bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
RAD sequencing of common whelk, Buccinum undatum, reveals fine‐scale population structuring in Europe and cryptic speciation within the North Atlantic
Authors: Goodall Jake , Westfall Kristen Marie , Magnúsdóttir Hildur , Pálsson Snæbjörn , Örnólfsdóttir Erla Björk , Jónsson Zophonías O. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractBuccinum undatum is a subtidal gastropod that exhibits clear spatial variation in several phenotypic shell traits (color, shape, and thickness) across its North Atlantic distribution. Studies of spatial phenotypic variation exist for the species; however, population genetic studies have thus far relied on a limited set of mitochondrial and microsatellite markers. Here, we greatly expand on previous work by characterizing population genetic structure in B. undatum across the North Atlantic from SNP variation obtained by RAD sequencing. There was a high degree of genetic differentiation between Canadian and European populations (Iceland, Faroe Islands, and England) consistent with the divergence of populations in allopatry (FST > 0.57 for all pairwise comparisons). In addition, B. undatum populations within Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and England are typified by weak but significant genetic structuring following an isolation‐by‐distance model. Finally, we established a significant correlation between genetic structuring in Iceland and two phenotypic traits: shell shape and color frequency. The works detailed here enhance our understanding of genetic structuring in B. undatum and establish the species as an intriguing model for future genome‐wide association studies.
Orientation behavior of riparian long‐jawed orb weavers (Tetragnatha elongata) after displacement over water
Authors: Goedeker Sidney J. , Wrynn Theresa E. , Gall Brian G. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractMany organisms possess remarkable abilities to orient and navigate within their environment to achieve goals. We examined the orientation behavior of a riparian spider, the Long‐Jawed Orb Weaver (Tetragnatha elongata), when displaced onto the surface of the water. When displaced, spiders move with alternating movements of the first three leg pairs while dragging the most posterior pair of legs behind them. In addition, spiders often perform a series of orientation behaviors consisting of concentric circles before ultimately choosing a path of travel directly toward the nearest point to land. While the number of orientation behaviors increased with increasing distance from shore, distance from shore had no effect on the direction of travel, which was significantly oriented toward the closest shoreline. These results indicate a complex ability to orient toward land when displaced onto water, possibly to decrease the amount of time on the surface of the water and thus decrease predation risk.
State‐wide population characteristics and long‐term trends for eastern box turtles in North Carolina
Authors: Roe John H. , Graeter Gabrielle J. , LaVere Ashley A. , Somers Ann B. 
Published: February 2021

AbstractTurtles are in decline worldwide, and the magnitude and recent acceleration of population declines requires immediate action to inform conservation and management plans. Long‐term studies of population trends and characteristics covering multiple populations across a range of environmental contexts are needed to guide the most effective management decisions, yet such studies are uncommon. Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) populations have declined and require conservation action throughout much of their range. We assessed sources of variation and temporal trends inT. c. carolinapopulation characteristics from 39 sites spanning four ecoregions in North Carolina using capture–mark–recapture. Surprisingly, there was no evidence of population decline at any site over a ten‐year period (2008–2017). Population densities ranged from 0.2 to 6.0 turtles per hectare, decreasing with more urban development and increasing with more wetland habitats in the surrounding landscape. Populations varied in demographic structure but had similar sex ratios and more adults than immature turtles in each ecoregion even after adjusting for variation in encounter probability among groups and body sizes. Survivorship was similar among life stages and sexes and only weakly related to body size. After adjusting for emigration, annual survival probability ranged from 90.7% to 96.8% for the various demographic groups and body sizes. Growth rates decreased with increasing body size, with rates ranging from approximately 15‐mm carapace length per year in the smallest individuals to near zero in the largest individuals. No aspect of population demographic structure or vital rates was related to surrounding landscape context. Population trends and characteristics were consistent among ecoregions, suggesting no need for region‐specific conservation or management with respect to the population characteristics examined. However, given the high site‐specific variability in nearly all estimated parameters, managers would benefit from targeting local threats such as urban land development and wetland destruction to ensure local population viability. The population characteristics reported here can serve as a useful baseline to compare population trends at these sites as monitoring continues. Our approach could be a useful model for other regions to follow in developing monitoring programs for this and other imperiled turtles.
Overarching policy framework for product life extension in a circular economy—A bottom‐up business perspective
Authors: Milios Leonidas 
Published: February 2021

AbstractPublic policy has a critical role to play in supporting business actors towards their transition to more sustainable and less resource‐intensive practices within the context of a Circular Economy (CE). The European Union (EU) CE Action Plan sets a special focus on the role of business in adopting and promoting circular economic principles in their operations, and thus leading the transition towards CE. Companies need to design and adopt innovative business models that enable the capture of residual value in products. Product life extension strategies, such as re‐use, hold the highest potential to retain the materials and energy embedded in products. However, companies that adopt such business practices face multiple barriers deriving from the present socio‐economic conditions and find themselves in need of direct policy interventions to be able to compete with incumbent firms. This contribution identifies supporting interventions that could enable companies engaging in product life extension to scale up and lead the transition to a CE. Empirical evidence was gathered from such companies in five economic sectors in Sweden through questionnaires. Based on the results, an overarching policy framework is proposed, including wide cross‐sectoral policy measures, such as (1) public procurement, (2) increased provision and access to information and (3) government leadership, setting mandatory re‐use targets.
The diagnostic and prognostic value of galectin‐3 in patients at risk for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: results from the DIAST‐CHF study
Authors: Trippel Tobias Daniel , Mende Meinhard , Düngen Hans‐Dirk , Hashemi Djawid , Petutschnigg Johannes , Nolte Kathleen , Herrmann‐Lingen Christoph , Binder Lutz , Hasenfuss Gerd , Pieske Burkert , Wachter Rolf , Edelmann Frank 
Published: February 2021

AbstractAimsGalectin‐3 (Gal‐3) predicts long‐term outcome among patients with heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The ability of Gal‐3 to diagnose and predict incident HFpEF in a cohort at risk for HFpEF is of particular interest. We aimed to determine the association between Gal‐3 and clinical manifestations of HFpEF, the relationship between Gal‐3 and all‐cause mortality, or the composite of cardiovascular hospitalization and death.Methods and resultsThe observational Diast‐CHF study included patients aged 50 to 85 years with ≥1 risk factor for HF (e.g. hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and atherosclerotic disease) or previously suspected HF. Patients were followed for 10 years. The association between Gal‐3, evidence of diastolic dysfunction, and Framingham criteria for HF was examined. All deaths and hospitalizations were adjudicated as cardiovascular or non‐cardiovascular. The analysis population was composed of 1386 subjects (67 years old, 50.9% female). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to diagnose HFpEF was 0.71. At a cut‐off value of 13.57 ng/mL, sensitivity was 0.61 and specificity was 0.73 for Gal‐3, and the diagnostic power to detect HFpEF was superior to N‐terminal pro‐brain natriuretic peptide (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.59, P > 0.001). Baseline Gal‐3 was associated with risk factors for HF (P < 0.001). Higher levels of Gal‐3 predicted incident HFpEF (P < 0.05), adjusted all‐cause mortality (P < 0.001), and the adjusted composite of cardiovascular hospitalization and death (P < 0.001), both independent from N‐terminal pro‐brain natriuretic peptide.ConclusionsGal‐3 differentiated patients with HFpEF from an overall cohort of well‐characterized patients with risk factors for HFpEF. Independent of other factors, baseline Gal‐3 levels were associated with a higher risk for incident HFpEF, mortality, or the composite of cardiovascular hospitalization and death over 10 year follow‐up. In conjunction with clinical parameters, Gal‐3 adds a statistically significant value for the diagnosis of HFpEF within this study, yet the clinical relevance remains debatable.
Bioanalysis of drugs and their metabolites by chiral electromigration techniques (2010–2020)
Authors: Caslavska Jitka , Thormann Wolfgang 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe further development and application of capillary electromigration techniques for the enantioselective determination of drugs and their metabolites in body fluids, tissues, and in vitro preparations during the 2010 to 2020 time period continued to proof their usefulness and attractiveness in bioanalysis. This review discusses the principles and important aspects of capillary electrophoresis‐ based chiral drug bioassays, provides a survey of the assays reported during the past 10 years and presents an overview of the key achievements encountered in that time period. For systems with charged chiral selectors, special attention is paid on assays that feature field‐amplified sample injection to enable the determination of ppb levels of analytes and optimized online incubation procedures for the rapid assessment of a metabolic pathway. Applications discussed encompass the pharmacokinetics of drug enantiomers in vivo and in vitro, the impact of inhibitors on metabolic steps, the elucidation of the stereoselectivity of drug metabolism in vivo and in vitro, and drug enantiomers in toxicological, forensic, and doping analysis.
A time averaged steady state method for the Navier–Stokes equations
Authors: Zhao Mengjie , Zorrilla Rubén , Rossi Riccardo , Wüchner Roland 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThis work derives an incompressible variational multiscales time‐averaged Navier–Stokes (NS) formulation that aims at obtaining accurate steady state solutions. Rather than using the standard time instantaneous velocity and pressure, the new formulation devises a time averaging procedure based on rewriting and solving the NS equations in terms of the newly defined time‐averaged velocity and pressure. Hence, the method could be understood as a convenient change of variable so that the problem is rewritten directly in terms of the steady state quantities. The important advantage of such a point of view is that it can in principle be applied to any other formulation. Such time averaging procedure is complemented by two time step modification strategies in order to accelerate the convergence to the steady state. The guidelines of an integrated framework are presented in the article, starting with the description of the proposed numerical technique applied to general incompressible flows. The explanation is enhanced with a one‐dimensional (1D) nonlinear oscillator example. Several results are presented concerning analytical benchmarks, simulation of flows in laminar, transitional and turbulent regimes with and without an inherently steady solution.
Formation of the node of Ranvier by Schwann cells is under control of transcription factor Sox10
Authors: Saur Anna‐Lena , Fröb Franziska , Weider Matthias , Wegner Michael 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe transcription factor Sox10 is an essential regulator of genes that code for structural components of the myelin sheath and for lipid metabolic enzymes in both types of myelinating glia in the central and peripheral nervous systems. In an attempt to characterize additional Sox10 target genes in Schwann cells, we identified in this study a strong influence of Sox10 on the expression of genes associated with adhesion in the MSC80 Schwann cell line. These included the genes for Gliomedin, Neuronal cell adhesion molecule and Neurofascin that together constitute essential Schwann cell contributions to paranode and node of Ranvier. Using bioinformatics and molecular biology techniques we provide evidence that Sox10 directly activates these genes by binding to conserved regulatory regions. For activation, Sox10 cooperates with Krox20, a transcription factor previously identified as the central regulator of Schwann cell myelination. Both the activating function of Sox10 as well as its cooperation with Krox20 were confirmed in vivo. We conclude that the employment of Sox10 and Krox20 as regulators of structural myelin sheath components and genes associated with the node of Ranvier is one way of ensuring a biologically meaningful coordinated formation of both structures during peripheral myelination.
An innovative konjac glucomannan/κ‐carrageenan mixed tensile gel
Authors: Wu Di , Yu Simin , Liang Hongshan , Eid Mohamed , Li Bin , Li Jing , Mao Jin 
Published: February 2021

AbstractBACKGROUNDKonjac glucomannan (KGM) showed a synergistic interaction with κ‐carrageenan (CAR), which led to the formation of a promising compound hydrocolloid gel in the food field (such as jelly). Nevertheless, the mixed gels formed by adding KGM to CAR still displayed defects in gel strength and syneresis, and would hardly meet the quality requirements of some gel foods. However, deacetylated KGM and maltodextrin (MD) have always been used in gel foods and affect their viscosity and rheological properties.RESULTSIn our paper, different amounts of MD were first used to alter the textural properties, and the results showed that both tensile strength and elongation exhibited first an increasing and then a decreasing trend with the increasing MD proportion and achieved a maximum at a final maltodextrin proportion of 4 g kg−1 in the KGM/CAR/MD system. Based on the above results, we further explored the effects of deacetylation degree of KGM on the gel properties of mixed gel system. The results revealed that, compared to the native KGM, the partial deacetylated KGM was capable of significantly improving the tensile strength and elongation of KGM/CAR mixed gel.CONCLUSIONOur study found that the appropriate addition of MD (0.4%) and DKGM were able to alter the tensile properties of KGM/CAR mixed gel, with potential to meet the needs of consumers and further design innovative tensile gel products in the soft gel industry. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry
Association between dietary diversity score and anthropometric indices among children and adolescents: the weight disorders survey in theCASPIAN‐IVstudy
Authors: Heidari‐Beni Motahar , Riahi Roya , Massoudi Soraya , Qorbani Mostafa , Kelishadi Roya 
Published: February 2021

AbstractBACKGROUNDThe aim of this study was to determine the association between the dietary diversity score (DDS) and anthropometric indices in a nationally representative sample of Iranian children and adolescents.METHODSThe nationwide cross‐sectional study included 5178 students aged 6–18 years. A validated 168‐item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used. The DDS was assessed by dividing food items into five groups.RESULTSAn increase of 1 in the total DDS score was associated with 0.08 increase in the body mass indexz‐score (BMIz), 0.06 increase in waist circumferencez‐score (WCz), and 0.07 increase in hip circumferencez‐score (HCz) (P < 0.05) in girls. An increase of 1 in the DDS score of the dairy group was associated with an 0.11 increases in BMIz (P < 0.05). An increase of 1 in the DDS score of the fruit‐vegetable group was associated with 0.09 and 0.08 increase in BMIz and HCz among girls respectively (P < 0.05). The odds of excess weight (overweight or obesity) and abdominal obesity increased with each unit increase in total DDS in girls (odds ratio, ORexcess weight = 1.11 (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.003–1.23), ORabdominal obesity = 1.11 (95% CI: 1.001–1.23)). The odds of excess weight increased with each unit increase in dairy DDS (ORexcess weight = 1.20 (95% CI: 1.002–1.43) among boys.CONCLUSIONHigher DDS was associated with higher anthropometric indices and greater risk of obesity among children and adolescents. Our findings emphasize the importance of increasing the diversity of healthy food items to reduce weight disorders in the pediatric age group. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry
Continuing cancer surgery through the first six months of the COVID‐19 pandemic at an academic university hospital in India: A lower‐middle‐income country experience
Authors: Akhtar Naseem , Rajan Shiv , Chakrabarti Deep , Kumar Vijay , Gupta Sameer , Misra Sanjeev , Chaturvedi Arun , Azhar Tashbihul , Parveen Shirin , Qayoom Sumaira , Niranjan Palavalasa , Tiwari Shashwat 
Published: February 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID‐19) hinders the treatment of non‐COVID illnesses like cancer, which may be pronounced in lower‐middle‐income countries.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study audited the performance of a tertiary care surgical oncology department at an academic hospital in India during the first six months of the pandemic. Difficulties faced by patients, COVID‐19‐related incidents (preventable cases of hospital transmission), and modifications in practice were recorded.ResultsFrom April to September 2020, outpatient consultations, inpatient admissions, and chemotherapy unit functioning reduced by 62%, 58%, and 56%, respectively, compared to the same period the previous year. Major surgeries dropped by 31% with a decrease across all sites, but an increase in head and neck cancers (p = .012, absolute difference 8%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.75% — 14.12%). Postoperative complications were similar (p = .593, 95% CI: −2.61% — 4.87%). Inability to keep a surgical appointment was primarily due to apprehension of infection (52%) or arranging finances (49%). Two COVID‐19‐related incidents resulted in infecting 27 persons. Fifteen instances of possible COVID‐19‐related mishaps were averted.ConclusionsWe observed a decrease in the operations of the department without any adverse impact in postoperative outcomes. While challenging, treating cancer adequately during COVID‐19 can be accomplished by adequate screening and testing, and religiously following the prevention guidelines.
Current Protocol for Aesthetic Scar Management in Thyroid Surgery
Authors: Chung Jae‐Ho , Kim Da‐Som , Cheon Jeong‐Hyun , Yoon Jeong‐Min , Baek Seung‐Kuk , Jung Kwang‐Yoon , Yoon Eul‐Sik , Park Seung‐Ha 
Published: February 2021

Objectives/HypothesisWe compared the scar quality when different protocols were applied, and eventually aim to find the optimal scar management protocol.Study DesignWe conducted a prospective, randomized, and blinded comparison of different scar management protocols in a single center.MethodsWe allocated 126 patients who underwent thyroidectomy via collar neck incision randomly into three groups. Patients in group A were treated with tissue adhesive only. Patients in group B were treated by means of subcuticular suturing and early scar management with a non‐ablative fractional laser (NAFL) and intralesional triamcinolone injection (ILI). Patients in group C had skin closure with tissue adhesive and early scar management. At 6 months after the operation, the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) and the width of the final scar were compared.ResultsComparing the sum of PSAS, groups B and C showed significant higher satisfaction than did group A (22.81 ± 11.66 in group A, 10.9 ± 5.14 in group B, and 15.19 ± 9.98 in group C). In the sum of OSAS, group B also showed a significant difference than did groups A and C (17.74 ± 6.75 in group A, 10.26 ± 3.60 in group B, and 14.52 ± 6.48 in group C). Also, group B showed a narrower scar width than did groups A and C.ConclusionsOur finding suggests that subcuticular suturing using barbed suture material and early treatment with a combination therapy using NAFL and ILI showed a favorable aesthetic outcome for both patients and operators. Based on our algorithmic approach for thyroidectomy scar, we anticipate an optimal aesthetic outcome.Level of EvidenceII Laryngoscope, 131:E2188–E2195, 2021
Clinical and genetic characterization of autosomal recessive stickler syndrome caused by novel compound heterozygous mutations in the COL9A3 gene
Authors: Markova Tatiana , Sparber Peter , Borovikov Artem , Nagornova Tatiana , Dadali Elena 
Published: February 2021

AbstractBackgroundStickler syndrome (STL) is a clinically variable and genetically heterogeneous collagenopathy characterized by ophthalmic, auditory, skeletal, and orofacial abnormalities. STL is mainly inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern with mutations in the COL2A1, COL11A1, and COL11A2 genes. Autosomal recessive forms are rare. However, 19 patients have been reported to date, with STL caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in genes that encode for the three chains of type IX collagen: COL9A1, COL9A2, and COL9A3.MethodsGenetic analysis was performed using the next‐generation sequencing of 166 genes associated with skeletal disorders and sequenced on an Ion Torrent S5 system with a minimum coverage of 100X. The two variants in the COL9A3 gene identified in the proband and the parents were confirmed by Sanger sequencing on an ABI3130xl sequencer.ResultsWe describe a novel case of autosomal recessive Stickler syndrome caused by two undescribed mutations in the COL9A3 gene: c.268C>T (p.Arg90Ter) and c.1729C>T (p.Arg577Ter). The clinical features included severe sensorineural hearing loss, high myopia, vitreoretinal degeneration, and early‐onset arthropathy of the lower limbs. Radiography revealed mild spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia.ConclusionThis case further expands the mutational and phenotypic spectrum of COL9A‐associated STL with a more severe presentation.