What is known and Objective
Controversy has arisen in the scientific community on whether the use of renin‐angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors in the context of COVID‐19 would be beneficial or ...harmful. A meta‐analysis of eligible studies comparing the occurrence of severe and fatal COVID‐19 in infected hypertensive patients who were under treatment with angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) vs no treatment or other antihypertensives was conducted.
Methods
PubMed, Google Scholar, the Cochrane Library, medRxiv and bioRxiv were searched for relevant studies. Fixed‐effects models or random‐effects models were used depending on the heterogeneity between estimates.
Results and discussion
A total of eighteen studies with 17 311 patients were included. The use of RAS inhibitors was associated with a significant 16% decreased risk of the composite outcome (death, admission to intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation requirement or progression to severe or critical pneumonia): RR: 0.84 (95% CI: 0.73‐0.95), P = .007, I2 = 65%.
What is new and conclusion
The results of this pooled analysis suggest that the use of ACEI/ARB does not worsen the prognosis of COVID‐19, and could even be protective in hypertensive subjects. Hypertensive patients should continue these drugs even if they become infected with SARS‐CoV‐2.
Controversy exists on whether RAS inhibitors are beneficial or harmful in COVID‐19. In this meta‐analysis, the use of RAS inhibitors was not associated with a worse COVID‐19 prognosis and was even protective in hypertensive patients. Patients should continue these drugs during their COVID‐19 illness.
•Classification approach using an 1D Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs).•Automatic data classification of helpful online reviews using cluster analysis.•Importance of content and context of the ...reviews in predicting helpfulness.•Neuronal encoding to identify different types of clusters for helpful and not helpful reviews.
The latest research shows that the identification of helpful reviews from a large volume of user–generated data is a trending topic. The present study uses an approach that not only predicts if an online review is helpful, neutral or not helpful with 66% accuracy, but most importantly models online review helpfulness. To this end, we use an adaptive implementation of 1D Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). The neuronal encoding of CNNs has the benefit of obtaining automatic data classification using cluster analysis to detect different types of clusters of helpful and not helpful reviews, categorized by their most important contextual characteristics. Findings reveal that the clusters with the most important words and documents for helpful reviews in the product category ‘Cars & Motorcycles’ describe cars and their characteristics, whereas not helpful reviews concern details about car-related shops/companies in general. By demonstrating high performance on prediction and classification of review helpfulness with our proposed methodology, we are contributing to the research on business intelligence. In addition, we provide significant practical implications for marketers, enabling them to distinguish between helpful and not helpful reviews. Using the resulting encoding can produce automatic data classification of different clusters of specific topics.
•Vipassana meditation increased the entropy of alpha 1 and gamma oscillation envelopes.•Classifiers trained on Vipassana scalp entropy distributions generalized well to other meditation ...traditions.•All meditation traditions increased gamma band coherence.•All meditation traditions decreased gamma band metastability.
We address the hypothesis that the entropy of neural dynamics indexes the intensity and quality of conscious content. Previous work established that serotonergic psychedelics can have a dysregulating effect on brain activity, leading to subjective effects that present a considerable overlap with the phenomenology of certain meditative states. Here we propose that the prolonged practice of meditation results in endogenous increased entropy of brain oscillatory activity. We estimated the entropy of band-specific oscillations during the meditative state of traditions classified as ‘focused attention’ (Himalayan Yoga), ‘open monitoring’ (Vipassana), and ‘open awareness’ (Isha Shoonya Yoga). Among all traditions, Vipassana resulted in the highest entropy increases, predominantly in the alpha and low/high gamma bands. In agreement with previous studies, all meditation traditions increased the global coherence in the gamma band, but also stabilized gamma-range dynamics by lowering the metastability. Finally, machine learning classifiers could successfully generalize between certain pairs of meditation traditions based on the scalp distribution of gamma band entropies. Our results extend previous findings on the spectral changes observed during meditation, showing how long-term practice can lead to the capacity for achieving brain states of high entropy. This constitutes an example of an endogenous, self-induced high entropy state.
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) require a complete reorganization of cadherin-based cell–cell junctions. p120-catenin binds to the cytoplasmic juxtamembrane domain of classical cadherins ...and regulates their stability, suggesting that p120-catenin may play an important role in EMTs. Here, we describe the role of p120-catenin inmouse gastrulation, an EMT that can be imaged at cellular resolution and is accessible to genetic manipulation. Mouse embryos that lack all p120-catenin, or that lack p120-catenin in the embryo proper, survive to midgestation. However, mutants have specific defects in gastrulation, including a high rate of p53-dependent cell death, a bifurcation of the posterior axis, and defects in the migration of mesoderm; all are associated with abnormalities in the primitive streak, the site of the EMT. In embryonic day 7.5 (E7.5) mutants, the domain of expression of the streak marker Brachyury (T) expands more than 3-fold, from a narrow strip of posterior cells to encompass more than one-quarter of the embryo. After E7.5, the enlarged T⁺ domain splits in 2, separated by a mass of mesoderm cells. Brachyury is a direct target of canonical WNT signaling, and the domain of WNT response in p120-catenin mutant embryos, like the T domain, is first expanded, and then split, and high levels of nuclear β-catenin levels are present in the cells of the posterior embryo that are exposed to high levels of WNT ligand. The data suggest that p120-catenin stabilizes the membrane association of β-catenin, thereby preventing accumulation of nuclear β-catenin and excessive activation of the WNT pathway during EMT.
Perceptions of gender inequality may motivate people to take action against inequality given its negative impact on various domains of people's everyday lives. Thus, it is crucial to develop reliable ...measures that consider the multidimensional nature of gender inequalities. In this research, we propose and assess the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Gender Inequality Perception Scale (MuGIPS). This is a self-reported measure of perceived gender inequality in four domains: health, violence, household work and caregiving, and public sphere and power. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the validity and reliability of the MuGIPS with Spanish participants in three samples (N = 1733). The analyses revealed that the MuGIPS had a good internal consistency and showed four factors associated with gender inequality in the four specified domains. Moreover, scores in all the dimensions positively correlated with feminist identity and feminist ideology, as much as with some attitudinal variables. In contrast, results showed a negative correlation with system-justifying ideologies. The MuGIPS shows adequate reliability and validity for measuring the perception of gender inequality in the health, violence, household work and caregiving, and public sphere and power domains among Spanish university and general population samples.
The bacterial actin homologue MreB forms a helix underneath the cytoplasmic membrane and was shown to be essential in the morphogenesis of the rod-shaped cells. Additionally, MreB was implicated to ...be involved in DNA segregation. However, in our hands the mreBCD deletion strain (PA340-678) grew without apparent DNA segregation defect, suggesting that the reported chromosome segregation inhibition could be caused by a temporarily effect of MreB inhibition or depletion. To assess the involvement of MreB in DNA segregation during the transition from rod to sphere, we compared the effect of A22 and the PBP2 inhibitor mecillinam on the percentage of cells with segregated nucleoids and the number of oriC foci in wild-type Escherichia coli cells. Cells became spherical in the same time window during both treatments and we could not detect any difference in the chromosome or oriC segregation between these two treatments. Additionally, flow cytometric analyses showed that A22 and mecillinam treatment gave essentially the same chromosome segregation pattern. We conclude that MreB is not directly involved in DNA segregation of E. coli.
During the second half of the seventeenth century, both branches of
the Habsburg dynasty suffered succession crises that had important political and
diplomatic consequences at an international level. ...The need that the sovereigns
of the House of Habsburg had descendants that could inherit their territories was
constantly present in the different debates, discussions and negotiations that took
place when the different marriages of the members of the royal family were arranged.
In this context, the circumstances linked to the age, development and fertility
of the potential partners of the members of the House of Habsburg, that were
always important, attained an even greater significance. In the following lines, we
are going to analyse how the questions related to fertility appeared in the negotiations
related to the marriage of kings Philip IV and Charles II, and emperor Leopold
I, with a special emphasis in two areas. On one hand, we will analyse the way in
which these documents reflected different conceptions linked to the idea of fertility,
regarding both genders, that people had in the Early Modern period, and, on the
other, we will examine how those ideas were used as a political tool by those that
supported, or rejected, a specific marriage alliance
Durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVII, ambas ramas de la dinastía
Habsburgo atravesaron importantes crisis sucesorias que tuvieron destacadas
consecuencias político-diplomáticas a nivel internacional. La imperiosa necesidad
de que los soberanos de la Casa de Austria tuvieran hijos que pudieran heredar sus
territorios se plasmó en los distintos debates, discusiones y negociaciones que se
llevaron a cabo a la hora de concertar sus respectivos matrimonios. En este contexto,
las circunstancias relativas a la edad, el desarrollo y, en general, a la fertilidad
de las potenciales parejas de los soberanos, siempre importantes cuando se trataba
de los matrimonios de los miembros de las familias soberanas de la Europa de
la Edad Moderna, alcanzaron una vital trascendencia. En las siguientes líneas, vamos
a analizar cómo se plasmaron las cuestiones relacionadas con la fertilidad en
las negociaciones diplomáticas de los matrimonios de los reyes Felipe IV y Carlos
II, y del emperador Leopoldo I, haciendo especial hincapié en dos ámbitos. Por un
lado, analizaremos la manera en la que se reflejaban en estos documentos diversas
ideas y concepciones relativas a la fertilidad, tanto masculina como femenina, que
se tenían en la Edad Moderna y, por otro, veremos como tales nociones fueron utilizadas
como arma política por aquellos que promovían, o se oponían, a una alianza
matrimonial concreta
Prior research has shown the relationship between objective economic inequality and searching for positional goods. It also investigated the relationship between social class and low income with ...conspicuous consumption. However, the causal relationship between economic inequality (the difference in wealth between individuals and groups living in a shared context and consumer behavior) has been less explored. Furthermore, there are also few studies looking for the psychological mechanisms that underlie these effects. The current research's main goal is to analyze the consequences of perceived economic inequality (PEI) on conspicuous and status consumption and the possible psychological mechanisms that could explain its effects. Furthermore, the current research aims to examine whether there is a causal relationship between PEI and materialism preferences and attitudes toward indebtedness. This work includes two preregister experimental studies. In the Study 1 (
= 252), we manipulated PEI and its legitimacy through a 2 (high vs. low inequality) × 2 (Illegitimate vs. legitimate) between-participants experiment. Results showed a main effect of PEI on status consumption, status seeking, status anxiety, materialism, and attitude toward indebtedness. No interaction effect between legitimacy and inequality was found. In the Study 2 (
= 301), we manipulated the PEI through the Bimboola Paradigm. We replicated the effect of PEI on status consumption, status seeking, and materialism and found that status seeking mediated the relationship between PEI and status and conspicuous consumption. Economic inequality affects consumer behavior and favors consumption preferences for products that provide desirable symbolic values associated with status. These results could have important implications in the interpersonal and intergroup processes, including those related to consumption and purchase.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction, executive functioning, sensory-perceptual abilities and behaviour, such as ...anxious/depressed states, attention problems, aggression, or somatic complains. However, the dynamic relationship between these dimensions remains to be addressed. Therefore, we explored the link between executive functions, sensory processing and behaviour in 79 children and adolescents with ASD. Results showed significant associations between all dimensions—executive functions, sensory processing and behaviour. Furthermore, using structural equation modelling methods, we observed a mediation effect of executive functioning, specifically the domain pertaining to emotion regulation and control, and in the relationship between sensory processing abnormalities and behavioural problems. We discuss the importance of emotion regulation as a mediator between sensory processing and behavioural impairments and its impact in social competence in ASD.
PDF
