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Purpose: This study investigates the challenges faced by European teachers when assessing student learning of democratic citizenship competences by asking about their experiences and opinions in their teaching practices. Design/methodology/approach: Through focus group interviews conducted with the teachers, we investigate the underlying reasons for teachers' choices of using certain forms of assessment methods while excluding other methods. This paper presents the analysis of interviews with 82 schoolteachers from lower secondary schools in eight European countries (average 19 years of teaching experience) participating in an Erasmus + project. Findings: The teachers' responses uncover a need for teachers to be better equipped with relevant knowledge, tools and approaches to practice formative assessment to develop students' democratic citizenship competences. The current common understanding of the summative assessment of knowledge using simple and standardised tools poses one of the main challenges for teachers to use formative assessment methods. Practical implications: The focus on summative assessment significantly limits the teachers' room to work on democratic citizenship competence. There is a need to strengthen this as a democratic citizenship education as a cross-curricular element in education, with an emphasis on formative assessment, to monitor and support students' democratic values and attitudes.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been around for some time, but several studies highlighted different issues associated with them, including quality. The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed their second blooming, where MOOCs have seen a surge in enrollments since March 2020. This study intended to explore how this enrollment reflected on the research studies included in scientific publications, indexed by Web of Science. Specifically, the bibliometric mapping analyses of 108 studies have revealed an ongoing trend in the countries contributing to the MOOCs research, namely USA, China, UK and Spain. Additionally, MOOCs research coming from US, UK and other western countries was decreasing before the pandemic and showed a continuous dramatic reduction also during the COVID-19 pandemic. Growing attention in MOOCs research among less represented countries was also observed. Besides, most of the topics focused on by MOOCs research during the pandemic were mainly related to education and engineering.

This article offers narratives of individual journeys through the scholarship of leading in three different contexts--Asia, Europe, and Africa. Together, these narratives argue for the need to make explicit the diversity of practices of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), with each practice inextricably tied to specific geographical, sociocultural, and political contexts. In offering these contextual specificities, we call on all who engage in SoTL to exercise reflexivity in thought, language, and action--to actively foreground our mental models and assumptions about SoTL and what it looks like for ourselves and for others; to sensitively engage scholars who do not share our context; and to strive toward an inclusive mindset and practice that will situate all of us within the "international" of an international organization. We highlight the problems of language, meaning, and translation; and the challenge scholars from "different shores" face in engaging with "other" shores.

The literature from inception to 2020 on the prevalence of epilepsy in autistic individuals was systematically reviewed and further explored by subgroup analyses and meta-regression models. This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020179725). A total of 66 studies from 53 articles were included. The updated pooled prevalence of epilepsy in autistic individuals was 10% (95% CI: 6-14). The respective prevalence estimate of epilepsy was 19% (95% CI: 6-35) in the clinical sample-based cross-sectional study, 7% (95% CI: 3-11) in the cohort study, and 9% (95% CI: 5-15) in the population-based cross-sectional study. The pooled prevalence of epilepsy was 7% (95% CI: 4-11) in autistic children and 19% (95% CI: 14-24) in autistic adults. Compared to the school-aged group, the adolescence group (OR: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.06-1.25) and the pre-school group (OR: 1.06, 95% CI: 0.94-1.19) were positively associated with the prevalence of epilepsy. The moderators of age, human development index of the country, gender, and intellectual function accounted for most of the heterogeneity. The prevalence estimates were associated with age, female gender, intellectual disability rate, and the human development index of countries. About 1/10 autistic individuals co-occurred with epilepsy, which was common in the clinical setting, adolescents, adults, females, or patients with intellectual disability, and less common in the country with high human development index.

The aim of this study of ICT policy in K-12 education in Sudan is to investigate the status of planning for technology in education and then determine how the advantage of ICT can best serve the educational system and improve educational outcomes. The study examined two plans for ICT in education, addition to an interview with the educational planning manager, and information center of federal ministry of general education, and other documents from the ministry of education, as well as recommendations of previous studies which emphasized the need for policy to be compatible with other countries may face semi conditions of Sudan, and importance of compatible with UNESCO declarations (Incheon & Qingdao, 2015). The results of this study showed the need for policy emphasis on using technology in education, K-12 education in Sudan requires better technology equipment, inclusive ICT policy includes primary and secondary education need to formulate. The study also suggests that evaluation and assessment are required in order to get more effective solutions and cope with the international educational progress of ICT in K-12 education.

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the "Journal of Workplace Learning" (JWL), focusing on articles between 1997 and 2020. Specifically, this study will examine articles in JWL, themes in JWL and the influence of JWL. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts bibliometric analysis methods, with indicators such as total articles, total citations, citation per article, "h"-index, Citescore, citation per year and considers different dimensions, including the leading articles, the most productive and influential authors, universities and countries, top keywords and keywords concurrence clusters and top journals, universities and countries that cite JWL. Findings: JWL is an international journal with growing influence over workplace learning research. JWL's leading articles focused on learning activities and learning environments, with single-authored and multi-authored articles evenly distributed. Dealtry and Billett are among the most productive and influential authors, and universities from Europe, Australia and North America dominate in JWL. Persistent topics and new topics that emerged in recent years in JWL are identified. JWL's influence is well-evidenced by citations from over six continents. Originality/value: This study represents the earliest attempt to study workplace learning using bibliometric analysis. It serves as a baseline for future bibliometric studies on workplace learning and guides authors in identifying research directions through the shift in keywords. It offers objective information about JWL, thus providing a reference for authors who are considering JWL as a potential publication outlet.

Due to the non-standardization and the personalized need of thematic mapping, the processing efficiency of basic geographic information data has not been effectively improved. The thematic mapping technology based on Photoshop has been adopted in railway industry widely. This paper applied the JavaScript technology to the secondary development of mapping, called the API of Windows and Photoshop, and used common mapping modules, mapping functions, main parameters, and hotkeys to encapsulate packages. It realized batch processing of remote sensing images, automatically processing of features on thematic map, and modification of map features in human-machine interaction manner. The research includes three parts: (1) The introduction of the configure environment, compile platform, and result of secondary development based on Javascript. (2) The application of four application scenarios for JavaScript technology: 1 Image batch processing to achieve automatic spectral enhancement of remote sensing image. 3 Automatic mapping for thematic map elements. 2 Batch and automatic modification of features on maps. 4 processing of elements on the map in human-machine interaction manner. (3) The example of the thematic mapping of a railway project in Europe using remote sensing image for the verification of the feasibility. The results show that the technology can significantly improve the mapping efficiency, make it easier to standardize drawing map symbol, and solve the problems on high redundancy of data and low efficiency of execution during batch and automatic processing scripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present review was aimed to describe the prevalence and the regional distribution of malocclusion among preschool children worldwide. Two independent reviewers performed a systematic literature search to identify English publications from January 2010 to May 2024 using PubMed, ISI Web of Science and Embase. Search MeSH key words were "malocclusion", "primary dentition" and "child, preschool". The reporting quality was assessed by the modified Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. We identified 2599 publications and recruited 47 articles. Fourteen of the included studies were conducted in Asia, four in Europe, twenty-eight in South America and one in Africa. The prevalence of malocclusion ranged from 28.4% to 83.9%, and half of the reported prevalences were higher than 50%. The highest percentage was in Asia (61.81%), followed by Europe (61.50%), South America (52.69%) and Africa (32.50%). Statistically significant differences existed in deep overbite, anterior open bite, posterior crossbite, edge-to-edge incisor relationship and distal step between continents (p < 0.05). Europe showed the highest prevalence (33.08%) of deep overbite. Africa showed the highest prevalence (18.60%) of anterior open bite. Europe showed the highest prevalence (15.38%) of posterior crossbite. The most common malocclusion traits were increased overjet and deep overbite. To conclude, malocclusion remained prevalent in the primary dentition and varied between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to introduce a new classification system for paediatric femoral neck fractures (PFNFs) and to evaluate its reliability. Methods: Two hundred and eight unilateral PFNFs (mean patient age: 9.0 ± 4.8 years) were included. Based on preoperative radiographs, the new classification system distinguished PFNFs without anterior or posterior translation (Type I), PFNFs with anterior (Type II) or posterior (Type III) translation, PFNFs with a comminuted medial or posterior column (Type IV), and subtrochanteric femoral fractures (SFFs; Type V). Radiographs were evaluated twice with an interval of two weeks by 19 raters with different specialties, experiences and geographical origins. The results were compared with a selection of 50 patient age-matched unilateral PFNFs and SFFs (mean patient age: 9.1 ± 4.9 years). These were graded twice by the same graders according to the Delbet-Colonna (D-C) classification. Results: Four radiologists and 15 paediatric orthopaedic surgeons from Europe and Asia graded the radiographs. Fair agreement was found between radiologists (κ = 0.296 ± 0.01) and surgeons (κ = 0.3 ± 0.005) (P = 0.17), although more experienced surgeons performed better than less experienced ones; a similar fair assessment was found for raters from Europe (κ = 0.309 ± 0.021) and Asia (κ = 0.3 ± 0.006) and for type II, III and IV fractures; the κ value in the first evaluation (0.309) was similar to that in the second evaluation (0.298). The overall κ value of the D-C classification subtypes was significantly higher (0.599 ± 0.217) than that of the new classification, 0.326 ± 0.162 (t = 3.190 P = 0.005). Conclusions: The new classification system showed fair reliability relative to the D-C classification. The reliability of the new classification system was not affected by the specialty or geographic origin of the rater or the evaluation round, only by rater experience level. The concordance was worse for PFNFs with anterior or posterior translation or with a comminuted medial or posterior columns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a global ionospheric total electron content (TEC) maps (GIM) prediction model based on deep learning methods that is both straightforward and practical, meeting the requirements of various applications. The proposed model utilizes an encoder-decoder structure with a Convolution Long Short-Term Memory (ConvLSTM) network and has a spatial resolution of 5° longitude and 2.5° latitude, with a time resolution of 1 h. We utilized the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) GIM dataset for 18 years from 2002 to 2019, without requiring any other external input parameters, to train the ConvLSTM models for forecasting GIM 1, 2, and 3 days in advance. Using the CODE GIM data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 as the test dataset, the performance evaluation results show that the average root mean square errors (RMSE) for 1, 2 and 3 days of forecasts are 2.81 TECU, 3.16 TECU, and 3.41 TECU, respectively. These results show improved performance compared to the IRI-Plas model and CODE's 1-day forecast product c1pg, and comparable to CODE's 2-day forecast c2pg. The model's predictions get worse as the intensity of the storm increases, and the prediction error of the model increases with the lead time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although teachers of English are required to assess students' speaking proficiency in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), their ability to rate is seldom evaluated. The application of descriptors in the assessment of English speaking on CEFR in the context of English as a foreign language has not often been investigated, either. Methods: The present study first introduced a form of rater standardization training. Two trained raters then assessed the speaking proficiency of 100 learners by means of actual corpus data. The study then compared their rating results to evaluate inter-rater reliability. Next, ten samples of exact/adjacent agreement between Raters 1 and 2 were rated by six teachers of English in tertiary education. Two of them had attended rater standardization training with Raters 1 and 2, while the other four had not received any relevant training. Results: The two raters agreed exactly in 44% of cases. The rating results between the two trained raters were closely correlated ([rho] = 0.893). Cross-tabulation showed that in one third of the samples, Rater 2 scored higher than Rater 1 and they agreed more often at the higher levels. The better rating performance of Teachers 1 and 2 suggested that rater standardization training may have helped enhance their performance. The unsatisfactory proportion of correctly assigned levels in teachers' ratings overall was probably due to the high input of subjective judgment based on vague CEFR descriptors. Conclusions: Regarding assessment, it is shown that the attendance of rater standardization training is of help in assessing learners' speaking proficiency in CEFR. This study provides a model for assessing data from spoken learner corpora, which adds an important attribute to future studies of learner corpora. The paper also raises doubts about teachers' ability to evaluate students' speaking proficiency in CEFR. As CEFR has been widely adopted in the relevant fields of English language teaching and assessment, it is suggested that the rating training framework established in this study, which uses learner corpus data, be offered to (prospective) teachers of English in tertiary education.

The establishment of a long-term, cross-border market in which forward market coupling and bilateral contracts are developed in an integrated approach is instrumental for the European internal electricity market. We propose the joint energy and transmission right auction (JETRA) mechanism, developed by O'Neill et al., as a solution for long-term cross-border markets in Europe. The main contribution of this research lies in its examination of the underlying market structures for effective JETRA implementation. We compare the institutional setting, market rules, and grid modeling under nodal and zonal pricing systems, adapting JETRA to the flow-based market coupling (FBMC) mechanism that is currently implemented in the European day-ahead market. This adaptation reveals the inherent limitations of FBMC in supporting JETRA, in particular in the long-term auction. We also identify constraints posed by existing European market rules, particularly those that affect the application of multi-settlement rules and the effective timeframe of hedging instruments. In conclusion, our research suggests that transitioning from zonal to nodal pricing is essential for JETRA's effective implementation. Furthermore, a comprehensive market reform is required to seamlessly integrate long- and short-term markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from Europe shows that perioperative chemotherapy may be beneficial for the treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer, but reliable and robust data is lacking. To rectify this, the phase 3 RESONANCE trial investigated the efficacy and safety of S-1 plus oxaliplatin (SOX) as a perioperative chemotherapy regimen for gastric cancer. This randomized, open-label trial enrolled patients from 19 medical centers with stage II/III resectable gastric cancer who were centrally randomly assigned to either perioperative chemotherapy (PC) arm or adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) arm. Patients in the PC arm received two to four cycles of SOX followed by surgery and four to six cycles of SOX. Patients in the AC arm received upfront surgery and eight cycles of SOX. 386 patients in each group were enrolled and 756 (382 in PC and 374 in AC) were included in the mITT population. The three-year DFS rate was 61.7% in the PC arm and 53.8% in the AC arm (log-rank p = 0.019). The R0 resection rate in the PC arm was significantly higher than that in the AC arm (94.9% vs. 83.7%, p < 0.0001). There was no difference between two arms in surgical outcomes or postoperative complications. Safety-related data were like the known safety profile. In conclusion, from a clinical perspective, this trial indicated a trend towards higher three-year disease-free survival rate with perioperative SOX in stage II/III resectable gastric cancer with well-tolerated toxicity compared to adjuvant SOX, which might provide a theoretical basis for applying perioperative SOX in advanced gastric cancer patients. (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01583361) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The previous studies have suggested that serum homocysteine (Hcy) and vitamin B levels are potentially related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the causality between their concentrations and ASD risk remains unclear. To elucidate this genetic association, we used a Mendelian randomization (MR) design. Methods: For this MR analysis, 47 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)—13 related to Hcy, 13 to folate, 14 to vitamin B6, and 7 to vitamin B12—were obtained from a large-scale Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) database and employed as instrumental variables (IVs). Our study used three approaches to calculate the MR estimates, including inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method, MR-Egger method, and weighted median (WM) method. Among these, the IVW method served as our primary MR method. False discovery rate (FDR) was implemented to correct for multiple comparisons. We also performed a series of sensitivity analyses, including Cochran's Q test, MR-Egger's intercept, MR-PRESSO, leave-one-out analysis, and the funnel plot. Results: Univariable Mendelian randomization (UVMR) analysis revealed a statistical association between serum vitamin B12 levels and ASD risk (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.12–2.52, P = 0.01) using the IVW method. However, neither the WM method (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 0.93–2.66, P = 0.09) nor the MR-Egger method (OR = 2.33, 95% CI 0.48–11.19, P = 0.34) was significantly association with higher levels of serum vitamin B12 and ASD risk. Additionally, we found no evidence of causal relationships between serum levels of vitamin B6, folate, Hcy, and ASD risk. After correcting for the FDR, the causality between serum vitamin B12 levels and ASD risk remained significant (q value = 0.0270). Multivariate Mendelian randomization (MVMR) analysis indicated an independent association between elevated serum vitamin B12 levels and the risk of ASD (OR = 1.74, 95% CI 1.03–2.95, P = 0.03) using the IVW method, but this finding was inconsistent when using the WM method (OR = 1.73, 95% CI 0.89–3.36, P = 0.11) and MR-Egger method (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 0.95–2.71, P = 0.08). Furthermore, no causal associations were observed for serum levels of vitamin B6 and folate in MVMR analysis. Sensitivity analyses confirmed that these results were reliable. Conclusion: Our study indicated that elevated serum vitamin B12 levels might increase the risk of ASD. The potential implications of our results for ASD risk warrant validation in randomized clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, environmental problems have gradually become the focus of world attention. In recent years, heat waves in many parts of Europe have increased ozone concentrations, fuelling ozone pollution. Therefore, this paper investigates the spatial and temporal distribution of tropospheric column ozone concentrations in South-western Europe, future trend changes, influencing factors, and potential source regions based on remotely sensed monitoring data from the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) from 2011 to 2021. The results show that the areas of high tropospheric column ozone concentrations are mainly concentrated in the northwest, Poland, and southeast coastal areas. At the same time, the monthly variation curve of column ozone concentration is bimodal. Trend change analyses indicate an upward trend in future column ozone concentrations in the southeastern part of the study area. The potential for increases also exists in parts of Germany, France, and Poland, which will need to be monitored. Random forest model projections found a slight decrease in column ozone concentrations in 2022 and 2023 of about 1–4 DU compared to tropospheric column ozone concentrations in 2021. The health risk assessment found that the number of all-cause premature deaths due to exposure to ozone was the highest in Germany. During the summer, when ozone pollution is high, the potential source area in the southeastern part of the study area is located at the border of the three countries, and synergistic management is recommended. In exploring the correlation between the influencing factors and ozone, it was found that there is a significant difference between the long-time and short-time series. In addition, the pathway analysis shows that the population size, distribution density, and forested area in southwestern Europe may be more sensitive to the production of tropospheric ozone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and hepato‐pancreato‐biliary cancers (HPBC) have been established to cause a huge socioeconomic burden. Epidemiological studies have revealed a close association between IBD and HPBC. Methods: Herein, we utilized inverse‐variance weighting to conduct a two‐sample Mendelian randomization analysis. We sought to investigate the link between various subtypes of IBD and HPBC. To ensure the accuracy and consistency of our findings, we conducted heterogeneity tests, gene pleiotropy tests, and sensitivity analyses. Results: Compared to the general population, IBD patients in Europe exhibited a 1.22‐fold increased incidence of pancreatic cancer (PC) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.0022–1.4888 (p = 0.0475). We also found a 1.14‐fold increased incidence of PC in Crohn's disease (CD) patients with (95% CI: 1.0017–1.3073, p = 0.0472). In the East Asian population, the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was 1.28‐fold higher (95% CI = 1.0709–1.5244, p = 0.0065) in IBD patients than in the general population. Additionally, ulcerative colitis (UC) patients displayed 1.12‐fold (95% CI: 1.1466–1.3334, p < 0.0001) and 1.31‐fold (95% CI: 1.0983–1.5641, p = 0.0027) increased incidences of HCC and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), respectively. Finally, the incidence of PC was 1.19‐fold higher in CD patients than in the general population (95% CI = 1.0741–1.3132, p = 0.0008). Conclusion: Our study validated that IBD is a risk factor for HPBC. This causal relationship exhibited significant heterogeneity in different European and East Asian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known regarding the association of interviewer-reported cognitive problems (ICP) with age-related cognitive decline. We aimed to investigate the independent associations of ICP and the combined associations of ICP and self-reported cognitive problems (SCP) with subsequent cognitive decline and dementia in two prospective cohort studies. Methods: We included 10,976 Chinese (age = 57.7 ± 8.7) and 40,499 European (age = 64.6 ± 9.4) adults without dementia from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Self-rated memory (5-point scale) and interviewer-rated frequencies of asking for clarification (6-point scale) were used to define SCP and ICP (dichotomized). Outcomes included objective cognitive test scores (z-score transformation) and incident dementia. Generalized estimating equation models were performed to evaluate mean differences in objective cognitive decline. Logistic and Cox regression models were used to estimate the relative risk of dementia. Results from two cohorts were pooled using the random-effects models. Results: ICP was associated with faster cognitive decline in CHARLS (βCHARLS = −0.025 [−0.044, −0.006] z-score/year). ICP and SCP were also independently associated with higher risk of dementia in two cohorts (pooled relative risk for SCP = 1.73 [1.30, 2.29]; pooled relative risk for ICP = 1.40 [1.10, 1.79]). In the joint analysis, participants with coexistence of SCP and ICP had the fastest cognitive decline (βCHARLS = −0.051 [−0.080, −0.021]; βSHARE = −0.024 [−0.043, −0.004]; pooled β = −0.035 [−0.061, −0.009] z-score/year) and highest risk of dementia (ORCHARLS = 1.77 [1.42, 2.20]; HRSHARE = 2.94 [2.42, 3.59]; pooled relative risk = 2.29 [1.38, 3.77]). Conclusions: The study suggested that interviewer-reported cognitive problems may be early indicators of cognitive decline and dementia in middle-aged and older adults. A combination of self- and interviewer-reported cognitive problems showed the strongest associations with cognitive decline and dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 72% of rare diseases are genetic in origin and mostly paediatrics, genetic newborn screening represents a diagnostic "window of opportunity". Therefore, many gNBS initiatives started in different European countries. Screen4Care is a research project, which resulted of a joint effort between the European Union Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. It focuses on genetic newborn screening and artificial intelligence-based tools which will be applied to a large European population of about 25.000 infants. The neonatal screening strategy will be based on targeted sequencing, while whole genome sequencing will be offered to all enrolled infants who may show early symptoms but have resulted negative at the targeted sequencing-based newborn screening. We will leverage artificial intelligence-based algorithms to identify patients using Electronic Health Records (EHR) and to build a repository "symptom checkers" for patients and healthcare providers. S4C will design an equitable, ethical, and sustainable framework for genetic newborn screening and new digital tools, corroborated by a large workout where legal, ethical, and social complexities will be addressed with the intent of making the framework highly and flexibly translatable into the diverse European health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquidity creation, as a core functions of banks, affects the stability of the financial system and economic development significantly. However, the existing literature has largely ignored the impact of complex interbank linkages on liquidity creation. This may distort the understanding of liquidity creation away from its essence to some extent in the context of an increasingly interconnected financial system. Using a sample of 1406 banks from 29 European countries during 2010–2021, we use a complex network to model the interbank market and study its impact on liquidity creation. Our results indicate that dominant borrowers in the network create less liquidity as a result of their more prudent liquidity management. Higher bank capital weakens this negative relationship due to its risk-absorbing capacity. Conversely, dominant lenders in the network create more liquidity because of their more optimistic expectations and more lax liquidity management. Higher non-interest income weakens this positive relationship because of the higher risk of non-traditional business, which requires banks to hold more precautionary liquidity. Moreover, we test for endogeneity and use the full sample to verify the robustness of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species functional traits can influence pathogen transmission processes, and consequently affect species' host status, pathogen diversity, and community‐level infection risk. We here investigated, for 143 European waterbird species, effects of functional traits on host status and pathogen diversity (subtype richness) for avian influenza virus at species level. We then explored the association between functional diversity and HPAI H5Nx occurrence at the community level for 2016/17 and 2021/22 epidemics in Europe. We found that both host status and subtype richness were shaped by several traits, such as diet guild and dispersal ability, and that the community‐weighted means of these traits were also correlated with community‐level risk of H5Nx occurrence. Moreover, functional divergence was negatively associated with H5Nx occurrence, indicating that functional diversity can reduce infection risk. Our findings highlight the value of integrating trait‐based ecology into the framework of diversity–disease relationship, and provide new insights for HPAI prediction and prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis and comparison of the existing literature on the phenomenon of non-marriage or staying unmarried in Asian countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, as well as European and American countries such as Spain and the US, and explores the trends, characteristics as well as reasons behind such a phenomenon. Through analysis, the present study found that there is a growing trend of postponed marriage and parenthood as well as an increasing proportion of individuals who exhibit no enthusiasm towards matrimony or parenthood in the aforementioned countries. To some extent, non-marriage or postponed marriage has become a prevalent trend in developed countries and even some developing countries. Japan, South Korea, and several developed countries in Europe and America have exhibited this phenomenon since the middle to late 20th century, with a relatively long history. The emergence of this phenomenon in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other developing countries in Asia, however, was relatively late, exhibiting a gradual development process. The current marriage landscape in China is characterized by a growing number of non-marriage individuals and a significant level of marital stability. In terms of reasons for staying unmarried, the marriage rates in the aforementioned countries can be attributed to various factors at macro, meso, and micro levels. In China, the phenomenon of non-marriage is closely associated with a range of factors, including diverse values and attitudes towards romance and marriage, marriage squeeze, education expansion, and the rise in females' economic and social status. The emphasis in future research should be placed on predicting the phenomenon of non-marriage, with a specific focus on exploring the reasons for advocating non-marriage, examining the internal mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, analyzing the consequences of non-marriage, and proposing corresponding countermeasures while establishing the public identity towards marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies revealed unidirectional associations between frailty and medication‐related problems (MRPs) among older adults. Less is known about the association between frailty and the risk of MRPs. We aimed to assess the bi‐directional association between frailty and the risk of MRPs in community‐dwelling older adults in five European countries. Methods: Participants were 1785 older adults in the population‐based Urban Health Centres Europe project. Repeated assessments were collected at baseline and one‐year follow‐up, including frailty, the risk of MRPs, and covariates. Linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the unidirectional associations. A cross‐lagged panel modeling was used to assess bi‐directional associations. Results: The unidirectional association between frailty at baseline and the risk of MRPs at follow‐up remained statistically significant after adjusting for covariates (β = 0.10, 95%CI:0.08, 0.13). The association between the risk of MRPs at baseline and frailty at follow‐up shows similar trends. The bi‐directional association was comparable with reported unidirectional associations, with a stronger effect from frailty at baseline to the risk of MRPs at follow‐up than reversed path (Wald test for comparing lagged effects: p < 0.05). Conclusion: This longitudinal study suggests that a cycle may exist where older adults with higher frailty levels are more likely to have a higher risk of MRPs, which in turn contributes to developing a higher level of frailty. Further research is needed to validate our findings and explore underlying pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface soil moisture (SSM) and root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) are key hydrological variables for the agricultural water cycle and vegetation growth. Accurate SSM and RZSM forecasting at sub-seasonal scales would be valuable for agricultural water management and preparations. Currently, weather model-based soil moisture predictions are subject to large uncertainties due to inaccurate initial conditions and empirical parameterization schemes, while the data-driven machine learning methods have limitations in modeling long-term temporal dependences of SSM and RZSM because of the lack of considerations in the soil water process. Thus, here, we innovatively integrate the model-based soil moisture predictions from a sub-seasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) model into a data-driven stacked deep learning model to construct a hybrid SSM and RZSM forecasting framework. The hybrid forecasting model is evaluated over the Yangtze River Basin and parts of Europe from 1- to 46-day lead times and is compared with four baseline methods, including the support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM) and the S2S model. The results indicate substantial skill improvements in the hybrid model relative to baseline models over the two study areas spatiotemporally, in terms of the correlation coefficient, unbiased root mean square error (ubRMSE) and RMSE. The hybrid forecasting model benefits from the long-lead predictive skill from S2S and retains the advantages of data-driven soil moisture memory modeling at short-lead scales, which account for the superiority of hybrid forecasting. Overall, the developed hybrid model is promising for improved sub-seasonal SSM and RZSM forecasting over global and local areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the global prevalence of congenital hypothyroidism (CH), though it is known to vary across countries and time periods. This meta-analysis aims to estimate the global and regional prevalence of CH among births between 1969 and 2020. PubMed, Web of Sciences, and Embase databases were searched for relevant studies between January 1, 1975, and March 2, 2020. Pooled prevalence was calculated using a generalized linear mixed model, and expressed as a rate per 10,000 neonates. The meta-analysis involved 116 studies, which analyzed 330,210,785 neonates, among whom 174,543 were diagnosed with CH. The pooled global prevalence of CH from 1969 to 2020 was 4.25 (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.96–4.57). The geographic region with highest prevalence was the Eastern Mediterranean (7.91, 95% CI 6.09–10.26), where the prevalence was 2.48-fold (95% CI 2.04–3.01) that in Europe. The national income level with the highest prevalence was upper-middle (6.76, 95% CI 5.66–8.06), which was 1.91-fold (95% CI 1.65–2.22) that in high-income countries. Global prevalence of CH was 52% (95% CI 4–122%) higher in 2011–2020 than in 1969–1980, after adjusting for geographic region, national income level, and screening strategy. Conclusion: The global prevalence of CH increased from 1969 to 2020, which may reflect the implementation of national neonatal screening, neonatal testing for thyroid-stimulating hormone, and a lowering of the diagnostic level of this hormone. Additional factors are likely to be driving the increase, which should be identified in future research. What is Known: • Cumulated evidence had suggested that the occurrences of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) among newborns were varied in different countries.. • Up-trends of the birth prevalence of CH were observed in many European and American countries. What is New: • This is the first meta-analysis to estimate global and regional prevalence of CH among newborns. • The global prevalence of CH has increased by 127% since 1969. The Eastern Mediterranean has the highest prevalence and stands out with the most pronounced escalation in the prevalence of CH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domesticated grapevines spread to Europe around 3,000 years ago. Previous studies have revealed genomic signals of introgression from wild to cultivated grapes in Europe, but the time, mode, genomic pattern, and biological effects of these introgression events have not been investigated. Here, we studied resequencing data from 345 samples spanning the distributional range of wild (Vitis vinifera ssp. sylvestris) and cultivated (V. vinifera ssp. vinifera) grapes. Based on machine learning-based population genetic analyses, we detected evidence for a single domestication of grapevine, followed by continuous gene flow between European wild grapes (EU) and cultivated grapes over the past ~2,000 y, especially from EU to wine grapes. We also inferred that soft-selective sweeps were the dominant signals of artificial selection. Gene pathways associated with the synthesis of aromatic compounds were enriched in regions that were both selected and introgressed, suggesting EU wild grapes were an important resource for improving the flavor of cultivated grapes. Despite the potential benefits of introgression in grape improvement, the introgressed fragments introduced a higher deleterious burden, with most deleterious SNPs and structural variants hidden in a heterozygous state. Cultivated wine grapes have benefited from adaptive introgression with wild grapes, but introgression has also increased the genetic load. In general, our study of beneficial and harmful effects of introgression is critical for genomic breeding of grapevine to take advantage of wild resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the spatiotemporal features and physical drivers of cold blobs over the subpolar North Atlantic (NA) operating on interannual timescales based on ocean and atmosphere reanalysis datasets. First, we compute a cold blob index as the normalized monthly sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies averaged over study area of 48–58°N and 35–20°W and identify cold blob events from 1951 to 2020 when the cold blob index is smaller than − 0.75 for at least five consecutive months. We analyze the identified six cases that peak in boreal summer. Their duration ranges from 6 to 19 months, with the 2014–2016 case as the most long-lasting one. When the cold blobs occur, an SST tripole pattern is identified over the NA with the most prominent cooling signal surrounding the study area. Based on a mixed-layer heat budget analysis, we quantify the relative contribution of atmospheric and oceanic processes for the development of the NA cold blobs. The surface heat flux term contributes more than one-third of the total cooling at 1 month before the summer peak. Specifically, the westerly anomalies over the study area enhance the background westerlies, inducing evaporative cooling from the ocean to the atmosphere. However, the major modes of North Atlantic Oscillation and East Atlantic Pattern are not significant at this time. The dominant driver for the intensification of the cold blobs is the vertical entrainment. This study provides insights into the characteristics and mechanisms of the NA cold blobs, facilitating their forecasts and climate projection for downstream Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Excessive cannabis use may lead to lower educational attainment. However, this association may be due to confounders and reverse causality. We tested the potential causal relationship between cannabis use disorder (CUD) or life‐time cannabis use (LCU) and educational attainment. Design: Bidirectional two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was conducted. Our primary method was inverse‐variance weighted (IVW) MR, with a series of sensitivity analyses. Multivariable MR (MVMR) was performed to estimate any direct effect independent of intelligence, smoking initiation or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Setting and participants: European ancestry individuals. The sample sizes of the genome‐wide association study ranged from 55 374 to 632 802 participants. Measurements Genetic variants of CUD, LCU or educational attainment. Findings Using univariable MR, we found evidence of a potential causal effect of genetic liability to CUD on a lower educational attainment [MR, 95% confidence interval (CI)inverse variance weighted (IVW) = −1.2 month (−1.9 month, −0.5 month); P = 0.0008]. However, we found no evidence of an effect of genetic liability to LCU on educational attainment [MR, 95% CIIVW = 0.5 month (−1.5 month, 2.6 month), P = 0.6032]. Reverse direction analysis suggested that genetic liability to higher educational attainment had a potential causal effect on lower risk of CUD [odds ratio (OR), 95% CIIVW = 0.39 (0.29, 0.52), P = 1.69 × 10−10]. We also found evidence of potential causal effect from genetic liability to higher educational attainment to higher risk of LCU [OR, 95% CIIVW = 1.35 (1.11, 1.66), P = 0.0033]. Conclusions: Genetic liability to cannabis use disorder may lead to lower educational attainment. Genetic liability to higher educational attainment may also lead to higher life‐time cannabis use risk and lower cannabis use disorder risk. However, the bidirectional effect between cannabis use disorder and educational attainment may be due to shared risk factors (e.g. attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources (RESs) and electricity demand are not evenly distributed geographically across Europe. Thus, harvesting the wind energy from the north and solar energy from the south and delivering them to the demand in central Europe is a more viable solution. However, the present High-voltage alternating current (HVAC) transmission grids have been sometimes congested; thus, High-voltage direct current (HVDC) provides another possibility along the existing HVAC infrastructure. In this paper, we propose a hybrid HVAC-HVDC grid, allowing a large penetration of concentrated RES in Europe and North Africa. More specifically, the HVDC network is constructed to transfer wind and hydro electricity from northwestern Europe and solar electricity from north Africa, while the HVAC network is used to distribute electricity within each country or among adjacent areas. To quantitatively evaluate the feasibility and relevant performances, multiple dimensions of indicators are designed. Employing several European energy scenarios up to 2050, the performances of the proposed HVAC-HVDC infrastructure are analyzed and compared. The calculation results show that compared with the pure HVAC grid, the integrated HVAC-HVDC grid can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants, leading to a further reduction in the number of deaths from air pollution. In addition, the HVAC-HVDC grids can accommodate a higher penetration of RES without causing infeasible power flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is mostly limited to Europe and North America. This real-world, retrospective study assessed treatment pathways and clinical outcomes in adults with stage IIB–IV classical HL receiving frontline treatment (n = 1598) or relapsed/refractory HL (RRHL, n = 426) in regions outside Europe and North America between January 2010 and December 2013. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) in the RRHL group. Among patients with RRHL, 89.0% received salvage chemotherapy; most common regimen was etoposide, methylprednisolone, cytarabine, cisplatin (ESHAP; 26.3%). Median PFS in the RRHL group was 13.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.9–20.2) and was longer in patients with vs. without stem cell transplantation (SCT; 20.6 vs. 7.5 months; p = 0.0071). This large-scale study identified a lower PFS for RRHL in the rest of the world compared with Europe and North America, highlighting the need for novel targeted therapies and SCT earlier in the treatment continuum. Clinical trial registration: NCT03327571. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates different uses of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF) in national journal rankings and discusses the merits of supplementing metrics with expert assessment. Our focus is national journal rankings used as evidence to support decisions about the distribution of institutional funding or career advancement. The seven countries under comparison are China, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Turkey—and the region of Flanders in Belgium. With the exception of Italy, top‐tier journals used in national rankings include those classified at the highest level, or according to tier, or points implemented. A total of 3,565 (75.8%) out of 4,701 unique top‐tier journals were identified as having a JIF, with 55.7% belonging to the first Journal Impact Factor quartile. Journal rankings in China, Flanders, Poland, and Turkey classify journals with a JIF as being top‐tier, but only when they are in the first quartile of the Average Journal Impact Factor Percentile. Journal rankings that result from expert assessment in Denmark, Finland, and Norway regularly classify journals as top‐tier outside the first quartile, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. We conclude that experts, when tasked with metric‐informed journal rankings, take into account quality dimensions that are not covered by JIFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils store vast amounts of carbon (C) on land, and increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in already managed soils such as croplands may be one way to remove C from the atmosphere, thereby limiting subsequent warming. The main objective of this study was to estimate the amount of additional C input needed to annually increase SOC stocks by 4‰ at 16 long‐term agricultural experiments in Europe, including exogenous organic matter (EOM) additions. We used an ensemble of six SOC models and ran them under two configurations: (1) with default parametrization and (2) with parameters calibrated site‐by‐site to fit the evolution of SOC stocks in the control treatments (without EOM). We compared model simulations and analysed the factors generating variability across models. The calibrated ensemble was able to reproduce the SOC stock evolution in the unfertilised control treatments. We found that, on average, the experimental sites needed an additional 1.5 ± 1.2 Mg C ha−1 year−1 to increase SOC stocks by 4‰ per year over 30 years, compared to the C input in the control treatments (multi‐model median ± median standard deviation across sites). That is, a 119% increase compared to the control. While mean annual temperature, initial SOC stocks and initial C input had a significant effect on the variability of the predicted C input in the default configuration (i.e., the relative standard deviation of the predicted C input from the mean), only water‐related variables (i.e., mean annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) explained the divergence between models when calibrated. Our work highlights the challenge of increasing SOC stocks in agriculture and accentuates the need to increasingly lean on multi‐model ensembles when predicting SOC stock trends and related processes. To increase the reliability of SOC models under future climate change, we suggest model developers to better constrain the effect of water‐related variables on SOC decomposition. Highlights: The feasibility of the 4‰ target was studied at 16 long‐term agricultural experiments.An ensemble of soil organic carbon models was used to estimate the uncertainty of the predictions.On average across the sites, carbon input had to increase by 119% compared to initial conditions.High uncertainty of the simulations was mainly driven by water‐related variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Substantial evidence suggests that receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are overexpressed in tumors; however, few studies have focused on the prognostic value of RTKs in melanoma. Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between overexpression of RTKs and survival in melanoma patients based on immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. Methods: Our review is registered on PROSPERO (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO), registration number CRD42021261460. Seven databases were searched, and data were extracted. We used IHC to measure the association between overexpression of RTKs and overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and clinicopathology in melanoma patients. Pooled analysis was conducted to assess the differences between Hazard Ratios along with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Of 5,508 publications examined following the database search, 23 publications were included in this study, which included data from a total of 2,072 patients. Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGF-R2) overexpression was associated with worse OS and DFS in melanoma. Furthermore, there was an association between OS and the expression of several RTKs, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (MET), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGF-R1), and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R). There were no significant correlations between EGFR overexpression and worse DFS or PFS. EGFR overexpression was associated with worse OS cutaneous and nasal melanoma, but not uveal melanoma. However, MET overexpression was related to worse OS in both cutaneous and uveal melanoma. Furthermore, EGFR overexpression was associated with a worse OS in Europe compared to other geographic areas. Moreover, EGFR and MET overexpression showed significant prognostic value in patients with the cut-off "≥10% staining". Conclusions: Our findings build concrete evidence that overexpression of RTKs is associated with poor prognosis and clinicopathology in melanoma, highlighting RTK expression has the potential to inform individualized combination therapies and accurate prognostic evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal exposure to omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA) in oily fish may prevent asthma or wheeze in childhood.Objective: By limiting n-3 LC-PUFA capsules interventions commenced in pregnancy, this systematic review aimed to find more clear evidence on the relationship between the supplement with n-3 LC-PUFA during pregnancy and the risk of asthma/wheeze in offspring and to improve the life satisfaction of children with asthma.Methods: The Cochrane library, Embase, Medline, Web of Science, and PubMed were searched from origin to March 2021 in the above-mentioned databases. Studies selection, data of characteristics extraction, and risk of bias assessment were conducted by two authors, independently. A total of 3037 mother-infant pairs from eight randomized controlled trials were ultimately analyzed. The primary outcome was the risk of "asthma and/or wheeze", and the secondary outcome was "Allergic asthma" in this dose-response meta-analysis. Sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis were conducted. The robust-error meta-regression model was used for dose-response analysis.Results: This meta-analysis showed that n-3 LC-PUFA during pregnancy did not obviously reduce the risk of asthma/wheeze (RR 0.93; 95% CI 0.82 to 1.04, p = 0.21) and allergic asthma (RR 0.66, 95% CI 0.24 to 1.86, p = 0.44). The risk of asthma/wheeze in offspring was significantly decreased in the subgroup analysis when:: (1) studies conducted in Europe (RR 0.69; 95% CI 0.53 to 0.89); (2) daily supplementary dose of n-3 LC-PUFA was at least 1200 mg (RR 0.69; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.88); (3) supplementation lasts from pregnancy to lactation period (RR 0.69; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.95). Furthermore, the risk of asthma/wheeze reduce 2% when daily supplemental dose of n-3 LC-PUFA was increased by 100 mg in the linear dose-response analysis model.Conclusions: Perinatal supplementation with n-3 LC-PUFA can reduce the incidence of asthma/wheeze and allergic asthma in children under certain conditions, and higher doses indicate better protective effects. Further studies are required to confirm the hypothesis of an association between n-3 LC-PUFA intake and childhood asthma/wheeze prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colonization success of a species depends on the interplay between its phenotypic plasticity, adaptive potential and demographic history. Assessing their relative contributions during the different phases of a species range expansion is challenging, and requires large-scale experiments. Here, we investigated the relative contributions of plasticity, performance and demographic history to the worldwide expansion of the shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris. We installed two large common gardens of the shepherd's purse, a young, self-fertilizing, allopolyploid weed with a worldwide distribution. One common garden was located in Europe, the other in Asia. We used accessions from three distinct genetic clusters (Middle East, Europe and Asia) that reflect the demographic history of the species. Several life-history traits were measured. To explain the phenotypic variation between and within genetic clusters, we analysed the effects of (i) the genetic clusters, (ii) the phenotypic plasticity and its association to fitness and (iii) the distance in terms of bioclimatic variables between the sampling site of an accession and the common garden, i.e. the environmental distance. Our experiment showed that (i) the performance of C. bursa-pastoris is closely related to its high phenotypic plasticity; (ii) within a common garden, genetic cluster was a main determinant of phenotypic differences; and (iii) at the scale of the experiment, the effect of environmental distance to the common garden could not be distinguished from that of genetic clusters. Phenotypic plasticity and demographic history both play important role at different stages of range expansion. The success of the worldwide expansion of C. bursa-pastoris was undoubtedly influenced by its strong phenotypic plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Licochalcone A (LA), a useful and valuable flavonoid, is isolated from Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC. and widely used clinically in traditional Chinese medicine. We systematically updated the latest information on the pharmacology of LA over the past decade from several authoritative internet databases, including Web of Science, Elsevier, Europe PMC, Wiley Online Library, and PubMed. A combination of keywords containing "Licochalcone A," "Flavonoid," and "Pharmacological Therapy" was used to help ensure a comprehensive review. Collected information demonstrates a wide range of pharmacological properties for LA, including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-parasitic, bone protection, blood glucose and lipid regulation, neuroprotection, and skin protection. LA activity is mediated through several signaling pathways, such as PI3K/Akt/mTOR, P53, NF-κB, and P38. Caspase-3 apoptosis, MAPK inflammatory, and Nrf2 oxidative stress signaling pathways are also involved with multiple therapeutic targets, such as TNF-α, VEGF, Fas, FasL, PI3K, AKT, and caspases. Recent studies mainly focus on the anticancer properties of LA, which suggests that the pharmacology of other aspects of LA will need additional study. At the end of this review, current challenges and future research directions on LA are discussed. This review is divided into three parts based on the pharmacological effects of LA for the convenience of readers. We anticipate that this review will inspire further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Winter cereals, including wheat, rye, barley, and triticale, are important food crops, and it is crucial to identify the distribution of winter cereals for monitoring crop growth and predicting yield. The production and plating area of winter cereals in Europe both contribute 12.57% to the total global cereal production and plating area in 2020. However, the distribution maps of winter cereals with high spatial resolution are scarce in Europe. Here, we first used synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from Sentinel-1 A/B, in the Interferometric Wide (IW) swath mode, to distinguish rapeseed and winter cereals; we then used a time-weighted dynamic time warping (TWDTW) method to discriminate winter cereals from other crops by comparing the similarity of seasonal changes in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Landsat and Sentinel-2 images. We generated winter cereal maps for 2016–2020 that cover 32 European countries with 30 m spatial resolution. Validation using field samples obtained from the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform show that the producer's and user's accuracies are 91% ± 7.8% and 89% ± 10.3%, respectively, averaged over 32 countries in Europe. The winter cereal map agrees well with agricultural census data for planted winter cereal areas at municipal and country levels, with the averaged coefficient of determination R2 as 0.77 ± 0.15 for 2016–2019. In addition, our method can identify the distribution of winter cereals two months before harvest, with an overall accuracy of 88.4%, indicating that TWDTW is an effective method for timely crop growth monitoring and identification at the continent level. The winter cereal maps in Europe are available via an open-data repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Plant populations in agricultural landscapes are mostly fragmented and their functional connectivity often depends on seed and pollen dispersal by animals. However, little is known about how the interactions of seed and pollen dispersers with the agricultural matrix translate into gene flow among plant populations. Objectives: We aimed to identify effects of the landscape structure on the genetic diversity within, and the genetic differentiation among, spatially isolated populations of three temperate forest herbs. We asked, whether different arable crops have different effects, and whether the orientation of linear landscape elements relative to the gene dispersal direction matters. Methods: We analysed the species' population genetic structures in seven agricultural landscapes across temperate Europe using microsatellite markers. These were modelled as a function of landscape composition and configuration, which we quantified in buffer zones around, and in rectangular landscape strips between, plant populations. Results: Landscape effects were diverse and often contrasting between species, reflecting their association with different pollen- or seed dispersal vectors. Differentiating crop types rather than lumping them together yielded higher proportions of explained variation. Some linear landscape elements had both a channelling and hampering effect on gene flow, depending on their orientation. Conclusions: Landscape structure is a more important determinant of the species' population genetic structure than habitat loss and fragmentation per se. Landscape planning with the aim to enhance the functional connectivity among spatially isolated plant populations should consider that even species of the same ecological guild might show distinct responses to the landscape structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discovers how unemployment rate explains the changes in the crime rate tendency in Europe by the two-stage-least square regression. The crime rate in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) area is found evidently more sensitive to unemployment than the non-EMU countries. The adoption of a common currency also strengthens the connections of the criminal problem among the EMU countries. We found the seriousness of the endogenous bias involved using the OLS methodology, so previous findings on the small effect of unemployment on crime rate obtained by employing the OLS methodology could be unreliable. Empirically, a one-percentagepoint increase in unemployment increases the property crime by nearly 9% on average. The large unemployment effect implies that the increase in the unemployment rate that occurred after the financial crisis in 2008, followed by the European sovereign-debt crisis, may account for the trending increasing tendencies of the crime rate in Europe. The high unemployment effect revealed markedly different policy implications than those that have previously been considered in the literature. These findings suggest that the key determinants for governmental authorities in the EMU area successfully mitigating crime would greatly depend on how the governments resolve their economic recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Early-life development plays a key role in adult type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the extent to which this can be attenuated by lifestyle is unknown. Objectives The aim was to investigate the independent relevance of genetic predisposition to low birth weight and childhood obesity for T2D, and their attenuation, by adherence to a healthy lifestyle in adulthood. Methods Genetic risk scores (GRSs) were estimated for birth weight and childhood BMI with genetic risk categories according to their quintiles in 90,029 and 321,225 participants from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB; mean age, 53.0 y) and UK Biobank (UKB; 56.1 y). Healthy lifestyle scores were defined on noncurrent smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, healthy diet, regular physical activity, and nonobesity, and categorized into healthy (4∼5 factors), intermediate (2∼3 factors), and unhealthy (0∼1 factor) lifestyle. Results GRSs for low birth weight and childhood BMI were associated with higher T2D risks. Healthy lifestyle was related to lower T2D risk, and there was an additive interaction with increasing childhood BMI GRS and decreasing healthy lifestyle factors on T2D risk, whereas no additive interaction was observed for birth weight. Participants with a healthy compared with an unhealthy lifestyle had a 68% (HR: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.47) and 77% (0.23; 0.19, 0.28) lower T2D risk among participants at high genetic risk (lowest quintile) of low birth weight in the CKB and UKB. Among participants with high genetic risk (highest quintile) of childhood obesity, compared with those with an unhealthy lifestyle, adherence to a healthy lifestyle was associated with a 69% (0.31; 0.22, 0.46) and 80% (0.20; 0.17, 0.25) lower risk of T2D in the CKB and UKB. Conclusions Genetic predisposition to low birth weight and childhood obesity were associated with higher risk of adult T2D and these excess risks were attenuated by adherence to a healthy lifestyle in adulthood, particularly among those at high genetic risk of childhood obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyze the diagnosis and treatment of patients with concomitant malignant tumors after organ transplantation by compiling data from organ transplantation patients. Methods. By searching CNKI and PubMed databases, we made a systematic analysis of the studies of postorgan transplantation complicating malignant tumors in the last decade. Results. There were 10 articles on malignant tumors after renal transplantation, 8 articles on liver transplantation, 2 articles on heart transplantation, and 1 article on lung transplantation. The incidence of malignant tumors complicating renal transplantation is 10.4% in Europe, with skin cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma being common; the incidence in the United States is 3.4%, with PTLD having the highest incidence; the incidence of malignant tumors is relatively lowest in Asia, with gastrointestinal malignancies being the main ones. The mean time to complication of malignancy after renal transplantation is 3.83 years. The incidence of concurrent malignancies after liver transplantation is 8.8% in Europe, where skin cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma are common; 5.6% in Asia, where gastrointestinal tract tumors are prevalent; and 4.5% in the United States, where gastrointestinal tract tumors, PTLD, and hematologic diseases are predominant. The mean time to complication of malignancy after liver transplantation is 4.79 years. The incidence of malignancy after heart transplantation is 6.8-10.7%. The incidence of malignancy after lung transplantation is about 10.1%. Minimization of immunosuppression or modification of immunosuppression regimens may be a key component of cancer prevention. mTOR inhibitors and phenolate (MMF) reduce the incidence of de novo malignancies in patients after solid organ transplantation. Surgical treatment improves survival in patients with early malignancies. The use of external beam radiation therapy in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma is limited due to the risk of radiation liver disease. Conclusions. The risk of concomitant malignancy needs to be guarded for 5 years of immunosuppressive therapy after organ transplantation surgery. Adjusting the immunosuppressive treatment regimen is an effective way to reduce concurrent malignancies. Systemic chemotherapy or radiotherapy requires vigilance against the toxic effects of drug metabolism kinetics on the transplanted organ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land surface is a potential source of climate predictability over the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes but has received less attention than sea surface temperature in this regard. This study quantified the degree to which realistic land initialization contributes to interannual climate predictability over Europe based on a coupled climate system model named FGOALS-g2. The potential predictability provided by the initialization, which incorporates the soil moisture and soil temperature of a land surface reanalysis product into the coupled model with a dimension-reduced projection four-dimensional variational data assimilation (DRP-4DVar)-based weakly coupled data assimilation (WCDA) system, was analyzed first. The effective predictability (i.e., prediction skill) of the hindcasts by FGOALS-g2 with realistic and well-balanced initial conditions from the initialization were then evaluated. Results show an enhanced interannual prediction skill for summer surface air temperature and precipitation in the hindcast over Europe, demonstrating the potential benefit from realistic land initialization. This study highlights the significant contributions of land surface to interannual predictability of summer climate over Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We estimated the global burden of ovarian cancer (OC) in 194 countries and territories between 2007 and 2017. Methods: Data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), Injuries, and Risk Factors 2017 study. Results: Globally, 286 126.80 (95% UI = 278 075.38–295 311.41) incident cases, 4.67 million (4.53–4.83) disability‐adjusted life‐years (DALYs), and 175 981.99 (171 384.15–181 198.43) deaths were reported in 2017. The age‐standardized incidence and DALY rates increased by 2.05% and 1.34% during 2007–2017, respectively, while the age‐standardized mortality rate decreased by −0.14%. The age‐standardized incidence, DALY, and mortality rates in 2017 were the highest in the high socio‐demographic index (SDI) quintile, but the largest percentage increase during 2007–2017 was in the low‐SDI quintile. Among regions, Central Europe showed the highest 2017 age‐standardized incidence, DALY, and mortality rates, whereas South Asia and East Asia showed the largest percentage increases in both rates during 2007–2017. Among countries, India showed the largest percentage increase in age‐standardized incidence and DALY rates, whereas Iran showed the largest percentage increase in age‐standardized mortality rates. Globally, the largest percentage increase in risk‐attributable DALYs was associated with metabolic risk factors (e.g., high fasting plasma glucose levels). Conclusion: The global age‐standardized incidence, DALYs, and mortality rates of OC remain stable during 2007–2017. However, the low SDI quintile and the greatest burden in South and East Asia, India, and Iran suggested that more targeted strategies should be performed in those regions and countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soft‐winged flower beetles are a diverse cosmopolitan family of cleroid beetles with an unresolved higher classification, the adults of which feed on nectar and pollen. The fossil record of Melyridae is sparse, with only two described fossils known from the Mesozoic. Here we describe the first representative of the family from the Mesozoic of Europe, from early Cenomanian Charentese (French) amber. Due to the opaque nature of French amber, X‐ray microtomography was used to document fine morphological details of the fossil. Protodasytes cretaceus gen. et sp. nov. possesses a unique combination of characters within the subfamily Dasytinae, which is shared by the tribes Chaetomalachiini, Dasytini, and Listrini, namely the presence of a small antennal club, tarsomere 4 slightly shorter than 3 but not distinctly narrower, symmetrical claws, and a distinct pronotal and elytral fringe. This suggests that Dasytinae had begun to diversify by the Late Cretaceous, possibly in concert with the radiation of angiosperms. The fossil record of soft‐winged flower beetles is critically reviewed, and a checklist of extinct species is provided. The fragmentary Cenozoic fossils Troglops punctatissima and Malachius vertummni are removed from the family Melyridae, and the record of Attalus lusitanicus from Eocene–Oligocene Bembridge Marls is regarded as unlikely. The potential role of Protodasytes gen. nov. and Cretaceous melyrids as pollinators of early angiosperms is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial evidences indicate a widespread increase in European vegetation greenness since the 1980s due to CO2 fertilization effects (eCO2) and climate warming, but the impact of this process on the regional terrestrial carbon cycle has not been systematically evaluated. Using empirical models based on eddy covariance and process‐based models, we found that the widespread greening did not contribute to an increase in European carbon uptake (decrease in net ecosystem exchange) with a non‐significant trend from 2000 to 2018. The greening‐associated increase in gross primary productivity (GPP) is offset by the simultaneous increase in ecosystem respiration (TER). Moreover, frequent heatwaves cause stronger reductions in GPP than TER, preventing the increase of carbon uptake. These results reveal the double‐edged sword effect of warming on European ecosystems and will help constrain regional models. Plain Language Summary: In the past decades, elevating CO2 concentration and rising temperature have promoted the photosynthesis of European vegetation, thus increasing the greenness of vegetation. However, whether these processes could promote the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to absorb CO2 still lacks systematic evaluation. By using a variety of advanced vegetation dynamic models, we found that enhanced vegetation growth which absorbed more CO2, but also an enhancement of ecosystem respiration which released more CO2 in Europe during 2000–2018. The offsetting effect of these two processes has resulted in non‐significant trend in the European net CO2 uptake. In addition, the extremely high temperature events (heatwaves) frequently occurred in Europe in recent years, which have caused vegetation damage or even death, triggered forest fires, etc., thereby severely inhibited the carbon sink capacity of the terrestrial ecosystem. Key Points: CO2 fertilization effect and climate warming have led to greening of Europe, but it has not promoted an increase in ecosystem carbon uptakeThe increase in gross primary productivity related to greening is offset by the increase in ecosystem respirationFrequent European heatwaves also caused significant losses in the regional ecosystem carbon uptake [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ESCEO) algorithm for the management of knee osteoarthritis (OA) is available worldwide from 2014, but in 2019 an update was published. Based on this algorithm, a Working Group (WG), including ESCEO members and Chinese experts, wished to see how the new ESCEO algorithm was perceived by Chinese experts in knee OA and how it was integrated into their clinical practice. Methods: A WG was held between members of the international ESCEO task force and a group of Chinese experts. Results: Non-pharmacological approach should be combined with pharmacological interventions. In step 1, symptomatic slow-acting drugs for osteoarthritis (SYSADOA) are the most important background drugs. Evidence, supported by high-quality research, is available only for crystalline glucosamine sulfate (pCGS) and chondroitin sulfate. Topical NSAIDs could be used as an additional option. In step 2, oral NSAIDs could be useful, but cardiovascular/renal/gastrointestinal profiles of the patients should be considered. Intra-articular hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids are alternative to oral NSAIDs, but the evidence is still limited. If steps 1 and 2 are not sufficient, weak opioids could be used. Overall, the conclusions of the ESCEO algorithm are accepted in China for products available in this country. The WG suggests the importance of economic studies, specifically made in China. Conclusion: This work provides evidence-based advice to establish a treatment algorithm in knee OA, for practical implementation in clinical practice in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]