Disclosure Of Funding Research Articles

12 Access to paediatric maltreatment services through a northern community hospital

Abstract Background Few studies have evaluated how paediatric maltreatment services based in community hospitals can provide access to care for populations who live far away from tertiary centres. The Violence Intervention Prevention Program (VIPP) and the Paediatric Abuse and Referral Evaluation (PARE) clinic based in a northern community hospital in Canada offer assessment for sexual and physical maltreatment. Objectives The aim of the study was to describe demographic and clinical characteristics of patients accessing VIPP and PARE services and to characterize the length of time required to access care. Design/Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients, under 16 years of age, who attended PARE clinic for initial consultation between 2017-2019. Analyses were descriptive. This work was approved by the research ethics board at our hospital. There are no funding disclosures. Results Of 164 patients, 62.2% were female; 37.8% male. The mean age was 6.6 years, ranging from 1 month to 15.9 years. 54.3% of referrals were for suspected physical maltreatment, 44.4% for suspected sexual maltreatment and 1.2% for both. 87.5% of patients listed home addresses within the hospital’s city limits. The maximum distance travelled from home to access care was 171 km. 87.2% of patients presented through the emergency department; a minority presented through direct referral to outpatient services (11.5%) or through inpatient (1.2%). When called from the emergency department, on-call VIPP nurses responded within a mean of 32 minutes for initial assessment. These patients received a maltreatment assessment by a paediatrician through the PARE clinic a mean of 14.3 days later. If patients did not present through the emergency department, the mean wait time for a maltreatment assessment by a paediatrician was 16 days. 13.4% (22/164) required referral to other medical or multidisciplinary services. General paediatrics (11/22) was the most frequent referral, followed by community speech programs (5/22). A minority (3.0%) of cases required consultation with external maltreatment teams, where two cases were peer-reviewed with a tertiary care team, one with a paediatric maltreatment physician at another community hospital and two cases were reviewed with a paediatric tertiary care radiologist. Conclusion Our results suggest that community-based paediatric maltreatment services provide care for our regional northern population. There is timely on-call access to allied-health providers through the emergency department. All patients were able to be assessed locally and none were required to travel to a tertiary care hospital. Further study is needed to assess how our data compares to other community maltreatment programs.

Pharmaceutical company funding of cancer patient advocacy organizations in the Netherlands

BackgroundFinancial conflicts of interest (FCOI) of medical professionals and associated organizations with pharmaceutical companies (pharma) might contribute to the use of low value oncological treatments. Value criteria for oncological drug approvals in the Netherlands have recently become more stringent leading to objections by cancer patient advocacy organizations (cPAOs). Considering the importance of cPAOs input in cancer patient care we analyzed whether pharma funding of cPAOs occurs in the Netherlands. MethodsThe cPAO websites and available annual reports were evaluated for disclosure of pharma funding for the years 2021 and 2022. Also, data from the Dutch Healthcare Transparency Registry (DHTR) were extracted. ResultsTwenty-one of 34 (61.8 %) cPAOs received pharma funding (with 20 registered in the DHTR), and for 13 (29.4 %) cPAOs no reporting of pharma funding could be found. Three of the cPAOs disclosed pharma funding directly on their main website. Online educational material was available from 22 cPAOs on their websites with pharma funding disclosed on the educational material in 5. The total registered amount of pharmaceutical funding was €667,232.00 in 2021 and €536,098.00 in 2022. The median (and interquartile ranges) DHTR registered amount of support per cPAO that received funding in the studied period was €23,799.50 (14,823.75–84,663.30). The most common funding category as defined in the DHTR was project sponsorship. ConclusionsFinancial support by the pharmaceutical industry is common for Dutch cPAOs. Given the importance of cPAOs and their objective input in the societal debate on the availability of cancer drugs, the potential influence of pharma sponsoring should be critically evaluated.

The promotion and implementation of open science measures among high‐performing journals from Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain

AbstractThis study empirically examined the promotion and implementation of open science measures among high‐performing journals of Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain. Journal policy related to data sharing, materials sharing, preregistration, open peer review, and consideration of preprints and replication studies was gathered from the websites of the journals. Four hundred articles were coded for the inclusion of data availability statements, conflict of interest disclosures, funding disclosures, DOI, ORCID, and continuous publishing. Analyses found a higher promotion of open science measures among Brazilian journals than their Portuguese counterparts, and higher promotion of open science measures among international journals than their domestic counterparts. Analyses found higher implementation of open science measures among Brazilian journals than their Portuguese and Mexican counterparts. One journal out of 40 encouraged preregistration of studies; none encouraged replication studies and none had implemented open peer review. These findings reveal reasonably strong implementation of secondary open science measures (e.g., DOI, ORCID, conflict of interest and funding source disclosure) among the sample, but weaker implementation of primary measures (e.g., open data, open materials, replication studies and open peer review). The implications of these findings are considered and suggestions are made to bolster the adoption of open science measures among Ibero‐American scientific journals.

The impact of training status on firefighter task performance after acute exercise

Background: Though on-shift exercise provides firefighters structured time to maintain fitness levels needs for their job; many are concerned on-shift exercise may impair their readiness. It also remains unclear if their current fitness level is protective of potential exercise-induced decrements. Therefore, we aimed to determine if aerobic fitness and body composition impact occupational performance and physiological stress after acute exercise. Methods: 32 participants (17M/15F; 25.2 ± 4.1 yrs; 173.8 ± 9.8 cm; 75.6 ± 13.2 kg; 23.3 ± 7.4% body fat) completed 2 visits assessing fitness (VO2peak and %body fat (%BF)), and 3 experimental trials: resistance exercise (RE), aerobic exercise (AE), and rested control (CON). Each trial was followed by an occupational task assessment (OTA; 4 rounds of 10 deadlifts (set to 85 or 135lbs) and a 0.15-mile 40lb-sandbag carry) in an environmental chamber (35°C; 50% humidity). Time to complete (TTC), blood lactate concentrations (BLC), and core temperature (CT) were assessed. Participants were split into tertiles based on high, moderate, and low VO2peak and %BF. Two-way ANOVAs were used to compare fitness level by exercise condition. RESULTS: There was a main effect of VO2peak on TTC (High VO2: 1094 ± 235; Moderate VO2: 1120 ± 200; Low VO2: 1365 ± 263 sec; p < 0.01). High VO2peak participants had a shorter TTC compared to moderate or low VO2max regardless of exercise prior (ps < 0.01). There was a main effect of VO2peak on CT (High VO2: 38.1 ± 0.6; Moderate VO2: 38.2 ± 0.6; Low VO2: 38.4 ± 0.5°C; p < 0.01). High VO2peak participants had a lower CT during the OTA compared to low VO2peak regardless of exercise prior (p < 0.01). There was a main effect of %BF on TTC (High %BF: 1029 ± 150; Moderate %BF: 1098 ± 210; Low %BF: 1399 ± 259 sec; p < 0.001). High %BF participants had a longer TTC compared to average or low %BF regardless of exercise prior (ps < 0.01). There was a significant main effect of %BF on BLC (High %BF: 6.6 ± 2.8; Moderate %BF: 7.6 ± 3.0; Low %BF: 9.9 ± 3.8 mMol/L; p < 0.01). Low %BF participants had lower BLC after the OTA compared to high %BF regardless of exercise prior (p < 0.01). CT were significantly higher following AE compared to RE and CON (AE: 38.7 ± 0.3; RE: 38.5 ± 0.5; CON: 37.6 ± 0.4°C; p < 0.01). All other interaction and main effects of TTC or physiological stress variables were not significantly different based on fitness (VO2peak and %BF; ps > 0.18). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest fitness (VO2peak and %BF) impacts time to complete and physiological stress during occupational tasks. However, fitness did not influence the response to occupational tasks differently based on if acute exercise (aerobic or resistance) was performed beforehand. These findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of acute on-shift exercise methods and provide relevant metrics of fitness related to firefighter occupational performance. FUNDING DISCLOSURE: There are no funding sources to disclose. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Text, tone, and legal language: Analyzing mutual fund disclosure sentiment

AbstractMutual fund disclosures must include information about a fund's strategies and risks to comply with the letter of the law. But funds should also honor the spirit of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, including informing ordinary investors. Disclosure language creates impressions that can be just as important as the content. But evaluating these soft aspects of disclosures is hard. In this article, we propose using disclosure tone—how positive or negative the language is—to empirically capture these impressions. This measure provides an additional tool to assess compliance with the spirit of disclosure laws. Building on finance research on company disclosures, we develop customized dictionaries specific to mutual fund disclosures. We then introduce a novel sentiment‐scoring framework that generates transparent sentence‐ and disclosure‐level scores for our sample of 164,602 mutual fund summary prospectuses (497k) from 2010 to 2020. Our descriptive analysis validates our dictionary by showing meaningful and statistically significant differences across disclosure sections, fund type, and time. Funds' statements of their principal risks are more negative (and uniformly so) across time than funds' descriptions of their investment strategies. We further explore these relationships using a fixed‐effects regression model. These analyses reveal statistically significant relationships between mutual fund disclosure tone and fund attributes, performance, and disclosure characteristics. These relationships are consistent with SEC requirements that anchor risk discussions in more negative language than strategy discussions. The findings also highlight the role of legal language in setting the overall disclosure tone. Our context‐sensitive approach provides a path to regulate compliance more effectively with both the letter and the spirit of the law. Our framework, which we have made publicly available, provides a robust tool to allow researchers and regulators to assess not only what funds say, but how they say it.

Cadaveric Biomechanical Laboratory Research Can Be Quantitatively Scored for Quality With the Biomechanics Objective Basic Science Quality Assessment Tool: The BOBQAT Score

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to develop a quality appraisal tool for the assessment of cadaveric biomechanical laboratory and other basic science biomechanical studies. Materials and MethodsFor item identification/development, a systematic review of the literature was first performed. The content validity index (CVI) was used to either include or exclude items. The content validity ratio (CVR) was used to determine content validity. Weighting was performed by each panel member; the final weight was either up- or downgraded to the closest of 5 or 10%. Face validity was scored on a Likert scale ranked from 1-7. Test-retest reliability was determined using the Fleiss kappa coefficient. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha. Concurrent criterion validity was assessed against the QUACS scale. ResultsThe final BOBQAT score included 15 items and was shown to be valid, reliable and consistent. Five items had a CVI of 1.0; ten items had a CVI of 0.875. For weighting, five items received a weight of 10% and ten items a weight of 5%. CVR was 1.0 for six items and 0.75 for nine items. For face validity, all items achieved a score above 5. For test-retest reliability, almost perfect test-retest reliability was observed for ten items, substantial agreement for four items and moderate agreement for one item. For internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to be 0.71. For concurrent criterion validity, Pearson’s product-moment correlation was 0.56 (95% CI 0.38-0.70, p=0.0001). ConclusionCadaveric biomechanical and laboratory research can be quantitatively scored for quality based on the inclusion of a clear and answerable purpose, demographics, specimen condition, appropriate bone density, reproducible technique, appropriate outcome measures, appropriate loading conditions, appropriate load magnitude, cyclic loading, sample size calculation, proper statistical analysis, results consistent with methods, limitations considered, conclusions based on results, and disclosure of funding and potential conflicts.

Copy, Paste, Disclose: The Informative Value of Boilerplate in Mutual Fund Disclosures

Copy, Paste, Disclose: The Informative Value of Boilerplate in Mutual Fund Disclosures

Fund Disclosure Views and Informational Efficiency

Fund Disclosure Views and Informational Efficiency

Impact of Reporting Bias, Conflict of Interest, and Funding Sources on Quality of Orthopaedic Research

BackgroundInfluence of factors like reporting outcomes, conflicts of interest, and funding sources on study outcomes, particularly positive outcomes in orthopedics, remains underexplored. As transparency of partnerships in orthopaedic surgery through conflicts of interest statements has increased over the years, there has been a lack of focus on the value of these partnerships in influencing study outcomes. We aimed to investigate the associations between reporting outcomes, conflicts of interest, and sources of funding on study outcomes. MethodsWe reviewed articles published in 1 year in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, The American Journal of Sports Medicine, and The Journal of Arthroplasty. The abstracts were examined for appropriate inclusion, while the authors’ names, academic degrees, funding disclosures, and departmental and institutional affiliations were redacted. There were a total of 1,351 publications reviewed from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. ResultsA significant association was found between positive outcomes and reported conflicts of interest (75% versus 25%, P < .001). Likewise, conflicts of interest showed significant association with industry-sponsored studies (88% versus 12%, P < .001) and evidence level > II (72% versus 28%, P < .001). Industry-sponsored research accounted for the highest percentage of studies involving a conflict of interest (88%) and level I studies (12%). ConclusionsConflicts of interest are significantly associated with positive outcomes in orthopaedics. Sponsored studies were more inclined to have conflicts of interest and accounted for the majority of level I studies.

Supporting Solidarity

Supporting Solidarity

Investigating the impact of 'dark nudges' on drinking intentions: A between groups, randomized and online experimental study.

This study explored how 'dark nudges' (tactics used in alcohol industry-funded responsible drinking campaigns) affect drinking intentions, perceived source credibility and whether individual differences in perceptions of prototypical drinkers moderated these effects. Two 2 × 2 between-groups online experimental studies. Study 1 (N = 164) presented three alcohol health messages per condition, comprising social norm (healthy/unhealthy ("dark nudge")) by frame (loss/gain). Study 2 (N = 229) presented one message per condition, comprising cancer causality (single cause/multiple causes (dark nudge)) by funding disclosure (disclosure/non-disclosure (dark nudge)). Outcomes were drinking intentions and perceived source credibility. Exploratory analyses considered prototype perceptions as a between-subjects moderator. No significant effects of message frame, social norm, fundi or multiple cancer causality arguments on drinking intentions were found. In Study 2, in the dark nudge multiple cancer causality conditions, perceived source credibility was high when funding was undisclosed, but significantly lower when it was disclosed. Exploratory analyses suggested effects were moderated by prototype similarity. In Study 1, higher perceived similarity to a heavy drinker and lower perceived similarity to a responsible drinker were associated with higher drinking intentions in the unhealthy norm/gain frame condition, but lower drinking intentions in the other conditions. Framing, social norm, funding disclosure and multiple causality manipulations as tested in this study did not exert a dark nudge effect on drinking intentions. However, the exploratory analyses suggest it could be hypothesised that the types of messages used in alcohol industry-funded responsible drinking campaigns may result in greater drinking intentions among those who identify more as heavy drinkers and less as responsible drinkers. Perceived prototype similarity may be an important moderator of the impact of alcohol health messages that warrants further research. Study 2 suggests disclosure of industry funding guides judgements of the credibility of sources of misleading messages about alcohol and cancer.

Partial portfolio disclosure, investors’ attention, and window dressing

I show that the disclosure of mutual funds’ holdings significantly affects investors’ investment decisions. As most mutual fund websites, advertisements, and fund-trading platforms only disclose a fund’s 10 largest holdings (top-10), this study finds that investors disproportionately focus on these stocks. However, this bias does not lead to additional profit because relative to their peers, funds with good top-10 performance tend to generate poor long-term returns. I design a clean and innovative discontinuity test between the performance of the 10th and 11th portfolio holdings to examine such window dressing behavior. I find that relative to their peers, funds that are small, new, and highly active are more likely to window dress and incur greater costs if they suffer from severe capital outflows. My findings suggest that partial disclosure misleads investors and allows effective window dressing.

Spillover effects of mandatory portfolio disclosures on corporate investment

This paper examines whether portfolio disclosure requirements for actively managed investment funds affect the investment decisions of the firms they own. We argue that mandatory portfolio disclosures reduce fund managers' incentive to collect and trade on private information, which reduces the stock price informativeness of their portfolio, and thus portfolio firm managers' ability to learn from their firms' stock prices. Using a difference-in-differences design around the May 2004 SEC regulation requiring more frequent fund disclosure, we find that investment sensitivity to stock price declines for firms with significant ownership held by actively managed funds affected by the regulation. The decline in investment-price sensitivity is concentrated among firms that are (i) owned by funds with larger expected proprietary costs and (ii) more likely to learn from price. Our results suggest that portfolio disclosure requirements have spillover effects on corporate investment by curtailing managers’ opportunities to learn from price.

“Rumyantsev Readings — 2023”: Diversity of Research Formats and Practices

The Russian State Library hosted the annual International Scientific and Practical Conference “Rumyantsev Readings” on 18—20 April 2023. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Library and the Library Assembly of Eurasia. This conference has been held for more than 40 years, and it covers the wide range of topics which invariably attracts a large number of specialists from different regions of Russia and other countries. In 2023 it was attended by representatives of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. 282 people were present in person; 2,102 connections were recorded during the broadcasting of the sessions.The conference topics covered a wide range of issues on the theory and practice of library science, bibliography science and book science. Among its main directions: the history of libraries, as well as pages of life and activities of people associated with them, disclosure of book depository funds, research of collections and individual copies of manuscript and printed monuments, multifaceted activities of modern libraries. One of the main goals of the conference is to expand intercultural interaction and co-operation between cultural, educational and scientific institutions. Within the framework of the Rumyantsev Readings, the work of the sections, which have been traditional for many years, as well as timed to the dates and events of 2023, was organized. This year, special emphasis was placed on the topics “Enlightening and Educational Mission of Libraries (for the Year of Teacher and Mentor in Russia)” and “The Role of Libraries in Preserving and Developing Intercultural Communication (for the Year of Russian as a Language of Interethnic Communication in the Commonwealth of Independent States)”. In addition to the plenary session, the conference program included 12 sections, round tables and special events. By the beginning of the conference, a collection of its materials was published in three parts, including 160 articles by 174 authors.The Rumyantsev Readings continue to be a popular scientific and practical event among library professionals and representatives of other educational, scientific and cultural institutions, contributing to the development of scientific research, as well as to the development of the library’s research in the field of librarianship.

Transparency of COVID-19-related research: A meta-research study.

We aimed to assess the adherence to five transparency practices (data availability, code availability, protocol registration and conflicts of interest (COI), and funding disclosures) from open access Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) related articles. We searched and exported all open access COVID-19-related articles from PubMed-indexed journals in the Europe PubMed Central database published from January 2020 to June 9, 2022. With a validated and automated tool, we detected transparent practices of three paper types: research articles, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and reviews. Basic journal- and article-related information were retrieved from the database. We used R for the descriptive analyses. The total number of articles was 258,678, of which we were able to retrieve full texts of 186,157 (72%) articles from the database Over half of the papers (55.7%, n = 103,732) were research articles, 10.9% (n = 20,229) were review articles, and less than one percent (n = 1,202) were RCTs. Approximately nine-tenths of articles (in all three paper types) had a statement to disclose COI. Funding disclosure (83.9%, confidence interval (CI): 81.7-85.8 95%) and protocol registration (53.5%, 95% CI: 50.7-56.3) were more frequent in RCTs than in reviews or research articles. Reviews shared data (2.5%, 95% CI: 2.3-2.8) and code (0.4%, 95% CI: 0.4-0.5) less frequently than RCTs or research articles. Articles published in 2022 had the highest adherence to all five transparency practices. Most of the reviews (62%) and research articles (58%) adhered to two transparency practices, whereas almost half of the RCTs (47%) adhered to three practices. There were journal- and publisher-related differences in all five practices, and articles that did not adhere to transparency practices were more likely published in lowest impact journals and were less likely cited. While most articles were freely available and had a COI disclosure, adherence to other transparent practices was far from acceptable. A much stronger commitment to open science practices, particularly to protocol registration, data and code sharing, is needed from all stakeholders.

Overviews of reviews in the cardiovascular field underreported critical methodological and transparency characteristics: a methodological study based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Overviews of Reviews (PRIOR) statement

ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the epidemiology, reporting characteristics, and adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Overviews of Reviews (PRIOR) statement of overviews of reviews (overviews) of interventions in the cardiovascular field. Study Design and SettingMEDLINE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched from January 1, 2000, to October 15, 2020. An updated search was performed in MEDLINE, Epistemonikos, and Google Scholar up to August 25, 2022. Overviews of interventions published in English and primarily considering populations, interventions, and outcomes pertinent to the cardiovascular field were eligible. Study selection, data extraction, and PRIOR adherence assessment were performed by two authors independently. ResultsWe analyzed 96 overviews. Almost half (43/96 [45%]) were published between 2020 and 2022 and contained a median of 15 systematic reviews (SRs) (interquartile range, 9–28). The commonest title terminology was “overview of (systematic) reviews” (38/96 [40%]). Methods for handling SR overlap were reported in 24/96 (25%), methods for assessing primary study overlap in 18/96 (19%), handling of discrepant data in 11/96 (11%), and methods for methodological quality or risk of bias assessment of the primary studies within SRs in 23/96 (24%). Authors included data sharing statements in 28/96 (29%), complete funding disclosure in 43/96 (45%), protocol registration in 43/96 (45%), and conflict of interest statement in 82/96 (85%) overviews. ConclusionInsufficient reporting was identified in methodological characteristics unique in overviews' conduct and most transparency markers. Adoption of PRIOR from the research community could ameliorate overviews’ reporting.

173. The Rise Of Acellular Dermal Matrix: Cost Consciousness, Industry Payments, And Publication Productivity

PURPOSE: Acellular dermal matrix (ADM) has become commonplace in reconstructive surgery. It is estimated to be used in nearly half of all alloplastic breast reconstructive procedures in the US and has been the focus of approximately 500 plastic surgery publications since its adoption. However, ADM is yet to be FDA approved for breast reconstruction, and remains costly compared to potentially noninferior alternatives such as synthetic mesh and autologous reconstruction. An aim of this investigation was to describe external factors associated with the rise of ADM usage over the past two decades in plastic surgery. Attention was paid to report individual ADM-related academic output and correlation with industry funding or public interest in the costs of plastic surgery. METHODS: All PubMed indexed studies focusing on ADM, in eleven plastic surgery journals, were included (n=534). Data on industry funding to the 17 authors with five or more first and last author publications were extracted from the Open Payments Database. The 125 publications from the top 17 authors were reviewed for disclosure of funding and specific study type. To measure public interest, Google Trends in “plastic surgery cost” and “breast surgery cost”-related searches were queried. Relationships between publication quantity, author industry funding, author disclosure rate, and public interest were analyzed by Pearson’s Correlation and linear regression. RESULTS: ADM-focused studies were published at an approximate rate of 4/year from 2000-09 with a precipitous peak to 71 publications in 2012 and subsequent normalization to approximately 36/year. The 17 most-published authors produced eight qualifying publications on average [5-17]. These individuals grossed a total of $19million industry dollars overall with $17M (89%) in non-consulting compensation from ADM-producing companies (NC-ADM).Median/quartile individual total compensation and NC-ADM compensation were $194K/$320K/$1.25M and $17K/$210K/$1.1M respectively. These variables showed strong correlation with individual publication rate [r=0.662 & r=0.647, (p<0.01*)] with a linear regression coefficient of $110K per NC-ADM publication (p< 0.01*). Authors disclosed funding in a mean of 65 ± 26% of their work with a strong correlation between disclosure rate and NC-ADM (r=0.576, p=0.02*). Google trends for searches regarding “breast surgery cost” increased significantly with time (r = 0.822, p <0.001*) and were in strong correlation with ADM-related publications (r=0.671, p<0.01*). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates significant correlations between ADM-related publications, industry funding, funding disclosure, and public interest. Education in the potential for such relationships and the importance of objectivity in operative protocol design is necessary. Continued analysis for potential biases in evidence and transparency in publication are critical when adopting new techniques and technology.

Transparency in infectious disease research: meta-research survey of specialty journals.

Infectious diseases carry large global burdens and have implications for society at large. Therefore, reproducible, transparent research is extremely important. We evaluated transparency indicators (code and data sharing, registration, conflict and funding disclosures) in the 5340 PubMed Central Open Access articles published in 2019 or 2021 in the 9 most-cited specialty journals in infectious disease using the text-mining R package, rtransparent. 5340 articles were evaluated (1860 published in 2019 and 3480 in 2021 (of which 1828 on COVID-19)). Text-mining identified code sharing in 98 (2%) articles, data sharing in 498 (9%), registration in 446 (8%), conflict of interest disclosures in 4209 (79%) and funding disclosures in 4866 (91%). There were substantial differences across the 9 journals: 1-9% for code sharing, 5-25% for data sharing, 1-31% for registration, 7-100% for conflicts of interest, and 65-100% for funding disclosures. Validation-corrected imputed estimates were 3%, 11%, 8%, 79% and 92%, respectively. There were no major differences between articles published in 2019 and non-COVID-19 articles in 2021. In 2021, non-COVID-19 articles had more data sharing (12%) than COVID-19 articles (4%). Data sharing, code sharing, and registration are very uncommon in infectious disease specialty journals. Increased transparency is required.

Thermoneutral housing increases the obesogenic phenotype of mice, while some effects of exercise are reduced

Introduction: Mice are extensively used to investigate the molecular foundations of obesity and the beneficial effect of exercise training (ET). Mice are most often housed at ambient temperature, ~22°C, which is below their thermoneutral environment (~30°C). Mild cold stress at ambient temperature accelerates mouse metabolic rate and may confound translation of results to humans. Aiming to determine the metabolic adaptations of ET in an obesogenic environment, we hypothesized that thermoneutral housing would increase adiposity during high-fat feeding. Moreover, thermoneutral housing would blunt the effects of ET by relieving the added cold stress. Methods: After temperature acclimatization (3 weeks, 22°C vs. 30°C), C57BL/6J mice (n=68, ♀, Age: 11 weeks) were dual-housed for 8 weeks receiving a chow diet or a 60%E high-fat diet (HFD). HFD mice were then separated into two additional groups with access to voluntary wheel running for another 8 weeks. Metabolic parameters were measured using magnetic resonance imaging, indirect calorimetry, glucose tolerance tests, and maximal running capacity on treadmill. Brown and white adipose tissues and gastrocnemius muscle mRNA and protein content were analyzed using qPCR and immunoblotting analyses, respectively. Results: In chow-fed mice, thermoneutral housing decreased metabolic rate (VO2), fasting plasma glucose, and thermogenic genes in adipose tissue depots, without changes in skeletal muscle mitochondrial protein content compared to 22°C. In HFD mice, thermoneutral housing increased fat mass, induced glucose intolerance, and fasting plasma insulin levels compared to 22°C housing. This was despite decreased food intake and metabolic rate compared to HFD mice housed at 22°C. ET mice improved the exercise capacity and glucose tolerance independent of housing temperature. Interestingly, while ET at 30°C prevented further fat gain during the intervention, ET at 22°C decreased fat mass. Moreover, only ET at 22°C increased the metabolic rate during the active phase. Gene expression responded similarly to ET independent of housing temperature in adipose tissue depots. ET induced GLUT4, peroxiredoxin 2 and pyruvate dehydrogenase protein content to a lesser extent in muscle at 30°C housing. Conclusion: Adaptations to diet-induced obesity and ET in mice critically depend upon housing temperature. Our findings underscore housing temperature as a key consideration in research related the beneficial effect of exercise in an obesogenic environment. Disclosure of funding: SHR is supported by the Lundbeck Foundation and Independent Research Fund Denmark. LS and EAR are supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Independent Research Fund Denmark. IK is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

TRPM8 channels do not regulate endothelium-dependent and -independent vascular reactivity in mice

Foremost among the ion channels that control vascular tone is the transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channels. The TRPM subfamily of the TRP channels includes eight members, expressed in various excitable and non-excitable cells and involved in diverse functions, such as sensing membrane potential, cold, taste, redox, osmolarity, and cell survival. Previous analysis of TRPM gene expression showed the highest expression of TRPM8 in intact blood vessels compared with other isoforms (TRPM1-7). Studies have also revealed that activating TRPM8 by menthol and icilin modulates endothelium-dependent and independent vascular reactivity. However, the non-selectivity of pharmacological TRPM8 modulators constitutes a significant limitation in the prior studies aimed at delineating TRPM8-dependent vasoregulation. In this study, we demonstrate that acetylcholine (ACH)- and sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced reduction in arterial pressure was unaltered in mice lacking TRPM8. We generated endothelial-specific knockout (KO) of TRPM8 (ecTRPM8-/-) by breeding TRPM8 floxed (TRPM8fl/fl) with Cdh5-Cre (VE-Cadherin-Cre) mice. Unlike global TRPM8 KO, ecTRPM8-/- mice were not resistant to cold temperatures. Phenylephrine-induced contraction of renal and mesenteric arteries isolated from TRPM8fl/fl and ecTRPM8-/- mice were similar. Also, ACH- and SNP-induced relaxation of phenylephrine-precontracted renal and mesenteric arteries from TRPM8fl/fl and ecTRPM8-/- mice were comparable. These findings suggest that TRPM8 channels do not regulate endothelium-dependent and -independent vasorelaxation in mice. Disclosure of Funding: NHLBI: R01 HL151735-01 and R01HL151735-S This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.