bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Necessary and sufficient conditions for 𝑛-times Fréchet differentiability on 𝒮^{𝓅}, 1<𝓅<∞
Authors: Le Merdy Christian , McDonald Edward
Published: March 2021

Let

1
>
p
>
∞

1>p>\infty

and let

n
≥
1

n\geq 1

. It is proved that a function

f
:

R

→

C

f:\mathbb {R}\to \mathbb {C}

is

n
n

-times Fréchet differentiable on

S

p

\mathcal {S}^p

at every self-adjoint operator if and only if

f
f

is

n
n

-times differentiable,

f
′

,
f
,
…
,

f

(
n
)

f’,f,\ldots ,f^{(n)}

are bounded and

f

(
n
)

f^{(n)}

is uniformly continuous.
Spectral analysis near a Dirac type crossing in a weak non-constant magnetic field
Authors: Cornean Horia , Helffer Bernard , Purice Radu
Published: March 2021

This is the last paper in a series of three in which we have studied the Peierls substitution in the case of a weak magnetic field. Here we deal with two

2
d

2d

Bloch eigenvalues which have a conical crossing. It turns out that in the presence of an almost constant weak magnetic field, the spectrum near the crossing develops gaps which remind of the Landau levels of an effective mass-less magnetic Dirac operator.
Nigerian Soldiers On The War Against Boko Haram
Authors: Oriola Temitope B
Published: March 2021

This study explores two main questions: What are the experiences of soldiers who have fought against Boko Haram? What can these experiences teach us about the seeming incapacity of the Nigerian military to defeat Boko Haram? Six major themes are explored. These are perspectives on the mission, morale of troops, military equipment and weapons, suicide and murder–suicide among troops, intelligence leaks, and relationships of troops with the Civilian Joint Task Force, an extralegal militia. Soldiers’ discourses on the mission against Boko Haram reveal three overlapping dimensions. First, there are suspicions about the sponsors and political godfathers of Boko Haram. This suggests a belief that Boko Haram is a conspiracy involving the government and top brass of the military. Second, the patronage system involved in deployment into key positions on the war front. Third, participants believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged because it is a moneymaking machinery for the political and military elites. The evidence suggests that availability of weapons varies by unit and the agency of commanders—their networks and influence within the military and willingness to disobey orders from superiors if their demands are not met. This situation produces radically variegated wartime experiences among troops. Non-commissioned soldiers believe senior commissioned officers perpetrate intelligence leaks and are responsible for the protracted war. Senior Army Generals interviewed in this study support this perspective. The study has major policy implications for successful operations against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin area and the broader war against terrorism in the Sahel.
A Single-Center Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Tolerability of Four Microneedling Treatments on Fine Lines and Wrinkles of Facial and Neck Skin in Subjects With Fitzpatrick Skin Types I-IV: An Objective Assessment Using Noninvasive Devices and 0.33-mm Microbiopsies
Authors: Wamsley Christine E , Kislevitz Mikaela , Barillas Jennifer , Basci Deniz , Kandagatla Vishal , Hitchcock Thomas , Akgul Yucel , Kenkel Jeffrey
Published: March 2021

Background

Although ablative techniques are the standard of care for the treatment of fine lines and wrinkles, microneedling offers a minimally invasive alternative.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of microneedling on facial and neck fine lines and wrinkles.

Methods

Thirty-five subjects between 44 and 65 years old with Fitzpatrick skin types I to IV received 4 monthly microneedling treatments over the face and neck. Subjects returned 1 and 3 months posttreatment. At every visit, high-resolution ultrasonography and optical coherence tomography were performed, and transepidermal water loss and skin elasticity were measured. Microbiopsies (0.33 mm) were collected pretreatment, before the fourth treatment and 3 months posttreatment.

Results

Thirty-two subjects (30 females, 2 males) completed all 7 visits. Facial dermal and epidermal density increased 101.86% and 19.28%, respectively, from baseline at 3 months posttreatment. Facial elasticity increased 28.2% from baseline at 3 months posttreatment. Facial attenuation coefficient increased 15.65% and 17.33% at 1 and 3 months posttreatment, respectively. At study completion, blood flow at a depth of 300 µm decreased 25.8% in the face and 42.3% in the neck. Relative collagen type III and elastin gene expression was statistically higher 3 months posttreatment. However, total elastin protein levels were unchanged from baseline values. Dermal muscle formation was observed in 58% of biopsies extracted 3 months posttreatment compared with 15.3% at baseline.

Conclusions

The results illustrate the effects of microneedling treatments. Noninvasive measurements and biopsy data showed changes in skin architecture and collagen/elastin gene expression, suggesting skin rejuvenation, with new extracellular matrix production and muscle formation.

Level of Evidence: 3
DisBalance: a platform to automatically build balance-based disease prediction models and discover microbial biomarkers from microbiome data
Authors: Yang Fenglong , Zou Quan
Published: March 2021

How best to utilize the microbial taxonomic abundances in regard to the prediction and explanation of human diseases remains appealing and challenging, and the relative nature of microbiome data necessitates a proper feature selection method to resolve the compositional problem. In this study, we developed an all-in-one platform to address a series of issues in microbiome-based human disease prediction and taxonomic biomarkers discovery. We prioritize the interpretation, runtime and classification accuracy of the distal discriminative balances analysis (DBA-distal) method in selecting a set of distal discriminative balances, and develop DisBalance, a comprehensive platform, to integrate and streamline the workflows of disease model building, disease risk prediction and disease-related biomarker discovery for microbiome-based binary classifications. DisBalance allows the de novo model-building and disease risk prediction in a very fast and convenient way. To facilitate the model-driven and knowledge-driven discoveries, DisBalance dedicates multiple strategies for the mining of microbial biomarkers. The independent validation of the models constructed by the DisBalance pipeline is performed on seven microbiome datasets from the original article of DBA-distal. The implementation of the DisBalance platform is demonstrated by a complete analysis of a shotgun metagenomic dataset of Ulcerative Colitis (UC). As a free and open-source, DisBlance can be accessed at http://lab.malab.cn/soft/DisBalance. The source code and demo data for Disbalance are available at https://github.com/yangfenglong/DisBalance.
Conditional canonical correlation estimation based on covariates with random forests
Authors: Alakuş Cansu , Larocque Denis , Jacquemont Sébastien , Barlaam Fanny , Martin Charles-Olivier , Agbogba Kristian , Lippé Sarah , Labbe Aurélie
Published: March 2021

Motivation

Investigating the relationships between two sets of variables helps to understand their interactions and can be done with canonical correlation analysis (CCA). However, the correlation between the two sets can sometimes depend on a third set of covariates, often subject-related ones such as age, gender or other clinical measures. In this case, applying CCA to the whole population is not optimal and methods to estimate conditional CCA, given the covariates, can be useful.

Results

We propose a new method called Random Forest with Canonical Correlation Analysis (RFCCA) to estimate the conditional canonical correlations between two sets of variables given subject-related covariates. The individual trees in the forest are built with a splitting rule specifically designed to partition the data to maximize the canonical correlation heterogeneity between child nodes. We also propose a significance test to detect the global effect of the covariates on the relationship between two sets of variables. The performance of the proposed method and the global significance test is evaluated through simulation studies that show it provides accurate canonical correlation estimations and well-controlled Type-1 error. We also show an application of the proposed method with EEG data.

Availability and implementation

RFCCA is implemented in a freely available R package on CRAN (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=RFCCA).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Differentially Private Publication For Correlated Non-Numerical Data
Authors: Wang Hao , Wang Huan
Published: March 2021

Differential privacy has made a significant progress in numerical data preserving. Compared with numerical data, non-numerical data (e.g. entity object) are also widely applied in intelligent processing tasks. But non-numerical data may reveal more user’s privacy. Recently, researchers attempt to take advantage of the exponential mechanism of differential privacy to solve this challenge. Nonetheless, exponential mechanism has a drawback in correlated data protection, which can not achieve expected privacy degree. To remedy this issue, in this paper, an effective correlated non-numerical data release mechanism is proposed by defining the notion of Correlation-Indistinguishability and designing a correlated exponential mechanism to realize Correlation-Indistinguishability in practice. Inspired by the concept of indistinguishability, Correlation-Indistinguishability can guarantee the correlations of the probability distributions between the output distribution and original data the same to an adversary. In addition, we would rather let two Gaussian white samples pass through a designed filter, to realize the definition of Correlation-Indistinguishability, than using independent exponential variables. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that our mechanism outperforms current schemes in terms of security and utility for frequent items mining.
A New Code-Based Blind Signature Scheme
Authors: Chen Siyuan , Zeng Peng , Choo Kim-Kwang Raymond
Published: March 2021

Blind signature is an important cryptographic primitive with widespread applications in secure e-commerce, for example to guarantee participants’ anonymity. Existing blind signature schemes are mostly based on number-theoretic hard problems, which have been shown to be solvable with quantum computers. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) began in 2017 to specify a new standard for digital signatures by selecting one or more additional signature algorithms, designed to be secure against attacks carried out using quantum computers. However, none of the third-round candidate algorithms are code-based, despite the potential of code-based signature algorithms in resisting quantum computing attacks. In this paper, we construct a new code-based blind signature (CBBS) scheme as an alternative to traditional number-theoretic based schemes. Specifically, we first extend Santoso and Yamaguchi’s three pass identification scheme to a concatenated version (abbreviated as the CSY scheme). Then, we construct our CBBS scheme from the CSY scheme. The security of our CBBS scheme relies on hardness of the syndrome decoding problem in coding theory, which has been shown to be NP-complete and secure against quantum attacks. Unlike Blazy et al.’s CBBS scheme which is based on a zero-knowledge protocol with cheating probability $2/3$, our CBBS scheme is based on a zero-knowledge protocol with cheating probability $1/2$. The lower cheating probability would reduce the interaction rounds under the same security level and thus leads to a higher efficiency. For example, to achieve security level $2^{-82}$, the signature size in our CBBS scheme is $1.63$ MB compared to $3.1$ MB in Blazy et al.’s scheme.
Association between multimodality measures of aortic stenosis severity and quality-of-life improvement outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement
Authors: Catalano Michael A , Saba Shahryar G , Rutkin Bruce , Maurer Greg , Berg Jacinda , Esposito Rick , Hartman Alan R , Yu Pey-Jen
Published: March 2021

Aims

Up to 40% of patients with aortic stenosis (AS) present with discordant grading of AS severity based on common transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) measures. Our aim was to evaluate the utility of TTE and multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) measures in predicting symptomatic improvement in patients with AS undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Methods and results

A retrospective review of 201 TAVR patients from January 2017 to November 2018 was performed. Pre- and post-intervention quality-of-life was measured using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ-12). Pre-intervention measures including dimensionless index (DI), stroke volume index (SVI), mean transaortic gradient, peak transaortic velocity, indexed aortic valve area (AVA), aortic valve calcium score, and AVA based on hybrid MDCT-Doppler calculations were obtained and correlated with change in KCCQ-12 at 30-day follow-up. Among the 201 patients studied, median KCCQ-12 improved from 54.2 pre-intervention to 85.9 post-intervention. In multivariable analysis, patients with a mean gradient >40 mmHg experienced significantly greater improvement in KCCQ-12 at follow-up than those with mean gradient ≤40 mmHg (28.1 vs. 16.4, P = 0.015). Patients with MDCT-Doppler-calculated AVA of ≤1.2 cm2 had greater improvements in KCCQ-12 scores than those with computed tomography-measured AVA of >1.2 cm2 (23.4 vs. 14.1, P = 0.049) on univariate but not multivariable analysis. No association was detected between DI, SVI, peak velocity, calcium score, or AVA index and change in KCCQ-12.

Conclusion

Mean transaortic gradient is predictive of improvement in quality-of-life after TAVR. This measure of AS severity may warrant greater relative consideration when selecting the appropriateness of patients for TAVR.
Long-term outcomes of right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery conduit insertion in adults with congenital heart disease: survival analysis by National Death Index
Authors: Thuraisingam Amalan , Skillington Peter , Ludhani Prakash , Wijayarathne Pasangi Madhuka , Menahem Samuel , Larobina Marco , Grigg Leeanne , Wilson Will
Published: March 2021

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term outcomes following right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery (RV-to-PA) conduit insertion of Medtronic Freestyle® porcine valve (MFV) or pulmonary allograft valve (PAV) in adult patients with congenital heart disease.

METHODS

Retrospective medical record review of consecutive RV-to-PA conduit insertion, using either PAV or MFV from 1991 to 2017. Perioperative data and clinic reports were collected. Cause and date of death were obtained from the Australian National Death Index to obtain survival function.

RESULTS

In total, 232 patients (median age 31.5 years, interquartile range 25–41 years) underwent RV-to-PA conduit insertion (PAV = 84 and MFV = 148) and were eligible for inclusion [63.8% tetralogy of Fallot (TOF); 11.6% congenital pulmonary stenosis (PS); 24.6% other diagnoses]. The overall median follow-up time was 9.1 years (interquartile range 5.3–12.6 years). The mean gradient was 11.8 ± 7.1 mmHg in PAV and 16.6 ± 9.6 mmHg in MFV patients. Congenital PS patients had 100% survival at 20 years, TOF patients at 5, 10, 15 and 20 years had 99%, 97%, 96% and 96% survival, respectively. Patients with other primary diagnoses at 5, 10, 15 and 20 years had 93%, 91%, 87% and 87% respectively. Freedom from reintervention did not differ significantly at 5 and 10 years between pulmonary allograft (98.6%, 98.6%) and Freestyle® porcine bioprosthesis (97.5%, 93%).

CONCLUSIONS

Both valves perform equally well with regard to patients’ freedom from reoperation, although transvalvular gradient was higher for Freestyle® patients. Congenital PS and TOF patients had better survival than patients with other primary diagnoses.
Mid-adolescent ethnic variations in overweight prevalence in the UK Millennium Cohort Study
Authors: Stennett Michelle , Blokland Alex , Watt Richard G , Heilmann Anja
Published: March 2021

Background

There are stark ethnic inequalities in the prevalence of UK childhood obesity. However, data on adolescent overweight in different ethnic groups are limited. This study assessed ethnic inequalities in overweight prevalence during mid-adolescence using body mass index (BMI) and explored the contribution of socioeconomic and behavioural factors.

Methods

We analyzed data from 10 500 adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years who participated in sweep six of the Millennium Cohort Study. Ethnic inequalities in overweight and mean BMI were assessed using multiple regression models. Results were stratified by sex and adjusted for socioeconomic and behavioural factors.

Results

Black Caribbean males had significantly higher BMI than White males after full adjustment [excess BMI 2.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70–5.19] and were over three times more likely to be overweight [odds ratio (OR): 3.32, 95% CI 1.95–5.66]. Black Africans females had significantly higher BMI compared with White females (excess BMI 1.86, 95% CI 0.89–2.83; OR for overweight 2.74, 95% CI 1.64–4.56), while Indian females had significantly lower BMI compared with White females (reduced BMI −0.73, 95% CI −1.37 to −0.09). Socioeconomic and behavioural factors often considered to be associated with overweight were more prevalent in some ethnic minority groups (lower socioeconomic position, lack of breakfast consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake, high sugar-sweetened beverage and fast-food consumption, and infrequent physical activity), but adjustment for these factors did not fully explain ethnic differences in overweight/BMI.

Conclusion

Ethnic inequalities in overweight prevalence are evident in mid-adolescence and vary according to sex. Differences in overweight/BMI between ethnic groups were not fully accounted for by socioeconomic or behavioural factors.
First palaeointensity data from the cryogenian and their potential implications for inner core nucleation age
Authors: Lloyd Simon J , Biggin Andrew J , Halls Henry , Hill Mimi J
Published: March 2021

The timing of inner core nucleation is a hugely significant event in Earth's evolution and has been the subject of intense debate. Some of the most recent theoretical estimates for the age of nucleation fall throughout the Neoproterozoic era; much younger than previously thought. A young inner core requires faster recent core cooling rates and a likely hotter early core; knowledge of its age would be invaluable in understanding Earth's thermal history and total energy budget. Predictions generated by numerical dynamo models need to be tested against such data, but records are currently much too sparse to constrain the event to a precise period of time. Here, we present results from 720 Ma dolerite dykes (and one sill) from the Franklin Large Igneous Province, which fall within a crucial 300 Myr gap in palaeointensity records. This study uses three independent techniques on whole rocks from 11 sites spread across High Arctic Canada and Greenland to produce virtual dipole moments ranging from 5 to 20 ZAm2 (mean 11 ZAm2); almost one order of magnitude lower than the present-day field. These weak-field results agree with recent ultralow palaeointensity data obtained from Ediacaran rocks formed ∼150 Myr later and may support that the dynamo was on the brink of collapse in the Neoproterozoic prior to a young inner core formation date.
Development of Martini 2.2 parameters forN-glycans: a case study of the HIV-1 Env glycoprotein dynamics
Authors: Chakraborty Srirupa , Wagh Kshitij , Gnanakaran S , López Cesar A
Published: March 2021

N-linked glycans are ubiquitous in nature and play key roles in biology. For example, glycosylation of pathogenic proteins is a common immune evasive mechanism, hampering the development of successful vaccines. Due to their chemical variability and complex dynamics, an accurate molecular understanding of glycans is still limited by the lack of effective resolution of current experimental approaches. Here, we have developed and implemented a reductive model based on the popular Martini 2.2 coarse-grained force field for the computational study of N-glycosylation. We used the HIV-1 Env as a direct applied example of a highly glycosylated protein. Our results indicate that the model not only reproduces many observables in very good agreement with a fully atomistic force field but also can be extended to study large amount of glycosylation variants, a fundamental property that can aid in the development of drugs and vaccines.
Fate or coincidence: do COPD and major depression share genetic risk factors?
Authors: Martucci Victoria L , Richmond Bradley , Davis Lea K , Blackwell Timothy S , Cox Nancy J , Samuels David , Velez Edwards Digna , Aldrich Melinda C
Published: March 2021

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common comorbidity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), affecting up to 57% of patients with COPD. Although the comorbidity of COPD and MDD is well established, the causal relationship between these two diseases is unclear. A large-scale electronic health record clinical biobank and genome-wide association study summary statistics for MDD and lung function traits were used to investigate potential shared underlying genetic susceptibility between COPD and MDD. Linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to estimate genetic correlation between phenotypes. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for MDD and lung function traits were developed and used to perform a phenome-wide association study (PheWAS). Multi-trait-based conditional and joint analysis identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) influencing both lung function and MDD. We found genetic correlations between MDD and all lung function traits were small and not statistically significant. A PRS–MDD was significantly associated with an increased risk of COPD in a PheWAS [odds ratio (OR) = 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–1.16] when adjusting for age, sex and genetic ancestry, but this relationship became attenuated when controlling for smoking history (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.04–1.13). No significant associations were found between the lung function PRS and MDD. Multi-trait-based conditional and joint analysis identified three SNPs that may contribute to both traits, two of which were previously associated with mood disorders and COPD. Our findings suggest that the observed relationship between COPD and MDD may not be driven by a strong shared genetic architecture.
Reimagining the Damages Valuation Framework Underlying Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard Violations through a Three-Stage Contextualized Approach
Authors: Bekker Pieter , Bello Fatima
Published: March 2021

Damages have been described as ‘the poor cousin of liability’.3 Yet damages valuation plays an essential, albeit often controversial, role in investor–State arbitration. Quantum questions require the participants—parties, counsel, experts and especially arbitrators—to think creatively and critically about the applicable framework underlying damages valuation. Consistency and rigor in the tribunal’s approach to damages contribute to the good administration of justice in a case. With that goal in mind, this article introduces a more structured legal framework underlying the valuation of damages arising from breaches of the fair and equitable treatment (FET) standard, which does justice to the unique nature of that standard and avoids ‘horse trading’ among tribunal members. Arbitrators may be inclined to apply valuation methodology associated with expropriation wholesale, or in slightly modified form, to FET claims notwithstanding the fundamental differences between FET and other standards, including with regard to the nature and level of the harm suffered by the investor. A structured approach featuring multiple stages must take account of these differences and must give factors such as contributory fault and valuation date their proper place through rigorous reasoning, lest the outcome, and justice itself, be compromised through over- or undercompensation.
Control of immune cell trafficking through inter-organ communication
Authors: Nakai Akiko , Leach Sarah , Suzuki Kazuhiro
Published: March 2021

Cell migration is a cardinal feature of the immune system. Immune cell trafficking is orchestrated principally by chemokines and adhesion molecules, which guide the cells to the right place and at the right time to efficiently induce immune responses. Recent studies have demonstrated that signals from other organ systems influence the expression of and responsiveness to these guidance cues and consequentially immune cell migration. Neuronal inputs control entry and exit of immune cells to and from lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues. The circadian clock helps establish diurnal variations in immune cell distribution among tissues. Nutritional status also alters immune cell homing to the bone marrow. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge about inter-organ control of immune cell trafficking and discuss the physiological and pathological significance of these mechanisms.
Ambient Humidity Affects Development, Survival, and Reproduction of the Invasive Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), in China
Authors: He Limei , Zhao Shengyuan , Ali Abid , Ge Shishuai , Wu Kongming
Published: March 2021

Ambient humidity can directly affect the water balance in insects. The migratory fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda Smith, has spread to more than 60 countries and regions in Africa, Asia, and Oceania that have a great difference in average ambient humidity. Understanding the effects of ambient humidity changes on its development, survival, and reproduction can help to predict its population dynamics in different habitats. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of atmospheric relative humidity (RH) on the development, survival, and reproduction and soil moisture on the pupation and emergence of fall armyworm. As a result, survival and pupal mass increased significantly with increasing RH. Among the five RHs tested, 80% RH was the most suitable for fall armyworm with the highest intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), and net reproduction rate (R0). The population growth at the different RHs in decreasing order was 80 > 100 > 60 > 40 > 20%. A relative moisture (RM) of soil from 6.80 to 47.59% was suitable for fall armyworm pupation, survival, and eclosion, but fall armyworm could not pupate normally in soil with 88.39 and 95.19% RM. The survival and emergence rate of fall armyworm pupae were reduced by irrigation that increased the RM after the mature larvae entered the soil. These findings may be helpful for refining laboratory rearing protocols, population forecasting, and management of fall armyworm.
miR-130b inhibits proliferation and promotes differentiation in myocytes via targeting Sp1
Authors: Wang Yu-Cheng , Yao Xiaohan , Ma Mei , Zhang Huihui , Wang Hui , Zhao Lei , Liu Shengnan , Sun Chao , Li Peng , Wu Yuting , Li Xihua , Jiang Jingjing , Li Yuying , Li Yan , Ying Hao
Published: March 2021

Muscle regeneration after damage or during myopathies requires a fine cooperation between myoblast proliferation and myogenic differentiation. A growing body of evidence suggests that microRNAs play critical roles in myocyte proliferation and differentiation transcriptionally. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the orchestration are not fully understood. Here, we showed that miR-130b is able to repress myoblast proliferation and promote myogenic differentiation via targeting Sp1 transcription factor. Importantly, overexpression of miR-130b is capable of improving the recovery of damaged muscle in a freeze injury model. Moreover, miR-130b expression is declined in the muscle of muscular dystrophy patients. Thus, these results indicated that miR-130b may play a role in skeletal muscle regeneration and myopathy progression. Together, our findings suggest that the miR-130b/Sp1 axis may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with muscle damage or severe myopathies.
Interconfessional Implications: Printed Plainchant in the Wake of the Reformation
Authors: Gillion Marianne C E
Published: March 2021

This article investigates the retention, reformation, and revision of plainchant in liturgical books printed in German-speaking lands during the early Reformation. Previous scholarship often considered chant in confessional and linguistic isolation, which has obscured both its importance in Protestant worship and its connections with contemporary Catholic musical trends. Writings of reformers and their followers, including Luther, Müntzer, and Spangenberg, indicate that they valued plainchant because it provided continuity, functioned pedagogically, and increased congregational unity. However, chant was subject to modification. An examination of reformed sources connected to Allstedt, Erfurt, and Nordhausen demonstrates how plainchant was adopted and adapted to reflect shifting priorities. Analyses of modified alleluia chants in Protestant and Catholic books reveal similarities and differences in techniques of revision. The formation of new musical traditions is delineated, as well as their intertwined relationships with the musical past, present, and future. These interconfessional findings provide new perspectives on early modern chant and liturgies.
The relative efficiencies of bars and clumps in driving disc stars to retrograde motion
Authors: Fiteni Karl , Caruana Joseph , Amarante João A S , Debattista Victor P , Beraldo e Silva Leandro
Published: March 2021

The presence of stars on retrograde orbits in disc galaxies is usually attributed to accretion events, both via direct accretion, and through the heating of the disc stars. Recent studies have shown that retrograde orbits can also be produced via scattering by dense clumps, which are often present in the early stages of a galaxy’s evolution. However, so far it has been unclear whether other internally driven mechanisms, such as bars, are also capable of driving retrograde motion. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the efficiencies with which bars and clumps produce retrograde orbits in disc galaxies. We do this by comparing the retrograde fractions and the spatial distributions of the retrograde populations in four N-body+smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of isolated disc galaxies spanning a range of evolutionary behaviours. We find that both bars and clumps are capable of generating significant retrograde populations of order ${\sim}10{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of all stars. We also find that while clump-driven retrograde stars may be found at large galactocentric radii, bar-driven retrograde stars remain in the vicinity of the bar, even if the bar dissolves. Consequently, we find that retrograde stars in the Solar neighbourhood in the clumpy models are exclusively clump-driven, but this is a trace population, constituting $0.01\!-\!0.04{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total stellar population in this region. Finally, we find that neither bars (including dissolving ones) nor clumps in the models are able to produce rotationally supported counterrotating discs.
Orbital evolution of neutron-star–white-dwarf binaries by Roche lobe overflow and gravitational wave radiation
Authors: Yu Shenghua , Lu Youjun , Jeffery C Simon
Published: March 2021

We investigate the effects of mass transfer and gravitational wave (GW) radiation on the orbital evolution of contact neutron-star–white-dwarf (NS–WD) binaries, and the detectability of these binaries by space GW detectors (e.g. Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, LISA; Taiji; Tianqin). A NS–WD binary becomes contact when the WD component fills its Roche lobe, at which the GW frequency ranges from ∼0.0023 to 0.72 Hz for WD with masses ∼0.05–1.4 M⊙. We find that some high-mass NS–WD binaries may undergo direct coalescence after unstable mass transfer. However, the majority of NS–WD binaries can avoid direct coalescence because mass transfer after contact can lead to a reversal of the orbital evolution. Our model can well interpret the orbital evolution of the ultra-compact X-ray source 4U 1820–30. For a 4-yr observation of 4U 1820–30, the expected signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) in GW characteristic strain is ∼11.0/10.4/2.2 (LISA/Taiji/Tianqin). The evolution of GW frequencies of NS–WD binaries depends on the WD masses. NS–WD binaries with masses larger than 4U 1820–30 are expected to be detected with significantly larger SNRs. For a $(1.4+0.5) \, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ NS–WD binary close to contact, the expected SNR for a one week observation is ∼27/40/28 (LISA/Taiji/Tianqin). For NS–WD binaries with masses of $(1.4+\gtrsim 1.1) \, {\rm M}_{\odot }$, the significant change of GW frequencies and amplitudes can be measured, and thus it is possible to determine the binary evolution stage. At distances up to the edge of the Galaxy (∼100 kpc), high-mass NS–WD binaries will be still detectable with SNR ≳ 1.
Measurements of the Hubble constant and cosmic curvature with quasars: ultracompact radio structure and strong gravitational lensing
Authors: Qi Jing-Zhao , Zhao Jia-Wei , Cao Shuo , Biesiada Marek , Liu Yuting
Published: March 2021

Although the Hubble constant H0 and spatial curvature ΩK have been measured with very high precision, they still suffer from some tensions. In this paper, we propose an improved method to combine the observations of ultracompact structure in radio quasars and strong gravitational lensing with quasars acting as background sources to determine H0 and ΩK simultaneously. By applying the distance sum rule to the time-delay measurements of seven strong lensing systems and 120 intermediate-luminosity quasars calibrated as standard rulers, we obtain stringent constraints on the Hubble constant (H0 = 78.3 ± 2.9 km s−1 Mpc−1) and the cosmic curvature (ΩK = 0.49 ± 0.24). On the one hand, in the framework of a flat universe, the measured Hubble constant ($H_0=73.6^{+1.8}_{-1.6} \mathrm{\,km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$) is strongly consistent with that derived from the local distance ladder, with a precision of 2 per cent. On the other hand, if we use the local H0 measurement as a prior, our results are marginally compatible with zero spatial curvature ($\Omega _K=0.23^{+0.15}_{-0.17}$) and there is no significant deviation from a flat universe. Finally, we also evaluate whether strongly lensed quasars would produce robust constraints on H0 and ΩK in the non-flat and flat Λ cold dark matter model, if the compact radio structure measurements are available from very long baseline interferometry observations.
Males That Silence Their Father’s Genes: Genomic Imprinting of a Complete Haploid Genome
Authors: de la Filia Andrés G , Mongue Andrew J , Dorrens Jennifer , Lemon Hannah , Laetsch Dominik R , Ross Laura
Published: March 2021

Genetic conflict is considered a key driver in the evolution of reproductive systems with non-Mendelian inheritance, where parents do not contribute equally to the genetic makeup of their offspring. One of the most extraordinary examples of non-Mendelian inheritance is paternal genome elimination (PGE), a form of haplodiploidy which has evolved repeatedly across arthropods. Under PGE, males are diploid but only transmit maternally inherited chromosomes, while the paternally inherited homologues are excluded from sperm. This asymmetric inheritance is thought to have evolved through an evolutionary arms race between the paternal and maternal genomes over transmission to future generations. In several PGE clades, such as the mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), paternal chromosomes are not only eliminated from sperm, but also heterochromatinized early in development and thought to remain inactive, which could result from genetic conflict between parental genomes. Here, we present a parent-of-origin allele-specific transcriptome analysis in male mealybugs showing that expression is globally biased toward the maternal genome. However, up to 70% of somatically expressed genes are to some degree paternally expressed, while paternal genome expression is much more restricted in the male reproductive tract, with only 20% of genes showing paternal contribution. We also show that parent-of-origin-specific gene expression patterns are remarkably similar across genotypes, and that genes with completely biparental expression show elevated rates of molecular evolution. Our results provide the clearest example yet of genome-wide genomic imprinting in insects and enhance our understanding of PGE, which will aid future empirical tests of evolutionary theory regarding the origin of this unusual reproductive strategy.
Interaction of the NRF2 and p63 transcription factors promotes keratinocyte proliferation in the epidermis
Authors: Kurinna Svitlana , Seltmann Kristin , Bachmann Andreas L , Schwendimann Andreas , Thiagarajan Lalitha , Hennig Paulina , Beer Hans-Dietmar , Mollo Maria Rosaria , Missero Caterina , Werner Sabine
Published: March 2021

Epigenetic regulation of cell and tissue function requires the coordinated action of transcription factors. However, their combinatorial activities during regeneration remain largely unexplored. Here, we discover an unexpected interaction between the cytoprotective transcription factor NRF2 and p63- a key player in epithelial morphogenesis. Chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with sequencing and reporter assays identifies enhancers and promoters that are simultaneously activated by NRF2 and p63 in human keratinocytes. Modeling of p63 and NRF2 binding to nucleosomal DNA suggests their chromatin-assisted interaction. Pharmacological and genetic activation of NRF2 increases NRF2–p63 binding to enhancers and promotes keratinocyte proliferation, which involves the common NRF2–p63 target cyclin-dependent kinase 12. These results unravel a collaborative function of NRF2 and p63 in the control of epidermal renewal and suggest their combined activation as a strategy to promote repair of human skin and other stratified epithelia.
Trends in Prescribing of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to Pregnant Women in Primary Care in England
Authors: Szatkowski Lisa , Vaz Luis Reeves , Fiaschi Linda , Tata Laila , Coleman Tim
Published: March 2021

Introduction

Smoking during pregnancy remains common, and the English National Health Service (NHS) has recently been directed to prioritize providing cessation support for pregnant women. We investigated the impact on prescribing of stop smoking treatments to pregnant women of the 2013 transfer of public health budgets from the NHS to administrative authorities responsible for local social care and other nonhealth services (local authorities).

Methods

We used data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink and Hospital Episode Statistics to determine annual proportions (2005–2017) of women who smoked during pregnancy and who were prescribed, at least once before childbirth, (1) any NRT and (2) long- and short-acting NRT together (dual NRT). Segmented regression was used to quantify the impact of the 2013 transfer of smoking cessation budgets to local authorities, assessing changes in the level and the trend of the proportions post-2013 compared with pre-2013.

Results

We identified 84 539 pregnancies in which women were recorded as smoking; any NRT was prescribed in 7.9% (n = 6704) and dual NRT in 1.7% (n = 1466). Prescribing of any NRT was declining prior to 2013 at an absolute decrease of −0.25% per year, but the rate of decline significantly increased from 2013 onwards to −1.37% per year. Prescribing of dual NRT was increasing prior to 2013 but also decreased post-2013.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that transferring responsibility for English Smoking Cessation Services from the NHS to local authorities adversely affected provision of cessation support in pregnancy. Consequently, some women may have been denied access to effective cessation treatments.

Implications

Women who smoke during pregnancy may be being denied potentially effective means to help them quit, contrary to NICE guidance, at what can be a teachable moment with substantial immediate and longer-term health benefits for woman and their unborn child, and economic benefits for the NHS. When the organizations responsible for offering smoking cessation support are changed, health systems should consider potential adverse effects on the delivery of support and deploy strategies for mitigating these.
Novel advances in understanding fatty acid–binding G protein–coupled receptors and their roles in controlling energy balance
Authors: Tian Min , Wu Zhihui , Heng Jinghui , Chen Fang , Guan Wutai , Zhang Shihai
Published: March 2021

Diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic diseases have been recognized as the main factors that endanger human health worldwide. Most of these metabolic syndromes develop when the energy balance in the body is disrupted. Energy balance depends upon the systemic regulation of food intake, glucose homeostasis, and lipid metabolism. Fatty acid–binding G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) are widely expressed in various types of tissues and cells involved in energy homeostasis regulation. In this review, the distribution and biological functions of fatty acid–binding GPCRs are summarized, particularly with respect to the gut, pancreas, and adipose tissue. A systematic understanding of the physiological functions of the fatty acid–binding GPCRs involved in energy homeostasis regulation will help in identifying novel pharmacological targets for metabolic diseases.
The impacts of COVID-19 on GDP, food prices, and food security
Authors: Beckman Jayson , Baquedano Felix , Countryman Amanda
Published: March 2021

COVID-19 has led to a wealth of research examining possible impacts; however, potential impacts on food security have received much less attention. We use a computable general equilibrium model to simulate the potential impacts of COVID-19 using observed changes from 2020 (September) in unemployment, trade, oil prices, and production to inform our model. Estimated gross domestic product (GDP) and food price changes are then used as inputs into the International Food Security Assessment model that estimates changes in food consumption, and food gaps in developing countries. Results indicate that the COVID-19 lockdowns lead to a decrease in global GDP of 7.2 per cent, and a decrease in grain prices of 9 per cent. These changes lead to an increase in the number of food-insecure people in 2020 of 211 million (a 27.8 per cent increase). We also perform a sensitivity analysis, providing a lower and upper bound of potential impacts from COVID-19.
Correlates of neural adaptation to food cues and taste: the role of obesity risk factors
Authors: Sadler Jennifer R , Shearrer Grace E , Papantoni Afroditi , Yokum Sonja T , Stice Eric , Burger Kyle S
Published: March 2021

Identifying correlates of brain response to food cues and taste provides critical information on individual differences that may influence variability in eating behavior. However, a few studies examine how brain response changes over repeated exposures and the individual factors that are associated with these changes. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined how brain response to a palatable taste and proceeding cues changed over repeated exposures and how individual differences in weight, familial obesity risk, dietary restraint and reward responsiveness correlate with these changes. In healthy-weight adolescents (n = 154), caudate and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) response increased with repeated cue presentations, and oral somatosensory cortex and insula response increased with repeated milkshake tastes. The magnitude of increase over exposures in the left PCC to cues was positively associated with body mass index percentile (r = 0.18, P = 0.026) and negatively associated with dietary restraint scores (r = −0.24, P = 0.003). Adolescents with familial obesity risk showed higher cue-evoked caudate response across time, compared to the low-risk group (r = 0.12, P = 0.035). Reward responsiveness positively correlated with right oral somatosensory cortex/insula response to milkshake over time (r = 0.19, P = 0.018). The results show that neural responses to food cues and taste change over time and that individual differences related to weight gain are correlated with these changes.
Interrogating Phylogenetic Discordance Resolves Deep Splits in the Rapid Radiation of Old World Fruit Bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae)
Authors: Nesi Nicolas , Tsagkogeorga Georgia , Tsang Susan M , Nicolas Violaine , Lalis Aude , Scanlon Annette T , Riesle-Sbarbaro Silke A , Wiantoro Sigit , Hitch Alan T , Juste Javier , Pinzari Corinna A , Bonaccorso Frank J , Todd Christopher M , Lim Burton K , Simmons Nancy B , McGowen Michael R , Rossiter Stephen J
Published: March 2021

The family Pteropodidae (Old World fruit bats) comprises $>$200 species distributed across the Old World tropics and subtropics. Most pteropodids feed on fruit, suggesting an early origin of frugivory, although several lineages have shifted to nectar-based diets. Pteropodids are of exceptional conservation concern with $>$50% of species considered threatened, yet the systematics of this group has long been debated, with uncertainty surrounding early splits attributed to an ancient rapid diversification. Resolving the relationships among the main pteropodid lineages is essential if we are to fully understand their evolutionary distinctiveness, and the extent to which these bats have transitioned to nectar-feeding. Here we generated orthologous sequences for $>$1400 nuclear protein-coding genes (2.8 million base pairs) across 114 species from 43 genera of Old World fruit bats (57% and 96% of extant species- and genus-level diversity, respectively), and combined phylogenomic inference with filtering by information content to resolve systematic relationships among the major lineages. Concatenation and coalescent-based methods recovered three distinct backbone topologies that were not able to be reconciled by filtering via phylogenetic information content. Concordance analysis and gene genealogy interrogation show that one topology is consistently the best supported, and that observed phylogenetic conflicts arise from both gene tree error and deep incomplete lineage sorting. In addition to resolving long-standing inconsistencies in the reported relationships among major lineages, we show that Old World fruit bats have likely undergone at least seven independent dietary transitions from frugivory to nectarivory. Finally, we use this phylogeny to identify and describe one new genus. [Chiroptera; coalescence; concordance; incomplete lineage sorting; nectar feeder; species tree; target enrichment.]