julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Verbiage and Sensationalism in Unethical Journalism Creating Stigma and Fear during COVID-19
2021-01-01

The absence of ethics in journalism leads to chaos uncertainty and fear, during times of a crisis.We will take a close look at the unethical coverage through the verbiage and the extent of damage physically and mentally that we have been going through since the onset of the pandemic.Making it not only an infectious disease pandemic, but this has developed into a fear pandemic of its own.The study looked at the most read 200 written news reports from around the world, narrowing the search to 50 in total; 40 of the top readership and 10 to ensure the study encompassed all regions of the globe.Seeing their use of 'patient' was dehumanising resulting in stigma, 30 news sources were then scrutinized using the World Health Organisations 'Do's" and 'Don'ts' sensitization guidelines ass per February 24, 2020,* all written reports failed in using the words known to create stigma.Coupled with these results are a plethora of research and studies compiled to bring attention to the fact stigma from infection diseases can affect the productivity of the heath care system during a pandemic, as well as result in serious lasting mental health concerns such as PTSD.As well a, charting how media is directly shown to feed the fear of crisis's by sensationalising an event and using stigmatising verbiage in reporting.This can only be described as unethical media coverage.Outlined are ways to rectify this, including the importance of a Media's apology to the world.
Courts as Rhetorical Actors: A Rhetorical Analysis of Judicial Conflict Avoidance
2021-01-01

The paper starts from the assumption that there is a body of case-law on the German, the European Union (EU) level, and on the international level that is characterised by strategies of judicial avoidance. Courts for various reasons sometimes avoid deciding the substantive legal issues advanced by the parties to a conflict or put before them as a legal question in advisoryproceedings. The phenomenon is multifaceted. It can be observed in different legal contexts, in different countries, and branches of the law. From this perspective judicial avoidance is an important, yet scholarly neglected, element of judicial practice. As the paper demonstrates, it can be detected and categorised by employing the analytical tools of rhetorical science. This namely involves insights resulting from rhetorical research on ‘avoidance strategies’ in various forms of human and organisational communication. The central hypothesis of this paper therefore is that courts can be found to employ a sophisticated toolkit of classical rhetorical practices in order to avoid in their decision a ruling on focal legal issues of a dispute. The crossjurisdictional set of rhetorical practices, which the article traces in the practice of various selected high profile courts, goes well beyond the emanations of classic Western separation of powers-doctrines of ‘judicial self-restraint’, ‘political questions’, or the ‘margin of appreciation’.
An alternative in vivo model to evaluate pluripotency of patient-specific iPSCs_suppl
2021-01-01

The generation of autologous human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from a patient’s somatic cells and the subsequent differentiation of these cells into desired cell types offer innovative treatment options for tissue regeneration. The hiPSCs obtained are usually implanted in immunodeficient mice, and teratoma formation is analyzed after 4 to 6 weeks to assess the cells’ pluripotency. In this study, an alternative in vivo model based on chicken egg chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) was established to analyze the pluripotency of newly created hiPSCs. 0.5, 1, 2, 4 x 106 hiPSCs generated from urine-derived renal epithelial cells were seeded on CAM and incubated for 9 days. Teratoma formation was detected in 70% of eggs inoculated with 2 x 106 hiPSCs and in 100% of eggs inoculated with 4 x 106 hiPSCs. All teratomas exhibited vascular structures. The robustness of the CAM model was confirmed using two additional hiPSC lines derived from human fibroblasts (NuFFs) or jaw periosteal cells. The presence of all three germ layers within the teratomas was successfully verified by histochemical and immunofluorescence staining and gene expression analysis of germ layer-specific markers. Urine-derived renal epithelial cells were used as negative control and showed no teratoma formation. The CAM-based in vivo model provides an optimal in vivo test environment for the pluripotency evaluation of newly generated hiPSC lines. This simple, fast, inexpensive and reproducible method reduces the suffering of animals and thus implements the principles of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement).
Informationsethik
2021-01-01

Informationsethik ist ein Teilbereich der angewandten Ethik der sich auf Anwendungen des Internets, das Informationsmanagement und die Computernutzung insgesamt bezieht. Die Informationsethik beschäftig sich z. B. mit Fragen der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion – wie etwa Transparenz im Umgang mit informationstechnischen Systemen – mit ihrer wertbezogenen Gestaltung oder mit dem Thema Überwachung.
Direct U-series dating of the Apidima C human remains
2021-01-01

The site of Apidima, in southern Greece, is one of the most important Paleolithic sites in Greece and southeast Europe. One of the caves belonging to this cave complex, Cave A, has yielded human fossil crania Apidima 1 and 2, showing the presence of an early Homo sapiens population followed by a Neanderthal one in the Middle Pleistocene. Less known are the human remains reportedly recovered from Cave C at Apidima. These include a number of isolated elements, but also a partial skeleton interpreted as a female burial, Apidima 3, proposed by Pitsios (e.g., Pitsios 1999) to be associated with Aurignacian lithics and to date to ca. 30 ka. In light of the rarity of the Upper Paleolithic in Greece, and the general scarcity of human remains associated with the Aurignacian, the remains from Apidima Cave C are potentially very significant in elucidating the arrival of the early Upper Paleolithic populations in Europe. Here we undertake direct Uranium-series dating of three human samples from Cave C, including the burial, to help clarify their chronology. Results suggest a minimum age of terminal Pleistocene for all three samples.
Fostering early numerical competencies by playing conventional board games
2021-01-02

Recent evidence indicates that playing numerical board games is beneficial for the numerical development of preschoolers. However, board games used in these studies were often specifically developed for training numerical skills. Therefore, we examined whether similar beneficial effects could be observed for playing conventional board games such as Parcheesi. In an intervention study with seven 30-min training sessions over a period of 4 weeks, we observed that 4- to 6-year-old children (M<sub>age</sub> = 4 years 11 months) who played conventional board games with traditional number dice (with dot faces numbered from one to six) benefitted more from the board games than children who played board games with color or non-numerical symbol dice. Pretest-posttest comparisons indicated differential effects on counting skills and the ability to recognize and use structures. Beyond these immediate training effects observed in posttest, the differential beneficial effects of playing board games using traditional dot dice on recognizing and using structures was still present in a follow-up test 1 year after the intervention. Thus, playing conventional board games using traditional number dice seems to be an effective low-threshold intervention to foster early numerical competencies.
Functional Coupling of Slack Channels and P2X3 Receptors Contributes to Neuropathic Pain Processing
2021-01-02

The sodium-activated potassium channel Slack (KNa1.1, Slo2.2, or Kcnt1) is highly expressed in populations of sensory neurons, where it mediates the sodium-activated potassium current (IKNa) and modulates neuronal activity. Previous studies suggest that Slack is involved in the processing of neuropathic pain. However, mechanisms underlying the regulation of Slack activity in this context are poorly understood. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings we found that Slack-mediated IKNa in sensory neurons of mice is reduced after peripheral nerve injury, thereby contributing to neuropathic pain hypersensitivity. Interestingly, Slack is closely associated with ATP-sensitive P2X3 receptors in a population of sensory neurons. In vitro experiments revealed that Slack-mediated IKNa may be bidirectionally modulated in response to P2X3 activation. Moreover, mice lacking Slack show altered nocifensive responses to P2X3 stimulation. Our study identifies P2X3/Slack signaling as a mechanism contributing to hypersensitivity after peripheral nerve injury and proposes a potential novel strategy for treatment of neuropathic pain.
Probability that an infection like Covid-19 stops without reaching herd immunity, calculated with a stochastic agent-based model
2021-01-02

Abstract The spread of an infection is simulated with a stochastic agent-based model. In a certain range of R0 values, the infection either rapidly comes to halt or a large proportion of the population is infected until herd immunity is achieved. Which of these two possibilities actually occurs is random. The probability of each case is determined ‘quasi-empirically’. This stochastic phenomenon may explain unexpected infection trajectories.
Effects of Geometric Sound on Brainwave Activity Patterns, Autonomic Nervous System Markers, Emotional Response and Faraday Wave Pattern Morphology
2021-01-03

This study introduces Geometric Sound as a subfield of spatial sound featuring audio stimuli which aresonic holograms of mathematically defined 3D shapes. The effects of Geometric Sound on human physiology were investigated through EEG, heart rate, blood pressure and a combination of questionnaires monitoring 50 healthy participants in two separate experiments. The impact of Geometric Sound on Faraday wave pattern morphology was further studied. The shapes examined, Pyramid, Cube, and Sphere, exhibited varying significant effects on autonomic nervous system markers, brainwave power amplitude, topology, and connectivity patterns, in comparison to both the control (traditional stereo), and recorded baseline ofparticipants where no sound was presented. Brain activity in the Alpha band exhibited the most significantresults, additional noteworthy results were observed across analysis paradigms in all frequency bands.Geometric Sound was found to significantly reduce heart rate and blood pressure and enhance relaxationand general well-being. Changes in EEG, heart rate, and blood pressure were primarily shape-dependent,and to a lesser extent sex-dependent. Pyramid GS yielded the most significant results in most analysisparadigms. Faraday Waves patterns morphology analysis indicated that identical frequencies result inpatterns that correlate with the excitation Geometric Sound shape. We suggest that Geometric Sound showspromise as a non-invasive therapeutic approach for physical and psychological conditions, stress-relateddisorders, depression, anxiety, and neurotrauma. Further research is warranted to elucidate underlyingmechanisms and expand its applications.
A multi-omics study on cutaneous and uveal melanoma
2021-01-03

AIM: To present the multi-omics landscape of cutaneous melanoma (CM) and uveal melanoma (UM) from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). METHODS: The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between CM and UM were found and integrated into a gene ontology enrichment analysis. Besides, the differentially expressed miRNAs were also identified. We also compared the methylation level of CM with UM and identified the differentially methylated regions to integrate with the DEGs to display the relationship between the gene expression and DNA methylation. The differentially expressed transcription factors (TFs) were identified. RESULTS: Though CM had more mutational burden than UM, they shared several similarities such as the same rankings in diverse variant types. Except GNAQ and GNA11, the other top 18 mutated genes of the combined group were mostly detected in CM instead of UM. On the transcriptomic level, 4610 DEGs were found and integrated into a gene ontology enrichment analysis. We also identified 485 differentially expressed miRNAs. The methylation analysis showed that UM had a significantly higher methylation level than CM. The integration of differentially methylated regions and DEGs demonstrated that most DEGs were downregulated in UM and the hypo- and hypermethylation presented no obvious difference within these DEGs. Finally, 116 hypermethylated TFs and 114 hypomethylated TFs were identified as differentially expressed TFs in CM when compared with UM. CONCLUSION: This multi-omics study on comparing CM with UM confirms that they differ in all analyzed levels. Of notice, the results also offer new insights with implications for elucidating certain unclear problems such as the distinct role of epithelial mesenchymal transition in two melanomas, the different metastatic routes of CM and UM and the liver tropism of metastatic UM.
Colour Ambiguity in Real Scenes and the Role of Perceptual Organisation
2021-01-03

Abstract In this study we show a reproduction of the dress-ambiguity phenomenon in a real scene and we report quantitative measurements of the corresponding colour perceptions. The original, real dress, known from #thedress-illusion, was illuminated by combined short- and longwavelength broadband lights from two slide projectors. Test subjects viewing the dress reported to perceive the dress’ fabric and lace colours as blue &amp; black, white &amp; gold or light blue &amp; brown; their corresponding perceptual matches were distributed along the blue/yellow cardinal axis, and exhibited a variability comparable to the ambiguity of the dress photograph. It is particularly noteworthy that the colour ambiguity emerged despite explicit knowledge of the observers about the direction of the light source. Manipulating the background of the real dress (change in chromaticity and luminance, or masking) revealed significant differences between the perceptual groups regarding lightness and colour of the dress. Our findings suggest that observer specific differences in the perceptual organisation of the visual scene are responsible for the colour ambiguity observed for the real dress; in particular, we conclude that colour computations of white &amp; gold viewers focused onto the local region of the dress, whereas the colour processes of blue &amp; black and light-blue &amp; brown viewers were strongly influenced by contextual computations including the background. Our segmentation hypothesis extends existing explanations for the dress’ ambiguity and proposes image based (in the case of the real scene) and high level (in the case of the photograph) neural processes which control the spatial reach of contextual colour computations. The relation between the ambiguity in our real scene and the dress photograph is discussed.
Artificial Intelligence, Social Media and Depression. A New Concept of Health-Related Digital Autonomy
2021-01-04

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine raises fundamental ethical issues. As one example, AI systems in the field of mental health successfully detect signs of mental disorders, such as depression, by using data from social media. These AI depression detectors (AIDDs) identify users who are at risk of depression prior to any contact with the healthcare system. The article focuses on the ethical implications of AIDDs regarding affected users' health-related autonomy. Firstly, it presents the (ethical) discussion of AI in medicine and, specifically, in mental health. Secondly, two models of AIDDs using social media data and different usage scenarios are introduced. Thirdly, the concept of patient autonomy, according to Beauchamp and Childress, is critically discussed. Since this concept does not encompass the specific challenges linked with the digital context of AIDDs in social media sufficiently, the current analysis suggests, finally, an extended concept of health-related digital autonomy.
Three dimensional cultivation increases chemo- and radioresistance of colorectal cancer cell lines
2021-01-04

Although 2D cell cultures are commonly used to predict therapy response, it has become clear that 3D cultures may better mimic the in vivo situation and offer the possibility of tailoring translational clinical approaches. Here, we compared the response of 2D and 3D colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines to irradiation and chemotherapy. Classic 2D cultures and 3D spheroids of CRC cell lines (CaCo2, Colo205, HCT116, SW480) were thoroughly established, then irradiated with doses of 1, 4, or 10 Gy, using a clinical-grade linear accelerator. The response was assessed by immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, and TUNEL assays. Upon irradiation, CRC 3D spheroids were morphologically altered. After irradiation with 10 Gy, annexin V/PI staining revealed a 1.8- to 4-fold increase in the apoptosis rate in the 2D cell cultures (95% CI 3.24±0.96), and a 1.5- to 2.4-fold increase in the 3D spheroids (95% CI 1.56±0.41). Irradiation with 1 Gy caused 3- and 4-fold increases in TUNEL positive cells in the CaCo2 and HCT116 (p = 0.01) 2D cultures, respectively, compared with a 2-fold increase in the 3D spheroids. Furthermore, the 2D and 3D cultures responded differently to chemotherapy; the 3D cultures were more resistant to 5-FU and cisplatin, but not to doxorubicin and mitomycin C, than the 2D cultures. Taken together, CRC cells cultured as 3D spheroids displayed markedly higher resistance to irradiation therapy and selected chemotherapeutic drugs than 2D cultures. This in vitro difference must be considered in future approaches for determining the ideal in vitro systems that mimic human disease.
Bulk Phase Behavior vs Interface Adsorption: Specific Multivalent Cation and Anion Effects on BSA Interactions
2021-01-04

Proteins are ubiquitous and play a critical role in many areas from living organisms to protein microchips. In humans, serum albumin has a prominent role in the foreign body response since it is the first protein which will interact with, e.g., an implant or stent. In this study, we focused on the influence of salts (i.e., different cations (Y<sup>3+</sup>, La<sup>3+</sup>) and anions (Cl<sup>-</sup>, I<sup>-</sup>) on bovine serum albumin (BSA) in terms of its bulk behavior as well as the role of charges for protein adsorption at the solid-liquid interface in order to understand and control the underlying molecular mechanisms and interactions. This is part of our group's effort to gain a deeper understanding of protein-protein and protein-surface interactions in the presence of multivalent ions. In the bulk, we established two new phase diagrams and found not only multivalent cation-triggered phase transitions, but also a dependence of the protein behavior on the type of anion. The attractive interactions between proteins were observed to increase from Cl<sup>-</sup> < NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> < I<sup>-</sup>, resulting in iodide preventing re-entrant condensation and promoting liquid-liquid phase separation in bulk. Using ellipsometry and a quartz-crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), we obtained insight into the growth of the protein adsorption layer. Importantly, we found that phase transitions at the substrate can be triggered by certain interface properties, whether they exist in the bulk solution or not. Through the use of a hydrophilic, negatively charged surface (native silica), the direct binding of anions to the interface was prevented. Interestingly, this led to re-entrant adsorption even in the absence of re-entrant condensation in bulk. However, the overall amount of adsorbed protein was enhanced through stronger attractive protein-protein interactions in the presence of iodide salts. These findings illustrate how carefully chosen surface properties and salts can directly steer the binding of anions and cations, which guide protein behavior, thus paving the way for specific/triggered protein-protein, protein-salt, and protein-surface interactions.
New insights into the epidemiology of ANCA-associated vasculitides in Germany: results from a claims data study
2021-01-04

Abstract Objective ANCA-associated vasculitides (AAV) are rare, potentially life-threatening autoimmune diseases characterized by systemic inflammation and organ damage. AAV prevalence rates reported in Europe vary considerably and robust data sources are often lacking. This study aimed to examine the feasibility of claims data analysis as a complementary method to registry-based studies to assess the epidemiology of AAV. Methods In this retrospective observational study, anonymized longitudinal claims data from years 2013–2016 from German statutory health insurance companies (data source: InGef, Institute for Applied Health Research) have been analysed on an age- and gender-stratified cohort of ∼3 million persons representative of the German population. In this cohort, granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) patients were identified. Results The study cohort revealed a prevalence for GPA and MPA of 210 and 46 cases per million people, respectively. The annual incidence comprised 34 GPA cases and 13 MPA cases per million people per year. Hence, 17 500 AAV patients (GPA and MPA) are estimated to live in Germany, with an annual increase of 3200 patients. According to their demographic and disease-specific characteristics, AAV patients identified in this claims data approach are representative. Conclusion This is the first study using claims data to assess the epidemiology of AAV. In Germany, AAV was diagnosed more frequently than it was estimated by previous self-reporting registry-based studies. The findings indicate that epidemiological data of AAV may have been underestimated but may also reflect improved diagnostic methods and disease recognition.
Development of sustainable research excellence with a global perspective on infectious diseases: Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL), Gabon
2021-01-04

Summary Medical research in sub-Saharan Africa is of high priority for societies to respond adequately to local health needs. Often enough it remains a challenge to build up capacity in infrastructure and human resources to highest international standards and to sustain this over mid-term to long-term periods due to difficulties in obtaining long-term institutional core funding, attracting highly qualified scientists for medical research and coping with ever changing structural and political environments. The Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL) serves as model for how to overcome such challenges and to continuously increase its impact on medical care in Central Africa and beyond. Starting off as a research annex to the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon, it has since then expanded its activities to academic and regulatory clinical trials for drugs, vaccines and diagnostics in the field of malaria, tuberculosis, and a wide range of poverty related and neglected tropical infectious diseases. Advancing bioethics in medical research in Africa and steadily improving its global networks and infrastructures, CERMEL serves as a reference centre for several international consortia. In close collaboration with national authorities, CERMEL has become one of the main training hubs for medical research in Central Africa. It is hoped that CERMEL and its leitmotiv “to improve medical care for local populations” will serve as an inspiration to other institutions in sub-Saharan Africa to further increase African capacity to advance medicine.