bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Dual State in Turkey?
Authors: Krumm Thomas
Published: April 2024

In research on authoritarianism in Turkey and beyond, there is a growing interest in Ernst Fraenkel’s concept of the dual state from the Nazi era. However, upon closer inspection, these articles lack a systematic application and implementation of Fraenkel’s concept. Mostly, there is no discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of such a ‘diachronic’ conceptual transfer. This case study therefore puts particular emphasis on the methodological issues and on the possibilities and limitations of an ‘updated’ application. As a result, it turns out that Fraenkel’s categories are useful tools to trace how the Turkish administration and judiciary are reorganized along a logic of prerogative power. Fraenkel’s state-centred approach can thus contribute to close a gap left by alternative approaches. However, among the weaknesses even of Dreier and Meierhenrich’s supplement is that the time dimension was, respectively is, not sufficiently taken into account. Dual state structures can be more sustainable than originally assumed by Fraenkel.
Amino Acid Chelated Iron Versus Ferric Ammonium Citrate on Iron Status in Egyptian Children with Iron Deficiency Anemia: A Randomized Controlled Study
Authors: Hamed Hanan , Samie Ola M. Abdel , Motawie Ayat A , Kandil Manal E , El-saeed Gamila S. M. , Abdelhamid Nehal
Published: April 2024

Few studies have compared the relative effectiveness of different iron compounds on iron status in school-age children with iron deficiency anemia. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of iron amino acid chelated (AACI) preparation versus ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) in treatment of iron deficiency anemia. Patients and methods: A randomized, clinical study was conducted on one hundred and sixty children aged 5–13 years old proved to have iron deficiency according to guide lines of WHO, 2001. All included children were subjected to the following laboratory investigations: CBC, reticulocytic count, CRP, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), serum ferritin (SF), and serum hepcidin. Patients were assigned to two treatment regimens on randomized base 1:1 either to supplement with (AACI) or (FAC) once daily at bedtime. The subjects were followed up for eight weeks. Results: At the end of the study, group 1 who received AACI had increase in: Hb from 9.9 ± 1.1to 11.5 ± 0.3 gm/l(p = 0.01), MCV(fl) from 63.57.7 ± to 69 ± 6.3 (p = 0.05), serum iron from 49.5 ± 5.8 to 87 ± 12.7ug/dl(p = 0.001), serum ferritin from26.2 ± 10.5to 116.4 ± 19.7ng/ml(p = 0.001) while in group 2 who received FAC, there was increase in: HB from10.1 ± 1.7 to 11.2 ± 0.8, (p = 0.1), MCV from 64.5 ± 8.02 to 73.2 ± 8.9 (p = 0.01), serum iron from 48.2 ± 3.5to74 .3 ± 15 ug/dl (p = 0.01) and serum ferritin from 28.1 ± 9.3 to 84.3 ± 15.2 ng/ml (p = 0.006). Conclusion: Our study showed much improvement in iron status indices in AACI preparation with no significant statistically difference between it and FAC.
Preference-Based People-Aware Navigation for Telepresence Robots
Authors: Bacchin Alberto , Beraldo Gloria , Miura Jun , Menegatti Emanuele
Published: April 2024

This work proposes an innovative people-aware navigation for telepresence robots in a populated environment based on the estimated inclination of people to interact and the context information. The main novelty of the proposed people-aware shared intelligence is the ability to fuse the remote operator’s commands with the probability of person-robot interaction—from both the operator driving the robot and the people around it—and translate it into semi-autonomous approaching and avoiding behaviors that are not coded a priori but rather dynamically emerge according to the current context-awareness. Experiments involved 45 healthy participants who evaluated the proposed approach on a real robot. Three conditions have been tested: (a) the new people-aware shared intelligence; (b) a shared intelligence system integrated with the standard ROS social navigation layers and; (c) a direct teleoperation (i.e., no robot’s intelligence). Results from our people-aware shared intelligence system have shown that the robot’s social behaviors were in line with the expectations of the participants in terms of comfort, naturalness, and sociability and coherent with the findings from previous studies. Furthermore, the proposed system has facilitated the social interaction between the remote operator and the surrounding people, making the robot more proactive and without affecting navigation performance.
Drug targeting of aminopeptidases: importance of deploying a right metal cofactor
Authors: Bhat Saleem Yousuf
Published: April 2024

Aminopeptidases are metal co-factor-dependent hydrolases releasing N-terminal amino acid residues from peptides. Many of these enzymes, particularly the M24 methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs), are considered valid drug targets in the fight against many parasitic and non-parasitic diseases. Targeting MetAPs has shown promising results against the malarial parasite, Plasmodium, which is regarded as potential anti-cancer targets. While targeting these essential enzymes represents a potentially promising approach, many challenges are often ignored by scientists when designing drugs or inhibitory scaffolds against the MetAPs. One such aspect is the metal co-factor, with inadequate attention paid to its role in catalysis, folding and remodeling of the catalytic site, and its role in inhibitor binding or potency. Knowing that a metal co-factor is essential for aminopeptidase enzyme activity and active site remodeling, it is intriguing that most computational biologists often ignore the metal ion while screening millions of potential inhibitors to find hits. Ironically, a similar trend is followed by biologists who avoid metal promiscuity of these enzymes while screening inhibitor libraries in vitro which may lead to false positives. This review highlights the importance of considering a physiologically relevant metal co-factor during the drug discovery processes targeting metal-dependent aminopeptidases.

Graphical abstract
Automatic segmentation of tumour and organs at risk in 3D MRI for cervical cancer radiation therapy with anatomical variations
Authors: Leung Sze-Nung , Chandra Shekhar S. , Lim Karen , Young Tony , Holloway Lois , Dowling Jason A.
Published: April 2024

Cervical cancer is a common cancer in women globally, with treatment usually involving radiation therapy (RT). Accurate segmentation for the tumour site and organ-at-risks (OARs) could assist in the reduction of treatment side effects and improve treatment planning efficiency. Cervical cancer Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) segmentation is challenging due to a limited amount of training data available and large inter- and intra- patient shape variation for OARs. The proposed Masked-Net consists of a masked encoder within the 3D U-Net to account for the large shape variation within the dataset, with additional dilated layers added to improve segmentation performance. A new loss function was introduced to consider the bounding box loss during training with the proposed Masked-Net. Transfer learning from a male pelvis MRI data with a similar field of view was included. The approaches were compared to the 3D U-Net which was widely used in MRI image segmentation. The data used consisted of 52 volumes obtained from 23 patients with stage IB to IVB cervical cancer across a maximum of 7 weeks of RT with manually contoured labels including the bladder, cervix, gross tumour volume, uterus and rectum. The model was trained and tested with a 5-fold cross validation. Outcomes were evaluated based on the Dice Similarity Coefficients (DSC), the Hausdorff Distance (HD) and the Mean Surface Distance (MSD). The proposed method accounted for the small dataset, large variations in OAR shape and tumour sizes with an average DSC, HD and MSD for all anatomical structures of 0.790, 30.19mm and 3.15mm respectively.
Thinking like an economist while reading the land: using reading quizzes to show environmental studies and sciences intersecting with economics in Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac
Authors: Rhoads Thomas A.
Published: April 2024

Reading quizzes for Aldo Leopold’s classic, A Sand County Almanac, that I give students in my upper-level environmental economics class provide an excellent opportunity to explore the intersection of what some consider signature pedagogies of environmental studies and sciences and economics. This paper gives a pedagogical rationale for this strategy while providing details on one of these reading quizzes. Because Leopold links his push for a land ethic and his passion for the outdoors with beautiful writing while incorporating lots of economics at the same time, reading the land and thinking like an economist—two signature pedagogies—can uniquely blend together. Reading quizzes can be useful for faculty teaching any class in the environmental studies and sciences arena and provide students with an incentive to read and think critically while also sparking excellent classroom discussion. In getting students to think about economic concepts as they are brought up by Leopold, they learn the process of thinking like an economist while reading the land. Seeing topics such as valuation, externalities, and more in Leopold’s writing gives students a perspective on economics that is likely to generate deeper interdisciplinary thinking on environmental matters. And with deeper thinking comes better understanding as our students prepare to design policies to solve our toughest future environmental problems. Faculty with an eye toward introducing economic concepts into an environmental class and a willingness to use Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac to accomplish this will find the net profit to be significant.
Pre-operative body shape concerns moderate excess weight loss trajectory in bariatric surgery patients: a 2-year longitudinal study
Authors: Moro Oriana , Albert Umberto , De Caro Elide Francesca , Palmisano Silvia , Mastronardi Manuela , Di Blas Lisa
Published: April 2024

Purpose

The main research aim was to inspect whether pre-operative body shape concerns and discomfort as Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) scores moderate post-operative weight loss trajectory in bariatric patients.

Methods

Two studies were conducted. Study 1 analyzed cross-sectional data and verified the structural validity of the 34-item BSQ questionnaire on a sample of 327 candidates for bariatric surgery. Study 2 examined longitudinal data, with objective Body Mass Index (BMI) recorded every 6 months, from surgery intervention on, with 5 measurement occasions, from 111 patients who initially completed BSQ as bariatric surgery candidates and then underwent periodic medical post-operative follow-ups, over 2 years.

Results

In Study 1, confirmatory factor analysis of a single-dimension model yielded acceptable fit indices and high internal consistency levels. Study 2 showed that post-operative excess BMI reduction trend was not linear and pre-operative BSQ scores moderated it, with a higher risk of weight regain in patients who initially were less concerned with their body shape.

Conclusions

The present findings support the structural validity of the BSQ questionnaire in bariatric candidates and call attention on the role of pre-operative body shape concerns on post-operative weight loss trajectories over 2 years, in accordance with a pathoplasty model. They suggest the need for systematic attention on perceived body image and psychological paths aimed to help bariatric patients regain positive attitudes towards their own body.

Level of evidence III, well-designed cohort
Promoting sustainable tourism by recommending sequences of attractions with deep reinforcement learning
Authors: Dalla Vecchia Anna , Migliorini Sara , Quintarelli Elisa , Gambini Mauro , Belussi Alberto
Published: April 2024

Developing Recommender Systems (RSs) is particularly interesting in the tourist domain, where one or more attractions have to be suggested to users based on preferences, contextual dimensions, and several other constraints. RSs usually rely on the availability of a vast amount of historical information about users’ past activities. However, this is not usually the case in the tourist domain, where acquiring complete and accurate information about the user’s behavior is complex, and providing personalized suggestions is frequently practically impossible. Moreover, even though most available Touristic RSs (T-RSs) are user-focused, the touristic domain also requires the development of systems that can promote a more sustainable form of tourism. The concept of sustainable tourism covers many aspects, from economic, social, and environmental issues to the attention to improving tourists’ experience and the needs of host communities. In this regard, one of the most important aspects is the prevention of overcrowded situations in attractions or locations (over-tourism). For this reason, this paper proposes a different kind of T-RS, which focuses more on the tourists’ impact on the destinations, trying to improve their experiences by offering better visit conditions. Moreover, instead of suggesting the next Point of Interest (PoI) to visit in a given situation, it provides a suggestion about a complete sequence of PoIs (tourist itinerary) that covers an entire day or vacation period. The proposed technique is based on the application of Deep Reinforcement Learning, where the tourist’s reward depends on the specific spatial and temporal context in which the itinerary has to be performed. The solution has been evaluated with a real-world dataset regarding the visits conducted by tourists in Verona (Italy) from 2014 to 2023 and compared with three baselines.
Compliance or Complicity? An Analysis of the EU-Tunisia Deal in the Context of the Externalisation of Migration Control
Authors: Strik Tineke , Robbesom Ruben
Published: April 2024

On 23 July 2023, the European Commission concluded a ‘Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic and Global Partnership with Tunisia’ (MoU), mainly aimed at stemming migration in exchange for strengthened cooperation in other policy areas. The MoU was met with strong criticism from both civil society and institutional bodies such as the European Parliament, the European Ombudsman, and several Member States. Critics fear complicity in the fundamental rights violations of migrants and denounced the informal and opaque approach by the European Commission, while formal avenues were at hand. This article reassesses the conclusion of the MoU and draws an analysis of the MoU from the perspective of human rights compliance as well as democratic and judicial control, while also examining compliance with the European Commission’s obligations. Furthermore, the article puts the MoU in the context of the EU policy trend of externalising migration control through partnerships with third countries.
Aristocrats in Arbitration: Did Class Affect Inter-state Arbitration Before or After the 1899 Hague Peace Conference?
Authors: Fry James D. , Cheung Arthur L. W. , Michael Bryane
Published: April 2024

This article explores whether the aristocratic status of arbitrators or disputants affected the outcome of inter-state arbitrations either before or after the 1899 Hague Peace Conference. This article takes a longue durée approach to the topic by including all inter-state arbitrations between 1794 and 1989. The research shows a statistically significant relationship between respondent-appointed aristocratic arbitrators on a tribunal and the outcome against the aristocratic party, as well as a statistically significant relationship between no respondent-appointed aristocratic arbitrators and outcome in favor of the claimant, but only in inter-state arbitrations before the Conference for both of these relationships. This article brings into question whether aristocratic arbitrators from before the Conference were fully committed to the international rule of law. Moreover, it highlights how such arbitrators stopped making their decisions based on class after the Conference, which should reassure users of inter-state arbitration that worry about such biases.
Diagnostics of the solar coronal plasmas by magnetohydrodynamic waves: magnetohydrodynamic seismology
Authors: Nakariakov Valery M. , Zhong Sihui , Kolotkov Dmitrii Y. , Meadowcroft Rebecca L. , Zhong Yu , Yuan Ding
Published: April 2024

Macroscopic wave and oscillatory phenomena ubiquitously detected in the plasma of the corona of the Sun are interpreted in terms of magnetohydrodynamic theory. Fast and slow magnetoacoustic waves are clearly distinguished in observations. Properties of coronal magnetohydrodynamic waves are determined by local parameters of the plasma, including the field-aligned filamentation typical for the corona. It makes coronal magnetohydrodynamic waves reliable probes of the coronal plasma structures by the method of magnetohydrodynamic seismology. For example, propagating slow waves indicate the local direction of the guiding magnetic field. Standing, sloshing and propagating slow waves can be used for probing the coronal heating function and the polytropic index. Kink oscillations of coronal plasma loops provide us with estimations of the absolute value of the magnetic field in oscillating plasma loops. This tutorial introduces several techniques of magnetohydrodynamic seismology of solar coronal plasmas. It includes the description of practical steps in the data acquisition, pre-processing, and processing using the open-access data of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft, and elaborated data analysis techniques of motion magnification and Bayesian statistics.
Do we care about appetite?—an investigation into the recording of reduced appetite in older hospitalised adults
Authors: Rudzińska Anna , Wojnarski Marcin , Gryglewska Barbara , Gąsowski Jerzy , Piotrowicz Karolina
Published: April 2024

Purpose

Reduced appetite is a common issue among older adults. However, its formal assessment is rarely undertaken in clinical practice. The aim of the study was to check the frequency of reporting of appetite status in hospitalized older adults and to analyze the terms documented by physicians when reporting reduced appetite.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of electronic medical records of hospitalized patients aged 65 and older was conducted. To determine patients’ appetite status structured appetite assessment or any references related to appetite were considered.

Results

We included 1291 individual patients’ medical records, of which 13.3% contained any reference to appetite. We showed that in our setting, appetite was not assessed according to standardized questionnaires. In addition, appetite status was documented with inconsistent terminology.

Conclusions

Appetite status was rarely noted in electronic medical records. The lack of a structured assessment of reduced appetite in older patients was found.
Mixed-Method Heat Acclimation Induces Heat Adaptations in International Triathletes Without Training Modification
Authors: James Carl A. , Willmott Ashley G. B. , Lee C. W. Daniel , Pun T. K. Gabriel , Tai Ray , Gibson Oliver R.
Published: April 2024

Purpose

Heat acclimation (HA) kinetics often necessitates that the intervention is conducted in the weeks immediately preceding athletic competitions, potentially interfering with a training taper. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of a mixed-method HA protocol, superimposed over planned external training loads, during the 3-weeks prior to the 2022 U23 World Triathlon Championships.

Methods

Six international triathletes completed 8 pre-competition HA sessions (5 active: running/cycling, 3 passive: hot water immersion [HWI]), across 2-weeks. Outdoor high-intensity training sessions were followed by 30–60 min HWI, whilst low-intensity cycling/running sessions were completed in a hot, humid environmental chamber. To assess heat adaptations, participants completed three 25 min heat stress tests (HST) involving iso-speed treadmill running (session 1 = HST1, session 5 = HST2, and session 8 = HST3). Physiological, haematological and wellbeing monitoring were conducted throughout HA.

Results

Reduced heart rate (~ − 6 beats/min) was observed within HST3 (P = 0.01, ηp2 = 0.64), versus HST1 and HST2. No changes in core temperature were observed across HSTs (P = 0.055,ηp2 = 0.44). Sweat sodium concentration was lower by HST2 at the arm (− 23 ± 16 mmol/L, P = 0.02) and back (− 27 ± 17 mmol/L, P = 0.01). White blood cell count reduced from baseline to the end of HA (P = 0.02, ηp2 = 0.27), but no changes were found in any other haematological markers (all P > 0.05). Perceptual wellbeing measures did not change across HA (all P > 0.05).

Conclusion

By HST3, seven prior mixed-method HA sessions improved markers of heat adaptation (exercising HR and sweat concentration) within international triathletes. Mixed-method HA may be implemented without modifying training load, with no apparent detrimental effects on athlete health or training stress markers.
Overcoming Long Inference Time of Nearest Neighbors Analysis in Regression and Uncertainty Prediction
Authors: Koutenský František , Šimánek Petr , Čepek Miroslav , Kovalenko Alexander
Published: April 2024

The intuitive approach of comparing like with like, forms the basis of the so-called nearest neighbor analysis, which is central to many machine learning algorithms. Nearest neighbor analysis is easy to interpret, analyze, and reason about. It is widely used in advanced techniques such as uncertainty estimation in regression models, as well as the renowned k-nearest neighbor-based algorithms. Nevertheless, its high inference time complexity, which is dataset size dependent even in the case of its faster approximated version, restricts its applications and can considerably inflate the application cost. In this paper, we address the problem of high inference time complexity. By using gradient-boosted regression trees as a predictor of the labels obtained from nearest neighbor analysis, we demonstrate a significant increase in inference speed, improving by several orders of magnitude. We validate the effectiveness of our approach on a real-world European Car Pricing Dataset with approximately $$4.2 \times 10^6$$

4.2
×

10
6

rows for both residual cost and price uncertainty prediction. Moreover, we assess our method’s performance on the most commonly used tabular benchmark datasets to demonstrate its scalability. The link is to github repository where the code is available: https://github.com/koutefra/uncertainty_experiments.
Forschungsstand zu Bewegung, Spiel und Sport im schulischen Ganztag in Deutschland: ein Scoping Review
Authors: Noetzel Ida , Becker Linda , Gräfin v. Plettenberg Elisabeth , Kehne Miriam
Published: April 2024

Die Studienlage zum Thema Bewegung, Spiel und Sport im schulischen Ganztag in Deutschland zeigt sich vielseitig. Das Forschungsfeld ist neben wenigen umfassenden, überregionalen Studien durch kleinere Studien mit spezifischen inhaltlichen Schwerpunkten gekennzeichnet. Das vorliegende Scoping Review zielt darauf ab, die Erkenntnisse des Forschungsfeldes der circa vergangenen 20 Jahre zu systematisieren. Leitend ist die Forschungsfrage „Wie stellt sich der aktuelle Forschungsstand im Feld von Bewegung, Spiel und Sport im schulischen Ganztag in Deutschland dar?“ Auf Basis einer systematischen Literaturrecherche in fünf Datenbanken konnten aus 2365 Publikationen 52 in die Analyse eingeschlossen werden. Überwiegend wurden regionale Querschnittsstudien mit spezifischem Fokus durchgeführt. Die Studien befassen sich zumeist mit den Rahmenbedingungen von Bewegung, Spiel und Sport im Ganztag sowie mit den Charakteristika von Bewegung, Spiel und Sport im Ganztag. Die Analyse verdeutlicht unter anderem den Mangel an längsschnittlichen Studien sowie den Forschungsbedarf im Bereich der Qualität von Bewegung in diesem Setting.
An Approach to Microscopic Cortical Bone Fracture Simulation: Enhancing Clinical Replication
Authors: Pérez-Cano F.D. , Parra-Cabrera G. , Jiménez-Delgado J. J.
Published: April 2024

The acquisition of bone models to perform simulations is a complex and expensive process. The hierarchical structure of bones is very complex, so that studies are mainly focused on the larger scales of bones. The objective of this work is to perform a fracture simulation at the microscale level. For this purpose, the first part of the process focuses on segmenting a bone model and selecting an area of it to generate a representation of the microstructures that make up the bone tissue from a microscopic point of view. The second part is dedicated to carry out a fracture simulation in the microscopic bone model. The developed algorithm follows a statistical approach and solves the main problems of the traditional approach (FEM) to perform a bone fracture simulation. The method returns the path that a fracture follows and demonstrates how bone structures affect fracture growth. The parameters used are configurable and can be adapted for specific cases. In addition, users can reproduce as many clinical cases as desired within seconds without have to manually segment images obtained from a microscope. The data obtained may be exported to obtain synthetic images that could be used to generate datasets for machine learning tasks or other purposes.
Pilot performance during simulated point and boundary avoidance tracking tasks
Authors: Xia Q. , Marchesoli D. , Masarati P. , Liu M.
Published: April 2024

Helicopters are used in complex and harsh operational environments, such as search and rescue missions and firefighting, that require operating in ground proximity, tracking targets while avoiding impacting obstacles, namely a combination of point tracking (positive) and boundary avoidance (negative) objectives. A simulation task representing simplified helicopter dynamics is used to investigate point tracking and boundary avoidance tasks. The variance and regression analysis are used to study the effects of task conditions on participants’ tracking errors and input aggression. The overall tracking error shows a negative correlation with input aggression. The participants tend to have higher input aggression and lower tracking error near the boundaries, exposing the switching of manipulation input strategies under different task conditions. It also suggests a potential way of designing simulation tasks for human operators manipulating helicopters and a trigger for investigating pilots’ biodynamic feedthrough.
Cervantes and Don Quijote at Home and Abroad
Authors: Adorno Rolena
Published: April 2024

Do resonances of Cervantes's frustrated attempts to be granted a royal appointment in the Spanish Indies filter into the “Quijote”? Can the author be glimpsed in the novel of which he is also a reader? What holds Don Quijote and Sancho Panza together and gives this episodic novel its coherence? Attuned to the rich conversational exchanges between the two protagonists, I argue that Don Quijote's escalating promises and Sancho's dogged pursuit of an island to govern, together with the triangulated relationship of Don Quijote, Sancho, and the imagined Dulcinea, result in what can rightly be called Cervantes's anti-anthem to America.
Plenty of Fish in the Sea: The Satires of Juvenal in a Late Fifteenth-Century Analysis of Spanish Court Education
Authors: Reeser Sarah L.
Published: April 2024

In 1492, Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, the future author of “De Orbe Novo,” sent a letter to Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza, the primate of Spain, describing the state of Spanish education as Martyr took up a post as court tutor. This study argues that Martyr's letter was a satire that relied upon a close intertextual relationship with Juvenal's “Satires.” This framework allowed Martyr to offer layered analyses of Spanish Latinity, the dynamics between Spanish and Italian humanists, patronage, and the role of arms and letters in noble life. Martyr's letter revealed a complex, and sometimes contradictory, assessment of court education, as well as an active reception of Juvenal.
“A Sweet but Grave and Sad Melody”: Music and Emotion in Exequies in Post-Tridentine Italy
Authors: Chemotti Antonio
Published: April 2024

This article investigates the relation between music and emotions at exequies in Italy between ca. 1560 and ca. 1660. Mapping the lexicon used to describe music in funeral books, I highlight the coexistence of two diverging semantic domains, sadness and sweetness. Their juxtaposition corresponds to an aesthetic principle that informed the conceptualization of the entire ritual's artistic setup—as divided between the mournful and the pleasurable. Reading funeral orations, moreover, I show that the ambivalent terms with which the experience of exequial music was verbalized mirrored an ambivalent conception of the liturgy for the dead and, ultimately, of death itself.
Effects of a diverse prebiotic fibre supplement on HbA1c, insulin sensitivity and inflammatory biomarkers in pre-diabetes: a pilot placebo-controlled randomised clinical trial
Authors: Hall Caitlin Victoria , Twelves John Luke , Saxena Manish , Scapozza Leonardo , Gurry Thomas
Published: April 2024

Prebiotic fibre represents a promising and efficacious treatment to manage pre-diabetes, acting via complementary pathways involving the gut microbiome and viscosity-related properties. In this study, we evaluated the effect of using a diverse prebiotic fibre supplement on glycaemic, lipid and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with pre-diabetes. Sixty-six patients diagnosed with pre-diabetes (yet not receiving glucose-lowering medications) were randomised into treatment (thirty-three) and placebo (thirty-three) interventions. Participants in the treatment arm consumed 20 g/d of a diverse prebiotic fibre supplement, and participants in the placebo arm consumed 2 g/d of cellulose for 24 weeks. A total of fifty-one and forty-eight participants completed the week 16 and week 24 visits, respectively. The intervention was well tolerated, with a high average adherence rate across groups. Our results extend upon previous work, showing a significant change in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in the treatment group but only in participants with lower baseline HbA1c levels (< 6 % HbA1c) (P = 0·05; treatment –0·17 ± 0·27 v. placebo 0·07 ± 0·29, mean ± sd). Within the whole cohort, we showed significant improvements in insulin sensitivity (P = 0·03; treatment 1·62 ± 5·79 v. placebo –0·77 ± 2·11) and C-reactive protein (PFWE = 0·03; treatment –2·02 ± 6·42 v. placebo 0·94 ± 2·28) in the treatment group compared with the placebo. Together, our results support the use of a diverse prebiotic fibre supplement for physiologically relevant biomarkers in pre-diabetes.
JULIUS CAESAR AND THE LARCH: BURNING QUESTIONS AT VITRUVIUS’ DE ARCHITECTVRA 2.9.15–16
Authors: Nichols Marden Fitzpatrick
Published: April 2024

This article argues that Vitruvius’ description of Julius Caesar's ‘discovery’ of the larch (larix, De arch. 2.9.15–16), previously read as a journalistic account of the author's first-hand experience in Caesar's military entourage, should instead be interpreted as a highly crafted morality tale illustrating human progress thwarted. In the passage, the use of larch wood to construct a defensive tower renders the Alpine fortress at Larignum impregnable to assault by fire; only the fear aroused by siege provokes the inhabitants to surrender to Caesar and his troops (2.9.15–16). Nevertheless, the outcome of this discovery is not a complete victory, because the logistics of importing this remarkable timber to Rome are as yet insurmountable (2.9.16). Once the siege of Larignum is recognized as a diptych to Vitruvius’ narrative of the origins of civilization, in which fire and wood likewise play essential roles (2.1.1–7), and compared with similar aitia and source histories across the De architectura, it becomes clear that Larignum and its resources emblematize obstacles to a Vitruvian conception of imperial success, in which the city of Rome catalogues and indexes architectural knowledge amassed throughout the empire.
South Africa, 1994 + 30: A Conversation About History After Apartheid
Authors: Dlamini Jacob , Hassim Shireen , Phillips Laura Helen , Saunders Chris , Simpson Thula , Thumbran Janeke , Magaziner Daniel
Published: April 2024

In this wide-ranging conversation, six scholars of South Africa detail threads of continuity and change in the historiographies, popular memories, archives, research agendas, methodologies, and within the South African academy and historical professional since the end of formal apartheid in 1994.
Race, gender, and Occidentalism in global reactionary discourses
Authors: Zhang Chenchen
Published: April 2024

This article seeks to deepen understanding of the global politics of reactionary discursive formations, which at the current conjuncture increasingly coalesce around self-victimising articulations of racial nationalism and a rejection of social justice struggles, often delegitimated as ‘elitist’ in Western core contexts or ‘Western’ in postcolonial spaces. Drawing on insights from feminist and postcolonial scholarship on racial entanglements, masculinism, and Occidentalism, I argue that racialised and gendered imaginations about an emasculated and overly multiracial West and, relatedly, renewed East/West binaries enable reactionary discourses in both Western societies and elsewhere through adaptable mechanisms of mediating between the international and the domestic. I then extend an analysis of global racial entanglements and gendered East/West binaries to Chinese anti-baizuo discourse from both online nationalists and dissident intellectuals, which provides a prime example of how grammars of global reactionary discourse are localised in different political projects and ideological constellations. It demonstrates how reactionary imaginations of the West are instrumental for animating narratives of racial-civilisational hierarchy and masculinist notions of politics and society hostile to egalitarian and emancipatory ideals in a ‘non-Western’ context. Moreover, by highlighting overlaps and divergence in the refashioning of dualistic constructs in American and Chinese ‘anti-woke’ narratives, I show that reactionary discourses operate not only across the geopolitical divide, but also through it, invoked by opposing political forces sharing ethnonationalist and masculinist logics in processes of mutual othering to perpetuate antagonistic identities. The article contributes to the intersection between critical research on the global right and postcolonial International Relations (IR).
Electrophysiological correlates of inhibitory control in children: Relations with prenatal maternal risk factors and child psychopathology
Authors: Xu Xiaoye , Buzzell George A. , Bowers Maureen E. , Shuffrey Lauren C. , Leach Stephanie C. , McSweeney Marco , Yoder Lydia , Fifer William P. , Myers Michael M. , Elliott Amy J. , Fox Nathan A. , Morales Santiago
Published: April 2024

Inhibitory control plays an important role in children’s cognitive and socioemotional development, including their psychopathology. It has been established that contextual factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and parents’ psychopathology are associated with children’s inhibitory control. However, the relations between the neural correlates of inhibitory control and contextual factors have been rarely examined in longitudinal studies. In the present study, we used both event-related potential (ERP) components and time-frequency measures of inhibitory control to evaluate the neural pathways between contextual factors, including prenatal SES and maternal psychopathology, and children’s behavioral and emotional problems in a large sample of children (N = 560; 51.75% females; Mage = 7.13 years; Rangeage = 4–11 years). Results showed that theta power, which was positively predicted by prenatal SES and was negatively related to children’s externalizing problems, mediated the longitudinal and negative relation between them. ERP amplitudes and latencies did not mediate the longitudinal association between prenatal risk factors (i.e., prenatal SES and maternal psychopathology) and children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. Our findings increase our understanding of the neural pathways linking early risk factors to children’s psychopathology.
When Suicide is not a Self-Killing: Advance Decisions and Psychological Discontinuity—Part I
Authors: Dowie Suzanne E.
Published: April 2024

Derek Parfit’s view of ‘personal identity’ raises questions about whether advance decisions refusing life-saving treatment should be honored in cases where a patient loses psychological continuity; it implies that these advance decisions would not be self-determining at all. Part I of this paper argues that this assessment of personal identity undermines the distinction between suicide and homicide. However, rather than accept that an unknown metaphysical ‘further fact’ underpins agential unity, one can accept Parfit’s view but offer a different account of what it implies morally: that the social and legal bases for ascribing a persisting ‘personal identity’ maintain the distinction between homicide and suicide.
Communicating visit information to family caregivers: How does method matter? A national survey
Authors: Bratches Reed W.R. , Freundlich Noah Z. , Odom J. Nicholas , O’Malley A. James , Barr Paul J.
Published: April 2024

Objectives

The clinic visit is a critical point of contact for family caregivers. However, only 37% of family caregivers are able to accompany patients to visits. When they cannot attend, caregivers receive visit information to assist with their caregiving. However, little is known about how method of receiving information from clinic visits is associated with important caregiver outcomes. This study sought to determine whether mode of receiving clinic visit information (speaking with the patient, attending the visit, or using an after-visit summary [AVS]) was associated with changes in caregiver burden, caregiver preparedness, and the positive aspects of caregiving.

Methods

Cross-sectional web-based survey of a national sample of adult family caregivers. Multiple linear regression models determined associations between communication modes and caregivers’ burden, preparedness, and positive aspects of caregiving, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates.

Results

Respondents (N = 340) were mostly male (58%), White (59%), ranged from 18 to 85 years old, and supported patients with conditions including diabetes, dementia, and cancer. Speaking with patients was associated with increases in positive aspects of caregiving (95% CI = 2.01, 5.42) and an AVS was associated with increases in positive aspects of caregiving (95% CI = 0.4, 3.56) and preparedness for caregiving (95% CI = 0.61, 3.15). Using any method of receiving information from visits was associated with the greatest increase in preparedness, compared to not receiving visit information. We did not observe an association between method of communication and caregiver burden.

Significance of results

Method of communicating visit information is associated with improvements in caregiver preparedness and the positive aspects of caregiving, though caregiver burden may be unaffected by information exchange. Given the limitations of current communication methods, future work should explore directionality of the associations we found and identify visit communication strategies with caregivers that optimize caregiver and patient outcomes.
Meta-synthesis of ethnic minority families’ experiences of children’s palliative care across developed countries
Authors: Iluno Adaobi C. , Tatterton Michael J. , Haith-Cooper Melanie
Published: April 2024

Objectives

Meeting the needs of people accessing healthcare from ethnic minority (EM) groups is of great importance. An insight into their experience is needed to improve healthcare providers’ ability to align their support with the perspectives and needs of families. This review provides insight into how families from EM backgrounds experience children’s palliative care (CPC) by answering the question, “What are the experiences of EM families of children’s palliative care across developed countries?”

Methods

A systematic search of articles from 6 databases (Scopus, Medline, Web of Science, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Global Health) with no limit to the date of publication. The search was conducted twice, first in June 2022 and again in December 2022. The extracted data were analyzed using thematic synthesis.

Results

Eight studies explored the experiences of families of EM in different high-income countries. Four themes were identified: unmet needs leading to communication gaps, accessibility of hospital services and resources, the attitude of healthcare workers, and the need for survival as an immigrant.

Significance of results

Overall, the study shows EM families rely heavily on healthcare professionals’ cultural competence in delivering palliative care for their children. There is an interplay between EM families’ culture, spiritual ties, communication, and social needs from this review. Understanding how to bridge the communication gap and how families use their culture, faith, and spirituality to manage their pain, and grief and improve their quality of life would be extremely beneficial for healthcare practitioners in increasing their support to EM families accessing CPC.
External Correlates of Adult Digital Problem-Solving Process
Authors: Zhang Susu , Tang Xueying , He Qiwei , Liu Jingchen , Ying Zhiliang
Published: April 2024

Abstract: Computerized assessments and interactive simulation tasks are increasingly popular and afford the collection of process data, i.e., an examinee’s sequence of actions (e.g., clickstreams, keystrokes) that arises from interactions with each task. Action sequence data contain rich information on the problem-solving process but are in a nonstandard, variable-length discrete sequence format. Two methods that directly extract features from the raw action sequences, namely multidimensional scaling and sequence-to-sequence autoencoders, produce multidimensional numerical features that summarize original sequence information. This study explores the utility of action sequence features in understanding how problem-solving behavior relates to cognitive proficiencies and demographic characteristics. This is empirically illustrated with the process data from the 2012 PIAAC PSTRE digital assessment. Regularized regression results showed that action sequence features are more predictive of examinees’ demographic and cognitive characteristics compared to final outcomes. Partial least squares analysis further aided the identification of behavioral patterns systematically associated with demographic/cognitive characteristics.
Polar Vortex Disruptions by High Latitude Ocean Warming
Authors: Hamouda Mostafa E. , Portal Alice , Pasquero Claudia
Published: April 2024

Mid‐latitude extreme cold outbreaks are associated with disruptions of the polar vortex, which often happen abruptly in connection to a sudden stratospheric warming. Understanding global warming (particularly Arctic amplification) impacts on forecasting such events is challenging for the scientific community. Here we apply clustering analysis on the Northern Annular Mode to identify surface precursors and the governing mechanisms causing polar vortex disruption events. Two clusters of vortex breakdown emerge; 65% of the events, mainly displacements, are associated with high‐latitude Ocean warming in the North Pacific and in Barents‐Kara Sea. Such warming may cause large scale modifications of the tropospheric flow that favors a slowdown of the stratospheric vortex. The persistence of Ocean surface temperature patterns favors polar vortex disruptions, potentially improving prediction skills at the sub‐seasonal to seasonal time scales.
Relative Contributions of Field‐Aligned Currents and Particle Precipitation to Inter‐Hemispheric Asymmetry at High Latitudes During the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Storm
Authors: Hong Yu , Deng Yue , Maute Astrid , Lu Gang , Zhu Qingyu , Waters Colin , Sheng Cheng , Lopez Ramon , Welling Daniel
Published: April 2024

High latitude upper atmospheric inter‐hemispheric asymmetry (IHA) tends to be enhanced during geomagnetic storms, which may be due to the complex spatiotemporal changes and magnitude modifications in field aligned currents (FACs) and particle precipitation (PP). However, the relative contribution of FACs and PP to IHA in high‐latitude forcing and energy is not well understood. The IHA during the 2015 St. Patrick’s Day storm has been investigated using the global ionosphere thermosphere model (GITM), driven by FACs from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) and PP from the Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics (AMIE). A comprehensive study of the (a) relative contributions of FACs and PP to electric potential and Joule heating and (b) sensitivity of electric potential and Joule heating to the changes in magnitude and distribution of FACs and PP is presented. The results indicate that FACs lead to larger potential and Joule heating changes compared with PP. The spatial variations of potential and Joule heating are also affected by variation in FACs. As for asymmetric magnitude and distribution, it is found that electric potential and Joule heating are more sensitive to changes in the distribution of FACs and PP than the magnitude of FACs and PP. A new spatial asymmetry index (SAI) is introduced, which reveals spatial asymmetric details that are often overlooked by previous studies. This sensitivity study reveals the relative contributions in high‐latitude forcing and emphasizes the importance of obtaining accurate FACs and PP in both hemispheres.
Characterization of Radiation Exposure at Aviation Flight Altitudes Using the Nowcast of Aerospace Ionizing Radiation System (NAIRAS)
Authors: Phoenix Daniel B. , Mertens Chris J. , Gronoff Guillaume P. , Tobiska Kent
Published: April 2024

Exposure to ionizing radiation from galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and solar energetic particles (SEP) at aircraft flight altitudes can have an adverse effect on human health. Although airline crews are classified as radiation workers by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), in most countries, their level of exposure is unquantified and undocumented throughout the duration of their career. As such, there is a need to assess pilot ionizing radiation exposure. The Nowcast of Aerospace Ionizing RAdiation System (NAIRAS), a real‐time, global, physics‐based model is used to assess such exposure. The Automated Radiation Measurements for Aerospace Safety (ARMAS) measurement data set consists of high latitude, high altitude, and long‐duration aircraft flights between 2013 and 2023. Here, we characterize radiation exposure at aviation flight altitudes using the NAIRAS model and compare with 45 flight trajectories from the recent ARMAS flight measurement inventory.
Structural insights into human exon-defined spliceosome prior to activation
Authors: Zhang Wenyu , Zhang Xiaofeng , Zhan Xiechao , Bai Rui , Lei Jianlin , Yan Chuangye , Shi Yigong
Published: April 2024

Spliceosome is often assembled across an exon and undergoes rearrangement to span a neighboring intron. Most states of the intron-defined spliceosome have been structurally characterized. However, the structure of a fully assembled exon-defined spliceosome remains at large. During spliceosome assembly, the pre-catalytic state (B complex) is converted from its precursor (pre-B complex). Here we report atomic structures of the exon-defined human spliceosome in four sequential states: mature pre-B, late pre-B, early B, and mature B. In the previously unknown late pre-B state, U1 snRNP is already released but the remaining proteins are still in the pre-B state; unexpectedly, the RNAs are in the B state, with U6 snRNA forming a duplex with 5′-splice site and U5 snRNA recognizing the 3′-end of the exon. In the early and mature B complexes, the B-specific factors are stepwise recruited and specifically recognize the exon 3′-region. Our study reveals key insights into the assembly of the exon-defined spliceosomes and identifies mechanistic steps of the pre-B-to-B transition.