Inclusive Gamified Participation: Who are we inviting and who becomes engaged?

Recent evaluations have shown that up until now, e-participation platforms have not been very effective in involving citizens in public decision-making. This is partly due to these novel forms of engagement not seeming to reach citizens beyond the usual suspects of public participation. A trending approach to make these platforms more attractive, especially for less involved social groups, is to incorporate game-like elements. This research investigates the influence of demographical variables on participation and motivation when using a mobile gamified participation application. Our results show that participation was affected by age. The data further suggests that youth is both interested in urban planning and welcomes mobile participation forms, whereas older individuals feel less invited by novel technologies and engage less. Yet, older individuals and those less enthusiastic about games were not entirely put off by the included game elements

What are the type, direction, and strength of species, community, and ecosystem responses to warming in aquatic mesocosm studies and their dependency on experimental characteristics? A systematic review protocol

Background Mesocosm experiments have become increasingly popular in climate change research as they bridge the gap between small-scale, less realistic, microcosm experiments, and large-scale, more complex, natural systems. Characteristics of aquatic mesocosm designs (e.g., mesocosm volume, study duration, and replication) vary widely, potentially affecting the magnitude and direction of effect sizes measured in experiments. In this global systematic review we aim to identify the type, direction and strength of climate warming effects on aquatic species, communities and ecosystems in mesocosm experiments. Furthermore, we will investigate the context-dependency of the observed effects on several a priori determined effect moderators (ecological and methodological). Our conclusions will provide recommendations for aquatic scientists designing mesocosm experiments, as well as guidelines for interpretation of experimental results by scientists, policy-makers and the general public. Methods We will conduct a systematic search using multiple online databases to gather evidence from the scientific literature on the effects of warming experimentally tested in aquatic mesocosms. Data from relevant studies will be extracted and used in a random effects meta-analysis to estimate the overall effect sizes of warming experiments on species performance, biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Experimental characteristics (e.g., mesocosm size and shape, replication-level, experimental duration and design, biogeographic region, community type, crossed manipulation) will be further analysed using subgroup analyses

Predictors of Colorectal Cancer Screening in Two Underserved U.S. Populations: A Parallel Analysis

BackgroundDespite declining colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality rates in the U.S., significant geographic and racial disparities in CRC death rates remain. Differences in guideline-concordant CRC screening rates may explain some of these disparities. We aim to assess individual and neighborhood-level predictors of guideline-concordant CRC screening within two cohorts of individuals located within CRC mortality geographic hotspot regions in the U.S.MethodsA total of 36,901 participants from the Southern Community Cohort Study and 4,491 participants from the Ohio Appalachia CRC screening study were included in this study. Self-reported date of last CRC screening was used to determine if the participant was within guidelines for screening. Logistic regression models were utilized to determine the association of individual-level predictors, neighborhood deprivation, and residence in hotspot regions on the odds of being within guidelines for CRC screening.ResultsLower household income, lack of health insurance, and being a smoker were each associated with lower odds of being within guidelines for CRC screening in both cohorts. Area-level associations were less evident, although up to 15% lower guideline adherence was associated with residence in neighborhoods of greater deprivation and in the Lower Mississippi Delta, one of the identified CRC mortality hotspots.ConclusionThese results reveal the adverse effects of lower area-level and individual socioeconomic status on adherence to CRC guideline screening

Rethinking Measures of Democracy and Welfare State Universalism: Lessons from Subnational Research

Democracy and the welfare state are two of the most extensively studied concepts and themes in the field of comparative politics. Debate about how to best measure the two concepts has failed to contemplate the extent to which political and social rights are uniformly present across distinct regions of the national territory, despite the presence of substantial subnational research that underscores wide variation inside countries. We argue that this omission hampers our understanding of the two phenomena and we propose a new measure of democracy and healthcare unversalism, which we call the Adjusted Measures of Democracy and Welfare Universalism. The new measures integrate territorial inequality into existing national-level indicators, providing a more accurate picture of country performance and opening the door to new, multi-level theory building

Low circulatory levels of total cholesterol, HDL-C and LDL-C are associated with death of patients with sepsis and critical illness: systematic review, meta-analysis, and perspective of observational studies

Background: Mechanistic studies have established a biological role of sterol metabolism in infection and immunity with clinical data linking deranged cholesterol metabolism during sepsis with poorer outcomes. In this systematic review we assess the relationship between biomarkers of cholesterol homeostasis and mortality in critical illness. Methods: We identified articles by searching a total of seven electronic databases from inception to October 2023. Prospective observational cohort studies included those subjects who had systemic cholesterol (Total Cholesterol (TC), HDL-C or LDL-C) levels assessed on the first day of ICU admission and short-term mortality recorded. Meta-analysis and meta-regression were used to evaluate overall mean differences in serum cholesterol levels between survivors and non-survivors. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Findings: From 6469 studies identified by searches, 24 studies with 2542 participants were included in meta-analysis. Non-survivors had distinctly lower HDL-C at ICU admission −7.06 mg/dL (95% CI −9.21 to −4.91, p < 0.0001) in comparison with survivors. Corresponding differences were also seen less robustly for TC −21.86 mg/dL (95% CI −31.23 to −12.49, p < 0.0001) and LDL-C −8.79 mg/dL (95% CI, −13.74 to −3.83, p = 0.0005). Interpretation: Systemic cholesterol levels (TC, HDL-C and LDL-C) on admission to critical care are inversely related to mortality. This finding is consistent with the notion that inflammatory and metabolic setpoints are coupled, such that the maladaptive-setpoint changes of cholesterol in critical illness are related to underlying inflammatory processes. We highlight the potential of HDL-biomarkers as early predictors of severity of illness and emphasise that future research should consider the metabolic and functional heterogeneity of HDLs

Scaling up ocean conservation through recognition of key biodiversity areas in the Southern Ocean from multispecies tracking data

Biodiversity is critical for maintaining ecosystem function but is threatened by increasing anthropogenic pressures. In the Southern Ocean, a highly biologically productive region containing many endemic species, proactive management is urgently needed to mitigate increasing pressures from fishing, climate change, and tourism. Site-based conservation is one important tool for managing the negative impacts of human activities on ecosystems. The Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Standard is a standardized framework used to define sites vital for the persistence of global biodiversity based on criteria and quantitative thresholds. We used tracking data from 14 species of Antarctic and subantarctic seabirds and pinnipeds from the publicly available Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) data set to define KBAs for a diverse suite of marine predators. We used track2kba, an R package that supports identification of KBAs from telemetry data through identification of highly used habitat areas and estimates of local abundance within sites. We compared abundance estimates at each site with thresholds for KBA criteria A1, B1, and D1 (related to globally threatened species, individual geographically restricted species, and demographic aggregations, respectively). We identified 30 potential KBAs for 13 species distributed throughout the Southern Ocean that were vital for each individual species, population, and life-history stage for which they were determined. These areas were identified as highly used by these populations based on observational data and complement the ongoing habitat modeling and bioregionalization work that has been used to prioritize conservation areas in this region. Although further work is needed to identify potential KBAs based on additional current and future data sets, we highlight the benefits of utilizing KBAs as part of a holistic approach to marine conservation, given their significant value as a global conservation tool

The iTRAPs: guardians of synaptic vesicle cargo retrieval during endocytosis

The reformation of synaptic vesicles during endocytosis is essential for the maintenance of neurotransmission in central nerve terminals. Newly formed synaptic vesicles must be generated with the correct protein cargo in the correct stoichiometry to be functional for exocytosis. Classical clathrin adaptor protein complexes play a key role in sorting and clustering synaptic vesicle cargo in this regard. However it is becoming increasingly apparent that additional fail-safe mechanisms exist to ensure the accurate retrieval of essential cargo molecules. For example, the monomeric adaptor proteins AP180/CALM and stonin-2 are required for the efficient retrieval of synaptobrevin II and synaptotagmin-1 respectively. Furthermore, recent studies have revealed that synaptobrevin II and synaptotagmin-1 interact with other synaptic vesicle cargoes to ensure a high fidelity of retrieval. These cargoes are synaptophysin (for synaptobrevin II) and SV2A (for synaptotagmin-1). In this review we summarise current knowledge regarding the retrieval mechanisms for both synaptobrevin II and synaptotagmin-1 during endocytosis. We also define and set criteria for a new functional group of synaptic vesicle molecules that facilitate the retrieval of their interaction partners. We have termed these molecules intrinsic trafficking partners (iTRAPs) and we discuss how the function of this group impacts on presynaptic performance in both health and disease

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation