bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Randomised clinical trial: linaclotide vs placebo—a study of bi‐directional gut and brain axis
Authors: Rao Satish S.C. , Xiang Xuelian , Yan Yun , Rattanakovit Kulthep , Patcharatrakul Tanisa , Parr Rachael , Ayyala Deepak , Sharma Amol 
Published: May 2020

SummaryBackgroundLinaclotide, a guanylate cyclase C agonist relieves irritable bowel syndrome with predominant constipation (IBS‐C) symptoms, but how it improves pain in humans is unknown.AimsTo investigate the effects of linaclotide and placebo on the afferent and efferent gut‐brain‐gut signalling in IBS‐C patients, in a randomised clinical trial.MethodsPatients with IBS‐C (Rome III) and rectal hypersensitivity were randomised (2:1) to receive linaclotide (290 µg) or placebo for 10 weeks and undergo bi‐directional gut and brain axis assessment using anorectal electrical stimulations and transcranial/transspinal‐anorectal magnetic stimulations. Rectal sensations were examined by balloon distention. Assessments included abdominal pain, bowel symptoms and quality of life (QOL) scores. Primary outcomes were latencies of recto‐cortical and cortico‐rectal evoked potentials.ResultsThirty‐nine patients participated; 26 received linaclotide and 13 received placebo. Rectal cortical evoked potentials latencies (milliseconds) were significantly prolonged with linaclotide compared to baseline (P1:Δ 19 ± 6, P < 0.005; N1:Δ 20 ± 7, P < 0.02) but not with placebo (P1:Δ 3 ± 5; N1:Δ 4.7 ± 5,P = 0.3) or between groups. The efferent cortico‐anorectal and spino‐anorectal latencies were unchanged. The maximum tolerable rectal volume (cc) increased significantly with linaclotide compared to baseline (P < 0.001) and placebo (Δ 29 ± 10 vs 4 ± 20, (P < 0.03). Abdominal pain decreased (P < 0.001) with linaclotide but not between groups. Complete spontaneous bowel movement frequency increased (P < 0.001), and IBS‐QOL scores improved (P = 0.01) with linaclotide compared to baseline and placebo. There was no difference in overall responders between linaclotide and placebo (54% vs 23%, P = 0.13).ConclusionsLinaclotide prolongs afferent gut‐brain signalling from baseline but both afferent and efferent signalling were unaffected compared to placebo. Linaclotide significantly improves rectal hypersensitivity, IBS‐C symptoms and QOL compared to placebo. These mechanisms may explain the effects of linaclotide on pain relief in IBS‐C patients.ClinicalTrials.Gov: Registered at Clinical trials.gov no NCT02078323.
Letter: does vitamin D have a potential role against COVID‐19? Authors' reply
Authors: Tian Yuan , Rong Long 
Published: May 2020

LINKED CONTENTThis article is linked to Tian et al and Kumar et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15731 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15801.
Letter: low population mortality from COVID‐19 in countries south of latitude 35 degrees North supports vitamin D as a factor determining severity
Authors: Mansur Jose L. 
Published: May 2020

LINKED CONTENTThis article is linked to Rhodes et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15777 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15823.
Robot‐assisted intracorporeal orthotopic bladder substitution after radical cystectomy: perioperative morbidity and oncological outcomes – a single‐institution experience
Authors: Hosseini Abolfazl , Mortezavi Ashkan , Sjöberg Siri , Laurin Oscar , Adding Christofer , Collins Justin , Wiklund Peter N. 
Published: May 2020

ObjectiveTo report a single‐institution experience with totally intracorporeal neobladder urinary diversion (UD) after robot‐assisted laparoscopic radical cystectomy (RARC).Patients and methodsA total of 158 patients underwent totally intracorporeal neobladder UD after RARC between 2003 and 2016. Patient demographics, intraoperative and pathological data, 30‐ and 90‐day perioperative mortality and complications were recorded. Complications were classified according to the modified Clavien–Dindo classification. The 5‐year overall (OS) and cancer‐specific survival (CSS) rates were estimated by Kaplan–Meier plots.ResultsMost of the patients were male (84%) and had clinical T Stage ≤2 (87%). The mean operation time was 359 (SD ±98) min, with a median (range) estimated blood loss of 300 (50–2200) mL. Most of the men (86%) received a nerve‐sparing procedure and 38% of the females an organ‐sparing approach. A lymph node dissection was performed in 156 (99%) patients, with a median (range) yield of 23 (7–48) nodes. Conversion to open surgery occurred in five patients (3%). We recorded negative margins in 156 patients (99%). The median (range) follow‐up was 34 (1–170) months, with 30‐ and 90‐day mortality rates of 0%. Clavien–Dindo Grade III–IV complications occurred in 29 of 158 (18%) patients at 30‐days and in eight of 158 (5%) between 30–90 days, resulting into a 90‐day overall high‐grade complication rate of 23%. The unadjusted estimated 5‐years recurrence‐free survival, CSS and OS rates were 70%, 72%, and 71%, respectively.ConclusionIn our present series the complication and oncological results were similar to open RC series, suggesting that RARC followed by totally intracorporeal neobladder UD is a safe and feasible alternative.
Interplay of eustatic, tectonic and autogenic controls on a Late Devonian carbonate platform, northern Canning Basin, Australia
Authors: Ferguson Ian J. , Da Silva Anne‐Christine , Chow Nancy , George Annette D. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractFrasnian reef complexes along the northern margin of the Canning Basin in northwestern Australia evolved during rifting of the Fitzroy Trough. Geological investigations of the Frasnian Hull platform, which developed on an active tilted fault‐block, reveal significant lateral and vertical facies variations superimposed on prominent metre‐scale cyclicity. This study uses numerical analyses of facies and magnetic susceptibility data from three measured sections along the Hull platform to test whether a tectonic signal can be distinguished from eustatic and other signals.Geostatistical analysis of facies variations reveals an exponential distribution of thin (<3 m) facies, characteristic of stochastic depositional processes. Thick subtidal facies predominate in the Guppy Hills (GH) and southeastern Hull Range (SHR) sections near the hangingwall margin, and thick shallow‐subtidal to intertidal facies dominate the Horse Springs drillcore (HD 14) section near the footwall margin. Power and wavelet spectral analyses indicate a strong periodic component; Average Spectral Misfit and spectral optimisation methods confirm the presence of Milankovitch eccentricity signals and suggest the presence of obliquity and precession signals. However, the results also expose strong temporal and spatial variation providing evidence for tectonic control. Spectral analyses show strongest periodicity is recorded in short intervals that are not correlated across the platform and provide evidence of variations in sedimentation rate and hiatuses. Time series for the neighbouring GH and SHR sections show no overall statistical correlation, and Markov analysis indicates weakly ordered vertical facies transitions that do not correlate across the platform. Subtidal to intertidal facies data from HD 14 core suggest that at least 35% of the section is absent, almost obscuring the Milankovitch signal. The results indicate a complex set of controls on deposition on the Hull platform with local tectonic effects having produced spatio‐temporal moderation of the underlying eustatic signals and autogenic processes adding a localised stochastic response.
Large‐scale connectivity of fluvio‐deltaic stratigraphy: Inferences from simulated accommodation‐to‐supply cycles and automated extraction of chronosomes
Authors: Karamitopoulos Pantelis , Weltje Gert J. , Dalman Rory A. F. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractMultiscale simulation of fluvio‐deltaic stratigraphy was used to quantify the elements of the geometry and architectural arrangement of sub‐seismic‐scale fluvial‐to‐shelf sedimentary segments. We conducted numerical experiments of fluvio‐deltaic system evolution by simulating the accommodation‐to‐sediment‐supply (A/S) cycles of varying wavelength and amplitude with the objective to produce synthetic 3‐D stratigraphic records. Post‐processing routines were developed in order to investigate delta lobe architecture in relation to channel‐network evolution throughout A/S cycles, estimate net sediment accumulation rates in 3‐D space, and extract chronostratigraphically constrained lithosomes (or chronosomes) to quantify large‐scale connectivity, that is, the spatial distribution of high net‐to‐gross lithologies. Chronosomes formed under the conditions of channel‐belt aggradation are separated by laterally continuous abandonment surfaces associated with major avulsions and delta‐lobe switches. Chronosomes corresponding to periods in which sea level drops below the inherited shelf break, that is, the youngest portions of the late falling stage systems tract (FSST), form in the virtual absence of major avulsions, owing to the incision in their upstream parts, and thus display purely degradational architecture. Detailed investigation of chronosomes within the late FSST showed that their spatial continuity may be disrupted by higher‐frequency A/S cycles to produce “stranded” sand‐rich bodies encased in shales. Chronosomes formed during early and late falling stage (FSST) demonstrate the highest large‐scale connectivity in their proximal and distal areas, respectively. Lower‐amplitude base level changes, representative of greenhouse periods during which the shelf break is not exposed, increase the magnitude of delta‐lobe switching and favour the development of system‐wide abandonment surfaces, whose expression in real‐world stratigraphy is likely to reflect the intertwined effects of high‐frequency allogenic forcing and differential subsidence.
High expression of CXCL14 is a biomarker of lung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary pattern
Authors: Sata Yuki , Nakajima Takahiro , Fukuyo Masaki , Matsusaka Keisuke , Hata Atsushi , Morimoto Junichi , Rahmutulla Bahityar , Ito Yuki , Suzuki Hidemi , Yoshino Ichiro , Kaneda Atsushi 
Published: May 2020

AbstractLung adenocarcinoma with micropapillary pattern (MPP) has an aggressive malignant behavior. Limited resection should be avoided because of its high recurrence rate. If adenocarcinoma with MPP is diagnosed preoperatively, the selection of proper treatment is possible. To explore a preoperative biomarker for diagnosing MPP, we undertook RNA sequencing analysis of 25 clinical samples as the training set, including 6 MPP, 16 other adenocarcinoma subtypes, and 3 normal lung tissues. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis suggested a presence of subgroup with MPP showing different gene expression phenotype. We extracted differentially expressed genes with high expression levels in MPP samples, and chose VSIG1, CXCL14, and BAMBI as candidate biomarkers for MPP. Reverse transcription‐quantitative PCR analysis confirmed a significantly higher expression of VSIG1 (P = .03) and CXCL14 (P = .02) in MPP than others. In a validation set of 4 MPP and 4 non‐MPP samples, CXCL14 expression was validated to be significantly higher in MPP than in non‐MPP (P = .04). Comparing a total of 10 MPP and 20 non‐MPP samples, the area under the curve of CXCL14 to distinguish MPP from others was 0.89. The threshold value was 0.0116, corresponding to sensitivity 80% and specificity 90%. In immunostaining of CXCL14, the staining score was significantly higher in MPP cases than others, where not only the MPP component but also other components showed heterogeneous staining in adenocarcinoma tissues with MPP. Moreover, a higher staining score of CXCL14 was significantly associated with poorer prognosis in all patients (P = .01) or within cases in stage I‐III (P = .01). In summary, we identified CXCL14 as a possible diagnostic biomarker of MPP.
IGF‐I in cord blood is predictive of final height in monozygotic twins with intra‐twin birth weight differences
Authors: Kasner Charlotte , Schulte Sandra , Schreiner Felix , Fimmers Rolf , Stoffel‐Wagner Birgit , Bartmann Peter , Woelfle Joachim , Gohlke Bettina 
Published: May 2020

AbstractObjectiveAdverse prenatal conditions can exert a long‐lasting impact on growth up to final height (FH). Due to different prenatal nutrient availability, monozygotic twin pairs with discordant birth weight (bw) provide an excellent model to examine the impact of genes and environment and to analyse the predictive value of bw, birth length (bl) and cord blood (cb) concentration of IGF‐I on FH.Patients and MethodsTwenty eight monozygotic twin pairs with intra‐twin bw‐/bl‐differences were studied at birth and longitudinally until FH. Intra‐twin bw difference >1 SDS was defined “discordant” (n = 10 pairs). IGF‐I was analysed in cord blood in all twins. Intra‐twin differences (∆) in bw, bl and cord blood IGF‐I were correlated with ∆FH.ResultsThroughout growth and up until FH intra‐twin length/height differences remained for all but two (26/28) twins and for all (10/10) discordant twins. In the discordant group, a highly significant intra‐twin difference for FH‐SDS was found with a mean intra‐twin Δheight‐ SDS of 1.23 (range, 0.29‐2.34). This corresponds to a mean Δintra‐twin difference at FH of 7.9 cm (3.1 inch; range, 2‐15 cm [0.79‐5.9 inch]). Correlation coefficients were calculated to identify factors predicting FH: ∆bw (r = .678; P = .0005), ∆bl (r = .333; P = .0002) and ∆IGF‐I in cb (r = .418; P = .0023). Interaction terms showed that IGF‐I is an additional factor to the auxological data, leading to an improvement of the ∆FH modelling.ConclusionPrenatal environment leading to bw‐/bl‐ and cbIGF‐I differences in monozygotic twins had a long‐lasting impact on growth until FH. Both, anthropometric data at birth and cbIGF‐I are predictive of FH.
Bricks, Documents and Pipes: Material Politics and Urban Development in Niamey, Niger
Authors: Körling Gabriella 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIn this article I explore the ways in which material things—bricks, documents, pipes, and utility poles—mediate everyday life and politics in informal neighborhoods in Niamey, the capital of Niger. I argue that informal neighborhoods are key sites where the material becomes political. Created “from below,” these neighborhoods are literally constructed brick by brick through the gradual division of land plots, the incremental construction and improvement of houses, the negotiation of connections to the water and electricity networks, and attempts at securing public service provision. These material transformations are central to residents’ quest for legitimation in a context of insecure land tenure (rights). I pay particular attention to the ways in which these material transformations are mediated by social and political relations involving both state and non‐state actors (including the traditional chieftaincy, NGOs, public and private companies, and the municipality). In sum, the analysis of material transformations and interventions in informal neighborhoods elucidates the important role of infrastructure and other material things in shaping urban landscapes and in mediating political subjectivities in Niamey.
DIY Verticality: The Politics of Materiality in Luanda
Authors: Gastrow Claudia 
Published: May 2020

AbstractA growing body of work has highlighted the centrality of verticality to the making of contemporary urbanism, pushing scholars to begin conceptualising inequality, politics, and planning as multi‐scalar in nature. This paper builds off these interventions to argue that verticality should be understood as a fragile and unstable achievement, a fragility heightened when the oft‐taken for granted workings of the state and private sector, which enable the appearance of verticality as a seamless achievement, fail. Drawing on research conducted in Luanda, Angola, this paper explores how residents, planners, and real estate developers discuss the difficulties of maintaining the experience, materiality, and imaginations of verticality as embodied in the architectural form of the high‐rise. The paper shows that in the context of ongoing urban decay and the seeming abnegation of most state responsibility for provision, urban residents are forced to engage in the production of a DIY verticality—constantly patching and repairing buildings to keep them viable, actions which in turn pull them into relationships of privatized belonging with the city. As such, the paper argues that the material politics of the high‐rise in Luanda both highlights the fragility at the heart of verticality as well as the shifting forms of privatized belonging immanent to this fragility.
Consuming Citizenship: Prepaid Meters and the Politics of Technology in Mumbai
Authors: Anand Nikhil 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIn November 2007, the Additional Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai announced Sujal Mumbai—a new program to upgrade the city’s water infrastructure. Amongst several initiatives was a proposal to connect new settlements to water lines regulated by prepaid meters. In this paper I focus on the surprising and unexpected appearance of the prepaid water meter in Mumbai to make two arguments. First, I argue that based on the particular technopolitical history of Mumbai’s water infrastructure, the neoliberal technology that was the prepaid meter represented not a withdrawal, but an extension of state services in the city. Second, I argue for an attention to the accreted and relational politics produced by infrastructural assemblages. The politics of technical devices or infrastructure are not discrete and singular, nor are these contained by the meter. Instead, the political effects of the meter are plural, and emerge from the relations between the meter and the accreted materials, histories, and rationalities already embedded and at work in infrastructural systems.
An ecological framework for contextualizing carnivore–livestock conflict
Authors: Wilkinson Christine E. , McInturff Alex , Miller Jennifer R. B. , Yovovich Veronica , Gaynor Kaitlyn M. , Calhoun Kendall , Karandikar Harshad , Martin Jeff Vance , Parker‐Shames Phoebe , Shawler Avery , Van Scoyoc Amy , Brashares Justin S. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractCarnivore predation on livestock is a complex management and policy challenge, yet it is also intrinsically an ecological interaction between predators and prey. Human–wildlife interactions occur in socioecological systems in which human and environmental processes are closely linked. However, underlying human–wildlife conflict and key to unpacking its complexity are concrete and identifiable ecological mechanisms that lead to predation events. To better understand how ecological theory accords with interactions between wild predators and domestic prey, we developed a framework to describe ecological drivers of predation on livestock. We based this framework on foundational ecological theory and current research on interactions between predators and domestic prey. We used this framework to examine ecological mechanisms (e.g., density‐mediated effects, behaviorally mediated effects, and optimal foraging theory) through which specific management interventions operate, and we analyzed the ecological determinants of failure and success of management interventions in 3 case studies: snow leopards (Panthera uncia), wolves (Canis lupus), and cougars (Puma concolor). The varied, context‐dependent successes and failures of the management interventions in these case studies demonstrated the utility of using an ecological framework to ground research and management of carnivore–livestock conflict. Mitigation of human–wildlife conflict appears to require an understanding of how fundamental ecological theories work within domestic predator–prey systems.
A strategy for wildlife management in depopulating rural areas of Japan
Authors: Tsunoda Hiroshi , Enari Hiroto 
Published: May 2020

AbstractFormer ranges of wild animals have been reestablished in many developed countries. However, this reestablishment has led to increasing human–wildlife conflict in agroforest ecosystems. In Japan, human–wildlife conflict, such as crop raiding by and ecological impacts of wild ungulates and primates, is a serious problem in depopulated rural areas due to these animal range expansions and increased abundances. Japan's human population is predicted to decline by 24% by 2050, and approximately 20% of agricultural settlements will become completely depopulated. In this scenario, anthropogenic pressures on wildlife (e.g., hunting and habitat alteration) will continue to decrease and human–wildlife conflict will increase due to increasing wildlife recovery. Japan's local governments plan to slow range recovery, prevent species reestablishment, or remove recolonizing large mammals through lethal control. This strategy, however, is not cost‐effective, and workforce shortages in depopulated communities make it infeasible. Moreover, the suppression of wildlife prevents the recovery of ecological functions and thus would degrade regional biodiversity. The declining pressure on wildlife that accompanies human depopulation will prevent the restoration of any past states of human–wildlife interaction. We suggest human‐used areas in rural landscapes be aggregated in compact cities and that in transition zones between human settlements and depopulated lands that land‐sharing approaches be applied. Concentrating management efforts in compact cities may effectively decrease human–wildlife conflict, rather than intensifying human pressures. Reforestation of depopulated lands may lead to recovery of wildlife habitats, their ecosystem functions, and regional biodiversity due to minimization of negative anthropogenic effects (land‐sparing approach). Balancing resolution of human–wildlife conflict and ecological rewilding could become a new, challenging task for regional wildlife managers.
Addressing inequality and intolerance in human–wildlife coexistence
Authors: Jordan Neil R. , Smith Bradley P. , Appleby Robert G. , van Eeden Lily M. , Webster Hugh S. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractMillennia of human conflict with wildlife have built a culture of intolerance toward wildlife among some stakeholders. We explored 2 key obstacles to improved human–wildlife coexistence: coexistence inequality (how the costs and benefits of coexisting with wildlife are unequally shared) and intolerance. The costs of coexisting with wildlife are often disproportionately borne by the so‐called global south and rural communities, and the benefits often flow to the global north and urban dwellers. Attitudes and behaviors toward wildlife (tolerance versus intolerance) vary with social and cultural norms. We suggest more empathetic advocacy is needed that, for example, promotes conservation while appropriately considering those who bear the costs of conflict with wildlife. To achieve more equitable cost‐sharing, we suggest limiting the costs incurred by those most affected or by sharing those costs more widely. For example, we advocate for the development of improved wildlife compensation schemes, increasing the scale of rewilding efforts, and preventing wildlife‐derived revenue leaching out of the local communities bearing the costs of coexistence.