bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of the pre‐biologic treatment journey on biologic drug survival in psoriasis: A nationwide cohort study
Authors: Thein David , Nielsen Mia‐Louise , Maul Julia‐Tatjana , Thomsen Simon Francis , Thyssen Jacob P. , Egeberg Alexander 
Published: July 2024

AbstractBackgroundIt is unknown whether the pre‐biologic treatment journey affects subsequent biologic drug survival.ObjectiveTo examine the potential impact of a complex treatment journey on subsequent biologic drug survival in patients with psoriasis.MethodsThe study utilized longitudinal data from Danish national registries and included all patients who, for the first time, initiated a biological treatment for psoriasis. Maximum follow‐up was 5 years and patients were included from 1 January 2010 to 30 June 2021. The study used three definitions of exposure to a complex treatment journey and the following conventional systemic treatments: acitretin, cyclosporine, dimethyl fumarate and methotrexate. The first definition was the cumulative number of treatment series. The second definition comprised the number of unique treatments. The third definition was time from the first conventional systemic treatment to biological therapy. Drug survival for the three definitions were illustrated using Kaplan–Meier curves and compared using log‐rank test. The sensitivity analysis largely confirmed these findings by grouping patients according to pharmacotherapy.ResultsA total of 2496 patients were included in the study, with 1380 (55.3%) receiving adalimumab, 608 (24.4%) receiving ustekinumab, 271 (10.9%) receiving secukinumab, 166 (6.7%) receiving etanercept and 71 (2.8%) receiving infliximab. The mean age at initiation of biologics was 43.6 years (standard deviation (SD) 15.2 years), and most patients were male (62.9%). During the follow‐up of 5477 patient years, 1953 patients (78.2%) reached the main endpoint of discontinuation. Using a log‐rank test, the probability of remaining on treatment was unaffected by the three definitions of complexity of the treatment journey.ConclusionNone of the three exposures used to assess the complexity of the pre‐biologic treatment journey appeared to impact drug survival. As long as patients experience adequate disease control, these results suggest that conventional systemic treatment do not negatively impact the drug survival of subsequent biologics.
The role of public social expenditure for mitigating local income inequality: An investigation across spatial scales in Austria
Authors: Neuhuber Tatjana , Schneider Antonia E. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThis paper investigates the role of municipal and provincial public social spending for local income inequality after taxes and transfers in Austria. We utilize a spatial multi‐level model, which allows us to analyze the contribution of three spatial scales (municipal, district, and provincial level) to municipal income inequality. Our analysis shows that the effect of public social spending on local Gini indices does not only differ across provinces but also across municipalities which indicates that the potential cushioning effect of social expenditure is highly localized. Further splitting total public social expenditure into three distinct categories (education, health, social protection) reveals that spending on social protection has the highest effect on local inequality across all provinces, while health spending does not exert a discernible influence in any province. The method and results presented in this paper are of international interest for policymakers and researchers who aim to investigate whether the same patterns hold true in other countries.
The complementary role of distributive and criminal equity
Authors: D'Antoni Massimo , Tabbach Avraham D. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractWe conduct a theoretical analysis to explore how the distribution of wealth in society impacts the social costs of crime and law enforcement. We show that a reduction in inequality reduces these costs when enforcement and nonmonetary punishment are equitable, that is, they do not discriminate among offenders based on their wealth. However, when enforcement or nonmonetary punishment is discriminatory, a reduction in inequality may increase the social costs of crime and law enforcement, in particular when it occurs among poorer individuals. Thus, there is a complementarity between equity in criminal justice and distributional equity.
Taxonomic and functional changes in mountain meadow communities four years after transplantation to a lowland environment
Authors: Haider Sylvia , Schaub Carolin , Lachmuth Susanne 
Published: July 2024

AbstractAimsClimate warming at high altitudes occurs at an above‐average rate. Due to short geographical distances, warm‐adapted species might establish rapidly in mountain communities, while cold‐adapted specialists are likely to locally disappear, sometimes after a lag phase. Here, we investigate changes not only of the community composition of species‐rich mountain meadows, but also resulting alterations of their functional identity and diversity. Thereby, we hypothesize that transplantation to a warmer lowland environment leads to a shift towards a more acquisitive resource‐use strategy, caused by the immigration of lowland species. Temporarily this leads to an increase in functional diversity through the lagged extinction of high‐altitude species with conservative resource‐use strategies.LocationEuropean Alps, Germany.MethodsUsing a space‐for‐time substitution, we conducted a community transplant experiment at a high‐ and low‐elevation common garden site, where we compared the development of highland communities transplanted to the warmer low‐elevation site and control plant communities locally replanted at both sites over a period of 4 years after transplantation. In situ, we collected functional leaf morphological and biochemical traits based on which we calculated community weighted mean traits as well as community functional richness and functional divergence.ResultsSpecies richness of the communities transplanted to the low‐elevation site increased over time, resulting from more species invasions than disappearances. This led to increasing similarity between transplanted highland communities and local lowland communities, and to greater functional richness and divergence 4 years after transplantation, although mean community traits did not diverge yet.ConclusionsAlthough the exposure to warmer temperatures did not immediately lead to the extinction of typical mountain meadow species, substantial community changes are expected through immigration of warm‐adapted species. Resulting changes in the functional characteristics of mountain communities are likely to modify competition regimes within these communities, which might accelerate the local extinction of mountain specialists.
Infection by Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas, 1909) in a colony of Triatoma sherlocki Papa et al. 2002 (Reduviidae: Triatominae) present in a subsistence pig farm in Northeast Brazil
Authors: Santos Flavia , dos Santos Saraiva Alice , Lambert Sabrina Mota , Magalhães‐Junior Jairo Torres , de Oliveira Carneiro Ianei , Parazzi Larissa José , de Oliveira Jader , da Silva Souza Bárbara Maria Paraná , Franke Carlos Roberto 
Published: July 2024

AbstractTriatomines of the species Triatoma sherlocki are considered sylvatic; however, household invasion appears imminent, potentially carrying Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. The aim of this study was to report the first occurrence of a colony of T. sherlocki infected by T. cruzi in a subsistence pig farm. Triatomines collected underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for T. cruzi detection and determination of blood meal source. The 19 triatomines collected in the pig farm were of the species T. sherlocki, comprising 26.3% nymphs (5/19), 52.6% males (10/19) and 21.1% females (4/19). PCR showed that 15.8% (3/19) of triatomines were infected by T. cruzi. The only detected blood meal source in triatomines (n = 11) was the domestic mammal Sus scrofa, commonly known as domestic pig, indicating that T. sherlocki is an opportunist, feeding on available vertebrates in the environment, including domestic animals such as pigs. These results highlight the possibility of domiciliation of the species T. sherlocki and its potential role in bridging the transmission of T. cruzi between sylvatic and domestic environments.
Impact of protein domains on the MEL2 granule, a cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein complex maintaining faithful meiosis progression in rice
Authors: Mimura Manaki , Ono Seijiro , Somashekar Harsha , Nonomura Ken‐Ichi 
Published: July 2024

Summary

Cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules are membraneless structures composed of various RNAs and proteins that play important roles in post‐transcriptional regulation. While RNP granules are known to regulate the meiotic entry in some organisms, little is known about their roles in plants.

In this study, we observed the cytoplasmic granular structures of rice RNA‐binding protein MEIOSIS ARRESTED AT LEPTOTENE2 (MEL2), which contributes to the control of meiotic entry timing, in leaf protoplasts and spore mother cells. We performed colocalization analysis with known cytoplasmic RNP factors, and domain deletion analysis to assess their impact on granule formation and meiosis progression. Conservation of MEL2 domains across plant species was also explored.

Our results indicated that MEL2 granules colocalized with processing body and stress granule factors. The maintenance of granule properties modulated by LOTUS domain and the intrinsically disordered region (IDR) is essential for proper MEL2 function in meiosis progression. MEL2‐like proteins widely found in plant kingdom conserved LOTUS domain followed by the IDR despite their diverse domain structures, suggesting the functional conservation of these domains among plant species.

This study highlights the role of MEL2 granule dynamics and its impact on meiotic transition and progression.
Climate change increases flowering duration, driving phenological reassembly and elevated co‐flowering richness
Authors: Austin Matthew W. , Smith Adam B. , Olsen Kenneth M. , Hoch Peter C. , Krakos Kyra N. , Schmocker Stefani P. , Miller‐Struttmann Nicole E. 
Published: July 2024

Summary

Changes to flowering phenology are a key response of plants to climate change. However, we know little about how these changes alter temporal patterns of reproductive overlap (i.e. phenological reassembly).

We combined long‐term field (1937–2012) and herbarium records (1850–2017) of 68 species in a flowering plant community in central North America and used a novel application of Bayesian quantile regression to estimate changes to flowering season length, altered richness and composition of co‐flowering assemblages, and whether phenological shifts exhibit seasonal trends.

Across the past century, phenological shifts increased species' flowering durations by 11.5 d on average, which resulted in 94% of species experiencing greater flowering overlap at the community level. Increases to co‐flowering were particularly pronounced in autumn, driven by a greater tendency of late season species to shift the ending of flowering later and to increase flowering duration.

Our results demonstrate that species‐level phenological shifts can result in considerable phenological reassembly and highlight changes to flowering duration as a prominent, yet underappreciated, effect of climate change. The emergence of an autumn co‐flowering mode emphasizes that these effects may be season‐dependent.
Understanding the chemical language mediating maize immunity and environmental adaptation
Authors: Yasmin Farida , Cowie Anna E. , Zerbe Philipp 
Published: July 2024

SummaryDiverse networks of specialized metabolites promote plant fitness by mediating beneficial and antagonistic environmental interactions. In maize (Zea mays), constitutive and dynamically formed cocktails of terpenoids, benzoxazinoids, oxylipins, and phenylpropanoids contribute to plant defense and ecological adaptation. Recent research has highlighted the multifunctional nature of many specialized metabolites, serving not only as elaborate chemical defenses that safeguard against biotic and abiotic stress but also as regulators in adaptive developmental processes and microbiome interactions. Great strides have also been made in identifying the modular pathway networks that drive maize chemical diversity. Translating this knowledge into strategies for enhancing stress resilience traits has the potential to address climate‐driven yield losses in one of the world's major food, feed, and bioenergy crops.
Second primary malignancy for early‐stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma by SEER17 registries
Authors: Lin Hanqing , Wu Xiaobo , Yao Guangnan , Chen Zhihong , Xu Yuanteng , Lin Gongbiao , Lin Chang 
Published: July 2024

AbstractObjectiveInvestigating treatment modalities' association with second primary malignancy risk in early‐stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).MethodsData of 5‐year survivors of early‐stage (stages I–II, seventh TNM staging manual) HNSCC from 2000 to 2020 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Standardized incidence ratio and excess absolute risk were used to assess second primary malignancy (SPM) development externally. Relative risk was estimated to compare SPM risk within groups. Fine‐Gray's model estimated cumulative incidence of second primary malignancy.ResultsOverall, 8957 5‐year survivors with early‐stage HNSCC were enrolled. Patients receiving definitive radiotherapy had poorer survival than surgery patients. Surgery correlated with lower risk of second primary malignancy (RR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.80–0.99), especially for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (RR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.39–0.82). Differences in the risk of second primary malignancy among subgroups based on clinical characteristics were not significant. Treatment modalities did not significantly affect risk of second primary malignancy within each subgroup.ConclusionsSurgery led to better survival and lower risk of second primary malignancy compared to definitive radiotherapy in 5‐year survivors. Incidence and sites of second primary malignancy varied by primary sites, emphasizing targeted long‐term surveillance's importance.
Perceived professional autonomy among Ethiopian regional state media journalists: A post‐reform account of Amhara Media Corporation
Authors: Mazengia Melkamu Mekonnen , Haile Jemal Mohammed 
Published: July 2024

AbstractThis study examined the degree of perceived editorial autonomy possessed by journalists working in the Amhara Media Corporation (AMC) in determining the emphasis of news stories. It also identifies the factors that exert the greatest influence on journalists’ decision‐making regarding story selection, source determination and framing the news following the 2018 political reform, in Ethiopia using the “hierarchy‐of‐influences” model. The research employed a sequential explanatory mixed method approach, using stratified random sampling to survey 152 participants, and purposive sampling to conduct in‐depth interviews with 7 selected journalists. The quantitative data indicates that journalists’ autonomy at AMC remains restricted. On the other hand, the qualitative data divulges that the extent of professional autonomy among AMC journalists is contingent upon the support received from assigned managers and by the political climate of the country. As a result, the professional autonomy experienced by journalists at AMC is subject to situational factors and fluctuating. Furthermore, procedural, professional, organizational, and political influences are found with the most decisive influence, respectively.
Three novel Er blood group system alleles and insights from protein modeling
Authors: Lane William J. , Vege Sunitha , Mah Helen H. , Ochoa‐Garay Gorka , Lomas‐Francis Christine , Westhoff Connie M. 
Published: July 2024

AbstractBackgroundThe Er blood group system was recently shown to be defined by PIEZO1. The system consists of high prevalence antigens Era, Er3, ERSA, and ERAMA; and low prevalence antigen Erb. Era/Erb are antithetical with Er(a−b+) defined by the ER*B allele [c.7180G>A p.(Gly2394Ser)]. A nonsense variant c.5289C>G p.(Tyr1763*) is associated with a predicted Ernull phenotype, and a missense variant c.7174G>A p.(Glu2392Lys) in close proximity to p.2394 causes loss of both Era and Erb expression.Study Design and MethodsWe investigated PIEZO1 in four Er(a−) individuals who presented with anti‐Era. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and Sanger sequencing were performed. The location and structural differences of predicted protein changes were visualized using the predicted 3‐D structure of Piezo1 created using AlphaFold2.ResultsOne individual was homozygous for the reported ER*B. A second had a novel heterozygous nonsense variant c.3331C>T p.(Gln1111*), but a second allelic variant was not found. In the remaining two individuals, two different heterozygous novel missense variants, c.7184C>T p.(Ala2395Val) or c.7195G>A p.(Gly2399Ser), were in trans to the reported c.7180G>A variant, ER*B. AlphaFold2 protein modeling showed that each of the missense variants is predicted to encode an altered structural conformation near Era and Erb.ConclusionsInvestigation of archived samples resulted in the identification of three novel PIEZO1 alleles including a predicted Ernull and two missense variants. Structural modeling suggests that the missense changes potentially alter Era/Erb epitope expression with p.2399Ser resulting in a small increase in the negative electrostatic potential.
Personal protective effect of wearing surgical face masks in public spaces on self-reported respiratory symptoms in adults: pragmatic randomised superiority trial
Authors: Solberg Runar Barstad , Fretheim Atle , Elgersma Ingeborg Hess , Fagernes Mette , Iversen Bjørn Gunnar , Hemkens Lars G , Rose Christopher James , Elstrøm Petter 
Published: July 2024

Abstract

Objective
To evaluate the personal protective effects of wearing versus not wearing surgical face masks in public spaces on self-reported respiratory symptoms over a 14 day period.

Design
Pragmatic randomised superiority trial.

Setting
Norway.

Participants
4647 adults aged ≥18 years: 2371 were assigned to the intervention arm and 2276 to the control arm.

Interventions
Participants in the intervention arm were assigned to wear a surgical face mask in public spaces (eg, shopping centres, streets, public transport) over a 14 day period (mask wearing at home or work was not mentioned). Participants in the control arm were assigned to not wear a surgical face mask in public places.

Main outcome measures
The primary outcome was self-reported respiratory symptoms consistent with a respiratory infection. Secondary outcomes included self-reported and registered covid-19 infection and self-reported sick leave.

Results
Between 10 February 2023 and 27 April 2023, 4647 participants were randomised of whom 4575 (2788 women (60.9%); mean age 51.0 (standard deviation 15.0) years) were included in the intention-to-treat analysis: 2313 (50.6%) in the intervention arm and 2262 (49.4%) in the control arm. 163 events (8.9%) of self-reported symptoms consistent with respiratory infection were reported in the intervention arm and 239 (12.2%) in the control arm. The marginal odds ratio was 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58 to 0.87; P=0.001) favouring the face mask intervention. The absolute risk difference was −3.2% (95% CI −5.2% to −1.3%; P<0.001). No statistically significant effect was found on self- reported (marginal odds ratio 1.07, 95% CI 0.58 to 1.98; P=0.82) or registered covid-19 infection (effect estimate and 95% CI not estimable owing to lack of events in the intervention arm). Self-reported sick leave was equally distributed between the intervention and control groups (marginal odds ratio 1.00, 0.81 to 1.22; P=0.97).

Conclusion
Wearing a surgical face mask in public spaces over 14 days reduces the risk of self-reported symptoms consistent with a respiratory infection, compared with not wearing a surgical face mask.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov
NCT05690516
.
Adolescent girls’ perceptions of the COVID-19 infodemic in Sierra Leone: a qualitative study in urban, peri-urban and rural Sierra Leone
Authors: Yillah Regina Mamidy , Wurie Haja Ramatulai , Reindorf Beryl , Sawaneh Alhaji , Hodges Mary Hamer , Turay Hamid 
Published: July 2024

ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify the primary sources of COVID-19 health information for adolescent girls in Sierra Leone and evaluate their perceived trustworthiness and influence on their behaviour.DesignUsing a convenience sampling strategy grounded in the social cognitive theory, the study explored adolescents' navigation and appraisal of health information sources, their understanding of COVID-19, and the impact of societal and observational influences on their health beliefs and actions. Data analysis involved thematic analysis using NVivo V.12 software, focusing on patterns within responses related to observational learning, trusted sources and behavioural outcomes.SettingSierra Leone, July 2020.Participants16 focus group discussions were conducted among 86 adolescents (6–8 per group) aged 15–19 years in Sierra Leone.Outcome measurePrimary sources of COVID-19 information.ResultsAdolescent girls identified a diverse range of health information sources, including schools, social media, health workers and radio, with notable differences in trust and preference based on geographical and social contexts. A noteworthy finding was the significant trust placed in health workers, marking a stark contrast to fear and mistrust during the Ebola emergency only 5 years previously. This renewed trust in health professionals emerged as a critical factor influencing adolescents’ health behaviours and acceptance of COVID-19 preventive measures.ConclusionThis study underscores the complexity of navigating health information among adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the importance of tailored public health messaging that accounts for local cultural contexts, addresses misconceptions and builds on trusted information sources to foster effective health behaviours. Future interventions could prioritise enhancing educational resources, leveraging trusted community figures, and ensuring that health communication is scientifically accurate and culturally sensitive.