bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nanoparticle‐peptide conjugates for bacterial detection and neutralization: Potential applications in diagnostics and therapy
Authors: Gonçalves Sónia , Martins Ivo C. , Santos Nuno C. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractInfections caused by antibiotic‐resistant bacteria continue to challenge the medical field, mostly due to conventional treatments inefficiency after years of overuse and misuse in clinics. Cases of multiresistant bacterial infections are increasing every year. This led the World Health Organization (WHO) to update the list of resistant micro‐organisms that represent greatest threat to human health. To stop the growing of the global resistance to antimicrobial drugs, new alternatives are necessary to fight these pathogens. In this context, antimicrobials peptides (AMPs) emerge as a new alternative to the current antibiotics in the pharmaceutical market. To improve their antimicrobial activity, different strategies are being developed to overcome antibiotic‐resistant bacteria. Nanotechnology can be used to further potentiate antimicrobials, by increasing their activity or assisting in their delivering, frequently using nanostructured materials. There are already several antimicrobial peptides used in therapeutics, some of them coupled to nanoparticles. Additionally, detection strategies taking advantage of peptides as recognition agents are also being explored. Several examples are detailed of peptides that are specific to bacterial targets, and how that specificity can be used in diagnostics systems, coupled with nanoparticles‐based signal detection approaches. Thus, the same properties of AMPs that enable specific neutralization can be harnessed to detect the very same bacteria they target. Overall, this review is focused on current research on nanoparticles coupled to antimicrobial peptides and how they can be used against multidrug‐resistant bacteria as antimicrobials and/or as detection system.This article is categorized under:
Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Infectious Disease
Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology
The importance of the IL‐1 family of cytokines in nanoimmunosafety and nanotoxicology
Authors: Zhang Guofang , Luo Wenhe , Yang Wenjie , Li Su , Li Dongjie , Zeng Yanqiao , Li Yang 
Published: November 2022

AbstractEngineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to which humans are exposed intentionally as nanomedicines or unintentionally as invaders, may elicit unforeseen immune reactions. An uncontrollable ENM‐induced immune response poses a potential danger to the human body. During an immunological reaction, interleukin (IL)‐1 family cytokines, which play key roles under both physiological and pathological conditions, can be secreted by various types of cells into the surrounding environment to induce a series of defensive reactions. However, the crucial roles played by IL‐1 family cytokines in ENM‐induced immunological responses have not attracted enough attention from researchers to date. In this review, ENM‐mediated inflammatory responses and immunotoxicity are discussed, with the main focus directed to IL‐1 family cytokines, including IL‐1α, IL‐1β, IL‐1Ra, IL‐18, IL‐33, IL‐36, IL‐37, and IL‐38. The potential molecular mechanisms of IL‐1 family cytokine activity triggered by ENMs, particularly the activation of IL‐1α, IL‐1β, IL‐18, and IL‐33, are also reviewed. The understanding of IL‐1 family cytokines on nanoimmunosafety provides a fundamental basis for designing safe ENMs that can potentially be used for nanomedicine.This article is categorized under:
Toxicology and Regulatory Issues in Nanomedicine > Toxicology of Nanomaterials
Social leisure time activities as a mediating link between self-reported psychological symptoms in adolescence and psychiatric morbidity by young adulthood: the Northern Finland 1986 Birth Cohort study
Authors: Timonen Johanna , Niemelä Mika , Hakko Helinä , Alakokkare Anni , Räsänen Sami 
Published: November 2022

AbstractResearch indicates that adolescent psychological symptoms are associated with subsequent mental health disorders. Studies also show the association of leisure activity with improved current and future mental health. However, research is limited on whether social leisure time activity is a mediating link in the association between psychological symptoms and later psychiatric morbidity. We examined whether adolescence-related social leisure time activity, per se, is a mediating link in the association between adolescent psychological symptoms and later psychiatric morbidity. The study population was based on the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study (NFBC 1986; n = 6709; 3227 males). Psychological symptoms at age 15–16 years were measured with the Youth Self Report (YSR) questionnaire. Study participants’ psychiatric morbidity by the age of 33 years was assessed using the diagnoses from the nationwide health care registers. Our results showed an association between psychological symptoms and leisure time activities that varied depending on the level of social activity. Leisure time activity was found to be a mediating link between psychological symptoms in adolescence and psychiatric disorders in early adulthood. Adolescence-related leisure time activities, which differed with regard to social interactions, appeared to serve as a mediating link between adolescent psychological symptoms and later onset of psychiatric disorders. Socially active leisure time during adolescence is related to better long-term mental health, while socially inactive leisure time associates with the likelihood of later psychiatric morbidity. To prevent psychiatric disorders, enhancing such leisure time activities in society is highly recommended.
‘It’s as if I’m Worth Nothing’—Cost-Driven Restructuring and the Dignity of Long-Term Workers in Finland’s State-Owned Postal Service Company
Authors: Vieno Atte 
Published: November 2022

AbstractOrganisational restructuring involving cost-cutting, downsizing, and the acquisition and divestment of different functions is an increasingly normalised aspect of employment in both the private and public sectors. This article takes up the question of the effects of restructuring on workers through a study based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews of long-term workers in Finland’s state-owned postal service, using the concept of dignity as an analytical lens. The article distinguishes between everyday, organisational, and social dignity, using this distinction to capture how workers strove to sustain dignity in a process of organisational restructuring that generated dignity threats related to occupational devaluation. The study shows how dignity in postal work has been dependent on a particular historical configuration of public service work involving the employer organisation, employment relations, and occupational values. Cost-driven restructuring has destabilised this configuration, producing a stark separation between dignity in everyday work and the organisational indignities of restructuring in postal workers’ experiences. Feeling unable to affect organisational changes in their work, postal workers have been left to sustain dignity through everyday relationality, and by drawing intra-organisational boundaries to temporary workers and upper managers based on an occupational hierarchy of commitment and competence. The study highlights the significance of organisational support for dignity at work, particularly in relation to the dignity threats generated by prolonged processes of restructuring.
Monitoring interactions through molecular dynamics simulations: effect of calcium carbonate on the mechanical properties of cellulose composites
Authors: Sáenz Ezquerro Carlos , Laspalas Manuel , García Aznar José Manuel , Crespo Miñana Cristina 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis study describes the preparation and characterization of full atomistic models of amorphous cellulose and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanocomposite to assess its mechanical properties within and beyond the elastic limit via molecular dynamics simulations. The interactions by hydrogen bond and conformation of the cellulose molecules from the assessment of torsional angles were specifically monitored during the tensile stretching simulations to get deep understanding of the possible structural changes produced in the material during the deformation. On the one hand, the results showed a favorable interaction of the cellulose matrix with the calcium carbonate nanoparticle, with the electrostatic contribution being dominant over the van der Waals component. The determined mechanical elastic constants indicated that the inclusion of the CaCO3 nanoparticle provided an increase on the rigidity of the composite system of 15%, 18% and 19% in the Young, shear or bulk modulus, respectively. On the other hand, using extension and compression simulations, the recovery capacity of the material systems was also assessed in terms of plastic deformation. The elastoplastic behavior was observed for either the neat or the CaCO3 nanocomposite, with an elastic limit around 2.5%. The results also showed that the presence of the CaCO3 nanoparticle produced higher values of plastic deformation in the composite material compared to the neat cellulose system and thus decreased the flexibility of the material. A hysteresis mechanism was identified together with irreversible conformational changes on the cellulose molecules which would explain the plastic deformation observed on the cellulosic systems. It was concluded that the higher plastic deformations observed in the nanocomposite system would be a result of the disruption of the network of hydrogen bonds and the associated decrease on the number of possible interactions.
Graphical Abstract
On the Top-Down Argument for the Ability to Do Otherwise
Authors: Menges Leonhard 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThe Top-Down Argument for the ability to do otherwise aims at establishing that humans can do otherwise in the sense that is relevant for debates about free will. It consists of two premises: first, we always need to answer the question of whether some phenomenon (such as the ability to do otherwise) exists by consulting our best scientific theories of the domain at issue. Second, our best scientific theories of human action presuppose that humans can do otherwise. This paper argues that this is not enough to establish the conclusion. The Top-Down Argument supports that humans can do otherwise in some sense. But it does not show that humans can do otherwise in the sense that is relevant for debates about free will. The paper then shows that the apparently best way to make the argument valid does not work.
An anisotropic gravity theory
Authors: García-Parrado A. , Minguzzi E. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractWe study an action integral for Finsler gravity obtained by pulling back an Einstein-Cartan-like Lagrangian from the tangent bundle to the base manifold. The vacuum equations are obtained imposing stationarity with respect to any section (observer) and are well posed as they are independent of the section. They imply that in vacuum the metric is actually independent of the velocity variable so the dynamics becomes coincident with that of general relativity.
Sample size recommendations for studies on reliability and measurement error: an online application based on simulation studies
Authors: Mokkink Lidwine B. , de Vet Henrica , Diemeer Susanne , Eekhout Iris 
Published: November 2022

AbstractSimulation studies were performed to investigate for which conditions of sample size of patients (n) and number of repeated measurements (k) (e.g., raters) the optimal (i.e., balance between precise and efficient) estimations of intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and standard error of measurements (SEMs) can be achieved. Subsequently, we developed an online application that shows the implications for decisions about sample sizes in reliability studies. We simulated scores for repeated measurements of patients, based on different conditions of n, k, the correlation between scores on repeated measurements (r), the variance between patients’ test scores (v), and the presence of systematic differences within k. The performance of the reliability parameters (based on one-way and two-way effects models) was determined by the calculation of bias, mean squared error (MSE), and coverage and width of the confidence intervals (CI). We showed that the gain in precision (i.e., largest change in MSE) of the ICC and SEM parameters diminishes at larger values of n or k. Next, we showed that the correlation and the presence of systematic differences have most influence on the MSE values, the coverage and the CI width. This influence differed between the models. As measurements can be expensive and burdensome for patients and professionals, we recommend to use an efficient design, in terms of the sample size and number of repeated measurements to come to precise ICC and SEM estimates. Utilizing the results, a user-friendly online application is developed to decide upon the optimal design, as ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t hold.
Initial heritable genome editing: mapping a responsible pathway from basic research to the clinic
Authors: Ranisch Robert , Trettenbach Katharina , Arnason Gardar 
Published: November 2022

AbstractFollowing the Second Summit on Human Gene Editing in Hong Kong in 2018, where the birth of two girls with germline genome editing was revealed, the need for a responsible pathway to the clinical application of human germline genome editing has been repeatedly emphasised. This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on research ethics issues in germline genome editing by exploring key issues related to the initial applications of CRISPR in reproductive medicine. Following an overview of the current discussion on bringing germline genome editing into clinical practice, we outline the specific challenges associated with such interventions and the features that distinguish them from conventional clinical testing of new medical treatments. We then review proposed ethical requirements for initial heritable genome editing, such as the absence of reasonable alternatives, the existence of sufficient and reliable preclinical data, appropriate informed consent, requirements related to safety, and long-term follow-up.
Deeper understanding of the barriers to national climate adaptation policy: the case of South Korea
Authors: Lee Seunghan , Paavola Jouni , Dessai Suraje 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
As climate change adaptation has become essential for the sustainable development of nations, national adaptation policies have increasingly been adopted and implemented over the past decade. However, an adaptation gap is observable and getting wider. We investigate the barriers to national adaptation policy and their origins, influence as well as relationships between them in South Korea. We also analyse used and suggested solutions to overcome the barriers. Based on interviews with core stakeholders, we find 49 factors (16 barriers, 14 origins, 19 influences) related to barriers to national adaptation policy and draw a barrier map that shows all factors and relationships between them. We also explain how the barriers occur and how they affect national adaptation policy by mapping the relationships between barriers, origins, and influences. Key barriers to Korea’s national adaptation policy are related to institutions, fragmentation, and resources. With an analysis of used/suggested solutions, we conclude by suggesting a procedure for diagnosing problems of national adaptation policy, understanding related barriers and origins, and devising practical solutions for national policymakers and stakeholders.
Molecular and pathobiological insights of bikunin/UTI in cancer
Authors: Lepedda Antonio Junior , Nieddu Gabriele , Cannas Claudia , Formato Marilena 
Published: November 2022

AbstractBikunin is a small chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (PG) with Ser-protease inhibitory activity that plays pleiotropic roles in health and disease. It is involved in several physiological processes including stabilization of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of connective tissues and key reproductive events. Bikunin is also implicated in both acute and chronic inflammatory conditions and represents a non-invasive circulating and/or urinary (as Urinary Trypsin Inhibitor or UTI) biomarker. It exerts inhibitory effects on urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) mediating tumor invasiveness by a down-regulation of uPA mRNA expression, thus representing an anti-metastatic agent. However, only limited data on its potential as a diagnostic and/or prognostic marker of cancer have been reported so far. Recent technological advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics have provided researchers with a huge amount of information allowing for large-scale surveys of the cancer proteome. To address such issues, we analyzed bikunin expression data across several types of tumors, by using UALCAN proteogenomic analysis portal. In this article we critically review the roles of bikunin in human pathobiology, with a special focus on its inhibitory effects and mechanisms in cancer aggressiveness as well as its significance as cancer circulating biomarker.
Hollow platinum-gold and palladium-gold nanoparticles: synthesis and characterization of composition-structure relationship
Authors: Lucero Lucas Gisella Liliana , Romanus Henry , Ispas Adriana , Bund Andreas 
Published: November 2022

AbstractHollow palladium-gold (PdAu) and platinum-gold (PtAu) alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through galvanic replacement reactions. PdAu NPs denoted PdAu-99.99 and PdAu-98 were produced using palladium precursors with different purity degree: Na2PdCl4 ≥ 99.99% and Na2PdCl4 98%, respectively. The effect of the addition time of the gold palladium precursor solution on the size of the generated NPs was evaluated. Two types of particles, with a rough and a smooth surface, were identified in the suspensions of PtAu and PdAu NPs by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The atomic percentage of gold, platinum, palladium, and cobalt (atomic %) in the nanoparticles was determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). PtAu NPs (26–42 nm) contain Pt (41 at%), Au (36 at%), and Co (23 at%). Two groups of hollow palladium gold NPs (30–50 nm) with a different residual cobalt content were produced. PdAu-99.99 NPs consisted of Pd (68 at%), Au (26 at%), and Co (6 at%), whereas PdAu-98 NPs were composed of Pd (70 at%), Au (22 at%), and Co (8 at%). The hollow structure of the NPs was confirmed by EDX line scanning. Selected area electron diffraction analysis (SAED) revealed the formation of PtAu and PdAu alloys and it was used in estimating the lattice parameters, too.
Plants control the structure of mycorrhizal and pathogenic fungal communities in soil in a 50-year maize monoculture experiment
Authors: Wachowska Urszula , Rychcik Bogumił 
Published: November 2022

Abstract
Aims
Saprotrophic soil fungi participate in biomass mineralization, inhibit pathogen development and promote plant growth. Pathogens accumulate in soil and decrease crop yields. The structure of fungal communities is determined mainly by the organic matter content and pH of soil. Little is known about the influence of crop rotation and long-term monoculture on saprotrophic fungi that decompose plant roots and crop residues as sources of soil biomass.

Methods
Fungal communities that promote plant growth (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), yeasts, Trichoderma spp.), cellulolytic fungi and pathogenic species were analyzed in a 6-year crop rotation system (maize – spring barley – peas – winter rapeseed – winter wheat – sugar beets) and in 50-year maize monoculture. Fungal DNA was extracted from the rhizosphere and plant roots, and the ITS2 region of fungal rDNA was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. In both treatments, weeds were controlled chemically (terbuthylazine + mesotrione + s-metolachlor) or mechanically.

Results
A total of 311 fungal species were identified. The biodiversity of soil fungi, in particular AMF and yeasts, was higher in monoculture than in crop rotation. Maize pathogens were more frequently identified in monoculture, whereas species of the genus Trichoderma were more prevalent in crop rotation. Herbicides clearly increased the abundance of cellulolytic fungi of the phyla Mucoromycota and Mortierellomycota, Mortierella spp. and Minimedusa polyspora. The abiotic properties of soil were affected by the cropping sequence. The content of organic carbon (Corg) and the availability of P and Mg decreased in monoculture. Maize yields were bound by a strong positive correlation with the availability of macronutrients and Corg in soil, as well as a weak positive correlation with the abundance of Trichoderma spp., Mucoromycota and Mortierellomycota.

Conclusions
Fungi exert a complex and ambiguous effect on maize biomass yields, whereas a decrease in the macronutrient content of soil in monoculture strongly decreases maize yields. In the long term, the cropping sequence considerably influences the structure of the soil microbiome which can be a reservoir of unique species and species that minimize the negative effects of monoculture in agroecosystems.

Graphical Abstract
Temperature mapping of non-photochemical quenching in Chlorella vulgaris
Authors: Herdean Andrei , Hall Christopher , Hughes David J. , Kuzhiumparambil Unnikrishnan , Diocaretz Bernardo Campos , Ralph Peter J. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractLight intensity and temperature independently impact all parts of the photosynthetic machinery in plants and algae. Yet to date, the vast majority of pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements have been performed at well-defined light intensities, but rarely at well-defined temperatures. In this work, we show that PAM measurements performed at various temperatures produce vastly different results in the chlorophyte Chlorella vulgaris. Using a recently developed Phenoplate technique to map quantum yield of Photosystem II (Y(II)) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) as a function of temperature, we show that the fast-relaxing NPQ follows an inverse normal distribution with respect to temperature and appears insensitive to previous temperature acclimation. The slow-relaxing or residual NPQ after 5 minutes of dark recovery follows a normal distribution similar to Y(II) but with a peak in the higher temperature range. Surprisingly, higher slow- and fast-relaxing NPQ values were observed in high-light relative to low-light acclimated cultures. Y(II) values peaked at the adaptation temperature regardless of temperature or light acclimation. Our novel findings show the complete temperature working spectrum of Y(II) and how excess energy quenching is managed across a wide range of temperatures in the model microalgal species C. vulgaris. Finally, we draw attention to the fact that the effect of the temperature component in PAM measurements has been wildly underestimated, and results from experiments at room temperature can be misleading.