bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Weapons or deterrents? Nudibranch molluscs use distinct ecological modes of chemical defence against predators
Authors: Winters Anne E. , Chan Weili , White Andrew M. , van den Berg Cedric P. , Garson Mary J. , Cheney Karen L. 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Defensive chemicals are used by plants and animals to reduce the risk of predation through different mechanisms, including toxins that cause injury and harm (weapons) and unpalatable or odiferous compounds that prevent attacks (deterrents). However, whether effective defences are both toxins and deterrents, or work in just one modality is often unclear.

In this study, our primary aim was to determine whether defensive compounds stored by nudibranch molluscs acted as weapons (in terms of being toxic), deterrents (in terms of being distasteful) or both. Our secondary aim was to investigate the response of different taxa to these defensive compounds.

To do this, we identified secondary metabolites in 30 species of nudibranch molluscs and investigated their deterrent properties using antifeedant assays with three taxa: rock pool shrimp, Palaemon serenus, and two fish species: triggerfish Rhinecanthus aculeatus and toadfish Tetractenos hamiltoni. We compared these results to toxicity assays using brine shrimp Artemia sp. and previously published toxicity data with a damselfish Chromis viridis.

Overall, we found no clear relationship between palatability and toxicity, but instead classified defensive compounds into the following categories: Class I & II—highly unpalatable and highly toxic; Class I—weakly unpalatable and highly toxic; Class II—highly unpalatable but weakly toxic; WR (weak response)—weakly unpalatable and weakly toxic. We also found eight extracts from six species that did not display activity in any assays indicating they may have very limited chemical defensive mechanisms (NR, no response). We found that the different classes of secondary metabolites were similarly unpalatable to fish and shrimp, except extracts from Phyllidiidae nudibranchs (isonitriles) that were highly unpalatable to shrimp but weakly unpalatable to fish.

Our results pave the way towards better understanding how animal chemical defences work against a variety of predators. We highlight the need to disentangle weapons and deterrents in future work on anti‐predator defences to better understand the foraging decisions faced by predators, the resultant selection pressures imposed on prey and the evolution of different anti‐predator strategies.
Directional changes over time in the species composition of tropical vascular epiphyte assemblages
Authors: Mendieta‐Leiva Glenda , Buckley Hannah L. , Zotz Gerhard 
Published: November 2021

Abstract

Understanding the degree to which deterministic and stochastic processes drive community assembly is an ongoing focus of research in community ecology. This effort is strongly biased towards ground‐rooted plants, resulting in a limited understanding of communities of other life‐forms, such as structurally dependent plants. Vascular epiphytes are sessile organisms growing non‐parasitically on three‐dimensional dynamic patches, their host plants. Since negative biotic interactions are thought to play a minor role in vascular epiphyte assembly, in some forests, epiphytes are fascinating model organisms to understand the prevalence of environmental filtering in shaping community assembly.

We assessed the contribution of deterministic processes on the temporal dynamics of vascular epiphyte assemblages by tracking the direction of changes in composition, species richness and abundance in time at different ecological and spatial scales. We made use of a globally unique dataset from a lowland forest in Panama. We predict that if niche‐based mechanisms dominate, (a) temporal changes will be directional and (b) differences in the species composition of epiphyte assemblages will be primarily related to host plant characteristics and, to a lesser degree, to the distance between host trees.

We show that temporal changes in vascular epiphyte assemblages were directional at different ecological scales, such as the forest patch, host species or individual tree assemblages. Epiphyte assemblages on host trees became more similar in their composition over time than expected by chance, and these changes were not due to homogenisation. While host characteristics were related to these directional changes, host structure rather than host identity was more strongly related to variation in assemblage dissimilarity, while spatial distance among trees was of minor importance. The observed directionality was primarily due to environmental filtering.

This study provides the first evidence that niche‐based mechanisms dominate the dynamics of vascular epiphyte assemblages. Analysing temporal patterns of vascular epiphyte assemblages is a first important step towards understanding the relative importance of deterministic processes for diversity maintenance of one of the most diverse plant groups in the tropics.

Synthesis. Directionality in the temporal changes of epiphyte assemblages suggests that niche‐based mechanisms dominate these temporal changes. Host size over host identity is the most important environmental filter for epiphyte assemblages establishment.
What are the essential components of antenatal care? A systematic review of the literature and development of signal functions to guide monitoring and evaluation
Authors: McCauley H , Lowe K , Furtado N , Mangiaterra V , van den Broek N 
Published: November 2021

BackgroundAntenatal care (ANC) is one of the key care packages required to reduce global maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity.ObjectivesTo identify the essential components of ANC and develop signal functions.Search strategyMESH headings for databases including Cinahl, Cochrane, Global Health, Medline, PubMed and Web of Science.Selection criteriaPapers and reports on content of ANC published from 2000 to 2020.Data collection and analysisNarrative synthesis of data and development of signal function through 7 consensus‐building workshops with 184 stakeholders.Main resultsA total of 221 papers and reports are included from which 28 essential components of ANC were extracted and used to develop 15 signal functions with the equipment, medication and consumables required for implementation of each. Signal functions for the prevention and management of infectious diseases (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, syphilis and tetanus) can be applied depending on population disease burden. Screening and management of pre‐eclampsia, gestational diabetes, anaemia, mental and social health (including intimate partner violence) are recommended universally. Three signal functions address monitoring of fetal growth and wellbeing, and identification and management of obstetric complications. Promotion of health and wellbeing via education and support for nutrition, cessation of substance abuse, uptake of family planning, recognition of danger signs and birth preparedness are included as essential components of ANC.ConclusionsNew signal functions have been developed which can be used for monitoring and evaluation of content and quality of ANC. Country adaptation and validation is recommended.
Early medical abortion by telemedicine in the United Kingdom: a costing analysis
Authors: Hawkins JE , Glasier A , Hall S , Regan L ,   the RCOG Telemedicine cost‐effectiveness working group
Published: November 2021

ObjectiveTo determine the potential cost savings resulting from the introduction of routine early medical abortion (EMA) at home by telemedicine in the UK.DesignA costing study.SettingThe UK.PopulationWomen in 2020 undergoing EMA provided by three independent abortion providers and two National Health Service (NHS) abortion clinics.MethodsComputation of the costs of each abortion procedure and of managing failed or incomplete abortion and haemorrhage requiring blood transfusion.Main outcome measuresCost savings.ResultsOverall estimated cost savings are £15.80 per abortion undertaken by independent abortion providers, representing a saving to the NHS of over £3 million per year. Limited data from NHS services resulted in an estimated average saving of £188.84 per abortion.ConclusionsWere telemedicine EMA to become routine, an increase in the number of women eligible for medical rather than surgical abortion, and a reduction in adverse events resulting from earlier abortion, could result in significant cost savings.Tweetable abstractEarly medical abortion at home using telemedicine could save the NHS £3 million per year.
Randomised controlled trial in cadavers investigating methods for intubation via a supraglottic airway device: Comparison of flexible airway scope guided versus a retrograde technique
Authors: Groombridge Christopher J , Maini Amit , Johnny Cecil , McCreary David , Kim Yesul , Smit De Villiers , Fitzgerald Mark 
Published: November 2021

AbstractObjectiveA supraglottic airway device (SAD) may be utilised for rescue re‐oxygenation following a failed attempt at endotracheal intubation with direct or video laryngoscopy. However, the choice of subsequent method to secure a definitive airway is not clearly established. The aim of the present study was to compare two techniques for securing a definitive airway via the in‐situ SAD.MethodsA randomised controlled trial was undertaken. The population studied was emergency physicians (EPs) attending a cadaveric airway course. The intervention was intubation through a SAD using a retrograde intubation technique (RIT). The comparison was intubation through a SAD guided by a flexible airway scope (FAS). The primary outcome was time to intubation. The trial was registered with ANZCTR.org.au (ACTRN12621000995875).ResultsFour EPs completed intubations using both methods on four cadavers for a total of 32 experiments. The mean time to intubation was 18.2 s (standard deviation 8.8) in the FAS group compared with 52.9 s (standard deviation 11.7) in the RIT group; a difference of 34.7 s (95% confidence interval 27.1–42.3, P < 0.001). All intubations were completed within 2 min and there were no equipment failures or evidence of airway trauma.ConclusionSuccessful tracheal intubation of cadavers by EPs is achievable, without iatrogenic airway trauma, via a SAD using either a FAS or RIT, but was 35 s quicker with the FAS.
Seasonality drives variation in the use of forest strata by adult males of a dimorphic frugivorous bird species
Authors: Pires Luís Paulo , Paniago Luís Pedro Mendes , Santos Yasmin Regina , de Melo Celine 
Published: November 2021

AbstractAnimals may exploit habitat complexity in a myriad of ways, and a widespread pattern of habitat use is vertical stratification. In tropical forests, it often increases niche diversity for frugivorous birds, and it strongly influences seed dispersal and community persistence. Yet, most studies disregard intraspecific variations in the use of forest layers and their ecological and evolutionary consequences. In this study, we asked whether adult males and green individuals (females and juveniles) of a dimorphic frugivorous bird, the helmeted manakin (Antilophia galeata, Pipridae) foraged at different strata in a forest from Southeastern Brazil. We also investigated how the seasonal dynamics of fruit availability and distribution within the forest affect between‐ and within‐phenotype use of forest layers. We conducted field observations of the foraging activity of both phenotypes and found that they were mainly midstory foragers flying at similar heights in both seasons. However, adult males increased their stratum breadth and their foraging height during the wet season, when fruits were also available at higher strata, while the foraging behaviour of green individuals remained seasonally invariant. The different effects of seasonality on the phenotypes of the helmeted manakin may be a consequence of sexual competition among adult males in the wet season to secure fruits in taller plants. Altogether, our findings show that seasonality affects differently the spatial use behaviours of males and green individuals, and understanding these intraspecific differences may help us predict how species respond to environmental disturbances affecting habitat structure and frugivores assemblages.
DENEB: Development of new criteria for curability after local excision of pathological T1 colorectal cancer using liquid biopsy
Authors: Miyo Masaaki , Kato Takeshi , Nakamura Yoshiaki , Taniguchi Hiroya , Takahashi Yusuke , Ishii Masayuki , Okita Kenji , Ando Koji , Yukami Hiroki , Mishima Saori , Yamazaki Kentaro , Kotaka Masahito , Watanabe Jun , Oba Koji , Aleshin Alexey , Billings Paul R. , Rabinowitz Matthew , Kotani Daisuke , Oki Eiji , Takemasa Ichiro , Mori Masaki , Yoshino Takayuki 
Published: November 2021

AbstractAccording to the current international guidelines, high‐risk patients diagnosed with pathological T1 (pT1) colorectal cancer (CRC) who underwent complete local resection but may have risk of developing lymph node metastasis (LNM) are recommended additional intestinal resection with lymph node dissection. However, around 90% of the patients without LNM are exposed to the risk of being overtreated due to the insufficient pathological criteria for risk stratification of LNM. Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a noninvasive biomarker for molecular residual disease and relapse detection after treatments including surgical and endoscopic resection of solid tumors. The CIRCULATE‐Japan project includes a large‐scale patient‐screening registry of the GALAXY study to track ctDNA status of patients with stage II to IV or recurrent CRC that can be completely resected. Based on the CIRCULATE‐Japan platform, we launched DENEB, a new prospective study, within the GALAXY study for patients with pT1 CRC who underwent complete local resection and were scheduled for additional intestinal resection with lymph node dissection based on the standard pathologic risk stratification criteria for LNM. The aim of this study is to explore the ability of predicting LNM using ctDNA analysis compared with the standard pathological criteria. The ctDNA assay will build new evidence to establish a noninvasive personalized diagnosis in patients, which will facilitate tailored/optimal treatment strategies for CRC patients.
ReSTIR GI: Path Resampling for Real‐Time Path Tracing
Authors: Ouyang Y. , Liu S. , Kettunen M. , Pharr M. , Pantaleoni J. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractEven with the advent of hardware‐accelerated ray tracing in modern GPUs, only a small number of rays can be traced at each pixel in real‐time applications. This presents a significant challenge for path tracing, even when augmented with state‐of‐the art denoising algorithms. While the recently‐developed ReSTIR algorithm [BWP∗20] enables high‐quality renderings of scenes with millions of light sources using just a few shadow rays at each pixel, there remains a need for effective algorithms to sample indirect illumination.We introduce an effective path sampling algorithm for indirect lighting that is suitable to highly parallel GPU architectures. Building on the screen‐space spatio‐temporal resampling principles of ReSTIR, our approach resamples multi‐bounce indirect lighting paths obtained by path tracing. Doing so allows sharing information about important paths that contribute to lighting both across time and pixels in the image. The resulting algorithm achieves a substantial error reduction compared to path tracing: at a single sample per pixel every frame, our algorithm achieves MSE improvements ranging from9.3×to166×in our test scenes. In conjunction with a denoiser, it leads to high‐quality path traced global illumination at real‐time frame rates on modern GPUs.
BRDF Importance Sampling for Linear Lights
Authors: Peters Christoph 
Published: November 2021

AbstractWe introduce an efficient method to sample linear lights, i.e. infinitesimally thin cylinders, proportional to projected solid angle. Our method uses inverse function sampling with a specialized iterative procedure that converges to high accuracy in only two iterations. It also allows us to sample proportional to a linearly transformed cosine. By combining both sampling techniques through suitable multiple importance sampling heuristics and by using good stratification, we achieve unbiased diffuse and specular real‐time shading with low variance outside penumbrae at two samples per pixel. Additionally, we provide a fast method for solid angle sampling.
Sampling from Quadric‐Based CSG Surfaces
Authors: Trettner P. , Kobbelt L. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractWe present an efficient method to create samples directly on surfaces defined by constructive solid geometry (CSG) trees or graphs. The generated samples can be used for visualization or as an approximation to the actual surface with strong guarantees. We chose to use quadric surfaces as CSG primitives as they can model classical primitives such as planes, cubes, spheres, cylinders, and ellipsoids, but also certain saddle surfaces. More importantly, they are closed under affine transformations, a desirable property for a modeling system. We also propose a rendering method that performs local quadric ray‐tracing and clipping to achieve pixel‐perfect accuracy and hole‐free rendering.
Cooperative Profile Guided Optimizations
Authors: Stephenson Mark , Rangan Ram , Keckler Stephen W. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractExisting feedback‐driven optimization frameworks are not suitable for video games, which tend to push the limits of performance of gaming platforms and have real‐time constraints that preclude all but the simplest execution profiling. While Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) is a well‐established optimization approach, existing PGO techniques are ill‐suited for games for a number of reasons, particularly because heavyweight profiling makes interactive applications unresponsive. Adaptive optimization frameworks continually collect metrics that guide code specialization optimizations during program execution but have similarly high overheads. We emulate a system, which we callCooperative PGO, in which the gaming platform collectspiecemealprofiles by sampling in both time and space during actual gameplay across many users; stitches the piecemeal profiles together statistically; and creates policies to guide future gameplay. We introduce a three‐level hierarchical profiler that is well‐suited to graphics APIs, that commonly operates with no overhead and occasionally introduces an average overhead of less than 0.5% during periods of active profiling. This paper examines the practicality ofCooperative PGOusing three PGOs as case studies. A PGO that exploits likely zeros is particularly effective, achieving an average speedup of 5%, with a maximum speedup of 15%, over a highly‐tuned baseline.
Exploring the Contributions and Challenges of Museum Technology Professionals during the COVID‐19 Crisis
Authors: Marty Paul F. , Buchanan Vivian 
Published: November 2021

AbstractThis paper presents results from an online survey designed to explore the role of museum technology professionals during times of crisis such as the COVID‐19 pandemic. The survey results offer an important first look at the contributions and challenges of museum technology professionals during a critical turning point in the history of museums. The analysis of these results provides insight into how museum technology professionals are affected during times of crisis, the contributions they can make to museums in crisis, and how they can better advocate their value to museum leadership in crisis situations. The research results demonstrate the need for museums to promote digital literacy skills, increase their investment in digital technologies, and develop the digital strategies they will need to respond to future crises head on.
Integrating newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy into health care systems: an Australian pilot programme
Authors: D'Silva Arlene M , Kariyawasam Didu S T , Best Stephanie , Wiley Veronica , Farrar Michelle A ,   NSW SMA NBS Study Group
Published: November 2021

AimThis study dynamically designed, evaluated, and implemented the components of an Australian newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) pilot programme for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).MethodWe used an implementation‐effectiveness study design and continuous interdisciplinary review to measure SMA NBS test protocol performance, identify and overcome laboratory and clinical barriers to implementation, and describe progress during the 2‐year pilot study.ResultsThe NBS programme screened 252 081 newborn infants from 1st August 2018 to 31st January 2021. Using an NBS pilot test protocol, 21 infants were diagnostically confirmed with SMA. The NBS pilot test protocol had a sensitivity of 100%, specificity greater than 99.9%, false‐positive rate less than 0.001%, a false‐negative rate of 0%, and positive predictive value of 95.5%. A severe phenotype was predicted on the basis of two copies of SMN2 in 57.2% of newborn infants screening positive for SMA. Clinical signs consistent with SMA were evident in 6 out of 21 screen‐positive newborn infants within the first 4 weeks of life. A multidisciplinary team establishing strong partnerships across clinical and laboratory staff was key to implementation.InterpretationThis pilot programme suggests that NBS is essential for early identification of newborn infants at risk of SMA and can be effectively translated into clinical practice.
Estimating and examining the costs of inpatient diabetes care in an Irish Public Hospital
Authors: Friel Kathleen M. , Gillespie Patrick , Coates Vivien , McCauley Claire , McCann Michael , O’Kane Maurice , McGuigan Karen , Khamis Amjed , Manktelow Matthew 
Published: November 2021

AbstractAimTo estimate and examine hospitalisation costs of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in an Irish public hospital.MethodsA retrospective audit of hospital inpatient admissions over a 5‐year period was undertaken, and a wide range of admission‐related data were collected for a sample of 7,548 admissions. Hospitalisations were costed using the diagnosis‐related group methodology. A series of descriptive, univariate and multivariate regression analyses were undertaken.ResultsThe mean hospitalisation cost for Type 1 diabetes was €4,027 and for Type 2 diabetes was €5,026 per admission. Sex, admission type and length of stay were significantly associated with hospitalisation costs for admissions with a primary diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. Age, admission type, diagnosis status, complications status, discharge destination, length of stay and year were significantly associated with hospitalisation costs for admissions with a primary diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Length of stay was associated with higher mean costs, with each additional day increasing Type 1 diabetes costs by €260 (p = 0.001) and Type 2 diabetes by €216 (p < 0.001). Unscheduled admissions were associated with significantly lower costs than elective admissions; €1,578 (p = 0.035) lower for Type 1 diabetes and €2,108 (p < 0.001) lower for Type 2 diabetes.ConclusionsThis study presents estimates of the costs of diabetes care in the Irish public hospital system and identifies the factors which influence costs for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. These findings may be of interest to patients, the public, researchers and those with influence over diabetes policy and practice in Ireland and internationally.