors: Takeshima Masahiro , Yoshizawa Kazuhisa , Enomoto Minori , Ogasawara Masaya , Kudo Mizuki , Itoh Yu , Ayabe Naoko , Takaesu Yoshikazu , Mishima Kazuo
Published: December 2022

Aim

The current study aimed to examine the effect of Japanese policies for appropriate hypnotics use and novel hypnotics (e.g. melatonin receptor agonist and orexin receptor antagonist [ORA]) on long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics.

Methods

This retrospective study was conducted using a large‐scale health insurance claims database. Among subscribers prescribed hypnotics at least once between April 2005 and March 2021, those prescribed hypnotics for the first time after being included in the database in three periods (period 1: April 2012–March 2013; period 2: April 2016–March 2017; and period 3: April 2018–March 2019) were eligible. These were set considering the timing of the 2014 and 2018 medical fee revisions (2014 for polypharmacy of three or more hypnotics, 2018 for long‐term prescription of benzodiazepine receptor agonists for >12 months). The duration of consecutive prescriptions of hypnotics over 12 months was evaluated. Factors associated with short‐term prescriptions of hypnotics were also investigated.

Results

In total, 186 535 participants were newly prescribed hypnotics. The mean duration of prescriptions was 2.9 months, and 9.3% of participants were prescribed hypnotics for 12 months. Prescription periods were not associated with short‐term prescriptions of hypnotics. ORA use was associated with short‐term prescriptions of hypnotics (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.077 [95% confidence interval, 1.035–1.120]; P < 0.001), but melatonin receptor agonist use was not.

Conclusion

Japanese policies had no statistically significant effect on long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics. Although this study suggests initiating ORA for insomniacs as a candidate strategy to prevent long‐term prescriptions of hypnotics, further research is necessary to draw conclusions.