bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High-throughput discovery of plastid genes causing albino phenotypes in ornamental chimeric plants
Authors: Park Hyun-Seung , Jeon Jae-Hyeon , Cho Woohyeon , Lee Yeonjeong , Park Jee Young , Kim Jiseok , Park Young Sang , Koo Hyun Jo , Kang Jung Hwa , Lee Taek Joo , Kim Sang Hoon , Kim Jin-Baek , Kwon Hae-Yun , Kim Suk-Hwan , Paek Nam-Chon , Jang Geupil , Suh Jeong-Yong , Yang Tae-Jin
Published: November 2022

Chimeric plants composed of green and albino tissues have great ornamental value. To unveil the functional genes responsible for albino phenotypes in chimeric plants, we inspected the complete plastid genomes (plastomes) in green and albino leaf tissues from 23 ornamental chimeric plants belonging to 20 species, including monocots, dicots, and gymnosperms. In nine chimeric plants, plastomes were identical between green and albino tissues. Meanwhile, another 14 chimeric plants were heteroplasmic, showing a mutation between green and albino tissues. We identified 14 different point mutations in eight functional plastid genes related to plastid-encoded RNA polymerase (rpo) or photosystems which caused albinism in the chimeric plants. Among them, 12 were deleterious mutations in the target genes, in which early termination appeared due to small deletion-mediated frameshift or single nucleotide substitution. Another was single nucleotide substitution in an intron of the ycf3 and the other was a missense mutation in coding region of the rpoC2 gene. We inspected chlorophyll structure, protein functional model of the rpoC2, and expression levels of the related genes in green and albino tissues of Reynoutria japonica. A single amino acid change, histidine-to-proline substitution, in the rpoC2 protein may destabilize the peripheral helix of plastid-encoded RNA polymerase, impairing the biosynthesis of the photosynthesis system in the albino tissue of R. japonica chimera plant.
A chromosome-level phased genome enabling allele-level studies in sweet orange: a case study on citrus Huanglongbing tolerance
Authors: Wu Bo , Yu Qibin , Deng Zhanao , Duan Yongping , Luo Feng , Gmitter Jr Frederick
Published: November 2022

Sweet orange originated from the introgressive hybridizations of pummelo and mandarin resulting in a highly heterozygous genome. How alleles from the two species cooperate in shaping sweet orange phenotypes under distinct circumstances is unknown. Here, we assembled a chromosome-level phased diploid Valencia sweet orange (DVS) genome with over 99.999% base accuracy and 99.2% gene annotation BUSCO completeness. DVS enables allele-level studies for sweet orange and other hybrids between pummelo and mandarin. We first configured an allele-aware transcriptomic profiling pipeline and applied it to 740 sweet orange transcriptomes. On average, 32.5% of genes have a significantly biased allelic expression in the transcriptomes. Different cultivars, transgenic lineages, tissues, development stages, and disease status all impacted allelic expressions and resulted in diversified allelic expression patterns in sweet orange, but particularly citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) shifted the allelic expression of hundreds of genes in leaves and calyx abscission zones. In addition, we detected allelic structural mutations in an HLB-tolerant mutant (T19) and a more sensitive mutant (T78) through long-read sequencing. The irradiation-induced structural mutations mostly involved double-strand breaks, while most spontaneous structural mutations were transposon insertions. In the mutants, most genes with significant allelic expression ratio alterations (≥1.5-fold) were directly affected by those structural mutations. In T19, alleles located at a translocated segment terminal were upregulated, including CsDnaJ, CsHSP17.4B, and CsCEBPZ. Their upregulation is inferred to keep phloem protein homeostasis under the stress from HLB and enable subsequent stress responses observed in T19. DVS will advance allelic level studies in citrus.
Infaunal and epifaunal secondary production in the Barents Sea, with focus on snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) prey resources and consumption
Authors: Holte Børge , Fuhrmann Mona M , Tandberg Anne Helene S , Hvingel Carsten , Hjelset Ann Merete
Published: November 2022

Since the first observation of snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the Barents Sea in 1996, the population has increased significantly, supporting a commercial fishery on the Norwegian shelf since 2012. To investigate whether the availability of benthic prey organisms may support a continued geographical snow crab expansion, benthic invertebrate production was studied across the central parts of the Barents Sea and around Svalbard, where snow crabs are currently absent or at low densities. Annual productivity (P/B ratio) from 66 stations collected by grab and beam trawl was estimated using a multiparameter artificial neural network model. Mean infaunal productivity and production were 0.43 yr−1 and 38.4 g ww m−2 yr−1, respectively, while the epifaunal production was considerably lower with 2.5 g ww m−2 yr−1. The proportions of epi- and infaunal production suitable as prey for snow crab were 98 and 96%, respectively. Areas close to the Polar Front represent the most attractive snow crab foraging region, having the highest benthic secondary production, high estimated primary production, and bottom water temperatures within the snow crab’s preferences. At snow crab densities of 12800 ind. km−2, high enough to support commercial fishing, their mean consumption rate was estimated to be around 1.5 g ww m−2 yr−1, which amounts to 4% of mean infaunal prey production. Food availability is, therefore, not expected to be a hindrance to further population expansion of the snow crab in the Barents Sea.
Power and Need-for-Justification: Asymmetrical Effects on Senders and Receivers in Marketing Communications
Authors: Fan Linying (Sophie) , Rucker Derek D , Jiang Yuwei
Published: November 2022

This research reveals how a fundamental and pervasive psychological state, feeling powerful, asymmetrically impacts consumers’ construction of and response to communications. For senders, power reduces consumers’ need-for-justification and lowers the degree of support they seek and use to construct their communications. This lowered degree of support is evidenced by reduced information search, the use of fewer rational-based arguments, and a greater reliance on more concise language. In contrast, for receivers, power increases consumers’ expectations for others to justify their positions. As a result, high-power receivers require a greater degree of support in communications from others. Based on a need-for-justification mechanism, the current work derives and demonstrates theoretically driven boundary conditions (e.g., attenuation when a heightened need-for-justification or support already exists) of this relationship. Together, these results provide new insights into how power influences consumers’ need-for-justification and how this need affects the ways that consumers construct and respond to communications.
Conditions for high-resolution bistatic radar observations of Apophis in 2029
Authors: Vallejo Agustín , Zuluaga Jorge I , Chaparro Germán
Published: November 2022

On 2029 April 13, asteroid Apophis will pass within six times of the Earth's radius (∼31 000 km above the surface) in the closest approach of this asteroid in recorded history. This event provides unique scientific opportunities to study the asteroid, its orbit, and surface characteristics at an exceptionally close distance. In this paper, we perform a novel synthetic geometrical, geographical, and temporal analysis of the conditions under which the asteroid can be observed from the Earth with a particular emphasis on the conditions and scientific opportunities for bistatic radar observations, the most feasible radar technique applicable during such a close approach. For this purpose, we compile a list of present and future radio observatories or radio facilities around the globe, which could participate in bistatic radar observation campaigns during the close approach of Apophis. We estimate signal-to-noise ratios, apparent sky rotation, surface coverage, and other observing conditions. We find that a global collaboration of observatories across Australia, Africa, Europe, and America will produce high-resolution delay-Doppler radar images with signal-to-noise ratios above 108, while covering ∼85 per cent of the asteroid surface. Moreover, if properly coordinated, the extreme approach of the asteroid might allow for radio amateur detection of the signals sent by large radio observatories, and citizen science projects could then be organized. We also find that for visual observations, the Canary Islands will offer the best observing conditions during the closest approach, both for professionals as well as for amateurs. The apparent size of Apophis will be 2–3 times larger than typically seeing, allowing for resolved images of the surface.
Self-supervised clustering on image-subtracted data with deep-embedded self-organizing map
Authors: Mong Y-L , Ackley K , Killestein T L , Galloway D K , Vassallo C , Dyer M , Cutter R , Brown M J I , Lyman J , Ulaczyk K , Steeghs D , Dhillon V , O’Brien P , Ramsay G , Noysena K , Kotak R , Breton R , Nuttall L , Pallé E , Pollacco D , Thrane E , Awiphan S , Burhanudin U , Chote P , Chrimes A , Daw E , Duffy C , Eyles-Ferris R , Gompertz B P , Heikkilä T , Irawati P , Kennedy M , Levan A , Littlefair S , Makrygianni L , Marsh T , Sánchez D Mata , Mattila S , Maund J R , McCormac J , Mkrtichian D , Mullaney J , Rol E , Sawangwit U , Stanway E , Starling R , Strøm P , Tooke S , Wiersema K
Published: November 2022

Developing an effective automatic classifier to separate genuine sources from artifacts is essential for transient follow-ups in wide-field optical surveys. The identification of transient detections from the subtraction artifacts after the image differencing process is a key step in such classifiers, known as real-bogus classification problem. We apply a self-supervised machine learning model, the deep-embedded self-organizing map (DESOM) to this ‘real-bogus’ classification problem. DESOM combines an autoencoder and a self-organizing map to perform clustering in order to distinguish between real and bogus detections, based on their dimensionality-reduced representations. We use 32 × 32 normalized detection thumbnails as the input of DESOM. We demonstrate different model training approaches, and find that our best DESOM classifier shows a missed detection rate of $6.6{{\ \rm per\,cent}}$ with a false-positive rate of $1.5{{\ \rm per\,cent}}$. DESOM offers a more nuanced way to fine-tune the decision boundary identifying likely real detections when used in combination with other types of classifiers, e.g. built on neural networks or decision trees. We also discuss other potential usages of DESOM and its limitations.
Distribution of gamma-ray bursts on the T90–HR plane and their classification revisited
Authors: Zhang Liang , Luo Juan-Juan , Huang Yong-Feng , Gong Yu-Jun , Wu Sheng
Published: November 2022

Using four mixed bivariate distributions (Normal distribution, Skew-Normal distribution, Student distribution, Skew-Student distribution) and bootstrap re-sampling analysis. We analyse the samples of CGRO/BATSE, Swift/BAT, and Fermi/GBM gamma-ray bursts in detail on the T90–HR (Hardness Ratio) plane. The Bayesian information criterion is used to judge the goodness of fit for each sample, comprehensively. It is found that all the three samples show a symmetric (either Normal or Student) distribution. It is also found that the existence of three classes of gamma-ray bursts is preferred by the three samples, but the strength of this preference varies with the sample size: when the sample size of the data set is larger, the preference of three classes scheme becomes weaker. Therefore, the appearance of an intermediate class may be caused by a small sample size and the possibility that there are only two classes of gamma-ray bursts still cannot be expelled yet. A further bootstrap re-sampling analysis also confirms this result.
A tale of a tail: a tidally disrupting ultra-diffuse galaxy in the M81 group
Authors: Žemaitis Rokas , Ferguson Annette M N , Okamoto Sakurako , Cuillandre Jean-Charles , Stone Connor J , Arimoto Nobuo , Irwin Mike J
Published: November 2022

We present the discovery of a giant tidal tail of stars associated with F8D1, the closest known example of an ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG). F8D1 sits in a region of the sky heavily contaminated by Galactic cirrus and has been poorly studied since its discovery two decades ago. The tidal feature was revealed in a deep map of resolved red giant branch stars constructed using data from our Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey of the M81 Group. It has an average surface brightness of μg ∼ 32 mag arcsec−2 and can be traced for over a degree on the sky (60 kpc at the distance of F8D1) with our current imagery. We revisit the main body properties of F8D1 using deep multiband imagery acquired with MegaCam on CFHT and measure effective radii of 1.7–1.9 kpc, central surface brightnesses of 24.7–25.7 mag, and a stellar mass of ∼7 × 107M⊙. Assuming a symmetric feature on the other side of the galaxy, we calculate that 30–36 per cent of F8D1’s present-day luminosity is contained in the tail. We argue that the most likely origin of F8D1’s disruption is a recent close passage to M81, which would have stripped its gas and quenched its star formation. As the only UDG that has so far been studied to such faint surface brightness depths, the unveiling of F8D1’s tidal disruption is important. It leaves open the possibility that many other UDGs could be the result of similar processes, with the most telling signatures of this lurking below current detection limits.
Metabolic acidosis is undertreated and underdiagnosed: a retrospective cohort study
Authors: Whitlock Reid H , Ferguson Thomas W , Komenda Paul , Rigatto Claudio , Collister David , Bohm Clara , Reaven Nancy L , Funk Susan E , Tangri Navdeep
Published: November 2022

Background

Guidelines recommend treatment of metabolic acidosis (MA) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but the diagnosis and treatment rates in real-world settings are unknown. We investigated the frequency of MA treatment and diagnosis in patients with CKD.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study, we examined administrative health data from two US databases [Optum's de-identified Integrated Claims + Clinical Electronic Health Record Database (US EMR cohort; 1 January 2007 to 30 June 2019) and Symphony Health Solutions IDV® (US claims cohort; 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2019)] and population-level databases from Manitoba, Canada (1 April 2006 to 31 March 2018). Patients who met laboratory criteria indicative of CKD and chronic MA were included: two consecutive estimated glomerular filtration results <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and two serum bicarbonate results 12 to <22 mEq/L over 28–365 days. Outcomes included treatment of MA (defined as a prescription for oral sodium bicarbonate) and a diagnosis of MA (defined using administrative records). Outcomes were assessed over a 3-year period (1 year pre-index, 2 years post-index).

Results

A total of 96 184 patients were included: US EMR, 6179; Manitoba, 3223; US Claims, 86 782. Sodium bicarbonate treatment was prescribed for 17.6%, 8.7% and 15.3% of patients, and a diagnosis was found for 44.7%, 20.9% and 20.9% of patients, for the US EMR, Manitoba and US Claims cohorts, respectively.

Conclusions

This analysis of 96 184 patients with laboratory-confirmed MA from three independent cohorts of patients with CKD and MA highlights an important diagnosis and treatment gap for this disease-modifying complication.
Subclinical cognitive impairment in chronic kidney disease is associated with frailty and reduced quality of life
Authors: Greinert Robin , Greinert Daniel , Eger Anna-Lena , Ripoll Cristina , Girndt Matthias
Published: November 2022

Background

Cognitive impairment (CI) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly prevalent and is associated with multiple limitations to patients as well as a higher mortality, more days of hospitalisation and a lower quality of life. Frailty in CKD is associated with adverse health outcomes and is also highly prevalent. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of CI and relate the findings to frailty, mobility, muscle strength and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Methods

Non-dialysis patients with CKD stages 3–5 were prospectively evaluated for inclusion. Excluded were patients with other cognitive disorders, signs of overt uraemic encephalopathy, severe infection and hyponatraemia. All patients underwent psychometric testing (five different tests): assessments of mobility, strength and frailty and an evaluation of HRQOL. Based on the number of pathological psychometric test results, we established two different definitions of CI: subclinical uraemic encephalopathy 1 (SUE1: one pathological test) and subclinical uraemic encephalopathy 2 (SUE2: two or more pathological test results).

Results

Sixty-two patients were included [median age 66 years (interquartile range 57–75), male 55%]. Most patients had CKD stage 3 (48%; stage 4: 32%; stage 5: 19%). CI was highly prevalent (SUE1: 60%; SUE2: 42%) and associated with a higher risk of falls (pathological tandem gait test; SUE1: 50% versus 16%, P = .023; SUE2: 69% versus 15%, P = .001), lower muscle strength (SUE2-pathological: 39% versus 7%, P = .008), frailty (SUE1: 59% versus 28%, P = .038; SUE2: 67% versus 33%, P = .028) and HRQOL.

Conclusion

CI is highly prevalent in non-dialysis CKD patients. Even mild CI is associated with decreased mobility, muscle strength and HRQOL and increased frailty.
What Cigarillo Companies are Putting on Instagram: A Content Analysis of Swisher Sweets’ Marketing from 2013 to 2020
Authors: Cornacchione Ross Jennifer , Lazard Allison J , Hedrick McKenzie Ashley , Reffner Collins Meredith K , Sutfin Erin L
Published: November 2022

Introduction

Tobacco marketing includes text and visual content, which conveys important meaning to consumers and influences use. Little is known about the marketing tactics used by a popular brand of cigarillos on social media to promote their products, including their visual design.

Methods

A content analysis was conducted to analyze text and visuals for all posts on Swisher Sweets’ official Instagram account from Jan 23, 2013 to Feb 28, 2020. We assessed product depictions (e.g. warnings, smoking cues), presence of FDA-prohibited or potentially misleading claims (e.g. lower risk, organic), marketing tactics (e.g. celebrities, selling propositions), flavors, and demographic representation.

Results

We coded 1402 posts. Smoking cues (e.g. images of people smoking, product imagery) were in 764 posts (54.5%), and a warning appeared in 690 (49.2%) posts, but obscured in 29.4% of those instances (n = 203). No posts included FDA-prohibited claims, but some potentially misleading language was identified, including the use of words or visual depictions of smooth (n = 254, 18.1%) and quality/well-made (n = 239, 17%). Marketing tactics such as scarcity (n = 159, 11.3%), event promotion (n = 586, 41.8%), and alcohol depictions (n = 171, 12.2%) were common, and flavor names appeared in 598 posts (42.7%). People depicted were often young adults (n = 709, 50.6%), Black/African American (n = 549, 39.2%), and in groups (n = 473, 33.7%).

Conclusions

Both text and visuals are used to market Swisher Sweets on their Instagram account. Using social images of young adults, especially Black individuals, signals the intended use of the product. These images of visual-based social media may influence appeal, glamorization, and normalization of cigarillo smoking among vulnerable populations.

Implications

Tobacco marketing, including from popular cigarillo brands like Swisher Sweets, is widely used to influence consumer perceptions and behavior. Social media marketing includes text and visual, both of which increase product appeal and encourage use. Visual-based social media from the industry itself have been understudied, particularly for cigarillos. This study characterizes the ways in which Swisher Sweets uses text and visuals to market their products through their Instagram account, including smoking cues, potentially misleading language, use of celebrity endorsers, and promotion and sponsorship of events.
A Baker's Dozen of Top Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention Publications for Hospitalized Patients in 2021
Authors: Marx Ashley H , Cluck David , Green Sarah B , Anderson Daniel T , Stover Kayla R , Chastain Daniel B , Covington Elizabeth W , Jones Bruce M , Lantz Evan , Rausch Ethan , Tu Patrick J Y , Wagner Jamie L , White Cyle , Bland Christopher M , Bookstaver P Brandon
Published: November 2022

Keeping abreast of the antimicrobial stewardship–related articles published each year is challenging. The Southeastern Research Group Endeavor (SERGE-45) identified antimicrobial stewardship–related, peer-reviewed literature that detailed an “actionable” intervention among hospitalized populations during 2021. The top 13 publications were selected using a modified Delphi technique. These manuscripts were reviewed to highlight “actionable” interventions used by antimicrobial stewardship programs in hospitalized populations to capture potentially effective strategies for local implementation.
What’s Observed in a Rating?
Authors: Esposito Elena , Stark David
Published: November 2022

Ratings and rankings are criticized for being simplistic, obscurantist, inaccurate, and subjective, yet they are becoming an increasingly influential social form. The authors elaborate the criticisms of ratings and rankings in various fields but go on to argue that analysis should shift its target. The problem that ratings deal with is not observation of an independent world. Instead, the challenge they face is the circularity of second-order observation in which observations must take into account the observations of others. To this purpose they function well enough not because they mirror how things are but because they offer a highly visible reference point to which others are attentive and thereby provide an orientation to navigate uncertainty. The concluding section places the problem of ratings and rankings in a broader historical perspective contrasting the ranked society to the society of rankings. Responding to uncertainty, ratings and rankings perpetuate rather than eliminate anxiety.
Trademarks
Authors: Chestek Pamela
Published: November 2022

This chapter deals with trademarks. Trademarks play a significant role in the FOSS ecosystem — while copyrights and patents are freely shared in FOSS licensing, trademarks are not. Free and open source software projects can, and therefore generally do, exercise their exclusive rights under trademark law. To that end, this chapter covers the basics of trademark law. Next, it provides background on the types of goods and services one typically finds associated with FOSS projects, and discusses an aspect of trademark law that is fairly unique to FOSS, the role of community engagement. Theories for the lawful use of another’s trademark are next examined. Finally, the chapter closes with a discussion of various ways a trademark owner might try to undo the FOSS license using trademark law as the vehicle since copyright is largely unavailable.
Sustainability and Open Source
Authors: Parrino Cristian
Published: November 2022

This chapter takes a look at how the open source principles of collaboration, decentralisation, and collective equity, as well as open source technology’s (hardware, software, and data) fundamentals of transparency, circularity, and accessibility, play a central, enabling role in sustainability. It first considers the case of the City of Amsterdam. The city uses open source and community-centred design to rebuild its economic model and post-pandemic recovery around the principles of economic prosperity. Next, the role of open source hardware, software, and data in the carbon negative data centre of the future blueprint being proposed by an OpenUK-led international consortium at COP26 is discussed. Finally, this chapter considers how, for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) facilitated by the UN, Open Data is a facilitator of standards, a tool for accountability, and a base of evidence for assessing impact.
Open Hardware
Authors: Katz Andrew
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores open source hardware. Open source hardware is a relative newcomer in comparison with open source software. As a field it has adopted many assumptions and models from the world of open source software, but its latecomer status gives it the advantage of being able to learn from what has gone before. At this juncture, there are far fewer businesses operating in the world of open hardware, and those businesses are less prominent and successful (although there are signs that this is rapidly changing). There are also far fewer specific open hardware licences than open source software licences, and there are still fundamental questions about the applicability of various different forms of intellectual property right to different aspects of hardware.
Race and Property Law
Authors: Park K-Sue
Published: November 2022

This chapter examines the key role of race in producing property values in the history of the American property law system. It identifies major developments in the mutually formative relationship between race and property in America that made and remade property interests through the processes of dispossessing nonwhites; degrading their homelands, communities, and selves; and limiting their efforts to enter public space and occupy or acquire property within the regime thereby established. The chapter begins by looking at the use of law to create the two most important forms of property in the colonies and early Republic—enclosed land and enslaved human beings—both of which acquired value and status as property through white ownership and control. The way that race produced property values shifted significantly after the abolition of slavery, and the anti-blackness entrenched by the slave trade spurred and organized resistance to Black landownership and property rights more generally. After the government consolidated the national territory through conquest, it drew upon the continuing backlash to abolition and widespread desire for racial segregation to remake the infrastructure and the very commodities on offer on the real estate market through its notorious redlining program and establishment of a major secondary mortgage market.
Democratization and Its Legacies
Authors: Pinto António Costa , Paris André
Published: November 2022

The fall of the Portuguese dictatorship, in 1974, heralded the ‘third wave’ of democratizations. Unshackled by international pro-democracy forces and occurring during the Cold War, the coup led to a severe state crisis that was further aggravated by the fact that the processes of democratization and decolonization happened simultaneously. In this chapter, we argue that a correlation must be established between the nature of Portugal’s democratization and not only the absence of a veto capacity by former authoritarian elites and institutions, due to their collapse, but especially the cleavages created by democratization and military intervention in politics. We also argue that the transition’s powerful momentum served to form another legacy for the consolidation of democracy, superseding and transmuting its impact on Portugal’s democracy.
The Right and Far-Right in the Portuguese Democracy (1974–2022)
Authors: Marchi Riccardo , Azevedo Alves André
Published: November 2022

This chapter outlines the development of the Portuguese right and far-right during the democratic regime, from 1974 to 2021, in terms of political movements and parties, ideology and electoral outcomes. The first section contextualizes the Portuguese mainstream right-of-centre parties in the context of the democratic transition and later in their evolution until 1995. The following two sections deal with the Portuguese far-right in the context of the democratic transition from 1972 to 1982, and in the period of consolidated democracy, from the 1980s until the present day, with particular attention paid to the recent populist radical right party Chega, which has achieved parliamentary representation for this political segment in Portugal for the first time. The final section returns to the Portuguese mainstream right-of-centre political space to analyse the period from the mid-1990s until the present day, when the left has become dominant and the right has mostly acted as an opposition force, with some limited exceptions.
Robots, Trade, and Luddism: A Sufficient Statistic Approach to Optimal Technology Regulation
Authors: Costinot Arnaud , Werning Iván
Published: November 2022

Technological change, from the advent of robots to expanded trade opportunities, creates winners and losers. How should government policy respond? We provide a general theory of optimal technology regulation in a second-best world, with rich heterogeneity across households, linear taxes on the subset of firms affected by technological change, and a non-linear tax on labour income. Our first set of results consists of optimal tax formulas, with minimal structural assumptions, involving sufficient statistics that can be implemented using evidence on the distributional impact of new technologies, such as robots and trade. Our final results are comparative static exercises illustrating, among other things, that while distributional concerns create a rationale for non-zero taxes on robots and trade, the magnitude of these taxes may decrease as the process of automation and globalization deepens and inequality increases.
Evaluation of an Ecological Model for Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders
Authors: Kyung Minjung , Wagner Laura , Lee Soo-Jeong , Hong OiSaeng
Published: November 2022

Work-related musculoskeletal disorder is a major occupational health problem worldwide. The ecological model by Sauter and Swanson proposes a way in which psychosocial factors can influence musculoskeletal disorders. Employing Chinn and Kramer's framework, we evaluated the ecological model and found it had a specific scope for the working populations and clear concepts. This model also demonstrated high clarity, consistency, generalizability, and accessibility aligning with a nursing metaparadigm. Empirical evidence supports the applicability of the ecological model in nursing research and practices, but more research is needed for nursing-specific application.
Use of belatacept in kidney transplantation: what's new?
Authors: Yakubu Idris , Moinuddin Irfan , Gupta Gaurav
Published: November 2022

Purpose of review

The advent of calcineurin inhibitors have led to a significant improvement in short term outcomes after kidney transplantation. However, long term outcomes are hindered by the cardiovascular, metabolic and chronic renal toxicity associated with these agents. Belatacept is a selective T cell costimulation blocker that is approved for prevention of rejection in kidney transplantation, and has been associated with favorable cardiovascular, metabolic and renal outcomes in kidney transplant recipients. This review provides an overview of recent updates in the use of belatacept in kidney transplant recipients.

Recent findings

Belatacept may be a safe alternative to calcineurin inhibitors for select kidney transplant populations. Patients converted to belatacept from a calcineurin inhibitor-based immunosuppression generally experience improvement in renal function, and may be less likely to develop de novo donor specific antibodies or new onset diabetes after transplantation. Although, belatacept based immunosuppression may increase the risk of early acute cellular rejection, it may however be beneficial in stabilization of long-term renal function and improvement in inflammation in patients with chronic active antibody mediated rejection. These benefits need to be counterweighed with risks of lack of response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccination and other adverse infectious outcomes.

Belatacept may be an alternative to calcineurin inhibitors and may contribute to improved long term metabolic and allograft outcomes in kidney transplant recipients. Careful selection of patients for belatacept-based immunosuppression is needed, to obviate the risk of acute rejection shown in clinical studies.
Reversing “Flip-Flop” Phenomenon of 131I and Glucose Avidity in RET-Fusion Positive Radioiodine-Refractory Thyroid Cancer Lesions After Treatment of Pralsetinib
Authors: Chan Hung-Pin , Chen I-Feng , Tsai Fu-Ren , Kao Chun-Hao , Shen Daniel Hueng-Yuan
Published: November 2022

A 61-year-old man presented with papillary thyroid cancer in radioiodine-refractory status after high-activity 131I treatments following thyroidectomy. FDG-avid neck and pulmonary metastases but without 131I-uptake were detected. CCDC6-RET fusion was identified from the tumor lesion. He was treated with pralsetinib, a RET inhibitor, followed by another high-activity 131I therapy. Posttherapeutic scan displayed restoration of 131I avidity at those lesions only shown on previous FDG PET/CT. Reduced FDG avidity of those lesions and decreased serum antithyroglobulin antibody titer were also noticed. This case illustrated successfully reinduced 131I avidity in papillary thyroid cancer through redifferentiation with target therapy to suppress tumor RET overexpression.
Dual Antiplatelet Alternatives are Associated With Increased Stroke and Death After Transcarotid Revascularization
Authors: Dakour-Aridi Hanaa , Motaganahalli Raghu L. , Fajardo Andres , Tanaka Akiko , Saqib Naveed U. , Martin Gordon H. , Mirza Aleem , Keyhani Arash , Keyhani Kourosh , Wang Shihuan Keisin
Published: November 2022

Objective:

To define the risks associated with the replacement of dual antiplatelets for alternate medication regimens.

Background:

Patients undergoing transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) for atherosclerotic disease in the Vascular Quality Initiative database from September 2016 to June 2022 were included. In all, 29,802 TCAR procedures were captured between 2016 and 2022, consisting of 24,651 (82.7%) maintained on dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) and 5151 (17.3%) on alternative regimens.

Methods:

Patients maintained on DAPT were compared with those on alternative regimens consisting of any combination of single antiplatelet monotherapy and/or anticoagulation.

Results:

On univariable analysis, patients on alternative medications were more likely to experience in-hospital death, ipsilateral stroke, any stroke, and transient ischemic attacks compared with patients in the DAPT group. The mortality rate was higher at 1 year in the alternative cohort (4.7% vs 7.0%, P<0.01). The use of alternate medication regimens was associated with increased odds of stroke and the composite outcome of in-hospital stroke/death compared with DAPT. There was also a significant association between alternative medication use and increased odds of in-hospital transient ischemic attack, immediate stent occlusion, and return to the operating room. At 1 year, there was no significant difference in the incidence of stroke between the 2 groups. However, the use of alternate regimens was associated with higher 1-year of mortality after multivariable adjustment.

Conclusions:

Patients not maintained on DAPT after TCAR experienced an increased risk of stroke and death in the perioperative and follow-up periods. Increased surgeon vigilance is required to ensure compliance with dual antiplatelets as recommended.
Time intervals between COVID-19 cases, and more severe outcomes
Authors: Wood A.J. , Kao R.R.
Published: November 2022

A critical factor in infectious disease control is the risk of an outbreak overwhelming local healthcare capacity. The overall demand on healthcare services will depend on disease severity, but the precise timing and size of peak demand also depends on the timeinterval(or clinical time delay) between initial infection, and development of severe disease. A broaderdistributionof intervals may draw that demand out over a longer period, but have a lower peak demand. These interval distributions are therefore important in modelling trajectories of e.g. hospital admissions, given a trajectory of incidence. Conversely, as testing rates decline, an incidence trajectory may need to be inferred through the delayed, but relatively unbiased signal of hospital admissions.

Healthcare demand has been extensively modelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, where localised waves of infection have imposed severe stresses on healthcare services. While the initial acute threat posed by this disease has since subsided from immunity buildup from vaccination and prior infection, prevalence remains high and waning immunity may lead to substantial pressures for years to come. In this work, then, we present a set of interval distributions, for COVID-19 cases and subsequent severe outcomes; hospital admission, ICU admission, and death. These may be used to model more realistic scenarios of hospital admissions and occupancy, given a trajectory of infections or cases.

We present a method for obtaining empirical distributions using COVID-19 outcomes data from Scotland between September 2020 and January 2022 (N= 31724 hospital admissions,N= 3514 ICU admissions,N= 8306 mortalities). We present separate distributions for individual age, sex, and deprivation of residing community. We show that, while the risk of severe disease following COVID-19 infection is substantially higher for the elderly or those residing in areas of high deprivation, the length of stay shows no strong dependence, suggesting that severe outcomes are equally severe across risk groups. As Scotland and other countries move into a phase where testing is no longer abundant, these intervals may be of use for retrospective modelling of patterns of infection, given data on severe outcomes.
The contribution of social and family networks in supporting care of children with sickle cell disease in Tanzania
Authors: Bukini Daima , Msirikale Irene , Kanza Collins , Odengo Jesca , Maingu Deogratius , Masamu Upendo , Manji Karim , Makani Julie , Mbekenga Columba
Published: November 2022

Background

The care of children with Sickle cell disease (SCD) in Africa has been the work of mothers or women within communities. Previous studies have indicated that mothers in these families are supported by other women within the family or even from outside family structures. Such support has allowed significant sharing of responsibilities in both domestic and care giving roles for children with sickle cell disease. However, there is limited recognition of this informal support and its importance as a key element in health care provision.

Objective

In this paper, we aim to demonstrate how these support networks have been used by mothers in shouldering their caregiving roles. We also propose how the networks can be integrated into the health care system to improve quality of care of the children with SCD.

Methods

We conducted interviews with families of children who are diagnosed with sickle cell disease through newborn screening program in Tanzania between 2015 and 2019. In total, 15 families were included through focus group discussions (FGDs), dyadic interviews, and individual interviews. Also, a survey was conducted involving 100 families of children with SCD aged between 0 and 17 years to assess the different networks of care that exists within families and communities. Thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data while data from the survey was presented in proportions as pie charts.

Results

The results from the FGDs and IDIs demonstrated three ways in which the networks of care were supportive to mothers (1) Facilitating sickle cell disease diagnosis to children who were undiagnosed (2) Caring for the sick child (children) after diagnosis and (3) Support at home in caring for other children who are not sick and helping with domestic work responsibilities. Survey results indicated that the highest proportion of the respondents listed mothers of the children as the primary care giver (88%), followed by grandmothers (10%) and close family members (2%). Extended family members (20%) were recognized as the largest network of care in the absence of the primary caregiver outside the parents, followed by siblings, defined as elder brothers and sisters (18%) and grandparents (16%).

Conclusion

The findings from this study confirm that there is an important network supporting care of children with SCD in communities supporting parents. Enabling these support networks to be more formally integrated into the health care system will ensure those members of the community providing care are equipped with knowledge on sickle cell disease and having positive impact on the quality of care of the children born with SCD in sub-Saharan Africa.
The clinical phenotype of autism spectrum disorder in individuals with 3q29 deletion syndrome
Authors: Pollak Rebecca M , Pincus Jordan E , Burrell T Lindsey , Cubells Joseph F , Klaiman Cheryl , Murphy Melissa M , Saulnier Celine A , Walker Elaine F , White Stormi Pulver , Mulle Jennifer G
Published: November 2022

Background

The 1.6 Mb 3q29 deletion is associated with neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric phenotypes, including a 19-fold increased risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous work by our team identified elevated social disability in this population via parent-report questionnaires. However, clinical features of ASD in this population have not been explored in detail.

Methods

31 individuals with 3q29 deletion syndrome (3q29del, 61.3% male) were evaluated using two gold-standard clinical ASD evaluations: the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised (ADI-R). Four matched comparators for each subject were ascertained from the National Database for Autism Research. Item-level scores on the ADOS-2 and ADI-R were compared between subjects with 3q29del and matched comparators.

Results

Subjects with 3q29del and no ASD (3q29del-ASD) had greater evidence of social disability compared to typically developing (TD) comparison subjects across the ADOS-2. Subjects with 3q29del and ASD (3q29del+ASD) were largely indistinguishable from non-syndromic ASD (nsASD) subjects on the ADOS-2. 3q29del+ASD performed significantly better on social communication on the ADI-R than nsASD (3q29+ASD mean = 11.36; nsASD mean = 15.70; p = 0.01), and this was driven by reduced deficits in nonverbal communication (3q29+ASD mean = 1.73; nsASD mean = 3.63; p = 0.03). 3q29del+ASD reported significantly later age at first two-word phrase compared to nsASD (3q29del+ASD mean = 43.89 months; nsASD mean = 37.86 months; p = 0.01). However, speech delay was not related to the improved nonverbal communication in 3q29del+ASD.

Limitations

There were not enough TD comparators with ADI-R data in NDAR to include in the present analysis. Additionally, our relatively small sample size made it difficult to assess race and ethnicity effects.

Conclusions

3q29del is associated with significant social disability, irrespective of ASD diagnosis. 3q29del+ASD have similar levels of social disability to nsASD, while 3q29del-ASD have significantly increased social disability compared to TD individuals. However, social communication is reasonably well-preserved in 3q29del+ASD relative to nsASD. It is critical that verbal ability and social disability be examined separately in this population to ensure equal access to ASD and social skills evaluations and services.
Investigation of bias due to selective inclusion of study effect estimates in meta-analyses of nutrition research
Authors: Kanukula Raju , McKenzie Joanne E , Bero Lisa , Dai Zhaoli , McDonald Sally , Kroeger Cynthia M , Korevaar Elizabeth , Forbes Andrew , Page Matthew J
Published: November 2022

We aimed to explore, in a sample of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of the association between food/diet and health-related outcomes, whether systematic reviewers selectively included study effect estimates in meta-analyses when multiple effect estimates were available. We randomly selected systematic reviews of food/diet and health-related outcomes published between January 2018 and June 2019. We selected the first presented meta-analysis in each review (index meta-analysis), and extracted from study reports all study effect estimates that were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. We calculated the Potential Bias Index (PBI) to quantify and test for evidence of selective inclusion. The PBI ranges from 0 to 1; values above or below 0.5 suggest selective inclusion of effect estimates more or less favourable to the intervention, respectively. We also compared the index meta-analytic estimate to the median of a randomly constructed distribution of meta-analytic estimates (i.e. the estimate expected when there is no selective inclusion). Thirty-nine systematic reviews with 312 studies were included. The estimated PBI was 0.49 (95% CI 0.42 to 0.55), suggesting that the selection of study effect estimates from those reported was consistent with a process of random selection. In addition, the index meta-analytic effect estimates were similar, on average, to what we would expect to see in meta-analyses generated when there was no selective inclusion. Despite this, we recommend that systematic reviewers report the methods used to select effect estimates to include in meta-analyses, which can help readers understand the risk of selective inclusion bias in the systematic reviews.
Drug prediction for reversing AD/PD transcriptional profiles using an aging of systems-centric approach
Authors: Bunu Gabriela , Toren Dmitri , Ursu Eugen , Ghenea Simona , Fraifeld Vadim E. , Tacutu Robi
Published: November 2022

Age-related pathologies are so widely presented in old age that in most cases they are hardly distinguishable at the molecular level from the so-called ‘‘normal’’ aging. Both aging and age-related diseases are characterized by a wide range of transcriptional and epigenetic changes that underlie the physiological or pathological phenotype, with plenty of overlap in their signatures, but also with differences. In most pathological conditions it is rather the dysregulation of a complex network of genes than a problem with a single gene dysregulation that causes its emergence or progression, and aging differently gives a “predisposition” towards an age-related pathology or another, or in a favorable situation towards none. The important question is how similar are the transcriptional changes during “healthy” aging with those that occur in age-related diseases. In this study, we explore gene expression data to answer this question and aim to predict which drugs and compounds could have a reversing effect on their common drift.