bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Design, optimization, simulation, and implementation of a 3D printed soft robotic peristaltic pump
Authors: Totuk Onat Halis , Mıstıkoğlu Selçuk , Güvenç Mehmet Ali 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
This study presents an innovative approach to fluidic pumping using soft robotics, designed to circulate fluid through soft conduits for delicate environments like blood streams where traditional peristaltic pumps may not be feasible. A novel soft robotic peristaltic pump is optimized and implemented, featuring 3D printed ring-shaped actuators and a PDMS pipe housing a Newtonian fluid. The design includes a three-stage actuator ring structure, actuated sequentially for peristaltic motion. A parametric finite element model predicts the required pressure, and the Mooney-Rivlin 5 Parameters hyper-elastic material model ensures accurate material properties. Optimization uses response surface analysis in Minitab and MATLAB Simulink Simscape simulations to achieve maximum flow rate with minimal power and pressure. Experimental validation confirms the simulations, achieving an optimal flow rate of 0.27 ml s−1 at a 450 ms cycle, with minor discrepancies due to friction and measurement errors. This study demonstrates the scalability of linearly sequenced soft squeeze actuators into an effective pump, validated by both simulation and experiments. Future applications include medical devices addressing deep venous thrombosis, with further research exploring control theory for optimization and comparing performance with conventional pumps to enhance practical applicability.
Distributive Justice and Equity
Authors: Olsthoorn Johan 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
This chapter explores why and how Hobbes redefined distributive justice as equity. This unprecedented redefinition serves to safeguard the sovereign from accusations of injustice. Sovereigns, Hobbes admits, can distribute rights and goods iniquitously by failing to treat citizens as equals. However, improper allocations are neither unjust nor injurious: they do not wrong citizens. To support that last claim, Hobbes held that merit in distributive justice is due by grace alone. You deserve what the sovereign gives you: there is no desert prior to and independent of his allocation of rights. Distributive justice does not track but create merit—and distributive laws cannot fail to give subjects their due. The chapter concludes by analysing the character of the limits equity sets to the legal distribution of rights and goods. It argues that these limits are moral and procedural: citizens cannot invoke equity to claim a fair share of distributed goods.
Rights of War
Authors: Olsthoorn Johan 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
‘The right of all men to all things is the right of War’. This chapter argues that Hobbes derived an exceedingly lenient just war theory from the natural right of self-preservation. Any war waged with the intention of heightening personal security is defensive and justified—including first strikes to conquer and subdue innocents. Outside the state, natural law cannot moderate or restrain individual and collective rights of war since these norms bind in practice only when the agent judges their surroundings safe. Pre-statist individuals fulfil morality’s demands by sincerely seeking peace; when peace is deemed out of reach, they may pursue their personal security by violent means instead. By reinterpreting the natural law duties of trust and charity, Hobbes rendered obsolete all received just war standards bar the right-intention condition. Enmity is the default position, the chapter concludes, because people have no natural duty to presumptively trust or aid others.
Morality Among States
Authors: Olsthoorn Johan 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
This chapter reconstructs the normative foundations of Hobbes’s international ethics. Three kinds of moral principles govern conduct of extra-statist actors: (1) natural rights; (2) the laws of nature; and (3) justice. Hobbes had no place for a separate law of nations and subsumed all rights of war under natural rights. De Cive justifies these reductionist moves by arguing that commonwealths somehow ‘take on’ the qualities of pre-statist individuals. Leviathan jettisons this argument. As reflected by its new textual location, jus gentium comes to bind sovereigns (rather than states). It does so in virtue of the sovereign’s duty to protect citizens from foreign threats. In the same move, Leviathan foregrounds that principles of international ethics bind the sovereign in conscience alone. As in interpersonal conflict, a right intention suffices to render resort to international war just. This extremely undemanding just war theory aligns well with Hobbes’s realism about international relations.
Tort Liability in Warfare
Authors: Abraham Haim 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Tort Liability in Warfare: States’ Wrongs and Civilians’ Rights develops a novel account of the tortious liability of states for wrongs they inflict on civilians during combat. Tort Liability in Warfare challenges orthodoxy by illustrating that ordinary domestic tort law doctrines could apply, as private law rights remain relevant during warfare and their wrongful violation triggers ordinary corrective justice duties. The book asserts that barring tort remedies for losses inflicted during warfare is not necessitated by theory or doctrine but is driven by policy considerations. Tort Liability in Warfare demonstrates that these policy considerations fail to provide adequate justifications for states’ near blanket immunity from tort liability in warfare, and calls for enabling civilians to turn to tort law as a mechanism for accountability and vindication of their rights.
A precision randomized trial to evaluate the impact of tailored hepatitis C treatment adherence support on HCV treatment outcomes among people who inject drugs in India: Design and Baseline Characteristics of the STOP-C Trial
Authors: Mehta Shruti H , Lau Bryan M , Ehrhardt Stephan , McFall Allison , Gunaratne Mihili P , Baishya Jiban , Kedar Ashwini , Srikrishnan Aylur K , Evans Julie , Loeb Talia , Pradeep Amrose , Kumar M Suresh , Thomas David L , Lucas Gregory M , Solomon Sunil S 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Efforts to eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a public health problem must include people who inject drugs (PWID). We describe the design and baseline characteristics of the Supporting Treatment Outcomes among PWID (STOP-C) trial which evaluates whether HCV treatment outcomes in PWID can be optimized by tailoring treatment support in 7 PWID-focused integrated HIV/HCV prevention/treatment centers. The design is a 3-arm, individual-level precision-randomized trial. Leveraging empirical data, a prediction model assigned participants as minimal or elevated risk for failure. Minimal risk participants were randomized 1:2:3 to low- (basic services), medium- (patient navigation), and high-intensity (patient navigation + directly observed therapy) support, respectively. Elevated risk participants were randomized 3:2:1 to high, medium, and low-intensity support respectively. All received 12 weeks of oral direct-acting antiviral therapy. The primary outcome is sustained virologic response (SVR) 12 weeks after treatment completion in an intention-to-treat analysis. Three thousand participants were randomized (2048 [68%] minimal risk, 952 [32%] elevated risk of failure). This approach will allow for the estimation of efficacy within treatment failure risk strata while preserving the ability to estimate the average treatment effect and has particular relevance with increasing emphasis of precision medicine in health care delivery.
ADAPT: Analysis of Microbiome Differential Abundance by Pooling Tobit Models
Authors: Wang Mukai , Fontaine Simon , Jiang Hui , Li Gen 
Published: November 2024

Abstract

Motivation
Microbiome differential abundance analysis (DAA) remains a challenging problem despite multiple methods proposed in the literature. The excessive zeros and compositionality of metagenomics data are two main challenges for DAA.

Results
We propose a novel method called “Analysis of Microbiome Differential Abundance by Pooling Tobit Models” (ADAPT) to overcome these two challenges. ADAPT interprets zero counts as left-censored observations to avoid unfounded assumptions and complex models. ADAPT also encompasses a theoretically justified way of selecting non-differentially abundant microbiome taxa as a reference to reveal differentially abundant taxa while avoiding false discoveries. We generate synthetic data using independent simulation frameworks to show that ADAPT has more consistent false discovery rate control and higher statistical power than competitors. We use ADAPT to analyze 16S rRNA sequencing of saliva samples and shotgun metagenomics sequencing of plaque samples collected from infants in the COHRA2 study. The results provide novel insights into the association between the oral microbiome and early childhood dental caries.

Availability and implementation
The R package ADAPT can be installed from Bioconductor at https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/ADAPT.html or from Github at https://github.com/mkbwang/ADAPT. The source codes for simulation studies and real data analysis are available at https://github.com/mkbwang/ADAPT_example.
Differences in Trends in Cancer Incidence Rates Among People With Human Immunodeficiency Virus During 2001–2019 by Race and Ethnicity and by Risk Group in the United States
Authors: Luo Qianlai , Horner Marie-Josèphe , Haas Cameron B , McGee-Avila Jennifer K , Pfeiffer Ruth M , Engels Eric A , Pawlish Karen , Monterosso Analise , Riedel David J , Wu Xiao-Cheng , Gonsalves Lou , Speers Suzanne , Cohen Colby , Shiels Meredith S 
Published: November 2024

Abstract

Background
It is unclear whether cancer risk among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PWH) has declined equally across all racial/ethnic and transmission risk groups.

Methods
We used data on PWH aged ≥20 years from the HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study during 2001–2019. We used Poisson regression to assess time trends in incidence rates for each cancer site by racial/ethnicity and risk groups, adjusting for age, registry, and sex. We also estimated adjusted rate ratios across racial and ethnic and risk groups in 2001–2004 and 2015–2019.

Results
Trends in age-standardized rates differed across racial/ethnic groups and across risk groups for some cancers. For example, liver cancer rates declined 23% per 5-year period among White PWH, 11% among Black PWH, and 18% among Hispanic PWH. Anal cancer rates declined among men who have sex with men, were stable among people who inject drugs, and increased among other risk groups. Between 2001–2004 and 2015–2019, the relative difference in cancer incidence rates by race/ethnicity increased for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and liver cancer but decreased for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); by risk group, relative differences increased for NHL and liver cancer and decreased for HL and lung and anal cancers.

Conclusions
Among PWH in the United States during 2001–2019, HL, lung, liver, and cervical cancer rate trends were different across racial/ethnic groups. HL, lung, anal, and liver cancer rate trends were different across risk groups. Future work should examine underlying causes of the differences in trends.
Bargaining in the Shadow of Awards
Authors: St John Taylor , Langford Malcolm , Chernykh Yuliya , Stiansen Øyvind , Berge Tarald Gulseth , Puig Sergio 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
International investment disputes occupy a curious place in the research programme on compliance. On the one hand, there is a widespread presumption that respondent states generally pay the compensation that they are ordered to pay because not doing so risks more litigation or less investment. On the other hand, these disputes frequently continue long after awards are handed down, there are visible instances of non-payment and there is little evidence about if or how most disputes are actually resolved. Compliance with investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) awards has also been difficult to study because much of what occurs after an arbitral decision falls outside traditional understandings of compliance processes. Therefore, in this article, we introduce a broader term – resolution – and look beyond payment at a wider landscape of post-award dynamics. We also introduce a framework to bring these dynamics into view. This framework places awards in the context of longer-term bargaining and articulates how bargaining is different when it occurs in the shadow of an award. We present three mechanisms through which awards can shape outcomes – as a legitimate outcome, as a coordinating focal point, or as a bargaining endowment – before arguing that the third mechanism is the most common in the context of ISDS.
Defective biological activities of high-density lipoprotein identify patients at highest risk of recurrent cardiovascular event
Authors: Silvain Johanne , Materne Clément , Zeitouni Michel , Procopi Niki , Guedeney Paul , Brugier Delphine , Galier Sophie , Lhomme Marie , Ponnaiah Maharajah , Guillas Isabelle , KC Pukar , Dahik Veronica D , Frisdal Eric , Vicaut Eric , Lesnik Philippe , Rahoual Ghilas , Le Goff Wilfried , Montalescot Gilles , Kerneis Mathieu , Guerin Maryse 
Published: November 2024

Abstract

Aims
Low cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) and elevated levels of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) are both associated with residual cardiovascular risk in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) and may be used as new biomarkers to identify patients at higher cardiovascular risk.

Methods and results
We evaluated potential synergetic effect of CEC and IL-1ß on recurrent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) at 1 year in 2012 patients with acute ST-segment elevation MI who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention. In addition, we evaluated the contribution to residual risk of HDL biological functions from 20 patients of the two extreme subgroups, focusing on CEC and anti-inflammatory properties. Patients with MACE during the first year after the MI had significantly lower serum CEC as compared with those without recurrent events and higher level of IL-1ß, and both associations were confirmed after multivariate analysis. We found an inverse relationship between CEC and circulating levels of the inflammatory marker IL-1ß, defining a very high risk (low CEC/high IL-1ß) and a low risk (high CEC/low IL-1ß) group of patients. Patients combining low CEC/high IL-1ß exhibited the highest risk of recurrent MACE at 1 year showing an additive prognostic value of these biomarkers, regardless of all the other clinical or biological factors. In this very high-risk subgroup, patients exhibited reduced HDL efflux capacity and defective ABCA1 and SR-BI with enhanced pro-inflammatory activity as a potential explanation for our clinical findings.

Conclusion
Impaired CEC and elevated IL-1β synergistically increase the residual cardiovascular risk in MI patients, which could be explained by reduced HDL efflux capacity and enhanced HDL pro-inflammatory activity.
Geophysical visualization of water content distribution in bentonite by joint seismic and radar tomography
Authors: Sollberger David , Manukyan Edgar , Spillmann Thomas , Maurer Hansruedi 
Published: November 2024

SUMMARY
Bentonite is often considered as buffer material for deep geological radioactive waste repositories. To support decision making and safety assessment of radioactive waste repositories, international agencies and research institutions proposed the implementation of monitoring programmes. While the overall concepts of such monitoring programmes have been largely developed, the selection of key observations parameters, such as temperature, pressure and water content, and the technical implementation are still under development. The direct measurement of such parameters requires the placement of sensors inside a repository, which can significantly affect its safety functions and only provides information at the typically sparse sensor locations. Geophysical tomography can help gaining valuable insights into the state of the repository non-invasively by providing images of the distribution of geophysical parameters from measurements that are purely taken from the outside. However, the extracted geophysical parameters are often difficult to interpret and the geophysical tomography problem is non-unique, meaning that there exist multiple models that explain the data equally well. Here, we demonstrate that this non-uniqueness can be significantly reduced by simultaneously employing multiple geophysical methods in a joint tomography scheme. We simultaneously invert seismic and ground penetrating radar (GPR) traveltimes and amplitudes by imposing structural similarity constraints on the tomographic velocity and attenuation images. The resulting, estimated geophysical parameter maps show a strongly improved correlation when compared to results obtained from individual inversions, which in turn facilitates the establishment of constitutive relationships between the geophysical parameters (seismic and GPR velocity and attenuation) with the water content, as key parameter for the evaluation of the state of a radioactive waste repository. Using data from the full-scale emplacement (FE) experiment, we employ a supervised machine-learning model that enables the translation of the tomographic velocity and attenuation images obtained in bentonite to an image of the distribution of the water content inside the repository, where the machine learning model is trained using direct point measurements of the water content at sparse locations inside the tomographic plane. Due to the lack of direct water content sensors in the FE experiment, we use neutron log data (which are directly linked to water content) to train the machine learning model. Ultimately, this enables us to extrapolate the sparse neutron log data to a spatially cohesive distribution inside the repository corresponding to a visualization of the spatial distribution of water content.
Talin-1 variants associated with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) highlight how even subtle changes in multi-functional scaffold proteins can manifest in disease
Authors: Azizi Latifeh , Otani Yasumi , Mykuliak Vasyl V , Goult Benjamin T , Hytönen Vesa P , Turkki Paula 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Variants of talin-1 (TLN1) have recently been linked with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) a condition where a tear can form in the wall of a heart artery necessitating immediate medical care. One talin-1 variant, A2013T, has an extensive familial pedigree of SCAD, which led to the screening for, and identification of, further talin-1 variants in SCAD patients. Here we evaluated these variants with commonly used pathogenicity prediction tools and found it challenging to reliably classify SCAD-associated variants, even A2013T where the evidence of a causal role is strong. Using biochemical and cell biological methods, we show that SCAD-associated variants in talin-1, which would typically be classified as non-pathogenic, still cause a measurable impact on protein structure and cell behaviour, including cell movement and wound healing capacity. Together, this indicates that even subtle variants in central mechanosensitive adapter proteins, can give rise to significant health impacts at the individual level, suggesting the need for a possible re-evaluation of the scoring criteria for pathogenicity prediction for talin variants.
Characterisation of LGP2 complex multitranscript system in humans: role in the innate immune response and evolution from non-human primates
Authors: Martinez-Laso Jorge , Cervera Isabel , Martinez-Carrasco Marina S , Briz Veronica , Crespo-Bermejo Celia , Sánchez-Menéndez Clara , Casado-Fernández Guiomar , Torres Montserrat , Coiras Mayte 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Retinoic acid inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs), including RIG-I, MDA5 and LGP2, recognize viral RNA to mount an antiviral interferon (IFN) response RLRs share three different protein domains: C-terminal domain, DExD/H box RNA helicase domain, and an N-terminal domain with two tandem repeats (CARDs). LGP2 lacks tandem CARD and is not able to induce an IFN response. However, LGP2 positively enhances MDA5 and negatively regulates RIG-I signaling. In this study, we determined the LGP2 alternative transcripts in humans to further comprehend the mechanism of its regulation, their evolutionary origin, and the isoforms functionallity. The results showed new eight alternative transcripts in the samples tested. The presence of these transcripts demonstrated that the main mechanisms for the regulation of LGP2 expression are both by insertion of introns and by the loss of exons. The phylogenetic analysis of the comparison between sequences from exon 1 to exon 3 of humans and those previously described in non-human primates showed three well-differentiated groups (lineages) originating from gorillas, suggesting that the transspecies evolution has been maintained for 10 million years. The corresponding protein models (isoforms) were also established, obtaining four isoforms: one complete and three others lacking the C-terminal domain or this domain and the partial or total He2 Helicase domain, which would compromise the functionality of LGP2. In conclusion, this is the first study that elucidate the large genomic organization and complex transcriptional regulation of human LGP2, its pattern of sequence generation, and a mode of evolutionary inheritance across species.
SMN depletion impairs skeletal muscle formation and maturation in a mouse model of SMA
Authors: Liu Hong , Chehade Lucia , Deguise Marc-Olivier , De Repentigny Yves , Kothary Rashmi 
Published: November 2024

Abstract
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is characterized by low levels of the ubiquitously expressed Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, leading to progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. Skeletal muscle satellite cells play a crucial role in muscle fiber maintenance, repair, and remodelling. While the effects of SMN depletion in muscle are well documented, its precise role in satellite cell function remains largely unclear. Using the Smn2B/− mouse model, we investigated SMN-depleted satellite cell biology through single fiber culture studies. Myofibers from Smn2B/− mice were smaller in size, shorter in length, had reduced myonuclear domain size, and reduced sub-synaptic myonuclear clusters—all suggesting impaired muscle function and integrity. These changes were accompanied by a reduction in the number of myonuclei in myofibers from Smn2B/− mice across all disease stages examined. Although the number of satellite cells in myofibers was significantly reduced, those remaining retained their capacity for myogenic activation and proliferation. These findings support the idea that a dysregulated myogenic process could be occurring as early in muscle stem cells during muscle formation and maturation in SMA. Targeting those pathways could offer additional options for combinatorial therapies for SMA.