bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of cell culture study of mercury complex derived from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid
Authors: Shah Javed Hussain , Sharif Shahzad , Rehman Rashid , Arooj Anum 
Published: May 2023

AbstractMercury complexes have diverse effects on the human body and cells that depend upon the biochemical form of mercury-complexes and the nature of exposure. In the present work, we have investigated the impacts of mercury-complex derived from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid on cell culture and DNA damage. This is novel mercury-complex having cell culture study. The mercury complex has been synthesized and characterized by CHNS analyzer, FTIR, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and DNA damage. Surface morphology of prepared mercury-complex was studied by microscopy imaging/Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The main goal of this contribution is to address the damaging effects of mercury-complex in cell cultures through fluorescence imaging and identifying cell Live/Death quantitative results. These live/death color intensities are red or green in presence to the mercury-complex. For this purpose, we measured the concentration dependence of mercury-complex on the rate of death in cells which may be useful for the cell culture and DNA study. The mercury-complex derived from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid has the ability to break the polynucleotide structure of DNA to mono nucleotides resulting irreparable DNA damage. The experimental results of fluorescence microscopy and live/dead cell assay on cell viability reflected the potent cellular toxicity of mercury-complex causes cell culture study. Generally, the damaging effects of mercury-complex may be used for medical treatment of different diseases specially cancer.
Development of a genetically encoded sensor for probing endogenous nociceptin opioid peptide release
Authors: Zhou Xuehan , Stine Carrie , Prada Patricia Oliveira , Fusca Debora , Assoumou Kevin , Dernic Jan , Bhat Musadiq A. , Achanta Ananya S. , Johnson Joseph C. , Pasqualini Amanda Loren , Jadhav Sanjana , Bauder Corinna A. , Steuernagel Lukas , Ravotto Luca , Benke Dietmar , Weber Bruno , Suko Azra , Palmiter Richard D. , Stoeber Miriam , Kloppenburg Peter , Brüning Jens C. , Bruchas Michael R. , Patriarchi Tommaso 
Published: May 2023

AbstractNociceptin/orphanin-FQ (N/OFQ) is a recently appreciated critical opioid peptide with key regulatory functions in several central behavioral processes including motivation, stress, feeding, and sleep. The functional relevance of N/OFQ action in the mammalian brain remains unclear due to a lack of high-resolution approaches to detect this neuropeptide with appropriate spatial and temporal resolution. Here we develop and characterize NOPLight, a genetically encoded sensor that sensitively reports changes in endogenous N/OFQ release. We characterized the affinity, pharmacological profile, spectral properties, kinetics, ligand selectivity, and potential interaction with intracellular signal transducers of NOPLightin vitro. Its functionality was established in acute brain slices by exogeneous N/OFQ application and chemogenetic induction of endogenous N/OFQ release from PNOC neurons.In vivostudies with fibre photometry enabled direct recording of NOPLight binding to exogenous N/OFQ receptor ligands, as well as detection of endogenous N/OFQ release within the paranigral ventral tegmental area (pnVTA) during natural behaviors and chemogenetic activation of PNOC neurons. In summary, we show here that NOPLight can be used to detect N/OFQ opioid peptide signal dynamics in tissue and freely behaving animals.
Targeted memory reactivation during non-rapid eye movement sleep enhances neutral, but not negative, components of memory
Authors: Denis Dan , Payne Jessica D. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractEmotionally salient components of memory are preferentially remembered at the expense of accompanying neutral information. This emotional memory trade-off is enhanced over time, and possibly sleep, though a process of memory consolidation. Sleep is believed to benefit memory through a process of reactivation during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM). Here, targeted memory reactivation (TMR) was used to manipulate the reactivation of negative and neutral memories during NREM sleep. Thirty-one male and female participants encoded scenes containing either a negative or neutral object superimposed on an always neutral background. During NREM sleep, sounds associated with these scenes were replayed, and memory for scene components was tested the following morning. We found that TMR during NREM sleep improved memory for neutral, but not negative scene objects. This effect was associated with sleep spindle activity, with a larger spindle response following TMR cues predicting TMR effectiveness for neutral items only. These findings therefore do not suggest a role of NREM memory reactivation in enhancing the emotional memory trade-off across a 12-hour period but do align with growing evidence of spindle-mediated memory reactivation in service of neutral declarative memory.Significance statementMemory reactivation during sleep is believed to be a key mechanism facilitating consolidation, the strengthening and stabilisation of memories over time. Emotional memories appear to be preferentially consolidated compared to neutral information, but the role sleep-related memory reactivation in this process is still unclear. Here, we found that experimentally reactivating memories during sleep in humans did not preferentially enhance emotional memory components but did improve neutral memory when tested after one night of sleep. These findings speak against a role of memory reactivation in the early stages of memory consolidation.
OPERANT REFLEX CONDITIONING SIMULATION ENVIRONMENT REVEALS EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK PARAMETERS
Authors: Kim Kyoungsoon , Oblak Ethan , Manella Kathleen , Sulzer James 
Published: May 2023

AbstractOperant conditioning of neural activation has been researched for decades in humans and animals. Many theories suggest two parallel learning processes, implicit and explicit. The degree to which feedback affects these processes individually remains to be fully understood and may contribute to a large percentage of non-learners. Our goal is to determine the explicit decision-making processes in response to feedback representing an operant conditioning environment. We developed a simulated operant conditioning environment based on a feedback model of spinal reflex excitability, one of the simplest forms of neural operant conditioning. We isolated the perception of the feedback signal from self-regulation of an explicit unskilled visuomotor task, enabling us to quantitatively examine feedback strategy. Our hypothesis was that feedback type, signal quality and success threshold affect operant conditioning performance and operant strategy. Healthy individuals (N = 41) were instructed to play a web application game using keyboard inputs to rotate a virtual knob representative of an operant strategy. The goal was to align the knob with a hidden target. Participants were asked to “down-condition” the amplitude of the virtual feedback signal, which was achieved by placing the knob as close as possible to the hidden target. We varied feedback type (knowledge of performance, knowledge of results), success threshold (easy, moderate, difficult), and biological variability (low, high) in a factorial design. Parameters were extracted from real operant conditioning data. Our main outcomes were the feedback signal amplitude (performance) and the mean change in dial position (operant strategy). We observed that performance was modulated by variability, while operant strategy was modulated by feedback type. These results show complex relations between fundamental feedback parameters and provide the principles for optimizing neural operant conditioning for non-responders.
Parietex™ Composite Ventral Patch for primary and incisional hernia repair
Authors: Barranquero Alberto G. , Villalobos Mori Rafael , Maestre González Yolanda , Protti Gian Pier , López Soler Guillermo , Villarreal León Fernando , González Alfaro Irvin Jair , Olsina Kissler Jorge Juan 
Published: May 2023

AbstractBackgroundsVentral hernia repair with a preformed device is a frequent intervention, but few reports exist with Parietex™ Composite Ventral Patch. The aim was to evaluate the results of this mesh with the open intraperitoneal onlay mesh (open IPOM) technique.MethodsObservational retrospective single institution study of all consecutive patients intervened for ventral or incisional hernia with a diameter inferior to 4 cm, from January 2013 to June 2020. The surgical repair was performed according to the open IPOM technique with Parietex™ Composite Ventral Patch.ResultsA total of 146 patients were intervened: 61.6% with umbilical hernias, 8.2% with epigastric hernias, 26.7% with trocar incisional hernias, and 3.4% with other incisional hernias.The global recurrence rate was 7.5% (11/146). Specifically, it was 7.8% in umbilical hernias, 0% in epigastric hernias, 7.7% in trocar incisional hernias and 20% (1/5) in other incisional hernias. The median time for recurrence was 14 months (IQR: 4.4–18.7). The median indirect follow‐up was 36.9 months (IQR: 27.2–49.6), and the median presential follow‐up was 17.4 months (IQR: 6.5–27.3).ConclusionThe open IPOM technique with a preformed patch offered satisfactory results for the treatment of ventral and incisional hernias.
Conspiracy believers claim to be free thinkers but (Under)Use advice like everyone else
Authors: Altay Sacha , Nera Kenzo , Ejaz Waqas , Schöpfer Céline , Tomas Frédéric 
Published: May 2023

AbstractConspiracy believers often claim to be critical thinkers their ‘own research’ instead of relying on others' testimony. In two preregistered behavioural studies conducted in the United Kingdom and Pakistan (Nparticipants = 864, Ntrials = 5408), we test whether conspiracy believers have a general tendency to discount social information (in favour of their own opinions and intuitions). We found that conspiracy mentality is not associated with social information use in text‐based (Study 1) and image‐based (Study 2) advice‐taking tasks. Yet, we found discrepancies between self‐reported and actual social information use. Conspiracy believers were more likely to report relying less on social information than actually relying less on social information in the behavioural tasks. Our results suggest that the scepticism of conspiracy believers towards epistemic authorities is unlikely to be the manifestation of a general tendency to discount social information. Conspiracy believers may be more permeable to social influence than they sometimes claim.
Effects of acaricides on the activities of monooxygenases in bovine liver microsomes
Authors: Larsen Karen , Ichinose Paula , Fernández‐San Juan Rocío , Lifschitz Adrián , Virkel Guillermo 
Published: May 2023

AbstractOrganophosphates (OPs), pyrethrins and fipronil, are acaricides commonly used in cattle, mainly as pour on formulations. Scant information is available on their potential interactions with hepatic xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes. This work aimed to evaluate in vitro the potential inhibitory effects of widely employed acaricides on catalytic activities mediated by hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) and flavin‐monooxygenase (FMO) enzymes in cattle. Bovine (n = 4) liver microsomes were incubated in the absence (control assays) and in presence of different OPs (fenthion, chlorpyrifos, ethion, diazinon and dichlorvos), fipronil and cypermethrin at 0.1–100 μm. Five oxidative enzyme activities were assayed by spectrofluorimetric or HPLC methods: 7‐ethoxyresorufin O‐deethylase (for CYP1A1), methoxyresorufin O‐demethylase (for CYP1A2), benzyloxyresorufin O‐debenzylase (for CYP2B), testosterone 6‐beta hydroxylase (for CYP3A) and benzydamine N‐oxidase (for FMO). All acaricides, particularly phosphorothionate‐containing OPs, inhibited to some extent more than one enzyme activity. The most frequent inhibitor was fenthion, which inhibited (p < .05) all enzyme activities tested (from 22% at 1 μm to 72% at 100 μm). However, low inhibitory potencies (IC50s higher than 7 μm) of all acaricides studied were observed against the catalytic activities assayed. Therefore, the risk of in vivo metabolic interactions due to inhibition of monooxygenases would be low under common husbandry conditions.
“You may think that the consultants are great, and they know everything, but they don’t”: exploring how new emergency medicine consultants experience uncertainty
Authors: Collini Anna , Alstead Elspeth , Knight Alec , Page Michael 
Published: May 2023

BackgroundUncertainty is particularly obvious in emergency medicine (EM) due to the characteristics of the patient cohort, time constraints, and busy environment. Periods of transition are thought to add to uncertainty. Managing uncertainty is recognised as a key ability for medical practice, but is often not addressed explicitly. This study explored how new consultants in EM experience uncertainty, with the aim of making explicit what is often hidden and potentially informing support for doctors to manage the uncertainty they face.MethodsThis was a qualitative study using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Five consultants working in the UK within one year of achieving a certificate of completion of training were interviewed online during 2021, these were transcribed and analysed using IPA.ResultsThree superordinate themes were identified: ‘transition and performance as a source of uncertainty’, ‘uncertainty and decision-making in the context of the emergency department’ and ‘sharing uncertainty and asking for help’. The transition created uncertainty related to their professional identity that was compounded by a lack of useful feedback. There was tension between perceived expectations of certainty and the recognition of uncertainty in practice. EM doctors were seen as experts in managing uncertainty, with responses to uncertainty including gathering information, sharing uncertainty and seeking help. Expressing uncertainty was viewed as necessary for good patient care but could be risky to credibility, with psychological safety and role modelling behaviour making it easier for the participants to express uncertainty.ConclusionThis study highlights the need for new consultants to have psychologically safe, reflective spaces to think through uncertainties with others. This appears to reduce uncertainty, and also act as a source of feedback. The study adds to the existing calls to address uncertainty more explicitly in training, and challenge the expectations of certainty that exist within medicine.
Role of hospital strain in determining outcomes for people hospitalised with COVID-19 in England
Authors: Gray William K , Navaratnam Annakan V , Day Jamie , Heyl Johannes , Hardy Flavien , Wheeler Andrew , Eve-Jones Sue , Briggs Tim W R 
Published: May 2023

BackgroundIn England, reported COVID-19 mortality rates increased during winter 2020/21 relative to earlier summer and autumn months. This study aimed to examine the association between COVID-19-related hospital bed-strain during this time and patient outcomes.MethodsThis was a retrospective observational study using Hospital Episode Statistics data for England. All unique patients aged ≥18 years in England with a diagnosis of COVID-19 who had a completed (discharged alive or died in hospital) hospital stay with an admission date between 1 July 2020 and 28 February 2021 were included. Bed-strain was calculated as the number of beds occupied by patients with COVID-19 divided by the maximum COVID-19 bed occupancy during the study period. Bed-strain was categorised into quartiles for modelling. In-hospital mortality was the primary outcome of interest and length of stay a secondary outcome.ResultsThere were 253 768 unique hospitalised patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 during a hospital stay. Patient admissions peaked in January 2021 (n=89 047), although the crude mortality rate peaked slightly earlier in December 2020 (26.4%). After adjustment for covariates, the mortality rate in the lowest and highest quartile of bed-strain was 23.6% and 25.3%, respectively (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.17). For the lowest and the highest quartile of bed-strain, adjusted mean length of stay was 13.2 days and 11.6 days, respectively in survivors and was 16.5 days and 12.6 days, respectively in patients who died in hospital.ConclusionsHigh levels of bed-strain were associated with higher in-hospital mortality rates, although the effect was relatively modest and may not fully explain increased mortality rates during winter 2020/21 compared with earlier months. Shorter hospital stay during periods of greater strain may partly reflect changes in patient management over time.
Kronecker coefficients from algebras of bi-partite ribbon graphs
Authors: Geloun Joseph Ben , Ramgoolam Sanjaye 
Published: May 2023

AbstractBi-partite ribbon graphs arise in organizing the large N expansion of correlators in random matrix models and in the enumeration of observables in random tensor models. There is an algebra $$\mathcal {K}(n)$$

K
(
n
)

, with basis given by bi-partite ribbon graphs with n edges, which is useful in the applications to matrix and tensor models. The algebra $$\mathcal {K}(n)$$

K
(
n
)

is closely related to symmetric group algebras and has a matrix-block decomposition related to Clebsch–Gordan multiplicities, also known as Kronecker coefficients, for symmetric group representations. Quantum mechanical models which use $$\mathcal {K}(n)$$

K
(
n
)

as Hilbert spaces can be used to give combinatorial algorithms for computing the Kronecker coefficients.
Evaluating the crisis communications campaign during the 2020–21 eruption of La Soufrière, St Vincent
Authors: Mani Lara , Edwards Stacey , Joseph Erouscilla , Juman Alia , Thomas Thalia 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
During the 2020–21 eruption of La Soufrière, St Vincent, the University of the West Indies, Seismic Research Centre played a major role in supporting communication of hazard and risk information to publics and stakeholders across St Vincent. Due to COVID-19 restrictions on in-person education and outreach activities, the communications campaign was heavily reliant on social media platforms, and TV and radio broadcasts. Although the communications approach sought to be inclusive of all members of the affected communities, we consider that more vulnerable residents, such as the elderly, children, and those with low literacy levels and limited digital access were likely excluded from the communication efforts.
In order to establish effectiveness of the crisis communications campaign at engaging communities and stakeholders with relevant information, and to identify areas for improvement, a large-scale evaluation campaign was conducted in St Vincent in August 2021. The results demonstrate that radio broadcasts are the most important communication tool for broad community reach, but that person-to-person information sharing was more important in the most exposed communities. Agencies such as the Red Cross and grassroots community disaster preparedness groups were instrumental in amplifying the reach of information to vulnerable members of at-risk communities and for evacuation co-ordination.
Is There a Sex Difference in the Prognosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy? A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Zhao Huilei , Tan Ziqi , Liu Menglu , Yu Peng , Ma Jianyong , Li Xiaozhong , Wang Jingfeng , Zhao Yujie , Zhu Wengen , Liu Xiao 
Published: May 2023

Background
It is still unclear whether there is a sex difference in the prognosis of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Therefore, we performed a meta‐analysis to elucidate the association between sex and adverse outcomes in patients with HCM.

Methods and Results

The PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were used to search for studies on sex differences in prognosis in patients with HCM up to August 17, 2021. Summary effect sizes were calculated using a random effects model. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (International prospective register of systematic reviews) (registration number‐ CRD42021262053). A total of 27 cohorts involving 42 365 patients with HCM were included. Compared with male subjects, female subjects had a higher age at onset (mean difference=5.61 [95% CI, 4.03–7.19]), a higher left ventricular ejection fraction (standard mean difference=0.09 [95% CI, 0.02–0.15]) and a higher left ventricular outflow tract gradient (standard mean difference=0.23 [95% CI, 0.18–0.29]). The results showed that compared with male subjects with HCM, female subjects had higher risks of HCM‐related events (risk ratio [RR]=1.61 [95% CI, 1.33–1.94],
I
2
=49%), major cardiovascular events (RR=3.59 [95% CI, 2.26–5.71],
I
2
=0%), HCM‐related death (RR=1.57 [95% CI, 1.34–1.82],
I
2
=0%), cardiovascular death (RR=1.55 [95% CI, 1.05–2.28],
I
2
=58%), noncardiovascular death (RR=1.77 [95% CI, 1.46–2.13],
I
2
=0%) and all‐cause mortality (RR=1.43 [95% CI, 1.09–1.87],
I
2
=95%), but not atrial fibrillation (RR=1.13 [95% CI, 0.95–1.35],
I
2
=5%), ventricular arrhythmia (RR=0.88 [95% CI, 0.71–1.10],
I
2
=0%), sudden cardiac death (RR=1.04 [95% CI, 0.75–1.42],
I
2
=38%) or composite end point (RR=1.24 [95% CI, 0.96–1.60],
I
2
=85%).

Conclusions
Based on current evidence, our results show significant sex‐specific differences in the prognosis of HCM. Future guidelines may emphasize the use of a sex‐specific risk assessment for the diagnosis and management of HCM.
A Perilous Sailing and a Lion: Comparative Evidence for a Phoenician Afterlife Motif
Authors: López-Ruiz C. , Rodríguez González E. 
Published: May 2023

Abstract
This essay introduces new evidence for an eschatological Phoenician motif that alludes to a final sailing and its perils, represented by a monstrous lion attacking or sinking a boat. The lion-and-boat motif was, so far, only documented in a Phoenician funerary stela from late classical Athens, the Antipatros/Shem stela. Excavations at the fifth-century BCE Tartessic site of Casas del Turuñuelo in southwestern Spain has revealed a set of ivory and bone panels that decorated a wooden box, bearing relevant iconography in the so-called orientalizing style. Additional comparanda from the Levant, Iberia, and Tunisia in various media (coins, ivories, amulets), add weight to this interpretation. Our analysis highlights how the artists behind the Athenian and Tartessic artifacts were innovative in their way of representing a theme that was not codified iconographically. Most remarkable is the use of an ivory-carving convention (the Phoenician palmette motif) to portray the stylized boat, a choice corroborated by a painted pottery sherd from Olympia. This “palmette-boat” depiction, in our view, is coherent with Egyptian Nilotic boats, but also with the use of flat or shallow river-boats in the Tagus and Guadiana region, illustrating mechanisms of local adaptation of Phoenician sailing and life-death “passing” symbolism. If, as we suggest, this representation can be added to that in the Athenian document, we now have testimonies of two different local adaptations of a Phoenician theme at the two ends of the Mediterranean oikoumene between the archaic and late classical periods.