bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bio-Based Innovation and the Global Patent System: Exploring the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge
Authors: Perron-Welch Frédéric 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
This opinion critically examines the 2024 WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, a new instrument addressing the use of genetic resources (GR), and traditional knowledge associated with GR (ATK) in the global patent system. Given the Treaty’s position at the intersection of intellectual property and environmental law, this article discusses its history and negotiation in the first part, including the Treaty’s links to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It then discusses the concept of bio-based innovation and its role in the bioeconomy. Following this, the article assesses the Treaty’s contents, including its context and objectives, scope, the Patent Disclosure Requirement (PDR), sanctions and remedies for non-compliance with the PDR, information systems on GR and ATK, and its relationship with other international instruments. The article highlights the extensive diplomatic negotiations that shaped the final text and considers potential amendments that could be made during the Treaty’s review process. The Treaty is intended to improve the global patent system’s effectiveness, transparency, and quality concerning GR and ATK and to prevent Offices from granting patents erroneously. Its provisions present new challenges and complexities for stakeholders, and its long-term success will depend on ongoing international collaboration and engagement, both within and outside the Treaty’s framework, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing from the use of GR and ATK as part of a global sustainable bioeconomy.
Uniqueness and Non-Uniqueness Results for Spacetime Extensions
Authors: Sbierski Jan 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Given a function $f: A \to{\mathbb{R}}^{n}$ of a certain regularity defined on some open subset $A \subseteq{\mathbb{R}}^{m}$, it is a classical problem of analysis to investigate whether the function can be extended to all of ${\mathbb{R}}^{m}$ in a certain regularity class. If an extension exists and is continuous, then certainly it is uniquely determined on the closure of $A$. A similar problem arises in general relativity for Lorentzian manifolds instead of functions on ${\mathbb{R}}^{m}$. It is well-known, however, that even if the extension of a Lorentzian manifold $(M,g)$ is analytic, various choices are in general possible at the boundary. This paper establishes a uniqueness condition for extensions of globally hyperbolic Lorentzian manifolds $(M,g)$ with a focus on low regularities: any two extensions that are anchored by an inextendible causal curve $\gamma : [-1,0) \to M$ in the sense that $\gamma $ has limit points in both extensions must agree locally around those limit points on the boundary as long as the extensions are at least locally Lipschitz continuous. We also show that this is sharp: anchored extensions that are only Hölder continuous do in general not enjoy this local uniqueness result.
On the Fourier Coefficients of Powers of a Finite Blaschke Product
Authors: Borichev Alexander , Fouchet Karine , Zarouf Rachid 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Given a finite Blaschke product $B$ we prove asymptotically sharp estimates on the $\ell ^{\infty }$-norm of the sequence of the Fourier coefficients of $B^{n}$ as $n$ tends to $\infty $. This norm decays as $n^{-1/N}$ for some $N\ge 3$. Furthermore, for every $N\ge 3$, we produce explicitly a finite Blaschke product $B$ with decay $n^{-1/N}$. As an application we construct a sequence of $n\times n$ invertible matrices $T$ with arbitrary spectrum in the unit disk and such that the quantity $|\det{T}|\cdot \|T^{-1}\|\cdot \|T\|^{1-n}$ grows as a power of $n$. This is motivated by Schäffer’s question on norms of inverses.
Objects of Expertise. The Socio-Material Politics of Expert Knowledge in Global Governance
Authors: Esguerra Alejandro 
Published: September 2024

AbstractGlobal governance institutions emerge around problems ranging from climate change to cybersecurity. Expert knowledge is instrumental in defining these problems, developing corresponding solutions, and thereby structuring international order. But in the process of problem construction, claims to expertise are competing, often contingent, and increasingly rely on graphs and models, black-boxing normative assumptions of knowledge production. Thus, international relations (IR) requires an approach that engages with the political dynamics of knowledge production happening within and beyond the spheres of traditional politics. This special forum on objects of expertise offers such an approach, and this introductory article lays out the overarching framework. It conceptualizes objects of expertise as authoritative knowledge relevant for governing put into a socio-material form. First, understanding expertise in terms of authoritative knowledge points to the contested attempts at rendering knowledge authoritative in a specific sphere; expertise is a relational category of (contested) group belonging. Second, knowledge becomes expertise when it is made authoritative in relation to a problem relevant for governing. Finally, expertise gains objectual character when it is put into a delineable socio-material entity in which it assumes a recognizable, specific form. This form grants objects of expertise a certain level of credibility and stability, allowing them to function as trusted sources of information and guidance.
Knowledge Machineries and Their Objects of Expertise. Knowing Bodies, Moves, and Moods through “Mobile Health” Data
Authors: Littoz-Monnet Annabelle 
Published: September 2024

AbstractThis article argues that the politics of socio-material objects should be examined in relationship with the machineries of knowing these objects are embedded in and also sustain. Objects of expertise are embedded in discursive constructs, material infrastructures, and relationships that “surround” and permeate their production. In turn, such objects give traction to the machineries of knowing that enable their emergence. The article uses the concept of “knowledge machinery,” coined by sociologist of science Karin Knorr-Cetina, to denote a focus on the “machinery” and its “parts” at the same time, or to the “macro” and the “micro,” as highly intertwined and mutually reinforcing in processes of knowledge production. The article explores these questions in the context of global health governance, with a specific focus on the politics of mobile health and the data it generates, conceived as an object of expertise of its own kind. It shows, first, that mobile health data have specific characteristics and claims attached to them; they are, in themselves, the turning of bodies and lifestyles into standardized and fully mobile “data units” that feed into data flows. As such, they produce ordering, norming, and governance effects, which do not disrupt but sustain the knowledge machinery of global health.
Oceans, Objects, and Infrastructures: Making Modern Piracy
Authors: Bueger Christian , Stockbruegger Jan 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
The agenda of objectual International Relations has shown why object matters, how they arise and with what effects. Far less attention has been paid to how objects are maintained and stabilized over time and how their coherence is achieved. To add this dimension to the debate, we suggest turning to the infrastructures of object maintenance. Infrastructures are social material arrangements that maintain objects and enable their use. We introduce a framework for the study of object infrastructures and illustrate it by drawing on the case of “maritime piracy”. Providing a historical reconstruction of the infrastructures that produce piracy as an international object, we show that the growing proliferation of these infrastructures does not lead to an internal coherence of the object over time, but rather objectual fracturing and instability. We reveal how objects are often multiple rather than unitary. The article adds an important new dimension to the study of objects in International Relations.
Drivers and consequences of microbial community coalescence
Authors: Liu Xipeng , Salles Joana Falcão 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Microbial communities are undergoing unprecedented dispersion and amalgamation across diverse ecosystems, thereby exerting profound and pervasive influences on microbial assemblages and ecosystem dynamics. This review delves into the phenomenon of community coalescence, offering an ecological overview that outlines its four-step process and elucidates the intrinsic interconnections in the context of community assembly. We examine pivotal mechanisms driving community coalescence, with a particular emphasis on elucidating the fates of both source and resident microbial communities and the consequential impacts on the ecosystem. Finally, we proffer recommendations to guide researchers in this rapidly evolving domain, facilitating deeper insights into the ecological ramifications of microbial community coalescence.
Sinensetin interferes with Staphylococcus aureus infections by targeting staphylocoagulase and improves infection survival rates in mouse model of pneumonia
Authors: Ge Bin , Hu Chunjie , Qian Yimin , Tang Yating , Zhang Qiuyue , Jiang Shuang , Mu Zongyi , Zhang Maoyun 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Aims
Coagulase (Coa), a crucial virulence factor of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), is considered a vital target for anti-virulence strategies. The research aimed to discover a natural compound capable of inhibiting S. aureus infection by targeting the virulence factor Coa.

Methods and results
The study showed that sinensetin at a concentration of 128 μg mL−1 effectively inhibited both Coa-induced coagulation and biofilm formation in S. aureus. However, western blot results indicated that sinensetin did not impact the expression of Coa protein, suggesting that sinensetin may directly target Coa to counteract the virulence of S. aureus. Thermal shift assay results demonstrated that sinensetin enhanced the thermal stability of Coa, supporting the theory of direct binding. Molecular docking and point mutation experiments identified two key binding sites for sinensetin to Coa as R73A-Coa and R204A-Coa. In vivo studies on mice revealed that sinensetin not only reduced lung tissue damage caused by S. aureus infection, but also decreased inflammatory factors in the lung lavage fluid. Furthermore, combining sinensetin with oxacillin improved the survival rates of the Galleria mellonella and mice.

Conclusions
Sinensetin is a promising natural compound that acts as a direct inhibitor of Coa against S. aureus infections.
Burns During Pregnancy: Is the Outcome Still Gloomy? A Follow-up Case Series
Authors: Mabrouk Adel , Elfeky Alaa , Badawy Mohamed Samir , Hammad Mai Raafat , Mabrouk Amr 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Despite the incidence of burns in pregnancy not being high, its occurrence leads to high morbidity and mortality for both mother and fetus. In 1997, we published a series of 27 cases of pregnant women who were managed and followed up for fetal and maternal outcomes at Ain Shams University’s burn unit and Maternity Hospital during the period from October 1995 to September 1996. Now, 2 decades later, we report on 7 cases of burns admitted to the burn unit and the Maternity Hospital at Ain Shams University, during the period from January 2019 through June 2022.
Pregnant patients admitted to the burn unit and the Maternity Hospital at Ain Shams University during the period from January 2019 through June 2022 were included in this case series. Demographic data and obstetric history were documented for each patient as well as total body surface area burned, degree, cause, and type of burn, maternal mortalities, fetal mortalities, obstetric interventions, and surgical interventions.
The total burned surface area ranged from 12% to 40%; no maternal mortalities occurred in this series, 3 miscarriages, 1 preterm labor, and 3 term pregnancies with 4 surviving neonates.
Moralizing Everyday Consumption: The Case of Self-Care
Authors: Hochstein Rachel E , Veresiu Ela , Harmeling Colleen M 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Morality, appraisals of right and wrong, is central to consumers’ identities and decisions. Even everyday consumption choices can be subject to moral judgments and require moral justifications. When and how do consumers moralize formerly taken-for-granted consumption practices? Considering self-care consumption in the United States, which includes practices that range from bathing to dieting to meditating to vacationing, this article examines the moralization of everyday consumption practices. This research reveals that consumption is likely to be moralized when there are culturally contested meanings of its core constructs, like “self” and “care,” leading cultural authorities to prescribe alternative ways to pursue the same consumption goal (i.e., cultural scripts). Exposure to cultural scripts that clash with consumers’ moral intuitions about self-care consumption triggers moral introspection, an evaluation and re-calibration of those intuitions. Consumers then set moral boundaries of acceptable self-care consumption by (1) denouncing, such that they assume a position of moral righteousness; (2) positioning, to indicate moral inclusivity; (3) balancing, which implies moral licensing; or (4) ritualizing, in which case they express moral autonomy. This study advances consumer research by establishing that moral considerations intertwine with consumers’ identities and underlie the symbolic meanings of everyday consumption practices.
Administrative Lawfare at the European Union’s External Borders: Some Perspectives on Administrative Regulation of NGO Search and Rescue Activities in Italy and the Situation at the Polish-Belarusian Border
Authors: Dziedzic Lukasz 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Violations of the rights of migrants by state actors at the EU’s external borders, including through the use of pushbacks and indiscriminate violence, both on land and sea, have resulted in NGOs, lawyers and citizen activists engaging in forms of humanitarian action and legal mobilization aimed at contesting inhumane state policies. State actors can similarly rely on various legal tools to create a chilling effect and a hostile environment for migrants’ rights activism. Such practices can be considered to constitute a form of lawfare against migrants’ rights activism, an instrumental and hegemonic use of the law in order to weaken support for migrants. The use of criminal law has been a common tool of lawfare at the European Union’s external borders. However, administrative law is increasingly being used to bring activists into compliance with states’ interests, creating compliant environments through the use of regulatory instruments and administrative sanctions. To critically assess the instrumental use of administrative law as a form of lawfare, it makes sense to review their application at the EU’s external borders. A good opportunity for such a review is being provided by looking at the administrative regulation of search and rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean creating a hostile environment for SAR NGOs in the case of Italy, and the instrumental use of administrative regulations to limit access for activists to the Polish-Belarusian border in the case of Poland.
Thermal constraints and gender-related differences in the activity patterns of the monomorphic rodent Clyomys laticeps
Authors: Paixão Ingrid , Ferrando Claire , Leiner Natália 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
The daily activity pattern of animals can be classified as diurnal, nocturnal, crepuscular, and cathemeral reflecting strategic decisions to maximize mating and foraging while reducing predation risks and thermal constraints. Among monomorphic mammals, competition for resources and gender-related differences in physiology and reproductive strategies may translate into different activity patterns of males and females. Therefore, to understand the daily activity pattern both aboveground and belowground of the semifossorial rodent Clyomys laticeps, we tested the following hypotheses: (1) males and females differ in their diel activity patterns; (2) males are active for longer periods than females due to a promiscuous mating system and female site fidelity; and (3) higher maximum temperatures restrain C. laticeps activity. The study was carried out in the Serra de Caldas Novas State Park (Goiás, Brazil) in the Cerrado biome. The activity of C. laticeps was recorded using the telemetry technique over 5 days and nights (twice in each season, rainy and dry, between 2019 and 2021). Clyomys laticeps activity was bimodal, with 2 peaks around dawn and dusk, resembling a crepuscular pattern. Temporal segregation in male and female activity patterns was restricted to the dry season, when female activity was more diurnal than males who were mainly nocturnal. Intersexual competition for resources or male-avoidance behavior by females during the dry food scarcity season could contribute to this pattern, although it may also be explained by gender-related differences in thermal tolerances. Overall, males were active for longer periods than females, probably as a strategy to increase mating opportunities among the former and site fidelity in the latter. Finally, temperature imposed major constraints on C. laticeps activities who preferred milder temperatures and avoided being active in temperatures above their thermoneutral zone.
Neighborhood vulnerability and associations with poor health-related quality of life among adult survivors of childhood cancer
Authors: Choi Jaesung , Horan Madeline R , Brinkman Tara M , Srivastava D Kumar , Ness Kirsten K , Armstrong Gregory T , Hudson Melissa M , Huang I-Chan 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Background
Few studies have investigated the relationship between neighborhood vulnerability and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the childhood cancer population. This study evaluated the impact of neighborhood vulnerability on HRQOL among adult survivors of childhood cancer.

Methods
This cross-sectional study included 4393 adult survivors of childhood cancer from the St Jude Lifetime Cohort Study. At the baseline (2007-2020), HRQOL was assessed using the SF36v2’s physical and mental components summaries (PCS and MCS). Neighborhood vulnerability was assessed using the overall, domain, and indicator-specific scores of the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and Minority Health SVI (MHSVI). Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate associations of neighborhood vulnerability (quartiles: Q1–Q4) with impaired HRQOL (1SD below the norm), adjusting for diagnosis, demographics, personal socioeconomic status (SES), lifestyle, and chronic health condition burden. Interactions of SVI and MHSVI with personal SES on impaired HRQOL were analyzed.

Results
Among survivors, 51.9% were male, averaging 30.3 years of age at evaluation and 21.5 years since diagnosis. Comparing neighborhoods with higher vs lower vulnerability (Q4 vs Q1), overall (odds ratio [OR] = 1.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19 to 2.16) and domain-specific vulnerability (socioeconomic: OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.18 to 2.15; household composition: OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.16 to 2.06; housing and transportation: OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.00 to 1.76; medical vulnerability: OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.22 to 2.09) were significantly associated with impaired PCS, but not MCS. Residing in neighborhoods lacking urgent care clinics was significantly associated with impaired PCS (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.78). Having lower vs higher personal education and living in higher vulnerability neighborhoods were associated with more impaired PCS (Pinteraction = .021).

Conclusions
Specific aspects of neighborhood vulnerability increase the risk for impaired physical HRQOL. Addressing these neighborhood factors is essential to enhance the HRQOL of survivors.
Renoprotective effect of liraglutide on diabetic nephropathy by modulation of Krüppel-like transcription factor 5 expression in rats
Authors: Bin Dayel Anfal F , Alrasheed Nouf M , Alonazi Asma S , Alamin Maha A , Al-Mutairi Nawal M , Alateeq Raghad A 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Objectives
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a serious consequence of diabetes that can develop through the lysophosphatidic acid axis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the antidiabetic drug liraglutide can slow the development of diabetic kidney damage by altering the lysophosphatidic acid axis via KLF5.

Methods
Wistar albino rats were divided into nondiabetic and diabetic rats (resulting from an intraperitoneal streptozotocin dose of 30 mg/kg and a high-fat diet). These rats were further divided into four groups: nondiabetic control, liraglutide-treated nondiabetic, diabetic control, and liraglutide-treated diabetic. The nondiabetic and diabetic control groups received normal saline for 42 days, while the liraglutide-treated nondiabetic and diabetic groups received normal saline for 21 days, followed by a subcutaneous dose of liraglutide (200 μg/kg/day) for 21 days. Subsequently, serum levels of DN biomarkers were evaluated, and kidney tissues were histologically examined. The protein expression of PCNA, autotaxin, and KLF5 was detected.

Key findings
Liraglutide treatment in diabetic rats decreased DN biomarkers, histological abnormalities in kidney tissues, and the protein expression of PCNA, autotaxin, and KLF5.

Conclusion
Liraglutide can slow the progression of DN by modulating KLF5-related lysophosphatidic acid axis. Thus, liraglutide may be an effective treatment for preventing or mitigating diabetes-related kidney damage.
Regulation of a novel circATP8B4/miR-31-5p/nestin ceRNA crosstalk in proliferation, motility, invasion and radiosensitivity of human glioma cells
Authors: Luo Dongdong , Luo Aiping , Ye Ganwei , Li Dan , Hu Su , Zhao Hailin , Peng Biao 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Deregulation of circular RNAs (circRNAs) is frequent in human glioma. Although circRNA ATPase phospholipid transporting 8B4 (circATP8B4) is highly expressed in glioma, its precise action in glioma development is still not fully understood. The relationship of microRNA (miR)-31-5p and circATP8B4 or nestin (NES) was predicted by bioinformatic analysis and confirmed by RNA pull-down and Dual-luciferase reporter assays. CircATP8B4, miR-31-5p and NES were quantified by qRT-PCR or western blot. Cell functional behaviors were assessed by EdU, wound-healing and transwell invasion assays. Xenograft model experiments were performed to define circATP8B4’s activity in vivo. CircATP8B4, a true circular transcript, was upregulated in human glioma. CircATP8B4 downregulation weakened glioma cell growth, motility, and invasion and facilitated radiosensitivity. Mechanistically, circATP8B4 and NES 3′UTR harbored a shared miR-31-5p pairing site, and circATP8B4 involved the post-transcriptional NES regulation by functioning as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA). Furthermore, the miR-31-5p/NES axis participated in circATP8B4’s activity in glioma cell proliferation, motility, invasion and radiosensitivity. Additionally, circATP8B4 loss diminished tumor growth and enhanced the anticancer effect of radiotherapy in vivo. We have uncovered an uncharacterized ceRNA cascade, circATP8B4/miR-31-5p/NES axis, underlying glioma development and radiosensitivity. Targeting the ceRNA crosstalk may have potential to improve the outcome of glioma patients.