bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of Strongyloides stercoralis infection on complement activation in Type 2 diabetes mellitus: Insights from a clinical and anthelmintic intervention study
Authors: Rajamanickam Anuradha , Dasan Bindu , Munisankar Saravanan , Nott Sujatha , Menon Pradeep A. , Ahamed Shaik Fayaz , Chinnaiyan Ponnuraja , Nutman Thomas B. , Babu Subash
Published: April 2024

Background

Numerous studies indicate a potential protective role of helminths in diabetes mellitus (DM) progression. The complement system, vital for host defense, plays a crucial role in tissue homeostasis and immune surveillance. Dysregulated complement activation is implicated in diabetic complications. We aimed to investigate the influence of the helminth, Strongyloides stercoralis (Ss) on complement activation in individuals with type 2 DM (T2D).

Methodology

We assessed circulating levels of complement proteins (C1q, C2, C3, C4, C4b, C5, C5a, and MBL (Lectin)) and their regulatory components (Factor B, Factor D, Factor H, and Factor I) in individuals with T2D with (n = 60) or without concomitant Ss infection (n = 58). Additionally, we evaluated the impact of anthelmintic therapy on these parameters after 6 months in Ss-infected individuals (n = 60).

Results

Ss+DM+ individuals demonstrated reduced levels of complement proteins (C1q, C4b, MBL (Lectin), C3, C5a, and C3b/iC3b) and complement regulatory proteins (Factor B and Factor D) compared to Ss-DM+ individuals. Following anthelmintic therapy, there was a partial reversal of these levels in Ss+DM+ individuals.

Conclusion

Our findings indicate that Ss infection reduces complement activation, potentially mitigating inflammatory processes in individuals with T2D. The study underscores the complex interplay between helminth infections, complement regulation, and diabetes mellitus, offering insights into potential therapeutic avenues.
Comprehensive analysis and validation reveal DEPDC1 as a potential diagnostic biomarker associated with tumor immunity in non-small-cell lung cancer
Authors: Lv Meiwen , Li Xuelian , Yin Zhihua , Yang He , Zhou Baosen
Published: April 2024

Current evidence suggests that DEP domain containing 1 (DEPDC1) has an important effect on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the diagnostic value and the regulatory function within NSCLC are largely unclear. This work utilized publicly available databases and in vitro experiments for exploring, DEPDC1 expression, clinical features, diagnostic significance and latent molecular mechanism within NSCLC. According to our results, DEPDC1 was remarkably upregulated in the tissues of NSCLC patients compared with non-carcinoma tissues, linked with gender, stage, T classification and N classification based on TCGA data and associated with smoking status and stage according to GEO datasets. Meanwhile, the summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve analysis result showed that DEPDC1 had a high diagnostic value in NSCLC (AUC = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.94–0.98; diagnostic odds ratio = 99.08, 95%CI: 31.91–307.65; sensitivity = 0.89, 95%CI: 0.81–0.94; specificity = 0.92, 95%CI: 0.86–0.96; positive predictive value = 0.94, 95%CI: 0.89–0.98; negative predictive value = 0.78, 95%CI: 0.67–0.90; positive likelihood ratio = 11.77, 95%CI: 6.11–22.68; and negative likelihood ratio = 0.12, 95%CI: 0.06–0.22). Subsequently, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting indicated that DEPDC1 was high expressed in NSCLC cells. According to the in vitro MTS and apoptotic assays, downregulated DEPDC1 expression targeting P53 signaling pathway inhibited the proliferation of NSCLC cells while promoting apoptosis of NSCLC cells. Moreover, DEPDC1 was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltrating levels in NSCLC based on TCGA data, which were primarily associated with T cells CD4 memory activated, macrophages M1, B cells memory, mast cells resting, T cells regulatory, monocytes, and T cells CD4 memory resting. Compared with the group with high expression of DEPDC1, the group with low expression level had higher scores for immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) treatment. GSEA confirmed that DEPDC1 was involved in gene expression and tumor-related signaling pathways. Finally, DEPDC1 and its associated immune-related genes were shown to be enriched in ‘receptor ligand activity’, ‘external side of plasma membrane’, ‘regulation of innate immune response’, and ‘Epstein-Barr virus infection’ pathways. The present study demonstrates that DEPDC1 may contribute to NSCLC tumorigenesis and can be applied as the biomarker for diagnosis and immunology.
Interruptions in a dental setting and evaluating the efficacy of an intervention: A pilot study
Authors: Ziegler Carsten , Parikh Pratik J.
Published: April 2024

Introduction

Interruptions during dental treatment are frequent, and often impact provider satisfaction and processing times We investigate the source and duration of such interruptions at a German dental clinic.

Methods

A pre-post approach was adopted at this dental clinic. This included direct observations of 3 dentists and 3 dental hygienists, and a survey of providers. Following that, an intervention (switchable ‘Do Not Enter’ sign) was chosen, and a pilot study was conducted to evaluate if the chosen intervention can reduce processing time and improve provider satisfaction. Additional observations and surveys were performed afterwards.

Results

Pre-intervention data indicated that interruptions have the highest negative impact on provider satisfaction at this clinic as well as on processing time during longer and more complex treatments, where a minor error due to an interruption could lead to rework of 30 minutes and more. The total number of interruptions dropped by 72.5% after the intervention, short interruptions (< 1min) by 86%. Provider survey indicated improvement due to the intervention in perceived workload, provider work satisfaction, patient safety and stress.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that a switchable sign can substantially reduce the number of interruptions in this dental clinic. It also shows the potential of improving the work environment by reducing interruptions to the dental providers.
Lapatinib antitumor effect is associated with PI3K and MAPK pathway: An analysis in human and canine prostate cancer cells
Authors: Fonseca-Alves Carlos Eduardo , Leis-Filho Antonio Fernando , Lacerda Zara Alves , de Faria Lainetti Patricia , Amorim Renee Laufer , Rogatto Silvia Regina
Published: April 2024

The aberrant activation of HER2 has a pivotal role in bone metastasis implantation and progression in several tumor types, including prostate cancer (PC). Trastuzumab and other anti-HER2 therapies, such as lapatinib, have been used in human breast cancer HER2 positive. Although HER2 overexpression has been reported in PC, anti-HER2 therapy response has revealed conflicting results. We investigated the potential of lapatinib in inhibiting cell migration and inducing apoptosis in two human (LNCaP and PC3) and two canine PC cell lines (PC1 and PC2). Cell migration and apoptosis were evaluated by Annexin V/PI analysis after lapatinib treatment. The transcriptome analysis of all cell lines before and after treatment with lapatinib was also performed. We found increased apoptosis and migration inhibition in LNCaP cells (androgen-sensitive cell line), while PC1, PC2, and PC3 cells showed no alterations after the treatment. The transcriptome analysis of LNCaP and PC3 cell lines showed 158 dysregulated transcripts in common, while PC1 and PC2 cell lines presented 82. At the doses of lapatinib used, we observed transcriptional modifications in all cell lines. PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway were enriched in human PC cells, while canine PC cells showed enrichment of tyrosine kinase antitumor response and HER2-related pathways. In canine PC cells, the apoptosis failed after lapatinib treatment, possibly due to the downregulation of MAPK genes. Prostate cancer cells insensitive to androgens may be resistant to lapatinib through PI3K gene dysregulation. The association of lapatinib with PI3K inhibitors may provide a more effective antitumor response and clinical benefits to PC patients.
Essential elements of physical fitness analysis in male adolescent athletes using machine learning
Authors: Lee Yun-Hwan , Chang Jisuk , Lee Ji-Eun , Jung Yeon-Sung , Lee Dongheon , Lee Ho-Seong
Published: April 2024

Physical fitness (PF) includes various factors that significantly impacts athletic performance. Analyzing PF is critical in developing customized training methods for athletes based on the sports in which they compete. Previous approaches to analyzing PF have relied on statistical or machine learning algorithms that focus on predicting athlete injury or performance. In this study, six machine learning algorithms were used to analyze the PF of 1,489 male adolescent athletes across five sports, including track & field, football, baseball, swimming, and badminton. Furthermore, the machine learning models were utilized to analyze the essential elements of PF using feature importance of XGBoost, and SHAP values. As a result, XGBoost represents the highest performance, with an average accuracy of 90.14, an area under the curve of 0.86, and F1-score of 0.87, demonstrating the similarity between the sports. Feature importance of XGBoost, and SHAP value provided a quantitative assessment of the relative importance of PF in sports by comparing two sports within each of the five sports. This analysis is expected to be useful in analyzing the essential PF elements of athletes in various sports and recommending personalized exercise methods accordingly.
Association between the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health in very old people in Sweden
Authors: Jonsson Fanny , Olofsson Birgitta , Söderberg Stefan , Niklasson Johan
Published: April 2024

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden implemented social distancing measures to reduce infection rates. However, the recommendation meant to protect individuals particularly at risk may have had negative consequences. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on very old Swedish peoples’ mental health and factors associated with a decline in mental health.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study among previous participants of the SilverMONICA (MONItoring of Trends and Determinants of CArdiovascular disease) study. Of 394 eligible participants, 257 (65.2%) agreed to participate. Of these, 250 individuals reported mental health impact from COVID-19. Structured telephone interviews were carried out during the spring of 2021. Data were analysed using the χ2 test, t-test, and binary logistic regression.

Results

Of 250 individuals (mean age: 85.5 ± 3.3 years, 54.0% women), 75 (30.0%) reported a negative impact on mental health, while 175 (70.0%) reported either a positive impact (n = 4) or no impact at all (n = 171). In the binary logistic regression model, factors associated with a decline in mental health included loneliness (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]) (3.87 [1.83–8.17]) and difficulty adhering to social distancing recommendations (5.10 [1.92–13.53]). High morale was associated with positive or no impact on mental health (0.37 [0.17–0.82]).

Conclusions

A high percentage of very old people reported a negative impact on mental health from the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily from loneliness and difficulty adhering to social distancing measures, while high morale seemed to be a protective factor.
Automatic segmentation of lower limb muscles from MR images of post-menopausal women based on deep learning and data augmentation
Authors: Henson William H. , Li Xinshan , Lin Zhicheng , Guo Lingzhong , Mazzá Claudia , Dall’Ara Enrico
Published: April 2024

Individual muscle segmentation is the process of partitioning medical images into regions representing each muscle. It can be used to isolate spatially structured quantitative muscle characteristics, such as volume, geometry, and the level of fat infiltration. These features are pivotal to measuring the state of muscle functional health and in tracking the response of the body to musculoskeletal and neuromusculoskeletal disorders. The gold standard approach to perform muscle segmentation requires manual processing of large numbers of images and is associated with significant operator repeatability issues and high time requirements. Deep learning-based techniques have been recently suggested to be capable of automating the process, which would catalyse research into the effects of musculoskeletal disorders on the muscular system. In this study, three convolutional neural networks were explored in their capacity to automatically segment twenty-three lower limb muscles from the hips, thigh, and calves from magnetic resonance images. The three neural networks (UNet, Attention UNet, and a novel Spatial Channel UNet) were trained independently with augmented images to segment 6 subjects and were able to segment the muscles with an average Relative Volume Error (RVE) between -8.6% and 2.9%, average Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) between 0.70 and 0.84, and average Hausdorff Distance (HD) between 12.2 and 46.5 mm, with performance dependent on both the subject and the network used. The trained convolutional neural networks designed, and data used in this study are openly available for use, either through re-training for other medical images, or application to automatically segment new T1-weighted lower limb magnetic resonance images captured with similar acquisition parameters.
Machine learning evaluation for identification of M-proteins in human serum
Authors: Sopasakis Alexandros , Nilsson Maria , Askenmo Mattias , Nyholm Fredrik , Mattsson Hultén Lillemor , Rotter Sopasakis Victoria
Published: April 2024

Serum electrophoresis (SPEP) is a method used to analyze the distribution of the most important proteins in the blood. The major clinical question is the presence of monoclonal fraction(s) of antibodies (M-protein/paraprotein), which is essential for the diagnosis and follow-up of hematological diseases, such as multiple myeloma. Recent studies have shown that machine learning can be used to assess protein electrophoresis by, for example, examining protein glycan patterns to follow up tumor surgery. In this study we compared 26 different decision tree algorithms to identify the presence of M-proteins in human serum by using numerical data from serum protein capillary electrophoresis. For the automated detection and clustering of data, we used an anonymized data set consisting of 67,073 samples. We found five methods with superior ability to detect M-proteins: Extra Trees (ET), Random Forest (RF), Histogram Grading Boosting Regressor (HGBR), Light Gradient Boosting Method (LGBM), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB). Additionally, we implemented a game theoretic approach to disclose which features in the data set that were indicative of the resulting M-protein diagnosis. The results verified the gamma globulin fraction and part of the beta globulin fraction as the most important features of the electrophoresis analysis, thereby further strengthening the reliability of our approach. Finally, we tested the algorithms for classifying the M-protein isotypes, where ET and XGB showed the best performance out of the five algorithms tested. Our results show that serum capillary electrophoresis combined with decision tree algorithms have great potential in the application of rapid and accurate identification of M-proteins. Moreover, these methods would be applicable for a variety of blood analyses, such as hemoglobinopathies, indicating a wide-range diagnostic use. However, for M-protein isotype classification, combining machine learning solutions for numerical data from capillary electrophoresis with gel electrophoresis image data would be most advantageous.
Musical instrument classifier for early childhood percussion instruments
Authors: Rufino Brandon , Khan Ajmal , Dutta Tilak , Biddiss Elaine
Published: April 2024

While the musical instrument classification task is well-studied, there remains a gap in identifying non-pitched percussion instruments which have greater overlaps in frequency bands and variation in sound quality and play style than pitched instruments. In this paper, we present a musical instrument classifier for detecting tambourines, maracas and castanets, instruments that are often used in early childhood music education. We generated a dataset with diverse instruments (e.g., brand, materials, construction) played in different locations with varying background noise and play styles. We conducted sensitivity analyses to optimize feature selection, windowing time, and model selection. We deployed and evaluated our best model in a mixed reality music application with 12 families in a home setting. Our dataset was comprised of over 369,000 samples recorded in-lab and 35,361 samples recorded with families in a home setting. We observed the Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM) model to perform best using an approximate 93 ms window with only 12 mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and signal entropy. Our best LGBM model was observed to perform with over 84% accuracy across all three instrument families in-lab and over 73% accuracy when deployed to the home. To our knowledge, the dataset compiled of 369,000 samples of non-pitched instruments is first of its kind. This work also suggests that a low feature space is sufficient for the recognition of non-pitched instruments. Lastly, real-world deployment and testing of the algorithms created with participants of diverse physical and cognitive abilities was also an important contribution towards more inclusive design practices. This paper lays the technological groundwork for a mixed reality music application that can detect children’s use of non-pitched, percussion instruments to support early childhood music education and play.
Quantitative analysis of the morphing wing mechanism of raptors: Bionic design of Falco Peregrinus wing skeleton
Authors: Tang Di , Shi Wenxi , Liu Dawei , Yang Yin , Zhu Liwen , Xu Lang
Published: April 2024

The wing is one of the most important parts of a bird’s locomotor system and is the inspiration origination for bionic wing design. During wing motions, the wing shape is closely related to the rotation angles of wing bones. Therefore, the research on the law of bone movement in the process of wing movement can be good guidance for the design of the bionic morphing wing. In this paper, the skeletal posture of the peregrine falcon wing during the extension/flexion is studied to obtain critical data on skeletal posture. Since an elbow joint and a wrist joint rotate correlatively to drive a wing to flex/extend, the wing skeleton is simplified as a four-bar mechanism in this paper. The degree of reproduction of wing skeleton postures was quantitatively analyzed using the four-bar mechanism model, and the bionic wing skeleton was designed. It is found that the wing motions have been reproduced with high precision.
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV service delivery and viral suppression: Findings from the SHARP program in Northern Nigeria
Authors: Mugo Cyrus , Adedokun Oluwasanmi , Alo Oluwafemi David , Ezeokafor Nnenna , Adeyemi Sylvester , Kpamor Zipporah , Madueke Leila , James Ezekiel , Adebajo Sylvia Bolanle , Semo Bazghina-werq
Published: April 2024

During the COVID-19 pandemic, HIV programs scaled up differentiated service delivery (DSD) models for people living with HIV (PLHIV). We evaluated the effects of COVID-19 on HIV service delivery and viral suppression in facilities in Northern Nigeria, and determined factors associated with viral suppression among adolescents and adults. We analysed a cross-sectional survey data from facility heads, and retrospective, routinely collected patient data from 63 facilities for PLHIV ≥10 years old in care between April 2019-March 2021, defining study periods as “pre-COVID-19” (before April 2020) and “during COVID-19” (after April 2020). For the pre-COVID and the COVID-19 periods we compared uptake of antiretroviral therapy (ART) refills of ≥3 months (MMD3), and ≥6 months (MM6), missed appointments, viral load (VL) testing, VL testing turnaround time (TAT) and viral suppression among those on ART for ≥6 months using two proportions Z-test and t-tests. We fit a multivariable logistic regression model to determine factors associated with maintaining or achieving viral suppression. Of 84,776 patients, 58% were <40 years, 67% were female, 55% on ART for >5 years, 93% from facilities with community-based ART refill, a higher proportion were on MMD3 (95% versus 74%, p<0.001) and MMD6 (56% versus 22%, p<0.001) during COVID-19 than pre-COVID-19, and a higher proportion had VL testing during COVID-19 (55,271/69,630, [84%]) than pre-COVID-19 (47,747/68,934, [73%], p<0.001). Viral suppression was higher during COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-COVID era (93% [51,196/55,216] versus 91% [43,336/47,728], p<0.001), and there was a higher proportion of missed visits (40% [28,923/72,359] versus 39% [26,304/67,365], p<0.001) and increased VL TAT (mean number of days: 38 versus 36, p<0.001) during COVID-19 pandemic and pre-COVID period respectively. Factors associated with maintaining or achieving suppression during COVID-19 were receiving MMD3 and MMD6 refills (OR: 2.8 [95% CI: 2.30–3.47] and OR: 6.3 [95% CI: 5.11–7.69], respectively) and attending clinics with community-based ART refill (OR: 1.6 [95% CI: 1.39–1.87]). The program in Northern Nigeria demonstrated resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and adoption of MMD had a positive impact on HIV care. Though VL TAT and missed clinic visits slightly increased during the pandemic, VL testing improved and viral suppression moved closer to 95%. Adoption of MMD and community-based models of care at scale are recommended for future pandemic preparedness.
Exploration and demonstration of explainable machine learning models in prosthetic rehabilitation-based gait analysis
Authors: Aghababa Mohammad Pourmahmood , Andrysek Jan
Published: April 2024

Quantitative gait analysis is important for understanding the non-typical walking patterns associated with mobility impairments. Conventional linear statistical methods and machine learning (ML) models are commonly used to assess gait performance and related changes in the gait parameters. Nonetheless, explainable machine learning provides an alternative technique for distinguishing the significant and influential gait changes stemming from a given intervention. The goal of this work was to demonstrate the use of explainable ML models in gait analysis for prosthetic rehabilitation in both population- and sample-based interpretability analyses. Models were developed to classify amputee gait with two types of prosthetic knee joints. Sagittal plane gait patterns of 21 individuals with unilateral transfemoral amputations were video-recorded and 19 spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters were extracted and included in the models. Four ML models—logistic regression, support vector machine, random forest, and LightGBM—were assessed and tested for accuracy and precision. The Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) framework was applied to examine global and local interpretability. Random Forest yielded the highest classification accuracy (98.3%). The SHAP framework quantified the level of influence of each gait parameter in the models where knee flexion-related parameters were found the most influential factors in yielding the outcomes of the models. The sample-based explainable ML provided additional insights over the population-based analyses, including an understanding of the effect of the knee type on the walking style of a specific sample, and whether or not it agreed with global interpretations. It was concluded that explainable ML models can be powerful tools for the assessment of gait-related clinical interventions, revealing important parameters that may be overlooked using conventional statistical methods.
Assessment of transparency indicators in space medicine
Authors: Bellomo Rosa Katia , Zavalis Emmanuel A. , Ioannidis John P. A.
Published: April 2024

Space medicine is a vital discipline with often time-intensive and costly projects and constrained opportunities for studying various elements such as space missions, astronauts, and simulated environments. Moreover, private interests gain increasing influence in this discipline. In scientific disciplines with these features, transparent and rigorous methods are essential. Here, we undertook an evaluation of transparency indicators in publications within the field of space medicine. A meta-epidemiological assessment of PubMed Central Open Access (PMC OA) eligible articles within the field of space medicine was performed for prevalence of code sharing, data sharing, pre-registration, conflicts of interest, and funding. Text mining was performed with the rtransparent text mining algorithms with manual validation of 200 random articles to obtain corrected estimates. Across 1215 included articles, 39 (3%) shared code, 258 (21%) shared data, 10 (1%) were registered, 110 (90%) contained a conflict-of-interest statement, and 1141 (93%) included a funding statement. After manual validation, the corrected estimates for code sharing, data sharing, and registration were 5%, 27%, and 1%, respectively. Data sharing was 32% when limited to original articles and highest in space/parabolic flights (46%). Overall, across space medicine we observed modest rates of data sharing, rare sharing of code and almost non-existent protocol registration. Enhancing transparency in space medicine research is imperative for safeguarding its scientific rigor and reproducibility.
Circuit analogy unveiled the haemodynamic effects of the posterior cross vein in the wing vein networks
Authors: Sugiyama Kazuki , Kubota Yoshihiro , Mochizuki Osamu
Published: April 2024

We investigated the wing vein network topology in fruit flies and observed that the posterior cross vein (PCV) disrupts the symmetry of the entire network. The fluidic engineering function of this vein’s disposition remains unexplored although the wing vein network is known to transport blood. We examined the fluid mechanical effects of the PCV’s disposition on this blood-transporting network through numerical simulations involving the removal and rearrangement of the vein, avoiding impractical physical manipulation. We characterised the geometry of each wing membrane cell, a portion of the wing membrane surrounded by a group of veins, by determining the ratio of its surface area to the contact area with the veins. We considered this ratio in association with the flow velocities of seeping water from the blood within the veins to the membrane and evaporating water from the membrane, based on the mass conservation law. We observed that the division of a membrane cell by the PCV maximises the ratio of the areas in the divided cell on the wing-tip side by virtually shifting this vein’s connections in our geometric membrane model. We derived blood flow rate and pressure loss within the venous network from their geometry, using an analogy of the venous network with a circuit consisting of hydraulic resistors based on Kirchhoff and Ohm’s laws. The overall pressure loss in the network decreased by 20% with the presence of the PCV functioning as a paralleled hydraulic resistor. By contrast, any other cross-vein computationally arranged on another membrane cell as the PCV’s substitution did not exhibit a larger reduction in the pressure loss. Overall, our numerical analyses, leveraging geometry and a circuit analogy, highlighted the effects of the PCV’s presence and position on the blood-transporting vein network.
Sex-structured disease transmission model and control mechanisms for visceral leishmaniasis (VL)
Authors: Awoke Temesgen Debas , Kassa Semu Mitiku , Morupisi Kgomotso Suzan , Tsidu Gizaw Mengistu
Published: April 2024

Background

Leishmaniasis are a group of diseases caused by more than 20 species of the protozoan that are transmitted through the bite of female sand fly. The disease is endemic to 98 countries of the world. It affects most commonly the poorest of the poor and mainly males. Several research has been conducted to propose disease control strategies. Effective medical care, vector control, environmental hygiene, and personal protection are the mainstays of the current preventative and control methods. The mathematical models for the transmission dynamics of the disease studied so far did not consider the sex-biased burden of the disease into consideration.

Methodology

Unlike the previous VL works, this study introduces a new deterministic sex-structured model for understanding the transmission dynamics of visceral leishmaniasis. Basic properties of the model including basic reproduction number (R0), and conditions for the existence of backward bifurcation of the model are explored. Baseline parameter values were estimated after the model was fitted to Ethiopia’s VL data. Sensitivity analysis of the model was performed to identify the parameters that significantly impact the disease threshold. Numerical simulations were performed using baseline parameter values, and scenario analysis is performed by changing some of these parameters as appropriate.

Conclusion

The analysis of the model shows that there is a possibility for a backward bifurcation forR0<1, which means bringingR0to less than unity may not be enough to eradicate the disease. Our numerical result shows that the implementation of disease-preventive strategies, as well as effectively treating the affected ones can significantly reduce the disease prevalence if applied for more proportion of the male population. Furthermore, the implementation of vector management strategies also can considerably reduce the total prevalence of the disease. However, it is demonstrated that putting more effort in treating affected reservoir animals may not have any significant effect on the overall prevalence of the disease as compared to other possible mechanisms. The numerical simulation infers that a maximum of 60% of extra preventative measures targeted to only male population considerably reduces the total prevalence of VL by 80%. It is also possible to decrease the total prevalence of VL by 69.51% when up to 50% additional infected males receive treatment with full efficacy. Moreover, applying a maximum of 15% additional effort to reduce the number of vectors, decreases the total VL prevalence by 57.71%. Therefore, in order to reduce the disease burden of visceral leishmaniasis, public health officials and concerned stakeholders need to give more emphasis to the proportion of male humans in their intervention strategies.
Assessing current visual tooth wear age estimation methods for Rangifer tarandus using a known age sample from Canada
Authors: Kohut Grace , Losey Robert , Kutz Susan , Khidas Kamal , Nomokonova Tatiana
Published: April 2024

Age estimation is crucial for investigating animal populations in the past and present. Visual examination of tooth wear and eruption is one of the most common ageing methods in zooarchaeology, wildlife management, palaeontology, and veterinary research. Such approaches are particularly advantageous because they are non-destructive, can be completed using photographs, and do not require specialized training. Several tooth wear and eruption methods have been developed for Rangifer tarandus, a widely distributed and long-utilized species in the North. This paper evaluates the practicality and effectiveness of three existing visual tooth wear and eruption methods for this species using a large known-age sample from several caribou populations in northern Canada (Bluenose East, Bluenose West, Dolphin-Union, Qamanirjuaq, and Beverly herds). These methods are evaluated based on: (1) the amount of error and bias between estimated and actual ages, (2) suitable and interpretable results, (3) user-friendly and unambiguous procedures, and (4) which teeth and visual features of those teeth are used to record wear and eruption status. This study finds that the three evaluated methods all have variable errors and biases, and two show extensive biases when applied to older individuals. Demographic data is simpler to generate and more flexible to report when methods allow age to be estimated as a continuous or discrete variable, rather than as age ranges. The dentition samples used by two of the previously developed methods impact their applicability to other populations of Rangifer. In one existing method, individuals were unavailable from some age ranges leaving gaps when assigning ages. For another Rangifer-ageing method, the population utilized was too distinct in morphology or diet to be used with the Canadian caribou analyzed here. Additional refinement of tooth wear and eruption ageing methods will benefit zooarchaeological research on reindeer and caribou remains.
Perceptual formant discrimination during speech movement planning
Authors: Wang Hantao , Ali Yusuf , Max Ludo
Published: April 2024

Evoked potential studies have shown that speech planning modulates auditory cortical responses. The phenomenon’s functional relevance is unknown. We tested whether, during this time window of cortical auditory modulation, there is an effect on speakers’ perceptual sensitivity for vowel formant discrimination. Participants made same/different judgments for pairs of stimuli consisting of a pre-recorded, self-produced vowel and a formant-shifted version of the same production. Stimuli were presented prior to a “go” signal for speaking, prior to passive listening, and during silent reading. The formant discrimination stimulus /uh/ was tested with a congruent productions list (words with /uh/) and an incongruent productions list (words without /uh/). Logistic curves were fitted to participants’ responses, and the just-noticeable difference (JND) served as a measure of discrimination sensitivity. We found a statistically significant effect of condition (worst discrimination before speaking) without congruency effect. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons revealed that JND was significantly greater before speaking than during silent reading. Thus, formant discrimination sensitivity was reduced during speech planning regardless of the congruence between discrimination stimulus and predicted acoustic consequences of the planned speech movements. This finding may inform ongoing efforts to determine the functional relevance of the previously reported modulation of auditory processing during speech planning.
Construction and characterization of a hypervesiculation strain of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917
Authors: Sawabe Tomomi , Ojima Yoshihiro , Nakagawa Mao , Sawada Toru , Tahara Yuhei O. , Miyata Makoto , Azuma Masayuki
Published: April 2024

Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are produced by Gram-negative bacteria and deliver microbial molecules to distant target cells in a host. OMVs secreted by probiotic probiotic strain Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) have been reported to induce an immune response. In this study, we aimed to increase the OMV production of EcN. The double gene knockout of mlaE and nlpI was conducted in EcN because the ΔmlaEΔnlpI of experimental strain E. coli K12 showed the highest OMV production in our previous report. The ΔmlaEΔnlpI of EcN showed approximately 8 times higher OMV production compared with the parental (wild-type) strain. Quick-freeze, deep-etch replica electron microscopy revealed that plasmolysis occurred in the elongated ΔmlaEΔnlpI cells and the peptidoglycan (PG) had numerous holes. While these phenomena are similar to the findings for the ΔmlaEΔnlpI of K12, there were more PG holes in the ΔmlaEΔnlpI of EcN than the K12 strain, which were observed not only at the tip of the long axis but also in the whole PG structure. Further analysis clarified that the viability of ΔmlaEΔnlpI of EcN decreased compared with that of the wild-type. Although the amount of PG in ΔmlaEΔnlpI cells was about half of that in wild-type, the components of amino acids in PG did not change in ΔmlaEΔnlpI. Although the viability decreased compared to the wild-type, the ΔmlaEΔnlpI grew in normal culture conditions. The hypervesiculation strain constructed here is expected to be used as an enhanced probiotic strain.
Contemporary and relic waters strongly decoupled in arid alpine environments
Authors: Moran Brendan J. , Boutt David F. , Munk Lee Ann , Fisher Joshua D.
Published: April 2024

Deciphering the dominant controls on the connections between groundwater, surface water, and climate is critical to understanding water cycles in arid environments. Yet, persistent uncertainties in the fundamental hydrology of these systems remain. The growing demand for critical minerals such as lithium and associated water demands in the arid environments in which they often occur has amplified the urgency to address these uncertainties. We present an integrated hydrological analysis of the Dry Andes region utilizing a uniquely comprehensive set of tracer data (3H, 18O/2H) for these environments, paired directly with physical hydrological observations. We find two strongly decoupled hydrological systems that interact only under specific hydrogeological conditions where preferential conduits exist. The primary conditions creating these conduits are laterally extensive fine-grained evaporite and/or lacustrine units and perennial flowing streams connected with regional groundwater discharge sites. The efficient capture and transport of modern or “contemporary” water (weeks to years old) within these conduits is the primary control of the interplay between modern hydroclimate variations and groundwater aquifers in these environments. Modern waters account for a small portion of basin budgets but are critical to sustaining surface waters due to the existence of these conduits. As a result, surface waters near basin floors are disproportionally sensitive to short-term climate and anthropogenic perturbations. The framework we present describes a new understanding of the dominant controls on natural water cycles intrinsic to these arid high-elevation systems that will improve our ability to manage critical water resources.
Zasada rządów prawa jako fundament pokojowego doskonalenia społecznego ładu
Authors: Godłów-Legiędź Janina
Published: April 2024

W artykule przedstawiano argumenty za tezą, że zasada rządów prawa może stanowić fundament ładu społecznego zarówno z perspektywy poszczególnych krajów, jak i porządku światowego. Argumentacja oparta jest na analizie interpretacji doktryny rule of law, treści dokumentów Organizacji Narodów Zjednoczonych i Unii Europejskiej oraz na krytyce instrumentalizmu prawnego. Z licznych dokumentów ONZ i UE wynika, że istnieje wola wykorzystania rule of law do budowa nią światowego pokoju oraz świadomość, że pokojowe współistnienie wymaga zmiany podejścia do suwerenności narodowej. Zasada pełnej niezależności powinna ustąpić instytucji współdzielenia suwerenności. Ale istnieje głęboki rozziew między doktryną rządów prawa a funkcjonowaniem systemów prawnych, nie tylko w niedojrzałych demokracjach, lecz także w postrzeganych za ostoję liberalnej demokracji Stanach Zjednoczonych. Instrumentalne traktowanie prawa podkopuje wiarę w sprawiedliwość i prowadzi do degeneracji instytucji i kryzysu liberalnej demokracji. Zarówno procesy legislacyjne, jak i praktyka prawnicza odbiegają często od reguł dobrego prawa sformułowanych przez Fullera. Przykłady nagannych praktyk legislacyjnych oraz spory o praworządność w UE świadczą o dużej wadze rule of law w ujęciu formalistycznym. Związek między przestrzeganiem zasad Fullera i celami moralnymi jest silniejszy, niż sądzą krytycy formalistycznej wersji doktryny rządów prawa.
Understanding the limitations of your assay using EQA data with serum creatinine as an example
Authors: Marrington Rachel , MacKenzie Finlay
Published: April 2024

Objectives

Laboratories need to take into consideration the specificity and imprecision of assays not only in verification, but also of quality assessment. This study investigates the composition of serum used in EQA materials by comparing material from a single and multiple donors (pooled material), across multiple methods, using creatinine as an example.

Methods

Sixteen different serum matrices were distributed as 36 specimens through the UK NEQAS for Acute and Chronic Kidney Disease Scheme from March 2022 to March 2023. Male-only and female-only serum was used as single donations, pooled donations, unmanipulated or with added exogenous creatinine. Specimens were distributed to primarily UK participants (approximately n=500) for creatinine analysis. Data has been reviewed by method compared to the enzymatic creatinine method principle mean.

Results

From the 16 different matrices, only the enzymatic creatinine assay systems from Roche Cobas and Siemens Atellica met the minimum acceptable bias goal, from biological data, of 5.6 %, in all specimens. Pooled material showed less variation in bias across all methods.

Conclusions

Since Laboratories invest a lot of time and money in quality management, they need to know the limitations of their assays so that they are not investigating ‘apparent’ EQA/IQC problems which are purely due to non-specific, imprecise assay, rather than an analytical issue in their laboratory. When large numbers of individual donations are combined, interferents are essentially diluted out. Therefore, if EQA material is of this type it will be very difficult to determine the actual assay’s bias and variability.
Performance Evaluation of Economic Relocation Effect for Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations: Evidence from China
Authors: Li Guangqin , Luo Ji , Liu Siyan
Published: April 2024

In this article, an economic natural experiment in China is analyzed and the performance evaluation of the economic relocation effect of informal environmental regulations imposed through the channel of environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) is suggested. ENGOs are found to have a significantly negative impact on the overall economic location quotient of six major polluting industries. The economic relocation effect from ENGOs exhibits industrial and regional heterogeneity, as the effect is stronger among easy-to-relocate industries and in market-oriented areas. The underlying mechanism is the ENGOs, as informal environmental regulations could motivate firms to enhance their investment in environmental governance, ultimately crowding out these economically polluting industries.
Fossil Memory: Unaltered Narratives of Resistance and Deportation in the Oldest Italian Holocaust and Resistance Museums
Authors: Angeletti Valerio , Posocco Lorenzo , Meghnagi Micol
Published: April 2024

In Italy, after the victory of Giorgia Meloni’s post-fascist party, “Fratelli d’Italia,” several studies began to discuss whether or not the country has come to terms with the memory of fascism, its role as an inspirer of Nazism, and the collaboration with Nazi Germany in the Holocaust. Especially the latter, scholarly literature pointed out, has failed to receive the attention it deserves. This article argues that this is particularly true with regard to public history, the way historical information and events are interpreted and presented to the general public, and focuses on public museums exhibiting the Holocaust and resistance. Evidence for this article comes from two in-depth case studies regarding the oldest yet unaltered Liberation Museum in Rome and the Museum-Monument to Racial and Political Deportees in the Nazi Lagers in Carpi. The article contends that within these museums, the narration of resistance prevails, whilst evidence of Italy’s past collaborationism remains hidden and unexhibited. In essence, these museums emphasise national heroism and sidestep Italian accountability in the Holocaust.
The Emerging Civil Right to Counsel in India: On ‘Enforceable’ Directive Principles
Authors: Zasloff Jonathan
Published: April 2024

This Article challenges one of the most robust commonplaces in the study of Indian Constitutional Law, viz. that Directive Principles of State Policy under Article IV cannot be enforced by the judiciary. Through a careful reading of the Constitution’s text and structure, as well as an investigation of relevant precedents within India, the United States, and other common-law jurisdictions, it argues: (1) Article 39A commands ‘the State’ to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity, in particular through legal services enacted through legislation or other methods; (2) The judiciary is part of the State that Article 39A commands; (3) Courts, then, must use their powers to fulfill Article 39A even if that Article is not judicially enforceable; (4) The judiciary has authority over the maintenance and integrity of the legal system; (5) It also has its own authority to spend money to maintain and improve that system; and (6) it has the authority to allocate funds to pay lawyers and other legal personnel in civil cases if it believes that doing so will strengthen the legal system and fulfill its Article 39A mandate. The Constitution’s promise of the right to counsel in civil cases thus lies well within the judicial power to accomplish. The Article suggests areas where the judiciary should use this power, e.g., family law, housing, and the environment. It also raises important questions about the very nature of Directive Principles and the meaning of judicial ‘enforcement.’
Emotion labor in response to supervisor feedback: is feedback a burden or a blessing?
Authors: Nazari Mostafa , Karimi Mohammad Nabi
Published: April 2024

In recent years, research on the emotional side of language teachers’ work has grown exponentially. One progressively-developing subset of this line of inquiry concerns how institutional discourses/expectations interact with teachers’ internal feelings, which bears on how they manage their emotions in response to such an interaction and is known as emotion labor. One type of institutional expectation of concern to the present study is the feedback that institutional supervisors provided for the teachers and could be a source of emotion labor. Motivated by this consideration, this study explored 12 Iranian EFL teachers’ emotion labor in relation to supervisor feedback on their classroom instruction. The context of the study was a language school governed by mostly top-down policies, especially those of classroom observation, realized mainly through providing post-class feedback by school supervisors, with little interaction between them and the teachers. Drawing on data from interviews and narrative frames, we report on how supervisor feedback on the teachers’ classroom instruction functioned as a source of emotional tension for the teachers and how they engaged in surface- and deep-acting management of their emotions to navigate the supervisory feedback. Based on the findings, we provide implications for teacher educators and school supervisors to reconsider their post-class supervisory feedback so that teachers experience less emotional tension.