Cactus Communications

The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to eradicate poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure health, justice, and prosperity for all, emphasizing inclusivity. Within the realm of scholarly publishing, the panel discussion Can scholarly publishers change the world? The role of the SDGs within the publishing industry held at Academic Publishing in Europe 2024, highlighted the business advantages of aligning with SDGs and made a plea to reshape the narrative beyond mere moral obligation as well as to galvanize stakeholders to take action and promote engagement, offering a clear direction. This paper expands on the panel discussion, which was moderated by Stephanie Dawson, CEO, ScienceOpen. Panellists were Agata Morka, Regional Director, Publishing Development, PLOS, Charlie Rapple, Chief Customer Officer and Co-founder, Kudos, Nikesh Gosalia, President Global Academic and Publisher Relations, Cactus Communications, and Ritu Dhand, Chief Scientific Officer, Springer Nature.

Background Invasive blood sample collection followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based analysis is the gold standard for estimating glycated hemoglobin level or HbA1c currently. Spectrophotometry could be an alternative that holds the potential to be translated into a portable, non-invasive device for glycated hemoglobin level estimation. This study compares HbA1c values obtained from HPLC and spectrophotometry. Methods Venous blood samples were collected from both diabetic and non-diabetic participants in a cross-sectional study. The samples were subjected to both HPLC and spectrophotometry-based estimation of HbA1c%. The results obtained were compared, and the relationship between the two estimations were assessed. Results About 15 diabetic and non-diabetic individuals participated in the study and 28 samples were included in the final analysis. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.37-0.82), indicating that there was a strong positive association. This was further supported by the findings from linear regression analysis with a p-value of <0.001. Conclusions The positive correlation between the HPLC and spectrophotometric values supports the hypothesis that spectrophotometry could be an alternative to conventional HPLC for the measurement of HbA1c. This needs to be further validated through larger, well-powered studies.

Nucleic acids are biomacromolecules that exist naturally in all the living organisms, and play fundamental roles in many biological processes such as catalysis of biochemical reactions and regulation of a plethora of cell activities (Cooper, The cell: a molecular approach. 2nd ed. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, 2000). Various types of nucleic acids have tremendous potential in medicine, in form of treatments and sensors for detection of ions, small molecules, amino acids, proteins, and cells (Thatcher, Principles and applications of molecular diagnostics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2018). They are used for gene regulation, bioimaging, drug delivery, and disease therapy (Thatcher, Principles and applications of molecular diagnostics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2018). In forensic science, nucleic acids have applications in identification, estimation of post-mortem interval, paternity and maternity tests, genealogy, toxicology, and pathology to name a few (Li, Forensic biology: identification and DNA analysis of biological evidence. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2021).

In the previous chapters we learned about how DNA is extracted using different methods and how its PCR amplification and STR typing is done. We receive results of these methods in the form of an electropherogram—which gives us the details about STR polymorphisms present in the DNA of a particular sample. If we have different samples, for example, the blood of a suspect and the blood and tissues recovered from underneath the fingernails of the victim, we can simply extract and profile the DNA from both the samples and compare them to find out whether they belong to the same individual. However, in certain cases, we do get the perpetrator DNA, but without anything to compare it with. In the same case as above, if the police do not have a suspect pool, any DNA profile generated from the tissue recovered from victim’s fingernails will have to be stored until a suspect is identified. Thus, the first DNA databases were created, which were essentially repositories of DNA of convicted criminals, and were used as tools to assist law enforcement individuals in solving crimes. Whenever any unknown biological sample was recovered by the law enforcement agencies, its DNA was profiled and compared with the profiles present in the DNA database.

Key points Academia is undergoing transformation with rapid technological advancements, global collaboration, and the rise of AI. Maintaining research integrity is paramount in the face of new challenges and opportunities. The peer review process, vital for research integrity, is strained due to the high volume of academic papers. Cactus Communication's (CACTUS) global survey during Peer Review Week 2022 gathered insights from 685 participants on research integrity and peer review. Survey participants emphasized the importance of peer review in detecting various issues, including plagiarism and questionable research practices. Actions taken in response to integrity concerns varied, with some participants seeking guidance from colleagues or informing journal editors. Digital innovations, especially AI‐driven tools, promise to revolutionize peer review processes, from manuscript screening to reviewer selection and evaluation. AI tools like Chat GPT can aid authors in improving writing quality and assist reviewers in generating detailed feedback. Concerns about data privacy and the need for a balance between human expertise and AI assistance are raised in the context of peer review. AI plagiarism detection tool scan complement human efforts, providing an additional layer of scrutiny. Increased digital innovation allows for flexible review formats, international collaboration, and heightened transparency in the review process. The integration of AI into peer review holds the potential to enhance efficiency and objectivity but raises concerns about bias and transparency. Guidelines, bias mitigation measures, accountability mechanisms, and ongoing training are essential for the responsible use of AI in peer review. Encouraging peer review systems to embrace innovation and ethical AI is crucial for adapting to changing dynamics while upholding core principles of research integrity.

Learning power electronic circuits through simulation is one of the effective methods available for students and researchers to understand the subject effectively. This article aims at providing a panoramic view of different software tools used for simulating electrical circuits, enabling students to make an appropriate choice among various tools for a specific application. In this regard, a simple buck converter operating in the continuous conduction mode (CCM) is considered and realized using two different approaches, viz., coding and modeling using the Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB), Scientific Laboratory (Scilab), and LTspice (by Linear Technology) software tools. Symbolic object function (syms) and ordinary differential equation (ODE) solvers are used to solve coupled ODEs in MATLAB. Detailed analyses of the frequency response for constant voltage ${(}{G}_{\text{vd}}{)}$ and average current operations ${(}{G}_{\text{id}}{)}$ are carried out. Although Scilab is open source software, it provides the same accuracy as that of a licensed tool, such as MATLAB. Furthermore, the LTspice software tool is observed to provide a quicker frequency response when compared to MATLAB.

Trophoblast antigen 2 (Trop2) is a transmembrane glycoprotein upregulated in multiple solid tumours. Trop2-based passive immunotherapies are in clinical trials, while Trop2 targeting CAR-T cell-based therapies are also reported. Information about its T- and B-cell epitopes is needed for it to be pursued as an active immunotherapeutic target. This study focused on identification of immunodominant epitopes in the Trop2 extracellular domain (ECD) that can mount an efficient anti-Trop2 antibody response. In silico analysis using various B-cell epitope prediction tools was carried out to identify linear and conformational B-cell epitopes in the ECD of Trop2. Three linear peptide immunogens were shortlisted and synthesized. Along with linear peptides, truncated Trop2 ECD that possesses combination of linear and conformational epitopes was also selected. Recombinant protein immunogen was produced in 293-F suspension culture system and affinity purified. Antisera against different immunogens were characterized by ELISA and Western blotting. Two anti-peptide antisera detected recombinant and ectopically expressed Trop2 protein; however, they were unable to recognize the endogenous Trop2 protein expressed by cancer cells. Antibodies against truncated Trop2 ECD could bind to the endogenous Trop2 expressed on the surface of cancer cells. In addition to their high avidity, these polyclonal anti-sera against truncated Trop2 protein also mediated antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). In summary, our comparative analysis demonstrated the utility of truncated Trop2 ECD as a promising candidate to be pursued as an active immunotherapeutic molecule against Trop2-positive cancer cells.

Objective: The Asia-Pacific region (APAC) represents a unique environment for the publication of biomedical research, particularly industry-funded research. Awareness and adoption of international guidelines on ethical publication practices continues to increase across APAC, but the reframing and expansion of many of the recommendations in the Good Publication Practice (GPP) 2022 guidelines versus GPP3 published in 2015 have important implications for publishing industry-funded biomedical research in the region. Methods: This manuscript provides practical guidance for stakeholders in APAC on interpreting and applying the recommendations made in the GPP 2022 guidelines. Results: Key focus areas include navigating new opportunities for communicating industry-funded research, such as plain language summaries, social media, and preprints; implementing formal processes to improve the integrity of published research in APAC; and methods of promoting transparency and inclusion when publishing industry-funded research. Key APAC-specific issues, including encore presentations, leadership on publication ethics in the region, access to professional resources, and support for educating regional stakeholders are also discussed. Conclusions: Overall, this manuscript offers a pragmatic guide for stakeholders in industry-sponsored research on applying GPP 2022 in practice with a focus on effectively integrating these guidelines in an APAC context.

On April 28 2021, an earthquake of MW 6.4 occurred near Sonitpur, Assam, India. The epicenter was 43 km away from Tezpur, Assam with a focal depth of 34 km. The National Center for Seismology (NCS), Delhi reported the maximum intensity of MMI–V whereas the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the maximum intensity of MMI–VII. Preliminary reports suggest a reverse slip component for the earthquake, which occurred close to the previously reported Kopili fault. This fault is the cause of two damaging earthquakes in the past i.e., 1869 Cachar earthquake and the 1943 earthquake. The April 28 2021, Sonitpur earthquake caused widespread liquefaction, building damage, and lateral spreading as far as 90 km from the epicenter. The present study reports preliminary damages and ground effects observed soon after the earthquake along with a comparative analysis with previously reported damages around the area during the historical earthquakes. The farthest reported liquefaction occurred during the earthquake was plotted with other case studies which were well in agreement with the previous literature. The possible reason for the extensive liquefaction and ground cracks is inferred to be due to site amplification within a sedimentary basin. Therefore, the occurrence of the 2021Sonitpur, Assam earthquake emphasizes the seismic hazard scenario for the Brahmaputra Basin and Bengal Basin, which further requires more detailed study in terms of paleoseismology, liquefaction hazard zonation and seismic hazard assessment. In addition, the damages to the buildings highlight the implementation of proper building codes considering the liquefaction hazard zonation map for the study area.

The demarcation and analysis of linear geomorphological features from satellite images occupies a significant place in several geologic investigations. Lineaments are used to infer mineral prospects of a region, analyze structural deformation pattern/trends, identify geological boundaries, and infer crustal structure and various subsurface phenomena in areas of unexposed lithology. Overall, the study area is encompassed by several neotectonic features, viz. thrust faults, anticlines, and right and left lateral active faults in its vicinity. An area south of the Khetri copper belt in the northwestern part of India has been chosen for extraction and analysis of lineaments using satellite images. Copper deposits in the Khetri copper belt are hosted in the Proterozoic sequence of rocks, which belong to the Ajabgarh group of Delhi Supergroup situated in the foothill zone of Aravalli Mountain range North‐West, India.

On May 9th 2018, Patel’s Milmet dam burst amidst heavy rainfall and reported the death of at least 48 people including large scale damage of infrastructure in the downstream region. The Milmet dam was one of the earthen embankment dams in Kenya with a capacity of about 200,000 cubic meters. This study relies on the use of advanced geospatial techniques, to map and assess the dam break phenomena. Imagery acquired by Sentinel-1 & Sentinel-2 missions during pre- and post-dam burst event as well as daily precipitation data over the study area from global precipitation measurement (GPM) mission was utilized. Elevation information was acquired from a 12.5 m spatial resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM), generated from ALOS PALSAR data. This DEM has been used for analyzing the elevation pattern and mapping the catchment area of the dam. It is observed that the elevation of the study area ranges from 1632 to 2430 m above Msl with the catchment area covering around 480 ha. The change analysis of pre and post event satellite imagery identified that the flash flood caused due to dam burst damaged agricultural fields of about 40 ha. In addition to this, approximately 1 km length of road network in the downstream which included a major road of about 100 m was also affected. Our analysis also observed that the 90 m burst that extended the breach length affected an area of about 50 ha. Therefore, the study depicts that the huge amount of precipitation in April 2018 along with the steep slope of the dam area may be the major cause for the catastrophic failure. The paper ends with the remark that usage of remotely sensed datasets are essential for planning, mitigating and estimating damage of an area from natural hazards, especially as an early response for disaster mitigation.

Background In Mozambique, socio-economic and cultural factors influence the wide adoption of disease preventive measures that are relevant for malaria control strategies to promote early recognition of disease, prompt seeking of medical care, sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and taking intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women. However, there is a critical information gap regarding previous and ongoing malaria social and behavioural change (SBC) interventions. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices of beneficiaries of SBC interventions. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional survey was undertaken in 2018 in two rural districts of Zambezia Province, Mozambique. A structured questionnaire was administered to 773 randomly selected households. Respondents were the adult heads of the households. Descriptive statistics were done. Results The main results show that 96.4% of respondents recalled hearing about malaria in the previous 6 months, 90.0% had knowledge of malaria prevention, and 70.0% of preventive measures. Of the 97.7% respondents that had received ITNs through a mass ITN distribution campaign, 81.7% had slept under an ITN the night before the survey. In terms of source of health information, 70.5% mentioned the role of community volunteers in dissemination of malaria prevention messages, 76.1% of respondents considered worship places (churches and mosques) to be the main places where they heard key malaria prevention messages, and 79.1% asserted that community dialogue sessions helped them better understand how to prevent malaria. Conclusions Results show that volunteers/activists/teachers played an important role in dissemination of key malaria prevention messages, which brought the following successes: community actors are recognized and people have knowledge of malaria transmission, signs and symptoms, preventive measures, and where to get treatment. There is, however, room for improvement on SBC messaging regarding some malaria symptoms (anaemia and convulsions) and operational research is needed to ascertain the drivers of malaria prevalence and inform the SBC approach.

Hyperaccumulators are plants that can sequester heavy metals in their vacuoles and are capable of tolerating high amounts of such heavy metals. The metal tolerance mechanism is facilitated by overexpression of certain metal transport and binding proteins such as heavy metal transporters, phytochelatins, metallothioneins, etc. in various tissues. P-type ATPases constitute a large and diverse superfamily of transport proteins, which are of great importance in all organisms. They play a significant role in the maintenance of transition metal homeostasis, which, in turn, is extremely important for normal plant functioning. These proteins transport various metal ions such as Cu2 +, Cd2 +, Zn2 +, Ca2 +, H⁺, etc. across the cell membrane by a process characterized by hydrolysis of ATP during which a phosphorylated intermediate is formed. In addition to their role in metal hyperaccumulation, these proteins also help in the transport of metals to subcellular components and target proteins, metal detoxification, and micronutrient nutrition. This chapter describes the basic mechanism by which these proteins transport metals across the cell membrane, their classification of P-type ATPases based on the substrate(s) translocated by them, and the role of each type of P-type ATPase in maintaining metal homeostasis.

The cognate interaction of ROBO1/4 with its ligand SLIT2 is known to be involved in lung cancer progression. However, the precise role of genetic variants, disrupting the molecular interactions is less understood. All cancer-associated missense variants of ROBO1/4 and SLIT2 from COSMIC were screened for their pathogenicity. Homology modelling was done in Modeller 9.17, followed by molecular simulation in GROMACS. Rigid docking was performed for the cognate partners in PatchDock with refinement in HADDOCK server. Post-docking alterations in conformational, stoichiometric, as well as structural parameters, were assessed. The disruptive variants were ranked using a weighted scoring scheme. In silico prioritisation of 825 variants revealed 379 to be potentially pathogenic out of which, about 12% of the variants, i.e. ROBO1 (14), ROBO4 (8), and SLIT2 (23) altered the cognate docking. Six variants of ROBO1 and 5 variants of ROBO4 were identified as "high disruptors" of interactions with SLIT2 wild type. Likewise, 17 and 13 variants of SLIT2 were found to be "high disruptors" of its interaction with ROBO1 and ROBO4, respectively. Our study is the first report on the impact of cancer-associated missense variants on ROBO1/4 and SLIT2 interactions that might be the drivers of lung cancer progression.

Background: In Mozambique, the socio-economic and cultural factors influence the wide adoption of disease preventive measures, which is relevant for malaria control strategies that rely on early recognition of disease, prompt seeking of medical care, sleeping under mosquito nets, and taking intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women. However, there is a critical information gap regarding to previous and ongoing malaria Social Behaviour Communication (SBC) interventions. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and behaviours of the beneficiaries of SBC interventions. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was undertaken in 2018 in two rural districts of Zambezia province, Mozambique. A structured questionnaire was administered to 773 randomly selected households. Respondents are the heads of the households, adults above 18 years old. Descriptive statistics were done. Results: The main results show that around 96.4 % respondents recalled hearing about malaria in the previous 6 months and 90.0% had knowledge on malaria prevention and 70.0% on preventive measures ; from 97.7% respondents that received bed nets through the mass bed net distribution campaign, 81.7% slept under a bed net the night before the survey; 70.5 % recognized the role of community volunteers in the dissemination of malaria prevention messages; 76.1 % of respondents considered worship places (churches and mosques) to be the main places where they heard key messages on malaria prevention and 79.1 % asserted that community dialogue sessions helped them better understand how to prevent malaria. Conclusions: Results show that the volunteers/activists/teachers have played an important role in the dissemination of key malaria prevention messages which brought the following successes: community actors are recognized and people have knowledge on malaria transmission, signs and symptoms, preventive measures, and where to get treatment. There is room for improvement on the SBC messaging regarding some malaria symptoms (anaemia and convulsions); and operational research is needed to ascertain the drivers of malaria prevalence and social and behaviour communication approach.