bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
QTL mapping of nitrogen use efficiency traits at the seedling and maturity stages under different nitrogen conditions in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)
Authors: Zeng Zhaoyong , Song Shiyun , Ma Jian , Hu Deyi , Xu Yinggang , Hou Yao , Chen Huangxin , Chen Yi , Huo Yuanfeng , Li Yang , Tang Xiaoyan , Lan Ting , Gao Xuesong , Chen Guangdeng
Published: October 2023

Nitrogen (N) is an essential element for plant growth and development. The identification and utilization of N use efficiency (NUE) loci are essential for breeding high NUE cultivars. In this study, 15 NUE traits were measured in a recombinant inbred line population containing 121 lines derived from the cross between a cultivated barley (Baudin) and a wild barley (CN4027). The hydroponic culture was conducted with normal N and low N treatments in one‐time frame, and field trials were conducted with N sufficiency and N deficiency treatments in two growing seasons. Twenty‐two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and four clusters were detected. Of them, the five stable QTLs Qgna.sau‐3H for grain N concentration, Qtna.sau‐3H for total N accumulation per plant, Qnhi.sau‐3H for N harvest index, Qnutegy.sau‐3H for N utilization efficiency for grain yield and Qanutedm.sau‐3H.1 for N utilization efficiency for aboveground dry matter were co‐located on chromosome 3H flanked by the markers bpb6282426 and bpb4786261. These two novel QTL clusters simultaneously controlled NUE traits at the seedling and maturity stages. Some genes related to NUE traits in intervals of the major QTLs were predicted. The significant relationships between NUE traits and agronomic and physiological traits were detected and discussed. In conclusion, this study uncovers the most promising genomic regions for the marker‐assisted selection of NUE traits to improve NUE in barley.
Soil cadmium pollution facilitated the invasion of alligator weed through enhanced herbivore resistance and competitive ability over a congeneric species
Authors: Lin Tiantian , He Wanci , Yang Mohan , Wang Xuegui , Vrieling Klaas , Chen Gang
Published: October 2023

A number of invasive plant species, such as Alternanthera philoxeroides, have been documented to be able to accumulate trace metal elements in their tissues. Since metal accumulation in plants can serve as a defence against herbivores, we hypothesized that metal pollution will increase herbivore resistance of metal‐accumulating invasive plant species and such a benefit will grant them a competitive advantage over local co‐occurring plants. In this study, we compared the differences in plant growth and herbivore feeding preference between A. philoxeroides and its native congener Alternanthera sessilis in single and mixed cultures with and without soil cadmium (Cd) pollution. The results showed that A. philoxeroides plants were more tolerant to Cd stress and accumulated more Cd in the leaves than A. sessilis. Cd exposure increased the resistance of A. philoxeroides against a specialist and a generalist herbivore compared with A. sessilis. Competition experiments indicated that Cd stress largely increased the competitive advantage of A. philoxeroides over A. sessilis with or without herbivore pressures. The differences in herbivore resistance between the two plant species under soil Cd stress are most likely due to the deterring effect of Cd accumulation and Cd‐enhanced mechanical defences rather than changes in leaf specialized metabolites.
Disagreement and alienation
Authors: Marušić Berislav , White Stephen J.
Published: October 2023

This paper proposes to reorient the philosophical debate about peer disagreement. The problem of peer disagreement is normally seen as a problem about the extent to which disagreement provides one with evidence against one's own conclusions. It is thus regarded as a problem for individual inquiry. But things look different in more collaborative contexts. Ethical norms relevant to those contexts make a difference to the epistemology. In particular, we argue that a norm of mutual answerability applies to us when we engage in shared inquiry with others, and precludes us from treating one another's conflicting judgments as evidence relevant to the dispute. From this it follows that standard philosophical accounts of peer disagreement—e.g., the Equal Weight View and the Total Evidence View—presuppose that the disagreeing parties are in a sense alienated from one another. It's doubtful that such forms of alienated disagreement should be treated as the central case.
Puncturing the Knowledge Illusion Does Not Reduce Policy and Political Extremism: Evidence From a Replication and Extension
Authors: Walker Richard M. , Zhang Jiasheng , Cheng Edmund W.
Published: October 2023

Understanding the formation of and changes in citizens' extreme views on complex public policies is an important task in our increasingly polarized world. Behavioral sciences offer insights on cognitive processes and potential mechanisms to mitigate extremity in policy preferences and develop more realistic models that underprint political attitudes. About a decade ago, Fernbach et al. (2013) offered a simple cognitive intervention to reduce political extremism: Confront people with their lack of procedural policy knowledge such that their overestimation of knowledge is shattered. We conducted three high‐value replications and extensions to examine the applicability of Fernbach's proposed theory among a sample of 5,139 citizens in postconflict Hong Kong. Our results suggest the opposite: Positional extremity is higher when citizens articulate their understanding of policy. Our study, which is larger in scale, draws on different time periods and extended interventions and examines more controversial policy issues has epistemological and cognitive implications for future research on the political psychology of extremism.
Microbialites on the northern shelf of Lake Van, eastern Türkiye#: Morphology, texture, stable isotope geochemistry and age
Authors: Çağatay M. Namık , Damcı Emre , Bayon Germain , Sarı Mustafa
Published: October 2023

Lake Van, the world's largest alkaline lake, hosts some of the largest microbialite towers worldwide, which are considered as modern analogues of ancient stromatolites. This study investigates the links between microbialite evolution, geology, climate and hydrology, and the role of biotic and abiotic processes in microbialite growth and morphology. For these objectives, the northern shelf of Lake Van was surveyed by sub‐bottom seismic profiling and diving, and two 9 m and 15 m high microbialite chimneys were sampled at 25 m water depth. Samples were analysed for stable oxygen and carbon isotopes, X‐ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy and U/Th age dating. Lake Van microbialites precipitate wherever focused Ca‐rich groundwater flows onto the lake floor to mix with alkaline lake water. Variable columnar, conical and branching morphologies of the microbialites indicate various processes of formation by groundwater channelling within the chimneys. Collectively, our data suggest that the microbialite chimneys have formed within the last millennium, most likely starting during the warm and humid Medieval Climate Anomaly (ca ad 800–1300), when lake level rose approximately to the present level due to enhanced Inputs of riverine Ca‐rich freshwater and groundwater. Our new scanning electron microscopy observations indicate that the internal structure of the microbialites below the outer cyanobacteria‐covered crust is constructed by calcified filaments, globular aggregates and nanocrystals of algal, cyanobacterial and heterobacterial origins and inorganically precipitated prismatic calcite crystals. These textural features, together with dive observations, clearly demonstrate the important role of inorganic carbonate precipitation at sites of groundwater discharge, followed by cyanobacteria and algal mucilage deposition and microbially meditated calcification in the photic zone in the rapid growth of the microbialite chimneys. Considering the close similarities of some textures with those of ancient stromatolites and meteorites, the results of this study provide new insights into the environmental conditions associated with stromatolite formation and extra‐terrestrial life evolution.
Parental warmth and guilt induction: Associations with prosocial behaviors and the mediating role of values in Chinese adolescents
Authors: Wong Tracy K. Y. , Konishi Chiaki
Published: October 2023

Parental guilt induction is thought to promote empathy and social attunement in Chinese cultures, whereas parental warmth is thought to facilitate prosocial development across diverse cultures. However, research on the relative roles of guilt induction and warmth and how they are associated with prosocial behaviors in Chinese communities has been limited. Additionally, the roles of paternal parenting and potential motivational mediators in non‐Western contexts remain largely unexplored. The present study considered both culturally prevalent (guilt induction) and universal (warmth) parenting practices and their associations with other‐ versus self‐oriented prosocial behaviors, as well as the mediating role of adolescents’ values (i.e., self‐transcendence vs. self‐transcendence). Gender and age differences were also examined. Participants were 439 Grades 7–11 adolescents (242 girls) from Hong Kong. Path analyses indicated that self‐transcendence values mediated the link between parental (maternal and paternal) warmth and both forms of prosocial behaviors. Self‐enhancement values mediated the link between maternal guilt induction and self‐oriented prosocial behaviors. Multigroup analyses revealed no significant gender and age differences. Current findings suggest that parental warmth is likely to facilitate prosocial behaviors through the cultivation of self‐transcendence values whereas guilt induction may facilitate values and prosocial behaviors that are more self‐oriented in Chinese contexts.
Moral psychology and civil rights protesters: Exemplary, different, and mad
Authors: Noon Daniel W.
Published: October 2023

Martin Luther King Jr. appealed for social scientists to reflect on the normative questions of what morality ought to be and what the aims of science ought to be. To avoid rendering social science irrelevant, 1960s moral psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg agreed with King when he argued that morality should be based on a philosophical ideal rather than an adjustment to society. Kohlberg's definition of morality meant that Black protesters could be exemplary. By the 1970s, Kohlberg worked in schools to promote children's knowledge of racial justice and achieve institutional reform, such as integration and affirmative action. Subsequent work challenged Kohlberg's definition of morality and instead claimed morality meant adhering to group‐defined standards. Rather than being seen as more moral and mature, Black civil rights activists came to be seen as possessing a different morality of care that refused to assimilate to White American moral norms. Later, Haidt claimed that a “great synthesis” of empirical work led to a definition of morality as adherence to cultural standards. This definition of morality led Haidt to describe the morality of Black protesters as deficient and mentally ill. The latter approach assumed science aims to achieve racial harmony and spoke against affirmative action. The change in the description of civil rights protesters as exceptional, different, and then mad results in a change in normative assumptions rather than a new synthesis of empirical findings.
Soil salinity monitoring model based on the synergistic construction of ground‐UAV‐satellite data
Authors: Jia Jiangdong , Chen Ce , Liu Qi , Ding Binbin , Ren Zheng , Jia Yanxin , Bai Xuqian , Du Ruiqi , Chen Qinda , Wang Shuang , Luo Linyu , Zhang Zhitao , Geng Hongsuo
Published: October 2023

Soil salinization poses a significant constraint on the sustainable development of agriculture. While satellite remote‐sensing data enables salinity monitoring over large spatial scales, its coarse resolution limits monitoring accuracy. On the other hand, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote‐sensing data offers greater accuracy in salinity monitoring but covers a smaller area compared to satellite remote sensing. To address the need for both high precision and wide‐range monitoring, we developed a soil salinity monitoring model integrating ground, UAV, and satellite data. Field experiments were conducted in the Shahaoqu irrigation area, Inner Mongolia, China, from August 11 to 15, 2019. During this period, we collected satellite remote‐sensing images, UAV remote‐sensing images, and soil salinity data. Spectral bands from the remote‐sensing data were utilized to construct separate vegetation and salinity indices, which were further filtered using the variable importance in projection (VIP) algorithm. The soil salinity monitoring model was then constructed using the extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm. Several soil salinity monitoring models were developed, including SSMM‐UAV (based on ground‐UAV data at a resolution of 6.5 cm), SSMM‐UAV‐upscaling (obtained by upscaling the results of SSMM‐UAV to a 16 m scale), SSMM‐satellite (based on ground‐satellite data at a 16 m scale), and SSMM‐UAV‐satellite (constructed using ground‐UAV‐satellite data at a 16 m scale). The results revealed that SSMM‐UAV accurately monitored soil salinity at the UAV scale, with R2 values exceeding .81 and RMSEs below 0.11% for both the model modelling set and validation set. SSMM‐UAV‐upscaling demonstrated consistency with SSMM‐UAV and effectively represented salinity conditions at the 16 m scale. In contrast, SSMM‐satellite exhibited inferior performance, with R2 values of .42 and .32 for the modelling set and validation set, respectively, and RMSEs of 0.15% and 0.17%, respectively. By incorporating ground‐UAV‐satellite data, SSMM‐UAV‐satellite improved the R2 of SSMM‐satellite by more than .09 and reduced the RMSEs by at least 0.08%. Furthermore, the area covered by satellite data was ca. 85 times larger than that covered by UAV data. The synergistic use of UAV and satellite data in salinity monitoring enhances the accuracy of satellite remote sensing and expands the monitoring range of UAV remote sensing. The findings of this study provide a reference for high precision and large‐scale salt monitoring through the synergistic integration of ground, UAV, and satellite data.
Irrigation‐induced evaporative water loss in a glacially derived soil site
Authors: Grevengoed Lincoln , Abdelmohsen Karem , Hampton Duane , Krishnamurthy R. V.
Published: October 2023

Worldwide, significant agricultural activities take place where groundwater is used for irrigation and water losses occur due to evaporation. Water loss through evaporation is affected by the soil type, local climate and most likely crop type. Previous studies from arid regions demonstrated the utility of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in estimating evaporative water loss during return flow back to an aquifer. This study examined the region around Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States, where the soil is formed from glacial sediments and the region experiences a temperate climate. The present study is applicable to agricultural practices in many parts of the world that are in a temperate climate zone. The study area primarily uses centre‐pivot systems supplied by wells. Water samples were taken periodically from wells close to centre‐pivot irrigation systems. Knowledge of isotope ratios in precipitation, the primary source of groundwater recharge is a prerequisite for this study. The distribution of oxygen and hydrogen in local precipitation, the so‐called Local Meteoric Water Line, is available based on several years of measurements. An evaporative model of the isotope data indicates water loss from evaporation to be in the range of 14% and 6%. This is less than what was estimated for arid region zones and is perhaps also due to the well‐drained nature of the regional soil which promotes rapid infiltration lowering evaporation. Evaporative loss was greater at wells near cornfields than at wells that supplied other crop types. Little expected correlation between the groundwater isotope data and chloride concentration is attributable to an external input of chloride from road salt used in winter months.
Developing a Computational Fluid Dynamics-Finite Element Method Model to Analyze Thermal-Mechanical Stresses in a Heavy-Duty Medium-Speed Diesel Engine Piston During Warm-Up
Authors: Nguyen Duong V. , Pham Phuong X.
Published: October 2023

Pistons play a vital role in internal combustion engines, affecting both performance and reliability, and are subjected to intense thermal-mechanical loads that have become more challenging due to improved engine efficiency and power. This study examines the thermal and mechanical stress experienced by a piston in a heavy-duty medium-speed diesel engine during warm-up. The heavy-duty diesel engines are typically used in heavy trucks, locomotives, and ships. A combination of computational fluid dynamics, finite element method, and matlab was used to consider factors such as oil temperature and flowrate, coolant temperature, component temperature, and boundary conditions during engine transient conditions. The results highlight the significant variations in the thermal and mechanical stress on the piston, particularly in the piston head under different warming-up conditions. It is noted that the variation in oil temperature is a crucial factor affecting the thermal stress on the piston. Low oil temperature can result in reduced heat exchange coefficient and inadequate cooling of the piston due to low flowrate of the cooling oil. During engine warm-up, both thermal and combined stresses reach maximum values and then decrease when the engine reaches stable operating conditions. By selecting appropriate warming-up modes, the quality of the warm-up process and the strength and longevity of the engine could be improved. This study also provides useful insights for technicians to prevent critical conditions that may damage the piston and reduce its strength and lifespan.
Pore-Scale Study of Gas Natural Convection in Confined Porous Media Based on Lattice Boltzmann Method
Authors: Tariq Ammar , Zhao Yueqi , Munir Adnan , Cui Peilin , Liu Zhenyu
Published: October 2023

Gas natural convection is one common phenomenon in industrial applications, especially for the thermal management of electronic devices. In this study, a numerical model for gas natural convection in a confined porous cavity is constructed based on the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method, which predicts the density-difference-induced flow using a multiple relaxation time (MRT) collision operator. At the gas–solid interfaces, the microscale flow and heat transfer effects are formulated using an effective slip boundary condition. The established LB model is applied to investigate the Nusselt number for heated obstacles arranged in a staggered formation in the cavity. Based on the calculated data, the Nusselt number values obtained for a five-cylinder pore-scale (single pore, SP) domain are analyzed and compared to those for a 13-cylinder (multipore, MP) one. The Nusselt number shows a sharp decrease as soon as the microscale effect is considered at the obstacle walls. It was also observed that the Nusselt number for MP domain achieved lower values than that of SP one. The findings in this work can contribute to the design of thermal management device with confined porous media.
Effect of Sloping Bottom on Wave Interaction With Multiple Flexible Moored Breakwaters
Authors: Tabssum Saista , Ramakrishnan Balaji
Published: October 2023

An analytical framework is developed to analyze the interaction of oblique waves with multiple flexible porous breakwaters under the consideration of bottom undulation. The mathematical problem is tackled using the small amplitude water-wave theory, with Darcy’s law being applied to account for wave interaction with porous media. The bottom topography is considered to have a finite length, flanked by two semi-infinite sections of uniform bottom. The solution to the boundary value problem is approached by employing the eigenfunction expansion method within the uniform bottom regions. For the varying bottom topography, a modified mild-slope equation (MMSE) is utilized. To address the solution at the slope discontinuity at the bottom, a mass-conserving jump condition is applied. By matching solutions at the interfaces, a set of equations is derived. This system of equations encapsulates the behavior of reflection and transmission coefficients, as well as the force exerted on the breakwaters. These parameters are then investigated across various factors such as the length of the varying bottom, depth ratio, angle of the mooring line, angle of incidence, and flexural rigidity. Graphical representations of the reflection and transmission coefficients, along with the breakwater force, provide insights into the system’s behavior under different conditions. The water wave energy can be dissipated for the optimum values of flexural rigidity. The transmission coefficient is observed to be least for higher mooring angle.
Draft genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant
Klebsiella pneumoniae
fecal isolate from a cow with clinical mastitis
Authors: Hoque M. Nazmul , Faisal Golam Mahbub , Moyna Zannatara , Islam Md. Sayedul , Das Ziban Chandra , Islam Tofazzal
Published: October 2023

Klebsiella pneumoniae
is one of the most important mastitis-causing pathogens. The multidrug-resistant
K. pneumoniae
strain MNH_G2C5F was isolated from the feces of a cow with clinical mastitis. The MNH_G2C5F strain had a genome size of 5,381,832 bp (85.0× coverage) and typed as sequence type 273 (ST273).
In vivo
genetic analysis of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
carbon catabolic repression through the study of CrcZ pseudo-revertants shows that Crc-mediated metabolic robustness is needed for proficient bacterial virulence and antibiotic resistance
Authors: Gil-Gil Teresa , Valverde José Ramón , Martínez José Luis , Corona Fernando
Published: October 2023

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen able to colonize a variety of habitats. Its success in colonizing these habitats relies on its metabolic robustness and its capability of efficiently using available carbon sources in a hierarchical way.
P. aeruginosa
carbon catabolic repression is post-transcriptionally regulated by Hfq and Crc, which form a complex that binds and impedes the translation of their target mRNAs. Under no catabolic repression conditions, the complex is sequestered by the small RNA CrcZ, allowing the translation of the involved mRNAs. In addition to regulating carbon sources use, Crc and Hfq modulate
P. aeruginosa
virulence and antibiotic resistance. In the absence of CrcZ, catabolic repression should be constitutive, severely impairing
P. aeruginosa
fitness. A Δ
crcZ
mutant was generated. As predicted, it presents severe fitness defects and alterations in virulence and antibiotic resistance. Pseudo-revertants that restore
P. aeruginosa
fitness, antibiotic resistance, and virulence were selected. Notably, most pseudo-revertants presented mutations in
crc
, despite Hfq, not Crc, being the RNA-binding protein of the complex. The analysis of several traits, including antibiotic resistance and bacterial virulence of these mutants, indicates that they can be grouped into two categories, those in which Crc is fully inactivated and those presenting smaller structural changes. The phenotypes of the latter resembling those of the wild-type strain. Notably, even when Hfq is not sequestered by CrcZ, in the Δ
crcZ
mutant, the lack of Crc impedes a proficient catabolic repression, indicating that Crc is strictly required for keeping
P. aeruginosa
metabolic robustness, virulence, and antibiotic resistance.

Iimportance

Hfq and Crc regulate
P. aeruginosa
carbon catabolic repression at the post-transcriptional level.
In vitro
work has shown that Hfq binds the target RNAs and Crc stabilizes the complex. A third element in the regulation is the small RNA CrcZ, which sequesters the Crc-Hfq complex under no catabolic repression conditions, allowing the translation of the target mRNAs. A Δ
crcZ
mutant was generated and presented fitness defects and alterations in its virulence potential and antibiotic resistance. Eight pseudo-revertants that present different degrees of fitness compensation were selected. Notably, although Hfq is the RNA binding protein, most mutations occurred in Crc. This indicates that Crc is strictly needed for
P. aeruginosa
efficient carbon catabolic repression
in vivo
. The compensatory mutations restore in a different degree the alterations in antibiotic susceptibility and virulence of the Δ
crcZ
mutant, supporting that Crc plays a fundamental role linking
P. aeruginosa
metabolic robustness, virulence, and antibiotic resistance.
Terahertz Third-Harmonic Generation in Topological Insulators Based on Bismuth and Antimony Chalcogenides
Authors: Kuznetsov K. A. , Kuznetsov P. I. , Frolov A. D. , Konovalov A. M. , Kovaleva P. M. , Kitaeva G. Kh.
Published: October 2023

Terahertz third-harmonic generation in topological insulators based on bismuth and antimony chalcogenides has been experimentally investigated. It has been found that the third-harmonic conversion efficiency is inversely proportional to the electron Fermi energy; among the materials under study, antimony telluride has the highest conversion efficiency.
Patient with concurrent anti-NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis and immature teratoma of the ovary
Authors: Kai-Jing Zhang , Xiao-juan Lv , Xiao-Hui Huang
Published: October 2023

In young women with anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) autoimmune encephalitis (AE), co-occurrence with ovarian teratoma is common. While the management of mature teratoma with AE is well documented, literature on managing immature teratoma (IT) in tandem with AE is relatively scarce. Here, we report a case of a female patient in her early adolescence who presented with abdominal pain and was diagnosed with grade 3 IT combined with anti-NMDAR AE after an ovarian tumour was discovered and resected. Postsurgery, the patient received immunotherapy, chemotherapy and antiepileptic therapy, and two follow-up evaluations showed no signs of recurrence or sequelae. This case highlights the importance of a high index of suspicion for concurrent AE in the presence of ovarian teratoma, particularly IT, and the crucial role of concurrent administration of immunotherapy and chemotherapy following tumour resection in impacting prognosis.
Impact of smoking on choroidal microvasculature dropout in glaucoma: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Nishida Takashi , Micheletti Eleonora , Latif Kareem , Du Kelvin H , Weinreb Robert N , Moghimi Sasan
Published: October 2023

Objective

To investigate the effect of smoking on choroidal microvasculature dropout (MvD) in glaucoma.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Tertiary glaucoma centre.

Participants

223 eyes of 163 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma who had undergone imaging with optical coherence tomography angiography and completed a questionnaire on smoking from the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study.

Primary outcome measures

Linear mixed-effects models were used to determine the effect of each parameter on MvD area and angular circumference. The sensitivity analysis was performed by categorising the glaucoma severity determined by visual field mean deviation (MD).

Results

MvD was found in 37 (51.4%) eyes with smoking history and in 67 (44.4%) eyes with non-smokers (p=0.389). Larger MvD area and wider angular circumference were found in smokers compared with non-smokers (p=0.068 and p=0.046, respectively). In a multivariable model, smoking intensity was significantly associated with MvD area (0.30(95% CI 0.01 to 0.60) each 0.01 mm2per 10 pack-years; p=0.044). In eyes with moderate-severe glaucoma (MD <−6), smoking intensity was associated with larger MvD area (0.47 (95% CI 0.11 to 0.83) each 0.01 mm2per 10 pack-years; p=0.011), whereas no significant association was found in early glaucoma (MD ≥−6) (−0.08 (95% CI −0.26 to 0.11), p=0.401).

Conclusions

Smoking intensity was associated with larger choroidal MvD area in eyes with glaucoma, especially in patients with more severe disease.

Trial registration number

NCT00221897.
Implementation of a standardised accept note to improve communication during inter-hospital transfer: a prospective cohort study
Authors: Mueller Stephanie , Murray Maria , Goralnick Eric , Kelly Caitlin , Fiskio Julie M , Yoon Cathy , Schnipper Jeffrey L
Published: October 2023

Importance

The transfer of patients between hospitals (interhospital transfer, IHT), exposes patients to communication errors and gaps in information exchange.

Objective

To design and implement a standardised accept note to improve communication during medical service transfers, and evaluate its impact on patient outcomes.

Design

Prospective interventional cohort study.

Setting

A 792-bed tertiary care hospital.

Participants

All patient transfers from any acute care hospital to the general medicine, cardiology, oncology and intensive care unit (ICU) services between August 2020 and June 2022.

Interventions

A standardised accept note template was developed over a 9-month period with key stakeholder input and embedded in the electronic health record, completed by nurses within the hospital’s Access Centre.

Main outcomes and measures

Primary outcome was clinician-reported medical errors collected via surveys of admitting clinicians within 72 hours after IHT patient admission. Secondary outcomes included clinician-reported failures in communication; presence and ‘timeliness’ of accept note documentation; patient length of stay (LOS) after transfer; rapid response or ICU transfer within 24 hours and in-hospital mortality. All outcomes were analysed postintervention versus preintervention, adjusting for patient demographics, diagnosis, comorbidity, illness severity, admitting service, time of year, hospital COVID census and census of admitting service and admitting team on date of admission.

Results

Of the 1004 and 654 IHT patients during preintervention and postintervention periods, surveys were collected on 735 (73.2%) and 462 (70.6%), respectively. Baseline characteristics were similar among patients in each time period and between survey responders and non-responders. Adjusted analyses demonstrated a 27% reduction in clinician-reported medical error rates postimplementation versus preimplementation (11.5 vs 15.8, adjusted OR (aOR) 0.73, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.99). Secondary outcomes demonstrated lower adjusted odds of clinician-reported failures in communication (aOR 0.88; 0.78 to 0.98) and rapid response/ICU transfer (aOR 0.57; 0.34 to 0.97), and improved presence (aOR 2.30; 1.75 to 3.02) and timeliness (−21.4 hours vs −8.7 hours, p<0.001) of accept note documentation. There were no significant differences in LOS or mortality.

Conclusions and relevance

Among 1658 medical patient transfers, implementing a standardised accept note was associated with improved presence and timeliness of accept note documentation, clinician-reported medical errors, failures in communication and clinical decline following transfer, suggesting that improving communication during IHT can improve patient outcomes.
Modelling a two-stage adult population screen for autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolaemia: cross-sectional analysis within the UK Biobank
Authors: Gratton Jasmine , Humphries Steve E , Schmidt Amand Floriaan , Patel Riyaz S , Sofat Reecha , Finan Chris , Morris Joan K , Hingorani Aroon D , Futema Marta
Published: October 2023

Background

Most people with autosomal dominant familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) remain undetected, which represents a missed opportunity for coronary heart disease prevention.

Objective

To evaluate the performance of two-stage adult population screening for FH.

Design

Using data from UK Biobank, we estimated the screening performance of different low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) cut-offs (stage 1) to select adults for DNA sequencing (stage 2) to identify individuals with FH-causing variants inLDLR, APOB, PCSK9andAPOE. We estimated the number of additional FH cases detected by cascade testing of first-degree relatives of index cases and compared the overall approach with screening in childhood.

Setting

UK Biobank.

Participants

140 439 unrelated participants of European ancestry from UK Biobank with information on circulating LDL-C concentration and exome sequence.

Main outcome measures

For different LDL-C cut-offs, we estimated the detection and false-positive rate, the proportion of individuals who would be referred for DNA sequencing (stage 1 screen positive rate), and the number of FH cases identified by population screening followed by cascade testing.

Results

We identified 488 individuals with an FH-causing variant and 139 951 without (prevalence 1 in 288). An LDL-C cut-off of >4.8 mmol/L had a stage 1 detection rate (sensitivity) of 40% (95% CI 36 to 44%) for a false-positive rate of 10% (95% CI 10 to 11%). Detection rate increased at lower LDL-C cut-offs but at the expense of higher false-positive and screen positive rates, and vice versa. Two-stage screening of 100 000 adults using an LDL-C cut-off of 4.8 mmol/L would generate 10 398 stage 1 screen positives for sequencing, detect 138 FH cases and miss 209. Up to 207 additional cases could be detected throughtwo-generationcascade testing of first-degree relatives. By comparison, based on previously published data, childhood screening followed by cascade testing was estimated to detect nearly three times as many affected individuals for around half the sequencing burden.

Conclusions

Two-stage adult population screening for FH could help achieve the 25% FH case detection target set in the National Health Service Long Term Plan, but less efficiently than childhood screening and with a greater sequencing requirement.
Deciphering the ‘gut–brain axis’ through microbiome diversity
Authors: Liu Jinyuan , Xu Ke , Wu Tsungchin , Yao Lydia , Nguyen Tanya T , Jeste Dilip , Zhang Xinlian
Published: October 2023

Incentivised by breakthroughs and data generated by the high-throughput sequencing technology, this paper proposes a distance-based framework to fulfil the emerging needs in elucidating insights from the high-dimensional microbiome data in psychiatric studies. By shifting focus from traditional methods that focus on the observations from each subject to the between-subject attributes that aggregate two or more subjects’ entire feature vectors, the described approach revolutionises the conventional prescription for high-dimensional observations via microbiome diversity. To this end, we enrich the classical generalised linear models to articulate the multivariable regression relationship between distance-based variables. We also discuss a robust and computationally feasible semiparametric inference technique. Benefitting from the latest advances in the semiparametric efficiency theory for such attributes, the proposed estimators enjoy robustness and good asymptotic properties that guarantee sensitivity in detecting signals between clinical outcomes and microbiome diversity. It offers a readily implementable and easily interpretable solution for deciphering the gut–brain axis in mental health research.
p16Ink4a, a marker of cellular senescence, is associated with renal disease in the B6.NZMSle1/Sle2/Sle3mouse model of lupus
Authors: Tilman Gaëlle , Dupré Emilie , Watteyne Laura , Baert Charlotte Anne , Nolf Delphine , Benhaddi Fatima , Lambert Fanny , Daumerie Aurélie , Bouzin Caroline , Lucas Sophie , Limaye Nisha
Published: October 2023

Objectives

Despite treatment, one-third of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) show a decline in renal function. Prognostic markers of poor outcome as well as novel therapeutic targets are therefore highly sought. We showed that p16INK4a, a marker of cellular senescence, is observed in baseline kidney biopsies from patients with LN, and is associated with renal disease. Here, we set out to assess for whether these findings are recapitulated in the B6.NZMSle1/Sle2/Sle3(B6.Sle1.2.3) mouse model of spontaneous lupus.

Methods

We evaluated the occurrence and time of onset of p16Ink4astaining by immunohistochemistry on kidney sections, and tested for its association with multiple renal and systemic disease parameters, fibrosis and CD8+T cell infiltration, in two cohorts of B6.Sle1.2.3mice.

Results

The presence of p16Ink4a-positive cells in kidney was significantly associated with increased urine albumin/creatinine ratio, histopathological scores, CD8+T cell infiltration and fibrosis, in both B6.Sle1.2.3cohorts. In contrast, p16Ink4astaining was not associated with systemic disease parameters. A time course showed that systemic disease parameters as well as glomerular IgG deposits appeared in B6.Sle1.2.3mice by 4 months of age; the appearance of p16Ink4a-positive cells occurred later, by 8 months of age, overlapping with renal disease.

Conclusion

We report, for the first time, the presence of p16Ink4a-positive cells, a marker of cellular senescence, in the B6.Sle1.2.3kidney, and their association with renal disease severity. This provides a preclinical model in which to test for the role of cellular senescence in the pathogenesis of LN, as a potential kidney-intrinsic disease mechanism.
Therapy with direct oral anticoagulants for secondary prevention of thromboembolic events in the antiphospholipid syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials
Authors: Adelhelm Josefine B H , Christensen Robin , Balbi Gustavo G M , Voss Anne
Published: October 2023

Objective

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disorder characterised by venous thrombosis (VT) or arterial thrombosis (AT) and/or pregnancy morbidity and the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) hold several advantages to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for prevention of thrombosis and we wish to evaluate DOACs compared with VKAs in secondary prevention of thromboembolic events in patients with APS.

Methods

We conducted searches of the published literature using relevant data sources (MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane CENTRAL), and of trial registers for unpublished data and ongoing trials. We included randomised trials examining individuals >18 years with APS classified according to the criteria valid when the trial was carried out. Randomised controlled trials had to examine any DOAC agent compared with any comparable drug. We tabulated all occurrences of events from all eligible randomised trials. Due to few events, ORs and 95% CIs were calculated using the Peto method.

Results

5 randomised trials comprising 624 patients met the predefined eligibility criteria. The primary outcome measure was new thrombotic events, a composite endpoint of any VT or AT, during the VKA-controlled phase of treatment. According to the I2inconsistency index, there was evidence of statistical heterogeneity across the studies (I2=60%). Across trials, 29 and 10 thrombotic events were observed in 305 and 319 patients with APS treated with DOAC and VKA, respectively, corresponding to a combined Peto OR of 3.01 (95% CI 1.56 to 5.78, p=0.001). There was a significantly increased risk of AT while treated with DOACs compared with VKA (OR 5.5 (2.5, 12.1) p<0.0001), but no difference in the risk of VT (p=0.87). We found no significant difference in risk of bleeding.

Conclusions

DOACs were associated with a significant increase in the risk of a new thrombotic event, especially AT, favouring standard prophylaxis with warfarin.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42019126720.
Comparison between primary Sjögren’s disease patients with high or low level of dryness
Authors: Kachaner Alexandra , Bergé Elisabeth , Desmoulins Fréderic , Le Pajolec Christine , Rousseau Antoine , Labetoulle Marc , Nocturne Gaétane , Mariette Xavier , Seror Raphaele
Published: October 2023

Objectives

To describe primary Sjögren’s disease (SjD) patients presenting no or low level of dryness and to compare them with SjD patients with oral or ocular dryness features.

Methods

All patients diagnosed with SjD according to AECG or ACR/EULAR criteria in our tertiary reference centre were included. Patients with high or low subjective symptoms or objective signs of dryness were compared.

Results

Overall, 509 patients were included for the comparison of patients with high (n=456) or low (n=53) level of subjective dryness and 472 for the comparison of patients with (n=359) or without (n=113) high objective dryness. Compared with patients with subjective dryness, patients without high subjective dryness were significantly younger (median 49 (39–62) years vs 58 (47–67) years, p<0.01), diagnosed earlier (median time from first symptoms to diagnosis 2 (0.5–4.5) years vs 4 (1–9.25), p=0.0056), more frequently anti-SSA positive ((83% vs 64%, p=0.008) and had less focal sialadenitis in minor salivary gland biopsy (69% vs 83%, p=0.02).

The patients without high level of objective dryness (n=113) were also younger (51 (41–60) vs 58 (47–67) years, p<0.001) and were more frequently anti-SSA positive (79% vs 63%, p=0.002).

In both groups, no difference was observed regarding disease activity.

Conclusions

Among the patients with SjD, those without high subjective or objective dryness features had a younger profile, a faster diagnosis which may result from a more acute onset, were more frequently anti-SSA positive than patients with high dryness features.
Consumption of sucralose- and acesulfame-potassium-containing diet soda alters the relative abundance of microbial taxa at the species level: findings of two pilot studies
Authors: Sylvetsky Allison C. , Clement Rebecca A. , Stearrett Nathaniel , Issa Najy T. , Dore Fiona J. , Mazumder Raja , King Charles Hadley , Hubal Monica J. , Walter Peter J. , Cai Hongyi , Sen Sabyasachi , Rother Kristina I. , Crandall Keith A.
Published: October 2023

Sucralose and acesulfame-potassium consumption alters gut microbiota in rodents, with unclear effects in humans. We examined effects of three-times daily sucralose- and acesulfame-potassium-containing diet soda consumption for 1 ( n = 17) or 8 ( n = 8) weeks on gut microbiota composition in young adults. After 8 weeks of diet soda consumption, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, specifically Enterobacteriaceae, increased; and, increased abundance of two Proteobacteria taxa was also observed after 1 week of diet soda consumption compared with sparkling water. In addition, three taxa in the Bacteroides genus increased following 1 week of diet soda consumption compared with sparkling water. The clinical relevance of these findings and effects of sucralose and acesulfame-potassium consumption on human gut microbiota warrant further investigation in larger studies. Clinical trial registration: NCT02877186 and NCT03125356.
Coupled dynamics of endemic disease transmission and gradual awareness diffusion in multiplex networks
Authors: Wu Qingchu , Hadzibeganovic Tarik , Han Xiao-Pu
Published: October 2023

Understanding the interplay between human behavioral phenomena and infectious disease dynamics has been one of the central challenges of mathematical epidemiology. However, socio-cognitive processes critical for the initiation of desired behavioral responses during an outbreak have often been neglected or oversimplified in earlier models. Combining the microscopic Markov chain approach with the law of total probability, we herein institute a mathematical model describing the dynamic interplay between stage-based progression of awareness diffusion and endemic disease transmission in multiplex networks. We analytically derived the epidemic thresholds for both discrete-time and continuous-time versions of our model, and we numerically demonstrated the accuracy of our analytic arguments in capturing the time course and the steady state of the coupled disease-awareness dynamics. We found that our model is exact for arbitrary unclustered multiplex networks, outperforming a widely adopted probability-tree-based method, both in the prediction of the time-evolution of a contagion and in the final epidemic size. Our findings show that informing the unaware individuals about the circulating disease will not be sufficient for the prevention of an outbreak unless the distributed information triggers strong awareness of infection risks with adequate protective measures, and that the immunity of highly-aware individuals can elevate the epidemic threshold, but only if the rate of transition from weak to strong awareness is sufficiently high. Our study thus reveals that awareness diffusion and other behavioral parameters can nontrivially interact when producing their effects on epidemiological dynamics of an infectious disease, suggesting that future public health measures should not ignore this complex behavioral interplay and its influence on contagion transmission in multilayered networked systems.
REASONS AND TRIGGERS USING RESEARCH RESULTS IN CORPORATE PRODUCT ENGINEERING
Authors: KEMPF CHRISTOPH , SCHLEGEL MICHAEL , RAPP SIMON , BEHDINAN KAMRAN , ALBERS ALBERT
Published: October 2023

In product engineering, the development of new innovations is a big challenge due to the high complexity of nowadays systems. Research results are a high-potential input for companies to still advance their technologies and solutions. However, using research as a source of new knowledge and technologies is a non-trivial process that can often be neglected by many companies. The goal of this investigation is to gain and provide an understanding of the specific triggers and reasons for corporate product engineers to use research results as input in their development process. Based on nine semi-structured interviews with experts from different engineering companies, we present a model that explains these reasons, triggers, and situations to use research results. We believe that our model will help to raise the awareness of corporate product engineers to the potential of using research results within their design activities. Furthermore, the outcome of this investigation provides a basis for further research to improve the usability and actual usage of research results in corporate product engineering. Therefore, in our further research, we will use these results for developing decision support for corporate engineers to decide when to look into research.
Perspective Games
Authors: Kupferman Orna , Vardi Gal
Published: October 2023

We introduce and study
perspective games
, which model multi-agent systems in which agents can view only the parts of the system that they own. As in standard multi-player turn-based games, the vertices of the game graph are partitioned among the players. Starting from an initial vertex, the players jointly generate a computation, with each player deciding the successor vertex whenever the generated computation reaches a vertex she owns. A perspective strategy for a player depends only on the history of visits in her vertices. Thus, unlike observation-based models of partial visibility, where uncertainty is longitudinal—players partially observe all vertices in the history, uncertainty in the perspective model is transverse—players fully observe part of the vertices in the history.

We consider deterministic and probabilistic perspective games, with structural (e.g., Büchi or parity) and behavioral (e.g., LTL formulas) winning conditions. For these settings, we study the theoretical properties of the game as well as the decidability and complexity of the problem of deciding whether a player has a winning perspective strategy, in terms of both the game graph and the objectives. We compare perspective strategies with memoryless ones, and study an extension of the temporal logic ATL
⋆
with path quantifiers that capture perspective and memoryless strategies.