bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The simulation extrapolation technique meets ecology and evolution: A general and intuitive method to account for measurement error
Authors: Ponzi Erica , Keller Lukas F. , Muff Stefanie 
Published: July 2019

AbstractMeasurement error and other forms of uncertainty are commonplace in ecology and evolution, and may bias estimates of parameters of interest. Although a variety of approaches to obtain unbiased estimators are available, these usually require the formulation of an explicit (parametric) model for the error‐prone variable and a latent model for the unobserved (latent) error‐free variable. In practice, this is often difficult.We propose to generalize the simulation extrapolation (SIMEX) technique, a heuristic approach to correct for measurement error, to situations where it is difficult to explicitly formulate an error model or latent model for a variable of interest. We illustrate the idea with the example of error in pedigrees. Pedigree error causes error in estimates of inbreeding coefficients and the relatedness matrix, thus biasing estimates of inbreeding depression or heritability. Instead of formulating error models for inbreeding coefficients or the relatedness matrix, we directly apply the SIMEX idea to the pedigree. The initially known error proportion in the pedigree is progressively increased, all models are refitted, and the observed trend in the quantities of interest is extrapolated back to a hypothetical error‐free pedigree to obtain bias‐corrected estimates. We tested this pedigree‐SIMEX (PSIMEX) method with simulated pedigrees and with data from a free‐living population of song sparrows.The simulation study indicates that the PSIMEX estimator is almost unbiased for inbreeding depression and heritability, and that it has a much lower mean squared error (MSE) than the naive estimator. In the application to the song sparrows, the error‐corrected results could be validated against the actual values thanks to the availability of both an error‐prone and an error‐free pedigree. The results indicate that bias andMSEare reduced by PSIMEX. For easy accessibility of the method, we provide theR‐packagePSIMEX.By transferring the SIMEX philosophy to error in pedigrees, we have illustrated how this heuristic approach can be generalized to situations where explicit error models are difficult to formulate. Thanks to the simplicity of the idea, many other error problems in ecology and evolution might be amenable to SIMEX‐like error correction methods.
Optimizing sampling of flying insects using a modified window trap
Authors: Knuff Anna K. , Winiger Nathalie , Klein Alexandra‐Maria , Segelbacher Gernot , Staab Michael 
Published: July 2019

Abstract

Insect populations are globally declining but standardized long‐term data to evaluate trends and consequences are largely missing. One difficulty among many is the rather narrow taxonomic cover of most conventional trap types, which makes the use of several complementary collection methods necessary to achieve comprehensive coverage. To avoid the effort associated with operating multiple traps, we demonstrate how to modify window traps in a simple and standardizable way to capture a wider range of flying insect taxa.

While a typical window trap only has a collection unit below the windows, we added an additional collection unit on top of the windows. We tested this modified trap design in 135 study plots in a temperate forest over 5 months and compared trap catches between top and bottom collection units.

The top collection unit captured considerably more individuals of Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Auchenorrhyncha and Thysanoptera than the bottom collection unit. In contrast, there were more individuals of Coleoptera, Heteroptera, Sternorrhyncha and Psocoptera in the bottom collection unit. Both collection units captured a highly distinct insect community and patterns were consistent throughout the season.

These modified traps are suitable for collecting a broader range of flying insects compared to conventional window traps. The additional top unit is fast and easy to build and the traps require little maintenance while operating in the field. These characteristics make modified window traps with top and bottom collection units a promising tool for standardized and replicable biodiversity studies covering a broad range of insect taxa.
Intraoperative methadone for postoperative pain after laparoscopic hysterectomy: Protocol for a randomised, double‐blind trial
Authors: Friesgaard Kristian D. , Brix Lone D. , Kristensen Christina B. , Rian Omar , Nikolajsen Lone 
Published: July 2019

BackgroundHysterectomy is often carried out as same‐day surgery. Treatment of postoperative pain is, therefore, of utmost importance to ensure timely discharge from hospital. Methadone has several desirable pharmacological features, including a long elimination half‐life. Theoretically, a single intraoperative dose could provide long‐lasting pain relief.MethodsThis is a single‐centre, investigator‐initiated, randomised, double‐blind study. Two‐hundred and fifty women, scheduled to undergo hysterectomy at Horsens Region Hospital, Denmark, are randomized to receive methadone (0.2 mg/kg) or morphine (0.2 mg/kg) intraoperatively, 60 minutes before extubation. Primary outcomes are opioid consumption at 6 and 24 hours. Secondary outcomes include pain intensity at rest and during coughing at 1, 3, 6, 24 and 48 hours; patient satisfaction at 3 and 24 hours, postoperative nausea and vomiting at 6, 24 and 72 hours, adverse events in the postanaesthesia care unit (PACU) and time until readiness for discharge. Another outcome is persistent abdominal pain after 4 months.ConclusionsThe study outlined in this protocol will provide important information about the use of methadone in same‐day hysterectomy patients. The results will presumably be applicable to other types of surgery involving visceral pain.
Implications of climate change on the habitat shifts of tropical lizards
Authors: Piantoni Carla , Curcio Felipe F. , Ibargüengoytía Nora R. , Navas Carlos A. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThe effect of temperature on the distributions of ectothermic vertebrates is well documented. Despite the increase of 6°C expected in the next 60 years in South America, numerous vertebrates are still considered as ‘Least Concern’ species by the IUCN due to their large distribution, insufficient widespread threats and insignificant population decline. One example is the lizard Tropidurus torquatus (Squamata: Tropiduridae), commonly found thermoregulating in anthropic environments throughout the Brazilian Cerrado, but restricted to gallery forests in the equator‐ward localities. The urban areas in this warmer region have been colonised by other closely related congeners (e.g. Tropidurus oreadicus). This study aimed to understand this divergence of habitat selection by these tropirudids that may explain some of the species responses to past and future climate warming. We collected body temperatures (Tb), micro‐environmental temperatures (Ta) and operative (Te) temperatures in four sites along a latitudinal gradient: a pole‐ward and two central sites where T. torquatus inhabit urban areas and one equator‐ward site where T. torquatus and T. oreadicus occur in the gallery forest and in urban microhabitats, respectively. All three populations of T. torquatus present similar Tb (35.5–36°C) and shared microhabitats with a similar Ta (34–37.3°C). The Te in the equator‐ward urban site was considerably higher than in the gallery forest. Tropidurus oreadicus Tb was 38.2 °C (30.1–41.3°C) and was active at a Ta of 30.5–42.3°C. The overlap between the genus Tb, Ta and Te highlights a decrease in the hours of activity that lizards would experience under climate warming. The reduction of hours of activity together with the devastation of natural habitats represents threats and an alarming scenario especially for the equator‐ward populations.
The Well‐Ordered Society under Crisis: A Formal Analysis of Public Reason vs. Convergence Discourse
Authors: Chung Hun 
Published: July 2019

AbstractA well‐ordered society faces a crisis whenever a sufficient number of noncompliers enter into the political system. This has the potential to destabilize liberal democratic political order. This article provides a formal analysis of two competing solutions to the problem of political stability offered in the public reason liberalism literature—namely, using public reason or using convergence discourse to restore liberal democratic political order in the well‐ordered society. The formal analyses offered in this article show that using public reason fails completely, and using convergent discourse, although doing better, has its own critical limitations that have not been previously recognized properly.
Maximum entropy extreme‐value seasonal adjustment
Authors: McElroy Tucker , Penny Richard 
Published: July 2019

SummarySome economic series in small economies exhibit meagre (i.e. non‐positive) values, as well as seasonal extremes. For example, agricultural variables in countries with a distinct growing season may exhibit both of these features. Multiplicative seasonal adjustment typically utilises a logarithmic transformation, but the meagre values make this impossible, while the extremes engender huge distortions that render seasonal adjustments unacceptable. To account for these features, we propose a new method of extreme‐value adjustment based on the maximum entropy principle, which results in replacement of the meagre values and extremes by optimal projections that utilise information from the available time series dynamics. This facilitates multiplicative seasonal adjustment. The method is illustrated in the New Zealand agricultural series.
R package rjmcmc: reversible jump MCMC using post‐processing
Authors: Gelling Nicholas , Schofield Matthew R. , Barker Richard J. 
Published: July 2019

SummaryThe rjmcmc package for R implements the post‐processing reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm of Barker & Link. MCMC output from each of the models is used to estimate posterior model probabilities and Bayes factors. Automatic differentiation is used to simplify implementation. The package is demonstrated on two examples.
2 Neighborhood to National Network: Pyramid Settlements of Giza
Authors: Lehner Mark 
Published: July 2019

ABSTRACTA twenty‐hectare swath of Old Kingdom 4th Dynasty settlement that central authorities laid out at the low, southeastern base of the Giza Plateau as housing and infrastructure for building pyramids shows distinct components that reflect how they mobilized labor into collective action for building on a colossal scale through already existing social bonds and home‐based fellowships from districts, villages and neighborhoods. Correlation between this architectural footprint, builders’ graffiti, and recently discovered papyrus day logs with district signs suggests links to larger national networks. Ensconced alongside the major Nile port of its time, community members served in both ships’ crews and work gangs with links to broader interregional networks. It is possible that immigrants from source countries who specialized in procurement and transport of exotic products contributed to ethnic diversity in the distinct components of “downtown Egypt.” Brought together in a central settlement much larger and denser than any at home, each occupant experienced an exponential increase in social interactions. But we see hints that, as authorities multiplied social clusters for collective action and established procurement networks of broad spatial range, they preserved home‐based fellowships. It may have been true for downtown Egypt at the pyramids that, regardless of a city's size, everyone lived in villages and neighborhoods.
Sample size determination in bioequivalence studies using statistical assurance
Authors: Ring A. , Lang B. , Kazaroho C. , Labes D. , Schall R. , Schütz H. 
Published: July 2019

AimsBioequivalence (BE) trials aim to demonstrate that the 90% confidence interval of the T/R‐ratio of the pharmacokinetic metrics between two formulations (test [T] and reference [R]) of a drug is fully included in the acceptance interval [0.80, 1.25]. Traditionally, the sample size of BE trials is based on a power calculation based on the intrasubject variability coefficient of variation (CV) and the T/R‐ratio of the metrics. Since the exact value of the T/R‐ratio is not known prior to the trial, it is often assumed that the difference between the treatments does not exceed 5%. Hence, uncertainty about the T/R‐ratio is expressed by using a fixed value for the sample size calculation. We propose to characterise the uncertainty about the T/R‐ratio by a (normal) distribution for the log(T/R‐ratio), with an assumed mean of log θ = 0.00 (i.e. θ = 1.00) and a standard deviation σu, which quantifies the uncertainty. Evaluating this distribution leads to the statistical assurance of the BE trial.MethodsThe assurance of a clinical trial can be derived by integrating the power over the distribution of the input parameters, in this case, the assumed distribution of the log(T/R)‐ratio. Because it is an average power, the assurance can be interpreted as a measure of the probability of success that does not depend on a specific assumed value for the log(T/R)‐ratio. The relationship between power and assurance will be analysed by comparing the numerical outcomes.ResultsUsing the assurance concept, values of the standard deviation for the distribution of potential log(T/R)‐ratios can be chosen to reflect the magnitude of uncertainty. For most practical cases (i.e. when 0.95 ≤ θ ≤ 1.05), the sample size is not, or only slightly, changed when σ = |log(θ)|.ConclusionThe advantage of deriving the assurance for BE trials is that uncertainty is directly expressed as a parameter of variability.
A novel and potent brain penetrant inhibitor of extracellular vesicle release
Authors: Rojas Camilo , Sala Michal , Thomas Ajit G. , Datta Chaudhuri Amrita , Yoo Seung‐Wan , Li Zhigang , Dash Ranjeet P. , Rais Rana , Haughey Norman J. , Nencka Radim , Slusher Barbara 
Published: July 2019

Background and PurposeExtracellular vesicles (EVs) are constitutively shed from cells and released by various stimuli. Their protein and RNA cargo are modified by the stimulus, and in disease conditions can carry pathological cargo involved in disease progression. Neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) is a major regulator in at least one of several independent routes of EV biogenesis, and its inhibition is a promising new therapeutic approach for neurological disorders. Unfortunately, known inhibitors exhibit μM potency, poor physicochemical properties, and/or limited brain penetration. Here, we sought to identify a drug‐like inhibitor of nSMase2.Experimental ApproachWe conducted a human nSMase2 high throughput screen (>365,000 compounds). Selected hits were optimized focusing on potency, selectivity, metabolic stability, pharmacokinetics, and ability to inhibit EV release in vitro and in vivo.Key ResultsWe identified phenyl(R)‐(1‐(3‐(3,4‐dimethoxyphenyl)‐2,6‐dimethylimidazo[1,2‐b]pyridazin‐8‐yl)pyrrolidin‐3‐yl)‐carbamate (PDDC), a potent (pIC50 = 6.57) and selective non‐competitive inhibitor of nSMase2. PDDC was metabolically stable, with excellent oral bioavailability (%F = 88) and brain penetration (AUCbrain/AUCplasma = 0.60). PDDC dose‐dependently (pEC50 = 5.5) inhibited release of astrocyte‐derived extracellular vesicles (ADEV). In an in vivo inflammatory brain injury model, PDDC robustly inhibited ADEV release and the associated peripheral immunological response. A closely related inactive PDDC analogue was ineffective.Conclusion and ImplicationsPDDC is a structurally novel, potent, orally available, and brain penetrant inhibitor of nSMase2. PDDC inhibited release of ADEVs in tissue culture and in vivo. PDDC is actively being tested in animal models of neurological disease and, along with closely related analogues, is being considered for clinical translation.
Parental empowerment in paediatric rehabilitation: Exploring the role of a digital tool to help parents prepare for consultation with a physician
Authors: Alsem Mattijs W. , Verhoef Marjolein , Braakman Jessica , van Meeteren Karen M. , Siebes Renate C. , Jongmans Marian J. , Visser‐Meily Johanna M.A. , Ketelaar Marjolijn ,   The WWW, roadmap study group
Published: July 2019

AbstractBackgroundTo explore experiences of parents of children with disabilities using the WWW, roadmap, a tool to support them in exploring needs, finding information, and asking questions of professionals and to explore differences between parents who had used the WWW‐roadmap to prepare for consultation with their rehabilitation physician and parents who had not.MethodsIn a sequential cohort study, we included 128 parents; 54 used the WWW‐roadmap prior to consultation and 74 received care‐as‐usual. Both groups completed questionnaires after consultation, assessing empowerment, self‐efficacy, parent and physician satisfaction, family centredness of care, and experiences using the tool. Additionally, 13 parents were interviewed.ResultsParents who used the WWW‐roadmap looked up more information on the Internet. No other differences between parents and physicians were found. In the interviews, parents said that the WWW‐roadmap was a useful tool for looking up information, exploring and asking questions, and maintaining a comprehensive picture.ConclusionUsing the WWW‐roadmap prior to consultation did not improve self‐efficacy, satisfaction, or family centredness of care. Findings suggest positive experiences regarding factors determining empowerment, creating conditions for a more equal parent–physician relationship.The WWW‐roadmap is useful for parents to explore their needs and find information, but more is needed to support empowerment in consultations.
By 4.5 Months, Linguistic Experience Already Affects Infants’ Talker Processing Abilities
Authors: Fecher Natalie , Johnson Elizabeth K. 
Published: July 2019

Contemporary models of adult speech perception acknowledge that the processing of linguistic and nonlinguistic aspects of the speech signal are interdependent. But when in development does this interdependence first emerge? In the adult literature, one way to demonstrate this relationship has been to examine how language experience affects talker identification. Thus, in this study, 4‐ to 5‐month‐old infants (N = 96) were tested on their ability to tell apart talkers in a familiar language (English) compared to unfamiliar languages (Polish or Spanish). Infants readily distinguished between talkers in the familiar language but not in the unfamiliar languages, supporting the hypothesis that the integrated processing of linguistic and nonlinguistic information in speech is early emerging and robust.
Outcomes following stoma formation in patients with spinal cord injury
Authors: Cooper E. A. , Bonne Lee B. , Muhlmann M. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractAimThe formation of a diverting stoma of the bowel in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) is a useful option in managing problems associated with prolonged bowel care, pressure ulcers and neurogenic bowel. This descriptive study examines surgical outcomes and the effect on an individual's health‐related quality of life (HrQoL) in this complex group of patients.MethodsData were retrospectively collected in all patients with SCI who underwent a diverting stoma at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, between January 2013 and January 2018 via a self‐report questionnaire developed specifically for the study.ResultsForty‐three individuals were identified of whom 26 responded. 73% were men with a mean age of 45 years. The reasons for stoma formation included sacral pressure ulcer (50%), prolonged bowel care (35%), faecal incontinence (19%), constipation (8%), autonomic dysreflexia (8%), carer difficulties (8%) and haemorrhoids (4%). 76% of patients reported an improvement in HrQoL with 72% scoring their satisfaction with a stoma ≥ 8/10.ConclusionWhile stoma formation is often seen as a treatment of last resort, our study has shown that it is an effective management option for a number of conditions post‐SCI. It can improve HrQoL and has a high level of satisfaction amongst patients. Ideally, patients who could potentially benefit from a stoma should be identified early and receive appropriate education and counselling to help facilitate informed and timely decision‐making and reduce adverse bowel related impact on quality of life and adjustment post‐SCI.
Population dynamics of oceanic manta rays (Mobula birostris) in the Raja Ampat Archipelago, West Papua, Indonesia, and the impacts of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation on their movement ecology
Authors: Beale Calvin S. , Stewart Joshua D. , Setyawan Edy , Sianipar Abraham B. , Erdmann Mark V. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractAimOur aim was to collect sightings data on oceanic manta rays (Mobula birostris) within the Raja Ampat Archipelago to better understand their population dynamics within the region. These data were compared with environmental variables to seek correlates that may explain any variations in observed sightings frequency. Combined, it is hoped this knowledge will be used to aid effective management of this species in the region.LocationRaja Ampat Archipelago, West Papua, Indonesia.MethodsWe collected and catalogued photo‐identification of individuals to create a sightings database. To generate estimates of abundance, survival, sighting probability and recruitment to the population, we used a POPAN mark–recapture model. We considered time‐varying and fixed values for each parameter and possible covariate relationships of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and sex.ResultsA total of 588 individuals were identified over six years, of which 72.4% were female, and 28.2% of individuals were resighted. There was an exponential increase in sightings during the 2015–2016 ENSO event despite constant effort; significant correlation was found between sightings and the multivariate ENSO index and with sea surface temperatures but not with chlorophyll‐a. Mark–recapture analysis shows a clear relationship between ENSO and entry probability, and the most parsimonious model estimated a superpopulation size N of 1875 individuals.Main conclusionOceanic manta ray distributions appear to be impacted by ENSO‐related climate phenomena. Our findings on the relationship of ENSO to manta sightings and distribution indicate that oceanic manta rays are likely sensitive to large‐scale climatic variability. This illustrates the potential impacts of climate change on oceanic manta populations and the need to consider climate impacts in developing management strategies. Continued photo‐ID, tagging and population genetics would greatly enhance knowledge and help develop management strategies that bolster conservation of the species.