bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
De novo assembly-based transcriptome analysis of resistant and susceptible potato varieties to Phytophthora infestans
Authors: Mahfouze Heba A. , El-Sayed O. E. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractAn effective tool for discovering differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to late blight (LB) resistance is the transcriptome sequencing of potatoes. The aim of this study was to compare transcriptome expression analysis in incompatible and compatible interactions via high-throughput sequencing. Furthermore, we performed a bioinformatics analysis to screen a large number of specific transcription factors (TFs) and DEGs linked to Phytophthora infestans infection. Two locally cultivated potato varieties were chosen from evaluation assays conducted in two consecutive seasons and based on the disease severity (DS) values. These varieties were the highly resistant Jelly (HR) to P. infestans and the moderately susceptible Annabelle (MS). Ribonucleic acid-sequencing (RNA-seq) was achieved for the two varieties with their controls through the BGISEQ-500 sequencing platform. The RNA-seq analysis identified P. infestans-responsive genes and their expression in potatoes. The mechanism of the response of these cultivars to the P. infestans pathogen by TFs and DEG genes, which play an important role in defense response, was investigated. The Gene Ontology (GO) analysis classified 46,248 unigenes in the HR and 26,921 unigenes in MS into the following three categories: biological process, cellular component, and molecular functions. More genes were responsible for the cellular component category, biological process, and molecular functions in HR compared to MS. Moreover, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the significantly enriched DEGs were included in the plant–pathogen interaction, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and ribosome. In addition, 1874 transcription factor genes belonging to 85 families were indicated in the DEGs, of which MYB and AP2-EREBP genes were the most abundant. Besides, multiple genes related to LB resistance showed differential expression during infection. It also sheds light on the molecular mechanisms behind potato resistance to P. infestans infection.
Thermal and viscous slip effects on electroosmotic Casson nanofluid flow with microorganisms in peristaltic porous media
Authors: Riaz Arshad , Shehzadi Mehpara , Muhammad Taseer , Khan Ilyas , Niazai Shafiullah 
Published: April 2024

AbstractCurrent work focuses on increasing heat transmission in thermal systems with the incorporation of gyrotactic motile microbes, promoting the creation of structured fluids useful for bio-cooling and nanotechnology. This study explores the effects of electroosmosis and slip boundary conditions in a non-Newtonian Casson nanofluid with mass transfer. Specifically, it looks at bio-convection peristaltic events and conducts a thermodynamic analysis. The Arrhenius activation energy in an asymmetric channel is considered in this study. In addition, the authors evaluate viscous resistance, thermophoresis diffusion, porous surface properties, coupled convection, Brownian diffusion, and thermal viscosity behavior. The results obtained from mathematical expressions together with surface conditions are handled by means of a numerical algorithm implemented by means of the shooting technique through traditional program Mathematica, with the aid of its built-in tool, NDSolve. Many physical parameters, such as entropy generation, the Bejan number, velocity profiles, the density of gyrotactic motile microbes, and the accumulation profile of nanoparticles, are depicted graphically. The graphical study shows that entropy generation increases with a greater Helmholtz-Smoluchowski factor by 10%, but declines as the heat generation/absorption factor increases with same percentage. The Bejan number tends to increase with stronger heat sources by 5%. Application possibilities include improved control and effectiveness in mechanisms that include microfluidic equipment, systems for delivering medications, and biotechnological operations.
The Effect of Carob (Ceratonia Siliqua) on Sperm Parameters of Infertile Men: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Karaahmet Aysu Yıldız , Gençtürk Nuran , Kınık Emine 
Published: April 2024

AbstractCarob (Ceratonia siliqua) supplements can increase sperm quality. This study aimed to summarize the available evidence about the effects of carob (Ceratonia siliqua) supplements on sperm quality and reproductive hormones in infertile men. Systematic searches of five databases were conducted from inception to October 20, with the last update on November 20, 2023. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared carob (Ceratonia siliqua) supplements with nonintervention control groups on infertile man. Risk of bias and certainty of evidence were assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias tool 2. Summary effect size measures were calculated using a random-effects model estimation and are reported as standardized mean differences and 95% confidence intervals. Reporting followed the PRISMA guidelines. The analysis included four studies involving 236 infertile men. It was found that sperm motility of infertile men improved after carob intervention (MD:11.30, 95% CI:5.97 to 16.64, Z = 4.15, p < 0.00001), and there was a significant difference compared to control groups. The effect size of carob on semen quantity in infertile men was positive, and the relationship was statistically significant (MD:5.42, 95% CI:1.58 to 9.42, Z = 2.77, p = 0.006). When hormone parameters of infertile men were analyzed, the MDA (malondialdehyde) value decreased compared to the control group (MD = -4.81, 95% CI: -10.18 to 0.56, Z = 1.76, p = 0.08), and there was a significant difference between them. Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) supplements was associated with improvement in sperm quality compared with nonintervention control groups in infertile man. However, high-quality, larger RCTs are required to draw more definitive conclusions.
Emergent neo-customary land tenure and non-indigene smallholders’ access to farmlands in peri-urban Ghana
Authors: Abdulai Ibrahim Abu 
Published: April 2024

AbstractLand dispossession within the emerging neo-customary land tenure system is not a novel phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the landholding systems across SSA are as diverse as the societies themselves. In Ghana, research on peri-urban land dispossession primarily focuses on centralized areas and indigene landholders, neglecting acephalous and non-indigene smallholders. This gap in knowledge hinders our understanding of how neo-customary land tenure affects land access for non-indigenous smallholder farmers. This paper examines how non-indigene smallholders navigate neo-customary land tenure in peri-urban Wa, Ghana. The study employed a qualitative research design, conducting in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 56 participants. The findings reveal that large-scale appropriation, covert land sales, and speculation are the primary drivers of land dispossession. The previously unconditional access to land for non-indigene smallholders, based on perpetual usufructuary interest, has also become temporary and conditional on their acceptance of roles as caretaker farmers or sharecroppers. The resulting dispossession and its consequences, such as inadequate subsistence food production, have led to socially undesirable outcomes. The study recommends that the Municipal Assembly and civil society organizations utilize Ghana's Land Act (Act 1036) to advocate for and safeguard the usufructuary interest of non-indigene individuals in land tenure.
From static snapshots to dynamic panoramas: the evolution and future vision of palliative care atlas in cross-national perspectives
Authors: Tripodoro Vilma A. , Pons Juan José , Bastos Fernanda , Garralda Eduardo , Montero Álvaro , Béjar Ana Cristina , Centeno Carlos 
Published: April 2024

AbstractPalliative care is essential to global health services as it improves the quality of life of patients, their families and caregivers. The ATLANTES Global Observatory of Palliative Care (University of Navarra) was created a decade ago to promote a positive attitude towards patients with advanced illness in society and medicine. To do so, and over the past 15 years, ATLANTES has mapped palliative care data worldwide using public health, macro and comparative perspectives in different atlases. These have enabled data to be contextualised and good examples to be identified concisely and graphically. Atlases have been widely employed as advocacy tools within international institutions and ministries of health. While the aim and the perspective have remained unalterable over time, the methods and design have evolved throughout the publications from sober cartography and static infographics to big interactive data visualisation web tools. By embracing technology, ATLANTES has developed an open-access web mapping tool reuniting information from regional atlases, favouring global access to data. In 2022, matching the increasingly recognised need for robust monitoring of palliative care worldwide, ATLANTES became a WHO Collaborating Centre for the Global Monitoring of Palliative Care Development. This attempt to bridge the gap and ensure equitable care information in countries with limited palliative care access has resulted today in more accessible, self-explanatory, and visually appealing palliative care data.
HISTORY AND LORE: INTERPRETIVE EMPLOTMENT AND “EMPTY WRITING” IN THE “HEREDITARY HOUSE OF ZHAO”
Authors: Qin Amelia Ying 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThis study identifies two textual strata in the “Zhao shijia” of the Shi ji: the “wo 我 stratum” and the “legendary stratum.” While the “wo stratum” points to the existence of Zhao local historical records, the “legendary stratum” reveals an interpretive framework that guides the chapter's presentation of the Zhao history toward the central concern and anxiety over the succession of lineage and power. The series of prophetic dreams and supernatural encounters that were emplotted in the narrative of Zhao history comprise this “legendary stratum” and point toward a key figure, King Wuling of Zhao, during whose time the Zhao state reached its pinnacle of power and prosperity. Accounts that are clearly fabrications, such as the story of the orphan of Zhao and later prophecies of the decline of the Zhao, show hidden connections to the personal experience of Sima Qian and to possible political dissent and discourses criticizing Emperor Wu of Han. In identifying such fabricated “empty writing” hidden in the chapter's framework of interpretive emplotment, this article aims to offer one way to read the Shi ji's account for the hereditary house of Zhao that follows a coherent pattern on the meta-level of historical narrative.
The Global Jukebox and the Celestial Monochord: Alan Lomax and Harry Smith Compute Folk Music in Cold War America
Authors: Kramer Michael J. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractTypically understood only within the cultural history of the post–World War II folk music revival, documentarian Alan Lomax's “Cantometrics” research and artist Harry Smith'sFolkways Anthology of American Musicalso deserve to be positioned within the broader Cold War–era rise of the digital computer and tactics of computation in American society. Linking what Ross Cole describes as the “folkloric imagination” to what we might call the Cold War “computational imagination,” Lomax and Smith each examined folk music not through conventional ethnographic or musicological modes, but rather through computational lenses of data analysis, systems theory, informatics, and cybernetics. Both sought to expand cultural democracy by doing so, carrying Popular Front ideals into the postwar milieu while also presaging dilemmas found in today's fraught context of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the application of digital technologies to almost all aspects of human culture.
Polymorphisms in ERBB4 and TACR1 associated with dry mouth in clozapine-treated patients
Authors: Puolakka Hanna , Solismaa Anssi , Lyytikäinen Leo-Pekka , Viikki Merja , Seppälä Niko , Mononen Nina , Lehtimäki Terho , Kampman Olli 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackground:Sialorrhea is a common and uncomfortable adverse effect of clozapine, and its severity varies between patients. The aim of the study was to select broadly genes related to the regulation of salivation and study associations between sialorrhea and dry mouth and polymorphisms in the selected genes.Methods:The study population consists of 237 clozapine-treated patients, of which 172 were genotyped. Associations between sialorrhea and dry mouth with age, sex, BMI, smoking, clozapine dose, clozapine and norclozapine serum levels, and other comedication were studied. Genetic associations were analyzed with linear and logistic regression models explaining sialorrhea and dry mouth with each SNP added separately to the model as coefficients.Results:Clozapine dose, clozapine or norclozapine concentration and their ratio were not associated with sialorrhea or dryness of mouth. Valproate use (p = 0.013) and use of other antipsychotics (p = 0.015) combined with clozapine were associated with excessive salivation. No associations were found between studied polymorphisms and sialorrhea. In analyses explaining dry mouth with logistic regression with age and sex as coefficients, two proxy-SNPs were associated with dry mouth: epidermal growth factor receptor 4 (ERBB4) rs3942465 (adjusted p = 0.025) and tachykinin receptor 1 (TACR1) rs58933792 (adjusted p = 0.029).Conclusion:Use of valproate or antipsychotic polypharmacy may increase the risk of sialorrhea. Genetic variations in ERBB4 and TACR1 might contribute to experienced dryness of mouth among patients treated with clozapine.
Curcumin effects on age-related changes in oral immunity: an in vivo study
Authors: Uemura Ippei , Takahashi-Suzuki Natsuko , Sano Akari , Yamada Shogo , Nakata Akifumi , Satoh Takashi 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThe current study aimed to investigate the effects of ageing on oral immunity using β-defensin (DEFB) 1/2 as a marker and evaluate the effects of curcumin (CUR) on these processes. The study sample included thirty male C57BL/6J mice divided into three groups based on the treatment method used. The young control (YC) and old control (OC) groups received 0·5 % methylcellulose-400 (CUR vehicle) orally for 5 days, whereas the CUR group of older mice received a CUR solution suspended in 0·5 % methylcellulose-400 (dose: 3·0 mg/kg body). DEFB1/2 and immune indicator levels were measured in the saliva and salivary glands post-treatment. The saliva volume and protein content were significantly reduced in the OC group compared with the YC group. CUR administration restored these parameters, decreased DEFB1 expression in the salivary gland and increased DEFB1/2 secretion and DEFB2 expression. These findings were supported by epigenetic gene regulation and partial cytokine activation from changes in WD40 repeat protein 5, TNF alpha and IL-1beta. CUR can partially restore age-related changes in oral immune responses and promote oral health, thereby preventing frailty in the older population through a nutritional therapeutic pathway.
Longitudinal changes in resting-state functional connectivity as markers of vulnerability or resilience in first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder
Authors: Macoveanu Julian , Fortea Lydia , Kjærstad Hanne Lie , Coello Klara , Faurholt-Jepsen Maria , Fisher Patrick M. , Knudsen Gitte Moos , Radua Joaquim , Vieta Eduard , Frangou Sophia , Vinberg Maj , Kessing Lars Vedel , Miskowiak Kamilla Woznica 
Published: April 2024

AbstractBackgroundThere is a significant contribution of genetic factors to the etiology of bipolar disorder (BD). Unaffected first-degree relatives of patients (UR) with BD are at increased risk of developing mental disorders and may manifest cognitive impairments and alterations in brain functional and connective dynamics, akin to their affected relatives.MethodsIn this prospective longitudinal study, resting-state functional connectivity was used to explore stable and progressive markers of vulnerability i.e. abnormalities shared between UR and BD compared to healthy controls (HC) and resilience i.e. features unique to UR compared to HC and BD in full or partial remission (UR n = 72, mean age = 28.0 ± 7.2 years; HC n = 64, mean age = 30.0 ± 9.7 years; BD patients n = 91, mean age = 30.6 ± 7.7 years). Out of these, 34 UR, 48 BD, and 38 HC were investigated again following a mean time of 1.3 ± 0.4 years.ResultsAt baseline, the UR showed lower connectivity values within the default mode network (DMN), frontoparietal network, and the salience network (SN) compared to HC. This connectivity pattern in UR remained stable over the follow-up period and was not present in BD, suggesting a resilience trait. The UR further demonstrated less negative connectivity between the DMN and SN compared to HC, abnormality that remained stable over time and was also present in BD, suggesting a vulnerability marker.ConclusionOur findings indicate the coexistence of both vulnerability-related abnormalities in resting-state connectivity, as well as adaptive changes possibly promoting resilience to psychopathology in individual at familial risk.
Macrolide resistance ofMycoplasma pneumoniaein several regions of China from 2013 to 2019
Authors: Jiang Yue , Dou Haiwei , Xu Bo , Xu Baoping , Zhou Wei , Wang Hong , Ge Lixia , Hu Yinghui , Han Xiaohua , Qin Xuanguang , Li Jing , Ye Leping , Wu Liqun , Zuo Huimin , Zhang Qi , Liu Ling , Hu Wenjuan , Shao Junyan , Yin Qiaomian , Han Lina , Fu Xiaoyan , Dong Xiaopei , Dong Yan , Fu Yulin , Zhao Mengmeng , Sun Qing , Huo Jingwei , Liu Die , Liu Wenkao , Li Yunjuan , Wang Yang , Xin Deli , Shen Kunling 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThis paper retrospectively analysed the prevalence of macrolide-resistantMycoplasma pneumoniae(MRMP) in some parts of China. Between January 2013 and December 2019, we collected 4,145 respiratory samples, including pharyngeal swabs and alveolar lavage fluid. The highest PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae was 74.5% in Beijing, the highest resistance rate was 100% in Shanghai, and Gansu was the lowest with 20%. The highest PCR-positive rate ofM. pneumoniaewas 74.5% in 2013, and the highest MRMP was 97.4% in 2019; the PCR-positive rate ofM. pneumoniaefor adults in Beijing was 17.9% and the MRMP was 10.48%. Among the children diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), the PCR-positive and macrolide-resistant rates ofM. pneumoniaewere both higher in the severe ones. A2063G in domain V of 23S rRNA was the major macrolide-resistant mutation, accounting for more than 90%. The MIC values of all MRMP to erythromycin and azithromycin were ≥ 64 μg/ml, and the MICs of tetracycline and levofloxacin were ≤ 0.5 μg/ml and ≤ 1 μg/ml, respectively. The macrolide resistance varied in different regions and years. Among inpatients, the macrolide-resistant rate was higher in severe pneumonia. A2063G was the common mutation, and we found no resistance to tetracycline and levofloxacin.
New and improved bounds on the contextuality degree of multi-qubit configurations
Authors: Muller Axel , Saniga Metod , Giorgetti Alain , de Boutray Henri , Holweck Frédéric 
Published: April 2024

AbstractWe present algorithms and a C code to reveal quantum contextuality and evaluate the contextuality degree (a way to quantify contextuality) for a variety of point-line geometries located in binary symplectic polar spaces of small rank. With this code we were not only able to recover, in a more efficient way, all the results of a recent paper by de Boutray et al. [(2022). Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical55 475301], but also arrived at a bunch of new noteworthy results. The paper first describes the algorithms and the C code. Then it illustrates its power on a number of subspaces of symplectic polar spaces whose rank ranges from 2 to 7. The most interesting new results include: (i) non-contextuality of configurations whose contexts are subspaces of dimension 2 and higher, (ii) non-existence of negative subspaces of dimension 3 and higher, (iii) considerably improved bounds for the contextuality degree of both elliptic and hyperbolic quadrics for rank 4, as well as for a particular subgeometry of the three-qubit space whose contexts are the lines of this space, (iv) proof for the non-contextuality of perpsets and, last but not least, (v) contextual nature of a distinguished subgeometry of a multi-qubit doily, called a two-spread, and computation of its contextuality degree. Finally, in the three-qubit polar space we correct and improve the contextuality degree of the full configuration and also describe finite geometric configurations formed by unsatisfiable/invalid constraints for both types of quadrics as well as for the geometry whose contexts are all 315 lines of the space.
Inversions of Surface Displacements in Scaled Experiments of Analog Magma Intrusion
Authors: Poppe S. , Wauthier C. , Fontijn K. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractStandard geodetic models simplify magma sheet injection to the opening of geometrically simple dislocations in a linearly elastic, homogeneous medium. Intrusion geometries are often complex, however, and non‐elastic deformation mechanisms can dominate the response of heterogeneous rocks to magma‐induced stresses. We used three‐dimensional near‐surface displacements of a scaled laboratory experiment in which a steeply inclined analog magma sheet was injected into granular material. We ran forward models and inverted for eight parameters of an “Okada‐type” tensile rectangular dislocation in a homogeneous, isotropic, and linearly elastic half‐space. Displacements generated by a forward model largely mismatch the experimental displacements, but full or restricted non‐linear inversions of geometrical parameters reduce the residual displacements. The intrusion opening, dip, depth, and to a lesser degree length and width mismatch the most between the experiment and inversion results, whereas location and strike mismatch the least. Our results challenge assumptions made by many analytical and geodetic models.
Decadal‐Scale Variability in the Surface Flow of the Gulf of Maine Coastal Current: The Impact of Changing Climate Conditions on Coastal Circulation
Authors: Burkholder Kristin C. , Lee Jane HyoJin , Kime Meredith , Calabro Cassandra , Manning James P. 
Published: April 2024

AbstractThe Gulf of Maine (GOM) is one of the most productive and ecologically important marine environments on the planet. The Gulf of Maine Coastal Current (GMCC), which stretches along the western side of the GOM from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod, plays an important role in supporting this productivity by transporting nutrients, larvae and dinoflagellates southwestward along the Canadian and New England coastlines. Climate change has led to alterations in GOM ecosystems in recent years: GOM water temperatures have warmed and distributions of marine species have shifted. However, the impacts of the changing climate on the circulation within the GOM, including the path and velocity of the GMCC, have remained unclear. Here, we examine data collected by satellite tracked surface drifters and velocity data collected by the NERACOOS buoy array in order to investigate inter‐decadal changes to the flow of the GMCC. We find that over inter‐decadal timescales, the alongshore surface flow of the GMCC has slowed, particularly in the region southwest of Penobscot Bay. The slowdown observed in the GMCC surface flow is most likely attributed to a local strengthening of the southwesterly winds over the time period of interest.