bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
P2X4 receptors mediate induction of antioxidants, fibrogenic cytokines and ECM transcripts; in presence of replicating HCV in in vitro setting: An insight into role of P2X4 in fibrosis
Authors: Manzoor Sobia , Khalid Madiha , Idrees Muhammad 
Published: May 2022

Background & aimsMajor HCV infections lead to chronic hepatitis, which results in progressive liver disease including fibrosis, cirrhosis and eventually hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). P2X4 and P2X7 are most widely distributed receptors on hepatocytes.MethodsFull length P2X4 (1.7kb) (Rattus norvegicus) was sub cloned in mammalian expression vector pcDNA3.1+. Two stable cell lines 293T/P2X4 (experimental) and 293T/ NV or null vector (control) were established. Both cell lines were inoculated with high viral titers human HCV sera and control human sera. Successfully infected cells harvested on day 5 and day 9 of post infection were used for further studies.ResultsThe results revealed a significant increase in gene expression of P2X4 on day 5 and day 9 Post -infection in cells infected with HCV sera compared with cells inoculated with control sera. Quantitative real time PCR analysis revealed that HO-1 was significantly upregulated in presence of P2X4 in HCV infected cells (P2X4/HCV) when compared with control NV/HCV cells. A significant decrease was observed in expression of Cu/ZnSOD in presence of P2X4 in HCV infected cells compared to control NV/HCV cells. However, expression of both antioxidants was observed unaltered in cells harvested on day 9 post infection. Gene expression of angiotensin II significantly increased in HCV infected cells in presence of P2X4 on day 5 and day 9 of post infection when compared with control NV/HCV cells. A significant increase in gene expression of TNF-α and TGF-β was observed in HCV infected cells in presence of P2X4 on day 9 post infection in comparison with control (NV/HCV cells). However, gene expression of adipokine leptin was not affected in both experimental (P2X4/HCV) and control (NV/HCV) groups on day 5 and day 9 of post infection. Extracellular matrix proteins, laminin and elastin genes expression also significantly increased in presence of P2X4 (HCV/P2X4) on day 9 of post-infection compared to control group NV/HCV cells.ConclusionIn conclusion, these findings constitute the evidence that P2X4 receptors in the presence of HCV play a significant role in the regulation of key antioxidant enzymes (HO-1, Cu/ZnSOD), in the induction of proinflammatory. cytokine (TNF-α), profibrotic cytokine (TGF-β) vasoactive cytokine (angiotensin II). P2X4 also increases the expression of extracellular matrix proteins (laminin and elastin) in the presence of HCV.
Comparative efficacy of Chinese herbal injections for treating severe pneumonia: A protocol for systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Authors: Xiao Lu , Niu Liqing , Zhang Xuemin , Liu Xuezheng , Liu Xinqiao , Sun Chongxiang , Yang Xiaokun 
Published: May 2022

Background
Severe pneumonia (SP) has a high mortality and is responsible for significant healthcare cost. Chinese herbal injections (CHIs) have been widely used in China as a novel and promising treatment option for SP. Therefore, this study will assess and rank the effectiveness of CHIs to provide more sights for the selection of SP treatment.

Method
Seven databases will be searched, including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, and the Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP) from their inception up to October, 2021. The literatures screening, data extraction and the quality assessment of included studies will be conducted independently by two reviewers. Then Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) will be performed by WinBUGS 14.0 and STATA 14.0 software. Surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) probability values will be applied to rank the examined treatments. The risk of bias of each included study will be evaluated using the Revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (ROB 2). Publication bias will be reflected by a funnel plot.

Results
The results of this NMA will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal publication.

Conclusion
Our study findings maybe reveal which CHI or CHIs will be better in the treatment of SP and provide more therapy strategies for clinical practitioners and patients.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42021244587.

Strengths and limitations of this study
Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) can integrate direct evidence with indirect evidence of severe pneumonia treated by Chinese herbal injections to generate a clinically useful ranking of these regimens.
This NMA will address Chinese herbal injections for SP and its findings may help to provide more sights for selection of SP treatment.
Evidence drawn from an NMA is limited and should be interpreted with caution.
We only included studies in Chinese and English languages, which may increase the publication bias.
Symptoms of psychological distress amongst women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Qattan Ameerah M. N. 
Published: May 2022

Background
Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, several countries are still struggling to contain its spread. Apart from economic challenges, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health and psychological well-being of millions of people worldwide. The effects of COVID-19 are disproportionate depending on sociodemographic characteristics. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on psychological distress among women in Saudi Arabia.

Methods
Data were extracted from an online cross-sectional self-reported questionnaire conducted to measure symptoms of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia from 3 May to 8 May 2020. The study included a sample of 1527 women. The questionnaire was based on the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI) tool to categorise women who responded to the questionnaire as experiencing normal, mild, or severe levels of distress. Sociodemographic factors related to different levels of psychological distress among women were examined using descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regression models.

Results
Overall, 44% of the respondents indicated symptoms of psychological distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 36% of women showed symptoms of mild psychological distress, with 8% of women experiencing a severe distress level. The results also revealed particularly high levels of psychological distress among younger women and female healthcare workers.

Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic highly contributes to psychological distress among women in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, it is essential to establish medium- and long-term strategies that target the most vulnerable women affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Resting heart rate and incident atrial fibrillation: A stratified Mendelian randomization in the AFGen consortium
Authors: Siland J. E. , Geelhoed B. , Roselli C. , Wang B. , Lin H. J. , Weiss S. , Trompet S. , van den Berg M. E. , Soliman E. Z. , Chen L. Y. , Ford I. , Jukema J. W. , Macfarlane P. W. , Kornej J. , Lin H. , Lunetta K. L. , Kavousi M. , Kors J. A. , Ikram M. A. , Guo X. , Yao J. , Dörr M. , Felix S. B. , Völker U. , Sotoodehnia N. , Arking D. E. , Stricker B. H. , Heckbert S. R. , Lubitz S. A. , Benjamin E. J. , Alonso A. , Ellinor P. T. , van der Harst P. , Rienstra M. 
Published: May 2022

Background
Both elevated and low resting heart rates are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF), suggesting a U-shaped relationship. However, evidence for a U-shaped causal association between genetically-determined resting heart rate and incident AF is limited. We investigated potential directional changes of the causal association between genetically-determined resting heart rate and incident AF.

Method and results
Seven cohorts of the AFGen consortium contributed data to this meta-analysis. All participants were of European ancestry with known AF status, genotype information, and a heart rate measurement from a baseline electrocardiogram (ECG). Three strata of instrumental variable-free resting heart rate were used to assess possible non-linear associations between genetically-determined resting heart rate and the logarithm of the incident AF hazard rate: <65; 65–75; and >75 beats per minute (bpm). Mendelian randomization analyses using a weighted resting heart rate polygenic risk score were performed for each stratum.
We studied 38,981 individuals (mean age 59±10 years, 54% women) with a mean resting heart rate of 67±11 bpm. During a mean follow-up of 13±5 years, 4,779 (12%) individuals developed AF. A U-shaped association between the resting heart rate and the incident AF-hazard ratio was observed. Genetically-determined resting heart rate was inversely associated with incident AF for instrumental variable-free resting heart rates below 65 bpm (hazard ratio for genetically-determined resting heart rate, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.94–0.99; p = 0.01). Genetically-determined resting heart rate was not associated with incident AF in the other two strata.

Conclusions
For resting heart rates below 65 bpm, our results support an inverse causal association between genetically-determined resting heart rate and incident AF.
Islet autoantibody positivity in an adult population with recently diagnosed diabetes in Uganda
Authors: Kibirige Davis , Sekitoleko Isaac , Balungi Priscilla , Kyosiimire-Lugemwa Jacqueline , Lumu William , Jones Angus G. , Hattersley Andrew T. , Smeeth Liam , Nyirenda Moffat J. 
Published: May 2022

Aims
This study aimed to investigate the frequency of islet autoantibody positivity in adult patients with recently diagnosed diabetes in Uganda and its associated characteristics.

Methods
Autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase-65 (GADA), zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8-A), and tyrosine phosphatase (IA-2A) were measured in 534 adult patients with recently diagnosed diabetes. Islet autoantibody positivity was defined based on diagnostic thresholds derived from a local adult population without diabetes. The socio-demographic, clinical, and metabolic characteristics of islet autoantibody-positive and negative participants were then compared. The differences in these characteristics were analysed using the x2 test for categorical data and the Kruskal Wallis test for continuous data. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify predictors of islet autoantibody positivity.

Results
Thirty four (6.4%) participants were positive for ≥1 islet autoantibody. GADA, IA-2A and ZnT8-A positivity was detected in 17 (3.2%), 10 (1.9%), and 7 (1.3%) participants, respectively. Compared with those negative for islet autoantibodies, participants positive for islet autoantibodies were more likely to live in a rural area (n = 18, 52.9% Vs n = 127, 25.5%, p = 0.005), to be initiated on insulin therapy (n = 19, 55.9% Vs n = 134, 26.8%, p<0.001), to have a lower median waist circumference (90 [80–99] cm Vs 96 [87–104.8], p = 0.04), waist circumference: height ratio (0.55 [0.50–0.63] vs 0.59 [0.53–0.65], p = 0.03), and fasting C-peptide concentration (0.9 [0.6–1.8] Vs 1.4 [0.8–2.1] ng/ml, p = 0.01). On multivariate analysis, living in a rural area (odds ratio or OR 3.62, 95%CI 1.68–7.80, p = 0.001) and being initiated on insulin therapy (OR 3.61, 95% CI 1.67–7.83, p = 0.001) were associated with islet autoantibody positivity.

Conclusion
The prevalence of islet autoantibody positivity was relatively low, suggesting that pancreatic autoimmunity is a rare cause of new-onset diabetes in this adult Ugandan population. Living in a rural area and being initiated on insulin therapy were independently associated with islet autoantibody positivity in this study population.
Graduate students locked down? PhD students’ satisfaction with supervision during the first and second COVID-19 lockdown in Belgium
Authors: van Tienoven Theun Pieter , Glorieux Anaïs , Minnen Joeri , te Braak Petrus , Spruyt Bram 
Published: May 2022

Background
Supervisor support is crucial for the successful and timely completion of the PhD and the largest contributor to PhD students’ overall job satisfaction. The COVID-19 pandemic affected PhD students’ life substantially through delayed experiments, missed timelines, running out of funding, change to online team- and supervisor meetings, mandatory working from home, and social confinement.

Aim
This contribution considers PhD students’ satisfaction scores to reflect the extent to which PhD students felt supported by their supervisor during the COVID-19 pandemic so far and aims to investigate to what extent did PhD students’ satisfaction with supervisor support changed over time.

Method
It uses two longitudinal two cohorts of wave 4 to 5 of the PhD Survey at a Belgian university. These cohorts are representative of two different ways the COVID-19 pandemic might have impacted doctoral research. Cohort 1 (n = 345) includes a pre-COVID measurement (April-May 2019) and a measurement immediately after the start of the abrupt lockdown in April-May 2020. Cohort 2 (n = 349) includes the measurement at the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and after a year with continuously changing containment policies (April-May 2021). The composite measure of satisfaction with supervisor support is based on six items with high internal consistency.

Results
No significant net effect of time was revealed. Instead within subject interactions with time showed that in cohort 1, PhD students at the start of their PhD trajectory and PhD students with family responsibilities reported lower supervisor satisfaction scores over time. In cohort 2, PhD students not pursuing academic careers reported lower satisfaction scores over time.

Conclusion
In times of crises, special attention needs to be paid to PhD students who are extra susceptible to uncertainties because of their junior status or personal situation, and especially those PhD students for whom doctoral research is not a trajectory to position themselves in academia.
Plasma antibodies from humans infected with zoonotic simian foamy virus do not inhibit cell-to-cell transmission of the virus despite binding to the surface of infected cells
Authors: Couteaudier Mathilde , Montange Thomas , Njouom Richard , Bilounga-Ndongo Chanceline , Gessain Antoine , Buseyne Florence 
Published: May 2022

Zoonotic simian foamy viruses (SFV) establish lifelong infection in their human hosts. Despite repeated transmission of SFV from nonhuman primates to humans, neither transmission between human hosts nor severe clinical manifestations have been reported. We aim to study the immune responses elicited by chronic infection with this retrovirus and previously reported that SFV-infected individuals generate potent neutralizing antibodies that block cell infection by viral particles. Here, we assessed whether human plasma antibodies block SFV cell-to-cell transmission and present the first description of cell-to-cell spreading of zoonotic gorilla SFV. We set-up a microtitration assay to quantify the ability of plasma samples from 20 Central African individuals infected with gorilla SFV and 9 uninfected controls to block cell-associated transmission of zoonotic gorilla SFV strains. We used flow-based cell cytometry and fluorescence microscopy to study envelope protein (Env) localization and the capacity of plasma antibodies to bind to infected cells. We visualized the cell-to-cell spread of SFV by real-time live imaging of a GFP-expressing prototype foamy virus (CI-PFV) strain. None of the samples neutralized cell-associated SFV infection, despite the inhibition of cell-free virus. We detected gorilla SFV Env in the perinuclear region, cytoplasmic vesicles and at the cell surface. We found that plasma antibodies bind to Env located at the surface of cells infected with primary gorilla SFV strains. Extracellular labeling of SFV proteins by human plasma samples showed patchy staining at the base of the cell and dense continuous staining at the cell apex, as well as staining in the intercellular connections that formed when previously connected cells separated from each other. In conclusion, SFV-specific antibodies from infected humans do not block cell-to-cell transmission, at leastin vitro, despite their capacity to bind to the surface of infected cells.Trial registration: Clinical trial registration:www.clinicaltrials.gov,https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03225794/.
White Comedians, Strategic Racist Humor, and the (Re)Normalization of Racism
Authors: Pérez Raúl 
Published: May 2022

This essay by Raúl Pérez is a critical examination of comedian Lisa Lampanelli and the development of what Pérez calls neoliberal white racial comedy—a commercial racial comedy where the history, significance and persistence of racism and racial inequality is minimized, trivialized and monetized. This brand of comedy took root in the post-civil rights period and is upheld and reinforced through a deliberate set of comic performance practices that work to veil the use of comic racist talk as “not racist” and commercially palatable. This denial and trivialization of racism has worked to grant white comics and humorists discursive license to use and profit from racist jokes, narratives, and slurs unapologetically under the guise of humor, comic free speech, and as an attack on so-called “political correctness.” Pérez contends that this strategic deployment of racist humor by white comedians like Lampanelli contributed to the normalization of racist discourse in an ostensibly colorblind society, where racist talk was disavowed more broadly.
Jerry Seinfeld Versus PC Social Media
Authors: Viator Timothy J. 
Published: May 2022

This essay by Timothy J. Viator attempts to show how Jerry Seinfeld exemplifies the stand-up comics of his era and their reactions to audiences’ criticism published on social media, and to understand Seinfeld’s defense of comedy by considering “professional dissonance.” Adopting the role of the “gatekeeper” public intellectual, Seinfeld politicizes negative reviews of a comedian’s work as an example of what is called “PC Culture.” Professional dissonance arises when professionals with an idealized view of their work feel discomfort as they confront the reality of their work and must address a “task” that conflicts with that idealized view. Now that social media allows audience new ways to criticize their work, established comedians now must rethink and revise jokes and bits to correspond to emerging sensibilities and new views of comedy.
The Comedian as Preacher
Authors: King Rob 
Published: May 2022

This chapter by Rob King examines the rhetorical strategies of Texas-based stand-up comedian Bill Hicks (1961-1994) as a framework for rethinking comedy’s powers of dissent in non-secular terms. By and large, most scholarship on comedy as a tool of social critique has operated within the secular/rationalist orbit of public sphere theory. Hicks, by contrast, drew upon his religious upbringing to model a style of critical dissent grounded in the idea of mystic commitment. The chapter follows the implications of this across two axes: first, by examining Hicks’s comedy in relation to key tropes of Fundamentalist rhetoric; then, by relating Hicks’s critique to what philosophers have described as an “ethics of the Real.” If, as Ernesto Laclau argues, the importance of mysticism is that it registers a “beyond” of human finitude, then Hicks uniquely claimed that “beyond” as a vantage point for comedic critique.
Prelude
Authors: Tan-Tangbau Stan BH , Minh Quyền Văn 
Published: May 2022

Jazz in socialist Vietnam is no dissident sound played in the shadows, not since Minh publicly performed the genre in two officially endorsed solo recitals in 1988 and 1989. With the end of the First Indochina War, all forms of cultural arts and performances considered as unfaithful to the ideology of the revolution were restricted and even banned in the communist ruled North. Any trace of jazz introduced during the French colonial era disappeared entirely. The Đổi Mới reforms led to steady decollectivization of Vietnamese society, introduction of a market economy in the socialist state, and subtle loosening of political control over every aspect of life. The party and the state retained ultimate authority of what could be played, heard, and learned. It was in this context that Quyền Văn Minh endeavored to play jazz in Vietnam.
Interlude I
Authors: Tan-Tangbau Stan BH , Minh Quyền Văn 
Published: May 2022

Minh’s early encounters with jazz in socialist Vietnam invites a broader contextualization of jazz during the Cold War, in particular, the stories of jazz “behind the Iron Curtain.” Adopted as a cultural instrument in the ideological competition by both sides in the Cold War, jazz was ironically able to persist and even developed its own individual characteristics in different countries behind the Iron Curtain. Indeed, there was jazz in the socialist states after the Stalinist era. But in socialist Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, where classical music was deep rooted and flourished, and folk music deemed as a rich source of national pride in the respective countries, jazz was always placed a tier or two below the mainstream arts. Nonetheless, jazz continued to persist behind the Iron Curtain.
Minh’s Jazz Club Reprise
Authors: Tan-Tangbau Stan BH , Minh Quyền Văn 
Published: May 2022

For over twenty years, Minh’s Jazz Club has been the venue where Vietnamese musicians in Hà Nội have their first experience of playing jazz for a live audience, where they first listened to live jazz, or wanted to be on stage to indulge in a night of just playing pure jazz. In 1997, Minh’s Jazz Club opened its doors at Giảng Võ Exhibition Centre but had to close after three months when the venue was slated for redevelopment by the government. The club moved into the heart of Hà Nội city centre at 16 Lê Thái Tổ in 1998 but again, it had to close after less than a year when the building was designated for other purposes. Minh’s Jazz Club finally found a long-term home at 31 Lương Văn Can, a premise coincidently owned by Thăng Long Song and Dance Troupe, Minh’s former employer. In 2014, Minh’s Jazz Club finally moved into the cultural arts hub in the city centre at 1 Tràng Tiền, behind the majestic Hà Nội Opera House.
Postlude
Authors: Tan-Tangbau Stan BH , Minh Quyền Văn 
Published: May 2022

Chapter 13 temporarily sums up the state of jazz in Vietnam in parallel with Minh’s life. For Minh, promoting jazz in socialist Vietnam has always been about bringing this highly innovative art form to different quarters of Vietnamese society, and most importantly, developing an original voice to play on “planet jazz” (to borrow Atkins’ term). Minh’s modus operandi has always been a blending of familiar Vietnamese musical sounds, the timbre of the saxophone, and his subtle, melodic improvisations on stage to coax the uninitiated Vietnamese listener to be a little more receptive to the sound of jazz. He would play for anyone in any setting and anywhere.