bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Vegetation changes since the late Middle Ages around Bern, Switzerland
Authors: Stevanon Philip , Gobet Erika , Schwörer Christoph , Rohr Christian , Tinner Willy 
Published: February 2024

AbstractWhile the impacts of modern farming and land use practices on climate and biodiversity since 1900 are well-studied in Western and Central Europe, less is known about the preceding transitional period of the 18th and 19th century. By combining information from both natural and historical archives, this study strives to understand the impacts of 18th century agrarian modernisation on Central European ecosystems. Here we present a multi-proxy palaeoecological study from Egelsee (548 m a.s.l., within the city of Bern, Switzerland) spanning the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century. We use pollen, charcoal, dung fungal spores and spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) as proxies for vegetation and land use changes as well as radiocarbon wiggle matching for the chronology. Our pollen record suggests a shift from cereal cultivation towards grazing from the 16th century onwards, and from the 18th century towards fertilised meadows for animal husbandry. The pollen-inferred decrease of woods since 1700 quantitatively confirms the historically described timber scarcity in the lowlands of Switzerland, while the positive correlation between climate indices and our pollen-inferred cereal production suggests a certain vulnerability of societies to subsistence crises. From the 1850s, urbanisation rapidly altered the vegetation from an open agricultural landscape to a highly urbanised area, leading to a decline of biodiversity towards the present. This study shows that historically well-documented changes in agricultural practices in livestock farming and fodder production, and later urbanisation, can likewise be reconstructed with palaeoecological approaches. Our interdisciplinary approach provides new insights into how agricultural innovations affected vegetation and ecosystems during the past 500 years.
Is Fisher inference inferior to Neyman inference for policy analysis?
Authors: Ahmad Rauf , Johansson Per , Schultzberg Mårten 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe increasing computational power has led to an increasing interest in Fisher’s test in social science. As the Fisher and Neyman inference are based on different principles there is also an increasing interest in understanding the differential features of the two procedures. For example, Young (2018) found that the Fisher test has better size properties than the Neyman test in the situation with influential observations. Ding (2017), on the other hand, showed that the asymptotic variance of the mean-difference estimator (MDE) under Fisher inference is larger than that under Neyman inference, and that the asymptotic Fisher test is less powerful than the t-test even for the simplest case of homogeneous effect. Since MDE plays an important role for policy evaluation, these latter results are a concern for using Fisher’s test as argued in Young (2018). With the aim of providing an understanding of the usefulness of the exact Fisher test for inference to the sample and to the population, this paper clarifies the results in Ding (2017). Using a novel Monte Carlo simulation following the same data generating processes as in Ding (2017), we demonstrate that the Fisher test has no worse power properties than the t-test even with heterogeneous effects.
Multimodal cortical neuronal cell type classification
Authors: Mao Xiaoyi , Staiger Jochen F. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractSince more than a century, neuroscientists have distinguished excitatory (glutamatergic) neurons with long-distance projections from inhibitory (GABAergic) neurons with local projections and established layer-dependent schemes for the ~ 80% excitatory (principal) cells as well as the ~ 20% inhibitory neurons. Whereas, in the early days, mainly morphological criteria were used to define cell types, later supplemented by electrophysiological and neurochemical properties, nowadays. single-cell transcriptomics is the method of choice for cell type classification. Bringing recent insight together, we conclude that despite all established layer- and area-dependent differences, there is a set of reliably identifiable cortical cell types that were named (among others) intratelencephalic (IT), extratelencephalic (ET), and corticothalamic (CT) for the excitatory cells, which altogether comprise ~ 56 transcriptomic cell types (t-types). By the same means, inhibitory neurons were subdivided into parvalbumin (PV), somatostatin (SST), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), and “other (i.e. Lamp5/Sncg)” subpopulations, which altogether comprise ~ 60 t-types. The coming years will show which t-types actually translate into “real” cell types that show a common set of multimodal features, including not only transcriptome but also physiology and morphology as well as connectivity and ultimately function. Only with the better knowledge of clear-cut cell types and experimental access to them, we will be able to reveal their specific functions, a task which turned out to be difficult in a part of the brain being so much specialized for cognition as the cerebral cortex.
Repeated local delivery of hyaluronic acid gel as adjunctive treatment of residual pockets in periodontitis patients undergoing supportive periodontal care. A randomized controlled clinical trial
Authors: Bertl Kristina , Vlachou Stefania , Pandis Nikolaos , Zampelis Antonios , Stavropoulos Andreas 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Objectives
To assess the effect of hyaluronic acid (HyA) application as adjunct to re-instrumentation of residual pockets in patients undergoing regular supportive periodontal care (SPC).

Methods
Chronic periodontitis patients (stage III and IV, grade B and C) with 4 interproximal residual pockets were randomly assigned to the test (HyA gel) or control (saline) group. After subgingival instrumentation, test or control substance was applied subgingivally, then daily supragingivally for 3 months, and if required a second time after subgingival re-instrumentation after 3 months. Clinical and patient reported outcome parameters were recorded every 3 months for 12 months. Pocket closure [probing pocket depth (PPD) ≤ 4mm with absence of bleeding on probing (BoP) at PPD = 4mm] was the main outcome parameter.

Results
Fifty-six patients (221 experimental sites) were analysed. Pocket closure was achieved in 56.8 and 46.6% of the experimental sites in the test and control group, respectively (p > 0.05), while median PPD and PPD distribution (< 5mm/5mm/ > 5mm) differed significantly between groups in favour of the test group, at 12 months. Further, significantly fewer sites in the HyA group required re-instrumentation at 3 months, and sites in the HyA group showed a tendency for lower odds to remain diseased compared to the control group (OR 0.48, 95%CI 0.22–1.06). The odds for a site to remain diseased after 12 months increased significantly in the presence of plaque (OR 7.94, 95%CI 4.12–15.28), but in general, decreased significantly over time (OR 0.48, 95%CI 0.28–0.81).

Conclusion
Re-instrumentation of residual pockets in SPC patients, per se, leads to a significant increase in pocket closure over time; this was impeded by poor plaque control. Repeated local application of HyA results in fewer sites requiring re-instrumentation and might slightly improve the rate of pocket closure. (clinicaltrials.gov registration nr. NCT04792541).

Clinical relevance
HyA gel is easy to apply, well accepted by patients, and may have some positive effect in terms of fewer sites requiring re-instrumentation at 3 months and higher pocket closure rate at 12 months.
What hampers research collaboration in a region?
Authors: Hertrich Tobias Johannes , Brenner Thomas 
Published: February 2024

AbstractResearch collaboration is an important instrument for innovation and knowledge transfer. In this respect, barriers that prevent or impede research collaboration between research institutions and companies are of particular importance. In this paper, we elaborate on the importance of research collaboration barriers by conducting and analysing 77 expert interviews from ten German regions. We go beyond the existing literature by examining differences in the perception of different kinds of experts and by comparing different types of regions classified according to the presence of important actors, namely research institutions and large companies. Our results show that research collaboration barriers are perceived as very significant barriers to innovation across all region types. We find differences in the perception of research collaboration barriers between the experts. On the regional level, the presence of research institutions shifts the relevance from missing partners to other research collaboration barriers, while all research collaboration barriers are not perceived as significantly less important.
Identification and verification of inflammatory biomarkers for primary Sjögren’s syndrome
Authors: Liu Xiaodan , Wang Haojie , Wang Xiao , Jiang Xiaodan , Jin Yinji , Han Ying , Zhang Zhihui 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIntroductionPrimary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory infiltration, and dysfunction of the salivary and lacrimal glands. This research aimed to explore the disease pathogenesis and improve the diagnosis and treatment of pSS by mining inflammation-associated biomarkers.MethodsFive pSS-related datasets were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Inflammation-associated biomarkers were determined by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and support vector machines recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE). Single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) was implemented to profile the infiltration levels of immune cells. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) verified the expression of biomarkers in clinical samples.ResultsFour genes (LY6E, EIF2AK2, IL15, and CXCL10) were screened as inflammation-associated biomarkers in pSS, the predictive performance of which were determined among three pSS-related datasets (AUC > 0.7). Functional enrichment results suggested that the biomarkers were involved in immune and inflammation-related pathways. Immune infiltration analysis revealed that biomarkers were notably connected with type 2 T helper cells, regulatory T cells which were significantly expressed between pSS and control. TESTOSTERONE and CYCLOSPORINE were predicted to take effect by targeting CXCL10 and IL15 in pSS, respectively.ConclusionFour inflammation-associated biomarkers (LY6E, EIF2AK2, IL15, and CXCL10) were explored, and the underlying regulatory mechanisms and targeted drugs associated with these biomarkers were preliminarily investigated according to a series of bioinformatics methods based on the online datasets of pSS, which provided a reference for understanding the pathogenesis of pSS.Key Points•Inflammation-associated biomarkers (LY6E, EIF2AK2, IL15, and CXCL10) were firstly identified in Sjögren’s syndrome based on LASSO and SVM-RFE analyses.•CXCL10, EIF2AK2 and LY6E were prominently positively correlated with immature B cells, while IL15 were significantly negatively correlated with memory B cells in Sjögren’s syndrome.•LY6E, EIF2AK2, IL15, and CXCL10 were significantly more highly expressed in clinical Sjögren’s syndrome samples compared to healthy control samples, which was consistent with the analysis results of the GEO database.•LY6E, EIF2AK2, IL15, and CXCL10 might be used as the biomarkers for the treatment and diagnosis of Sjögren’s syndrome.
Stationäre Versorgung von Menschen mit psychogenen nicht-epileptischen Anfällen – Positionspapier der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Diakonischer Epilepsiezentren
Authors: Müffelmann Birgitt , Finzel Martin , Puppe Swetlana , Mahn Patricia , Steinhoff Bernhard J. , Stodieck Stefan R. G. , Straub Hans-Beatus , Bösebeck Frank , Bien Christian G. , Mayer Thomas 
Published: February 2024

ZusammenfassungPsychogene nicht-epileptische Anfälle (PNEA) (synonym: funktionelle/dissoziative Anfälle) sind eine wichtige Differenzialdiagnose zu epileptischen Anfällen und keine seltene Erkrankung. Die Versorgung von Patientinnen und Patienten mit PNEA erfolgt in spezialisierten Epilepsiezentren, die jederzeit Anfälle der Betroffenen überwachen und einschätzen können. Diese Zentren verfügen über ein spezialisiertes Behandlungskonzept, das die Kommission „Psychosomatische Epileptologie“ der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epileptologie erarbeitet hat und das ständig bearbeitet und evaluiert wird. Seit einiger Zeit wird diese Versorgungsform durch den Medizinischen Dienst infrage gestellt. Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft Diakonischer Epilepsiezentren fasst deshalb in einem Positionspapier die Argumente zusammen, die für eine Fortführung der etablierten und wissenschaftlich fundierten Versorgung mit entsprechender Kostenübernahme durch die Kostenträger sprechen.
Blue LED trap and commercial lure improve western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) monitoring in cucumber crops
Authors: Grupe Björn , Meyhöfer Rainer 
Published: February 2024

AbstractBlue sticky traps contribute substantially to monitoring the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), in greenhouses. Although sticky traps can detect the initial presence of thrips reliably, an estimation of the actual thrips density in the crop by counting number of thrips on the traps is often not accurate. To overcome this issue, we compared blue sticky traps and newly developed sticky LED-enlightened traps in combination with the commercial thrips kairomone Lurem-TR under commercial growing conditions. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in cucumber, Cucumis sativus L. (Cucurbitaceae), crop stands in greenhouse cabins investigating the correlation between thrips caught on (LED) traps and the thrips density in the crop for an accurate and reliable thrips monitoring. Additionally, experiments aiming to understand underlying mechanisms of thrips orientation towards traps in different scenarios were conducted under controlled conditions. Results show that thrips catches on sticky LED enlightened coloured traps correlated strongly positive with number of thrips in the crop, especially at low thrips population densities. Adding Lurem to this trap type further improved accuracy of the correlation in the greenhouse cabin experiment. Moreover, LED traps with and without Lurem were more attractive towards thrips in small follow-up experiments compared to standard blue sticky traps. The results are discussed in the context of general orientation of thrips and its behaviour towards visual and olfactory cues when considering different scenarios. Our study shows the successful integration of blue LEDs into an existing trapping system and underlines the advantages compared with standard sticky plates. In conclusion, sticky LED enlightened coloured traps have a potential as an improved thrips monitoring device that might improve pest management decisions.
Pretreatment periodontitis is predictive of a poorer prognosis after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer
Authors: Nozaki Shu , Sato Yusuke , Takano Hiroshi , Nomura Kyoko , Wakita Akiyuki , Liu Jiajia , Nagaki Yushi , Sasamori Ryohei , Sasaki Yoshihiro , Takahashi Tsukasa , Igarashi Hidemitsu , Konno Yasunori , Fukuda Masayuki , Minamiya Yoshihiro 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
Poor oral health is an independent risk factor for upper-aerodigestive tract cancers, including esophageal cancer. Several studies have investigated short-term outcomes after esophagectomy and the impact of periodontal disease, but few have examined the impact of periodontal disease on long-term outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the rate of periodontitis among esophagectomy patients and the prognostic value of periodontitis and its effect on prognosis after esophagectomy.

Methods
A total of 508 patients who underwent esophagectomy received oral health care from a dentist before cancer treatment at Akita University Hospital between January 2009 and December 2021. We assessed the presence and severity of the patients’ periodontitis and divided them into no-periodontitis, mild periodontitis, severe periodontitis and edentulous jaw groups. We then assessed 10-year overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) and determined whether periodontitis was an independent prognostic factor affecting OS and DSS.

Results
We found that 101 (19.9%) patients had no periodontitis, 207 (40.8%) had mild periodontitis, 176 (34.6%) had severe periodontitis requiring tooth extraction, and 24 (4.7%) had edentulous jaw. Both OS and DSS were significantly poorer in the periodontitis than no-periodontitis group (p < 0.001). In detail, the edentulous jaw group had the poorest prognosis (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that periodontitis was an independent risk factor affecting OS and DSS.

Conclusion
Esophageal cancer patients had a high prevalence of periodontitis. Moreover, the presence of periodontitis and severity of periodontitis are independent risk factors contributing to a poorer prognosis after esophagectomy.
Sharing and Receiving Eye-Contact Predicts Mate Choice After a 5-Minute Conversation: Evidence from a Speed-Dating Study
Authors: Hoffmann Alexandra , Schiestl Sabrina , Sinske Philipp , Gondan Matthias , Sachse Pierre , Maran Thomas 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn popular narratives, the first date with a potential mate often centers on their gaze as embodiment of interest and attraction. However, evidence is still lacking on the role of eye-contact as a potent signal in human social interaction in the context of dating. In addition, behavioral mechanisms of mate selection are not well understood. In the present study, we therefore examined mutual eye-contact and its influence on mate choice by applying dual mobile eye-tracking during naturalistic speed-dates. A total of 30 male and 30 female subjects attended four speed-dates each (N = 240). Subjects were more likely to choose those dating partners with whom they shared more eye-contact with. In addition, perceived attractiveness played an important role for mate choice. Interestingly, receiving but not giving eye-contact also predicted individual mate choice. Eye-contact thus acts as an important signal of romantic attraction when encountering a dating partner.
Association between blood lipid levels and the risk of liver cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Zhang Zhihui , Xu Shicong , Song Meixuan , Huang Weirong , Yan Manlin , Li Xianrong 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Purpose
The association between blood lipid levels and the risk of developing liver cancer remains a subject of ongoing debate. To elucidate this association, we conducted a meta-analysis by systematically incorporating data from all relevant prospective cohort studies.

Methods
We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases covering studies published from database inception through July 2023. This study included prospective cohort studies related to lipid profiles (e.g., total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels) that reported hazard ratios (HRs) or relative risks (RRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to investigate their association with the risk of liver cancer. During the analysis process, we used fixed-effects or random-effects models based on the level of heterogeneity among the studies and obtained pooled risk ratios using these models. To ensure the robustness and reliability of the study findings, we also conducted sensitivity analyses and publication bias analyses.

Results
After conducting a systematic search, 12 studies were identified from a total of 11,904 articles and were included in the meta-analysis. These studies included a combined population of 10,765,221 participants, among whom 31,055 cases of liver cancer were reported. The analysis revealed that the pooled HR for the serum TC concentration (highest versus lowest) was 0.45 (95% CI = 0.35–0.58, I2 = 78%). For TGs, the HR was 0.67 (95% CI = 0.46–0.96, I2 = 86%), while for HDL-C, the HR was 0.72 (95% CI = 0.58–0.90, I2 = 65%). The HR for LDL-C was 0.51 (95% CI = 0.23–1.13, I2 = 93%).

Conclusion
The findings of this study indicate that serum TC, TG, and HDL-C levels are negatively associated with liver cancer risk, suggesting that higher concentrations of these lipids are associated with a reduced risk of liver cancer. However, no significant association has been found between LDL-C levels and liver cancer risk.
Influence of TEMPO-oxidation on pulp fiber chemistry, morphology and mechanical paper sheet properties
Authors: Hillscher Laura M. , Höfler Mark V. , Gutmann Torsten , Lux Cassia , Clerkin K. Uta , Schwall Gerhard , Villforth Klaus , Schabel Samuel , Biesalski Markus 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn this contribution, we report on the TEMPO-mediated oxidation of pulp fibers used in the general context of papermaking and for the future design of tailor-made paper in advanced applications. We focus in our studies on properties of TEMPO-oxidized pulp fibers to explain the characteristics of the paper made thereof. 13C solid-state NMR analysis reveals that in particular amorphous regions of the fibers are being chemically oxidized, while at the same time the crystalline regions of the fibers are not significantly affected. Investigation of the fiber morphology before and after oxidation shows that the fiber length is not changed, yet the fibers do exhibit an increase in width if in contact with water, which is attributed to an increase in fiber swelling. In addition, fibrillation decreases due to the oxidative removal of loosely bound fines and fibrils, rendering the surface of the resulting oxidized fibers much smoother in comparison to the original fibers. Finally, we observe that both, dry and wet tensile strengths are also higher for paper made of oxidized fibers, most likely due to cross linkable aldehyde groups formed during oxidation (i.e. hemiacetal bond formation in the sheet during thermal drying). Our results of the oxidation of paper fibers thus offer a systematic study helpful for the design of tailor-made paper useful in several applications where a fiber-modification with fiber-immobilized functional motifs is crucial, such as for example in paper-based microfluidic sensors (µPADs) or lab-on a chip-devices.
An inexact regularized proximal Newton method for nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization
Authors: Liu Ruyu , Pan Shaohua , Wu Yuqia , Yang Xiaoqi 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThis paper focuses on the minimization of a sum of a twice continuously differentiable function f and a nonsmooth convex function. An inexact regularized proximal Newton method is proposed by an approximation to the Hessian of f involving the $$\varrho $$
ϱ
th power of the KKT residual. For $$\varrho =0$$

ϱ
=
0

, we justify the global convergence of the iterate sequence for the KL objective function and its R-linear convergence rate for the KL objective function of exponent 1/2. For $$\varrho \in (0,1)$$

ϱ
∈
(
0
,
1
)

, by assuming that cluster points satisfy a locally Hölderian error bound of order q on a second-order stationary point set and a local error bound of order $$q>1\!+\!\varrho $$

q
>
1

+

ϱ

on the common stationary point set, respectively, we establish the global convergence of the iterate sequence and its superlinear convergence rate with order depending on q and $$\varrho $$
ϱ
. A dual semismooth Newton augmented Lagrangian method is also developed for seeking an inexact minimizer of subproblems. Numerical comparisons with two state-of-the-art methods on $$\ell _1$$

ℓ
1

-regularized Student’s t-regressions, group penalized Student’s t-regressions, and nonconvex image restoration confirm the efficiency of the proposed method.