bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Facilitating the identification of intellectual disability in schools: A qualitative study of stakeholder views
Authors: McKenzie Karen , Tanfield Yasmin , Murray George , Sandhu Rinku 
Published: November 2023

AbstractBackgroundMany children experience delayed or missed identification of an intellectual disability diagnosis, meaning that key opportunities for early educational intervention may be lost.MethodsSemi‐structured interviews were used to explore the views of teachers, parents, and clinicians (n = 22), about the use of the Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Screening Questionnaire (CAIDS‐Q) and what could improve screening and identification of intellectual disability in schools. Thematic analysis was used to identify relevant themes.ResultsThree themes were identified: the need for, and role of, screening in the context of limited knowledge about intellectual disability; the impact of screening and subsequent identification of intellectual disability; and the context within which participants felt screening should take place in order to maximise its benefits.ConclusionsThe results confirmed the importance and benefits of timely identification of children with an intellectual disability and the positive role that screening might play in this.
Upregulation of ATG9b by propranolol promotes autophagic cell death of hepatic stellate cells to improve liver fibrosis
Authors: Wang Sining , Ding Qian , Xiu Aiyuan , Xia Yifu , Wang Guangchuan , Zhang Chunqing 
Published: November 2023

AbstractProranolol has long been recommended to prevent variceal bleeding in patients with cirrhosis. However, the mechanisms of propranolol in liver fibrosis have not yet been thoroughly elucidated. Autophagic cell death (ACD) of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is important in the alleviation of liver fibrosis. Our study aims to assess the mechanisms of propranolol regulating HSC ACD and liver fibrosis. ACD of HSCs was investigated using lentivirus transfection. The molecular mechanism was determined using a PCR profiler array. The role of autophagy‐related protein 9b (ATG9b) in HSC ACD was detected using co‐immunoprecipitation and co‐localization of immunofluorescence. Changes in the signalling pathway were detected by the Phospho Explorer antibody microarray. Propranolol induces ACD and apoptosis in HSCs. ATG9b upregulation was detected in propranolol‐treated HSCs. ATG9b upregulation promoted ACD of HSCs and alleviated liver fibrosis in vivo. ATG9b enhanced the P62 recruitment to ATG5‐ATG12‐LC3 compartments and increased the co‐localization of P62 with ubiquitinated proteins. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway is responsible for ATG9b‐induced ACD in activated HSCs, whereas the p38/JNK pathway is involved in apoptosis. This study provides evidence for ATG9b as a new target gene and propranolol as an agent to alleviate liver fibrosis by regulating ACD of activated HSCs.
Post‐transcriptional regulation of grain weight and shape by the RBP‐A‐J‐K complex in rice
Authors: Ren Ding , Liu Hui , Sun Xuejun , Zhang Fan , Jiang Ling , Wang Ying , Jiang Ning , Yan Peiwen , Cui Jinhao , Yang Jinshui , Li Zhikang , Lu Pingli , Luo Xiaojin 
Published: November 2023

AbstractRNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) are components of the post‐transcriptional regulatory system, but their regulatory effects on complex traits remain unknown. Using an integrated strategy involving map‐based cloning, functional characterizations, and transcriptomic and population genomic analyses, we revealed that RBP‐K (LOC_Os08g23120), RBP‐A (LOC_Os11g41890), and RBP‐J (LOC_Os10g33230) encode proteins that form an RBP‐A‐J‐K complex that negatively regulates rice yield‐related traits. Examinations of the RBP‐A‐J‐K complex indicated RBP‐K functions as a relatively non‐specific RBP chaperone that enables RBP‐A and RBP‐J to function normally. Additionally, RBP‐J most likely affects GA pathways, resulting in considerable increases in grain and panicle lengths, but decreases in grain width and thickness. In contrast, RBP‐A negatively regulates the expression of genes most likely involved in auxin‐regulated pathways controlling cell wall elongation and carbohydrate transport, with substantial effects on the rice grain filling process as well as grain length and weight. Evolutionarily, RBP‐K is relatively ancient and highly conserved, whereas RBP‐J and RBP‐A are more diverse. Thus, the RBP‐A‐J‐K complex may represent a typical functional model for many RBPs and protein complexes that function at transcriptional and post‐transcriptional levels in plants and animals for increased functional consistency, efficiency, and versatility, as well as increased evolutionary potential. Our results clearly demonstrate the importance of RBP‐mediated post‐transcriptional regulation for the diversity of complex traits. Furthermore, rice grain yield and quality may be enhanced by introducing various complete or partial loss‐of‐function mutations to specific RBP genes using clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated protein 9 technology and by exploiting desirable natural tri‐genic allelic combinations at the loci encoding the components of the RBP‐A‐J‐K complex through marker‐assisted selection.
Concordance of verbal memory and language fMRI lateralization in people with epilepsy
Authors: Kokkinos Vasileios , Seimenis Ioannis 
Published: November 2023

AbstractBackground and PurposeThis work investigates verbal memory functional MRI (fMRI) versus language fMRI in terms of lateralization, and assesses the validity of performing word recognition during the functional scan.MethodsThirty patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy underwent verbal memory, visuospatial memory, and language fMRI. We used word encoding, word recognition, image encoding, and image recognition memory tasks, and semantic description, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension language tasks. We used three common lateralization metrics: network spatial distribution, maximum statistical value, and laterality index (LI).ResultsLateralization of signal spatial distribution resulted in poor similarity between verbal memory and language fMRI tasks. Signal maximum lateralization showed significant (>.8) but not perfect (1) similarity. Word encoding LI showed significant correlation only with listening comprehension LI (p = .016). Word recognition LI was significantly correlated with expressive language semantic description LI (p = .024) and receptive language reading and listening comprehension LIs (p = .015 and p = .019, respectively). There was no correlation between LIs of the visuospatial tasks and LIs of the language tasks.ConclusionsOur results support the association between language and verbal memory lateralization, optimally determined by LI quantification, and the introduction of quantitative means for language fMRI interpretation in clinical settings where verbal memory lateralization is imperative.
Associations between metabolic hyperferritinaemia, fibrosis‐promoting alleles and clinical outcomes in steatotic liver disease
Authors: Suresh Deepika , Li Ashley , Miller Matthew J. , Wijarnpreecha Karn , Chen Vincent L. 
Published: November 2023

AbstractBackground & AimsFerritin has been investigated as a biomarker for liver fibrosis and iron in patients with metabolic dysfunction‐associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). However, whether metabolic hyperferritinaemia predicts progression of liver disease remains unknown. In this study, we sought to understand associations between hyperferritinaemia and (1) adverse clinical outcomes and (2) common genetic variants related to iron metabolism and liver fibrosis.MethodsThis was a retrospective analysis of adults with MASLD seen at the University of Michigan Health System, where MASLD was defined by hepatic steatosis on imaging, biopsy or vibration‐controlled transient elastography, plus metabolic risk factors in the absence of chronic liver diseases other than hemochromatosis. The primary predictor was serum ferritin level, which was dichotomized based on a cut‐off of 300 or 450 mcg/L for women or men. Primary outcomes included (1) incident cirrhosis, liver‐related events, congestive heart failure (CHF), and mortality and (2) distribution of common genetic variants associated with hepatic fibrosis and hereditary hemochromatosis.ResultsOf 7333 patients with MASLD, 1468 (20%) had elevated ferritin. In multivariate analysis, ferritinaemia was associated with increased mortality (HR 1.68 [1.35–2.09], p < .001) and incident liver‐related events (HR 1.92 [1.11–3.32], p = .019). Furthermore, elevated ferritin was associated with carriage of cirrhosis‐promoting alleles including PNPLA3‐rs738409‐G allele (p = .0068) and TM6SF2‐rs58542926‐T allele (p = 0.0083) but not with common HFE mutations.ConclusionsIn MASLD patients, metabolic hyperferritinaemia was associated with increased mortality and higher incidence of liver‐related events, and cirrhosis‐promoting alleles but not with iron overload‐promoting HFE mutations.
Population genomics of the muskox' resilience in the near absence of genetic variation
Authors: Pečnerová Patrícia , Lord Edana , Garcia‐Erill Genís , Hanghøj Kristian , Rasmussen Malthe Sebro , Meisner Jonas , Liu Xiaodong , van der Valk Tom , Santander Cindy G. , Quinn Liam , Lin Long , Liu Shanlin , Carøe Christian , Dalerum Fredrik , Götherström Anders , Måsviken Johannes , Vartanyan Sergey , Raundrup Katrine , Al‐Chaer Amal , Rasmussen Linett , Hvilsom Christina , Heide‐Jørgensen Mads Peter , Sinding Mikkel‐Holger S. , Aastrup Peter , Van Coeverden de Groot Peter J. , Schmidt Niels Martin , Albrechtsen Anders , Dalén Love , Heller Rasmus , Moltke Ida , Siegismund Hans Redlef 
Published: November 2023

AbstractGenomic studies of species threatened by extinction are providing crucial information about evolutionary mechanisms and genetic consequences of population declines and bottlenecks. However, to understand how species avoid the extinction vortex, insights can be drawn by studying species that thrive despite past declines. Here, we studied the population genomics of the muskox (Ovibos moschatus), an Ice Age relict that was at the brink of extinction for thousands of years at the end of the Pleistocene yet appears to be thriving today. We analysed 108 whole genomes, including present‐day individuals representing the current native range of both muskox subspecies, the white‐faced and the barren‐ground muskox (O. moschatus wardi and O. moschatus moschatus) and a ~21,000‐year‐old ancient individual from Siberia. We found that the muskox' demographic history was profoundly shaped by past climate changes and post‐glacial re‐colonizations. In particular, the white‐faced muskox has the lowest genome‐wide heterozygosity recorded in an ungulate. Yet, there is no evidence of inbreeding depression in native muskox populations. We hypothesize that this can be explained by the effect of long‐term gradual population declines that allowed for purging of strongly deleterious mutations. This study provides insights into how species with a history of population bottlenecks, small population sizes and low genetic diversity survive against all odds.
Connecting the dots towards precision orthodontics
Authors: Kapila Sunil , Vora Siddharth R , Rengasamy Venugopalan Shankar , Elnagar Mohammed H. , Akyalcin Sercan 
Published: November 2023

AbstractPrecision orthodontics entails the use of personalized clinical, biological, social and environmental knowledge of each patient for deep individualized clinical phenotyping and diagnosis combined with the delivery of care using advanced customized devices, technologies and biologics. From its historical origins as a mechanotherapy and materials driven profession, the most recent advances in orthodontics in the past three decades have been propelled by technological innovations including volumetric and surface 3D imaging and printing, advances in software that facilitate the derivation of diagnostic details, enhanced personalization of treatment plans and fabrication of custom appliances. Still, the use of these diagnostic and therapeutic technologies is largely phenotype driven, focusing mainly on facial/skeletal morphology and tooth positions. Future advances in orthodontics will involve comprehensive understanding of an individual's biology through omics, a field of biology that involves large‐scale rapid analyses of DNA, mRNA, proteins and other biological regulators from a cell, tissue or organism. Such understanding will define individual biological attributes that will impact diagnosis, treatment decisions, risk assessment and prognostics of therapy. Equally important are the advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and its applications in orthodontics. AI is already being used to perform validation of approaches for diagnostic purposes such as landmark identification, cephalometric tracings, diagnosis of pathologies and facial phenotyping from radiographs and/or photographs. Other areas for future discoveries and utilization of AI will include clinical decision support, precision orthodontics, payer decisions and risk prediction. The synergies between deep 3D phenotyping and advances in materials, omics and AI will propel the technological and omics era towards achieving the goal of delivering optimized and predictable precision orthodontics.
Natural variation in the promoter of FLOWERING LOCUS T‐LIKE 2 in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) is associated with flowering time under short‐day conditions
Authors: Zhao Hang , Tian Zhiyu , Song Guoyi , Xiang Shuanglu , Wang Yi , He Yan , Lv Xiaoran , Wang Jie , Yang Zhongzhou , Liu Yongsheng , Wang Dongliang , Li Wei 
Published: November 2023

AbstractLate flowering is a serious bottleneck in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch.) agriculture production. Although key genes governing flowering time have been reported in many species, the regulatory network of flowering in pumpkin remains largely obscure, thereby impeding the resolution of industry‐wide challenges associated with delayed fruit ripening in pumpkin cultivation. Here, we report an early flowering pumpkin germplasm accession (LXX‐4). Using LXX‐4 and a late flowering germplasm accession (HYM‐9), we constructed an F2 segregation population. A significant difference in FLOWERING LOCUS T‐LIKE 2 (FTL2) expression level was identified to be the causal factor of the flowering time trait discrepancy in LXX‐4 and HYM‐9. Moreover, we have shown that a 21 bp InDel in the FTL2 promoter was the key reason for the waxing and waning of its transcript level. The 21 bp deletion excluded a repressor‐AGL19 and recruited activators‐BBX7, WRKY40 and SVP to the FTL2 promoter in LXX‐4. Together, our data add a useful element to our knowledge which could be used to simplify breeding efforts for early‐maturing pumpkin.
Emotional impacts of excursions on parents of children with medical complexity
Authors: Kosaka Makoto , Kotera Yasuhiro , Masunaga Hidehisa , Bhandari Divya , Miyatake Hirotomo , Nishikawa Yoshitaka , Komori Naomi , Ozaki Akihiko , Beniya Hiroyuki 
Published: November 2023

AbstractBackgroundParents of children with medical complexity (CMC) have extra child‐raising responsibilities because of the time commitments necessary for care, and their social participation is often compromised. Experiencing leisure excursions with such children may be a solution to some of these problems but the first‐hand experience of excursions in regard to their psychological impact on the caregivers of CMC remains to be appraised.MethodsSemi‐structured interviews were conducted, via video conference, with eight informal and eight formal caregivers of CMC who attended an excursion to Tokyo Disney Land (TDL). We investigated the psychological changes that they had experienced through the excursion, performing inductive thematic analysis.ResultsThree themes were identified among parents and five were identified among medical professionals. Themes reported by the parents were: Increased trust in the public and society (Theme 1); confidence for other challenges (Theme 2), and connection with other parents in the non‐medical settings (Theme 3). Themes reported by medical professionals were: Expanding the initiative to other CMC (Theme 1); feeling bonded with other caregivers within the working group (Theme 2); information exchange across different working groups (Theme 3), positive responses from CMC (Theme 4); families' confidence to go out (Theme 5).ConclusionsThis study showed that the excursion to TDL led to positive psychological changes in both medical professionals and parents of CMC, enhancing trust, connection, and confidence. The promising results of this study suggest a need for further research about the impact of an excursion on caregivers of CMC.
The HPA and SAM axis mediate the impairment of creativity under stress
Authors: Guo Xiaoyu , Wang Yifan , Kan Yuecui , Wu Meilin , Ball Linden J. , Duan Haijun 
Published: November 2023

AbstractWith the ever‐changing social environment, individual creativity is facing a severe challenge induced by stress. However, little is known regarding the underlying mechanisms by which acute stress affects creative cognitive processing. The current research explored the impacts of the neuroendocrine response on creativity under stress and its underlying cognitive flexibility mechanisms. The enzyme‐linked immuno sorbent assay was employed to assess salivary cortisol, which acted as a marker of stress‐induced activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Eye blink rate (EBR) and pupil diameter were measured as respective indicators of dopamine and noradrenaline released by the activation of the sympathetic–adrenal–medullary (SAM) axis. The Wisconsin card task (WCST) measured cognitive flexibility, while the alternative uses task (AUT) and the remote association task (RAT) measured separately divergent and convergent thinking in creativity. Results showed higher cortisol increments following acute stress induction in the stress group than control group. Ocular results showed that the stress manipulation significantly increased EBR and pupil diameter compared to controls, reflecting increased SAM activity. Further analysis revealed that stress‐released cortisol impaired the originality component of the AUT, reducing cognitive flexibility as measured by perseverative errors on the WCST task. Serial mediation analyses showed that both EBR and pupil diameter were also associated with increased perseverative errors leading to poor originality on the AUT. These findings confirm that physiological arousal under stress can impair divergent thinking through the regulation of different neuroendocrine pathways, in which the deterioration of flexible switching plays an important mediating role.
Calibration‐free blood pressure estimation based on a convolutional neural network
Authors: Cho Jinwoo , Shin Hangsik , Choi Ahyoung 
Published: November 2023

AbstractIn this study, we conducted research on a deep learning‐based blood pressure (BP) estimation model suitable for wearable environments. To measure BP while wearing a wearable watch, it needs to be considered that computing power for signal processing is limited and the input signals are subject to noise interference. Therefore, we employed a convolutional neural network (CNN) as the BP estimation model and utilized time‐series electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals, which are quantifiable in a wearable context. We generated periodic input signals and used differential and thresholding methods to decrease noise in the preprocessing step. We then applied a max‐pooling technique with filter sizes of 2 × 1 and 5 × 1 within a 3‐layer convolutional neural network to estimate BP. Our method was trained, validated, and tested using 2.4 million data samples from 49 patients in the intensive care unit. These samples, totaling 3.1 GB were obtained from the publicly accessible MIMIC database. As a result of a test with 480,000 data samples, the average root mean square error in BP estimation was 3.41, 5.80, and 2.78 mm Hg in the prediction of pulse pressure, systolic BP (SBP), and diastolic BP (DBP), respectively. The cumulative error percentage less than 5 mm Hg was 68% and 93% for SBP and DBP, respectively. In addition, the cumulative error percentage less than 15 mm Hg was 98% and 99% for SBP and DBP. Subsequently, we evaluated the impact of changes in input signal length (1 cycle vs. 30 s) and the introduction of noise on BP estimation results. The experimental results revealed that the length of the input signal did not significantly affect the performance of CNN‐based analysis. When estimating BP using noise‐added ECG signals, the mean absolute error (MAE) for SBP and DBP was 9.72 and 6.67 mm Hg, respectively. Meanwhile, when using noise‐added PPG signals, the MAE for SBP and DBP was 26.85 and 14.00 mm Hg, respectively. Therefore, this study confirmed that using ECG signals rather than PPG signals is advantageous for noise reduction in a wearable environment. Besides, short sampling frames without calibration can be effective as input signals. Furthermore, it demonstrated that using a model suitable for information extraction rather than a specialized deep learning model for sequential data can yield satisfactory results in BP estimation.
Academics meet practitioners: Interactive exchange instead of consuming knowledge on dairy calving management
Authors: Mee John F. , Szenci Otto , Fischer‐Tenhagen Carola 
Published: November 2023

AbstractConsensus on optimal calving management is difficult to achieve among veterinarians. Some of this discordance may stem from asymmetry between the literature written by subject matter experts (SME) and the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of non‐SMEs and veterinary practitioners. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess how veterinary practitioners KAPs in calving management compared with the findings in the literature. An online questionnaire survey was conducted prior to a World Buiatrics Congress by delegates (n = 80) who attended a workshop on calving management at which the outcomes of the latter were recorded. The responses from the questionnaire and the consensus from the workshop were compared and these were compared with the literature on calving management, specifically, prediction of calving, assistance at calving and farmer training in calving management. In general, there was good agreement between the aggregated individual responses to the questionnaire and the consensuses from the workshop. The suggested methods of predicting calving were well aligned between practitioners and those researched in the literature but practitioners tended to emphasize more practical aspects of prediction while the literature tends to focus more on the effectiveness of various predictor devices. Practitioners tended to recommend a later time of calving assistance than that recommended in the recent literature though they did also emphasize the importance of calving progress. The majority of practitioners conducted informal (at calving) calving training focusing on time of intervention, welfare‐friendly intervention and delivery of a live healthy calf. However, the educational literature recommends a formal training approach as being more effective. These findings indicate that practitioners may benefit from continuing professional education on the scientific merits/demerits of calving prediction devices, current best practice on intervention timing during calving and formal methods of farmer training on calving management.