bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Immunomodulator comedication promotes the reversal of anti-drug antibody-mediated loss of response to anti-TNF therapy in inflammatory bowel disease
Authors: Stallhofer Johannes , Guse Jan , Kesselmeier Miriam , Grunert Philip Christian , Lange Kathleen , Stalmann Robert , Eckardt Verena , Stallmach Andreas
Published: February 2023

Purpose

Loss of therapeutic response (LOR) due to anti-drug antibodies (ADA) against tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We aimed to investigate whether immunomodulator comedication can reverse the immunogenic LOR to TNF inhibitors in IBD.

Methods

In this real-world retrospective cohort study, 123 IBD patients with neutralizing ADA to infliximab or adalimumab and concomitant subtherapeutic trough levels were screened for clinical LOR. Subsequent ADA and trough level measurements and clinical outcomes were analyzed for patients who received either immunomodulator comedication or dose intensification of infliximab or adalimumab to overcome LOR.

Results

Following immunogenic LOR, the initial anti-TNF regimen was optimized in 33 patients. In univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses, immunomodulator comedication was identified as the crucial factor for regaining clinical remission and ADA clearance. Detectable trough levels (≥ 0.98 or ≥ 1.00 mg/L, respectively) had optimal predictive performance for both endpoints in receiver operating characteristics curves [area under the curve 0.86 (95% confidence interval 0.68–1.00) for regaining clinical remission, 0.87 (0.71–1.00) for ADA clearance]. Furthermore, 11/20 patients (55%) on a comedication with azathioprine or methotrexate and 2/13 patients (15%) receiving anti-TNF dose intensification exclusively (P = 0.032) exhibited ADA elimination, regain of therapeutic trough levels, and clinical remission. Regain of clinical remission alone was achieved in 17/20 (85%) patients receiving comedication and 2/13 (15%) patients receiving anti-TNF dose intensification (P = 1.6 × 10−4).

Conclusion

Immunogenic LOR to infliximab or adalimumab in IBD can be successfully reversed using immunomodulator comedication.
Clinical outcomes for grades III–V acromioclavicular dislocations favor double-button fixation compared to clavicle hook plate fixation: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Hohmann Erik , Tetsworth Kevin
Published: February 2023

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of both randomized controlled and observational studies comparing double-button suture fixation to hook plate fixation for types III–IV acromioclavicular joint dislocation.

Methods

Systematic review of Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar, including all levels 1–3 studies from 2000 to 2022. Clinical outcome scores, range of motion, and complications were included. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s ROB2 tool and ROBINs-I tool. MINORS and modified Coleman Methodology Score (CMS) were used to assess within study quality. The GRADE system was used to assess the overall quality of the body of evidence. Heterogeneity was assessed using χ2 and I2 statistics.

Results

Fifteen studies were included. Three of the four included LOE II and eleven of the LOE III studies had a high risk of bias. Study quality was considered poor and fair for 67% by MINORS criteria and 93% for CMS criteria. The pooled estimate (SMD 0.662) for all clinical outcomes was statistically significant and in favor of button repair (p = 0.0001). The pooled estimate (SMD 0.662) for all VAS pain scores was statistically significant, again in favor of button repair (p = 0.001).

Conclusions

The results of this meta-analysis demonstrated significantly better outcomes of button repair for acute ACJ dislocations when compared to clavicle hook plate. Button repair is also associated with a 2.2 times lower risk for complications. However, risk of bias is high, and study quality within and between studies was low. These results, therefore, must be viewed with caution.

Level of evidence

Level III; systematic review and meta-analysis.
Patient perceptions of insulin therapy in diabetes self-management with insulin injection devices
Authors: Consoli Agostino , Formoso Gloria
Published: February 2023

Aims

Several insulin delivery systems are available to control glycemia in patients with diabetes. Recently introduced devices feature connectivity enabling data transfer to smartphone applications to provide decision support and reduce errors in dosing and timing, while reducing the cognitive burden.

Methods

We conducted an online survey in Italian patients with a self-reported diagnosis of diabetes to assess patient perceptions of insulin therapy management, and their impressions of connection-enabled insulin pens compared to standard insulin pens. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 was used to assess adherence to insulin therapy.

Results

Among 223 respondents (108 with type 1 diabetes; 115 with type 2 diabetes), the most prominent unmet need was the necessity to overcome the cognitive burden of care associated with measuring, calculating, timing, and recording therapy. Only 25% of respondents had high adherence; 28% had low adherence.

Conclusions

When asked to compare the attributes of a non-connected insulin pen with those of a new connected device, 71% of patients rated the new proposal “very useful”. The cognitive burden associated with self-management of diabetes therapy may influence preferences for advanced insulin delivery systems.
Defining the Extent of Mine-Influenced Groundwater in a Mineralized and Agricultural Area Using Multiple Lines of Evidence
Authors: McCulley Bryan , Andrews Charles , Johnson Brian , Riese Arthur C. , Jonas Jim
Published: February 2023

Mine-influenced groundwater (MIW) at a former copper mine site has affected an alluvial aquifer that also contains groundwater with solutes characteristic of natural mineralization and agricultural activities. Many of the solutes are common to at least two of three potential sources, and some solutes (e.g., sulfate and uranium) are common to all three. This precludes the conventional use of one, or several, characteristic solutes to identify the extent of MIW. So, we used five independent lines of evidence (LOE) to define the extent of MIW in the alluvial aquifer. The five LOE are multivariate statistical analysis of an extensive groundwater analyte suite, groundwater sulfur isotope (δ34SSO4) data, probabilistic calculations of groundwater velocity and flow distance, isotopic (3H/3He) estimates of groundwater age, and extent of nitrate in groundwater originating from agricultural activities.
Correlating contexts and NFR conflicts from event logs
Authors: Roy Mandira , Das Souvick , Deb Novarun , Cortesi Agostino , Chaki Rituparna , Chaki Nabendu
Published: February 2023

In the design of autonomous systems, it is important to consider the preferences of the interested parties to improve the user experience. These preferences are often associated with the contexts in which each system is likely to operate. The operational behavior of a system must also meet various non-functional requirements (NFRs), which can present different levels of conflict depending on the operational context. This work aims to model correlations between the individual contexts and the consequent conflicts between NFRs. The proposed approach is based on analyzing the system event logs, tracing them back to the leaf elements at the specification level and providing a contextual explanation of the system’s behavior. The traced contexts and NFR conflicts are then mined to produce Context-Context and Context-NFR conflict sequential rules. The proposed Contextual Explainability (ConE) framework uses BERT-based pre-trained language models and sequential rule mining libraries for deriving the above correlations. Extensive evaluations are performed to compare the existing state-of-the-art approaches. The best-fit solutions are chosen to integrate within the ConE framework. Based on experiments, an accuracy of 80%, a precision of 90%, a recall of 97%, and an F1-score of 88% are recorded for the ConE framework on the sequential rules that were mined.
Exposure to sulfur in soil explains pigmentation by pheomelanin in birds inhabiting Iceland
Authors: Rodríguez-Martínez Sol , Arnalds Ólafur , Guðmundsson Jón , Svavarsdóttir María , Gísladóttir Fanney Ó. , Nielsen Ólafur K. , Galván Ismael
Published: February 2023

Melanins are the most common pigments in birds and mammals. The synthesis of the sulfurated form of melanin, termed pheomelanin, is promoted by high levels of thiols in melanocytes. Exposure to elemental sulfur in the environment can potentially influence intracellular thiol levels in terrestrial animals, but this has never been investigated in the wild. This is particularly relevant in areas with a high volcanic activity that facilitate sulfur exposure. We explored for an association between the pheomelanin content of feathers in 35 breeding birds from 13 phylogenetically diverse species and 29 locations in Iceland, and the sulfur content of nearby soil samples. After controlling for the effect of phylogenetic relatedness between species, we found that the pheomelanin content of feathers was significantly correlated with the sulfur content of soil, indicating that pheomelanin production increases with sulfur exposure. Our results suggest that environmental exposure to relatively high levels of elemental sulfur promotes the expression of pheomelanin-based pigmentation phenotypes in birds, likely by an influence on intracellular thiols during development. This is the first evidence that soil chemistry can affect the phenotype of animals. Highly volcanic areas such as Iceland are thus potential sources of global phenotypic diversity by promoting sulfur exposure in animals.
Artificial intelligence applications for microgrids integration and management of hybrid renewable energy sources
Authors: Talaat M. , Elkholy M. H. , Alblawi Adel , Said Taghreed
Published: February 2023

The integration of renewable energy sources (RESs) has become more attractive to provide electricity to rural and remote areas, which increases the reliability and sustainability of the electrical system, particularly for areas where electricity extension is difficult. Despite this, the integration of hybrid RESs is accompanied by many problems as a result of the intermittent and unstable nature of RESs. The extant literature has discussed the integration of RESs, but it is not comprehensive enough to clarify all the factors that affect the integration of RESs. In this paper, a comprehensive review is made of the integration of RESs. This review includes various combinations of integrated systems, integration schemes, integration requirements, microgrid communication challenges, as well as artificial intelligence used in the integration. In addition, the review comprehensively presents the potential challenges arising from integrating renewable resources with the grid and the control strategies used. The classifications developed in this review facilitate the integration improvement process. This paper also discusses the various optimization techniques used to reduce the total cost of integrated energy sources. In addition, it examines the use of up-to-date methods to improve the performance of the electrical grid. A case study is conducted to analyze the impact of using artificial intelligence when integrating RESs. The results of the case study prove that the use of artificial intelligence helps to improve the accuracy of operation to provide effective and accurate prediction control of the integrated system. Various optimization techniques are combined with ANN to select the best hybrid model. PSO has the fast convergence rate for reaching to the minimum errors as the Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) percentage reaches 1.10% in 3367.50 s.
Automated group motion control of magnetically actuated millirobots
Authors: Razzaghi Pouria , Al Khatib Ehab , Hurmuzlu Yildirim
Published: February 2023

Small-size robots offer access to spaces that are inaccessible to larger ones. This type of access is crucial in applications such as drug delivery, environmental detection, and collection of small samples. However, there are some tasks that are not possible to perform using only one robot including assembly and manufacturing at small scales, manipulation of micro- and nano- objects, and robot-based structuring of small-scale materials. In this article, we focus on tasks that can be achieved using a group of small-scale robots like pattern formation. These robots are typically externally actuated due to their size limitation. Yet, one faces the challenge of controlling a group of robots using a single global input. In this study, we propose a control algorithm to position individual members of a group in predefined positions. In our previous work, we presented a small-scaled magnetically actuated millirobot. An electromagnetic coil system applied external force and steered the millirobots in various modes of motion such as pivot walking and tumbling. In this paper, we propose two new designs of these millirobots. In the first design, the magnets are placed at the center of body to reduce the magnetic attraction force between the millirobots. In the second design, the millirobots are of identical length with two extra legs acting as the pivot points and varying pivot separation in design to take advantage of variable speed in pivot walking mode while keeping the speed constant in tumbling mode. This paper presents an algorithm for positional control of n millirobots with different lengths to move them from given initial positions to final desired ones. This method is based on choosing a leader that is fully controllable. Then, the motions of other millirobots are regulated by following the leader and determining their appropriate pivot separations in order to implement the intended group motion. Simulations and hardware experiments validate these results.
Multi-year landscape-scale efficacy analysis of fluridone treatment of invasive submerged aquatic vegetation in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta
Authors: Khanna Shruti , Gaeta Jereme W. , Conrad J. Louise , Gross Edward S.
Published: February 2023

Invasive aquatic macrophytes are a major threat to estuarine ecosystems globally, posing difficult control challenges for resource managers. This study examined the efficacy of a fluridone treatment program to control invasive submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). We leveraged four datasets to examine efficacy of fluridone treatment in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, a freshwater tidal estuary in California, from 2014 to 2018. Annual SAV coverage maps derived from spectroscopy data were used in conjunction with fluridone application data and water current speed predicted by a 3-D hydrodynamic model of the study system. Our objective was to determine if the probability of SAV occurrence in treated sites was significantly different from untreated sites. We examined whether efficacy was influenced by the amount of herbicide applied at a site, the local current speed, and the treatment history of the site. We found that treatment efficacy was positively associated with the amount of herbicide applied per unit area, but this effect was mediated by a negative association with current speed. The efficacy of treatment did not improve when a site was treated for multiple consecutive years. Finally, we did not detect legacy effects one year after cessation of treatment. Our results suggest the need for careful selection of treatment sites to ensure that the amount of fluridone applied is likely to have significant impact given local current speeds. Our study underscores the need for development of additional treatment methodologies for hydrologically dynamic systems such as estuaries, particularly when control is needed year-round and for multiple years.
Rock climbing affects cliff-plant communities by reducing species diversity and altering species coexistence patterns
Authors: March-Salas Martí , Morales-Armijo Felipe , Hernández-Agüero Juan Antonio , Estrada-Castillón Eduardo , Sobrevilla-Covarrubias Andrea , Arévalo José Ramón , Scheepens J. F. , Lorite Juan
Published: February 2023

Cliffs are unique ecosystems with an outstanding but relatively unknown plant diversity, harboring rare, endemic and threatened species, but also rock-specialist or generalist species that can become locally common and dominant on cliffs. The rising popularity of climbing represents an increasing threat to cliff biota, affecting community composition and potentially diminishing diversity and species associations. We used a novel sampling design of closely-paired climbedversusunclimbed points along the cliff-face. We sampled along climbing routes of different climbing intensities in El Potrero Chico (Nuevo León, Mexico), identifying plant species and analyzing species associations and community composition in climbed and unclimbed plots. Diversity on the sampled cliffs was high, even greater than in other regional ecosystems. We found reduced abundance, cover, and diversity in climbed plots, irrespective of climbing intensity. Dominant species on the sampled cliffs were the most negatively affected by rock climbing in terms of abundance, and some locally rare species, including endemics and endangered species, were entirely absent from climbed plots. Co-occurrence analysis showed that the number of associations between pairs of dominant and common species were greatly reduced in climbed plots, and that positive associations between locally rare species existed in unclimbed plots but not in climbed plots, which may contribute to the disappearance of endemic and threatened species. Finally, NMDS analysis revealed that the community composition changed significantly due to climbing. Our results indicate that conservation science should convince stakeholders of the need for a holistic conservation of cliff ecosystems and not focus solely on emblematic or rare species, since plant community dynamics and preservation depend on interactions between plant species.
Biological degradation and mineralization of tetracycline antibiotic using SBR equipped with a vertical axially rotating biological bed (SBR-VARB)
Authors: Aghapour Ali Ahmad , Alizadeh Nazila , Khorsandi Hassan
Published: February 2023

Tetracycline (TC) is a widely used antibiotic with a complex aromatic chemical structure and is highly resistant to biodegradation. In this study, an SBR equipped with a vertical axially rotating biological bed (SBR-VARB) was used for the biodegradation and mineralization of TC. SBR-VARB showed high efficiency in removing TC (97%), total phenolic compounds (TP) (95%), and COD (85%) under optimal operating conditions (TC = 50 mg/L, HRT = 1.75 d, and OLR = 36 g COD/m3 d). The SBR-VARB was able to treat higher concentrations of TC in shorter HRT than reported in previous studies. The contribution of VARB to improve SBR efficiency in removing TC, TP, and COD was 16, 36, and 48%, respectively. Intermediate compounds formed during the biodegradation of TC were identified using GC–MS under the optimal operating conditions of the bioreactor. These are mainly organic compounds with linear chemical structures. Based on the complete biodegradation of TC under the optimal operating conditions of the bioreactor, 93% and 36% of the chlorine and nitrogen atoms in the chemical structure of TC appeared in the wastewater, respectively. According to the sequence analysis of 16SrDNA, Pseudomonas sp., Kocuria Polaris, and Staphylococcus sp. were identified in the biofilm of VARB and the suspended biomass of the bioreactor. Therefore, SBR-VARB showed high efficiency in the biodegradation and mineralization of TC and can be used as a suitable option for treating wastewater containing antibiotics and other toxic compounds.
Lead or cadmium co-contamination alters benzene and toluene degrading bacterial communities
Authors: Konya Aniko , Fiddler Brice A. , Bunch Olivia , Hess Kendra Z. , Ferguson Cade , Krzmarzick Mark J.
Published: February 2023

Co-contamination of hydrocarbons with heavy metals in soils often complicates and hinders bioremediation. A comprehensive characterization of site-specific degraders at contaminated sites can help determine if in situ bioremediation processes are sufficient. This study aimed to identify differences in benzene and toluene degradation rates and the microbial communities enriched under aerobic conditions when different concentrations of Cd and Pb are introduced. Microcosms were used to study the degradation of 0.23 mM benzene or 0.19 mM toluene under various concentrations of Pb (up to 240 µM) and Cd (up to 440 µM). Soil collected from a stormwater retention basin receiving runoff from a large parking lot was utilized to seed the microcosms. The hydrocarbon degradation time and rates were measured. After further rounds of amendment and degradation of benzene and toluene, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and quantitative PCR were used to ascertain the microbial communities enriched under the various concentrations of the heavy metals. The initial degradation time for toluene and benzene was 7 to 9 days and 10 to 13 days, respectively. Degradation rates were similar for each hydrocarbon despite the concentration and presence of metal co-contaminant, however, the enriched microbial communities under each condition differed. Microcosms without metal co-contaminant contained a diversity of putative benzene and toluene degrading bacteria. Cd strongly reduced the richness of the microbial communities. With higher levels of heavy metals, genera such as Ralstonia, Cupriavidus, Azoarcus, and Rhodococcus became more dominant under various conditions. The study finds that highly efficient benzene- and toluene-degrading consortia can develop under variations of heavy metal co-contamination, but the consortia are dependent on the heavy metal type and concentrations.
Prognostic models in COVID-19 infection that predict severity: a systematic review
Authors: Buttia Chepkoech , Llanaj Erand , Raeisi-Dehkordi Hamidreza , Kastrati Lum , Amiri Mojgan , Meçani Renald , Taneri Petek Eylul , Ochoa Sergio Alejandro Gómez , Raguindin Peter Francis , Wehrli Faina , Khatami Farnaz , Espínola Octavio Pano , Rojas Lyda Z. , de Mortanges Aurélie Pahud , Macharia-Nimietz Eric Francis , Alijla Fadi , Minder Beatrice , Leichtle Alexander B. , Lüthi Nora , Ehrhard Simone , Que Yok-Ai , Fernandes Laurenz Kopp , Hautz Wolf , Muka Taulant
Published: February 2023

Current evidence on COVID-19 prognostic models is inconsistent and clinical applicability remains controversial. We performed a systematic review to summarize and critically appraise the available studies that have developed, assessed and/or validated prognostic models of COVID-19 predicting health outcomes. We searched six bibliographic databases to identify published articles that investigated univariable and multivariable prognostic models predicting adverse outcomes in adult COVID-19 patients, including intensive care unit (ICU) admission, intubation, high-flow nasal therapy (HFNT), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and mortality. We identified and assessed 314 eligible articles from more than 40 countries, with 152 of these studies presenting mortality, 66 progression to severe or critical illness, 35 mortality and ICU admission combined, 17 ICU admission only, while the remaining 44 studies reported prediction models for mechanical ventilation (MV) or a combination of multiple outcomes. The sample size of included studies varied from 11 to 7,704,171 participants, with a mean age ranging from 18 to 93 years. There were 353 prognostic models investigated, with area under the curve (AUC) ranging from 0.44 to 0.99. A great proportion of studies (61.5%, 193 out of 314) performed internal or external validation or replication. In 312 (99.4%) studies, prognostic models were reported to be at high risk of bias due to uncertainties and challenges surrounding methodological rigor, sampling, handling of missing data, failure to deal with overfitting and heterogeneous definitions of COVID-19 and severity outcomes. While several clinical prognostic models for COVID-19 have been described in the literature, they are limited in generalizability and/or applicability due to deficiencies in addressing fundamental statistical and methodological concerns. Future large, multi-centric and well-designed prognostic prospective studies are needed to clarify remaining uncertainties.
Strategies for mitigating N2O and N2 emissions from an intensive sugarcane cropping system
Authors: Friedl Johannes , Warner Daniel , Wang Weijin , Rowlings David W. , Grace Peter R. , Scheer Clemens
Published: February 2023

In sugarcane cropping systems, high rates of N fertiliser are typically applied as sub-surface bands creating localised zones of high mineral N concentrations. This in combination with high levels of crop residue (trash) retention and a warm and humid climate creates conditions that are known to promote soil denitrification, resulting in high emissions of the potent greenhouse gas N2O. These losses illustrate inefficient use of N fertilisers but total denitrification losses in the form of N2 and N2O remain largely unknown. We used the 15N gas flux method to investigate the effect of cane trash removal and the use of the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) on N2 and N2O emissions on a commercial sugarcane farm at Bundaberg, Australia. High gaseous N losses were observed under the standard grower practice where cane trash retention and N fertiliser application (145 kg N ha−1 as urea) resulted in N2 and N2O emissions (36.1 kg N ha−1) from the subsurface N fertiliser band, with more than 50% of these losses emitted as N2O. Cane trash removal reduced N2 emission by 34% and N2O emission by 51%, but had no effect on the N2O/(N2 + N2O) ratio. The use of DMPP lowered N2 and N2O emission by 35% and 98%, respectively, reducing the percentage of these losses (N2 + N2O) emitted as N2O to only 4%. We conclude that the use of DMPP is an effective strategy to reduce N losses, minimise N2O emissions, while keeping the benefits of cane trash retention in sugarcane cropping systems.
Phenolic acids-rich fraction from Ficus drupacea leaves for the prevention and treatment of ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats
Authors: Bakry Sherien M. , Naser Asmaa F. Aboul , Negoumy Sabri I. El , Kassem Mona E. S. , Abdel-Sattar Essam , Meselhy Meselhy R.
Published: February 2023

Bioactivity-guided fractionation of F. drupacea Thunb. extract revealed that the water fraction (FDWF) increased pH of the artificial gastric juice from 1.2 to 5.67 ± 0.015. The gastroprotective effect of FDWF against ulcer induced by ethanol was evaluated in rats. In ulcerogenic rats, increase in the gastric juice volume and ulcer lesions, and decrease in the gastric pH were evident. However, pretreatment with FDWF (100 mg/kg b.wt., p.o.) significantly inhibited lesion index, reduced gastric juice volume by 56.09% and increased gastric pH value. When given after ethanol, the same dose of FDWF led to significant healing of the gastric ulcer, with 75.60% reduction of gastric juice volume, and increase in pH value. In both prophylactic and therapeutic-treated groups, the level of superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione in gastric homogenate were increased, while that of malondialdehyde was decreased. Also, the levels of succinate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase were increased, while that of acid phosphatase was decreased. In addition, the inflammatory markers; IL-10 and PGE2 were significantly increased. The histopathological results confirmed the above findings and indicated that the antiulcer effect of FDWF is mediated, at least in part, through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Twenty-three compounds were tentatively identified in FDWF using UPLC−PDA−ESI–MS/MS and most of them were found to be phenolic acid derivatives. FDWF was standardized to contain 23.66 ± 2.62 mg/g and 8.86 ± 0.29 mg/g of quinic acid and chlorogenic acid, respectively. Accordingly, FDWF is a potential natural product that could increase the healing of gastric mucosal injury and prevents the development of ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats.
Psychological Obsolescence and Subjective Remaining Life Expectancy are Predictors of Generativity in a Six-Year Longitudinal Study
Authors: Hösch Helena S. , Rupprecht Fiona S. , Lang Frieder R.
Published: February 2023

In this research, we explore associations between (changes in) perceived generativity, subjective remaining life expectancy (SRLE), and psychological obsolescence in a longitudinal sample. We hypothesized a higher SRLE and a weaker obsolescence would be concomitants of higher perceived generativity. We also hypothesized that generativity would exhibit intraindividual fluctuation over time, which should relate to intraindividual fluctuation in the respective concomitants. Using multilevel modeling, several concomitants of generativity were investigated. The sample consisted of 518 German participants (aged 18–88 years) who took part in at least two of four measurement waves of the Ageing-as-Future online study spanning over 6 years. There was no mean-level increase or decrease in generativity over the 6-year study period. Despite this absence of linear time trends, individual perceived generativity still fluctuated considerably over time. The model showed that higher individual average SRLE and lower individual average psychological obsolescence resulted in higher average perceived generativity. Individual fluctuations in those constructs coincided likewise, implying that when individual SRLE increased and individual obsolescence decreased between two time points, perceived generativity tended to increase as well. There were significant quadratic, but no linear age effects. The findings suggest that perceived generativity depends not only on chronological age but several other time-related factors. Based on such results, we discuss implications for interventions and future research.
Luminescence mechanisms in the 2V2O5–xLi2O–(98 − x)B2O3 glass matrices developed for creation of glass–ceramic materials
Authors: Chukova O. , Nedilko S. G. , Voitenko T. , Minikayev R. , Paszkowicz W. , Stasiv V. , Zhydachevskyy Y. , Suchocki A.
Published: February 2023

The oxide glass–ceramics is a promising class of solid state materials because they are using thermally stable and chemically inert glass oxide matrices. Development of such efficient glass matrices suitable for creation of glass–ceramic materials for several purposes is an important practical task. ThexLi2O–yV2O5–(100 − x − y)B2O3undoped glass and 47Li2O–2V2O5–50B2O3–1La0.3Eu0.7VO4glass samples with crystalline nanoinclusions were synthesized and investigated using XRD, IR and UV–Vis spectroscopy and UV band-to-band excitation of luminescence. The synthesized glass samples are characterized by wide band photoluminescence emission with maximum at 570 nm and intensity increased with increase of Li2O concentration. The excitation spectra consist of three bands with maxima located at 270, 320 and 365 nm. The observed concentration dependencies of spectral distributions in the absorption and excitation spectra are explained by influence of the lithium ions on a ratio between triborate and tetraborate groups in the glass networks. The assumption is made that the observed wide band photoluminescence emission of the glass matrix can appear as a result of recombination processes between the defects in borate networks and the broken vanadate groups. The crystalline component in the doped glass samples is found to not affect the luminescence properties of the glass matrix. Intensity of narrow band photoluminescence emission of the crystalline component is up to 10 times more intense than that of the glass matrix wide band emission. The synthesized type of the glass matrices has promising characteristics for the use of developed materials in lighting devices, as it allows improving the spectral distribution of light emission towards the white light.
PEGylated Recombinant Adenosine Deaminase Maintains Detoxification and Lymphocyte Counts in Patients with ADA-SCID
Authors: Dorsey Morna J. , Rubinstein Arye , Lehman Heather , Fausnight Tracy , Wiley Joseph M. , Haddad Elie
Published: February 2023

Purpose

Metabolic detoxification with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) promotes immune recovery in patients with adenosine deaminase (ADA)–deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID). Elapegademase is a PEGylated recombinant bovine ADA ERT developed to replace the now-discontinued bovine-derived pegademase. This study was a 1-way crossover from pegademase to elapegademase in 7 patients with ADA-SCID to assess efficacy and safety outcomes for elapegademase.

Methods

After once-weekly pegademase dosage was adjusted to achieve therapeutic metabolic detoxification and trough ADA activity, patients transitioned to a bioequivalent dose of elapegademase. Maintenance of metabolic detoxification and adequate ADA activity were evaluated periodically.

Results

One patient withdrew after 2 doses of an early elapegademase formulation due to injection-site pain caused by EDTA. The 6 remaining patients completed 71−216 weeks of elapegademase therapy with a formulation that did not contain EDTA. In these patients, elapegademase improved ADA activity compared with pegademase and maintained metabolic detoxification. Total lymphocyte counts increased for all completer patients from between 1.2- and 2.1-fold at the end of study compared with baseline. Elapegademase had a comparable safety profile to pegademase; no patient developed a severe infectious complication. Three patients had transient, non-neutralizing antibodies to pegademase, elapegademase, and/or polyethylene glycol ≤ 47 weeks of treatment without effect on trough plasma ADA activity or trough erythrocyte deoxyadenosine nucleotide levels.

Conclusion

Elapegademase was safe, well tolerated, achieved stable trough plasma ADA activity with weekly dosing, was effective in maintaining metabolic detoxification, and was associated with maintenance or improvements in lymphocyte counts compared with pegademase therapy in patients with ADA-SCID.
Anatomy and phylogeny of a new small macraucheniid (Mammalia: Litopterna) from the Bahía Inglesa Formation (late Miocene), Atacama Region, Northern Chile
Authors: Püschel Hans P. , Alarcón-Muñoz Jhonatan , Soto-Acuña Sergio , Ugalde Raúl , Shelley Sarah L. , Brusatte Stephen L.
Published: February 2023

We describe a new macraucheniine macraucheniid,Micrauchenia saladensisgen. et sp. nov., from the late Miocene (Huayquerian SALMA). This is the first litoptern from Bahía Inglesa Formation, Chile. The specimen includes a partial mandible, cervical and thoracic vertebrae fragments, and portions of the forelimbs (a scapula fragment, an ulna-radius fragment, seven carpals, three metapodials, two proximal phalanges and four intermediate phalanges). The postcranial anatomy ofMicrauchenia saladensisis consistent with terrestrial and cursorial locomotion, which suggests an allochthonous position of this specimen within the marine Bahía Inglesa Formation. The fusion of the ulna and radius and the presence of a radial aliform expansion alignMicraucheniawith other macraucheniines, with which it shares these features. We interpret the fusion of the ulna and radius as a cursorial specialization and the aliform expansion as an adaptation for strong flexion movements and to resist higher transverse stresses during locomotion. In addition,Micrauchenia saladensisis the smallest member of the subfamily Macraucheniinae. To test the systematics and phylogenetics of this specimen, we expanded previous morphological matrices of macraucheniids by adding one dental and eight postcranial characters and scoringMicrauchenia saladensis. We performed maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses, the latter applied for the first time to macraucheniid phylogeny. Our analyses confirmMicrauchenia saladensisas a member of the subfamily Macraucheniinae, although with uncertain affinities within this subfamily.
Argumentum Ad Alia: argument structure of arguing about what others have said
Authors: Budzynska Katarzyna , Reed Chris
Published: February 2023

Expertise, authority, and testimony refer to aspects of one of the most important elements of communication and cognition. Argumentation theory recognises various forms of what we call the argumentum ad alia pattern, in which speakers appeal to what others have said, including Position to Know scheme, Witness Testimony scheme, Expert Opinion scheme and the classical ad verecundiam. In this paper we show that ad alia involves more than merely an inferential step from what others (a person in position to know, a witness, an expert) have said, and that studying this type of argumentation requires going beyond the argument structure of propositional contents to account for different speech activities. We also demonstrate that using the words of others, attacking what has been said, and reasoning from how others reason constitute a rich repertoire of communication strategies which we need to model in order to be able to analyse them manually and to process them computationally.
Natural Law, the modeling relation, and two roots of perspectivism
Authors: Weckström Markus Mikael
Published: February 2023

Scientific perspectivism, or perspectival realism, is a view according to which scientific knowledge is neither utterly objective nor independent of the world “as it is”, but always tied to some particular ways of conceptualization and interaction with Nature. In the present paper, I employ Robert Rosen’s concept of the modeling relation for arguing that there are two basic reasons why our knowledge of natural systems is perspectival in this sense. The first of these pertains to the dualism between a system and its environment, which is necessarily imposed by a scientist focusing on the former. The second pertains to the complexity of complex systems; a complex system understood as a system in which different kinds of causal entailments intertwine together. As I discuss in the paper besides developing the argument, perspectivism thus understood ties together several issues ranging from organicism to emergentism and to processual philosophy, and from the ceteris paribus talk of biology to the measurement problem of quantum mechanics. I also discuss Rosen’s relational formalisms as a concrete example of how perspectival epistemology might directly suggest novel strategies and practices of doing theoretical science.
The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of smallholder cattle farmers concerning the epidemiology of bovine fasciolosis in the North West Province, South Africa
Authors: Olaogun Sunday Charles , Fosgate Geoffrey Theodore , Byaruhanga Charles , Marufu Munyaradzi Christopher
Published: February 2023

Bovine fasciolosis has negative impacts on cattle production worldwide, more so on the African continent and especially in smallholder farming areas with limited level of awareness. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning bovine fasciolosis among smallholder cattle farmers in the North West Province of South Africa. A total of 153 farmers were interviewed from three villages of the Moretele Local Municipality in Bojanala District. The majority of respondents were male (84%) farm owners (81%) that had low education levels (56% primary school or less) and employed extensive cattle management systems (84%). A large number of farms lacked infrastructure including calving pens (88%), restraining equipment (85%), and weight determination equipment (92%) while sourcing drinking water for cattle from rivers or dams (58%). No evaluated factors were significantly associated with a positive fasciolosis epidemiological knowledge score. However, education level (P = 0.046), some cattle breeds (P = 0.022), and management system (P < 0.001) of the smallholder farmers were associated with a positive practice score concerning bovine fasciolosis prevention. We therefore recommend that education programs be introduced that focus on the mode of transmission, risk factors, zoonotic importance, and practices associated with the prevention and control of bovine fasciolosis.
Efficacy of a Fine Bubble Diffuser in Enhancing Attached Biofilm Hydrogenotrophic Denitrification Reactor Performance
Authors: Kamei Tatsuru , Narushima Haruna , Kodera Hiroya , Sando Takeo , Rujakom Suphatchai , Eamrat Rawintra , Nakamura Takashi , Nishida Kei
Published: February 2023

The efficacy of a fine bubble (FB) diffuser in enhancing the performance of an attached biofilm hydrogenotrophic denitrification (HD) reactor was evaluated. HD reactors equipped with an FB diffuser (FB reactor) and an air stone (AS) diffuser that produced ordinary bubbles (AS reactor) were operated in parallel at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) in a synthetic groundwater treatment experiment. A reduction in H2consumption of approximately 77% was achieved using the FB diffuser to reach a gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient similar to that of the AS diffuser. The high gas dissolution efficiency of the FB diffuser resulted in an effective nitrogen removal rate (NRR) enhancement, requiring less H2supply. The highest value of NRR at 53.0±9.8 g-N/m3/d was obtained in the FB reactor at a minimum HRT of 3 h, which was two-fold higher than the corresponding value from the AS reactor. The FB reactor also had the lowest requirement of H2for denitrification reaching 0.1 m3-H2/g-N in this condition, which was ten-fold lower than that in the AS reactor. Furthermore, the suspended sludge concentration in the FB reactor was lower than that in the AS reactor, indicating that the application of the FB diffuser can minimize excess suspended sludge accumulation inside the HD reactor. Microbial community analysis showed the predominance ofThaueraspp. reaching a relative abundance of 15.7–27.3% in the FB reactor, suggesting a contribution to the HD. This finding can provide insight into the application of the FB diffuser for optimizing nitrate-contaminated groundwater treatment technology by HD.
Conditions for linear convergence of the gradient method for non-convex optimization
Authors: Abbaszadehpeivasti Hadi , de Klerk Etienne , Zamani Moslem
Published: February 2023

In this paper, we derive a new linear convergence rate for the gradient method with fixed step lengths for non-convex smooth optimization problems satisfying the Polyak-Łojasiewicz (PŁ) inequality. We establish that the PŁ inequality is a necessary and sufficient condition for linear convergence to the optimal value for this class of problems. We list some related classes of functions for which the gradient method may enjoy linear convergence rate. Moreover, we investigate their relationship with the PŁ inequality.
A randomised trial of Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care with social workers
Authors: Maddock Alan , McGuigan Karen , McCusker Pearse
Published: February 2023

The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of a bespoke and innovative six-week online Mindfulness-based Social Work and Self-Care (MBSWSC) programme on the stress, feelings of burnout, anxiety, depression, and well-being of a sample of social workers. This secondary objective was to examine the effectiveness of MBSWSC at improving a number of potentially important mindfulness-based programme mechanisms of action, including mindfulness, attention regulation (decentering), acceptance, self-compassion, non-attachment, aversion, worry and rumination. A randomised controlled trial with repeated measures (pre-post intervention) was conducted to evaluate the effects of MBSWSC against an active control. The active control was a modified mindfulness-based programme which focussed on supporting increases in mindfulness and self-compassion in social workers with a view to improving the same primary study outcomes. Sixty-two participants were randomly allocated to MBSWSC (n = 33) or the active control (n = 29). When compared to the active control group, the MBSWSC programme was found to be significantly superior at improving stress, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and depression. MBSWSC was also superior to the active control at improving acceptance, mindfulness, non-attachment, attention regulation (decentering) and worry of the social workers in this study. The results suggest that MBSWSC is a very useful therapeutic programme, which has the capacity to improve a range of important mental health and well-being outcomes for social workers. The results also indicate that the MBSWSC programme has the capacity to improve a range of important mindfulness-based mechanisms of action.

Trial registration

URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT05519267 (retrospectively registered).
Measuring Adolescents’ Well-Being in Schools: The Adaptation and Translation of the EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-Being—A Validation Study
Authors: Buerger Sarah , Holzer Julia , Yanagida Takuya , Schober Barbara , Spiel Christiane
Published: February 2023

This paper addresses a validation study focusing on the process of adapting the EPOCH measure of adolescent well-being (Kern et al. in Psychol Assess 28(5):586–597. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000201, 2016) to the school context and translating it into German—resulting in the EPOCH-School model (EPOCH-S) with the corresponding measure EPOCH-G-S (EPOCH-German-School). As schools represent an important context for promoting well-being, while at the same time, favorable effects of school-related well-being for adolescent development can be expected, research on school-related well-being is of utmost interest. To provide schools with the information they actually need to promote their students’ well-being, integrative measurements of school-related well-being are important. The EPOCH-G-S is a multidimensional approach to measuring students’ well-being in schools with five factors: Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness. Construct validity and convergent validity of the EPOCH-G-S measure were validated in this study with an Austrian student sample (grade 5 to 12) of N = 1651 students (52.03% males, 47.43% females, 0.55% others, mean age 13.13 years/ SD = 1.89). Validation results are in favor of the EPOCH-G-S as an instrument to assess students’ well-being in school. A second-order model was applied with well-being as a second-order factor and the five specific EPOCH first-order factors. This allows for detecting strengths and weaknesses in students’ well-being profiles and derive needs for intervention. Additional measurement invariance analyses regarding gender and age were conducted.