bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Performance Effectiveness of Communal Wastewater Treatment Plant as an Effort to Control Pollution of the Gajah Wong River, Yogyakarta
Authors: Pangestu M P , Rahmawati S , Sulistyo E N , Yulianto A , Budijono B
Published: December 2022

The Gajah Wong River receives wastewater from the high population of Sleman Regency, including agricultural activities and home industries that contain organic pollutants. High organic pollutants cause dissolved oxygen depletion in waters that can threaten the lives of various aquatic biota. The construction of a communal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for handling domestic wastewater is an effort to control river pollution. The effectiveness of WWTP performance based on key parameters is continuously monitored, which is the purpose of this research. Surveys on 4 (four) communal WWTPs (Ngudi Mulyo, Wahana Bina Lingkungan, Tirto Mili, and Karya Asri Ambarukmo) were conducted in February – April 2021 with the key parameters observed were pH, BOD5, COD, and NH3. Sampling wastewater by grab sampling at each inlet and outlet of the WWTP using ABR (Anaerobic Baffled Reactor) and RBC (Rotating Biological Contactor) technology 6 times. The results provide an overview of the quality characteristics of wastewater that has been treated (outlet) at the Ngundi Mulyo WWTP (NH3 16.55 mg/L, BOD5 32.53 mg/L, COD 213.52 mg/L, pH 5) Wahana Bina Lingkungan (NH3 29.85 mg/L, BOD5 262.36 mg/L, pH 6-7), Tirto Mulyo (NH3 20.42 mg/L, BOD5 66.67 mg/L, COD 248.7 mg/L, pH 6-7) and Karya Asri Ambarukmo (NH3 21.60 mg/L, BOD5 252.64 mg/L, pH 6-7). These results reveal that the performance of the four WWTPs is still low and has not been effective in reducing COD and NH3 parameters, except that BOD5 reaches the required quality standard, and the processed wastewater still has the potential to reduce the water quality of the Gajah Wong River. This result is also a signal for WWTP managers to improve the processing process in each of these WWTPs.
Tsunami Numerical Modelling in Ujung Kulon National Park with the Earthquake Magnitude Scenario of 6.5 and 6.9 Mw
Authors: Wijayanti R , Pasma G R , Nurwijayanti A , Rachman R A
Published: December 2022

Tsunami modelling was conducted to simulate tsunami events based on earthquake data previously occurring around Ujung Kulon National Park (TNUK), Banten Province using TUNAMI-F1 and TUNAMI-N3. TUNAMI-F1 is a modelling method to get the wave height and tsunami arrival time with a grid spacing of 0.00167°. While the TUNAMI-N3 is a model that applies the theory of wave propagation linearly in a grid variation to get a high output of tsunami inundation. The tsunami source data was used from historical earthquake generation on January 14, 2022 (6.5 Mw) and August 2, 2019 (6,9 Mw). The reverse fault type scenario from Wells & Coppersmith (1994) is used to calculate the scaling law with length, width, and the focal mechanism value obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to generate initial waves based on the multideform model. The TUNAMI-N3 model applies a nested model with variations in grid spacing and the most detailed value is 68,556 m. The tsunami wave height based on the magnitude 6.5 Mw scenario is around 0.001 m to 0.05 m with the highest wave height found on the southern coast of TNUK and the southern coastal area of Peucang Island (0.03-0.05m). The inundation produced is only visible in the E1 domain reaching 96-192 m in areas A, B, C. Then, the maximum inundation area is the south coast of TNUK (0.01-0.03m). Based on the second scenario, the height of the tsunami waves generated is in the range of 0.001 − 0.3 m. The maximum tsunami height was in the Rancecet Beach area, south of Tinjil Island, the south, east, and north coasts of TNUK (0.03-0.3m). The run-up distance resulting from scenario 1 is less than 1 km. Based on TUNAMI-F1 model results, wave height maximum caused by 6.5 Mw magnitude is higher than 6.9 Mw.
An experimental study of friction stir welding parameters effect on joint properties of aluminium alloy and copper plate
Authors: Baghel Surjeet Singh , Soni Pradeep Kumar
Published: December 2022

Joining dissimilar metals like copper and aluminium is a complex area of research for the manufacturing industry. To effectively join the AA7075 with copper plates, an experimental investigation on friction stir welding was carried out. A straight cylindrical pin profile tool of H13 tool steel was chosen for this study. On the advancing direction, the AA7075 plates were fixed under the condition of zero tool offset. The tool was positioned at a 2° tilt angle for the entire experiment. Tensile test, microhardness test, SEM and EDS analysis were completed to investigate the effectiveness of the process parameters (tool traverse and rotational speed) in combination with a modified set-up on the microstructure, tensile strength and microhardness of the joint. Fractography was conducted on fractured specimens to identify the mode of failure. Complex microstructures of swirl and vortex-type material flow patterns were created in the stir zone. As a result of SEM analysis, one of the samples (S5) had finer grains at intermediate heat input, which produced excellent microhardness and tensile strength. Fractography identified ductile failure as the predominant mode of failure in the joints. The results of this study include an ultimate tensile strength value of 221.091 MPa with a joint efficiency of 95.05%, yield strength of 159.035 MPa, maximum elongation of 9.335% and a microhardness value of 271 HV for specimen welded at a traverse speed of 60 mm min−1 and a rotational speed of 1400 rpm.
A Dynamic Risk Model for Multitype Recurrent Events
Authors: Ghosh Alokananda , Chan Wenyaw , Younes Naji , Davis Barry R
Published: December 2022

Recurrent events can occur more than once in the same individual; such events may be of different types, known as multitype recurrent events. They are very common in longitudinal studies. Often there is a terminating event, after which no further events can occur. The risk of any event, including terminating events such as death or cure, is typically affected by prior events. We propose a flexible joint multitype recurrent-events model that explicitly provides estimates of the change in risk for each event due to subject characteristics, including number and type of prior events and the absolute risk for every event type (terminating and nonterminating), and predicts event-free survival probability over a desired time period. The model is fully parametric, and therefore a standard likelihood function and robust standard errors can be constructed. We illustrate the model with applications to the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (1994–2002) and provide discussion of the results and model features.
Optimally Choosing Medication Type for Patients With Opioid Use Disorder
Authors: Rudolph Kara E , Williams Nicholas T , Díaz Iván , Luo Sean X , Rotrosen John , Nunes Edward V
Published: December 2022

Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) tend to get assigned to one of 3 medications based on the treatment program to which the patient presents (e.g., opioid treatment programs tend to treat patients with methadone, while office-based practices tend to prescribe buprenorphine). It is possible that optimally matching patients with treatment type would reduce the risk of return to regular opioid use (RROU). We analyzed data from 3 comparative effectiveness trials from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network (CTN0027, 2006–2010; CTN0030, 2006–2009; and CTN0051 2014–2017), in which patients with OUD (n = 1,459) were assigned to treatment with either injection extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX), sublingual buprenorphine-naloxone (BUP-NX), or oral methadone. We learned an individualized rule by which to assign medication type such that risk of RROU during 12 weeks of treatment would be minimized, and then estimated the amount by which RROU risk could be reduced if the rule were applied. Applying our estimated treatment rule would reduce risk of RROU compared with treating everyone with methadone (relative risk (RR) = 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.60, 0.97) or treating everyone with XR-NTX (RR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.96). Applying the estimated treatment rule would have resulted in a similar risk of RROU to that of with treating everyone with BUP-NX (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.11).
Endogenous Steroid Hormone Concentrations and Risk of Endometriosis in Nurses’ Health Study II
Authors: Shafrir Amy L , Mu Fan , Eliassen A Heather , Thombre Kulkarni Madhavi , Terry Kathryn L , Hankinson Susan E , Missmer Stacey A
Published: December 2022

Few studies have assessed the association between endogenous steroid hormone levels and a subsequent diagnosis of endometriosis. We prospectively evaluated premenopausal plasma sex hormone levels and the risk of laparoscopically confirmed endometriosis in a nested case-control study within Nurses’ Health Study II. Between blood collection (1996–1999) and 2009, we ascertained 446 women with incident endometriosis and matched them to 878 controls through risk-set sampling. We conducted multivariable conditional logistic regression accounting for matching and confounders to estimate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Women with greater early follicular-phase total or free estradiol levels had a nonlinear increased risk of endometriosis (early follicular total estradiol: second quartile vs. first, RR = 2.23 (95% CI: 1.44, 3.47); third quartile, RR = 1.83 (95% CI: 1.16, 2.88); fourth quartile, RR = 1.68 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.68); early follicular free estradiol: second quartile vs. first, RR = 1.63 (95% CI: 1.05, 2.54); third quartile, RR = 2.02 (95% CI: 1.31, 3.12); fourth quartile, RR = 1.04 (95% CI: 0.66, 1.65)). Free testosterone assessed in quartile categories was not associated with endometriosis, although a threshold effect was observed, with a positive association among women in the top 2% of free testosterone levels. Levels of mid–luteal-phase total and free estradiol, follicular and luteal estrone, total testosterone, progesterone, and sex hormone binding globulin were not associated with endometriosis risk. These results support the role of sex steroids in endometriosis etiology, although the relationships suggest complex threshold effects.
Bias Amplification and Variance Inflation in Distributed Lag Models Using Low-Spatial-Resolution Data
Authors: Leung Michael , Rowland Sebastian T , Coull Brent A , Modest Anna M , Hacker Michele R , Schwartz Joel , Kioumourtzoglou Marianthi-Anna , Weisskopf Marc G , Wilson Ander
Published: December 2022

Distributed lag models (DLMs) are often used to estimate lagged associations and identify critical exposure windows. In a simulation study of prenatal nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure and birth weight, we demonstrate that bias amplification and variance inflation can manifest under certain combinations of DLM estimation approaches and time-trend adjustment methods when using low-spatial-resolution exposures with extended lags. Our simulations showed that when using high-spatial-resolution exposure data, any time-trend adjustment method produced low bias and nominal coverage for the distributed lag estimator. When using either low- or no-spatial-resolution exposures, bias due to time trends was amplified for all adjustment methods. Variance inflation was higher in low- or no-spatial-resolution DLMs when using a long-term spline to adjust for seasonality and long-term trends due to concurvity between a distributed lag function and secular function of time. NO2–birth weight analyses in a Massachusetts-based cohort showed that associations were negative for exposures experienced in gestational weeks 15–30 when using high-spatial-resolution DLMs; however, associations were null and positive for DLMs with low- and no-spatial-resolution exposures, respectively, which is likely due to bias amplification. DLM analyses should jointly consider the spatial resolution of exposure data and the parameterizations of the time trend adjustment and lag constraints.
Patterns of extra-territorial nest-box visits in a songbird suggest a role in extrapair mating
Authors: Santema Peter , Kempenaers Bart
Published: December 2022

Many animals make visits outside of their territory during the breeding period, but these are typically infrequent and difficult to observe. As a consequence, comprehensive data on extra-territorial movements at the population-level are scarce and the function of this behavior remains poorly understood. Using an automated nest-box visit tracking system in a wild blue tit population over six breeding seasons, we recorded all extra-territorial nest-box visits (n = 22 137) related to 1195 individual breeding attempts (761 unique individuals). Sixty-two percent of breeders made at least one extra-territorial visit between the onset of nest building and the day of fledging of their offspring, and individuals visited another nest-box on average on 11% of the days during this period. Visit behavior differed clearly between the sexes, with males making over three times as many extra-territorial forays as females. There was a strong overall seasonal decline in visit behavior, but this was sex dependent, with females showing a strong reduction in the number of extra-territorial visits before the onset of egg laying and males showing a strong and sudden reduction on the day their offspring hatched. The likelihood of visiting a particular nest-box declined sharply with the distance to that box, and blue tits almost exclusively visited direct neighbors. Individuals were more likely to have extrapair offspring with an individual whose box they visited, but they were not more likely to disperse to a box they had visited. Thus, our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that extra-territorial nest-box visits serve to inform dispersal decisions, but suggest that such visits are linked to extrapair mating opportunities.
Attentive Variational Information Bottleneck for TCR–peptide interaction prediction
Authors: Grazioli Filippo , Machart Pierre , Mösch Anja , Li Kai , Castorina Leonardo V , Pfeifer Nico , Min Martin Renqiang
Published: December 2022

Motivation

We present a multi-sequence generalization of Variational Information Bottleneck and call the resulting model Attentive Variational Information Bottleneck (AVIB). Our AVIB model leverages multi-head self-attention to implicitly approximate a posterior distribution over latent encodings conditioned on multiple input sequences. We apply AVIB to a fundamental immuno-oncology problem: predicting the interactions between T-cell receptors (TCRs) and peptides.

Results

Experimental results on various datasets show that AVIB significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods for TCR–peptide interaction prediction. Additionally, we show that the latent posterior distribution learned by AVIB is particularly effective for the unsupervised detection of out-of-distribution amino acid sequences.

Availability and implementation

The code and the data used for this study are publicly available at: https://github.com/nec-research/vibtcr.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Tamoxifen improves muscle structure and function of Bin1- and Dnm2-related centronuclear myopathies
Authors: Gineste Charlotte , Simon Alix , Braun Marie , Reiss David , Laporte Jocelyn
Published: December 2022

Congenital myopathies define a genetically heterogeneous group of disorders associated with severe muscle weakness, for which no therapies are currently available. Here we investigated the repurposing of tamoxifen in mouse models of mild or severe forms of centronuclear myopathies due to mutations in BIN1 (encoding amphiphysin 2) or DNM2 (encoding dynamin 2), respectively. Exposure to a tamoxifen-enriched diet from 3 weeks of age resulted in significant improvement in muscle contractility without increase in fibre size in both models, underlying an increase in the capacity of the muscle fibres to produce more force. In addition, the histological alterations were fully rescued in the BIN1-centronuclear myopathies mouse model. To assess the mechanism of the rescue, transcriptome analyses and targeted protein studies were performed.

Although tamoxifen is known to modulate the transcriptional activity of the oestrogen receptors, correction of the disease transcriptomic signature was marginal on tamoxifen treatment. Conversely, tamoxifen lowered the abnormal increase in dynamin 2 protein level in both centronuclear myopathies models. Of note, it was previously reported that dynamin 2 increase is a main pathological cause of centronuclear myopathies. The Akt/mTOR muscle hypertrophic pathway and protein markers of the ubiquitin–proteasome system (the E3 ubiquitin ligase cullin 3) and autophagy (p62) were increased in both models of centronuclear myopathies. Normalization of dynamin 2 level mainly correlated with the normalization of cullin 3 protein level on tamoxifen treatment, supporting the idea that the ubiquitin–proteasome system is a main target for the tamoxifen effect in the amelioration of these diseases. Overall, our data suggest that tamoxifen antagonizes disease development probably through dynamin 2 level regulation. In conclusion, the beneficial effect of tamoxifen on muscle function supports the suggestion that tamoxifen may serve as a common therapy for several autosomal forms of centronuclear myopathies.
Neurocomputational mechanisms of young children’s observational learning of delayed gratification
Authors: Zhao Hui , Zhang Tengfei , Cheng Tong , Chen Chuansheng , Zhai Yu , Liang Xi , Cheng Nanhua , Long Yuhang , Li Ying , Wang Zhengyan , Lu Chunming
Published: December 2022

The ability to delay gratification is crucial for a successful and healthy life. An effective way for young children to learn this ability is to observe the action of adult models. However, the underlying neurocomputational mechanism remains unknown. Here, we tested the hypotheses that children employed either the simple imitation strategy or the goal-inference strategy when learning from adult models in a high-uncertainty context. Results of computational modeling indicated that children used the goal-inference strategy regardless of whether the adult model was their mother or a stranger. At the neural level, results showed that successful learning of delayed gratification was associated with enhanced interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) between children and the adult models in the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex but was not associated with children’s own single-brain activity. Moreover, the discounting of future reward’s value obtained from computational modeling of the goal-inference strategy was positively correlated with the strength of INS. These findings from our exploratory study suggest that, even for 3-year-olds, the goal-inference strategy is used to learn delayed gratification from adult models, and the learning strategy is associated with neural interaction between the brains of children and adult models.
Sex differences in default mode network connectivity in healthy aging adults
Authors: Ficek-Tani Bronte , Horien Corey , Ju Suyeon , Xu Wanwan , Li Nancy , Lacadie Cheryl , Shen Xilin , Scheinost Dustin , Constable Todd , Fredericks Carolyn
Published: December 2022

Women show an increased lifetime risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) compared with men. Characteristic brain connectivity changes, particularly within the default mode network (DMN), have been associated with both symptomatic and preclinical AD, but the impact of sex on DMN function throughout aging is poorly understood. We investigated sex differences in DMN connectivity over the lifespan in 595 cognitively healthy participants from the Human Connectome Project-Aging cohort. We used the intrinsic connectivity distribution (a robust voxel-based metric of functional connectivity) and a seed connectivity approach to determine sex differences within the DMN and between the DMN and whole brain. Compared with men, women demonstrated higher connectivity with age in posterior DMN nodes and lower connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Differences were most prominent in the decades surrounding menopause. Seed-based analysis revealed higher connectivity in women from the posterior cingulate to angular gyrus, which correlated with neuropsychological measures of declarative memory, and hippocampus. Taken together, we show significant sex differences in DMN subnetworks over the lifespan, including patterns in aging women that resemble changes previously seen in preclinical AD. These findings highlight the importance of considering sex in neuroimaging studies of aging and neurodegeneration.
Gating at cortical level contributes to auditory-motor synchronization during repetitive finger tapping
Authors: Guo Yaqiu , Zheng Huixian , Long Jinyi
Published: December 2022

Sensory integration contributes to temporal coordination of the movement with external rhythms. How the information flowing of sensory inputs is regulated with increasing tapping rates and its function remains unknown. Here, somatosensory evoked potentials to ulnar nerve stimulation were recorded during auditory-cued repetitive right-index finger tapping at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4 Hz in 13 healthy subjects. We found that sensory inputs were suppressed at subcortical level (represented by P14) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1, represented by N20/P25) during repetitive tapping. This suppression was decreased in S1 but not in subcortical level during fast repetitive tapping (2, 3, and 4 Hz) compared with slow repetitive tapping (0.5 and 1 Hz). Furthermore, we assessed the ability to analyze temporal information in S1 by measuring the somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT). STDT increased during fast repetitive tapping compared with slow repetitive tapping, which was negatively correlated with the task performance of phase shift and positively correlated with the peak-to-peak amplitude (% of resting) in S1 but not in subcortical level. These novel findings indicate that the increased sensory input (lower sensory gating) in S1 may lead to greater temporal uncertainty for sensorimotor integration dereasing the performance of repetitive movement during increasing tapping rates.
Improved Linear Cryptanalysis of Block Cipher BORON
Authors: Lv Yin , Shi Danping , Hu Lei , Guo Zihui , Guo Yi , Wang Caibing
Published: December 2022

BORON is a lightweight substitution–permutation network cipher proposed in 2017. We reduce the number of guessed key bits by key-bridging technology and first utilize Fast Walsh Transform on BORON to minimize the time complexity. Finally, this paper gives the better key-recovery attack against block cipher BORON than previously proposed by 2 rounds: we realize a 11-round key-recovery attack on BORON-80 and 13-round key-recovery attack on BORON-128. The attacks proposed in this paper are the best attacks against BORON-80/128 to date.
Development and validation of a condition-specific quality of life instrument for adults with esophageal atresia: the SQEA questionnaire
Authors: ten Kate Chantal A , Teunissen Nadine M , van Rosmalen Joost , Kamphuis Lieke S , van Wijk Michiel P , Joosten Maja , van Tuyll van Serooskerken E Sofie , Wijnen René , IJsselstijn Hanneke , Rietman André B , Spaander Manon C W
Published: December 2022

The importance of multidisciplinary long-term follow-up for adults born with esophageal atresia (EA) is increasingly recognized. Hence, a valid, condition-specific instrument to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) becomes imperative. This study aimed to develop and validate such an instrument for adults with EA. The Specific Quality of life in Esophageal atresia Adults (SQEA) questionnaire was developed through focus group-based item generation, pilot testing, item reduction and a multicenter, nationwide field test to evaluate the feasibility, reliability (internal and retest) and validity (structural, construct, criterion and convergent), in compliance with the consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments guidelines. After pilot testing (n = 42), items were reduced from 144 to 36 questions. After field testing (n = 447), three items were discarded based on item-response theory results. The final SQEA questionnaire (33 items) forms a unidimensional scale generating an unweighted total score. Feasibility, internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha 0.94) and test–retest agreement (intra-class coefficient 0.92) were good. Construct validity was discriminative for esophageal replacement (P < 0.001), dysphagia (P < 0.001) and airway obstruction (P = 0.029). Criterion validity showed a good correlation with dysphagia (area under the receiver operating characteristic 0.736). SQEA scores correlated well with other validated disease-specific HRQoL scales such as the GIQLI and SGRQ, but poorly with the more generic RAND-36. Overall, this first condition-specific instrument for EA adults showed satisfactory feasibility, reliability and validity. Additionally, it shows discriminative ability to detect disease burden. Therefore, the SQEA questionnaire is both a valid instrument to assess the HRQoL in EA adults and an interesting signaling tool, enabling clinicians to recognize more severely affected patients.
Measuring the thickness and Young’s modulus of the ice pack with DAS, a test case on a frozen mountain lake
Authors: Nziengui-Bâ Destin , Coutant Olivier , Moreau Ludovic , Boué Pierre
Published: December 2022

We explored the potential of fibre optics coupled with distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) to measure the thickness and Young’s modulus of an ice layer, using the properties of guided seismic waves. During two winter seasons (2020 and 2021), an optical fibre was deployed over one of the frozen Roberts Mountain lakes (at 2400 m a.s.l) near Grenoble (France) and we measured both the continuous ambient seismic noise as well as signals generated by active sources (hammer), with a DAS interrogator. Following a Bayesian scheme, we inverted the dispersion curves of longitudinal and flexural guided waves retrieved from the analysis of active shot gathers and obtained Young’s modulus E = 3.4 ± 0.1 GPa and ice thickness h = 47 ± 1 cm from the second-year data. The ice thickness was consistent with field measurements. Field observations of porous and/or fracture ice may explain the relatively low effective Young’s modulus (relative to pure ice), which may also be affected by a snow layer not included in the model. The drastic improvements in the inversion results between the two years are related to better coupling conditions (drone deployment before early freezing), more appropriate acquisition parameters (2 m gauge length), and the upper snow layers (less thick and less heterogeneous in the second year). Moreover, we were able to use the non-dispersive low-frequency noise associated with gravity waves to estimate the lake depth H = 5 m which is compatible with independent observations. The use of DAS to record guided seismic waves could then appear as a relevant tool for monitoring environments like floating ice shelves and sea ice.
On the potential of offshore sensors and array processing for improving seismic event detection and locations in the North Sea
Authors: Jerkins Annie Elisabeth , Köhler Andreas , Oye Volker
Published: December 2022

The capability to detect and locate seismicity in the North Sea is necessary to ensure the safety of future CO2 storage operations. Currently, the event location capabilities are hampered by a one-sided network configuration, as only sensors deployed on the Norwegian mainland are providing good signal-to-noise ratios. However, applying array processing techniques to groups of offshore sensors deployed at oil and gas reservoirs can improve the signal-to-noise ratio at such sites, which generally suffer from high noise contamination originating from platforms or seismic shooting. In this study we test the feasibility of array processing to sensors deployed at the Grane oil field to improve earthquake event locations. Out of the 3400 nodes installed, we have access to two data subsets: (i) continuous data from 10 sensors spread out over the whole field and (ii) short segments of data from 30 sensors selected with the purpose to apply array methods. As the average interstation distance between the 10 sensors is 6 km, the recorded wavefield is not coherent and traditional array processing methods are not applicable. To optimize the usage of the 10-sensor offshore data for event location purposes, we develop a new method for incoherent array processing. We compute a characteristic function based on the kurtosis of the seismic traces prior to a frequency–wavenumber analysis. This method successfully determines slowness and backazimuth for almost all the evaluated earthquakes in this study. Using common coherent array processing, the 30 sensors show superior detection capabilities over the 10 sensors and will therefore decrease the detection threshold for seismic events in the region significantly if continuous data are available. We conclude that offshore sensors at Grane can be included as a part of a system for passive seismic monitoring in the North Sea. We recommend using the 30-sensors data for this purpose. However, as we only have access to continuous data from the 10 sensors in this study, we found that they are a good substitute when the 30-sensor data are not available.
Functional analysis of germlineRAD51Cmissense variants highlight the role of RAD51C in replication fork protection
Authors: Kolinjivadi Arun Mouli , Chong Siao Ting , Choudhary Ramveer , Sankar Haresh , Chew Ee Ling , Yeo Claresta , Chan Sock Hoai , Ngeow Joanne
Published: December 2022

Monoallelic or biallelic RAD51C germline mutations results in chromosome instability disorders such as Fanconi anemia and cancers. The bona fide function of RAD51C is to assist RAD51 nucleoprotein filament onto single-strand DNA to complete homologous recombination (HR) repair. In addition to HR repair, the role of RAD51C in DNA replication is emerging when replication forks are transiently or irreversibly stalled. We identified novel RAD51C variants of uncertain significance (VUS) from breast, ovarian, pancreatic and gastric cancer patients and functionally characterized the effect of these variants in replication fork protection and double-strand breaks (DSB’s) repair. In RAD51C-deficient Chinese hamster CL-V4B cells, expression of RAD51C F164S, A87E, L134S and E49K variants heightened sensitivity to mitomycin C (MMC), etoposide and PARP inhibition. Differently, expression of subset of RAD51C variants R24L, R24W and R212H displayed mild sensitivity to MMC, etoposide and PARP inhibition. Further functional characterization of a subset of variants revealed that Rad51C F164S, A87E, L134S and E49K variants displayed reduced RAD51 foci formation and increased overall nuclear single strand DNA levels in the presence of replication stress. Additionally, DNA fiber assay revealed that RAD51C F164S, A87E, L134S and E49K variants displayed defective replication fork protection upon prolonged fork stalling. Investigations using patient-derived lymphoblastoid cell line carrying heterozygous RAD51C L134S variant showed an impairment in RAD51 chromatin association and replication fork protection, suggestive of deleteriousness of this VUS variant. Overall, our findings provide more insights into molecular roles of RAD51C in replication fork integrity maintenance and in DSB repair.
Vitamin D3 andLactobacillus rhamnosusGG/p40 Synergize to Protect Mice From Colitis by Promoting Vitamin D Receptor Expression and Epithelial Proliferation
Authors: Chen Dan , Tang Hao , Li Yue , Yang Hong , Wang Hongying , Tan Bei , Qian Jiaming
Published: December 2022

Background

While vitamin D (VitD) levels are negatively correlated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) activity, VitD supplementation does not reduce IBD severity. The probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), which secretes p40, can upregulate colonic VitD receptor (VDR) expression. We therefore evaluated synergy between VitD3 and LGG/p40 in the treatment of mouse colitis.

Methods

A dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) colitis model was established in Vdr+/+ and Vdr-/- mice, and mice were treated with VitD3, LGG, or p40 alone or in combination for 7 to 14 days. Colitis severity was assessed by weight loss, disease activity index (DAI), colon length, histology, and inflammatory cytokine expression together with VDR expression, proliferation, and apoptosis. In vitro, VDR expression and cell viability were assessed in HCT116 cells after stimulation with p40.

Results

Total and nuclear VDR protein expression were lower in DSS-treated Vdr+/+ mice compared with control mice (P < .05). Compared with the DSS group, VitD3 + LGG alleviated colitis as assessed by significantly improved DAI and histological scores, increased colon length, decreased colonic Tnf, and increased Il10 expression together with increased colonic VDR gene and protein expression and increased Ki-67 proliferation index (P < .05). In Vdr-/- mice, VitD3 + LGG had no effect on DSS colitis. In Vdr+/+ mice, VitD3 + p40 also reduced colitis severity according to clinicopathological and immunological metrics and increased VDR expression and epithelial proliferation (P < .05). In HCT116 cells, p40 stimulation increased VDR protein expression and viability (P < .05).

Conclusions

VitD3 and LGG/p40 synergistically improve the severity of colitis by increasing colonic VDR expression and promoting colonic epithelial proliferation.
Coupling scientific and local ecological knowledge network models for temperate coastal ecosystems
Authors: Vilalta-Navas Ainoa , Beas-Luna Rodrigo , Zetina-Rejón Manuel J , López-Ibarra Gladis A , Malpica-Cruz Luis , Lorda Julio , Zepeda-Dominguez José Alberto , Kluger Lotta Clara
Published: December 2022

There is an urgent need to analyse and understand small-scale fisheries environment under biotic and abiotic stressors. In this work, we use a kelp forest ecosystem in Baja California, Mexico to present a novel approach, comparing two network models based on different information sources. First, we developed a conventional scientific knowledge network model (CSK) parameterized with in-situ observations. Second, we used a local ecological knowledge network model (LEK) based on interviews with local fishers. Our main objectives were: (a) verify if the two knowledge sources generated comparable models, and (b) explore model responses to disturbance scenarios. The CSK model presented greater detail at lower trophic levels, contrary to the LEK model. Additionally, we simulated top-down and bottom-up ecological disturbances. With a top-down disturbance, the groups’ abundance increased following a cascade effect whereas, in the bottom-up disturbance, changes did not transfer uniformly. We also simulated anthropogenic disturbances through fishing pressure on three target species (lobsters, sea urchins, and sea bass). Our findings show similar patterns with the highest degree of change when lobsters are removed. Our findings highlight the potential of model complementarity and support the relevance of ecological network models to navigate future climate and anthropogenic uncertainty.
Is Aging a Disease? The Theoretical Definition of Aging in the Light of the Philosophy of Medicine
Authors: Saborido Cristian , García-Barranquero Pablo
Published: December 2022

In the philosophical debate on aging, it is common to raise the question of the theoretical definition of aging in terms of its possible characterization as a disease. Understanding aging as a disease seems to imply its medicalization, which has important practical consequences. In this paper, we analyze the question of whether aging is a disease by appealing to the concept of disease in the philosophy of medicine. As a result of this analysis, we argue that a pragmatist approach to the conception of disease is the best alternative to highlight the relevance of the medicalization of aging. From this pragmatist perspective, it can be seen that the notion of aging is going through a conceptual change, and aging can today be understood as a not radically different process from any other condition that is usually considered a disease.
Pathologizing Ugliness: A Conceptual Analysis of the Naturalist and Normativist Claims in “Aesthetic Pathology”
Authors: Aquino Yves Saint James
Published: December 2022

Pathologizing ugliness refers to the use of disease language and medical processes to foster and support the claim that undesirable features are pathological conditions requiring medical or surgical intervention. Primarily situated in cosmetic surgery, the practice appeals to the concept of “aesthetic pathology”, which is a medical designation for features that deviate from some designated aesthetic norms. This article offers a two-pronged conceptual analysis of aesthetic pathology. First, I argue that three sets of claims, derived from normativist and naturalistic accounts of disease, inform the framing of ugliness as a disease. These claims concern: (1) aesthetic harms, (2) aesthetic dysfunction, and (3) aesthetic deviation. Second, I introduce the notion of a hybridization loop in medicine, which merges the naturalist and normative understanding of the disease that potentially enables pathologizing practices. In the context of cosmetic surgery, the loop simultaneously promotes the framing of beauty ideals as normal biological attributes and the framing of normal appearance as an aesthetic ideal to legitimize the need for cosmetic interventions. The article thus offers an original discussion of the conceptual problems arising from a specific practice in cosmetic surgery that depicts ugliness as the disease.
Modeling news recommender systems’ conditional effects on selective exposure: evidence from two online experiments
Authors: Knudsen Erik
Published: December 2022

Under which conditions do news recommender systems (NRSs) amplify or reduce selective exposure? I provide the Recommender Influenced Selective Exposure framework, which aims to enable researchers to model and study the conditional effects of NRSs on selective exposure. I empirically test this framework by studying user behavior on a news site where the choice environment is designed to systematically influence selective exposure. Through two preregistered online experiments that simulate different NRSs and unobtrusively log user behavior, I contribute empirical evidence that an NRS can increase or decrease the chance that selective exposure occurs, depending on what the NRS is designed to achieve. These insights have implications for ongoing scholarly debates on the democratic impact of NRSs.
The Power of Positive Thinking: How Positive Opinions of Refugees’ Impact on the Host Society Generate Positive Behavioural Intentions
Authors: Korol Liliia , Bevelander Pieter
Published: December 2022

Much prior research has focused on understanding how host nationals’ negative opinions of the impact of migration and arriving communities affect their attitudes towards newcomers. Yet, the role of host nationals’ positive opinions has remained largely underinvestigated. The present study aims to move beyond the negative intergroup paradigm and contribute to the literature by examining whether positive opinions of refugees’ impact on the host society are related to host nationals’ positive behavioural intentions towards them. Specifically, the study investigated (1) the mediating role of social proximity in the relationship between positive opinions of refugees’ impact and readiness to assist them and (2) symbolic and realistic threats as potential moderators that might influence this direct/indirect relationship. The results provide initial evidence of the important role of positive opinions of refugees’ impact on the host community in promoting positive behavioural intentions towards newcomers via indirect association with closer social proximity. Moreover, our findings suggest that this relationship might be particularly beneficial for host nationals who perceive immigrants as imposing a realistic threat to their lives and to society as a whole—individuals who tend to be amongst the most prejudice-prone and resistant to change.
Non-photochemical quenching of photosystem I as an adaptive response to prolonged drought
Authors: Arellano Juan B
Published: December 2022

This article comments on:

Sapeta H, Yokono M, Takabayashi A, Ueno Y, Cordeiro AM, Hara T, Tanaka A, Akimoto S, Oliveira MM, Tanaka R. 2023. Reversible down-regulation of photosystems I and II leads to fast photosynthesis recovery after long-term drought in Jatropha curcas. Journal of Experimental Botany 74, 336–351.
Reorganization of three-dimensional chromatin architecture inMedicago truncatulaunder phosphorus deficiency
Authors: Wang Tianzuo , Wang Jing , Chen Li , Yao Jiaying , Yuan Zan , Zhang Dong , Zhang Wen-Hao
Published: December 2022

Emerging evidence reveals that the three-dimensional (3D) chromatin architecture plays a key regulatory role in various biological processes of plants. However, information on the 3D chromatin architecture of the legume model plant Medicago truncatula and its potential roles in the regulation of response to mineral nutrient deficiency are very limited. Using high-resolution chromosome conformation capture sequencing, we identified the 3D genome structure of M. truncatula in terms of A/B compartments, topologically associated domains (TADs) and chromatin loops. The gene density, expressional level, and active histone modification were higher in A compartments than in B compartments. Moreover, we analysed the 3D chromatin architecture reorganization in response to phosphorus (P) deficiency. The intra-chromosomal cis-interaction proportion was increased by P deficiency, and a total of 748 A/B compartment switch regions were detected. In these regions, density changes in H3K4me3 and H3K27ac modifications were associated with expression of P deficiency-responsive genes involved in root system architecture and hormonal responses. Furthermore, these genes enhanced P uptake and mobilization by increasing root surface area and strengthening signal transduction under P deficiency. These findings advance our understanding of the potential roles of 3D chromatin architecture in responses of plants in general, and in particular in M. truncatula, to P deficiency.
Great balls of FIRE – I. The formation of star clusters across cosmic time in a Milky Way-mass galaxy
Authors: Grudić Michael Y , Hafen Zachary , Rodriguez Carl L , Guszejnov Dávid , Lamberts Astrid , Wetzel Andrew , Boylan-Kolchin Michael , Faucher-Giguère Claude-André
Published: December 2022

The properties of young star clusters formed within a galaxy are thought to vary in different interstellar medium conditions, but the details of this mapping from galactic to cluster scales are poorly understood due to the large dynamic range involved in galaxy and star cluster formation. We introduce a new method for modelling cluster formation in galaxy simulations: mapping giant molecular clouds (GMCs) formed self-consistently in a FIRE-2 magnetohydrodynamic galaxy simulation on to a cluster population according to a GMC-scale cluster formation model calibrated to higher resolution simulations, obtaining detailed properties of the galaxy’s star clusters in mass, metallicity, space, and time. We find $\sim 10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of all stars formed in the galaxy originate in gravitationally bound clusters overall, and this fraction increases in regions with elevated Σgas and ΣSFR, because such regions host denser GMCs with higher star formation efficiency. These quantities vary systematically over the history of the galaxy, driving variations in cluster formation. The mass function of bound clusters varies – no single Schechter-like or power-law distribution applies at all times. In the most extreme episodes, clusters as massive as 7 × 106 M⊙ form in massive, dense clouds with high star formation efficiency. The initial mass–radius relation of young star clusters is consistent with an environmentally dependent 3D density that increases with Σgas and ΣSFR. The model does not reproduce the age and metallicity statistics of old ($\gt 11\rm Gyr$) globular clusters found in the Milky Way, possibly because it forms stars more slowly at z > 3.
TXS 1433+205: The most distant gamma-ray emitting FR II radio galaxy
Authors: Paliya Vaidehi S , Saikia D J , Stalin C S
Published: December 2022

The orientation of the jet axis to the line of sight of the observer plays a major role in explaining the phenomena observed from blazars and radio galaxies. In the γ-ray band, only a handful of radio galaxies have been identified, all being located in the nearby Universe (z < 0.5). Here, we report the identification of 4FGL J1435.5+2021, associated with TXS 1433+205, as a Fanaroff–Riley type II (FR II) radio galaxy at a considerably higher redshift of z = 0.748, thereby making it the most distant γ-ray detected radio galaxy known as of now. The Very Large Array Sky Survey data at 3 GHz resolves the source morphology into a bright core, a jet and two hotspots, with a total end-to-end projected length between lobe extremities of ∼170 kpc. The optical and radio properties of this enigmatic object suggest it to be a high-excitation FR II radio galaxy. The multiwavelength behaviour of TXS 1433+205 is found to be similar to other γ-ray detected FR II sources but is at the high-luminosity end. We suggest that the ongoing and upcoming high-resolution radio surveys will lead to the identification of many more high-redshift radio galaxies in the γ-ray sky, thus allowing comprehensive studies of misaligned relativistic jets.
A rare presentation of rapidly progressing myopathy in an adolescent
Authors: Pepys Jack , Borchert Robin J , Thambirajah Narmathy , Daruwalla Cyrus , Apostolopoulos Dimitrios , O’Donovan Dominic G , Ham Timothy , Brierley Charlotte
Published: December 2022

We present a case of severe juvenile dermatomyositis with limited response to steroids in an adolescent who developed symptoms within hours after receiving Pfizer BNT162b2 coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine. The patient presented with severe weakness of proximal muscles, dyspnoea, and tachycardia. His muscle enzymes were raised, and he was diagnosed with severe juvenile dermatomyositis following magnetic resonance imaging and muscle biopsy. His management was challenging, requiring multidisciplinary input, and difficult decisions with regard to the appropriate immunomodulatory treatments. The patient had to undergo escalating immunosuppressive treatments before he began to recover clinically and biochemically. To our knowledge, this is the first case in an adolescent although a few cases of similar presentations following coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination have been reported in adults. Elucidating the potential relationship of the vaccine with this severe myopathy in an adolescent is important for global vaccination policies, but avoiding the conflation of association with causation is also crucial in the context of the pandemic.