bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Culture Wars and COVID‐19 Conduct: Christian Nationalism, Religiosity, and Americans’ Behavior During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Authors: Perry Samuel L. , Whitehead Andrew L. , Grubbs Joshua B. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractDuring the COVID‐19 pandemic, Americans’ behavioral responses were quickly politicized. Those on the left stressed precautionary behaviors, while those on the (religious) right were more likely to disregard recommended precautions. We propose the far right response was driven less by partisanship or religiosity per se, but rather by an ideology that connects disregard for scientific expertise; a conception of Americans as God's chosen and protected people; distrust for news media; and allegiance to Trump―Christian nationalism. Analyzing panel data collected in the thick of the COVID‐19 crisis, we find Christian nationalism was the leading predictor that Americans engaged in incautious behavior like eating in restaurants, visiting family/friends, or gathering with 10+ persons (though not attending church), and was the second strongest predictor that Americans took fewer precautions like wearing a mask or sanitizing/washing one's hands. Religiosity, in contrast, was the leading predictor that Americans engaged in more frequent precautionary behaviors. Findings document that Christian nationalism, not religious commitment per se, undergirded the far‐right response to COVID‐19 that disregarded precautionary recommendations, thus potentially worsening the pandemic.
Pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen after intravenous and oral administration in fasted and fed Labrador Retriever dogs
Authors: Sartini Irene , Łebkowska‐Wieruszewska Beata , Lisowski Andrzej , Poapolathep Amnart , Cuniberti Barbara , Giorgi Mario 
Published: July 2020

AbstractAcetaminophen (paracetamol) is used in dogs to manage fever and mild pain. The aim of this study was to assess the pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen in both fed and fasted Labrador Retrievers after a single intravenous and oral administration (20 mg/kg). Six healthy dogs underwent three treatments in a randomized block study (a,n = 2; b,n = 2; c,n = 2). In phase one, group a received acetaminophen intravenously, group b and c orally after being fasted and fed, respectively. In phase two and three, groups were swapped, and the experiment was repeated. At the end of the trial, each dog received the same treatment. Acetaminophen plasma concentrations were detected using a validated HPLC‐UV method. The pharmacokinetic analysis was performed using a noncompartmental model. Clearance, volume at steady state and half‐life of acetaminophen in Labrador Retrievers were 0.42 L/kg hr, 0.87 L/kg and 1.35 hr, respectively. No significant statistical differences were found between fasted and fed dogs regarding maximum plasma concentration, time at maximum concentration and bioavailability as measured by the AUC. Feeding does not significantly affect the acetaminophen oral pharmacokinetics.
Spatio‐temporal trends of nutrients and physico‐chemical parameters on lake ecosystem and fisheries prior to onset of cage farming and re‐opening of the Mbita passage in the Nyanza Gulf of Lake Victoria
Authors: Mwamburi Job , Basweti George , Owili Monica , Babu Jared , Wawiye Peter 
Published: July 2020

AbstractMany large lake ecosystems are experiencing increasing eutrophication and persistent cyanobacteria‐dominated algal blooms affecting their water quality and ecosystem productivity because of widespread non‐point and point nutrient sources. Accordingly, the present study utilized data of July 2003 and January–February 2004, as well as previous measurements of nutrients and physico‐chemical variables (electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, turbidity and chlorophyll‐a), to characterize the spatial and temporal trends, as a means of better understanding the factors influencing lake environmental conditions, as support tools for long‐term ecosystem management and for better understanding the long‐term trends and effects. Inshore gulf areas were found to represent zones of maximum nutrient concentrations, compared to the deep main lake zones, with significant inter‐parameter correlations. Phosphorus, silicon and chlorophyll‐a concentrations were significantly correlated. Water electrical conductivity was also significantly and positively correlated with soluble reactive silicon (SRSi), alkalinity hardness DO, while exhibiting a negative association with water transparency. Water turbidity and transparency, electrical conductivity, and SRSi concentrations clearly describe a gradient from the gulf into the main lake. For such a shallow gulf, these findings suggest primary productivity is influenced mainly by the availability of nutrients, light transparency and the extent of availability of resuspended nutrients. The increasing eutrophic state of Lake Victoria is a serious concern since it contributes to an increased potential of more frequent occurrences of cyanobacterial blooms, a potential public health risk to both humans and wildlife. Improved understanding of influences from previous fish species introductions and concomitant changes in indigenous fish species, increased lake basin population and anthropogenic activities, water hyacinth resurgences, sustainability of biodiversity, and current interests in cage farming, are among the major concerns and challenges facing the contemporary Lake Victoria. The trends regarding nutrients and physico‐chemical characteristics are intended to support better monitoring efforts and data to promote the lake's ecosystem services and the sustainable management of the lake ecosystem.
Integrating Research and Outreach for Environmental Justice: African American Land Ownership and Forestry
Authors: Schelhas John , Hitchner Sarah L. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractIssues with land ownership and engagement in forestry have been intractable problems that have long impeded wealth development among African Americans in the rural South. Over a 6‐year period, an integrated outreach and research program, the Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Program, implemented community‐based projects, built networks among relevant organizations, changed policies, and developed new knowledge to address these critical issues of environmental justice. In this paper, we discuss how anthropological practice was integrated into a program of community‐based projects to create a platform for long‐term change in land ownership, forest management, outreach practice, and policy environments. The results provide an example of how anthropological methods can contribute to social and institutional change by listening and documenting stories and through long‐term engagement with a diverse coalition of researchers, practitioners, landowners, and funders.
“As Long As We Have the Mine, We'll Have Water”: Exploring Water Insecurity in Appalachia
Authors: Wies Jennifer R. , Mays Alisha , Collins Shalean M. , Young Sera L. 
Published: July 2020

ABSTRACTWater insecurity is a condition when affordability, reliability, adequacy, or safety of water is significantly reduced or unattainable resulting in jeopardized well‐being. Water insecurity co‐occurs with poverty and social and economic exclusion. It is gaining increasing attention from the scholarly community, but most work has focused on low‐ and middle‐income countries. In this article, we explore water insecurity in Appalachian Kentucky. Throughout the Appalachia region, water access and quality are compromised as a result of contamination from extractive industries (such as coal mining) and failure of infrastructure investment. The water problems have been reported by journalists, activists, and social and natural scientists who describe a reliance on discolored, sulfuric, and sometimes toxic water to meet household needs. In this article, we build upon applied anthropology studies of human–environment interaction to answer the exploratory question: “Do patterns about water acquisition and consumption exist in Appalachian Kentucky?” Our methodologies included participant observation and informal go‐along interviews at three sites based on convenience. The results are presented with rich ethnographic description, and reveal that preferences are influenced by the costs of water, the availability of water from different sources (wells, taps, mines, rain capture, etc.), and historic use patterns. We call for a culturally and historically informed approach to understand and measure water insecurity and water improvement efforts in Appalachia. Our ability to characterize water insecurity in low‐resource settings in the United States will allow for better understanding and visibility of the water‐related experiences of marginalized communities and serve as powerful policy inputs.
Root‐derived trans‐zeatin cytokinin protects Arabidopsis plants against photoperiod stress
Authors: Frank Manuel , Cortleven Anne , Novák Ondřej , Schmülling Thomas 
Published: July 2020

AbstractRecently, a novel type of abiotic stress caused by a prolongation of the light period—coined photoperiod stress—has been described in Arabidopsis. During the night after the prolongation of the light period, stress and cell death marker genes are induced. The next day, strongly stressed plants display a reduced photosynthetic efficiency and leaf cells eventually enter programmed cell death. The phytohormone cytokinin (CK) acts as a negative regulator of this photoperiod stress syndrome. In this study, we show that Arabidopsis wild‐type plants increase the CK concentration in response to photoperiod stress. Analysis of cytokinin synthesis and transport mutants revealed that root‐derived trans‐zeatin (tZ)‐type CKs protect against photoperiod stress. The CK signalling proteins ARABIDOPSIS HISTIDINE PHOSPHOTRANSFER PROTEIN 2 (AHP2), AHP3 and AHP5 and transcription factors ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR 2 (ARR2), ARR10 and ARR12 are required for the protective activity of CK. Analysis of higher order B‐type arr mutants suggested that a complex regulatory circuit exists in which the loss of ARR10 or ARR12 can rescue the arr2 phenotype. Together the results revealed the role of root‐derived CK acting in the shoot through the two‐component signalling system to protect from the negative consequences of strong photoperiod stress.
Electrophysiological evidence that release from proactive inhibition reflects late semantic processing
Authors: Huang Yue , Zhao Jia , Asthana Manish Kumar , Zuo Kun , Comfort William Edgar , Xu Zhan 
Published: July 2020

AbstractWhile proactive inhibition (PI) frequently occurs in response to novel stimuli due to interference from previously learned information, shifts in semantic category on a preceding trial lead to the attenuation of learning interference effects such as PI, resulting in significantly improved performance on short‐term memory tasks. This study examined how the release from PI also leads to a reduction in semantic inhibition, as measured primarily through an event‐related potential (ERP) electroencephalography (EEG) design. The study used Chinese characters denoting different categories (word nouns for categories such as plants, clothes, and flowers) to test short‐term memory recall in a control group (same category/no PI release) and experimental group (different category/PI release). Both behavioral data (recall accuracy) and ERP responses for the N400 and Late Positive Component (LPC) at frontal, central, and parietal electrode sites were collected. Behaviorally, recall accuracy declined continuously on the initial three consecutive trials, regardless of group, while recall increased significantly on the last trial specifically for the experimental group, due to the shift in semantic category. We reported a significant interaction between group and electrode site for the LPC component, indicating that inhibition effects were still active for both groups at the initial memory encoding stage (corresponding to N400), with inhibition release in the experimental group occurring through later LPC processing. These results provide electrophysiological evidence that release from PI can be distinguished from semantic forms of processing through changes in amplitude over the course of learning.
Cluster Analysis of Microbiome Data by Using Mixtures of Dirichlet–Multinomial Regression Models
Authors: Subedi Sanjeena , Neish Drew , Bak Stephen , Feng Zeny 
Published: July 2020

SummaryThe human gut microbiome is one of the fundamental components of our physiology, and exploring the relationship between biological and environmental covariates and the resulting taxonomic composition of a given microbial community is an active area of research. Previously, a Dirichlet–multinomial regression framework has been suggested to model this relationship, but it did not account for any underlying latent group structure. An underlying group structure of guts (such as enterotypes) has been observed across gut microbiome samples in which guts in the same group share similar biota compositions. In the paper, a finite mixture of Dirichlet–multinomial regression models is proposed that accounts for this underlying group structure and to allow for a probabilistic investigation of the relationship between bacterial abundance and biological and/or environmental covariates within each inferred group. Furthermore, finite mixtures of regression models which incorporate the concomitant effect of the covariates on the resulting mixing proportions are also proposed and examined within the Dirichlet–multinomial framework. We utilize the proposed mixture model to gain insight on underlying subgroups in a microbiome data set comprising tumour and healthy samples and the relationships between covariates and microbial abundance in those subgroups.
Linking macro‐level mechanisms to street‐level accountability practices. A cross‐national case study of street‐level accountability of social workers in government funded homeless shelters
Authors: van der Tier Michelle , Hermans Koen , Potting Marianne 
Published: July 2020

AbstractAvailable studies on the accountability relation between social work and the government are mainly conducted in Anglo‐Saxion countries. This limits the generalizability of these findings to other countries. Moreover, these studies hardly descent to the street‐level, making the perceptions and actions of social workers barely visible. To address this gap, this article explores how three elements of governance interact with street‐level accountability of social workers in homeless care in three country cases (the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany). The data (N26) was gathered by means of a mixed method design (interviews, focus groups and document analysis). By combining a street‐level bureaucracy research approach with a relational definition of accountability, we opened up the black box of what happens in these organizations and bridged the gap between macro‐level mechanisms and street‐level accountability. Our study adds three important insights to street‐level research of accountability in social work. First, elements of governance cannot be studied in isolation. Mechanisms should always be explained in relation to the context in which they are embedded. Second, the social workers in our cases do not perceive their accountability to the government as a professional obligation. They see it as a strategic mechanism to secure funding. Third, interaction is an important condition for the engagement of the social workers in their accountability relation with the government. More research is needed to develop a multi‐level theory that identifies which mechanisms play a role in the accountability relation between the government and social workers.
Generation of a fertile ask1 mutant uncovers a comprehensive set of SCF‐mediated intracellular functions
Authors: Yapa Madhura M. , Yu Peifeng , Liao Fanglei , Moore Abigail G. , Hua Zhihua 
Published: July 2020

SummaryMany eukaryotic intracellular processes employ protein ubiquitylation by ubiquitin E3 ligases for functional regulation or protein quality control. In plants, the multi‐subunit Skp1–Cullin1–F‐box (SCF) complexes compose the largest group of E3 ligases whose specificity is determined by a diverse array of F‐box proteins. Although both sequence divergence and polymorphism of F‐box genes well support a broad spectrum of SCF functions, experimental evidence is scarce due to the low number of identified SCF substrates. Taking advantage of the bridge role of Skp1 between F‐box and Cullin1 in the complex, we systematically analyzed the functional influence of a well‐characterized Arabidopsis Skp1‐Like1 (ASK1) Ds insertion allele, ask1, in different Arabidopsis accessions. Through 10 generations of backcrossing with Columbia‐0 (Col‐0), we partially rescued the fertility of this otherwise sterile ask1 allele in Landsberg erecta, thus providing experimental evidence showing the polymorphic roles of SCF complexes. This ask1 mutant produces twisted rosette leaves, a reduced number of petals, fewer viable pollen grains, and larger embryos and seeds compared to Col‐0. RNA‐Seq‐based transcriptome analysis of ask1 uncovered a large spectrum of SCF functions, which is greater than a 10‐fold increase compared with previous studies. We also identified its hyposensitive responses to auxin and abscisic acid treatments and enhanced far‐red light/phyA‐mediated photomorphogenesis. Such diverse roles are consistent with the 20–30% reduction of ubiquitylation events in ask1 estimated by immunoblotting analysis in this work. Collectively, we conclude that ASK1 is a predominant Skp1 protein in Arabidopsis and that the fertile ask1 mutant allowed us to uncover a comprehensive set of SCF functions.
Breed prevalence of canine ulcerative keratitis according to depth of corneal involvement
Authors: Iwashita Hiroko , Wakaiki Shinsuke , Kazama Yoshiyuki , Saito Akihiko 
Published: July 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the breed prevalence of canine ulcerative keratitis (UK) according to the depth of corneal involvement.ProceduresDogs diagnosed with ulcerative keratitis from 2008 to 2017 at the Triangle Animal Eye Clinic were included in this study. Only breeds with more than 20 eyes affected were selected. UK lesions were classified as superficial (Grade 1), stromal (Grade 2) or descemetoceles and perforations (Grade 3) and compared between brachycephalic (BC) and non‐BC dog breeds.ResultsOf 8877 dogs evaluated at Triangle Animal Eye Clinic from 2008 to 2017, 1109 eyes of 1018 dogs (male, 326 eyes; neutered male, 253 eyes; female, 211 eyes; spayed female, 316 eyes; and unknown sex, 3 eyes) aged between 0.1 and 19.2 years (mean ± standard deviation [SD], 8.33 ± 4.24 years) were diagnosed with UK. The number of eyes that was classified as Grade 1 was 359 eyes (187 non‐BC and 172 BC), Grade 2 was 373 eyes (60 non‐BC and 313 BC) and Grade 3 was 377 eyes (47 non‐BC and 330 BC). Significant differences were observed between BC and non‐BC dogs for all grades of UK. BC dogs were significantly more frequently affected by Grades 2 and 3 and less frequently by Grade 1 UK (P < .01). French bulldogs are more likely to be affected with Grade 1.ConclusionsBrachycephalic dogs are more likely to have deeper corneal involvement in UK. This study provides novel data on the prevalence of superficial UK, which was low in BC dogs and high in non‐BC breeds.
Natural killer cell mobilization and egress following acute exercise in men with prostate cancer
Authors: Hanson Erik D. , Sakkal Samy , Que Shadney , Cho Eunhan , Spielmann Guillaume , Kadife Elif , Violet John A. , Battaglini Claudio L. , Stoner Lee , Bartlett David B. , McConell Glenn K. , Hayes Alan 
Published: July 2020

New Findings

What is the central question of this study?
What are the characteristics of the NK cell response following acute moderate‐intensity aerobic exercise in prostate cancer survivors and is there a relationship between stress hormones and NK cell mobilization?

What is the main finding and its importance?
NK cell numbers and proportions changed similarly between prostate cancer survivors and controls following acute exercise. Consecutive training sessions can likely be used without adverse effects on the immune system during prostate cancer treatment.

AbstractProstate cancer treatment affects multiple physiological systems, although the immune response during exercise has been minimally investigated. The objective was to characterize the natural killer (NK) cell response following acute exercise in prostate cancer survivors. Prostate cancer survivors on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and those without (PCa) along with non‐cancer controls (CON) completed a moderate intensity cycling bout. NK cells were phenotyped before and 0, 2 and 24 h after acute exercise using flow cytometry. CD56 total NK cell frequency increased by 6.2% at 0 h (P < 0.001) and decreased by 2.5% at 2 h (P < 0.01) with similar findings in CD56dim cells. NK cell counts also exhibited a biphasic response. Independent of exercise, ADT had intracellular interferon γ (IFNγ) expression that was nearly twofold higher than CON (P < 0.01). PCa perforin expression was reduced by 11.4% (P < 0.05), suggesting these cells may be more prone to degranulation. CD57− NK cells demonstrated increased perforin and IFNγ frequencies after exercise with no change within the CD57+ populations. All NK and leukocyte populations returned to baseline by 24 h. NK cell mobilization and egress with acute exercise appear normal, as cell counts and frequencies in prostate cancer survivors change similarly to CON. However, lower perforin proportions (PCa) and higher IFNγ expression (ADT) may alter NK cytotoxicity and require further investigation. The return of NK cell proportions to resting levels overnight suggests that consecutive training sessions can be used without adverse effects on the immune system during prostate cancer treatment.
The current chemical biology tool box for studying ion channels
Authors: Braun N. , Sheikh Z. P. , Pless S. A. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractIon channels play important roles in human physiology and their dysfunction is linked to a variety of diseases. This has sparked considerable interest in their molecular function and pharmacology and generated a need to manipulate them with great precision. The use of high‐sensitivity electrophysiological methods allows for the implementation of chemical biology manipulations, as even minute protein amounts can be studied. For example, modification of solvent‐accessible cysteines is a powerful tool to site‐selectively modify proteins through the introduction of charged moieties or those with fluorescent properties. This has been harnessed to study ion conduction pathways and monitor conformational dynamics. In ligand‐directed chemistry, a high‐affinity ligand is used to modify an ion channel with a chemical probe via a reactive linker. While these approaches are typically limited to extracellular positions, genetic code expansion provides a means to introduce non‐canonical amino acids in any position of the protein. This enables the insertion of subtle analogues of naturally occurring side chains or the protein backbone, as well as amino acids with fluorescent, cross‐linking or photo‐switchable properties. Finally, protein semi‐synthesis enables the simultaneous insertion of multiple modifications, including those that would not be tolerated by the ribosomal translation machinery. Collectively, these chemical biology tools have overcome various shortcomings of conventional mutagenesis and vastly expanded the scope of possible modifications and the type of ion channels they can be applied to. Their application in both heterologous and native cell systems will no doubt play an increasingly important role in ion channel research.
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