bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Restoring ancestral phenotypes is a general pattern in gene expression evolution during adaptation to new environments in Tribolium castaneum
Authors: Koch Eva L. , Guillaume Frédéric 
Published: August 2020

AbstractPlasticity and evolution are two processes allowing populations to respond to environmental changes, but how both are related and impact each other remains controversial. We studied plastic and evolutionary responses in gene expression of Tribolium castaneum after exposure of the beetles to new environments that differed from ancestral conditions in temperature, humidity or both. Using experimental evolution with 10 replicated lines per condition, we were able to demonstrate adaptation after 20 generations. We measured whole‐transcriptome gene expression with RNA‐sequencing to infer evolutionary and plastic changes. We found more evidence for changes in mean expression (shift in the intercept of reaction norms) in adapted lines than for changes in plasticity (shifts in slopes). Plasticity was mainly preserved in selected lines and was responsible for a large part of the phenotypic divergence in expression between ancestral and new conditions. However, we found that genes with the largest evolutionary changes in expression also evolved reduced plasticity and often showed expression levels closer to the ancestral stage. Results obtained in the three different conditions were similar, suggesting that restoration of ancestral expression levels during adaptation is a general evolutionary pattern. With a larger sample in the most stressful condition, we were able to detect a positive correlation between the proportion of genes with reversion of the ancestral plastic response and mean fitness per selection line.
Morphophysiological analysis of the salivary glands of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (Acari: Ixodidae) exposed to ozonated water: A control strategy
Authors: Abreu M. R. , Delalibera I. , Pereira N. R. C. , Camargo‐Mathias M. I. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractThe tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato has great medical and veterinary importance, mainly because the ability to transmit many diseases, causing harm to pets but also risks to public health. The blood spoliation and transmission of pathogens occur because of the immunosuppressive action of these ticks' saliva, a potent mixture of bioactive substances that is secreted by the salivary glands, one of the organs responsible for their biological success, and hence the target of studies for their control. Ozone has promise for use as an alternative acaricide, due to its proven efficiency in controlling agricultural and food pests, besides posing no risk of environmental contamination or to animal and human health. Therefore, this study evaluated the acaricidal potential of exposure of females of R. sanguineus s.l. to ozonated water at many concentrations and analysed the morphophysiological alterations of the salivary glands, employing histological and light microscopic techniques. The results demonstrated that the ozonated water at the concentrations investigated caused severe alterations in the salivary glands, bringing a new perspective for control of R. sanguineus s.l., through an ecologically correct method due to the absence of harm to non‐target organisms and the environment.
Genome‐wide association study reveals a novel locus for asthma with severe exacerbations in diverse populations
Authors: Herrera‐Luis Esther , Espuela‐Ortiz Antonio , Lorenzo‐Diaz Fabian , Keys Kevin L. , Mak Angel C. Y. , Eng Celeste , Huntsman Scott , Villar Jesús , Rodriguez‐Santana Jose R. , Burchard Esteban G. , Pino‐Yanes Maria 
Published: August 2020

AbstractBackgroundSevere asthma exacerbations are a major cause of asthma morbidity and increased healthcare costs. Several studies have shown racial and ethnic differences in asthma exacerbation rates. We aimed to identify genetic variants associated with severe exacerbations in two high‐risk populations for asthma.MethodsA genome‐wide association study of asthma in children and youth with severe exacerbations was performed in 1283 exacerbators and 2027 controls without asthma of Latino ancestry. Independent suggestive variants (P ≤ 5 × 10−6) were selected for replication in 448 African Americans exacerbators and 595 controls. Case‐only analyses were performed comparing the exacerbators with additional 898 Latinos and 524 African Americans asthma patients without exacerbations, while adjusting by treatment category as a proxy of asthma severity. We analyzed the functionality of associated variants with in silico methods and by correlating genotypes with methylation levels in whole blood in a subset of 473 Latinos.ResultsWe identified two genome‐wide significant associations for susceptibility to asthma with severe exacerbations, including a novel locus located at chromosome 2p21 (rs4952375, odds ratio = 1.39, P = 3.8 × 10−8), which was also associated with asthma exacerbations in a case‐only analysis (odds ratio = 1.25, P = 1.95 × 10−3). This polymorphism is an expression quantitative trait locus of the long intergenic non‐protein coding RNA 1913 (LINC01913) in lung tissues (P = 1.3 × 10−7) and influences methylation levels of the protein kinase domain‐containing cytoplasmic (PKDCC) gene in whole‐blood cells (P = 9.8 × 10−5).ConclusionWe identified a novel susceptibility locus for severe asthma exacerbations in Hispanic/Latino and African American youths with functional effects in gene expression and methylation status of neighboring genes.
Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease of oxidative stress: We should treat it that way
Authors: Sczepanik Fábio Sá Carneiro , Grossi Márcio Lima , Casati Márcio , Goldberg Michael , Glogauer Michael , Fine Noah , Tenenbaum Howard C. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractPeriodontitis is a highly prevalent disease. As it progresses, it causes serious morbidity in the form of periodontal abscesses and tooth loss and, in the latter stages, pain. It is also now known that periodontitis is strongly associated with several nonoral diseases. Thus, patients with periodontitis are at greater risk for the development and/or exacerbation of diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular diseases, among other conditions. Although it is without question that specific groups of oral bacteria which populate dental plaque play a causative role in the development of periodontitis, it is now thought that once this disease has been triggered, other factors play an equal, and possibly more important, role in its progression, particularly in severe cases or in cases that prove difficult to treat. In this regard, we allude to the host response, specifically the notion that the host, once infected with oral periodontal pathogenic bacteria, will mount a defense response mediated largely through the innate immune system. The most abundant cell type of the innate immune system – polymorphonuclear neutrophils – can, when protecting the host from microbial invasion, mount a response that includes upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, matrix metalloproteinases, and reactive oxygen species, all of which then contribute to the tissue damage and loss of teeth commonly associated with periodontitis. Of the mechanisms referred to here, we suggest that upregulation of reactive oxygen species might play one of the most important roles in the establishment and progression of periodontitis (as well as in other diseases of inflammation) through the development of oxidative stress. In this overview, we discuss both innate and epigenetic factors (eg, diabetes, smoking) that lead to the development of oxidative stress. This oxidative stress then provides an environment conducive to the destructive processes observed in periodontitis. Therefore, we shall describe some of the fundamental characteristics of oxidative stress and its effects on the periodontium, discuss the diseases and other factors that cause oxidative stress, and, finally, review potentially novel therapeutic approaches for the management (and possibly even the reversal) of periodontitis, which rely on the use of therapies, such as resveratrol and other antioxidants, that provide increased antioxidant activity in the host.
On a neglected feature of moral agency
Authors: Barber Zachary L. 
Published: August 2020

AbstractTwo conditions have been thought necessary and sufficient for a person to be morally responsible. The first is a control condition: an agent must control the actions for which she is held responsible. The second is an epistemic condition: an agent must know, or have the right kind of cognitive relationship to, the relevant features of what she is doing. Debate about moral responsibility among contemporary philosophers can be neatly divided into two circles, with each circle attending narrowly to one of these two conditions. I argue that these separate debates should not be had so separately. The two conditions on moral responsibility interact in a way that has been neglected. An agent's possession of knowledge, and her capacity to attain knowledge, increase that agent's control in a sense relevant to the control condition on moral responsibility. Conversely, an agent's control of her actions can be used to acquire knowledge in a sense relevant to the epistemic condition on moral responsibility. It is in this way that a sort of feedback loop arises between the epistemic condition and the control condition—each is capable of augmenting the degree to which their possessor satisfies the other. I argue that this interaction has important implications for each debate.
Nestedg-Computation: A Causal Approach to Analysis of Censored Medical Costs in The Presence of Time-Varying Treatment
Authors: Spieker Andrew J. , Ko Emily M. , Roy Jason A. , Mitra Nandita 
Published: August 2020

SummaryRising medical costs are an emerging challenge in policy decisions and resource allocation planning. When cumulative medical cost is the outcome, right censoring induces informative missingness due to heterogeneity in cost accumulation rates across subjects. Inverse weighting approaches have been developed to address the challenge of informative cost trajectories in mean cost estimation, though these approaches generally ignore post-baseline treatment changes. In post-hysterectomy endometrial cancer patients, data from a linked database of Medicare records and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results programme of the National Cancer Institute reveal substantial within-subject variation in treatment over time. In such a setting, the utility of existing intent-to-treat approaches is generally limited. Estimates of the population mean cost under a hypothetical time-varying treatment regime can better assist with resource allocation when planning for a treatment policy change; such estimates must inherently take time-dependent treatment and confounding into account. We develop a nested g-computation approach to cost analysis to address this challenge, while accounting for censoring. We develop a procedure to evaluate sensitivity to departures from baseline treatment ignorability. We further conduct a variety of simulations and apply our nested g-computation procedure to 2-year costs from endometrial cancer patients.
Performance Evaluation of Surface Overlaid EN-42 Steel for Tillage Applications
Authors: Singh Jagseer , Chatha Sukhpal Singh , Sidhu Buta Singh 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Wear of tools is a key problem in the farming sector. The objective of this study was to evaluate the wear performance of untreated steel (EN-42) and two hardfacings, namely H1 and VB. Hardfacing H1 (0.86Cr0.22C) fall in the basic buildup iron–carbide alloy category and hardfacing VB (3.19Cr2.51C2.7Si) is categorized as martensitic alloy steel. Abrasive wear performance of untreated, as well as hardfaced steel specimens, was evaluated in the laboratory and actual field conditions. The tests were conducted in the laboratory, and actual field trials were conducted in sandy loam and sandy clay-loam soil. The performance of the untreated and hardfaced steel was analyzed using various techniques such as weight loss, microhardness, microstructure and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that H1 and VB overlaid steel exhibited better wear performance than the untreated steel, and the least wear-rate was found in sandy clay-loam soil. VB overlaid steel experienced lesser cumulative weight loss (g) and wear-rate (g/km) and thus displayed better abrasive wear behavior under all the conditions of the study. Further, it has been observed that the moisture content in soil exerts a stronger effect on ploughshare wear than soil type. For actual field conditions, untreated and overlaid ploughshares tested in sandy loam soil with low moisture content (0–3%) experienced almost three times higher wear-rate (4.078 g/km, 3.699 g/km, and 3.055 g/km for untreated, H1, and VB overlaid steel, respectively) than the same ploughshares tested in soil having high (14–17%) moisture content (1.296 g/km, 1.178 g/km, and 0.913 g/km for untreated, H1, and VB overlaid steel, respectively).
Adapting to Extreme Heat: Social, Atmospheric, and Infrastructure Impacts of Air-Conditioning in Megacities—The Case of New York City
Authors: Gamarro Harold , Ortiz Luis , González Jorge E. 
Published: August 2020

Abstract
Extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and intense. In cities, the urban heat island (UHI) can often intensify extreme heat exposure, presenting a public health challenge across vulnerable populations without access to adaptive measures. Here, we explore the impacts of increasing residential air-conditioning (AC) adoption as one such adaptive measure to extreme heat, with New York City (NYC) as a case study. This study uses AC adoption data from NYC Housing and Vacancy Surveys to study impacts to indoor heat exposure, energy demand, and UHI. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, coupled with a multilayer building environment parameterization and building energy model (BEP–BEM), is used to perform this analysis. The BEP–BEM schemes are modified to account for partial AC use and used to analyze current and full AC adoption scenarios. A city-scale case study is performed over the summer months of June–August 2018, which includes three different extreme heat events. Simulation results show good agreement with surface weather stations. We show that increasing AC systems to 100% usage across NYC results in a peak energy demand increase of 20%, while increasing UHI on average by 0.42 °C. Results highlight potential trade-offs in extreme heat adaptation strategies for cities, which may be necessary in the context of increasing extreme heat events.
Clinical teachers’ motivations for feedback provision in busy emergency departments: a multicentre qualitative study
Authors: Chaou Chung-Hsien , Yu Shiuan-Ruey , Ngerng Roy Yi Ling , Monrouxe Lynn Valerie , Chang Li-Chun , Chang Yu-Che 
Published: August 2020

BackgroundFeedback is an effective pedagogical tool in clinical teaching and learning, but the actual perception by learners of clinical feedback is often described as unsatisfactory. Unlike assessment feedback or teaching sessions, which often happen within protected time and space, clinical feedback is influenced by numerous clinical factors. Little is known about clinical teachers’ motivations to provide feedback in busy clinical settings. We aimed to investigate the motivations behind feedback being given in emergency departments (EDs).MethodsA qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview data was conducted between August 2015 and June 2016. Eighteen attending physicians were purposively sampled from three teaching hospital EDs in Taiwan. Data were thematically analysed, both inductively (from the data) and deductively (using self-determination theory (SDT)). Themes were mapped to the different motivation types identified by the SDT.Results and discussionDespite working in busy clinical settings, Taiwanese ED clinical teachers reported being motivated to provide feedback when they felt responsible for their learners, when they understood the importance of feedback (patient safety and partner building), or simply because they were committed to following a tradition of passing on their clinical knowledge to their juniors. Suggestions to facilitate the internalisation of external motivations are proposed.ConclusionsIn this qualitative study, motivations for clinical feedback were identified. Although the motivations are mostly extrinsic, the elicitation of internal motivation is possible once true satisfaction is fostered during the feedback-giving process. This understanding can be used to develop interventions to enable clinical feedback to be provided in a sustained manner.
Histopathological features of multiorgan percutaneous tissue core biopsy in patients with COVID-19
Authors: Wang Xin-xin , Shao Chen , Huang Xiao-jie , Sun Lin , Meng Ling-jia , Liu Hui , Zhang Shi-jie , Li Hong-jun , Lv Fu-dong 
Published: August 2020

AimsThe global outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in an increased mortality. However, whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can affect multiple organs is still unclear. In this study, postmortem percutaneous biopsies of multiple organs from deceased patients were performed to understand the histopathological changes caused by COVID-19.MethodsBiopsy specimens of pulmonary, cardiac, hepatic and lymphoid tissues were obtained from three patients, who died due to COVID-19 pneumonia. H&E stain, Masson trichrome stain, immunohistochemistry stain and in-situ hybridisation were used.ResultsPulmonary damages caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection was diffuse alveolar damage (DAD). In the early phase, the histological findings were mainly those of exudative features of DAD. The later phase was characterised by organisation of DAD combined with bacterial pneumonia. No serious damage was found in the bronchiolar epithelium and submucosal glands. The hepatic tissue revealed features of ischaemic necrosis, but findings suggestive of mild lobular hepatitis were also observed. The lymphoid tissue revealed features of non-specific acute lymphadenitis. The cardiac tissue revealed changes of underlying disease. SARS-CoV-2 RNAs were not detected in hepatocytes, cholangiocytes and lymphocytes of lymph nodes.ConclusionsCOVID-19 predominantly involves the pulmonary tissue, causes DAD and aggravates the cardiovascular disease. However, other extrapulmonary tissues did not reveal any virus-specific findings, but were affected by multiple factors. The findings in this report caution the pathologists that they should not mistakenly attribute all the histological features to CoV infection. Moreover, the clinicians should pay attention to the potentially injurious and correctable causes.
Early brain biomarkers of post-traumatic seizures: initial report of the multicentre epilepsy bioinformatics study for antiepileptogenic therapy (EpiBioS4Rx) prospective study
Authors: Lutkenhoff Evan S. , Shrestha Vikesh , Ruiz Tejeda Jesus , Real Courtney , McArthur David L. , Duncan Dominique , La Rocca Marianna , Garner Rachael , Toga Arthur W. , Vespa Paul M. , Monti Martin M. 
Published: August 2020

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) causes early seizures and is the leading cause of post-traumatic epilepsy. We prospectively assessed structural imaging biomarkers differentiating patients who develop seizures secondary to TBI from patients who do not.DesignMulticentre prospective cohort study starting in 2018. Imaging data are acquired around day 14 post-injury, detection of seizure events occurred early (within 1 week) and late (up to 90 days post-TBI).ResultsFrom a sample of 96 patients surviving moderate-to-severe TBI, we performed shape analysis of local volume deficits in subcortical areas (analysable sample: 57 patients; 35 no seizure, 14 early, 8 late) and cortical ribbon thinning (analysable sample: 46 patients; 29 no seizure, 10 early, 7 late). Right hippocampal volume deficit and inferior temporal cortex thinning demonstrated a significant effect across groups. Additionally, the degree of left frontal and temporal pole thinning, and clinical score at the time of the MRI, could differentiate patients experiencing early seizures from patients not experiencing them with 89% accuracy.Conclusions and relevanceAlthough this is an initial report, these data show that specific areas of localised volume deficit, as visible on routine imaging data, are associated with the emergence of seizures after TBI.
Antibiotic prescriptions by medical interns in Hong Kong: influence of the hospital settings and prescription culture
Authors: Lam Tai Pong , Chan Tak Hon , Sun Kai Sing , Lam Kwok Fai , Kwok Kit Wing , Ho Pak Leung 
Published: August 2020

ABSTRACT

Background
Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing practices predispose to resistance emergence. Despite the inclusion of the topic in medical school curricula worldwide, it is uncertain whether newly graduated medical interns have confidence in proper antibiotic prescription.

Objectives
This study aimed to explore the antibiotic prescribing behaviours of the medical interns in Hong Kong and their barriers to appropriate antibiotic prescription.

Methods
Two focus groups were conducted among medical interns with training experiences in different public hospitals. Their prescribing behaviours and barriers were further examined with a questionnaire survey just before completion of internship.

Results
Focus group interviews identified a variety of hospital workplace cultures, including inappropriate empirical prescriptions and dosages, interns’ passive roles in prescribing antibiotics and varied guidelines between different departments. Defensive medicine and lack of clinical experience were other barriers encountered. The interns believed that the incorrect practice learnt would perpetuate in their minds and affect their future practice. The top barriers reported by the survey respondents were adaptation to prescription culture of different hospitals (93.5%), lack of experience in antibiotic prescription (88.3%), inadequate knowledge in the choice of antibiotics (85.7%) and compliance with the seniors’ instructions (80.6%). However, some focus group participants perceived weaker barriers in paediatric departments which provided close monitoring of antibiotic use.

Conclusions
Inadequate knowledge and low confidence in antibiotic prescription led to the passive role of medical interns in antibiotic prescription, predisposing to future inappropriate practice. Inconsistent guidelines and prescription cultures between different hospitals and departments might further exacerbate their barriers.