bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Gender‐based cytomorphometric analysis of buccal exfoliated cells in a South Indian population
Authors: Begum N. Fazulunnisa , Ramani Pratibha 
Published: May 2023

AbstractObjectiveTo assess differences based on gender in nuclear area (NA), cytoplasmic area (CA), and nuclear‐cytoplasmic ratio (N:C ratio) values for clinically normal buccal smears in apparently healthy subjects of a South Indian population, thereby providing definitive baseline cytomorphometric measurements for the South Indian population.MethodsBuccal smears were collected from 60 healthy subjects (30 males and 30 females) of a South Indian population above 18 years in age. Values of the NA and CA were measured, and the N:C ratio calculated, using ImageJ software. Statistical analysis of the data with independent t tests and 95% confidence intervals was done using SPSS version 21 (significance set at P < 0.05).ResultsThe results showed that there were significant differences in the NA, CA, and N:C values between males and females irrespective of age (P = 0.01).ConclusionDefinitive gender‐specific baseline cytomorphometric data can be established using exfoliative cytology for the South Indian population, and this may be helpful in deciphering the occurrence of oral pre‐malignant diseases and oral squamous cell carcinoma in this population, as the incidence of these conditions varies with gender and different ethnic groups.
Hummingbird blood traits track oxygen availability across space and time
Authors: Williamson Jessie L. , Linck Ethan B. , Bautista Emil , Smiley Ashley , McGuire Jimmy A. , Dudley Robert , Witt Christopher C. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractPredictable trait variation across environments suggests shared adaptive responses via repeated genetic evolution, phenotypic plasticity or both. Matching of trait–environment associations at phylogenetic and individual scales implies consistency between these processes. Alternatively, mismatch implies that evolutionary divergence has changed the rules of trait–environment covariation. Here we tested whether species adaptation alters elevational variation in blood traits. We measured blood for 1217 Andean hummingbirds of 77 species across a 4600‐m elevational gradient. Unexpectedly, elevational variation in haemoglobin concentration ([Hb]) was scale independent, suggesting that physics of gas exchange, rather than species differences, determines responses to changing oxygen pressure. However, mechanisms of [Hb] adjustment did show signals of species adaptation: Species at either low or high elevations adjusted cell size, whereas species at mid‐elevations adjusted cell number. This elevational variation in red blood cell number versus size suggests that genetic adaptation to high altitude has changed how these traits respond to shifts in oxygen availability.
Functional evaluation of epilepsy‐associated KCNT1 variants in multiple cellular systems reveals a predominant gain of function impact on channel properties
Authors: Hinckley Christopher A. , Zhu Zhonghua , Chu Jen‐hwa , Gubbels Cynthia , Danker Timm , Cherry Jonathan J. , Whelan Christopher D. , Engle Sandra J. , Nguyen Viet 
Published: May 2023

AbstractObjectiveGain of function variants in the sodium‐activated potassium channel KCNT1 have been associated with pediatric epilepsy disorders. Here, we systematically examine a spectrum of KCNT1 variants and establish their impact on channel function in multiple cellular systems.MethodsKCNT1 variants identified from published reports and genetic screening of pediatric epilepsy patients were expressed in Xenopus oocytes and HEK cell lines. Variant impact on current magnitude, current–voltage relationships, and sodium ion modulation were examined.ResultsWe determined basic properties of KCNT1 in Xenopus oocyte and HEK systems, including the role of extra‐ and intracellular sodium in regulating KCNT1 activity. The most common six KCNT1 variants demonstrated strong gain of function (GOF) effects on one or more channel properties. Analysis of 36 total variants identified phenotypic heterogeneity but a strong tendency for pathogenic variants to exert GOF effects on channel properties. By controlling intracellular sodium, we demonstrate that multiple pathogenic KCNT1 variants modulate channel voltage dependence by altering the sensitivity to sodium ions.SignificanceThis study represents the largest systematic functional examination of KCNT1 variants to date. We both confirm previously reported GOF channel phenotypes and expand the number of variants with in vitro GOF effects. Our data provide further evidence that novel KCNT1 variants identified in epilepsy patients lead to disease through generalizable GOF mechanisms including increases in current magnitude and/or current–voltage relationships.
Investor sentiment and the risk–return relation: A two‐in‐one approach
Authors: Duxbury Darren , Wang Wenzhao 
Published: May 2023

AbstractTraditional finance theory posits a positive risk–return relation, but empirical evidence is inconclusive. Retail investor sentiment has long been viewed as a distorting factor, while more recently institutional investor sentiment is thought to play a role. We examine the separate and joint impacts of retail and institutional investor sentiments on the risk‐return relation. We find, at both market and firm levels, the risk‐return relation is more likely to be distorted by the two investor‐type sentiments jointly, rather than separately. We further find a cross‐sectional pattern, with the risk‐return relation being more sensitive to investor sentiment for stocks with specific characteristics.
Behavioral outcomes in children of adolescent and adult mothers: Linkages with coparenting and learning activities
Authors: Black Caroline F. D. , Barnett Melissa , Zambrano Priscilla L. , Noll Laura K. , Kortman Tianna 
Published: May 2023

AbstractObjectiveThis study explored associations among supportive coparenting, maternal–child learning activities, and child behavioral outcomes in adult and adolescent mothers experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage.BackgroundSupportive coparenting relationships are associated with positive parenting and child outcomes, yet research is limited for families experiencing socioeconomic adversities, particularly adolescent mothers, leading to an overemphasis of family risk and child negative outcomes.MethodsData were derived from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Study for a sample of 3‐year‐old children whose parents maintained functional relationships (N = 3, 421). Structural equation models tested whether supportive coparenting directly associated with child prosocial, externalizing, and internalizing behaviors and if indirect effects were transferred through maternal–child learning activities. Moderation analyses tested whether direct and indirect effects were conditional based on maternal age at childbirth (adolescent vs. adult).ResultsMaternal–child learning explained associations between supportive coparenting and child social outcomes. Higher levels of supportive coparenting directly associated with lower levels of child problem behaviors. Although findings varied between adult and adolescent mothers, no moderation effects were detected.ConclusionSupportive coparenting relationships are equally beneficial to children of adult and young mothers experiencing socioeconomic adversities, although pathways of influence differ.ImplicationsPrograms serving historically marginalized families, particularly adolescent mothers, may benefit by targeting coparenting and maternal–child learning activities as modifiable factors that promote positive child outcomes.
Reproductive collapse in European beech results from declining pollination efficiency in large trees
Authors: Bogdziewicz Michał , Kelly Dave , Tanentzap Andrew J. , Thomas Peter , Foest Jessie , Lageard Jonathan , Hacket‐Pain Andrew 
Published: May 2023

AbstractClimate warming increases tree mortality which will require sufficient reproduction to ensure population viability. However, the response of tree reproduction to climate change remains poorly understood. Warming can reduce synchrony and interannual variability of seed production (“masting breakdown”) which can increase seed predation and decrease pollination efficiency in trees. Here, using 40 years of observations of individual seed production in European beech (Fagus sylvatica), we showed that masting breakdown results in declining viable seed production over time, in contrast to the positive trend apparent in raw seed count data. Furthermore, tree size modulates the consequences of masting breakdown on viable seed production. While seed predation increased over time mainly in small trees, pollination efficiency disproportionately decreased in larger individuals. Consequently, fecundity declined over time across all size classes, but the overall effect was greatest in large trees. Our study showed that a fundamental biological relationship—correlation between tree size and viable seed production—has been reversed as the climate has warmed. That reversal has diverse consequences for forest dynamics; including for stand‐ and biogeographical‐level dynamics of forest regeneration. The tree size effects suggest management options to increase forest resilience under changing climates.
Integrative population genetics and metagenomics reveals urbanization increases pathogen loads and decreases connectivity in a wild bee
Authors: Chau Katherine D. , Samad‐zada Farida , Kelemen Evan P. , Rehan Sandra M. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractAs urbanization continues to increase, it is expected that two‐thirds of the human population will reside in cities by 2050. Urbanization fragments and degrades natural landscapes, threatening wildlife including economically important species such as bees. In this study, we employ whole genome sequencing to characterize the population genetics, metagenome and microbiome, and environmental stressors of a common wild bee, Ceratina calcarata. Population genomic analyses revealed the presence of low genetic diversity and elevated levels of inbreeding. Through analyses of isolation by distance, resistance, and environment across urban landscapes, we found that green spaces including shrubs and scrub were the most optimal pathways for bee dispersal, and conservation efforts should focus on preserving these land traits to maintain high connectivity across sites for wild bees. Metagenomic analyses revealed landscape sites exhibiting urban heat island effects, such as high temperatures and development but low precipitation and green space, had the highest taxa alpha diversity across all domains even when isolating for potential pathogens. Notably, the integration of population and metagenomic data showed that reduced connectivity in urban areas is not only correlated with lower relatedness among individuals but is also associated with increased pathogen diversity, exposing vulnerable urban bees to more pathogens. Overall, our combined population and metagenomic approach found significant environmental variation in bee microbiomes and nutritional resources even in the absence of genetic differentiation, as well as enabled the potential early detection of stressors to bee health.
Structural factors affecting global trends towards isolationism and expansionism – A BERGM analysis
Authors: Jang Yeongkyun , Yang Jae‐Suk 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThe first purpose of this study is to define the network parameters that enable systemic analysis of international relations, identifying trends towards isolationism and expansionism. The second is to analyse the factors influencing global trends towards isolationism and expansionism from a structural point of view. The results of a network analysis, including a BERGM, indicate a trend towards isolationism in the economic arena since about 2010; in contrast, a trend towards expansionism has been continuously evident in the political and military sectors throughout the study period. These results also show that the international relations system is formed by reciprocal and triadic relations. In specific, the results reveal that the expansionism trends are influenced by relational substructures centred on importing states.
Episodic disability in the neoliberal university: Stories from the Canadian context
Authors: Rice Carla , Harrison Elisabeth , Giddings Carla , Chivers Sally , Meerai Sonia , Zitzelsberger Hilde 
Published: May 2023

AbstractThis article explores how episodic disability (ED) is created and intensified by, present within, and pushed out of the neoliberalized academy in Canada. ED is an umbrella term for a range of physical, mental, and neurological conditions characterized by fluctuation and unpredictability. Over two million working‐age Canadians are affected by ED, with women more likely to be impacted. To consider how ED interacts with post‐secondary education, we put feminist disability theories of embodied precarity, crip time, and disability justice into conversation with multimedia stories created by post‐secondary women workers with EDs, with story‐makers contextualizing and theorizing their creations, and revealing their complex embodied and embedded experiences. We chose these from stories generated in two research projects focused on transforming negative concepts of disability to serve as an “archivy” of embodied precarity that challenges ED's erasure in the academy. We think with the stories to analyze power and resistance in and on gendered and raced academic bodies along three overlapping themes: debility and vulnerability in the neoliberal university; fault‐lines of neoliberal time and embodied time; and EDs as produced in, and pushed out of, the neoliberal academy. Considering interrelations between ED and post‐secondary education under neoliberalism, we argue that feminist disability theory and justice praxis challenge debilitating and exclusionary expectations that harm people with EDs in and outside of the academy.
Improvement of the production process and the sensory and nutritional quality of m'bahou, a traditional plantain semolina, enriched with soy or cowpea
Authors: N'Goran Christelle Adjoua , Petit Jérémy , N'Guessan Arlette Akissi , Gonnety Jean Tia , Scher Joël 
Published: May 2023

SummaryM'bahou is a traditional Ivorian food dish prepared from senescent plantain and cassava powder which has a low protein content and a weak technological aptitude because of its stickiness. The present study aims at investigating the possibility to lower m'bahou stickiness by using fermented cassava powders and evaluating the impact of partial substitution of cassava by soy and cowpea on its sensory, nutritional and textural properties. A descriptive test was performed to deduce the impact of cassava fermentation time. Formulating m'bahou with 4‐h fermented cassava permitted to reach the best compromise between stickiness, taste, and smell. A hedonic test was performed to choose the adequate proportion of soybean or cowpea powders to substitute for 4‐h fermented cassava powder in the formulation of m'bahou, leading to 10% soy or 15% cowpea in final formulations. Moreover, it was highlighted that substitution permitted to improve nutritional quality and energy value. Texture analysis showed that semolina containing fermented cassava powder prepared as compacts after reconstitution slightly differed from the reference m'bahou formulated with unfermented cassava: although their hardness was higher and their elasticity and masticability lower, they appeared to be less adhesive and cohesive, showing their better technological aptitude.
Insights into the non‐targeted metabolomic profile, rheological, functional and structural characteristics of rice bran and pulse protein isolates
Authors: Kumar Ajay , Joshi Robin , Awasthi Tamanna , Singh Narpinder 
Published: May 2023

SummaryRice bran protein isolates and seven legume protein isolates (moong bean, green pea, white pea, black chickpea and white chickpea, soya bean and lentil) were evaluated for functional, structural and metabolomic properties. Rice bran protein isolates (RBI) had higher solubility, foaming, oil absorption capacity and water absorption capacity but lower denaturing temperature compared to legume proteins. The functionality of proteins isolates impacted significantly with structural characteristics. The β‐sheet, α‐helix, β‐turn and anti‐parallel β‐sheets proportions were evaluated by FTIR. RBI revealed lower molecular weight, less rigid conformational structure and lower proportion of β‐sheet. The evaluation of untargeted metabolomics compounds was determined by ultraperformance liquid chromatography quadruple time‐of‐flight ion mobility mass spectrometry (UHPLC‐QTOF‐IMS), evaluated using PCA and presented as a heatmap. Analysis revealed 46 metabolites including sugars, amino acids, lipids, terpenoid, phenolics, saponins and their derivatives. Significant differences in selected compounds from 126 identified metabolites among protein isolates were observed. This work provides new insights into metabolite distribution among protein isolates and also presents future implementations for applications in food and nutraceuticals.
Immediate flap increases patient safety for deep sternal wound infection: A meta‐analysis
Authors: Qiu Xiaotong , Sun Xingwang , Huang Guobao 
Published: May 2023

AbstractDeep sternal wound infection is a severe complication after cardiac surgery. We performed a meta‐analysis evaluating the impact of immediate flap and NPWT on mortality and length of hospital stay. The meta‐analysis was registered (CRD42022351755). A systematic literature search was conducted from inception to January, 2023, including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and EU Clinical Trials Register. The main outcome were in‐hospital mortality and late mortality. And additional outcomes were length of stay and ICU stay time. A total of 438 patients (Immediate flap: 229; NPWT: 209) from four studies were included in this study. Immediate flap was associated with lower in‐hospital mortality (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.13‐0.81, P = .02) and length of stay (SMD −13.24, 95% CI −20.53 to −5.94, P = .0004). Moreover, pooled analysis demonstrated no significant difference was found in two groups in terms of late mortality (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.35‐1.16, P = .14) and ICU stay time (SMD −1.65, 95% CI −4.13 to 0.83, P = .19). Immediate flap could reduce in‐hospital mortality and length of stay for patients with deep sternal wound infection. Flap transplantation as soon as possible may be advised.
Correlations between motor competencies, physical activity and self‐concept in children with intellectual disabilities in inclusive education
Authors: Schluchter Thierry , Nagel Siegfried , Valkanover Stefan , Eckhart Michael 
Published: May 2023

AbstractBackgroundReciprocal relationships exist between motor competencies, physical activity and self‐concept.AimsUsing a structural equation model, this study examined whether these relationships also appear in children with intellectual disabilities, how they can be validly measured, and if there are differences between children with and without intellectual disabilities.Materials & MethodsData from a cross‐sectional research project involving 121 children with intellectual disabilities and 1721 without intellectual disabilities were analysed.ResultsThe results demonstrate that reciprocal relationships also apply to children with intellectual disabilities and can be elucidated if inverse items are omitted.DiscussionChildren with intellectual disabilities have less developed motor competencies and are less physically active but have a higher general self‐concept compared to children without intellectual disabilities. The sport‐related ability self‐concept of both groups is comparable.ConclusionsThe results are broadly consistent with extant research and illustrate that the development of motor competencies, physical activity and self‐concept in children with intellectual disabilities must be encouraged.
Behavioural sleep problems in children and adults with intellectual disabilities: An integrative literature review
Authors: Harper Lynette , McAnelly Su , Walshe Ian , Ooms Ann , Tuffrey‐Wijne Irene M. 
Published: May 2023

AbstractBackgroundPeople with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience sleep problems, which can affect quality of life, physical health, mental health and well‐being.MethodsAn integrative literature review was conducted to investigate what is known about behavioural sleep disturbances in people with an intellectual disability. The search used the following databases: Scopus, PsycInfo and Cinahl, to find papers published since 2015.ResultsWithin intellectual disability research, sleep appears as a common issue due to its high prevalence, negative relationships with an individual's physical and mental health, their quality of life, and impact of sleep problems on family or carers. The growing evidence base appears to support the use of behavioural, lifestyle and pharmacological interventions to improve sleep in people with an intellectual disability.ConclusionA wide array of literature provides evidence that people with intellectual disabilities are affected by and need support with their sleep.
Inactivation of EGFR/ERK/NF‐κB signalling associates with radiosensitizing effect of 18β‐glycyrrhetinic acid on progression of hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Liu Yu‐Chang , Lin Cheng Hsun , Chen Kuan‐Tin , Lai De‐Wei , Hsu Fei‐Ting 
Published: May 2023

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is recognized as the fifth most common cancer and the third most common cause of death in Asian population. Studies reported that HCC is relatively insensitive to radiotherapy (RT); thus, considering how to sensitize HCC to RT is worth to be elucidated. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐mediated signalling transduction plays the important role in regulating treatment efficacy of HCC. An active compound, 18beta‐glycyrrhetinic acid (18β‐GA), has been reported to own anti‐tumour effect. However, whether 18β‐GA possess RT sensitization ability in HCC remains unclear. Here, we used RNA data from TCGA‐LIHC (Liver hepatocellular carcinoma) to identify the role between EGFR/ERK/nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) signalling and RT by radiosensitivity index (RSI) analysis. We suggested that patients with activated NF‐κB signalling may show resistance to RT treatment, whereas combining 18β‐GA may reinforce RT efficacy in a Hep3B‐bearing animal model. 18β‐GA combined with RT showed superior tumour inhibition capacity as compared to monotherapy and even reached similar efficacy as erlotinib combined with RT. Treatment promotion of RT by 18β‐GA in HCC is not only through diminishing RT‐induced EGFR/ERK/NF‐κB signalling but also promoting RT‐induced apoptosis pathways. 18β‐GA may act as radiosensitizer through inactivating EGFR‐mediated HCC progression and inducing caspase‐dependent apoptosis signalling.