bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A recessive ACTL7A founder variant leads to male infertility due to acrosome detachment in Pakistani Pashtuns
Authors: Zhou Jianteng , Zhang Beibei , Zeb Aurang , Ma Ao , Chen Jing , Zhao Daren , Rahim Fazal , Khan Ranjha , Zhang Huan , Zhang Yuanwei , Khan Ihsan , Kakakhel Mian Basit Shah , Khan Asad , Shah Wasim , Jiang Xiaohua , Zhang Feng , Yang Xiaoyu , Xiao Jun , Xu Bo , Ma Hui , Shi Qinghua 
Published: June 2023

AbstractMale infertility affects more than 20 million men worldwide and is a major public health concern. Male infertility has a strong genetic basis, particularly for those unexplained cases. Here, through genetic analysis of three Pakistani families having eight infertile men with normal parameters in routine semen analysis, we identified a novel ACTL7A variant (c.149_150del, p.E50Afs*6), recessively co‐segregating with infertility in these three families. This variant leads to the loss of ACTL7A proteins in spermatozoa from patients. Transmission EM analyses revealed acrosome detachment from nuclei in 98.9% spermatozoa of patients. Interestingly, this ACTL7A variant was frequently detected in our sequenced Pakistani Pashtuns with a minor allele frequency of ~0.021 and all the carriers shared a common haplotype of about 240 kb flanking ACTL7A, indicating that it is likely originated from a single founder. Our findings reveal that a founder ACTL7A pathogenic variant confers a high genetic susceptibility for male infertility with normal routine semen parameters but acrosomal ultrastructural defects in Pakistani Pashtun descendants, and highlight that variants not rare should also be considered when trying to identify disease‐causing variants in ethnic groups with the tradition of intra‐ethnic marriages.
Sinus floor augmentation using crestal approach in conjunction with hydroxyapatite/cross‐linked collagen sponge: A pilot study
Authors: Canullo Luigi , Del Fabbro Massimo , Colantonio Federica , Iacono Roberta , Raffone Carlo , Pedetta Andrea , Khijmatgar Shahnawaz , Shapira Lior 
Published: June 2023

AbstractBackgroundDifferent biomaterials were suggested for sinus floor augmentation (SFA). Recently, new materials were launched showing true bone formation without remnants.PurposeThe aim of this prospective study was to evaluate an hydroxyapatite‐based, sugar cross‐linked collagen sponge (OSSIX™ Bone) in transcrestal SFA (t‐SFA).Materials and methodsTwenty‐four patients with edentulous posterior maxilla and residual bone height (RBH) >4 mm underwent t‐SFA with OSSIX™ Bone as grafting material and simultaneous implant placement. The implant Stability Quotient (ISQ) was measured by resonance frequency analysis (RFA) directly after implant insertion and at 6 months. Differences in bone height (BH) and volume were determined in CBCT and x‐rays at baseline versus 1 year of follow‐up. Graft volume was evaluated by tridimensional reconstructions. Linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of bucco‐palatal sinus dimension, RBH, and length of the implant protruding (PIL) into the sinus, on the graft height (GH) changes up to 1 year, and on the graft volume at 1 year. Autocorrelation between time lag and augmented bone volume was evaluated through time series analysis correlograms. Health‐related quality‐of‐life outcomes were captured.ResultsTwenty‐two patients completed the study. The mean RBH measured at baseline was 5.81 ± 2.2 mm. The mean graft volume was 1085.8 ± 733.4 mm3. The mean GH, measured in the immediate post‐operative period, at 6 and 12 months respectively, was 7.24 mm ±1.94; 6.57 mm ± 2.30; 5.46 mm ± 2.04. The mean ISQ measured after the implant placement was 62.19 ± 8.09, and 6 months later was 76.91 ± 4.50. There was a significant correlation between buccolingual dimension and graft volume at 1 year. Neither buccolingual volume nor RBH had a significant effect on GH change, while the PIL showed a significant positive correlation (P = 0.02 and P = 0.03 at 6 and 12 months, respectively). The correlograms indicated no significant correlation, meaning that there is no tendency for graft volume to increase or decrease over time, therefore suggesting graft stability, at least up to one year of follow‐up. 86% of patients had no chewing interference.ConclusionWithin the limitations of the study, OSSIX™ Bone could be considered a valid material for SFA due to its manageability and its positive results in promoting new bone formation with long‐term stability. T‐SFA is confirmed as a less invasive and less painful method.
Effect of left ventricular ejection fraction Spectrum on 1‐Year mortality in patients with acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack
Authors: Wei Na , Wei Yufei , Nie Ximing , Liu Xiran , Xiang Xianglong , Pan Yuesong , Meng Xia , Liu Liping , Wang Yongjun 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAimsWe aimed to investigate the association of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) spectrum with 1‐year clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA).MethodsIn a prospective registry for the Third China National Stroke Registry (CNSR‐III), AIS or TIA patients with echocardiography records during hospitalization were recruited. All LVEFs were categorized into intervals of 5% in width. The lowest and highest intervals are ≤40% and >70%, respectively. The primary outcome was all‐cause death at 1 year. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between baseline LVEF and clinical outcomes.ResultsThis analysis included a total of 14,053 patients. In total, 418 patients died during 1‐year follow‐up. Overall, LVEF ≤60% was associated with a higher risk of all‐cause death compared to LVEF >60%, independent of demographic and clinical characteristics (aHR 1.29 [95% CI 1.06–1.58]; p = 0.01). The cumulative incidence of all‐cause death was significantly different among the eight LVEF groups that survival declined successively with the decrease of LVEF (log‐rank p ≤ 0.0001).ConclusionsPatients with AIS or TIA with decreased LVEF (≤60%) had a lower 1‐year survival rate after onset. LVEF 50%–60% even within the normal range, may still contribute to poor outcomes in AIS or TIA. Comprehensive evaluation of cardiac function after acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease should be strengthened.
Total response models as a conceptual management framework for conserving vulnerable secondary prey
Authors: Norbury Grant L. , Reardon James T. 
Published: June 2023

AbstractMany of the world's native fauna suffer unsustainable losses from invasive mammalian predators. Conservation managers control predators on the premise that if large numbers are removed, prey will respond. This is sometimes true, but not always. Empirical relationships between predator densities and responses of vulnerable prey in Oceania often show little or no response across a broad range of predator reductions, with positive responses only at low threshold predator densities. Even then, some prey populations fail to respond. More research is required to identify predator thresholds across a range of prey taxa. This uncertainty of outcomes, coupled with the considerable cost of mammalian pest control, risks little or no return from limited conservation funds. A unifying theory is required to help understand why conservation outcomes from predator control are so variable despite the best efforts of conservation managers, and to expedite the right kind of management for a given prey species. We argue that a modern synthesis of numerical and functional response theory, in the form of total response models, provides such a theory. Stochastic consumer‐resource models are recommended for dynamic systems, but they are difficult to parameterize. Total response models, on the other hand, present a simple conceptual framework that managers can use as a heuristic to understand predator–prey systems, help explain some of the variability in predator control outcomes and stimulate thinking about other management options that can be integrated with predator control to improve conservation outcomes. Five rules of thumb are suggested to assist conservation managers.
Impacts of climate change on dragonflies and damselflies in West and Central Asia
Authors: Cadena John T. , Boudot Jean‐Pierre , Kalkman Vincent J. , Marshall Leon 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAimTo project the impact of climate change on dragonfly and damselfly diversity in West and Central Asia.LocationWest and Central Asia.Time period1900–2020 data used to predict distributions in 2070 and 2100.Taxon studiedOdonata.MethodsBased on 149,001 records, distribution models were created for 159 species using MaxEnt. Environmental variables consisted of climate variables taken from BIOCLIM, river data and soil data. The future climate data were obtained from CHELSA from CMIP6 climate models. The same variables were collected for three scenarios (SSP1‐2.6, SSP3‐7.0 and SSP5‐8.5) of shared socioeconomic pathways for the years 2050–2070 and 2080–2100. For each scenario and period, diversity maps were prepared for six species groups: all species, Lentic, Lotic, Oriental, Afrotropical and Palaearctic species.ResultsStrong declines in diversity are expected in western Turkey, the Levant and Azerbaijan, and to a lesser extent in parts of Iran and southern Central Asia. An increase is expected in eastern Turkey and at higher elevations in Central Asia with a limited increase throughout the Arabian Peninsula. In contrast to expectations, a decrease in areas with <15 species was found. Faunal composition is predicted to show strong shifts, with Palaearctic species declining and Oriental and Afrotropical species increasing. No clear difference between the trend of lentic and lotic species is found, although there are clear spatial differences in trend between these groups.Main ConclusionsClimate change will result in strong changes in diversity and distribution of dragonflies and damselflies in West and Central Asia with regional declines and increases. None of the species are predicted to go extinct based on the impact of climate change only, however, the combined impact of climate change and anthropogenic forces is likely to push some of the species to near extinction by 2100.
Consequences of inconvenient information: Evidence from sentencing disparities
Authors: Šoltés Michal 
Published: June 2023

Inconvenient information about the performance of public institutions may undermine public trust. In an experiment, I test how information about sentencing disparities among judges in the Czech Republic affects respondents' perception of the judicial system. I find no effect on respondents' declared institutional trust and willingness to rely on the formal judicial system. Instead, the information marginally increased respondents' policy involvement: they became more likely to (i) sign a petition that invites politicians to address the underlying issue, and (ii) consider the fairness of the judicial system to be a more important policy issue. The increased interest in signing the petition was driven by mothers, who are arguably more sensitive to the particular treatment information in the presented case of a failure to pay alimony.
Institutional quality and public spending in Europe: A quantile regression approach
Authors: Barra Cristian , Ruggiero Nazzareno 
Published: June 2023

AbstractWe appraise the effects of institutional quality on public spending for a set of 27 European countries and 18 Euro‐area economies over the 1996–2017 period. While institutions play a weak role in affecting spending once the fixed‐effects model is employed, the application of the quantile regression indicates that improved institutional quality mitigates public spending, although the effects crucially depend on the distribution of public expenditure and the sample examined. For both the Euro‐area sample and the full sample, we show that better quality of institutions reduces public spending, although the effects become less significant the higher the levels of public spending. Further, for the Euro‐area sample, institutions appear to have a stronger role in mitigating public spending. Several robustness tests confirm our findings.
Identifying environmental factors affecting the production of pea aphid dispersal morphs in field populations
Authors: Bosch Michael J. , Ives Anthony R. 
Published: June 2023

Abstract
Many species of insects show phenotypically plastic dispersal traits in response to suboptimal environmental conditions. These polyphenetic traits can have large impacts on the population dynamics of the dispersing insects. Therefore, it is important to understand what environmental factors affect the development of dispersal traits and how these factors affect population dynamics via immigration/emigration.
Pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) exhibit a polyphenetic wing dimorphism in which individuals are either winged (alate) or not (apterous). The production of alate offspring is determined by environmental cues experienced by the mother. Environmental factors associated with these cues have been intensively studied, with crowding, host plant quality, natural enemies, fungal infection, and viral infection being shown to affect the production of pea aphid alates under controlled laboratory conditions. Nonetheless, environmental factors affecting alate production have rarely been studied in field populations of pea aphids.
Using data from a three‐year study of alate production in 5–9 alfalfa (lucerne) fields, we examined the effects of (i) pea aphid abundance, (ii) host plant maturity, (iii) temperature, (iv) predator and herbivore abundance, (v) parasitism, and (vi) entomopathic fungal incidence. In twice‐weekly samples taken over the growing season, alate production ranged from 0% to 83% of the nymphal population.
Pea aphid abundance, temperature, and alfalfa maturity together explained 67% of the variation in alate production. The other factors we investigated explained little variation. These results suggest there is a limited number of key environmental factors that consistently predict changes in alate production in field populations, while many factors identified in lab studies may be unimportant. Our results highlight the value of investigating factors affecting the expression of plastic traits in insect species at a broad spatiotemporal scale and under natural conditions.
Abundance, cover use, and clustering of brown trout spawning redds during stream habitat rehabilitation
Authors: Mundahl Neal D. , Schnaser Avery C. 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAbundance, placement beneath cover and clustering of brown trout spawning redds were monitored throughout five spawning seasons (2016–2020) in a 4.8‐km reach of a Minnesota coldwater stream to assess the potential impacts of concurrent stream habitat rehabilitation projects. We anticipated that redd abundance (redds/100 m stream segments) and placement beneath cover (e.g. logs and branches, boulders, overhanging bank vegetation, aquatic macrophytes) would increase and redd clustering (placement within 1.5 m of other redds) would decline as stream sections were rehabilitated. Repeated redd counts were conducted for the entire stream reach during each of the five spawning seasons, and redd cover and clustering were documented. Before‐after comparison of impact (BACI) tests were used to compare redd abundances in control versus rehabilitated stream sections, and before‐after distributional tests compared redd placement beneath cover and redd clustering within rehabilitated sections. In total, 1895 brown trout spawning redds were documented within the study reach during the five spawning seasons combined. Redd abundance increased nearly fivefold throughout the 5‐year study period (from 3.5 to 15.5 redds/100 m), but no significant difference was detected in redd abundances between rehabilitated versus control stream sections. Redd placement beneath cover (63% beneath cover in total) also increased throughout the study, but at a rate nine to 45 times greater in stream sections rehabilitated during the study than in control or previously rehabilitated sections. Redd clustering remained unchanged (5‐year means = 35 to 46% of all redds clustered) in rehabilitated sections, but increased significantly through time (0% to 35%) in the control section. Stream habitat rehabilitation did not increase spawning redd abundance or reduce redd clustering in rehabilitated stream sections, but redd placement beneath cover increased after rehabilitation to levels present in other stream sections.
Factors influencing the home range of freshwater fishes
Authors: Burbank Jacob , Gao Katelyn , Power Michael 
Published: June 2023

AbstractInitial investigations of home range for freshwater fish noted that it scaled allometrically, with additional studies having linked home range to variations in water body size. Here, we revisit the analysis of factors influencing freshwater fish home range sizes using an expanded dataset incorporating more recent telemetry data and a meta‐analysis approach to evaluate the influence of fish length, water body size, trophic guild and latitude on the home range size of fishes in lotic and lentic systems. With the expanded data set we reaffirm that length has a significant effect on the home range size in both lentic and lotic environments, with the effect of length being more pronounced in lotic environments. Similarly, we determined water body size also significantly influences home range size and is the key determinant of home range size in both lentic and lotic environments. We also demonstrate the importance of trophic guild and latitude as determinants of home range in lentic and lotic environments. The factors influencing home range size in both environments were common (i.e. fish length, water body size, trophic guild and latitude), but varied in importance weight between the environments. The results of this study help illuminate the weight of importance of factors influencing the home range of freshwater fishes and provide useful information for conservation and environmental management planning purposes.
Alterations of sensory cell activity in the thalamic reticular nucleus by prefrontal cortex activation in anesthetized rats
Authors: Kimura Akihisa 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThe thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), receiving excitatory inputs from thalamic nuclei and cortical areas, regulates thalamic sensory processing through its inhibitory projections to thalamic nuclei. Higher cognitive function has been shown to affect this regulation from the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The present study examined how activation of the PFC modulates auditory or visual responses of single TRN cells in anesthetized rats, using juxta‐cellular recording and labelling techniques. Electrical microstimulation of the medial PFC did not evoke cell activities in the TRN, but it altered sensory responses in the majority of auditory (40/43) and visual cells (19/20) with regard to response magnitude, latency and/or burst spiking. Alterations in response magnitude were bidirectional, either facilitation or attenuation, including induction of de novo cell activity and nullification of sensory response. Response modulation was observed in early (onset) and/or recurrent late responses. PFC stimulation, either before or after early response, affected late response. Alterations occurred in the two types of cells projecting to the first‐ and higher‐order thalamic nuclei. Further, auditory cells projecting to the somatosensory thalamic nuclei were affected. Facilitation was induced at relatively high incidences as compared with that in the sub‐threshold intra‐ or cross‐modal sensory interplay in the TRN where attenuation is predominated in bidirectional modulation. Highly complex cooperative and/or competitive interactions between the top‐down influence from the PFC and bottom‐up sensory inputs are assumed to take place in the TRN to adjust attention and perception depending on the weights of external sensory signals and internal demands of higher cognitive function.
Living the Apostolic Faith Together Today
Authors: Beardsall Sandra 
Published: June 2023

AbstractAs the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC) prepares to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025, its distinctive task is to invite the churches to commemorate ecumenically and to consider the search for visible unity under the theme “Living the apostolic faith together today.” Recognizing the diverse expectations of Christians for this anniversary, Faith and Order is planning a year of ecumenical events and opportunities, including a World Conference on Faith and Order with both in‐person and livestreamed participation. The 2025 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will focus on the Nicaea commemoration, and Faith and Order will collaborate with other WCC units and the churches. Topics for discussion are grouped under three themes: faith, unity, and mission. Online activities will enhance the opportunities for Christians around the globe to encounter one another in a spirit of love and reconciliation.
Nicaea and Christian–Jewish Relations
Authors: Ipgrave Michael 
Published: June 2023

AbstractIt is widely recognized that the Council of Nicaea marks a watershed in relations between Christians and Jews – both specifically the Ecumenical Council itself and also more generally the decades around and following 325. It was at this time that the separation between Christians and Jews, and between Christianity and Judaism, can be said to have reached a definitively final form, the conclusion of the long, drawn‐out process referred to as the “parting of the ways.” Despite periods of co‐existence and mutual enrichment, the history of Christian–Jewish relations has too often been marked by toxicity and tragedy. Christians have not only distinguished themselves from Jewish peoplebut have treated them with disparagement, exclusion, and, at times, persecution; moreover, Christian anti‐Judaism prepared the ground for a still more deadly secular antisemitism. Against this background, this article approaches the question of how to mark the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea in terms of its significance for Christian–Jewish relations in our own time.
“We Choose Abundant Life”
Authors: Kassab Najla 
Published: June 2023

AbstractThis article offers an overview of the document “We Choose Abundant Life”: Christians in the Middle East – Towards Renewed Theological, Social, and Political Choices, published in September 2021 by a group of Christians who belong to different churches and with different cultural perspectives, national geographies, and areas of expertise. The document offers renewed alternatives of theological, social, and political choices for the churches, peoples, authorities, and institutions in the Middle East.