bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sex-biased TGFβ signalling in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Authors: Wits Marius , Becher Clarissa , de Man Frances , Sanchez-Duffhues Gonzalo , Goumans Marie-José 
Published: August 2023

AbstractPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare cardiovascular disorder leading to pulmonary hypertension and, often fatal, right heart failure. Sex differences in PAH are evident, which primarily presents with a female predominance and increased male severity. Disturbed signalling of the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) family and gene mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 (BMPR2) are risk factors for PAH development, but how sex-specific cues affect the TGFβ family signalling in PAH remains poorly understood. In this review, we aim to explore the sex bias in PAH by examining sex differences in the TGFβ signalling family through mechanistical and translational evidence. Sex hormones including oestrogens, progestogens, and androgens, can determine the expression of receptors (including BMPR2), ligands, and soluble antagonists within the TGFβ family in a tissue-specific manner. Furthermore, sex-related genetic processes, i.e. Y-chromosome expression and X-chromosome inactivation, can influence the TGFβ signalling family at multiple levels. Given the clinical and mechanistical similarities, we expect that the conclusions arising from this review may apply also to hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), a rare vascular disorder affecting the TGFβ signalling family pathway. In summary, we anticipate that investigating the TGFβ signalling family in a sex-specific manner will contribute to further understand the underlying processes leading to PAH and likely HHT.
Surgical treatment of esophago-tracheobronchial fistulas after esophagectomy
Authors: de Groot E M , Kingma B F , Goense L , van der Kaaij N P , Meijer R C A , Ramjankhan F Z , Schellekens P A A , Braithwaite S A , Marsman M , van der Heijden J J , Ruurda J P , van Hillegersberg R 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the surgical treatment of esophago-tracheobronchial fistulas (ETBFs) that occurred after esophagectomy with gastric conduit reconstruction in a tertiary referral center for esophageal surgery. All patients who underwent surgical repair for an ETBF after esophagectomy with gastric conduit reconstruction were included in a tertiary referral center. The primary outcome was successful recovery after surgical treatment for ETBF, defined as a patent airway at 90 days after the surgical fistula repair. Secondary outcomes were details on the clinical presentation, diagnostics, and postoperative course after fistula repair. Between 2007 and 2022, 14 patients who underwent surgical repair for an ETBF were included. Out of 14 patients, 9 had undergone esophagectomy with cervical anastomosis and 5 esophagectomy with intrathoracic anastomosis after which 13 patients had developed anastomotic leakage. Surgical treatment consisted of thoracotomy to cover the defect with a pericardial patch and intercostal flap in 11 patients, a patch without interposition of healthy tissue in 1 patient, and fistula repair via cervical incision with only a pectoral muscle flap in 2 patients. After surgical treatment, 12 patients recovered (86%). Mortality occurred in two patients (14%) due to multiple organ failure. This study evaluated the techniques and outcomes of surgical repair of ETBFs following esophagectomy with gastric conduit reconstruction in 14 patients. Treatment was successful in 12 patients (86%) and generally consisted of thoracotomy and coverage of the defect with a bovine pericardial patch followed by interposition with an intercostal muscle.
Glagov revisited: coronary artery disease phenotype on non-invasive imaging provides rationale for implementing preventive pharmacotherapy—a case report
Authors: Revaiah Pruthvi C , Serruys Patrick W , Yates Denise P , Onuma Yoshinobu , Luis Zamorano Jose 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Background
Glagov et al. showed that no reduction in vessel lumen occurred until the atherosclerotic plaque burden exceeded 40% of the vessel area. Most major adverse cardiac events occurring in the first 4 years after a myocardial infarction arise from untreated angiographically mild, non-flow-limiting lesions at the time of the index event. We report how computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography (CCTA) can be used to non-invasively risk stratify a patient with non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and guide further management.

Case summary
A 69-year-old non-smoking female with hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and hypothyroidism presented with atypical chest pain. Electrocardiogram and left ventricular ejection fraction were normal. Her lipidic profile was normal. CCTA showed a lipid-rich plaque with very low attenuation (&lt;30 HU) in the left main stem (LMS) extending into the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) and in the mid LAD artery. The maximum plaque burden in the LMS was 67% with a remodelling index of 1.375, and an area stenosis of 22%. Tissue characterization showed a lipid-rich plaque with a thin fibrous cap. The perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI) in the proximal LAD was suggestive of (−69 HU) inflamed perivascular fat. Shear stress analysis of the LMS plaque showed normal wall shear stress (WSS); however, the axial plaque stress was high. Her medications were intensified to rosuvastatin 20 mg once daily (OD) and ezetimibe 10 mg OD. The patient remained asymptomatic at 6 months follow-up.

Discussion
Our case exemplifies the value of CCTA as a diagnostic ‘one-stop shop’ (CCTA, finite element analysis, computed tomographic density [CTD], tissue characterization analysis, FAI analysis, WSS and wall strain, and etc.) when stratifying a patient with non-obstructive CAD. With further development of novel potent anti-lipidaemic and anti-inflammatory drugs, non-obstructive lesions with adverse plaque and haemodynamic parameters will have the opportunity to be treated with additional preventive pharmacological therapy.
Immunity-driven evolution of virulence and diversity in respiratory diseases
Authors: Metz Johan A J , Boldin Barbara 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The time-honored paradigm in the theory of virulence evolution assumes a positive relation between infectivity and harmfulness. However, the etiology of respiratory diseases yields a negative relation, with diseases of the lower respiratory tract being less infective and more harmful. We explore the evolutionary consequences in a simple model incorporating cross-immunity between disease strains that diminishes with their distance in the respiratory tract, assuming that docking rate follows the match between the local mix of cell surface types and the pathogen’s surface and cross-immunity the similarity of the pathogens’ surfaces. The assumed relation between fitness components causes virulent strains infecting the lower airways to evolve to milder more transmissible variants. Limited cross-immunity, generally, causes a readiness to diversify that increases with host population density. In respiratory diseases that diversity will be highest in the upper respiratory tract. More tentatively, emerging respiratory diseases are likely to start low and virulent, to evolve up, and become milder. Our results extend to a panoply of realistic generalizations of the disease’s ecology to including additional epitope axes. These extensions allow us to apply our results quantitatively to elucidate the differences in diversification between rhino- and coronavirus caused common colds.
Heterogeneous splicing patterns resulting from KIF5A variants associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Authors: Pino Megan G , Rich Kelly A , Hall Nicholas J , Jones Meredith L , Fox Ashley , Musier-Forsyth Karin , Kolb Stephen J 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the gene encoding Kinesin Family Member 5A (KIF5A), a neuronal motor protein involved in anterograde transport along microtubules, have been associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects the motor neurons. Numerous ALS-associated KIF5A SNVs are clustered near the splice-site junctions of the penultimate exon 27 and are predicted to alter the carboxy-terminal (C-term) cargo-binding domain of KIF5A. Mis-splicing of exon 27, resulting in exon exclusion, is proposed to be the mechanism by which these SNVs cause ALS. Whether all SNVs proximal to exon 27 result in exon exclusion is unclear. To address this question, we designed an in vitro minigene splicing assay in human embryonic kidney 293 cells, which revealed heterogeneous site-specific effects on splicing: only 5′ splice-site (5’ss) SNVs resulted in exon skipping. We also quantified splicing in select clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats-edited human stem cells, differentiated to motor neurons, and in neuronal tissues from a 5’ss SNV knock-in mouse, which showed the same result. Moreover, the survival of representative 3′ splice site, 5’ss, and truncated C-term variant KIF5A (v-KIF5A) motor neurons was severely reduced compared with wild-type motor neurons, and overt morphological changes were apparent. While the total KIF5A mRNA levels were comparable across the cell lines, the total KIF5A protein levels were decreased for v-KIF5A lines, suggesting an impairment of protein synthesis or stability. Thus, despite the heterogeneous effect on ribonucleic acid splicing, KIF5A SNVs similarly reduce the availability of the KIF5A protein, leading to axonal transport defects and motor neuron pathology.
Auxin and abiotic stress responses
Authors: Jing Hongwei , Wilkinson Edward G , Sageman-Furnas Katelyn , Strader Lucia C 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Plants are exposed to a variety of abiotic stresses; these stresses have profound effects on plant growth, survival, and productivity. Tolerance and adaptation to stress require sophisticated stress sensing, signaling, and various regulatory mechanisms. The plant hormone auxin is a key regulator of plant growth and development, playing pivotal roles in the integration of abiotic stress signals and control of downstream stress responses. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent advances in understanding the intersection of auxin and abiotic stress in plants, with a focus on temperature, salt, and drought stresses. We also explore the roles of auxin in stress tolerance and opportunities arising for agricultural applications.
Torus skin outflow in a near-Eddington quasar revealed by spectropolarimetry
Authors: Zakamska Nadia L , Alexandroff Rachael M 
Published: August 2023

ABSTRACT
Even when the direct view towards the active nucleus is obscured, nuclear emission propagating along other directions can scatter off surrounding material, become polarized and reach the observer. Spectropolarimetry can thus be an important tool in investigating the circumnuclear geometry and kinematics of quasars on scales that cannot yet be probed via direct observations. Here, we discuss an intriguing class of quasars where the polarization position angle swings by large amounts ($\sim 90\deg$) within an emission line. We investigate a kinematic model in which the scattering dust or electrons are in an axisymmetric outflow. We propagate Stokes parameters in a variety of geometries of emitter, scatterer, and observer. We use these models to predict polarization fraction, line profiles, and polarization position angles and compare them to observations. We demonstrate that the swinging polarization angle can be a result of the geometry of the outflow and the orientation of the observer. Polarization properties of a near-Eddington extremely red quasar SDSS J1652 can be successfully explained by a model in which the quasar is surrounded by a geometrically thick disc, whose ‘skin’ is outflowing at ∼1000 km s−1 and acts as the scatterer on scales of a few tens of pc. The line of sight to the observer in this source is within or close to the skin of the torus, in agreement with multiwavelength data. Spectropolarimetric data and models presented here strongly support the thick-disc geometry of circumnuclear material suggested by recent numerical simulations of high-rate accretion flows on to black holes.
Plasmids pick a bacterial partner before committing to conjugation
Authors: Frankel Gad , David Sophia , Low Wen Wen , Seddon Chloe , Wong Joshua L C , Beis Konstantinos 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Bacterial conjugation was first described by Lederberg and Tatum in the 1940s following the discovery of the F plasmid. During conjugation a plasmid is transferred unidirectionally from one bacterium (the donor) to another (the recipient), in a contact-dependent manner. Conjugation has been regarded as a promiscuous mechanism of DNA transfer, with host range determined by the recipient downstream of plasmid transfer. However, recent data have shown that F-like plasmids, akin to tailed Caudovirales bacteriophages, can pick their host bacteria prior to transfer by expressing one of at least four structurally distinct isoforms of the outer membrane protein TraN, which has evolved to function as a highly sensitive sensor on the donor cell surface. The TraN sensor appears to pick bacterial hosts by binding compatible outer membrane proteins in the recipient. The TraN variants can be divided into specialist and generalist sensors, conferring narrow and broad plasmid host range, respectively. In this review we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the function of the TraN sensor at the donor-recipient interface, used by F-like plasmids to select bacterial hosts within polymicrobial communities prior to DNA transfer.
Development
Authors: Unger Corinna R. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
This chapter brings together the fields of international development and International Relations. It traces the ways in which notions of development have evolved over the course of the twentieth century and how they have informed the use of development assistance as a foreign policy tool by a variety of actors under different political, economic, and ideological conditions. The chapter argues that development policies reflect contemporary understandings of modernity and that therefore it is important to look at the specific contexts out of which development approaches emerged. Ranging from imperial and colonial development practices to the Cold War competition over the most successful model of modernization to the critique of development in the 1970s, the chapter shows how International Relations and international development have been entangled with each other and have contributed to shaping global structures and practices that still exist today.
Governing Finance
Authors: Predmore Signe , Young Kevin L. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Which historical institutions characterize the international governance of finance? From pre-war gestures towards international coordination, to formalized multilateral cooperation in the Bretton Woods period, to the rise of informal transnational governance organizations, we trace the public-private dialectic of regulatory governance as it escalates through time. Through this dynamic of escalation, finance and its governance are also tethered to other, informal social institutions. Our account describes how Anglo-American relations and gender are deeply rooted in the development of capitalist modernity and serve as both productive force and constraint on financial activity. By considering the interplay between formal and informal institutions, we give an expansive overview of financial governance.
Historical Realism
Authors: Williams Michael C. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Realism is often criticized as a form of historical fatalism. Yet realist visions of history are richer and more diverse than many of its critics and supporters often recognize, and the issues they engage range far beyond the rather narrow categorizations that see realism and history as essentially opposed. In some of its most sophisticated forms, realism takes history as a resource for understanding the complex historical trajectories giving rise to contemporary politics. This chapter surveys three different realist visions of history, arguing that in its best forms realism is both deeply engaged with history and a means of drawing on history to meet the challenges of the present.
The Long Nineteenth Century
Authors: Bruneau Quentin 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
This chapter offers an overview of the international system in the long nineteenth century, focusing on three key themes. First, I examine the fairly widespread assumption that there was an existing system of states before the long nineteenth century, drawing attention to a number of recent works that suggest we locate this development within the long nineteenth century itself. Second, I turn to the idea that the system of states underwent a process of expansion during this period, putting emphasis on the inability of this idea to capture the experiences of many non-European polities, as well as a few European ones. Third, I revisit three key transformations associated with the long nineteenth century: the rise of a great power system, the emergence of contractual international law, and the development of multilateralism. The bulk of my argument here consists in re-assessing their significance, as well as toning down the claim that liberal states were pivotal in their making.
Facing Nuclear War
Authors: Lebow Richard Ned , Pelopidas Benoît 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
The possibility of thermonuclear war has in many ways shaped the agendas of History and International Relations. Rigorous counterfactual analysis effectively demonstrates that the risks of unintended and runaway escalation were higher than generally assumed. Nuclear war planning and proposals for arms control and disarmament are based on imagined future scenarios. Current thinking about the future rarely goes beyond extrapolation. Counterfactual analysis provides a more sophisticated foundation for forward looking narratives in contrast to the usual extrapolation of present trends.
International Relations and Intellectual History
Authors: Bell Duncan 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
This chapter explores how intellectual historians have studied visions of international and global politics. I focus on some of the contrasting purposes that have been claimed for historical scholarship, and I survey assorted debates that have shaped the field in recent years. The first section, ‘Practices and Purposes’ outlines some of the roles that have been claimed for intellectual history, from illuminating the tangled development of human thought to informing contemporary theorizing. The second section, ‘Trends and Trajectories’ discusses topics that have drawn attention in recent years, focusing especially on empire and disciplinary history. The final section, ‘Exclusions and Expansions’ examines long marginalized themes, above all gender and race, and highlights how work addressing them is pushing the field in exciting new directions.
The role of trusts in taxing the rich
Authors: Hines James R 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Trusts play important roles in the financial, estate, and tax plans of wealthy families. Evidence from US taxpayers indicates that the tax savings that they obtain from using trusts are rather modest, with one of the major tax benefits providing aggregate savings equal to just 0.05 per cent of the annual income of the top 0.01 per cent of US taxpayers. Trusts are primarily used to facilitate intergenerational and other transfers. Restrictions imposed by trusts can have the effect of preserving high levels of wealth and income, creating greater opportunities for governments to tax the rich.
The end of bank secrecy: implications for redistribution and optimal taxation
Authors: Johannesen Niels 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis paper argues that the ability to enforce taxes on offshore income may shape the redistributional properties of the tax system through two channels. First, it mechanically raises tax progressivity for given parameters of the tax system because high-income taxpayers own most of the offshore wealth. In the US, recent comprehensive reporting by offshore banks suggests the mechanical increase in average tax rates may be around 1.5 percentage points for the top 0.01 per cent and virtually zero below the top 1 per cent. Second, it may further raise tax progressivity by changing the trade-offs underlying optimal taxation in favour of higher taxation of top incomes.
Taxing the wealthy: the choice between wealth and capital income taxation
Authors: Bastani Spencer , Waldenström Daniel 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
This paper analyses the relative merits of wealth and capital income taxes as instruments for taxing the rich. The main rationale for a wealth tax is to address the incompleteness of the tax code in taxing unrealized capital gains, which can be enormous and concentrated among the wealthy. However, by taxing presumed rather than actual returns, a wealth tax fails to address inequality among taxpayers with the same wealth but different capital incomes. In addition, wealth taxation creates liquidity problems that may adversely affect growth firms and start-ups, which is why wealth taxes typically provide exemptions and deductions for certain business assets. Our empirical analysis, based on Swedish register data, describes the wealth composition of the wealthiest and assesses the distributional incidence of different combinations of wealth and capital income taxation.
Statewide Trends in Buprenorphine Prescribing in Rural and Nonrural Vermont: Analysis of Population-based Patient Pharmacy Claims
Authors: Nowak Sarah A. , Harder Valerie S. , Villanti Andrea C. , Heil Sarah H. , Sigmon Stacey C. 
Published: August 2023

Importance
Opioid-related mortality rates have risen dramatically over the past decade, and office-based opioid treatment using buprenorphine offers hope for combatting this trend. Vermont's policymakers, health care systems, and treatment providers have worked to expand access to treatment throughout the rural state.

Objective
The objective of the current study was to characterize the trends in the number of buprenorphine prescribers and the number of patients per prescriber in Vermont over the past decade (2010–2020).

Methods
We used Vermont's all-payer claims database to identify patients with buprenorphine claims between 2010 and 2020 and their prescribers. We conducted analyses of trends in the number of prescribers treating different numbers of patients, the number of patients treated by prescribers in those categories, and the number of rural (vs nonrural) patients filling buprenorphine prescriptions. We used Z tests to determine if there were statistical differences between trends.

Results
The number of buprenorphine prescribers treating 10+ patients grew more rapidly than other prescriber groups (P < 0.001). Nearly half of Vermont patients in 2020 were treated by 33 high-volume prescribers who treated 100 or more patients with buprenorphine. The number of patients filling buprenorphine prescriptions in Vermont increased by 98% between 2010 and 2020, with greater increases seen among rural than nonrural residents (107% vs 72%; P = 0.008).

Conclusions and Relevance
Since 2010, Vermont has increased utilization of its office-based opioid treatment capacity, particularly in rural counties.