bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Context matters—different entrepreneurial approaches among street‐level bureaucrats enhancing digital inclusion
Authors: Wihlborg Elin , Iacobaeus Helena
Published: November 2023

Digital technology is frequently used in the delivery of public services. Since not everyone has the skills or digital access required to use such digital services, street‐level bureaucrats must find new ways to support citizens to be able to enhance digital inclusion. In most public settings, these new practices of digital support need to be developed in parallel with the street‐level bureaucrats' ordinary assignments. This article analyses the development of street‐level bureaucrats' entrepreneurial and innovative practices in promoting digital inclusion in two spheres: conventional welfare service provision and in a project‐based welfare service provision initiative explicitly intended to enhance digital inclusion. The article builds on qualitative case studies in municipalities in Sweden and demonstrates that there are more openings for innovative, entrepreneurial solutions among street‐level bureaucrats in the more project‐based setting than in the conventional welfare services. This implies that context matters for street‐level entrepreneurial approaches.
The Association Between Choroidal Thickness and Meniere's Disease: A Cross‐Sectional Study
Authors: Akbarpour Maliheh , Jalali Mir Mohammad , Alizadeh Yousef , Nemati Shadman , Akbari Mitra , Dourandeesh Maryam
Published: November 2023

Objective

To evaluate and compare choroidal thickness (CT) between patients with Meniere's disease (MD) and a control group.

Methods

This case–control analytical study was conducted on 37 subjects with MD and 37 healthy subjects. Subfoveal CT (SCT), large choroidal vessel (LCV) layer thickness, and mean subfoveal LCV thickness/mean SCT ratio were measured using enhanced‐depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI‐OCT) in the eyes on the MD side (ipsilateral), the contralateral eyes, and the control group.

Results

A statistically significant difference was observed in the mean SCT values between the ipsilateral and control groups after adjustment for age, sex, and migraine (p = 0.04). Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference between the mean subfoveal LCV thickness values and the mean subfoveal LCV thickness/mean SCT ratio between the ipsilateral and control groups (p = 0.006, and p < 0.001, respectively). Patients with a duration of disease over three years had a greater mean subfoveal LCV thickness/mean SCT ratio (67.35 ± 11.56 and 60.66 ± 11.27, respectively), which was statistically insignificant (p = 0.08).

Conclusion

We found a thicker choroid and Haller layer, and a greater subfoveal LCV thickness/SCT ratio on the MD side compared to the controls. Furthermore, patients with a greater duration of disease had a lower subfoveal LCV thickness/SCT ratio. These findings may reflect the role of the trigeminal vascular system (TVS) and neurovascular pathophysiology in MD patients. More extensive studies are required to reach more definitive conclusions about the association between CT and MD.

Level of Evidence

4 Laryngoscope, 134:1889–1893, 2024
Modeling thermal conductivity of polymer/carbon fiber composites prepared by SCFNA method
Authors: He Xiaoxiang , He Zhiyuan , Ou Dan , Ma Ying , Li Linjie , Luo Yue , Zhang Hehui , Wu Shuying
Published: November 2023

The spatial confining forced network assembly (SCFNA) has proven to be a promising method for greatly improving the thermal conductivity (TC) of polymer composites via transforming self‐assembled networks into force‐assembled networks in polymer matrices. Most of the models currently in use were derived to predict the TC of polymer composites with self‐assembled networks; however, these are not suitable for predicting the TC of polymer composites with force‐assembled networks. To address this issue, a TC prediction model for polymer/carbon fiber (CF) composites obtained using the SCFNA method was developed. First, a literature TC prediction model, built by abstracting a representative volume element (RVE) from a CF self‐assembled network, was utilized to determine the key parameters related to the CF distance. Thereafter, a modified RVE model was constructed based on the morphological characteristics of the force‐assembled network of CFs. In conjunction with the thermal resistance method, the TC values of the polymer composites were calculated and successfully validated using experimental data obtained by the SCFNA method. In this model, the compression ratio (ε) and a fitting coefficient f were applied to describe the relationship between self‐assembled and force‐assembled networks, and furthermore, the actual filler content in the force‐assembled network was calculated. It was found that as the ε value and filler content increased, f accordingly decreased; however, the calculated actual filler volume content in the force‐assembled network increased. These results possibly reflect the evolution of the CF microstructure obtained by the SCFNA method.

Highlights

Filler gaps in self‐assembled networks were studied using a literature model.

The relationship between self‐assembled and force‐assembled networks was established.

A thermal conductivity model of the force‐assembled network was established.

The actual filler volume content in the force‐assembled network was calculated.
Akustische Schwebungen beim Anstoßen
Authors: Vogt Patrik , Kasper Lutz
Published: November 2023

Das gemeinsame Anstoßen bringt beide Weingläser zum Schwingen. Diese Experimentiersituation kennen Sie, aber haben Sie einmal genau auf den dabei entstehenden Klang geachtet?
Intracerebral Transplantation of Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves Functional Recovery in a Rat Model of Chronic Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Myers Max I. , Hines Kevin J. , Gray Andrew , Spagnuolo Gabrielle , Rosenwasser Robert , Iacovitti Lorraine
Published: November 2023

While treatments exist for the acute phase of stroke, there are limited options for patients with chronic infarcts and long-term disability. Allogenic mesenchymal stem cells (alloMSCs) show promise for the treatment of stroke soon after ischemic injury. There is, however, no information on the use of autologous MSCs (autoMSCs), delivered intracerebrally in rats with a chronic infarct. In this study, rats underwent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) to induce stroke followed by bone marrow aspiration and MSC expansion in a closed bioreactor. Four weeks later, brain MRI was obtained and autoMSCs (1 × 106, 2.5 × 106 or 5 × 106; n = 6 each) were stereotactically injected into the peri-infarct and compared to controls (MCAO only; MCAO + PBS; n = 6–9). Behavior was assessed using the modified neurological severity score (mNSS). For comparison, an additional cohort of MCAO rats were implanted with 2.5 × 106 alloMSCs generated from a healthy rat. All doses of autoMSCs produced significant improvement (54–70%) in sensorimotor function 60 days later. In contrast, alloMSCs improved only 31.7%, similar to that in PBS controls 30%. Quantum dot–labeled auto/alloMSCs were found exclusively at the implantation site throughout the post-transplantation period with no tumor formation on MRI or Ki67 staining of engrafted MSCs. Small differences in stroke volume and no differences in corpus callosum width were observed after MSC treatment. Stroke-induced glial reactivity in the peri-infarct was long-lasting and unabated by auto/alloMSC transplantation. These studies suggest that intracerebral transplantation of autoMSCs as compared to alloMSCs may be a promising treatment in chronic stroke.
Anomalous Dissipation and Lack of Selection in the Obukhov–Corrsin Theory of Scalar Turbulence
Authors: Colombo Maria , Crippa Gianluca , Sorella Massimo
Published: November 2023

The Obukhov–Corrsin theory of scalar turbulence [21, 54] advances quantitative predictions on passive-scalar advection in a turbulent regime and can be regarded as the analogue for passive scalars of Kolmogorov’s K41 theory of fully developed turbulence [47]. The scaling analysis of Obukhov and Corrsin from 1949 to 1951 identifies a critical regularity threshold for the advection-diffusion equation and predicts anomalous dissipation in the limit of vanishing diffusivity in the supercritical regime. In this paper we provide a fully rigorous mathematical validation of this prediction by constructing a velocity field and an initial datum such that the unique bounded solution of the advection-diffusion equation is bounded uniformly-in-diffusivity within any fixed supercritical Obukhov-Corrsin regularity regime while also exhibiting anomalous dissipation. Our approach relies on a fine quantitative analysis of the interaction between the spatial scale of the solution and the scale of the Brownian motion which represents diffusion in a stochastic Lagrangian setting. This provides a direct Lagrangian approach to anomalous dissipation which is fundamental in order to get detailed insight on the behavior of the solution. Exploiting further this approach, we also show that for a velocity field in $$C^\alpha $$

C
α

of space and time (for an arbitrary $$0 \le \alpha < 1$$

0
≤
α
<
1

) neither vanishing diffusivity nor regularization by convolution provide a selection criterion for bounded solutions of the advection equation. This is motivated by the fundamental open problem of the selection of solutions of the Euler equations as vanishing-viscosity limit of solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations and provides a complete negative answer in the case of passive advection.
Effect of load level on cracking of L-shaped soda-lime glass specimens
Authors: Rudshaug Jonas , Hopperstad Odd Sture , Børvik Tore
Published: November 2023

Soda-lime glass is a brittle and transparent material that is known for its rapid and sudden fracture behavior. Since the use of soda-lime glass in protective structures is increasing, a more comprehensive understanding of this challenging fracture behavior is needed. The aim of this work is to investigate how the load level affects the crack propagation and to generate an experimental database for L-shaped soda-lime glass specimens with curved crack paths. We designed a repeatable testing procedure which reveals the crack propagation behavior of the specimen and allows for extraction of valuable experimental data. A total of 20 experiments were conducted on L-shaped soda-lime glass specimens subjected to a controlled displacement. High-speed cameras were used to monitor the crack propagation and the high-speed footage was post-processed using an in-house procedure to extract the crack path and speed data. We found a positive correlation between the measured initial crack speed and the load level at fracture. The crack propagation path followed four distinct stages and was also affected by the load level at fracture. With this experimental database, we have provided important insight into how the load level affects the crack propagation in soda-lime glass.
Between Forbearance and Audacity
Authors: Yildiz Ezgi
Published: November 2023

When international courts are given sweeping powers, why would they ever refuse to use them? The book explains how and when courts employ strategies for institutional survival and resilience: forbearance and audacity, which help them adjust their sovereignty costs to pre-empt and mitigate backlash and political pushback. By systematically analysing almost 2,300 judgements from the European Court of Human Rights from 1967–2016, Ezgi Yildiz traces how these strategies shaped the norm against torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. With expert interviews and a nuanced combination of social science and legal methods, Yildiz innovatively demonstrates what the norm entails, and when and how its contents changed over time. Exploring issues central to public international law and international relations, this interdisciplinary study makes a timely intervention in the debate on international courts, international norms, and legal change. This book is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Public Nuisance
Authors: Mullenix Linda S.
Published: November 2023

In Public Nuisance, Linda Mullenix describes the landscape of 21st century mass tort litigation involving public harms – including lead paint, opioids, firearms, e-cigarettes, climate change, and environmental pollution – and the novel theory of public nuisance that lawyers and local governments have used to receive compensation from those who have created public nuisances. The book surveys conflicting judicial decisions rooted in common law and statutory interpretation and evaluates the competing arguments for and against the expansion of public nuisance law. Mullenix argues that that the development of public nuisance theory is part of the historical arc of mass tort litigation and suggests a middle approach to new public nuisance law, namely that we should embrace the common law and legislated public nuisance statutes.
Reporting Checkliste für Bachelorarbeiten
Authors: Burckhardt Marion , Seeger Yvonne
Published: November 2023

Zusammenfassung: Die Bachelorarbeit stellt Studierende oft vor Herausforderungen. In diesem Beitrag wird eine Reporting Checkliste zu Literaturübersichtsarbeiten in Bachelorarbeiten vorgestellt und für Studierende erläutert. Diese Checkliste basiert auf der Methodenliteratur und wurde partizipativ mit Studierenden und Lehrenden entwickelt.
Millions Likely Live in Areas Contaminated by Mining Runoff
Authors: Scharping Nathaniel
Published: November 2023

Heavy metal contaminants from mining can live in ecosystems for centuries. A new global database shows where the problem is worst.
Electron Precipitation Observed by ELFIN Using Proton Precipitation as a Proxy for Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) Waves
Authors: Capannolo L. , Li W. , Ma Q. , Qin M. , Shen X.‐C. , Angelopoulos V. , Artemyev A. , Zhang X.‐J. , Hanzelka M.
Published: November 2023

Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves can drive radiation belt depletion and Low‐Earth Orbit satellites can detect the resulting electron and proton precipitation. The ELFIN (Electron Losses and Fields InvestigatioN) CubeSats provide an excellent opportunity to study the properties of EMIC‐driven electron precipitation with much higher energy and pitch‐angle resolution than previously allowed. We collect EMIC‐driven electron precipitation events from ELFIN observations and use POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites) to search for 10s–100s keV proton precipitation nearby as a proxy of EMIC wave activity. Electron precipitation mainly occurs on localized radial scales (∼0.3 L), over 15–24 MLT and 5–8 L shells, stronger at ∼MeV energies and weaker down to ∼100–200 keV. Additionally, the observed loss cone pitch‐angle distribution agrees with quasilinear predictions at ≳250 keV (more filled loss cone with increasing energy), while additional mechanisms are needed to explain the observed low‐energy precipitation.
Estimating Fire Radiative Power Using Weather Radar Products for Wildfires
Authors: Saide P. E. , Krishna M. , Ye X. , Thapa L. H. , Turney F. , Howes C. , Schmidt C. C.
Published: November 2023

Satellite‐based Fire radiative power (FRP) retrievals are used to track wildfire activity but are sometimes not possible or have large uncertainties. Here, we show that weather radar products including composite and base reflectivity and equivalent rainfall integrated in the vicinity of the fires show strong correlation with hourly FRP for multiple fires during 2019–2020. Correlation decreases when radar beams are blocked by topography and when there is significant ground clutter (GC) and anomalous propagation (AP). GC/AP can be effectively removed using a machine learning classifier trained with radar retrieved correlation coefficient, velocity, and spectrum width. We find a power‐law best describes the relationship between radar products and FRP for multiple fires combined (0.67–0.76 R2). Radar‐based FRP estimates can be used to fill gaps in satellite FRP created by cloud cover and show great potential to overcome satellite FRP biases occurring during extreme fire events.
Combining single-cell RNA sequencing and population-based studies reveals hand osteoarthritis-associated chondrocyte subpopulations and pathways
Authors: Li Hui , Jiang Xiaofeng , Xiao Yongbing , Zhang Yuqing , Zhang Weiya , Doherty Michael , Nestor Jacquelyn , Li Changjun , Ye Jing , Sha Tingting , Lyu Houchen , Wei Jie , Zeng Chao , Lei Guanghua
Published: November 2023

Hand osteoarthritis is a common heterogeneous joint disorder with unclear molecular mechanisms and no disease-modifying drugs. In this study, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing analysis to compare the cellular composition and subpopulation-specific gene expression between cartilage with macroscopically confirmed osteoarthritis (n = 5) and cartilage without osteoarthritis (n = 5) from the interphalangeal joints of five donors. Of 105 142 cells, we identified 13 subpopulations, including a novel subpopulation with inflammation-modulating potential annotated as inflammatory chondrocytes. Fibrocartilage chondrocytes exhibited extensive alteration of gene expression patterns in osteoarthritic cartilage compared with nonosteoarthritic cartilage. Both inflammatory chondrocytes and fibrocartilage chondrocytes showed a trend toward increased numbers in osteoarthritic cartilage. In these two subpopulations from osteoarthritic cartilage, the ferroptosis pathway was enriched, and expression of iron overload-related genes, e.g., FTH1, was elevated. To verify these findings, we conducted a Mendelian randomization study using UK Biobank and a population-based cross-sectional study using data collected from Xiangya Osteoarthritis Study. Genetic predisposition toward higher expression of FTH1 mRNA significantly increased the risk of hand osteoarthritis (odds ratio = 1.07, 95% confidence interval: 1.02–1.11) among participants (n = 332 668) in UK Biobank. High levels of serum ferritin (encoded by FTH1), a biomarker of body iron overload, were significantly associated with a high prevalence of hand osteoarthritis among participants (n = 1 241) of Xiangya Osteoarthritis Study (P-for-trend = 0.037). In conclusion, our findings indicate that inflammatory and fibrocartilage chondrocytes are key subpopulations and that ferroptosis may be a key pathway in hand osteoarthritis, providing new insights into the pathophysiology and potential therapeutic targets of hand osteoarthritis.
Topical application of synthetic melanin promotes tissue repair
Authors: Biyashev Dauren , Siwicka Zofia E. , Onay Ummiye V. , Demczuk Michael , Xu Dan , Ernst Madison K. , Evans Spencer T. , Nguyen Cuong V. , Son Florencia A. , Paul Navjit K. , McCallum Naneki C. , Farha Omar K. , Miller Stephen D. , Gianneschi Nathan C. , Lu Kurt Q.
Published: November 2023

In acute skin injury, healing is impaired by the excessive release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Melanin, an efficient scavenger of radical species in the skin, performs a key role in ROS scavenging in response to UV radiation and is upregulated in response to toxic insult. In a chemical injury model in mice, we demonstrate that the topical application of synthetic melanin particles (SMPs) significantly decreases edema, reduces eschar detachment time, and increases the rate of wound area reduction compared to vehicle controls. Furthermore, these results were replicated in a UV-injury model. Immune array analysis shows downregulated gene expression in apoptotic and inflammatory signaling pathways consistent with histological reduction in apoptosis. Mechanistically, synthetic melanin intervention increases superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, decreases Mmp9 expression, and suppresses ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Furthermore, we observed that the application of SMPs caused increased populations of anti-inflammatory immune cells to accumulate in the skin, mirroring their decrease from splenic populations. To enhance antioxidant capacity, an engineered biomimetic High Surface Area SMP was deployed, exhibiting increased wound healing efficiency. Finally, in human skin explants, SMP intervention significantly decreased the damage caused by chemical injury. Therefore, SMPs are promising and effective candidates as topical therapies for accelerated wound healing, including via pathways validated in human skin.
Generation of a helper phage for the fluorescent detection of peptide-target interactions by dual-display phages
Authors: De Plano Laura Maria , Oddo Salvatore , Guglielmino Salvatore P. P. , Caccamo Antonella , Conoci Sabrina
Published: November 2023

Phage display is a molecular biology technique that allows the presentation of foreign peptides on the surface of bacteriophages. It is widely utilized for applications such as the discovery of biomarkers, the development of therapeutic antibodies, and the investigation of protein–protein interactions. When employing phages in diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring assays, it is essential to couple them with a detection system capable of revealing and quantifying the interaction between the peptide displayed on the phage capsid and the target of interest. This process is often technically challenging and costly. Here, we generated a fluorescent helper phage vector displaying sfGFP in-frame to the pIII of the capsid proteins. Further, we developed an exchangeable dual-display phage system by combining our newly developed fluorescent helper phage vector with a phagemid vector harboring the engineered pVIII with a peptide-probe. By doing so, the sfGFP and a peptide-probe are displayed on the same phage particle. Notably, our dual-display approach is highly flexible as it allows for easy exchange of the displayed peptide-probe on the pVIII to gain the desired selectivity, while maintaining the sfGFP gene, which allows easy visualization and quantification of the interaction peptide-probe. We anticipate that this system will reduce time and costs compared to the current phage-based detection systems.
Evaluating anti-GPL-core IgA as a diagnostic tool for non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections in Thai patients with high antibody background
Authors: Manbenmad Varis , So-ngern Apichart , Chetchotisakd Ploenchan , Faksri Kiatichai , Ato Manabu , Nithichanon Arnone , Lertmemongkolchai Ganjana
Published: November 2023

Diagnosis of non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infection is difficult due to low sensitivity and time-consuming laboratory tests. Current serological assays fail in tropical countries due to high antibody background. This study aimed to investigate an appropriate method for detecting anti-glycopeptidolipid (GPL)-core antibodies to diagnose NTM infection in Thailand. Heparinized plasma samples were collected from 20 patients with NTM-pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) and 22 patients with disseminated NTM (dNTM) for antibody detection by ELISA. The results were compared with those from patients with tuberculosis, other bacterial pulmonary infections and healthy controls. Among the different antibody isotypes, anti-GPL-core IgA exhibited the highest suitability. Therefore, anti-GPL-core IgA and its subclass IgA2 were further investigated. A significant increase in antibody levels was observed during the active infection stage, whereas NTM-PD with culture conversion at the 6-month follow-up showed reduced IgA levels. The diagnostic cut-off for IgA and IgA2 was newly defined as 1.4 and 1.0 U/ml, respectively. Using our IgA cut-off, the sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing NTM-PD were 77.3% and 81.4%, respectively. The new IgA cut-off demonstrated significantly improved specificity compared to the manufacturer's cut-off. Thus, serological detection of anti-GPL-core IgA, with a cut-off of 1.4 U/ml, can be a valuable tool for supporting NTM diagnosis in Thailand.
Ceg1 depletion reveals mechanisms governing degradation of non-capped RNAs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Zanin Onofrio , Eastham Matthew , Winczura Kinga , Ashe Mark , Martinez-Nunez Rocio T. , Hebenstreit Daniel , Grzechnik Pawel
Published: November 2023

Most functional eukaryotic mRNAs contain a 5′ 7-methylguanosine (m7G) cap. Although capping is essential for many biological processes including mRNA processing, export and translation, the fate of uncapped transcripts has not been studied extensively. Here, we employed fast nuclear depletion of the capping enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to uncover the turnover of the transcripts that failed to be capped. We show that although the degradation of cap-deficient mRNA is dominant, the levels of hundreds of non-capped mRNAs increase upon depletion of the capping enzymes. Overall, the abundance of non-capped mRNAs is inversely correlated to the expression levels, altogether resembling the effects observed in cells lacking the cytoplasmic 5′−3′ exonuclease Xrn1 and indicating differential degradation fates of non-capped mRNAs. The inactivation of the nuclear 5′−3′ exonuclease Rat1 does not rescue the non-capped mRNA levels indicating that Rat1 is not involved in their degradation and consequently, the lack of the capping does not affect the distribution of RNA Polymerase II on the chromatin. Our data indicate that the cap presence is essential to initiate the Xrn1-dependent degradation of mRNAs underpinning the role of 5′ cap in the Xrn1-dependent buffering of the cellular mRNA levels.
Advancements and applications of upconversion nanoparticles in wound dressings
Authors: Gültekin Hazal Ezgi , Yaşayan Gökçen , Bal-Öztürk Ayça , Bigham Ashkan , Simchi Abdolreza (Arash) , Zarepour Atefeh , Iravani Siavash , Zarrabi Ali
Published: November 2023

In this review, we aim to showcase the potential and benefits of up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) in advanced wound care applications.
A ring of rotaxanes: studies of a large paramagnetic assembly in solution
Authors: Bennett Tom S. , Nawaz Selina , Lockyer Selena J. , Asthana Deepak , Whitehead George F. S. , Vitorica-Yrezabal Inigo J. , Timco Grigore A. , Burton Neil A. , Winpenny Richard E. P. , McInnes Eric J. L.
Published: November 2023

Here we report the synthesis and structural characterization of four [7]rotaxanes formed by coordinating hybrid inorganic–organic [2]rotaxanes to a central {Ni12} core.
Mikrobiom: von der Pathophysiologie in die Klinik?
Authors: Scharl Michael , Rogler Gerhard
Published: November 2023

Was ist neu?

Die fest etablierte Indikation der Mikrobiota-Therapie: Clostridioides-difficile-Infektion Die fäkale Mikrobiota-Transplantation (FMT, „Stuhltransplantation“) ist sehr effektiv zur Behandlung der rezidivierenden Clostridioides-difficile-Diarrhöe. Sie ist nun nach den nationalen und internationalen Leitlinien spätestens beim zweiten Rezidiv indiziert. Erste kommerziell hergestellte FMT-Produkte (Rebyota) sind bereits in den USA zugelassen und bei uns im Zulassungsprozess. Kapsel-Präparate aus gereinigten Clostridien-Sporen haben bei der Clostridioides-difficile-Diarrhöe positive Ergebnisse gezeigt und sind ebenfalls im Prozess der Zulassung.

Mikrobiom und Reizdarmsyndrom Beim Reizdarmsyndrom sind die Studien zur FMT teilweise widersprüchlich. Der Verabreichungsweg (Duodenalsonde oder Koloskopie) spielt möglicherweise eine Rolle.

FMT bei chronisch-entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen Bei chronisch-entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen verfestigen sich die Belege, dass FMT bei Colitis ulcerosa wirksam ist, beim Morbus Crohn jedoch nicht.

Das Mikrobiom bei onkologischen Erkrankungen In der Onkologie verfestigen sich Befunde, dass die Mikrobiota die Immunantwort gegen Tumoren und Metastasen beeinflussen kann. Erste Studien zeigen, dass bei manchen Non-Respondern gegenüber einer Checkpoint-Inhibitor-Therapie die Therapieantwort durch FMT von einem Spender mit gutem Therapieresponse wiederhergestellt werden kann.
Impact of radial rake angle and machining constraints on the machining behavior and functionality of additive manufactured inconel 718 alloy
Authors: Gowthaman S
Published: November 2023

The Additive manufactured (direct metal laser sintering) samples has shown greater surface roughness which leads to reduce the functionality of the components. Additionally, the cutting force requirement and obtainable surface finish show the vigorous role during the slot milling process of many materials. In this study, the slot milling process has been conducted on the Additive Manufactured (AM) Inconel 718 alloy under numerous cutter nomenclature such as −7°, 0° and +7° in radial rake angle and machining circumstances such as a cutting feed (5, 15, and 25 mm min−1) and cutting speed (14.13, 28.26, and 42.39 m min−1) to analyze its impact on the cutting force requirement and surface roughness of AM Inconel 718 alloy through TOPSIS statistical tool. Through the above analyses, it is found that the cutter nomenclature plays a vigorous role in the cutting force requirement and obtainable surface roughness followed by the cutting feed and cutting speed, owed to the establishment of moderate strain strengthening and thermal soothing effect.
Who is Helen Graham?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Shortly after her arrival, the hero’s irrepressibly cheeky young brother, Fergus, tells the fascinating new tenant of Wildfell Hall: ‘It amazes me, Mrs Graham, how you could choose such a dilapidated, ricketty old place as this to live in. If you couldn’t afford to occupy the whole house, and have it mended up, why couldn’t you take a neat little cottage?’ (p. 57). The lady gives an unsatisfactory answer –– perhaps, she lightly tells the young man, she was too proud or too ‘romantic’.

Fergus’s observation opens up another question which neither Helen nor Anne Brontë’s text answers for us. Helen Huntingdon wishes to escape her brutally alcoholic husband, Arthur. Given the date (and until 1857, well after the novel’s publication), Mr Huntingdon would be quite entitled, should he find his errant wife in England, to repossess his conjugal rights (i.e. rape her at will), to repossess whatever personal things she has taken with her as his stolen property, and to reassume sole parental responsibility for his son, little Arthur. It is clear (since he has adamantly refused her permission to leave his house, has alienated their child’s affections, and has removed her from all access to money) that Mr Huntingdon is in no mood to give up the chattels which the marriage laws of England have made over to him.
On a gross anachronism
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

No one much liked the ending of Esmond when it was published in 1852. George Eliot’s comment is typical: ‘the most uncomfortable book you can imagine . . . the hero is in love with the daughter all through the book, and marries the mother at the end.’ Eliot’s discomfort has been shared by many –– perhaps most –– readers. It is troubling that a woman whom the orphaned hero clearly regards for much of the narrative as his mother should end up the mother of his own child. But Eliot is wrong, or impercipient, in her implication that there is something unexpected, or unprepared for, in Esmond’s eventual union with Rachel. For one thing, her name, with its allusion to the long-waited-for biblical bride (Genesis 29), is a clear hint sown in the earliest pages of the narrative. At other points Thackeray is at elaborate pains to predict the final marriage, and cue the reader that Harry’s ultimate happiness will lie not with the flighty Beatrix, but with her serene mother.
What is Jo Sweeping?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

In Philadelphia, in the winter of 1994–5, the pedestrian waiting at any of the cross-streets at Center City (as the heart of the metropolis is called) would find a helpful person with a broom sweeping an already spotless and carefully built-up gutter. Since the winter was the warmest since the thermometer was invented and the crossings no dirtier than the pavements, many tourists must have wondered why the governors of a city in financial crisis should have supplied this service. The reason for the army of crossing sweepers was the series of devastating ice-storms which had raged through the city in 1993–4, and the crop of lawsuits brought against Philadelphia by injured pedestrians.
Villette’s double ending
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Critics have traditionally been fascinated by the enigmatic ending of Villette–– particularly hyper-modern critics who see in the novel an anticipation of the ‘problematized text’, so beloved of deconstructionists and of theorists generally. To summarize: at the end of the narrative, Lucy Snowe has her virtuous pluck rewarded by the declared love and marriage proposals of her stern ‘professor’, Paul Emanuel. But before he can make Lucy his wife, Paul must spend three years working in the French protectorate Guadaloupe. The reasons for his exile to this faroff place are vaguely communicated to the reader by Lucy, in Chapter 39: ‘its alpha is Mammon, and its omega Interest’ (p. 576), she declares. Madame Walravens, we are informed, has earlier inherited by marriage a large estate at Basseterre, on the West Indian island: ‘if duly looked after by a competent agent of integrity’ for ‘a few years’, the estate will be ‘largely productive’. Madame Walravens asks Paul to be her ‘competent agent’.
The phantom pregnancy of Mary Flood Jones
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Trollope has enjoyed three major revivals in the last fifty years. The first occurred during the years of Britain’s siege culture in World War Two. Following a successful radio adaptation of the Barchester Novels in the early days of hostilities, reading Trollope became a cult among the literate middle classes as they whiled away the weary months of war. Dons in uniform like R. W. Chapman and John Sparrow, when they weren’t cracking codes at Bletchley Park, exchanged erudite aperçus about textual minutiae in Trollope’s novels. In a series of articles in the TLS they vied with each other to find misprints which had escaped the duller eyes of the novelist himself and his Victorian proof-readers.
Where is Tenway Junction?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The suicide of Ferdinand Lopez is regarded as one of the finest things in Trollope’s late fiction. An adventurer of dubious foreign extraction (even he, we are told on the first page, does not know who, or of what nationality, or of what ethnicity were his grandparents), Lopez has successfully invaded the upper echelons of English society. By preying on the susceptibilities of Lady Palliser with his un-English smoothness of manner, he has almost gained election to Parliament. He has won a monied English bride. He has, for a while, been prosperous in the City of London. Finally, Lopez’s house of cards falls. He is disgraced politically (bringing down Plantagenet Palliser’s administration with him), wholly alienated from his wife (whom he has abused dreadfully), and ruined financially.
Was he Popenjoy?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Question-marks are everywhere in Is he Popenjoy?. They figure on the cover, at the head of chapters, and throughout the text. Questions are profusely interpolated into the authorial commentary and characters interrogate themselves and others constantly. There are, as I count them, some 1,175 question-marks speckling the narrative of Is he Popenjoy?. For what the statistic is worth, Barchester Towers, written twenty years earlier and much the same length, has only 626.

The big question, of course, is the titular one. In the novel as it opens, Mary Lovelace, the daughter of an amiably combative Dean (only a generation away from ‘trade’), marries the younger son of an aristocratic family, Lord George Germain: Although he is not the heir, Lord George has very great expectations. His elder brother (by some ten years), the Marquis of Brotherton, lives in Italy, is in poor health, has dissolute habits, and is unmarried.
Who is Tom Jones’s father?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

According to the scholar John Mullan, even readers who know Fielding’s novel well will struggle with the above question, without recourse to the book. One can see why Tom’s paternity should be something of a poser. The crucial information is held back until the very last pages and then passed over quickly. Maternity is something else. That young Jones is Bridget Allworthy’s offspring will be picked up early by astute readers. It is implicit in Miss Allworthy’s instant partiality for the foundling –– a partiality which continues even after she has a legitimate child of her own (whom she evidently hates as his father’s son) –– and her refusal to join in the persecution of Jenny Jones. Fielding sows a number of such hints in the early chapters. But the author tantalizingly withholds the identity of Tom’s father –– even from the characters themselves at crucial junctures. It was, as Jenny tells Mr Allworthy, always Bridget’s intention ‘to communicate it to you’.
What does Mr Pickwick retire from?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

This is a short puzzle because it is about something that seems not to exist, twice –– namely, Samuel Pickwick’s occupation in life. At the end of the novel, in which ‘everything is concluded to the satisfaction of everybody’, Mr Pickwick announces to his club confrères that events have:

rendered it necessary for me to think soberly and at once upon my future plans. I determined on retiring to some quiet, pretty neighbourhood in the vicinity of London; I saw a house which exactly suited my fancy. I have taken it and furnished it. It is fully prepared for my reception, and I intend entering upon it at once, trusting that I may yet live to spend many quiet years in peaceful retirement. (p. 714)

Retirement from what? At the beginning of the novel it is clear that Mr Pickwick is a gentleman in late middle-age, already retired from the hurly-burly of whatever sector of professional life he was previously engaged in. For two years he conducts his ‘Club’–– which is not an occupation as such, but an amateur society, or hobby. So, it would seem, Mr Pickwick retires to his haven at Dulwich from retirement.
Why doesn’t the Reverend Irwine speak up for Hetty?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

When the Reverend Irwine informs Adam Bede that Hetty has been charged with infanticide, the young man reacts with understandable violence. Adam’s first response is an explosive ‘It can’t be!’ (p. 408), by which the honest fellow means that, for all he has done, Hetty is still a virgin. Of course, as her intended husband in a couple of weeks (the very day she goes to the gallows, as it turns out), the general scurrilous assumption may well be that he is the father of Hetty’s murdered baby and that she ran away and smothered it rather than spend the rest of her life as Mrs Adam Bede.

When Irwine persuades him –– by means of the magistrate’s letter –– that the awful news from Stoniton is probably true, Adam extracts from the parson an assurance that he will inform the Poysers that he, Adam, is innocent of seducing Hetty.
What, precisely, does Miss Gwilt’s purple flask contain?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Wilkie Collins wrote Armadale under an unusual set of pressures. As the follow-up to his all-conquering The Woman in White, he had been offered a huge sum by the publisher George Smith for the new novel–– £5,000. ‘Nobody but Dickens has made as much’, he jubilantly told his mother. Smith wanted Armadale for serialization in his all-conquering Cornhill Magazine. Collins would have to be on his mettle to keep company with such works as Trollope’s Framley Parsonage and George Eliot’s Romola. Unfortunately, Collins –– whose health was chronically poor and not helped by his addiction to narcotics –– suffered a health collapse as he prepared to embark on his new novel. Originally scheduled to start serialization in January 1863, Armadale was postponed for almost two years, the first instalment not appearing in Cornhill until November 1864. And even when he was in a position to start composition (around June 1864), Collins was not as well prepared as he would have liked to be for such a challenge.
Is Black Beauty gelded?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

If one takes the autobiography of a horse ‘translated from the original equine’ at face value, it is clear that Black Beauty must be gelded at some point around chapter 5 but, as the World’s Classics editor puts it, ‘delicacy prevents Anna Sewell from making any reference at all to the painful surgery’ (p. xxiv). Clearly, in the series of tasks that Black Beauty is called on to perform during his working life (running in harness with the sprightly mare Ginger, for instance), his masters would not want him distracted by wayward sexual urges. But even the most oblique allusion to how these urges were normally dealt with in the Victorian horse-trade was problematic. When, infamously, Anna Sewell sold the copyright of Black Beauty for £20, it was to a publisher, Jarrold’s, specializing in books for children –– who have traditionally made up a loyal element in the novel’s readership. The pas devant rule would certainly extend to the castrating shears, however familiar the instrument might be in the stable. Had Miss Sewell included a reference to Black Beauty’s removed bodily parts, it too would have been removed. Victorians were as expert at gelding texts (‘bowdlerizing’) as livestock. It remains a delicate subject, at least in popular entertainment. How many fllm-goers, for example, could say offhand whether Trigger, Champion, or Silver are stallions, mares, or geldings?
Wanted: deaf-and-dumb dog feeder
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Edmund Wilson scored some easy points against The Hound of the Baskervilles in his amusing essay ‘Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!’ It is not hard to poke holes in this most Gothic of the great detective’s cases. What is more interesting, perhaps, is to see Arthur Conan Doyle himself doing running patchwork on some of those holes, as they became apparent to him while writing and serializing his story in the Strand Magazine.

The ‘gigantic hound’ of the title is built up in the reader’s imagination by the horrible legends attaching to it and by the fact that to see it is manifestly to risk death by heart attack (as happens with Sir Charles Baskerville). Holmes and Watson’s first physical encounter with the beast does not disappoint:
Whose daughter is Nancy?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

The Good Soldier is, Eugene Goodheart claims, ‘one of the most puzzling works of modern fiction’. It is notoriously hard to make sense of Ford’s characters, their backgrounds, and their actions. There is critical dissension on such issues as whether the title (in so far as it refers to Captain Edward Ashburnham’s ‘goodness’) is ironic or not. The narrative is speckled with what look like factual contradictions (about such crucial data as when and where the Dowells first met the Ashburnhams). Close inspection reveals that the chronology is awry at almost every point. ‘Is this’, Martin Stannard asks, ‘Fordian irony or simply carelessness about details?’ Should we lay the inconsistencies at the door of an artfully unreliable narrator (John Dowell), or at the door of a slipshod writer (Ford Madox Ford)? Some critics, Vincent Cheng for instance (who has assembled a convincing chronology of The Good Soldier), believe that Ford is writing in ‘the French mode of vraisemblance’, and that it is legitimate to ask ‘what actually happens?’ with a reasonable expectation of getting ‘right’ answers.
Who has Susan been talking to?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

According to Coleridge, the three best-constructed plots in world literature are Oedipus Rex, The Alchemist, and Tom Jones. In Fielding’s novel the chapters in the inn at Upton show the plot-wright’s art at its most virtuosic. Few now read his plays, but the novelist’s long apprenticeship on the stage must have prepared him in handling the intricate plot machinery of Books 9 and 10 –– a section of the narrative which, as Tony Richardson’s 1963 film showed, adapts wonderfully to the conventions of high-speed theatrical farce.

To summarize: the Upton sequence begins with Tom taking a leisurely farewell from the Man of Hill at dawn, before starting on his way. The two gentlemen enjoy a philosophic view of the early morning landscape from a neighbouring eminence, Mazard Hill. (Partridge, who is not philosophical, has elected to stay in bed.) The idyll is disturbed when Tom spies a lady being murdered (or worse than murdered) in a thicket. The would-be murderer turns out to be none other than the hero’s old foe, Northerton (who escapes to do more bad things). The voluptuous victim is –– although Tom does not know it –– Mrs Waters, alias our old friend Jenny Jones.
How do the Cratchits cook Scrooge’s turkey?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

At Christmas 1997 I set ten puzzles from Dickens’s Christmas Carol for the readers of The Sunday Telegraph, offering a small prize (a ‘shiny half-crown’) for the best answers. The puzzles were:

When Scrooge goes to his ‘empty house’ on Christmas Eve, there is ‘a small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and the little saucepan (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob’. Who has lit his fire and prepared his supper? The house is clearly deserted when the ghost of Marley appears –– otherwise Scrooge’s first act would be to ring for his servant.

What happens to the destitute woman and child collapsed opposite Scrooge’s house in the small hours of the morning. The 1951 Alistair Sim-starring film gets round the problem by having her expire during the night. Which means that we should visualize a regenerate Scrooge blithely ordering his turkey from the ‘clever boy’ across two corpses. Dickens says nothing more of her. Has she, like Jo in Bleak House, been ‘moved on’? Or was she, like the ‘wandering spirits’, visionary?
Does Carker have false teeth?
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

Dentists, as I observed in the previous chapter, read novels differently. Under their specialist gaze, nineteenthcentury fiction, particularly, reveals itself as even coyer about teeth –– particularly artificial dentures –– than about sex. The point is made by John Woodforde in his delightful chronicle, The Strange Story of False Teeth:

Embarrassment dates from the nineteenth century. By about 1840 laboured attempts at a natural appearance had brought false teeth into the category of the modern male toupeé: however blatantly artificial and loose, they had to be passed off as the work of nature . . . The trials of wearers were made the more embarrassing by post-Regency puritanism which decreed it a vanity, like dyeing one’s sidewhiskers, to resort to artificial teeth at all.
Lucy Snowe, cement-mixer
Authors: Rowson Martin
Published: November 2023

One of the most emotionally charged scenes in Villette is that in Chapter 26 (‘A Burial’). Lucy Snowe discovers that Madame Beck has invaded her bureau and has read her ‘triply-enclosed packet of five letters’ from Dr John. Not quite love letters, they are none the less dear to Lucy And she is apprehensive that her ruthless enemy will again steal her letters and show them to M. Emmanuel. Rather than destroy them (to do so would be to destroy part of herself), Lucy determines to secrete the letters where the prying eyes of Madame Beck can never find them.

The act is highly ritualistic. First she makes a ‘little roll’ of her precious letters, wraps them in ‘oiled silk’, and binds them with twine. In one of the town’s pawnshops she discovers what she next needs, ‘a thick glass jar or bottle’. She inserts her little roll, then gets ‘the old Jew broker to stopper, seal, and make it air-tight’. He looks at her suspiciously while doing so, as well he might.