bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Twelve new microsatellite loci of Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis Linnaeus, 1758
Authors: Kánainé Sipos Dóra , Csenki-Bakos Katalin , Ősz Ágnes , Bokor Zoltán , Kotrik László , Żarski Daniel , Ittzés István , Urbányi Béla , Kovács Balázs 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThe Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis Linnaeus, 1758) is native to almost entire Eurasia. For over the last two decades, this species became an important candidate for intensive freshwater aquaculture due to its high consumer’s acceptance and overall market value. Hence, the intensive production of Eurasian perch has increased considerably allowing effective domestication; there is still a need for the development of effective selective breeding programmes allowing its further expansion. This process, in turn, can be significantly facilitated by molecular genetics. The genetic information of Eurasian perch and its populations is limited. Up to date information of regarding genetic diversity of many populations is still missing, including microsatellites for Eurasian perch, which could be useful during the selective breeding programmes allowing parental assignment and/or to follow heritability of desired traits. In this study, we have developed and characterized new polymorphic microsatellites. Subsequently, those 12 markers have been used further to compare two Hungarian and one Polish Eurasian perch populations. The Hungarian stocks had high genetic similarity (with low diversity), as we assumed, while the Polish population differed significantly. All populations deviated significantly from the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, and heterozygote deficiency was detected in all, showing the presence of an anthropogenic effect.
Biomedical Technology Innovation Education and Its Effect on Graduate Student Careers Over 17 Years
Authors: Denend Lyn , Xu Shiqin , Yock Paul , Venook Ross 
Published: May 2021

AbstractIn the 1990s, interest in biomedical technologies blossomed among students across disciplines. In parallel, there was a push in academia to develop courses enabling interdisciplinary problem solving and more holistic, practice-oriented education. In response, Stanford Biodesign created a graduate course in biomedical technology innovation. Seventeen years later, we sought to gauge the impact of this course on student commitment to careers in biomedical technology, whether students took on leadership and innovation roles, and if they found the holistic innovation process we teach to be useful in their careers. We disseminated a web-based survey to collect self-reported data from students completing the course between 2003 and 2019. 186 students responded (24.8%). 62% (n = 115/186) reported a strong commitment to careers in biomedical technology before the course while 84% (n = 156/186) felt that way after. The improvement in mean scores from pre-course (3.8) to post-course (4.3) was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Additionally, 78% (n = 145/186) currently work in healthcare, with 72% of those (n = 115/145) in biomedical technology. 82% (n = 146/179) were in innovation roles and 58% (n = 102/177) were in leadership positions. Nearly 94% (n = 161/172) found the course influential and the process to be useful in their careers. The data suggest that the course is perceived as valuable and is effective at creating and/or sustaining student interest in biomedical technology innovation. The results point to multiple improvement opportunities that are important for keeping the course relevant.
Whole of (coalition) government: Comparing Swedish and German experiences in Afghanistan
Authors: Dafinova Maya 
Published: May 2021

AbstractWhole-of-government (WOG) approaches have emerged as a blueprint for contemporary peace and state-building operations. Countries contributing civilian and military personnel to multinational interventions are persistently urged to improve coherence and enhance coordination between the ministries that form part of the national contingent. Despite a heated debate about what WOG should look like and how to achieve it, the causal mechanisms of WOG variance remains under-theorised. Based on 47 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, this study compares Swedish and German WOG approaches in the context of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). I argue that coalition bargaining drove the fluctuation in the Swedish and German WOG models. Strategic culture was an antecedent condition. In both cases, COIN and the war on terror clashed with foundational elements of the Swedish and German strategic cultures, paving the way for a non-debate on WOG on the political arena. Finally, bureaucratic politics was an intervening condition that obstructed or enabled coherence, depending on the ambition of the incumbent coalition government to progress WOG. Overall, the results suggest that coalitions face limitations in implementing a WOG framework when the nature of the military engagement is highly disputed in national parliaments.
Standardized aseptic dressing change procedure: Optimizations and adherence in a prospective pre- and postintervention cohort study
Authors: Neuwirth Meike M. , Herbrandt Swetlana , Mattner Frauke , Otchwemah Robin 
Published: May 2021

AbstractBackground:The “HygArzt” project investigated the effectiveness of hygiene measures introduced by an infection prevention link physician (PLP).Objective:To investigate whether the introduction of a standardized aseptic dressing change concept (ADCC) by a PLP can increase hand hygiene adherence and adherence to specific process steps during an aseptic dressing change (ADC) in a trauma surgery and orthopedic department.Methods:We defined 4 required hand disinfection indications: (1) before the preparation of ADC equipment, (2) immediately before the ADC, (3) before the clean phase, and (4) after the ADC. A process analysis of the preintervention phase (331 ADCs) was used to develop a standardized ADCC. The ADCC was introduced and iteratively adopted during the intervention phase. The effect was evaluated during the postintervention phase (374 ADCs).Results:Hand hygiene adherence was significantly increased by the introduction of the ADCC for all indications: (1) before the preparation of the ADC equipment (from 34% before to 85% after, P <.001), (2) immediately before an ADC (from 32% before to 85% after; P < .001), (3) before the clean phase (from 42% before to 96% after; P < .001), and (4) after an ADC (from 74% before to 99% after; P < .001). Overall hand hygiene adherence was analyzed before the indications for an ADC (from 9.6% before to 74% after; P < .001). The same strategy was applied to the following process parameters: use of a clean work surface, clean withdrawal of equipment from the dressing trolley, and appropriate waste disposal.Conclusions:A PLP sufficiently implemented a standardized concept for aseptic dressing change during an iterative improvement process, which resulted in a significant improvement in hand hygiene and adherence to other specific ADCC process steps.
Love in the time of Covid-19: a case-study of the complex laws governing weddings
Authors: Probert Rebecca , Pywell Stephanie 
Published: May 2021

AbstractDuring 2020, weddings were profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. During periods of lockdown few weddings could take place, and even afterwards restrictions on how they could be celebrated remained. To investigate the impact of such restrictions, we carried out a survey of those whose plans to marry in England and Wales had been affected by Covid-19. The 1,449 responses we received illustrated that the ease and speed with which couples had been able to marry, and sometimes whether they had been able to marry at all, had depended not merely on the national restrictions in place but on their chosen route into marriage. This highlights the complexity and antiquity of marriage law and reinforces the need for reform. The restrictions on weddings taking place also revealed the extent to which couples valued getting married as opposed to having a wedding. Understanding both the social and the legal dimension of weddings is important in informing recommendations as to how the law should be changed in the future, not merely to deal with similar crises but also to ensure that the general law is fit for purpose in the twenty-first century.
Negative Utility Monsters
Authors: Chappell Richard Yetter 
Published: May 2021

AbstractMany consider Nozick's “utility monster” – a being more efficient than ordinary people at converting resources into wellbeing, with no upper limit – to constitute a damning counterexample to utilitarianism. But our intuitions may be reversed by considering a variation in which the utility monster starts from a baseline status of massive suffering. This suggests a rethinking of the force of the original objection.
Surgical versus transcatheter palliation for insufficient pulmonary blood supply in infants with cyanotic CHD
Authors: Ho Andrew B. , Perry Thomas , Hribernik Ines , Thomson John D. , Bentham James R. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractInfants with complex cyanotic CHD can become symptomatic from insufficient pulmonary blood supply following either ductal closure or due to outflow tract obstruction. Blalock–Taussig shunt mortality remains significant and recent studies have highlighted the advantages of using transcatheter alternatives. We present here our experience in changing our primary choice of palliation from the Blalock–Taussig shunt to transcatheter palliation with either a ductal stent or, if antegrade flow is present, a right ventricular outflow tract stent.This is a retrospective, single-unit cohort study. Eighty-seven infants underwent palliation for insufficient pulmonary blood flow at under 3 months of age between 2012 and 2019. On an intention-to-treat basis, 29 underwent insertion of a Blalock–Taussig shunt, 36 duct stents, and 22 right ventricular outflow tract stents at median ages of 15, 9, and 32 days, respectively, and median weights of 3.3, 3.1, and 3.1 kg, respectively. No primary Blalock–Taussig shunts have been performed in our institution since 2017.At 30-days there had been one death in each group (univariable p = 0.93) and deaths prior to repair totalled three in the shunt group, four in the ductal stent group, and two in the right ventricular outflow tract stent group (univariable p = 0.93). Reintervention on the pulmonary circuit prior to next stage of surgery was more frequent in those undergoing transcatheter intervention, reaching statistical significance by logrank (p = 0.012).In conclusion, within this work we provide further evidence of the safety and efficacy of transition from a primary surgical to primary transcatheter palliation pathway in infants with insufficient pulmonary blood supply.
Exploring the Semantic Structure of WMS-IV Verbal Paired Associates using the Hub-and-Spoke Model
Authors: Furey Rachel T. , Bowden Stephen C. , Simpson Leonie C. , Meade Catherine E. , Davis Brooke M. , D’Souza Wendyl J. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractObjectives:This study aimed to identify a well-fitting and theoretically justified item-level latent factor structure for the Wechsler Memory Scales (WMS)-IV verbal paired associates (VerbalPA) subtest to facilitate the ease and accuracy of score interpretations for patients with lateralized temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).Methods:Archival data were used from 250 heterogeneous neurosciences patients who were administered the WMS-IV as part of a standard neuropsychological assessment. Three theoretically motivated models for the latent structure of VerbalPA were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The first model, based on cognitive principles of semantic processing from hub-and-spoke theory, tested whether performance is related to specific semantic features of target words. The second, motivated by the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) model of cognitive abilities, investigated whether the associative properties of items influence performance. A third, Hybrid model tested whether performance is related to both semantic and associative properties of items. The best-fitting model was tested for diagnostic group effects contrasting the heterogeneous neuroscience patients with subsets of left and right TLE (n = 51, n = 26, respectively) patients.Results:The Hybrid model was found to have the best fit. Patients with left TLE scored significantly less well than the heterogeneous neurosciences sample on selected semantic factor scores, although the effect size was small.Conclusions:Future editions of the WMS may consider implementing a semantic scoring structure for the VerbalPA to facilitate test score interpretation. Additionally, these results suggest that principles of hub-and-spoke theory may be integrated into CHC cognitive ability taxonomy.
Divine Sovereignty and Clerical Authority in Early Shi‘i Islamism: Bāqir al-Ṣadr (1935–80) and Taqī al-Mudarrisī (b. 1945) on the Islamic State
Authors: SCHARBRODT OLIVER 
Published: May 2021

AbstractDivine sovereignty (ḥākimiyya)—as conceived by Abū al-A‘lā Mawdūdī (1903–79) and popularised by Sayyid Quṭb (1906–66) - has been a central component of Islamist thought. This article investigates the reception of the concept within Shi‘i Islam. As case studies, the article choses two prominent actors in the formative period of Shi‘i Islamism in Iraq: Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr (1935–80) and Muḥammad Taqī al-Mudarrisī (b. 1945). By discussing their reflections on the nature of an Islamic state, the article pursues three objectives: first, it overcomes a trend in academic scholarship that disregards Sunni influences on the development of Shi‘i Islamism. Second, the article highlights the role that the Iraqi Shi‘i intellectual milieu played in incorporating key Islamist concepts into Shi‘i political thought. Finally, the article demonstrates the different receptions of ḥākimiyya. Bāqir al-Ṣadr uses the ideological repertoire of Islamism to explore in pragmatic terms the parameters that define the state as Islamically legitimate. In contrast, Taqī al-Mudarrisī uses ḥākimiyya to redefine the sovereignty of the state in Islamic terms. He operationalises the concept in a Shi‘i context by arguing that the state must be led by a just jurisconsult (al-faqīh al-‘ādil) who becomes the sole agent of divine sovereignty in the state.
Should We Worry About Silicone Chip Technology De-Skilling Us?
Authors: Fricker Elizabeth 
Published: May 2021

AbstractIt is argued that many means-end skills are mere drudgery, and there is no case from well-being to regret that the advance of technology has replaced them with machines. But a case is made that for humans possessing some skills is important for well-being, and that certain core skills are important for it. It is argued that these include navigational skills. While the march of technology has tended to promote human well-being, there is now some cause for concern that silicone chip technology is de-skilling us to an extent that impacts negatively on well-being.
Validation of MEDFICTS Dietary Assessment Questionnaire in Turkish Population
Authors: Göktaş Zeynep , Dikmen Derya , Rakıcıoğlu Neslişah 
Published: May 2021

AbstractObjective:The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of MEDFICTS (Meats, Eggs, Dairy, Fried foods, fat In baked goods, Convenience foods, fats added at the Table, Snacks) questionnaire in Turkish population.Design:MEDFICTS questionnaire is a brief dietary assessment tool developed as part of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel guidelines, and it measures the adherence to Step 1 and Step 2 diets that are recommended for the prevention and treatment of CVD. MEDFICTS questionnaire was administered with 3-d food record to compare overall dietary fat intake.Setting:This study was conducted at the Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey) in 2017.Participants:Subjects were university students, recruited from several departments of Hacettepe University by trained dietitians. A total of 442 adults (249 females and 194 males) between the ages of 18 and 31 years participated in the study. Students with CVD were excluded.Results:Total fat intake ratio was higher than the recommended level for both males and females (39·4 % and 39·9 %, respectively). Mean MEDCISTS score was 66·3 ± 27·24 points. Total energy, total fat, SFA and cholesterol intakes from 3-d food records within the different MEDFICTS diet groups significantly differed (P < 0·001 for all). Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis demonstrated that a cut-off point of 60 showed 80 % sensitivity and 65 % specificity.Conclusions:Our data indicate that the MEDFICTS questionnaire is moderately accurate; however, sensitivity analysis did not demonstrate the recommended 40 points as an optimal cut-off point for Turkish population.
Nexus of self-organization: the expansion of collective responsibility networks among boatmen in nineteenth-century Chongqing
Authors: Pan Yiying 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThis article investigates the collective responsibility organizations among boatmen in nineteenth-century Chongqing, when the city became one of the most important metropolises on the southwest Qing frontier. It also introduces two successive turning points in self-organization that were associated with two different classes of boatmen – skippers and sailors. First, in 1803, skippers gained the authority to institutionalize their organizations through their negotiations with the local state regarding official services and service fees. Second, when similar service and fiscal tensions emerged between skippers and sailors in the mid-nineteenth century, the skippers facilitated and supervised the institutionalization of collective responsibility organizations that were run by the sailors themselves. By contextualizing this expansion of collective responsibility organizations within the multilayered interactions between skippers and sailors, this article proposes that the perspective of interclass networks is crucial for deepening the study of state−society interactions, the capital−labor relationship, as well as the tension between imperial integration and regional diversity in early modern China.
Double emulsion-pretreated microwell culture for the in vitro production of multicellular spheroids and their in situ analysis
Authors: Qu Fuyang , Zhao Shirui , Cheng Guangyao , Rahman Habibur , Xiao Qinru , Chan Renee Wan Yi , Ho Yi-Ping 
Published: May 2021

AbstractMulticellular spheroids have served as a promising preclinical model for drug efficacy testing and disease modeling. Many microfluidic technologies, including those based on water–oil–water double emulsions, have been introduced for the production of spheroids. However, sustained culture and the in situ characterization of the generated spheroids are currently unavailable for the double emulsion-based spheroid model. This study presents a streamlined workflow, termed the double emulsion-pretreated microwell culture (DEPMiC), incorporating the features of (1) effective initiation of uniform-sized multicellular spheroids by the pretreatment of double emulsions produced by microfluidics without the requirement of biomaterial scaffolds; (2) sustained maintenance and culture of the produced spheroids with facile removal of the oil confinement; and (3) in situ characterization of individual spheroids localized in microwells by a built-in analytical station. Characterized by microscopic observations and Raman spectroscopy, the DEPMiC cultivated spheroids accumulated elevated lipid ordering on the apical membrane, similar to that observed in their Matrigel counterparts. Made possible by the proposed technological advancement, this study subsequently examined the drug responses of these in vitro-generated multicellular spheroids. The developed DEPMiC platform is expected to generate health benefits in personalized cancer treatment by offering a pre-animal tool to dissect heterogeneity from individual tumor spheroids.
PTSD is associated with accelerated transcriptional aging in World Trade Center responders
Authors: Kuan Pei-Fen , Ren Xu , Clouston Sean , Yang Xiaohua , Jonas Katherine , Kotov Roman , Bromet Evelyn , Luft Benjamin J. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with shortened lifespan and healthspan, which suggests accelerated aging. Emerging evidence suggests that methylation age may be accelerated in PTSD. It is important to examine whether transcriptional age is also accelerated because transcriptome is highly dynamic, associated with age-related outcomes, and may offer greater insight into the premature aging in PTSD. This study is the first reported investigation of the relationship between transcriptional age and PTSD. Using RNA-Seq data from our previous study on 324 World Trade Center responders (201 never had PTSD, 81 with current PTSD, and 42 with past PTSD), as well as a transcriptional age calculator (RNAAgeCalc) recently developed by our group, we found that responders with current PTSD, compared with responders without a PTSD diagnosis, showed accelerated transcriptional aging (p = 0.0077) after adjustment for chronological age and race. We compared our results to the epigenetic aging results computed from several epigenetic clock calculators on matching DNA methylation data. GrimAge methylation age acceleration was also associated with PTSD diagnosis (p = 0.0097), and the results remained significant after adjustment for the proportions of immune cell types. PhenoAge, Hannum, and Horvath methylation age acceleration were not reliably related to PTSD. Both epigenetic and transcriptional aging may provide biological insights into the mechanisms underpinning aging in PTSD.
Lost in translation: no effect of repeated optogenetic cortico-striatal stimulation on compulsivity in rats
Authors: de Oliveira Amanda R. , Reimer Adriano E. , Simandl Gregory J. , Nagrale Sumedh S. , Widge Alik S. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractThe orbitofrontal cortex–ventromedial striatum (OFC–VMS) circuitry is widely believed to drive compulsive behavior. Hyperactivating this pathway in inbred mice produces excessive and persistent self-grooming, which has been considered a model for human compulsivity. We aimed to replicate these findings in outbred rats, where there are few reliable compulsivity models. Male Long-Evans rats implanted with optical fibers into VMS and with opsins delivered into OFC received optical stimulation at parameters that produce OFC–VMS plasticity and compulsive grooming in mice. We then evaluated rats for compulsive self-grooming at six timepoints: before, during, immediately after, and 1 h after each stimulation, 1 and 2 weeks after the ending of a 6-day stimulation protocol. To further test for effects of OFC–VMS hyperstimulation, we ran animals in three standard compulsivity assays: marble burying, nestlet shredding, and operant attentional set-shifting. OFC–VMS stimulation did not increase self-grooming or induce significant changes in nestlet shredding, marble burying, or set-shifting in rats. Follow-on evoked potential studies verified that the stimulation protocol altered OFC–VMS synaptic weighting. In sum, although we induced physiological changes in the OFC–VMS circuitry, we could not reproduce in a strongly powered study in rats a model of compulsive behavior previously reported in mice. This suggests possible limitations to translation of mouse findings to species higher on the phylogenetic chain.