bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Autonomic Nervous System Markers of Music-Elicited Analgesia in People with Fibromyalgia: A Double-Blind Randomized Pilot Study
Authors: Lepping Rebecca J. , McMillan Miranda L. , Chadwick Andrea L. , Mansour Zaid M. , Martin Laura E. , Gustafson Kathleen M. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPurposeTo investigate the feasibility of using music listening by adults with fibromyalgia (FM) as a potential tool for reducing pain sensitivity.Patients and methodsWe report results from a double-blind two-arm parallel randomized pilot study (NCT04059042) in 9 participants with FM. Pain tolerance and threshold were measured objectively using quantitative sensory tests; autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity was measured with electrocardiogram. Participants were randomized to listen to instrumental Western Classical music or a nature sound control to test whether music listening elicits greater analgesic effects over simple auditory distraction. Participants also completed separate control testing with no sound that was counterbalanced between participants.ResultsParticipants were randomized 1:1 to music or nature sounds (4 Music, 5 Nature). Although the groups were not different on FM scores, the Music group had marginally worse pain summation (p=.09) and tolerance (p=.13). The Nature group had higher Anxiety scores (p<.05). Outcome measures showed a significant Group by Session interaction for pain tolerance (p<.05) revealing that the Nature group had greater pain reduction during audio compared to silence, while the Music group had no difference between sessions. No significant effects were observed for ANS testing. Within the Music group, there was a trend of vagal response increase from baseline to music listening, but it did not reach statistical significance; this pattern was not observed in the Nature group.ConclusionAuditory listening significantly altered pain responses. There may be greater vagal response to music versus nature sounds, however, results could be due to group differences in pain and anxiety. This line of study will help determine whether music could be prophylactic for people with FM when acute pain is expected.
How do local-level authorities engage in epidemic and pandemic preparedness activities and coordinate with higher levels of government? Survey results from 33 cities
Authors: Boyce Matthew R , Asprilla Melissa Cordoba , van Loenen Breanna , McClelland Amanda , Rojhani Ariella 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic suggests that there are opportunities to improve preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks. While much attention has been given to understanding national-level preparedness, relatively little attention has been given to understanding preparedness at the local-level. We, therefore, aim to describe (1) how local governments were engaged in epidemic preparedness efforts before the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) how they were coordinating with authorities at higher levels of governance before COVID-19. We developed an online survey and distributed it to 50 cities around the world involved in the Partnership for Healthy Cities. The survey included several question formats including free-response, matrices, and multiple-choice questions. RACI matrices, a project management tool that helps explain coordination structures, were used to understand the level of government responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed regarding select preparedness activities. We used descriptive statistics to summarize local-level engagement in epidemic preparedness. Local health authorities from 33 cities completed the survey. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 20 of the cities had completed infectious disease risk assessments, 10 completed all-hazards risk assessments, 11 completed simulation exercises, 10 completed after-action reviews, 19 developed preparedness and response plans, three reported involvement in their country’s Joint External Evaluation of the International Health Regulations, and eight cities reported involvement in the development of their countries’ National Action Plan for Health Security. RACI matrices revealed various models of epidemic preparedness, with responsibility often shared across levels, and national governments accountable for the most activities, compared to other governance levels. In conclusion, national governments maintain the largest role in epidemic and pandemic preparedness but the role of subnational and local governments is not negligible. Local-level actors engage in a variety of preparedness activities and future efforts should strive to better include these actors in preparedness as a means of bolstering local, national, and global health security.
Cultural transmission of reproductive success impacts genomic diversity, coalescent tree topologies and demographic inferences
Authors: Guez Jérémy , Achaz Guillaume , Bienvenu François , Cury Jean , Toupance Bruno , Heyer Évelyne , Jay Flora , Austerlitz Frédéric 
Published: May 2022

AbstractCultural Transmission of Reproductive Success (CTRS) has been observed in many human populations as well as other animals. It consists in a positive correlation of non-genetic origin between the progeny size of parents and children. This correlation can result from various factors, such as the social influence of parents on their children, the increase of children’s survival through allocare from uncle and aunts, or the transmission of resources. Here, we study the evolution of genomic diversity through time under CTRS. We show that CTRS has a double impact on population genetics: (1) effective population size decreases when CTRS starts, mimicking a population contraction, and increases back to its original value when CTRS stops; (2) coalescent trees topologies are distorted under CTRS, with higher imbalance and higher number of polytomies. Under long-lasting CTRS, effective population size stabilises but the distortion of tree topology remains, which yields U-shaped Site Frequency Spectra (SFS) under constant population size. We show that this CTRS’ impact yields a bias in SFS-based demographic inference. Considering that CTRS was detected in numerous human and animal populations worldwide, one should be cautious that inferring population past histories from genomic data can be biased by this cultural process.
The central autonomic system revisited – convergent evidence for a regulatory role of the insular and midcingulate cortex from neuroimaging meta-analyses
Authors: Ferraro Stefania , Klugah-Brown Benjamin , Tench Christopher R , Chepngetich Bore Mercy , Nigri Anna , Demichelis Greta , Bruzzone Maria Grazia , Palermo Sara , Zhao Weihua , Yao Shuxia , Jiang Xi , Kendrick Keith M , Becker Benjamin 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe autonomic nervous system regulates dynamic body adaptations to internal and external environment changes. Capitalizing on two different algorithms (Analysis of Brain Coordinates and GingerALE) that differ in empirical assumptions, we scrutinized the meta-analytic convergence of human neuroimaging studies investigating the neural basis of peripheral autonomic signal processing. Among the selected studies, we identified 42 records reporting 44 different experiments and testing 792 healthy individuals.The results of the two different algorithms converge in identifying the bilateral dorsal anterior insula and midcingulate cortex as the critical areas of the central autonomic system (CAN). However, whereas the bilateral dorsal anterior insula appears to be involved in processing autonomic nervous system signals regardless of task type, activity in the midcingulate cortex appears to be primarily engaged in processing autonomic signals during cognitive tasks and task-free conditions. Applying an unbiased approach, we were able to identify a single functionally condition-independent circuit that supports CAN activity. Although partially overlapping with the salience network, this functional circuit includes, in addition to the bilateral insular cortex and midcingulate cortex, the bilateral inferior parietal lobules and small clusters in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus. Our results do not support the hypothesis of divergent pathways for the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems or a robust involvement of the default mode network, particularly during parasympathetic activity. However, these results may be due to the relatively low number of studies investigating the parasympathetic system (12%), making our results more consistent with the central processing network of sympathetic activity.Remarkably, the critical regions of the CAN observed in this meta-analysis are among the most reported co-activated areas in neuroimaging studies and have been repeatedly shown as being dysregulated across different mental and neurological disorders. This suggests that the central dynamic interaction maintaining bodily homeostasis reported in several brain imaging studies may be associated with increased autonomic nervous system engagement and that disruptions in this interplay may underpin unspecific pathological symptoms across mental and neurological disorders.
Chimeric 3D-gastruloids – a versatile tool for studies of mammalian peri-gastrulation development
Authors: Wehmeyer Alexandra E. , Schüle Katrin M. , Conrad Alexandra , Schröder Chiara M. , Probst Simone , Arnold Sebastian J. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractStem cell-derived 3D-gastruloids show a remarkable capacity of self-organisation and recapitulate many aspects of gastrulation stage mammalian development. Gastruloids can be rapidly generated and offer several experimental advantages, such as scalability, observability, and accessibility for manipulation. Here, we present approaches to further expand the experimental potency of murine 3D-gastruloids by utilizing functional genetics in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to generate chimeric gastruloids. In chimeric gastruloids fluorescently labelled cells of different genotypes harbouring inducible gene-expression, or loss-of-function alleles, are combined with wildtype cells. We showcase this experimental approach in chimeric gastruloids of mESCs carrying homozygous deletions of the Tbx transcription factorsBrachyury, or inducible expression ofEomes. Resulting chimeric gastruloids recapitulate reportedEomesandBrachyuryfunctions, such as instructing cardiac fate and promoting posterior axial extension, respectively. Additionally, chimeric gastruloids revealed previously unrecognized phenotypes such as tissue sorting preference ofBrachyury-deficient cells to endoderm, and cell non-autonomous effects ofBrachyury-deficiency onWnt3a-patterning along the embryonic axis, demonstrating some of the advantages of chimeric gastruloids as efficient tool for studies of mammalian gastrulation.
Spinosaurusis not an aquatic dinosaur
Authors: Sereno Paul C. , Myhrvold Nathan , Henderson Donald M. , Fish Frank E. , Vidal Daniel , Baumgart Stephanie L. , Keillor Tyler M. , Formoso Kiersten K. , Conroy Lauren L. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractA predominantly fish-eating diet was envisioned for the sail-backed theropod dinosaur,Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, when its elongate jaws with subconical teeth were unearthed a century ago in Egypt. Recent discovery of the high-spined tail of that skeleton, however, led to a bolder conjecture, thatS. aegyptiacuswas the first fully aquatic dinosaur. The ‘aquatic hypothesis’ posits thatS. aegyptiacuswas a slow quadruped on land but a capable pursuit predator in coastal waters, powered by an expanded tail. We test these functional claims with skeletal and flesh models ofS. aegyptiacus. We assembled a CT-based skeletal reconstruction based on the fossils, to which we added internal air and muscle to create a posable flesh model. That model shows that on landS. aegyptiacuswas bipedal and in deep water was an unstable, slow surface swimmer (<1m/s) too buoyant to dive. Living reptiles with similar spine-supported sails over trunk and tail in living reptiles are used for display rather than aquatic propulsion, and nearly all extant secondary swimmers have reduced limbs and fleshy tail flukes. New fossils also show thatSpinosaurusranged far inland. Two stages are clarified in the evolution ofSpinosaurus, which is best understood as a semiaquatic bipedal ambush piscivore that frequented the margins of coastal and inland waterways.
TGF-β signaling and Creb5 cooperatively regulate Fgf18 to control pharyngeal muscle development
Authors: Feng Jifan , Han Xia , Yuan Yuan , Cho Courtney Kyeong , Janečková Eva , Guo Tingwei , Pareek Siddhika , Bi Jing , Jing Junjun , Zhang Mingyi , Ho Thach-Vu , Chai Yang 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe communication between myogenic cells and their surrounding connective tissues is indispensable for muscle morphogenesis. During late embryonic development in mice, myogenic progenitors migrate to discrete sites to form individual muscles. The detailed mechanism of this process remains unclear. Using levator veli palatini (LVP) development as a model, we systematically investigated how a distinct connective tissue subpopulation, perimysial fibroblasts, communcates with myogenic cells to regulate mouse pharyngeal myogenesis. Using single-cell RNAseq data analysis, we identified that TGF-β signaling is a key regulator for the perimysial fibroblasts. Loss of TGF-β signaling led to defects in perimysial fibroblasts and subsequently muscle formation in Osr2-Cre;Alk5fl/fl mice. In particular, a perimysial fibroblast-specific regulator, Creb5, interacts with TGF-β signaling to enable specific activation of perimysial fibroblast-derived signals such as Fgf18. Moreover, Fgf18 supports pharyngeal muscle development in vivo and its exogenous expression can partially rescue myogenic cell numbers in Osr2-Cre;Alk5fl/fl samples, illustrating that TGF-β-regulated Fgf18 signaling is required for LVP development. Collectively, our findings revealed the mechanism by which TGF-β signaling achieves its specificity in defining the perimysial-to-myogenic signals for pharyngeal myogenesis.
Antiviral activity of the hemolymph ofPodalia sp and M. albicolis(Lepidoptera: Megalopigydae)
Authors: Carvalho N.D. , Curti S.P. , Oliveira M.I. , Rofatto H.K. , Figueiredo C.A. , Senna de Villar K , Magnelli R.F. , Mendonça R.Z. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPotent antiviral activity against measles, influenza, picornavirus and herpes simplex viruses was observed in the hemolymph ofPodalia spandM. Albicolis(Lepidoptera: Megalopigydae). The antiviral proteins responsible for this activity were isolated by gel filtration chromatography using a gel filtration column system (Superdex 75) and further fractionated using a Resource-Q ion exchange column system. Experiments with the semi-purified protein led to a 128-fold reduction in picornavirus production, 64-fold reduction in measles virus production and a 32-fold reduction in influenza virus replication. qPCR showed a significantly lower level of herpes virus transcription. In addition no citotoxicity and genotoxicity effect was observed for Vero cells, suggesting a very interesting potential antiviral activity.
Insulin sensitivity is preserved in mice made obese by feeding a high starch diet
Authors: Brandon Amanda E , Small Lewin , Nguyen Tuong-Vi , Suryana Eurwin , Gong Henry , Yassmin Christian , Hancock Sarah E , Pulpitel Tamara , Stonehouse Sophie , Prescott Leteisha , Kebede Melkam A , Yau Belinda , Quek Lake-Ee , Kowalski Greg M , Bruce Clinton R , Turner Nigel , Cooney Gregory J 
Published: May 2022

AbstractObesity is generally associated with insulin resistance in liver and muscle and increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, however there is a population of obese people that remain insulin sensitive. Similarly, recent work suggests that mice fed high carbohydrate diets can become obese without apparent glucose intolerance. To investigate this phenomenon further, we fed mice either a high fat (Hi-F) or high starch (Hi-ST) diet and measured adiposity, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and tissue lipids compared to control mice fed a standard laboratory chow. Both Hi-ST and Hi-F mice accumulated a similar amount of fat and tissue triglyceride compared to chow-fed mice. However while Hi-F diet mice developed glucose intolerance as well as liver and muscle insulin resistance (assessed via euglycemic/hyperinsulinemic clamp), obese Hi-ST mice maintained glucose tolerance and insulin action similar to lean, chow-fed controls. This preservation of insulin action despite obesity in Hi-ST mice was associated with differences in de novo lipogenesis and levels of C22:0 ceramide in liver and C18:0 ceramide in muscle. This indicates that dietary manipulation can influence insulin action independently of the level of adiposity and that the presence of specific ceramide species correlate with these differences.
Microenvironmental Ammonia Enhances T cell Exhaustion in Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Bell Hannah N. , Huber Amanda K. , Singhal Rashi , Rebernick Ryan J. , Kumar Roshan , Das Nupur K. , Kerk Samuel A. , Sajjakulnukit Peter , Solanki Sumeet , James Jadyn G. , Kim Donghwan , Zhang Li , El-derany Marwa O. , Frankel Timothy L. , Győrffy Balázs , Fearon Eric R. , di Magliano Marina Pasca , Gonzalez Frank J. , Banerjee Ruma , Lyssiotis Costas A. , Green Michael , Shah Yatrik M. 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACTEffective therapies are lacking for patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). The CRC tumor microenvironment has elevated metabolic waste products due to altered metabolism and proximity to the microbiota. The role of metabolite waste in tumor development, progression, and treatment resistance is unclear. We generated an autochthonous metastatic mouse model of CRC and unbiased multi-omic analyses in this model reveals a robust accumulation of tumoral ammonia. The high ammonia levels induce T cell metabolic reprogramming, increase exhaustion and decrease proliferation. CRC patients have increased serum ammonia, and our ammonia-related gene signature correlates with altered T cell response, adverse patient outcomes, and lack of response to immune checkpoint blockade. We demonstrate that enhancing ammonia clearance reactivates T cells, decreases tumor growth, and extends survival. Moreover, decreasing tumor-associated ammonia enhances anti-PD-L1 efficacy. Our findings indicate that ammonia detoxification can reactivate T cells, highlighting a new approach to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapies.Statement of SignificanceWe demonstrate that ammonia accumulates in the microenvironment of colorectal cancer. Ammonia alters T-cells redox singling leading to a decrease in T cell proliferation and an increase in T cell exhaustion. Enhancing ammonia clearance reduces tumor size, increases survival, and increases the efficacy to immunotherapies.
Intraprocedural endothelial cell seeding of arterial stents via biotin/avidin targeting mitigates in-stent restenosis
Authors: Alferiev Ivan S , Hooshdaran Bahman , Pressly Benjamin B , Stachelek Stanley J , Zoltick Philip W. , Chorny Michael , Levy Robert J , Fishbein Ilia 
Published: May 2022

AbstractImpaired endothelialization of endovascular stents has been established as a major cause of in-stent restenosis and late stent thrombosis[1]. Attempts to enhance endothelialization of inner stent surfaces by pre-seeding the stents with endothelial cells in vitro prior to implantation are compromised by cell destruction during high-pressure stent deployment. Herein, we report on the novel stent endothelialization strategy of post-deployment seeding of biotin-modified endothelial cells to avidin-functionalized stents. Acquisition of an avidin monolayer on the stent surface was achieved by consecutive treatments of bare metal stents (BMS) with polyallylamine bisphosphonate, an amine-reactive biotinylation reagent and avidin. Biotin-modified endothelial cells retain growth characteristics of normal endothelium and can express reporter transgenes. Under physiological shear conditions, a 50-fold higher number of recirculating biotinylated cells attached to the avidin-modified metal surfaces compared to bare metal counterparts. Delivery of biotinylated endothelial cells to the carotid arterial segment proximal to the implanted avidin-modified stent in rats results in immediate cell binding to the stent struts and is associated with a 30% reduction of in-stent restenosis in comparison with BMS.
Color-biased regions in the ventral visual pathway are food-selective
Authors: Pennock Ian Morgan Leo , Racey Chris , Allen Emily , Wu Yihan , Naselaris Thomas , Kay Kendrick , Franklin Anna , Bosten Jenny 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACTThe ventral visual pathway is well known to be involved in recognizing and categorizing objects (Kanwisher and Dilks, 2013). Three color-biased areas have also been found between face and place selective areas in the ventral visual pathway (Lafer-Sousa et al., 2016). To understand the function of these color-biased areas in a region known for object recognition, we analyzed the Natural Scenes Dataset (NSD; Allen et al., 2022), a large 7T fMRI dataset from 8 participants who viewed up to 30,000 trials of images of colored natural scenes. In a whole-brain analysis, we correlated the average color saturation of the images and the voxel responses, revealing color-biased areas that diverge into two streams in the ventral visual pathway, beginning in V4 and extending medially and laterally of the Fusiform Face Area in both hemispheres. We drew regions of interest (ROIs) for the two streams and found that the images for each ROI that evoked the largest responses had certain characteristics: They contained food, contained circular objects, had higher color saturation, contained warmer hues, and had more luminance entropy. A multiple linear regression showed that the presence of food in images was the strongest predictor of voxel responses in the medial and lateral color-biased regions for all eight participants, but that color saturation also contributed independently to voxel responses. Our results show that these areas are food-selective and color biased. We suggest that these streams might be involved in using color to recognize and judge the properties of food.
In-silico design and assessment of OprD based multi-epitope vaccine against Acinetobacter baumannii
Authors: Khalid Kashaf , Andleeb Saadia 
Published: May 2022

AbstractGram-negative, opportunist pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is notorious for causing a plethora of nosocomial infections predominantly respiratory diseases and blood-stream infections. Due to resistance development towards last-resort antibiotics, its treatment is becoming increasingly difficult. Despite numerous therapeutic developments, no vaccine is available against this ubiquitous pathogen. It is therefore apropos to formulate a rational vaccine plan to get rid of the super-bug. Considering the importance of Outer Membrane Porin D (OprD) as a potential vaccine candidate, we methodically combined the most persistent epitopes present in the A. baumannii strains with the help of different immunoinformatic approaches to envisage a systematic multi-epitope vaccine. The proposed vaccine contains highly immunogenic stretches of linear B-cells, cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes, and helper T lymphocyte epitopes of outer membrane porin OprD. The finalized epitopes proved to be significant as they are conserved in A. baumannii strains. The final 3D structure of the construct was projected, refined, and verified by employing several in silico approaches. Apt binding of the protein and adjuvant with the TLR4 suggested significantly high immunogenic potential of our designed vaccine. MD simulations showed highly stable composition of the protein. Immune simulations disclosed a prominent increase in the levels of the immune response. The proposed vaccine model is proposed to be thermostable, immunogenic, water-soluble, and non-allergenic. However, this study is purely computational and needs to be validated by follow-up wet laboratory studies to confirm the safety and immunogenicity of our multi-epitope vaccine.