bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bumblebees actively compensate for the adverse effects of sidewind during visually-guided landings
Authors: Goyal Pulkit , van Leeuwen Johan L. , Muijres Florian T. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractFlying animals often encounter winds during visually guided landings. However, how winds affect their flight control strategy during landing is unknown. Here, we investigated how sidewind affects the landing strategy, sensorimotor control, and landing performance of foraging bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). For this, we trained a hive of bumblebees to forage in a wind tunnel, and used high-speed stereoscopic videography to record 19,421 landing flight maneuvers in six sidewind speeds (0 to 3.4 m s−1), which correspond to winds encountered in nature. Bumblebees landed less often in higher windspeeds, but the landing duration from free flight was not increased by wind. We then tested how bumblebees adjusted their landing control to compensate for the adverse effects of sidewind on landing. This showed that the landing strategy in sidewind was similar to that in still air, but with important adaptations. In the highest windspeeds, more hover phases occurred than during landings in still air. The rising hover frequency did not increase landing duration because bumblebees flew faster in between hover phases. Hence, they negated the adverse effects of increased hovering in high windspeeds. Using control theory, we revealed how bumblebees integrate information from the wind-mediated mechanosensory modality with their vision-based sensorimotor control loop. The proposed multi-sensory flight control system may be commonly used by insects landing in windy conditions and it may inspire the development of landing control strategies onboard man-made flying systems.Summary statementBumblebees foraging in strong sidewinds can still land precisely on artificial flowers, allowing them to be efficient and robust pollinators in these adverse environmental conditions.
Tuning in Sensorimotor Synchronization
Authors: Michalareas Georgios , Grabenhorst Matthias , Sun Yue 
Published: December 2022

AbstractMoving in synchrony to external rhythmic stimuli is an elementary function that humans regularly engage in. It is termed “sensorimotor synchronization” and it is governed by two main parameters, the period and the phase of the movement with respect to the external rhythm. There has been an extensive body of research on the characteristics of these parameters, primarily once the movement synchronization has reached a steady-state level. Particular interest has been shown about how these parameters are corrected when there are deviations for the steady-state level. However, little is known about the initial “tuning-in” interval, when one aligns the movement to the external rhythm from rest. The current work investigates this “tuning-in” period for each of the four limbs and makes various novel contributions in the understanding of sensorimotor synchronization. The results suggest that phase and period alignment appear to be separate processes. Phase alignment involves limb-specific somatosensory memory in the order of minutes while period alignment has very limited memory usage. Phase alignment is the primary task but then the brain switches to period alignment where it spends most its resources. In overall this work suggests a central, cognitive role of period alignment and a peripheral, sensorimotor role of phase alignment.HighlightsIn the tuning-in phase there are three distinct temporal scales of sensorimotor synchronization with distinct signatures. A long-range, across-blocks monotonic negative gradient to more anticipatory movement, which prevails for tens of minutes, a very consistent “hook”-shaped pattern within each block, in the range of seconds, and a constant difference across time between feet and hands.The across-blocks, monotonic, negative gradient to more anticipatory movement is instantiated only in the first anticipatory trial of each block and the rest of the subsequent block trials contribute to the alignment of the inter-movement interval to the metronome’s period.This negative asynchrony gradient is limb-specific and is not affected by the interleaved blocks of other limbs.Period alignment has a central, cognitive role while phase alignment a peripheral, sensorimotor role.
Ligand Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics 2 (LiGaMD2): Improved calculations of ligand binding thermodynamics and kinetics with closed protein pocket
Authors: Wang Jinan , Miao Yinglong 
Published: December 2022

AbstractLigand binding thermodynamics and kinetics are critical parameters for drug design. However, it has proven challenging to efficiently predict ligand binding thermodynamics and kinetics from molecular simulations due to limited simulation timescales. Protein dynamics especially in the ligand binding pocket often plays an important role in ligand binding. Based on our previously developed Ligand Gaussian accelerated molecular dynamics (LiGaMD), here we present LiGaMD2 in which a selective boost potential was applied to both the ligand and protein residues in the binding pocket to improve sampling of ligand binding and dissociation. To validate the performance of LiGaMD2, the T4 lysozyme (T4L) mutants with open and closed pockets bound by different ligands were chosen as model systems. LiGaMD2 could efficiently capture repetitive ligand dissociation and binding within microsecond simulations of all T4L systems. The obtained ligand binding kinetic rates and free energies agreed well with available experimental values and previous modeling results. Therefore, LiGaMD2 provides an improved approach to sample opening of closed protein pockets for ligand dissociation and binding, thereby allowing for efficient calculations of ligand binding thermodynamics and kinetics.
The Timing of Cortical Activation in Associator Grapheme-Colour Synaesthetes using MEG
Authors: Michalareas Giorgos , Kusnir Flor , Thut Gregor , Gross Joachim 
Published: December 2022

AbstractGrapheme-colour synaesthetes experience an anomalous form of perception in which graphemes systematically induce specific colour concurrents in their mind’s eye (“associator” type). Although grapheme-colour synaesthesia has been well characterized behaviourally, its neural mechanisms remain largely unresolved. There are currently several competing models, which can primarily be distinguished according to the anatomical and temporal predictions of synaesthesia-inducing neural activity. The first main model (Cross-Activation/ Cascaded Cross-Tuning) positsearlyrecruitment of occipital colour areas in the initial feed-forward sweep of brain activity. The second (Disinhibited Feedback) posits: (i) later involvement of a multisensory convergence zone (for example, in parietal cortices) after graphemes have been processed in their entirety; and (ii) subsequent feedback to early visual areas (i.e., occipital colour areas). In this study, we examine both the timing and anatomical correlates of associator grapheme-colour synaesthetes (n=6) using MEG. Using unbiased analysis methods with littlea prioriassumptions, we applied Independent Component Analysis (ICA) on a single-subject level to identify the dominant patterns of the induced, synaesthetic percept. We observed evoked activity that significantly dissociates between synaesthesia-inducing and non-inducing conditions at approximately 190 ms following grapheme presentation. This effect is present in grapheme-colour synaesthetes, but not in matched controls, and exhibits an occipito-parietal topology localised consistently across individuals to extrastriate visual cortices and to superior parietal lobes. Due to the observed timing of this evoked activity and its localisation, our results support a model predicting relatively late synaesthesia-inducing activity, more akin to the Disinhibited Feedback model. In light of previous findings, our study suggest that differential timing and neural mechanisms may account for associator grapheme-colour synaesthetes, as compared to projectors.Highlights-first MEG study to-date examining associator grapheme-colour synaesthetes-we use single-subj. ICA to dissociate synaesthesia-inducing vs. non-inducing activity-we observe evoked activity ∼190 ms following grapheme presentationeffects localize consistently to extrastriate visual and superior parietal cortices-the observed timing is consistent with a model of synaesthesia supporting relatively late activity of synaesthesia-inducing stimuli-our findings suggest that differential mechanisms may underlie different sub-types of grapheme-colour synaesthesia
Surface-modified measles vaccines encoding oligomeric, fusion-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins bypass measles seropositivity, boosting neutralizing antibody responses to omicron and historical variants
Authors: Muñoz-Alía Miguel Á. , Nace Rebecca A. , Balakrishnan Baskar , Zhang Lianwen , Packiriswamy Nandakumar , Singh Gagandeep , Warang Prajakta , Mena Ignacio , Narjari Riya , Vandergaast Rianna , García-Sastre Adolfo , Schotsaert Michael , Russell Stephen J. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractSerum titers of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies (nAb) correlate well with protection from symptomatic COVID-19, but decay rapidly in the months following vaccination or infection. In contrast, measles-protective nAb titers are life-long after measles vaccination, possibly due to persistence of the live-attenuated virus in lymphoid tissues. We therefore sought to generate a live recombinant measles vaccine capable of driving high SARS-CoV-2 nAb responses. Since previous clinical testing of a live measles vaccine encoding a SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein resulted in suboptimal anti-spike antibody titers, our new vectors were designed to encode prefusion-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoproteins, trimerized via an inserted peptide domain and displayed on a dodecahedral miniferritin scaffold. Additionally, to circumvent the blunting of vaccine efficacy by preformed anti-measles antibodies, we extensively modified the measles surface glycoproteins. Comprehensivein vivomouse testing demonstrated potent induction of high titer nAb in measles-immune mice and confirmed the significant incremental contributions to overall potency afforded by prefusion stabilization, trimerization, and miniferritin-display of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, and vaccine resurfacing. In animals primed and boosted with a MeV vaccine encoding the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 spike, high titer nAb responses against ancestral virus strains were only weakly cross-reactive with the omicron variant. However, in primed animals that were boosted with a MeV vaccine encoding the omicron BA.1 spike, antibody titers to both ancestral and omicron strains were robustly elevated and the passive transfer of serum from these animals protected K18-ACE2 mice from infection and morbidity after exposure to BA.1 and WA1/2020 strains. Our results demonstrate that antigen engineering can enable the development of potent measles-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates.
Initial social-policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Global North – A scoping review
Authors: Mäntyneva Päivi , Ketonen Eeva-Leena , Hiilamo Heikki 
Published: December 2022

PurposeThe purpose of this scoping review is to analyse comparative studies on social-policy measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Global North welfare states. The authors also consider the potential influence of the regimes on the responses.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a scoping review of six databases including peer-reviewed comparative studies. In an iterative process with exact inclusion criteria, the authors screened 699 titles/abstracts/articles and found 16 comparative research articles to be included in the review and analysis. The review summarises the main themes of the comparative articles and the articles' typical features.FindingsThe results show that social-policy measures were directed specifically at working-age people to minimise income loss and to save jobs. The pandemic also increased care-related responsibilities, necessitating the expansion of current policies and the implementation of new instruments. Despite the differences in responses between universalistic and residual welfare states, the influence of welfare regimes on COVID-19 social-policy measures remains unclear. The emergency responses in the different regimes varied widely in terms of coverage.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this review provide a basis on which to conduct future studies, identify new research topics and knowledge gaps and inspire new research questions and hypotheses. Given the accumulation of scientific knowledge in the area of social-policy measures, the need for systematic reviews will grow in the future.Originality/valueThe authors identified three main themes: changes in employment protection, changes in care-related income protection and the potential influence of welfare-state regimes on COVID-19-related measures.
Experimental extensification of mountain grasslands restores plant species richness but not species composition in the mid‐term
Authors: Humann‐Guilleminot Ségolène , Boch Steffen , Martínez‐De León Gerard , Lessard‐Therrien Malie , Hayoz‐Andrey Aline , Serres‐Hänni Alberto , Humbert Jean‐Yves 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

The traditional grasslands that characterize the cultural landscapes of the Palaeartic mountain massifs represent biodiversity hotspots. Yet, they are currently threatened by the intensification of farming practices, notably excesses in fertilization and irrigation.

We experimentally investigated the passive restoration of montane and subalpine hay meadows after 6 years of management intensification, with different levels of fertilization and irrigation, followed by 5 years of release of intensive management, that is, extensification. More specifically, relying on a full randomized block‐design replicated at 11 Swiss study sites constituted of extensively managed meadows, we exposed during 6 years (2010–2015) four 20 m diameter plots to three levels of intensification (low, medium and high inputs), while a fourth plot served as a control (no inputs). In the second phase of the experiment (2016–2020), all study meadows underwent farming extensification.

We monitored total species richness and plant diversity (Simpson diversity), indicator plant species as well as the composition and variability of the plant communities based on Bray–Curtis dissimilarity distances.

We found that total species richness decreased in the most intensified plots after 6 years of intensification, but all plots retrieved their baseline species richness after 5 years of re‐extensification. In addition, we found no difference between the years in plant diversity (Simpson diversity) among the treatments. Yet, intensification led to different plants communities' compositions in all three levels of intensification in 2015 compared to the extensive plots, and this structural difference remained after 5 years of re‐extensification.

Synthesis and applications. Land‐use intensification induces a rapid impoverishment of the flora of mountain meadows. Our results demonstrate the potential of mountain hay meadows to passively restore plant species richness after re‐extensification; however, plants communities did not fully recover. We recommend maintaining fertilization inputs as low as possible and operating active restoration on grasslands formerly intensified.
The diversity and distribution of introduced plant species reflect 8000 years of settlement history
Authors: Macek Martin , Abraham Vojtěch , Tkáč Peter , Novák David , Kolář Jan 
Published: December 2022

Abstract

Human population has affected natural ecosystems since prehistoric times in many ways, causing disturbances in existing ecosystems and creating novel habitats, and altering the colonisation and extinction rates with potentially long‐lasting effects on biodiversity. Here, we explored the pervasive effects of past human occupancy on present‐day diversity and the distribution of plant species introduced by humans in the distant past—archaeophytes—at the regional spatial scale.

We analysed spatial relations between the present‐day species richness of archaeophytes and native flora, the environmental setting, archaeological evidence, and the relationship between the residence time of archaeophytes and their regional range size. We used fine‐scaled gridded information on plant diversity and archaeological records for the period 6000 BCE to 1000 CE summarised as average occupancy probability (AOP) in Czechia, Central Europe.

The proportion of archaeophytes in the local flora positively correlated with AOP. Variation partitioning revealed largely overlapping effects of AOP, environmental conditions, and present‐day land use on the relative diversity of archaeophytes in local flora. The relationship between the minimum residence time of introduced species and their regional range size was non‐significant.

Synthesis. Present‐day regional diversity of archaeophytes mirrored the intensity of past human settlements. Our results suggest that the main underlying mechanism is the environmental filtering of non‐native species pools, while dispersal limitation plays a minor role in the regional patterns of archaeophyte diversity.
The MocR family transcriptional regulator DnfR has multiple binding sites and regulates Dirammox gene transcription in Alcaligenes faecalis JQ135
Authors: Xu Si‐Qiong , Wang Xiao , Xu Lu , Wang Ke‐Xin , Jiang Yin‐Hu , Zhang Fu‐Yin , Hong Qing , He Jian , Liu Shuang‐Jiang , Qiu Ji‐Guo 
Published: December 2022

AbstractMicrobial ammonia oxidation is vital to the nitrogen cycle. A biological process, called Dirammox (direct ammonia oxidation, NH3→NH2OH→N2), has been recently identified in Alcaligenes ammonioxydans and Alcaligenes faecalis. However, its transcriptional regulatory mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated. The present study characterized a new MocR‐like transcription factor DnfR that is involved in the Dirammox process in A. faecalis strain JQ135. The entire dnf cluster was composed of 10 genes and transcribed as five transcriptional units, that is, dnfIH, dnfR, dnfG, dnfABCDE and dnfF. DnfR activates the transcription of dnfIH, dnfG and dnfABCDE genes, and represses its own transcription. The intact 1506‐bp dnfR gene was required for activation of Dirammox. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting analyses showed that DnfR has one binding site in the dnfH‐dnfR intergenic region and two binding sites in the dnfG‐dnfA intergenic region. Three binding sites of DnfR shared a 6‐bp repeated conserved sequence 5′‐GGTCTG‐N17‐GGTCTG‐3′ which was essential for the transcription of downstream target genes. Cysteine and glutamate act as possible effectors of DnfR to activate the transcription of transcriptional units of dnfG and dnfABCDE, respectively. This study provided new insights in the transcriptional regulation mechanism of Dirammox by DnfR in A. faecalis JQ135.
Seduction, deception and technology
Authors: Tyler Susan 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThis paper proposes that exploring the use of internet pornography creates a potentially beneficial, albeit defensive liminal space that can be used therapeutically. The content of compelling sexual scenes can be viewed as the psyche’s way of mastering internal trauma and masking an inner emptiness. However, from a Jungian perspective, the use of internet pornography can also be seen as a patient’s distorted way of trying to make dissociated affects more bearable by triumphing over them. The sexual use of technology can express intrapsychic conflict encapsulated in what Stoller called ‘microdots’. Stoller’s microdots are unique scripts – a kind of emotional code that gives clinicians an opportunity to reveal unconscious processes and transcend them through meaning making. Wood’s work at the Portman Clinic on the chosen ‘compelling scenarios’ of pornography‐addicted patients is also examined with this Jungian lens. Jung’s idea of the transcendent function is used to show the value of holding the tension of fantasy and frustration provoked by intimacy. The paper illustrates how they come together within the therapeutic relationship to stimulate something new.
Projecting the fiscal impact of immigration in the European Union
Authors: Christl Michael , Bélanger Alain , Conte Alessandra , Mazza Jacopo , Narazani Edlira 
Published: December 2022

AbstractThe increasing flow of immigrants into Europe over the last decade has generated a range of considerations in the policy agenda of many receiving countries. One of the main considerations for policymakers and public opinion alike is whether immigrants contribute their ‘fair’ share to their host country's tax and welfare system. In this paper, we assess the net fiscal impact of intra‐EU and extra‐EU migration in 27 European Union (EU) Member States. We find that migrants in the EU, on average, contribute more than natives to welfare states. However, when we take an age‐specific life‐cycle perspective, we find that natives generally show a higher net fiscal contribution than both groups of migrants. Among migrants, extra‐EU migrants contribute less than intra‐EU migrants. We then use a demographic microsimulation model to project the potential net fiscal impact of migration in the EU into the future. We show that despite the fact that intra‐EU migration contributes to reduce the strong negative impact of population ageing, its contribution is not sufficient to offset the negative fiscal consequences.
Medicare beneficiaries with more comprehensive primary care physicians report better primary care
Authors: O'Malley Ann S. , Rich Eugene C. , Ghosh Arkadipta , Palakal Maya , Rose Tyler , Swankoski Kaylyn , Peikes Deborah , McCall Nancy 
Published: December 2022

AbstractObjectiveTo examine whether primary care physician (PCP) comprehensiveness is associated with Medicare beneficiaries' overall rating of care from their PCP and staff.Data SourcesWe linked Medicare claims with survey data from Medicare beneficiaries attributed to Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) physicians and practices.Study DesignWe performed regression analyses of the associations between two claims‐based measures of PCP comprehensiveness in 2017 and beneficiaries' rating of care from their PCP and practice staff in 2018.Data Collection/Extraction MethodsThe analytic sample included 6228 beneficiaries cared for by 3898 PCPs. Regressions controlled for beneficiary, physician, practice, and market characteristics.Principal FindingsBeneficiaries with more comprehensive PCPs rated care from their PCP and practice staff higher than did those with less comprehensive PCPs. For each comprehensiveness measure, beneficiaries whose PCP was in the 75th percentile were more likely than beneficiaries whose PCP was in the 25th percentile to rate their care highly (2 percentage point difference,p = 0.02).ConclusionsMedicare beneficiaries with more comprehensive PCPs rate overall care from their PCPs and staff higher than those with less comprehensive PCPs.