bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rural Development in Southeast Asia
Authors: Rigg Jonathan
Published: September 2020

Rural areas and rural people have been centrally implicated in Southeast Asia's modernisation. Through the three entry points of smallholder persistence, upland dispossession, and landlessness, this Element offers an insight into the ways in which the countryside has been transformed over the past half century. Drawing on primary fieldwork undertaken in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, and secondary studies from across the region, Rigg shows how the experience of Southeast Asia offers a counterpoint and a challenge to standard, historicist understandings of agrarian change and, more broadly, development. Taking a rural view allows an alternative lens for theorising and judging Southeast Asia's modernisation experience and narrative. The Element argues that if we are to capture the nature – and not just the direction and amount – of agrarian change in Southeast Asia, then we need to view the countryside as more than rural and greater than farming.
Reduction in Stroke After Transient Ischemic Attack in a Province-Wide Cohort Between 2003 and 2015
Authors: Wang Ryan , Kapoor Arunima , Lindsay Patrice , Goia Cristina , Yu Amy Y. X. , Gladstone David J. , Swartz Richard H.
Published: September 2020

Background:

Improvements in management of transient ischemic attack (TIA) have decreased stroke and mortality post-TIA. Studies examining trends over time on a provincial level are limited. We analyzed whether efforts to improve management have decreased the rate of stroke and mortality after TIA from 2003 to 2015 across an entire province.

Methods:

Using administrative data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s (CIHI) databases from 2003 to 2015, we identified a cohort of patients with a diagnosis of TIA upon discharge from the emergency department (ED). We examined stroke rates at Day 1, 2, 7, 30, 90, 180, and 365 post-TIA and 1-year mortality rates and compared trends over time between 2003 and 2015.

Results:

From 2003 to 2015 in Ontario, there were 61,710 patients with an ED diagnosis of TIA. Linear regressions of stroke after the index TIA showed a significant decline between 2003 and 2015, decreasing by 25% at Day 180 and 32% at 1 year (p < 0.01). The 1-year stroke rate decreased from 6.0% in 2003 to 3.4% in 2015. Early (within 48 h) stroke after TIA continued to represent approximately half of the 1-year event rates. The 1-year mortality rate after ED discharge following a TIA decreased from 1.3% in 2003 to 0.3% in 2015 (p < 0.001).

Interpretation:

At a province-wide level, 1-year rates of stroke and mortality after TIA have declined significantly between 2003 and 2015, suggesting that efforts to improve management may have contributed toward the decline in long-term risk of stroke and mortality. Continued efforts are needed to further reduce the immediate risk of stroke following a TIA.
Sex and the mission: the conflicting effects of early Christian missions on HIV in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Cagé Julia , Rueda Valeria
Published: September 2020

This paper investigates the long-term impact of historical missionary activity on HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. On the one hand, missionaries were the first to invest in modern medicine in the region. On the other hand, Christianity influenced sexual beliefs and behaviors that affect the risk of contagion. We build a new geocoded dataset locating Protestant and Catholic missions in the early 20th century, as well as the health facilities they invested in, that we combine with individual-level Demographic and Health Survey data. With these data, we can address separately these two channels, within regions close to historical missionary settlements. First, we show that proximity to historical missionary health facilities decreases the likelihood of HIV; persistence in healthcare provision and safer sexual behaviors in the region explain this result. Second, we show that regions close to historical missionary settlements exhibit higher likelihood of HIV. This effect is driven by the Christian population in our sample. This suggests conversion to Christianity as a possible explanatory channel. Our findings are robust to alternative specifications addressing selection.
Prussia disaggregated: the demography of its universe of localities in 1871
Authors: Becker Sascha O. , Cinnirella Francesco
Published: September 2020

We provide, for the first time, a detailed and comprehensive overview of the demography of more than 50,000 towns, villages, and manors in 1871 Prussia. We study religion, literacy, fertility, and group segregation by location type (town, village, and manor). We find that Jews live predominantly in towns. Villages and manors are substantially segregated by denomination, whereas towns are less segregated. Yet, we find relatively lower levels of segregation by literacy. Regression analyses with county-fixed effects show that a larger share of Protestants is associated with higher literacy rates across all location types. A larger share of Jews relative to Catholics is not significantly associated with higher literacy in towns, but it is in villages and manors. Finally, a larger share of Jews is associated with lower fertility in towns, which is not explained by differences in literacy.
Religion, family structure, and the perpetuation of female genital cutting in Egypt
Authors: Blaydes Lisa , Platas Melina R.
Published: September 2020

How are harmful social practices brought to an end? Female genital cutting (FGC) is extremely common among ever-married women in Egypt, but the practice has declined among younger women and girls. While much of the recent literature on abatement of FGC has focused on individual-level determinants of a mother's choice to circumcise her daughters, we focus on meso-level factors, particularly norm change within religious communities and attitude formation within families. We find differential FGC trends across Muslim and Coptic Christian communities as well as an effect of the gender of a woman's first-born child—an exogenous variable in Egypt where pre-natal sex selection is rare—on attitudes toward FGC. The effect of the first-born gender varies by religion and birth cohort, however, suggesting ways in which meso-level factors interact to impact women's attitudes and associated FGC outcomes.
Background variables as predictors of utilisation of Web 2.0 applications in counsellor education: Implications for counselling youth and students
Authors: Eyo Mfon
Published: September 2020

The study adopted an ex post facto design to investigate background variables as predictors of utilisation of Web 2.0 applications in counsellor education. The population included 28 counsellor educators in the Department of Guidance and Counselling of the sampled university. Background variables and the Web 2.0 Utilisation Questionnaire (BVW2.0UQ) was used to gather data, which were analysed using means, standard deviations and multiple regression analysis. Findings of the study indicated, among others, that the extent of utilisation of Web 2.0 applications in counsellor education was low, and that the joint influence of the background variables on the extent of utilisation of Web 2.0 applications in counsellor education was not statistically significant.
First evidence of Lower–?Middle Ordovician (Floian–?Dapingian) brachiopods from the Peruvian Altiplano and their paleogeographical significance
Authors: Colmenar Jorge , Hodgin Eben Blake
Published: September 2020

The lower strata of the Umachiri Formation from the Altiplano of southeast Peru have yielded a brachiopod-dominated assemblage, containing representatives of the brachiopod superfamilies Polytoechioidea, Orthoidea, and Porambonitoidea, as well as subsidiary trilobite and echinoderm remains. Two new polytoechioid genera and species,Enriquetoechia umachiriensisnew genus new species andAltiplanotoechia hodginin. gen. n. sp. Colmenar in Colmenar and Hodgin, 2020, and one new species,Pomatotrema laubacherin. sp., are described. The presence ofPomatotremain the Peruvian Altiplano represents the occurrence at highest paleolatitude of this genus, normally restricted to low-latitude successions from Laurentia and South China. Other polytoechioids belonging toTritoechia(Tritoechia) andTritoechia(Parvitritoechia) also occur. Identified species of orthoids from the generaParalenorthis,Mollesella, andPanderina? occur in the Peruvian Cordillera Oriental and in the Argentinian Famatina Range. The only porambonitoid represented is closely related toRugostrophia latireticulataNeuman, 1976 from New World Island, interpreted as peri-Laurentian. These brachiopod occurrences indicate a strong biogeographic affinity of the Peruvian Altiplano with the Famatina and western Puna regions, suggesting that the brachiopod faunas of the Peruvian Altiplano, Famatina, and western Puna belonged to a well-differentiated biogeographical subprovince during the Early–Middle Ordovician on the margin of southwestern Gondwana. Links with peri-Laurentian and other low-latitude terranes could be explained by island hopping and/or continuous island arcs, which might facilitate brachiopod larvae dispersal from the Peruvian Altiplano to those terranes across the Iapetus Ocean. Brachiopods from the lower part of the Umachiri Formation indicate a Floian–?Dapingian age, becoming the oldest Ordovician fossils of the Peruvian Altiplano.

UUID:http://zoobank.org/9670a000-260d-4d75-9261-110854c7afb8
The Kamusite A2-type granites in the Karamaili tectonic belt, Xinjiang (NW China): tracing staged postcollisional delamination in the eastern Junggar
Authors: Zhang Bowen , Chen Chuan , Gong Xiaoping , Yalikun Yaxiaer , Kaheman Kadeliya
Published: September 2020

The Kamusite pluton is located in the eastern Junggar area, the westernmost segment of the Karamaili structural belt, and is predominantly composed of medium granite and microgranite with an exposure area of 30 km2. The U–Pb zircon geochronology of the Kamusite granites indicates that they crystallized in the late Carboniferous period (328–321 Ma). These granites exhibit high contents of SiO2 (76.09–77.85 wt %) and K2O + Na2O (8.01–9.06 wt %), but low MgO (0.01–0.14 wt %), CaO (0.07–0.32 wt %) and TiO2 (0.01–0.13 wt %) contents, showing alkalic–calcic, weakly peraluminous and ferroan features. They are depleted in Ba, Sr, Ti and P and enriched in Rb and some high-field-strength elements (Hf, Nd, Ta and Y); their rare earth element patterns are slightly right-leaning with strongly negative Eu anomalies, high 10 000 * Ga/Al (3.4–5.36, >2.6) and especially high Y/Nb ratios (1.61–10.33, >1.2), showing the geochemical characteristics of A2-type granite. These granites were produced by partial melting in a high-temperature, low-pressure, reduced and anhydrous environment and experienced extensive fractional crystallization, which concomitantly resulted in tin mineralization. Combining the high positive zircon ϵHf(t) values of +10.9 to +15.76 with young Hf (TDM2) model ages (638–330 Ma), it can be suggested that underplating-related mantle-derived materials were the original source of the Kamusite A2-type granites; namely, these granites formed by the partial melting of juvenile crust. The record of large-scale magmatism indicates that the whole tectonic belt was in a postcollisional extensional setting induced by staged delamination from west to east during the late Carboniferous to early Permian periods.
Cerro del Hierro, Spain: the largest exposed early Cambrian palaeokarst
Authors: Mayoral Eduardo , Dies Álvarez María Eugenia , Gámez Vintaned José Antonio , Gozalo Rodolfo , Liñán Eladio , Molina José Miguel
Published: September 2020

We study the largest exposed example of an early Cambrian palaeokarst, associated with laterites and developed during rifting of the Ossa–Morena Zone. The lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, facies and the genesis reflect episodes of sea-level fall (Cerro del Hierro Regression) related to tectonic events and palaeoclimate. This palaeokarst can be primarily considered as the result of early Cambrian polyphase karstification in an extensional tectonic regime, later modified by Neogene–Quaternary geomorphological processes. The event may correlate with other regressive events of a similar age in Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, South America and Australia. This episode also has local names (e.g. Cerro del Hierro Regression in the Mediterranean region; Woodlands Regression in the UK). It is sometimes accompanied by additional karst development outside of Spain that is compared and interpreted in a global context.
Hometown Lending
Authors: Lim Ivan , Nguyen Duc Duy
Published: September 2020

Banks open more branches and make more lending near their CEOs’ childhood hometowns. The effects are stronger among informationally opaque borrowers and among CEOs who spend more time in their childhood hometowns. Furthermore, loans originated near CEOs’ hometowns contain more soft information and have lower ex post default rates, implying that hometown loans are more informed. Hometown lending does not affect aggregate bank outcomes, suggesting that credit is being reallocated from regions located farther away to regions proximate to bank CEOs’ hometowns.
Antiparasitic effects of ethanolic extracts of Piper arboreum and Jatropha gossypiifolia leaves on cercariae and adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni
Authors: da Silva Alves Rayan Rubens , Mendes Rodrigues João Gustavo , Teles-Reis Andrea , Araújo Nogueira Ranielly , Correia Lima Licá Irlla , Sampaio Lira Maria Gabriela , da Silva Alves Raynara , Silva-Souza Nêuton , Aguiar dos Santos Andrade Teresinha de Jesus , Silva Miranda Guilherme
Published: September 2020

New treatment strategies for schistosomiasis should be evaluated, since resistant strains to the only available drug, Praziquantel, have already been described. Thus, we demonstrated antiparasitic effects of ethanolic extracts of Jatropha gossypiifolia and Piper arboreum on cercariae and adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni. The bioassays were performed at 0–10 000 μg mL−1 concentration for 0–72 h. Adult worms were stained with carmine to assess external and internal damage. The chemical screening was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography. P. arboreum displayed the best cercaricidal effect, with a 100% reduction in viability in just 60 min. The extract of J. gossypiifolia was more effective against adult worms, with 100% viability reduction of male and female worms after 12 and 24 h, respectively. P. arboreum and J. gossypiifolia were equally effective in inhibiting the oviposition of S. mansoni (93% reduction) and causing damage to internal and external structures in adult worms. Flavonoids were identified in both the extracts and phenolic compounds and amides only in P. arboreum. Thus, for the first time, it was proven that ethanolic extracts of P. arboreum and J. gossypiifolia leaves are biologically active against cercariae and adult worms of S. mansoni in vitro.
A model of COVID-19 transmission to understand the effectiveness of the containment measures: application to data from France
Authors: Zongo P. , Zorom M. , Mophou G. , Dorville R. , Beaumont C.
Published: September 2020

The main objective of this paper is to address the following question: are the containment measures imposed by most of the world governments effective and sufficient to stop the epidemic of COVID-19 beyond the lock-down period? In this paper, we propose a mathematical model which allows us to investigate and analyse this problem. We show by means of the reproductive number,${\cal R}_0$that the containment measures appear to have slowed the growth of the outbreak. Nevertheless, these measures remain only effective as long as a very large fraction of population,p, greater than the critical value$1-1/{\cal R}_0$remains confined. Using French current data, we give some simulation experiments with five scenarios including: (i) the validation of model withpestimated to 93%, (ii) the study of the effectiveness of containment measures, (iii) the study of the effectiveness of the large-scale testing, (iv) the study of the social distancing and wearing masks measures and (v) the study taking into account the combination of the large-scale test of detection of infected individuals and the social distancing with linear progressive easing of restrictions. The latter scenario was shown to be effective at overcoming the outbreak if the transmission rate decreases to 75% and the number of tests of detection is multiplied by three. We also noticed that if the measures studied in our five scenarios are taken separately then the second wave might occur at least as far as the parameter values remain unchanged.
The COVID-19 pandemic: the public health reality
Authors: Cheema S. , Ameduri M. , Abraham A. , Doraiswamy S. , Mamtani R.
Published: September 2020

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while mild in most cases, has nevertheless caused significant mortality. The measures adopted in most countries to contain it have led to colossal social and economic disruptions, which will impact the medium- and long-term health outcomes for many communities. In this paper, we deliberate on the reality and facts surrounding the disease. For comparison, we present data from past pandemics, some of which claimed more lives than COVID-19. Mortality data on road traffic crashes and other non-communicable diseases, which cause more deaths each year than COVID-19 has so far, is also provided. The indirect, serious health and social effects are briefly discussed. We also deliberate on how misinformation, confusion stemming from contrasting expert statements, and lack of international coordination may have influenced the public perception of the illness and increased fear and uncertainty. With pandemics and similar problems likely to re-occur, we call for evidence-based decisions, the restoration of responsible journalism and communication built on a solid scientific foundation.
Cardiac strangulation causing refractory cardiac arrest during elective pacemaker revision: a cautionary tale
Authors: Breatnach Colm R , Snow Aisling , Nölke Lars , Oslizlok Paul
Published: September 2020

We describe a previously asymptomatic 7-year-old girl with a sudden cardiac arrest during elective pacemaker revision. Later imaging identified epicardial pacemaker lead strangulation of the left anterior descending and left circumflex coronary arteries. Anaesthetic induction led to a reduction in myocardial perfusion, precipitating the arrest. Extreme care should be taken during anaesthesia if cardiac strangulation is suspected.
Should inflammatory bowel disease be a contraindication to radiation therapy: a systematic review of acute and late toxicities
Authors: Cantrell J. Nathan , Vidal Gabriel S. , Bitar Hussein , Ahmad Salahuddin , Gunter Tyler C.
Published: September 2020

Background:

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) [i.e., Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC)] has been considered a relative contraindication for radiation therapy (RT) to the abdomen or pelvis, potentially preventing patients with a diagnosis of IBD from receiving definitive therapy for their malignancy.

Method:

Using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) conventions, a PubMed/MEDLINE literature search was conducted using the keywords RT, brachytherapy, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and toxicity.

Results:

A total of 1,206 publications were screened with an addition of 8 studies identified through hand searching. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria for quantitative analysis. The total population across all studies was 497 patients, 50·5% having UC, 37% having CD and an additional 12·5% having unspecified IBD. Primary gastrointestinal malignancy (55%) followed by prostate cancer (40%) composed the bulk of the population. Acute and late grade 3 or greater gastrointestinal specific toxicity ranged from 0–23% to 0–13% respectively for those patients with IBD treated with RT to the abdomen or pelvis. In the literature reviewed, RT does not appear to increase fistula or stricture formation or IBD flares; however, one study did note RT to be a statistically significant risk factor for subsequent IBD flare on multivariate analysis.

Conclusions:

A review of reported acute and late toxicities suggests that patients with IBD should still be considered for definitive radiotherapy. Patient characteristics including IBD distribution relative to the irradiated field, inflammatory activity at the time of radiation, overall disease severity and disease phenotype in the case of CD (fistulising versus stricturing versus inflammatory only) should be considered on an individual basis when evaluating potential patients. When possible, advanced techniques with strict organ at risk dose constraints should be employed to limit toxicity in this patient population.
Exploiting Game Theory for Analysing Justifications
Authors: MARYNISSEN SIMON , BOGAERTS BART , DENECKER MARC
Published: September 2020

Justification theory is a unifying semantic framework. While it has its roots in non-monotonic logics, it can be applied to various areas in computer science, especially in explainable reasoning; its most central concept is a justification: an explanation why a property holds (or does not hold) in a model.

In this paper, we continue the study of justification theory by means of three major contributions. The first is studying the relation between justification theory and game theory. We show that justification frameworks can be seen as a special type of games. The established connection provides the theoretical foundations for our next two contributions. The second contribution is studying under which condition two different dialects of justification theory (graphs as explanations vs trees as explanations) coincide. The third contribution is establishing a precise criterion of when a semantics induced by justification theory yields consistent results. In the past proving that such semantics were consistent took cumbersome and elaborate proofs.

We show that these criteria are indeed satisfied for all common semantics of logic programming.
Human Robot Collaborative Assembly Planning: An Answer Set Programming Approach
Authors: Rizwan Momina , Patoglu Volkan , Erdem Esra
Published: September 2020

For planning an assembly of a product from a given set of parts, robots necessitate certain cognitive skills: high-level planning is needed to decide the order of actuation actions, while geometric reasoning is needed to check the feasibility of these actions. For collaborative assembly tasks with humans, robots require further cognitive capabilities, such as commonsense reasoning, sensing, and communication skills, not only to cope with the uncertainty caused by incomplete knowledge about the humans’ behaviors but also to ensure safer collaborations. We propose a novel method for collaborative assembly planning under uncertainty, that utilizes hybrid conditional planning extended with commonsense reasoning and a rich set of communication actions for collaborative tasks. Our method is based on answer set programming. We show the applicability of our approach in a real-world assembly domain, where a bi-manual Baxter robot collaborates with a human teammate to assemble furniture.
Atmospheric Circulation as a Factor Contributing to Increasing Drought Severity in Central Europe
Authors: Lhotka Ondřej , Trnka Mirek , Kyselý Jan , Markonis Yannis , Balek Jan , Možný Martin
Published: September 2020

Long‐lasting and severe droughts seriously threaten agriculture, ecosystems, and society. Summer 2018 in central Europe was characterized by unusually persistent heat and drought, causing substantial economic losses, and became a part of a several years long dry period observed across this region. This study assesses the magnitude of the recent drought within a long‐term context and links the increased drought severity to changes in atmospheric circulation. Temporal variability of drought conditions since the late 19th century was analyzed at seven long‐term stations distributed across the Czech Republic using the Palmer Drought Severity Index and the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index. The Palmer Z Index and a variation of the Standardized Precipitation Evaporation Index were used to study rapidly emerging short‐term droughts and to link these episodes to atmospheric circulation. Changes in circulation were analyzed through circulation types calculated from flow strength, direction and vorticity in mean sea level pressure data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis for 1948–2018. Increasing drought severity across the Czech Republic with record‐low values of the drought indices during 2015–2018 was found. The trend was distinctive in both vegetation (April–September) and cold (October–March) periods. The tendency toward more severe droughts in recent decades was linked to changes in frequency of dry and wet circulation types, highlighting the important role of atmospheric circulation in regional climate. It remains an open question whether the significantly increasing frequency of dry circulation types in the vegetation period is related to climate change, or rather represents multidecadal climate variability.
The Synchronization between the Zonal Jet Stream and Temperature Anomalies Leads to an Extremely Freezing North America in January 2019
Authors: Xu Fen , Liang X. San
Published: September 2020

In late January 2019, a severe cold air outbreak brought the lowest temperatures in over 20 years to Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. With a newly developed functional analysis tool, namely, multiscale window transform, and the multiscale window transform‐based theory of canonical transfer, it is found, based on the data from National Center for Environmental Prediction, that the cold surge, though initialized by the southward migration of the Arctic air mass, is mainly caused by a synchronization between perturbation temperature and perturbation winds, which leads to a very strong baroclinic instability and hence an explosive growth of available potential energy on the cold surge scale window. The cold event is actually a part of a localized stationary wave train, sandwiched between two warming centers, over western North America and over Atlantic. The synchronization can serve as a precursor for this extremely severe cold surge.
Receptor-binding domain-specific human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Yu Fei , Xiang Rong , Deng Xiaoqian , Wang Lili , Yu Zhengsen , Tian Shijun , Liang Ruiying , Li Yanbai , Ying Tianlei , Jiang Shibo
Published: September 2020

The outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, respectively, have posed severe threats to global public health and the economy. Treatment and prevention of these viral diseases call for the research and development of human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NMAbs). Scientists have screened neutralizing antibodies using the virus receptor-binding domain (RBD) as an antigen, indicating that RBD contains multiple conformational neutralizing epitopes, which are the main structural domains for inducing neutralizing antibodies and T-cell immune responses. This review summarizes the structure and function of RBD and RBD-specific NMAbs against SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 currently under development.
CB11, a novel purine-based PPARɣ ligand, overcomes radio-resistance by regulating ATM signalling and EMT in human non-small-cell lung cancer cells
Authors: Kim Tae Woo , Hong Da-Won , Park Joung Whan , Hong Sung Hee
Published: September 2020

Background

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonists frequently induce cell death in human non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. However, majority of NSCLC patients acquire resistance after cancer therapy, and it is still unclear.

Methods

In this study we investigated the apoptotic mechanism and the anti-cancer effects of a novel purine-based PPARγ agonist, CB11 (8-(2-aminophenyl)-3-butyl-1,6,7-trimethyl-1H-imidazo[2,1-f]purine-2,4(3H,8H)-dione), on human NSCLC cells. CB11 mediates PPARγ-dependent cell death, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) collapse, cell cycle arrest, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity, and caspase-3 activity in human NSCLC cells.

Results

CB11 causes cell death via ROS-mediated ATM-p53-GADD45α signalling in human NSCLC cells, and diphenyleneiodonium (DPI), an NADPH oxidase inhibitor, decreases cell death by inhibiting CB11-mediated ATM signalling. In a xenograft experiment, CB11 dramatically reduced tumour volume when compared to a control group. Furthermore, CB11 induced cell death by inhibiting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) under radiation exposure in radiation-resistant human NSCLC cells. However, PPARγ deficiency inhibited cell death by blocking the ATM-p53 axis in radiation/CB11-induced radiation-resistant human NSCLC cells.

Conclusions

Taken together, our results suggest that CB11, a novel PPARγ agonist, may be a novel anti-cancer agent, and it could be useful in a therapeutic strategy to overcome radio-resistance in radiation-exposed NSCLC.
Structural snapshots of human DNA polymerase μ engaged on a DNA double-strand break
Authors: Kaminski Andrea M. , Pryor John M. , Ramsden Dale A. , Kunkel Thomas A. , Pedersen Lars C. , Bebenek Katarzyna
Published: September 2020

Genomic integrity is threatened by cytotoxic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), which must be resolved efficiently to prevent sequence loss, chromosomal rearrangements/translocations, or cell death. Polymerase μ (Polμ) participates in DSB repair via the nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway, by filling small sequence gaps in broken ends to create substrates ultimately ligatable by DNA Ligase IV. Here we present structures of human Polμ engaging a DSB substrate. Synapsis is mediated solely by Polμ, facilitated by single-nucleotide homology at the break site, wherein both ends of the discontinuous template strand are stabilized by a hydrogen bonding network. The active site in the quaternary Pol μ complex is poised for catalysis and nucleotide incoporation proceeds in crystallo. These structures demonstrate that Polμ may address complementary DSB substrates during NHEJ in a manner indistinguishable from single-strand breaks.
Bimetallic nickel-molybdenum/tungsten nanoalloys for high-efficiency hydrogen oxidation catalysis in alkaline electrolytes
Authors: Duan Yu , Yu Zi-You , Yang Li , Zheng Li-Rong , Zhang Chu-Tian , Yang Xiao-Tu , Gao Fei-Yue , Zhang Xiao-Long , Yu Xingxing , Liu Ren , Ding Hong-He , Gu Chao , Zheng Xu-Sheng , Shi Lei , Jiang Jun , Zhu Jun-Fa , Gao Min-Rui , Yu Shu-Hong
Published: September 2020

Hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells offer possibility of adopting platinum-group-metal-free catalysts to negotiate sluggish oxygen reduction reaction. Unfortunately, the ultrafast hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) on platinum decreases at least two orders of magnitude by switching the electrolytes from acid to base, causing high platinum-group-metal loadings. Here we show that a nickel-molybdenum nanoalloy with tetragonal MoNi4 phase can catalyze the HOR efficiently in alkaline electrolytes. The catalyst exhibits a high apparent exchange current density of 3.41 milliamperes per square centimeter and operates very stable, which is 1.4 times higher than that of state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst. With this catalyst, we further demonstrate the capability to tolerate carbon monoxide poisoning. Marked HOR activity was also observed on similarly designed WNi4 catalyst. We attribute this remarkable HOR reactivity to an alloy effect that enables optimum adsorption of hydrogen on nickel and hydroxyl on molybdenum (tungsten), which synergistically promotes the Volmer reaction.
Resequencing of 1,143 indica rice accessions reveals important genetic variations and different heterosis patterns
Authors: Lv Qiming , Li Weiguo , Sun Zhizhong , Ouyang Ning , Jing Xin , He Qiang , Wu Jun , Zheng Jiakui , Zheng Jiatuan , Tang Shaoqing , Zhu Renshan , Tian Yan , Duan Meijuan , Tan Yanning , Yu Dong , Sheng Xiabing , Sun Xuewu , Jia Gaofeng , Gao Hongzhen , Zeng Qin , Li Yufei , Tang Li , Xu Qiusheng , Zhao Bingran , Huang Zhiyuan , Lu Hongfeng , Li Na , Zhao Jian , Zhu Lihuang , Li Dong , Yuan Longping , Yuan Dingyang
Published: September 2020

Obtaining genetic variation information fromindicarice hybrid parents and identification of loci associated with heterosis are important for hybrid rice breeding. Here, we resequence 1,143indicaaccessions mostly selected from the parents of superior hybrid rice cultivars of China, identify genetic variations, and perform kinship analysis. We find different hybrid rice crossing patterns between 3- and 2-line superior hybrid lines. By calculating frequencies of parental variation differences (FPVDs), a more direct approach for studying rice heterosis, we identify loci that are linked to heterosis, which include 98 in superior 3-line hybrids and 36 in superior 2-line hybrids. As a proof of concept, we find two accessions harboring a deletion inOsNramp5, a previously reported gene functioning in cadmium absorption, which can be used to mitigate rice grain cadmium levels through hybrid breeding. Resource ofindicarice genetic variation reported in this study will be valuable to geneticists and breeders.
A database of chlorophyll and water chemistry in freshwater lakes
Authors: Filazzola Alessandro , Mahdiyan Octavia , Shuvo Arnab , Ewins Carolyn , Moslenko Luke , Sadid Tanzil , Blagrave Kevin , Imrit Mohammad Arshad , Gray Derek K. , Quinlan Roberto , O’Reilly Catherine M. , Sharma Sapna
Published: September 2020

Measures of chlorophyll represent the algal biomass in freshwater lakes that is often used by managers as a proxy for water quality and lake productivity. However, chlorophyll concentrations in lakes are dependent on many interacting factors, including nutrient inputs, mixing regime, lake depth, climate, and anthropogenic activities within the watershed. Therefore, integrating a broad scale dataset of lake physical, chemical, and biological characteristics can help elucidate the response of freshwater ecosystems to global change. We synthesized a database of measured chlorophyll a (chla) values, associated water chemistry variables, and lake morphometric characteristics for 11,959 freshwater lakes distributed across 72 countries. Data were collected based on a systematic review examining 3322 published manuscripts that measured lake chla, and we supplemented these data with online repositories such as The Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity, Dryad, and Pangaea. This publicly available database can be used to improve our understanding of how chlorophyll levels respond to global environmental change and provide baseline comparisons for environmental managers responsible for maintaining water quality in lakes.
Sharing and caring: Testosterone, fathering, and generosity among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin
Authors: Gettler Lee T. , Lew-Levy Sheina , Sarma Mallika S. , Miegakanda Valchy , Boyette Adam H.
Published: September 2020

Humans are rare among mammals in exhibiting paternal care and the capacity for broad hyper-cooperation, which were likely critical to the evolutionary emergence of human life history. In humans and other species, testosterone is often a mediator of life history trade-offs between mating/competition and parenting. There is also evidence that lower testosterone men may often engage in greater prosocial behavior compared to higher testosterone men. Given the evolutionary importance of paternal care and heightened cooperation to human life history, human fathers’ testosterone may be linked to these two behavioral domains, but they have not been studied together. We conducted research among highly egalitarian Congolese BaYaka foragers and compared them with their more hierarchical Bondongo fisher-farmer neighbors. Testing whether BaYaka men’s testosterone was linked to locally-valued fathering roles, we found that fathers who were seen as better community sharers had lower testosterone than less generous men. BaYaka fathers who were better providers also tended to have lower testosterone. In both BaYaka and Bondongo communities, men in marriages with greater conflict had higher testosterone. The current findings from BaYaka fathers point to testosterone as a psychobiological correlate of cooperative behavior under ecological conditions with evolutionarily-relevant features in which mutual aid and sharing of resources help ensure survival and community health.
A neurobehavioral study on the efficacy of price interventions in promoting healthy food choices among low socioeconomic families
Authors: Banerjee Tannista , Chattaraman Veena , Zou Hao , Deshpande Gopikrishna
Published: September 2020

Given the healthcare costs associated with obesity (especially in childhood), governments have tried several fiscal and policy interventions such as lowering tax and giving rebates to encourage parents to choose healthier food for their family. The efficacy of such fiscal policies is currently being debated. Here we address this issue by investigating how behavioral and brain-based responses in parents with low socioeconomic status change when rebates and lower taxes are offered on healthy food items. We performed behavioral and brain-based experiments, with the latter employing electroencephalography (EEG) acquired from parents while they shop in a simulated shopping market as well as follow up functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the more restricted scanner environment. Behavioral data show that lower tax and rebate on healthy foods increase their purchase significantly compared to baseline. Rebate has a higher effect than lower tax treatment. From the EEG and fMRI experiments, we first show that healthy/unhealthy foods elicit least/maximal reward response in the brain, respectively. Further, by offering lower tax or rebate on healthy food items, the reward signal for such items in the brain is significantly enhanced. Second, we demonstrate that rebate is more effective than lower tax in encouraging consumers to purchase healthy food items, driven in part, by higher reward-related response in the brain for rebate. Third, fiscal interventions decreased the amount of frontal cognitive control required to buy healthy foods despite their lower calorific value as compared to unhealthy foods. Finally, we propose that it is possible to titrate the amount of tax reductions and rebates on healthy food items so that they consistently become more preferable than unhealthy foods.
Publisher Correction: Phosphorylation of PD-1-Y248 is a marker of PD-1-mediated inhibitory function in human T cells
Authors: Bardhan Kankana , Aksoylar Halil-Ibrahim , Le Bourgeois Thibault , Strauss Laura , Weaver Jessica D. , Delcuze Bethany , Charest Alain , Patsoukis Nikolaos , Boussiotis Vassiliki A.
Published: September 2020

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Mechanistic study of attenuation of monosodium glutamate mixed high lipid diet induced systemic damage in rats by Coccinia grandis
Authors: Banerjee Arnab , Das Debasmita , Paul Rajarshi , Roy Sandipan , Das Ujjal , Saha Samrat , Dey Sanjit , Adhikary Arghya , Mukherjee Sandip , Maji Bithin Kumar
Published: September 2020

In the context of failure of treatment for non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)-mediated systemic damages, recognition of novel and successful characteristic drug to combat these anomalous situations is earnestly required. The present study is aimed to evaluate protective value of ethanol extract of Coccinia grandis leaves (EECGL), naturally occurring medicinal plant, on NAFLD-mediated systemic damage induced by high lipid diet along with monosodium glutamate (HM)-fed rats. Our study uncovered that EECGL significantly ameliorates HM-induced hyperlipidemia, increased lipogenesis and metabolic disturbances (via up regulation of PPAR-α and PPAR-γ), oxidative stress (via reducing the generation of reactive oxygen species and regulating the redox-homeostasis) and inflammatory response (via regulating the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors with concomitant down regulation of NF-kB, iNOS, TNF-α and up regulation of eNOS). Furthermore, EECGL significantly inhibited HM-induced increased population of cells in sub G0/G1 phase, decreased Bcl2 expression and thereby loss of mitochondrial membrane potential with over expression of Bax, p53, p21, activation of caspase 3 and 9 indicated the apoptosis and suppression of cell survival. It is perhaps the first comprehensive study with a mechanistic approach which provides a strong unique strategy for the management of HM-induced systemic damage with effective dose of EECGL.
Assessment of non-inferiority with meta-analysis: example of hypofractionated radiation therapy in breast and prostate cancer
Authors: Trone Jane-Chloé , Ollier Edouard , Chapelle Céline , Mismetti Patrick , Cucherat Michel , Magné Nicolas , Zuffrey Paul Jacques , Laporte Silvy
Published: September 2020

The aim of this study was to propose a methodology for the assessment of non-inferiority with meta-analysis. Assessment of hypofractionated RT in prostate and breast cancers is used as an illustrative example. Non-inferiority assessment of an experimental treatment versus an active comparator should rely on two elements: (1) an estimation of experimental treatment’s effect versus the active comparator based on a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and (2) the value of an objective non-inferiority margin. This margin can be defined using the reported effect of active comparator and the percentage of the active comparator’s effect that is desired to be preserved. Non-inferiority can then be assessed by comparing the upper bound of the 95% confidence interval of experimental treatment’s effect to the value of the objective non-inferiority margin. Application to hypofractionated RT in breast cancer showed that hypofractionated whole breast irradiation (HWBI) appeared to be non-inferior to conventionally fractionated RT for local recurrence. This was not the case for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI). Concerning overall survival, non-inferiority could not be claimed for either HWBI or APBI. For prostate cancer, the lack of demonstrated significant superiority of conventional RT versus no RT precluded any conclusion regarding non-inferiority of hypofractionated RT.
A high throughput screening system for studying the effects of applied mechanical forces on reprogramming factor expression
Authors: Lee Jason , Armenta Ochoa Miguel , Maceda Pablo , Yoon Eun , Samarneh Lara , Wong Mitchell , Baker Aaron B.
Published: September 2020

Mechanical forces are important in the regulation of physiological homeostasis and the development of disease. The application of mechanical forces to cultured cells is often performed using specialized systems that lack the flexibility and throughput of other biological techniques. In this study, we developed a high throughput platform for applying complex dynamic mechanical forces to cultured cells. We validated the system for its ability to accurately apply parallel mechanical stretch in a 96 well plate format in 576 well simultaneously. Using this system, we screened for optimized conditions to stimulate increases in Oct-4 and other transcription factor expression in mouse fibroblasts. Using high throughput mechanobiological screening assays, we identified small molecules that can synergistically enhance the increase in reprograming-related gene expression in mouse fibroblasts when combined with mechanical loading. Taken together, our findings demonstrate a new powerful tool for investigating the mechanobiological mechanisms of disease and performing drug screening in the presence of applied mechanical load.
Identification and validation of novel and more effective choline kinase inhibitors against Streptococcus pneumoniae
Authors: Zimmerman Tahl , Chasten Valerie , Lacal Juan Carlos , Ibrahim Salam A.
Published: September 2020

Streptococcus pneumoniae choline kinase (sChoK) has previously been proposed as a drug target, yet the effectiveness of the first and only known inhibitor of sChoK, HC-3, is in the millimolar range. The aim of this study was thus to further validate sChoK as a potential therapeutic target by discovering more powerful sChoK inhibitors. LDH/PK and colorimetric enzymatic assays revealed two promising sChoK inhibitor leads RSM-932A and MN58b that were discovered with IC50 of 0.5 and 150 μM, respectively, and were shown to be 2–4 magnitudes more potent than the previously discovered inhibitor HC-3. Culture assays showed that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of RSM-932A and MN58b for S. pneumoniae was 0.4 μM and 10 μM, respectively, and the minimum lethal concentration (MLC) was 1.6 μM and 20 μM, respectively. Western blot monitoring of teichoic acid production revealed differential patterns in response to each inhibitor. In addition, both inhibitors possessed a bacteriostatic mechanism of action, and neither interfered with the autolytic effects of vancomycin. Cells treated with MN58b but not RSM-932A were more sensitive to a phosphate induced autolysis with respect to the untreated cells. SEM studies revealed that MN58b distorted the cell wall, a result consistent with the apparent teichoic acid changes. Two novel and more highly potent putative inhibitors of sChoK, MN58b and RSM-932A, were characterized in this study. However, the effects of sChoK inhibitors can vary at the cellular level. sChoK inhibition is a promising avenue to follow in the development of therapeutics for treatment of S. pneumoniae.
Hyperactive and impulsive behaviors of LMTK1 knockout mice
Authors: Takahashi Miyuki , Sugiyama Arika , Wei Ran , Kobayashi Shizuka , Fukuda Kimiko , Nishino Hironori , Takahashi Roka , Tsutsumi Koji , Kita Ichiro , Ando Kanae , Manabe Toshiya , Kamiguchi Hiroyuki , Tomomura Mineko , Hisanaga Shin-ichi
Published: September 2020

Lemur tail kinase 1 (LMTK1), previously called Apoptosis-Associated Tyrosine Kinase (AATYK), remains an uncharacterized Ser/Thr protein kinase that is predominantly expressed in the brain. It is recently reported that LMTK1A, an isoform of LMTK1, binds to recycling endosomes through its palmitoylation and regulates endosomal trafficking by suppressing the activity of Rab11 small GTPase. In neurons, knockdown or knockout of LMTK1 results in longer axons, greater branching of dendrites and increased number of spines, suggesting that LMTK1 plays a role in neuronal circuit formation. However, its in vivo function remained to be investigated. Here, we examined the brain structures and behaviors of LMTK1 knockout (KO) mice. LMTK1 was expressed in most neurons throughout the brain. The overall brain structure appeared to be normal in LMTK1 KO mice, but the numbers of synapses were increased. LMTK1 KO mice had a slight impairment in memory formation and exhibited distinct psychiatric behaviors such as hyperactivity, impulsiveness and high motor coordination without social interaction deficits. Some of these abnormal behaviors represent core features of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), suggesting the possible involvement of LMTK1 in the pathogenesis of ADHD.