bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Wnt10a/β‐catenin signalling is involved in kindlin‐1‐mediated astrocyte activation in a chronic construction injury rat model
Authors: Zhao Baisong , Pan Yongying , Xu Haiping , Song Xingrong 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe activation of spinal astrocytes and release of neuroinflammatory mediators are important events in neuropathic pain (NP) pathogenesis. In this study, we investigated the role of Wnt10a/β‐catenin signalling in kindlin‐1‐mediated astrocyte activation using a chronic constriction injury (CCI) NP rat model. Using kindlin‐1 overexpression and knockdown plasmids, we assessed hyperalgesia, changes in spinal astrocyte activation and the release of inflammatory mediators in a NP rat model. We also performed coimmunoprecipitation, Western blotting and real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to characterize the underlying mechanisms of kindlin‐1 in astrocyte cultures in vitro. Kindlin‐1 was significantly upregulated in CCI rats and promoted hyperalgesia. Moreover, we observed increased kindlin‐1, Wnt10a and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP; biomarker for astroglial injury) levels and the release of inflammatory mediators in NP rats (p < 0.05). Inhibiting GFAP in vitro led to decreased kindlin‐1 levels, prevented astrocyte activation, decreased Wnt10a level and the release of inflammatory mediators (p < 0.05). Coimmunoprecipitation showed that kindlin‐1 can interact with Wnt10a. We showed that kindlin‐1‐mediated astrocyte activation was associated with Wnt10a/β‐catenin signalling and the downstream release of inflammatory mediators in a CCI NP rat model. Our findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of kindlin‐1‐mediated astrocyte activation after CCI.
Predicting the occurrence of riparian woody species to inform environmental water policies in an Australian tropical river
Authors: Canham Caroline A. , Beesley Leah S. , Gwinn Daniel C. , Douglas Michael M. , Setterfield Samantha A. , Freestone Fiona L. , Pusey Bradley J. , Loomes Robyn C. 
Published: October 2021

Abstract

River flows are commonly altered by water resource development, with changes to the natural flow regime potentially impacting riparian vegetation. Increasingly, water resource managers seek to design policy to maintain healthy riparian ecosystems. Models that make explicit the relationship between hydrological variables and vegetation can be used by managers to assess vegetation response under different water management scenarios.

We determined the potential impact of water‐takeon the spatial distribution of woody riparian plant species in the lower Fitzroy River, in north‐western Australia, an area under pressure to increase water resource development. We undertook a plant survey and developed and applied a joint species distribution model to determine the likelihood of occurrence for 26 woody riparian plant species, mapped species occurrence and assessed the change in species distribution under two water‐take scenarios.

We found that the duration of inundation from flood flows was a strong predictor of species occurrence in our joint species distribution model. We identified species associated with wetter environments, as indicated by their effect size for the inundation metric. Under the 300‐Gl water‐take scenario we found little change (<2%) in species occurrence, but under the 600‐Gl scenario a decline between 5% and 7.4% was predicted for eight species associated with wetter habitats. This decline was generally confined to a localised area.

Our approach highlights the usefulness of predictive modelling to identify species most likely to be impacted by water‐take, and the benefit of linking modelling to spatial mapping because it can highlight areas where change is likely to occur. This information can assist management to protect ecologically and culturally important species.
Testing the match–mismatch hypothesis in bighorn sheep in the context of climate change
Authors: Renaud Limoilou‐Amélie , Festa‐Bianchet Marco , Pelletier Fanie 
Published: October 2021

AbstractIn species with long gestation, females commit to reproduction several months before parturition. If cues driving conception date are uncoupled from spring conditions, parturition could be mistimed. Mismatch may increase with global change if the rate of temporal changes in autumn cues differs from the rate of change in spring conditions. Using 17 years of data on climate and vegetation phenology, we show that autumn temperature and precipitation, but not vegetation phenology, explain parturition date in bighorn sheep. Although autumn cues drive the timing of conception, they do not predict conditions at parturition in spring. We calculated the mismatch between individual parturition date and spring green‐up, assessed whether mismatch increased over time and investigated the consequences of mismatch on lamb neonatal survival, weaning mass and overwinter survival. Mismatch fluctuated over time but showed no temporal trend. Temporal changes in green‐up date did not lead to major fitness consequence of mismatch. Detailed data on individually marked animals revealed no effect of mismatch on neonatal or overwinter survival, but lamb weaning mass was negatively affected by mismatch. Capital breeders might be less sensitive to mismatch than income breeders because they are less dependent on daily food acquisition. Herbivores in seasonal environments may access sufficient forage to sustain lactation before or after the spring ‘peak’ green‐up, and partly mitigate the consequences of a mismatch. Thus, the effect of phenological mismatch on fitness may be affected by species life history, highlighting the complexity in quantifying trophic mismatches in the context of climate change.
Global decadal variability of plant carbon isotope discrimination and its link to gross primary production
Authors: Lavergne Aliénor , Hemming Deborah , Prentice Iain Colin , Guerrieri Rossella , Oliver Rebecca J. , Graven Heather 
Published: October 2021

AbstractCarbon isotope discrimination (Δ13C) in C3 woody plants is a key variable for the study of photosynthesis. Yet how Δ13C varies at decadal scales, and across regions, and how it is related to gross primary production (GPP), are still incompletely understood. Here we address these questions by implementing a new Δ13C modelling capability in the land‐surface model JULES incorporating both photorespiratory and mesophyll‐conductance fractionations. We test the ability of four leaf‐internal CO2 concentration models embedded in JULES to reproduce leaf and tree‐ring (TR) carbon isotopic data. We show that all the tested models tend to overestimate average Δ13C values, and to underestimate interannual variability in Δ13C. This is likely because they ignore the effects of soil water stress on stomatal behavior. Variations in post‐photosynthetic isotopic fractionations across species, sites and years, may also partly explain the discrepancies between predicted and TR‐derived Δ13C values. Nonetheless, the “least‐cost” (Prentice) model shows the lowest biases with the isotopic measurements, and lead to improved predictions of canopy‐level carbon and water fluxes. Overall, modelled Δ13C trends vary strongly between regions during the recent (1979–2016) historical period but stay nearly constant when averaged over the globe. Photorespiratory and mesophyll effects modulate the simulated global Δ13C trend by 0.0015 ± 0.005‰ and –0.0006 ± 0.001‰ ppm−1, respectively. These predictions contrast with previous findings based on atmospheric carbon isotope measurements. Predicted Δ13C and GPP tend to be negatively correlated in wet‐humid and cold regions, and in tropical African forests, but positively related elsewhere. The negative correlation between Δ13C and GPP is partly due to the strong dominant influences of temperature on GPP and vapor pressure deficit on Δ13C in those forests. Our results demonstrate that the combined analysis of Δ13C and GPP can help understand the drivers of photosynthesis changes in different climatic regions.
Planar cell polarity protein Vangl2 and its interacting protein Ap2m1 regulate dendritic branching in cortical neurons
Authors: Yasumura Misato , Hagiwara Akari , Hida Yamato , Ohtsuka Toshihisa 
Published: October 2021

AbstractVan Gogh‐like 2 (Vangl2) is a mammalian homolog of Drosophila core planar cell polarity (PCP) protein Vang/Strabismus, which organizes asymmetric cell axes for developmental proliferation, fate determination, and polarized movements in multiple tissues, including neurons. Although the PCP pathway has an essential role for dendrite and dendritic spine formation, the molecular mechanism remains to be clarified. To investigate the mechanism of Vangl2‐related neuronal development, we screened for proteins that interact with the Vangl2 cytosolic N‐terminus from postnatal day 9 mouse brains using a yeast two‐hybrid system. From 61 genes, we identified adaptor‐related protein complex 2, mu 1 subunit (Ap2m1) as the Vangl2 N‐terminal binding protein. Intriguingly, however, the pull‐down assay demonstrated that Vangl2 interacted with Ap2m1 not only at its N‐terminus but also at the C‐terminal Prickle binding domain. Furthermore, we verified that the downregulation of Ap2m1 in the developing cortical neurons reduced the dendritic branching similar to what occurs in a knockdown of Vangl2. From these results, we suggest that the membrane internalization regulated by the PCP pathway is required for the developmental morphological change in neurons.
Characteristics and natural disease history of persistent idiopathic facial pain, trigeminal neuralgia, and neuropathic facial pain
Authors: Ziegeler Christian , Brauns Greta , May Arne 
Published: October 2021

AbstractObjectiveThis study aimed to characterize key features, and to assess the clinical development of common nondental facial pain syndromes such as persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP), trigeminal neuralgia (TN), and neuropathic facial pain (NEUROP).MethodsThis is a longitudinal study in which prospective questionnaire data of patients presenting to a specialized outpatient clinic were collected from 2009 to 2019. A telephone interview was conducted with the same patients in 2020 to assess the natural disease history.Resultsn = 411 data sets of patients with chronic facial pain were compiled. Among these were n = 150 patients with PIFP, n = 111 patients with TN, and n = 86 patients with NEUROP. Guideline therapy had not been initiated in 38.7% (58/150; PIFP), 19.8% (22/111; TN), and 33.7% (29/86; NEUROP) patients. Of the patients with PIFP, 99.3% (149/150) had primarily consulted a dentist due to their pain syndrome. The additional telephone interview was completed by 236 out of the 411 patients (57.4%). Dental interventions in healthy teeth had been performed with the intention to treat the pain in many patients (78/94 [83.0%] PIFP; 34/62 [54.8%] TN; 19/43 [44.2%] NEUROP), including dental extractions. 11.3% (7/43) of the patients with TN had never profited from any therapy. In contrast, 29.8% (28/94) of the patients with PIFP had never profited from any therapy. Furthermore, the primary pharmaceutical therapy options suggested by national guidelines were, depending on the substance class, only considered to be effective by 13.8% (13/94; antidepressants) and 14.9% (14/94; anticonvulsants) of the patients with PIFP.ConclusionsFacial pain syndromes pose a considerable disease burden. Although treatment of TN seems to be effective in most patients, patients with PIFP and NEUROP report poor effectiveness even when following guideline therapy suggestions. In addition, unwarranted dental interventions are common in facial pain syndromes.
Bibliometric analysis confirms expected trends in consumer health information publications
Authors: Aldousari Elham 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundThis study provides an overview of consumer health information (CHI) scholarly communication trends.ObjectivesTo explore CHI publications trends, journal citations, prolific authors, countries of origin, and distribution of CHI publications.MethodsA bibliometric analysis was used; 8953 records from the Web of Science (WoS) and peer‐reviewed journal articles from databases, including LISA, MEDLINE, ERIC, PREMEDLINE and EMBASE were analysed.ResultsPublications on CHI rapidly increased from 1980 to 2019, especially during the 1990s and 2000s. Most journals that have published CHI research are based in North America and Europe.ConclusionThe increase in the CHI literature corresponds with that in Internet usage in the 2000s, and explains the availability of CHI content online. This trend is associated with the widespread adoption of personal computers (PCs) and other Internet‐enabled gadgets.
Association between oral clefts and periodontal clinical measures: A meta‐analysis
Authors: Marzouk Tamer , Youssef Mostafa , Tsigarida Alexandra , McKinney Christy , Wong Cynthia , DeLucia Lisa , Shah Ritu , Wang Hongyue , Malmstrom Hans , Shope Erin 
Published: October 2021

AbstractAimTo conduct a systematic review and to evaluate the clinical parameters for periodontal diseases in individuals with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P).DesignThe authors searched six indexed databases without any linguistic limitation through July 2021. The eligibility criteria were observational studies that compared the periodontal clinical measures of individuals with CL/P to those without CL/P. A meta‐analysis was conducted using random‐effects models with inverse variance weighting.ResultsThe literature search generated 1277 records, and 40 full‐text articles were reviewed. Twenty‐three studies comprising 3235 individuals from four continents fulfilled our selection criteria. The meta‐analysis revealed a significant difference in mean plaque index scores (MD = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.22, 0.41), gingival index scores (MD = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.24, 0.77), and periodontal pocket depth (MD = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.12, 1.16) between individuals with and without CL/P. A slight increase in clinical attachment loss was detected among individuals with CL/P; however, such an increase may have little clinical significance.ConclusionsAs age is positively related to periodontal disease progression, and individuals with CL/P are more likely to present with more plaque accumulation and gingival inflammation, clinicians should reinforce preventive dental care from an early age.
Brexit and the ‘left behind’: Job polarization and the rise in support for leaving the European Union
Authors: Drinkwater Stephen 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThis paper focuses on the changing relationship between attitudes towards European Union (EU) membership and workers affected by globalization and technological advances in the lead‐up to the UK's EU referendum in 2016. It is found that workers employed in middling occupations, where both relative wages and employment have fallen, were significantly more likely than workers in high‐paying occupations to indicate that the UK's long‐term policy should be to leave the EU. This view was particularly noticeable amongst males with middling occupations in the post‐recessionary period between 2012 and 2015 and had increased significantly relative to the mainly pre‐recessionary period between 2004 and 2008.
Childhood adversity and mental health among Chinese young adults: The protective role of resilience
Authors: Yu Zhiyuan , Wang Lin , Chen Wenyi , Perrin Nancy , Gross Deborah 
Published: October 2021

AbstractAimThe aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among health science students in China; associations between the number of ACE exposures and severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms; and the extent to which resilience moderates the effect of ACEs on mental health outcomes.DesignThis descriptive, cross‐sectional study was conducted May–August 2020.MethodsFive hundred and sixty‐six health science students (18–38 years) from China completed online surveys measuring ACEs using the Simplified Chinese version of the ACE‐International Questionnaire, depressive and anxiety symptoms and resilience. Descriptive statistical analysis, ANOVA with Tukey HSD post hoc tests and multiple regression analysis were performed using SPSS 27.Results88.5% of participants reported at least one ACE; 42.6% reported four or more ACEs. Higher number of ACEs was associated with more symptoms of depression and anxiety. Four or more ACEs were associated with significantly worse mental health outcomes than those with no ACEs and those with one to three ACEs. Greater resilience significantly attenuated the effects of ACEs on mental health symptoms.ConclusionsACEs are highly prevalent among Chinese health science students but their impact on mental health can be buffered by higher levels of resilience.ImpactScreening for ACEs and strength‐based, trauma‐informed interventions on fostering resilience is needed to promote mental health among Chinese young adults.
Credit rating downgrade risk and acquisition decisions
Authors: Kang Mengyao 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThis study examines the impact of credit rating downgrade risk on acquisition decisions. I find that firms at risk of a rating downgrade conduct fewer acquisitions. This result is robust to different measures of downgrade risk, instrumental variable analyses and matched sample tests. The correlation between downgrade risk and acquisition propensity is likely driven by the concern that risks associated with acquisitions lead to downgrades as evidenced by the more cautious approach of acquirers facing downgrade risk. These firms take more time to complete deals, hire more and higher‐quality financial advisors, issue less debt to finance merger consideration, adopt target termination fee clauses and select targets with lower information asymmetry and higher ratings. This more cautious approach is associated with better long‐term post‐merger performance and reduced future‐downgrade risk. Subgroup analyses reveal credit rating downgrade risk is negatively associated with acquisition decisions and positively associated with performance for investment‐grade firms, especially BBB‐ firms, which are on the brink of being downgraded to non‐investment grade. Such associations are not significant for non–investment‐grade firms. Overall, the results suggest that firms at risk of a rating downgrade conduct acquisitions more cautiously, leading to fewer but more value‐creating deals.
Human amniotic fluid stem cells can improve cerebral vascular remodelling and neurological function after focal cerebral ischaemia in diabetic rats
Authors: Liang Ching‐Chung , Shaw Steven W. , Huang Yung‐Hsin , Lee Tsong‐Hai 
Published: October 2021

AbstractDiabetes causes vascular injury and carries a high risk of ischaemic stroke. Human amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs) can enhance cerebral vascular remodelling and have the potential to improve neurological function after stroke in diabetic rats. Five groups of female rats were examined: (1) normal control, (2) type 1 diabetic (T1DM) rats induced by streptozotocin injection (DM), (3) non‐DM rats receiving 60‐minute middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), (4) T1DM rats receiving 60‐minute MCAO (DM + MCAO) and (5) T1DM rats receiving 60‐minute MCAO and injection with 5 × 106 hAFSCs at 3 h after MCAO (DM + MCAO + hAFSCs). Neurological function was examined before, and at 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, and cerebral infarction volume and haemorrhage, cerebral vascular density, angiogenesis and inflammatory were examined at 7 and 28 days after MCAO. hAFSCs treatment caused a significant improvement of neurological dysfunction, infarction volume, blood‐brain barrier leakage, cerebral arterial density, vascular density and angiogenesis and a reduction of brain haemorrhage and inflammation compared with non‐treatment. Our results showed that the effect of hAFSCs treatment against focal cerebral ischaemia may act through the recovery of vascular remodelling and angiogenesis and the reduction of inflammation in ischaemic brain.
Diet‐induced prediabetes: Effects on the activity of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system in selected organs
Authors: Mkhize Bongeka Cassandra , Mosili Palesa , Ngubane Phikelelani Sethu , Sibiya Ntethelelo Hopewell , Khathi Andile 
Published: October 2021

AbstractAims/IntroductionDerangements often observed with type 2 diabetes are associated with disturbances in renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) activity. A positive correlation between local RAAS activity and the complications observed in type 2 diabetes has been noted. However, the detrimental ramifications due to moderate hyperglycemia noted in prediabetes, and the affected organ system and mechanistic pathways are not elucidated. Hence, this study investigated the effects of diet‐induced prediabetes on RAAS in various organs.Materials and MethodsMale Sprague–Dawley rats were separated into two groups: (i) non‐prediabetes through exposure to standard rat chow group; and (ii) diet‐induced prediabetes group by exposure to a high‐fat high‐carbohydrate diet for 32 weeks. RAAS activity in the skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, liver, pancreas and heart was determined through the analysis of RAAS components, such as renin, angiotensinogen, angiotensin‐converting enzyme and angiotensin II type 1 receptor through polymerase chain reaction, as well as the quantification of angiotensin II and aldosterone concentration. Furthermore, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase 1 concentrations were determined in the skeletal muscle, pancreas and heart, in addition to the hepatic triglycerides.ResultsThe RAAS components were elevated in the diet‐induced prediabetes group when compared with the non‐prediabetes group. This was further accompanied by increased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase and reduced superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase 1 concentrations in the selected organs, in addition to the elevated hepatic triglycerides concentration in the diet‐induced prediabetes by comparison to non‐prediabetes group.ConclusionsDue to these observed changes, we suggest that local RAAS activity in the prediabetes state in selected organs elicits the derangements noted in type 2 diabetes.