bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sex-specific effects of appetite suppressants and stereotypy in rats
Authors: Lopez Axl , Gil-Lievana Elvi , Gutierrez Ranier 
Published: February 2025

AbstractThis study investigated the sex-specific effects of commonly prescribed appetite suppressants on body weight and the manifestation of motor side effects, specifically stereotypy. Employing video recordings and DeepLabCut (DLC) for precise behavioral quantification, we analyzed stereotypy, defined as purposeless, repetitive motor behaviors, in male and female rats. Under control (saline) conditions, male rats exhibited a greater propensity for weight gain compared to females. However, in contrast, female rats demonstrated greater and more homogenous weight loss than males following the administration of diethylpropion and tesofensine. Phentermine and mazindol induced comparable weight loss in both sexes, whereas cathine elicited weight reduction exclusively in males. 5-HTP and d-amphetamine administration only prevented weight gain relative to controls. Analysis of motor side effects revealed that drugs primarily targeting dopamine pathways – specifically, phentermine, mazindol, diethylpropion, cathine, and d-amphetamine – induced pronounced stereotypies, particularly head-weaving, in both sexes. Interestingly, tesofensine elicited head-weaving behavior exclusively in female subjects, albeit to a lesser extent than that observed with other dopaminergic agents; conversely, tesofensine was most frequently associated with orolingual dyskinesia. Moreover, one of the most potent forms of stereotypy—backward locomotion, here referred to as “moonwalking”—was sporadically observed only following the administration of phentermine, diethylpropion, cathine, and mazindol, with diethylpropion inducing it most frequently. Male subjects treated with these same drugs exhibited an unexpected effect: spontaneous ejaculations, potentially attributable to the combined effects on dopamine and serotonin signaling in brain regions regulating sexual function. Network analysis and Markov transition matrices revealed distinct behavioral profiles associated with head-weaving, which emerged as the dominant attractor state, suggesting potential mechanistic differences among these drugs. Collectively, this study provides a valuable database characterizing the behavioral side effects of appetite suppressants.
Cortical control of innate behavior from subcortical demonstration
Authors: Keller Jason A. , Kwak Iljung S. , Stark Alyssa K. , Pachitariu Marius , Branson Kristin , Dudman Joshua T. 
Published: February 2025

AbstractMotor control in mammals is traditionally viewed as a hierarchy of descending spinal-targeting pathways, with frontal cortex at the top1–3. Many redundant muscle patterns can solve a given task, and this high dimensionality allows flexibility but poses a problem for efficient learning4. Although a feasible solution invokes subcortical innate motor patterns, or primitives, to reduce the dimensionality of the control problem, how cortex learns to utilize such primitives remains an open question5–7. To address this, we studied cortical and subcortical interactions as head-fixed mice learned contextual control of innate hindlimb extension behavior. Naïve mice performed reactive extensions to turn off a cold air stimulus within seconds and, using predictive cues, learned to avoid the stimulus altogether in tens of trials. Optogenetic inhibition of large areas of rostral cortex completely prevented avoidance behavior, but did not impair hindlimb extensions in reaction to the cold air stimulus. Remarkably, mice covertly learned to avoid the cold stimulus even without any prior experience of successful, cortically-mediated avoidance. These findings support a dynamic, heterarchical model in which the dominant locus of control can change, on the order of seconds, between cortical and subcortical brain areas. We propose that cortex can leverage periods when subcortex predominates as demonstrations, to learn parameterized control of innate behavioral primitives.
Exploring CSR authenticity and cognitive CSR proximity: engaging Chinese consumers in virtual CSR
Authors: Feng Zhonghui , Kuppelwieser Volker 
Published: February 2025

PurposeCSR authenticity reflects the perceived trustworthiness of CSR activities. Despite its importance, research on CSR authenticity in virtual contexts remains limited. This study investigates how specific dimensions of CSR authenticity influence consumer engagement in virtual CSR initiatives by focusing on the mediating role of cognitive cause proximity (i.e. cause salience and cause relevance).Design/methodology/approachData were collected through a structured online survey on Chinese social media, which yielded 389 valid responses. Structural equation modelling using AMOS 24 was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that perceived benevolence and the broad impact of CSR authenticity positively affect consumer engagement in virtual CSR. Significantly, cause relevance mediates the relationship between the broad impact of CSR and CSR engagement. However, cause salience unexpectedly reduces consumer engagement in virtual CSR initiatives.Originality/valueThis study extends construal level theory (CLT) and social exchange theory (SET) to virtual corporate social responsibility, offering fresh insights into how consumers respond to authentic CSR efforts. Practitioners can enhance CSR authenticity by highlighting its broad impact and benevolence to drive engagement while being cautious about overemphasising cause salience, which may risk alienating consumers.
Trust as the engine of change: a conceptual model for trust building in zakat institutions
Authors: Jamaludin Husna , Zhang Hengchao , Syed Salleh Sharifah Nabilah , Lacheheb Zakaria 
Published: February 2025

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence people’s behaviour in paying zakat, explore their perceptions of the institutions, examine the factors that influence their trust and analyse the impact of trust on their behaviour in paying zakat to the institutions.

Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was distributed to 740 potential Zakat payers in the Federal Territory, Malaysia. In designing the questionnaire, a systematic literature review, focus group discussions and pilot study were conducted. Descriptive analysis and partial least squares structural equation model were used with SmartPLS software.

Findings
The result shows that trust, intention to pay zakat and age of the respondents have statistically significant impacts on people’s behaviour to pay zakat through institutions. Intention to pay zakat is influenced by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. In addition, the main common concerns expressed were lack of awareness of the importance of paying zakat, lack of transparency in zakat administration, especially in collection and distribution, and inefficiency in administration and distribution. Moreover, trust in the institutions could be established if the institution is able to fulfil its mission of collecting and distributing zakat to the entitled Asnaf and improve their welfare, as trust not only has a direct impact on people’s behaviour, but also strengthens people’s intention and influences their behaviour to pay zakat to the institutions.

Research limitations/implications
This study focuses on a specific geographical area and zakat institution; hence, the study’s generalisability is limited. The use of self-reported and cross-sectional data may introduce bias and fail to capture the dynamic change of trust, intention and behaviour across time. The proposed solution of leveraging digital platforms may provide numerous hurdles and obstacles for adoption by the zakat institution.

Originality/value
This study shows the significant role of trust in influencing people’s intentions and behaviour in supporting organisations. Therefore, it can serve as an indicator of the performance or success of a particular institution. Thus, there is a need to find strategies to gain people’s trust by improving their ability, integrity and benevolence in performing their tasks.
Sex‐dependent effects of infection on guppy reproductive fitness and offspring parasite resistance
Authors: Weiler Isabella L. G. , Kramp Rachael D. , Rovenolt Faith , Stephenson Jessica F. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract

Infection imposes energetic costs on hosts. Hosts typically respond by shifting resources, potentially affecting the quantity and quality of offspring they produce. As the sexes differ in their optimal reproductive strategies, the infection of mothers versus fathers may affect offspring quantity and quality in different ways.

Here, we test how experimental infection of guppies Poecilia reticulata with the ectoparasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli affects parental reproductive fitness and offspring parasite resistance. We compared breeding pairs in which one or neither parent had previously been infected.

In terms of reproductive fitness, pairs in which fathers had been infected produced more offspring than those in which mothers had been infected. Additionally, fathers who experienced the heaviest infections produced offspring ~55 days sooner than average. This result may represent terminal investment by males, especially those most affected by infection, or that males invest in reproduction at the expense of parasite defence.

We found that offspring age, parental infection experience, and parental infection severity together strongly predicted offspring parasite resistance. Only among pairs in which one parent had been infected did older offspring, which were those born soonest after the parent's infection, tend to experience heavier infections. This result may reflect temporary infection‐induced reductions in parental investment in offspring quality. Beyond this effect of offspring age, offspring of infected mothers experienced 105 fewer worm days than those of infected fathers: fathers, but not mothers, who experienced heavy infections themselves produced offspring that also experienced heavy infections. The parent‐offspring regression for infected fathers is consistent with previous evidence that parasite resistance is heritable in this system and yields a narrow sense heritability estimate of 0.62 ± 0.12. By contrast, the mother‐offspring regression (slope: −0.12 ± 0.14) provides novel insight that mothers may engage in transgenerational immune priming.

Our results suggest that the sexes strike a different balance between offspring quantity and quality when faced with infection, with potentially broad implications for disease and host–parasite co‐evolutionary dynamics in nature.
Human disturbance and aridity influence biomass harvesting by leaf‐cutting ants with impacts on nutrient dynamics in a Caatinga dry forest
Authors: Santos‐Neto Pedro E. , de Oliveira Fernanda M. P. , Wirth Rainer , Tabarelli Marcelo , Leal Inara R. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract

Human activities have converted mature forests into mosaics of successional vegetation and chronically disturbed habitats, altering the patterns of population distribution, foraging ecology and thus, the flow of matter and nutrients through ecosystems. Although the effects of human disturbance are mostly harmful, hyperabundant native generalist species can emerge and increase their populations under disturbance, such as leaf‐cutting ants (LCA), prominent herbivores that are considered ecosystem engineers.

Here, we examined the population response of two LCA species of the Caatinga dry forest (Acromyrmex balzani and A. rugosus) to increasing levels of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and aridity, and assessed the foraging activity, biomass and nutrients harvested by their colonies.

We found that colony densities increased at more disturbed habitats, varying considerably from 0 to 81 nests/ha, but aridity had no effect. The two species exhibited markedly different foraging activities (44.66 ± 28.76 and 294.6 ± 260.53 ants foraging daily), with the foraging rate increasing in more arid conditions for a species with smaller nests, but with no response to disturbance. Biomass consumption varied distinctly between species, ranging from 0 to 4.81 g (7.24 kg ha.year−1, in A. balzani) and from 5.6 to 74 g (174.39 kg ha.year−1, in A. rugosus). Furthermore, there was no effect of disturbance and aridity on the biomass harvesting of individual colonies. However, there was a considerable increase in the biomass harvested by the populations of colonies in the plots (i.e. accounting for colony densities). Moreover, the species A. balzani foraged upon more nutrient‐rich material at more disturbed and arid habitats, with plant material containing higher concentrations of N, Ca, S, Sr, Fe and Mn, as well as a lower C:N ratio in these areas.

Our results suggest that Acromyrmex species (1) can achieve larger populations in more disturbed habitats, though not directly associated with aridity, (2) operate as a key herbivore able to fit harvesting/diet through the entire environmental gradient and forage complementarily (monocot vs. dicot) and (3) reallocate expressive amount of forest biomass, resulting in temporary nutrient sinks with potential impacts on Caatinga resilience.
Phylogenetic and Functional Diversity of Soluble Di‐Iron Monooxygenases
Authors: Yang Sui Nin Nicholas , Kertesz Michael A. , Coleman Nicholas V. 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTMonooxygenase (MO) enzymes are responsible for the oxidation of hydrocarbons and other compounds in the carbon and nitrogen cycles, are important for the biodegradation of pollutants and can act as biocatalysts for chemical manufacture. The soluble di‐iron monooxygenases (SDIMOs) are of interest due to their broad substrate range, high enantioselectivity and ability to oxidise inert substrates such as methane. Here, we re‐examine the phylogeny and functions of these enzymes, using recent advances in the field and expansions in sequence diversity in databases to highlight relationships between SDIMOs and revisit their classification. We discuss the impact of horizontal gene transfer on SDIMO phylogeny, the potential of SDIMOs for the biodegradation of pollutants and the importance of heterologous expression as a tool for understanding SDIMO functions and enabling their use as biocatalysts. Our analysis highlights current knowledge gaps, most notably, the unknown substrate ranges and physiological roles of enzymes that have so far only been detected via genome or metagenome sequencing. Enhanced understanding of the diversity and functions of the SDIMO enzymes will enable better prediction and management of biogeochemical processes and also enable new applications of these enzymes for biocatalysis and bioremediation.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind—Explaining and Challenging the Re‐Institutionalisation of People With Learning Disabilities and/or Autistic People
Authors: Glasby Jon , Waring Justin , Miller Robin , Glasby Anne‐Marie , Ince Rebecca 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTDuring the twentieth century, many countries underwent processes of ‘de‐institutionalisation’—closing ‘asylums’ for people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and dementia. Despite this, the UK has witnessed a subsequent process of ‘re‐institutionalisation’ with the creation of new public/private sector facilities providing ‘secure’ care to large numbers of people, who can be residents for many years with no sense of when they may leave. In 2023, 2035 people with learning disabilities and/or autistic people were receiving inpatient hospital care in England, with 54% in hospital for over two years. Drawing on the lived experience of people in hospital/families, and the practice knowledge of front‐line staff, this paper critically analyses why this process of re‐institutionalisation may be taking place. Our argument is that institutional forms of care have gradually been re‐introduced—despite the influence of neoliberal health policies that have previously aimed at deinstitutionalisation and self‐care—because some people are viewed as ‘too difficult’ to govern through the prevailing dispositive of self‐care, and therefore become the subjects of more disciplinary forms of power. Once in hospital, the primary routes to ‘escape’ require performative acts of ‘good conduct’ that give confidence to professionals of a person’s capacity for self‐government.
An Observational Study Evaluating the Safety of Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Combined With Chemotherapy in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Non‐Small Cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Ye Xin , Miao Jinbai , Li Hui , Hu Bin 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTObjectiveThis study was conducted to investigate the safety of neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy in patients undergoing surgery for resectable stage III non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsOverall, 68 surgical patients with stage III NSCLC who underwent neoadjuvant therapy at the Thoracic Surgery Department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital from June 2019 to September 2021 were included, including 19 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy and 49 who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone. Both groups of patients were diagnosed with NSCLC before treatment and had resectable stage III tumors. The surgical duration, blood loss volume, average postoperative hospital length of stay, intensive care unit length of stay, and complication rate were compared between the two groups.ResultsThe group treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy demonstrated higher values than the group treated with chemotherapy alone for surgical duration, blood loss volume, and rate of conversion to thoracotomy; however, the differences were not statistically significant. The incidence of postoperative complications in the group treated with neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy was significantly higher than that of the group treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone (p = 0.02).ConclusionNeoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy was safe and effective and did not increase the difficulty of surgery for NSCLC; however, it was associated with a higher incidence of complications than neoadjuvant chemotherapy alone (p < 0.05).
Associations Between Stress and Hair Cortisol and Their Relationship to Alcohol Use Among Adolescents and Young Adults: An Epidemiological Cohort Study
Authors: Plettenberg Lena , Kräplin Anja , Voss Catharina , Beesdo‐Baum Katja , Kische Hanna 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTThe relationship between stress, hair cortisol and alcohol consumption has mostly been investigated among clinical and adult study samples, with inconsistent findings. The present study aimed to examine cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations between chronic stress, hair cortisol and average past‐year alcohol consumption within a population‐based sample of adolescents and young adults. At baseline of the epidemiological cohort study, N = 1180 individuals aged 14–21 from Dresden, Germany, were assessed (11/2015–12/2016). A maximum N = 1055 were analysed in cross‐sectional analyses and a maximum N = 722 in longitudinal analyses (1‐year follow‐up). Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted to reveal cross‐sectional associations between perceived chronic stress, hair cortisol concentration and average past‐year alcohol consumption in males and females. Longitudinally, weighted linear regression models examined relationships between (a) perceived chronic stress at baseline and altered hair cortisol concentration over 1 year, (b) perceived chronic stress/hair cortisol concentration at baseline and altered average alcohol consumption over 1 year and (c) average past‐year alcohol consumption at baseline and altered stress/hair cortisol concentration over 1 year. Cross‐sectionally, no significant relationships were found between stress, hair cortisol and average past‐year alcohol consumption at baseline. In females, higher baseline perceived chronic stress was associated with an increase in hair cortisol concentration over 1 year, whereas no relationship was found in the cross‐sectional analysis between baseline perceived chronic stress and baseline past‐year average alcohol consumption. When using hair cortisol as a biomarker for stress perception, the focus of future research should be on potential time lags between perceived chronic stress and hair cortisol increase.
Effects of Dietary Replacement of Alfalfa Hay With Corn Silage on Energy Utilization Efficiency and Metabolizable Energy Requirements in Crossbred Hu Ewes During Early Lactation
Authors: Qing Qing , Tsubo Mitsuru , Du Wuchen , Tsunekawa Atsushi , Hou Fujiang , Ichinohe Toshiyoshi 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTWe evaluated the effect of dietary substituting corn silage (CS) for alfalfa hay (AH) on feed intake, lactation performance, and energy utilization efficiency of crossbred Hu ewes. In a completely randomized experiment, 12 lactating crossbred ewes (3 ± 1.5 DIM) were fed one of three isoenergetic diets with forage‐to‐concentrate ratio of 70:30. The three experimental diets (CON, CS1, and CS2) were formulated by replacing AH with different levels of CS (0%, 30%, and 60%, respectively). Energy balance was determined through a metabolism and respiration trial. We observed identical trends for feed intake and gross energy intake (GEI); the GEI ranged from 0.97 to 1.34 (MJ/kg BW0.75 day) among the treatments. Around 26%–33% of the GEI was lost as feces, 56%–60% for heat production, 14%–16% for milk production, 5%–6% for methane emission, and 3% for urinary energy. The metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance of crossbred Hu ewe was estimated to be 484.7 kJ/kg body weight0.75/day. Furthermore, the energy digestibility and metabolizability of the CS diets were significantly greater than those of the CON diet. Substituting AH for up to 60% CS increased energy utilization efficiency without detrimental effects on milk production in crossbred Hu ewes fed a forage‐based diet.