bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impacts of environmental factors on seed germination and seedling emergence of white clover (Trifolium repens L.)
Authors: Chu Lei , Gao Yiping , Chen Lingling , McCullough Patrick E. , Jespersen David , Sapkota Suraj , Li Xiao , Yu Jialin
Published: November 2020

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is cultivated as a forage crop and planted in various landscapes for soil conservation. There are numerous reports of failed white clover stands each year. A good understanding of seed germination biology of white clover in relation to environmental factors is essential to achieve successful stand establishment. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the impacts of light, temperature, planting depth, drought, and salt stress on seed germination and emergence of white clover. White clover is negatively photoblastic, and seed germination averaged 63 and 66% under light and complete dark conditions at 4 weeks after planting (WAP), respectively. Temperature affected seed germination speed and rate. At 1 WAP, seeds incubated at 15 to 25 °C demonstrated significantly higher germination rate than the low temperatures at 5 and 10 °C; however, the germination rate did not differ among the temperature treatments at 4 WAP. Results suggest that white clover germination decreases with increasing sowing depths and the seeds should be sown on the soil surface or shallowly buried at a depth ≤1 cm to achieve an optimal emergence. White clover seeds exhibited high sensitivity to drought and salinity stress. The osmotic potential and NaCl concentration required to inhibit 50% seed germination was −0.19 MPa and 62.4 mM, respectively. Overall, these findings provide quantifiable explanations for inconsistent establishment observed in field conditions. The findings obtained in this research can be used to develop effective planting strategies and support the successful establishment of white clover stands.
A mixed model approach for estimating drivers of microbiota community composition and differential taxonomic abundance
Authors: Sweeny Amy R , Lemon Hannah E , Ibrahim Anan , Watt Kathryn A. , Wilson Kenneth , Childs Dylan Z , Nussey Daniel H , Free Andrew , McNally Luke
Published: November 2020

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and meta-barcoding approaches have revolutionized understanding of within-host communities, such as the gut microbiome, in humans and laboratory animals. The application of such approaches in wild animal populations is growing, but there is a disconnect between the widely-applied generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) approaches commonly used to study phenotypic variation and the statistical toolkit from community ecology which is typically applied to meta-barcoding data.

Here, we describe and illustrate a novel GLMM-based approach for analysing the taxon-specific sequence read counts derived from standard meta-barcoding data. This approach allows us to decompose the contribution of different drivers of variation in community structure (e.g. year, season, individual host), via interaction terms in the random effects structure of the model. We also show how these models can be used to determine the degree to which specific taxa or taxonomic groups are responsible for variance attributed to different drivers.

To illustrate this approach, we applied it to two cross-sectional meta-barcoding data sets from the Soay Sheep population of St. Kilda. The GLMM approach yielded results that were in agreement with more classical approaches from community ecology, showing that variation the gut microbiota community in these sheep was better explained by age group than by season. We were able to quantify the contributions of different sources of variation to community structure, and also to drill down into the model predictions to show that the age effects we observed were principally due to increases in taxa of the phyla Bacteroidetes and declines in taxa of the phyla Firmicutes.

Our proposed models offer a powerful new approach to understanding the drivers of variation in estimates of community structure derived from meta-barcoding data. We discuss how our approach could be readily adapted to allow researchers to estimate that contribution of host genotype, environment, and microbial/parasite phylogeny to observed community structure, and thus provide a powerful means to answer emerging questions surrounding the ecological and evolutionary roles of within-host communities.
Drosophilalarval light avoidance is negatively regulated by temperature through two pairs of central brain neurons
Authors: Wang Jie , Zhao Weiqiao , Zhao Qianhui , Zhou Jinrun , Li Xinhang , He Yinhui , Gong Zhefeng
Published: November 2020

Animal’s innate avoidance behavior is crucial for its survival. It subjects to modulation by environmental conditions in addition to the commanding sensorimotor transformation pathway. Although much has been known about the commanding neural basis, relatively less is known about how innate avoidance behavior is shaped by external conditions. Here in this paper, we report thatDrosophilalarvae showed stronger light avoidance at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures. Such negative regulation of light avoidance by temperature was abolished by blocking two pairs of central brain neurons, ACLPR60F09neurons, that were responsive to both light and temperature change, including cooling and warming. ACLPR60F09neurons could be excited bypdf-LaN neurons in the visual pathway. On the downstream side, they could inhibit the CLPNR82B09neurons that command light induced reorientation behavior. Compared with at warm temperature, ACLPR60F09neurons’ response to light was decreased at cool temperature so that the inhibition on CLPNR82B09neurons was relieved and the light induced avoidance was enhanced. Our result proposed a neural mechanism underlying cross-modal modulation of animal innate avoidance behavior.
Differential chromatin accessibility landscape of gain-of-function mutant p53 tumours
Authors: Dhaka Bhavya , Sabarinathan Radhakrishnan
Published: November 2020

Mutations in TP53 not only affect its tumour suppressor activity but also exerts oncogenic gain-of-function activity. While the genome-wide mutant p53 binding sites have been identified in cancer cell lines, the chromatin accessibility landscape driven by mutant p53 in primary tumours is unknown. Here, we leveraged the chromatin accessibility data of primary tumours from TCGA to identify differentially accessible regions in mutant p53 tumours compared to wild p53 tumours, especially in breast and colon cancers. We found 1587 lost and 984 gained accessible regions in breast, and 1143 lost and 640 gained regions in colon. However, less than half of those regions in both cancer types contain sequence motifs for wild-type or mutant p53 binding. Whereas, the remaining showed enrichment for master transcriptional regulators, such as FOX-Family TFs and NF-kB in lost and SMAD and KLF TFs in gained regions of breast. In colon, ATF3 and FOS/JUN TFs were enriched in lost, and CDX family TFs and HNF4A in gained regions. By integrating the gene expression data, we identified known and novel target genes regulated by the mutant p53. Together, these results suggest the tissue- and tumour-type specific role of mutant p53 in regulating chromatin structure and gene expression.
BERTMHC: Improves MHC-peptide class II interaction prediction with transformer and multiple instance learning
Authors: Cheng Jun , Bendjama Kaïdre , Rittner Karola , Malone Brandon
Published: November 2020

Motivation

Increasingly comprehensive characterisation of cancer associated genetic alteration has paved the way for the development of highly specific therapeutic vaccines. Predicting precisely binding and presentation of peptides by MHC alleles is an important step towards such therapies. Recent data suggest that presentation of both class I and II epitopes is critical for the induction of a sustained effective immune response. However, the prediction performance for MHC class II has been limited compared to class I.

Results

We present a transformer neural network model which leverages on self-supervised pretraining from a large corpus of protein sequences. We also propose a multiple instance learning (MIL) framework to deconvolve mass spectrometry data where multiple potential MHC alleles may have presented each peptide. We show that pretraining boosted the performance for these tasks. Combining pretraining and the novel MIL approach, our model outperforms state-of-the-art models for both binding and mass spectrometry presentation predictions.

Availability

Our model is available athttps://github.com/s6juncheng/BERTMHC

Contact

jun.cheng@neclab.eu,brandon.malone@neclab.eu
A two-dimensional organic–inorganic lead iodide perovskite: poly[bis(3-fluorocyclobutylammonium) [di-μ-iodido-diiodidoplumbate(VI)]]
Authors: Huang Chao-Ran , Li Peng-Fei , Luo Xu-Zhong
Published: November 2020

In recent years, great technological advances have been achieved in the growth of hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) and these have attracted extensive attention due to their optoelectronic properties, structural tunability and stability. We present here a new two-dimensional hybrid organic–inorganic perovskite, namely, poly[bis(3-fluorocyclobutylammonium) [di-μ-iodido-diiodidoplumbate(VI)]], {(C4H9FN)2[PbI4]}
n
, showing a two-dimensional reticular layer with the organic cations in the middle of the meshes. The calculated experimental band gap is 2.44 eV and the band gap is calculated as 2.20 eV theoretically, which further suggests the potential of this compound as a semiconductor.
Examining the factors influencing information poverty in western China
Authors: Mou Xiaobo , Xu Fang
Published: November 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the factors impacting information poverty in western China and investigate to what extent these determinants contribute to information poverty in these areas.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to analyze 232 valid responses collected from a survey to examine the research model and hypotheses in this study.

Findings

The results indicate that information literacy, information supply and information and communication technologies (ICTs) positively and significantly affect information poverty, while social prejudice and information orientation had no significant effects on information poverty.

Practical implications

Public libraries, government departments and other institutions should pay attention to the significant impact of information literacy, information supply and ICTs on information poverty and formulate corresponding systems and policies to alleviate or reduce information poverty.

Originality/values

In the past, few studies have focused on information poverty in western China and most of the existing research on information poverty adopts qualitative research methods, such as interview, systematic literature review and so on, while quantitative research is rare. In addition, the focus of these research studies was on one or two aspects, and a few of them can systematically study the influencing factors of information poverty. Inspired by the theories of information literacy, social prejudice and information poverty, this study comprehensively used a questionnaire survey and SEM to investigate the influences of information literacy, social prejudice, information supply, information orientation and ICTs on information poverty.
Joint university-industry laboratories through the lens of proximity dimensions: moving beyond geographical proximity
Authors: Mahdad Maral , Minh Thai Thi , Bogers Marcel L.A.M. , Piccaluga Andrea
Published: November 2020

Purpose

There is little known about investigating the importance of all proximity dimensions simultaneously as a result of geographical proximity on university-industry collaborative innovation. This paper aims to answer the question of how geographically proximate university and industry influence cognitive, social, organizational, institutional and cultural proximity within university-industry joint laboratories and finally, what is the outcome of these interplays on collaborative innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses an exploratory multiple-case study approach. The results are derived from 53 in-depth, semistructured interviews with laboratory directors and representatives from both the company and the university within 8 joint laboratories of Telecom Italia (TIM). The data collection was carried out in 2014 and 2015. The analysis follows a multi-grounded theory approach and relies on a mix of deductive and inductive reasoning with the final goal of theoretical elaboration.

Findings

This study finds the role of social and cultural proximity at the individual level as a result of geographical proximity as an enabler of collaborative innovation by triggering mutual learning, trust formation and frequent interactions. Cognitive proximity at the interface level could systematically influence collaborative innovation, while organizational and institutional proximity has marginal roles in facilitating collaborative innovation. The qualitative analysis offers a conceptual framework for proximity dimensions and collaborative innovation within university-industry joint laboratories.

Practical implications

The framework not only advances state-of-the-art university-industry collaboration and proximity dimension but also offers guidance for managers in designing collaborative innovation settings between university and industry.

Originality/value

With this study, the paper advances the understanding beyond solely the relationship between proximity and collaboration and shed light on the interplay between geographical proximity and other proximity dimensions in this context, which has received limited scholarly attention.
The effects of service quality and perceived price on revisit intention of patients: the Malaysian context
Authors: Lai Kim Piew , Yee Yen Yuen , Siong Choy Chong
Published: November 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the effects of service quality and perceived price (monetary and behavioural price) on the revisit intention of patients to hospitals, as well as the mediating role of perceived price on the relationship between service quality and revisit intention.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper distributes questionnaires to outpatients in three major cities in Malaysia, namely, Penang, Melaka and Johor. Patients who were in the foyer, dispensary area and waiting area were intercepted where their responses were sought. The responses obtained from 400 patients were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. Besides analysing the path coefficients, this study has examined the common method variance, bias and indirect effects of the relationships.

Findings

The results suggest that patients pay more attention to certain values in their search for the best health-care service and subsequently move on to new values. Pricing is an effective strategy to promote favourable behavioural intentions amongst patients. Better service quality is reflected in the reasonableness of monetary costs incurred by patients in acquiring health-care services. Patients who received poor services will be more likely to compare such services to the medical costs incurred to ascertain the worthiness of the amount paid. In addition, service quality also influences how patients perceive spending their time and efforts (waiting for nurses and physicians, as well as queueing in hospitals) as worthy and vice-versa. Their revisit intention will also be affected by the extent of which they invest their time, energy and efforts to search for relevant information.

Practical implications

The hospitals which desire to charge additional fees should enhance their service quality to reflect price equity. This is imperative in view of the pricing structure which can be relatively complex in subsequent follow-up treatments that may affect the decision of patients on the sources of health-care services.

Originality/value

Given the inevitable increase in medical fees, the perceived price can be a key determinant to the overall judgement patients had in terms of the health-care services received and the time and efforts sacrificed. However, the importance of monetary price and the behavioural price is still relatively unstudied, particularly their influence on revisit intention in the health-care setting.
In or out? – the CFTC explains when virtual currencies come within its jurisdiction
Authors: Nathan Daniel , Mathews Nikiforos
Published: November 2020

Purpose

To summarize and explain the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) guidance regarding whether cryptocurrency is subject to CFTC jurisdiction.

Design/methodology/approach

The article reviews the CFTC’s March 24, 2020 final interpretive guidance, summarizes the history of the agency’s jurisdiction over leveraged, margined or financed retail transactions, and relates it to the CFTC’s guidance and judicial decisions regarding cryptocurrency.

Findings

We found that the CFTC, in carrying out its leadership role related to developments in the fintech industry, had provided clarity about its jurisdiction over cryptocurrency. The CFTC defines virtual currency as a “commodity,” even if intangible, and finds that many transactions in virtual currency satisfy the exception to the CFTC’s jurisdiction over leveraged retail commodity transactions because “delivery” can be said to occur within 28 days.

Originality/value

The article provides a useful summary of an important pronouncement from the CFTC in a manner that is readily understandable and relatable to industry participants and legal practitioners in this field.
China’s new fund custodian rules
Authors: Yang Melody (Fan)
Published: November 2020

Purpose

To explain the key amendments to China’s rules governing fund custody business and highlight the implications for private fund managers.

Design/methodology/approach

The article analyses, from the perspective of private fund managers, the key amendments to the rules governing fund the custody business in China in terms of custody of fund assets, the fund settlement and clearing process, valuation, disclosure and reports, investment supervision, review of distributions and governance.

Findings

The revised rules governing the fund custody business allow private fund managers to use their global custodian in China locally and leave room for managers and custodians to agree on their responsibilities and risk allocation in the fund contract.

Originality/value

The article offers practical guidance on how private fund managers may contractually allocate responsibilities and risks between themselves and fund custodians in the fund contract.
Managing conflicting objectives of social enterprises
Authors: Eiselein Philippe , Dentchev Nikolay A.
Published: November 2020

Purpose

Most strategies for managing conflicts between social and commercial objectives of social enterprises are discussed either at the individual or at the team level of analysis. This paper aims to argue in favor of taking into account both levels of analysis at the same time. It furthermore aims to unravel how management strategies at the individual and the team level reinforce one another.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts the theoretical lenses of personal values (at the individual level of analysis) and stewardship (at the team level). The authors have conducted 23 semi-structured interviews across three Belgian social enterprises. Primary data collection was complemented with secondary data of 12 annual reports and 314 newspaper articles. The variety of cases and the richness of primary and secondary data proved useful to elaborate on the mechanisms of managing conflicting objectives.

Findings

This paper highlights four bridging mechanisms that facilitate the mitigation of conflict between social and commercial objectives, i.e. fit of values, agile structure, partnerships and communications. It also shows how these mechanisms reinforce each other at the individual and team levels of analysis and thus form an iterative process for managing the conflicting objectives of social entrepreneurs.

Originality/value

This paper contributes by bringing the level of analysis on managing conflicting objectives at the intersection of the individual and team performance. It argues that social entrepreneurs should target both individuals and teams at the same time, to manage effectively conflicting objectives. The four mechanisms create an alignment and reflection iterative process for managing conflicting objectives.
The relationship between corporate identity and university loyalty: The moderating effect of brand identification in managing an institutional crisis
Authors: Cachón‐Rodríguez Gabriel , Prado‐Román Camilo , Blanco‐González Alicia
Published: November 2020

The objective of this paper is to analyse the relationship between corporate identity and loyalty in a public institution of higher education in an institutional crisis context. Moreover, the aim is to study the possible moderating effect that brand identification can have on this relationship. The information required to conduct the empirical analysis was obtained from an online survey. Data processing was carried out using the PLS‐SEM technique. The results obtained show that in an institutional crisis context, corporate identity influences university loyalty positively and significantly. However, it is detected that brand identification moderates the relationship between corporate identity and loyalty positively and significantly in an institutional crisis situation. In addition, we also observe that this moderating effect is greater in students than in graduates. It is considered a useful contribution, as it is one of the first studies in which the proposed relationships are analysed in an institutional crisis context. In addition, there is a concern about investigating the possible existence of the moderating role exerted by brand identification and if there are significant differences between students and graduates in this moderating effect. Significant practical implications arise from the results of this work, which can be particularly useful for managers of the type of organizations analysed.
Multipartite symbioses in fungus‐growing termites (Blattodea: Termitidae, Macrotermitinae) for the degradation of lignocellulose
Authors: Ahmad Farhan , Yang Gui‐Ying , Liang Shi‐You , Zhou Qi‐Huan , Gaal Hassan Ahmed , Mo Jian‐Chu
Published: November 2020

Fungus‐growing termites are among the most successful herbivorous animals and improve crop productivity and soil fertility. A range of symbiotic organisms can be found inside their nests. However, interactions of termites with these symbionts are poorly understood. This review provides detailed information on the role of multipartite symbioses (between termitophiles, termites, fungi, and bacteria) in fungus‐growing termites for lignocellulose degradation. The specific functions of each component in the symbiotic system are also discussed. Based on previous studies, we argue that the enzymatic contribution from the host, fungus, and bacteria greatly facilitates the decomposition of complex polysaccharide plant materials. The host–termitophile interaction protects the termite nest from natural enemies and maintains the stability of the microenvironment inside the colony.
Cingulate Cortex Structural Alterations in Substance Use Disorder Psychiatric Inpatients
Authors: Oh Hyuntaek , Gosnell Savannah , Nguyen Tien , Tran Tiffany , Kosten Thomas R. , Salas Ramiro
Published: November 2020

Background and Objectives

Substance use disorder (SUD) includes maladaptive patterns of substance use despite negative consequences. Previous structural neuroimaging studies showed some structural alterations in SUD, but it remains unknown whether these alterations are specifically associated with SUD or common comorbidities. This study attempts to validate the findings of structural differences between SUD, healthy controls (HC), and psychiatric controls (PC).

Methods

We used HC (N = 86) matched for demographics, and PC (N = 86) matched for demographics and psychiatric diagnoses to a group of SUD patients (N = 86). We assessed the group differences of subcortical volumes, cortical volumes, thickness, and surface areas between SUD and HC. We then analyzed the group differences between SUD and PC within regions showing differences between SUD and HC.

Results

SUD had smaller left nucleus accumbens, right thalamus, right hippocampus, left caudal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) volume, and larger right caudal ACC volume, and right caudal ACC, right caudal middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) surface than HC. Increased right caudal ACC volume and right PCC surface in SUD were the only findings when compared with PC. Several areas showed thickness alterations between SUD and HC, but none survived multiple comparisons vs PC.

Discussion and Conclusions

Our findings suggest that cingulate structures may be altered in SUD compared with both HC and PC.

Scientific Significance

These results are among the first to indicate that some structural alterations may be SUD‐specific, and highlight a cautionary note about using HC in psychiatric biomarker research. (Am J Addict 2021;30:72–79)
Fixing a Swamp of Cobras: The Clash between Capital and Water in Shaping Urban Vulnerabilities
Authors: Friend Richard , Hutanuwatr Khanin
Published: November 2020

This paper addresses how capital can refashion landscapes and patterns of risk and vulnerability. Drawing on the emblematic case of the conversion of Thailand’s Cobra Swamp into Suvarnabhumi International Airport we argue that there is a fundamental clash between the internal logic of capital accumulation and the ecology of water that occurs in places in which land is under water for much of the year. Counterintuitively investment in public infrastructure such as airports targets locations that are exposed to flood risks. While the literature on capital fixes tends to treat “land” writ large, this paper adds a dimension that has been overlooked in the theoretical work, by highlighting the significance of the ecology of the land in which such fixes occur as a means of understanding patterns of investment, land use change and vulnerability. Our analysis draws on three separate but related concepts of capital “fixes”—spatial, technological and high/low road fixes. We argue the importance of recognising the specific ecological characteristics of land that capital “fixes”. This perspective has global significance in providing critical insight into the ways in which capital creates and accommodates the kinds of vulnerabilities and risks associated with climate change.
Role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in critically Ill COVID‐19 patients and predictors of mortality
Authors: Zayat Rashad , Kalverkamp Sebastian , Grottke Oliver , Durak Koray , Dreher Michael , Autschbach Rüdiger , Marx Gernot , Marx Nikolaus , Spillner Jan , Kersten Alex
Published: November 2020

The role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in the management of critically ill COVID‐19 patients remains unclear. Our study aims to analyze the outcomes and risk factors from patients treated with ECMO. This retrospective, single‐center study includes 17 COVID‐19 patients treated with ECMO. Univariate and multivariate parametric survival regression identified predictors of survival. Nine patients (53%) were successfully weaned from ECMO and discharged. The incidence of in‐hospital mortality was 47%. In a univariate analysis, only four out of 83 pre‐ECMO variables were significantly different; IL‐6, PCT, and NT‐proBNP were significantly higher in non‐survivors than in survivors. The Respiratory Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Survival Prediction (RESP) score was significantly higher in survivors. After a multivariate parametric survival regression, IL‐6, NT‐proBNP and RESP scores remained significant independent predictors, with hazard ratios (HR) of 1.069 [95%‐CI: 0.986‐1.160], P = .016 1.001 [95%‐CI: 1.000‐1.001], P = .012; and .843 [95%‐CI: 0.564‐1.260], P = .040, respectively. A prediction model comprising IL‐6, NT‐proBNP, and RESP score showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87, with a sensitivity of 87.5% and 77.8% specificity compared to an AUC of 0.79 for the RESP score alone. The present study suggests that ECMO is a potentially lifesaving treatment for selected critically ill COVID‐19 patients. Considering IL‐6 and NT‐pro‐BNP, in addition to the RESP score, may enhance outcome predictions.
Child‐level factors affecting rate of learning to write in first grade
Authors: Torrance Mark , Arrimada María , Gardner Sarah
Published: November 2020

Background

Written composition requires handwriting, spelling, and text planning skills, all largely learned through school instruction. Students’ rate of learning to compose text in their first months at school will depend, in part, on their literacy‐related abilities at school start. These effects have not previously been explored.

Aim

We aimed to establish the effects of various literacy‐related abilities on the learning trajectory of first‐grade students as they are taught to write.

Sample

179 Spanish first‐grade students (94 female, mean age 6.1 years) writing 3,512 texts.

Method

Students were assessed at start of school for spelling, transcription fluency, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, handwriting accuracy, word reading, and non‐verbal reasoning. They were then taught under a curriculum that included researcher‐designed instruction in handwriting, spelling, and ideation. Students’ composition performance was probed at very regular intervals over their first 13 weeks at school.

Results

Controlling for age, overall performance was predicted by spelling, transcription fluency, handwriting accuracy, word reading, and non‐verbal reasoning. Most students showed rapid initial improvement, but then much slower learning. Weak spellers (and to a lesser extent less fluent hand‐writers) showed weaker initial performance, but then steady improvement across the study period.

Conclusion

Transcription ability at school entry affects response to writing instruction.
Retrospective coding of health care professional cancer screening behaviours and of real‐world interventions designed to support them: Identifying recommendations to optimize intervention design
Authors: Hanbury Andria , Sallis Anna , Chadborn Tim , Arber Mick , Sanderson Alice , Durlik Caroline , Wood Hannah
Published: November 2020

Objectives

Screening can detect cancer earlier. Uptake of breast, cervical, and bowel cancer screening in England is below 75%. This study identifies the barriers and facilitators underpinning HCP screening behaviours which can support screening uptake, and reviews the design of real‐world interventions targeting these, assessing for congruence between the two. The aim was to provide recommendations to improve the design of interventions.

Design and methods

Barriers/facilitators were identified by a literature review and qualitatively coded using the theoretical domains framework (TDF). Interventions were identified by stakeholders and coded using the behaviour change wheel and the taxonomy of behaviour change techniques. Congruence was assessed through comparing the intervention designs with behavioural science experts’ recommendations which link the TDF domains to intervention design. Recommendations targeted missed opportunities.

Results

Barriers/facilitators were extracted from 60 papers and most frequently coded to the TDF domains: environmental context and resources, knowledge and beliefs about consequences. Thirty‐one interventions were identified, most frequently education, training or enablement functions, delivered via communication/marketing or service provision, and using BCTs designed to shape knowledge or highlight the consequences of or antecedents to screening. Intervention design was largely congruent with recommendations. However, there was less use of persuasion and modelling intervention functions and a reliance on BCTs such as providing instruction when other BCTs could be considered.

Conclusions

Recommendations include to consider a broader range of intervention functions and BCTs, particularly for training interventions which should make use of recommended BCTs such as ‘graded tasks’.
Multigene model for predicting metastatic prostate cancer using circulating tumor cells by microfluidic magnetophoresis
Authors: Cho Hyungseok , Chung Jae Il , Kim Jinho , Seo Won Ik , Lee Chan Ho , Morgan Todd M. , Byun Seok‐Soo , Chung Jae‐Seung , Han Ki‐Ho
Published: November 2020

We aimed to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) using a microfluidic technique with a novel lateral magnetophoretic microseparator. Prostate cancer–specific gene expressions were evaluated using mRNA from the isolated CTCs. A CTC‐based multigene model was then developed for identifying advanced prostate cancer. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from five healthy donors and patients with localized prostate cancer (26 cases), metastatic hormone‐sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC, 10 cases), and metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC, 28 cases). CTC recovery rate and purity (enriched CTCs/total cells) were evaluated according to cancer stage. The areas under the curves of the six gene expressions were used to evaluate whether multigene models could identify mHSPC or mCRPC. The number of CTCs and their purity increased at more advanced cancer stages. In mHSPC/mCRPC cases, the specimens had an average of 27.5 CTCs/mL blood, which was 4.2 × higher than the isolation rate for localized disease. The CTC purity increased from 2.1% for localized disease to 3.8% for mHSPC and 6.7% for mCRPC, with increased CTC expression of the genes encoding prostate‐specific antigen (PSA), prostate‐specific membrane antigen (PSMA), and cytokeratin 19 (KRT19). All disease stages exhibited expression of the genes encoding androgen receptor (AR) and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), although expression of the AR‐V7 variant was relatively rare. Relative to each gene alone, the multigene model had better accuracy for predicting advanced prostate cancer. Our lateral magnetophoretic microseparator can be used for identifying prostate cancer biomarkers. In addition, CTC‐based genetic signatures may guide the early diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer.
FAM96A knock-out promotes alternative macrophage polarization and protects mice against sepsis
Authors: Yin A , Chen W , Cao L , Li Q , Zhu X , Wang L
Published: November 2020

Sepsis is an intractable clinical syndrome characterized by organ dysfunction when the body over-responds to an infection. Sepsis has a high fatality rate and lacks effective treatment. Family with sequence similarity 96 member A (FAM96A) is an evolutionarily conserved protein with high expression in the immune system and is related to cytosolic iron assembly and tumour suppression; however, research has been rarely conducted on its immune functions. Our study found that Fam96a−/− mice significantly resisted lesions during sepsis simulated by caecal ligation and puncture (CLP) or endotoxicosis models. After a challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or infection, Fam96a−/− mice exhibited less organ damage, longer survival and better bacterial clearance with decreased levels of proinflammatory cytokines. While screening several subsets of immune cells, FAM96A-expressing macrophages as the key cell type inhibited sepsis development. In-vivo macrophage depletion or adoptive transfer experiments abrogated significant differences in the survival of sepsis between Fam96a−/− and wild-type mice. Results of the bone marrow-derived macrophage (BMDM) polarization experiment indicated that FAM96A deficiency promotes the transformation of uncommitted monocytes/macrophages (M0) into M2 macrophages, secreting fewer proinflammatory cytokines. FAM96A may mediate an immunometabolism shift – from oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to glycolysis – in macrophages during sepsis, mirrored by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and glucose uptake. These data demonstrate that FAM96A regulates inflammatory response and provide a novel genomic insight for sepsis treatment.
Making Procedural Water Waves Boundary‐aware
Authors: Jeschke S. , Hafner C. , Chentanez N. , Macklin M. , Müller‐Fischer M. , Wojtan C.
Published: November 2020

The “procedural” approach to animating ocean waves is the dominant algorithm for animating larger bodies of water in interactive applications as well as in off‐line productions — it provides high visual quality with a low computational demand. In this paper, we widen the applicability of procedural water wave animation with an extension that guarantees the satisfaction of boundary conditions imposed by terrain while still approximating physical wave behavior. In combination with a particle system that models wave breaking, foam, and spray, this allows us to naturally model waves interacting with beaches and rocks. Our system is able to animate waves at large scales at interactive frame rates on a commodity PC.
Intuitive Facial Animation Editing Based On A Generative RNN Framework
Authors: Berson Eloïse , Soladié Catherine , Stoiber Nicolas
Published: November 2020

For the last decades, the concern of producing convincing facial animation has garnered great interest, that has only been accelerating with the recent explosion of 3D content in both entertainment and professional activities. The use of motion capture and retargeting has arguably become the dominant solution to address this demand. Yet, despite high level of quality and automation performance‐based animation pipelines still require manual cleaning and editing to refine raw results, which is a time‐ and skill‐demanding process. In this paper, we look to leverage machine learning to make facial animation editing faster and more accessible to non‐experts. Inspired by recent image inpainting methods, we design a generative recurrent neural network that generates realistic motion into designated segments of an existing facial animation, optionally following user‐provided guiding constraints. Our system handles different supervised or unsupervised editing scenarios such as motion filling during occlusions, expression corrections, semantic content modifications, and noise filtering. We demonstrate the usability of our system on several animation editing use cases.
Intravascular ultrasound for cardiac allograft vasculopathy detection
Authors: Mendiz Oscar A. , Gamboa Paul , Renedo María F. , Lev Gustavo A. , Favaloro Liliana E. , Bertolotti Alejandro M.
Published: November 2020

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) after heart transplantation is a fibro‐proliferative process affecting coronary arteries of the graft in up to 46.8% of the cases during the first 10 years post‐transplantation. It is one of the main causes of graft loss and death. Due to graft denervation, CAV causing ischemia is usually clinically silent until the disease is far advanced. In this study, we compared coronary angiography with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) for CAV detection.

Outcomes

A total of 114 patients with HTx who underwent coronary angiography and IVUS between March 2018 and March 2019 were included. Mean follow‐up was 87 ± 61 month. Lesions documented by coronary angiography were found in only 27 (24%) of the 114 patients. IVUS revealed ISHLT CAV 0 in 87 patients (76.3%); ISHLT CAV1 in 15 (13,1%) and ISHLT CAV2 and CAV3 in 6 patients (5.2%) each. Among 328 IVUS images, maximum intimal thickness (MIT) >0.5 mm was obtained in 60 vessels (52%) with 24 patients having three‐vessel and 19 two‐vessel involvement.

Conclusion

As an adjunct to conventional coronary angiography to detect angiographically silent CAV in heart transplant patients, IVUS is a reliable and safe technique with a low complication rate. Large multicenter studies are necessary to confirm these findings and the potential long‐term clinical impact of early detection in clinically and angiographically silent phase.
A single‐dose euglycaemic clamp study in two cohorts to compare the exposure of SAR341402 (insulin aspart) Mix 70/30 with US‐ and European‐approved versions of insulin aspart Mix 70/30 and SAR341402 rapid‐acting solution in subjects with type 1 diabetes
Authors: Kapitza Christoph , Nosek Leszek , Schmider Wolfgang , Teichert Lenore , Mukherjee Bhaswati , Nowotny Irene
Published: November 2020

Aim

To compare the pharmacokinetic exposure of SAR341402 Mix 70/30 (SARAsp‐Mix) with US‐ and European (EU)‐approved versions of insulin aspart Mix 70/30 (NovoLog Mix 70/30 [NN‐Mix‐US]/NovoMix 30 [NN‐Mix‐EU]) and SAR341402 insulin aspart solution (SAR‐Asp) in subjects with type 1 diabetes.

Materials and Methods

This was a randomized, double‐blind, crossover trial in two cohorts. Fifty‐two subjects received a single subcutaneous 0.3 U/kg dose of each treatment and underwent a euglycaemic clamp procedure lasting for a maximum of 24 hours after dosing. In cohort 1, subjects (N = 36) were exposed once each to SARAsp‐Mix, NN‐Mix‐US and NN‐Mix‐EU. In cohort 2, subjects (N = 16) were exposed once each to SARAsp‐Mix and SAR‐Asp.

Results

Of the 52 subjects randomized, 48 completed all treatment periods. In cohort 1, the extent of exposure (total and maximum concentration) was similar among the three treatments, with the 90% confidence intervals for pairwise treatment ratios meeting the predefined acceptance range (0.80 to 1.25). In cohort 2, statistically significant differences (P < .001) in early (0‐4 hours) and intermediate (4‐12 hours) exposure to SARAsp‐Mix compared with SAR‐Asp were observed, all exceeding a 20% difference. Pharmacodynamic results were in support of the pharmacokinetic findings for both cohorts. All treatments were well tolerated and there were no relevant differences in safety variables among treatments.

Conclusions

SARAsp‐Mix showed similar pharmacokinetic exposure to commercially available insulin aspart Mix 70/30 formulations, and a distinct exposure profile compared with SAR‐Asp.
How many people with type 2 diabetes fulfil the eligibility criteria for randomized, controlled trials of insulin glargine 300 U/mL in a real‐world setting?
Authors: Mauricio Dídac , Westerbacka Jukka , Nicholls Charlie , Wu Jasmanda , Gupta Rishab , Eliasson Björn
Published: November 2020

Randomized controlled trial (RCT) populations often do not reflect those typically seen in clinical practice. This retrospective, observational cohort study analysed the real‐world data of people with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) prescribed basal insulin analogues from electronic medical records (EMRs) in the Explorys database, which includes data from 39 integrated healthcare systems in the United States, to determine how representative selected RCTs investigating insulin glargine 300 U/mL (Gla‐300) are of T2DM populations in a real‐world setting. Applying eligibility criteria derived from the EDITION 1, 2 and 3 (Gla‐300 vs. insulin glargine 100 U/mL [Gla‐100]) and BRIGHT (Gla‐300 vs. insulin degludec) RCTs, we observed that only 17% (33 345/191 218) of people captured in the real‐world database would have been eligible for such trials. Those who were ineligible tended to be older, had more comorbidities and a higher baseline hypoglycaemia rate than the eligible group. Using another large US EMR database (Optum Humedica) as corroboration, we found that 15% (36 285/235 697) would have been eligible to participate in the EDITION/BRIGHT RCTs. Furthermore, only 7% (1734/24 547) would have been eligible for the CONCLUDE (insulin degludec vs. Gla‐300) RCT. Our findings remind us of the value of real‐world data studies, complementing the results of RCTs, and providing additional insights into groups who would typically be excluded from RCTs.
Mental health first aid by Australian tertiary staff: Application rates, modes, content, and outcomes
Authors: Carpini Joseph A. , Chandra Joanne , Lin Janelle , Teo Rainbow , Truong Nikita , Boyne Emma , Wylde Tricia , Clifford Rhonda , Ashoorian Deena
Published: November 2020

Aim

Mental health problems are a growing challenge in tertiary institutions warranting psycho‐educational intervention programmes such as mental health first aid (MHFA) that provide training to identify and support affected individuals. The present study assesses the impact of MHFA interventions on tertiary students and staff. Specifically, we examine (1) MHFA application rates and the types of mental health issues encountered, (2) how MHFA was provided, (3) application of the MHFA action plan, and (4) perceived outcomes of MHFA.

Methods

MHFA‐trained staff within a tertiary institution were electronically surveyed. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, whereas abductive coding yielded qualitative themes.

Results

Ninety participants completed the questionnaire (26%). Fifty‐seven percentage of respondents had applied MHFA within the tertiary context. All participants reported applying MHFA in response to anxiety or depression at least once. Anxiety (37%) and depression (27%) were the most frequently encountered mental health issues. All participants had administered MHFA face‐to‐face, with telephone calls (35%) and text messaging (33%) also frequently employed. On average, participants reported completing 4.2 (out of 5) MHFA action plan actions, with 47% completing all actions. Most participants believed that their intervention was helpful (88%) with 65% of recipients seeking professional assistance. Recipients experienced perceived positive affective responses, which were also associated with approach strategies.

Conclusions

MHFA is widely applied in the tertiary context through a variety of modes. Most interventions featured at least four of the recommended MHFA action plan actions. The outcomes of MHFA were largely positive, suggesting that MHFA is an effective early intervention in the tertiary context.
Mindlink: A stigma‐free youth‐friendly community‐based early‐intervention centre in Korea
Authors: Kim Sung‐Wan , Kim Jae‐Kyeong , Jhon Min , Lee Hee‐Joon , Kim Honey , Kim Ju‐Wan , Lee Ju‐Yeon , Kim Jae‐Min , Shin Il‐Seon
Published: November 2020

Aim

In many Asian countries, youth mental health services are not well‐developed and access to treatment is generally delayed. Here, we present a community‐based service model based on our experience with Mindlink, the first early‐intervention centre of its kind in Korea.

Methods

We describe the history of this mental health early‐intervention service and the characteristics of users, as well as its intervention programmes and research directions. We also propose ways to further develop youth mental health services.

Results

A community‐based early‐intervention service for youth was first introduced in 2012, when a special team was formed in a community mental health centre of Korea. As the numbers of young clients increased, a youth‐friendly, early‐intervention centre called Mindlink was opened in 2016. Mindlink targets those aged 15–30 years with mental illness less than 5 years in duration. Its goal is to detect mental illness in young people early and provide comprehensive multidisciplinary interventions. It provides intensive case management and group programmes including cognitive‐behavioural therapy, family intervention, psychoeducation, behavioural activation and physical health promotion. The Korean government has officially announced that the Mindlink model is effective and is currently in the process of scaling it up on a national level.

Conclusion

An accessible, youth‐friendly, stigma‐free, community mental health centre such as Mindlink allows early detection and appropriate management of mental illness in young patients.