bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Host phylogeny and ecology, but not host physiology, are the main drivers of (dis)similarity between the host spectra of fleas: application of a novel ordination approach to regional assemblages from four continents
Authors: Krasnov Boris R. , van der Mescht Luther , Matthee Sonja , Khokhlova Irina S. 
Published: September 2021

AbstractWe investigated the patterns of phylogenetic and functional (dis)similarity in the species composition of host spectra between co-habitating generalist flea species in regional assemblages from four continents (Europe, Asia, North America and Africa) using a recently developed ordination approach (Double Similarity Principal Component Analysis). From the functional perspective, we considered physiological [body mass and basal metabolic rate (BMR)] and ecological (shelter depth and complexity) host traits. We asked (a) whether host phylogeny, physiology or ecology is the main driver of (dis)similarities between flea host spectra and (b) whether the patterns of phylogenetic and functional (dis)similarity in host spectra vary between flea assemblages from different continents. Phylogenetic similarity between the host spectra was highest in Africa, lowest in North America and moderate in Europe and Asia. In each assemblage, phylogenetic clusters of hosts dominating in the host spectra could be distinguished. The functional similarity between the host spectra of co-occurring fleas was low for shelter structure in all assemblages and much higher for body mass and BMR in three of the four assemblages (except North America). We conclude that host phylogeny and shelter structure are the main drivers of (dis)similarity between the host spectra of co-habitating fleas. However, the effects of these factors on the patterns of (dis)similarity varied across continents.
Effective incentives for increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake
Authors: Salali Gul Deniz , Uysal Mete Sefa 
Published: September 2021

AbstractIn this study, we examined the relative effectiveness of prestige-based incentives (vaccination of an expert scientist/president/politician/celebrity/religious leader), conformist incentives (vaccination of friends and family) and risk-based incentives (witnessing death or illness of a person from the disease) for increasing participants' chances of getting vaccinated with respect to their coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine intention. We conducted a cross-cultural survey using demographically representative samples from the UK (n = 1533), USA (n = 1550) and Turkey (n = 1567). The most effective incentives in all three countries were vaccination of an expert scientist, followed by vaccination of friends and family members and knowing someone dying from the disease. Vaccination of an expert scientist was significantly more effective at increasing vaccine intention than any other incentive. Vaccine incentives, regardless of the incentive type, were much less effective for those who originally refused the COVID-19 vaccine than for those who were hesitant to receive the vaccine. Although the percentage of vaccine-hesitant participants was highest in Turkey, the mean effectiveness scores of incentives were also the highest in Turkey, suggesting that an informed vaccine promotion strategy can be successful in this country. Our findings have policy applicability and suggest that positive vaccination messages delivered by expert scientists, vaccination of friends and family and risk-based incentives can be effective at increasing vaccine uptake.
Grociana piccola: a rare example of Republican military fortifications in Italy
Authors: Bernardini Federico , Horvat Jana , Vinci Giacomo , Berden Tina , Lavrenčič Lucija , Liccioli Lucia , Lubritto Carmine 
Published: September 2021

AbstractRecent investigations at Grociana piccola, a site in northeastern Italy consisting of two sub-rectangular fortifications, offer the rare opportunity to investigate Early Roman military architecture outside the Iberian peninsula. Excavations have revealed an inner rubble masonry rampart dated to the 2nd c. BCE by associated pottery, mainly amphora remains. This date suggests that the fortification was in use during the first Roman conquest and/or later campaigns of the 2nd c. BCE, providing one of the earliest and smallest examples of a military fort. The fort's ramparts were built using the same building technique as much larger 2nd-c. BCE military camps. Another trench uncovered the northeastern corner of the outer rampart and a probable tower or artillery platform which can be connected to a temporary camp built during the mid-1st c. BCE.
T-type folded SIW-based leaky-wave antennas with wide scanning angle and low cross-polarization
Authors: Xiao Shixiao , Yang Lianwu 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
In this paper, a leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with wide scanning angle and low cross-polarization is proposed based on a T-type folded substrate-integrated waveguide (FSIW). Transverse slots with a sinusoidal distribution pattern are etched on the surface of the FSIW so that transmission lines with slow-wave characteristics can excite and radiate −1 order harmonics. The length of the transverse slot affects the dispersion characteristics of the transmission line, and the sinusoidal modulation period controls the operating range of the LWA. In the frequency range of 8.3–15 GHz, the proposed LWA achieves a wide scanning ranging from backward −42° to forward +68° continuously. The cross-polarization of the beam is also kept at less than −30 dB during this scanning. A prototype is fabricated and measured to confirm the design, and the measured results show an agreement with the simulated one.
Vulnerability to Water Shortage Under Current and Future Water Supply‐Demand Conditions Across U.S. River Basins
Authors: Heidari Hadi , Arabi Mazdak , Warziniack Travis 
Published: September 2021

AbstractClimate change, population growth, urbanization, and interactions thereof may alter the water supply‐demand balance and lead to shifts in water shortage characteristics at different timescales. This study proposes an approach to improve the vulnerability assessments of U.S. river basins to the shortage at the interannual to decadal timescales by characterizing shifts in intensity, duration, and frequency (IDF) of water shortage events from current (1986–2015) to future (2070–2099) periods. The results indicate that under the driest future climate projection, the frequency and intensity of over‐year (D > 12 months) events at the monthly scale and decadal (D > 10 years) events at the annual scale tend to increase in the Southwest, Southern, middle Great Plain, and Great Lakes regions. Conversely, the frequency of interannual (D < 12 months) events at the monthly scale and annual (D > 1 year) and multi‐year (D > 3 years) events at the annual scale is likely to increase in the West Coast regions. Besides, river basins with a higher rate of aridification are likely to experience more frequent over‐year (D > 12 months) events, while river basins with a decrease in aridification were projected to undergo more frequent interannual (D < 12 months) events due to an increase in the variability of extreme weather anomalies within a year. The findings of this study provide new insights to understand and characterize vulnerability to water shortage under current and future water supply‐demand conditions and can inform the development of effective mitigation and/or adaptation strategies.
The interactions of Bcl9/Bcl9L with β-catenin and Pygopus promote breast cancer growth, invasion, and metastasis
Authors: Vafaizadeh Vida , Buechel David , Rubinstein Natalia , Kalathur Ravi K. R. , Bazzani Lorenzo , Saxena Meera , Valenta Tomas , Hausmann George , Cantù Claudio , Basler Konrad , Christofori Gerhard 
Published: September 2021

AbstractCanonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling is an established regulator of cellular state and its critical contributions to tumor initiation, malignant tumor progression and metastasis formation have been demonstrated in various cancer types. Here, we investigated how the binding of β-catenin to the transcriptional coactivators B-cell CLL/lymphoma 9 (Bcl9) and Bcl9-Like (Bcl9L) affected mammary gland carcinogenesis in the MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse model of metastatic breast cancer. Conditional knockout of both Bcl9 and Bcl9L resulted into tumor cell death. In contrast, disrupting the interaction of Bcl9/Bcl9L with β-catenin, either by deletion of their HD2 domains or by a point mutation in the N-terminal domain of β-catenin (D164A), diminished primary tumor growth and tumor cell proliferation and reduced tumor cell invasion and lung metastasis. In comparison, the disruption of HD1 domain-mediated binding of Bcl9/Bcl9L to Pygopus had only moderate effects. Interestingly, interfering with the β-catenin-Bcl9/Bcl9L-Pygo chain of adapters only partially impaired the transcriptional response of mammary tumor cells to Wnt3a and TGFβ treatments. Together, the results indicate that Bcl9/Bcl9L modulate but are not critically required for canonical Wnt signaling in its contribution to breast cancer growth and malignant progression, a notion consistent with the “just-right” hypothesis of Wnt-driven tumor progression.
Mouse visual cortex areas represent perceptual and semantic features of learned visual categories
Authors: Goltstein Pieter M. , Reinert Sandra , Bonhoeffer Tobias , Hübener Mark 
Published: September 2021

AbstractAssociative memories are stored in distributed networks extending across multiple brain regions. However, it is unclear to what extent sensory cortical areas are part of these networks. Using a paradigm for visual category learning in mice, we investigated whether perceptual and semantic features of learned category associations are already represented at the first stages of visual information processing in the neocortex. Mice learned categorizing visual stimuli, discriminating between categories and generalizing within categories. Inactivation experiments showed that categorization performance was contingent on neuronal activity in the visual cortex. Long-term calcium imaging in nine areas of the visual cortex identified changes in feature tuning and category tuning that occurred during this learning process, most prominently in the postrhinal area (POR). These results provide evidence for the view that associative memories form a brain-wide distributed network, with learning in early stages shaping perceptual representations and supporting semantic content downstream.
External validation of the 4C mortality score among COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective study
Authors: Jones Aaron , Pitre Tyler , Junek Mats , Kapralik Jessica , Patel Rina , Feng Edward , Dawson Laura , Tsang Jennifer L. Y. , Duong MyLinh , Ho Terence , Beauchamp Marla K. , Costa Andrew P. , Kruisselbrink Rebecca ,   the COREG Investigators, Ciccotelli William , Corriveau Sophie , Farjou George , Giilck Stephen , Girolametto Carla , Griffith Lauren , Guy Brent , Haider Shariq , Hanmiah Rajendar , Hosek Paul , Law Cindy Cin Yee , Liu Theresa T. , Marcucci Maura , Martin Leslie , Neary John , Patel Ameen , Raghavan Natya , Raina Parminder , Raza Samir , Schumacher Connie , Tong Catherine , Wald Joshua 
Published: September 2021

AbstractRisk prediction scores are important tools to support clinical decision-making for patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The objective of this paper was to validate the 4C mortality score, originally developed in the United Kingdom, for a Canadian population, and to examine its performance over time. We conducted an external validation study within a registry of COVID-19 positive hospital admissions in the Kitchener-Waterloo and Hamilton regions of southern Ontario between March 4, 2020 and June 13, 2021. We examined the validity of the 4C score to prognosticate in-hospital mortality using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals calculated via bootstrapping. The study included 959 individuals, of whom 224 (23.4%) died in-hospital. Median age was 72 years and 524 individuals (55%) were male. The AUC of the 4C score was 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.79–0.87. Overall mortality rates across the pre-defined risk groups were 0% (Low), 8.0% (Intermediate), 27.2% (High), and 54.2% (Very High). Wave 1, 2 and 3 values of the AUC were 0.81 (0.76, 0.86), 0.74 (0.69, 0.80), and 0.76 (0.69, 0.83) respectively. The 4C score is a valid tool to prognosticate mortality from COVID-19 in Canadian hospitals and can be used to prioritize care and resources for patients at greatest risk of death.
Confirmation of Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus infections in G-haplotype coconut rhinoceros beetles (Oryctes rhinoceros) from Palauan PCR-positive populations
Authors: Tanaka Shunsuke , Harrison Robert L. , Arai Hiroshi , Katayama Yukie , Mizutani Tetsuya , Inoue Maki N. , Miles Joel , Marshall Sean D. G. , Kitalong Christopher , Nakai Madoka 
Published: September 2021

AbstractCoconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), Oryctes rhinoceros, is a pest of palm trees in the Pacific. Recently, a remarkable degree of palm damage reported in Guam, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands has been associated with a particular haplotype (clade I), known as “CRB-G”. In the Palau Archipelago, both CRB-G and another haplotype (clade IV) belonging to the CRB-S cluster coexist in the field. In this study, more than 75% of pheromone trap-captured adults of both haplotypes were Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV)-positive by PCR. No significant difference in OrNV prevalence between the haplotypes was detected. In PCR-positive CRB-G tissue specimens from Palau, viral particles were observed by electron microscopy. Hemocoel injection of CRB larvae with crude virus homogenates from these tissues resulted in viral infection and mortality. OrNV isolated from Palauan-sourced CRB was designated as OrNV-Palau1. Both OrNV-Palau1 and OrNV-X2B, a CRB biological control isolate released in the Pacific, were propagated using the FRI-AnCu-35 cell line for production of inoculum. However, the OrNV-Palau1 isolate exhibited lower viral production levels and longer larval survival times compared to OrNV-X2B in O. rhinoceros larvae. Full genome sequences of the OrNV-Palau1 and -X2B isolates were determined and found to be closely related to each other. Altogether these results suggest CRB adults in Palau are infected with a less virulent virus, which may affect the nature and extent of OrNV-induced pathology in Palauan populations of CRB.
Key factors affecting people’s unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: a large-scale population study
Authors: Martinez-Garcia Marina , Rabasa Alejandro , Barber Xavier , Polotskaya Kristina , Roomp Kristof , Oliver Nuria 
Published: September 2021

AbstractPopulation confinements have been one of the most widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by governments across the globe to help contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While confinement measures have been proven to be effective to reduce the number of infections, they entail significant economic and social costs. Thus, different policy makers and social groups have exhibited varying levels of acceptance of this type of measures. In this context, understanding the factors that determine the willingness of individuals to be confined during a pandemic is of paramount importance, particularly, to policy and decision-makers. In this paper, we study the factors that influence the unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic by the means of a large-scale, online population survey deployed in Spain. We perform two types of analyses (logistic regression and automatic pattern discovery) and consider socio-demographic, economic and psychological factors, together with the 14-day cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. Our analysis of 109,515 answers to the survey covers data spanning over a 5-month time period to shed light on the impact of the passage of time. We find evidence of pandemic fatigue as the percentage of those who report an unwillingness to be in confinement increases over time; we identify significant gender differences, with women being generally less likely than men to be able to sustain long-term confinement of at least 6 months; we uncover that the psychological impact was the most important factor to determine the willingness to be in confinement at the beginning of the pandemic, to be replaced by the economic impact as the most important variable towards the end of our period of study. Our results highlight the need to design gender and age specific public policies, to implement psychological and economic support programs and to address the evident pandemic fatigue as the success of potential future confinements will depend on the population’s willingness to comply with them.
Development and validation of diagnostic SNP markers for quality control genotyping in a collection of four rice (Oryza) species
Authors: Gouda Arnaud Comlan , Warburton Marilyn L. , Djedatin Gustave L. , Kpeki Sèdjro Bienvenu , Wambugu Peterson W. , Gnikoua Karlin , Ndjiondjop Marie Noelle 
Published: September 2021

AbstractMorphological identification of closely related rice species, particularly those in the Oryza AA genome group, presents major challenges and often results in cases of misidentification. Recent work by this group identified diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers specific for several rice species and subspecies based on DArTseq next-generation sequencing technology (“DArTseq”). These SNPs can be used for quality control (QC) analysis in rice breeding and germplasm maintenance programs. Here, we present the DArTseq-based diagnostic SNPs converted into Kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASPar or KASP) assays and validation data for a subset of them; these can be used for low-cost routine genotyping quality control (QC) analysis. Of the 224 species/subspecies’ diagnostic SNPs tested, 158 of them produced working KASP assays, a conversion success rate of 70%. Two validation experiments were run with 87 of the 158 SNP markers to ensure that the assays amplified, were polymorphic, and distinguished the five species/subspecies tested. Based on these validation test results, we recommend a panel of 36 SNP markers that clearly delineate O. barthii, O. glaberrima, O. longistaminata, O. sativa spp. indica and japonica. The KASP assays provide a flexible, rapid turnaround and cost-effective tool to facilitate germplasm curation and management of these four Oryza AA genome species across multiple genebanks.
Mental health prevalence and predictors among university students in nine countries during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-national study
Authors: Ochnik Dominika , Rogowska Aleksandra M. , Kuśnierz Cezary , Jakubiak Monika , Schütz Astrid , Held Marco J. , Arzenšek Ana , Benatov Joy , Berger Rony , Korchagina Elena V. , Pavlova Iuliia , Blažková Ivana , Aslan Imran , Çınar Orhan , Cuero-Acosta Yonni Angel 
Published: September 2021

AbstractThe student population has been highly vulnerable to the risk of mental health deterioration during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to reveal the prevalence and predictors of mental health among students in Poland, Slovenia, Czechia, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Israel, and Colombia in a socioeconomic context during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted among 2349 students (69% women) from May–July 2020. Data were collected by means of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Gender Inequality Index (GII), Standard & Poor's Global Ratings, the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), and a sociodemographic survey. Descriptive statistics and Bayesian multilevel skew-normal regression analyses were conducted. The prevalence of high stress, depression, and generalized anxiety symptoms in the total sample was 61.30%, 40.3%, and 30%, respectively. The multilevel Bayesian model showed that female sex was a credible predictor of PSS-10, GAD-7, and PHQ-8 scores. In addition, place of residence (town) and educational level (first-cycle studies) were risk factors for the PHQ-8. This study showed that mental health issues are alarming in the student population. Regular psychological support should be provided to students by universities.
Meta-analysis of the efficacy of preoperative skin preparation with alcoholic chlorhexidine compared to povidone iodine in orthopedic surgery
Authors: Mastrocola Mario , Matziolis Georg , Böhle Sabrina , Lindemann Chris , Schlattmann Peter , Eijer Henk 
Published: September 2021

AbstractPreoperative skin preparation is an effective method to prevent surgical site infections (SSI). Alcoholic chlorhexidine (CHG) and povidone iodine (PV-I) are the most widely used antiseptic agents. This meta-analysis aims to determine their efficacy in reducing natural bacterial skin flora in clean orthopedic surgery. A systematic search was conducted through current literature up to June 2021 to identify clinical randomized trials that compared the efficacy of alcoholic chlorhexidine and povidone iodine in reducing bacterial skin colonization after preoperative skin preparation. A meta-analysis was conducted. Of 235 screened articles, 8 randomized controlled trials were included. The results of the meta-analysis demonstrate a significantly lower positive culture rate in the chlorhexidine group than in the povidone iodine group (RR = 0.53, 95% Cl: 0.32–0.88). The present data show the superiority of chlorhexidine in reducing the normal bacterial flora compared to povidone iodine in clean orthopedic surgery.