bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 activation downregulates toll‐like receptor 4 expression and ameliorates cognitive impairment in the Aβ1‐42‐induced Alzheimer's disease mouse model
Authors: Qin Zhangjin , Gu Min , Zhou Jian , Zhang Wenbo , Zhao Nan , Lü Yang , Yu Weihua 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIncreasing evidence suggests that changes in the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is closely correlated with the pathological development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the biological function and related role of this change remain poorly understood. Higher TREM2 expression has been reported in the brain of AD patients than in normal controls. Here, levels of TREM2 gene and protein levels were observed to be higher in both cortex and hippocampus of the Aβ1‐42‐induced AD mice than in those of the wild type mice. Together with in vitro experimental data, we found that the anti‐inflammatory role of TREM2 was, to some extent, limited and potentially counteracted by the hyperactive toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the AD mice. In this context, Interleukin 4 (IL‐4), as an agonist of TREM2, was administered to the AD mice to persistently activate TREM2. Interestingly, TREM2 activation in IL‐4‐treated AD mice led to an elevation in lysosomes and microtubule‐associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) II/I expression, demonstrating that the level of microglia autophagy was increased. Increased autophagy significantly downregulated the expression levels of caspase recruitment domain‐containing protein 9 (CARD9) and TLR4, potentially weakening the CARD9‐TLR4 pathway and suppressing the TLR4‐mediated pro‐inflammatory effect in IL‐4‐treated AD mice. Furthermore, data acquired from Morris water maze testing indicated that IL‐4 administration could ameliorate cognitive impairment in the AD mice. In conclusion, the findings from in vitro and in vivo experiments suggest that TREM2 might represent a potential drug target to treat neuroinflammation in AD.
Genome‐based prediction of Bayesian linear and non‐linear regression models for ordinal data
Authors: Pérez‐Rodríguez Paulino , Flores‐Galarza Samuel , Vaquera‐Huerta Humberto , del Valle‐Paniagua David Hebert , Montesinos‐López Osval A. , Crossa José 
Published: May 2020

AbstractLinear and non‐linear models used in applications of genomic selection (GS) can fit different types of responses (e.g., continuous, ordinal, binary). In recent years, several genomic‐enabled prediction models have been developed for predicting complex traits in genomic‐assisted animal and plant breeding. These models include linear, non‐linear and non‐parametric models, mostly for continuous responses and less frequently for categorical responses. Several linear and non‐linear models are special cases of a more general family of statistical models known as artificial neural networks, which provide better prediction ability than other models. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian Regularized Neural Network (BRNNO) for modelling ordinal data. The proposed model was fitted using a Bayesian framework; we used the data augmentation algorithm to facilitate computations. The proposed model was fitted using the Gibbs Maximum a Posteriori and Generalized EM algorithm implemented by combining code written in C and R programming languages. The new model was tested with two real maize datasets evaluated for Septoria and GLS diseases and was compared with the Bayesian Ordered Probit Model (BOPM). Results indicated that the BRNNO model performed better in terms of genomic‐based prediction than the BOPM model.
Digital Film and Television Distribution in Greece: Between Crisis and Opportunity
Authors: Papadimitriou Lydia 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe chapter offers a critical overview of the media ecology of film and television distribution in Greece by the middle of 2019. It maps out the stakeholders engaged in delivering professional audiovisual content online and highlights some of the ways in which residual and emerging screen media have intersected in creating the contemporary digital landscape in the country. The chapter positions distribution in the broader context of the audiovisual industry and policy developments in Greece in the decade since the financial crisis, while also exploring the impact of global disruptors, such as Netflix, on the national media ecosystem. Drawing on a conceptual framework provided by research on “small media systems,” as well as the work of Amanda Lodz and Ramon Lobato on Internet-enabled distribution, the chapter uses data from policy documents, press reports and content analysis to assess whether digital technologies can help stimulate a virtuous cycle of production–distribution–consumption in the country’s audiovisual sector.
Finding Larger Transnational Media Markets: Media Practices of the Vietnamese Diasporic Community
Authors: Kim Tae-Sik 
Published: May 2020

AbstractAddressing a concern about the absence of Vietnamese migrants in the Czech media landscape, this chapter first reviews various life contexts of the different Vietnamese populations in the Czech Republic (CR) and then discusses how they have generally lacked participation in the Czech media landscape because of their adoption of transnational media practices. This study also demonstrates how the diasporic community has failed to establish a conventional form of diasporic media but instead has found new translocal information outlets on social media. While the old and new first generations have relied more on media outlets from their country of origin, young migrant children have explored media markets beyond the binational border. However, Vietnamese migrants have recently begun to use social media platforms as networked information outlets, reaching a variety of communities and media outlets located in the CR, Vietnam and their own diasporic community.
Compensation Systems for Online Use
Authors: Handke Christian 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIn the last two decades, it has been difficult to enforce exclusive rights in the “digital realm.” This chapter discusses an alternative to copyright enforcement: copyright compensation systems (CCS), which (a) provide end users with legal certainty when using widely available online resources to access and use creative works, in return for (b) a surcharge on Internet subscription, the receipts of which are disseminated among rightsholders. The basic idea is not to establish exclusive rights, but to compensate creators and those investing in the production of creative works. Arguably, the use of CCS is particularly promising in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries within the European Union. CCS can ensure that low-income households enjoy affordable legal access, foster cultural diversity and domestic production in smaller economies, maintain competition between online services disseminating creative works, become useful tools to conduct cultural policy, and help realize the promise of wide participation in cultural production with user-generated content. It is high time that policymakers explore this option by extending the system of copying levies to cover Internet subscriptions.
Small Country, Complex Film Policy: The Case of the Czech Film Funding System
Authors: Bilík Petr 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThe approach of each European country to the Digital Single Market strategy from a film industry perspective is not just a response to the technological and commercial transformation of recent years, but is based on concepts of the film industry and the willingness of the state to interfere and support. Therefore, in monitoring current attitudes and identifying future strategies, it is appropriate to recall the development of the legitimacy of the institutionalized film sphere within a wider national cultural policy. It is also essential to keep in mind that the existing organization of the production side of the film industry is in a fragile equilibrium of market-based solutions and state intervention which is vulnerable to rapid change.
Small, Middle, Test: Rescaling Peripheral Media Markets
Authors: Wagman Ira 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis chapter raises the question of how to think about the impact of global streaming video on demand platforms on local and national audiovisual markets. It suggests that many studies of media-related markets—particularly in countries identified as “small”—are often understood in generic terms. Using Canada’s experience with Netflix as a case study, this chapter explores how the study of VOD would change according to three different conceptions of Canada as market for media products. If thinking of media markets as big or small encourages relational and defensive thinking and leads toward questions of sovereignty, and if considering media markets as “middles” encourages ideas of circulation and brokerage, then understanding media markets as testing grounds can encourage ideas of experimentation and adaptation.
On the Boundaries of Digital Markets
Authors: Lobato Ramon 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis chapter offers a conceptual framework for analyzing market boundaries, using the EU’s Digital Single Market strategy as an example. It builds on recent work in sociology, geography and political theory to explain how market boundaries are drawn—politically, discursively and institutionally. A vital insight from the social science of markets is to always consider the messiness and friction built into markets. In other words, we must think of markets as social spaces constituted by history, politics and culture rather than abstract spaces constituted by exchange. This involves paying attention to how official market boundaries interact with—and inevitably conflict with—consumer preferences, practices, activities and institutions that may or may not respect those boundaries. The effect of this thought experiment is to pluralize the idea of “the market” by acknowledging that there are, in fact, many different kinds of markets. More to the point, each market comprises a palimpsest of layers that interact in complex ways.
Geoblocking: At Odds with the EU Single Market and Consumer Expectations
Authors: Reda Julia 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis chapter explores the effects of geoblocking on consumers, as well as the friction between this practice and the idea of European integration. Drawing from my experience as a Member of the European Parliament involved with legislative initiatives to address geoblocking from 2014 to 2019, I find that the European Commission’s proposals to abolish geoblocking that were announced by Commission Vice-President Ansip at the beginning of the mandate left geoblocking practices mostly intact, due to fierce opposition from the film industry. Even the modest proposal for a regulation on online broadcasting modeled after the 1993 Satellite and Cable Directive, which would have reduced (not abolished) the geoblocking of video content, was altered substantially through the negotiation process, largely to accommodate lobbying from the film industry. While politics have thus failed to abolish geoblocking, new online players, such as Netflix and Amazon, have reacted to consumer demand to be able to access video content anytime and anywhere, regardless of location. These companies were only able to grow thanks to the large single market in the USA where they got their start, and have since been able to establish themselves in the EU thanks to their substantial resources when entering the EU market. Now, the multinationals are large enough to finance their own productions, which are available to all users worldwide simultaneously. To many consumers, the issue of geoblocking therefore seems less pressing now, because they can watch content produced by streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime instead of the independent productions that are unavailable to them legally in their countries. By opposing any solution to the geoblocking problem, the European film industry has thus contributed to the rise of new, powerful competitors and is now threatened by technology companies that are better at meeting user demand for non-geoblocked films and TV series. Only a decisive effort to abolish geoblocking can prevent the gradual development of a film production duopoly of Netflix and Amazon. Eventually, abolishing geoblocking will be in the interest of both consumers and a diverse film production market.
The Czech and Slovak Audiovisual Market as a Laboratory Experiment for the Digital Single Market in Europe
Authors: Zahrádka Pavel 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis chapter reconstructs and compares the attitudes of Czech distributors of premium audiovisual content (films, television and Web series) toward reform measures proposed by the European Commission for the introduction of a Digital Single Market in Europe and explains the basic operating mechanisms of the business model for audiovisual content in small markets. Based on the lessons learned, the chapter offers a reflection on the sustainability of the online business model of the film industry in the EU with respect to consumer demand and European Union competition law.
„Der neue Weg“: Mit „interatomarer Energie“ zum „Herrn der Welt“ werden
Authors: Hentschel Klaus 
Published: May 2020

ZusammenfassungBei der Durchsicht des Nachlasses von Rudolf Tomaschek (1895–1966) fand ich ein 30 Seiten umfassendes Typoskript seines damaligen Assistenten Hugo Watzlawek (1912–1995) aus dem Jahr 1944 mit dem Titel „Interatomare Energie“. Heute würde man eher von „inneratomarer Energie“, oder von „Kernenergie“ sprechen, da der Inhalt des Typoskripts „technische Kernphysik“ einschließlich ihrer potentiellen militärischen Anwendungen betrifft. Der Text bietet einen ungefilterten, erstaunlich kenntnisreichen, aber in vielem auch erschreckenden Einblick in die technokratische Gedankenwelt sowie den Wissensstand und Anwendungshorizont eines „technischen Kernphysikers“ im „Dritten Reich“, der unter Verweis auf konkurrierende amerikanische Forschungen 1944 nachdrücklich um weitere Mittel für kernphysikalische und -technische Forschung sowie für die Entwicklung von Kernwaffen bittet. Der vorliegende Aufsatz kommentiert und kontextualisiert das Typoskript; meine ebenfalls online gestellte annotierte Transkription des Typoskriptes bietet ungekürzten Zugang zum Originaltext samt knapper, für dessen Verständnis notwendiger historischer und technischer Erläuterungen.
COVID-19 pandemic and therapy with ibuprofen or renin-angiotensin system blockers: no need for interruptions or changes in ongoing chronic treatments
Authors:   on behalf of the German Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (DGPT), Zolk Oliver , Hafner Susanne , Schmidt Christoph Q. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractScientists hypothesized that drugs such as ibuprofen or renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers could exacerbate the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 by upregulating the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which serves as an entry receptor for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This hypothesis was taken up by the lay press and led to concerns among doctors and patients whether the use of these drugs was still safe and justified against the background of the pandemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 with an increasing number of cases and deaths. In this article, we summarize what is known about the effect of RAS blockers or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the course of COVID-19 disease. In the case of RAS inhibition, we also find evidence for the opposite hypothesis, namely, that RAS inhibition in COVID-19 could be protective. In view of the inconsistent and limited evidence and after weighing up the benefits and risks, we would not currently recommend discontinuing or switching an effective treatment with RAS blockers. NSAIDs should be used at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible period. The choice of drug to treat COVID-19-associated fever or pain should be based on a benefit-risk assessment for known side effects (e.g., kidney damage, gastrointestinal ulceration).
Is Early Initiation of Adjuvant Chemotherapy Beneficial for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Following Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy and Radical Surgery?
Authors: Sun Yanwu , Huang Zhekun , Zhang Yiyi , Lin Huiming , Lu Xingrong , Huang Ying , Chi Pan 
Published: May 2020

AbstractAimThis study aimed to evaluate whether earlier initiation (< 4 weeks) of adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) confer any oncological benefits for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and radical surgery.MethodClinicopathological and survival outcomes were compared. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to adjust for differences between groups. Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of earlier ACT initiation on overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS).ResultsTotally, 443 eligible patients were included. More laparoscopic surgeries, less postoperative complications, and more ACT completion were observed in patients whose ACT was initiated within 4 weeks after surgery (all P < 0.001). With a mean follow‐up of 59 months, the 5‐year OS and DFS rate was 89.8% and 82.0% in the early group, significantly higher than 81.6% and 73.1% in the late group (P = 0.007, and P = 0.022, respectively). After PSM, the 5‐year OS and DFS rate was 90.9% and 84.4% in the early group, significantly higher than 83.4% and 68.8% in the late group (P = 0.047, and P = 0.017, respectively). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that time to ACT initiation (early vs. late, HR = 0.486, P = 0.008) was independently associated with OS.ConclusionEarly initiation of ACT (<4 weeks) confers a survival benefit, and is an independent prognostic factor of OS in LARC patients following nCRT. Further investigations are needed to define the role of earlier initiation of ACT in patients with LARC after nCRT.
Measuring quality of life in patients with abdominal wall hernias: a systematic review of available tools
Authors: Grove T. N. , Muirhead L. J. , Parker S. G. , Brogden D. R. L. , Mills S. C. , Kontovounisios C. , Windsor A. C. J. , Warren O. J. 
Published: May 2020

Abstract
Introduction
Abdominal wall herniation (AWH) is an increasing problem for patients, surgeons, and healthcare providers. Surgical-site specific outcomes, such as infection, recurrence, and mesh explantation, are improving; however, successful repair still exposes the patient to what is often a complex major operation aimed at improving quality of life. Quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes, such as aesthetics, pain, and physical and emotional functioning, are less often and less well reported. We reviewed QOL tools currently available to evaluate their suitability.

Methods
A systematic review of the literature in compliance with PRISMA guidelines was performed between 1st January 1990 and 1st May 2019. English language studies using validated quality-of-life assessment tool, whereby outcomes using this tool could be assessed were included.

Results
Heterogeneity in the QOL tool used for reporting outcome was evident throughout the articles reviewed. AWH disease-specific tools, hernia-specific tools, and generic tools were used throughout the literature with no obviously preferred or dominant method identified.

Conclusion
Despite increasing acknowledgement of the need to evaluate QOL in patients with AWH, no tool has become dominant in this field. Assessment, therefore, of the impact of certain interventions or techniques on quality of life remains difficult and will continue to do so until an adequate standardised outcome measurement tool is available.
Will dairy cattle production in West Africa be challenged by heat stress in the future?
Authors: Rahimi Jaber , Mutua John Yumbya , Notenbaert An M. O. , Dieng Diarra , Butterbach-Bahl Klaus 
Published: May 2020

AbstractThis study focuses on heat stress conditions for dairy cattle production in West Africa under current and future climatic conditions. After testing the accuracy of the dynamically downscaled climate datasets for simulating the historical daily maximum temperature (Tmax) and relative humidity (RH) in West Africa for 50 meteorological stations, we used the dataset for calculating the temperature-humidity index (THI), i.e., an index indicating heat stress for dairy cattle on a daily scale. Calculations were made for the historical period (1981–2010) using the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset, and for two future periods (2021–2050 and 2071–2100) using climate predictions of the GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-ES, and MPI-ESM-MR Global Circulation Models (GCMs) under the RCP4.5 emission scenario. Here, we show that during the period from 1981 to 2010 for > 1/5 of the region of West Africa, the frequency ofsevere/dangerheat events per year, i.e., events that result in significant decreases in productive and reproductive performances, increased from 11 to 29–38 days (significant at 95% confidence level). Most obvious changes were observed for the eastern and southeastern parts. Under future climate conditions periods withsevere/dangerheat stress events will increase further as compared with the historical period by 5–22% depending on the GCM used. Moreover, the average length of periods withsevere/dangerheat stress is expected to increase from ~ 3 days in the historical period to ~ 4–7 days by 2021–2050 and even to up to 10 days by 2071–2100. Based on the average results of three GCMs, by 2071–2100, around 22% of dairy cattle population currently living in this area is expected to experience around 70 days more ofsevere/dangerheat stress (compare with the historical period), especially in the southern half of West Africa. The result is alarming, as it shows that dairy production systems in West Africa are jeopardized at large scale by climate change and that depending on the GCM used, milk production might decrease by 200–400 kg/year by 2071–2100 in around 1, 7, or 11%. Our study calls for the development of improved dairy cattle production systems with higher adaptive capacity in order to deal with expected future heat stress conditions.
Studying Illegal Online Trades in Plants: Market Characteristics, Organisational and Behavioural Aspects, and Policing Challenges
Authors: Lavorgna Anita , Sajeva Maurizio 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIllegal commerce in plants and their derivatives threatens and destroys numerous species and important natural resources, and may cause phytosanitary and health problems. This illegal trade, which has been boosted by the commercialisation of the Internet, has been relatively overlooked in criminological research. Furthermore, the policing of illegal plant markets remains limited and poorly resourced, with law enforcement agencies lacking awareness and technical capacity in investigation and prosecution services. Based on semi-structured interviews with law enforcement officers and other relevant experts, this study, developed in the context of the ESRC-funded project “FloraGuard: Tackling the illegal trade in endangered plants” offers an analysis of the characteristics of illegal online trading in plants and of the actors operating therein, of current policing practices, and identification of the main challenges to be addressed to better assist law enforcement. It concludes by offering practical recommendations to curb this illegal market.