bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pediatric infection and sepsis in five age subgroups: single-center registry
Authors: Hermon Michael M. , Etmayr Theresa , Brandt Jennifer Bettina , Sadeghi Kambis , Burda Gudrun , Golej Johann
Published: October 2020

Background

Sepsis is, worldwide, one of the leading causes of death among infants and children. Over the past two decades, mortality rates have declined due to advanced treatment options; however, the incidence of sepsis and septic shock is still on the rise in many hospital settings. The objective of this study was to evaluate the course of this disease in pediatric intensive care patients.

Methods

An evaluation of pediatric patients in the intensive care unit diagnosed with infections or sepsis between 2005 and 2015 was performed via a retrospective exploratory data analysis.

Results

During the observational period, 201 patients were diagnosed with infection or sepsis. The study population was divided into five age subgroups. The majority of patients were newborns, infants, and toddlers. Forty percent had sepsis; 6% had septic shock. Viral infection was the most prevalent (59%). The overall survival rate was 83%; newborns and adolescents had the lowest survival rates.

Conclusion

With this registry, children divided into five age subgroups with infection or sepsis were evaluated and treatment strategies were examined. We have shown that our findings on children treated in our pediatric intensive care unit conform with current literature about pediatric sepsis. In addition to maintaining strict hygiene standards, optimal aspects of sepsis care should be stringently observed, such as the quick administration of empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics, initial adequate fluid resuscitation, and a reliable and frequent routine of source control.
New Light on the Silent Millennia: Mediterranean Africa, ca. 4000–900 BC
Authors: Lucarini Giulio , Bokbot Youssef , Broodbank Cyprian
Published: October 2020

The so-called neolithization process (ca. 6000/5500–4000 BC) in Mediterranean Africa and the Sahara has been increasingly researched in recent years. In contrast, relatively little is known, especially in Mediterranean Africa, of the period between the beginnings of irreversible climatic deterioration in the Sahara, around 4000–3500 BC, and the onset of Iron Age to broadly Classical times. Why, with the exception of the Nile Delta, is our knowledge of the period between the fourth millennium BC and the threshold of the first Iron Age Phoenician and Greek colonies so limited? To what extent can this information gap be attributed to aridification in the Mediterranean zone, or is it rather a product of the failure to look for the right kinds of materials and sites, and of their relative visibility? In order to answer these questions, this paper focuses specifically on Mediterranean Africa (with the exception of Egypt) from about 4000 BC to ca. 900 BC. It is mainly based on the data made available onMedAfriCarbon, a spatially linked, publicly accessible database and web app comprising the 14C chronometric evidence from Mediterranean Africa from 12,000 to 600 cal. BC, with details of associated cultural and economic information. Analysis of these data shows that most of Mediterranean Africa beyond the Nile was occupied to different extents throughout the 3000-year period covered in this article and that, with a few important exceptions, the robust and resilient nature of local, mainly pastoral, ways of life militated against a shift towards a fully agricultural economy.
Emotion: More like Action than Perception
Authors: Naar Hichem
Published: October 2020

Although some still advance reductive accounts of emotions—according to which they fall under a more familiar type of mental state—contemporary philosophers tend to agree that emotions probably constitute their own kind of mental state. Agreeing with this claim, however, is compatible with attempting to find commonalities between emotions and better understood things. According to the advocates of the so-called ‘perceptual analogy’, thinking of emotion in terms of perception can fruitfully advance our understanding even though emotion may not be reducible to ordinary perception. In this paper, I spell out and motivate a different analogy—that between emotion andaction—an analogy which I think can do some important theoretical work. In particular, it constitutes a theoretically fruitful way to think about core aspects of emotions and might in fact be employed to provide a better account of certain aspects of emotions than the one based on the perceptual analogy. Emotions might not be a matter of seeing the world a certain way, but a matter of behaving internally in response to it. In a slogan form: Emotion is the inward counterpart of bodily movement.
Advances in verification of ReLU neural networks
Authors: Rössig Ansgar , Petkovic Milena
Published: October 2020

We consider the problem of verifying linear properties of neural networks. Despite their success in many classification and prediction tasks, neural networks may return unexpected results for certain inputs. This is highly problematic with respect to the application of neural networks for safety-critical tasks, e.g. in autonomous driving. We provide an overview of algorithmic approaches that aim to provide formal guarantees on the behaviour of neural networks. Moreover, we present new theoretical results with respect to the approximation of ReLU neural networks. On the other hand, we implement a solver for verification of ReLU neural networks which combines mixed integer programming with specialized branching and approximation techniques. To evaluate its performance, we conduct an extensive computational study. For that we use test instances based on the ACAS Xu system and the MNIST handwritten digit data set. The results indicate that our approach is very competitive with others, i.e. it outperforms the solvers of Bunel et al. (in: Bengio, Wallach, Larochelle, Grauman, Cesa-Bianchi, Garnett (eds) Advances in neural information processing systems (NIPS 2018), 2018) and Reluplex (Katz et al. in: Computer aided verification—29th international conference, CAV 2017, Heidelberg, Germany, July 24–28, 2017, Proceedings, 2017). In comparison to the solvers ReluVal (Wang et al. in: 27th USENIX security symposium (USENIX Security 18), USENIX Association, Baltimore, 2018a) and Neurify (Wang et al. in: 32nd Conference on neural information processing systems (NIPS), Montreal, 2018b), the number of necessary branchings is much smaller. Our solver is publicly available and able to solve the verification problem for instances which do not have independent bounds for each input neuron.
The Role of Ethnic Prejudice in the Modulation of Cradling Lateralization
Authors: Malatesta Gianluca , Marzoli Daniele , Morelli Luca , Pivetti Monica , Tommasi Luca
Published: October 2020

The left-cradling bias is the tendency to cradle an infant on the left side, regardless of the individuals’ handedness, culture or ethnicity. Many studies revealed associations between socio-emotional variables and the left-side bias, suggesting that this asymmetry might be considered as a proxy of the emotional attunement between the cradling and the cradled individuals. In this study we examined whether adult females with high levels of prejudice toward a specific ethnic group would show reduced left-cradling preferences when required to cradle an infant-like doll with ethnical features of the prejudiced group. We manipulated the ethnicity of the cradled individual by asking 336 Caucasian women to cradle a White or a Black doll and then assessed their prejudice levels toward African individuals. Significant correlations were shown only in the Black doll group indicating that the more the prejudice toward Africans, the more the cradling-side preferences shifted toward the right. Furthermore, participants exhibiting low levels—but not those exhibiting high levels—of ethnic prejudice showed a significant left-cradling bias. These findings show that ethnic prejudice toward the specific ethnic group of the cradled individual can interfere with the left preference in the cradling woman. The present study corroborates our suggestion that the left-cradling bias might be considered as a natural index of a positive socio-communicative relationship between the cradling and cradled individuals. On the contrary, the right-cradling bias might be considered as a cue of the presence of affective dysfunctions in the relationship.
Learning with mitigating random consistency from the accuracy measure
Authors: Wang Jieting , Qian Yuhua , Li Feijiang
Published: October 2020

Human beings may make random guesses in decision-making. Occasionally, their guesses may generate consistency with the real situation. This kind of consistency is termed random consistency. In the area of machine leaning, the randomness is unavoidable and ubiquitous in learning algorithms. However, the accuracy (A), which is a fundamental performance measure for machine learning, does not recognize the random consistency. This causes that the classifiers learnt by A contain the random consistency. The random consistency may cause an unreliable evaluation and harm the generalization performance. To solve this problem, the pure accuracy (PA) is defined to eliminate the random consistency from the A. In this paper, we mainly study the necessity, learning consistency and leaning method of the PA. We show that the PA is insensitive to the class distribution of classifier and is more fair to the majority and the minority than A. Subsequently, some novel generalization bounds on the PA and A are given. Furthermore, we show that the PA is Bayes-risk consistent in finite and infinite hypothesis space. We design a plug-in rule that maximizes the PA, and the experiments on twenty benchmark data sets demonstrate that the proposed method performs statistically better than the kernel logistic regression in terms of PA and comparable performance in terms of A. Compared with the other plug-in rules, the proposed method obtains much better performance.
Fast and accurate pseudoinverse with sparse matrix reordering and incremental approach
Authors: Jung Jinhong , Sael Lee
Published: October 2020

How can we compute the pseudoinverse of a sparse feature matrix efficiently and accurately for solving optimization problems? A pseudoinverse is a generalization of a matrix inverse, which has been extensively utilized as a fundamental building block for solving linear systems in machine learning. However, an approximate computation, let alone an exact computation, of pseudoinverse is very time-consuming due to its demanding time complexity, which limits it from being applied to large data. In this paper, we propose FastPI (Fast PseudoInverse), a novel incremental singular value decomposition (SVD) based pseudoinverse method for sparse matrices. Based on the observation that many real-world feature matrices are sparse and highly skewed, FastPI reorders and divides the feature matrix and incrementally computes low-rank SVD from the divided components. To show the efficacy of proposed FastPI, we apply them in real-world multi-label linear regression problems. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that FastPI computes the pseudoinverse faster than other approximate methods without loss of accuracy. Results imply that our method efficiently computes the low-rank pseudoinverse of a large and sparse matrix that other existing methods cannot handle with limited time and space.
Multibody dynamics analysis of the human upper body for rotorcraft–pilot interaction
Authors: Zanoni Andrea , Cocco Alessandro , Masarati Pierangelo
Published: October 2020

The study of the biodynamic response of helicopter passengers and pilots, when excited by rotorcraft vibrations that are transmitted through the seat and, for the latter, the control inceptors, is of great importance in different areas of aircraft design. Handling qualities are affected by the proneness of the aircraft to give rise to adverse interactions, an unwanted quality that can be captured by the so-called biodynamic feedthrough. On the other hand, the transmissibility of vibrations, especially from the seat to the head, affects the comfort of pilots and passengers during flight. Detailed and parametrised multibody modelling of the human upper body can provide a strong base to support design decisions justified by a first-principles approach. In this work, a multibody model of the upper body is formed by connecting a previously developed detailed model of the arms to a similarly detailed model of the spine. The whole model can be adapted to a specific subject, identified by age, gender, weight and height. The spine model and the scaling procedure have been validated using the experimental results for seat to head transmissibility. The coupled spine-arms model is used to evaluate the biodynamic response in terms of involuntary motion induced on the control inceptors, including the related nonlinearities.
Introducing the VIPLAN Methodology (with VSM) for Handling Messy Situations – Nine Lessons
Authors: Harwood Stephen
Published: October 2020

This paper examines the utility of a novel and relatively unknown approach to handling messy situations. This approach, developed by Raul Espejo, is the VIPLAN Methodology. It is presented as a heuristic and comprises a set of six activities which act as ‘pointers’ to guide thinking and actions. The methodology’s contribution rests upon its explicit focus upon the context within which messy situations are handled. This draws attention to the cybernetics of the situation (Cybernetic Loop), which can be made sense of using the Viable System Model. However, one of the challenges of the methodology is the perception that it is complex and difficult to use. A case-study is used to investigate how the methodology can be operationalised. This reveals a set of nine lessons, which are offered as guidelines to enhance our understanding of how to use the VIPLAN Methodology.
Efficient implementation of modular multiplication over 192-bit NIST prime for 8-bit AVR-based sensor node
Authors: Park Dong-won , Hong Seokhie , Chang Nam Su , Cho Sung Min
Published: October 2020

Modular multiplication is one of the most time-consuming operations that account for almost 80% of computational overhead in a scalar multiplication in elliptic curve cryptography. In this paper, we present a new speed record for modular multiplication over 192-bit NIST prime P-192 on 8-bit AVR ATmega microcontrollers.
We propose a new integer representation named Range Shifted Representation (RSR) which enables an efficient merging of the reduction operation into the subtractive Karatsuba multiplication. This merging results in a dramatic optimization in the intermediate accumulation of modular multiplication by reducing a significant amount of unnecessary memory access as well as the number of addition operations. Our merged modular multiplication on RSR is designed to have two duplicated groups of 96-bit intermediate values during accumulation. Hence, only one accumulation of the group is required and the result can be used twice.
Consequently, we significantly reduce the number of load/store instructions which are known to be one of the most time-consuming operations for modular multiplication on constrained devices. Our implementation requires only 2888 cycles for the modular multiplication of 192-bit integers and outperforms the previous best result for modular multiplication over P-192 by a factor of 17%. In addition, our modular multiplication is even faster than the Karatsuba multiplication (without reduction) which achieved a speed record for multiplication on AVR processor.
Legitimacy, stratification, and internationalization in global higher education: the case of the International Association of Universities
Authors: Zapp Mike , Jungblut Jens , Ramirez Francisco O.
Published: October 2020

The International Association of Universities (IAU) is the only inclusive global university association, its membership barriers are low, yet few universities are members despite considerable benefits. What determines membership in this long-standing international university alliance? Reviewing recent trends toward a more networked, stratified and internationalized global higher education field, we argue that universities with a greater need for legitimation and those ‘born’ into a global era are more likely to become members of an inclusive international network like the IAU. Thus, we expect lower status and younger universities to be more likely to join. We apply regression models to test hypotheses implied by these arguments. Our findings are consistent with these hypotheses, even after controlling for other factors. We discuss these findings using neo-institutional arguments about legitimacy and imprinted logics and suggest potential analytical avenues for further research.
Correction to: Taking Preprimary Programs to Scale in Developing Countries: Multi-source Evidence to Improve Primary School Completion Rates
Authors: Crouch Luis , King Katherine , Olefir Anna , Saeki Hiroshi , Savrimootoo Tanya
Published: October 2020

The article Taking Preprimary Programs to Scale in Developing Countries: Multi‑source Evidence to Improve Primary School Completion Rates.
Interface Engineering of CoS/CoO@N-Doped Graphene Nanocomposite for High-Performance Rechargeable Zn–Air Batteries
Authors: Tian Yuhui , Xu Li , Li Meng , Yuan Ding , Liu Xianhu , Qian Junchao , Dou Yuhai , Qiu Jingxia , Zhang Shanqing
Published: October 2020

Low cost and green fabrication of high-performance electrocatalysts with earth-abundant resources for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are crucial for the large-scale application of rechargeable Zn–air batteries (ZABs). In this work, our density functional theory calculations on the electrocatalyst suggest that the rational construction of interfacial structure can induce local charge redistribution, improve the electronic conductivity and enhance the catalyst stability. In order to realize such a structure, we spatially immobilize heterogeneous CoS/CoO nanocrystals onto N-doped graphene to synthesize a bifunctional electrocatalyst (CoS/CoO@NGNs). The optimization of the composition, interfacial structure and conductivity of the electrocatalyst is conducted to achieve bifunctional catalytic activity and deliver outstanding efficiency and stability for both ORR and OER. The aqueous ZAB with the as-prepared CoS/CoO@NGNs cathode displays a high maximum power density of 137.8 mW cm−2, a specific capacity of 723.9 mAh g−1 and excellent cycling stability (continuous operating for 100 h) with a high round-trip efficiency. In addition, the assembled quasi-solid-state ZAB also exhibits outstanding mechanical flexibility besides high battery performances, showing great potential for applications in flexible and wearable electronic devices.
Characterizing the hypergraph-of-entity and the structural impact of its extensions
Authors: Devezas José , Nunes Sérgio
Published: October 2020

The hypergraph-of-entity is a joint representation model for terms, entities and their relations, used as an indexing approach in entity-oriented search. In this work, we characterize the structure of the hypergraph, from a microscopic and macroscopic scale, as well as over time with an increasing number of documents. We use a random walk based approach to estimate shortest distances and node sampling to estimate clustering coefficients. We also propose the calculation of a general mixed hypergraph density measure based on the corresponding bipartite mixed graph. We analyze these statistics for the hypergraph-of-entity, finding that hyperedge-based node degrees are distributed as a power law, while node-based node degrees and hyperedge cardinalities are log-normally distributed. We also find that most statistics tend to converge after an initial period of accentuated growth in the number of documents. We then repeat the analysis over three extensions—materialized throughsynonym,context, andtf_binhyperedges—in order to assess their structural impact in the hypergraph. Finally, we focus on the application-specific aspects of the hypergraph-of-entity, in the domain of information retrieval. We analyze the correlation between the retrieval effectiveness and the structural features of the representation model, proposing ranking and anomaly indicators, as useful guides for modifying or extending the hypergraph-of-entity.
Assessment of fracture risk tools in care home residents: a multi-centre observational pilot study
Authors: Ihama F. , Pandyan A. , Roffe C.
Published: October 2020

Background

Fragility fractures are common in care home residents but established tools have not been tested in this population. Aim:To identify the most practicable tool for use.

Methods

Design

Multicentre prospective observational cohort pilot study. Setting: 18 care homes in Boston, UK. Assessments: fragility risk score at baseline with FRAX, QFractureScore, Garvan nomogram, body mass index and TUGT for each participant. Outcomes: falls, fractures, combined falls & fractures. Follow-up; 12 months.

Results

217/618 (35%) residents in the 18 care homes were enrolled. 147 (68%) had mental capacity,70 (32%) did not. There were 325 falls and 10 fractures in participants during the study. At the same time there were 1671 falls and 103 fractures in residents not participating in the study. Multiple regression analyses showed that only age had a statistically significant association with falls (χ2(1) = 5.7775, p = 0.0162), fractures (χ2(1) = 4.7269, p = 0.0297) and combined falls & fractures (χ2(1) = 4.7269, p = 0.0297). C-statistics were: falls; FRAX 0.544, BMI 0.610, QFractureScore 0.554, Garvan nomogram 0.579, TUGT 0.656, fractures; FRAX 0.655, BMI 0.708, QFractureScore 0.736, Garvan nomogram 0.712, TUGT 0.590, combined falls and fractures, c-statistics were same as for fractures. Fifty-four participants (25%) died during follow-up. Charlson comorbidity index predicted mortality, R2 = 0.021 (p = 0.034).

Conclusions

QFractureScore, BMI and Garvan nomogram were good predictors of fractures and combined falls and fractures Only age had statistically significant association with the outcomes. No tool was good predictor of falls.
Examining Three Narratives of U.S. History in the Historical Perspectives of Middle School (Emergent) Bilingual Students
Authors: Yoder Paul J.
Published: October 2020

This study examined the historical perspectives of eleven emergent bilingual and bilingual students at two middle schools. Data analysis revealed that the participants’ perspectives on U.S. history reflected three schematic narrative templates focused on nation-building, equality, and discrimination. The participants primarily employed the (in)equality narratives when discussing aspects of U.S. history directly linked to their identities. The findings add to the extant research on student historical perspectives and use of schematic narrative templates. The findings further suggest that engaging (emergent) bilingual students in examining multiple perspectives and conducting critical history inquiry can contribute to notions of culturally and linguistically responsive social studies instruction.
Publishing Journal Articles
Authors: Yan Zheng , Snow Catherine
Published: October 2020

Journal publication and grant writing are two core professional skills for new scholars today. However, systematic training is not typically offered in graduate programs worldwide. This book equips readers with the current scientific knowledge by providing a concise introduction to the science of journal article publication. The overall structure generally matches the curriculum of a graduate course and each chapter features a learning sequence based on Daniel Kahneman's intuitive judgement theory. The volume analyzes the intuitive thoughts of new authors from a variety of countries, uses over fifty real-life cases, and focuses on core concepts from nearly 100 research articles. It provides scientific advice for new authors, junior researchers, and graduate students to publish their scholarly work and advance their academic careers.
The plate spacing of sea ice
Authors: Maus Sönke
Published: October 2020

Columnar sea ice grows with an interface of tiny parallel ice plates, the distance of which is known as plate spacing. While it has been proposed as a fundamental microstructure scale of sea ice, the physics behind its formation has not been fully understood. Here the problem is analysed on the basis of morphological stability theory to propose a model that results in a physically consistent prediction of the relationship between the plate spacinga0and growth velocityV. The relationship may be divided into two regimes. In the diffusive regime, forVabove ≈2 × 10−4cm s−1one findsa0~V−2/3to first order. In the convective regime, the extent of diffusive boundary layer is controlled by solutal convection near the interface, which leads to the proportionalitya0~V−1/3. From a comparison to observations it is evident that the plate spacing is predictable over 5 orders of magnitude in the growth velocity, covering the range from fast laboratory ice growth to slow accretion at the bottom of marine ice shelves. The predictability opens new paths towards concise modelling of marine and sea-ice microstructure and physical properties.
Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Int'l Crim. Ct. App. Chamber)
Authors: Vogel Ryan
Published: October 2020

On March 5, 2020, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered its unanimous Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The decision came after an appeal of the Pre-Trial Chamber II's unanimous decision in April 2019 rejecting the Prosecutor's request to proceed with an investigation. The Appeals Chamber's decision allows the prosecutor to immediately begin an investigation “in relation to alleged crimes committed on the territory of Afghanistan in the period since 1 May 2003, as well as other alleged crimes that have a nexus to the armed conflict in Afghanistan and are sufficiently linked to the situation and were committed on the territory of other States Parties in the period since 1 July 2002.”
COVID-19 and the Sacrificial International Order
Authors: Barnett Michael
Published: October 2020

This essay uses COVID-19 to illuminate the sacrificial practices of the liberal international order as woven through the concepts of humanitarian governance, moral economy, triage, and sacrifice. The concept of a sacrificial international order calls attention to how all international orders have their share of sacrifices—and this includes liberal international orders. International orders can be distinguished by the selection mechanisms used to identify the sacrifices and the meanings attached to them. I call attention to how liberal international orders often rely on markets as a selection mechanism and interpret these deaths as part of progress. Following critical contributions to the study of neoliberalism that show how markets shape the ethics of “giving life” and “letting die,” I illuminate these processes through four concepts: humanitarian governance and the claim that the highest moral principle is saving lives and relieving suffering; moral economy that regulates who has access to basic subsistence goods during periods of crisis; triage, which considers how to prioritize whose lives are valued; and whether all deaths count as sacrifices or whether they are better understood as “those who can be killed.” I conclude by discussing how COVID-19 conjures hierarchies of humanity ignored by the liberal international order and challenges the discipline to consider the sacrifices in world order.
Total nasal airway resistance while sitting predicts airway collapse when lying down
Authors: Karlsson A , Persson M , Mjörnheim A-C , Gudnadottir G , Hellgren J
Published: October 2020

Background

Nasal obstruction when lying down is a common complaint in patients with chronic nasal obstruction, but rhinomanometry is typically performed in the sitting position. This study aimed to analyse whether adding rhinomanometry in a supine position is a useful examination.

Method

A total of 41 patients with chronic nasal obstruction underwent rhinomanometry and acoustic rhinometry, sitting and supine, before and after decongestion, as well as an over-night polygraphy.

Results

Total airway resistance was measurable in a supine position in 48 per cent (14 of 29) of the patients with total airway resistance of equal to or less than 0.3 Pa/cm3/second when sitting and in none (0 of 12) of the patients with total nasal airway resistance of more than 0.3 Pa/cm3/second when sitting. After decongestion, this increased to 83 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively.

Conclusion

Increased nasal resistance when sitting predicts nasal breathing problems when supine. Rhinomanometry in a supine position should be performed to diagnose upper airway collapse when supine.
Transacting brains: testing an actor–partner model of frontal EEG activity in mother–infant dyads
Authors: Krzeczkowski John E. , Van Lieshout Ryan J. , Schmidt Louis A.
Published: October 2020

Studies have long observed the bidirectional nature of mother–infant relationships. While behavioral studies have shown that mothers high in social avoidance tendencies can influence the development of these traits in their offspring, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, and the role that the infants play, are not well understood. Here we acquired frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry (FA) data simultaneously in 40 mother–infant dyads (Mage mother = 31.6 years; Mage infant = 9 months). Using an actor–partner interdependence model, we examined whether mother (or infant) resting-state FA predicted infant (or mother) FA during two subsequent emotion-eliciting conditions (happy and fear). Maternal social approach versus avoidance traits were assessed as moderators to examine the impact of maternal characteristics on these mother–infant FA relations. In dyads led by mothers with high social avoidance/low social approach characteristics, maternal resting-state FA predicted infant FA during both emotion-eliciting conditions. We did not observe any effects of infant FA on mothers. Therefore, we speculate that individual differences in FA patterns might be a putative brain mechanism through which socially avoidant mothers transfer affective/behavioral information to their infants.
Plant-based dietary practices in Canada: examining definitions, prevalence and correlates of animal source food exclusions using nationally representative data from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey–Nutrition
Authors: Valdes Mirjana , Conklin Annalijn , Veenstra Gerry , Black Jennifer L
Published: October 2020

Objective:

While plant-based dietary practices (PBDPs) have been recommended to improve both population health and environmental sustainability outcomes, no nationally representative Canadian studies have described the prevalence or correlates of excluding animal source foods. The current study therefore: (1) created operationalised definitions of PBDPs based on animal source food exclusions to estimate the prevalence of Canadians who adhere to PBDPs and (2) examined key correlates of PBDPs.

Design:

Population representative, cross-sectional data were from the 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey–Nutrition. Respondents’ PBDPs were categorised as: (1) vegan (excluded red meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy); (2) vegetarian (excluded red meat, poultry and fish); (3) pescatarian (excluded red meat and poultry) and (4) red meat excluder (excluded red meat). Descriptive statistics and multivariable regression analyses were used to examine the prevalence and correlates of these PBDP categories.

Setting:

All ten provinces in Canada.

Participants:

Canadians aged 2 years and above (n 20 477).

Results:

In 2015, approximately 5 % of Canadians reported adhering to any PBDP (all categories combined) with the majority (2·8 %) categorised as a red meat excluder, 1·3 % as vegetarian, 0·7 % as pescatarian and 0·3 % as vegan. South Asian cultural identity (OR 19·70 (95 % CI 9·53, 40·69)) and higher educational attainment (OR 1·97 (95 % CI 1·02, 3·80)) were significantly associated with reporting a vegetarian/vegan PBDP.

Conclusions:

Despite growing public discourse around PBDPs, only 5 % of Canadians reported PBDPs in 2015. Understanding the social and cultural factors that influence PBDPs is valuable for informing future strategies to promote environmentally sustainable dietary practices.
Sociodemographic inequalities in eating practices and concerns
Authors: Medina Lhais de Paula Barbosa , Barros Marilisa Berti de Azevedo , Fisberg Regina Mara , de Assumpção Daniela , Barros Filho Antônio de Azevedo
Published: October 2020

Objective:

To evaluate associations between selected dietary concerns and eating practices and determine the association of these concerns/practices with demographic and socio-economic characteristics in a population from a large Brazilian city.

Design:

Population-based cross-sectional study. We investigated concerns regarding salt intake, the use of highly processed seasoning and the custom of reading the Na content on food labels. We also analysed concerns regarding the use of pesticides on food products and the practice of consuming organic foods. These variables were analysed according to sex, age group, schooling and income. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis was performed for the estimation of prevalence ratios.

Setting:

Campinas, state of São Paulo, Brazil.

Participants:

The representative sample consisted of 1710 adults and seniors.

Results:

A total 62·3 % of the population were concerned with salt intake, 34·7 % did not use highly processed seasoning and 10·6 % checked the Na content on food labels; 27·5 % were concerned with pesticides and 26·5 % consumed organic foods. The practices analysed were associated with the respective concerns. Women and seniors had a better profile, except for reading Na content in both groups and the consumption of organic foods among seniors. The frequency of checking the Na content and consuming organic foods increased with the level of schooling. The higher income group had a better profile, except for concern with salt intake.

Conclusions:

Considerable social differences were found regarding the dietary practices, and the practices were associated with concerns. The present findings underscore the need for different dietary counseling strategies targeting specific groups.
Determining genetic combining ability, heterotic potential and gene action for yield contributing traits and Yellow Vein Mosaic Virus (YVMV) resistance in Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus(L.) Monech.)
Authors: Das Anjan , Yadav Ramesh Kumar , Choudhary Harshawardhan , Singh Saurabh , Khade Yogesh P. , Chandel Rahul
Published: October 2020

Breeding for resistance to biotic stress and higher yield is a continuous process. Thus, the identification of desirable parents with good combining ability and nature of gene action for the target trait is of utmost importance. Hence, in this present investigation, 10 lines and three testers of Okra were crossed in line × tester mating design to generate 30 testcross progenies and their evaluation along with parents and check in a randomized complete block design with three replications. To depict the true picture of genetic variation among the parental genotypes, molecular diversity analysis was also carried out using genomic-simple sequence repeats before crossing to ascertain that sufficient variability is present among the parents. The molecular analysis grouped the parental genotypes into four clusters (I–IV). The analysis of variance revealed that all the treatments were significant for most of the traits. The combining ability analysis suggested Pusa A-4 as the best general combiner for earliness, Pusa Bhindi-5 for high yield, and DOV-92 for fruit length, plant height, yield per plant, and coefficient of infection for Yellow Vein Mosaic Virus Disease resistance. Similarly, the specific combining ability analysis suggested that the cross combinations DOV-92 × Pusa Bhindi-5 followed by DOV-92 × Pusa A-4 and DOV-92 × Pusa Sawani exhibit high economic heterosis for yield per plant as well as for disease resistance. Finally, estimation of the degree of dominance and predictability ratio was also worked out which indicated the prevalence of non-additive gene action for most of the traits pointing towards sufficient scope for heterosis breeding in Okra.
Force-induced charge carrier storage: a new route for stress recording
Authors: Zhuang Yixi , Tu Dong , Chen Changjian , Wang Le , Zhang Hongwu , Xue Hao , Yuan Conghui , Chen Guorong , Pan Caofeng , Dai Lizong , Xie Rong-Jun
Published: October 2020

Stress sensing is the basis of human-machine interface, biomedical engineering, and mechanical structure detection systems. Stress sensing based on mechanoluminescence (ML) shows significant advantages of distributed detection and remote response to mechanical stimuli and is thus expected to be a key technology of next-generation tactile sensors and stress recorders. However, the instantaneous photon emission in ML materials generally requires real-time recording with a photodetector, thus limiting their application fields to real-time stress sensing. In this paper, we report a force-induced charge carrier storage (FICS) effect in deep-trap ML materials, which enables storage of the applied mechanical energy in deep traps and then release of the stored energy as photon emission under thermal stimulation. The FICS effect was confirmed in five ML materials with piezoelectric structures, efficient emission centres and deep trap distributions, and its mechanism was investigated through detailed spectroscopic characterizations. Furthermore, we demonstrated three applications of the FICS effect in electronic signature recording, falling point monitoring and vehicle collision recording, which exhibited outstanding advantages of distributed recording, long-term storage, and no need for a continuous power supply. The FICS effect reported in this paper provides not only a breakthrough for ML materials in the field of stress recording but also a new idea for developing mechanical energy storage and conversion systems.
A serous borderline ovarian tumour in a transgender male adolescent
Authors: Millington Kate , Hayes Katherine , Pilcher Sarah , Roberts Stephanie , Vargas Sara O. , French Amanda , Veneris Jennifer , O’Neill Allison
Published: October 2020

Here we present a transgender male adolescent with an androgen receptor-positive serous borderline ovarian tumour in the setting of testosterone treatment for medical gender transition. To our knowledge, this is the second report of borderline tumour in a transgender individual and the first in an adolescent, an age group in which borderline tumours are extremely rare. We discuss the specific considerations of treating ovarian tumours in the transgender male population, the incompletely understood role of androgens in the genesis of ovarian epithelial neoplasia, and an emphasis on assessing cancer risk in transgender patients based on patient anatomy.
The fraction of lung cancer attributable to smoking in the Norwegian Women and Cancer (NOWAC) Study
Authors: Hansen Merethe S. , Licaj Idlir , Braaten Tonje , Lund Eiliv , Gram Inger Torhild
Published: October 2020

Background

We examined the association between active and passive smoking and lung cancer risk and the population attributable fraction (PAF) of lung cancer due to active smoking, in the Norwegian Women and Cancer Study, a nationally representative prospective cohort study.

Methods

We followed 142,508 women, aged 31–70 years, who completed a baseline questionnaire between 1991 and 2007, through linkages to national registries through December 2015. We used Cox proportional hazards models, to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We calculated PAF to indicate what proportion of lung cancer cases could have been prevented in the absence of smoking.

Results

During the more than 2.3 million person-years of observation, we ascertained 1507 lung cancer cases. Compared with never smokers, current (HR 13.88, 95% CI 10.18–18.91) smokers had significantly increased risk of lung cancer. Female never smokers exposed to passive smoking had a 1.3-fold (HR 1.34, 95% CI 0.89–2.01) non- significantly increased risk of lung cancer, compared with never smokers. The PAF of lung cancer was 85.3% (95% CI 80.0–89.2).

Conclusion

More than 8 in 10 lung cancer cases could have been avoided in Norway, if the women did not smoke.
SARS-CoV-2 membrane glycoprotein M antagonizes the MAVS-mediated innate antiviral response
Authors: Fu Yu-Zhi , Wang Su-Yun , Zheng Zhou-Qin , Yi Huang  , Li Wei-Wei , Xu Zhi-Sheng , Wang Yan-Yi
Published: October 2020

A novel SARS-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has recently emerged as a serious pathogen that causes high morbidity and substantial mortality. However, the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 evades host immunity remain poorly understood. Here, we identified SARS-CoV-2 membrane glycoprotein M as a negative regulator of the innate immune response. We found that the M protein interacted with the central adaptor protein MAVS in the innate immune response pathways. This interaction impaired MAVS aggregation and its recruitment of downstream TRAF3, TBK1, and IRF3, leading to attenuation of the innate antiviral response. Our findings reveal a mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 evades the innate immune response and suggest that the M protein of SARS-CoV-2 is a potential target for the development of SARS-CoV-2 interventions.
Structural basis for potent neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 and role of antibody affinity maturation
Authors: Hurlburt Nicholas K. , Seydoux Emilie , Wan Yu-Hsin , Edara Venkata Viswanadh , Stuart Andrew B. , Feng Junli , Suthar Mehul S. , McGuire Andrew T. , Stamatatos Leonidas , Pancera Marie
Published: October 2020

SARS-CoV-2 is a betacoronavirus virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we determine the X-ray crystal structure of a potent neutralizing monoclonal antibody, CV30, isolated from a patient infected with SARS-CoV-2, in complex with the receptor binding domain. The structure reveals that CV30 binds to an epitope that overlaps with the human ACE2 receptor binding motif providing a structural basis for its neutralization. CV30 also induces shedding of the S1 subunit, indicating an additional mechanism of neutralization. A germline reversion of CV30 results in a substantial reduction in both binding affinity and neutralization potential indicating the minimal somatic mutation is needed for potently neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
Publisher Correction: Selective manipulation of electronically excited states through strong light–matter interactions
Authors: Stranius Kati , Hertzog Manuel , Börjesson Karl
Published: October 2020

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Author Correction: Longitudinal unzipping of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides
Authors: Sasikala Suchithra Padmajan , Singh Yashpal , Bing Li , Yun Taeyoung , Koo Sung Hwan , Jung Yousung , Kim Sang Ouk
Published: October 2020

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
The rational use of causal inference to guide reinforcement learning strengthens with age
Authors: Cohen Alexandra O. , Nussenbaum Kate , Dorfman Hayley M. , Gershman Samuel J. , Hartley Catherine A.
Published: October 2020

Beliefs about the controllability of positive or negative events in the environment can shape learning throughout the lifespan. Previous research has shown that adults’ learning is modulated by beliefs about the causal structure of the environment such that they update their value estimates to a lesser extent when the outcomes can be attributed to hidden causes. This study examined whether external causes similarly influenced outcome attributions and learning across development. Ninety participants, ages 7 to 25 years, completed a reinforcement learning task in which they chose between two options with fixed reward probabilities. Choices were made in three distinct environments in which different hidden agents occasionally intervened to generate positive, negative, or random outcomes. Participants’ beliefs about hidden-agent intervention aligned with the true probabilities of the positive, negative, or random outcome manipulation in each of the three environments. Computational modeling of the learning data revealed that while the choices made by both adults (ages 18–25) and adolescents (ages 13–17) were best fit by Bayesian reinforcement learning models that incorporate beliefs about hidden-agent intervention, those of children (ages 7–12) were best fit by a one learning rate model that updates value estimates based on choice outcomes alone. Together, these results suggest that while children demonstrate explicit awareness of the causal structure of the task environment, they do not implicitly use beliefs about the causal structure of the environment to guide reinforcement learning in the same manner as adolescents and adults.
Author Correction: A whole-cell tumor vaccine modified to express fibroblast activation protein induces antitumor immunity against both tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts
Authors: Chen Meihua , Xiang Rong , Wen Yuan , Xu Guangchao , Wang Chunting , Luo Shuntao , Yin Tao , Wei Xiawei , Shao Bin , Liu Ning , Guo Fuchun , Li Meng , Zhang Shuang , Li Minmin , Ren Kexing , Wang Yongsheng , Wei Yuquan
Published: October 2020

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Validation and feasibility of liver T1 mapping using free breathing MOLLI sequence in children and young adults
Authors: Cho Yeon Jin , Kim Woo Sun , Choi Young Hun , Lee Seul Bi , Lee SeungHyun , Cheon Jung-Eun , Paek MunYoung , Woo SeungTae
Published: October 2020

We investigated the feasibility of free-breathing modified Look-Locker inversion recovery (MOLLI) sequence for measuring hepatic T1 values in children and young adults. To investigate the accuracy and the reproducibility of the T1 maps, a phantom study was performed with 12 different gadoterate meglumine concentrations and the T1 relaxation times of phantoms measured with the MOLLI sequence were compared against those measured with three different sequences: spin-echo inversion recovery, variable flip angle (VFA), and VFA with B1 correction. To evaluate the feasibility of free-breathing MOLLI sequence, hepatic T1 relaxation times obtained by free-breathing and breath-hold technique in twenty patients were compared. The phantom study revealed the excellent accuracy and reproducibility of MOLLI. In twenty patients, the mean value of hepatic T1 values obtained by free-breathing (606.7 ± 64.5 ms) and breath-hold (609.8 ± 64.0 ms) techniques showed no significant difference (p > 0.05). The Bland–Altman plot between the free-breathing and breath-hold revealed that the mean difference of T1 values was − 3.0 ms (− 0.5%). Therefore, T1 relaxation times obtained by MOLLI were comparable to the values obtained using the standard inversion recovery method. The hepatic T1 relaxation times measured by MOLLI technique with free-breathing were comparable to those obtained with breath-hold in children and young adults.