bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A municipality-specific analysis to investigate persistent increased incidence rates of childhood leukaemia near the nuclear power plant of Krümmel in Germany
Authors: Gianicolo Emilio , Russo Antonello , Di Staso Rossana , Ronckers Cécile M. , Schmidtmann Irene , Wollschläger Daniel , Blettner Maria 
Published: November 2024

AbstractIncreased incidence rates for childhood leukaemia have been reported in municipalities close to the nuclear power plant (NPP) Krümmel (Geesthacht, Germany). Methodological challenges arise when analysing this association at ecological level. They include the use of an appropriate reference population, unstable estimates of standardised incidence ratios (SIRs), and the potential role of prevailing winds. The aim of our study is to address these challenges. The German Childhood Cancer Registry provided data on leukaemia in children under 15 years (2004–2019). The German Federal Statistical Office provided the population data. The study region included all municipalities with ≥ 75% surface area within 50 kms from the Krümmel NPP. We calculated SIRs using national and regional reference rates. Smoothed incidence relative rates (IRRs) were calculated and mapped to check for potential patterns associated with prevailing winds. Overall 356 cases of childhood leukaemia were observed in the study region (321 municipalities) during 2004–2019. SIRs based on national reference rates show nearly no difference to those calculated using the regional rates as reference. Increased SIR and IRR were observed in Geesthacht (observed-cases = eight; SIR = 2.29; 95% confidence interval: 0.99–4.51. IRR = 1.80; 95% credibility interval: 0.88–2.79). The analysis of the IRR map does not show patterns associated with prevailing winds. Using a regional population as the reference, we found evidence that there may still be an increased risk for childhood leukaemia in Geesthacht. However, IRR estimates are uncertain and credibility intervals are compatible with the absence of elevated risk. The persistent evidence of risk of childhood leukaemia in Geesthacht warrants further epidemiological surveillance.
Epigenetics of cardiomyopathies: the next frontier
Authors: Hajdarpašić Aida , Tukker Martijn , Rijdt Wouter te , Mohamedhoesein Sharida , Meijers Wouter C. , Caliskan Kadir 
Published: November 2024

AbstractCardiomyopathies (CMP) are a diverse group of myocardial diseases that cause structural, functional, and pathological changes to the heart. Alterations at the molecular level associated with the clinical phenotype and progression of CMPs cannot be solely explained by the genetic mutations, even in inherited cardiomyopathies. Epigenetics and environmental factors are likely to significantly modify the clinical manifestations of CMPs, resulting in variable clinical expression and different age-related penetrance. This review examines the role of dysfunctional DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodelling, and noncoding RNAs in the development and exacerbation of CMPs, highlighting their potential as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets, including the use of histone deacetylase inhibitors. Additionally, it explores how environmental exposures can influence epigenetic changes and potentially be used for preventive strategies and personalized care in CMP patients. Monozygotic twin studies and intergenerational studies are discussed as valuable tools for understanding the interplay between genetics, epigenetics, and environmental factors. Lastly, this review addresses current challenges and future perspectives, such as the need for greater specificity in epigenetic therapies, minimizing off-target effects, and investigating sex differences in CMP research and treatment.
Distribution and Human-Mediated Establishment of Crested Macaque (Macaca nigra) Populations in the North Moluccas, Indonesia
Authors: Neugebauer Elenora , Lestari Sagita Dini , Kaletuang Indra Ravel , Perwitasari-Farajallah Dyah , Widdig Anja 
Published: November 2024

AbstractOver the course of human history, people have translocated plant and animal species, often with profound consequences. Understanding how endangered species adapt to human-mediated migration and novel environments is crucial to inform conservation strategies. The crested macaque (Macaca nigra), an endemic primate species of North Sulawesi (Indonesia), faces imminent extinction in its native range due to anthropogenic threats. While extensive research on this species has been conducted in the Duasudara Nature Reserve in North Sulawesi, critical knowledge gaps persist with regard to their distribution outside this protected area on Sulawesi and beyond. Previous studies report that crested macaques were introduced by humans to North Maluku ~200 hundred years ago. In 2023, we visited Bacan, Kasiruta, and southern Halmahera Island, conducting interviews, surveys, and direct observations of macaques to determine their presence or absence on these islands. We encountered wild crested macaques or their feces at 23 locations across these islands and pet macaques in 6 locations on Bacan. We confirm crested macaques on Bacan and also report them at Kasiruta and in the south of Halmahera, with results of our interviews suggesting that macaques might be present in North Maluku for ~500 years. We found no evidence of their presence on Mandioli. Additionally, we documented behavioral similarities, e.g., loud calls specific to male crested macaques. Our results extend the known distribution range of crested macaques by the islands of Kasiruta and Halmahera, shedding light on the potential for these populations to contribute to the survival of the species.
Inclusionary housing policy and practice in South African cities: planning as a spatial transformation tool
Authors: Madell Cecil 
Published: November 2024

AbstractGlobally, housing forms an integral part of accessing the wide range opportunities that cities offer, however, inequality can be exacerbated when significant segments of the inhabitants are excluded from the real estate market or through inaction by the state. The need for affordable housing in cities with hyper-property markets is of global concern for public sector authorities that are pursuing goals of socially just and economically inclusive cities. In the global south, inclusionary housing policies and associated practices have emerged as important tools to increase access for those excluded from the opportunities available in towns and cities. In South Africa, the post-1994 democratic state has continued with the apartheid era practice of providing subsidised housing for the majority urban residents on the outskirts of towns and cities, thereby further entrenching poverty traps and racially based separate developments. Contrary to practice, the state’s well-documented policy position is to reverse the legacy of apartheid through spatial transformation so that cities and towns become economically more inclusive and socially just. It is argued that this requires prioritising the provision of affordable housing in urban centres of towns and cities that offer meaningful working, residing, shopping, recreational and other social opportunities. Although inclusionary housing policy has emerged internationally as an important mechanism to spatially transform urban areas, this forms only one component of a wider range of other possible public interventions. These framework mechanisms could include broader housing development policies, legislation and programmes as well as the urban development policies, spatial planning and land use management practices and incentives. Other incentives that can be used as leverage include the use of publicly owned property (land and buildings), capital infrastructure and development incentives. The public sector can offer both direct and indirect financial assistance and tax incentives to support an inclusionary housing policy. Critically, this should be contingent on the public sector understanding the feasibility, risk and benefits associated with housing projects pursued by private sector real estate developers.
Windthrow disturbance impacts soil biogeochemistry and bacterial communities in a temperate forest
Authors: Waring Bonnie G. , Lancastle Lena , Bell Thomas , Bidartondo Martin I. , García-Díaz Pablo , Lambin Xavier , Vanguelova Elena , Windram Francis A. 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Aims
Forests across the world are subject to disturbance via wind, wildfire, and pest and disease outbreaks. Yet we still have an incomplete understanding of how these stressors impact forest biota—particularly the soil microbes, which govern forest carbon and nutrient cycling.

Methods
Here, we investigated the impact of a severe windstorm on soil bacterial communities in Kielder Forest, a temperate coniferous forest in the north of England. Within ten individual sites, defined by common stand composition and topography, we established 50 m2 plots in undisturbed stands, and in nearby stands that were moderately and/or severely disturbed by windthrow. Soils were sampled within each of the 22 study plots, and analysed for changes in carbon and nitrogen content, pH, root biomass, and bacterial community structure. We separately sequenced bacteria from bulk soils, rhizosphere soils, and root tissues to assess whether disturbance impacts varied based on the proximity of microbiota to tree roots.

Results
Less than a year after the storm, we found that the most severely disturbed stands had lower canopy cover, lower soil carbon content, higher soil pH, and a smaller fine root biomass than the undisturbed stands. Disturbance also impacted bacterial community beta-diversity, but the effects were subtle and did not vary among assemblages in bulk vs. rhizosphere soils.

Conclusions
Impacts of aboveground disturbance on soil biogeochemistry can be significant, but soil bacterial communities are relatively well-buffered against these changes. However, altered patterns of root growth and carbon cycling may have longer-term implications for forest recovery after windthrow disturbances.
PDCF-DRL: a contention window backoff scheme based on deep reinforcement learning for differentiating access categories
Authors: Zuo Zhibin , Wang Demin , Nie Xiaowei , Pan Xiaoduo , Deng Miaolei , Ma Mimi 
Published: November 2024

AbstractIn wireless networks, the Contention Window (CW) is a crucial parameter for wireless channel sharing among numerous stations, directly influencing overall network performance. With the rapid growth and increasing diversity of traffic in wireless networks, differentiating and serving various types of traffic to enhance network performance has become a pressing issue that needs to be addressed. Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) optimizes decision-making through the interaction between an agent and its environment, enabling it to handle complex state spaces and high-dimensional data, making it particularly suitable for dynamically adjusting the contention window and adapting to environmental changes in real time. Access Category (AC) is used to differentiate various types of traffic to support different quality of service (QoS) requirements. Therefore, this paper proposes the integration of DRL techniques into the EDCA mechanism, utilizing AC to differentiate network traffic, while the DRL technology adjusts the contention window to adequately ensure QoS for different types of traffic and enhance overall network performance. This paper proposes a CW back off scheme based on DRL for differentiating ACs. The scheme uses DRL technology to observe the channel collision rate and sense the current network conditions, thereby adaptively adjusting the CW size for ACs. In addition, it dynamically adjusts the back off strategy according to the perceived current network conditions to optimize the data transmission process. In the range of 20–120 stations, the scheme was tested in both single AC and multiple AC traffic scenarios, demonstrating excellent performance. The collision rate consistently remained below 18%, while the normalized throughput was maintained above 76%. Additionally, there is a significant improvement compared to existing deep reinforcement learning-based optimization schemes. Experimental results show that this scheme effectively discriminates between different ACs, resulting in lower latency and higher throughput for high-priority traffic. Furthermore, adaptively adjusting the CW size and improving the back off strategy maintains a low collision rate and stable throughput even under heavy load conditions, significantly improving the overall network performance.
“One Certain Standard”: Colonial Currencies and the Politics of Economic Knowledge in Late Stuart Britain
Authors: Caden Mara 
Published: November 2024

AbstractChronic coin shortages plagued Ireland and Britain's American colonies throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Despite complaints, every proposal to mint money in early modern Britain's overseas Atlantic empire failed, whether in Ireland, the Caribbean, or North America. This article explains why. Although the rulers in the court and Parliament were sometimes enthusiastic about colonial mints, the Officers of the Royal Mint exercised enduring influence and managed to obstruct each of these projects. The evolution of the Mint officers’ advice into a maxim of monetary uniformity allowed the doctrine of “one certain standard” to survive the ensuing decades of upheaval as it shed its visible politics. While their advice grew out of the particular politics of the early Restoration, it gained special power and durability when it took on the character of technocratic expertise. Still, an investigation of the same actors’ treatment of a parallel issue—the rates of the foreign coins that circulated in colonies—reveals that an authoritarian style had an enduring hold on imperial monetary policy. This article offers an explanation for the British Empire's peculiar monetary geography, and also demonstrates the way that seemingly apolitical technical knowledge can disguise a potent politics.
A review on soft in-pipe navigation robot from the perspective of material, structure, locomotion strategy, and actuation technique
Authors: Anak Victor Luna Glady Amen , Mohd Asaari Mohd Shahrimie , Abu Seman Mohamad Tarmizi , Din Abdul Sattar 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Pipelines are used in many sectors to transport materials such as fluid from one place to another. These pipelines require regular inspection and maintenance to ensure proper operations and to avoid accidents. Many in-pipe navigation robots have been developed to perform the inspection. Soft in-pipe navigation robot is a special class of in-pipe robot, where the structure is made entirely of soft materials. The soft in-pipe robots are cheaper, lightweight, robust, and more adaptable to the environment inside pipelines as compared to the traditional rigid in-pipe navigation robot. This paper reviews the design of different types of soft in-pipe navigation in terms of the material, structure, locomotion strategy, and actuation techniques. These four different aspects of the design help researchers to narrow down their research and explore different opportunities within each of the design aspects. This paper also offers suggestions on the direction of research to improve the current soft in-pipe navigation robot design.
IL-10RA governor the expression of IDO in the instruction of lymphocyte immunity
Authors: Tai Tzong-Shyuan , Hsu Duen-Wei , Yang Yu-Shao , Tsai Ching-Yen , Shi Jai-Wen , Wu Chien-Hui , Hsu Shu-Ching 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Background
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) impairs anti-pathogen and anti-tumour immunity. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) modulate immunity via IDO but also suppress IFN-γ. While MSC IDO induction by IFN-γ is established, other drivers in this immunosuppressive setting remain unknown.

Methods
Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with IDO or IL-10RA knockdown were co-cultured with healthy donor T cells to assess immunosuppression. PDAC organoid anticancer activity was also tested in these co-cultures.

Results
Co-culturing MSCs with T cells in an IL-10RA-enriched environment enhances IDO expression, resulting in T cell suppression. Moreover, IL-10RA-positive MSCs collected from co-cultures with IL-10 supplementation show increased IDO expression. Conversely, MSCs with IL-10RA knockdown exhibit a significant reduction in IDO RNA and protein expression, as well as STAT3 phosphorylation status, which is a known upstream signalling pathway in IDO gene regulation, in T cell co-cultures. Down-regulation of IL-10RA also inhibits IDO activity in MSCs, resulting in reduced T cell suppression, and enabling the co-cultured T cells to kill PDAC organoids.

Conclusion
Our research reveals IL-10RA as a pharmacological target in stromal cells for enhancing T cell-mediated PDAC eradication by downregulating IDO via blocked IL-10/IL-10RA signalling in MSCs. This advances IL-10RA interference in the tumour microenvironment (TME) to restore T cell cytotoxicity against cancers.
Pregabalin for chronic cough due to lung cancer: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Authors: Noronha Vanita , Menon Nandini , Patil Vijay M. , Shah Minit , Joshi Amit , Shah Srushti , Nawale Kavita , Surve Rohan , Bafna Gunj , Jogdhankar Shweta , Shelar Priyanka , Shetake Ankush , Singh Ashish , Salian Sushmita , Jadhav Pundlik , Shah Hetakshi , Mer Neha , Vohra Ananya , Majumdar Swaratika , Banavali Shripad , Badwe Rajendra , Prabhash Kumar 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Background
Developing effective therapies for cough in lung cancer is an unmet need Neuromodulators like pregabalin may act centrally as cough suppressants.

Methods
Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study in patients with locally advanced/metastatic lung cancer and at least 2 weeks of moderate or severe cough. Randomization was 1:1 to pregabalin 300 mg orally daily or matching placebo, both administered for 9 weeks. Primary endpoint was the change in cough severity as measured by the difference in VAS scores.

Results
Between Jul 2022 and Dec 2023, we enrolled 166 patients: 83 to each arm. Baseline cough severity was grade 2 in 128 (77.1%) and grade 3 in 38 (22.9%) patients; median cough duration was 12 weeks (IQR, 6–20). Systemic cancer-directed therapy was started in 78 (94.0%) and 72 (86.7%) patients in the pregabalin and placebo arms, respectively; P = 0.187. The mean (SD) VAS score (in mm) decreased from 71.58 (14.99) at baseline, to 45.54 (26.60) on day 7, and 22.27 (24.20) by week 9 in the pregabalin arm; and 71.75 (17.58), 46.35 (25.00), and 23.08 (22.42), respectively in the placebo arm; P = 0.877.

Conclusion
Pregabalin does not significantly decrease cough in patients with lung cancer. Systemic cancer-directed therapy is the most effective antitussive.

Clinical trial registration
Name of the registry: Clinical Trials Registry India Registration number: CTRI/2020/11/029275 Website: www.ctri.nic.in
Delayed vacuolation in mammalian cells caused by hypotonicity and ion loss
Authors: Zook Emily , Pan Yingzhou Edward , Wipplinger Anna , Kerschbaum Hubert H. , Clements Robert J. , Ritter Markus , Stauber Tobias , Model Michael A. 
Published: November 2024

AbstractProlonged exposure of mammalian cells to hypotonic environments stimulates the development of sometimes large and numerous vacuoles of unknown origin. Here, we investigate the nature and formation of these vacuoles, which we term LateVacs. Vacuolation starts after osmotic cell swelling has subsided and continues for many hours thereafter. Most of the vacuoles are positive for the lysosomal marker LAMP-1 but not for the autophagosomal marker LC3. Vacuoles do not appear to have acidic pH, as they exclude LysoTracker and acridine orange; inhibiting the V-ATPase with bafilomycin A1 has no effect on their formation. No LateVacs were formed in cells with a knockout of the essential LRRC8A subunit of the volume-regulated anion channel (VRAC). Since the main feature of cells recovered from hypotonic swelling should be reduced chloride concentration, we tested if chloride depletion can act as a signal for vacuolation. Indeed, four different low-chloride buffers resulted in the development of similar vacuoles. Moreover, vacuolation was suppressed in WNK1/WNK3 double knockouts or by the inhibition of WNK kinase, which is activated by low chloride; in hypotonic media, the WNK inhibitor had a similar effect. However, exposing cells to a low-sodium, high-potassium medium also resulted in vacuoles, which were insensitive to WNK. We conclude that vacuole development can be triggered either by the loss of chloride or by the loss of sodium.
Functional profiling of the rhizospheric Exiguobacterium sp. for dimethoate degradation, PGPR activity, biofilm development, and ecotoxicological risk
Authors: Sur Saheli , Sathiavelu Mythili 
Published: November 2024

AbstractThis study introduces an indigenous bacterial strain, Exiguobacterium sp. (L.O), isolated from sugarcane fields in Sevur, Tamil Nadu, which has adapted to prolonged exposure to dimethoate. The strain demonstrated the capability to utilize 150 ppm of dimethoate as its sole carbon source, achieving a remarkable degradation rate of 95.87% within 5 days in mineral salt media. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analyses identified the presence of intermediate by-products formed during degradation, like methyl diethanol amine and aspartyl glycine ethyl ester. Notably, phosphorothioic O, O, S-acid, an expected end product in the degradation of dimethoate, was also identified, further confirming the strain’s effective metabolic breakdown of the pesticide. Further degradation study and analysis of changes in functional group was performed by FTIR, and a hypothetical degradation pathway was elucidated showing the course of dimethoate metabolism by the strain. Exiguobacterium sp. (L.O) also displayed significant plant growth-promoting traits, including the production of HCN, IAA, and ammonia and the formation of biofilms, which enhance its utility in agricultural applications. The ecotoxicity study revealed the degradation by-products exhibited reduced toxicity compared to the parent compound dimethoate, highlighting the strain’s potential not only for bioremediation but also for supporting sustainable agricultural practices. This research presents a novel application of Exiguobacterium sp. (L.O), integrating the bioremediation of the organophosphate pesticide dimethoate with agricultural enhancement. This approach is critical for addressing the challenges associated with pesticide pollution in agricultural practices. This study is likely the first to demonstrate the application of this strain in the degradation of dimethoate, as suggested by an extensive review of the literature.