bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Amorfrutin B Protects Mouse Brain Neurons from Hypoxia/Ischemia by Inhibiting Apoptosis and Autophagy Processes Through Gene Methylation- and miRNA-Dependent Regulation
Authors: Przepiórska Karolina , Wnuk Agnieszka , Beyer Cordian , Kajta Małgorzata 
Published: November 2022

Abstract

Amorfrutin B is a selective modulator of the PPARγ receptor, which has recently been identified as an effective neuroprotective compound that protects brain neurons from hypoxic and ischemic damage. Our study demonstrated for the first time that a 6-h delayed post-treatment with amorfrutin B prevented hypoxia/ischemia-induced neuronal apoptosis in terms of the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, heterochromatin foci formation, and expression of specific genes and proteins. The expression of all studied apoptosis-related factors was decreased in response to amorfrutin B, both during hypoxia and ischemia, except for the expression of anti-apoptotic BCL2, which was increased. After post-treatment with amorfrutin B, the methylation rate of the pro-apoptotic Bax gene was inversely correlated with the protein level, which explained the decrease in the BAX/BCL2 ratio as a result of Bax hypermethylation. The mechanisms of the protective action of amorfrutin B also involved the inhibition of autophagy, as evidenced by diminished autophagolysosome formation and the loss of neuroprotective properties of amorfrutin B after the silencing of Becn1 and/or Atg7. Although post-treatment with amorfrutin B reduced the expression levels of Becn1, Nup62, and Ambra1 during hypoxia, it stimulated Atg5 and the protein levels of MAP1LC3B and AMBRA1 during ischemia, supporting the ambiguous role of autophagy in the development of brain pathologies. Furthermore, amorfrutin B affected the expression levels of apoptosis-focused and autophagy-related miRNAs, and many of these miRNAs were oppositely regulated by amorfrutin B and hypoxia/ischemia. The results strongly support the position of amorfrutin B among the most promising anti-stroke and wide-window therapeutics.
Learning as Becoming Conscious: A note on Jablonka and Ginsburg’s Notion of Learning
Authors: Olteanu Alin 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis commentary addresses the concept of learning stemming from Eva Jablonka and Simona Ginsburg’s theory of the emergence of consciousness. Jablonka and Ginsburg find strong support in biosemiotics for their argument that learning offers an evolutionary transition marker for the emergence of consciousness. Indeed, biosemiotics embraces a view on evolution that integrates both phylogeny and ontogeny. It does not polarize learning and evolving. At the same time, Jablonka and Ginsburg’s argument gives both biosemiotics and learning theory a shake, forcing scholarship in these fields to tackle difficult questions on agency, selfhood, consciousness and anthropological difference. I explore some of the main questions that arise from this theoretical development, particularly in reference to Andrew Stables’ semiotic learning theory, which has been easily nested in a biosemiotic framework.
Organic form and evolution: the morphological problem in twentieth-century italian biology
Authors: Tamborini Marco 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis paper examines the efforts in evolution research to understand form’s structure that developed in Italy during the first half of the twentieth century. In particular, it analyzes how the organic approach in biology and the study of organic form merged in the morphological research agendas of Giuseppe Colosi (1892–1975) and Giuseppe Levi (1872–1965). These biologists sought to understand form’s inner composition and structure. First, I will briefly outline the morphological practices and frameworks used to study form changes and structures in the early twentieth century. Second, I will discuss what the Italian biologist Antonio Pensa (1874–1970) called the morphological problem. Third, I will examine Colosi’s response to the morphological problem. Fourth, I will analyze Levi’s morphological research program. As a result, this paper paves the way for a more nuanced and varied picture of the so-called “organicism movement” in the first half of the twentieth century by calling attention to morphology as practiced in Italian-speaking biology. In fact, alongside dialectical materialism and holistic biology, two of the main strands within organicism, the architectural approach to evolution as practiced in Italy and elsewhere had a profound impact on twentieth- and twenty-first-century organicism specifically and on evolutionary biology generally.
Triangulation of Theoretical and Empirical Conceptualizations Related to the Rule of Law
Authors: Horák Filip , Lacko David 
Published: November 2022

AbstractTriangulation of the various methodological approaches towards the rule of law is highly desirable since it allows the combination of benefits and elimination of problematic aspects in each. The present article triangulates the conceptualizations of three approaches relating to the rule of law, namely Bedner’s review of the rule of law theories, the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, and the review by Horák et al. of empirical measurement of legal consciousness, and identifies the most significant problem as a lack of communication between them. More precisely, the theoretical conceptualizations are not fully prepared for empirical measurement, and the empirical tools do not reflect the theoretical debate and its outcomes. Therefore, a new conceptualization of the rule of law is proposed to overcome these issues and consequently make the empirical measurement more valid.
A survey and critical analysis of the teaching of medical ethics in UK medical schools
Authors: Deckers Jan 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis article surveys and analyses the reflections on medical ethics teaching by colleagues teaching in United Kingdom (UK) medical schools in the early 2020s. Participants were recruited mainly by using the worldwide web to identify 64 people from 41 UK medical schools who were thought to contribute to teaching medical ethics based on their internet profiles. Twenty-three people responded. The survey data reveals that many staff are happy with the provision of medical ethics teaching, but also that some are concerned about the quality of provision due to concerns with staff expertise and teaching time. In spite of the fact that the General Medical Council (GMC) and other organisations are perceived to have contributed to raising the profile of medical ethics, there is significant concern with how it is embedded within local UK medical curricula. Some participants contributed hardly or not at all to research in medical ethics, where one attributed this decline in research to the pandemic. Future work will need to address what can be done to improve the provision of medical ethics teaching to address some of these findings and to survey and analyse how perceptions might have changed in light of recent challenges and developments.
The Antler, Ivory, and Bone Artefacts from Maszycka Cave (Southern Poland). New Signals from a Late Upper Palaeolithic Key Site
Authors: Pfeifer Sebastian J. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThe well-known Late Upper Palaeolithic cave site of Maszycka (southern Poland), excavated in the end of the nineteenth century as well as in the 1960s, furnished a collection of 89 osseous artefacts manufactured from cervid antler, mammoth ivory, and mammal long bone. The great majority are finished tools, mostly projectile points, while raw material blocks, pre-forms, and production waste are represented by only a few pieces. Based on the presence of the characteristic double-split antler tools, distinct projectile morphologies, and recurring ornaments, the assemblage from Maszycka can be assigned to the early Middle Magdalenian facies à navettes which dates to around 19 - 17.5 ka cal. BP. Compared to the western European sites, which also belong to this facies, Maszycka is characterised by a high proportion of ivory tools, reflecting the abundance of this favourable raw material in eastern central Europe, as well as an unusually high proportion of decorated tools, which may relate to an increased need for symbolic communication within the small and geographically isolated Magdalenian group. Both the remarkable typo-technological similarities of the bone industry from Maszycka to contemporary assemblages in France and the gap in the central European archaeological record between 22 and 19 ka cal. BP speak in favour of a direct immigration of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers from western Europe immediately after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Their relations to the bearers of the Epigravettian adjacent to the east and south remain to date poorly understood.
Using Formation Processes to Explore Low-Density Sites and Settlement Patterns: A Case Study from the Swabian Jura
Authors: Varis Aristeidis , Miller Christopher E. , Toniato Giulia , Janas Alexander , Conard Nicholas J. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractPaleolithic archaeologists often rely on cave and rockshelter sites with rich occupation levels to explore hominin behavior and settlement patterns. However, a closer look into regional occupation data may reveal an uneven distribution of sites and the presence of occupational hiatuses or low-density occupation horizons that often remain understudied. In contrast to this trend, this paper focuses on low-density occupation data to explore regional settlement patterns, using the rich and well-studied Paleolithic record of the Swabian Jura, Germany, as a case study. In this regard, we employ a geoarchaeological approach based on micromorphology to investigate the formation processes of two low-density occupation sites, Schafstall II and Fetzershaldenhöhle, and compare their formation history with the geogenic sequence from Lindenhöhle. We demonstrate that the investigated sites have comparable formation processes, despite their differences in chronology and context. We argue that humans used Schafstall II and Fetzershaldenhöhle for short-term activities, while the sites mostly served as carnivore activity areas, emphasizing the importance of fauna in the accumulation of thick sedimentary sequences. In addition, our findings corroborate the regional climatic record and provide novel insights into the geomorphological history of the less studied Lauchert Valley, where Schafstall II is located. By comparing our results with data from intensively occupied caves in the Swabian Jura, we provide broader implications for the settlement patterns of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. We conclude with methodological suggestions for investigating sites in hunter-gatherer contexts combining a distributional and a site-specific approach.
The Content of COVID-19 Information Searches and Vaccination Intention: An Implication for Risk Communication
Authors: Olagoke Ayokunle A. , Floyd Brenikki , Adebayo Comfort T. , Owoyemi Ayomide , Hughes Ashley M. 
Published: November 2022

Abstract

Objective:
The main objective of this study was to examine the association between COVID-19 information search activities and vaccination intention.

Methods:
Cross-sectional data were collected using online surveys. Independent variables included COVID-19 information search on the (1) science of viral effects of COVID-19 on the body, (2) origin of COVID-19, (3) symptoms and outcomes, (4) transmission and prevention, (5) future outbreak, and (6) policies/procedures to follow. The outcome variable was vaccination intention. A multivariable regression analysis was conducted.

Results:
Participants (N = 501) had a mean age of 32.44 ± 11.94 years, were 55.3% female, and 67.9% were white. Most COVID-19 information searches were on symptoms and outcomes (77.7%) and policies/procedures to follow (69.9%). Intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 was higher among participants who searched for information on the science of viral effects of COVID-19 on the body (β = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.03-0.43; P = 0.03) and policies/procedures to follow (β = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.03-0.41; P = 0.02).

Conclusions:
People who searched for information about (1) the science of viral effects of COVID-19 and (2) policies/procedures recommendations also reported higher vaccination intention. Risk communication seeking to increase vaccination should meet the consumers’ information demand by prioritizing the scientific rationale for COVID-19 vaccination and by clarifying what policies/procedures are recommended.
Discrete Boltzmann multi-scale modelling of non-equilibrium multiphase flows
Authors: Gan Yanbiao , Xu Aiguo , Lai Huilin , Li Wei , Sun Guanglan , Succi Sauro 
Published: November 2022

The aim of this paper is twofold: the first aim is to formulate and validate a multi-scale discrete Boltzmann method (DBM) based on density functional kinetic theory for thermal multiphase flow systems, ranging from continuum to transition flow regime; the second aim is to present some new insights into the thermo-hydrodynamic non-equilibrium (THNE) effects in the phase separation process. Methodologically, for bulk flow, DBM includes three main pillars: (i) the determination of the fewest kinetic moment relations, which are required by the description of significant THNE effects beyond the realm of continuum fluid mechanics; (ii) the construction of an appropriate discrete equilibrium distribution function recovering all the desired kinetic moments; (iii) the detection, description, presentation and analysis of THNE based on the moments of the non-equilibrium distribution ( $f-f^{(eq)}$). The incorporation of appropriate additional higher-order thermodynamic kinetic moments considerably extends the DBM's capability of handling larger values of the liquid–vapour density ratio, curbing spurious currents, and ensuring mass/momentum/energy conservation. Compared with the DBM with only first-order THNE (Ganet al.,Soft Matt., vol. 11 (26), 2015, pp. 5336–5345), the model retrieves kinetic moments beyond the third-order super-Burnett level, and is accurate for weak, moderate and strong THNE cases even when the local Knudsen number exceeds$1/3$. Physically, the ending point of the linear relation between THNE and the concerned physical parameter provides a distinct criterion to identify whether the system is near or far from equilibrium. Besides, the surface tension suppresses the local THNE around the interface, but expands the THNE range and strengthens the THNE intensity away from the interface through interface smoothing and widening.
Weight management interventions for adults living with overweight or obesity and severe mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Stevens Heidi , Smith Jo , Bussey Lauren , Innerd Alison , McGeechan Grant , Fishburn Sarah , Giles Emma 
Published: November 2022

AbstractWhen compared with the general population, people living with severe mental illness (SMI) are 1·8 times more likely to have obesity while in adult mental health secure units, rates of obesity are 20 % higher than the general population. In England, there are currently 490 000 people living with SMI. The aim of this systematic review was to collate and synthesise the available quantitative and qualitative evidence on a broad range of weight management interventions for adults living with SMI and overweight or obesity. Primary outcomes were reductions in BMI and body weight. Following sifting, eighteen papers were included in the final review, which detailed the results of nineteen different interventions; however, there was a lack of qualitative evidence. Pooled results for three studies (MD − 3·49, 95 % CI − 6·85, −0·13,P= 0·04) indicated a small effect in terms of body weight reduction but no effect on BMI for four studies (MD − 0·42, 95 % CI − 1·27, 0·44,P= 0·34). Key recommendations for future research included integration of qualitative methodology into experimental study design, a review of outcome measures and for study authors to follow standardised guidelines for reporting to facilitate complete and transparent reporting.
A longitudinal investigation of non-suicidal self-injury persistence patterns, risk factors, and clinical outcomes during the college period
Authors: Kiekens Glenn , Claes Laurence , Hasking Penelope , Mortier Philippe , Bootsma Erik , Boyes Mark , Myin-Germeys Inez , Demyttenaere Koen , Cuijpers Pim , Kessler Ronald C. , Nock Matthew K. , Bruffaerts Ronny 
Published: November 2022

AbstractBackgroundAlthough non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is known typically to begin in adolescence, longitudinal information is lacking about patterns, predictors, and clinical outcomes of NSSI persistence among emerging adults. The present study was designed to (1) estimate NSSI persistence during the college period, (2) identify risk factors and high-risk students for NSSI persistence patterns, and (3) evaluate the association with future mental disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB).MethodsUsing prospective cohorts from the Leuven College Surveys (n = 5915), part of the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative, web-based surveys assessed mental health and psychosocial problems at college entrance and three annual follow-up assessments.ResultsApproximately one in five (20.4%) students reported lifetime NSSI at college entrance. NSSI persistence was estimated at 56.4%, with 15.6% reporting a high-frequency repetitive pattern (≥five times yearly). Many hypothesized risk factors were associated with repetitive NSSI persistence, with the most potent effects observed for pre-college NSSI characteristics. Multivariate models suggest that an intervention focusing on the 10–20% at the highest predicted risk could effectively reach 34.9–56.7% of students with high-frequency repetitive NSSI persistence (PPV = 81.8–93.4, AUC = 0.88–0.91). Repetitive NSSI persistence during the first two college years predicted 12-month mental disorders, role impairment, and STB during the third college year, including suicide attempts.ConclusionsMost emerging adults with a history of NSSI report persistent self-injury during their college years. Web-based screening may be a promising approach for detecting students at risk for a highly persistent NSSI pattern characterized by subsequent adverse outcomes.
Coping Strategies for Exposure to Trauma Situations in First Responders: A Systematic Review
Authors: Díaz-Tamayo Alejandra María , Escobar-Morantes Jorge Reinerio , García-Perdomo Herney Andrés 
Published: November 2022

AbstractObjective:The objective of the present work was to characterize the coping strategies used by first responders to emergencies in the face of exposure to traumatic events.Methods:A systematic search was performed in the databases MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE, LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences), and the Cochrane Central Registry of Controlled Clinical Trials (CENTRAL) from their inception through February 2022. First responders to emergencies with training in the prehospital area and who used validated measurement instruments for coping strategies were included.Results:First responders to emergencies frequently used nonadaptive coping strategies, with avoidance or disconnection being one of the main strategies, as a tool to avoid confronting difficult situations and to downplay the perceived stressful event. The nonadaptive coping strategies used by these personnel showed a strong relationship with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, burnout syndrome, psychiatric morbidity, and chronic stress. As part of the adaptive strategies, active coping was found, which includes acceptance, positive reinterpretation, focusing on the problem, self-efficacy, and emotional support, either social or instrumental, as protective strategies for these personnel.Conclusions:Developing adaptive coping strategies, whether focused on problems or seeking emotional support, can benefit emergency personnel in coping with stressful situations. These coping strategies should be strengthened to help prevent people from experiencing long-term negative effects that could arise from the traumatic events to which they are exposed. Active coping strategies instead of avoidance strategies should be promoted.
A systematic review of pediatric neuropsychological outcomes with proton versus photon radiation therapy: A call for equity in access to treatment
Authors: Peterson Rachel K. , King Tricia Z. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractObjective:There is increasing interest in the utilization of proton beam radiation therapy (PRT) to treat pediatric brain tumors based upon presumed advantages over traditional photon radiation therapy (XRT). PRT provides more conformal radiation to the tumor with reduced dose to healthy brain parenchyma. Less radiation exposure to brain tissue beyond the tumor is thought to reduce neuropsychological sequelae. This systematic review aimed to provide an overview of published studies comparing neuropsychological outcomes between PRT and XRT.Method:PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane were systematically searched for peer-reviewed published studies that compared neuropsychological outcomes between PRT and XRT in pediatric brain tumor patients.Results:Eight studies were included. Six of the studies utilized retrospective neuropsychological data; the majority were longitudinal studies (n = 5). XRT was found to result in lower neuropsychological functioning across time. PRT was associated with generally stable neuropsychological functioning across time, with the exception of working memory and processing speed, which showed variable outcomes across studies. However, studies inconsistently included or considered medical and sociodemographic differences between treatment groups, which may have impacted neuropsychological outcomes.Conclusions:Despite methodological limitations, including limited baseline neuropsychological evaluations, temporal variability between radiation treatment and first evaluation or initial and follow-up evaluations, and heterogenous samples, there is emerging evidence of sociodemographic inequities in access to PRT. With more institutions dedicating funding towards PRT, there may be the opportunity to objectively evaluate the neuropsychological benefits of patients matched on medical and sociodemographic variables.
Introduction: materialism and materiality in Asia: intellectual thoughts and real challenges
Authors: Laikwan Pang 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis is an introduction essay to the IJAS special issue “Materialism and Materiality in Asia,” which is devoted to the intersections between Marxist historical materialism and the more recent new materialisms in different Asian contexts. The two materialisms correspond to two pressing social problems we are facing: the social inequality and alienations created by capitalism on the one hand and the environmental crises happening under the Anthropocene on the other. Bringing the two strains of thought together, we hope to explore ways to reconnect with the material world, and to develop theorizations that are more responsible to humans and non-humans.