bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Neuropsychology of Anxiety
Authors: McNaughton Neil , Gray Jeffrey A.
Published: May 2024

The Neuropsychology of Anxiety first appeared in 1982 as the first volume in the Oxford Psychology Series, and it quickly established itself as the classic work on the subject. It and the second edition (appearing in 2000) have been cited at a steadily increasing rate passing 500/year in 2017. The field has continued to expand in the last quarter century necessitating this third edition. This completely updated and revised edition (with many figures updated and converted to colour) retains the original core concepts while expanding and often simplifying details. It includes a new chapter on prefrontal cortex, which integrates frontal and hippocampal views of anxiety and an extensively modified chapter on personality providing a new basis for further developments of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory. This book is essential for postgraduate students and researchers in experimental psychology and neuroscience, as well as for all clinical psychologists and psychiatrists.
Overview
Authors: McNaughton Neil , Gray Jeffrey A.
Published: May 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the need for a neuropsychology of anxiety, for distinction between anxiety and fear, for a definition of ‘anxiety’ via the actions of selective anxiolytic drugs, and for the septo-hippocampal system (SHS) as central to the control a goal inhibition system that underlies adaptive and pathological anxiety. A key hippocampal operation is motivated suppression of goals that can, in excess, deliver anxiety disorder and, when weak, deliver catastrophic hypermnesia. Attraction, repulsion, and goal conflict are controlled by interlinked hierarchical systems, sensitivity of which underlies personality traits that, when extreme, result in psychiatric disorder. The neuropsychology of these systems provides a solution to current problems with psychiatric diagnosis, with the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) of personality, and with understanding of treatment sensitivity, treatment resistance, and comorbidity of disorders.
What do hippocampal cell fields represent?
Authors: McNaughton Neil , Gray Jeffrey A.
Published: May 2024

‘What do hippocampal cell fields represent?’ argues against the conventional idea of ‘place’ fields. Clear eyeblink, time, displace, and other ‘fields’ argue against place per se; as do the failures of the most obvious ‘place’ fields to map to space either externally or in the brain; with ‘remapping’ being inconsistent with any truly spatial metric. As with visual ‘fields’ cell firing is not a good guide to the information coded. Hippocampal cell firing is most easily understood as receipt of efference copies from the firing of distributed cell assemblies that code available goals; with dorsal and ventral hippocampal cells largely echoing firing in the dorsal and ventral cortical trends that code the ‘where’ and ‘what’ of a goal, respectively. Head direction cells, path integration, and topographic mapping in the hippocampus are also discussed.
The neurology of anxiety—planning circuits
Authors: McNaughton Neil , Gray Jeffrey A.
Published: May 2024

‘The neurology of anxiety—planning circuits’ extends the anxiolytic-derived neuropsychology of survival circuits (including hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex) to the goal planning circuits of the prefrontal cortex. It first discusses results from and issues with early work using prefrontal and cingulate lesions as treatments of neurotic disorders and considers the evolution of frontal cortex in the context of the defence hierarchy emphasizing the fact that ‘deeper’ areas are phylogenetically more ancient. It then details the anatomy of the frontal cortex, the importance of active memory in the dorsal and ventral trend perception-action cycles, and details circuits that control goal conflict. It also describes a ‘mesial’ trend linked to internal planning and details the insula as a source of internal monitoring and of the arousal/attention outputs of the Goal Inhibition System (GIS). The final sections integrate these data into a new, extended, 2D theory of planning and survival systems.
Search Engines, Online Archives, and the Right to Erasure (‘Right to be Forgotten’)
Authors: Katsirea Irini
Published: May 2024

The right to erasure/right to be forgotten (RTE/RTBF) has been expansively interpreted in recent years from a tool to counteract search engines’ indelible digital memory to an instrument to reshape the ways in which the past is reflected in online press archives. This chapter examines the impact on press freedom of the RTE/RTBF, as this has been interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights, and national courts in Germany and the UK. It traces the trend of extending the RTBF from its original domain, the activity of search engine providers, to that of publishers of third-party websites, aided by the expansive scope of application of Article 17 GDPR. It identifies the ways in which the courts at both European and national level strike the balance between data protection and freedom of expression, and the factors that swing the pendulum one way or another. The chapter assesses whether the growing entanglement of online news archives in the strictures of data protection law prevents them from fulfilling their function, and undermines the right of the public to be informed.
Regulating Online Newspapers’ Video Content
Authors: Katsirea Irini
Published: May 2024

Video content is a defining element of contemporary news media. It is important to illustrate stories, to render them more compelling, and to increase their shareability. Both social media and the newspapers’ homepage are exceptionally visual platforms. Given that a lot of traffic comes from them, it is necessary to adapt the content creation process to suit these environments. Adverts, especially programmatic ones, follow the audience. Videos are therefore particularly lucrative in terms of the advertising revenue they attract. The increasing appetite for online news video consumption has brought to the fore the porous boundaries between press and broadcasting. While print and broadcast news stem from news organizations with a historically disparate journalistic ethos and regulatory framework, their rapprochement around online news video poses a challenge to these hitherto entrenched divides. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive largely shelters news publishers from audiovisual style regulation as regards video content made available on their websites. Nonetheless, the threat of regulation looms large. This chapter will consider the EU legal framework for online newspapers’ video content before examining the creeping extension of media regulatory authorities’ purview over such content in Germany and the UK.
Instituting Catholic Modernity
Authors: Forlenza Rosario , Thomassen Bjørn
Published: May 2024

This chapter discusses the momentous turn in Italian politics signaled by the writing of the Constitution (which came into effect in 1948). It foregrounds one specific aspect of the Constitution: the way in which the Italian citizen became symbolically coded as a “person” and not as an individual, inspired by Catholic principles. The focus is therefore not so much on the legal dimension of citizenship, or the social consequences of the formulations adopted; it is instead on the underlying semantics and the wider symbolic universe that came to underpin the legal dimensions, trying to give Italy not only an institutional skeleton but also a “spiritual” underpinning, sustained by personalist, Catholic philosophy.
Introduction
Authors: Bluestein Howard B.
Published: May 2024

In this first chapter, the basic physical principles of atmospheric thermodynamics and cloud formation are discussed. What clouds are composed of and how they grow are also described. Cloud classification and their appearance are presented, e.g., clouds may be classified also on the basis of certain aspects of their dynamics, that is, the forces that control them. One would expect that there is some relation between cloud dynamics and their appearance. Clouds that appear bubbly, like “heaps” of cloud material, such as the cumulus and the cumulonimbus, are “convective” in nature. Convective clouds are buoyant and transport heat vertically. Non-convective clouds are relatively flat, and are indicative of a stable atmosphere.
Buoyant Clouds
Authors: Bluestein Howard B.
Published: May 2024

In this chapter, the nature of buoyancy is described along with clouds that are convective, often shallow, and do not produce precipitation. These clouds include stratocumulus, altocumulus and many of its varieties, and cumulus of varying depths, but most not extending throughout the depth of the troposphere. The chapter focuses on convective clouds that either do not grow very high and either do not produce any precipitation that reaches the ground, or do grow very high, but still do not produce precipitation at all, perhaps because it is too dry in the environment. The depth of shallow clouds tends to be much less than their width and they do not usually produce precipitation. It continues with consideration of “deep,” non-precipitating convective clouds, those that are taller than they are wide, but still do not produce any precipitation.
Clouds Influenced by Rotation
Authors: Bluestein Howard B.
Published: May 2024

Clouds that owe their existence to rotating air columns on many spatial scales are described in this chapter. Small-scale features such as tornadoes, funnel clouds, and tubular clouds are detailed in addition to related phenomena such as dust devils, snow devils, and gustnadoes, and larger-scale “comma” clouds. The larger-scale vortices are visualized by cloud material being carried along in their flow and not because the dynamic pressure drop due to rotation is enough to bring the air to saturation, as it is for many of the small-scale vortices. It is rather the cooling due to the lift that is responsible for the hydrostatic pressure drop sufficient to produce clouds in these large-scale vortices. High-based funnel clouds and related phenomena and features in the eyewall of tropical cyclones are also documented.
The Origins of Elected Strongmen
Authors: Frantz Erica , Kendall-Taylor Andrea , Wright Joe
Published: May 2024

Since the end of World War II, democracies typically fell apart by coup d’état or through force. Today, however, they are increasingly eroding at the hands of democratically elected incumbents, who seize control by slowly chipping away at democratic institutions. To better understand these developments, this book examines the role of personalist political parties, or parties that exist primarily to further their leader’s career as opposed to promote a specific policy platform. Using original data capturing levels of personalism in the parties of democratically elected leaders from 1991 to 2020, this book shows that the rise of personalist parties around the globe is facilitating the decline of democracy. Personalist parties lack the incentive and capacity to push back against a leader’s efforts to expand executive power. As such, leaders backed by personalist parties are more likely to succeed in their efforts to dismantle institutional constraints on their rule. Such attacks on state institutions, in turn, reverberate throughout society, deepening political polarization and weakening supporters’ commitment to democratic norms of behaviour. In these ways, ruling party personalism erodes horizontal and vertical constraints on a leader, ultimately degrading democracy and raising the risk of democratic failure.
Prioritizing Global Responsibilities
Authors: Glanville Luke , Pattison James
Published: May 2024

This book examines how states should prioritize their global responsibilities. States face multiple ongoing and emerging challenges, from climate change to global disease, mass atrocities to forced displacement, humanitarian crises to entrenched global poverty, and are constrained by material and political limits to the amount of resources that they can devote to these issues. How should states decide which issues to prioritize and which crises to address? To answer this question, the book proposes a two-level account of just prioritization that aims to be both philosophically sound and practically relevant. It assesses several potential prioritization principles, including diversification, culpability, urgency, disadvantage, and national interest, and argues that states should prioritize issues where they can assist most effectively and where they can help those who are most underprivileged.
Introducing Intentionality
Authors: Horowitz Amir
Published: May 2024

Chapter 1 explicates the concept of intentionality as a concept of a weakly relational property (like that of solubility in water) that relates mental states and (paradigmatically) external entities (whether they exist or not). Intentionality is directedness to standard objects (in contrast to mental ones or Meinongian ones), whereas content is directedness to such objects as possessing properties. The chapter argues against non-relational views of intentionality and then shows that, due to this relational character, intentionality cannot be primitive, but must be reducible to something non-intentional. At the same time, it cannot be understood in terms of (short-armed) functional roles. In this context, an argument against the notion of non-referential narrow content is suggested. The chapter presents formulations of intentional realism and of the version of intentional anti-realism that the book defends, both in metaphysical terms and in terms of content ascriptions.
Social Solidarity with Animals
Authors: Kymlicka Will , Donaldson Sue
Published: May 2024

While there are many examples of humans showing ‘solidarity with’ animals, some commentators have denied that there can be ‘solidarity among’ humans and animals—that is, the sort of solidarity that involves a sense of ‘we-ness’ among participants in a shared norm-governed social world. This chapter defends the possibility—and indeed necessity—of social solidarity particularly in human relations with domesticated animals. It reviews three broad ways that political theorists have interpreted the ethics of social solidarity—rooted respectively in ideas of a scheme of cooperation, a moral covenant, and an intergenerational cultural community—and argues that in each case, domesticated animals can and should be seen as participants in the ‘ethical community’. Indeed, considering the case of domesticated animals can help illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of these different accounts of social solidarity.
Solidarity with Animals at Work
Authors: Coulter Kendra
Published: May 2024

Spaces of work and economic activity cause the most significant and widespread harm to animals so are particularly significant when thinking about how to both understand and promote solidarity with animals. This chapter begins by establishing what ‘animals at work’ means and then reestablishes the importance of the concept of interspecies solidarity as both a process and goal. It expands on earlier analyses and suggests that the principles of equity and care offer complementary and compelling guidance and impetus to deepen and enrich the application of the concept of solidarity. There are three levels within which these ethical priorities can be translated into meaningful, material changes: the interpersonal, the organizational, and the governmental/legislative (or, the micro, meso, and macro level). Some workplace contexts are ethically indefensible and should be replaced through just humane jobs transitions. Others have more positive potential, and, in these cases, interspecies solidarity could result in meaningful changes.
Jainism, Solidarity, and Animals
Authors: Donaldson Brianne
Published: May 2024

While ‘solidarity’ is not a technical term in the ancient India-based canon of the Jain tradition, for over 2500 years practitioners have attempted to coexist nonviolently within a universe overflowing with sentient life. This chapter explores foundations for considering the concept of human–animal solidarity from a Jaina perspective, including its framework of universal sentience with karmic difference, as well as reciprocal suffering and the Jain response of carefulness. Moreover, the tradition’s account of the interchangeability of life forms and conditional human exceptionalism expressed through nonviolence offer a valuable comparison with contemporary debates on ‘political solidarity’ with more-than-human others. In spite of Jainism’s specific context and worldview, its radical commitment not to harm other living beings warrants serious consideration within contemporary scholarship on human–animal–ecological solidarity.
Optimism
Authors: Nagasawa Yujin
Published: May 2024

This chapter addresses the notion of optimism. It takes an important step towards developing a version of the problem of systemic evil which poses a challenge to a variety of people, including many atheists and other non-theists as well as traditional theists. First, the chapter discusses the origin of the term ‘optimism’ and its philosophical background. It then formulates optimism in reference to the axiological value of the world rather than the moral status of actions. By discussing Leibniz’s version of optimism and its alternatives, the chapter reaches a minimal form of optimism called ‘modest optimism’. It then argues that there are philosophical and psychological reasons to think that most atheists/non-theists (as well as traditional theists) would endorse modest optimism.
Disgust
Authors: Heath J. M. F.
Published: May 2024

The judgement of taste is often first and foremost a judgement of distaste or disgust; correspondingly, Clement’s rhetoric in Paed. II–III dwells on disgusting or repellent images of Alexandrian social life. Scholarship on disgust emphasizes its pedagogical significance, because it is a powerful, visceral response that is both biologically and socially grounded. Clement theorizes not the emotion itself, but the rhetorical techniques on which it depends, and he interprets them as distinctive marks of the Pedagogue’s style, which Christianises a style of rhetoric that is manifestly drawn from Classical tradition. We can see how he creatively imitates and participates in this pedagogical voice in Paed. II–III, where he develops a rhetoric of comic disgust, which also provides a negative counterpart to the positive theological images of relationship to God that were presented in Paed. I.
Society
Authors: Heath J. M. F.
Published: May 2024

Bourdieu interpreted taste as fundamentally social, but for him this was a matter of relationship between dominant and dominated social classes. Clement also has a strong social emphasis, but his thinking about social formation is civic in orientation, building on thinking about the politeia in Classical philosophy, Judaism, and earlier Christian tradition. Since the political aspect of Clement’s project has not been well recognized, the first task of the chapter is to establish that there is a significant strand of such interest that threads throughout it, from the Protrepticus through the Paedagogus and the Stromateis. After this, the chapter turns to a more detailed account of the political rhetoric and vision of the Paedagogus, highlighting its characteristic rhetorical topoi and guiding concerns, and showing how Clement transforms philosophical, sophistic, and scriptural discourse in his interpretation of the Christian politeia. The chapter concludes with a discussion of why Bourdieu’s model of class ‘distinction’ is inadequate for Clement’s vision of Christian socio-political difference.
Variations on Territorial Control
Authors: De la Calle Luis , Sánchez-Cuenca Ignacio
Published: May 2024

Case studies give us a broader lens to investigate the adoption of terrorism. Thanks to them, the strategic thinking of the armed groups and how they cope with the constraints of the underground can be examined. The case studies are an important complement to the previous quantitative analysis, highlighting the rebels’ decision-making process as well as the links between asymmetry, control, and tactics. This chapter exploits variation across armed groups with regard to territorial control. Three groups that offer variation on their level of territorial control are compared: a fully underground organization (Tupamaros); an underground group that enjoyed a safe haven or sanctuary (ETA); and an insurgency which, despite seizing territory, often used terrorist tactics (the Shining Path). These illustrations show that the decision for rebels to pick a particular ‘warfare toolkit’ was largely conditional on the balance of power between the contenders.
Concluding Remarks
Authors: De la Calle Luis , Sánchez-Cuenca Ignacio
Published: May 2024

The state of the literature on terrorism changed dramatically during the 2000s, when the 9/11 attacks, plus the availability of datasets on terrorism, increased exponentially the interest in the topic. Unfortunately, most of the new research had shaky theoretical and empirical foundations. The contribution of this book is examined under this light. The internal consistency and the unifying power of the understanding of terrorism as underground violence are emphasized. The conclusions also insist on the testable consequences that follow from the proposed conceptualization. The book closes with some proposals for a future research agenda. These refer to the study of clandestinity and territorial control, rebels’ transition from one stage to another, their use of different tactics and targets, recruitment and rebel survival, and, finally, a state’s choice of terrorist tactics.
An Explanation of the Essential Publicity of Practical Reasons
Authors: Ayars Alisabeth
Published: May 2024

This chapter argues that practical reasons are essentially public in the following sense: If R is a reason for X to Φ, then R is necessarily a reason for other people not to interfere with X’s Φ-ing. It derives the Publicity Thesis from an independently motivated non-cognitivist account of normative judgment. If the non-cognitivist view is correct, anyone who judges that R is a reason for X to Φ is committed by the nature of normative judgment to regarding R as a reason for others not to interfere. Hence practical reasons must be regarded as public by anyone who thinks about them.
Why Plan-Expressivists Can’t Pick Up the Moral Slack
Authors: Shea Margaret
Published: May 2024

This chapter raises two problems for plan-expressivism concerning normative judgments about non-corealizable actions: actions which cannot both be performed. First, plan-expressivists associate normative judgment with an attitude which satisfies a corealizability constraint, but this constraint is (in the interpersonal case) unwarranted, and (in the intrapersonal case) warranted only at the price of a contentious normative premise. Alisabeth Ayars (2022) holds that the pair of judgments ‘A should φ’ and ‘B should ψ’ is coherent only if one believes that A can φ while B ψs. But this is false. Both Allan Gibbard (2003) and Ayars hold that the pair of judgments ‘A should φ’ and ‘A should ψ’ is coherent only if one believes that A can φ and ψ. But this assumes possibilism. Second, the chapter demonstrates, cases involving interpersonal non-corealizability prompt judgments about what multiple agents should do which—contra Gibbard—are not plausibly associated with any planning subject.
Corruption According to Accounts for Foreigners
Authors: Ergene Boğaç A.
Published: May 2024

This chapter examines accounts composed between the late sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries primarily for Western audiences. It shows how the authors of these texts considered predatory practices in the Ottoman polity in relation to their backgrounds, audiences, political worldviews, and genre-specific expectations. One contribution of the chapter is to demonstrate the wide variation in the ways in which the accounts characterized Ottoman corruption. While some saw the relevant practices as appalling and outrageous, others considered them comparable to European patterns. The chapter also highlights the ethnographic material in the accounts concerning legal and bureaucratic processes not well represented in the native sources. Thus, many relevant observations in these texts complement our impressions of state-society relations, prevalent patterns of abuse, and how various parties resisted oppressive extractive pressures by state agents.
Gifts as Bribes
Authors: Ergene Boğaç A.
Published: May 2024

Chapter 7 focuses on the vague relationship between gifts and bribes. The discussion is informed by the anthropological research on gift exchange and reciprocity, and the historical scholarship focused on Ottoman and broader Middle Eastern contexts. Drawing on insights from these fields, the chapter resists the inclination to distinguish gifts and bribes in the premodern Ottoman society in black-and-white terms. While such attempts to separate gifts from bribes did exist then and continue to exist in modern scholarship, the chapter insists that the shared (economic, political) functions that gifts and bribes served often eclipsed their distinctive qualities in practice. In the Ottoman context, calling an exchange a “gift” or a “bribe” in a mutually exclusive way may have often reflected judgments about the performative aspects of the act or stemmed from the subjective positions of the actors using these labels.
A pgr5 suppressor screen uncovers two distinct suppression mechanisms and links cytochrome b6f complex stability to PGR5
Authors: Penzler Jan-Ferdinand , Naranjo Belén , Walz Sabrina , Marino Giada , Kleine Tatjana , Leister Dario
Published: May 2024

PROTON GRADIENT REGULATION5 (PGR5) is thought to promote cyclic electron flow, and its deficiency impairs photosynthetic control and increases photosensitivity of photosystem (PS) I, leading to seedling lethality under fluctuating light (FL). By screening for Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) suppressor mutations that rescue the seedling lethality of pgr5 plants under FL, we identified a portfolio of mutations in 12 different genes. These mutations affect either PSII function, cytochrome b6f (cyt b6f) assembly, plastocyanin (PC) accumulation, the CHLOROPLAST FRUCTOSE-1,6-BISPHOSPHATASE1 (cFBP1), or its negative regulator ATYPICAL CYS HIS-RICH THIOREDOXIN2 (ACHT2). The characterization of the mutants indicates that the recovery of viability can in most cases be explained by the restoration of PSI donor side limitation, which is caused by reduced electron flow to PSI due to defects in PSII, cyt b6f, or PC. Inactivation of cFBP1 or its negative regulator ACHT2 results in increased levels of the NADH dehydrogenase-like complex. This increased activity may be responsible for suppressing the pgr5 phenotype under FL conditions. Plants that lack both PGR5 and DE-ETIOLATION-INDUCED PROTEIN1 (DEIP1)/NEW TINY ALBINO1 (NTA1), previously thought to be essential for cyt b6f assembly, are viable and accumulate cyt b6f. We suggest that PGR5 can have a negative effect on the cyt b6f complex and that DEIP1/NTA1 can ameliorate this negative effect.
Plasticity of the Arabidopsis leaf lipidome and proteome in response to pathogen infection and heat stress
Authors: Scholz Patricia , Doner Nathan M , Gutbrod Katharina , Herrfurth Cornelia , Niemeyer Philipp W , Lim Magdiel S S , Blersch Katharina F , Schmitt Kerstin , Valerius Oliver , Shanklin John , Feussner Ivo , Dörmann Peter , Braus Gerhard H , Mullen Robert T , Ischebeck Till
Published: May 2024

Plants must cope with a variety of stressors during their life cycle, and the adaptive responses to these environmental cues involve all cellular organelles. Among them, comparatively little is known about the contribution of cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) and their core set of neutral lipids and associated surface proteins to the rewiring of cellular processes in response to stress. Here, we analyzed the changes that occur in the lipidome and proteome of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves after pathogen infection with Botrytis cinerea or Pseudomonas syringae, or after heat stress. Analyses were carried out in wild-type plants and the oil-rich double mutant trigalactosyldiacylglycerol1-1 sugar dependent 1-4 (tgd1-1 sdp1-4) that allowed for an allied study of the LD proteome in stressed leaves. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based methods, we showed that a hyperaccumulation of the primary LD core lipid TAG is a general response to stress and that acyl chain and sterol composition are remodeled during cellular adaptation. Likewise, comparative analysis of the LD protein composition in stress-treated leaves highlighted the plasticity of the LD proteome as part of the general stress response. We further identified at least two additional LD-associated proteins, whose localization to LDs in leaves was confirmed by confocal microscopy of fluorescent protein fusions. Taken together, these results highlight LDs as dynamic contributors to the cellular adaptation processes that underlie how plants respond to environmental stress.
Tracking and optimizing toxic chemical exposure pathways through food trade: A case study in SCCPs contaminated seafood in China
Authors: Song Shijie , Huang Tao , Xu Yuting , Ling Zaili , Gou Ling , Mao Xiaoxuan , Zhao Yuan , Chen Kaijie , Liu Yao , Wei Zijian , Wang Jiaxin , Gao Hong , Ma Jianmin
Published: May 2024

Food safety is related to human health and sustainable development. International food trade poses food safety risks through the collateral transport of toxic chemicals that are detrimental to human health. Domestic interprovincial trade has similar effects within countries but has not been comprehensively investigated previously. Here, we assessed the effects of interprovincial trade on food safety and human dietary exposure to short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), a group of emerging persistent toxic chemicals, in seafood across China by synthesizing data from field observation and various models. Our findings indicate that there is a higher level of SCCPs exposure risk in coastal provinces compared to inland provinces. Approximately, 70.3% of human exposure to SCCPs through seafood consumption in China was embodied in the interprovincial seafood trade in 2021. Specifically, the domestic trade led to a remarkable increase in SCCPs exposure in the coastal provinces in South China, attributable to low SCCPs pollution in these provinces and imported seafood from those provinces with high SCCPs pollution. In contrast, human exposure to SCCPs decreased in those coastal provinces in East China due to importing seafood from those provinces with low SCCPs concentrations. The interprovincial seafood trade routes were optimized by linear programming to minimize human exposure to SCCPs considering both shipping cost and health risk constraints. The optimized trade routes reduced the national per capita SCCPs exposure through seafood consumption by over 12%. This study highlights the importance of interprovincial food trade in the risk assessment of toxic chemicals.
Integrative analysis of transcriptome, DNA methylome, and chromatin accessibility reveals candidate therapeutic targets in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Gao Junpeng , Liu Mengya , Lu Minjie , Zheng Yuxuan , Wang Yan , Yang Jingwei , Xue Xiaohui , Liu Yun , Tang Fuchou , Wang Shuiyun , Song Lei , Wen Lu , Wang Jizheng
Published: May 2024

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart disease and is characterized by primary left ventricular hypertrophy usually caused by mutations in sarcomere genes. The mechanism underlying cardiac remodeling in HCM remains incompletely understood. An investigation of HCM through integrative analysis at multi-omics levels will be helpful for treating HCM. DNA methylation and chromatin accessibility, as well as gene expression, were assessed by nucleosome occupancy and methylome sequencing (NOMe-seq) and RNA-seq, respectively, using the cardiac tissues of HCM patients. Compared with those of the controls, the transcriptome, DNA methylome, and chromatin accessibility of the HCM myocardium showed multifaceted differences. At the transcriptome level, HCM hearts returned to the fetal gene program through decreased sarcomeric and metabolic gene expression and increased extracellular matrix gene expression. In the DNA methylome, hypermethylated and hypomethylated differentially methylated regions were identified in HCM. At the chromatin accessibility level, HCM hearts showed changes in different genome elements. Several transcription factors, including SP1 and EGR1, exhibited a fetal-like pattern of binding motifs in nucleosome-depleted regions in HCM. In particular, the inhibition of SP1 or EGR1 in an HCM mouse model harboring sarcomere mutations markedly alleviated the HCM phenotype of the mutant mice and reversed fetal gene reprogramming. Overall, this study not only provides a high-precision multi-omics map of HCM heart tissue but also sheds light on the therapeutic strategy by intervening in the fetal gene reprogramming in HCM.
Protest and Legislative Behavior in Perilous Times
Authors: Minnite Lorraine C
Published: May 2024

A long-standing tradition in the study of social movements documents the multitude of ways protest “matters” for policy and politics. LaGina Gause's book, The Advantage of Disadvantage makes a contribution to this literature. Gause develops a formal theory of the influence of protest on legislative behavior and representation and tests it with data from a range of empirical sources. She finds that protest is most effective for disadvantaged groups. What is admirable here is the attempt to integrate the study of social movements with the study of legislative behavior. But limitations that result from an exclusive reliance on quantitative analysis ultimately weaken the strength of her claims. That said, given the proliferation of protest movements around the world, we need to better understand how movement politics influence legislative politics. This is especially true for the mature democracies of the West where Far Right, nationalist, racist, and fascist movements seek to move from fringe to center by manipulating the institutions of electoral politics to undermine democracy itself. The review article concludes with thoughts on an expanded inquiry into the dynamics of contention of today's rightwing political movements.
Consumption Quality and Employment Across the Wealth Distribution
Authors: Ferraro Domenico , Valaitis Vytautas
Published: May 2024

In the U.S., market hours worked are approximately flat across the wealth distribution. Accounting for this phenomenon is a standing challenge for standard heterogeneous-agent macro models. In these models, wealthier households consume more and work fewer hours. We propose a theory that generates the cross-sectional wealth-hours relation as in the data. We quantify this theory in a heterogeneous-agent incomplete-markets model with three key features: a quality choice in consumption, non-homothetic preferences, and a multi-sector production structure. We show that the model produces consumption expenditure patterns consistent with the data and realistic “quality Engel curves”.
B cell depletion after treatment with rituximab predicts relapse of IgG4-related disease
Authors: Lanzillotta Marco , Ramirez Giuseppe Alvise , Milani Raffaella , Dagna Lorenzo , Della-Torre Emanuel
Published: May 2024

Objectives

B cell depletion therapy with rituximab is effective in most patients with IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) but requires repeated cycles to prevent disease flares. We here aimed to assess B cells after rituximab to predict relapse of IgG4-RD and guide retreatment.

Methods

Patients with active IgG4-RD included in this retrospective study fulfilled the ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria. Total CD19+ B cells, plasmablasts, naïve and memory B cells were measured on peripheral blood by flow-cytometry at baseline and 6 months after rituximab. All patients were treated with two 1 g infusions of rituximab 15 days apart and monitored for 48 months. Disease response was assessed using the IgG4-RD Responder Index.

Results

Thirty-three patients were included. Six months after rituximab, disease response was observed in all patients. Complete depletion of CD19+ B cells, plasmablasts, naïve and memory B cell depletion was achieved in 30%, 55%, 39% and 42% of cases, respectively. Twenty-three relapses (70%) were observed at a median time of 24 months after rituximab. Relapse rate was significantly higher in patients who failed to achieve complete depletion of CD19+ cells (60% vs 17%, P = 0.02), naïve B cells (54% vs 15%, P = 0.01), or memory B cells (50% vs 16%, P = 0.03) 6 months after rituximab. The median relapse free survival time was shorter in patients who failed to achieve complete depletion of CD19+ cells (19 vs 38 months, P = 0.02), naïve B cells (16 vs 38 months, P = 0.01), or memory B cells (19 vs 38 months, P = 0.03) 6 months after rituximab.

Conclusion

The degree of B cell depletion 6 months after rituximab may predict disease flare and may instruct on the pacing of B cell depletion therapy in IgG4-RD.
Prospective assessment of glucocorticoid toxicity in rheumatology practice: a focus on the glucocorticoid toxicity index
Authors: Bahap-Kara Melda , Sariyildiz Emine , Zengin Hatice Yagmur , Karadag Omer , Bayraktar-Ekincioglu Aygin
Published: May 2024

Objective

The glucocorticoid toxicity index (GTI) is developed to measure glucocorticoid (GC)-related morbidity over time. This study aimed to assess GC-toxicity in patients at a rheumatology outpatient clinic by using the GTI and to identify the factors that interfere with the GTI.

Methods

This prospective study included patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA), connective tissue disease and vasculitis who were newly prescribed GC-treatment (GC-naive) or have been still on GC-treatment for ≤2 years (GC-experienced). Patient demographics and disease characteristics, aggregate improvement score (GTI-AIS), cumulative worsening score (GTI-CWS) and cumulative GC-doses were recorded at baseline, 3rd month and 6th month. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to evaluate the GTI scores and associated factors including cumulative GC-doses.

Results

The study included 156 (48.7% GC-naive) patients with a mean age of 49.1 ± 17.1 years. More than half of the patients in both groups had a diagnosis of vasculitis. A higher cumulative GC-dose was found to be associated with higher GTI-scores in both groups (P < 0.001). In the GC-naive group, patients with vasculitis showed higher GTI-scores than IA patients (P < 0.001); there was also a significant increase in the GTI-CWS at the 6th month compared with the 3rd month. In the GC-experienced group, GTI-AIS and GTI-CWS were significantly different at 3rd and 6th month (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

It was shown that GTI scores were associated with cumulative GC-doses and vasculitis patients in the GC-naive patients had higher GTI scores than inflammatory arthritis. The GTI allows individualized assessment and management of adverse effects experienced by patients as a result of GC treatment.
Combination of scavenger receptor-A with anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Wei Chaonan , Wang Ping , Zhang Jian , Jiang Xiang , Xie Yang , Li Yingni , Zhang Wei , Du Yan , Zheng Xi , Fang Xiangyu , Liu Shuyan , Cao Lulu , Yao Ranran , Jin Xu , Zhu Danxue , Wu Huaxiang , Wang Yongfu , Li Zhanguo , Hu Fanlei
Published: May 2024

Objectives

The routine biomarkers for RA, including anti-CCP, RF, IgM, ESR and CRP, have limited sensitivity and specificity. Scavenger receptor-A (SR-A) is a novel RA biomarker identified recently by our group, especially for seronegative RA. Here, we performed a large-scale, multicentre study to further assess the diagnostic value of SR-A in combination with other biomarkers for RA.

Methods

The performance of SR-A in combination with other biomarkers for RA diagnosis was first revealed by a pilot study, and was further elucidated by a large-scale, multicentre study. A total of 1129 individuals from three cohorts were recruited in the study, including RA patients, healthy controls and patients with other common rheumatic diseases. Diagnostic properties were evaluated by the covariate-adjusted receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity and clinical association.

Results

Large-scale multicentre analysis showed that SR-A and anti-CCP dual combination was the optimal method for RA diagnosis, increasing the sensitivity of anti-CCP by 13% (87% vs 74%) while maintaining a specificity of 90%. In early RA patients, SR-A and anti-CCP dual combination also showed promising diagnostic value, increasing the sensitivity of anti-CCP by 7% (79% vs 72%) while maintaining a specificity of 94%. Moreover, SR-A and anti-CCP dual combination was correlated with ESR, IgM and autoantibodies of RA patients, further revealing its clinical significance.

Conclusion

SR-A and anti-CCP dual combination could potentially improve early diagnosis of RA, thus improving the prognosis and reducing mortality.
Polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis has a distinct co-inhibitor receptor profile
Authors: Sag Erdal , Balik Zeynep , Demir Selcan , Akca Kaya Ummusen , Sener Seher , Kasap Cuceoglu Muserref , Atalay Erdal , Bocutcu Sena , Vural Tayfun , Tasdemir Nur Kubra , Aydin Busra , Bilginer Yelda , Deleuran Bent , Ozen Seza
Published: May 2024

Objectives

JIA is the most common rheumatic disease of childhood; the pathogenesis is associated with T-cell activation. T-cell activation can be counterbalanced by signals generated by inhibitory receptors (IRs) such as CTLA-4, PD-1, LAG-3 and TIM-3. Here, we identify the role of IRs in the pathogenesis of different JIA subtypes.

Methods

In total, we included 67 oligoarticular JIA, 12 IgM-RF negative polyarticular JIA, 17 enthesitis-related arthritis, 11 systemic JIA patients and 10 healthy controls. We collected plasma (and SF) samples from the patients either at the onset or during a flare of their disease. We measured the soluble levels of co-IRs (IL-2Rα, 4-1BB, CD86, TGF-β1, CTLA-4, PD-L1, PD-1, TIM-3, LAG- 3, Galectin-9) by cytometric bead array kits and their cellular expression (PD-1, CTLA-4, TIM-3, LAG-3) by flow cytometry. We compared the plasma levels and cellular expressions of different co-IRs within different JIA subgroups.

Results

The polyarticular JIA group was different from the three other examined JIA subgroups, having higher levels of plasma sCTLA-4 (P < 0.001), sPD-1 (P < 0.05) and s4-1BB (P < 0.05) when compared with the other JIA subgroups and healthy controls. We analysed the cellular surface expression of different co-IRs on the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of different JIA subtypes. Similar to plasma levels, both the percentage (P < 0.05) and the mean fluorescence intensity (P < 0.01) of CTLA4 expression were higher in the polyarticular JIA subgroup.

Conclusion

This is the first report studying the expression profile of different co-IRs in different subtypes of JIA. Polyarticular JIA patients had a different co-IR profile, having more CTLA-4, PD-1 and 4-1BB in their plasma than the other subtypes of JIA.
Pharmacological Treatment of Cognitive Impairment Associated With Schizophrenia: State of the Art and Future Perspectives
Authors: Vita Antonio , Nibbio Gabriele , Barlati Stefano
Published: May 2024

Cognitive Impairment Associated with Schizophrenia (CIAS) represents one of the core dimensions of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD), with an important negative impact on real-world functional outcomes of people living with SSD. Treatment of CIAS represents a therapeutic goal of considerable importance, and while cognition-oriented evidence-based psychosocial interventions are available, effective pharmacological treatment could represent a game-changer in the lives of people with SSD. The present critical review reports and discusses the evidence regarding the effects of several pharmacological agents that are available in clinical practice or are under study, commenting on both current and future perspectives of CIAS treatment. In particular, the effects on CIAS of antipsychotic medications, anticholinergic medications, benzodiazepines, which are currently commonly used in the treatment of SSD, and of iclepertin, d-serine, luvadaxistat, xanomeline-trospium, ulotaront, anti-inflammatory molecules, and oxytocin, which are undergoing regulatory trials or can be considered as experimental agents, will be reported and discussed. Currently, available pharmacological agents do not appear to provide substantial benefits on CIAS, but accurate management of antipsychotic medications and avoiding treatments that can further exacerbate CIAS represent important strategies. Some molecules that are currently being investigated in Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials have provided very promising preliminary results, but more information is currently required to assess their effectiveness in real-world contexts and to provide clear recommendations regarding their use in clinical practice. The results of ongoing and future studies will reveal whether any of these molecules represents the awaited pharmacological game-changer in the treatment of CIAS.
Integrative taxonomy of new neomphaloidean gastropods from deep-sea hot vents of the southwestern Pacific
Authors: Chen Chong , Poitrimol Camille , Matabos Marjolaine
Published: May 2024

Neomphaloidean gastropods are endemic to chemosynthesis-based ecosystems ranging from hot vents to organic falls, and their diversity and evolutionary history remain poorly understood. In the southwestern Pacific, deep-sea hydrothermal vents on back-arc basins and volcanic arcs are found in three geographically secluded regions: a western region around Manus Basin, an eastern region around North Fiji and Lau Basins, and the intermediate Woodlark Basin where active venting was confirmed only recently, on the 2019 R/V L’Atalante CHUBACARC expedition. Although various lineages of neomphaloidean snails have been detected, typically restricted to one of the three regions, some of these have remained without names. Here, we use integrative taxonomy to describe three of these species: the neomphalid Symmetromphalus mithril sp. nov. from Woodlark Basin and the peltospirids Symmetriapelta becki sp. nov. from the eastern region and Symmetriapelta radiata sp. nov. from Woodlark Basin. A combination of shell sculpture and radular characters allow the morphological separation of these new species from their described congeners. A molecular phylogeny reconstructed from 570 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene confirmed the placement of the three new species in their respective genera and the superfamily Neomphaloidea. The finding of these new gastropods, particularly the ones from the Woodlark Basin, provides insights and implications on the historical role of Woodlark as a dispersing centre, in addition to highlighting the uniqueness of the Woodlark faunal community.