bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Drivers and outcomes of between-group conflict in vervet monkeys
Authors: García Miguel Gareta , de Guinea Miguel , Bshary Redouan , van de Waal Erica 
Published: April 2022

Neighbouring groups compete over access to resources and territories in between-group encounters, which can escalate into between-group conflicts (BGCs). Both the ecological characteristics of a territory and the rival's fighting ability shape the occurrence and outcome of such contests. What remains poorly understood, however, is how seasonal variability in the ecological value of a territory together with fighting ability related to the likelihood of between-group encounters and the extent to which these escalate into conflicts. To test this, we observed and followed four vervet monkey groups in the wild, and recorded the group structure (i.e. size, composition), the locations and the outcomes of 515 BGCs. We then assessed key ecological measures at these locations, such as vegetation availability (estimated from Copernicus Sentinel 2 satellite images) and the intensity of usage of these locations. We tested to what extent these factors together influenced the occurrence and outcomes of BGCs. We found that the occurrence of BGCs increased at locations with higher vegetation availability relative to the annual vegetation availability within the group's home territory. Also, groups engaging in a BGC at locations far away from their home territory were less likely to win a BGC. Regarding group structure, we found that smaller groups systematically won BGCs against larger groups, which can be explained by potentially higher rates of individual free-riding occurring in larger groups. This study sheds light on how the ecology of encounter locations in combination with a group's social characteristics can critically impact the dynamics of BGCs in a non-human primate species.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Intergroup conflict across taxa’.
Kidnapping intergroup young: an alternative strategy to maintain group size in the group-living pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor)
Authors: Ridley Amanda R. , Nelson-Flower Martha J. , Wiley Elizabeth M. , Humphries David J. , Kokko Hanna 
Published: April 2022

Both inter- and intragroup interactions can be important influences on behaviour, yet to date most research focuses on intragroup interactions. Here, we describe a hitherto relatively unknown behaviour that results from intergroup interaction in the cooperative breeding pied babbler: kidnapping. Kidnapping can result in the permanent removal of young from their natal group. Since raising young requires energetic investment and abductees are usually unrelated to their kidnappers, there appears no apparent evolutionary advantage to kidnapping. However, kidnapping may be beneficial in species where group size is a critically limiting factor (e.g. for reproductive success or territory defence). We found kidnapping was a highly predictable event in pied babblers: primarily groups that fail to raise their own young kidnap the young of others, and we show this to be the theoretical expectation in a model that predicts kidnapping to be facultative, only occurring in those cases where an additional group member has sufficient positive impact on group survival to compensate for the increase in reproductive competition. In babblers, groups that failed to raise young were also more likely to accept extragroup adults (hereafter rovers). Groups that fail to breed may either (i) kidnap intergroup young or (ii) accept rovers as an alternative strategy to maintain or increase group size.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Intergroup conflict across taxa’.
From inter-group conflict to inter-group cooperation: insights from social insects
Authors: Rodrigues António M. M. , Barker Jessica L. , Robinson Elva J. H. 
Published: April 2022

The conflict between social groups is widespread, often imposing significant costs across multiple groups. The social insects make an ideal system for investigating inter-group relationships, because their interaction types span the full harming–helping continuum, from aggressive conflict, to mutual tolerance, to cooperation between spatially separate groups. Here we review inter-group conflict in the social insects and the various means by which they reduce the costs of conflict, including individual or colony-level avoidance, ritualistic behaviours and even group fusion. At the opposite extreme of the harming–helping continuum, social insect groups may peacefully exchange resources and thus cooperate between groups in a manner rare outside human societies. We discuss the role of population viscosity in favouring inter-group cooperation. We present a model encompassing intra- and inter-group interactions, and local and long-distance dispersal. We show that in this multi-level population structure, the increased likelihood of cooperative partners being kin is balanced by increased kin competition, such that neither cooperation (helping) nor conflict (harming) is favoured. This model provides a baseline context in which other intra- and inter-group processes act, tipping the balance toward or away from conflict. We discuss future directions for research into the ecological factors shaping the evolution of inter-group interactions.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Intergroup conflict across taxa’.
Unravelling the transcriptome of the human tuberculosis lesion and its clinical implications
Authors: Fonseca Kaori L. , Lozano Juan José , Despuig Albert , Habgood-Coote Dominic , Sidorova Julia , Arias Lilibeth , Del Río-Álvarez Álvaro , Carrillo-Reixach Juan , Goff Aaron , Wildner Leticia Muraro , Gogishvili Shota , Nikolaishvili Keti , Shubladze Natalia , Avaliani Zaza , Cardona Pere-Joan , Martinón-Torres Federico , Salas Antonio , Gómez-Carballa Alberto , Armengol Carolina , Waddell Simon J , Kaforou Myrsini , O’Garra Anne , Vashakidze Sergo , Vilaplana Cristina 
Published: April 2022

ABSTRACTThe granuloma is a complex structure, contributing to the overall spectrum of tuberculosis (TB). We characterised 44 fresh human pulmonary TB lesion samples from 13 patients (drug-sensitive and multi-drug resistant TB) undergoing therapeutic surgery using RNA-Sequencing. We confirmed a clear separation between the granuloma and adjacent non-lesional tissue, with the granuloma samples consistently displaying increased inflammatory profile despite heterogeneity. Using weighted correlation network analysis, we identified 17 transcriptional modules associated with granulomata and demonstrated a gradient of immune-related transcript abundance according to the granuloma’s spatial organization. Furthermore, we associated the modular transcriptional signature of the TB granuloma with clinical surrogates of treatment efficacy and TB severity. We show that in patients with severe disease, the IFN/cytokine signalling and neutrophil degranulation modules were overabundant, while tissue organization and metabolism modules were under-represented. Our findings provide evidence of a relationship between clinical parameters, treatment response and immune signatures at the infection site.
Assessing the potential cost-effectiveness of centralized vs point-of-care testing for hepatitis C virus in Pakistan: a model-based comparison
Authors: Babigumira Joseph B. , Karichu James K. , Clark Samantha , Cheng Mindy M. , Garrison Louis P. , Maniecki Maciej B. , Hamid Saeed S. 
Published: April 2022

ABSTRACTBackgroundPakistan has a hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection prevalence of 6–9% and aims to achieve World Health Organization (WHO) targets for elimination of HCV by the year 2030 through scaling HCV diagnosis and accelerating access to care. The clinical and economic benefits of various HCV testing strategies have not yet been evaluated in Pakistan.ObjectiveTo evaluate the potential cost-effectiveness of a reference laboratory-based (CEN) confirmatory testing approach vs a molecular near-patient point-of-care (POC) confirmatory approach to screen the general population for HCV in Pakistan.MethodsWe developed a decision-analytic model comparing HCV testing under two scenarios: screening with an anti-HCV antibody test (Anti-HCV) followed by either POC nucleic acid testing (NAT) (Anti-HCV-POC), or reference laboratory NAT (Anti-HCV-CEN), using data from published literature, the Pakistan Ministry of Health, and expert judgment. Outcome measures included: number of HCV infections identified per year, percentage of individuals correctly classified, total costs, average costs per individual tested, and cost-effectiveness. Sensitivity analysis was also performed.ResultsAt a national level for a tested population of 25 million, the Anti-HCV-CEN strategy would identify 142,406 more HCV infections in one year and increase correct classification of individuals by 0.57% compared with the Anti-HCV-POC strategy. The total annual cost of HCV testing was reduced using the Anti-HCV-CEN strategy by $7.68 million ($0.31 per person). Thus, incrementally, the Anti-HCV-CEN strategy costs less and identifies more HCV infections than Anti-HCV-POC.ConclusionsAnti-HCV-CEN would provide the best value for money when scaling up HCV testing in Pakistan.Significance statementHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection constitutes a major medical and public health burden in PakistanWidespread testing is important to identify those that are chronically infected in order to link them to treatment servicesThe optimal and most cost-effective testing approach to scale up HCV testing to support elimination efforts in Pakistan has not been establishedHigh throughput reference laboratory testing would provide the best value for money when scaling-up HCV testing in Pakistan
Epidemiological topology data analysis links severe COVID-19 to RAAS and hyperlipidemia associated metabolic syndrome conditions
Authors: Platt Daniel , Bose Aritra , Levovitz Chaya , Rhrissorrakrai Kahn , Parida Laxmi 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe emergence of COVID19 created incredible worldwide challenges but offers unique opportunities to understand the physiology of its risk factors and their interactions with complex disease conditions, such as metabolic syndrome. Epidemiological analysis powered by topological data analysis (TDA) is a novel approach to uncover these clinically relevant interactions. Here TDA utilized Explorys data to discover associations among severe COVID19 and metabolic syndrome, and it explored the probative value of drug prescriptions to capture the involvement of RAAS and hypertension with COVID19 as well as modification of risk factor impact by hyperlipidemia on severe COVID19.
“Assessment of Referral System on Maternal Services in Cagayan De Oro City”
Authors: Laurito Arbeen Acosta 
Published: April 2022

ABSTRACTA retrospective document analysis study aimed to assess the referral system on maternal services based on the referral forms of referred women of reproductive age from the referral facilities to the receiving hospital from January to December 2019. The specific objectives of the study were to describe the use of standard referral forms, compliance of the healthcare workers in using the standard form based on 14 criteria, and the utilization of relevant data related to maternal services based on 16 criteria. There were 3330 referral forms received by the receiving facility on different formats of forms during the study period. A random sampling of 384 referral forms was used as study population. Among 384 referral forms (random sampling), only 126 (31.8%) used the standard referral forms. The compliance of these referral forms using 14 criteria showed that 116 (92.06%) referral forms complied with only 51-75% of the criteria, and none of the referral forms complied with all the 14 criteria. On assessing the data entries among 384 referral forms with different formats, there were six data entries consistently used more than 60% by the healthcare providers which were not part of the printed form: last menstrual period (67.87%), expected date of confinement (64.84%), fundic height (63.04%), fetal heart beat (60.76%), birthweight (62.59%), and age of gestation (60%). Based on the 16 criteria, majority of referral forms (210) utilized 51-75% of the 16 criteria, 122 referral forms utilized 76-99%, 51 forms utilized 26-50%, and 1 form utilized less than 25% of the data entries. Several studies documented that referral forms and functional referral systems are vital to an improved maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate (IMR). Therefore, as part of a continued quality referral system, it is highly recommended that the required referral forms be re-assessed, revised, and regularly monitored on its form compliance and utilization.
Transcriptional landscape in BRAF wild type metastatic melanoma
Authors: Lastraioli Elena , Ruffinatti Federico Alessandro , di Costanzo Francesco , Munaron Luca , Arcangeli Annarosa 
Published: April 2022

AbstractMelanoma is a relative rare disease worldwide, nevertheless it has a great relevance in some countries such as in Europe. In order to shed some light upon the transcriptional profile of skin melanoma, we compared the gene expression of 6 independent tumours (all progressed towards metastatic disease and with wild type BRAF) to the expression profile of healthy melanocytes. Paraffin-embedded samples were manually microdissected to obtain enriched samples and then RNA was extracted and analysed through a microarray-based approach. An exhaustive bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed transcripts between the two groups as well as enriched functional terms. Overall, 50 up- and 19 down-regulated transcripts were found to be significantly changed in tumour compared to control tissue. Among the upregulated transcripts, the majority belonged to the immune response group and to proteasome, while most of the downregulated genes were related to cytosolic ribosomes. Interestingly, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), along with the analysis of the expression data retrieved from TCGA/GTEx databases, confirmed the general trend of downregulation affecting cytoribosome proteins. In contrast, transcripts coding for mitori-bosome proteins showed the opposite trend.
Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics by Race: Analysis of a Peginterferon β-1a Phase I Study
Authors: Zhao Yuan , Mokliatchouk Oksana , Ramia Nancy F , Naylor Maria L , Butts Cherié L 
Published: April 2022

ABSTRACTBackgroundBlack/African-American participants are underrepresented in clinical trials but can experience a greater burden of disease, such as multiple sclerosis, than other racial groups in the United States. A phase 1, open-label, 2-period crossover study that demonstrated bioequivalence of subcutaneous (SC) and intramuscular (IM) injection of peginterferon beta-1a in healthy volunteers enrolled a similar proportion of Black/African-American and White participants, enabling a subgroup analysis comparing these groups.MethodsPeginterferon beta-1a 125 μg was administered by SC or IM (1:1) injection, followed by a 28-day washout period before a second injection using the alternate method. Primary endpoints were maximum observed concentration (Cmax) and area under the concentration-time curve from Hour 0 to infinity (AUCinf). Secondary endpoints included safety, tolerability, and additional pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters.FindingsThis analysis included 70 (51.5%) Black and 59 (43.3%) White participants. Black participants exhibited a 29.8% higher geometric mean Cmax of peginterferon beta-1a than White participants following SC administration and demonstrated similar values following IM administration. Black participants displayed 31.0% versus 11.8% higher geometric mean AUCinf values than White participants with SC versus IM administration. Neopterin dynamics and safety signals were similar between groups, with numerically fewer adverse events reported among Black participants.ConclusionsNo clinically meaningful differences were identified between Black and White participants in pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics or safety related to peginterferon beta-1a administration, indicating that no change in dosing regimen is warranted for Black patients with MS.FundingFunding for medical writing support was provided by Biogen Inc. (Cambridge, MA, USA).
Multimodal Hypersensitivity Derived from Quantitative Sensory Testing Predicts Long-Term Pelvic Pain Outcome
Authors: Kmiecik Matthew J. , Tu Frank F. , Clauw Daniel J. , Hellman Kevin M. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractMultimodal hypersensitivity (MMH)—greater sensitivity across multiple sensory modalities (e.g., light, sound, temperature, pressure)—is hypothesized to be responsible for the development of chronic pain and pelvic pain. However, previous studies of MMH are restricted given their reliance on biased self-report questionnaires, limited use of multimodal quantitative sensory testing (QST), or limited follow-up. Therefore, we conducted multimodal QST on a cohort of 200 reproductive age women at elevated risk for developing or maintaining chronic pelvic pain conditions and pain-free controls. Pelvic pain self-report was examined over a four-year follow-up period. Multimodal QST was comprised of visual, auditory, bodily pressure, pelvic pressure, thermal, and bladder testing. A principal component analysis of QST measures resulted in three orthogonal factors that explained 43% of the variance: MMH, pressure stimulus-response, and bladder hypersensitivity. MMH and bladder hypersensitivity factors correlated with baseline self-reported menstrual pain, genitourinary symptoms, depression, anxiety, and health. Baseline self-report pain ratings were significant predictors of pelvic pain up to three years after assessment but decreased in their predictive ability of pelvic pain outcome over time. In contrast, MMH increased its predictive ability of pelvic pain outcome over time and was the only factor to predict outcome up to four years later. These results suggest that a “centralized” component of MMH is an important long-term risk factor for pelvic pain. Further research on the modifiability of MMH could provide options for future treatment avenues for chronic pain.
Aberrant neurophysiological signaling underlies speech impairments in Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Wiesman Alex I. , Donhauser Peter W. , Degroot Clotilde , Diab Sabrina , Kousaie Shanna , Fon Edward A. , Klein Denise , Baillet Sylvain ,   PREVENT-AD Research Group,   Quebec Parkinson Network
Published: April 2022

AbstractDifficulty producing intelligible speech is a common and debilitating symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Yet, both the robust evaluation of speech impairments and the identification of the affected brain systems are challenging. We examine the spectral and spatial definitions of the functional neuropathology underlying reduced speech quality in patients with PD using a new approach to characterize speech impairments and a novel brain-imaging marker. We found that the interactive scoring of speech impairments in PD (N=59) is reliable across non-expert raters, and better related to the hallmark motor and cognitive impairments of PD than automatically-extracted acoustical features. By relating these speech impairment ratings to neurophysiological deviations from healthy adults (N=65), we show that articulation impairments in patients with PD are robustly predicted from aberrant activity in the left inferior frontal cortex, and that functional connectivity of this region with somatomotor cortices mediates the influence of cognitive decline on speech deficits.
Cellular dynamics of endosperm development in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Ali Mohammad Foteh , Shin Ji-Min , Fatema Umma , Kurihara Daisuke , Berger Frédéric , Yuan Ling , Kawashima Tomokazu 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAfter double fertilization, the endosperm in the seeds of many flowering plants undergoes repeated mitotic nuclear divisions without cytokinesis, resulting in a large coenocytic endosperm that then cellularizes. Growth during the coenocytic phase is strongly associated with the final seed size; however, a detailed description of the cellular dynamics controlling the unique coenocytic development in flowering plants has remained elusive. By integrating confocal microscopy live-cell imaging and genetics, we have characterized the entire development of the coenocytic endosperm of Arabidopsis thaliana including nuclear divisions, their timing intervals, nuclear movement, and cytoskeleton dynamics. Around each nucleus, microtubules organize into aster-shaped structures that drive F-actin organization. Microtubules promote nuclear movement after division while F-actin restricts it. F-actin is also involved in controlling the size of both the coenocytic endosperm and mature seed. Characterization the of cytoskeleton dynamics in real-time throughout the entire coenocyte endosperm period provides foundational knowledge of plant coenocytic development, insights into the coordination of F-actin and microtubules in nuclear dynamics, and new opportunities to increase seed size and our food security.
Genomic regions associate with major axes of variation driven by gas exchange and leaf construction traits in cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuusL.)
Authors: Earley Ashley M. , Temme Andries A. , Cotter Christopher R. , Burke John M. 
Published: April 2022

SummaryStomata and leaf veins play an essential role in transpiration and the movement of water throughout leaves. These traits are thus thought to play a key role in the adaptation of plants to drought and a better understanding of the genetic basis of their variation and coordination could inform efforts to improve drought tolerance. Here, we explore patterns of variation and covariation in leaf anatomical traits and analyze their genetic architecture via genome-wide association (GWA) analyses in cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuusL.). Traits related to stomatal density and morphology as well as lower order veins were manually measured from digital images while the density of minor veins was estimated using a novel deep learning approach. Leaf, stomatal, and vein traits exhibited numerous significant correlations that generally followed expectations based on functional relationships. Correlated suites of traits could further be separated along three major principal component (PC) axes that were heavily influenced by variation in traits related to gas exchange, leaf hydraulics, and leaf construction. While there was limited evidence of colocalization when individual traits were subjected to GWA analyses, major multivariate PC axes that were most strongly influenced by several traits related to gas exchange or leaf construction did exhibit significant genomic associations. These results provide insight into the genetic basis of leaf trait covariation and showcase potential targets for future efforts aimed at modifying leaf anatomical traits in sunflower.Significance StatementUsing traditional and automated/high-throughput (using a novel deep learning approach) phenotyping methods we studied leaf anatomical variation in sunflower. Genome-wide association (GWA) analyses identified numerous genomic regions underlying individual trait variation and regions underlying major multivariate axes of phenotypic variation. These results illustrate the value of employing a multivariate approach to GWA analyses and shed light on the extent to which leaf trait (co-)variation can be genetically decoupled to explore novel phenotypic space.