bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The penile duplex ultrasound: How and when to perform it?
Authors: Aversa Antonio , Crafa Andrea , Greco Emanuela Alessandra , Chiefari Eusebio , Brunetti Antonio , La Vignera Sandro 
Published: May 2021

AbstractBackgroundBecause it is a superficial structure, the penis is ideally suited to ultrasound imaging. A number of disease processes, including Peyronie's disease, penile fractures and tumors, are clearly visualized with ultrasound. Baseline and dynamic assessment of cavernosal arterial changes after pharmaco‐stimulation with alprostadil allows standardized diagnosis of arterial and venogenic causes of erectile dysfunction (ED).ObjectiveTo illustrate how to correctly perform flaccid and dynamic penile duplex ultrasound (D‐PDU) and in which patients to recommend it.Materials/MethodsAn extensive search of the literature was carried out on Pubmed with the insertion of the following Medical Subjects Headings (MeSH) terms and keywords “penile color Doppler ultrasound” “peak systolic velocity” “end‐diastolic velocity”, “acceleration time”, “resistance index”.EvidenceIn our experience, arterial erectile dysfunction is identified after standardized intracavernous injection (ICI) of alprostadil (10 mcg) when values of peak systolic velocity (PSV) are <35 cm/s and, in the most severe forms, for values <25 cm/s. Arterial insufficiency can also be identified by increased acceleration time (AT) values (>110 ms) and/or by a lack of visualization of helicine arteries at power Doppler mode along with incomplete achievement of penile rigidity. The veno‐occlusive incompetence is determined when end‐diastolic velocity (EDV) values are >4.5–5 cm/s or in the case of resistance index (RI) values <0.75. The assessment of additional surrogate markers of endothelial dysfunction, that is, intima‐media thickness, mean platelet volume (MPV), endothelial progenitor cells (EPC), endothelial cell specific molecule‐1(endocan) are also useful in assessing the patient's cardiovascular risk but are still considered investigational in the interpretation of D‐PDU results.ConclusionD‐PDU scan after ICI with vasoactive drugs is a safe procedure and represents the gold standard for the diagnostics of penile pathologies and should be performed in men with ED not responding to oral conventional therapies and/or in those requiring accurate stratification of cardiovascular risk.
Postpubertal spermatogonial stem cell transplantation restores functional sperm production in rhesus monkeys irradiated before and after puberty
Authors: Shetty Gunapala , Mitchell Jennifer M. , Lam Truong N. A. , Phan Thien T. , Zhang Jie , Tailor Ramesh C. , Peters Karen A. , Penedo Maria Cecilia , Hanna Carol B. , Clark Amander T. , Orwig Kyle E. , Meistrich Marvin L. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractBackgroundCancer treatment of prepubertal patients impacts future fertility due to the abolition of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). In macaques, spermatogenesis could be regenerated by intratesticular transplantation of SSCs, but no studies have involved cytotoxic treatment before puberty and transplantation after puberty, which would be the most likely clinical scenario.ObjectivesTo evaluate donor‐derived functional sperm production after SSC transplantation to adult monkeys that had received testicular irradiation during the prepubertal period.Materials and methodsWe obtained prepubertal testis tissue by unilaterally castrating six prepubertal monkeys and 2 weeks later irradiated the remaining testes with 6.9 Gy. However, because spermatogenic recovery was observed, we irradiated them again 14 months later with 7 Gy. Three of the monkeys were treated with GnRH‐antagonist (GnRH‐ant) for 8 weeks. The cryopreserved testis cells from the castrated testes were then allogeneically transplanted into the intact testes of all monkeys. Tissues were harvested 10 months later for analyses.ResultsIn three of the six monkeys, 61%, 38%, and 11% of the epididymal sperm DNA were of the donor genotype. The ability to recover donor‐derived sperm production was not enhanced by the GnRH‐ant pretreatment. However, the extent of filling seminiferous tubules during the transplantation procedure was correlated with the eventual production of donor spermatozoa. The donor epididymal spermatozoa from the recipient with 61% donor contribution were capable of fertilizing rhesus eggs and forming embryos. Although the transplantation was done into the rete testis, two GnRH‐ant‐treated monkeys, which did not produce donor‐derived epididymal spermatozoa, displayed irregular tubular cords in the interstitium containing testicular spermatozoa derived from the transplanted donor cells.Discussion and ConclusionThe results further support that sperm production can be restored in non‐human primates from tissues cryopreserved prior to prepubertal and post‐pubertal gonadotoxic treatment by transplantation of these testicular cells after puberty into seminiferous tubules.
Chekhov’s gun and Narrative Topography in Social Science Texts
Authors: Lund Christian 
Published: May 2021

SummaryA social science text has topography. Idea, concepts, and data are structured in a narrative form and the writer faces three challenges: 1) how to deal with the complexity of knowledge in a linear form of writing, 2) how to transform experience and the wealth of data you needed to know to write, into focused and lean writing that the reader needs to read, and finally 3) how, while providing a synthetic representation of reality, to establish memorable credibility of the data and narrative. These challenges can be addressed and overcome by the use of devices we can identify most clearly in art.
Model‐based inference using judgement post‐stratified samples in finite populations
Authors: Ozturk Omer , Kavlak Konul Bayramoglu 
Published: May 2021

SummaryIn survey sampling studies, statistical inference can be constructed either using design based randomisation or super population model. Design‐based inference using judgement post‐stratified (JPS) sampling is available in the literature. This paper develops statistical inference based on super population model in a finite population setting using JPS sampling design. For a JPS sample, first a simple random sample (SRS) is constructed without replacement. The sample units in this SRS are then stratified based on judgement ranking in a small comparison set to induce a data structure in the sample. The paper shows that the mean of a JPS sample is model unbiased and has smaller mean square prediction error (MSPE) than the MSPE of a simple random sample mean. Using an unbiased estimator of the MSPE, the paper also constructs prediction confidence interval for the population mean. A small‐scale empirical study shows that the JPS sample predictor performs better than an SRS predictor when the quality of ranking information in JPS sampling is not poor. The paper also shows that the coverage probabilities of prediction intervals are very close to the nominal coverage probability. Proposed inferential procedure is applied to a real data set obtained from an agricultural research farm.
Classification of archaeological adhesives from Eastern Europe and Urals by ATR‐FT‐IR spectroscopy and chemometric analysis
Authors: Chen Shidong , Vahur Signe , Teearu Anu , Juus Taisi , Zhilin Mikhail , Savchenko Svetlana , Oshibkina Svetlana , Asheichyk Vitali , Vashanau Aliaksandr , Lychagina Evgeniia , Kashina Ekaterina , German Konstantin , Dubovtseva Ekaterina , Kriiska Aivar , Leito Ivo , Oras Ester 
Published: May 2021

AbstractAttenuated total reflection‐Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐FT‐IR) analysis of 100 adhesive samples from different prehistoric composite artefacts, pottery, and amorphous lumps across Eastern Europe and Urals were conducted with the aim to establish a fast analytical screening method for adhesive assignment. The ATR‐FT‐IR analysis allowed the identification of major chemical components of the adhesive samples that were assigned to three main groups: birch bark tar without major additives, birch bark tar with additives, and minor/non‐birch bark tar samples. ATR‐FT‐IR spectra were further analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA)‐based discriminant analysis (DA) that allowed additional refinement of adhesive classifications. The ATR‐FT‐IR results and the DA classification were confirmed by analyzing a selection of samples with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Results demonstrate that ATR‐FT‐IR coupled with DA classification allows fast and reliable preliminary identification of the major components in archaeological adhesives and their further classification. As such it is a considerable and faster alternative to more laborious GC–MS analysis, especially in the case of very small samples.
A mean weight analysis of Classic Nabatean lamp sherds from Roman Aila (Aqaba, Jordan)
Authors: Lapp Eric C. 
Published: May 2021

AbstractA mean weight analysis was conducted on Classic Nabatean type lamp sherds (N = 75) unearthed at the Red Sea port of Roman Aila (Aqaba, Jordan). The purpose of this essay is to independently test and replicate Diedre Barrett's mean weight methodology to verify its viability as a procedure to determine the estimated original complete lamp count for this group at the site. The study further suggests modifications to the analysis and proposes an equation to express the mean weight procedure.
Paying the widening participation penalty: Racial and ethnic minority students and mental health in British universities
Authors: Olaniyan Funmi‐Victoria 
Published: May 2021

AbstractRacial and ethnic minority (REM) students are more likely to experience poor mental health than their White peers yet are less likely to seek help from university counseling services. In attempting to explain this puzzle, the role of environmental factors are rarely explored, despite evidence which suggests that the university environment is itself a major factor. Here, I take a qualitative paired comparison approach to examine the influence of the university environment on the mental health and help‐seeking attitudes of REM undergraduate students, evaluating their experiences at a Russell Group university (RGU) with low REM participation and a neighboring non‐Russell Group university with high REM participation. While both universities declared a commitment to widen participation and promote inclusion for REM individuals, semi‐structured interviews with 48 REM students reveal that feelings of isolation and the experience of discrimination were heightened at the RGU. However, students at both universities described having to navigate a “minefield” of racial microaggressions and “othering.” Further, these environmental pressures are compounded by personal factors (i.e., prior help‐seeking experiences, cultural norms, and family pressures). Together, these factors largely influence both their mental health and their help‐seeking attitudes. I argue that these factors create a widening participation penalty for REM students and suggest that support for these students must go beyond initial acts of increasing diversity on campus (for example, through Widening Participation schemes). Rather, efforts should focus on addressing and reforming the institutional environments and behaviors that hinder university campuses from becoming truly inclusive and mentally healthy environments.
Oral paclitaxel with encequidar compared to intravenous paclitaxel in patients with advanced cancer: A randomised crossover pharmacokinetic study
Authors: Jackson Christopher G. C. A. , Hung Tak , Segelov Eva , Barlow Paula , Prenen Hans , McLaren Blair , Hung Noelyn Anne , Clarke Katriona , Chao Tsu‐Yi , Dai Ming‐Shen , Yeh Hsien‐Tang , Cutler David L. , Kramer Douglas , He Jimmy , Zhi Jay , Chan Wing‐Kai , Kwan Rudolf , Deva Sanjeev 
Published: May 2021

AimsPaclitaxel is a widely used anti‐neoplastic agent but has low oral bioavailability due to gut extrusion by P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp). Oral paclitaxel could be more convenient, less resource intensive, and more tolerable than intravenous administration. Encequidar (HM30181A) is a novel, minimally absorbed gut‐specific P‐gp inhibitor. We tested whether administration of oral paclitaxel with encequidar (oPac+E) achieved comparable AUC to intravenous paclitaxel (IVP) 80 mg/m2.MethodsWe conducted a multi‐centre randomised crossover study with two treatment periods. Patients (pts) with advanced cancer received either oral paclitaxel 615 mg/m2 divided over 3 days and encequidar 15 mg orally 1 hour prior, followed by IVP 80 mg/m2, or the reverse sequence. PK blood samples were taken up to Day 9 for oPac+E and Day 5 for IVP.ResultsForty‐two patients were enrolled; 35 completed both treatment periods. AUC0‐∞was 5033.5 ± 1401.1 ng.h/mL for oPac+E and 5595.9 ± 1264.1 ng.h/mL with IVP. The geometric mean ratio (GMR) for AUC was 89.50% (90% CI 83.89–95.50). Mean absolute bioavailability of oPac+E was 12% (CV% = 23%). PK parameters did not change meaningfully after 4 weeks administration of oPac+E in an extension study. G3 treatment‐emergent adverse events occurred in seven (18%) pts with oPac+E and two (5%) with IVP. Seventy‐five per cent of patients preferred oPac+E over IVP.ConclusionsGMR for AUC was within the predefined acceptable range of 80–125% for demonstrating equivalence. oPac+E is tolerable and there is no evidence of P‐gp induction with repeat administration. With further study, oPac+E could be an alternative to IVP.
Macrophage extracellular traps aggravate iron overload‐related liver ischaemia/reperfusion injury
Authors: Wu Shan , Yang Jing , Sun Guoliang , Hu Jingping , Zhang Qian , Cai Jun , Yuan Dongdong , Li Haobo , Hei Ziqing , Yao Weifeng 
Published: May 2021

Background and PurposeMacrophages regulate iron homeostasis in the liver and play important role in hepatic ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. This study investigates the role of macrophages in iron overload‐related hepatocyte damage during liver I/R.Experimental ApproachLiver biopsies from patients undergoing partial hepatectomy with or without hepatic portal occlusion were recruited and markers of hepatocyte cell death and macrophage extracellular traps (METs) were detected. A murine hepatic I/R model was also established in high‐iron diet‐fed mice. Ferrostatin‐1 and deferoxamine were administered to investigate the role of ferroptosis in hepatic I/R injury. The macrophage inhibitor liposome‐encapsulated clodronate was used to investigate the interaction between macrophages and ferroptosis. AML12 hepatocytes and RAW264.7 macrophages were co‐cultured in vitro. An inhibitor of macrophage extracellular traps was used to evaluate the role and mechanism of these traps and ferroptosis in hepatic I/R injury.Key ResultsHepatocyte macrophage extracellular trap formation and ferroptosis were greater in patients who underwent hepatectomy with hepatic portal occlusion and in mice subjected to hepatic I/R. Macrophage extracellular traps increased when macrophages were subjected to hypoxia/reoxygenation and when they were co‐cultured with hepatocytes. Ferroptosis increased and post‐hypoxic hepatocyte survival decreased, which were reversed by inhibition of macrophage extracellular traps. Ferroptosis inhibition attenuated post‐ischaemic liver damage. Moreover, iron overload induced hepatic ferroptosis and exacerbated post‐ischaemic liver damage, which were reversed by the iron chelator.Conclusion and ImplicationsMacrophage extracellular traps are in volved in regulating ferroptosis highlighting the therapeutic potential of macrophage extracellular traps and ferroptosis inhibition in reducing liver I/R injury.
Sexual conflict in a changing environment
Authors: Plesnar‐Bielak Agata , Łukasiewicz Aleksandra 
Published: May 2021

ABSTRACTSexual conflict has extremely important consequences for various evolutionary processes including its effect on local adaptation and extinction probability during environmental change. The awareness that the intensity and dynamics of sexual conflict is highly dependent on the ecological setting of a population has grown in recent years, but much work is yet to be done. Here, we review progress in our understanding of the ecology of sexual conflict and how the environmental sensitivity of such conflict feeds back into population adaptivity and demography, which, in turn, determine a population's chances of surviving a sudden environmental change. We link two possible forms of sexual conflict – intralocus and interlocus sexual conflict – in an environmental context and identify major gaps in our knowledge. These include sexual conflict responses to fluctuating and oscillating environmental changes and its influence on the interplay between interlocus and intralocus sexual conflict, among others. We also highlight the need to move our investigations into more natural settings and to investigate sexual conflict dynamics in wild populations.
The IDIP framework for assessing protein function and its application to the prion protein
Authors: Schmitt‐Ulms Gerold , Mehrabian Mohadeseh , Williams Declan , Ehsani Sepehr 
Published: May 2021

ABSTRACTThe quest to determine the function of a protein can represent a profound challenge. Although this task is the mandate of countless research groups, a general framework for how it can be approached is conspicuously lacking. Moreover, even expectations for when the function of a protein can be considered to be ‘known’ are not well defined. In this review, we begin by introducing concepts pertinent to the challenge of protein function assignments. We then propose a framework for inferring a protein's function from four data categories: ‘inheritance’, ‘distribution’, ‘interactions’ and ‘phenotypes’ (IDIP). We document that the functions of proteins emerge at the intersection of inferences drawn from these data categories and emphasise the benefit of considering them in an evolutionary context. We then apply this approach to the cellular prion protein (PrPC), well known for its central role in prion diseases, whose function continues to be considered elusive by many investigators. We document that available data converge on the conclusion that the function of the prion protein is to control a critical post‐translational modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule in the context of epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition and related plasticity programmes. Finally, we argue that this proposed function of PrPC has already passed the test of time and is concordant with the IDIP framework in a way that other functions considered for this protein fail to achieve. We anticipate that the IDIP framework and the concepts analysed herein will aid the investigation of other proteins whose primary functional assignments have thus far been intractable.
Fine‐Tuning the “Right to Rio de Janeiro” from Above and Below: The City Statute in Pre‐Olympics Rio de Janeiro
Authors: Svoboda Kayla 
Published: May 2021

AbstractBrazil’s City Statute enshrines the “right to the city” and the “social function of property” in its constitution. Brazilian scholars, however, identify barriers to achieving the law’s agenda. Broader debates regarding the right to the city suggest the concept has been overextended beyond meaning, and that formalization of the right to the city betrays its radical Lefebvrian roots. This article is based on fieldwork conducted in Rio de Janeiro when widespread forced evictions were being carried out prior to the city’s hosting of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Based on observations within eleven housing occupations, and sixty interviews with participants, leaders of social movement organizations, and local politicians, the article argues that the “constitutionalization” of the right to the city and the social function of property formed the basis for the politicization of dispossessed urban residents. The social function of property was a particularly salient concept for capturing the injustice of the planned relocation of the displaced poor to the urban periphery, while countless buildings sat underutilized in the city center.
Impact of beta‐2 microglobulin expression on the survival of glioma patients via modulating the tumor immune microenvironment
Authors: Tang Feng , Zhao Yu‐Hang , Zhang Qing , Wei Wei , Tian Su‐Fang , Li Chen , Yao Jie , Wang Ze‐Fen , Li Zhi‐Qiang 
Published: May 2021

AbstractAimsHigh immune cell infiltration in gliomas establishes an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, which in turn promotes resistance to immunotherapy. Hence, it is important to identify novel targets associated with high immune cell infiltration in gliomas. Our previous study showed that serum levels of beta‐2 microglobulin (B2M) in lower‐grade glioma patients were lower than those in glioblastoma patients. In the present study, we focused on exploring the roles of B2M in glioma immune infiltration.MethodsA large cohort of patients with gliomas from the TCGA, CGGA, and Gravendeel databases was included to explore differential expression patterns and potential roles of B2M in gliomas. A total of 103 glioma tissue samples were collected to determine the distributions of B2M protein levels by immunofluorescent assays. Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis and meta‐analysis were used for survival analysis. GO(Gene‐ontology) enrichment analysis, co‐expression analysis, KEGG(Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis, and immune infiltration analysis were performed to explore roles and related mechanisms of B2M in glioma.ResultsWe found that both B2M mRNA and protein levels were abnormally upregulated in glioma samples compared with those from normal brain tissue. B2M expression was correlated with tumor grade and was downregulated in IDH1 mutant samples. Furthermore, B2M was a moderately sensitive indicator for predicting the mesenchymal molecular subtype of gliomas. Interestingly, glioma patients with lower B2M expression had remarkably longer survival times than those with higher B2M expression. Moreover, meta‐analysis showed that B2M was an independent predictive marker in glioma patients. The results of GO enrichment analysis revealed that B2M contributed to immune cell infiltration in glioma patients. In addition, results of KEGG pathway analysis and co‐expression analysis suggested that B2M may mediate glioma immune infiltration via chemokines.ConclusionsWe conclude that B2M levels are critical for the survival times of glioma patients, at least in part due to mediating high immune infiltration.