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Many citizens support the involvement of experts in political decision-making, yet we know little about how citizens react to expert opinions. Bridging recent evidence on technocratic attitudes and deliberative democracy, we study citizen responses to experts during influential deliberative mini-publics. Combining automated speech transcription of over 380,000 spoken words and quantitative text analysis, we estimate the topic prevalence in all expert testimonials, Q&A sessions, and other agenda items in the Irish Citizens' Assembly (2016–2018), one of the prime examples of impactful deliberative forums. We find that inputs of experts structure subsequent discussions but do not dominate them. This correlation persists with various measures of topic prevalence and is robust to several modelling approaches. We also find that participants tended to react less strongly to testimonials by female experts. These conditional effects should encourage organisers to invite experts with diverse backgrounds in order to enhance inclusive decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-sectoral collaboration between actors is essential when planning station districts for transit-oriented development. However, power relations and the resulting dominance of selected actors complicate collaborative processes and the necessary integration between transportation and urban planning. Despite the previous problematization of power in planning, dedicated research is lacking on station districts. This article aims to tackle this literature gap through qualitative case studies of two station districts in Switzerland. The findings suggest that municipalities and public transport providers use power resources to assume institutional roles outside their traditional planning domains, partly as a tactical response to initiatives that they contest. For planning practice, the article proposes that process organizers grasp actors' power potentials early and, if mobilized, integrate them in favor of broadly supported station district development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibody-mediated cancer immunotherapy targets inhibitory surface molecules, such as PD1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4, aiming to re-invigorate dysfunctional T cells. We purified and characterized tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and their patient-matched non-tumor counterparts from treatmentnaïve NSCLC patient biopsies to evaluate the effect of PD1 expression on the functional and molecular profiles of tumor-resident T cells. We show that PD1+ CD8+ TILs have elevated expression of the transcriptional regulator ID3 and that the cytotoxic potential of CD8 T cells can be improved by knocking down ID3, defining it as a potential regulator of T cell effector function. PD1+ CD4 + memory TILs display transcriptional patterns consistent with both helper and regulator function, but can robustly facilitate B cell activation and expansion. Furthermore, we show that expanding ex vivo-prepared TILs in vitro broadly preserves their functionality with respect to tumor cell killing, B cell help, and TCR repertoire. Although purified PD1+ CD8+ TILs generally maintain an exhausted phenotype upon expansion in vitro, transcriptional analysis reveals a downregulation of markers of T-cell dysfunction, including the co-inhibitory molecules PD1 and CTLA-4 and transcription factors ID3, TOX and TOX2, while genes involved in cell cycle and DNA repair are upregulated. We find reduced expression of WNT signaling components to be a hallmark of PD1+ CD8+ exhausted T cells in vivo and in vitro and demonstrate that restoring WNT signaling, by pharmacological blockade of GSK3β, can improve effector function. These data unveil novel targets for tumor immunotherapy and have promising implications for the development of a personalized TIL-based cell therapy for lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the role of social media in political agenda setting? Digital platforms have reduced the gatekeeping power of traditional media and, potentially, they have increased the capacity of various kinds of actors to shape the agenda. We study this question in the Swiss context by examining the connections between three agendas: the traditional media agenda, the social media agenda of parties, and the social media agenda of politicians. Specifically, we validate and apply supervised machine learning classifiers to categorize 2.78 million articles published in 84 newspapers, 6,500 tweets posted on official party accounts, and 210,000 tweets posted by politicians on their own accounts from January 2018 until December 2019. We first use the classifier to measure the salience of the four most relevant issues of the period: the environment, Europe, gender equality, and immigration. Then, using a vector autoregression (VAR) approach, we analyze the relationship between the three agendas. Results show that not only do the traditional media agenda, the social media agenda of parties, and the social media agenda of politicians influence one another but, overall, no agenda leads the others more than it is led by them. There is one important exception: for the environment issue, the social media agenda of parties is more predictive of the traditional media agenda than vice-versa. These findings underscore how closely different agendas are tied together, but also show that advocacy campaigns may play an important role in both constraining and enabling parties to push their specific agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Irish party system has been an outlier in comparative politics. Ireland never had a left-right divide in parliament, and for decades, the dominant centrist political parties competed around a centre-right policy agenda. The absence of an explicit left-right divide in party competition suggested that Irish voters, on average, occupy centre-right policy preferences. Combining survey data since 1973 and all Irish election studies between 2002 and 2020, we show that the average Irish voter now leans to the centre-left. We also show that income has recently emerged as a predictor of left-right self-placement, and that left-right positions increasingly structure vote choice. These patterns hold when using policy preferences on taxes, spending, and government interventions to reduce inequality as alternative indicators. We outline potential explanations for this leftward shift, and conclude that these developments might be anchored in economic inequalities and the left populist strategies of Sinn Féin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer-grade, multi-sensor, rest-activity trackers may be powerful tools, to help optimize rest-activity management in shiftwork populations undergoing circadian misalignment. Nevertheless, performance testing of such devices under field conditions is scarce. We previously validated Fitbit Charge 2TM against home polysomnography and now evaluated the potential of this device to document differences in rest-activity behavior, including sleep macrostructure, in first-responder shift workers in an operational setting. We continuously monitored 89 individuals (54% females; mean age: 33.9 ± 7.7 years) for 32.5 ± 9.3 days and collected 2,974 individual sleep episodes scattered around the clock. We stratified the study participants according to their self-reported circadian preference on the reduced Horne-Östberg Morningness-Evening Questionnaire (rMEQ; the scores from 4 participants were missing). Fitbit estimates of sleep duration, wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO), REM sleep percentage in the first NREM-REM sleep cycle, and REM sleep latency formed approximately sinusoidal oscillations across 24 hours. Generalized additive mixed model analyses revealed that the phase position of sleep duration minimum was delayed by 2.8 h in evening types (ET; rMEQ ≤ 11; n = 20) and by 2.6 h in intermediate types (IT; 11 < rMEQ < 18; n = 45) when compared to morning types (MT; rMEQ ≥ 18; n = 20). Similarly, the phase position of WASO was delayed by 2.7 h in ET compared to MT. While nocturnal sleep duration did not differ among the three groups, sleep episodes during the biological day decreased in duration from ET to IT to MT. Together, the findings support the notion that a consumer-grade, rest-activity tracker allows estimation of behavioral sleep/wake cycles and sleep macrostructure in shift workers under naturalistic conditions that are consistent with their self-reported chronotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies conclude that governments fulfill a large share of their campaign pledges. However, only a minority of voters believe that politicians try to keep their promises, and many voters struggle to recall the fulfillment or breaking of salient campaign pledges accurately. I argue that this disparity between the public perception and empirical evidence is influenced by the information voters receive throughout the electoral cycle. I expect that the media extensively inform readers about political promises. In addition, I posit that news outlets focus more on broken than on fulfilled promises and that the focus on broken promises has increased over time. I find strong support for these expectations based on a new text corpus of over 430,000 statements on political commitments published between 1979 and 2017 in 22 newspapers during 33 electoral cycles in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Newspapers inform voters regularly about announced, broken, and fulfilled promises. Yet, across the four countries, newspapers report at least twice as much on broken than on fulfilled promises. Moreover, this negativity bias in reports on political promises has increased substantively. The results have implications for studying campaign promises, negative information in mass media, and the linkages between voters and parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

T-cell/histiocyte-rich large B-cell lymphoma (THRLBCL) is a rare aggressive lymphoma characterized by a paucity of neoplastic B-cells and a majority of reactive T-cells with or without histiocytes. In the 'Positron Emission Tomography-Guided Therapy of Aggressive Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas' trial (clinicaltrials.gov NCT00554164; EudraCT 2006-001641-33), its frequency was less than 3%. While cancer cell content by quantitative histology was 10-times lower, baseline total metabolic tumor volume (TMTV) by 18-fluorodesoxyglucose positron emission tomography was 10-times higher in THRLBCL than in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). When THRLBCL and DLBCL populations were matched for TMTV, the survival curves were superimposable. However, when the populations were matched for cancer cell volume by multiplying TMTV by cancer cell fraction, outcome in THRLBCL was worse than in DLBCL. Whether genetic differences between cancer cells, tumor-promoting properties of non-neoplastic cells, or both are responsible for inferior cancer cell volume-related outcome in THRLBCL, remains to be elucidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which voters prefer having more choice between parties and candidates in an election? To provide an answer to this question, we analyse the case of a radical change from a closed-list PR system to a highly complex open-list PR system with cumulative voting in the German states of Bremen and Hamburg. We argue that the approval of a personalised electoral system is structured in similar ways as support for direct democracy. Using representative surveys conducted prior to all four state elections under cumulative voting in 2011 and 2015, we analyse which individual factors determine the approval, disapproval, or indifference towards the new electoral law. The results indicate that younger voters as well as supporters of left parties are much more likely to support a personalised electoral system. In contrast to previous studies, political interest only has an impact on the indifference towards the electoral system. More generally, our results show that a large proportion of voters does not appreciate personalised preferential electoral systems which seems to be a result of the complexity and magnitude of choice between parties and candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The home advantage in various sports has been well documented. So far, we lack knowledge whether playing in neutral venues indeed removes many, if not all, theoretically assumed advantages of playing at home. Analysing over 3,500 senior men's Gaelic football and hurling matches - field games with the highest participation rates in Ireland - between 2009 and 2018, we test the potential moderating influence of neutral venues. In hurling and Gaelic football, a considerable share of matches is played at neutral venues. We test the influence of neutral venues based on descriptive statistics, and multilevel logistic and multinomial regressions controlling for team strength, the importance of the match, the year, and the sport. With predicted probabilities ranging between 0.8 and 0.9, the favourite team is very likely to win home matches. The predicted probability drops below 0.6 for away matches. At neutral venues, the favourite team has a predicted probability of winning of 0.7. A Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) approach also reveals very substantive and significant effects for the "treatment" of neutral venues. Overall, neutral venues appear to be an under-utilised option for creating fairer and less predictable competition, especially in single-game knock-out matches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Side effects are a concern during psychostimulant treatment. Unfortunately, many previous studies only investigated short-term effects of psychostimulants in laboratory settings which lack clinical daily routines. Methods: We examined 1042 patient records of patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who were referred to a pediatric-psychiatry practice over 12 years. Data analysis was based on 466 children with ADHD who were newly treated with psychostimulants and who were not in treatment for elevated blood pressure. We analysed blood pressure percentiles, heart rate and BMI percentiles. Results: There was a decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure percentiles. Heart rate was not affected. BMI slightly declined in girls. Conclusions: In general psychostimulants were safe. To further elucidate negative effects of psychostimulants, long-term controlled and randomized studies in naturalistic settings are of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:Bodily fluids like serum and plasma contain significant amounts of tumor-derived circulating cell-free RNA, which holds the potential to serve as diagnostic biomarker. Consequently, liquid biopsies comprising circulating cell-free RNA might help to facilitate personalized treatment strategies for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Areas covered:The present review provides a summary of the literature obtained by a PubMed search and covers the current knowledge on circulating non-coding cell-free RNA in patients with RCC. Expert commentary:Altered circulating microRNA and long non-coding RNAs signatures allow for the discrimination of patients with RCC and healthy individuals. On the other hand, little is known about non-coding RNA expression in benign tumors. Cell-free microRNA expression levels may help to identify patients at risk for disease recurrence. However, accurate determination of cell-free RNAs is methodologically challenging and currently no biomarker candidate has reached a sufficient level of clinical validation. Thus, short-term implementation of cell-free circulating microRNA into clinical routine seems unlikely. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is an increasing demand for spatial data within the social sciences as such data promise to contribute to a better understanding of how the concrete living environment influences individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. Spatial data can complement data from surveys; however, as of yet there is no spatial data infrastructure for the social sciences in Germany that facilitates merging of spatial data with survey data. This article explores avenues for creating such a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for the social sciences in Germany. We examine the role that librarians, archivists, and curators can play in offering spatial data infrastructure services for social scientists, and show the scope and nature of necessary tasks in areas such as harmonization, archiving, dissemination, and user support. As the case of Germany is similar to that of other European countries, we expect our results to be helpful in the creation of SDIs in other countries as well. This article suggests technical and organizational measures for merging survey data and spatial data in compliance with German privacy legislation. Measures for storage and dissemination of enriched survey data, for example by providing restricted access to the data in a secured environment, also are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of technological and cultural changes, a question that digital archives face is: Which characteristics of our assets must be preserved to keep them usable and authentic? The concept of significant properties, which can be thought of as the “essence” of a digital object, provides one possible answer. The GESIS Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS) currently determines the significant properties of the data it preserves. We describe the procedure used to determine the significant properties of our digital assets, present first results of our work, and give an outlook on work still to be done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of personalized medicine, there is an urgent need for non-invasive biomarkers to optimize the individual treatment of cancer patients. Epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation and non-coding RNAs, are a hallmark of malignant tumors. The detection of many of these epigenetic conditions is feasible in bodily fluids, that is, blood plasma and serum, and may therefore be used for liquid biopsy. In this review, we summarize and discuss the current state of research on circulating epigenetic alterations (DNA methylation, miRNA and long non-coding RNA) in serum and plasma of patients with bladder cancer, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma and testicular germ cell cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Intoxication, whether from alcohol, drugs, or alcohol and drugs in combination, remains a challenging burden on emergency departments. The increasing alcohol consumption among adolescents and young adults, particularly heavy episodic drinking, and the resulting increase in the use of health care resources for alcohol intoxication has been a widely discussed topic. Objective. The aim of our study was to assess and characterize the use of emergency ambulance services that was required as a result of alcohol and drug intoxication in a major metropolitan area. Methods. We conducted a retrospective, longitudinal study over a 10-year period in the greater metropolitan area of Zurich, Switzerland. The study population included intoxicated patients assessed and initially treated by paramedics of the emergency ambulance service. Data were extracted from the ambulance service reports. The primary outcomes measured were trends over time in the numbers and types of intoxication and trends with respect to gender and age distributions of intoxicated patients. Results. An annual increase of about 5% in the number of intoxicated patients requiring emergency ambulance service was observed over the study period. Alcohol use was present in 73% of the cases. The highest number of cases was among patients 25-44 years of age. The greatest increase in the number of cases over time was among patients under 25 years of age. Women comprised 41% of the patients under 25 years of age but only about 35% of older patients. The number of severe injuries and suicide attempts was small, but the number of suicide attempts increased at a higher rate than the overall number of cases of intoxication. There was a significant increase (17.64% per year on average) in the incidence of aggressive behavior toward paramedics from intoxicated patients, although still small in numbers. Conclusions. Our findings suggest two main vulnerable groups: young persons under 25 years of age, with a particular focus on women, having the greatest increase over time, and middle-aged men, having the greatest proportion among all cases observed. Intervention efforts should include a high-risk approach to reduce alcohol-related problems. Key words: alcohol intoxication; substance-related disorders; aggression; injuries; emergency medical services [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global histone modification patterns have been shown to be a predictive factor of recurrence in various cancers. We analyzed global histone-3-lysine-27 (H3K27) methylation in prostate cancer (PCA) tissues. H3K27 mono-, di-, and tri-methylation patterns were different in nonmalignant prostate tissue, localized PCA, metastatic PCA, and castration-resistant PCA. H3K27 mono-methylation was correlated with pT-stage, capsular penetration, seminal vesicle infiltration, and Gleason score in localized PCA and may therefore indicate adverse prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct strong solutions for a nonlinear wave equation for a thin vibrating plate described by nonlinear elastodynamics. For sufficiently small thickness we obtain existence of strong solutions for large times under appropriate scaling of the initial values such that the limit system as h → 0 is either the nonlinear von Kármán plate equation or the linear fourth order Germain–Lagrange equation. In the case of the linear Germain–Lagrange equation we even obtain a convergence rate of the three-dimensional solution to the solution of the two-dimensional linear plate equation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. Due to their variable oncological course, clinical stage T1 (cT1) urothelial carcinomas of the bladder (UCBs) are the subject of controversial discussion with regard to indication for radical cystectomy (RC).This study aimed to evaluate the frequency and prognosis of upstaging in patients undergoing RC due to UCB. Material and methods. Clinical and pathological records of 607 patients, having undergone RC for treatment of UCB in cT1N0M0, were summarized in a multi-institutional database. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) rates were calculated. A multivariable prognostic model predicting the possibility of an upstaging in RC specimens was developed based on clinical information. Results. In 210patients (35%) an upstaging (> pT1 and/or pN++) was detected in the RC specimen. Five-year CSS was 86%, 78%, 60%and 34%, respectively, for tumour stages < pT2N0 ( n == 397), pT2N0 ( n == 78), > pT2N0 ( n == 63)and pN++ ( n == 69) ( p < 0.001). In a multivariable Cox regression model, pN stage, pT stage and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) revealed an independent influence on CSS (OS: pN, pT, age). An upstaging of cT1 tumours was enhanced by the criteria of G3 tumour grading and absent Tis in the transurethral resection of the bladder (TURB)specimen. Detection of LVI in RC specimens was also independently associated with an upstaging and, therefore, is recommended as a relevant prognostic parameter for the histopathological evaluation of TURB specimens. Conclusions. More than one-third of patients with cT1 tumours had an upstaging that was associated with significant prognosis deterioration. Further valid markers are required for an early identification of these patients. LVI represents such a criterion and, therefore, should be evaluated in prospectively designed trials with accurate histopathological assessment of TURB specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphomas, the result of positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose performed after a few cycles of chemotherapy has been shown to correlate with long-term treatment outcome. The PETAL trial investigates whether a change in treatment protocol may improve the outcome of patients with a positive scan after two cycles of (R-)CHOP. Such patients are randomized to receive a further six cycles of (R-)CHOP or six blocks of the B-ALL protocol, a regimen for the treatment of Burkitt lymphoma. Precautions taken to minimize false-positive interim-PET results include adherence to a 3-week interval between chemotherapy and interim- PET scanning, avoidance of hematopoietic growth factors, and SUV-based rather than visual interim-PET assessment. So far, 175 patients have been enrolled of whom 128 have reached interim-PET scanning. In patients with a positive scan, relapses were six times more frequent than in patients with a negative scan. Recruitment into the trial continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although intravesical chemotherapy has been used in the management of superficial bladder cancer for some decades, until recently there has been little or no progress in the search for new agents. However, in the past few years there have been developments of investigational drugs that may play a future role in this indication. This review highlights the mode of action, indications, dose and administration, efficacy, safety and significance of new chemotherapeutic agents such as intravesical valrubicin, gemcitabine, suramin, ?-linolenic acid, eflornithine (DFMO), tipifarnib (R115777), fenritinide and celecoxib. Although the initial results achieved with these agents in clinical development seem encouraging, long-term data on the prevention of recurrence, disease progression and survival have yet to be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postoperative peritoneal adhesions impose a long-term risk of morbidity and mortality. Adjunctive means are needed to prevent these complications. In previous studies we could demonstrate the efficacy and safety of intraperitoneally applied phospholipids with regard to adhesion prevention and wound healing, respectively. The assumption is that phospholipids rapidly adhere to the peritoneal surface and to the mesothelial lesions. This study was designed to evaluate the influence of early drainage of the administered fluid volume on the control of adhesion formation. Forty chinchilla rabbits underwent median laparotomy and standardized abrasion of circumscript areas of the ventral abdominal wall, the cecum, and the ileum. The animals randomly received either 75 mg/kg body weight of phospholipids in a volume of 5.0 mL/kg body weight (n = 20) or the same volume of Ringer's lactate solution (n = 20) prior to closing the laparotomy wounds. In 50% of the rabbits with either medication, 80% of the volume was recovered after 30 min before final closure of the abdominal wall ("drainage"). In the remaining animals the intraabdominal fluid load was not evacuated ("no drainage"). At day 10 after surgery all rabbits were sacrificed for evaluation of adhesion areas by computer-aided planimetry and histopathologic examination. The mean areas of adhesion in both Ringer's lactate groups were significantly larger than in the comparable phospholipid groups (p < .05). In the Ringer's lactate groups, adhesions averaged 341.7 (318.6) mm[sup 2] without and 263.3 (275.5) mm[sup 2] with drainage. In the phospholipid groups the respective mean areas reached only 24.6 (36.7) mm[sup 2] without drainage and 27.0 (49.7) mm[sup 2] following evacuation of the fluid 30 min after administration (median, mean in parentheses). These results prove the efficacy of phospholipids after a limited contact period of 30 min. The frequent use of drains in abdominal surgery will not impair the beneficial effect of phospholipids on prevention of adhesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ureteral obstructions are serious late complications after aortoiliac reconstructive vascular surgery, which lead to loss of kidney function if they remain untreated. One case report serves to describe the incidence, aetiology, clinical presentation and treatment options of an obstructive uropathy following graft surgery. Hydronephrosis due to a ureteral obstruction is considered as a “marker” of graft complication. Therefore, ultrasound examination and close follow-up beyond 1 year are recommended in all patients who undergo aortoiliac surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Variant alleles of the mannose binding lectin 2 gene (MBL2) confer heterozygote advantage within Crohn's families," in the January 9, 2010 issue.

The case of a 66-year-old male with a right renal cell carcinoma and a left testicular mass is reported. Radical nephrectomy and contralateral orchidectomy were performed. Histology revealed a metastasis of the renal cell carcinoma of clear cell type into the left testis. The patient died seven months post-operatively of disseminated lung metastases. The case demonstrates the multi-ocular metastatic potential of renal cell carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]