bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Diverse parentage relationships in paternal mouthbrooding fishes
Authors: Abecia Janine E. , King Alison J. , Luiz Osmar J. , Crook David A. , Wedd Dion , Banks Sam C.
Published: May 2022

While mouthbrooding is not an uncommon parental care strategy in fishes, paternal mouthbrooding only occurs in eight fish families and is little studied. The high cost of paternal mouthbrooding to the male implies a low risk of investment in another male's offspring but genetic parentage patterns are poorly known for paternal mouthbrooders. Here, we used single-nucleotide polymorphism genetic data to investigate parentage relationships of broods of two mouthbrooders of northern Australian rivers, mouth almighty
Glossamia aprion
and blue catfish
Neoarius graeffei
. For
N. graeffei
, we found that the parentage pattern was largely monogamous with the brooder male as the sire. For
G. aprion
, the parentage pattern was more heterogeneous including observations of monogamous broods with the brooder male as the sire (73%), polygyny (13%), cuckoldry (6%) and a brood genetically unrelated to the brooder male (6%). Findings demonstrate the potential for complex interrelationships of male care, paternity confidence and mating behaviour in mouthbrooding fishes.
Intermittent propulsion in largemouth bass,
Micropterus salmoides
, increases power production at low swimming speeds
Authors: Coughlin D. J. , Chrostek J. D. , Ellerby D. J.
Published: May 2022

Locomotion dominates animal energy budgets, and selection should favour behaviours that minimize transportation costs. Recent fieldwork has altered our understanding of the preferred modes of locomotion in fishes. For instance, bluegill employ a sustainable intermittent swimming form with 2–3 tail beats alternating with short glides. Volitional swimming studies in the laboratory with bluegill suggest that the propulsive phase reflects a fixed-gear constraint on body–caudal-fin activity. Largemouth bass (
Micropterus salmoides
) also reportedly display intermittent swimming in the field. We examined swimming by bass in a static tank to quantify the parameters of volitional locomotion, including tailbeat frequency and glide duration, across a range of swimming speeds. We found that tailbeat frequency was not related to speed at low swimming speeds. Instead, speed was a function of glide duration between propulsive events, with glide duration decreasing as speed increased. The propulsive Strouhal number remained within the range that maximizes propulsive efficiency. We used muscle mechanics experiments to simulate power production by muscle operating under intermittent versus steady conditions. Workloop data suggest that intermittent activity allows fish to swim efficiently and avoid the drag-induced greater energetic cost of continuous swimming. The results offer support for a new perspective on fish locomotion: intermittent swimming is crucial to aerobic swimming energetics.
Ancient DNA reveals a southern presence of the Northeast Arctic cod during the Holocene
Authors: Martínez-García Lourdes , Ferrari Giada , Hufthammer Anne Karin , Jakobsen Kjetill S. , Jentoft Sissel , Barrett James H. , Star Bastiaan
Published: May 2022

Climate change has been implicated in an increased number of distributional shifts of marine species during the last century. Nonetheless, it is unclear whether earlier climatic fluctuations had similar impacts. We use ancient DNA to investigate the long-term spawning distribution of the Northeast Arctic cod (
skrei
) which performs yearly migrations from the Barents Sea towards spawning grounds along the Norwegian coast. The distribution of these spawning grounds has shifted northwards during the last century, which is thought to be associated with food availability and warming temperatures. We genetically identify
skrei
specimens from Ruskeneset in west Norway, an archaeological site located south of their current spawning range. Remarkably,
14
C analyses date these specimens to the late Holocene, when temperatures were warmer than present-day conditions. Our results either suggest that temperature is not the only driver influencing the spawning distribution of Atlantic cod, or could be indicative of uncertainty in palaeoclimate reconstructions in this region. Regardless, our findings highlight the utility of aDNA to reconstruct the historical distribution of economically important fish populations and reveal the complexity of long-term ecological interactions in the marine environment.
Asymptotic burnout and homeostatic awakening: a possible solution to the Fermi paradox?
Authors: Wong Michael L. , Bartlett Stuart
Published: May 2022

Previous studies show that city metrics having to do with growth, productivity and overall energy consumption scalesuperlinearly, attributing this to thesocialnature of cities. Superlinear scaling results in crises called ‘singularities’, where population and energy demand tend to infinity in a finite amount of time, which must be avoided by ever more frequent ‘resets’ or innovations that postpone the system's collapse. Here, we place the emergence of cities and planetary civilizations in the context of major evolutionary transitions. With this perspective, we hypothesize that once a planetary civilization transitions into a state that can be described as one virtually connected global city, it will face an ‘asymptotic burnout’, an ultimate crisis where the singularity-interval time scale becomes smaller than the time scale of innovation. If a civilization develops the capability to understand its own trajectory, it will have a window of time to affect a fundamental change to prioritize long-term homeostasis and well-being over unyielding growth—a consciously induced trajectory change or ‘homeostatic awakening’. We propose a new resolution to the Fermi paradox: civilizations either collapse from burnout or redirect themselves to prioritizing homeostasis, a state where cosmic expansion is no longer a goal, making them difficult to detect remotely.
Data-driven modelling of group formation in the fission–fusion dynamics of Bechstein’s bats
Authors: Perony Nicolas , Kerth Gerald , Schweitzer Frank
Published: May 2022

Communal roosting in Bechstein’s bat colonies is characterized by the formation of several groups that use different day roosts and that regularly dissolve and re-merge (fission–fusion dynamics). Analysing data from two colonies of different sizes over many years, we find that (i) the number of days that bats stay in the same roost before changing follows an exponential distribution that is independent of the colony size and (ii) the number and size of groups that bats formed for roosting depend on the size of the colony, such that above a critical colony size two to six groups of different sizes are formed. To model these two observations, we propose an agent-based model in which agents make their decisions about roosts based on both random and social influences. For the latter, they copy the roost preference of another agent which models the transfer of the respective information. Our model is able to reproduce both the distribution of stay length in the same roost and the emergence of groups of different sizes dependent on the colony size. Moreover, we are able to predict the critical system size at which the formation of different groups emerges without global coordination. We further comment on dynamics that bridge the roosting decisions on short time scales (less than 1 day) with the social structures observed at long time scales (more than 1 year).
The cognitive mechanisms of state transformation during the multi-state maintenance of visual working memory
Authors: Li Ziyuan , Liu Qiang
Published: May 2022

Visual working memory (VWM) system serves as a cornerstone for high-level cognition. The state-based models of working memory delineated a hierarchy of functional states. Memory representations in the passive state are robustly maintained while the active representations were effectively processed at the same time. The memory representations are dynamically transferred between the two states according to task demands; however, it was still unclear how the state transformation process implemented to achieve a perfect storage-dissociation. To explore the property of transformation process, we adopted a sequential presentation paradigm where two memory arrays were presented sequentially; that effectively directs memory items for retention in the two distinct states. We modulated the temporal context concerned with the state transformation process, presentation time of the second array and retention interval between memory arrays. These results indicated that state transformation reflected a consolidation process of memory representations from the active into the passive state; this transformation process is subject to cognitive control. Moreover, we found that sufficient temporal context facilitated a smooth state transformation, thus minimizing the memory loss. These findings lead to a further understanding for the storage mechanism of working memory representations during the dynamic processing.
Helminth egg derivatives as pro-regenerative immunotherapies
Authors: Maestas David R. , Chung Liam , Han Jin , Wang Xiaokun , Sommerfeld Sven D. , Moore Erika , Nguyen Helen Hieu , Mejías Joscelyn C. , Peña Alexis N. , Zhang Hong , Hooks Joshua S. T. , Chin Alexander F. , Andorko James I. , Berlicke Cindy , Krishnan Kavita , Choi Younghwan , Anderson Amy E. , Mahatme Ronak , Mejia Christopher , Eric Marie , Woo JiWon , Ganguly Sudipto , Zack Donald J. , Housseau Franck , Pardoll Drew M. , Elisseeff Jennifer H.
Published: May 2022

The immune system is increasingly recognized as an important regulator of tissue repair. We developed a regenerative immunotherapy from the helminth Schistosoma mansoni soluble egg antigen (SEA) to stimulate production of interleukin (IL)-4 and other type 2-associated cytokines without negative infection-related sequelae. The regenerative SEA (rSEA) applied to a murine muscle injury induced accumulation of IL-4 expressing T helper cells, eosinophils, and regulatory T cells, and decreased expression of IL-17A in gamma delta (γδ) T cells, resulting in improved repair and decreased fibrosis. Encapsulation and controlled release of rSEA in a hydrogel further enhanced type 2 immunity and larger volumes of tissue repair. The broad regenerative capacity of rSEA was validated in articular joint and corneal injury models. These results introduce a new regenerative immunotherapy approach using natural helminth-derivatives.

One-Sentence Summary

Helminth-derived soluble egg antigen regenerative immunotherapies promote tissue repair in multiple injury models.
Cardiac interoception is enhanced in blind individuals
Authors: Radziun Dominika , Korczyk Maksymilian , Crucianelli Laura , Szwed Marcin , Ehrsson H. Henrik
Published: May 2022

Blind individuals have superior abilities to perform perceptual tasks that rely on exteroceptive information, since visual deprivation is associated with massive cross-modal plasticity. However, it is unknown whether neuroplasticity after visual loss also affects interoception, i.e., the sensations arising from one’s inner organs that convey information about the physiological state of the body. Herein, we examine the influence of blindness on cardiac interoception, which is an interoceptive submodality that has important links to emotional processing and bodily self-awareness. We tested 36 blind and 36 age-and sex-matched sighted volunteers and examined their cardiac interoceptive ability using a well-established heartbeat counting task. The results showed that blind individuals had significantly higher accuracy in perceiving their heartbeat than did individuals in a matched sighted control group. In contrast, there were no significant differences between the groups in the metacognitive dimensions of cardiac interception or the purely physiological measurement of heart rate, thereby underscoring that the improved accuracy likely reflects a superior perceptual sensitivity to cardiac interoceptive signals in blind individuals. We conclude that visual deprivation leads to enhanced interoception, which has important implications for the study of the extent of massive cross-modal plasticity after visual loss, understanding emotional processing in blind individuals, and learning how bodily self-awareness can develop and be sustained in the absence of visual experience.
Accident and emergency (AE) attendance in England following infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron or Delta
Authors: Grint Daniel J. , Wing Kevin , Gibbs Hamish P. , Evans Stephen JW , Williamson Elizabeth , Bhaskaran Krishnan , McDonald Helen I , Walker Alex J. , Evans David , Hickman George , Mathur Rohini , Schultze Anna , Rentsch Christopher T , Tazare John , Douglas Ian J , Curtis Helen J. , Morton Caroline E , Bacon Sebastian , Davy Simon , MacKenna Brian , Inglesby Peter , Croker Richard , Parry John , Hester Frank , Harper Sam , DeVito Nicholas J , Hulme Will , Bates Chris , Cockburn Jonathon , Mehrkar Amir , Goldacre Ben , Eggo Rosalind M. , Tomlinson Laurie
Published: May 2022

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is increasing in prevalence around the world. Accurate estimation of disease severity associated with Omicron is critical for pandemic planning. We found lower risk of accident and emergency (AE) attendance following SARS-CoV-2 infection with Omicron compared to Delta (HR: 0.39 (95% CI: 0.30 – 0.51; P<.0001). For AE attendances that lead to hospital admission, Omicron was associated with an 85% lower hazard compared with Delta (HR: 0.14 (95% CI: 0.09 – 0.24; P<.0001)).

Conflicts of Interests

Nothing to declare.

Funding statement

This work was supported by the Medical Research Council MR/V015737/1. TPP provided technical expertise and infrastructure within their data centrepro bonoin the context of a national emergency. Rosalind Eggo is funded by HDR UK (grant: MR/S003975/1), MRC (grant: MC_PC 19065), NIHR (grant: NIHR200908).
Population-based Oral Cancer Service Screening Disrupted by COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational and Simulation Study
Authors: Su Chiu-Wen , Liu Yen-Tze , Yen Amy Ming-Fang , Chiu Han-Mo , Chen Tony Hsiu-Hsi , Hsu Tsui-Hsia , Shih Ming-Yueh , Su William Wang-Yu , Chen Sam Li-Sheng
Published: May 2022

Background

It is important for understanding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the missing opportunity for the early detection of oral cancer. This study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the existing population-based oral cancer (OC) service screening program in Taiwan.

Methods

Before and after COVID-19 pandemic design was used to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the reduction of screening rate, referral rate, and the effectiveness of this OC service screening. Data and analysis after pandemic covered non-VOC period in 2020 and VOC period in 2021 compared to the historical control before pandemic in 2019.

Results

The screening rate decreased substantially from 26.6% before COVID-19 in 2019 to 16.7% in 2020 and 15.3% in 2021 after pandemic. The reduction of screening rate varied with months, being the most remarkable decline in March (RR=0.61, 95% CI (0.60-0.62)) and June (RR=0.09, 95% CI (0.09-0.10)) in 2021 compared with January. The referral rate was stable at 81.5% in 2020 but it was reduced to 73.1% in 2021. The reduction of screening and referral rate led to the attenuation of effectiveness of advance cancer and mortality attenuated by 4% and 5%, respectively.

Conclusion

COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the screening and the referral rate and further led to statistically significant reduction in effectiveness for preventing advanced cancer and death. Appropriate prioritized strategies must be adopted to ameliorate malignant transformation and tumor upstaging due to deference from participation in the screening.

Funding

This study was financially supported by Health Promotion Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Taiwan (A1091116).
IDOL deficiency inhibits cholesterol-rich diet-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits
Authors: Koike Tomonari , Koike Yui , guo Yanhong , Yang Dongshan , Song Jun , Xu Jie , Zhao Xiangjie , Zhu Tianqing , Li Ruiting , Wen Bo , Sun Duxin , Rom Oren , Han Renzhi , Fan Jianglin , Garcia-Barrio Minerva T. , Zhang Jifeng , Chen Y. Eugene
Published: May 2022

BACKGROUND

The E3 ubiquitin ligase IDOL (Inducible Degrader of the LDL-Receptor) contributes to regulation of cholesterol metabolism through degradation of LDLR, VLDLR and ApoER2. Human genetic studies support the hypothesis that IDOL could serve as a target for the treatment of dyslipidemia. However, species-specific differences in overall lipid metabolism and IDOL regulation require new preclinical models to realize its therapeutic potential. We leveraged the advantages afforded by the rabbit model to address those limitations and generated a novel rabbit IDOL knockout, which we characterized in the context of atherosclerosis.

METHODS

IDOL-/- rabbits were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 technology. IDOL-/- and wildtype littermates, on standard (SD) and atherogenic high-cholesterol diets (HCDs) were compared through assessment of lipid and lipoprotein profiles, triglyceride clearance, lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, liver pathology, atherosclerosis development, and fecal cholesterol, with bile acid contents assessed by mass spectrometry.

Results

Hepatic IDOL expression was increased in response to hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia induced by HCD. On SD, loss of IDOL increased LDLR stability with reduced total cholesterol in plasma. On HCD, IDOL-/- rabbits showed simultaneous and remarkable reduction in hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia associated with enhanced lipid clearance and LPL activity as well as increased bile acid excretion in feces. IDOL-/- rabbits presented markedly reduced HCD-induced atherosclerosis in the aorta and left coronary artery, without enhanced liver steatosis.

CONCLUSIONS

Loss of IDOL in rabbits recapitulates human genetic findings, thus setting the stage to accelerate preclinical studies towards development of strategies targeting IDOL for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Translation rate prediction and regulatory motif discovery with multi-task learning
Authors: Zheng Weizhong , Fong John H.C. , Wan Yuk Kei , Chu Athena H.Y. , Huang Yuanhua , Wong Alan S.L. , Ho Joshua W.K.
Published: May 2022

Many studies have found that sequence in the 5’ untranslated regions (UTRs) impacts the translation rate of an mRNA, but the regulatory grammar that underpins this translation regulation remains elusive. Deep learning methods deployed to analyse massive sequencing datasets offer new solutions to motif discovery. However, existing works focused on extracting sequence motifs in individual datasets, which may not be generalisable to other datasets from the same cell type. We hypothesise that motifs that are genuinely involved in controlling translation rate are the ones that can be extracted from diverse datasets generated by different experimental techniques. In order to reveal more generalised cis-regulatory motifs for RNA translation, we develop a multi-task translation rate predictor,MTtrans, to integrate information from multiple datasets. Compared to single-task models,MTtransreaches a higher prediction accuracy in all the benchmarked datasets generated by various experimental techniques. We show that features learnt in human samples are directly transferable to another dataset in yeast systems, demonstrating its robustness in identifying evolutionarily conserved sequence motifs. Furthermore, our newly generated experimental data corroborated the effect of most of the identified motifs based onMTtranstrained using multiple public datasets, further demonstrating the utility ofMTtransfor discovering generalisable motifs.MTtranseffectively integrates biological insights from diverse experiments and allows robust extraction of translation-associated sequence motifs in 5’UTR.
Disentangling object category representations driven by dynamic and static visual input
Authors: Robert Sophia , Ungerleider Leslie G. , Vaziri-Pashkam Maryam
Published: May 2022

Humans can label and categorize objects in a visual scene with high accuracy and speed—a capacity well-characterized with neuroimaging studies using static images. However, motion is another cue that could be used by the visual system to classify objects. To determine how motion-defined object category information is processed in the brain, we created a novel stimulus set to isolate motion-defined signals from other sources of information. We extracted movement information from videos of 6 object categories and applied the motion to random dot patterns. Using these stimuli, we investigated whether fMRI responses elicited by motion cues could be decoded at the object category level in functionally defined regions of occipitotemporal and parietal cortex. Participants performed a one-back repetition detection task as they viewed motion-defined stimuli or static images from the original videos. Linear classifiers could decode object category for both stimulus formats in all higher order regions of interest. More posterior occipitotemporal and ventral regions showed higher accuracy in the static condition and more anterior occipitotemporal and dorsal regions showed higher accuracy in the dynamic condition. Significantly above chance classification accuracies were also observed in all regions when training and testing the SVM classifier across stimulus formats. These results demonstrate that motion-defined cues can elicit widespread robust category responses on par with those elicited by luminance cues in regions of object-selective visual cortex. The informational content of these responses overlapped with, but also demonstrated interesting distinctions from, those elicited by static cues.

Significance Statement

Much research on visual object recognition has focused on recognizing objects in static images. However, motion cues are a rich source of information that humans might also use to categorize objects. Here, we present the first study to compare neural representations of several animate and inanimate objects when category information is presented in two formats: static cues or isolated dynamic cues. Our study shows that while higher order brain regions differentially process object categories depending on format, they also contain robust, abstract category representations that generalize across format. These results expand our previous understanding of motion-derived animate and inanimate object category processing and provide useful tools for future research on object category processing driven by multiple sources of visual information.
Bacterial Infection of the Placenta Induces Sex-Specific Responses in the Fetal Brain
Authors: Lee Kun Ho , Kiupel Matti , Woods Thomas , Pingle Prachee , Hardy Jonathan
Published: May 2022

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological data indicate that prenatal infection is associated with an increased risk of several neurodevelopmental disorders in the progeny. These disorders display sex differences in presentation. The role of the placenta, which is a target of prenatal infection, in the sex-specificity of neurodevelopmental abnormalities is unknown. We used an imaging-based animal model of the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes to identify sex-specific effects of placental infection on neurodevelopment of the fetus.

METHODS

Pregnant CD1 mice were infected with a bioluminescent strain of Listeria on embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5). Excised fetuses were imaged on E18.5 to identify the infected placentas. The associated fetal brains were analyzed for gene expression and altered brain structure due to infection. The behavior of adult offspring affected by prenatal Listeria infection was analyzed.

RESULTS

Placental infection induced sex-specific alteration of gene expression patterns in the fetal brain and resulted in abnormal cortical development correlated with placental infection levels. Furthermore, male offspring exhibited abnormal social interaction, whereas females exhibited elevated anxiety.

CONCLUSION

Placental infection by Listeria induced sex-specific abnormalities in neurodevelopment of the fetus. Prenatal infection also affected the behavior of the offspring in a sex-specific manner.

Impact

Placental infection with Listeria monocytogenes induces sexually dichotomous gene expression patterns in the fetal brain.

Abnormal cortical lamination is correlated with placental infection levels.

Placental infection results in autism related behavior in male offspring and heightened anxiety level in female offspring.
Antibiotic-induced accumulation of lipid II sensitizes bacteria to antimicrobial fatty acids
Authors: Sidders Ashelyn E. , Kedziora Katarzyna M. , Beam Jenna E. , Bui Duyen T. , Parsons Joshua B. , Rowe Sarah E. , Conlon Brian P.
Published: May 2022

Antibiotic tolerance and antibiotic resistance are the two major obstacles to the efficient and reliable treatment of bacterial infections. Identifying antibiotic adjuvants that sensitize resistant and tolerant bacteria to antibiotic killing may lead to the development of superior treatments with improved outcomes. Vancomycin, a lipid II inhibitor, is of major clinical importance for the treatment of Gram-positive bacterial infections. Here we show that unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) and vancomycin act synergistically to rapidly kill S. aureus, including vancomycin tolerant and resistant populations. Our results suggest that antibiotic-mediated accumulation of lipid II at the septum facilitates membrane invasion by antimicrobial UFAs. UFA-vancomycin dual treatment generates large fluid patches of flexible lipids in the membrane leading to protein delocalization, aberrant septal formation, and loss of membrane integrity. This mechanism of synergy may be exploited for the development of new antibiotic therapies that target lipid II to combat both antibiotic tolerance and resistance.
Identification of sex-determining loci in hybridizing Catostomus fish species
Authors: Pyne Cassandre B. , McFarlane S. Eryn , Mandeville Elizabeth G.
Published: May 2022

1

Despite the near-universality of gonochorism (separate sexes) in eukaryotic organisms, the underlying mechanisms of sex determination are poorly understood and highly variable in some taxa. Sex determination mechanisms may promote or impede reproductive isolation depending on whether mechanisms are similar between related species, so identifying genomic regions associated with sex determination is especially relevant for understanding evolutionary diversification and hybridization between closely related species. In Catostomus fishes, contemporary hybridization is variable and extensive, but factors influencing hybridization dynamics are not fully understood. In the present study, we aim to describe the genetic basis of sex determination in bluehead (Catostomus discobolus) and white suckers (Catostomus commersonii ) to understand the potential impact of sex determination on reproductive isolation. We used genotyping-by-sequencing data from Catostomus species and their hybrids to identify regions of the genome associated with sex using a genome-wide association study and the identification of sex-specific loci. We identified a genetic basis of sex determination in Catostomus fishes, with a region of the genome significantly associating with sex in bluehead suckers. This region is suggestive of a master sex-determining region in bluehead suckers but is not significant in white suckers, implying that either the sex-determining region of the genome differs in these two species that hybridize, or that sample size was insufficient to identify this genomic region in white suckers. By describing and comparing sex-determination systems across Catostomus fish species, we highlight the relationship between sex determining systems and hybridization in closely related fish species.
Clemastine fumarate enhances myelination and promotes functional recovery in a syndromic ASD mouse model of Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome
Authors: Bohlen Joseph F. , Cleary Colin M. , Das Debamitra , Sripathy Srinidhi Rao , Sadowski Norah L. , Shim Gina , Kenney Rakaia F. , Buchler Ingrid P. , Mulkey Daniel K. , Maher Brady J.
Published: May 2022

Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) caused by autosomal dominant mutations in the Transcription Factor 4 gene (TCF4). One pathobiological process caused by Tcf4 mutation is a cell autonomous reduction in oligodendrocytes (OLs) and myelination. In this study, we show that clemastine is effective at restoring myelination defects in a PTHS mouse model. In vitro, clemastine treatment reduced excess oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) and normalized OL density. In vivo, two-week intraperitoneal administration of clemastine also normalized OPC and OL density in the cortex of Tcf4 mutant mice and appeared to increase the number of axons undergoing myelination, as EM imaging of the corpus callosum showed a significant increase in uncompacted myelin. Importantly, this treatment paradigm resulted in functional rescue by improving electrophysiology and behavior. Together, these results provide preclinical evidence that remyelination therapies may be beneficial in PTHS and potentially other neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by demyelination.
Modeling fragment counts improves single-cell ATAC-seq analysis
Authors: Martens Laura D. , Fischer David S. , Yépez Vicente A. , Theis Fabian J. , Gagneur Julien
Published: May 2022

Single-cell ATAC-sequencing (scATAC-seq) coverage in regulatory regions is typically binarized as an indicator of open chromatin. However, the implications of scATAC-seq data binarization have not systematically been assessed. Here, we show that the goodness-of-fit of existing models and their applications, including clustering, cell type identification, and batch integration, are improved by a quantitative treatment of the fragment counts. These results have immediate implications for scATAC-seq analysis.
Global genomic epidemiology, resistome, virulome and plasmidome of the Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) ST38 lineage
Authors: Fonseca Érica L. , Morgado Sérgio M. , Vicente Ana Carolina P.
Published: May 2022

Most of the extraintestinal human infections worldwide are determined by some specific Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) lineages, which also present a zoonotic character. One of these lineages belongs to ST38, which is considered a uropathogenic/enteroaggregative E. coli hybrid and a high-risk globally disseminated ExPEC. To get insights on the aspects of ST38 epidemiology and evolution as a multidrug resistant and pathogenic lineage, this study performed a global comparative genomic analysis on ST38 genomes. A total of 376 genomes recovered from environments, humans, livestock, wild and domestic animals in all continents throughout three decades were analyzed considering the ST38 phylogenomics, resistome, plasmidome, and virulome. In general, our analyses revealed that, independently of host sources and geographic origin, these genomes were distributed in two clusters comprising clonal and non-clonal genomes. Moreover, the ST38 accessory genome was not strictly associated with clusters and sub-clusters. Interestingly, the High Pathogenicity Island (HPI) prevailed in the major cluster (cluster 2), which comprised most of the genomes from human origin recovered worldwide (2000 to 2020). In addition, the ExPEC ST38 harbors a huge and diverse plasmidome that might contribute to the evolution of this lineage, reflecting in ST38 ability to live in a diversity of niches as a commensal or pathogenic organism.
Single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transition of 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid isopropyl ester
Authors: Langer Dominik , Wicher Barbara , Tykarska Ewa
Published: May 2022

Due to the destruction of the integrity of the parent crystal, single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transition in organic compounds is still a relatively rare phenomenon. The phase transition in glycyrrhetinic acid isopropyl ester is triggered by temperature change. The increasing volume of the isopropyl substituent as a result of increasing temperature forces a remodelling of the structural motifs. These changes cause a single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transition. The low-temperature form is isostructural with glycyrrhetinic acid methanol solvate, while the high-temperature phase is isostructural with the ethyl ester of this acid.
Ab initio simulations of α- and β-ammonium carbamate (NH4·NH2CO2), and the thermal expansivity of deuterated α-ammonium carbamate from 4.2 to 180 K by neutron powder diffraction
Authors: Howard Christopher M. , Wood Ian G. , Knight Kevin S. , Fortes A. Dominic
Published: May 2022

Experimental and computational studies of ammonium carbamate have been carried out, with the objective of studying the elastic anisotropy of the framework manifested in (i) the thermal expansion and (ii) the compressibility; furthermore, the relative thermodynamic stability of the two known polymorphs has been evaluated computationally. Using high-resolution neutron powder diffraction data, the crystal structure of α-ammonium carbamate (ND4·ND2CO2) has been refined [space group Pbca, Z = 8, with a = 17.05189 (15), b = 6.43531 (7), c = 6.68093 (7) Å and V = 733.126 (9) Å3 at 4.2 K] and the thermal expansivity of α-ammonium carbamate has been measured over the temperature range 4.2–180 K. The expansivity shows a high degree of anisotropy, with the b axis most expandable. The ab initio computational studies were carried out on the α- and β-polymorphs of ammonium carbamate using density functional theory. Fitting equations of state to the P(V) points of the simulations (run athermally) gave the following values: V
0 = 744 (2) Å3 and bulk modulus K
0 = 16.5 (4) GPa for the α-polymorph, and V
0 = 713.6 (5) Å3 and K
0 = 24.4 (4) GPa for the β-polymorph. The simulations show good agreement with the thermoelastic behaviour of α-ammonium carbamate. Both phases show a high-degree of anisotropy; in particular, α-ammonium carbamate shows unusual compressive behaviour, being determined to have negative linear compressibility (NLC) along its a axis above 5 GPa. The thermodynamically stable phase at ambient pressure is the α-polymorph, with a calculated enthalpy difference with respect to the β-polymorph of 0.399 kJ mol−1; a transition to the β-polymorph could occur at ∼0.4 GPa.
Effects of composition and growth parameters on phase formation in multicomponent aluminum garnet crystals
Authors: Pianassola Matheus , Alexander Marlena , Chakoumakos Bryan , Koschan Merry , Melcher Charles , Zhuravleva Mariya
Published: May 2022

The effects of composition on the phase formation of multicomponent garnet crystals grown via directional solidification by the micro-pulling-down method are studied. A relatively wide range of rare-earth (RE) average ionic radii (AIR) is explored by formulating ten compositions from the system (Lu,Y,Ho,Dy,Tb,Gd)3Al5O12. Crystals were grown at either 0.05 or 0.20 mm min−1. The hypothesis is that multicomponent compounds with large AIR will form secondary phases as the single-RE aluminum garnets formed by larger Tb3+ or Gd3+; this will result in crystals of poor optical quality. Crystals with large AIR have a central opaque region in optical microscopy images, which is responsible for their reduced transparency compared to crystals with small AIR. Slow pulling rates suppress the formation of the opaque region in crystals with intermediate AIR. Powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction and electron probe microanalysis results indicate that the opaque region is a perovskite phase. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy measurements reveal eutectic inclusions at the outer surface of the crystals. The concentration of the eutectic inclusions increases with increasing AIR.
Corporate board diversity and carbon disclosure: evidence from France
Authors: Elleuch Lahyani Fathia
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This study aims to examine the association between carbon disclosure and board diversity by drawing on a multiple theoretica frameworks that embody five dimensions, namely, board nationality, gender, independence, tenure and age, within firms with varying decarbonization performance and industry carbon impact.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the generalized method of moments approach. The sample includes Société des Bourses Françaises 120 (SBF 120) nonfinancial French listed firms for a period of 10 years (2010–2019).

Findings

Being sensitive to increased stakeholders’ information demands, diverse boards tend to disclose a higher volume of carbon information to improve environmental transparency and protect firm legitimacy. Findings show that board independence and nationality play a key role in enhancing carbon disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The authors’ evidence underscores the crucial role of board diversity in shaping sustainability strategies and disclosure in an economy targeting carbon neutrality. The study encourages management and policymakers to increase board diversity that goes beyond gender diversity.

Originality/value

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of board diversity as a multidimensional concept in enhancing the carbon disclosure of SBF 120 large firms, which are subject to communicating their contributions to reducing their carbon footprint.
Conceptual arguments on the use of unlatched reverse swing “flappy” door smoke control systems in residential buildings
Authors: Hopkin Charlie , Lay Simon
Published: May 2022

Purpose

The proposed use of unlatched, reverse swing flappy doors is becoming widespread in the design of residential common corridor smoke control systems. This article explores the conceptual arguments for and against the use of these systems.

Design/methodology/approach

This article relies on industry experience, with reference to relevant building design practices, standards and research literature, to categorise arguments. These are collated into four common areas of concern relating to compartmentation, reliability, depressurisation and modelling practices. A final comparison is made between different common corridor smoke control system types for these four areas.

Findings

The article highlights several concerns around the use of flappy door systems, including the enforced breaches in stair compartmentation, uncertainties around system reliability, the reliance on door closers as a single point of failure, the impact of day-to-day building use on the system performance and the false confidence that modelling assessments can provide in demonstrating adequacy. The article concludes in suggesting that alternative smoke control options be considered in place of flappy door systems.

Originality/value

Discussion on the use of flappy door smoke control systems has been ongoing within the fire engineering community for several years, but there is limited public literature available on the topic. By collating the common arguments relating to these systems into a single article, a better understanding of their benefits and pitfalls has been provided for consideration by building design and construction professionals.
Technology network and development trends of government-funded patents
Authors: Chang Shu-Hao
Published: May 2022

Purpose

How prospective or emerging technologies can be supported through government-funded research projects has gradually received global attention. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the effects of government funding on subsequent technological development, the overall economy or social welfare of a country or corporate research and development (R&D) activities. These studies have not examined the technology distribution and development trends of government-funded research from a comprehensive technology perspective. In addition, previous measurements of the influence of government-funded R&D projects faced the difficulty of transferring the research achievements of government-funded research to the commercial market.

Design/methodology/approach

Patents can provide a preliminary understanding of the collaboration, development focus and status of market technologies. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the development directions of patented technologies engendered from government-funded research projects. Analyzing the network of government-funded patented technologies helped identify the current status and location of specific technologies in a patent network as well as the hotspot technologies in government-funded research projects that correspond to the market.

Findings

The results of this study indicated that the technologies obtaining government-funded patents mainly consist of advanced materials and semiconductors and that the technological focus has shifted over the years. Nanotechnology, pharmaceutical technology and sanitary technology have gradually become the technologies receiving most of government-funded patents. The trend of development of these technologies also corresponds to the emerging technologies advocated by countries worldwide in recent years.

Originality/value

This study provided a comprehensive verification of the government-funded patented technologies from a macro perspective by identifying key technologies using technology network analysis. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for the allocation of governmental R&D resources and the promotion of novel technologies in the private sector.
Google Trends and cryptocurrencies: a nonparametric causality-in-quantiles analysis
Authors: Raza Syed Ali , Yarovaya Larisa , Guesmi Khaled , Shah Nida
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This article aims to uncover the impact of Google Trends on cryptocurrency markets beyond Bitcoin during the time of increased attention to altcoins, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyses the nexus among the Google Trends and six cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin, New Economy Movement (NEM), Dash, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin by utilizing the causality-in-quantiles technique on data comprised of the years January 2016–March 2021.

Findings

The findings show that Google Trends cause the Litecoin, Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum and NEM prices at majority of the quantiles except for Dash.

Originality/value

The findings will help investors to develop more in-depth understanding of impact of Google Trends on cryptocurrency prices and build successful trading strategies in a more matured digital assets ecosystem.
Herding and spillover effects in the Indian commodity futures market
Authors: Dewan Palak , Dharni Khushdeep
Published: May 2022

Purpose

The study examines herding in the Indian stock and commodity futures market including agricultural, metal and energy commodities. Herding is studied under various market conditions: rising and declining, high and low volatility. The study also examines spillover effects of herding.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adapts the cross-sectional absolute deviation model given by Chang et al. (2000) to examine herding in Indian stock and commodity futures markets.

Findings

The results of the study indicate absence of herding among commodity futures under all market conditions except for the declining market where herding is present among energy futures. The investors investing in agricultural and energy commodities have a higher tendency to herd during high volatility days as compared to low volatility days. Further, the study of herding spillover effects indicates that the price fluctuations in metal commodities affect herding in agricultural and energy commodities.

Research limitations/implications

The results can help market participants to diversify the risk by investing in agricultural, metal and energy futures along with the stocks.

Originality/value

Majority of the previous studies explore herding among stocks and ignore commodities especially agricultural commodities. This study attempts to fill the gap by studying herding among various commodity futures. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to explore herding spillover effects in the Indian stock and commodity futures market.
Bibliometric analysis of bibliometric studies in the field of tourism and hospitality
Authors: Ülker Pembe , Ülker Mustafa , Karamustafa Kurtuluş
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This study aims to contribute to the relevant body of knowledge by examining the bibliometric studies related to tourism and hospitality indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database from a bibliometric perspective (evaluative and relational techniques).

Design/methodology/approach

The WoS database was used to obtain studies to be reviewed. A total of 136 studies were analyzed and visualized in terms of evaluative and relational techniques, and a subject categorization was made.

Findings

“Tourism management” and “tourism and hospitality” are the two fields of research where bibliometric studies are carried out more frequently. Evaluative techniques were used in most studies while relational techniques, such as co-word, co-author, co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling, were performed less. Relational techniques indicate that the words “bibliometric analysis” and “tourism” are frequently used together in the studies examined; the most common authorship cooperation is between China and USA.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides an overview of bibliometric studies in tourism and hospitality literature. It expands the previous literature and shows study topics that are more focused by examining the abstracts and contents of articles published in journals in different WoS categories.

Practical implications

Findings related to evaluative and relational techniques can serve as useful information for researchers, who are new to the field.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the current knowledge accumulation by its lack of year, country, region and language limits.
Intellectual capital, corporate social responsibility and sustainable competitive performance of small and medium-sized enterprises: mediating effects of organizational innovation
Authors: Ahmad Maqsood , Wu Qiang , Khattak Muhammad Sualeh
Published: May 2022

Purpose

This study aims to explore the mechanism by which intellectual capital and corporate social responsibility (CSR) influence the sustainable competitive performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the mediating role of organizational innovation in an emerging economy.

Design/methodology/approach

The data collection was conducted through a survey completed by 208 owners and top managers operating in the service, trading and manufacturing sector SMEs, positioned within twin cities of Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized for data analysis.

Findings

The results of the study suggest that intellectual capital and CSR have a markedly positive influence on the sustainable competitive performance of SMEs. The organizational innovation appears to mediate these relationships.

Originality/value

This study pioneers research on the links between intellectual capital, CSR organizational innovation and sustainable competitive performance of SMEs. The current research contributes to the literature by defining intellectual capital and CSR as an antecedent and organizational innovation as an intervening variable for the sustainable competitive performance of SMEs. In addition, this study underlines the significance of intellectual capital and CSR activities as valuable intangible assets for the achievement of sustainable competitive performance of SMEs.