bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synchronized affect in shared experiences strengthens social connection
Authors: Cheong Jin Hyun , Molani Zainab , Sadhukha Sushmita , Chang Luke J.
Published: October 2023

People structure their days to experience events with others. We gather to eat meals, watch TV, and attend concerts together. What constitutes a shared experience and how does it manifest in dyadic behavior? The present study investigates how shared experiences—measured through emotional, motoric, physiological, and cognitive alignment—promote social bonding. We recorded the facial expressions and electrodermal activity (EDA) of participants as they watched four episodes of a TV show for a total of 4 h with another participant. Participants displayed temporally synchronized and spatially aligned emotional facial expressions and the degree of synchronization predicted the self-reported social connection ratings between viewing partners. We observed a similar pattern of results for dyadic physiological synchrony measured via EDA and their cognitive impressions of the characters. All four of these factors, temporal synchrony of positive facial expressions, spatial alignment of expressions, EDA synchrony, and character impression similarity, contributed to a latent factor of a shared experience that predicted social connection. Our findings suggest that the development of interpersonal affiliations in shared experiences emerges from shared affective experiences comprising synchronous processes and demonstrate that these complex interpersonal processes can be studied in a holistic and multi-modal framework leveraging naturalistic experimental designs.
Imagining the future of optical microscopy: everything, everywhere, all at once
Authors: Balasubramanian Harikrushnan , Hobson Chad M. , Chew Teng-Leong , Aaron Jesse S.
Published: October 2023

The optical microscope has revolutionized biology since at least the 17th Century. Since then, it has progressed from a largely observational tool to a powerful bioanalytical platform. However, realizing its full potential to study live specimens is hindered by a daunting array of technical challenges. Here, we delve into the current state of live imaging to explore the barriers that must be overcome and the possibilities that lie ahead. We venture to envision a future where we can visualize and study everything, everywhere, all at once – from the intricate inner workings of a single cell to the dynamic interplay across entire organisms, and a world where scientists could access the necessary microscopy technologies anywhere.
Long-term viable chimeric nephrons generated from progenitor cells are a reliable model in cisplatin-induced toxicity
Authors: Matsui Kenji , Yamanaka Shuichiro , Chen Sandy , Matsumoto Naoto , Morimoto Keita , Kinoshita Yoshitaka , Inage Yuka , Saito Yatsumu , Takamura Tsuyoshi , Fujimoto Toshinari , Tajiri Susumu , Matsumoto Kei , Kobayashi Eiji , Yokoo Takashi
Published: October 2023

Kidney organoids have shown promise as evaluation tools, but their in vitro maturity remains limited. Transplantation into adult mice has aided in maturation; however, their lack of urinary tract connection limits long-term viability. Thus, long-term viable generated nephrons have not been demonstrated. In this study, we present an approachable method in which mouse and rat renal progenitor cells are injected into the developing kidneys of neonatal mice, resulting in the generation of chimeric nephrons integrated with the host urinary tracts. These chimeric nephrons exhibit similar maturation to the host nephrons, long-term viability with excretion and reabsorption functions, and cisplatin-induced renal injury in both acute and chronic phases, as confirmed by single-cell RNA-sequencing. Additionally, induced human nephron progenitor cells differentiate into nephrons within the neonatal kidneys. Collectively, neonatal injection represents a promising approach for in vivo nephron generation, with potential applications in kidney regeneration, drug screening, and pathological analysis.
Topological links in predicted protein complex structures reveal limitations of AlphaFold
Authors: Hou Yingnan , Xie Tengyu , He Liuqing , Tao Liang , Huang Jing
Published: October 2023

AlphaFold is making great progress in protein structure prediction, not only for single-chain proteins but also for multi-chain protein complexes. When using AlphaFold-Multimer to predict protein‒protein complexes, we observed some unusual structures in which chains are looped around each other to form topologically intertwining links at the interface. Based on physical principles, such topological links should generally not exist in native protein complex structures unless covalent modifications of residues are involved. Although it is well known and has been well studied that protein structures may have topologically complex shapes such as knots and links, existing methods are hampered by the chain closure problem and show poor performance in identifying topologically linked structures in protein‒protein complexes. Therefore, we address the chain closure problem by using sliding windows from a local perspective and propose an algorithm to measure the topological–geometric features that can be used to identify topologically linked structures. An application of the method to AlphaFold-Multimer-predicted protein complex structures finds that approximately 1.72% of the predicted structures contain topological links. The method presented in this work will facilitate the computational study of protein‒protein interactions and help further improve the structural prediction of multi-chain protein complexes.
Understanding the excited state dynamics and redox behavior of highly luminescent and electrochemically active Eu(iii)–DES complex
Authors: Patil Sushil M. , Agrawal Ruchi , Gupta Ruma , Kumar Gupta Santosh , Ghosh Ayan , Kumar Sumit , Jayachandran Kavitha , Ghanty Tapan K.
Published: October 2023

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) are eco-friendly molecular solvents with diverse applications, including nuclear fuel reprocessing, material recycling, and more.
Multidisciplinary approaches for enzyme biocatalysis in pharmaceuticals: protein engineering, computational biology, and nanoarchitectonics
Authors: Kim Suhyeon , Ga Seongmin , Bae Hayeon , Sluyter Ronald , Konstantinov Konstantin , Shrestha Lok Kumar , Kim Yong Ho , Kim Jung Ho , Ariga Katsuhiko
Published: October 2023

This article reviews the integration of multidisciplinary approaches, including protein engineering, computational biology, and nanoarchitectonics, to advance pharmaceutical enzyme biocatalysis.
Regio- and stereoselective divergent cross-coupling of alkynes and disubstituted alkenes via photoredox cobalt dual catalysis
Authors: Zhang Shi-Qi , Li Yan-Lin , Cui Kun , Chen Chen , Gu Zheng-Yang , He Hu , Xia Ji-Bao
Published: October 2023

Regio- and stereoselective divergent cross-coupling of alkynes and gem-disubstituted alkenes has been reported by merging visible light photoredox and cobalt catalysis. The selective ene-type or reductive coupling reaction has been achieved by stwich of different ligands.
Systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions used in the management of obesity
Authors: O’Meara S , Glenny A‐M , Sheldon T , Melville A , Wilson C
Published: October 2023

This paper briefly describes the principles of undertaking a systematic review of the effectiveness of obesity management interventions.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of interventions used in the prevention and treatment of obesity and the maintenance of weight loss.

Background: Obesity represents a serious public health problem due to the associated risks of disease and mortality. Prevalence of the condition is increasing and the relevant Health of the Nation target is unlikely to be met.

Methods and search strategy: A qualitative systematic review of the research literature, using electronic databases and contact with experts.

Inclusion criteria: Randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of interventions used in managing obesity in which participants were observed for a minimum of 1 year. For studies of prevention, non‐randomized controlled trials with a concurrent control group were also eligible.

Results: Ninety‐nine studies were included, most of which had been performed in North America. The methodological quality of many of the studies was poor. Family therapy and community education programmes were shown to be effective in preventing obesity in children and adults, respectively. Programmes based on the reduction of sedentary behaviour were effective in the treatment of obese children. For the treatment of obese adults, behavioural, diet, exercise and drug therapies can be effective when used in combination. Surgery is effective in morbidly obese patients. Weight regain is common following many types of weight loss interventions, and maintenance programmes based on continued contact may be useful.

Conclusions: This review has identified some potentially effective interventions for the management of obesity. However, results should be interpreted with caution due to problems with the methodological quality of primary studies.
Spherical robot: A novel robot for exploration in harsh unknown environments
Authors: Ren Wei , Wang You , Liu Haoxiang , Jin Song , Wang Yixu , Liu Yifan , Zhang Ziang , Hu Tao , Li Guang
Published: October 2023

The authors propose a complete software and hardware framework for a novel spherical robot to cope with exploration in harsh and unknown environments. The proposed robot is driven by a heavy pendulum covered by a fully enclosed spherical shell, which is strongly protected, amphibious, anti‐overturn and has a long‐battery‐life. Algorithms for location and perception, planning and motion control are comprehensively designed. On the one hand, the authors fully consider the kinematic model of a spherical robot, propose a positioning algorithm that fuses data from inertial measurement units, motor encoder and Global Navigation Satellite System, improve global path planning algorithm based on Hybrid A* and design an instruction planning controller based on model predictive control (MPC). On the other hand, the dynamic model is built, linear MPC and robust servo linear quadratic regulator algorithm is improved, and a speed controller and a direction controller are designed. In addition, based on the pose and motion characteristics of a spherical robot, a visual obstacle perception algorithm and an electronic image stabilisation algorithm are designed. Finally, the authors build physical systems to verify the effectiveness of the above algorithms through experiments.
StableNet: Distinguishing the hard samples to overcome language priors in visual question answering
Authors: Yu Zhengtao , Zhao Jia , Guo Chenliang , Yang Ying
Published: October 2023

With the booming fields of computer vision and natural language processing, cross‐modal intersections such as visual question answering (VQA) have become very popular. However, several studies have shown that many VQA models suffer from severe language prior problems. After a series of experiments, the authors found that previous VQA models are in an unstable state, that is, when training is repeated several times on the same dataset, there are significant differences between the distributions of the predicted answers given by the models each time, and these models also perform unsatisfactorily in terms of accuracy. The reason for model instability is that some of the difficult samples bring serious interference to model training, so we design a method to measure model stability quantitatively and further propose a method that can alleviate both model imbalance and instability phenomena. Precisely, the question types are classified into simple and difficult ones different weighting measures are applied. By imposing constraints on the training process for both types of questions, the stability and accuracy of the model improve. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, which achieves 63.11% on VQA‐CP v2 and 75.49% with the addition of the pre‐trained model.
Learning to code: interplay of attitude, emotions, and fun
Authors: Tisza Gabriella , Markopoulos Panos , Bekker Tilde
Published: October 2023

There is a worldwide pursuit to increase children’s interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) especially in computer science through extra-curricular activities such as coding workshops, hackathons, and FabLab initiatives. However, the underlying reasons for children’s willingness for participation in such activities, and the effect of participation on children’s topic-related knowledge are still not well understood. In order to understand the factors influencing children’s attitude about programming and investigate what effects children’s learning during such activities, we designed a workshop for introducing primary school children to programming, and implemented it for a Dutch primary school class (n = 23) as an exploratory case study. We recorded their attitudes towards programming, their state-level emotions, the fun they experienced, and the initial- and final knowledge on the topic and their gender for comparative purposes. Our findings indicate that the coding workshop had a positive effect on children’s state-level emotions, as children felt significantly happier, more excited and more in control at the end of the workshop than at the beginning of it. We also found that children’s attitude toward programming changed significantly and positively during the workshop, and that children’s attitude about programming is influenced by the experienced fun while learning to code regardless their gender. Additionally, we found that the workshop was successful in terms of knowledge acquisition: both the measured and the reported learning indicate that children learned during the activity. Our findings also indicate that children’s reported learning has a positive association with their state-level emotion feeling in control and that the measured learning is negatively influenced by high levels of stress. Accordingly, our results draw attention to the downshifting effect of high arousal emotions on the measured learning. Throughout the paper we discuss gender differences along the study findings and elaborate on further practical implications.
Government regulatory policies for digital transformation in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises: an evolutionary game analysis
Authors: Zhu Jianhua , Baker Julien S. , Song Zhiting , Yue Xiao-Guang , Li Wenqi
Published: October 2023

In recent years, digital transformation (DT) has become an inevitable choice for manufacturing enterprises to achieve sustainable development. As a large number of enterprise groups, small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) play an important role in the industrial development of China. However, due to insufficient resource investment, high transformation costs, lack of talents, and unclear transformation pathways, how the government can help SMMEs carry out DT has become an important research topic. Based on this background, this study considers the strategies of government, third-party demonstration enterprises (TDEs) and SMMEs, develops and builds a three-party evolutionary game model, and puts forward a governance mechanism for effective DT strategies (TDEs guide DT and SMMEs conduct DT). This study has drawn many interesting conclusions. (1) If the government chooses not to regulate, when SMMEs are risk-neutral, the government only needs to increase the rewards for SMMEs to effectively promote DT. When SMMEs are risk-averse, the government needs to increase the penalties for SMMEs and increase the rewards for TDEs to effectively promote DT. (2) If the government chooses to regulate, when SMMEs are risk-neutral, the government needs to increase the penalties for both TDEs and SMMEs to effectively promote DT. When SMMEs are risk-averse, the government only needs to increase penalties on SMMEs or TDEs to effectively promote DT. (3) When SMMEs are risk-averse, the government’s best choice is regulation. Because when the government does not regulate, DT may fail even if the government increases the penalties for SMMEs and increases the incentives for TDEs.
Do ESG controversies moderate the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance in oil and gas firms?
Authors: García-Amate Antonio , Ramírez-Orellana Alicia , Rojo-Ramírez Alfonso A. , Casado-Belmonte M. Pilar
Published: October 2023

The oil and gas industry is enmeshed in a continuous debate regarding the negative impact that its activity has on the sustainability of the environment. Increasingly, the market and stakeholders are positively evaluating those firms which are socially responsible and penalizing those that are not. Literature has analyzed the market view through the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) controversies and their relationship with Corporate Financial Performance (CFP), as well as with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. This study analyzes the influence of ESG controversies as a moderating variable on the relationship between Environmental, Social, and Governance factors and Corporate Financial Performance from a market valuation perspective. To perform this analysis, PLS-SEM structural equations have been applied to a sample of 264 oil and gas firms globally. The results confirm the moderating influence of ESG controversies on the relationship between E, S, and G factors and Corporate Financial Performance.
ChatGPT-3.5 as writing assistance in students’ essays
Authors: Bašić Željana , Banovac Ana , Kružić Ivana , Jerković Ivan
Published: October 2023

ChatGPT-3.5, an AI language model capable of text generation, translation, summarization, and question-answering, has recently been released for public use. Studies have shown it can generate abstracts, research papers, and dissertations, and create quality essays on different topics. This led to ethical issues in using ChatGPT in academic writing, AI authorship, and evaluating students’ essays. However, it is still unknown how ChatGPT performs in students’ environments as a writing assistant tool and if it enhances students’ essay-writing performance. In the present study, we examined students’ essay-writing performances with or without ChatGPT as an essay-writing assistance tool. The average essay grade was C for both control (traditional essay-writing, n = 9) and experimental (ChatGPT-assisted essay-writing, n = 9) groups. None of the predictors affected essay scores: group, writing duration, study module, and GPA. The text unauthenticity was slightly higher in the experimental group, but the similarity among essays was generally low in the overall sample. In the experimental group, the AI classifier recognized more potential AI-generated texts. Our results demonstrate that the ChatGPT group did not perform better in either of the indicators; the students did not deliver higher quality content, did not write faster, nor had a higher degree of authentic text. We anticipate that these results can relieve some concerns about this tool’s usage in academic writing. ChatGPT-assisted writing could depend on the previous knowledge and skills of the user, which might, in certain instances, lead to confusion in inexperienced users and result in poorer essay writing performance.
Long-term trajectories of frailty phenotype in older cancer survivors: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
Authors: Pu Junlan , Zhou Weijiao , Zeng Wen , Shang Shaomei
Published: October 2023

Background

Frailty is a dynamic process associated with adverse health outcomes. However, little is known about the long-term trajectories of frailty in older cancer survivors.

Objectives

To describe the trajectories of frailty phenotype over time amongst older cancer survivors and examine the socio-demographic and health-related predictors of different trajectories.

Design

Population-based longitudinal cohort study.

Setting

Community-dwelling older adults in the United States.

Subjects

1,763 older adults who were diagnosed with cancer from the National Health and Ageing Trends Study.

Methods

Frailty was assessed by the Fried Frailty Phenotype. The group-based trajectory model was used to identify the trajectories of frailty. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the socio-demographic and health-related predictors of different trajectories.

Results

Three frailty trajectories were identified; 52.8% of older cancer survivors had a sustained low risk of frailty over time, 25.0% had a low frailty risk at baseline but the risk increased steadily, and 22.3% had a high frailty risk with a slight change in the observed period. Older cancer survivors were at a high-risk frailty trajectory if they were older, female, African American, had lower education status, had lower annual income, were underweight or obese, self-rated poorer health, had more chronic conditions and difficulties with activities of daily living (ADL), and had worse cognitive functions (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Long-term frailty trajectories in older cancer survivors are heterogeneous. This study helps identify patients at high risk of sustained or deteriorating frailty and has the potential to inform targeted frailty management strategies addressing modifiable factors identified (e.g. body mass index, ADL).
168 Cases of aneurysmal dermatofibroma and 29 cases of hemosiderotic dermatofibroma: A clinicopathologic study
Authors: Nishimoto Akana , Ito Keigo , Usami Satoshi , Ogawa Rei , Akaishi Satoshi , Ansai Shin-ichi
Published: October 2023

Objectives

Aneurysmal dermatofibroma (ADF) and hemosiderotic dermatofibroma (HDF) are rare variants of dermatofibroma (DF) characterized by distinct histologic features. While HDF is traditionally considered a precursor to ADF, supporting evidence is limited, and the etiology remains unclear. A retrospective analysis of 2128 DF cases (2016-2019) was conducted to investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of ADF, HDF, and other DFs.

Methods

Histopathologically diagnosed DF cases were examined for ADF and HDF. Univariate analyses were performed to compare clinicopathologic features.

Results

Among the cases, 168 (7.9%) were ADF and 29 (1.4%) were HDF. Aneurysmal dermatofibroma and HDF shared several common characteristics, including lower occurrence in females, larger size, and increased cellularity (all P < .0001). Notably, 29% of ADFs lacked hemosiderin deposition. Aneurysmal dermatofibroma primarily manifested on exposed areas (face and forearm, both P < .001). In contrast, 41% of HDFs occurred on the lower leg (P = .018), and all lower leg HDFs exhibited signs of venous stasis, distinguishing them from other HDFs (P < .0001).

Conclusions

Our findings indicate a potential close relationship between ADF and HDF. Contrary to conventional beliefs, we also presented the possibility of ADF progressing into HDFs. Physical trauma may induce ADF, and HDFs may emerge from ADFs in conjunction with venous stasis in the lower extremities.
Epiphytic CAM bromeliads indicate vulnerability of tropical forest communities to climate change
Authors: Males Jamie , Baksh-Comeau Yasmin , Jaggernauth Dan , Ballah Shane , Paltoo Shahada , Griffiths Howard
Published: October 2023

Background and Scope

Vascular epiphytes have a variety of mechanisms to trap and retain water, including crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Niche segregation was investigated for epiphytic bromeliads on the tropical Caribbean island of Trinidad, where habitats range from lowland deciduous forests to high-rainfall montane tropical forests, ~1000 m in elevation.

Methods

Four tank-impounding bromeliad epiphytes in the genus Aechmea (Ae. aquilega, Ae. fendleri, Ae. nudicaulis and Ae. dichlamydea) with CAM were mapped across their distinct geographical and elevational zonations in northern Trinidad and Tobago. Species distribution modelling was used to determine environmental limitations for each species. Anatomical and physiological measurements included leaf succulence traits, gas exchange and CAM activity; hydraulic conductance and vulnerability; stomatal sensitivity and quantum yield responses to nocturnal temperature and long-term water deficits.

Key Results

A total of 2876 field observations identified the transitions between the lowland Ae. aquilega and montane Ae. fendleri, occurring >500 m a.s.l. at the drier western end of the Northern Mountain Range and at progressively lower elevations towards the wetter, eastern region. Anatomical and physiological sensitivities of gas exchange, CAM activity and water use, and responses to elevated nocturnal temperatures and drought, were markedly different for Ae. fendleri compared with Ae. aquilega or the ubiquitous Ae. nudicaulis.

Conclusions

The species distribution model highlighted the susceptibility of Ae. fendleri to a changing climate. For each species, physiological and anatomical traits were tailored to environmental tolerances, consistent with specialist or generalist niche preferences. Using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios, we predict that rapid rainfall and temperature changes will lead to the loss of Ae. fendleri and associated lower (and upper) montane forest communities from Trinidad, seriously impacting both biodiversity and critical ecosystem functions here and in other tropical island habitats. Epiphytic bromeliads act as markers for threatened communities, and their physiological tolerances represent key indicators of climate change impacts.
Persistence associated with extractive foraging explains variation in innovation in Darwin’s finches
Authors: Ibáñez de Aldecoa Paula , Tebbich Sabine , Griffin Andrea S
Published: October 2023

The capacity to create new behaviors is influenced by environmental factors such as foraging ecology, which can lead to phylogenetic variation in innovativeness. Alternatively, these differences may arise due to the selection of the underlying mechanisms, collaterally affecting innovativeness. To understand the evolutionary pathways that might enhance innovativeness, we examined the role of diet breadth and degree of extractive foraging, as well as a range of intervening cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (neophilia, neophobia, flexibility, motivation, and persistence). Darwin’s finches are very suitable to this purpose: the clade is composed of closely related species that vary in their feeding habits and capacity to develop food innovations. Using a multi-access box, we conducted an interspecies comparison on innovative problem-solving between two diet specialists, extractive foragers (woodpecker and cactus finch), and two diet generalists, non-extractive foragers (small and medium ground finch). We predicted that if extractive foraging was associated with high innovativeness, variation would be best explained by species differences in persistence and motivation, whereas if diet generalism was the main driver, then variation would be due to differences in flexibility and responses to novelty. We found a faster capacity to innovate and a higher persistence for extractive foragers, suggesting that persistence might be adaptive to extractive foraging and only secondarily to innovation. Our findings also show that diet generalism and some variables linking it to innovation were unrelated to innovativeness and call for the development of joint experimental approaches that capture the diversity of factors giving rise to novel behaviors.
Robust discovery of gene regulatory networks from single-cell gene expression data by Causal Inference Using Composition of Transactions
Authors: Shojaee Abbas , Huang Shao-shan Carol
Published: October 2023

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) drive organism structure and functions, so the discovery and characterization of GRNs is a major goal in biological research. However, accurate identification of causal regulatory connections and inference of GRNs using gene expression datasets, more recently from single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq), has been challenging. Here we employ the innovative method of Causal Inference Using Composition of Transactions (CICT) to uncover GRNs from scRNA-seq data. The basis of CICT is that if all gene expressions were random, a non-random regulatory gene should induce its targets at levels different from the background random process, resulting in distinct patterns in the whole relevance network of gene–gene associations. CICT proposes novel network features derived from a relevance network, which enable any machine learning algorithm to predict causal regulatory edges and infer GRNs. We evaluated CICT using simulated and experimental scRNA-seq data in a well-established benchmarking pipeline and showed that CICT outperformed existing network inference methods representing diverse approaches with many-fold higher accuracy. Furthermore, we demonstrated that GRN inference with CICT was robust to different levels of sparsity in scRNA-seq data, the characteristics of data and ground truth, the choice of association measure and the complexity of the supervised machine learning algorithm. Our results suggest aiming at directly predicting causality to recover regulatory relationships in complex biological networks substantially improves accuracy in GRN inference.
Plasma adiponectin levels and risk of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, aortic valve stenosis, and myocardial infarction: large-scale observational and Mendelian randomization evidence
Authors: Nielsen Maria Booth , Çolak Yunus , Benn Marianne , Mason Amy , Burgess Stephen , Nordestgaard Børge Grønne
Published: October 2023

Aims

Adiponectin may play an important protective role in heart failure and associated cardiovascular diseases. We hypothesized that plasma adiponectin is associated observationally and causally, genetically with risk of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, aortic valve stenosis, and myocardial infarction.

Methods and results

In the Copenhagen General Population Study, we examined 30 045 individuals with plasma adiponectin measurements observationally and 96 903 individuals genetically in one-sample Mendelian randomization analyses using five genetic variants explaining 3% of the variation in plasma adiponectin. In the HERMES, UK Biobank, The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), deCODE, the Michigan Genomics Initiative (MGI), DiscovEHR, and the AFGen consortia, we performed two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses in up to 1 030 836 individuals using 12 genetic variants explaining 14% of the variation in plasma adiponectin.

In observational analyses modelled linearly, a 1 unit log-transformed higher plasma adiponectin was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.51 (95% confidence interval: 1.37–1.66) for heart failure, 1.63 (1.50–1.78) for atrial fibrillation, 1.21 (1.03–1.41) for aortic valve stenosis, and 1.03 (0.93–1.14) for myocardial infarction; levels above the median were also associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction, and non-linear U-shaped associations were more apparent for heart failure, aortic valve stenosis, and myocardial infarction in less-adjusted models. Corresponding genetic, causal risk ratios were 0.92 (0.65–1.29), 0.87 (0.68–1.12), 1.55 (0.87–2.76), and 0.93 (0.67–1.30) in one-sample Mendelian randomization analyses, and no significant associations were seen for non-linear one-sample Mendelian randomization analyses; corresponding causal risk ratios were 0.99 (0.89–1.09), 1.00 (0.92–1.08), 1.01 (0.79–1.28), and 0.99 (0.86–1.13) in two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses, respectively.

Conclusion

Observationally, elevated plasma adiponectin was associated with an increased risk of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, aortic valve stenosis, and myocardial infarction. However, genetic evidence did not support causality for these associations.
Differences in Management and Outcomes of Older and Younger Adults with Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis
Authors: Boyd Taylor , Araka Elizabeth Bonareri , Kochar Bharati , Ananthakrishnan Ashwin N
Published: October 2023

Background

Older adults with ulcerative colitis [UC] have greater morbidity than younger adults. The goal of this study was to investigate differences in the management and outcomes of older and younger patients hospitalised with severe UC.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients hospitalised for acute severe ulcerative colitis requiring intravenous steroids. We compared outcomes of adults aged ≥65 years with outcomes of younger patients. Primary study outcomes included frequency and timing of medical and surgical rescue therapy during the hospitalisation, postoperative complications, frailty, and mortality outcomes up to 1 year following the hospitalisation.

Results

Our cohort included 63 older adults [≥65 years] and 137 younger adults [14–64 years]. Despite similar disease severity at hospitalisation, older adults were half as likely to receive medical rescue therapy (odds ratio 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.22–0.91). This difference was more striking among the frailest older adults. Older patients were similarly likely to undergo surgery but were more likely to undergo urgent or emergent procedures [50%] compared with younger patients [13%] [p <0.004]. The fraction of older adults at high risk for frailty increased from 33% pre-hospitalisation to 42% post-hospitalisation. Nearly one-third [27.8%] of older adults died within 1 year of hospitalisation, with half the deaths among older adults being attributable to UC or complications of UC.

Conclusions

In comparison with younger patients, older adults had lower frequency use of medical rescue therapy, higher rates of emergency surgery, and increased mortality within 1 year. Further research is needed to optimise care pathways in this population.
Mechanical failure analysis of patch materials used in aortic arch reconstruction: implications for clinical practice
Authors: Recco Dominic P , Kizilski Shannen B , Marshall Lauren E , Earley Patrick D , Kneier Nicholas E , del Nido Pedro J , Hammer Peter E , Hoganson David M
Published: October 2023

OBJECTIVES

Thick-patch pulmonary homograft, autologous pericardium and CardioCel Neo are common patch materials for aortic arch reconstruction. Insufficient data exist on sutured patch strength and limits of use. We evaluated failure strength of these materials to develop a failure prediction model for clinical guidance.

METHODS

Patch failure strength was evaluated via sutured uniaxial and burst pressure testing. In sutured uniaxial testing, patches were sutured to aortic or Dacron tabs and pulled to failure. In burst pressure testing, patches were sewn into porcine aortas or Dacron grafts and pressurized to failure. Failure membrane tension was calculated. A prediction model of membrane tension versus vessel diameter was generated to guide clinical patch selection.

RESULTS

Combining sutured uniaxial and burst pressure test data, pulmonary homograft failure strength {0.61 [interquartile range (IQR): 0.44, 0.78] N/mm, n = 21} was less than half that of autologous pericardium [2.22 (IQR: 1.65, 2.78) N/mm, n = 15] and CardioCel Neo [1.31 (IQR: 1.20, 1.42) N/mm, n = 20]. Pulmonary homograft burst pressure [245 (IQR: 202, 343) mmHg, n = 7] was significantly lower than autologous pericardium [863 (IQR: 802, 919) mmHg, n = 6] and CardioCel Neo [766 (IQR: 721, 833) mmHg, n = 6]. Our model predicts failure limits for each patch material and outlines safety margins for combinations of aortic diameter and pressure.

CONCLUSIONS

Sutured failure strength of thick-patch pulmonary homograft was significantly lower than autologous pericardium and CardioCel Neo. Patient selection (predicted postoperative arch diameter and haemodynamics) and blood pressure management must be considered when choosing patch material for arch reconstruction. In older children and adolescents, autologous or bovine pericardium may be more suitable materials for aortic patch augmentation to minimize the risk of postoperative patch failure.
Hypothalamic MCH Neurons: From Feeding to Cognitive Control
Authors: Concetti Cristina , Peleg-Raibstein Daria , Burdakov Denis
Published: October 2023

Modern neuroscience is progressively elucidating that the classic view positing distinct brain regions responsible for survival, emotion, and cognitive functions is outdated. The hypothalamus demonstrates the interdependence of these roles, as it is traditionally known for fundamental survival functions like energy and electrolyte balance, but is now recognized to also play a crucial role in emotional and cognitive processes. This review focuses on lateral hypothalamic melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons, producing the neuropeptide MCH—a relatively understudied neuronal population with integrative functions related to homeostatic regulation and motivated behaviors, with widespread inputs and outputs throughout the entire central nervous system. Here, we review early findings and recent literature outlining their role in the regulation of energy balance, sleep, learning, and memory processes.
Establishment of new convenient two-line system for hybrid production by targeting mutation of OPR3 in allopolyploid Brassica napus
Authors: Cheng Hongtao , Hao Mengyu , Sang Shifei , Wen Yunfei , Cai Yating , Wang Hui , Wang Wenxiang , Mei Desheng , Hu Qiong
Published: October 2023

The two-line pollination control system, which usually depends on the utilization of thermosensitive or photoperiod genic male-sterile lines, has been widely used in various crops. However, this system is susceptible to instability issues caused by uncontrollable weather fluctuations. A stable and handy two-line pollination control system is highly desirable in many crop species for heterosis exploitation. Oxophytodienoic acid reductase 3 (OPR3) was proven to be involved in jasmonate biosynthesis. In the present study, CRISPR/Cas9 (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat) was utilized to mutate two OPR3 homologs in Brassica napus. After two OPR3 homologs were simultaneously mutated, mutants exhibited complete male sterility, and fertility could be easily restored by exogenous MeJA treatment. Hybrids produced from crosses between the opr3 sterile lines and normal varieties exhibited heterosis. This new two-line system based on OPR3 mutation provides higher stability and convenience than traditional systems. By using exogenous MeJA treatment to restore fertility, the system enables more precise control of male fertility transition, which has great potential to significantly contribute to the maneuverable production of hybrid seeds in rapeseed as well as other Brassica species crops.
The Rational Use of Advanced Therapies for Inflammatory Conditions of the Pouch
Authors: Barnes Edward L , Kayal Maia , Schwartzberg David M
Published: October 2023

Lay Summary

We have seen an emergence of new literature supporting the use of advanced therapies in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions of the pouch. In this discussion, we review the use of advanced therapies for chronic pouchitis and Crohn’s-like disease of the pouch and suggest future directions for research and clinical care.
Organizational routines: between change and stability—Introduction to the special section
Authors: Koumakhov Rouslan , Marengo Luigi
Published: October 2023

The notion of organizational routine has been at the core of behavioral and evolutionary theories in economics, management and organization studies, but has also been a source of debate and controversy. The discussion has concerned the very definition of what organizational routines are (and are not), their nature, consequences, and units of observation and analysis. In this short introductory article, we try to establish some useful common grounds which, notwithstanding the diversity of definitions and approaches, could promote future useful lines of research. We see the contributions to this special section as moving forward the research on routines in that direction.
Routine regulation as a source for managing conflict within alliances: an integrative framework
Authors: Spencer Bryan , Salvato Carlo , Rerup Claus
Published: October 2023

Alliance partners must address goal conflicts to improve performance. Structural solutions to conflict emphasize alliance governance mechanisms like contracts, authority, and control structures, overlooking the role of individual actors and thus limiting our understanding of how alliance participants manage conflict. To address this, we introduce the concept of routine regulation and use the Fiat–Tata alliance to illustrate our insights and explore the microfoundations of organizational conflict through a process perspective, focusing on what participants actually do to balance goal conflicts.
Can a ‘branch-first’ approach to aortic arch replacement be safely utilized in Stanford type A acute aortic syndromes?
Authors: Kemp Ursula , Zhu Alison
Published: October 2023

A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was: ‘Can a “branch-first” approach to aortic arch replacement be safely utilized in Stanford type A acute aortic syndromes?’ Altogether 64 papers were found using the reported searches, of which 10represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. All papers included in this BET reported acceptable mortality and/or neurological outcomes in comparison to currently published standards for traditional repair. We conclude that while there is a need for larger series, direct comparison and long-term follow-up, the ‘branch-first’ approach to aortic arch replacement has been safely performed in several centres in the setting of acute aortic syndromes with results demonstrating acceptable mortality, neurological outcomes and mid-term survival.
Association between seasonal influenza vaccination and antimicrobial use in Japan from the 2015–16 to 2020–21 seasons: from the VENUS study
Authors: Tsuzuki Shinya , Murata Fumiko , Maeda Megumi , Asai Yusuke , Koizumi Ryuji , Ohmagari Norio , Fukuda Haruhisa
Published: October 2023

Background

Seasonal influenza vaccination might be considered an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) countermeasure because it can reduce unnecessary antimicrobial use for acute respiratory infection by mitigating the burden of such diseases.

Objectives

To examine the association between seasonal influenza vaccination and antimicrobial use (AMU) in Japan at the community level and to examine the impact of influenza vaccination on the frequency of unnecessary antimicrobial prescription for upper respiratory infection.

Methods

For patients who visited any healthcare facility in one of the 23 wards of Tokyo, Japan, due to upper respiratory infection and who were aged 65 years or older, we extracted data from the Vaccine Effectiveness, Networking, and Universal Safety (VENUS) study database, which includes all claims data and vaccination records from the 2015–16 to 2020–21 seasons. We used the average treatment effect (ATE) with 1:1 propensity score matching to examine the association of vaccination status with frequency of antibiotic prescription, frequency of healthcare facility consultation, risk of admission and risk of death in the follow-up period of the same season (from 1 January to 31 March).

Results

In total, 244 642 people were enrolled. Matched data included 101 734 people in each of the unvaccinated and vaccinated groups. The ATE of vaccination was −0.004 (95% CI −0.006 to −0.002) for the frequency of antibiotic prescription, −0.005 (−0.007 to −0.004) for the frequency of healthcare facility consultation, −0.001 (−0.002 to −0.001) for the risk of admission and 0.00 (0.00 to 0.00) for the risk of death.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that seasonal influenza vaccination is associated with lower frequencies of unnecessary antibiotic prescription and of healthcare facility consultation.
182 Influence of Group Size on Performance and Tail Damage Caused by Tail Biting in Undocked Growing-Finishing Pigs
Authors: Archer Courtney , Hilbrands Adrienne , Johnston Lee J , Mote Benny E , Schmidt Ty B , Li Yuzhi
Published: October 2023

Tail biting is both an economic and welfare problem of grower-finishing pigs. This destructive chewing behavior of tails of pen-mates causes challenges for farmers who raise pigs with intact tails, resulting in the need to find management solutions. Our objective was to determine if group size influences growth performance and tail damage caused by biting behavior of undocked growing-finishing pigs. Pigs (n = 432; initial BW = 22 ± 3.8 kg) with intact tails were allocated to small pens or large pens on totally slatted floors, with equal ratio of barrows to gilts in each pen and balanced for average initial BW across pens. Small pens (SM; n = 24) housed 9 pigs/pen and large pens (LG; n = 12) held 18 pigs/pen. Floor space allowance (0.76 m2/pig) and feeder-space allowance (4 feeder spaces/9 pigs) were consistent across group sizes. Pigs were weighed individually and feed intake was recorded on a pen basis every 4 weeks for 16 weeks until market weight (120 kg ± 3.8 kg), from which ADG, ADFI, and Gain:Feed were calculated. Number of pigs that were dead (mortality) and removed (morbidity) from the study due to tail biting, lameness, and other health issues were recorded throughout the study period. Tail damage was evaluated using a 0 to 4 scale scoring system: 0 = no evidence of tail biting; 1 = evidence of chewing without visible blood; 2 = evidence of tail bitten with visible blood and no signs of infection; 3 = open wounds or abscesses with signs of infection; 4 = partial or total loss of the tail. Tail damage was assessed once weekly during the study period, and the maximum tail score (MTS) that each pig received over the entire 16 weeks was recorded. Data were analyzed using SAS software, with a mixed procedure for performance variables and a frequency procedure with chi-square test for mortality, morbidity, and MTS. Group size did not affect growth performance (all P > 0.70; Table 1), mortality, or morbidity (Chi-square = 2.33, df = 2; P = 0.31). However, group size affected MTS (chi-square = 10.78, df = 4; P = 0.03). Pigs in SM experienced a marginally lower prevalence of tail biting compared with LG (16% vs. 9% of pigs receiving an MTS of 0); but greater severity with 13.0% of pigs in SM vs. 7.4% of pigs in LG receiving an MTS of 4. These results suggest group size did not influence growth performance, mortality, or morbidity; but affect severity of tail damage caused by tail biting. Compared with LG, SM had more pigs that lost their tails due to tail biting, which seriously compromised pig welfare.